Common Route Part 1: Boring School Life

Looking into a mirror is like looking into the past. Each time we gaze upon its surface, the person staring back is a reflection of one's current reality. It doesn't matter if that image has been seared into the back of your brain, or if it was just recently created, what matters is if that image is the reality that you envisioned.

Sitting up in my bed, I count the number of stars that had been plastered onto the ceiling. Seven in total. Those stars had been painted on the day I was born. When my father had the bright idea to give me something to look at as a toddler. I couldn't say if he was nervous about having a son, but my mother really liked the idea.

"So cold. What the heck is going on?"

My eyes wander through the almost gray colored room. The blinds had been pulled back and a gray sky was all I could see. Looking through the window, I half expected to see the sun shining down, but the clouds had moved in its way.

"Strange, isn't today Monday? Where's everybody at?"

Kicking off my covers, I move out of bed and check the clock. On its digital face, the time read as 7:30 AM.

"Still pretty early. What the heck. Is it just one of those days?"

By one of those days, I'm referring to the times when the whole world seems like it's running on just sheer willpower. No energy, no color, not even a funny joke can spice the mood up.

"Guess I just gotta roll with it."

*On the road to Ikeland Academy*

November. Feels like my senior year of high school had been dragging along like a freight train during the winter. Nothing really interesting happened. It was always the same routine. Wake up, go to school, go home, and sleep. Rinse and repeat as needed. Of course, I would always break up the tedium by hanging out with friends or visiting the arcades, but really, why did life have to be such a drag?

"No cute girls to talk to, no cliche childhood friend, no hot teachers giving me that look during class. Of all the things to be wasting away, why did it have to be my cherished high school life?"

Who am I even complaining to? The damn wind? Or maybe even God herself? Whoever it was, they must really have the patience of a Saint. Not that I'm one to boast about that. The more I talk aloud to myself, the more I make myself depressed. Maybe I'm just doing things the wrong way?

I live near Ikeland Academy. A prestigious school said to be the greatest place for the final years of one's academic life before college. Its located on some giant plot of land, probably about sixty thousand square feet. It has everything, from working entertainment centers to a giant auditorium that could fit in nearly the entire school. The news calls it one of the best examples of the private and public sector coming together.

I call it Hell.

"Speak of the devil. It's Susan McCarthy."

Susan McCarthy is a blonde with long hair, and what guys my age call the Puberty Destroyer. She wasn't really anything to shake a candlestick to during middle school, but all the guys who rejected her during that period must be slapping themselves right about now. She grew up in all the right places and could even be a supermodel if she decided to take the job. And she happens to be my next door neighbor.

"Hey, Matthew! Heading to school today?"

Susan comes running over, holding her bag over her right shoulder. Honestly, I would have been happy if her breasts jumped all over the place while she ran, but this isn't anime. Far from it in fact. I mean, she could always be wearing a sports bra or something and has mastered the art of not having bouncing boobs or whatever. Or, maybe it is the Monday blues that's messing with me.

"Yeah, I guess so. What about you? Another early start for Swim or something?"

"Not today. Coach is out for the week, but that doesn't mean I can slack off. The pool is always open, seven days a week. But I can give myself some leeway while Coach is out."

"Oh? That's good to hear. Nice to see you doing something you like at least.

Susan is part of Ikeland's award-winning swim team, which has this long and treasured history of producing Olympic athletes or something. I used to go watch the girls practice under the pretense of trying to get better at swimming, but Susan here almost dragged me into the Men's Swim Team.

"What about you? You stopped attending swim all of a sudden. I mean, you've been watching and doing it for about nearly all of high school, and said no to joining the Men's Team."

"Yeah, I'm not cut out for super sports stuff like that."

"Its not super sports! Anybody who can try hard enough can do it."

In truth, whenever I wasn't watching the Swim Team, I went and watched the other girl teams all practice. Of course, they all got suspicious, so I had to make it realistic by helping them with their managerial duties as a volunteer. As expected, I almost became the manager, but no way was I becoming an official member!

"Yeah, yeah Susan. I may have done sports in the past, but that's all behind me now. I'm hitting the gym nearly every day, got my official membership and swag all laid out for me next time the big sport meet up happens."

"You're lying. You don't even go to the gym."

"I actually do."

"No, you don't"

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't"

"Yes, I do, you old hag!"

"Why you!"

Susan swung her bag at me, nearly catching me in the face with it. However, I've trained for this!

"Eh?!"

With my lightning fast reflexes, I can stop it with my bare hands!

"You know it's not nice to be hitting people with your bag right? If it was anybody but me, they'd be suing you for assa-"

"Shut up."

"Agh!?"

Something bigger than Susan's bag slammed into the back of my leg, causing me to fall over.

"Ah! Help! Assault! Assault! Call the fire department! Call the FBI! Call Child Protection Serv-!"

"Shut up! You're freaking annoying!"

"Ahhhhh!?"

I can feel everything fading away. Mom, dad, I always wanted to say this, but I'm sorry for being such a disappointing son.

"Ah, I can see the stars."

Wait for me grandfather, I'll finally be able to meet you.

"Looks like he's out cold. We should go before he wakes up Susan."

"Huh?! Is it really okay Yu?"

"Of course! If you keep wasting time on him, you'd never make it to school."

"Wait just a moment!"

I"m not flying to the stars, or heading off to meet Grandfather! I need to deal with things on earth before I can die!

With sheer force of will, I manage to will myself onto my feet!

"You! Yu Long! What the hell do you think you're doing!? Smacking me with that, whatever the hell that is!"

Yu Long is a foreign exchange student from China. Totally unlike how I would think a princess from China would act. She can easily rip a man's arm out of their socket or bash in their faces with that wooden pole or whatever she's allowed to carry around. She has the looks, but she doesn't have the whole act down! What the hell!? It's like God is looking down and creating obstacles to my love life!

She flicks her long purple hair to one side and stabs the small pointy end of the weapon into the ground. The friggin thing is bigger than her!

"You're so annoying, Matthew Hayes. Have you never seen a Guandao before? And here I thought you would know about it."

Yu gives me a smirk that reeks of haughtiness. Goddamn! Is this how my life is going to be!? Am I going to be that loser that everyone talks about once high school reunions are a thing for this senior class!?

"You and that knock off halberd! I'll show you that only true warriors use their fists and swords to do the talking!"

"You really want to die don't you?"

"Try meeeeeee!?"

I don't even get the last laugh. Yu moves forward at near instantaneous speeds and shoves me into the ground.

With lightning-fast punches, I can feel my life flashing before my eyes. No, it would be more accurate to say that the punches send me to another dimension!

Collapsing to the ground, I can only look in shock.

"That's what you get. Come on Susan, let's go."

"Um, right."

Susan gives me one last look before walking away with Yu.

This isn't really right. The Monday blues were much worse than I thought.

As I look into the gray sky, I feel like I witnessed the death of something. Something really dumb.

*Ikeland Academy- Homeroom*

Dragging my sorry ass to school, I manage to make it in time with just minutes to spare. I don't really like being one of the last ones into the room, because everyone else just looks over to see who enters.

Like, really? Who cares? Unless you were expecting someone why bother?

"Oh, you look like a mess Matthew!"

Running up to me is Reiko Arai.

She's a transfer student from Japan, whose family owns the tech giant Soony. By own, I mean created the company, and then bought themselves out. Sure some other shareholders are present, but it's very much a family owned thing. Apparently, they're one of the biggest tech companies in Japan and have a very strong hold overseas as well. Also, they aren't on too friendly terms with this other company or something in Japan as well after they went into other fields other than tech.

What were they called again?

Mitsurugi? Mitsubachi? Miso Soup?

Anyways, Reiko is like a younger sister to me, so I try not to act too crazy in front of her. Though, Susan and Yu both drive me up the freakin wall nearly every day.

Sliding into my seat near the back of the room, I just wave her away.

"Nah, I'm fine. You worry too much. I just got into a fight with this mugger in front of my house. The dude was trying to rob this poor mom and her kids. Luckily, I was there, and a swift punch to the face set him straight."

"Really!? You're a real hero Matthew! If this was a fantasy novel, you would be the main character for sure!'

"Thank you very much."

I say while bowing my head.

In the corner, I can see Yu glaring at me with those bright emerald eyes of her's.

"You should take your seat, Mrs. Davis is probably coming in soon."

"You're right! See you later!"

Skipping away, Reiko goes to her desk in the front row.

Man, now that I think about it, Reiko in our school's uniform is actually pretty cute.

Maybe if I got her one of those cosplay outfits from Japan she'd wear one for me?

"Good morning everyone."

Mrs. Angelise Davis.

Our homeroom and biology teacher. She's one of those really serious types that make you dread heading to class. She always wears a black suit and a purple blouse underneath her jacket. She also has that stereotypical bun that teachers in movies have. In my opinion, that just makes it pretty hot when she undoes it. If ever. For now, I guess have to be content with wondering what shampoo she uses to make her purple hair look and smell good.

"Good morning!"

Wow, the class is really active today. I thought everyone would be having the Monday blues. If it were up to me, we would have a three day weekend. With no homework, and a bigger entertainment budget. That way, I wouldn't be cramming last minute or running out of cash for the arcades!

"And good morning to you too, Mr. Hayes. I see that you're staring off into space again. Did you happen to enjoy looking at the wall?"

The class begins to snicker, and I can catch Reiko looking back at me with what I can assume is a worried expression.

"Just listening intently Mrs. Davis. We all know that you love to hear yourself talk. Myself included. Can we get an audiobook with your voice? I can think of a couple companies who would pay top dollar."

And some dudes in the school of course.

Mrs. Davis' eyes narrow into an almost cat-like shape. I really don't like picking on her, but its times like this where you have to show you can hold your ground against the teachers. While I do admit my parents' money got me admitted, my grades are almost on par with advanced college-level academics.

"I see that you have quite the mouth on you. But we all know that's all you have."

Ouch.

The room snickers once again and this time, I don't have a witty response for Mrs. Davis. All I can do is rub the back of my head and wait for the commotion to die down.

"With that out of the way, let's see. This upcoming Winter Festival, our class has been assigned the theme of a foreign country."

The room begins to murmur as Mrs. Davis places her hands on the podium. With a firm grip, she looks at us, her eyes almost seem to be brimming with an energy that was lacking when she shot down my remark.

"At the faculty office, it was decided that the other seniors would be doing another country as well. Each teacher drew straws for a country. Would someone like to guess what our class was given?"

Mrs. Davis looked around the room. As soon as she reached the side of the room where I sat, her eyes locked with mine for a brief moment before shifting slightly to the left.

"Ms. Dae?"

Oh, seems she called the girl behind me.

Shifting to the left, I rest my left arm on the wall, using my hand to support my face. Turning slightly, I try to make an effort to pretend like I'm interested in hearing what she has to say.

It's not like that every time I look at her I get this strange feeling. Nope, haha, not at all!

"France."

"France? Why do you think that Ms. Dae?"

"Well, this class has a lot of cute girls right?"

"..."

Wow, did she just say that?

The class seems to be in shock as well.

"Well, even if the outcome is decided by drawing straws. I think that France is a great fit for this class. The guys can dress in fancy suits, and I can design all the girls cute maid outfits! Also-"

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I wonder if this homeroom period is going to drag on for longer. I just want the day to end, but it seems like the Monday blues just isn't done yet. What else can happen?

*Afterschool- Front Gates*

After a long day of class, my brain wanted to just give up and shut down. It didn't matter that I was slapping myself awake to keep tabs on Yu who was hurling paper airplanes at me, or the fact that Susan kept asking me for help on Ms. Boyle's physics assignment.

I mean, who the hell cares if you were able to harness the power of quantum mechanics, or manage to accurately predict the outcome of Schrodinger's Cat experiment? When are we gonna use this stuff for real life? I mean, sure if some of us were going on to be like a Scientist or something, but we're just trying to get normal jobs!

Walking through the front doors, I spot someone standing underneath one of the cherry blossom trees.

"Hmm? Isn't that?"

Moon Dae? The self-professed girl lover from class this morning. What's she still doing here? Looking around, I can't see anybody that would be with her. She also seems to just be standing around.

Now that I think about it, I haven't really spoken with her since the school year started. Maybe I should go and see if she's okay?

Before I can do so, a voice calls my name.

"Matthew! Hey! Over here!"

Off near the front gates, Susan is waving at me. With her, Yu is there, wearing that annoying smug smile.

"Ah, whatever. Guess I'll go home with those two then."

Sorry, Moon. I hope that whatever you're waiting for comes true.

"You're late! Where have you been!? Its been about an hour since school ended!"

Susan puts her hands on her hips and points a finger at me.

"Mrs. Davis chewed me out. You could have just left without me you know."

"What!? You promised you'd take us to the arcades this week!"

"Oh, I forgot about that."

"What!?"

Susan's eyes are wide open. Is she really that shocked? I'm busy guy y'know.

"A man who can't keep his word is no man at all."

Yu interjects, nodding her head as though a revelation had just dawned on her.

"What are you some old monk Yu!?"

"Not really. Just a girl with common sense."

"Why you!"

Common sense?! When did either of you have common sense in the first place?! Am I the only one with common sense here!?

*The Road to IkeLand*

My ordinary, boring, and uneventful high school life. It should have been the greatest days of my teenage years, but it all ended up being like the year before, and the year before that.

"Hmm?"

A slight chill raced up the back of my neck. Looking around, I couldn't spot what was causing it. Was someone looking at me? Was there someone, or something gazing at me from the heavens?

Looking up at the sky, the gray clouds were all I could see.

"Hey, Matthew! What are you doing! Come on!"

"Don't rush me Yu! Same goes for you too Susan!"

When would this monotony end? When would someone, or something save me from this prison cage of boredom? I hope it happens soon. After all, there's only so long one can enjoy the fruits of youth.