(A/N) The original author note was a little…touchy. So I decided to rewrite it. XD; Ahem…What I was so ticked off about was that some people didn't take the time to read my note last time. Because of that they left comments saying I had not included all the characters and such…when I had specifically said that this story would be more than a chapter long and that I would include all characters. Other people were confused about Tomo and Osaka's college placement. I had realized that what they said was just a joke, but I don't remember anyone in the story mentioning which college they made it into. In fact, almost no one mentioned what kind of college they were going to; the only ones where Sakaki, who was going to study to become a vet, Chiyo-chan, who studied abroad, and Kagura, who hoped to get into an athletics school. I only chose Tokyo U for them because I thought it would be funny—the two biggest idiots from high school end up being the misunderstood geniuses of college. Hehehn. Ok, then, that's it. I hope you remembered to READ it this time, min'na. Enjoy chapter two.
"Oh, wow, look at her!"
"She's so tall and cool! She's really pretty!"
"She looks kind of scary!"
The girl that everyone was whispering about was indeed tall and beautiful, but she was far from scary…at least, her personality was. She had always thought of losing her tough demeanor and just opening up to more people, but it was so hard to make friends these days. Everyone only seemed to care about her looks, and she always heard groups of giggling girls and gawking boys following her. She thought it would have stopped after she entered college, but to no avail; nothing had changed since high school. She tried to block out the squeals of a nearby group of girls as she walked down the hall—she was so intent in her own thoughts, however, that she bumped into a person carrying a large stack of papers, causing the person to fall over, scattering the papers across the hall.
"Oh my, I'm so sorry!" The girl bent down to pick up a few papers, not bothering to look at the person who had now gotten up and was helping her clean up the mess. She leaned in to get a piece of paper…and stopped when she saw what was on it. There was a well-detailed sketch of a spotted cat and a dog curled up together in a patch of sun on a grassy hill. They looked so peaceful…The girl continued to stare at it even as the person, who she discovered to be a boy, pulled it out of her hands.
"Sorry, Miss," he said, putting the papers he had collected, including the one the girl had recently been looking at, into a neat pile. "This huge stack of papers is for the pet club. I was just running them down to the faculty room to be delivered there later." The girl's attention snapped back when she heard the words "pet club."
"Th-there's…such thing as a pet club here?" she asked hesitantly, growing more excited by the minute. The boy smiled at her and stood up, setting the papers down for the time being.
"Yes, Miss, of course there is a pet club. This is a veterinary school. Did you want to join?" The girl bit her lip and looked at the ground. The invitation was very tempting. There had never been a pet club at any of her other schools. And she did need to open up a little more…
"Yes," she said after a moment of silence. "I'd very much like to join this pet club. Where can I sign up?" The boy shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
"I'm going down to the office and faculty room now—I can just sign you up when I go down there." The girl smiled brightly, and took his hand in hers gratefully.
"Thank-you so much! It isn't any trouble, is it?" The boy laughed heartily.
"Not at all! But it would be nice to know your name…"
"Ah, sorry! My name is Sakaki. I think I'm the only one in the school, but if you need a last name the people in the office will have it." The boy shook her hand, smiling brightly, his expression mirrored in Sakaki's face.
"I'm Igarashi Shin. You can call me Shin, if you like, since we're going to be in the same club. Might as well be on friendly terms, right?" Sakaki blushed—it was one of the first times since high school someone had tried to make friends with her so quickly.
"Y-yes!" she stuttered, still bushing furiously. "Wait…you're also in the club?"
The boy nodded before bending over to get his papers. Before he walked away, however, he turned to look back at Sakaki.
"Yup," he replied, "I'm the Vice Pres." And with that he walked away down the hall, carrying his incredibly large stack of papers and leaving Sakaki to stand in the hall alone, watching his back as he walked away.
888
Koyomi Mizuhara walked down the hall quickly, eager to get to her next class fast, even though she still had well over an hour to get there. She speeded past the few others in the hall impatiently, the bag that held her textbooks and everything for the next lesson swinging back and forth rapidly as she sped down the hallway. After she had been speed walking for about ten minutes, she slid into an open doorway, and hid there for a moment, almost not daring to breath. She hesitantly peeked out into the hall—left, then right. Then left again. Finally, when she was sure the coast was clear, she sighed heavily with relief, and stepped back into the hall, walking at a leisurely pace to her next class.
"Yomi-senpeeeeei!" Yomi stopped dead in her tracks, afraid to look back and see the person she knew had been following her. With a groan, she turned around to face a girl who was in fact the same age as her, slightly shorter, with black hair that reached the small of her back. The girl grinned up at her with pleasure, then jumped up and down on the heels of her feet, speaking so fast Yomi hardly caught a word.
"Today-is-Friday-today-is-Friday-today-is-Friday!" she said quickly, bouncing in circles around Yomi energetically. When she had circled Yomi for the fifth time, Yomi grabbed the other girl's shoulders and glared down at her.
"Settle down already!" she snapped. "You had a little extra cake in the cafeteria today, didn't you? You sugar-high little twerp…" The girl giggled and squirmed out of Yomi's grip, continuing her bouncing.
"But the cake is so yummy, Yomi-senpei!" she said. "And you know they always serve extra on Friday! That's why Friday is such a fun-day! Heehee!" Yomi grabbed her shoulders again, her continuous bouncing making her sick to her stomach.
"Don't use that cake as an excuse, Kachi-san—You're always hyper. And stop calling me senpei!" She started walking down the hall again, now afraid of being seen with the little pest more then she was of being late. The girl ran after her, trying her best to keep up.
"But, Yomi-senpei, you're so much better at me in everything! How can I not revere you? You're great!" Yomi felt a vein pulsing in her forehead, and tried desperately to keep the anger out of her voice.
"I am not. I'm horrible at P.E., art, and I hate history."
"But you're still better than me, Yomi-senpei!"
"Yes, but there are tons of people that are better than you…and I thought I told you to stop calling me senpei." Kachi looked up at Yomi with confused eyes.
"Yomi…san?" she asked hesitantly. Yomi, who appreciated that she was no longer calling her senpei, looked back at her sidelong.
"Uh…Why are you always so mad at me?" Yomi stopped walking for a second, catching Kachi off guard and almost making her trip. Yomi stared at her for a long time, her look of anger quickly replaced by a small grin.
"I guess it's because you remind me of a person I've known since elementary school." Kachi smiled brightly.
"Does this friend of Yomi-san go here?" Yomi shook her head.
"No, she goes to different college…Actually, it's surprising she even made it to college. A real miracle." Kachi laughed, and even Yomi smiled at the memories.
"This person sounds like a lot of fun! I'd like to meet her someday!"
"Yeah, well, maybe you will someday. You guys might actually get along better than me and her do…" Kachi laughed again, and with that they headed down the hall once more.
888
"Fight-o! Fight-o! Fight-o!"
A group of girls ran around a large track field, yelling what seemed almost like a battle cry to keep their pace steady, their teacher blowing a small silver whistle when they fell behind. One of the females in the group, an athletic young woman named Kagura, didn't bother joining in their cries—she had been keeping perfect pace the entire time, or so she thought. She was near the front, careful not to pass the assigned leader so as not to make the teacher mad. She had even passed those who were in track and field.
The teacher blew her whistle long and hard, signaling that the warm-up run was over. All of the girls stopped running and walked over to the side, breathing evenly to slow their heart rate. Kagura took her water bottle out of her pack and took a few sips, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand when she was done. She was just about to walk off the track to do her stretches when the teacher called her over.
"Kagura! Come over for a sec!" Kagura took a deep breath, then turned around and walked over, trying her hardest to put on a smile.
"What's up, teach? Something bugging you?" she asked cheerily. The teacher, however, did not smile. Instead she sighed, and pressed a few fingers to her temple.
"Kagura, you're been pushing yourself real hard ever since you came here. You've been drinking less and less fluids, you've been running much faster then before, you've had dizzy spells all this week—this wasn't happening when you first came, and now it seems it happens everyday." Kagura's smile vanished and was replaced by a look of scorn.
"I'm only trying to do my best," she said sternly. "If I can't keep up, then I might as well go to a different school, right?" The teacher shook her head and sighed again.
"Just because you're not as fast as the other girls doesn't mean you have to mistreat yourself. Stick to your own pace, Kagura. You'll be at a higher level in no time." She turned her back on her, then, and went off to bug some other student about how their arms had been flailing when they ran. Kagura stood rooted to the spot, not knowing whether to be angry or depressed. What the teacher said was true—she had been pushing herself harder and harder to keep up with the other girls. It was annoying having to be left behind and then laughed at later by the other girls. Even the boys laughed at her, since their girlfriends and such told them everything. But when she suddenly became faster then them, the laughing would stop. She could walk the halls without feeling ridiculous. She liked it better this way.
Without thinking anymore on the subject, she walked off the track and began stretching. As long as she was becoming a faster runner than the track stars, she might as well be prepared to embarrass the volleyball team as well.
End Chapter 2(A/N) Yup, it's be again. Just wanted to say a few things. Yes, making Sakaki a little less polite then she should be is my excuse of not giving her a last name XDD Oh, and senpei means a person who is at a higher level than you are, such as an upper-classman. Bai-bai, now.