Chapter 7

"Izumi, that handsome boy from yesterday and another one with chains on his pants are standing on the sidewalk outside our house," Izumi's mom called out to her.

What? She spat out her toothpaste. Yanagi and Kuruma are here?! Why? She rushed to finish brushing her teeth, grabbed her backpack, and flew down the stairs.

"I made you lunch this time." Her mom smiled as she held out a bento box.

"Thanks, Mom." She stuffed it in her backpack. "I'll see you later."

"Bye, honey. Have fun today." She sighed and sat at the kitchen table. "Something tells me this year is going to be a rollercoaster."

"Kuruma, Yanagi, what are you doing here?" Izumi asked, clutching the straps of her backpack as she approached them.

"So, she really lives nearby," Kuruma mumbled.

"Good morning, Izu. I usually walk to school with Kuruma, but since it's only a short detour, and I was worried you'd get lost again, we figured we'd walk you to school," Yanagi explained.

"You could've texted instead of waiting out here."

"I did, but you didn't respond."

Izumi patted her jacket pockets. Oh my gosh! "I'll be right back." She rushed back inside to grab her phone.

Kuruma spotted Izumi's mom glancing out the window at them and waved. "They look alike."

"True." Yanagi smiled and waved. "Hello, Miss. Hashito!" He bowed to her.

Izumi grabbed her phone off her side table and headed back down. "Mom! Why are you waving?"

"He waved first," she replied.

"Oh."

"And it's just a greeting. Don't worry; I'm not going to go outside and embarrass you with old pictures or anything."

"Mom!"

She giggled. "Get going before you make your friends late."

"Right." How'd I not even hear the text? She had gotten it twenty minutes ago, but never even thought to check before heading out.

"All set?" Yanagi asked.

"Yup." Izumi smiled widely and skipped over to them, walking in the middle. First time walking to school with friends. "So, did you guys find anyone else for the club?"

"No, not yet," Kuruma sighed. "Everyone is too busy joining 'established clubs' to want to start a fresh one. And it seems people are more interested in playing games than creating them."

"Do you want me to recruit today?" Yanagi asked. "We have a short baseball club meeting today, so we'll be out with plenty of time. This will be our chance to talk to them about our second club, too."

"Great..."

"And you'll probably have a few test pitches to do since you skipped out early yesterday."

"Hey, any chance Shiori would want to join as our artist? I know she's got skills." Yanagi glanced down at her.

It didn't sound like she wanted to. "She wanted to join the occult club, so I doubt it."

"Aw, that's a shame. We really could've used her. I wonder who else might be interested." Yanagi stroked his chin.

"If you asked, I'm sure a slew of girls might join, but I doubt they'd have any real interest in the club," Kuruma grumbled, slowing his steps until he was walking behind them, his eyes landing on Izumi in wonder.

"I'd help you recruit, but I don't know anyone other than Shiori. Speaking of." Izumi spotted her in the distance, walking through the school gates. "Shiori!" she yelled, waving widely.

Shiori stopped for a split second and kept going.

"Maybe she didn't hear me... I'm going to catch up with her. Thanks for walking me to school. Pretty sure I know the way now."

"Is that your way of saying you don't want us to walk you?" Yanagi asked.

"What? No way! I'd never say that." It's awesome that I got to. "But I don't want to be a burden."

"Burden? We're just walking to school together, right, Kuru?"

"Mmhmm."

"See, he agrees. We can make this a regular thing from now on."

"S-sure." Izumi bit her lip, unsuccessfully holding back her smile. "I'll see you in class."

Yanagi nodded, and she rushed to catch up with Shiori. "So, why are you lagging behind?" He glanced back at Kuruma.

"No reason," he mumbled. "Hey, I know I said I'm looking for people to join, but I'd rather they have an interest in it, so it'll help us flourish..."

Yanagi raised an eyebrow. "You don't think she's interested?"

"Interested in something, but I'm not sure that's video games."

"Well, she wanted to join right away, so I assume she does."

"But what if she has another reason to join?"

He stopped. "Like what?"

Kuruma pointed at him. "You, obviously."

"Me? Oh, 'cause we're friends. I don't think that's a bad reason to join a club."

Kuruma facepalmed. "So not what I'm talking about," he grumbled and walked away.

"What'd I say?"

"I know you said you're joining the occult club, but we really need a fourth member," Izumi pleaded with Shiori as they sat at their desks in homeroom.

"Not sure what you'd even expect me to do; I'm not great with programming or anything like that," Shiori said as she shuffled her tarot cards to do her daily mini reading.

"Actually, Yanagi was saying you're a great artist."

She narrowed her eyes.

"What? It's true."

"I'm not sure why he'd say that. It's not like he's seen my art."

"But you've known each other a long time, right? I'm sure he's seen some."

She shrugged and picked up two cards. "The Three of Pentacles and... the Wheel of Fortune. Ugh..."

"What did it say?" Izumi peeked at the cards. Do those actually work?

"I'll be dragged in a new direction to work together... We'll see if it's accurate later, I suppose." She hid her cards when the teacher walked in.

"Okay, class." Miss. Nagao clapped for their attention. "Time for the real first day. I've posted your schedule up here in case you lose yours, along with the cleaning schedule right below it. Now, it's time for your textbooks." She gestured to the stacks on the trolley at the back. "Mr. Tsueno, Mr. Taro, can you two please hand out a set to each student?"

"Yes, ma'am." They both got up and grabbed bundles of textbooks from behind them.

"Look how many there are!"

"How are we supposed to carry that around?"

"Can't we go all digital yet?" The class complained.

"Quiet down, please." Miss. Nagao clapped. "You'll also have a tablet to take with you for assignments and certain class work."

"Maybe they just want us to work out more," one of them whispered.

"Here, Shiori." Yanagi smiled at her as he set a stack of textbooks and workbooks on her desk.

"Thanks," Shiori mumbled.

"And for you, Izu." Yanagi set a stack on her desk.

"Thank you." Izumi opened the bundle. The English textbook is so thick! She flipped through the book.

"Please write your names in the front of all of your books. I will distribute the tablets while you do that. Please be careful with them." She went on to give login instructions and explain how they used them for class. "Now, with all the explanations out of the way, it's time to start with our first subject for the day, Japanese."

Izumi pulled her textbook out of the stack and glanced over at Kuruma. I wonder if he has a plan for finding a new member.

Kuruma's eyes met hers, and she turned away.

Oh geez... he totally caught me staring! Act cool. Pretend nothing happened. She swallowed hard and focused on their teacher. How am I going to survive sitting next to him all year if I keep sneaking peeks?!

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. Just focus on the teacher. That's how I'll survive sitting next to a handsome boy I could daydream about all day. Simple.