Volume 2's POV: Third Person

"Yuki, you came home yesterday and went straight to bed, I never got to know what your first day was like. How was it?" Miyuki's adoptive mother asked, passing a plate of home-cooked eggs and bacon to her. Miyuki was sitting at the table in silence, forking her eggs slowly. That PE class still stuck in the back of her mind. Her feelings about what happened that day had taken a different turn from what she felt originally. Was she embarrassed anymore? No, Miyuki felt perfectly fine. Was she confused? That was still the case.

"It was good." is all she responded, speaking in a tone that made obvious to anyone with keen ears that it indeed wasn't 'good'.

"Hmmm, did you make any new friends? Maybe meet friends you knew from Junior High?" her mother slowly asked. It was pretty often she saw Miyuki act this way, so it wasn't new to her to see Miyuki lie and say 'it's fine', she just had to poke and prod a little further.

"Nope." After forking her eggs for a minute or two, she'd finally take a bite out of her eggs. It was a fine meal, but her adoptive mother wasn't exactly the best cook. Eggs and bacon were the best things she knew how to make on the breakfast menu. Even then however, it was still just 'good', which sufficed enough for Miyuki.

"No one? Hmmm, that sucks. I was the same way on my first day of High School. I barely knew most people there. I felt awkward trying to make new friends at first, but I eventually did!"

"Hm..." Miyuki huffed, not feeling too interested in the return of her mother retelling her stories. They all ended in the same theme and told the same message that she heard for the millionth time, thus why she zones out instead.

"Miyuki. You need to enjoy High School. You only go through it once in your life and it's the most freedom you'll get in your schooling years! Once High School is over, you'll have to go to college and then get a job to settle your own financial problems. Your friends will be out with their own careers so you'll get to meet them less often than you get to now." her mother would explain, then proceeding to wash the dishes that were piled high in the sink, continuing with her rant when she noticed that Miyuki was staying quiet: "If you don't like this High School, we can always transfer you elsewhere, okay? Let's just give this one a chance. If you ever have any problems, please let me know... okay? I can only help you as much as you'll let me."

"Okay." Miyuki shortly replied as she finished her breakfast. While she did not appreciate the same message being told again, it (albeit just a little) still gave Miyuki enough confidence to walk out that door and give her second day of school a try. So she did, leaving her house after her breakfast was finished, and anxiously returning to Maguro High.

-.-

The second day of school started just the same as the first day did: Miyuki guiding her way through the school, climbing the steps to the second floor, and heading to Mr. Taro's class for Math. This time, Miyuki made sure to keep her brain occupied in the class so she would not make the same mistake she did the day prior. While the very slow Mr. Taro gave his usual introduction, Miyuki sat in her chair, and had her eyes glued to the chalkboard. One hand was taking notes, the other was clicking her second pen.

The first unit for math was a review of Junior High units, so it wasn't too hard for her to understand. This note-taking helps her mind stay focused, so everything came to her much quicker than it did yesterday. The only struggle for her was not to accidentally miss vital information that was buried under the monotonous lecturing from the large teacher. This was the only struggle for her to pay attention in class... or so one would think, but in reality there were a lot more struggles bottled up in the teen's mind. Some could tell she was either bored out of her mind or full of anxiety by the rapid amount of times she was clicking her pen.

What really was running through Miyuki's mind during all of class was the amount of uncomfort she was in. The moment she walked into class, it felt like being dropped into a slow cooker. The heat on her body was growing the further she walked in. When she sat down, the sensation only intensified. Was it her nerves? Likely, because how could she expect to walk into class like things were 'ay okay' after how she was treated by Seijo? He was in this very same classroom and she could just feel his nauseating gaze that challenged Miyuki's focus in tandem with Mr. Taro's lecturing.

What felt like one gaze then evolved into two gazes, and then two turned into three! Was everyone looking at her? It was like a zoo and she was the star exhibit! It was as if she were nothing more than a caged monkey to be beheld. With every pen stroke on her paper, she attempted to further distract her mind, but that... that feeling continued to pile no matter how hard she tried to shake it. Her eyes that were once glued to the chalkboard then pried off, hanging limp right over the half-written page of notes. Miyuki's pen dropped out of her hands, the teen having nothing to say to herself other than her sheer disappointment.

"Please be sure to do your homework... it is due tomorrow morning, class is dismissed."

Phew! Talk about being 'saved by the bell'! Miyuki couldn't thank Mr. Taro enough for dismissing class! She ended up passing out on her desk during the rest of class, but that one line that she wished to hear blessed her ears and restored her with enough energy to escape the class. In a frantic spree for the door, she grabbed all of her required books and made her way out, eagerly looking down on the map to trace her way to her second period.

As a result of looking at her map instead of where she was going, she wouldn't notice who was standing in front of her, bumping right into them. She would quickly apologize, bowing and then saying "my bad, sorry-", then noticing who it was. Oh OF COURSE it is him again! "S-seijo! H-heeeyyy!" Miyuki would say, looking up at the last person she wanted to see today.

Yeah, it was him all right. That 183 cm tall man was just strangely standing there. He wasn't even bothered to look at her.

"Lo-Look, I'm so-sorry about yesterday... It all happened so fast you see- that I didn't know what to do, so I tried pushing her away so Manaka would be safe. Maybe I pushed a little too hard, but hell if I knew then-" Miyuki frantically explained, hands tucked in front of her, hesitantly looking Seijo in the eye. "Can we just forget about what happened yesterday?"

Though she tried and tried to reason with this man, there was still that stench of sourness in the air. Erin Seijo remained silent. It seemed that he didn't want to talk with Miyuki anymore. She understood his wish, just nodding slowly and then walking off without a word. In her heart she felt relieved. He heard her apology, that much she knew. If he wouldn't take her apology then she was convinced that she knew just the kind of stubborn man he was. Now that she was relieved of that burden, she could move on from that day with no regrets, having faced her fear in the eye.

PE would go the same, Miyuki avoiding contact with Erin Seijo and the rest of the class. She felt too awkward to join in with the rest of the group. There was an underlying feeling of anxiety that made her focus especially hindered, so she only tried to hang on until her next period came around...