You may not believe me but… Even though I don't even know his name….I felt as if…. I knew him already. Ryuji…Aikawa…
Ayumu sat in her classroom and looked around cluelessly, trying to catch the bubbles popping up in her eyes. It was her second day of high school, and so far, it wasn't going the best for her because her fellow classmate, Tomo Takino had nicknamed her Osaka, which she found rude. Ayumu, or should we say Osaka, was a very spacey and interesting girl, but her move from Osaka made her think to get it together more. She finally looked down at her hands and caught a glimpse of the tall girl sitting next to her. They hadn't spoken a word at all, so Osaka decided to go for it, slowly.
"Ayumu Kasuga…." She said, pointing at herself. The girl looked over at her in silence and continued looking out the window. "N-Nice to meet you?" Osaka nervously added.
"Etsuko Risa… Nice to meet you…" The girl looked over at her once more then turned back to the window, while Osaka had a wide open smile along with confusion. She thought that this introduction would have been her very first conversation, even though it wasn't and took a deep breath.
"So, Uhm, Did ya'll know that bats are nocturnal?" Osaka tried making another conversation with Risa, using a ludicrous question like that.
"Yes" She replied quickly, which surprised Osaka just a bit. Maybe that the classmate disliked Osaka or just wasn't social; but Osaka decided that it wasn't a good idea at all to make friends with this girl. Then at the right moment, the bell rang, she got up slowly, shocked at the fact that she was awake, and walked over to two girls, Yomi Mizuhara and Chihiro discussing their next class.
"Oh, Osaka" Yomi called out, smiling at Osaka. "Walk with us to our next class".
"Ah, Okay". Osaka replied, walking down the long hallway with the two.
"So, Osaka, did you see him yet?" Chihiro asked.
"Eh, who?"
"Ryuji. Aikawa is his surname, but everyone calls him Ryuji-kun" Yomi replied, pushing up her glasses.
"He's very cool and very handsome" Chihiro stated
"I've heard that ¾ of girls in the school loved him!"
. Osaka began to space out at the fact that she did not know or are about anything that Yomi and Chihiro were exclaiming about. She was, although, a bit surprised to ear that more than half of his middle school's female students all had an interest in him.
But, once again, Osaka found herself in class with the quiet and mysterious Risa. Osaka, once more, decided to make a conversation by asking her a question about Ryuji.
"Etsuko-san, is It true that Ryuji Aikawa-san had ¾ girls in his class love him?"
"Yes"
"Eh, did you love him also?"
"I hate him" That sudden reply caused a question mark to appear as the subject to Osaka's theatre of mind,
Osaka stood up from her chair as because of the teacher left and that meant that they could be free to do what they pleased. She didn't want to deal with the awkwardness with Risa, so she decided to talk to fellow classmate, Chiyo Mihama, also known as the high-school prodigy because of being accepted into high school at the age of 10."Osaka-san" She greeted
"Yeah?"
"Do you want to be in the class committee?" She asked with an innocent smile as Risa went back to her book that she had been reading.
"Well, I don't really understand it very much, so I guess no…." Osaka looked to the side, trying her best to pay attention to the conversation/
"I'd like to be the secretary of the committee, and I hear that Aikawa-senpai is a very good president." Chiyo stated, smiling with an expression that screams 'Kawaii'. Aikawa, Aikawa, what's with him? Osaka thought with a sweat dripping down her head.
"How about I nominate you?" Osaka smiled with the prodigy, thinking that she had gotten it together.
"Really? Oh thank you, Osaka-san" Chiyo walked away to the front of the class to help organize the classroom, since Yukari was gone probably fighting with fellow teacher, Minamo Kurosawa, or nicknamed by Yukari, Nyamo.
Osaka scratched her cheek with an uncertain expression on her face. "What was her name again?" The clueless Osaka would totally get this wrong, right? So, she saw a boy's figure walking by her and tapped on his shoulder, at least she could ask him. "Excuse me, what's her name over there, the one wit the pigtails? Chi… Chi…"
He turned around and turned out to be strikingly handsome, which made Osaka blush harder than she's ever blushed before, and in human terms, is not that much. He pointed at Chiyo, who was clapping the chalkboard erasers together out the window. "Chiharu". For some reason, Osaka felt some kind of buzzing sound in her ears and couldn't stop looking at him. She felt that somehow she had a connection between him and herself.
Then, the classroom door slammed open and came in Yukari with bruises and dirt all over her skin including ripped clothing and messy hair. She slumped over slowly to the front of the classroom as confusion came over the class. "Okay class, it's time to elect the class committee." She scanned the classroom with a cynical face and pointed wildly at the boy who had helped Osaka. "RYUJI AIKAWA!" She floated around the classroom, even though that sounds unrealistic. "BE CLASS PRESIDENT!"
"Why me, Yukari-sensei?" He defended.
"Because everyone was being too cocky and not voting for anyone but you. So, be class president!" Yukari explained grumpily.
Ryuji stood up and raised his hand. "I'll nominate someone. I'd like to nominate myself as vice president" The class chuckled as Yukari snickered and picked up the chalkboard eraser and threw it at Ryuji. "You little…"
Osaka was sound asleep with her head dug into her arms on the desk; Chiyo woke her up by tapping her head with her finger. "Eh…" She lifted her head up slowly, "Oh, are we electing the class committee now?" She asked Kaorin, who was sitting in the seat to her left. "Yes, we are, you shouldn't fall asleep ya' know?".
"Heh, sorry…"
Yukari threw both erasers at Kaorin and Osaka. "NO TALKING!" Yukari screamed.
"We're sorry, Yukari-sensei" They said together. Osaka looked up and remembered who she was going to elect for class secretary. So, she stood up with her hand raised, a bubble of snot still hanging from her nose. "Eh, I have someone to nominate"
"Go ahead, Osaka"
"I'd like to nominate Chiharu-chan"
Confusion came across the classroom again, with an extremely upset aura coming from Chiyo as she turned her head slowly at Osaka. Kaorin sighed and face-palmed herself. "I think you mean Chiyo-chan…"
Osaka became shocked and looked over at Ryuji, who gave a smirk at Osaka. "Chiyo-chan?" She bowed back and forth at Chiyo who was waving her hands at Osaka. "It's okay, w-we all make mistakes…" She said, trying to cheer Osaka up.
Thankfully, Osaka didn't end up on the committee, which meant that Chiyo became class secretary.
After that, it was break time. Osaka walked up to Ryuji's desk, angry at his lie. "You lied to me…" She said with an open-mouth smile.
"Ahh… Was I ruder than forgetting someone's name?" He teased
Osaka felt like pulling her brain out. He was being quite irritating, but it was her fault for forgetting a prodigy's name.
"You…." He began, interrupting her thoughts. "What was your name again?". Osaka blinked uncertainly. He just said that stuff about forgetting someone's name, so this was especially ludicrous. After forcing herself to smile and telling him her real name, she left to join Yomi Mizuhara, Tomo Takino, Sakaki, Chiyo Mihama and Kagura at lunch.
"Sakaki-san, you're Risa-san's cousin, right?" Osaka asked.
"That's right" Sakaki replied
"You both are pretty quiet, but she's especially quiet." Osaka scratched her cheek.
"I suppose"
Kagura ripped open her bento and gleamed at the containing foods, and after she gobbled more than half of it, she smiled wildly. "So, do you think that Ryuji-kun has had any girlfriends before?" she excitingly asked the group.
"Well, I heard that he's gone out with almost every girl in town, younger and older!" Tomo replied with a chunk of rice stuffed in her mouth.
"Seriously?" Kagura slammed her hands onto the table. Kagura and Tomo seemed to be very interested in Ryuji, even Osaka, who was too embarrassed to join this fickle about him. Yomi covered Tomo's mouth with her hand, as because of rice spilling out of her mouth. "Swallow your food first" She cynically ordered.
"Who are you, my mom?"
"No, but that's gross"
"You're gross!"
Yomi sighed. "You're such a child"
"I know you are but what am I?"
Kagura clapped her hands loudly, that Chiyo and Osaka yelped, while Sakaki just stared at the wall, "Back to Ryuji-kun! Let's ask Risa-san about Ryuji!" Tomo agreed so by yelping out a "Yes" and walking with Kagura to Risa, who was reading a book and eating at the same time.
"Risa-san, what is Ryuji Aikawa like to you?"
"Nothing"
"Uh…" Kagura and Tomo backed away slowly. "Never mind then" They walked away back to the group with their heads down in an upset way.
"Back so soon?" Yomi asked.
"She's useless" Kagura stated.
"She's my new rival!" Tomo yelled out, almost punching Sakaki in the face. "I will do my best to beat her!"
"Beat her at what?" Yomi questioned.
--
School was over, and Osaka found herself looking at the front of the school building, She was bored and had an absolutely long day at school. Her friends Kagura and Yomi came out with tennis outfits on.
"Osaka-san, you're still here?" Yomi asked
"Yeah.. I was just spacing out…" Osaka looked over behind her.
"What's up with you?" Kagura chuckled and threw a tennis ball up in the air. "So, how'd your career counseling test go?"
"Well, uh, I didn't get it…"
"Hah, it wasn't easy for us either, well bye"
"Bye-bye" Osaka waved at her friends and turned the opposite direction. She decided to take a shortcut home by crossing through the park behind the school. As she was walking past the school, Ryuji popped out of one of the windows.
"Kasuga how was your test?"
"I made an A. No, a B. Just kidding it was a C. Wait I lied, it was a D" She stuttered, trying to make Ryuji confused.
He smiled "You're a moron, aren't you?" He joked. Osaka's eyes turned beady as she walked away with a frown. "I don't want to hear that from you" She said, using her best I'm-cool-stop-teasing-me face.
"Bye-bye" She heard him say. Osaka was weirdly surprised that someone like him would say bye-bye like that. So, she looked back as he was leaning back into the window. Osaka walked back to the window to try to catch him. "A-Ano. Bye-b…" She looked around slightly to see that the room was empty.
"Yeah?" Ryuji popped out again from the side of the window, surprising Osaka. "I didn't think you'd hear me" She said popping her eyes out and waving her hands in front of her as she leaned into the window.
"What?" He said confusingly.
"Eh… Bye-bye" Osaka whispered as she slowly leaned out of the window. Then, she heard the sound of Ryuji's laughing and jumped back in. "Why the heck are you laughing?" She asked with a sweat-drop.
He stopped and gave Osaka a cute smile. "Bye-bye" He said, which made Osaka blush a shade of pink. She walked away, feeling faint and sick in her stomach. This could actually be her very first crush.
--
When she waked down the path, she came across Chiyo, who was looking lost and confused. She decided to walk home with her to show her the way. "Chiyo-chan, hello!" She called out. "Chiyo-chan, are you lost?"
"I-I'm afraid so, I didn't think that the park would be this difficult" Chiyo said, waving her arms around with beady eyes. "Don't worry Chiyo-chan; I will help you get home." Osaka punched her arm into the air. "Oh thank you!" Chiyo smiled almost as cute as Ryuji's smile, which failed to make Osaka blush,
"Say, Chiyo-chan…" Osaka said, with a dark aura. "What would you do if you can't stop blushin' at someone, and no matter how hard ya' try you can't seem to stop thinkin' about 'em?"
Chiyo tapped her chin with her finger. "Well, let's see." She began. "I think that must mean that you're in love, or have a first crush". Osaka jumped at her theory and grabbed Chiyo's shoulders and swung her back and forth. "No, No! Chiyo-chan1 don't say that! Please, don't say that!" she yelled, while desperately crying.
"Miss Osaka, I know what's been going on with you!" Chiyo said. Osaka stopped her mild tormenting in shock. Could she have been watching Osaka's wild blushing and dizziness? "You've been watching Aikawa-senpai a lot lately, and honestly, in my opinion" Chiyo smiled innocently. "You'd make a lovely couple". Osaka was surprised, but not too much. She could expect this from "the master of the pigtails"
Osaka jumped and started tormenting Chiyo again. "Don't say that either! That's making me depressed! Very! Stop it Chiyo-chan!".
"I… I'm sorry! But it's true!"
"Well, if you say so. But can you keep it a secret?" Osaka held out her pinkie finger. "Promise me.". Osaka knew she could trust Chiyo. If she told Tomo or Kagura, things would get ugly in an instant. Chiyo did as so and gave each-other a pinkie promise. "I promise" Chiyo said, smiling.
Chiyo looked up at where hey were and found the path that she walked through to get home. "Well, I found my way, Arigatoo Osaka-san."
"C-Call me senpai!" Osaka said, squeezing her eyes together.
"Eh? Alright…" Chiyo said, walking away.
Chiyo-chan, you're right… What do I do…