January 10

It’s my first day on my own! I just wish it weren’t so cold, or I’d still be outside!

I share the building with four other girls. I found this out the hard way, when I woke up to a blonde girl staring in my window. The crazy girl wanted to know if I had extra granola bars! She introduced herself as Miyako and seems nice enough, if a little odd. The other residents seem more sane, at least. Yuno is the sweet, naïve type — but she’s definitely talented. Hiro and Sae are both older than I am, and I’m impressed by their maturity. Hiro seems to have some sort of complex, though. She’s always fussing about her weight and skipping meals. And Sae seems to be a horrible liar. She turns bright red and gets flustered when she does lie — I can’t be the only one that notices this.

Starting tomorrow, I’ll be a full-time student at Yamabuki Art High School. I can’t wait!

January 11

Just finished my first day of class. I got to introduce myself to the class like some fourth grader.. I always hate that. Anyway, my homeroom teacher is Miss Yoshinoya. She seems nice, but between you and me, she’s quite an airhead, for a teacher. I mean, she was crying about how she didn’t receive New Year’s money from her parents! She also seems to be hiding some sort of cosplay fetish. I saw her in no less than five outfits before lunch, including a stewardess outfit and a Santa suit. She kind of scares me.

But, thankfully, somebody scared her as much as she scares me! The very sight of the principal sent her into a blanched panic. She hid behind the desk and I think I heard sobbing when he peeked inside! As for the principal, he’s very nice. But he shakes and jitters so much, you’d think he was some kind of desk toy. I don’t think I’ve seen him leave school grounds, even though I live right across the street. I wonder how he goes home, or if he goes home.

Oh! My neighbors Miya and Yuno are in the same class. I ended up on clean-up with them, although they had to go outside. I finished early and watched them play in the snow for a bit before going home.

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!

August 21

It seems like just yesterday that I moved in, but it’s already August. I don't want to mention this to my friends or neighbors, but I think the stresses of school and living alone are starting to play tricks on my mind. This is really embarrassing, but I start, well, seeing things sometimes. Like, all of the people I pass on the way to school don't have any faces at all! I think some of the teachers are starting to notice my behavior. Yesterday, Ms. Yoshinoya seemed concerned as I spoke with her. I'm starting to worry about it, myself. I wonder if I should see the school nurse tomorrow.

I know it’s an art school, but I wish that they didn’t paste pictures of things all over the furniture and walls. I know it’s supposed to make the school look like a big collage, but… well.. between you and me, I find myself grabbing for supplies that don’t exist, when I’m not paying attention. It’s very unsettling, but I guess it does fit the whole atmosphere of the school.

I think this school is getting to me. Sometimes, I swear that the walls get bathed in colors, or that the world takes on an atmosphere not unlike the comics I love so much! But I’m getting away from the point.

Today, I came home to a brand new sign for the apartments. I wonder where it came from…?

October 12

I’m really starting to wish that the writing specialists weren’t placed next to the music wing. While it’s true that my group takes the least room, the very notion just begs for distractions. At this rate, I’ll never finish before the culture festival! And it doesn’t help that they keep playing that same plinky piano melody or repetitive synth song over and over and over again! It’s nice, but honestly, if they were playing more than two songs, then I’m afraid that they all sound the same.

Today was the big Sports Festival — why an art school has a sports festival, I’ve still yet to understand. Saw one of my neighbors… Sae, was it? Anyway, I hoped that we’d see some action that didn’t involve a traumatized student body gazing at the principal in shorts. But that didn’t happen. All right — seeing that creepy Miss Yoshinoya get trapped under the events tent was pretty funny.

School was cancelled this afternoon due to a typhoon, so I'm here scrambling to finish my submission. The neighbors seem pretty lively next door. I wonder what’s going on?

…What’s that? “Drying packets will catch fire if you get them wet?” sigh… The “artist” types really are out there, aren’t they? Oh dear. Now they’re throwing them outside? Those girls really are strange. Still, it sounds like they’re having fun. What? Me? Jealous? Far from it!

November 3

Finally, the Culture Festival is here! My work is submitted, and I feel great! I finally got a chance to hear what the blasted music majors were putting together a pair of poppy songs to perform. The first one, they called “Sketch Switch”, and it was a fun, bouncy number that’s surprisingly addictive! The other song they performed, “Mebae Drive”, was a cover of a song I really like by Marble. They did a great job, giving it a subdued sound that was still filled with emotion. Now, why couldn’t they do this instead of “plink plink plink” for the past month? Honestly!

There were a few other fun exhibits there, as well. In particular, there was this sketch by that girl Yuno — it was simply amazing! Though I wonder if it was supposed to look as it was. It seemed… incomplete, but I didn’t have the heart to tell her that. She was already stressing out, and her friends weren’t really helping much. Can’t blame her, though – she worked herself sick on the drama club’s presentation of Cinderella, then this? It had to be hell for her.

December 24

It’s Christmas time already? Consider me shocked — this year just flew by. I have to admit that I spent a lot of it just watching those girls I call “neighbors” go about their daily lives. It’s not like they did anything out of the ordinary but, well, there’s just something unusually amusing about watching their antics. I’m not sure if it was Miya’s general goofiness, or Yuna’s childish naïveté, or even Hiro’s constant weight watching that did it. All I know is that seeing what happened with those girls became a part of my day-to-day life.

It looks like the last train home leaves in a couple of hours, so I’d better start wrapping up. Everyone else has headed out except that Sae girl, and I don’t want to be the last. So, I guess I’ll say my goodbyes, and bid my landlady farewell until the new year. She’s terrible at hinting, though — she keeps talking about jumangoku manjuu now that she knows I’m from Saitama.

Anyway, I'm getting off track. It’s been a fun year! And, if I could, I’d gladly go through it again with no regrets. Maybe I’ll see them again next school year…