In this past year, I had finally memorized the route to Aldera Junior High. Surely, even someone with a sense of direction as abysmal as mine could manage that much within a year. …I did memorize it, right? I must have. I definitely did. I am not a child, after all.
Or so I told myself until the moment I left the house.
"Hmph… I am lost. I've truly gone and done it now."
I had brought the hand-drawn map my lackey had tossed at me some time ago, but… where exactly did I take a wrong turn? I followed the lines exactly as they were drawn, yet I've arrived in a place I don't recognize at all.
…Well, no matter. So long as I return by nightfall, all will be well. As usual, I am strictly forbidden from wandering out after dark.
I felt a twinge of guilt toward my parents and Himiko, but I slipped out of the house in secret around four-thirty. I had wanted to leave in the middle of the night, but doing so would have only invited a scolding.
It was a struggle to extricate myself from the sleeping Himiko's arms without waking her. Fearing someone might intercept me at the front door, I made a silent exit through my bedroom window. As a result, I am currently wearing these peculiar foot-coverings called "sandals." The size doesn't quite fit my feet, making it rather difficult to walk.
I am set to enter U.A. High School the day after tomorrow. Because of that, there was something I simply had to confirm under the cover of night—or rather, before the world fully woke.
The spring night… actually, it can hardly be called night anymore. I can see the morning sun, so "night" is a bit of a stretch. Compared to a winter night—or morning—it isn't cold at all. I bundled up just in case, but it seems it was a wasted effort.
Now then, where was Aldera Junior High again? Where am I? Which way did I even walk to get here?
"Good grief. I really must do something about this lack of direction." It is a problem if I cannot even walk about on my own. To think I cannot even read a map… How did I ever survive in that era? It is a mystery even to me.
"…Hm? Is that the sea?"
As I wandered aimlessly, convinced I would eventually arrive somewhere, I caught the scent of the tide. If I strained my ears, I could hear the sound of the waves. It seemed that while I intended to head for the school, I had drifted toward the coast instead. If memory served… the school was in the exact opposite direction. In that case, I simply needed to charge forward the other way.
Excellent. No problem at all. I've fixed the direction in my mind. This time, I shall reach my destination for certain.