The awaited day has finally arrived. Today I will be attending school at Sasaki high in this quiet, rural town called Inaba. I woke up early in the morning feeling fairly refreshed. I got a good night's sleep thanks to the cigarette I got from Ichika. Although her personality is a bit...too overwhelming for me, I get the feeling that she's not a bad person at all. She's just the type of person who says whatever she wants- a kind of person who's much unfiltered. I should thank her later today for the cigarette.

Because I'm a transfer student, I could arrive around the same time first period begins. With much leisure, I washed up my face and brushed my teeth. I wore the uniform that was sent to me. It looks like the average public school uniform, nothing special. I ate the shitty tasting cup ramen that has an absurd amount of fucking msg. seriously? How am I supposed to eat these for longer than a few days? I guess I could always drop by Shizue's stall and beg for free food. It would hurt my pride but I have to eat something other than this shit.

Throwing the empty cup into the trash can, I checked my backpack for all the necessities that I should bring to school. Now all that's left to do is decide whether I should bring my pack of cigarettes with me. I know I probably shouldn't but l just felt like bringing it. In the end, I decided to bring it with me anyways. What's the worst that could happen?

"Excuse me. Are you Tanaka Aizawa-sensei?" I asked the woman in her late twenties with short black hair in the second floor corridor of the school.

She looked at me with a hint of confusion but then something suddenly registered in her mind.

. "Ah. You must be Miyazaki-san. You're just in time. I was about to head into the class room. Come on, follow me,"

"Okay," I followed her direction to the class.

As we were walking to the class, Tanaka-sensei was stealing odd glances at me. It seems like she was awkward around me. Oi, Oi, I'm the transfer student here, you know, being awkward and shy was supposed to be my job. I wonder what's wrong with her.

"What's wrong?" I asked bluntly.

"E-eh, what do you mean?" she feigned innocence. Hum...It seems that I meet another strange individual. This town's full of quirky people, huh?

"You're acting like you're about to confess your feelings to me in front of the class," I deadpanned.

"That's not a way to talk to your teacher." she scolded in a serious tone "I-is it that obvious?" she then lost all her previous air of confidence.

"You were stealing glances at me, like, every couple seconds."

" *cough* *cough* I apologize. As a teacher, that's very unprofessional of me,"  

"It's fine. But why were you staring at me like that?" I asked.

"Well, to put it simply, I'm a big fan of yours." She said sheepishly.

I was taken aback by her response...Is she joking right now? She must mean my father, right? Yeah...Like hell I have fans.

"You mean my father, right? Miyazaki Okita." I asked her.

"No, no" she shook her head. "I mean, no offense to your father, but I've always been a big fan of your playing. I watched a recording of you in a competition by chance and I really loved it. It's so...passionate. I, myself am a pianist but your playing is on a completely different level...You're definitely going places, kid." she gave me a thumbs up.

Is she lying? No...Her words feel very genuine.

"Thank you very much, Tanaka-sensei. It's always nice to know that there's people out there who appreciate my playing,"

"No problem. If you're looking for a club to join, then join the classical music club. I'm the Club manager there. "

"I'll consider it,"

We finally made it to the classroom after a while. Loud chatting and noises could be heard even from outside the class. Well, summer has just ended so it's no surprise they're so chatty. Class 2-B, huh? I wonder what my peers for the next semester are like. 

"Good morning, class." Tanaka-sensei entered the class and greeted everyone. After a brief lecture, she decided it's time to call me in.

"All right. As you've heard, we have a transfer student from Tokyo. Come in and introduce yourself, Miyazaki-san."

I walked into the class with a calm expression, Making sure to not make a fool out of myself.

"Good morning, everyone. My name is Miyazaki Adachi. I just moved here from Tokyo a few days ago, so please take care of me," I greeted politely. I scanned the class for reactions and they seem to be interested. Good.

"Hey" A voice could be heard from the back of the class. "You're the guy who asked me for cigarettes yesterday, right? What're you doing here?" 

Fuck. What are the odds of that strange girl from yesterday being one of my classmates? Well, let's just pretend that I don't know her. I don't want to be labelled as a delinquent on my first day of school.

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"I'm not sure what you're talking about, Ichika-san. We just met yesterday by chance, you know," I feigned ignorance.

"Ah, come on, Adachi~Chan. How could you forget? We were both smoking ciggs till late at night, you know~ “She said in a teasing voice....She's seriously pissing me off now.

"Nope. Still got no clue what you're talking about," I smirked.

"How cruel~"

"Thanks enough, Ichika-san. Don't accuse people out of the blue like that. You must've been mistaken. Unlike you, Miyazaki-san is a model student who's always at the top of his class," Tanaka-sensei defended me with a hint of pride.

Well, I'm glad that she defended me but aren't you a little bit too biased!? And what's with that smirk!?

"Fine~ fine~" Ichika sighed in defeat and then looked at me. "Sorry, Mr. Top of the class, I must've mistaken you for someone else." she apologized mockingly and a few people giggled.

"Its fine, Ichika-san. No harm done," 

"Now that that's settled, you can find your seat and I'll take my leave. The first period is Shizuka-Sensei, so you kids better behave before she arrives." Tanaka-sensei said.

A few seats were empty but one seat in particular took my interest. A seat near the back of the class, next to the open window. A boy with spiky black hair sat next to the empty seat.

"Excuse me, can I seat here?" I asked

"Sure, man. Why the hell not? It's nice to meet you, My name's Akihito Akio, but most people call me Aki A new face in the town's always quite refreshing," His said heartily. His words mirrored with a certain man who visit's shizue's stall often.

"Nice to meet you too, Akihito-san. By the way, are you related to Akihito Akira?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, he's my pops. How'd you know?"

"I met your father the other day and you two are so alike,"

"Haha, I get that a lot," He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Aren't you friendly with the new kid, Aki?" A female with long, flowing black hair that's seated in front of us said.

"Course' I am, Mai. What're you trying to say?"

"I don't know...He just seems very suspicious." She said as if I'm not right in front of her.

"I'm right here, you know." I joked.

"Hey, weren't you there during Ai-Chan's performance?" She then asked.

"Yeah, I saw him in the crowd while I was performing." The person that sat next to "Mai" chimed in. Turns out it was the drummer from yesterday.

"Hey, hey, aren't you two being too rude?" Aki said and then turned to me.

"That's Fubuki Mai." he pointed at the girl with the long hair. "She may seem like a rude, haughty kinda girl but she's actually really nice once you get to know here."

"What do you mean rude and haughty?!"

"And that's Watanabe Hina. She's one hell of a drummer, haha."

"Yeah!" Watanabe agreed heartily.

"Well, it's nice to meet you two. And to answer your question, yes, I was there during the performance."

"So you were there. What’d you do to Ai-chan anyways? She seems really pissed at you. Did you stalk her to her house or something, creepyazaki?"

"Has anyone told you that your personality is really insufferable?"

"Haah!? What's that supposed to mean, Creepyazaki?"

"Now, now. Calm down, you two. First periods about to start. You don't want to cause any more trouble at school right, Mai? And, Miyazaki-san, you don't want to get into a fight on your first day of school." Akio tried to defuse the situation.

"Cih. Fine." We both relented. An awkward pause in the air was made as we were pondering on what to say. Jeez. When is the first period teacher going to come?

"If you're really curious what happened between me and Ichika-san, then I'll tell you. It's really fucking simple, really. We just happened to be neighbors. Right, Ichika-san?" I asked the person who was approaching us.

"Yup~ that’s exactly what happened." Ichika sat atop the table.

"See, it was just a misunderstanding." Akio said.

"I still don't trust him," Fubuki said and glared.

"Aren't you petty, Mai-chan?"  Watanabe giggled.

"I don't want to hear that from the pettiest in the world,"

"L-like hell I am!" 

"But, still, you’re really cruel, Adachi-chan." Ichika said out of the blue.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Well, you lied to Tanaka-sensei, Mr. Top of the class. You're just a huge delinquent back in Tokyo, right? Asking poor~, defenseless~, little me for some cigarettes. Knowing I couldn't fight back~"

"Is that true, Ai-Chan?!" Fubuki gasped and glared at me. "I knew you were just a shitty bastard."

"Like hell that fucking happened. I politely asked for some ciggs and that's it. I smoke but It doesn't mean I'm some shitty delinquent."

"Oh~ he even sound like one," Ichika teased.

"Yeah, yeah. Believe what you want."

"So, If you're not a delinquent, then what do you do for fun back in Tokyo?" Watanabe asked.

"Why ask?"

"Eh. Never been to a city myself. Just curious what you folks do there for fun."

"Yeah. I'm curious too. Tokyo's like a whole other world for hicks like us." Akio chimed in cheerfully.

"Well, for me personally, I just hang out with my buddies. Shibuya has a shit ton of things to do and look at. Other than that, practicing the piano with friends is always something I find enjoyable."

"Shibuya, huh? Man I wanna go there myself~" Ichika said.

"You play the piano?" Akio asked curiously.

"Yeah, I do." I replied.

"Well, our school's resident pro pianist is right in front of you!" He pointed at Fubuki. "Seriously. She's like on a next level, man. Winning every single competition here and in the cities! She sometimes play at the pub her dad owns and it's a treat!" he showered praises at Fubuki, resulting in a blushing mess,

"Ehehe, I'm not that good~"

"Then let's practice together when we can, Fubuki-san." I lit up at the chance of practicing with a fellow pianist....Even though it is her.

"Yeah, yeah. As a prodigy, I'll teach you some stuff." The ego of this girl is fucking unreal.

"What's with that glare? I'm just kidding, you know. I'm sure you're pretty good." She said not wanting another fight to blow up.

"Yeah...."

Finally after a while, the teacher for first period arrived, and class began. During lunch break, the rest of the class approached me and introduced themselves. Most of them are fairly normal and aren't too quirky which made me glad. Time passed by and the school day had finally ended. I was planning on quietly going home but then those four wierdos approached me.

"Yo, Miyazaki-san, we're going to a pub that belongs to Mai's dad. Wanna come?"

"Eh. I don't know. I'm kind of worn out." 

"Eh~ come on, Adachi-Chan~ don't be such a spoilsport." Ichika said.

"Well, I'd prefer he doesn't come." Fubuki said.

"Yeah. Today's an off day for me. Maybe next time."

"Oh, well. Mai-Chan's dad usually give us free food, you know." Ichika said.

"Why didn't you say that earlier!? Of course I'll gladly come!" I shook Ichika's shoulder with a grin. I swear this is not my fault. The shitty cup ramen has taken over my life and I feel fucking sick. I need normal food, dammit.

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