My Underclassmen

Short Encounter

Hands on my knees, panting by the time I reached the school entrance. Catching my breath, I noticed something's off. Why am I not hearing the usual noises when I came at school? Not only that, when I was running my life here, I also haven't seen students making their way here. Suddenly, I felt dizzy so many thoughts came on my head and the number one thing is "Am I LATE?" For a member of the student council to be late sure is embarrassing. I started panicking.
Students aren't usually allowed to be late at school.
"I need to calm down." I told myself with my right hand on my chest. I closed my eyes. Took a deep breath and release all the bad thoughts.
OBSERVE, ANALYZE and ACT I thought.
The gate is still open. If I'm really late it should be close by now. Part of the school rules that the gate shall be closed at 8:30am.
Now that I think of it. I haven't set my alarm last night. I totally forgot about that one again. I'm pretty sure I woke up at 7:15
If I'm going to calculate the time. I should arrive at school's area from home in an hour and 30 minutes. The school isn't really far from the highway . I track my time running all the way here and it was 15 minutes. That's 1 hour and 45 minutes. Time now should be 8:45 am but why is the gate still open?

I sighed in confusion. But since I'm already here and the gate is still open, I might as well go in whether I'm late or not.
"This is strange. There aren't any students around. Maybe it's holiday?" My mind's citing different possibilities right now. I should stop.

I can only hear my own footsteps at the corridor until I arrive at the classroom. I put my bag at my desk still confused. This is so silent.
I sat down looking at the blank white board when my eyes met the clock at the top of it.
Wait... What? I can feel the world crumbling underneath my feet. The time's "7:50" I mumble. I laugh, an evil one and stopped. "Why is it 7:50?" Looking at the clock furiously. Then I realized that my clock at the house maybe is in advanced state. I haven't even set my alarm so it's really impossible for me to change the time itself. There's only one person who could pull this prank to me.
I grinned. "HIRAI MOMO! You're seriously dead!"

Meanwhile Momo at that time.
"I wonder why Tzuyu senpai went to school early." Mina stared at Momo. "Say, did you do something to her again? You look troubled just like the past days when you did some pranks to her."
"I'm fine. Haha! Why should I pull that pra--- I suddenly felt chills." Rubbing her shoulders with dulled expression.
Mina laughed at her.
"You did something. It's obvious."

I finally calmed myself down. That's right there's no use being angry.
Sitting here waiting for the others is boring. Drumming my fingers on the table, I began to think of something to do. There's still a lot of time. Maybe I should just check the cooking club room it's been a while since I visit there besides I'm a former member. I think it's fine. Mina and Momo is also part of the club. I still remember the first time Mina cooked something. It was going well, is what we thought but after she's done with the work, the food doesn't look like a food anymore. It even tastes awful but Momo really ate all of it. Those two are really close. Just thinking about it now makes me laugh. I wonder if something has been changed there.

Walking at the silent corridor isn't bad at all. It's not that every time I could feel this silence.
"So this is what school feels like early in the morning." I cheerfully told myself. The club room is not far enough from this distance. I stopped for a moment and opened a window at the corridor. The breeze is just so perfect. Not so cold and not so warm.
"I really like spring."
This school have a beautiful scenery. One that could make you feel not to leave.
"Deep thinking?" It gave me afraight when someone suddenly say those words at my back. Turning, I saw Jihyo.
"You startled me! Seriously Jihyo stop saying words out of the blue." Looking at her with my arms folded.
"Sorry." She gave me a peace sign while holding back her laugh.
Jihyo is our Student Council President. A very reliable person. I really admire her. Especially her confidence.
"Why do you like spring?" She asked curiously.
"Heh.. not gonna tell you." I smirked at her.
She just laughed again. This person really likes to be happy even if sometimes the world would fall over her.
"Okay. So, why are you here so early? It's not like today is your duty to make rounds around the campus." She said while looking outside.
"Well... I just happen to wake up really really early." I replied with a forced smile still thinking of what that jokbal kid did to me.
She turned her attention to me and stared at me intently.
"You know Tzuyu, you're bad at lying." She laughed. Again. And she knows I'm lying. Great.
I have to escape now before she asks random things that always caught me off guard.
"Anyway, I'm going to the cooking club room. Just call me if you need anything." I dashed away.
I'm saved for now.

My chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. Running twice this morning surely can kill a person. I leaned against the wall for a minute when I suddenly heard a scream inside the club room and things clattering. I walked towards the room slowly since I don't have energy to run anymore. The door is open. There I saw someone in her soaked uniform. Probably because she was trying to carry that bucket of water beside her now, balanced it on her head for some support and when she was trying to walk slowly it poured around her. That's how I visualize it. In some words, this girl is clumsy.
I approached her slowly.
"Uhmm~ are you okay?" I asked her. She jolted upright. She didn't respond which lead me to things like maybe's she's thinking I'm dumb for asking things like this even though I can clearly see she's not fine. She slowly turned her head to me.
"Uhmm~ sorry for asking things that have obvious answer. Haha.. I mean-." I stopped. Why am I suddenly saying these. She lowered her head. Maybe she's embarrassed?
I slowly walked beside her, bending my knees to level her line of sight. She's still looking at the ground.
"Uhmm...." I suddenly don't know what to say.
"Pfffttt-" covering her mouth with her right hand she's trying to stop laughing.
"You know it's not bad to laugh." I told her the she suddenly burst out laughing. What in the world? This was the second time this morning someone laughed at me. Is she another reincarnation of Jihyo?
"Sorry." She stopped laughing.
"That's the second time I received that line this morning so it's fine."  I just smiled at her.
She rubbed the tears on her eyes and  looked at me straight into the eyes. Her mouth curved into a smile.
She looks.... beautiful. I just stared at her. She suddenly sneezes in front of me. Seriously?

"You're uniform is wet." I point out at her then the realization that her bra is showing beneath that white blouse hits me. She looked at it and immediately covered it with her hands and looked away from me.
"So-sorry! I didn't mean to point it out like that. But you should really get changed since the bell will ring soon." I explained.

"Tzuyu? Are you still there?" Someone called up from outside the club room. I think it's Jihyo.
"Tzuyu-senpai?" I return my attention to her when she called me.
"Yes?" She looked at me for a moment and gaze away. It would be bad if Jihyo sees these and accuse me of bullying my underclassman.
"Where's your blazer?" I asked her.
"It was on my locker." She replied still not looking at me. Surely I made her feel embarrassed.
"In the meantime. I'll lend you my blazer. It would cost some time to get yours at the ground floor." I was unbuttoning my blazer when I caught her looking at me, I smiled at her.
Without any further things to say, I leaned closer to cover her my blazer.
"There." Our face are just inches apart. Her eyes widened. We stared at each other for  while.

She's red... I thought
I even leaned a bit closer this time. I pulled her head towards mine to check her temperature. She was looking away.
"You don't have a fever. I wonder why you're so red." I pulled away.

"Tzuyu?" I turn my eyes to the door behind her. Jihyo is still outside. Ofcourse, how could I forget.

I stand up. She's still lowering her head. Maybe I did something I shouldn't?
"Well. Jihyo is calling me. I have to go." I awkwardly say and made my way towards the door.
She suddenly called me "Tzuyu-senpai, thank you."
Turning at her, her eyes are bright when she's smiling.
I just laughed.
"See you around." I waved at her.

That person is like an equation. Interesting.