My sister and I go over to Kaede's house as much as possible. Her parents are sweet, and they love to teach us new things. The Akamatsu family is welcoming and just fun to be around, which is the exact opposite of us Saiharas. Our family is dreary and miserable. That's why Tsumugi and I escape as often as we can.
After school, we immediately walked to Kaede's house. Her parents made us dinner and let us use their game room. We talked and played games to our heart's content and ended the day with a sleepover. The next morning, Tsumugi and I woke up early to return to our house and get ready for school. Luckily, our parents were still asleep. They're always irritated in the morning, so it's best to stay quiet and avoid them until around 1 p.m. It's kind of sad that we have to sneak around in our own home, but it's honestly the least of our concerns. There are much worse things that could be happening in this house.
The sun is just rising by the time Mugi and I finish preparing for the day. We decide to leave early and walk to school instead of inconveniencing Kaede's family for two days in a row. The walk is long, but it's nice to have some time to clear our heads before school.
"I can't wait for Fashion Arts," Tsumugi says to me as we enter the building. "I wouldn't be able to attend a class like that anywhere but an expensive art school! I can't believe it!"
"I'm happy for you," I smile to her. "What do you think it'll be like?"
"Hmm... I doubt they'll let us jump right to using needles and such. Maybe we'll be analyzing the aspects of people's outfits?"
"Analyzing outfits?"
"Yeah! Like this!" Tsumugi steps back and points to her uniform. "My outfit is pretty plain. It's just the normal school uniform, but with a longer skirt and blazer. But look over there!" Tsumugi guides my eyes to the right, where a girl was placing a silver, jewel-encrusted tiara daintily on her long blonde hair. "Her uniform is much more unique than mine. Her skirt has more volume to it, which must be done by a petticoat of some sort. Not to mention the gorgeous jewelry she's wearing!"
Upon hearing Tsumugi's compliment, the student lifts her head and smiles at us. My sister waves back, of course, and encourages me to do the same.
"Ah! Look over here now!" Tsumugi turned me around and points towards a purple-haired boy with bright violet eyes. "I've never seen a uniform modified like that! His uniform is darker than the assigned dark navy blue. It looks purple, almost. And look at all the pins on his blazer! They accent perfectly with his checkerboard scarf! Not to mention the boots he's wearing! They give an alternative, e-boy feeling to the uniform. It's amazing!"
My eyes widen as I take in the outfit. It must've taken a lot of effort to customize it like that. He looks really... nice.
"You look interested, Shuichi!" Tsumugi exclaims, pulling me in. "Wanna go talk to him? I'm sure you could get some good tips on modifying your own uniform!"
"W-What?!" I jump, startled. "I can't! I-It's weird to just go up to him like that! He'll think it's weird that I've been l-looking at him-"
"Really? I don't think so," the blue-haired interrupts. "He's been looking at you for quite some time."
"Huh...?"
Instinctively, I turn to see if her words were true, but it was no use. He was already gone.
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Time skip:
Homeroom (8:00 a.m.)
┕━━━━━━━☝︎━━━━━━━┙
Class began with no teacher. The bell had rung several times and they were still nowhere to be found.
"Maybe we should go look for them," Kaede suggests to the class.
"No way! What if they come back and we're gone?!" an android-like student asks. "We'll get in tons of trouble!"
"It's better than wasting our time doing nothing," a brunette says, playing with her pigtails. The robot opens his mouth to protest, but is interrupted by the sound of a door bursting open.
"I'm here, class!" our teacher steps into the room with his hands full of paperwork. "My meeting ran a little late..."
"A little?" a student in the back scoffs.
"Instead of starting instruction today, how about we spend some time getting to know each other?" our teacher proposes. "My name is Mr. Kizakura. We didn't get to meet yesterday, but it's important for you all to know that I'll be your homeroom teacher this year. And I won't always be this late, haha!"
The class remains silent.
"Hm... tough crowd," Mr. Kizakura mutters. "Well, how about we go around and introduce ourselves? I won't make you do icebreakers if you're enthusiastic enough!"
The class groans before the student closest to the front stands up from his seat, trudges over to the whiteboard, and writes down his name with a dark blue marker. "I'm Ryoma— Ultimate Tennis Player." He sits back down abruptly and waits patiently for the next person's turn.
After a series of diverse introductions, the whiteboard was decorated with colors and styles of all sorts. From first to last seated, the board read:
Ryoma Hoshi
Angie Yonaga
Miu Iruma
Maki Harukawa
Rantaro Amami
Kaito Momota
Shuichi Saihara
Kirumi Tojo
K1-B0
Tenko Chabashira
Himiko Yumeno
Kaede Akamatsu
Korekiyo Shinguji
Gonta Gokuhara
Tsumugi Shirogane
Kokichi Ouma
Finally, the entire class had finished their introductions. As Mr. Kizakura whined about us "rushing through the activity," a feeling of urgency suddenly pumped through my veins.
"Not this again," I mutter in my head. I'm aware that I'm extremely prone to anxiety; I have small meltdowns so frequently that it's become a normalized (yet embarrassing) part of my life. I become hypersensitive to my environment and existence in general, which makes my worry skyrocket. I learned how to mask it well over time, but it never goes away when I do so.
Fortunately, the bell rings seconds after my panic begins. I pack my things quickly and rush out of the classroom, racing to find the nearest bathroom. I hurry down the hallway, vision locked onto the ground so nobody could see the tears burning in the corners of my eyes. What is wrong with me... why did this have to happen so suddenly?
After an agonizingly long walk through the hallway full of people, I finally reach the bathroom. I lock myself in a stall and sit down, exhausted. My emotions are draining and I can't bear to be around anyone at the moment. I just need to calm down... but how? I don't even know what triggered my anxiety in the first place!
The bell rings again to signify the end of the transition period. I was officially late for class. I know I shouldn't skip, but I don't have the energy to sit through another class. I have to leave.
I take a deep breath and exit the stall. Before leaving the bathroom, I stop to look at myself in the mirror. My eyes are red and still teary, and my pale skin was practically crying for help. Honestly, I look like I'm sick. Maybe I could use that as an excuse to go home...?
I turn to head towards the door, but immediately lock eyes with another person. "Gah-!" I shout in surprise. "H-How long have you been there....?"
"Not long," the student responds. "Are you good?"
"...Yeah, I'm fine." I say. I'm not going to dump my problems onto someone else. It's nice of him to ask, though.
"You're sure?" he asks, tilting his head in a curious manner. His purple hair bobs as he moves. "You look kinda sick."
"I'm heading to the clinic right now," I reassure him. I begin to say my thanks, but he quickly shrugs and leaves the room before I can finish. As the door shuts behind him, a realization dawns upon me.
How come I didn't hear him enter? I think to myself. I should've heard his footsteps, and I definitely should have heard the door open and close. Was he in here the whole time? Or maybe he snuck inside... but why would he need to do that?
I lean against a wall as I assess the encounter. I don't know why it bothers me so much, but it does. Was I being watched, or was I just being paranoid? Why did he leave the bathroom without using it? Why did he come here in the first place? And why did his eyes seem so... familiar?
And then it hit me. That boy was in my class! He introduced himself as Kokichi Ouma: the Ultimate Supreme Leader. He sits in the very back of the classroom next to Tsumugi. He's also the one with the nice uniform from earlier. It was easy to connect the dots from there. The silent footsteps must have something to do with his Ultimate Talent, and he might have seen me rush out of the class and went to check on me. That explains why he left after I told him I was fine! I let a smile of satisfaction spread across my face. I enjoy solving mysteries, no matter how small they are. But all that worrying about silent footsteps and sneaking is making me realize why I felt so anxious all of a sudden; I had felt somebody's eyes burning into the back of my head during class.
Somebody was watching me... but who?
Word Count: 1601