FASH: Went to Wonderland yesterday and had my arms up the entire time on Behemoth, scary. Also, I listened to way too much Prince of Tennis music as I wrote this, so whenever I typed out Higa I kept on thinking of High Jr. High. (faceplam)

""-speech

''-thoughts

-x-x-x-

In the few days left before the first half-day of classes were held Sena had familiarized himself with the campus, had given himself a tour of the school, had memorized the spot where the track and field team would be meeting up after the first day and had finally received his own key from the Dorm Manager. He had also cautiously tried to start several light conversations with his room mate, but discovered that Shin had lapsed back into his habit of answering with nods, shrugs and grunts.

Thankfully he was able to talk freely with most of his other dorm mates, excluding Gaou, whom he was still slightly terrified of, and occasionally Satake and Yamaoka, who usually kept to themselves, but were generally a nice enough pair.

He was extremely happy when the first day of classes arrived; he'd returned to his custom of a morning run, although he'd limited himself to the school grounds for fear of getting lost if he ventured anywhere else, but running by himself was nothing like jogging around with team mates. He'd once even entertained the notion of waking up as early as Shin and asking the other boy if he could join him during his morning routine, the idea was quickly discarded though, as he quite enjoyed living.

A solid thirty minutes before classes were set to start the first years of Section A had been rounded up by their upperclassmen and Takami went through a checklist to ensure they had everything they needed. While it seemed a little extreme to be doing this for the half-day, the gesture was enough to make Sena feel more welcome than before.

"Everyone is sure they know where their homeroom is?" Takami asked lastly in his best upperclassman voice and looked quite pleased when the group of first years assembled in front of him nodded before shooing them off to their classes.

Now, Sena had seen quite a few people around the campus whenever he ventured outside, and he had known that, with such a large school, a great number of students must have attended it, but nothing really prepared him to go outside and see the multitude of students streaming into the the main building. The deep blue of their freshly ironed blazers, white of their crisp undershirts, and black of the girl's knee length pleated skirts and the boy's pants were constantly moving, giving off a nearly hypnotic impression of waves during a storm.

Sena wasn't even aware that he had paused until Marco waved a hand in front of his face, successfully braking the brunette's concentration on the sight in front of him.

"You looked rather like a moonstruck calf for a moment there, are you going to be alright?"

"Oh, yeah." 'Hopefully.' Sena tugged at his sleeves a little before walking forward with everyone else, becoming lost in the crowd on his way to his homeroom on the first floor.

The room was already half full by the time he got there, and he was fairly certain that there were several students who strongly resembled celebrities that he couldn't be bothered to remember the names of, but everyone in the room held themselves with a distinct amount of confidence, sometimes bordering on outright pride.

Sena could be confident when he was in his element; when he ran till his muscles ached and his lungs were burning and when he was surrounded by comrades who shared his passion, but that confidence had never fully translated itself into other situations, and it made him wonder how well he'd fit in.

He sat down in a seat beside the window in the second row and watched the rest of his classmates as they entered the room, a fair amount of them greeting others in a familiar, friendly way that he couldn't help but be slightly envious of. By the time everyone was inside and it was five minutes to the bell the only person he recognized in his homeroom class was Gaou, how wonderful.

'Well, I'll be able to make friends on the track and field team.' He cast a hopeful glance around, wondering if any of his classmates would be joining the same team as him. He hoped so, he'd have a pretty lonely time if all his new team mates were in different classes.

The day progressed as expected, with the teachers coming in, introducing themselves and going through the course outlines, with very few of them assigning any work further than reading a couple chapters of a textbook.

It was only a half day, but Sena practically bolted out the door as soon as classes were officially over, eagerly making his way to the field behind the library where the track and field team would be meeting up. He was rather baffled to discover that he was the first person there, but he was somehow able to conjure enough patience to not fidget impatiently until more people arrived a few minutes later.

There didn't seem to be too many upperclassmen, but then again Oonishi hadn't been very sport-focussed at all until very recently, so that wasn't all too surprising.

Still, Sena couldn't help but wonder how many members other teams had, and just how many people had been given a sports scholarship.

'Well, all that matters is that I have comrades.' He looked around and was pleased to see a couple of his classmates would be trying out, so he wouldn't end up completely alone in class after all.

Several upperclassmen were milling around, handing out forms and pens with polite smiles, and it wasn't long before Sena received the slip of paper.

He scanned over the questions curiously before writing his answers down and handing the paper back to one of the lingering members.

Once all the questionnaires had been filled out they were handed off to someone who Sena assumed was the team captain, and after leafing through the papers he took the whistle hanging around his neck and blew into it.

Everyone fell silent quickly and the young man introduced himself as Yamamoto, the team's captain, and after making sure he had everyone's attention he threw himself into a dramatic spiel, rolling up the papers in his hands and thwacking it against his open palm every once in a while to emphasize his points.

"Alright first years, Oonishi High School has always been the best of the best, but normally due to the amount of work given out in class, or slothfulness, many of our fellow students feel that joining a club would eat away at whatever free time they have left. As such, the Oonishi sports teams usually do not advance very far in tournaments."

"Huh? But I heard that the American football team has done really well, especially these last couple of years." One of the first years whispered to the one beside him and Yamamoto's cheeks darkened.

"Who cares about football?! You're on the track and field team!" He coughed into his fist and took a deep breath, regaining his calm composure.

"Now then, everyone has certain specialities when it comes to track and field, something they are especially good at. You would have listed those abilities when you filled out these forms." He waved the bunch of papers in the air lightly to emphasize them. "And from now on, you're going to practice-"

Sena smiled, eager to start practising his run with all the other runners.

"All the things you are weak at! The Oonishi track and field team has no use for one hit wonders! We've always needed well-rounded members to make up for a lack of people, and that's not going to change. So during club time no one will be practising their specialities until they are able to do a decent job at everything!"

Sena's smile vanished so quickly it was almost as if it had never been there.

He had to do a decent job at everything? Everything? But he could hardly pick up a shot put ball with one hand!

"Also, when you filled out these forms you should have listed the event you're worst at, that will be the event you start practising for. Firsts years who are weakest at running events gather by the track, for jumping events stay where you are, and for throwing events come with me to the baseball diamond. First day's just an evaluation so don't bother changing into your gym clothes, save that for tomorrow."

Sena, still shocked, numbly followed Yamamoto when the captain turned and began walking away, not even aware that others had followed as well until they had arrived at an old baseball diamond that had seen better days, mostly unused now that a new one had been created on the other side of the campus.

'I have to practice what I'm worst at: shot put.'

Sena didn't really want to do this, but he didn't have a choice. He'd been accepted on a scholarship after all, and if he couldn't manage to stay on the team and abide by the team's rules he'd probably be kicked out of the school.

He wished he'd been told about the team captain's expectations beforehand, so he'd be aware of what he was getting himself into.

'At least I'm not alone.' He thought to himself, sighing in relief as he looked around him at the three other first years with him.

"I'll be going to the storage room to get the shot put balls, javelins and discuses, you guys stay put." Yamamoto ordered before waking off.

"Man, this sucks." One of Sena's fellow first years whispered under his breath. "I only joined track and field because my parents wanted me to join a club anyways. What's with this 'practice what you're worst at' business."

"I know what you mean, this is totally lame." Another one said, running a hand through his hair. "I'd rather do what I'm best at and stand out right away. If this is what it's going to be like, I'd rather join a different club."

"Don't be like that, you guys." The third boy spoke up. "You must have decided to join this club for a reason, at least stick with it until the end of the first practice."

Sena nodded in firm agreement and the other two boys gave each a look before shaking their heads and turning to walk away.

"There's no way I'm bothering myself with this, I'll just join a club that has a bunch of girls."

"I see the notorious Oonishi spirit is showing itself." The only remaining boy other than Sena muttered before turning to him with a small smile. "I'm Higa Tadashi, my best track and field event is the high jump, my worst is the javelin throw." He held out his hand for a handshake and Sena weakly took hold of it.

"Kobayakawa Sena, my best track event is the one hundred meter sprint, my worst is shot put. Nice to meet you..." He took back his hand and warily looked over to where the other two boys had left. "Earlier, what did you mean about the Oonishi spirit?"

"Hm? Oh, you must not have gone to Oonishi Middle School if you don't know already. A lot of the people who come here are already set for life, and the scholarship students would rather improve their grades than do club activities, so sports teams and the like aren't really necessary to put on your resume to make yourself look better when you're looking for jobs."

"Ah, so they don't really have any drive."

Higa nodded, dark bangs falling over his eyes at the motion. "But I suppose the good thing about that is; even though the teams are generally small, the members all really enjoy what they're doing, so the teams tend to work better together. But when you don't have enough members for a replacement and someone gets sick, you're screwed." He smiled wanly, brushing his bangs away from his eyes.

"That's too bad." Sena laced his fingers together and tapped a foot idly, not wanting to force the conversation to go any further and make things awkward.

Yamamoto came back not long after, dragging a cart behind him with several boxes stacked on it. Upon seeing only Sena and Higa he seemed to deflate slightly, which made Sena feel guilty for some reason.

It wasn't as if he could have stopped the two other first years from leaving, but maybe he could have stalled them long enough for Yamamoto to come back and convince them to stay. Now they were down two people, and who knew how many other first years were planning to give up without even trying.

He resolved to do his best, worst event or not.

The first week of school, while not exactly a flurry of activity, kept Sena busy enough to keep him from wondering if Shin was ever going to warm up to him. During class he was busy writing notes, listening to lectures and attempting to be a good student, but it was after class when the real work started.

He practised throwing events with Higa during club time, not focussing completely on shot put because he didn't want to strain his arm too much, and afterwards he'd go jogging around the campus at least twice before practising his throws some more.

He'd told Higa about his extra practice, and while the other boy had laughed and admitted that he'd been working on refining his best skills as well, he was quick to warn Sena not to strain himself.

It was sort of strange for someone to warn him about training too much, because, quite frankly, before being forced to practice something he wasn't good at he hadn't know there was such a thing as training too much. But he promised Higa he wouldn't overdo it, and Sena always kept promises he made with his comrades.

That didn't mean he'd stop the extra training though.

He'd noticed the curious looks Sakuraba would throw his way, a silent question as to what he'd been up to, whenever he made it back to the dorm particularly late, although he never arrived later than Shin.

It made him wonder if anyone ever told Shin to be careful not to push himself too hard, but he quickly dismissed the notion because Shin would probably just stare the concerned person down until they felt the need to beg for forgiveness for having the audacity to think that Shin couldn't handle himself.

It was almost scary how easily Sena could imagine that happening.

When the weekend finally rolled around Sena tried to make quick work of his homework, but found himself having to spend longer finishing it up than he had originally planned. Which ultimately meant that he ended up staying out training longer than he originally thought he would, since he was a firm believer in training the same amount of time every day. His arms still hadn't become completely used to the sudden activity he was constantly putting them through, but he was nothing if not dedicated. It also helped to know that he wasn't the only one going through this.

'Higa-kun is trying his best, so I need to try my best too!'

He heard his name being called and turned to see Sakuraba walking towards him, the blonde cautiously throwing looks over his shoulder and creeping forward as if he thought someone were following him.

Sena blatantly peered behind Sakuraba, eyebrows raising just a fraction when he didn't catch sight anyone remotely suspicious.

Maybe Sakuraba was just a paranoid individual?

The blonde stopped in front of him and took a moment to look down at the shot put balls that littered the ground around Sena's feet before speaking.

"So this is why you've been coming back to the dorm late?"

Sena nodded. "Well, I've got to practice sometime, right?"

"Be that as it may, have you been taking any breaks while you train?"

Sena was going to mention his jogging, but figured that Sakuraba wouldn't see that as an actual break.

"Not really."

The blonde's look of shock quickly morphed into one of concerned exasperation. "You know Sena, you shouldn't strain yourself like this."

"I'll get used to it after a while, besides, it's kind of sad that a high school boy can barely throw a shot put ball a couple feet." Sena smiled wryly and turned around, picking up another shot put ball.

"Maybe... But you do realize that the shot put balls that your team captain gave you to practice with are the sixteen pound ones they'd use in Olympic men's competitions, and not the twelve pounders that high school competitions use, right?"

Sena very slowly turned back around to face him, eyes wide.

"I'll take that as a no." Sakuraba ran a hand through his hair, a frown pulling at his lips. "Really, what is that guy thinking, giving you the heavier ones to practice with before you've had time to get used to the lighter ones?"

"I'm sure he just wants me to push my limits and get stronger, since I've never really focussed on my strength before."

He'd never had to, in fact, he'd always been encouraged to just focus on his running and not worry about anything else. Besides, Yamamoto was the sort of person who wanted his team to push their limits, hence his practising shot put in the first place.

"Pushing yourself is okay, within reason, but if you keep this up you might get hurt..." Sakuraba pursed his lips in thought, feeling slightly responsible for Sena's well-being since the younger boy obviously wasn't going to start worrying about himself any time soon.

"You know, usually after training with my team I go to the weight room for a while, we could meet up in there after practice and I could spot you while you do some bench presses or something. That way you'll start to build up muscle without pushing yourself too hard at first."

"The weight room?" Sena repeated, blinking slowly.

He'd never even been inside one before.

"Yes, it would probably be more beneficial for you to slowly build up your muscle strength rather than, uh, tackling the problem right away." Sakuraba finished awkwardly.

He wished Takami were there, or even Shin, they'd be able to explain the pros of going to the weight room and the cons of what Sena was currently doing as naturally as it was for them to breath.

"... Would other people be there?" Sena did not want to train in a weight room if a bunch of huge, strong guys were around to scoff at him and his lack of strength.

Especially if those huge, strong guys included either Gaou or Shin.

"Well, there might be some guys still lingering around, but they'd be too busy with their own training to pay anyone else any attention."

Sakuraba did have a point there, and he had a feeling that the tall boy wouldn't give up until he'd agreed anyways, so Sena nodded his consent.

"Great, I'll help you put those away before we head back." Sakuraba glanced at his watch. "It's still a while till curfew, but I think you need a break."

"Ah, but I still have to..." Sena trailed off when Sakuraba sent a expectant look his way.

Well, he couldn't really go against an upperclassman's request, right?

"Okay."

He just hoped this weight room plan worked.