“Wha-…..”

Fushimi’s eyes became big and he nearly slipped from the toilet bowl’s lid.

Yata had expected such a reaction, that one would be very surprised at suddenly being called from above while being in a toilet stall. But seeing this guy make a normal reaction like this was kind of unexpected.

“Sorry, sorry, for surprising you. When I saw the light I wondered what it was. It’s not like you were taking a s.h.i.t so it’s okay, right? Don’t you have cla.s.s right now?”

While pushing up his gla.s.ses that had become askew, Fushimi returned his facial expression to how it was before, sat down again and spat out “Get lost.”

When Fushimi lightly touched the PDA’s screen that was resting on his knees with his finger, the two plate-like things that had already been visible earlier appeared again. A blue tinged, half transparent keyboard and display made out of the light lined up in an angle just like an open laptop’s.

“What’s that? It looks cool”, Yata’s eyes shone. “Was there something like this included in the PDAs?”

“I made it myself.”

“Yourself!?”

Yata’s idea was building a plastic model by using pincers and adhesive which was probably different from Fushimi who was properly constructing a PDA. Yata by the way had never completed a plastic model to look like the actual design because he randomly built something without reading the construction manual, and when it was completed it somehow never turned out right.

“Hey, could my PDA also get something like that?”

Without suppressing his interest, Yata had by now put his stomach on the upper part of the part.i.tion wall and leaned his upper body towards Fushimi’s side of the stall.

“Ohhhh”, nearly falling, he held his balance by flailing his legs that were completely poised in the air while peering at the light’s display that had appeared in front of Fushimi’s eyes.

“Huh? But isn’t it in the middle of cla.s.s? Why is your PDA working? Mine…”

When Yata pulled out his own PDA and looked at it, it was locked as expected and operating it was not possible. Unless there was an emergency happening or an urgent call coming in from one’s guardians, the PDA stayed like this until cla.s.s ended.

“See, mine won’t work, so why is yours……”

“Get lost already!!” yelled Fushimi, turning around.

Yata who had started to talk more kept smiling but his eyes widened. Fushimi’s eyes filled with hatred pierced him painfully.

“S-….sorry…..”

Glum, Yata pulled back his head and slipped off the toilet bowl. He turned towards the wall between Fushimi’s stall and his, sat down sideways on the bowl and looked up to the part.i.tion wall’s gap, staying quiet for a few minutes.

“Uh, Uhm…….I won’t be annoying, so is it okay if we talk? Fushimi, do you always skip cla.s.s on your own?”

But in the end Yata couldn’t stay quiet for long and he tried it again with a meek voice.

Since Yata had a seat in the back he did know that Fushimi was often missing from cla.s.s. Because he seemed like a fragile person he might be absent because of illness, but since the teacher of each subject asked every time “What’s with Fushimi?” and looked around the cla.s.sroom, he really was absent without permission.

He seems like an honor student, but unexpectedly he has the nerve to skip cla.s.s by himself, is what Yata thought now.

“To be honest, it’s the first time for me to skip cla.s.s by my own.” confessed Yata while scratching the back of his head. It had been roughly a month since he had entered middle school and he had already skipped cla.s.s countless times, but every time he had invited his friends from the Yata-team to join him.

There was no response from next to him, but he kept talking since he wanted to hear one.

“Yata-team, that’s the group I made in our cla.s.s, but……it seems like I was hated by my friends. ‘I do it for them’ is what I thought but apparently I had been an annoyance……..But, wouldn’t you think that it would’ve been good if they would’ve said that they’re annoyed? It’s mean, y’know, they told me that they never had wanted to hang out with me at all.”

Yata tapered off just before he started to complain.

“Even so, you don’t really listen to what people say, huh.”

When Yata thought there had finally been an answer from next door, he had been forsaken with a rational argument and he could only react with a “Uh…..gh…, tha- that might be, but…” and his head lowered as if a heavy stone was placed on it. He placed his heels on the edge of the toilet bowl and pulled in his knees.

“Maybe it’s the same, how I’m complaining to Fushimi right now.” Yata put his chin on his kneecaps and discovered that if he sat like this, his way of speaking sounded like Fushimi’s muttering.

“They used their PDAs to talk bad about me behind my back, maybe what I’m doing right now is kinda the same.”

“……..say, can’t you sulk by yourself and not bother me with it?”

A cold voice came to Yata from across the wall. As a matter of fact Yata couldn’t help but feel utterly dejected by the reb.u.t.tal.

But, Fushimi had been a bit of a companion……..even if just a bit. Yata was grateful, even if there was a reply only once in a while.

He lifted his chin from his kneecaps and looked up to the ceiling. The blue light from earlier was reflected onto the ceiling above the part.i.tion wall. Knowing the light’s true shape, when he looked at it now he certainly understood that it was the reflection of the PDA screen’s display moving quickly. It looked exactly like a blue bird that was playing on its own was glowing on the ceiling.

Why had Yata turned to Fushimi and started to complain? He thought if a guy like Fushimi who didn’t hang out with anybody was his companion, then even if Yata’d complain Fushimi wouldn’t tell anybody……….if it’s like that then aren’t I also being pretty mean, Yata thought and felt down again.

“Fishing.”

Was suddenly audible from next door.

When Yata wondered about Fushimi skipping cla.s.s deliberately to play a fishing game, Fushimi told him: “If you wanna see it it’s okay if you come over.”

“Is it really okay if I come to you?”

“If you enter in a normal way.”

There was the sound of the stall’s door getting unlocked. Even though he had been called over once more, two boys being together in a toilet stall was kind of weird, but Yata didn’t hold down his interest in what Fushimi was doing anymore anyway.

Leaving his stall, this time he entered Fushimi’s properly through the door as he had been told.

Over Fushimi’s knees, who was sitting on the toilet bowl, floated the two plates from earlier that had the identical shape of a keyboard and a display made out of light.

Yata hunkered down in front of Fushimi and looked up to the display. The half-transparent display was flipped horizontally, but Yata could still see from his side what was being projected.

He understood at once that it was «jungle»’s surface. In the middle of a forest was a plaza-like s.p.a.ce in which several 3D characters walked around.

Within the virtual s.p.a.ce the users were present as their alter egos, which were called ‘avatars’. At first the appearance was only plain, but it was possible to customize the face, clothes and possessions.

Last night when Yata had experimented with it, he had also wanted to make his avater a bit cooler but the cloth items that had attracted him had cost money, and «jungle»’s system was that to possess them one had to buy them.

“Your avatar is this one?”

The one in the middle, he a.s.sumed, was Fushimi’s avatar, but it seemed like its appearance had not been changed from the initial design at all. Looking past the half-transparent display he compared Fushimi’s face with the avatar in the middle of the virtual s.p.a.ce. Looking through the blue filter at him, Fushimi’s expression was normal and he didn’t seem excited, not less than the avatar he looked like a doll.

“How about you give it gla.s.ses to wear?”

The suggestion Yata made was completely ignored. It was an unpersonalized avatar that got lost in the crowd of the surrounding avatars that were coming and going and dressed up diversely. However there was one item in his hand that looked like it was the only conspicuous feature. —— An ax.

Suddenly, the effect of something seeming to collide with and shaking the screen made the surroundings of the virtual world change. It seemed like some kind of game had started. It didn’t look like a fishing game. A trading card game? Or a puzzle game? No, a simulation game?

Several items filled the place tightly, the parameter was all too full and a complicated looking game appeared on the screen.

“A game that has recently become popular on «jungle», called ‘jcube’. The opponent we fished for just now is one of the third years from yesterday.”