"You're such a freckle face, Tadashi." A school bully laughed with his friends. The two other boys continued to taunt the smaller boy, "Why are you so puny?" They pushed him to the ground and were about to throw their backpacks at him when something hit one of them in the head. It was a rock. The three bullies looked to see a small girl with more rocks in her hands. "Leave him alone you meanies!" She attempted to sound threatening but only caused the boys' laughter to grow. Their laughter died down when they noticed a blond boy, who was much taller than any of them, walking down the path towards them.
The stoic looking boy stopped and started at the other kids before scoffing and leaving with a final word, "Lame."
The three bullies took off, leaving the smaller boy on the ground in tears. He tried his best to hide that he was crying when he noticed the girl was still there. She walked over and stood next to him, looking off in the direction the bullies had gone, "Those guys are real jerks," she turned back and held out her hand to him, "My name's Katsura Natsuko." She gave him a bright smile as she helped him off the ground, "Th-thank you," Tadashi smiled back at her.
Natsuko rummaged through her, not fully paying attention to where she was going. She was on her way to her first day at Karasuno High School and she had the feeling she was forgetting something. Searching her bag while walking wasn't the best idea seeing how she ended up running into a wall. It wasn't an actual wall though, it was a human wall, more precisely it was her two friends Yamaguchi Tadashi and Tsukishima Kei.
"You should watch where you're going, idiot," Tsukishima scolded as he and Tadashi began walking again. Being much shorter than her friends, Natsuko had to run a little to catch up to them. "Why did you let me just run into you, Tsukki?" She asked as she stared up at him. He glanced down at her and sighed, "You shouldn't have had your head buried in your bag." She huffed as they continued walking. Tadashi chuckled at his friends bickering. It seemed like they had always been like that and it would probably always be that way.
"Hey Natsu-chan, what were you looking for anyway?" Tadashi watched as she began looking through her bag again, "I don't know I just feel like I forgot something."
Tsukishima looked down at her as well, "How can you look for something if you don't even know what it is." His voice was its usually slightly cold tone.
"Maybe I'll remember if I notice it missing?" It came out as more of a question than she hoped it would.
"That doesn't make any sense," his voice now held a hint of annoyance.
The bickering continued as they walked through the gates to their new school. They had all decided on Karasuno. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi possibly choose it for the same reason but Natsuko only choose it to stay with her friends. Originally she had planned on going anywhere but Karasuno, she had her own private reasons for not wanting to attend the school that her two closest friends didn't even know about. Despite that, she didn't want to lose the people she was closest too so here she was. "Hurry up so we can get to home room already," Tadashi said in a cheerful tone, waving his friends towards the door.
They got to home room and quickly found their seats. Tadashi and Natsuko sat next to each other while Tsukishima sat behind her. They were all in the same class for the first time. Class 1-4 was a higher placement class and while Yamaguchi and Tsukishima had no problem getting into it, Natsuko struggled to meet the required grades. She had always been in lower level classes and she never had a problem with that but, now that she was in a higher class, she was determined to prove that she's not an idiot like Tsukishima thinks.
While waiting for class to start, Natsuko noticed a familiar girl peeking into the classroom from the doorway. They had gone to the same middle school but she couldn't recall her name. Natsuko realized she had been staring and the girl had noticed. They made direct eye contact and Natsuko quickly looked away, trying to act like it didn't happen. Unfortunately it couldn't be avoided that easily. Natsuko looked up to see that girl with long black hair and piercing green eyes standing in front of her desk staring straight down at her. "Um... hi," Natsuko managed to choke out.
"You're Katsura Natsuko, right?" Natsuko was a little taken aback that this girl knew who she was but she couldn't even think of what letter her name started with.
"Y-yeah, and you are..?" Her face grew slightly red as she still couldn't remember this girl who clearly knew who she was.
"We went to the same middle school, I don't think we ever had a class together though. I'm Sakamoto Midori, class 1-5," she bowed slightly as she introduced herself.
"Oh wow! You're in 1-5? That's really impressive." Sakamoto giggled at her excitement.
"Eh, are you forgetting you're actually in a high class for once, Natsuko?" Tsukishima questioned in a condescending tone. Natsuko quickly turned around and the two began bickering once again. Sakamoto stood there, unsure if she should stop them or not. Her attention shifted to the desk next to Natsuko's where a freckled faced boy chuckled. He looked up once he noticed her looking at him, "They do this all the time." Sakamoto nodded in understanding.
"Um, excuse me," Sakamoto regained Natsuko's attention and began to explain why she was there. "I'm in the drama club and our piano player is out of school for a while because of medical reasons but we still need to be able to practice. I remember that you play piano, or at least you used to, but if you still do will you please help out the drama club for the time being," she bowed again, waiting for Natsuko's response. Natsuko didn't know what to say at all. She couldn't even remember this girls name when she saw her yet Sakamoto knew her name and that she played piano. Before she could even speak, Sakamoto began to talk again, "Unless you're already in another club then I completely understand if you can't do it."
This would be her way out. Natsuko didn't like being the center of attention and she would never be able to perform with the drama club if she got stuck in there. She was about to lie and say she was already a part of a club when she was interrupted. "That would be perfect, wouldn't it Natsuko?" she turned to see Tsukki with a sly smile pulling at his lips, "I mean, you're not in any clubs yet and you haven't had the chance to perform in front of people in a long time." Tsukishima was well aware of how much his friend hating performing in front of people, she would never even play for Tadashi or him.
Sakamoto smiled and clapped her hands, "So you'll do it?" Natsuko could only manage a feeble nod as Sakamoto cheered happily, "Oh thank you so much! We have meetings after school in the auditorium, you can meet everyone there tonight." She gave a final smile and a small wave as she left the room.
Tsukishima could no longer hold his laughter after she left, "I can't believe you actually agreed to that."
She turned to him, her face a bright shade of red, "I didn't know how to tell her no since you made it seem like I'd love to do it." This only continued to fuel his laughter. "I don't see why you have to be so mean to me all the time," she mumbled under her breath. Tsukishima was unable to hear last remark but Yamaguchi heard her fully. He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly. She looked up to see him offering a warm smile. She smiled back at, like the day they all first met, "Thank you, Tadashi."