Chapter 1: The Newcomer
"I can't really believe you just did that, Risa. How could you say no to the hottest guy in school?"
Kate Tanner had never been familiar with her surroundings. Wherever she went, she had felt unsafe and lonely, due to moving around all her life. She never stayed longer than half a year in one place with her family before they moved again, due to her father's job. Her father worked at a company as a boss and he had to move around to investigate other companies, become their ally or foe, or just trying to sort things out in the town or city.
Unfortunately, Kate had never liked that. She had never got enough familiar with a place to make any friends. And if she did, she soon had to depart with them and never hear from them again. Therefore, she had always felt very lonely.
Or at least she had done so until she had come to Azumano, her mother's hometown. Her parents had finally decided to settle down here, her father as the wealthy American he was and her mother as the rich beauty queen. She, herself, was the poor little girl who was so shy.
But when Kate came to her school everything changed. She became one of the most popular girls with her beauty, got lots of friends and became very happy. Though she had no boyfriend, unlike some of her best friends, she pretty much enjoyed her life.
Risa Harada, one of her very best friends, was one of those who were without a boyfriend as well. To Kate's disbelief, she'd say no to any guy Kate or her other friends thought was hot, cool or at least acceptable. Like Daisuke Niwa, that cute little guy who reminded Kate of her rabbit. She wanted to hug him any time she saw him. Or Satoshi Hiwatari, that hot ice prince who had melted her heart at first sight. He was such a handsome genius… and now, Greg Dawn, whose name was totally pathetic but his looks and personality "the bomb" – also a half-American like Kate – who Risa totally despised.
At least Kate was glad Satoshi was not interested of her at all, or else she'd have totally died out of jealousy. Yeah, she was Risa's best friend, but that didn't stop her from wishing that guys would like her just as much. And Satoshi was her favorite guy in school. Risa just only thought he was neither handsome nor cute, to the personality or looks. The only guy she had eyes for was Dark – Dark Mousy, the legendary phantom thief who everybody knew in Azumano. Kate admired him too, but thought that he was just an 'ordinary bomb'.
"I don't know what your brain is for, Kate", Risa said irritably, as she pulled off her bag and put it on her chair, "But he's totally not hot. And he's so annoying."
Kate disliked that people added 'san', 'chan', 'kun', 'sama' or 'senpai' after her name. She'd do it politeness to adults sometimes, but was, to her parents' dismay, only doing it when she had to. She called her classmates for their first names and not their surnames, because she was half-American and was therefore not used to having call anyone for their surname. She'd totally hate it if her friends called her 'Tanner'.
"He's so cute", Kate chirped. "Though he's no match for Satoshi, he's even cuter. And handsomer. And smarter…" Her eyes looked dreamily in the horizon while Risa groaned and slapped her forehead.
"You're hopeless", she mumbled as the teacher entered the classroom and commanded the class to be quiet. "I can't believe you still like that… ICE PRINCE."
"Oh, he might be cold as ice, but he's hot… like a volcano."
Risa rolled her eyes and hissed:
"I don't like Greg anyway."
"But you've no one to go with to the Valentine's Day Ball now…! You've said no to almost all guys who're not already occupied!"
"Who said I can't bring somebody from outside school?" Risa said with a deadly calm voice. Kate was silent for a while before asking enthusiastically:
"Who?"
"Not going to tell you", Risa said delightfully.
"Oh, yes, you will", Kate said with slight envy in her voice; she hadn't even thought of having a partner from outside the school.
"No, I may not", Risa answered. "You'll see at the ball."
"Oh, great", Kate sulked. "Now I have to wait a whole week…"
Risa sighed out of relief, when she heard a voice whisper from behind her:
"Psst. Risa! Is it true that Greg asked you to the ball in front of the principal?"
Risa went red in the face. Greg had this morning, in the main hall of the school, had asked very loudly if she wanted to go to the ball with him when Risa had greeted the principal and had just been about to ask the principal about the school play.
"Yes…", she hissed back, "But –"
"May I ask Harada-san that question?" she heard the teacher's chilly, piercing, sharp voice ask, her eyes focusing on Risa with an evil grin. Risa went even redder in the face, and stammered:
"W-w-what?"
"If Harada-san had concentrated the last ten minutes", the teacher responded, "You would've heard what I was speaking about. May I ask who the Greek god of romance was, and what other names – or words – which could possibly have a relation to the romance?"
"Err…"
Dammit! Risa swore in her mind, does she have to ask a question I can't remember? Why did Greg have to phone me last night in the middle of my homework?
"It was Eros", she heard a familiar, emotionless voice say, and all heads turned to that particular bench, "And the name was 'Rose', also a symbol for the female gender. The flower with its five petals is also a symbol for a woman's life cycle, and is nonetheless also an object for romance, perhaps because of its relation to the woman, seeing how you've hardly ever seen a woman give roses to a man, and to honor her, the man gives the woman this kind of flowers. However, this theory is quite unknown to modern times and I doubt modern men think of this when they give their girlfriends – fiancées – wives – lovers this flower.
Maybe this is the reason why Afrodite's (the goddess of love) son Eros is named Eros – an anagram for rose – or maybe the opposite. Rose has through all times been an important symbol for the female, as you can read in the newly published Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
However, if you read Eros backwards it can become 'sore' – injured in English. Its meaning may be that with love back-turned (which is a typical symbol for unfortunate, the bad) might injure the two lovers, or that with the wrong arrow of Eros love might become a hell of… darkness."
He fell in silence and stared intensively at the teacher, too astonished by his interruption to say anything. Risa nodded thankfully at him for rescuing her.
"That was so cute! He just saved you out of the situation", Gina, Kate's other best friend, chirped happily to Risa.
"Hey – what was so cute about it? He was just not… icy, for once", Risa protested, but she admitted in her heart that she was very thankful that she had been rescued. She would've been humiliated in front of the rest of the class otherwise. Kate, who now pouted even more – because he had never rescued her from any humiliations even though she liked him more than Risa – didn't say anything.
"Hey, Kate, don't you agree with me? It was really cute… and romantic!" Gina said, becoming all fangirlish.
"It was not", Kate snapped abruptly. "He was just showing off what he could."
Gina stared at her in disbelief because of her sudden attitude and said:
"Wow… you needn't have become that sour, right? I was just… fancying commenting on the situation."
Kate did not respond and stared out of the window. She was not in a good mood at all; why had Satoshi never rescued HER from anything? Suddenly, the blue-haired genius entered the empty classroom where Gina, Kate, Risa and their other friends were. Each of the girls, except Kate and Risa, began to mumble, chatter and giggle as he did so, to pick up his things from his bench, and Risa went forward, blushing slightly.
"Um… thanks for that", she stuttered, feeling uncomfortable in front of him.
"Thanks for what?" he said shortly, picking up his things.
"For… rescuing me from humiliation."
"I was not saving you, I was simply responding to her question. When she repeated the question lastly she did not say any names, so I took the chance to answer since she did not point out who'd answer."
Risa, feeling slightly annoyed by his ungrateful comment, said a bit irritably:
"Alright, if you don't want me to thank you, I won't."
"I didn't say I wanted any thanks, but I didn't say I didn't want any either", was his simple answer, and he took his things and left. Risa, looking red in the face out of irritation, didn't feel better when she saw a sly grin on Kate's face and the other girls becoming all fangirlish again.
"Niwa-kun!" Daisuke turned around and faced happily Risa's tomboy twin, Riku, his girlfriend.
"Oh, Risa-san!" he greeted her happily. "I haven't seen much of you today."
"And I haven't seen much of you either", Riku smiled. "Where've you been?"
"Around", he replied, and both of them laughed.
"… So… erm…"
Daisuke blushed slightly as Riku stared at him in wonder.
'Take the chance now, Daisuke!' Dark encouraged him in his head.
'I can't! I can't!' he wailed back in his mind.
'If you don't I'm gonna take over', Dark threatened with a mischievous grin.
'Hell no!' Daisuke thought in panic.
"Er, Riku –"
"There you are, Daisuke!" Takeshi ran over to the pair of them, Daisuke moaning at his interruption, unable to finish. "I've been looking all over the place for you. You can't guess what! There's a new girl in school."
"A new girl?" Riku asked curiously.
"Yeah, she has got this purple, long hair and those purple eyes. Looks a bit like a feminine Dark, though she's much shyer." Takeshi scratched his head and looked suspiciously at the couple with a grin. "I can sense something in the air…"
Both Daisuke and Riku blushed as Daisuke stuttered:
"We weren't doing anything…!"
"Yeah right", Takeshi grinned just as mischievously as Daisuke could've sworn Dark would have done. "Oh, there she comes."
Down the corridor came a girl just as Takeshi had described her; shoulder-long, purple hair, soft as the waves of the ocean a calm, slightly breezy summer's day; purple, glittering eyes; and lips beautifully curved into a slight smile, wearing the girls' uniform, she looked quite average – but cute.
Everybody whispered as their eyes turned to her, but she seemed to pretend not to hear. She walked right past Daisuke, Riku and Takeshi without even giving them a glance, and as she reached the end of the corridor, she went up the stairs to the third floor.
"She didn't even look at us. Is she posh, or just shy?" Riku wondered with a frown.
"She's shy", Takeshi responded to that, "From what I've heard. Not the slightest snobbish. She blushes as soon as she speaks, I guess that's why she doesn't talk with anyone."
"How old is she?" Daisuke wondered. She looked a bit younger than them with her face expression, but she looked older than them to the looks.
"Oh, fourteen. Like us. Didn't I say she's going to go in our class? She's a real genius, like Hiwatari, she has already a college degree."
"What!" Riku blurted out. "A college degree? Why does she then attend junior high?"
"From what I've heard, she wants to be normal. She says it isn't her fault that she's already educated to become a professor, but she wants to be a bit older before she becomes one. She says it'd be uncomfortable to be a teacher at this age, and boy, is she right", Takeshi said, scratching his head again.
'Like Hiwatari-kun…', Daisuke thought. 'Wow, another genius.'
'As long as she doesn't chase us as well…', Dark said, rolling his eyes.
"Now, class, I'd like you to play the 'Bagatelle' by Ludwig van Beethoven", the old madam said. She was very old indeed; about ninety years of age, she still taught them how to play – though she was quite old-fashioned. The class doubted that any other music teacher would refuse to teach them any modern songs but teach them how to play the piano. She loved piano music and therefore she despised to sing 'those noisy, unmelodic things you call music'. "Would Tanner-san please begin?"
Kate swallowed and went up from her chair among the benches towards the front where the beautiful piano was. It was truly an ancient instrument of never-aging beauty; made of the finest wood and with the comfortable tangents, its music was flowing and smooth, and made even more beautiful depending on the player. She sat down on the piano chair and put her shaking hands on the tangents. Even with her now one year long experience with her classmates, she still was not used to playing piano in front of the whole class. Truth was, she was a catastrophe. Therefore, she disliked doing it greatly – especially in front of her classmates. Any mistake could be the road to humiliation.
She began slowly, but without looking at the paper. Her eyes were focused on the tangents, because she was afraid that any minute she'd play wrong. She managed the first part quite nicely, but when she came to the slower part she found her hands not obeying and played a bit wrong – but when it came to the harder part where it was between slow and fast she forgot the music in the panic and was forced to look at the paper – and, to her horror, forgot where she was.
"Yes?" the teacher said, raising an eyebrow. "May you continue?"
"Yes, Lloyd-sama…" The teacher's name was Anne Lloyd; not half-American, but half-English. Her parents were both English and they had moved to
Japan out of a coincidence; they had been on their way elsewhere and had landed in
Japan temporarily for two days. There, they had been through a wonderful adventure in Azumano where they also saw Dark. Therefore, they had decided to stay in
Japan.
Her fingers began to stutter and the music sounded unsure and ended up being a total catastrophe where she had gone lost and just made up what she could think of. After five minutes of humiliation, Mrs. Lloyd said quietly:
"That's enough, Tanner-san. Please go off the stage. I'd suggest you to continue practicing this for another week."
"Yes, Lloyd-sama", poor Kate stammered, her eyes filled with tears. She quickly moved towards her seat and sunk deep down beside Risa.
"Hey, I thought it was OK", Risa comforted her.
"Thanks, Risa", Kate sniffed very quietly, "But… but… I don't think Hiwatari-kun thought so."
Her glance went to Satoshi Hiwatari, who didn't even move a face muscle. He seemed even a bit bored and only stared at the stage.
"Now, Harada-san – the older – please come up to the stage…"
And so the rest of the lesson had gone past. At least until that new girl came in through the classroom door. She had just interrupted Takeshi's destructive performance of Bagatelle – poor Beethoven must have moved in his grave out of dismay.
"I'm sorry for being so late", she smiled. "I had a talk with the principal…"
"Alright. Please sit down beside Hiwatari-san. There", Mrs. Lloyd said, pointing at the empty chair beside Satoshi. Kate gave her an envious glance, which she of course did not notice. She bowed and said a silent thanks while she slid down in her seat beside him. Satoshi gave her a slightly curious glance, but did not say anything. Then his eyes went back to Takeshi. When the performance was over – and everybody's laughter was done (even Mrs. Lloyd's), the teacher ordered the last pupil – the new girl – to come up and play.
"Melanie Tsuki… Tsuki-san. Please come up to the stage and play Bagatelle."
Everybody's astonished glances went to her. What the old Mrs. Lloyd with her bad memory didn't know was that she was a new pupil. She had just glanced at the list. Murmurs were heard as Melanie, still smiling, went up to the stage and sat down on the piano chair.
"Silence!" Mrs. Lloyd shouted. "Tsuki-san is going to play."
"Excuse me, ma'am. Do you've the papers? I think I forgot them in the classroom", everybody heard her lie.
"Oh yes, of course", Mrs. Lloyd said, looking disapproving that she had forgotten her papers, and put them on the piano. "Please begin."
The crowd fell in silence as Melanie gently put her hands on the tangents and started to push one of them. And the melody began.
Up and down, left and right. She moved just as she had played the melody a thousand times before, and enamored the crowd with her gentle, soft movements as she herself felt herself swaying in the music's enchantment. When the melody had ended, everybody clapped their hands as she went back to her own seat. Everybody stared at her in amazement.
"Have you played it before?" Gina whispered, who sat beside her. Melanie shook her head. "Then how…?"
"I saw the papers", Melanie simply responded. What she didn't see was that at this, Satoshi nodded with a slight smile at her. But Kate saw. Unfortunately.
Well, well, well! You've read through this entire chapter, and I hope it was at least alright to you. Things will, as I've said before, will get more interesting and possibly funnier soon. Have a nice day!