The beginning of a new school year – students shuffled into their newly assigned classrooms, some overjoyed to be surrounded by most (if not all) of their closest friends, others begrudgingly taking a seat while lamenting being separated from every single one of their friends by just one or two walls. Hayashida Mayumi seemed to be of the latter category as she took a seat in the corner of the room closest to the door without so much as even glancing around for a familiar face.

This was nothing new for the girl, as she had already transferred schools more times than she could count on one hand. She was grateful that, this time, she had at least transferred at the beginning of a school year instead of in the middle of a semester. That meant she was able to skip the seemingly mandatory self-introduction that is expected of all mid-semester transfer students; instead, she could simply sit in the back of the classroom, going unnoticed from day one, until she would inevitably move at least once, if not twice more before finishing high school.

Some minutes later, Mayumi heard the front door slide closed, and her eyes slowly looked up to see a small-framed woman now standing at the podium at the front of the classroom. She introduced herself as Amakata, both their homeroom teacher and literature teacher, and then began taking attendance. Mayumi returned her stare to her desk, hoping that not too much attention would be drawn to her when her name was reached. Her daze was interrupted when she heard a light laughter from all around her, causing her to wonder if the teacher had just called her name. Thankfully, just before she was about to pop out of her seat in order to announce that Hayashida Mayumi was, in fact, present, she heard Amakata curtly apologize in another student's direction. The teacher then started scrawling in her attendance book, reading her note aloud while doing so, that one of the students was a boy. Shortly afterwards, Mayumi's name was called, the girl now paying attention as to avoid the situation she had just previously imagined, and she was able to confirm her presence without any odd stares or laughter.

Lunchtime arrived, and Mayumi carefully moved her textbooks and notebooks from on top of her desk to inside of her bag. After doing so, she then removed her lunch box from the same bag, setting it down in the same place where her books had just been. She scooted in her chair a bit to make way for her classmates exiting the room through the door directly behind her seat. This, she supposed, was the bad part about her usual seat choice. Although she could be the first to leave as soon as the school day was over, she was also subjected to being in everyone's line of vision as they entered and exited the classroom in the morning and at lunch. Lightly sighing as a passing student collided with the leg of her chair despite it being pushed in as far as she could possibly manage, she opened her lunchbox and picked up the utensils stored inside of it. When she glanced upward to begin eating her lunch, she was slightly startled to see someone standing in front of her desk. Mayumi racked her brain, trying to figure out what in the world someone could want from her already. She quickly gave up, however, and returned her utensils to her lunch box before she had even had a single bite.

"Umm…" she began in a polite, yet obviously confused, tone, moving her eyes even farther up to meet the tall boy's eyes.

"Ah, hello," the boy returned, smiling even more than he was before she had addressed him. "I'm Tachibana Makoto. And you were… Hayashida Mayumi, right?"

"Well, yes, I am…" Mayumi stated, admittedly surprised that someone had remembered her name after only hearing it in this morning's attendance.

Makoto, becoming aware of the girl's bewildered state, explained himself further, "I truly apologize if I'm wrong, but, are you new to this school by any chance?"

"H-How did you know? Did I do something wrong…?"

"Ah, no, that's not it!" Makoto waved his hands in front of him in denial. "I've lived in this town my whole life, so I more or less recognize all of the students in my grade… but you didn't look familiar."

"Oh, I see. Well, I just moved here recently, so it's as you say – I'm new here. To the school and to the town."

"Then, if you don't have anyone else to eat lunch with, do you mind if I join you?"

"Ah, don't worry about it," she asserted, not wanting to burden her kind classmate out of obligation. "I'm sure your friends are waiting for you."

"That's the thing," the boy started while laughing awkwardly, "my friend didn't come to school today, so I'm all alone too."

"Oh… Then I guess it's fine…" she relented, unsure of how to further dissuade the boy without coming off as rude.

Before Mayumi had even finished her sentence, Makoto was already moving the desk and chair in front of hers to accompany her for the remainder of the lunch period. He opened up his lunchbox, Mayumi noticing that it seemed to have been diligently and carefully prepared for him. She picked up her own utensils again and finally took part in her rather plain (even without being compared to Makoto's) meal.

Once she took her first bite, Makoto was the first to break the silence. "So, why did you move here anyway? I'm sure it doesn't seem like a very interesting town to others…"

"My–" she paused abruptly and decided to swallow her first bite before continuing. "My parents moved here for their work."

"I see. If you need help with anything, feel free to ask me!"

"Oh, no, I wouldn't want to bother you. I'm sure I could figure whatever it is out by myself eventually anyway."

"No, really, I don't mind! I'm sure you could figure it out too, but it would probably be faster to just ask, right?"

Mayumi thought his last sentence seemed more like a statement rather than a question, with a rhetorical question courteously tacked onto the end as an afterthought. Despite the boy's seemingly obtrusive offer, she was once again compelled by his altruistic smile.

"All right, I'll keep it in mind," she submitted, feeling unable to keep up with his positive demeanor. "Thanks."

The two proceeded with their lunches for a while, chatting idly, most of the subject changes initiated by Makoto.

"Do you have any family besides your parents?"

"Just an older brother, but he lives on his own."

"I have two younger siblings, twins actually, one of each gender. Their names are Ren and Ran."

"Younger twins… Sounds like a handful to deal with…"

"Does it? I never really thought of them like that. I help both of my parents with taking care of them, so it's not too much divided amongst all three of us."

"That's good…" Something negative lingered in her reply, but it was promptly obscured when the chime signaling the end of lunch resonated through the whole building. "Thank you for joining me for lunch!"

The boy returned the chair and desk he had borrowed to their rightful positions and collected his belongings. "Oh, it was nothing." He rubbed the back of his head slowly, somewhat embarrassed by the girl's blatant gratitude. "See you later."

The girl only nodded, putting away her lunchbox and retrieving the next class' textbook and notebook. Noticing that Makoto had returned to his seat, she released an exasperated sigh and rested her head on the desk's surface temporarily, arms outstretched in defeat.

"I'm not even good at talking with people…" she thought. "And to have that happen on the very first day…"

A/N: Thanks for making it through the introduction! I haven't written a fanfic in five years now, so I hope it came out OK.

I have not included a physical description for Mayumi as I don't really have a concrete idea in my head of what she should look like... I'd rather her physical descriptions not take too much precedence anyway. Feel free to imagine her however you like (and maybe let me know how you imagine her - I'd find it interesting).