On a cool spring morning, the sound of an alarm is what stirs up a redhead by the name of Maki Nishkino from slumber. Shutting off the alarm, she looks at the clock on her wall. 6:00 am, it read. The alarm was set an hour earlier than what was normal for a school day. The reasoning being that it's the first day of school. The first day of her first year of high school. Her parents had taught her that a first impression was everything, and there was no way Maki was going to be late. Not even if she hated mornings.
Otonokizaka High School was the school she would be attending. A small school located between the Akihabara and Kanda districts. It wasn't Maki's first choice of school, but her parents fell in love over the idea of her going to a lower profile school. It also helped that her own mother and the principal are friends from some time ago. Maki would have much preferred to go to UTX, located in the heart of Akihabara, a school that screams modern day technology. Naturally, Maki was attracted to it. However, her protests to her parents fell on deaf ears. She couldn't be too upset about it. It didn't really change the endgame.
After going through her morning hygiene protocol and getting dressed, Maki looked herself over in the mirror. One thing she did give Otonokizaka credit for, was the uniforms. The nearly all white of the UTX uniform looked great, but she had to admit that the Otonokizaka uniforms had a little bit more flavor about it. It might've been the blue. Satisfied with her appearance, it was time for her to head out.
Maki didn't live too far from Otonokizaka, a fact that she was thankful for, as she didn't particularly enjoy public transportation. Walking was healthier, for her body, and probably her sanity too. Plus, the walk to school takes her through the ever bustling Akihabara district. Though, she didn't know how she would feel walking by the UTX school every day, as she was doing now. Maki stopped to admire the building, an impressive skyscraper. What was even more impressive was the amount of people gathered by the building. Some were students, donning the UTX uniform, and to Maki's surprise, some, actually most weren't.
She didn't have to wait long to find out what the commotion was about, as the video board above the schools entrance began to show a young brunette girl with sparkling green eyes, in a militia style outfit.
"Hello everybody! My name is Tsubasa Kira. Leader of UTX's school idol group, A-Rise! I'd like to be the first to welcome all of our new and returning students! Here's to another year of excellence at UTX!" Then, two other girls appeared to either side of Tsubasa. Both sporting the militia like outfit that Tsubasa wore. "Now, we would like to usher in the new school year with a special performance!"
A school idol group huh? Maki thought to herself as the music began to play. Maki wasn't too interested in the idol themselves, but she loved music, and rightfully thought herself to be quite the talented pianist, and she even could compose music. She momentarily thought about if she could have used her talents as a musician had she attended UTX. Alas, she had get a move on. She put her laments to the side, and continued on walking. There was another school she had to be at.
When Maki arrived at the school, her first impressions of Otonokizaka could be summarized with one word: simple. Not that it was a bad thing, even as Maki enjoyed an upper class lifestyle, she would admit that there was something to be said for keeping things simple. Still, it was clear that it wasn't a UTX. Upon entry into the building, Maki was greeted by two signs. New students were to report to the auditorium for orientation, while second and third years were free to head upstairs. Orientations... Ugh.
Getting to the auditorium was easy. Directions for the first year were posted in the hallways, guiding her there. Maki didn't see anyone on the way there that she could identify as a fellow first year, it was slightly unsettling, but she rationalized that she was rather early. Once she was inside the auditorium, Maki took a seat near the back. Her only company being a couple of other first years, seated near the front. After a few minutes, more first years began pouring in, and a girl, blonde with a ponytail, arrived at the podium on stage. She tapped the microphone a couple of times, and began to speak.
"Good morning everyone! And welcome to Otonokizaka High! My name is Eli Ayase, your student council president. I would like to-"
It wasn't that Maki didn't want to listen to Eli, but she knew that most of what was being said wasn't going to be entirely important, and that something like this was just a formality. While Eli was speaking, Maki quickly surveyed the auditorium. There wasn't many others there, actually, if Maki had to wager a guess, there was only one class worth of new students. A guess which would have been spot on.
"-and since we only have enough new students for a single class of first years, and the bell for classes doesn't ring for another few minutes" Eli began, "I would like to encourage you all to interact with your new classmates."
On the outside, Maki sat with a completely neutral expression. On the inside, her imaginary self was banging her had on an imaginary desk. She really didn't want to do this. It wasn't that she didn't like people, but Maki kept her distance from others by choice. Even now, sitting in the back, away from the other students who were beginning to introduce themselves to each other. If I have to... Deciding to not look like an outcast, Maki looked for someone to make an acquaintance with. She didn't have to look very far however, or even look at all.
"Hello!" A girl with short, orange hair and yellow eyes appeared next to Maki from seemingly out of nowhere. Behind her was another girl with brunette hair and glasses.
"Hello," Maki cautiously replied.
"You know, I saw you when I walked in here nya. I wondered why you were sitting by yourself all the way in the back, I figured it was because you were lonely-"
Right... lonely. Maki thought
"-but I took another look at you, and you actually look totally familiar nya!"
"Really?" said Maki, not recalling ever seeing the girl before in her life.
"Yeah! I-" She was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder from the girl next to her, whom proceeded to whisper something into the orange haired girls ear. Which prompted a sorry look appearing. "I'm sorry nya, I got ahead of myself again. My name is Rin," Rin gestures to the girl next to her, "And this is my best friend, Kayochin."
"I-it's nice to meet you," said Hanayo.
"Nice to meet you too. I'm Maki. Maki Nishkino."
Rin let out and audible gasp "That's it!"
"What is?" Maki asked.
"That's how I know you! You're that girl from the hospital! I used to get hurt a lot, and I saw you sometimes when I was in the general hospital, I tried saying hi, but you never seemed to hear me nya.."
Maki's eyes grew wide, as it began to come back to her. Now that she'd been made to think about it, she could remember a girl looking like Rin from the hospital from her younger days. It wasn't that Maki couldn't hear her, Rin was loud enough for the entire hospital floor to hear, but she more or less ignored her back then. Maki found it hard to believe that she's actually seeing her again.
"But hey!" Rin continued, "It doesn't really matter now nya! We'll be going to the same school, and be in the same class, isn't that cool? And-" Rin kept going, and Rin could talk for hours, and she was displaying a little bit of that here. Maki didn't mind however, she nodded periodically to let Rin know she heard, and Rin's friend, whom Maki quickly knew as Hanayo, rather than Kayochin was also content to also listen in. This was better than actually having a back and forth conversation in Maki's mind.
She was distant by choice, after all.
Authors Note: If you feel like you've read this before, then you probably have. I decided to re-write Maki's Rules, as you can see, it even has a new title. The reason for this is because while writing the original final chapter, I hit a hard stop because I really wasn't happy with how it was written, and I felt like a hard reset was necessary. The story at it's core won't change, but the goal here is to make it a more cohesive and easier to follow story.
