Chapter 2
Introductions
"That's all for today," Mr. Morooka tells the class. "Normal lectures will start tomorrow." The atmosphere of the room changes dramatically, almost instantly. People begin to collect their belongings and leave their chairs. I fold my binder and tuck my pencils into my bag, an announcement over the school intercom disrupts my thoughts. "Attention all staff," reads a young female's voice. "Please report immediately to the faculty office for a brief staff meeting." Her words unnerve me and small bits of my last night's dream return to me. My body tenses, her voice sounds ominous in my mind. "All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave the school until further notice." The class begins whispering to one another. Mixed reactions to being told not to leave.
"You heard the announcement," Morooka begins. "Don't go anywhere until you hear otherwise." With that he exits the classroom and makes his way down the hall.
The classroom grows louder, more students complaining. Sirens can be heard in the distance. "Woah, don't those sirens sound really close?" a student asks.
"I can't see a damn thing," his friend replies. "Fricken fog." Fog. The word rings in my mind. I hate fog, fog is stupid. All it does is hide things that would normally be in plain sight, its just an annoyance. But still, why does it continue to make me feel so uneasy?
The students continue gossiping but my stomach begins to churn and I lose my ability to focus on their conversation. One of the rumour loving students makes his way over to a nearby girl. She's wearing something completely off dress code. It looks similar to that of a red dress shirt but not quite as thin and much more glamourous. Her hair is black and very straight, almost obsessively so. "H-hey, Yukiko-san," the boy greets. "Mind if I ask you something?" He waits for a reply but gets none. "Is it true the announcer's staying at your family's inn?" Announcer? I'm curious to know more but keep quiet all the same.
"I can't discuss such things," the girl quietly tells him.
"Yeah, I guess not," the boy nods disappointingly before running off.
The girl wearing the green and yellow exercise outfit from before approaches Yukiko's desk. She sighs, "sheesh, how much longer is this gonna take?"
"There's no telling," Yukiko responds. From their comfortable expressions, its quite obvious that the two are close friends. "I should have left before the announcement came on," the brown haired girl laments. "Oh," she starts excitedly. "Did you try what I told you to the other day?" Yukiko stares at the girl wearing a blank expression, her look supplementing a reply. "You know," the girl continues. "That thing about rainy nights?"
"Not yet, sorry," Yukiko replies.
"That's okay," Yukiko's friend tells her smiling. "Its just, I heard some guy in the class next door yell something like, 'my soulmate is Yamano, the announcer!'" This conversation now has me strangely engrossed. This talk of soulmates and rainy nights, these were the things of great rumours. In truth, I have no idea what the two of them are talking about, but it still earns my attention none the less. A huge contrast to the beginning of my boring day. The intercom interrupts my thinking with another announcement.
"Attention all students," it alerts. "There has been an incident inside the school district. Police officers have been dispatched around the School Zone." There is an uneasy air cycling through the classroom. Not a single person says a word. "Please stay calm and contact your parents or guardians as soon as possible, and quickly leave the school grounds." The intercom pauses for a moment before continuing. "Do not disturb the police officers. Head directly home." As the announcements end, conversations quickly erupt from every corner of the room. Students excitedly exit the room in a hurry to catch glimpse of the reported 'incident.'
I stretch my legs and prepare to set off for home when the Yukiko and her friend stop me. "Hey, are you going home by yourself?" Yukiko's friend asks me.
"Yeah, I'm already pretty late, my uncle might be worried," I tell her. She shakes her head.
"Why don't you come with us?" she asks. I'm honestly not in the mood to spend time with others and am about to decline when she grabs hold of my sleeve. She begins dragging me out the room, her warm smile replaced by a mischievous grin. "I almost forgot!" she says aloud, still pulling me by the sleeve. "I'm Chie Satonaka. You know I sit next to you, right?" I nod. "Well, nice to meet you..." she pauses, waiting for me to fill in the blank. "Toshie Narukami," I tell her.
"Ah, well its nice to meet you Toshie Narukami." She gestures over to Yukiko. "This is Yukiko Amagi."
"Nice to meet you," Yukiko whispers. "Sorry that this is so sudden."
"C'mon, don't apologize like that," Chie complains, her embarrassment clear. "You make me look like I got no upbringing." She turns to me. "I just wanted to ask some stuff, really that's all."
We're just about to exit the room when a nervous brown haired student steps in front of us. "Miss Satonaka," he greets nervously. He pulls a movie out his bag and displays it, the movie grasped firmly with both hands. "This was really awesome," he tells us. "Like, the way they moved was just so amazing to see." His voice lingers, his confidence fading. "And," he pauses, his voice now extremely tense. "I'm really sorry! It was an accident! Please just have mercy until my next paycheck!" He bows and extends the movie towards Chie. The case is clearly cracked and Chie accepts it gingerly, as though the disc inside is a young injured newborn in need of nurture. "See ya! Thanks!" The vandal shouts, anxiously exiting the classroom.
"Stop right there!" Chie calls, the student's earlier pleas for mercy now seem to have fallen upon deaf ears. "What did you do to my DVD!?" she demands. With unanticipated speed, Chie launches herself at the fleeing culprit. Her tackle is incredibly effective and the would be escapee finds himself face down on the floor with his arms folded behind his back. His yell is ear piercing and the sight of him in pain reminds me that this isn't the first time I've seen this idiot. I grab the bridge of my nose. It's the same guy who launched himself into a stop sign earlier this morning. "What the!?" Chie shouts in disbelief, now inspecting the insides of the DVD case. "I can't believe this!" she cries. "It's completely cracked!" She turns to the bike rider who is in the process of picking himself up.
"I think mine's cracked too," he moans. "Critical hit to the nads."
"Are you alright?" Yukiko asks.
"Oh, Yukiko-san, are you worried about me?" he asks, out of breath and still hunched over in pain. I don't know why, but for some reason, the way he said that really makes me wanna punch him in the face. "He's fine, Yukiko." Chie tells her. "Let's ditch him and go home." Chie slips the broken DVD into her bag and heads out the door with Yukiko close behind.
I turn to the now, almost in tears student. He's clearly in a lot of pain and I'm about to leave him be when my sympathy gets the better of me. "Hey, are you okay?" I ask, grabbing his arm and helping him on to his feet. He smiles in thanks and extends his hand.
"I'm Yosuke Hanamura," he tells me. I grab his hand and a firm shake follows.
"Toshie Narukami," I reply as is the polite thing to do when meeting new people. "I can't really explain it, but something about you bothers me," I tell him truthfully. "Oh that," he responds. "Its just my sunny disposition, don't worry about it." I grin at his joke and smiles in turn. We exchange good byes, and within a minute or two, I'm on my way home.
