Wednesday, 14 August, 2080, 09:57, Mataram Vocational High School.
Julian stood outside the entrance, glancing at Anindya’s desk.
"I thought she’d arrived first, since she didn’t co to my house" Julian thought to himself.
Then suddenly, a girl nad Desy appeared from the right side of the classroom. Julian’s eyes widened.
"Julian? What are you doing here? The first bell hasn’t rung yet, right?" Desy asked, her expression confused.
"Uh-huh, um... um..." Julian said, looking nervously from side to side.
Wulan soon appeared from behind Desy.
"Are you looking for Anindya?" Wulan asked.
Julian imdiately froze, then straightened up and caught his breath.
"Phew~,"
"Yes, I’m looking for her" Julian replied, having cald down a bit.
Desy and Wulan looked at each other, then back at Julian.
"Eh? Shouldn’t she have told you?" Wulan asked.
"You’re her boyfriend, you should have been the first to hear the news" Desy said.
Julian was a little surprised to hear this, becoming even more confused by their explanation. Finally, Julian chose to sit in the garden near the koi pond—the weather was very sunny, with many white clouds in the sky, causing a gentle breeze to blow, which also caused the leaves of the flamboyan trees to fall little by little. Julian sat by the pond, eating snacks he had bought at the cafeteria. Julian rembered what Wulan and Desy said.
"Yeah, she also sent us a ssage on WhatsApp earlier, saying she had a fever" Wulan said.
"This is the first ti she’s been absent—usually she cos even with a fever" Desy said.
Julian began to stare at the fish swimming in front of him.
"A fever, huh?" Julian muttered.
"It’s so unusual for her not to tell " Julian continued, throwing pieces of bread into the fish pond.
Julian stopped feeding the fish, then looked ahead and said.
"But Ms. Lavendina is here, she should just go to the infirmary school to get so fever dicine" Julian continued, with a confused expression.
Julian pondered as he fed the fish again, missing her chatter. Not long after, a girl called out to Julian from behind.
"Areeeh, Julian~?" the girl asked.
Julian stopped feeding the fish and imdiately looked back, hoping it was Anindya, who was late for school because she had finished taking her dicine. But it turned out it wasn’t Anindya, but rather the girl, his class leader, Silica. Silica was smiling while holding a watering can.
"Sigh, so it’s just the class leader" Julian said with a flat expression.
Hearing that, Silica’s expression turned sullen, and she stepped irritably toward Julian. Once she was in front of him, Silica said.
"Moo! Why do you look so unhappy that I’m here!? And call Silica, please!" Silica asked, annoyed.
"N-no, I ant it’s so rare for you to be here, hahaha" Julian replied with an awkward laugh.
Silica’s expression changed to one of anger.
"Don’t lie to !" Silica said, glaring down angrily.
Feeling cornered, Julian finally apologized.
"A-alright, I’m sorry" Julian said regretfully, placing his palms on his chest—a sign of surrender.
Seeing Julian’s remorse, Silica closed her eyes and said
"Sigh... Okay, forget it" Silica said.
Silica sat down on Julian’s right side.
"By the way, what are you doing here alone—staring at the fish with a gloomy expression?" Silica asked.
Julian’s expression returned to a gloomy one, then looked back at the pond.
"Nothing, I just wanted to feed the fish," Julian replied.
"What are you doing here alone?" Julian asked back.
"I’m here helping my friend from gardening club and I’ve been assigned to water the plants" Silica replied.
"Hee, I see..." Julian said, still staring at the pool with a gloomy and unenthusiastic expression.
Seeing Julian’s gloomy expression made Silica want to play a prank.
"Hmmm... Could it be that you’re gloomy... because Anindya isn’t here?" Silica asked with a mischievous smile.
Julian was imdiately surprised and turned to Silica.
"H-How did you know that?!" Julian asked, his cheeks flushing.
"Ahahahaha, of course I knew, because I haven’t seen her clinging to you since morning" Silica said with a laugh.
"Yes, you’re right, usually she’s always clinging to " Julian said with an awkward smile.
"Where is she?" Silica asked.
"Her friends said she’s sick" Julian replied.
"What kind of sickness?" Silica asked.
"A fever" Julian replied.
"Why isn’t she coming to school? Ms. Lavendina is here, she has dicine that can cure fevers" Silica asked.
"Maybe her fever is so bad that she’s having trouble standing and going to school" Julian replied, looking at Silica.
"Silica doesn’t know yet, Ms. Lavendina is Anindya’s family, huh?" Julian thought to himself.
"Heee~ then why do you look so sad? She’s only been absent for a day, you know?" Silica asked mischievously.
"I-I’m not sad! I’m just r-resting here... b-because I wanted to feed the fish," Julian said nervously, his cheeks blushed.
"Pfft! AHAHAHAHAHA!" Silica burst out laughing at Julian’s expression.
Julian was even more embarrassed by being laughed at.
"Damn you, why are you laughing!?" Julian asked, annoyed, his cheeks still red.
"Ahahaha... S-sorry, sorry," Silica replied, wiping away the tears she had shed from laughing.
"Geehh!" Julian growled.
Silica smiled slightly, then closed her eyes, and opened them—looking ahead.
"Sigh~, co on, Julian, don’t be sad, she’s just absent today" Silica said.
Julian lowered his gaze.
"What Silica said is true, she’s only absent today. Who knows, she might be at school tomorrow," Julian thought to himself.
"But as her boyfriend, I’m sohow worried" Julian continued, staring at the pool with a sad expression.
Julian lifted his head and rembered sothing.
"Oh right, Sagara’s here, why don’t I just ask him!" Julian thought to himself.
Julian imdiately stood up, and Silica, who saw this, could only look confused.
"Julian?"
Julian looked at Silica with an enthusiastic smile.
"I’ll ask Sagara" Julian replied.
Julian imdiately left Silica.
"Why, Sagara?" Silica asked, confused.
Julian walked hurriedly to Anindya’s classroom. Julian arrived in front of Anindya’s classroom—inside he saw Desy, Wulan, and Delima eating the snacks Delima had bought in the cafeteria earlier. Just as Desy was about to eat a Mini Burger, she stopped when she saw Julian enter her line of sight.
"What’s wrong, Julian?" Desy asked, looking at Julian.
Wulan and Delima also looked over, and Julian stood still in front of the entrance, feeling awkward.
"Ah, um... can I co in?" Julian asked awkwardly, holding the back of his head with his right hand.
"Of course" Desy replied with a smile.
"Thank you" Julian said politely.
Julian entered the classroom, causing several students in class 11-D to glance at him. Although he felt awkward, Julian ignored their stares.
"So, what else do you need?" Desy asked.
"Did Sagara co to school?" Julian asked.
Desy placed her Mini Burger on the paper packaging.
"Yes, he’s ca" Desy replied.
Julian glanced around the classroom—looking for Sagara.
"Where is he now?" Julian asked.
"Hmm... I don’t know, he always disappears after the first break" Desy replied.
"Hee, so he’s a loner" Julian thought to himself.
"He rarely has friends here either. I’ve only ever seen him with Anindya before she started dating Julian" Wulan said, looking at Desy.
"Yeah, maybe he just wants to be alone" Desy said.
"But when we approached him, he never seed indifferent, always polite" Wulan said.
"Hahaha, yeah, he’s really polite when he speaks" Desy said with a chuckle.
"Polite, huh? Just so you guys know, he almost killed " Julian thought to himself with a blank expression—rembering that he had been shot with a handgun.
"But," Julian thought to himself.
"After hearing Anindya’s story, I understand more about him. Maybe it’s because his past is so hard, it makes it difficult for him to make friends with ordinary people" Julian thought to himself with a sad expression.
"Julian" Delima called.
Julian looked at Delima.
"If you’re looking for Sagara, I saw him heading to the relax area on the rooftop of the main building" Delima said, drinking a can of juice through a straw.
"Okay, thank you" Julian said with a smile and a wave of his right hand.
Julian imdiately left classroom. Julian walked hurriedly to the school rooftop. When he opened the roof door,
"Huh? There’s no one, it’s so quiet here" Julian muttered.
Julian started to close the door, thinking Sagara might be on the other side. As he stepped, he felt like he’d stepped in a puddle.
"Huh? Why is there a puddle?" Julian asked, confused.
"Click!" the handgun’s hamr was cocked back, ready to fire.
Julian jumped in surprise and raised both hands.
"What are you doing here!?" Sagara asked with a serious expression and a heavy tone.
It turned out to be Sagara who had pointed the handgun at Julian’s head.
"Ahh, what a déjà vu~" Julian thought to himself with a flat expression.
~To be continued~
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