"Ahahahaha... So that's what you were dreaming about? O-Oh my God... My sides… it hurts…. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
I started bursting into laughter as my best friend, Hiroyuki shared and described his dream to me.
Hiroyuki Kazama was my best friend. We knew each other since middle school and as soon as we realised we were going to end up in the same high school, we both fought our way to be in the same class during our 1st-Year.
We couldn't exactly remember how we got to know each other, we probably just had similar interests and hit it off pretty well. That stayed the same as we reached our 2nd-Year and remained as deskmates.
Hiroyuki had always come out as a very chill person, sometimes to the point, you would think he was emotionless. He doesn't have many expressions outside of the usual relaxed smile and the dumb dense look he would give whenever I talked about topics that he wasn't particularly interested in. He would just utter the same few words repeatedly in a systematic order.
"Is that so?"
"I see."
"Really?"
And the cycle continues. Sure it showed his uninterest in the topic but at least he had enough concentration to respond.
However, the Hiroyuki at that moment was not in any of those moods as he planted his head on the desk with his hands shielding his embarrassed face.
"I can't go out anymore. Everyone is going to think I have some sort of weird teacher fetish now."
"Well, you don't need to worry about that. According to the school's social media, no one is talking about you that much. At most, it's just about how they want to be as brave as you when confessing their love."
'E-Garden' was a social media application developed by the school to allow teachers to provide online tasks and assignments to the students remotely. Each student and teacher has their own account. Besides that, there were even accounts for respective clubs to arrange their meetings, update their schedules and recruit new members. It's a super helpful app and no doubt further proved to Japan how prestigious Niwa Mura High was.
However, what the school failed to notice was that the social media that they had created was being utilized mostly to spread rumours and drama.
"That didn't make me feel any better," Hiroyuki said as he finally revealed his embarrassed face out of his ostrich hole.
"Whoa, you're trending," I said as I noticed his name appearing in a lot of recent posts.
"I can't go out anymore."
"Relax. Things like this don't last longer than a day. I'm pretty sure everyone is going to forget about it the next day."
"I guess you're right…"
"Well, seeing you so dejected, why not I treat you to a cup of coffee at our usual cafe?"
"That sounds nice," Hiroyuki said as he finally stood up and packed his bag.
"I'll wait for you outside."
With an exchange of 'OK' hand signs between us, I walked out of the classroom and waited for him by the hallway. As I waited, I was once again mesmerized by the size of the hallway.
The hallway was just about as long as a usual school but what made it a special one was the diameter between the classroom doors and the large panel of windows. It was as if a parade could be held right in the middle of the hallway and yet have enough space for a crowd. Maybe this was what gave Hiroyuki the idea to dream about a parade-like entrance.
The walls were painted in royal brown and filled with paintings of past alumni who eventually became world-renowned artists. The windows were huge and wide enough to see every inch of the school's garden and entrance. Of course, with such a huge window, we need a high ceiling filled with chandeliers to further flex the amount of budget that was used to build the school. If it weren't for the students walking around in their school uniforms and school sports uniforms, it would definitely look as if we were in a palace.
Did I mention we were on the 2nd floor of a four-storey building?
There were three main buildings that made up the school compound. The classroom building, the auditorium building and the clubroom building. The auditorium building was towards the west of the entrance while the clubroom building was at the east. What these buildings were should be self-explanatory.
However, on top of the clubroom building was where the student council room was. The students that rivalled even the power of the teachers in the school. Because of the outrageous entrance exams of the school, only the elites among the elites were allowed to enter the school. And among those elites we have the strongest team ever formed in the entire school, these students make up the Student Council.
Even though all decisions were to be set in stone by the Headmaster, the student council has the authority to govern over the students' curriculum and co-curricular activities.
They were beings to be feared and praised as they ruled over the students with an iron fist…
That was what we would say if this was in a fantasy setting, but you get the gist.
There were 7 positions that make up the student council body. The president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, head of student affairs and head of disciplinary actions. With the absence of a treasurer, there were 6 students that were placed on top of the food chain. And one of those members was…
"Sorry for the wait, you ready?" Hiroyuki said as he walked out of the classroom.
"Not at all. Let's go."
With that, we were both walking towards the school entrance.
.
.
.
.
"By the way, I did promise to pay for your meal but I can't stay for long. I have cram school after this." I said as I pulled out my phone from my pocket and resumed scrolling through the E-Garden.
"It's okay. I need to go back and revise on the topic I slept through anyways."
"Still, I can't believe that you could have such a random dream. To be honest, I am a little jealous."
"I surprised even myself, not gonna lie," Hiroyuki said as we continued to walk across the hallway.
"While in the topic, you did mention that the girl in your dream was a blonde American young girl. Could it have been Jessica from "Mamagami SS"? We did watch that show just yesterday and you did say she was somewhat your type."
"I don't quite remember how she looked like in my dream but you might be right."
"Well, I wish I could dream about an anime girl," I muttered as we had approached the stairs.
"Now that I think about it, it was a pretty intense dream," Hiroyuki retorted in agreement as he followed suit.
As we walked down the stairs, a young girl was waiting for us. She had long black hair and eyes that glitter from every angle. A girl who cannot be seen without her big bright smile. She wore an oversized black jacket that covered her arms and concealed her slim body.
She was non-other than the 1st-Year High School Student of Niwa Mura High, Shiori 'Shidoni' Tanaka.
"Yo, Nobuo. And nice to meet you again, Kazama-senpai," She said cheerfully as she greeted us both, albeit each in a very different way.
"Nice to see you again, Shiori but you really don't have to be that polite with me. With what Nobuo has told me about you, you are no stranger to me even though it has only been a week since you enrolled here."
"Is that so? What did Nobuo say about me, ehehehe~" She said as she curled herself up in her jacket as she hid her non-existent blush.
"Well, the fact you two knew each other a lot through another friend and hit it off because of similar taste in anime and music," Hiroyuki said as he was confused by her actions.
"Well, we sure did hit it off in a lot of things… Ehehe~" She said as she put her hands around her cheeks.
"And also the fact you like to jokingly flirt with him whenever an opportunity arises... Why don't you two just date already..."
"There is no way I'm dating this succubus!"
"There is no way I'm dating this scumbag!"
Both Shidoni and I said in unison as we pointed at each other while looking dead into Hiroyuki's eyes.
"Huh?"
"Listen, don't be fooled by her looks. Behind her oversized jacket is an oversized pussy. This girl would not stop luring men with her air-headed attitude and by the time it was too late for them, this girl would hop onto the neighbour next door and continue the cycle. No way I'm attracted to this crazed animal."
"That's what I hate about you, Nobuo. You would call me bad names and use such vulgar words whenever the opportunity arises. The reason why you can't get a girlfriend is that you are so insensitive to the people around you. No way I'm getting into this dipshit's pants."
As we stared at each other's eyes with the urge to punch the other's face, the rage slowly dissolved into smiles. We immediately laughed it off as it was a play we wanted to act in a long time. Hiroyuki looked at us and shrug it off as if he understood we were just good friends that shared the same wavelength.
"Anyways, Shidoni. I can't join you today. I promised Hiroyuki to treat him to coffee at 'Mix'. So, if you would just…"
"Then let me join you!"
"It's going to be really boring you know."
"But I've nothing to do after school…" Shidoni slugged her body in disappointment as she slowly turned her body away while giving off glances to the both of us every inch she turned.
"Why not," Hiroyuki said as he gave off a sigh as he looked at me. "I don't mind personally."
Shidoni immediately turned back to us as soon as she heard what Hiroyuki had said. With her eyes glitter in every corner, she did a victory pose and thanked Hiroyuki.
"Thank you so much, Kazama-senpai! You're the best! Love you~ Chuu~"
With that, she ran off on her own, leaving us behind.
"I get what you mean now," Hiroyuki said with an understanding smile.
"Well, that's what makes her cute, I guess."
"What are you two waiting for! Let's go already~" Shidoni shouted as she called out to us from the stairs below.
"Alright, alright, we're coming. Don't say I didn't warn you. You are definitely going to be bored there."
I said as I carefully walked down the stairs. Shidoni who showed no signs of slowing down jumped for joy with her hands in the air.
"There is no way I'm going to be bored!"