Cross Mirage

Chapter 1: Cross

Haruka

"I'm telling you, he just doesn't listen to me!" Hansel leans back on his chair, furrowing his brows. It'd be a lie to say that I haven't seen him this annoyed before. His blazing red hair certainly matches his temper.

"Ever thought of actually asking him nicely, and not being a jerk?" Jamie sniggers.

"Whatever." Hansel snorts. "Without a good number four, we're screwed for our team. Ravi was our star player too. Ugh..."

Eight in the morning, first day of our second year in university and those two are already at it. Word has it that Ravi left our school's basketball team in order to devote more time into pulling his mediocre grades up. Hansel, the Captain of the team, has been getting tremendous pressure to find a replacement for him.

The rest of the class, on the other hand, are a notch below the duo's vitality, including myself. It's probably because most of us are bummed out by the end of our summer vacation, though that doesn't stop us from exchanging our experiences.

"Maybe you can ask Haru to join our team," Jamie jokes, his shark-like grin surfacing.

"H-huh?" His remark catches me off-guard. "N-no way. You know I'm terrible at sports."

"What if we're actually desperate enough to sub you in." Hansel laughs. "I've calculated the risks. You and us? We're gonna rule the Southern Unmyo scene, one-hundred percent."

"Calculated?" I arch my brow. "Then your maths is as bad as your pick-up game."

"Ouch!" Jamie claps, laughing like a hyena.

"Man, you're ruthless."

Hansel and I can't help but chuckle as well. These guys may behave like apes on the outside, but if one takes the time to know them, one would realise that they're actually really sweet people. The same could be said about most guys on the basketball team, I guess.

The door of our classroom slides open, followed by the clatter of heels on hard ceramic. Immediately, the clamours begin to lighten, and soon all eyes are on the woman in front of the class. Dressed in a tight-fitting, black A-line dress which accentuates her slender figure, Miss Dionne looks as ravishing as ever.

"Have you all had a good break?" our economics teacher asks, her beam almost warm enough to melt away the Monday Blues. Almost.

"It's not long enough!" Ji-Min declares boldly, which is soon followed by whoops of approval from the rest of the class.

"Oh you guys..." Miss Dionne shakes her head, the smile never leaving her features. It must take a lot of patience to deal with a class like this. Even after all these years of studying in Unmyo, the pseudo-western class etiquette of this school is still a little too much for me to get used to. "Well, we're getting a new transfer student for the rest of the Semester. From South Korea, I believe. I hope you'll give him a warm welcome. God knows he needs it..."

Murmurs begin to simmer among my classmates. Admittedly, I don't feel nearly as excited as the rest of my class is about this piece of news. I'm more concerned about his ability to catch up with the syllabus, since the newcomer is after all, barging into the course on the second year.

"South Korea? Like Ji-Min's clique?" Hansel chuckles, his western accent causing her name to sound more like 'gee-men' instead. "Man... why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

"Shut up, moron," Jamie says, stifling his laughter. "It's just her crew. You're gonna make Haru feel bad."

"I'm not from Korea, Jamie." I sigh.

"Yeah, doofus," Hansel says. "You forgot his real name already? Does Haruka―"

"Shut up!" I send my notebook flying straight for Hansel's face, smacking him on his nose.

Several seconds pass. Nobody steps through the door. The class continues to wait with baited breaths. Miss Dionne, confused, peers over to the doorway with an expression of bemusement.

"Uhm..." our teacher says. "You can come in. Don't be shy."

It's like she's ushering a scared rabbit to enter our classroom or―

Except that this isn't a scared rabbit at all.

A figure with a hulking stature and broad chest steps into scene. However, there's something unnerving about him. If I was excited about the newcomer before, I probably wouldn't be right now. And I wasn't.

He has a classic medium-lengthed hairstyle that one would often expect from a Korean male after watching too many K-drama series for his or her own good. A subtle tinge of brown graces his hair. However, an ugly scar tears from the top of his right eye down to his cheek. In tandem with his dead, solemn expression, it paints a rather intimidating image of him.

"Woah..." Jamie murmurs, scratching his cheek nervously. "That's some serious mark."

"Yeah. Gives me the chills," Hansel agrees, hooking an arm over the back of his chair.

The entire class remains silent as the newcomer makes his way to the whiteboard. He turns to face us. Neither side speaks. It's as if time stood still and trepidation is a phantom that wields the strings to us meat puppets, freezing us in place.

Eventually, Miss Dionne is the first to shatter the silence.

"Well..." Our teacher clears her throat. "Would you... like to introduce yourself to us?"

The mysterious newcomer tenses even more at Miss Dionne's remark. His lips part a little, but not a single word leaves his breath. At least, not immediately.

"My name..." he manages to say, through much internal effort, it seems. "My name is Park Ji-Hong. I'm..."

And that's as far as he goes.

He takes an abrupt bow, probably in an effort to offset the awkwardness from his half-finished line. I can't say it's helped him all that much though. The stubborn muteness of the class persists. Someone coughs. But nobody actually responds to his introduction. Even I find it a herculean feat to thaw the wordless atmosphere between us. Sympathy gets the better of me, however, and I manage to give him an embarrassed wave of welcome. Ji-Hong's pupils dart to me. His face remains as stoic as ever, so it's an impossible task for me to tell what's on his mind. It's a little unsettling.

"Uhm..." Miss Dionne says. "Well, your seat's at the back. See that one over there?" She points at the one at the empty chair in the back of the classroom.

Ji-Hong nods, then makes his way towards it, seemingly unperturbed by the cold shoulder that my class is giving him.

"Man, he's creepy," Jamie whispers again.

"I feel kind of bad for him though," I say.

"Same here. Kind of. But damn..." Hansel shakes his head. "The scar is one thing, but have you seen those eyes? I've seen them before. Those are eyes of someone who can kill."

"With a build like that?" Jamie nods. "That's probably true."

I've heard of the western saying 'looks that can kill', but this is on a completely different level of it. Maybe I shouldn't listen to my friends, but I can't shake the feeling that there's more to the newcomer than it meets the eye. 

Though, to be honest? I'm not sure if I want to find it out for myself.