"It has been a week since our last performance," Mio mused as she walked the distance between her house and her school, her bass slung behind her back. The road was filled with various people, mainly students who were rushing to school, while not crowded enough to be called packed with. Walking alone, she usually went to school with her best friend, Ritsu, but she got some errand before she went to school, and had asked Ritsu to go on first without her.
"It's cold," she muttered as wind flew past her, ruffling her long black hair as it passed by. The snow was falling slowly as she gazed at the sky, grey colored clouds hung so far away as they decorated the world bellow them with white colored sphere.
A nostalgic feeling washed over her, as she was reminded with someone who really loved clouds, of someone who would spend more than half an hour just to gaze at those white floating cotton among the blue vast veil of the sky. Albeit the clouds in front of her were grey to begin with, they were clouds nonetheless, a condensation from hundreds of droplets of water, floating all across the sky. It was nostalgic, and she smiled to herself as she remembered those distant memories.
How long has it been? Mio mused, roughly three years; three years since she had last saw him, three years since they had to satisfy themselves with phone calls and letters, pictures and mails, and stories uttered by ink and electronic mail.
She blinked as she felt a vibration coming from her coat's side pocket, waking her from her earlier musing. Reaching with her left hand inside her coat's pocket, she searched for her phone, her fingers brushing against its cold surface through her gloved hand. Fishing her phone from inside her pocket, she flipped the phone over as she saw a phone call notification on her phone's screen.
"..Takeru-kun..." She whispered as she read the name of the caller, her lips forming a smile as those words left her lips. Her breath came out as a vapor, and red hue spread on her cheek in contrast with the white surroundings.
And she couldn't help the grin that slowly spread on her face as she pushed the answer button.
"Moshimoshi?"
(*)
Contrary to popular belief, at least she thought it was popular; Tainaka Ritsu was rather sharp in her own way regarding people's habit and daily occurrence. She could easily realize when something out of habit happened, from Azusa's sudden lost in focus, Yui's suddenly serious streak; albeit very rare even bordering to almost never, to Sawako suddenly become dependable, she could discern it rather easily should one of these unfamiliarity happened.
Let's not be said that if only such sharpness in mind could be used for her study then it could benefit her greatly, but unfortunately this innate ability seemed to go dormant whenever she tried to even try using them in her study. All in all, she considered herself sharp in regard of people's feeling and behavior, and that itself warrant some sort of achievement for her.
So what was the odd of one Akiyama Mio to suddenly hum all throughout their school time?
Almost none. But it happened today.
It was a very rare thing to be seen, one that Ritsu could have sworn to never happen before. Akiyama Mio was a shy girl, a girl who easily got embarrassed in every little situation that it wasn't a secret anymore, a girl who got weak in her leg just by mentioning that she had to stand in front of the class, a girl whose brain got toasted even with the slightest imagination of having to sing in front of a big crowd. There was absolutely no way the same girl would suddenly hum in their classroom without a care in the world.
But it happened today.
And it scared her.
"Ahhhhhh! I can't take it anymore!" Ritsu screamed as she stood from her seat inside the music room, hands gripping her hair in frustration as she shook her head, shocking the other occupant of said room as they were just having their afternoon tea. She pointed her finger at Mio who sat in front of her, eyes narrowed, surprising said girl with her outburst and stopping her from her humming. "Okay Mio, spill!"
"W-what?" Mio asked in fright, afraid that her best friend had finally fried one or two nerves inside her head.
"You "what"," RItsu said as she glared down at Mio, face only several centimeters away from the now frightened girl. "You, hum, smiling like an idiot all day, this isn't Mio."
Suddenly, a light bulb occurred on Ritsu's head, enlightening her with some crazy insight of what had actually happened which only served to further frighten the poor black haired girl.
"That's it! That must be it!" Ritsu screamed as idea washed over her. "You must be an imposter, there's no way the real Mio would do those things, it's just impossible."
"Sawa-chan!" Ritsu turned to her lazy teacher who was busy chomping down a cake that Mugi had brought for them just before Ritsu's outburst. "Check this imposter's breast size!"
"Oookay!" Sawako said as she was just too eager to comply with her student's request rising from her seat and stalked to Mio's position. Not because she was a pervert, no, it was just that should Ristu's claim was proven to be true, than this bodyswitcher must had kidnapped Mio somewhere and switched with her, that meant Mio was in great danger; or at least that was what she was trying to convince herself.
Oh who was she trying to fool.
Mio backed away from both her best friend and her teacher as they came closer to her. Their hands were in front of them, making a cupping motion as a lechery grin was visible on their faces. She backed away even more as each step took them even closer to her position while the other club member could only watch with sweat dropping from their forehead at their friend and teacher's antic.
And when Mio's back finally met the wall, she acted on instinct.
BOINK!
And both Ritsu and Sawako finally found themselves in a world of pain as a hard chomp met their unfortunate head.
"Gomennasaaaaiiii…" both Ritsu and Sawako spoke slowly as they sat on the floor, eyes downcast while supporting a rather large bump on top of their head courtesy of Mio's hand with said person glaring dagger at their direction. There was no doubt on Ritsu's and the other's mind that the black haired girl in front of them was the true Mio, judging from her habit of hitting Ritsu's head whenever she was annoyed. The power of the hit, the angle of the hit, and the size of the bump that would eventually follow the hit was all precisely the same with Mio's and Ritsu could testify to that.
If one had been hit for more than 5 years by the same person most of the time, some familiarity bound to happen.
"But if you think about it, Ricchan is right Mio-chan," Mugi suddenly said as she tried her best not to giggle at Ritsu and Sawako current predicament, for a teacher to get lectured by her own student was not something you could see everyday although in Sawako case that seemed to happen almost every day in the music room. "You are definitely happier today, did something good happen?"
"E-eh?" Mio said as red color spread throughout her face, remembering the reason for her mood today.
"Tell us Mio-chan," Yui exclaimed as she stood next to Mio, eyes twirling in excitement as she looked straight at Mio's eyes. "Did something happen? Did you eat something sweet for breakfast?"
"Er, no –" Mio said as she sweat dropped at Yui's question.
"Oh, I know I know. Maybe you ate an ice cream before coming here."
Another sweat dropped from every other occupant of said room as they wonder just what was inside the brain of one Hirasawa Yui.
"Mio senpai sure is different today," Azusa thought as she looked at her now flustered black haired senpai, her face going red as she tried to correct every guess that Yui suggested which unfortunately didn't come far from food. "She looks happier, if not brighter today."
While Azusa didn't saw her senpai during the class time, but she could see at little differences she saw from her senpai's behavior, and now that she thought about it there was actually several times that she would catch her senpai with a dreamy look on her face, one quite rare occurrence from one Akiyama Mio who was known to be quite composed while still being a shy girl and a scaredy cat.
She remembered several strange antic that her senpai had done while they were having their afternoon tea, not only did her senpai actually daydreamed, she actually looked at her mobile phone from time to time, it didn't help that a smile would suddenly bloomed on her face everytime she looked at her phone. Add the humming that Ritsu senpai had said, and the fact that Mio senpai was now supporting a rather evident blush on her face as she tried to elude from explaining her sudden reason of happiness, Azusa couldn't help but felt drawn to the bottom of this mystery.
"Could it be…," Azusa thought as realization came to her, a light suddenly materializing inside her mind as the answer came down from above. She tried to dismiss said thought, as the answer seemed very unlikely for such a shy girl like Mio-senpai, but try as she might, she couldn't find any other answer from her senpai's weird behavior, and somehow this possibility had stuck to her mind and refused to go away ever since it first emerged.
And thus she decided to ask.
"Ano…" Azusa said slowly as Mio was still flustered by all Yui's guess but had been able to gave Azusa a portion of her attention by looking at her. "You wouldn't by a chance actually had a boyfriend, would you senpai?"
"H-how did you know?!" Mio suddenly said, and realizing her slip, hurriedly put her hand over her mouth.
But the damages were done.
And one scream finally filled the eerie silent of the music room.
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
(*)
Twenty minutes later, after much interrogation which sadly didn't bore quite a result since Mio's brain had suddenly went brain damaged from the overheat caused by the relentless questions and her inability to accept such embarrassing situation she had found herself in, peace had regained inside the music room as they finally decided to give said victim some space to collect herself if only to question her later. Or sooner.
"So," Ritsu started as a comical sweat dropped on the back of her head from seeing the eager faces of the other member, mainly Mugi who barely able to restrain herself not to drag Mio outside the room for a private interrogation time, literally. "Ishida-kun called this morning?"
All heads suddenly whipped to her as the last sentences left her lips, and she mentally cursed herself as she realized that she had just turn all the attention to her for disclosing one very crucial information.
The Name.
"H-hai.." Mio uttered and Ritsu mentally cheered as she had just been relieved from her current predicament and all attention had finally turned back to the black haired girl, who was still busy looking at her lap with a red color adorning her cheek to realize she had all eyes inside the rooms on her. It was a good thing for her actually, or else she bet Mio would suddenly combust again should she became fully aware of their stares.
"Ne, ne" Yui said as she raised her arms like she was asking a question inside a class. "Who is Ishida-kun? Is that Mio-chan's boyfriend's name?"
Mio simply nodded, eyes still founding her lap to be very interesting, refusing to look up.
"Ishida Takeru," Ritsu said as she realized Mio wouldn't be speaking for a little more while. "And he has been Mio's boyfriend since second year of junior high, right Mio?"
Said girl, once again, simply nodded and refused to lift her gaze from her, oh suddenly so interesting, lap.
"So you do know about this Ritsu-senpai," Azusa said as she looked at Ritsu, silently wondering why this issue had never been brought up before. After all, Mio-senpai could, might, actually be able to disband her fanclub should this information came up, or it might actually accentuate her fame since some people actually idolize an unreachable idol. "How come we never heard of it?"
"Well, it never came up," Ritsu said shyly as she scratched the back of her neck nervously. "And Mio never said anything about it, so I guess I just thought it wasn't necessary."
"But still," she looked at Mio who sat in front of her. "What got you so worked up anyway? It's not like he never called you before."
Mio snapped up upon hearing Ritsu's question, as she finally decided that her lap was no longer interesting. "O-oh, he said that he is coming back next week."
"Ah," Ritsu nodded as realization came to her. "No wonder. College, ne?"
Mugi would never call herself nosey. She might be a little bit too curious, but she wouldn't put her nose somewhere other people wouldn't want her too. No, she respect her friends too much to do such things. She would ask her friends first whether they were okay with telling her such information before eagerly asking about it.
So no, she was not nosey, just curious. After all, if one were to rarely experience such normal schoolgirl life, such as gossiping and playing games, giggling at their newest crush, one would be curious to how it would feel like.
And here in front of her, was one of those rare experiences for her. A boyfriend and girlfriend relationship, in short, lovers. Granted that she too had her own share of crushes during her school life, but she was very much virgin in term of relationship such as this. She never had the chance to venture in them, let alone learned about it from her previous friends since none of them developed further from the crush period.
"Hai.." Mio answered Ritsu's questions.
So she couldn't help herself to ask.
"H-how did you meet him?!" Mugi asked suddenly as she rosed from her seat and grapped Mio's hand between her two hands, surprising other occupants with her sudden outburst.
"M-mugi..?" Mio sweatdropped.
Mio realized several things as seconds passed by after Mugi's exclamation. First, Mugi was really-really eager to find out about how she and Takeru met seeing that she could actually saw some twinkling stars on her eyes, add that to such puppy dogs look that somehow able to touch Mio's deepest heart despite her reluctance in sharing said story.
Second, she realized that Mugi's influence had spread to the other member by the look they shared in their eyes, those curious looks they had whenever they wanted some information really badly. Heck, even Azusa got her eyes on Mio meaning that she won't be tricked by an invitation to practice with their band.
Third, she got no support as she glared at the whistling Ritsu in front of her with the you-dig-your-own-grave etched on her face.
Traitor.
So she resigned herself as Mugi released her hand, realzing that there were no way to escape this situation. All eyes were on her now, and she wast the reluctant main star.
"It started on the second year of junior high..."
(*)
CHAPTER 1
Akiyama Mio was lost.
Not that she lost direction; she was just lost at what to do. Her best friend Ritsu, the one with upbeat personality and seems always cheerful whenever she went had been proven to be vulnerable anyway to a cold and fever, rendering her unable to come to school due to her sickness, and had been given a permission from her doctor to stay in house until she got better.
One permission that the said brunette was just too eager to comply.
It had been two days since Ritsu's absent, and while Mio had other friends beside Ritsu, she found herself to be at lost at what to do since she usually spent lunchbreak with her. And now that she was currently absent and she still hadn't finished her lunch, she found herself in her current predicament that she vehemently wished would just go away.
Bored.
Deciding to break her habit for a chance to usher her boredom, she decided to find another spot to eat her lunch. Not that her classroom was inadequate and the people was horrible, no, she just need to find a new pace for a change, to indulge in new things even as miniscule as finding a new spot for lunch so not to die from boredom that threaten to engulfed her for the rest of Ritsu's absent. Picking her bento into her arm, and after excusing herself from the rest of her friend, she walked through her classroom door in search for the suitable spot.
One of the spot she had considered was the library, since she like the place. The silent yet comforting aura that place gave off seems able to sooth her everytime she went there, and imagining reading while eating food in a comforable place was a prospect she would really love. Sadly she had to scratch that option since food and drink was prohibited from entering the library, due to the fear of the food actually staining the book.
Another spot she had considered was the gym, on one of the benches there. The gym was wide and spacious, with many people there and it was also surprisingly a nice place to eat since there was many things to look at, from various students that usually gather there, to the boys who tend to use said gym in their spare time, sweating as they engage in whatever sport activity they could play in there.
Mio was a girl after all, and albeit reluctant to admit it, she secretly likes to watch them.
But she immediately scratch that option as well, since like it or not, the prospect of eating alone among many other students who would undoubtedly went there with their friends was just too embarrassing for the poor girl. She couldn't even begin to fathom should all eyes on the gym, albeit unlikely, turn to her. She would probably combust spontaneously.
So that leaves only one other place in her list of prospective-spot-to-eat.
The rooftop.
Mio threaded the stairs to the roof lightly with her bento in arm, hair swaying lightly with every step she took.
It had been one of her secret wish, a wish that she hadn't been able to accomplish from the beginning of her junior high life until now, to eat on the school's rooftop. She didn't know why but she had been always curious with the prospect of eating on the school's rooftop, whether it because of the influence of all those anime and manga she had watch and read in her childhood, or because she could saw the whole school from up there she didn't know. All she knew was that the rooftop had always held a special appeal in her heart.
Her feet reaching the last step of the stairs, she stopped upon hearing a tune from the other side of the door, flowing through the air with such small noise that she had thought that she had been dreaming upon hearing it. She squinted her eyes and tried to listen to the sound better, making sure that she had heard it right and not just her imagination. The melody was so soft, almost as if it was ethereal and soothing, yet at the same time, somehow she could feel it, the lingering sadness that enveloped every tune and notes.
She shook her head to clear her mind, trying her best to push a sudden impulse to cry that suddenly invaded her mind. A breath, followed by another came out from her lips as she tried to steady her heavily beating hard. She didn't know why, and she thought that it was probably for the best or else she would probably turn tail and run, but she steadied her shaking hand and moved it to grasp the handle of the door. The sudden impulse to open this door and find out who was behind was so overwhelming, and although her normal habit would be to go away, her mind told her to go forward, to leave all her doubt behind and just go with it.
Steeling herself, she nodded to herself and turn the handle, pulling the door as light gradually entered the staircase.
It was indeed a marvel.
Blue and white washed over her as the vast blue sky and hundreds of cotton like clouds enveloped her sight, rendering her speechless as she marvel at the scenery for several seconds. The vast blue sky impeded her vision like a giant blue curtain, with hundreds of different shaped clouds as its motif, each with their own different shape and size, making each of them special in each their own way.
Stepping forward, and momentarily forgetting the song she had just heard earlier, she started to explore the school's rooftop, curious as to what new things she could discover with every steps she took there, although it was clear that the roof was actually kind of barren, gray concrete decorating the floor, but it was still a new sensation for her.
Still she loved it.
"Huh, never thought someone would be here other than me," a sudden voice called from behind her.
"Kyaaaa!" Mio jumped as she heard that voice, eyes turning white as every nerve in her body tensed at the sudden intrusion. And thus one thing to another, her body decided to follow the rule of gravity, where evertyhing that goes up, had to go down one way or another.
She fell forward.
"Ara…"
(*)
"Itaiiii.." Mio hissed as she touched a spot where her forehead had actually kissed the ground, wincing as pain, while not that bad, erupted from even the slightest touch of her finger. She reached into her pocket and took out a small hand mirror, flipping it open as to check said problematic spot. The spot had swollen a little bit, quite unrecognizable if not for the glaring red hue that seemed to make that particular spot obvious to any onlooker.
"Mou.. this is embarrassing," she mused as she imagined how it would look like should she go to class with such glaring red spot on her forehead, granted that Ritsu wasn't here, so she could at least hope that the rest of her classmate would be more merciful than Ritsu.
A band aid was suddenly presented in front of her face, a hand holding it between its thumb and fore finger. She looked up and saw the owner of said hands, it was the same person that had suddenly materialized behind her back, although he had probably been there even before Mio came to the rooftop, the fact that he had actually popped out of nowhere and surprised her from behind made it like he just materialized from thin air behind her back.
And it was one fact that still made her uneasy up till now.
"Here," he said, gesturing to the band aid that he held on his right hand, a smile on his face as his clear blue eyes looked at Mio. She blushed as she looked at the band aid on his hand, remembering her earlier accident, and adding it with how she easily felt embarrassed in front of a new people, she diverted her sight as to not look at his face directly.
" – thanks," she uttered softly as she took the band aid from his hand.
He just smiled in response, and took a seat next to the poor girl, flopping down to the concrete floor with a soft thud. She was mentally grateful that he had decided to take a spot several feet from her, as she wasn't sure she could take it should this stranger suddenly decided to invade her personal space by taking a seat directly next to her, she could only imagine the awkwardness that would definitely occurred from such situation, more to her than to the stranger probably.
Several minutes passed in silence, one that was definitely uncomfortable in Mio's part, and Mio furtively tried to take a glance to the stranger beside her. One thing that she noted from this person was his unruly blonde hair, a short blond hair which was kept unkempt and seemed to sway with every wind that blew, and his slim but athletic body, which could be seen by his muscle on his arm, which was covered by his uniform, a white shirt and black pants. But one thing that really attracted Mio was his eyes.
It was clear blue, just like the color of sky.
So deep in her own musing, she didn't notice when said blue eyes moved to her as they realize they were being watched. She was startled when she realized that stranger had looked at her, and he simply smiled warmly before looking back to the distance, a simple act that left her blushing like mad as she was caught staring. She diverted her eyes as her hand went to her face; she could feel her cheeks burning as she was caught staring.
Trying to dissuade the growing awkwardness, she reached to her forgotten bento, deciding to distract herself from the blonde stranger before she would do other embarrassing things. She opened the lid to her bento and stared at the inside of her bento before grabbing a pair of chopstick she had placed next to the container. She usually helped her mother to prepare lunch for her and her father in the morning and it was no different today; a ritual that she cherished as she loved the atmospheric feeling of family.
She smiled as she looked at her panda shaped rice, the sea weed was used as the black spot for the panda. It was her mother's handiwork. All of her friends tend to call her bento to be cute, and she had to agree since her mother really like to experiment with her food to create multiple shapes. It probably came from her job, which was a kindergarten teacher, which prompted her to develop such creativity, and her bento was like a testing field for her.
Popping a sausage into her mouth, which her mother had shaped like an octopus, her eyes once again wondered to her silent companion. He remained the way he were before, eyes staring at the distant sky with his blue eyes, as if the whole sky was reflected upon his eyes. She silently wondered why he was so quiet; he hadn't uttered a single word after he gave her the band aid.
"Maybe he is shy, just like me," Mio wondered as she munched at her sausage, the taste of beef filled her mouth with every bite she took.
She looked up at the direction the blonde boy was looking at to find sea of white clouds upon her, floating along the majestic blue. She wondered how it would feel like to be just like cloud, to be able to float around in every direction, unchained by physical law which human called gravity.
"Beautiful isn't it?" said her silent companion, breaking her train of thought.
She looked away from the cloud as she stared at the boy next to him, finding his face had turned and looking directly at her face. He chuckled at seeing her confused face, which rapidly turned into another shade of red upon seeing him chuckling. She realized that she had probably blushed a lot more in the last half an hour than this entire week just from this single encounter.
"The cloud," the boy started, eyes once again turned towards the sky. His clear blue eyes gazed at the white cotton like clouds, shimmering as sun rays hit them.
Mio followed his eyes, resting her sight at the vast blue sky.
She watched as every clouds passed slowly by, as they were blown by the blowing winds centimeter per centimeter, constantly moving as they were never anchored to one place. Various shapes were visible, each quite alike yet so different. She remembered when she was a child, together with Ritsu she would point one clouds and another, guessing each shape of the clouds. It was childish.
Yet.
"That one looks like a panda," she muttered randomly.
That was when she realized how bizarre the words that had come out of her mouth were.
A snort followed by laughter sounded from her side, and she realized with dismay that she had said it out loud. She whipped her head around and her eyes went wide as her not-so-silent-companion anymore doubled in laughter, his right hand covering his mouth as he tried to stifle his laughter.
She wanted to cry, really she wanted to. She couldn't believe, of all things she could have said, that particular one was the one who had decided to escape her lips. Wiping her head from left to right, she searched for anything to hide under, anything to help her from this embarrassing situation only to find none.
Biting her lips, she started to gather her food container, intend on getting out of this place before she made more of a fool of herself. Closing the lid, she stood up and started to head towards the door before a hand suddenly took a hold of her arm.
"Eepp!" she squeaked as she stared down at the hand holding her, face red in embarrassment as she realized that an unknown boy had grab her arm.
"P-please wait," the blonde boy started, panting slightly as he tried to subdue the remaining of his laughter. Breathing deeply, he ran a hand on his chest to calm his drumming heart. "Y-you can stay here and finish your food. I won't laugh."
She looked at the boy critically, half unsure and half in panic as she didn't know what to do. All she knew was that she wanted to get away from this place, but said boy's gaze somehow made her resolve falter. His deep blue eyes locked with her eyes, and she somehow realized that his next word would be full of sincerity. "I promise," he said.
"F-fine," she started as she sat back to her previous spot. "But don't laugh."
The boy just smiled and nodded, a gesture that Mio hoped was one way to ensure his promise. Flopping back to his seat, he raised his eyes back to the clouds, bright smile decorating his face.
Silent fell upon them as once again neither dare to utter a word, each lost in their own thought. Once sure that the boy next to her won't fall into another laughing fit, she opened her food container, and started finishing her unfinished lunch. She poked at her panda shaped rice with her chopsticks, a pout on her face as she blamed it for her earlier circumstances. She glared at it, as if it would suddenly burst into flame by the intensity of her stares.
A quiet chuckle sounded from her side; expecting another fit of laughter, she was quiet surprised to find her companion not even looking at her, yet his smile had been replaced with what she could called a smirk.
Another ten minutes passed before the last of her food entered her throat. Her container now empty, she placed her chopstick inside the container and closed the lid. A bell rang, and she realized just than that lunch break was over; she had used all lunch time to finish her lunch, she didn't even realize that it had been that long.
"I guess that's our cue," came from beside her. She looked to the left to see that her companion had risen from his spot, dusting his pants before walking towards the door. "Ja ne, Panda-san," he said with a smile.
She watched as he opened the door, stepping through the opening before walking down the stairs, leaving the door opened. Her brain tried to process what the boy had just said, the information refused to go to her brain quickly as her face beat red.
"P-panda-san?"
It was then that she realized that they didn't know each other's name.
(*)
Mio yawned as she walked to her school, eyes puffy as she didn't really get much sleep last night. She had spent almost two hours tossing and turning on her bed last night, due to a little episode of insomnia she suffered.
But she knew it hadn't been a case of insomnia after all.
She hadn't been able to erase yesterday's encounter from her mind, her encounter with the golden haired boy yesterday on the rooftop. The memories lingered in her mind even as she tried to sleep, and it unnerved her all night that she had only been able to fall asleep around two o'clock in the morning, a very late hour to go to sleep since she still had to go to school in the next morning.
Another yawn escaped her mouth, her hand raised as to stifle her parting lips. It hadn't helped that she had a morning assignment for today in her school, prompting her to go to school earlier than usual even when she didn't want to. That, plus her difficulty to go to sleep yesterday had caused a major disturbance for her this morning in term of drowsiness. She only hoped one of her teacher would be unable to come so she could steal some nap time between the lessons.
Crossing the street, she saw a couple walking ahead of her, hand intertwined as they laughed at whatever jokes shared between them. They were wearing the same uniform as Mio, or to be more precise, the girl were wearing the same as her uniform, while the boy wore the counterfeit of her school's girl uniform. They looked so happy together, and Mio smiled as she watched such beautiful scene in front of her.
"Mio!" A shout broke her train of thought, and she looked to her side to see her best friend's grin as she jogged to catch up with the raven haired girl.
"Ritsu," she said as her childhood friend reached her side. "You're not sick anymore?"
"Yup," Ritsu stated, a grin plastered on her face. "Never been better. Although I wouldn't mind another day of skipping school, but my mother kinda go ballistic on me when I said that," she added as she scratched her head sheepishly.
Mio giggled, imagining the angry face of Mrs. Tainaka when her daughter had suggested it. "I can imagine it," she said among her giggle. Mrs. Tainaka was a very kind woman, but even she could lose her temper sometimes when faced with Ritsu, not to mention Satoshi had actually taken her sister's streak. Now it was like there were two Ritsus on the house, and Mio could have sworn she had seen another gray hair coming out on Mrs. Tainaka's hair everytime she visited. "Well, that's good news. I guess."
"You guess?" Ritsu shrieked her eyes wide in disbelief. "Your best friend just came back after two days of absent, come on, just admit that you missed me. Huh huh? Did the poor Mio got lonely without me?" She added while waggling her eyebrows.
"Shut up," Mio said as she hit Ritsu's head with her hand, not using her full strength since she was afraid she would hurt her when she was still recovering. "Geez, you've only been away for two days Ritsu. Although it does get a little quiet without you," she added with a small smile.
"Aha! See, you admit it," Ritsu exclaimed, a wide grin on her face. "So, anything interesting happened while I'm away?"
"Hmmm...," Mio hummed as she placed one finger on her chin, trying to remember anything worth remembering from yesterday.
"Ja ne, Panda-san."
At once, an image of a smiling blonde boy invaded Mio's mind, his clear blue eyes looking at Mio with such intensity that made red color climbed across Mio's cheek. She shook her head, trying to clear her mind away from the image. She didn't need any distraction right now, and remembering about yesterday's even wouldn't help her now.
"Ne, you okay Mio? Your face is beat red," Ritsu asked as she looked at her friend with a frown on her face. It wouldn't do good should Mio caught a sickness now.
"N-nothing," Mio said quickly with a rapid wave of her hand as to dismiss her friend's question. "I-i'm fine. Isn't it hot here? Haha.." She continued weakly while attempting to fan herself, as to make sure Ritsu wasn't suspicious of her sudden change in behavior.
It was too bad for her, that her tactic seemed to be of no effect at Ritsu, as she saw a glimmer of mischief in her friend's eyes. "Really?," Ritsu started, one hand below her chin as she seemed to be thinking. "Why Mio, if I didn't know any better, I would say that you are trying to hide something from me. Did anything interesting actually happen while I'm gone?"
Sweating like a bullet, she thought hard to try to come up with anything to distract her friend. It wasn't that she wanted to keep it as a secret, but she dreaded the teasing that would undoubtedly followed this inquiry. For more than five years she had befriended Ritsu, she knew from experience that Ritsu really loved to tease someone, even the slightest material would be enough for her to tease anyone, one of her penchant that Mio tried her best to avoid.
She was saved from Ritsu's teasing when a friend of theirs, one of their classmates, walked to them, engaging in a conversation with Ritsu, thus providing the distraction that Mio desperately needed. She mentally sighed in relief, praying to whatever god that graced her with such good luck this morning.
Looking up ahead, she realized that she could already saw her school gate. Gray colored wall made of bricks and concrete surrounded a rectangular building with the color of white and green. Tens of windows pannel glistening under the sunray along its wall. Her school was quite big, encompasing both elementary and junior high school, it was one of the biggest building around her neighborhood. One big clock was perched in the upper side in the middle of the building, reminding the student of the time.
Looking at the gate, she found the couple she had met earlier. A lavender haired girl wearing a rectangular glasses, with a black haired boy which hair was cut in bob. She didn't remember them from her year, so she speculated that they were freshmen or maybe senior. She smiled as she saw both of them laugh at whatever the boy said.
She wondered whether she would be able to be like them also, to find someone she could call her boyfriend. She was already fourteen, and while some of her friend had already have their first boyfriend, she hadn't had the chance to seriously think about it. Even as she entered high school, no boys had actually piqued her interest. That was probably due to her father, who had vehemently warned her about boys at her age, describing them as pervert who could only think about how to get under their girlfriend's pants. She still remembered how she had almost passed out in embarrassment from her father's quite detailed and vivid story that day.
Mentally shrugging the image from her head, she focused her eyes as she saw another person nearing the couple, a person that looked so familiar for her, with his blond hair and blue eyes.
It's him.
(*)
"I'm going," Takeru said quietly as he stepped out of the house he occupied with his parents. No answer came from the inside, and somehow he wasn't surprised when silence was the only one that answered him. He closed the door, opening his bags to take out his music player, and with a sad smile, he started his trek towards his school.
He walked in silence, music coming out from his earbud as his only companion. It would be a ten minutes walk to his school, seven if he fastened his steps, enough for at least two songs in his music player. It had become such a routine for him, two years of constant walking to his school every morning that he knew well just exactly how long it would take for him to get to his school. Not that he was in a hurry, so he opted to take some leisure walk this time.
Rounding a corner, he continued his step, his feet meeting the still empty street. It was still early in the morning, and only several people were in his vicinity. And he liked it. This time of the day was the only time that he could trully enjoy some alone time, a little quiet time where he could truly be at peace, and he treasured every seconds of it.
Another minutes passed and already the street had begun to be filled by more people. Students and workers, two professions which mostly filled the street at this time of hour, walked to their destination, ready to start another day of mundane stuff.
He wondered how they could get through it, how they could live by doing the same routine over and over again. Don't they ever felt bored? Don't they ever fed up with the same activity with only small variation each day? But maybe life was indeed just a repetitive cycle, another cycle of event with only small changes that most people had to endure.
He checked at his watch, the needle indicating at half past seven. It was still quite early, but he could already saw the top of the building of his destination, its white color could be seen from where he was standing now, and he realized that it was time for another school session.
"Ohayou, Takeru," said a girl in front of him, along with a black haired boy next to her.
"Ohayou, Miyako, Ken," Takeru said as he greeted his two old friend. "I see the old married couple is getting cozy in the morning."
While the black haired boy blush a little, the lavender haired gave Takeru a mock glare, one that Takeru was already immune to, since he knew that Miyako was actually happy to be teased about her current relationship with Ken. Not that there was anything to tease at anymore they were already a couple anyway, a thing that Takeru had suspected would eventually happened since they were in their last year of elementary school.
"Hmmph, at least we are a couple, unlike someone here," Miyako pouted as she looked at her blonde haired friend. Takeru chuckled, as mundane his life might be, time with his old friends were among those he was still grateful with. Miyako and Ken had probably grown up together with him, especially Miyako who he had known since the first year of the elementary school. They were quite inseparable, and even though Miyako and Ken were an item now, they still shared their time with Takeru, although not as often as the old time, but he was still grateful.
After all, it was only because of their support that he was still able to smile in the earnest now.
Walking next to the couple, his eyes wondered around the school, the school he had been studying at since he was six years old. There hadn't been any major changes in the school, aside from the paint that were used. Believe it or not, this school used to have no particular color as its main theme. It was said that the previous headmaster was quite an eccentric, and really loved to experiment in new things, especially color, and his school had taken most of the brunt from it. He cringed mentally as he remembered one occasion when the previous headmaster had suddenly decided that purple, red and blue was at hype that moment; the school had been painted with purple at the top, red in the middle and blue as the bottom color. Nevertheless, it had quite an effect to those who worked and studied there and it had taken at least a week of persuasion, deceit and begging before the school had reverted back to its plain grey color.
And to think it happened due to that new anime the headmaster had taken a liking to.
What was its name again?
Ah, that's right, Evangelion.
As he swept his gaze around the school, his eyes met with another, a pair of black colored eyes that he knew he had met before. Looking at the owner of said eyes, he smiled as the owner of said eyes, a girl with a long black hair walked towards the school's gate he and his friends had been walking to with her friends, her face the shade of red he had saw many times in the single occasion they had accidentally met, the shade of red that he had to admit to be very cute.
"Something wrong, Takeru?" Ken asked as he realized that Takeru had stopped walking. Takeru didn't answer his friend's question, nor did he realize that Miyako and Ken were looking at him with confusion on their face. All he saw was the black haired girl that was coming closer to the place he was standing on, the same girl who was busy looking at her feet, her eyes refused to look up after they were caught staring at him.
"Ohayou, Panda-san," Takeru said as the black haired girl walked in front of him. He didn't know what possessed him to say those words, to greet someone he didn't even know what her name was. He only met this girl yesterday, on one occasion where most of them doing were spending time in silence. Each lost in their own world
But the urge was there.
"A-akiyama Mio," the meek girl replied, eyes still downcast as she refused to meet Takeru's eyes. "T-that's my name, Akiyama Mio, not Panda-san," she added, muttering the last part in low whisper.
And he smiled.
"Ishida Takeru," he said with a never changing smile. "Ohayou, Akiyama-san."
And he realized that this time, he wasn't faking his smile.