Chapter 2: Welcome to Shiratorizawa

Hiroko debated against her parents over which junior high school she was going to go to throughout the winter and up until graduation. They had her answer the entrance exam, and she didn't prepare for it at all, although she did answer the best that she can, feeling guilty about how much her dad spent to send her on it. The chances of her getting in were close to none anyway, considering that competition was high and only a few percentage of applicants actually to get admitted after the selection process. Basically a review of her performances in elementary, co- and extra-curricular activities, and her grade on the entrance exam.

It was during graduation that her father congratulated and included jovially that she had miraculously passed the entrance exams. She began throwing a tantrum, but he told her that he had already invested into her education in Shiratorizawa, and that she would be attending there whether she liked it or not. Hiroko bitterly thought that she shouldn't have even tried, cursing her conscience.

So that was probably how she found herself walking the grounds of the large school campus on the last day of the school week. She was so upset about what she felt was her parents' betrayal, that she hadn't attended the first half of the week, even for the entrance ceremony. Which was probably why she was left wandering, her head turning left and right, her eyes flitting around even faster, trying to somehow absorb everything and help her find her way through the new environment.

First was the wide grounds that served both as walkways (for students, faculties and visitors), and as roads (she had this inkling of a suspicion that the school didn't seem hire to transport services from companies, and that they owned their own buses).

It seemed more like a university campus really. The buildings were so contemporary, they seemed more like a private hospital or a mall rather than that of education purposes. She walked under the skywalk, looking upward with her mouth agape.

'They had a frigging skywalk!'

There were a lot of students milling around, over a thousand maybe, or even two thousand. Even so, it was cramped or anything. The crowd was indeed busy. Yet it was still so spacious that students didn't have to push or brush against each other as they walked past.

A thought flickered through her head and as soon as it did she regretted it. 'I bet Kitagawa Daiichi doesn't even amount to half of this.' She mentally scolded her brain, which might have seemed pointless but still did the job anyway.

She walked around a bit more exploring the place, she came across a couple more buildings, a few parked buses which confirmed her earlier suspicion, a football field, even a horse-riding field which had her taken aback for a fraction of a minute, and some sort of garden surrounded by topiaries and a semi-large greenhouse in the centre. The garden was pretty impressive and magnificently balanced both Western and Japanese styles, with a rock garden that slowly transition into a field of grass, trimmed hedges, trees, and flowers.

It wasn't until a bell rang in the near distance that Hiroko actually took the time to look at the time. After a quick glance at her watch, she realised that she only had 10 minutes to get to class before the teacher came in and classes officially started.

This wouldn't usually be much of a problem. Except that her school campus was now 15 times larger than her elementary, and she still had no idea which building her class was in. She recalled seeing signs somewhere near the entrance of the school, so she tried to retrace her steps, following the few students walking towards a general direction.

They began to split off and go on their own ways a few turns later, so she quickly tried to catch up to one who looked around her age. A skinny boy only albeit shorter than her.

"Excuse me. Do you know where the junior high classrooms are?"

The boy seemed to be caught by surprise for a moment, before he straightened his composure and smiled brightly, a little too brightly, at her. "Sorry, I'm senior high, so I can't really guide you there. Opposite direction, you know. Nakamura-san might be able to help you though," hand-pointing to a girl walking just behind them who looked up at her name being called.

"Yes, senpai?"

"Nakamura, she's a first year or a tranferee I think. Doesn't know the way to the building."

"O-oh, of course," the taller girl stammered, her cheeks dusted a vividly bright red which Hiroko was pretty sure the guy was aware of. "You don't have to bother yourself with it anymore, senpai. I'll walk with her." The girl's eyes darted to Hiroko, "Come with me," her voice shifted to a more controlled tone. The two girls curtsied to their senior before going on their way.

They had to jog a little bit, but reached the building anyway with 5 minutes to spare. As soon as they entered the three-storey building, a loud wave of noise that echoed through the hallways, invaded their ears. It seemed more like they were in an amusement park rather than a school building. Someone screamed and laughed loudly from an above floor.

"Probably the first years," Nakamura muttered. "The teachers don't seem to be around," she said glancing at some third-years probably that were flitting in and out of the classrooms. "They might be at a faculty meeting so I probably have time to take you to your class."

"Thank you very much," Hiroko said bowing her head.

"So what's your name?" Nakamura asked as they walked up a flight of stairs. Whether out of curiosity or politeness, Hiroko didn't care to know, until Nakamura continued, "I need to know who to use as an excuse if my teacher gets to class before I do." She smiled.

Hiroko must've looked horrified because Nakamura instantly fretted and laughed over her, "Kidding, just kidding. You won't get into any trouble, of course."

"It's... Takenaka Hiroko. 1st year, class 8."

"That's nice. Lucky number. My brother's a first year too. I'm in my last year of junior high."

"I see. Are you close with the senpai from this morning?" Hiroko wondered.

She didn't miss how Nakamura blushed at the mention of him. "A-ah. We're both in the broadcasting club. He's the club president of the seniors and I'm the president of the juniors." She blushed even deeper, "W-we work t-t-together whenever we need to collaborate."

Hiroko smiled slightly at the older girls expense. She was about to ask some more until they stopped. "This is the top floor. 1st years classrooms are here, second-years are right below and third years are at the ground floor," Nakamura explained rapidly. "I'll see you when I do. Good luck!"

With her third-year companion suddenly gone, Hiroko had to again focus more on her surroundings. The loud chatter and screaming was louder than ever, signalling that the majority of the noise really did come from the first years. She took off to the right and realised that she started off the wrong end, right away. The classrooms started to count down from class 15, then 14, and so on.

She decided to continue all the way around, even though the hallways were very crowded. She got quick glances at the classrooms as she passed by, and they seemed to have more students outside than inside of it.

It was only when she arrived back at the staircase she came from did she notice that she passed her own class. She only had a few classes to backtrack till she found her way into her classroom, which was fuller than the others. Probably because a lot of the students were already seated or standing next to their already newfound circle of friends.

Only a few eyes followed her silently as she entered. One of them from the front seat next to the window, even picked up their own bag and went to sit at the opposite corner of the classroom, where he began to talk excitedly with his peers. It was only when she dropped her bag that a few 'welcome's was shouted over the noise of the rest.

Hiroko did sit at the front seat of the class closest to the window, ignoring the meaning behind her classmate's actions. She didn't dislike the spot. In fact it was her usual place back in elementary, knowing that the seating arrangement would hardly disrupt her attention during classes, but rather help increase surveillance of her surroundings. Not of the classroom, but outside.

She began to slump in her seat, perking up only when the student behind her tapped her back. "I'm Miho. Nice to meet you," her classmate said dipping her head a bit before meeting her gaze once more. "So, first week's nearly over. Late enrollement? Or long vacation? If you don't mind me asking."

Yamazaki had a face that looked too young for her age, yet it suited her perfectly and made her look more innocuous as well. She had a round face, short dark hair that barely grazed the base of her neck, and soft brown eyes.

She noticed the name tag on Yamazaki's bag and discovered that her given name Miho was written as the words beauty and sail in kanji.

"It's alright," Hiroko said giving her a smile. "I'm Takenaka Hiroko. Hiroko's good enough. Well..." Hiroko paused to think then continued slowly, filtering what she would say next. "It's more of the latter really. I didn't want to go to school just yet."

Surprisingly, Miho didn't even bother to read between the lines. "You're the lazy type too, huh? I mean like come on, who isn't?"

Before Yamazaki was able to say anything, the students in the hallways flooded the room and the teacher followed behind them barely a few seconds later. The chairs and tables scraped slightly against the floor as the students rose from their seats or returned to their places. They teacher introduced himself and greeted them, the students chanting a pleasant 'Good morning' in unison.


It wasn't until she was walking back home from the school bus stop for the area that Hiroko snapped out of her dreamlike state. Dread instantly washed over her and she couldn't for the life of her decide whether she should start walking faster or slower as soon as she entered the residential area. She tried to become as vigilant as possible, keeping to the side of the street so that she could duck from view as quickly as she can.

Kitagawa Daiichi had started with school the same day as Shiratorizawa just like most of the schools in the country. And Hiroko hadn't told Iwaizumi and Oikawa yet. About not getting to go to Kitagawa Daiichi. In fact, she's been avoiding them over the spring break and that in itself was no easy feat considering the fact that Iwaizumi lived right next door.

Also, her parents weren't very cooperative with her. The past week, she had just had her brother tell Iwaizumi that she was going to come in late because she was coming down with a really tough fever that didn't seem to break. Keeping the two out were easy, keeping them from overreacting though, was next to impossible.

At least once for the past four days, they had sent either a pot of okayu, bread and even messily made get-well cards.

The worst part at that moment was that she didn't know where Kitagawa Daiichi is from, therefore she didn't know what streets they'll be taking on the way home. So she got served a pang of embarrassment as she walked up the street. Bad luck loved her so much, that Iwaizumi and Oikawa were coming up too from the opposite street across the crossroads.

She wasn't just embarrassed because she didn't tell them, but because she had thoughts no matter how short-lived that were comparisons of Shiratorizawa and Kitagawa Daiichi. And she enjoyed the school. She liked Shiratorizawa and she got even found herself some friends (at least she hoped they would continue to be so).

And she although she promised that she would she'd transfer as soon as the year was over and that she'd never be happy during her stay there, well she did so anyway. Before going there, she had had thoughts of how she would sit, huddled up in a dark corner of the classroom, not join any clubs, and be so horribly rude to her classmates till they'd hate her. But at the end of it all she's already done what she couldn't undo.

And the most shameful part of all? She didn't regret today at all.


~A/N~

So I've taken a bit of a turn and now Hiroko's in Shiratorizawa. Mwahahaha. Thanks for reading, and also for the follows and reviews (geneee and bla). I really appreciate it. Again please bug me if you feel like I haven't been updating for too long. My other story's been dead for nearly a month and I'm going to be getting back to it too.

Bla: Thanks for the love. I tried to update as soon as possible so if you're reading this, thank you for waiting.

A/N (Papillon Mystere): So, new characters. I'm sorry for all those who are already having trouble memorising all the other players names, but you'll get used to names of my OCs. Eventually. Also, Hiroko is now beginning to develop affectionate feelings for her boys and she's soo embarrassed by it.

Until next time, Papillon Mystre signing off.