Chapter 2: Making New Impressions
 
It felt like no time at all to get to Yamaku Academy. Although, I slept most of the trip, so that's really the only reason why it felt so short. As much as I wanted to get to Yamaku as soon as possible, I'm actually running a week late. The doctor's kept tabs on me for an extra week, just in case. I think it was either to dig a few more holes into my parents wallet, or it really took them that long to get all my pills ready. I have about a billion pills to take every day, every morning and every afternoon. Considering how bad my memory is, I think I'll be dead in about a week. Aside from my pills are all my clothes, porno mags, manga, and handhelds. Those last three items are an absolute essential for me to be living in a place like this.
 
As we pull up to the gate of the school, I can't help but help but feel scared. Even a badass like me gets scared on their first day of school. I get out of with an annoyed look on my face, squinting a bit as the sun beams directly into my eyes. I take a look around and notice that there are only a few students walking around. That's right, class is already in session. God dammit this is gonna be weird. My parents look at me and I nod. I've always been horrible at goodbyes. I give them their respective goodbye hugs and nod at them. They're going ahead to drop off my stuff while I make my way to class. They turn around and wave goodbye one more time and I'm pretty sad that I won't see them for a while. My mom is just as sad as I am, although she hopes that my moving away from home helps me clean up my act. My dad straight up told me that I better clean up my act or else.
 
I wave one final goodbye to my parents as they go ahead and I'm left there standing in front of a school gate. I finally take a look around and try to take in my surroundings. Yamaku is on top of a mountain hill thingy, so I guess that's pretty cool. We're isolated from the city, and the small town isn't much farther than a small walk away. To be honest, this is the first time that I've ever been outside of the city like this. The air tastes delicious. I take in a deep breath and let out a small sigh of happiness. Things aren't so bad about location at least. The school itself ain't too shabby either.
 
I shake away all my nerves and take my first step onto the school ground through the gates, a foreign feeling completely washing over me. "Ugh." I let out a loud groan as fear washes over me again. This place is an entirely new environment. Not just the school itself, but the surroundings too. It's going to take a while to get used to this. The campus grounds are just as lush and green as the god damn surroundings. Is this place even a real school? Maybe they take punks like me away to places like this and try to rehabilitate them. The surroundings do give off an extremely calm feeling and it's already sinking in. This is their plan all along! I give a light chuckle at my small attempts to try and calm myself; they aren't working.
 
I end up walking myself towards the main building while I was lost in thought. I hesitate a little before shaking my head and giving the door a long and hard glare. "You're Hisao Nakai, god dammit." I whisper to myself to try and keep my heartbeat steady. As soon as I open this door, my new life begins. I look back towards the gate and sigh. I've been sighing a lot today. It's my own little self defense mechanism. "Stop being such a pussy and just do it!" I slightly grit my teeth as I put my hand on the door. Here goes nothing.
 
I open up the door and the sight of a tall man with bad posture instantly greets me. I take note of his looks and how he looks a little rundown. He has a slight stubble on his cheek and his hair is black and messy. Almost as messy as mine. He wears a long brown coat over a simple dark gray linen shirt and black tie. I kind of think he looks like this one doctor from a TV show that I saw before... Who was that doctor again? Eh whatever, the show as weird anyway.
 
I start to look around the lobby and notice that nobody else is there. My eyes continue to wander around, taking in my surroundings as I feel a slight feeling of deja vu. My eyes eventually wander back towards the tall man and he gives me a slight nod. He looks to the corner of his eyes as if he's trying to remember whatever my name is. "You must be Na... Ni... Nu?" He starts to list off random syllables slowly, a small pause between each one as if to look for my approval. I force a smile and extend my hand to him, to which he quickly takes. His handshake is a little lacking, but at least he didn't mess it up.
 
"It's Nakai." I say before thinking a bit and widening my smile. "Hisao Nakai." I try to say smoothly. Then again, introducing myself to this guy doesn't really matter. As soon as I introduce myself I bring my hand back to my side, the Doctor doing the same.
 
"So you are. Excellent." he says, catching a little bit of surprise from me. His demeanor is a little less than formal than my own. I definitely like this guy. "I'm your homeroom and science teacher. My name is Mutou. Welcome." he says before looking at his watch, raising his eyebrow slightly before he turns back to me. “The head nurse has asked that I send you over for a brief check-in visit, but there’s no time for that now.” he says, only earning a blank stare from me in return.
 
“Alright.” I say, snapping Mutou back from whatever was distracting him. “Let’s get this over with, I guess.” I say, knowing full well that I’m going to have to face this class one way or another. My heart pounds a little bit from how nervous I am, but I won’t allow myself to be show it externally. Mutou seems to notice how nervous I am and only nods his head a little. “Do you want me to introduce you?” he asks suddenly. My heart seems to skip a beat for some strange reason. I guess I’m still nervous. Some badass I am.
 
“Nah, I’d rather do it myself.” I begin to say as I scratch the back of my head while giving him a sheepish grin. I really think this is my chance to kind of reinvent myself, give a good impression. Plus, if I don’t introduce myself hell they’ll think that I’m some kind of spineless wimp. “Uhh…” I start to let out a drawn out noise as I look down the hallway and start to hop from one leg to the other.
 
“Bathroom?” Mutou gives me a slight smirk, apparently amused by my actions. I just nod quickly and Mutou points to the right. “Go down that hallway and take a left at the end. The bathroom should be easy to find from there.”
 
“Thanks!” I say as I take off as fast as I can, feeling like my bladder is about to burst. Halfway down the hallway my heart starts to feel a bit uneasy so I slow myself down a bit to a very fast walk. I reach the end of the hallway and take a left as instructed, and low and behold, the sign for the men’s bathroom enters my view. I rush into the bathroom and take my position at a stall. As I bring out my mighty fire hose I feel as if the force of my relief is pushing me back, and I have to fight to keep myself grounded. After the mighty battle is over I let out a sigh of relief and go to wash my hands.
 
After washing my hands I hesitate as I stop to breath a little. Better wash my face to look all nice and pretty. After washing my face I just stare down at the sink for a while, watching the water spiraling down into the drain. I decide to look up and get a really good look at myself for what seems like forever. My hair is nice and messy like it always is, and just like my spirit, remains untamed. My clothes are pretty standard for me, although I feel a bit off knowing that I’m one of the only ones not wearing a uniform. Today, I’m wearing a nice black button up shirt with a grey sweater vest over it. Beneath I’m wearing dark blue jeans and some sneakers. People say that my choices in fashion are weird, what type of delinquent wears a sweater like this? Hisao ‘Mother-Fuckin’ Nakai. That’s who. Last guy who made fun of my sweater got his ass kicked pretty badly… I like my sweater.
 
I continue to check myself out in the mirror and check over my entire body. Damn. I look good. But what I fear that people may judge me the most for are my eyes. My face used to be pretty damn good looking, hell, it still is! But I mean… I used to have a baby face, something that some girls would swoon over sometimes. Now my face just looks cold, hard, and uncaring. Maybe a little angry. I let out a sigh before I try and force a soft expression and lighten up my face a bit. For a single second I see something that looks appealing before it returns to its normal cold look. Oh well, whatever.
 
I exit the bathroom with a satisfied smile on my face and return to Mutou and give flash him a thumbs up. Mutou nods again and turns around as he begins to lead the way. We go up two stories and my heart is already beating. At this point I’m not sure if it’s because I’m in horrible shape, or because I’m just nervous. We stop in front of the door and Mutou opens it and steps into the doorway. My body is hidden behind his own, although I can still see a few students trying to look over his frame to find me. The only thing they can probably see is my unruly hair.
 
As he moves forward I hesitate a bit before entering and mentally kick myself in the ass. C’mon Hisao! One step. Alright. So far so good… NOT GOOD ENOUGH! I slowly walk into the classroom a few seconds after Mutou and take in my surroundings. Everything looks pretty damn normal. The classroom, the desks, even the students… They all look normal. I take my stand next to Mutou and he begins his speech on welcoming me, and all that boring crap. I tune it all out despite how short it is and use this time to look around the classroom.
 
For the most part everybody in the class is staring at me, which is pretty uncommon. Despite how normal I thought they looked at first glance, with a little more concentration I’m able to see which ones at least have a physical disability. I begin my scan from the left of the classroom and slowly make my way across. I make eye contact with several individuals, although one dark haired girl seems to go pale the moment I make eye contact, looking away the moment I do so and covering her face with her hand. Am I really that scary?
 
Another noteworthy individual one of the one’s that isn’t looking at me. She has tan skin and brown hair, and she’s missing one hand. And her tits are freakin’ huge! As much as I want to keep staring at her, her gaze suddenly shifts to me and my eyes make a retreat to the other end of the classroom. There’s some cute girl with glasses throwing up gang signs to a cute pink-haired girl with drills. The girl with glasses makes eye contact with me and I feel like shit is about to go down. He gaze is just as hard as mine, and although I retreated from the last battle, I refuse to lose this one as well.
 
The girl and I continue our vicious battle before I hear Mutou finally coming towards the end of his speech. Damn… You win this battle girl-with-glasses. “...please welcome our newest classmate.” He claps his hands and so does everyone else, except that one girl in the front row who has only one hand. I find it kinda funny trying to imagine her trying to clap; the solution to the age-old question of “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”
 
Oh right, shit. I need to introduce myself. “Uhh…” I fumble around a little bit before shaking my head and letting out a deep sigh. “Hello everybody. My name is Hisao Nakai.” Alright. First part over. Keep going. “I like video game, fi...reading.” I don’t want them knowing about my love for such a brutal thing. Especially now considering that I can’t... our at least shouldn’t. “My bad for missing the first week of school. But I guess this is my first year… so two years and one week.” I start to go on and lose my train of thought as my eyes peer over to Mutou for a second. I snap back to my speech and give a light sigh. “Even though I’m a first year student, I hope that we can all get along. Thank you.” I say, not bothering to bow. Just putting my hands into my pockets and looking off through the window.
 
Mutou goes on about how it’s importance of getting along and I can’t help but notice how awesome it looks outside. It’s gonna be winter soon, huh… I’m get brought back to reality by an onslaught of clapping. I look back towards the class and try and get a good look at them one more time. Even the one-handed girl is clapping this time. I can’t exactly single out the sound, but I can ask her later. Question answered.
 
As the clapping dies down, Mutou pokes me on the shoulder. “Alright, so, today I’m going to be reviewing for a test tomorrow.” God dammit a test on the second day?! No fair! “Anyway, you don’t have to take the test. But it’s still good to know your stuff. So just stick around and ask your classmates for some notes or something.” Hallelujah!
 
Mutou gives a quick smirk at my facial expression suddenly points out past my shoulder. I turn around and notice that he’s pointing to an empty desk by the drill girl and glasses girl. “You’re gonna be sitting next to Hakamichi. She is the class representative. She can explain anything you might want to know. Just ask her after class.” He finishes before giving me a quick pat on the shoulder and sending me on my way.
 
I stand there for a few seconds looking like an idiot before that girl with the glasses suddenly glances at me. Her stare is hard and analytical, and there’s something about her eyes that just doesn’t feel right. They remind me of my own, except not scary or threatening looking. She gives me a slight smile and at my heart skips a beat. A girl is smiling at me! At that moment, my weakness overtakes me and I look away from her with a slight blush on my face. God dammit, I lost again.
 
I start to make my way over to the pink-haired wonder and take a seat next to her. She’s about to open up her mouth and let out a sound, but is stopped halfway by our teacher as he begins his lesson. I look out of the corner of my eyes and see her give a heavy pout as she turns away from me and focuses on the class. She’s really cute too. I return my focus back to Mutou and put one elbow up on the desk to help support my head. I let out a sigh and I can already feel myself nodding off. Same shit, different school.