Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. This fic is entirely fictional and Japan did not have a Project Messiah nor a Mission Messiah as far as I know. I did not write the haiku below. Harold G. Henderson did the translation.
Other Side of the Moon
The Autumn of Life
Chapter 2
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Kumo ori-ori
Hito-ni yasumuru
Tsuki-mi kana
---Matsuo Basho
Clouds come from time to time---
And bring to men a chance to rest
from looking at the moon.
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"Hey Kenshin! You're later than usual today. Normally, you're one of the first people to arrive in school!" Misao greeted as Kenshin walked into the classroom. Misao and Sanosuke were in the middle of their silly squabbles again when Kenshin arrived.
"Good morning Misao, you too Sano. So what's this about now?"
"I am trying to get weasel here to let me know problem number 5's answer. I can't seem to figure out how to solve it." Sano said miserably.
"Well, you just have to try harder. Math is such a wonderful subject once you learn how to like it," Misao said confidently.
"I didn't know you love math, Misao," Kenshin commented.
"Well she didn't, really. But ever since the new math teacher came..her whole perspective changed. Obviously, she's trying to impress Shinomori-sensei by being a math genius."
"I am not!" An extremely blushing Misao said.
Kenshin gave a chuckle, which made Misao even redder. The little tease was abruptly ended when Shinomori-sensei entered the room.
"Good morning."
"Good morning Shinomori-sensei."
"Please handout your assignments and turn your books to page 32."
Shinomori-sensei was about to start his lecture when the class was interrupted by a knock. Shinomori-sensei walked towards the door, which revealed the old principal who, was with another student. Apparently the student was staring intently at the floor so his face was covered by his bangs. The class broke into quiet whispers as the two men conversed.
"Who's with the principal? Do you think it's a new student?" Misao whispered to Sano and Kenshin.
"I don't know. I can't even see his face," Sano replied.
Kenshin gave a small shrug.
"Please excuse me for a while," the math teacher said to his class as he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.
"Shinomori-san, this is Hirameshi Ryo," the principal gestured the student beside him who slowly raised his chin when his name was mentioned.
'What the? I can't help my eyes from popping out.'
"He will be joining this class from now on. This is his first day, please make sure he gets comfortable here. Good day to both of you." With that the principal walked away and took the nearest staircase. Shinomori too turned his back from Ryo and was already holding the doorknob when a hand stopped him at his wrist.
"Officer Aoshi, what are you doing here?"
"I teach here."
'Duh' "I know that. Well, you know what I mean."
"We will discuss about this later, I do not want the class to wait any longer."
Aoshi motioned to turn the knob again when he paused and whispered something to Ryo.
"Be careful with your voice Kaoru, someone might hear you."
Kaoru froze for a moment then nodded. She didn't realize that she used her natural voice, Kaoru's voice, a few moments ago. She was so surprised to see Aoshi there that she completely forgot to control her voice.
The class, which took their teacher's absence to chat with their seatmates, hushed when the teacher came in again, followed by an unknown student who still denied the class to view his face.
"A new student will now join your class starting today. Why don't you introduce yourself?"
"Hai." The new student slowly raised his head and brushed of the hair that fell upon his eyes, inhaled deeply and started, "Good morning. My name is Hirameshi Ryo. I am very glad to meet all of you." Ryo bowed and finished his introduction with a shy yet very sweet smile.
The class broke into murmurs and giggles that mostly came from the girls. It seems like Ryo's smile was quite popular with the girls.
"Why don't we find you a seat." Shinomori-sensei scanned the room and found an empty chair at the back part.
"Why don't you take the seat behind Himura-san? He's the one sitting beside the window."
A red haired student smiled at Ryo.
'I guess that's Himura-san all right.' Ryo began to walk towards his seat. Put down his bag and started to get ready for math.
"Hi there! My name's Misao, and this here is Sano and the one sitting in front of you is Kenshin," the girl sitting diagonally from Ryo's seat cheerfully introduced.
"Oh hello, pleased to meet you."
Their small introduction was ended when Shinomori-sensei started calling out people to solve the problems on the board.
Soon the lunch bell rung. A cheerful Misao skipped gleefully towards Ryo who was kind of stuck in the middle of people asking to join them for lunch, mainly girls.
"Would you like to join our table for lunch?" Misao interjected.
Ryo looked at Misao and towards her friends waiting by the door, it was the two guys she introduced to him earlier.
'I bet she's the best option I've got. Besides, I'll do anything to escape this mob of girls.'
"Please excuse me, I have to go. I'll see you guys later," Ryo grabbed Misao's wrist then quickly ran for the door.
"Whoa buddy, you all right?" Sano said at the dashing duo.
"Yes, but I won't be if I stay here a minute more. Can we please go now?"
"Sure buddy, the cafeteria's this way." With that, the four of them walked towards the dining area with Ryo walking more briskly than the other three.
During the course of the lunch, Ryo's new friends kept asking questions about him, which was absolutely normal. Ryo thanked mentally for all the research that has been provided for him. It soon came pretty handy with all the questions these people are throwing at him. The Q & A portion only stopped when Misao asked about the clubs.
"I remember Ryo, did you have the chance to sign up for a club? If I'm right, last week was the last time to sign up. But in case you didn't don't worry about it, you can always join the kendo or the tae kwon do club."
"Ah, yes fortunately I signed up in time. Umm… why did you say that I could always join either kendo or tae kwon do?"
"Because Kenshin and Sano here are the presidents of those clubs or teams or whatever. So they can always squeeze you in or me for that matter. Am I not correct neh Kenshin, neh Sano?" Misao gave the two her cutest puppy dog eyes.
*Kenshin giant sweatdrop*
"Don't you have a club Misao?" a puzzled Ryo asked.
"Yes I did, but I'm not yet officially in. New members always have to pass the try outs first."
"What was your club before?"
"Tae kwon do."
"Why'd you decide to switch?"
"Because Shinomori-sensei is the new head of the Archery team," Sano butted in with a huge smile plastered on his face.
"I've always been interested to join anyway!!!" Misao said defensively then immediately changed the subject, "What's your club by the way Ryo?"
'This is definitely bad. Something's definitely wrong. First I thought Megumi-san's stay here was just for the comfort room thingie, but then here comes Aoshi-san being an undercover teacher, which by the way out of all the math teachers in school turned out to be mine. And now, this. Archery. I didn't know that he'd be my club's moderator too. Seems like members of Mission Messiah are actually trying their best to keep an eye on me 24/7. No matter where I go, someone's there. This is the first time security has tightened up this much. Something's up. I need to talk to them fast.'
Ryo snapped out and replied, "Archery. I guess I also have to attend the try outs later."
"Really? That's great! We could go together! You guys will come and watch us right? I mean, come on for moral support! Besides, training doesn't start until next week. There's no kendo nor tae kwon do meetings this week!"
"Sure Misao, Sano and I wouldn't miss it for the world."
***
Misao looked at the bleachers at the sides. She waved at the two guys once she found them, which waved back as gleefully.
"Goodluck Misao! Goodluck Ryo!" Kenshin and Sano cheered.
Misao crossed her fingers and smiled.
The tryouts have started. Shinomori-sensei has started calling people one by one. He was doing it alphabetically. It was now on letter F, soon it will be Ryo's turn.
"Hirameshi Ryo, you're up!"
Ryo walked towards the marked area and was holding the bow and arrow already. He gave one last look at his new friends who were making silent cheers for him. He took his stance, began focusing and released the arrow. The arrow hit the target range. It wasn't a bull's eye but it hit inside the most inner circle of the board. The watchers burst into applause because of the magnificent shot. Ryo merely smiled modestly and proceeded to his next shot. After three trials, Ryo's rank was definitely number one. All three shots were almost bull's eyes. People continued to cheer and clap for him, though he remained to smile modestly.
"That was amazing Ryo!" Misao said excitedly.
"Ah, I guess I just got lucky. I'm really not that good."
"You're just like Kenshin 'ol buddy here. You two can be best friends. Always pretending to be ordinary when you're not," Sano said as he tapped Ryo's back, which turned out to be a little strong for him.
Kenshin smiled sheepishly and praised, "You were really good Ryo, and I'm sure that's no fluke."
"Hehe…thank you. Don't be so happy for me yet I don't even know if I made it to the team or not. Besides we have to watch Misao now," Ryo said humbly while scratching the back of his head.
"Right! I almost forgot that I have to try too!"
"Makimachi Misao, you're next!"
"Here goes nothing!"
"Goodluck Misao!!!"
Misao stood at the mark where Ryo stood earlier. Stretched the bow's chord then released the arrow, it landed exactly on the inner circle's line. The next two shots were fairly close to the first arrow, one between the innermost and the 2nd innermost circle, and the other inside the innermost circle. She did well too.
"Great job Misao!"
"Ey, you really think so? I hope I can make it to the team!"
"Attention everyone. As I can see in my list, there are 12 of you who signed up for the team. However, I cannot accommodate all of you since the team has only room for four more. These four have been chosen based on their performance today. The four who displayed the greatest potential shall be the ones who'll be admitted. To the remaining who will not be so lucky in this field, please feel free to ask my assistance in helping you join another club who still have openings. Ok, l'm not going to let you wait any longer. The four new members in no particular order are Kagayama Keiko, Hirameshi Ryo, Gayhasu Jin and Makimachi Misao. Thank you very much for your time. See you next week."
"Congratulations you two lucky bastards!" Sano yelled.
"I can't believe I'm actually a member now!! This is so surreal!"
"Hai. I am very happy for both of you," Kenshin smiled then looked at Ryo who was staring at Shinomori-sensei's retreating figure. "Ah, Ryo-san are you all right?"
"Hai Kenshin. Thanks."
"Look at the time, it's getting pretty late. I better head home. I promised the little twerp that I'll be home early today."
"Ah, we better go now, I agree. Say hi to Yahiko for me Sano."
"Sure Kenshin, he'll like that."
"I'll walk with you Sano!" Misao declared.
"Sano and Misao's houses are in the same street," Kenshin explained to Ryo. "How about you Ryo, aren't you going home yet?"
"Yes I will, but why don't you guys go ahead. I have to check something really quick at the library."
'Who goes to the library on his first day?' The three just looked at each other and shrugged the issue away.
"Ok, see you later Ryo," Sano waved casually.
"Take care," Misao bid.
"Have a great evening. Bye," Kenshin smiled.
"Thanks. I will. See you guys tomorrow," Ryo said then motioned to walk towards the library's direction.
Once the three were out of sight. Ryo stopped then changed his direction.
'Now to get some answers.' "Time to talk Aoshi."
