Chihiro arrived at school unusually early. Only a few handfuls of students roamed the school grounds, exchanging homework or some juicy gossip they heard from a friend in another school. There was a feeling of serenity that the school emitted. Chihiro never saw school to be so peaceful before, with the sky slowly turning from a rosy pink to a brilliant blue as the sun made its way up.
Her mother had been surprised at the sight of her daughter already in uniform at the table in the kitchen, eating rice balls for breakfast and setting aside a few others for lunch. Even Chihiro was also taken aback that she had been able to wake up early that morning; what, with the events from the day before causing a ripple in the balance of her normal and peaceful world. She had dreamt again that night, clearer than ever before, but also, in such a deep slumber when she awoke she was afraid she had overslept. But instead, it was only five in the morning and she laid on her bed in a failed attempt to return to sleep. Afterwards, she started preparing for the school day, waking up before her mother, and seeing off her father as he left for work.
Chihiro felt restless that morning, for what she did not know. She just had a feeling a change will occur, and with uncertain anticipation, she headed for school. She had walked, relishing her time, and only glanced at Bakal's house without pausing. She can apologize for her rude behavior later; it was more important to go to school and test this feeling of anticipation she had.
The halls were empty and Chihiro observed the somewhat vacant school with interest. Since she was either nearly late for school or leaving late in the afternoon when the sun would start its course to the horizon, she was not used to the calm and peacefulness that one could feel before the start of a hectic school day. Chihiro hovered at the back door that led to a small courtyard where she and Emi would eat lunch when the day was good with the sun bathing them in warmth and not ravaging heat as they would feel during gym class. She sat on the low stone wall with her school bag set beside her, and she gazed up at the vast sky with her feet stretched out in front of her. Chihiro went into a pensive trance and was lost in her own world until someone cleared their throat.
Chihiro made a small jump and whipped her head to find her friend, Demetri, a tall boy with a slender built that came from Ireland. His long, honey brown hair bounced in curls around his round face, and his green, almond-shaped eyes watched her with great interest. "Someone was daydreaming again, I see," he said with a slightly accented voice. His Japanese was pretty impressive for someone who came to school only two seasons ago with barely a word of Japanese. Demetri wouldn't have survived a week in school if Chihiro, pestered by Emi to go approach him since she knew English the best among the class and Demetri also knew the language, had not taken him under her care. A weak-spirited thing, he was, easily wavered, and easy to bully. A good thing Chihiro and Emi had stepped in to help the foreigner out, and taught him Japanese.
Chihiro made a small grin and waved her friend to sit beside her. "Can't help it, I have a lot of things weighing my mind."
"Are there? Care to share the burden?" Demetri offered, always willing to help his friend out whenever possible. He sat with a small distance between them, since he knew that it wasn't custom to be physically close to others here in Japan.
"Just trivial things like my sanity. It's not much," Chihiro chuckled before blowing her bangs out of her eyes.
"I think you're taking it lightly than what it should be. I mean, you're actually early for once, Chi-chan," he said in earnest. It seems her earliness was indeed too peculiar to go unnoticed.
She just shook her head and looked up at the sky again. "Sometimes, I look at the clouds and I catch a glimpse of a white dragon. But I know it was just a cloud, and my imagination was just playing tricks on me." Whenever a problem dealt with her mind, Chihiro would say something like this, answering and at the same time, not answering the question at hand. But Demetri knew better and understood for he nodded and asked no more.
The two friends just sat there until more students started to arrive and eventually, Emi found them in the courtyard, her face lit with excitement and she ran to them with liveliness that meant she heard something good. "Chihiro-chan! Demetri-kun! Good morning!"
"Morning, Emi-chan," they both said at the same time. Demetri observed his other friend and stated, "News to tell?"
Emi nodded and clenched her fists excitedly to her chest. "I heard sensei talking about it! Another transfer student! In your class! He's the second one after you, Demetri-kun!"
Chihiro smiled at her male friend. "Looks like you won't be the center of bullying anymore, Demetri," she joked and his face turned red as his friends teased him.
"Shut up, I'm not the same as I was half a year ago, Chi-chan," Demetri protested and she raised her brows in questioning. "No, really! No one ever comes to mess with me ever since I learned my Japanese! In fact, I'm starting to get a lot of attention because of my nationality, and I've been receiving many gifts from the girls and-" he rambled on, his face growing pinker and pinker as he continued.
Emi and Chihiro laughed and they patted his back reassuringly. "Yes, we know, Demetri, no need to show off your popularity, " Chihiro smirked. Even though her friend is now fluent, she couldn't resist a good tease every now and then.
Emi hugged him by the neck with a smile. "I hope all this popularity doesn't get to your head, Demetri-kun. Remember, I'm your one and only."
The Irish boy laughed and gently pried her off his neck. "I will remember that, Emi-chan." Chihiro smiled inwardly at her two best friends. The two obviously liked each other, she thought to herself, what, with the way they treat one another. They must have feelings for the other.
"Well, as long as you remember," Emi grinned, jumping to her feet. "About this transfer student, I was able to hear that his name is Nigihayami Kohaku. Apparently, he's a distant cousin of that foreign researcher that lives in your neighborhood, Chihiro-chan. B something Harada?"
"Harada-san?" This is the first she had heard of this Kohaku guy, but the name was familiar, tugging at a distant memory. But Chihiro wasn't able to think hard enough about it because soon the warning bell was ringing and off they went, the trio, to their classes on the third floor of the school building.
Chihiro sat at her desk beside the window, notebook open and scribbled in it was many strange little creatures that may have come from a child's fairy tale. Demetri was at the front of the class, nearest to the door, and he watched her from afar as she doodled mindlessly. He knew that she was just waiting for their teacher to come in with the new student so she can quickly capture his face on paper since it would be hard for Emi to see the new student.
And at last he came, a little behind the middle-aged man who was their teacher. A tall and silent figure he was, the new student. Handsome with emerald eyes that rivaled Demetri's. His dark hair was long and easily covered his face with the slightest movement. Nigihayami Kohaku. An interesting character, and for some reason, Chihiro felt like she knew him.
Meanwhile, Haku observed the class of mortals, doing his best not to wrinkle his nose at the smell of pollution that congested the closed room. His eyes rested on Chihiro who watched him with earnest, and he can tell there was a small spark in her eyes and hope lighted up within him. Introductions was made, with his short and curt, obviously in a hurry to take a seat. It was most likely by magic that Haku was able to get into the same class as Chihiro as well as to have the seat right beside her. But at the time, Chihiro waved it off as a coincidence.
"Hi, Kohaku, I'm Chihiro," she said, somewhat shyly as she stared at her new neighbor. He gave her a passive look and made a small nod. Ah, the man with few words type, she had thought as his lack of response. "Uhm, if there is ever anything you need, just ask please."
Haku nodded again, not really paying attention as he directed his view to the front of the class where the teacher was giving a lecture. Chihiro bit her lip at the cold silence, not having met this type before. It will take a while to open up the new student it seemed.
All throughout class, she attempted at small talk but each time, Haku only nodded, shook his head, or give a one word response. The most emotion she got out of him was a roll of the eyes as she tripped on her way out of class to the courtyard for lunch. Of course, no one noticed this gesture nor the fact that he silently trailed Chihiro to the courtyard and observed the small lunchtime gathering.
"How was he? The new student?" Emi asked eagerly as Chihiro ate away at her onigiri. "Was he handsome? Was he a jerk? Oh! Were the girls eyeing him like rare candy to level up or something?"
It was Demetri who answered her questions since Chihiro started choking on her food at the last question. "Handsome enough, I guess, and silent. Very mysterious, Kohaku. I get a strange feeling from him, as if he doesn't belong here but at the same time, he does. Seemed a little lost on how things go." Haku raised his brows at the Irish boy's observation as he sat hidden in the tree above them. He was a clever one, the foreigner. Haku should be careful on how he acted around him.
"I feel like I know him from somewhere, like we've met," Chihiro said thoughtfully once she stopped choking on her rice.
"Well, as the saying goes, you never truly forget someone you have met," Demetri murmured in his bento.
"Haha, I guess that's true," she laughed. Chihiro felt like someone back then said something similar to what he mentioned. The memories of her childhood was so cloudy, it was hard to recall anything from the time she first moved into town. But somehow, she felt that these memories are also resurfacing, slowly but surely. She rested her cheek in her palm as her eyes saw a distant place, far from where the trio sat with their lunches. "I wonder...if I have met Kohaku before, if he recognizes me in a way...maybe, we used to be friends when we were little." But no, after the strange silent treatment in class, Chihiro doubted that the new student was anyone she knew, much less, been friends with. Who would forget such a peculiar friend, no matter how long ago?
Even as she thinks this, Chihiro knew that she met him somewhere. Just a matter of time before she remembers anything.
Rustle. Haku silently swore to himself when the spirit of the tree he took refuge in, a young, mischievous boy, appeared beside him on the branch with a smile of evil intent. "Spying in my tree is a no no," the boy grinned as he pushed Haku against the trunk, making the leaves rustle loudly and the branch creaked at the weight.
Emi looked up at the sound and a grin broke out on her face as Chihiro sat there, too deep in thought to notice the spy above their heads. Demetri made a solemn look as he noticed Haku, whose face was passive although his eyes darted away for a moment. "Chihiro-chaaan, look up! We have a guest!"
Emi shook Chihiro's head to break her out of her reverie and forced her to look up at Haku. Her milk-brown eyes widened at the strange boy perched in a tree. "Kohaku..?"
Haku cleared his throat as he glared at nothing beside him; well, not nothing, but at the mischievous tree spirit who revealed his hiding spot, but of course the trio can't see the boy. "I...was just resting in the tree, is all. I'll be going now."
Haku jumped off the tree and landed lightly on his feet, but before he could walk away, Emi linked her arm around his, forcing him to stay. "Oh, no, you can't leave just yet, Nigihayami-kun! You took our designated lunch place, so you have to stay until we tell you to leave!" He visibly grimaced at this and Chihiro pursed her lips at his reaction. "Aw, don't be shy, we won't bite! Here, sit beside Demetri-kun." Emi forced Haku down on the grass beside Demetri who continued to eat his bento, chopsticks held somewhat awkwardly in hand.
Chihiro remained standing while Emi immediately dropped to the ground with a big grin. "So, Nigihayami-kun, how's school so far?"
"Good." Haku replied in a somewhat clipped tone.
"Do you like your class? I heard from Demetri-kun that you sit next to Chihiro-chan. She'll be your first friend here, well, I'll be second and Demetri-kun can be third since he is also still new here, but you can always come to us if you need anything!" Emi blabbed on and Haku only nodded, not really knowing what to say at the eager girl's ramble. "Oh! I forgot that you don't know me! I'm Emi, I'm in the class next to yours, Nigihayami-kun."
"Mmm."
"Can't you say anything that is more than one word, Haku?" Chihiro asked in an exasperated voice. She was annoyed at the fact that he wasn't even trying to have a conversation even though Emi was reaching out to him wholeheartedly. There was a gasp as her friends gaped at her from her outburst.
"Chihiro-chan...it's normal for you to just casually call any classmate you meet by their first name, regardless of your manners, but," Emi began with a flushed face but Demetri finished for her.
"Calling the new student by a nickname? It really is as if you've met Nigihayami-kun before," Demetri watched her with raised brows. Chihiro blushed, just now realizing what she had said.
She started to stutter an excuse out, her face all flustered. "I...I didn't mean to… I was just annoyed and- just forget this happen already!" Chihiro shouted, her face red. Haku surprised them all by laughing which only made her even more embarrassed. "Hey! What's so funny?"
Haku just shook his head and gave her a ghost of a smile. "It's nothing, Chihiro. It's alright for you to call me Haku. I don't mind." After all, even when you knew my real name you still called me Haku.
Demetri pursed his lips. "Even Nigihayami-kun is calling Chi-chan by her first name, and they've just met. What has Japan come to?"
"Oh, you're just jealous that you weren't brave enough to use our first names at first, Demetri-kun," Emi teased, ruffling the Irish boy's bouncy hair and he scowled.
"I am not jealous," he pouted, crossing his arms over his chest and Chihiro giggled at her friend's behavior.
"You shouldn't be so jealous, Demetri. You already had us to yourself for the better part of the year and you have a flock of girls swooning over you," she smirked and he buried his red face in his hands.
"You two can be so mean sometimes," he muttered and the girls laughed at their friend, Haku momentarily forgotten.
"You three seem very close," he observed. A bit too close for his liking, in terms of Demetri. Even when Chihiro was younger, she had never treated him the way she treated the Irish boy.
"Just your average trio of best friends, Nigihayami-kun," Emi said, giving him a sweet smile. "But, it really is hard to call you by your last name, Nigihayami-kun. It's so long, so I was wondering if, just maybe…"
"You'd rather call me by my first name?" Haku finished for her, somewhat amused at her hesitation which greatly contrasted her earlier self. Emi nodded and gave him pleading eyes, leaving Haku no choice but to agree. Not like he minded; even he thought his last name a bit too long for his taste but a name is a name. "Just call me Haku."
"Haku-kun."
"Haku."
"Haku-kun."
"Haku."
"Haku-kun." Emi gave him a daring look, challenging him to make her drop the kun suffix from his name. She couldn't help but add a chan or a kun to anyone's name.
Haku made an exasperated sigh and ran a hand through his dark hair in defeat. "Fine. Haku-kun."
Emi squealed in delight and Chihiro laughed at her friend's easy victory; even Demetri was amused. Haku was just tired, completely new to this high school student thing. It took a lot of energy to even sit there with Chihiro's friends. But he had to stay for the whole day. His plan needed to be set into motion soon, so it's not too late for Chihiro to recover her memories.
Haku sat there silently beside Demetri as the three talked about the upcoming school festival, and what their class was doing. Chihiro had an elated look on her face, eager to make sure that her class did the haunted house. She was telling them of her plans on the tricks and the props to make the whole thing a success. He hasn't seen Chihiro in such a long time, he didn't mind being tired from this human school as long as he saw her happy. But somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that this happiness won't last. Not after she gets caught into the chain that bounded everyone in the spirit world to Fate. In fact, the chain may have been on her since the day she first stepped in that meadow with her parents.
He will protect her at all costs, even at his own life. But he had mission to fulfill and memories to be awaken. He just hoped danger wouldn't target Chihiro.