Chapter One: New Beginnings
DISCLAIMER: None of the PoT characters used in this fiction belongs to me, only the OCs and the plot. Enjoy!
-oOo-
"I nominate Yagyuu Hiroshi-san as class representative." A female student declared as they were having their homeroom that morning.
Yagyuu's eyes widened but remained silent, so much for his plans of having a peaceful and quiet high school life.
"Any other nominations?" Sato–sensei asked the class.
"I move the nominations be closed." Oshitari stated, earning him a frown from Yagyuu.
"I second the motion." Another male student declared.
"Iiyo, Yagyuu-kun, you are now the class representative." Sato-sensei declared.
The class was in uproar, everyone knew Yagyuu was definitely the man for the job.
Yagyuu sighed and adjusted his glasses, he thought, maybe, it could also be good, to have more things to work with, it'll keep his mind from drifting to Kanagawa in the middle of the day. Being class representative meant paper work, and paper work kept his brain busy, which means he won't be idly thinking about a certain purple haired girl that he left in the loving arms of his best friend. So yes, Yagyuu decided being elected the class representative was indeed a good thing.
"Sensei." Yaguu raised his hand.
"Hai, nande Yagyuu-kun?" Sato-sensei asked the boy.
"I nominate Oishi Shuichiro-kun to be the vice president." Yagyuu declared.
"Nani!" Oishi reacted in surprise.
"I move the nomination to be closed!" Oshitari again declared.
"I second that motion." The girl who nominated Yagyuu shouted from the front.
"Nani!" Oishi was whipping his head from here to there; he couldn't believe he was being dragged into this.
"Iiyo, Oishi-kun, you will be Yagyuu-kun's vice president. Are there any objection?" Sato-sensei asked the class.
"No objections!" The class said in unison, including Yagyuu, because he really wanted to drag Oishi into this, Yagyuu was thinking, if he was going to be burdened with as much, might as well do the job with someone he believes he can trust and depend on, and Oishi was definitely the man for the job.
"Sa, might as well, Sensei!" Oshitari raised his hand.
"Hai, Oshitari-kun?"
"I nominate myself as secretary!" Oshitari declared.
"E?" Yagyuu and Oishi looked at the bluenette from Hyotei with baffled faces.
"Nani? I got you two into this mess, might as well join you." Oshitari snorted.
"Hai, any other nominations?" Sato-sensei asked the class.
"None! Oshitari-kun it is!" The class declared.
"See, they like me." Oshitari said to the Ginger-head and the Egghead.
Yagyuu simply adjusted his glasses with a smirk on his face.
Oishi was smiling funny thinking if Tezuka was in his place, he would probably be reaching for a bottle of aspirin right about now.
-oOo-
"Niou, have you completed the form yet?" Yanagi asked the silverette who was playing with his rat's tail while drumming on the table with his pen.
"E?" he replied, obviously not paying attention to their homeroom earlier.
Yanagi pinched the bridge of his nose, "Niou, did you not hear Fujioka-sensei this morning? We need to fill up these data sheets and submit them today at lunch." Yanagi patiently explained.
"Oh, yeah, that, here." Niou hands over the dully-accomplished data sheet to the master who examined the piece of paper carefully.
"You forgot to sign it at the end Niou." Yanagi pointed out the empty space at the end of the paper.
Niou quietly scribbles his signature on the paper then went back to playing with his rat's tail and drumming on the table while he stared out the window.
"Is something bothering you Niou?" Yanagi asked the boy as he placed the piece of paper with the rest of the pile.
"You know, I bet Yagyuu was elected class representative too." Niou declared, not really looking at Yanagi.
"I'm sure he was, after all, it's Yagyuu, I won't be surprised if he gets elected as Council President at his new school." Yanagi said before grabbing his bag, "Come on, I'll just hand this over to Fujioka-sensei then we can go meet the rest at the canteen."
"Right." Niou dropped his note on his bag and zip it up, not bothering to arrange it properly.
-oOo-
Mayumi has been staring at her desk for quite some time now, and unknown to her, Marui and Yukimura has been staring at her staring at her desk just as long. She gives of a desperate sigh and stretched her arms on the desk before she slump her face in between them.
"Did you and Niou have a fight?" Marui asked, no longer able to hold himself.
Yukimura glared at the boy, he wasn't really planning to ask, because his cousin would normally tell him her problems spontaneously, but thanks to the bubble gum chewing tennis player, she might as well deny any problem there ever was.
"E? Oh, Marui-kun, Seiichi, how long have you been there?" Mayumi asked the two.
"Long enough to know that you have something in your mind that bothers you enough to make you stare at your desk blankly for almost half the last period." Yukimura replied.
"Betsuni, I just feel like high school is so empty." Mayumi reasoned out.
"Empty? High school rocks!" Marui said making signs with his hands.
"For you maybe, Marui-kun, but not for me." Mayumi slumped back on her desk.
"What's up with you?" Yukimura asked a bit irritated.
"I'm in high school, and it seems, I'm still invisible." Mayumi reasoned out quite incomprehensible because her head was still slumped on her desk.
"Did you understand a single word that she said, because the only thing I understood was 'iminhiskuanitsimimbible'?" Marui told his former buchou.
"Can you just go get us seats in the cafeteria Marui?" Yukimura shooed the boy.
"Gladly!" Marui ran off, he was not very good with dealing with girl problems, being as he was still pretty much very bitter about Niou being the only one with a girlfriend in the group, more so, the girlfriend was not only Yukimura's cousin, but is now his classmate.
"Why do you feel invisible when you're the only girl that Niou sees? As in literally, Niou walks around like a deaf person totally ignoring every girl that comes up to him to talk." Yukimura told the girl.
"I don't know." Mayumi raises her head and supports her chin with both her hands.
Yukimura stared at the girl, there was something he wanted to ask, but it was better that he didn't ask it, to prevent things from getting complicated.
"Maybe I'm just hungry?" Mayumi asked the boy.
"Maybe you are, come on let's go eat lunch, Marui has probably gotten us seats at the cafeteria." Yukimura pulled on the girl's hand.
Just as they were walking out the door, they saw Jackal and Sanada walking out of their classroom.
"Sanada, Jackal! Are you eating lunch with us today?" Yukimura called on the two.
"Hai, we just need to submit these data sheets to Kato-sensei." Jackal responded for both of them before they both walked off towards the teacher's lounge.
"I guess that means Sanada and Jackal were elected as class representative and vice in their class." Yukimura told the girl as they watched the two walk away.
"Yeah." Mayumi stared at the two boy's back thinking, Class representative, which would have been Yagyuu-kun's job if he was still here. It felt incomplete, seeing only Sanada and Jackal walking out of section A's class, she was so used to seeing three people walking out of there, then heading to tennis practice, but now there was only two.
"Let's go Mayumi?" Yukimura asked the girl who was still following the two with her eyes.
"Ano, excuse me." A girl appeared behind Mayumi and Yukimura.
"Hai?" Mayumi turned her head to the voice.
"Ano, you're Suzuki Mayumi-kun aren't you?" the girl asked.
"Ah, hai, nande?" she asked back.
"Iie, betsuni. I was really touched with what you said when you introduced yourself in class the other day." The girl timidly said.
Mayumi and Yukimura looked at each other, they were both confused with what the girl had just revealed, simply because Mayumi's self-introduction that day went something like 'Suzuki Mayumi desu, I was a wallflower in middle school, hope I won't be in high school.'
"You see Suzuki-kun, like you, I was pretty much ignored in middle school, like an—." The girl said before Mayumi continued what she was saying.
"Invisible soul that flies here and there without anyone noticing?" Mayumi ended the sentence for the girl.
"Hai." The girl affirmed.
"I know exactly how you feel." Mayumi declared.
"Hai. Ah, Hirohito Shizuka desu." The girl introduced herself.
"Ah, you know my cousin Yukimura Seiichi right?" Mayumi pointed at the bluenette standing next to her.
"H-Hai." The girl the nodded and bowed her head low, probably to hide the blush that was covering her whole face at that moment.
"Well, I guess I'll be leaving you two then." Yukimura smiled at the timid girl who approached them before pulling her cousin closer and whispering, "Here's your chance to make a friend, don't blow it."
"I won't, demo, I think she has a crush on you." Mayumi whispered back.
"Shut up." Yukimura whispered before turning around to face the other girl, "Eto, Hirohito-san I'll be going on ahead, I'll see you in class this afternoon." Then Yukimura left to join the rest of the tennis club in the cafeteria.
"Do you have a bento Hirohito-san?" Mayumi asked the girl.
"Ah, hai."
"Do you want to eat on the roof top?" Mayumi offered the girl.
The other girl's eyes sparkled, "H-hai."
"Let's go?" Mayumi nodded ad led the girl to the rooftop to eat their bento together.
-oOo-
"Are you two really not going to join any club?" Oshitari nagged his newly found best friends.
"Iie." The two replied while shaking their heads.
"And that is your final decision?" Oshitari confirmed.
"Hai." The two said together.
"Iiyo, suite your selves." Oshitari turned and began to walk towards a booth.
"Where are you going Oshitari?" Oishi asked the boy.
"I'm signing up for the theatre club." Oshitari replied, "Want to join me?"
"The theater club?" Yagyuu asked unable to believe what he just heard.
"I figured a Science High School would suck at sports right? I mean, we're like a collection of nerds and geeks here." Oshitari concluded.
"What a very interesting conclusion Oshitari." Oishi sarcastically replied.
"And what lead you to this conclusion Oshitari-kun?" Yagyuu asked in amusement.
"So, do you want to prove me wrong?" Oshitari provoked the two, "Let's sign up for the tennis club then."
Oishi and Yagyuu looked at each other.
"You know, you could have thought of a better plan Oshitari." Oishi reacted first.
"Like a better plan that could lure us in, not like that lame excuse that you just gave." Yagyuu added.
"Come on!" Oshitari was beginning to get frustrated.
"If you want to join the tennis club, just go on and sign up." Yagyuu told the boy.
"You don't have to wait for us to sign up." Oishi added.
Oshitari stared at the two unmovable mountains standing in front of him, "Oishi."
"Hai?"
"I thought Tezuka was the stubborn one in Seigaku. And Yagyuu, I thought Sanada was the stubborn one in Rikkai. Oh, how wrong was I!" Oshitari dramatically told the two.
Yagyuu's brows raised, he wanted to say something but he opted not to, after all, it would be ungentleman of him if he did. But Oishi, who was the gentle mother figure of Seigaku, couldn't resist the opportunity to whack the former Hyotei player, who did get Yagyuu and him into trouble that morning during class election.
"I thought Atobe was the flashy one in Hyotei, and I thought Mukahi was the brat, and let's not mention Shishido was the drama queen. How wrong was I?" Oishi snapped back at the bluenette.
Oshitari's facial muscles began twitching; he could feel a vein pop somewhere in his head.
"Iiyo, lets no argue. Oshitari-kun if you want to join a club go ahead, Oishi-kun and I are just not in the mood to do so." Yagyuu explained.
"How about the Biology Club? The Physics Club? Chemistry Club? Please, I'm begging you, any club!" Oshitari was desperate.
"Maybe in the second year." Yagyuu patted the boy's shoulder then turned to walk away, Oishi following the boy immediately.
"Fine!" Oshitari declared in defeat, "Let's all be bums together." He followed the two to walk out of the school.
-oOo-
"Niou, hit the ball a little harder!" the tennis club buchou shouted at the silverette.
"What's up with Niou?" Marui asked the rest of the group.
"He's been that way the whole day, he's mentioned Yagyuu a few times today." Yanagi said as he opened his notebook.
"Maybe he misses Yagyuu." Jackal offered as an explanation.
"Niou is a flexible player, he can plan both singles and doubles efficiently, however, his dynamics with Yagyuu can never be compared by any other doubles partner." Sanada declared his observation.
"Yukimura, what's up with Niou?" the tennis club buchou asked the former middle school buchou.
"He's just a little out of it today Buchou, Niou's is definitely better than this." Yukimura defended his former regular.
"Well, tell him to shape up, the high school tennis scene is nothing compared to the middle school one." The high school buchou smugly said earning him a glare from the former middle school regulars.
"Can I chop him to pieces and mix him in a cake and dump him with so much sugar even an ant would get diabetes from eating him?" Marui said itching to get his hands on the tennis club buchou.
"Marui, yamero, let him say what he wants, we'll have our time." Sanada stopped the serve-and-volley player who was getting ready to jump on the older tennis player.
"Did they even win the high school Nationals last year?" Jackal asked.
"Hai, then won the Nationals by a large margin of four games to one, and the one game that they lost was a close fight even a tie break at 88-86." Yanagi explained.
"Iiyo, so they're good, but we're better." Marui reacted.
"But we lost our Nationals." Yukimura reminded the group.
"Cheesecakes, we were in a very emotional situation at that time." Marui defended.
"It's not an excuse Marui, we lost, and that's what's stamped on our heads. To the senpai-tachi, we failed them, we failed to take Rikkai to its third consecutive Nationals title." Sanada rebuted.
"Gomen." Niou apologized as he walked over to the group after getting the best of their buchou's sermon.
"Masaharu, are you sick or something?" Marui asked the silverette.
"I'll take the or something part." Niou replied.
"What is it really?" Sanada asked.
"I can't freaking concentrate!" Niou replied and threw the towel he was holding to the ground. Making the rest of the team jump a little, except Sanada and Yukimura of course.
"Does Yagyuu not being here have something to do with this?" Yukimura asked, not looking at the boy.
"Whatever." Niou walks away to the faucet to get a drink.
"He misses Yagyuu." Jackal declared.
"Miss him? Oh, iie, iie, Jackal, I think Niou's in-love with him!" Marui commented as a joke before he felt a tennis racket hit him on the head. "Itte!"
"I heard that." Niou said after throwing the tennis racket at Marui. "How would you feel if Jackal suddenly decides he was transferring school then goes ahead and leave you?" Niou asked the boy.
"Well—," Marui thought for a while then suddenly hugged Jackal, "Jackal don't you even dare!"
"Get off me Marui." Jackal said struggling to get Marui off him.
"I think I made my point." Niou declared.
-oOo-
Yagyuu kept staring out the train's window that afternoon, it was almost an hour from Kanagawa to his new school in Tokyo, but if it meant getting into the finest Medical School after, he was going to bear it. No matter how much to eat lunch with his best friend and former doubles partner, or how much he wanted to see a certain blue-eyed purple-haired girl.
"Yagyuu, I'm getting off in this station, I'll see you in school tomorrow." Oishi told him as he was getting off the train.
"Aa, see you tomorrow Oishi-kun."
He went back to thinking, how many times has he been repeating this in his head, did he make the right decision to leave Rikkai? Rikkai did have a Science division that was just next door to the regular high school. But he never even considered writing it down as an option. For the first time in his life, Yagyuu felt, he was running away from something, he felt so scared of facing the truth that he chose to turn away.
-oOo-
"How was your day?" Mayumi asked the slouched boy walking beside her.
"Terrible."
"Nande?"
Niou sighed, he didn't want to be a burden to Mayumi, but he was really feeling down that day, it seemed his first week in high school was going haywire on him.
"Do you want to go eat ice cream?" Mayumi offered to cheer up the boy.
"I'm not Marui." Niou cynically replied.
Mayumi chuckled before grabbing Niou's hands, "Let's go eat chocolate ice cream, I read somewhere that endorphins make people happy, and chocolates are a source of endorphins."
"What has dolphins have to do with ice cream?" Niou asked confused, obviously not listening carefully to what his girlfriend was saying.
"Endorphins not dolphins." Mayumi corrected with a smile.
Niou smiled and began to laugh at himself for a silly mistake, "Iiyo, let's go eat chocolate endorphins."
Mayumi laughed knowing Niou was purposely mixing up the words.
"How about you, how was your day?" Niou then asked the girl as they walked towards the nearest ice cream shop.
"I made a friend today." Mayumi happily declared.
"Hontouni?" Niou felt happy with the news.
"Hmn. She's in my class, we ate lunch together." Mayumi explained.
"So that's why you didn't come eat with us today." Niou confirmed.
"Hai. Gomen ne Niou-kun." She apologized for not making it for lunch.
"Daijabou, I'm glad that you made a friend. Demo, is your new friend a good girl? I don't want you hanging out with the sloppy girls who wears too much make up." Niou warned the girl.
"Like I would."
There was a brief moment of chuckling then silent between them, then a long solemn sigh.
"I miss Yagyuu." Niou suddenly blurted out.
Mayumi who Niou scolded for talking about Yagyuu on the first day of school was surprised to hear him admit that he missed his best friend.
"Rikkai High feels incomplete without him." Niou continued.
"Let's just hope he's happy in his new school. He probably is doing his best, like he always does." Mayumi tried to comfort Niou.
"Hai. Knowing Yagyuu, he's probably taking that school by storm with his gentleman powers." Niou joked.
Mayumi chuckled thinking how Yagyuu would look based on Niou's description, "He's probably happy, he's pursuing his dream after all."
"I guess we need to be happy too huh?" Niou tightened his hold on the girl's hand.
"Hmn." Mayumi agreed, but on the back of her mind, she was missing Yagyuu too.
-oOo-
Confused? Don't be. If you haven't read Just One Smile, it'll be difficult to follow on this story. To those who've read the other fic, hoping for a feedback from you, continuing from the original plot, in a new setting with different circumstances.
