koume sato (school friend or more.)

At the back of the room, Koume Sato sat by the window, her gaze lost in the sky beyond the glass. Her finger absently twirled the tip of a pencil on the table. She seemed oblivious to his presence until, without turning her head, she spoke:

"Are you still here?"

The question didn’t seem to require an answer, but the silence that followed caused the protagonist to hesitate. Before he could say anything, Koume sighed and finally turned around, resting his chin on his hand.

"Don't tell me you're expecting some interesting conversation. If that's the case, I'm sorry, but I'm not very good at filling in unnecessary silences."

Despite her casual tone, there was something about the way she was watching him—as if she was assessing him, trying to figure out what was keeping him there. The sunlight glinted in her eyes, and for a moment, it looked like she was going to say something else. But then she just looked away and went back to twirling the pencil between her fingers.

.