I woke up to the sounds of chirping birds, and the sound of something frying. Probably Mom making a heavy breakfast as a little celebration to the start of my high school days.
I got out my bed after some yawning and stretching. I made my bed, showered and changed to my uniform.
I was still a little traumatized by what happened back in middle school, but rubbing the piercing that Yuu gave me lightly made me assured and calm. At first my parents were against me getting the piercing, but with enough convincing they let me off the hook.
But still, I can't really think of a way to repay the big debt that I owe to Yuu.
I pushed that thought away and head downstairs to have breakfast.
Mom prepared a ridiculously heavy meal today. Seems like she's in a good mood today. Dad was drinking his coffee while poking at his unfinished meal, probably too full to finish them off. You could easily tell that he was really full with just one look at his face.
"Good morning, Mom, Dad,"
"Oh good morning, Ryou-chan."
"G-good m-morning, Ryou-ya," my Dad replied weakly. He was twitching a little though. Maybe it was just my imagination.
I sat down to eat my breakfast.
"Thanks for the food," I muttered as I began devouring the western breakfast that Mom seldomly made.
Once I was finished, I helped my Mom clean up a little, and prepared to head out.
"See you later," I shouted lightly as I wore my shoes and opened the door.
"Good luck, and have a safe trip!"
-----
The bright-pink cherry blossom petals were falling more today.
I raised an arm to block off the bright sunshine. Though it was bright, it was warm and welcoming. Adding it with the seemingly perfect breeze and the fallings of cherry blossom petals, one could say that this is the perfect weather to celebrate the start of a new school year.
"Yo, Ryou."
"Oh, hey, Kyousuke," I replied.
"Wanna walk to school together?" he asked.
"Sure, why not?" I replied cheerfully.
The roads were packed with fellow students gazing at the cherry blossoms with anticipation to what the new school year had in stall for them. In the blink of an eye, we reached the school gate and went in.
A bunch of stalls were stood for club sign ups. The atmosphere was as lively as what you'd expect from high school.
"Woah, he's pretty hot, is he a foreigner?!"
"Yea, he's so charming!"
I wasn't all that surprised with all the attention. But with the make over that a certain someone gave, it attracted more attention than I'd expect.
"What's up Kuroooo?" shouted Yuu while running towards us.
"Geh..."
"What's with that reaction?! We haven't seen each other for so long and this is the first thing you say to me?!"
"First thing in the morning and you're there shouting without a shred of shame... Besides, it's only been a week."
"Umm..." Kyousuke murmured in the midst of everything.
"Oh, seems like I haven't introduced both of you yet. Umm, this is Tachibana Yuu, a friend from middle school, and, Yuu, this is my cousin, Kyousuke," I said as they shook hands.
"Ohh, so this is the friend you talked about. Thanks for taking care of Ryou. He's a little problematic, but I hope you'll continue being friends with him," Kyousuke said politely.
"Don't sweat it. He's been a great friend to me too," Yuu replied.
"Say when do we get to sign up for clubs?" I said as we were walking to check our classes at a board.
"Probably after we leave our things in class," replied Yuu. "Say, what club are you guys gonna sign up for?"
"I'm thinking of the soccer club. What about you, Kyousuke?"
"Erm, probably the go-home club," he replied, clearly not interested in clubs.
"T-then what about you, Yuu?" I asked with a slight laugh toward the reply Kyousuke gave.
"Probably the basketball club," he replied while looking at the class assignments.
"Hmm, seems like I'm in Class 6. What about you guys?"
"Class 1," I replied.
"Class 5, looks like I'm just next door, Tachibana," replied Kyousuke.
Woah, instantly dropping the formality. As expected from Kyousuke, I thought to myself.
"Woah, that's cool. Hope we get along well, Kyousuke. Sorry you're left out Kuro."
How are they both OK with this?! In fact, they're dropping formalities from the get-go?! And is Yuu calling Kyousuke by his last name?! I thought to myself again with severe cultural shock.
I looked away to admire the campus for a while. I scanned my surroundings and it just couldn't amaze me more. Kawashima High had a pretty good campus.
"What are you looking at, Ryou? Let's go."
"Um, yea, sure, let's go."
"Umm, excuse me, but could I take a look at the board?" a girl muttered behind my back.
"Yea sure. We're about to lea---," I replied while turning my head.
No way. It couldn't be.
It was the girl from yesterday. The girl whose smile made her more beautiful than any other.
This is just too much of a coincidence.
We locked our gazes, both of us unsure what to say. She probably felt awkward that I suddenly turned my head and started staring at her.
"Ahem," coughed Kyousuke, sarcastically, breaking the silence and awkwardness.
"Uh, oh, ohh, I'm sorry. Go ahead," I said, blinking rapidly.
"Is something wrong, Kuro? Do you have a fever?" asked Yuu.
"N-no, I don't. Don't worry about me," I replied with a little relief that Yuu was a little dense when it came to these things.
She scanned the board and found her name.
"Looks like I'm in Class 1..." she said softly. But I clearly heard it.
I have to be dreaming. This is too much of a coincidence.
The unexpected silence from the other two was a little unasuring though. They probably didn't hear that. At least Yuu didn't, he was clearly staring at the scenery with a big gawk.
Kyousuke clearly did hear it.
He gave me a wink as if to say 'good for you', 'remember that I have your little secret', and 'if I tell Yuu you're toast'. It seriously creeped me out. At that moment I found a renewed respect for Kyousuke, because of all these threats.
We went up to our respective classes to leave our things and go down again to sign up for clubs.
I opened my classroom door to no one. Seems like everyone has already left to sign up for clubs. The seatings were already predecided. Looks like I got to sit at the back of the classroom, next to the window. Lucky me, I guess. I was seated next to a girl named 'Ayasaki Miyu'.
I wonder what's the name of that girl.
I put my bag down and went to meet up with Kyousuke and Yuu.
-----
"Woah, this school really is amazing," said Yuu in wonder as he wandered off somewhere. We already lost him in just a split second once we got down.
"Are you really not gonna join any clubs, Kyousuke?"
"I already told you. I'm joining the go-home club."
"You know that's techincally not a club, right? Even if there is such a club, it'd just be the same as having to clubs at all anyway."
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
"I'll give it some thought, though the chances of me joining an actual club will probably be next to 0%."
I sighed at that remark and said, "Alright, guess I'll go sign up for the soccer club then. You wanna come with me?"
"Nah, I guess I'll look around at some clubs. If there's still nothing that amuses me, then I'll just ask around if there is a go-home club."
"Alright, alright," I said as I watch him leave.
-----
I made my way to the soccer club. I heard that the school team was amongst the elites. They frequently made it to the regional finals and most of the time, qualified for Nationals. I started to walk quicker with renewed anticipation.
"Huh? A wimp like you wants to sign up for our team?"
It was Kirishima-senpai, the team captain and ace striker. He is well known as one of the best strickers in high school soccer. He was towering at probably 190 centimetres with a muscular body and an intimidating presence. But I didn't let it get to me. I did swear to get in the soccer club this time around no matter what.
"Yes," I replied with as much resolution as I could muster.
"Hmm, I like your resolve. Though you have quite the skinny body, your eyes say otherwise. Very well, I shall accept your application. Try-outs start directly after school, do not disappoint me."
"Yes, sir!"
*All students who aren't on duty, please get back to class now. I repeat. All students who aren't on duty, please get back to class now.*
"Umm, if you'd excuse me," I muttered to excuse myself and get back to class.
-----
The girl sat in the front of the same row as me.
Huh, she really is in this class.
At first, I thought that it was some dream, to think that the girl who has been on my mind so much would attent the same school and study in the same class as me.
My deskmate, Ayasaki-san was a cute girl with twintails. We talked a little about my hair before the teacher came in.
"So, first of all, welcome to Kawashima High School. I'm Miyamoto Shin, and starting today, I'll be your homeroom teacher. Umm, so you guys should do some self-introductio---."
"Ehhhh????" the whole class, myself included, said in sync with protest, cutting Miyamoto-sensei halfway.
"Alright, alright. Seems like everyone here hates self-introduction."
Huh, this teacher is pretty carefree. And young too.
"But I hope you guys could get to know each other, like right now, so I'll be dividing you guys into groups---"
Shit, I thought. The trauma from middle school was back again. I always hated when teachers divided us into groups.
"Ehh, this guy is left out again. Let him into your group, dude."
"Whaaat?! No way man. Let's play rock, paper, scissors to decide who gets him."
Back in middle school, no one would accept me into their group. I was always left out when it came to these things. I hated how they could just simply play rock, paper, scissors to decide which group I'll be joining like I'm a puppet.
When we discussed about the project, they would always leave me out of the conversation, and told me to do most of the project because they could.
"You should be grateful to us for letting you into our group."
"Yea, you should do most of it."
They said that I should do most of it, but I ended up doing all of it anyway. They never helped me. I had to struggle to do it as they instructed. They would spread more false rumours if protested or didn't do a good job.
Even when I was friends with Yuu, finding a group was hard because everyone still hated me.
I rubbed the piercing a little to reassure and calm myself.
"So, since the class has 32 people, I'll be dividing you guys into eight groups of four. Feel free to use the exact same group for other classes as well if you feel comfortable. Group 1, Ayasaki Miyu, Ichijou Shindou, Kurogane Ryouya, and Akane Yuuna. Group 2--- Oh, you can just stand up and gather together once I've called your names. You guys probably don't know anyone's name yet, right?"
The four of us stood up as instructed. I was a little surprised that my deskmate was also in the group. I hope we get along well if we were to sit together for the rest of the year. But judging from the conversation we had earlier, it shouldn't be a problem. She was a really friendly person.
I took a good look at the rest of the people of my group. Ichijou-kun looks like a friendly guy, his seat was in the middle of the opposite row of the classroom, and Akane-sa---
No way. This is too much of a coincidence right?
The girl at the front of my row stood up, and it was the girl. The girl who had been in my thoughts for most of yesterday.
So, first, I found out she attends the same school as me, studies in the same classroom as me, and now a group member.
She was looking at her fellow group members. She stopped her gaze on me in recognization.
I didn't really believe in God, or gods, but this is really some kind of miracle.
Akane and Ichijou walked towards Ayasaki's and my place, probably because majority of the members were here.
"So, for Group 2---," the teacher continued once we gathered up.
Once the students were divided into the groups, both of them took a seat.
"Erm so, does anyone want to be the class representative? If not, I'll just choose at random," Miyamoto-sensei asked.
A long silence. Looks like no one wants to step up to be the representative.
"Alright, so I'm just going with you, then," Miyamoto chose randomly and pointed his finger at the lucky student.
"Are you OK with being the representative? Umm... what's your name again?"
"Ashido... Sakura. And yes, I guess I can try..." she said shyly and turned to face everyone. "Everyone, I look forward to working with you guys!" she exclaimed by bowing.
Everyone gave her an applause. I was little surprised by how she easily accepted the job.
"Alright, you guys can carry on. Go on, get to know each other," Miyamoto-sensei said while taking out a tablet.
"Hey, what's with the blonde hair?" Ichijou asked instantly right after turning around to face me.
Ugh, right off the bat, huh?
"Yea, I'm curious too," said Akane.
She had a pretty delicate voice. My heart skipped a beat when I heard it.
"His Mom's American, so he's a half. He's pretty handsome too!" replied Ayasaki cheerfully.
"Yea, that's righ--- Wait, why are you replying for me?" I said with a little annoyance. Wait, did she just say I'm handsome out of the blue? I probably misheard her.
"Hehe, because I kinda wanted to. You're an interesting guy, y'know?"
I blushed a little at that. It's amazing how she could just blurt out these remarks out of nowhere.
"Then, what's with the piercing?" asked Ichijou.
"I gift from a friend. He attends this school too. You'd probably meet him after school," I replied. "Well enough about me, what about you guys?"
"But, you seem the most interesting of us," Akane said.
"Yea, yea," I rolled my eyes. "For starters, why don't we exchange e-mail addresses? We can take the conversation from there," I replied. I was a little glad that she found me interesting, not that anyone doesn't, though.
At my advice, they took out their mobiles and began exchanging numbers.
"Alright, so what club did you guys sign up for?" asked Ayasaki. "Also, you guys should call me 'Miyu-chan' or 'Mi-chan'!"
Whaat? We just met and she already wants everyone to call her by a nickname, an embarassing one too, in fact!
"Alright, Miyu-chan. In that case, you could call me Yuuna-chan too!" Akane replied with a smile.
Ahh, it was that smile again. It made my heart skipped a beat, no, maybe two beats.
"Roger that, Mi-chan~. You could call me Shindou-kun if you want to~." Ichijou replied with a fluffy kind of tone.
"Alright, Akane-chan, Shindou-kun!" Ayasaki replied with a bright smile.
"Can I just call you 'Miyu' instead?" I asked with a sigh. Adding a '-chan' seemed way too kid-like in my opinion.
"Hmm, in that case, you should call me 'Miyu-Miyu'!"
Huh?! What?! THAT'S EVEN MORE EMBARASSING AND KID-LIKE. NO WAY WAS I GOING TO DO THAT.
"No, rejected," I said with a straight face.
"Aww, why'd you reject such a cute nickname?" Ichijou asked with a little disgust.
"Yea, you said it," Akane said to join in favor of Ayasaki.
"Yea, at this rate, I'm gonna cry," Ayasaki said sadly, clearly wanting to play along.
"Look, you made her cry,"
"Hey, stop that! What's with the puppy eyes?! Ouch! Why'd you hit me, Ichijou-kun! Oof, not you too, Akane-san!"
"Hahaha," everyone laughed.
"A-anyway," I started while adjusting my uniform, "Back to the conversation. What clubs are you guys in?"
"I'm in the volleyball club," Ichijou replied.
"I'm in the band," Akane said.
"And I'm in the cooking club!" Miyu replied as cheerful as ever. "What about you Kurogane-kun?"
"Soccer club."
We continued to talked about all sorts of things throughout homeroom. I was glad that Miyamoto-sensei would sacrifice some time to let us get along with each other, though it clearly wasn't his primary motive, as he was just at his desk playing games on his tablet.
At a quick pace, the four of us got along without any problems.
I had Yuu to thank for for helping me build the person I am now. Man, I keep owing this guy a lot of debts, although he's such an annoying person.
-----
"Hey, wanna eat together, Kurogane-kun?" Ichijou asked.
"Erm, sure," I replied while taking my mobile out to text Kyousuke and Yuu to tell them I was eating without them.
It was break time. Everyone either took out their lunchboxes out to eat in the classroom or headed to the cafeteria. Looks like everyone got along with each other quite well.
"Can we sit together with you guys too?" Miyu asked as Akane came along.
"Sure, go ahead," I replied.
Ichijou and Akane pushed the tables in front of mine and Miyu's to connect them with ours.
"Hehh, your lunchbox is pretty cute, Miyu-chan~" Akane said in admiration.
"You think so? I packed them mysel---"
"Yo, mind if we join you guys too?" someone said loudly as he slammed the door open.
"Gehh..." It was Yuu again.
"Hey, you really need to stop with that reaction," Yuu said with a hint of annoyance.
"Yo, mind if I join you guys too?" Kyousuke asked while entering the classroom behind Yuu.
"Sure, go ahead~" Miyu replied cheerfully.
Looks like someone is looking forward to this.
"What the hell are you guys doing her---"
"Hey, your piercing matches Kurogane-kun's, are you the friend he was talking about?" Akane asked curiously as she looked at the newcomers, cutting me off.
"Huh? So you missed me that badly, Kuro?? And yea, I am," Yuu replied while poking me with a smug face.
"Urgh, stop that!" I exclaimed while hitting him in the head.
"Wow, you guys get along so well~. And 'Kuro' is such a cute nickname!" Miyu said.
"I know, right? If only this guy would would drop that sadist attitu---"
"Huh? What did you say?" I said while cracking my fingers.
"Ugh, nothing, sir. I'm sorry. Please don't hit me again."
"Ohh, so Kuro is a sadist? Hehe~" Miyu said in amusement.
"Oh, not you too... Don't call me that," I replied while facepalming. "Oh, yea. I should probably introduce you guys. This is Tachibana Yuu, a friend from middle school, and Kurogane Kyousuke, my cousin," signalling at Yuu and Kyousuke, "And this is Ayasaki Miyu, Ichijou Shindou, and Akane Yuuna," I continued while signalling towards the three of them.
Everyone sat down to eat their food while chatting lively. It was pretty easy for the both of them to get along with everyone here. I was glad though. I still wanted to hang out with the both of them even though I've made new friends.
"Say, what club did you ended joining, Kyousuke?" I asked while eating.
"Hear this. They actually have a go-home club," Kyousuke replied.
"And so, you joined them."
"Yep."
"You're hopeless," I said with a sigh.
"Hmm, do you not like clubs, Kyou-chan?" Miyu asked.
"Nothing really interests me, I guess," Kyousuke replied simply.
How is he okay with this?! Kyou-chan?! Won't he be embarassed?! Wait, did she start calling him Kyou-chan right of the bat?! What?! I don't even understand anymore... How is this girl so carefree?!
As break ended, everyone returned to their respective seats and classes. Everyone except for me pretty much called Miyu either by 'Miyu-chan' or 'Mi-chan' already.
"You seem to be enjoying youself," I said to Miyu.
"Of course I am. I like meeting new people, hehe," she replied.
"I see..." I said, not really knowing how to answer.
"Class stand," Ashido, the class representative, said as the teacher entered the class. "Bow."
Everyone stood and bowed as instructed.
"All right, you may sit down."
Lessons proceeded as usual. I talked with Miyu a bit whenever I was bored. She seemed like she was prepared for any kind of conversation. She was really easy to get along with because of her carefree attitude.
"Ahh, looks like my time's up. You may leave now. Enjoy your time at high school, you guys," Ushikawa-sensei, our History teacher excused himself as the bell rang.
Everyone picked up their stuff to leave for home or club.
"Going to the soccer try-outs now?" Miyu asked as I packed up my stuff.
"Yep."
"Good luck, I'll be watching you if I get off early!"
I blushed a little. She really is cute.
How could someone blurt out something like that so easily?
"Y-you don't have to. We've just met so you don't really have t---"
"C'mon, don't be like that. I'm coming to watch because I want to, alright?" she said with a smile.
"Okay, okay. I get it. Suit yourself. Good luck with your club too," I replied in surrender and waved goodbye.