TOMODACHI NO I-RO-HA!
A Hakuouki SSL collab fanfic
By Icchan & Gannello
"I want to shine! I want the people to know I exist! I want them to know that I am who I am, so take it like a man and eat it if you have any problem, or I'll shove it down to your throats!"
- Akane Sanada
PROLOGUE
STORY OF AKANE SANADA
A chorus of laughter as the perpetrators were caught by their misdeed sometime ago, unaware of a silent chuckle coming from a red-haired female. The Student Council president, Hijikata Toshizo, knew all too well on whose handiwork was it as he looked to one of his younger members, Todo Heisuke, catching the loud laughter of the sophomore before concluding on the culprit. Upon seeing her face, however, did he notice that she was giving him a playful wink as if telling him that she's just doing what she's told. Well, the male said with a sigh, it's still the first day so he'll let her pass.
"Nice one there!"
"Yeah, give me five!"
As Heisuke and the red-haired female meet after the assembly, the two exchange a high-five as he grinned at her exellent work. "You sure made a fool out of them! I don't think they'll even consider doing that to Chizuru-sempai next time." He said as the two of them walked towards their classroom before their adviser arrives. "But, man, won't your club president go have a fit on your for misusing the equipment?"
"Don't worry," The female said, raising a finger and giving it a wave. "I'm sure Hanzo-sempai won't mind. Anyway, if things get any worse, that's where you'll come in." She pointed out with a cheerful tone on her voice.
"You're abusing my power as the Student Council member, you know that?"
"Just tell Toshi-sempai that it's for Chizuru."
Heisuke could only sigh, shaking his head and mentally bothered on how in the world the two of them have met. It was only after the last quarter of the previous school year did he meet up with her, an aspiring journalist and photographer and a new member of the Broadcasting & Newspaper club, and knew about her after years of not meeting due to changing schools. It was still a shock that she remembers him so well- her sharp mind seem to be one of her key points as an individual- and, yet, he knew little about her.
Sanada Akane, formerly Sarutobi Akane, was the daughter of a divorced wife and the eldest out of the seven, younger siblings of hers. Back when they were at a young age of three, the thee of them plus Ibuki Ryounosuke, another childhood friend, were buddies and always playing together. It wasn't until her mother got divorced when Akane was around seven and took her children did the two separated and he did not heard of her since. Though she uses her mother's maiden name (Sanada), some people tends to call her 'Sarutobi' or, to those close to her, through her nickname 'Saru-chan' (though the aforementioned club president and some call her 'Baka Saru' or 'Stupid monkey'). She was a bright student, an aspiring writer and takes photography as her personal hobby, claiming that taking pictures will help her store her memory of good times more.
The Student council have records of her and have known her personally- asides Heisuke, one of the younger members, who has a closer relationship with her than anyone else- though on what type of relationship they have with her differs from one member to the other. It was easy to say that she have connections with them, but what they don't know is that the only reason she is helping them is due to their friendship, otherwise she rather not meddle with anything else. Hijikata, though he doesn't get along with her most of the time ("Stop disturbing the peace! And, no, I'm not going to agree on having my men dress up in skirts for a school production, that's out of the question!" "But Kondo-sensei said ye-" "He gave you candy again, didn't he?"), knew that she doesn't meant harm and even sometimes ask her for favors, and the rest seems to have a good interaction with her though some find it shady that three, certain members of the student council tend to talk to her a lot more than suppose to be. Other than these things, it seems that she can be passed off as that jovial, mischievous and cunning but a person whose heart is in the right place.
Yep, pretty much sums up Akane... in Heisuke's thoughts.
"THANK GOD WE MADE IT!"
"SHE'S NOT HERE YET? HALLELUYA!"
As the two friends arrived at the door to their classroom, they were greeted by an odd looks from their classmates as they only gave them a glare in return. Seeing that no one was still in the teacher's desk means that she's not here yet; being late on the first day and on her own class would mean trou-
"Didn't I told you two idiots not to shout inside the classroom?"
Speak of the devil. Heisuke and Akane immediately ran to their seat before their heads become the next target of their teacher's weapon of choice as the brunette-haired homeroom teacher of 2-A, Tsukishiro Hanae, entered the classroom with a bat slinging on one hand and holding books with another as she headed towards her table and placed the books down. A woman of thirty-two, many have claimed that she is single and won't get any boyfriend thanks to the fact that, in her youth, she was known as a Delinquent by the name of 'Devil Bat Hanae' who uses baseball bats as her weapon and gets herself in more troubles than most male delinquents out there. How in the world she got a boyfriend at this age- a thirty-nine year old teacher name Ryuudo- is a mystery for the class, but let's not go over the details.
"Alright, class!" Hanae spoke, tapping the baseball bat lightly on the board. "New term, so get your priorities straight and do your homeworks!" Normally, she would be very jolly and easy to talk to, but everyone in the school knew how temperamental she can get. It was thanks to Kondo Isami, a fellow teacher and the Student coucil's adviser, that got her into the job of teaching so she's very grateful of him and tends to drag him off (sometimes against his will) with her to some drinking bar or someplace similar. Oh, and the fact that anyone messes with her will end up being hit by said bat, but that's common knowledge to anyone who knows Hanae-sensei.
The brown-eyed homeroom teacher looked as a hand was raised, gesturing the student to stand up before a female with black hair stood up, clearing her throat. To everyone, she looks relatively normal as if she was the straight and normal guy out of all the comedic-induced characters in the show, but what makes her unique from most normal people in the comedy-induced characters is that she is wearing what seems to be an eyepatch, covering her right eye. There have been many rumors about it; from her having an accident, her stabbing her eyes with a pen by accident, to some absurb ones like she sold her eye for an ability to be great at kendo, her eyes was taken away one time while she was fighting a rival school, or even that the Student Council knew how dangerous she is so they decided to do something about it and threaten her about the eye. Hell, there was even a ridiculous rumor about her being a reincarnation of a one-eyed demon whose powers are stored by an eyepatch and must not removed unless they want to face a demon strong enough to destroy the humankind.
Of course, that last part was from the Occult club, but they make it sound so ridiculously real that it was even part of the newspaper once. Hijikata have to bring that one down and claim that it is not true, though nobody knows that he, too, keeps perfect vigilant whenever she's around. Not that anyone needed to know, but...
"Sensei," The female in an eyepatch said with a normal tone, scratching the back of her head. "I think we ran out of chalk, would it be a bother if we ask for more so the next teacher won't have the trouble of asking someone else?" Hanae-sensei thought of it for a while before she gave a nod of approval at the female student. "Thank you very much, sensei!" And, with that, she sat down and listened once more as their homeroom teacher spoke once again to the class.
Disregarding the eyepatch, she is a model student to almost every sophomore- polite, concern to her fellow teachers and classmates and ready to help to those who are in need, not to mention quite good in sports- but it was the fact that she is the captain of the kendo club that made her earn fans from school, even those who are curious about the eyepatch of hers. With her abilities matching the two, top members of the kendo club, Nakagura Shinpachi and Harada Sanosuke- who are, ironically, also part of the Student council- it was no surprise how she gain the ranks and become the female captain of the team. To make things even interesting, said two male students from the Third year are also part of the fans and that she is not aware about it.
Oh, and that her name is Yagyuu Jyuubei, after the famous samurai of the same name. Even Akane finds it bothersome as well how the hell her parents came up with that name, even though Jyuubei always claims that her parents are just too doting to her. Asides the quirks, she seems to be relatively more normal than the students (or, in easier terms, most characters in this story).
As the bell finally rang, signalling the end of the period, the students prepared for their next period as Jyuubei went over to Akane's table, watching the red-haired reporter-wannabe as she write something onto her notebook.
"Doing your 'reports' about the people you know?" Jyuubei asked, tilting her head a bit. "You're really starting to act a lot like a journalist." She said with a small giggle at the thought, smiling at her classmate and friend as Akane nodded in return.
"I want to keep tabs on what I know about everyone," She replied before closing her notebook shut. "You know, so I won't forget. If I don't forget them, they won't forget me, that's my philosophy."
"You're very interesting, you know that?"
"Souji? I didn't know you're here too!"
"Haha! Yeah, well I'm going to ask the same to the two of you."
Just as Shinpachi was about to answer their vice-president's question, Akane finally arrived, panting for breath, as she gave a grin to the three 'sempais' of hers.
"Sorry, last class was a killer." She didn't dally long, shuffling on her bag before pulling out three envelopes, one for each of them. "I think these will be fine, Souji-sempai. But, really, let's do it this year and have Hijikata wear a mayonaise suit, I'm sure Yukimura-sempai won't say no to how cute he is." A mischievous smile appeared from the brunette's face, to the other two's dismay, as he nodded at her agreement before she turn her attention towards the two. "We had volleyball for Physical Education a while ago and I got enough shots of Jyuubei-chan doing a mean strike. You should have seen it in action, she was awesome! I figured those pictures would do for now."
Souji Okita could only stare at his fellow members in both awe and disgust, wondering where in the world their sanity went whenever the topic of their school crush and idol comes to play.
As soon as they gave her the payment and left, promising of meeting next week for fresh batch of pictures, the student waited for a bit before she counted her money, a wicked smile adorning onto her face.
"Oh, yes. School festival, that mayonaise costume will be your costume. He he he."
Somewhere, Hijikata Toshizo shuddered. He's not sure why, but he just did.
END OF PROLOGUE: REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK, SANADA AKANE'S STORY
Tags: Hakuouki SSL, OC, fanfiction | Words: 1999 | Writer: Icchan