It was the first day of second semester at Yamada High, and the hallways were alive with that special kind of chaos only a normal school could produce: half-empty backpacks, sticky floors, and the occasional dramatic shriek from someone dropping their lunch.
Takumi Yamazaki was already in trouble. His locker had decided that today it would exist purely to humiliate him. He slammed it closed for the third time.
"Why do lockers exist if they won't work?" he muttered, glaring at the stubborn metal door.
Behind him, his best friend Riku Sato was giving the vending machine outside a death glare. He poked at a stuck can of soda with one hand while holding a notebook in the other.
"You are a cruel, cruel metal box," Riku said, his voice rising. "I trusted you, and you betray me every time."
"You're angry at a machine," Takumi said, rolling his eyes. "Do you ever… I don't know… channel that into something productive?"
Riku whipped around. "Channel it?! This is life or death, Takumi. This is—"
"—a can of soda?" Takumi interrupted. "Yeah, I think the universe will survive this one."
Before Riku could argue further, the vending machine shuddered ominously. A single can popped out… then another… then the whole machine made a suspicious creak.
"Uh… maybe we should—" Takumi started, but it was too late. The can shot straight out and hit Riku in the shoulder. He yelped, waving it like it was a grenade.
"You see? Death by vending machine is imminent," Riku said.
Takumi snorted. "I think it's just mildly inconvenient. Your dramatic flair is the real danger here."
By the time they reached homeroom, Ms. Kobayashi, their homeroom teacher, looked like she had already survived three natural disasters and a small civil war. She balanced three cups of coffee, a stack of papers, and a half-eaten sandwich with the practiced poise of someone who had clearly given up on the idea of sanity.
"Good morning, class," she said, smiling in a way that suggested she had long accepted that chaos was unavoidable. "Let's try to survive today without breaking anything important."
"Does 'anything important' include the vending machine outside?" Takumi asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes," Ms. Kobayashi replied flatly. "Especially that one."
Riku groaned. "It's like you know me."
The bell rang, signaling the start of first period. Takumi and Riku sat down, ready for a normal day of lectures, but their hopes for normalcy were quickly dashed.
A new transfer student appeared at the door. Her name was Hinata, and she had the uncanny ability to look both intensely intimidating and extremely cute at the same time—a combination that caused every student in the room to mutter, "Wait… what?"
Riku nudged Takumi. "Dude. She's… terrifyingly adorable."
Takumi squinted. "Yeah… and I think she could bench press this classroom if she wanted."
Hinata smiled at them. "Hi! I'm Hinata. I hope we can be… friends."
Riku whispered frantically, "Friends? She smiles like that! That's cheating. She's cheating at life."
Takumi smirked. "Yeah, we're screwed."
First period passed without further disaster, although the pencil incident had already set off minor chaos elsewhere: a pencil rolling off a desk hit the vending machine's coin slot, releasing a soda that landed on someone's foot.
During second period, Takumi tried to keep a low profile, but that was never going to work with Riku nearby.
"Hey," Riku whispered, poking him. "If Hinata is friends with us, what does that make me? Sidekick?"
"Pretty much," Takumi muttered, flipping a page in his notebook. "Congrats. You've been demoted to comic relief."
"Comic relief?" Riku gasped. "I take offense to that! I am dramatically heroic!"
Takumi snorted. "Yeah, in the 'trip over soda cans and ruin the school festival' kind of way."
"Excuse me?" Riku whispered loudly. "That was… tactically creative! I was… strategizing!"
Hinata, sitting across the classroom, tilted her head and gave him a faint smile. "You two are… interesting," she said softly, and somehow that made Riku's chest puff out with pride.
Takumi muttered, "Interesting isn't always good."
Lunch was another adventure entirely. The cafeteria, already a minefield of spilled drinks and questionable mystery meat, became Riku's personal battlefield.
"You have to understand the machine," Riku whispered to Takumi, brandishing a tray like it was a sword. "It's about trust, timing, and intimidation."
"Or… maybe it's just a vending machine," Takumi said, dumping his tray onto the table. "And you're insane."
Hinata sat down between them. "What are you two whispering about?"
"Nothing!" Riku said too quickly. "Just… strategic vending machine theory."
Hinata raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh."
Takumi muttered, "This is going to be a long semester."
Riku groaned. "No kidding. But… you have to admit, it's fun."
Takumi looked around the cafeteria, the noise, the chaos, and even Hinata's mysterious smile. "Yeah… maybe normal school life isn't as boring as I thought."
Hinata smiled politely. "Don't worry. You'll get used to it… eventually."
And somewhere, in the background, the vending machine hummed ominously, like it was waiting for its next unsuspecting victim.