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Gakuen Story 1 - Classmate
A bright summer morning, the sun shining through the windows of the school known simply as 'Gakuen.' Outside, students walked en masse up the hill to the school, book bags in hand and conversing amongst themselves. Students pulled up on bikes and scooters, parking them in the designated spots and then running up to the school. The sun was shining particularly bright through the windows of class 2-A, heating the top of the desks, making the students avoid putting their hands directly on them. The kids of 2-A were relaxed around the room, chatting, reading, studying and generally easing themselves into the day. The door to the classroom slid open, a loud "tak" sound was heard as it slid into the frame, causing a few students by the door to jump slightly and turn around
A mildly darker skinned girl with long, dark brown hair down to her shoulders stood in the doorway, her black and red Gakuen uniform wrinkle free and looking brand new. She closed the door quietly behind her and slowly made her way to her desk, seeming to have a general haze about her. As she walked by, one boy nudged his friend , motioning to the girl walking by. He leaned in to this friend and whispered, "Class rep seems out of it." But this went unnoticed by the girl and she sat down at her desk. She placed her book bag upright against the side of the desk, out of anyone's way and sat up straight, her legs and feet pressed neatly together under the desk. The door slid open once again, and another person walked in. A boy, 16 years old, with short, dark brown hair, and was wearing simply the black pants and white short sleeve button shirt that made up the boys summer uniform, but he left the shirt itself untucked. He saw the brown haired girl sitting by the windows and walked over and sat in the desk to the right of hers. "Morning, Shida!" Shida jumped slightly, being broken out of her daze, and looked over at the boy, her face became calm after she realized who it was.
"Oh. Morning, Osa," she said in a tired fashion. She looked down at his untucked shirt and sighed softly, "Honestly, I don't understand boys and having the shirts untucked. It makes the class look so unprofessional." She slumped down on her desk, resting her chin on the palm of her hand and bracing her elbow on the desk. Osa shrugged, sitting down sideways in his seat to face Shida, "It makes the uniform a little more comfortable to wear. Less formal." After a pause, Osa saw the tired expression on Shida's face and leaned in a bit, "What's wrong? Couldn't sleep?" Shida shook her head, and spoke with equal parts sadness, and equal parts embarrassment. "I ran out of tea this morning, so I'm still sleepy." Osa leaned back in his chair a little, stroking his chin, pondering theatrically. "Ahh, I see." He stopped and leaned over to Shida again. "Tell you what. I'll take you out to get some more, okay? I know of a great place that has a wide selection."
Shida looked a little taken aback by the suggestion, "Ah..uh..sure." She tilted her head slightly, smiling at Osa. "Sounds good. I just hope I can stay awake." She said, leaning back in her chair. Osa nodded reassuringly and smiled, "I'm sure you can. Until then." At that moment, the teacher entered the room and all the students immediately sat down in their seats. Osa and Shida turned to face the front of the class. Osa still slumped down in his seat a little. Without taking her eyes off the front of the class, Shida smirked slightly. "Oh, Osa. I may be tired, but you can't fool these eyes. Sit up properly." Osa smirked back, still facing the front of the class, and sat up straight. "There's no fooling the class rep, as always." Shida chuckled slightly. "Your back will thank me for it later."
At the end of the day, Osa was waiting at the bottom of the hill in front of the school, leaning on the seat of his moped scooter. A simple all white model, aside from the black handlebars, tires and seat. He listened to the chiming bells that signaled the end of the day and was scanning the mass of students leaving the school carefully. When he saw Shida making her way through the crowd, he put his hand up in the air and motioned her over to him. as she approached, he got off the seat of the scooter and waved, "Yo." Shida strolls up to Osa, giving the impression that she doesn't always have the professional facade she puts on in the classroom and waved back; she looked past him at the bike. "That's a very..uh..bikey..bike." Osa smiles slightly, "Yeah, it's pretty nice. So! You ready to go?" He holds out a helmet to her. "Ah yeah! Tea is important..." She looks down at the helmet in Osa's hand, and she sweatdrops slightly. "Do...Do I really need to wear this?" She says, pointing down at the helmet.
Osa shrugs, "No, not really. Mostly a safety thing, but we're not going far, so I suppose it doesn't matter." Osa smiled, turning the helmet around in his hands and puts it on, leaving the chin strap unfastened. He climbs onto the back, scoots forward and pats the seat. "Hop on." Shida walks up to the bike and puts her book bag in a white container mounted on the back of the bike, which also housed Osa's book bag, "I trust you enough to not get into a horrible accident," she smiles and sits on the bike, adjusting her skirt slightly so that it was more comfortable. "Okay, hold on tight." With that, Osa started up the bike and sped off.
As the bike wove through the streets, the clean smell of the air seemed to become stronger. Shida looked up at Osa, "So, Osa, what do you want to do after school? I'm usually so busy keeping the class in order, I don't really get to know my classmates." Osa pondered silently on this question for a moment, "Well, I enjoy writing stories. Mostly horror stories, but I like experimenting with other genres. I'd really like to pursue that as a career." Osa stopped the bike at a large hill, the shop in question in a tucked away nook at the bottom of the hill. "Hmm..I think horror would be an interesting genre to write for.", she mused. She felt the bike stop, and she looked past Osa at the hill nervously.
Osa looked back at her for a moment and then back to the hill. "We'll take a different route. It's a bit longer, but it's a smoother ride." Osa turned the bike down a nearby alley. The alley weaved calmly down the hill, nestled between the backyards of the simple houses. At the bottom of the hill, Osa turned to the right into the nook and stopped the bike before the tea shop.
The shop was a small, wooden building with a simple walk-in entrance, comprised of graying wood and small glass windows. Quaint without looking like a derelict. Shida's eyes widened as Osa stepped off the bike, and she was staring in awe at the shop. Shida stepped off the bike next.
"Wow! I've been wondering where this place is! I didn't even know it's name." Osa put down the bike's kickstand and walked up to the entrance with Shida, "Yeah, the owners decided to change the name, and they got rid of the old sign already." Osa entered the shop with Shida. Seeing the wall to wall selection of teas, some from other parts of the world, brought a wide smile to Shida's face and she quickly made her way into the aisles, picking out several types of tea like the proverbial kid in a candy store. Osa browsed the tea selection too as Shida raided the aisles. He only picked out a couple flavors of tea and brought them to the register.
As the cashier rang them up, Shida came up to the register with an armful of tea canisters. Osa gave his money to the cashier and then took the bag with his teas inside it from her. He looked down at Shida's selection, "Wow...found a lot of good ones?" Shida smiled and nodded, "Yep!" Osa smiled back, "Great!" he said as he stepped away from the register to allow Shida to move forward and pay for her items. She places the teas upright on the counter one by one and the cashier rang them up one at a time. Shida paid, got her items bagged and she left the store, Osa following behind her. Osa put his helmet on and they loaded the tea into the back compartment. They hopped back on the bike, and Osa brought up the kick stand and sped off. Halfway along the road, he spoke back to Shida. "Hey...have you ever done Karaoke?" Shida shook her head, "No, never. Why?" Osa smiled to himself. "Well, that's going to change today. There's a Karaoke place nearby here."
Shida smiled, even though Osa couldn't see it. "All right. Sounds fun!" Osa nodded, "All right, off we go.", and he drove the bike off to the Karaoke place. It was only a few blocks away from the tea shop. After stopping the bike, Shida and Osa walked inside. Osa paid for the time block of 1 hour and walked with Shida to the room they were given. As they walked, Shida looked around, observing the small details of the Karaoke place. "I really can't believe I've never been to one of these places before." They stopped in front of the room they were assigned and went inside. Shida walked to the left wall and sat down on the ouch and Osa went up to the song selector to pick the first song. "Oh, awesome! They have western songs." said Osa, looking at the song list. "Really?" Shida said, standing up from the couch and walking up next to Osa on the stage. Osa selected a song; "Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones.
He then quickly handed the microphone to Shida and sat down on the couch before she could react. "Hey, wait---" Shida protested. She tried to hand the mic back to Osa, but realized the song was already starting and began to sing. When the song ended, Osa applauded and got up from the couch. He saw that she looked a little mad, and he gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry," he said, offering to take the mic from her. "It's fine." She handed the microphone to him. Osa smiled, "I'll sing the next one, then." He got up on the staged and selected a song; "Special K" by Placebo. At the end of their hour spent singing a variety of different songs, they took their leave. They both got back on the bike and Osa looked back at Shida. "Ready to go home?" Shida nodded, "Yeah."
After the short ride to Shida's house, she took her book bag and tea from the back compartment. She turned to Osa and bowed slightly, "Thanks for today. I really appreciate it." Osa shrugged and smiled. "No problem. It was my pleasure. I'll see you tomorrow." Osa climbed back onto his bike, putting his helmet on. Osa started up the bike, turned to Shida and waved, which she returned, and he rode off. After he left, Shida went inside and up to her room. She laid back on her bed and reflected on the day for a few moments. She looked down at the bag of tea canisters on the floor. She got up, brought the bag downstairs and put the tea in the cupboard so she could make it tomorrow morning.
End.
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