"So, why do you like Imadori?" Asuka asked the ginger girl. Asuka, Keiko and Tera all sat in the gingers room. Each girl was eating in front of their individual laptops. Tera closed her computer halfway and looked toward the girls. "Well it all began in Junior High..."
(2 years ago)
Little Tera was on her way home from school. She was on a bus sitting by the window; she'd open her phone and begin to dial a number.
"Hey mommy, are you still coming to Japan tomorrow..? Oh..business...that's okay. N-no I'm not disappointed, I just...Uh yeah, Yoichi's fine, he was sick though and he had to stay at home today...Okay, I'll talk to you later..I lo-..."
The phone would hang up and the small girl hung her head low. "...ve you..."
The bus stopped and she departed. Immediately upon stepping into the rain her clothes began to soak.
'This sucks, I forgot my umbrella at school. I didn't want to get off here, but this is the only way I can avoid getting sick.'
She shivered as the rain hit her skin. "It's so cold."
As she continued to walk, the girl tripped over her own feet and landed straight into a puddle.
Up walked a blonde boy with a red umbrella."Need a hand?"
The blonde boy helped up the small ginger, "Here take my umbrella. Looks like you need it more than me."
She took it from the boy and held the umbrella close, "Thank you so much."
He smiled, "Ehhh, I can't just leave you here. Let me walk you home."
She looked up at the boy, 'He's the one. He's the one I'm gonna marry.'
(Present Day)
Tera set her food down, "I loved him ever since. But besides that fact…SWIMMING TRYOUTS ARE TOMORROW!"
The ginger screamed loudly as she jumped up and down on her bed. Asuka and Keiko sat at her table in her room. They both looked up from their laptops and watched the girl jump on her bed in excitement.
Asuka put her hand on her cheek, "We've established this."
Tera jumped off her bed, "So are you two gonna tryout?"
The brunette shook her head "Nah, track is more of my thing, but i'll cheer you on."
The blonde raised her eyebrows, "Umm, have you even practiced swimming?"
The crimson haired girl poked out her lip "No, I have no pool to practice in. But I still think I have a good chance at getting on the team. I was the junior champ in Middle School."
The two girls gave their tiny friend a thumbs up "Well good luck."
Tera opened her blinds to see the night sky. "Hey, I need to go buy a swimsuit, if you guys are sleep by the time I get back, make sure you turn off my light first. Yoichi and I are saving up to buy a new place, and we really don't need an expensive light bill."
The two nodded and continued on their computers. Tera walked past Yoichi's room and tapped on his door "I'm going out, i'll be back soon."
She made sure she grabbed her wallet this time before she left, and she was off into the city.
There was a local sports store open about a block away. She entered the store and picked up one of the athletic swimsuits.
It was a typical blue one piece, "Hmm, I guess I should get the basic one."
She went to a dressing room and tried on her swimwear.
She sighed 'Ugh, why must they put the mirror outside of the individual rooms? Well it does fit right. But I want to see how it looks. Mmm okay, i'll just look for a second.'
She walked out into the hallway and looked at herself in the mirror.
'This isn't so bad; I guess i'll get this one as I thought.'
She turned around and saw..."IMADORI-SENPAI!?"
Before he was able to see her, she slithered back into the dressing room and got changed 'Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Why is he here? I can't leave now, if I do what if he asks me what I bought? What if he asks me to try the swimsuit on? What if I tell him no and he hates me...or worst...what if I say okay and he thinks my body is disgusting?'
She ran her fingers through her hair and pulled it at the roots, 'Why am I trapped in a room again? Ya know what; I will no longer be controlled by my own emotions. I'm going to the cashier!'
The ginger walked out and looked around, 'He's not even here anymore.'
She looked at her phone "TEN!? BUT I GOT HERE AT EIGHT!" The girl facepalmed as she walked over to the cashier 'I guess I was in that dressing room waiting for him to leave longer than I thought.'
She made her way back home and crashed in her bed...the light was never turned off.
(The Next Day)
It was after school and Tera was as ready as ever for tryouts. Asuka and Keiko waved their flags "WOO GO TERA!"
The coach looked over "Uh girls, this isn't a sporting event."The two sat back and quietly waved their flags.
The horn sounded and Tera was off, she swam and swam for the life of her. "AND TIME!"
The coach stopped the clock as the red head was the last to try out for the day.
All the girls gathered around and the coach spoke "Okay ladies, i'll post the list of people who made it by tomorrow morning. Reeve's, put this equipment away alright?"
She nodded and looked to her friends "Hey, i'll catch you two tomorrow. I'm gonna put this stuff away."
She had a few water weights and floaties in her hand. When she reached the equipment room she threw down the floaties. As she went to open the door again it was locked from the outside. She didn't seem too worried though.
The girl yawned "I was up so late last night. I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a quick nap. By the time someone comes in here they'll wake me up and I'll be out in no time."
Tera laid down on one of the mats and soon after, another mat fall on top of her making her blend in with the rest of the room.
A few hours passed and she was woken up by her hand being in a puddle of water. "Water? What the?"
She peeked her head from under the mat and saw Tenma Tsukamoto. She covered herself with the mat once again 'How do I always get stuck in a room with this girl?'
She laid back down and her hair was in a puddle of water. 'I wish I could just book it and run out the door. I just wanna go back to sleep, but it's wet and i'm not even tired anymore.'
She clinched her fist 'This sucks, I just want to go home and change out of this swimsuit.'
She started braiding her hair 'I'm so bored.'
Time passed and she ended up having a full head of braids. 'Why am I hiding from her anyway? She doesn't know me and I don't know her. Hell, if we work together we can just get out of here.'
She heard a different voice in the room and peeked her head from the mat. Tenma hugged the boy and soon after she jumped out of the window. Tera moved the mat off of her "Whoa."
She looked at the boy just eating a bun looking out the window. He looked back at her, "Hey."
The ginger hid herself with the mat as she was still in a swimsuit after all.
"Uh, hi. Do you mind turning around...uh, what's your name?"
He continued to eat "Karasuma." He moved out of the way and turned so he couldn't see her, "Are you going to jump out of the window too?"
Tera nodded "Yup, if she did it, I can do it too." She climbed out the window and hung for a bit, "Here goes nothing."
She let go and fell on the ground, hard. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
(A few days later)
Tera entered her classroom on crutches; the girl sighed and slowly took her seat. Keiko put her hand over her mouth "Wha- what happened to you?"
The ginger lowered her head, "If i told you I jumped out of a second story window, would you believe me?"
Asuka turned to her "So how long are you gonna be in that...lime…green...cast?"
The injured girl put her head on her desk "I won't be able to do anything until the week before summer vacation."
Her blonde friend scratched her face "Well I guess now is a bad time to tell you that you made the swim team."
Tera sat up straight "WHAT!?"
"Uhhh, yeah, the list was posted on the wall...you had the fastest time actually."
The tiny girl sobbed "Oh my...you've gotta be kidding me."
She snatched her friend by the collar "Tell me you're kidding?"
Keiko stood up "She's not kidding, you beat out all of the other girls by over 3 seconds."
Tera really began to whimper now "No way...this could have been the best term ever and...and this..."
The sporty blonde girl continued "Yeah, coach said you were so good that even though you were gone for a few days, he was still gonna have you on the team..if you accepted.."
The ginger put her hand over her friends mouth, "PLEASE! I-I just can't bare to hear anymore."
Tera finally looked up and noticed that once again she was the center of attention. Her teacher looked to her "Amaterasu, Asuka, Keiko! Please be quiet or I am going to have to ask you three to leave. And Keiko, please go back to your assigned seat."
The girls quieted down and Asuka turned to her friend "So what's been going on these past few days?"
Tera giggled "I went to the hospital and it was an adventure."
(A few days earlier)
Tera was wheeled into her room by her twin. The girl sighed "Yoichi, can you wheel me by the window?"
He did as instructed and rolled his eyes "Why did you jump out of a window? I mean, you could have waited until someone opened the door."
The ginger completely ignored her brother's rant and opened the blinds, "Chichi I have a favor to ask...Could you get Imadori to sign my cast?"
She took out a marker "I know it's a weird request, but it would really make me feel better."
Like sister,like brother. Yoichi ignored his sister and smiled at a text. "CHICHI! YOU'RE NOT EVEN LISTENING!"
She clawed at his phone but was unable to reach.
He moved away from the girl and sat in her hospital bed "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll call him now and tell him to get over here."
Tera turned to her brother with tears in her eyes "NO YOICHI, NOT NOW! IM NOT READ-"
"Yeah, Imadori? What? You're already here? Come to the fifth floor. Alright i'll meet you at the elevator."
The small girl tried to pin down her fly-aways with her hand.
The dark haired boy got up from the bed "Yoichi! Please! My hair is not done and this gown makes me look fat."
He shrugged "Well I can't tell him to go home now."
The girl was really panicking now, there was only one option left for her to do...
The blonde haired 2nd year walked in "Uh Yoichi? Where is your sister?"
There was nothing left but the girl's wheelchair in the room. Her brother faced palmed "Oh crap."
That's right, Tera was on the outside of the building clinging to life as she knew it.
She gulped "M-maybe this was a bad idea."
She moved to different windows trying to find one to jump into. She looked into one and sure enough there was Tenma, Harima, and one of the teachers from Yagami.
Tera mumbled to herself "This is all her fault, if she wouldn't have broke that sprinkler I wouldn't have woke up and decided to jump out of the window."
A strong gust of wind blew and it was clear that this would have to be the window she went through "Shoot, I can't go anywhere with this strong wind. I may as well hear what they were talking about."
She lightly pushed the window open, enough for her to hear, but not enough to get noticed.
The ginger listened in on the conversation 'This guy is a complete MORON! JUST TELL HER ALREADY!'
The wind blew a bit harder and the girl squealed "Okay, forget this. I don't care if they think I was snooping, I'm going inside!"
She busted open the window and looked up to see a confused Harima.
She waved "H-hey."
The delinquent's jaw was dropped "Uhhhh, did you really just climb the building in a cast?"
The girl rubbed the back of her head "If I say yes...are you gonna be freaked out?"
(Present Day)
Tera put her hand on her cheek "I was only supposed to be in this cast for a couple weeks, but busting in that window made it a clean break instead of a fracture.
Asuka shook her head, "Wow that really sucks. Not to mention our class has to clean the pool today. I think teach will cut you a break considering...well...your break.
(Later that day)
The ginger sat at her desk with her head down. The rest of the classes were out and about cleaning the school.
Yoichi entered the classroom and sat next to his sister, "C'mon. Let's go home. Class 2-C volunteered to clean the pool. If we hurry we can catch the next bus."
The girl limped away on her crutches. She stopped as she exited the schoolyard and waited at the bus stop.
The girl looked up at the sky, "Next couple of days at work are gonna be rough."
The tall boy shrugged, "Why do you say that?"
"I can see the clouds moving in. Grocery stores get packed during rainy days." The bus finally arrived and the two entered.
Tera smiled at her brother, "I think I'll make dinner tonight. What do you like better Chichi? Meat and potatoes or curry?"
