Otake Daigaku [Chapter 6]

[redux]

Yo, here's me after a little break. It's a short first chapter but I didn't want to go onto the next bit yet as the flow might have been a bit weird and I'm actually off out soon.

--------------------

Introduction


Saitama; Otake, the site for one of Japan’s most prestigious all girls schools. The situate was still only twelve years old but it had already earned itself quite a reputation.

The actual name of the complex was “Otake Daigaku”, quite simply “Otake University” and was the second of its kind in the country.

The two sites were much more than a simple school or university, more like a way of life for the students, this was for one simple reason; “Otake is for life.” Students would enrol at age six and continue to pursue their education all the way from Elementary School up until the end of High School, either through their college or university life if they so wished.

The second site was located in Meihama, Fukuoka and was the first and largest of the two setups, as well as being all girls only. Nevertheless both schools were held in the highest regard and only the wealthiest families could afford to send their children to such places. Or at least that is how it had been up until quite recently; within the past few years the schools had become more affordable as they had not been able to generate the income needed to keep themselves running. In order to tackle the problem fees were lowered by both schools simultaneously, clearly to compete directly with each other. Although this allowed more students the luxury of attending these schools it was still very much a luxury to do so, prices were still extremely high and it was still a small percentage of adults that could afford to give such an education to their children.

Meihama was four years Otake’s elder and a huge rivalry had developed between the two of them in their short existence. Sporting rivalries often boiled over on and off the field of play which only made things worse for relations and Internet communities setup for the schools to share were more often than not swarmed with abuse and hatred for other school members.

This year would mark an event that had never been seen by the two schools, something that went against everything they both stood for, something that showed a complete lack of loyalty and respect; a transfer student.

Yajima Maimi was transferring from Meihama to Otake and before too long rumour had gotten around both schools and there was quite a buzz around both places. At Otake there was a mixture of anger, excitement and pure curiosity between both teachers and students alike, this was major news and almost everyone had took an interest at the school and there was plenty of speculation as to what exactly this new girl would be like.

The staff at Otake knew themselves that this was a major thing to happen and so tried to deflect as much attention away from the new girl despite being just as curious themselves. Students were informed that the new girl would be arriving at the start of the new school year ready for when they all return and that expectations were to allow the girl to fit in as if she had always been one of them, yet they knew themselves that this was never going to happen.

However, much to the students surprise the only new additions to the school were those in their first year of education, clearly none of them being able to be ex-Meihama students. It was only a matter of time before excitement died down and very little else was said on the matter again, it was assumed that the student had simply got cold feet after realising the situation and decided to either stay at Meihama or quite altogether. Though this was not the case; in mid June a new student was brought into the school but by this time interest in the subject was low and so few people even noticed there was a new girl amongst the thousands of others already present.

This time Yajima had indeed joined the students at Otake and despite not being a very well thought out planned the staff had successfully allowed her to start her life there with minimum fuss. For now at least; Otake proved to be very different from Meihama and in the first few days of her time there she would meet just some of the many characters there, for better or for worse.

[redux]

Chapter 1

“What did you say your name was again?” the tall girl asked.

“I didn’t, and it’s Yajima Maimi.”

Yajima was finding it hard to listen to this girl, she was supposed to be showing her around but Yajima was too distracted by everything and everyone around here. One difference certainly stood out from Meihama, uniforms; there wasn’t one here at Otake. It made what would have been an ordinary scene back at Meihama look awash with colour and Yajima found herself fascinated by it. Even the slender girl directing her around wore a bright orange Adidas tracksuit which probably would have burnt the retinas of those back at Meihama had she walked down the street wearing it.

“Well Yajima I’m sure you’ll find things pretty different from your old school, Otake is a one of a kind that’s for sure. Where was it you studied before you came here?”

“Ah just a small place in Kurume, nothing fantastic really, this place definitely looks more interesting that’s for sure.”

“Ah right, cool. So how come you’ve suddenly decided to come here?”

“My dad just got a new job and the payout is a lot better than his last one, just meant we had to move away though. Good thing for me I guess, I never would have got to study here if it hadn’t been for that.”

“Yeah sure...but no friends to leave behind or anything like that? Must have been a big thing for you yeah?”

“Not really, I didn’t really have many friends back home and the ones I did have weren’t the greatest friends in the world either. I’m glad to be here really so I can be amongst some people who don’t have to share one brain cell between them.

Yajima was telling the truth for some part, at least about her friends, the fact that her father had moved to Saitama was indeed thanks to a job which offered a much better salary, not that an education at Otake couldn’t have been afforded beforehand.

“Well to be honest I’ve pretty much showed you around everywhere that you need to see; unless there’s somewhere else you wanna take a quick trip to?”

“No I’m fine thanks. I may go back to the soccer pitches later to watch the teams training, it looked like it could be fun to try out for the team next year.”

“Ah I wouldn’t worry about that, trials are open all year around so you’d be welcome down there anytime.”

“Oh that’s...strange.”

“Nah not really, what’s the point of waiting for another year if someone special just happens to turn up eh?”

“I suppose so.”

“Just out of curiosity, what position do you play?”

“Midfield, on the right side.”

“Oh, okay.” The girl suddenly looked quite disappointed.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No, not at all.” The girl said flashing a smile, “It’s just that I heard they need a right sided defender instead, apparently been a problem for quite some time now. Oh well never mind eh? The captain’ll be more than happy to see a new face.” She had a quick check of her watch before looking back at Yajima, “Well I’ve got a lecture in ten minutes, I can’t really miss this, I haven’t been to one all year, see you again Yajima!”

With that she darted off in the direction they’d come from and jogged up some stone steps before disappearing from view.

“I hope not.” Yajima murmured under her breath.

Yajima was left stood in a park with plenty of people bustling around, all students of course. The layout of the place was very similar to what she had experienced at Meihama, the entire area was basically cut off from the outside world, more like a prison than a boarding school. It didn’t bother Yajima too much though as she’d gotten used to it and grown up inside this environment the whole time. Special permission was needed to leave the school and it was very rare that students left for the holidays, parents weren’t allowed to visit unless it was an absolute emergency, and it would be the school that decided if and when there was an emergency. Naturally no visitors were allowed either, certainly not boys.

Despite its striking similarities the only thing Yajima could focus on were the stark contrasts. The way that the tall girl had spoken to Yajima simply didn’t happen at Meihama,she hadn’t even bothered to introduce herself , manners were needed at all times, Yajima did like to think of herself as a rule breaker though and found it quite refreshing to see. She’d made sure to listen to others conversations as she’d been shown around the school grounds and there was a much more relaxed attitude between students, at the moment she wasn’t quite sure whether this would be a good thing or she would grow to detest it.

She checked her phone for the time, almost four o’clock. She decided that now was as good a time as any to check out her new room so she proceeded to take out a map she’d been given by the girl from here pocket. What exactly the girl had been doing this map before she’d given it to Yajima she didn’t really want to think about, the token coffee ring was in the top left corner and on the back it was slightly sticky and was a holding a few hairs in place. Thankfully the map was quite detailed as Otake was still a big place even if she had just come from Meihama. As she examined the map two girls walked past laughing.

“You’ve been here how long and still don’t know you’re way around?”

Yajima didn’t bother to look up at them, instead she simply folded the map and placed it back in here pocket and headed to her new room, she prayed to god she wouldn’t hate whoever she’d be living with; but she wasn’t holding her breath.

[Sancho]

Hmmmm.... This is interesting. So in Otake, They wear anything they want? I mean you said that they don't have uniforms.

[redux]

Yeah the girls don't bother with uniforms at Otake, they just wear whatever they want (within reason of course...)

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Chapter 2

Several wrong turns later and Yajima found herself stood at her new homes door; accommodation for the students was separated between three huge buildings that rose high into the sky. The interior wasn’t exactly the most impressive looking for a lot of the girls here but it they weren’t really of a poor standard.

Yajima reached for the key in her pocket and checked the number etched onto it; ninety three, this was the right room. It had been quite a trek up nine flights of stairs so Yajima was grateful that her belongings were already packed for her and sorted in her room. As she turned the key into the wooden door she was taken aback at the smell and sensation that overcame here. It definitely wasn’t a smell she was familiar with and she stood stunned for a few seconds in the doorway, she couldn’t describe what the smell was, it certainly wasn’t food. Really it smelled like some sort of smoke but...nice.

Yajima stepped into the door and closed it behind her, the room she stood in was obviously her communal area and she made it her priority to count the seats of which there were six. A single window stood on the opposite side of the room from where she was stood and the curtains were drawn making it hard to see. There was a TV complete with DVD player and Playstation 3, which impressed Yajima if these were provided by Otake itself, not that it mattered too much to her anyway as she had no intention of making any use of them.

A door on the right side of the room opened and out stepped a girl still dressed in her pyjamas and rubbing her eyes. As she looked up she looked startled to see Yajima.

“Who are you?” she asked bluntly.

“Erm, my name’s Yajima Maimi, I just got moved in here today.”

“Oh yeah we got told about you, you’re here early aren’t you? It’s still dark outside.”

“Err....no, it’s four pm already, you do now the curtains are shut?”

“Eh? So they are.” The girl said disinterested as she plonked herself onto the sofa and grabbed the TV remote. There was a brief silence before the TV set fired into life and the girl seemed to lose all interest in Yajima instantly.

“So, what’s your name?”

“Tsugunaga Momoko.” She replied not taking her gaze away from the TV set.

Again silence ensued and Yajima felt more than slightly awkward as she stood in silence not quite sure what to say or do next.

“What’s that smell?” she finally asked.

“Smell? Aw shit, I told Miyabi to open the window before she went to sleep.” She leaned across from her seat and opened the curtains and flung open the window. “Damn it’s bright.” She said as she drew the curtains again.

“So what is it?”

Tsugunaga finally looked directly at Yajima looking annoyed.

“Are you trying to be funny?”

“Erm, no.”

“Then stop being so dense.” She replied giving her full attention back to the TV set.

Yajima gave an exasperated sigh and started to head through the door Tsugunaga had just come from.

“Where are you going?” she asked, stopping Yajima in her tracks.

“I take it the bedrooms are through here?”

“Yeah, that’s the kitchen but on your right there’ll be a little set of stairs, just head up there and you’ll see the bedrooms. My rooms still open but don’t even think about taking anything from in there.”

“...Right.”

Yajima followed the directions she’d been given but couldn’t believe what she’d heard from this Tsugunaga so far. She decided that she’d probably be annoyed to if a new roommate had joined her at Meihama though so she could sort of understand her frustration and decided to give her the benefit of the doubt for now.

Yajima wasn’t sure which room was hers but a quick look at her key showed a small “3” etched underneath the ninety three. Her room was at the furthest end of the corridor so Yajima headed over to it and opened the door. As soon as she did she felt a wave of fresh air wash over her, whatever smell had been filling up the living area hadn’t quite made its way into her room. After a quick inspection sure enough Yajima found pretty much everything she needed or wanted in her room and so she dumped herself onto her bed and lay there for a few moments thinking to herself.

Was all of this really such a good idea? She couldn’t have carried on at Meihama even if she’d wanted to but would it have been better to go to a regular school? For now it was a secret who Yajima was but she wasn’t sure of how long it would stay like that, after all the girls she’d be living with already knew something was out of the ordinary, if she was quizzed about it what should she say? The girl in the orange tracksuit had been a prefect from the university section of the school and so she trusted she wouldn’t say anything, which might have been foolish in itself; but at least one of the girls she was living with didn’t really seem to care much about what happened to Yajima and if the others were the same she wasn’t sure how long she’d be able to stand up to them before any questions forced her to crack and tell them who she was.

Yajima tried to adjust her thoughts to more positive ones as this was a fresh start after all, she hadn’t gotten on with many people at Mehima and this was her chance to try again, the last thing she needed was to start off on the wrong foot with people. She decided to try and be a little more tolerant of people she came across as the only two people she’d spoke to so far had both annoyed the hell out of her. Her thoughts finally gave in and she drifted off to sleep quickly after so much travelling in the past few day; she decided that tomorrow would be her fresh start on things and try to put the minor mishaps she’d had already behind here. Why not enjoy here time here? After all there were girls all around the country who would give anything to be in the situation she was in right now. Tomorrow Yajima would meet the rest of her flatmates, and gain a massive insight into what life at Otake was really like.

[Sancho]

It's already Chapter 2 but for me, Maimi is still a mysterious girl. She kind of antisocial back at her old school. And what's wrong with the ordinary school? But the most thing I'm curious is the smell that Momoko didn't bother to say. What is it??

Well looking forward for more. 

[JFC]

Her roommates are tokers?

[modesta107]

Y' know what? this story has Maimi, so I'm reading it.
That first girl Maimi talked to....Erika?
I'm still wondering what that smell in the room was, hehe

[redux]

Chapter 3

Classes didn’t start until the start of next week for Yajima and so she decided to give herself a lie in, setting her alarm for twelve o’clock. As she slowly opened her eyes the sunlight from outside was creeping into her room from around the edges of the closed curtains. She took her time getting herself washed and changed and start familiarise herself with her new room a little more.

She headed down the stairs into the kitchen and took out some bread and started to make some toast. After her time travelling around the country her lie in had left her feeling refreshed and much more alert than she had for quite some time. She generously spread butter over the toast and got herself a plate before heading into the next room and grabbing herself a piece and raising it to her mouth; as she did she almost slid her toast straight off the plate in surprise. There were four girls sat in the living all of whom turned their heads to look at Yajima as she came in, she stood there in shock still holding her piece of toast aloft and her mouth wide open ready to take a bite.

“This is her, Yajima...that was your name right?” Tsugunaga said ignoring the surprised look on her face.

Yajima quickly recovered not wanting to make a fool of herself.

“Err, hey. I’m Yajima Maimi, nice to meet you all.” She said placing the food back onto the plate.

“Take a seat.” One of the girls sat on the large sofa by the window said.

“Oh thanks” Yajima said placing herself down on the only empty seat left in the room.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the same girl asked.

“Huh?”

“Did I say you could sit on the sofa?”

“Yeah you just-“

“I said take a seat; I never mentioned the sofa.”

Yajima couldn’t believe what she was hearing and looked at the other girls in disbelief and half in hope; but all she got was unwelcoming glares back at her. Reluctantly she picked herself up again and took a seat on the floor facing the sofa.

“Yeah, just make yourself at home.” The girl said again diverting her attention to the TV the same way Tsugunaga had done the day before.

Yajima wasn’t sure if this was a joke or if the girls were all going to burst out laughing at any time telling Yajima would a fool she’d been to listen to them. Right now though they all looked stern faced and didn’t look like they found anything remotely amusing.

“I guess I’m gonna have to introduce you then eh?” Tsugunaga said sounding frustrated. “That’s Okai Chisato.” She said pointing in the general direction of the girl who’d just told Yajima to sit on the floor. “This is Sudou Maasa...” she continued, looking over at a girl sat on the seat closest to the flat entrance. She was holding a cup of tea and was staring down into its contents looking completely disinterested in the current goings on. “...and this is Natsuyaki Miyabi. Dunno how long you’ll be living with us but it’ll be at least until the end of this term.”

Natsuyaki had been watching Yajima the whole time which made her feel uncomfortable. Despite this Yajima couldn’t help but think how innocent she looked sat huddled up with her knees clutched up to her chest while she sat on her fluffy chair.

Yajima had been avoiding her gaze but as she finally took a bit out of her toast she looked straight at her and to her surprise Natsuyaki flashed her a smile which she couldn’t help but return; as soon as she did Natsuyaki looked away and like the others went straight to the TV set. Yajima felt strange so far, people seemed either intent on staring straight at her or making no contact with her whatsoever. Just then she realised something.

“Aren’t you forgetting someone?”

“What?” Tsugunaga replied sounding annoyed by Yajimas very voice.

“Aren’t there six of us here?”

“Well there are four of us...and there’s you. That means there’s five people living here if that’s what you mean.”

“But there are six rooms here right?”

“Oh, well we haven’t seen the other one, not since the first day here.”

“What happened to her?”

“How the hell should I know?”

Yajima had had enough, she wasn’t going to be spoken to like this any longer.

“What is your problem?” she said not holding herself back, the other girls whipped around to look at her except Sudou who continued to stare down into her tea. “Why do you have such an obvious problem with me already?”

“Excuse me?” Okai said sounding extremely offended and very angry.

“It’s pretty obvious you don’t want me here,” Yajima answered, “but I didn’t ask to be put here with you lot and you’ve obviously got a problem with me just for the fact that I’m new. Well sorry to break up your little social circle here but I’m living here too now so-“

“I don’t know who you think you are,” Okai interrupted, “ but in case you haven’t noticed we’ve all taken the day off from our classes to welcome you here. You should be thankful.”

For a brief moment it looked as though Yajima was going to get a conversation out of one of these girls that they were showing enthusiasm in; but that quickly died down as Okai turned away from here the moment she’d finished speaking.

Yajima was still in shock; they thought they were doing her a favour by skipping there classes? Skipping there classes just to talk down to her?

“This has got to be a joke. Right?”

“What has? Your attitude?” Tsugunaga said viciously.

“Forget it, I’m out of here.”

Yajima threw her plate onto the floor and stormed out of the flat but not before hearing Okai shout “Don’t come back!” as she slammed the door.

Yajima stormed her way down every flight of stairs and flung the entrance door open before marching through the entire courtyard and just kept going, tears starting to form in her eyes.

[g4rfield]

WOW! First time reading a fic where Momoko can be such a bitch, an obvious one at that. Heh. Should be interesting to see where all this headed. Nice pace on the updating, keep it up!  One question echoing on my head, WHO is Yajima Maimi? 

[rndmnwierd]

Wow, not even there 24 hours and she's already running into trouble. As long as she can stand up for herself, I'll still have my respect for Maimi. And please just tell me that the smoke was incense...

[Grisours]

momoko and chisato are really annoying in this story...
at first I thought maimi was a little too, because she thinks everybody has a problem with her or kept staring at her, leading me to think she's maybe a little rude too. 
and miyabi, who's usually the annoying/rude girl, is now the only girl that was "nice" to maimi (and maasa, if not bothering maimi counts as being nice).
keep it up! 

[Sancho]

Sometimes. Being new sucks. It's a good thing that she'll only be having a problem with the 2. Atleast there are girls who are nice to her. But my sense keeps telling me that Maimi shouldn't trust them easily. Sometimes, nice people are scarier. They don't show there motives at first.  (This emoticon is cool >_< ). For now, Maimi's best thing should be her guts in order to survive the whole term.

Looking for more. Keep it up!!! 

[redux]

Sorry with the slow updat guys, I'd understand if you'd thought I'd given up on this one too but thankfully not as I'm enjoying writing this one.

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Chapter 4

Sitting on the park bench Yajima held her head in her hands and tried to gain a little more composure, it’d been a while since she’d lost her cool as she had in the flat.

She’d been sat on the bench for about two hours thinking just how badly her start had been to her new life. Her face was damp from her tears but she’d managed to get a hold of herself eventually and found herself feeling a little stupid. She knew this wasn’t the perfect start to things but she hated getting angry, she knew it never solved anything for her and every time she blew her lid she always regretted how she’d acted.

Yajima looked up and let out an exasperated sigh; everyone else in the park seemed to be having fun and she wished she could have just stood up and joined in but nobody had any idea who she was. It took a moment for her to realise but Yajima slowly turned her head and was surprised to see that she’d been joined on the park bench.

The girl sat next to her appeared extremely young and her innocence was evident just by looking at her.

“You sure must have been crying for a while, you were at it before I even got here.” If it had been said by one of the girls back at the flat Yajima may have taken what the girl had said as trying to be funny but it was obvious straight away that she was very different from the others.

“Yeah I had, I’m fine now though.”

“That’s good to hear; a lot of people who come here always seem to be upset. I guess it makes me sad too when I see them.” The girl continued to speak while still facing forward, the lack of eye contact Yajima had encountered so far was really starting to irritate her.

“So what’s your name?” Yajima asked. That seemed to spark something off in the girl and she quickly turned to Yajima with a broad grin on her face.

“Suzuki Airi., pleased to meet you.” She said with an outstretched hand.

“Yajima Maimi.”

“Hmm, how old are you? I don’t remember hearing your name anywhere before.”

“Fifteen, but I’m sure you don’t know everyone in the school.”

“Almost everyone, there’s still a couple I haven’t memorised.”

“Memorised?”

“Yeah I’ve memorised most people’s names in Otake. It wasn’t really difficult seeing as I have so much free time.”

Yajima was intrigued by what the girl meant but also worried about what she may say next as she was beginning to think she may have been slightly insane.

“And why exactly do you have so much free time?”

“Well no-one really seems to notice me so other than class I have the rest of the time to myself.

Yajima began to imagine the girl sat in her flat locked in her room with the curtains drawn with a book full of names of every girl in Otake written underneath pictures of stick figures being killed in various brutal ways.

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” Yajima asked a little nervously.

“Like what? I figure that I might as well learn everybody’s name so that if anyone does decide to talk with me I’ll know who they are.”

“So what….you’re bullied or something?”

“Haha don’t be stupid! Nobody wastes their time bullying people like me, they don’t think I’m worth it.”

Yajima was really starting to get freaked out by what Suzuki was saying. Her flatmates may have been jerks but they weren’t half as creepy as Suzuki was and she was rather wishing she’d stay back at home.

“I know it sounds a bit silly but that’s just the way it’s been since I came here.” Suzuki said shrugging. She then paused before saying something that caught Yajima even more by surprise.

“You’re the new girl right?”

Yajima’s eyes widened in shock, was she just guessing or did she actually know?

“What makes you say that?”

“Well I’m certain that you are…but then I’m certain that you’re not too, if that makes any sense?”

“Err, not really.”

“Well the new girl would try to fit in. She’d be different from everyone else so she’d have to try to fit in. But…you don’t fit in at all. You stand out so much it’s unreal.”

“How?”

“There’s nobody like you here at Otake, not even remotely. I think it may just be some trick to get attention though am I right? After all if you are the new girl you’d be found out in no time at all.”

“What exactly makes me so different?”

“Everything, like I said there’s no-one like you at Otake….and I should know.”

“Well okay, say I am the new girl, so what?”

“It doesn’t bother me.” Suzuki said standing up still grinning. “Don’t worry I won’t tell anybody. Even if I wanted to they wouldn’t listen.”

Yajima figured that she could understand why no-one acknowledged Suzuki, she was extremely friendly yet also very creepy.

“Well I gotta go now anyway.” Suzuki said cheerfully.

“I thought you never had anything to do?”

“Well I didn’t; but now I’ve gotta go add you to the list.”

And with that Suzuki skipped off back towards the flats humming to herself.

[Grisours]

Awww, Airi's so cute!! but it's sad she doesn't have friends, I hope Maimi becomes her friend...
it's also sad that Maimi cried because of her start. I want to see how that turns out eventually, so keep it up 

[rndmnwierd]

Man, that is kinda creepy. But Airi's still awesome.

[slasha]

I hope Maimi feels better.Maybe Airi can help her somehow.

[JFC]

Airi's a bit of an oddball, but hey, at least she's being friendly with Maimi.

[redux]

Chapter 5


Suzuki had knocked the stuffing out of Yajima in a way, and it took her a while to recover from their conversation; what worried her most was that so far she’d been the one whose conversation had made most sense too her. In a way she kind of wished that Suzuki would come back to see her again as the hours rolled on but it didn’t happen, in fact no-one even batted an eyelid in the direction of Yajima, never mind try and start up a conversation with her.

Yajima checked her phone, it was almost six o’clock already and she hadn’t done anything all day, so she decided it was time to luck her courage up. Time to go and confront her flatmates over what had happened earlier; what she was going to say to them she did exactly know but she knew things couldn’t stay the way they were right now. As she made her way back to her room she took very little notice of what was going on around her, the sun was starting to go down and there were less people around but Yajima noticed absolutely nothing. She was too deep in thought, deep in thought about everything in general, why had things gone so badly? Why was she feeling so sorry for herself? Yajima didn’t like feeling sorry for herself and she felt kind of weak fro doing so but with so many strange new things and people around her she couldn’t help it.

Before long she found that she was back at her flat and opening the door to her living room with her heart pounding at a mile a minute. Did she really care what the others thought of her that much? She didn’t even know herself but if so then it was the first time in her life that a feeling like this was coming over her. She’d always been under the impression that you should be yourself no matter what but for someone reason she felt the need to adapt to this new lifestyle. Carrying on the way things were going were just too much for her to handle at the moment.

She slowly turned her key in the lock and gingerly poked her head around the door. She was sort of thankful to find just Natsuyaki Miyabi sat in the room, in the exact same place and position as she had been when Yajima had left the room earlier. Again she was greeted with the warm smile and despite how nervous she felt Yajima couldn’t help but feel warmed by it.

“Hey.” Natsuyaki simply said before turning her head back to the television set.

She’d uttered just one word and yet Yajima felt at home, completely safe and despite how naïve she felt she was under the impression that as long as Natsuyaki was there she’d be safe.

She returned the smile and went to sit in the seat that Sudou had occupied earlier.

“I wouldn’t sit there.” Natsuyaki said before she could do so, “She’ll know you’ve been sat there.”

Without further explanation Natsuyaki instantly diverted her attention away from Yajima. She couldn’t help but feel paranoid about this whole situation. Were people here really that fascinated by the television or was Yajima really that awful to look at? Either way Yajima had decided to make an effort about things, and she wasn’t about to change her mind for something as trivial as that.

“So, you guys done anything today?” Yajima asked forcefully. Despite Natsuyaki’s warm glow she could tell that she found this just as awkward as she did.

“Not really. We had the day off for you, we was hoping we culd spend some time to get to know you.”

What was she meant to say in reply? She certainly wasn’t sorry for walking out earlier but was she meant to feel guilty?

“Well erm, sorry but I don’t think things went so great between us earlier.”

“You’re right.” Natsuyaki answered. “Things went really bad between us earlier, not a single one of us liked you.”

A little harsh, Yajima though to her self, but at least she was taking the time to have a civil conversation unlike her other flatmates.

“You should know, we’re a pretty tight knit bunch here in this dorm, and if you’re not with us you’re against us.”

This is starting to sound pretty pathetic Yajima thought to herself.

“So the way things are right now, I’d prefer if you just stayed out of our way, okay? It’s better for both of us that way, especially you.”

Yajima sat in stunned silence for a few moments. Was this mean to be some kind of threat or challenge? Whatever it was she certainly wasn’t rising to it.

“Look,” she said, “I’m really not in the mood for some kind of war between you and you’re friends, especially since I’ve only just got here. You seem like a really nice girl yourself but I don’t think this is fair, any of it. You’re all out-“

“Fair?” Natsuyaki laughed a little, she sounded as if she was genuinely surprised. She turned to Yajima almost with a look of pity in her eyes.

“You’ll realise that nothing here is fair. I don’t know exactly which dorm you’ve been moved from but it’s pretty obvious you were sheltered from the rest of the whole school. While you’re living here you’ll stick to our rules okay?”

Before she even had a chance to answer Natsuyaki carried on speaking.

“There is no “fair” here and there never will be. My only guess is that you’re one of those who lived over in the northern dorms away from the real people here. Well seeing as you’ve asked for a transfer over to here you’re going to have to get used to the way things work. You try and be an individual and you’ll get kicked into the gutter, you try and make a name for yourself and you’ll get beat down so bad…The point is that you’re part of the system, now until you leave, and it certainly isn’t going to be someone like you who’s going to change that okay? You don’t like it? Go talk to someone who cares, because we all know how things work around here, you obviously don’t…..See you in the morning.”

[JFC]

Definitely getting stranger here, particularly seeing/hearing individuality being rejected, and conformity being proclaimed as the "thing to do".

[slasha]

I hope she makes at least some friends...