Feyblue

Wardens of the Glade: A Light Fantasy RP

Shoujo⁴: Hatsukoi Reunion

So I saw a status post from Nani saying they'd be gone a while, but how's everyone else doing? Haven't heard from anybody so thought I'd just drop in to check. If nobody else is up to post right now I can keep things moving instead, but I just wanna be sure I'm not skipping over anybody.

Shoujo⁴: Hatsukoi Reunion

Alright, post is up. I skipped ahead to lunch, but left Suzuka in the classroom in case Olive or Lems want to try and approach her. Gives everyone else time to catch their characters up to lunch time and potentially bump into each other as we're leaving class or the like.

Shoujo⁴: Hatsukoi Reunion

O S A N A I S U Z U K A
O S A N A I S U Z U K A

---

Morning homeroom came and went, followed by a parade of teachers reintroducing themselves to the class. Courses were summarized, initial reading assignments were given out, and in-between, the students caught up with one another after being apart for spring break. But to Suzuka, it was little more than a blur, and it was only with great force of will that she managed to take any notes at all between all the times her gaze wandered first to the seat beside her -- then quickly toward any other point in the room the moment that seat's occupant seemed inclined to notice her staring.

Somehow, she survived until lunch. Today was only a half-day of academics, meant to give the second-years who already should have been members of clubs or sports teams time to attend their first meeting of the new school year and plan for welcoming incoming first-years into their ranks. What was more, the physical assessment for P.E. was postponed on account of the lingering mud from last night's rainfall. What that meant for Suzuka was that once lunch was over, all she had to do was report to the faculty office to turn in a waiver from her aunt vouching for her part-time job at the cafe, and then she'd be free to go.

Not that she didn't have a busy day ahead of her as it was. She still had a lot of essentials she needed to buy to make her apartment livable. Come to think of it, she had remembered to bring her shopping list, hadn't she? She quickly checked her bag, and found to her relief and mild annoyance that she had, in fact, remembered the list. The convenience store bento she had bought the night before specifically so that she wouldn't have to worry about lunch today, on the other hand, was a different story.

She closed her bag. Then she opened it again. She reached inside and fished around. Yup. Still no bento. She sighed. She supposed she'd have to buy something at the cafeteria instead -- a realization which disappointed her all the more when she realized there was no way Ei-kun's mom would have sent him off for his first day back at school without packing him lunch. She peeked over once again towards his desk to try and confirm her suspicions, only to realize to her surprise that she couldn't see him.

Rather, at some point while she'd been contemplating the tragic emptiness of her school bag, she appeared to have been surrounded by several of her classmates -- a couple of girls and most of the boys in the entire class -- all of whom began speaking at once, unleashing an almost unintelligible barrage of questions, and suddenly reminding Suzuka exactly what it was she'd been worrying about for the past week or so.

From one side, a chorus of male voices.

"Hey, Osanai-san, you said you were from Hokkaido, right?"

"What's it like up there?"

"Did you live on a farm?"

"What kind of sports do you like?"

"Can I have your LINE?" "Oi, the hell you asking for right off the bat, idiot?"

From the other, a select few female voices asking rather pointed questions.

"Hey, how do you know our Fuji-kun?"

"What the heck kind of nickname is 'Suzucchiko'? Sounds like some kind of mascot from a kids' show, lol~."

The main problem with transferring into a new school in the second year was that everyone already knew each other. But the second problem was that that meant meeting everyone all at once.

Suzuka's face totally froze. Her brain was spinning like the loading icon of a broken webpage. The gears in her mind turned, but somehow the only thing she could think to say was...

"So noisy. Wouldja mind going one at a time? Y'all are makin' my head hurt."

...Well, at least the questions stopped after that. But suddenly, everyone was giving her very strange looks instead, almost like they were shocked or something. Had she perhaps said something wrong? It seemed like common sense to her. If everybody talked over each other, there was no way she'd be able to answer them all.

Shoujo⁴: Hatsukoi Reunion

Sorry for the delays -- got sick and then had several files dropped on me by my job over the weekend. As of now, I'm mostly better and more or less caught up on everything, so I should be able to get things rolling again tomorrow.

Thanks once again to everyone for your patience!

Shoujo⁴: Hatsukoi Reunion

Decided to make one more short Suzupost before moving us along to lunchtime. I think the classroom is close to wrapped up now, unless Olive wants to do another Eikichi post in response.

Either way, if anybody needs more time before I make the timeskip to move us along, just let me know.

Shoujo⁴: Hatsukoi Reunion

O S A N A I S U Z U K A
O S A N A I S U Z U K A

---

"Girly." "Grown-up." Her? Really? She supposed she had gotten pretty big in a lot of ways since they had last seen her, so that second one sort of made sense... She was still trying to process the first. Wait, that wasn't also because she'd gotten "bigger," was it? Where had Ei-kun been looking when he had said -- no. No. Her old classmates might have teased her about... that, but Ei-kun would never stoop to making such a crass joke. No matter how much he had changed, she was sure of that.

That much aside, did Mika-chan always sound so much like her grandma? That was almost word-for-word what she'd been told just the other day when she was boarding the train from Hakodate. It was a little uncanny, but, well, it was probably just a coincidence.

A coincidence. How many coincidences had piled on top of each other this morning already? The same school. The same class. The same seats. Just like back then. As Kubo-sensei cleared her throat and continued with the morning announcements, Suzuka found her eyes wandering to her left once again. There he was, so different, yes -- but so familiar, too.

The messy mop of hair she so vividly remembered had given way to a neat and evenly-trimmed curtain. But if she just reached out and mussed it up a little bit, she was sure it would be right back to how it always used to be. ...That was kind of a weird thing to think about, though. Besides, it looked nice the way it was. She supposed it was good that at least one of them learned to look presentable. Although, she really shouldn't have been surprised by it, either. After all, he'd always been better at that sort of thing than her.

She couldn't see his face well. Something outside the window must have captivated his attention completely, as he seemed intent on looking at anything but her. Maybe she'd said something wrong... Had she misread his compliment? Or maybe he thought it was weird for her to try joking around right off the bat as though she'd never even left. Had he only greeted her that way to be polite? Maybe she wasn't supposed to answer.

But she wanted to answer. She wanted things to be like they were before. She couldn't pretend the last four years had never happened, but maybe she could at least try and start over again. Right, actually, now that she thought about it, there was something she'd forgotten to say. She'd been so busy recognizing her seatmate that she had never actually greeted him. At least, not properly. Not like she had used to whenever they ended up together before.

She tapped the corner of his desk. Leaning forward and stretching out across her own, she dipped below the crowd of students in front of her so as not to be seen by the teacher. Resting her cheek against the backs of her hands, she whispered just loudly enough to be heard.

"Psst. Ei-kun, Ei-kun."

A rare smile crossed her face, her stony expression changing to one far warmer so easily she herself almost didn't even realize it. She was just so happy right now -- how could she not smile?

"It looks like I'll be in your care again."

Shoujo⁴: Hatsukoi Reunion

Nah, I'm still around. Just forgot to actually log back in while I was checking this thread for posts, lol. That's my bad.

I'll probably move the classroom scene forward after another post from Eikichi and Mikako, though not sure how far. Maybe to lunch, since that wouldn't displace us too much from the people in other scenes, and could allow us to sorta blend things back together. Don't wanna rush along too much though since we're kind of pulling ahead, so I wanna give a chance for everybody to get their introductions in before moving on.

Shoujo⁴: Hatsukoi Reunion

O S A N A I S U Z U K A
O S A N A I S U Z U K A

---

It was really him.

How? Why? What?

Suzuka's mind raced to grasp what should have been a simple fact. Sure, Ei-kun might have always lived in Minamikawa, but it wasn't like his grades had been terrible growing up or anything. He must have studied hard to get into a school like this, but it wasn't as if it was impossible or anything. Even an idiot like her had managed to do that much, so of course Ei-kun could have been able to do it, too.

But it was really him. Here. Right now, in front of her eyes. In the same class. Her seatmate.

"And you're Suzu-chan, aren't you? Boy, long time no see! Did you get a bit girly during your time away~?"

And he remembered her. Even after six years, he still --

And wait, what was that supposed to mean anyway? Girly? Her? He was looking at the same person she saw in the mirror that morning, right? No, wait, she'd been dozing off on the train ride over, so what if she was even more of a mess than usual? But how would that even make sense? Girly? Really? Could that adjective even be used like that?

No, wait, now that she thought about it, Ei-kun had always liked those kind of jokes. Right, he must have been poking fun at her for how awkward she must have looked during her introduction. After all, the cutesy sweater and short skirt she was wearing clearly weren't made for someone like her, and both of them knew it. But while the beleaguered staff of the small junior high school she had gone to up in Hakodate had been too small and lax to particularly care about her requests to wear a boy's uniform instead and spare herself both the frigid air of Hokkaido and the embarrassment of allowing it to pass freely beneath her, Kumoriyama Private High seemed to have prided itself on its traditional aesthetics and rigid adherence to discipline, and she had been too shy to even ask. Wouldn't she be seen as a bumpkin or a hooligan, insisting on something like that? What if they kicked her out?

Ah, but that gakuran uniform looked really nice. Not just on Ei-kun, that is, but in general. Although, he definitely seemed to have put a great deal more effort into his appearance than most of the other boys in the class. Were those earrings? The dress code hadn't said anything about piercings, she supposed, but something grown-up like that didn't seem to quite mesh with the Ei-kun in her mind, who was now undergoing six years of metamorphosis all at once to catch up with the reality before her eyes.

Piercings... really? Maybe the dress code was more lax than she had thought... Should she have asked for pants after all? She really should have asked for pants. But no matter how sorely she missed their absence, pants were the last issue to be concerned with here. More importantly, she really shouldn't be staring like this!

He'd greeted her back, right? So, unsure of how to take his... compliment? Teasing? Either way, she gave a noncommittal shrug and a slight shake of her head, and did her best to hide the amount of thoughts currently spiraling through her head at an unbelievable pace. This was their first meeting in years, and even Ei-kun was clearly noticing how uneasy she was. She had to get her act together, had to do this properly!

"...Nope. Not at all. I just got taller."

Trying her best to match what she perceived as sarcasm, she gave an unspeakably blunt answer fit for a manzai routine with a face as blank as her thoughts, then, in her thorough inspection of the boy sitting in front of her, realized something was out of place. Bending down, she scooped up a fallen pencil off the floor and methodically placed it on his desk.

"Here. You dropped this, right?"

Right. She was calm now. Her thoughts were in order. The cool air still felt almost uncomfortably warm, as if the sun beyond the window had suddenly increased its intensity threefold, but she did her best not to think about that, nor the lingering feeling that her heart had just skipped a beat. This miracle was beginning to settle into Suzuka's reality, and nothing would be able to surprise her anymo--

"Suzucchiko? You're really back? For good?"

"Haah?" Suzuka spun around, eyebrows raised. There was only one person who would call anyone -- let alone her -- by such a weirdly flowery nickname!

Blonde hair. Twintails. A familiar sunshine smile.

"Mika-chan, you're here too?" In her moment of surprise, she didn't even fully process the question she'd been asked, and instead of answering it, asked one of her own in return. Not just one of her dear friends, but two -- and the two who were dearest of all, no less. She had hoped a little, of course, then hesitated to hope at all, but now having this sprung on her so suddenly she could scarcely fathom how to react. She had really woken up this morning, right? She wasn't still sleeping in her bed or on the train?

But her shock could only last a few seconds before she realized another important fact. Namely, that she was supposed to have sat down several seconds ago, and standing dumbfounded as she was -- as well as her little surprise reunion -- was starting to turn more than a few heads. Class was still in session, and she needed to sit down and stop making such a distraction of herself. It was still her very first day -- it wouldn't do at all to cause a disruption. So, hastily swinging her bag down from her shoulder, she hung its strap across the hook on her desk, gave a second bow from the back of the class that was even more awkward somehow than the one she had given moments prior from its front, and then quickly sank into her seat.

Ei-kun was here. Mika-chan was here. And now, she was here again, too.

Shoujo⁴: Hatsukoi Reunion

Sorry for ghosting the past couple days. I've been sidetracked by binge-playing a new game, lol.

Will try and throw together another short post tomorrow to keep the classroom scene rolling. ^^