Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.
The sliding door opened shortly after homeroom began and everyone turned to stare dully as the teacher strode in. Eyes lit up in interest when instead of going to his desk like usual he stopped in the front, a girl coming in on his heels and doing the same. Talking ceased and the teacher announced: "Everyone, this is Suzuki Ria. She recently moved from the United States so be kind to her." After scanning the room and choosing a seat, he pointed. "Over there, Suzuki-san, you can sit in front of Fuji-kun." Following his gaze, she nodded and began to walk over before pausing. The teacher looked at her and exclaimed suddenly: "Oh, Suzuki-san, would you like to introduce yourself?" She nodded, and opened her mouth to speak.
"My name is Suzuki Ria, and I'm new here to Japan; I enjoy making friends and new experiences but I'm not very diligent in my studies so please take care of me." I bowed, nervous and slightly afraid for what I would have to do in my new school to manage. As I sat down, I looked to the empty seat on my left and felt a pang of loneliness, but shook my head. Onwards, I commanded myself. I bent down to get the workbook for Math next period when a voice came from behind and startled me.
"Missing something?" I turned around to see a smiling face with light brown hair looking at me. I smiled, amiable as I should be and answered.
"Just a bit, my cousin Akina has always been in the same class as me, and even now, it's like I expect her to come crashi-," I was interrupted by the loud, rattling noise of the sliding door, and smiled. The homeroom teacher from the neighboring class followed and paused to talk to my teacher, Takanawa-sensei. Still smiling, I returned to my conversation with my neighbor of sorts. "You know who I am, but who are you?"
"Fuji Shuusuke, yoroshiku. Am I to presume that your cousin will be joining us?" Just then, Takanawa-sensei clapped his hands together, commanding silence.
"And it seems like we'll have another Suzuki joining us today as well! Please welcome Suzuki-san's cousin, Suzuki Akina-san." Sensing something behind me, I turned in time to see Fuji-kun's hand rise into the air.
"Sensei, if we have two Suzuki-sans in the classroom how will they know who we're speaking to?" The teacher looked a bit perplexed for a minute, but then looked at me. I coughed but answered slowly.
"Sensei, you can call me Suzuki-chan and you can call Akina, Suzuki-san… ne?" I wasn't exactly sure either, seeing as in the States, we had never had this problem. I looked up to catch Akina's approving eye. Satisfied, Takanawa-sensei nodded and pointed Akina over to the desk next to me. And then, just like that, homeroom was over, and it was time for Math.
I bent over my workbook, dutifully filling the blank notebook next to it with notes. A nervous glance was directed at me from Ria and I nodded absentmindedly. My Japanese was better than hers, though both of us were fluent enough, and the fact that I was always more of a Math person than her added to the responsibility I had to look after her. Behind me, I also heard confusion.
"Ne, ne, Fujiiiii," the disturbance whispered, and I also heard the noise of a notebook sliding over from the desk behind Ria's—just as I was doing for her right now. I absent-mindedly stared out the window while still paying attention to the drone of Sensei's teaching. Thank goodness for A&E, I thought to myself, Math is so much harder overseas!
Ria, on the other hand, was struggling to make the jump from one math to another. Hopefully my notes would help. I snapped to attention as my notebook was passed back with a colorful pink post-it with words written heavily and neatly on it. Yes, Ria, you're welcome.
The lesson passed uneventfully and as we got ready for English, Ria and I began a frenzy of note passing.
English Notes – Ah well, not like I need to study in this…
Akina! I do not understand the math!
Did I not give you my impeccable notes?
Yeah, well, it's not good enough—Okay, your notes are AMAZING but stillll
Do NOT whine to me in notes!
Okay, okay, but what will we do in History?
Absorb info like a sponge darling.
...
Thanks for getting a pad out in Tokyo so fast! Aunt and Uncle totally surprised us, we almost stayed with them!
Do you doubt my amazing network?
…No, not anymore.
Exactly. So what'll we b—
Ria: My pen jerked off the paper as I tried to hide the note I was writing. My completed workbook (Akina and I really had nothing to do on the flight here), was shuffled to the top of my papers, and as the teacher looked away from the board, everything was fine… until I realized he was going to ask questions. Thankfully, he chose a redhead behind Akina, and we resumed notes.
Never mind. Who has red hair in Japan?
Bet it's fake. He looks so fake hyper.
Aww, don't label…
Shut up, I'll label whatever I want to. For example, this is a piece of paper.
Aw, I love youuu
You better not be doing extra curricular this time.
Won't even try. Daddy's scheduling us so badly…
Teacher alert!
Akina:I watched as the teacher scolded the redhead up front. Turning so that my back was against the wall and I was somewhat facing the front but still able to see Ria and the seat behind her, I saw that a light brown headed boy was apparently reading the Grammar workbook… which was much thicker than the few 50 pages ours actually was.
Ask the kid behind you about the kid up front.
Fuji-kun? Okay… but how?
Paper? Hello? Or you could try rolling a pencil w/ a sticky note—you did that last year, didn't you?
Fine, fine…
Ria: I quickly taped a note to my pencil and rolled it so it would hit Fuji-kun's shoe. He stiffened and bent over to pick it up. He seemed about ready to offer it to me when he realized the note.
Who's the kid up front—he seems totally lost in this lesson.
Kikumaru-kun is not very good with lessons, nor is he very diligent with homework.
Okay, so, Kikumaru-san. What's he like? Seems like a very strange guy, with all the energy in the world.
Despite common misconception, Kikumaru-kun doesn't eat anything containing high amounts of sugar in the morning, and he channels his energy into his tennis.
At this point I stopped, if only because the rolling was getting a little bit annoying.
Kikumaru-san plays tennis and does not take a hyper med.
He doesn't take a chill pill either, by the looks of it.
Akina: I stopped passing notes to return to staring out the window. The weather was nice for a late May day, unlike the heat of Nevada. The catlike boy up front walked back and sat behind me. I laughed as I glanced at the board—his scrawled handwriting almost matched mine, though of course mine was neat where his was messy. The teacher, who didn't seem intimidated at the fact I was a returnee, called me up to correct Kikumaru-san's work. The class laughed at him, though I had laughed at his work. Rising to go up, I felt Ria's stare at my back and imagined her wry smirk. Glancing at the work Kikumaru-san had done, I erased it all and, with quick movement, fixed it to what it should be. I walked back to my seat, but at that time, the bell rang.
We had a short pause to switch to Physical Education. Akina and I just stood—our gym uniforms hadn't arrived yet—as we watched for the student's grab for belongings. Following the teacher outside, we sat on the sidelines as we watched the boys play volleyball. (We didn't know any girls yet, you know?) Fuji-kun, ever smiling, served, with Kikumaru-san randomly spiking at the strangest times. Kikumaru-san also jumped all across the court, hitting every ball that seemed surely out of reach. Fuji-kun hit the ball consistently, and while the other boys tried to hit just as much, it seemed Kikumaru-san and Fuji-kun were the only ones used to running back and forth so much.
When the period was over, it was lunch, so Akina and I took out our bento and sat down outside. We chose a bench that seemed clean enough, and were eating and chatting when Fuji-kun came over and sat down. His light, somewhat girlish voice greeted us. "How did you find the first part of your first school day?" Akina tried to continue eating and listen, but her eating won, and she remained silent as I spoke with Fuji-kun.
"It was fine," I answered, thinking about Math, and then the fun English class. "You play volleyball very well."
"You should see me play tennis; they say I'm much better on thatcourt." Was that an invitation? Probably not, since Fuji-kun seemed like the polite type. We conversed for a while when suddenly Kikumaru-san appeared out of left field and started talking animatedly.
"Ne, ne, Fuji, did you get our table back?" Kikumaru-san caught me off guard, and Akina, who had finished her bento, seemed shocked too. She and I stood up and began to clear our things away.
"We're really sorry we took your table," Akina started, and as we got ready to leave, Kikumaru-san blurted out:
"Oh, no, it's OK! Fuji and I just wanted to sit outside, and we usually sit here when we do but it's okay because we'll just sit here with you." Kikumaru-san plopped down and made himself comfortable with his bento. Fuji-kun likewise sat down and opened his lunch. It was surprising the way Kikumaru-san could skillfully squeeze four or five sentences into one breath. It was also surprising the way Fuji-kun just went with the flow and acted as if this was normal. Akina opened up with conversation to Fuji-kun, and sort of ignored Kikumaru-san with a casual indifference.
"Fuji-kun, the English lesson today seemed to be quite easy for you."
"Fuji's a tensai," Kikumaru broke in, mouth full of bread. "Seigaku's very own genius."
Again, Akina seemed to ignore his presence. "In English as well, Fuji-kun?" It was truly unusual to see her so cold to a person; Akina was normally very amicable and warmhearted. Still, I had a good idea as to why.
Fuji's smiling eyes turned to Akina and answered politely. "I enjoy being the top of my classes. However, why are you being so cold to Kikumaru-kun?" At least he got points for bluntness. Akina's eyes became harder.
"Kawaii ja nai," she replied softly. "Totally not cute."
Kikumaru seemed puzzled, and made a silly face. "Kawaii ja nai?" Akina crossed her arms and sort of pouted.
"Nope, not at all—you act so cute but you're not, not at all." Akina's naturally cute personality was probably what brought this on all the time—she couldn't stand fake cute. "Don't pretend to be someone you aren't! Be who you are, is that so weird?"
Fuji-kun's voice interjected softly:"This is the way Kikumaru-kun is. He may seem fake to you, but he's almost always like this. Most of the school would be shocked if he acted any other way." Akina turned away from the two.
"I still don't think it's cute."
Okay, so maybe Kikumaru-kun is just a little bit cute, but the way he acts is totally gross. He's unable to do anything and is SO not trustworthy. Ah well.
Afternoon classes sped through well enough, smoothly and without a hitch. Despite Ria's fears, History was alright enough—it's always rout memorization, in the States and in Japan. After school, we went to our apartment, sleek and the epitome of efficiency. Our rooms, connected by a door in between that was always left ajar, showed the warmer painted colors of light blue and pink in my and Ria's respective rooms. We changed—a cute graphic tee with a skirt and loose white socks for Ria, and a normal T-shirt and shorts for me. Slipping on our squeaky clean sneakers, we walked out the streets of Tokyo and over to the tallest building in sight. However, before we left, I looked in the mirror. Adjusting my moderate length hair so that it's straight lengths were knot-free, I dusted off all 167 centimeters of my body and straightened up, proud like and majestic.
The Next Day:
Homeroom the next day was easy, with Fuji-kun in place long before class and Kikumaru-san sliding into his seat right before class started. We chatted amongst ourselves, though I tried to ignore the fake cute persona in the seat behind mine. Apparently, both Fuji-kun and Kikumaru-san were regulars on the tennis team at Seishun Gakuen. Ria's begging and pleading finally made me acquiesce: we'd go see their next match on Thursday, when we didn't have anything to do after school.
Classes began to pass by, and right before English, Kikumaru-san poked me in the back. "Ne, ne, Akina-chan!" I turned around and stared at him.
"Who gave you permission to call me by my first name?" Kikumaru-san looked sort of uncomfortable before giving me a cookie-cutter answer that I had somehow already learned to be typical of him.
"Well, Ria-chan told me to call her by her first name and it's not really nice to keep calling you Suzuki-san if we're friends, ne? And also, you're from America so you're used to it, too, aren't you?" I sighed, and gave in. I had no energy to deal with people of his type.
"Fine, then I'll call you Eiji-kun." I was starting to learn that this person was not as shallow as a puddle formed in the rain. He grinned, as if to say that it was fine with him. I muttered under my breath, "I still don't think you're cute." Eiji-kun looked confused, but then straightened up.
"Do you have the English homework?" Of course I did, but I wasn't going to give it to him. "I just want to check my answers," he added quickly, but we both saw through the flimsy lie. I groaned, and slid my workbook to him. If I didn't already do this constantly with Ria, I would not have been so lenient. "Don't do it again." Somehow, I knew it would happen again, and, like with Ria, I wouldn't be able to resist.
In PE, we once again played volleyball. This time, however, Ria and I played in makeshift uniforms: light gray sweats that sufficed to meet our gym teacher's standards for the moment. I served. Wham, the ball went sailing over the net with my overhand serve. As the ball came back, Ria tried to bump it back and it went over. We lasted longer than the other team thanks to our stamina, but if the volleyball had been standard size instead of the larger, lighter one, our hands would have been sore and red at the end of the period.
History went without worry—Eiji-kun again whimpered about notes, but thankfully this time it was to Fuji-kun. Ria and I were managing well enough, and I would occasionally daydream out the window: images of myself singing on a grand stage, internationally famous and touring the Asian countries. How the girls back at my old school would envy me, I smiled, and popped out of my dream, answering a question for a participation grade, if they existed in Japanese schools.
After school we again sat on our beds and did homework, listened to music, and emailed some girls we met playing volleyball today with our phones. Later, we got dressed in attire similar to yesterdays and again headed out.
In no time at all it was Thursday, and Akina and I were standing outside Court 3, where Fuji-kun would be playing against another school. We watched for a while, but got bored by Fuji-kun's steady returns against another capable player, with occasional tricks in which two adults stood by commenting with gasps and photographs (I think they were reporters). We wandered over to where Eiji-kun was starting, and were amused by Eiji-kun's acrobatics all around the court. His partner, Oishi-san, seemed patient and hard working, and with amazing satisfaction, we noted their amazing and perfect synchronization that left the other team exhausted and clearly beaten. Halfway through, we got bored again, possibly because of the photographer people's arrival at the court, and left with a wave and a nod at Fuji-kun, who was watching Eiji-kun's game, and well wishing to Eiji-kun behind his back.
We walked home quicker than usual and changed, heading out again for the studio.
Friday, all was well when we were peacefully sleep-I mean, studying in math when the teacher called on Ria to do a problem. Ria bravely stood, and walked up to the problem, fixing the board with her scrutinizing stare. I held my breath. Ria picked up the chalk, started writing, and finished the problem—it was correct. When she walked back, I held my hand under the desk for a high five. Score. Though of course she had not understood the math lesson, Ria and I had been working a chapter ahead the night before. Whether she'd remember it or not was another question. Satisfied with my work, I sat back in my chair as math finished up and English began.
English Notes
Oi, write in English so we can tell the teacher we're practicing grammar.
I don't want to; my kanji is really bad and I need practice. See how ugly these characters are?
Fine. Pass to Fuji-kun, too.
Fuji-kun, did you see my wonderful math skills?
Indeed. I was under the impression that you were struggling with math?
I thought they were as bad as mine, nyan.
No one can be as quite as bad as you, Eiji-kun. You don't pay attention during lessons, you don't do your homework…
I'm quite amazed that he's been passing, actually.
Kikumaru-kun uses my notes.
Hai, Fuji lends me his no—
At this point, the teacher had noticed his three star students and his one slacker pupil were in fact not paying attention to his lesson. Takanawa-sensei also knew who he had to pick on. I grabbed my notebook from Eiji-kun's desk and settled in to watch the horrendous episode to follow.
"Kikumaru! Answer the third question!" Now, of course, Eiji-kun didn't even have his workbook open. I wrote the answer down in English with explanations in neat kanji, and passed the notebook back.
"Desu-po-sition. He had the happy desuposition." Eiji-kun's horrible pronunciation brought me into peals of laughter. Ria smiled under her breath, and Takanawa-sensei frowned, but he left Eiji off the hook—almost.
"Kikumaru, show me your notes after class."
The rest of the period was spent with Ria and I writing Eiji-kun's notes (since his would be worse than they should be), and Fuji-kun commenting lightly on the state of them. Oh, but we still passed notes.
Kikumaru Eiji-kun! Write your own notes!
My notes are worse than yours though.
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be, whisper words of wisdom, let it be…
The Beatles seemed to have sung Kikumaru-kun's anthem song.
Do you even understand what I'm writing?
How can I if its all in English?
Ne, Akina, sensei will let it slide if you write your own notes on the margins, right?
I do it often with Kikumaru-kun's papers.
Copy my workbook answers, since you aren't listening to sensei talk, either.
In PE we moved on from Volleyball skirmishes to all out war. With skillful persuasion, Akina and I got the coach to pit us against one of the boys' teams. We won closely with a score of 15-13, and moved on to the next team and the next. However, where our teammates lacked the stamina, and the other team lacked the willpower, I felt high, and oftentimes spiked the ball with a hurried excitement. The rest of the class watched us as the girls rooted and the guys hooted. Finally, we were up against Eiji-kun and Fuji-kun's team.
I knew at once that we would lose. From the way Fuji-kun, calm as ever, and Eiji-kun, hyper as ever, looked, compared to the sweaty, tired, altogether exhausted girl's team, I knew we were lucky to have gotten this far and would be lucky to ever get this far again. Still, I was brave. Akina served, and I shouted out commands. "Mariko-chan, up!" I hit it forward, and she hit it over the net. Kaito-kun hit it back, and I faltered, losing us the point. The rest of the game continued like this. We'd put up an impressive rally but in the end, one of the opposing team would hit it over and we'd miss it by an inch. I noticed the careful positioning that the boy's team had in their haphazard formation. Eiji-kun would always get the hardest to get balls, Fuji-kun would hit most of the back row, and let one of the stronger players take over. We lost badly, 23-11, but our team had fun all the same.
Lunch, Eiji-kun had detention and Akina was bailing him out. Fuji-kun and I sat, alone but in each other's company.
"That's quite an interesting way you're holding those chopsticks." I looked down at my hands, which were holding the chopsticks the way I had always done.
"What's so strange about them?"
"Well, see, you're supposed to hold them separated against each other, instead of rubbing them together the way you are." I tried, but failed. Shrugging, I resumed eating my bento. After a while, I made a casual observation as well.
"What color are your eyes?" Fuji-kun's smiling face covered his eyes in a scarily efficient way. I had never truly noticed it, but he seemed to be the only one in Japan who had such small eyes, to the point where they just weren't… visible. Another question dawned on me as I processed my thoughts. "How do you even see?"
"My eyes are blue, and I see by having light rays reflected into my eyes." Fuji-kun, smiling, was being a wiseass, something that often had me pulling the ends of my hair out.
"Well go figure, because I thought you had light coming out of those tiny eyes of yours." My dry remark seemed to make his smile widen, and that was the end of the Eye discussion. We conversed about the weather ("When will you come to see our next match?" Fuji-kun asked. "Most likely, never again," was my reply), and talked a bit about classes, or rather, the note passing within classes. It was a little while before an extremely tall person with spiky black hair and thick rimmed glasses walked up to me.
"Ii Data," he said as he opened a small black notebook. "Suzuki Ria, it's a pleasure to meet you, I am Sadaharu Inui." He scribbled something before turning to Fuji-kun. "I have a juice I want you to try out, if you would?" I peered onto the tabletop, since Sadaharu-san had pulled out a dark, thick, greenish liquid. I felt a chill go down my spine when Fuji-kun replied with a smile and drank it in one gulp.
"The flavor is a bit weaker than last time, Inui-kun," he said, politely handing the glass to the curious onlooker, who scribbled some more in his notebook. "As usual," he muttered under his breath, "Out of the tested people, only Fuji-kun willingly drank it and had no reaction." I blinked and rubbed my eyes, sure I had seen a malicious glint reflected in his glasses. As he walked away, both Fuji-kun and I could faintly hear his last sentiment. "If only I could get Tezuka-buchou to test it…"
I stared straight at the smiling Fuji-kun. "What," I began, "was that?"
"That's not very nice, Ria-chan. That was Inui-kun, since you obviously didn't hear his introduction." I was speechless in my disbelief. "And if you were wondering about that drink, I have no idea. He hasn't named it yet, but it is probably a new item on the menu for tennis training." I shuddered and went on to eat some fruit. I would never, ever, ever, drink anything like that.
The next day, I walked into class, sitting down and ready to pass notes. I was brimming with excitement, which was peculiar for a Monday. However, I had to wait through Math, until English, where Sensei seemed to have allowed Eiji-kun to pass notes with us, seeing as Fuji-kun, Akina, or I would help him along (grade-wise. His English was HORRIBLE). Actually, it was quite amusing the way Akina acted. She pretended to hate Eiji-kun, but I could see that it was turning into a "gosh you are way too immature," kind of hate, compared to an "I hate fakers like you," kind of hate, which was totally different. Anyway, Akina started passing notes as soon as we got our workbooks out.
English Notes-
Eiji-kun! Work on your notes!
It's hard!
You have to concentrate!
Woah, Akina, I cannot tell who is who! Your handwritings are too similar.
I can tell the difference.
I can't. Change it.
What would we do?
Yeah, what would we do?
I can no longer tell the difference.
[How about I bracket my writing?]
I'll forget to do anything, so I'll just do nothing.
[Brackets are cute.]
Maybe this will work.
Maybe not.
Akina: To my regret, that blockheaded fool of a boy, Eiji-kun, did not shape up at all to improve himself at English. Sensei flashed a pleading look at me, probably because he knew I was the only one to get this slob into a somewhat hardy English speaker. Fuji-kun and Ria were much too soft. However, I didn't really feel like it. I had tutored a bit in the United States but had no interest in it—really; I only tutored Ria, who was absolutely horrible in Math and Social Studies/History. After Elective (alternating every other day with Physical Education), Cooking and Baking, we brought our spoils of the day to the classroom to grab our bentos. There we met with Fuji-kun and Eiji-kun, who had just come back from their electives. We walked and talked over to our lunch table, where it was bright, sunny, and warm, albeit the wind being a bit harsh.
Akina: However, that day was special for another reason. Although it would have seemed insignificant to some, two extremely important events happened. The trigger was that Ria had remedial lessons. This was an unimportant necessity that made the gears start to turn.
"Pleeeease?" Ria's wheedling voice made me wince in pain. The whines were unbearable. I couldn't keep being soft with her, but I couldn't turn my heart to stone, either.
"I'll stay after, but I will not help you." I snapped out at Ria in my frustration, but she didn't notice. Gleefully shouting about success in all endeavors or something of the sort, she ran around in circles. Thank goodness it was during our lunch break. However, Ria soon turned around at me again, trying to cajole me into doing yet another thing for her. I spoke before she could. "You get my notes, my study sheet, and a quiet library where Sensei and I will lock you in. Nothing else until the hour is over." She pouted angrily, racking her archives for a loophole she could create. There was none.
And so, I went on later to sit outside, thinking of reading a book but finding the sunlight too bright for me to bear. I put on my sunglasses, covered my skin with suntan lotion, pulled up my hoodie, and decided to walk around and watch the tennis team. After all, I knew two of the regulars. Maybe some other person could explain why tennis was so interesting.
"I, Horio, with two years of tennis experience, will now explain what Kikumaru-sempai is doing!" This strange and energetic first year had come up to me and asked what I was doing, staring at Eiji-kun with a vicious squint (not that he could see my eyes directly), and a frown on my face. When I admitted to not understanding the point of tennis, he dropped his jaw and puffed his chest out, proud and eager to share his expertise with me.
"You see, Inui-sempai has the regulars doing endurance training, and Kikumaru-sempai has the worst among them." Looking closely, I could not tell the difference. They had all been running at a break neck speed for several minutes, the last one always running the fastest until he was no longer last. However, upon closer inspection, I noticed Kikumaru was sweating a bit more than the others, if only by a miniscule amount. The brash Horio-kun must have noticed my realization, for he added shortly after, "they're wearing weights as well." Horio-kun continued to spout information when I chose to ask a few questions.
"Who's that one over there? He's smaller than the rest." My tennis instructor of sorts began to talk with an even more presumptuous grin on his face. "That's Ryoma-kun." Apparently, he was the only first year to ever make it onto the regulars, was a tennis genius, and had won several competitions in the United States. Ah. I filed this piece of information in the back of my head. This kid knew English.
I pointed out more and more of the regulars until I had a rough understanding of the team as a whole. Inui-san was the helper Ria told me about (though she seemed to shudder at the thought of him). Kaidoh-san was a fearsome and snakelike guy, evil and a terror to anyone who stood in his path. Momoshiro-san was a laidback and easy going guy, the natural enemy of aforementioned viper male. Oishi-san, the ever worrying mother hen of the group, kind and tennis partner to Eiji-kun (I recognized his face after the background story Horio-kun gave me), and Tezuka-san, the fierce and hardworking captain of the team, unbeatable and loaded with super-secret techniques. I wondered afterwards if I should have trusted a first year with all this information, but it was the best I could get, and on the surface at least, it looked authentic.
Shortly after the hour, tennis practice was well underway, and I experienced something strange. Inui-san had separated the regulars into divisions where they would practice against one another in strange drills, taking turns playing with Tezuka-buchou. From time to time, Inui-san would take out a vile-colored liquid and shake it at the regulars, increasing their playing ability by unforeseen amounts. As Horio-kun simply shuddered when I asked him about it, I assumed it was simply something that they took before a game to make them have more energy, like Red Bull.
In any case, it was Eiji-kun's turn to play a one set match against Tezuka-buchou. Though it was his service game (an advantage from what Horio-kun told me), Eiji-kun had lost the first three points already. It was forty-love and a strange transformation took place. It happened very quickly, though in my mind, very slowly. First, Inui-san's glasses seemed to glint in the shade of the court's resting area, with a liquid the color purple, wait, no, green with purple bits in it. An electric sort of shudder seemed to go down Eiji-kun's spine, and he stiffened with resolve. He spun his racket, and set in the first serious stance I had ever witness him having. His moves were dizzying and fleet footed, and he seemed sure of himself and 'in tune' with his surroundings.
He lost, but I fell in love.
It started raining shortly after, while Oishi-san was playing with Tezuka-buchou. I had hardly noticed, keeping my eyes on Eiji-kun the rest of the time, wishing he would revert back to his serious self. However, when I felt the plink-plink of the cold raindrops, I looked into the sky to have a particularly fat glob fall into my eyes, as I had taken off the sunglasses to watch Eiji-kun more closely. I looked back at the tennis court, at Eiji-kun, who still looked ill after drinking the vile concoction, and ran for shelter. Ria was waiting impatiently for me at the door.
"That was terror, studying all by myself. And now, we have to walk home, too, because I didn't bring my bus pass!" I said nothing at the fact that I had my own pass with me at all times. I pulled out the umbrella I had in my bag, laughed, and opened it up. We started ambling off at a leisurely pace, enjoying the cooler weather, when we heard a high, girlish voice call out to us.
"Wait up!"
That's when we realized Fuji-kun lived in the same direction as us. Of course, Ria made us stop, and, as he had a larger umbrella, Fuji-kun shared with Ria so I could have my own again. If we were in the US, I would have teased Ria about that particular scene until kingdom come. However, as Fuji-kun was our friend, I refrained from such an act. We walked a bit more but soon after, Fuji-kun seemed to bow to us in a polite, humorous way and said goodbye, walking in the other direction. Ria and I waved, but then resumed walking.
Though you may ask why this event was as important as my falling in love with the dunce head Eiji-kun, it was because afterwards, we began to stay after school more. I don't know what Ria said to Uncle and Aunt to make them acquiesce to our pleas, but afterwards, we'd study outside for two hours until tennis practice was over, I, watching for Eiji-kun's serious appearance again (not that I saw it), and Ria, not complaining for she didn't mind walking home anymore. This was particularly amazing as I could cram more information into her head at once and watch in amazement as none of it fell out.
Much to my dismay, I never saw Eiji-kun grow serious again. It seemed as if his only self was his crazy, hyper, airheaded personality. I truly could not wrap my mind around it, as I was waiting for the advent of the Eiji-kun I saw just a few weeks past.
This time, when Ria and I went home, we changed immediately and left. Homework wasn't finished yet butwe would have enough time to do it at night. Ria was tense but excited, full of energy to work hard and get the first huge hurdle over with. It seemed that her 164 centimeters were bursting with electricity, her dark brown hair bobbed neatly and pinned with a white beret.
As we have not mentioned much about it before, it occurs to me that you, the reader, know very little about who Ria and I are and what our out of school lives consist of. I apologize, as I realize you do not understand what we do that requires seeking out the tallest building in Tokyo—Tokyo Tower.
That day, as I mentioned, Ria was full of energy and ready to go, and so, we went out again into the streets of Tokyo, aiming for the Tower, but veering off a few blocks ahead to go into a studio. Now, the studio, though small in relative terms, was six stories high and the model of Japanese Businesses. Still, it was to none of these floors we would go. Instead, we boarded the elevator and headed down to the B2 level, where we would meet Yonemura-san, Ria's agent.
I ascended into the B1 level and began to warm up myself. I couldn't quite focus on my warm-ups, but soon, as I got ready, I began absorbed in my own dances, and not in Ria's. You see, Ria and I were both trained in dance from a young age, for Uncle and Aunt own and run Suzuki Corporation, the leading classical dance/entertainment business in Japan. That's also who Ria and I grew up in the United States. We spent all of our summers in Japan, of course, learning and cultivating our skills, but the rest of the time was spent in Nevada, studying at vocational schools for dance. Still, as the daughter of Suzuki Corp's Executives, Ria had to debut as a singer as well, though not through her own choice. She would much rather spend her time dancing, and I would much rather spend my time singing. Still, it is quite enough that we both get to do what we want to some extent.
After spending some time with my instructor—this week we were working on traditional dance from the Ukraine—I thanked her and left, heading up another level to the lobby. There, I boarded a van with Yonemura-san, Ria having gone ahead to prepare onstage. As we arrived, she waved to me, and I walked over to where she stood by a techie person. She turned back to talk to him about lighting, absorbed in all preparations but still acutely aware of everything. When she finished, she and I sat at the edge of the stage. It was the last thing she had to do, and now she only had to wait. We retired to her dressing room after a while, and began jabbering.
"I hope you'll watch the entire set, even if you have heard most of it already." Ria said worriedly.
"Of course I'll stay," I promised, interested in what Suzuki Corp. was throwing out into the world. "I can hardly wait."
Showtime—I was sitting in the front row at the left of the hall, right where the stage jutted out so Ria could walk down it. The lights dimmed, and a heavy baseline lined the first song of the set—Release. How many times had I heard this in the past few months? During the elongated introduction, Ria began to speak.
"Hey, thanks for coming to the debut of RAYS everyone! I know you probably came because Legend endorsed this concert, but I hope you'll find it worthwhile!" Legend was a four person boy band that Uncle found in a talent search. The media smothers them with its love, but still Legend remains a down to earth group of fun-loving people. Now, the song was starting.
I never knew, knew what I was missing,
Until I glimpsed a sight of you,
One look and I was hooked on race-ing,
finding that way, to capture you.
Still I, got caught in your web,
Lost in your charm, get out of my head,
Won't I, live to tell the tale,
Your enchantment takes me outta this world~
Let's go on, just hold on, won't you come,
Come, dance with me?
I'm trapped in my chrysalis,
Searching for the way to get out of this bind
Just help, hear my plea, it's you I need….
Release Me.
I watched as Ria moved onto the next song. In the bright stage lights, I watched her short black dress and clearly visible headset, a butterfly design on the side. She wore long black gloves, and I noticed her hair was down to her shoulders, longer than I remembered them to be last. The layers they were in accentuated her small face and made her look mature; the perfect look for tonight.
As I listened to the rest of the set, I found myself awed by how good Ria's vocal control had become. Where she once struggled for air after singing a few bars, she now stood gracefully, chest heaving slightly but a satisfied smile on her face. How I wish I could do that. The thought pushed its way in my brain and I struggled to push it out. The little angel in my brain started to fight actively against the little devil that reigned at the moment. Miss Angel Akina won momentarily, but not before Devil Akina left a lingering thought in my head. I'd have so much fun up there…
After the set was almost finished, I knew I was in for a treat.
"Now, ladies and gentlemen, to thank you for coming to the RAYS concert, I arranged something with Kaito-kun…" Her words were drowned in the back few rows squealing with delight. Shinseiki Kaito was the guitarist of Legend and the leader of the band, not to mention a good friend of ours. When the screams died down, Ria continued. "Please welcome Legend in a special duet version of Release!" The song started up, an interesting mix of the two band styles.
After the concert, I stayed in my seat, listening to the cacophony of schoolgirls leaving the hall. I, along with the front two rows of the auditorium, was ushered to the backstage area, where we were left alone to wander and socialize with the band members and techies. I felt sort of bad that because of me, one girl would not be able to do this, but looking at the squealing fans, I changed my mind. Some were devoted to Legend and creepy. I was used to them. Still, others vowed to follow RAYS forever—in a stalkerish way. Those, I wasn't really used to. I spotted Ria coming, and went over to congratulate her. She had changed back into normal clothes and was walking back to greet the stalkers and the creeps. We chattered eagerly about the highlights of the evening, and before I went home, I reminded her to return soon. It was almost 10 o'clock and we hadn't had any homework done. I wondered if Sensei would forgive us.
The next day, Ria and I were falling asleep in class. After the concert, Ria couldn't focus and I had to teach her, resulting in our clocking out at 2 AM. Not. A. Good. Idea. Eiji-kun snickered and Fuji-kun had a freaky, sadistic smile on his face as he watched Sensei send us outside. We stood silently for a while, but then fell asleep there. It would have been almost comforting had we not almost fallen over, each a number of times, as we rocked on the balls of our feet.
Lunch time came and we weren't hungry. We were tired. Ria and I were sleeping on a lunch table indoors (Fuji-kun and Eiji-kun redirected us inside since it was raining, not that we'd have noticed), when a few girls approached us. "Ria-chan!" They called out with their false, cheery voices. I groaned and went back to sleep while Ria sat up and rubbed her sleepy eyes.
"Hello," was her cool but cheerful reply. She looked at them, waiting for something.
"We were at your concert last night—we're really big fans of Legend, and now we're really big fans of RAYS, too! You did a great job." One of the girls, presumably the ringleader, spoke, offering the information in a fangirlish manner.
"Oh, thanks! I'm really glad you came to support me." Ria's voice was pleased, glad for her newly established fandom.
"The thing is—" The girl broke off, hesitating. Then, she continued. "We want tickets to the next Legend concert but we can't afford really good seats. Can you pull a few strings for us?" I groaned. This was never good.
"Sorry, I can't. Those seats support Legend and all that." Ria kept her nonchalant air, but was now on guard about these people and the words they were saying. The girl began to speak angrily, but Fuji-kun interrupted.
"I'm sorry, Takamura-san, but both Ria-chan and Akina-chan are tired, and it looks like you're bothering them both." At last, someone who understood! As they left in a huff, Ria and I went back to sleep for about a minute before the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch and the beginning of Physical Education.
After the end of PE, we decided to go to the nurse's office and sleep instead, us being dead on our feet, and thankfully, were not bothered until much later.
I re-uploaded this with ~*~ marks instead of a bar (actually, they're still there, I can't get rid of them), because the bar does not appear in FFnet –tear-
I'd like to thank DreamsRMyLife for being such an amazing beta reader… Not only for her sharp eyes and impeccable grammar skills, but also for her amazing insight regarding plot and my strange, ever-evolving writing style.
Until next time~ JuniperScaymoore