To be honest, I don't know if it was love at first sight, but she looked so beautiful that I was left speechless and stared at her with no thought of what I was actually doing when I saw her for the first time at that moment. She had a short silver hair with a mixture of light blue dye and it looked like she cut her hair not long ago. Her eyes had a red color with a little tint of black. To me it looked like, she had a height of 5'8, which is pretty tall for average middle school girls, nevertheless I had never seen any lovely girl before in my life to this date. And thus, that was my first impression on Kinoshita Jasmine as she entered the class and took on the bench behind me.
After the introduction, class started normally and everybody paid attention to the teacher and their studies. But for me, I just looked outside at the snow falling to the ground with an awe, and of course covering my face with the book in case if Miss Owura caught me. As I was looking outside, I saw many trees with no leaves in the far distance as it was slowly being covered in fog. After looking at the trees, I thought to myself about how they suffer so much throughout the seasons. In the winter their leaves die out and, in the spring, they bloom, realizing in an instant that it's all just a part of nature. Just as the human lives. I was so busy in my own mind while looking outside that I forgot what was the time, and as soon as I looked at the clock, only 5 minutes remained for the last class before break.
"Oi, where were ya the whole class? I took an attention of you when I saw ya looking outside the window. Anyways here's the notes. Copy from these and return them to me any time after school. And also, don't reject my offer… I obviously know that you didn't pay any single attention to the class till now." – Yamato
"How did you know I was going to reject your offer?" – Kuni
"Well, that's cause, Kuni… I know you for 7 years, from when we were in kindergarten. And from that time, you have always rejected help from various people including your own family. Now take these notes and shove it in your ass or brain, or whatever!" – Yamato
"Thanks a lot man. I don't know how I would survive alone amidst these unknown people without your help." – Kuni
"Anyways enjoy your notes and the break, and I'm gonna head out to have some food in the cafeteria, see yah!" – Yamato
After the break started, as soon as possible, I sat down with Yamato's notes and started to copy them into my copies. As I was copying, I took notice of a gentle aroma getting close to me as a certain distinctive person was coming to me. It was Kinoshita Jasmine.
"That snow falling looked pretty cool outside the window, right? I was also looking at it while in class you know." – Jasmine
"Yeah, but wait, how did you know that I was looking outside and wasn't paying attention to the class?" – Kuni
"Idiot! Don't you know I am right behind your seat and also, I caught a glimpse of you watching the snow, and that's how I saw the spectacular view outside the window." – Jasmine
"Oh…. uh…. okay, do you need anything though?" – Kuni
"Well, technically yeah, I am Kinoshita Jasmine, what's your name?" – Jasmine
"Uh…. I am Takagi Kuni." – Kuni
"I see, so your name is Takagi Kuni. Okay, then, I'll call you Kuni. Is that okay with you? And also, nice to meet you!" – Jasmine
"Y-Y-Yeahh….. no worries. Also, nice to meet you too." – Kuni
"Okay, so listen clearly Kuni, after the school ends, let's meet! I'll be waiting outside the school entrance. I want you to do something for me. I'll tell you after when we meet." – Jasmine
"A-A-Alright, ….t-t-then let's meet after school." – Kuni
"Great, then I am going to head to the cafeteria and see you after school!" – Jasmine
As Kinoshita left the class and went to the cafeteria with a smile and a good mood, I was left with a blank mind state and a feeling of extreme nervousness, also not to mention, I completely forgot about copying my notes as the bell rang in just a few minutes, ending the break period. As the classes after the break started, I couldn't focus a single thing in my studies or the teacher's lectures. All I could think about was why Kinoshita asked me to wait outside the school's entrance after the school ended, and also why at first Kinoshita approached me. Maybe it could be that she wanted to tell me that she hates me or couldn't stand to look towards me. Or perhaps, she wants to ask about my friends, or something like that. As I was thinking more about it, I was just falling deep into the abyss where I just felt uncomfortable of the scenarios' outcome which I made in my head. Nonetheless, it didn't matter to me because I knew that Kinoshita was a nobody to me, so in the end I just thought to myself that whatever. But who knew that soon she would become someone a lot important to me in the coming days?
As I was in my deep-thinking state, time felt like a void which I was falling deep into and could never return, but in the reality, 3 hours passed and the classes were nearing their end. After the last class's bell rang, I rushed to pack my bag as my patience was running out to see Kinoshita, but then, Kawaguchi, our class monitor, told me that Miss Owura summoned me to the teachers' lounge to talk about somethings. At first, I didn't want to go to meet and talk with Miss Owura because it would delay me further to meet with Kinoshita, but what to do, if I ignored her call then it would be rude which I absolutely don't want to. Therefore, as soon as possible, I headed to the teachers' lounge with no second's deferring.
"Oh, so you came Takagi. Anyways sit down, we are going to have a small chat." – Miss Owura
"Okay Miss." – Kuni
"So, how's it going with you and your family? And oh, I am so sorry for what happened with your father and sister. May they rest in peace." – Miss Owura
"Yeah, my mother and I are having a difficult time as now they are gone but we are still trying to manage with the present because we need to move on otherwise their deaths would haunt us forever in our lives." – Kuni
"Oh, I understand, but make sure you pray for them, and for their well beings in the afterlife." – Miss Owura
"Of course, Miss." – Kuni
"Anyways, today in the morning class, I saw you looking outside the window and not focusing in your studies, I can understand that you are going through a hard time, so if you need any help in your studies, let me know, I'll always help you. You can depend on me." – Miss Owura
"I will. And thank you Miss, for always looking out for me and taking care of me." – Kuni
"No worries at all!" – Miss Owura
"Okay Miss, then I'll be taking my leave. Thank you!" – Kuni
"Sure, bye." – Miss Owura
It felt really good to know that Miss Owura was thinking about my well-being. And also, she didn't scold me for not giving attention in the class. After knowing these, I was sure that Miss Owura is a person I can trust on in the future. With that set on, my mind was now targeted in one objective which was to as soon as possible to meet with Kinoshita, as it is now nearly 20 minutes late after the school ended, the time which we were to meet at originally. And also, it looked like the snow was still falling in the afternoon as well.
"Huff, huff, huff…. sorry I am late!" – Kuni
"Jeez, you had me standing here for at least 20 minutes!" – Jasmine
"Sorry, I had to go to the teachers' lounge because Miss Owura called me for some work." – Kuni
"Oh, I see, why didn't you tell me that at first…" – Jasmine
"I was going to." – Kuni
"Anyways, I want you to give me a little tour of this town. Since, I just arrived here from Tokyo few days ago, so I don't know the places here that much." – Jasmine
"Oh, so you want me to show you the local areas in this town?" – Kuni
"Basically, yeah!" – Jasmine
"But why didn't you tell me this in the class?" – Kuni
"It's because, I actually wanted no one to know about this that you'll be showing me some places here in this town, so I particularly called you here to make only you know about this." – Jasmine
"Oh okay, so where do you want me to give you a tour?" – Kuni
"Well, why are you asking me this question, of course I don't know a single thing about this town. So, isn't this your responsibility to make me know the landmarks here?" – Jasmine
"But at least, there's a place you might want to visit in this town which you have seen while coming here. Didn't you see anything like that?" – Kuni
"There is actually one!" – Jasmine
"Which is it?" – Kuni
"So, when I was coming to the school this morning, I took notice of a park where there was a leafless tree, so I want to visit that park." – Jasmine
"Oh, that park's name is Tambashi Park, so you want to go there?" – Kuni
"Yep! Absolutely!" – Jasmine
"Then let's go there." – Kuni
Oh, so she wanted to have me give her a tour of the town, how silly of me thinking of those scenarios when actually she had such a simple motive. And thus, began our little ride for the town in the province of Kizunoshi.