After much deliberation, Miki Kashiwagi still felt that he should adopt a somewhat compromised approach to meet the principal's requirements. He would take a quick inventory of the medical supplies currently left in the storage room and inflate the actual demand level by about 20%. That way, his conscience wouldn't hurt too much, the headmistress's demands would be met, and it would ensure these items got used before their expiration dates—a win-win for all sides.
He left a note on the desk that read, "The school doctor is temporarily busy, please call..." and weighted it down with a paperweight. Then, pulling the door half-shut, he took paper and pen down to the storage room on the floor below the roof.
Generally speaking, a school has many storage rooms, categorized by the type of goods stored into sports equipment storage, sundries rooms, medical supplies storage, and so on, distributed evenly throughout the premises.
Haneoka Girls' High School was different. Exercising their astonishing wisdom, the school board decided to directly requisition a classroom, using plastic partitions to divide it into various zones to store different items. Consequently, the Haneoka Girls' High School storage room was so cramped and overflowing that some tall teachers had to ask female students to help carry things out just to get their hands on sports equipment. Complaints rose from all quarters, but the school administration simply dragged its feet and ignored them.
Miki Kashiwagi pushed open the door to the storage room cautiously. To his surprise, there was no dust rushing out to greet him as he had imagined; it seemed someone had been using this place continuously. He also spotted the expired red bean pan left here by Sakiko Toyokawa. He would have to destroy it for her later—better not let these cursed objects roam the earth and bring harm.
Dodging the haphazard cardboard boxes and the piles of desks and chairs stacked like a Macedonian phalanx, he finally found the oversized plastic box containing huge cartons of rubbing alcohol and other supplies... and, melting slowly on top of it, a pink-haired girl.
"Um... eh..." This was the sound effect of a girl undergoing a gradual process of sublimation.
What on earth?
Miki Kashiwagi felt as though he were watching pink particle effects—a female student attempting to swim in magma, leaving behind only a puddle of liquid and a track suit in a matter of moments.
"Wait, wait, could you please solidify for a moment?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll leave your sight right now, please don't kill me—" The girl dropped to her knees and slid forward at lightspeed. If Miki Kashiwagi hadn't caught her, she probably would have banged her head on the floor twice for good measure.
"Let's calm down first, shall we? Take a deep breath, deep breath—" This kid was way too sensitive!
"Inhaling—exhaling—" Following Miki Kashiwagi's lead through a few deep breaths, the girl finally regained human form. She crouched on top of the box in a highly defensive posture with her knees pulled to her chest, clutching a black guitar case in her arms.
"My name is Miki Kashiwagi. Could you tell me your name?" Miki Kashiwagi put on a gentle, harmless, and sunny expression, asking in a very friendly and unhurried tone.
"Gotoh... Gotoh Hitori." Unexpectedly, the girl's expression twisted even further. After a few rapid gasps of breath, she barely managed to keep her human form as she answered with a trembling voice.
Wait, am I really that terrifying?
"Now, I'll ask, and you just need to answer yes or no, okay, Gotoh?"
"Yes yes yes yes yes—" Gotoh Hitori looked like she was about to burst into tears.
It's over, it's over. This person definitely wants to kill me. The moment any of my answers displeases him, he's going to pull a gun from his pocket and shoot me. What do I do, what do I do, what do I do—
"Is that a guitar in your case?" "Yes yes yes—" Gotoh Hitori's melting point had clearly dropped.
"Did you come to the storage room to play the guitar?" "That's right, that's right, that's right—"
"Could you show me a little?"
"That's right, that's right, tha... huh?" Gotoh Hitori suddenly looked bewildered. How could anyone want to listen to the guitar playing of someone as humble and useless as me? He must want to take my guitar away. After all, someone like me isn't even worth one percent of a guitar—
"I said I want to hear you play the guitar, Gotoh Hitori. Show me what you can do." Miki Kashiwagi pulled out his phone, casually found a piece of simplified sheet music in his photo album, and handed it to Gotoh Hitori. Gotoh Hitori glanced at it; it wasn't particularly difficult for her, so she looked up at Miki Kashiwagi with considerable panic and begged for mercy: "You're not teasing me, are you? Will you let me leave once I finish playing?"
"Uh... right. Actually, I never intended to restrict your freedom in the first place."
With Miki Kashiwagi's confirmation, Gotoh Hitori very carefully took out her guitar, tuned it simply, and began to play. Truth be told, though Gotoh Hitori had an extremely sensitive personality, her guitar skills were remarkably high-level. The piece Miki Kashiwagi had given her was somewhat complex, but Gotoh Hitori not only produced a powerful tone and explosive rhythm without playing a single wrong note, she even added an improvised solo toward the end.
Even though just looking at her expression made you feel like this person regarded every single day as her last desperate struggle for survival, she possessed a remarkably normie skill set.
"That was a truly wonderful performance," Miki Kashiwagi said, clapping enthusiastically. "Gotoh Hitori is really amazing!"
"Hehehe~" Gotoh Hitori smiled shyly and scratched her head in embarrassment. "It... it's nothing, hehe~"
She really can't take a compliment, Gotoh Hitori.
"That being said, hiding in the storage room to play the guitar is still quite a dangerous thing to do, Gotoh Hitori. There are flammable materials and heavy objects everywhere here, and it would be bad if you got hurt." Business was business; as a teacher, he certainly couldn't ignore behavior like this. "If you want to play, you can come to the infirmary. When there aren't many people around, I can let you use the dispensary." Miki Kashiwagi pointed to his name tag. "Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Miki Kashiwagi, legal name Miki Kashiwagi, and I am the current school doctor here."
Haneoka's former school doctor had been packed off to Hanasakigawa Girls' High School. Miki Kashiwagi had only come to work at Haneoka as a favor owed between the school administration and his senior schoolmate, with a salary amounting to next to nothing. If anything actually happened, Miki Kashiwagi still had to run back and forth between both places, while the school board somehow managed to save two salaries—truly a joyous occasion.
"No, no, no, no, no," Gotoh Hitori shook her head with extreme humility. "How could someone as insignificant as a bug like me take up your precious space..."
"That's not true, Gotoh Hitori," Miki Kashiwagi said, patting Gotoh Hitori on the head. A strange feeling suddenly welled up inside Gotoh Hitori; for as long as she could remember, only her mother had ever patted her head like that. "You are an equal human being, just like me."
"I think we can become very good friends. It's quite common for friends to share their spaces with each other."
"Eh!? Friends? Me?" Gotoh Hitori pointed at herself with an incredulous expression.
"That's right, friends. We're friends. I love listening to your guitar, and I can even use the violin to accompany your guitar." Miki Kashiwagi had already opened LINE, waiting to add Gotoh Hitori's contact information.
"Friends, friends, friends, friends, friends... hehehehehe..."
Gotoh Hitori's expression gradually broke down as her soul wandered off to the outer reaches of space.
Mom, I made a friend! Not only does he not mind me scraping by within his line of sight, but he also likes listening to my guitar! He agreed to let me play the guitar by his side and is even willing to accompany me—is this what high school life is like? It's simply wonderful, I'm going to write a will to pass this friendship down to Futari, hehehehehe...