A slant of sunlight fell on Chihiro's eyes, causing her to wake up. Rubbing her eyes, she tried to recall her dreams the night before.
Beside her, Kumiko groaned and snuggled deeper into the blankets. She got out of the bed and pulled the sheets off her friend. Kumiko covered her face with her arm and groaned again.
"Hey sleepyhead, it's school today! Wake up! Wake up!" Chihiro pulled her friend's shoulder.
"Aww, stop it! I'm getting up! I said I'm getting up!"
"The bus will arrive at noon. Better be ready for it."
Today's the day. She bounded into the bathroom. The mirror reflected a girl with tousled hair and bed marks over the body. Despite it, her eyes glittered with hidden anticipation.
I'll find Nakamura Yuri at school today.
Determined, Chihiro came back yesterday night and headed straight for last year schoolbook. It took some time to find the book, as it was buried beneath mountains and mountains of other junk in a box, not to mention the series questions fired at her by her concerned parents and Kumiko. But her efforts were rewarded and she found the name on the 3rd year middle class. There was also a picture included and Chihiro stuck a mental picture of the girl in her head. She was confident that she would recognize the Nakamura girl anywhere.
All as well, except the fact that it was Last year's schoolbook. Chihiro didn't know what class Nakamura went to This year, as it changes accordingly to the total marks every year.
She revised her plan again in her mind, one hand brushing her teeth: go to school, check out the 4th year classes and try to locate Nakamura's whereabouts before the school bell rang. It was most unlikely that she would locate Nakamura out of 10 classes in 15 minutes. But there was always recess time. She just hoped that she could finish the job Today, or her anticipation would bother her the whole night.
Noon came slowly, and Chihiro thought she would die if she didn't find Nakamura soon. Kumiko had commented on her restlessness the whole morning, and did so again when Chihiro leaped onto the bus so eagerly that she missed a step and nearly slipped on the steps. She tried to act normally on the bus, but that failed too when the school came into sight. Chihiro was the first to jump down and sprinted across the school field. Luckily there were no Prefects nearby, and she dumped her bag in her class and was out again.
She decided to search the middle classes first. Nakamura was in the middle class last year and she could be in the same class again this year.
Sure enough, she found the name in the second class she searched. It was a stroke of luck and she questioned one of the students.
"Oh, you're looking for Nakamura? She usually doesn't come into the class until the last 5 minutes. You could probably find her in some remote corner in the library. Good luck."
"Thanks for the help"
She looked at her watch. She still had about 10 minutes before the bell rang and she figured it's enough for her. Taking the stairs two steps at a time she reached the library.
The air-conditioned room brought cool relief for her sweat-streaked face. Inside the library the atmosphere was deathly quiet and her burst in had attracted some irritated looks. She mumbled a soft "gomennasai" and walked to the shelves.
Rows and rows of it stretched on until the far end of the room, and continuing on the opposite side. Tables and chairs were set in the centre of the room, with a few occupying it. A quick look at their back told her that neither of them were Nakamura. She heaved a small sigh and started to scan the rows.
Behind her, a short-haired girl squeezed out from the little space between the first row of shelf and the wall, her shoes not making a sound as she departed through the door.
