Conquering the Crests of Life

Turn 4 | First Day, First Encounters

Turn 4 | First Day, First Encounters

The bike ride to Den City High School is much busier compared to your first visit.

A few students with your school's uniform ride bikes in the same way as you, and more and more students congregate into one slightly larger mass the closer you get to the school.

It's a bit suffocating and only increases your anxiety for the first day. You can't even wear your headphones because of your helmet, and the obvious hazard it would be to block out sound on the road.

While you pedal to the bike parking areas, you think about the last week. You saw Jin the following Saturday after your first visit, but his demeanor did not change at all during the second one-sided conversation. That's okay, some things take time, and you're a patient person. You had asked Dr. Sakai if you could come every Saturday to visit him, and she said it should be fine once she checks in with a family member of Jin's. Otherwise, you haven't done much last week, besides calling your mom and her wishing you best of luck on the first day.

You lock your bike and start making headway to the entrance of the school. The walk is long, but the pretty sakura trees you see occasionally creates a serene atmosphere. You look through your phone to find one of your tracks that fits the ambience and play it on your headphones.

Most students wear blue ties with their uniform, but you can see a few sprinkles of colored ties here and there. Very few girls wear the uniform without the sweater, you realize. The observation makes you want to scrutinize your own appearance.

You use the phone's mirror to judge your outfit. Without the sweater, your white shirt is tucked into the high waist skirt of the uniform, which stops short halfway down your thighs. You don't complain about the height because you wear shorts underneath. The burgundy tie you bought the other day is tied neatly with the star shaped pin on the knot, and its length almost reaches the skirt. Your white and purple hair is pulled up into a ponytail that cascades a little past your shoulders, and you left two locks of mostly purple hair on each side of your head. You flick your eyes back up to your face and stare at your face. You don't do makeup, but maybe you should start?

The open doors of the school now lie in front of you and makes you force yourself to stop worrying about your appearance for the sake of getting to class on time. You fiddle with the cards in your pocket with one hand while you dig through your school bag with the other. Looking through the school-issued tablet you pulled out, you find a digital copy of your school schedule.

DCHS students have two core classes before the first elective, then break for lunch. Students then go to their second elective and back to their main classroom for the remaining core classes. You peer at the map to find your main classroom and find that the way there is so long and convoluted, it makes your head spin just looking at it.

Head tilted up, you glance up at the looming building. Your chest expands and contracts as you perform your normal breathing exercise to soothe your anxiety.

You enter the building, one foot in front of the other.

Your classroom has a lecture hall style seating, with two students to a single row. The room is huge!

You plop down in a seat in the middle of the room, not too close, but not too far back either. Most students have already arrived and are seated, but no one occupies the seat next to you.

That is, until one minute to the first bell, a short guy with green hair and eyes rushes to the seat.

"Yes!! I just made it!" He doesn't really regard you at first as he falls into the seat.