A Love Letter of Life

1.New Beginning, Same-old You

It was the first day of school, when a boy was seen searching through the class distribution poster. He was wearing the school's uniform; White shirt, black pants, grey suit jacket, and red tie. Judging by the flower on his chest, he seemed to be a freshman.

"Takagi... Takagi..." The boy quietly murmured.

High school, a crucial part of one's youth. Some of the most sincere friend are met in high school, same goes for lovers. Without the strict rules and classes in middle school, so much opportunity was opened up, this includes clubs and lots of school activities. This is where one's career starts to take form, as what happened in the three years will very much determine their future. Therefore, getting into a good high school is considered very important. Yet for Nishikata, dropping his games and manga, grinding his head studying, getting the highest score in his life, all that was simply to be with the girl he loves.

"Found it!" With a cheerful smile on his face, Nishikata began making his way to his new classroom. Walking down the corridors, everything seemed so alien to him, but knowing she would be here too calmed him down a lot. Eventually, he reached the classroom. The door was opened, and it looked like some of his new classmate were already there. Some were talking in pairs or in groups, others were sitting quietly alone. Nishikata's eyes were uninterested in all those though, as it went straight to the other end of the room. In the back corner near the window, Takagi was talking to Sumire. She was wearing the same uniform but with a short skirt instead of the pants, and she also had her hair tied up into a ponytail. Sumire seemed to have noticed Nishikata, as she whispered something into Takagi's ears and walked away with a grin. Takagi turned around, making eye contact with him and smiled.

"Good morning, Nishikata." She greeted. "You look awfully cool today."

"Good morning, Takagi-san." He replied with a slight hint of red on his cheek. 'You look... pretty, too."

"Thank you!" She laughed out loud. "You haven changed a bit!"

"We just met yesterday... how much am I suppose to change!" He protested as he sat down on the seat beside her. It was like the old days, like the first day of middle school all over again; both of them at the back corner of the classroom, their little personal space.

"Have you seen around the campus yet?" Takagi asked.

"Not yet." Nishikata replied. "Do you want to go explore?"

"Does this count as a date?" She followed up with a smirk.

"Uh..." He blushed. Even after two and a half month of dating, he felt like he would never not get use to it. "It is, isn't it... haha..."

"Let's go then!" Takagi hopped up from her seat and grabbed Nishikata by the wrist.

"I can walk by myself, Takagi-san!"

They wondered down the hallways, walking side by side, and soon arrived at their first stop; the school store. It looked like the old snack store they always go to, probably slightly bigger. It was filled with stationaries, snacks, even things like dumplings, bread and sandwiches.

"Remember this place in specific, Nishikata." Takagi said.

"Why?" Nishikata asked in confusion.

"Because this is where you will by me juice whenever we have contests!" She replied, trying to hold back chuckles.

"I will turn the tide around! Just you wait!" He yelled in frustration.

"Hard to say~"

They kept walking around the campus when a billboard caught Nishikata's eyes. It was covered with recruitment posters of all sorts of clubs, most of them were normal, still there were some weird ones.