When the bell signaling the start of class rang, our homeroom teacher Yuuhi-sensei brought that girl into the classroom, the atmosphere of the class froze in an instant. I didn't notice the change in the atmosphere due to me snoozing while listening to my discman. It was only after Yasaka, who was sitting in front of me, turned around and prodded my shoulder, that I hurriedly removed my earphones. Regardless of whether it is homeroom or not, the classroom will always be filled with chatter in the early morning. However, I could only hear a few of my classmates whispering at the time.
"Hey, she is…"
"Yup, should be."
"Weiss Schnee."
"Eh? The very person? Didn't they say that her whereabouts are unknown?"
I took a look at the lecture stand, and my discman nearly fell onto the ground.
The girl on the stand with her long snow-white hair tied into a side ponytail, and since it was the same exact hairstyle as that in the advertisements, everyone recognized her instantly. It was indeed Weiss Schnee herself. She was wearing our school uniform, but it felt like someone was playing a joke on us. What's with this? I didn't catch what Yuuhi-sensei had said, and for a moment I couldn't understand the fact that she was transferring into our school.
"Let us have Schnee-san do an introduction of herself," she said that, but all Weiss did was motionlessly stand there in the front of the class. An asphyxiating silence followed.
At last, Weiss finally spoke, "I don't want to." Just as she said that, it felt like the air of the classroom was electrified.
Wait, what exactly is this girl saying?
"It's just an introduction, so that should be fine, right?" Yuuhi-sensei said. She was speaking slowly and in a low tone, but she was obviously at a loss of what to do.
"I don't want to," she said it again.
"Why?"
"I don't like my name."
Weiss's words had an effect similar to pouring liquid air into the already frozen classroom. I noticed Weiss's expression as she bit into her lower lips. It was the same as that day, the day when we first met, the expression she had when we parted. But of course, I didn't say a word. The one to save the day was Yang sitting at the next of me.
"It doesn't matter, Sensei. We all know her name already."
"Yeah. Her name's Weiss Schnee, right?"
"Yup."
The atmosphere of the class became really strange. Whispers like "She's that pianist prodigy" and "I've seen her on TV," were going off one after another. I noticed that Weiss's slender limbs were trembling slightly due to the reaction of our classmates. I was perhaps the only one to notice the signs of danger.
"If so…" Yuuhi-sensei looked at Weiss, and said calmly, "Schnee-san, do you have anything to say to your classmates?"
A girl suddenly raised her hands and asked, "May I know when you'll be releasing your next album?"
That question spearheaded the onslaught of questions. "Didn't you say you would be studying at the College of Music?"
"There isn't any new advertisement with you in it. Why is that?" Some of the guys who were still confused about the situation asked.
"What advertisement?" Weiss answered
"It's that shampoo ad. You mean you don't know?"
"Ah, that ad. I do."
"Hmm? Really?"
The classroom suddenly became noisy.
Weiss was looking at the ceiling with a stern face, and it was then when she suddenly spoke with a sharp, ringing voice, "Please forget everything."
The silence that engulfed the classroom was like the frozen surface of a lake. Weiss's strained voice continued to reverberate in the classroom just like back then. "I'll be gone in three months, so please forget me."
Not one person spoke after hearing Weiss say that, nor did anyone know what should be said. The thing that saved us from being at a loss of what to do, was the bell that signified the end of homeroom.
"Okay then Weiss-san, please take a seat over there." Yuuhi-sensei pointed to the back of the classroom.
As I came back to my senses, I realized that there was an unoccupied seat to my left.
"The class representative is Yamanaka-san, so feel free to clarify with her about any doubts that you may have."
Yuuhi-sensei then clipped the attendance records and the already bundled lecture notes under her arms, and briskly walked out of the classroom. Weiss took a gulp, and regulated her breathing slightly. She then surveyed the classroom once with a hostile and wary stare, before quietly stepping down from the lecture stand. The classroom was dead silent. Everyone stared at her every movement as she walked down the aisle between the desks.
Could it be that Weiss would disappear in an instant should the stares stop for a brief moment? Nah, that sounds so incredibly stupid, it's impossible, but I still joined in anyway.
It was perhaps due to all the staring, but Weiss was deliberately hiding her face as she passed by my seat. The sound of footsteps suddenly stopped next to me.
"Ah!" She noticed. Weiss pointed her slightly shaking finger at me, and shouted in shock, "W-W-Why are you here?"
I hugged my head with my arms, and laid on the table. I realized that everyone in class had their eyes set on me. Give me a break.
"Huh? You two know each other?" Yasaka looked at Weiss, and then at me.
I repeatedly shook my head, as though I wanted to wipe the table clean with my forehead. "No no no, I don't know her. She must have gotten the wrong person."
But Weiss said, "Why are you lying?!"
"You're the one who wanted me to forget you, right?"
"See, you remember! I've asked you to forget me!"
Aaaaaaaaahhhh… I don't know anymore!
"Mmm, that's why I'm telling you, I've forgotten everything already. Who are you again?"
"Liar!"
I guess our conversation must have sounded really stupid. The discussions between our classmates were getting louder and louder, while Yang's and Erza's curious stare was even more piercing.
Second period was classic literature which I hated the most, but at that very moment, the sight of that old hag History teacher was like a savior in my very eyes.
Even if I factor in her unbelievably beautiful face and that celebrity status of hers, Weiss is the type of girl like my sister that I do not want to get close to willingly. Ever since the day she transferred here, she would be surrounded by groups of curious girls and guys and was asked a lot of questions. But except for the occasional "Don't know" and "I do not wish to answer," she hardly answered any of the questions.
"Why did she transfer here at such a strange time?" During our lunch break, Yang looked at the group of people and softly asked. "Our school is just an ordinary high school, and she picked fine arts as her elective. So why?"
In our school, we have to pick either music, fine arts or calligraphy as our arts elective. Honestly speaking, it's rather strange for a pianist to not pick the field in which she's good at.
"Just ask the person in question and you'll get the answer."
Yang shook her hands and said, "I can't break past that human wall that's surrounding her."
She then took some of the stuff from my bento and ate them with huge bites. Recently, I've prepared more food in my bento, in anticipation of her grabbing a portion of it.
"Then again, when and where did you meet her?"
"In my dreams…"
"Haruto, you want to take a trip to the infirmary?"
"I-It's tough to explain everything."
"There's still a long way to go before lunch break is over, so you can explain everything from the beginning."
Yang's eyes were giving off an unyielding look despite her smile. As I was trying to avoid the topic, she had already finished my bento as quickly as she could.
Weiss continued with her anti-social behavior during lessons without caring the least bit, she didn't take notes, and her textbooks frequently dropped onto the floor. There were some teachers that didn't give her any special treatment despite her being a transfer student, and immediately asked her to go up to the lecture stand, but she insisted on remaining at her seat by replying, "I don't want to."
To be honest, I thought she was really cool, since I couldn't have done that even if I wanted to. From what Yang told me, all she did during physical education was sit and look on from the sidelines. During lunch break of the second day after her transfer, it seemed like Weiss was finding the situation of being surrounded by the curious girls to be slightly unbearable, and had sought for my help quite a few times by looking at me pleadingly through the gaps of the human wall.
Well, I can't help even if you want me to. Most of the questions asked by the girls were mundane things like, what sort of place the studio was like; which celebrities were at the broadcasting company, and if she had met any of them.
Just as I was about to pull out my chair and scoot away from that group of people, I heard someone slamming the table with a sudden bang. I turned my head over, and saw Weiss standing in the center of the group of girls, and pointing at me through a slit in the human wall.
She said with tears in her eyes, "Go ask that guy over there. That hentai owns all of my albums, and he should know a lot about me."
Weiss kicked the chair down, then ran past me and out of the classroom in a flash. Countless stares landed on me, and Sun was the first to speak.
"What's the relationship between this hentai and Weiss?"
"Who the hell are you calling me hentai bastard?!"
"From the conversation you had with her, it sounded like you knew her beforehand."
"Yeah, so what."
Dammit that girl, she actually said something as irresponsible as that, just so she could run away from all of them…
"Haruto, Kushina oba-chan worked as a music critic, right? She should know plenty of things about her. Could you ask a few questions when you get back home? Things like why Weiss chose to study at this school. Weiss refuses to say anything about herself." Yasaka said that to me.
I doubt my mother knows things like that. You think the world of classical music is small? Though I was thinking of that, I just gave an ambiguous nod so as to escape from the scene.