An Intro to the Story

Hey all! This story is going to be an exciting experiment for me! It's an AU fic set in Odaiba, with the older Chosen Children (Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Koushiro, Jyou, Mimi, and OC Eimi) starting their first year of high school. In this world, the kids have not met, and they are all first years,so we get to see how they interact as strangers and peers.

The really cool thing about this story is that it follows the kids in real time through one year of Japanese high school. I am following the Japanese school year calendar, so the story starts in mid April 2015 (some schools will start a week or two earlier, probably, but it kind of snuck up on me!). The story is told through journal entries written by the kids, one child per day. I hope to update once per week, so the story should end up being between 40 and 50 chapters (I might skip school breaks, and realistically, I might miss a week here and there).

This is a laid back, slice of life story about the daily life of Japanese first year high school students. I really want to practice the first person voice, and it's going to be a lot of fun to develop individual voices and writing styles for everyone. Some of the kids will write a lot, some will write a little, and they will all focus on different aspects of high school life, so it will be a great exercise in character writing. It's also going to be super cool to follow the Japanese school calendar, and to try my best to accurately portray high school life in Japan. There will be a lot of cultural notes provided to explain differences between Japanese and American high schools along the way (I wish I could accommodate more cultures, but I only have knowledge about those two, sorry guys D:).

This story is going to be very simple and light compared to my other fics, but that sounds fun, too! It will be a big challenge to write a journal entry every day, even if it is only 100-600 words long, or so.

I hope you'll enjoy Voices!

Voices

April 3: 20th-26th

15.04.20

Monday

Kido Jyou

It's natural to be nervous on your first day of high school, right? It's all so nerve-wracking. I mean, the first thing you have to do is shove your way through the crowds to read the class assignment boards, and I'm not very good at shoving. Then there's the endless opening ceremony, and we all have to sing the school song that we don't know yet, staring at our shoes and hoping that no one hears how tone deaf we are. Then, of course, we have the adventure of finding our classroom and introducing ourselves to everyone. I don't know, I guess it's kind of surreal to see all of these strangers, and to think, "Whelp, this is it. I'm stuck with these people every day for a solid year."

I hope I don't end up class president again. I'm always voted class president, just because I look responsible- is it the glasses? I don't have time for the student government! I'm here to learn, and I already have so much homework. My brothers told me high school would be rough, but I wasn't expecting this.

Alright, I probably shouldn't complain that much. My high school is a ten minute walk from my apartment, it has a great reputation, and I passed the entrance exams with no problems. There are downsides, since joining a club is mandatory-who has time for that?!- and apparently I have to write a journal entry once a week. But I guess that's just life, right? I'll get through it.

But for now, I have an English worksheet that I can't make heads or tails of. I should have studied harder after graduation…

April 21, 2015

Tuesday

Anami Eimi

Dear Kitty,

I'm here, I did it, I'm actually in Japan, and I can't decide if I'm having the time of my life, or if I'm freaking out and dying and help me ye merciful gods.

It's all so new to me, everything. Every. Little. Thing. Seriously! Entering a house is different. Bathing is different. Eating is different. And man, I'm getting dizzy from bowing all of the time!

But I should probably back up a little. For fifteen years, my name was Amy Donahue, and I lived in the states with my American father and my Japanese mother. But now, I live in Japan with my mother's mother, and I just started my first year of high school. Well, technically, I spent a year in high school at the states, but they only have three years of high school in Japan, and I'm the same age as the first years here, so… Here I am.

Anyway, no one is going to be able to pronounce "Donahue Amy" here, so I took my mother's maiden name and switched to a Japanese form of my given name, and now I'm Anami Eimi. It probably sounds weird, renaming yourself like that, but as an American, I'm already going to stand out a lot here. Plus, I'll admit that I like being someone new, right down to my name. It's been like removing an old cloak, a cloak someone else swaddled me in, and weaving a new one.

In a lot of ways, I really love it here. It's calmer and cleaner than the states, although I don't really like how compact everything is. I wish I could live in a house, but obviously apartments are the only option in Tokyo. I really love the emphasis on politeness and respect in the culture, although I could do without the bowing. And my grandmother is such a sweet old lady, chattering at me and putting more food in front of me than anyone could possibly eat. I hardly knew her before now, but she's so gentle and kind, and the apartment is quiet and peaceful. She likes me. I like her. And I think I'm useful to her, too, doing some of the chores that are hard on an old body.

But the culture shock is rough. I grew up speaking both Japanese and English, so I'm fluent, and I even have a Tokyo accent. But I only learned the basics of reading and writing, and my school work is filled with kanji that I don't recognize. I almost had a meltdown when I opened my history text and couldn't read the first sentence. I've been learning at least ten new symbols per day, but I'm so behind…!

And let's be real: I stick out here. I look more American than Japanese. I'm pale with a pink undertone, I have western eyes (I mean double lidded, I hope that's not insensitive to say? I just don't know how else to specify), my hair and eyes are brown, and I'm curvy and medium weight. I'm five foot eight- sorry, sorry, 173 centimeters- and average adult male here is 172 centimeters.

Basically, I'm a giant on every scale, at least compared to everyone else. When I had to read the classroom assignment boards, I didn't need to push through the crowd. I just looked over their heads.

But you know, I guess I'm not the only person who sticks out in my class. I'm in class 1-C, and I have some really interesting peers. The first person I have to mention, as far as sticking out goes, is Ishida Yamato. You can feel free to substitute any name for a man of unrivaled beauty here- Galahad, Fitzwilliam Darcy, Dorian Gray, Eros, Narcissus, Phoebus Apollo (hmm, apparently the ancient Greeks liked their men sexy, and who can blame them?).

Okay, I need you to close your eyes- which you can't do, because you're reading- Er… Well, try to picture this for me, okay? You won't regret it. You behold a beautiful face, an object of faultless symmetry and harmony. It features clear skin, a perfectly proportioned aquiline nose, and a firm, lightly clefted chin, but the odds are high that you won't notice any of that. This is partially due to his hair, which is spun gold set in place with an artist's painstaking touch. But mostly, unhappy reader, you are captured by his eyes, which are fanned with long golden lashes, and simultaneously every shade of blue imaginable.

No, really. Would I lie to you?

Now, it probably sounds like I'm in love with him, but that's not the case. Assuming that I know what love is, I flatter myself that I don't love with my eyes, but I do admire with them, and I also observe with them, and I have to say that I'm very confused. How the heck is this dude Japanese?! What's going on? Little help, here? I'm dying to ask him. This kid is definitely King of the Mountain, as far as the girls are concerned. Every first year girl who already knew him spent the first day of school hoping she'd be in his class, then either celebrating or mourning.

I also met my first true redhead in this class. Sure, I've seen people with carrot colored hair, but Izumi Koushiro has some red hair. It's blood red, sunset red, saturated and burning and deep. And this kid is tiny, shorter than about half of the girls. His eyes are dark and deep set, and he's got these thick, constantly disapproving brows. I wonder what he's thinking about all of the time? I don't know if I've ever seen him talk, except to give his name on the first day and answer a teacher's question, but he looks like he's thinking. He does the averted, concentrating eyes and the hand-on-the-chin thing, it's textbook nerd.

I want to talk about some of the other kids, but geez, I wrote so much- and I used way too much hiragana- I'm supposed to be practicing kanji. I have to go! Bye!

Yours,

Eimi

15/04/22

Wednesday

Yagami Taichi

Since these journal entries are supposed to be checked, but not read, I can say what I want, right? Like how stupid this is? Just what I need, another homework assignment that I'll forget about.

Speaking of, where the heck did I leave my planner? Is it in my desk? I wrote my homework assignments down on it like my mom made me promise to, but uh... Yeah, not very useful now. I dunno what today's homework is... Guess I had better try to make friends with a smart kid in my class. Maybe that tall dude with glasses.

But there's more important stuff to worry about, like try-outs for the football club. I mean, I was captain in middle school, so I already know some of the kids in the club. They know I'm solid. I should get in, no problem.

But just in case, I had better go practice.

15.04.24

Thursday

Izumi Koushiro

I can't say I'm fond of this assignment. I'd much rather solve math problems, or even write an essay. But a journal? What am I supposed to record here? As a student, my life is routine: classes, homework, programming, sleep. I rather doubt that any events worth describing will occur.

Because I'm obliged to write something, I'll mention that it's mandatory to join a club in this school. That's disheartening. I suppose my only option is the computer club, but I'm afraid it will be a waste of time, as I doubt I'll learn anything new there. Hopefully, members are allowed to pursue their own interests independently during meetings. That would be inconvenient, since my system at home is preferable to anything in our school's computer lab, but tolerable.

My parents tell me that this will be good for me, but I fail to see the benefits. However, the thought of my joining a club seems to make them happy, so I've stopped voicing my concerns at home.

15/04/25

Friday

Takenouchi Sora

I can't believe I'm in high school already. If it weren't for the cherry blossoms blooming, I'd think that there was some sort of mistake. How does time pass so quickly? It would all be a blur if we didn't have seasons to make the months distinct.

School years usually start off slow, but there's so much to do in high school. There's been a lot of homework, and classes are jam packed with new information. I've been trying to keep up as best I can, but it's difficult. I haven't had much time to socialize yet, but everyone in my class seems nice. We do have one kid who keeps falling asleep at his desk and not doing his homework, though. I wonder why Yagami-kun has such a hard time focusing? The teachers are very hard on him.

Hopefully, I'll start making friends in a club, but I don't know which one to join. My mother is pushing for home ec club. They told me that they do a lot of sewing, which I'm interested in, but I don't want to basically train to be a wife for three years. There's nothing wrong with being a housewife, of course, but it's not what I want. I wish I could join the women's football club, but my mother won't allow it. I was injured often playing football in elementary school, so I took up tennis in middle school. I'll probably end up in the tennis club. It's good exercise, and I enjoy it, but I do miss football… I'm probably too out of practice to be of use to the team, anyway.

Well, here's to a good year together! I'm going to try my best and enjoy it.

15/04/26

Saturday

Tachikawa Mimi

Dear Diary,

I can't believe it! I'm finally back in Japan, and I'm so happy! I spent middle school in the states because of my Papa's work, but now I'm back, and I missed it sooooo much! But I hope I don't get fat from eating all of the snacks they don't have in America, haha!

I'm a little bummed, though... When I left Japan, it was hard to say goodbye to my friends. Then I got settled in the states, and it was sad to leave them. And now, all of my old friends are scattered to different schools, and there are only two of them in my class, and they don't seem very interested in me anymore. I thought this would be like coming home, but it's almost like starting over again.

There are some good things, though... Somehow, I still passed this school's entrance exams, just barely. American middle school wasn't very good preparation, but my parents hired tutors just for Japanese high school exams. It sucked, but it worked, and now I don't need tutors anymore, yessss!

And oh yeah, I met the. Cutest. Guy. Ever! He makes last year's idols look like last decade's! He's got blond hair, blue eyes, and serious style. Yes, I can tell, even if everything from our clothes to our bags and shoes are uniform. It's mostly his hair that shows it- it's like he's a step ahead of the trends.

But don't get cocky, Ishida-kun! You need more than looks to interest me, even if they are heart-stopping. After all, I still know I'm beautiful!

Okay, I've got sooooo much homework, so bye~~~

XOXOXO

Mimi

15/04/26

Sunday

Ishida Yamato

Sometimes I can't decide if I love girls, or if I hate them.

It's nothing personal, it's just... This was my first week of high school, right? The only girl I've had an actual conversation with was... What's her name, the American girl. And yet, I already found a love letter in my shoe cubby, and another in my desk.

Maybe it's just me, but I kind of think that a love letter shouldn't be your introduction to someone. How can they possibly like me? They've never said a word to me! Although... I guess the letters were anonymous. They might have known me in middle school.

Speaking of, I was hoping the giggling and blushing and staring at shoes would end when I graduated middle school, since we're all getting older and maturing. But apparently, that just means that they feel old enough to send love letters now. Just what I needed.

I won't lie. Sometimes, I like the attention. But sometimes, it's hard to swallow that people see my face and never bother to go deeper.

But this is getting sappy, so...

I want to start my own rock band in high school. I put fliers for auditions on all of the school's bulletin boards. The problem is that my band would technically be a club, so I need a minimum of five members to start it. But everyone is required to join a club by May 8th, so I don't have much time to recruit. I didn't say so on the fliers, but I also don't want any girls, because I want everyone to be focused- I don't want members to flirt during practice. I don't mean to be harsh, I just really want the band to succeed. But of course, cutting out girls will make it that much harder to find four more members.

I don't know… I wonder if I'm being stupid, trying to make this happen. It's not like I have any skill or experience. I just like to play bass and sing, and I've written a few songs. It's hard to tell how good they are when I can only play one instrument. But I've been so focused on trying this, and I know I would regret it if I didn't take a chance. All I can do is work hard and hope for the best.

Speaking of, I'm going to go over these English lyrics I wrote. I hope I didn't make any mistakes, but it seems like I find another problem every time I look at them.

End of the third week of April. See you next week!

Cultural Notes:

-About Odaiba: Odaiba is a man-made island in Tokyo Bay. It is connected to Tokyo's mainland via the Rainbow Bridge, and you can also travel there by ferry.

-The kids are all strangers: Odaiba is a small, man-made island. Due to its size, it is unlikely that all seven kids are total strangers. Statistically, at least two of them should know one another as elementary or middle school classmates, but I'm ignoring this for the sake of the story.

-15/04/20, 15.04.21, April 22, 2015: The first two represent common Japanese ways of writing the date (yy/mm/dd, .dd). The third is a common American way of writing the date, which, as a foreign student, Eimi uses. I am also including the day of the week for the convenience of the reader, although the students wouldn't bother to give that information.

-Class assignment boards: Each Japanese high school class generally contains twenty or more students. Each grade, years one, two, and three, will consist of a few classes, usually labeled by letter. (Hence, class 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, 2-B, etc). When the students arrive at school at the start of a new year, they walk up to big boards for each class and try to find their names.

-Opening ceremonies: A portion of the first day of school is given up to an assembly where the principle/student body president/other officials address the students. I'm made to understand that these ceremonies end with singing the school song.

-High school location, entrance exams: It's not uncommon for Japanese high school students to commute over two hours to high school, each way, every day! This is more common in the country than in Tokyo. Also, every time a student graduates and moves on to a new schooling level (elementary to middle, middle to high, high to college), they need to pass difficult entrance exam to enter their school of choice. It's all very competitive, and this is partially why suicide rates are high among Japanese youths. If you can't get into a good school, your future can be compromised.

-Mandatory clubs: Some high schools force students to join a club. This is supposed to foster positive relationships among students. Specifically, older students (senpai) are supposed to teach and guide younger students (kohai), and younger students learn to respect the older students. The kohai often have to do the dirty work, like cleaning up after the end of the meeting. Clubs are a big deal, and they often meet several times a week for two to three hours. A student's club is his or her primary social group, and students generally stay in the same club for all of high school.

-Dear Kitty: Eimi is imitating Anne Frank, who addressed her famous diary as "Kitty." This is probably equal parts copycat, respect/homage, and an excuse to address a person- the non-existent Kitty- as a reader in her writing.

-Three years of high school in Japan: Yep, Japanese high school consists of three years. Instead of having freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, they have first years, second years, and third years.

-Kanji: The Japanese language utilizes three writing systems: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Hiragana is a character alphabet used to spell out Japanese words. Katakana is a character alphabet used to import foreign words into the Japanese language. Kanji are Chinese characters that the Japanese use heavily in their writing. Each kanji is a character that stands for a word or a group of words. There are over 40,000 kanji, but 2,000 of them represent 95% of the characters commonly used in text. Eimi knows katakana and hiragana, but her knowledge of kanji is not up to the standard of her new peers.

-Feet and centimeters: Eimi is used to American forms of measurement, but Japan, like all sensible nations, uses the metric system.

-Football: For my fellow Americans, 'football' means soccer, not American football, the game with the tackling and the concussions.

-Cherry blossoms blooming: The Japanese school year begins when the sakura, or cherry blossoms, are in bloom. Anime episodes always show the pink petals in episodes about a new school year.

-Uniforms, uniform shoes, uniform bags: Japanese high school students wear uniforms, both in private and public schools (this practice generally begins in middle school). Also, each school has uniform school shoes (see the note on shoe cubbies below). Some schools even issue uniform bags, usually brown and rectangular (a statchel). Some schools also have rules about outerwear, usually forbidding patterns and certain colors- students might be limited to solid coats in navy/black/brown/gray, or so on.

-Conversations between boys and girls: In Japan, the students tend to polarize by sex. The boys hang out together, and the girls hang out together. It would be somewhat unusual for a girl to approach a boy and start talking outside of club activities or school specific interactions. Of course, Eimi has not been socialized in this way, since she grew up in the states.

-Shoe cubby, desk: Japanese students arrive to school wearing their street shoes. They walk to the shoe cubbies (called a genkan), remove their shoes, and put on the uniform school shoes waiting there. At the end of the day, the students switch back to their street shoes and go home. Each student's cubby is labeled, and so it's the perfect place to leave a love letter. Yamato also finds a letter in his desk, and this implies that the sender is in his class, and knows which desk is his. Japanese students stay in their homeroom all day, except for classes like gym and music that require special equipment. Thus, the desk is only used by Yamato. The top of the desk usually lifts straight up, so books and supplies can be stored inside.

-English lyrics: Don't ask me why, but Japanese music is filled with English lyrics. There are even bands that perform songs solely in English! Usually though, it's just a random word or phrase here and there.

Author's Note: Phew! Are any of you still reading? Props!

Okay, so I'm planning to update this story once a week for a year, with a few weeks off here and there, so I'll see you next week! I will still be writing for my other stories- it only takes me about 10-30 minutes to knock out one of these entries everyday, so the challenge is to stay on top of things. The entries will grow more and more interesting as the kids begin to interact, both in positive and negative ways…

My next update will be a new one shot story about the boys having a… Well, a facial hair growing contest. Please look for it some time next week. I'll also be drawing a cover for this story.

I had a lot of fun putting myself in everyone's shoes! Thanks for reading!