Soichi Chapter 1

The cherry blossoms are in full bloom as April begins. The cool, gentle breeze wraps around me as I approach the Mukaigaoka College of Art.

"I'm going it study hard and learn how to follow my dream of becoming a designer!" I promised to myself silently, "I should make some new contacts too."

OOF!

As soon as I started walking towards the entrance hall after admiring the cherry blossom trees, someone bumps into me from behind.

"OMG! I am so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going… I guess I'm just excited about the opening ceremony that I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"Don't worry, it was my fault too. I was blocking the gates. Sorry!" I apologized quickly.

"Are you a new student here? My name is Nazuna Kudo."

"Yep, I was just on my way to the ceremony too. I guess I just got distracted by the beautiful trees and forgot that I was walking. I'm Amber Rose by the way."

"Well, Amber Rose, do you want to walk in together? You can just call me Nazuna."

"Sure! And call me Amber."

"Okay!" we both giggled.

We walked all the way to the entrance hall talking about how we were both were in the Design Department and what we planned on doing after college and where we were going to live. Nazuna is living with her parents off campus while I am going to share a house with someone.

Suddenly, we were interrupted mid-conversation when a gust of wind blew one of the designs I was holding down the path and landed by the feet of a passerby. He notices, bends down to pick it up, and hands it to me.

"Is this yours? It's beautiful!" said the man with a huge smile of fascination on his face.

"Oh, yeah. The wind caught it and- wait, did you just say it was beautiful?" I asked with surprise.

"Yes. It really is. Was this your entry assignment? Are you entering the School of Arts?"

"Yes it is. Wait, are you in that part of the school too?" I questioned.

"Yeah! I'm in the Sculpting Department but for the ceremony we are all combined. I'm Shokichi Kuramato. What's your name?"

"I'm Amber Rose." I reply

"Amber, huh? Nice to meet you!"

"Oh, um… yeah. Nice to meet you too." I smile nervously.

"Um… Amber? Are you okay? We are going to be late for the ceremony if we don't hurry."

"What? Oh, yeah. The ceremony. I'm fine." I realized I was staring at Shokichi while lost in thought. I smile nervously at Shokichi.

As we start walking to the ceremony and Nazuna introduces herself to Shokichi and they hit it off pretty well. Nazuna thinks Shokichi looked more like a 'Sho' and he said we could call him by that if we wanted to.

"It's okay Amber. You can call me Sho. I don't mind." He says meaningfully.

"O-okay. Well, we better hurry or we will miss the ceremony."

To Be Continued….