The Afternoon Tea Club

A new school brings back old memories

An alarm rings, signaling 8AM in the morning. I carelessly raise my hand and hit my night stand a few times before finally getting a hold of my phone. After stopping the annoying sound that is my alarm, I get up from bed and look at myself in the restroom mirror. My long, brown hair is tangled and my dark colored eyes are as droopy as they could be. Following a quick shower, I change into my newly ironed, dark blue school uniform and go downstairs. My aunt comes out of the kitchen to greet me.
"Good morning, Mashiro," my aunt says with a smile.
Smiling back at her, I reply, "Good morning."
Ever since I left my home in a rural town about a month ago, my Aunt Namie took me in like I was her own child and helped me transition back to life in the city. I was bored of the slow, boring pace of rural life and wanted something different.
"Here's your breakfast," my aunt tells me, as I walk deeper inside the dining room.
Breakfast consisted of miso soup, grilled fish, and rice. It was quite tasty.
"Oh I almost forgot your lunch! I made it special for your first day," my aunt said as she entered the kitchen and came back out with a nicely wrapped bento box ready for me. I take my lunch from her hands and thanked her for her consideration.
"Don't mention it," she replies, "as far as I know you're my kid as long as you live under my roof."
I give her a smile, saying goodbye as I leave for school. Looking out into the world in front of my temporary residence, the sun shines bright and the many trees dance in the spring sky. I check my watch.
Hmm... 8:20 and it takes about 15 minutes to walk to school. I should be fine.
From the fork in front of my residence, I go right and into a partially dark area shaded by trees. I take another right after a few steps, finally reaching a busy street. Students with the same uniform as me walk to school. They talk and laugh with their accompanying friends. Cars seemingly pass by every 5 seconds and a variety of shops line up along the street.
Walking quietly on the sidewalk, I hear the voice of a young girl behind me, shouting, "Hey, get out of the way! I'm almost late!"
I move to the side and see her speed right past me with bread in her mouth and also wearing the same uniform. Her twin-tailed blonde hair flips gracefully back and forth as she speeds in front of me and out of sight.
What a strange girl. It's still around 8:30....
I continue on with my walk to school, taking a left after another minute or two and finally seeing the gates. Looking at Fuji High School from the front entrance is a beautiful sight: many Sakura trees line up along the sides of the path that lead to the actual school building. Many petals build up along the edges and some flutter gracefully in the wind before my eyes. I see several students walk inside in pairs, and the whole school community seems as cheerful as could be. Walking inside school grounds, I catch a glimpse of a brown-haired girl passing out flyers.
"Please join my club," the energetic girl shouts, "we meet after school and have lots of fun!"
At first, I pay no heed to the commotion. When she stares at me out of the many students in the crowd walking to school, however, I instantly become aware that she is looking at me. The girl approaches me and I stop in my tracks. Her bright, cerulean eyes look up on me and I am stunned by her beauty. After noticing her charm, I am suddenly struck by a strong feeling that I have seen this girl before. As I try to delve deep in my memories, she hands me a flyer.
"Hey, you look like an interesting person," she says, "you should come join my club!"
Surprised and not knowing what to say, I stutter while replying, "What do you guys do in your club?"
"We meet everyday after school and we talk and play games over a cup of tea," she tells me, as she smiles.
Youth and kindness are only two words to describe its purity.
Still stunned, I say, "Okay. I'll go and think about it...."
"Alright," she replies, "meet me at room 3-E right after school if you're interested!"
Shortly after, another wind passes and the Sakura trees shake. As the petals fly away into oblivion, the young girl waves goodbye and returns to her previous position. I shrug away my earlier suspicion that I might have known the girl before and I fold the flyer into my pocket. After I go to the locker room and remove my shoes, I try searching for my room. As I look for room 2-C, I still couldn't stop thinking about the young girl. She seemed oddly familiar and very close to me. I finally find my room and choose to sit at the back row by the window. The sun shines brightly through the window panes, and several students have their morning chatter. Still wondering about the mysterious girl, I take out the flyer I folded earlier into my pocket.
The Afternoon Tea Club... fun and games over a cup of tea...
I think a little about how a waste of time it is, as it doesn't seem to serve any real purpose but for self indulgence, and nothing very productive.
Help save our club by joining now! Room 3-E...
I put away the flyer for now. I couldn't seem to make a quick decision whether or not to go to the club room after school. Somehow I thought it was fate that I met that girl in the front of the school, but I shrugged it off again as something just in the movies. Suddenly, someone sits in front of me. I don't mind him at first, but when the guy begins talking to me, I look up at him. His face also seems somewhat familiar, and I try figuring out who exactly he is.
He begins to talk to me, saying, "Hey, I'm Michio, what's your name?"
The boy's name is also oddly familiar, and I try working my brain cells harder.
I stutter once again, answering, "It's Mashiro. Nice to meet you."
"Hmm, I used to know someone by the name of Mashiro," the somewhat talkative boy says, "We were best of friends the last time I remember...."
At that moment, everything came back to me. This was the Class Clown Michio from elementary school! His appearance changed so much, that I had a hard time recognizing him. Everyone thought he was annoying because he talked too much. When he cracked a joke or two on the teachers, however, everyone loved him. He always tried to make the class smile and called everyone a friend. It seems like his personality hasn't changed.
"Did this Mashiro," I reply, "happen to always sit behind you in elementary school?"
He thinks for a while, and then his face suddenly lights up, saying, "The last time I remember he did! Wait a sec... are you that same Mashiro?"
"Yeah, I guess I am," I answer, "how's it been?"
"It's been great," he tells me, "ever since you left sometime in elementary school, however, things weren't ever the same."
I wonder how I made such a big impact on him. I never particularly stood out in the class and I always just thought of myself just being there.
Hesitating a bit to say so, I finally ask him, "How weren't things the same?"
"Well, first of all," he says, "you always helped me study."
I am still a little confused. I only did those things because I needed to study myself and thought it was the right thing to do.
"Second of all," he continues, "you were always there to hear me out and were a true best friend."
I begin hating myself for not remembering these things right away. I didn't know that the small things I did really made a big impact on someone else.
"It's so nice for you to be back," he replies, "I hope we can be the best of friends again."
The moment he finishes his sentence, the bell rings and everyone begins taking their seats. The teacher tells me to come up to the class and introduce myself along with two other people in the class that transferred. The whole day went by pretty quick. Michio seemed to keep close to me, and rarely talked to anyone else in the class. During lunch, he stayed at his desk and talked to me the whole time.
"Hey," he asked me as he turned around, "who made you that awesome bento?"
"My aunt," I reply, taking another bite of my lunch.
He makes a blown up face like a puffer fish, saying, "You're so lucky to have an aunt that makes great bentos. I can tell my sister tries her best but her food just tastes absolutely horrible."
Both of us laughed and ate until lunch ended. Classes were easy because they were still in a kind of "orientation phase" and the material was very simple. Finally, the bell rings. The rest of the class leaves and it is only Michio and I left in the classroom.
He grabs his hand bag and asks me, "Do you mind walking home together?"
I still couldn't decide whether or not to join the club that strange girl told me about earlier in the day. My gut feeling is mysteriously pushing me to take her on her offer, however.
"Sorry, Michio," I reply, "I have a club meeting I have to attend to after school today."
Michio gives me a surprised look and says, "Wow, already? Okay, have fun!"
He waves me goodbye as he leaves the room. Shortly after, I also pack up my things and leave. A few students still chat in the hallways, and the bright spring sun shines through the many windows of the second floor. The club room is a floor above, so I find myself having to go up the stairs. Luckily, Fuji High has a staircase at each end of the school so that classrooms with later letters in the alphabet are easily reachable. I walk up to the third floor and 3-E is just right around the corner. In front of the sliding door all classrooms in the school have, I take a deep breath. I don't know what to expect from this club meeting, and I begin to get anxious. After hesitating a bit more, I finally get the courage to open the door. To my surprise, the club room was almost empty, and only one person was inside. It was the mysterious girl from earlier in the day, with her back turned and facing at the blue spring sky. The room's lights weren't on, and the room was slightly dark. Only natural sunlight from the back windows filled the room. She turns around and smiles her same pure smile.
"Welcome," she tells me, as she signals me to come in. I slowly walk inside and see her blue eyes shine through the dimly-lighted club room.
She approaches me and asks, "What's your name?"
It became hard for me to speak.
Stuttering, I reply, "Mashiro. Mashiro Suzuki."
She smiles once again saying, "Mashiro. I've always liked that name. I might be biased, however."
Wondering, I ask, "Why? Why must you be biased?"
Closing her eyes and sitting down on the couch, she replies, "I used to have a friend named Mashiro in elementary school. He reached out a hand to me while I was alone in the playground...."
Once again, I am shocked. I know there is a huge chance that "Mashiro" she's talking about was me. How could I be so dumb as to think I wouldn't bump into old friends in the same neighborhood I was raised in as a 7 year old? Furthermore, I've confirmed my suspicions as well. She was somewhat close to me, but for some strange reason, I couldn't recall her name. She stands up once again and approaches me.
"Oh I almost forgot," she tells me, as she holds out her hand for a handshake.
She smiles at me once again as she says, "The name's Misaki. Misaki Homura. Nice to meet you!"
At that moment, everything came back to me.