As he started to gain consciousness he felt his head pounding against the coolness of the hardwood floor. This is usually how mornings are, waking up with a hangover was nothing out of the blue. As he began to pick himself up off the Kitchen floor he heard rustling coming from the living room. Looking over to the dimly lit room he could see the silhouette of someone on his couch.
"Mornin' sleepy-head."
"...Nara? W-when did you get here?"
"O-oh man, you really got shitfaced last night."
"Huh…?"
The night prior, like every other night, Nara Takagi had come over. He never intends on doing this as often as he does but Nara shows up almost every evening.
He began getting up and his head suddenly started pounding like crazy, leading him to press a hand against his forehead and stumble back onto the floor. Now sprawled out on the floor he slowly reached around for his smartphone, which was found under the nearby dresser. He turned it on and the bright light from the screen burned his eyes. He quickly averted his gaze from the smartphone and laid it down on his chest. After a moment of adjusting to the brightness, he slowly raised to check the time.
"You've got to be kidding me…" He dreadfully lowered his smartphone down once more.
"Hm? What's up?" Nara responded to his meaningless complaints as she turned her head to face him.
More rustling from the living room could be heard and Nara was now standing by the curtains on the far side that were so graciously preventing the bright light of the sun from entering the apartment. She threw them open while letting out a satisfied sigh.
The sun's light flooded into the gloomy apartment, reaching almost every nook and cranny. The rays streaming in illuminated countless dust particles floating aimlessly through the air; along with the mess that was the apartment. Various bottles scattered across the living room and kitchen table. Along with a plethora of used dishes and empty food containers.
"Ahhh… What a beautiful morning it is. Wouldn't you agree? Katsumi?" She turned her head towards Katsumi and gave him a wide grin.
Katsumi, still on the ground, let out a loud groan while slowly moving his hands to cover his eyes from the blinding light.
"This was a terrible night for you to come over."
"And why's that?"
"..." Katsumi looked confused as to how she didn't realize. Yet, he understood why she probably didn't know.
"It's the first day of the semester you dumbass!" He shouted while quickly sitting up. "Ow– Too fast, too fast…"
"And that's important… why?"
"You've got to be kidding me, Nara."
"FYI, it's the second day already, the opening ceremony was yesterday. You slept right through it."
"You didn't think to wake me up, why?
"You just looked so cute while getting your beauty sleep I couldn't get you up."
"..."
Katsumi pondered getting up to lecture her but he decided against it as it would be too much hassle for him as of right now.
"Hehe, it's all good, we'd already be bout' two hours late anyway so why worry about it now? There's always tomorrow."
"W-what are you saying… it's the first day–"
"Second."
"...I- shut up… I'm gonna go get ready, I know you won't but you should do the same."
"Just imagine the looks everyone is going to give you when you enter the classroom two hours late. I mean come on, that'll be terrible."
"…"
Nara just grinned at him while slinking back to the couch where she sprawled herself out.
After a long silence between the two he forced himself to get up, using the nearby dresser as a support, he stood. It felt as if all of the surrounding air was weighing down upon him, all of his movements were staggered. With a bit of struggle he managed to make his way through the kitchen and down the hallway towards his bedroom.
He gave a momentary pause before opening his bedroom door. In what seemed like one well rehearsed swift motion he opened the door and flicked on the light switch which revealed a surprisingly well kept and organized room in comparison to the rest of the apartment. A bed placed in the back right corner of the room, nicely made with unwrinkled sheets and blankets, except for a school uniform which had been strewn across it. A waist-high bookcase filled with an assortment of text-books, binders and other books of various sizes was situated adjacent from the bed along with a desk that had a laptop and a bit of miscellaneous clutter on it.
Katsumi went directly to the bed where he stripped and hurriedly changed into his new school uniform — whilst almost falling over a few times in the process.
"I'll take it you're not going?" Katsumi already knew the answer to this question. However, he still asked Nara as he came out of the hallway and into the main living area.
"You got that right!" Nara responded with a chuckle.
He didn't reply to this, instead opting to just let out a sigh and slightly frown.
Katsumi made his way down the hallway that adjoined the kitchen to the front door where he slipped on his shoes.
How is Nara-san able to keep up with coursework and get those grades while rarely attending school? With this thought he opened the front door and stepped out. The fresh outside air hit him like a train. The difference to that of the wretched and contaminated air contained within the walls of his apartment was nearly immeasurable. He drew in a deep breath followed by a satisfied exhale. A late-morning breeze blew on him catching his hair as he looked out onto the street below.
"Well, guess I'll see you later Nara
While taking the elevator to the lobby he pulled out his smartphone — the time read 10:42 AM. "I can't believe I'm two hours late…" He grumbled while shoving his cellphone back into his bag.
Ding!
The digital display read 'lobby' and the elevator door slid open. Once there was a gap wide enough for him he dashed out of the elevator and through the lobby. Nearly going at a full sprint. After a couple minutes of on and off sprinting he made it school, still incredibly late.
"I can't believe this…" Now standing in front of the door to his classroom, he let out a sigh.
Sulking, he slid open the door, and was met by the bright light of the sun beaming in through the large windows and the gazes of everyone in the classroom.
She was right, this sucks.
"Nice of you to finally join us Murakami-san."
"I-I apologize Hasegawa-sensei"
Hasegawa-sensei stared at him for a moment, "Go sit down." He pointed to a seat in the back-middle of the classroom.
The seat Hasegawa-sensei was pointing at was next to a girl with short black hair.
She's cute— Wait… Shit, do I know her…? I think we went to Junior-high together or some cram-school… Dammit, Nara was right, I probably shouldn't have come.
The girl traced where Hasegawa-sensei was pointing and saw it was the seat right next to her's. She glanced up at Katsumi holding eye contact for a moment before refocusing on Hasegawa-sensei.
Her reaction made Katsumi hesitate in the doorway for a moment before he moved to his seat. As he walked down the aisle of desks he could feel her eyes tracking his movements.
"M-morning…" Katsumi whispered to try and break the tension as he set his bag down.
The girl with the black bob-cut gave an irritated look as she pushed her hair behind her ear before quickly redirecting her attention towards the front of the classroom. Katsumi followed suit and slightly sunk down in his seat.
"Haa… Damnit…"
The sky had become overcast when Katsumi peered out of the classroom spanning windows. A constant chilly breeze flowed through them, causing a few of the students to shiver. Soon droplets of water started to accumulate on the windows, one after another. Before he knew it the overcast had transitioned into a downpour.
"Jackson-san, Saki-san, please shut the windows." Hasegawa-sensei directed the two students closest to the open windows.
Jackson rose from his seat. Katsumi peered over in his direction — Brad towered over all the other students, even though he was somewhat slouching he was marginally taller than everyone around him.
Where's this guy from..? Blonde hair? Like one-hundred ninety centimeters tall…? Europe? America maybe?
The Foreigner spoke decent Japanese in his response to Hasegawa-sensei. However, if you only heard his voice without seeing him you could easily tell that he wasn't a native speaker. Katsumi figured that he'd most likely moved to Kashiwa recently in some sort of exchange program. When Katsumi compared the exchange student to the other student tasked with closing windows a faint smile formed on his face because of the sheer size difference.
"Hey, what'd you bring for lunch?"
"I forgot mine today… wanna grab somethin' at the school store?"
"Yeah, sounds good. I gotta get my wallet, wait for a moment."
"The rain kinda makes everything gloomy wouldn't you say?"
"Mm, I know what you mean… It's even worse for me though, I forgot my umbrella."
"Don't worry, I can walk you to the station, I brought mine."
"Let's go meet with Kato-chan. She said she wanted to eat lunch with us today."
"Sure, sounds good… Oh sorry, please excuse me."
"It's fine, don't worry about it…" One of the two girls on their way to meet a friend had bumped into Katsumi on her way out of the classroom.
Man I'm starving… Maybe I'll stop by the school store— Or maybe I won't because I forgot my wallet… Katsumi put his arms on his desk, then his head on top of them and faintly whispered, "Luckily my loving girlfriend packed me a lunch…"
He turned his head towards the windows and saw that around Jackson's desk was a swarm of girls — One of them sitting on his desk and multiple others standing or sitting around him. All of them smiling or laughing and trying their best to one up the other to grab his attention
"Figures…"
However instead of paying attention to girls he looked right past them and locked eyes with Katsumi. He pretended not to notice but Jackson smiled then waved at him.
What the hell is this guy's deal…?
Jackson's attempt to make contact prompted some of the girls in the group to look over at Katsumi. And when they saw who he waved at, their smiles and laughter turned into looks of contempt directed at Katsumi.
Alright, I've had enough. I'm gonna take my smoke break… Katsumi rose from his desk and pushed his seat in. Hopefully students are allowed on the roof… I guess the bathroom could work too.
"Ooh it's unlocked. Lucky…" Katsumi opened the door to the roof and the once therapeutic and rhythmic muffled sound of rain hitting the roof turned into an unignorably loud wall of noise.
"..."
"At least the wind isn't this direction…" Katsumi poked his head out of the doorway looking left and right before stepping out. However when he did the rain didn't hit him.
"Hmm?" He looked up. "Ahh there's an over-hang… isn't this my lucky day."
Katsumi pulled a carton of cigarettes out of a pocket inside his blazer and a lighter out of a pants pocket. He put a cigarette in his mouth and cupped his hand around the front of it. The sound of rain fell away as the only sound Katsumi focused on was the repeated clicking of his engraved lighter.
"..."
"Come on… It's too damn wet out here…"
"..."
"Finally… Ahh…"
The smoke rose upwards, illuminated by light installed in the over-hang. It hovered there creating a light fog above Katsumi's head.
"Mind if I bum a cig?"
"Hell no."
"..."
"W-what!? American!?"
"Why'd you say that? What if I'm European?"
Katsumi looked at him for a moment then looked back out over the roof. He took a long drag from his cigarette, adding more smoke to his personal cloud. "The United States pin on your bag…"
"I suppose that would give it away, wouldn't it?" Jackson gave a smile reminiscent of someone Katsumi knew.
Katsumi offered a small grunt in response before turning his head skyward.
"..."
"So why are you here instead of with your harem?"
"I've already met everyone in our class but you weren't here on the first day so I thought I'd introduce myself."
"And you thought I'd care?"
Jackson smiled again which was accompanied by some light laughter. "You seem a bit more interesting than those girls."
"Is that so…?"
"…"
"You need something from me? Or are ya' just gonna stare?"
"I just want to know why you're up here instead of getting to know everyone. I'm sure you'll be fine, they're a great bunch I'd say."
A great bunch… huh… "…You know, if you leave a cigarette burn for long enough it goes out on its own… You can either light it again and keep smoking or you can smother it and let it go out… it's all up to you."
"…"
"'Brad Jackson, you can just call me Brad." Brad extended his hand for a handshake. "And you're Nurakami-kun?"
Katsumi looked down at his cigarette for a moment and then up at Brad. "It's 'Murakami'." Katsumi went to grab his hand but before he could the door to the roof opened and a brown haired girl stepped through.
You've gotta be kidding me… Her?
"Brad!? What are you doing talking with Murakami-kun?"
"I was just introducing myself, he wasn't here yesterday so I hadn't gotten the chance to."
"It should've stayed that way, he's a hopeless delinquent. I mean just look at him, unkept, gross, and he's even smoking right now!"
"Yes yes you're right Saki-chan, sorry."
'Saki-chan'? First name basis already?
"You weren't going to smoke with him were you?"
"No no no, of course not. I in fact told him that he shouldn't be smoking."
"See Murakami-kun? Even people from halfway around the world agree that you shouldn't be smoking."
"...I'll give you five-hundred yen if you leave right now."
"I'll gladly do it for free. I can feel my social status dropping just by being around you."
"Shame, you just missed out on five-hundred yen because of that stupid pride of yours Akito-san." Katsumi's gaze was still skybound, not even bothering to look at her.
"Ah— I… See! look how little he cares! He's clearly given up. He won't even bother looking at me!"
"Who would want to look at you?"
"Amazing… You two are so familiar with each other. Are you ex's?"
"Brad please don't say such stupid things… We went to the same Junior High together and believe it or not he used to be an upstanding student. But then this new girl from the countryside transferred there and turned him into what you see now."
"I see… So then why are you so mean to Murakami-kun?"
"W-well, just look! He's terrible, someone needs to tell him off because his parents clearly aren't doing that."
Brad then looked over at him which prompted Katsumi to say, "I just reciprocate what she says to me."
"I see…" Brad was scratching his chin as if he was trying to decipher something.
"Weren't you going to leave, for free, Akito-san?"
"Y-yes, we were just about to leave."
"It looks like I'm going too then. See ya, Murakami-kun." Saki grabbed Brad by the hand and stormed back inside. As they left Katsumi could hear Saki complaining while Brad quickly complied with everything she was saying.
"I'll give 'em a week…" Katsumi blew more smoke up towards the overhang light.
The rain was still pouring down onto the pavement, creating large and small puddles alike across the school yard and street. The heavy rainstorm was unexpected so he didn't pack an umbrella. However, even if he did anticipate this storm he wouldn't have packed one anyway. Katsumi stood at the front doors of the school staring out at a street that was composed only from shades of gray pondering how he'd get home without getting completely soaked.
You reap what you sow I guess…
Katsumi stepped out into the downpour. With each step more and more water flooded into his shoes. Water dripped down from his bangs and onto his face. Katsumi pushed on, not even bothering to wipe the water off his face to get a moment's relief because he knew that it would return as quickly as he wiped it off.
"Hm? It's not raining over me anymore…? Thanks, God."
"No problem."
"God!?"
Katsumi looked to his left to see a girl with short black hair holding an umbrella over the two of them.
"You looked miserable so I thought I'd help." The girl didn't look back at Katsumi, instead keeping her focus straight ahead. However, Katsumi continued to stare at her.
"Yes?" She looked up at him.
He regained his senses and shook his head, turning his attention to the street in front of them. "Ah, nothing… Just a bit surprised."
The two silently walked together for multiple blocks, the rain soaking her left side as she held the umbrella in a way that shielded Katsumi from the rain. He stared at her shoulder for a moment thinking about bringing it up but ultimately decided against it and silently continued walking with her.
The dinging to warn of an upcoming train at the railroad crossing filled the air. The black and yellow arm slowly started lowering. A train whistle blowing could be heard in the distance accompanied by the ever louder growing click-clack sound of the train moving across the tracks. The pair waited in front of the gate for the train to pass.
"Ah!" A sudden gust of wind had taken hold of the umbrella and blew it away. But with fast reactions Katsumi reached out and barely grabbed the handle before it blew onto the tracks. He handed it back to the black haired girl, "Thank you."
"Mm, no problem." The gate slowly rose and the two carried on.
"I'm going left here, how about you?"
"I'm going straight here."
"Nnn… I would like to walk you all the way to your apartment but I promised to meet a friend soon. I'm sorry about this…"
"What!? No, don't worry about that. You've helped me more than anyone would. T-thank you very much for this…" Huh? My apartment how—
"...Here, you can take the umbrella."
"What? No It's yours, you really don't need to go out of your way for me like this. You've done more than enough."
"I insist, take it. I'll be fine." She pushed the umbrella into Katsumi's hand before swiftly walking off into the rain.
"Wait!" Katsumi stared at her back as she got increasingly further away. His arm fell limp and the umbrella dropped down by his side. The once muffled patter of the rain hitting the umbrella was thrust into the foreground in an instant. His hair immediately got soaked again after it had just begun to dry.
Katsumi stood in the elevator, the only sound that could be heard was from him dripping water onto the floor, which was beginning to form small puddles. There was a ding then the doors slid open, he stood in the elevator until the doors had fully opened. With the dripping umbrella at his side he stepped out and walked down the hallway. When he got his door he reached into his pants pocket for his keys which he soon found out weren't there.
Shit… I left them on the kitchen table…
He hit his head on the door and stood in silence for a moment when he heard someone from inside his apartment say, "Coming!"
You're kidding me!?
"Welcome home honey."
"...Get outta my apartment."
Nara gasped, "Are ya' sayin' you want a divorce?"
"I wouldn't even go out with you for one-hundred million yen." Katsumi raised the umbrella and shook it, spraying water all over Nara.
The door slammed on Katsumi's face.
"Sorry sorry, I'll even pay double for child-support! Just let me back in!"