Down by the coast there was a high school, a private one that most of the surrounding city went to. It wasn't the biggest, but still had a big enough of a student body to elicit the formation of a few big sports teams. By far the most famous was the school's soccer team, they'd gone out and won multiple championships and done extremely well. There were the basketball and swimming teams too, they weren't as good, but still earned themselves some recognition occasionally. And finally, there was the football team; this team was… not the best. It almost seemed like a curse, but no matter how good the players on the team were in a given year they just could not do well. For some odd reason though, the team still got to have a set of cheerleaders for them, even when the turn out for their games was startlingly low. Having to be present for every game of a terrible team AND act interested in it? That was a mighty task for almost anyone, and few of the cheerleaders even bothered to look mildly interested, really only being there to do some pseudo-acrobatics. However, there was one girl who always seemed to have on a smile during those games, and even when no one else was, she was trying her best the whole time.
This girl was Riko Sakurauchi, a second year at the school. If you were ever among the few to attend one of the school's football games, and noticed the cheerleaders, Riko was kind of hard to miss. Aside from her brilliant red hair, she just had a vibrant air around her that just drew your eyes to her. She always seemed to be smiling when she was in the main attention, but off the field, she probably isn't what you would expect. You might think she'd be super popular or always at the center of attention, but it is actually quite the opposite. When she wasn't out at practices or games, Riko was usually doing some sort of studying or… reading manga, or playing games; she was actually quite a nerd. She tried to hide this side of her at school though, she didn't think that anyone would like to see it. She of course had friends, but none that she could consider close, so really, that persona was known only to her, and the friend she'd made in the clerk at the bookstore.
Since it was fall, the weather tended to be a bit erratic, a bright and shining morning could be a precursor to a deluge the same day. This particular day was one which didn't much care for a prologue and just decided to rain all day, sporting cool temperatures and a gray sky. Normally, Riko would just go home after school, so long as she didn't have practice, but today, with the weather being what it was, she decided she'd do something different: she was going to go to the library to study/read (and maybe catch up on some manga she'd been missing). When the school day finally ended, the rain was coming down in full force, so RIko was quite satisfied with her new plan. The walk went by fairly normally, she passed by and said hi to a few of the other students, and she was finally able to come to her temporary sanctuary. Upon entering, the room was quiet (as one would expect of a library) and the only real noise to be heard was the splattering of rain across the windows, a very pleasant white noise. After a brief inspection to take in the room (and make sure no one she knew was there), she decided upon a table by the window, she thought that the gray light from outside was quite charming. After a few breaths to make sure she was completely calm, she opened up her myriad of textbooks and began to hit the school grind.
As with any student, Riko could only take so much mental torture before she had to take a break. A long sigh escaped from her as she leaned back and rubbed her eyes of their weariness. When she returned to her neutral position, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye, another student. She must have come in while I was working, I didn't even notice… The girl seemed to be doing much the same thing as Riko, but was incredibly organized as opposed to Riko's books splayed everywhere. Gladly taking the time as a mental reprieve, she took some time to examine the new girl, who was deeply engrossed in what she was doing. She had ashen hair which was tied back in a ponytail and wore a pair of thick rimmed glasses; it really was a cute but studious look. Although she didn't really make it a point to notice everyone in the school, Riko was surprised that she hadn't seen this girl around. Her uniform is a second year's, I wonder what class she's in? Her eyes unintentionally wandered a bit, and when they ended upon the girl's backpack, Riko saw a very familiar sight: on one of the zippers was a tiny, goofy looking duck, a character from one of Riko's favorite manga series. She didn't think anyone else knew about the series, and the fact that a person who does goes to her school? She got very excited, but was also nervous. H-how can I approach her? Would it be weird to point it out? Maybe she doesn't know where it's from and just got it as a cute gift… All sorts of thoughts drifted through her mind, and to make matters worse, when she finally came back to reality, she realized that she was staring right at the girl, and she was staring right back. Her embarrassment making her face bright red, Riko quickly looked back down at her work and pretended to be busy.
Riko was thrown for a bit of a loop by being discovered, so she suddenly became laser focused on her work, knocking almost all of it out before looking up again. To both her relief and disappointment, the girl seemed to have left, she wasn't at the table anymore and her bag was gone. By this time it had gotten a bit late and the weather outside had cleared up, at least temporarily, so Riko thought it an apt time to head home. Though she had other things to think about, she just couldn't stop thinking about that new girl; she was a mystery to Riko and she wanted to solve it desperately. On the way back, Riko noticed that she would be passing by her usual bookstore, so decided to go in for a bit, see if anything interesting was there. Upon entering the store she could feel herself become more at ease, the partially dimmed lights, the smell of paper, the enumeration of shelves, it all felt so welcoming. Knowing exactly where to go, she meandered her way through the shelves and, as always, found herself at the manga section. She began to scan through the titles, seeing first if any of her series had gotten updated and then looking for anything else that looked intriguing. Luck seemed to be with Riko because it so happened that two of her favorite series had new books, so she eagerly grabbed them and began heading towards the front. As she rounded the corner, a voice rang out from somewhere. "Heeeey, Riko-chan! Over here!" Searching for the source of the familiar voice, Riko quickly found that it had come from the front and, specifically, from her friend who was an employee at the store, Chika. What Riko did not expect was to see a newly familiar face standing next to Chika.
Hesitantly, she made her way towards Chika's counter, very unsure of what would be happening soon. "Hi Riko-chan! I'd like you to meet our new employee, You-chan! She started here recently and I was chosen to be her mentor." Chika said that last bit with the pride of someone who'd finally gotten to show how good they are at something. "H-hello, I'm You Watanabe… it's nice to meet you…" You said all this in a very quiet voice, so quiet Riko almost couldn't hear it. So she's really shy, huh… Chika jumped to the side slightly and put her arm around You's shoulder, causing the girl to blush and for her glasses to jostle on her face a bit. "C'mon You-chan, you gotta talk louder! Here, why don't you try checking out Riko-chan?" The girl seemed incredibly uncomfortable with the request, but she slowly made her way to the register, slightly adjusting the hat she was wearing so the hair got out of her face. "I-is that all for today?" It took Riko a moment to realize that You was addressing her, so she hurriedly took the books and placed them on the register, barely managing to get out a rushed affirmation. It was only when You stopped for a brief second to look at one of the books that Riko realized the utter irony in the situation: one of the volumes that she was buying was the same one as the character that was on You's bag earlier. As much as she wanted to make some sort of comment about it, all the nervous thoughts about how a comment like that would sound weird rushed to her mind and before she could calm down, You was already done. "P-please come again." To Riko's surprise, she ended this with an extremely bright smile, something which seemed almost out of place compared to her previously mild manner. Getting out a quick thank you, Riko rushed out of the store, Chika shouted after her as she left, with her heart pounding.
When she finally got home, Riko really needed to take a moment to take in everything that had happened that afternoon: she'd seen an unknown and strikingly cute girl at her school, she went to the bookstore she's been too hundreds of times, and the mysterious girl ended up working there too, checking her out no less? It almost seemed too good to be true. Now, even more than before, Riko wanted to try and talk to that girl, but the doubts from earlier also seemed to have intensified. Does she think I'm weird now? Does she know who I am? Did she recognize me from earlier? Will it be weird if I see her again? It took her a moment to finally collect her thoughts, but she eventually calmed down. It was only the first day meeting her, there was no reason to get riled up about it. As much as she could, she tried to push thoughts about You to the back burner of her mind and went upstairs to finish the rest of her work, and, of course, to read her newly acquired books. She passed the night in an enjoyable manner doing that, and, at last, it was time to end that hectic day. As she was laying down to sleep, Riko's mind unintentionally wandered back to You. Odd as it was, she just was captivated by that girl and was kind of excited by the prospect of being able to see her again. Just maybe, Riko thought, she'd go by the library again after school tomorrow…