A loud alarm clock went off beside me. Thanks to it, I woke up and then turned it off. I stayed lying in my bed for about 3 minutes out of laziness before getting up and turning on my room light to look at myself in the mirror.
My red hair was completely messed up; it looked like I had a monster on my head. Also, my eyes seemed glued shut from how hard it was to keep them open.
Still unwilling, I opened my bedroom door and headed to the bathroom, where I turned on the shower and watched videos before undressing and getting in to shower, once the water was warm.
When I got out of the shower, I had a towel covering my whole body. Then I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror to start combing my hair. When I finished, I went to my room to finish drying off and then get dressed.
I'm new at the uni; this would be my third day going... What should I wear? I had two shirts in my hands, both normal, one completely red and the other completely yellow. I'm not confident enough yet to wear a shirt with a logo or an animal on it.
In the end, I decided to go with the red shirt and a pair of jeans. After choosing my clothes, I started putting on makeup, which I finished relatively quickly before heading to my house's kitchen.
"Good morning," I said, still sleepy.
"Good morning, sweetie. How are you?" A woman who seemed to be in her forties greeted me. Her hair was brown with green eyes. My mother.
"Fine."
"Argh, I can't believe it! I knew América had lost, but I didn't think they would make such stupid mistakes during the match!" The voice of an angry man echoed throughout the house, though I'd bet the neighbors heard him too.
The man was also around forty, with red eyes and hair. My father.
"Tell me, honey, how is uni going?" My mother put a plate with eggs, bread, and a bottle of ketchup on the table.
"Fine. I already have a few friends." I went to a drawer where I took out cutlery and then sat down where my mother had left the plate.
"Tell me, do you have any interests yet?" My mother looked at me again; her eyes spoke for her.
"No, I've only met a few weirdos... Probably only know one or two who seem decent." I grabbed my fork and put the two eggs in the bread, then started eating it.
"Well~ Tell me about them, from the weirdest to the most promising." My mother sat down next to me.
"The weirdest of all is one named Uragiri."
"Huh? I know people with weird names, but Uragiri is on another level." My father stopped watching his game for a few seconds.
"I know. The worst part is that not even changing his name would save him from being the weirdest. That guy is almost always slouching; his face is barely visible because of all his hair. Also, if you manage to see his eyes, it looks like he wants to kill you. Plus, the fact that they're red doesn't help; it just makes him look creepier. But from what little I've seen, it seems natural." I put my food down on my plate to talk.
"Hmmm, that man sure sounds weird. I think your father would punch him if he saw him on the street near you."
"No doubt about it, honey." My father rubbed his fist upon hearing my mother's words.
"The second weirdest is one named Sameru. To start, that guy is friends with Uragiri, which adds a lot of suspicion points, but at least he takes care of himself a bit. It's just that he doesn't know how to talk to people, like Uragiri... Now that I think about it, he's only weird when he talks, but he has yellow eyes and white hair. Also, he combines it very well with his clothes from what I've seen." I stopped for a while to drink some water.
"Oh, and he told me that he once saved a girl from some bullies, and that's why he had some marks on his arm. But after investigating a bit with the other students, the rumor is that he was actually saved by someone else. But nobody knows who his savior was because the bullies had a broken arm and said if they dared to say anything out of line, 'He' would come for them."
"Quite interesting. I think it could benefit you to find out who it was that protected Sameru. That person might be able to protect you, too, with you being a model and getting more popular." My mother picked up my empty plate and started washing it.
"You're right... but who knows how to start looking."
"Hmph. None of that matters because the only man my little girl needs to be safe is me." My father stood up suddenly, having a heroic attack.
"Yeah, yeah, sure~" I got up from my chair and started walking towards the entrance, where I grabbed my shoes and then opened the house door.
"I have to go now. I'll be back a bit late because of the acting club stuff." I glanced at my parents.
"Goodbye," they both said almost in unison.
"Bye," I also said goodbye before walking to school.
On the way, I started thinking about what I had to do. First, I have to give Uragiri money for the soda I took from him. And second, I need to talk to Sameru to find the man who saved him. I'm sure he could be a good match.
During the walk, I remembered the club group I was invited to. Without thinking much, I took out my phone—which has a case full of animal stickers and a shark keychain—turned it on, and opened the group. "Hi. I wanted to ask if Uragiri is in this group." After writing that message, I sent it.
When I arrived at the uni entrance, I showed my ID to a guard and entered the building. Soon I found the classroom for my first class and sat in the same spot as yesterday because I had already found some friends who sat there too.
I rested my head on the desk and discreetly took out my phone, where I checked the group and saw that someone I hadn't added had responded. "No, we tried adding him many times, but he doesn't want to. Also, Sameru says he's forbidden from giving out his phone number without authorization for some strange reason." Not a single punctuation mark... Besides that, it's too weird. What do you mean he can't give Uragiri's number without authorization?
I wish I had control over my personal data as Uragiri does. Normally, my friends give my contact info to any idiot who asks, and I end up having to block them.
"K. Does anyone know where to find him? I owe him some money, and I don't like that feeling." I wrote and sent the message.
"He normally eats on the grass outside the building. If he's not there, he probably left or decided to eat at an establishment, which is extremely rare." The same guy responded to my second message.
"Thanks!" I wrote in the chat. I immediately got a heart reaction to my message from him.
The day passed quickly. The classes were quite interesting, and the teachers were mostly nice. After finishing the second class, I remembered that at that time I had met Uragiri, so I went out the back of the building, where I could see a large field full of grass with several tables here and there.
I started walking around the place, lost, checking every person at the tables. After walking for a while, I could see a man sitting on the grass with a sandwich in his hand.
"I didn't know you ate on the ground." I approached where he was; from his physique and where he was sitting, it was obvious it was Uragiri.
"It's more comfortable for me to eat here. What do you want?" This guy... His voice was monotone, as if he were talking to a fly. What a disrespectful guy!
I took out three coins and tossed them into his hand. Surprisingly, he reacted well and caught them without a problem. "It's more than I owed you. I don't have change right now."
"Don't worry. I prefer it this way to having to worry about you owing me money." After saying that, I left the place, but before leaving, I waved to Sameru, who was walking toward where Uragiri was.
I approached him, cutting him off and leading him into the building, putting us in a place where few people passed by. "Hey, I need to know who saved you that time when those bullies hurt you."
Sameru looked clearly surprised by my sudden intervention. "I'm sorry, but I can't say. That person doesn't want people to know much about him."
I didn't speak for a few seconds, staring at him intently. He just said 'He,' so the person is clearly a man. Also, he's most likely very mysterious. And for him to still have Sameru threatened, he must still be in contact with Sameru... The only person who is mysterious and within Sameru's secret circle, who is a man, is...
I turned slightly, glancing out of the corner of my eye to where Uragiri was. I guess it's a hasty and incomplete deduction. "You can go now." I stepped aside from where Sameru was and started walking to a shop to buy food.