1 New Narration Target
"Could you please..." are the first words I hear when I arrive at my new narrating destination, which it appears our protagonist is dreaming about... something... hmm... It took much longer than planned to transition to a different narratee, took me two months after New Year's Eve to get here...
Birds chirp in the distance, the sun peeks over the horizon, and its glorious golden rays seep through the black curtains of a particular person's room; an alarm then goes off, generating an incessant buzzing that echoes throughout his room.
A hand slaps the top of the alarm, which turns it off, and the person lazily pushes themselves out of bed, their facial features gleaming in the natural light of the sun.
He has an exceptionally unremarkable face, hair that could probably be a replacement for a black mop, and eyes that are so dark they almost resemble obsidian. Despite this, he has grown accustomed to being dubbed boring.
His height is the only distinguishing feature— oh wait... Never mind, he's the average Japanese person's height, which is five foot seven inches tall... *page flipping sounds*
…There! It says here that he's adept at playing the guitar; thank you, Susumu, for being good at doing something.
As he throws his blanket aside, he sets his feet on the hardwood floor of his room before slipping on his white wool slippers beside his bed. He then grunts his way out of his bed, mumbling to himself like a lunatic, "Another good day for Ishibashi Susumu..."
…I've narrated countless lives, and this is one of the most fascinating and boring people I've seen yet-- Whoops, I'm veering off track...
Susumu scratches his shaggy black hair before opening his door, taking a step out of his room before being greeted by his mom, "Good morning, Susumu-kun!"
Susumu yawns as he greets his mother, "Gwood mworning, mom..." His mother giggles as she walks into the kitchen, and Susumu follows behind her. He then glances at his dad, who is sitting at the front of the table, reading a newspaper.
As he slides the seat back, he sits down before inching closer to the table, "Did you sleep well, Susumu-chan?" His father asked abruptly, and Susumu looked at him with a dissatisfied expression on his face, he didn't seem amused by his father calling him that name.
'Susumu-chan' then sighs plaintively. You know what? This is dull, let's jump ahead a tiny bit...
(+ TIME ADVANCE +)
Oh! Okay, that's enough.
Susumu slips on some black shoes before standing up and tapping his toe cap; he is now outfitted in the school uniform, which appears to be a white button-up shirt, a brown suit jacket, and a black tie; his slacks are similarly brown; who guessed the school uniform would be so brown?
As he reaches for the doorknob, he exclaims, "I'm going out!" He then hears his mother's voice behind him tell, "Have a safe trip!"
Susumu then swings open the front door, allowing sunlight to flood into the house, and he blocks the incoming light with his hand, which was about to temporarily blind him if he didn't block his face.
As he walks outside, he takes in the fresh air before locking the door behind him, and thinks, <Today is a good day to bring my bike to school, right?> He then walks over to his bike, unlatches it before climbing on, and begins cycling toward the school.
He passes numerous recognizable spots, including a maid café, a convenience store, a park, and many more! It's pretty much his daily routine.
He comes to a halt at the pedestrian red light and places his foot on the sidewalk to wait. He pulls his phone from his pocket and begins browsing through social media; he doesn't post much on his profile, with one exception: he shares his birthdays and family outings, which occur just once a year.
The red light turns green almost instantly, and he puts his foot back on the pedal to start moving his bike again, passing additional locations which I won't go into detail about, until he sees the school gates.
MATSUGAYA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL is the title of the school he attends; it is a boarding school as well, albeit the majority of students do not reside there. Instead, they live with their families or in flats close to the school.
After parking his bike, he secures it to a pole before proceeding toward the school building; as I said earlier, it is late March, so the cherry blossoms on the route to the school are in full bloom.
The pathway then comes to a fork; Susumu looks at the sign in the middle, <After all this time, I still wonder, who stays at the dormitory over to the right?> He shrugs, before continuing forward to the main school building.
Susumu casually strolls forward until he hears a shout from behind him, "I can recognize that black shaggy hair from anywhere! Ishibashi-kun, slow down!"
Susumu turns around with a faint smile as he waits for his two buddies who are approaching rapidly, Fujikawa Takashi and Moriyama Fumio.
Takashi hails from a wealthy background, but he is a proud otaku who spends his free time reading manga and playing visual novels.
He has crimson hair and red eyes, and I'd give him... I'd say he is a ninety-seven on the looks scale, and he is complemented by a baritone voice with a dash of posh.
Meanwhile, Fumio spends most of his time studying, and for some reason, he still has time to spend with his two friends.
He has brown hair and hazel eyes, but no glasses; most of the people I've narrated prior either had a friend with eyewear who was an otaku or— I went off-track again, his voice has the same tone as Takashi's but without the sophisticated aspect.
Susumu slows down to allow his companions to catch up with him; what a wonderful friend. They're now standing next to one another, talking about the normal topics that friends speak about, like what anime they watched yesterday and if they accomplished that route in that particular visual novel.
Fumio, who'd been playing the visual novel Takashi had suggested to him the day before, questioned unexpectedly, "Are you sure that Eguchi Chiharu is the best girl, Takashi?" and the question struck him square through the chest.
Takashi reacts by raising his fist in the air and exclaiming, "I'm convinced she's the best girl; the scene with her pink hair blowing in the wind as well as the cherry tree in the backdrop is just the greatest sight."
Fumio grips his bag tighter, "You're crazy, Bando Tsukiko is obviously the best choice," A blush then forms on his cheeks, "the visual when you help her reach the book at the top of the bookshelf is the best, and also the way she moves her long green hair behind her ear is so cute!"
They both stare daggers at Susumu and ask, "Who do you think is the best girl, Ishibashi-kun?"
Susumu turns to his left and right with an uneasy smile and says, "W-well, I haven't tried the game yet, so I have no idea," he had just dodged a bullet as the two look forward with a sizable disappointed sigh, Takashi then says, scratching his cheek, "How boring of you..."
Given how slowly these three walk together, it could be in my best interest to skip this part myself. It also appears that their talk is coming to a standstill, so I'll just...
(+ TIME ADVANCE +)
Alright... Susumu is NOT seated near the window. In this narrative, the seat next to the window is not used... FINALLY, my former narrations were all so generic with their seating choices...
Susumu is listening to the teacher's lecture until he observes several people who stand out in their own manner, such as those with blue hair and those with blond hair.
He wouldn't feel as self-conscious if he had inherited his mother's brown hair from good genes, but he doesn't mind since he's never been obsessed with appearances; instead, all he has ever been attracted to is somebody's personality.
Susumu is a decent student who does really well in exams but is never at the top because Shinsato Ayano, a girl who studies day and night, always occupies that position.
He twirls the pen he was holding in his hand because he had just finished writing down the things written on the blackboard, muttering to himself, "I wonder what lunch will be..."
The lunch bell rings, and the teacher puts the chalk they were holding down before coming over to the podium and stating, "We'll be having P.E. class in the gym after lunch, so be sure to recharge your stamina with food."
The students, including Susumu, bow as the teacher walks out of the room; after the teacher leaves, Takashi and Fumio approach him and push several chairs to his table before sitting down, "We're gonna have lunch in the classroom again? We already did that today," Susumu remarked with a raised eyebrow.
"Fujikawa-san merely wanted to eat here again since he would get overwhelmed by the underclassmen if he decided to step outside of the classroom," Fumio jokes before exhaling quickly.
Susumu tilts his head and looks at Takashi, remarking, "I still wonder why you become our friend, Fujikawa-kun. You're like the most good-looking student here, yet you choose to be around us."
Takashi rubs his cheek as he peers out the window near the doorway, girls are peeping through the window, he waves, and the girls promptly swoon.
Takashi then lays his forearms on the table, saying, "It was because you guys are interested in the same thing as me; if I joined the other popular people, I would never be able to talk about anime or manga."
Susumu and Fumio exchange a stare before laughing, Takashi tilts his head before asking, "What are you guys laughing about?"
"Sorry about that, that just sounded incredibly wholesome," Susumu says as he adjusts his tie.
"Yeah, but you know what else is wholesome? That one loli in the visual novel you recommended to me, Fujikawa-san," Fumio says with a long breath.
Takashi gives Fumio a condescending glare after hearing the words, 'loli' come out of his mouth; he then shakes his head in disgust as the group opens their lunch boxes.
