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[indent]Naoka woke up straight away. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, she always did that. All of those five-minutes lie-ins added up, after all. What [i]was[/i] odd was why she had woken up. Most of the time it was her alarm going off. Instead, a quick glance at her phone told her there were still ten minutes left to go. So it was that weird dream that she'd woken up from, which was the other odd thing, because she usually slept so deeply that she hardly ever had them, let alone that vividly.

She got up and finished getting ready by the time her alarm went off for real. Dressed in the highly creative sweater with jeans, Naoka slumped back down on her bed as her phone buzzed loudly.

[color=B2866F]"Six-thirty,"[/color] she muttered. She glanced over at her luggage. She'd made sure it was all ready a few days ago, with some ungodly combination of packing what she needed and throwing out almost everything else. Without all the mess, the room felt foreign. Then again, it did anyway. After two years, she was getting more used to her room at the dorm than the one at home.

[color=B2866F]"Six-thirty [i]five[/i]."[/color] Had it already been five minutes? Though it wasn't like she had much to do. There was still some time before they left, but going back to sleep didn't feel right. Instead, she reached into her bag sitting on the floor and pulled out her sketchbook, flipping it open. 

As she doodled absent mindedly, she thought back to the dream again. There were people that believed what you saw in your dreams could help you predict your future, right? Maybe she ought to look into it. There was... a lot of blue. That might mean something. The time passed as she continued to get lost in her thoughts. Somewhere along the way she'd started going over English vocab in her head.

[b]"Naoka! Let's go!"[/b] her dad eventually called from downstairs, snapping her out of her thoughts. [b]"Take your luggage down, we're gonna leave in a sec."[/b]

[color=B2866F]"Coming! Coming,"[/color] she shouted back. [color=B2866F]"Coming! Coming,"[/color] she shouted back. She hastily closed over the drawing of a woman who looked suspiciously like Safie, shoving her sketchbook back into her bag. Then, she carried her luggage down to where her dad was waiting in the car, sliding wordlessly into the backseat. He started the engine and began to drive towards the school.

[b]"You ready?"[/b]

[color=B2866F]"Yeah. Is mum... not coming?"[/color] They were leaving early, since her parents had to go to work not long after. Naoka didn't mind, since she was used to waking up early anyway. The sooner she got in, the sooner she could settle back into the comfortable school routine.

[b]"She was up late yesterday, so she's sleeping in."[/b]

[color=B2866F]"I guess it can't be helped."[/color]

[b]"Don't worry, she'll probably send you a text when she gets up. But you're finally third year, huh? You sure have grown. I still remember your first day of elementary school like it was yesterday."[/b] 

[color=B2866F]"Oh, really?"[/color]

[b]"I think we have some pictures somewhere, you know! I should send you them later."[/b] 

[color=B2866F]"Uh, don't worry. You don't need to,"[/color] she replied, staring blankly at her faint reflection in the window. She didn't feel very different from the year before. She'd gotten her hair cut much shorter over summer (it had been waist length before, but it was becoming a pain to manage), though that was about it.

[b]"You never know when you'll need them. Make sure you study hard this year."[/b]

[color=B2866F]"Yeah. I will. College exams are coming up, so..."[/color]

[b]"Mmm. Good luck, Naoka."[/b]

She didn't respond. The rest of the ride finished in complete silence.

[center]🂠 🂠 🂠[/center]

She'd gotten in early, so the girls' dorms were pretty much empty. There wasn't much hassle, she'd said bye to her dad and gone in. There weren't any tears. They'd see each other again soon enough. Naoka yawned slightly as she trudged up the stairs. She'd forgotten to have coffee that morning. No wonder she felt so off. The dream probably didn't mean anything after all.

Her dorm room was pristine. Not for long though, after a week or two she was always left with half the floor space and ten times the mess. She began to unpack, which is to say, she dumped the contents of her luggage onto the floor. Except for her many posters, which were put up neatly on the walls in the exact same configuration as the last year. It was the optimal arrangement for admiring their contents.

With that done, Naoka's list of things to do was fully exhausted. In a sense. She'd made sure to study at least three hours a day for the entire holiday, so there wasn't a massive need to go over her notes again. Oh, she really ought to deal with all the stuff she'd left on the floor. Sighing, she sat down next to it and began to unpack properly. Her coffee could wait a little longer.
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