Kokoro had become more used to Subaru’s dyed brown hair, and though he and Masamune were back to playing video games together, things were still a bit awkward between them. The roots of Subaru’s hair were growing out black again; this only added to the feeling that things weren’t quite right, and Kokoro tended to avert her eyes.

‘Isn’t there one near where you live, too? For kids who’ve dropped out of school?’

‘Yes, there’s one near us.’ Kokoro’s heart pounded as the conversation turned to her.

Masamune shot them a know-it-all look. ‘It’s the type of place parents first turn to when their kids stop going to school and they’re confused about what to do. There’s one of those private support groups near the school I went to. But when I stopped going to junior high, my parents didn’t really do anything. They just said, Masamune probably wouldn’t want to go there, and that was it.’

‘I see,’ Aki said, sounding impressed. ‘We don’t have one near us. I’ve never heard of them.’

‘Hmm,’ Fuka murmured. ‘I wonder if there’s one near our school. I’ve never been aware of one.’

‘Didn’t your parents ever try to get you to go to one?’ Masamune asked.

‘My mother’s – sort of busy,’ Fuka said, lowering her eyes for some reason.

Kokoro couldn’t bring up her own experience. She remembered the School was called Kokoro no kyoshitsu – Classroom for the Heart – with her own name in the title, and so she clammed up. It was just a coincidence that they shared a name, but she knew that if someone pointed it out, she’d die of embarrassment.

But she was impressed by Masamune – how he called it a Free School, and used the term private support group. She’d never given it any thought.

Masamune looked at Ureshino. ‘So you’re missing School. Have you been going there all this time?’

‘Yeah, but just in the mornings,’ Ureshino said, gulping down a mouthful of food. He looked up, hesitated a beat, and said, ‘No one’s asked me anything so far, so I’ll tell you.’

He made it sound like a small thing.

‘Boys in my class did this to me. It wasn’t like I was being bullied or anything.’

There was an audible gasp. He seemed not to notice.

‘Whenever anyone gets beaten up, people instantly say it’s bullying, and I don’t like it.’

‘Why were you beaten up, then?’ Rion asked.

Ureshino responded without looking up.

‘It was guys I made friends with in junior high. We got on fine – they’d come to my house to play video games, we’d go to juku together. I thought we were friends, but then things got a little weird.’