Chapter 17: First Day

"I'm off; I'll see you all later." I call back into the house as I slip outside into the sunshine. I lift my face to feel the warmth as I hear birds flying above. Summer passed by quickly and before I knew it, today is my first day in university. My classes don't start for another two hours, but it's an hour's walk to the university, and I wanted to get to know the campus a little better before finding my department building. Irie-kun had already left really early this morning as his Economics courses seem to start right at eight in the morning. Lucky for me, my first course didn't start till ten.

University is so much more different than high school. The campus is huge, with buildings packed together. The science building, I discovered, is right across from the commerce building, however, my nursing department is the furthest from it. I sit down outside and study the map I received in my university packet, highlighting the cafeteria and the science building. A sudden knuckle tap on my head has me looking up into Irie-kun's eyes.

"Hey, fancy meeting you here. How was your first class?" I ask.

Irie-kun sighs, swinging his bag over his right shoulder. "It was alright. Mostly stuff I already knew." He replies, looking off into the distance. "Have you found your department yet?" He turns his attention back to me.

"Yeah, it's inside that one." I point at the grey concrete building in front of me. "My first class doesn't start for another half an hour though."

"Naoki…" A beautiful girl walks up towards us; her long hair falls down her back like a waterfall. She has high cheekbones and bright brown eyes shining with intelligence. As she walks, her skirt wavers gently with each stride, her blouse tight showing off curves. As she walks towards us, I see heads turning, both female and male, commenting on the gorgeous girl who stops besides Irie-kun. "You walked out of class so quickly. Oh," she says as she spots me, "who are you?"

"Aihara Kotoko, freshman nursing program, nice to meet you." I say holding out my hand.

"Matsumoto Reiko, I'm in the same department as Naoki." She looks back and forth between us. "How do you two know each other?"

"Our dads are high school friends and we went to the same high school." Irie-kun explains. He places a hand on my shoulder, giving it a slight reassuring squeeze. "I got to go. I'll see you later." He walks away, Matsumoto-san beside him. She looks back as they depart with a superior glimmer in her eyes.

I stand up, shouldering my bag as I roll my eyes. These girls were so transparent, even Matsumoto-san who still seems to radiate intelligence. I shake my head before proceeding into the building.

Walking down a long sterile white hallway, I peek into the various classrooms filled with laboratories, and a few beds. Finding room 128, I peek inside to see if a class was going on. Silence answered that question and I push the door open, entering the classroom as the door swings shut behind me. The classroom had roughly 40 tables lined up in rows of four, facing the white board and a desk. Several students were already sitting in a few seats, scattered so far apart as if they didn't want to communicate with anyone at all. I pick an empty chair at the front of the class and set down my bag, turning on my laptop, I let it warm up as I wait for the teacher arrive.

During the next fifteen minutes before class starts, other students began entering into the classroom in groups or as individuals. The seats were quickly filling up and the chatter rising in the room as friends reconciled after the long summer. Suddenly, the door slams open and a big burly woman wearing a nursing gown and cap over dark curly hair comes storming into the room. Following her is a small woman, also wearing a nursing gown but is also carrying a thick binder. The bigger nurse stops behind the desk, staring at all of us with beady black eyes.

"Welcome to the nursing department. I'm the Head Nurse of the nursing department as well as the university hospital. You've all worked extremely hard to be able to enter this department, but that means nothing now. From here until the National Nursing Exam, four years from now, Ms. Ayako here will be your teacher. I hope you'll succeed your studies during your time here, I'm expecting great things from this class." She turns to leave, motioning Ms. Ayako to take the floor and start her lesson.

"Well then, for the next four years, let's work hard. I'm going to start with roll call…"

"Looks like your first class went well." Irie-kun notes as I approach him, a little skip to my steps. All the while he doesn't look up from his textbook, jotting down notes for his next class.

"How did you know it was me?" I ask, plopping down beside him.

"Your footsteps, plus you were humming. You only hum when something good has happened.

"You're right, I had a great first class. Ms. Ayako is super nice and the way she teaches reminds me of Mr. Takashima. I've got a boatload of homework for tomorrow but since we're starting identification of the body, it shouldn't be too bad." I look around, "By the way, where did Matsumoto-san go?" I ask sitting down next to him.

"She said she had to use the washroom a few minutes before you showed up. She should be back soon." He looks up from his textbook, "Why do you want to know?"

I shrug my shoulders. "She's got a crush on you and it's kind of funny because she seems so much more sophisticated compared to the girls from our high school who were throwing themselves onto you."

"I've only got one girl I love, and that's my girlfriend." He looks up at me, a slight smile in his eyes. "Reiko won't be able to take me away from you."

"You have a girlfriend?" We both turn to see Matsumoto-san staring at both of us, shock written all over her face. She points at me. "You're his girlfriend?"

Hi guys I'm back! I'm s sorry for the delay, what I thought would take a couple weeks turned out to be a lot more work than I thought. No excuse but here's my next chapter. I should be able to get back onto a fairy regular posting stream as I've been accepted into university (YAY!) so most of my stress is now gone. (thank God). At any rate, I want to put a thanks out to all my readers and followers, I've hit over 100 followers on my first fanfic! I'm really happy you guys like this story and I appreciate all your comments. Thank you for being so supportive during my short break from writing. I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter, and I'll chat to you guys next time. Ciao!