Golden Time: A New Beginning

Spring..

"Freshman, congratulaaaatioooons!" That very moment!

"...Wha..!!!??"

With a great commotion, before his eyes fluttered a storm of confetti. There was a big crowd of students, many more than just the freshmen XD

What started to surround Banri and the other freshmen blinking from this unexpected twist, were all the huge members of the American football club, yelling, and standing in the first row of students. Their big bodies crammed into their uniforms, chanting their team's name in a peculiar way, they grabbed the guys that caught their eye and easily lifted them over their heads.

"You there, freshman, con-grat-u-lations! Up you go!"

"Not me, not me, no way! Excuse meee!"

His eyes having met one of the guys with a helmet, Banri bowed his head to the summons and ran down the entrance steps in a hurry. In front of his eyes, above his head,

"Are you not interested in comic storytelling? We are holding live events for students!"

"Waa, waa, waa ♪ Come and do Glee Club ♪"

"You there, you look like someone who would love camping! The camping research club is over here!"

"The Freshman Comedy Club welcome reception will start at two o'clock! It's free of course, and there'll be drinks!"

Between leaflets being shoved at him, hands inviting him over, and then tons of bursting smiles, Banri's path was blocked over and over again. On the verge of being crushed in the crowded mayhem, all of the freshmen, swinging their idiotic faces like the heads of pigeons feeding, were being coaxed to line up before the desks of the club booths. You couldn't say that the midtown campus was very wide, but every club appearing there now had started their club recruiting meeting, with costumes, music and everything imaginable.

There was a group in varsity jackets with the college name on them, who for some reason were wearing swimsuits and shouldering oxygen tanks. There were masked pro wrestlers in tights building a small temporary ring, miniskirted lacrosse girls with polo shirts, each of them so pretty like a model, and some otherwise unidentifiable guys, who were selling cold drinks from an enormous cooler for 50 yen apiece. "Information on leisurely taking lectures! Everything is printed here!", yelled a gang of reporter-like guys, waving something resembling newspapers, with Mass Communications Research Society written on their sashes.

Even the other uniformed bodies gathered around, tennis, and then judo, which together with the American Football club were suddenly livened up by cheerleaders. Swordfighting and archery were there too. The people in tuxedos and dresses must have been the ballroom dancing club. A cheering party dressed in black school uniforms, they were difficult to approach.

There slightly hunched and short built, somewhat baby-faced, without any aspiration stood an idle Banri. For this, only the clubs with cultural aspects called out to him. "The trains will always be on time!" ...Railroad Research Club? "Why not go to the beach twice a year?!" ...Manga Culture Research Club? "Sunday morning is chaos!" ...Anime Research Club. And stranger, "Detective Novel Mystery Only Research Club", and "Maze Research Club", and even, this one catching his imagination a little, "Gigantic Structure Exploration Club". What could "On , even you can shake the mountain priest's hand" be?

He came back to himself to find that a mountain of leaflets had been pushed into his hands. Washed away by the raging wave of students from all grades jumbled together, Banri couldn't just stand still, and ended up at the center of the square. He intended to select which club they'd belong to with Yanagisawa, but in this madness, this uproar, he had no idea whether he could manage a clean escape.

"Aren't you a freshman!? We're the tea ceremony club, but young men are super-welcome too!"

"Ah, thanks..."

"Then for now, drink drink! Drink drink driiink! Drink driink! Drink drink driiink! Drink drink-ink-ink drink drink-ink-ink-ink drink drink driiink!"

"...Y, yes ma'am!"

Offered, rather insistently, a bowl of green tea, he tasted it while trying not to let the crowd rock his elbow. Gah, he drank the bitter stuff and returned the bowl.

  The way to drink! Yes, good guy! 

Clapping, the tea club moved on to their next target, drink driink! To the attack.

The back of his hand might have turned green as he wiped his mouth. At that moment - - - A loud whistle burst his ears. He looked up in surprise. From the other side of the campus, a group, playing Latin music of intense, dance able rhythm, was separating the herd of people, cutting through the crowd. The was maddening. They had messed up hair, their own or wigs, gaudy beads woven into cornrows and really long dreadlocks, men and women alike dressed in bright green tight fitting leotards. They all had musical instruments in their hands. Singing in loud voices, they were a parade.

Incredible--- his mouth was hanging open already.

His ears breaking and his body shaking from the sound of the whistle, Banri's eyes were wide open. College is really cool. He hadn't thought it was cool like this. From this point on, for sure, life was going to get really cool.

This fast, arousing rhythm toyed with his body and made him feel like loosing to his instincts. He was convinced. At this place, for sure, he could become a new person. The days he had vainly spent pursuing the vision of his lost self were completely over.

The confetti dancing. The countless leaflets fluttering in the wind. The row of drums. The men's throaty shouts. The women's voices with their high-pitched laughter. Glorious, dazzling, madness of spring. The parade's rhythm shook him furiously, throbbing violently. He closed his eyes, blackout, can't see anything anymore.

Tada Banri.

If you were to open your eyes, you might be able to see your own self reborn. The self waking up in a new room, meeting new friends, and falling asleep in that new room.

Before opening his eyes again, he tried to envisage something like making a wish. He would certainly see a wonderful new world with his new eyes. Fun, cheerful and satisfying, even if he had mistaken those for loneliness or solitude --- the whole of it glittering gold, like being dazzled all the time.

Let's go live like that every day. So many people to meet, so many people to love, so many people to live together with in this world. Banri celebrated the sprout of a new life, and wished this from the season called spring. ^_^

If he could live like that, then surely before long he would fall in love.

He wanted to love.

A single person, he wanted to admire someone so much, that nothing else could enter his heart. It may have been a worldly desire indeed, perhaps, but as Banri was an ordinary person, it couldn't be helped. He wanted to meet a single girl. He wanted to bet it all on love. He wouldn't mind if she wasn't such an exceptional partner in every way like Yana-ssan's.

He wanted to throw himself into the currents of fate. Diving into the rushing stream of this new world, the person you should meet, the one you should discover, grab hold of it with your own hands, Tada Banri!