Miku had just put on her light brown jacket as soon as her alarm had went off. She finished putting on the article of clothing and then proceeded to silence it. She had instinctively woke up a little earlier than usual due to her nervousness about her first day of college. Sure, she had gone through orientation, moved her stuff in, met her roommate Miki, and hung out with said roommate to become friends with her, but she still wasn't quite comfortable living away from home. It was exciting, of course, to be able to live on her own, but at the same time she was away from her father's home cooking and her younger brother's constant nagging. Despite herself, she found herself biting on her lip nervously for a few seconds, resisting the urge to check her social media. She had made her final posts once she arrived after the long car ride to campus, and had vowed to not film her entire first day experience like she so badly wanted to. Miku loved to take pictures, but her hobby had evolved into a problem of its own. She promised herself to fully enjoy the first experience of adulthood instead of watching it flash by her eyes behind the lens of a camera.
A few minutes later Miki's alarm went off, and to Miku's amusement the redhead remained in bed, completely still. "Miki, are you alright?" Miku asked, smiling to herself, her initial worries forgotten. She received no answer from her roommate and after what seemed like a full minute of the alarm's blaring, Miku became worried. She called to her a few times and she even tugged on Miki's question mark shaped cowlick.
"Miki, wake up." No answer. After a few minutes of trying to coax Miki to wake up, Miku realized that the redhead was still heavily asleep.
'Am I going to have to wake this girl up every day?' Miku wondered as she turned Miki's alarm off and tried once again to shake Miki awake. It already felt awkward enough for Miku to have to go through so much for a person she had just met, but it was already too late to back down. Finally, after minutes of pleading and shaking, the sleepy redhead open her eyes.
"What?" Miki murmured, her voice raspy from sleep.
"Wake up, we've got class!" Miku said. Miki slowly blinked her red eyes, not quite understanding what her teal haired roommate was saying.
"Class?" she asked. "But it's summer vacation."
Miku gave the redhead a look of disbelief before sighing and leaving her roommate behind as she walked out of the dormitory. She really needed a cup of coffee to help her start her day right, and she had seen a cute coffee shop just outside of campus that had caught her interest when she had arrived. She had been walking for no more than five minutes before she heard an intense panting behind her. She turned her head and saw Miki, fully dressed, her hair brushed and make-up fully done. The rebellious cowlick remained, but otherwise Miki looked as if she had prepared for the day for hours, leaving Miku stunned.
"How did you…?"
"I've gotten used to getting ready in five minutes," Miki replied breathily, her words coming between labored pants. "Hey where are we going? Why did you wake up so early? Class doesn't start for an hour." Miku had been surprised that she and her roommate had a good amount of classes that they shared. In fact, they shared all but one class throughout the week. This relieved Miku greatly since she was a bit shy and was happy to have a friend to walk to class with.
"I just need some coffee," Miku responded, prompting Miki to make a rather peculiar face.
"Coffee is too bitter for me." The redhead stuck her tongue out cutely as she said that, and Miku laughed. She decided to engage in conversation in an effort to know the redhead a little more as she felt quite sociable on this fine morning.
"Hey, I know you said that you're from the city, but you seem like a country girl to me. Did you and your family used to live in the country?" Miki seemed surprised at the question.
"Yeah, we are. How did you know?" Miku shrugged, not really knowing a good answer.
"Lucky guess," she told the redhead. Miki seemed to accept her vague explanation and started to talk about her childhood in the country, moving her hands as she talked, with Miku inputting the occasion 'mhm' to show that she was listening.
One of the best things about Miki, Miku had quickly learned, was her ability to hold a conversation with just about anyone and about anything. When they had stopped by the cafeteria for dinner the other night, Miku had the opportunity to sit through an argument about roses between Miki and a guy that she had chatted up during their wait in line. It wasn't boring, no, the argument was actually quite entertaining. Miku ended up learning many things about roses, and both Miki and Miku had made an acquaintance. Miku was glad that she had Miki as her roommate instead of a more intimidating person. She was a little shy when it came to meeting new people, and it would have been a nightmare if her roommate had been more intense or aggressive in nature.
One of the other things that Miku had quickly discovered about the little redhead however, was just how quickly she could distract, how easily she could eat up time with her seemingly limitless conversation. Just moments ago she had started going on about her life before college, her little tuft of hair seemingly displaying a life of its own, swaying in the breeze as she went on and on. Before the tealette could even realize it, they were already approaching the coffee shop Miku had been desiring. At the rate things were going, Miku began to consider if a coffee was even needed, as her roommate's constant chatter and upbeat demeanor had helped wake her up far better than any beverage could.
"Oh Miki, we're here!" Miku interjected, partially out of amazement at how quickly they had made it to the shop, and partially to quiet the girl down, her seemingly endless conversation having drifted from her quiet life at home to her undying love for all things cherry. These had been the one of the few words that Miku had gotten in since the girl had started her little cherry tirade, and if she didn't find a way to disrupt the conversation quickly, she could imagine that they'd be the last she would speak for a while. Furthermore, Miku didn't trust herself to allow Miki to speak endlessly. For as short a time that Miku had gotten to know her, she found that time passed past with the girl's gift for gab, and Miku would probably forget her original purpose for going to the coffee shop: to get coffee. Fortunately for her, that tiny distraction was just enough to break Miki's concentration, giving the tealette a brief moment of silence as she parted the glass doors and entered the coffee shop.
As soon as the girl set foot inside the quaint little establishment, her senses were immediately enraptured by the store, her eyes distracted by an array of breakfast pastries all arranged in neat little lines beneath the counter, while her nose was led astray by the scents of different coffees brewing. Compared to the rather simple modern-themed shops in her hometown, this place was in a league of its own. If the rest of college was like this, Miku could already see herself loving every single second of it.
"Um… Excuse me miss, but are you going to order something?" the woman behind the counter asked, her voice snapping Miku right out of her little trance. The rather confused look in the cashier's brown eyes immediately gave Miku quite the impression of how silly she must have looked right then. Somehow Miku had drifted to the front of the line while she was looking around the shop and daydreaming. As she fidgeted nervously with her hands, the tealette slowly turned to look behind herself, parting her lips slightly to ask her red haired roommate if she wanted anything, only to find the beginnings of a line forming behind her. Her teal eyes frantically scanned through the small group of students to try and find some hint of her friend's presence, only to catch the slightest glimpse of bright crimson hair through one of the windows. Unfortunately, she just happened to be caught up in conversation with a few other students outside, having seemingly abandoned Miku for the meantime.
"Hey, are you going to get something? You're kind of holding up the line…" the girl behind the counter once again asked her, the woman's tone coming through a bit more assertively than before. Why did Miki have to abandon her now? Miku immediately felt hyper-aware of the line forming and the smiling brunette, and her heart began to pound. The welcoming atmosphere of the coffee shop dissipated and suddenly the room felt too small. Was it always so hot? Why did she feel so alone right now? She longed for someone to stand next to her, where was Miki, why wasn't she talking?
'Just order something! It isn't that hard!'
"Um… I'll take a tall coffee," Miku said lamely, giving up at the end. The brunette raised her eyebrow but said nothing else. She rang up her order and stated the price of the coffee, which Miku swiftly paid and offered her name before high-tailing herself out of the line and off to the side. Her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment as she realized that she had never actually bought coffee without someone else with her in line. Before she had friends or family with her whenever she went to a shop, so it was surprising to discover that she hated ordering coffee by herself. Why was that? Miku could only wonder why she had felt so anxious. For now, she just wanted to leave. She scanned the bodies inside and outside the shop, only to find a lack of Miki in the crowd. Damn it.
A few minutes later her name was called, and Miku quickly accepted her coffee, and the tealette practically sprinted out of the door as soon as she grasped her cup. How embarrassing to have spaced out on her first day. Yes, she knew that most of those people probably wouldn't even remember what she looked like, or bothered to-
Oof.
Miku didn't even register that she had bumped into someone because all she felt was the sensation of hot coffee scalding her thighs. She scrambled away from the cup, swearing as she did so. Just great! Her wonderful first day of school had turned into a nightmare all in the span of 5 minutes! Where the hell was Miki? And who was idiotic enough to bump into her? Inside, Miku was pissed, although the voice of her rational side knew perfectly well that it was her fault for not paying attention to where she was going.
"Hey, are you alright?" Miku took off her jacket and patted herself dry while looking at her victim. It was a young woman with long pink hair. She looked quite worried and apologetic for Miku. All traces of anger vanished as Miku's cheeks burned just as intensely as the coffee had burned her thighs.
"Um, yeah, no problem here. Thanks for asking. Uh, sorry for… bumping into you." Miku laughed nervously, wanting the ground to just swallow her up right then and there. Please just leave, please just leave, please just forget who I am, Miku prayed to whatever upper deity was out there listening at that moment. It must have worked, because the woman simply nodded and stepped back, her body leaning toward the coffee shop.
"Well, take care of yourself then. Hopefully you didn't get any burns. It was nice meeting you," the woman called out before disappearing into the bustling shop. Miku stared off after the woman until a familiar red haired girl burst out of the coffee shop door, pastry and iced coffee in her possession.
"Hey Miku, your coffee fell," Miki pointed out the obvious as she munched on her pastry. She offered Miku a bite of the treat, which Miku shook her head at, not wanting anything to eat or drink after this fiasco. She really wanted to change out of these jeans, however.
"I'm gonna go back to the dorm to change. Would you mind coming with me?" she asked Miki. Miki simply shrugged and headed towards the dorms, and Miku followed her. Luckily they still had time to make a quick pit stop at the dorms and time to get to class. Thank goodness Miku had decided to leave early today. She wouldn't want to leave a bad impression on her professor on the first day of class.
After a far too hectic morning, Miku finally made it to her class, pushing the doors open in such a tender manner, treating them as if they'd shatter at the slightest touch. After what had happened earlier this morning, the last thing she was looking for was more attention from anyone else, something she guessed a certain talkative redhead would make far too difficult. Thankfully for her, the classroom was relatively empty as she nudged the doors open, only populated by a few casually chatting students off to one side.
"I don't get why you're still so caught up on this Miku." Miki stated, following the teal haired girl as she made a beeline straight for the very back of the room, where she hoped that her form would be obscured by the eventual rows of students that would fill in the seats in front of her. "So what, you dropped your coffee earlier. You changed over, it's already happened, and I swear, no one's gonna mention it in here."
"Am I really that bad?" Miku breathed out, her voice practically a whisper as she took her seat, Miki continuing to stand beside her desk as if she couldn't be bothered to sit down. Her quiet suspicions were swiftly confirmed by a nod of the head, prompting a sullen sigh to escape the tealette's lips.
Miki attempted to soothe the tealette once more. "Seriously, think about it. Does anyone here care about what happened this morning?" Miki asked, raising a crimson eyebrow at the girl as her roommate slowly scanned across the classroom, only to find all of the other students lost in their own little conversations. "Come on, there was what, like a dozen people that saw you? I guarantee you aren't gonna run into any of them in this class. It'll be alright. Just smile and move on." Miki smiled reassuringly.
While the tealette didn't want to admit it, Miki did have a point. Perhaps she was overreacting about all of this. The new pair of jeans she had put on were without a single blemish, leaving no reminder whatsoever of what had happened earlier this morning. Maybe she was being paranoid about all of this. While Miki's surprisingly comforting words did manage to ease her mind a little, she couldn't help but notice the rather sparse population of the classroom. Even though a quick glance at her phone confirmed that the class had but a minute left before starting, the seats weren't as filled as she had wished, with only a few more students taking positions at the very front of the room.
"So Miki, you have older friends here, right?" Miku asked, pulling out her phone and scrolling through her pictures in an attempt to get her mind off of her previously raging torrent of anxious thoughts. "Have any of your friends had this professor before? Ms...Megurine?"
"Nope, she's new!" Miki chirped, providing the tealette with an extremely quick response to her inquiry. "Apparently this is actually her first day here at the school. I heard about it from Len. I met him yesterday on the way back from the cafeteria. He said that he saw her around campus and she was having trouble carry. Personally I would have gave her a hand. Oh, but you know, I also heard that Ms. Megurine went to this school herself from Gumi." The redhead kept her usual bright smile on her face as she went on and on about the different things she had heard about this mysterious new teacher.
"Oh look, there she is now!"
As if summoned by Miki's words, a well dressed woman stepped into the room, her footsteps barely making a sound as she walked towards the front of the class. A wave of dead silence swept over the classroom as she entered, silencing the quiet morning chatter of the students. It wasn't that the woman had an menacing aura, no; it was that she was simply stunning in many ways. She had an air of formality about her, despite her surprisingly youthful strode in with her head high and her posture impeccable. Everything in her appearance was thought out well, from her carefully styled pale pink hair to the gray pencil skirt she wore. Her bright blue eyes ultimately betrayed her, as they lacked the experienced stern stare of authority, proving her amateurity before she even spoke a word.
"Wow, she's young for a professor…" Miki whispered, her former chattiness lowering into a level of subtlety that no one would expect from the red haired girl. She didn't receive a response from her friend, so the redhead turned to the tealette and extended her finger for a nice prod to the side.
At that moment, Miku Hatsune wasn't a student anymore. She was a ghost, her skin as white as bleached bone. She stared at the front of the class, her normally soft eyes a portrait of shock due to the very person she was seeing right now. Standing before her at the front of the class was the reminder of a recent encounter, one she couldn't help but recall in full detail. Running out of the coffee shop… not looking where she was going… colliding…
She wasn't sure if it was the cascading pink hair, the tranquil gaze of those ocean blue eyes, the careful, composed manner in which she moved, or perhaps even all of them combined; but whatever it was, it glued Hatsune to the spot in fright, blanking her mind of all but her past worries.
Her cheeks flushed with color as soon as she made eye contact with the professor. Ms. Megurine smiled at her with knowingly, which made it just that much more embarrassing.
"Ah, it seems that I've already ran into a couple of my students before class. It's a pleasure to meet all of you. I'm Luka Megurine, and I'll be your History 131 teacher for this semester."