What Was I Thinking?

This was the 10th time Ive looked at the clock. It felt like the time had stopped. My body felt weird, it didn want to move anymore. The introduction thingy at the beginning drained all my energy. I hoped for some interesting and fun lessons, but things don always work out the way you want them. The classes were kind of boring. Which made my current state even worse. I almost fell asleep in the history class. Thanks to my hunger, I wasn able to. I was so hungry that I couldn even concentrate.

I didn have enough time for breakfast since I was getting late. All I ate was a piece of cake on my way to school, which gave me a severe stomach ache.

I looked at the clock again. I was waiting for the lunch break. But with an empty tummy, each class felt like an eternity. I thought I was going to pass out. But thankfully, the bell rang before I passed out.

I made my way to the cafeteria, Which was quite far from our building. Our building was totally on the opposite side of the cafeteria.

When I entered the cafeteria, I faced another problem. Since our building was quite far from here, many students had already reached here before I did. As a result, the whole cafeteria was packed. It looked like the third-year seniors arrived here first and occupied most of the tables. There was a long line in the food section. I didn mind eating without a table but waiting in this long line was quite uncomfortable.

I looked around, trying to find someone friendly enough to help me in some way. But most of the students didn look friendly at all or maybe it was just me who thought it like that. Without having any other choice, I stood on the line. The line was very long. It didn look like my turn would come soon.

After a while, I finally got my turn and bought a lunch set since I was dying from starvation. I took the lunch and looked around for a table. But luck was not on my side today. It looked like every table was occupied. The empty ones were probably saved for their friends. I kept looking, hoping to find an empty one.

I was so hungry that I couldn resist buying that lunch set. I couldn just go to the classroom with this much food, plus itd take some time too. If I decided to go, I probably wouldn even have enough time to finish my lunch.

”Are you looking for a seat? ” A male voice asked.

I was caught off guard, did not expect anyone to talk with me here. I turned around.

A guy was sitting, looked like a third-year student as tall as me with medium-long hair.

”Ah… Yeah, I was. But it looks like there isn one where I can sit. ” I replied.

”Oh, you can sit here. ” He points at a seat beside him.

”Is it okay? ” I asked. ”I thought you were saving it for your friend. ”

”No, you can sit here. ” He said.

”Oh, thanks ”

I sat down. The tables were massive. Fifteen students could easily eat there without any issue. Students from other classes were there too. For some reason, I felt like they were staring at me. I ignored that feeling

”I am Shu Kondo, from class 1-C. Nice to meet you. ” He introduced himself. Even though he looked like a third-year student but was a first-year.

Since he introduced himself. I did the same.

”Im Ashiro Kaname, from class 1-B. ”

His face lit up for some reason. He looked pleased.

”Ashiro Kaname, huh? The name has a good ring to it ” He muttered.

”Did you say something? ” I asked since saw his lips moving.

”No, its nothing. By the way, you should finish your lunch quickly. Times running out. ” He said.

I looked at the time. I barely had 20 minutes left.

”Aren you going to eat? ” I asked.

”Ah well, I finished my lunch a while ago. ” He replied.

”Then why are you still here? ” I asked.

”Why? Are you not enjoying my company? ”

”Ah- I didn mean that. Sorry ” I noticed that he dodged the question. So, I decided not to ask about it any further.

If there was a simple reason for him to stay here after lunch. He wouldve said it immediately. But the reason was something that he wasn comfortable enough or didn want to share with me.

I started to munch down my food. If I ate slowly, I would have to run. Which could cause me another stomach ache and I didn want that.

Suddenly, I heard another male voice, this time it wasn Kondos.

”So you
e here, huh? Ive been looking for you. Couldn you find a better place to meet up? ”

I turned around. A guy was standing there, seemed like the guy named Kondos acquaintance.

”Oh. you
e here, Minase-kun. Lets go then. ” The Kondo guy stood up.

He turned to me and said ”Well then, See you soon ”

So this is the reason why he was still here. I felt pretty embarrassed for suspecting him out of nowhere.

I thanked him and bid goodbye. Soon I finished my lunch and started walking towards our building, hoping to reach there before time.

Surprisingly, I reached there pretty fast. It wasn as far as I thought. Hunger can really change a persons thoughts and mind.

I sat down on my usual spot. There was still some time left. So, I just sat there observing the classroom. Most of the girls brought lunches from home. They might feel uncomfortable in that crowd. So, bringing lunch from home was the safest option. Some boys brought them too. There were a few boys in the classroom, most of them were in the cafeteria. Some were standing outside the classroom, chatting and eating.

I thought of cooking food at home. Ive always disliked crowded areas. If I cooked at home Id be able to bring food for lunch

Its my first day in school yet I can already tell this class was filled with weirdos. I saw some students sleeping during the lesson. The teacher noticed it but didn say anything. I guess it wasn their business at all. If the students didn pay attention to the class, theyd probably fail or get a bad result, which can cause a great effect on their life. So they
e practically destroying their future.

I was impressed by the teachers teaching abilities. They added some fun facts to make the lesson more interesting which is a great strategy. If the students paid attention to the class, theyd be able to score some good marks. The topics the teachers discuss are boring as hell but the explanations made it quite interesting.

I didn realize it before. I wasn able to concentrate, thanks to my hunger. The last few classes went smoothly.

Soon, the bell rang.

I stretched my arms, ”Finally, its over. ” I muttered.

I quickly put all the notebooks in my bag and stood up. It was a rough day. I wanted to go home as quickly as possible. I picked up my bag and walked out of the classroom.

Our school was massive as I mentioned before. The playgrounds were massive too. I saw some students practicing soccer. They were probably from the soccer club. There were other clubs too. The school was not completely empty. Many students were still in the school. Some of them were doing their club activities, some were simply minding their own business.

While I was walking toward the gate to leave school, I suddenly changed my mind. Since I was new to this school I thought I should look around a bit. I didn have anything else to do.

I decided to start with our building. It had four floors. The very first level was for the teachers. There were some teachers rooms, a meeting room, a computer room and of course, the Principals room.

I looked around the first floor. Even though the teachers rooms were spacious enough for 3 to 4 teachers to work in, but it was pretty small compared to our classroom. It was like 1/6 size of it. the other rooms such as the Meeting and the computer room were pretty big. Since Ive already been here, I decided to go to the second floor.

The stairs were in the middle of the hallway. There was an elevator on the opposite side of the stairs. But I don think it was for the students.

I quickly made my way to the second floor.

when I first came here, I went directly to the third floor where my classroom was. So, I didn get a chance to see what was on the second floor.

It seemed like the second floor was for club activities. There were some clubrooms. I peeked inside them and saw some students doing their club activities. Each clubroom had its own washroom. The clubrooms were pretty big and spacious. There were a Chemistry lab and a Biology lab. They were probably used for both academic and club purposes.

When I started walking towards the stairs, my eye noticed a strange room. It was at the end of the hallway. It looked like a storeroom. Since it was used by the students, it looked pretty dirty and messy. It was giving a spooky aura to this floor. I wondered how many rumors are going on about this storeroom.

The third was where the classrooms were. It had four classrooms and of course a male and female toilet. Id already known the third floor, so I prepared myself to go to the next floor.

Here I noticed a little bit of change. The stairs were on the end of the hallway instead of being in the middle. I took the stairs and slowly walked up to the fourth floor.

When I took my first step onto the fourth floor, I saw something I wasn expecting. There was a library but it didn look like an ordinary one. It was huge. Bigger than most of the school libraries Ive seen.

Since I came to Japan like a week ago, I had spent most of the time reading books and watching tv shows. I went to the library every day, I used to read novels besides studying Japanese.

I entered the library, there were a few students in the library. I stood in front of a shelf. I found out that not only English and Japanese books, but there were also some books which were written by foreign authors too. Of course, they were translated into English. I took out a book called ”No Longer Human ” by Osamu Dazai.

I sat on a chair and started reading it. I thought Id just read it for a while and then borrow it. But I was so immersed that I didn even feel how the time passed.

”I don recognize you. do you have a library card? ”

I almost jumped. I looked at the person, an old lady was standing there. She was uncomfortably close to my face.

”Did you not hear me? I asked if you had a library card or not? ”

It was the librarian. She looked pretty irritated for some reason.

”Ah…No, I am new here, ” I replied.

Her face became more annoyed. If she was a witch, she wouldve turned me into a rat.

”We don allow people to borrow books who don have a library card ” She almost yelled at me as she said that. I was still confused why she was annoyed.

”But, I am just reading, ” I replied. She seems more annoyed than before.

”Uh- That too. You have to have a library card to read books here ”

”Ok. So, how can I get a library card? ” I asked.

”You have to fill up a form first ”

”Can I have one please? ” I asked.

”Geez, students nowadays- ” She muttered as she walked towards a small room. It was probably a storeroom. I went back to reading.

”Shes always like that, please don mind. Shes actually a pretty caring person. ”

That caught me by surprise, I didn expect anyone to talk with me here. I turned to my right where the voice came from. There was a girl, sitting right beside me. She was wearing a students uniform and had long dark hair.

”Did I scare you? ” She asked.

”Uh- no, I was so immersed in my book that I didn notice you. Sorry ”

”Uh hu, its fine. You
e the new student in our class, right? ” She asked.

”Yeah, I am Ashiro Kaname from 1-B, ” I replied.

”Yep, I know you. We
e in the same class after all ”

Wait, Shes in my class? Thats why she looked kind of familiar.

I looked around. The Library was becoming crowded. It looked like the other classes had a reading session or something like that.

”The library is very crowded right now, ” I said.

”Yeah. They come to study here every day, the same people. They don even talk that much. ” She said. ”I wonder if they have an exam or something similar ”.

I finally understood the reason why she sat beside me. Every seat was occupied. Some students were reading while standing. It looked like they had an exam tomorrow.

”Enough chatting you two ” The librarian came back. Looking at me she said, ”You, fill up this form ”

She handed me a form. I took a pen out of my bag and started filling up the form. I could feel the person sitting right beside me staring at the form.

A certain option caught my eyes.

”Umm… What is this Special Care thing? ” I asked.

She stared at me for a second. Then answered.

”Leave it blank, ”

I handed over the form. She checked it carefully.

”Ok, youll get your card by tomorrow. ”

”Wow, thats fast, ” I said.

I decided to go home since the library was pretty crowded. I picked up my bag and stood up.

”Going already? ” She asked.

”Well, yeah. Ive got some work to do ” I replied. Of course, I lied. There is no way I could tell her that I was leaving for this crowd.

I borrowed the book I was reading and left the library. I looked at the clock. It was 4:15 pm. I took the stairs and left the building.

I wanted to go to the other places. Since I had no energy left. I decided to go straight home.