Notes - For the gx_100. Set during season one, after the events of the Seven Stars and a few weeks before graduation. Inspired by a piece of fan art SmudDragon showed to me.
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Gardening was one of those subjects they didn't teach at Duel Academia. Which shouldn't be too surprising, since it is a school for learning how to duel; but when you consider that other subjects that get taught there include alchemy and curry making, gardening wouldn't be too out of place.
But then the alchemy and curry was more because Daitokuji and Kabayama felt like it than being subjects on the actual curriculum.
Regardless of whether or not gardening was taught in class, each dorm did have something that could vaguely be called a garden. Or at least a small patch of grass. Depending on which dorm it was depended greatly on how much grass.
The Red students, for example, had what could mostly be called dirt. There was some grass here and there, but nothing to call home about. Where the ground was completely barren some rough lines of a duel arena had been painted to make it look vaguely more interesting, but the overall impression of the dorm's exterior spread the message that this was a place where people who didn't have much money could come and not have much money together. It went well with the interior of the dorm from that point of view.
Progressing up in the world was the garden of Ra Yellow. It was neat, well kept, sensible and with no trimmings. It was the sort of garden that had a lot of work done to it but really went unnoticed by the general public except as something to walk across. Much like the poor Yellow students themselves.
The girls of Obelisk Blue were in a completely different league to them both. Their garden could win awards – it was tucked away behind pretty hedgerows with light coloured flowers blooming during the summer, and just beyond it there was even a lake. If an enquiring inspector were to ask about the state of the grounds this would be the garden that they'd be shown.
However, the Obelisk Blue section of the academia was split into two dorms, with the boys living separately from the girls. The area outside of the dorm that the boys lived in may not have been as abandoned as that of the Osiris Reds, but it still wasn't up to the great standards of their female counterparts. Luckily for them the Obelisk Blue boys' dorm itself was so large and impressive that people who came there weren't looking for flowers.
Ryo Marufuji, one of the elite students of Obelisk Blue, was reflecting upon this as he looked down at the grounds from the balcony of his room. As the other elite student, Fubuki, joined him he voiced his thoughts.
"Does anyone actually look after the gardens here?" he asked, as Fubuki usually knew who was doing what in general.
"I'd think so," said Fubuki, shrugging, "The grounds are huge, they couldn't be kept in much shape if they didn't employ anyone to look after them."
Doubtfully, Ryo replied, "But you never actually see anyone working on them do you? And last I heard Samejima hasn't even managed to replace Daitokuji yet, so I'm sure a few missing gardeners would be the last thing on his mind."
"I think I saw a Yellow student with a lawnmower once," Fubuki commented, after a few moments reflection, "But then he may have just been crazy."
"Possibly not so crazy…" mumbled Ryo. It would make sense after all, if it were down to the students to look after their own grounds. It would explain why the Red dorm, filled with students known for shunning work, had an unkempt ground, why the Yellow dorm with it's sensible workers had a ground that was looked after and inoffensive, and why the girls had a garden that looked as if it had been pulled from a magazine. And why…
"Don't do anything," yawned Fubuki, causing Ryo to start, "I know that face, but it's not as if it's your problem anymore. You'll be graduating in a few weeks and then it's not likely you'll see the dorm ever again."
Even so it had been his home for all of three years, and for all that time he'd never stopped to think about it. He felt like a child moving out of home for the first time and suddenly realising that all the while there had been someone doing the laundry for him, but as long as it was done it hadn't mattered who was doing it, and now…
He felt ashamed somehow. Though decided not to tell this to Fubuki, because it would just make the other boy think he was worrying pointlessly. Perhaps he was graduating in a short while but Ryo was not one to shun responsibility.
The next day he reviewed his timetable and found he had two free periods next to each other. Of course, he'd had those periods every week, but he'd consumed them with so much extra studying that they didn't really feel like they were free. He could use that time to do some work in the garden. There wasn't a chance it could be as fancy as the garden the girls' had in such a short amount of time, but he could at least make it look presentable.
After much searching he did uncover a small shed, hidden around the back of the Blue dorm, invisible because of how large the building was. But thankfully it seemed as if other people were aware of it's existence, as the path was recently cleared and the way things were set inside suggested that items had been moved around a lot.
More than anything it seemed that a lawnmower had been pulled out and put back in several times. As a result of which the grass didn't need cut. Though Ryo figured that the only reason this lawnmower had been used so much was because it was an electric one that you rode on. Some of the less responsible students would probably use it just for fun. Anything that involved any actual effort to use was tucked away in the back of the shed where it could easily be forgotten about.
A short rummage through this pile retrieved a trowel, a spade and various other digging utensils. Gathering these up, Ryo then moved over to another storage space where the grass seeds were kept. Along with those there were also other sorts of seeds and bulbs that must have been left there for anyone who wanted to plant them but had been shoved to aside hastily. Whoever was looking after the gardens had obviously decided that flowers were not manly enough for the boys' dorm.
Ryo saw what they meant, it wasn't as if he wanted to surround the dorm with purple pansies or anything, but the grounds could use a little something more to help them stand out as part of the dorm as opposed to just something the dorm was resting on. With his limited knowledge of bulbs, he picked out some of the more promising looking ones and headed out of the shed.
He found an obscure patch of earth around the side. Part of him still felt too embarrassed to be seen doing garden work around the front, so this sheltered area away from sight would be ideal to work in.
At first he started with some simple bulbs, and after working at the ground for a while with the trowel planted them effortlessly. Once he'd done a whole row he was starting to enjoy himself, this really was quite the stress reliever after all.
With his newfound confidence he got more ambitious, even heading back to the shed to find some small trees that someone had left there to plant. They looked as if they were about ready to go outside so he took them around to the patch he was working on.
The trowel would be no good for this though.
Bigger plants needed bigger holes, so Ryo took to the spade and started digging. It took considerably longer, so Ryo's mind wandered. He did have exams coming up so this recent clearing of mind had gave him time to run what he knew through his head to help him revise.
By the time he was finished he'd have got through the whole development of monster levels in relation to attack power!
…Which turned out to be a bit of a problem.
Because the subject was quite vast and took some time to mull over. And apparently the time schedule between his thought processes and digging the hole hadn't been as evenly matched as he'd thought they had been.
As a result of which he was now standing in a hole that was not only too big to fit the sapling in but was also over half the height of Ryo himself.
To top things off it had started to rain.
Cursing his absentmindedness he started to pull himself out of the hole, but the dirt had turned to mud and was difficult to grip.
"This might be a setback to attending fourth period…" he muttered to himself.
"I'd be more worried about fifth period if I were you," came a smugly innocent voice from outside of the hole.
Ryo looked up to see the smiling face of Fubuki looking down at him, leaning on his arms despite the mud.
"Fourth period sort of went past you, and here I thought you couldn't miss a class," Fubuki went on, reaching his hands down to help Ryo out, "You're lucky I remembered what you were babbling on about the other day."
Ryo couldn't bring himself to talk, not making eye contact with the other until he was out of the hole, sitting on the side as Fubuki admired the handiwork.
"What were you planning to put in there?" Fubuki asked curiously, and Ryo pointed over to the sapling that was propped up against the wall, now drooping over with the weight of the water.
"I really don't think that would go in there, unless you taught it how to swim," said Fubuki, always one to rub in the obvious, "But at the rate that hole's filling up with water you could always make it a temporary summer home for some fish or crabs."
Ryo nodded mutely.
"It wasn't a bad effort though," Fubuki said, feeling as though he should offer some condolence, "If you hadn't got carried away and it wasn't due to rain today it would have turned out all right."
"I've made a decision," Ryo said suddenly, getting to his feet.
"What's that now?" Fubuki smirked, going to follow him.
With absolute certainty, Ryo replied, "When I move to Domino my first house is going to be an apartment. It's going to be high off the ground and it will definitely not have a garden outside of it."
Balconies were something he felt he could manage.