By: Orestria (old pen name that she's too lazy to change; lady tyria)

Dedicated to: Michelle who got me addicted to Rokkaku, the rokkaku LJ community that got me info I needed

Date Started: Mar 17, 2004

Rating: PG-13 I guess.

Disclaimer: Obviously not mine, or else the anime would be more 'interesting' winks

Note(s): I have no real functional knowledge of Japanese, so there may be mistakes with honorifics. I'm admitting that right now. I would just leave them out except they add an important layer on things. Probably a good time to note that these are un-beta'd. I think Mizuki is officially OOC judging by the responses I've gotten. He's going to STAY that way since I have a lot of trouble writing Mizuki and this has been the easiest it has ever been for me to write him. Besides, this is a humour story, so just revel in the crackiness. Also, special thanks to our guest star from last chapter, Kaidoh Kaoru from Seigaku.

Love ROKKAKU!

Ch. 3; Sudou's Sucky Start

"I'm so EXCITED!" Aoi exclaims, for the nth time during the bus trip. Sudou begins to silently but repeatedly smack his head against the seat in front of him. Once again their young captain's assertion of his glee has come just when he was about to finally fall asleep. Oh, how he longs for sleep. If he were asleep, he wouldn't have to put up with the insanity of his team mates... at least until they reached Saint Rudolph.

"Why are you head-butting the seat? Is it fun? What are you trying to do? Nande?" Itsuki asks, leaning over the back of Sudou's seat to ask his questions. Rather than answering the large-nosed teen, Sudou increases the frequency and intensity of his head butts.

Ryou, no longer able to ignore the abuse of his backrest, turns in his seat and catches his teammate's head between his hands, "Stop it. That's really annoying. Don't you have any respect for others?"

Sudou Satoshi twitches. The lack of respect for his sanity is exactly what is getting him down! Saeki, who had yet to stay in his own seat for give minutes in a row the entire ride proceeds to climb over the back of Aoi's seat to get to his own, "Settle down, guys. Let's not fight tonight. This is a big day. We need to be seen as a unified strong team right from the get-go."

"A dream team. Pft," extrapolates Dabide. Bane leans over from his (rather strategic) seat behind his doubles partner to whack him upside the head.

"That one was even worse than usual," Kurobane declares simply. Saeki takes the opportunity to slip into Amane's seat unbidden.

"Was it worse than normal? How can you tell?" Bane doesn't answer Itsuki's questions since he's too busy being shoved against the window by the vice-captain's sudden decision to join him in his seat. After witnessing this event, he strange nosed player adds another question, "Why can't Sae-chan sit still tonight?"

"Because, my friend, I'm at least as excited as our captain." The vice captain stands for this declaration and then slides into Itsuki's seat, "Why?" he asks, just as his sometimes doubles partner asks the same thing, "I think I'll keep that to myself for now, It-chan."

"He says, as if it isn't painfully obvious why he's so excited. After all, we're going to be meeting up with Atsushi again," Ryou states simply, watching Saeki's meanderings only because the fall of night had ruined his previous pass-time of watching the scenery slide past the bus.

"Actually, that's only part of the reason, Kisarazu-kun," Sudou glares pathetically as Saeki scrambles over the seat back, invading his seat to talk to the twin.

Itsuki leans over the seat back in between Sudou and Saeki, "Shouldn't Ryou-kun be more excited? Aren't you glad to see Atsushi-kun again? Why'd he leave anyways?"

The bus suddenly goes quiet. An innocent enough question, but everybody immediately realizes that it was practically a taboo subject, something they had never discussed together. It is still a bit of a raw sore in the Rokkaku collective consciousness. All attention now is on the older twin, the party-like atmosphere becoming unusually uncomfortable. Ryou turns back to his window. How can he admit to everybody what he knows?

Saeki looks around to everybody, wanting to spare Ryou from having to answer. He remembers only too well what he'd been told on the subject the day it was decided they would be going to stay at Saint Rudolph.

"Atsushi never told me why he left Rokkaku... Since he didn't tell me, that can only mean one thing," Seeing absolutely no understanding on Saeki's face, Ryou had added softly, as if he was a great sin even to whisper it, "It means that I was the problem."

When his eyes meet those of his Captain, he can tell that Aoi is silently urging him to fix the ruined atmosphere. The tension must be very conspicuous if it is keeping even the rambunctious first year hushed. Saeki uses the aisle for once, almost like a normal person, to slide into the long-haired boy's seat. before Ryou can snap at him to keep his mouth shut about the incident, he pulls a little at the sleeve of the twin's hoodie, and inquires, "What, no slogan T tonight?"

Ryou stares blankly at his Vice Captain a moment, not really comprehending the subject change for a moment. He responds hesitantly, suspicious of the motives behind the question, "It's... under the sweater. It's too cold out to be walking around in a T-shirt at night."

"Is that so? Which one is it?" Saeki interrogates, noticeably a little too interested in the subject for Ryou's comfort. Without giving him even a chance to respond, the silver-haired boy grabs the bottom of the hoodie and tries to lift it up to reveal the lettering in question.

"--Hey! Stop that!" Ryou firmly holds down the front of his sweater while trying to move away from the other boy. It is a rather poorly thought out plan, since this only succeeds in him cornering himself against the window.

Sudou watches, rather dumbfounded, as the rest of the regulars take this as a cue to start acting like nothing had happened; Itsuki asks why people never answer his questions, Amane makes a stupid pun about shirts, Kurobane hits his doubles partner for said pun while not missing a beat in his conversation with the very excited (and thus very loud) Aoi. None of them are paying any attention to Ryou and Saeki who are practically wrestling in the front seat.

Sudou leans over the seat back, having decided on an easy way to take out his frustration. He catches one of Ryou's flailing arms right away. It takes a bit more effort to get the other one, since he no longer has the element of surprise on his side, but once he has them both he pins them up over the twin's head, allowing the vice captain to easily slip up the hoodie. Itsuki notices Saeki's victory and asks, "So, Sae-chan, what does it say?"

The white font on the black shirt is so small that Saeki has to lean in to read it, " 'Nosey little fucker, aren't you?' "

"What that really necessary? Did you really need to swear at me? Is it a crime to--?"

"No, no, It-chan. That IS what Ryou-kun's shirt says."

"Don't you usually call him Kisarazu-kun?"

"We're all going to have to get used to calling him Ryou-kun again or else everyone will get confused between his brother and him," Kurobane points out.

"Oh brother, what a bother. Pft." Dabide's usual bad pun receives the usual response from his doubles partner, in the form of a quick boot to the head.

Every player on the bus suddenly slides to the left, those who were on the right side of the bus sliding into the aisle, and those who were on the left slide hitting the windows, Ryou especially squished since Saeki was still in his seat, as the bus squeals to a stop, sliding to the left to avoid a tiny, ugly pink car it that had just cut it off. The bus driver honks furiously at the driver, mumbling to himself something about 'women drivers'. Bane clambers over to his window and catches a glimpse of the woman just before she speeds away. He could have sworn he recognized her, then he sees the photography equipment in the backseat and he is sure he knows her. She is the annoying photographer from the match they had with Seigaku, right? He couldn't remember her name though, and since he's not sure, he doesn't feel any need to mention it.

The bus quickly gets back on track, pulling onto the street that Saint Rudolph Junior High resides on only moments after their near-accident. The bus driver couldn't be happier. That crazy woman from before was only the icing on the cake of this horrible trip. These kids were all seriously weird. Besides, who in their right mind puts seven junior high kids on a bus without adult supervision anyways? Are they all orphans or something? He heaves a sigh of relief as he finally turns into the school drive way, pulling to a stop alongside a woman in her mid-thirties and.. another three teenage boys. The bus driver comes to a solemn decision at the same moment as he parks his vehicle: he's going to go home tonight and have a nice, long drink.

Without any consultation between themselves, the Rokkaku boys grab their onboard bags and file out of the bus with Aoi first, followed by Saeki, then itsuki, Ryou, Sudou, Kurobane and finally Amane. The woman looks every bit the high-strung business woman. She has on a black skirt suit with barely visible pinstripes and a pink silk dress shirt. She even has black, sensible heels and her hair in a strict bun. However, the black hair is streaked with the occasional white strand, showing her age, and some of her hair has come out from her bun over the course of the day, making her look frazzled.

When the displaced regulars step off the bus, the woman sighs loudly with relief and rushes over to the Vice-Captain, apparently mistaking him for the Captain, "Thank goodness you're all here in one piece! I was so worried since you were late!"

Akazawa looks away, ignoring her hysterics. Mizuki twirls his hair, looking fantastically bored. Nomura meanwhile, has gained a great interest in his feet, adjusting his glasses so that no one can see his eyes. Judging by their reactions, this sort of display is not entirely unusual, nor unexpected. Saeki checks his watch, then looks back up to the woman with one eyebrow raised, "We're about five minutes late."

"Which is actually better than my estimate," Mizuki adds simply, with his usual tone of superiority.

Hoping to stop this situation from deteriorating further, Nomura turns to the woman and suggests, "Shouldn't you introduce yourself, Watabe-sensei?" The be-spectacled Saint Rudolph Vice-Captain sweat drops as the woman in question gasps in exaggerated shock, bringing one of her hands up to her mouth in feigned horror. The students of the Catholic school are notably unsurprised by her reaction (if exasperated), "Oh! How careless of me! I am Watabe Mitsuko, the principal of the Saint Rudolph Catholic Junior High School. I welcome you to this fine institution. next to me are: Akazawa Yoshiroh, the Captain of our tennis team, the Vice-Captain Nomura Takuya and the team's manager Mizuki Hajime."

"Nice to meet you," The SeiRu boys chorus together politely.

Saeki introduces the Rokkaku boys, since Mrs. Watabe seems to be waiting for him to do so, "I'm Saeki Kojiroh, Rokkaku's Vice Captain. This is Aoi Kentaroh, our Captain. Then there's Sudou Satoshi, Kisarazu Ryou, Itsuki Marehiko, Kurobane Harukaze and Amane Hikaru."

"Nice to meet you," His team replies in unison, some more enthusiastically than others.

"Now, hurry and get your things, boys, we need to get inside before somebody catches a cold." The Principal says, waving her hands at them to try and convey a sense of urgency.

Mizuki scoffs at her. Healthy, athletic teenagers who are properly dressed are not likely to get a cold on such an unseasonably warm spring evening, especially not in such a short amount of time. However, the data collector knows better than to make his scorn for the Principal's dramatics overtly known.

"Come along, come along." The older woman ushers the boys away from the bus once they are laden with their belongings. The entire walk she waxes on and on about the state-of-the-art facilities of the recently built school complex. once she brings them into the residence, she switches topics slightly, "We had a hard time making space for you all since our school is so popular. There's all ready been enough demand to warrant the construction of more residence space. We tried to keep you boys together as best we could, which involved some shuffling, however since there's an odd number of you, one of you will be sharing with one of our students, but we made sure it was with a member of our tennis team so you'd at least have something in common."

An older woman, with a warm motherly-like feel to her appearance walks up during the principal's rant. She coughs politely, adverting Mrs. Watabe to her presence, "This is Matsuei-san. She is the Residence Dean. I'll leave you in her care now, since I have work to do. Feel free to visit Matsuei-san or myself if you have any problems, especially homesickness, or trouble adjusting to the new situation, or-"

"Didn't you have an important appointment to keep, Watabe-san?" Ms. Matsuei points out, saving the tennis players from another melodramatic rant.

"Oh! You're right! Thank you, Matsuei-san, you saved me!" The principal scuttles off as quickly as she can without actually jogging. As she goes, they can hear her murmuring, "I'm late, I'm late..."

Ms. Matsuei leads them over to her office, which is perfectly positioned to watch the entry way, probably to enforce curfew. She picks up a piece of paper, standing next to a desk covered in small brown envelopes, "I'll start with some of the residences facilities. There are washroom areas, two on every floor, except the first which only has one. The first floor also has my personal apartment, the cafeteria and the laundry room. The nurses office is on the second floor. The floors other than the first each have a sitting area. On the roof there is a garden which is open to the students, like another sitting room. Curfew is 10:30pm, which is thirty minutes after the sports complex closes. Boys are allowed into the girl's res, and vice-versa, but obviously not after curfew, and only in the common areas, not individual rooms.

"Those are the most particular rules. Everything else is common sense, really, and in the papers you'll each be getting tonight. I'm sure you understand that you're representing your school, and will be on your best behaviour as such. Now, I'll tell you your room mates, room numbers, and give you your keys and information packages. I'll start with the third floor, Mizuki-kun will show you the way. In room 328, Kisarazu Ryou and Saeki Kojiroh."

The two third years step forward and Ms. Matsuei hands each of them a little envelope with keys in them, and a pack of papers with things like maps, class schedules, rules and general information. Once they have their packages, they follow the Saint Rudolph Manager who leads them to the stairs with a barely smothered 'nfu'. It may not be the way he had originally intended it, but the older Kisarazu brother is now in his school. Ryou, meanwhile, is just wondering if he could trade with someone, maybe room with Sudou instead of the slightly insane Saeki. He looks at the Vice-Captain who smiles at him, in a way that is not very comforting to the long-haired teen.

"Amane and Kurobane are in room 203, and Itsuki and Aoi are in 215." Each group receives their own new student package and are led off by an annoyed (as always) Captain Akazawa, leaving only the dean, Sudou and Nomura behind.

The remaining people hear a distant, "Why do I have to share a room with Aoi, I'm a third year, aren't I? Nande?" As the five teens disappear up the stairs.

Watching all his insane team mates leave, Sudou feels a little hopeful for the first time since they boarded the bus. Does this mean he's going to get a room to himself, free from his crazy tennis team? The Rokkaku player is only half right, as he would know if he'd paid more attention to the principal earlier.

"Sudou Satoshi?" Ms. Matsuei asks, double checking that she has the right name. He steps forward and gets his own package of key and papers, "you're in room 104, and Nomura Takuya will show you the way, since he's your new roomie."

The bespectacled boy leads him out of the common areas of the first floor into the hall with the actual residence rooms. There are quite a few heads peaking out of room doors. Apparently, the arrival of the tennis team from the recently 'exploded' Rokkaku Juniour High is quite a novel event for the Saint Rudolph boys. Sudou is lucky, however, since their room is one of the first ones in the hall.

"Good evening, Nomura-fukubuchou, da ne. Is that your new roommate da ne?" Asks a boy with strange lips from the room across the hall. He held in place, by the wrist, a boy who Sudou immediately recognizes as the younger Kisarazu twin. Atsushi nods in acknowledgment to him."

"It's pretty obvious isn't it? I mean, who else would it be?" The voice of a third, obviously put off boy from inside the room, mercilessly points out.

"Yuuta's just annoyed since the three of them have to share a room now, "Nomura assures Sudou, while opening the door and taking in some of the Rokkaku student's belongings.

"I thought he was grumpy all the time da ne."

The third roommate's fist whacks the one with the bill-like lips as he finally comes into view. "If you're going to be a pest, at least introduce yourself next time, Yanigasawa-sempai." Yuuta and Yanigasawa are quickly in a shouting match. This is apparently a normal state of things around the dorm since all the other onlookers go back to doing whatever they'd been doing before Sudou's arrival. Nomura heads over, trying to calm them down. Atsushi shrugs, deciding trying to stop the two is a lost cause and disappears back into the room. Sudou sighs, not that anyone can hear him do so over the arguing. Apparently the tennis players of Saint Rudolph are every bit as weird and annoying as his own team, and now both groups are together. Sometimes, he wishes he loved a more sane sport. Like Soccer, or Golf. He slams the door shut, actually getting the attention of the other boys. He immediately heads into the washroom to have a soothing shower.

The Vice-Captain hears the door close and goes to follow his new roommate, only to discover the door as locked, with his key on the opposite side. He bangs on the door, but can't seem to get the attention of the Rokkaku player. With a sigh of resignation, he heads off down the hall to get Ms. Matsuei to let him in the room. It's just one of those days, apparently.

Ugh, it took so long to get this out. Things are only going to get better from here on in! Reviews make me write faster, they are inspiration incarnate. Give Rokkaku and Saint Rudolph some love. Also, a shout out to people who attended Anime North, especially PoT cosplayers.