I’ve seen it thousands of times. It’s spring, the beginning of a new school year, and the protagonist starts out high school expecting it to be the “spring of their youth” or something. Unfortunately, they have some sort of fateful encounter on the first day and then everything spirals downward from there. Nevertheless, their high school life is filled with excitement and (awkward) romances, so it’s not actually as bad as it seems. I know it seems cliched, but that’s pretty much what happened to me.

It was about three years ago, when I was a freshman entering Nogizaka Girls’ High. I was pretty excited, because high school = older age and older age = more fun and freedom right? Wrong. Well, not totally inaccurate, but “fun and freedom” came to me in a way that I wasn’t expecting. Anyway, I approached the horde of girls surrounded the lists of class assignments, only to get shoved out. Talk about scary.

“Are you okay?” A tall, raven-haired girl approached me from the left, sporting a concerned look.

“Y-yeah,” I stuttered. “I just lost my balance a bit.” Relief washed over her face and a brilliant smile replaced it. I felt my heart skip a beat the sight of someone so cool.

“That’s good,” she replied warmly. “You must be a freshman. I’m Wakatsuki Yumi, a third year.” She pulled me off the ground and waved. “Well, I’ll get going, but if you need help, feel free to ask, okay?”

Blood rushed to my cheeks, turning me into a tomato. By now, most of the crowd had dissipated, making it easy to find my classroom. I quickly gathered my stuff and headed to room 1-D.

Upon entering the classroom, I noticed my childhood friend Ikoma Rina waving her hands excitedly at a group of other girls. The group was familiar to me—most of the girls there had graduated from the same middle school as me. I casually approached the circle of desks and greeted them.

“Hi guys. Mind if I join?”

“Ah! Naa-chan, I see we’re in the same class!” Ikoma-chan frantically gestured at a seat beside her, followed by a chorus of heys and hellos from the others. Before long, I had integrated myself into the friend group and was happily chatting away until the bell.

Our homeroom teacher was unremarkable, an average woman in her mid-thirties, but she was nice enough. By some miracle, I ended up sitting behind Ikoma-chan. I rested my chin against my hand and gazed outside at the courtyard, now devoid of any students. Well, was devoid. A girl with long, brown hair dashed through the courtyard towards the main building. I furrowed my brow. Late on the first day? That’ll be awkward.

“Nishino Nanase?” The teacher’s voice jolted me out of my musings.

“Y-yes?” I squeaked out. I might have been relatively smooth when greeting Ikoma-chan and co., but that was only because I already knew them. When introduced to brand new people, I became the shyest person in the world.

“Your self-introduction please.”

“Ah, sorry, I forgot!” Someone in the front row giggled at my response. “Um, my name is Nishino Nanase, and uh, I like drawing. I hope we can get along!” The class echoed out a response and the teacher continued on.

Something poked me on the shoulder, and I turned to see a snickering Ikoma Rina. “Real smooth, Naa-chan,” she voiced. I rolled my eyes and flicked her forehead.

The introductions flew by my head; the only thing I caught were people’s names. Matsumura Sayuri, Akimoto Manatsu, Ikuta Erika, etc. I was just starting to doze off when I heard the slapping of footsteps in the hall. Everyone turned to stare when a pretty girl with light brown hair stormed into the room, very much out of breath. Ah! It’s the late girl from before! Upon closer inspection, she was incredibly pretty, with fair skin and fine features. She probably could have been a teen model. 

“Sorry,” she huffed, still trying to breathe normally. “I’m. late. I ran. into a bit. of traffic.” The teacher evidently surprised, managed to ask her to introduced herself. 

She smoothed her uniform and flashed a dazzlingly bright smile. “Hi, I’m Shiraishi Mai,” she announced. “I enjoy singing and playing softball. I hope we can get along!”

“Thank you, Shiraishi-san. Why don’t you take the empty seat next to Nishino-san?” The teacher directed her towards me.

She made her way down the aisle, only stopping to smile at me before sitting down.

“Hi Nishino-san, I hope we can be good friends,” she whispered.

I could only manage to nod my head back in return.