*snuggles* I can't wait to shower you guys in more yuri. Let's go!
Galaxy squawked.
"What's your problem?" I asked, staring at the bird from my position in front of the full-length mirror hanging on the back of my door. He gazed back at me with crimson eyes, as if questioning my outfit and why I was up so early. "Oh, so I can't wear my school uniform without you complaining? Just because Americans can wear whatever they want, doesn't mean I have to follow their way." He chirped, beginning to preen himself. I huffed, turning back to my reflection. My blonde hair simply hung to my shoulders; I only had enough hair gel to mold my bangs upward, and ended up with this strange hairstyle that I actually liked. I wore my uniform from my last school, which was a white blouse and a light blue pleated skirt, plus thigh-high black socks and brown flats. I planned on bringing my hoodie; that was the only article of clothing I was truly okay with in school besides my uniform. Sighing, I stepped away from the mirror and went to my bed, where all my school supplies lay strewn around.
Okay, let's see here. PE clothing, pencils, a binder, a manga from my childhood, erasers, some sketching paper, and a ton of lined paper. Okay. Yeah. I think that's good. I shoveled all the stuff into my backpack, something I had scavenged from the grocery store yesterday. With that done, I hurried down the stairs with my stuff in tow, questioning if I got everything.
Why did school here in America have to start so early? 7:25 is honestly the worst time to drag kids into class. I was barely able to function at this time of morning, let alone think of school subjects in general. Before I passed out, I grabbed another Styrofoam cup of ramen and put it into the microwave, yawning as I checked my watch. Okay good. I was going to get there early enough to get my registration finished. Standing there in front of the machine, I rubbed my hands together and shivered.
It was quiet in the house. I only had the light from the living room on, helping my eyes adjust from pitch-black to light before I walked to school. But still, my vision was off and my eyes burned badly.
The ding from the microwave caught me off guard, and I nearly flew across the kitchen in fright. Breathing in deeply to calm myself, I pulled the hot ramen cup from the microwave, grabbing a pair of chopsticks from a drawer before settling myself at the kitchen table.
Absentmindedly, I let my thoughts go back to the girl that I saw yesterday. She seemed nice. Maybe she went to the high school. I hoped so. I didn't want to have no friends whatsoever there. Slurping up more noodles, I went back to my days in Japan, when my best friend (sort of?) Tsukumo Yuma and his twin brother Astral were the only people I had trusted outside of my brother and mother. Yuma had been such a dork, having been loud-mouthed and horrible at anything besides PE. He was a polar opposite from Astral, who was calm and cautious with everything he did. They were an odd pair, but they worked side by side very well.
That's what that girl reminded me of. A combination of those two. She had a calm look to her, but I could tell by how she spoke that she could be flamboyant with her words.
Okay, I'm getting off topic here. Shaking my head, I slurped up the rest of my noodles and pitched the empty cup into the trash. After climbing back upstairs to say bye to Galaxy and grab my hoodie and lunch money, I was off into the early morning sun, which seared my retinas as soon as I had stepped onto the sidewalk.
Wincing, I walked with one hand blocking the sunlight all the way to the high school. It took me a moment to register the building, but when I did I was thoroughly surprised; it was boxy and large, certainly different from what I was used to, with only two floors instead of the usual three or four that I had seen in Japan. Students were pouring into the building, either being dropped off or coming in their own vehicles. I shuddered at the thought of slipping between hundreds of students, being so small and all.
I spotted the girl from yesterday walking along the parking lot with a tall, muscular guy at her side, one of his arms around her shoulders. She was smiling up at him, and they looked like a happy couple. I frowned, letting myself get absorbed by the growing crowd at the front doors.
Several minutes went by, with me just standing in the middle of a large group of people, all massively taller than me. I shook myself out of my slump and slid in between people before getting inside the school. However, when I got inside… I was completely lost. I looked around awkwardly, unsure of where to go, until somebody bumped into me. I nearly fell over, managing to catch myself at the last second, and stared over my shoulder at the person who had knocked into me. It was a guy with weird violet hair, and he just glared at me as he went along with a girl that looked similar to him and a guy with grey hair down into a random hall. Rubbing my shoulder, I gazed off into the direction he went in for a few seconds before turning around in a circle and looking for a sign to direct me anywhere, anywhere but in the lobby.
"Hey, you need help?"
I jumped at the new voice, spotting the guy who had said it over my shoulder. It was the same guy from yesterday, the one at the cash register, but he looked more… manly than he had at the store. He had scars on his face and cold blue eyes, wearing a leather jacket, a t-shirt with a local band (I assumed) on it, and simple grey jeans with black shoes. His hair was down and straightened.
Yeah. A lot different from yesterday.
"Office is that way, kiddo." He pointed to the right, to a hall labeled C Hall. I nodded at him, a mock bow since I knew bowing wasn't custom in America, and hurried off without saying anything. I got a few weird looks from people as I strode into the hallway, which was split in half by a railing that showed the lower portion of the area. Yeah, I know, I'm really short and I look like a kindergartner. Leave me alone, Americans.
Skidding to a stop in front of the (apparently) Counseling Office, I flicked one of my bangs out of my eyes and entered, biting my lower lip as I approached the desk. The counter was up to my chin, so I stood on my tip-toes in order to get the secretary's attention. She blinked at seeing me, confused as to why such a short person was in the office, in a high school.
"Um," I began, nervously. "I just enrolled here. Kaito Tenjo?"
The secretary stared at me for a few more seconds, before going, "Oh! Right, your father was here yesterday." She typed a few things on her computer before turning back to me. "Alright, will you come back here so I can hand you your stuff? I don't want you dropping anything."
I nodded, slightly offended at yet another reference to my height, and came around to see the woman fully. She was a plump old lady, and her nametag read Lindy. Even though she was sitting, she was nearly as tall as me, which I almost groaned at as she handed me a small stack of papers.
"Now," she began, handing me a pen, "There are some things in there you have to sign, but I'll allow you to do that over the day as you get set up with your classes, okay?" I nodded in response. "Alright, kiddo, you go have fun."
Again, I nodded, and strode out of the office with a blush on my face. Students were beginning to flood the halls; apparently the bell had gone off while I had been getting my supplies. Swallowing, I filtered through my stack of papers as I stumbled through the crowds, searching for my schedule. I plucked it out as soon as I found it; Honors English 12.
An honors class? Especially for English? What?
I gazed at the room number and realized it was on the lower floor, so I located the staircase (halfway through the hall) and went down, feeling a bit better as I saw that more sophomores were down here than of the other grades. I scurried around until I got to the classroom, right as the tardy bell began to ring. Most of the students were already in this classroom, and stared at me as if I was some kind of alien. I avoided their gazes and went straight to the teacher, whose name was apparently Mr. Morris.
The old man had black hair and wrinkly olive skin. He frowned as he looked at me, before realizing that I was a new student and clapping his hands. "Ah, you must be Miss Tenjo, am I right?"
"Yes," I muttered, chills crawling up my spine as I felt people's eyes on me.
Mr. Morris nodded as he stood, coming over and placing a hand on my shoulder, forcing me to face the other students. That's when I noticed the girl that seemed to be everywhere I went towards the back, next to an empty desk that was sure to be mine considering the teacher's gaze.
"This is Kaito Tenjo, and I would like you all to welcome her to our senior class," he spoke.
"Just call me Kai," I stated weakly from beside him, tucking my hands into the front pocket of my hoodie.
"Well, Kai, let's have you take a seat next to Miss Yamamoto." He directed me to the lone empty desk with his finger, shoving me forward. I nearly lost my grip on my paperwork as I stumbled forward, threading my way between the aisles in order to reach the desk, getting criticizing looks along the way, once more.
As I sat down, the girl gazed at me and smiled. "I didn't think you'd be a senior in our high school."
"I skipped grade 1," I replied in a shushed tone, staring at my small stack of papers and the pen I had gotten from the secretary lady.
"Oh." She stuck out her hand. "My name's Droite, by the way."
I considered her gesture for a second, unsure of what to do, before tentatively gripping her palm in mine. Her skin was warm and soft, and I found myself becoming all flushed as she gazed at me with her orange eyes. "Thank you, Droite, for… you know, not staring at me like I'm some kind of freak."
She leaned over in her seat, her breath hot on my ear as she pulled me forward. "You'll get used to these bastards eventually. You'll see." She pulled away, quietly giggling to herself. I gazed at her in shock for a few seconds before Mr. Morris clapped his hands to gain our attention.
"Now that the girly gossip has stopped," he started, writing on the board, "we'll start with some classic literature."
…
After English was Zoology, 3D Art, and my Geography class, which I all had to walk to instead of the teachers doing the moving. I didn't see Droite in any of those, so I just assumed she had different classes. Lunch was right in the middle of my eight classes, and we all went to a cafeteria instead of eating in the classrooms. It was certainly strange, I thought as I went into the lunch line for pizza, to be going to an American high school. A culture shock for me, for sure.
I sniffed the pizza once I got it. It was super greasy and icky looking and smelled vaguely of burnt plastic, so I just held my plate while trying not to gag and swept my eyes around the large room. Kids of varying grades were chatting, yelling even, and eating. Some couples, all one guy and one girl, were in the lunchroom as well, snuggling with each other to the point that it looked like they were going to do something very inappropriate. Stifling my growing nervousness, I began to trek out of the cafeteria when I heard somebody screech my name across the room.
I turned around, searching out whoever had yelled it, and found the blonde guy I had seen earlier today waving to me from one of the circular tables, which had about eight other people around it, including Droite and her boyfriend. I gulped and slowly made my way over to them, gazing at them uncomfortably.
"Hey kid, you can sit next to me," the blonde guy said, pulling out a chair for me. I nodded to him and sat down, placing my plate on the table.
Droite gave me a warm smile from across the table, and I blushed again, dropping my gaze to my disgusting pizza. "Hey, Kai, you okay? You seem nervous."
I just blinked at her in response. The girly-turned-manly boy beside me patted my shoulder and smirked. "She's nervous because she's never been in this position."
"Shush, Mizael, you'll make it worse," Droite's boyfriend spoke up with an eye roll. He had his boot-clad feet up on the table as he looked at me. "I'm Gauche, and that blonde dumbass beside you is Mizael, our lovely gay friend. But don't say anything like that to the teachers; they hate homosexuals here."
Mizael kicked out his feet and put his arms behind his head. "Yeah, yeah, the teachers can suck dick for all I care."
"Like you do on weekends with Ryouga's bestie, Durbe?"
"Shut the fuck up, Gauche, or I'll shove a fork up your ass."
"Hey," Droite caught my attention, handing me an apple as she did so. "Just ignore them. That's how men are, you know?"
"I guess?" I took the apple from her, looking at the others around the table. Beside Gauche was a younger boy, muscular as well, eating a hotdog that looked even less appetizing than my pizza. A girl with grey hair sat beside him, twirling her long, fake nails into her hair. Then I saw the three people from this morning, the boy with the same violet hair glaring over at me like I was some bad addition to their group.
I didn't care to look at the others, simply taking interest in the argument between Mizael and Gauche. Apparently the two were now challenging each other to a Bakugan battle of some sort (what a failed anime, I thought dully to myself) and their playing field had been set up between the two of them. Droite sighed in exasperation before scooting over to me.
"Men, you know," she whispered into my ear, causing shivers to run up my spine. "Idiots, the lot of them."
"Yeah, I know," I replied, munching on the apple quietly while watching Mizael throw his Ventus Dragonoid onto the playing mat. "That's why I'm not interested in them," I stated in a voice so quiet I thought nobody would hear.
But Droite heard me anyway. "Oh?" she asked, tilting her head, and gazing at me. I blushed deeply and avoided her eyes, taking interest in the green-eyed Latin guy across the table. He shrugged at me and started talking to the cat girl at his side.
"Nothing!" I spat out hurriedly, biting quickly into my apple to make it seem like I was done with the subject. Droite shrugged at me, frowning slightly before falling silent.
In the end, Mizael won his match with Gauche and the other kids around the table began to fade out as the end of lunch drew nearer. Gauche helped Droite out of her chair and the two shared a quick kiss before separating. I almost gagged at the sight, pushing my pizza to the Latin guy (whose name is Alit, as Mizael had called him). Before long it was just me, Mizael, and Droite standing at the table, with only a few other students lingering around.
Mizael took my arm as I looked at my schedule, apparently seeing all my classes. "We've got PE next, girlie. Let's find some hot men, eh?"
"Uh… Yeah." I stiffly replied. I cast a sad glance at Droite, whose expression was unreadable as she looked back at me. I frowned before being dragged away by Mizael.
…
Galaxy chirped at me from his perch as I entered my room. I dumped my stuff onto my bed, unlocked his cage, and collapsed into the chaise I had dragged up here with a defeated sigh. Tears sat on my lashes but I pushed the urge to cry away with a large amount of effort. Galaxy flapped over to me clumsily, landing on my shoulder and pressing his beak to my ear, asking if I was alright.
"I'll be fine, Galaxy," I murmured with a strained tone. As I said that, my voice cracked and I burst into tears, gently taking the bird off my shoulder to slip my hood on.
Galaxy climbed up my torso, tucking himself under my neck as I curled up and sobbed into my knees. Homesickness overrode any other emotion I had. I desperately wished for my mother, my brother, anyone to take me back to Japan and away from this hell. I just wanted to go home…
My bird snuggled himself into my hood, having somehow squirmed from my neck up onto my ear. He sat there, nibbling on my bangs, and I couldn't help but laugh. His beak was ticklish, his curled toes making little shivers go down my skin. I smiled, reaching up and rubbing his underbelly.
"Thanks Galaxy…" I sniffed, clearing my tears enough to look around my room. A sigh escaped me as I realized that I couldn't relax yet; I still had chores and homework to do. Taking Galaxy off my ear and setting him on my chest, I stood up and hurried off to do some work.
Aw, Galaxy, making your owner feel better.
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