Chapter 2: High School

The alarm buzzed.

Shun, buried under his blanket, slammed the snooze button and went back to sleep, for two seconds, the silence was sweet—

“…Crap.”

He sprang up as reality hit him. “I’m gonna be late!”

He got up rushed to the bathroom. A quick brush, a rushed uniform change, stuffed his bag, grabbed his phone, and ran downstairs.

“Morning, Shun,” his mom greeted from the kitchen without looking up.

“Morning, Ma” he replied, while stuffing up food in his mouth.

“Eat slowly, will you?”

“No time!” Shun mumbled through a mouthful, eyes on the wall clock.

He gulped the last bite, put his bag over one shoulder, and dashed for the door.

“I’m leaving!”

“Take care!” his mom’s voice followed as the door clicked shut.

Outside, the morning air was still crisp. Kyoto was waking up. Shun took a deep breath, adjusted his bag, and started walking.

First day of high school. New year, new classmates… he was excited...

Shun walked through the streets. The neighborhood was already awake — shops opening, students walking to school, people going to job, the sound of vehicles.

And there she was.

Standing under the usual signboard by the vending machine, looking down at her phone. Yui.

Same old Yui. But in that crisp high school uniform, somehow… she looked different. A little more grown-up, a little more—well, beautiful.

“Yo,” he greeted, casually.

“Jeez, Shun. Can’t you be on time at least once? It’s the first day of high school.” She said as she looked up from her phone.

“You’re just early,” he grinned.

They started walking, towards school.

“So, did you check the seating?” Shun asked.

“Nope. Let’s look at it together when we get there,” she replied, adjusting her bag strap. “Oh, I heard Takashi’s also joining our school.”

“Yeah, he told me,” Shun nodded. “It’s better to have people you know around.”

The rest of the walk passed with light chats.

The morning assembly went like a flash. Welcome speech, school rules, introduction of the teachers everything finished so quickly.

They stood in front of the seating chart.

“Oh, looks like we’re next to each other,” Shun said, looking at the board.

“And Takashi’s right in front of you,” Yui added. “Hmm… Megumi’s in another class, huh?”

“You gonna be okay without her?” Shun asked.

“Yeah,” Yui replied, still scanning the list. “We’ll see each other during breaks. And we walk home together.”

A pause.

“Shun, look. This guy sitting next to me—Soutarou Hayashi. Doesn’t that sound familiar?”

“Hmm,” Shun replied with a faint sound, not looking at her.

It did sound familiar.

Classroom

The students settled in.

Sure enough, the guy sitting next to Yui was a familiar face.

Too familiar.

Hayashi Soutarou.

Tall, confident, sharp eyes and a smile that seemed to attract people instantly. They were already laughing about something. Yui had her head tilted slightly, smiling.

And Shun?

He sat a seat away from Hayashi, right next to Yui in the middle column. Watching them from the side.

Of all people…

That guy. The one who beat him back in the middle school inter-school badminton prelims. He hadn’t thought about it for a while. And now here he was. Laughing next to Yui.

Takashi leaned back from the front row, whispering over his shoulder.

“See? This is what I told you.”

“Oh, shut up. She ain’t going anywhere,” Shun muttered, eyes still forward.

But even as he said that, he couldn’t help the feeling settling in his chest.

That weird, heavy kind of silence.

The bell rang.

Chairs screeched, bags zipped, laughter filled the hallways as students rushed out of their classrooms. First day of high school — done. And while everyone seemed to be filled with energy, Shun?

He was drained.

New friends, clubs, excitement. The world felt colourful around him, but none of it reached him.

First day had been a disaster.

Yui had spent most of it with Soutarou Hayashi — laughing, talking, sitting next to each other. And Shun? Called out multiple times for spacing out. Got caught napping once. It wasn’t his best showing.

He walked out of the building with Takashi.

“Where’s Sakurai-san?” Takashi asked, glancing around.

“Dunno. Probably with Hayashi,” Shun muttered, his voice lacking any emotion. A little too lacking.

“Woah, man. You sound like a dead zombie. No energy at all,” Takashi teased.

“Dumbo. Zombies are dead. You don’t call them dead zombies,” Shun replied, finally cracking a laugh.

They reached the gate, still casually chatting.

And then — there she was.

Yui Sakurai. Waiting by the school gate, phone in hand, her bag hanging over one shoulder.

“Oooh, looks like you still got a chance, Shun-kun,” Takashi nudged him with a grin.

“Get lost, doofus,” Shun muttered, pushing him lightly, but he couldn’t hide his smile.

“How was school, Sakurai-san?” Takashi asked, approaching her.

“Great! How about you, Tanaka-kun?”

“Couldn’t be better. Well then, I’m off. Take care, you two. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye~” Yui waved.

Shun gave him a nod, and then it was just the two of them.

“So… were you waiting for me?” Shun asked.

“Yep. For you and Megumi,” she replied casually.

“She gonna take long?”

“Nope. She should be here any minute.”

There was a small pause as they stood near the gate, students passing by them in groups.

“So, where’s Hayashi? You two seemed to hit it off.”

“Hayashi-kun went for badminton practice. You should go too, Shun. He even asked me about you today — like, if you still play or not.”

“If he wants to know about me, he should ask me directly,” Shun muttered, clearly annoyed.

“Still bitter about last year’s game?” Yui teased, nudging his arm.

Before he could reply—

“Whatcha guys talking about?”

A cheerful voice cut in.

They both turned.

Megumi Hoshino had arrived — vibrant as ever. Her hair caught the light just right, her smile was wide, and her presence immediately lifted the air around them. Beautiful, kind, and always full of energy — it was easy to see why people liked her.

“Talking about Soutarou Hayashi,” Yui replied.

“Ohhh, that guy who beat Shun last year? You mentioned him during break,” Megumi said as she joined them, still smiling.

“What took you so long, Megumi? C’mon, let’s go,” Shun said, already turning to walk ahead — clearly not in the mood to stay on that topic.

The girls shared a glance, then followed.

The sky had begun to shift colors, painting soft streaks of orange above the rooftops.

The first day was over.

And for Shun Ishikawa — the weight of high school had already begun.

PS: For my dear friends who gave STAY a chance, all your comments, suggestions will mean a lot to me. Please do share your thoughts and suggestion in the comments. Also from next chapter onwards I will correct all my grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. I will use grammarly or something like that to correct errors, feel free to point out my mistakes and errors :)