June 17, Tuesday
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The rainy season had come upon the city of Tokyo, and because of this, one high school student was very pissed.
Mai Taniyama had been determined to walk to school everyday so that she could save a tiny amount of money in return for trudging to school for half an hour, twice a day, five or six days a week. It had been hard since her mother had passed away just three years after her father, and although her parents left her a small fortune, that was it. It was just a small fortune. She was afraid that if she didn't spend it sparingly, her small fortune would not last her until her eighteenth birthday. It was important that it should last her until then because no one wanted to hire her, an underaged orphan.
Something good came out of this situation anyway; she was given the chance - forced, really - to focus on her studies. All her efforts were at this point of her life, and it paid off. She was the at the top of her class. Second, to be precise. On the next quarterly exam, she was going to snatch that top place. She was going to snatch that full scholarship to the country's number one university.
Mai glanced out the bus window, and there it was, the most prestigious university in all of Japan. She stared longingly, taking in the sight as long as she could. Her determination grew tenfold, urging her to scribble notes more furiously even as she was getting dizzy inside the moving vehicle.
With geometric theories and postulates swirling about in her head, she did not notice the bus stopping once out of the three stops she was required to live through. Another person sat beside her as she was on autopilot-mode so it was natural that she would ignore her neighbor, but the neighbor refused to be ignored.
"That one, right there," a voice said, accompanied by a finger pointing to the third line on her notebook. "That should be SAA instead of ASA."
Mai swept her gaze to where the finger pointed and held herself back from repeatedly bashing her head into the seat in front of her. Frustration heated her cheeks with a fierce blush as she said, "Ah, thanks."
"No problem."
Embarassment kept her head down for the rest of the trip as she beat herself up for her glaring mistake. The bus stopped for the third time and the operator called twice. It wasn't until then that she saw the face of the person sitting beside her.
It was a pale face framed with dark cropped hair, composed of shadowed blue eyes, a pointed nose, and chapped lips. Mai was surprised that he seemed to be about her age because when he spoke to her, his tone carried the restless exhaustion of a man who had lived his entire life in utter regret.
"Excuse me," she murmured, pointing a look at his gangly legs. He shifted without a word, not looking away from the map he was reading. As such, she squirmed between him and a seat's backrest, trying not to jostle anything.
Passively holding a frayed umbrella above her to ward off the sky's tears, Mai walked away and started towards her destination, not thinking of equations and historical dates.
I wish rain would visit again tomorrow.
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A/N: I'm gonna keep the chapters short and sweet :) Comments and suggestions are welcome! A hundred thanks for reading :D