A Silent Voice: My First Kiss Was with Nishimiya Shouko

"Akira, wake up! We have to go check the class lists today!"

Shouko stood at the edge of the bed, shaking the half-asleep boy like she was exorcising a demon.

"Okay, okay, I'm up—stop shaking me already…" Akira sat up groggily and grabbed her wrists to stop her. He grumbled under his breath, "Seriously, where did my summer vacation go? That felt like five minutes…"

Seeing him looking like he might flop back into bed, Shouko raised her voice, "Akira! Don't mumble weird things—snap out of it!"

Snapping out of his half-conscious daze, Akira glanced over at his alarm clock. 8:53 a.m. He sighed and muttered, "It's still so early… we could've gone in the afternoon."

"School starts tomorrow," Shouko said with a patient smile, gently slipping her hands from his. "Let's get it over with early so we can play for the rest of the day."

"Got it, got it… wait for me downstairs, I'll get changed." He yawned, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

Shouko nodded, walking to the door. She paused at the frame, turned around with a playful smile, and teased, "Actually, you don't need to change. That pajama set looks kinda cute on you."

Then she bolted downstairs before he could react.

Akira looked down at the magenta magical girl pajamas he was wearing. He sighed.

Earlier in the summer, his mom and Aunt Yaeko had gone shopping and—on some ridiculous whim—bought him three sets of magical girl pajamas in different colors. He was a guy, not some doll! Still, they were weirdly comfortable…

Oh well. What's done is done.

"We're heading out!" x2

"Watch for cars and be careful crossing the road!"

The short trip that should've taken five minutes turned into a ten-minute stroll filled with jokes, teasing, and hand-holding. Neither of them minded one bit.

As they passed through the school gate, Shouko's eyes immediately caught the crowd forming under the classroom assignment boards by the school building. She tapped Akira's shoulder and said softly, "Look, there are already a lot of students checking the class lists."

"Let's sit down and wait for the crowd to clear a bit. No point in getting squeezed," Akira said, gently taking her hand and leading her toward a shaded bench under a tree.

"Mhm." Shouko didn't pull away. Since school hadn't technically started yet, no teachers were around to scold them.

"Naoka! Look! We're both in Class B!"

Near the assignment board, a bubbly girl with light brown braided pigtails and golden eyes—Kawai Miki—excitedly tugged the sleeve of her straight-haired friend beside her.

"I'm not blind, Miki. I saw it," Ueno Naoka replied dryly.

Miki chuckled, "Haha, sorry, I got excited! Oh! Look, Ishida Shouya and his group are with us too!"

Naoka's eyes followed Miki's finger to the names Ishida Shouya, Hirose Keisuke, and Shimada Ikki. Her gaze lingered a little too long on Ishida's name.

"Wait a second!" Miki suddenly gasped and covered her mouth in shock. "Naoka, look again! Miyamura Akira is in our class too!"

Naoka blinked. The name was familiar, but faint. "Who?"

"Miyamura Akira! You know, the kid who's always top of the entire grade!" Miki practically squealed.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. It's getting crowded. Let's go," Naoka said, already forcing her way through the throng of students.

Honestly, Miki got excited over the weirdest things. So what if some nerd was top of the class? It had nothing to do with her.

"Naoka, wait for me!" Miki squeezed through the crowd, but couldn't immediately spot her friend. Her smile quickly vanished. Seriously, what's her deal? Always acting so high and mighty…

Just then, Naoka's voice came from nearby. "Miki, hurry up already."

Miki smiled again in an instant. "Coming~!"

"Akira, the crowd's thinned out. Let's go look too," Shouko gently tugged his sleeve to wake him from his bench nap.

"Alright, alright." He stretched, yawned, and stood up. Then he offered her his hand, helping her to her feet.

They walked toward the display board together. Shouko scanned the names from Class A first. When she spotted Miu Matsuoka and Ito Chika, she let out a soft sigh.

"Miu and Chika are in Class A. Looks like Chika's wish didn't come true after all…"

Akira noticed the slight disappointment flicker across her face.

"It's okay," he said softly, patting her head. "You still have me. Besides, didn't you say you wanted to make more new friends this year?"

Shouko blushed, brushing his hand off and whispering, "Don't do that in public! People are watching…"

Still, the gloomy look in her eyes had vanished.

"Akira, we're both in Class B!" Shouko's eyes lit up as she spotted Miyamura Akira on the list. She hadn't even checked for her own name before shouting.

At the same time, Akira spotted Nishimiya Shouko right under his.

"Wanna go?" he asked, already turning away from the board.

"Yeah. There's not much else to see. Miu and Chika aren't with us, but a few familiar faces are. Oh—and the Class Rep ended up in Class A too."

They left the school building side by side.

Just outside the gate, Shouko slipped her hand into his and asked, "Do you think Minagawa-sensei will be our homeroom teacher again?"

Akira shrugged. "We'll find out tomorrow. Anyway, it's our last day of summer break. Where do you wanna go?"

"Hm… want to play 'Surreal House' with Shin-chan and the others? We can invite Yuzuru and Hachiko too!"

Shouko smiled, swinging his hand.

"…Huh!?"

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POWER STONE!!!

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