1

A new year, a new introduction to life. A change for everyone's norm.

It was 8 am at Shiratorizawa Academy, Sendai. Students were entering in the school either in the present school uniform or their previous school uniform. And for a few unlucky ones, they had to wear casual clothes because they were given the wrong size.

A tall, young man walked through the school gate. His features were fierce and intimidating causing most to avoid him. He earned some stares, but he ignored it all and continued walking. He couldn't care less about it all, really.

"Yo, Wakatoshi!" The young man didn't even pause after hearing his name shouted out loud. He knew who it was. And he knew he'd continue to pester him even if he greeted him.

"Ushijima Wakatoshi, morning!" Still he kept walking. "Yo, stop walking and greet me!" An eccentric, red haired young man, almost the same height as he was, jumped into his view with a wide grin on his face. He wore the same uniform as he did.

"Tendou." Ushijima paused and slightly bowed his head, then continued to walk. The eccentric teen pouted at the nonchalant tone, but his grin returned almost immediately.

"Wakatoshi, how was your summer break? You know Keiko Kitagawa-chan was really cute in her recent drama. She was the cool, beautiful detective of Miyagi." Tendou sighed, hearts in his eyes. "Did you watch the drama I suggested to you? I tell you my mom's onigiri was delicious. She knows I like it so she kept making 'em for me, you know? And… Gah!" Tendou got pulled back and he got greeted by a karate chop on the head. "OW! Semi, what was that for?!"

Semi sighed. "It's too early to deal with you. And we just practiced 2 days ago, didn't we?" He turned his head to his other companions walking behind him. "Right, Ohira, Yamagata?"

Ohira smiled and shrugged. Semi sighed again.

Whilst they were conversing through arguing, Ushijima had walked far ahead.

Tendou gasped dramatically, placing his hands on his cheeks. He stretched out his hand for the young male and cried out. "Wakatoshi, wait for me!" The other three sweat-dropped, watching the eccentric teen run after Wakatoshi and grasp his arm.

Yamagata smiled. "Let's catch up. The welcome address is about to start in a few minutes." The other two nodded and they ran after the other two, though it looked like Ushijima was struggling to keep walking in a straight line.

Tendou kept pestering Ushijima, even to the point of poking him on the cheek if he wouldn't respond. Due to this, Ushijima bumped into a few people and Tendou simply laughed while apologizing.

"Oof." And this time, Ushijima accidentally caused a person to fall. By that time this incident happened, Semi, Ohira, and Yamagata caught up to Tendou, Ushijima, and the fallen student.

Books, pens, and papers were strewn on the school pavement by the fallen bag of the student. The five boys, including the student, began picking up the stuff before the wind could blow the papers away.

"I'm sorry." Ushijima apologized giving the student the pens and papers he was able to pick up.

"Thanks…" The voice was quiet so the boys weren't sure if it was masculine or feminine.

After packing her stuff in her bag, the student looked up and all boys refrained from patting her head.

The student might not be a student due to the casual clothes. Most importantly, she was a child. Her hair was white and wavy, cupping her slightly round cheeks to perfection. Wide, red eyes sparkled by the bright sunlight, but was moderately covered by her bangs that was combed to the left side. She wore a red hoodie, blue jeans, and red shoes.

Ohira knelt by her side and extended his hand. She looked puzzled, but accepted it.

Semi felt like he should be helpful and pointed at the direction of the middle school gym. "You should head over there, kid. That's where the other middle schoolers are."

The kid looked at them, eyebrows raised, and scrunched her nose. She scoffed and walked away from them and towards the high school gym.

Semi's mouth dropped as well as Yamagata's and Ohira's.

Tendou shook his head and patted Semi's shoulder. "Tsk, Tsk, Semi. To think you'd be this judgmental." He began walking away whilst shaking his head in disappointment.

Semi gritted his teeth at Tendou with his face burning red. "Oi, get back here!" Tendou yelped and ran away from Semi's grip.

Ushijima looked at Ohira and Yamagata, then slightly bowed his head. "Morning." The two sweat-dropped at the late greeting. The three then proceeded to the high school gymnasium for the welcome address of a new year.

--

"God bless to everyone on this new year." Tendou raised his arms enthusiastically after the final words of the Principal.

"Yosh! Let's head to our classroom." He linked arms with Ushijima, but Semi grabbed his ear before he could run off.

Semi glared at Tendou. "Ushijima-san is in the same class as Ohira. You're with me."

Tendou gasped. "But, but, I already planned to be with Wakatoshi during breaks! How could this be?!"

"I don't care." Semi deadpanned and dragged a crying Tendou by the scruff of his neck.

"No!" Tendou's screams was heard until he disappeared around the corner. Yamagata and Ohira sweat dropped at the sight and almost felt embarrassed being friends with him. Almost. Tendou should be glad they're already used to this.

Yamagata smiled at Ohira and Ushijima. "Well, I'll be heading off then. I'm with Soekawa-san." He referred to another 1st year that had accompanied the group during their summer practice.

Ohira waved farewell to his friend and turned to Ushijima. He looked at the piece of paper in his hand that was passed around earlier by a student- most likely, one of the student officials. "Our room is at 1-A."

Ushijima nodded and began walking away, disappearing into the crowd of students.

"Since the rooms were reversed, we should head… Ushijima-san?" Ohira looked up and there was no one by his side. He looked around briskly and saw a green head disappearing into the ocean of tired or energetic heads. "Ushijima-san, wait for me!" He shouted and ran after Ushijima.

Ushijima paused in his walk and his eyes widened in realization. He had left Ohira. So, he turned on his heel and back to the gym.

In this sad turn of events, he passed Ohira who ran past him in a flurry.

"Ushijima-san, our room is at the right!" He shouted, right arm raised, searching for Ushijima in the crowd. However, the green head was long gone already. Moreover, he was being pulled into the flow of the crowd, like a heavy current in the river.

The young man oofed when he felt a tug on his uniform. His eyes flickered down and saw the girl from earlier. She was also flowing along the crowd, though they looked like they were simply standing.

"Are you going to 1-A?" She raised her hand so Ohira could see the piece of paper in her hand. It was legibly written- 1-A.

He nodded. "Yes, but I'm looking for a friend. Tall and dark green hair."

The girl blinked. "He passed us earlier."

Ohira wanted to face-palm, but he was more likely to hit someone other than him. Instead, he sighed. "Okay, okay, calm down, Ohira Reon. Let's just catch up to him."

"Yoshikami Hoshi." He jumped at the sudden voice. He looked at the girl who stared at him wide-eyed. He almost forgot that she was there. She honestly looked so out of place with her red hoodie and short height.

He smiled. "Nice to meet you. But, let's do familiarities once we get out of this." He was referring to the crowd that didn't seem to be stopping.

"Let's counterflow." Yoshikami stated. Ohira blinked at her, confused at what she meant, then his jaw dropped at what she did. The small girl disappeared below him and felt someone going between his legs. He looked down and saw her shoes disappearing into the current.

His eyes widened. "No, wait for me!" He shouted, but was carried further away from his actual destination.

Ushijima stood in the empty gym alone looking around for his friend in clear confusion.

The small girl got stomped a bit in her crawling.

Fortunately, the three got in class in time before they were scolded. There was no need to say that a teacher had to drag a confused Ushijima to his class, help out a frightened Ohira in the hallway, and stop students from stomping on the small girl more.

They got in class in time and that was that.