Otherworld

Chapter 2 - A World Of Choices

The morning went by slowly. With each period, Ryuu felt himself slowly drifting off to sleep, until his brain shook himself awake again. It seems he did not get much sleep last night. Could it be because of that girl? But he already concluded that it was a dream, so that would be impossible. He was seated in the very bottom left corner of the classroom, next to the window. When Ryuu glanced next to him, he saw Fuyuki asleep, his head buried in his crossed arms on his desk. That's typical of him. Fuyuki barely pays attention to class. Something tells Ryuu that he's only at school to avoid being home, but he never opens up to him, even though he is his only friend. When lunchtime finally arrived, Fuyuki woke up. It seems like he has an internal alarm clock in his head.  'What day is it?' he asked with his eyes still half closed. 'Still Monday.' Ryuu felt stupid for actually answering that question. Fuyuki grumbled. 'Shoot me up to Mars, this is gonna be a hell of a long week,' he said while resting his forehead on his desk again. 'Shooting you up to Mars is gonna take even longer, depending on the distance to Earth, it can take about-'  Fuyuki held up his hand. 'Let me stop you right there you space nerd, it was just an expression.'  Ryuu does this often. He has a big interest in the cosmos. He's saving up for a telescope so he can stare at the stars every night. Fuyuki obviously doesn't really care, but sometimes he can't help himself to talk about, Although a lot of times he does it on purpose. 'If you really can't stand it, why don't you skip? You're only sleeping during class anyway.'  Fuyuki sighed. 'And what would I do then? just walk outside the whole day on my own? Besides, if my old man found out... Well anyway, don't worry about me, I will make it through the exams somehow,' He grinned faintly. Ryuu just wished he would tell him what's going on with him really, but he won't budge.

Ryuu got thirsty and wanted to get something to drink from the vending machine just outside the classroom. When he was about to get up from his seat, he noticed a girl looking at him. It was the class president, Ishida Aiko. With her short, light blue hair that goes down to her shoulders and her blue eyes that look like she's reading your thoughts is actually not what you might think of her. A class president is usually strongwilled, serious and dedicated to reaching their goals. Aiko however, is more laid back. She's often staring at guys she finds cute and can fall in love pretty easily. This, however, was not that kind of staring obviously. She stood up and as Ryuu expected, came his way. Fuyuki also noticed it by now. 'Uh oh, she's probably gonna nag at me for this morning,' he said worriedly. 'I don't think that's the case...' Ryuu already had a feeling, he should have gone to the vending machine earlier. Aiko arrived at the desks of the two. With crossed arms, she gazed at them with intense eyes. 'Say, I know I'm probably annoying you with this, but as class president, I don't really have a choice. Have you-'  'Clubs?..' Ryuu cut her off with a bored look on his face, his head resting on his hand. Fuyuki, know also seeing what she came for, yawned. Aiko paid him no mind. 'Yes, clubs. You know this Sekida High wants to keep a reputation of active students participating in clubs for after-school activities. Although I really don't like to be bothered with the two of you, I really need you to consider joining a club, isn't there anything you'd be interested in?' she asked with a fake smile. Before Ryuu could say anything, Fuyuki answered. 'Why don't you just leave us be? We don't belong in any club, we are the lone wolves,' he said. Ryuu sighed. Did he really just say lone wolves? 'That is unless you're willing to persuade me...' Fuyuki continued, looking at her with a disturbing smile. 'You are just unbelievable. You're never gonna get a girlfriend this way,' Aiko said annoyed. Suddenly, another voice was heard. 'What about Tennis? the Tennis club is always looking for members.' A pretty girl, with long silver hair as a ponytail, tied with a dark blue ribbon and side locks hanging over her shoulders, appeared from behind Aiko. Her eyes were as green as a forest. Ryuu got nervous. Why was she here? He didn't expect that. It wasn't like he was nervous because she was so pretty, it was because he knew her. 'Oh hey Izumi, Glad you're here, maybe you can convince these two lazy bums to join a club,' Aiko said. Hagiwara Izumi is a star player in the Tennis club, she wins pretty much every game. Izumi smiled. 'Hey Ryuu, how are you doing?'  Ryuu tried to smile back. 'Well, I'm getting by I guess.'  Both Aiko and Fuyuki were in the same boat this moment. 'Do you know each other?... I mean apart from being classmates,' Aiko asked. Izumi tried to hold in a little laughed. 'We used to play together all the time when we were little,' she grinned. 'that was a long time ago,' Ryuu said looking down his desk. 'Hey, Ryuu what's up with that? you never told me this,' Fuyuki complained. 'There was never a reason to,' Ryuu answered. 'You two rarely talk at school? Did something happen? Wait, don't tell me, did you had to reject him? Oh, poor Izumi, all these boys all over you, it must be hard,' Aiko said, clinging to Izumi. 'No, that's...' Her voice became quieter. 'That's not what happened...'  A silence broke out. Ryuu saw that Fuyuki was about to open his mouth and decided he was done with this subject. He stood up. 'I'm gonna get something to drink,' he said as he attempted to walk away. Aiko protested. 'Hold on a minute you! What about-'  'I'll think about it,' Ryuu said before she could finish. Aiko watched him go dissatisfied. 'Will he now..'  Izumi placed her hand on her shoulder. 'Aiko, I know you just wanna get everyone into activities because you wanna be a worthy class rep, but Ryuu is just not very social,' She smiled weakly. Aiko sighed. 'Ah well, what about you Fuyu-'  Fuyuki stood up immediately. 'Hey, Kaori!' He yelled as he saw the girl walking out the classroom with her friends and started running after them. 'Sorry about last week. Wanna have dinner tonight to make up for it!?'  Kaori and her friends started fast walking as Fuyuki was catching up to them. Izumi and Aiko watched him go. 'Tsk, what's up with these guys, they're not cute at all,' Kaori said. Izumi laughed.

School ended and Fuyuki was nowhere to be found. Ryuu figured he was just chasing after some girls again. He decided to go home without waiting for him. On his way to exit the school grounds, he passed the tennis court. With a quick glimpse, he saw Izumi playing as hard as she can. He wonders why she started talking to him today of all days. Not to mention reveal that they used to be childhood friends. He can't help but think it's strange, also his dream last night, that weird girl in his room, this was just all too strange. Well, maybe he shouldn't think too much of it he thought. Izumi has always been easy with people and it's not like they haven't exchanged words at school before. When he thought about her suggesting the Tennis club, he shook his head. Nah, if he would join a club, it would have to be a non-sports club. He rather wouldn't join one at all. He's not very social and doesn't have any friends besides Fuyuki, but he's fine with that, so there's no need to join a club. As the sun fills the sky with an orange glow, Ryuu arrived home. When he opened the front door, his nostrils were pleased with the smell of burgers being grilled. He dumped his bag in the hallway and went to the living room. Next to the living room was the kitchen. A young woman was grilling burgers. She had long dark red hair, crimson red eyes and wore a black hoodie and comfortable grey trousers like it was Sunday already. 'Hey,' she said calmly. 'Hello sis,' Ryuu could only answer.