Bus Station

BEEP BEEP BEEP…

5:15 AM. I fully stretched my arm to the nightstand where my alarm clock resided, turned it off and got out of bed. Honestly, I didn't have to wake up this early. The distance between my house to the bus station was about 750 meters, which would only take ten minutes. Of course, it was to the north so Saki had the shorter distance.

But I had always followed my motto: "Early is on time, on time is late, and late is late."

It couldn't be applied to everything but it had been working for me since forever. Anyway, I had 30 minutes to prepare so I hastily finished my routine. Breakfast was done, and it reached 5:30 AM. The sun was still crawling out of the crack of the skyline.

I checked everything in my gray messenger bag, all checked. The school didn't require us to wear uniforms for now, so I decided to wear a simple outfit. Obviously, I learned my lesson yesterday that the weather was chilly, so I put on my hooded white jacket.

5:45 AM, I sluggishly walked out of the house. I looked back to see its glory one more time before I set off on my journey to Inazuma. A land that was considered the main city of Hakuryuu as it held immense political and military power. Furthermore, the city had many cutting-edge technology that had been put to use in daily life. In short, it was ahead of every area in Hakuryuu in almost every aspect.

5:50 AM, I walked past the Hirawa's household. We decided not to meet up here because it would cause a possible delay. Also, the weather wasn't suitable for people to wait outside. Conveniently enough, the bus bay had an indoor room for waiting, thus going straight to the stop was a conventional plan.

5:55 AM, I arrived at the stop, I walked inside but Saki was not present. Five minutes until the bus would come to pick us up, she should have been here by now. I looked at the empty road while patiently waiting. I would have used my phone to kill time if I had one in my possession but the school forbade them.

I was continuously checking my watch when I heard someone running in my direction. A slightly small figure was sprinting frantically as if someone was chasing behind. It was none other than Saki.

"Hah-hello, Hiryu-kun," her voice cracked as she tried gasping for air after presumably running for five minutes.

"Took you long enough. Did you oversleep?"

"Y-yeah. But I'm not late, so that's a win… I guess, hehe," she awkwardly laughed it off and sat next to me.

"Why are you wearing that short of a skirt during early spring?" I asked. Though there was nothing wrong with wearing one, but the season was only altered to the first few days of April, which were generally colder compared to late spring.

Saki's outfit today resembled a school uniform: white sports shoes, ankle-high socks, plain grey pleated skirt, white tee, and brown wool jacket. Not that I knew what school uniforms for girls looked like in real life but I would assume so, as I had only seen them in movies.

"It was more of a snap decision, you see…" she ruefully grinned.

"Meaning, you would have had time to pick your outfit if you hadn't slept like a log?"

"You didn't have to say it outright, you know…?" Saki spoke softly and bitterly.

Did I go too far? Admittedly, I was horrible at analyzing daily conversations, thus me bantering at the wrong moment happened normally. I wasn't good at communicating in any way. But after I met and befriended Saki years ago, my conversational skills improved significantly. Still, it was flawed.

I heard the school bus coming toward us. It was an electric bus so there were only sounds of the wheels rolling on the pebble road. I stood up from the metallic seat and placed the palm of my hand on Saki's pink hair. I patted her quickly as a form of apology before withdrawing my hand.

I wasn't looking at her then so I didn't know her expression, but all I heard was a surprised squeak. I pretended to ignore that and waited for the bus to arrive.

Seconds later, the bus stood before me. The door slowly opened grandly. For a second, I thought I was an important celebrity with a lavish vehicle picking me up. I turned my head around and called for Saki, who was sitting lifelessly like a statue.

"Saki, the bus is leaving soon."

"O-oh, sorry…"

I could see her flustering while finding her feet. Impatiently waiting, I went behind her and pushed her along to the bus.

Finally, we got in the vehicle without taking too long. The driver looked daggers at us as we stepped on the bus. Having seen that, I slightly bowed to apologize for the inconvenience.

A vacant setting was in my sight. There were only two students sitting in the front. One was a blonde girl looking at the window, the other was a brawny boy sleeping with his head against the glass window.

The mood was kind of depressing, but that was to be expected. No one liked waking up early at all, and later they would experience an entirely new environment, so I could feel their sense of distress mixed with a flick of excitement.