A/N: I wanted to write an original story for this idea for a long time, but decided it was too cliché. I knew a cliché idea like this might be more appreciated for fanfiction, and Battle Royale was the first category that popped into my mind, so I decided to go for it. I've never written a BR fanfic before, but I ADORE this book, and love the idea of Takako and Shinji together. Hope you guys like it!
Also, just a quick thing: I don't like the character of Keita Iijima, but Takako needs to have a crush in the story, and since Shinji hates Keita, he's perfect. Also, Keita was pretty good looking in the movie.
Full Summary: Takako Chigusa always hated player Shinji Mimura, but never more than when he broke the heart of her best friend. For revenge, she decides to play the player, get him to fall in love with her, and then break his heart. But she gets more than she bargained for when she starts to fall for him instead.
Takako Chigusa hurried down the halls of Shiroiwa High on the first day of her junior year. She and her friends were planning to meet at the front steps in a few minutes, but when Takako got up that morning, she got a call from her friend since Haruka Tanizawa telling her Chisato was upset and they all needed to meet earlier.
She'd gotten to school extra early; she'd even convinced Hiroki to come with her. They were going to walk to school together everyday anyway so she begged a little and had gotten him to agree to come along early. However, she suspected he'd come with her so early when he rushed off to his locked immediately after the two arrived at school. Confused, Takako followed him. It took a few minutes for her to find him because she only saw the general direction Hiroki headed in. When she saw him, she avoided going over to him because he was a little preoccupied. He was standing by his locker talking to Kayoko Kotohiki, a playful, energetic girl that Hiroki had a crush on since junior high. However, he could never work up the nerve to ask her out, and Kayoko, who was often wrapped up in her own world of pretty clothes and tea ceremonies, remained oblivious to his true feelings.
Takako rolled her eyes at the familiar sight of Hiroki nervously rambling on and Kayoko listening with a smile on her face. She was the only one who could listen to a boy ramble about some meaningless topic she couldn't care less about and not get bored or annoyed. Takako quickly set off to the second hallway of the third floor, which the girl's bathroom Haruka, Chisato, and Takako's other friends were in.
In junior high, Chisato Matsui wasn't the kind of girl Takako would be friends with. But that could be because, in junior high, Takako never had many friends. She was sort of friendly with Noriko Nakagawa, but that's because everyone was. She had the sweetest disposition of anyone Takako knew, and no one could be mean to her. Satsuki Honda was her best friend, but their second year of junior high, they didn't end up in the same class and could only spend time together during lunch and after school. Hiroki Sugimura, Takako's best friend since elementary school, was in her class, but he was a big time athlete and spent a lot of his time with his other guy friends. That included player Shinji Mimura, a guy Takako hated since elementary school, so she tended to not spend time with Hiroki's other friends.
Takako thought about befriending other girls. She was quite the athlete, star of the girls track team. She decided a good way to make more friends was to join another sport, so she tried out for and made the girls volleyball team. Her class's female representative Yukie Utsumi, and her best friend and faithful sidekick, Haruka Tanizawa were co-captains. Takako got to know Haruka and Yukie very well; Haruka was pretty aggressive on the court and Takako took a liking to her, but she found Yukie to be extremely annoying and quite bossy. Still, Takako did think Yukie was trustworthy, sensible, resourceful, and caring, and liked Haruka, so she tried to hang out with Haruka and Yukie's other friends after volleyball a couple of times. Noriko was part of the group. So were Satomi Noda, Izumi Kanai, Fumiyo Fujiyoshi, Yuka Nakagawa, Yuko Sakaki, and Chisato Matsui.
Takako already liked Norkio, but couldn't get used to the other girls. Satomi Noda was the smartest girl in Takako's class, Third Year Class B. Heck, she was the smartest girl in Shiroiwa junior high. And she was much too serious and reserved for Takako's taste. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Yuka was much to lively and cheerful. She always had a smile on her face, much like Noriko. But unlike Noriko's kind smile, Yuka's was just too bright. Who could be that cheery all the time? Fumiyo Fujiyoshi was Yukie's other best friend. She was a huge gossip and Takako didn't trust her in the slightest. Izumi Kanai was fun to be around and had a good sense of humor, but she was also kind of a snob. She came from a rich family, and even though Takako knew she probably wasn't snobbish on purpose, she still had no desire to get to know her.
Yuko Sakaki was quiet, and to be honest, she scared Takako a little. Something seemed a little off about her. She was part of Yukie's group, but Yuko's best friend was Kaori Minami, who gave Takako the same vibe Yuko did. There was something off about both girls, like they were rubberbands who would eventually snap. Still though, Yuko had a huge crush on Shuya Nanahara, one of Hiroki's friends, and another big time athlete at Shiroiwa Junior High. Together with Chisato Matsui, she spent her time giggling, swooning, and obsessing over Shuya (in Yuko's case), and one of Shuya and Hiroki's other good friends, Shinji Mimura (in Chisato's case). Besides the fact that Takako couldn't stand girls who giggled, swooned, and obsessed over boys, Takako also hated the fact that Chisato chose to crush on the jerk Shinji Mimura rather than a decent guy like Shuya Nanahara.
Takako and Shinji had been in the same class every year since elementary school, and every year, her hatred for him grew. As she grew closer to Hiroki, she was forced to get to know his other friends. Yoshitoki Koninobu was okay. He was funny and sweet and had a crush on Noriko. Takako didn't really care about romance or couples, but she knew they'd be good together.
Shuya Nanahara liked rock music, playing the guitar, and writing songs. He and Shinji were on the basketball team together, though Shuya's best sport was baseball. He was a really good friend. Noriko had a crush on him, as did several other girls (including Yukie Utsumi), but Shuya liked a musician named Kazumi Shintani, who was a grade above him.
Yutaka Seto was annoying in Takako's mind; he earned the reputation of class clown, but he was funny and no one could deny that. He made several people laugh, including his crush, Izumi Kanai. Izumi loved Yutaka's sense of humor, although she didn't really hang out with him and had no idea he liked her. Yutaka was Shinji's best friend, though she couldn't see why. Even if she didn't hate Shinji, she would think the friendship was odd. They weren't really similar.
Shinji Mimura was a grade A jerk. He earned the nickname The Third Man for being the star of the basketball team. He was hot, and even Takako couldn't deny that. But she still hated him. He didn't do too well in school, but he was smart. Quick as a whip. But she hated how he treated girls and the attention he got. As he got older, and more and more girls started to like him, he started his 'love them and leave them' system. He never went out with someone, never even had the same girl twice. Despite all that, he still had almost all the girls in the school chasing after him hoping he'd give them a chance. He had fan girls, and that to Takako, was disgusting. On top of that, he was self centered, arrogant, cocky, made fun of Hiroki for being "soft" as he called it, and made rude remarks to the girls who were upset at never seeing Shinji again, and most of the girls didn't even realize. He also made rude remarks to Takako because Takako made it her personal mission to yell at him every time she witnessed him being an ass to a girl or Hiroki.
Kazushi Niida was an arrogant, self centered jock who had a huge crush on Takako. He started a rumor that he and Takako were dating when they started junior high together and he tried to rape her during Third Year Class B's study trip. If Takako hadn't been on high alert near the creep, and hadn't punched him the stomach so hard, he staggered long enough for Takako to get away from him, he would've succeeded. Even after all that, Takako still hated Shinji more.
When they were in elementary school, Hiroki used to be a crybaby because he was beat up and verbally bullied. The leader of the bullies was Shinji Mimura. Even though Hiroki and Shinji were friends now, and when she really thought about it, she and Hiroki wouldn't even be friends if he hadn't gotten bullied, Takako hadn't forgiven Shinji for making her best friend miserable. In addition, there was Shinji's hatred of Keita Iijima. Takako wasn't interested in boys, but she couldn't deny she had a crush on the guy. He used to be a dork in junior high, but he really changed in high school. In junior high, Keita used to be good friends with Shinji and Yutaka, but then something happened that made Shinji and Keita hate each other (and there was no doubt in her mind that the incident was Shinji's fault), and though Keita was still sort of friends with Yutaka, the rest of Shinji's friends wouldn't give him the time of day, even though none of them knew what happened and Takako hated that too.
So, because of all the hatred she held for Shinji Mimura, she couldn't possibly like Chisato Matsui, a shy, timid girl who actually liked the jerk. But then, everything changed.
The summer before high school started, Yukie and Haruka had a huge falling out. All the girls in Yukie's group were forced to pick sides. Yuka instantly took Haruka's place as Yukie's sidekick, and Fumiyo, who was mainly part of the group because of Yukie and never really became friends with Haruka also chose Yukie's side. Noriko hated the idea of choosing sides, but couldn't deny she supported Haruka in the fight. However, she tried to stay neutral. Yukie however, outraged that Noriko, who was her friend first, wouldn't choose her side and accused her of not choosing Yukie's side immediately because she always secretly resented and hated that Yukie liked Shuya. Noriko tried to explain to Yukie that what she said wasn't true, but Yukie went on to say Noriko had no chance with Shuya, while Yukie's prospects were great. Still Noriko tried to reason with her friend, but Yukie went on with the insults and Noriko eventually grew angry and chose Haruka's side. Chisato was also Yukie's friend first, but she, like Noriko, thought Haruka was right, and clearly chose Haruka's side.
Izumi ,Yuko, and Satomi didn't like the idea of the huge fight or choosing sides so they chose not to. Yuko wasn't really obligated to choose by either Yukie or Haruka since she wasn't best friends with them. Izumi had grown close to Megumi Eto and Kayoko Kotohiki the past year. Megumi was another rich girl, but sweet, because she was best friends with Mayumi Tendo (who was best friends with Kayoko since birth), a girl who was on pretty good terms with everyone, much like Noriko. Because of Izumi's newfound friendship with Megumi, she, like Yuko was also better friends with Megumi, Mayumi, Kayoko, Kaori Minami, and Mizuho Inada, and wasn't forced to choose sides either and remained friends with both of them. Satomi however did not have that luxary since she was really good friends with both Yukie and Haruka. Unable to choose, Satomi just left the entire group.
Satomi was now friends with the bad-ass Mitsuko Souma. Mitsuko was a bad girl, and definitely a criminal. She scared several people and no one wanted to mess with her. Mitsuko was the leader of a girl gang. Mitsuko's gang consisted of several girls, but her two best friends were Hirono Shimizu and Yoshimi Yahagi. However, once Satomi joined Mitsuko's girl gang, she replaced Hirono as Mitsuko's right hand girl. Now Mitsuko had three best friends, and even though Hirono hated Satomi for replacing her at first, it was clear that now both she and Yoshimi respected her. Takako never would've expected the still serious, still intelligent girl, who was now the smartest girl in Shiroiwa High, to be such a bad ass, but Satomi surprised everyone.
In Takako's first year of high school, when she realized Haruka was no longer friends with Yukie, or many of the girls in Yukie's group Takako didn't like, she tried to get close to Haruka again. She already liked Noriko, and even though she wasn't thrilled with the prospect of hanging out with a girl who had a crush on Shinji Mimura, she soon found out Chisato had a lot more substance to her now and Takako ended up liking her. She and Satsuki almost immediately became part of Haruka's group of three that first year, and the five girls were best friends ever since.
Now, two years later, most of the old gang hadn't changed. Ever since the first year of high school, Third Year Class B somehow always had a class together. In the first year, it was algebra, in the second year it was physical education, and this year it was pre-calculus, physical education, and history. The class was also in homeroom together. Takako was happy to see that Satsuki was in all of her classes this year, which meant this was the first year that Third Year Class B would be getting an addition to their shared classes.
Takako and Hiroki were still each other's best friends first and everyone else's best friend second. Takako was still a straight A student and the fastest girl on the track team (she'd given up volleyball; it just wasn't as fun as running), and still had a crush on Keita Iijima. She was still the most stylish girl in school, and still wore jewelry that the teachers thought was gaudy and students thought was cool and still had dyed orange hair which the teachers thought was rebellious and studnets thought was pretty. Mitsuko and her friends were still the girls no one wanted to mess with, much like Kazuo Kiriyama and his hoodlum gang. Girls like Noriko, Kayoko, and Izumi still went after other guys, completely oblivious to the fact that there were perfectly decent guys who were in love with them. And Shinji Mimura was still a grade A jerk. Although…
Over the summer, Chisato had worked up the courage to ask Shinji out. She was the first girl to ever ask him out on a date rather than ask to "have some fun" and he liked that, so he agreed to a date. One date turned into two, then three, and soon enough, Shinji and Chisato were in an actual relationship. They'd been going out for a little over three months when school started.
When Haruka called Takako telling her Chisato was upset, Takako should've known it was because of Shinji, but that didn't click in her mind until she joined her friends in the girl's bathroom, and heard her friends trying to comfort Chisato from outside one of the stalls.
"Hey," Takako whispered to Satsuki as she joined her, Chisato, Haruka, and Noriko in the bathroom. "Um, who are the two girls standing outside the bathroom?"
"Two girls from Mitsuko's gang," Satsuki answered simply.
"Okay. And why are they standing there?"
"Cuz this bathroom is just for us right now," Noriko explained. "Haruka paid them to stand guard and only let you in."
"Oh. So what's wrong?" Takako asked Haruka over Chisato's sobs.
"Shinji broke up with her," Haruka replied, venom in her voice.
"This morning. Like five minutes ago," Noriko added.
Takako's eyes hardened. Of course. That bastard! Chisato wasn't upset. She was devastated! And the person she hated most was the reason.
"I-I don't understand," Chisato sobbed from inside the stall. "We were going out for th-three months! I-I thought he l-loved me!"
Takako sighed quietly and bit her lip so she wouldn't say anything she'd regret. She wanted to tell Chisato that Shinji didn't love anybody and was a jerk anyway and Chisato must be pretty special for him to continue going out with her for three months when they weren't even intimate, but she was silly to think it would last. Somehow though, she knew that wouldn't go over well with Chisato, or Haruka who was fiercely protective of Chisato.
"Chisato, you can't be upset over a jerk like Shinji Mimura. He was never good enough for you anyway," Satsuki reasoned.
Takako smiled at Satsuki and Satsuki smiled back. Takako and Satsuki wanted to say the same thing to Chisato, but Satsuki was the one who knew how to put the words in a kinder way. Takako was glad her message still got through however.
"B-but I was in l-love with h-him!" Chisato wailed. "I was g-going to h-have sex with him!"
Haruka, Satsuki, Noriko, and Takako exchanged surprised looks. Chisato wasn't the type of girl who would have sex with someone after just three months. After all, her last two relationships lasted eight months and a year a half respectively, and she was still a virgin.
"A-And now we're o-o-over!"
Even though Takako was still annoyed at how much Chisato liked Shinji after the two became friends, she couldn't stand the fact that her friend was hurting like this. She knew there was a lot more to Chisato than the lovesick girl always after Shinji Mimura. Chisato's grades may have been second to Takako's in their friend group, but she was considered the smart one. The sensible one. She was the only one in their group who wasn't an athlete, but she made up for it by being artsy. And it wasn't right for Shinji to reduce her smart, sensible, artistic friend into a pile of sad, pathetic tears.
"I'll be back," Takako said, her voice hard. She headed to the door. Haruka looked on approvingly, but Satsuki grabbed her arm.
"Don't do anything stupid Taka," she warned her best friend.
"Whatever I do isn't anything less than that bastard deserves," Takako replied. Then, she shook her arm free and headed out.
"This isn't good," Satsuki muttered.
"Why not? Takako hates Shinji more than any of us. She's the best one to give him his just desserts," Haruka reasoned. "Although whatever she does won't be enough for revenge."
Noriko nodded in agreement. She wasn't usually a vengeful person, and, unlike most girls, she actually got along well with Shinji, well enough to call him a friend, but at that moment, she hated that Shinji for hurting one of her best friends.
Satsuki just shook her head. As Takako's best friend, she knew the fiery girl better than anyone else. "Chisato, listen," she said hurriedly. "I'm gonna leave now, but I want you to know Shinji Mimura isn't worth your time or your tears. I know it hurts and I know it's not easy to stop crying, but you really can't give him the satisfaction. Just…try to move past it and feel better, okay? I'll see you soon, in homeroom." Then Satsuki ran off to find the one person that could stop Takako Chigusa from doing something she'd regret, which Satsuki was sure Takako was already in the process of doing.
Takako Chigusa was out for blood. A specific person's blood. She was horrified to see the boy she wanted to see opening a locker next to her own. Shinji Mimura. He had the locker next to hers?
However, her horror soon went away and was replaced by a grin as she saw three of Shinji's friends, Shuya Nanahara, Yoshitoki Kuninobu, and Yutaka Seto join him. Looking around, she saw a lot of students she knew chatting in groups before the bell for homeroom rang.
Izumi Kanai was standing across from Shinji with Megumi Eto, Mayumi Tendo, Kaori Minami, Mizuho Inada, and Yuko Sakaki. She was standing in front of an open locker. The locker was already decorated on the inside with pictures of a good looking pop star named Junya, which led Takako to guess the locker was probably Kaori's. Since junior high, Kaori's acne had gone away and she'd replaced her glasses with contacts, making her very pretty and not a victim of Mitsuko's gang anymore. However, besides her appearance, Kaori had remained the same. She was still Megumi and Mizuho's best friends, she still thought Mizuho's imagination was weird, and she was still obsessed with pop idols; Junya was her favorite.
A few lockers to the right, Mitsuko Souma and Satomi Noda stood close together by Mitsuko's locker, sharing a joint. With them were Yoshimi Yahagi and Hirono Shimizu. Hirono was admiring Yoshimi's new school bag.
To the left of Izumi was Yukie Utsumi with her friends Fumiyo Fujiyoushi and Yuka Nakagawa. Fumiyo was filing her nails and Yuka was talking a mile a minute. The volleyballs that decorating the outside of the locker the three were standing in front of suggested it was Yukie's.
To the right of Mitsuko's gang were Shiroiwa's "it couple" Sakura Ogawa and Kazuhiko Yamamoto. They'd been a couple since the second year of junior high and Takako was surprised to see them holding hands and just talking. Usually the couple was always kissing.
To the right of Shinji and his friends was the rich Kazuo Kiriyama and his gang, Ryuhei Sasagawa, Hiroshi Kuronaga, Mitsuru Numai, and Sho Tsukioka. Ryuhei, Hiroshi, and Mitsuru were arguing about something, every now and then throwing in the words, "Right, boss?" hoping to get Kazuo on their side. Kazuo seemed to be listening, but looked bored and no one could be sure he actually heard what the others were saying. Sho, meanwhile, was looking at Shinji longingly. It was obvious to the entire school that he was gay and Shinji was the object of his affections.
Between Izumi's group and Mitsuko's gang were best friends Yukiko Kitano and Yumiko Kusaka. The two were friends for as long as anyone could remember. It was surprising to everyone when, in high school, instead of being the childish, silly girls they were in junior high, they transformed into true beauties. Both still excelled in academics and they were still best friends, but that's all that remained the same about them. In high school, they became cheerleaders, joining girls in Third Year Class B like Izumi, Megumi, Sakura, and Kayoko Kotohiki, who were cheerleaders in junior high. With the two cheerleaders was Keita Iijima, who, even in junior high was a jock, but was much more popular now.
Looking back at Shinji, Takako saw Shogo Kawada join the group. The boy was big and scary, but became friends with Shuya Nanahara and, surprisingly enough, Noriko, near the end of their third year of junior high. Noriko talked to Shogo whenever she wasn't with Takako and her other friends. The rest of the time, Shogo hung out with Shinji, Shuya, and their other friends.
Hiroki, who was part of Shinji's group, wasn't in the hallway, but Takako was satisfied with the amount of people watching anyway. Takako wanted to publically humiliate Shinji for making Chisato cry, and now she could. Best of all, all of the people watching were from Third Year Class B, which means Takako could humiliate Shinji in front of people he'd known for years, people whose opinions mattered, people's whose opinions he cared about. After all, if someone he didn't really know saw the scene, he wouldn't care at all. But with these people…well, they'd never let him forget it. Maybe people like Kazuo and Satomi wouldn't care, but Izumi and her friends would find it hilarious and the rest of Kazuo and Mitsuko's gangs would love to make fun of the-until now-too cool to insult prince. The Third Man was going to regret breaking Chisato's heart.
"HEY! MIMURA!" Takako yelled, walking over to him. She had gotten everyone's attention. Perfect.
"Chigusa," Shinji greeted when she was close. "Finally come around? I knew it was only a matter of time." He smirked and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear.
Immediately, Takako jumped back, resisting the urge to squeal in disgust.
"No need to be shy Chigusa," Shinji laughed. "I'm happy to have a little fun with you. Just say the word."
Takako knew the kind of person Shinji was, so she shouldn't have been shocked, but she was. Did he really just suggest that they have sex just a few minutes after he broke up with the person who was probably his only actual girlfriend? Too infuriated to even speak, she did the only thing she could've thought of to do. She punched him. As hard she could. Right in his stomach.
"Ack!" Shinji cried, clutching his stomach, clearly in pain.
Everyone looked on, a little shell shocked at what just happened. Then the reactions started.
All the girls in Izumi's group gasped except Izumi herself, who burst out laughing. Yumiko, Yukiko, Hirono, and Yoshimi joined in almost immediately. Mitsuko and Satomi looked on appreciatively and even Yukie's group, including Yukie herself, looked on approvingly.
Her anger still on high, Takako kicked Shinji's legs, knocking him to the ground.
Soon, the rest of the girls in Izumi's group began giggling.
Everyone in Kazuo's group looked at the scene, interested, except for Kazuo himself, who still looked bored and continued to stare straight ahead with that vacant look in his eyes that was almost always present, and Sho, who was outraged.
Yutaka knelt next to Shinji, asking him if he was okay. Yoshitoki looked shocked and Shuya and Shogo looked like they weren't sure whether to make sure Shinji was okay and defend him, or laugh.
"That's for the dumb comment Mimura," Takako glared. "And this-" she kicked him in the side, knocking wind out of him, and shocking Shinji as his friends, minus Shogo, gasped. "-this is for breaking Chisato's heart."
Shinji looked up at her, and for a moment, Takako thought she saw regret, pain, and guilt in his eyes. Even a little sadness. But the moment passed and the emotions were replaced with anger and annoyance so quickly that Takako was sure she imagined Shinji's remorse.
"Damn Chigusa, however important Chisato is to you," Shinji said, slowly rising, "it still doesn't give you the right to beat down on me. And you're a girl too so it's not like I can hit you back. It's not fair."
Infuriated beyond belief, Takako struck again, punching his neck this time. She was so happy she demanded Hiroki teach her karate when he started taking about five different martial arts classes when the two were seven. She wasn't a master at all five like he was, but she could beat up a guy twice her size with ease.
Shinji opened his mouth, trying to say something along the lines of "Shit!" but couldn't get the words out. The punch to the neck hurt.
"He needs to see the nurse," Yutaka murmured and Yoshitoki nodded in agreement.
"You're not getting away that easily!" Takako decided, ready to aim another punch. However, Shogo Kawada reacted quickly this time and picked her up off the ground and backed up so she couldn't reach Shinji. Yutaka and Shuya quickly helped Shinji to the nurse's office. Yoshitoki stayed behind with Shogo to help restrain Takako if she managed to wriggle out of the bigger boy's grasp
"Let go of me Kawada! I swear you'll pay for this! Put me down now!" Takako screeched.
"Taka! Stop!" Takako heard a familiar male voice say.
Turning her head to the left, she saw Satsuki and Hiroki running up to her. Kayoko was with them, but broke off from the trio to join Mayumi and her other friends.
Clearly, worried about how far Takako would take her revenge, Satsuki had gotten Hiroki. He was the only one who could stop her from doing something stupid and talk her down from her rage.
"Please Takako, you don't want to do something you'll regret," Hiroki begged.
"For Chisato," Takako bit out.
"Chisato probably wouldn't want you to hurt him," Satsuki pointed out sadly. It was sad that Chisato was hurting so badly, but probably still cared about Shinji enough to not want him to feel physical pain.
"And I think you did a pretty good job of injuring him anyway," Hiroki added.
"You would say that! You're his friend!" Takako cried.
"I'm your friend too," Hiroki said gently but firmly. "I'm your friend first. Let's not start the school year out this way."
Takako sighed in defeat. "Fine," she muttered.
Shogo let go of her but he and Yoshitoki stayed on high alert in case she tried to run after Shinji. She walked toward Hiroki and Satsuki instead. Satisfied that she was calm, Yoshitoki and Shogo headed to the nurse's office.
"He deserves much worse than what I gave him," Takako declared as everyone else in the hallway began to discuss what had happened in their respective friend groups.
"I know," Satsuki agreed. "But I didn't want you to get in trouble on our first day."
"How could anyone hurt Chisato anyway? She's so…so…"
"Sweet?" Hiroki, who didn't know Chisato all that well, suggested.
"Fragile," Satsuki correcting, knowing that was the word her best friend was looking for. Takako nodded in confirmation.
Chisato was nice no doubt, but in terms of completely sweet, the names of Noriko, Kayoko, Mayumi Tendo, and Sakura Ogawa came to mind. However, even though it didn't seem like it, those girls could all take care of themselves. Chisato however, was prone to break down in tears every time something bad happened to her, like this break up.
"I don't know what to say," Hiroki admitted. He knew Takako wanted to hear him say that Shinji was a jerk to break up with Chisato, but he couldn't. Shinji was his friend and although he and the others lightly told Shinji off when he was especially harsh to a girl he was trying to get rid of, he knew this was different. None of the guys knew what was going on, but they knew Shinji didn't want to break up with Chisato, even if he wouldn't admit it, talk to them about it, or tell them what was going on.
"That's okay," Satsuki said quickly. "You guys want to grab a muffin or something for breakfast before the homeroom bell rings?"
Hiroki and Takako nodded. None of them had enough time to eat before they arrived at school and having a muffin before homeroom sounded good to all of them.
When Takako, Hiroki, and Satsuki arrived at homeroom, most kids were already there, sitting in their respective cliques. Shinji, Yutaka, and Shuya were missing and Takako guessed they were still in the nurse's office
'Ha. What a wuss Mimura turned out to be,' Takako thought.
Yoshitoki and Shogo were in homeroom, saving four desks. One was for Hiroki and he went to go join them.
Takako and Satsuki headed over to where Haruka, Noriko, and Chisato were sitting. Haruka had saved two desks for the girls.
"Welcome to Third Year Class B," Haruka said jokingly to Satsuki when she sat down.
Satsuki smiled and looked at Chisato, whose face was puffy and eyes were bloodshot. "How're you feeling?"
"Like I want to die," Chisato replied, her eyes filling with fresh tears. She put her head down on her desk.
"I hate Mimura," Takako growled.
"Speaking of, we heard how you pretty much beat him up," Noriko piped up.
"Nice going," Haruka added approvingly. "It's not enough though."
"I agree," Satsuki said.
"Takako," Haruka said slowly. "How badly do you want to get Mimura back for this?"
"I'm willing to do anything," Takako replied. "Why?"
"Pefect," Haruka said, grinning evilly. "Because I have the perfect plan, if you're up for it."
Takako mirrored Haruka's grin and made up her mind before even hearing her devious friend's plan.
"I'm in."
A/N: Whew! First chapter done! Sorry it was a lot of filler stuff. I am seriously IN LOVE with every one of these characters, even the truly insane ones like Kazuo and Mitsuko and the weird, creepy ones like Sho and Kazushi, so that's why I put in so much background on some of the characters. I promise next chapter will be more interesting.
Next time, we get into Shinji's head a little. The first half will be what happened between Takako and Shinji from his point of view, and the rest will delve deeper into the story.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this as much as anyone can enjoy an introduction/filler chapter. Review!