The first period went by in a blur. Yellow liked her homeroom teacher, Mr. Tsuwabuki. He was a nice guy, had a soul for teaching others science, albeit he was a bit eccentric. He had a strange affinity for rocks, stones, and fossils, and would often make jokes or references not many would understand.
"All right, class, chapter eight quiz is on Friday, so make sure to study up! We'll have a review Thursday and study partners on Wednesday." He told the class as they began to slowly filter out of the classroom.
"Yellow, what's your next class?" Blue asked as she put her books away.
"Uh…" Yellow glanced at her schedule. "It looks like history with Mrs. Tsuwabuki…?"
"Ah, yes." Blue giggled. "She's great, you'll like her. There will be a couple people moving in and out of this next class, so you'll see some new faces~."
Red sat up and stretched his arms. "Eh, if you like history, you'll enjoy the class. Just don't fall asleep like I do sometimes."
Yellow rolled her eyes playfully. "Don't worry, I'm responsible enough."
They were about to sit back down again, but Mr. Tsuwabuki spoke up. "Yellow, may I see you for a moment?"
"Oh…go ahead, Yellow." Blue and Red turned away, as if they pretended not to notice.
Yellow made her way up to her homeroom teacher's desk. "D-do you need something, teacher?" Yellow asked, not sure how to present herself.
Tsuwabuki laughed, shaking his head. "You don't have to be afraid, Yellow, you're not in trouble. I just wanted to know how you're liking your first day."
"Oh. Well…" Yellow thought for a moment. "It's been pretty nice so far. I've already made a few friends!"
He moved in a little closer to her, and spoke a bit quieter. "I see Red and Blue have taken a liking to you. Red's a good kid, albeit a little bit irresponsible. Blue's also a good student, and a very selfless young lady. Just don't let her get you into trouble, though." The young teacher chuckled, drumming his fingers on the desk. Yellow hadn't noticed before, but two of his fingers were occupied by what appeared to be ornate steel rings.
"Y-yeah, I can see that. Thank you very much for asking! Do you need anything else?" Yellow laughed nervously.
"Nope, go ahead and go." He nodded. "It's my wife that's coming in next. I can already tell she'll like you. Oh, and if there's ever any trouble, let me know. I want to make sure you have the best experience possible at Masara High, Yellow."
"Wow, thank you teacher!" Yellow could feel her spirits rising even more. "I-I'll see you tomorrow!"
Yellow returned to her seat as Mr. Tsuwabuki began to gather his things. A few new students began to make their way into the room, one in particular stood out. She was wearing a long dress instead of a skirt, and had strange, maroon-colored hair styled into two ponytail-like appendages. Hanging from her ears were two star-shaped earrings.
"Hey, guys." The girl said as she took a seat in front of Red. "Is anybody sitting here?"
"Nope, just you." Red laughed. "Oh, we need to introduce you to someone. Crys," Red turned back to Yellow, who shrunk back a little. "This is Yellow. She's a new student starting today."
"It's nice to meet you, then!" Crys offered a smile and her hand to Yellow. "My name is Crystal Kobayashi, and I'm a sophomore. You probably heard already, but you can call me Crys."
"O-okay! It's nice to meet you, Crys!" Yellow gave Crys an unintentionally weak handshake. It was just so sudden!
"Say, Crys." Red spoke up. "Where's Gold? I didn't see him this morning, and you two walk in together, typically."
Crys' kind demeanor suddenly fouled, and her smile was replaced with a frustrated frown. "You're the third person to ask me that, Red! Jeez, I am supposed to be his babysitter or something?"
"Wow, aren't you defensive." Blue laughed. "He's probably skipping again, Crys. Don't worry about it."
Crys didn't seem to take the advice. "I'm not worried about him! I'm worried about how the things he does affect the reputation of the school, and sometimes even my own! As student council president, is it not my job to take responsibility for my fellow student's action?"
Red sighed. "I'll talk to him, Crys. Besides, I have almost as much power as you, so just relax. It'll fall on me, too. That is, if he does anything else stupid."
"Alright." She seemed to take the bait. "I'll leave it to you then."
As those very words left Crys' mouth, a woman carrying textbooks entered the room. She had long blonde hair, and interestingly shaped earrings. She had a shy smile on her face, and didn't seem to take notice of anything around her.
"Class, settle down." Mrs. Tsuwabuki clapped her hands as everyone took their seat. "I hope you all had a good weekend, everyone. I'm thrilled to see you all again. Now, can anyone tell me where we left off?"
One of the male students sitting at the other side of the room raised his hand. "Yes, Noboru?"
"Wasn't it chapter sixteen, page one-eighty?" The boy asked in reply.
"Yes, that's right. Thank you, dear." Mrs. Tsuwabuki seemed like a very agreeable teacher, and kind to boot. "Now then, we can get started."
History with Mrs. Tsuwabuki was probably Yellow's new favorite class. The woman would use real-world examples to explain the events of Japan's history, and would often pick on students that weren't paying attention, which was quite funny. She seemed pretty wise for her age, and Yellow had begun to look up to her already.
It was now lunch time, and some of the students had left to go get their lunches. Lunch was held in homeroom, as were most of their classes. According to the schedule, after lunch was PE, then Art, then it was study time until three, where the school let the students out for clubs and stuff.
Yellow pulled the bento Wilton had made for her, but before she could eat it, Red, Blue, and Crys plopped down beside her.
"Looks good, Yellow." Blue giggled. "Did you make it?"
"No, my u-" Yellow stopped herself there. "My…mom made it for me. Yeah, she usually makes my lunch, but I'll make it once in a while if there's something special I'm in the mood to eat."
"That's pretty neat, Yellow." Red said, swallowing a mouthful of onigiri. "I suck at cooking, so I gotta have my mom make stuff or I have to buy something."
"Cooking is fun when you get the hang of it, Red." Crys piped in on the conversation. "Besides, you need to know how to cook if you want to get a girl someday."
Blue nodded, much to Red's embarrassment. "You know, Red, I'm sure there's plenty of girls in this room who'd love to have you cook for them." She cackled.
"J-jeez, guys. I know I'm popular, but I'm not really looking for a girl right now." Red's face glowed a bit like his namesake. Yellow had to resist commenting on how cute he looked.
"I don't know, Blue, if I was a guy, I'd rather have a pretty girl cook for me." Yellow shrugged. "If he goes out and works, the least I can do is give him a nice meal when he returns."
"I think you're right, Yellow, but I see such a relationship as both of them cooking for each other, and less of one doing most of the cooking." Blue put her hand on her face, leaning against the desk. "How did we even get into this conversation, anyway?"
"Because Red claimed he sucked at cooking."
Before Red could retort, the room's door slammed open. Standing in the doorway was a young man about Red's height, with similar hair, but piercing golden eyes. He had a pair of goggles on his forehead, and his uniform was untidy and informal. He gave a sniff as he walked towards Yellow and the others.
"'Sup, everyone." He said casually. He sounded like he had something up his nose.
"Gold, why are you here? It's lunchtime! School starts at eight-thirty, you moron!" Crys immediately stood up and shoved her face into his, glaring.
"Geez, super serious gal, I wasn't feeling well." He replied, sniffing again. "I think I've caught something. Anyway, I wanted to at least come to gym class today because it's dodgeball day. I wouldn't miss that for the world." The boy, Gold, sneered.
"That's the Gold I know." Red laughed. "Just don't give anyone your cold."
"I know. I took a multivitamin and I'm actually feeling better." He glanced around the room absentmindedly, until he landed on Yellow. "Who's the cutie? Haven't seen her around here before."
Yellow gave a yelp of surprise at the pet name, and Crys came to her defense. "For your information, her name is Yellow, not 'cutie'! Why do you have to be such a pig?"
"Why do you have to be so serious, super serious gal?" Gold shot back. "God, you women are so uptight." He turned back to Yellow. "Sorry 'bout that, but I don't bite. I promise."
"O-okay…it's nice to meet you, Gold." Yellow tried her best to reply. "Why do you call Crys 'super serious gal'?
Gold gave a delighted snort of laughter. "It's a nickname I gave her back in grade school. When everyone was just tryin' to have fun, she'd be making sure no one was out of line or doing anything wrong. She always was the teacher's pet, too."
You could almost see the steam coming out of Crys' ears.
"Okay, I think that's enough." Red gave a nervous chuckle. "I think Crys is gonna blow a gasket if you talk anymore, Gold."
"It's my fault, I shouldn't have asked." Yellow said, suddenly ashamed.
Crys exhaled, regaining her former calm demeanor. "It's fine, Yellow. I just remembered I have a few things to attend to, so if you excuse me." With that final statement, Crys picked up her things and left the room, shutting the door loudly behind her.
"Way to go, Gold. You pissed her off." Blue reprimanded him.
"What did I do? You guys all knew that! I thought it was natural that I'd tell the new girl!"
"I didn't know that." Blue deadpanned.
"Neither did I." Red said, shaking his head.
"Damn it!" Gold slammed his fist down on his desk, and immediately gripped it in pain, whimpering.
"You should probably apologize, Gold." Yellow finally spoke up. "I understand what you were trying to do, but you just came off the wrong way."
Gold gave another sniff. "Yeah, you're right, blondie. I'll talk to her later. Crys doesn't stay mad for too long, anyway."
The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Yellow headed straight for the gym, where gym class was being held. After weaving in and out of the crowd of students, she eventually found the entrance to the girl's locker room.
"Good, this is it." Yellow was about to open the door, but it instead flew open by itself, sending Yellow sprawling onto the ground.
"Hey, watch it!" The girl who opened the door was quite short, even shorter than her, and had light brown hair and blue eyes. "What? Oh, I'm sorry! I thought you were someone else." Her demeanor immediately changed as she offered her hand to Yellow. "Wait, I don't recognize you. What's your name?"
"I-I'm Yellow, and today's my first day." She stammered, trying to ease her backside's pain as she stood up.
"Oh, okay! Name's Sapphire, I'm a third year in the middle school." The girl, Sapphire, gave Yellow a toothy grin. "I gotta get to the gym, Mr. Siba needs my help."
The small girl dashed off, leaving Yellow by herself. Yellow sighed and entered the locker room, which very few people were in. She recognized Blue and Crys talking near the end of the hallway of lockers.
"Hey, Yellow!" Blue beckoned her to come. "Today's co-ed day, so we get to see the boys in action. Other than that it's just single gender."
Yellow nodded in understanding. "That's cool…where can I put my stuff?"
"Since you're new, you can use any locker you want." Crys stated. "You can stay over here with us."
Yellow decided that was for the best. She picked the locker next to Blue, and begun to undress herself. She found a pair of navy blue shorts and a white t-shirt from her bag, and settled for those.
Blue turned at the moment where Yellow was putting on her shorts. "Yellow, you are so pretty! What's your secret~?"
"Uh…" Yellow began to panic. "I just shower and bathe every day?"
Blue giggled at her flustered response. "You are just precious."
They finished changing clothes and went into the gym to get started. The rest of the girls started trickling in, as did the boys.
"Crys, can I ask you a question?" Yellow asked.
Crystal nodded. "Of course! Something wrong?"
Yellow shook her head. "I just wanted to know why there are younger students in here. Are all grades welcome?"
Crystal nodded again, smiling at her curiosity. "Yep! There aren't many of the lower grades down here, but there are a few. You guys are second year, I'm a first year, and you see her over there?" Crys pointed to Sapphire, the girl who had accidentally knocked her down over there. "She's a third year in the lower secondary. Other than that I don't think there are any others of a lower grade down here. Then again, Sapph is a special case, being a star on the soccer team and all."
"Thanks. I was just curious, because I ran into Sapphire earlier. She's pretty rough." Yellow replied.
"All right, line up!"
A big voice suddenly entered the gym as a tall, burly man entered. He had slightly-grayed black hair, and was wearing white gi pants and a black shirt. His arms were almost as thick as Yellow's entire torso, or so it seemed from a distance. Everyone did as they were told.
"All right, I understand that we have a new student or two today. In that case, I'll give a short introduction. My name is Mr. Siba, and my job is to make sure you kids get some exercise each day, and maybe have a little fun, too. Follow my instructions, and we'll have a great time!" He flashed a smile at Yellow, who gave a small yelp.
Mr. Siba gave a deep laughter. "All right, it's mixed dodgeball today." A mixture of cheers and groans arose. "Red, Green, you two are captains. Get up here!"
The two boys came and lined up parallel with Mr. Siba, one on each side. The other boy Yellow didn't recognize was Green. He seemed more calm and calculating than Red, and was a bit taller, too.
"Go ahead and take turns picking, boys." Mr. Siba then took a seat, crosslegged on the gym floor between them. What a weird guy, Yellow thought.
Red went first. "Silver." Said boy came and stood beside him.
"Gold." Green retorted. Gold danced his way to Green's side, trying to look cool.
"Sapphire." Red was the first to pick a girl. Sapphire raced to her senior's side, giving him a loud high-five.
"Misty." Green also picked a girl.
"Black." It was weird how a lot of the guys looked so similar.
"Blue." She raced to Green's side, saying something about how she knew he would pick her, or something like that.
There were about ten people left. They went back and forth, picking people that Yellow mostly didn't know. Crystal went to Green's side, and a boy named Ruby, who was apparently friends with Sapphire, went to Red's. Finally it was down to two people left. Her, and the girl that had been with Misty during homeroom.
"This is awkward, huh?" The girl smiled. "I'm Erika, by the way."
"Yellow." Yellow chirped.
"Sorry about earlier with Misty. I may be her friend, but I don't endorse everything she does or says."
Yellow shrugged nervously. "It-it's fine…"
It was Green's turn. "Erika."
"I wish you luck." Erika said before walking to Green's side.
Great, she was the last one. It didn't surprise her, knowing that she was certainly no athlete. Nonetheless, Red gave a huge smile as he called her name. "Come on!"
Yellow ran over to them, and with the teams decided, they split onto each side of the gym. Mr. Siba had retrieved the balls, and placed all fourteen (Yellow counted) on the middle of the court.
"Okay! Start on the back wall, and when I say go, you are to run and get any ball of your choosing. However, you can only take one ball at a time, and you must throw it against the back wall before you can use it. Understood?"
"Yes!" A few people replied.
Mr. Siba sat down on the ground again, crosslegged. He inhaled sharply through his nose, and exhaled gently. Without warning, he yelled, "Go!"