Ritatsu Onodera sat in his Advanced Earth Science class, third row back, and fifth desk to the right. His eyes fluttered between his science teacher, Dr. Akashi, and the white board behind the crazy looking, middle aged man that was his professor, scribbling notes down now and then, brushing his dusted, dark brown hair out of his face carefully. It was getting too long for his liking, and he fancied his hair moderately long as it was. Ritatsu had never particularly enjoyed Science, nor did he believe that sitting through an Advanced Calculus class would help him in his life, though he was still at the top of his class, and at his peak of success.
It was only two minutes before the bell rung signaling the end of classes for the day, when the boy, no older than 16 decided to begin to pack his things.
“Mister Onodera, what is it that you hope to accomplish by packing up early? Since when was education considered a race?” His hair brained professor stood at the front of the large room, scratching the top of his nearly hairless head as he gazed down at Ritatsu. Ritatsu, in his head had thought ‘Since first year…Dumbass’ but was much to polite to say anything that vulgar to a Professor of any magnitude. Instead he mumbled , “Education is not a race sir, I-” the bell rang, and every single one of the wide eyed students scrambled out of the classroom, leaving Ritatsu to pack up and leave about three or four minutes after the bell had rung. His professor didn’t even give him a second glance.
Ritatsu sped out of his classroom, praying he wouldn’t miss the tram to his house. He bounced off of lockers, walls and students briskly, his angelic facial expression hardly changing. He pushed open the doors to the east exit of the modern to futuristic, 3 story highschool building. He lived in a utopia type city, named Block 1A; a huge city surrounded by large walls. There was no crime, and no poverty. Everybody lived in peace and there was no conflict; Nobody questioning the government, nobody who ran with a different crowd. Not even Ritatsu ran with any type of different crowd. He had his friends, and his family. His mother was a hardworking business woman. He had a job as a cashier at his local chain supermarket. He had never even been grounded letalone in trouble with the government or police.
Just as the tram prepared to leave Central West station, the station located across the street from the main entrance to his school, Ritatsu stumbled through the doors of one of the middle cars and plopped down in a plastic molded seat, gazing out the window as the tram sped away. He looked down at his identification bracelet for the time. It was only 2:16. The tram sped to a halt at the first of three station stops before it reached Ritatsu’s neighborhood. As the tram halted abruptly, his backpack went flying, sending papers, pencils, and textbooks across the isle of the tram car.
“Sh-Shit.” He murmured to himself before dropping from his seat to his knees to gather his papers.
“Calculus…?” Ritatsu heard a husky voice murmur. The voice seemed surprised. He looked over to find a tall boy, kneeling on his haunches to gather up some of the textbooks and papers, his soft blonde hair tied back into a messy pony tail, his bangs falling in his face.
“Y-Yes… Um…” Ritatsu held out his hand for the book, looking down uncomfortably. The other boy chuckled, a dark, melodic laugh rumbling from his throat as he picked up the rest of the papers around him, stacking them on top of the thick, hardcover math book before handing it off to Ritatsu.
“Impressive…” the boy seemed genuinely impressed. He stood up and shoved his hands into his pockets, the tram had already taken off towards the second station stop.
“I’m Kitsune.” The taller boy said as he pulled Ritatsu to his feet. “Pleasure to meet you.” He scoffed. Ritatsu was taken aback by the boy’s cockiness, and poise.
“I’m Ritatsu….” He grumbles, not liking this boy very much at all. “Same to meet you too.” Kitsune nodded and got off as the tram came to a halt at second station stop. Ritatsu noticed, before the boy left, that he didn’t have an Identification bracelet on his wrist.
Any person who lived in Block 1A was required to have an Identification bracelet, and was not allowed to go outside of their house without it. If they were born into the utopia, they were given a identification bracelet at birth. If the person had moved to Block 1A they were given a bracelet at their arrival. Kitsune didn’t have a bracelet!
Ritatsu brushed it off as he stood up, the tram coming to his destination. He hitched his backpack over his small shoulder, and made his way out of the car through the sliding glass doors, and down the steps off of the platform. He lived in a middle class neighborhood; a shopping district. All buildings in the shopping district were built with two floors; The first floor being the shop, and the second floor, the living accommodations. Ritatsu’s living situation was perfectly comfortable for him as well as for his mother.
“Hello mother!” he greets the dainty, brown haired young woman with a soft peck on the cheek. “I’ll be studying upstairs!” Ritatsu took a chocolate muffin from atop the checkout counter, biting into it as he jogged upstairs, a few crumbs falling around his lips. The boy sat down at his small wooden desk in his room, pulling out a piece of paper to begin writing an essay for his history course. His mind gradually wandered to the mysterious boy on the tram. The boy’s features lacing the Ritatsu's mind. He had never seen Kitsune at school; he had never seen him at all for that matter, and the fact that he had not been wearing an Identification bracelet made the whole situation more of a mystery. Ritatsu closed his eyes and rested his head in his hands, Unable to bring his thoughts back to work. He sat there, head still rested in his palm, thinking of this mysterious boy and his unbelievably attractive features. Thinking… of Kitsune.
