The Mirror Girl - 鏡の少女

Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

Bury Your Head In The Bland

The soft light of the morning seeped its way through the cracks of the blinds. It cast a warm shade of yellow into the room. Keizo stirred slightly as he rolled over, stretching out his arms lazily. Slowly sitting up, he blinked a couple times to clear away the sleep from his eyes before getting out of bed. He walked towards the bathroom with his head hung low in thought.

He lifted his head, staring down his reflection with a scornful expression.

Keizo had a pair of dark brown eyes that were framed by black eyelashes. A sharp jawline jutted out from under tousled, sable black hair. He was slim in every sense of the word, but still somehow had muscles to show. Not many people took him seriously.

His eyes narrowed slightly and his mouth twisted into a focused sneer as he brushed his teeth. He turned away from the mirror, heading over to his closet. The dark fabric of his uniform jacket although worn for quite a long time, still stood out against his white dress shirt with a striped tie draped around the collar and a pair of beige pants. He threw on his uniform blazer and buttoned it up.

He glanced in the mirror again, fixing his tie with practiced ease.

After making sure nothing looked wrong, Keizo opened his door and left his bedroom. He padded down the hallway. His parents were away on an indefinitely long vacation, resulting in a quiet home. All that was left was to grab a few things, lock up the front door and go to school.

Keizo and his family had a house that was a good walk to his high school. It wasn't far either, 15 minutes, 13 on a good day. He'd always made a habit of timing his commute accordingly, mostly because he found a compulsive need to count time, although doing this to avoid walking in the morning rush hour traffic is a much more reasonable explanation he told others.

In school, he was quiet and reserved only associating with the only two friends he's ever had since elementary school. He would never admit it out loud, but being surrounded by people made him feel uneasy. So having those two made school somewhat bearable in a cosmic sort of way, even if he did have to deal with the hordes of students that'd blow by him everyday as he'd make his way to his classes with a decent and unbothered pace.

Friday Morning, 8:30 AM // MATSUYAMA HIGHSCHOOL

Keizo arrived early, like always. The most direct way to his classroom was through the back of the school. Around this time, the back was dead silent apart from the two oddball students and their cat who made the nearby alcove their home in the morning.

He made his way into the shoe cubby room and slipped on his indoor shoes. His first class was Math, which was second nature to him. He took his seat by the window, pensively gazing outside.

"Keizo." A lilted voice piped up. "Kei...zo~!" A set of taut, outstretched hands frantically waved in front of his face. Keizo looked up to see Mika, a short, greyish-brown haired girl with gentle blue eyes that practically scream "unmoving" to the average person. "Hey, Mika, quit waving your hand about. I'm still kinda half-asleep over here." He mumbled, rubbing at his temples. The girl simply giggled and moved her arm away, letting him move himself over to her direction.

"What's going on today?" Keizo asked, looking at Mika with curiosity.

"Oh, just a few finished calculations here and there."

"Like what?" Keizo asked with a playful hint of distrust.

"Like this!" She dramatically handed him untidy sheets of paper with equally untidy handwriting. Keizo took a quick gander through the haphazardly done equations.