Golden Time: A New Beginning

First Friend ^_^

Banri kept following those girl as they were delightly chatting with each other.

'Hey lets buy something from that store' the girl said
Then they went inside that shop. Banri also followed them.

As those girl went inside, they started searching for a ice-cream. Banri was on the other side just peeking at them. But suddenly one of those girl said while looking at watch

" We are late! OMG.. We gotta hurry sweety" as she said that, Banri heard. They looked back and saw Banri was also on the line to buy something. So they said " You go ahead please, we are not buying "

Banri glares at them while his mouth is full open. Those two girls went away happily smiling. Then the casher said its only 40 yen. Then Banri had to buy that and then he left the shop and started searching outside the shop. But he didn't found.

Then Banri unpacked the ice-cream and started to eat. As he looked beside him, he saw a boy in suit and ice-cream on hand.

He wore a dark grey suit, with a large light-green envelope. He held a light blue popsicle in hand. The hair drooping over his ruddy cheeks, was lighter than expected. Nonetheless, biting into the ice-cream, the features themselves looked much more composed than how he had previously perceived them. Even at a time like this, "Wow. If I look at myself objectively, I'm quite..." Banri thought, putting his hand on his chin, but

"...Whaa?"

He noticed that the image in the mirror wasn't moving together with him. Like a fool exposed, he turned around.

What was reflected in the photo-ID machine's mirror wasn't himself.

Dressed in a similarly colored suit, holding the same envelope at his side and eating the same ice cream was another person. Their eyes met, then looked away momentarily. Even so, Banri raised his eyes again and looked at the guy doing exactly the same as himself. There was no other possibility, the guy was a freshman at the same college. Ignoring him would be unnatural. Ehh, aren't we doing the same thing? Ah, what, maybe we are from the same university? By saying this, he wanted to keep things lighthearted,

"...Huh? Ah? Oo're ya?"

His mouth wasn't working too well, chilled by the ice-cream, and only an ambiguous moan was getting out.

They both were astronished to see that they were doing the same. Both of them were holding a ice-cream on hand. They both stared at each other for some time. Then Banri asked if he was a law student too, then he asked if he was also following those girl, all those answers matched with Banri

Nonetheless, with body language, pointing at himself and then the other guy, he managed to get the point across,

"Ho...gu..."

The guy, too, while desperately trying to swallow a big mouthful of ice-cream, was looking back at Banri's face. Holding his fingertip to his mouth and chewing,

"...Well..., actually, I... the way to the college, I don't know it very well..."

His voice was lower than expected from his looks.

Without thinking, Banri gave a good long look at the other's face. Though it was just a for moment, mistaking the guy for himself was completely inexcusable, as the guy had much more composed features. He was also a bit taller than Banri, his hair better kept, his suit fit his strong shoulders well.

"I figured I would follow after somebody, so that's why I wound up walking right behind you. ...And when you went in there, I thought, 'What am I going to do now? ...Well, why not?... Why not just stick together?'"

"And from there..." the guy waved his ice-cream bar, showing it off.

Without thinking, Banri laughed. "What!?", he said, his voice now coming out naturally and brightly.

"Then really, we were doing exactly the same thing, both of us. I don't know the way either, and I followed after other guys from the auditorium 'til I got here! But having been left behind, 'What am I going to do?', I was thinking."

"...Huh? Really?"

"Really. I don't know the way at all."

Still holding their ice-cream, not knowing what to do with it, they looked at each other for several seconds. In the end, they wound up laughing once more. Weren't they just the pair of oddballs? They felt like a heavy lid that was stuffed into their stomach, was swept away by laughing.

"Somehow, an unexpected meeting of similar people. I'm Tada Banri. 'Tada' means 'many fields', and though my name is made up from 'Man' and 'ri', it isn't 'Manri', but rather 'Banri'. I'm studying law. You can call me Banri."

"Oh good, I'll be studying law too. I'm . It means that 'the willows are thick by the side of the swamp', and 'light in the center'. You don't have to be formal with me, 'Yana' will do. Did you come here straight from high school?"

"I'm one year late in starting. How about you, Yana-ssan?"

"Yana-ssan? Wait- a year older!? ...Really? You don't look like it--- Well, it's fine. I'm straight from high school... but, though, ah, is it OK if I speak casually like this?"

"Of course. I mean, you don't even have to ask."

"I'm from . Since last night I live by myself. Where ya from?"

"I live close to here, but alone too."

"Yeah, freedom! We're alike! Let's be friends!"

As if raising a toast, Banri raised his half-eaten Gari-Gari-Kun to the level of his eyes. Yanagisawa raised his too the same way, and then they both finished off their treats in one breath. Throwing away the sticks, off they went, and finally before long they were able to return to the main street.

By themselves, after all, it had seemed an arduous journey, but together they weren't all that concerned. Compared to the streets of the residential area with no living soul around late at night, this time they could just ask somebody. When he was by himself, he couldn't even imagine doing that.

Chuckling to himself, he gave a sidelong glance at the already overly familiar Yanagisawa.