April 7th, 2009

AN: Second day of Mayako's journey! This fic is a lot of fun to write. Mayako has a fascinating personality. I plan to make this a little darker than the source material. I have my own theories on the shadows and hope to explore that more. Enjoy!

I'm woken up by the bright light of the sun. I left my curtains open because I mostly sleep through alarm clocks and wake up better by sunlight. I stretch my muscles out. I'm a little stiff. It make take a while to get used to the new bed.

My school uniform is laid on my desk chair. It's crisp, just the way I like it. I do my morning routine. Just as I'm done tying my ribbon, I hear a knocking at my door.

"It's Yukari. Are you awake?" before I answer, she lets herself in. I don't have the heart to tell her off. "Good morning. Did you sleep okay? Mitsuru-senpai asked me to take you to school. Are you ready to go?"

I quickly give myself a final once over in the mirror and check my uniform for wrinkles. Satisfied, I reply, "Totally!"

Yukari smiles at my enthusiasm. "Okay. Then, let's go."

We walk to the station nearby and board the train. I hope that it's running on time today. I don't want to be late for my first day of school.

"We have to take the monorail to get there. Bet your last school wasn't like that, huh? This is my favorite part, when it feels like you're gliding over the sea. Our stop is Port Island Station at the end of the line. From there, we walk. Have you ever heard of Tatsumi Port Island? It's a man-made island. They built our school right in the middle. Oh, look, you can see it now!" Yukari seems to have opened up to me more. It's funny because yesterday she was pointing a gun at me. She continues to ramble on. I don't mind. I'm more of a listener than a talker anyways.

We arrive at the school. I'm impressed by how modern it looks; almost like it's a giant research facility rather than a school. It occurs to me that this area has some strange looking buildings.

"Mornin'!" A girl greets Yukari. She seems to be popular. I even see some guys look at her like a celebrity.

"Morning!" Yukari cheerfully answers the other girl. She turns back to me. "Well, here we are. Welcome to Gekkoukan High! You're gonna love it here!"

It's a stunning campus. The cherry blossom trees are in full bloom and the building makes me feel small. However, there is something off about it. I can't quite figure out what it is. I brush it off, maybe I'm just nervous.

Yukari takes me to the shoe lockers. I find mine on the end, which is good because that means I won't have to wait for people to move in order to get to my locker at the end of the day. "You're okay from here, right?" I nod. Yukari seems to be worried about me. "You should go see your homeroom teacher first. The faculty office is right there to the left. And that concludes the tour. Do you have any questions before I go?"

I have just one. I don't expect her to know the answer though. "Where's my classroom?"

Yukari shrugs. "I think they're posted on the bulletin board, but I haven't checked yet either. Hey. About last night, don't tell anyone what you saw, okay?" I nod. Yukari is satisfied with that answer. "See ya later."

I have a little time before I'm supposed to meet my teacher so I decide to have a look around. As I'm putting my shoes away, I overhear a conversation.

"Hey, Kaz. Why are you wearing your P.E. uniform!? School just started! You really oughtta find somewhere to change into some normal clothes!" an angry yells at a guy in a tracksuit. I understand why she's yelling at him. I mean, who wears a tracksuit to school?

The guy in the tracksuit sighs in defeat. "Ehh, I guess. Okay, okay, fine. Quit glaring at me like that. Hey where's the bulletin board with the homerooms posted?"

"It's RIGHT THERE! You're in Class F, Kaz. I'm in a different homeroom, so I can't keep an eye on you." The girl sighs. "I worry about you sometimes."

I wonder if they're dating. They act like an old married couple.

I pass by a smart-looking girl. She sounds unhappy about the class assignment. "Aww. We're in different classes. Eh, whatever."

I want to take a look at the school store. A man is complaining to the vender. "Hmph. Kids these days don't know how to show respect for their elders. We're their teachers. We've lived longer than them. But Moriyama and her gang had to pull that on me at the very beginning of the term."

The vendor looks like she doesn't want to deal with this man. "I'm sorry, sir, but I have to go. It's time to place my order."

"Even YOU'RE shooing me away? Some way to start the school year. I don't think my nerves can take this." I really hope I don't have this drama queen for my teacher.

The vender realizes something. "Alright, I get it. You want me to order more of those cream-filled breads you like so much, right? You could have just asked."

It's almost time for me to meet up with my teacher so I check the class roster. I don't see my name at first. I look again and find my name on a post-it note with "Class F" written next to it. Couldn't they have just made another list? I see Yukari's name on the list as well. It looks like we'll be in the same class.

I head to the faculty office. In the hallway, I overhear a man in a samurai helmet converse animatedly with a boy with a foreign accent.

"Do you see? Every man must have the passionate samurai spirit within him! At our school, we encourage our students to think like samurai in order to accomplish great things!" the helmeted man lectures the student.

"That's fantastic! Ze teachings of bushido are important zen as zey are now!" the boy must be French, judging by his accent.

"Yes, yes, yes! You may not be a native of this land, but the spirit of the samurai flows through you just the same!" the helmeted man is proud of this student. They seem to be having fun.

A girl who looks even older than Mitsuru looks lost. She keeps studying the sign on a door. "Hm? Strange, it says this is the library here. But I was just in one down the hall. Was that just another classroom?"

It's about time to meet up with my teacher. I enter the faculty office and seem a professional looking woman there. She must be my teacher.

"Oh, are you the new student? Mayako Hirakawa. 11th grade, correct?" the teacher flips through a file. "Wow, you've lived in a lot of different places. Let's see, in 1999, that was what, ten years ago? Your parents," she gasps. "I'm sorry. I've been so busy, I didn't have time to read this beforehand. I'm Ms. Toriumi. I teach Compostition. Welcome to our school."

I'm sad for a second about my parents, but I let it go. It's no use being sad over something that happened a long time ago. "I'm pleased to meet you."

"My, aren't you polite? Girls like you should be an example for others. Have you seen the classroom assignments? You're in 2-F; that's my class. But first, we need to go to the auditorium. The Welcoming Ceremony will be starting soon. Follow me." Ms. Toriumi leads me to the auditorium.

It doesn't take long for me to want to get out of here. I'm pretty sure the principal is obsessed with his own voice.

"As you begin the new school year, I'd like each of you to remember the proverb, 'If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well.' When applied to student life, this means." The principal drones on and on.

Something else catches my attention. "I heard we got a transfer student." One of the boys in front of me whispers.

"Yep. I've seen her, too. She came to school with Yukari," another boy brags.

"I hear talking. I believe it's someone in Ms. Toriumi's class," the teacher that was whining to the vender earlier warns.

"Shhh! Be quiet! You're going to get me in trouble!" Ms. Toriumi whisper-shouts to the two boys in front of me. When she turns her back, the boys continue whispering about me.

The rest of the day isn't too bad. It's mostly going over the syllabus for all the classes the juniors are taking. It's a relief when school ends.

Just as I'm packing up my stuff, I hear someone call out to me. "'Sup, dude!?" I turn around and a boy in a baseball cap is standing behind me. He has a friendly smile on his face. "Haha, you look like a deer in headlights."

"Who are you?" I ask. He seems harmless. It wouldn't hurt to make another friend here.

"Me? I'm Junpei Iori. Nice to meet ya. I transferred here when I was in 8th grade. I know how tough it is bein' the new kid. So I thought I'd check up on you, make sure you weren't freaking out on your first day."

Yukari notices us and walks over. She sighs. "At it again huh? Honestly, is there any girl you wouldn't hit on? Did you ever think you might be bothering someone?"

"What? But, I was just bein' friendly." Junpei says defensively.

Yukari rolls her eyes. "If you say so. Anyway, some coincidence that we'd be in the same homeroom, huh?"

"I'm glad to have a friend," I say sincerely.

"A friends? Oh. You mean me. Yeah, I-I'm glad we ended up in the same class, too." Yukari is taken aback by that.

"Um, hello? Did you forget I'm in this class, too? C'mon, lemme in one the fun! By the way, do you guys know each other? I heard you two came to school together this morning. A couple of cuties like you, walking side by side. The whole class was buzzing about you." Junpei raises his eyebrows.

"Ugh. Could you just cut it out? I hate dealing with rumors like that. I mean, I'm used to it, but she just got here, you know? Don't you feel bad, spreading rumors like that? Well, I've gotta go take care of some archery team stuff. Don't try anything funny, you got that, Junpei?" Yukari warns before leaving.

"What is she, your nanny? Well, just to clear something up, I seriously didn't come over here to hit on you anything. If you ever have a problem, you can tell your ol' pal Junpei about it!" Junpei reassures me.

"I'll remember that." I smile warmly at him. Something tells me I can trust him.

"Heh, cool. Well, I'll be seeing you around, then." Junpei is happy that I had accepted his friendship.

Not long after I leave the room, Junpei catchers me at the shoe lockers and begs me to let him walk me back to the dorm. I couldn't say no. When we exit the school, a bunch of boys in tracksuits run by us.

"Woah, check out the jocks on the run. Hey, did anyone tell you about the school clubs yet? Girls can join too, so why not do it if you're interested? You'd be joining as a new member, though, so you won't be able to apply for a little while," Junpei explains. I might consider doing that. I'm pretty athletic.

Junpei and I continue talking until we reach my dorm. He says goodbye and I go inside.

I sign the book at the front desk. It's always a good idea to let people know where you are. I approach Mitsuru. "You really shouldn't be outside on your own at night. It's too dangerous. Anyway, you must be tired. You should get a good night's rest." I nod in agreement.

I see Yukari sitting at the table, eating her dinner. She calls over to me. "Oh, hi. What're you doing?"

"Just looking around." I answer. I don't want to make Yukari suspicious.

"Well, there's not much to see. You're probably tired, huh? Maybe you should go to bed early tonight."

I begin to think that might be a good idea. School wore me out today. I head upstairs to my room. I finish unpacking my stuff that was left here. I hear voices from downstairs. One of them sounds like a guy. I blush. I didn't think that this dorm was co-ed. I didn't say so on my pamphlet. I guess wandering around in my pajamas is a no-no now.

I do my nightly routine and go to bed.

AN: Please review!