'Ignore them, Kasumi.' A red-haired second year thought to herself as she waited for the train to come, ignoring the whispers from two of her new year mates. Keeping her gaze straight, she tried not to shake her head as she heard one of them go from complaining about how she was so thin to how straight her hair was. Her friend rightfully pointed out how on earth those two things were in any way connected.

'I really hope that this isn't what I'm going to have to deal with at Shujin. Not that things like this will keep me up at night, but it would be nice if this isn't the background noise. No matter what, I have more important things to worry about. I have to get better, I have to be better…' Entering in, she was pleasantly surprised to find a seat still open. Quickly taking it, she set her pack down and took a moment to do some sitting stretches while the train filled up with passengers before taking off.

As the train moved towards her destination in Aoyama-Itchome, she felt someone staring at her. It wasn't with malice or ill intent, so she didn't feel too worried. But, she was still curious, so she began to scan the crowd of fellow passengers, shifting through the people who were either staring out the window or at their phones. Finally, just a chance gave away her admirer.

He looked to be younger than her, wearing what looked to be the male Shujin's uniform without any alterations. It took a while for her to notice, what with his messy black curls and glasses obscuring his line of sight, but she managed to catch him out of the corner of her eye looking back at her once he thought she wasn't looking. She traced his line of sight to see what he was looking at, since she didn't feel his eyes roaming.

He was staring at her hair. Made sense, since it was a rare color to have in Japan. She gave a small wave to her fellow schoolmate, who actually looked embarrassed and looked away.

Another wave of passengers packed into the train, and Kasumi noticed an old woman nearby. Seeing that her stop was coming soon, she gestured to the old lady. "Ah, miss. I have a seat here for you!"

The old woman smiled at Kasumi's kindness. "Oh, thank you, dearie! Just let me…"

Suddenly, just out of the corner of her eye, she saw a business man try to rush forward, only for the black haired boy to lean into his path, both colliding and falling to the ground, everyone bunching up to avoid getting pulled into the ground.

"OH MY!" The old woman shouted from her new seat as Kasumi went to help the two up. Seeing people already helping up the businessman, she immediately helped up her schoolmate. As she did, she noticed the first-year button on his collar, and the light in his eyes as he saw that the old lady was firmly in her seat. As the businessman looked to see who blocked him, he saw a sleepy looking kid in a school uniform just two inches shorter than she was fighting to stay awake. Seeing that the optics were not looking good for him, he went to get lost in the crowd.

As soon as the businessman was good, her kouhai stopped feigning sleepiness and nodded to her before moving slightly away from her. He didn't seem to have noticed her frown or her displeasure as she followed him off the train along with the rest of the crowd. As the two entered into a less crowded area, she immediately walked up to him.

"Excuse me!"

Her kouhai turned to face her, looking completely innocent of what he did. "Uh, you need something, senpai?"

A brief beat of happiness was quickly smothered by displeasure and worry as she quickly looked him over. From what she saw, he didn't seem to have any problem walking away or any visible soreness in his joints. Still… "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, senpai." Her kouhai began to play a little with his hair. "I mean, if I was hurt, then I wouldn't be walking, would I? But hey, it was an accident, what can you do?"

Her frown marginally deepened as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't lie to me, I saw you. You clearly looked awake and aware of your surroundings. You actually got in that man's way, didn't you?"

Seeing her kouhai look away from her, Kasumi uncrossed her arms as she drowned. Thinking carefully, she channeled a little of Coach Hiraguchi's tone whenever she approved of an idea but not its execution. "Please understand, I'm upset because you could have gotten hurt. Yes, it would have been rude for that man to take my seat but I know me and that old lady would not have wanted you to get hurt just because you wanted to save her seat… Why would you even go that far anyway?"

Her kouhai looked up at her yet was silent, his eyes looking like he was weighing his options. Finally, he shook his head as he looked down again. "Honestly, I don't think you would believe me anyway."

Kasumi pouted. "Well, if you're not going to tell me and act like a moody little kid, then of course I'm not going to understand anything."

A hard frown and a sad look appeared on his face before he sighed and shrugged as he turned to leave. "No offense, Senpai, but I don't know you well enough to know if that's good or bad. Still, thanks for actually caring. Either way, see you."

Seeing him about to leave, and remembering the expression on his face, she held up a hand to stop him. "W-wait! What's your name?"

Not even turning to face him, her kouhai's shoulders slumped. "Not even going to bother, Senpai. You'll probably know it from the rumor mill soon enough."

With that, he left, leaving Kasumi to wonder what he meant by that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TAKE YOUR TIME~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple of hours later, Kasumi understood what her kouhai meant.

"I hope Shujin Academy can be a place where you can thrive, Kasumi-chan." The famed Olympic Gold Medalist and Volleyball Coach Suguru Kamoshida gave a smooth smile to Kasumi as he opened the door for her. "I'll admit, I don't know much about Rhythmic Gymnastics, but I'll be willing to support you in any way I can."

Kasumi gave a polite smile back. "I thank you for your kind offer, and I will keep it in mind."

Truth be told, something about Kamoshida just rubbed Kasumi wrong. From the unwarranted familiarity and casualness of how he addressed her, to how his eyes seemed to roam over her when he thought she wasn't looking, made her question why she even chose Shujin to begin with. But either way, it was too late now. Whatever it was, it was just one more obstacle to conquer on her road to the International stage…

For the sake of both their dreams…

Stepping out of the counselor's office, she noticed two people coming towards her. One was a teacher that she didn't know, probably one that dealt more with the first or the third years. However, she bet on first years, considering the student that he was accompanying.

Ren Amamiya, first year, the juvenile delinquent of Shujin. On one hand, the rumor mill at Shujin told her of a thug, one who did nearly every conceivable crime he could get his hands on and whose very presence was dragging down the soul of the school itself. On the other hand, she saw her kouhai, the one that gladly put himself in harm's way just so that an old lady could sit down in a crowded train with no hope or request for reward.

Kasumi couldn't reconcile those two images together. Just as the two approached the counselor's room, Ren noticed Kasumi. However, Kamoshida quickly noticed Ren as well, and his charming smile shifted into a smug sneer as he pointed out the first year.

"By the way, a word of warning to you, Kasumi-chan. This student right here is at the very top of people that you shouldn't associate yourself with. This one right here is nothing but trouble."

Looking back at Ren, she was struck by just how… sad he was. His shoulders slumped, his hands resisting to form fists, his eyes resolutely just sticking to the floor. However, just briefly, his eyes seemed to flick up to her before they quickly pulled themselves back to the ground.

'Did...did he care about how I see him now?' Realizing that, her heart reached out to him.

"Ah, Kamoshida-sensei, please excuse us. Me and Ren-san here have some things we must discuss."

Kamoshida's sneer transformed into a smile so quickly, one could be forgiven to think it had always been there. "Yes, sorry for taking your time. Kasumi-chan, allow me to escort you back to your classroom."

"Yes, thank you, Kamoshida-sensei."

As the two passed by Ren and who Kasumi assumed was his homeroom teacher, Kasumi thought about something she should say to him. However, nothing came to mind as she was about to fully pass him by. Finally, she decided to do the first thing that came to her mind.

Quickly reaching out, she brushed one of Ren's knuckles with a tip of her finger. He glanced up to see her kind smile before she walked away. Kasumi didn't see how Ren reacted.

Not when she was concentrating on walking briskly to suppress the heat that was starting to appear on her face.

'KASUMI, WHAT WAS THAT?! There's bold, and then there's WAY TOO BOLD! What was wrong with just saying something to him? Sure, maybe she had a bit of trouble actually coming up with something, but that was still no excuse…' She paused as she began to pick up what the other students in the hall were whispering to each other.

"Did you see the honor student smile at the delinquent?" "She really is so kind." "The Delinquent better not get any bright ideas." "Such kindness is wasted on the likes of him."

Suddenly, her embarrassment turned into indignation. 'Seriously, is there anyone in this school that can pretend to make him feel welcome? He just made a mistake, he clearly wants to change…'

So what could she do?

Then she heard someone say something. "Still maybe she can actually knock some sense into the delinquent."

She began to seriously think about what that person said and truth be told, something about that… appealed to her. Still, she firmly believed that everyone should be able to help themselves and helping them excessively would only lead them to being too dependent. What was the right call here?

'Well it's not like I'll be always be there for him, I have to think about gymnastics. Not to mention, he still needs to put in the effort himself to actually improve and become something more than a delinquent. Yeah… that sounds perfect. I'll be the best Senpai he'll ever have…'

With both her morals and ethics satisfied, Kasumi hurried off to keep up with Kamoshida.