A/N: I hope I portray the mental illnesses accurately, if anyone has any points or advices on how I could improve them or just have any constructive criticism, I'd be more than happy to listen.
Guest: I'm so sorry to hear that. I do hope you get better even though I know it may seem very unlikely at the moment. My friend also suffers from depression and anxiety disorder; she inspired me to write this story. Thank you for reading Sakuragaoka Institution.
….
The moment Mio woke up, a girl by the name Yui was sitting on her bed, staring adhesively at her. Mio gave a frightful scream and it brought the nurse's attention and one of them ran quickly to her aid.
"Oh, Yui, dear, we don't do that. Now get off of her bed," the nurse carefully touched Yui's shoulder before grabbing it and pulling her away.
"But I need to get my fairy off her!" Yui screamed. "Don't touch me!" She flung her arms in the air as Mio gave her an alarmed look.
"Fairy?" Mio whispered to herself.
"She's a bit over-the-edge," the oversized nurse said. "You have to be patient with her."
"Breakfast will be served in the girl's cafeteria in about an hour, why don't you take a shower while I handle things here?" the nurse said as she took Yui away.
"Okay," Mio obeyed, getting out of her bed. She quickly looked around and found that the room was pretty plain, two beds and two desks on both side of the room with a big rectangular window, locked and secured, with writings on them. Mio found her things on her nightstand and took out her clothes and wandered off to where to bathroom was. In the hallway, she found herself staring at a girl who was sitting on the floor, who looked much younger than her.
"What the fuck do you think you're looking at?" the girl whose name was Azusa said and Mio quickly avoided eye contact.
This place is nuts. She thought to herself. She finally found the bathroom at the end of the hallway. There were towels everywhere. She put on a disgusted look on her face and set her clothes on the only chair available after taking all the dirty towels off it. Mio stripped her clothes off and put them on the floor before turning on the shower and quickly yelped at the searing hot water that came out of it. The water finally calmed down and cooled off after a while and Mio was able to relax her tensed shoulder.
She cautiously walked inside the room to see Yui sitting on her desk, immobile. Upon seeing Mio, she began to laugh hysterically. Mio quickly put her dirty clothes away and walked out of the room. She sighed as she reached the nurses' station.
"Phones calls are only allowed twice a day, one in the morning and one in the evening. Would you like to make a phone call?" another nurse said as though she was reciting a line.
Geez. How many nurses work here? She thought, seeing new faces every time she turned around.
"I'd like to call the house, please."
"Name?"
"Mio Akiyama."
"Here you go."
Mio grabbed tightly on the phone as it rang.
"Hello?" she heard her mother's voice.
"Mom?"
"Oh, dear! I've missed you, how are you? Did you eat? Did you shower? Did you sleep well? How are things?"
"I just got out of the shower," Mio said. They chatted for a while until the time was up and Mio went to the girl's cafeteria and looked for her seat.
"I'm Mugi, by the way," a blonde girl with thick eyebrows said.
"Mio," she smiled at the thought of finally meeting a normal girl. She giggled to herself.
"What's so funny?" Mugi cocked her head to one side.
"I just…" Mio trailed off. "I just thought that maybe you were normal."
Mugi giggled at the thought of it. "Well, nobody's normal around here, if you haven't noticed." Azusa came barging in and sat next to Mio. Mio stiffened.
"Good morning Azusa," Mugi said.
"Hey," Azusa coldly said. "Sorry 'bout earlier. Didn't mean to curse you off, y'know?"
"It's fine," Mio took a sip of her milk. "No worries."
"Good morning everybody!" Ritsu, another patient of Sakuragaoka Institution, hummed.
"Good morning Ritsu," Mugi said cheerfully. Ritsu looked at Mio as if she was waiting for her reply.
"Ah, good morning," Mio quietly said.
"New on the floor, I perceive?" Ritsu asked, putting on an imaginary Sherlock Holmes hat. She puffed her 'pipe' and blew it on Mio's face. Mio tried to keep a normal appearance and nodded.
"Ritsu, eat your breakfast," Miss Aya said. Ritsu stuck her tongue at her while pulling her lunch tray closer at her. Mio noticed that Ritsu kept fidgeting and squirming on her seat.
"What's wrong with her?" she asked Mugi.
"Oh, she has ADHD. So you never know when she's hyper or impulsive," Mugi whispered.
"Well, what's wrong with you?" Azusa asked.
"Oh, I'm," Mio felt uneasy talking about her problem with other people. "I'm depressed…I guess you can say that."
"Ah, suicidal," Azusa clicked her tongue. "Tough luck, man. Bet you can already guess what's mine." Azusa jokingly said. Mio smiled not knowing whether she should laugh with her or not. She didn't know how to act around with someone who had anger issues.
"Mugi's pretty bad herself," Azusa said. "Having different personality every day."
Mugi tried to smile at Mio who reflected the same action. Yui came dancing in the cafeteria.
"Ah, my fairy!" she scooped up her imaginary fairy above Mio's head and smiled optimistically. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you."
"Sweetheart, eat your breakfast," Miss Aya supervised.
"Yes!" Yui sang as she had some pretty deep conversation with her 'fairy'.
Little did these girls know that meeting each other would completely change their lives. And so, there we have it; five very special and different girls having met one another. Now Mio wondered what's in store for her in that morning.