Mushoku No Sonzai 無色の存在 (Colorless Existence)

Classroom
End Of Day
Perspective : Nobiyuki Susumu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The bell rings. Students begin exiting their seats impatiently. As I rise from my seat, I notice Ren still asleep. H-How did the teacher not notice?
I nudge his shoulder.

"Wake up, Ren. Hey, school is over now."

He stretches his arm forward.

"I know, I know."

A familiar voice appears behind us. Her voice as cheerful as ever.

"Nobiyuki-kun, Ren. You're still here."

Smiling at Alice, I point a finger at Ren.

"Yeah. I had to wake this lazy guy up. He was sleeping during class."

He springs up from his seat, suddenly full of energy.

"H-Hey! What are you saying? I wasn't sleeping! I was just concentrating on what the teacher was saying!"

He leans towards Alice.

"Y-You believe me, right?"

"Yes."

She pouts her face.

"It isn't good to lie, Nobiyuki-kun."

"I-I wasn't lying..."

Looking at Ren in annoyance, Alice reaches for her bag.

"Oh! I remember now! I wanted to ask you both something!"

We stare as she continues to fish through her bag. What could it be? A love letter? A task only I can do? Oh, the curiosity...
She pulls out what appeared to be tickets.

"Here it is!"

In her hand was a ticket to a popular amusement park.

"You see, my dad works for the amusement park here, and he felt nice enough to give me free tickets to bring a friend!"

Ren squints at the ticket.

"Your dad lives in Japan?"

"Of course. I don't live alone, silly."

We stare at each other for a moment.

"Um...Alice..."

"Yes?"

"There's only one ticket..."

"I know."

Ren gives me a look of confusion.

"I wanted to know if one of you would want to go with me this weekend."

Suddenly, Ren's look of confusion quickly turns into a competitive face.
Alice gives us a glance, waiting for a reply.

"Alice, please excuse us for a minute."

We walk outside the classroom, into the hallway. Ren closes the door slowly. As soon as he turns around, he makes a strong decision,

"I'll go."

"Huh!? Why you? That's not fair!"

"But, you can always go another time."

"I could say the same to you!"

"The tickets are cheap."

"They're 6000 Yen!"

He scratches his head.

"You can be farther away from me now since you have your own innate Reiki already."