Flower of Oarai

1 A Fresh Start

The alarm cut through the dream and she blearily reached out to turn it off. She didn't draw her arm back, letting it hang out in the cool air as her other hand as always reached up and felt her cheek. It was always the same dream. It wouldn't have been such a frustration to spend her nights there if her thoughts hadn't been drawn to the same place during the day.

Itsumi Erika drew herself out of bed and then went through her morning routine, struggling with the new regime as ingrained habit tried to guide her. She was used to showering and then dressing before having breakfast with other students. Instead here she made her own breakfast and ate alone before dressing. She drew comfort from uniforms but the white and green was strikingly different to the black and grey she was used to. The black neckerchief felt like a leash and also looked too cutesy. It didn't feel right. Not her.

It did however look right on someone else. Someone who double-checked their door was locked before turning and squeaking in fright at the sight of Erika standing by their own door and watching her with wry amusement.

"Good morning to you too, Miho." Erika said dryly.

"You need to stop doing that." Miho remonstrated gently.

"I'll stop doing it when you stop falling for it." Erika replied, allowing herself a thin smile. "How come..." She stopped herself. She had been going to ask how Miho could sense incoming shells but couldn't sense her standing silently beside her, but Miho did not need that reminder. "How come you're late?"

"Because I don't need to be on time." Miho answered and lit up in a way that made Erika feel numb. It was another reminder of just how unhappy Miho had been before. Another reminder of how she had been oblivious to that misery. Sure, she had had her own life to deal with but Miho had been her Vice-Captain; how could she not have seen how she was coming apart at the seams? Because she only saw the uniform, or because she just didn't understand people? She did know one thing, she was not joyous about this new start as Miho was, although she would never dream of taking that away from her.

"Ready for your first day?" She asked.

"Yes!"

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Her first impression of the schoolship had been its much smaller size. Oarai could have been comfortably swallowed whole by Kuromorimine, possibly even twice over. The second was that the school itself had clearly seen better days. It was possible to see areas that had obviously required desperate repair because they were the parts that were now in the best condition, standing out amidst the drab surroundings with their fresh paint. It made her wonder what they had looked like before.

Her third impression however was that despite the shortcomings, there was no impact on the morale of the students. They didn't seem to notice or care about the impoverished state of their school and it wasn't because they were unaware of how short a stick they had; they were genuinely happy with their school. It was rather chilling to compare it to Kuromorimine where they had everything money could buy and yet the atmosphere had always been at best of apathy and at worst; light depression. Everyone was focussed on getting the best education their parents could buy and there had been little interest in frivolity while pursuing that education. Everyone had been cold. Dedicated. Disciplined. She had been one of them... For all the good it had done her.

Those Oarai girls stared at her face and abruptly looked away when she glared at them in response. Miho noticed their looks and they embarrassed her though it couldn't quite ruin her joy of her first day and Erika would have destroyed any girl who had put so much as a dent in that good mood. She was still aggravated she was in a different class and had to say goodbye to leave her to fend for herself. She looked eager enough though.