The First Day

Bleh… 2 nights in a row where I didn’t get good sleep… It wasn’t because I was thinking about Aki this time though. I had math homework.

I didn’t get up by my alarm, so 15 minutes before school started I finally woke up and darted to get ready. It was a chaotic morning, one that I didn’t wish to have after an all nighter doing homework…

I mindlessly grab my bag, dash out the door, and sprint to class, but I’m still craving my bed. I make it to class right before the bell rings and sigh. Panting from all my running, I melt onto my chair and pull out my notebooks in a sluggish manner.

I go the rest of the morning classes silent and drowsy. After what seemed to be 6 trillion years, it was the break period. Tsukasa and I sit together in the cafeteria again, but we’re both just slouched onto the tables looking depressed.

“My mom scolded me for my grade on our most recent test.” Tsukasa whines.

“I want to sleep…” I groan.

While my head is on the table, my eyelids feel heavy and my body relaxed. As I’m about to finally take my long-awaited nap…

I hear a loud cheering crowd storming towards my direction from behind. I’m sure it’s not coming to me, since I’d never get that kind of attention. I try to ignore the screaming people, but I can’t. What’s more, another thing comes my way that wakes me up for sure.

An aggressive flash of pain pierces my stomach, immediately jerking me awake. Someone’s elbow jabbed into my side, as rough as being whacked by the shoe my mom hits me with… The same person jumps onto the bench and sits next to me quickly.

I wince and bend over my stomach in pain. “O- ow…” I groan, and turn to the person who elbowed me. I glare and prepare to curse them out. “Who- What the-“

I look up at the person. I recognize the red headphones and black/red hair- it’s you-know-who! Aki’s sitting next to me, panting and smiling nervously. She’s faced towards the crowd of students that I heard earlier.

The students suddenly stop running towards Aki and stop as if there was an invisible wall in front of them. They all get silent and the girl in front of the crowd says in a disgusted tone, “Uh, Aki-chan…?”

“He…he’s my friend, Aoi Katsuki…” Aki gasps for air still, and slaps my back as if to be friendly. It just adds on to my stomach pain and I groan for the 6 trillionth time…

Slowly, the crowd dissipates as everyone eventually leaves. They’re all murmuring and muttering things like “Why would she pick him??” and “Oh, she’s a weirdo too…”

Aki pouts and slaps my arm again. “You said you’d help me!!”

I pout too. “Stop hitting meee… I was trying to sleep…” I rest my head back on the table. “Why are you here anyways??”

She puts her hands on her waist and starts nagging me. “Aoi Katsuki. Don’t tell me you forgot about our deal.”

I was too sleepy to think correctly this morning. “Oh, that’s right. I forgot about that.” I say with a clumsy grin in my face.

“Oh my…” She sighs and then snatches the bread next to me.

“Hey- that was mine!!” I desperately try reaching for it with my far hand, causing me to twist towards facing her. She holds it away from me, smirking. Ughhh. “Tsukasa-kun, help me…”

But Tsukasa somehow fell asleep in the middle of this chaos and isn’t paying attention to me!! I sigh. I take one last leap to grab my bread from her and I lean all the way across Aki to take it back. Gaaaah!!

I successfully take hold of my bread! I reached out farther than my arms allow, so I was going to fall, but I caught myself with my other arm on the other side of Aki. I turned my face from looking at the bread to looking right in her eyes. I was planning to start bragging about my bread triumph in a haughty manner.

But when I turned to her, our faces were unexpectedly close. Our noses, practically touching. Aki’s cheeks went bright red, and her eyes wide in shock. Her rosy lips were slightly parted, as if she was about to say something but then froze.

I could feel her sharp, light breaths on my own face. My mind went blank for a hot second, the situation overwhelmed me. I took on the same flustered face and I can hear my pounding heart in my ears.

We stay like this, for a few seconds. None of us are pulling away. It’s like the whole world has stopped and all that I have to focus on is this moment with Aki Shirasawa.

After what seems like eternity, Aki gently closes her eyes and leans back. What’s she doing?? Suddenly, she fires back forward with a scrunched-up face. She’s coming right at me, like a missile, what in the—

THUD…

“H- heyyy!” I go back to sitting up normally and I hold my forehead in extreme pain. All Aki does is turn her head away from me, pouting. I can’t see her face behind her hair and headphones. She’s gripping the hem of her skirt tight.

I squirm and whimper in my seat from the horrible throbbing in my head, and the bell rings. Aki hastily stands up without a word. But I catch her before she runs off.

“Wait! Don’t forget, Boba Fans, after school.” I remind her, still checking the newly-formed bump on my forehead— it looks like it came straight out of a cartoon.

Despite my calling-out to her, she speeds off like a robot at the speed of light, still not looking back at me. I sigh, and look back at sleeping Tsukasa.

His head is still on the table, but he’s awake, and he’s got a smug look on his face.

“Have you been awake this whole time??” I jump up. He nods yes, with a raised eyebrow.

“I saw eeeeverything~” Tsukasa teases. He lips the same thing he said last night, “You scored big time~”

“S- shut up!!” I squint my eyes and yell, and when I turn around to run away from Tsukasa— the same way Aki did from me—, I notice that Aki left my bread sitting on the table. It’s squished because of the crazy way Aki and I were handling it earlier. Looking at the bread, I’m reminded of Aki’s flustered face and our closeness. And as a result, my face is a tomato as I dash to the nurse’s office to get my forehead bandaged.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

School gets out at 3:30, but most people stick around for clubs and stuff. Not me, I had my Boba Fans shift again today. I’m not too tired though, because the whole thing that happened with Aki woke me right up.

I’m also not sure if Aki’s going to be here to tutor me. I told her to come, but I don’t even know if she heard me at all. She rushed away from me like nothing.

I get through work well. Not just well, but better than I usually do. I make the boba into the perfect texture— smooth and round, squishy but not sticky, and a little bit of firmness in the center. My tea is crafted well, with just the right amounts of milk, ice, and sugar. I don’t know what’s gotten into me.

Finally, I finish up and prepare to leave by sunset. Before I leave, I scout the shop one more time, scanning to see if Aki is there. There’s no sign of her. I mean, based on the way she reacted after the bread incident, I guess I understand why she wouldn’t want to show up.

I sigh. It’s fine if she’s not here. It just means I can go home earlier. But then what’s this dissatisfied feeling in me…?

I hesitantly start out the door. I check over my shoulder to search for Aki one last time, not looking where I’m walking, and I crash right into someone.

We both stumble backwards. Our next actions are as if we were mirrored– we both bow again and again, we both apologize repeatedly, and once we stop, we both drop our jaws dumbfoundingly.

I’d recognize her short height and red headphones anywhere. “S- Shirasawa-san! Or should I say, Shirasawa-sensei!” I chuckle at my own joke. I awkwardly stand still for a while, then bow again. “Uhh… please teach me well!” I grin, pleased and content. Aki really did come, and I’m really excited for some reason.

I notice Aki’s panting. She probably ran here. She has bandages over her forehead; she must have gotten a bump too. I burst out in laughter.

“You have a bump on your head!!” I snort and point at her head. She turns red in embarrassment and whacks my hand away from her.

“Oh shut up! You do too!” Aki pushes and storms her way into the shop to take a seat at the same table we sat at last night. I follow behind her.

She pulls out her pencil case and books from her bag. “Come on. Sit down and we’ll start.”

I take my seat in the same chair as last night, across from her. We stare into each other's eyes for a bit and then she pulls her gaze away quickly towards the notebooks on the table. I notice her face is a bit pink.

With this, our first study session commences.

It’s just an average tutor time. She teaches, I practice, I get it wrong, she scolds me, we make playful banter.

But I feel so carefree and comfortable, and having her as my tutor pushes me to actually study.

The night continues with what feels like 6 trillion different math problems, English vocabulary, and historical years.

In the end, Aki checks the time on her phone. “It’s late now. Maybe we should stop here for tonight?”

I didn’t realize the time. Once again, I was enjoying my time with Aki here, even though we were studying, my least favorite thing. I nod yes. “Yea, my brain’s crashing now. I’m getting all these wrong.”

“You’ve been getting them all wrong from the start, you dummy.” She bonks me on my head with her fist and starts packing up her things.

As I watch her gather her stuff, she notices me staring at her, and pouts. “What are you looking at??”

“N- nothing, sorry.” I anxiously avert my eyes. But I can’t help glancing back at her smooth black hair, her delicate physique, and most of all, her iconic red headphones.

We both stand up to leave.

“Thanks, Shirasawa-san.” I nod her goodbye just before we part ways under the bright neon Boba Fans signs. I smile the most genuine smile I have in a while.

“Yeah…” She stammers. “Uhm, Katsuki-kun?” Aki calls out one last time. I spin around to face her.

“Hm?” I answer, smiling.

She fidgets a bit but then replies “...Nothing. See you tomorrow, Katsuki-kun.”

I guess this is how my school days and nights will be spent nowadays, huh? I guess I’ll actually be enjoying my days with Tsukasa and Aki, and my nights with Ms. Aki.

We both walk away, and I leave with the warmest and easiest feeling in my body.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

[ author’s note: i hoped for aoi’s “please teach me well” to come out as よろしくお願いします (yoroshiku onegaishimasu) in japanese, as the story takes place in japan]