Eating lunch with Reiko Maeda.

“Happy birthday,” Leonardo said, smiling and putting the bento box on top of Maeda-san’s desk. “I wish it could’ve been a surprise, but then you would’ve brought your own lunch.”

With a big, giddy smile, Maeda-san opened the box to see its contents.

“Oh wow! This looks amazing!” she praised. Her eyes sparkled in such a way that it made Leonardo glad he put in the effort, even if he didn’t think it was all that much. Other classmates gathered around and saw the food as well, and he could understand the words of praise. The lunch consisted of three croquettes topped with tonkatsu sauce and sesame seeds, and two halves of a hard-boiled egg on top of rice and lettuce with a single cherry tomato for decoration.

“I just followed a recipe, so don’t give me too much credit,” he chuckled. “Besides, it doesn’t matter how nice it looks if it doesn’t taste good.”

“Alright then,” still smiling, she put her hands together and said something that translated to ‘thanks for the food’. Using her chopsticks with natural expertise Leonardo had yet to acquire, she took one of the croquettes to her mouth and took a small bite from it. Her eyes widened. “It’s really good!” she said after swallowing. “Really, really good!”

“Then I did my job right,” Leonardo nodded satisfied and got his own bento.

Their other classmates, after wishing Maeda-san a happy birthday, left for their own seats to have their lunches. Leonardo couldn’t help but think it was odd. Maeda-san seemed like a nice girl. None of her classmates treated her coldly or anything, and even came up to her every so often with questions related to school subjects. She always answered with a smile and never turned anyone away. He could tell she was popular, both because of how approachable she was and, well, because of her cute looks. Yet she didn’t spend her breaks with anyone else but him.

He thought that girl who complained on the first day when she was made to change seats was friends with Maeda-san, but that didn’t seem to be the case. And it wasn’t like he could ask his other classmates. He was getting better at understanding what people said, to some extent and thanks to having Mrs. Wisler and Maeda-san to practice with, but he still couldn’t communicate well.

“Oh! You only have one croquette,” Maeda-san noticed, looking at his lunch and then back at hers. They were the same, but like she said, his had less croquettes. “You didn’t give me yours, did you?” she asked, worried.

“No, no,” Leonardo laughed. “I kind of screwed up and had to give some of mine up. It’s fine. I don’t eat much, anyway.”

His father used to say that, when people eat in silence, it’s either because there is nothing to say or the food is too good. This time, he was inclined to believe it was the latter. They ate in a quiet, comfortable silence until they were finished. Perhaps it said something that she finished at the same time as him when he had less food.

The previous thought kept bothering him, however, and he decided to ask in a more roundabout way.

“I hope I’m not taking much of your time,” he told her with a small, apologetic smile. “Please don’t feel like you need to spend time with me. I’m sure you have friends you’d like to hang out with.”

Her smile slowly faded, and her eyes glanced at the table, downcast.

“I’m sorry,” he immediately said, feeling guilty. “I said something wrong.”

“No, not really,” she **** a chuckle. She kept quiet for a moment looking at her phone to see the time and then turned to him. “Would you… come with me to the rooftop? I’d like to talk, but it’s too crowded here.”

“Sure,” he nodded. They put away the bento boxes and Leonardo followed Maeda-san up the stairs.

The rooftop was nothing fancy, with a tall, chain-linked fence surrounding its perimeter. It gave view to both the main gates to the school and the backyard, where students were hanging out and playing football. The place was empty, with only 10 minutes of lunch break remaining.

“Sorry to drag you here,” Maeda-san chuckled softly. “I realized when we were coming up that we could’ve spoken in English and no one would’ve known what we were talking about.”

He laughed along with her. “You’re not gonna badmouth our classmates are you?”

“Of course not!” she answered immediately, her face falling. “But I could still say things they wouldn’t like.”

“What is it?”

They both walked to the side of the fence overlooking the football field and stood there, looking down as they talked.

“About what you said before…” she sighed. “I don’t really have friends here in this school. But it’s not because I don’t want to, or because everyone is cold to me.”

“Then why?”

“My parents are very strict,” she said, suddenly sounding tired and exasperated. “They are the type to push their children to be the best they can. I have two older brothers. One is working a well-paying office job in the mainland, and the other is in the middle of his university studies in Tokyo. My parents want me to do the same, next year.”

Leonardo let out an annoyed groan. “Can I guess the rest? They don’t want you hanging out with other people?”

Slowly, Maeda-san nodded. “Did you know there are two schools in this town? Of them, this one has the lower academic achievements. I was supposed to enroll at the other one, like my brothers, but… I didn’t make it. My parents hate the fact that I’m in this school, but we don’t have any other choice. They don’t want me getting close to people who attend here.”

“That’s stupid,” he spat, but regretted it immediately. “Sorry. That was uncalled for.”

“No,” she shook her head. “I agree. It’s stupid.”

They both started laughing at that, and he was glad that seemed to lift her spirits up a bit.