“The World as We Know it”

It was a sunny day in Yoyogi, Tokyo. It's already the middle of April huh? A boy thought as he walked down the streets towards the train station. Not that it makes a difference anyway, school is always shit, no matter what time a year it is. The boy thought again in his head, grumbling to himself as he did so.

The boy's name is Noriyama Shun, he's a fairly tall boy for his age, has dark shaggy hair and sharp eyes with black pupils that makes him look like he hasn't slept for weeks, he was also sporting a disheveled high school uniform that was dark brown in color.

As Shun was walking along the streets to head to the nearest train station, a girl's voice called out to him. "Hey, Shun!"

Shun snapped out of his grumpiness when someone called out his name, when he turned his head to look behind him his eyebrows scrunched up, his mood soured even further. Great, just my luck. Shun thought to himself once again.

The person who called out to him was his childhood friend, Nakano Himari, she was a fairly short girl with long light brown hair and hazel eyes. She had a big smile on her face as she waved her hands towards him.

When Shun saw his annoying childhood friend getting closer, he sped up to escape from her. People could mistake him for running with the speed he was going at right now.

"HEY! don't run away from me!" Himari shouted as she tried to catch up to him.

When Himari caught up to Shun at the train station, she was already out of breath. Pant "How…" Pant "can you walk…" Pant "so fast…?" she said wheezing.

Shun stared at her then turned away to whisper underneath his breath "Tch, she caught up to me." He mumbled with a disappointed look.

"I," Pant "heard," Pant "that." she said in between labored breaths.

"What are you doing here? You're gonna be late." Shun said with a sigh as he turned his head to talk with Himari.

"The same goes for you." Himari countered as she recovered from her exhaustion "You can't just keep coming late to school, your rep is already bad as is." she said with a stern look on her face as she placed her hands on her hips.

Shun rolled his eyes at his childhood friend. "Ugh, you're still going on about that?"

"Well yeah, I'm your best friend you know?" Himari said with a concerned look.

"You're one of the few people who's stupid enough to be my friend." Shun said with an indifferent look. "I don't want your reputation at school to plummet cause of me."

Himari looked at Shun gently. "Meh, who cares about what they think? I can be friends with whoever I want!" she said as she grinned up at him with closed eyes.

"I appreciate it." Shun mumbled under his breath.

Himari was the only person in his school who was willing to be friends with him, ever since an incident that happened during his first year of high school, he pushed everyone away from him, but Himari still chose to be friends with him, even after everything that happened.

Remembering his first year in high school made his mood dropped even further, indicated by the glare in his eyes.

Even with this, Himari smiled up at him and said "Don't mention it best friend!" Himari said with a giggle. "Look, the train's here!"

Shun had always been baffled at how his friend can be so positive, even in the darkest of times. He was always jealous of his friend, he would often times contemplate how his life would have turned out if he was as strong as her.

As the train came to a stop, both of them went in to go to their destination, Jindai Senior High School.

___

Jindai Senior High School is located in Minato, Tokyo. It only takes ten minutes to get to Minato from Yoyogi, and the walk from the Azabu-Juban station to Jindai high only takes five minutes at most.

By the time Shun and Himari arrived in front of the school gates, they were already twenty-five minutes late.

When they went through the gates to get to the main entrance, a female teacher was already waiting for them.

"We're screwed." Himari said with a defeated sigh.

"Oh, you're screwed alright." The teacher said with a slight edge to her tone. "To the faculty office, Now."

---

"How many times do I have to tell you Noriyama?" The teacher said with an exhausted sigh. "you're not making this any easier for the both of us."

Shun looked at his homeroom teacher with indifference. "You're not obligated to babysit me, Suzuki-sensei."

The teacher called Suzuki, is a young woman who looked like she was in her late twenties, with amber eyes, and dark brown hair tied up in a ponytail. She was fairly popular with the students at school because of her caring yet stern personality, the students see her as the dependable big sister.

"Don't you talk back to me mister!" Suzuki said with her arms folded across her chest. "I'm your homeroom teacher! of course I feel responsible for your actions!"

As the two argued, Himari observed her childhood friend and his homeroom teacher with concern, Shun looked like he's had enough of his teacher's ramblings.

"Do you even understand the position you're in!? if you don't get your act together you're going to be expelled soon!" Suzuki shouted, growing more frustrated by the second, it was a good thing the faculty office didn't have many people around during this time of the day.

"I'm fully aware of my position more than anyone else." Shun said as he glared at his teacher.

"Then act like it." Suzuki countered with a glare to match his.

Sensing the growing tension between them, Himari shouted. "We're sorry Suzuki-sensei! we promise we won't do it again!" Himari said as she bowed her head.

Suzuki looked at Himari, then she scratched her head with her eyes closed, she almost looked guilty if one were to see her face. "Fine, but this is the last time, you hear me Noriyama?" Suzuki said as she sighed. "you too, Nakano-san, you're a good girl, and your grades aren't all that bad either, so don't do this type of thing again okay?"

Himari nodded while looking at the ground, feeling embarrassed.

Shun picked up his bag angrily then promptly walked out the door in silence.

"Sorry for wasting your time, sensei." Himari said as she bowed. When she turned around and tried to walk out of the faculty office, Suzuki grabbed her shoulders from behind, making Himari look back at her teacher with a surprised look.

Suzuki had a gentle smile on her face. "Take care of him for me would you?" She said to Himari.

Himari's surprised look turned into a big smile. "You can count on me sensei!" Himari said with a big grin. "Well, I'll see you later!" Himari then practically hopped out of the faculty office while waving back at her teacher.

Suzuki looked her on as she turned the corner. Disappearing from sight.

Suzuki went back into the faculty office and sank back down to her chair, resting her head on her crossed arms.

I wonder how he would've turned out if that never happened. Suzuki thought with her eyes closed.

---

As Shun was walking along the corridor headed to his class, Himari caught up and walked beside him.

"What're you doing here? you went past your class." Shun said to his friend.

Himari giggled with her eyes closed then said "I'm accompanying you to your class, is that a problem?"

"No,no… no problem at all" Shun said, not looking at her. "Thanks." Shun said underneath his breath.

"Don't mention it!" Himari said with a bright smile.

As the two walked in silence, they arrived in front of Shun's classroom door. Shun's face looked apprehensive, as if he was nervous.

"You got this." Himari said with a gentle smile.

Shun looked to his friend and nodded with a smile, Himari always had that effect on people, she comforts people without even realizing it, it was one of her biggest strengths.

Shun entered the classroom and closed the door behind him. The teacher hasn't entered the class yet, so the students were chatting amongst themselves, until he came in the room.

When he came into the class, the students immediately started staring at him, a few of them started whispering with their seatmates. "Hey it's Noriyama, that delinquent, he's late again." One student whispered to his friend.

"Hey, I heard that he carries a gun around with him." A student said.

"What?! For real!?"

"Hey! Don't stare at him, he'll shank you!" One other student panically said.

Shun ignored all the whispers made by his classmates and sat down in his seat, by the window and the furthest away from the teacher's desk.

When the whispering continued, he glared at his classmates, some looked away immediately, afraid of what might happen to them if they continued, others glared right back at him. Not all of the students were afraid of him it seems.

A few minutes later, the bell rang and the teacher came into the classroom, all of the students stopped chatting. Some were listening to the lectures, some were sleeping, and some were playing on their phones.

A few minutes after the lecture started, Shun was already looking out the window, this is his favorite pastime, just staring at the cloudless blue sky during class.

Shun mumbled to himself underneath his breath "Sorry Himari, but this is impossible."