[Year: 2014 | Location: Shizuoka, Japan | Ren: 7 y/o, Grade 2 | Haruto: 8 y/o, Grade 3]
Class 2-A of Sakuragaoka Elementary School was unusually quiet that day.
The teacher, Miss Saito, was explaining a language exercise on the blackboard. Most of the children struggled to copy it down — except for Ren Akihara.
He had already finished.
Not just the example sentence, but the entire page.
"Ren-kun," Miss Saito called out with a warm smile, "Did you understand everything?"
Ren stood up. "Yes."
His tone was neither proud nor shy. Just… calm.
The other students glanced at him. Some admired him. Others found him strange.
Ren sat down again, watching the room as if it were a puzzle.
In his notebook, every word was placed with clinical precision. Not a stroke out of place. His letters were cleaner than the teacher's own writing.
After class, he walked quietly behind the other kids. He didn't laugh. He didn't shout. But he observed.
He watched how Kenji always cut in line for lunch. How Ayumi tilted her head when lying. How Miss Saito smiled more when she was tired.
He noticed everything.
Too much, perhaps.
Meanwhile, Haruto Akihara — in Class 3-B — was talking animatedly with his friends during lunch.
Unlike Ren, Haruto was bright, loud, and full of energy. But when their paths crossed in the hallway, he grinned and waved.
"Hey, Ren! Want to eat together?"
Ren hesitated. Then nodded.
They sat under the tree behind the school, away from the noise. Haruto opened his bento and started munching happily.
Ren didn't touch his lunch right away.
He watched his brother. Closely.
"How was your class?" Haruto asked with a mouthful.
"Fine," Ren replied.
A pause.
"Do you like school?" Haruto continued.
Ren thought for a moment. Then lied.
"…Yes."
Because if he told the truth —
That he didn't feel anything at all —
Haruto might stop smiling like that.
And Ren Akihara…
Was a child who watched too closely.