The next time Haruki woke up, there was a thin stream of light filtered into his room. For just a moment he forgot everything from the night prior, and he felt the sweetness of waking up to natural light. Only when he saw the generic furniture was he reminded of the unfriendliness of the room he woke up in. He exhaled fully and moved over the thick blankets that were covering him. Outside of his room there was loud chatter that seemed to stab his head like needles with every word they said.

Feeling the need to know what was going on, he pulled up the metal 'door'. In front of the room next to him was a group of girls chattering excitedly. He hadn't actually seen everyone during the night before, so he couldn't tell if it was all the girls or not. Looking down the wing, he saw that there was only one more room with the screen pulled down, and it was way at the end.

Most of the teens were hanging out in each other's rooms, with only a few preferring to remain alone. Haruki threw on the sweatshirt he found lying next to his bed and ventured further down the wing until he saw a small gathering of guys sitting on the tile by a potted shrub. He kneeled by them, making himself welcome in the group.

"Yo dude," one blonde guy greeted, scooting over to compensate for Haruki. "Welcome to our dudes-only club!" He put his hand up, getting an awkward high-five from the confused boy.

"Oh my god Asahi, don't be so cliché..Ignore him. We're just a bunch of guys being dudes." The loud guy from the bus pushed over the blonde guy playfully.

"Is it okay if I hang with you guys? I only really know a couple of the girls.." Haruki's shy response made the two guys laugh.

"Of course! We're trying to find more guys to talk to anyways." Blondie, also known as Asahi, responded.

"Oh good. By the way, who's that guy over there?" Haruki pointed to one average-looking guy walking around the wing.

"Him? I think his name's Tetsuya. Since we woke up, he's been exploring. I think he already covered the south wing; what a psycho. I don't wanna do shit here." Bus guy explained.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to understand your area in a situation like this." Asahi advocated.

"Yeah I know," Bus guy defended, "I'm just saying I don't get why he would do that. I'm not an asshole or anything."

"Don't lie Toshio." Asahi joked.

"I wouldn't lie to my friends- hey don't punch me like that!" Bus guy- or Toshio as Asahi called him- yelled as Asahi playfully hit him.

Haruki felt uncomfortable with their overwhelming closeness, so he stood up and left without even saying goodbye. As he walked away he swore he could feel the confused stares directed at him. He focused on the ground to avoid further embarrassment. In his awkward shuffle, he lost his center of gravity and started to fall. Luckily there was someone close by so he couldn't make contact with the ground. When he awoke from the trance he was in, he realized he was in the arms of a short girl with bright pink pigtails. She steadied him into a standing position.

"You gotta be careful there; wouldn't want you falling for me this easily!" She chirped, giving a silly smile.

Haruki grew red. "I'm sorry! Please forgive me…"

She quietly sighed, "I guess I'll have to. Hey, since I did you a favor, you should give me something in return."

"What would you want?" He asked.

"Hmm, let me think about it." She waited a little while before following up. "That's it! Why don't you write me a poem?"

"That's it? Well I can't promise it'll be any good, but it'll certainly be a poem."

"Sweet! Alright, I'll show you my room so you know where to deliver it."

She took hold of Haruki's hand and guided him to the room across from his. Her room was decorated like a clothing store, with there being pictures of children and teens modeling different outfits on the walls and even a few mannequins towards the back of the room.

"Yup, so now you know where my room is- so there's no reason not to write that poem!" The girl smiled and fell back onto her bed.

"Right, well, I'll start writing later, so see you then."

"Wait!" The girl called from her bed, "I didn't even tell you my name! How can you write a poem without knowing the person's name? Anyways, my name is Naoko. Naoko Mizushima that is." She winked.

"Thanks Naoko." Haruki bowed and left, walking to his own room.

He sat down in his desk chair and put his head in his hands, exhaling. All these new people were quite vibrant with their personalities, and it was tiring Haruki.

"How long will I have to stay with these people?" he asked himself. Thinking about all the people he has yet to meet, he closed his eyes and yawned. With that, he drifted into a light sleep.

Unfortunately for Haruki, just minutes into his nap the intercom system squeaked to life with the obnoxious voice of Little Kuma, causing him to jolt awake.

"Attention everyone! It's good to see everyone awake and mingling, but soon we will be having our first class meeting! In a half-hour, everyone will meet in the center of the mall for our meeting. Go or else I will cut holes in all your favorite socks!" The bear chuckled before turning off the intercom.

Haruki groaned and went back to sleep, hoping that someone would wake him up before the meeting.


Please review if you're liking the story so far! It's really appreciated and the only way I can get feedback. As of writing this, I only have 2/15 free time events done so if it takes a while to get those all out when it's time please don't get mad.

Thanks for reading!

-Raven