Nagareboshi

*~:Shooting Star:~*  School Patrol

-1 month ago-

Mika was tiptoeing across the school auditorium looking for her best friend, Ayu. It was their school’s entrance ceremony and they were supposed to meet before it begins. She was wearing her new high school uniform, carefully pressed and ironed. She straightened her dark blue tie. Ayu was nowhere in sight.

“I can’t believe we’re high school already!” a voice said from behind.

Mika turned and expected to see Ayu but she wasn’t. Other first year students started to gather in groups and Mika was left standing alone near the door. Mika tapped her foot, Ayu was late. Suddenly, the rest of the students gathered near the entrance made way to the approaching group.

Three girls in very short uniform, with their hair dyed light brown and wearing a lot of make-up walked forward and stared at the people up and down. They were followed by a couple—a beautiful girl in the same get-up and a guy with shoulder length hair, same hair color and untied necktie.

The three girls stopped in front of the girl who was standing beside Mika. The small girl was wearing glasses and was already cowering in fear.

“What are you looking at?” the three girls said in unison.

“Yankees,” Mika whispered to herself.

The leader (or so Mika thought) suddenly looked at her slowly from head to toe. And then she walked slowly to Mika’s directions. All eyes suddenly turned to her.

“Did you say something?” The girl asked in a forceful tone. But before Mika could say something, a hand landed on the girl’s shoulder. It was the guy she was with.

“Cut it out, Yuiko.” The guy said and removed his hand on her shoulder. He looked at Mika before he turned to walk away. “I have no time for this childish game of yours.”

The girl then took one last look at Mika then began to follow the guy that walked out.

“Ryuuji! Ryuu-kun, wait for me.” She said as she followed him. The other three girls trailed behind her without saying a word.

After a few buzzing, the noise returned and everyone was back to normal. Everyone started to gather again in groups and looked for seats in the auditorium. Everyone except for Mika. Her heart was pounding and her cheeks started to blush. She remembered the guy a while ago.

He saved me, she thought.

Someone tapped Mika on her shoulder and she jumped back from surprise. She thought it was the girls that came back for her. But she was relieved when she saw that it was Ayu.

“Mika-chan, sorry for keeping you waiting!” Ayu said as she caught her breath. “I overslept and ran all the way from our house.”

“How could you not wake up on the first day of classes?” Mika asked as she smiled for the first time this morning.

“Hey, Mika did something happen to you? You’re face is redder than mine!”

Mika covered her cheeks with her hands and said, “Eh?! No way!”

-Present time-

Mika ran down the rooftop as fast as she could. She nearly missed a step on the stairs going down, but she quickly regained her balance on the next flight. She reached the third floor.

Only one floor down, she thought as her breathing started to get shorter. She heard someone call her name but she didn’t stop. She continued to run. As she finally reached her classroom, she slumped on her seat and took a deep breath. Beads of sweat was running down her forehead and she massaged her chest. She noticed a small bruise on her knee and thought she must have hit her knee while running. Her heart was still pounding. And she didn’t know if it was from running fast or because she saw Ryuuji.

Ryuuji. It has been a month since Mika first saw him. It was the day of their entrance ceremony and he saved her from bullying. But it turned out he was a worse bully than the girl he was with.

Bang. The door suddenly opened and Mika jumped from her seat in surprise.

“S-sumimasen!” Mika shouted as she looked at the door. She was surprised to see the second year president, Morikawa Jun.

“Terashima-san, are you all right?” He suddenly said as he went towards Mika’s desk.

“Morikawa-san, what are you doing here?”

“I saw you running fast from the third floor.” He said with a look of concern in his eyes. “Is everything fine?”

Mika wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and nodded slowly. She suddenly felt Jun’s hand as he pat her head.

“I don’t blame you.” He smiled at her. “Since it’s your first time patrolling, you must have seen something awful, didn’t you?” He took the seat beside her and rested his chin on his palm.

“Umm, no, it’s nothing like that. I just forgot something in my bag.” Mika said as her cheeks flushed.

“It must be important then?”

“Ah…yeah, I guess.” She muttered. The last glow of the sunset hit room, and a warm glow of orange filled their desk. Mika suddenly stood up and grabbed her bag.

“Umm, I guess I should be on my way now. Sorry for bothering you with this kind of trivial matter,” Mika said as she began to walk towards the door.

“Terashima-san, wait!” Jun shouted as he ran after Mika. “Next time, I’ll accompany you while you patrol the rooftop until you get used to it, okay?”

Mika slowly looked at Jun, whose black hair reflected the orange glow of the sunset. His glasses was also reflecting the light. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

“Hai!” Mika said with a nod of her head.

“Ja, mata ashita.”

“Mata ashita.”

“Eh, you get to patrol the rooftop with Morikawa-san after school hours?” Ayu asked during lunch the next day. She took one piece of fish nuggets from Mika’s bento.

Mika nodded with her mouthful. With chopsticks on one hand, and a bottle of water on the other, she took a long sip from it.

“Well yeah, he did say that yesterday.”

“Wow, how lucky of you, don’t you think?” Ayu asked as she had another of Mika’s fish nuggets. “Waah, your mom’s cooking is still the best.”

“Here, you can have all of it,” Mika said as she pushed her bento to Ayu’s directions.

“Eh? You’re not going to finish your food?”

Mika slowly shook her head and took another sip of water.

“Hey, is something wrong?” Ayu asked as she set her chopsticks down and looked at Mika.

“I saw Ryuuji yesterday.” She whispered and placed her water bottle at the table. She rested her forehead on the table.

“Eh? Mika-chan, I thought you said you don’t like Ryuuji anymore?” Ayu asked.

“I dunno!” Mika said through the muffled sound of her hair.

“Mika-chan,” Ayu called out as she fixed Mika’s bento. “Someone’s here to see you.”

Mika sat up straight with a puzzled look to Ayu. Ayu used her eyes to point at the door. Mika followed with her eyes and saw Jun standing there. He gave a little wave to her.

“Morikawa-san came to see you,” Ayu whispered and giggled.

“I’ll be right back,” Mika whispered as she went to the door. On the way, the class became quiet and all eyes were on Mika’s.

“Morikawa-san,” Mika said as she reached the door.

“Are you done with your lunch?” He asked as he gave another smile.

“Ah…” Mika glanced at Ayu and saw that she was giving her the signal to go ahead. “Yeah, I’m done eating, what’s up?”

“Well, the class representative of the other class got hospitalized for a serious illness,” Jun explained as he started to walk away from her classroom. Mika trailed after him. “So we need to take over her post for a while until she gets back. So we’ll patrol the gym and the playground during lunch break until she gets back.”

“Hai!” Mika nodded as she followed Jun as they went down to the gym.

The gym, with two basketball rings at both ends were empty. Jun grabbed a stray ball in the middle of the gym and started to dribble it.

“The gym should always be kept clean,” he explained to Mika as he continued to dribble. “Stray balls such as this should be kept away at the storage room, okay?”

“Hai,” she answered as she watched him play. “Do you play basketball?”

“Well, I’m not good at it,” he said and smiled as he threw it at the ring. It went inside and Mika clapped.

“I thought you said you weren’t good.”

“Luck, I guess?” He grabbed the ball and went towards the storage room. He took a key out of his pocket and slid it at the knob. Jun then took another key and gave it to Mika. “Here, I’ll give you a spare key so you can use it while I’m not here.”

“Ah, thanks,” she put it inside her pocket.

“Then, let’s head outside, shall we?”

“Hai,” she answered as she followed him again.

Jun softly laughed on the way to the playground. Upon reaching, he sat on one of the swings and continued to laugh.

“Eh?” Mika said as she sat on the other swing. “Is anything wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing.” He answered as he removed his glasses to wipe it. “You just sound kawaii whenever you say ‘hai.’”

Mika said nothing but she looked below and blushed. No one has ever said she looked or sounded kawaii before. She suddenly saw two cigarette butts lying on the ground. Jun saw it too and picked it up. He placed it inside a small clear plastic he kept on his breast pocket.

“Yankees come here for a quick smoke since this area is a bit secluded,” he said as he kept the plastic on his pocket.

Mika just nodded and remembered Ryuuji smoking above the water tank yesterday. She didn’t say anything and they just continued to swing. Mika glanced at Jun’s watch and saw that they only have ten minutes left of lunch break. Silence continued between them until she heard a stomach growl. She looked at Jun who was smiling.

“Morikawa-san, you haven’t eaten yet?” She asked.

“Not yet. I rushed over at your classroom when I learned that the other class representative was sick,” he explained as he patted his stomach. “Don’t worry, I’ll eat lots after school.”

“But after school, we’ll still be patrolling the school. I feel like I’m keeping you busy.”

“Of course not!” Jun said as he glanced at his watch. “Then why don’t we eat together later after school patrol, shall we?”

“But, ah, maybe I’m just on your way or something?”

“No, no. It’s fine with me.”

Mika nodded her head. “Well, I’ll make you a bento tomorrow for lunch, Morikawa-san, uh to say thanks.”

Jun smiled at her and said, “What’s with the formality? Call me Jun instead.”

“Hai, Jun-kun. You can also just call me Mika.”

“Mika-chan?”

“Hai!”

They both laughed as the bell rang and signaled the start of afternoon classes.

Author’s Notes: Umm, seriously I would like to meet a guy like Morikawa Jun, right ne~~ Please do comment if you do come across this chapter and the entire sight. Comments/reviews make me happy but please do not hatebash me. Don’t the glossaries make you learn japanese?

Glossary (jap-eng)

• hai – yes
• kawaii – cute
• ja – see ya
• mata ashita – see ya tomorrow
• sumimasen – polite way of saying ‘excuse me’
• bento – lunch box; in Japan girls always make bento for their boyfriends, hmm hmm is Mika-chan sending the wrong message to Jun-kun?