-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?

“And we substitute X to get the value of Y…and then double the…”

Terashima Mika yawned in the middle of math class. She loved school, really, but her eyes were getting heavier and heavier as the hot summer afternoon passed by. She was seated in the middle of the classroom so the sunlight glare did not hit her desk.

A crumpled note suddenly landed from her desk. It was from her best friend, Ayu. Mika first glanced at their teacher, but he wasn’t looking. She hastily opened the note.

“Hey, later we’re going to vote for our class representative, right? I’m sure it’s going to be you!!” the note read. But before Mika could write a reply, the bell rang and signaled the end of the classes.

“Mika-chan, Mika-chan! Aren’t you excited? I’m sure you’ll be class representative!” Ayu said as their teacher left the room.

“Wha-?” Mika asked through the loud chatter. “What makes you say so, Ayu-chan?”

“Eh? Don’t you remember when we were in the first grade you were our class representative,” Ayu said as she sat on Mika’s desk and counted with her fingers. “The rest of the class didn’t want to be the class representative, and you were the only one who volunteered. Because you wanted to go home already! But every year, you became the class representative until we graduated in middle school! You don’t know how to turn down other’s favors.”

“Come to think about it, you’re right,” Mika said as she slumped to her seat. “But this time, I won’t say ‘yes.’ I need to concentrate on my studies now that we’re in high school already.”

“Hmm, speaking of which, now that we’re in high school, do you think you’ll finally get a boyfriend?” Ayu giggled and asked her best friend. “Do you still like Ryuuji?”

“Sshh!” Mika suddenly said and covered Ayu’s mouth. “And it was just a crush. I thought he was cute when I saw him at the entrance ceremony, that’s all. It’s not like I ‘love’ him.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m not stopping you from liking him,” Ayu said as she stood up. “Go and get yourself a boyfriend! High school is the perfect time to.”

“Huh? What about Ayu-chan? Do you have someone you like?”

Ayu turned red but she didn’t get a chance to answer because two guys went inside their classroom. The first guy was tall with a crew cut hairstyle. He had a superior look on his face as the class quieted down. It was the student president, third year Amasaki Tarou. Meanwhile the second guy had softer features, wearing black framed glasses and a smile. This was Morikawa Jun—second year president and the school’s idol. Everyone’s eyes (even the guy’s) were on Jun.

Tarou cleared his throat and spoke, “I am the student president, and this is the second year’s president. We are here today because every first year class needs to have a class representative. Do we have any volunteers in this room?”

The air was dead silent. No one spoke and no one raised a hand. Ayu glanced at Mika, but Mika shook her head.

“Looks like no one wants to volunteer then.” Jun said with a faint laugh. “Any suggestions then?”

“How about Terashima Mika?” Someone from the back shouted. Mika bolted from her seat.

“Terashima Mika?” Jun asked. “Is Terashima-san here?”

“Hai,” Mika said as her voice trembled. She stood up.

“Do you agree to be the class representative?” Jun asked and smiled at her.

Silence.

Mika, with her head bowed down, bit her lip. Ayu looked at her. The rest of the class were still staring at the school idol.

“Hai,” Mika finally said.

As the classes finished for the day, Mika headed up to the school’s rooftop. Just minutes ago, she was elected as the new class representative. The student president then briefed her about her after school duty—to patrol the school grounds after classes to look for delinquent students. There were a lot of them on the school, Ryuuji being one of them.

I should forget thinking about Ryuuji, Mika thought as she climbed the steps. The roof top was her area, and the student president said that after making sure no one was in the area, she can then go home.

Forget. Ryuuji. Forget. Ryuuji. Forget. Ryuuji. Mika thought as she took one step at a time. Forget. Ryuuji. Forget.

She pushed the heavy door open and went outside. The afternoon sun glared at her. Although her eyes were squinted because of the glare, she saw that no one was staying in the area. She leaned on the water tank and slumped on the concrete floor.

Baka Mika, Baka Mika. Why did I agree to this on the first place? She thought as she hit her head playfully. Why can’t I say no?

Suddenly, something fell on Mika’s palm.

Eh? Is it snow? Sand? But the smell reached her nose and she knew it immediately. Cigarette ash. Someone is smoking at the top of the water tank!

Mika looked up and saw a hand which a half-finished cigarette dangled. And she saw a lock of light brown unruly hair. It was Ryuuji.

“Hey, Ryuuji, give me a kiss.” Someone said above the water tank.

He’s with someone, Mika dreadfully thought as she stood up. But she lightly hit her head on the tank and made a sound.

“Oh shit! Someone’s here.” She heard Ryuuji’s voice.

“Put your shirt on, stupid.” The female voice said.

But before any of them could take a look below, Mika was long gone. She ran all the way to her classroom, two floors below and didn’t stop once to take a breath. She took a heavy breath as she sat down her desk.

Her heart was pounding. She didn’t know if it was from running fast or because she saw Ryuuji.

Author’s Notes: Yay~~this is the prologue of Nagareboshi, where Mika (the main character of the main story) is introduced. We also get a glimpse of Jun and Ryuuji. But no worries~~on the first chapter it’s more on Ryuuji and Jun~Kyaa~ if you read this story and got something to say, please do write a comment or a review…thanks!

Glossary (jap-eng)

• the use of suffix -chan, -kun, -san, and -sama: if you are unfamiliar with these  suffixes used in Japan, please refer to the wiki article.
• hai – yes
• baka – idiot, stupid

Nagareboshi – Shooting Star

A girl waits for all her life for a chance to see a falling star.

Terashima Mika is a sweet and kind first year student who can never say no to everybody. She accepts weird chores and does it with a cheerful smile. And she has fallen in love with the school’s most notorious gang leader, Amanatsu Ryuuji. All the time, she secretly tried to catch a glimpse of him at school. But slowly she realized that their worlds are completely different and she tried to forget him

Ryuuji is always surrounded with his gang at school, doing every violation against the school rules – gambling, smoking,  and drinking. Known as the “Iron Fist” he can singlehandedly beat up 20 people without even getting hurt. Also with him all the time is his girlfriend, Kasagi Yuiko who is a female gang leader herself.

When Mika was voted as class representative, she agreed to it without hesitation. Mika’s job is to  patrol the school grounds after classes and during breaks together with the second year president, Morikawa Jun. But one time, Mika was patrolling the rooftop when she caught a sight of Ryuuji smoking. Although she knew that she should report him, she never did. And she realized that she still has feelings for him.

Side Story 1

Nagareboshi -Alone-

Kimura Eri is the most popular girl in her class. She can get any guy that she wants. She’s got the looks, the money, the brains and the personality. And all she needed now is the perfect boyfriend and she tried to find one upon entering high school. And she has set her eyes on her perfect match – Morikawa Jun.

Jun is the smartest guy in his class, and also the second year president. And to top it off, he’s also one of the school’s idols who has his own fan club. Every girl could and would fall in love with him.

Everyone likes Eri too. Guys loved to be with her, and girls liked to live her life. But what she could never show is how hurt and tired she is of being perfect, and of how the only guy she has ever loved doesn’t want her. Her love has always been unrequited, but one day she hopes that Jun would notice her.

Side Story 2

Nagareboshi -Waiting-

It all started when she was six years old.

Hanazono Ayu, Mika’s best friend, is secretly in love with a guy for the past ten years. She never confessed and told her feelings to the guy.

She never got the chance because he moved to New York for his studies. But still, Ayu waited. And waited. And waited.

Even if she waited for him, deep down Ayu knew that he will only see her as his little sister. The guy that Ayu has been in love with is her best friend’s older brother, Eiji. But now that Eiji announced that he’s going back to Japan for good, will Ayu get the chance to tell her how she feel? And will Eiji still see her as a little sister?

Correlation Chart: