Chapter 1: The Train Ride to Shinjuku

Seventeen year-old Hanaka Ueda has just moved to Asaguya, and today is her first day at her new school. On the train ride there, she has come across the mysterious Tsukasa Yoshiro. How will things go?

Over the course of my short seventeen-year life, I’ve come to realize a quite a few things about myself.

To start off, I am definitely the type of girl who would consider ordering take-out and watching a movie at home to be a rather awesome kind of date.  Secondly, I’ve found that I tend to sleep in rather late when I have a lot of things on my mind (which is quite often I should say), and lastly I have noticed that I tend to vigorously tap my feet whenever I get nervous or flustered about anything. To put it all simply; I’m a minimalistic hot mess with a serious case of anxiety. Anxiety about what, you might ask? Boy, do I wish I had the answer to that question.

Also, ever since I was a child, I could tell that I was rather different from the other boys and girls around me. While they were off horsing around on the jungle gym or running about without a care in the world, I always put all of my time into reading and writing. I strove deeply to be like my father; a freelance journalist for the local newspaper. He and I had always shared a deep father-daughter connection and to be honest it had made my mom somewhat jealous and annoyed, enough so that she divorced my father and moved my younger sister and me to Asagaya over the summer break. I was left heartbroken and my sister was still too young to understand what was truly going on around her. To be completely honest this had put a big barrier between my mother and I. We were always at odds, and on top of it all my father was always too busy with work for us to come and visit him.

This was surely the lowest point in my life, at the time of course…

-     -     -

 “Next stop is Nakano… Nakano Station next stop…”

The voice coming over intercom system made me jump so high I could flat-palm the celling of the train carriage. The people around me glared, but I just stared down at the floor. My face was as red as my curly chest-length hair. My foot was also beginning to tap the floor viscously (damn nerves). I had been completely lost in thought, thinking about my new school and how I would start off the next draft for the light novel I was writing. To make matters worse I had slept in late that morning. Today was not looking to be a good day thus far.

‘I really shouldn’t have stayed up so late playing Ladykiller last night.’ I think to myself as the train pulls into Nakano station. I pull out my phone to see an unopened text.

 

MOM

                     Sent: 06:34 am

                     Opened: 08:15 am

                     I set your new uniform on your desk

                     last night while you were passed out.

                     I also turned off your computer. Spea-

                     king of which I don’t know what the

                     hell you were playing but make sure

                     Sayu doesn’t see it. I have to work a li-

                     ttle late tonight so make sure to pick

                     her up from school later. Leftovers ar-

                     e in the fridge.

 

 ‘Well it’s not like I have any friends yet so picking her up shouldn’t be too much of a problem.’ I quickly googled the location of Sayu’s school and saved the map onto my phone as the train came to a complete stop at Nakano. ‘Only two more stops before Shinjuku’ I think to myself as I peck around in my pockets for my earbuds. ‘I should make it with just enough time to spare.’ I removed the earbuds, put them in my ears, and plugged the cord into the jack of my phone. Opening up Youtube, I pressed play at the bottom of the screen and continued my playlist from where I had left off the previous night.

“Ahh! That’s better.” I sigh as I place my phone back into my pocket. Glancing up, I notice something out of the corner of my eye; a rather cute boy. He was wearing the Shinjuku High School coat of arms just as I was.

‘I really hope we are in the same class!’ If the hearts-for-eyes trope from anime and cartoons was real, I surely would’ve had them at that moment. He was probably the cutest boy I had ever seen in my life; he had messy shoulder-length blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes tucked away behind a pair of Sandi Pointe sunglasses. He was seemingly listening to some heavy metal, which I could hear over the music coming from my own earbuds. People were glaring darkly at him, but he didn’t pay them any notice. He was clearly a bad boy. While not really my type, he sure was a beauty to behold.

Within a few minutes the carriage doors closed and the train started moving again. I could see the boy standing across me on the other side of the coach, staring out the window and watching the scenery pass him by. I cocked my head to the side, interested and invested in what he was doing. Why did he seem so distant? Did he not have any friends to go to school with? Was he a loner like me? My mind was in the clouds, thinking about this mysterious boy and ways I could possibly introduce myself. Before I knew it the train had already left Okubo and was finally now on its way to Shinjuku.

‘Should I just tap him on the shoulder and introduce myself? No that would be too straightforward.’ I scratched the back of my neck. My foot was tapping again. ‘What if I just go stand next to him and pretend like I got shuffled over here because of how packed the carriage is? No that’s way too creepy! Damn why am I so socially awkward!?’ I started tapping faster and louder. ‘Maybe when we get to school I can ask him where the faculty office is?’

“Excuse me, miss.” Somebody pressed their hand on the back of my shoulder. I jumped a little bit but removed my earbuds and turned around. It was a frail-looking older lady.

“Yes, ma’am?” I ask sweetly.

“Can you please not tap your foot so loud? It’s all I can hear and it is driving me crazy.” My face turned red with embarrassment. I bowed apologetically.

“Honto ni gomen ne.” The lady smiles at me.

“No need to be sorry, dearie.” She points a small shaky finger across the carriage. “I can see you gawking at that boy over there. Go get him!” I look to see the lady pointing at the boy I was thinking about, who at that point was staring over at the two of us. My face turned ever redder and I made a faint squealing sound as I buried my face in my hands. I could hear the older lady let out a chippering laugh.

“Oh, young love.” She says simply. Let’s just say that if I wouldn’t get arrested for assault and battery, I probably would’ve punched that woman through a window. Now I knew the boy had noticed me and I couldn’t turn to my normal coping mechanism. I felt like I was going to go crazy with anxiety.

‘Change of plans; I’m gonna book it off this train as fast as I can.’

As soon as the thought had struck me, I could hear the train’s breaks start to grip the rails below; the same voice that had scared me earlier coming over the intercom to announce we were arriving at Shinjuku Station.

“Okay…” I took a deep breath. “It’s show time.” The train came to a complete stop alongside the station platform and the doors creaked open. I started shoving my way through a sea of people, fighting my way towards salvation. Just as I got to the exit, however, I was greeted by another herd of people.

‘Dang! So close.’ I was pushed and shoved about once the people getting off the train and the people getting on the train finally met. My ribs were met with purses and suitcases; my toes stepped on. This dragged on for only about thirty seconds before I found myself virtually alone on the platform. Turning around to see if I had dropped anything, my face connected with somebody’s chest. Taken aback, I fell to the ground with a loud thud. Wincing in pain, I grinded my teeth together in what was, knowing me, exaggerated anguish. Looking to my left I saw my schoolbag, my phone and earbuds, and a pair of sunglasses… WAIT SUNGLASSES!? Turning my head sharply to my left I could see a blonde-haired boy rubbing the back of his head. It was the boy from the train.

“Oh my god I am so terribly sorry!” I exclaimed before jumping to my feet. I bent down and picked up the boy’s glasses and held them out to him. The boy had just gotten back onto his feet and winced.

“Why don’t you watch where the hell you’re going, baka?" The boy looked down upon me with a malicious glare. His eyes widened and his face became bright red as he turned his head to the side and rubbed the back of his neck.

“So-sorry,” He chocked. “I just get a bit worked up sometimes that’s all.” I let out a confused yet light-hearted giggle. Yep. I would definitely fit right into an anime schoolgirl trope.

“No don’t be sorry. It was my fault.” I placed the sunglasses delicately and nervously into the boy’s hand. “I’m not used to the city lifestyle yet.”

“Oh, did you just move into town?”

“Yeah. We moved to Asagaya just a few weeks back. I used to live close Mount Akina in Gunma.”

“So you lived out in the sticks, huh?” The boy let out a laugh.

“Wh-what’s so funny?” I asked as I fixed up my hair. “Do I have something on my face?”

“Nah you’re okay. I’m just messing with you.” My face turned red again for what seemed like the millionth time that morning. “Did anybody ever tell your that your face gets to be as red as your hair when you are embarrassed?” The boy let out another laugh as he put his sunglasses back on.

“Yeah.” I chuckled. “I get that often.” I warily bowed my head. “My name is Ueda, Hanaka.” The boy followed suit, bowing lower than I did.

“And my name is Yoshiro, Tsukasa. It’s nice to meet you, Ueda-chan.” The two of us collected ourselves and our things and started walking down the stairs and onto the sidewalk below. “So, will you be attending Shinjuku High too?” I glance down at my uniform and at my blazer’s coat of arms.

“Yep. This is my final year too.” I grinned sheepishly and gave Tsukasa a thumbs up.

“That’s awesome. I’m actually a senior myself.” My heart skipped a beat. We both attended Shinjuku High School, we were both seniors, and we seemed to be becoming friends. “You think we might be in the same class?” I thought my heart would definitely stop beating there for a second. That question really took me aback.

“I hope so.” I said, not trying to sound too weird. “I’m not too good at making friends so you might be all I got.” I laughed awkwardly, but Tsukasa laughed right along with me.

“I’m not too popular myself, so you might be all I got, Ueda.”

“You aren’t Mr. Popular? How’d that happen?”

“Let’s just say I’ll tell you that later.” Tsukasa’s smile turned a bit sour. “It really isn’t the best story to be telling.” To be honest, I was more engaged than I was turned off by that statement. Yoshiro, Tsukasa; a mysterious bad boy with a dark secret. This was really starting to sound like something I could use in the light novel I was writing.  A few minutes went by and Tsukasa and I rambled on and on for what seemed like hours. The only thing that broke us apart was the sounding of the school bell in the distance. “Oh, crap, Ueda! That’s the school bell!” Tsukasa started booking it down the street towards the chiming of the bell. “Hurry up if you don’t want to be sitting in detention on your first day!”

“Hey, Yoshiro-kun! Wait for me!” And with that, Yoshiro-kun and I hammered our heels upon the ground like rockets down the road. I definitely couldn’t afford to get detention.

‘This is looking to be the start of a fun and interesting school year.’ I thought to myself.