- Ryu -

April had arrived, and with it came a new school year. As I walked through the streets, I saw several students in all kinds of uniforms. Some were middle schoolers, and some were high schoolers like me. It was a matter of time before I was surrounded by people wearing the same dark teal blazer as me. When the school gate came into view, I was joined by a tall boy with reddish brown hair.

"Good morning."
"Morning, Daisuke."
"Spring break went by in a flash, huh?"
"Yeah, now we are 2nd-year students."
"So, regarding what we talked about the other day..."
"Are you finally going to ask Nicole out?"
"Wha-? N-No, the other thing!"
"Ah, yes," I nodded and raised my index finger, "AlFor's next booster pack."
"Wrong!"

Mentioning that card game made me think about the girl I met a couple of days ago. Had I told Daisuke that she was going to attend our school, I'm sure he would even more pushy than usual, so I left that small detail out.
The two of us made our way to the school and then to the bulletin board where the class rosters were posted.

"Look!" Daisuke cried out, "2-A. Same class again, yes!"

I focused on Class 2-A's roster and sure enough, I saw our names, "Akaishi Ryu" and "Sugihara Daisuke".

"Looks like we will be together again, guys," a tired voice said. That person then looked at the list one more time, "Michiru and Hikaru, too."

A girl had come between us. She had long hair dyed caramel brown. She was our friend, Nicole.
I looked at the list again and found her name: Niko Harland. "Nicole" was a nickname used by her family.

"Good thing we only have homeroom and the entrance ceremony today, I'm still sleepy," she said, rubbing her eyes.
"You are always like that in the mornings, though."
"Yep."
"Not even denying it, huh?" Daisuke said.

I was in the same class as my close friends once again, but I still took another look at the list.
I recognized several names, but one of them would be familiar only to me.
Aoyagi Rihona.
"Of course. Did I expect anything else?"
"What's with him?" Nicole asked between yawns.
"Dunno. You okay, dude?"
"For now, yes. But something tells me this year will be quite something. You will see what I mean soon enough."

After that, we had the entrance ceremony. It was nothing out of the ordinary, but I did manage to see a certain someone in the crowd.
"It's over at last," Daisuke said.
"You go on ahead, I'll wake up Nicole, unless you want to do it, of course."
Before Daisuke could reply, our sleeping beauty opened her eyes on her own.
"Did it end already?"
"Yeah, let's hurry to the classroom."

- - -

- Rihona -

I think I'm lost.

I looked up at the sign outside the classroom.

These are the first-year classrooms.

There were plenty of students around me but since they were 1st-years, it would be unlikely that any of them knew where my classroom was.

If only I had followed the students with the same ribbon as me back then...

After the entrance ceremony, I spaced out a bit and when I noticed, all the 2nd-year students were gone.
Just then, I spotted two girls wearing red ribbons just like me. They were chatting with some girls wearing blue ribbons. Once they bid them farewell they turned around and looked at me, then at each other. One of them, a girl with wavy brown hair, formed a circle with her thumb and index finger and held it in front of her left eye. She nodded at the other girl then they approached me.
The other girl, a serious-looking girl with long, white hair, was the first one to speak.

"I don't think I have seen you around before."

No way, Am I going to be bullied already?
In any case, I have to say something.

"I t-transferred here."

The brown-haired girl held her hand in front of her but this time, she formed a different shape.

"You are scaring her, Michiru."
"Is that so? My apologies," the white-haired girl said with a bow.
"That's why I tell you to smile more!" The other girl stuck her fingers on her companion's face, trying to make a smile.
"Ahh, Hikaru, wait," the white-haired girl said while blushing.
"Um..."
"Oh, sorry," this time, the brown-haired girl bowed, "We wanted to help you, but we ended up flirting in front of you instead."
"'Help' me?"
"You are lost, right? Which class are you in?"
"Um, 2-A."
"Same as us! Oh, right, we forgot to introduce ourselves, I'm Nakajima Hikaru," said the girl with short, wavy hair, "and this is my-"
"I'm Miyazawa Michiru. Nice to meet you."
"...girlfriend. I wasn't finished yet!"
"Sorry, but we should continue this chat on the way to the classroom."
"Uh-huh. Ah, my name! I'm Aoyagi Rihona."
"Nice to meet you, Aoyagi-chan. Just follow us."

Miyazawa and Nakajima led the way to the classroom. In the meantime, I asked Nakajima something that had been bugging me.

"How did you know I was lost?"
"It wasn't hard to figure out. A second-year all by herself, near the first-year classrooms? Besides, you had 'lost' written all over you," Nakajima said, forming once again a circle with her fingers.
"Can I ask you another thing? Why are you doing that gesture with your hand?"
"We are 'gifted'," Miyazawa looked at me, then she did a hand gesture, different from the ones Nakajima did before, and peered through it, "Just like you."
"Yup, Michiru and I have the same gift. We can see all kinds of stuff about someone if we look at them through this."
Nakajima showed me yet another gesture, "Actually, we didn't get along at all back in middle school, but once we found out we had the same power, we got closer and now, look at us!"

Nakajima threw herself at Miyazawa, and the latter blushed once more.

"This is not the time, Hikaru. Homeroom is..."
"I know, I know."
"The boys are staring..."
"Good, I want them to witness our happiness."
"It's a bit embarrassing..."

What did they say their relationship was? Right, she called Miyazawa her girlfriend.
N-No wonder they are so close, h-hehe.

"Do you have a special someone, Aoyagi-san?" the girl with long, white hair asked.
"N-no... Um, are you not gonna ask what my Gift is?"
"Ah, well, I got the feeling you didn't want to talk about it."
"Did your, uh, hand-thingy show you that?"
"You could say that, I guess."
"We are here at last. Our classroom," Nakajima said.

I went inside after them, and that was when our eyes met.

"A-Akaishi-kun?!"
"Ah, so that's what you meant," said a girl sitting near Akaishi Ryu. She had caramel-colored hair and a mole under her left eye.

She is so pretty... Is she a friend of his, or...?

Just then, she plopped her head on the desk and closed her eyes.

"Call me when the teacher arrives."
"Niko-chan, we saw her on the way here, so don't take a nap!" Nakajima rushed to that girl's desk, and Miyazawa followed soon after.

Akaishi pointed to an empty seat near him, so I sat there without giving it much thought.

"Good morning. We, uh, meet again, Akaishi-kun."
"Good morning, Aoyagi-san. Yeah, I was surprised when I saw your name on the roster."
A tall boy sitting next to the sleeping beauty grinned at Akaishi, "How long are you going to keep me in the dark, dude?"
Hmm, I feel like I have seen him somewhere.
"This is the girl I told you about before."
"Your father's friend's?"
"I'm Aoyagi. Uh, Aoyagi Rihona."
"I'm Sugihara Daisuke, I'm looking forward to being your classmate this year."
"Eh? Ah, yes, s-same here."
The girl next to Sugihara raised her face, "Niko Harland. Nice to meet you."

Someone on her father's side must be a foreigner.

As I was thinking about her last name, she tried to go back to her nap, but the teacher came through the door, so she sighed and forced her eyes open.

"Good morning everyone. Homeroom is going to start soon, so please take whichever seat you like for the time being."

The teacher was a woman in her late 20s wearing thin-framed glasses. As soon as she entered the classroom, most boys' eyes became fixed on her.
She sat down at the desk and looked through the papers on her clipboard.

"Is Aoyagi Rihona here yet?"
I raised my hand, "Yes. I'm here."
"I need you to come to the faculty office after this."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Ms. Shimoyama," Sugihara raised his hand, "Ryu wants to show her around the school. Their fathers go a long way, or so I heard."
Akaishi glared at him, then he looked at the teacher, "Y-Yeah, our fathers went to school together, so you can leave that to me."
"Is that so? Then, I will leave it to you, Akaishi-kun. Now then," she looked at her wristwatch just as the bell rang, "It's time for homeroom."

- - -

- Ryu -

Being the first day, we had several things to do. First, the teacher introduced herself.
Shimoyama Haruka. Several people from our class, including my friends and I, had known her from their first year. Aside from being our homeroom teacher, she was gonna be our math teacher, too.
Then, we drew lots for our seats. Daisuke ended up in the middle row, with Nicole behind him. On their left were Miyazawa and Nakajima.

What a happy coincidence.

My seat was to the right of Daisuke's, and behind me sat...

Who else?

"I'll be in your care, Akaishi-kun," Aoyagi said.

Of course.

As for the class representative, Nakajima nominated Miyazawa and no one objected, so the latter was appointed as the class rep.

After homeroom, Aoyagi followed Ms. Shimoyama to the faculty office. Since we lived in the same direction, I thought of walking home together, especially since our fathers were so close, and I had told our teacher that I would show her around.

I had no other motive, no sir.

Nicole, who by now was starting to wake up properly, clung to Daisuke.

"Let's get some ice cream on the way home."
"S-sure. What about Ry-"
"Maybe next time, I still have something to do here."
"Ok, off we go. See you tomorrow," Nicole said before dragging Daisuke away.
Before I headed to the faculty office, I overheard Miyazawa and Nakajima.
"Should we watch a movie?"
"Sure, but let's watch it properly this time. The other day I missed the best part because we were-"
"Shh, not here, Hikaru," Miyazawa pressed her finger against her lips.

Must be nice being in love. I, too, experienced that bliss before, but those days were long gone.

"What are we watching? Wait, didn't you want to watch that new 'Fruity Warriors' movie? Is it out yet?" Nakajima asked.
"Yes! It came out last week, but I was busy. Let's watch it!"
"Fine, fine."

Funny how Miyazawa has no trouble talking about magical girl movies out loud, but she turns red as an apple when Nakajima wants to go get chummy in public.
Although, the fact that those movies get midnight showings means there are lots of older fans.