The bus shook the students inside, trucking down a bumpy road that didn't phase most of them. Their conversations were too important, small games too important. Their laughter and words filled the air until it nearly collapsed on itself. Shogo Kawada (Male Student #5, class 3-C of Kobe Junior High School) knew it would consume him any second. The entire bus ride he sat beside his girlfriend, Keiko Onuki (Female Student #7). It was the spring of 1996 and things couldn't have gone better. However, there were better things than being crammed in a crappy school bus with 41 other kids. The idea of going on a study trip like this seemed sort of...odd to Shogo, but then again he wasn't exactly a model student.
Keiko sat so close that he smelled her shampoo, something that he assumed could only be vanilla. Her long, dark brown hair cascaded down the front of her shoulders, covering the collar of her uniform. Her delicate, small hands moved as she talked behind strawberry colored lips. She had her back turned to him, busy having a conversation with her best friend, Miu Ogata (Female Student #8), a cheery, preppy girl. Often, she toyed with the dyed hair that touched her shoulders. She was surprisingly pretty and looked like a westerner. It was rare she wasn't smiling or making Keiko smile. In a way, he almost felt jealous.
Shogo lifted his head to scan over the rest of his classmates. Several seats in front of him, two black-haired heads shook gently with the bus, their owners quietly, and closely talking to each other. The head with pigtails ducked against the seat. Though they were identical twins, Saya Fujioka (Female Student #17) and her sister, Chiyoko, (Female Student #18) were so different that it surprised most that Chiyoko kept her sister trailing along with her. Considered pretty and popular with the boys, Chiyoko had no problem making friends, one of which, Jun Otani (Male Student #4), the class joker, sat across from her. His voice and unique laugh carried in the small space causing Shogo to cringe every once in a while.
"I know, he's so loud, isn't he?" The voice behind him, soft but loud enough to hear. Shogo turned his head. Peeking through the small crack between the seat and the window was a boy Shogo considered one of his only friends. Manabu Uchida (Male Student #2) was always too nice for his own good, too good to other people even if Shogo thought they treated him badly. That smile always appeared, as weak as it was, and told him, "It's no big deal." Like hell it isn't.
"Go back to sleep, Manabu." An airy sigh released itself from behind him, brushing against Shogo's ear.
"I would, but it's weird with Nakano asleep on me..." Manabu's wide eyes gestured over to Takashi Nakano (Male Student #14). At first it was hard to tell with his average features and strange sleeping position, but the birthmarks that speckled his neck and face easily gave him away. Shogo turned his large frame in his seat, finally anxious to get a word in. His hand left Keiko's small one, earning him a curious stare before a smile.
When he turned, he saw the rest of his class clamoring. Ikeguchi Rin (Female Student #3) constantly adjusted the Bobby pins in her bobbed hair while talking to Kasumi Aoyama (Female Student #1), the pretty class representative that never seemed to cut her wavy long hair. Contributing to whatever conversation they were having, Ko Tanimoto (Female Student #11) leaned her slender body over the petite Ayaka Saeki (Female Student #10), the star of the swimming club. The third girl, Hanako Matsumoto (female Student #19), crammed in the seat braided Ko's long hair. They could only be described, to Shogo, as the group of preppy, likeable girls that got along well with everyone.
Behind them appeared the annoyed group of, well, bullies. Nana Fukui (Female Student #16) scrunched up her plump lips into an obvious frown. She clasped her hands beneath her round face, long fingers occasionally twirling the blond hair she often pulled back with a thick headband on her finger. Across from her sat Hotaru Abe (Female Student #2), an average looking girl with too much makeup tugged at her crudely cut short hair with what could only be described as a poor dye and highlight job. Though it wasn't like Shogo knew much of a difference. In the seat next to Nana sat a boy with wire rimmed glasses and eyebrows that made him look forever angry. There wasn't a doubt that he was anyway. Self-described as a jerk, Kazuki Murata (Male Student #18), was a volunteering member of the bullies. Though he did well in school, he got pleasure in making others like the timid Yuji Umemoto (Male Student #3) squirm with discomfort from his pranks and loud insults. After Yuji quit the soccer team, Kazuki relentlessly teased him for being too ugly and chubby to play soccer. Shogo would have defended the poor kid if he actually cared enough. Luckily, the other students did that for him.
Shogo met eyes with Tomio Sugihara (Male Student #10), a surprising member of the delinquents with his pop star looks and kind demeanor, before the bus shook rather violently. A few of the girls including Aiko Kawano (Female Student #9), a sweet, outgoing girl and her fashionable, model-esque friend Yuuki Tameshiro (Female Student #12) who screamed out of amusement more than shock.
The bus grew gradually quiet after the jerky movements decreased. The girls and boys whispered to each other, noticing their friends starting to fall asleep. Shogo checked behind him, amused at the sight of Manabu slumped over against the window at long last asleep. It was late after all. It didn't surprise Shogo that his girlfriend drifted to sleep beside him, though he barely noticed her small form leaning against his shoulder. He raised his left wrist carefully to check the time on his watch. 10:02pm. A collective amount of voices ceased a few minutes later and eventually Shogo found himself strating to drift. Feeling too weak to lift his wrist again, he leaned back against his seat, eyes half closed. Unable to know how much time passed bothered him tremendously, so he rolled his head against the window to gaze outside. The bus no longer glided down the highway, instead going off-road. Small groups of soldiers watched the vehicle pass them by.
Sleep was the last thing on his mind.