Alinea

The unforgettable first meeting….

3 years before the story

It was early spring, the last year, and final month of middle school. The last term examination had ended, and most of the graduating students came to school just for final requirement submissions. Most of them however were taking advantage of the last few days they could hang out with their classmates.

"Yes mom. I already completed my requirements. I just need to show up at the commencement ceremony," Suzuki Ara told her mother on the phone.

"Alright. Are you coming home now?"Mrs. Suzuki asked, and Ara immediately said no. "But if you have nothing to do at school then you should come home."

"Who said I have nothing to do? I'm going to spend time with my classmates since I won't be seeing them anymore after we graduate."

Ara was still a bit upset, and it reflected on her voice. While her classmates and friends would attend senior high at this very same exclusive school, she was going to transfer to a normal one. Regardless of how much she protested, her parents were adamant she attend a middle-class school to have a "feel" of society.

For the Suzuki couple, it was not okay for their daughter to be always surrounded by spoilt rich kids. By attending a normal high school, Ara would be able to meet different kinds of people from different classes, and experience normal activities normal students had – unlike in their school where school trip meant overseas travel.

Ara was not snobbish in any way. But, she felt upset to leave her friends behind. The thought that she would be the only one who would transfer away made her feel a bit resentful towards her parents.

"Fine. But don't be out until late okay?"Mrs. Suzuki reminded her daughter before ending the call.

Urgh…

Ara slumped on her desk, feeling totally exhausted after talking to her parent. Well, at least she was allowed to hang out for a while.

With that thought in mind, she wondered where her classmates went. She realized the room was totally quiet and she was alone.

Eh? Where did they go?

She hurriedly ran across the room, swung open the door and stepped into the corridor when her eyes widened as she nearly collided with a bunch of people rushing out and had to step back in.

What's going on?

She watched as more and more students rushed out of the other classrooms, giggling at each other as they did. As nobody stopped to explain things to her, Ara tried her best to make out what's happening based on the snippets of conversation amidst their twitters.

"Ah the kyudo club's having a demonstration today with the club from another school."

"I heard an old boy from the other school's club is coming and he's super cool."

"He already graduated but he's a member of the All Nippon Kyudo Federation."

"The archer prince is here!"

"Ay I can't believe I'd see him again. He was so cool last tournament."

Suzuki Ara was dumbfounded as she watched the halls empty as everyone had seemed to rush to the school's archery dojo.

Their middle school actually was very famous for its good athletic clubs. The most popular ones were the judo and the kyudo clubs where they were always at the top three in the prefecture.

Ara on the other hand was not interested in any sport – or anything else at all. She just wanted to find her friends so they could go to the nearby café and hang out until they had to go home as they promised they would today.

Tomo and Aiko however were nowhere in sight.

Where could they be?

The two said they're going to grab some snacks at the vending machine while she took her mom's call, but they never returned.

With a sigh, she trudged down the now vacant halls, passed by empty rooms towards the direction of the canteen where the vending machines were. Coincidentally, the canteen building was behind the huge archery dojo.

Ara, remembering the number of people who had rushed to watch the demonstration felt exhausted just thinking how the place would be crowded, but she was wrong. Fortunately, the tournament was ongoing so everybody who wanted to watch was inside, and the canteen was surprisingly empty.

Ah, thank God.

Sadly, Tomo and Aiko were also not in the canteen, and Ara's face turned blank.

Urrrgh

How could she have forgotten? Her two friends were both "menkui", people who were crazy about good looking people. If they heard there's a very handsome archer prince in the dojo, then those two were probably there, and had totally forgotten about her.

Great!

"I guess we can't hang out today anymore…"

With low spirits, she glared at the dojo outside the window where she could hear people cheering but stopped on her tracks.

A few feet away from the huge window where she stood, was a tall, lanky, young man. He had longish raven hair that framed his small face. To say that he was handsome was an understatement. Even Ara who was not impressed so easily with physical appearances admitted that this tall boy's looks was way off the scales.

There was a mysterious air about him that made people stop and stare, mesmerized. He wore a black hakama, and the long bamboo bow in his had indicated that he was part of the kyudo demonstration in the dojo. He was fixing the glove in his hand as the wind blew, and the sakura tree where he stood showered him with soft pinkish white petals.

The sight was so magical, like a painting came to life.

To Ara, there couldn't be anyone else who could give justice to the name "fairy tale prince."

No one, other than this boy.

"P-prince…"Ara unconsciously uttered loud enough for her voice to be carried by the wind.

As if the young man heard her, he turned to her direction suddenly, his piercing blue gaze locked with hers and she forgot to breathe for a moment as she blushed all over.

Urgh…

She didn't know how she knew, but there was a flicker of recognition in those ice-blue orbs as if their owner knew her. But it must be her imagination, and so she turned away, embarrassed from being caught staring.

She hid behind the wall next to the window, her hand on her c.h.e.s.t as she calmed her heart down.

What was that?

Ara couldn't understand what just happened. In all her life, she'd never felt anything so intense as those pair of eyes.

"Was that the archer prince they were talking about?" she wondered, and she was probably right.

"I wonder what his name is," she muttered as she surreptitiously peeked from the side of the window, and almost jumped upon seeing that the beautiful boy was still looking at her direction.

EEEEEEK

Ara fell on the floor.

"I guess I gotta go," she told herself as she decided to crawl away, so she wouldn't be seen passing by the window in case the boy was still there, looking. But after crawling a couple of feet, she heard another person approach so she decided to peek again.

"Kou! What are you doing here alone?" the newcomer asked.

So his name's Kou…

It was a fitting name for a pretty boy archer prince, Ara thought with a smile as she slowly left.

It was safe to say that Suzuki Ara squeezed herself amongst the cheering crowd at the kyudo dojo to watch one particular handsome archer prince that day.