My first month in high school was far away from how I had imagined it before it started. All my hopes to make new friends and have fun quickly vanished, drowned by the piles of books that I borrowed from the library week after week, alongside of the thousands of assignment papers left to do.

While I never struggled with studying, or with achieving top grades, I always thought that everything I had learned then would make the first months of high school easier. And feeling relieved for what I thought would be a slow start, I could focus on getting closer and choose my new friends. 

But nothing could be any further from the truth. I felt lost. I felt like the teachers were speaking in a foreign language. Having no acquaintances from middle school who entered the same school with me only made things more difficult. I was the only one in my class that came alone. The other students came in groups of three or four from other middle schools. Sometimes, I'm left behind while taking notes, and I have to stay with a borrowed notebook from my classmates in the recesses transcribing what I missed. Asking to borrow the notebook didn't help me to become closer with the others. Everyone went outside to rest while I stayed inside half –or more– of the recess transcribing notes. And when I could finally go outside, the others were already dispersed in the hallways and school yard. It was truly embarrassing, like for anyone in my shoes, to get close to any group and make a conversation just because I feel like it. To make things worse, last week two of my old classmates called me, and the only thing they chatted about was how wonderful their new friends were. Why did they bother to call me, then? They didn't give me a chance to tell them anything. Well, it is not like they looked very interested in how things were going for me. Although I didn't lament having zero opportunity to tell them about how bad the start of high school was going for me.  I wish you all the best, guys, but please, don't call me until I reorganize my life, I thought, and even less if one of you starts dating a girl, I couldn't handle that. I had never been so far away from the illusion of meeting a pretty girl and having a real high school life experience. Who doesn't dream about that?

Next week the clubs' activities will start. At first, I didn't plan to give it attention so I could focus on my studies, following the policy of being part of the "Going Back Home Early club". But considering how my social life was at the moment... I was seriously considering joining one. My mind was full of this as I was coming back home one afternoon, balancing on one hand the books that I borrowed from the school library that afternoon and that didn't fit on my backpack, and on the other hand carrying my shopping bag filled with groceries from the convenience store that is on the way home. Living alone wasn't easy. If I got distracted just for a second, I would end up drinking rice soup with salt. The worst thing in this world –and I have a lot of experiences to say so– is just that my pantry always seems on the verge of collapse. And the emergency plan is asking my neighbor for ingredients... Anyway, it is better not to even think about it. 

I stopped short when I arrived on my floor after going upstairs. Someone had left a suitcase leaning out of my front door. I heard a female voice from the stairs that lead to the upside floor, "Takenaga-san? Kaizu Takenaga-san?"

Surprised, I glanced back. Some steps above there was a girl resting on the stairs. I took a quick glance and noticed her short hair and shiny turquoise eyes that seemed to contrast with the twilight, but I instinctively I focused my sight in her legs, because she was sitting there, high on the stairs, her short skirt were showing generously to the point you could see a little bit of her... At that moment I felt my face getting hotter and I lost a bit of my composure.

A girl finally talks to me and the first thing I do is peek under her skirt, I thought. I quickly averted my gaze, bowing while I clumsily said "I am sorry! I mean- Yes! I am Takenaga!"

Noticing my awkwardness, she stood up sharply, rearranging her skirt to the front with both hands. 

"Takenaga-san, are you a pervert?" she asked calmly. "Or do you usually spy the lingerie of girls that you just met?"

I started bowing over and over in apology, without even daring to look at her once again.

"What are you saying! It's not like I did it on purpose!"

"Then, Takenaga-san. Can you tell me what color my lingerie is?" she asked while coming downstairs. 

"No, I wanted to see it, what I'm trying to say is that I didn't look at it, I'm serious!"

"What about my eyes? What color are my eyes?" she insisted, almost leaning onto me. 

"Turquoise!" I almost screamed in answer, still not looking at her. "Bright turquoise, like the ocean!"

"Are you sure?" she was close enough to whisper in my ear. 

I closed my eyes and I recreated the first look I got from her. It could have been easier to look at her and confirm it myself, but for some reason I couldn't face her. The calmness with which she spoke made me even more nervous, and I didn't dare to maintain her gaze. That gaze that stands out against the reflections of the sunset that showered the passage of the apartment in an ethereal golden light

"They are the deepest turquoise I have ever seen!" I shouted. 

We got surrounded by an awkward silence. I stayed in mid-bowing position with my eyes closed, in hope that no one would come out to the corridor to see what was going on. Luckily, it seems like I didn't scream that loudly. 

"Fine, Takenaga-san. My name is Saori Nakamura, and I spent all afternoon waiting. Invite me to your home and invite me for a cup of tea."

"Yes, Nakamura-san!" I exclaimed, I got to my door and opened it with a lot of struggle. My hands were still occupied with the books and groceries, but with the sensation that I had successfully passed some kind of test. 

Saori got in first, while taking off her shoes, she instructed me to get her suitcase. I left the groceries and borrowed books beside the door to take off my shoes, and then I took her suitcase. Closing the door behind me I realized how weird the whole situation was. 

After she asked for the toilet, I started to make tea. When she came back from the toilet she came close to me passing the kitchen counter that divided the kitchen from the living room. I could take a better look at her when she was getting closer. She was thin with pronounced waist and hips, but with little chest. Her face had delicate features, framing her little red mouth, that was the most delicate thing I had ever seen in my life. 

"Tell me, Takenaga-san. Hanging up boxers in the bathroom like some kind of flag is some kink? Like marking your territory saying 'Here lives my di...?'" 

"No, no way!" I interrupted her. "I'm sorry, I forgot that I left my washed clothes drying! I should have taken it down first, but I forgot about it! 

"I didn't see any clothes, just boxers." 

"I'm sorry! But why are you surprised? Don't girls hang up their underwear in their bathrooms to let it dry too?"

She looked at me in a contemplative way.

"It's fine, this time I'll let this slide." 

I felt relieved, and all of a sudden I realized I didn't have any reason to feel relieved. This was wrong. All of this was wrong. I sat down on the cushion placed on the tatami and then poured the tea. 

"Eto...Nakamura-san. Can you remind me of how we first met? After looking at you... I truly can't get to remember you. Are we perhaps friends from a long time ago, maybe childhood friends?"

"I didn't meet you before. I just had a picture of you and I knew your name."

"And you came to my house just because of a picture and a name? That's really weird!"

"Even weirder than letting a stranger come into your house just because she knows your name?"

She was right, it wasn't normal the fact that I let her in just because. Anyone would have asked for an identification, or a reason for her presence here. I didn't do any of that, I just procured to not disturb her and make her feel comfortable in my house, even when I didn't have any idea of who she was. I didn't care that she was a stranger, the only thing I cared about was to take care of the only person who broke into my gray high-school not-even-one-friend life. I didn't expect anything from her. Just for her to be here was more than enough to break me from this hermit life and exchange some words. Albeit illogical, that legitimize her presence. But I couldn't explain it to her without feeling ashamed of my own loneliness. The last thing I wanted was to be perceived as a loner beyond remedy, much less to a beautiful girl that arrived in my life just like that.

I was lost in thought for a while. Saori resumed talking. 

"Since it seems that small talk is not your strength, let's continue with something practical. Where am I going to sleep?"

"What? What, what, what!?" I stuttered. "Are you planning to spend the night here?"

"Not only the night," she corrected me, "I'm moving here."