First Day of Transfer (Miyako Hirai/Moriko Byrne)

Miyako shakily stepped towards the entrance of the school on the first day she was going to be there. Only recently had she transferred, and she had to walk quite a distance to reach there. Nervous, since this was like starting anew, she glanced around to see so many other students around her wearing similar uniforms. Most of which were taller and seemed far healthier than she was. If one took a glance at her, her malnourished body would be a definite eye-raiser that might prompt some worry.

For a moment, she just froze, looking at the school before her. She had no idea what to expect from Fukui since she had been only homeschooled before then. Normally her adventurous nature would cause her to move forward, but this was a total 180 degree flip from her original method of education. In conclusion, everything was frightening for her with this new experience.

Taking a few steps forward, she took some time to observe how other girls were like at this school. Some kept calm and moved onwards, others chatted with their friends since they had some time before their classes would begin. A feeling deep inside wanted her to walk up to and introduce herself to the others, but alas, fear beat that idea down. For now, she kept against a stone fence, observing her surroundings. After all, she had come quite early and had plenty of spare time on her hands.

School is finally starting! Moriko grimaces slightly. She'd transferred in during summer break, a week and a half before school actually started. Luckily, since she was staying in the dorms, she'd been allowed to move in and set herself up. This had given her plenty of time to run around the school, exploring it at her leisure. Unfortunately, the campus is so large that she still has a bit of ground to cover in that regard.

It seems that most of the students live in the nearby City of Fukui, so this whole time she's only come across a few of the other students that live in the dorms or were taking summer classes. Mostly, she'd been by herself, which she'd been fine with. But that week of solitude is now ending, for everyday that classes are held will fill the school with students.

Moriko doesn't know exactly how many students attends Fukui Academy, but from the size of the school and it's grounds, she can guess that there are a lot. Since she lives in the dorms, which are on the inner school grounds, she doesn't really need to be near the front gates all that often. She can just go straight to classes from the dorm building, after all. But today, her curiosity once again strikes.

So, even though it's still a bit early, Moriko finds herself drawn to the school entrance. She wants to see for herself how many students are coming in from the city. But she doesn't really feel a desire to interact with any of them. Just to watch them. Sadly, the school uniform, being purple-grey and white, easily stands out against most things in nature. And the fact that she chose pants over skirts just make her all the more easy to spot. Still, she tries to be sneaky about her spying. At least her bare feet will be much more quite than if she were wearing shoes.

Glancing around the entrance way, she notices a small stone fence lining both sides of the road leading to the front. On the back side of the fence, interspersed in regular intervals, are trees and tall bushes. It all looks rather nice and tranquil. It's perfect for what Moriko has in mind.

Slipping from tree, to bush, to tree, Moriko makes her way a slight distance from the entrance. This will allow her to observe the other students and how they act as they approach and go through the school entrance. Choosing a spot with a clear view for her, but keeps her pretty hidden from the road, she settles down to watch. Soon enough, the other students begin trickling in. Most of them seem to arrive in groups, chatting and laughing and creating a general hubbub. Some arrive, rubbing their eyes, yawning and shuffling along, obviously not awake yet. Others walk alone, eyes on their phones or fixed on the path ahead. It's one of these students that catches her attention.

This girl is different from the others. The first thing that Moriko notices is the way she's moving. Her stride is a bit slower and more hesitant than the others. The second thing she notices is how very thin she is. As in, she's almost a twig by comparison. As the abnormally thin girl draws closer, the final thing Moriko notices is the eye-patch covering her left eye. Once again, curiosity nips at her. Deciding to focus her main attention on this girl, a bit of a shock runs through her when that very girl starts heading in her direction!

Stepping back into the shadows of the bushes, Moriko watches as the eye-patch girl arrives at the fence, stops and leans against it. Wanting a closer look, since she can't see her face, she slowly and quietly moves forward and a little to the left of the girl. Crouching down slightly, she slips in between two bushes near the girl. Placing her hands against side of the stone fence, she tilts her head up and looks at the girl's face. She wants to see her expression. Why did she stop? she wonders.

Unfortunately, her low position places her face near a patch of growing wildflowers. Nose wrinkling, Moriko comes to the horrified realization that she needs to sneeze. She contorts her face, trying as hard as she can to hold it in. Alas, it's not meant to be.

"Aaaahhh...CHOO!"

In contrast, the entire school was completely foreign to her. Even the concept of public education, something she had been without for such a long period of time, was only something she dreamed of having and saw on TVs. Her adventurous nature had been completely abandoned only for this one moment so she could actually soak in how it was like to be there. The building was pretty large, and there were so many other girls around her! She wondered, of course, which ones she’d get along with the best. In all of those shows she had managed to see, there were always groups of supporting friends who’d band together in high school. Perhaps such fantasies should not be entertained, lest she be too carried away.

Due to the distance between her home and the school, it was quite challenging to get between each place without taking a few breaks. It also meant that she had to wake up early so she’d be there on time, another reason why this transfer was a bit stressful to her. Nonetheless, it was a sacrifice she was willing to endure, since almost anything could beat something as dreadful as homeschooling.

She was overthinking a lot of things while she stood still there. That ranged from topics she’d learn to the people she’d meet. After all, preparedness was only another step to complete success, and there might’ve been some essential material that she never got to learn by her first year of high school. Not only that, there would probably be people she’d need to lean on in case things went rough for her. So much to plan, yet such a little time frame to actually do it.

That’s when Miyako decided that it was better to take priorities with what her course of action should be first. She should probably try to get acquainted with the students around, maybe doing so spread out over a length of time.. or all at once? The way she stood there motionlessly was ominous, but everyone was far too busy doing their own thing for them to even notice the malnourished girl who was frozen like an iceberg.

Upon approaching the stone fence and leaning against it, she heard the sound of rustling in the bushes behind her. It quickly snapped her out of her thoughtful trance to investigate what was the cause, but, not seeing anything in all of the haste, decided that it was probably just some small creature that was beneath her notice that was startled by her movement. So, she began to return to her original state. More rustling could be heard after that particular incident, but the white-haired girl didn’t care at the time.

And that’s when it happened. The loud sneeze within close proximity that caused the normally calm and composed student to suddenly jump from being startled and turn to the culprit who was responsible for it. Her singular lilac eye gloomily staring at the other student, she asked the only question that would be reasonable at the time. “What are you doing there?” Her short height and abnormally weak stature may have made her look childish and impossible to take seriously, but it was with the tone that she inquired that really was odd. Despite how she had been startled, she had been able to quickly regain her regular calm attitude.

Moriko's eyes close tightly when she sneezes, for it's a powerful one. Rocking back on the balls of her feet, she clings to the wall for support. If it hadn't been there, she probably would have toppled over into the bushes. As it was, her head did jerk back enough for her hair to get tangled in some of the bush's outer twigs.

Even though her eyes are closed, she can't help but hear a soft swish and thud. That could only mean one thing: she's alerted the thin girl to her position. Ooops. Opening her eyes, filled with tears from the intensity of the sneeze, she catches the blurred form of the other girl turning towards her. Blinking to clear her vision, Moriko looks up, only to find herself gazing into the face she'd previously been trying to observe. Except, instead of catching a covert glance, she's staring directly at it. And that's not a happy expression, oh no, not at all!

At the other's question, her eyes flick over to the procession of students, and then back to focus on the girl standing before her. Rubbing her eyes to get rid of the rest of her tears, a sheepish grin tilts her lips up. Slowly she stands up, running her fingers nervously through her hair. A look of surprise crosses her face when some twigs and leaves fall out. A few still remain, but she doesn't seem to notice. Shifting uneasily from foot to foot, that sheepish smile returns, tinged with nervousness. She presses her palms against the top of the stone fence, their cool coarseness somewhat soothing. Now that she's been spotted, she's not quite sure how to proceed.

But a question was asked of her, and she'd been taught that not answering a direct question is rude. So, nodding vaguely in the direction of the students entering the school, and then pointing her chin at the stranger before her, she gives her answer.

"Watching."

Miyako didn’t generally make happy expressions because of her nature and background, but it was easy to tell the difference between a meager frown and a face of anger. This was definitely the latter, since she didn’t like it when her concentration was broken by loud and obnoxious noises like, say, sneezes done at tremendous volumes at a relatively close distance to her ear.

That single lavender iris was continuing to glare at the other student while her brain tried to figure out the dark-haired girl’s intentions before she actually stated them. What could be benefited from hiding? Perhaps she was shy, perhaps she was a bully who was seeking to find a proper, ripe victim before school started. No matter what could be the case, this was an extremely suspicious situation that definitely had her on edge. It took quite a bit to make her like this, and it appeared that her first interaction with this particular individual had managed to do that.

However, the seemingly awkward way with which her sudden acquaintance had acted was humorous. It definitely helped lighten up her disposition beyond what it originally was, but it wasn’t enough to make her smile. Those twigs and leaves falling about from her hair while she tried to compose herself in order to speak was something to remember her by. Miyako’s countenance shifted from an originally somewhat hostile one to one that was neutral. It was quite ironic how the silvery-haired girl had believed this other first-year to be a strange person, since she herself was quite an oddity as well.

The answer was finally given after a lengthy period of time, and all it was was a single word. Watching. How cryptic was that for a conversation? “Watching who, and why?” She continued to interrogate her with her strangely stoic voice, hoping to find a clear answer without having to deal with an annoying lack of details in the next response.

"Geh..." Moriko's smile turns a bit more uneasy at the questions. She'd hoped her single word answer would be enough. Apparently not. Shifting her weight from leg to leg, she glances down at her hands, takes a deep breath, and then looks back up.

It's been a while since she's had a long and decent conversation, after all. Most of the time, it was with her grandmother. And even then, it was mostly facial expressions and sound effects. With one to two word answers, on occasion. Okay, words, talking. You got this.

Nervously tapping the stone with her index fingers, Moriko looks directly into the single eye of the girl. Licking her lips, she replies.

"I'm, ah... new. Came during summer break. Wanted to see the students coming in."

She hopes that's enough of an explanation. In the past, she often got berated for giving vague answers. Most people seem to like specifics. They'd stare at her, as if they didn't believe her answer. That, or they couldn't believe that she seemed like she wasn't going to elaborate. Many of them got exasperated that they had to ASK her to do so. As if it were expected of her to know that they wanted to hear more. To know more.

Kind of like how the girl standing before her seems to be acting, though she can't be completely sure that's the case.

Either way, Moriko doesn't drop her gaze, her strained smile still in place. She waits for the other's reaction, hoping that she isn't annoying or angering the other girl further.

The way Moriko shifted about made the girl more suspicious to Miyako than before, since it wasn't really normal for someone to shift about so uneasily after being asked such a simple question. Her lilac eye still staring on at the dark-haired student, she sought answers. If that took a long time, even to the point of being late to class, she would still get them.

Her currently stoic expression was quite intimidating for such a short girl, but she didn't believe that would've been the reason. This was probably someone who was socially awkward and had problems holding conversations in general. Miyako did know that she shouldn't be judging, since she had hardly spoken to others in her life, but her harsh way of acting stemmed from something that was beyond what anyone could guess.

"There's no reason to stand around back there if you want to see all the students." She stated, gazing directly at the one she was speaking to. More vague answers wouldn't help her at all, and it was something she probably should call the other out on.

However, there was no time for such behavior. Realizing that there was better options she could take, she reached her hand over the stone fence as a gesture of friendship. "Come out here and view them without having all the leaves and sticks on you." Giving a small smile, she hoped that her attempt had worked.

After all, her first impression had just been awful, and some pretty nasty thoughts had been circulating in her mind. Deep inside she knew it wasn't like her to act in such a way, and had immediately adjusted herself in a way that would be more positive than before.

Glancing down at the hand offered to her, Moriko returns her eyes back up to the other girl. Expression wary, for this seems like a rather abrupt shift in mood, she gives a hesitant nod. She COULD come over to the other side of the fence. It's not like she was attempting to do anything bad to the other girl, after all. She just wanted to watch. To observance and learn. Eyes flicking over to the mass of students entering the school, she realizes that their actions seems to have drawn a few curious onlookers. None of them seem to be inclined to halt their froward motion, but they do slow down their walk.

Grimacing, Moriko hastily scrambles over the side of the fence. She does NOT like being the center of attention and she knows that her being on the other side will definitely draw attention to her. At least, it does now that she's no longer concealed. She now stands within easy arm's length of the one-eyed stranger, and so her attention once again returns to the person in closest proximity to her.

Suddenly recalling the leaves and twigs comment, she quickly raises both of her hands and vigorously shuffles them through her hair. The bush's remains fall from her head. Some land on her shoulders and bounce off to the ground below. A few determined strays catch in the folds of her clothing. But at least her hair is foliage free. Unfortunately for her, it now sticks out at all kinds of odd angles, as if she'd gotten into a fight with a vacuum and the machine won.

Leaning back against the fence, she crosses her arms, her eyes focusing on the face of the frail girl standing before her. She crosses one ankle in front of the other, her bare feet clear and easy to spot. Her whole posture is one of cautious relaxation.

"Better?", she asks, her expression and tone not overly friendly, but not overly hostile either.

Miyako's awkward smile at the time could've only made the sudden change in mood from interrogative and hostile to friendly even worse than before. She had very limited social interaction due to her being homeschooled most of her life, so she had no idea how to interact with others. It was all the influence of the television shows that had reminded her that highschool life was best spent with a bunch of friends by your side. To make said friends, you had to be friendly. She internally scolded herself for her initial behavior towards her fellow student who might just end up in the same class as her in the end.

Her hand wasn't taken. Things were just going swimmingly for the silver-haired girl, whose actions had definitely come to cause potential problems in the future. Unlike Moriko, though, she wasn't phased at all when it came to the eyes of the onlookers that dared glance towards them for the actions between the two. It's not like they really mattered to her- or did they? The eyepatch wearing girl decided not to worry too much about how things might impact her in the future with her overanalyzing brain and instead focus on what was happening there and then.

Well, at least she climbed on the other side of the fence and got all the leaves out of her hair. The way the other student appeared now was silly, though, causing a brief smile to spread across her face. While they had gone off to a rocky start, she certainly had high hopes that she could at least attempt to mend things in the future.

"Y-Yes. Better." She muttered, looking away for a moment as if ashamed of the way she acted earlier. "I'm sorry. You just surprised me and I don't take kindly to that." Offering yet another short smile, she decided that now would be the right time to introduce herself. "I am Miyako Hirai."

Moriko nods her head in understanding. The part about not liking to be surprised is something a that she can relate to quite well. Though she hadn't meant to surprise the other girl, she does feel a bit guilty for doing so. Expression softening at the other girl's introduction, Moriko uncrosses her arms and leans a bit forward. Holding out her right hand, a friendly smile tilts her lips upward, her teal eyes lighting up with her motion.

"Heya, Miyako. Name's Moriko Byrne." She shakes her head at the other's apology, her smile turning a bit sheepish. Raising her left hand, she rubs the back of her head with it. "It's all right. Sorry for surprising you. I really didn't mean to." Her voice is soft, her slight Irish accent adding an odd lilt to her words.

Miyako had actually felt some sense of success when the stranger's expression had softened, knowing then that most of the hostilities between the two had been successfully erased. Hopefully they wouldn't return in the future, and if they did it would be best if it was for a personal joke or something of the like. With her purple eyes locking with the other student's, she was ready to hear what she had to say.

"It's good to meet you." She spoke, the smile on her face never ceasing to exist all the while. It wasn't large or bright, but it was still there, clearly showing that she was in a friendly and receptive attitude that would allow for a proper conversation to be held. Looking down, she replied. "It's alright. I know you didn't mean to..." Her voice seemed to be slightly emotionless and unusually calm.

Her outstretched right hand isn't taken by Miyako. Giving a mental shrug, Moriko withdraws it and places both of her hands in her pants pockets. She leans backwards again, the firmness of the stone fence a nice support. The other girl says it's nice to meet her, but she's still not too sure if that's what her companion is really feeling. The smile she gives seems friendly enough though. This girl is hard to read... she muses to herself. Even her voice doesn't seem to give away too much emotion. Well, except when she was first startled, and then when she was apologizing earlier. But even those reactions were brief shifts in her expression and tone of voice. Miyako seems to have a default face setting, and it's something Moriko can't read at all.

Moriko's gaze drifts over to the string of students still entering the school grounds. She finds, to her relief, that the students that had been staring at them earlier had gotten bored and moved on. Now no one seems to care about the two girls standing near the stone fence and not moving. Good, she thinks with a slight nod to herself. Turning her attention back to her companion, she cocks her head to the side.

"You live in town?" she inquires. She hadn't seen the other girl around campus throughout her stay there during the summer hours. And it only makes sense, since she had been walking up the road leading up to the school. But it's good to makes sure of things, just in case. She wouldn't want to embarrass herself by making assumptions about things that she could just as easily ask about.

Out of all the awkwardness and confusion of their first meeting, she didn't even happen to notice the outstretched hand. It was something that she never believed she would ever do, considering her normally observant nature. Shocked by this failure to detect it before it was too late, she suddenly blushed slightly out of embarrassment. "A-ah.. um..." There was no recovering from that any longer, so she decided to drop the thought and continue on like nothing had happened. Of course, something HAD happened and it was probably going to linger in Miyako's worrying mind longer than necessary. While her composure presented was calm and focused, she was punching herself internally for just a single mistake. What she wanted was a friend, but was probably screwing everything up about this first meeting. From the initial hostility from being surprised, to the sudden turnaround, to what had just occurred between them right there, she knew that everything was going down the drain. Now she mentally scrambled for a way to recover from all the mess-ups of the past.

With the one she was speaking to being distracted with the students off to the side, she decided to follow suit and stare at them for a while on her own. Thankfully they weren't being watched any longer, which came as a relief to the eyepatch-wearing first year student. If she ends up completely screwing up here, then perhaps she'd have a better chance at befriending other potential companions. However, it seemed that Moriko was completely fine with this- or was she? Could she be potentially harboring some deep negative feelings towards her? It was hard to bear, and it definitely didn't help that Miyako hardly knew how to turn off her 'calm and collected' switch.

"Yes. I live on the outskirts of the town, so it takes me a long time to get here... because I get here on foot." She replied, offering a grin that was completely out of place and awkward to say the least.

She sure was horrible with first impressions.

Moriko nods at the answer, glad that at least one of her guesses had turned out correct. Since coming to Japan, she'd been thrown for a loop on most things. Suffice it to say that almost everything is completely different from her own experiences back home.

"So you walk from the nearby town...," she says, reiterating Miyako's statement. "Not gone there yet," she adds, a bit belatedly. A great conversationalist, Moriko is not.

She's actually pretty interested in the City of Fukui. Mainly because she doesn't have much experience with cities, but also because she's heard that cities have all kinds of different foods in them. Even if they're filled to the brim with people, she'd be willing to attempt to navigate a city to try out the food. At least, that's what she thinks at the moment.

Being socially awkward herself, Moriko doesn't find anything off or strange about the smile that Miyako directs her way. As far as she can tell, the other girl is just being friendly. So she echos that smile with one of her own, this one noticeably more relaxed than that of her previous smiles. In fact, now that the initial hostility from earlier seems to have vanished, so has the tension that had run through her body. Absently, she bobs her left foot, her guard let down enough for her to start her usual fidgeting.

"Is it a long walk? Are there places with good food on the way?" she asks, her mind still on the food track. She DID eat breakfast earlier, but now she's feeling a bit hungry again. She'd left her book bag in the classroom earlier, having stopped by there before heading to the front gates. No reason to lug extra stuff around. Especially since she'd wanted to be sneaky about her observations of the other students. But she's kind of regretting it now, since her bag has all of her snacks.

At the thought of her snacks, her stomach gives a low gurgle. Grimacing slightly, she takes a hand out of her pants pocket and places it over her tummy. "Hush, you," she mutters, her gaze dropping to her midsection, an expression of slight annoyance gracing her face.

For no good reason whatsoever, Miyako decided to reciprocate the reiteration. "Indeed, I come from the town on the outskirts of the city of Fukui." A nod soon followed up shortly as her acquaintance mentioned that she had never been around there before. "I think many people haven't been there before." She reckoned, knowing that the city was overall a more attractive place to be with all of the things to do being centered around it.

Having been shut in her house for a large majority of her life, she had nearly minimum experience with the outside world and sought to learn as much as her prudent mind desired her to. There was so much busy activity going on in one, yet the most she knew were from the television shows that she watched. Namely, ones centered around high school students such as the one she had just recently become. It is what she drew her nearly non-existent social experience from, since most of her conversational actions were based upon what she watched upon the screen. Needless to say, it was the reason she was so awkward all the time.

Yes! Moriko didn't notice how horrible her attempted quick grin was. Miyako jotted down that as one of her biggest successes of the day as she saw the brown-haired girl smile back at her. Perhaps she had managed to turn what had originally seemed to be a defeat into a victory? Maybe her life would unfold from there on out like one of the high school television shows she loved to watch? Of course, she'd have to wait for the future to see if her hopes and expectations would meet reality. For now, there was the task at hand to continue conversing with her newfound companion. Or, she thought she was her confidant.

"It is a long walk, but there are plenty of places to visit along the way. Some of them are restaurants and locations to get fast-food." Her emotionally dull but high pitched and youthful tone spoke as she described the way to Fukui. Then she noticed that her classmate was hungry at the time, which was probably the reason for the question about food. She, herself was famished at the time, but would not admit it. That would seem to be a weakness, and NO one ever liked someone who was weak!

"We'll have to wait until lunch to resolve that problem." Miyako declared, motioning towards Moriko.

Moriko listens closely to the other girl's description of her walk to school. Her mind conjures up an image of the many places to eat that Miyako mentions, gathered all together in one place. Cities are amazing! she thinks to herself, her hunger increasing with her imagination. She shakes herself out of her inner musings, though, when her companion mentions waiting for lunch to fix her hunger. Moriko's reply to that is a sudden grin.

"We don't need to wait for lunch." She shakes her head, her teal eyes shining with enthusiasm. "I know where we can get some food." Suddenly, she pushes herself up off the wall. Her gaze drifts over to the students entering the school. The flood has fallen to a trickle, but none of the students seem to be in a hurry yet. That means they've got time for a little detour. Or at least, that's what she assumes.

Returning her attention back to Miyako, she leans in a bit closer to the other girl and asks, "Wanna get something to eat?" With her hands in her pockets and her posture loose, she looks quite relaxed. The wind gently tugs at her clothes and hair, teasing her uneven strands into an unruly mess. Her stare is unabashedly direct as she awaits Miyako's reply.

"Class will start soon." Miyako stated when Moriko tried to claim that they could eat sometime other than lunch. She was more of a conformist and always was a bit afraid of breaking the rules. It was her first day of not being home schooled, and it could possibly be all ruined by some accident. It was the reason she came to school early that day- since, after all, the shows she watched on television had always accentuated how great and interesting high school life could be. But wasn't another part of it enjoying life and having the ability to be a bit rebellious and risky at times? Thoughts raced in her head, but answering them was delayed due to the fact that the other first year student was still conversing with her. Getting something to eat did seem like quite an appealing idea after all, except for the fact that...

"I do not have any money to purchase food with, too." She managed to repress these ideas of going out and using the rest of their spare time to find something to eat with a good excuse. It was like some kind of civil war was happening in her head, and the rebels had just been pushed back by the government's forces after things began to look bleak. With the wind picking up a little, her pigtails and loose strands of hair began to flutter lightly in the air.

At the mention of Miyako's lack of money, Moriko just gives a cheerful grin in reply.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," she says, giving a nonchalant wave of her hand. What Miyako doesn't know is that Moriko has made it a habit to stash snacks around various parts of the campus. Just in case she gets a bit peckish and needs something to snack on. If it's areas she doesn't frequent as often as others, she makes sure that the food is of the well preserved variety. And she always makes certain that they're in sealed containers, or placed somewhere animals can't easily get into.

The wind picks up, tossing Moriko's hair about. Running her left hand through the strands, she squints against the dirt and grass that is kicked up by the stray breeze. This isn't enough to distract her, though. Her mind is on food, and that's a difficult thing to turn her away from once she on it. Especially when she's hungry.

Okay, so the nearest stash is... She maps out the places she's left food at, attempting to locate them in relation to their current position. She's never had to approach any of them from the school entrance before. Other than her arrival, Moriko hasn't really been around the school entrance all that much. Since she's not in it's vicinity all that often, she's also not utilized it as a possible place to store her snacks.

During her recall, she'd fallen silent, her expression turning thoughtful as a small frown tugs her lips down. But as she finally figures out her closest stash, her face brightens up. "Okay, I've got it now!" she exclaims, her voice bubbling with enthusiasm.

Turning to Miyako, she beckons to her. "Just follow me, okay? And don't worry, we've still got time."

Miyako was confused by what Moriko was trying to imply by the fact that she wouldn’t have to worry about her lack of money and tilted her head to the side. She originally believed that the student meant that there was some kind of restaurant, cafe, or other location to get food. Little did the girl know, her new companion was extraordinarily unconventional in the way she found and retrieved snacks. It would be only normal to think that no one would guess that a student stashed well preserved food in well hidden areas for quick access, after all. Chalk that up as one point in the ‘normal’ category that Hirai had been wanting to get into for quite some time now.

For a moment, there wasn’t anything but silence, but Miyako knew that it was caused due to her acquaintance thinking. Despite being emotionally awkward, she wasn’t completely lacking in empathy or the ability to read others and what they were doing. Now, the real question was exactly what her thoughts were about. Still, it would be strange to prod further into the matter, so she just waited.

And waited.

Her eyes began to droop as her mind began to wander itself, mostly dealing with predictions as to what could happen in the future at the school. It literally her first day not being homeschooled, something she was excited for. Was it really worth waiting this time for food?... Probably.

Suddenly, Moriko perked up and mentioned that she knew where the location of these snacks were. It was at that moment that the lilac-eyed girl realized that this wasn’t a place to buy food, it was somewhere to find food. Unless her fellow student had problems with memory, there would be no doubts as to this conclusion being correct. One does not simply forget about where an entire building is.

With one nod and an “Alright.” in response, she began to follow after her enthusiastic ally.

The slow trickle of students continues to enter through the front gate, the murmur of their voices a constant drone in the background. Moriko doesn't even give them a second glance. Her mind is set, a goal's been made. And food is the prize. Her expression has turned into one of attentive concentration as she begins the route that she's planned out in her mind.

Giving a return nod at Miyako and a small smile, she heads towards the school entrance. Skirting around the larger groups of girls heading in the same direction, she slips into a gap that opens up between the separate groups. Just as she's passing through the gates, she turns off of the main path, to the right, and hugs the wall. Her bare feet brushes against grass instead of paved stones. A sensation she much prefers.

Stepping lightly, Moriko glances behind her, making sure that her companion is keeping up.

"The closest food is this way," she says, her teal eyes alight with anticipation.