3 days earlier. [5th April, Fujiwara household]
"Hitomiiiii! "
"Hitomi-chaaaan! "
Two loud voices came from the front of Hitomi's house. She knew who they were. Sumi and Ichika, her best friends. They were here to accompany her for school. Hitomi as well as the other two were new-to-be high schoolers. And as expected, they were already running late on their first day of school. All because Hitomi couldn't wake up a bit earlier in the morning. She was tying her hair, looking at her own face reflected in the mirror. She's always had bright eyes, her fluffy cheeks, and her signature hair that she tied in one long pony tail for the millionth time.
Starting today she would be entering a new life as a high schooler. This was a really important milestone to Hitomi. She had planned many things to do. Make new friends, eat lunch together with them, join a club, so on and so on. She lightly slapped both her cheeks as she swallowed a good amount of air down her lungs;
"Let's do this!"
As the calls from her friends continued, her mother's voice too joined with them.
"Hitomiiiii! What are you doing child? You're friends are already here."
"Comiiing!" shouted Hitomi as she picked up her bag before flying out of her room.
"Hito-", her mom who was about to scold her went silent as she saw Hitomi appear on the stairs.
"Well, how do I look?" Hitomi asked tugging both sides of her skirt.
She could see her mother's eyes almost tear up when she saw herself in her daughter. She approached Hitomi and fondly held her.
"My doll looks so pretty in the new uniform. You remind me of my school days..."
She gave the most motherly smile she could give. Hitomi returned with a cute little smile.
"Oh my look at the time Hitomi... You're really late. Here I packed the breakfast for you." Her mother handed her a small lunch box. "Eat it on the way." Hitomi nodded, taking the box in her hand and hurriedly ran towards the door. "I'll be goinggg!"
"Take care! And be a good girl, okay?"
"Okayyy"
And Hitomi exited her house.
Outside were her friends Sumi and Ichika awaited with long and frustrated faces.
"Good morning guys! Sorry for the wait." Hitomi said as she went to them."My god Hitomichchi can't you at least be a bit early on our first day?" Sumi whined.
"Ah ha ha ha", Hitomi gave a pathetic giggle as she scratched the behind of her head."You look beautiful Hitomi", Ichika complimented.
"Ahhh you guys look beautiful too!"
"C'mon! Let's get going, or well miss the bus.", Sumi said already going in the direction where their bus stop was supposed to be.
"Ah, okay!"
And there hence the three girls, ahem, vigorously walked towards the bus stop. Thanks to their sheer luck the bus arrived the moment they got there. Had they delayed a few more minutes, they would have had to kept vigorously walking the whole way to school.
.
.
.
For some unknown miracle the trio was able to arrive at the front gates of the school just in the nick of time, despite many other students in the same attire still flooding the entrance.
"Kyoto Blooming Flowers High"
The words hung on the big, rainbow shaped board on top of the gates. This name was well known and respected in the area. And along with their prestigious name carried a really tough entrance exam. Well, Hitomi and her friends were able to pass the test with little to no issues. Therefore this would be their school for another three years to come.
Hitomi, whilst trying to look for her handkerchief to wipe her forehead, caught something bizarre from the corner of her eyes. She quickly veered her head to see what it was. She realized it wasn't an 'it', but someone. She thought she saw that person wearing an outfit similar to that of a shrine maiden, with a mask covering their face. And she was looking her way. She wasn't sure whether they were looking exactly at her or not. Yet she could feel their gaze on her skin. Puzzled by the unfitting presence, Hitomi tapped on one of her friends' shoulders.
"Hey Sumi. Look." She pointed at the person. Sumi, confused, squinted her eyes in doubt as she looked back and forth at her friend and where she was pointing at. "Huh? What? Where? What're you showing me..." Her eyes lit up once she realized who Hitomi was showing.
"Ohh that cute boy? Oh my Hitomichchii it's just our first day here!"
"What boy? I'm talking about that-"
She looked back. The person in the maiden outfit was gone. And in their place was a guy having a chat with his friends.
"Sigh, Hitomi, please take it slow.", Ichika placed a hand over her shoulder.
"No bu-but. There was a strange shrine maiden standing there."
"What? This is a School Hitomi. No shrine maidens here."
"Hitomichchi don't tell me you didn't sleep yesterday. You're probably daydreaming now!"
Hitomi remembered that she actually didn't sleep the night before. It was more like she couldn't out of shear excitement. "Ah! I guess I am day dreaming."
Still, she couldn't cross her fingers over the fact that person she saw felt very surreal.
"Come on, let's head towards the main hall", Ichika gestured towards the school.
"Aww, I wish we're in the same class.", Sumi grumbled as she followed the two. Hitomi took a big breath in to clear her head.
"Today's supposed to be a good day Hitomi. Stop being nervous. You'll be fine.", She said to herself and walked alongside the other two, partially hoping that she would be stuck with her two friends in the same class.
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