All Short One 1

The school felt busier than usual in spite of missing someone. Students were talking between each other as they walked into the school stopping at the shoe locker taking a pause. Girls were running their hands through their hair or tidying the mess up from the windy morning. The boys were talking about the latest show or magazine. Some were busily pushing through trying to make morning meetings with the student council. However, when Yuki stepped into the school it did not feel crowded to him and a nagging feeling at his side made him think Saki was next to him the entire time.

Yuki left the shoe lockers once he was finished and went straight to class. He managed to ignore the bullies in the hall that were looking at him strangely. The classroom was still filling with students in his homeroom, but the more important matter for him was answered. 'She's not here either.' He looked around a second time to be certain and still found nothing.

Hiroshi had been standing around at the window watching the students coming in when he noticed Yuki with a pensive expression. He walked over to his desk from the window. "Hey, Yuki! You look like you got something on your mind."

"Hmm…huh?" Yuki tilted up from his chair seeing Hiroshi was standing next to him. "Hey, Hiroshi!"

Hiroshi was not going to let it end simply at the greeting like the distant Yuki seemed to be thinking. "What's wrong?"

Yuki pulled out his books from his school bag and flipped through some papers. "I didn't see Saki this morning."

"Yeah, neither have I," said Hiroshi looking around the classroom for a second look to make sure that she had not suddenly appeared on them. "There's still a few minutes before class begins."

"I know, but it's not like Saki to be late and she didn't say anything about practice this morning. I wonder if those bullies from the other day stopped her."

"Saki's a big girl, Yuki. She can handle herself, a lot better than you can."

A heavy iron plate fell on Yuki's shoulders and head from the insult as he tried to shake it off. It was no mystery that Saki was strong and that Yuki was helpless when it came to a fight. "Thanks…Hiroshi."

"Hey, sorry man. It's not your fault that you're bad at sports and fails in P.E." Another iron plate fell on Yuki quickly followed up by a third nearly pressing him to the floor. The tired exasperated looked from Yuki was enough to stop Hiroshi joking, though he was already satisfied with how far he went. "I'm just saying. You've got nothing to worry about. If she ran into trouble she can take carry of them. Besides, she's probably just sick and staying home."

Yuki let the weight go from him and straightened up to look back at Hiroshi. 'He's probably right. Don't know why I'm so worried about it.' He put a smile back on his face to reassure Hiroshi that he was feeling better. "Thanks, Hiroshi. I guess I'm so used to having Saki nearby that it's weird when she's not."

The front door of their classroom slid open allowing Ms. Kuniyoshi to enter walking to the front of the class. The class representative called on the class to come to order and rise for the teacher. Hiroshi gave an understanding nod to him before rushing off to his seat hoping not to have the attention. "All be seated," the class rep said. Ms. Kuniyoshi began taking role of the class with peace restored.

Yuki dragged his eyes forward to see that Saki's seat was still empty. 'Where are you Saki?' Class for everyone went on without Saki, it was only Yuki that seemed to think to the contrary. However, he tried to push it to the back of his mind and focus on his class. He had expected to see her just simply appear sometime during homeroom late and get yelled at by Ms. Kuniyoshi again, but that did not happen. Saki never appeared the entire day at school.

After school ended Yuki left with Hiroshi, who insisted on going with him, to visit Saki's home to learn what had happened to her. Ms. Kuniyoshi had no answers for them other than she was reported as sick for the day. Yuki wanted to know what had happened and needed to put aside the weird feeling that he had in his stomach. It was an unexplainable nagging that never went away during class for him no matter how much reassurance that he had. The feeling was pounding even stronger inside him now that he was getting closer to the apartment building.

He remembered playing with Saki in her home when they were younger and his parents were still alive. Back then his parents and Saki's parents were close friends and so he was introduced to Saki because of them. She was much different from a person back then having longer hair than now and kinder attitude. She would get into trouble, but would not be able to protect herself. Time had a greater effect on their lives than he realized.

It had been more than a year since the last time he visited Saki and her parents were not very understanding of him being there. He had still been in middle school then and Saki was his only friend at the time that had not abandoned him. 'Saki…something's off about this and I don't know why.'

The five-story apartment building stood before Hiroshi and Yuki as they gave a moment for a pause before going to the front door. When they came to the main hall and the stairs in front of them Hiroshi turned to Yuki. "Where is their apartment?"

"It's in the fourth-floor room 403." Yuki started up the stairs alone with Hiroshi looking at his back in a little disbelief. They had walked from school to Saki's apartment building (which really isn't a long distance from the school) and now it was three sets of stairs to reach their floor. Hiroshi let out a fatigued sigh and went up the stairs catching up to Yuki before he made it to the second floor.