Summer's Promise
Chapter 3: "Feel better, okay?"
"Okay, for the rest of the homeroom period until it ends, we are discussing the upcoming school festival," Meiko announced after Luka took her seat.
"This year, we are instructed to pair up with another class. The first-year teachers drew ballots the other day and we are paired up with the class next door," Meiko continued as she wrote down the details on the chalkboard.
"Umm, sensei," a girl hesitantly raised her hand up.
"There are two classes beside us…so which one?"
"Huh? Oh, right! I almost forgot," Meiko laughed.
"It's that one class that has that guy and that teacher," she darkly and disgustedly continued, emphasizing 'that guy' and 'that teacher.'
Meiko tilted her head towards the chalkboard to point at the class she was talking about with a disgusted face. Her eyes were sharp and looked like she was going to murder the 'that guy' and 'that teacher' she was talking about.
"Ah! Forget it! We'll just have to work with those people then," she continued, still disgusted.
"If you have any ideas, talk about it tomorrow during homeroom. The other class will be coming here so that everyone can think together," Meiko sluggishly announced as she gathered her things.
She left without saying another word to her class as she slammed the sliding door after she exited the room.
The whole class didn't understand what happened to their teacher, but they didn't care because as soon as she left, they all got up and surrounded Luka and Miku's seats. Since they didn't have a lot of time before their next class started, they quickly asked Luka questions that she couldn't answer right away.
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"What's your three sizes?"
"Will you be my girlfriend?"
Luka's face was blushing, not just because it was getting warm and humid with all the people that surrounded her, but mainly because she was never good at talking to people she didn't know. Luka didn't have troubles making friends in the States because that was where she grew up. She was friends with almost everyone because they all grew up together, of course. Luka never had to worry about introducing herself to other people or being the center of attention in the States. However, she knew that she had to face the reality that she was now in her birthplace, Japan.
"Megurine-san is single. Her three sizes are 90-61-89. Will she be your girlfriend? Probably not," a girl shouted out of nowhere, grabbing everyone's attention.
The girls looked shocked and started looking at themselves, intimidated by the three sizes the girl mentioned. The boys had lecherous looks on their faces, also because of the three sizes that the girl mentioned. Miku, who noticed the boys' lewd faces, panicked and stood up.
"H-how did you know all of those, Ia?" Miku asked, her face blushing
"Kidding,"the girl named Ia winked.
The boys were disappointed while the girls felt a little relieved. The boys all returned to their seats after realizing that Luka would've actually rejected them. Most of the girls also sat back down as they planned a mission to achieve the three sizes Ia mentioned.
"My name's Aria Wakusei, but everyone calls me 'Ia,' so you can call me that, too," the platinum-blonde smiled.
"Oh, and I'm Lily Masuda. Nice to meet you, Megurine-san," the golden-haired girl with Ia said.
"I a-a-am…M-Megurine L-Luka. Y-you can call me 'L-Luka' i-if y-y-you want!" Luka stuttered as she forcefully introduced herself, something she had never wanted to or even done in her life.
"You don't have to be nervous, Megurine-san. We're here for you," Miku smiled.
Luka felt relieved as if a gush of wind just blew on her face. Her eyes were wide and her mouth were open in surprise to hear Miku's kind words. Luka couldn't believe that she was actually making new friends that she felt as if she was going to start crying.
"Thank you so much,Hatsune-san, Wakusei-san, Masuda-san," Luka exclaimed.
The three girls laughed at Luka as they playfully scolded her for being too polite.
"We told you that you can call us by our first names, right?" Ia teased.
Luka nodded, her face blushing in embarrassment. The three girls laughed again, but Luka started laughing with them in no time. Before Luka could even realize it, her heart was beating fast, not because she was nervous, but because she was having fun.
Time passed by and the school dismissal bell rung throughout the whole school campus. Before everyone in the class left, they all gave Luka their contact information in case she needed anything. Luka was really glad that her class wholeheartedly welcomed her and treated her nicely.
"Let's go, Luka-chan," Miku called as she, Ia, and Lily waited for Luka by the door.
"Oh, yeah," Luka replied as she picked up her things.
The four of them walked down the hallway together, sharing stories and laughter. To avoid Luka from feeling restricted, they all took turns in sharing stories and asking question from each other.
As they walked to their shoe lockers by the building's main entrance, Luka noticed a poster for an academic competition. Thinking that her new friends would make fun of her if they found out she wanted to try out, Luka secretly took an application form and stuffed it immediately in her bag. After putting on their outside shoes, the four girls made their way to the train station. They all rode the same train at first, but Ia and Lily got off after two stops.
"See you tomorrow," they waved at Luka and Miku as they got off.
After another stop, Miku got off and said her goodbye to Luka. Both were happy to be friends with each other, which was clearly shown in their smiles. Luka, who got off in the next stop, cheerfully walked home with a smile on her face. The orange sunset rays shone on her gentle smile and her jolly blue eyes before it made its way for the moon and the stars.
"Tadaima," Luka greeted as she took off her shoes and placed them neatly by the entrance's platform.
Luka looked around downstairs, thinking nobody was home until he heard his younger brother's noises, who was playing video games.
"Did you two do your homework?" Luka loudly asked before she made her way to her bedroom.
"Yeah," her younger siblings replied in synchrony.
Luka smiled in relief and made her way to her bedroom. She quickly changed into her house clothes and got on her computer to check on her social network account, hoping to get in contact with her friends. When she opened her account to her newsfeed, Luka found a montage video of her friends after a few scrolls down.
Clicking the video, the title appeared along with a cheerful and recent pop song for the background music. She found pictures of her friends in the videos, making her feel homesick. Midway through the video, Luka found group pictures that included her. However, her face had been pixelated or blurred. Disappointed and hurt, she closed the window and wiped the tears that uncontrollably fell.
"Enough," she muttered in tears a she lied down on her bed and cried herself to sleep.
"Ittekimasu!" Rin and Len exclaimed as they headed out to school.
Luka, who just finished putting on her shoes in the house's entrance, didn't pay her greeting and just left with a blank face. Rin and Len knew there was something wrong with their older sister, especially since she hasn't uttered a word.
"What's wrong, Luka-nee-chan?" Rin asked, concerned.
"Nothing," she coldly replied with her eyes off into the distance.
"Nothing? Nee-chan, you didn't eat dinner with us last night and you didn't eat breakfast either. Aren't you hungry?" Len questioned, countering his sister's reply.
Luka still didn't say anything and just kept walking in the same pace. Rin and Len also fell silent with her, especially with the awkward mood Luka was giving off. Before they even knew it, Len and Rin had arrived at their school.
"See you later, Nee-chan," Len greeted as he ran off to his new friends.
Luka kept walking without paying attention to Len's greeting. Rin, who was going to keep walking towards the gate, turned back around to look at Luka again.
"Luka-nee-chan," Rin called.
Luka stopped walking, but didn't turn around. She waited for Rin to keep talking after she called her.
"Feel better, okay?" Rin yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth to increase her voice's volume.
Luka didn't react to what Rin had said, which made the blonde feel a little sad. Rin turned around with a frown on her face, thinking that she had failed to cheer up her big sister.
"Rin!" Luka called out all of a sudden.
When Rin turned back around, Luka had a smile on her face with her shimmering blue eyes.
"Thank you!"Luka shouted before she kept walking.
Rin's smile spread from cheek to cheek as she felt better about herself and for her older sister. She waved goodbye to Luka before she entered her school and grouped with her new friends. In Rin's mind, she kept hoping that her big sister's calming, friendly smile wouldn't disappear anymore.
Author's note:
tadaima- "I'm home"
ittekimasu- "we're leaving"
Hello, minna-san! Mayumi Selnia here! I just wanted to explain some things on here. First is Ia's name. I, personally, thought that Ia was more of an acronym or an abbreviation, so I just made it like a nickname for her in the story. Her real name in the story is Aria, taken from her name's caption: Aria on the Planetes. Also, since Ia didn't have a last name and her voice provider, Lia, also didn't have a last name, I made it up myself. 'Wakusei' is the Japanese word for planet. Obviously, I took it from her name's caption (see above). Second, Lily also didn't have a last name, so I took her voice provider's last name and used it for Lily's last name in the story. Now, who do you think are 'that guy' and 'that teacher' Meiko was talking about? Review and tune in to the next chapter for the answer! Arigatou, minna-san! :D