"Hmmm......what's that good smell?" I ended up asking myself the question which was a rather bland question, looking to distract myself and trying to skip my study time. "I'd rather go down and check instead of sitting here and pondering about it."
Casually getting up from my table, closing my textbook, I went downstairs to investigate. As I approached the kitchen, the aroma that filled up my nose got more and more intense. This aroma started to bring back old memories from the past, I walked into the kitchen.

"Tempura?" Dad turned towards me with a smile on his face. "There was shrimp on sale in the fish market today, I bought some when I came back from work." I cheerfully sat down on the countertop, happy that he did not ask me anything about why I'm coming down to the kitchen during study time. "Here, try one!" He fished out a shrimp from the bubbling oil and put it down on a piece of tissue paper, oil seemed to seep through like magic as soon as he put it down on the ceramic dish.

"Are you still finding it difficult to do math problems or is it getting easier this year?"
Well dad, it's math! There's no way that stupid subject is going to get easier, you'll have to come help me out with my homework after dinner, okay?" I bit down on the shrimp and it was amazing, cooked to perfection! I never knew my dad knew how to make tempura. "You know something, mom too cooked tempura the same way!"

My dad had a frown on his face when I said that, if you think about it, I shouldn't have said something like that as of right now. "Hey can you please go set the table for me?" He obviously wanted me out of the kitchen, I nodded and took the plates and strolled towards the dining table, wiped off some of the dust that had accumulated on the surface, and kept the plates.

Dad always had that carefree attitude, but sometimes I felt that he just put on that face in order to numb himself from all of the pain which he was going through. We sat down and he placed the udon in a bowl and poured some gravy on top of it, followed by the tempura on the plates which I had kept there. "Wow this isn't the usual, what's special today?" I asked curiously. "Nothing much to be honest, just thought I'd fancy myself to some good food once in a while." We had a little prayer before our meal and we ate in silence.

Following our dinner, as promised, dad helped me out with my homework which took us a long time to figure out. I ended up asking myself philosophical questions like how is math going to be helpful for me in the future all the way up to questioning the purpose of life. Dad on the other hand, just guided me through each step and we solved the problems one by one. One of the things that always fascinated me was how fast the days go by as soon as school starts compared to the summer vacation days. As he left the room and closed the room, I heard a little beep from my phone. It was a text from Dansei, "two more days bro" he was super excited as in two more days, we'll be starting a new week and will have to stay back after school and take part in the club activities.

The following weekend, I decided to buy some art stuff like oil paints and canvas, i wanted to get back in the groove of what true art felt like, so I spent a few hours painting and just chilled out. Monday was a rather boring day, as soon as the final bell rang, everyone rushed out of class and went to each of their respective clubs like their life depended on it. Soon enough, I found Dansei looking for me and we went upstairs, a floor reserved for seniors and the floor in which most club members hung out.

As we entered the art club, one of the things I noticed was how small the room were in was, this room had a lot of art which were hung up on the walls on all four sides, the only other thing other than art hung on the walls was the big door which was facing the opposite direction of the entrance. We were greeted by a senior who looked a few years older than me, probably in tenth or eleventh grade. "We won't be doing much on the first day." Dansei mumbled to me. It almost felt like he had acquired a totally different personality when he was in a crowded place, he eagerly waited for something or someone, and soon enough, I found out who it was.

"DANSEI!" A group of people just came up and sat next to us, it was some of Dan's old club friends, one by one, he introduced me to everyone. After a while the president of the club, a tall girl who looked about my age,wearing a really cool looking cream white blazer, which was not part of our uniform came up and started speaking.

"Dude who is this chick?" Dansei replied "she's this super popular kid, Shizuka Kawami. Even though she's super popular and all the teachers adore her for the amount of work she's put in, she's a jerk in real life and thinks that she's way better than other people. She's also extremely rude towards new kids, so stay away from her!" Well we have someone with a superiority complex as our president, I was okay with it, as long as I strayed away from her. Dansei on the other hand has extremely malevolent feelings towards her. He clearly disliked the idea of someone like her being in such a big position. "She isn't even in her school uniform, she can do whatever she likes and get on with it and these teachers won't say a thing. Honestly, it's just irritating."

As she wrapped up her speech, she also informed us about the three big days for which we will have to create our own pieces and will have to sell them. There were two exhibitions coming up and the massive school festival, which was about two months away. We dispersed and then walked towards the other room which was adjacent to us.

This room was much bigger and it had a lot of food just put up on the plate. Music started playing and the first club meeting straight up turned into a party? I wasn't sure what was happening, and then all of a sudden, I felt someone grab my arm and pull me, it was one of Dansei's friends. We talked for a bit and she introduced herself to me again. "Hi, I'm Chiyo. I've known Dan ever since he was young." "Yeah Dan introduced you to me a while ago, you didn't have to do that again." I laughed out loud when I said that. My body finally started to feel a bit more comfortable.

"You clearly looked like you weren't paying any attention" she had a little smirk on her face when she said that. She was right, I'm really not the fastest when it comes to adjusting to new situations, and when Dan's friends walked in, truth be told, I was overwhelmed. I picked up a cup of orange juice, swallowed my pride and told her, "yeah you're right, sorry this isn't..." "oh that's okay, we all slip up once in a while, let's sit down and talk." I nodded in agreement. As soon as I turned, I ended up colliding with someone who was much taller than me, spilling my orange juice on them.

As I looked up, my heart froze upon seeing a cream white suit, with a big orange stain right across one of its sleeves.