Silence is Key

No. 1 Spring

A girl crouched down and stroked a cat behind the ears, smiling smally at the cat. Suddenly remembering what she was going to do, her smile disappeared and she stood up, straightening. Gripping the leather handle on her book bag, she continued on her way to school.

It was the first day of school at Fujita Private High School in Ibaraki Prefecture. Mamoru Hana wished she could disappear forever. Junior High was already bad enough with boys and girls laughing at her, she couldn't imagine what Senior High was like. 

The school bell rang right as Hana slipped her last shoe on. She quickly grabbed her bag and raced to her homeroom. At room 1-2, she slid to a stop and walked in. Everything that was happening before she came in, immediately stopped and the whispering began. Ignoring everyone to the best of her abilities, Hana hurried to her seat, which just so happened to be in the middle of the classroom, right in the sea of glares.

Sitting down quickly, Hana took out her pencil case and her notebook, but before she could even open her notebook, the boy next to her dropped his pencil case, scattering all the contents on the ground. Reflectively, Hana hurriedly helped him pick everything up, the glares in the room becoming even hotter.

"Thanks." the boy said absent-mindedly, zipping up his pencil case. Hana nodded, scooting her chair forward, finally opening her notebook. Her pencil began flying across the page as the teacher began calling on people to introduce themselves. The other girl in Hana's row stood up.

"I'm Tanaka Shizuki." she confidently declared. The boy who sat next to me stood up as his turn came up.

"Tanaka Isamu," he announced clearly and loudly. Siblings, Hana thought to herself noticing that they shared the same surname. 

Hana looked over her notebook page before standing up. "Mamoru Hana," she said with the softest voice possible before sitting down almost as quickly as she stood up. The teacher asked for a repeat, but Isamu supplied it for her. Scribbling something down in her notebook, Hana held it up for Isamu to see.

Thank you,  she had written, hiding her face behind the uplifted notebook. Isamu smiled good-naturedly, hiding his confusion. She could have said it to me, he thought strangely, shaking off his concerns once the teacher called for the class's attention. 

Throughout the whole first period until lunch, Hana could be seen bent over her notebook, her pencil in constant motion. Isamu glanced over every now and then. sometimes he could see whole paragraphs, other times, he would see a drawing of some sort of flower. Soon, the first period was over, and the bell rang for the dismissal for lunch. The room suddenly filled with the chattering of voices as students grabbed their lunches and walked outside or to other tables. Hana was left at her own desk with her lunch and notebook, no one paying any mind to her.

Hana seemed to not mind as she wrote and ate at the same time. Hana would smile every so often to herself and then continue writing. After what seemed like a while, the school bell rang once again, signaling the start of the second period. the classroom rapidly filled back up with everyone. All of a sudden, the chiding of many voices at once resonated across the room as a group of girls and boys surrounded Isamu. He was laughing and nodding as the group stepped through the door, students slowly returning to their seats. A few people lingered around Isamu as he sat down, eventually withdrawing to their own seats. 

Raising her eyebrows in surprise at his sudden popularity, Hana wrote something down and held it up. Friends? Or admirers? She held up her notebook again for Isamu to see.

"Both," he responded, still confused as to why she didn't just ask with her voice. Before he could ask, the teacher entered. Eventually, Isamu forgot about it and went about his day. Hana felt downcast the rest of the day. She wished she could be like the Tanaka siblings, both so confident and popular. Hana was neither of those things and probably never will be.

After school, Hana hurried and made her way to sports sign-ups. Putting her name down for Volleyball and Track and Field, she quickly wrote down the try-out dates and hurried home. Isamu also wrote his name down for Boys Volleyball and Track when he remembered his question. He was about to ask Hana when she ran out of the school building, leaving him in dumbfounded confusion.

こんにちわ!

hi there! My name is Sophia and this is my first story here on Wattpad! I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter. Please comment if I've made any mistakes (spelling, grammar, cultural, etc.) I would like to be able to improve my writing.

Once again thank you for reading and have a wonderful day/night.

Ciao!!

-LittleSister