Konnichiwa, minna-san! This is the second chapter of the story, please enjoy.
OP-Egoselfish (Miku-tan)
It's sunny bright in the morning, the clouds seem so fluffy when hanging on the blue sky, the warm sunshine shines on Etihw and makes her feel warm. She is carrying a bag and wears a white blouse with a gray skirt. Her black hair has grown long and reaches to her waist, the crystals still adorning to the sides and make her really look like a princess.
She is humming and walking to school at the same time, maybe the birds heard her singing and they fly down towards her. A bird rests on her finger as she puts out a finger in front, Etihw smiles and greets the bird: "Good moring birdie. May you have a nice day."
The bird seems to know Etihw's words and chirps at her before flies out for his journey. A loud and chirpy voice comes from the back and calls out Etihw: "Hey, Etihw! Wait up!"
She turns around and sees a certain grey-haired girl wearing a pink long sleeve dress with white polka dots and round collars carrying a bag running towards her: "Good morning!"
"Good morning Grora. What a nice hair pin you have there," replied Etihw. Grora touches her light gray hair pin which is decorated with six white buttons and thanked her. They then begin to walk to school together. Grora asks Etihw with a toothy grin: "So, how's your first day to school? Are you nervous? Or feeling excited?"
"Hmm, I would rather say expectation is my answer," said Etihw with an understanding smile.
"Geez, you're so serious when it comes to this," Grora pouts and sends her an uninteresting look.
Etihw just laughs at her, "Well, I can choose homeschooling if I wanted to than going to kindergarten and meet some boys who want to pick a fight."
After hearing that sentence, Grora's face flashes thousands of red shades and doesn't want to meet her eyes: "I-I just wanted to teach those dirty boys a lesson for bullying you, t-that's all!"
"You can just call anyone for help," Etihw sideway glances Grora with a genuine smile.
"Well…you would end up pretty bad," Grora continues to pout while her taller friend just laughs. A few seconds of silence later, Grora asks: "So…why would you come to school with me since you can choose not to?"
Etihw stops, so does Grora, and looks at the latter with wide eyes, she is a bit startled by her question. She opens her mouth that she tries to say something, then closes it with her eyes shut and her head yielding. She holds her head high and opens her beautiful greyish black eyes to look at the clouds, then mumbles to herself: "Why…you say."
Grora gives her a questioning look and begins to walk as her friend starts walking, she heard her saying: "Because you're my friend."
Grora's heart feels warm from the inside, she smiles at Etihw and the raven-haired girl returns her a smile. They have arrived at a primary school they attend to study and head to their class.
"Alright class, settle down, I know you guys are excited to meet each other since it's the first day of school. Now please sit down, it's time for the roll call. When I call your names, please raise your hand. Is that clear?" The teacher asks the students with a pleasant smile.
"Yes, teacher!" After receiving the students' response, the teacher begins the roll call, "First up, Alela Grora."
"Here-!" Grora answers in a chirpy voice and raises her hand.
"Very nice response. Ciel."
"H-Here…" A girl with long blonde hair with a pair of crystal blue eyes answers timidly with a nervous expression. She wears a long sleeve blue and white dress, half of her blonde hair is tied into a pony tail with an accessory that is shaped like a blue crossed flower.
The teacher goes on: "Rigatona…Rigatona…" The said teacher frowns a bit and looks up from the name list, she sets her eyes on a two pigtailed brown hair with a matching pair of green accessories which both have a red stripe on them. The girl has a pair of red eyes and she is wearing a red and white striped T-shirt with a pair green sling pants, she is eating a Baguette happily, seems like she doesn't know the teacher is calling her. The students follows the teacher's direction and also look at the brown-haired girl.
The girl feels some pressure on her that someone's watching and stops eating her bread, she scans around the classroom and realizes that she is being watched. The teacher sighs and scolds her: "Rigatona, I presume you may stop eating in class or else I will have to send you to the principal's office."
The brown-haired girl who is being called Rigatona swallows the remaining bread in her mouth and acts like nothing happen, she answers to the teacher happily: "Sorry teach', I was just hungry, I promise I won't do that again!"
The entire class laughs, except the three girls: Grora just sweatdrops, Ethiw smiles friendly at Rigatona, Ciel just blinks her eyes.
The teacher sighs once more then lets out a few laughs before continuing the roll call: "Right, next, Etihw."
Etihw raises her hand in an elegant way and answers in an elegant tone: "Present."
Grora heard somebody whispers in the back: "So her name is Etihw, huh. She's so pretty."
"Yeah, she's like a princess. Look at the way she raises her hand!"
"I think she's like a goddess. The way she speaks sound so wise. I wish I could be friends with her faster than anybody."
"No way! I'll go first."
"No, I suggested it, so I go first."
"Would you guys keep your mouths SHUT?!" Grora turns around and hisses through her teeth at the people who were talking in the back.
"Sorry..."The students quickly apologize and send her an apologetic look.
The teacher finishes the roll call in no time with the class' co-operation, she clasps her hands together and announces: "Alright, that's all for that. I hope you make friends quickly and may we have a fun year together like a family. I want all of you to behave nice and listen to the teacher's advice, do you think you can do it?"
"YES, TEACHER!" The students answer actively. She too feels happy to receive their enthusiasm response, "Right. Let's take out your English textbook and turn to page 12…"
"DING, DONG, DANG, DONG~~~~"
The bell rings and the teacher stops teaching: "Okay class, I want all of you to hand in your homework by tomorrow. Those who didn't hand in their work shall be punished, is that clear?"
"YES!"
"Good. Class dismissed," The teacher walks out of the classroom and the class begins to rustle and bustle, most of them are trying to get to know each other better.
Grora stands up and walks to Etihw who is tidying her books on her desk: "Hey Etihw, wanna go out and explore the school with me? Since you're new in this neighbourhood."
Etihw looks up from her books and smiles at Grora: "Alright, please lead the way."
"Geez, you don't have to talk so formally to me, Etihw. It makes me like some kind of a maid or something," Grora frowns an eye brow and pouts at her. Etihw laughs lightly: "Sorry, I didn't mean that." She gets up from her seat and walks out of the classroom with the shorter girl.
"Well, I'm not blaming you, you have the way you act like, it must be your parents to train you like a lady," Grora puts her hands at the back of her head and eyes her with an opened eye.
"No, this is the way I act since I was born," Etihw replies.
"Hey! You guys wait up!"
"Rigatona! Please, s-slow down! I can't keep up!" The two girls stop and turns around to see two girls are running towards them, they are Rigatona and Ciel.
Rigatona is hand in hand with Ciel who is trying to keep up with the brown-haired girl. They stop in front of them and regain their breaths. Rigatona is the first to speak: "Hi there! I'm Rigatona, what're your names?"
Etihw and Grora exchange glances and Etihw introduces herself: "My name is Etihw, this is Alela Grora," She gestures herself then to Grora with her hand in a mannered way, "You're the girl who ate a Baguette at class. Nice to meet you."
Rigatona blushes and scratches her head replies: "Nice to meet you guys. This girl here with me is Ciel."
Ciel who is still huffing and puffing tries to balance her respiration and waves at them: "Hello. Nice to meet you," She bows at Etihw and Grora slightly.
Grora says: "Nice to meet you Ciel, Rigatona. Would you guys like to come with us, you know, explore the school?"
Rigatona replies: "That sound fun! It's just like treasure hunting! Come on Ciel!"
"O-Okay, be careful not to go too fast," Ciel says in a worried expression. The brown-haired girl gives her a grin and replies: "Don't worry. This time I'll go with you, Grora and Etihw."
As they are walking side by side, Grora asks: "So…how did you guys meet?"
"Ciel and I live in the same neighbourhood, we get to see each other every day and our parents always visit each other so we are like good friends till now. What about you guys?"
Grora takes a sneak glance over her shoulder at Etihw and answers: "Well…let's just say Etihw has quite a rough time back then, she is always the target to be bullied with her loneliness and a somewhat proud attitude, I saved her from a group of bullies once and we knew each other till now."
Etihw lets out a small laugh and interrupts: "They are just some boys who have no right to be in the same place as I am to talk to me in a rude manner."
"Yeah, figures…" Grora stares in front with a blank expression.
"You two seem to get along well though," Ciel gives Etihw and Grora a small smile. They walk on a corridor, on their left is a garden with a line of Sakura trees. The petals are falling gracefully as the wind blows. Beside the garden is a clear pond that has small fish inside swimming.
Etihw suggests: "The Sakura Garden looks like a nice place to have lunch. Will you guys want to join me every day for lunch at there?"
All of them nod in agreement. Ciel then grabs onto Rigatona's hand and asks: "Can we rest for a while? I can't walk any longer."
"Whoa, Ciel, are you okay?" Rigatona asks her worriedly.
"What's wrong with her?" Grora begins to worry about her new friend's health statement.
"Do you want us to carry you to the infirmary room, Ciel? You look so pale," Etihw puts her hand on her forehead to check the body temperature.
Ciel waves her other hand in a "no" signal, she swallows hard and answers: "I'm…fine, I just-need a little rest…that's all. Could you please go to a Sakura tree with me, Rigatona?"
Rigatona immediately carries her gently with both of her arms with Grora and Etihw follow behind, until she sets Ciel down to rest under a Sakura tree. Ciel breathes in and out slowly, Grora searches the place around to find something. Her eyes sparkle when she found something, she quickly runs toward the destination. The three girls exchange a curious look to each other.
Soon, their grey-haired friend returns with a bottle of water in her hand and a wet handkerchief. She hands the bottle to Ciel and puts the wet handkerchief on her forehead. Ciel receives the bottle of water and says: "Thank you, Grora."
Ciel takes a small sip one at a time, her face returns to a blemish pink. Etihw asks: "Are you feeling better now?"
"Y-Yes…"Ciel puts a hand on her chest and smiles genuinely at the three girls: "Thank you guys. And I'm sorry for causing trouble." She looks down apologetically.
"No, it's no big deal. I'm glad that you're alright, Ciel" Grora smiles and scratches her cheek with a finger to hide her embarrassment.
"I agreed with Grora. Thank goodness you are okay. It's something wrong with her health, Rigatona?" Etihw turns to the brunette who is soothing Ciel's back.
Rigatona frowns a little while starring at the ground, she sighs and kneels down beside her childhood friend and says: "Ciel has a bad health when she was young. She can't do any sports, include running. Even when she walks, she is allowed to walk for a few minutes. She may not have a heart disease or asthma, but she still can't go out to play with other kids because of her health."
Grora and Etihw are a bit surprised upon hearing Rigatona's explanation. Grora asks her with a bit of anger: "Why don't you tell us in the first place?"
Rigatona looks at the other side of her, not facing the three of them, stutters: "Umm…well…it seems that I got too excited, I forgot to tell you guys, heheh…"
Etihw just sighs, Ciel sweatdrops with a blunt expression while Grora face palms: "Unbelievable."
"Okay, I'm sorry. I promise I will be more careful in the future," Rigatona raises her hands up like a thief surrenders for committing in a crime.
Etihw is speechless for a second, then says: "So much to promise in the future, I guess, don't you think?"
"You said it sister," agreed Grora and Ciel nods. Rigatona lets out a "Hey" and they all burst into laughters. By the time they chit-chat and walk back to class, the bell rings on the right time. They are preparing for a new lesson.
"RING~~~~~~~~!"
School is over and the students bid their teacher and each other a goodbye and go home. Some of them walk home with their friends while others go home with their parents or guardians.
The four girls wait for each other and walk side by side to go home together. They talk a lot on the way home about their families, hobbies, likes and dislikes and so on. Rigatona is still eating the half-eaten Baguette, Grora notices it and begins to walk backwards-her facing Rigatona while her legs just follow their direction-and says something about her eating habit.
Ciel smiles at them and Etihw just smirks while side glancing her two friends arguing each other about food. The sun begins to set and colored the sky peach with a glimpse of purple and orange. Their shadows become longer and their friendship seems to grow closer.
ED-Taiyou to Himawari
And there it is. I hope you guys enjoy. Please read and review. :)