Shy

Chapter 2

          Loud. 

That’s what she thought of in regards to her heartbeat. She finally managed to find her classroom after her “rough” encounter with the “delinquent”. She stood in front of the closed sliding door. Frozen in place, she pondered over what to do.

She didn’t really know what to think. Back at home, she mentally prepared herself for the emotional tax that her first day at school would bring. Standing right outside the classroom, however, threw all that mental preparation out the window.

She was extremely pale – even paler than usual. Her hands were shaking slightly. She had a cold sweat. Her palms felt hot and clammy. Standing in front of a large group of people and introducing herself did not appeal to her.

Just as she was about to run to the bathroom to hide, the teacher rounded the corner and spotted her. “Oh! You must be the student who fell sick the first few days and couldn’t come to school. Just wait right here until I call for you to come in, okay?” The teacher smiled and went in before she could reply.

Although the teacher’s smile and aura was rather pleasant, it did little to calm the girl’s nerves. She should have run away earlier. Now, it was too late. She heard the teacher inside trying to calm down the class. “Okay class! Settle down! We don’t necessarily have a new student, but she was sick the first few days of school and couldn’t come in. Treat her kindly! Alright, please come in now!”

This was it.

She hesitantly slid the door open. As she quietly walked into the room, whispers were heard. Automatically assuming that the whispers were bad, she started getting even more nervous. Unbeknownst to her, many of these whispers were actually just curiosities on her way of dressing in the uniform. It was so formal and modest that some students even started to speculate that she was a girl from a wealthy, refined family – an “ojou-sama”. 

She stood next to the teacher’s podium, feet together, hands in front of her clutching her bag tightly, looking down at her toes with her bangs covering her eyes.

The teacher looked at her worriedly. “Why don’t you write your name on the chalkboard and introduce yourself?” She flinched, but followed the request nonetheless.

Kita Tsukiko

The class waited for a little until she finally spoke. “…Um, I-I am Kita…Kita Tsukiko…Please t-take care…of…me” She slowly died out towards the end. By now, her face was a raging scarlet.

No, not her cheeks. Her face. Some students thought that it was rather endearing to see such a shy girl. Other students were confused as to why the girl had so much trouble over just introducing herself.

“Okay, Kita-kun. You can take the empty seat back there.” It was the seat farthest in the back and closest to the back door of the class. Perfect. The perfect place for her to make a quick and easy escape from confronting her social awkwardness.

On her way to the back, she passed by a girl with shoulder length blonde hair and star clips on the left side of her head. The girl gave her a small, timid smile. Tsukiko tensed, but returned it just as timidly.

Maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad year after all.

.

.

.

She was wrong.

It had already been a week and she still made no progress in making new friends. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to; it was just that she was much too shy to take initiative. Having come to school later than all the others, everybody around her already had their own groups or cliques.

She was unintentionally left out. Her teacher noticed. Tsukiko was called into the teachers’ office during lunch.

“Ah! Kita-kun, there you are! I need you to do a favor for me. Would you mind bringing this to a second-year named Matsumoto Hiroki? He’s probably in the second-year section, class one, eating lunch right now.”

Tsukiko paled instantly. “A-ah! I know you must feel nervous right now, but it’s already been a week since you came into school. You haven’t made much of an effort to make some new acquaintances, and I’m beginning to worry. I’ve expressed my concerns to the other teachers. They all think that this would be a good chance for you to get comfortable around here. Matsumoto-kun is a nice young man – very bright and easy-going. I know you’re a nice girl too Kita-kun. Just give it a shot, will you?”

She understood what he was asking of her and she knew that he meant well, but suddenly asking her to confront somebody she knew little to nothing about? An upperclassman, no less! She started to have a cold sweat again.

The teacher clapped his hand on her shoulder while he handed her some papers. “I’m sure you’ll do fine. Good luck!”

She’d be needing it. 

Tanaka was in his classroom scarfing down his lunch. “If you don’t slow down you’ll end up choking and die” stated Ennoshita. Tanaka swallowed his food and quickly defended himself, “Hey! If you want big, strong muscles like mine, you’ve gotta eat lots!” “Really…” Ennoshita said in a way that clearly showed that he was uninterested and did not believe him. Kinoshita and Narita chuckled behind their hands.

Tanaka became annoyed and grabbed both of the collars of their uniforms. “Hey, what are you lau-” He was cut off by the sound of the sliding door slamming to the side. Everybody in the class immediately looked to the entrance. 

Tanaka’s eyes widened and his grip slacked. It was her. The girl he had been worrying about, but never found.

There, stood Kita Tsukiko.