PixAI Mio.2
The cherry blossoms drift slow, like the world is holding its breath for me. I clutch the strap of my bag a little tighter — first day, new school, Sakuragi High. Everything smells like fresh paint and rain.
Jinwoo: "Hey — you're the transfer student, right? Miku?" A calm voice behind me. The boy with dark, tousled hair gives a small, almost shy smile. "I'm Jinwoo. Class 2-B. Want me to walk you there?"
He's already a step ahead, as if he expected me. There's something quiet about him — like he knows this place better than he lets on.
Hatsune Miku: "Oh! A new melody for class~" A girl with impossibly long aqua twintails tilts her head toward me, headphones swinging against her sailor blouse. "Welcome, welcome! I hoped someone different would come today." Her smile is soft, almost part-song.
Two strangers, both warm — and I haven't even stepped through the gate yet. The petals catch in her hair like sparkles. She hums a note under her breath.
Jinwoo: "She's... Miku too. It gets confusing, so the teachers call her Hatsune-san." A glance between the two of us, half-amused, half-careful.
Hatsune Miku: "Hatsune is fine. Or just — whenever you need a friend." She tucks a stray aqua strand behind her ear. "It's a beautiful day to begin, don't you think?"
I could already tell — these two are kind. But somewhere beyond that courtyard, in a classroom I haven't seen yet, there's a different kind of attention waiting for a new girl.
Jinwoo: "Come on. We'll take the long way past the courtyard — the cherry trees there are at their best this week." He nods toward the path, waiting for me to follow.
The petals part around my feet. A new school, a new name to learn — and two people already offering me theirs. The warmth of it spreads before I can name why.
Hatsune Miku: "Promise me one thing?" She says it lightly, but her eyes are serious for just a second. "If someone says something strange about you — come find me first. Before you believe it."
A warning, dressed in a smile. I tuck it away…
The courtyard opens up like a painting. Petals fall so thick here they carpet the brick path, and the fountain in the middle splits the light into a hundred moving diamonds.
Jinwoo: I glance at him — he watches the petals too, like they mean something. "Everyone gathers here at lunch. You'll notice the bench under the biggest tree — that's Mila's." A pause. "Mila always knows who's new before the teacher even introduces them."
He says the name carefully. Not warning, not warning me off either. Just... letting me know it exists.
Hatsune Miku: "Mila-chan is bright like the sun on a screen." Hatsune Miku catches a petal on her fingertip and lets it go. "Bright enough that the shadows can hide behind her. Be careful which shadows you trust." A small laugh, like she knows she's being cryptic. "Or don't. Just remember I said it."
Two warnings now, both dressed in song. I feel lighter for them somehow — like this school gave me friends before I even earned them.
Jinwoo: "Over there — the music room is up on the second floor, east wing." He gestures to a window open above the courtyard, sheet music visible on a stand. "Hatsune-san spends lunch there sometimes. If you ever need quiet."
Hatsune Miku: "And if you ever need loud — the rooftop, after class. I'll bring tea." She twirls one of her twintails, grinning now. "First day secret: the rooftop gate sticks. You just have to know the trick. Jinwoo does."
Jinwoo: "I do." The smallest smile lifts the corner of his mouth. He doesn't offer it yet — but the offer is already there, hanging in the air like a note he hasn't played.
The courtyard is so warm it almost feels unreal — like the school is breathing petals just for me, before everything gets complicated. I want to remember it like this.
Hatsune Miku: "First bell's in three." She turns toward the building, twintails swinging. "Let's go before homeroom eats us. I'll walk you to 2-B. Jinwoo's already in there — he just likes the courtyard."
Jinwoo: "I like it." He says it simply, lik…
The hallway swallows us in cool air, our footsteps creak against polished floors, and then — classroom 2-B. Rows of empty desks and open windows framing the cherry tree we just walked under.
Jinwoo: He's already at his desk by the window, half-turned like he was waiting. A small nod. "Saved you the seat next to mine. The light's softer there during morning homeroom."
I drop my bag on the chair beside him. The desk is sun-warm. There are tiny scratches in the wood, names of past students carved into the corner like little prayers.
Hatsune Miku: "Miku-chan — I'll be just two rows back. If you want, I'll wave if you get nervous~" She gives me a wink and trails off to her seat, twintails catching the light from the window.
Other students trickle in. I keep my eyes on my desk. Some whisper, glance toward me. New face. New story.
And then — the temperature in the room shifts.
Mila: "Oh, is that her?" A laugh like a bell with something hidden inside it. "The transfer student. She's cuter than the photo, hmm."
A girl with honey-blond waves and a beauty mark leans on the desk in front of me. Mila. Up close her smile looks painted on, perfect and a beat too late.
Mila: "Don't be shy~ Sakuragi's small. Everyone talks, everyone knows. That's how it works." She tilts her head, studying me like a song she's deciding whether to share. "Be careful which seat you let people sit next to, hm?"
Jinwoo: "Mila." Just her name, from Jinwoo behind me. Not rude, not warm — a kind of soft caution.
Mila: "Relax, Jinwoo." She laughs again, tossing her hair. "I'm welcoming her. I'm always welcoming~" She floats toward her seat near the front, but her violet eyes stay on me a beat longer than they should.
I could feel my cheeks warming, and I wasn't sure why. Two people sat next to me — one kind, one watching — and I had no idea which one the room would learn my name from first.
The homeroom teacher is already at the board, glasses catching the window-light. He turns and smiles at me like I've been the missing piece of a puzzle he was about to finish.
Homeroom Teacher: "Everyone, this is Miku — she's joining us from spring transfer. Please make her feel welcome." He gestures to the empty space at the front. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"
Thirty pairs of eyes. My hands feel cold. I grip the strap of my bag one more time and stand.
Miku: "I'm Miku. I like reading, and... I want to find a place here that feels like home." My voice is smaller than I wanted it to be. I bow quickly and sit back down.
Silence for one beat. Two. Then Hatsune Miku stands up, claps, and starts a soft clap-clap rhythm that the class catches onto, polite and warm.
Hatsune Miku: "A perfect first note~" She sits back down, gives me a thumbs-up over her shoulder, twintails bouncing. "You did wonderfully, Miku-chan. Sincerely."
Jinwoo: "You did fine." From the seat beside me, almost too quiet for anyone but me to hear. He passes me a small folded paper crane on a scrap of notebook paper. "A good-luck charm. Don't unfold it, or the spell breaks."
I hold the crane between my fingers. It's a little lopsided, like he folded it quickly, in the dark, before today.
Mila: "Aww. Adorable." Mila, two rows ahead, glances back over her shoulder with that painted smile. "Jinwoo, you never make me paper cranes." She laughs like it's a joke. Some of the class laughs with her. Some don't.
I fold the crane carefully into my skirt pocket. It's strange how one small warm thing can balance against a whole room's attention.
Jinwoo: "I made it for her," he says simply. No apology in it. No explanation either. Just that.
The bell rings. First period begins. The crane is warm in my pocket. The class has a name for me now — and I've already met three people who will decide which kind of name it is.
First period ends and the hallway fills with shoes and laughter. I'm still holding the crane in my pocket when a voice finds me before I can turn.
Mila: "Miku-chan~" Mila slides up beside me, two of her friends easing in on either side. "That was cute. Reading and home, hm? Very innocent. Very... untouched."
The word "untouched" lands like a brushstroke — not an insult exactly, but the kind of thing you'd want to wash off later.
Mila: "Listen, I'll be honest with you, because I'm kind." She tilts her head, smiling sweetly. "A new girl this quickly making friends with Jinwoo — people are going to talk. You know how it is. He's... mysterious, you see. The quiet ones always have stories."
"Stories". She says it like a gift she's choosing whether or not to give me. I feel the crane warm against my thigh, through the fabric of my skirt.
Mila: "Just being honest, sweetie. I'm not saying anything bad. I'm just saying — be careful what seat you choose. And who you let choose for you." She pats my shoulder, light as a leaf, and turns toward the next class. "Welcome to Sakuragi, Miku-chan. You're going to be just fine~"
Her friends giggle behind her, eyes flicking at me once before they're gone down the hall. The crowd moves on. I'm still standing where she left me.
She was kind on the surface. That's the worst part. I can't point at any single thing she said and say "that hurt." But somehow — I feel smaller than I did before I walked into this hallway.
Hatsune Miku: "Miku-chan!" A twintail bobs into view — Hatsune Miku, headphones around her neck, eyes a little sharper than they were in class. "Did she find you? I saw her going this way." She takes my hand without asking. "Come on. Library has a back stair the upperclassmen don't use. It's quiet."
Her hand is warm. Behind her, I think I see Jinwoo at the end of the hall, watching — but he doesn't follow. He just nods, once, like a promise that doesn't need words.
Hatsune Miku: "What she said wasn't kind." Hatsune Miku says it simply,…
