A story based on...
Hanazakari no Kimitachi e
Hana Kimi story by: Hisaya Nakajo
Featured in: Hakusensha's Hana to Yume
This tale by: Hideki Kinomoto
Osaka Boy's Only Boarding School. This is where the scene of literary murder first began! Among this rank of all boys, there was one with a true love of drama. A festering lust to lead himself higher into the world of staged acting! With a iron fist he often sought out ways to re-enact his most favored plays and other such marvels of the literature world. But let us not get ahead of ourselves. The story starts simple enough...
It was a brilliantly bright yet bone-chillingly frosty morning at Osaka High. Each student ran about bundled up, heading to where they may before morning classes. Even worse still, some of the sports groups required morning practices in this most frigid of weather! Such a fate was no different for Sano Izumi. Huffing heavily as he ran towards the high jump, each breath noted with a whimsical cloud from his slightly parted lips. Standing off to the side-lines, rigid and carefree to the weather, his coach grins. A shimmer of delight in his eye as he watches his pupil leap into the air. As he hits the mat, Sano is met with an unexpected friend...the bar. Grunting, he doesn't get much of a chance to think about such an annoyance before he is called out by his coach.
"Sano Izumi, you good for nothing! I trained you to win! Not to lose! And what do you call that!?" There were more than just a few puffs of frosted air coming from his coach's mouth and nostrils. Humorous to see, no doubt!
"Ah, I'll just try harder tomorrow. Its too cold to be working this hard anyway..." Standing up, he dusted himself off and steadied the pole that he was to have jumped over in his palm before allowing it to topple towards his coach. "You'll put this back up won't you?" but before his coach could so much as grunt a reply, Sano had released it and made in the opposite direction.
Grumbles and talks of ungratefulness poured out from behind him, but with a grin he ignored it all. Instead opting to walk over by the fence where a certain admirer of his had stood in amused and intrigued wait while holding Sano's possessions. Holding out his bag and coat, this young lady masquerading around as a young man displays a very distinctly lady-in-love grin, Ashiya Mizuki.
"You should really be more respectful of sensei! He's just worried about ya is all." chirps the slightly frozen Mizuki, shaking from head to toe.
Putting on the black knee length coat of his, making sure to pull its connected hood from his head, a little smirk slipping across his lips. With a grunt he swung his bag around him and adjusted the strap across his chest. "Can you really blame me though? Its so abnormally cold this morning. I'd prefer not to die of hypothermia and just try again tomorrow..."
Wrapping herself in her own arms, Mizuki displayed a more dramatic shiver than normal. "It is ridiculously cold! It never gets even half this cold in California." Speaking of home, Mizuki shot a look skyward as she wonder just what her family back in the United States were up to. "No doubt asleep..." She thinks to herself, moments before being torn back to reality by the feel of Sano's arms wrapping around her. "S-Sano..but! But people?!"
"Just shush. I can't very well let you freeze to death, you just need to learn to bundle up in more layers. So, just let me do this, who cares what they think..." Spat Sano in retort to Mizuki's failed attempt at saying his name without a stutter. He had his chin on her forehead so it wobbled her head with each word he spoke. Causing the blush across her face to spread even wider.
They really were quite a sight. It had been common knowledge to Sano that Mizuki was really a girl for quite some time. Only recently that bit of knowledge had been passed onto Mizuki. Despite the embarrassment of being found out before she could tell him, Sano had proven she had nothing to fear. And the Osaka two-some was finally a couple. With the exclusion of a select few, the remainder of the school was out of this loop. Outside of rumors, Mizuki was safe. Essentially though, she was doing a fairly less than amazing job of keeping her "condition", being incurably female and all, a secret.
"Hey, guys! You wanna g–.." A fiery eye of jealousy befell the couple just as suddenly as that blush had spread across Mizuki's face. Nakatsu Shuichi had swung around a corner in a mad dash for the cafeteria. It was common place for him to dash past the high jump practice field to see if Sano and Mizuki cared to join him at breakfast. But he hadn't stumbled into the two of them cuddling before and it certainly didn't sit well with him. It was this poor guys misfortune to still not know of Mizuki's true gender. But long ago he'd settled for the fact that he liked, no, loved a boy. "Just what are you two doin'!?" he finally had managed to spit out.
"That thin little jacket of his doesn't really guard him well from this kind of weather. I was just warming him up a bit. I'd have done the same for you..." The last bit was to lull Nakatsu into a false sense of security regarding the situation.
Removing his arms from around Mizuki, slowly, so as to make it appear he had wished to do so all along, Sano very calmly addressed the situation. He had always been pretty good in dealing with Nakatsu's unstable ability to hide his love for Mizuki. Even if Nakatsu had no idea that Mizuki was very much female. Though the situation was being handled very well by Sano, Mizuki wasn't helping his cause due to the fact she hadn't separated from that blush yet.
"Oh! Well why didn't ya say so in the first place! You're way too nice for your own good, Sano."
Grinning ear to ear, Nakatsu leapt towards the two, finding a happy place in the middle and wrapping a friendly arm around the two them. Ushering the trio away towards the Cafeteria. "So what are you gonna get to eat guys? I was thinking about having leeks and shiitake. But then it dawned on me! I totally hate leeks! But I think I might have put in a ticket for a western breakfast this morning! So maybe I should prepare my stomach for scrambled eggs and–..." It was a morning no different than the rest. Sano would smile to Mizuki, Mizuki would blush in embarrassment, and Nakatsu would talk about breakfast the whole way there...
With the morning behind them, they had finally settled in their class and the mix of cold morning and full stomachs made for a very lazy looking classroom. Very few of them had noticed that the bell had rang noting the start of class. But everyone noticed the lack of a teacher. At first, there was silence. Eyes wandered about the room as though expecting their sensei to literally leap from the walls, or a ceiling tile to dislodge and out he'd fly, or something otherwise just as outlandish. But nothing happened!
"Could it be we are left to our own devices this wondrous day of days?!" Marveled a very enthusiastic Shinji Noe, hands clasped together as though in prayer and eyes glimmering with a joy only mirrored by that of his best friend's.
"A free class to speak of women and share tricks of the trade to cure our lack of girlfriends!" Added that said best friend of Noe's, Kyogo Sekime. Who despite having glasses on, still managed to have that glimmering expression of joy.
But their dream was short lived, as mere moments into their tirade of love unrequited, two pieces of chalk had found themselves airborne and smack dab in the middle of their foreheads. Both reeled back and fell to the floor, their eyes very much resembling two carefree whirlpools. Knocked out cold.
"Anyone else care to open their mouths and prove they lack the brain cells to realize women don't like them simply because they're ugly?" grumbled out a very disinterested looking Hokuto Umeda, the schools most well-known (and feared!) Dormitory doctor.
While everyone else simply stared at him, turning stonelike and rigid at his display of dominance over both Noe and Sekime, there was one among them who seemed very enthralled to see him. There was also one who seemed as though he could care less. Not much imagination required here to realize the two who differed in response were Mizuki and Sano. Springing up from her seat, Mizuki waved energetically at Dr. Umeda with a very beaming smile, while Sano simply looked unchanged.
"Morning Umeda-sempai! Are you subbing in today?" asked Mizuki, sounding nearly as excited as her silly energized waving.
"Least one of you has hope yet..." Umeda grumbled, muttering to himself "Doesn't help the guys case that it's a girl with the most hope out of the lot...".
Standing in front of the chalk board, he glanced about for anymore chalk. Having dealt with two pieces effectively already. Noe and Sekime laying lifeless on the floor as testament to that. Retrieving a piece of chalk he began writing on the board while addressing Mizuki's question. "Yes, I am indeed subbing in for your usual teacher today. I won't lie to you, he might be out for a while. Seems he got caught cheating on his wife and thrown out of his house, while arguing with her at work a tow truck took his car from a handicap spot and his father is in the hospital with supposedly a terminal illness. Which is really fucked up and I think he's a royal asshole for thinking he could get away with anything like that..." Turning around after his speech and having written what he intended on the board, he met face to face with horrified expressions. Maybe it was how nonchalant he said such tragic news, or maybe the fact that he ignored any privacy their teacher might have wanted, or maybe it was his dirty mouth.
"Did...did he really just say "asshole" out loud!?" shouted Nakatsu, arm outstretched and finger pointed at Dr. Umeda.
"Really...such a colorful aura..." commented Taiki Kayashima before once more returning to his daily task to watching spirits wander about the classroom.
"Hey! Watch your mouth Shuichi. This is a class room environment! Really, so loud..." Roared Umeda, giving Nakatsu an expression of extreme authority and rearing back his arm to pitch the last piece of chalk.
"Look whose talkin' ya damned hypocrite!" Nakatsu sprang back! Unlike Noe and Sekime, he caught the flying chalk and held it upwards towards the sky. "Remember this day as the day I, Nakatsu Shuichi, toppled the forces of darkness that are you, Hokuto Umeda! Super Nakatsu R.E. is unstoppable!"
It was at this very moment, a young man was strolling through the hallway towards the very class all of this outburst was coming from. The very moment he heard this tangent his ears seemed to perk up a bit! Breaking into a dash, long hair flowing behind him like a silken cape , he burst into the room. Assuming a dramatic expression, a hand to his chest and eyes full of delight, all eyes leapt from the wrestling Dr. Umeda and Nakatsu to the newcomer.
"Guten morgen! It is I, Oscar M. Himejima, who heard that wonderful line of great duty and justice! I demand now, fair children of the junior class 2-C, tell me for who spoke of smiting evil this day?!"
He was met with a silence that even a cricket dare not disturb. Though slowly, all fingers pointed to that of Nakatsu, who was still staring at Himejima as though he'd seen Death himself. Everyone who was anyone knew to never say anything in a dramatic way unless you wanted Masao on the scene in a heartbeat! The chalk slipped from his fingers and its final collision with the floor echoed throughout the room. But he maintained his pose, with somewhat of a droop now.
"Why Shuichi! I had no clue you had a taste for the theatrical!" Smiling in a manner that seemed to devour his whole face, he pivoted on his heels to face Dr. Umeda. "Have you already discussed with them that-which-must-not-be-detailed?"
"That-which-must-not-be-detailed got thoroughly detailed with Dr. Umeda's colorful vernacular." interjected Sano, who finally decided he'd speak up and break this classes speechlessness.
"No one asked you to be a tattle-tell Sano Izumi..." sighed out a very bemused Dr. Umeda who had long ejected himself from the verbal debacle he once shared with Nakatsu.
"What is up with all the noise from this class, I mean really now. Aren't you all supposed to be learning?"
Came a voice from the doorway, startling Himejima so much he leapt in the air a good two-feet. Gathering his bearings, he turned and was met face to face with what one might call a rival of his. Stamping his foot and looking rather cat like and rigid, he prepared to belt out his annoyance but was cut short. As though a mere obstacle, a very effeminate boy stomped down heavy on Himejima and skipped off him over to the figure in the doorway.
"Nanba-sempai!" yelped the ever-excited to see his dearest love of loves, one Senri Nakao. Having glomped onto the head of Dorm two, Nanba Minami. Now, no longer merely known as the "the figure in the doorway".
"Now, now, Nakao. Back to your seat, class is in session after all..." replied Nanba, looking a bit embarrassed to have to be peeling Nakao off of him like a hunk of unwanted sunburnt skin.
Just as Himejima had sprang back to his full height, little Nakao used him for a stepping stone to once more return to his seat, listening to Nanba being a constant for him. The morning certainly was beyond active for a simple day at school. On top of that, there were now two dorm heads in a single class room. Whether it be coincidence or not, it was cause for some pretty heightened suspicion. The air was completely heavy with suspense unless you were, of course, the love struck Nakao, or Noe and Sekime who had recently come to but were absolutely confused as to just what was going on. So the duo had simply opted to keep their mouths shut, glaring at Umeda.
"Alright, as I'm sure you're all wondering..." began Dr. Umeda after several moments of silence and everyone eyeing Nanba and Himejima who were having a pow-wow in the class's far corner. "Dorm three's head, Masao Himejima has come here to–..."
"Excuse me! Thats Oscar M. Himejima, dear Dr. Umeda." interjected Himejima, apparently his and Nanba's meeting had adjourned. Whether it be from the disgust of hearing "Masao" or they really were done talking, he wasn't about to say. "And I will be telling them my reasons for being here, thank you very much!"
Shrugging with a bit of an eye-brow twitch, Dr. Umeda made a simple hand motion at Himejima to get him to start talking. "Get on with it then!" Of course his tone more than let anyone know he was annoyed. Ignore the throbbing vein on his forehead.
"Ahem!" Himejima began, clearing his throat as though it were necessary. "I have come to you today with not only the backing of your dorm head, Nanba Minami, but with the permission of the school itself to select members to star in my exclusive re-creation of "The Phantom of the Opera"!" As he exclaimed this, he made a motion with his arm as though hiding and revealing himself with a cape. Behind him on the chalk board was where Umeda had written "Himejima Presents to you Another Horrible Play". Though by no means was he wearing a cape, so in essence...
"Stop that, you look like a moron." muttered Dr. Umeda and Nanba in near unison. Umeda looking rather calm as he sat in the chair with legs propped up on the desk, eyes closed.
"How can you say that when your eyes are closed! And who wrote that blasphemy on the chalkboard!?" Himejima snarled at Umeda and thus a new battle was born.
While the three "mature" people bickered at the front of the class, everyone else had taken to talking amongst themselves. Sano had taken to generally not caring and deciding he really didn't care to partake upon the play. Nakao was obviously devising some scheme in his head as he hadn't screamed out the obvious thoughts yet. Noe and Sekime were crawling about the floor looking for the pieces of chalk that hit them, figuring while the good doctor was distracted they could enact their revenge! Nakatsu was looking oddly excited and staring at Mizuki...one could only assume he was in his own world, the world of Super Nakatsu R.E. Kayashima was studying Nakatsu, a bit disturbed by the aura color he was emitting. But what was Mizuki thinking? Her gaze had fallen to the desk, eyes studying her hands as though they were the answer to some great question regarding the meaning of life. "I...love that play. I love The Phantom of the Opera..." is what she was thinking. She had to be in it and she wanted Sano to be there with her!
So thats the story so far! I have big plans for this little side-tale of everyone's favorite Hana Kimi characters but I do require input! Read and review. Let me know what you think of all aspects. From character interaction (such as do I need more? Have I portrayed them in a way you find believable? Etc, etc.) Depending on what you say this could either be a one shot or a multi-chapter full tale of (hopefully) greatness! This is a work of fiction. No characters from Hana Kimi are mine. No rights to The Phantom of the Opera are mine. But the idea to mingle both into an art of fanfiction IS mine, mwah-haha. Thank you for your time! Hope you enjoyed!