Summer Uniforms

June 1st

Summer. If I was back in Hawaii, I would already be chilling at the beach or at the gym pumping weights. Since I'm here though, I'm still stuck in school. Up until the 31st.

Summer break starts on July 1st. Until then, I would have to endure the monotonous drilling of school lectures and school work. It wasn't like back home when the break starts in late-May.

I went downstairs after getting dressed. I woke up and got ready pretty early. Downstairs, Mr. Kobayashi was already cooking up some breakfast. He actually cooks more than Ms. Kobayashi. I wouldn't be surprised if he was wearing one of those "Kiss the chef" aprons.

I finally learned how to tie a tie. taught me how to already. I already have the red tie around my neck and showing through my long-sleeved blazer.

I ate some pancakes that had made. He told me that already went to work early to get stuff done and that he was gonna catch up with her after a few hours. After that, I gathered all of my stuff and headed out.

Shouldering my olive-green satchel, I next door to Ono-chan's house. I did the usual thing and threw a couple of pebbles at her window to wake her up. A few minutes later, the door opened and Ono-chan came out.

She was wearing her red bow in her hair and her blue skirt and white knee-highs. But her top was different. She wasn't wearing a blazer, nor a vest, nor a long-sleeved button-down shirt that we usually wear for school. All she wore was the short-sleeved summer uniform as well as the orange vest.

"Morning Lee-kun!," she exclaimed, bounding towards me like a puppy to it's human. She had a little skip to her step like always. Then she got to the fence where I stood and smiled. You know, I just can't help but smile back whenever I see her bright smile radiating from her joyous self. It's just… like I just fell in love with that smile.

"Ohayou, morning!" I greeted her back. I smiled. I can't help it. Her smile makes me feel relaxed.

I just feel myself forgetting the pains of my past.

She cocked her head to the side quizzically, as if she was puzzled by something. Did I still have some syrup on my chin? I did go overboard with it with those pancakes.

"Why are you still wearing that uniform?" she asked. Uniform? Does it really matter?

On June 1st, students are supposed to start wearing summer uniforms, with the short-sleeved blouses instead of the long-sleeved blazers. On October 1st, they switch back to the normal uniforms. I don't think it's a big deal at this school, right?

Besides, it's still kind of cold for me. I got so used to the Hawaiian heat that I need a light jacket every time I go out.

"It's cold out. I don't think the school cares anyway," I said.

"Well, we're running a little late. It's too late for you to change clothes now," Ono-chan stated.

I looked at my watch on my wrist. It read 8:35. Crap! School starts in ten minutes!

"Oh no! Let's go!" I gestured to Ono-chan. I grabbed her arm and started running. She giggled and followed.

Later, arriving at school

We got to school as soon as the bell rang. Out of breath, Ono-chan and I quickly changed our shoes to our uwabaki slippers. I then ran to my class after we separated.

"Jeez, why did I wake up late?" I asked myself as I plopped down onto my chair. Our World History teacher wasn't here yet. She's usually late once or twice a week, so I got some time to kill.

CJ was already fast asleep on his desk across the room. Takeuchi-san was working on what I think is her next poem. Every student including those two were wearing the short-sleeved summer blouse. Some of them wore the orange vest on top of the blouse. It seemed like I was the only one still wearing the other uniform.

"You really should try to wake up a little early, you know that, right?" Takeuchi-san said without looking up.

"Tsk," I breathed. "I couldn't sleep. I keep thinking too much.."

"Insomnia and a restless mind are one of the symptoms to overstress. Not sleeping is not healthy. The brain only drains its waste while you're sleeping. On top of that, too much stress can actually make you sick."

"I'm not stressed," I chided.

"Is it a girl?" she asked, smugly smirking. She turned her head to face me. Ah crap, she's gonna start teasing me.

"I met the exchange girls. You know, the triplets," said Takeuchi-san.

"Yeah? What about them?" I asked.

"Well, you got Kaylee-san. Looks like she's one handful, but you seem like the caring type. You also got Rose-san as well. She's the more chill and laid-back one, the sort of person you'd hang out with when you need to have a breather after a long day of school. Last, you got Zara-san. She's more of the big sister type. I don't know if you're into that though."

"What gives?" I asked, my face starting to blush, "I only like them as friends."

"Ah-ha!" exclaimed the teasing girl, ignoring me completely, "Maybe you're into the girls in the club! Of course! That's why you joined!"

"That's not why I joined…" I murmured softly, looking away. My face started to feel hotter and hotter.

Takeuchi-san continued, apparently deaf to my previous statement. "What's not to love? You would be great at balancing Natsuki's temper. Yuri brings out your protective side. Sayori's off the walls and you would do great at controlling her." She paused, giving me a second or two to think.

I'm not that great at controlling that freak, am I? All I do is put up with her. Though, she does put a smile on my face. For Nakano-san, she scares me. After getting kicked in the nuts, I gotta watch out. And for Saito-san, she's, well, I don't know. We are kinda opposite in our way of acting.

"And," she continued, "You got me." I looked at her. She had her head resting on her hand that was clenched into a fist. She had a slight smile and blush, her eyes almost closed. My face now felt as if it was about to melt. Can I get any redder?

"Haha!" she started laughing, pointing a finger at me. "You should've seen the look on your face!" She was laughing hysterically now.

"Hey, c'mon! Don't do that to me!" I exclaimed loudly. Perhaps a little too loud. From seemingly out of nowhere, an eraser smacked me square in the forehead. I reeled back in surprise and looked around to see who did it.

I looked at CJ. I saw him snickering quietly while looking at me. We made eye contact and while trying to stay silent, CJ pointed to the front of the class, where I saw Yamamoto-sensei angrily glaring at both me and Takeuchi-san, her finger over her mouth to tell us to shut up. Oh, crud! Why haven't I noticed her walk in?

"S-sorry! Gomen!" I stammered as I tried to sit properly in my seat. I looked back at Takeuchi-san and CJ and they're still struggling to keep it together. I mouthed "What?" to them, but they still kept laughing.

"Lee-san!" exclaimed the teacher, "Report to the office after school! You have detention!" Damn, she's in a pissy mood.

The rest of the day was hard. In World History, we were learning about how the Romans split and how it affected the entire continent of Europe. Algebra II was also a killer (not CJ nor I passed Algebra II so we had to retake it). Chemistry also screwed me over with that pop quiz Tomita-sensei gave us. Japanese was also hard. The only real class that was easy was English because, well you know.

Lunch

I decided to roam around the school come lunchtime. CJ forgot to get his own lunch, so he went out to get some at the food cart that comes around. I honestly don't like to get food over at the cart. It gets too hectic with impatient students pushing and shoving to get food.

I explored the area of the courtyard that I never go through. Holding a plastic shopping bag with a footlong that was cut in half and a bottle of an Asian energy drink called Pocari Sweat because I get thirsty, I strolled through the empty courtyard.

It was quiet, like a church on a Sunday morning. The birds in the air did not chirp and sing their lovely song. They just watched, like a judgemental bird of prey. The only sound that was heard was the slight rustle of the leaves in the dry Japanese wind.

There was a bench under a tree. In it sat a figure, just sitting there. For a second, I thought it would be Saito-san because I always find her alone. But I realized that it's not Saito-san. The figure's not holding a book like Saito-san. In fact, the girl in the bench was shorter in height and smaller in stature.

"Well, looks like I found Nakano-san," I said aloud. The pink-haired girl turned her head and met my gaze. She wore the same summer uniform, only without the sweater vest. I smiled and waved hi.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in a condescending tone as I approached her. Yikes! Sounds like she didn't wanna see me.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Might as well walk around," I said as I sat down next to her.

"Why don't you just eat in the cafeteria or in your classroom?" she asked in another condescending tone. What's her damage?

"I really just didn't want to eat inside and my part of the courtyard is full." I took a swig of my energy drink before recapping it. "What about you? Why don't you have food?"

"I didn't bring money to get something at the cart or the vending machine," she said, "I'm not even hungry anyway." As she said that, I heard the sound of a stomach growling, begging for food. I know I'm not really hungry. And there's only two of us in the general vicinity. So it can really only mean one thing.

"Crap!" she muttered under her breath. I laughed at the fact that she tried to hide something from me. She, on the other hand, looked a little embarrassed, enough to make her turn her head to hide her face.

"Here," I said as I reached into my bag of goodies and pulled out one half of my sandwich that was wrapped in a paper bag. I held the sandwich towards Nakano-san, who just kind of stared at it.

"Go ahead and take it," I said. After a second of looking from the sub to my face, she took the sub and unwrapped it. She stared at the sandwich for a good ten seconds.

I grabbed the other half of my sub and unwrapped it from its paper wrap. The sandwich had whole grain bread, ham, cheese, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, and pickled jalapeno peppers. I pretty much just jammed a bunch of ingredients in between the bread and called it a sandwich.

Both of us took a bite out of our sandwiches. I thought everything was fine until I heard heavy breathing from Nakano-san.

I looked over to the girl and saw her fanning her mouth with her tongue out. Oh crap! It might be the jalapenos!

I looked around to see if I can give her something to drink. The only drink I had on hand was the bottle of Pocari Sweat. I handed the bottle to Nakano-san, who was struggling to contain a scream. She put the sandwich down and grabbed the bottle, unscrewing the blue cap, and waterfalling the drink. So much for an indirect kiss.

"I forgot to warn you," I said as she was screwing the cap back on while heaving heavily. "There were peppers."

"You couldn't tell me before I took a bite?" she snarled.

"I thought you could handle it!" I exclaimed as I raised my hands up in surrender, sheepishly smiling. "Knowing how you act, I thought it wasn't a big deal with you!"

"Ugh!" she groaned before returning to the sub. She picked out all of the jalapeno peppers before wolfing down the rest of the sub. We both finished our subs while we resumed our tête-à-tête meal on that lonely bench in that empty wing of the courtyard. And by tête-à-tête, I mean with her telling me how silly I was for wearing the fall school uniform.

End of the day

I had to report to the office by the end of the day because my freaking teacher gave me detention for this morning. It wasn't my fault. Takeuchi-san and CJ got off scot-free. So why am I being thrown under the bus?

Most Japanese high schools are private, like the one I'm going to. The only difference between my school and other schools is that there are punishments such as detention or suspension, whereas the other schools would have none. The only disciplining that the school is able to inflict onto a student is verbal warnings and such. My school, unfortunately, is more strict when it comes to the disciplining of students.

As I was walking to the office, I texted Ono-chan. I tapped on her email address and started typing a message.

Here in Japan, they don't use phone numbers, rather they use email addresses. If you own an iPhone, you'd know what I'm talking about.

I actually turned off my cellular signal because my current data plan would give me huge charges for roaming. Pro tip: if you're going out of the country, check with your data provider so that you don't have to owe them a load of bills. Instead, I just carry another device on me that pretty much acts like a mobile hotspot. Damn thing overheats and drains power easily though, so I had to keep it off most of the time.

"Got detention (ᵕ̣̣̣̣̣̣﹏ᵕ̣̣̣̣̣̣)," I texted.

"Lee-kun, you naughty boy ɾ ▿ ɹ," she responded.

"Whoops ¯\_(ツ)_/¯," I texted. I turned off my phone and that mobile hotspot, putting both in my satchel. Taking a deep breath, I entered the office.

There sat another girl who was talking to the principal. She had her back to me, but I know it's a certain someone with long dark hair.

"It's mandatory for all students to wear the same uniform on certain days!" he hollered at Saito-san when I walked in, "Today is when you switch over to the summer uniform!" Damn, what got his tighty-whities in a bunch?

"B-b-but…" murmured Saito-san, barely audible. She sank down in her seat like a cornered rat, tugging at the sleeve cuff of her blazer. She's getting chewed out because of her uniform?

"Ah! Lee-san! Please take a seat next to Saito-san over here," he said, gesturing to a chair next to Saito-san, "I need to talk to both of you about your failure to comply with wearing the summer uniform!"

I silently took a seat next to Saito-san, who was looking more embarrassed that I had to witness all of that. A small tear in her right eye welled up. God, this principal's a pain in the ass!

"Lee-san," he directed his tyrannical rage towards me, "Why are you not wearing your summer uniform today?"

"Well," I said, "It's because it's cold out. For me at least. I come from a pretty hot place, so I'm not used to the Japanese temperature."

"And you, Saito-san," he looked at the quiet maiden, "Why are you not wearing your summer uniform?"

"B-because," she said, "I-I don't like showing my bare arms." She kept tugging at her sleeve.

"Those two reasons are the stupidest reasons I could ever come up with," he seethed. Who hurt you!? "You two are to start wearing the correct uniform starting tomorrow!"

"B-but!" Saito-san spoke up but quieted as soon as the principal glared at her. She promptly sunk back down in her chair.

"I am trying to run a school here!" he ranted loudly, but I cut him off before he could speak another sentence.

"You're running a school, not a military base! And I should know what it's like to live on a base! I grew up on one!" I argued, "I'll wear the summer uniform because it's not a big deal. But I know Saito-san and she always tries to dress modestly like a proper lady. If she wants to do that, then she'll be able to do that.

"Besides, in this case, your star student in class 3-E, is out of uniform all the time. Care to explain?" I asked. The principal tried to find a reply but was shot down by my logic. He just glared at me, slack-jawed and defeated.

"Fine," he said dejectedly, "You win. Saito-san, you can wear a long-sleeved blouse, but don't wear the blazer. You two still have detention for your separate outbursts this morning. Get out of here." He gestured towards the door and the both of us left.

What did Saito-san do? I pondered for a good minute or two. Probably shouldn't ask her.

Now I have an excuse not to go to the Literature Club because I did not write a poem. I was too lazy today. Although, I am saddened by the fact that I won't be able to hang out with any of the girls after school.

The teacher in charge of detention told me that he was pretty chill with detention. He's fine with us talking and using our phones as long as we're not loud. "You two got detention for such a silly thing," he told me, "I won't be strict with you. I have a bone to pick with that principal."

I plopped my army satchel bag onto a desk that was next to Saito-san. She already had her nose buried in a book. I read the side of it. It's the Japanese translation of The Reluctant Fundamentalist. I had to read that book when I took AP English Literature two years ago. The book was about the treatment of Muslims in the US post-9/11. It was an interesting read, especially since the entire book was pretty much one long monologue. I wonder why Saito-san was reading something like this though.

It seems like she just started reading the book. I am assuming that she's at the part where the main character, a Muslim named Changez, was in the Philippines for his job, only to find out that the city that he was living in, NYC, was attacked.

I was assumed that Saito-san didn't want to talk. I don't wanna do homework or clean up the already clean classroom. I reached into my bag and grabbed a book.

It was a manga version of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. It was supposed to be a good book, one of the classics. When I had to read it in my AP Lit class, though, it was too boring for me. I actually decided to try to understand the book. I went to the library to find either an original English or Japanese translation of the book. Instead, I found a manga adaptation of the classic.

It was about a girl named Jane Eyre, who's life in Victorian England was complete ass. She endured her harsh aunt, the brutal boarding school, and the scandals that were triggered because of her wealth. In the end, she ends up marrying her employer, who has taught her how to live life and has made her into a mature woman. Reader, the story I am telling you is, in a way, like the story of Ms. Eyre.

Saito-san looked over to my book to see what I was reading. I noticed that she was eyeing my book. I decided to speak up.

"Changez' reaction to the towers falling really creeped me out," I said. "I can see you looking."

"S-sorry. I-I will keep my eyes to m-myself," she stammered. You know, after all these months, you would think she wouldn't be as nervous around me.

"No, it's not a big deal," I said, "I read this book and that a couple of years ago. I personally liked it."

"R-really?" she asked, surprised to see that I have actually read one of the books that she reads because what she reads is considered true literature. Don't take that the wrong way. I'm not that dumb. I can read literature. It's just that I prefer not to.

"Yeah. I love how it's set up as a long monologue of Changez talking to some uneasy American in a small cafe in Lahore, Pakistan. I liked visualizing what Changez is saying his observations out loud, like when he noticed the American watching some girls in the middle of his monologue."

"S-so you did read it," Saito-san said, nervously smiling. "I'm surprised that you actually had tried to read such an advanced book."

"Tsk. It was easy. This book, however," I said as I held up the manga, "was a nightmare when I had to read the original. It was too long and there was almost no action. I found this manga and decided to read this instead."

"Maybe you can give that to Nakano-san. Give her a little taste of actual literature."

"Ha!" I laughed. "She does love her manga."

"T-too bad we're stuck in here," she stated.

"Yeah," I said, leaning back in my chair and staring up at the ceiling. "Good thing I got detention anyways. I forgot to write a poem for the club."

"You did too?" she asked. "I'm glad that I was not the only one."

"It's not like you to forget to write a poem," I said, "You're the one who's most excited about writing poems."

"I-I'm not that excited," she said, putting her curled fingers close to her chest, slightly blushing.

"Well, for one thing, it's not exactly my cup of tea, but that's really because I'm not used to it," I said.

"D-did you write poems back home?" she asked.

"No, not really. The only time I really write is when I'm forced by my school to write. I'm always forced to write essays and not just any essays, but argumentative essays. I really hate those things. All it's good for is dividing my classmates against each other. The bad thing about it is that it's always about sensitive and controversial topics in politics and modern American culture. Because of that, I didn't write."

"Oh my! How terrible! How dare your school do something like that!" she said, astonished at the fact that this wasn't a normal thing.

"I know. It's disgusting. My friend in the exchange program, on the other hand, raps. You know, making a poem with a beat. He has so much stuff to get off his chest that this is his way of letting those thoughts and emotions loose. I honestly think that he could make better poems than me."

"You know, I never knew you were actually that knowledgeable about all of that, from politics to literature. I thought you just stayed inside all day," she said with a little giggle.

"Hey, I'm not that bad!" I whined.

"L-looks like I judged a book by its cover," she smiled.

"Well there's always another side to my story," I said, smiling. On the inside, however, I frowned.

There's always another side to my story.


Honorifics: (Underlined honorifics are the ones used in current chapter)

-san: Most common, it is an all-purpose suffix that can be used in any situation where politeness is expected. Basically the titles Mr. Ms. etc.

-sama: This suffix is one level higher than "-san" and is used to confer great respect.

-kun: This suffix is commonly used at the end of boys' names to express endearment.

-chan: Feminine version of -kun.

Senpai: Superior/Upperclassmen.

Sensei: Master.


Translation notes:

1. Ohayou (pronounced like Ohio) means "Good morning".

2. Gomen means sorry

3. Pocari Sweat is a Japanese energy drink (like Gatorade) sold in Japan, China (if I recall correctly), the Philippines, and some parts of Australia.

4. Tête-à-tête (English/French) means one on one, or a private conversation (literally head to head in French).


A/N: Hey guys! How's y'all? I feel really great this past week. I took a quiz and brought my Spanish grade up to a C (originally a D), so I'm happy. I also took a test that was worth 40% of my grade in Chemistry (currently at a 50% in the class) and am positive I brought my grade up. So I'm so freaking happy! Ugh, school's a cunt. Anyways, sorry for my long rant about the two books Sawyer and Yuri were reading. I recently had to read those two books and they were just fresh in my mind, so I decided to put them in. Other than that, nothing. Peace out!