Every time he walked down the hallway, people stepped aside. 　It was always like this in the mornings. 　The moment Fuwa Ren entered through the school entrance, the first-year student walking ahead shifted to the side. Not that he'd done anything to make them. Their bodies just moved on their own. Each time Ren's thin frame advanced down the corridor, his black hair standing slightly on end, students pressed their backs against the walls, still clutching their textbooks. "……It's Fuwa." 　Someone whispered. "[whispers]Look, that guy" 　Ren pretended not to hear. Or rather, even if he had heard, it didn't matter. His deep brown, upturned eyes remained fixed straight ahead as he walked toward Class 2-3. A slightly wrinkled white shirt. Hands shoved into the pockets of black slacks. A thin silhouette draped in a leather jacket. From any angle, he looked like "bad news." 　In reality, Ren had never punched anyone in his life. 　It didn't matter. Fear was decided by appearance. He'd accepted that long ago. 　When he opened the classroom door, everything was as usual. 　Around his seat by the window, there was a hollow gap. Not just the desk next to him. The ones in front and behind were also slightly distant. No one was doing it consciously, probably. But as a result, Ren's desk had become an island unto itself. 　Ren sat down without a word. He couldn't bring himself to take out his textbooks, so he turned his gaze toward the window. 　The Uno River came into view. 　The river caught the morning light and gleamed dully. Far beyond it, toward the south, the tip of a crane was visible. The Minato District redevelopment site. A massive arm moved slowly in an arc. It was moving. There was something in this city that was actually working. 　For some reason, he couldn't look away. 　Harumiya City was a provincial town ninety minutes from Tokyo by train. Population around 120,000. It had apparently thrived on fishing once, but now people were slowly leaving. Redevelopment was progressing in the Minato District along the southern waterfront, and the large crane operated by Kawase Construction was visible even from the school windows. On clear days during class, the crane piercing the blue sky would catch his eye. 　That alone, somehow, he liked. Because it was moving. Because it seemed alive. 　The chime rang. Ren returned his gaze to the blackboard. --- 　When lunch break came, Ren left the classroom. 　First, he stopped by the school store. 　The store was at the very back of the first floor. Behind the small window counter stood Kusunoki Maho. A woman with black hair tied tightly into a bun, about 155 centimeters tall. Round black eyes that crinkled at the corners when she smiled. Over her apron, she wore a salmon-pink cardigan today. "Oh, Ren" 　Kusunoki's face brightened immediately. "[gentle]Here you go" 　At the edge of the counter, a yakisoba bread sat waiting. Wrapped in plastic wrap and sealed with clear tape. It didn't have Ren's name written on it, but it was his. Every day, she set one aside before they sold out. "……Thank you very much" 　Ren used polite language. Only with Kusunoki did it come naturally. They'd known each other since elementary school. She'd been working at this store since back when Ren was still wearing a school backpack. She was one of the few adults who had never gotten angry or frightened. "[gentle]Eating lunch alone again today?" "……Yeah" "[gentle]I see" 　Kusunoki didn't say anything more. That was what he liked about her—she never said unnecessary things. Never said things like "that's sad" or "you should make friends." She just set aside yakisoba bread for him. That was all. 　Ren thanked her and left the store. --- 　The door to the roof was locked. 　But Ren knew how to open it. If you pushed the metal part of the lock slightly upward while turning it, it would click open. Probably warped from years of deterioration. Whether the school didn't care to fix it or didn't know how, it had stayed that way since Ren enrolled. 　When he stepped onto the roof, there was wind. 　The concrete floor was slightly warm in the sunlight. Ren sat down a little distance from the fence and opened the yakisoba bread bag. The vinyl crinkled. 　No one was here. 　Voices drifted up from the schoolyard below. "Pass!" and "Over there!" Someone was playing basketball. It felt distant. 　Ren bit into the yakisoba bread. The smell of sauce rose up. Not bad. 　He gazed vaguely beyond the fence. Across the Uno River, toward the south, the crane was visible. The same one he'd seen during class. Even in the afternoon light, it moved slowly. （That thing's huge） 　It was lifting steel beams that weighed dozens of tons with that thin arm. He didn't quite understand the mechanism, but it was working properly. Ren took another bite of yakisoba bread and watched it for a while. 　It was time that belonged to no one. 　He could breathe, just a little. --- 　After school, Tamura came by. 　Tamura was one of the rare people Ren could actually talk to. He didn't flinch when he saw Ren. Ren wasn't sure why he didn't flinch, but he figured Tamura probably just didn't sweat the small stuff. "[serious]Hey, Ren. I need a favor" "What is it" "[serious]You know that Kawase Construction site in Minato District? The big redevelopment one?" "Don't know" "[serious]My work senpai is there, and he asked me to deliver a lunch box, but I've got something on Saturday" 　Ren clicked his tongue. "[sarcastic]Why are you asking me" "[serious]I don't have anyone else to ask. Please. I'll cover the bus fare" 　It was a pain. A construction site—he didn't even know if you were allowed to go in. How many lunch boxes were there anyway? 　But Tamura didn't ask people for favors often. When he did, it was because he was really in a bind. "……Fine" "[excited]Really?! Thanks!" 　Tamura left. Ren looked out the window. The sunset painted the western sky red, and the Minato District crane floated as a silhouette against it. "[whispers]……Tomorrow then" 　When he murmured it like a soliloquy, the hallway came into view. 　A crowd had gathered in the hallway. Or rather, people naturally seemed to collect there. Three or four girls. And in their center stood one girl. 　Chestnut-brown semi-long hair swayed softly in the hallway light. 　Shiratori Mashiro. He knew immediately. 　Everyone knew her. The object of admiration for the entire student body, consistently top of the class academically, she looked beautiful wherever she was. Her clear green, single-lidded eyes were turned gently toward the girls around her. She smiled quietly as she spoke. About 158 centimeters tall, with a graceful posture. The naturally wavy ends of her hair trembled slightly. 　He understood, somehow, why she was called "Your Princess." That was the kind of atmosphere she had. 　It was a world completely unrelated to Ren. 　He turned his gaze back. The crane outside the window was still moving, even in the sunset. --- 　Saturday morning, Ren boarded the bus. 　From the bus rotary in front of Harumiya Central Station, buses to Minato District departed regularly. There were few passengers. Ren sat in a window seat and watched the scenery pass. The arcade shopping street of Uno-machi flowed past the car windows. About half the shutters were closed. Apparently there used to be more people, but he didn't know much about it. 　In twelve minutes, they arrived at Minato District in the south. 　The moment he stepped off the bus, the air changed. 　The smell of salt. And something like burning metal. The sound was loud too. The roar of heavy machinery and the hard clang of steel beams colliding drifted from a distance. 　A vast site enclosed by fencing stretched before him. A sign at the entrance read "Kawase Construction Minato District Redevelopment Project." Inside, two massive cranes stretched their arms toward the blue sky. Three backhoes were gouging at the ground. Men in work clothes and hard hats moved like ants everywhere. 　Impressive, he thought honestly. 　Ren adjusted the lunch box bag in his arms and approached the entrance. When he told the security guard his business, the man pointed to a prefab office deeper in. "The office is over there." 　Once inside the site, the ground was gravel and dirt, difficult to walk on without work boots. The gravel pressed into the soles of his sneakers as he walked toward the prefab. He passed by helmeted men. No one paid attention to Ren. Everyone was focused on their own work, so one stranger walking through didn't matter. It was the opposite of the school hallway, Ren thought vaguely. 　Then a small figure entered the edge of his vision. 　Near the materials storage area, someone was carrying something long and thin. Work clothes. Hard hat. Work boots. Small in stature. Not a man. 　Ren stopped walking. 　For some reason, his eyes were drawn there. Sweat clinging to strands of hair against a cheek. A profile visible beneath the hard hat's brim. 　（……Wait） 　He'd seen that face before. Definitely. Where——. 　The figure turned toward him. 　Their eyes met. 　Clear green eyes. Single-lidded. 　The hallway scene from yesterday flashed through Ren's mind. Semi-long, naturally wavy hair. A gentle smile. A profile whispered about as "Your Princess." "……No way" 　The words escaped him. 　Shiratori Mashiro stood in this construction site, wearing muddy work clothes. 　Color drained from Mashiro's face. The face that had been focused on work just a second before turned visibly pale. The arm holding the materials went still. Her body froze in place, as if it had stopped moving entirely. 　Ren couldn't move either. 　They both just stood there. 　The massive crane above moved its arm slowly, the sound flowing over their heads.