Breathe

It was around 8 o'clock in the morning as Verone Academy students were on their way to school. Many were happy, but some were not. Some of them were awake, but most were half-awake heading to the train station. Among them was Nagisa, half-asleep, like a zombie awakened from the dead. She dragged her lacrosse stick on the ground without even knowing or caring. People around her avoided her because of her scary face. Not only did it scare the people around, but her family gazed at her with concern at the table this morning during her breakfast before she left. Her little brother explained why she was like this; he obviously peeked in her room. She had been studying all night and went to bed at four AM as usual. Her relatives and friends had been scolding her not to do this but rather study right after school. She just replied with a smile. "Don´t worry about it." Next morning, she ended up walking as half-dead to school.

She thought that the great weather would cheer her up; unfortunately, it only made it worse. "Nagisa!" a little creature cried out scared that they might crash on something. Knowing Nagisa, when she is daydreaming or half asleep, she probably would bump her head on a lamppost. Walking by a familiar Ramen shop she almost arrived to the train station but, busy with her tiredness, she didn't seem to notice. She just walked straight on, careless, without knowing where she was supposed to go, yet, somehow she managed to go to the right place. Not even the smell of takoyaki or other food could snap her out of it. As she walked by another Ramen shop, the smell of ramen out of the window, which surprised Mepple that her eyes didn´t lit up. Step by step, she began to slow down not wanting to go to school. Her hair was a mess, uncombed, and it felt little greased on top, like butter. Her eyes looked terrible, with black circles and it looked as if the eye was forcing the eyelid to open wide, so it was difficult for her to keep an eye for the road.

She was sick of going the way she went in every morning. She was sick of walking the same road to school, stopping by the green light, walking further straight and then off on to the train, and to school. However, the good part was to meet up with her friends and play Lacrosse, which always made her excited every morning. Meeting Shiho, Rina Honoka, Hikari and the other girls, then stop by Akane's shop after school to get some takoyaki along with her friends, laughing at the silly things and talk about their day at school. While forcing her eyelids open, it made her more tired than ever before.

"Nagisa!" One of her friend, Honoka, came by waving to her. When Honoka noticed that Nagisa didn't greet back, she went straight to her. "Nagisa?" she asked with her face close to Nagisa. Without success, hearing that the train was leaving, she took her hand and directed her into the train. They had just made it on time. Honoka sighed in relief and checked up on her friend. Startled by Nagisa's zombie like face, she jumped up, the passengers stared at her with questioning faces. She smiled innocently to them, telling them there's nothing to worry about. Again, she tried to reach to her friend. "Nagisa?" she waved her hand up and down in front of Nagisa's face, but no use. She put her forefinger under her chin, thinking how to solve the situation.

"I can't believe it." Nagisa finally spoke, making Honoka jump again.

"School's starting again. No more sleeping through afternoon, no more relaxing and snacks. Just more homework! I totally can't believe it." She spoke carelessly like she was alone in her room. She turned to the right, where Honoka stood and was startled when she saw her appear suddenly in front of her.

"Honoka! How- When-here in the train- with you-" she suddenly realized she was in the train for some reason. People around stared at them again, making them embarrassed. The girls shook their hands sideway to convince the passenger there was nothing to worry about, and the passengers sighed with relief. Nagisa turned to Honoka for explanations how she made it all the way there. Not knowing where to start, Mepple cut her off.

"You were half sleep walking."

"That doesn't make sense!" Nagisa yelled at her phone cover causing the people to stare at them for the third time. When they turned back to their newspaper or listening to their iPods, Nagisa scolded Mepple quietly, carefully making sure they would not see who she was talking to. "I think it's better if we discuss this outside." Honoka proposed, with half-smiling expression.

Under the sun with unbearable heat and tiredness, Nagisa struggled on her way to school. Even the heat made her more tired. She bend her back down while taking small steps. Honoka sweat dropped over Nagisa's overreacting; But, for Honoka it wasn't so bad. Well, since they wore lighter uniforms, skirt and shirt, it wasn't so bad in the heat. They met Hikari on the way, as usually in the morning, and started their conversation during the walk. Mepple came out of cover when they told him that he could and joined the conversation.

"Wanna know what happened to Nagisa just now?" he said with bragging tone. "Mepple!" Nagisa said embarrassed.

"She was slee…"Nagisa cut him off by packing him back into the cover, her face embarrassed. “What? What happened?" Hikari was now more curious than before. "Just a little thing happened. I was camping along with Ryouta outside over a night, that's all!" Mepple stuck his head up again protesting.

"No, it was…"Again, he got cut off by Nagisa when she packed him in again.

"Oh." Hikari answered, clueless.

"Wasn't it cold outside?"

"Yeah, after half an hour, we moved back into the house." Nagisa replied while struggling Mepple to pack him in. "Hurry, up or the bell will ring." Nagisa dragged both of them by their hands.

They ran like the wind, the bell already rang and they were both late to class. When Honoka and Nagisa sat on their seats, Shiho, who sat next to her, whispered to Nagisa. "Hey, hey, hey, what happened to you guys?"

"Yeah, usually, Nagisa is the one who's always late but Yukishiro-san?" Rina joined the conversation. "What's that supposed to mean?" Nagisa hissed at them while they laughed it off. "Misumi-san, Kubota-san and Takashimizu-san, do you have anything to say to the class?" their teacher said irritated.

"No, ma’am" they replied nervously as the class was looking over to them. The teacher continued with her reading, everyone paying attention to her except Nagisa, who slowly fell asleep.

"Nagisa. It's your turn." Rina whispered to her. She didn't notice Rina calling her. "Misumi-san!" the teacher exclaimed over the students. Immediately, she stood up and exclaimed back. "Yes?"

"You haven't been paying attention to my classes lately. Please pay more attention, okay?" she said irritated, with her arms crossed. "Yes….." she admitted depressed while she sat down.

"Misumi-san, go stand in the halls...“ Yoshima said with a sigh and beckoned with her finger out. Nagisa stood up, without delay, and headed out the halls. She gave a heavy sigh as she let her back lean on the wall. She stared outside where she saw a group playing football. She smiled and blushed as she imagined of Fuji-P playing instead of that girl she stared at as she had almost the same hairstyle as him. Snapping back to reality, she shook her head. Fuji-P turned back into the girl; the girl made her chance and kicked the ball into the goal successfully. Nagisa smiled as she knew that feeling to score.