So, after much nagging on the part of my imouto, I'm giving in and typing up this fic, my first posted Sailor Moon fanfiction. I feel so well rounded, anime-wise. I needed a break from certain other categories, so we'll see how this goes. You could say the inspiration from this story came from several different places, but I think it all coalesced after I interviewed a peer from Japan about the school system for my third year Japanese project. So, if any of this seems odd to the readers, I'm sorry, but this is how school is in Japan, not America. Okay?
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Pain Inside
Part 1
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It all started on a Saturday morning at 10 am. Actually, to be fair, that was only when the placement examination began. To tell the truth, it had started at about eight o'clock that morning, when the first few exam candidates were gathering together. Not at the center, obviously, not that early. But before a placement exam, it helped to have the morale support of your closest friends. It helped even more if they were going to take the same examination as you. Of course, that morning, there were literally hundreds of teenagers that, having graduated from quite a few different middle schools, were preparing for that exam, the one that would tell them whether or not they would attend Eien Academy for the next three years of their lives. Of course, if we were to look at all of these candidates, this would be a very long and convoluted story indeed. Mainly, we are concerned with seventeen incumbent examinees, which at this point in our story can be split evenly enough into six groups of varying size and of varying levels of activity at this time, three hours before this very important exam that they had all spent much of the last year preparing for. Or at least, intending to prepare.
Eien Academy was a school of middling quality in the grand scheme of Japanese high schools. It was not a private school, but for a public school, it was still rather good. Every year, they accepted four classes of thirty freshmen each, totally up to 120 new students each year. Other schools were bigger, some were smaller. The fact of the matter remained that this examination would be the end of the line to Eien for many of the hopeful candidates.
This had one particular boy worried.
You see, he had been up all night with his three closest friends, boys that he had attended middle school with, boys that he had sworn a solemn oath to continue on to Eien Academy alongside. The smartest of their number could have possibly placed in a better school, but he likely could not afford a private education. The boy that was worried, however, was not nearly so smart as his friend.
He knew about things that he felt were important. He just didn't think those things were the kind of information tested on high school entrance exams. Surely, there would not be a question which asked for an essay on creative pranking, or on the physical properties of a well-made water balloon, or which was the most effective glue that was available at any drug store. If these were on the examination, this boy would not be feeling so very poorly about his chances after spending the entire night with his three friends, having one last all-night cram session before the test.
He thought that his friends seemed annoyingly confident about their chances. He thought that if any one of them were to fail and be left behind, it would be him, Jadeite Akahito. He thought that it would most obviously be horrible starting high school on his own and surrounded by people whose test scores were as abysmal as his. He also thought that his friends were far too confident in his own ability to retain information that morning, and that if they knew the depth of his panic, perhaps they would not all look so utterly at ease as they walked side by side into a coffee shop.
"Jadeite, what's with that face?" Nephlyte Midorishi questioned his worried blonde companion as they all sat to decide what they wanted to keep them up through the upcoming test. "You'll be fine. Eien lets practically anyone in."
"I'm sure we'll all do very well." Zoicite Aoseishi asked, green eyes soft, his voice sounding much more concerned and sympathetic than that of his smirking brunette companion. Zoicite was a very pretty boy, and from a distance, he was often mistaken for a girl, even though he clearly had no chest to speak of. Jadeite would have attributed this mistake to Zoicite's long tresses of wavy blonde hair pulled back in a sensible tail at the back of the boy's neck, but the fact of the matter was that of his four companions, Jadeite was the only one who wore his hair short. He thought it looked silly the one time he had grown out his own slightly wavy blonde hair, and so he kept it in a boy-cut despite the fact that it separated him in another way from his friends. "You just need to remember all that we've talked about and studied, and you will easily pass, Jadeite."
"You think so?" Jadeite sighed. "Well, I suppose I'll just have to hope. It would suck to be left behind, you guys."
"Then do your best." Kunzite Kidan folded his long fingers in front of him, bright grey eyes glinting seriously from beneath silvery white bangs. "That is all any of us can do."
"And don't think that we'll purposefully flunk it so that you don't have to be alone." Nephlyte teased. "Now, who's getting coffees?" After a quick round of paper-rock-scissors, Jadeite was walking to the front counter with everyone's money and orders in mind. That was when he had an ingenious idea.
Nothing that would be on the examination, of that he was sure. But it was a real life skill, and it was the type of thing that Jadeite truly excelled at. His bright blue eyes flashed in excitement.
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"Time to get up, sweetie." The soft voice held a musical quality that made the ruffled blonde wrapped in her covers smile slightly despite her groan of protest.
"Mmm…what time is it?" one deep blue eye opened to take in a blur of aqua and cream that shortly came into focus.
"Look, breakfast," the beautiful girl sat next to her waking companion, setting the tray in her lap carefully. "Never take an exam on an empty stomach, Haruka, isn't that right?"
"You'd know better than me." Haruka yawned and stretched, her short blonde hair in utter disarray as she beamed at the girl beside her. "So, you gonna feed me then, Michiru?"
"I think you can manage on your own." Michiru blushed lightly, spearing a piece of fruit on her own fork and smiling. "Besides that, if we played around, we'd never get ready for the test."
"What time is it, anyway?" Haruka repeated her earlier question, trying in vain to fix her mussed hair. "And how come your hair will stay where it's supposed to and mine won't?"
"It is eight-twenty, and my hair is behaving because I showered when I woke up at seven, Haruka." Michiru explained as she watched Haruka help herself to a chunk of melon. "And I wouldn't worry about it. I think your hair looks good, first thing in the morning, all haphazard and wild."
"Oh, then maybe you'd like it, too?" Haruka leaned forward and reached for Michiru's hair, causing the aqua-haired girl to leap away and nearly spill the tray before she set it on the bedside table with a severe frown on her pink lips.
"I didn't say I wanted my hair to be a mess." She scolded lightly, and in answer, Haruka hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her over onto the bed, rolling her until the shorthaired girl was on top, and Michiru was more trapped in the blankets than her captor.
"I like it when your hair is messy." Haruka whispered lightly, kissing Michiru's temple. "Because you only let me see it that way. It makes me feel special. Loved."
"I do love you, Haruka." Michiru's frown melted into a warm smile. "Even when you ruin my hair."
"Even then?"
"Especially then."
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"Come on, you fat lump! Get up!" a girl with long black hair and flashing purple eyes shoved at the girl sleeping on her floor in a tangle of blankets. "It's nearly nine! Don't you want breakfast before you have to go fail the test?"
"Breakfast?" like magic, the blonde girl's blue eyes flew open at that word, and she repeated it as if questioning what she'd heard. "Food?"
"Yes, Makoto's made us all chocolate-chip pancakes, and we saved some for you even though you eat too much and you slept in so late you don't really need them." The dark-haired girl lectured. "You're hopeless, Usagi." But the blonde had leapt up at the word pancakes and was now scrambling down the hall to the kitchen.
"Good job, Rei!" a cheerful blonde who looked strikingly similar to Usagi Tsukino greeted the scowling girl returned from her wake-up mission. "I thought she'd sleep right through exams."
"Wait…today's…exams?" Usagi paused between ridiculous mouthfuls of food, and Rei Hino sighed in annoyance.
"Yes, Usagi. Remember how we all studied until midnight last night?" another girl with short blue hair and politely blinking blue eyes asked Usagi slowly. "That was for the exams that we have today."
"To get into Eien Academy, remember?" the cheerful blonde bounced over to her slightly ill-looking counterpart.
"Uh…Minako…I think that spoiled my appetite." Usagi sighed just as a tall girl with green eyes and a ponytail of wavy brown hair entered with another plate full of food. Usagi's eyes lit up and she turned to this new supply with gusto.
"Awfully hungry for having her appetite spoiled." The blue-haired girl commented in a soft tone.
"Yeah, well, Usagi actually has six appetites. That's her secret." Rei explained.
"Is that possible, Ami?" Minako Aino turned to the girl with blue hair, a curious frown on her face.
"No, Minako, it is not." Ami Mizuno answered as patiently as if they were in class and Minako was only a small child not expected to know such things.
"It's called a joke, Mina-chan." Makoto Kino, the brunette, explained. "Don't take Rei seriously, you know better."
"Thanks Mako-chan." Rei deadpanned. "Now hurry it up, garbage disposal girl, we've got a test to get to."
"There's still nearly an hour." Ami offered peaceably. "We should still be able to get really good seats."
"Can I sit next to you, Ami?" Usagi pleaded, her mouth empty only because her plate was.
"No cheating, fathead." Rei chastised the girl in a playful tone that let her know she wasn't serious.
"I suppose so, but I don't see how much of a difference it will make." Ami shrugged willingly.
"Obviously, I heard this idea once that smartness…it's like a wave! And I think you attract it, so I want to be right next to you, Ami." Usagi explained.
"Dibs on Ami's other side!" Minako raised her hand up high, and Rei grumbled something about ditzy blondes. It was going to be a long day.
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"Come on, then." Hotaru Tomoe had let herself into the apartment at approximately nine o' five, when it became apparent that Mamoru was not going to answer the door on his own. "You can't just mope your way into Eien."
"I don't want to go, Hotaru." The dark haired young man answered, his voice muffled by layers of sheets and blankets he'd pulled around him ever tighter when Hotaru had tried to rouse him ten minutes ago. "What's the point?"
"That's a stupid question, Mamoru Chiba." She answered, sounding rather annoyed as she stared at him, purple eyes flashing slightly under black bangs. "What would your parents want you to do, just lay here and feel sorry for yourself?"
"They're not here to tell me." He answered after a long pause, and Hotaru let out an annoyed sigh.
"Does that mean you should disappoint them, wasting your life like this?" Hotaru demanded. His shoulders shook in a shuddering sob, and she softened immediately, kneeling to touch his back. "Please, Mamoru, don't do this to yourself. I know that it hurts, and I'm sorry, but the world won't put itself on pause until you feel better."
"I'll never feel better." He told her, sitting up finally. She smiled down at him and offered her hand.
"I know. My mother died long ago, but I still miss her, you know." She told him, and he scrubbed a hand through messy hair before taking her hand and standing up. They stared at each other for a while, deep midnight blue regarding violet darkness in a moment of silent sadness shared before he leaned forward to hug the shorter girl. She was already short for her age, it didn't help that Mamoru was one of the tallest boys of their age group as well. It made her feel tiny, but she knew he needed to be reassured, so she did not fight it.
Besides, it was good to have friends, and Mamoru was Hotaru's only friend. He had been, for a long time now.
She hoped they both did well on the exam.
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"Okay, here's my idea." A young man with long silver hair pulled back in a stylish ponytail with a length of white ribbon turned to his taller companion, a much taller boy with hair just as long, but in a shade of chocolate brown. "We take a bucket of ice and pour it all over his bed. That way, he'll pay for making us late when he goes to bed tonight and his bed is soaking wet."
"No, Yaten." The brunette answered, soft brown eyes turning to the watch on his wrist. "It's only half-past, we'll be fine."
"Yeah right, he won't be out of the bathroom until quarter-till, and then we'll have to run the whole way." Yaten Kou explained his reasoning. "I say we leave without him."
"No, Yaten." The taller boy answered again. "He'll be out in a moment."
"Yeah right." Yaten snorted. "You have way too much faith in people, Taiki. Especially people named Seiya Kou."
"I have faith in you as well, Yaten." Taiki replied quickly. "Which is more ill-placed, do you think?"
"Hey, I'm not the one making us late!" Yaten yelled out so that the third member of their party would hear his complaint.
"You are the one planning vengeful pranks, however." Taiki pointed out. "And I had hoped you'd learn to be an adult before high school was upon us."
"What? I'm still
young." Yaten straightened, annoyed that he still wasn't nearly as tall as
Taiki. "I can play as many pranks as I
want, especially if they're on stupid slow-ass dorks!"
he yelled out the last bit for Seiya,
who suddenly came running into the room, blue eyes aglow with panic, black
ponytail whipping out behind him.
"Okay, I'm ready!" he announced, and Yaten let out a rather long-suffering sigh.
"It's about freaking time." He gestured to the others. "Come on, I'm not failing just because slow boy tried to sabotage my confidence by making me rush."
"Sabotage? I just wanted to fix my hair!" Seiya protested as they all stepped out of the building and down to the sidewalk.
"How about you burn the wig, that'd be an improvement." Yaten suggested, tugging at Seiya's ponytail hard enough that the other boy yelped and began to attack Yaten, who darted around Taiki for cover. Taiki let out a long sigh and looked to the sky.
Why am I friends with these people?
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The End (Of Part One, That Is)