Hiroko thought about Aki's high school days. What was he like then? Could the female Aki tell her something about her counterpart?

Dear Aki,

Thanks for your letter, it has straightened everything out. Yes, I'm looking for a male Aki, and he's your classmate. Aki was my fiancé. Do you remember anything about him? Maybe you could tell me what he was like ten years ago.

Sincerely, Hiroko

Aki tried to remember about her high school days. Her school was Otaru High, but the things she could remember first were the bad times in her teenage years. She did not enjoy herself too much in her high school, and she gradually remembered the reason why.

Dear Hiroko,

Let me relate to you the first day of class and the teacher was taking attendance.

"Kotaba-san!"
"Hai!"
"Yamaguchi-san!"
"Hai!"
"Fujii Itsuki-san!"
"Hai!"

Two voices rang out in the classroom. Heads turned. There were two people with the same name! The teacher smiled, "This is the first time anything like this has happened!"

The trouble started from that day. We were both quite shy and quiet, so we became the target of much of the teasing that came from the others. They would write our names two times on the space meant for the two students on duty on the blackboards. Or "Aki loves Aki" might appear quite frequently.

Aki began to remember more of the things that happened so many years ago. She tried to recall what he looked like. He wasn't exactly a hunk, and she did not think he was very motivated. Still, they were becoming a "pair" due to the constant teasing. He did not like the jokes that were played on them, but did not seem to stand up for her either. He was just apathetic to the whole thing.

There was one time when he did get angry. We were having an election for the class president. Somehow, the other classmates had it all set up, and your Aki and I got the same number of votes. It was a cruel joke. The guy who announced the result said, "And the winner is...Aki...and Aki!" Clap, clap, clap. I think I cried or something, your Aki blew up. He grabbed the guy by the collar and threw him to the wall. The classroom became chaotic, everyone tried to separate the two. Our teacher, Mrs. Hito, came in and stopped the proceedings. She sent your Aki to the school library as a punishment. I went along.

I worked at the school library after school hours, and Mrs. Hito was also the head of the library. Your Aki was quite weird. He borrowed books which others wouldn't normally borrow, like history and philosophy. He also like to do one peculiar thing. There is this card which is in each book's pocket. As the student borrowed a book, his name and the due date would be recorded on it. Your Aki liked to take those books which aren't popular, as the cards would be blank, and borrowed them, thus having his name on it. I don't know exactly why he did this for, he probably was a boring person and didn't have much things to do.

Once I was riding my bicycle home, a guy with a groceries bag covering his whole head was waiting by his bike beside the road. He had two holes cut out to enable him to see. I could see that it was your Aki quite easily. As I cycled past him, he caught up with me, and without warning, pulled the grocery bag off his head, and threw it over my head. I screamed and had to stop before I hit a tree. I wonder how mean the guy could get.

I remember the time when your Aki did a crazy thing. He had gotten into an accident, and nearly broke his leg. Anyway, he was a member of the school athletics team, and the sports day was coming up which saw competitors from many schools. He could not take part, so on that day, he just sat on the grass beside the running track at the starting line and watched the races. When his pet event the 100m dash came up, and the runners were preparing to start from the blocks, your Aki did the same. When the starting gun went off, he did the most stupid thing: he leapt from the ground and sprinted! But after 30m he couldn't take it and stumbled. The guy behind him tripped on him and his chances were gone. It was terrible. The officials gathered around him and wondered who this joker was.

There was another time when we had an English test. When I got back the results, I got 27% which was quite poor. But when I looked more closely, I realized this was your Aki's paper, not mine. I waited for him after school at the bicycle shed. It had gotten dark when he appeared. "You have my English paper." I said.

"Oh? No wonder I got 95%." He produced the paper he had. He sat down on the ground beside the bicycle. "Why did I get so poor grades?" he asked. "Aki, can you turn my bike's peddles?"

I obliged, and the dynamo light at the front of his bike glowed intermittently and he used the dim light to study his paper. "This is not the time to examine the test paper." I complained. After that, he let me have his paper as a sort of a souvenir.

Aki thought she might still have the old test paper with her. She found it in the attic. Behind the test paper was a drawing of a girl undressing. "Disgusting," she thought. It was apparent that the male Aki could draw very well.

Aki was in a way grateful that Hiroko had asked her to recall her high school days. She did not believe that she could remember much when she first received the request from Hiroko. Her experiences, though often unhappy then, appeared quite funny after ten years.

Continue.