1 How the Birds Fly

In the midst of the year 2022, the territory of contemporary Japan has an impressive number of Japanese people and is unprecedentedly one of the perfect giant nations in the world podium, having both the advanced technology of the future and the beauty of nature. The inhabitants have no questions about the current situation in their country and live a carefree life, celebrating the national holidays and working for the future of the prosperous country. One would think, how can you not be happy when you were born in Japan?

But one young resident has a distinctive opinion on the matter, looking at things around him from a skeptical point of view. At his young age, he had come to the conclusion that he had no reason to rejoice in the arrival of new acquaintances from his peers. The young man had an emphatic attitude toward his surroundings, but in no way did he wish ill on people who seemed to be outsiders in his life. In conjunction with these facts about his personality, the young man often put himself forward to believe that this was what set him apart from the rest.

It was also where the whole story began.

After leaving Kyoto, the place where his parents lived, he bothered to move to the capital, to his own sister's house. In truth, he was finally able to see his sister again after several long years, and having initially heard the news of his move, the woman reacted peacefully, not refusing a new tenant, especially when the tenant was her own younger brother.

Outside the window was the dawn of the month of April, enveloped in a quiet Tokyo mood. The flip calendar on the side table in the young man's private room showed the sixth day of the month. On this morning, the silence in the room was shattered by the ringing of the alarm clock coming from the touchscreen phone lying on the floor. The bed rustled, and soon a certain head and then a male, house-clad body emerged from the sheltered bed. The lazy silhouette assumed a sitting position, and after turning off the alarm clock on the phone, a howl was heard from his lips, foreshadowing the young man's lack of sleep.

The next few minutes of his activity consisted of the routine of tidying up and washing himself in the bathroom — like a morning tradition, and at the end his direction led him straight from the corridor to the kitchen. The shape of his tall and slender indicated the young man's indulgence in his outward beauty and cleanliness. He sat down at the kitchen table in the middle of the room itself, and proceeded to take an unrefrigerated meal consisting of fried eggs. This next morning in an apartment notable for its luxury of minimalism and its adherence to modernist design in terms of every furnishings, the young man spent in silence.

In fact, he was awakened in the morning by an obligation to come to school for orientation for newcomers, and being a transfer student, the young man knew absolutely nothing about his school. With conscious doubts about the attractiveness of the school in which he would remain to complete his crucial year, he decided not to worry about today, the day of his first arrival at the new institution.

The location of the school was close to the central district of the city, which made the subway ride from his apartment to the control area take a fabulous one-tenth of an hour. This time the young man preferred to occupy himself by listening to music on headphones.

Without an ounce of anxiety, he reached the grounds of his school, and caught his eye and found himself slightly indoctrinated by the attractiveness and size of the structure itself. At least, it seemed that way to him at first, for he had not entered the inside of the school.

Crowds of students in school uniforms appropriate to the institution stood through the gate. He noticed the uniformity in the way the students wore their clothes, and only his uniform differed from them with its checkered pants, the patterns of which were only slightly visible up close. Stealthily walking through the young crowd, he didn't bother to listen in on the conversations — they seemed inaudible as it was, thanks to the abundance of noise emanating. Unable to catch glances from some of the female students with excited interest gradually rose to the boy as he passed them.

Climbing the stairs, he reached directly to the entrance of the school building, and headed toward the considerable gathering of people surrounding the blackboard with the list of students and their disposition to their classes. When he got close to the board, he immediately ran his finger down the list, and finally, when he hit a certain point, he found his name on it.

"Ryou Hayashi, 12th grade A," was written on the sheet in fine print, and as he removed his hands, he made sure his name was indeed written on the list.

"Just look at his amazing wavy hair..." whispered an unfamiliar female voice coming from behind and pointing toward Ryou.

"No! Just look at his slender, tall body," the next female voice issued softly, "And his dainty dark blue eyes…"

"Apparently his name is Ryou Hayashi, a future graduate of the school... Is he new?" wondered another student who was in the crowd along with the other girls, none of whose faces Ryou had seen before.

Deciding to approach the young man from the side, an unfamiliar student with a pronounced length of wavy hair dyed pink thought to notice his face, unaware of her presence.

What appeared before her was the graceful face of the student looking nonchalantly at his name on the list, as if he was a young model. The perfect combination of the light tone of his skin and his dark, unstyled hair, which unwittingly reached to his temples, presented a gorgeous first impression of him as a decent young man. His piercing eyes were imprinted on the faces of many of the students who met him on the current day as something to cling to and not let go of in any way.

His name, Ryou, is a man who unknowingly achieved honor with the female students of his school, deciding in broad daylight to arrive for a brief day of introductions.

Not choosing to attend the first day's ceremony, he skipped the annual speech without a reason and made his way home afterward. Thus, Ryou did not want unnecessary gazes and any attention among those present at the school. He thought it would not be worth expending his energy if there were no lessons that day, but instead, lessons would begin tomorrow.

As a result, he spent the entire day in unimpeded tranquility, looking out over his neighborhood through a wall-size window from the top floor of a 25-story apartment. From that distance, it felt as if he could see the world in the palms of his hands, and no one would disturb his privacy.

Ryou didn't want to change anything in his current life and only left the future to his fate, hoping for a better outcome of life in a completely unfamiliar city, where he had no relatives except for his sister. Thus, mindlessly shuttered against the window in the kitchen, Ryou fell asleep, covered by a sheet.

The next morning, during breakfast, Ryou and his sister were in the kitchen. A slender but young figure stood near the bar counter, washing dirty dishes with gentle hands. The water pouring from the tap was the only thing that interrupted the silence in the whole house. Ryou was only having breakfast, unlike her sister, dressed businesslike in a shiny shirt and a dark skirt that slimmed her waist, who was clearly on her way to work.

"Going to school today, Ryou-kun?" came the gentle and subdued female voice of her sister, heralding her unperturbed mood for the current morning.

"Of course, yes," the young man's low voice manifested afterward.

"Getting used to the fact that you're studying in Tokyo now?"

"I think I'll soon be able to adjust to it."

Finished with her chores, the lady turned off the tap and wiped her hands with a towel. Glancing over at Ryou, she noticed his thoughtful look, staring aimlessly at his food. Her sister, whose name was given by her mother in honor of the child's restraint and calmness from birth, was noticeably older than the young man. Her face was not much different from her brother's at first glance, except for the difference in her sex, the mole on the left cheek and the older expression in eyes.

"I see. You haven't been out much all week since you came in. I'm glad you dared to go out today, too," she added deafeningly, not changing her demure look.

The teenager thought perplexedly. Dared? What's the nonsense?

"I didn't see the value in going outside."

"You should get used to it, Ryou-kun, living in Tokyo now. Have you tried to make friends from your new classmates."

"I don't need them," Ryou replied curtly, "I'm fine without them."

Megumi tiredly exhaled after seeing her younger brother's stubbornness, and proceeded to change her shoes at the exit of the apartment. Putting on her gray coat, she straightened her collar, and spreading her smooth brown hair out of it, she looked out with dignity toward Ryou, who was also sitting by the table.

"Good luck on the first day," she said benignly, and their gazes met affectionately.

"Thank you. And you don't overdo it at work, sister. Don't let your patients stare at you."

"All right. I'm off, clean up after you finish your breakfast."

Megumi Hayashi, a loving sister who has devoted herself to her work as a doctor, is in fact a person Ryou wished to look up to. How else could it be, as their kinship affects Ryou, so that he can make sure that he has his own family present.

Very soon there was the sound of the front door closing, followed by silence. Ryou began to finish his breakfast.