It was my first day at my new junior high, eighth grade, Class B, even though I was supposed to be in ninth grade. I failed last year due to ... certain circumstances. Circumstances that resulted in me having to switch schools and wear fake ears and a fake tail. No, I wasn't raped. I lost my ears and tail willingly –well, it wasn't exactly willingly- at the age of 13.
Last year
"Come on Kaoru, you promised me you'd do anything for me," Masaru practically begged.
I resister, pulled away from him, and choked back tears. "Do I really have to? I-I don't want to."
Masaru smirked and then sighed. "No, I guess you don't have to, but I might lose interest in you if you don't. And you wouldn't want that to happen, would you?"
"N-No." I felt the tears form in my eyes again. I really did love Masaru but I knew there was no way he loved me the same way, not with the way he acted. "Aren't you worried about what people will say if you lose your ears and tail?"
"What ears and tail?" he asked slyly before removing his fake ears and fake tail.
I couldn't believe my eyes, the Masaru I fell in love with that said I was the only girl he had ever loved, had fallen in love with someone else before me, and then lied about it.
Before I even had time to answer, he added, "Better do as I say, Kaoru, unless you want someone else to lose their ears and tails because of me."
A single word escaped my lips, "Okay." I really did love Masaru, and that was why I obeyed.
Through the pain, I heard a voice in my head that kept repeating the phrase "I promise," and it made me feel even worse, even though I had no idea what it meant or why it was in my head.
Present Day
Light aqua blue ears were clipped into my hair and a matching tail was attached to my skirt, all because of that day, because of Masaru.
My sister woke me up earlier that morning so I would have time to prepare for my first day in my new school. My parents disowned me the day I lost my ears and tail, so my older sister Yura moved out too and found us an apartment together. She lost her ears and tail when she was around the same age I was, she was just better at hiding it from our parents.
"Hey Kaoru, are you ready yet? I heard there are a lot of cute boys in Class B," Yura called after knocking on the bathroom door.
I re-secured my ears and tail, smoothed down my blue plaid skirt, and opened the bathroom door. I was standing face-to-face with my nineteen year old sister; she really was pretty. Long lilac hair, ocean blue eyes, it was no wonder why she always had a boyfriend.
She patted me on the head and giggled. "Well doesn't my baby sister look cute?"
"Do my ears really look okay?" I asked.
Yura smiled and playfully punched me in the arm. "Relax Kaoru, you look fine. Now come on before I decide to make you walk."
I nodded and followed Yura to her car where my books were already sitting on the front passenger seat. I climbed into the car and sighed. A new school meant new classmates, possibly new friends, and more than likely, more enemies; but as long as I was nowhere near Masaru or his new girlfriend he left me for, then everything would be okay.
As my sister pulled her car in front of the school, I saw the hordes of junior high students, all equipped with real ears and tails. I took a deep breath and swallowed hard before getting out of my sister's car and heading up to the school.
Nobody even paid any attention to me until I stepped into my classroom.
I heard collective whispers of "Whoa, who's the new girl?" and "Her ears are so cute!" the moment I stepped inside. The teacher stopped writing on the blackboard and turned around to introduce me to the class.
"Everyone, this is Kaoru Kanahime, she just transferred from Ishikawa. Please make her feel welcome," the teacher said to the class before saying to me, "Please take the seat beside Hawatari."
I paused and glanced around the room aimlessly. How was I supposed to know who Hawatari was?
"Kaoru! Over here!" a girl with light pink hair called and waved me over. She was really tall; there was no way she was supposed to only be in the eighth grade.
When I sat down beside the girl, she said cheerfully, "I'm Yuiko Hawatari but you can call me Yuiko! This is my best friend, his name is Ritsuka Aoyagi. Would you like to come over to my house after school? It'll be me, Ritsuka, and that boy over there named Yayoi."
I nodded, speechless, about the fact that someone was already being nice to me, despite the fact that she barely knew me. The boy beside her named Ritsuka didn't speak to me at all; he barely even looked at me.
The first half of the day went by rather quickly with Yuiko talking my ear off beside me and my constant glance exchanges with Ritsuka. At lunch, I sat with the three of them. The hyper and cheerful Yuiko; the shy and socially awkward Yayoi, who was obviously in love with Yuiko; and the mysterious Ritsuka all sat together every day at a table to themselves. I could barely take my eyes off of Ritsuka, not only was he cute, but I could have sworn I'd seen him somewhere before.
Lunch was concluded with an uncomfortable silence that seemed to distance us from one another even farther. When the lunch bell rang, I sighed and stood up, empty-handed. I was the only one without a lunch; our school didn't serve vegetarian lunch options, and my parents were far too poor to throw together a cheese sandwich, so I simply went without eating lunch. Yuiko and Yayoi both offered to share their lunches with me, but I declined their offers politely. I wasn't very fond of eating in front of other people; confidence was not a strong characteristic of mine.
As I turned to walk follow Yuiko back to class, someone grabbed my arm to stop me. My first instinct was to shake them off of me, but when I turned around, I was face-to-face with the person I would have last expected to even acknowledge my existence: Ritsuka.
"R-Ritsuka ... what's wrong?" I was pulling words out of the sky because my mind and my mouth weren't cooperating at that point.
He stared into my eyes and one of his black cat ears twitched. I could barely hold back a smile at how cute he was. "What is it?"
"Did your name used to be Maki-chan?" he asked.
After a moment of thought, I nodded slowly. "My middle name is Maki. But ... how do you know that?"
The boy who had acted as though my existence was less significant than that of a rock, shook his head and turned around to follow Yuiko and Yayoi, leaving me standing there completely confused.