Akatsuki Ruby (1)

꒰ঌ Akatsuki Ruby 1

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The season was spring. The sakura blossoms were in full bloom on the trees lining the road to school. I had ascended another grade in school, and was now a second year.

"Dammit!" Seven-thirty in the morning. Today was the beginning of a new school term."I give up! I just can't get this right!"

Make yourself gentle with floating bangs — That slogan was seen in the latest men's fashion magazine. My bangs were now 'floating.' As the article instructed, I pulled my bangs at length, blow-dried them until they stood up, and then gently rubbed them sideways with some hair gel. I specifically woke up a half hour early in order to make my hair resemble that of model's.

"Maybe I was too naïve in trying to change myself just with my bangs."

I dejectedly threw the trendy magazine, which had taken me a lot of courage to buy, into the garbage bin. Unfortunately, my poor aim meant it completely missed, opened itself up as it landed, and scattered all the trash out of the bin. The open page read "You can still make it in time for the start of school. Gentle or wild? Our journey towards modeling." Were it up to me, I'm not too sure if I would care about modeling. Still, I wanted to change. But I failed.

Feeling defeated, I wet my hands with water and messed up my hair which I had spent so much time making up. I reverted to my usual hair then left my room.

"… Where… are… you… going…" The idiot lying at the sofa in living room seemed to have woken up as well.

"Haruto, is that your uniform you're wearing? Why?" She asked wearily.

"What are you talking about Mom? I'm going to school. Didn't I already tell you yesterday that school starts today?"

"… Ah! I forgot. Did you had already prepare your breakfast?"

"I already made my breakfast so don't worry Mom. Opening ceremony will about to begin now so I must hurry. "

"Hee hee hee hee~~," Mom smiled as she crossed her legs together and began to clap her hands. "Opening Ceremony, huh? 'Grats~! That means, lil' Haruto is gonna be a second year from today on!"

"Let's set that aside, Mom. Didn't I already tell you before that, no matter how busy you are with your work, don't sleep at sofa?"

"Sorryyyy~~."

I scratched my head and said, "Well, I'll be going." This wasn't the time for chit-chat; it was about time to leave.

"Ok~ay! Ah, hey Haruto. Fight hard! You're a second year now!"

"… Yeah yeah yeah Mom." I give Mom smiled and raised my hand. However, this well intentioned act led to an unexpectedly bad result.

"KYAA~!" Mom yelled and said, "Haruto is sooo~ cool! You're looking more and more like your dad now!"

"S-shut up Mom!"

After leaving the house, I headed towards the school which was within walking distance.

Looking up at the blue sky, the bright sunlight caused me to squint my eyes.

Today was a fine day, there was no wind. The cherry blossoms silently wilted at this time of year and gently fell on my head. The weather sure was great for today's Opening Ceremony.

I saw girls, probably first years, wearing brand new uniforms, going up the sloped road while feeling both excited and nervous at the same time. There was a time when I had been in their shoes too.

"Hey, Haruto! Morning! It's a great morning, isn't it?"

Hearing someone call me from behind, I quickly turned around and raised my hand, "Oh, Yang. Morning!"

"Did you already check the class 2-B rooster? Here look, we're in the same class again Haruto! You gotta be kidding me! And look Lucy here too."

"Same as usual, huh? Oh well. Hey look there's quite a number of our classmates from Class 1-B here too."

"You right! Gray-kun, Shika-kun, and Ino-chan too."

"Good Morning, Haruto, Yang. It look we're in the same class this year again."

"Ah, morning Erza-chan."

"Huh? I don't know you're in Class 2-B too, Erza?"

"Eh! You mean you only just found out? How cold, at least check the class roster on the first day of school!"

"It's a joke, geez."

"Anyway, I glad I'm in the same class again with you and Yang. I was worried if we're in different class this year."

"Well, we glad we're in same class with you too, Erza-chan. Right, Haruto?"

"Yeah."

"Oh dear! Yuuhi Sensei is calling me from over there! I have to go, let's talk again later, Haruto, Yang!"

"Man, Erza-chan is busy as always… hey Haruto, isn't great Erza-chan in the same class with us? Now we don't need to worry about the homeworks anymore."

"Oi oi, you shouldn't always depend on her!"

It was precisely at that moment when I caught sight of her. A new student with black hair that gradually shifts to red, wearing a uniform and walking towards school. But from the back, her form seemed all too familiar to me. Not even thinking about the possibility that I might be mistaking her from someone else with that unique hair, I ran up to her and took a good look at her face.

"… Wha—" And what I found was…

"Good morning, Senpai ."

She had turned around and said that. Said that with a hint of a boastful look on her face, slightly flushed cheeks, and stiff shoulders. I could tell by how she was acting right then that she was probably in quite a complicated state of mind.

She was a girl I was used to seeing in a cosplay outfit, but she was now wearing my school's uniform…

"… Y-you… uhh… Ruby?"

"W-why are you making a face like that?"

Even though she was flustered, she still managed to choke out a haughty remark. And from that, I was now sure who this person was. It was undoubtedly none other than Ruby Rose in the flesh. My sister's otaku friend, and one of my own precious friends as well. She now faced me fully, and gently placed a hand on her chest, over her brand new uniform.

"… Is it that surprising for me to be here?"

"That's not… well…" I began to deny it, but I changed my mind. "Yeah. It's pretty surprising. Umm… so… this means… does this really mean you're enrolling in the same high school as me?"

"Yes." Ruby nodded, looking pleased with herself, but then something suddenly seemed to occur to her, and her expression tightened.

"… B-but, don't get the wrong idea and think I'm here because you're here."

"Well, yeah, I know." That much was obvious. She didn't have to say that.

"I heard that you lived nearby, but I had no idea you would be going to the same high school. Also, if you were planning to do that, you could have at least told me. You really surprised me."

"… That's my choice, isn't it? Even if I'd known we would be going to the same school, how does that have anything to do with you?"

"Well, I mean… I guess it does make me pretty happy."

Ruby shut her mouth tight. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she quickly buried her emotions and returned to an expressionless state. But, now I understood. When she had said "In two months I'll start to call you something different," this is what she meant. She would go from calling me "Nii-san" to "Senpai."

I couldn't help but smile. I was usually pretty self conscious, but for some reason, when it came to her I felt strangely open with my feelings. You could say that the less open she was, the more open I became.

"Well, Kouhai, I'm looking forward to going to school with you. Haha, you know, it's pretty refreshing seeing you in a uniform."

"… Looking forward to it, Senpai." She responded in kind with a whisper, turned right around, and began to quickly walk off. I could faintly hear her mutter "what an idiot" as she went.

What's wrong with her? She got really moody really fast. I thought I had come to be able to read her pretty well through her emotionless mask, but I had to admit that this time, I was a bit stumped.

"Is she just nervous about the entrance ceremony or something?"

I began to chase after Ruby. But then I heard a voice coming from behind me. Yang was standing right next to me.

"Hey, that cute girl you were just talking to… she's a new student, right? Someone you know?"

Yang probably saw that I had started talking to Ruby, so she stayed on the side and waited for us to finish.

"Yeah, I guess."

"A good friend?"

"Yeah." At least, I thought that. And I wanted to believe that Ruby thought that too. "Well, the simplest way to put it is that she's a mutual friend of mine and Naruko's. She may seem pretty unfriendly on the surface, but she's actually a really, really good person."

Yang gave me a weird look and then mumble, "So there's another girl come up, huh…?"

"What?"

"Nothing. We better get going now, Blake told us to met her in the club room before the opening ceremony begin."

"Ah, right."

As we walking again, Yang suddenly tossed out a casual question.

"… By the way, that girl, what's her name?"

"Ruby Rose."

"Ruby Rose?" Yang cocked her head to the side. I could almost see a question mark floating above her head. "Is she foreigner or something?"

Ahh, right right. I had introduced Ruby in the most natural way, but I forgot that 'Ruby Rose' was just her handle name.

"Sorry. 'Ruby Rose' is actually just her username online. "

"Ahh… so that's." Seeming satisfied, Yang pat my shoulder. "Well, it's quite true that if you meet someone on the 'internet', you refers to them by their usernames, so often you won't even know their real names."

"Yeah, exactly like that."

"So, Ruby-chan's real name… Haruto doesn't know it?"

"… I don't."

Yang had asked me that question lightly, but for some strange reason her words reverberated deeply in my chest.

That's true… take Ruby, or Mio… I really thought of them as good friends. But in reality, I didn't know anything about them. It was an unwritten rule that you didn't pry into those things, so I had never dared to ask. But now that Ruby was attending the same school that I was, the situation had changed.

A friend that I had met online and had always called by her nickname was now a kouhai at the same school. Even if only a little, that had to mean that our relationship with each other was going to change. I might be overthinking this, but I felt just a bit hopeful.

Ah, no no, it's not like I meant that in a romantic way or something. It's just that, if one of your friends from outside started attending the same school as you, wouldn't you be excited?

We're going to have lots of fun from here on out… that was my firm belief.

"Hmmm…" I stared off into the direction that Ruby had run off to, and muttered to nobody in particular. "Ruby's real name… I wonder what it is…"

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