Hikari Aizawa's Story

Kazuo and Takumi were eating their meals together, chatting about how their morning has been seperated away from each other. Takumi's majors are computer technology and science study, and it seemed that they turned out to be quite fun for him too. He had thought them to be quite boring, based on what his senpais told him when he's still at High School, but at least he wouldn't be bored to death now. Besides, it's much easier to take a nap here and there during a lecture now, something he personally found to be satisfying.

The whole cafeteria was filled with chatters and conversations though and they weren't the only newbies around. Fortunately, Kazuo didn't stand out very much in comparison with when he's still in High School, except for a few bickers here and there about how he and Takumi were walking and talking with Hikari earlier that day, but he can rest assure a bit that his college life can be a smooth sail from now.

"Hey, guys. Mind if I join you?" Miki spoke up and joined them as he sat down at the table they were sitting and they happily accepted. It was now that Kazuo realized some girls were squealing and expressing their admiration for the guy, thus gaining more attention towards their table. "Looks like you're just as new, but you've already become quite a hot issue, huh?" Kazuo asked with a grin.

"Well, it's not like I really care much about it though. If someone was to be hot issues, I believe you two are more likely to be. You seemed to be just the guys that girls around here would fawn over for." Miki scratched the back of his head and smiled, "So how was your first morning in college?"

And so, the three of them chatted away until lunch break was over. Well, it's no surprise that they can converse as if they've been friends for long, taking into account of how sociable they all were. However, what really takes both Kazuo and Takumi aback was when Miki suddenly confessed about the reason why he and Hikari had been acting weird earlier that day, and how he felt about him. Both of them didn't know how what to say, but Miki seemed genuine about what he said, so Kazuo told him to hang in there, and things will surely get better. Miki had also told them to keep it a secret, as he still need time to "sort his feeling out." Of course, Kazuo and Takumi happily accepted.

The afternoon lessons went on peacefully, though Kazuo didn't come across with his roommate, so he secretly wondered about him often. After seeing how people treated Hikari, it's natural for him to be worrisome. But he tells himself not to concern over it too much. Sometimes, the frailest can actually be the toughest. After the lessons, Kazuo stopped by the Swim Club, as the president had requested the freshly joined to attend a meeting of sorts to introduce themselves. And, dressing in swimsuit is also required.

Takumi had already made his way to the Basketball Club and Miki had gone to Parkour Club, respectively, so he's on his own way to the Swim Club's dressing room. There were about 14 guys there, all of them are freshmen like him, though he didn't know anyone of them. From what he observed, half of them are just as ripped as him, while the rest are, well, a little slender. Well, it isn't like he was being arrogant or something, but he's quite confident in his swimming skills. He made it to the top 4 in the national in his second year back in High School, after all. There could be some real monsters here though, I could never know.

When all the freshmen gathered at the pool, a young man with blonde hair walked out from the club's room. Standing in front of all of them, he cleared his throat before introducing himself. "Welcome everyone to the Swim Club of Tokyo Uni. As everyone might have already known, I'm Tsubasa Shiraishi - the president of this humble club. Or the so-called "second final boss" as Yukimizu-sensei usually stated me." He said in a joking manner that made everyone chuckled, Kazuo included, "The activities around our club will mostly be hosted by me, though sensei will also attend whenever he's free."

As Tsubasa swept a gaze through everyone, he continued, "It seemed that the amount of people applying for our club is a bit shorter in comparison to the previous years, but I can see that there are some real talents joining us..." He cast his gaze upon Kazuo and a couple of others, "...while some are apparently new to this sport. But anyhow, I'm looking forward to work with you all. Let's have a lot of fun together, shall we? Now, it's time for you to introduce yourself and what you're capable of."

And so, the freshmen took their turn to introduce themselves. When it was Kazuo's turn to introduce himself, he realized that some of the guys seemed to know him. Tsubasa even stated that he knows of Kazuo's records and his nickname "black marlin of Sapporo." However, he just humbly addressed that he still had a lot to learn and hoped to get along well with everyone.

For another hour, Kazuo had had fun practicing with his new friends. He had learnt a lot and taught a lot for the newbies too. It's natural for him to get along with people, after all. Not all of them were really fond of him, but participating in club activities had always been a pleasure for him, so he only hopes that it will go well like this until graduation.

When the president called it a day, Kazuo packed up and made his way home. Both Takumi and Miki hadn't finished with theirs yet, and Hikari apparently still have a couple of lectures, so he's alone for now. It's not that late, after all. So after making it back to the apartment, he just took a shower before sitting down by the kotatsu table to read the weekly magazine he's just bought on his way home. A while later, Hikari returned and he greeted him as they joined at the dining table.

While they were conversing, Kazuo was again taken aback as the topic about the relationship between Hikari and Miki was brought up. He honestly doesn't know how to feel about it all, since he had never really been in love before. But in some way, he sympathizes for both of them. He was thinking of telling Hikari of how Miki feels toward him, but he's not the one to go back on his promise.

"Well, it's not like I was curious about it or anything because both me and Taku know that it seemed to be a rather... personal topic. But I'm sure that everything will turn out alright." Kazuo replied to Hikari with a smile, "And, I'm glad you're okay too. I know things will get a bit awkward, but I'm always here to lend a helping hand if you need."

After dinner, they chatted for a while about what has happened during the day before decided to settle down for the night. As Kazuo said goodnight to Hikari, he flopped down on his futon and exhaled a breath that his first day at college had passed, with a lot of things happened. He surfed through Twitter with his phone for a while, chuckling at a selfie his dad had just uploaded, with him holding a young boy and a beautiful middle-aged woman, each on his sides. Indecent old man...

Just like that, the day quietly passed by.