A Firefly's Glow

Chapter Eleven: Part Five

Silence droned through the hallways as I stood beside the tall set of double doors. I fidgeted with my hair, inspecting the stiff ends and searching for any that were split.

I figured that I had twice as much hair mousse planted into my hair than the day before. I really wouldn’t mind the hairstyle if it didn’t tug at my hair so much.

I released the bundle of my hair and sighed. My legs were beginning to ache. I must have been standing for at least five minutes, but the aching was mild. I was never good at standing completely still.

I leaned against the doors and pressed my ears against the polished wood. I heard dim chattering that echoed through the opposite side of the door. I focused more on the sounds emanating out of the room.

I heard mild giggling and murmured voices that were lowered down to a simmer. I listened to footsteps that were possibly wandering the room. It wasn’t absolutely quiet, but it wasn’t excessively loud either.

Amanatsu suggested that I should wait outside of the classroom and I silently agreed. Even though Seika Academy was much more respectable and formal, the secretive students—as perfect as they were—would make staring at the new kid a new habit. Especially one with such a weird hair color.

Plus, if I just randomly sat down in a seat, the seat’s rightful owner might plow towards me and hiss. And then I would be sued, beat up by their body guards, or cursed for life.

But Amanatsu probably had something else in mind when he suggested that I wait outside. It was formal for teachers to accompany the new students when they first walk through their doors. And at this particular moment, the teacher was currently missing.

Seconds after this thought ran through my head, I listened to a nearby door slam shut. I heard a familiar voice ring through the halls and I whipped my gaze towards it.

“Hotaru-chan!” A man quickly hurried towards me with a large smile that rose onto his face. “It’s good to see you came to school today!”

I recognized his dark, scarlet eyes and his familiar, wavy hair tied into a loose ponytail and I murmured my guess of what his name was.

“Haruka-sensei?”

The man gave me a firm pat on the head with his hands. “You remembered my name! I’m proud of you!”

“So you’re my new teacher?”

“For this class—no. Your teacher is going to be absent for a couple more minutes so I’ve come to make sure there’s not a war going on in your classroom.”

I peered at Haruka. His charming smile gleamed upon his face. I suggested that he had just come to the school fresh from college. His face lacked any sort of wrinkles and he was definitely the opposite of senile.

I would have mistaken him for a senior if he was wearing one of the school’s black blazers instead of the thin, loose V-necked sweater that was so strangely informal.

He reached his hand onto the door handle twisted it. As the door creaked open, the chattering in the classroom immediately paused, with every eye in the classroom turned towards the opening doors.

I paused at the doorway. A few of the students that sat in a few certain spots were able to notice me standing outside the doors, and they leaned over towards their fellow classmates beside them. I heard their whispers faintly, but they seemed to roar at me with their curious stares.

“There’s a new student!”

“There’s a new girl outside the door!”

As the whispers were passed throughout the classroom, I spotted a few students craning their necks or shifting their chairs, attempting to look outside of the door.