Fate. A predetermined supernatural power. The will of the universe. Fate is order. It writes, and rewrites, gives and takes. It spins vibrant red strings that flow into the world and connect people who are destined to meet, to love, to share a story...
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The first time Kurumi-senpai approached me, I'd been crying.
It was the first day of highschool.
I stood before the gates that morning, overlooking a new building in a new uniform — watching all the foreign faces around me morph into smiles as shoulders bumped together and hands were thrown across necks, the flashes of red coming from all sides burning my eyes. For what felt like hours, students flooded in through the gates behind me, veering around me as they merrily made their way inside, talk of the holidays filling my ears as I stayed where I was, my feet stuck, as if they'd been nailed to the ground.
All I could think about as I stood there, motionless, was that I wasn't ready to start over again. My breath stuttered at the thought of entering a new classroom, fumbling to introduce myself only to be met with insincere, hurried smiles that would quickly be redirected towards more important things. More important people.
I was scared, and I wasn't ready to go through it all again, so I snuck away to hide. I slid down against a wall in the first obscure corridor I could find, folding my legs to my chest and making myself look as small as I possibly could. For a fleeting moment, I thought about looking for Irina, because she'd told me she'd be at school too, but I quickly let go of the idea because I didn't want to show up before her on the very first day and make it so that she'd feel obligated to walk around with me. I wanted to give her the room she needed to meet new people too, and have fun, without me around to drag her down.
Students continued to walk by me every few minutes, and each time I was left unnoticed, I felt myself shrink a little more, before Kurumi-senpai broke away from her group of friends to crouch before me. I startled when I lifted my head from my arms to see her smiling at me, a slight tilt to her head, and back then, the fact that I'd even caught her attention at all seemed like a small miracle to me.
"Hey, I don't think I've ever seen you around before. Are you a first-year?" she asked sweetly, swiping at the wet streaks on my cheek as I managed a nod.
"Oh my, then you should be at orientation right now, shouldn't you?" she exclaimed, wide-eyed as she took me by my hands and helped me to my feet, before guiding me to the location of my entrance ceremony. She left me to join my new classmates then, walking away after dropping me an energetic thumbs up, and I thought that I'd never felt more seen in my life.
In the months that followed, we regularly crossed each other in the hallway, and she always stopped to chat — asking about my day or giving me advice on what teachers I should keep on my good side. Eventually, I gathered up the courage to ask her why she was being so nice to me, and she simply said, because you're my cute junior!
When we realised that we took the same train to school, she began riding with Irina and me everyday, and it was fun, because she always had the best stories to tell and because she made me feel so, so normal.
