Chapter One

The puddles beneath her feet splashed softly as she walked aimlessly, her sneakers wet and soggy, slowly seeping through to the innards. She didn't care though, in fact, she never even noticed as her cold hands half-heartedly clutched the straps of her heavy musical case on her back. She didn't care that the rain was soaking her dirt-ridden uniform nor did she care that her skin was beginning to numb; it was almost as though she was unconscious, unknowing of the things around her as her legs lead her to anywhere.

Her dull amber eyes looked hollow, empty as though she was in a trance, lost in thought; perhaps in her deprived state of mind, where sadness and contempt lies was filling her, nearly swallowing her alive as her anxiety was slowly increasing by hours. This was supposed to be her last day of middle school, the feelings of joy and sadness intermingled of the thought of leaving her old life and beginning a new one. However, all that Kumiko is filled with is only utter defeat and sadness as feelings of worthlessness sweeps through her. She should be happy that she can have a new beginning though her low self-esteem is starting to eat the little confidence she has left.

Kumiko drifts towards a rusty convenience store in her self-loathing thoughts only to break as she stops in the middle of the street and looks up to see her own obscure reflection on the window. Her hair is untied and is matted in dirt and grime from the few moments she had after the closing ceremony in school. One side of her jawbone was beginning to bruise as was the side of her neck from the grips of hands that had once been attached to it. She slowly, almost brokenly let go one of the straps of her case and directed her hand towards her bruised jawbone, caressing it shakily, unflinching of the pain that it should have caused.

"I'm worthless..." she mutters to herself in a low voice.

"Attention seeking..."

"Pathetic..."

"I'm nothing special –..."

Her broken words were suddenly replaced by a grunt as her body was suddenly slammed by another person off to the side of the street. The only thing she could hear was the blaring horn of a vehicle as it quickly drove past her. The sudden increase of weight and the sudden gasps by her ear seemed to remind Kumiko of the stranger on top of her. She slowly tried to get up, hinting to other person of their position and they quickly got off of her. Kumiko then sat up herself, struggling slightly due to the weight of her instrument and the pain shooting through her arms. She then turned around to see the face of her saviour but only to see one of her recent ex-classmate and band member; she felt bad, however, as she can't seem to remember her name. Instead, she bemusedly looked at her with her mouth ajar.

"Uh..." she murmured, catching the attention of the other girl; Kumiko was surprised to see a glare on her face.

"What's wrong with you?!" the girl yelled. Kumiko opened her mouth to reply but the other wasn't quite finished. "You were just standing in the middle of the street and a car was about to hit you: you could have died!"

It seemed as though the girl was filled with adrenaline from the stress of the situation since she wasn't usually like this; from what Kumiko could remember, she was usually composed and stoic, sometimes appearing superior towards others due to her straight face but also due to never once having a proper conversation with those in the band or even to her classmates.

But Kumiko didn't really care anymore at this point. The heavy, dark feelings were appearing in her chest again.

The other girl seemed to have noticed as well, seeing that Kumiko's usually bright eyes dimmed and darkened.

"Are you done?" Kumiko said, her expression blank, conveying no emotions; her voice a low, monotonous tone. She then closed her eyes, letting out a deep, exhausted sigh before opening her eyes, staring straight into the girl, or perhaps through her. The girl in response widened her eyes in shock and gave no response.

Seeing as the girl wasn't about to say anything, Kumiko carried on. "Good, because at this point in time, I don't really see myself caring about my wellbeing, in fact, maybe I wanted to get hit: who knows." Hey eyes looked glazed as though she was deep in thought but she blinked and spoke again, her voice slightly lighter than it was before. "But I guess I should thank you, you did risk your life as well."

Kumiko then stood, struggling slightly and then walked off, leaving the other sat at the side of the road with her open umbrella and bag behind her on the other side of the street, her eyes following the movement of Kumiko's figure as it grew more and more distant until she could no longer see her.

"Oumae Kumiko..." the girl murmured to herself, the words almost seemed drowned as the rain became heavier, soaking her entire being, leaving her numb and cold.

Who knew that the other girl would once again see Kumiko at Kitauji High School.

Yooo, thank you for taking your time for reading this and i hope you enjoyed it so far! i'm still trying to plot and write up the second chapter which has taken me at least a week so far; so please be patient with me!

Reviews are highly welcomed as I'm trying to improve my story, punctuality and grammar :'))