the downfall, and then the uprising of risa koizumi and otani atsushi

part 1

she had always been a very tall girl for her age, even in pre-school. the teachers used to marvel at her size, and for a while, she was very proud to be that height and be able to look down at the rest of the students. and even though she got teased from time to time, it was nothing major and no one really meant it.

in the sixth grade, when everyone was changing and growing more 'mature', risa had grown very conscious to the fact that she was taller then the rest of the girls and boys, but she still chose to walk with her back straight.

then jessica ruben came to school. jessica ruben was a mean, nasty girl, who unfortunately, was vey beautiful despite her nasty personality. she became very popular in the months following her arrival to school. jessica ruben like to tease people, and when her last victim became so upset that she moved schools, risa was her next target.

jessica ruben teased risa about a lot of things in the three months before they graduated to the seventh grade, and most of the things risa did not care about. because she knew she wasn't the prettiest girl, or the fittest girl, or even the smartest girl. she knew so therefore when jessica ruben said those things and did not affect her. it did not, it did not, it did not.

and then it came.

she knew it was coming

she knew.

"Move out of my way amazoness!"

"How's the weather up there, Andrea the Giant?"

"God, you're so much taller then all of the rest of, and so stupid too, how can you even live with yourself? You nuiscance."

"You do realize that no boy will ever like you right? What kind of sane person would like a giant like you?"

but it still hurt.

it hurt so much.

On graduation day, after being depressed, she finally, finally brightened up when she realize that this was the last day she would see Jessica Ruben.

the last day, that she would have to look at those horrible, mocking faces of her classmates as she walked down the hall.

she was free.

;

he smiled.

his smile was cold and mocking, just like h e r s.

As if she was programmed, risa immeditaly hunched her back, trying to make herself seem shorter, or trying to make herself dissapear. whichever came first.

"No offense,"

that meant she was going to be offended. risa hunched her back further, staring at her shoes with an empty and blank expression, trying desperatley to hold her tears back.

"But, who would willingly want to go out with a tall girl such as yourself?"

she knew, dammit.

"I'm sorry."

no, you're not.

risa straighetened her back, forcing her eyes to look up and into the eyes of the boy she had a crush since she began junior high. the same, cold, cruel, mocking smile was on his lips that s h e had. she adverted her eyes back to the floor, as he turned around, walking to the door. he stopped, turned around and-

her eyes widened.

she looked up, trembling, trembling, trembling.

He smirked at her.

"giant freak."

he left.

risa cried.

(you're sorry?)

;

the summer before high school risa spent a lot of time thinking, thinking, thinking. she lied in her bed, under the covers with the lights off with umibozu blaring through the speakers of her stereo. umibozu made her happy, it reminded her of a time when she was actually, truly happy.

;

she ended up going to a concert.

an umibozu concert.

she thinks the emotion she felt was something akin to happiness.

;

risa decided to enter high school with a new mindset.

she was not going to let anyones comments about her height faze her, she was just going to laugh it off. laughing it off worked. it numbed the pain. also, this way, it would be less torture falling for someone and having them reject her.

"maybe only if they were shorter then me, though." she murmered, putting a hand to her chin in thought. "I really hope there aren't any short guys in me class."

"Risa! Ssh! He might hear you!" Chiharu whispered frantically, Risa glanced at her bestfriend, raising an eyebrow in confusion. She jerked her shoulder to pull her backpack strap up, while turning around to whatever she was pointing at

"What are you talking abou..." Risa trailed off, mouth open in momentary shock. Before her, was a guy that was about a head shorter then her, looking up at her, obviously offended. risa tilted her head, finding the shape of his face oodly familiar.

"Oh. I'm sorr-"

"Well, who would want an amazoness like you in their class, anyways?!"

Risa flinched, sucking in a breath. She thought about her plan, to just laugh off comments about her height, but she couldn't. Not with this one. Not when so soon, not when before they even entered the school, and not with someone that was as abnormal as her. Not with someone who didn't just comment are her height, but insulted it. Not with someone who she could get even with.

"That's real rich coming from someone who's so close to the ground!"

;

they ended up being in the same class.

even worse, they sat next to each other.

and just when she thought things couldn't possibly get any worse, they were assigned to be class reps together.

;

"Out of my way, you amazoness!"

That seemed to be his favorite word.

she glared at him until he rounded the corner of the hallway, then she collapsed on the floor. "Oh dear god," risa gasped, clutching at the ground.

amazeness, amazoness, amazoness, amazoness, amazoness.

That's all she heard. Every damn day.

she hated it.

he was exactly like her.

"it's all my fault, it's all my fault, itsallmyfault." she breathed, feeling tears pouring out of her eyes. she quickly wiped them away, but they still poured down.

"god, if only I wasn't so tall and if I didn't always come at him with an onslaught of comments, then I wouldn't be feeling this way, and god itsallmyfault." she gasped, feeling more tears streak down her face as she curled up in a ball and hoped no one would find her.

"ri..sa-chan?"

well, she was in a hallway.

she quickly straightened herself up, facing away from the person who said her name to wipe her tears, she took a deep breath and turned around with a goofy smile on her face.

"Ah, Ishihara-san," Risa sniffed, much to her own annoyance, "What are you doing here?!"

"Um," Nobu looked around, "It is a hallway."

"Ah yeah! I forgot for a second there! Hah!" Nobu stared at her blankly, her eyes piercing through her shield, breaking her down piece by piece.

"Ah, hmm." Nobu bit her lip, glancing at the floor for a moment before looking back up at Risa. "Anyways, I'll see ya later."

Risa nodded as she walked away, and kept nodding even as Nobu rounded the corner, shooting her a weird look. Risa nodded until everything felt numb, and reality melted away from her.

;

Risa slowly slid the door to the classroom close with a sigh before rubbing her eyes tiredly and leaning gently back on the door. She closed her eyes softly, weakly letting out a breath. She had just done all of the class rep duties alone because Otani had basketball practice and she had been skipping out on her job. She would apologize to Otani tomorrow for making him do all that work alone.

Releasing another sigh, she pushed off the door and opened her eyes. She rubbed her shoulder, before turning towards the exit-

-and seeing Nobuko Ishihara standing there.

Arms crossed, an intimidating look on her face as if demanding answers.

Risa halted. Her foot hovering up in the air. Her hand mid-rub. Her breathing stopped short. Her mind swinging from the incident earlier in the day to the present, and back again.

Risa swallowed hard, taking her hand off of her shoulder, putting her foot firmly on the ground, and tried to get her lungs breathing correctly again. She grit her teeth as discreetly as she could with Ishihara staring directly at her like that, and opened her mouth:

"What?"

It sounded like she was snapping at her, like she was pissed. Good. That was the intended effect.

"I have a question." Nobu said.

But pissed wasn't the emotion she was feeling.

"What is it, Ishihara-san?"

"Why were you crying in the hall on the floor today?"

It was fear.

"Oh." Risa said, forcing a smile to her face and making a fake sigh of relief. She put a hand on her flat chest, "That."

Nobu raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms tighter. "Yes, that."

"Tha-That, was me uhhh," Risa bit her lip, "practicing!"

Nobu's eyebrows shot up almost comically.

"Yeah! Practing! For-for, All-Hanshin-Kyojin! Me and Otani-kun's comedy act, yep, yep! Me on the floor sobbing all dramatic like that was pretty funny, right?" No reply.

Risa cleared her throat, "Ehem, an-anyways, I stayed pretty late doing class rep duties, so I need to go. Eh-heh. Bye." Risa took her hand off of her chest and grabbed her wrist, and hurried off.

;

"…the project will be due two weeks from now and will be presented over the net three days." Nakano-sensei pushed off of his desk with a grunt, and hobbled around it to grab another set of papers.

"And now, to assign partners." Risa sighed and looked out of the window. Knowing Nakano-sensei, he would probably assign Otani to be her partner as a joke. But it wouldn't be so funny when she snapped at one of his annoying quips.

"...Heikichi Nakao, Otani Atsushi..." Risa perked up, her eyes widening, and she felt her heart drop. Otani was with Heikichi-kun? Then who was she with? Chiharu? Rika-san? Or,-

"...Ishihara Nobuko, Koizumi Risa..."

"What?!" Risa blurted, and somehow, she had stood up and now she was looking around at all the curious faces staring at her. Risa felt her face redden and she slowly sat down, putting a hand to her cheek. She coughed lightly, and looked down as Nakano-sensei continued calling off partners.

After a seconds, the many eyes that had been on her began to dwindle, and she relaxed her tense shoulders. But-there was this annoying pricking sensation still there on the back of her neck, bothering her. Risa slowly turned her head and the direction it was coming from. And then quickly turned around.

It was Ishihara Nobuko.

Suspicsions had risen.

She needed to be careful.

;

But why did she need to be careful?

If-if Ishihara Nobuko were to find out, would that be so bad?

Someone to talk to her about her problems-

problem.

Her one problem. Her height complex. The one that made her feel lesser than other people even though there was no way she was just because of different heights but it still made her feel that way. The one that made her head ache because it was apart of her and she couldn't change it but it bothered her so damn much.

That complex that made her cry by herself on a dirt hallway floor curled up in a ball-

she needed to be careful.

It was weird, this height complex. she couldn't let anyone find out about it. if she kept on this way-pretending that it didn't bother her, maybe that would become a reality. in the meantime, she couldn't let anyone find out about her comlpex because-

because.

;

A/N: This was posted on my oneshot collection All Hanshin Kyojin. It was originally posted by itself but got no reviews and I took it down. Then when I had nothing to update my collection with, I added it, and still nothing. This story is literally my pride and joy, so i'm continuing it because fuck you. i might just put it on tumblr with different names. anyways. see you later.