Zzz Zzz Zzz! 

I stretch my hand out and blindly tap my surroundings in search for my phone to switch off my alarm. I reach under the side of my pillow and finally find it. I open my eyes and the blazing brightness of my phone's screen almost blinds me. "What a nice way to start the day" I think to myself. 

"7:00 AM" It's times like this when my poor decision making skills usually kick in. I really should get up and start preparing. Since today is the first day of my last year in High-school, I might as well start it right, I think to myself.

After a few moments of regret and self-loathing, I decide to get up and proceed with my usual routine.

I stretch, then let out a sigh that echoes an impression similar to "fuck my life", and get down on the floor next to my futon to do a few sets of pushups and sit-ups. After the last set, I stand up to catch my breath and head to the bathroom.

After showering, I get dressed, put my stuff in my bag and leave my room with my bed un-made and my laundry systematically arranged on the floor. It's a been while since I thoroughly cleaned this place. Maybe some other time...

I've always had the idea that living independently would mean living a lifestyle you'd always fantasized and dreamed about. In reality, you just end up getting lazy to ever start anything. One day, you open your dresser and realize you haven't done the laundry or open your fridge and find nothing at all. You learn to be responsible the hard way which really fucking sucks.

I usually leave for school at exactly 7:40 but it's only 7:30 and my commute usually takes 15 minutes. I don't want to make any contact with anyone so I prefer arriving at school and walking into class just before it starts.

10 minutes to kill... I might as well check my phone for any- "No new messages or notifications"

Heh. Well, it's not like I was expecting something else. I sigh to myself as I grab my bag and forcibly insert my feet into my already tied shoes. I lock my apartment door, slip my keys in the side pocket of my bag and leave. I'll walk slower than usual to the bus station.

"Ittekimasu"

As I walk to the bus station, which is conveniently right around the corner from my apartment, my alarm set for when I leave the house buzzes. I whip out my phone to switch it off when suddenly, some girl carelessly runs into me and falls.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Before I could offer my hand out to help her, she gets up and runs away. As I watch her run away, I notice her clothes are quite similar to the women's uniform in my school. I've never seen her before. Well, I don't pay much attention to the other students in school so I wouldn't really know. 

That's certainly something you don't see everyday. Should I be worried? Nope, I don't want to get involved with any monkey business. "It's best to keep to yourself when something like that happens, Shoto" I tell myself as I continue to walk towards the station.

I have to admit, that girl was kind of cute. She was tall but not as tall as me, probably an inch or an inch and a half shorter than me and I'm 5'10. The sunlight was against her face which made the brown color of her eyes really stand out. Her nose was high-bridged like mine and her skin was so fair that it seemed like it was radiating under the sun. Damn, I wish I got a clearer and longer look at her face. 

I arrive at the bus station and moments after, a limousine drives by, stops and quickly reverses parallel to where I was standing. The front window rolls down and I see an old man that resembles those butlers you see in movies with crazy-rich households.

He looks at me and says "Excuse me, good sir. Did you happen to see a young lady pass by?" 

I was so deep in thought about that girl, I wasn't paying attention to the old man. Out of nowhere I blurted out "Uhhh, no"

"Thank you, sir. I apologize for taking some of your time" says the mysterious old man and then hastily drives off.

Seconds later, my bus arrives and I get on. Now that I think about it, something is off with what happened a while ago with that girl and limo geezer. What the hell am I thinking? It was just a random occurence, that's all. It would be best to just forget about what happened.

After a few minutes, I finally get to my school and patiently walk to the school auditorium just in time for the opening ceremony. After the scripted and exact same opening remarks the head of the school gives every year, it's tradition here to call the top performing students from last year and award them with certificates. A total of 20 people were called but only 19 came up on stage. Come to think of it, this happens every year. There's always one missing awardee each school year. 

After the awarding, the school head gives his closing remarks and the ceremony ends. We exit the  auditorium and head to our designated classrooms. As per usual, I end up being in the B section again 'cuz of my mediocre performance. I could do better but there are better things I would rather do than study. 

The rest of the day passes along with all the formalities that comes with the first day of class and I'm finally headed home to my apartment. After a bus ride and a few steps, I'm back at my place ready to just relax, watch some anime and maybe order some take-out for dinner. 

I arrive at my front door and reach for my keys which I always place in the convenient side pocket my bag has and realize...

"WHERE THE HELL ARE MY KEYS?!"