Days Spent With You

                                    

                                          


                          
  The beginning of another semester. It was the same as the previous one, and the one before that. Friends catching up after summer break, students shuffling about trying to find their classroom, obligatory introductions for classmates he'd forget in a week. Soraru sighed at how repetitive it all was. It was his third year here and nothing out of the ordinary ever happened. Though, some could argue this was because Soraru never bothered to put himself out there. He wasn't sure if he liked spending his time by himself or if he just didn't know how to properly socialize with people. It might've been a little bit of both.
                          
  Within the first few weeks of the semester, it was time to vote for a class representative. No one seemed to want the job, so it was forced onto Soraru by a majority vote. He didn't complain and shrugged off the halfhearted congratulations the teacher gave him. If nobody wanted to take responsibility yet and keep acting like kids, then why not let them? They'd all be graduating and entering the real world soon anyway. Soraru wasn't entirely sure what the class representative was supposed to do, but he figured keeping the class in line and running errands was part of the job. His speculations were proven correct when the teacher sent him out to go make copies of a worksheet a few days after being assigned this position.
                          
  Soraru went down to one of the computer labs, where the copy machine was. The room was empty, except for a short male sitting at one of the computers in the corner. Based on how young he still looked, Soraru guessed that he was a first year. Soraru ignored the male for the most part and got to work copying the worksheets. The copy machine was incredibly slow, probably thanks to the school's lousy budget, so Soraru ended up spending more time down there than he thought he would. Making twenty copies of this stupid worksheet was going to take forever. Soraru tapped on the top of the machine impatiently as it struggled to spit out the eleventh worksheet. From beside him, the printer on the table suddenly started running.
                          
  Soraru glanced over to see the first year walking up to the printer. The male collected the newly printed papers. That must've been what he was working on. The male noticed Soraru's gaze and gave him a small smile.
                          
      "That copy machine sure is slow. It's probably really old," the first year commented. His voice was light and friendly sounding.
                          
  Soraru sighed. "Yeah, no kidding."
                          
      "It's pretty loud too. I wonder if it needs to have something fixed," the first year said with a laugh. He gave the copy machine a small pat. "Do your best, Mr. Copy Machine. You can't give up yet, or else the school will have to replace you. And I bet that's expensive."
                          
      "Do you always talk to inanimate objects like that?" Soraru asked, amusement in his voice.
                          
      "Would you laugh at me if I said I do sometimes?" the first year responded a bit sheepishly.
                          
      "I might," Soraru said.
                          
      "I guess that's fair," the first year said, before pausing for a moment. "I'm MafuMafu, by the way."
                          
      "I'm Soraru," Soraru said simply.
                          
      "Well, I should probably get back to class now. My teacher will get mad if I don't turn in my report on time. It was nice meeting you, though, Soraru-san," MafuMafu smiled warmly.
                          
  He turned and headed towards the door to the computer lab. Soraru expected him to just bound out into the hall without saying anything else, but when MafuMafu got to the door he looked back at Soraru.
                          
      "Bye bye, Soraru-san. And best of luck to you, Mr. Copy Machine," MafuMafu said.
                          
  He left with a wave, and Soraru slowly waved back in response. What a strange kid. Soraru looked back over at the copy machine as it finished making the seventeenth worksheet. Soraru sighed. Looks like he still had a few more to go.