Kiki was not a great fit for the school she went to before, a little too bold for a woman perhaps or maybe too forthright and confident, caught on to the truth and holding tightly to values that wealthy families sometimes don't hold onto. She, of course, also hated the balls and the expensive events her old school would put on, that she'd be primed and ready for, just to go to and endure excruciating hours of boredom and "playing nice".
Kiki's not the greatest at handling the noble conversations, the over the top pleasantries, though she does them perfectly from years and years of practice and experience. She grew up this way, and yet that's not really a fun way to grow up either.
And now, that the school views her as the perfect outcast, she's ever more fit to her role. And that's about as pleasant as walking through a field of rose stems, pricking at your ankles, your toes, anywhere those thorns could reach. So, Kiki doesn't want to be involved with the whole affair, and her mom's off to traveling for her job again, so there's a chance finally opened up, in full bloom, to move to the middle of nowhere away from all of these people and false pleasantries and towards her father, who she hasn't really seen in years.
Or she could move in with her aunt, and take a longer trip to the school she goes to right now and just put up with it all. Which doesn't sound fun at all.
"I'll go stay with Father." She's all smiles, perfect elegance, and her mother doesn't really look confused or give it much of a thought, so Kiki packs and gets ready to make the trip that will definitely change her life, perhaps for the better.
Her father does not look like a wealthy man, born to a family of those with more than a little money to themselves. He owns a little udon shop in the middle of nowhere, and he even knits though she remembered that from her earliest memories when they all lived as a family, rather than separated by all of these miles that have grown up between them.
"Hi." And it's that smile, that joy at seeing her, that makes this both feel like a home that has been far away and a bit weird. She's used to the monone day to day, used to what has long since grown old.
"Hello." When she's led to her new bedroom, she gets right away to unpacking, unsure a bit how to transform years of not talking into a conversation. It seems like a task that she might be more than a little unequipped for.
Hopefully, this place will be much better than what her home was becoming, maybe it will be a place full of new possibilities, and out here where her father runs an udon restaurant, Kiki can be anything she feels, not even limited to the wealth and sophistication she grew up with.
The people here, of which there really is a lot less of them, all seem nice. Small town country folk, not used to newcomers, especially ones dressed in fancy school uniforms from her old school. And she gets seated next to a boy with teal-ish hair, who lays over his desk just enough to cover it all and is asleep.
Surprisingly, he isn't in trouble, though it does make her wonder how someone can simply just sleep in the middle of the first class of the day or rather the very beginning and not cause any issues. But she doesn't say anything, just sits next to him, hoping that the relaxed nature of the class will feel as familiar to her as breathing one day.
And she contemplates waking him up, giving him a little tap or nudge and seeing if he'll wake up to pay attention now. And yet, when she reaches over, he catches her arm and perks up, suddenly awake, "You smell good."
And Kiki's half convinced that this school year is going to be interesting, that's for sure, and hopefully the weirdness of it will be better than the mundane quality of her old school. And the isolation of it as well.
And of course, the class does get onto him for this. Don't wake up just to scare the new girl!
It's kind of surreal, everything happening all at once. "I'm Mitsuhide Rouen." He's all smiles despite the weirdness to everything that's just happened, but the smiles are reassuring at the very least, and Kiki's still working out what to think about this boy that she's going to be sitting next to from now on.
"I'm Kiki Seiran." She offers a casual little smile, a tiny one, though that smiles ended many conversations by complete accident as well.
"Nice to meet you." And Mitsuhide waves despite sitting right next to her.
Turns out that Mitsuhide's one of the most popular boys at school. Which is both a little surprising, and also a whole lot concerning to how things will turn out. Kiki's not interested in the least in being popular here, nor is she interested in causing unnecessary drama, so, would it be best to somehow not end up friends with the boy next to her at the start of the day?
And yet, Mitsuhide's all warm smiles and enthusiasm, he leans close to her, shares his book with her, laughs heartedly, and somehow makes homeroom lively and warm just between their two desks.
Mitushide is kind of hard to define actually, now that Kiki's getting to know him, and he's always eager to greet her with ever warmer smiles, and somehow it makes it easier to be his friend, to look forward to going to class.
"You're very friendly." She tells him one day, and he laughs, easily.
"Not really?" Mitsuhide smiles, "You're fun to be around." It's not hard to imagine why he's popular though despite his rather bright colored hair, he's a rather friendly guy, and a lot of girls in the school are likely attracted by his warm friendliness that seems to crop up everywhere and by his good looks, though even that is a little hard to define.
He's tall and muscular, a good athlete, and friendly. And yet, he has that green-ish hair that looks rather odd on an otherwise fairly attractive guy. But his warm smiles and his friendliness, the way that he treats everyone with love and kindness is enough to make it obvious, why anyone would fall for him.
He makes a good friend, a never giving up kind of friend that would easily have his friends' backs, and yet, there's a thin wall of distance between them, though not the physical kind. Mitsuhide's surprisingly quite generous with his affection though not in an over the top way. He sits close to her, and his presence is surprisingly warm, just like his smiles and affectionate nature are.
He's not shy really. Just something feels lightly put between them, a something that Kiki's trying not to analyze, because she still isn't trying to become best friend's with one of the most popular guys in school. But he's just different, and maybe a bit more genuine than the last school she went to was, despite that thin walled distance.
Mitsuhide seems sleepy though, like he doesn't get enough sleep. Because one day, early on her way to class, she spots him, curled up under a tree and fast asleep. If she leaves him out here, he runs the risk of being late to class. Because she doesn't know how heavy of a sleeper he is, though he seemed like a light sleeper the day they first met, and she doesn't want him to fall behind.
So, she steps forward, and touches his shoulder, to nudge him awake, careful and gentle and awkward. Kiki's not the one to typically be waking people up anyway, and after today, she might never offer to do so again.
When he wakes up, like a surprised bolt of lightning, suddenly, ears and a tail appeared on him. The two ears are like dog ears right on top of his head, and the tail is fluffy and large, also more canine-like. Wow.
Kiki's sure she's not losing her mind, but it sure does feel that way.
"You have ears and a tail." Kiki's honest, even if the situation makes absolutely no sense.
"You saw that?" Mitsuhide stares up at her almost like the way a wolf stares up at the moon.
"I saw that." Kiki confirms. There's no use denying it anyway. Especially since Mitsuhide already confirmed what she thought she saw anyway.
"Well this is troublesome." Mitsuhide answers, resigned to some kind of fate, "So I'd really appreciate it... if you wouldn't tell anyone about this. Please?" And then instead of a teenage boy around her age, there's a giant dog or perhaps a wolf half overtop her, soft and fluffy looking, but also a little bit menacing.
The next thing Kiki knows is that she's waking up in the infirmary, and Mitsuhide's sitting in a chair off to the side, watching the nurse explain something that amounts to the fact that Kiki just fainted, it's all okay, she's not hurt.
There's no longer the same thin wall between them, but Kiki kind of misses it, especially as someone else comes in and tries to hypnotize her with no success, as if a simple magic trick at best would remove her memory right from her.
Her day's definitely taken a surprising turn now.