My High School Story: A Language of a Shy Smile

One day, we, classmates, were excited for the upcoming "cosplay" event tomorrow and luckily, us grade 8 students were assigned the anime to cosplay, which we will wear. We were supposed to cosplay and walk on stage to be graded in Filipino & English subjects. Early on, I wanted to order a Demon Slayer costume because last month, my friend who lives next door celebrated her birthday and her birthday theme was Kimetsu no Yaiba, so I felt a bit envious because she also dressed up as the character Nezuko and I kind of wanted to as well. I told my mom and dad about it, but my mom said, "Go ask your dad." But my dad said, "The ones you're choosing are ugly," so he ended up looking for a costume for me and he chose Anya from Spy x Family. Of course, I just agreed because being picky was not allowed. The event was the next day, and on our way home with my friends while riding a tricycle, I kept thinking, "Has my costume arrived?" and I hoped it was already delivered because the cosplay event was the next day. We arrived at Gk Village and as I walked, all I could think about was, "I hope it has been delivered." When I got home and entered, I felt a bit sad. I didn't ask if the costume had arrived, and when I couldn't sit still anymore, I finally asked, "Has the costume arrived?" I said. "Yes, it's there, try it on," my dad said. I was happy because my wish came true. I quickly tried on the costume, and it fit me just right, so I said it was okay for me. The next day, I woke up early to get ready. My mom did my makeup and tried to make me look like Anya. When I looked in the mirror, my eyebrows were too thick, and I got angry and asked my mom to remove the makeup because it seemed like my face had changed. We finished getting ready and just took pictures at home with my brother. Maybe around quarter to 8, we rode the tricycle and arrived at school. Many students were wearing beautiful costumes, and I saw many others wearing the same costume as me. When I got off the tricycle, I saw my classmates in the hallway. They were waiting for our other classmates who had extravagant costumes, but I was the first one they saw, so they approached me and accompanied me into the room. I joined them again to go to the hallway to welcome our other classmates. As we were heading to the hallway, we encountered a girl running in a Nezuko costume, and we were all surprised because she really looked like Nezuko, imitating her movements. My classmates knew her, but I didn't, so even though I didn't know her, I said, "Nezuko is so cute:>" and she just smiled. I didn't notice that there was someone else behind that girl, also in a Zenitsu costume but smaller than Nezuko. I was so impressed by that Zenitsu costume, I wanted to greet them too, but it didn't happen because my classmates started walking away. While waiting in the hallway, I couldn't help but say, "I wish all the other costumes were as cool as theirs, mine seems childish." We were just outside the room when my friend Hannah arrived because we wanted to see the different costumes of the students. She told me we should go around one building because there were three more sections there, but we didn't know the name of each section yet. I greeted all those wearing an Anya costume, saying to them, "Ayy! We're the same!" but they didn't reply, just smiled at me, except for my friend. Since elementary, she had always noticed me, and we caught up for a long time. Our advisers lined us up, so Hannah and I went back outside our room to line up. We were also paired with male partners to go up on stage to walk. I felt uncomfortable, so I told my best friend we should just be partners. But a guy suddenly approached me, saying our moms were friends, and he partnered with me, so I said, "Okay," and we walked towards the stage. We saw that my other classmates who went up before partnered with the same gender, so I told my partner, "Find someone else!" I was nervous because it was my turn next, and suddenly our adviser said, "Hey! Didn't I say partners should be male and female?!" So our adviser switched some of my classmates, and instead of my partner, another classmate went up, and I followed, but I was stopped from going up because another classmate went up, so I ended up facing Kurt, the talented artist in our room. So we walked up on stage together, I walked nonchalantly, not even posing. Kurt, on the other hand, walked elegantly and even posed. When I got off the stage, I hurried down because there were so many people, and it was embarrassing. We sneaked into the court to peek at those walking on the stage. There were a lot of cheers for the ones in basketball league costumes because they walked confidently and there was even a girl with them. I saw again the girl dressed as Nezuko and Zenitsu. The two of them walked on stage, and I was impressed by them again, their poses were so beautiful. I said to myself, "What's her name?" I wanted to get to know them that day and become friends. The stage walk ended, and we were all tired and hot, still in the room having lunch, with more posing on stage scheduled later. After the grade 7 students posed on stage, it was our turn, the grade 8 students, and there was a lot of cheering because the cosplayers in grade 8 were so stunning. My friends and I even went up on chairs to see the anime cosplayers on stage because we couldn't see them from where we were due to the taller students blocking our view. It was so hot in the court with so many students, so Kim and I just went back to the room, and that was the day we started becoming close. When everything was done, I went to the washing area alone while the cleaners were tidying up the room. On my way there, I saw the guy dressed as Zenitsu washing his hands, and he passed by me, we walked together, without his haori this time, and I saw the kanji on the back of his shirt. I felt something heavy, so I got curious that maybe this guy and I have a lot in common, that's where my first impression of him came out, and it seemed like there was some attraction starting. As he walked, I just watched him and said to myself, "Tsk!, I don't believe in love at first sight anyway."