#01 - Snow

Ishimoto Sayuri

“Come on, we’ll be late!”
Winter break hadn’t been over for that long but I’d kind of expected to have already gotten out of my irregular rhythm by now. Or maybe I was just trying to be too positive, and it had actually always been my regular one while the getting-up-on-time-for-school had only been forced upon me. Whenever the alarm clock on my phone went off these days, the only thing I could do was hit snooze and turn around again. If it hadn’t been for Yuu showing up that morning, I’d most likely have been late. 
“Ah…” I looked up. A little confused as to why I was suddenly sitting on the ground with a few of my books spread across the tiles in front of me. I ran into someone…
“Are you alright?”
I nodded, seeing Yuu’s hand hover in front of me to help me get up from the ground. The whole right side of my jeans was wet from the snow I’d just fallen into but at least I’d been lucky enough for not having had my books ruined by it. Ah… It ached a little as I stood back up on my two feet, making it clear my leg would get some bruises later on. Especially my right knee.
“Why don’t you look where you’re going?”
A voice I knew all too well showed up out of nowhere, adding itself where it was least expected. Or maybe even needed. The girl with the long straight brown hair was holding the strap of her pink bag tight as she stepped up right next to me. Considering how she’d never ever missed a class before I wasn’t entirely sure why she wasn’t even inside the classroom yet, instead standing here right beside us raising her voice to someone I didn’t know had even been there. But as I turned my head to the other side I noticed him sitting on the ground not too far from where I’d fallen down, seemingly a little shaken up because of our small collision. His dark clothes stood in contrast with the spotless snow, and with his hood pulled over his hair and his scarf wrapped around his neck it was even harder to catch a view of his face. I don’t think I’d ever really seen him before.
“I’m sorry”, he said with a voice that startled me for its unexpected low tone. 
I immediately wanted to step up and help him pick up his books but Yuu had been ahead of me, already holding a pile of them in his hands before I’d even been able to move. Having handed them to the guy right after he crawled up, he passed me my own.
“It’s clearly not our day”, he added, patting my shoulder a bit.
The one in black turned to us as Yuu intended to step forward and walk inside. He seemed hesitant. Hiding behind his scarf even as his hood dropped from his head and his raven hair showed. But he didn’t move or follow. Not until I heard a muffled thanks from where he was standing, and he headed into the opposite direction.

“I’m ready for winter to be over.”
Yuu smiled, looking at me from the other side of the table. I didn’t need to ask him anything to learn he’d probably been in a rush himself this morning. While his eyes seemed a little less sleepy than they’d done just a few hours ago, the cap on his head was still trying to hide his bed-hair. Any other day the guy was gifted with hair as straight and flat as possible, but it had its rare moments where it would be stubborn and wavy. Much to Yuu’s disliking. But it’s cute…
“If it wouldn’t be snowing like crazy, it wouldn’t be as much of a hassle.”
“I thought you liked snow?” I wondered, remembering some of our high school days where he’d never get inside the clubroom without layers and layers of snow leaving a trail behind him.
“I don’t like it, I don’t dislike it.”
“As long as it doesn’t inconvenience you, isn’t it?”
He smiled again, flipping another page from the manga he was reading. I couldn’t help but tilt my head a little trying to figure out which one had caught his attention this time, but the paper cover kept me from doing such.
“Why are you wasting time on that again? Haven’t you learned anything?” For the second time in a day she’d shown up out of nowhere, her condescending tone perfectly in check as I’d gotten used to through her many moody moments. Despite her usual strict attitude, Tachibana Yuka wasn’t really made for early mornings. Well, I guess at the end of it none of us really were. 
“I happen to like manga, what’s the problem with that?”
“Mom and dad were so happy when you never really latched onto buying them during middle school, and here you are, wasting valuable money and time on children’s books the year you’re turning 20”, she replied, lowering herself on the spare seat right next to him. 
You probably wouldn’t say when you’d look at them for the first time, but Yuu and Yuka were siblings. Twins even. They were like water and fire. One’s fascination with the rock scene standing right against the other’s slight addiction to color-coded pop groups. Due to circumstances they hadn’t been living in the same house for the past few years, but for some reason they’d ended up at the same university once they’d graduated their respective high schools. Different department though. Luckily. I still wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about it, however, after a year of these mostly awkward situations I’d somehow gotten used to them being a thing. 
“I’m surprised they’re letting you get your idol boys and girls if you’re saying a manga costing less than a sixth or seventh of one of your albums is already a waste.”
“The perks of being a good daughter”, she stated clearly, looking him in the eyes while she did so. But as her attention span never really lasted for more than a few minutes, I was expecting her to start talking about something completely different any moment now. Her brother and whatever he did on a daily basis could only interest her for this long after all. And so she did, suddenly addressing me as the girl pulled some of her idol magazines from her pink tote bag. 
“Sayuri-chan, did you know this Korean company is debuting a Japanese unit group next month?”
“Oh, are they?” I asked, after which the sound of a swift paper flip instantly made me regret my fake curiosity, and I didn’t want to do anything but hide my face in my hands. While Yuka nodded excitedly as a reply, pushing the magazine towards me once she’d found the page with their pictures again, Yuu had turned completely silent right next to her. His stare had sunk into the manga, but the pages he was looking at were still the same from before. Maybe I should…
“There’s this totally cute kid among the members. I think you’d like him.”
“I’d like him?”
“He’s fairly tall and sweet. Basically looks like a Korean idol version of Hiroki-kun.”
Laying eyes on the magazine now in front of me I just saw the pretty boys all lined up, making it impossible for a person like me to even figure out who they all were. Most of them looking exactly the same didn’t really help at all, and whether or not that was natural or they’d gotten help, I wouldn’t be able to tell you either. Boy groups? Actors? How does she even do it?
“I want to go and see them during their debut stage”, she suddenly added. Oh no. “Sayuri-chan! We should go together. It’ll be fun!”
She grabbed my hands from in front of me, making me lean my elbows on the table not to lose my balance. It was the same moment Yuu pushed his chair back, swung his bag over his shoulder, and disappeared into the direction of hallway without even saying as much as bye. I can’t say I could blame him for that. You’d think this situation was a one-off incident but in the life of Tachibana Yuka such a thing clearly didn’t exist. 
“Please, Sayuri-chan. It’ll be so much more fun when there’s two of us together!”
“I’m sure there’s people more fitting to join you, Yuka. I wouldn’t even know their names to their faces. Let alone remember any of them.”
“We can solve that!”
Her sudden bright smile just made me want to kick myself once more for even giving her the opportunity to do anything at all. Sure, there’d been a few pop songs here and there I’d caught myself humming to and I’d grown up listening to the likes of Utada and Ayumi myself, but when they’d started with the color-coded pop groups I’d felt completely detached. It hadn’t ever been my thing and I doubted it would ever be. No, I was on Yuu’s side of the music spectrum. 
“Don’t you think Sayu doesn’t have the time to join you, Yuka? She’s got work, remember?”
Satoshi’s appearance saved me from that pit of boy group hell Yuka was set on dragging me through, yet never really seemed to succeed in. 
“It’s on a Wednesday though”, she added, turning to the guy who’d lowered himself onto the seat Yuu had been sitting until some minutes ago. “Why are you so late, anyway?”
“I had some stuff to deal with. That’s all.”
“You could have at least messaged me.”
“I’m sure you didn’t even miss me a minute, considering how excited you were when talking to Sayu before.”
“Well, I had to do something when you weren’t here”, she said hesitantly, immediately grabbing another magazine from her pile to divert her attention to. Satoshi let a soft smile appear on his lips once she turned away, but it disappeared almost as quickly again when he grabbed a hold of the manga volume Yuu had left on the table.
“Sato?”
“How’s your leg?”
“Oh, a little sore… I’m sure I got bruises.”
“You’re lucky you didn’t get hurt any more with the weather being like this.”
“For some strange reason I’m fairly stable on my feet.”
“Good to know.”
He smiled, instantly making me smile back at him. It had been about four years since I’d first met him. I’d been a transfer student coming in from a small town a few hours away. I was quiet, and more often than not kept to myself, so before I’d even noticed cliques had already formed and the regret of ever having transferred out had hit me. Socializing wasn’t my best skill, and being good at making friends wasn’t really one either. I’d gone through my whole childhood only having a few of them, and the more days had passed, the more I’d just wanted to go back to what was left of that. But then I’d walked in on the boy with bedhead hair and braces, mistaking me for one of the friends he’d been waiting for. Rather than getting confused at my sudden appearance he just turned around to face me completely. “Do you have a minute?” he’d wondered. “I need your opinion on something.” And that’s the story of how I got stuck in the music club with him and Yuu, and the start of bonds that would continue to weave themselves through the years.