Disclaimer (Dis also a claimer): Characters and the cannon plot in this fanfiction belongs to Furudate Haruichi. All OCs, other information, or events (that are not cannon) belong to this fanfiction's authors and are entirely fictional. Any potential similarity to any persons or information that have existed or is currently existing is purely coincidental. This disclaimer applies to every chapter in this story.
Chapter 1: The Early Stages
A young woman in her early thirties approached a hospital bed, a bundle of baby blue blankets held firmly, yet gently in her arms. Another younger woman lay on the aforementioned bed with another swath of white cloth in her arms as well. The two ladies peered down, cooing at the sight of the infant girl in the younger woman's arms. Suddenly an arm shot up from the blue heap, and the other infant in the room tried to crawl out of his mother's arms to take a look at what stole away the attention that he felt was rightfully his, and his alone.
"Aaaaww!" cried Mrs. Oikawa as she carried her son towards the other infant. "Tooru's excited to see her as well!"
"Tooru, this is your new friend Hiroko" Mrs. Takenaka introduced the curious boy to her first-born, all the while giggling at her friend's antics.
Little Hiroko then blinked up at Tooru as he tugged on the her ear, a faint look of irritation on his face and she smiled back up at him. The mothers didn't notice this slight exchange however as they began to talk animatedly about random topics.
Hiroko grew up in a slightly strict but nevertheless jovial and warm household. Next door, lived the Iwaizumis and across the street to the far right of the block lived the Oikawas. As a first-born a lot was expected of her so it wasn't very surprising when she began to learn to play the piano at the age of two and began to figure skate the year after.
"Takenaka-san!" called Iwaizumi from across the park where Hiroko's ten-old self was gliding across the ice surface of the frozen pond. She figured when she was younger that ice skating was a good way to pass time whenever she needed to sort through her thoughts. Hiroko glanced at his figure noting the annoyed expression on his companions face.
"Hajime-kun! Tooru-kun!" Hiroko yelled, making a turn and skating towards them. "I told you to call me Hiroko already," she whined as she skidded to halt before them. She took her bag that Hajime was holding up, kneeling down and swapping her skates for her boots.
As Hiroko finished placing the cases for the blades a hand shot itself in front of her face. She looked up to see Oikawa's beaming face and immediately comprehended that he mustn't have been very happy that she was joining them.
Hiroko took his hand and he pulled her up with more force than necessary. She swung past his right side and he immediately let go making her stumble forwards a bit before she was able to regain her balance and straighten her posture. She turned around to see Iwaizumi glaring at Oikawa before looking over at her and casting an apologetic smile.
"Trashykawa and I were just about to head over to the supermarket to carry out some chores," he said. "Wanna come with with?"
"Sure. I'll treat you both to ice-cream."
"Ehhh!?" Oikawa exclaimed. "In this weather Hiro-chan?!"
"Why not?"
"By the way, you're birthday's coming up soon isn't it Taken-" Hiroko scowled, "H-Hiroko-san?" Hajime corrected himself.
"Yeah"
"And I didn't get an invite?" asked Oikawa.
"You guys come over every year anyway," she said.
They arrived at the store and Hajime told them to wait even though Hiroko persistently indicated that she wanted to go and select ice-cream. Iwaizumi even went as far as rejecting the money she offered him and told them it was his treat.
When he left, an awkward silence ensued. She subconsciously began to stare at Oikawa when he was looking away. She soon noticed this, but instead of turning her gaze elsewhere her stare sharpened as she observed his visage and began to ponder over whether or not she should ask him about what's been bugging her for as long as she can remember.
Oikawa snapped his head towards her suddenly and they locked eyes with each other. He frowned. "Why are you looking at me like that Hiro-chan?" A sly grin formed on his face. "Can it be that you have a crush on me?" he inquired teasingly.
"No." I stated so calmly that it surprised me. "I just wanted to ask you something." It was then that panic flooded my mind.
"Yes?" he inquired eagerly.
"T-Tooru do you hate me?"
Unexpectedly, Oikawa's eyes widened and he bowed his head, a light pink hue forming on his cheeks out of embarrassment. "I-I don't hate you okay?" he muttered loud enough for her to hear. "I just… I really… I feel… It's just instinctive."
For a moment Hiroko looked at him skeptically. A giggle escaped her mouth. "That's really cute." Then she was laughing so hard that she had to bend over to clutch her sides.
The doors of the store slid open and Iwaizumi came out. She quickly stifled her laughter when Iwaizumi arrived and she and Oikawa turned away from each other. Iwaizumi noticed this and raised a brow inquisitively but said nothing.
They started to walk back in silence when Iwaizumi abruptly stuck his hand and into the bag and shuffled through its contents a bit. "Banana or strawberry?"
"Chocolate, please." Hiroko grinned cheekily.
Iwaizumi must have anticipated this because he fished out a chocolate flavoured popsicle and handed it to her. Hiroko wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck before she accepted it from him and slowly nibbled on the treat. After a while she decided to initiate conversation.
"So, where are you going for junior high, Hajime-kun?"
Iwaizumi glanced at Oikawa to his right before directing his attention back to Hiroko. "Kitagawa Daiichi", he replied. "You?"
"Same"
"Really?" Iwaizumi asked surprised.
"Yeah", she replied lamely. Hiroko glanced at her watch without really looking for the time. "I've got to go now. I have piano lessons. See you tomorrow!"
"Bye!" called out Iwaizumi. He then elbowed Oikawa who muttered a low goodbye. However the raven-haired girl barely noticed this as she sped away from them and towards her house, not taking any chances of slipping up and giving way to her epic lie.
"I'm home", Hiroki called for the entire house to hear as the swung the front door open. She switched her footwear leaning on the door for support.
"We're at the table" yelled her brother, four years her junior.
Hideaki was a charming and intelligent boy who was often quite annoying but otherwise amenable. He shared the same onyx eyes as Hiroko that they inherited from their father. Unlike his sister who had wavy and slightly bushy jet black hair, he had straight dark chestnut hair that reached till his jawline and slightly long fringes that fell across his forehead.
Hiroko arrived at the dining room where her mom was setting down the cutlery for dinner. She sat down beside Hideaki. She greeted her father who sat across her just as her mother set down the bowls of rice and sat next to him.
Hideaki began to talk about the show he watched on television and before Hiroko knew it they were all participating in a heated argument between which English movies were the best. Her mind then drifted to the earlier conversation with Iwaizumi.
"Mama, Papa can I go to Kitagawa Daiichi next year?" she asked with her fingers crossed under the table. All eyes swiftly met hers.
"Why Kitagawa Daiichi?" her mother asked.
"A-ah… well…," she stumbled over her words. The lines she had planed and recited repeatedly in her head on her way back earlier seemed to have disappeared. "Hajime-san said he was going there and I think Tooru-san might be going there too. I won't have anyone to hang around with in school when Amaya leaves for Australia. So…"
"Well, I supposed it's alright", her Dad grunted. "The academic standards of that school are quite high anyway. But I thought you really wanted to go to Shiratorizawa's Junior Academy? Besides Shiratorizawa has an outstanding reputation to go with it's good standards."
Hiroko faltered. It's true she's always wanted to go to Shiratorizawa ever since fourth grade. She's heard so much about the legends that have graduated from the escalator school. She had always felt that having Shiratorizawa on her life's resume was pretty much a golden pass into any university in Japan, maybe even the world.
It spent her over a year to convince her dad that Shiratorizawa was the best school for her, and she didn't have that much time to change his mind again. Not with the enrollment and registration season for junior and senior high freshmen just around the corner. She was so enthusiastic she spent time gathering information and calculations of the overall tuition and lunch cost and how much they'd have to set aside on a weekly/monthly basis, just for that damn prestigious school. And no matter how much she'd want to bathe in all that goodness, she also wanted to tag along with Iwaizumi and Oikawa.
But Kitagawa Daiichi is also one of the most popular schools in the prefecture.
But Shiratorizawa-
"W-well..."
"Hiroko darling, it's alright," her mother gently took Hiroko's tightly crossed hands into her own, sensing the young girl's tension and inner conflict. "Don't worry to much over it. Your dad will discuss this later okay? It's just a shock, you know. Your sudden change of heart that is."
Hiroko felt a searing hot sensation crawl up into her cheeks. She didn't go red or anything, she never did. So her family barely noticed her embarrassment. Still, she didn't want to look up to meet their eyes. From the moment her mom started cooing at her, Hiroko knew that she'd have that warm, reassuring smile plastered on her face. And stubborn may she seem, she didn't want any of it.
With Hiroko's mood dampened, the topic came to a close. When dinner ended she lugged her weight upstairs and all the way to her room. She settled for flipping through the pages of an empty notebook, staring blankly at the lines. A couple of hours later she rolled out her futon and settled in, falling into a deep dreamless slumber.
~A/N~
Hey guys. I'm not much for long author's notes, but there's a bit of a complication I'd rather straighten out. This was originally a story of Papillon Mystre's. Since she's leaving the site and has already deleted the previous version of the story, I took over (with her grateful approval of course). Apparently she also didn't want to drop the story for the sake of any previous readers. So to all readers old and new, welcome!
I'll be balancing two stories on this site and another story elsewhere, so please feel free to spam my PM if I you think haven't updated in a while.
Tbh I really am a pretty huge HQ fan. It's one of the animes that are so good I can't help but read the manga I read. I don't really have biases with this sort of thing but Tsukiii... Anyway enjoy! Follow, PM and review. PS. I'll try to not spoilers ;)
A/N (Papillon Mystere): Oikawa is someone I think would put up a defensive wall against those he seem wary of, *cough* Kageyama *cough*, and although he might have been right to do so it Kageyama's case, he still does so for our new character, Hiroko. I hope Hiroko's personality is okay for you guys. She might be a bit disconnected somewhat, but things will happen. I really hope you enjoyed the first chapter.