"Why don't you introduce yourself to the class?" my new teacher, Ms. Chie, suggests. I walk away from the classroom's doorway and stand in front of the class. I slightly blush, because everyone's staring at me. I'm a very shy person, which is why I blush a lot. At my old school, which was in Ibaraki, I earned the nickname, Blushy, because I'd blush all the time, whether it was because I was talking to someone or someone was talking to me. I usually blush a dark red when I'm standing in front of a lot of people, like I am now. Although, there isn't very many students in this class as there were in my class at my old school.
I look down at the floor and smile weakly. "I-I'm Catina Aya. I-I moved here from Ibaraki about a week ago, and... I'm hoping I'll make some new friends." I look up and see that almost everyone is giving me friendly smiles, making me feel a little warm inside. The teacher comes and stands next to me. "You can sit next to Maebara-san if you'd like," she says, pointing to the seat that's next to a brown-haired boy. He seems to be a lot older than me, probably about 15 or 16 years old. I'm only 10. I wish Ms. Chie had let me sit next to someone my own age, but she's the teacher, and I can't tell her what to do. So, instead of complaining, I walk over to where the boy is and sit down next to him. He turns his head and looks at me. At first, I think he's going to make fun of me for being younger than him, but, instead, he holds out his hand and, happily, says, "Hiya, I'm Keiichi Maebara! It's nice to meet you."
I slowly shake hands with him. His hand, which is very warm, almost covers my whole hand, since I have really small hands for someone my age. To tell the truth, all of me is small for my age. I could most likely pretend I was an 8 year old without having people think differently.
The girl behind me, who has shoulder-length orange hair, suddenly yells out, "Awww! Aya-chan is SO cute! I'm going to take her home!"
Then, in the blink of an eye, I'm being smothered my the girl, who's hugging me as tight as she can.
I heard the Keiichi guy chuckle a little. "Oh, Rena-chan, you know you can't take home the née student, especially not on her first day at school."
The girl next to the girl named Rena smirked. "Ahahaha! Keiichi's right, which, by the way, is new." The first thing I noticed about her was her light green hair, which was pulled back into a high ponytail. Another noticeable thing about her was her large chest. I hope I don't have a chest that big when I grow up. I actually wouldn't mind if I was flat-chested, like I am right now, when I'm a teenager.
"Aya-chan, isn't it?" someone asks. I turn my attention to a small girl with short blond hair and a black headband.
I blush and nod my head. "Y-Yeah," I reply nervously. I'm not used to so many different people talking to me. At my old school, people didn't talk to me that often. There were only a couple people that'd actually have conversations with me and would sit with me during lunchtime.
The young girl smiled, revealing a small fang tooth. "I'm Hojo Satoko," she says. She points to a girl with long blue hair that's standing a little bit behind her. "That's my best friend, Furude Rika. She's the village's shrine maiden."
I look at the blue-haired girl, my eyes wide. I can't believe the shrine maiden for this village is so young. I can tell she and her friend are about my age, but she still seems kind of young to be a miko. I'm guessing she's the one who's in charge of the shrine me and my family had passed on our way to put new house. I find it hard to believe that she cleaned that whole thing by herself, but I can tell that she's truly the miko of the village. It'd be kind of dumb to lie about something like that.
Out of nowhere, a girl that looked exactly like the green-haired girl that's sitting behind Keiichi, despite her having her hair down and wearing a much different outfit, came up to me. I'm surprised I didn't notice that there were two green-haired girls in this class while I was standing in front of everyone. Then again, I did spend most of my time up there looking down at the ground, so I guess I shouldn't be so shocked.
"Hey, new girl!" she exclaims, smiling. "I see you have met the group already!"
I wonder what she means by "the group". Are all of these people friends or something? I mean, it wouldn't be a surprise if they sometimes hung out with each other, since there's not many people in their grade, or in the class in general. But are they all best friends?
"Well, in case you didn't know, I'm Sonozaki Shion and this is my twin sister, Sonozaki Mion," says the girl with the loose green hair. Wow, they're the first pair of twins I've ever met.
They both have green hair, a friendly grin, large chests, and eyes that tells others that they're sometimes, maybe even a lot of times, mischievous.
"Hey, do you want to join our club?" Mion asks.
"What club?"
So then I'm informed about this special club that everyone I have met goes to after school is over. You get to play lots of different games. Although, if you lose, the winner chooses a punishment for you. Keiichi says that, usually, punishments consist of wearing funny and weird outfits around town. I notice that he says that in a grim way, which must mean that he's usually the one who's forced to dress up. The dress up items include cat ears, bunny ears, weird hats, bikinis, costumes, school swimsuits, and, Mion's personal favorite, maid outfits, along with a bunch of other things. I imagine Keiichi in a maid outfit and slightly giggle at the image. I find it funny that he sometimes has to wear girl clothes, although I feel bad for him, too, because he has to wear those things around town, where there are other people who'll see him.
When Mion and Keiichi are done explaining to me about the club, I quickly agree that I'll stay after school for it. After that, Ms. Chie announces that it's lunchtime. Mion invites me to sit with her and the others. I scoot my desk over to the others. Then I get out my bento box, which is full of a bunch of different delicious foods that my mom had made. She's very good at cooking. My dad cooks, too, but his meals aren't as good as my mom's. To tell the truth, this one time, he had actually agreed that my mom's cooking is better than his.
"Wow, that looks tasty!" Rena, who's sitting next to me, exclaims, eyeing the food that's in my bento box.
"T-Thank you," I reply. I really wish I wasn't so shy. I hate it when I stutter. It makes me feel weak and pathetic.
Satoko, who's sitting right across from me, and Rika, who's sitting beside her, both look at my food with curiosity. I see that Mion, who's sitting on the other side of me, and Shion, who's sitting across from her, are also looking at my food. Keiichi, who's sitting at the end, with his desk turned a different way so that he can see all of us, gives a small laugh.
"Wow, it actually looks tastier than the food Rena-chan brings for lunch," he says. Then he looks at Rena and says, "No offense or anything."
I look at Rena's food and see that it, too, looks very tasty. It's organized really well, and it's also very colorful.
"Did you make all if this yourself?" I ask, pointing to her food with my chopsticks.
She nods cheerfully. "Yeah!"
"She and Satoko-chan are the best cooks in this group," Rika chimes in. Satoko's face turns a little red from the complement.
Shion pats Satoko's head and grins. "Alright, Satoko, do you know what time it is?" she asks.
Satoko raises an eyebrow in confusion and shakes her head.
Shion puts a small container of orange stuff intoning table and removes the lid. "It's pumpkin time!" she says gleefully.
Satoko groans while Rika pats her on the back, saying, "There, there."
Mion laughs while Shion feeds the pumpkin to Satoko, who obviously hates pumpkin. Rena swoons over the table at Satoko with a big smile on her face.
"Awww! Satoko-chan looks so cute right now! I'm going to take her home!"
Before she gets the chance to even touch Satoko, her wrist is grabbed by Rika, who pulls her back, trying to calm her down. I'm told that, whenever Rena goes into what Mion and the others call her "cute mode", which is activated when she sees something cute, she'll go all crazy and try to take the item home.
During the rest of lunch, Mion talked about a lot of the past club activities. I had noticed that Keiichi was the one who lost most of them, which confirms my earlier thought about him having to wear lots of punishment game outfits around town.
After lunch, we move our desks back to the way they were before. Then we return to our studies. While I'm working on the math worksheet that Ms. Chie had assigned for the "middle-age" group, I, out of nowhere, got the feeling that someone was watching me. I look over at Satoko and Rika, and see that Rika's staring at me with intense eyes. When she sees that I'm looking back at her, she lowers her head and continues working.
After school, while most of the students are leaving, I walk up to Rika, who's talking with Satoko. Satoko sees me and nods her head in my direction, causing Rika to turn around and greet me with a smile. "Hello, Aya-chan!" she says.
At first, when the group started calling me by my first name, I was surprised, because, usually, you only call friends or relatives by their first names, and today's the first day I've ever met them. But now I'm not surprised anymore, because I have gotten used to it.
"Um... I was wondering... about why you were staring at me during class..." I say. I may be used to them calling me by my first name, but I'm still not used to talking and be friends with so many people.
Rika giggles. "Oh, sorry about that. I was just seeing how you were doing. After all, it is your first day here. I want to make sure you felt comfortable around everyone."
Wow, I can't believe it. Someone actually cares about how I feel. Yes, my parents care about me (sometimes, too much), but no one, besides the people I talked with in the classroom or at lunch, at school cared much about me. I was an outsider, like the other guys I had hung out with, which is why I didn't fit into a lot of the groups that were there at school, such as the geeks or the popular guys, along with many more.
I guess I really am friends with these guys...
"T-Thank you for that," I reply.
Rika nods before walking over to the group of desks with Satoko. Over there, Mion was getting the game that we were going to play today ready. Apparently, today, we're going to play something easy: Go Fish. I have played that game since I was about 5 years old. It used to be a very fun game, until I had started getting bored with it. I'm hoping that, because we're playing it during an after school club that involved punishment games, it won't be as boring as it usually is when I play it with other people.
We all sat at the group of desks that were across from each other, except for one that was at the end and was turned towards the other desks. We all sat where we had sat during lunchtime, with Keiichi sitting at the end desk.
Mion dealt the all of the cards, each of us getting 7. I look at my deck whenever she finishes. I have a 1, a 2, a 5, another 5, an 8, a Jack, and a King. I put down the two 5s, while Mion puts down two 8s and two Kings. No one else seems to have any matches, so Mion goes ahead and asks Rena if she has any 10s, to which Rena says yes. Keiichi asks me if I have any 8s. I hand him my 8 card. Shion asks Mion if she has any 3s. Mion shakes her head no. Satoko asks Rika if she has any 1s. Apparently, Rika does, because she hands Satoko a card. Rika asks Keiichi if he has any Queens, and then Keiichi grumbles to himself before handing her a card. Rena asks me if I have any 1s. I give her the card. I ask Mion if she has any Jacks. I know she does, because I had accidentally seen her cards a little earlier, although the only card she has that I also have is the Jack. She hands me over the Jack, and then I put the pair down onto the pile of matching cards.
After a while, Mion ends up losing all of her cards first, Rena second, Satoko third, Shion fourth, and Rika fifth. Right now, Keiichi and I are tied. I still have the 2 I had gotten at the beginning of the game, along with a four. Keiichi has a 7 and a 9. Everyone who has already matched all if their cards looks at us, watching to see who'll win and who'll lose. I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose, because I think Keiichi has had more practice at this game than I have. I know this game is mostly based on chance, but I remember hearing someone say that the group members had recognized all the cards by their bends and tears, unlike me. That memorization of the cards gives them an advantage at winning, which is most likely why I'll lose. Keiichi has been here for over a year, which means that he has had a lot of time to memorize the cards. This is my first day, so, of course, I'm not going to know which card is which.
I pick up the top card from the deck after getting a "go fish" from asking about a 4. The top card was a 2. I put down my new pair. I notice that Keiichi looks very uneasy. I bet he thinks he's going to lose.
He asks me if I have a 7 and I say no. He draws the top card from the deck. He sighs when he sees it. I'm guessing that he's frustrated that he didn't get a pair.
"Do you have any 4s?" I ask.
Keiichi shakes his head. I pick up the top card. It's a 10.
"Do you have any 10s?" he asks.
I nod and hand him the card. He cracks a small grin before frowning again. He must be mad about how I still have less cards than him.
"Do you have any 4s?"
He shakes his head. "Go fish."
I pick up the top card. When I saw what it was, I freeze. It was a 4. I had won the game. Mion looks over my shoulder at the card.
"Looks like we have a winner!" she exclaims happily. She drapes her arm around my shoulder and squeezes me a little. "Who knew you were so good at games?"
Not me, I'd like to say, but, instead, I keep my mouth shut.
Mion forced Keiichi to wear a girl's school swimsuit, a pink feathery boa, knee-high, high heel black boots, and a fake, golden crown. He angrily crossed his arms over his chest as we_ Rena, Mion, Shion, Keiichi, and I_ walked through town. I was able to keep myself from laughing at Keiichi. It truly was kind of pitiful, but, even so, it was still very funny.
After Keiichi and I had dropped off Mion, Shion, and, a little later on, Rena, we arrive at Keiichi's house. I can smell something coming from his house. It smells like a freshly-made home-cooked meal. The smell wafers in the air, lacing itself all around me, up and down my arms and legs.
"Well, I'll see you later!" Keiichi calls out to me as he heads inside. I wave good-bye to him before heading home. As I'm walking down pebble path that leads to the front door, I keep getting this feeling that someone's walking behind me.