S.F Chapter 1
"Computer, are you sure these guys are qualified to be my teammates?" a young girl asked. She was looking at the huge monitor that had pictures of eight boys. "Yes Miss." the computer replied in a female voice. "Why the extra guy, I just need seven." the girl said, enlarging the picture. "The extra boy has incredible computer ability which can help you navigate through the city." the computer explained. The girl put her arms on the back of her head; she had long black-green hair that stopped below the waste, her eyes were dragon shaped and had a golden like color, she was wearing a fighting suit that fit her snuggly, it was white but showed different colors in the light. "Well, it's up to the scale to decide if those boys can handle it." She took out an antique looking box and set it on the conference table; she opened it and inside it gleamed the dragon's rainbow scale.
"Alright, everyone, settle down." the teacher clapped, "we have a new student so please show some respect." A young boy came in with the same hair color scheme as the girl but shorter. "Ryoma Echizen, nice to meet you." he bowed. "Echizen just transferred here, so please be nice. And to make sure there isn't any confusion, Echizen here is a girl." the teacher explained. The class just stared wide eyed at Ryoma, Ryoma just yawned.
During the break a bunch of girls went up to Ryoma's desk asking her some questions, "So Ryoma if you're a girl, then why are you wearing the boys uniform?" one of the girls asked. "The skirt is way too short and it gets cold," she answered still reading her book, "besides there's nothing in the rules that says I can't." "Is your hair really that short?" another girl asked. "No it's actually longer but I use pins to hold it up since it's really annoying." Ryoma got up and left.
'It really annoys me that the girls always ask questions.' Ryoma sighed. "Excuse me but you dropped this." Ryoma turned around and saw a boy, he had short brown hair and his eyes were closed. He had the scale in his extended hand; Ryoma checked her pockets and realized that she dropped it. "Thank you." Ryoma said taking back the scale. "You should take better care of it, it seems important." he smiled. When he left Ryoma looked at the scale and noticed one of the colors is gone. 'I guess the computer was right on the first guy,' she smirked, 'let's see if it was right on the others.'
The day went on as normal as it can and before you now it it's lunch time, "Hey Ryoma, want to eat lunch with us?" the same girl from before asked. "No thanks." she instantly replied with a bored face. "Why?" the girl exclaimed. "I need to go to the library and do some research." she said stretching out her tense muscles.
'I wonder if there are any books on the Edo period and their fables.' Ryoma thought walking through the hallway. "Um, excuse me?" a voice asked, Ryoma turned around and saw meek looking guy, he was holding her scale. "You, uh, dropped this." Ryoma took back the scale and noticed another color was gone, "Thanks." she nodded. "Ah, you're welcome." he blushed. "Sorry to ask you this but do you know where the library is?" Ryoma asked barely remembering that she has no idea how to get around the school. "Mm-hm, just go straight down this hall and take a right, you can't miss it." he pointed. "Thank you." Ryoma bowed and left.
'Who would have thought that a meek looking guy would show up in the database let alone get one of the scale's colors.' she thought looking for the books on the Edo period. "Are you looking for something?" Ryoma turned around and saw a boy, he had black spiky hair and wore thick glasses. "I'm looking for some books on the Edo period and their fables." 'He's the one the computer recommended to work on the databank.' she thought, looking at him. "Well you're looking in the wrong place, follow me." the guy suggested.
He helped Ryoma find some books and taught her how to use the school's library computer to help her find them. "Thank you for the help." Ryoma bowed slightly, her arms full of books. "Not a problem," the guy's glasses gleamed, "Question, are you perhaps a tennis player?" "Yeah, I am." Ryoma answered surprised, no one was able to tell if she was a tennis player up to now.
Ryoma decided to eat lunch on the roof and read her books, 'There's nothing here that talks about the mountain the Monster lord is in. So how did his son find the information?' Ryoma thought eating an ongiri, 'maybe it's in one of the old records the headquarters keeps.' Before Ryoma could close the book the door flee open and knocked over the stack of books she had at the side. "Whoops, sorry." the boy said. He had red hair and wore a bandage on his cheek. "It's alright." Ryoma said picking up the mess. "Let me help." the boy crouched down picking up some books. "Hey, does this belong to you?" the boy held up the scale that was in between one of the books. "Yeah thanks" she answered.
"Mind if I ask something?" the boy asked handing her the scale, "Sure." Ryoma replied. "You're a girl right?" the boy stared at her. Ryoma looked blankly at him and said, "Yes I'm a girl, I'm surprised you could tell," she put a hair back behind her ear; "normally people would think I'm a guy, then, by a strange coincidence, they find out that I'm a girl." she smiled. The bell rang and they went to their different classrooms. Ryoma took out the scale and looked at it, another color disappeared. 'Guess I shouldn't underestimate the computer.' she sighed.
"Hey Echizen wait up!" Classes ended for the day and Ryoma was heading towards the tennis courts. "That's a tennis bag right? Are you going to try out for the team?" "Who're you?" Ryoma asked him, she noticed he had a unibrow. "I'm Horio and I may look it but I've been training two years in a tennis school." Ryoma just walked on ignoring him. "We have to sign up tomorrow?" Horio asked, "Yeah," one of the 7th graders replied, "A lot of the team members had to play matches so there isn't many people here." the other explained. "Yo, 7th graders want to play a game?" one of the 8th graders asked he was wearing a blue headband and he looked stuck up.
The game was to hit the can from service point but all three 7th graders weren't able to hit it. "Hey you why don't you give it a try," the 8th grader called out to Ryoma. "Oh, alright." Ryoma said grabbing her racket from her bag. "Echizen don't do it, you'll end up losing." Horio warned. "A regular serve isn't going to cut it, it's too heavy." she commented standing at service point. "W-what are you talking about?" the boy asked worryingly. "Cheater, there are rocks in there." Ryoma served the ball at the lid of the can and knocked it over, revealing small stones. "Cheaters." Horio pointed. "Grr, you're dead little twit." the boy growled. A ball suddenly hit the can and sent it flying in the air. "Lucky shot bet I can't do that again." Ryoma looked at the boy who hit the ball; he had spiky black hair a little longer than the last one, and violet eyes. "Yo, kid, I think this belongs to you." The boy threw Ryoma's scale at her; she caught it and noticed that another color disappeared. 'That's the fourth one today." Ryoma smirked, "Hey kid, want to play a set? I heard from the coach that you could do a kick serve." he pointed his racket at her. "Alright, but be prepared to lose." she declared.
Ryoma felt out the boy before unleashing her kick serve, the boy managed to return it on the third try. Ryoma switched to her dominant left hand and was about to serve until, "Time out, I quit." he yelled out, "All I really wanted to see was that kick serve." Ryoma shrugged and walked off. "Too bad Momo you could've won if you didn't sprain your ankle." the boy told him. "No, he knew, that's why he used his weak hand." Momo sighed.
Ryoma went to her headquarters to check something, "Alright computer you were right about the boys." Ryoma smiled. "I'm glad you admit that you are wrong." the computer replied. "Mind telling me these guys' names, you might want to start with the first one" she instructed. "Yes miss," the computer started processing the info, "The first one is Syuuske Fuji, a 9th grader, he is part of the tennis team, his hobbies are photography, and teasing his little brother and his teammates. His best subject is classics." The computer started showing the next one, "The second one is Takashi Kawamura, also a 9th grader, he used to take karate but now is in the tennis team, his hobbies are helping his dad with the sushi shop and working on his strength. His best subject is Home Ech." The red head picture appeared, "Eiji Kikumaru, another 9th grader, also part of the tennis team, his hobbies include: brushing his teeth and eating sweets. His best subject is gym." The last picture showed, "Takeshi Momoshiro, an 8th grader, one of the two 8th graders as a regular on the tennis team, his hobby is riding his bike. No particular subject that he excels at for now."
"What about that data specialist you were talking about?" Ryoma asked, taking out the pins in her hair. "That is Sadaharu Inui, 9th grader, also part of the tennis team, his hobbies are researching and creating new drinks, he also has a habit on collecting data of his opponents, his bests subjects are math and science." Ryoma started giggling when she was sitting in the chair. "Is something the matter, Miss?" the computer asked. "Oh nothing really," Ryoma got up still giggling, "just at the fact that I'm going to have some interesting teammates." Ryoma stood in front of an empty screen, unbuttoned her uniform and revealed the dragon shaped mark around her chest.