Chapter One
Being too courteous hurts the back of your neck with all the bowing
"Hello, everyone. My name is Kazuyoshi Yuki. I came from St. Gregory's Roman Catholic School. Nice to meet you all. I hope that this will be a great year for all of us."
A certain person is standing in front of the chalkboard inside Class 3-5, giving a gracious bow to all those who are seated. This person wears the same black uniform as all the other males yet the vibe is quite different. Upon straightening up after a bow, a smile flashes in this person's lips.
"So, Kazuyoshi-san," Mr. Umehara clears his throat, "since you are a newbie here, we expect you to get along with all your new classmates. Don't be shy to ask if you need something."
"Certainly, Sensei."
"And another thing..." All the students begins to grin. "Do you know the school motto?"
An imaginary question mark appears on this person's face. "No, I'm afraid not. What could it be?"
"'The first who laughs first, wins.' Given this, the class would like to request you to make us laugh."
"Uhmm... I don't really have something to make you laugh. So..." Again, this certain person smiles with eyes closed and tilted head. "let me off the hook for no, 'kay?" For a moment, this certain person is surrounded with sparkling lights and red hearts floating and thumping. This certain person's voice echoes into the ears of everyone in the room.
Class 3-5 falls into silence.
A female student with pigtailed blonde hair raises her hand. "Sensei, I just saw sparkling lights and floating hearts. Am I excused to go to the infirmary?"
"No, Tanimura-san. It's only your imagination," Mr. Umehara answers dismissively.
A male student raises his hand. "Sensei, I think I saw it, too. May I be excused?"
"Yamada-san, it's all in your head. You better take an eye check-up when you go home."
"Sensei! I think my heart skipped a beat. Will I be okay if I don't go to the nurse's office?"
"You don't need a nurse's check-up for that, Kazuhito-kun. I bet you're thinking about your girlfriend again."
"Sensei!" a voice from the back says, "I can't understand what just happened? Was Kazuyoshi-san supposed to be cute?"
Mr. Umehara sighs and scratches his head. "Probably. I'm not sure, too." He turns to this certain person, "Kazuyoshi-san, was that supposed to be cute?"
This certain person nods. "Yes, Sensei. Because I can't think of a joke."
"You heard it, everyone. It was supposed to be cute. Let's not be rude and pretend it was cute."
"Yes, Sensei."
Mr. Umehara turns to this person. "Well, Kazuyoshi-san, you just go take that empty seat near the door. You pass."
"Yes. Thank you, Umehara-sensei."
'Kazuyoshi Yuki' is a mere "stage personality" she selected. The real name is Kurumizawa Yume. And, the real gender is female. Yume loves cross-dressing so much that she wanted to pretend to be a guy in her new school. Fortunately, the headmaster seems not to be against the idea. With her short messy hair, no one could possibly think that she is a woman, especially not with her male voice acting.
"Kazuyoshi Yuki-han." A voice coming from her right seems to be calling her. The man is bald and appears to be largely-built beneath his uniform but has a calming aura surrounding him.
"Yes. You are...?"
"Ishida Gin. Nice to meet you, Kazuyoshi-han."
"Nice to meet you, too, Ishida-san." She bows to him as respect.
"I'm your seatmate. Please feel free to ask anything if you need something."
"Will do. Thank you."
"And, these, right here, are the tennis courts."
Yume nods. "I see. Why are there no people around here?"
Classes have already ended and it is on the part of Ishida Gin's initiative to accompany the new transfer student around the campus. It just so happens that the tennis courts are their last destination.
"I thought there's supposed to be a tennis club," Yume says.
"The others are probably in a meeting right now," Gin replies. "You said earlier that you play tennis, right?"
"Not much. The last time I played was when I was on elementary school."
"I see. But wouldn't you try hitting some balls?"
"Is it alright?"
Gin enters the courts, walking towards the net of the nearest playing field. He faces her. "I'm a regular here. If you don't mind, why don't we play?"
"You're a regular? Why didn't you say so?" she exclaims. "I'm not really good, though." Yume enters the courts and looks around. She places her hands into her pocket. "It's been long since I last played."
"Why so, Kazuyoshi-han?" Gin walks to a bench where there are two rackets sitting.
Yume's gaze turns to him. "Just... I don't know." Gin hands her one of the rackets and goes to the other side of the court. She walks to her end and picks up a ball. "My service?" she asks.
"I'll let you do the honor."
"Nice, nice." She drops the ball and the racket to remove her jacket. Her jacket is neatly folded and is placed on top of her bag she left near the gate. She then removes her watch next. Yume does some stretches before finally picking up the racket and the ball. She runs back to the court.
Soon, the ball shoots to the air as she throws it upward, then it motions downward to the floor. Before it lands, her racket hits the ball and serves it to the other end of the court.
"That's good, Kazuyoshi-han." He hits the ball lightly, letting it travel to his opponent.
"Thanks!" she replies, hitting it back. "I'm glad that my body still knows how to play tennis."
"The body cannot possibly forget something it has made itself fond of."
"So, tell me, Ishida-san. When did you start playing?"
The two continue to return hits with the tennis ball up to the point when neither feels like submitting to one another. The long rally is to be won only by a single point. Winner is to be decided with who is able to return all balls delivered to the end of his court.
"..., twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, ..."
"Yuuji, what are you doing?" Shiraishi Kuranosuke, after leaving the club room, joins Hitouji Yuuji and Konjiki Koharu who are just standing outside the courts.
"Yuu-kun's been counting how many times the ball has been returned," Koharu answers in place of the other man who has been focusing on the game.
Shiraishi looks at the courts and sees Gin and an unfamiliar male student. "Who is Gin playing with? It's the first time I've seen that guy."
"I don't know," Koharu says with a pout, "but they have been rallying since we got here."
"..., twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, ..."
"Gin is still not using any of his special techniques," Shiraishi observes.
"Probably making it easier for the other guy to return."
Yume runs to the end of the court and returns the ball after it bounces from the ground. "Actually, I left by myself."
"Is that so?" The ball flies off to Gin's end of the court.
"I don't really mind, though."
Gin holds his racket with both hands and receives the ball. He returns the ball with a dash of force applied to it. As Yume runs to hit it back, she realizes that there's an accelerated force on the ball as it hits the ground. At the last minute when it finally bounces, she steps back to dodge its bounce.
She stops in her tracks, frozen in awe.
"Thirty-love."
"That's..." Her eyes are left wide open. "...cool," she mutters. "Ishida-san," Yume looks at her opponent with wide-open eyes. "You're so cool! That's awesome!"
Gin bows. "Thank you, Kazuyoshi-han."
"Thirty-four," Hitouji mutters. "They rallied for thirty-four balls."
"That's quite a long rally."
"Gin," Shiraishi calls to interrupt the conversation between the two players. Gin and Yume turns to the three men who start to walk towards them.
"This is Kazuyoshi Yuki-han," Gin introduces her, "He is a transfer student from England and he's my seatmate."
"Nice to meet you," she says with a bow, "and excuse me for the intrusion."
"It's fine. I'm Shiraishi Kuranosuke and with me are Koharu Konjiki and Hitouji Yuuji."
"Kyaa~ You're such a cutie boy." Koharu pouts while swaying his hips just like what he usually does when he sees men.
Yume smiles, obviously confused. "Uhmm... thanks, Koharu-san... I guess."
"I'm gonna call you Cutieyoshi-kun~"
Hitouji hits the side of Koharu's head with a karate chop. "Are you cheating on me, Koharu?" he says irritably.
"Yuu-kun, why are you always doing that to me?"
"That's because you look at other men."
"But there are a lot of cute and handsome men around."
"Am I not enough for you?"
"They will go on like that." Shiraishi sighs and turns to Yume. "I apologize. I should tell you that they are 'Naniwa's Baka Couple', so they usually display this sort of behavior anywhere."
"I see," Yume clears her throat. "You guys would probably start with your practice and your other club stuff." She glances at the gate. "I should be going."
"Kazuyoshi, have you considered joining any club?"
"I'm a third year now, though."
"Oh, right. I forgot." Shiraishi chuckles as he scratches the back of his head. "It's such a waste. I think you play tennis well."
"Well… it was nothing. If Ishida-san…" she looks at Ishida, "… shows that amazing technique right from the very start, it should have been over in an instant. He must have been holding back. I'm just an average player."
"You have potential, Kazuyoshi."
"I also think that's true," says Ishida.
"Really?" Yume smiles. "Well then, thank you. But I really should get going. I don't want to get in your way." She walks to the spot where she left her bag and picks her belongings up. Turning to the people she met, Yume gives a slight bow. "Goodbye, tennis club members. I'll probably see you around."
"Bye, Cutieyoshi-kun~" "See you tomorrow, Kazuyoshi-han." "Please come by and play tennis with us!" "Goodbye!"
Yume gives one last bow before taking a step. In an instant, she falls on the ground.
The members run to her. "Oi, Kazuyoshi! Are you okay?"
"The world's… spinning."
"Kazuyoshi-han, can you stand up? Do you need help?"
"I…"
They all fall into silence. They look at each other with puzzled looks.
"Did Cutieyoshi-kun just... lose consciousness?"
~ End Chapter ~
A/N: This is a remake of my very old story. I already deleted it and am so ashamed with all the crap I did in the past. The turn of events in my old story aren't really going anywhere so I decided to remake it a few years later. And here I am.. HAHAHAHA. Anyways, let's leave all the bad unwanted things in the past and let's forget them all. Please leave a review. Criticize it all with your heart's content.
