Kitagawa Daiichi Middle School
April
"Excuse me! Please let us through!"
"I can't see the board at all..."
"Maybe we can get sneak in through the side?"
There is a crowd of students in front of the school announcement board. Middle schoolers jump around and shove at each other to get to the front. It was the beginning of the school year, and friends and classmates are randomized into separate classes. Everyone is both eager and anxious of the new class assignments. One second year brunette is especially vicious and jabs at people's stomachs to get to the front. She scrutinizes the class roster in front of her before squealing and scrambles underneath the arms of other students before anyone catches her for her sharp-elbowed antics.
She reappears outside the mass of students, bouncing up to another girl who is waiting for her for results. The brunette continues to bounce in place and announce chipperly,
"Nanocchi, we're in the same class!" The taller girl, so called Nanocchi, raises her hands for a high five and receives a stinging slap to the palms. "I'm so excited! I wonder who our homeroom teacher will be?" The other girl shrugs, linking her arm with the jittery girl. The step into motion towards the equally crowded school entrance.
"Maybe Wakamatsu-sensei again."
"Boooring. We should totally get a hot new teacher. Like in that drama 'After School Love Story'? Tearjerker alert!"
"That's a romance between a high schooler and recent college graduate. We're 14, Haru, and a romance between us and a teacher would be very, very illegal." Haru makes a half hearted boo but a grin plasters back onto her face.
"Party pooper! Whatever. We can enjoy a forbidden romance in high school then."
The taller girl bumps shoulders with a tall dark haired boy, stopping both of them in their track. She apologizes, and at the same time notices the little badge on his blazer pocket. A first year. He nods in acknowledgment before resuming his walk towards the still overcrowded message board. She turned back to Haru, who is making leery eyes at the boy walking away. "Right. In high school then." Haru recoils before turning towards her with a gape.
"What? Are you doubting my teacher seducing abilities? I'll show you! Our gym teacher is so crushing on me! The other day . . ." They fall back into a comfortable stride towards the school. Nanocchi rolled her eyes.
"Nooooo, our gym teacher totally has a girlfriend and . . ."
Their voices eventually get swallowed by the student mass once more by the school entrance.
This story will center around Nanocchi, whose birth name is Arakita Nanoka (荒北七日), a second year at Kita Daiichi Junior High along with her friend, Haru, which is one of many nicknames for Kichijou Chiharu(吉上千春). Chiharu will eventually attend a different high school and they will lose touch, but at the moment, they are stuck together at the hip.
Nanoka is a fourteen year old born on the seventh of July (hence her name, which means 'the seventh day'), raised in Miyagi. She has an older brother, but he's attending a middle school in Tokyo, therefore physically absent from the story (though not irrelevant).
The boy who just bumped into her may just be another freshmen to her, but Kageyama Tobio will become an important person in Nanoka's youth. Just, not yet.
-.-.-
Chiharu and Nanoka arrive at their new classroom and receive their new seating assignment.
"This is an apostrophe! We have Wakamatsu-sensei again and not only that, we're sitting FIVE. ROWS. APART." Chiharu wails dramatically. Their homeroom teacher quips from a meter away.
"That hurts my feelings, Kichijou-kun. It's also atrocity, not apostrophe." Chiharu scoffs and waves his comments aside.
"Details, details." Wakamatsu-sensei huffs before slapping the handouts against the chalkboard.
"Everyone get to your seats! Homeroom is starting!" A voice cries out.
"But the bell didn't ring yet!"
"No complaints! This year's Wakamatsu-sensei is reborn! He is stricter and meaner and tougher! Hahaha!" Everyone grumbles and shuffles around to their assigned seats. Exchanging winks with Chiharu, Nanoka slinks her way to her seat on the opposite end of the room by the hallway windows. Once everyone settles, they stand and bow in unison when the bell finally chimes.
"Good morning." They chorus. Standing in front of the classroom, Wakamatsu-sensei grins.
How he missed this.
-.-.-
Classes were a breeze. They received the new textbooks for their new classes (geometry, English 2, chemistry, home economics, history, Japanese lit, so forth) and met some new teachers, though none were under thirty or even remotely attractive, much to Chiharu's disappointment. The last bell of the day rings, and students start packing their new books and notes. Chiharu hazardously shoves her belonging in her messenger bag and Nanoka grimaces at the sound of crinkling print outs. How her teachers never reprimand her about her neatness amazes her. Maybe Chiharu does have teacher seducing skills.
Chiharu laughs at her.
"Nanocchi you're doing that face again." Nanoka's frown deepens, her left eye twitching. "Ahaha, you're just looking more and more like your brother!"
"I didn't ask for this face," Nanoka grumbles. Chiharu coos at her, giggling all the while.
They walk down to the shoe racks where they switch their indoor shoes for their outdoor shoes, and are about leave school property when Chiharu gasps.
"I forgot to ask when the volleyball tryouts are!" Nanoka groans, slapping her palm to her forehead before dragging it down, revealing an uglier grimace.
"Oh my god, I thought you promised to be over him this year and find someone else to have the hots for," The brunette makes a wiggle dance, hands clasped.
"But the other day I saw him practicing by himself at the park and I fell in love again with his dedication," Chiharu sighs dramatically. "I know we aren't meant to be though. I won't try anything. Ahhhh, if only this was a parallel universe where every boy in the world is in love with me!" Nanoka blinks, then bursts out laughing. She side-hugs Chiharu, who grins and embraces her back just as tightly.
How she missed this.
-.-.-
Kageyama Tobio first notices her on the first day of volleyball practice. Her's was the only grimacing face in the mass of blushing girls, therefore she stood out a whole lot. She obviously did not want to be there, but the arm of another girl linked tightly around hers lets her do otherwise. Oikawa Tooru arrives at the gym, waving at the girls. They scream, alerting Iwaizumi Hajime to Oikawa's arrival. Tobio's attention immediately diverts to Oikawa, and the grimacing girl's face gets pressed into the very corner of his mind.
Tobio notices her presence a few more time before she stops appearing altogether, though her friend religiously dropped by at every practice to cheer for Oikawa. Speaking of Oikawa... Tobio approaches the upperclassman, a ball in hand, determination in mind. Oikawa visibly twitches at the sight of the first year and Iwaizumi turn around.
"Oikawa-san, please teach me how to serve!"
-.-.-
Tobio is stuck at the library, trying to understand the importance of the pythagorean theorem because he sure as hell didn't care. His algebra class has a test coming up and it's not multiple choice, which means Tobio must show at least some work to get any points for the random numbers he's going to put down as an answer. His coach's voice pops up in his mind.
"I'm sure everyone is doing fine with their grades, but just as a reminder, if anyone fails more than two classes, they will be kicked out of their club to take supplementary lessons. This includes the Volleyball team, so be sure to keep your grades up."
Tobio grips his pencil tightly.
The library is crowded, and seats open are immediately nabbed. His ears catch the screeching of a chair and he looks up to see the upperclassman across from him getting up and gathering his belongings. Tobio shuffles his pencil case and books closer to himself to make sure the older boy won't accidentally take any of his stuff. Tobio lowers his eyes back down to the practice problems his teacher gave the class to prep. It wasn't mandatory to hand this in, so he doesn't necessarily have to do this sheet, but he missed a few home works and he wants to get back onto the teacher's favored list. He grumbles to himself and scratches his head using the butt of his pencil.
Tobio chooses to ignore the shadows of people moving in front of him and continues to pour over the sheet. A few textbooks appear in his peripheral vision. Japan's Historical Figures and The Westernization of Japan: Perry to Present. A notebook and pencil case is strewn before a slender hand tugs the Japan's Historical Figures closer to them and fingers the pages open. Tobio's eyes unconsciously follows the hand up the arm to the neck to the face of-
'Grimacing Girl.'
Though Grimacing Girl is not currently grimacing, her crooked eyebrows and wispy hair are distinctive. Her eyebrows furrow and her lips purse as she peruses the table of contents. Tobio stares at her until she glances up, making him jolt in his seat. She eyes him, but finding him not all that interesting, she lowers her gaze back down to the page, though not as concentrated as before. Tobio's heart thumps fast and hard in his chest. They do not interact for the rest of the period, and when the bell rings, Grimacing Girl gathers her things and walks out of the library.
Tobio's heart still pumped blood that had traces of adrenaline from the brief encounter.
-.-.-
The test is in four days. Tobio has yet to complete the homework sheet. At this point, he doesn't even care about handing it in-he just wants to finish the last question and feel satisfied for once. He's been feeling irritated since Oikawa refuses to give him the time of day, Coach's reminder mocked him every time he looked at a volleyball, and he still hasn't made a single friend in class. Not that he cared, but it will be nice to be able to go over class works and assignments with someone-
"You're doing it wrong."
Tobio almost snaps his pencil in half. He swivels his head to where the voice came from.
Grimacing Girl is standing a meter away. Her expression was strained, lips tight and brown eyes narrowed. She clutches a literature texture to her chest. He finally finds his voice and he stutters,
"E-excuse me?" Grimacing Girl tucks a wisp of hair behind her ear, her nostrils flaring a little.
"The drawing. It's supposed to be a rectangle inside a triangle, not a triangle inside a rectangle." Tobio stares up at her.
"...oh."
"Yeah." Grimacing Girl looks ready to run, already edging away from the first year. Tobio does not understand this observation, and is enlightened with an idea. Grimacing Girl is obviously a second year because of the badge on her chest pocket, therefore she must have already taken the class he is currently taking. She even corrected him, which must mean he knows the subject well right? Right? Right!
"Um, well, I'll get goin-"
"Please wait!" Grimacing Girl habitually stands rigid at the yell. It sounded a lot louder than it was supposed to because the library is dead silent. Surrounding students throw Tobio either a puzzled stare or an angry glance. Tobio totally disregards the setting and continues to talk in a normal volume.
"You're good at math, aren't you?" Grimacing Girl's eyebrows shooting up, her mouth crooked to expose clenched teeth. She makes a quizzical smile.
"I guess?" Tobio's eyes shine. He grabs at the older girl's wrists, ignoring her sudden tenseness. His face is hardened.
"You need to teach me math. I need to pass this test."
Grimacing Girl blinks up at him (just a few centimeters taller, but he was practically leaning over her), eyebrows furrowed in thought. She opens her mouth but-
"Both of you, get out."
- the librarian, seething, stands just a few meters away. Students with equally hard glares stare them down. Grimacing Girl sighs in resignation, and not needing to pack anything because she hasn't even sat, heads towards the door. Seeing that his key to continue playing volleyball was walking away, Tobio hastily shoves his papers in his bag and chases his upperclassman out of the double doors.
-.-.-
She didn't ask for this.
Nanoka grumbled to herself as she slouched her way down the hallway, her face set in a deep frown, her ire causing temporary crow's feet because of her often scrunched facial expression. She went to the library to finish her essay on senior citizen homes, and noticed the same boy that sat across from her last time, working on the exact same math sheet with no progress whatsoever. She pitied him and gave him some advice. Their interaction was supposed to end there but the boy attached himself to her like a leech after having the nerve to command her to teach him!
The same boy is still following Nanoka, easily catching up with his long legs. He seemed kind of lanky to be an athlete, but she saw his arm muscles flex when he grabbed onto her. Nanoka's wrists still stung a little. He must be in a sports team, something like baseball, to have a grip like that. He has combed down hair (probably gelled), with dark blue eyes that pressures her to conform to his will. His nose is sharp and lips set in an equally sharp frown.
"You need to teach me." Nanoka abruptly stops, causing him to nearly plow her over. She turns around with a dour expression and slaps him audibly on his chest, creating a ripple in his gakuran. She snaps,
"How about you rephrase that before I even consider it, first year?" The black haired boy gapes at her, eyes wide, before snapping into a straight posture and bowing ever so slightly.
"Please teach me math, senpai!" Nanoka crosses her arms. She snootily raised her chin so she gazed down at him over the bridge of her nose.
"You got me kicked out of the library."
"I'm sorry, senpai!" A trickle of sweat runs down the first year's neck.
"What are you going to do about it?" Tobio freezes. Oikawa's disembodied voice comes to mind.
"Iwa-chan, I'm sorry, I'll treat you to ice cream!"
"I-I'll treat you to ice cream!" Nanoka leans back a little in surprise before breaking out into a smirk. Well, there's nothing in her book that can't be solved with food. She decides to keep her facade for a little longer. She places her hands on her hips and leans forward, making the boy instinctively lean back. He now precariously stood at a negative thirty degree angle. Nanoka purrs.
"What's your name, first year?" She watches his larynx bob nervously. He is obviously trying to look everywhere but her playful expression. His eyes currently sat on the ceiling, face and neck tinged pink.
"It's Kageyama Tobio, senpai." It was also kind of blatant that he was trying to appeal to Nanoka's status as an upperclassmen by mentioning it in every sentence. She's probably been called senpai for a year's worth in the last twelve minutes. Nanoka sighs, retreating, allowing
Tobio to straighten his form. Nanoka crosses her arms again, nodding to herself.
"Well, Kageyama-kun. You haven't exactly been a well mannered underclassman, but I can overlook that if you find and buy me the limited edition Napolitan flavored Garigari-kun. " Tobio blinks in confusion before perking up, his whole expression brightening despite the lack of a smile on his face. She's going to teach me! Touched by her forgivingness, Tobio gives her a casual half bow.
"Azzasu*!"
-.-.-
"What is this I hear about you getting asked out at the library by a first year?" Chiharu shrills. When Nanoka arrived at the club building, she was already waiting at the entrance of the Calligraphy Club Room. Nanoka spluttered before regaining her composure and gathering the key she dropped on the floor from the surprise attack.
"Haru, you should know better than to listen to gossip." Chiharu wiggles her hips in anticipation.
"But Moemi-chan from 2-B-"
"Only heard it from somebody else. Was she even at the library when this happened?" Chiharu pouts her glossed lips.
"Noooo, but-"
"Haru." Nanoka groans. Chiharu promptly shuts her jaw, still pouting full force, cheeks puffed. Nanoka glances at Chiharu's face just once before caving in.
"He just wanted someone to tutor him in algebra."
"...what?" Chiharu's dream scenario of Nanoka getting asked out by a handsome freshmen and getting whisked away into a whirlwind of romance crumbles before her eyes. "Tutoring?" Chiharu jiggles the doorknob before finally getting it to creak open. She takes off her shoes and assesses the room as Chiharu closes the door behind them.
The tatami had ink splatters from years ago, seeped into the grains of bamboo. Rice paper littered the floor, and piles more lay on the side for their disposal. Looking down on them, a framed calligraphy is pinned to the top of the clubroom window:
'Writing is an Art Form'
"He's absolute trash at it. He couldn't solve Yanda-sensei's short answer questions. Remember those?" Getting over her shock, Chiharu thumps her fist into her open palm.
"I remember those! The ones gave us before tests right? Those are so unfair, they're so easy and when you actually take the exam, the questions are a million times harder!" Nanoka makes a deadpanned expression at her. "Okay, maybe not a million times harder, but a still significantly!" Nanoka shrugs off her school bag and blazer, hanging it on the hook by the door. She makes a hand motion for Chiharu's blazer.
"This kid wants to pass the test even though he can't solve a single question. He's not going to make it, I don't know why he bothers." Chiharu hands Nanoka her blazer after patting the back of dust.
"Do you know his name?" Nanoka pauses briefly before resuming hanging the blazer next to hers. She sits on one of the ink stained cushions with grace. Being in this room habitually makes her calm and focused. Now all she needs to do is prepare some sumi before she can get to work. She pulls a nearby stack of paper near her, pinning one sheet to the flat board using a stone. Nanoka 'hmm's in thought.
"I think it was... Kageyama?" Chiharu stares at Nanoka, shocked. The brunette croaks,
"Kageyama? Volleyball club member Tobio Kageyama?" Nanoka stops rubbing the ink stone onto the heated plate to look up at her frozen friend.
"I knew it. He's in a sports team." Chiharu breaks out of her ice and reaches over to grab Nanoka's shoulder.
"Nanocchi, he's a big deal! All the girls are saying that he's a genius volleyball player that might replace Oikawa-kun!" Nanoka calmly rips Chiharu's hand off of her.
"Haru, I'm helping him with algebra, not volleyball. I'm not trying to destroy your precious Oikawa-kun." Nanoka sarcastically made her pitch higher for the third year's name to express her disdain. Chiharu backs down reaching to her left to fidget with some askew rice paper.
"I'm just worried, that's all. Oikawa-kun doesn't seem to like that genius first year very much." Nanoka wets her sumi brush with ink, contemplating what to write.
"I wouldn't like someone who's out to replace me either." The calligraphy club president places the brush to the paper, gliding it to the right before making an abrupt three hundred degree turn. Chiharu watches with interest as the wet words 'The Strongest Persevere' is swiped into existence. In the back of Nanoka's mind, a dark fuzziness grew. Replaceable. Chiharu stared down at the words before nodding and pumping her tiny fists.
"Oikawa-kun is totally stronger than that stupid first year! He'll definitely be the setter for this year's prefecture competition! Nanocchi, I'm keeping this one to give to Oikawa-kun to boost his confidence!" Despite asking for permission, Chiharu grabs the paper from Nanoka's writing board before she can give consent. Nanoka was not surprised, but she still became exasperated.
"You better roll it this time."
"That was that one time!"
"'Monkeys also Fall from Trees'?" Chiharu sticks her tongue out of the corner of her tongue in a sarcastically cute manner. She seemed to have caught that habit from Oikawa, because Nanoka always sees him with the same face when playing with Iwaizumi.
"Oopsy, that other time too."
Nanoka harrumphed. "Right." Chiharu distractingly glances down at her clock.
"Where's Fukuchi-kun? Doesn't he usually arrive by this time?" Nanoka finishes the last stroke of her word.
'Diligence.'
"He handed in his club resignation form last week." Chiharu gasps.
"That asshole!"
"Haru!"
"But Nanocchi, without Fukuchi-kun-"
"I know." The tiny brunette continued to fume.
"That's so unfair!" Nanoka shrugs, her shoulders drooping. The Calligraphy Club will most likely receive a disbanding notice in a few days, or a few weeks if they're lucky and the counselors do not notice their insufficient number of members for a while. Chiharu, being the sweetheart she is, signed up to be a member when she hear about Nanoka's predicament during the second semester of their first year. They both coerced Fukuchi Sakama to join the club to make it official after finding out that he was not in any club. She was surprised Fukuchi even stuck around for such a long time despite having no interest in this art. He probably won't show his face around me for a while.
Chiharu continues to rant, but when she glances at Nanoka, her voice fades into silence.
"Nanocchi, the brush..."
"What? Oh, oh! Crap!" In her daze, Nanoka's brush stroke has exceeded the paper and travelled onto the tatami. "Nooo." She dabbed at the tatami with the underside of her cushion, but the ink has seeped in too far to absorb. She stared the stain with resigned expression. Chiharu slowly pulls her own cushion from under her legs and places it quietly over the stain. Without uttering a single word, an agreement passes between them.
-.-.-
"Meet me in front of the vending machines tomorrow during lunch."
Tobio power walks down the hall, textbook and worksheet in hand. He doesn't want to arrive there after her, because this senpai is spending her precious lunch period to tutor him. He gets to the east side of the school building where the vending machines are located, along with a lawn with sakura trees and a few flower beds. The flowers of the sakura trees are long gone, and the branches now have lush green leaves that create the perfect shade to sit under. Some students already occupied the limited space under the tree, and one student in particular looks very familiar-
"Senpai!" Grimacing Girl slowly looks up from the novel she was perusing. She is sitting on the stumpy roots of one tree, knees bent slightly to keep balance. Her back leans against the wood, her hair swept over one shoulder to keep it from getting caught onto the grains and branches of the tree. She gives him that crooked grimace that he started to associate with her and only her.
"You're late."
"I'm sorry senpai!"
"Well, sit down. Let's get to work and get as much done as possible."
"Ossu!" Tobio drops to the ground and scatters his papers. Grimacing Girl leans over her knees to look at his textbook.
"Kageyama-kun, these are the foundations of algebra. If you don't understand this, the rest of the curriculum will be a lot more confusing. When is your test?"
"Friday."
"And you didn't look for tutoring for the past week becaaause?" Tobio's mouth forms a sharp pout that was one degree away from an acute angle.
"...I thought I will eventually make it work if I tried hard enough." Grimacing Girl gives him a half lidded stare, then sighs.
"Algebra isn't something you can work out with sheer will power. You need to understand it before any of the cogs move to your command," She scoots closer to Tobio and fingers a few pages before opening up to a problem that seemed easy enough. "Here, lets try this question here, so there's a lamp that's 10 meters tall..."
"...I apply the formula here?"
"No."
"...if a is 12cm, then c has to be..."
"How do you even get to that conclusion?"
"I get it! The answer is..."
"...you're getting there. But you missed this step, which is essential to..."
"This isn't making sense, are you sure the question has an answer?"
"Kageyama-kun, don't blame the question for your stupidity."
"Eugh."
For nearly a whole hour, the two poured over problem after problem. Tobio gets better at questions that are essentially the same but with different inputs, but the moment a new variable is added, he ends up back at square one. Before they know it, the class bell chimes, notifying students of their thirty seconds to get to class. Grimacing Girl and Tobio panic, papers flying, scrambling into the school building with other students on their heel. Tobio abruptly stops, nearly causing a collision with the student behind him. He calls out to the second year, who is skipping steps up the stairs.
"Senpai, am I seeing you tomorrow?" Grimacing Girl hops in place, moving to the side to avoid getting barreled. She takes one look at Tobio's frightened expression. How cute.
"You're stuck with me until Friday, Kageyama-kun. Better buck up and eat your lunches during class." Tobio's cheek regain their hue in relief, and Grimacing Girl unconsciously lets out a breathy giggle.
"Azzasu!"
-.-.-
The day of the exam arrived fast. Tobio shook in his seat during their last tutoring session and kept on making mistakes he didn't make before. Nanoka taught him the calming charm where one draws the kanji for Person on their hand and swallowing it to regain their sense of self**, but Tobio obviously thought it was dumb and only partook in it to please her.
Nanoka sighs and stretches her arms in front of her. Kageyama-kun must be taking the test right now. She wonders if Kageyama used the calming charm, or even the short cut to that one particular formula he couldn't get down. Nanoka props her left arm up and settles her chin on the palm of her hand.
Tobio is one of the most immature people she knows, but at some point he started to become endearing. In her mind, he has evolved from a bratty first year to socially awkward first year. Her favorite is the moment when Tobio realizes he said something stupid or mean and makes a certain expression where he lowers his jaws while keeping his mouth closed, elongating his face, his eyebrows furrowed together, eyes buyg-eyed. When she saw the face for the first time it scared the crap out of her, and Nanoka thought he was angry, but after connecting the dots she came to know that Tobio wasn't the best at expressing himself, facially or verbally, and that so called angry face was his interpretation of a terrified puppy. He never voices an apology, but his face tells Nanoka that Tobio knows he did something wrong and is waiting for the consequences. He only relaxes again when Nanoka visibly brushes the comment off. It's a reminder that Nanoka is in control of their relationship, and it definitely helps that it strokes her ego and is absolutely hilarious (and a touch adorable).
Nanoka ends up day dreaming about Tobio for the entire class period. She only snaps out of it when her classmates start gathering their things, indicating that the bell has already rung. Nanoka makes a sheepish smile when the chemistry teacher shakes his head while passing by her desk to exit the classroom. The moment the teacher is out of sight, Nanoka slaps her cheeks repetitively. Get your shit together! You should be focusing on ranking within the top 50***, not boys! Her eyes trail towards the door. I wonder if Kageyama-kun is waiting for me today? I did say that I will only help him for this test… Before she even realizes, Nanoka is floating out of the classroom, Chiharu's indignant shrieks going into one ear and out the other.
Tobio is not at their meeting spot.
Nanoka is not surprised, but she couldn't help but be a little disappointed. She hoped that they could remain friends outside of tutoring but it looks like she raised the bar too high. Nanoka sighs through her nose and wanders to the vending machines. She buys a calpico soda for herself and a melon soda for Chiharu to make up for the whole week of being Nanoka-less during lunch. She weaves through the forming crowd of students, wondering if she will be able to enter the library again if she changes her hairdo so the librarian won't recognize her.
-.-.-
Three Days Later
Sixty Eight.
Tobio's hands trembled, crinkling the edges of the paper. He passed. This score is a record breaker for him, because his goal used to be to just get into the double digits. His cheeks are bright red, lip wobbling with barely contained whoops of joy.
"Kindaichi, what did you get?" Tobio perks up at his team mate's name. In his peripheral vision, he sees Kindaichi Yuutarou and Kunimi Akira swapping papers. "You failed, huh. This test was a lot harder than I expected. The review sheet didn't help at all." Kindaichi scratches his head, a pout on his face. Tobio's eyes trail back to his own test. I-I got a higher score than Kindaichi!
"I thought the test would have been easier too...you usually get high eighties but you got a seventy this time, huh."
"Urgh, don't rub salt into my wounds. I got to keep my average up so I have to get into the nineties in the next test. Kageya-whoa, are you okay? You're shaking." Kunimi makes a double take when he turns to address Tobio. Tobio's eyes were glassy, his lower lip jutted. "A-are you going to cry? Why are you going to cry? Did we do something?" Kindaichi furiously shakes his head, not wanting to take responsibility for a crying classmate.
"Nuh-uh, I refuse to be accused of bullying! He started cryin' all by himself!" Tobio looks up from his paper, and his watery smirk makes Kindaichi and Kunimi a little weirded out.
"I... I got a sixty eight."
The two boys take a second to take it in. Kunimi is the first to break the silence.
"What." Kindaichi growls and grabs the paper out of Tobio's hands.
"Let me see that!" Kunimi and Kindaichi lean into the paper, staring a hole into the red number on the paper. They simultaneously angle their head back up towards Tobio. "What." Tobio is still in a high daze. He has never felt this good before, not since that time he perfected the c-quick after weeks of practice. It was the feeling of ecstasy when you do something you thought impossible.
Tobio thought of how he got there, and Grimacing Girl's face immediately comes to mind. She gave him advice. She told him shortcuts. She warned him about the difficulty difference. She taught him a useless charm. She helped him be able to continue to play volleyball.
Tobio abruptly grabs the paper back, and runs out the door towards the vending machines. He needs to show Grimacing Girl his score and see that weird half smile on her face that he likes and maybe get a pat on the head or a pinch on the cheek because he's so proud of himself and he absolutely needs Grimacing Girl to know that she didn't waste her lunch periods on him and that he's not the hopeless case she thought he was.
Tobio sprints down the hallway, barely dodging staff and students.
He needs her to be proud of him.
-.-.-
Culture Notes
Azzasu*: You would have heard this before if you watched the anime, but it is the informal and shortened version of 'Arigatou Gozaimasu'. Commonly used by boys.
Charm**: A well known good luck charm technique in Japan. It apparently helps people get into a meditative state. If you want to try it, the kanji for person is 人. Downward left to right before a downward right to left.
School Ranking***: In Japan, you don't get a GPA in a class. You get ranked among the students in your year (Example: If you get an average of 80s in one class, you probably rank 300 out of 1000 students). It's meant to promote competition, but it's a flawed system because it implies that student self worth is measured by how well they do in school.
-.-.-
A/N
Hey guys! Thanks for reading this first chapter!
I decided to write this story because Tobio's middle school life isn't really mentioned other than that last junior high competition where he gets knocked off his pedestal in both manga and anime. So I wanted to explore it! Tobio is 13 here (middle school in Japan starts at 7th grade), and Nanoka is 14. They are young and immature, so expect a just as immature relationship between them(expect fluff and illogical reasoning).
As you have noticed, this story revolves around Tobio and Nanoka, with interchanging point of views. It's to keep everyone on the same page because despite being in the same school, they are 99% of the time in a different setting with a different mindset. When BLEEP comes into the story, their point of view will be added. Hopefully this wasn't too confusing.
I will also make many cultural references, because I sort of want to make this fic a little educational haha. If you have any question about Japanese language, culture, customs, whatever, ask! Everyone has to start somewhere, and it's the better choice compared to making stuff up about an actual, existing culture.
Special thanks to Bergliot-Mannerfor letting me bounce ideas off of her and just being super supportive of this story. Without you, I probably would have just left this story a plot bunny and never would have wrote it. She's the writer of Of Swans and Apple Trees, which is a beautifully written story about a foreigner's life in Karasuno. It touches on themes like culture differences and the general reception of white people in Japan, which most 'transfer-student' or 'foreigner' fics don't like to touch. Berg dives straight into it and irons it out for you guys.