First day back.
The halls smelled the same. Chalk dust, cold air, someone's overly strong citrus body spray. Junpei stood at his shoe locker, half-awake, trying to remember which foot his left went on.
Sota walked up behind him, silent as ever.
"You survived the break," Junpei said, voice flat with sleep.
"Barely," Sota replied. "Woke up and thought it was Sunday. I got dressed in reverse."
"You still look the same."
"That's the tragedy."
Junpei shut his locker and turned. "Where's Ryota?"
As if on cue, Ryota arrived with a yawn and convenience store bread in hand.
"Don't talk to me," he said through a bite. "I haven't spoken out loud yet today and I don't want this to be the first sentence."
"That sentence just was," Junpei said.
Ryota groaned.
They walked to class like nothing had changed. Because nothing really had.
The classroom buzzed with low conversations. Bags dropped onto chairs. Coats peeled off. Someone laughed too loudly about nothing.
Junpei slid into his seat. "Feels like the break didn't even happen."
"It did," Ryota said, sitting behind him. "We just didn't do anything worth remembering."
"Speak for yourself," Sota said. "I went outside."
"That was one time," Junpei said. "And it was the beach. In winter."
Sota shrugged. "Still counts."
Their homeroom teacher walked in, rubbing her temples. "Sit down and don't make me regret my career today."
The class settled. Kind of.
A few minutes into roll call, Junpei leaned over toward Sota.
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"…Do you ever wonder if this is it? Like, if our lives are just… this."
Sota blinked. "First day back and you're already doing the existential thing?"
"I'm easing back into my routine."
Ryota threw a balled-up piece of paper at Junpei's head. "Some of us are trying to survive quietly."
The teacher didn't look up. "I will throw you all out the window, one by one."
Everyone went quiet.
Outside the window, snow hadn't quite melted. A few birds hopped around in the leafless trees. The sky was that flat gray that wasn't threatening to rain — just bored.
School was back. Nothing dramatic happened. No one had a revelation.
But maybe that was the point.