Chapter 19 - First Day at School

“Let me ask you again, are you sure about this?” I asked.

“You’re really asking that late? You’re already in front of the school.” she answered.

I looked at my outfit. “I know, but would this work?”

“You’re fine. It’s not like you’re going inside the class. Look! No one’s looking at you,” she said.

“Uh… I think fire don’t have any eyes… Because I’m not sure how am I supposed to know if they’re looking at me or not.” I muttered.

“I forgot.” she replied. “Anyways, you’re fine being with yourself? I can't miss today’s class, but I’ll meet you up after class.”

I nodded once. “As long as no one finds out my identity, then it should be fine.”

“It’s fine.” she said, approaching me and fixing my collars. “You look good with that. No one’s going to notice.”

“Thanks.” I whispered, scratching my head. “With this get up, I’m sure people will look at me.”

She chuckled. “That’s for sure. You’re covered up with the hoodie and a mask, you’re too suspicious.”

I frowned. “That’s not something I wanted to hear Amara.”

“I guess so.” she paused then added, “So I’m going inside, where should we meet up?”

“Let me think…” I paused and looked around, thinking of the best place to spend the rest of the morning.

The only place I could think of is the garden.

“You’re thinking about the garden, right?” she interrupted.

I raised an eyebrow. “How did you know?”

“It’s your favorite spot.”

“Oh… that explains it…” I replied.

As she said that, it made me realize that Amara really knew who I was before I died. The more I spend time with Amara, the more things I learn about myself.

“Then I’ll see you later.” I bid farewell.

“Yeah, see you!” she replied, floating away.

I couldn’t help but smile as I walked to the garden. It’s not even a week, but I could feel myself growing closer to Amara. Even if my heart is full of doubts, her presence made me want to believe someone again.

As I approached the familiar place, I took a seat in the chair. This garden is my favorite place to kill some time. Considering that the school has a lot of places to hang out with, this place where the sun hits you directly is an unpopular place for most of the students.

Well, to be fair this place is really small, so I doubt students would even want to be here. And the worst part is that when the sun hits your face during the afternoon, you’re going to be drenched in your sweat whether you like it or not.

I was the only one sitting in here and didn’t find many students hanging around here. No one wanted to see a garden of vegetables, and the fact that the garden was also behind the school building was also a reason.

But, I do remember someone who waters the plants here once in a while. We never really talk, since I don’t know her personally.

I wonder if she still waters the plants… I wondered as I looked at the vegetables, it’s been a while since the last time I saw them.

Then I noticed that the vegetables were fewer than usual.

“…” I stood up and approached the garden, immediately noticing that the garden was indeed smaller than what I remember. “What happened here?” I whispered, confused about the current state of the garden.

Did she stop watering the plants? I asked myself, considering that this garden was full of vegetables the last time I saw it. It didn’t make sense for the garden to suddenly look this small.

It was already a small garden, and now it became more smaller. Some grounds are empty, and only a few of the vegetables remained.

“What happened here?” I muttered.

━━━►◄━━━

“Shade!” she called, panting as she approached me. “Sorry Shade! Hah… I hope you didn’t get bored…”

I turned to her. “How’s the class?”

“What?” she paused, and continued, “Oh… The usual, nothing much.” she said, sitting beside me.

“You okay?” I asked, noticing her short breaths. “You didn’t have to run you know?”

“It’s because I can’t wait to see you—” she paused, her fire flickering side to side unnaturally. “No, no, no that’s not it! I was asking if you were fine because you were probably bored this whole time.”

“Not really.” I whispered, looking straight at the garden. “I was wondering about this garden. It looked way too different the last time I saw it.”

“The garden?” she asked. “You mean that one?

I nodded once. “Yeah, I was familiar with it.”

“You’re always here so I guess that’s the reason.” she said.

“Yeah.” I smiled, then asked her, “How did you know that it’s my favorite spot?”

“I may be a bit of a stalker…” she muttered.

“Huh!?”

She chuckled. “Just kidding. But you could say that I always see you here whenever I go to this garden.”

I turned to her, “Really?”

She nodded. “Is that surprising?”

“I think?” I paused and pondered.

It is definitely surprising. Because there’s only one person I knew who’s visiting the garden.

“I knew someone who’s always here in the garden. But I don’t know her personally.” I continued.

“I thought you can’t look at someone…” she muttered.

“What? Where did you get that from?” I questioned.

“No no no, forget about that!”

“Just tell me about it.”

“Uh…” she muttered, a bit hesitant. “It’s nothing really. I’ve always thought you don’t like looking at someone.”

“I… I don’t like looking at someone? Is that what I looked like?” I asked.

“No no, I said forget about it!”

“If it was nothing then you wouldn’t have to mention it, right?” I said.

“Ugh… I’m embarrassed…” she whispered and paused. “But, you could say that’s my impression of you.” she continued.

Is that how I looked like to others?

“What made you think that was the case?” I asked, curious about her thoughts. “It’s not the first time I heard it.”

She chuckled awkwardly. “You see… I had never actually seen you talking to someone, so I thought that you might’ve been struggling with talking to someone. We’re from the same grade, but we’ve never really talked with each other.” she revealed.

“…” I remained silent and just continued listening to her.

“[What’s this guy doing?] I always asked myself that, wondering why you’re always staring at the sky. Not once, not twice, but countless times. Did you ever ask yourself why you’re looking at the sky?” she asked.

“There’s no reason for it…” I answered.

“I see.” she chuckled.

“What?”

“I’m just happy.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You’re happy about what?”

“You’ve answered one of my questions that’s been running in my mind for a year.” she said.

“I’m not sure I understand that one…” I muttered, confused.

“You’re really slow Shade.” she said, holding my hand. “I guess this would do?”

I looked at her, as the warmth of her hand engulfed my hand. “I guess…”

She giggled. “I guess I’ll skip the rest of the class for today.” she said.

“That’s not a good idea.” I replied.

“Is that so?” she said as she stood up and pulled me. “Let’s go eat something!”

“Wait, wait, wait!” I said, stopping her. “Are you sure about this?”

“I know you can’t eat, but that’s not a reason to stay here all alone again.” she answered.

“T-that’s not what I’m talking about! They might find out that you were together with a skeleton!” I reasoned.

“I don’t care, I’m hungry and I wanted you to join me.” she said, pulling me again. “Don’t worry, we’re going back here after we ordered something.”

I froze and couldn’t believe how pushy she was. “Fine.”

Even though she was pushy, it didn’t feel annoying to me.

Even though she was confusing, it didn’t feel wrong to me.

I fixed my hoodie, ensuring that my skull was hidden properly.

“We’re going to eat~ We’re going to eat~” she sang as we walked together side by side.