His Mundane School Life

Beep, beep!

The scheduled day of returning to school had come. After being awakened by his alarm, Haru sluggishly prepared himself and his things before going to school.

Because of the winter break, Haru had been doing nothing but playing games after he completed his assignments. He had only slept for a couple of hours as he’d played until midnight. And he ended up losing his last game, which left him quite furious.

“Well, back to reality...”

Haru stood up and looked himself at the mirror. It was at the side of his bed, so even if he didn’t want to look, he was in the mirror’s line of sight. Anyway, school was today and his hair was still long. His eyebags was palpable but he didn’t care as nobody looked at him anyway. He clearly looked worse for wear, like a salesman who was pressured to entertain his boss all night long lest he wanted to be fired. But Haru didn’t care. At most, he’d just be verbally reprimanded by his teacher.

“Man, I'm not in the mood to go to school.”

It wasn’t that Haru disliked school. On the contrary, he found it necessary. But he believed it wasn’t necessary for everyone. And he believed he belonged to that group. For him, education became a tedious thing that he had to do because society wanted it.

Haru already missed the holidays. Christmas and New Year went away as fast as they came. Their winter break lasted for two weeks but it felt like it was only a couple of days. Why were good things only last so short?

The Shiraishi family celebrated the New Years at their grandparents’ house. They had to go out of town as their grandparents lived in a peaceful countryside. They prepared a large feast for them, and they even visited the shrine to pray. After that, they went home, and he spent the remaining days in bliss playing games and just lazing around the house.

“You’re finally awake. I had been calling you for a while now, you know?” Her mother, clad in an apron, said as she cooked their breakfast. On the table was an omelet rice.

“Well, I am asleep, so I couldn’t really hear you.”

“What am I going to do to you, seriously...Anyway, eat up and get ready for school.”

“Goodmorning, big brother!”

And that was one of the highlights of Haru’s day. The word ‘Goodmorning’ coming out of his little sister’s mouth with a smile on her face made him feel like he just drank a legendary hp potion when his health was low.

“Goodmorning, Hiroko. Why didn’t you wake me up?” His little sister’s name was Hiroko. She was six-year-old, and an angel in Haru’s eyes. She had a bob cut and wore her favorite bear pajamas. Besides her was the cat Haru had rescued during the night of Christmas Eve. They named her Miku.

After Haru brought Miku home, Hiroko had taken a liking to the cat. Their mother was adamantly against adopting a stray but when Haru’s father imagined the cuteness Hiroko with a cat would bring, they ultimately decided to adopt the cat. They went to the whole process of cleaning, vaccinating and buying the necessary needs for the cat. It was expensive but their father spared no expense when it came to bringing out the cuteness of Hiroko. Incidentally, Miku was also a girl.

“Mother said not to wake you up, or else she’ll get angry...” Hiroko said with a sad look on her face.

Normally, he’d get angry when someone made Hiroko sad but the caused was her mother, and he knew it was a losing battle, no maybe even losing the war, if he did even the smallest disrespectful thing toward her.

Their family was a typical one. His mother was a housewife while his father worked to support the family. At a glance, one might think their family was patriarchal but that was far from the truth. Haru’s mother mostly had the final decision but that was only because Haru’s father fully trusted her wife.

“I’m teaching you a lesson about responsibility. I know you’ve been staying up late for weeks now just because there’s no school. You’re lucky you even wake up early.”

It was hard to consider himself lucky when he really didn’t want to go to school today. He had been putting off on trying to remove the alarm on his phone but every time, he had forgotten or was too lazy to do so. Guess some things did come back to bite you.

“And just so you know, I would have made you go to school even if you’re super late.”

“Yes, yes, I understand very well what you’re trying to say.” Her mother’s words came in one ear and out to the other as Haru scooped a piece of the omelet rice.

After breakfast, he took a shower and wore his uniform. As Haru sat on the floor tying his shoes, he heard light footsteps coming in his way.

“You’re already going, big brother?”

“Meow.”

Hiroko stood there holding Miku as a destructive frown was plastered on her face. Her cuteness beamed bright like sunlight piercing the dark clouds after a rainy day. Haru felt rejuvenated as if he could take on whatever was going to happen.

“Do you want me to stay? I’ll stay if you want me to stay.” Haru said, readying to untie his shoes.

Haru heard another footstep coming. “Seriously, you keep doing this every time you get out.” an exasperated sigh came from his mother. “Here’s your lunch. And no, go to school.” His mother commanded as if reading his mind.

“Alright, alright, is there anything you want later, Hiroko?”

Hiroko thought about it hard as she held Miku. “I want cake!”

“Then cake you shall receive, my lady.”

“Yehey! Take care, big brother.” Hiroko gave him a sweet smile.

“Seriously, you guys keep spoiling her…” His mother couldn’t help but just sigh.

At the beginning of his high school life, Haru transferred to Noboru High. Due to the nature of his father's work, as a family, they had lived some sort of nomadic lifestyle, moving from places to places. They never really stayed in a place for more than a year, and this year wasn't any different. 

The school wasn’t really famous or anything, but the education here was more than average. It was considered a rich school and the fact that it was just a twenty-minute walk from his house was a good bonus.

The uniforms weren’t bad, too. At the start of the school year, teachers and faculties would scold students if their collars weren’t buttoned-up but these days, they didn’t really care about such little things except for the disciplinary committee. Now, everybody pretty much had it unbuttoned. As for the girls, a collared shirt with cardigan and ribbon, pleated skirt and a knee high socks. 

“Hmm…it’s already 7:45.” he put on a pair of wireless earphones and listened to music. 

As he got nearer to the school, a lot of students started running. Usually, they locked the gate by 8:10 and they wouldn’t let you in unless you had a really good reason why you couldn’t go to school in time. He already had a bunch of those just in case he was late. His mother urged him to do those to not bother her whenever he was late.

It was already 8:00 by the time he got to school. One of the two teachers manning the gate waved at him to come quickly as it looked like they were about to close the gate.

After entering the school gate, one would look like being transported in another world.

Lush, verdant bushes and grass surrounded the newly painted pavement he walked on. The trees would have looked magnificent if it housed leaves. And a beautiful fountain was in the center of it all.

The school had three elevators, one at the center and two at its end but Haru never had much the opportunity to use it as his room was at the first floor.

"Ah, I actually forgot about this." He said under his breath. 

Many students, mostly males, were butting each other's head for a view to the window. If a visitor saw this, they'd probably think something big was happening, but in truth, it was a normal occurrence that every student that passed by looked at it as if it was natural thing. Although, they were more chaotic than usual.

I guess they really missed looking at Ayako, huh? It had been two weeks since the winter break.

After forcing his way to the crowd, he opened the sliding door and noticed the same old mundane scenery you’d see in any classroom. It was like night and day compared to the outside. Groups separated on their own, discussing whatever they had in mind. Although, there seemed to be more ruckus than usual.

Well, they’re probably just discussing what happened during winter break.

Haru’s eyes bounced to the people he saw during that night of Christmas Eve. Not all of them were present, and those who were had split into separate groups.

Since Haru didn't really care about what they were talking about, he plopped down to his seat, which was in the last row. He was the only one in his row since each row had five tables in it and they were already occupied. There was nobody else on his right and the one in front was a boy he occasionally talked to. 

When Haru transferred, school had already began for around two weeks. Because of this, most classroom had already established the amount of students in a room and their seating arrangements.

“Late at the first class of the new year. Shiraishi, you never change, do you?”

“It’s not late if the teacher's not yet here, Uehara.” His homeroom teacher, Tachibana-sensei, was nowhere to be found. Even if he was, he doubted he’d actually get scolding from him.

Well, that isn’t really surprising.

“True, I guess," He shrugged. "But you are very lucky today. And so am I!” he said with a smile on his face like he just won a lottery. 

“Hmm? Did something happen?” 

“Something did! After whole two weeks, I finally get to see Ayako again!” Uehara said as he looked over towards Ayako.

In just a second, he noticed her as she sat surrounded by their fellow classmates. For a second there, they made eye contact, but Haru immediately turned away.

I guess she's still aware of me. 

“She’s as beautiful as ever! My winter break was hell because Ayako presence wasn’t there to cool me down.”

“Uehara,” Haru looked at him in the eyes, deadpan. “Sometimes you’re really weird.”

“Love...makes you weird.”

“Alright, everyone, settle down.” Before Uehara could tell him, Tachibana-sensei came in with a yawn and plopped down a box on his table. Looking at by the window, all students had already left and Haru always wondered how a lax teacher like Tachibana-sensei managed to bring order to that unruly crowd.  “I think everyone here knows the phrase ‘new year, new me’ so we’re going to have a new seating arrangement. I know, I know, I don’t want to do this either, but the people above say so, so let’s just get this over with.” 

Everyone groaned, including Haru, at the idea of changing seats. Everyone had pretty much felt comfortable with their seating arrangements. Some of the people in their classroom became a couple just because they were seating next to each other.

“I hope I don’t get Shirashi’s seat…”

“Please, just not Shiraishi’s seat…”

It was understandable why they didn’t want his seat. Behind him was a locker where the class kept their cleaning utensils and the trash. Not only that, but the seat was also a bit far from the board, even he sometimes had trouble seeing it or even hearing the teacher. 

“Remember, no redraws. What you pick is what you get.”

One by one his classmates got their numbers from the box. Some looked happy and some looked disappointed as they shared their numbers around.

As his turn came up, he put his hand in the box and took out a piece of paper. “No way…” Haru stared on his paper in disbelief.

“Oh? What seat did you get, Shiraishi?” Tachibana-sensei asked.

“The same one.” He showed him the paper.

“Wow, what are the chances…” For a moment there, he saw curiosity in Tachibana’s eyes. He took the piece of paper and asked, “Is there anyone willing to switch with Shiraishi?”

Nobody raised their hands. Their eyes not even making contact with Tachibana-sensei.

“It’s okay, Sensei. I don’t really mind my spot. It’s so much easier to sleep there when it’s Murasaki-sensei’s class.”

Tachibana-sensei chuckled a bit. “Don’t sleep in your class. But if you don’t have any problem with that then you can have your own seat back. After all, no redraws.”

He returned to his seat and watched as the class turned into chaos. Most of the girls asked the boys for help to move their seat and the boys happily obliged as they show their manliness. Girls were scarier when they knew how to use their feminine powers. 

It took about ten minutes for the chaos to subside. He was the only one who didn’t change seat, even Uehara, whose worst nightmare came true as he sat in front of the class.

Now, one might be wondering, who was seated in front of Haru? Obviously, he knew who sat in front of him. But he made an oath not to interact with this person, as he knew that by doing so, his peaceful school life might soon come to an end.

“Well, that will be your seat until the school year ends. So, better acquaint yourselves with your neighbors.” And with that Tachibana-sensei left the classroom with a big yawn. Haru himself yawned as he saw that.

As soon as Tachibana-sensei left, another teacher came in. Thus, a new year had started.

***

"That's all for today class." The teacher started to pack his things up as the bell rang, signaling that it was time for lunch break.  Since it was just the start of the second semester, teachers were taking it slow. Most made them write about what they did in their winter break while some started already with their lectures. 

Chaos once again reigned supreme in the classroom. People formed groups and made their way to their seats or to the cafeteria. He usually ate the lunch box outside but today seemed a bit chilly outside, so he planned to eat in the classroom. 

As he placed his lunch box on the table, the person in front of him pivoted their body and said, “So, you’re really not going to talk to me?”

"Yes, there’s no reason for us to talk, Ayako." Beautiful face, mesmerizing blue hair, and eyes as sharp as an ice shard. The girl in front him was none other than Fuyuki Ayako, the girl who got rejected on Christmas Eve.

Hmm. She looks a bit…off. Did she go on a diet or something?

Haru couldn’t point exactly what it was but she looked different. Her cheeks looked a bit sunken and accompanied by a cleverly hidden dark circle beneath eyes.

She looks just like my mother when she took care of Hiroko when she was just a baby. Well, it’s not my business, so I’m not going to ask.

"You know, you're talking to me right now, right?" She had this subtle pompous smile right now as if she had done something worthy of it. 

Ignoring her, he decided to put on his earphones. Just by talking to her a few boys were already staring at him. This was why he didn't want her interacting with him. Wherever she went, a spotlight followed. So naturally, the one who she interacted with would be in that spotlight. And a life in the spotlight was anything but peaceful. Haru never wanted to be bothered nor did he want to bother others.

Looking back at her, she pouted a bit. Well, what he did was rude but that was his goal. 

"But you didn't tell anyone about what happened that night, right?" She was referring to the night of Christmas Eve. The night she got rejected by Sora Takata.

"Yeah, I didn't." 

"That's good..." She seemed to dart her eyes around and continued, "Anyway! Are you going to eat alone?" 

"Yeah." 

He'd shown his disinterest towards talking to her by replying as succinctly as possible and being rude by wearing his earphones. He did this with a bunch his classmates and, voila, they stopped talking to him entirely. Quiet people already looked like unsociable and cold to others but him being indifferent was like an icing on the cake. The conversation ended there, well, it should have ended there but...

"Well then...Can I eat with you? " she asked while placing her lunch box on his table.

"Wait, I haven’t even said anything yet! Aren't you going to eat with your friends?" It seemed this girl couldn't take a hint. 

"Umi and Yume are absent today and you know about Sora..." Takata was nowhere to be seen. Ayako and him usually ate together but it seemed like she was avoiding him because of the awkward atmosphere her confession brought.

"No, you can't eat with me. Just go eat on your table." If he ate with her, he’d be in the spotlight. Incidentally, he was already in the spotlight. And the stares of the audience could kill, to say the least. The boys in his classroom wouldn't probably kill him but the boys outside the window was a different matter. 

"Okay then..." She dejectedly turned around to face her table. She grabbed her lunch box and started to eat. Every time she swallowed her food, she would sigh a bit loudly. 

“This food would taste better if only I’m eating with someone.”

This girl...

"Fine, let's eat together." Haru said begrudgingly.

Hearing those words, Ayako turned around and placed her lunch box on his table and turned her seat around. "Don't you know how to eat alone?”

“I do...It’s just that food tastes better when you’re eating with someone, you know?”  

“That’s what someone who doesn’t know how to eat alone would say. Great food tastes the same whether eating alone or not.” Haru countered.

“That’s someone who doesn’t eat with others would say.” Ayako returned his logic to him. “Anyway, the food tastes better now!”

“Well, whatever you say...”

Ayako grinned as if declaring victory. “Nyow that you mwentioned it, I haven’t seen you with owther people mwuch.” She said as she chewed her food.

“Stop speaking while eating,” Haru said, barely understanding a word of what she said.

Ayako gulped the food in her mouth. “You’re kind of a loner, aren’t you?”

“W-Well, what does it have to do with you.” Haru looked a bit shocked by her sudden tactless words.

“I can kinda see why you are a loner.” She observed.

“I am a loner by choice. One day, you’ll understand that peace and quiet is the best thing in the world.”

A lot of people would casually talk to him or sometimes even invite him out to hangout, but he would always refuse. Gradually, people stopped inviting him out entirely.

It wasn’t because Haru didn’t like them or wasn’t able to talk to them. He could talk to people normally if he wanted to. But in his case, he just didn’t really want to form a connection to other people. Especially at this point, he was not motivated at all to even talk to his classmates. Heck, he barely knew his classmates’ names and the ones he did know were people famous enough to overhear their names.

“Spoken like a true loner.” Ayako giggled then tilted her head. “Aside from the peace and quiet, why, though? Do you not like the people here?”

“I have my own reasons...and it’s none of your business.”

“So stingy.” Ayako pouted cutely.

Your cuteness is inferior to my little sister, woman.

Suddenly, the bell rang, indicating that lunch break was over. The chaos started to subside as students went back to the room and to their seats.

“Well, it was fun eating with you, Shiraishi.” Ayako smiled. “Doesn’t food taste even better when you’re eating with someone?”

“Nah, my point still stands.” Haru put away his lunch box and cleaned his table.

“You’re just not used to it...” Her eyes suddenly lit up as if she thought of something great. “I guess I’m just gonna have to eat with you every day to prove my point!” Ayako turned to face her seat as if not leaving what she said up for debate.