C39

Chapter 39: Shifted Monday

Monday morning.

From the back of the classroom, an exceptionally loud burst of laughter rose.

Even students who turned around at the sound broke into smiles, calling out to nearby friends to ask what was so funny. As they talked, another student joined in, and before they knew it, people had gathered around to encircle several desks.

Over by the window a little ways away, voices could be heard talking about something.

Students who would normally head off to another spot the moment break time arrived remained right there today, laughing at the talk of the person across the desk. When another student approached that circle, they naturally lowered themselves into an open spot.

Near the front, someone seemed to be showing off their smartphone screen.

A student peeking in burst out laughing, and hearing that voice, chuckles leaked out from the neighboring seat as well. Another student poked their head over there, and before long, several people had gathered.

Voices overlapped across various corners of the classroom, and occasional loud bursts of laughter rang out.

Ever since the morning, it had been quite noisy.

Of course, not everyone was laughing.

There were students spending their time quietly at their usual desks, and students who listened to the surrounding conversations without attempting to join them.

Even so—looking at the classroom as a whole, it was clearly different from normal.

No one was doing it intentionally. It was simply that conversations were born one after another, spreading out to different spots.

Just as one circle settled down, laughter rose from a different place.

By the classroom window, a group of students who usually didn't stand out had the class's most prominent students mixed in among them.

It was a combination that would normally never cross paths.

Yet, those students were talking inside the circle as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

The surrounding students, too, laughed cheerfully as they watched that figure speaking with animated gestures.

Before anyone knew it, the entire classroom was enveloped in that kind of atmosphere.

It was the exact opposite of the heaviness that had blanketed the classroom until Friday.

Back then, even though they were in the same classroom, there had been a sensation of each person retreating into their own private space. Right now, it was completely the reverse.

As if holding an indulgence that they bore no sin, the taut tensions holding them back had come undone.

Liberated from the anxiety and oppressive weight they had been harboring, many of the students were slightly giddy. They were intoxicated by a sense of liberation—as though exhaling all at once from a place where they had been holding their breath for too long.

That sense of liberation was gradually warping even the boundaries of the class that would normally exist as a matter of course.

As a result, laughter was born even among students who would normally almost never cross paths.

Students who should have been in separate circles were laughing in the same spot before they knew it. Even toward counterparts with whom they normally kept a slight distance, they called out casually today, and natural laughter returned in response to the words directed at them.

It was as though they were comrades who had shouldered the exact same thing and pushed through the exact same place.

Dwelling right there was a bizarre sense of unity that would never be born in an ordinary class.

Inside a classroom like that, only Kujo's surroundings were strangely quiet.

The students who had been at nearby desks had gone off to talk with friends elsewhere before anyone knew it. Students walking past Kujo's vicinity, too, headed straight toward where their friends were without minding his presence at all.

Whenever someone laughed, heads turned in response to the sound. Whenever voices rose from elsewhere, awareness shifted in that direction.

Even though conversations continued across various parts of the classroom, Kujo's spot alone remained entirely outside that flow.

No one was trying to shun Kujo.

It was simply that any reason to interact with Kujo had cleanly vanished from that place.

After a while, the chime signaling the start of homeroom rang.

The students who returned to their seats didn't close their mouths right away either. Some talked with their bodies turned toward the side seat, while others exchanged voices across the seats in front and behind.

Laughter broke out at someone's remark, and as if drawn in by it, chuckles overlapped nearby as well.

Even after the chime rang, the classroom hubbub wouldn't settle down easily.

Before long, the classroom door opened.

The homeroom teacher stepped inside.

Seeing that, a few conversations finally cut off. The sounds of scraping chairs overlapped, and the students began facing forward.

—From behind him, one more person walked in.

It was the grade head.

The classroom went dead silent.

◇

The classroom fell utterly still.

The homeroom teacher, Yamaoka, headed to the podium and picked up his tablet.

Only the small sounds of operating the screen remained inside the quiet classroom. Every time his fingertips moved a few times, the displayed attendance status switched over.

No one spoke, looking forward from their respective seats.

Before long, Yamaoka's fingers stopped, confirming the screen.

Then, lowering the tablet slightly, Yamaoka raised his face.

The gaze he had been directing toward the screen until moments ago was now cast across the entire classroom.

"Today, I have an important notice."

In a classroom where the hubbub from moments ago had vanished as though it were a lie, only that voice echoed.

Yamaoka glanced once toward the grade head.

"Regarding the incident after school last Monday, the school will be conducting a verification. For the detailed talk, we'll have Mr. Nishikawa explain it."

Saying that, Yamaoka took a step back.

The grade head stepped forward in front of the podium.

"Regarding what happened in your classroom after school last Monday, the school will conduct a factual verification."

It was a calm voice.

"Using today's first period, we will have you fill out a questionnaire about the situation on that day. It's fine as far as you can remember. What you saw, what you heard, what you yourself did on the spot. There's no need to forcefully guess and write things you don't know."

Inside the classroom, there wasn't a single voice.

The grade head continued.

"Furthermore, regarding the first-period class originally scheduled, make-up classes will be held at a later date."

He paused there once.

"Mr. Yamaoka will hand out the questionnaires now. Once you finish writing, please flip your sheets over and wait as you are. We will collect them in order from here."

When the grade head finished speaking, a heavy silence remained in the classroom.

No one opened their mouths.

Yamaoka picked up the sheets of paper left beside the podium and handed them out starting from the front seats. Students who received a sheet cast their eyes down to the paper, then passed it directly behind them. Their hands halted for a fraction of a second at times.

Every time a paper passed from front to back, the dry scraping sound echoed softly.

Before long, the papers passed down from the front reached the students' hands, and several questions lined the page.

Confirmation Regarding the Events of Last Monday After School

Name: _____________________________________

① Were you inside the classroom after school last Monday?

　□ Yes　　□ No

　*If you answered "No," please finish here.

② Please fill out what was happening inside the classroom at that time, to the extent that you remember.

③ Among the things you saw or heard back then, if there is anything that left a particularly strong impression, please fill it in.

④ If there is anything you yourself did or said on the spot, please fill it in.

⑤ How do you personally feel about the events of this time?

⑥ Have you ever thought about consulting or reporting the events of last Monday after school to the school or teachers?

　□ Yes　　□ No

　Please write the reason why you thought so.

⑦ Otherwise, if there is anything you wish to convey to the school, please fill it in.

As the students simultaneously dropped their gazes and read through the questions from top to bottom, the eyes tracing the paper froze one after another.

No one raised their face. Only their respective gazes anchored to the paper, and inside the hushed classroom, nothing remained but an inescapable silence.