"I will always love you. Neither my family nor fate will ever destroy the love I have for you, Fujimiya."
"Wait. Wait, no, wait."
As the young man awakens from his dream with tears rolling down his cheeks, he looks towards the window and lets out a smooth sigh.
"Finally joining high school, huh."
As he walks sleepily towards the bathroom, passing through a narrow corridor, a spacious living room can be seen to his right.
After an hour had passed, Fujimiya, who had put on his uniform, opened the door and let out a smooth sigh.
"I'm off to school."
The road, covered with cherry leaves and the nice smell of the morning mist, led to Sue Private High School.
The high school students cheered one after the other upon realizing they had been reunited in the same class as they were in middle school.
"Friends, huh."
Those words flooded my mind.
A blond boy standing next to Fujimiya said those words with a sad voice. As he walked away, Fujimiya's eyes were still staring at the board.
After some minutes, he walked towards the classrooms.
He sat at an empty locker located at the back left of the class, aligned with a window.
As Fujimiya averted his eyes from his classmates and looked outside the window, the cherry leaves blown by the wind caught his eye, but Fujimiya had no happy expression plastered on his face.
The cheering and sound of lockers caught his attention as he looked at a crowd surrounding a particular locker.
The long, silky silver hair, her smooth white skin, and her long slender legs characterized the typical high school girl who is every high school boy's dream.
"Is she also your type?" The blond boy from earlier asked the question without any apparent interest in the girl.
"Nah... I'm not interested in popular girls or rather I'm not into romance anymore."
"Anymore! Anyway, my name is Shin Dean."
"Himeko Fujimiya is my name... I guess."
"You seem antisocial, Fujimiya, but nice to meet you. Hope we can be friends, right?"
"Friends, huh? Thought you hated having friends?"
"What makes you say that?"
"Earlier... huh, never mind."
Shin seems like a rich, simple-minded guy, I guess all foreigners do. Those words flooded my mind.
As the lunch break bell rang, some students ate their homemade lunches while others rushed to the school cafeteria. As I looked at Shin's locker, he had already fallen asleep. I took my leave and headed towards the vending machine and went up to the school rooftop with a pack of strawberry milk, and there she was. Her silver hair being blown backwards by the wind, her eyes staring towards the sky. I walked towards the bench and sat down, looking in her direction but with no interest. I drank the strawberry milk while looking towards the far east. After some minutes, the petite girl looked at me and walked toward me with piercing eyes.
"Were you looking at me?" she asked with a cunning voice.
"What is there for me to see?" I asked with such confidence.
"What... who do you think I am?"
"Um. I really don't want to know."
As she screamed at me, I asked myself what others see in her that I don't. I stood up, the girl took a step back looking scared or confused. I walked towards the door, and she shouted.
"Hey, what's your name?"
"Don't you think it's inappropriate to ask other people's names without introducing yourself first, young lady."
"Shesh, I'm Inaban Tachibana, and it's a pleasure for you to meet such a bea..."
"Himeko Fujimiya, and it's not a pleasure to meet you."
"Don't interfere with people while they are talking, and what do you mean it's not a pleasure... hey, don't walk away from me."
As Fujimiya walked through the door and shut it, Tachibana was left with an amazed smile on her face.
"Himeko Fujimiya, huh? He's handsome and cool... I guess I can get along with him."
As Tachibana returned to her class, she was surprised to see Fujimiya in the same classroom as her. As Fujimiya was talking with Shin, who had sat at the top of his locker leaning against the wall, Fujimiya could see Tachibana walking to his seat, but assumed her. Then her smooth lovely voice called.
"Fu-ji-Mi-Ya."
As Fujimiya stared at her with no response, she dragged a seat next to Fujimiya and sat there, and as she smiled, her priceless smile, Fujimiya was about to speak when Shin spoke with a frustrating voice.
"What do you want, Inaban?"
"Nothing... I want nothing... Little brother."
As Fujimiya was left shocked, and at the same time he felt like laughing, he finally spoke with a soft voice.
"Little brother, huh?"
"Yeah, she is my sister, but we only share a similar father... and I'm not your little brother; you are the little sister!"
"So you stay together?"
"No, she stays with her mom, and I stay with my dad."
"Oh, is that so... but the hair color."
"I dyed my hair. I didn't want people to find out I had a sister, especially Tachibana."
"Hey, what do you mean, especially? Huh."
"Nothing... so Fujimiya, so you already hitting it off with Inaban?"
"Hey, what do you mean by hitting off? She's just a pain in my ass."
As Inaban stood up frustrated, she looked at Fujimiya with a frustrating look in her eyes, she walked towards her seat locker and sat down.
"What's her problem?"
As Shin asked with a worrying voice, Fujimiya looked at Inaban without saying a word. During class, Fujimiya could see Tachibana looking at him as if she was trying to pass him a message. After the final period was over, Shin asked which club Fujimiya was interested in, as it was compulsory for every student at Sue High School to join a club.
"I guess the Defective Thrive Club."
"What's with the name? What kind of club is it?"
"Beats me... but I heard it's a club that does nothing and has only one member. I only wanted a club where I could relax."
"Hmm, I guess I will also join the club."
As they arrived at the club's room, they were surprised to find Inaban Tachibana there with a freshman with short black hair, black eyes, and a nice body. As the four of them looked at each other in shock, without saying a word to each other for a while, Fujimiya walked towards the center where there was a round table with six seats, four of which were empty. He sat in the chair not close to Tachibana's seat. After a while, the other girl stood up.
"My name is Sakura Haruko, and... it's a pleasure to meet you all; I'm from Class 1-B."
Her soft, shy voice could only indicate she was nervous around people she didn't know, or rather, she was shy around people. After her introduction, we all introduced ourselves after a while of silence. I was reading a novel while Shin was asleep, Sakura was doing some classwork, and Inaban was texting with her friends, but from time to time, I could catch her staring at me. The club door was opened, and a student standing there then introduced himself as Tagami Yuichi, the club's president and also a senior.
After an hour, the club activity was over. Fujimiya first stood up and walked past the door without saying a word. As he was about to make a turn, he heard Inaban Tachibana calling his name.
"Himeko Fujimiya, I'm really sorry about earlier for acting rudely on the rooftop. I hope we can get along in the future."
"Sure. No problem."
Fujimiya walked away without saying any other word towards her.