CHAPTER 3 — “SMALL MOMENTS DON’T STAY SMALL”

CHAPTER 3 — “SMALL MOMENTS DON’T STAY SMALL”

Lunch break brought noise back into the school.

Hallways filled instantly with movement and conversation.

Ren stretched his arms while walking toward the cafeteria.

“I’m starving.”

“You’re always starving,” Aiko replied beside him.

“That’s because life is exhausting.”

“You sat for four hours.”

“Exactly.”

Aiko shook her head quietly.

Then Ren stopped suddenly.

“…Oh.”

Ahead of them—

Hana stood near a vending machine, reading the options silently.

She looked completely disconnected from the crowd around her.

Like noise naturally avoided her.

Ren walked closer before thinking too much about it.

“You’re really quiet, huh?”

Hana looked at him calmly.

“…Am I supposed to apologize?”

Ren blinked.

Then laughed.

“No. Just confirming.”

She bought a drink and turned slightly toward him.

“You talk a lot.”

“That’s because silence is awkward.”

“It isn’t.”

“For you maybe.”

Hana stared at him for a second longer than necessary.

Not emotionally.

Just thoughtfully.

“…You’re strange.”

Ren smiled immediately.

“I get that a lot.”

Then she walked away.

No dramatic exit.

No emotional reaction.

Just gone.

Ren watched her leave.

“…She really talks like that all the time?”

Aiko crossed her arms beside him.

“You started the conversation.”

“Yeah but I didn’t expect to lose it.”

“You lose most conversations.”

“That’s actually offensive.”

From the second-floor hallway above—

Kairo watched the interaction silently.

Expression calm.

Unchanging.

Then he walked away before it finished.

Afternoon class brought the worst possible announcement.

“Group assignments.”

The room immediately filled with complaints.

Ren dropped his head onto the desk.

“…I knew today hated me.”

The teacher ignored him and continued.

“No choosing partners.”

“That’s dictatorship,” Ren muttered.

Aiko sighed beside him.

“You complain before hearing anything.”

“Experience.”

The teacher began reading names.

Pairs formed slowly.

Then—

“Ren Akihara.”

Ren straightened slightly.

“…Hana Kurose.”

Silence spread briefly across the room.

Several students looked up instantly.

Ren blinked.

“…Oh.”

Near the window, Hana closed her notebook calmly and stood.

No visible reaction.

No hesitation.

She walked toward his desk.

“We’re partners,” she said simply.

“Looks like it.”

Aiko watched quietly from beside them.

Not upset.

Not surprised.

Just observing carefully.

The teacher continued assigning groups while whispers spread quietly around the room.

At the back—

Kairo listened without reacting.

Like none of it concerned him.

The assignment topic was simple:

“The history of the founding families of Sleniv.”

Ren already looked tired.

“This feels illegal.”

Hana opened the textbook calmly.

“It’s reading.”

“Exactly.”

“You complain too much.”

“You judge too much.”

For the first time—

something almost close to amusement appeared faintly in Hana’s eyes.

Almost.

She divided the pages neatly.

“I’ll handle the founding era.”

“And I get?”

“Modern history.”

“That sounds unfair.”

“You talk more, so your section is smaller.”

Ren stared at her.

Then laughed.

“…Okay, that was kind of good.”

They worked quietly after that.

Not comfortably.

But not awkwardly either.

Something in-between.

Across the room—

Aiko noticed.

And so did Kairo.

Though only one of them cared emotionally.

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