Chapter Text
Uikechuke truly had to wonder. Were her current feelings nothing more than a lingering sense of bitterness? She could never have predicted that her first suspension would cause such a dramatic shift in her perspective.
Had the sound of chalk dragging against the board always been so grating? Uikechuke gazed down at her open notebook. Its contents didn’t resemble anything on the board; rather, it was filled with countless scribbles that resembled nothing in particular. She held back a troubled breath. It was unlike her to slack off like this. The lesson itself wasn't the problem. She had understood it just fine despite her absence.
Her attention returned to the front of the classroom. The sight of her sluggish teacher moving in front of the board had registered as irksome, and it quickly became as distracting as the shrill sound of the chalk. Such things might have seemed insignificant to anyone else. In fact, just a week ago, Uikechuke wouldn’t have let something so trivial bother her. But at that moment, it felt impossible to work under these conditions.
Before she knew it, class was dismissed for lunch. Uikechuke reclined in her chair, idly tapping her pencil against the surface of the desk. She wasn’t sure what to think. Apart from a mess on the paper, she had nothing to show for herself on her first day back, much to her own disappointment. She knew she could always refer to the lesson in her textbook, so its loss wasn't that significant. However, the notes themselves were irrelevant.
Was this burnout? Uikechuke wondered. That didn’t bode well. This was her final year of high school, after all. It would be a great tragedy if her motivation had finally run thin at the final stretch, especially since she had worked so hard to get here.
The scratching of chalk finally ceased, quickly replaced by the equally maddening hum of the fluorescent lights overhead. There was no doubt that she would eventually be suffocated by the atmosphere of the classroom. If she were to remain in this seat any longer, her doubts would surely only continue to fester.
"Something isn't right..." The words escaped Uikechuke's lips.
The cool water on her hands broke her out of her daze temporarily. It was enough to allow her to properly express her discomfort. A frown tugged at her lips. Despite her ability to admit it, she still couldn’t pinpoint what this "something" could be.
It was no use. Once again, Uikechuke was fretting over something she could hardly recognize within herself. If she kept going at this rate, she would end up accomplishing nothing beyond scrubbing her hands raw. Accepting defeat, Uikechuke turned off the water faucet and took a moment to gaze at her own troubled reflection.
Much to her surprise, a certain white-haired girl had somehow managed to sneak into the foreground.
“...Warawau?”
“Ah sorry…I didn’t mean to startle you, Uikechuke. I just saw you leave the classroom, so I…” The girl named Warawau trailed off, mumbling the rest inaudibly.
“It’s alright, I just got caught up in my thoughts again.”
Uikechuke felt her shoulders relax just a little upon being in her friend's presence. She felt a much-needed sense of relief wash over her, though it was accompanied by a tiny bit of guilt. She hadn't spoken to Warawau much since her return.
"So, Warawau, how have things been going these past few days? I know we haven't spoken in a while. I apologize for that."
Warawau shrugged. "No, I understand. Nothing special happened while you were gone. Just the same old stuff.”
“Hmm, nothing special, really?”
“Yeah…Why? Is something wrong?”
"I'm…not sure." Dejected, Uikechuke exhaled. Warawau stood there, evidently unsure of how to take her friend's statement.
“Well…What about you? I tried stopping by your house but your parents said you weren’t available to talk. If you don’t mind talking about it…”
Warawau was clearly alluding to the reason for Uikechuke’s punishment—a reason she had kept to herself until now. Although she tried her best to conceal it, Uikechuke felt an involuntary surge of annoyance at the topic, recognizing that Warawau was not at fault for being curious.
"Right, that..." She braced herself. "I violated the dresscode, that’s all." Uikechuke confessed, a bit embarrassed to finally say it out loud.
“Wait, really? You got three days just for that??? I thought it would be for something more serious…N-not that I expect you to do anything crazy…”
“It was completely ridiculous. I would have told you sooner but well…I wasn’t allowed to. My parents weren’t exactly thrilled about it, as you could imagine.”
“Geez, I guess I shouldn’t have expected any less from Sunshine High…”
A slight chortle escaped from Uikechuke's throat. Finally being able to express her frustrations about the whole ordeal brought her immense satisfaction. Although it was petty, it had apparently weighed much heavier on her over the past three days than she would have liked to admit. Her regard for authority was not so high that a simple scolding and punishment would be enough to break her spirit. She could handle that much. At least that was what she told herself.
Anyhow, it felt good to finally get it off her chest.
The restroom fell silent as the two stood there with nothing left to discuss. It would still be a little longer before lunch would come to an end, so Uikechuke figured it was about time to...
"Wait, lunch?" A part of Uikechuke’s internal monologue had managed to slip out.
“Eh, mine...? It's nothing special, just rice and—”
“Not that.” Uikechuke signaled Warawau to be silent. "It's lunchtime, isn't it?"
“Well, yeah…”
“Listen to that…”
“Huh? To what???”
Warawau followed Uikechuke’s intent gaze toward the restroom doorway. The only sound that could be heard was the faint drip of a slightly loose faucet. Absent that, a state of near-silence would surely have prevailed.
“Uhm, I don’t really get it, Uikechuke. I don’t hear anything…”
"That's right. Isn’t it unusually quiet? There's usually more chatter at this time of day, isn't there?"
“I suppose you’re right. I guess…As third-years, everyone gets really serious with their studies.”
A look of disappointment must have been evident in Uikechuke's expression as Warawau awkwardly shifted her gaze shortly after her statement. Of course, Uikechuke didn't have a better explanation for this strange phenomenon either. Nor did she have any reason to believe anything unusual was afoot. She simply had no choice but to accept Warawau’s reasoning as the best explanation for now.
“Yeah, maybe. Let’s just head back to class before lunch ends.”
“Uikechuke…is something wrong?”
"Didn't you just ask me that?" The words came out sharper than she had intended. "...Well, maybe something is wrong."
“Huh…?”
“I don’t know. I think…I think I’m just a bit disappointed. Warawau, do you ever feel like you’ve somehow missed out on something?”
“Ah uhm, I dunno. I guess…?”
“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. But I think I expected more out of Sunshine High School, or maybe just high school in general. Have we been taking school too seriously? I wonder…”
“...You think so?”
Uikechuke shook her head. "I don't know. Sorry, my head has been a mess lately. I’m sure I just need to get back into the swing of things. Well, shall we go?"
She ushered Wawarau toward the doorway and led them both out into the silent hallway. As Uikechuke had noted earlier, it was unusually quiet during lunchtime. It wasn't something she had ever given much attention to before. Maybe returning after her short break caused her to suddenly realize that this was always the case. If Wawarau hadn't noticed anything unusual until now, then it must be true, right?
Still, she couldn't shake the feeling.