Red Data Girl - Series 1 & 2

The First Makeup - 9

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Red Data Girl: The First Makeup
By Noriko Ogiwara
Chapter 2: Ichijo
Part 2 (1 of 2)

With each passing day, it was becoming clearer and clearer that Izumiko had lost whatever protection her mother’s glasses had given her.

With all the shocks she now suffered, she had become overly sensitive and jumpy. There didn’t seem to be any point in wearing the glasses anymore. Ricardo wasn’t the only student who made her flinch in surprise each time she saw him. There were other students outside of her class without faces as well. It didn’t make a difference whether or not she was wearing her glasses. Their faces were still missing.

Sometimes she passed them in the hallways. Other times she sat near them when the first year classes were mixed together. It made her feel like she was taking a bath in ice water. The real problem was that almost all of the people without faces seemed to be exchange students. It was enough to make Izumiko wonder if she really was being prejudiced.

The students didn’t actually do anything. They hadn’t even approached her to talk once. No matter how many times Izumiko thought about it, the only thing they were doing was scaring her. She didn’t even know if they were doing it on purpose. But she was still scared. All she knew was that whenever one of the foreign students came into view, she lost her nerve.

I shouldn’t have come to this school…

The thought was in her mind endlessly. She wanted to return to quiet Tamakura Shrine. She loved Sawa’s home cooked meals and she longed to feel the mountain breeze everyday again.

Once the welcome party for the new students had come and gone, it was time for them to choose what clubs they would join. After classes ended each day, the upperclassmen would invite the new students to try out one club or another. While all the activity was exciting for the rest of her classmates, it was agony for Izumiko. As soon as she could, Izumiko escaped from the school building each day and staggered off somewhere to be alone.

I can’t make any friends if I keep this up…

Ever obliging, Mayura always said they should go to a club together. But, she was popular and it was hard for Izumiko to stay by her side. In fact, there was such a contest for Mayura Souda’s attention that Izumiko didn’t want to be near her.

The slopes of the hills that surrounded the school were soon bright green with new leaves. All of the cherry trees had blossomed and without anyone noticing, the season had come into full swing.

For the first time in months, Izumiko felt like sitting under a tree. If she sat there with her eyes closed, maybe it would feel like she was back at Tamakura Shrine.

She had planned to walk into one of the groves of trees around the campus, but on her way there, her eyes fell on the horse ring. The riding club was there, riding their horses around the ring. Outside of the fence, a number of other students had lined up to watch. Of course a place like this would gather a crowd of new students looking for a club to join.

Vigilant as always, Izumiko had taken the long way into the woods. But seeing as she couldn’t sense anything frightening, she stopped and looked on. Maybe she would see Manatsu. However, she didn’t spot him.

It was the first time she had seen the riding club. Izumiko stood and watched the unusual activity for a bit. There were more students in the club than she thought there would be. Watching the horses move really gave her a sense of how big the animals truly were.

The riders all wore helmets, boots, and gloves. Izumiko thought they must have all been very brave to be holding the reigns of such an animal, but she was more content in watching the horses themselves. Their big, red brown bodies moved in a fascinating motion as their hooves beat against the earth. Their long legs, all the way down to the hooves were made of bone and strong muscle. It was as if they had been born to run. The sound their hooves made as their speed increased was like fine music.