Monday, 9th of April 2012

06:00 Local Time

Shizuka-centered Third-Person Perspective

~~~~

Another beautiful spring morning has begun. The bright and beaming sun rose above the eastern horizon, slowly shining upon the houses and buildings and offices of the whole of Japan.

The sounds of birds chirping started to enliven the morning atmosphere, as residents of different ages started their day on that beautiful morning. Smooth gusts of warm spring air complemented the atmosphere, swirling around the gaps between them and other man-made structures across the city, carrying fresh oxygen to liven the mood.

Cherry trees were blooming along the streets, spreading their prominent pink petals along the roads, while others were being carried by the swirling morning gusts around the neighbourhood.

And in one neighbourhood, Shizuka Minamoto was still fast asleep on her bed, lying down on top of her blanket still wearing her travelling attire from the previous night.

From the way she slept, one can tell that this girl went to sleep right away after arriving back home, so tired after a long journey home that she was asleep before she even made it to her bed, leaving her luggage sitting near the door untouched.

But where did she come from; you might ask? She had just returned from the city of Osaka, after spending a month and a half of her holidays with her grandmother. She had a great time with her grandma, but she still missed being with her friends back home.

The sun slowly broke through into the room, shining through the semi opaque window curtain. The pink-ish colour was slowly becoming more visible as the room was getting brighter and brighter.

Right beside the off-white pink studying table right beside a big glass door leading to the balcony, another unpacked travelling handbag was sitting between the table and bookshelf.

Suddenly, the serene atmosphere of the room was broken away by the familiar Briiinnggg!! Of her alarm clock.

This caught Shizuka off guard, as she flailed her hands around trying to reach her ringing alarm clock perched right on top of the counter, almost looking like one of those tall wavy inflatables that can be found at car dealership. After finally hitting the 'snooze' button, she opened her eyes slowly, turning her body around to face the other side of her bed.

After a while, she then proceeded to sit down on the edge of the bed. She took a long glance around her room before letting out a deep morning yawn.

"I fell asleep last night..." She sighed, before sniffing her sleeve. The unpleasant smell of her clothes (well, at least by her standards) sent her nose into a frenzy right away. "Ugh, I think I should take a bath soon..."

Then she took a glance towards her wardrobe, where her new sailor uniform was hanging on the wardrobe's door handle. It seems that her mother had hung the uniform soon after she was fast asleep in her bed.

"Oh yeah, today's the first day of school..." She thought.

But then, she heard someone knocking on the door, "Shizuka, please wake up!" her mother called from outside her room.

Shizuka replied. "Yeah mom, I've already woken up!" She replied.

Her mum then entered her room to check on her daughter. "Good morning, Mom..." Shizuka greeted her mom, stretching her arms in the process.

"Good morning, dear. Really excited for school, huh?" Her mum remarked, seeing that her daughter was in an uplifting mood then.

"Yeah! I can't wait to put on my uniform and get to school right away!" Shizuka replied. "Oh yeah, what did you want to tell me last night?"

"Oh right, so you are wondering whether Takeshi-kun, Suneo-kun, and Nobita-kun got accepted into the same middle school as you, right?" Her mom asked.

"Yeah, of course, mom!" Shizuka exclaimed.

"Well, I don't know if you'd like it or not, but... all of them got accepted!"

Shizuka's excitement bubbled almost immediately and she couldn't stop giggling knowing that she'll get to hang out with them again. But then, her attention turned to the fact that the last person her mom mentioned was accepted.

"Wait, Nobita-san passed the test?"

"Apparently, he did..." Her mum replied. "Either way, we shall not underestimate anyone's knowledge, right Shizuka?" Her mum smiled.

"Y-yeah, I guess so..." Shizuka replied. "I'm still surprised that he did pass, though."

"Well, at least you finally got your band back together, right?"

"Yeah, I will definitely cherish my middle school year with them and my new friends!" Shizuka exclaimed.

"That's the spirit!" Her mum smiled as she clapped her hands together. "Anyways, you might want to take a bath soon, I have prepared a warm milk bath just for you, you know!"

Shizuka's ears and brain almost clicked into hyperdrive after hearing the phrase 'Milk bath'. "Oh!! Really?!?"

"Yeah, come on!" Her mum said.

"A-alright!!!" Shizuka exclaimed, snatching her underwear from the wardrobe, and rushed downstairs.

Meanwhile, a few hundred meters away in a cosy yet small tan house on the corner of the street, a boy was still fast asleep on his futon with only a quarter of his body covered under his blanket, a clear sign that he went to sleep without any thought.

His bubbling mucus from his nose was still inflating and deflating as his snoring could be heard throughout the house... or at least for next two seconds.

"Nobita-kun! Nobita-kun! Wake up... quick!!" A blue cat robot begged for the bespectacled boy to wake up.

"Dowaw....we.... Gimme a few more minutes..." the bespectacled boy muttered, after his mucus bubble popped.

"C'mon, it's 7 in the morning already!" Doraemon exclaimed.

After hearing the words "7 in the morning" Nobita's eyes shot open as he flung himself out of his futon. "Wh-whaat??!!" Nobita exclaimed loudly in his usual manner. "Why don't you wake me up earlier??"

"I tried! But you kept on sleeping!!" Doraemon exclaimed.

Like a speeding bullet, the bed-headed Nobita snatched his glasses and his new junior high school uniform from the drawer and rushed downstairs.

"Alright mom! I'm up!" He exclaimed to his mom, not caring whether his mom had called him down or not.

His mom however was still in the kitchen, cleaning up some of the silverware that she had used to make breakfast early in the morning. She was quite puzzled as to why Nobita shouted back at her for some apparent reason.

The bemused Tamako checked up on her only son. "Nobi-chan... what's wrong?" she asked.

"Mom! Why don't you wake me up earlier?? Geez!" Nobita exclaimed, jumped right into the bathroom right away, without ever checking on the clock right on top of the kitchen door.

"Wake you up earlier? I was just about to do it after I finished the dishes..." Tamako muttered.

She then caught a glimpse of Doraemon that was also going downstairs, giving her a 'teehee' gesture.

"Did you just..." Tamako asked, in which Doraemon nodded.

"I'm actually surprised that it worked." Doraemon remarked his apparent achievement to get Nobita up early.

"Anyways, thank you Dora-chan..." Tamako smiled.

"Hey, what're you laughing about?" Nobita asked as he peered out from the bathroom door, before noticing the time on the clock. "Wait... it's only 6:30?!"

Doraemon and Tamako chuckled as Nobita started going red in the face. "Hehe, well at least you're up early today, Nobita-kun!" his blue friend replied.

"Y-You used one of gadgets again??" Nobita asked as he tried reaching for a washcloth while keeping his comically unblinking eyes on Doraemon.

"Oh, maybe, maybe not..." Doraemon remarked, eyeing something in his pocket. "Anyways, hurry up and seize the day, Nobita-kun!"

After finishing in the bathroom, Nobita grabbed his breakfast, still fuming about the fact that he could have enjoyed at least another 30 minutes of sleep if Doraemon wouldn't have woken him up earlier. At the dining table, everyone was there except his father, Nobisuke. He left earlier in the morning, something rare at least for him.

"I still can't believe you lied to me, Doraemon..." Nobita said, munching on his beef teriyaki breakfast.

"I'm sorry Nobita-kun... I can't think of another way to wake you up earlier." Doraemon said. "I mean, look on the bright side; you won't be late for the first day of school!"

"I guess so..." Nobita muttered, absentmindedly playing his chopstick. "By the way, everyone got accepted to Akatsuka Junior High, right?"

"Yeah... You'll still be with Takeshi, Suneo and Shizuka-san for Middle School." Tamako replied. "I'm still not sure how you even passed the entrance exam, though..."

Doraemon sighed, remembering that he was the one who successfully made him pass the entrance exam test. Every night for one week, he supplied him with a whole loaf of Memory Bread every night for a week.

"Wait a minute, hold on... Shizuka-chan?" Nobita noticed Doraemon's thoughts through his eyes.

"Yeah, her mom told me that Shizuka applied to Akatsuka Junior High, together with you." Tamako replied.

"Whaaa!!!" Nobita brightened, showing a very big smile on his face on the dining table. "I can't wait to see her beautiful face again! I missed her so much!"

"I think Shizuka won't be missing him as much as he does..." Doraemon thought. "I mean, with a face and childish personality like that, he'll be lucky to get any girl... if not another."

"I can't wait to go to school!" Nobita exclaimed, finishing his rice bowl in no time. "Hey mom, can I use my new bike today?"

"Yeah, I suppose so..." Tamako said as the estatic young boy took off to grab his bag.

"Even then, I think his bike would be a bit of a centre of attention." Tamako whispered to Doraemon.

"Yeah... well, let's just let him be!" Doraemon smiled.

Nobita then set off with his bike, which is admittedly not a normal bicycle that middle schoolers would ride to their school in a city. Instead of riding a normal city bike with a carrier up front, he used his shiny new red mountain bike with offroad tires.

In just a few minutes, he arrived at the school, located right by the riverbank of the prominent Arakawa River in the northern part of the centre of Tokyo. It was quite a big school, it was one of the largest and most ambitious state-owned middle schools in the whole of Tokyo Metropolitan area, receiving an average of more than 160 students each year (or at least according to his mother).

The school looks rather like a university than it did a high school, the front yard was tremendously large, a large gymnasium on the eastern end close to the teacher's and bicycle parking area, a main building that consisted of three separate wings, and a backyard extending all the way to the river itself. The building itself looked to be about three storeys high, with a prominent off-white paint with green accent on the building pillars.

While Nobita was taking in the surroundings of his new school, he noticed a young girl in a vivid sailor uniform not too far away, standing just as he was. From the looks of it, she too was in awe at how outstandingly big the school was, to both it seemed almost magical.

The rustling of the blossoming cherry trees struck by the wind accompanied the sounds of groups of freshmen talking amongst each of themselves. It was quite a sight to behold in her opinion.

She closed her eyes for a moment, to enjoy the cool spring breeze that struck her face. But soon her brief meditation got disrupted by a tap on her shoulder.

"Shizuka-san!" a cheery voice called out.

Shizuka opened her eyes and turned around, glancing at whoever pats her shoulder before. What she saw was neither Nobita, Suneo, Gian or anyone she expected. Instead, she saw a girl around her height, bearing the same uniform as her. Her shining brown hair, taken almost out of an old 1940's Hollywood film, was a prominent feature that Shizuka knew since this girl was 5. Looking down, she noticed her bright red shoes, her all-time favourite.

This girl smiled at her, looking at her with her fully shining brown eyes while exclaiming "Good Morning, Shizuka-san!!"

A very big grin started to appear on Shizuka's face, soon after she realised who it was. "N-Nonko-san!!!" Shizuka exclaimed, jumped into Nonko's hug right away.

Yes, she was Aoyama Nonko (Surname first, then first name), Shizuka and the friend's childhood friend that moved out of the country when they were 5 years old. She left with her mum to live in America, so it was a surprise to Shizuka to see her back in Japan, and with the same school uniform she had on, too.

"I missed you so much, Nonko-san!" Shizuka exclaimed to her old best friend as they broke out of the hug.

Nonko chuckled. "Yeah, I missed you too, Shizuka-san!" Nonko said. "How have things been in Japan since I left?" She asked, soon after releasing her hug.

"It's very nice, everything is good!" Shizuka exclaimed. "Since when did you move back here? Have you met the others yet?"

"Well, I've been here for two days, I just moved back on Friday. So, I haven't really met up with anyone." Nonko replied. "I mean, if you visit my new house... which wasn't too far from 'Kawaguchi Mountain', you can still see a lot of moving boxes."

Shizuka chuckled hearing that Nonko was still using the hill's old name. "People call it the 'Back Hill' these days..."

"Yeah, whatever you call that speck of hill in the middle of the city." Nonko said. "By the way, let's head over to the gym!"

"Sure!" Shizuka exclaimed, entering the school with her old friend. "I can't wait to meet up with everyone else!"

Right as the two new schoolgirls made their way to the gym, Nobita pedalled his way through the traffic of students. Eventually he noticed the bike locks by one of the front trees, and quickly secured his bike. "Man, if this is the middle school, I can't wait to see the high school." he thought.

As freshmen, their first activity was to attend the annual entrance ceremony, attended by students and staff. In there, the school's principal (Mr. Kisaburo) and the current council president gave their own speeches to the freshmen.

They were also announcing what the freshmen would expect for the next coming weeks and their future activities. They also announced the news that the club festival would be held over the next couple of days, alongside a week of school adaptation activities.

They were dismissed at exactly 8.45 in the morning, but before heading to their classes, the freshmen needed to look to which class they were assigned to. Thus, a horde of students crowed the announcement board to figure out where they were.

Nobita quickly slithered his way through the crowd, where he arrived in front of the announcement board.

He then started to look through class A's student list. As he skimmed through the list, he noticed that everyone he knew was in that class.

"Dekisugi, Suneo, Gian, and Shizuka... small world, huh." He remarked to himself, whilst quietly bubbling with excitement. He dashed off immediately to where the class was supposed to be... only to remember that he needed his indoor shoes.

Eventually he found his locker after a few minutes, and he quickly put on his new indoor shoes. Not wanting to waste any more time, he made another dash for his classroom.

While he pelted his way to class, Shizuka and Nonko were already just arriving there. Both girls peered into the classroom, where their eyes were met with the presence of Gian, Suneo and Dekisugi.

"Oh, Shizuka! Long-time no see!!" Suneo exclaimed, after noticing Shizuka's presence in front of the door.

"Suneo-san... Takeshi-san..." Shizuka said, waving to her closest friends. "I missed you guys too!" Shizuka added.

"Yeah, it's been... what, 3 to 4 weeks since we last saw each other?"

"Yeah, around that..." Shizuka replied.

She then continued with introducing Nonko to Suneo and Gian, who seemed to know who this girl was already. "By the way, do you remember her?" Shizuka said, introducing Nonko back to Suneo and Gian.

"Oh, Non-chan!!!" Suneo exclaimed. "You returned!"

"Ah, Suneo-kun! Takeshi-kun! How are you guys?!" Nonko said, as she gave both of the boys a fist bump.

"We're doing very well!"

"Ah, good to hear..." Nonko replied. "By the way, I haven't forgotten the fact that you guys were the one who manipulated Nobita-kun to steal my red shoes..." She said, giving a menacing grimace at both of her "victims".

Suneo and Gian were caught off guard by that word. Both teens were sweating bullets as they recalled the event that happened in the past few years.

"Anyways, he gave it back right before I set off to America, so you're pretty much good right now." Nonko stopped, standing in between both Suneo and Gian while tapping both shoulders.

"Speaking of Nobita-san... he's in our class, right?" Shizuka said.

"Oh yeah, he did.... It still puzzles me to this day on how Nobita passed the entrance exam." Suneo remarked.

"I mean, I've heard that he barely passed the entrance exam though." Dekisugi who has been sitting behind both Suneo and Gian said. "Good for him."

"Yeah, good for him I suppose." Shizuka muttered.

"Oh, speak of the devil, here comes Nobita!" Suneo exclaimed.

Both Shizuka and Nonko glanced over to the front door, where soon after, a bespectacled boy can be seen entering the classroom with his rather 'renewed' tone. Just like every other boy, he was wearing a typical dark-grey male middle schooler uniform.

Sporting slightly longer hair than he used to, he greeted all his friends. "Morning guys!!" He exclaimed.

"Morning, Nobita!" Suneo greeted him back.

But the moment Shizuka's eyes saw Nobita enter the classroom, she felt a click inside her head as if an old memory had been triggered. Because of that, her expression changed a bit. She showed a look of mixed feelings, between confusement, bafflement, admiration, and excitement which translated into pure silence in real life.

Similarly, the moment when Nobita's eyes met with Shizuka, something flashed in his head. He got reminded of the dream that he got this very night that translated into real life as a pure silence.

Because both stared at each other with silence, it created an awkward atmosphere in between the two.

Nobita tried to snap himself back to the reality and greeted his friend. "Sh-Shizuka-chan!! L-Long-time no see!!" He exclaimed.

Shizuka paused for a second, gazing at his face for a moment before she roused herself back to reality too. "N-Nobita-san! I missed you too!" Shizuka exclaimed back at him.

Nobita noticed Shizuka's behavioural change right in front of him. "What happened, Shizuka-chan? Something wrong?"

Shizuka quickly denied the fact that something had happened to her. "Ah, I-it's nothing! My mind just... wandered away for a second."

"Ah okay..." Nobita said, but as he turned his head a few degrees left, he saw the girl that he had met a few years ago, a 'lost' childhood friend. Instead of immediately greeting her, he tried something else.

"And... Do I know you?" Nobita asked, pretending to be curious.

This made Nonko, who was embracing his warm greeting, mad "How rude! I'm Non-chan!!" Nonko exclaimed, fuming because she thought that Nobita doesn't seem to remember anything about her.

"Hahaha!! Just kidding!" Nobita snickered, "How could I forget about you, Non-chan?! Long-time no !!"

He extended one of his arms out to her for a handshake, in which she replied with a few moments later.

"Y-Yeah, it's been a while since we met, Nobita-kun! Nice to finally be with you again!" Nonko replied gleefully.

After greeting each other, Nobita, Shizuka, and Nonko took their own seats according to what was written on the classroom's blackboard. Shizuka was taking the back row on the right corner, Nobita taking the seat right in front of her, and Nonko taking the seat right beside him. There was a vacant seat right beside Shizuka, apparently booked for someone who was absent today.

As Nobita took his seat, his head was overrun by his thoughts. "Why did my head flash to my dream when I saw Shizuka-chan?", he thought. "Could it be her?"

But his initial hypothesis was then toppled by the fact that Nonko was also in his line of sight the moment his eyes met with Shizuka, and strengthened by the fact that his focus moved back and forth between Shizuka and Nonko. So, he assumed that it could be that Nonko was the one who triggered his memory.

He could have continued to question himself about the dream again, but something snapped him away from it.

It was when the homeroom session started. A man in his 50's entered the classroom, carrying dozens of papers on his arms. The students can clearly see that there were a few white patches on his ageing hair.

The students immediately got up and greeted the teacher with a bow, he immediately replied with another bow.

"Okay students, thank you for your greetings and good morning!"

"Good morning, sir!"

"First and foremost, before I start this class's homeroom session, let me introduce myself." He said, as he wrote his name's kanji on the blackboard using chalk. "My name is Sugiyama Hakase. I will be both your Homeroom and Mathematics teacher for the year, so I'm looking forward to teaching you." He said, giving the classroom a smile.

Despite looking a bit scary, he actually was an easy-going man. He occasionally cracked a few jokes with his students, but when they messed with him, he would definitely show his fangs and scolded them with his full menacing face.

Their first homeroom session was just like usual homeroom sessions, but with a taste of humour. But before any assignments were given, they all had to decide the class representatives.

Nonko volunteered to be class representative, after a short disagreement between all the students in that class. At first, Dekisugi offered himself to become the vice-representative, but as it turns out, there was another boy who also volunteered to become the vice-rep. Dekisugi conceded himself immediately, letting the other student become the vice-rep.

And as the bell sounded for their first break, the students started to get along together. The girls (being girls) scrambled around the hallways to get as many friends as possible, inviting everyone into their groups (including introverts). The boys were going outdoors together with their new friends.

Nobita, Suneo, Gian and Dekisugi headed their way to the school backyard, which was a popular spot for students to spend their break. The school backyard they were talking about offers anything that most people call 'picnic ground', it had a huge grassy field, giant trees towering over many over the students, and some sports arenas sitting in line with one another.

Nobita went first, while Gian, Suneo, and Dekisugi went to the cafeteria to get something to eat for themselves. He approached one tree closest to the school and he noticed that it was already occupied by a group of girls. He moved to another tree, the same thing. Another tree. More girls. Maybe the next? Both boys and girls.

Yes, it was brimming with freshmen like him that were here to enjoy the nice scenery of the Arakawa River. He glanced left and found another tree not as large as the ones he saw before, only it was occupied by two boys from his classroom.

"Hello guys!" He greeted them.

"Oh hello, Nobi-kun!" One of them replied.

"Err, you don't mind if you spare a spot for me?" He asked.

"No, not at all. You can sit here with us if you like."

Nobita sat down on top of the grass right in front of one of the boys, putting down his lunchbox as he did so. Luckily, the grass and the soil were all dry, so it wouldn't make his uniform dirty.

"Are you all by yourself?" One of them asked.

"No... I'm meeting up with Gian, Suneo, and Dekisugi soon."

"Oh, they are going to get something to eat in the cafeteria?" the boy asked again.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what they wanted to do before they headed here."

"Oh, okay. We getcha." the other, longer-haired boy replied.

"Um, what were your names again, actually?" Nobita asked his fellow classmates.

"Oh, name's Kazuya." the short-haired boy replied, before gesturing to his friend. "This here's my fellow schoolmate, Akasaka."

"Hey, Nobi-kun... You seemed to be close with both Gouda-kun and Honekawa-kun... They your childhood friends?" Akasaka asked the bespectacled boy.

"Yeah, they were my childhood friends ever since we were 5." Nobita nodded, munching his lunch as he did so.

"Minamoto-san also?"

"Yeah, she's also been my childhood friend since we're 5."

"I see..." One of them replied. "Dang, you're pretty lucky Nobi-kun, to have such a beautiful and adorable childhood friend like Minamoto-san."

"Yeah, we never even had a single girl in our childhood groups," His friend added.

"It's fine..." Nobita replied. "You'll get one eventually."

"You have a crush on her right? Nobi-kun." One of the boys said, being a bit smug as he did so.

Nobita calmly swallowed the food and replied. "Yeah, if I'm honest... But I'm not sure if she would give a positive reply if I ever confessed to her."

"I mean, it would be a lot easier to make her fall for you, right... Nobi-kun?"

"Eh? I mean... I hope I can make her fall for me..." Nobita replied, sighing as he did so. "It seems like she was more interested in Dekisugi-kun instead of me..."

"So, you've given up on her?"

"No! I haven't given up on her yet... But it's just... What do I have to do to impress her?"

"Dunno, man."

"Yeah sorry, we're not love experts..." The boys replied.

As they were having some sort of conversation; Gian, Suneo and Dekisugi came to join them. "Oh! Hishigaya-kun... Tomoya-kun... You're here too??" Gian greeted

"Hi, Dekisugi-kun, Takeshi-kun and Honekawa-kun!"

"Can we join all of you here? It seems pretty fun to have a conversation with new friends." Suneo remarked,

"Sure thing!"