After a week of settling into his new apartment the first day of school had arrived. Kyoyota Arianagi woke up and got dressed in his new uniform. Thinking to himself he felt that the colors looked much better on him than Seka's uniform used to.Kyo pushed his hair back making the scruffy bed head look a little smoother then left the apartment, locking the door behind him.
There was a convenience store near the apartment, he picked up a tempura shrimp bento box for lunch and a salmon onogiri for breakfast. After finishing his food he placed the bento box inside his backpack, left the store and started the walk to school.
It felt weird not walking to school with Hiro for the first time in a long time. Although he was just at the school the other day, Hanabira high looked massive up close, and there was a pressure in the air.
Kyo made his way to the homeroom and sat in the back nearest to the window. One might think that he picked this spot because he wanted to feel like the main character of a manga or something, but the real reason was because Kimori was sitting in the seat just in front of the desk Kyo chose.
Kimori, unlike Kyo, was carefree about being in a new high class setting. He was wearing the school uniform, but he stood out the most for being the only kid in class with not only dyed yellow hair but also an earring.
"Morning," Kyo said.
"Good morning, Kyo, I told you we would see one another at Hanabira."
"Is it just us in class 1C? I didn't check the class registration." Kyo said dismissing his friends somewhat snarky I told you so comment.
"Just us I'm afraid, Goda is in class 1A and Himori is in 1B. This is looking up to be one boring class." He explained.
"What you consider a bore, I find mentally draining."
"You worry too much Kyo."
As Kimori said this, the home room teacher, Mr. Shindo walked in. A man with a strong demeanor, black hair about mid necks length, glasses covering his dark green eyes, wearing a black trench coat down to his knees, a white undershirt, purple tie, black slacks and shoes. He was not only well put together, but looked more like a fit gym teacher than a home room instructor.
"So this is my class for the next year huh?" He said with seriousness, his voice was deep. "Listen to this one piece of advice, first years tend to make Hanabira high sound like an amazing school. Don't get me wrong, it is a feat just to get into it, but we are, at our core, a school. You are allowed to make some mistakes, you are allowed to enjoy your youth, whatever you do, do not put school above youth."
His words were to those with normal situations, but Kyo felt like he does not get the luxury of making mistakes nor did he feel like he could enjoy his youth. That is what he believed at the time. "Time to start, first let's do some introductions, let's see here … let's start with Mr. Arianagi and go up row by row."
Kyo stood up, "hello my name is Kyoyota Arianagi, I like to study and eat sweets. My favorite food is pudding, and I play soccer when I can" Kyo sat back down. Kimori looked at him with disappointment, as though he could have said something more interesting. Kimori then stood up.
"I am Kimori, I like both looking and drawing art. My specialty is portraits. I made it to the All Japan Junior High Sports Event in badminton, and I have a twin who also goes to this school which is the coolest thing about me." He said with utter confidence, as he gave his introduction he only looked at the girls in the class.This display and clear bragging rights led to Kyo looking at him with even more disappointment than what Kimori gave Kyo.
The other people in the class were uneventful in their introductions, the only ones that stood out was in the 3rd row in the back, the one who stood up simply nodded to the class before sitting back down.
The guy in the front of the class located on the 4th row from Kyo said his name was Ryo and that he wanted to be a doctor.
The last one that stood out was a girl who had heterochromia eyes blue and green, she had light brown hair, her cool fact was that she wanted to be a lawyer. Call it Kyo's intuition after spending three years in the number two spot of his grade for highest grades, but it would be these four people, including Kimori, who were the biggest rivals in this class.
"Right then, here are the papers you need to have signed by your parents to make sure you have everything you need, consider it free points." He looked right at Kyo when he said this. Kyo got the feeling that Mr. Shindo knew about his situation, but Kyo wanted to talk to him after class to make sure. Kyo's other classes went a similar way, introduction, syllabus overview, expectation, and what to prepare for next time.
After four classes of this, the bell for lunch finally rang. Kyo had learned that his aunt went to the school for his uniform and explained to some of the staff part of her nephew's situation and signed everything for him in advance.
During lunch Kyo started walking around the school to become familiar with it, then he stopped, sat on some steps by the gymnasium and pulled out his bento from this morning. As he ate, Kyo watched people playing sports on the field. Hanabira high was massive even though the number of students who go does not match its size, so there were a few fields where people were playing.
About halfway through his bento a girl walked past him, carrying four boxes extending well over her head, making her stumble over her steps. Kyo stood up and grabbed three of the boxes she was carrying. His motions were quick and steady to ensure she did not fall over or drop any of the boxes. "Wow, these are heavier than I expected, where do you want them?"
"Huh? You really don't have to help, I got it." The unknown girl said this half exhausted.
"You were two steps away from falling over, now, where are we taking them?" Kyo rebutted with some worry in his voice.
The girl had some sweat falling off her cheek, feeling bad for making a stranger help her, she gave a small sigh before saying "Follow me."
They went to a store room back behind one of the fields. As they entered the girl instructed Kyo "please put them up on that shelf over there please," she asked.
Kyo lifted all three at once over his head and placed them on the shelf, it was just big enough to fit all three perfectly. Kyo then took her box and put it next to the other three. When Kyo looked back he saw that she was concerned. "Are you ok, miss?"
The girl looked shocked about the feat that he had just done."You lifted all those heavy boxes over your head like it was nothing, are you ok??"
Kyo placed his right hand behind the back of his head lightly scratching it out of embarrassment, "yeah I am good, I am used to picking up heavy instruments so that was nothing."
"Umm, right, thank you for your help." She said, confused. To her, Kyo did not look like a band player, he seemed more like an athlete.
"No problem, anything else you need help with?" Now that Kyo got a breather he noticed her looks, she has a slim figure, about 5 '7 in height with light blond hair, the ends of her hair were curled naturally, she had red eyes, and the black uniform made them pop out. She was pretty, was his first thought.
"Well not with this stuff, thank you for the offer." She paused for a moment, she leaned towards Kyo slowly, hands behind her back, she was close, "Would you be interested in joining the student council?" She asked this with confidence and determination in eyes. Kyo spent almost no time thinking about his response, "No." Kyo then stepped back, turned around, and began to walk away. Kyo learned from his aunt to not deal with the awkward silence, so he was just going to leave, even though he did feel bad for how she might have felt.
"Why not?" he heard from behind him.
Kyo stopped without turning back, "I don't do clubs it is as simple as that, it's nothing against you or the council, nor to this school, but it would take too much time."
"Please reconsider, you would be a perfect fit for the role!" She pleaded.
"My answer is final. If you need help the next time you see me, then just ask, but beyond that I can't be of service to you."
"Is there anything I can offer you? Anything you might need?" The girl said as if turning this relationship into an exchange of sorts.
"Nope" Kyo was dead set that nothing in the world could change his mind.
The girl thought for a moment and then explained further."Being a member of the council looks good on college applications, and for jobs as well. Being a member of the student council is a rare opportunity since you can only become a member through recommendation."
This was true, at Hanabira high school, it was up to the previous members of the student council to decide who takes their position. The president would choose the next president, the vice president would choose the next vice president, and so forth. Her offer to Kyo was a small exception as she was not offering him to become the next president, but because a previous member never chose a successor. Ultimately leaving the decision up to her.
Although this did catch Kyo's attention, he stood by his previous decision. "I don't need any of that, please just drop the idea, you don't even know me, and an important position like the council is jumping the gun don't you think, especially for someone you just met?" He said, finally turning around looking at the beautiful girl before him.
"Kyoyota Arianagi, I know who you are, and I choose you to be the next treasurer of the council. I beg you to reconsider."
He was not sure how she knew him, his first thought was that she knew his mother, Kyo tried to spin the conversation around, "Maybe you know who I am but I don't know who you are."
She felt bad since she never introduced herself and felt that she missed the opportunity since Kyo just randomly started helping out. She gave a slight bow of apology and said "Please forgive my late introduction, my name is Yuuki Hanami, a second year, and the president of the student council."
Kyo was taken-a-back because he did not think that she was the president. However, he still turned her down, "It's nice to formally meet you Ms. Hanami but I respectfully decline your offer."
President Hanami felt like she was facing a brick wall, "I understand, please forget that I ever asked."
Kyo sighed with relief, and began to walk away again before he heard behind him,
"I will try again tomorrow." she said with confidence. Kyo brushed off that comment and continued to leave. He finished his bento and quickly got through his first day at Hanabira. Weirdly enough he felt happy at the end of his first day at Hanabira.
…
The next day as Kyo walked into school he saw President Hanami at the entrance welcoming students in and saying stuff like "good morning" or "hey X name how are you today?" It was a good publicity act from her, and her attitude in the morning was something to commend. She really was a captivating person. As Kyo continued to walk in, he passed right by her avoiding eye contact.
She slightly turned her head and said "Good morning Mr. Arianagi." She said this and began walking with Kyo. "How are you this fine morning?" Kyo wanted to avoid her, but he did say he would help her if needed. He really did not want to be mean to her, and he was the only one making this situation awkward. He took in a breath and spoke with honesty, "I am doing well. How are you?" She looked at Kyo with a smile, "I'm doing great. Now about my offer, have you thought about it?"
"Thought about what? I turned you down and that was that." It was true. Kyo had moved on and focused on studying last night instead of dwelling on this like it was the biggest decision of his life. She gave a smug look as they walked to his class before parting ways. Kyo hoped that this was the end of it, sure enough though, when lunch time came around she was at his class faster than he could leave. It was at that moment he knew she was serious about this and was not going to back down.
"Heeeyyy Arianagi let's eat lunch together!" Kyo's first thought was she dropped the honorific quickly not that he minded, his second thought was trying to make an excuse, but ultimately couldn't think of a reason not to.
"Sounds good," he said this while pulling a bento out of his bag. They walked over to the stairs by the gym, a shady spot with mild entertainment from the people playing sports.
"I don't mean to be rude, Arianagi, but do you have any friends?" She asked with worry and seriousness in her eyes.
"Yeah I do, three go here and two others go to Nyūgaku Gakkō high."
"Why don't you hang out with them?"
"My friend Kimori and Himori play badminton during lunch and I don't want to be a distraction. Goda is busy with whatever he does."
President Hanami was shocked and said with surprise "You have friends in high places huh? Good for you." Kyo knew exactly what she meant when saying this.
Kimori and Himori were junior high national stars who won a number of badminton tournaments. Their names were well known in the junior sports scene. Goda was higher than they were in terms of name reputation, not only in sports, but also in academic events, rightfully holding the nickname of "Ace."
Kyo wanted to switch gears. During the last two days at school no one other than the teachers and President Hanami has called him by his last name. Arianagi was his mothers last name and not one that he liked being called. Kyo looked at Hanami and asked "can you please just call me Kyo, it feels weird to have this formality with you."
This did feel like a sudden jerk in the conversation, but she was receptive."Kyo huh? Can I take this as a sign of our friendship?"
"I guess." In truth Kyoyota asked this of her since he simply disliked his last name, not because he viewed her as a friend.
"Yay! Then as your friend can I ask a favor?"
Kyo thought, what kind of friend instantly asks for a favor? Given her nature though, he said, "if the favor is if I can join the student council, then my answer is no."
"You are impossible Kyo." Hanami said, getting a little frustrated. They both looked at each other, and started to laugh. It was strange that this was how their friendship started. A simple back and forth of "pleases" and "no's." Lunch ended without incident.
...
After school President Hanami was standing at the entrance of the school just like in the morning. Kyo walked past her to leave.
"Byeee Kyo!"
"See you later Miss. Hanami."
She pouted, "I thought we were friend, please call me Yuuki"
"Right" he felt awkward, "bye, Yuuki"
She smiled as he walked away.
The next day at school Yuuki did the exact same things, walked Kyo to class, ate lunch with him, said bye after school, repeat. The difference was that she took their new found friendship as a sign to endlessly begging Kyo to join the student council. This repeated the next day as well and the day after.
Kyo started to avoid her, but he could never escape forever. During his attempts to escape her vision he learned more about the layout of the school. There was the main building for classes, which had four floors, first years on the first floor ascending by year upward. With the basement being for staff members. The building next to it was for science and labs, things of that sort. Behind the school was a gym, which had a court and swimming pool, as well as two large fields each with a storage room. Kyo hid in one of those storage rooms during lunch to escape Yuuki's advances.
"KYOOO!!! Where are you!?" Kyo heard her say right outside of the room he was in. Someone ran over and asked "Prez you are ok? you're sweating a lot." Kyo overheard another girl ask.
"Yeah I am fine, I'm just looking for someone is all."
"I see, don't push yourself too hard." The other person ran off.
Yuuki was running around looking for Kyo, she was pushing herself so hard just for him. Kyo, whilst hiding, thought to himself why? I don't get it? Why me? The heat of the storage room and their conversations playing on repeat in his mind started to make his head spin.
Kyo stood up to leave and hit his head on a shelf and fell down, a loud thud was made, "ow!!" he yelled. The door was suddenly pushed open, Yuuki looked down to see Kyo laying there with a small head injury.
"Kyo! Are you ok?" Yuuki exclaimed.
"Yeah I am fine, but man that hurt." Kyo said slowly getting up.
"Let me get the nurse," Yuuki said while getting to run off, already exhausted and covered in sweat from running around the school grounds trying to find him. Kyo quickly grabbed her arm to stop her.
"I'm fine really." he said, brushing himself off. As they walked out of the storage room to get some fresh air Kyo turned to Yuuki, she looked like she was about to cry. Kyo lightly grabbed her shoulders, "I am fine really, look no injuries, so please don't cry." She looked up at him, "It's my fault you got hurt!"
"Huh? You didn't do anything at all. I am at fault for hiding from you." He waved his hands dismissively.
"You were avoiding me because I kept pressuring you, you hid here and got hurt as a result, I am to blame for this incident … I am really sorry Kyo, I will leave you alone." She said this while dropping her head.
Kyo paused, he thought to himself that it was his own fault, not just the injury, but this situation. She pushed herself for my sake, he thought. Mr. Shindo's advice also rang in his mind, "You are allowed to make some mistakes, you are allowed to enjoy your youth, whatever you do, do not put school above youth."
These last few days at school have been more fun than anything else Kyo has experienced. Kyo thought his teacher's advice didn't apply to him, that he couldn't join a club because it would take time away from studying which would lower his chances of passing with good enough scores. Kyo assumed that his high school experience would be like his middle school life, but this girl standing before him was extending a once in a lifetime opportunity at this school and Kyo has been pushing it off.
"Listen Yuuki, if I did join what would I get out of it?" He said awkwardly, lightly scratching his face. Depending on that answer Kyo would seriously reconsider her offer.
She looked up "Huh?"
"Like what is in it for me?" he reiterated.
Her eyes glistened from the tears as her soft voice began to speak, "You get to know people, teachers and students alike, you get access to all school supplies at any time, and it looks good for college applications. For what I will have you be doing, you will never be bored!" she paused then continued lowering her head again, "I am not sure what else there is to offer you."
Her words may not have been the most convincing, but Kyo made the excuse in his head that if he can get to know teachers then he can understand their expectations better, which would help him pass their classes easier. He took a deep breath.
"I accept your invitation to join the student council."
She smiled, whipping her tears off her face. "Right! Thank you Kyo, starting today you are officially the treasurer of the student council of Hanabira high school. We will have our first meeting after this weekend. I am going to clean up, I will see you later Kyo." She walked away with a smile on her face.
"Right! See you later."
As she walked off Kyo began to ask himself what he had just gotten himself into. He didn't have much time to process that question however, as the bell began to ring he went back to class. Kimori could see how exhausted Kyo was, "You good?" he asked.
"I am not sure, but I am now an official member of the student council."
"Oh really, that's cool." A moment paused as he turned back towards me, "Wait whaaat?!?"
Kimori explained why being a member of the student council was a big deal. Both that you could only get in via recommendation from a member, but also that there were only five positions in total. There was the president, vice president (VP), treasurer, secretary, and the scribe/event organizer. Meaning five students and one advisor, and that was it.
The student council was simultaneously the smallest and most impactful club the school offered, but it was practically impossible to join, especially as a first year.
"Seriously Kyo, I am jealous of your position."
"Why? Because it's rare?"
"No, because all of the girls in the council are total babes."
"Shut up Kimori!"
"You two in the back BE QUIET!" Mr. Sindo yelled.
"Yes sir, sorry sir." "Yes sir, sorry sir."
They said in unison.
…
After school Kyo didn't see Yuuki in her usual spot. After four whole days, which felt more like a few weeks to him, he felt uneasy. Kyo knew he would see her after the weekend so it was no big deal or anything, just unexpected. Kyo hoped she was ok after what happened at lunch. She seemed more hurt and tired than he was.
With his first week of school out of the way he could tell this was going to be an exhausting but fun three years. Later that day Kyo's aunt came by to see how he was doing and he basically confessed to her about everything that had happened.
"I am proud of you Kyomeowta, you really have grown up a lot."
"Thanks but I feel the same and stop it with that stupid nickname!"
"You will see your change one of these days, but I am happy for you. Oh right my sister sent this over for you." Kokoro said, handing Kyo a small bag.
"My mother sent something?" Kyo grabbed the bag and took a look inside. There was a card, some candy, a violin keychain, and some stickers.
"What a random assortment of items." Kyo said aloud. Kokoro just nodded then said, "I know you two aren't exactly on talking terms right now, but you should tell her thank you."
"I will, thank you for stopping by."
"I am here for you Kyo if you need anything at all, with that being said I have to go to Sendai over the weekend to meet some buyers, so I will see you when I get back text or call me if you need anything." She then walked out the door before Kyo could say anything. Kyo then reached in and grabbed the letter from inside the bag and opened it, it read:
Dear Kyoyota,
Congratulations on getting into Hanabira, my husband gave you the candy, your sister gave you the key chain and stickers. Best of luck.
It was a dull and straightforward message, not one she deserved a thank you for. Kyo figured he would just call the house sometime over the weekend to tell them thank you.
Kyo then laid on his bed and fell asleep quickly. That weekend, minus the phone call, was the last peaceful weekend he would have for a while.