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mizuki rushed through the door into their first class of the day, biology.
how am i late already? it hasn’t even been a week of school!
way to go, that’ll make a good impression on your teacher, dumbass.
they glanced over at their teacher who was turned away and doing something at her desk, and luckily hadn’t noticed them walking into class late.
thank god.
they quickly scanned the room for an open seat. most seats were taken already, since class had already started. all the seats beside their friends were taken, since there were no assigned seats and the students could just sit wherever. their eyes settled on one seat near the back, beside a girl with black and blue hair they hadn’t talked to before. they had noticed her in class and in the hall a few times, and always thought she was cool, but had never talked to her before.
mizuki walked over to the desk and carelessly tossed their backpack on the floor next to the desk. it didn’t have anything important in it anyways. they pulled out the chair and took a seat, still not being noticed by the teacher. they let out a small breath they didn’t even realize they were holding. they slouched down in the seat a bit, relaxing a bit and letting themselves get comfortable after confirming their teacher wouldn’t mark them as late.
actually, shit, did she?
they didn’t know if their teacher had already taken attendance.
i should ask someone.
none of their friends were nearby. mizuki glanced over at the girl sitting next to them, who was wearing green headphones connected to her phone. they noticed she was on her phone and scrolling through spotify, presumably picking what song to listen to, but they were too far to make out any of the songs on her screen from where they were sitting.
i wonder what kind of music she likes.
quickly, they realized they were staring, and they hadn’t even asked about the attendance yet.
they were about to say something, but realized she wouldn’t even hear them if she was wearing headphones.
dumbass .
they raised their hand to give her a quick tap her on the shoulder, but suddenly felt a nervousness they hadn’t felt before. she looked pretty focused on her phone, maybe she didn’t want to be disturbed. plus, she looked really cool. like, really cool. what if she thought they were lame? they hesitated to tap her shoulder for a moment. it was weird this was even happening, they were never shy like this!
it’s fine.
it’ll take 2 seconds.
they reassured and reasoned with themselves, which soothed their nerves a bit. pushing away their anxiety, they tapped the girl on the shoulder.
she looked over at mizuki with their welcoming, amber eyes.
pretty.
she took off one side of her headphones and turned towards them, resting one arm on the back of the chair. “yeah?”
i like her voice.
mizuki blinked. suddenly, they forgot what they wanted to say. “oh, i, uh– the teacher, uh, d-did she take attendance yet?” they sputtered.
great, you blew your first impression.
she took no notice to mizuki tripping all over their words. “oh! no, she didn’t, you’re good!” she smiled.
she seems nice.
mizuki smiled back. “thanks, dude!” a pause. “uh, i’m mizuki, by the way.”
“mizuki…” she said, as if testing it out, running it over her tongue. “cute name! can i call you mizu?” she asked while sliding her headphones from her head to down around her neck, to rest on her shoulders.
nicknames already?
“oh, yeah, of course you can! i like that nickname, heh.”
“awesome, mizu. ” she replied with a smile, making sure to emphasize the nickname.
“what’s your name, by the way?” mizuki asked.
the girl’s eyes widened. “oh, shit, did i really forget to tell you my name? heh, i’m an.”
“oh, pretty name,” mizuki mindlessly commented. “doesn’t really work well for nicknames though, does it?” they joked.
“ah, definitely not,” an agreed. “i’ve never really had any nicknames. i mean, i’ve always sucked balls at math so my math teacher in 7th grade would call me ‘dumbfuck,’ all the time. but, that doesn’t really count as a nickname, does it?”
mizuki blinked. “wh– ‘dumbfuck?’ is that allowed?”
“ oh , definitely not. he would insult students like, all the time, and then got fired halfway through the year. honestly, i’m surprised he didn’t get fired earlier.”
“huh…” mizuki uttered. thinking about what an had told them. they admired how much of an open book an was, sharing stories about herself not even 5 minutes after meeting mizuki.
an didn’t respond after that, leaving them in silence. the only other sound was the other students in class talking, and an fidgeting with the pop socket on the back of her phone, popping and unpopping it. they noticed her phone case was decorated with little star stickers.
that reminded them that they saw her listening to music earlier!
“oh yeah! i wanted to ask…” an looked at them with expectant eyes, seemingly eager to hear mizuki’s question. “what music were you listening to earlier?”
an’s eyes beamed, as if she was waiting to hear that question her entire life. “oh my god, let me show you!” an grabbed her phone which had been resting on her lap, and started tapping away.
“oh, uh, okay!” they replied, and scooted their chair closer to an to get a better view at what she wanted to show them. they hoped an was okay with them being so close to her like that.
being closer to her, they saw an click a playlist titled ‘favs!! <3’ and hand her phone to them. “here, you can take a look!”
mizuki took her phone and started scrolling through while an continued talking about her music. “so today felt like a nine inch nails kinda’ day, but like, i have a bunch of other stuff i like,” an explained.
“oh, sick! you’re into rock?” mizuki asked while still scrolling through an’s playlist and learning more about the music she liked to listen to.
“hell yeah i am! i love rock, that’s my favourite kind of music, but i’m also into softer music, like lo-fi.”
“oh? so am i, lo-fi is my favourite.”
an smiled after learning they were into some of the same music. “oh, that’s awesome!” an excitedly exclaimed. “do you have a favourite artist?”
mizuki chuckled. “honestly, no. when it comes to lo-fi, i don’t really listen to specific artists. i just put on those 10 hour long videos on youtube or like, livestreams of lo-fi music, you know?”
“alright, alright, i see.” an nodded. “so like, do you listen to the studying lo-fi girl livestream on youtube?”
“yeah, exactly!”
“sick! i put on that livestream sometimes in the background, but mostly i like to listen to rock.”
“hmm, i’ve never really listened to much rock music…” mizuki thought for a moment. “maybe you could show me some? like, what you were listening to earlier?” they proposed.
an beamed again at the offer. “oh my god, yeah! i’d love to show you!” she bubbled. mizuki admired how excited an could get sometimes. it reminded them of how excited puppies could get, where their tails start wagging like crazy.
“oh, uh, i only have these headphones though,” an said while gesturing to the headphones around her neck. “we can’t share those, and we’d probably get in trouble for playing music out loud in class…” she said, looking a little disappointed.
mizuki thought for a moment. “oh! actually, i have earbuds with me, we can listen together with those!” they said while handing an back her phone, and grabbing their backpack from the floor, bringing it up to their lap.
“oh, awesome dude!” an exclaimed.
mizuki found their cute pink earbuds in the little pocket of their bag. “here they are!” they handed the pair of earbuds to an, letting her plug them into her phone. an handed one earbud to mizuki while putting on one for herself. they scooted their chair just a bit closer to an again before taking the earbud, and putting it in.
“alright, i’ll show you what i was listening to before…” an mumbled while scrolling through her playlist, looking for a specific song. “there it is!” she said, tapping on a song.
the song’s intro was a catchy beat played by a drum. immediately, mizuki was enjoying the song.
“ooh, this goes hard, what song is this?”
“‘march of the pigs’ by nine inch nails.”
“ah, right. i remember you mentioned nine inch nails before, are they like, your favourite band, or..?” mizuki asked while still enjoying the song.
“yeah, totally! they’re my favourite, but– oh, actually, do you wanna hear some other bands i like?”
“of course dude!” mizuki answered, eager to get to know an better.
“alright! let me show you…” an trailed off while scrolling through her playlist looking for something specific. “korn!” she said excitedly, tapping another song in her playlist.
mizuki blinked. “wh– corn? like, the vegetable?
an giggled. “no silly, korn with a k. this is a metal band. i know their music isn’t really for everyone, so just tell me if you want me to skip it.”
mizuki again admired how open an was.
“right now we’re listening to their most popular song, ‘freak on a leash.’ me personally, i think they have better songs than this, but i thought we might as well start off with their most popular song to give you an idea of what their music is like,” an explained while they listened.
“it’s… interesting.” mizuki commented
an softly smiled, but it was clear she was a little bit disappointed. “alright, we can skip it. i know their music isn’t for everyone, so–”
“nonono!” mizuki interrupted while lightly grabbing her wrist, stopping her from skipping the song. an looked up at them, a bit surprised. “i didn’t mean that in a bad way. i just meant it genuinely is interesting, like, i’ve never heard music like that before. i was enjoying it, actually.”
an blinked. “oh, okay! well i’m really glad you’re liking it, actually. a lot of my friends say it’s weird, or say it sounds like shit, or say i’m weird for liking it, all that. i’m glad to have a friend that likes it now,” she smiled.
she considers me her friend now?
“aw man, do they really? i’m sorry to hear that, dude. but like, it’s whatever. they probably listen to like, today’s top 50 on spotify or some dumb shit.”
an laughed out loud at mizuki’s statement. “heh, you’re right, they probably do. but, thanks man. i’m glad you were just willing to try it out and liked it. i’m glad you didn’t immediately push it to the side for being different, and that you’re so nice about it” she told them, looking them in the eyes while she started getting a touch more serious.
they listened to an closely. “well, it’d be a bit of a dick move for me to insult your music right after asking to listen to it, wouldn’t it?” mizuki thought for a moment. “i get what it’s like to be insulted for being different” they smiled at an.
an smiled back. “thanks dude, you’re a good friend. anyways, do you wanna show me some music you like?” she asked, offering her phone to mizuki to allow them to pick out some songs.
“oh, hell yeah dude!” they replied, taking the phone. “you showed me some of your headbangers, which i’ll definitely be adding to my playlist by the way, so i’ll show you some softer songs. how bout’ we start with clairo?”
“huh, sure. i’ve heard of her, but never listened to any of her songs before. show me!”
“alright!” mizuki replied as they typed a song into spotify’s searchbar. “okay, so i’ll start off with my personal favourite. so, this one is called ‘pretty girl…’”
…
the pair had spent almost the entire class listening to music, and giving each other song recommendations while doing absolutely zero work like they were supposed to. luckily, it was just a work period, so it didn’t matter that much. they hadn’t even realized so much time was passing up until the bell was about to ring. i mean, time flies when you’re having fun, right?
“alright, so, it was korn, nine inch nails, and foo fighters you showed me, right?” mizuki asked an while wrapping their earbuds into a tidy circle around their hand, and putting them back into the little pocket of their backpack.
“yep, you got it!” an confirmed.
“sick! i’ll definitely be listening to them later,” mizuki said while grabbing a pen out of their bag and writing down the names of the bands onto their hand. “korn, nine inch nails, and foo fighters…” they mumbled to themselves while writing on their hand.
“and for you, it was clairo and mitski, yeah?”
“yep!”
“alright! thanks for showing me your music, dude,” an approved. “honestly, i liked it way more than i was expecting, i’ll be listening to your music too!”
mizuki smiled, happy that they had something in common with an now.
just in time, the bell rang to signify that class was over. the pair looked at each other, knowing they’d have to part ways now.
“well uh…” mizuki piped up. “it was fun listening to music with you, and getting to know you. i’d love to talk to you more,” they told an while grabbing their bag and slinging it over their shoulder.
“hell yeah dude!” an exclaimed while lightly punching mizuki on the shoulder.
mizuki smiled. “see you tomorrow?”
“see you tomorrow.”