Chapter 1: The Girl Who Smiled at Me First
Manami's POV
-19 August 2024-
"Everyone please calm down and go back to your seat!" the teacher barked over the rising chatter of the classroom.
I didn't look up from my English textbook. Third year, second semester. Almost time to graduate. It was unusual enough to see the teacher lose her voice over something—not like this class ever had much energy—but the next words made my eyes flick upward.
"We have a new student joining us today."
My brows furrowed.
Now? A transfer student now? This late in the year?
It was strange. We were just a forgotten all-girls high school in the countryside of Shizuoka. Not a fancy prep school. Not a prestigious name where people would fight for a spot. It was just… here. A place people stayed because they were born here. A place people escaped if they had the chance.
So why would anyone come here?
Footsteps echoed through the hallway and grew louder. Then—
BANG.
The door flung open so hard it smacked against the wall. Almost everyone in the class gasped.
I flinched. My fingers curled tighter around the page I was holding.
There she was.
Black bob hair a little messy, breath a little fast, grinning like she'd just tripped into the happiest accident of her life.
"S-sorry! I almost got lost!" she laughed, scratching her head. "I didn't think it would take this long to walk from the station… Country roads are way longer than I thought, hehe…"
She laughed again, but the class stayed silent. No one said a word. We all just… stared.
I sighed quietly and turned my eyes back to the page. There was nothing special here. Just another girl. Just noise in a place I tried to keep quiet.
The teacher, bless her always-trying soul, smiled anyway. "Don't worry, Yuki. Go ahead and introduce yourself."
"Aaah, right!" she clapped her hands lightly, then bowed. "Hi everyone! My name's Yuki! I'm from Tokyo, and this is my first time living in Shizuoka. Nice to meet you all!"
Tokyo?
I glanced up again.
Who in their right mind leaves Tokyo to come here? Especially in your final year?
No one clapped. Not even polite applause.
Of course we didn't.
That wasn't how our class worked. We weren't mean—just indifferent. We were taught to be. Everyone kept their own circle, their own silence. That's how you survived.
"Thank you, Yuki. You may sit now."
I was back to my book again when I heard the screech of a chair beside me. My body tensed instinctively.
She was sitting next to me.
Out of the entire room, she sat next to me?
I turned slightly and caught her grin again. "Hey… Nice to meet you."
I blinked at her, nodded curtly, and looked away.
---
Class resumed. I lost myself in equations and conjugations. Even when everyone around me chatted or passed notes or played with their phones under their desks, I stayed where I always stayed—inside the words on the page.
Until…
"Psst… psst…"
I closed my eyes for a moment.
Another whisper.
I finally turned, giving her a sharp, questioning look.
"Sorry," she whispered, "but… is this normal?"
I blinked at her. What?
She gestured vaguely around the class.
Ah. The atmosphere.
I nodded once, then turned back. But I caught her smiling again from the corner of my eye.
And something about it—it was like sunlight hitting a window at the perfect angle. Warm and unexpected.
I ducked my head lower. Why did my cheeks feel warm?
---
Break time came. I unwrapped my lunch carefully—white rice, pickled plum, a boiled egg, one slice of fish, and a piece of bread. Simple, made by my own hands. I preferred it that way.
I was halfway through chewing when a familiar, harsh thump echoed nearby.
Mika and her minions.
Of course.
I sighed and buried my nose in my book again. Maybe if I didn't look up, they'd ignore me.
"Hey!" Mika's shrill voice rang across the room.
I heard Yuki respond cheerfully. "Oh! Hi guys!"
Please don't provoke her, I thought. Please just smile and stay quiet.
"You can't greet us just like that," Mika said, full of arrogance. "We're the queens here. Not equal to you. Not everybody here is."
Yuki didn't hesitate. "Queen? Cool. You're really pretty, so I get why."
Was that sarcasm? Or genuine? I couldn't tell. But Mika's expression dropped.
She didn't like not being taken seriously. She never did.
Then came the theatrics. The paper. The dumb declaration from her minions about ruling the school. It was stupid. Always had been.
But she… Yuki clapped.
"Okay, so you guys were MMM, that's a cool name," she said. She smiled the whole time.
How could someone just smile through that?
Then Mika leaned in.
"Bow to us."
Oh no.
"Come on, Manami. Be a good girl and show the newbie how we do things around here."
I heard it before I saw it.
"Manami!"
My whole body tensed.
Not again.
"Hey!" Mei slapped my desk. "Don't pretend you didn't hear us!"
My eyes darted to my tray.
"Or I'll kick your lunch."
I wanted to scream. To tell them to leave me alone. But I didn't have the courage.
I never did.
I stood up, slowly, almost mechanically. My knees started to bend.
And that's when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
Then someone stepped in front of me.
"Like this?" Yuki asked, bowing casually in front of Mika.
Silence.
"Or this?" she bowed again, deeper this time.
"Or maybe this?" she added with a 90-degree bend, looking like a cartoon character.
Mika's jaw twitched. Her minions didn't know what to say.
And then, with a snarl, Mika snapped, "Screw you. I'll deal with you later!"
They stomped off like angry cats.
I was still frozen.
Yuki stood, brushed off her skirt, and walked past me with a smile like nothing happened.
I stared at her.
She didn't even look shaken.
---
Lunch went on.
I tried to focus on eating again, but I kept sneaking glances to my right.
She hadn't taken out any food.
At first I thought it was because of the commotion, but no—she just had nothing.
I hated that my curiosity got the better of me.
"You're… not eating?"
She smiled. Again.
That bright, blinding smile.
"I didn't bring anything. I thought there'd be a school cafeteria like in Tokyo… Guess not, huh?"
Right. The nearest convenience store was nearly four kilometers away from here.
She must be really hungry.
Still, how could she smile like that?
I shook my head and went back to my food.
I had a piece of bread left. Something soft. Just a sweet bun.
I sighed.
Without thinking too hard about it, I slid it toward her desk.
"You can eat this if you want."
Her eyes lit up like I'd handed her a luxury gift.
"Seriously?! Thank you!! Oh my god, you're a kind person, huh, Manami!"
I blinked.
Kind?
Me?
No one had called me that before.
"Uh… Just don't forget your lunch tomorrow," I said stiffly, trying not to look flustered.
"Got it, Miss Manami," she chirped with a salute.
That smile again.
Like she knew something I didn't.
I returned to my book, but my eyes weren't reading the words.
---
That time. That moment.
Something had changed.
A ripple in my carefully controlled world.
A glitch in the script I'd memorized since I was little:
Study. Succeed. Leave.
No friends. No distractions. No heart.
But this girl…
This messy, loud, ridiculous girl from Tokyo…
She smiled at me.
She called me kind.
And maybe that was the moment—without even realizing it—that I started to fall in love.
Not with her voice, or her face, or the way she stood up for me.
But with the way she stayed soft, even when the world had every reason to make her hard.
That's how it began.
The story you're reading now.
The one that bloomed between you and me.