Chapter 2 The Walk
Hi! I'm back! I'm saving my explanation on Hikari's feelings and thoughts on purpose. If you think Hikari's being too collected and calm, well she will come back to the chirpy Dawn you know, soon. I think.
April 3rd, 2006. Snowpoint City
It was still the first day of school. Hikari met her new teachers. Some of them just let the students talk and play for the last time, but some actually had classes. Their math teacher was one of them and it made Hikari tired with all those nagging and lectures.
The lunch finally came. Hikari headed to the cafeteria with Shu and Haruka and bought a bowl of salt ramen. She walked to where her twin brother, Kouki and her other good friend, Kasumi were sitting.
"Hikari, over here!" Kasumi called her name loudly. Few other students turned to see what was going on. Hikari, slightly embarrassed, walked to her friends and sat next to Kasumi.
"I heard that the homeroom teacher in class B is really cute. Is that true?" Kasumi asked as she took a bite of her rice ball.
"Well, he is handsome, I guess." Hikari said, trying her best to sound indifferent.
"Tell me Hikari, who looks better, me or him?" Shu asked, raising his eyebrow and making a flashing smile at his cousin. It was a joke and also a tease after Hikari's reaction to the teacher.
Hikari rolled her eyes as she poked his forehead with her chopsticks and kept on eating, "Him. You act like a weirdo a lot. At least he won't."
"I hope he teaches my class. He teaches biology, right?" Haruka asked.
"Yeah, he does. But I'm not sure he will go into your class. I mean, you chose the literary course, remember?" Hikari asked before she took another of her noodle.
"Oh, right. That's really disappointing. I don't think I'm learning any science this year." May said with a sigh.
"No, we have general science. Let's check the schedule again." Kasumi said.
Haruka nodded at that, "I hope we have him as the teacher." She said, glancing at Hikari.
Hikari chewed her food while thinking about what this year would be like. She certainly hoped there won't be any guys bothering her. Ever since her breakup with Jun, some guys asked her out but she declined all of them. And although Kouki promised to help her when there are guys bugging her, he wasn't much help most of the times. And neither was Shu.
Hikari looked up because she felt a gaze on her back. She turned around to see her ex-boyfriend, Jun looking at her. She frowned and turned away to her friends immediately.
"What's wrong, Hikari?" Kasumi asked.
"Nothing. No need to worry." Hikari wanted to just shake it off, but her voice was showing anxiety. Kasumi looked around and frowned when she spotted what made her friend be like that.
Jun, with Urara walked toward them. Well, it was technically Urara dragging Jun over there with her.
"Hello there, Pikari." Urara said with mean giggle. Hikari tried to stay calm and not let Urara take the lead. She ignored her and continued eating. Normally, Hikari would've screamed something out but she didn't want to engage at all. That was how much she despised those two.
"Aren't you lonely?" Urara continued. Jun seemed to want to get out of there, but the peach-haired girl didn't let him. Haruka was about to stand up when Kasumi glared at her, signaling her not to.
"Haruka, what's wrong? There's no one here. Why do you seem so upset?" Kasumi asked. Hikari glanced to see Urara looking really angry getting treated like she was invisible.
"Ah, Jun is there. If you don't have anything you want to say to our dear friend Hikari, please go. We are eating our meal if you can see." Kasumi continued, making a small smile. Jun blinked, nodded and walked away, pulling his fuming girlfriend along with him.
"Thanks Kasumi." Hikari said quietly with a sigh.
"Don't mention it. I hate her too. She is in the same class with me, and I swear to Areceus that I will kill her if she calls me carrot one more time." Kasumi said as she growled a bit.
"Murdering someone isn't good, Kasumi." They all turned around to see who spoke. Minami Satoshi was there with his usual goofy smile. Baseball bat in his left hand. Satoshi was Kasumi's friend and her secret crush as well. He was in the school baseball team. He was also a good friend of Shu and Kouki.
"S-Satoshi, hello." Kasumi said, blushing a bit. Hikari sighed. Kasumi had too much pride to admit that she liked him.
"Satoshi, sit here with me! Had lunch yet?" Shu asked, gesturing him to sit down.
"No thanks. I'm having lunch with the team. Have practice right after, you see." Satoshi said with apologetic look.
"Oh. Okay. See you after school then." Shu waved goodbye as Satoshi walked to his baseball team friends. Kasumi stared at the boy's back and put her rice ball down.
Haruka noticed it, "Are you done eating?" She asked, munching her food. Kasumi nodded. Haruka then asked if it was okay for her to eat the remaining rice ball and Kasumi handed the balls. Haruka was happily munching it. Hikari stared at the ceiling. Kouki frowned.
"Hikari." Hikari jumped when she heard her name.
She realized that it was from her own brother, "What is it, bro?"
"Are you okay? Were you daydreaming or something?" Kouki asked, worried about his sister very much. It was nice that her family and friends were concerned, but Hikari didn't like this baby treatment.
"I'm fine. You don't have to treat me like a baby I'm only 3 minutes younger than you are." Hikari said to her brother, annoyed. Kouki frowned. He knew something was wrong. There was this twin thing that told him that.
"Hikari, don't lie to me, okay?"
Hikari frowned back at him, "I am not lying."
"No. You are going to lie to me. That's what I'm afraid of."
"What are you, a fortune-teller?"
"No. But sometimes you can tell what I'm going to do. So can I."
Hikari rolled her eyes, "It's not like that happens all the time. I think you are just being overprotective."
She stayed quiet after saying that, and returned to her eating.
Shu stood up, "I have to go now. I have counseling with Mr. Iwai."
"Right, you are the first in your class attendance, right?" Kasumi asked. Usually, they were picked as the temporary class president. Shu nodded and with a wave toward his friends and placed a kiss on top of Haruka's head before he walked away.
"Why didn't Shu change his last name to yours?" Kasumi asked Hikari and Kouki. They both shrugged. "I think he want to keep it to remember his parents by." Kouki said.
"Yeah, I think he's right." Dawn nodded. Shu never gave the clear explanation on that, but Kouki 's guess was probably true. Shu still missed his parents very much.
"I'm going too. I have to prepare for my next class." Hikari said as she stood up.
Haruka laid her chin on her palm, "That's the straight-A student, alright. Always preparing for the class before it starts. Come on, we have 15 minutes left! Don't miss all the fun." She giggled.
Hikari hesitated for a moment and sat back down. "Fine, I guess. Since it's the first day of school."
"Sure" Haruka said. And just like Hikari expected all they talked about was something that was used to just pass some time.
The first thing Hikari checked when she returned to her class was the class schedule. She scanned through it. Biology, Thursday, Friday, and Monday. She groaned. She had to wait 2 more days to finally see her HR teacher teaching. She wondered how good of a teacher he was. She hoped he was good. She was practically praying when the bell rang. She sighed and looked up at the ceiling.
It was around 3 and the school was over. It was the first day of school so they didn't have any club activities to participate in. Hikari hung around with Kasumi at school, chatting and gossiping. Haruka had gone off to hang out with Shu. Then Kasumi started up a talk about Hikari's new teacher.
"Hikari, we had your teacher's class today! He really was cute, all the girls were swooning about him after the class." Kasumi explained with a giggle.
"You had his class? How was it?" That grabbed Hikari's attention for sure.
"He didn't do much. It was the first day after all. He just went through what we were going to learn this year. The other students tried to changed the topic but he ignored most of them."
"Hmm. Okay." Hikari was curious about how he would teach. After all, biology was her passion.
When the time reached 4:30, she waved her friend goodbye, and she headed straight to the convenience store where she worked for a part time job. Hikari wasn't the only one in the house working. Shu and Kouki both worked as well. Kouki helped at their parents' store every day for a brief time, and Shu worked at a nearby gas station on weekends.
Hikari also desperately wanted to have some time away from home. It was suffocating her. But at first, her parents didn't allow her to work. So, she had to convince her parents, Kouki, and Shu as well to get a part-time job. They finally agreed when they saw that the place she wanted to work wasn't that much far away. It was about a 30-minute walk from the school and a 20-minute walk from her home. Her shift ended at 8 o'clock. It was usually dark during that hour. Sun set faster in Snowpoint City. As worried as they were, one condition for Hikari to work was for either Shu or Kouki to pick her up after work. Most of the time, it was Kouki. Although she disapproved of it, Hikari understood her family's behavior, so she agreed.
She had to.
Hikari hummed her favorite song while heading there.
She opened the door, and the bell rang, signaling that she was there, "Good evening!" she said as she entered the store.
"Hikari, good evening to you as well." The owner said. She was a middle-aged woman with light brown hair and brown eyes. Usually, the shop owner or caretakers were men, but Hikari was glad that her store's was woman. She was very kind to Hikari.
Hikari smiled. The shop owner told her that she would come back after her shift was over. She left the store and Hikari was all alone in the store. She looked around. The shop was clean. The owner, Akane-san must have cleaned it not too long ago. She took off her school uniform jacket and put it on the counter. She then put on her green uniform jacket and walked behind the counter. She put her bag down, neatly folded the jacket, and finally placed them under the counter.
Few customers went by. Most of these people lived near the store. She studied when there weren't any customers and cleaned the store when she felt it was dirty. She was stocking the empty shelves when a customer came in.
"Ah, Good evening!" she said standing up immediately. Her eyes widened, lips pursed and, in her head, she was repeatedly saying to herself, 'No need to worry, no need to worry.'
It was her new teacher. Iwai Shinji.
He was standing in the doorway. It seemed as if he was returning home from school.
He tilted his head slightly when he spotted HIkari, "Aren't you one of my students?" He asked.
She straightened up, "Ye-yes sir! Sakurazawa Hikari. I'm in your home class." She said, cursing herself as she heard herself stuttering.
"You work here?" he asked, glancing at the books lying on the counter. Hikari saw the mess she made and blushed.
"Yes sir." She looked down, her hands reaching each other behind her back, embracing each other hard. Her hands became quite sweaty soon.
Hikari quickly finished what she was doing and returned to the counter and watched him doing his business.
He brought a few cans of beer along with things to eat as snacks.
"When does your shift end?" he asked, watching as her hands moved.
"8, sir." Hikari answered and the two were silent, again.
"That would be 1,800 Pokeyens."
He silently paid the money. And picked up the plastic bag and left. She sighed and went back to the study, wondering if there was anything wrong with her face or something. She glanced out the window and watched him walk away.
"So, he lives nearby." She silently said to herself, and after realizing what she just said she quickly pressed her lips.
She took out a mirror from her bag to check if there really was something wrong with her face. There wasn't. She sighed in relief. Then after realizing what she was doing, she shook her head hard and tried to concentrate on the study, but someone came in.
"Good evening!" she stood up, sighing inside.
Akane came back 15 minutes before 8, to check the money recorded on the cashier and the actual money.
"Alright, you are free to go." Akane said and Hikari packed her things and opened the door. She waved goodbye as the door swooshed and closed.
Dawn looked around, but Shu wasn't out there, and she couldn't see her brother either.
"That's strange." She muttered to herself and was about to just leave when someone grabbed her shoulder. She shrieked and quickly turned
Her teacher, startled by her action, was standing in front of her.
"Sensei?" She asked, realizing who the man was.
"Miss Sakurazawa, you shouldn't scream in the public. But, I'm sorry if it scared you." He said in a flat tone.
Hikari laughed nervously and gulped. He was wearing a simple beige sweatshirt with long tracker pants. He was also wearing sneakers. He looked more friendly like that, and Hikari tried not to think how he looked that way.
"Is there something you want in the convenience store?" She asked.
"No. How far away is your home?" he asked. Hikari blinked, "It would take about 20 minutes, sir." Shinji nodded slowly and looked down at her. She looked back into his cold black eyes.
"I will walk you there." He stated.
Hikari blinked, "Sir?" She wasn't sure if she heard him correctly.
"It's too dark." He said simply and told her to guide the way.
So, there she started to walk. He followed her from behind. Slowly and slowly the two walked through the dark with only dim streetlights doing to least of its work to brighten the dark roads.
The two didn't talk at all. She tried not to walk weirdly and kept on walking straight ahead. She could feel his gaze on her back, and it sent shivers down her spine. Her heart was beating very fast. She told herself to stop but it didn't listen at all. When she reached her house, she turned slightly to inform him that they had arrived.
"Thank you for walking me, sir." She said, her heart beating even more faster. She felt her face brightening as well.
"Is this your home?" He asked, pointing at her house. The two-story white building surrounded by walls. She nodded.
"Good. I will see you tomorrow." Without even waiting for her to answer, he walked away. Hikari stared at his back until she couldn't see it anymore and went inside the house.
"I'm home!" she said out loud. Loud footsteps could be heard from upstairs as her brother ran down.
He almost tripped but regained his balance and safely reached his sister, "Hikari, why didn't you answer?" he asked as he grabbed Hikari's shoulders.
"Huh?" She pulled out her phone and realized that it was off for the whole time.
"I'm sorry, I think the battery was low and I forgot to charge it because I was busy working." Hikari apologized.
"Shu went to pick you up, he was five-minutes late, but he did! I called him to pick you up after he hang out with Haruka, but he said you weren't there. He asked Ms. Akane, but she said she doesn't know where you are. He called me, and I called you, you didn't answer both of our calls! I was thinking if I should call mom or dad." Kouki said, his eyes were mixture of relief and anger.
"I'm, I'm sorry. Shu wasn't there so I was wondering why, and Iwai sensei walked me home."
Kouki frowned, "Iwai…. That new, your teacher?" Hikari nodded.
"You are smiling." Kouki said flatly.
Hikari's smile disappeared as soon as she heard it.
"Well, I'm glad you are home safe. I should call Shu. He is worried as hell right now." With that Kouki headed upstairs.
"Are mom and dad home?" Hikari asked.
"No." Kouki answered, and the sound of the door closing was heard. Hikari took a deep breath, walked up to her room and changed from her school uniform into comfortable clothes. She threw herself onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. She felt her heart beating fast. She felt her lips curling up into a smile. She just couldn't help it. She was smiling like an idiot when she realized what she was doing. She sighed and sat back up.
"I should really stop this." she told herself after a long sigh.
First to tell. I wrote this not because I think teacher-student relationship is okay. I assure you that there won't be any actual romance with Hikari as a high school student.
Second of all, I'm also foreign to Japan. I think mentioned that I live in Korea in my other fic, but Japan and Korea's school system's quite similar.
