One: As second years...

“Akemi, is it true you like Teruhiko?"

"Teru-kun? Nah, I only made him chase me. It’s not that serious, you know.”

As my eyes lit up, I immediately sat upright and placed a hand over my chest. I could feel my heart still beating heavily from that dream. It’s been a while since I’ve last seen Akemi’s face, more so avoiding her, and yet she decides to appear in my dreams. Pretty ironic.

I leaned over to grab my phone from under my pillow and checked the time.

6:49 AM. Hmm, so Mom’s still asleep and Dad had already left for work then.

I did a quick stretch and fixed my bed before leaving my room. I walked over to the kitchen as quietly as possible and took out the equipment I needed to prepare myself breakfast.

The sound of the eggs frying on the pan and the cackle from the fire reverberated throughout the walls. The wind chimes that my mom hung up outside the living room window kept making jingling sounds due to the strong wind blowing outside.

“Spring is still pretty cold around this month,” I mumbled to myself.

Once my food was ready, I lazily plated them and set them aside to cool, while I went over to the fridge to get a glass of orange juice.

I took a seat at the dining table and as I silently ate my breakfast alone, with nothing but the repeated sound of the chimes ringing filling up the room. I fished out my phone from my pocket and decided to scroll through social media, already bored of looking at the empty scenery.

I scrolled through numerous posts of my previous classmates’ spring break vacation pictures. A vast majority of them turned out to be love-related with them and their significant other either visiting a festival or enjoying hanami (flower-viewing).

“Hmmm, that must be nice.” Once again, I mumbled to myself.

Not long after, I noticed that it was already 7:32 AM and that I needed to finish my routine quickly. I hurriedly put aside my dishes and jogged back to my room, completely forgetting that the wooden stairs create really loud footsteps – perhaps enough for my light-sleeper mom to wake up.

After rinsing my face and brushing my teeth, I exited the bathroom and headed for my room. I took out my uniform from inside the cabinet and changed my clothes with it. Once ready, I grabbed my bag from the bedside desk and my phone that was lying on top of my pillow.

7:46 AM. Great, as someone who woke up early, I think I’ll be running late for class.

Rushing down the stairs, I ran to the shoe rack in front of the main door and frantically looked for my shoes. As soon as I was done, I stepped out of the house and softly whispered, “I’ll be leaving now.”

Running as fast as I could, I finally reached the intersection near our neighborhood. From here on, it’s only a 5-minute walk to the school already. As I looked around the streets, I saw Rin waving his arms from the other side of the road. As usual, he had a stupid grin on his face.

I rolled my eyes and pretended to have not seen him as I crossed the intersection. But it was inevitable to ignore Rin. He placed an arm over me and squeezed my face with his free hand. “Teruhiko, why are you ignoring me?” Rin pouted.

“Get away from me, Rin,” I told him, pulling away from his grip.

Mizusawa Rin, one of my closest friends since my first year of high school. He and I first knew each other because I was seated behind him during the opening ceremony and he asked the most random question ever. Since then, he chose to stick beside me all the time. It was perhaps one of the fastest friendships I’ve ever made in my entire life.

“Teruhiko, do you remember how we became friends?” Rin said, getting nostalgic as usual. “I was just casually sitting in front of you, right? And then, do you remember what I asked?”

“Do you prefer pineapples on pizza or not?” I replied in a bored manner to which Rin nodded at me. I swear, I could see his eyes smiling.

“Yes! We bonded through the magic of pizza.” Rin exclaimed.

I sighed, “Please shut up. You’re so loud.” But it was useless. Nothing could stop Rin whenever he starts to blabber about whatever goes on in his head.

As we chatted away while heading towards school, I greeted the teacher who stood by the gate and said hello to some of my friends who were passing by.

The sakura trees that were erected from the sides of the school gate formed a huge arc facing each other. Its petals were gently cascading from the sky, as the strong wind blew them away. Almost as if pink snow was falling over the campus.

Entering my way through the halls, I bid Rin a “See you later” and proceeded to go to my classroom. I looked around for an empty seat and sat in one of the vacant seats by the center of the room. A few moments later, the classroom began to fill up with more students and more noise. Just as soon as the bell rang, our homeroom teacher went in and proceeded with the usual morning greetings.

“For the first period, we are going to the gym for the opening ceremony. Then, we’ll come back and spend the second period on our homeroom activities, alright?” Ms. Takana announced and received scattered replies as a response.

Our class then made our way to the gym, and not for long did I spot a familiar pink-haired guy walking a few feet away from me. I picked up my pace and approached him as I went down the stairs.

“Hey.” Rin chirped, noticing me walking beside him.

“Yeah,” I whispered, my voice barely audible.

Rin squinted his eyes together and intently looked at me. “Teruhiko. Don’t tell me, you’re nervous?”

I gulped a lump down my throat and softly nodded my head. Rin laughed and gave a light pat on my back.

“It’s normal! I’m not good at public speaking… yet.” I reassured myself.

“Hahaha, sure if you say so.” Rin rolled his eyes and pointed at the seats placed on the right side of the gym. “Our class will be sitting over there. Good luck, Mr. Representative!”

I sighed in disbelief. I still couldn’t believe that the members of the committee randomly voted for me to be the class year representative. In the first place, I was only part of the committee because I had to be a substitute for Rin who volunteered for it— and yet was absent from the most important meeting of all for God knows why.

I took out my phone from my pocket and typed in a quick message for Rin.

[u will pay 4 this]

[yes i know ok? thanks champ]

“Champ, he says,” I murmured and walked over to the front row of chairs that were lined up near the stage.

“...and now for the second-year students. Help me welcome Ikeda Teruhiko.” The school principal called. I got up from my seat and proceeded to climb on stage, ready to read aloud the script that I had prepared beforehand.

***

Finally, the opening ceremony came to a close and the students had to return back to their respective classrooms. I slumped my shoulders in disappointment as I recall how that speech went. Unfortunately, the microphone had technical difficulties right after the principal called my name. So I had no choice but to read my speech aloud, with no microphone, in front of the entire student body.

So much for not being that good at public speaking.

As we all went back to the classroom, Ms. Takana made a few announcements about the school rules and regulations as usual.

Suddenly, somebody opened the classroom door with no hesitation, making us all turn our heads to see who it was.

“Sorry, I’m late. Has the introduction started already?” A girl wearing the school’s gym uniform stood there as she breathed heavily with sweat dripping from her forehead, making her bangs a bit drenched. She also seemed to be holding a plastic bag, which looked like her school uniform all tucked inside messily.

“Not yet. Take a seat at the back, Miss..?” Ms. Takana asked, gesturing to her to get inside already.

“Takahashi. It’s Takahashi Hana.”