"Nice to meet all of you. My name is Himari, Himari Hiwatani. I am from this neighborhood. Please keep me in your mind" The new transfer student said with an unbelievable voice. Everyone was astonished by her mature but soft voice.
Her eyes were lined with light red eyebrows accompanied by black pupils which was surrounded by blood red cornea. Her face seemed so emotionless, but as she moved her face to make a smile, it felt like the healing smile of an angel. That smile pierced through my heart just like an arrow, shredding it to tiny but recognizable pieces. Her ponytail hairstyle seemed so shining, that even the sun would be outshined ten times.
And I wasn't the only person that was staggered by her looks,voice and posture. The whole class was completely ablaze. Every single individual had thier curiosity radiating from the pupils. The boys were all for her from the very moment she stepped into this class. The girls were already whispering among themselves about her identity? On her very first day she made a statement of what she can do without even uttering a single extra word.
Right at the peak of excitement of this, Sakura came forward and started giving her introduction. The introduction was filled with passion and courage although no one had a heart big enough to decipher any invisible courage of her.
Sakura gave her introduction fairly quickly, but that short introduction was more than enough to make her capacity of energy and stutter all clear. This girl is also stupidly courageous. She didn't care about her old fashioned style or glasses. She didn't care about the world around her.She didn't back off in front of Tomioka on her first day and she will never back off in front of any worldly danger. The whole class was excited about having two new personalities in this circus.
The teacher didn't waste another moment and immediately started telling Himari where to sit. Anticipation built up faster than a raindrop. Where could the princess take her grand seat where she would be stationed for the rest of the year.
"Himari, sit beside Tomozaki, from today you will sit there." Said the teacher with her voice layered with indolence in her voice. The teacher neglected the fine threads of societal flow, ushering the greatest of the concequences towards me.
The whole classroom will probably be entailing me for sitting beside her. My locker would be filled with hate letters and my day with nauseating glares. But still I felt I was lucky, lucky to even sit beside the first crush of my life.
She strolled graciously towards the seat behind me. The whole air behind her seemed to have frozen in time. The footsteps were loud and clear as she approached her seat. And as she sat down, the weight of the air finally abated. She really sat beside me; felt like the impossible have transformed to possibility. But weirdly enough, she didn't even take a glimpse of her surroundings, as if she doesn't follow the world, the world follows her.
And suddenly someone sat in the seat right in front of Himari without any trace of existence. It was Sakura, who sat humbly in front of Himari without any prior notice. The two new transfers sat just beside me and I felt a little bit wierd after noticing the position of people for the first time in decades. But time won't stop for my fuss and the teacher started teaching as usual. Her subject was mathematics, my best subject out of all of the subject I pass by a whisker.
My heart was throbbing so fast that it felt like it would jump out of my mouth. This is the first time in my whole life I am experiencing these emotions and this is the first time I am feeling like I want something so damn hard. I was so nervous at that time that I could barely move an inch of my body, it felt like the weight of a thousand elephants were implanted throughout my whole body.
The classes started and everyone around me turned their attention towards the teacher. But I was unable to turn my attention towards the teacher; how could I? This is my first time loving someone. Half of me was experiencing this burning sensation in the heart while the other half of me was thinking how much childish I am to sit like this, hampering my attention towards this world and only shining it towards Himari. I was finding it difficult to even breathe.
But thankfully sensei came to the rescue. She noticed that I was enwrapped in deep thoughts and immediately uttered my name.
"TOMOZAKI! Are you slacking off in the class?" Said the teacher with an angry tone.
I couldn't answer this question and the results? Everybody started laughing at me. It was so embarrassing that I felt like dying. Being laughed at while being in highschool is the most embarrassing thing for me embarrassing.
The teacher didn't push me any further and so I could finally turn my attention to the lessons. But still I couldn't forget about her and kept remembering her. Everytime I tried to forget her, everytime I would remember her even deeply.
The periods went by like a breeze and then came the lunch time. My chest felt a bit lighter after she was finally not within my range of sight. Who knew love can be so painful?
I went to the cafeteria and finding my own solitary seat. No one used to sit here and so this is the only place where I can find peace.
And suddenly from behind some shouted" Tomozakiiii". I was more shocked than my mother when she sees me studying. And the person who was shouting was none other than Sakura. Sakura came here while waving her hand. Immediately a sea of human eyes fell on us. People were blinking in disbelief that even I had friends.
"Why are you shouting my name?" I said with a concerned look. I was worried that she might not have friends from the first day of her school if people knew that she talked to me.
"Is there any problem?" Said the ignorant Sakura who knew nothing about how notorious I was for being lonely and how people would take this action.
" Yes there's a huge problem if you talk with me" I exclaimed hurriedly.
"And what would the problem be?"
"People would think that you are a wierdo for talking to me" almost shouting as I was saying this.
"I don't care" said Sakura with a smiling face.
And the next moment she sat right in front of me, the seat which was waiting so eagerly for an occupant for years.
"By the way Tomozaki, you look like you are facing a lot of trouble"
I didn't know how she came to this conclusion but i replied anyways:"Yes I am facing a lot of trouble. In fact I have faced trouble so much that me and trouble are like eternal pairs."
Sakura gave a beautiful laugh.
"Eternal pairs with trouble. Oh my god Tomozaki, you can be very funny sometimes"
After laughing for a while Sakura said:" Why do you get in trouble so often"
" Because I have given up on life. I don't find a reason for living such a miserable life. I have to fall so many times guarding my wounds. Life is too unfair, the people who are talented gets all the credit while useless people like me just live to suffer for another day"
"Who said life is unfair?" Said Sakura with a determined look on her face.
"If you know the mechanics of how the world works then life is the best art you can create" Sakura said
I have already given up on life too much to be moved by some words. But I didn't want to upset Sakura or say no to her. So I said with a curious look "How?"
"You want to know how? Then follow what I say for the next few months and you will taste the triumph of a success rather than the bitterness of another defeat"