Chapter Text
It was the beginning of first year. Asa had been dreading this day since the first days of spring. The warm weather only brought her annoyance: she was so ready to graduate. School was already hard enough - she didn't need a crowd of annoying kids surrounding her for hours a day when she just wanted to learn. Alas, there's nothing she can do about it but suffer through the day and come home to sleep.
Asa never liked waking up early: who would? Her alarm rang at 7:15 in the morning. School didn't start until around 8:30, but she had to walk and make time to eat. Asa tapped her clock and stared at the ceiling for twenty minutes. She figured it was okay to be a little late. After all, she didn't spend too much time getting ready.
Asa began her walk to school with a new CD she burnt to start off the year. She had basic, small headphones that fit nicely in her bag. The quality wasn't great, but that was the least of her worries this morning. The sun was almost finished rising: creating an almost blinding orange light as she walked eastward.
Treating herself for being able to make it this far, she stops at the corner store for a bottled coffee. Already, she could hear the rowdiness of the other students lollygagging in the aisles. They were unnecessarily loud and did not need to have this much energy at only eight in the morning. She sighed and turned the volume of her CD up louder. She checks out and continues her walk - the sun thankfully being high in the sky now.
She reaches the gates of her school and decides to wait before going in. There was nothing for her to do, so why subject herself to going in early? There was really only one person she considered her friend: Yuko. They met during the beginning of the year festival. Asa doesn't really recall how they got to talking to each other, but she's thankful she at least has someone. Asa was used to being alone, but she wasn't sure if high school was the best place for that.
After a minute of waiting, Yuko makes her way to the gate:
"Aw, it's nice that you waited for me," she tilted her head with a smile.
Asa chuckles, "I just don't want to go in. It's taking all of my energy just to convince myself to stay here and not walk all the way back home," she responds.
"Well, just try to make it through day one. Maybe we could get dinner in the evening as a celebration. Luckily, the school is next to many great restaurants," Yuko remarks.
"That may be the only good part of the day," Asa says before they head inside. The halls were overlaid with voices and laughs.
"We can meet in the courtyard during passing - maybe that can help you escape the chaos for a bit," Yuko suggests as they are almost bumped into twice. She notices the deep unease that Asa feels - she'd do anything to help her rid of it.
Asa sighs: "Yeah, that would be nice," she pauses with a smile, "well, we should probably start heading to our classes. I'll see you in third," she waves to Yuko and walks off on her own.
"Take it easy, Asa!" Yuko returns before walking away as well.
~
After what felt like forever, third period finally starts; it was this and then lunch. Thank goodness Asa had an early lunch this year, though it did mean she would have more classes to power through in the second half of the day. This class was close to her second period, so she was one of the first students in the room. The rows were arranged vertically from the front of the class to the back with large gaps in between to allow for walking. She chose a spot near the right side of the room. After a few seconds pass, Yuko walks in and spots her almost immediately. She waves and speeds over to take the spot behind her.
Asa turns to speak with her: "Thank god you're here. I'm fine not talking to anyone for the beginning of the day, but it's good to have someone to complain to in the middle of the day."
Yuko laughs: "Well, we have five minutes: give me everything!"
Asa goes on about how horrible her first two classes were: "There was this one guy who had no clue where he was supposed to be," her gestures and her tone were serious - in her annoyance there was almost a hint of anger, "he walked into the class ten minutes after it had started! And he had the audacity to say, 'hey is this intro to bio', when 'welcome to modern history' was written in huge letters on the board!"
Yuko laughs: "He wasn't even in the right building!"
"I know! The entire conversation I'm thinking, 'how can someone be so stupid?'," Asa responds with a slight giggle.
As they laughed, a dark-haired boy walked in. Yuko recognized him and called him over to their seats.
"Yoshida, here!"
Asa turns to face him - she had never seen this boy. She wondered where Yuko knew him from.
"You've never met Asa," Yuko says as he takes the seat next to Asa, "Yoshida, meet Asa, I met her at the festival. Asa, meet Yoshida. We were in a school club together last year," she faces both of them.
"Nice to meet you, Asa," the boy says with a small smile. He seemed nice, Asa thought. If Yuko liked him, then Asa shouldn't worry about him.
"How's your spring been so far?" Yuko asks him.
"It was pretty good. I went to-"
Their conversation is interrupted by a loud, excited voice. A thin, blond boy walks into the classroom shouting Yoshida’s name.
“Hey! You didn’t tell me we had a class together?” The boy continues to speak in an unnecessarily loud voice.
Asa makes a disgusted face and turns to Yuko, she tilts her head in questioning to respond.
“I told you on Saturday. Were you not listening or did you actually forget?” Yoshida asked with a surprised laugh.
"I guess I just forgot. I had a busy weekend," the boy took the seat in front of Asa. She sighed loudly and turned away from his face.
"Oh, Asa, this is Denji. I don't think you two have met," Yoshida says.
"Yeah, we haven't," she turns to face him with a small glare.
"So, you guys excited for the school year?" He has way too much energy for so early in the morning. Asa turns to Yuko and puts her head down on her desk.
Yuko responds for her: "Well, maybe some of us are?" She turns to Yoshida and hopes he gives a response.
"I think it should go quite well. I've never found school particularly hard," he responds.
"Yeah, well not all of us are overachievers like you," Denji almost shouts.
"I wasn't trying to be rude! I was just saying -"
"You always do this. You talk like you're -" Denji interrupts.
"Jesus, can we not shout at each other before class even starts? You can go into the hall and fight for all I care," Asa picks up her head to comment. She places it back down right after. All three students look at each other awestruck.
Yuko talks just above a whisper: "She's been having a difficult morning-"
"I can hear you, Yuko," her head doesn't move.
Yuko writes on a piece of notebook paper: "She's had a hard morning. Please try to be calm :)"
Quickly, Asa's head picks back up and she immediately turns towards Denji: "Wait, I remember you," she points to him, "You're the guy from this morning who walked into the wrong class," her tone is accusatory.
The boy looks up in thought: "Oh yeah, I was! I had no clue where the science building was - all of the buildings look identical here."
Asa sighs: "There were thousands of people there to direct you to the correct buildings. Plus, the front of each one has its name. How could you not read it?"
Denji shrugs: "I guess I just didn’t see it."
Asa turns back to Yuko: "Can we switch, please?" Her eyes grow wide.
Yuko tilts her head: "Come on, just give him a chance. It's easier to meet more people this way."
"I just wish they weren't so stupid," she turns back forward and crosses her arms. Denji is still facing her.
"Am I really that bad?" He said solemnly.
Asa just rolls her eyes. The teacher asks for their attention and all conversations are quickly cut off.
This Denji kid cannot stop fidgeting. Every second he either taps his foot, swings his legs, or scratches his arms. For some reason, it drove Asa crazy. Sadly, every other seat in the classroom had been taken. She could try to ask someone to switch, but she would also feel bad for leaving Yuko behind. They could move seats together, but would it really be worth it to ask two other people to switch?
This was going to be a long year.