Chapter 1: The dawn of the new school year
It was 8:30 on a warm April morning, and the spring breeze was in full swing as the dawn of my last year at high school started. What was this year going to hold? I had yet to realise that this very school year would change the course of my entire life. I get into school at about 8:45. I can feel the spring breeze brush against my cheeks. As i entered the school grounds, the cherry blossoms were swaying around the entrance, it was if the earth knew this was about to be a new beginning for me.
I put on my Indoor shoes and made a beeline for the auditorium, where we have our annual welcome back ceremony that we have to attend every year. That's where I first saw her. Akio-san.
The Principal took the stage for the opening speech. "Welcome back, or welcome to SakoYami High. We look forward to seeing what you will achieve over the next year with us. First things first, we have a new transfer student, Fujisawa Akio. Please take the stage". Every guy in there had his eyes peeled on the stage, awaiting the new transfer student. "Good morning, SakoYami high, I'm Fujisawa Akio. I just transferred here from Akihabara not too long ago, so I'll be in your care for the next year!"
The whole auditorium filled with whispers like, "Who is that hottie?" "I hear Akihabara girls are the bomb!" Even the girls chimed in with comments such as, "she has such a great figure," or "all the guys will be after her, " the usual jealousy stuff.
Moving onto homeroom, I took my allocated seat and started looking at the outside world through the slightly open window next to me. My seat was the far left corner seat, aka the main character seat in romance anime and manga. Just then, in came Fujisawa Akio, her hair swaying in the wind as she took steps towards her seat, the golden rays of the spring sun reflected off her like she was an angel. In that moment, I feel a presence next to me, lo and behold, it was Fujisawa-san. I started getting nervous. I don't do well in front of people like her, let alone a girl. Before I had a chance to say anything, Fujisawa-san said with a surprised but excited look, "Oh Tastu-Kun, long time no see, I didn't know you went to this school too!" Tatsu-Kun? First off, why did she know my first name? Second of all, why is she calling me by my first name? I have never seen a girl going by Fujisawa Akio ever in my life. I was perplexed at the sheer audacity of it all; I tried and act calm and ask, "Tatsu-Kun? why do you know that name?" She smiled and simply exclaimed, with a rather depressing look in her eyes, "Oh, you don't remember? That's ok, Kyoshiro-Kun." I could tell i had upset her. She took her seat beside me, and class began.
The First period was English, a subject that I hated and dreaded every week we had it. When switch-over time was up, and the bell rang for the official start of the first period, I started to get that gut-wrenching feeling of dread again as the teacher(Ryu-sensei) used to pick on me extensively simply because he knew I didn't know the answer, what a bastard he was. "Kyoshiro-Kun," he exclaimed with a sour grin on his face. "What is the English phrase for Can I please have something to eat?"
I stood up, putting on a brave face in front of my classmates and proudly exclaimed," Cannu i havvu something to-" uh, how do I say eat again? In an instant, Fujisawa mouths to me, "E-a-t." I then say altogether, "Cannu I havuu something to eat?" Ryu-sensei acts shocked, says "Could be better, but it's good," and turns back to the board, clearly pissed off. I then look back at Fujisawa-san as she has a big grin on her face, clearly pleased with how Ryu-sensei acted. I still had one overarching question: who was Fujisawa Akio?
The first day of the new school year was drawing to an end just as fast as it had started. Still puzzled about Fujisawa-san, I start to let my mind wander about her. One of my previous friends from back then? could be, but it's not very plausible. I was stumped, but thought it was no skin off my nose, so I gave up thinking about it for now.
Back at home, it's now 6 PM, and I get home to Mom's home-made cooking, it is the only thing to look forward to after a weird day at school. My sister, Ryoko, has also started SakoYami high as of today. We talked about our days around the dinner table while chowing down on Mom's homemade tofu. I went back to my thoughts about Fujisawa from earlier and decided to ask Ryoko if she knew anyone like that. She said she didn't, which left me even more confused than before.
I decided to hit the hay early tonight as I had school early the next morning, so I was in bed by 10 PM sharp. Trying to fall asleep was hard for me any night, but tonight it felt extra hard. I kept tossing and turning till I couldn't anymore. The draft from the window scraped against my back. What was keeping me up? Then, I hear a girl call out to me, a girl who sounded like Fujisawa.
Spoiler alert, it was in fact Fujisawa. She was walking her dog, and I couldn't help but call out to her. I felt like there was some air we had to clear from earlier, "Hey, Fujisawa! You got a minute?" She looked up, confused, and blurted out a little "Tatsu-uh, I mean Kyshiro-kun, sure!" I went outside and met up with Fujisawa-san. "Hey, sorry to call you outta the blue like that," I exclaimed, rubbing the back of my head with my hand. "Oh, don't apologize, it's no biggie," she said with a calm smile.
She continued and said, "What did you call me out for anyway"? looking intrigued by what I had to say next. I looked her in the eyes and exclaimed, "I'm sorry about the way I treated you in school today, y'know, when you called me that nickname and all." She then paused for a moment to process what I had said and then burst out into tears of laughter. I blushed out of pure embarrassment and managed to let out a "What's so funny?", wiping away her tears away she simply said "it's cool". Then, she paused for a moment and started to blush, and stated, "Even if you don't remember me, just know I hold you in my heart dearly". What was that supposed to mean? Maybe she was really someone from my past I had forgotten about? It was too late by the time my conversation with Fujisawa-san had ended, safe to say I didn't get any sleep that night.
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