The History of a Friendship

Akiko Uchino

The main entrance was packed. Black-colored hair and uniforms made a dim hallway even darker. It wasn't until crowds of people were gone that I pushed to get to the front. No sooner did I find my name than I felt sad.
In April in 1995, almost all students passed on to the next grade. On the first day of spring semester, I had to check my name and a room number on the bord. My room number was 2-1. I could find no one's names who were not only friends of mine, but who also studied in a same class before. A few minutes after my seeing the room number, I started walking along with dragging feet.
I set foot in the class. A few moments after that, someone called me. When I looked back, a younger-looking girl was standing there, and she started to introduce herself. "call me YUKA" she said in the last of her introduction, and that was very vivid in my memory. Soon after our having conversation, a teacher came in the class and made us take a seat in HIRAGANA order. When everybody in the class started moving to take a right seat,