Of Pocky and Pepero
SUMMARY: A South Korean transfer student is struggling to adjust to her new life here in Japan, that included getting used to the strange boy who she's been sitting next to for the past month. OC
Chapter 7: Oops
NOTES: Italicized is Korean speech.
NOTES 2: I never read or watched Kuroko no Basuke, so the characters' personalities may be off. I only read the character profiles.
Soo-Jin decided that her life her in Japan wasn't getting any better. She could tag the blame on rotten bad luck, but it was sorely obvious that her impulsive actions were doing all the hard work.
It all began during class. It was a warm day today, and every student was feeling rather sleepy. Soo-Jin was trying not to dozy off and concentrate on the lecture that the teacher was pontificating about for the past ten minutes. As she slumped in her seat, halfway giving up on paying attention, a large hand engulfed the top of her head.
She took a sharp intake of breath, her back stiffened straight as a stick, as she robotically looked to her left. Staring lazily at her was Murasakibara. The teacher apparently didn't notice Murasakibara's long arm outstretched and grabbing onto her head, probably because they were sitting in the back row. Still, the boy suddenly grabbing her was random enough to catch some attention.
"Y-yes?" Soo-Jin said warily.
"Can I borrow a pencil?" he asked. "Mine ran out of lead."
"Holy crap he's seriously not taking notes is he," was a hasty thought made in her mind. She peered over at his desk and was surprised to find that he was indeed taking notes. It was a bizarre sight.
"Ah, okay." Digging in her pencil pouch, she produced a mechanical pencil and handed it over to him.
"Thank you," he murmured.
Even though he's been doing it regularly, Soo-Jin didn't think that she would ever get used to the feeling of Murasakibara's hand on top of her head. It felt weird, like an alien suctioning cup trying to lift her up to its mother-ship or something. What's more, why did he keep doing it? It's not like she was being his little gopher anymore, so there's really no need to get her attention in such a way.
For example, when she was heading to class after break, Murasakibara grabbed her head out of the blue, causing her to pause mid-step. He then let go and passed by without a word. This had left her feeling very confused.
Maybe he did it for the heck of it, she didn't know. What she did know was that this only furthered her prior thought of him being a weirdo. Soo-Jin decided it might be best not to think too much about the boy's head-grabbing fixation and take it as one of his eccentricities.
While deeply thinking, Soo-Jin reacted badly when something disrupted her train of thought so abruptly. In fact, she was so immersed with her thoughts that any consciousness that reality was tick-tock-ing was excluded. It was why she almost jumped when Murasakibara grabbed her head again.
Instead of jumping, she thrust her pencil in the air while giving a squeaky roar of "Uwaaah!"
Something warm dripped on her forehead. Soo-Jin blinked and realized that she had rammed her pencil into Murasakibara's hand, causing a stream of blood to flow. Murasakibara stared at her with incredulous and wide eyes. Her classmates stared at her. The teacher stared at her.
They looked at the pencil and the blood, and then back at her.
Clearly, this was just going to dub her a new name, setting her apart from being the South Korean transfer student and the tall basketball kid's gopher.
And, so, Won Soo-Jin was now recognized as "the crazy Korean girl who got revenge against the tall basketball kid". She was given a more bewildering name, but she didn't want to think about it (truth be told, it kind of made her want to cry).
It wasn't like she was being picked on, but wherever she went students would stop and stare at her, whispering to one another and pointing at her. Oh, the humiliation.
"Maybe this time I can convince Mom to take me back home," she muttered to herself.
The attention that she unwillingly attracted the most was the basketball team, more so the regulars. Now, these upperclassmen were definitely one of the tallest boys here in Yosen High. Wei Liu, the Chinese student who approached her a few days ago, was one of them, in fact. Aside from Liu, Soo-Jin somewhat couldn't get over the fact that there were Japanese students who could be so tall… It was rather astonishing.
But also was astonishing was have said upperclassmen corner you in the school courtyard. Actually, it was more like terrifying. Were these boys trying to pick a fight for injuring one of their players? Not that she could do taekwondo or any form of martial arts, but she knew a thing or two about self-defense (mostly she knew to kick where it hurts).
Liu, who she was most familiar with, turned to him and asked, "Ah, sempai? What's going on?"
Before Liu could respond, the one upperclassman who resembled a gorilla cut in, saying, "Hold on, hold on. I think we should wait for Murasakibara before we get started."
"How is Atsushi, anyway?" inquired a rather handsome boy. "I heard that he had to go to the hospital the other day." This information caused Soo-Jin to blink, a bit shocked to hear such information. She didn't think that the injury would have resulted having him go to the hospital.
"The injury wasn't anything too serious," answered the gorilla sunbae(1). "Although, it will prevent him from playing basketball for awhile."
Another upperclassman, one who's actually normal in height, added, "Which it'll be really troublesome for us to find a replacement. Do you know how many freshmen went for other positions because seeing Murasakibara discouraged them from trying out for center?"
"Eh? What about the second and third-years?" the handsome boy said.
"Our previous center quit to join tennis with his girlfriend."
With this mentioned, the gorilla sunbae hung his head and sobbed. "I've never had a girlfriend in my life!"
Eventually, Murasakibara did arrive. Immediately, Soo-Jin's eyes flew to his hand, which was wrapped with gauze. She winced. Surely there was no way for Murasakibara to play basketball now. Soo-Jin couldn't help but feel guilty, even though it wasn't really her fault (it was his since he was the one who startled her so badly).
Even when noticing her, his face remained apathetic. "Ah, it's Soo-Jin-san," Murasakibara stated. Tucked between his arm and stomach was an opened bag of chips. Even when wounded, he still managed to get his daily intake of snacks.
"Good morning, Atsushi," greeted the handsome boy.
"Same to you, Muro-chin."
"Oi, Murasakibara, is this the girl?" said the shortest sempai.
Murasakibara took a moment to chew and swallow before answering, "Yeah."
"Well, that settles it." The third-year crossed his arms. "According to Basketball 101 of Yosen High, it says that if someone does a wrongdoing to one of our players, we as regulars got to make sure that person has gone through retribution in whatever the wronged player desires it to be."
"And how would you know that?" Liu asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I read it a couple times. It might not seem like it, but that handbook has a bunch of funny rules."
"I suppose that's why I'm wasting my minutes here for."
Even in a flurry of words from the second language, Soo-Jin could somewhat translate what they were talking about. She didn't think the situation should be called to be anything worth worrying about, but a frown wormed its way on her face nevertheless. Retribution? Did that mean that they were going to force her to pay back Murasakibara? She found herself paling a bit. Did that mean they wanted her to hurt herself in return?
"Oh please," sighed Liu. "This is ridiculous."
"You would say that, Liu," snorted the short sempai, "considering how you seem to favor your fellow gaijin so much."
The Chinese boy shot him a glare, but didn't say anymore.
"I guess you call the shots, Atsushi," said the handsome boy.
"Mmm," Murasakibara mused as he continued to stuff his face. "I could go for an apology," he finally said, looking at the girl.
Soo-Jin scratched her head and then nodded. "I deeply apologize for my transgressions," she said, bowing humbly.
He pointed at her and commanded imperiously, "Say it in Korean."
"Je-song hamnida(2)."
"Heh heh heh," he giggled, smiling like a goof.
"Oi, is this guy for real?" muttered one of the basketball regulars.
And, so, Soo-Jin found herself catering to Murasakibara's needs once more.
(1): upperclassman
(2): I am sorry
