New Friends

I felt my body hit the ground. Not hard, but I definitely felt it. I rolled over and groaned at the feeling of pain in my back. 

"You okay?" Maria asked while sitting up and rubbing her head. 

"Yeah," I answered. "I'm fine. That was...wild."

"Are we on campus ?"

I looked around the area. There was a light breeze and the sun was shining brightly. There were no clouds in the sky and the trees were green and healthy. There was a large building in front of of us , somewhat in the distance. It looked really beautiful. 

"Oh, are you guys the new first years?" A really tall person asked me and Maria. He had pitch black hair, light blue eyes and...Why do those horns look like octopus limbs?

"Yep," Maria nodded. "I'm Maria Marionette, but you can call me Mari. And this is my fellow first year, Kyo Kaneko."

"Ah, I'm Ren Zotto, I'm a third year. It's nice to meet you."

Ren Zotto? He looks like the kind of person to be super extroverted and loud. He might be annoying, but at least he's nice or whatever. Behind him were three other students, probably part of our group. One had the most purple hair ever. Another one had a braid, which probably weighed as much as she did. And the last one looked like she came out of an anime with those boobs.

"We hope we can give you a good a experience here," The purple head said. "I'm Aster Arcadia, a second year."

"It's nice to meet you," The girl with the chest said. "I'm Scarle Yonaguni, another third year."

"And I'm Aia Amare, a second year." The braid girl said.

They looked somewhat mystical, like they all had some sort of weird, majestical power. I mean, who the hell has purple and yellow hair? Was that hair dye or not? 

"You okay?" Ren offered a hand to help me up. I stared at his hand, then at him, sort of suspicious. "The first ride is always kinda weird."

"It was actually kind of fun," Maria said. "It was really pretty and bright."

I guess it was pretty cool.

The five of them started talking up a storm, further introducing themselves and chatting before school starts. Thinking to myself, I was still confused with how I got here. 

Stop overthinking, maybe this is a good thing. I thought to myself. This is my chance to start over completely. I'll make the most of this chance.

"Kyooo," Maria waved a hand in front of my face. "You good? You're just staring into space."

"Ah, yeah, I'm fine." I answered.

"By the way," Scarle perked up, like when a dog sees a treat. "The teachers will be taking your pictures today so they can complete the ID's for the first years. That was my favorite part when I was a first year." She took out what was most likely her ID and showed us the card. There was her picture on the right side, her ID number, name, all that stuff. What caught my eye was the quote underneath her photo. 

"I could use a magic helper?" I lifted a brow and looked at her. "Did you choose that yourself?"

"Yep," She looked proud of herself. "Pretty cool, huh? We get to choose our own quotes. It's kinda like inspiration for other people. Once your pictures are taken and your quote is submitted, they put your picture up in the halls."

"That's sounds like a bit much," Maria mumbled, but then she smiled. "I like it! I would love to inspire people! I can't wait!"

Aia smiled at the conversation. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her own ID. "When I submitted mine, the teachers almost declined it because we aren't really allowed to do what I said."

I squinted and read the line under her photo. 

You're awfully cute, makes me wanna bully you a little.

I deadpanned at the line. There was no way in hell I was gonna say that out loud. That was just cringe.

Although, I can't say I would be able to come up with something better, at least not on the spot. 

"Can you say it the way you would to a person?" Maria asked, scooting toward Aia. 

"You have no idea how long I've wanted someone to ask that," Aia said before fixing her posture. She smiled gently and laid a hand on her braid, sort of stroking it.

"You're awfully cute, makes me wanna bully you a little." Maria squealed, completely in love with the way Aia spoke. On the her other side was Scarle, she had a hand over her chest and made an expression that I couldn't really read.

"She's so beautiful, right?" She said out loud, literally, for all to hear. 

Maria laughed at the statement. "Yeah, I like the way she said it too. You sound like an professional actress."

Aia was very proud of herself in that moment. I'm pretty sure she would've gladly done it again if she was asked to. 

Now that I was informed of what else the teachers would want, I thought to myself about what kind of quote I would want to submit. Nothing came to mind immediately. I'd most likely have to think for a while. 

"When do they need to be submitted?" I asked. 

"Usually they want it before the end of your first week here," Aster was the first to answer. "So you have all week to think about the line. Today and tomorrow, their taking pictures. There's a lot of new first years, so it usually takes a while to get everyone their pictures."

Ah, I get it.

"I already know what mine is gonna be." Maria said. "It'll be kinda confusing, but I can explain the meaning behind it."

"Fire away," Ren said. 

"I was thinking something like, 'I'm a real girl now.'"

"What does that mean?" I asked. 

"Well," Maria looked at the bunny doll that was hanging near her waist. "Promise you'll believe me?" Everyone nodded, curiosity filling their eyes. "I wasn't really a human before. I was more of a doll." 

How the fuck does a person go from doll to human?

"A doll?" Scarle looked interested. "Did someone turn you into a doll?"

"I don't really remember all that much," Maria continued to fiddle with her bunny doll. "I was only turned into a human recently. I don't know exactly how long I've been around for. Maybe the 1890's?"

Fucking 1890's?! Do you know how old you are? That's crazy!

Aster chuckled to himself. As if he read my mind, he spoke out, crossing his arms and smiling. "I'm still the oldest here then."

"Wait," I narrowed my eyes at him. "If Mari has been around since the 1890's, how long have you been here for?"

"It'll sound unbelievable," Aster smiled at me, almost mischievously. "I've been alive on earth for over a million years. 1,000,069 to be exact."

I stared at him, deadpanning. How the fuck do you live for a million years? What kind of sick fuck lives that long?

"Hold up," I waved my hands and shook my head. "Pause, pause, pause. There's no way in hell you live for that long. That's crazy. That's impossible. You're trolling."

"What?!" Aster put a hand on his chest and shouted in an offended and hurt tone. "Are you saying I'm old? That's rude. And I'm not trolling, I'm being serious!"

"But you are old," Aia snickered.

Aster turned to Aia, a murderous intent practically leaking from him. That was the look of someone who was going to kill if she kept talking. I don't think I want to deal with that.

"Alright, alright, let's chill now," Ren put a hand out to block Aster from murdering Aia. "School is going to start soon, so we mine as we'll start heading over to our classes. Did you guys get your schedule?"

"Ah," Mari reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded peice of paper. "Yeah, I have mine."

I see no pockets on that flimsy ass skirt but okay.

I reached into my own pocket and felt a piece of paper. Did I put that there? I don't remember doing so. This world is so weird.

I pulled it out and unfolded it. It was the schedule, just like Maria's. Mathematics, science, history, Phys Ed, all that stuff.

Why do we have to spend three hours in P.E.?

I hate Phys Ed class, now 50% of our classes are Phys Ed? You got me fucked up if they think I'm gonna show up for that.

"Kyo, buddy, you look like you just got grounded from your phone," Scarle said to me, seeing that I had found out about the Phys Ed classes. I probably would agree with her, but I was being very serious in that moment.

"Dude, I hate P.E. class." I was probably crying because I could hear myself whimpering. "Why do I gotta do Phys Ed? Magical powers my ass. I didn't even know I was all mystical until I got here. What the hell is the moon thinking?"

"The moon?" Ren tilted his head. "Why are you blaming the moon? I don't think the moon can do stuff like thinking. It doesn't have a brain, right?"

"Yeah, you'd think something like that."

Ren looked at me like I was crazy, and lowkey, I probably was. I laid down on the grass, the spiky green poking the back of my neck.

I curled my fingers into a fist and looked up into the sky. Now why was I complaining again? I forgot. I was too busy thinking about how these people are actually listening to me.

"Why don't you guys show us around before class officially starts?" I pushed myself up to sit criss-crossed. "Ain't no way I'm getting lost on my first day here. That's a big no."

"That's a good idea," Maria agreed. "I wanna see what the school looks like. It seems really pretty from the outside."

"Let's go then," Ren stood up and crossed his arms. "How about we race? I bet you can't beat me."

"You have the longest legs here!" Aster pointed fingers at Ren and started running to get a head start.

"I don't wanna runnn," I whined as everyone started racing each other to the building.

"Come on, Kyooo!" Maria tried to pulled me up. Actually, she was kind of dragging me and losing the entire race.

As much as I hated having to sprint to catch up with the others, I kinda liked having the wind brush against my cheeks and blow my hair back.

Maybe I should go out and touch grass more often.