"It's boppidy packed!!"
Hina Hikawa scoured her new classroom with ultra energy. Together with Lisa Imai, her new classmate she encountered at the announcement board, they were touring the room to greet their classmates.
"Hi there, Hikawa-san!"
"Nice to meetcha, Hina!"
"Let's be friends, Hikawa-san!"
To Hina's surprise, her new classmates already knew her, even before she had a chance to introduce herself. She had difficulty recalling their names in return, though. More importantly, have they even met before? Hina might possess a great memory, yet she tended to forget about people who she didn't meet on a regular basis. Meanwhile, Lisa appeared to be well-known among 2-A students too, as she blended naturally in the other girls' chats.
2-A was a typical Haneoka classroom that had 35 desks, separated into five rows. About two-thirds of the seats were already occupied. Hina and Lisa took the desks beside the window. Hina seated at the fifth one, Lisa behind her, while the last one apparently had been occupied by someone else (only a blazer was seen on its chair).
"Hey, Lisa-chi," said Hina as she rested her hands on Lisa's desk. "It's strange..."
Lisa put her school bag on the desk and asked, "What's wrong?"
"You and the others know each other from clubs and such, right?" asked Hina, which Lisa responded with a nod. "Welp, truth is, I'm confused when they called my name. Feels like I didn't know them before, so it feels strange..." She ended her sentence with a sigh. "Am I forgetting them, somehow?"
"That might be the case, but..." said Lisa, touching her own chin, eyes gazing upwards. "Umm..."
Hina did some thinking as well. Usually when she forgot her acquaintances' name, at least she remembered his or her face.
Lisa made eye contact with Hina again. "Or maybe it's because you're famous at the school! I mean, you're the top student in exams and last year you were the one gave the speech representing the first years," she explained. "To tell you the truth; I had known you already, even before we met today."
"Eeeh, is that so?" Hina wondered. So she was kinda famous. Who would've thought?
"Positive! No need to worry, Hika—"
"Bhooo!" Hina pouted. "Just Hina will do, Lisa-chi!"
"Okay, okay, Hina... Sorry, I thought you're the type to mind being called on the first-name basis by, you know, a friend you've just met? Ahaha," said Lisa, who seemed flustered for some reason.
"Really? I find it distant to call my friends with last names, be it new or old ones."
This talk made Hina think about her sister, Sayo. Her older twin was the opposite of her in this matter. Sayo rarely-or never?-addressed people outside of their families with first names.
"Hina-chan...!!"
That voice and hug broke Hina's thought. She turned her gaze and saw a petite girl. "Where've you been, Chie-chan?"
"Hey, Lisa-chan! Classmates at last!" Chieko Nakahara greeted Lisa too, then turned to Hina again. "The track club had this morning meeting, you know..."
"On the first day of school? Zappin'~!"
On the contrary, Lisa was startled. "You girls are really pumped up, huh..."
Chieko shook her head. "Nah, we're not doing any practice. Just discussing plans to recruit new members," she explained. "By the way, who's your pick for class rep?"
"Who are the candidates?" Hina asked.
"I'm pretty sure Takahashi the 1-F's class rep is gonna nominate again."
"1-F..." Hina tried to recall anything related to that class. "Oh! The one that was so pew pew pew BOOM during the dodgeball matches?"
Lisa laughed. "Pew pew pew BOOM? Hina, you sure have an interesting choice of words!"
"But I haven't the slightest idea of the other candidates..." Chieko sighed. "Man, it's not exciting when there are no competi—oh!! Lisa-chan, you should nominate too!"
Lisa's mouth widened. "...come again?"
"Wow, that's boppin'! We should vote for Lisa-chi!"
"Hold on--aah, let's talk about something else!" said Lisa. She paused for a moment before continued, "Umm... Speaking of competition, Kisaragi-san is here too, right?"
"There she is," said Chieko, pointed to a long-haired girl who sat in front of the teacher's desk and was currently reading a book.
"Kisaragi who?" asked Hina. The name didn't ring any bell and this Kisaragi wasn't there when she and Lisa toured the class.
"Sssh! Not so loud!" Chieko whispered.
"Hina," said Lisa in a low voice. "You seriously don't know Satomi Kisaragi? Her name's like--" her voice turned into a whisper, "--always below yours on the exam's scoreboard."
"Oh, no wonder that name sounds unfamiliar!" Hina gleefully said. "I never look at the scoreboard; that's why!"
"Ahaha..." Lisa giggled awkwardly. She tried to say something but immediately closed her lips again. She seemed at a loss for words.
Before any of the three realized, the topic of their conversation had stood beside their desks, making Lisa and Chieko startled.
"Greetings, Hikawa-san," said Satomi Kisaragi. But despite her words, she was staring at Hina sharply. Was she trying to challenge Hina at a staring contest? If that was the case...
Hina stared back at her. She didn't have the gift to wear an intimidating look, but she tried anyway. Imaginary intense background music from Honest Trailers' YouTube series was being played in her head; the one that was usually put whenever a 'staring moment' popped out.
Satomi, still in her staring mode, continued, "I heard that you never bother to check the scoreboard. Are you even serious about school?"
Of course, Hina was serious about her academic life. Though often arrived late, she never skipped school. As for the scoreboard, however...
"Are numbers that important?" Hina candidly asked.
"Y-you!" Satomi's face turned as red as a tomato. She then walked away while declaring, "I'm so going to beat your score at the midterms, you'll see!"
Hina gave her classmate a friendly wave in return. Though didn't understand Satomi's motive, an exam score competition sounded exciting for her.
"That's mean, Hina-chan!" Chieko teasingly said. "...gosh, you're always this frontal that it gives me goosebumps sometimes!"
"I... kinda regret bringing this topic up, ahaha," Lisa added. She smiled in guilt and continued, "I should say sorry to Kisaragi-san later."
"Huh? Did we say something wrong to her?"
Before either Lisa or Chieko was able to say anything, a young teacher in a tracksuit entered the classroom. The PE teacher named Hanako Kobayashi introduced herself as 2-A's homeroom teacher. After giving a short speech, a roll call plus self-introduction for every 2-A students were held. Before long, it came the moment for the class representative election. And as Chieko predicted before, Reina Takahashi from 1-F nominated herself.
Miss Kobayashi wrote Reina's name on the whiteboard. "Any other candidates?"
Hina and Chieko, who happened to seated diagonally, exchanged eye contact, then pointed at Lisa.
"W-wait! Wha—?!"
The other classmates began murmuring around.
"Ooh, Imai-san? She's great."
"Yeah. Lisa-chan's good at communication."
"Great choice, Hikawa-san!"
"Sensei, I'm nominating Lisa too!"
"Me too!"
"Me three!"
Long story short, the election finally began. Each student had to write the name of her favorable candidate on a piece of paper and put it in a box. The candidates? No other than Reina Takahashi and Lisa Imai. Hina, as the one who nominated Lisa, wrote her name, of course.
"It's a tie, girls..." announced Miss Kobayashi enthusiastically as she put one more vote for Lisa. She glanced at the only remaining folded paper, then took it. "This will determine the win--what?!"
"What's wrong, Sensei?" asked up one of the students.
Miss Kobayashi showed the last vote to the entire class. It was an A5-sized loose-leaf paper with neatly written Kanji characters on it. Hina could see some kind of flowers decorating the corners of each kanji.
"Whose vote is this?" asked the teacher.
"Why, that would be mine, Kobayashi-sensei," said a cool-sounding voice from behind.
Hina and everyone in 2-A turned their heads to the corner most desk beside the window. The seat's owner was a crimson eyed girl who wore her hair in a ponytail, Kaoru Seta.
"Please explain why did you write both Takahashi-san and Imai-san's name here," said the homeroom teacher. "One vote is for one candidate, Seta-san."
Kaoru dropped a heavy sigh. "It pains me greatly to choose only one because every little kitten in the world deserves to shine."
"Please be serious for a bit..." said Miss Kobayashi as she was trying to keep her ideal teacher's smile.
Kaoru rose from her seat. "But I am, my mother kitten," she replied while placing her palm on her chest to show resolve.
Hina was unable to hold her laughter. Her new classmates in 2-A surely were interesting people. And Kaoru Seta, so far, topped the list. Even the Haneoka prince's self-introduction from twenty minutes back was so boppin' in many ways.
"Kaoru-kun, mother kitten isn't a kitten anymore!" Hina corrected as she wiped away her tears.
"Oh, my bad. I mean, the mother cat," Kaoru gently stroked her own hair. She smiled at Hina and continued, "You have my gratitude, little kitten."
"No prob~" Hina replied, while on the other side of the classroom, there were some fangirls squealed, "Kaoru-sama!!".
"...oh, Dear Lord." Miss Kobayashi's tired voice made Hina turned to the front of the class again. "It's not even an hour since we began this homeroom..." The PE teacher facepalmed and said, "Just make your decision, Seta-san. Please."
"Can't we have two class rep—ouch!" Kaoru's question stopped midway as chalk hit her head. However, it didn't take much time until she regained her composure. "Please forgive my indecisiveness."
"...so, are you going to vote or not?"
"To be, or not to be—"
"Argh, fine!" cut Miss Kobayashi. Irritation was clearly visible on her face now. The young teacher reached for her tracksuit's pocket, to reveal a silver coin which seemed like a 500 yen. "We'll decide the winner with this, okay?" she declared. "Heads for Takahashi-san and tails for Imai-san."
"What a wise decision, my mo—"
"—it's you who forced me to do this, Seta-san!"
Kaoru chuckled guiltily, then sat back on her chair.
A coin-toss to determine the class representative? What an exciting turn of events, Hina thought. It was still the first day, yet she could already imagine that every day will be very boppin' here.
Miss Kobayashi summoned the class representative candidates and Kaoru to the teacher's desk to witness the fateful coin-tossing. The whole classroom went awfully silent for a few seconds, until...
"Congratulations, Takahashi-san," said the homeroom teacher after she moved her left palm from the back of her right hand. She turned to Lisa next. "Imai-san, help Takahashi-san out, okay?'
"Reina my queen and Lisa my prime minister... Ah, how fleeting!"
"Yeah, whatevs, Seta-san," Miss Kobayashi deadpanned. She then stepped away from the teacher's desk to give a chance for Reina and Lisa to speak.
"Hi, everyone! Lisa and I will be in your care!" Reina exclaimed. She adjusted her glasses' position and glanced at her deputy. "So... Lisa, where should we go after school for icebreaking?"
"Hold on; aren't you skipping a lot of stuff?" Lisa chuckled but decided to play along anyway. "Well, karaoke and diners never fail!"
A wave of 'YAY!' could be heard from 2-A girls, including Hina who liked karaoke.
"Great! We should stop by Lawson to buy some chopsticks, then," said the class representative.
Lisa asked, "Why do we need them?"
"To play king game, of course!" Reina blatantly informed.
The whole class was in an uproar. And Miss Kobayashi facepalmed, again.
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Author's Note:
The example of a 'stare moment' can be seen in Honest Trailers - Twilight video, minute 1:00 to 1:28. Search for it on YouTube~
King game is an ice-breaking game that works like the truth or dare; except it only involves dare, dare, dare, and dare. The tasks usually get crazier the longer the game runs, that the players come home with shame and regret.