Chapter 1:
Love Her: Taeko
A slender woman stands in front of the classroom, a clipboard in her right hand and a pen in the other.
“Oishimiya Aoi!”
“Here!”
She places a check near the name.
Okumura Minai!”
“Here!”
Another check engraves its way into the paper.
“Ohara Misato!”
The teacher goes to check off the name, but the room is silent. Someone was late on their first day. ‘That makes two of them,’ the woman says as she eyes a second, unchecked name on the paper: Yamamoto Suzu.
Suddenly, the door slammed open. A girl with sickly curls heaved and huffed as she held open the wooden door. “I…I’m so sorry I’m late…” She said, her face bright and warm from running. “I couldn’t find the class number…”
Out came Misato, calmly rounding the corner to see an overworked Suzu. Misato then peaked her head into the classroom. She lowered her head respectfully. “I’m sorry for being late.” Suzu stiffened and lowered as well. “I’m sorry!” The class erupted into laughter. Suzu gripped her messenger bag, keeping her head down to avoid their twisted faces.
“Alright, alright… Settle down, all of you. Ohara, Yamamoto, please get to a seat.” The two girls, one shameful and one stoic, sat down in seats on opposite sides of the classroom.
The first bell of the school year rang and class 1-C scattered. Some girls flocked to the students in neighboring classrooms while others stayed to make new friends. A small percentage of girls, like Misato, stayed put in their seats. Misato examined the room. The teacher had left to either print more activity sheets or to smoke in private. Girls in one corner gossiped about teachers while girls in a different corner silently brood over their upcoming highschool life. Misato groaned and dug through her bag when she felt the familiar feel of laminate. The ID…, she thought as she fumbled with it for a while. She caught a firm grip on the identification and pushed herself out of the chair.
“This is yours, right?” Misato asked. Suzu Yamamoto sat stiff in her chair, only shifting her eyes to look up at the girl in front of her. “Looks like it.” She replied. She snatched the ID from Misato’s hands. “Where’d you find it?” Misato chuckled. “Check your bag, I think we switched this morning by accident.”
The girl tilted her head, her twisted bangs swaying. Suzu dug into her own messenger bag and pulled out an ID. She flipped the card over, examining the photo on the front. “You should style your hair more.” Suzu said, looking up at Misato. Through her twisted bangs, a pair of void-like circles glared up through the soul of Misato. The girl in front of her was nothing like the one from earlier. At first she was timid and overly apologetic. But now she was more like an empty husk who could take up any form.
“What’s up with you?” Misato asked.
“Nothing, I don’t think.”
“No, there’s somethin’, I bet.”
Suzu laughed, scooting herself out of her seat. “You’re absurd, Ohara.” She stuck her hand in her skirt pocket and pulled out a single cigarette. “You wanna check out the roof with me?”
The door to the roof was unlocked. Suzu flung the door open, the wind blowing the hair out of her eyes. “It’s gorgeous up here!”
It was 12:06 in the afternoon and the sun rose high above Takayama. Suzu turned to her new companion. “Isn’t it pretty up here?”
Misato shrugged.
“It’s not like it’s a sunrise or anything.” The wind sweeped her skirt, brushing around and between her legs. “The breeze is kind of nice…”
Suzu smiled and pulled out the cigarettes. She abruptly then grabbed the sides of Misato’s skirt in search of a match.
“What are you doing?!”
Without response, the girl slyly pulled a half pull pack of matches out of the other’s skirt. “I didn’t expect you to have them on you.” Suzu stuck the cigarette in her mouth and took out a match, got down on the floor, and quickly struck it till the flame grew. “That’s a lie. I figured someone like you would.”
It was now 12:15. Break time had ended five minutes ago, but the two were so deep in conversation that Suzu had forgotten to check her watch.
“You don’t care about what people think?” Suzu inquired.
“No, why would I?”
Suzu took a drag of the cigarette. She held it in for a while, and then exhaled.
“I don’t know… It’s kind of hard not to care.” She rested her head in her palm.
“That’s sort of why I started smoking. My sister and her friends were doing it, and I just sort of,” she paused, twirling the stick in her hand. “...fell into it, I guess.”
Suzu’s eyes fell onto Misato. The threat of silence began to creep up on them. “Do you have any siblings?” She asked, pushing the cigarette to her lips.
“I have an older sister, and a younger one that’s not my mom’s.” Her left eye twitched when she thought of the “younger one.”
“How old’s your older sister?”
“Don’t know. I’m pretty sure she’s college aged, though.”
“What’s her name?”
“... Makoto.”
Suzu smiled, taking one more drag of the stick before tossing it over the roof. “Truth.”
“What?”
“Her name, it means ‘truth.’”
Misato’s eyes darted from left to right: “truth.” The idea of Makoto being related to the word truth caused a careless grin to slither its way onto her face. She turned to face Suzu, her back pressed against the railing. “I never thought about that. It doesn’t suit her, though. Her name, I mean.”
The two gazed at each other for a moment before Suzu’s brows furrowed. Misato had the same hollow eyes, but they were different in a way.“That girl was looking at you.” She straightened, brushing off her skirt.
“Who?”
“That girl, Murakami-san.” Suzu said, emphasizing every syllable in her upperclassman’s name. Misato groaned. “Why, was it because I was asleep during her stupid speech?”
“I think she likes your face.”
The air went cold. “I saw her staring at you after the meeting. I’m 96% sure she likes your face.” Her void-like eyes curled up as giggles erupted from her mouth. From giggles to laughs, Misato’s face sealed shut. “I’m not findin’ this funny, Yamamoto.”
“What? You were just sleeping during her speech and now you wanna be all respectful of her?”
“I never said that.”
Another breeze of cold silence swept through the air. Misato grabbed Suzu’s left arm, tilting her head to check the time on the watch.
It was 12:21. Misato had completely shut herself down to Suzu. “I’m going back down.” She said stiffly. Suzu followed like a lost goose as Misato rushed down the steps.
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