Welcome to Aoba Johsai || Iwaizumi Hajime

Chapter 1

Haneul gulped in nervousness as she stared at the large building in front of her. She glanced back at her father, who was giving her an encouraging smile. "Good luck with your new school, Haneul."

Haneul bit her lips as she nodded her head before forcing her legs to move. Once she was inside her school, she tried to look for the faculty. However, she found herself lost that she panicked. 

She was too shy to ask a random person passing by to ask for directions and she wasn't confident with her Japanese skills yet. She was regretting her past decisions of not learning Japanese when her father asked her to. Who would have thought that she will suddenly move to Japan?

Soon the bell rang, causing all the students to head to their respective classrooms. Haneul, who was left alone in the hallway, felt her eyes becoming teary. As she held onto her bag strap tightly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. 

When Haneul looked back in fright, she saw a guy with spiky hair. She gulped as she felt her hands tremble. She couldn't form any words as she didn't know what to do.

"Do you need help?" He asked.

Haneul furrowed her brows as she tried to translate his words. When he said the word, help, her eyes lit up slightly, and nodded. "L-Lost..."

When the student heard her pronunciation, he furrowed his brows in confusion. "Are you not Japanese?"

Japanese was the only word she understood that she assumed that he asked whether or not she was Japanese. "N-No Japanese..."

The guy nodded and talked at a much slower speed. "Where are you supposed to go?"

Haneul just blinked as she tried to understand what he said. 

When he saw that she couldn't understand, he asked another question. "Are you Korean?"

Haneul nodded immediately at the word, Korean.

The student sighed in relief and tried to speak in Korean. "Where... you... go?"

Haneul smiled at the familiar language and said, "F-Faculty..."

The guy's face flushed at her smile that he averted his eyes in shyness. At the same time, he was proud of himself for not sleeping during his class for a second language. 

"Me... take you... there..." He said, hoping he said it correctly.

Haneul's face lit up. "T-Thank you..."

The student nodded and began to walk in a certain direction. She quickly followed after him. There was complete silence between them, but Haneul was thankful for it as they will probably have a hard time communicating and she was too timid. Soon they arrived at the faculty. 

"Here it is." The guy pointed at the door with a nod before turning away. 

Haneul hesitated, but quickly grabbed his arms, despite her shyness. "U-Um!"

The guy turned to look at her with wide eyes. "What is it?"

"N-Name...!" She asked. She wanted to get his name and hopefully be able to pay him back.

"Iwaizumi Hajime," he said. "U-Uh... your name...?"

"Lee Haneul..." she replied before thanking him once again. "T-Thank you, Hajime..."

Iwaizumi blushed when she called him by his first name. But he remembered that in Korea, people called each other by their first names that he understood.

"B-Bye," he said before walking away.

Once Iwaizumi was out of her sight, she entered the faculty. She stood there in awkwardness until a teacher called out to her. "Are you Lee Haneul?"

Haneul nodded before approaching the teacher.

"You are from Korea, right?" He asked at a slow speed, helping her understand what he was saying.

"Y-Yes..."

"How should I call you? Lee or Haneul?" He asked with a gentle smile.

Haneul furrowed her brows. Was he asking what to call her?

"H-Haneul...?" She asked more in a question as she was unsure about his question.

However, her prediction must be right as he nodded. "Okay, Haneul it is."

Haneul was in confusion as she didn't know why he would ask what to call her. Wasn't it obvious that she wants to be called by her name? Was he asking if she had a nickname?

• • •

Haneul and her advisor headed towards her classroom. When they entered the room, the chatter inside the class stopped and the students greeted him altogether. The teacher smiled and greeted them back. The students noticed Haneul that they whispered among themselves. "Is she a new student?"

"She's cute!"

"She doesn't look like Japanese though."

Haneul took shaky breaths, hoping to calm herself down. She nervously glanced around and her eyes widened slightly at the familiar face. Iwaizumi also had wide eyes when their eyes met.

"This is Lee Haneul and as you can tell, she is Korean and the new student. She isn't familiar with Japanese yet, so please take care of her." The teacher said. 

He then smiled at Haneul and pointing at where Iwaizumi was seated. "You can go sit beside Iwaizumi."

"Iwaizumi, please raise your hand, so that she knows where to sit." He added after.

Iwaizumi raised his hand while Haneul headed and sat beside him. Once she was seated down, she fidgeted on her fingers and looked down at her table, avoiding everyone's gaze.

"Okay class, let's continue with where we left off yesterday."

Everyone got their textbooks and notebooks out. Haneul noticed their actions and quickly followed. As the teacher began the lessons, Haneul sighed in relief as it was English.

Haneul's mind slowly wandered off to a daze as she knew the lessons. She mindlessly doodled on her notebook. As she was doing so, Iwaizumi softly cleared his throat before taking to her. "H-Hey..."

Haneul glanced at him briefly and nodded. "H-Hi..."

"If you need help with anything, you can ask me, Lee," he said slowly.

Haneul tilted her head slightly in confusion. "U-Uh... okay...?"

Iwaizumi could tell that she didn't understand that he tried to speak in Korean once again. "Need help... Me help... you..."

Haneul smiled softly. "T-Thank you..."

She then fidgeted her fingers as she spoke once again. "C-Call me... Haneul?"

Iwaizumi blushed but nodded.