[4/7/09]
Minako dozed soundly as the sun began to peek through the curtains. And by dozed I meant she slept tangled in her sheets, her limbs sprawled about with her mouth gaping and a small trail of drool running down the corner of her cheek.
A knock came at the door, instantly rousing the doing girl. "Hey are you awake?" Yukari called from the other side of the door.
"huh, what?" Minako replied delirious.
"Don't tell me you just woke up..." Defeat was heavy in Yukari's voice. "You're going to be late."
"Late..." The word slowly sunk in, then all at once Minako understood her situation. "Oh noooooo!" She wailed as she threw off her covers and hopped out of bed. "I'm going to be late! I going to be...noooo."
Yukari let out a heavy sigh as she listened to Minako thud about clumsily. "Oh well I'm going to wake your brother up. Don't take too long." She spoke as she turned her back to the door. "Not even a full day and they're already causing trouble. Hopefully the brother will be different."
Yukari made her way to the end of the hall on the second floor. She was about to knock on the door to Minato's room when the door swung open revealing the blue hair to already be dressed and ready for school. Noticing Yukari his lips tugged into a gentle smile. "Good morning."
"G-good morning." She stumbled over her words in surprise. "I see you're already dressed to go."
"Let me guess..." Minato looked absently at the ceiling, he could faintly hear the sound of water. "My sister isn't ready is she?"
"Nope." Yukari replied flatly with a roll of her eyes. "It's the first day of school. How could she forget."
Minato gave a small chuckle. "She's always been like that. Don't worry too much though." He smiled and made their way for the stairs.
"We can't just leave her though! She'll have no idea where to go." Yukari protested. Sure she didn't know much about the girl, but she was a little offended that her brother was so prepared to leave her.
"Sorry I'm late!" Came a shout as Minako came LEAPING down the stairs and rushing to catch up with Yukari and her brother. With a quick brush of her skirt the auburn hair smiled. "Ready to go?"
Yukari looked at Minako in a mix of shock and awe. The girl was dressed and ready to go and not a bit of her was disheveled. Her hair was neatly done up in a ponytail and accessorized with hairclips. Her uniform was spotless and even her bow was perfect. She was beautiful. "...How did you?"
"Told you not to worry." Minato smiled. "Shall we?"
Yukari looked between the twins but could only shrug. They were going to make for an interesting year.
"So, that's it." Yukari pointed out the window as the train trudged along. In the distance a school slowly came into view. "See? There it is."
Minako was the first one to look and quickly approached the window. "Bro! Look! Look!" Her voice was filled with excitement as she pointed out the window, a twinkle in her eye. She earned a few strange looks from her actions, but the girl was too excited to care.
Minato huffed out a smile. "I see it."
The train ride quickly came to an end and soon they found themselves walking the grounds of Gekkoukan. "Well, this is it. We're here. Welcome to Gekkoukan High School. Hope you like it." There was that smile again. A genuine smile from Yukari. Minato couldn't tell what caused his smile that followed, the school or Yukari.
"It's so big." Minako said as she glanced over the ground, it seemed to just keep going and going. They took in a deep breath, the first of the semester. They waved to passing students as they entered the foyer and found their lockers.
"You two okay from here?" Yukari asked somewhat in a hurry. "You should go see your homeroom teacher first. The Faculty Office is right there to the left." She gestured down a narrow hallway to the side. "...And that concludes the tour. Do you have any questions before I go?"
The twins shook their heads in unison. Weird.
"Okay." Yukari waved. "Guess I'll see you later." She hadn't made it two steps before she stopped and looked over her shoulder. "Hey...about last night...Don't tell anyone what you saw, okay? ...See ya later."
They both wore confused expressions. Which part of last night? The strange coffins or that she had a gun? They doubted anyone would believe them anyway. They shrugged it off and made their way for the faculty office.
As soon as they walked in a teacher in a pinkish-brown jacket took note of them. "Oh, are you the new students."
"Yes, ma'am." Minako said with a smile while her brother gave a simple nod.
The teacher thumbed through a few sheets of paper. "Minato and Minako Arisato...11th grade, correct?" The two nodded in confirmation. "Wow, you've lived in a lot of different places!" The two gave a weak laughs. It was true. They had been moved around a lot throughout their childhood. "Let's see...in 1999, that was ten years ago."
Unknown to the teacher, Minako had begun to bite her lip while Minato stiffened a bit. This was the part where teachers got to that bit of information.
"Your parents-" The teacher inhaled sharply. There it was. "I'm sorry...I've been so busy, I didn't have time to read this beforehand."
The Arisato twins were extremely close. But it wasn't because their childhood was always rainbows and playtime. Quite the opposite really. Roughly 10 years ago they had been in the Tatsumi Port Island. In the middle of the night while driving along Moonlight Bridge...there was an accident. Neither one of them could remember the details. All they remembered was waking up in a hospital bed and being told that their parents had died. A miracle that the two of them survived. Since then they were moved between relatives who tried to care for them. More often than not they were treated unkindly. In the end it looked like the twins only had each other.
The teacher cleared her throat, sensing the atmosphere had grown tense and wanting to change the subject. "I'm Ms. Toriumi. I teach Composition. Welcome to our school." She smiled at them.
"Nice to meet you!" They both smiled and bowed.
"Wow, such enthusiasm." Toriumi replied, more to Minako than Minato. The sisters cheery disposition was clearly not evenly distributed between the two of them. "Have you seen the classroom assignments? You're in 2-F, that's my class. But first, we need to go to the auditorium. the Welcoming Ceremony will be starting soon. Follow me."
In the auditorium the Arisato sibling found themselves sitting side by side in a sea of other students, perks of having the same last name. On stage, the principal was currently giving a speech. A speech that no one seemed to really care for. Minato had even gone so far as too putting on his headphones, much to his sisters protest.
"Psst...hey..." Minato felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around he found another student trying to get his attention. "You came to school with Yukari this morning, right? I saw you walking together. Hey, I have a question. Do you know if she has a boyfriend?"
Minato gave the boy a once over as he pondered the question, he looked plain. His thoughts turned to Yukari and her possible boyfriend. She had never mentioned one in the short time he knew her so it seemed unlikely, but at the same time he felt that there had to be a guy who made sure to sweep her off her feet before anyone else did...or was she the type of girl that was single yet had boys constantly falling at her feet. He honestly didn't know for sure...suppose he could tell the truth.
"She does." Or he could lie.
"Bro!" Minako said just above a whisper as she glared at her brother.
"Man, I knew it..." The student sounded defeated. "I mean, why wouldn't she? ...Wait, how well do you know her?"
Minato didn't reply. Only smiled as he turned around in his chair.
"I hear talking!" Another teacher spoke up. "I believe it's someone in Ms. Toriumi's class..."
"Be quiet!" Ms. Toriumi said shushing them. "You're going to get me in trouble!"
Minako did her best to cover her giggle. "Already starting trouble bro."
The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully. They met all of their teachers and were simply given a list of things they'd need for the year. Standard first day stuff. Minato had begun packing his things when another student approached him.
"S'up, dude? How's it goin'?" The student wore his blazer open and a baseball cap on his head. Weren't all of those against the uniform regulations?
"um...who are you?" Minato cocked his head to the side.
"I'm Junpei Iori. Nice to meet you!" Apparently he was keen on becoming friends. "I transferred here when I was in the eighth grade. I know how tough it is bein' the new kid...So I wanted to say, 'hey.' ...See what a nice guy I am!"
Minato gave a stifled laugh that turned into a smile. "Thar's Junpei. I'm Minato." He said introducing himself simply.
"Hey, it's Yuka-tan!" Junpei announced as a figure of pink entered Minato's field of vision. "I didn't think we'd be in the same class again."
Yukari sighed heavily. "At it again, huh? I swear, you'll talk to anyone if they'll listen. Did you ever think you might be bothering someone?"
"What?" Junpei sounded genuinely hurt. "I'm just bein' friendly."
"If you say so." Yukari rolled her eyes before she turned to Minato. "Anyway, looks like we're in the same homeroom..."
"It must be fate." Minato gave her a innocent smile. A part of him enjoyed teasing her.
"Fate? Yeah, right." Yukari gave a small laugh. However, her laugh couldn't hide the slight blush of her cheeks. "Still, I'm a little surprised."
"Um, hellooooo" Junepi called attention back to himself. "Are you forgetting I'm in this class too?" Junpei huffed out his chest, proud of his presence. "By the way," his gaze turned to Minato. "I heard you came to school with Yukari and some other cutey this morning. What's up with that? C'mon, gimme the dirt!"
"Who's a cutey?" a fourth voice joined in.
"Oh my god, she's here!" Junpei squealed. Literally squealed. "Dude, you're a chick magnet!" He patted Minato on the back before turning back to the red haired girl. "Hello gorgeous, I'm Junpei."
Minako gave a shy laugh as she smiled. "I'm Minako! Nice to meet 'cha Junepi."
Junpei could feel his heart melting. "Dude, how did you score two cuties on your first day? You're a master player!"
"W-what are you talking about?!" Yukari seemed offended. NO ONE had been scored and NO ONE here was a player. "We live in the same dorm and SHE'S his sister!"
Junpei mouthed a silent 'oh'.
"There's NOTHING going on, okay? Why are people even talking about it?! Now you have me worried..." Yukari sighed. Just what she needed, rumors on the first day of school. "Hey, you didn't say anything to anyone about...you know what, did you?"
The two shook their heads.
"Okay good." Yukari let out a breath of relief. They seemed to know how to keep secrets. That was good. "Seriously...don't say anything about last night, alright?" She may have spoken in a not so hushed tone as Junpei was now giving the trio strange looks. "Wh-what?"
"L-last night?" Junpei stammered, his mouth dry as his mind burned with images.
"W-wait a minute! Don't get the wrong idea!" Yukari put up her hands in protest. "I just met him yesterday, and there is absolutely NOTHING between us. Geez...I've gotta go." There was that Yukari sigh again. "I've got something to take care of for the archery team." She made her way toward the classrooms exit. "But, you better not start any rumors!" She jabbed a finger in their direction, more specifically Junpei. The three of them shared a laugh.
"Who cares? No one takes rumors seriously, anyway. She's so paranoid..." He waved Yukari's' threat off. "But hey! It's you guys's first day here, and people are already talkin' about you! Believe it or not, she's actually pretty popular. You da man!" Minato made a silent note that his suspicion of Yukari was accurate. "Hehehe, this is gonna be a fun year! I can feel it!
The twins didn't head straight home after school. They decided to stop by the local sites, especially the takoyaki stand near the station.
"Welcome back." A voice welcomed them. It was Mitsuru. She had her eyes turned down toward a book but it felt as if she had waited for them. They waved their hellos but quickly decided to head to their rooms.
On the way up the twins passed by another resident of the dorm. He had silver hair and a band-aid resting above one eyebrow. His jacket was cooly cast over one of his shoulders. A thick aura of confidence exuded from him as his eyes remained sharp and hungry for something. He smirked at them as he passed. One of the twins found her eyes lingering a bit longer than they should have.
"I'm going out for a bit." The silver hair said calmly. Mitsuru glanced from her book. "Didn't you read the newspaper? There's a lot going on."
Mitsuru's lips curved into a frown. "...I know. People who had no problems before are suddenly developing acute cases of Apathy Syndrome...I've seen it in the news quite often lately. They say it's due to stress, but..." Mitsuru let her eyes wander. Something that seemed unsightly for a woman of her grace.
"Yeah, right." The boy scoffed. "It has to be THEM. Otherwise, it's not worth my time..." His voice almost seemed like a growl.
"You have a one-track mind...Will you be okay on your own?" Her voice seemed to carry a tone of worry. "The Chairman will be here for the next few days, but after that I can-"
The boy just waved her off. "Don't worry. I'm just getting a little practice." The boy smiled and his eyes flickered as if on fire. He was gone.
Mitsuru closed her book and sighed. "This isn't a game Akihiko..." She held herself tightly. She hoped he'd be okay.
TBC...
A/N: Okay from here on the pacing will HOPEFULLY move us along a bit faster as i'll be skipping past empty/useless dates for the most part. I'll add in a bit of filler information for those probably for certain things. I'm just using this as character building. YES we shold already know who Yukari/Junpei/etc. are but what's important is establishing the Twin fool's relationship and there personality traits. That and technically since this is a retelling technically EVERYONE is on the drawing bored... Well, see you next time.
