The inside of the karaoke lounge was... vibrant, to say the least. Too vibrant for Shinji on a normal day, let alone drunk Shinji.
The strobing LED lights in every corner of the room, and more light beaming off the karaoke machine flashed into his eyes. Pungent smells of teenage sweat, opened beer cans, and Arata's cigarette smoke flooded into Shinji's nose. Horrific sounds of Takamichi pouring his heart out, Sendou laying down horrific backup vocals, and the instrumental of the song barged into his ears.
Everything culminated in Shinji's first ever time being drunk not exactly being a pleasant experience.
Shinji's head was pounding as he stumbled around the small room he and the other five (basically strangers) had rented. He lost his footing in his drunken haze, barely catching himself before hitting tile. Shinji was jostled as the towering figure he almost recognized grabbed his shoulders.
"Hey dude! Are you ok?" the figure said, worried by Shinji's near accident.
Shinji squinted his eyes at the boy, trying to make out who he was looking at.
"You're the, uhm, the, uhm..." Shinji said, dazing off again.
"I'm Arata, remember?" the boy said. Shinji didn't remember, and it was written on his face as he slumped his neck and just stared at him. Arata pinched his nose, looking over his shoulder at Sendou, who was really getting into a high note.
"Dude! Sendou, how much did you give him to drink?" Arata yelled at Sendou.
Sendou took a rare break from singing as he actually thought for once,
"I don't know, man probably fi- five or six drinks?" Arata's face turned to shock.
"Five? He's clearly a lightweight."
Shinji began giggling, pointing at the corner of the room, "Hehe—Erada and Tsumaki are asleep."
Arata looked over his shoulder at the two girls in the corner and then back at Shinji with a disappointed and hurt look.
"Alright, dude, a little hurt you remember their names but not mine, and second of all... they do that a lot when drunk."
Arata promptly dragged Shinji over to Takamichi and Sendou's "singing" station as he said to them.
"We need to pack this up, Sendou; it's late, and we know what happened last time Eradas's parents caught her."
Sendou looked over the mess they had made: Arata's half eaten and ripped open protein candy, the multiple beer cans spewing out liquid across the floor, and... Shinji lying on the floor?
"Damn, we really do need to get out of here," he thought to himself.
Thirteen and a half hours earlier
Shinji raised his arms as he slid his sweater down over his button-up white shirt. It was beginning to get cold as the seasons entered early fall and Shinji was beginning his second semester of his third year after his mother received a job offer close to Aozora High School.
Before Shinji exited the house into the early, barely illuminated autumn morning, he sat down at his desk, pulling out his journal and beginning to write in it a message to the new therapist his mother got him.
"I'm Shinji Nakano, a third-year Japanese student who just wants to get good enough grades to get into a good university. Honestly, I think my mother's too worried about me. I know she cares about me. That's why when I show little emotion, she worries. I can tell. But I don't want her too; she's always worrying. She worried that starting at a new school would affect me, she worried about me an incredible amount after Dad's death, and I know she worries day in and day out about my emotional state. I appreciate it, I really do, but... I just don't see why the world's always worrying about me one way or another. I'm Shinji Nakano. I'm a third-year Japanese student who just wants to get good enough grades to get into a good university. That's enough for me... and I wish the world saw that." He packed up his pencils, notebook, and bookbag and headed out the door. Muttering to himself something about "I hope that's good enough for the therapist Mother got me. I don't see why she made me write a short blurb about my thoughts, but I should've expected something like that from Mom."
Shinji's feet met grainy, coarse and rocky concrete as he stepped into the chilly daybreak. Taking in the cool air as he did so, letting it wash over his face as he breathed in the breeze. Autumn was always his favorite season. It was all Shinji ever wanted to be: calm, oriented, and flowy. Sometimes, in moments where everything seemed to be at a standstill, like on his quiet walks to school, while doing homework, or even reading, Shinji envisioned himself as the autumn breeze.
On his way to school, in his typical observant nature Shinji took in the atmosphere he was in. He noticed the moisture on the pavement from the morning mist, illuminated by the amber light barely hovering over the horizon. Every stepped he tried to make as quiet as possible, as to not to disturb the peace. It's not that he hated this new town, he just didn't feel welcome—yet. A light wind gently blew down red tipped leaves onto Shinji's path. The same breeze carried scents of a nearby bakery and their sweet treats to his nose. Right before reaching Aozora High he stepped into a small, locally owned convenience store. If nothing but to calm his nerves, and to stop his hands from shaking while carrying his school bag.
After leaving the store, he realized how close he was to Aozora high. He began tugging on the cuffs of his sleeves, biting his lip, and anything else he could do to distract himself. He stared into the sky, it appeared as gray as it could before turning black, small drops poured down on top of Shinji.
"Well that makes me feel a lot better." he mumbled to himself out loud. Before even realizing it he stood in front of the welcoming gates to Aozora High. He could feel the waves of anxiety bubbling into his stomach.
Shinji never was the anxious type, but something about being in a new place. A place he didn't know anything about, it was the only thing that could get him anxious. He could feel it moving up, into his chest as it pounded. He was tempted not to take another step.
"You know Shinji, nothing ever gets done unless you start it." He could still hear the gruff, mature voice of his father now. The biggest advice he left with Shinji was just to "do and do as much as you can." Shinji could still remember the nights spent stargazing where his father would say things like "You know Shinji, it's experiences like these I want you to go through. That's my wish I make on a shooting star, that you never rob yourself of a opportunity."
The inspiring memory of his fathers advice, that usually fell onto Shinji's deaf ears gave Shinji just enough inspiration to take the first step into the school. He walked down the hall of the school, the stale air setting the calm mood of the institute, the quiet peace set into Shinji's mind calming him down, and the smell drifting of the school store drifted into his nose. Shinji's observations calmed him down, killing the anxiety brewing in his stomach.
He stood in front of the door to his home room class, the newly found calmness eased him enough to open up the door. He swung it open, welcoming the breeze as he took it in.
CRASH!!!!!
Three pencils and two erasers flew past Shinji's head as if with lethal volition. They weren't aimed at him, but a boy right in front of him, he would later realize was named Sendou—a boy who would later become his best friend.
Sendou turned around, making quick eye contact. A mischievous grin grew across his face, a bright toothy grin. Shinji couldn't tell what idea was brewing in this strangers mind, but he knew it wasn't one he'd like. Sendou inched closer to Shinji as he backed up.
"H-hey man, I don't want any trou- HEY!!" Shinji's body was quickly pivoted in front of Sendou.
"Alright now Takamichi, you know I didn't call you stupid." Sendou said poking around Shinji's shoulder, and screaming to the short and smaller framed boy across the classroom.
"How stupid do you think I am? I know what 'airhead' means Sendou!" Takamichi said while hoisting up a chair, that was the size of him. The chair flew across the classroom, Shinji's and Sendou's faces quickly shifted into genuine concern.
"Shit, you're not gonna protect me from that." Sendou said, tossing Shinji to the side as Sendou dove onto the floor. Shinji, a rush of adrenaline flowing through his veins as he stood up and dusted off his Aozora High sweater.
End of chapter.