Chapter One: A fresh start, it's not as bad as you think
Through another's eyes it might seem she walked ahead bravely, not at all hesitant about her first day as the new transfer student. Rather contrary to that, Hinamori Amu's heart beat rapidly and she was on the verge of hyperventilation.
"Go, Go, Amu-chan!" cheered a small, fairy-sized girl while waving around two pink pom-poms.
"This is a fresh start Amu-chan, I get the feeling you will be able to become your true-self, desu!" reassured another tiny girl, this time with a cute, green dress, similar to a maid's outfit.
"C'mon Amu-chan!" called out a blue-haired girl.
"Be quiet! Ran! Suu! Miki! You're distracting me! And it probably looks like I'm talking to myself too!" huffed Amu as she hurried along the foreign corridors to her new classroom.
She gulped.
In a few minutes she would have to face a whole class of new people, what should she do?! How was she meant to act?!
She reached the door. Amu checked the sign above it, this was the right room. Amu's hand shook as she placed it on the door handle.
"This is it" she thought.
"Now, please let me introduce you to the new transfer student" she heard the homeroom teacher announce on the other side.
She could hear everyone shuffle in the seats with anticipation, all incredibly curious about the new person about to join their class.
"Well, here goes nothing"
She slid open the door and walked calmly into the room. At least she hoped it looked like she was calm. She stood at the front of the class, and started to freak out as she felt the pressure of many eyes staring holes in her.
The teacher had written her name in kanji on the board behind her.
"Why don't you say hello, Hinamori-san" her sensei requested politely.
"You can do it, Amu-chan!" her three shugo charas said to themselves.
She stared blankly at the many faces in front of her.
"Uh, so hey, what's up?" was the first thing that came out of Amu's mouth.
"Uwaaah! How cool!" the class exclaimed with sparkly-eyes.
"She looks so fashionable! Look at how she wears her clothes! Definitely cool and spicy!"
She guessed they took her impassive face for that of a confident, casual person, but underneath emotion were flying around like tornado. She was incredibly nervous, shy, worried and frightened of what everyone would think of her.
But once again they had only seen her outside character, and thought her to be the 'cool and spicy', Hinamori Amu.
Amu took her seat slightly dejectedly, not letting much of it show on the outside. Once again, she was unable to act as her true-self, and had to hide behind a pretend model of someone who she never was, and never could be.
--
Amu dropped her bag down and slid down the wall she was leaning on. She looked at the dismally at the ground. This was not how she wanted her first day of her new school to be like. It was meant to be a fresh start.
She sighed.
"Awww don't be sad Amu-chan! You will get plenty of other chances to be yourself!" Ran attempted to comfort her.
She leaned back against the cold, brick wall and closed her eyes.
She sighed again.
But rather unceremoniously her moping was ended by a large hoard of girls shrieking and bustling around something a short distance away.
"What's going on over there?" She asked her charas.
They all shrugged and Amu pushed herself up and went to join the crowd.
The throng of girls was thick, and Amu was stuck around the back, not able to see a thing. She was about to give up and walk away when a voice called her name.
"Oh! It's you, Amu-san"
Amu jumped slightly and turned around quickly, nervous to know who had called out to her. She recognised the unknown caller as another girl in her class. Amu couldn't for the life of her remember the girl's name though.
"Hey... what's going on here?" she demanded. She inwardly kicked herself for becoming her 'outside character' again.
"Oh, you wouldn't know because you just transferred here, would you? All the girls are crowding around the cutest guy in school, Hotori Tadase! He's in the king's chair of the Guardians!" she informed Amu before pushing a few girls out of the way to try and clear a path for herself and Amu.
"Guardians…?" Amu muttered confusedly.
"The Guardians," Amu's classmate explained, "are a group of the most talented students in the school! Their job is to make it a better place for all students! They organise events and drink tea in the royal garden. Everyone looks up to them"
"Ah right"
Amu tried to sound like this was nothing new, but the Guardians intrigued her. What were they like? They certainly sounded like amazing people, to get this much of a reaction from everyone.
They continued to make their way through the crowd and just above the noise of it all Amu could hear her charas crying out when they were squashed between people or were accidently whacked by someone's arm. These were the perils of being small and non-existent to most humans.
"There's too many people, desu!" complained Suu while protecting her head with her arms.
A few moments later the two girls and three charas had finally pushed their way through to the front, and Amu saw really why all the girls were so excited.
He had got to be the cutest guy she had ever laid eyes on! She felt a light blush come upon her cheeks by just looking at him!
"So that's Hotori Tadase… the King's chair…"
King's chair suited him well. He most definitely looked like a prince!
Ran, Miki and Suu were also staring at him in awe.
Tadase smiled at their general direction and practically all the girls in their area swooned, almost including Amu herself.
After a few minutes most the girls had stared at Tadase enough, and the crowds dwindled.
Amu and her name-still-unknown classmate began to walk away as well.
"What did you think of him, Amu-san?"
"A-ah, he was nothing special." She crossed her arms and turned her head in the opposite direction.
"Definitely 'cool and spicy' Hinamori Amu!"
--
Amu collapsed onto her bed, and groaned into her mattress.
"I didn't act my character at all!"
"Don't worry Amu-chan, this was only the first day, don't be so hard on yourself" Miki reassured her.
"But first impressions are the ones that last!" Amu argued back.
"Amu-chan is being stubborn again…"
"Am NOT!"
Her charas merely rolled their eyes.
Amu turned over in her bed.
"Well, it wasn't really THAT bad when you think about… at least I didn't do anything embarrassing. Or character-change at the wrong moment…"
Amu yawned, and lent over her bed to switch off the light. Ran, Miki and Suu went to go sleep inside their eggs.
"A fresh start… I guess it's not as bad as I though it would be…"