Chapter Text
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ᴛʜɪʀᴅ ᴘᴇʀꜱᴏɴ ᴘᴏᴠ
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The alarm cut through the quiet room of Hina Fujisaka. She mustered a groan from the audible sound as she reached out her arm, lazily turning off the alarm. She lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling that glimmered slightly from the painted glow-in-the-dark stars. Her mind was clouded with thoughts, yet one stood out the most: Today will be a good day. Gradually, she got up from her bed and moved to her closet to change into her school uniform for Hokkaido North High.
While she slipped into her skirt, her nerves kicked in, making her think about everything that plagued her mind. Hokkaido North High is a school renowned for its academically gifted students who seek new challenges to face. However, Hina already has a problem that she needs to solve. A considerable number of problems, but she would be at home for years pondering how to fix them. Knowing that one problem would be fixed, it would create another one, adding to her already full plate.
When Hina was in junior high, she never really had friends that she could count on, even when she was popular. It was never because she did not know how to talk to people; she did. She could get along with anyone. It wasn't because everyone wanted to be her friend; they were the type of people who were not there for her when she was at her lowest. The only person she can count on is her best friend, Takumi. He never pushed her to discuss her feelings, but when she did talk, he was there to listen and stay. Her trust had substantially thinned after a difficult breakup from a friendship, preventing her from connecting with anyone except her family and Takumi.
This incident caused her to isolate herself during her junior years. Most of those times, she would spend her time volunteering at the nursing home. The elders loved her; they said she was everything that they wanted their children to be. Hina, never mind their stories from home. She loved them, especially when we were doing arts and crafts, and the elders would gossip about others. However, when the elders would talk about Hina, they would often express that she was too perfect for her own good, and that she had no problems, but that was not the case. Hina did have problems, ones that won't get heard.
She straightened her uniform and made her way to her worn-out desk, which had smudges of paint on its rough surface, facing a window that overlooked the neighborhood. There was a haphazard pile of books sprawled across the desk. All the covers of her art books were worn out and discolored from the countless times throughout her junior high school she had used them. While gathering her sketchbook and one of her art books, her eyes paused for a moment at a pencil.
The pencil was from the entrance exam day. When the exam finished, she was making her way out of the class into the hallway. Her feet were dragging, and her shoulder slumped from exhaustion, but also relief knowing she finally finished that. Once she got to the stairs, the guy in front of her dropped his pencil. Hina went to pick up the pencil, and about to call him, she looked up, and he was gone. All she could recall was that he was a tall, somewhat slim, and grey-haired guy.
'I hope I can see him again,' Hina thought while putting the pencil in her bag.
Closing the door of her room, Hina dragged her feet down the hallway, heading towards her brother Naru's room. The apartment was so silent that the sound of the air conditioner humming was almost deafening. Every morning, when Hina wakes up, her mom has already left for her nursing job, which is Hina's job to get her brother and her ready for school. She doesn't mind it if her mom needs help.
As she stood in front of her brother's room, she opened the door, peering inside to see her brother sleeping while cuddling with his brown bear wearing a soccer shirt. Taking one look at Naru's room is a sight for sore eyes. His room resembles a tornado that had come tearing down the room. Clothes were scattered everywhere, while his overflowing hamper was towering like Mount Fuji. Near Naru's desk, crumpled papers filled with soccer game plays he made were scattered around, some fluttering to the floor, where a torn-up soccer ball lay nearby. Even the walls were full of soccer players; one of his posters was peeling off the wall above his bed.
Compared to Hina's room, which was a colorful chaos filled with art supplies sprawled everywhere and half-finished projects leaning against the murals on the walls, yet still organized at the same time. Her room used to be less chaotic before she became more involved in art. Regardless, this room was... unique on a whole other level. Naru's room made her wonder if this is how her mom feels when she looks at Hina's room.
Hina grumbled under her breath, "There's no way I'm going towards him."
She went to flip the light switch on and off, "Naru, wake up. You'd better be ready by the time I'm done making breakfast and your bento."
All she got out of him was grumbles as he rolled over and grabbed his pillow to cover his face. Hina could only think to herself: "Did this dude just do that?"
She glared at him, grabbed one of his shirts that was near the front entrance of his room, rolled it into a ball, and threw it at him.
"Ugh, get your ass up."
Naru turned to face Hina, glaring at her; "Ugh, fine."
"You'd better be ready in 10 minutes."
As Hina closed her door behind her, a dull thud echoed against it, causing her to roll her eyes with an exasperated sigh. It was just Naru; most likely, he threw the shirt back at the door.
Shaking her head, she walked away as she made her way to the kitchen. Stepping into the open area of the living room and kitchen, she placed her school bag on one of the island stools. Approaching the row of hanged aprons while she pulled her hair into a high ponytail, her eyes settled on her favorite apron: a well-worn apron decorated with cheerful fruits and vegetables dancing around, adorned with oil stains from years of use. She tied the apron around her waist, getting her phone to blast music.
She moved around the kitchen to the music as she made Naru's favorite breakfast, egg omelets, and worked on their bento boxes on the side. Just as she poured the egg mixture into the hot skillet, her phone buzzed against the table, breaking her flow. She turned it over, glancing at the screen to see a message from Takumi.
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Sigma man
HEY, YOU AWAKE????
Albert Einstein
Good morning weirdo
Sigma man
MORNING‼️‼️
Bro we better have class together
I'm cooked if we're not
Albert Einstein
You'll be fine
Sigma man
Who will I copy when I can't do my homework??
Tell Naru I said good morning 😋
Albert Einstein
Okay
See you later
Sigma man
SEE YA!!!
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After a few minutes, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the hallway, which grew louder as they approached the kitchen. When she turned around, she placed a plate of breakfast on the cold, polished kitchen island table. There was Naru standing a short distance away. His eyes sparkled brighter than the sun as he stood tall, chest puffed out and hands planted on his hips, proudly displaying his new school uniform.
Naru strutted confidently to the island table, as if he were a celebrity entering a red carpet event. He waved his hands flamboyantly, "I know, I know, I look amazing. You don't have to say it," he declared with a playful smirk, flipping his imaginary long hair.
Hina leaned against the island counter, a bemused smile spreading across her face as she watched Naru's antics. Without him noticing, she discreetly pulled out her phone, her fingers moving deftly to capture this moment for posterity. "I'm sending this to Mom and Takumi," she announced, her eyes sparkling with delight.
As soon as Hina's words reached his ears, he dashed towards the island table and reached out to grab her phone. "What?! No!" Naru protested as Hina instinctively moved back and turned her body to shield her phone.
She said with a grin, "Too late, just send it."
Naru grumbled, plopping down onto one of the island stools with a huff, clearly exasperated. Hina chuckled softly, rolling her eyes at his antics, before grabbing a plate for herself and digging into her own omelet. After finishing eating their breakfast, they gather their school bags together and head out of the apartment to the train station.
Once they arrived at the early train, they sat down in the train near a window. Naru sat next to her, and as she glanced around, her gaze landed on a group of students near her age who were chattering cheerfully to each other. They looked so happy to be around each other. Hina looked away, her mind fogging up with flashbacks from her junior high school replaying in her head. She bit down on her lower lip as she whipped her sweaty hands on her skirt while trying to stop her thoughts from being negative.
Suddenly, so gently a hand lay on top of hers, breaking her out of her thoughts. Hina looked down at her intertwined hands, then glanced up a bit to see Naru giving a concerned but understanding look. Once he saw her looking at him, he gave her a small smile. Her nerves subsided as she gained control of her mind.
A vibration from her school bag snapped her out of her thoughts. She pulled out her phone to check who had texted her. Hina smiled at her phone as her chest felt lighter once she saw it. She turned to Naru, "Mom said to have a good day and that she loves us," she relayed.
As they walked out of the train heading toward Naru School, Midorigaoka Junior High. Hina tightens her hold on Naru; her worries consume her mind, which is full of a jumble of thoughts.
She kept muttering over and over again to herself, "You're going to be fine. Today is going to be a good day." Whether she was trying to reassure Naru or herself, Naru knew for sure that it was both. He was just as nervous as she was; the anxious sensation engaged his whole body, and Naru felt bad from his sweaty hands that clung to hers.
He knew that she was worried about making friends because of her past struggles. He was nervous too, but it was because this was a new school year, and he saw how much his sister had changed as a person during those years. One day, she was the fun, popular girl, then the next day, she was the lonely girl. Although Hina told him a few weeks ago, while he was overthinking everything, that it is okay to change. It is okay to feel lost; heck, even she said that she still feels lost, but just know that you have people there for you, and you will be fine.
Naru tugged at Hina's hand, looking up at her, "Hina, I'll be fine."
Hina paused from mumbling and looked down at her brother, who smiled up at her.
"...okay," Naru beamed at her brightly, giving her a small yet comforting squeeze as they approached the school entrance gate.
Once Hina saw they were approaching his school gate, she began to tell Naru to be on top of everything. "Just be nice to your teachers and your classmates. Try to make friends. Oh, and see if you can get your club paper in quickly so you can start soccer."
"I know, I know, don't worry too much about that."
"I know, just—"
They came to a stop a few feet away from the school gate, while students passed them from where they stood. Naru looked up at her with a shiny glint in his eyes, causing her eyes to soften with a small smile.
With a sigh, she said softly, "Just... try to have a nice day, okay?"
"Okay." With that, Naru let go of Hina's hand, running towards the school gates. As he reached the entrance, he turned back with a smile that meant his eyes, and waved goodbye.
"Bye, Hina!"
A swirl of emotion came over her as she smiled to herself while waving goodbye to her brother. As she headed to school, she couldn't help but think about how time goes by so fast, seeing him already going to junior high school. She hopes he will never experience what she went through, and he makes many friends. Deep down, she knows he won't because he is a bright and nice kid that everyone will love.
As Hina approached North High, she realized that she was a little early. The school was quiet, with only a few students either waiting for their friends or heading to the gym to wait for the orientation. There were few students at the school, so she decided to take advantage of this to explore the outside before going to the gym. She strolled near the entrance of the gym, and the bright, colorful flower bushes were lined up on the side. Then she paused in front of one particular bush. Out of all the flowers, vibrant and tall, there was this one bush with withering leaves and petals turning a dark shade of its original color.
She crouched down, reaching out her right hand, gently touching the flower petals, inspecting the flower bush. Then she realized that it was spreading to the bush next to it. She reached out to the other bush, her fingers grazing gently on the leaves.
"Are you okay?"
Hina jumped from the deep voice and quickly looked up from her crouched position. Towering over her was a gray-haired boy with a stoic expression. His gray eyes looked over her like he was looking for something.
'Oh gosh, he is cute.'
She got up quickly, "Oh! Yeah, I am. I was just looking at the bushes." She awkwardly gestured to the bushes next to her. Hina paused and noticed that the guy was a few inches taller than her. She never met a guy taller than her; most of the time, they are the same height or one or two inches taller than her. The awkward pause between them dragged on a bit more, causing her to continue talking.
"I—uh—I noticed that one of the bushes looked darker than the others. So when I got closer to see how bad it was, it looked like it was growing bacteria, which caused them to turn a dark color and slowly travel to the other bushes. Sorry if I am rambling so much, it is just so fascinating."
As she rambled to him, she looked everywhere, never darting to his face. A wave of dread came over her as she felt the conversation was getting awkward. With every word she spoke, the words came out faster. Her mind ran wild: Does he think I am weird? Am I talking fast? Oh gosh, I'm making this awkward. No, maybe it's just me. Oh no, maybe I'm not, his face shifted.
Finally, she looked up at him with a soft smile as she moved her hands behind her back, finding that she was picking her skin around her nail. "I'm sorry I went on a full rant. I'm Fujisaka Hina, nice to meet you."
"Ayukawa Yota. You were crouched here for a while. I thought your stomach hurt or something."
"No, it's okay, I mean, I am nervous, but I'm fine. I was exploring before heading into the gym. I can't stand being in a room with a lot of people for a long time. I was actually going to head there after this. We can go together, if you want."
He just nodded, "Yeah, sure."
As Ayukawa and Hina made their way to the gym, Hina felt a sense of relief as she talked to him about anything. Every step she took with him became light. Even though she was the only one talking, she didn't mind. She wondered if it was because she was talking and keeping her mind off thoughts, or the fact that she didn't have to walk in the Gym by herself. Does Ayukawa also feel the same way? After the whole morning filled with worrisome thoughts, perhaps this school year will be different.