I got five reviews, so I posted the chapter earlier. My school ended so much earlier than any other school, and my summer activites hadn't begun yet, so I finished the chapter on Saturday.
Please tell me what you think! And it's the same thing, five constructive reviews to have the next chapter up, or else you'll have to wait until August first.
The Next Generation
by Keledrena
Chapter Two
"Class, we have a new transfer student, Mihara Hikari." The professor indicated the girl on his left.
"Great, another nerd," grumbled Akito, looking at her plain shirt, knee length skirt and sensible shoes.
"You know, she's kind of cute for a nerd," said Satoshi, studying her.
"That's the girl who bumped into me this morning," said Yuu, glaring at her while propping up his legs on the table and tilting his chair back. She looked oddly familiar, like a childhood friend...
"...moved here from Kyoto, and scored full points on the entrance exam," the professor was still talking. "Ms. Mihara, why don't you take a seat next to Mr. Mizawa over there."
"What!" Yuu yelped, bolting up, legs sliding off the desk. "She will not be sitting here."
The teacher gave him a disgruntled look. "Ms. Mihara is new here, and I expect you to show her around the school. Hopefully, come of Ms. Mihara's diligence will also rub off on you."
"I'm getting A's!"
"But you never pay attention during class, nor do you follow the rules in here. Now let Ms. Mihara sit down."
Hikari had been watching this with wide eyes. 'Yuu changed so much. He's practically a different person.' She cleared her throat. "Actually, Professor, I'd prefer another seat."
The professor frowned. "I'm afraid that's not possible. Despite his lack of concentration, Mr. Mizawa knows the school better than anybody else, and is the best person to show you around. My decision is final." And with that, he started to teach that day's lesson.
Hikari walked up the aisles to the seat next to Yuu. He greeted her with a glare. She glared back. "Well, you can't say that I didn't try," she muttered, taking out her notebook.
-
Hikari was getting a headache. Not only did Yuu not pay attention and was flirting with girls, but apparently he set the trend for everyone else, which meant that all the "cool" kids were talking and not paying attention.
"Will you guys just shut up!" she yelled. This was worse than trying to help Kenji with his schoolwork!
The classroom was silent. Even the professor stopped talking.
Yuu looked at her, with a girl wrapped in each arm. He smiled mockingly. "Why, are we interrupting your precious study time?"
"Mine and everyone else's! This IS a school, you know."
"Whatever." He turned his head around and the conversation resumed.
Hikari glared at him. 'Yuu's changed way too much. He's nothing like my childhood best friend.'
-
"So what our last class?" asked Hikari. She finally made it through the day. Lunch had been fine, since she sat with Aya and her friends. However, since Yuu and his friends were in all of her class, they had been a constant annoyance- apparently all the professors had heard about him being forced to show her around, and decided that it was a good idea. This meant that Hikari now sat next to Yuu in every class.
Aya smiled. "My favorite. Angelic class."
Hikari smiled back. Finally, something was going right! "I love Angelic Layer," she said, entering the classroom.
"You think that you would last a minute in the layer?" said a voice behind her.
Hikari turned around and saw Yuu, leaning against doorway, surrounded by his friends and his fans. "Yes! I could even beat you!" she said.
Yuu laughed, but it wasn't the one she remembered, when they shared a joke. It was unpleasant, an I'm-much-better-than-you-are laugh. "Yeah, right."
"I mean it! In fact, if my Angel wasn't being repaired right now, then I'd challenge you!"
Yuu laughed. "You mean you came to a school with Angelic Classes knowing your angel was broken? Ss what did you do to break it so badly?"
"Shut up!" Hikari stood up. "There's only one more semester of class left before graduation anyway," she began. At that moment, the Angelic professor came in, distracting her.
"Oh, hello. You must be the new student, Mihara Hikari," she said.
"Good afternoon, Professor."
"I'm not an ordinary teacher, Hikari. Being your Angelic teacher entitles you to call me Kasumi. Everyone else does. As for the class, the first half of this semester is be Angelic History, and the second will be actual duels. You've missed the first semester, and the beginning of this one, but Angelic History is pretty easy, so I'm sure you'll catch up. As for the duels, I understand that your Angel is being fixed."
"Yes, Prof- Kasumi."
"Well, do you know when it'll be ready?"
"No, it was damaged pretty badly," Hikari said, softly. 'And there's only a fifty percent chance the parts would work on an angel with Yuki's level of damage.'
"Well, if it's not ready by the time we start the duels, then you can borrow one of the school's models until yours is fixed."
"Thank you."
At that moment, the bell rang. The rest of the class (the ones that didn't come in with Yuu) had come while Hikari was talking to Kasumi.
"Good afternoon, class. Today we will be studying the Twelfth National Tournament. Can anyone tell me what was the most interesting fact about this particular one?" Hikari nearly choked. She won the twelfth tournament!
Yuu raised his hand, and unlike the other classes, he actually seemed eager to participate.
"Yuu?"
"The twelfth tournament was won by a deuce known as Mihara Kari, or Kari-chan, and her angel Yukiko. She is titled the Royal Prodigy because she was three years old at that time. She is the daughter of the Prince and Princess of Angelic Layer, Mihara Oujirou and the former Suzuhara Misaki." Yuu smirked. "Also she hates spinach and wore pink bunny slippers."
Kasumi nodded. "You're right about the first part, but the second is unknown. Kari-chan disappeared soon after the Tournament, and her parents announced a break from Angelic Layer."
"We were best friends before I left on that tour with my mother and Ka-chan disappeared."
"Ka-chan?" asked one of his simpering fangirls.
"That's what her family and close friends call her."
"So you know the Prodigy personally? That's so cool!" squealed that same girl. Everybody else nodded in agreement.
"So you think you can get her to come and talk to us?" asked another.
"Probably," said Yuu easily.
Hikari got mad. They hadn't seen each other for years, and Yuu thinks that he could just call her up and get her to do anything he wants. "I doubt it," she said.
Everyone looked at her.
"What do you know?"
"He only said that they were friends before he left. He probably hasn't seen her since," said Aya, jumping to the rescue of her new friend.
"And I suppose you know her personally, too?"
"That's enough!" said Kasumi. "Whether you know Kari-chan personally or not, Yuu, that is a matter for discussion after class."
"Akane," asked a boy. "Have you ever seen Kari-chan in person?"
She nodded. "Yes. I was lucky enough to get tickets to that particular tournament." Kasumi sighed. "Despite the fact that she was such a small little girl, her angel was so graceful and powerful. I was nineteen then, and I've been playing since I was seven, but I wouldn't have been able to match the skill and beauty Kari-chan had developed by age three. Even now, I'm still not that skillful or graceful.
"I won the regional tournament five years ago, and was third in the nationals. I would love to be able to have the chance for Hika," she gestured at her Angel, "to stand in the same ring as Yukiko, but I know that I would be defeated within a few minutes. Angelic Layer is in her blood, and Kari-chan gets it from all sides of her family. Her grandmother is the Queen of Angelic Layer, Suzuhara Shuuko, and who was the first player of Angelic Layer. Her uncle was the creator of Angelic Layer. This combined with parents like hers, it would have been very surprising if Kari-chan wasn't so good. But she was three when she won, and she's now called the Royal Prodigy."
Hikari sank down in her seat, blushing heavily. She wasn't that good, was she?
The class continued, making Hikari blush harder and harder as she was constantly praised. Thankfully, she was able to hide her face as she leaned over her notebook and pretended to take notes.
So what do you think? Please review!
Replies to Review for Prologue & Chapter 1
DayDreamer9- You're my first reviewer! Throws party I have a tendency of creating the characters as I go along with the story. For some reason, I can never completely come up with a whole story at once. Also, I'm not sure of just how much of Yuki I'll add, since I'm very bad at describing fights/battles. But I'll do my best! J
Unknown (Blank)- I'm flattered you like my story so much to go through all that trouble. Also for Yuu, well you saw it in the first chapter. The story will probably become less confusing as it continues. If it's the timeline you're thinking about, well I don't know the exact time period between Angelic Layer and Chobits, so its easier if you just imagine that Chobits doesn't exist (for my story that is, since I really like Chobits too, but I think of them as separate stories/worlds.)
DBCDude01 [Prologue]- I sort of rushed into this story while I had the inspiration. Maybe I'll write a prelude when I'm done with this. But I should warn you that it would most likely end up being a one shot. Based on my plans, I'll be in the middle of finals before I get to it, so I won't have time to continue.
Su Onigama- wails I can't write action at all! It sort of defies the point of making my character an AL star, but I'll try to decrease some of the sappiness. I was actually trying to show how much Yuki meant to Hikari, as that will hold a lot of importance later on.
darkfire- You're right. I wrote this chapter right before my finals, and I was never good with fighting scenes and action. (Mostly because I don't know much about them- I grew up on romance.) Eventually, I'll get to a battle scene, and while I can't promise anything very good, I'll do my best. Also, I'm starting Chinese Martial Arts (Kong Fu) this summer, so that'll help a bit.
DBCDude01 [Chapter 1]- Thanks! I wasn't actually thinking of putting Hikari and Aya against each other, but that would be quite interesting. I still have to work on the plot a bit more, since this was originally a romance, but now I'm considering adding other genres/themes to it.
Kazumi Kairi or Kairi-chan- Thanks for the comment. Hopefully, I'll keep my inspiration and finish a lot of it during the summer.
karin- Do you think he's too snobbish/arrogant? Because I'm trying to place him as a cold, rich playboy. He's the first that I ever portrayed, so it might not be perfect. As for the names, well since I was using Japanese names, I was picking common ones from random anime/mangas. But I wasn't thinking of Ayashi no Ceres for Aya. I was actually using Aya from Kodocha (Sana's Stage). Yuu is from Marmalade Boy. Hikari's younger siblings and classmates are from miscellaneous stories (Zodiac PI, Ranma ½, Card Captor Sakura, DN Angel and Kodocha again.) As for Kenji, it is a very popular name- I met two different Japanese men named Kenji at a Expo once.
Shippou Clone- At the risk of looking like I want more compliments- am I really that good? The third chapter's up (duh) and the fourth one is almost finished. Apparently I have more free time than I expected, which means more time for writing! ;)
(blank)- You're right, I do need to have more than just stock characters. You'll find out more about each character as you go along. Also, sometimes, you have to read between the lines very carefully to pick up subtle details, like word phrasing. But thanks for the comment! :)