Even a woodlouse wishes to become human.

Returning to school after a half-month hiatus, walking up the sloping path before the gates in the early morning, I could feel countless eyes casting judgment and pointing in my direction.

Their gazes, expressions, and gestures were all reason enough for me to turn right around and refuse to ever set foot in this school again.

Yet, I had to come.

I had to meet their stares head-on, endure their disgust, and put on a facade of breezy indifference, acting as though they were nothing more than foolish children.

Deep down, I knew the truth: I was not unaffected. I was not indifferent.

I was far from as cold as I pretended to be; I had a heart, too.

When I found the carcass of an animal in my shoe locker, when I was suddenly drenched with a bucket of water in the restroom, when I saw the words "Go die" carved into the surface of my desk, time and time again, from the bottom of my heart, I sighed.

High school students truly are boring creatures.

At the thought that I, too, was a member of this boring species—where anything one does can be forgiven, and indeed, after being suspended for only two weeks, I could return to school as if nothing had happened and continue on as a carefree student—

At that thought, I lost all motivation for everything.

And so I realized that there was a fundamental difference between myself and the people surrounding me.

No matter what, I could never step into their circle; I could never sing the praises of youth with unbridled abandon the way they did, attributing every absurd act and every wrong deed entirely to the word "youth."

No matter how ugly, how cruel, or how sickening an action might be, simply draping it in the cloak of youth made it seem as though all the laws of the world were warped, allowing them to escape without paying any price whatsoever.

They did so.

And so did I.

That is why I despise youth.

......

......

"I happen to detest dealing with people who lack intelligence."

I did not mean to provoke him, nor to anger him; I simply felt, all of a sudden, that my previous self, who had done nothing at all, was profoundly foolish.

Perhaps to this day, my heart still harbored not even a shred of desire to be on good terms with them. I might have longed for friendship, but certainly not with the likes of the people before me.

It was not that they were vicious criminals of any sort; it was simply that I was unwilling, and simply that they were unwilling—it was a truth as simple as that.

Like two incompatible pigments, mixing them together would only yield an ugly hue.

I was weary, I was exhausted, and I was indolent.

I could not be bothered to sugarcoat my words, could not be bothered to chime in, could not be bothered to make concessions as I had in the past, dodging their barbs, unwilling to curl up in the sunless shadows and continue acting as a pill bug hiding from the light.

From some unknown moment onward, that lifeless heart of mine had begun to stir back to life. Remembering the time spent in that student council room felt like having a hand press against my back, pushing me out into the sunlight.

And the words that just now slipped past my lips were the genuine thoughts of my lazy self.

Could someone like me truly be called the sincere person she spoke of?

More than likely, upon learning of this, she would pat me on my shoulder and tease me with a remark about my twisted personality.

Yet I knew that when she said such things, she would certainly be smiling.

"What did you just say?!"

Iwasaki wore a look of furious indignation. He seemed stunned—stunned that someone like me, destined to be the recipient of ceaseless scorn, would dare to challenge his sense of justice.

"I am merely stating a fact. Everything you have done thus far leaves me with no choice but to conclude that your brain is lacking in intelligence. And not just you—Yamashita, Ono, Yukawa—I consider all of you to be unintelligent.

"Do you understand why?

"School is a microcosm of society. People who are good at sports befriend those who are good at sports; people who excel academically befriend those who excel academically. Those who trail blindly behind a fool day in and day out naturally deserve to be regarded as fools themselves."

"Jinguji! You bastard..."

"Because that is simply how it is. Though I am loath to emphasize my position at a moment like this, I happen to be the student council president of this school. When you enter society, do you intend to rally your colleagues like this to boycott a superior whose face you simply dislike?

"That is precisely why I say: I detest dealing with people who lack intelligence."

Not only Iwasaki, but several other male students standing near him directed hostile glares in my direction.

My heart remained utterly devoid of fear. Their gazes were full of emptiness and instability; I had no reason to be afraid of them.

"Jinguji... that's enough, stop there. Don't say any more. And Iwasaki, this is a precious school trip—"

"Shut your mouth, Yamashita! This is between Jinguji and me!"

I glanced toward a male student standing at the very edge of the group. Unlike the others, he had tried to step in and smooth things over at a time like this, though I genuinely advised against him doing so.

At a time like this, he ought to have been united with the others in resisting me, refusing to yield to my status as student council president, and making his own stance clear. Only then would he avoid being cast out of the circle down the line, labeled a traitor, and subjected to miserable ostracization.

They would certainly do that. Without a doubt, high school boys are remarkably unreasonable creatures.

I gave a slight sigh, shook my head, and looked directly at him.

"Especially you, Yamashita.

"I have always believed that you are the most foolish of them all."

"........."

"In truth, you don't actually hate me all that much. Or rather, you don't care about me at all; you merely went along with them because Iwasaki and the other boys did.

"Honestly, that kind of behavior is thoroughly hollow. Do you lack even the courage to make your stance clear to your friends?

"Or is it that, deep down, you never really considered him a friend in the first place?"

"Jinguji! Are you out of your mind! I will never forgive you!" Iwasaki seemed to have had some switch flipped within him; had he not been held back by two other male students, he likely would have lunged at me in a physical brawl right then and there.

That being said, I absolutely could not throw a punch. Standing in the capacity of student council president, I could never do anything that would bring shame upon the former president's face.

"Iwasaki, let it go. Calm down." Yamashita continually tried to dissuade Iwasaki while casting a complicated look in my direction.

I figured he must be angry.

If this commotion continued any further, it might draw the attention of the teachers. To pull such a stunt on a school trip—if the former president found out, she would undoubtedly fly into a rage.

She was so close to graduating; at a juncture like this, I truly didn't want to give her cause for worry.

"When all is said and done... this is entirely your fault! How do you even have the gall to put on an attitude like this? If it weren't for you, why would Teacher Aoyama have left!" Iwasaki clenched his fists tightly. If not for the people holding him back, he likely would have driven that fist straight into my face.

"I have never denied that. But so what?"

"Ha?!"

"I received a proper punishment, and that is a well-known fact."

"That doesn't mean the things you've done simply vanish! It doesn't mean I'll ever forgive you!"

"......Forgive. Well said. On whose behalf are you forgiving me?"

"What!"

"Are you forgiving me on behalf of Teacher Aoyama? And what, precisely, are you forgiving me for?"

Iwasaki stared at me wide-eyed, his throat trembling, yet he could say not a single word in reply.

"I did indeed accept my punishment, but that does not mean I admit wrongdoing. If I were to admit I was wrong, it would mean that Teacher Aoyama, whom you hold so dear, was also wrong.

"Well then... what will you do?"

I simply watched Iwasaki, watching him transition from full-body tremors to an expression of increasing helplessness, until he finally collapsed onto the ground, his eyes filled with sheer frustration and resentment.

I swept my gaze across the surroundings, feeling the icy chasm that separated me from them.

Perhaps I had forever lost the chance to become friends with these people, but I didn't care.

This time, I truly didn't care.

......

......

After leaving the room, I stepped out of the inn, embraced by the moonlight of the night, and strolled along a winding path through the woods on the outskirts.

Abruptly, I glanced back over my shoulder.

"Come out."

The small grove behind me rustled, and a young woman appeared before me with an awkward smile.

"Why have you been following me?" I asked.

"Uh... ju—just taking a walk."

"I believe you."

Shaking my head, I paid her no further mind. I assumed she would simply leave of her own accord, but instead, she quickened her pace and caught up with me.

"Fighting with your friends?"

I glanced at her sideways. "Eavesdropping is not a very good habit."

"I wasn't eavesdropping. I happened to be cleaning near the doorway, and things were getting rather heated inside, so..."

I remained silent for a moment before softly saying, "They aren't friends. And we weren't fighting."

"Then what was it?"

"Mm... a debate. That's right, a debate. We were holding a debate tournament," I said with absolute certainty.

"Pfft! What even is that? Hahaha."

Where exactly was the punchline?

"Say, tell me, are you really a high school student?" Once she finished laughing, she blinked her eyes, making no attempt to conceal the curiosity written across them.

"Does it not look that way?"

Um... should I call it being wise beyond your years? Yes, exactly that."

"That merely shows I am sufficiently composed, neither green nor childish."

"I wouldn't be so sure. If all the high school students in the world were like you, everything would be thrown into utter chaos."

"If all the high school students in the world were like me, schools could simply shut down entirely."

"Why?"

"Because I am sufficiently intelligent that I could ace every exam without ever attending a class."

"Eh? That's definitely a lie..."

"Mm, it is a lie."

"Darn it! I actually got played by a high school student!"

The reason I could score perfectly on exams had nothing to do with innate intelligence; it was merely due to a cheating ability I had acquired.

"Aren't you a high school student yourself? Well... a spiritual one."

"I am already a distinguished member of society."

"Helping out at your family's inn hardly qualifies someone as a member of society. If you draw a wage that bears no proportion to your actual labor, you'd be called a NEET instead—a parasite living off your family."

"Gah! Are you always this sharp-tongued?"

"Who can say..."

I walked on at my own pace. While she maintained a stride matching mine, she kept a distance of about two meters to my side.

"Jinguji-kun... right? Yeesh... you gave me a start. I only just found out that you're also serving as the student council president."

"I told you I was smart."

"Talk about lacking modesty. Are all kids in Tokyo like you?"

"I am an exception."

"I figured as much."

"So then, why are you following me?"

"It's not like I'm trying to do anything specific. You see, I'm supposed to lead you all on a picnic tomorrow, so I just thought I'd come out for a chat."

"There are plenty of students from our school inside the inn. Why not go chat with them?"

"If my mother saw me, she'd accuse me of slacking off again. Besides, you look like you'd be more fun to bother."

I gave her another look but chose not to reply.

After walking for I don't know how long, at a certain corner within the trees, I unexpectedly crossed paths with a particular female student.

"Ahre? Ru... tsuki, and also—wait, wait, wait, wait! Teacher Aoyama!"

"What are you doing out here?" I asked with a calm expression.

"Eh? N... nothing." Sakura suddenly averted her gaze, though her eyes kept lingering on my ex-girlfriend standing beside me.

"You were obviously called out here to have someone confess to you, weren't you?"

"Y-Y-You... how did you know!"

"Hmph-hmph~" I let out a triumphant puff of air through my nose.

"What is that for! Putting on such a smug face! It's so irritating to look at!"

My childhood friend from before was making a fuss at me just as she always did, yet she kept a watchful eye on Teacher Aoyama's expression all the while.

"Jinguji-kun, is this your classmate?"

"Well..."

"Eh? What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura blinked in bewilderment, her gaze shifting back and forth between the two of us.

Faced with Sakura's inquiry, I was intensely curious how the person beside me would explain it. Yet she spoke without the slightest hesitation, delivering the exact same line she had used that night.

Once she finished explaining, Sakura remained in a state of system crash, seemingly trying to digest the information.

"You mean to say... the Teacher Aoyama of right now is no longer the Teacher Aoyama of before?"

"You can interpret it that way for the time being," I said.

"Tell me, why do you keep calling me 'teacher'?" the former educator inquired.

I coldly watched her reaction without raising any objections.

"Um..." Sakura cast a pleading glance toward me, clearly at a loss for what to make of it.

"Pay it no mind. It's just a verbal tic of hers."

"Heh-ee~~ There are people like that? Tokyo people are so weird."

"She actually believed it!" Sakura's eyes widened in sheer disbelief.

Then, taking quick little steps, she squeezed in right beside me, grabbed my ear, and demanded to know what on earth was going on.

She kept tossing around phrases like "rekindling old flames" and "secret rendezvous in the woods," and finally capped it off with, "I'm going to snitch to the former president."

They were entirely too close, weren't they?

With Sakura present, I successfully extricated myself from the conversation, freed from the need to play along. Since they were both high school girls, they ought to have plenty more in common to talk about anyway.

Viewed from a distance, they looked like old acquaintances who had known each other well, while I was merely a bystander walking off to the side, far removed from their circle.

As we were about to return to the inn, Sakura suddenly asked why we had been out walking. Just as I was preparing to fabricate some excuse to brush her off, Teacher Aoyama blurted out the truth with remarkable speed.

Consequently, Sakura shot me a look of utter astonishment, falling entirely silent.

"What..."

"Nothing. I just never imagined you had such a wild side to you, Rutsuki."

"If you want to mock me, just say so."

"Of course not. I just can't picture that scene. Once we get back to Tokyo, could we reenact it in private? I'll play Iwasaki-kun, pfft-pfft-pfft..."

This girl really was mocking me, wasn't she?

After returning to the inn, reluctant to head back to my room just yet, I sat in the lobby for a long while, quietly watching Sakura lead the woman who claimed to be a high schooler off to the courtyard for a chat.

As for what the two of them talked about, I had no way of knowing.

Thanks to "Tianshen 22 Huohuan" for the tip.