The alarm is so noisy as always...
I opened my eyes and grabbed my phone on the desk. I hit snooze and went back to sleep.
I heard birds are chirping outside the window, and the sun is blinding my eyes. It's weird, I don't think that the sun would be this bright in the morning. For some reason, I have bad feelings about this. I checked my phone and it's already 10 a.m.
"Shit! I'm late for school!"
I jumped off the bed then wash my face. I left my bedroom and toast a slice of bread while I'm changing my clothes to my uniform. I readied myself then grabbed the toasted bread and put it in my mouth and rushed to the entrance. I looked inside my house for a split second and say,
"I'm off!"
I'm on my way to the train station. When I arrived, I meet the rail's officer. He says,
"Heeh... you late again? Hurry up, the train is about to go in a minute!"
I'm grinning while hurriedly walk towards the train.
I ran to school and I'm finally at the school entrance, Akusen High School. I missed two classes and the security is in his post. I went to the back and jumped the fence. The first-year classes are on the ground floor and I knocked on one of the windows, a guy who's still daydreaming in the morning startled and opened the window. He says,
"Eh, senpai? What's wrong?"
I quietly reply,
"Hey, can you do me a favor? Can you check class 2-4 for me? I wanna know if the teacher is already in the class or not."
I reached for my trouser's pocket and grabbed my wallet. I took 10000 yen and says,
"If you do that, you can have this!"
The kid's eyes are glimmering and reply,
"Roger that! You can count on me, senpai!"
He's gone and I can hear his footsteps from outside.
The kid got back and he says,
"You're clear to go, senpai!"
I gave him the money and tossed my bag. I say,
"Hold this bag for me, I'll grab it when I'm in. What class are you in?"
The kid replies,
"Roger that, I'm in class 1-2, senpai!"
I went inside the building with ease and go to the class the kid is in. I grabbed my bag and went to my classroom. As the kid said, the teacher isn't here yet. I opened the class door and sighed.
"You're late again huh, Aze-Kun."
A long brown-haired girl is standing in front of me. Her name is Keiko Hanakawa, she's the class representative. I'm scratching my head and reply,
"Hehehe, I overslept, Keiko-chan..."
She shakes her head and then she's calling someone,
"Erii-San, Aze-Kun is here."
A short light brown-haired girl turned around and surprised. She's approaching me and then kicks me on the shinbone. I scream in pain,
"HURTS! IT HURTS!"
I'm leaning on the wall while rubbing my shinbone. She's my neighbor, and we've been friends since I moved here. Her name is Erii Yamaguchi. I say,
"Why you did that? Erii..."
Erii replies,
"That's for coming late to school."
She then kicked my other shinbone. I screamed in pain and she says,
"And that's for not replying to my message last night!"
I reply,
"I'm already sleeping last night, Erii!"
Erii is pouting and says,
"Yeah? Are you sure you weren't playing that RPG game you installed yesterday?"
Eh... How did she know... A blond-haired guy approached us while laughing nervously,
"I'm sorry Aze! Erii-chan threatened me that she will cut off my precious hair!"
He's my best friend, his name is Ryoichi Inoue. He's my first friend in school and his personality is somewhat entertaining. He's always on my side no matter what happens. I clenched my fist and says,
"I see... so your hair is more important than our friendship huh, Ryo?"
Ryo replies,
"But my hair is one of my charms to attract the female, while on the other hand, you always attracting dudes (thug)..."
I get up and when I'm about to approach Ryo, Erii stopped me and bites my arm. I screamed in pain while Ryo is laughing at me. Erii grabbed something from her skirt's pocket and it made a buzzing sound. It's a portable hair clipper. Ryo screams,
"Why the hell do you have that in your pocket, Erii-chan! Stay away from me!"
Ryo ran away and wear his bag to cover his hair while protecting his territory. Erii put the portable hair clipper back in her skirt's pocket. She's looking at me in disappointment. I smile and say,
"I'm sorry, Erii. I'll buy you lunch and parfait after school, how about that? Yeah?"
Erii replies,
"Okay! That's a deal! But I have Judo class after school though..."
Right, she's our school's star. She always got gold medals since elementary school. She also won the national tournament. I reply,
"It's okay, I'll wait for you. Should I invite Ryo as well?"
Erii is pouting and glaring at me. I say,
"I get it I get it... Let's go just the two of us."
Erii smiles and replies,
"Good!"
The teacher came and we all go back to our seats.
It's evening and then the bell rung. Everyone cleaned their desk and preparing to leave. Ryo approached me and says,
"Yo! wanna continue the quest? I can't wait to change my class to Swordmaster!"
I reply,
"I can't, I'm sorry. I already make a plan with Erii for this evening."
Ryo yawn and says,
"Another date with Erii-chan, huh? Well, just message me if you gonna play tonight! I have to go to the grocery store to buy some groceries for my mom. I'll see you tomorrow, Aze!"
Ryo left while stretching his arms. Erii grabbed her bag and about to leave the class, she turned around and she asks me,
"Are you coming, Aze?"
I reply,
"Huh? Can I?"
Erii nods while smiling. I say,
"Sweet! I'm bored anyway, let's go."
We're at the gym, and Erii is teaching her kouhai while I'm watching her from the side. Most of them greeted me when they're passing by. Suddenly I have the urge to take a pee. I went to the bathroom and I heard a guy is crying while getting beaten. I took a peek and it seemed that the third-year students are bullying a first-year student. I got in since I need to pee so badly. They're glaring at me. One of them says,
"What are you looking at? Fuck off!"
One of them grabbed my shoulder. Since I'm still peeing, I accidentally peed them. They all furious and ganking up on me. They're starting to throw punches.
"My little guy!"
They are staring at my little guy and starting to get angrier at me.
"You called that little?! You're pissing me off!"
They all punched me and I dodged them while carefully zipping my pants since I don't want my little guy to be in a bind. After I safely put my little guy in a safe, I punched one of them and he got knocked out immediately. I smirked and then say,
"Four more to go, huh?"
I swiftly maneuvered to get closer to one of them and then uppercut him. Another guy fall. In the end, all of them are unconscious. I approached the first-year student and helped him up. I ask,
"Are your head spinning or having nausea?"
He replies,
"I'm okay, senpai. Thank you for helping me!"
He bows while hiding his pain. I say,
"Don't worry! If something like this happens again, feel free to ask for my help."
He's still bowing and replies,
"Thank you, Norl Senpai!"
I smirked and then left the bathroom. I went back to the gym and Erii is looking for me. I waved at her and she approached me. She asks,
"Where were you?"
I reply,
"I was peeing. Some senpai were bullying the first-year student in the bathroom. So I took care of them."
Erii surprised and asks,
"Really? I hope they learn their lesson."
I nod with agreement. Then Erii says,
"Let's go. We're done here."
I nodded and we left the school.
We went to the cafe Erii always goes to. She ordered the biggest parfait I've ever seen and we enjoyed the evening. Then we're on our way back home. Erii is walking beside me and she's staring at the red and purple sky. She says,
"I'm happy..."
I looked at her and raised my eyebrow. She continues,
"I'm happy that you're back like you used to be. I don't know how are you feeling right now, but I'm really happy to see you back."
She then stopped and I turned around. She's crying and looking at me, she says,
"I... don't want you... to leave..."
I smiled and approached her. I ask,
"What do you mean? I'm not going anywhere. I'll be your neighbor for as long as you want."
Erii is wiping her tears and I lend her my handkerchief. She snots on my handkerchief and giving it back to me. I'm reluctant to take it from her, she's laughing and teasing me with the handkerchief full of things I don't wanna look at. I'm running away from her, avoiding her. Without realizing it, we've arrived in front of our house. Erii said goodbye and she's going to wash the handkerchief and give it to me tomorrow. After I saw her get inside her house, I went inside my house. I locked the door and I looked at the living room in silence.
"How am I feeling, huh? I feel like living in an empty box."