First Page

"Are you ready?"

I just nodded at sensei quietly

He led the way to the classroom...It's class 2-E

He opened the door and immediately told everyone that homeroom was about to start and then he announced to the class, "Everyone, you have a new classmate. Would you introduce yourself in the class Tanahashi-san?"

I nodded at Sensei and shortly introduced myself.

"My name is Shinsuke Tanahashi. 17 years old. Nice to meet you all." 

Sensei suggested, "There's an open seat next to Uchida-san."

I instantly went there and sat down right next to her. Around 5 minutes, homeroom had ended and classes began and it went faster than I thought it would.

Lunch started, and I heard a voice...

"Uhmm...Tanahashi-Kun, do you want me to show you the campus?"

As I look, I saw a girl with long black hair. 

"Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm the class rep, Yuuki Uchida. Nice to meet you, Tanahashi-Kun" 

Oh, she was the one seating next to me, I didn't even realize it.

"Likewise...what should I call you? Class Rep? Uchida-san?"

"Uchida is fine."

A group of people suddenly approach us.

A tall guy with messy hair said, "Uchida, are you going to show him the campus? Let me in there too!" 

And then the curly-haired guy on a hoodie followed, "Me too! Me too!"  

Then a white-haired girl with a ponytail wearing a face mask screamed at the two boys,  "You idiots! You're giving Tanahashi a bad impression of us." 

A girl with glasses and pink-haired mumbled to her, "Miu, mouth."

She mumbled, "Ah, my bad."

Uchida suddenly spoke, "Well I was going to show him but you guys showed up."

At this point, I'm confused about what's happening.

Uchida verifies, "Don't worry Tanahashi-Kun, they aren't bad people. Guys, can you introduce yourself to Tanahashi-Kun?"

The tall guy raised his hand and volunteered, "Then, I'll go first." 

He held his hand out for a handshake and introduced himself, "I'm Itsuki Daisuke. Nice to meet you Tanahashi."

I replied, "Likewise too, Daisuke-san." and shook his hand.

The guy on a hoodie suddenly shouted "I'm next, I'm next!"

"Hello there, I'm Nise Suzuki. Call me Nise! Nice to meet you."

The white-haired girl with a ponytail wearing a face mask suddenly made her way between Daisuke and Nise.

"Damn, you two are noisy. I'm Miu Chiba by the way."

The pink-haired girl with glasses quietly approached.

"I'm Sakura Kyouko."

I responded to them, "Nice to meet all of you"

I guess that is one way to make acquaintances on your first day.

Uchida suggested, "So, do you want to explore the campus right now Tanahashi-Kun?" 

I asked, "What about lunch?" 

"It's all okay! We have a lot of time for lunch!" says Nise. Chiba quickly objects and insisted, "No stupid! The sandwiches are about to be sold out, once we finished giving Tanahashi a tour!"  

Daisuke suggested, "Then, we should go to the cafeteria first." Everyone agreed and the six of us went to the cafeteria and a hectic line of people in the cafeteria welcomes us with voices you can hear such as:

"Can I have an egg sandwi━Hey, watch your feet!"

"Five yakisobas! Five yakisobas!"

"Stop pushing."

"I can't reach the melon bread!"

━

I started wondering and asked, "Are the long lines a usual thing?"

Daisuke answered, "Well. pretty muc━" Then, he got cut off by a running Chiba who shouted, "My precious sandwiches!!" while trying to cut her way in the long line. A minute passed by and she returned to us holding three sandwiches with her.

She held out a sandwich to me and said, "Here's one for you Tanahashi."

I didn't know how to respond and it became really awkward.

Chiba became like wild boar and shouted, "Hey! Why aren't you accepti━" then realized that I'm carrying a bento with me.

There was a sudden pause and she turned red out of embarrassment and then started running off and shouted, "I'll meet you guys in the usual spot! See you later!"

Then, Uchida asked me, "Should we start the tour?" 

I nodded quietly, still processing what just happened.

The tour began shortly. They showed me the entirety of the campus. While walking, we passed by a bulletin board full of club posters and suddenly Uchida asked me a question.

"Are there any clubs you are interested in, Tanahashi-Kun?"

I replied back, "The go-home club I guess,"

The go-home club is basically a fancy way to say that you don't have a club.

Daisuke followed, "Oh, you're with me then!" 

"Daisuke-sa━" then he cuts me off.

He then insisted, "Itsuki is fine."

I followed with a question, "Then Itsuki-san, why aren't you part of any clubs then?"

He replied back, "I'm not interested at all."

Nise then bragged, "The basketball club always approaches him!" 

I followed, "Yeah, your tall Itsuki-san." 

He responded, "I'm too lazy to do it." 

After a little while, the tour was finished.

"Now that's over, let's go to the usual spot," Itsuki says. Then, Nise grabbed my hand and said, "You're coming with us too, Tanahashi!!" and then, I followed and said "I mean if it's fine with you guys," Then Uchida followed and responded, "Of course, it's fine." with a smile on her face. Kyouko-san just nodded quietly.

I gradually followed them to their spot. Then a "Do not go!" sign is on the door, and Uchida gradually opens the door, completely ignoring the sign and I immediately saw a bright blue sky, feeling the wind that is passing through me. It's the rooftop.

Then I told them, "We shouldn't be here." and then Kyouko-san replied, "Trust us, no one comes here to check." with confidence in her voice. I immediately trusted them and followed. Apparently, there is a hidden spot on the rooftop where there is a shade from the sunlight. There is Chiba casually waiting for us.

Chiba was annoyed and said, "You guys are late!" and, Uchida apologizes to her saying, "Sorry if we took long, Miu." then, we all sat down and opened our Bentos while Chiba opened the wrapper from her sandwich.

I looked at their lunch boxes and Nise's bento is quite surprising to see and said, "Nise, your bento looks surprisingly cute." "Oh, my mother made it." He says.

His lunchbox has animal faces on it made from rice, seaweed, and hotdogs. There's also a scrambled egg that looks like a cat with a ribbon on it.

"Do you guys make your own bento?" asks Nise. Then, Itsuki answered, "I sometimes do if I'm not lazy enough." and Chiba followed, "My diet might go overboard if I have a packed lunch with me."

"If I have the free time, then I make one," Uchida says. I followed her stating, "I always cook mine, since I get up early." Kyouko-san then followed, "I usually just eat whatever is left from dinner." 

Then a question came into my mind out of curiosity and asked.

"You guys seemed close, did you guys meet before high school?"

"Oh, we're all classmates last year, so we knew each other pretty well," Uchida answers.

"We aren't close at first but we got closed around the last month of school," Itsuki added.

"We became group members on one of our subjects and everything took off!" Nise followed.

Then, Chiba complained, "Gosh! That project was a mess! Nise was all over the place." 

A complaint followed by another by Kyouko-san, "You're always absent, Miu." 

Chiba explained with a loud voice, "I was very sick at that time! Okay?!" 

Everyone went laughing at the two of them, then I ask another question.

"Aren't you guys part of any clubs?"

Chiba said, "It's a hassle!" while Kyouko-san copied her, "What Miu said." Uchida followed, "I help on the student council so I don't have one." 

"You know already," says Itsuki.

Then Nise follows, "The soccer club!" 

Well, that really caught me off guard. Itsuki who is tall and looks athletic isn't part of any clubs, precisely sports clubs, while, Nise, who looks entirely opposite, is in a sports club. And I asked Nise a question.

"What position do you play then?" 

He replied, "Oh, defender. I don't really like the forward position, it doesn't fit me at all." 

"What in the world is a defender?" Chiba asked.

Then, Itsuki surprisingly explained to her, "You're basically playing backseat. You can pretty much see everything on the field, unlike when you're playing the forward position, where you play more offensively." 

I praised him, "You are surprisingly knowledgeable about this, Itsuki."

He replied, "Well...I watch soccer in my free time."

We went talking and talking until Chiba realizes something...

"You guys! Lunch is about to be finished."

Nise responded, "Wait, I'm not yet done with my tea." Uchida then followed, "The tea can wait later. Run for now." 

We gathered our stuff and went running downstairs to the classroom.  Chiba started complaining, "Sakura, you're too slow!" then Kyouko-san explained while running "Well...Running isn't my strong.... suit, you see," as she loses her breath from running.

Everyone except Kyouko-san got into the classroom with a little time remaining before the next subject starts.

I gasped "Finally here..." while breathing deeply from the marathon that we did.

Kyouko-san finally appeared while catching her breath as she talks."You...guys...are...so fast."

Chiba insults her while also catching her own breath."You're...just...slow...Sakura..."

While everyone was catching their breaths, the teacher slowly comes in and shouted, "Everyone, please sit down, class is about to start."

Everyone in the class went to their seats. The teacher told us to prepare our textbooks for the class but there was a problem. I don't have the textbook for this class. The teacher started discussing and I'm here panicking. I don't know what to do and then, I heard someone whispering my name from the left and immediately saw Uchida.

She whispers, "Where's your textbook?"

I'm waving my hands signaling to her that I don't have one and she immediately understood it. Uchida-san suddenly lifts her desk and puts it right next to my desk. Uchida-san puts her textbook on the center of our desk and whispers, "Now, you have one."

I silently thank her but sitting next close to her, she's actually pretty. Her hair is well-groomed, and I just noticed her long eyelashes from my view. Wow, I also smell her perfume. Now that I see more things, I immediately thought that I'm sort of a creep. Then, my eyes met with hers.

She whispered, "Is there something wrong?"

I shook my head sideways. She just smiled at me then went to her bag and grab a pair of glasses and wore them. Wow, she's, even more, prettier than before.

The teacher immediately called me and said, "Tanahashi-Kun, I know it's your first day but do you know the answer to my question?"

I immediately stand up but I missed and didn't hear the question at all since I was captivated by Uchida's looks. I don't want to give a bad impression and say I don't know the answer. Then, I immediately noticed Uchida pulling my blazer to get her attention. I looked at her and she was pointing down to her notebook and saw the words "Shinto".

To answer his question, I said, "Shinto, sensei." Sensei was amazed and said, "Correct, Tanahashi-Kun." I sat down and whispered, "Thank you, you save me again." to Uchida. She whispers also saying, "No worries, after all, we're friends right?" Those words immediately processed to me and instead of saying something, I just smiled at her and she smiled back as well.

To think that on my first day, I already got people around me that I consider friends. I would never anticipate having friends on my first day at my new school. A tall lazy guy, a very hyper guy, a girl with a foul mouth but caring, a silent and chill girl, and a girl that is sitting next to me is just beyond perfect. Everything went more perfectly than I expected. 

Then time passed by and the classes for the day had ended and then I felt someone's presence approaching me.

"Oi, Tanahashi, where do you live?"

I turned around and saw Itsuki and the rest of them.

I replied back saying, "Around the Setagaya area."

A surprised Uchida said,  "Oh, that's near to my house."

Nise suggests, "We should go there right now!" but Chiba opposes him and asked, "What about the soccer club?" and Nise replied, "It's fine!"

At this point, I just realized that they want to go to my house. I object and said, "We can't go there yet." Uchida asked, "Why not?" and I answered, "I just moved recently, so it's still messy."

They understood it that quickly and but I feel bad for rejecting them, then I suggested, "How about tomorrow?" Their eyes started to get excited. Chiba excitingly shouted, "I'm on board! Who's with me?", then the rest raised their arms, clarifying that they are also going.

I lift my bag and then asked them, "Aren't you guys going home?" Nise answered, "I have club today."  I replied back, "Good luck with your club." and he gave me a thumbs-up with a smile and went to the field. I asked everyone else if we can all go together to the school gate, and they all agreed with me. 

Itsuki parted ways with us immediately at the school gate since he lives on the other side, while the rest of us lives on the same side. Later on, Chiba also part ways with us, then Kyouko-san came next. Uchida and I end up at the station. I asked her a question.

"Where's your stop?"

"Yoyogi-Uehara."

"That's close to my stop."

"Where is it?"

"Shimo-Ketazawa."

"Oh, that's pretty close."

The train came and we went inside the train. Uchida went out on her stop and wave her hand to me while I did the same thing. Minutes later, I finally got home after a tiring day. First day was all about presenting yourself and giving them a good impression of you, but this was quite a first day and it was fun. They welcomed me with open arms like they are already my friends before realizing it. Family, I should say.

But, the reality is that not everything is rainbows and butterflies.

Once time passes by, everything will just be a memory.