Dawn of the Lotus Knight
暁のロータスナイト
Day 1
Kaito sighed as a cool light breeze caressed his face. The cherry blossom trees swayed in the breeze, causing their petals to fall slowly, as a pink snow, to the ground. It was mid-spring, but all of the scenery and pleasant weather couldn't calm his nervous heart. It was his first day in high school, though other students had started weeks before. He couldn't help but stare in awe at the other students walking to school, some in couples or groups, some of them still with a half-eaten slice of bread or rice ball in their hands, as he imagined them going back home at the end of a normal day of school to a normal loving family, in a normal comfortable house, living a normal comfortable life. Those were things he would never have; at the very least, not a normal loving family. After all, he had run away from home just a month ago; not that he regretted it.
Up until a month ago, Sugihara Kaito lived in a hidden village in the mountains north of Kyoto City, where he was the third child of the village chief. He hated living there. He, like the others in the village, was raised in the old ways of the samurai, the once proud class of aristocratic warriors who served the lords of their lands. Though the days of the shogunate were long gone, and samurai were no longer needed and even outlawed, this village clung to its honor and traditions. Only certain members of the Kyoto Mayoral office, including the mayor himself, were privy to its existence, as the samurai claimed to serve the interests of the Kyoto local government. For that reason, many villagers found themselves with ties to the local police force, and even acted as covert ops or something of a local militia. As son of the chief however, Kaito was raised in a strict environment, following very strict rules and facing rigorous training every day of his life. He was not allowed much time to play with friends, which led to not having any. He was either training in the martial arts, or in literacy and diplomacy. And roughly a month ago, Kaito had finally had enough and put his foot down. He took his swords, packed his clothes, and left with secret aid from his elder sister Kanna, who lived in Kyoto rather than in the village itself. This was allowed her begrudgingly, and it perfectly facilitated Kaito's escape. He lived with her in secret, and in that time discovered the joys of manga, video games, and anime. Before long, he became a complete otaku, and for the first time, he discovered the feeling of happiness. He could never go back. He would never go back. No more would he be subject to the hard and abusive education that he'd lived under. No more would he live in isolation, with the expectation of success at all cost and failure meaning hara-kiri. Today he truly began his new life; a normal life, in a normal high-school.
Before long, he stood before the gate of the school: a large, white, three floored main building as well as a large gym/auditorium, track, and pool in the back. He got to his locker, and changed from his outdoor shoes to his indoor ones. Almost immediately, he heard a voice behind him.
"Excuse me!" The voice said.
Kaito turned around. Before him stood a girl of his age with large brown eyes and long auburn hair tied back in twin ponytails. She wore the school's purple winter uniform, with its longer skirt and jumper, but neither succeeded in hiding a moderately sizable pair of breasts or luscious thighs. Kaito tore his mind away from that. He couldn't afford to allow himself to misbehave in any way. He needed to make a good first impression.
"Y-yes?" Kaito blurted.
"Um… You're Sugihara san, right? The new transfer student?" she asked.
"Yes," he replied, "I am."
"Oh, good." The girl said, "The headmaster is looking for you."
She studied him for a moment.
"Oh right, my name is Kobayashi Otome. Nice to meet you. I really hope we can be good friends! None of my friends from middle school came here, and I haven't made many friends yet, so I hope we get along!"
"Uh… that is… um... nice to meet you too…" Kaito stammered. "Wait, Kobayashi San, you said the head master wanted to talk?"
"Oh, yeah!" She remembered. "Come with me. I'll take you to his office."
The two walked up the stairs to the third floor, and walked halfway down the hall, to a sliding wooden door with a brass placard that read "Headmaster's Office". Otome knocked on the door.
"Come in." said a voice from inside.
Otome slid the door open.
"Headmaster, I brought you Sugihara san like you asked." Otome said.
"Thank you, Kobayashi San." The headmaster said. "Please feel free to go to class. Sugihara San and I need to have a quick word."
"Okay. See you later, Sugihara san!" She said, sliding the door shut behind her.
"I'm glad you found your way here." The headmaster said. "Not many remember so perfectly after only visiting once."
The headmaster was a young man, perhaps only now entering his thirties. Kaito had been introduced to the headmaster by his elder sister. She and the headmaster had recently gotten engaged, much to Kaito's surprise. He was surprised that his father had allowed it at all. He thought that his father would have ordered his sister back to the village, or at worst, dragged her back by force.
"Reaching the school was easy." Kaito said. "After all, Kanna-nee and I don't live too far away."
"I suppose that is true." The headmaster said. "Well, given your upbringing, I assume you know well enough not to get into trouble, so I'll just leave you to enjoy your classes."
"My upbringing?" Kaito asked.
"Your sister hasn't told you?" The headmaster asked. "I used to live in the village too. I know your circumstances full well."
"O-oh." Kaito said.
Someone else from the village knew who and where he was, and this worried him. He might be exposed, and if that happened, he would be executed.
"Oh, don't worry." The headmaster said, raising his hand. "I can sympathize with your situation, and it also wouldn't be very good for me or your sister if I told anyone. Besides, I wouldn't be a very good headmaster if I didn't do my utmost to protect my students."
Kaito breathed a sigh of relief.
"In any case, I'd much rather help you than follow some old fashioned rules made up by a bunch of old windbags." the headmaster said. "Besides, I've come to think of you as my own brother. Family should stick together, no?"
What exactly are you trying to say? Kaito thought.
"Um... yeah, I suppose." he responded.
"Now, with regards to your academic life, there are plenty of good people here so I'm sure you'll make plenty of friends. The teachers here are among the best in Kyoto, so as long as you show determination and interest, you'll be able to succeed. So like I said, enjoy your classes, Sugihara san." The headmaster said.
"Thank you, headmaster." Kaito bowed and turned to leave.
"Oh, and Sugihara san," the headmaster said, "meet me in the gym after school. There's a special academic program here that I would like to introduce to you."
"Yes, headmaster." Kaito said, and left the office.
Kaito met his homeroom teacher outside of his classroom on the first floor just moments later.
"Hello." She said. "I am Izumo Hide. I'll be your homeroom teacher."
"Nice to meet you, Izumo Sensei." He bowed slightly.
"Please, no need to bow just yet." She said. "You don't need to be overly formal here, despite what customs demand."
"Understood, sensei." Kaito said.
She opened the sliding door to the classroom. Classroom 1-B, Kaito noted.
"Stand." Said a voice from inside. The class stood.
"Bow." The voice added. The class bowed.
"Good morning, class." Izumo sensei said.
"Good morning." The class replied.
"Today, we are receiving a new transfer student." She said, signaling for Kaito to enter the classroom, which he did.
"Please introduce yourself." Izumo sensei said.
"Hello. My name is Sugihara Kaito. I am new in town, so I'll be in your care. I hope we get along."
"Sugihara kun!" cried a voice in the back.
All eyes turned to the back, where Otome stood at her desk, waving her hand.
"We're in the same class, Sugihara kun!" she laughed.
"K-Kobayashi san!?" Kaito exclaimed.
"You two already know one another?" Izumo Sensei asked.
"N-no, not quite. She showed me to the headmaster's office earlier." Kaito said.
"I see." Izumo Sensei said. "In that case, you can go sit at the desk next to hers."
Izumo Sensei pointed to a desk in the fourth of six rows, next to the window. Kaito went and took a seat.
"Hey, hey, Sugihara kun," Otome whispered.
When did we get close enough for kun rather than san? Kaito wondered.
"Yeah?" he whispered back.
"I'm really happy we're in the same class." She grinned brightly.
Kaito couldn't help but blush slightly. Classes proceeded normally, with an occasional whispered question from Otome, until the bell rang for lunch.
"Hey, hey, Sugihara kun!" Otome sprang up from her desk. "Let's eat lunch together!"
Kaito could feel many of the other boys in his class glaring daggers at him.
"Uh… sure." He said, hesitantly, slowly rising from his seat. "I forgot to bring lunch with me, though."
"That's perfect." Said a voice from two rows up. "I can show you to the cafeteria while giving you a tour of the school."
A girl slightly shorter than Otome with shoulder length light blue hair and golden eyes walked up to them. Her face was expressionless, and she spoke in clear monotone. Classic case Kuudere… he thought. Kaito couldn't help but notice her very apparent flatness. Stop it, he told himself, thoughts like that are immoral and gross.
"Shiina chan!" Otome smiled.
"I am Yokota Shiina, the class representative." She said. "Since you are new here, it would be best if I gave you a tour."
She tugged at his sleeve, and Kaito could swear he felt the bloodlust in the room rise.
"Um, sure, Yokota san." Kaito said. "Lead the way."
"I'm coming too!" Otome said, jumping onto Kaito's back in a sudden hug.
Kaito now had no doubt that the boys in the class were ready to pounce.
"O-okay! Let's go." He rushed. "Kobayashi san, please get off me so I can walk."
The three left the classroom and walked down the hallway to the cafeteria, which was beginning to form a crowd around the booth selling yakisoba hot-dogs. Shiina slipped through the crowd and emerged a minute later with two hot-dogs. She handed one to Kaito.
"Oh, thank you." He said, reaching into his pockets. "Let me repay you."
"No need." She said. "This one's on me."
She then grabbed his sleeve and pulled him along, pointing out the home-ec classroom, the biology lab, the physics lab, the computer lab, and up on the second floor were the library and nurse's office. On the third floor were the faculty office and adjacent Headmaster's office, which Kaito already knew about. Then, the three climbed another set of steps to a locked door.
"What are we doing here?" Kaito asked.
"I want to show you where I go during lunch sometimes." Shiina said, and wretched the doorknob back and forth, in a pattern: left, left, right, left, right, right, left. Then, the door opened.
"Did you just break the lock?" Kaito asked nervously.
"I put in the combination to open the lock without the key." Shiina said flatly. "I discovered it myself."
"You broke the lock…" Kaito said in disbelief.
"No." Shiina insisted, beginning to blush. "I just took advantage of an already faulty lock."
"Yokota san," Kaito said, rising slightly to meet her and narrowing his eyes, "you wouldn't happen to know how the lock became faulty, right?"
Shiina's blush deepened and she shifted uncomfortably.
"I thought so." Kaito said, with a sigh. "Well, since we're here, we might as well sit up on the rooftop."
The three sat down against the wall and ate. Otome began bombarding Kaito with questions.
"What's your favorite color?" She asked.
"Red." He said.
"Do you have any pets?" she asked.
"No." he replied.
"What's your favorite food?" she asked.
"Takoyaki barbeque." He said.
"What are your hobbies?" she asked.
"Video games, reading and drawing manga, and kendo." He said, though he didn't mention why he did kendo.
"Are there any girls that you like?" she asked, eyes narrowed seductively.
He gulped.
"N-next question!" he responded.
"Do you like large or small boobs?" Shiina asked.
"Huh?" Kaito asked, caught off guard.
"What kind of panties do you like?" Shiina asked.
"WHAT ARE THESE QUESTIONS!?" Kaito demanded, embarrassed.
After a few more minutes of sitting, eating, and talking, the bell rang for lunch to end. Classes resumed as normal until the bell rang for the school day to end.
"Hey, hey, Sugihara kun!" Otome turned to him.
"Yeah? What is it, Kobayashi san?" He replied.
"Are you going to be walking home?" she asked.
"Um… yeah." He said. "Actually, now that you mention it, I'm in kind of a rush, so I'll see you tomorrow."
"Oh, ok." Otome said, as Kaito hurried out of the class. He walked briskly down to his locker, changed back into his outdoor shoes, and then walked around to the back of the building and into the gym. Inside stood the headmaster, students from all three grades, and to Kaito's great surprise, his older sister Kanna.
"Eeeehh!?" He exclaimed, and all heads turned to look at him, as he seemed to be bracing some invisible wall behind him. "K-Kanna nee!? Why are you here!?"
"Oh, Kai kun." She smiled in her normal semi-seductive manner. "So you're here too? I thought you wanted to live an uneventful life."
"T-the headmaster told me to come here for some program." Kaito said, closing the door.
"Oh? Kousuke, what are you planning to do with my little brother?" She placed her hand on her hip and turned to look at the headmaster.
He simply played coy and shrugged.
"I don't know what you mean, darling." He grinned, hands raised in a cartoonish shrug. "I simply suggested that he might want to see what happens here after hours."
Suddenly, the door behind Kaito burst open, throwing him forward onto the ground.
"Sorry I'm late!" Otome shouted, and then she looked down and noticed Kaito looking back up at her.
"EEEEEEEHHHHH!?" they both shouted.
"Y-YOU SAID YOU WERE IN A RUSH TO GET HOME!" she yelled.
"I DIDN'T THINK YOU WOULD BE HERE! THE HEADMASTER CALLED ME HERE! I THOUGHT IT WAS KIND OF A SECRET!" he replied.
"WHY WOULD YOU EVEN KEEP A SECRET LIKE THIS FROM ME!?" she shouted.
"WE ONLY JUST MET TODAY, GIVE ME A BREAK!" he argued.
"BOTH OF YOU, SHUT UP!" Kanna shouted.
"Yes Ma'am!" They both shouted, suddenly falling into line and standing at attention.
"We're still waiting on one more." The headmaster said.
Just then, the door opened a third time, but this time slowly.
"Um, h-h-hello?" A girl poked her head into the room from behind the door. "I-i-is t-this where I-I'm supposed to be?"
"Ah, yes, please come in." the headmaster said. "Now that everyone's here, I would like all of our new members to introduce themselves."
Kaito, Otome, and the third girl stepped forward, as well as two other first years, and each introduced him or herself.
"Kobayashi Otome." Said Otome
"I-Iida Y-Yuukina…" mumbled the other girl.
"Saiyonji Asuna." Said a third girl with a challenging smirk.
"Hanao Chise." Said a fourth girl.
Am I the only boy in my age group this year? Kaito wondered.
"Sugihara Kaito." He said, wrapping introductions up.
"Good." The headmaster said. "Now that everyone has introduced themselves, let me officially welcome everyone to the Lotus Clan's "Youth Training Camp"."