Chapter 3- Moriyama Chuugakkou
"Good morning, everybody!"
"Good morning, teacher!"
Mint shifted her weight from her right foot to her left. This was going to be a long day...
"Alright, today we have a new student. Would you care to introduce yourself?" The teacher asked the new girl. The teacher was a middle-aged man with short black hair, square glasses, and squinty brown eyes. He wore a brown suit, like most of the male faculty, and was pretty tall.
Mint smiled and bowed to her class. "Hello, my name is Akiko Kobayashi. I just moved here from..." Mint glanced around the room, and her eyes fell on a map of Japan. "Miyajima."
"Wow! You lived on Miyajima?" Asked the teacher. Mint would have rolled her eyes. Yeah, Miyajima was a really, really good choice. Just pick some random island off the coast of Hiroshima.
She smiled sheepishly. Time to make up some random stuff! "Yeah, my mother worked at a restaurant, but sent me here to study because she thought I might like the mountains. There's more pollution down there, and she's uh, really worried about trace amounts of radiation from World War Two. I was kind of sick awhile ago, and mountain air is good for the lungs!" Mint was so convinced nobody would believe her.
A pause.
"Wow!"
"You were sick, what did you have? Are you okay?"
"What did your mother sell?"
"Did you ever see any monkeys on Miyajima?"
"How much radiation is left from the bomb? Is it bad?"
"You so need to tell me everything, Akiko!"
"That is so cool!"
"Be my friend, Akiko!"
Mint chuckled nervously, her hands grasping her brown backpack's straps. Man, were these people gullible.
The teacher smiled. "You certainly have an interesting history, Miss Kobayashi. Please sit down next to Miss Nishihara." He pointed to a girl near the back. Next to her was an empty desk. The girl grinned. Mint smiled back weakly. "Ask her any questions you have. My name is Kitahara; I will be your homeroom teacher and your History teacher. Please sit down, Miss Kobayashi." He said, beckoning to the empty chair.
"Yes, Mister Kitahara." Mint walked over to her chair, pulled off her backpack, and smiled at her assigned friend.
"Hi, my name is Saaya Nishihara." She whispered over to Mint. She was dressed in the normal girl's uniform, as all the girls were, and had dark red hair that fell to around the middle of her stomach. There was a yellow ribbon tied around the front, with the bow or knot hidden. Her eyes matched her hair; they were dark red. Saaya didn't look particularly tall, but she did look nice, healthy, and energetic.
"Akiko Kobayashi." Mint stated, sitting down.
"I can show you around, okay? I have nice friends." She smiled, leaning her chin on her hands.
Mint nodded. "Okay, sure."
Kin kon kan...
Mint stared upwards at the clock as the bell for lunchtime rang. Homeroom, science, history, and math had gone by so quickly! She hadn't ever realized it, but her tutor had actually gone ahead of where she should be! The girl never knew she was so smart!
"Akiko! Hey Akiko!" She turned her head as she was packing up her math supplies to see Saaya running up to her with one girl she recognized from her math class and one she hadn't seen before.
"Oh, hi Saaya." Mint said as she straightened up, her backpack on her back.
"Akiko, I need to introduce you to my two best friends! Before you, of course." She pointed to one girl. This girl, a rather short one, had black hair that fell in a straight cut down to just above her shoulders. She had green-brown eyes, and stood up very straight, like she was trying to be on her best behavior. "This is Nanao Hoshiwa."
"Hello, I am very pleased to meet you." Nanao had a small, high-pitched voice, and bowed deeply.
She's so proper, thought Mint as she bowed back.
Saaya pointed to the other girl. This one was taller, and had bluish green hair that was slightly bushy, and tied in one long braid that went all the way down her back. Her eyes were blue, and she looked sort of tough and athletic.
"This is Teruna Furuhashi."
"Hey." Teruna grinned, her hands on her hips.
Mint smiled. My new friends... "It's nice to meet all of you, and I'm Akiko Kobayashi, though you probably already know that. I thought it would be hard to make friends in a new area, but I guess I was wrong."
Saaya giggled. "Yup! Anyway, where do you live?"
"Yeah! We really need to know, Akiko!" Teruna added.
Nanao looked up at Mint shyly. "We don't mean anything bad by it, I hope you aren't offended."
"Uh, I live at the labs, you know, Shiroyama Bird Laboratories?" She pointed in the general direction of the labs. "Like...that way?"
Teruna burst into laughter. "Wow, seriously? That's kind of cool, Akiko."
"You live there?" Mint looked over at Nanao. "Really?"
"Yeah, I have my own room on the third floor." Mint shrugged.
"Cool! I live there too! My mom and dad are both scientists, and my older brother works there too, but he's only part-time in preparation for college." Nanao was pretty much jumping up and down. "I didn't know anybody my age was living there! This is so cool! Now I have somebody to talk to at dinner! And somebody to hang out with! Like at Ramen Night!"
Mint stared at her friend. "'Ramen Night?'" It sounded funny when she said it, and Mint blinked. "What in the world is that?"
"It is much more awesome than it sounds. Saturday nights are Ramen Nights. Everybody has ramen for dinner, and everybody goes and watches a movie or does something cool. It's a pretty big thing at the labs, and tons of residents invite friends over. So Teruna and I go a lot and sleep over with Nanao." Saaya explained.
Teruna smirked. "You go, hang out, eat ramen, and stay up really late. Nanao's parents always yell at us to go to sleep, but it's more tradition than an actual command."
"So now we have a fourth friend to do Ramen Night with!" Nanao giggled.
Saaya turned to her small, shy friend. "You're excited today."
"Hehe, I'm not usually so hyper." Blushed Nanao.
Teruna raised an eyebrow. "Did you have something funny for breakfast today?"
Mint smiled. These three girls seemed to be pretty nice, but she just hoped she could fit in with them.
Just like the first half of the day, the second half went by pretty quickly. Mint's classes were Japanese literature, English, and physical education. Her favorite seemed to be phys-ed, since they were doing gymnastics. All of her dance training really helped.
"Hey, Akiko!" Mint turned to see Nanao running towards her. Her new friend ran up to Mint, who was at that moment putting things in her new locker, and smiled. "Akiko, do you want to walk home together? All the clubs were cancelled today because of a teacher meeting, but Teruna has a dentist appointment and Saaya has to help clean up the classroom. And since we live in the same place, it might be fun!"
"Sure, one second..." Mint closed her locker, locked it, and made sure her backpack was secure on her back. "Okay, all set!" So the two girls started to leave.
"So, Nanao, what club are you in?" Mint asked, trying to start a conversation. "I heard from Mister Kitahara that all students participate in a club, but I don't know which one to join. Mister Kitahara said to ask my friends what clubs are good, and find out which ones want new members."
Nanao was silent for a moment, thinking. "Well, I'm in the art club, but I'm not sure if we want more people. Teruna's in the tennis club, but I don't think they want new students. But Saaya's club could probably take you!" Nanao smiled weakly. "But I don't know if you'd be able to do it. If you can't you can always join the art club. We're doing a painting project right now, so you could pretty easily come in. After painting, I think we're going to work on quick sketches."
The new girl nodded. "That sounds cool, but what is Saaya's club?"
"Archery."
Mint smirked. "I think I can handle archery."
Nanao stared at her. "Are you sure, Akiko? It's really hard. Once, at the end of the last trimester, we had a club day, where everybody could try different clubs out. Teruna and I tried to shoot arrows, and it was really hard. Not many non-archers could do it."
"I've done some...archery in the past."
"Oh."
A pause.
"Hey, Nanao?"
"Yeah, Akiko?"
"You wanna go shopping after this? I need some clothes."
"Sure!"
"You want to try archery?" Mint stood still as the Archery Club administrator looked at her. Behind her, she could see Saaya peering at her new friend, clasping her bow tightly.
"Yes."
"You realize it's very tough, and I don't think you'll be able to do it. Do you have a backup club you can join if you can't do this?" The tall, young woman looked rather menacing, dressed in old Japanese clothes, like the other girls. She had dark blue hair, almost black, that was tied in a low ponytail with some hair hanging freely in front. Her eyes were also very dark, but brown instead of blue, and looked almost inhuman.
"Yes, Nanao Hoshiwa said I could probably join Art Club if Archery Club didn't work out." Mint stated. She couldn't help but feel nervous.
The woman stared down at her. "You have a name?"
"Akiko Kobayashi."
"Okay, Kobayashi, here." She handed the bird-girl a bow and three arrows. "If one of those arrows hit's anywhere on that target," She pointed to a target that was sort of far away. It didn't look particularly small, definitely bigger than some of the other ones, but Mint still thought it looked impossible. "Then you're in. If not, I want you out of here, you got that?"
Mint nodded. She held the bow, and picked up one of the arrows, positioning herself in front of a fence that blocked where the archers stood from the shooting-slash-danger range. Trying to remember everything she knew from using her weapon, her Mint Arrow, she strung the first arrow.
"Your line is good." Praised the teacher. Mint would have smiled, but she was trying to concentrate on the target and the target only. "Now concentrate. Aim. Then release."
Mint let go, and a twanging sound reverberated throughout the air.
The arrow landed on the very edge of the target, but then fell off.
"Hm. Maybe. Oh well, try the second arrow. Focus harder, make sure the arrow lines up to where you want it to go." Mint nodded, positive she was shaking.
She strung the second one, and fired.
It missed the target completely.
The teacher scoffed. "If you want to do archery, then you have to learn how to be able to concentrate even when you are nervous. Try one more time. If it misses, run along to Art Club, because I won't want you here."
Mint nodded, and took a deep breath.
She picked up the arrow, and strung it carefully.
Okay, relax. You can do this. Just pretend it's a kimera anima. Think, 'Ribbon! Mint Echo!' Mint thought in her head as she aimed the bow.
Ribbon!
Mint took a deep breath, and pulled back on the string.
Mint!
Steadying her grip, she prepared to release.
ECHO!
Twang!
All of the club members, who had gathered all through Mint's little try-out, gasped.
"Wow!"
"That is amazing!"
"Look's like we'll have to cut that arrow out, that's deep."
"On her third try, she's better than me on my third year."
Mint, for the first time since she let the string go on the third arrow, looked at the target. Her arrow was embedded in the very center of the circle, and like one of the girls said, it was deep inside. They probably were going to have to cut it out of there.
The teacher in charge, for the first time, smiled at Mint. "Wow, Kobayashi, I'm impressed. I thought you were some wannabe girl, but you have some serious potential. I'd be happy to put you in our club-that is, if you want to work hard. No more nervousness around here, you got that?"
Mint nodded, grinning.
"Anyway, I'm Ichitori, your Archery Club teacher, and I also teach English. If you had me at all yesterday or today, I had a sub. Anyway, you will come here everyday we have club, and you will get better. If not-"
"I'll go to Art Club. Don't worry, Miss Ichitori, I don't plan on skipping any time soon." She smiled wryly. Ichitori smirked.
"Yeah, fine. Now, we really gotta improve on a steady hand. Get to it!" The teacher flicked her hand towards the targets, and all the girls scampered off to align themselves with one.
Saaya and Mint took two that were next to each other. Saaya grinned, flipping her red hair.
"Wow, Akiko! That was so great! Not many people can shoot a bull's eye on their third try." She said as she tested the string of her bow.
Mint nodded, sizing up her new target. "I guess sort of did some stuff that was similar."
"Kobayashi! Nishihara! No talking!"
Author's Note:
Hello, I'm here to tell you it does not take me a month to update. Here is the proof. Anyway, this is a kind of slow chapter; I regret to inform you (even though you already know). But things will pick up, if not next chapter, but the following chapter. We will even revisit things in Tokyo! After all, I have to include the actual criminal, don't I? Oh yeah, and for the middle school…I don't know what to name it, so I just gave it the name of the town. Yup. So, please review, and thank you to the people who already have! You're great!
Disclaimer:
Tokyo Mew Mew does not belong to me. It belongs to Reiko Yoshida, Mia Ikumi, and any other legal owners.