Love Is...
... taking one day at a time.
The season was spring, beautiful flower petals fluttering off tree branches and dancing in the wind, spreading their beauty all across the capital of Japan. The weather was perfect, warm, but with a gentle breeze to keep people from overheating. It was a peaceful Saturday morning in Tokyo, one of those magical days where everyone around you seemed to have a skip in their step, a smile on their face, and a merry tune in their head. Their happiness was so contagious, you couldn't help but smile on your own and spread the smiles everywhere you went. This day was the perfect day to get a good seat and watch the world around you, pondering about the people and scenery you saw, having time to think to yourself about all the wild things in the world. For the little people residing around the Arakawa district, you could call today a perfect day. A perfect day for all except one.
It wasn't a perfect day for this special little one because he had no idea how this very special day would change his whole life in the long run. In the future he would look back on this day as the first step, the fated day, but as for now in the present he thought of this day as hell. One Kagami Taiga, fourteen years old in his last year of middle school, was ruining everyone's perfect day with the clear scowl on his face. He walked down the streets, his music playing loudly out of his headphones, wearing a pair of black sweats with a red stripe running down the side along with a plain black shirt and his signature ring necklace. His blackish red hair drew attention to him and kept it there if people were lucky enough to see his split eyebrows. Any citizen would have thought he was heading for no good, no one thought he would be heading towards his weekend volunteer project.
Tamagotchi Daycare. Fifty volunteer hours. It seemed like a long time over the course of four months, it wasn't though if you started your hours as a freshman. While other students were warned about this graduating requirement and working on their hours, Kagami was out in America as a foreign exchange student having no clue what was in store for him back home. To finish his last year as a middle schooler in Japan was depressing; Kagami, being the type of person who doesn't worry and moan about things, quickly got over the stupid rule and made the best of things. Volunteering was not the best thing to do though, especially at a daycare of all things.
It had been his mother's idea once she was informed of his dilemma, completely forgetting how much her son truly loved children and forgetting to even ask for his opinion before she signed him up to volunteer. With no warning at all, literally coming out of nowhere, she sprung on him that he was volunteering at a nearby daycare to watch over and play with the children there for one month. At the end of one month it would equal fifty hours, actually a little under fifty Kagami had counted, but his mother had said they'd sign off a complete fifty on his sheet.
So here he was, standing in front of Tamagotchi Daycare for the first time ever. It looked like any other daycare, small and safe, a brick wall all around the corners with the metal gate at the entrance, the small apparatus in the corner of the school for the kids to play at during break or after daycare, cute stickers and posters decorating the glass of the school's building and door. Kagami was sure when he'd walk inside he'd find pictures of students drawings, dozens of little kids wearing name pins and matching uniforms, the smell of paint and Kagami didn't want to guess what else in the air. It was too late to walk away now though.
Taking a deep breath of fresh air for the last time in the next five hours, he made his way inside of the building and was greeted by a cheery receptionist named Kyoko Hizuri, a beautiful young Japanese women with short dyed orange hair and gold eyes. She would have been Kagami's type if it wasn't for her chest, which seemed to belong to a middle school student. She smiled brightly at him despite his mean thoughts, not being able to read them, and waited for him to take his headphones off before addressing him.
"Hello dear! You must be Kagami Taiga, right? The new volunteer?"
Kagami sighed out and nodded his head; he didn't know why but hearing her call out his name felt like things were confirmed and final. "This is Tamagotchi Daycare right?"
"Yup! Welcome to our little daycare; I'm sure you'll have fun with your one month volunteer here. I, for one, am personally glad that schools are making their students volunteer nowadays. It's going to better our community in the long run and give the kids a good sense of responsibility. Although our daycare is small, we could actually use all the help we can get so thank goodness you are here."
Speak for yourself, Kagami thought to himself as he listened halfheartedly. Being here right now, volunteering to babysit a bunch of kids that weren't going to listen to a single word he said, let alone care, was a waste of his time. Saturdays weren't meant to be working or learning, but playing and relaxing. If it wasn't for his stupid school making volunteering a requirement to graduate, Kagami wouldn't be standing here, but at a basketball court with some friends in the park shooting some hoops.
"Anyway my name is Hizuri Kyoko and it's a pleasure to meet you Kagami Taiga. I'm the receptionist here at Tamagotchi Daycare, but I have more responsibilities than just that. I guess you could say that I'm the person people come to when things go wrong so if anything ever goes wrong, you can always count on me. Now that the introductions are finished between us, I think we should start by letting your new students get to know you." Kyoko said clapping her hands together.
She talked a lot Kagami noticed. He watched as she stood up from her desk and walked over to the wall behind her, looking through a rack of clothes. Singing a little song to herself, she started searching through the clothes while Kagami's eyes scanned the room around him. When was the last time he was surrounded by kids? Or even got along with them? His memories were drawing out blanks, coming to the answer never.
"Here we are, your own little apron. It helps the kids know who's who here, so they immediately know who to go to when in trouble. If you can just put this on I'll take you to the class you'll be staying with for the next month and we can get started." Kyoko explained holding out a bright baby blue apron.
Kagami took it from her hands and placed it over his head, feeling like a fool. Blue wasn't his color. There was nothing he could complain about though as he tied it around his waist, looking down at himself. There was a large yellow flower pinned to his apron with his name, Kagami, printed neatly on it. If things weren't official before, they were now.
"Our principal thought we would make things as easy as possible for you and put you in our smallest class. Red Dragonfly-3, there's only seventeen kids in there." Kyoko started explaining as she started walking deeper into the school.
Kagami took this as his notice to follow after her, observing the shoes that laid on the floor and the backpacks all stuffed in the cubicles in the hallway. Glue and paint filled the air from the first class he passed. At the second one screaming and singing filled the rooms. So far the first two had been bad, Kagami feared what the third room might have in store for him.
"Our daycare is relatively small, we only have three classroom filled with kids so there's about fifty of them in total. That class back there was Blue Grasshopper-1, next was Green Butterfly-2, and finally your class Red Dragonfly-3. Are you ready?" Kyoko asked turning towards him.
She was slightly disappointed with the way Kagami reacted to her enthusiasm.
"Yeah," he yawned tiredly. This daycare was just that, a daycare, from twelve in the morning till five in the afternoon. All he had to do was get through five hours and then he'd be able to go home, get some rest, and forget all about this day until tomorrow.
When Kagami made it clear that he wasn't going to say anything else, Kyoko turned back to the door and knocked softly before opening it. Inside were three long desks, five students taking each desk except for one that had six. Hold on, that wasn't right. If there were three desks with five to six students each, that made sixteen. Kyoko told him the class was filled with seventeen kids though, was one of them absent? Kagami scanned the room as he walked in, the kids once singing the alphabet going silent at the new people entering their class. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen Kagami counted noticing this small, frail looking little boy sitting in the back of the room. The last desk had seven students, not six. How was Kagami not able to see him before?
"Good morning everyone! Sorry to interrupt you class Mira, I've brought your new assistance though." Kyoko giggled lightly.
Now Mira was more of Kagami's type, a huge rack with bright green eyes and soft auburn hair. She must have been a foreigner, she didn't look like a Japanese citizen though she sounded completely fluent in it as she responded back.
"Hello Kyoko, it's no bother at all. Class, why don't we all give a warm hello to Kyoko-sensei!"
"Hel-lo Ky-o-ko-sen-sei!" The class repeated sounding out each and every syllable.
"Hello to you too everyone! I hope you all are having a good day with Mira-sensei! Today I have brought someone very special that I'd like you all to meet. He's new to this daycare and is going to be helping Mira-sensei take care of each and everyone of you for the next month." Kyoko explained like it was a big secret.
These women must really love their job, Kagami thought before coming back to reality when Kyoko was motioning for him to come over. With a sigh, Kagami walked to the middle of the class right in front of all the little kids. He heard things like, "he's freakishly tall" and "he looks mean" and of course, "what's wrong with his eyebrows?" A vein started pulsing out of his head as he forced a smile, which scared the little kids.
"Would you like to introduce yourself?" Kyoko asked.
Was he really given a choice? Kagami cleared his throat as his voice rang deep and strong.
"My name is Kagami Taiga, you can call me Kagami-sensei. Pleased to meet you."
He was given three seconds of silence before, "HI KAGAMI-SENSEI!" The class cheered.
"Your new volunteer." Kagami heard Kyoko whispering to Mirajane Tachibana, teacher of Red Dragonfly-3, as the class continued to cheer and go wild.
"That's wonderful news! Thanks Kyoko, I think I have things from here." Mira whispered back.
Kyoko gave a small wink to Mira before waving goodbye to the class as she left. Kagami was left standing in front of sixteen students dressed from head to toe in bright baby blue coats, the same color as his apron, a yellow rain coat looking hat on and a yellow flower pinned to their chest, all their eyes just staring at him as he stared back wondering what he was supposed to be doing now. Luckily Mira came in at that moment and placed her hand on his shoulder, giving him a small smile.
"Welcome to Red Dragonfly-3 Kagami. We all are happy to have you join our class, despite the rumors. Don't believe them, we're actually a good class." She whispered the last part.
Kagami raised an eyebrow as he smirked a little bit. Mira winked at him before calling the attention of her students.
"Alright class let's settle down! How about we all introduce ourselves to our new friend Kagami-sensei?!"
The classroom seemed to love that and one by one kids stood up from their tables and introduced themselves to him, their name, and what they liked. It was a long and endless procedure, no way he was going to remember the lot of them on the first day and was grateful for the name tags. Two kids stood out in the classroom though, well actually seven of them did. For some reason on table three there were seven students separated from the rest of the classroom, their bright colored hair sitting away from the normal brown, black, and between hair colors. The two students that stood out the most to him was sitting at that rainbow colored table, the both of them with blue hair, one brighter and one darker blue than the other. When introducing themselves Kagami didn't pay attention one bit, his ears twitched though when he heard the fatal words basketball. Out of the whole class those two kids were the only ones who introduced themselves as loving basketball, one girl saying she loved a kid from this classroom.
"Very good everyone! Give yourself a round of applause!" Mira clapped.
The kids clapped with her and Kagami got the feeling this was how class was going to be. Questions, answers, then praises.
"Now let's continue our lesson for today and finish singing our ABC's. You can go ahead and sit in the corner desk over there Kagami and relax. Break is about to start soon and I'll explain your duty then."
Kagami nodded and walked over to the corner desk, sitting down. He had a strange feeling this was the punishment seat that kids were sent to when they disobeyed seeing as how it was separated from the rest of the class. He sat there bored for ten minutes, watching the kids sing their ABC's then numbers with a dull expression on his face. Several times he thought about putting his headphones back on and listening to music and when he finally decided to, a bell ringing echoed though the classroom. Without warning all the children ran outside of the room, leaving Mira behind to scream, "NO RUNNING IN THE HALLS!" behind them.
She sighed out and fixed her hair, combing her hands through it, before she started cleaning up the mess her class had made. Kagami took this as his cue to help and placed his headphones back in his bag, picking up crayons and papers and neatly stacking them back on the desks.
"Oh Kagami, thanks but there is no need to. I have a handle on this, years of experience," she made a little joke with him, "why don't you go outside and watch over the kids? Volunteers have the easiest job at daycare, all they have to do is play with the kids and make sure they don't injure themselves. I won't be working you to the bone too hard now, go ahead and have some fun outside with the class. Have you ever watched or babysat before?" Mira asked.
"Can't say I have sensei." Kagami answered standing up straight.
"Well it's pretty simple, you look like a fast learner. Just make sure no kid eats dirt or sand or gets hurt and started bleeding or starts a fight, things like those. You want to have a look out for Akashi and Murasakibara, they seem to always be butting heads. Everyone else seems to get along though... well..." Mira let the sentence off as she thought back to the little squabbles in her classroom.
Kagami nodded simply, not knowing who she was talking about. Without waiting for her to finish her sentence, he simply left the classroom and followed the sound of kids screaming to the playground outside. His students blended in with the other classes, everyone wearing the same uniform and all, so Kagami guessed that meant he was supposed to keep an eye out for all of them. He found a nice little seat for him on a bench that showed the whole playground and sat down, scanning over the obnoxious little bunches of children with so much energy. Kagami started to get tired just looking at them.
Out of all the happy kids running and playing around, one seemed to be playing by himself. Kagami wouldn't have even noticed him if it wasn't for the basketball in his hands, at first he thought the basketball was floating on its own. His eyes were playing tricks on him though and when he blinked, he spotted the little frail boy, baby blue hair brighter than the the uniform he had on, peeking out of his yellow hat as he bounced a basketball all to himself. Kagami just continued to stare at him.
...
...
Why weren't the other kids playing with him? Was there something wrong with the boy? Kagami's job wasn't to interfere when kids were alone... yes it was. His job was to watch and play, and since that boy over there was alone, that meant Kagami had to go over and play with him. Hating his logic, Kagami stood up from his nice seat in the shade and started walking over to the ghost boy; ghost boy because he seemed to disappear if Kagami didn't pay a close enough eye on him.
Kuroko Tetsuya thought that something was blocking the sun when a shadow laid over him. When he looked up though, he saw that it was just his new sensei glaring down at him. From where he sat in the back seat this new sensei didn't look so big, now being so up close to him though he was a giant. A giant with the ability to block out the sun and an ugly face.
"Why aren't you playing with the other kids?"
With an ugly voice to match. Kuroko would have been afraid of him, any kid would be with eyebrows like that, strangely though he wasn't. He started at Kagami like any other person and blinked softly, shrugging to answer his question.
"What? You don't get along with them? What's your name?" Kagami asked squinting his eyes to read the chicken scratch on the little boy's name tag.
Kuroko blinked again, "Kuroko Tetsuya."
Kuroko? He was one of the kids who introduced himself as liking basketball. Duh, he was holding a basketball right now. Kagami scratched the back of his head, feeling strangely awkward as Kuroko just stared up at him emotionless.
"Well Kuroko, why aren't you playing?" He asked.
Kuroko looked down at the basketball in his hands and started dribbling.
"I am playing." He answered simply.
A vein started sticking out of Kagami's head, "I meant with the other kids i-" he quickly shut his mouth close.
"Tetsuya! Get over here!"
Kuroko looked up at the sound of his name and started walking off without a second glance at his new sensei. Idiot, Kagami thought watching him leave. Worrying for nothing when the kid obviously had friends with the big group that was calling him over. It was the same children from his table, the rainbow haired kids. Kagami was going to turn away once Kuroko made it to his group of friends, Kuroko suddenly stopped walking though and turned back around.
"Thank you sensei." He bowed lightly before walking off again.
Kagami blinked before snorting, "I didn't do anything."
The day continued on, Kagami doing an excellent job on his first day of volunteering. Mira was right when she called him a fast learner and praised him for his good work. Kagami barely did anything though, at least nothing special he thought. Just watched a bunch of kids play and embarrass himself in front of others. Finally daycare ended at five and as much as Kagami would have liked to join the group of screaming children running out of the doors, hell he'd want to lead them out, he stayed behind just in case Mira needed anything more from him.
"So how did you like your first day Kagami?" She asked.
"Not as bad as I expected it to be." Kagami answered truthfully.
No one threw a tantrum or threw up on him or even peed on him, in Kagami's book that was a good day.
"That's good, thanks for staying behind but there was no need. I'm pretty sure I can handle clean up duty on my own, normally you can leave with the other kids when daycare is over but some days I'll ask you to stay behind with clean-up. You're good for today though Kagami so have a nice one. You can leave the apron on the front desk for Kyoko, she'll be watching the kids in the front but she'll put it away for you. I hope my students didn't scare you away from coming tomorrow." Mira teased.
Kagami only heard half of the words she said as he reached for his bag and started heading towards the door. "Thanks Mira-sensei, see you tomorrow." He bowed politely before leaving.
Kyoko wasn't at the front desk just like Mira said, so Kagami followed her instructions and left his apron folded up nicely on her desk. He walked out of the daycare and saw the entrance swarmed with parents trying to find their kids. It would be a massacre if he tried to make his exit through that crowd. He'd have to wait the crowd out unless he'd want to jump over the fence, which wouldn't be a appropriate thing to do in front of all these kids. Instead he sat down on the bench and placed his headphones on, turning his music all the way up to drown out the happy and sad cries of the kids around him.
Music made everything go away, except for colors. Kagami blinked as he spotted... Kuroko, yeah Kuroko sitting on a swing with a basketball in his lap. Surrounding him was six other children, their hair colors of red, blue, green, yellow, pink, and purple all showing freely since they took of their hats. Kuroko for some reason still had his own and was slowly talking. The total of seven kids were away from the rest of the students and parents and Kagami looked around, wondering where their parents could be. He remembered he was off duty though and leaned back down, the crowd finally thinning after one of his songs.
Without a single look back, Kagami started heading home to get an early start on next weeks homework and, if he was able to finish it all, squeeze in some practice with some hoops.
And what did he think of this day?
Saturday.