Lost In Nerima
Chapter the First
Not What You'd Think…
-o-o-o-o-o-
Mr. and Mrs. Matsuki were waiting eagerly, if somewhat nervously. The husband couldn't help but pace the room, eager with anticipation, but also feeling apprehensive. His wife, on the other hand, appeared calm and collected, though that was just outward appearances. On the inside, she was every bit as emotional as her husband.
Today was the day that they would become parents. Unable to have children of their own, they had decided to adopt. After a long and fretful period of waiting, they had been accepted and would shortly meet their new daughter. While Mr. Matsuki would have preferred a boy, he realized that beggars can't be choosers. As for Mrs. Matsuki, she was delighted to have a daughter to whom she could pass on her family's art.
A nurse came into the waiting room, carrying a newborn baby girl. The baby had bright green eyes and a tuft of green hair. Otherwise, she was a normal and healthy baby girl. Mrs. Matsuki took her into her arms and whispered softly, "Seika."
Mr. Matsuki nodded and his eyes glowed as he regarded his new daughter fondly. He went to tickle her gently with his finger, but she caught it and held on tightly, cooing up at him sweetly. He knew that, from that day forward, he would be wrapped firmly around her little finger.
And so little Seika Matsuki was raised in a small but loving family. In some ways, her family was like every other Japanese family. In other ways, not quite so much.
Her mother, always serious but never without a kind word for her daughter, worked as a kendo instructor at a nearby dojo. When she could, she also taught Seika the art. The girl's private lessons, however, included things that no one outside the family would ever be taught.
Her father was a loyal salary man who often worked long hours and went on extended business trips. In short, he was devoted and loving, but still rather plain. Seika loved her father dearly, but it was hard to talk him up to her friends. Especially when a typical evening might go something like this...
"I'm home!" Mr. Matsuki would announce upon entering the house.
"Daddy!" Seika would exclaim as she threw her arms around him.
"You were late, so I left you some dinner on a plate in the stove." Mrs. Matsuki would come out of the living room to give her husband a more sedate embrace and kiss. She was very proud of her husband and loved how he treated both her and her daughter. Yet, like her daughter, she had trouble talking him up to her friends beyond his large salary, excellent work ethic, and as a considerate husband and father. But, then again, that was usually enough to make the others quite envious.
Mr. Matsuki would sit down to his meal while his daughter chatted at him at high speed, trying to cram in the whole day's events in the very small amount of time available. Mrs. Matsuki would listen quietly with a slight smile on her lips. Every once in a while, Seika's father would ask some question or make a comment to let his daughter know he was interested in what she was saying. Afterwards, he would retire to the living room and watch some TV.
With her story finally done, Seika would ask how her father's day went.
"Well, you know," he would say casually, "business deals, number crunching... the usual."
Seika would sigh, exasperated. "I love you daddy, really I do, but you're boring!"
He would smile indulgently, rustle the short green hair on the top of her head, and say, "I know, princess. Could you be a dear and fetch me a beer?" As she would rush to comply, he would flip on the news. "Oh, look at this, Cyber-Samurai saved Tokyo Tower from some international terrorists today..."
As for Seika herself, she was growing up to be something of a tomboy. On top of having short hair and being the captain of her Jr. high kendo club, she almost never wore dresses outside of school. She preferred, instead, jeans or coveralls for the type of rough and tumble activities she enjoyed. Once a classmate spotted her in a dress outside of class and teased her about it mercilessly. She beat him to a pulp for his efforts. The unfortunate thing was that she was wearing the skirt to impress him.
Despite being a tomboy, Seika had a healthy interest in boys and had more than a couple of crushes in Jr. high school. Dating was a bit tricky for her, however. Too often, her crushes were on boys that were also her close friends. When she made her feelings known, they were either weirded out because they thought of her as one of the boys, or else they'd date and break up, causing undue drama between them and their mutual friends. To complicate matters further, she never dated anyone longer than a couple of weeks because she found them all to be too immature. It was her hope that high school would turn things around for her.
It would certainly be a fresh start for her. Her father's company required him to relocate to Nerima. So Seika would be starting her first year of high school surrounded by entirely new people. She had mixed feelings about being the new girl. On one hand, it was a clean slate. On the other, she would have to build up her base of friends all over from scratch. At least they had a kendo team and that would give her a head start.
They were going to be moving over the break, so she wouldn't be able to see her friend and cousin, Motoko, this spring. The two girls were very competitive, although Seika had to admit that her cousin was better, especially when it came to the use and focus of ki. Still, improvement only came from challenging those superior to yourself. She was hoping new challenges would face her when she arrived at Furinkan High School.
-o-o-o-o-o-
The very first challenge, Seika realized, was looking at herself in the mirror to see how she looked in her new uniform. It was much more modest and old fashioned than those worn by some other high schools. She still hated it. The blue did not go with her hair at all.
She sighed. There was no hope for it, she supposed. She would just have to get by for the next three years as best as she could. Maybe they'd let her wear her kendo uniform most of the time. It would be better for her if that was the case.
She arrived for school early and found herself a seat in the front row. It was easier to pay attention to the teacher there. Not to mention a lot easier to see the chalkboard. Hopefully, the teacher wouldn't rely too much on the sideboards or else Seika would be forced to squint, and she hated that.
Soon enough, people started filing into the classroom and filling up the seats. Soon the teacher arrived and the school bell rang, signaling the start of a new benchmark in their young lives. The teacher took attendance and then, right after that, had everyone stand up to introduce themselves to him and to their classmates.
She found one of the boys, Daisuke, to be kind of cute. His friend, Hiroshi, wasn't bad either. A part of her was certain she'd make friends with them and then ruin it as she had done in the past. She quelled that part of her and forced herself to listen to the girls' introductions, hopeful in seeing someone who could become her friend. She had convinced herself to be more of a girl this year, and that meant having girlfriends.
A moderately pretty girl with long black hair stood up and introduced herself. "Good day, everyone, my name is Akane Tendo." Some unheard voice seemed to be yelling something in the back of Seika's head. She couldn't tell what her inner voice was trying to tell her, only that this girl was somehow important. The girl continued to speak. "I am the youngest of three sisters. My eldest sister, Kasumi, has already graduated from this school, while my other older sister, Nabiki, is a junior here. We live with my father and I train in martial arts at his dojo." She had the attention of all the boys in the class and it seemed that several of the girls knew her as well. It seemed likely that she would be a very popular girl in school.
Seika wondered if maybe she could contrive some reason to introduce herself to Akane. Her odd feeling about her had subsided, but she still felt she wanted to get to know Akane. It would be nice to get in with a popular girl for a change. Who knows, being around Akane could turn around Seika's own tomboyish ways.
The time came for Seika to introduce herself. "Hello everyone, my name is Seika Matsuki, and I'm new to this district. My dad's job required that we move here. I was the captain of my middle school's kendo team and I hope to bring honor to this school's team as well. I also hope I can make lots of new friends."
-o-o-o-o-o-
The memories of her first class went through Seika's mind as she ate her lunch alone. Most of the other girls had already congregated into fairly predictable cliques, leaving Seika to eat lunch by herself. The girl was much to shy to just go up to one and introduce herself, so she planned to pull out her school work and finish it with the time left in the lunch period.
"Hello, your name is Seika, am I right?"
Seika looked up with widened eyes at Akane's smiling face. "Yes I am." She gulped. "And you're Akane Tendo, right?"
Akane's smile beamed at Seika. "That's right. I noticed that you were alone, and I was wondering if you'd like to come sit with my friends and me?"
"Yes, of course I would," Seika agreed, then followed the brunette back to where her friends were seated.
Akane introduced them. "This is Yuka and this is Sayuri. We've known each other for years." Both girls nodded and smiled pleasantly, pleased to meet the new girl. They were sure they could learn a lot about her and were curious as to what the green-haired girl could share.
After a few pleasantries and exchanges of words, the questions began. Yuka was the one to start them off. "How long have you been practicing kendo?"
It was a subject that Seika enjoyed discussing. "My mom says I could hold a bokuto before I could walk and I've been practicing for as long as I can remember. I practice my family's form, which was developed specifically to fight monsters, although I've never even seen one, much less fought one." The girl thought back to her cousin. "I'm not as good as my cousin is, but I hope to be one day." As the girls digested the information, Seika turned to Akane. "You said that you practice martial arts?"
Akane nodded and started to talk just as excitedly as Seika just had. "Yes I do, and I'm pretty good, too! I practice my family's style, which is called Anything Goes Martial Arts. It's based on kenpo karate, but adopts moves from other forms, too. I don't suppose you practice any hand to hand, do you?"
Seika shook her head. "Not really." When she noticed the disappointed look of her new friend, she quickly added, "But I'm open to learning new things!"
That caused Akane to brighten. "Great!" She paused before offering a suggestion. "Maybe you can come over after school."
Seika quickly agreed and from there the conversation took more mundane turns until the end of the period.
It was over much too fast for Seika.
-o-o-o-o-o-
The rest of the day went by fairly quickly, a whirlwind of introductions and course schedules. Seika met up with her three new friends when classes were over. "If you want, I can take you to where they'll be holding the kendo tryouts," Akane told her.
"That's right," agreed Yuka. "We can all cheer you on."
As it turned out, Seika didn't need much cheering on. She impressed the coach quite a bit when she beat all the boys handily, with the exception of one.
And that one infuriated her to no end. His name was Tatewaki Kuno, and she would have thought him a stunningly handsome boy if it weren't for his attitude. He simply refused to fight her. "Kendo is the noble way of the sword. It is not fit for the fairer sex. Indeed, you sully a blade by bearing it. Bear, instead, children, as is fitting a woman."
"Why you chauvinistic, archaic, bombastic blowhard! I challenge you!" Seika was getting angry and knew better than to lose her cool before a fight, but this guy just rubbed her the wrong way.
"I see that you will not accept the natural order of things." He brandished his bokuto. "Very well, I will accept your challenge. Should you defeat me, than I will allow you to date with me!"
He really rubbed her the wrong way. "Date with you? Date with you? I would rather sleep naked in a nest of cobras than even be seen in public with you!" Seika couldn't help launching into a rant. "I challenge you only to prove how incapable you really are. Do you understand? You are beneath contempt! I loathe and despise you! You are everything that was wrong with the old ways rolled into one package! A foolish boar with no concept of the modern world, simply living out your grandeur of the way life used to be! No woman could possibly want to date with you, much less strive for it like some kind of challenge. I think your uniform is on too tight, it's cutting the circulation off to your brain!" She paused, but only to catch her breath. "Disgusting worm."
Kuno lowered his bokuto as his brain tried to interpret the deluge he had just been exposed to. Finally, it made the connections it needed to maintain its view of reality. "I see. Since you could not possibly defeat my noble personage, there is no point in us dueling, then. There is only one real reason you'd refuse a date with one such as myself, and that is because you are merely confused. That is also why you wish to pursue a man's endeavor. But fear not, fair lass. I, the Shooting Star of the high school fencing world, Tatewaki Kuno, aged seventeen, shall be a shining light of manhood to guide your way back to the proper path of womanhood."
Seika threw up her arms in disgust. "I give up. There's just no getting through that thick skull of yours. Come on, Akane, let's go to your place. I'm done here."
Kuno watched the four girls depart, particularly interested in Akane Tendo. It would seem that the green-haired tomboy wished corrupt the beauty that was the youngest Tendo with her Sapphic ways. "Fear not, Akane Tendo," he said to himself. "I shall not let her divert you from the path! I see now that only you are worthy to date with me." He finished his monologue with a good cleansing laugh that had the rest of the club looking at each other nervously.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Only Seika went all the way to the dojo with Akane, seeing as the other two girls had to go home. From the main gate of the compound to the dojo itself, Seika felt an odd feeling of déjà vu. It wasn't quite like she'd been there before, but more like she'd been shown photographs of the whole grounds. She really couldn't imagine where that could have happened. Still, despite it all, she felt rather at home and comfortable there.
"You want to spar?" Akane asked as they entered the dojo. "After seeing you fight the boys, I know you're pretty good."
"Sure," Seika agreed. "Do you want me to go hand to hand? I'm not as good without my bokuto."
"I need practice on my countermeasures anyway, so go ahead and use the bokuto." Akane smiled her award-winning smile. "Just give me a chance to change into my gi."
Seika was still in her kendo uniform, so she simply called her parents to let them know where she was while Akane changed.
Soon enough the two girls were facing off with each other. A few feints were enough for Seika to start taking Akane seriously. Despite not having a weapon, the Tendo girl could hold her own. Still, after three bouts, Seika was up two to one.
"You're pretty good!" Akane exclaimed, still flushed from the exertion.
"Hey, you're not bad yourself." Seika was also flushed. "Want to try straight on hand to hand?"
And then the next three bouts all went in Akane's favor.
"It seems I could really use some improvement in my unarmed techniques," Seika said somewhat ruefully.
Akane was gracious about her victories. "And I need to brush up on my counter moves. Why don't we train together and help each other out?"
"Sounds like a great idea," Seika agreed with a smile.
That was the time when an older girl, who Akane introduced as her eldest sister, Kasumi, arrived with towels for the two girls. "It's gotten late. Why don't you two have a bath? After that, Seika can join us for supper."
Both girls readily agreed and were soon relaxing in the furo.
"It's nice to have a girlfriend for a change," Seika muttered happily. "All my friends in elementary school and middle school were boys. I guess I've always been something of a tomboy."
Akane laughed. "I used to be one too, always getting into fights and stuff. But then I decided to grow my hair long and stop picking so many fights."
Seika raised an eyebrow and said, with a faint smile, "Finally started noticing boys?"
That caused Akane to blush. "Not exactly..."
Now Seika's curiosity was piqued. "An older man, then?"
Thinking fast, the longhaired Tendo said, "I think dinner's ready." Akane beat a hasty retreat out of the tub, Seika following.
After dinner with the Tendos, Seika went home happily and told her father all about her new friend and the idiot Kuno who wouldn't fight her. Her mother sympathized with her about Kuno, but her father thought it was cute that she was finally flirting with the opposite sex. He didn't quite get it.
It was the first of many good and happy days for Seika. Akane was her best friend and she got along well with Yuka and Sayuri as well. They occasionally referred to themselves as the "fab four." Akane and Seika were especially close, spending a lot of time cross-training each other at Akane's family dojo.
The only downside to Seika's life was Kuno. He refused to fight her, ever, and did nothing but belittle her abilities, even when everyone else in the club long acknowledged her skill. To make matters worse, he started showing a romantic interest in Akane, which she rebuffed.
It all came to a head one day when Kuno once again refused to take no for an answer and actually attacked Akane. Seika was about to intervene to assist her friend but it quickly became apparent that Akane could more than manage on her own. While the fight wasn't exactly one sided, Kuno failed to land any significant blows and was, more or less, dominated by the longhaired girl until the clear and decisive victory.
Kuno would not acknowledge defeat. Instead, he would challenge her every morning before class and, every morning, Akane would beat him.
It pissed Seika off. He still wouldn't fight her, now even to date with him. The coach, who had insisted she be allowed to join the team, wouldn't force the issue of a match, either. All Seika could do was grind her teeth while studying Kuno's technique when he fought with Akane.
And then Kuno figured out a way he might be able to make Akane weak enough for him to defeat. All he had to do was get all her admirers to attack her every morning. That was accomplished during a debate match, where he announced that anyone wanting to date Akane first had to defeat her in combat. His enthusiasm in the speech and Akane's popularity made the announcement a success.
The next morning, Akane and Seika were surprised to learn just how many admirers Akane had when all the first year male students, plus a few of the second years, were waiting for the Tendo girl in the front grounds of the school. This time, Seika refused to stand idly by and joined her friend in the morning melee. She didn't have her bokuto with her the first morning, so she didn't do as well as she could have, yet at the end of it all, it was Akane and her that stood triumphant over the rabble. That was when Kuno challenged Akane and once again ignored Seika.
The morning after that, Seika brought her bokuto to school with her and again joined Akane in the morning bout. Predictably, Kuno challenged Akane when the other boys were defeated.
Seika stepped between them. "If you want to fight Akane, then you have to defeat me first."
Kuno nodded sagely. "I am not surprised that your jealousy is roused. Nevertheless, you are yet unworthy to face my might in battle. I would surely break you, no matter how gentle I strove to be. Nay, away with you, and be gone from my sight."
"How DARE you dismiss me..." Seika growled.
Akane laid a hand on Seika's shoulder. "I know that you mean well, but this is my fight. The Anything Goes School is all about accepting challenges, so... this is my fight, okay?"
"You're right..." Seika backed off, still fuming. She had no business interfering in her friend's fight. It was one thing to help her when the odds were clearly stacked against her, but a one on one match was something else entirely. Much as it grated her, Seika knew that her honor, and Akane's, demanded that she not interfere. What's more, something deep down told her that this was the way it was meant to be. She didn't believe in destiny, and yet she couldn't deny the feeling of rightness about this situation.
That was how the mornings went. Seika would meet Akane outside the main gates and together they would trounce the male population of Furinkan High. After that, Akane would fight with Kuno while Seika watched on in helpless fury. Seika did get some satisfaction in that the cross training she did with Akane was giving her friend a significant edge against Kuno.
There's no telling how long things might have gone on that way if something hadn't happened to drastically change everything. That event, that catalyst, started out simply enough.
Seika had a dream.
She dreamt that she was someone else. Not only someone else, but also somewhere and some when else. She was a college student on her way to becoming a teacher. Her parents were still loving, but her father was an army officer and her mom was a nurse. She was a fan of anime and manga and had a small circle of other like-minded geeks as friends.
It all came back to her in a rush while she slept. She might have thought that it was memories from a past life if she didn't know things that were yet to happen. Not just local things, but major world events she would have noticed. Every memory was as real as the ones she had created in this world.
Seika woke up with a new understanding. "I'm a self-insert."