Chapter One

You run with all the might in your body. It was 7:45AM and you only had fifteen minutes left before school started. You forget how many paths you've taken but your still not at the right place. Letting yourself take a breather you stop and lean over wrapping your arms around your sides. You managed to get stitches in your stomach. You pull your hair away from your face to get a better view of your surroundings " I- I could have sworn it was". You smile.

There it was.

Seishun Academy, in all its wondrous glory. You look at your watch hanging from your duffel bag. "Ah! Only seven more minutes!? And I still have a block left to run!" It's now 7:55Am. You push the front entrance doors open thanking your lucky stars that you took a tour inside the school before you attended any classes. You run up the stairs eyeing the clock on the wall

7:57Am. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, please don't let me late, not for my first day!" you pray loudly

You look down the hall and see your teacher grasping the metal clench on the sliding door. You run, praying that she can see you, she doesn't. The door was sliding closed, 7:59Am.

Everything stopped.

You open your eyes only to witness everyone's attention was devoted to you. You don't understand how you managed to squeeze your frame through the door but, there you were; back planted against the wall. Your heart was beating so fast and your breathing was heavy from all the running, you felt like fainting. The class looked at you in awe. It was obvious that you were not Japanese. You are much taller than the average girl. You had a thin hourglass figure not common in Japanese woman, eye's round and skin warm and olive. It was easily noticeable that you weren't from around here. Your face flushed in many shades of pink, you tried speaking but no sound came out. You bowed down forcing your thick train of hair to swoop over your head, which occasionally happened because of its long length. You rush out all the words at once in sloppy Japanese "I-..I'm…I-I'm s-so s-sorry f-for being late; I'm very s-sorry."

Your teacher looks up at you her brows furrowed quizzically looking for a way to respond to you. "You most certainly woke us all up this morning. Um…would you like to introduce yourself to the class….Miss?" she tried to sound out your name in English but struggled.

" It's _"

Your new teacher shot you a smile " May we all be respectful to _ and listen to her introduction class. Okay _ you can start. "

You give another fast bow " H-hello my name is _, I lived in Canada most of my life but because I am now in Tokyo you may call me Yume Emi. A-although I am still very clumsy I-I hope you can all regard me kindly." You shot your class a warm smile and your third bow.

"Well Yume, I am your English teacher Miss. Yui. I am very happy to have you in my class; can the students ask you questions or would you like to sit down?"

Your uneasiness was surly detected. But you felt it would be rude to your class to ignore them. "I- ah o-of course." You say timidly with scattered shades of pink on your cheeks.

A girl raised her hand immediately and stood up beside her desk "have you always had such a thick accent?"

You grazed your lips with your hand "I-I have an accent!?"

Some of the people laughed and your cheeks grew red. "Class settle down, Yume don't worry you have an adorable accent, there is no need to worry."

You nod as the other peers raise their hands. Until a boy stood up "Are all Canadians as tall as you?"

You shake your head feeling pressured by each question. "n-no….im just taller than most" you admit quietly.

"That's enough questions for now" Miss yui laughs sheepishly feeling the class would not stop with the most obvious of questions about you. "You are in luck today, we have a test, so will you take an empty spot beside….." she looked around the room "ah! Beside kaidoh karou" she points to the spot. The boy raises his hand for you. Until you sit in the empty seat beside him. On top of the desk was a four paged booklet "When you finish, I expect your booklets at my desk and then you may leave. Ready?...start!" The sound of pencils and papers being flipped filled the silent room. You examined the first page looking at each question carefully. You furrow your brow, the test questions were completely different compared to the ones you had back in Canada. The test asked you to write a sentence in English. You felt extremely confident in yourself, you couldn't help but wear a smile on your face while writing everything down. You look around anxiously. You were the first person to finish, not something that happened a lot. You walk pass the rows of people to Miss yui's desk feeling rather stereotypical. Your teacher chuckles in a hushed tone " I guess it was to be expected that you would finish first EH?"

You smile sheepishly at her witty joke " Heh he he, t-thank you."

" Well your free to go, can I ask you to come back at the end of the day? I want to ask you a favour."

You nod too fast " of- of c-course." You say waving away- curious as to what her favour may be.

You look both ways into an unfamiliar deserted hallway. It was a really big school with lots of rooms, it made it difficult to choose where you want to look next. You walk down a set of stairs to the main floor. You see that the school was very passionate about Tennis, Ryuzaki warned you about some of the devoted tennis fans or players, she mentioned coaching a team but never went into much details and you didn't want to pry. You streamed the endless ribbons and trophy's that stood behind the caged glassed in windows earned by players who competed. You were in such a deep Trance of thought that you didn't take notice if anyone was in front of you until it was too late. You feel a warm presence greeting your face. You blink several times; both your pupils and eyes widen at the boy whose chest you planted your face on. He looked down at you. He was the tallest person you met since you moved here, he had short black spiky hair and wore rectangular glasses that suited the shape of his jaw perfectly and your face radiated heat by staring at him. He was very handsome, although it was difficult to make out the details in his face, but it was visible.

You take a step back and bow repeatedly at him "I'm-I'm really, really s-so s-sorry!" you say hiding your face away running quickly from the embarrassing scene, leaving the boy to reminisce everything that happened.

His lips form into a smile. " Well this might play out interesting…" he noted it into his notepad and carried on with his day casually.

"Ah…" you sigh relieved. You lay in the grass "…oh I'm so embarrassed with myself today! Out of all the days to be so clumsy it would be today" you sigh covering your face with your hands.

You sit up minding your surroundings. You were in a garden with many flowers, it smelt fresh and the whispers of leaves and petals chimed in the wind as petals fluttered and whirled around your body. "This is so beautiful…" you say awed in amazement. You walked into the field of secrecy, or so it felt like your secret garden although you assume many people have been here before you. Large flower bushes such as purple lilacs made a canopy over your head closing you inside; there it is the centre of it all. A large willow tree standing tall right in the middle of many flowers and grass, everything looked so soft and fragile. You sit under the tree where the sunlight hit perfectly giving the tree a balance of shade and light, it was so funny it made your worries dissipate immediately. "This will be my go- to spot." You add with a jubilant smile.

Minutes pass and you get up to keep scoping your new school. You have never seen a school so large such as this one nor have you ever attended one, it was very thrilling to have the opportunity take a range of school activities and classes not to mention the garden being a major bonus. It was all so surreal, here you were after months and months of effort and hard work, you made it.

You finally made it to the place she promised…

A large empty tennis court catches your eye; truthfully it was what you saw in the tennis court that really caught your attention. Your eyes widen, you wonder slowly past the metal gates walking nearer to the unattained tennis ball. You pick it up into your hands cupping the green course ball. You could tell right away just by its touch that it is used a lot since it felt rougher and had a darker hue to it. The ball was initialled K,K and had a bunch of small red drawings of snakes all over the ball.

"Heh, he, he…how cute." You giggle tossing the ball in the air. Your smile disappears quickly when you hear chuckles. You turn your body around to see two boys laughing at you. How long were they watching you for? You jog out of the courts beat red and embarrassed. " I-if I keep getting caught like this people might think I'm strange." You run back inside the school checking your duffel bag pockets for your watch. Your next class was about to start soon. Walking down the hallway was unsettling for you. You get lots of attention from everyone, you hear some people gossip about your height or where you are from and how you were definitely not Japanese. It is understandable for people to be curious about a foreigner in their school especially because of how physically different you look but it made you feel uncomfortable how they gawked at you, it made you feel rather lonely. It will be difficult to make friends since it seems like no one really wants to talk to you.

"AH!" your eyes went large " I-I-I stole someone's tennis ball!" you stare at the ball you forgot to leave behind when you ran off. The bell at school sang. You look down at the tennis ball again and back at the hallway. " S-should I return it?" you stare intensely at the ball and sigh heavily sticking the stolen tennis ball into your duffel bag. "I'm sorry K-K Sama" you whisper to yourself before heading off to your next class.

Each teacher made you introduce yourself to the large crowd you call your peers. Feeling more awkward as they stared or whispered about you. Most of you classmates in almost every class asked something that only unsettled your nerves. You would listen to them talking about tennis, crushes on the players or when there next game was. But you were glad that it was almost over. You can now go to your tiny home and relax, feel like you again….once you talk to your teacher. You are curious why though? There could be a few reasons why but you don't really want to think about that right now- hopefully it isn't brought up, but there is a possibility it could be. You knock on the door.

"Come in!" Her voice chirped threw. You steadily walk inside and she beams at you " Ah! Yume I'm glad you didn't forget to join us!"

You blink a few times before answering "...Us?"

The door swung open revealing a tall boy, the boy you sit next to in class to be exact. You peeked at him, he was good looking, black shaggy hair, he was taller then you by a good few more inches, was surely active because his arms are toned. He wore a scowl and passed by you sitting on his desk table. How could he be the same age as you? He looked like he could be in college.

" So I am sure you are both wondering why I kept you hear?" She leaned herself onto her desk.

You try to look at the boy but he was staring at you first, he blushed a tiny shade of pink when you caught him and made a hissing sound. It was peculiar that the two of you were needed at this time, your teacher wasn't rushing to tell either of you what was happening and it made you feel un-easy.

"So" she started " I have been keeping a close watch over you Kaidoh in the past few weeks because I have noticed your tests and homework keep slipping And I think it is because you don't understand how English works. " Miss. Yui pauses and looks at you with a smile "I asked you here today to see if you can help tutor Kaidoh because..." Her face becomes still "...If his grades don't go up then he won't be able to participate in his club activities."

Your classmate Kaidohs face dropped, this club was obviously important enough to him for his once stern scowl to transform into a very dull expression. He looked at you, his dark black eye's. You studied his face carefully, he seemed tough but in the corners of his eyes you saw something, was it water? He was reacting to his teacher's threats seriously.

You feel really sympathetic with him, something about him seemed very soft, maybe it was the setting sun outside, or it was because you could really feel his pain. " I-I don't mind at all! I-I want to help, anyway I can, I want to help you!" You almost lost your breath, his and your face were red. "s-s-s-s-s-sorry! T-that came out wrong! AH! –no- I mean, I said –I mean, I meant what I said but" your blush went redder and all the words caught themselves in your throat.

Miss. Yui laughs at your scene and pats your back comforting you. "I'm really glad you are so willing to help out your peers Yume. Who knows maybe after some time the two of you will be friends!"

Kaidoh and you leave the school together, he walks faster than you. You watch his silhouette walking ahead. You reach out your hand out to him "K-kaidoh…..san." you whisper about to say something more but quickly stop yourself from doing something embarrassing.

But he heard you

He stands there waiting for you. Staring down at you, you realize he really Was taller then you. You both blush a pretty shade of pink and quickly look away from each other. You hesitantly try to look back at him, he slowly creeps down at you again too. "Ah…I'm, I'm s-sorry for t-troubling you, I just, just wanted to tell you that..um.."

He stares down at you with a serious stern on his face, he waits for an answer but you lost your words again, it was difficult to say a proper sentence with someone as good looking and mysterious as him intimidating you with his cool act. You bite your lip and stare at the ground. How do you ask someone a question like that? You don't want to sound childish yet you don't want to miss such an opportunity.

" May-maybe…we can…be friends…like said…." Your face felt hot. You look up at him, his face was turned to the side with a small tint of pink scatters on his cheek. Regretting what you said you stutter back " I'm-I'm really, really sorry. I- that, was- was silly, I'm sorry f-for making you uncomfortable, I-I really am!"-

He raises his hand for you to stop. He swiftly put on a green bandanna and hissed at you "you say sorry too much"

Your eyes get bigger and stared blankly at the boy in front of you "P-pardon?" You ask with a squeaky voice but get no reply. You become flustered again. You must be annoying him with all this nonsense you speak of. His sharp and edgy voice interrupts your spaced out expression.

"Lunch…on Monday..."

"P-pardon?" you repeat sounding like a ditz.

"We can meet up at Lunch, next Monday" he sighed calmly.

"R-Really!?" Your eyes light up in awe and a smile plasters on your face. "I'm, I'm so happy. Y-your my first friend in Tokyo!"

You took kaidoh off guard by your comment and he blushed madly straining his brows " I didn't say we were friends!" he raised his voice flustered by the situation he got himself into.

But you didn't hear his comment you were in such a high to have a new friends that your shy stutters immediately stopped " Can I make you a Bento for lunch on Monday! It will be our tradition!"

He yells again "I don't want you to make me a lunch!"

But you were too happy to realize his profile. "Would you like your egg fried or boiled with hollandaise sauce?"

His ears perked as you mentioned the hollandaise sauce, a sauce he enjoyed. "Do what you want" he replies walking away in defeated.

"O-Okay!" you smile happily " Bento Monday, I promise!" you hold your pinky up and wave " See you at class Monday!"

He turned back to look at you again, his shoulders shrugged back. "Yume…."

You stooped to look where he was

"…Thanks"