This is my very first fanfic and so sorry if you don't like it...but I'm new at this! And if you don't like it, please tell me why so I can improve it, thanks!! About the title, I just wanted something casual to get in tune with the atmosphere of the story.
And no, unfortunately I don't own PoT, just the OCs.
You may want to know these obvious things:
"Talking"
"Thinking"
O and for future reference, I've got some basic Japanese translations on the bottom and some Japanese grammar tips for beginners.
Well, here we go!! Officially launching my first fanfic...
"Nm...eto...the hiragana for 'ka' should be..."
The wannabe writer tugged at a handful of her brunette hair and finally threw her head down on her desk in defeat. She revived a few nanoseconds later and scratched her head in aggravation. Her scarlet eyes glittered a bit as she stared down at the list of hiragana she knew how to write. Its contents? Seven letters. "Mou..."
She couldn't do anymore than hate herself for not being able to write Japanese ABCs when she heard the familiar footsteps coming up the stairs.
"Oi, Aya!" her sister shouted, rudely barging in Aya's room without knocking. "Kaa-chan says to come down for din---are you crying?"
"Aoi..." Aya whined, "aren't you upset at all that you're not able to write decent hiragana?"
With a sigh, Aoi flopped herself onto Aya's bed, the light reflecting off her bleached hair. She started, "You know we've talked about this before..."
"I know, I know. But how am I supposed to become a successful writer if I can't even write more than seven letters?"
Aoi's eyes widened. "You can't even write more than WHAT?"
Aya just stared at her paper.
"We're Chinese, Aya," Aoi said, "you should be able to do better than that."
"We're half-Chinese, half-Japanese," Aya corrected, "and not all Chinese people are smart."
"Well, if you were able to focus more on your studies than drawing all that manga crap, you'd think you were intelligent enough to learn the entire ABCs, hm?"
"Not helping, Aoi."
"Be more optimistic! We've only been in Tokyo for a week, and you should've gotten yourself prepared. But instead, you wait until the last night, right before school starts..."
"So? What about you? All you did the past week was shop and cruise the city..."
"Hey! It's not my fault that we were stuck in China all our lives, but now that Dad's dead, Kaa-chan has to step in for us, doesn't she?"
"Well, yeah, but why Japan? We could've stayed in China!" Aya stood up from her seat in frustration and gathered up all her papers. "I...I feel really out of place here..."
"You'll get used to it." Aoi said, staring at a strand of her hair.
"Says you," Aya glared.
"I miss Dad." Aoi suddenly changed the topic. "I wouldn't have to reassure you like this if he was around...he always knew the right thing to say."
"Stop trying to make me feel ungrateful."
"Well, it is true, and I'm just saying that you can at least spend a minute or so and think about all the things that you've taken for granted."
With a sigh, Aya got up from her chair and started to walk out of the room. "Aoi, you coming---GAAH!! What are you doing?!"
She nearly jumped across the room to see her older sister reading a fan fiction that Aya had typed in Chinese on her laptop. She smacked Aoi on the head, shut her laptop off, and hugged it like it was her only source of life. "That's personal stuff!!"
"I always thought that writing was one of the few things that you were good at, but...you suck at that too! Go figure."
"How much of it did you read??"
"Enough to realize that I'll never want to read anymore of your fairytales again."
"What do you mean by 'fairytales'? I really worked hard on this! It's natural drama that could happen to anybody."
"Ha ha. You really are young, aren't you. You write about it, but...have you ever actually been in love?"
Aya rolled her eyes. "Of course! Hello? I'm fourteen here."
"But you've never gone steady with a guy." Aoi pointed out.
"Shut up."
Aoi laughed and jumped off the bed. "Okay, be that way. But a hint of advice: don't leave your laptop on your bed again."
A voice downstairs rumbled a few words in Chinese.
"Kaa-chan's starting to get really angry...we'd better go." Aoi walked out of the room, leaving Aya to sort out her thoughts.
"I guess I should put aside writing for a while and practice my Japanese...I'll be starting school tomorrow anyway..."
Aya grinned triumphantly as she made her decision. "Yeah...school...what was it called again? Seishun Gakuen or whatever? Hmm..."
She casually walked down the stairs and put her thoughts aside, all the while subconsciously thinking about her new school.
-THE NEXT DAY-
"O, ye lords..."
Aya stared at herself in the mirror. "PINK and GREEN? Have these people finally lost their sense of humanity?"
"It doesn't look so bad," Aoi looked at Aya's reflection over her shoulder. "In fact, I think it suits you rather well."
Aya did her best to calm down and not strangle her sister while a middle-aged woman grabbed Aya's bag. "Here," she handed it to Aya.
"Thanks, Ma," Aya took the bag and turned away from the mirror.
"Uh-uh, it's Kaa-chan now." Aoi said needlessly.
Aya ignored her. "Well!" she breathed. "I...guess I'm off, then. Catch you guys later!"
She dashed out her new house and stopped by the bus stop in the intersection of two streets. "Nm...school starts in about twenty minutes..." Aya looked around for the bus and decided to wait a while.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick...
Eleven minutes has passed, and there was still no sign of the bus. Aya slouched against a pole and stared at her watch impatiently. "Gawd...I'm gonna be late!! Where's the bus??" She looked around and still no sign of her ride. She ran a few meters right. No bus. A few meters left. No bus.
"WTF??? No, no, no, no, no...I'm really gonna be in for it now when a student arrives late, looking like an idiot, unable to write in Japanese..." She wanted to tug all her hair out when suddenly---BONK!!
"Eh?" Aya found herself staring at a sign of the bus schedule. She rubbed her hot forehead and felt dumb for a few seconds. "Has that been here for the entire time? Ah, well...let's see...the next bus should be here at---EHHHHH?!?!?!? WHAT?? THE BUS ALREADY LEFT THIRTY MINUTES AGO??? AND..."
"...the next bus isn't arriving till 10???" she finished out loud.
Tears of pity sprang from her eyes as she thought about how unfair her life was. "Moving? But why? I felt PERFECTLY happy about living in China. But...now..." Aya sighed.
"l...there's nothing to do but go home and pray that Aoi would be kind enough to drive me there..."
"Aoi? I'm home…"
"Huh???" Aoi jumped up from the couch at the sight of her younger sister at the door. "You're back so soon!! Did you get rejected already??"
"Seriously. I need you to drive me to school. I missed the bus. No complaining."
"Fine. Where to?"
"...To my school..."
"Well? The address?"
"..."
Aoi smacked herself on her forehead. "I guess I'll just wing it, but...at this rate, I'm not gonna drive you back home once you do get rejected from the school on your first day, okay?"
Aoi's car pulled up on a driveway and Aya got outside to make sure that the big white building was her stop.
"Seishun Gakuen!" she read the bronze kanji excitedly. "Yeah, this is it!!"
Aoi rolled down her window. "You sure you know where to go?"
"Sure. It's class D for 3rd years...and that's...that's...uh...look, just go, okay?"
"Fine. See ya in a full 6 hours, hopefully."
"Hmm...now that Aoi's out of the way, I can AT LEAST start fresh here...make myself seem like a better person...of course I'm already an hour late, but that's fine...class D..."
She entered one of the air-conditioned hallways and roamed around. Unfortunately for her, the classroom wasn't that easy to find... She went up a flight of stairs, passed by a few hallways, stopped by about fifty classrooms, and felt pitied once again.
"Arrrgghh…!! How am I supposed to know where to go if I can't even---... Sorry, old man...I think I'm going to runaway now! I know I sound selfish, but...a new home, a new school, a new country...I can't handle it!! Back in my old school, I could at least find my classroom...now, I---"
TMP! TMP! TMP!
Aya heard echoes of rushing footsteps. She neared a corner and saw a figure that was growing smaller by the second. "Huh? A late student...? My chance to ask for the directions!!" She summoned all the willpower in her and shouted, "Uh...a-ano...SUMIMASEN!!!"
SCREEEEEEEEECHHHH!!
"Hnya?" came the reply. He turned around. Aya saw that he had a band-aid on his cheek, and his red hair curled out a bit on the ends.
"E-E-Eto...I think I'm lost..." Aya sweatdropped at the weird reply.
"Hoi? Where are you going?" the guy's face shimmered with childlike curiosity.
"Uh...classroom D, I think..."
"I'm going there too, nya!!" he dashed up to her and Aya saw that he was actually pretty tall. "I had tennis practice this morning and I forgot my---ne, are you new?"
"Uh...un, today's my first day." Aya smiled. "My name's Aya Minase."
"Eiji Kikumaru!" he beamed, "Yoroshiku desu!!"
"Wow. Hyper. Very." Aya stared up at him, his mouth curled up like a cat's. "And wait...is he...SALUTING me or something?"
"Right this way, nya!!"
Eiji led---or sped---Aya down the hallway, nearly dragging her by her arm. Aya gripped her bag tighter when he suddenly stopped short in front of a door with a sign above it that said 9-D. As if he didn't sense Aya's nervousness, he slid open the door with a BANG!--- and dragged her in the classroom.
It seemed that the entire class was working on a test, and their concentration was shattered as they listened to Eiji babble, "Sensei, minna, we have a new student!! Tell them your name, Aya!!"
A series of laughter rippled through the room, and Aya looked at Eiji, who had rushed to sit down in his desk and hear her introduction, apparently oblivious about what he just said.
She finally opened her mouth after the laughter died down and said, "Well, now you know my first name, but my last name's Minase. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu..."
The class said a series of greetings that Aya didn't catch, but she saw Eiji lean over to whisper in a blind-looking guy's ear. She couldn't tell if the blind dude was smiling at her, or maybe he was just always smiling like that, but she politely smiled back.
She showed the teacher her schedule. "Welcome to Seigaku, Aya," he told her, "I hope you'll like it here...oh, we were just taking this really simple grammar test...would you like to take it?"
"A-A grammar test?" Aya wanted to run away.
"Yes. It's very, very simple. Elementary stuff. I'm sure you'll do fine!"
The teacher, not knowing that Aya can only read and write about twenty letters, which she crammed last night (there's fifty in the Japanese alphabet), handed her a sheet of paper and said, "Here…there's an empty seat behind Fuji. Fuji, raise your hand."
The blind guy raised his hand, his smile still pasted on his face.
"That boy. Sit behind him."
"Ah...okay...I guess..." Aya brushed her sweaty palms against each other and shuffled across the room rather awkwardly.
"H-Hi," she said to the guy named Fuji.
"Aya-chan, was it?" his voice was as calm and deep as a sea after a storm. (A/N if you've ever heard him speak, you know what I mean!) He was still smiling. "Kawaii no namae ne."
Aya laughed softly and sat in the desk. "Iya, I don't think it's cute at all, because my sister came up with it."
Fuji chuckled softly and resumed his test.
"So his name is Fuji...GAAAA!! Concentrate on the test and worry about blind people later!!!"
Aya managed to get a determined spirit when she faced her grammar test, but all she did was gnaw at her pencil and stare stupidly at the sheet of paper.
"Mmmm...'ae'...and I think that's a 'nu'...there's a 'ka'...dammit, why isn't there any kanji here??? If there were, it'd be a breeze...!!"
She stopped chewing on her poor pencil and looked around the room. Everyone was already on the second page! She looked at Fuji's back and bent her neck in an awkward position, trying to peek over his shoulders.
"Ah! I can see his answers...yosha, I'm going to have to cheat to get myself out of this one!! Nm...a little to the right...I still can't see over his head!! Maybe if I arched my back out like this...and bent my neck more to the right...wait---how did he get that answer for number 20? It doesn't make any---KYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
There was a swirl of colors, a sea of faces, and a million and one sudden cries before Aya suddenly noticed that she was on the ground, her neck contorted and twisted weirdly. She had hoped that she only screamed internally, but unfortunately she screamed out loud and everyone was staring at her, including Eiji and Fuji.
"Nani, Nani?? Aya? What happened, nya?!"
Aya opened her mouth to say something to the surprised Eiji, who appeared upside-down to her, but the first thing she noticed was the face beside Eiji---Fuji's surprised face---his eyes were opened and they were in a deep shade of azure.
"So he's NOT blind? Oh good. Now he's able to see me like this---"
"Nugh!" she tried standing up.
"Daijobukai?" Fuji asked her, surprised. Aya was nearly stupefied to see that he had his hands held in front of her.
"Arigatou---"
Before Aya could take his hand gratefully, a girl with big, red bangs jumped out of nowhere and pulled her arm, yanking her up from behind, nearly startling Aya to death.
The classmate gesticulated, "What-what were you doing?"
"Uh...I was...flexing my neck. Yeah! Uh...cramps. Had to do something," Aya shrugged, nodding slowly in an I-guess-this-is-how-it-goes way.
The classmate quirked an eyebrow. "You fell out of a desk stretching your neck?"
"Yeah!" Aya flexed her neck back and forth. "It feels...refreshed."
"..."
"I'm absolutely fine. Everybody, go back to doing your test stuff!"
"Aya...?" the teacher stood up and stared at her strangely. "I think you should go to the nurse's office...just in case...your...uh...cramps come back."
"...Do I get to skip the test if I go?"
"...H-hai..."
Aya smiled brightly. "Okay, then!"
The teacher gave Aya another weird look, then switched his glance to the girl who helped her up. "Shiho-san, could please take her?"
"Sure! Follow me," she grabbed Aya's wrist and they left the classroom.
"Ano...your last name's Shiho, isn't it? Kirei..."
The girl laughed, her straight black hair and cherry bangs bouncing because she's the type of girl who uses the right shampoo and conditioner. "Yeah, that's a rare last name, but you can just call me Miyu."
Miyu had a petite figure and was around the same height as Aya, and she wore her uniform quite cutely---her sleeves were rolled up, her pink collar-scarf thingy was tied Paris-styled around her slender neck, turquoise bangles hung from her wrists, and she wore uneven stockings.
"Wow...I feel kind of plain standing next to her..."
Aya started, "Gomen ne, Miyu...you didn't have to take me, you'll lose time for your test!"
"Oh, that? I was already done when you came in. It was beyond easy."
Aya felt her cheek muscle twitch. "Yeah...it...sure was, wasn't it? Aha ha..."
"So? How was it?" Miyu suddenly stopped walking and faced Aya, her eyes gleaming deviously.
"Eh? The school's pretty good, I guess, but I've only been here for---"
"No, no, no! I didn't mean that."
Aya gave Miyu a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"
"I'm talking about Fuji? You know, the guy you sit behind?"
"Huh? Well, he's pretty nice..."
"...what is she talking about?"
Miyu's face shifted from an excited look to an analyzing look. "Oh. I guess you're not like all the other girls in our school, then."
"Are you saying I'm weird?"
"Iya, I'm just saying that you're not as...fangirly."
"Why, is the bli---the Fuji guy that popular?"
"Hell, yes!! Almost all the girls in our class have been in love with him ever since they first saw him!"
"...Are you?"
"...No." Miyu's eyes melted dreamily. "I like someone else."
"Who?"
"...Tezuka Kunimitsu. You probably don't know him, but...here, how about this---" she raised her finger in an army-like fashion--- "follow me after school today to spy on the tennis club."
"What?" Aya thought out loud. "Spy? Tennis? WHAT??" she repeated.
"No one will know. I do it all the time!" she smiles as if there was no harm at all.
"How can you say that?? It's like...stalking people or something..."
Miyu blind a couple of times before bursting into laughter. "No, it's not like that..." she managed between giggles, "...just join the girls' tennis club!"
"...You're kidding."
"No, I'm serious. You don't have to be good at it. Not all, but most of the girls join just so they could watch the regulars. Plus, you have a good chance just like any girl in our class to get their attention...actually, you have a better chance! You're cuter than an average person."
"...Maybe I should take you to the nurse's office, Miyu...to make sure you feel fine..."
"No, really! I mean it! You've got less cat-ish eyes than an average Japanese girl...are you Japanese?"
"Well, I'm half-Japanese, half-Chinese."
"Ooh! A little bit of spice from both Asian races, hm?"
"...Really. I insist. Please let me take you to the nurse's office."
"C'mon! Take compliments gracefully, and join the tennis club with me! It'll be fun!! You promise you'll sign up tomorrow, okay???"
So, without Aya's consent, Miyu dashed down the hallway, all the while talking about Tezuka and tennis.
-AFTER THE DAY-
"The Japanese keyboard's so stupid!! No, I don't want THAT kanji, I want THIS one!!"
Aya smashed the keys and yelled in frustration once again. Suddenly realizing what she had done, she looked up to the screen, hoping she didn't delete anything.
It read:
Although some things weren't mentioned, hearts made of steel can still turn to rust.
Not wanting to think about Ryuchi anymore, she closed her eyes and listened to the humming of the night. Remembering his sweet voice when he said, "Kawaii no namae ne..."
"...Oh my God." Aya stared at the paragraph that she wrote. It sounded just like...
"Maji?!" she slapped her cheeks. "No way!! Not him again...!!"
She angrily smashed the delete button. "WHY-IS-IT-THAT-HE-KEEPS-COM-ING-IN-TO-MY-THOUGHTS?!"
She gasped for a moment and just breathed. "...Why..." she closed her eyes and imagined his eyes.
She felt herself smile although she didn't want to.
"Why do I feel so...happy? I don't care about the guy, I barely know him...plus, I should worry about other things now!! Like the fact that I'll be forced to sign up for the tennis club...it's a good thing that Fuji guy doesn't go there..." (A/N ...um...the main character's dense, so forgive me! sweatdrops)
"Yeah! I couldn't---I don't---care about a person who I barely exchanged two sentences with!!"
But unknown to her, the fateful blind dude that Aya couldn't care less about will actually turn out to be the beginning of her very own fairytale.
So how was it for a first try? Please review!! Constructive criticism is welcomed!
smiles brightly and makes "V" for victory sign
Translations:
"Eto" and "ano" --- sort of like "um" and "uh"
"Mou" --- sort of like a groan of "geez" or "Gawd"
"hiragana" --- Japanese ABCs
"kanji" --- Chinese characters that the Japanese picked up when they invaded China in WWII
"Oi" --- roughly like a "hey"
"Kaa-chan" --- informal way of saying "Mum"
"Sumimasen" --- "Excuse me"
"Un" --- like "yeah"
"Hai" --- like "yes"
"blah blah blah ne" --- It the "ne"s at the end, it's like something sarcastic Japanese people like to put at the end of their sentences that's roughly the same as "blah blah blah don't you think?" or "blah blah blah don't you agree?" They don't expect you to answer back.
"Ne, blah blah blah" --- Yes, there's a difference if you use it at the beginning of a sentence. It's kind of like a "hey" you say when you wanna start a conversation. Like: "Hey, how's the game going?")
HUGE TIP: (Echizen's "Mada mada dane" is kind of the same thing, it's like a sarcastic way of saying "You've got a ways to go, don't you agree?" NEVER USE IT IN ANOTHER SENTENCE LIKE: "YOU'RE MADA MADA DANE AT TENNIS." NO! NO! IT MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE!!)
"Yoroshiku desu" --- popular teenage/kiddyish way of saying "best regards"
"Yoroshiku onegaishimasu" --- polite formal way of saying "best regards"
"Kawaii" --- "cute"
CULTURAL TIP: Japanese people like saying "kawaii" at almost anything, especially the girls. So if you hear some Japanese girl say to another girl "You're very kawaii" or whatever, it doesn't mean they're gay, it's just like a common compliment.)
"no" --- Japanese participle
"namae" --- "name"
(so in other words, Fuji commented, "What a cute name.)
"Sensei" --- "teacher"
"Minna" --- "everyone," "everybody"
"Kirei" --- "pretty," "beautiful"
"Iya" --- "No," or "that's not it"
"Nani" "eh"--- like "what"
"Daijoubukai" or "daijoubu" --- it's like "Are you all right?" (or "alright" I get confused between those two words)
"Arigatou" --- "Thanks"
"Maji?" --- like "Are you serious??" or "Is this for real??"
Well, arigatou minna!! Thanks to everyone who read this!! Please review!!