Handkerchief

Chapter One: Yamashita Juro

Yo. As you could probably tell from the title of this chapter, I'm Yamashita Juro. The tenth child out of eleven. I go to Sapporo Ogura High School. Like a normal person, I like to stick to myself and just try my hardest to get through school as easily as possible. I don't really care for having friends or girlfriends or anything of the sort. I've got nine little siblings to take care of on my own. And as you could imagine, that's not exactly easy. I'm not really sure why I'm telling you all of this, though. That's not why you picked up this book. However, there is one more thing you ought to know about me. I'm smart. Like, really smart. They said my IQ was about 321, but that's completely wrong. It's about 350, minimum. And no, I'm not gloating. You'd probably think that being this smart would be a blessing, but it's a freakin' curse. I barely get any excitement or surprise for anything, because I can probably guess what it is. I don't like anyone platonically or romantically, 'cause I can easily point out their many flaws. I'm not a perfectionist, I just can't like anything when there's so many bad things about them. I've been yapping for waaay too long though. So for now, I'll describe my physical appearance to you so you don't have to make up your own ideas. I've got short, messy hair with a tuft of it sticking out of it. I'm a pretty average height for a 16-year-old, and I'm not skinny or overweight. But, that's enough. You're probably waiting to start the story now, aren't you. I won't waste any more of your time.

(Quick note: In Japan, using people's first names are reserved for family members or love interests, as well as people you're close with. This info will be important later on, so don't forget.)

It was the first day of my second year in high school, and everyone was already back to normal as if summer break never happened. Groups of girls screaming and running around, groups of pervy guys sitting in the corner and reading their magazines, and weird kids on their own, making weird anime noises. I was always considered an outcast 'cause I didn't do any of that common shit. Either that, or people didn't even notice my existence. Like I did everyday, instead of talking to people in the hallways or in the classroom, I went directly to my desk and kept my head down. As the minutes passed, the noise subsided. My homeroom teacher slammed the door open and dashed towards her desk.

"Settle down, class!" She shouted with a lit cigarette in her mouth. Everyone followed their orders. "As you all know, today is the first day of your second year at this school. I advise you to keep up the good work from last year and not to get into trouble." Her tone changed to a more sinister one. "If anyone mentions The Incident, you WILL be expelled immediately." The silence that occured after that was loud.

Sitting in the back corner of the classroom, I could see everything that was going on. I knew everything about everyone. Nothing got past me. So what happened on that day scarred me. It was a girl. A girl who sat in front of me. Sure, I'm scared of every girl but this one was different. I'd never seen her before. You'd think that she would stick out. She had bright pink hair and huge, vibrant eyes of the same colour. She wasn't particularly ugly, either. It didn't matter, though. I'd point out any flaws before I'd even be able to catch her name. I winced.

There's just no way that this is real!

It didn't matter, though. Instead of listening to all the crap that my teacher was babbling on about, I stared out of the window. The one thing that's actually good about my life is that the view from my seat is amazing. We're a seaside school so the beach is always accessible to us. That also means that if this book gets animated, a beach episode is guaranteed.

Finally, the bell rang. After building up the confidence, I made my way over to her desk. But she was gone. She'd vanished. The only thing that remained was the sweet, strawberry smell of her hair and a pink handkerchief. I scanned the room to make sure that nobody was watching. Then I gulped and stretched out my arm to grab it.