I.

WITHOUT, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlour of Laburnam Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly. Father and son were at chess, the former, who possessed ideas about the game involving radical changes, putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils that it even provoked comment from the white-haired old lady knitting placidly by the fire.

"Hark at the wind," said Mr. White, who, having seen a fatal mistake after it was too late, was amiably desirous of preventing his son from seeing it.

"I'm listening," said the latter, grimly surveying the board...

Senjougahara Hitagi is widely known to be a sickly girl; it is therefore no surprise that she is exempt from physical education classes. Even for morning assemblies, she’ll sit in the shade because of her anemia. Although I’ve been in the same classes as her for three years in high school, I have never seen her move actively. She is a frequent visitor to the nurse’s office, and because of hospital checkups, she often either comes late to class, leaves early, or is absent altogether. Many of our classmates joke that the hospital is her home.
Even though she is sick, she is far from insubstantial....