Foot Prints《Harukyu》

22

Jaehyuk sat with his only two friends at the lunch table. He preferred surrounding himself with people who understood and related to his mind.

They are rather the quiet bunch at school, don't talk much to anyone unless it's their friend. It was hard to include yourself in the friend group, not like many tried. At least, that's how Junkyu, Yoshinori and Jaehyuk see it.

Yoshinori was an orphan who looked like a cute tiger. He was pretty popular for his face and secretly endearing personality. Jaehyuk was 'banana milk boy' from a wealthy household, who liked to keep his modesty and was down to earth. Junkyu was the fuax orphan dreamer who loved staring out of windows.

Yoshinori was busy shoving food down his mouth when he picked up the school news paper. "Wah Junkyu yah! You finally made your first non homo story to submit in this?"

Junkyu rolls his eyes at his friends' antics and grins before nodding. "Yup! I hope this impress our literacy teacher! I feel like she has a spot for me but I don't wanna get over confident," pouting, Junkyu begins picking on his food.

"Please, you can try out to join the school newspaper team, I heard they need a periodic writer."

Jaehyuk finlly decides to butt in once he sees the need, "Yo, this could be a good opportunity! You love writing and you want others to read it right? This way you can start off the whole novelist career thing you've wanted."

"Really? I mean- don't they have auditions or someting? Oh the master Nakamura? He's the devil! I can't face him!"

"No, you won't have to. It's the perfect chance! Your stories are always new and entertaining! This will do well to keep students reading the news right?"

After a lot of persuasion, Junkyu decided to take the position (there was no competition, he'd found out).
_____

"Guys guys! I got it! I'm writing every week AND I can skip the second language that everyone takes!"

Junkyu squealed happily as he ran and received big hugs from his best friends Yoshinori and Jaehyuk. He would leave a mark on this school. That's for sure.
_____

The students threw their hats high up in the air, everyone was giddy with excitement except 3.

"You're- do you really need to leave?"

Jaehyuk's voice wobbled a little as he spoke, low among the high pitched happy clustered voices that were heard through the quadrangle.

"Yeah." There was no other way. There was that hollow feeling crawling back into his soul. That familiar itching on his left arm where fading marks rested; barely there yet it felt so alive.

"I don't know... when we'll see each other again... If I ever come to Japan again. I've got no one else other than you two and I know it will stay that way.

Do- do me a favour and surprise me when we see each other again."

Once the students slowly started packing up to leave, the friends decided to hang out a little more. "When's your flight?"

"It's tonight, 11 p.m."

Yoshinori tilted his head and rested it on Junkyu's shoulder. Jaehyuk intertwines his hands with Kyu. The sun had began to set, the sky turning a beautiful orange hue.

Jaehyuk thinks, "Hey... hey don't you want to leave something here?"

Junkyu tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Hey come up, before the halls are closed."

The boys walk around the almost empty school, Jaehyuk takes them to the first floor, into the left wing corridor, and they finally approach the 'School Newspaper Staff Room'. Jaehyuk rushes in and goes to the existing printouts kept right next to Junkyu's usual computer.

While Yoshinori and Junkyu stare at him in awe, uncognizent to what he was planning, Jaehyuk went out to the excess copy recycling area and started looking through the previous papers and picking up ones that didn't look destroyed or old. Then he plucked out certain pieces from the papers he had selected.

When he was finally finished, the 2 others stood in front of him and displayed it on Junkyu's -not anymore- table.

"Jaehyukie what are you doing?"

Jaehyuk picks up the new collection he put togather and passes it to his two friends.

"We will put this under your homeroom desk. This- these are your works. Your stories. I think- I think I've got all of them."

The ex-students followed their friend down the hall and to the 2nd floor, amd they entered their old homeroom class. Yoshinori's eyes watered a little.

Jaehyuk took the very thick stack of papers and placed it under the small grey container area under the desk.

"Now, the next student who takes you're place, they'll remember you. And so will the next one. Kim Junkyu will never be forgotten."

Junkyu runs up to Jaehyuk and gives him a big hug, Yoshinori follows suit. "Ah Jaehyuk! So smart!" Yoshinori pulls all of them togather before they make their way to the court, outside.

The car is situated outside, in it is Junkyu's neighbor who offered to drive.

"We'll miss you Junie."

"I'll miss you too. More than you could ever imagine."

And with that, he leaves.
_____

'Huh? What's this?' The tall boy had just foundd his seat on the first day of school. He expected it to be extremely boring, like the other middle school tied with the orphanage. He had just put in a notebook under his desk, to feel lightly dusted paper already inside the compartment.

In his lonely state, he looked at the old school news paper which he found out had been canceled that year. The student had no one to share it with. But he built a company with the stories and poems written in the exclusive news. The characters, the tones, the imagery and the ideas, they reached out to him, they gave him comfort.

He had no one other than the stories. Everyone, whether inside the school or in the orphanage, they treated him like a crazy physcotic biggot. It was tiresome but at least he had the papers.

Other than the write ups, his other favorite thing was the writer. In every page there was a picture of the ex-student smiling awkwardly at the camera in uniform. It was the same photo in every page, but he couldn't get enough of it. Kim Junkyu 1A-3A.

When he ran away, the papers he took with.

'Property of Watanabe Haruto. Class 1-A Special Needs student unit.'

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TBC

A/n: I think everyone saw this coming. Was it a surprise to you? Please comment!💓