Ayumi Miyake was never exactly fond of having to wake up at 6:45 in the morning. Especially not for school. She thought about all the annoyances that would likely come her way as she turned off her alarm clock and sat up. She ran her fingers through her short black hair and swung her legs off the side of her bed, her feet landing on top of the pile of clothes accumulating at her bedside. Before she could grab her clothes and begin to change, a loud knocking came at her door.
"Ayumi! You awake?" Called her oldest brother, Ichiro, from the hallway.
"Yeah, I'm up." Ayumi responded groggily, yanking a shirt off a hanger. She listened to his fading footsteps and began to change. While she never liked school, she was grateful she went to one of the few schools in Japan that didn't require uniforms. It was an oddity, but a welcome one. She had always liked to tease her friends from Tokyo about it, even though she kind of missed getting to see them so often. She stepped in front of the mirror on her closet door and checked her outfit. She wore a red long-sleeved shirt and denim overalls with red and black sneakers and a black cabbie hat. Her hair was still messy, but she preferred it that way.
Once she decided she looked acceptable enough, Ayumi made her way to the kitchen. There she found her mother making coffee while her other two brothers, the twins Haruki and Hiroto, playfully stole pieces of toast and banana off each other's plates. Ayumi rolled her eyes and walked past them to make toast for herself when she suddenly felt an arm around her. She was pulled back into a headlock by Haruki, who stole her hat and tossed it to Hiroto.
"Mornin', little sis!" Haruki said teasingly, bringing his face close to Ayumi's. A little bit in front of her, Hiroto was putting on the cabbie hat, miming driving a car and smoking a cigarette. The two boys laughed until Ichiro walked in. He snatched the hat off of Hiroto's head and gave it to Ayumi, who had already been released by Haruki.
"Leave the kid alone," Ichiro mused, "she just woke up." The twins made faces at their older brother, but didn't protest further. Ayumi huffed and adjusted her hat before roughly grabbing two pieces of white bread and jamming them in the toaster. Their mother just sighed and left the kitchen, not acknowledging any of her children. The toast popped out of the toaster with a ding, and Ayumi quickly grabbed them, shoving one in her mouth as she went to grab her black backpack off the hook near the door. She took a bite of the toast, chewing quickly while she rifled through her bag to make sure she had everything she needed.
"Slow down!" Ichiro laughed as he walked up behind her, grabbing his own backpack. "You'll choke if you try to eat it that fast."
"I'll be fine," said Ayumi with her mouth full, already going in for another bite of toast. She slung her backpack over one shoulder and stood up. "Bye! Love you, knuckleheads!" She called out as she rushed out the door. She ran towards the side of the house, where her bike was chained to the storm drain pipe. She put in the code, 1984, tossed the chain and padlock into her backpack pocket, mounted her bike, and adjusted her backpack to be in a position more suitable for her ride to school.
The ride to school was short and uneventful, and Ayumi made it to the front of the main building earlier than usual. She chained her bike to the bike rack and took a deep breath before she headed through the doors of her school building. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the familiar yellow beanie that she knew meant trouble. As the wearer of the beanie, a boy named Hibiki Okumura, approached, Ayumi tried to keep her head down and presence unknown. Unfortunately, her efforts were fruitless as Hibiki fell into step beside her.
"Hey, Miyake!" His voice was too cheerful for Ayumi's liking.
"I told you not to call me that." She replied bluntly.
"But you call me Okumura."
"I'm aware."
"And I've told you to stop calling me that."
"That I'm also aware of."
"Are you really not seeing it?"
"I am seeing it, I just don't care."
"Oh. Well…" Hibiki trailed off, not knowing what to say to that before he smiled widely at Ayumi. "I'll see you in chem!"
Ayumi's eyes flashed with anger. "Okumura, you bastard! I told you not to talk to me in-! And he's gone. Great." She huffed and kept walking until she arrived at her art class.
The school year had only started three weeks ago, but she had already determined that no kid who took art for anything other than an easy A was either insufferable or painfully weird. Ayumi knew one person in this class by name, but she found herself hoping that that person wouldn't show up every time she walked in the classroom. Today was the first day that hope had been fulfilled. Satisfied, she sat at the table she usually shared with the other person, relieved to be alone.
That relief lasted approximately one minute before a girl appeared in the chair across from Ayumi. Ayumi didn't look up, nor did she want to, but she figured she should at least get acquainted with her new desk mate. Nothing, however, could have prepared her for the sight that this new girl was.