Chapter 1 – The Battle Against Boredom

Six years prior to Shouya and Shouko’s reunion, Ishida Shouya was a fifth year elementary schooler.

Back then, the worst thing Shouya could possibly imagine was “boredom”.

Go to school, study, play with friends, sleep… Shouya was absolutely fed up with doing the same thing over and over every single day.

His sister could have fun with her revolving cast of boyfriends, and his mom could run the hair salon. He was so jealous at how enjoyable their daily lives looked.

All he wanted, deep down, was to find something truly interesting. Something that could really set his heart racing.

The best way he found to express that was in his favorite type of play: daredevil contests.

It was yet another day after school that Shouya dragged his classmates Shimada and Hirose to the old stone bridge with the “No Trespassing” sign. There was a river running underneath that stone bridge, and the day’s daredevil contest was to jump into the river from the bridge.

Shimada carefully leaned over the bridge, watching the river below. “That’s pretty high… looks like it’d hurt.”

“Can’t know for sure until you jump right in!” Shouya responded, his eyes gleaming.

Even just looking down was enough to send a shiver all the way down Shouya’s spine. It was so scary! But that only made it all the more exciting.

“Hyah!” With a great shout, Shouya leapt into the river.

Water soared up into the air, displaced by a great splash.

Hirose’s eyes scanned the area below the bridge. “Wow, he actually did it.”

“He’s seriously gonna kill himself one of these days.”

Regardless, once Shouya surfaced from the water and started egging them on, the two other boys gathered their resolve and leapt in as well. They might grumble and complain, but there was a lot of fun to be had in following along with Shouya’s goofiness.

Shouya felt satisfaction swelling from within as he went to the shore with Shimada and Hirose. Another great victory against boredom!

Shouya’s sister had once said, “Life is an endless battle against boredom,” and that had more or less become his own motto.

Any hope of victory in such a battle had to be brought about by his own hand, his own creation of thrills and stimuli. That was what he needed daredevil contests and good comrades for.

Spring came around, heralding the start of Shouya’s sixth and final year in elementary school. He found himself placed in class 6-2 with Shimada and Hirose. Well, them and Ueno Naoka. Ueno had managed to trade out her seat assignment slip, putting her right next to Shouya.

Shouya let his displeasure from the turn of events show clearly on his face. “Oh great, an annoying deskmate, just what I needed!”

“Shut it, baldy.” Ueno never was one to take an insult sitting down.

Kawai Miki sat in front of Shouya, and she turned around to face Ueno with a grin. “Great to have you so close by.”

“I know, right?” Ueno matched Kawai’s smile.

Kawai was on the student council, always wore her hair in braids, and was a good friend of Ueno’s.

But Shouya couldn’t have cared less about any of that as he yawned wide.

Another girl in the class let out a squeal, sounding like she had just remembered something.

“Oh yeah, where’s the new transfer student gonna sit?!”

“I’ll figure out an open seat when we get to that,” was the quiet response of Takeuchi-sensei, their homeroom teacher.

Another classmate put their hand in the air. “Is it gonna be a boy or a girl, sensei?”

“A girl.”

Excited murmurs went through the classroom, affecting boys and girls alike.

Ueno nudged Shouya with her elbow. “Lucky you, Ishida!”

“Huh?! Like I care!”

Shouya walked out of the school entrance with Shimada and Hirose once their boring classes were finally over. All the sakura trees were in full bloom, and petals rained down, twirling and dancing in the wind.

All Shouya could think about was what kind of daredevil contest he should put on for the day.

“Where d’ya wanna go, Shima?”

“Sorry, I got cram school today.”

“Aw c’mon, just skip out,” Shouya said offhandedly.

Shimada chuckled dryly. “If I skip out too much, my parents’re gonna catch on. Shouldn’t you start thinking about cram school, too?”

“Oh, just get outta here!” Shouya swung his fists around as Shimada walked away laughing. “Well, guess it’s just you and me today, Hirose.”

“You know, if you jump into water from higher than 50 feet, it’s the same as jumping onto concrete.”

Shouya flipped his head towards Hirose. Hirose returned his gaze in silence.

“The heck’s that supposed to mean, Hirose?”

“…Look, I’ve wanted to say this for a while, but… shouldn’t we be finding a safer and more productive way to spend our time?”

Shouya stopped in place. Hirose took another step before turning around, and there was something strangely adult-like in the look on his face.

“Don’t you think it’s time we quit all this… daredevil stuff?”

Shouya was so shocked that he couldn’t even respond. He thought that at least Hirose would still go along with him. But now…

Shouya didn’t know what to do with the heavy feelings weighing him down. He went straight home, played some video games alone, ate dinner with his mom, watched some TV, then played some more games.

It was a peaceful, safe, thrill-free way to spend the afternoon… and he could already feel the boredom eating away at his soul. He was actually gonna lose to it soon. He had to do something…

Of course, accustomed as Shouya was to his thrilling tests of courage, it would take more than a little excitement to really satisfy him.

And it was right then that Nishimiya Shouko entered the stage.

Takeuchi-sensei’s voice echoed through the class during that morning’s homeroom. “Listen up, everyone. We have a new friend joining us today.”

“She’s here!”

The class broke into a hubbub, and everyone’s eyes were on the girl with the bob cut who had followed Takeuchi-sensei into the classroom.

Shouya was unaffected. A transfer student was just another person.

“Now then, please introduce yourself.”

Everyone waited to hear the girl’s voice… but she just stood there silently.

Takeuchi-sensei tapped the girl’s shoulder. “Introduce yourself.”

The girl pulled a notebook out of her backpack and flipped open the cover, holding it sideways. She showed the class the first page, on which a message was written.

My name is Nishimiya Shouko. It’s nice to meet you all.

The murmurs spread louder throughout the class.

The Shouko girl flipped to the next page.

I hope to become good friends with all of you through this notebook.

Next page.

If anyone needs to talk to me, I would ask that you do so in this book.

The next page.

I can’t hear.

It was like all sound in the world had been sucked out.

All that existed were those three words on the page.

I can’t hear.

For Shouya, it was no less than an alien encounter.