Walking in a mass of people has always been weird for me. On the hand, you can hear bits of conversations, but on the other one, none of all the phrases you hear ever make sense. So you just sort of dismiss everything your ears perceive and end up feeling like you’re completely alone underwater.

I see and hear everything and nothing at the same time. There are so many faces and voices that my brain seems too stupid to make sense of any.

Just as I am thinking this, though, I feel a shoulder bump into my head lightly. About to turn my face to see the culprit, I can already hear a nervous voice say, “Oh, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

It’s a faintly familiar voice. An old classmate from year one, I think. But who, I’m not certain. My eyes catch something, and I finally have the name: Yixing. He’s the quiet boy with dimples! I actually remember his face very well (it’s the dimples, I tell you). He’s been in my class pretty often already, last year of elementary school, first and third year in middle school and first year in high school. But I barely talked to him except for collecting homework or something.

“I’m fine, it’s nothing,” I tell him quickly. I need to hurry up and catch up with Megumi and Chie, as I’ve wasted so much time in front of the gate.

He seems unconvinced at first, but then he shrugs and turns around.

I start walking again as well, but from the corner of my eyes I can still see his figure walking away. Hmm. The last time I got to think about him was in the beginning of year two, I think. Chie told us that he and another girl from our old middle school class – not sure who – got together. I suppose they’re still together, given that Chie hasn’t said anything else, and Chie is one heck of a safe source.

I can see a smaller figure approach him and take his hand. Ah, yup, they’re still together. And then I remember the girl. She transferred to us two months before middle school ended. She’s never been very noticeable and loud, rather quiet and well-behaved from what I remember. Well, a quiet boy and a quiet girl: the perfect match, I’d say. The way they join their hands affectionately has me smile gently. They seem to emit an aura of happiness.

Remembering the time and my own life, I quicken my pace and scatter my thoughts about the couple I barely know.

I immediately find my friends at the place we have been meeting every year, not the crowd in front of the black boards telling which class you're in, but at the back of the school building. It's almost a tradition that we only check our classes once the crowd dissolves (or sometimes the earliest one checks).

"Hey guys," I call out to them and smile.  Both of them smile back, but they are eying me with playful impatience.

"Finally you're here! We've been waiting for ten minutes, you know," scolds Chie with a grin. 

Megumi nods. "Yeah, we even checked the board already. And," she takes a dramatically deep breath, "we're all in one class again, yay!" 

A smile spreads across my face. Even though it is as I saw it coming, I feel relieved that it really happened. Who knows? We might have been put in different classes this year. I'm glad things are like always, us three in the same class and us three meeting here behind the school building on the first day. It reduces my feeling of finality.

"Wow!" I grin at them. "Isn't this a record? I mean we've been in the same class since second year of middle school. It's crazy!" 

Funny. I said this last year as well. And right now I can already feel the déjà-vu attacking me. After this little talk we will stroll to the classroom, take our chairs to one desk, and continue to talk, after school ends we will go to the playground – not before buying some icecream though – and ra