#I HAVEN'T PLAYED THE PROLOGUE BTW this is an actual shot in the air

[reinapepiada]

there's a bit more to the thought process that led to this than i'm willing to share here. it's like an AU but for one joke only

[s1lent-thunderr132]

the forgotten year - anhane

a/n- author's note if i'm being honest, i haven't uploaded a fanfic since 8th grade so bare with me on this. This story is based off of my 8th grade/freshman year, the last time i actually felt happy. This is very OOC i know, this takes plane in an AU where they all go to school together. I hope you enjoy this, this is only the prologue. The rest will be uploaded on AO3. Also, sorry if the names were swapped around in the middle since this was originally written in the perspective of Kohane. But during the middle of it, I realized that An would be more like me than Kohane so I had to switch around the names by hand. Oh yeah btw, 8th grade/freshman year is COVID hit me

word count: 1,327

(the italic words are An's monologue btw, don't get confused)

prolouge

It was a somber March afternoon in yakakawa middle school. The smell of rain filled the air. An was staring into the outside window, looking out into the field of clouds, trying to avoid the burning feeling inside her. There was a burning feeling that was keeping her warm in the cool weather, that feeling was the student that transferred a few months ago, Kohane Azusawa. Kohane was a student that moved in January, just as winter break ended and the new semester started. 

When Kohane first sat down on the empty desk, An felt something in her, as if they met in another life. Kohane looked oddly familiar to her. An dug through her old memories and then realized that Kohane was the random kid they met in the playground during elementary school. “Hey, didn’t you go to chairomori elementary school?!” Tsukasa screamed at her when she was in the room. Kohane wanted to leave, but she did not like the amount of attention when she got. Kohane disliked how rowdy Tsukasa was, and the fact that the girl that sat next to her was Haruka. Haruka kept teasing Kohane for some reason, maybe because She wanted to get Kohane out of her shell since she was the new girl in school. But, it’s whatever. Throughout the weeks, Kohane got used to Haruka and Tsukasa messing around. 

An sat from the other side of the room, quietly observing Kohane. She wanted to go and maybe talk to her since she didn’t know anyone at the school. Kohane always sat alone during snack and lunch breaks, playing on her computer or eating her food. She looks like she needs a hug. An was curious about Kohane’s behavior in class too, she’d always fall asleep or look into the void instead of listening to the teacher. One time, Kohane fell asleep in class. The teacher whistled to wake her up, An died laughing. The kid next to her, Shiho, could read An like an open book. Shiho looked at An with a smug expression. “Hey An, do you like Kohane?” An’s heart was a soda bottle getting ready to explode. Her face was painted scarlet, and her dictionary became an alphabet soup. An felt naked when Shiho asked that, it was almost like she knew what was going on in An’s mind. “Yeah An, don’t be shy to shoot your shot!” Ichika yelled. An was stuck in carbonite, there was no excuse for this behavior she’s had for the past month, staring at Kohane instead of listening to the teacher, laughing whenever she did something silly in class, drawing on papers in hopes she’d see them, and even giving her kind notes on her desk thinking that she won’t know it’s from An. But in reality, Kohane knew that An gave her the note on her table. An froze when she noticed that Kohane read the note and immediately stared at her with a smile.

An was afraid to talk to Kohane, thinking that She’d find her weird like everyone else around her. Until the time came when they were going to get a seating arrangement. “Everyone stand up facing the chalkboard!” The teacher exclaimed. Everyone stood up and walked towards the chalkboard. The teacher started from the back. “Mafuyu, Emu, Nene” the teacher pointed at the desks while saying kids' names, that’s how they were assigning seats. “Honami, Mizuki, Minori” the list went on and on until the last three desks were open. “Kohane, Rui, An.” It was like the teacher knew everything that An was thinking about. An felt like she was walking on eggshells. I can’t believe I’m this close to her, now I can’t look at her without her knowing. The teacher gave the whole class an assignment and everyone started writing answers to the questions. 

An couldn’t focus, her heart took over her brain. There was a pounding feeling inside her body that couldn’t let her focus on the assignment, things were becoming overwhelming for An, she couldn’t hold the urge to look at Kohane. But, Kohane might notice that she was staring at her since she was very close. An tried to stare at Rui so Kohane wouldn’t see that she was staring at her and not Rui, peripheral vision is gonna do its job for once. It wasn’t helping at all, now An could focus less now that she was staring at Rui because she could see Kohane from the corner of her eye. An’s heart started rushing and rushing more, and her blood turned into a rushing river. It was no use for An to use that technique since it made things complex for her. This was hell for An since she had to work while having that funny feeling inside her. 

During the final minutes of class, everyone started packing their things. “Ahhh I’m so tired!!” Kohane groaned. An’s mind was rushing, she knew that this was her time to shine. An jumped with joy in her seat since she knew that this is her time to have a proper conversation with Kohane, they can both have time to interact instead of exchanging eye contact. “Man, I’m tired too. Why do we even have school?” An replied. The bell rang announcing to everyone that it was time to go home. When An walked out, she noticed that it was sprinkling outside, good thing she didn’t bring her umbrella. She walked home grinning with pride. I’m so happy I got the courage to talk to her and get out of my comfort zone. 

An couldn’t stop thinking about how much fun she’ll have with Kohane now that they were sitting next to each other, she hopes that a group project will happen so they can work together as partners and even have fun study dates outside of school. Hopefully, she’ll get the guts to ask Kohane for an after-school boba date since there’s a boba shop near their school. There were more thoughts in her mind about her and Kohane going out and having fun in school than stars in the sky and sand in the desert, every step she made when walking back from school was a new thought with she and Kohane created.  The second An ran home, she kicked off her shoes, ran upstairs, tossed her backpack on the floor, and jumped on her bed. Jumping on her mattress took her to heaven. Every thought about Kohane ran through her mind like a rapid river. The thoughts of her other classes, friends, and worries were all taken over by the thought of Kohane. Her heart pounded in excitement, yearning for the next day. She ignored the fact it was a Friday and only focused on the fact that Saturday was another Kohane day. Every day was Kohane day from now on. Reality hit her when a knocking noise entered her door. “Come in!” she told the person at her door. Turns out that it was her dad. “An, The school has notified me that you’ll be staying home for the next three weeks. An influenza outbreak has occurred in the first years, so the school headmaster has informed everyone that they’ll be staying home to prevent the spread and to cleanse all classrooms, the gym, and  any class that a student or teacher has walked into. This doesn’t mean you can slack on your studies, You’ll be doing school work on your laptop until school opens up again. The headmaster says the school will open up again after spring break. ” She fell off of cloud nine, she can’t believe that her dad had to ruin her day like that. “Okay dad, I'll not slack on my studies” she sighed. Well, it’s only gonna be three weeks right? That means I can have more time to work on myself and practice talking to Kohane more, I can’t wait to recite all my conversation starters and build up courage!

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thanks for reaching the end!! it's a surprise you'd actually read this. I hope you stay tuned for chapter 1, it'll be uploaded on AO3. That's all, for now, thank you and goodbye