End of Innocence v2.0
By Dixxy
Chapter One: The Girl in the Short Black Skirt
"Kento, if you don't quit commandeering the breakfast pastries than I'm going to do something SOO painful to your worthless hide that you'll be regretting the day your MOTHER was born!" Ryo threatened. Kento just smiled and handed our "fearless leader" a double package of strawberry Pop-Tarts before walking off with the rest of the box.
"Now was that really necessary?" I asked as Kento sat next to me. My best friend nodded, guzzling a tall glass of milk. He wiped his milk mustache away with the back of his hand. "Really, Kento, it's the first day of school today- do you honestly think that we have time to play games?"
"Yes," he said. I groaned, burying my fingers into my messy auburn hair. Sometimes, Kento was BEYOND explanation. This was one of those moments. I resorted to watching Rowen try not to fall asleep in his cereal, which was actually somewhat amusing.
Mia came downstairs, brushing her hair. "Come on, come on! You guys have school today!" she said, reaching for a banana. "You can't be late on your first day of school! If you're late for school then you'll start off on the wrong foot with all of your teachers and you just CAN'T do that or else you'll all fail!"
"She's had coffee," Sage remarked as he stood up to go to the bathroom. Mia was about to tell him off, but the rest of us were snickering too much to really give her any back-up on the situation.
Yuli bounded down the stairs, grabbing one of Kento's Pop-Tart packets. "Bye guys!" he said, waving. Kento stared at Yuli, whimpered, but waved anyways, despite the fact that Yuli had accomplished what the rest of us had failed to do that morning. The youngest member of our household had a bus to catch, after all.
"Behave in school!" Mia called. Yuli nodded, giving his new caretaker a thumbs up as he walked out the front door. Mia smiled, sighing happily, then looked at the rest of us again. "Well? Why are you all standing there? Get going!"
That day, school was filled with your typical first day lectures; class rules, syllabuses, expectations, safety measures, and all sorts of safety forms that had to be signed by parental guardians. I smiled at that- I didn't have a parental guardian. I was legally independent, so all I had to fill out was the emergency contact, namely Mia.
I met up with the others at lunch, though it took a while to find them amongst the swarm of teenagers that also went to our high school, Han A' High. The five of us found a table in the back, where we compared our days and what it was like to be in the new school.
"Some of the teachers here are total butt holes, but some, like Sensei Hiroko, she's awesome!" said Kento, taking a bite out of his sandwich. "I have her for chemistry. She said that she's going to teach us how to make stink bombs by the end of the year!"
"Aw, man, my science teacher's only having us grow crystals. I did that YEARS ago!" said Ryo, stirring his chili with a pout on his face. "It's just rock candy, for crying out loud. I'm a JUNIOR. I want to do JUNIOR stuff, not little kid stuff."
"That's nothing," said Sage. "My literature teacher is a loon, but at least he's teaching us at out level. He told us the only survival skill we need in his class is the ability to catch a ball and answer questions apon catching the ball."
I laughed. "I had a teacher like that once. We'd study for exams like that," I said. "My math teacher's cool. He's from the United States, and the two of us had a conversation in English and confused the rest of the class." I snorted with another laugh. "That was SOO funny! This one guy started to complain about it and the two of us started to insult him in Pig Latin."
"My trigonometry teacher is going to bring us to an engineering discussion group," said Rowen. "And my advanced placement physics class is going to the Japanese Disney Land (Note: I think there's a Disney park in Japan, someone correct me if I'm wrong) to discuss the physics of the rides."
Kento frowned. "My history teacher talked non-stop today about his stupid hamster. He needs to get a girlfriend and get laid. Fast," he said dryly. "Honestly, some of that stuff we just didn't need to know. Who CARES about what kind of food a rodent the size of small apple eats? I sure don't."
"Hi! I haven't seen you guys here before, you all new?"
The five of us looked up to see a tall youth coming towards our table. We all stared, not used to seeing such. . . loud attire. Sitting on top of his long, green hair was a bright red beret with several paint spots on it. He wore a purple shirt with a white vest that was also littered with paint speckles, though the shirt was spotless. His baggy jean shorts were cut-offs, his canvas high tops covered in so much paint it was impossible to tell what their original color was.
Enthusiastically, the boy held his hand out to Ryo. "My name's Kojiro, who are you guys?"
Ryo shook Kojiro' s hand. "My name is Ryo, this is Rowen, that's Sage, and those two over there are Kento and Cye," he introduced. We took turns shaking hands with the newcomer before he sat down with his lunch tray. "How long have you been taking classes at Han A' High?"
"Since my freshman year," he said. "I'm a junior now, though."
"Same as me and Ryo," said Rowen. "Can I see your schedule?"
"Sure!" said Kojiro, digging into his pocket. He handed Rowen a folded piece of paper that was littered with some rather unflattering portraits of some of the teachers. "Ignore my doodles. I got bored during some of the lectures."
"You and I speak the same language," said Ryo. He eyed Kojiro. "Hey, you're in my math class!"
Kojiro looked at Ryo, then laughed. "Oh yeah! You're the guy that the class pet decided to visit. That was a riot!" he said, laughing. Ryo blushed, getting embarrassed. The other four Ronins turned to our "fearless leader" (he hates it when we call him that, which gives us all the more reason to do it) in interest.
"C'mon, Ryo, tell us about you and the small animal," said Kento.
"It was this. . . huge. . . rat!" said Ryo. He shook. "It got out of its cage and crawled up the inside of my pants. THEN it decided the crotch of my pants was a good place to take a nap. I had to take my jeans off in front of a bunch of girls to get the damn thing out!"
The rest of us burst out laughing, Kento near tears he was laughing so hard. Rowen had fallen out of his seat and struggling to get back up. Sage was shaking his head, looking up at the ceiling. I was chuckling to myself, trying not to make too much of a disruption. Ryo shot Kojiro a look, who just shrugged.
"It happens. I got tied up by a boa constrictor last year in my science class," he said.
"I think I have your teacher," said Sage, looking thoughtful. "He was telling us about an incident similar to that. Supposedly it took three teachers two hours to untie the poor kid." He folded his arms and tossed his head to the side, causing his hair to move temporarily out of place. "Was that really you?"
"Yeah, that was me. I was famous!" he said. "So, where are you all from?"
"I'm originally from Beijing, China," said Kento. Kojiro nodded, sounding interested in what learning more about the Chinese member of our Mutant Boy Scout Troop. "We moved to Japan when I was four, though, so I've basically grown up here. Hey, ever been to the Golden Dragon in Shinzuki?"
Our new acquaintance sighed happily at the mention of Kento's family restaurant. "Just once. To be blunt, it was like I died and went to heaven," said Kojiro, rubbing his stomach. "It was so good. I can still taste the lo mein, even now. . . why do you ask?"
Kento grinned. "I'll send your compliments to my mom," he said. Kojiro went white and gasped. The bearer of Hardrock just continued to grin and leaned back into his chair, looking pleased with himself.
"Cye here's from England," said Rowen. "Just like the Beatles, Winston Churchill, and James Bond.
Kojiro turned his attention to me. "England, eh? Seen Big Ben? Rode one of those double-decker tour busses? Watched Monty Python marathons? Met the queen?" he asked.
"No, but I've seen her in parades before," I said. "My mother was in the crowd after Princess Diana and Prince Charles' wedding. And we drove past Buckingham Palace on a field trip once. Right during the changing of the guard, too. One of my classmates chucked a soda can at one of the guards and knocked his hat off. I think he's STILL grounded, and I was in third grade when that happened."
"Cool," said Kojiro. "The rest of you?"
"Down south," said Sage. "My grandfather owns a dojo. We're one of the best in the country at competitions."
"Sage can sit still for three days if he wanted to," said Kento. "They practice the art of doing jack squat." Sage shot Kento a look that would have killed my best friend if looks were capable of taking lives. It's probably a good thing for Kento that they can't.
"For your information I've placed first in the national tournament three years running and as high as second in the INTERNATIONAL kendo competitions!" said Sage, looking a little angrier than the rest of us had ever seen him before. He leaned in towards Kento, breathing down his neck. Hardrock gulped and Halo sat back down, calming down so quickly it was as if nothing had disturbed him.
"My parents are divorced, and because of my mom's job, my dad got custody when they split. My dad and I lived twenty miles south of Tokyo. He's a scientist," said Rowen. "He LOVES chemistry and wants me to follow in his footsteps someday. But I live with these guys, now."
"Toyama orphanage," said Ryo. Kojiro went silent. The Toyama Orphanage was a fate worse than death to any child who lost their parents. The owner of the orphanage was very abusive and treated the orphans very poorly. The police had been trying to can her for years, but they had yet to get some solid evidence against her. Ryo had run away after receiving his armor to train with White Blaze, who he'd been seeing for years without his caretaker knowing. Now he lives with us and he's a whole lot happier. "It's okay. Really. It doesn't bother me that much. I'm out of there, but everyone else. . ."
"I'm sorry to hear that," said Kojiro. He cleared his throat. "So, anyone see that red headed fox in the hallways today?"
Rowen nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! I'm surprised she hasn't gotten busted for what she's wearing!"
"What red headed fox?" asked Kento.
"There's this really, really hot girl in school," said Ryo. "She's gut bushy red hair, gorgeous emerald green eyes, and a little teeny waist with wide hips and these voluptuous breasts you only SEE in Animé. Her legs. . . oh. . . what I would give to have a chance at just carrying her books."
"What's she wearing?" I asked in response to Rowen's statement. "Why would it get her in trouble?"
"Tight white T-shirt and a little black mini skirt. Platform high heels. Teeny little butterfly barrettes. I'm telling you, every guy in this school is going to be after a piece of her this year," said Kojiro. He had a dreamy look in his pale blue eyes, sighing heavily. "I don't know what her name is, but I'd like it with a phone number."
Sage craned his neck, his eyes widening. "I think I see her. . ."
The remaining five of us lost a battle with our hormones and turned to look and see. Sure enough, the girl that Ryo and Kojiro had described was walking down the middle of the cafeteria, swaying her hips as she went. Every other boy in school was looking her way, most with food hanging out of their mouths or fighting with others to get a glimpse at her. A few other girls had disgusted looks on their faces as presumable boyfriends watched the young woman with great interest.
Best of all, she was headed towards OUR table.
My heart stopped when the girl sat at the empty space beside me. Our table went silent, all eyes on the newcomer. She flipped her hair back and looked at us all with this cute little pout. "Well. . . aren't you boys going to introduce yourselves me, or do you want to me go and sit somewhere else?"
"I'm Ryo!"
"My name is Rowen!"
"I'm Kento, but you can call me yours!"
"I'm Kojiro, and you can call me ANYTHING YOU WANT!"
"My name is Sage Date, pleased to meet you." (No, I have no idea how he kept his cool).
The girl turned to me. I had been too tongue tied and couldn't think of anything to say (or at least, nothing as creative as what Kento and Kojiro came up with anyways). "Well? What's YOUR name?" she asked, placing her elbow on the table and her chin in her palm as she stared at me with interest.
What! What was she asking! What the hell was my name again! GYAH! Bloody hell! If I don't come up with something fast I'm going to look like a bloody idiot! Think, think, think. . . what did Mia yell at you this morning? Think, think, name, name. . . Oh yeah! Cye! Yes, Cye, that's it! That's my name! Cye! My name is Cye! Cye Mouri! "C, Cye. . ." I said.
The girl giggled. "You're funny. My name's Sheila. Sheila McConner," she said. Sheila ran her eyes up and down me. I swear, Kento and Rowen looked devastated. This new girl was interested in me. I could hear my heartbeat thumping in my ear. I felt little beads of sweat dripping down the side of my forehead. "What part of the world are you from?"
"En, England," I said. "Liver, Liverpool. Home, home of the Beat, Beatles." I tried to smile. I chuckled uneasily. She must think I'm a complete idiot. . . I thought to myself. Look at me! I'm acting like a twelve year old school girl about to meet one of the Backstreet Boys!
"Fascinating. I'm from Dublin, Ireland," she said in a beautiful Irish accent. "I told my parents I wanted to see the world and they've sent me here to Japan. I'm an exchange student."
"So am I," I responded in English.
"Then you'll have to show me around town then, won't you?" she said. The others (minus Sage, who's a little too mature for his own age) all whimpered. Sheila ignored them as she started a conversation with me.
The two of us talked about what our home lives were like, how long we'd be staying in Japan (she was only staying for a year, I was staying through high school graduation), and some other small talk things. She laughed at some of my light jokes and didn't take her eyes off me for the remainder of lunch.
Well, for most of it, at least.
"So, Cye?" she asked. She took her eyes off me long enough to grab a notepad out of her purse. She scribbled something down, ripped the paper off, and slipped it down the front of my shirt. The bell that ended lunch rang and the other began to pack up to head to their next class. Sheila winked at me as she stood up. "Call me."
I threw my backpack over my shoulder and looked at the paper she'd given me. In neat, perfect penmanship, were the most prized digits in the entire school as well as a personal message that made my heart sore right out of my chest as I read it.
You're cute.