Chapter 1 - A Bad Day

I'm doomed.

I can feel it.

The moment is nearing and fast.

I can hear their voice. I'm stuck in this place and I can't escape. To think that today will be the day, if I've known better I wouldn't have come to this place at all but alas, fate has won. I hate you, fate!

No. It's coming. They're coming at me. I don't have much time left. But as a man, I must never give up. For even if I shall go down, I shall go down with a fight. A fight that will show them my strength and will to survive. And so I brace myself for the coming-PUFF!

I'm currently lying on the ground with a large red ball mark on my face. And it hurts, a LOT. I think I have a minor concussion from the impact with the ball. The person who kicked the ball should be in the national league.

A red-haired person comes jogging to me saying, "Oh sorry Kiriha, I kicked it a little too hard. You alright?"

I should have guessed it was none other than him. This person's name is Akazawa Shuuya, my best friend and the ace of the school's soccer team, and damn his kicks are strong, how did he train to become like that. I swear his kick can bring down a wall although I don't really want to test it.

"Heh. Look at that mark. It's so damn funny that I can't stop laughing!" another person with blond hair came to me while grinning.

This person who is laughing at me at the moment is another best friend of mine, Subara Sakaki and although we're best buddies he's always playing pranks on me and prefers laughing his face off whenever I fell for his tricks or scolded by the teachers for falling asleep in class. He's a nice guy though and helps me out of those troubles afterwards. Most of the time.

"Well excuse me, who was the one that assigned me to be the goalie!" I said while glaring at him.

If you haven't guessed it yet, we're having our PE class and usually, we play soccer. Well, they usually play soccer while I always sat on the sidelines lying on my back peacefully asleep, at least until some asshole kicked the ball onto my direction that lands on my stomach, forcefully waking me up. Today, though, for unexplainable reasons I'm suddenly put in the goalkeeper position like I said earlier.

"We didn't have a choice you know. The usual goalie is absent and we're short on people, and since you're here anyway Yuuta, why not," says Sakaki with a grin.

"Alright alright, I get it. Sheesh." I say with a sigh. "But still, where is that damn Saito. He's the one supposed to be in the net but he's been absent for three days now." I said with a slightly annoyed tone.

"Now now," Shuuya pat me in the back with a smile, "Let's just finish the game quickly so you can continue your sleep, okay?".

"Aaah, fine. Let's get this over with so I can go back to being asleep without a care. Aaah ." I said with a yawn.

"Okay!" They both said and jogged back towards their position while I get back up on my feet, still rubbing my face to ease the stinging sensation. I hope it doesn't leave a bruise. Half-focusing my eyes back to the game, I started thinking that today is starting to be a bad day.

I bet by now you're all wondering who I am. Well, my name is Kiriha Yuuta, 17 years old, a student at Megurigaoka High School Class 3-C with an average look (slightly spiky black hair and blue eyes), average grades (you may not believe it but for all his pranks and mischief, Sakaki's got the highest marks in the class), still single (Shuuya' s the one who's always attracting girls), likes watching animes (my favourite, Sword Style Online) and my hobby, sleeping (when class is in session preferably). Overall, I'm your average high school guy.

After a couple more minutes, our PE class is finally over and as I was walking towards my class after changing my clothes, I started to yawn and wondered if I can sneak some sleep during the lesson. That is until I remembered that the next class is Languages with Ms. Kagayami-sensei.

'So I guess I have to stay awake huh. I wonder if I can do that especially after last night and the PE class.' I thought in my head. You see, the thing is when I watch animes I tend to do so until just a couple of minutes after midnight. Only then did I go to bed. The lack of sleep often leaves me yawning all the time. To compensate my lack of sleep, I decided to take a nap whenever I had free time such as during class. Some teachers, such as Sakura-sensei or Megu-nee as most student call her don't mind much about my sleeping habit as I didn't snore loudly and disrupt the entire class, but there are also some, like Kamiyama-sensei who are pretty adamant in keeping me from sleeping during their lesson. One of the methods that they use to wake me up is-

"Zup"

"Oowwww" I clutch my head painfully and rubbed the spot where the chalk hits. What a rude way to wake someone up.

"Please try to avoid falling asleep during my class again Kiriha-san," Kamiyama-sensei looks angrily at me while holding another piece of chalk. With a sigh she adds "Honestly you and Takeya-san are just the same, bringing headaches to me."

I glance to the back of the class while still rubbing my head to Takeya Yuki-san place. True enough she's sleeping peacefully back there just like I was a few moments ago. Watching her sleeping face, I've got to admit that she's pretty cute even with that ridiculous hat that she wears. I was going to stare a little more before the girl sitting in front of her caught me staring and grin deviously when she noticed where I was staring. I quickly turn my gaze back to the front to avoid her gaze. I slumped my head to my desk to hide my blush. Wait. Why was I blushing anyway? Ah, I don't want to think about it.

I raise my head a little and saw that Kamiyama-sensei's had turned her attention back to the board. 'I suppose I can sleep a little while she's not looking. Just have to keep a low profile so she doesn't notice.' What that I slowly lower my head and pretend that I'm reading. A couple of seconds later, I drift off to sleep.

"Yuuta" I hear a voice calling my name.

"Yuuta" I hear it again but I'm too sleepy to answer.

"Yuuta-kun~" I jolted up with a chill to my bones when I hear that voice spoken softly into my ear. I quickly glance left and right before I saw the perpetrator, Sakaki laughing a few steps from me. I sighed and slumped my head back onto my desk. "What do you want Sakaki?", I ask with a very irritated tone in my voice. "I'm trying to sleep here if you hadn't noticed."

"Hah? I came to wake you up of course. Everyone's already starting to leave class you know." Sakaki said with a grin.

"Everyone's leaving. Why?" I enquired groggily before realization hits me. "Wait. What time is it now!" I hastily asked him.

Sakaki, still grinning, said with a loud voice, "Dude, school's already over you know. I can't believe you slept through the afternoon."

I stared at him, dumbfounded. "Why didn't you or Shuuya woke me up earlier?" I said to him although I can already guess the answer.

"Hehe. Well, we tried to pull you out of your sleep but you didn't even stir," Sakaki stated." The other teachers and even Megu-nee shook your body to wake you up but you still, against all odds, remain asleep."

I shook my head regretfully, "So I slept through most of the school, huh. So unproductive. By the way, where's Shuuya?" I asked him when I noticed that Shuuya's nowhere in the class.

"Oh, Shuuya. He already left for soccer practice. As the captain of the team, he can't be late right?" Sakaki said.

"Right right," I said tiredly while slinging my bag. I walked my way towards the exit of the classroom with Sakaki in tow.

"Yo, Yuuta. Where're you going, man?" He asked me.

I glanced at him, "Home, of course. Where else would I go?".

"But don't you have a club to go to? The Gardening Club if I'm right." Sakaki reminded me.

"Come on man. You know I joined the club just to stop my dad pestering me about me 'not doing outdoor activities'. I don't really have any interest in gardening if you hadn't noticed. I've only ever joined the club activities once and it was boring, to say the least," I said with an annoyed look. "Growing plants and tending them just don't suit me."

"But there's some beautiful girls in that club right? Most notably that Wakasa Yuuri-san, with her gorgeous body and those big breasts, man I don't know why you wouldn't want to go."

"I'm not the kind of guy who looks at girls all the time you know"

"Yeah right. Anyways, I better get to the track," Sakaki announced. It seems that through our conversation we've arrived at the school gates.

"I still can't believe you joined the track and field club you know," I said, always surprised by the club of his choice. "Of course, you're pretty athletic among the guys in our class, second only to Shuuya, but with your scores, one would expect you to join the Science Club or the Maths Club".

"Yeah yeah, you've said that many times already in the past years. It's just that I feel a certain pull to join the track club, like a sudden urge, an unexplainable feeling -"

"Just say that you joined for the girls," I stopped his speech.

"You got that right. There're some pretty girls in there and I've even recently been asked out by a cute girl. Ebisuzawa Kurumi-chan's her name, she's from the neighboring class and one of the managers of the club," Sakaki stated proudly for his achievement of finding a cute girlfriend.

"Really~. I find it hard to believe that a girl would be interested in you, what's with your pranking habits," I said in slight disbelief.

"You know I play my pranks mostly on you right, and everyone else pretty much sees me as a perfect student."

"Urgh, don't remind me," I said in a depressing tone.

"Speaking of girls, I noticed that you were staring at Takeya-san earlier," I tensed a little when he uttered those words. "And I'm quite sure I saw you blushing a bit before you doze off again," Sakaki said with a big grin on his face. "So tell me, are you interested in her, Yuuta~"

I felt my face heat up a bit when he said that. I didn't think anyone noticed back then. "I don't know what you're talking about and I'm leaving now. See you tomorrow!" In my haste to get out of the situation I blurt out the first thing that came to my mind and hurriedly left the school ground, leaving Sakaki grinning behind.

'Heh. He's so cute when he's embarrassed like that,' Sakaki thought to himself. 'Maybe I could pair him up with Takeya-san and show him what a good friend I am. They'll look so cute together. What's with Yuuta's seriousness and Takeya-san's upbeat personality, they'd be a good match. Maybe I could ask Shuuya to help too. He wouldn't mind.' With those ideas in mind, Sakaki jogged his way to the school field for his club meet.

Unaware that it will be his last.