Joker's Destiny
By: imaginarysong
Chapter 1- First Encounter
Why do things have to be so complicated? a teenage boy sighed to himself. His dark red-brown hair glinted in the morning sunshine as he made his way towards Namimori Middle School.
He just moved to Japan a few days ago. Actually, he and his family originally lived in Japan, but they had to move to America because of his parents' jobs. Nevertheless, they would always come back to visit their home country every summer and spent their time staying at his grandparent's house.
However, due to recent events, his parents decided to have him attend school in Japan. It was bad enough that he barely had any experience in attending a Japanese school; his parents accidentally placed some inaccurate information on his school transcript, which they had already sent to Namimori.
He wasn't sure about what to expect but he wasn't all that nervous either. As he continued to walk down the side walk, he tried to remember the details of his mother's instructions and advice to him about his stay in Japan…
Thump.
"Whoops! Sorry about that." While he was busy thinking, he didn't notice the girl who was walking in front of him.
"Oh! It's okay." the girl turned to face him. She was a bit shorter than him with short bright orange hair and big golden eyes. A look of interest appeared on her face.
"I haven't seen you before. Did you just move into Namimori?"
"Yeah," he replied. Was it that easy to tell?
"I'm Sasagawa Kyoko," she told him. "And you are…?"
"Kojima Ran. Nice to meet you," he bowed his head.
"Same here!" Sasagawa smiled. They continued to walk down the path, together.
"I can see that you're going to our school," Sasagawa said, taking notice of his uniform. "Do you know what class you are in?"
Kojima fished a piece of piece of paper out of his pocket and took a look.
"Umm, 1-B. You?"
"Sorry, I'm in 1-A." Her face fell a little bit. "Don't worry; I'm sure you will make friends quickly. You seem like a nice guy," she added, seeing Kojima's slightly troubled face.
"Thanks. I hope so." Kojima replied earnestly.
After they walked for a few more moments, Kojima could feel the pounding of footsteps behind him. Someone was heading in their direction at an alarming rate! Not wanting to alarm his new friend, he snuck a peek over his shoulder.
He raised his eyebrows when he saw that a half-naked brown-haired guy was yelling while running down the street. The running person seemed to be a boy around his own age whose eyes were somewhat angry, determined, and maniac-like. The fact that the guy was only wearing underwear while he was running made him look even more bizarre. He wasn't even sure that the speed that the dude was running at was possible. In no time at all, underpants man passed by.
"Huh? Was that…" Sasagawa trailed off.
"You know him…?" Kojima asked.
"Hey." a guy with black hair greeted Kyoko, interrupting him.
"Mochida-senpai." Kyoko recognized him.
Both boys studied each other. Mochida gave Kojima a threatening glare. Kojima simply smirked at him. Mochida gritted his teeth.
Before the upperclassman could say anything, Kojima spoke. "Sasagawa-san, is it okay with you if I go to school without you? I need to get there as soon as possible so I can talk with the teacher before class starts."
Reluctantly, she nodded. "See you at school Kojima-san." She walked with the senpai as Ran went ahead, taking a faster pace.