Chapter 1: A Hero's Rising

It is a mid October evening. My school is dedicated to the Autumn aesthetic. There are pumpkins everywhere! If there were a God of Pumpkins, they would surely have a shrine at this school. There is even our own pumpkin patch right outside in front of the main building. Our school consists of two buildings, the main educational building where the teaching is done, and the secondary building where classrooms dedicated to clubs and sports are. To the right of the main building, fences are in place where you can just see where students practice their respective sport or where P.E. classes are held. That is of course, if you're staring out of the main building's window like I was. There is a soccer field, a baseball field, tennis and basketball courts combined, and of course, archery. The archery field is behind the secondary building instead of the front like the other fields to avoid a rather terrible scenario. We don't want to hit a bystander, now would we?

In the corner of my eye, I see a rather tall figure going up for a dunk. "Is that a girl?" I muttered to myself under my breath. Her swift and rather daring movements made it a cakewalk for her to dribble the ball all around the boys on the court. I studied her appearance intently. I couldn't quite make out her facial features, but her shoes shined a brilliant pink. Her hair was pulled back in a braid and reached her mid back. The girl towered most guys in height. It was a breathtaking event to watch. She nailed the shot with ease. "She looks so cool…..", I thought to myself. I wonder what it must feel like to just pull off something as bad as that. "Aki…..Aki... Earth to Aki!" I stumbled as I shot up from my chair. The teacher had called on me while I was staring off. "I know you can't wait to get outside, but would you mind at least pretending you care"? Miss Ali was a rather stern and bold teacher, one might assume. "You can return to your daydream after you come up and solve this equation". The other students began to chuckle. Oh yeah, did I mention? She was a math teacher. Yikes! Since I was scared of sports and group activities, studying became my niche, since it only involved me. I proceeded up to the lime green chalkboard, and solved the equation. I thought to myself, piece of cake! As I glared back to the class and walked back to my seat, everyone else was visibly struggling to follow along. Some students were even sweating.

As I returned to my seat, fellow classmate Trey turned to me. "Damn, Aki!" "How are you so good at this garbage"? Even though he whispered to me, the impromptu conversation attempt startled me. Trey's white hair shined like a white star. While it was fascinating to look at, he stuck out like a sore thumb. He liked to tie back his hair in a bun so you could see the mole on his far right cheek. I choked my words as I replied back, "Well, when you daydream a lot, it gives you a chance to study in your head!" He began to smirk gradually. "So, then what you're telling me is to doze off in class more?" He exclaimed with a ferocious smile. I chuckled as Miss Ali stared me down with the force of one hundred suns. Needless to say, we piped down rather quickly. Despite preferring my solitude, I am very good at interactions. Trey and I walk home together sometimes, as he is an exchange student and doesn't know much around here yet, and I happen to speak his native language. He requested I sit next to him in class to help his transition be more smooth. I was happy to oblige.

The final chime blared in my eardrums, finally signaling the end of class for today. "Hey Aki!" Trey called to me as I headed out the door. "Are we walking home together?" Trey's accent was thick, but not terrible to where you can't understand him. "Unfortunately, not today." "I have to drop by the student council room in the other building to drop off some paperwork." I explained to Trey that I happened to stumble across somebody's papers while heading to class this morning. They belonged to the Vice President of the student council. Trey stared at my face blankly. I could tell he didn't quite understand my sentences. Instead, I simplified it by saying I needed to run some errands.

To get to the student council room, I needed to cross buildings. Our schools two buildings were connected by a suspended archway, sort of like in those fancy hospitals to connect parking garages. The archway was my favorite spot to relax and enjoy the view, as you can see the P.E. classes do their thing. If you stayed after school, you could watch the clubs and teams practice with a perfect breeze. Once crossing, I headed down the stairs to the student council's first floor room. I knocked and excused myself, then entered. "Hello?" "Is anyone here?" I called out into the barren and dark room. I guess I should have taken the hint when the lights were off. The only thing I could hear was the buzzing of the overhead lights. I left the papers behind in the class's mailbox on the front door. To the right of the door, a poster was hanging. It was a recruitment poster with someone I have never seen before on the front. I stared intently, studying the contents of the poster. I felt it was kind of odd, considering it wasn't for a specific sport, but rather any sport in general. I was taken aback by how striking the girl on the poster looked. She had a gentle yet stern smile. Her hand was reaching out to the viewer. Her eyes I feel are directly staring into my soul, but her smile feels like it goes right to my heart. I stared at it for what seemed like a minute, admiring her long dark hair and overall confident stature.

"She is beautiful isn't she?" A voice I never heard before spoke into my ear. My heart instantly rose to a dangerous rate. My cheeks flushed red, and eyes staring at the ground. I finally made eye contact with him. "Ah there she is!" The boy yelled out with joy. "You were staring at that poster for like, ten minutes!" He threw his hands back over his head laughing lightly. Recollecting my thoughts, I say, "So you were watching me all this time?" He answered quickly, "I'm sorry but yes". "Your admiration for the poster just had me inspired to stare at you." He began to blush lightly. "I don't mean it that way, I promise!" "It's just that, when I see someone passionately doing something, I get lost in a trance, and end up admiring the admirer." "I guess that makes sense." I nodded in agreement, but I didn't necessarily agree. I just wanted this embarrassment to end. "Oh I didn't introduce myself." "I am Shogi, a second year here, and the girl on the poster is a third year". "Her name is Kano" Shogi dumping this information on me was surprising. "My name is Aki, but what made you think I wanted to know her name?" I turned my head like a confused dog and asked. "Ouch!" "No acknowledgement for me huh!" He sighed and placed his face in his palm. "I only told you because you were red in the cheeks when staring at the poster, which by the way, you did for about ten minutes". Oh yeah, can we go back to that? Ten minutes? What the hell happened to my brain during that time! I will have to scold it later. Kano huh. With a name like that, no wonder she is the front face of the athletics department at this school. My internal dialog was trying to process the information. "Hello?" "Aki!" "You are staring off again!" Shogi broke me from my daze. I must have not gotten enough sleep. "Please excuse me, I have to go!" Shogi looked genuinely concerned and shouted, "I hope we see each other again sometime", as I frantically ran off.

What the hell was that? What was I thinking? Ten minutes? Staring at a poster, and what was with that guy? He was freakin' tall! I ran into one of the sporting rooms and shut the door. I made sure to check if it was empty before entering. That embarrassment was too much, I just needed to hide to forget about it, and recharge myself. I sat in the corner of the room with my head in my knees. I peeked up for a second, and then realized, I am in the archery room! No wonder it felt warmer here. The room was half a classroom, and half a field, with targets at the end of the range. I quickly got up from my moping attitude and inspected the room. It was a day the archery team didn't have practice, so it was all to myself. Laying on one of the desks, was a brilliant midnight purple bow with a couple arrows sitting on top of it. The bow looked like it was crafted with premium materials. There were no visible welds or screws. It was truly majestic. The way it reflected off light was something you only could really get a feel for in person. It felt perfect in the hands. It nestles in your grip like it was molded for a hand. It was so light! I was expecting it to be heavier, but I was able to hold it with ease.

I drew an arrow and began to pull back. The weight of the draw was something I was not used to. While trembling, I aimed for the target and closed one eye, placing one foot forward. I readjusted my position to be more comfortable, and redrew the arrow. "Alright, time to see what I am capable of!" Smirking to myself, the draw began to feel lighter, as the crack of the arrow leaving the bow filled the room. The arrow shot like a bullet out of the bow. The arrow went right over the target and into the woods. "Well that was rather anticlimactic", I said to myself with a hint of sadness. I still felt like I could do better. Maybe at least keep it in the field. There's one more arrow, one more chance. I geared up for one more shot. Placing one foot in front of me, I put on my serious face. I drew the arrow and spent a good minute aiming. Sweat began to roll down my cheek as I could feel the heat of my skin leaving my body and entering the bow. My heart beat began to slow, as I released the arrow. Reverberations echoed across the room, like a bulls whip. Watching the arrow travel down the range felt like years, but really only lasted about a fraction of a second. The arrow landed dead center on the bullseye. I jumped for joy and congratulated myself. "That was so much fun!" I yelled to myself. As quickly as it arrived, the fun was over. I turned around and placed the bow back on the desk, but someone was standing in the doorway with the door ajar. She was a tall girl, with long vantablack hair. She seemed very familiar. Deja Vu perhaps? She gazed at me with a slight blush. It's almost as if she was researching something, and I was the topic.

I began to get red in the cheeks. Sweat was all over me. I must have looked like a crazy woman! I rushed to put the bow down and quickly apologized for intruding. Technically I wasn't supposed to be there, and it wasn't my bow. I bowed my head low and sympathetically said, "I am sorry for using your bow and trespassing when I am not supposed to!" The girl replied back, "Wow, you hit a bullseye with my new bow when I haven't even gotten one with it yet!" "You stole it from me!" She laughed then explained that it was okay, she enjoyed watching me. She fumbled her words. We both were blushing like a couple of ripe tomatoes. I dashed out of the classroom as fast as I could. This is too much embarrassment for one day! The day was already beyond unusual. I was suddenly unable to move. Quicker than a bolt of lightning, she grabbed my arm. We were now staring at each other as she held onto me. Her eyes sparkled, but they had determination. Like a skyscraper, I gawked up at her. The next line she said, was one that would forever change my life for the better. "My name is Kano Izumi, and I want you to join the archery club!"