School life at Otonokizaka seemed near pointless to Maki Nishikino. It only prolonged the inevitable. Regardless of what she did here (aside from getting high marks on quizzes and tests), she would go to college to study medicine, and eventually take over her parents' hospital. Everyone around her wasn't chained by their family name, as far as she could tell; after all, they all thoroughly enjoyed the diverse clubs and classes the school had available.
It's only my first year here, and I'm getting so worked up over this, Maki sighed to herself. Yearning for a different life will only make it harder to resign to my fate.
Despite this mindset, she still glanced around the classroom, perhaps out of curiosity. She'd gotten to recognize her classmates well, even if she didn't know their names yet (it was only a few weeks into the school year). There were the two who sat up front who always barely managed to pass tests, and afterwards would go out for sweets. There was the group of five who sat on the left of the classroom, nearest to the windows, who always divvied up tough workbook questions amongst themselves. There was even one girl in the near-center who wore glasses and almost never paid attention in class, choosing instead to focus on making origami animals.
Maki observed, never choosing to speak to them, not knowing how to strike up a conversation. There was another like her in the class, in that regard. The lone girl who sat on the other side of the classroom on the right, near the back door, with the orange hair so bright that the sunlight shining on it gave the impression it was glowing. She wasn't extremely impressive, routine-wise. She didn't talk to anyone unless spoken to, and even then she'd stutter, and turn down requests to accompany them somewhere if asked. More often than not, she'd just watch the girl with the glasses who created the origami animals. One could call it weird, since the girl with the orange hair watched with such an intensity, and usually (accidentally?) ended up tuning the teacher out in the process.
"Can I come in?" An out-of-place voice sounded from the hallway. The teacher, who had just arrived, nodded and invited the voice in. In walked a girl, with her hair tied into two long twintails, who walked to the front of the class and smiled.
"Hello! I'm Nozomi Toujou." She folded her arms behind her back. "I'm the vice president for the student council. I'm only here with a reminder, so I won't stick around too long." Chairs and people shuffled in order to hear better.
"We forgot to mention this at the big ceremony, but please choose your class representative if you haven't already!" She paused for a minute. "Oh, and since you guys are first years, I recommend looking around at all the clubs we have to offer! Anyways, that's all! Bye bye!"
As if on cue, chatter broke out among the students as soon as the vice president exited the room. Maki watched as all her classmates fell into the same groups she knew they'd go to, and the few loners, including herself, remained in their places.
"Rin-chan!" She overheard one of the more excitable girls talking to the orange-haired girl. "Who are you gonna vote for to be our class representative? I was thinking maybe Hiyori-chan. She kinda gives off this aura of responsibility…"
"Ehhh…I dunno, really." Rin (if Maki was to believe that girl hadn't given her a nickname or anything) looked down at her desk and shuffled her feet. "Hiyori-san… maybe. I was thinking m-maybe Nishikino-san? I mean, she's gonna inherit a hospital soon, so I think she'd be pretty responsible…"
…Since when had she told anyone that she was going to work at her parents' hospital? Maki shrugged to herself and assumed that someone's parents knew hers, and had therefore told their child, which would explain how Rin knew. Her parents were extremely proud that she was going to "continue on their legacy," as they put it, and never passed up a chance to boast about her and her capabilities, so it was a safe enough assumption.
"How'd you know that?" the other girl prodded Rin, smirking. "Nishikino-chan doesn't talk to anyone, y'know?"
"O-One of my sisters was treated at their clinic a while back," Rin near-muttered. "I-I guess it's kinda brash to think she's gonna inherit it." Oh, so that's how she knew. Maki hoped this information wouldn't spread to the other students. She didn't need to deal with being voted class representative on top of fulfilling her parents' expectations. Sighing, she looked out the window on her left. The school day had finally begun, and teacher had just started writing on the board as various students fished through their bags to retrieve notebooks.
This was going to be a long day.
Lunchtime was the easier portion of the day. Maki could easily hide up on the roof, away from the chatter, away from the gossip.
If I was still little, I would've called it a "secret base", she mused. Untying the knot, Maki peeked into her bento, smiling as she noticed the tomatoes. Suddenly, the metal door burst open, causing Maki to nearly (and literally) lose her lunch.
"U-Uh, this is about earlier," a slightly familiar voice said. Much to Maki's surprise, Rin stood at the door. "We were talking about you, and you were sitting right there and I… didn't consider how rude it was…"
"It's fine, really," the redhead picked up her lunch and sat up straight again. "I figured everyone would find out somehow."
"Oh! I, uh, hope I didn't startle you," Rin shyly scratched the back of her neck. "The door was a lot heavier than I thought, so I just kinda pushed it with all I had, nya…".
"Quit apologizing, you didn't do anything wrong." Honestly, Maki couldn't understand why this girl kept apologizing. "... Is there anything else you need?"
"N-No! I'll, uh… go back to eating my lunch!" Awkwardly, Rin shuffled her feet and walked hurriedly toward the door.
I've never had to deal with someone so ridiculously shy before, sighing, she picked up her chopsticks. What's her deal?
Typically, if you're an honors student and you want to keep it that way (especially if your parents had extremely high expectations of you), you'd spend a good portion of your nights studying, and not slipping out of your house to look at a constellation that only showed once a year. Typically, anyway.
This wasn't the first time she'd done this. Maki would just talk to her parents, play off her homework as insignificant and something she could get done easily when she came back, and carry her telescope to the nearest hill.
Thankfully she was used to carrying the bulk of her telescope, and brought it easily up the hill, prepared to set it up and enjoy the view of the night sky. She was startled, however, when she noticed another person sitting on the hill, staring up at the sky. No one else had ever been there at the same time she was, and Maki wasn't in the mood to make pleasant conversation with a possible stranger. After all, this constellation only came out once a year.
With a start, she noticed the orange color of the person's hair, and realized it was the girl who had known her parents worked at a hospital… what was her name, Rin? She cautiously approached the hill, not wanting to startle Rin, since it seemed she hadn't noticed the other girl.
The clanking of her telescope as she placed it on the hill and began to set it up brought Rin's attention to her. Rin looked quite shocked to see someone else here, as Maki had been when she first noticed Rin.
"W-What are you doing here, Nishikino-san?" Rin looked at her telescope with minor jealousy, and Maki realized that Rin didn't have one of her own; at least, not one with her.
"I'm here for stargazing… is that why you're here?"
Rin looked nervous. "Ah, yeah… I don't have my own telescope, though, so I mainly come here to just admire the sky. My last name means 'starry sky', you know. I've always loved the stars, especially since…" Rin trailed off, and Maki looked curiously at her, but didn't ask more.
"I-If you want, you can use my telescope," Maki said nervously. She couldn't help wanting to get to know this girl more; she was intriguing, in her own way. Rin's eyes widened and she looked hesitant all of a sudden, and she quickly stood up, brushing invisible dirt off of her skirt.
"No, it's okay. I… I have to get home. It's getting late." Rin turned and walked hurriedly down the hill, giving Maki no opportunity to call her back or ask what she had to do that was suddenly so important. Maybe she just didn't want to be around Maki. Was that it?
Maki shook her head. No use worrying about it for now. But as she turned back to her telescope and tried to concentrate on the dazzling sky above her, she found she couldn't quite focus on anything but Rin.