“Good morning, Ayu!” Tanpopo materialized and did his signature twirl in the air.
“O-Oh…! Hi, Tanpopo.” Ayu almost didn’t catch the dandelion fairy due to the tiredness tugging at her eyes. She forced a smile onto her face as a half-hearted greeting. All of her focus was on double-checking the contents of her backpack; it would literally be the end of her if she forgot something.
“Ready for another great day of defending the earth as a magical girl?”
“Yeah…” No, absolutely not.
“Hey, what’s with the unenthusiastic response? Sounds to me like you’re not taking this seriously!” Tanpopo accused.
“N-No! No, I am! I’m just tired, Tanpopo,” Ayu explained. “I’ll do my best as always.”
“That’s good! Ready for school? You’re gonna be late at this rate!”
No thanks to you and Lively Eden… A wave of sudden exhaustion swarmed over Ayu and she had to place both hands on her desk to keep herself from wobbling. Her eyes were so heavy; she stayed up way past midnight getting through all of her homework. Ayu considered skipping school today but her parents would definitely kill her if she did that. She also wanted to go to school. Her life would never go anywhere or get on track if she ditched. Ordinary girls went to school, socialized a bit with friends, maybe got a boyfriend, and lived happily ever after. Well, Ayu was anything but ordinary, but she could certainly try!
The hot summer sun beat down on Ayu as she commuted to school. As she drew closer, groups of students joined her on the path to Nishigaoka High. Ayu observed their laughter and jovial chatter out of the corner of her eye with a dry throat and her head held low. They discussed tests and sports and afterschool activities; Ayu’s eyes lingered on a couple happily walking hand-in-hand. Seeing all of this commotion caused a pit to form deep in her stomach. It was late June—almost summer vacation—but she felt like an outsider entering a place she didn’t belong. And in some ways, it was true. She was a random girl who lived in Tokyo for two years and suddenly returned to Yokohama without warning. Most people attending Nishigaoka knew each other from junior high, only adding to Ayu’s difficulty.
She slipped into her desk—tucked away into the back of the classroom—and hung her head. Sound and noise echoed and ricocheted off the walls in a cacophony only teenagers in school with nothing to do could make. Everywhere Ayu looked, mouths were moving. She squirmed in her seat.
Okay. Today is the day! Today’s the day you strive for an ordinary high school life! Yeah, you’re a magical girl, but so what? You can still be a totally normal high schooler! Today’s the day I talk to someone! I can do this!
Ayu looked up from the dull wood of her desk and sucked in her breath. The early morning cacophony pierced her ears. Suddenly, Ayu felt like she was stuck at the bottom of a well. Her classmates towered over her like giants in a medieval party, cackling and gossiping while swirling great goblets full of blood red wine. Ayu cringed and shrank back down into her chair. The racket squeezed her and sucked all of the air out of her chest. Her throat was dry as the Sahara and her tongue forgot what words were. Her heart beat so fast, it outpaced any confrontation with the Death Duo. Ayu hung her head once more. She squeezed her eyes shut and in the darkness, discord slowly faded. Her heartbeat returned to normal and the fuzz clouding her brain dimmed to a distant hum. Today was not the day. If only someone just approached her… That was how she made friends in Tokyo! But Ayu was practically invisible in this giant classroom of commotion. She wasn’t sure if her classmates even knew she existed.
“Alright, alright, settle down.” Their homeroom teacher strode into the room, tapping his rollbook over his shoulder. The chitter and chatter of the class gradually faded away as the students located their desks. “I’ve got a sudden announcement: a new classmate is transferring in today.”
The change in the atmosphere of class 1-B was instant. The antsiness and sleepiness pervading throughout the room warped into intrigue and curiosity. Friends caught each other’s eyes and mouthed silent conversations. Even Ayu couldn’t help but be a bit interested; maybe this really was her lucky day. Maybe this was her big break. A new student? A new person, who, just like her, had no prior connections to anyone in this classroom? Could this be her opportunity to finally make her first friend in Yokohama?
“Come on in.”
The sliding door snapped open. A lanky, tall figure stomped into the room. There was a sort of tenseness in his steps; an anger or a repulsiveness. Ayu blinked in shock. She even rubbed her eyes to make sure what she was seeing was really real.
“…Juuzou?”
It had been several years since Ayu had last seen her old friend. As children in grade school and early junior high, they had been nearly inseparable. They lost touch after Ayu moved to Tokyo; she hadn’t heard a single thing from Juuzou since their last conversation in person. She didn’t even remember what was said. But just from his looks, it was clear something had happened in those years they spent apart.
His appearance was vastly different from the image of Juuzou in Ayu’s memories. He was still tall—around six feet—and lanky, with long and thin limbs. Juuzou used to keep his oak brown hair short and neat with his bangs pleated to the side of his head. Now, it had grown out and reached past his shoulders; his bangs swept over his cheek and nearly covered his right eye. It was so long, he wore it in a half-updo to keep some of it out of his face. Juuzou’s lip and ears were pierced—definitely against the dress code—with pitch-black studs. He had one lower lip piercing and four in each ear, totaling nine. Nine piercings.
His clothes were disheveled, as if he haphazardly wrinkled his brand-new gakuran jacket just by putting it on. Instead of a collared shirt, a worn white tee poked out from under the stark blackness of his jacket. The Juuzou Ayu used to know wore his clothes so neatly it would be impossible to find a wrinkle anywhere; moreover, he would never dream of disrespecting the dress code so blatantly by opting for a T-shirt over a button-up. Nevermind the piercings. Nine whole piercings! Additionally, he had his book bag callously slung over his shoulder; his hand gripped the handles loosely as the tote dangled over his back. Juuzou always carried his tote in front of him or tightly clutched to his side. All this combined was enough to make Ayu’s head spin but what shocked her the most were Juuzou’s eyes.
Her heart always fluttered when he looked at her; normally, staring was considered rude but if it was Juuzou, Ayu didn’t mind if he stared at her for all eternity. She remembered them so vividly; his eyes were perhaps the clearest thing she recalled about Juuzou. They were wide and slate blue. They were intelligent and bright and sparkled whenever he learned something new. They scrunched up in concentration whenever he worked on his homework and they gleamed with interest whenever he read a bit of Ayu’s poetry. But now… Now they were cold. They were slanted and harsh as a bitter winter. Any trace of warmth had been shed and he now bore a certain cruelty and apathy that leaked down to his expression and seemed welded to his very facial features. His very eyes created a barrier separating Juuzou from everyone else. He wasn’t even looking at his new classmates; he was staring at the floor. Or perhaps into space. Juuzou was a serious person; it wasn’t like him to daydream.
Nonetheless, he was as handsome as Ayu remembered him. Maybe even more so.
“Juuzou Hanazoe.”
Ayu flinched at the gruffness in his voice. It had matured and deepened over the course of their time apart but carried none of the timidity or intelligence of his personality. Juuzou didn’t even bother to write his name on the blackboard and after his snappy introduction, it was clear he had no intention of repeating himself. The teacher gestured to his desk at the back of the room—two seats away from Ayu—and Juuzou sulked over. Once again, he didn’t bother to catch any of his classmates’ gazes and instead focused his eyes on the floor. He briefly passed Ayu and her heart skipped a beat; would he recognize her? Granted, her appearance had also changed quite a bit since middle school. Her auburn hair was way shorter—going from mid-back to chin-length—and she had half-rimmed glasses now. But when Ayu glanced up and noticed Juuzou’s cold glare, a shiver shuddered down her spine. She quickly shifted her gaze back to the wood of her dull desk.
Several dull moments passed by; the teacher droned on about a few announcements before leaving. The Japanese literature instructor took his place; the students of class 1-B moved methodically and pulled books from their bags. Ayu copied them, but it took her a few seconds to realize she grabbed her math textbook instead of her copy of Mieko Kawakami’s Breasts and Eggs. She hastily exchanged her texts, hoping nobody noticed her mistake. Ayu swallowed down a lump in her throat and sucked in a deep breath. She finally stole a glance at Juuzou, but he was looking in the opposite direction. There were no books on his desk.