Chapter 7: New Classmates
Ema's heart thumped as she and Yusuke walked into their classroom. School hadn't begun yet, but there were still plenty of students in the room. She hadn't expected to feel nervous. She'd been nothing but excited up until this moment. It was walking through the halls with Yusuke and seeing how many people were here and knew each other and were already friends that made her nervous.
She so wanted to be a part of that. To have friends at school and people she ate lunch with every day, but being here was a lot more intimidating than she thought it would be. With the life she'd lived the past six years, she felt like she didn't know a lot about making friends. How much would she have in common with anyone here?
A thought struck her and she gripped Yusuke's arm. He jumped at the contact. "Yusuke," she whispered.
"What?" He asked, voice louder than hers.
Ema winced. She didn't want anyone to hear this conversation. She pulled him closer so she could speak nearer his ear and lowered her voice further. "Please don't tell anyone I'm the daughter of Rintaro."
Hinata was certainly recognizable as Rintaro's last night, but Hinata was a common last name. There was no reason why anyone would think to connect Ema with Rintaro. And while she had been in a few episodes and the show was popular, it probably wasn't very popular with teenage students. They would be more interested in watching anime and the latest teen drama.
"Why?" He asked, his eyebrows scrunching together in confusion.
Because I don't want anyone to be my friend because my dad is famous, Ema thought. Out loud she said, "It's complicated. I'll explain later, all right?"
Before Yusuke could respond, a boy with light-colored hair came up to them and clapped Yusuke on the back.
"Asahina! We're in the same class again. How lucky. Are you going to help out the soccer team this year?"
"I have a part-time job after work. I won't have time," Yusuke replied in a bland voice, seeming uninterested. "Oh, Sasakura, this is…my childhood friend, Ema Hinata. She's going to Hinode High this year. Ema, this is Kazuma Sasakura."
It didn't escape Ema's notice that Yusuke almost seemed to stumble over calling Ema a childhood friend. Was it because he felt it was a lie to call her his friend? Because he felt awkward introducing a childhood friend to someone he maybe wasn't friends with? Or maybe Yusuke felt awkward introducing her since she'd just asked him to hide who her father was.
Sasakura gave Ema a surprised once-over, then a bright, friendly smile came over his face and he extended a hand for Ema to shake. "Welcome to our class, Hinata. Did you just move here?"
"Um, yeah," Ema said. "I used to live in the area. I had to move because of my dad's work, but now I'm back again."
"Good news for us," Sasakura said, bringing a smile to her face. "So, I guess even people like Asahina have childhood friends."
"What do you mean even people like me?" Yusuke demanded.
Ema giggled. From his tone, Sasakura had clearly been joking, but if Yusuke was surly with everyone and not just her, she could see what Sasakura meant. Thinking back, she remembered that even when they were friends Yusuke could be pretty prickly with people around them, whether they were kids or adults, though he'd at least tried to be more respectful toward the adults.
"Anyway," Sasakura said, slowly taking his eyes off Ema, "is there anything I can do to convince you to join the team? We could really use your help, Yusuke. We had some really strong players graduate, so we need good people to replace them."
"And how is that my problem?" Yusuke asked, crossing his arms.
"Are you that good, Yusuke?" Ema asked. She didn't remember him participating in sports in the past, so she'd never seen him play. If the soccer team wanted to convince Yusuke to play when he wasn't interested, that made it seem like he had real talent.
Yusuke shrugged, but Sasakura nodded excitedly. "I was the star player out of the first years last year on the soccer team, but I struggled to keep up with Asahina during P.E. He's really fast and coordinated. Only the best players on the team can hope to get the ball back once Yusuke has hold of it."
"Wow," Ema said, clasping her hands in front of her chest in excitement. "That would be cool to see. I guess sport talent runs in the family, huh, Yusuke? You, Natsume, and Subaru. And some of your other brothers are pretty good too, though I don't think they played on any sports teams."
~.~
Yusuke froze at Ema's words. Cool? She thought it would be cool to see him play soccer? Did that mean she would come watch him at games if he played? Or maybe she might even stay to watch him at practice, which would ensure they walked home from school together…
"Well if you're that concerned about making some spending money, what if we paid you to play on the team?" Sasakura asked.
"What?" Yusuke asked, snapping out of his thoughts.
"What if we paid you?" Sasakura asked. "Half of what you'd make at your part-time job, because full wages might be a bit much, but I bet some of the guys would pitch in and help."
"You want to pay me to play on the soccer team?" Yusuke asked doubtfully.
"You should accept, Yusuke," Ema said, her eyes shining with the same excitement as when she said it would be cool to watch him play. "A school sport would look good on a college application, as Ukyo would say, and you'll still get paid." She looked suddenly shy. "I mean, if you like playing soccer you should accept. I guess if you hate playing it still wouldn't be worth it."
"No, I don't hate it," Yusuke said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. "Fine, I guess if you'll pay me half the money I'm missing from my part-time job I'll play on the team."
"Great!" Sasakura said, pumping his fist in excitement. "The team will be excited to hear you're playing. And as team captain, I'll be credited for convincing the best player to join the team."
"I'll come watch your first game!" Ema promised. "At least, if you're okay with that."
Yusuke felt his face turn red as his heart pounded in his chest. "Yeah, that's fine. I don't really care."
"Don't just come for him," Sasakura urged, his attention on Ema again. "We've got a great team lineup this year. I promise the games will be exciting enough for you to want to keep coming, and the team will play better with a cute girl cheering us on." His eyes widened a bit as a flush covered his cheeks. "I mean, any support helps, you know? It's always great when our school has more supporters in the audience than the other teams. It really affects the mood of the game to know there are people there cheering you on."
"Right, I understand," Ema said, smiling.
Yusuke frowned. Was Sasakura flirting with Ema? He knew Sasakura was popular with girls. He was cute and nice and a star player on the soccer team, but Yusuke had never seen Sasakura pay special attention to any of the girls around him. Yusuke had assumed Sasakura was more interested in soccer than dating.
The bell rang for them to take their seats, but Yusuke's mind was still stuck on analyzing the conversation between Sasakura and Ema. What had Sasakura said in the beginning of the conversation? That it was good news that Ema had come to Hinode High? Why would he say that without knowing anything about her? And then he invited Ema to watch the soccer games. Sasakura had quickly changed to say that any support helped, which Yusuke knew Sasakura believed, but he hadn't casually invited Ema to watch like he did other people. He'd said it would help to have a cute girl watch.
Yusuke's frown stayed on his face throughout class. He'd been so nervous about Ema going to his school he hadn't thought of what other guys might think of her. She was cute and sweet, and amazing with all the things she'd done and experienced. What guy wouldn't be interested in her? Than a worse thought occurred to him. What if one of his brothers realized how amazing Ema was and decided they wanted to be more than friends?
~.~
The bell rang for lunch and Sasakura stood at Ema's desk a moment later. "Hey, I know you and Yusuke probably plan to have lunch together, but why don't you join me and a few other friends? Then you can meet more people in our class."
Ema wasn't so sure Yusuke had planned on them having lunch together, though maybe that was part of what Masaomi and Ukyo had demanded of Yusuke. Still, Ema was excited to be invited to sit with someone at lunch on her first day. It was on the tip of her tongue to accept when she looked at Yusuke first. It was all well and good for her to accept to sit with Sasakura, but maybe Yusuke had other plans. Ema didn't want to agree for him.
"Yeah, sure, why not?' Yusuke asked, not sounding excited, but since that didn't dampen Sasakura's enthusiasm, she was coming to believe Yusuke was always like this. Or else Sasakura considered the two of them friends and Yusuke didn't. That was another possibility, but Sasakura seemed so friendly it was hard to imagine someone not liking him.
"Is the new girl having lunch with us today?" A girl a little shorter than Ema asked.
Sasakura nodded and the girl smiled. "Great! We need more girls around. My Name is Mahoko Imai. You're Hinata, right?"
"Ema Hinata," Ema agreed, nodding. She was pleased Imai seemed happy to have Ema join them. She'd learned that a lot of groups weren't so quick to let an interloper join.
They sat outside to eat once everyone had their lunches. Sasakura's eyes widened as he watched Ema pull out bento's for both her and Yusuke.
"Are you two dating?" He asked.
"No!" Yusuke sputtered, nearly choking on his drink. "We're just childhood friends," he rushed to say. "I showed Ema the way to school today, so she made me lunch to say thank you. That's all."
"Oh," Sasakura relaxed and his smile returned. "That's cool. That was really nice of you, Hinata."
"All I did was make a little extra of what I was making for myself," Ema said truthfully. It hadn't been much effort to increase the recipe.
"Still, I wish a girl would make food for me some day," Sasakura said. "Yusuke's lucky to have a friend like you. His lunch looks much better than what I picked up in the cafeteria."
"It's just a regular bento," Ema said modestly, surprised at how impressed Sasakura seemed. "I didn't do anything fancy."
"It smells good," Imai said, leaning toward Ema's bento and taking a breath. "And it looks fancier than anything my mom made me in elementary."
Yusuke put his arm around his bento box and moved it closer, as though protecting it from any attempts to take it.
Ema tried to hide her smile. It looked like she was right about Yusuke really caring about food. Now if only she could find something that would help the other two brothers she felt sure were unhappy with her presence be a little more okay with her living with them.
