Episode 1: The Cherry Blossom Collision
The cherry blossoms were supposed to be peaceful. Everyone said so. The school brochure said so. "Experience spring under the sakura," it said.
It was a lie.
I, Isa Suzuki, first year, Class 1-B, was going to get the perfect photo. I needed it for my Photography Club application. I had my old camera, my favorite sweater, and zero sense of direction.
I was running, looking up at the petals falling like pink snow, not looking forward.
BAM.
I didn't hit a wall. It felt like a wall, but it was wearing a black school uniform. It had black hair, cold eyes behind glasses, and a red student council armband that said "PRESIDENT".
My camera went flying. My butt hit the ground. Petals rained on my head.
"Watch where you're going."
His voice was ice. Colder than the morning air.
He looked down at me like I was an annoying insect.
"You... you were in my way!" I managed to say, even though I was the one on the floor.
He bent down, picked up my camera lens cap, and held it out. "No. You bumped into me. And you dropped this."
That was Jason. Jason Kurosawa. Third year. Student Council President. Perfect grades, perfect face, perfectly terrifying. The girls in my class said he never smiles. Now I believed them.
I snatched the cap from him. "My lens! Check if it's broken!"
He adjusted his glasses. "You should be more careful, first year."
"And you should not stand in the middle of the walkway like a statue! Preposterous!"
His eyebrow twitched. I think I just insulted the most powerful student in the school.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Isa! And you already ruined my first day!"
"Isa," he repeated, like he was memorizing a troublemaker's name for a blacklist. "Report to the student council room after school. You violated Article 4: No running in the sakura corridor."
I stared at him. "There is no Article 4!"
"There is now," he said, and walked away, leaving me sitting under the cherry blossoms, holding my lens cap, already on his bad side.
Great. Just great.
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