Chapter 30: The New Kid.
The trees past by into the distance as the car drove toward the edge of the city. They entered a long straight road before coming to a stop. Haru looked outside to see the school. It had iron gates surrounding it as hundreds of students began to make their way inside.
Haru left the car and looked back to the driver who had already started the engine and began to drive away. Okay, I guess this is it. What should I do now? He walked past the gates before spotting a little cabin where the security guards were sat inside.
He waved toward to security guard as he walked across the yard toward the office. "Hey, Can you help me?" He asked as the guard came outside. "Sure, what is it you need?" The guard pulled reached back inside and took out a radio.
"It's my first day here and I'm not sure where I should go." The guard looked at him for a moment before bringing his radio to his mouth. "Hi, I have a student here who doesn't know where he is supposed to be it's his first day or something." He scratched the back of his head as he waited for a reply. "New student? Send him to the office." A woman's voice called out from the other side.
The security guard sighed for a moment and put the radio back inside the office. "Okay, follow me then." He began to walk to the main school building. Haru followed behind him silently. If he is so fed up with his job then why does he still work here? Haru thought as the walked through a corridor lined with lockers before reaching a room with a glass wall with a desk on the other side. "Just wait in here. Someone will tell you what to do." The guard said as he walked away.
Haru sat down in the room and waited. It wasn't long before footsteps came from the other side of the desk and a woman emerged from the room behind it. "Oh, You must be the new student. right?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'm not too sure what I should do. Is there anywhere I have to be?" He asked, standing up and walking over to the desk. The woman looked down at a computer screen and then clicked a few buttons. "Oh, You are Mr. Hao's nephew? I'm glad you are feeling better today. Let me just print this for you." She said before walking over to the printer.
Why is it that everyone knows Zen? What does he really do? The curiosity was growing stronger and stronger. It seemed that wherever he went people would know of his uncle. But why? As Haru was thinking about it the woman came back over with two pieces of paper.
"Here, This is a map of the school it has all of the classrooms and numbers printed on it. And this is your timetable. You have a homeroom in class 436. Oh, I was just about to head down to the same corridor I can take you there so you don't get lost. Actually, I could use a bit of help, follow me. She opened the door next to the desk to get to the other side. She then walked up to a stack of paper and began to split it in half.
"It's okay I can get it for you. You can just make sure I don't walk into any doors." Haru said with a laugh as he picked up the stack of paper. "Are you sure? That's a lot of paper it will be quite heavy." She began to say as Haru picked it up. "Wow, You are stronger than you look. If it gets too heavy just tell me and I will take some." She said before opening the door again and then leading him throughout the school.
"And this here is your classroom. You can put that down here." She pointed to a desk beside the door next to the classroom. "Are you sure? I can take them in for you if you need me to."
"Yeah it's fine there is a meeting going on inside I will ask one of the teachers to come and help me." Haru put the paper down on the table. "Okay, well thank you for showing me the way. I probably would have gotten lost otherwise."
"I should thank you for helping me with the paper. I doubt I could have done it on my own." She said whilst struggling to pick the paper back up from the desk. "It's my pleasure," Haru said before opening the door to the classroom.
The door slid open and he was greeted by the sound of laughter as the students inside were talking to each other and giggling. The teacher stood at the front of the classroom and turned to greet Haru.
"Ah, You must be the new student. I am Mr. Chen, I will be your homeroom teacher for the remainder of the year." He held out his hand toward Haru. "Hi, I'm Haru Kitagawa." He said as he shook his hand. The class slowly became quiet as they all turned to look toward the front.
"Now you have all shut up, I have some news. This here is Haru Kitagawa he will be your classmate from now on so treat him nicely. Would you like to say anything else?" He announced to the class and then turned back to Haru.
"Hello, As Mr. Chen said my name is Haru Kitagawa but you can just call me Haru there is no need to be formal. I just recently moved to China from Japan so please excuse me if my Chinese isn't too good." He said and then laughed nervously as the students began to whisper to themselves. I didn't say anything wrong, did I?
"Don't worry too much. I'm sure you will make friends in no time. That will be your seat over there." Mr. Chen pointed to an empty seat on the third row next to the window. "Thank you." He said before sitting down.
"You are very welcome. Now that I have your attention I would like some silence to take a register." Mr. Chen said to the class and then began checking names from a list. "And, Finally Haru Kitagawa."
"Here," Haru said as Mr. Chen put the clipboard back down on his desk. "Now you can get back to what you were talking about." He said before sitting down and smiling at his computer screen.
Haru sat silently as the rest of the students began to talk amongst themselves before he felt a tap on his shoulder. "Hey, Haru was it?" A girl leaned over and tapped on his shoulder. She had long black hair with brown eyes and was wearing some kind of designer jacket with bits of fluff sticking out of the back of it. "Yeah, What is it?" Haru said bluntly. Why did she touch me? My name is just fine to get my attention.
She quickly withdrew her hand. "Oh, I'm sorry I shouldn't have just touched you like that. I just wanted to ask if you would like to come to karaoke with us?" She looked back to a group of girls gathered around in a circle with a guy with long blond hair sat on the desk. "What are you doing Suyin? Why are you inviting the new kid?" The guy looked toward Haru with scorn.
"Well, I just thought it would be nice to invite him. Remember a few weeks ago when we were all nervous to talk to each other he is probably feeling the same." She said back to him. "Well, you thought wrong." He said shaking his head in disappointment.
"Oh, come on Lei be nice. What is the harm in inviting him?" Another girl from the group said to him in protest. He looked back at Haru with the same look. "Fine, If you want to invite him then do it I don't care."
Haru looked back at him and smiled. "If that's the case then sure, I would love to come with you." Lei looked back at Haru smirked sinisterly and then walked over to a group of boys at the back of the classroom. "Oh, Don't mind him Haru. He is just protective of his friends that's all. Once you get to know each other I'm sure you will be good friends." Suyin said to Haru as the bell to signal the end of homeroom rang out.
Haru walked outside the classroom and noticed three boys were giving him a weird look. Oh, I see how it is. Haru smiled to himself and then walked down the corridor and used the map to locate a bathroom. He used his spiritual sense to keep eyes on the three boys who were now following him.
He walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He needed to take a piss anyway so he unzipped his pants and carried out his business. Halfway through he heard the door open as the three boys came in. The stood silently behind him and waited for him to finish.
Haru zipped his pants back up and then turned around to see them stood in a line blocking the exit. He then walked over to the sink and washed his hands ignoring them completely. He turned again to see the had now become angry with him.
"Can I help you with something?"