ちびまおう- たなか きみこ：daichiha!

chibi maou – tanaka kimiko：＃１

It was a beautiful spring morning in Tomoeda. Sakura glided quickly down the sidewalk, feeling the little bumps of the pavement under her feet as she skated to school. 'I like these so much…' thought the young girl to herself.  'I can take a little longer to leave, because they make me faster, and it's a lot more fun than walking!' She skated around a corner, and as she expected, there was Tomoyo waiting for her, in her usual place.

"Ohaiyo gazaimasu, Sakura-chan!" exclaimed her best friend, smiling cheerfully.  "Ohayo, Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura slowed down a little so her friend could keep up beside her.  "Hoeee…I just remembered something…Tomoyo-chan,are we having a math test today, or is it tomorrow?"

The dark haired girl looked troubled.  "Ah…it's today, Sakura-chan.."

Sakura sighed.  "I tried to study for it, but there was so much other stuff I didn't have time to finish! I was really hoping it would be tomorrow…Hoee..."

Tomoyo smiled again. "Don't worry Sakura-chan, I'll help you review during lunch.  It's not that hard, anyway."

"Oh, thank you, Tomoyo-chan! You really are the be-"

＊WHAM！＊

Sakura was sent sprawling on the pavement as a large, fast moving object slammed into her from around the corner.  She opened her eyes dazedly.  "Na-nani o?"  A blurry picture of Tomoyo appeared in front of her eyes.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! Are you alright?" Sakura nodded her head.  "Hai…just a little bruised. What the…?  What was that??"

She heard a moan coming from the ground near her.

A girl she didn't recognize was sitting up on the pavement, rubbing her head. "*#&)! My head, my freakin' head…Who's the dork who…" The mystery girl stood up.  She had almost shoulder-length brown hair, and was wearing the Tomoeda school uniform. It looked very new (except for the new dirt and a rip in the sleeve).  She stood up and saw Sakura.  "Whoah...Are you the one who just smashed me?  Judging by this lump on my head,I thought it must've been a whale or something.  Sorry, my bad. I was going too fast… racing to school, 'cuz I didn't want to be late on the first day."  The girl extended a hand and helped Sakura onto her feet.

"My name is Tamaka Kimiko, but my friends call me just "Miko".  Well, my friends in Osaka did.  Just moved this week."

Sakura gave an embarrassed smile. "No, no, it was totally my fault… My name is Kinomoto Sakura, pleased to meet you!  Welcome to Tomoeda!"

Tomoyo looked curiously at Kimiko's clothing. "Kimiko-san, you're going to Tomoeda Elementary, right?"

Kimiko turned from Sakura to face the new voice. "Please, call me Miko.  And, yes, I am going…to…" Her voice faded out suddenly.  "Ah…I don't think we've been introduced yet…?"

Sakura panicked. "Hoee! Sumimasen, how rude of me! This is my best friend, Tomoyo-chan!" she said, stepping aside.

Kimiko's expression gradually changed from her hard, tomboyish projection. She looked as if that blow to her head was finally getting to her, not to mention the fact that she was seemingly transfixed with who she was looking at: namely, Tomoyo... "Tomoyo…Tomoyo…what a beautiful name." Suddenly she snapped out of her daze, and began to look very alarmed. Tomoyo saw that Miko was looking at something behind her. "Eeh?"

"Oh no! SUKEBO!" Miko ran over to an old battered skateboard lying upside down behind the other two girls.  She picked it up and cradled it in her arms as if it were a baby.  Sakura could have sworn she heard the girl muttering soothing words to the thing. "My poor Sukebo…he's my most prized possession… my one and only lucky board!  He got scratched!"

Tomoyo and Sakura both sweatdropped.

"She really likes that board, I guess…" whispered Sakura quietly.  Tomoyo just kept smiling, but she also seemed to think the girl was a bit odd.

Miko dusted it off, set it down, and placed a foot onto the back end.  "Well, I guess I better be going… Probably late already.  Hope I'll see ya guys around," she added, looking at Tomoyo.

"Matte!" shouted Sakura, but Miko had already skated off. "We should have told her we were going to the same school…"

Tomoyo watched Miko disappear. "I was about to, but she left before I could say anything…Well, we'll see her in school, anyway!"

And so she and Sakura sauntered off the rest of the way in peace.

All the students in the class were chatting before Terada Sensei came in.  As usual, somebody had spread the rumor that a new kid was coming, and everyone was guessing what she/he would be like. Everyone that is, except Tomoyo and Sakura.

Naoko giggled. "I hope it's a boy who likes scary stories.  Nobody here appreciates mine."

Chiharu and Rika had their own ideas. "I hope he has dark hair!" said Chiharu. "I don't mind if he tells ghost stories, as long as they aren't huge whopping lies!" she added on second thought.

"I hear the new kid is from Osaka." said Rika.  "I love Osaka accents, don't you? They're so cute!" She looked at Sakura.  "What do you think the new kid will be like?"

"Oh! I've already met her, we crashed on the way to school!" she said with a touch of embarrassment.

Chiharu groaned.  "Great, I knew it. Another girl."

"She's really nice!" said Tomoyo. "A bit odd…well, I mean, interesting..."

Just then, the door opened, and Terada Sensei came in.  All the students scrambled quickly to their seats. "Ohayo gozaimasu, everyone."

"Terada Sensei Ohayoo!" echoes the young voices in unison.

"As you might have heard, we have a new arrival today from Osaka.  This is Tanaka Kimiko." He nodded to the girl who had been following him.

"Would you please write your name on the board, and tell the class a bit about yourself?"

Miko shifted her backpack strap (which was hanging off one shoulder) and smiled boyishly. "Sure." She turned her back to the class and wrote her name on the board with chalk.  The kanji was not very neat, but it was still almost legible. She paused after she had finished, and held the chalk over the board moment.  Then she continued writing in large (and messy) English letters: "SPIT".  Next to that, she drew a little Jesus fish with an "x" for an eye.

Then she walked back and faced the class again. "My name is Tanaka Kimiko.  I come from Osaka.  That…" she pointed to the words and the picture under her name- "is the name of my band, 'SPIT'. Luckily, a few of the members moved her a while ago, and we're thinking of restarting our group here in Tomoeda. I also like skateboarding.  And that's about all there is to know bout me."

Naoko raised her hand. "Yeah, the one with the glasses?" said Miko, gesturing to her.

"Ah…what is "spittu"?" she asked.

Miko laughed. "It's when you go like this…" she was about to demonstrate on the newly cleaned classroom floor, but the teacher stopped her just in time.

"Well, I think that's a good enough introduction.  You can sit over there in the back.  They very, very, back." She shrugged and walked to the back of the room.  She stopped at an empty seat behind Tomoyo.

"Hey…You guys go here too?! Wow, that's cool…Okay if I sit here?"

Tomoyo looked up and smiled. "Of course!" Miko moved in and put her bag on the floor next to the desk. "Hmmm…" she took out a piece of paper and a pen. Tomoyo turned around again and paid attention to the lesson.

About an hour later, Sakura looked behind her at the new girl.  Miko-chan, do you need help with our math lesson? Tomoyo explained it to me, but I bet you don't know it yet since you're new here..."

Miko looked up from her paper. "Eh? What about the math lesson?" Sakura was confused. "The math problems we've been doing in class for the last twenty minutes..."

"Oh… I was drawing." she replied.  "I can do it later."

Sakura was…stunned. "You… you didn't do anything at all??"

The other girl shrugged. "Naw. Too boring. Besides, skaters and drummers don't need math."

The teacher saw them chatting and came over.  "Is there a problem?" he asked.  Miko shook her head. "No, I was just finishing up my sheet.  I asked Sakura to help me double-check something."

The teacher looked at her paper covered with scribbles.  "That doesn't look like math, young lady." He started to pick it up but Miko covered it with her arm. "It's not done yet!"

Terada Sensei got impatient. "Let me just check to see if you're doing it correctly." He reached for it again.

Some of the kids in the class turned around and watched.

"I did do it right.  It's almost finished, just gimme 5 minutes!" She covered the paper with her arms and hunched over it. The teacher sighed and went back to his desk. Several students gave the new kid a strange look. Rika looked at Terada Sensei and sighed sympathetically.  "Kids these days…" she muttered.