«Just breathe, Yui, there's no reason to be scared» I thought, nodding repeatedly to convince myself. I took a last deep breath and entered the classroom as the teacher called my name.

"Alright, class. Please welcome our new student, Nekosama Yui."

I could hear a few snickers coming from three boys near the door, and I tightened my grip on my backpack. I took a deep breath and focused on a couple of friendly looking students seated at the back of the class. I had learned that if I focused all my attention on only one thing –or person–, it would help me concentrate and I would feel less nervous. A girl with pretty hair caught my attention; she was smiling at me as if she knew I was nervous and wanted to encourage me. I tried to smile back.

"Hello. I'm Nekosama Yui and I just moved here from Tokyo a few days ago. It's a pleasure to meet you all" I said, and bowed politely. As my old teacher used to say, 'Manners are everything in life'. "I hope we can all get along well."

"It's nice to meet you too, Yui-san. You can take a seat", said the teacher. "There are actually two free ones, so you can sit wherever you feel more comfortable."

In fact, there were two empty desks. One was behind the snickering boys; that was a huge 'No'. The other one was the second to last, only one seat from the window and just by the friendly looking students I had focused on to calm my nerves. I chose that one. As I was walking to my seat the teacher said something about everyone being nice to me and making me feel welcome, and then she started her class.

I quietly greeted everyone as I sat down. I could feel their furtive glances and tell they wanted to speak to me, probably introduce themselves and whatnot, but I still felt a little anxious, so I pretended I was too focused on the teacher's words to notice them. I wrote in my notebook, trying to take notes, but my mind was racing and could barely retain more than three words. Even if I could, my hands were still shaking so much I couldn't have read my own handwriting.

Time passed by and the class finally ended.

"Hello Yui-san! It´s nice to meet you. I´m Matsuoka Kou." It was the girl with pretty hair I'd seen earlier. She was seated right next to me and was greeting me with a friendly smile.

I was about to answer, when a blond boy appeared from behind her so suddenly he startled me a little.

"That´s not your name, Gou-kun" he said with a mocking frown on his face, and Kou's -or Gou's?- face twitched as she tried to control herself.

"I told you a million times, my name is Kou."

"But-"

"Uh.. nice to meet you, Kou-san" I said with a smile, feeling a little bad for her. I also hated my name, so I could understand how she felt.

Her reaction was priceless. Her face lit up and she smiled at me like I'd given her the greatest compliment in the world. The boy's face, on the other hand, was one of defeat and resentment at our alliance. I couldn't help but laugh at them.

"You're no fun, Neko-chan" his face turned into a mischievous smile, and I stared at him for a moment.

"Excuse me?" I said, not sure if I should be mad or not. «Is he mocking me? We just met.»

"Isn't that your name? Nekosama?" he asked, looking a little confused. But he smiled again when I nodded. "Good. I was worried I had your name wrong."

"He's always like that", said Kou to reassure me. I relaxed, but still wasn't sure how to feel about the nickname.

"I'm Hazuki Nagisa" he introduced himself, ignoring Kou's comment. He kept talking excitedly before I could say anything else. "You're new here, so I don't think you joined any clubs yet, right?"

"Yeah…" I said cautiously when his smile brightened even more.

"Then you have to join the swimming club!" he beamed, leaning forward until our noses were just a couple inches apart.

Kou gasped and her face lit up again, and both her and Nagisa started rambling about how much fun it would be for me to join them.

"...another girl in the team…"

"...you'll get a free Iwatobi-chan!"

"...lots of muscles to admire!"

I could barely hear what they were saying. The smell of chlorine and the feeling of water on my skin flooded my mind, but they were quickly replaced by a burning throat and the beeping of hospital machines. My heart started racing and my throat closed as I had to fight back the tears.

None of them seemed to notice, because Nagisa kept going on and on about it.

"...Gou-chan's our manager, so you wouldn't be the only girl there, and Amaka-sensei is with us too. It's lots of fun, and we are training for our first tournament!"

He was speaking so fast it was making me dizzy, but when he mentioned the tournament my mouth moved on its own.

"No." I said, looking him dead in the eyes, my voice a little harsher than I expected. "I mean, I don't like swimming."

I saw Kou's expression at my sudden refusal and I looked away. After all, I had never been a good liar.

"The water and I don't get along well."

Before any of them could say anything else, a teacher arrived to start the new class. Nagisa pouted as he went to his seat and I could see out of the corner of my eye as Kou wanted to say something, but she stopped herself. My heart was still racing, but now it was a mixture of anxiety and sadness.

«Well done, Yui. What a way to make friends with the first people that come and talk to you.»

The rest of the morning went on uneventfully, and finally it was lunchtime. I hesitated, and was about to head out and find a nice place to eat when Kou stopped me.

"Want to have lunch with us, Yui-san?"

I was surprised she asked, I half-expected them to be mad at me for my refusal to join their club. I smiled.

"Sure!"

When I got home, I went straight to my room and collapsed on my bed, the only decent thing among all the boxes I had to undo. I'd just moved in with my brother a few days ago, so everything was still packed away. I sighed; it would take a while for me to finally settle in.

I was about to get up when I froze, my body reacting before my brain could figure out what happened. An old red and black baseball cap was hanging from the head of my bed. I was shocked to see it there, I meant to leave it back with my parents, and a second later the answer popped into my head. «Asahi.» It was an old cap, worn out over the years, and the colors were starting to fade away, but it really bothered me to see it hanging there. Too many memories, especially with what happened today.

I heard the front door opening and the light footsteps of my brother.

"Yui?"

"I'm here!" I called out, and sat on the bed as I saw Asahi's head poke through the door. I looked at him accusingly, and he smiled sheepishly when he saw the cap.

"You decided to bring it after all? Good, I'm glad."

"I can imagine" was my answer. I opened a drawer on my side table, shoved the cap all the way back and closed it while staring him straight in the eyes. He sighed.

"Can I come in? I have a peace offering" he said, waving a strawberry chocolate bar. I tried to keep a straight face, but failed miserably.

"Fine."

As he sat down I took the chocolate bar and opened it unceremoniously.

"So? How was the first day of school?"

"It was fine, I guess."

"Did you make any friends?"

«I think maybe I did?» I thought.

"Of course, you know me. I had to get rid of all my admirers, they all wanted to walk me home" I joked, and we looked at each other before bursting out laughing.

"Joined any clubs?" he asked softly after a moment, and my face twitched a little.

"I considered a few options" I said, and his face lit up. It reminded me of Nagisa as he was asking me to join the swimming club. I left that part out. "I was thinking of maybe joining the Literature Club, or the Gardening Club."

His face fell when he heard me, but he didn't say anything; he didn't complain like mom and dad did, which is why I liked him so much. Instead, after a moment of silence he snorted, then started giggling, and before I could get over my surprise for his sudden reaction, he was lying on my bed and crying with laughter.

"What is it?" I demanded, not sure if I should be mad at him or not.

"Literature? Gardening? You?" he blurted out and continued laughing.

"Hey! I could read a book and plant a plant if I wanted to!" I defended myself, but my words only made him laugh even harder, so I just started hitting him until we were play-fighting like we did when we were kids.

"Allright, allright, plant girl, I'm going to make dinner. Fancy anything special, to celebrate your first day here?"

"Fish!" I exclaimed brightly, and he laughed at my child-like expression.

"Very well, Nekosama. Fish it'll be" he announced, and I stuck my tongue out at him as he exited my room.