We Meet Again For The First TIme

The bell had rung, and the classroom was clean. Dismissed, everyone was free to head home, flee to the library to cram for that damned lit test, clubs, or in Ayaka's case, work. Work was, oddly enough, the part of her day Ayaka looked forward to most. Two days a week she had a club to go to and only went to because it was where two of the other most popular girls were. It was usually just endlessly chatting about fashion and patterns, and who was having a sale and wat pattern suited the best and mindless things that just made her head hurt. Work was better, even if she was slower at some things than others. Nobody usually bothered her to know or see that Ayaka was a little “off.” She had her list of things to attend to, did them, and went home. Originally it was because her grandfather had set her up with the job, and he'd probably had to tell the guy who ran the place that his granddaughter wasn't slow or crazy, just a bit off was all. Who knew. She hadn't really met whoever it was that owned the temple, she just worked there. But now it was more because she wanted to, even though she'd never admit to it or worse, tell her friends where she worked.

Ayaka, the popular ditz who forgot so much and always had to write notes. Bright laughs followed by spacing out at nothing. Cute girl to date except nobodycould seem to stay with her more than a few weeks. Then temple was a place where Ayaja could leave all that on the sidelines and just focus on the tasks and not feel insufficient or that she had to be anyone else for anyone else. The leaves on the veranda didn't care whom she was or wasn't dating, or how her reputation fared because of it. The gardens didn't mind if she forgot exactly what she was thinking about or that sometimes things took a bit more concentration than others. And the temple as a whole just didn't mind Ayaka being Ayaka, So on days off and afternoons she didn't have club meetings, she was there, away from the world and hiding from where anyone who knew her might see.

But... there was something she was supposed to do... Some little thought nagging and tickling at the back of her head and making her brain itch. Ah, what WAS it?! Just as soon as she'd stood up to leave, satchel on her shoulder, Ayaka plopped it back down on her desk, digging for her assignment book to tell her what it was that she was forgetting. Neat notes lined the pages, filled with more than just classwork. It was notes about anything that looked important, anything she might forget later. No... no... that wasn't.... AHA! Project to work on. Not too bad, but why was that bugging her so much.... Assigned Partners was underlined a few times, the name Yoshida Shigeru written next to it. She frowned slightly, hating group work, not so much because she was group-shy, but because she just preferred to do the work herself and not have to worry about anyone else holding her up, or worse, her own forgetfulness holding them up. And her partner was... Shigeru-kun. Hm. The weirdo and the ditz. The teacher must have needed a good laugh.

And... crap. That meant she'd either be late or miss work entirely tonight since there was no way she really wanted to invite classmates back to her grandfather's house. It'd give the old man the wrong idea most likely, and even though his teasing was a lot friendlier than her father's, she still just wasn't up for it. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long, but she still needed to let her boss know. With a faint sigh, Ayaka dug through her bag again, pulling out the phone she had neglected all day, quickly scanning and updating her other reminder list, setting a beep alarm for groceries on the way home for Grandfather. The screen switched to texting mode, thin fingers tapping at the screen's keys.

Yoshida-san, I may not be at work this afternoon. I have a project for class I have to work on before I go home. I'll be sure to stay late tomorrow night to make up for it. -Nanakorobi A. Right, boss alerted, and hopefully he would understand that she needed to work on this tonight and not be too mad about having to miss a day. Then again, she wondered if she missed a day there if anyone would notice. Ayaka shook her head, snapping out of it before she was staring through her phone for too long and was pointed out to be a space case again, and shoved the phone back into her bag as she scanned the room to find her partner.