Kasumi woke up on Monday morning rather grumpily. It wasn't like her, but she didn't really feel it necessary to go to her new school. Deftly, she changed from her nightgown to her new uniform then walked to the bathroom to examine it. The skirt was short, in her opinion, and she felt embarrassed about wearing it on a daily basis.

Kasumi smelled something pleasant from the kitchen below. There, her grandfather was happily flipping what seemed to be an egg on a piece of toast. As she made her way to her chair, he tossed the bread and it landed squarely on the plate in front of her. "Nice one, grandfather," she remarked with deep admiration in her tone. He did a clumsy bow, knocking over a tea kettle. Before Kasumi could say something, he caught it with his left foot then placed it back on the stove.

"Stop looking at me and eat so you can go to school," he said sternly, but with a grin plastered on his face, "It'll give the teachers a bad impression if you come to class late on your first day."

Kasumi quickly swallowed the last of her crust, and slipped on her large sports bag, filled with her tennis equipment and her school supplies. It seemed much bigger than her, but the bag weighed lighter than it looked. She put on her shoes at the front steps then called back, "I'm going, grandfather!"

Kasumi walked down a narrow street that she believed to be the way her grandfather had driven her a few days ago when they were to register her. The neighborhood was very calming, with many cherry blossoms adorning the sidewalk. She walked past a large house with a temple-like structure in the back. Interesting, she thought as she walked past, maybe I should visit it sometime.

After a while she realized she forgot which way her grandfather had turned. She kept calm, knowing that anxiety would cloud her judgment.

"Let's see," she said to herself, "People in this neighborhood should be headed the same way I am, so I should be seeing students with my school uniform..." She looked around, and finally saw a pair of girls that were wearing the same outfit as her. One had two side pigtails, and was speaking extremely loud to the other, which had outrageously long hair tied into two neat braids on the back of her head.

Kasumi kept a distance from them, hoping to not cast their attention to her. The girl seemed to be talking about something, maybe plans of some sort. Being curious, she sped up a little closer. "...And I was thinking we could make a cake for Ryoma-sama and the team!" she said excitedly.

"Umm..." the other one said uncertainly, "...it's not a bad idea, but isn't it a little troublesome?"

The loud one hit the other hard in the back with her hand. "Sakuno! Don't say that! You're baking is great! I tried one, and they're top notch!"

Then she drew closer as to whisper. "And it's for Ryoma-sama too, right?" The shy one flustered at the idea, and Kasumi noticed that her ears were a shade pink. Kasumi smiled to herself.

It seemed that this Ryoma person was pretty popular among them.

Kasumi stood outside the classroom door as the teacher instructed her to. "Wait out here until I can calm the class down. Then I'll introduce you," he had said. Kasumi felt her stomach flutter. She didn't know why she was so nervous. Was it because they were all her age? Was it because she was afraid? No, she thought to herself, I can't be scared.

The door opened. The teacher ushered her in. She glided in and turned to the class. Sure enough, her classmates were all the same age as her. They made her feel even more uncomfortable.

"Class," the teacher said, "I'd like you all to meet Kasumi Shitoyaka-san. She's not from around here. If a bit of extra credit interests any of you..."

She noticed most of the class perked up at this except one. He looked extremely sleepy and uninterested in everything around him. His golden brown eyes was barely focused on the floor, yet alone her. Something about this relieved her, knowing one person didn't care to see her.

"... it'd be nice to show Shitoyaka-san around." He motioned her to a seat near the windows. She timidly skipped over and sat down.

Kasumi struggled to keep her eyes open. She knew it was disrespectful, but in her view it was pointless. She was raised in America, and she already knew English.

Everyone else seemed to be working hard in this class, except that one guy again.

He showed more interest in watching dust coat on the ground rather than the textbook he was laying his face on.

Kasumi switched her attention to the window on her left. It was a perfect spring day; pure blue skies, and the merrily shining sun. She watched the fluff-like bodies of clouds, wondering what the birds sounded like outside...

"Shitoyaka!" Kasumi jerked back. The teacher glared at her, slapping a pointer on his hand. Some students also turned to look.

"Since you think the window is more important than my lesson," he said with a mock grandeur, "I guess you don't mind doing the entire lesson on the board." The class murmured. Kasumi sighed. She was going to hear about this at home.

She pushed back her chair to stand then walked up to the front. "I would be honored to, sensei. But may I be so bold to inquire the usage of one of your textbooks?"

The teacher did not know how to respond to this. Was she acting fresh with him, or was it sincere respect? He handed her the textbook. She flipped through it delicately, as if it were some ancient text. Kasumi then picked up a piece of chalk, placing the tip on the smooth surface of the blackboard.

Witnesses didn't see what happened next. It was reported that her hand flew across the board, the chalk a white blur in her hand. The chapter began to materialize on the board, alongside them were answers. After a few long minutes, the board was complete filled. Jaws dropped, the teacher mustered enough to say, "Umm...Sh-Shitoyaka...y-you can s-sit down n-now..." She placed the book neatly on the sensei's cluttered desk, and obediently sat back down.

"Wow! I still can't believe it!" Tomoka said for the umpteenth time.

She was the girl with pigtails Kasumi had secretly used to find a way to school. Her shy friend, the one with braids, was there too, trying to make her loud friend calm down. Her name was Sakuno Ryuzaki. Her last name sounded familiar to Kasumi. Maybe her grandfather knew someone with that name.

It was lunchtime, and Tomoka had literally dragged Kasumi to where she and some of her friends were eating. Seated with them were three other boys. One had bowl-cut hair, and his name was Kachiro. He was considerably small for his age, Kasumi registered. Next to him was a taller boy with a somewhat shaved head. His name was Katsuo. The two seemed to be quiet in nature, but they were very friendly.

The last one, however, couldn't be farther away from that. With eyebrows that joined together at the middle, Horio was as annoying as Tomoka. Kasumi had a random thought that the two of them should become a couple, and set a record for the most arguments in a marriage. Horio had insisted that Kasumi cheated, copying the answer sheet that the teacher was holding the whole time. It was the latter fact that he had failed to accompany in his claim. Since the two were creating a disturbance of what should be a peaceful break between classes, Kasumi finally told them both to argue it after school.

Kasumi now reached into the front pocket of her tennis bag and pulled out a bento box, placed it on the table in front of her, and lifted the cover off.

Her bento looked like a tennis court. There was rice on the bottom with meats and vegetables, hidden by a thin sheet of seaweed. Single strands of noodles were used to create the lines of the court. In the middle of this court was not a miniature net (which mildly disappointed Kasumi), but an egg yolk designed to resemble a tennis ball. She tried to eat it before it drew any attention, but to no avail.

"You play tennis?" Horio asked, staring at the painstakingly made bento. She covered her face with her hair and nodded quickly, replying with a mumbled "Do you?"

She regretted this dearly, because when hearing this, Horio straightened up in his chair, folded his arms, and announced, "Yes. As a matter of fact, I've had two years of tennis experience!"

Katsuo whispered, "And it still didn't help at all." Kasumi lifted a napkin to her face and concealed a laugh with a cough.

After lunch, the group she was with quickly left to where they said was the tennis courts. Kasumi tried to follow them, but she lost sight of them once she had stepped foot outside. She wandered around aimlessly, hoping that something or someone would help her.

Finally, when she was about to lose hope, she heard it: the familiar sound. Pock. Pock. It was a tennis ball meeting a racket, she just knew it. She hurried to the source of the sound and found what she was looking for.

There were courts aligned side-by-side, and on each one of them was a match. Kasumi saw Tomoka and Sakuno on the outskirts of the courts, behind the fence. Sakuno was desperately trying to calm her friend down, who apparently was cheering something like, "GO RYOMA-SAMA!" Kasumi felt sorry for whoever this Ryoma character was, knowing that Tomoka was just extremely a pain in the-

She decided to watch one of the matches going on. Her eyes focused on the far left court. Here stood a boy, who Kasumi predicted to be one year her senior that wore a green bandana on his head. His expression implied that he was pissed, and he made strange hissing noises. On the other half was another guy, about the same age, with his hair somewhat spiked up.

"Hey, Mamushi," he called out to the bandana guy, "Are you too scared to get serious with me?" He looked even angrier and yelled back, "Shut up!" He curved his racket and hit the ball in a different motion that what Kasumi would have anticipated. The ball bounced into the court, and swerved around. It was completely out of her conception. Suddenly remembering why she came, Kasumi turned to Sakuno, who had now given up on taming Tomoka. "Where's the tennis coach?" she asked. Realizing that the question was directed to her, Sakuno jumped up involuntarily.

Regaining her composure, she pointed to a figure who was on the right gate of the courts wearing a pink outfit. Kasumi thanked her and began to approach her. Pock. Pock. "Out." Kasumi said aloud. Sure enough, the small felt clump whizzed passed the line of the court. As she passed, she didn't hear the boy in the white cap mutter "show-off".

Ryoma adjusted his hat then bounced the ball several times on the grass court. After a couple of them, he threw the ball overhead. As he hit the ball, he flicked his right hand. The ball landed in the service area, then curved away from expected. His sempai, who had tan hair, roared "GODDAMN!" Ryoma, rather satisfied, said to his sempai, "Mada mada dane." As he said this, he didn't hear the new student with brown hair and eyes say to herself "Show-off."