Yeah, a new chapter, and not particularly late! Yay! Happy reading!

School

In eight households, in the rooms of a certain eight girls, alarm clocks rang early in the morning.

Sumiko yawned and opened her bedroom door. Poking her head into her brother's room, she found him watering his cacti. "Ohayou, Syuu-nii!"

Fuji turned around and smiled at her. "Ohayou."

Skipping downstairs, the aroma of freshly-cooked breakfast met her. "Ohayou, Nee-chan(1)!"

"Ohayou, Sumiko, Syuusuke." Yumiko smiled as she set slices of toast and fried eggs on the table. "There's more if you want."

"Arigatou, Nee-chan! You're the best!" Sumiko stared in delight at the delicious-looking breakfast. At her brother's request, she passed a container of a certain green substance to him. None of them seem to mind as he spread the wasabi generously over his toast. But then, it was already a regular occurrence in the Fuji household. "Itadakimasu!(2)"

"Ohayou, Tou-chan(3), Kaa-chan(4)," chirped Suzume, popping into the dining room. "Yay, pancakes!" she happily sat down with a huge plate in front of her.

"Don't stuff yourself, ochibi-chan(5). You'll get fat since the food you eat doesn't add to your height."

"Urusai(6)! Baka(7) onii-chan!" Suzume stomped her foot indignantly, her cheeks puffed up in annoyance.

"Ohayou, Jii-chan(8), Baa-chan(9)."

"Ohayou, Michiko-chan." Her grandmother looked up from where she was cooking breakfast. Grandpa Wakana glanced up from his newspaper and merely grunted. He wasn't a morning person, but got up all the same due to habit.

After finishing the Japanese style breakfast, Michiko stood up and picked up her bag. "I'll be going, then."

"Have a nice day, dear."

Natsumi opened the refrigerator to peer inside. "Hmm, what do we have for breakfast...?"

Deciding, she pulled out some butter and cheese for sandwiches. Her gaze fell on the egg compartment. "Hmm, we're low on eggs. Better go get some on the way back from school later."

The light patter of feet signaled that her younger brother had entered the kitchen. Naoki dropped his bag on the floor and sat down at the table.

"What time did Kaa-san come back?" he asked.

"Late."

The siblings sighed. Ever since their parents had divorced, their mother had been working late hours. Since then, Natsumi had taken up the duty of taking care of her younger brother.

"Come on, better eat or we'll be late for school." Natsumi set a loaf of bread on the table between them. "There's peanut butter too if you want."

"Sure."

"Tsuki-sama(10), here is the bento(11) you wanted."

"Arigatou, Hanako."

"Are you sure you don't want to ride in the car, Tsuki-sama? We can put you down on the way to Tsubaki-sama's school."

"No thanks, Kazuo. My school isn't far, so I don't want to bother you. Anyway, this is good exercise." She placed her bento in her tennis bag with her other stuff. Then she turned to them, mock annoyance on her face. "And how many times do I have to tell you to just call me Tsuki?!" Pulling on her rollerblades, she proceeded to skate her way down the driveway. "Ja ne!"

Finishing breakfast, Yuzuyu and Yuzuki picked up their bags to leave the house.

"Here are your bentos. Have a nice day!" Mrs. Sakurai said, handing them each a lunch box.

"Arigatou, Kaa-san!"

Passing by their grandmother who was already at work in her garden, they waved at the cheery old lady and she waved back before once again focusing her attention on a flowering bush.

Outside, their father was preparing to set out to the office. "Get into the car. I'll drop you two off near your school."

The twins hopped into his car and they were off.

"Gah! I'm late! And I'm supposed to be on duty today!" wailed Izumi, practically falling down the stairs in her haste.

"Ohayou, Tou-san," she called as she passed him. Reaching the kitchen, she grabbed a sandwich her mother had prepared and shot out of the door. "Bye, Kaa-san!"

Mrs. Karino sighed and shook her head. "That Izumi, can't she just wake up earlier?"

Her husband laughed. "I think she lives for these morning dashes," he suggested.

Skidding down the driveway to the road, an excited ball of fluff chased after Izumi. "Not now, Ko-chan! I'll play with you after I come back, alright?" she said to the puppy bouncing around her feet.

With that, she jumped onto her bicycle and started on her mad dash to school.

"Ohayou, Tsuki-chan!" said Sumiko as she sat down next to her friend. Tsuki greeted her, smiling.

In the next door classroom, the twins were chatting when Izumi dashed into the classroom, out of breath. "Ohayou, Izumi-chan!" they chorused.

"Ohayou. Thank goodness, I'm still on time," she said, leaning against the doorframe for support.

"Almost late, I'm afraid, Karino-san. Now could you please move to your seat?"

Izumi jumped as the teacher appeared behind her. "Gah! I'm sorry, sensei!" she gasped out, rushing to her seat behind Natsumi.

Natsumi turned towards her, an eyebrow raised. "You do remember we have a math quiz today, right?"

Izumi paled.

In the third year classroom, Michiko arranged her things neatly on her desk to prepare for the upcoming lesson.

A girl approached her, a book in hand. "Wakana-san, could you please explain this to me? I don't really understand it."

Michiko took out a pencil. "What would be the problem?"

"Ohayou!" Suzume said as she entered the first year classroom.

"Ohayou, chibi! If you hadn't said anything, I wouldn't even have seen you!" called a boy teasingly from the back of the class.

Suzume stuck her tongue out at him. "That'll be because your hair is so long you can't see anything from under it!" she shot back, a jab at his fringe which fell into his eyes in an effort to look 'cool'.

In one school, eight girls sat down at their seats for the day's lessons.

(1) Nee-chan: elder sister.

(2) Itadakimasu: Thank you for the food. It's a Japanese tradition to say this before eating.

(3) Tou-chan: father

(4) Kaa-chan: mother

(5) Chibi-chan: shorty. Similar to Eiji calling Ryoma "ochibi"

(6) urusai: shut up

(7) baka: idiot

(8) Jii-chan: grandpa

(9) Baa-chan: grandma

(10) -sama: a honorific showing respect, in this case it is used by the Hasegawa family servants towards the family's daughter

(11) bento: a lunch box

Please review! Next chapter will be back to the tennis training grounds of Seigaku!