Old friends? Or friends...

My steps approached the figure with a sturdy and slightly wide body, he was leaning against the wall, continuing to focus on his book, His sapphire blue eyes continued to trace every word written on the almost worn paper.

I got closer, closer, I looked again, did I see things wrong? Or is this really him? His blue eyes, his blue hair, his white shirt that contrasted with his body size.

"Jerry is that you?"

He turned to me, his eyes slightly widened, and more than that, there was a sense of unexpected surprise,

"Wow, so you also go to school here?" I couldn't hold back my curiosity, my eyes sparkled, seeing the figure of my old friend now back with me, but his expression looked unhappy.

He closed his book slowly, took a very, very long breath, then looked at me with a flat face, almost unreadable.

"Sorry, it looks like you have the wrong person."

"W-What? What do you mean?" My voice was almost a scream, not believing what he said.

He walked away from me, as if trying to avoid me, while his face tried to hold back something invisible, I held his hand tightly, with sparkling eyes.

"Hey, don't pretend you don't recognize me!!! You remember, right?" I say with you fake sadness, he turned his head and gave a momentary look of disgust that lasted a moment.

"Why do I have to be in the same class as you?" He shouted his complaints, with a high tone of sarcasm, my knees fell with the fake drama, I was still holding his hand tightly, making a fake sad face, looking at him with sparkling eyes.

"Jerry is so evil, why are all people in this world evil??"

Iam standing up from my spot and patting off the dust that had stuck to my pants and shirt.

"Okay, forget that, I was just kidding you know? So, how are you?" Now his voice was much more familiar, I nodded when he asked,and with enthusiasm I answered his question.

"I'm fine, how about you?" I asked him back, he curved a cynical smile, but also full of laziness to respond.

"Well... you know, a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, and then it ended up like this."

"Okay, that doesn't explain it." I groaned at his half-hearted response, a hint of sarcasm and mockery hidden in it.

"Well... You already know what I'm like, right?" He raised an eyebrow, as if he believed what he had just said.

I raised one of my hands, and nudged his body with my elbow, giving him a little mischievous look and the same smile. "Of course, you're my old friend you know?"

He just gave a forced smile, and let out a bitter laugh that made me laugh.

***

Now we are sitting on a chair in the hall, watching the student council give material about introducing the school. The loudspeakers were buzzing, I just watched in boredom, and so did Jerry.

I looked to the right, then looked to the left, I saw all the students paying attention to the material being given enthusiastically and carefully, I looked straight ahead again.

"I'm confused, they all seem enthusiastic huh." I grumbled, filled with confusion, Jerry glanced at me and gave me a small, meaningless chuckle.

"Unlike those who come here for achievements, we are here just to obey the rules, right?" Jerry said in a calm, soothing tone, I nodded in agreement with the statement.

"Oh yeah Jerry, by the way I wanted to ask you a question." After a moment of my words, Jerry turned his head with curious eyes, tilting his head he asked.

"What do you want to ask?"

For a moment I was silent, thinking and putting together words that I might be able to say, all the words were spinning in my head, then after thinking of a question, my mouth opened.

"How did you end up at this school?"

As if the situation had reversed, now Jerry was silent with a flat face and his sapphire blue eyes staring at me deeply, almost unreadable..

"Well... I don't really know either, but my uncle and aunt sent me to school here, I can only accept it, right?"

"So after that incident, you went back to live with your uncle and aunt?"

Silence, my question created an almost unexpected silence, Jerry's lips and teeth were tightly clenched, he stared at me more deeply, then nodded slowly, a I understood from his subtle actions,

"I won't ask anything else."

Jerry nodded, then opened his book again and then his fingers began to turn page after page, looking for the last sign of reading.

"But I want to ask one more thing." I turned to him, with eyes full of curiosity, as if the question had been piling up for a long time.

Jerry took a deep breath, glanced at me lazily, his hand started to close the book once again, and turned to me, one hand propped up on his chin, ready to listen.

"Do you know what's happening with our other friends?"

Jerry's eyes narrowed for a moment, then his pupils glanced away, as if he had forgotten a topic he wanted to bring up.

"Ahh.. I haven't told you yet huh?"

I nodded quickly, because there was no topic from Jerry that discussed anything about our other friends, Jerry took a deep breath, searching for words, then his voice sounded a little low.

"Actually, our friends, Danji, Yadz, and the others, also go to school here, you know? But I don't know what grade they're in.

My eyes widened, not believing what he said, besides my chest also felt hot, like a feeling of enthusiasm, joy and passion that just appears at the same time.

"Ehhh?? Since when did you guys communicate with each other?" I asked, with a tone of incurable shock.

Jerry nodded slowly, without answering my question, just his fingers preparing to roll another layer of paper, Before that could happen, I grabbed his hand, he turned and looked at me.

"Hey! Tell me! How do you know that???"

I shook his body left and right quite quickly, he just kept a straight face, but there was also a faint smile that was invisible, as if he had found a moment he had not seen for a long time

His hands were raised, his fingers also started to rise, then he folded one of them, and one stopped with a strong flick directed at my head.

"Ouch!!" I screamed, groaned in pain, rubbed my hot and red forehead, while the people around me, their eyes began to pay attention to the two of us.

"I know where it came from doesn't matter, what matters is that we're all back together, right? Regardless of how it ended."

I gave him a bitter smile, my forehead still throbbing and hot after what he did to me.

Jerry stared vertically ahead, his eyes darting around something, as if he was searching for an object that had disappeared, one eyebrow raised in a puzzled expression.

"Where did the principal go? It's been a while, right? Shouldn't he be giving us other environmental introduction materials?"

I nodded at his complaint which was uttered with a high tone of sarcasm. "That's right, why hasn't the principal come yet?"

After a while of us talking about it, one of the teachers went up on stage, in front of all the new students, he took a loudspeaker and started to speak.

"The principal is having a little trouble, so now you can take a break and go around the school to get to know our school environment."

After a few moments of hearing that information, Jerry and I started to stand up from our chairs, then prepared to leave, when I was about to step forward, Jerry's hand touched my shoulder, I turned my head in confusion.

"Take a look, there's something strange."

Then his hand pointed towards the crowd of several teachers who should not have any business being in the welcoming hall, their faces were panicked, they were arguing with each other, interrupting each other,defending each other, no matter what happens.

My steps steadily approached them, closer and closer, while Jerry began to show an unpleasant expression.

"Hey, I think that's enough, it's none of our business right? How about we try going to the school cafeteria?"

I kept walking, ignoring Jerry who kept on chattering behind me non-stop, after I got really close, I started to hear their murmurs.

"Then who put the poison!?"

The words of one of them made me stop in my tracks, my eyes widened, my hands started shaking, not because of fear, but because of an adrenaline rush of pleasure that comes from nowhere, can't be hidden, I started to curl my lips wide, as if this was what I was waiting for.

"Ohh.. no, not again." Jerry mumbled at the end of his sentence, still looking at me with a hopeful expression.