In the morning I woke up very early, and made breakfast for my parents ans Mei. My mom was surprised, as I usually don’t wake up before seven. The truth was; I wanted to start out the day well before confronting that guy again. But would he show up to class this time? I wonder… Never mind. I would just have to show that I’m strong, and that I have no reason to fear him.
As I walked to school I noticed how the cherry blossoms would soon be opening. My favorite time of year. When everything just seemed perfect… I got woken from my trance when Mei tugged at my skirt.
“Big sister Mizuki, goodbye!” she grinned, “Thank you for taking care of me!”
“Oh… That was nothing! You can come over any time!” I told her. She ran off to join her friends on the playground. I smiled to myslef, she is a cute little girl.
When I arrived at school I saw no sign of the guy. Perhaps he had decided not to come today. Or he’s just not coming to class and will strike again later…
When I went into the classroom there was no one. Of course not. What did I expect? I’d come so early today! I hadn’t even realized it! I sat down to read ahaead in the book I had to read for Japanese literature. Then everything went black. Someone had covered my eyes with their hands. I knew Kamiko didn’t do this, but Tsubaki often did.
“Tsubaki!” I said without hesistating. The hands disappeared.
“Wrong.” said the voice of a man. Surprised I looked back. And there he was the guy that had bullied Mei.
“Wha-” he didn’t give me time to finish.
“Was it that you couldn’t wait to see me? You came to class so early.” he said, as if we had been friends for a long time. Maybe he was just pretending when we were in front of other people; I looked around. No one. I turned back to him he was sitting on the desk next to me with feet on the chair. Could he be the new student that hadn’t shown up yesterday?
“What do you want?” I asked keeping my tone as neutral as possible.
“I just wanted to say sorry to you about yesterday. It wasn’t very nice of me to talk to you that way.” I looked at him, surprised, “Afterall, it’s not your fault. You don’t know what happened. You were only protecting your sister like you should.” he said looking out the window.
“I’m Ryo, by the way. I’m half Japanese-half American. In America they called me Paul. And your are…?”
“Mizuki.” I replied. So he was the new student after all.
“Would you mind showing me around today?” Ryo asked, “Otherwise I might get lost.” What was he up to? His attitude was so different from yesterday. Did he really mean it? But he had said to watch out for unpleasant surprises. I didn’t know whether to trust him or not.
And as if he could read my thoughts he said; “What I said to you yesterday, about unpleasant surprises, I don’t mean it.” he looked at me, “I mean, I only said it out of anger. So please forgive me.” I looked at him closely. He seemed to mean it. I decided I would give him a chance but still be on guard. Maybe he wasn’t a bad guy after all.
The door opened. I realized I was still looking at him and he was looking at me. I turned away and pretended to be reading.
“Good Morning!” it was Kamiko with Kazuki just behind her.
“Good Morning!” I replied.
“Oh! You must be the new student in our class!” exclaimed Kazuki, “Nice to meet you!”
Ryo only smiled and glanced my way. I turned back to my book. I couldn’t believe it! Why was I being so shy?! Wasn’t I determined to show I was strong?

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