Hey everybody! I'm back with another chapter! Thanks for reading and enjoy the story! Warning; there is a true and very gross story about a rabbit in this chapter.
Mrs. Suzuki woke me up at one in the afternoon. She was worried I had gotten myself sick after not sleeping for so long and traveling such a long distance. I was okay, just exhausted. Thankfully I still had 4 days to correct my sleep before school started on Monday since it's only Thursday.
I took a shower, marked that off on the list of firsts in Japan I had in my head. It was so many mundane things on that list like get breakfast, go to school, ride a bike, take the bus, take a subway, go to the movies, but the wonder of being in a completely different country somehow brought back the childish rose colored glasses that I had not seen life through in a while.
It took an hour by bus to arrive close enough to the school to walk the last few blocks. This turned out to be a great opportunity because I could practice getting to the school and be comfortable with the route so I wasn't stressed on school mornings. I arrived at the school at 3:15 and walked up to the boy's volleyball club room. Akaashi had given me a spare key they kept for managers last night so I was able to let myself in. The place was trashed.
There was wrappers, empty cartons, and med tape littered all over the floor with an overflowing trash bin in the corner that had a huge heap of even more trash around it. It was disgusting, especially to me, who is a bit of a neat freak.
For the next 30 minutes, I cleaned up the trash and vacuumed the floor with a hand held one I borrowed from the maintenance closet. I took the trash out to the cans around the back of the school and then I started to grab the dirty pennies. I would find a laundromat nearby to clean them later. For now I put them in a bag. The last thing I went to clean was some spilled candy or snack that had gotten under a shelving unit. I got down on the ground with a broom to fish them out but something unexpected came crawling out too. An enormous bug.
"Ahhhhh!" I screamed so loud I thought someone surely must have called the police. I climbed up on top of a chair and started shaking. I hate bugs... so much more than a normal person who hates bugs. For so many reasons.
"Hello?" I heard a voice outside the door, "is someone in there?"
"Help me!" I yelled in Japanese and the person behind the door opened it. It was Onaga.
"Ria, what's wrong?"
"Kill it!" I yelled and threw a roll of paper towels at him.
"Kill what?"
"The bug!"
"Where is it?" he asked and started looking around.
Then I noticed it on the wall nest to him. "There!" I pointed and he grabbed it with the paper towel and squished it.
"All done." he threw the paper towel in the newly emptied trashcan and gave me a hand to get down from the chair, "I will keep in mind that you are afraid of bugs." he laughed.
I smacked his arm. "It's not funny! I have a good reason!"
"Really? I'd love to hear it scaredy cat."
"It might make you puke," I raised an eye brow, "You sure you want to take that risk before practice?"
"Bring it on little lady!"
"When I was 7, maggots crawled up my neighbor's bunny's butt and ate her from the inside out."
"What the fu-"
"Language!" Akaashi said has he came in the door, "Wow, it looks great in here. Did you do this, Ria?"
"Yup! It was disgusting and I couldn't stand it. I'm gonna get to work on the waters!" I grabbed the bag of empty bottles and headed out to fill them.
"What's wrong with you?" I heard Akaashi ask Onaga, "You look pale. Are you sick?"
"Bug... Ria... bunny... dead..."
Oops... I think I might have broke him.
The weekend moved on in a similar fashion. We had practice at 4:30 on Friday but then early in the morning, 9 am to 12 and then again from 1 to 4 on Saturday and Sunday. Akaashi said it was to make up for the fact that there wasn't a training camp over the winter break and since they didn't have any practice games for a few weeks.
It was fun hanging out with the guys and getting to help with practice and then Monday rolled around. I got a text from Kenma to ask if I had woken up yet.
'I wish I was still sleeping.' I told him.
'Me too, but the sooner we get school over with, the sooner we can get back home to go to sleep.'
'That is a mighty fine point!' I told him
I brushed my hair and got nervous thinking about how I should wear it to school. There were strict rules about why kind of hair accessories and things I could use because of the school uniform, so I decided to just leave it down with an off center part.
I put on the uniform and it made me think of my friends at home who went to private Catholic high schools and had to wear uniforms. I think my friend called her skirt a kilt, or at least that was the style of skirt it was. This was just a regular skirt with a zipper on the side. I put on the button up shirt, tucked it into the skirt and tied my tie around my neck. I pulled on my blazer but it wasn't very warm so I pulled Akaashi's hoodie over it.
I arrived at the school at 7 am and set up quickly for the light practice that the boys did in the morning and by 7:30 they were all here. At 8:30 they all ran off to get in their uniforms and get ready for class. Akaashi had arrived around the same time as me so he was done before everyone else and changed while they wrapped up the morning practice. He stayed behind to help me get everything put away so I would still make it to class on time.
At 8:45 we had 15 minutes before the bell rang and we were expected to be in our homerooms. Akaashi and I were talking about the different rules that Liberos were created to break and he decided to walk with me to my classroom so we could finish the conversation. By the time we arrived, I finally understood what Anahori's position was supposed to be.
"That makes so much more sense. I thought it was weird that they wore a different color!" I said.
"Yeah, it just signals to the referees that they are the libero and will be jumping in and out of the game a lot."
"Cool. Thanks Akaashi!" I smiled, "I guess I'll see you at practice this afternoon?"
"See you then, have fun in your classes." he smiled and pat my head.
"I will! Thanks, Akaashi!" I waved as he walked towards the staircase to go up to his classroom.
"Good Morning, Valeria." I heard Mr. Mori's voice.
"Good Morning, Mr. Mori." I smiled and bowed respectfully. Kenma said something about students doing that in the morning.
"Come on in, let's get you introduced to the class."
"Okay!" I followed him into the classroom and he had me stand next to him while he spoke to the class.
"Good morning everyone, I know you all remember who I am, but this is an exchange student who will be with us through the end of this term in March. Would you like to introduce yourself?"
"Yes, sir," I said, "My name is Valeria Jacobi. I'm from America and I'll be in your class for a while. I look forward to getting to know you all."
"Welcome to the class, miss manager, I thought you weren't gonna show!" I saw Anahori sitting at the back of the class right in front of the desk that was supposed to be mine.
I waved and looked to Mr. Mori who nodded letting me know it was okay to go take my seat.
Classes were nothing special, just like American school. One big difference that I was glad Kenma and I figured out from comparing our average school days was that here we stay in one classroom all day with the same people and the teachers come to us. In America, I have class all over the building with all different people and sometimes people in different grades.
Overall, I had a lot of fun and then lunch time rolled around. Anahori took me with him and we met up with a group of guys from the team to have lunch and chill in the staircase up to the roof which is totally abandoned this time of year since no one wants to go out there in the cold. It was nice to chill out and talk to the guys.
I left early to throw out my trash and use the bathroom on the way back to the classroom and when I was in a stall I heard something from outside.
"Ugh... Did you see the foreign girl in class two?" one of them said.
"More importantly, did you see that sweatshirt she's wearing? She's breaking the rules and the teachers just let her get away with it!" This girl sounded angry. I didn't know I was breaking the rules. I thought Mr. Mori would have told me to take it off.
"It's not just any sweatshirt either! It's Keiji Akaashi's sweatshirt! I heard she's the new team manager! Why would they let this new girl have the position when so many actual students were denied the position?"
I was so confused at that point. I would have to ask Kenma, but since he asked Akaashi to let me be there manager since they still didn't have one, I guess maybe he didn't know they'd rejected people either? It was still worth asking him.
I pulled my phone out of the breast pocket of my blazer and texted Kenma. He wouldn't see it until after practice or at least until after school, so I'll find out later. For now I just moved one with my life.
I exited the stall and saw the two girls and one of them who had her hair in a pony tail was blocking the sinks.
"Excuse me." I said and reached behind her to get some soap and wash my hands.
The pair of them just glared at me while I washed my hands and until I left the bathroom.
Back in the classroom I sat in my seat and poked Anahori on the shoulder.
"What is this that I've heard about other people being denied the manager position?"
He seemed nervous and didn't give me a straight answer, just told me I would have to talk to Akaashi.