5 Orange Flamboyant Tree

The end of term break had already over, and now Chii was on the 11th grade.

Chii picked her class in second year on impulse, so did her department. That's a geniuses logic we got here: she just wanted to try learning something new, not biology and such as which has been her favorite subject since elementary school 'till now. Social science was the only thing that poked her interest currently, especially accounting and sociology courses.

Thinking she could learn natural sciences privately, Chii finally choose social sciences department, got herself a seat in Social Sciences Department Class 1, after switching places because she originally placed in natural sciences by grades.

"Chiii! I missed you sooo much. You rarely came to our previous class' gathering during school break!" Araa exclaimed as soon as her eyes catched Chii's slender figure among the crowds. Today was the opening ceremony for their second high school year, and that's mean a new beginning for their journey.

"Chill, Ra. Peoples're watching you, you know". Araa pouted by Chii's cold reply.

Nonetheless, Araa knew her friend too well to be upset so she just grabbed Chii's shoulders and guided her to a certain spot under the Sandalwood's shade where a bunch of her previous classmates were standing in a group and chatting. They use that rare chance before the school really started to gathered and catched up with their friends because starting this year they will scattered into different classes, and so their chance of encounter will lessen. Some of them, including Araa and Chii lucky enough to be in the same classes with some of their old classmates, while some of them have to start anew and make a new friend. Well, that's a different situation for different individual and personality of course.

After exchanging greetings and chit chat they have to return to their respective classrooms line before the opening ceremony started.

Being in the SS department (Social Sciences. we'll use this abbreviation for short from now on~), Chii have to get through another classrooms' rows from the spot where they were chatting earlier. This time, she have to walked across the sea of people alone because Araa's place was in Natural Sciences Department Class 3, which located 2 classes away from hers.

"Hello,". A mellow but manly voice startled her in the mid of her short journey. It was like an oases for her anxiety: she was in the middle of the crowd and surrounded by peoples, a very uneasy condition for her introverted self.

She raised her head up, meeting the warm gaze from a pair of black, sparkling eyes. They're not the kind of eyes that could pierce through your mind or something, it's more like a gaze that could send you a calmness deep down inside, a warm and friendly smiley eyes which paired with a dimple on his cheek. What a homey feeling, she thought.

A short while, Chii gasped, not knowing how to respond such treatment from a person she barely knew, and on top of that, a boy her age (uhm, though she did something rude to this existence not long ago: observing him).

She gingerly answered his greetings, smiled faintly and fled from the scene as soon as possible.

Our Chii indeed was a pretty shy person, but she could actually be loud and very open to the people in her inner circles. Her dualistic personality (I wouldn't dare to claim it as a bipolar disorder nor split personality, she was simply a tsundere introvert girl with a little ocd) only known to a certain amount of her important people, and Araa was one of them.

After slipped away from the enconter which made her heart leaped uncontrollably, Chii finally arrived at the place she supposed to be right before the ceremony started.

Along the occasion that felt like forever to its boredom, Chii couldn't keep her mind still as she unconsciously stole a gaze to a certain spot where that boy standing. He looked cheerful and socialising well with his classmates. Chii clutched her chest, feeling a bit suffocated by the panorama in her periferal view. 'Aoki, huh' she thought, recalling that existence's name and went into contemplating mode in a second.

...

The normal school days arrived and everyday passed ordinary yet special.

It's been a month, and Chii finally accustomed to her new environment, physically and psychologically speaking. She found herself an inner circle in the classroom, as well as a nice spot outside the classroom where she could spend her free time at ease. That spot is right in front of her class, under the elegant flamboyant tree which flowers still blossoming from the time she started her second year. There was a bench right below it and Chii self-proclaimed it as her new base. From there she can throw her gaze all over the south part of south buildings. Her current classroom is not too far away from the previous one, but the location wasn't on the bottom of the U line, it's at the end of the left side of the U where all the SS department 11th grade classrooms located.

It's been an ordinary yet plain days for the last one month for Chii, cause she didn't have anything interesting to do aside from her routines. She still go to the library on the first break but aside from that she just spend her time with her classmates under the nice shade of the flamboyant at lunch break. She lost interest in her novels while waiting for a right time to restock her personal library. For that, she had to wait until the next volumes of her favorite were published.

...

On a certain morning when she accidentally arrived at school too early, Chii dragged her feet to rest for awhile under her beloved flamboyant tree. That's actually a normal thing for her to treated a single tree as a lively existence and hold them dear as some kind of friend, so she wouldn't felt as lonely here although there were still no one of her classmates appeared.

It was a calm and shiny morning with a soft breeze that tickled every single thing on its way. The orange flowers from the flamboyant fell on the ground one by one, sometimes its pollen spread and fell over Chii's hair and shoulders.

Feeling a sense of peacefulness and relaxing atmosphere, Chii closed her eyes and let her head rest at the back of the bench. When she opened her eyes slowly, her eyes directed toward the second floor of the southern building. As if a magic spell casted upon her, she stay still and didn't avert her gaze until she clearly saw a figure that had been occupying a little space in her brain for some time now. He was standing at the balcony of the NS Department Class 4 which happened to be the second floor of the bottom U line. His dashing appearance in the midst of the morning sunshine felt surreal to the eyes.

Chii wasn't that clueless to the attraction she felt for that person, nor trying to deny it. They were at the age for that. She could feel her heart palpitated and a rush of adrenaline run through her body just like the last time she observed him. This time, she could say for sure, this person is special.

After savoring the view, Chii came back to her senses, while at the same time a flow of students started to fill the entrance gate.

...