The Pink Eyeball ( Uta Tokyo Ghoul )

Silent Trail

"This is Akira Harako. She will be joining our class from today on. "

There was a murmur of assent that rippled through the crowd of students facing me, some saying 'hyes' and "konichiwa's"; a freckled boy from the back said,' Kawaii-chan!' loudly.

The plump teacher gestured for me tofind a table and sit down so I went to sit at the table furthest behind the class.

My footsteps echoed silently into the class and I could feel thirty pairs of curious eyes hot on my retreating back. I slumped down on the chair and closed my eyes, thinking of the rash decision I made. Did I regret the decision to change school?

Oh no,  I didn't.

Well maybe a little. But it gave me a new surging hope to renew my life and the way I live, like a snake shedding its old skin to emerge stronger than ever. I am determined to take this chance to reform myself. No more shy and in-the-background girl anymore. I shall be-! ...not so shy, perhaps.

Part of my reason to change school is to run away from the baleful presence of Touka. Something had changed between us, the warmth of our friendship and our bond is gone. We both felt it, yet nothing was to be done. I could not admit that I knew her secret; how would she react then? Yet I felt a deep pain in my heart whenever my thoughts strayed to her. We shared so much of our lives together and now I just leave her like that. What sort of friend am I?

I sighed and cast a wary eye around me. Some of my new classmate were still staring avidly at me like an interesting television channel, some had gone back to chatting with their friends. Only a few were actually paying attention to the teacher in front.

I don't know how in the whole wide world will I get to know any of them. I don't feel like crawling out of my shell and make any new friends any time soon, despite my promise to start anew, nor do I like my lesson at all. The complete absence of Touka in my life, once I officially am no longer a student of Kiyomi High School, seems a hundred time more pronounced than ever.

I had never felt so lonely as I did now, with the exception to the death of my parents.

I was relieved when the bell rang sharp for the recess. Students from all class rushed out to the canteen, where I had no desire to go. I slowly went out to wander around the school. It was old and shabby,  unlike my former high school. I felt like first year all over again when I first started high school, when everything was so new and weird, so strange and so...noisy.

I went around a corner and find a male teacher's toilet. Where was the girl's? I think I might need toilet break soon, before the end of recess. I turned and walk away, just as Mr.Natsuke steps out of the toilet.

******

"S-sir!" I stammered, staring at his handsome profile. I quickly back away and almost ran out of there. Halfway from the toilet, an alarm bell rang in my head, sending me to a dead stop in my tracks. What is he doing here?

My brain was whirring like a bullet train I think steam is going to spout out of my ears.

Could it be...?

I lift my leg to walk away like a zombie, my brain still working overtime, when a voice in my head says,
No. This is not the new you. Don't run away from it. Confront him! Be brave!

So with full determination, I wheeled around and went up to him until I stand right in front of him.

"What are you doing here?"

Ooops.

That was quite rude.

"Where are your manners?" he replied in shock. At my new bravado, perhaps.