Summary

Chapter 1 opens in April. The narrator is a teenage boy who is never named, but the bullies call him Eyes. Eyes opens his pencil case and finds a note that reads, “We should be friends” (17). He puts the note back and looks around the room, careful not to attract any attention. His classmates are joking and “howling” as usual. Eyes is on edge and knows this must be a prank, but has no idea why. In the following days, he finds notes taped in his desk. He does not see anyone who seems to be watching for his reaction. The notes ask questions, such as what he did during a recent rain and what country he would like to visit. His instinct is to throw them away but he keeps them. A boy named Ninomiya is the leader of the bullies. Based on the...