School Daze: Chapter One
By: Juiicy
Pencils and pens, erasers and white out streaked across the heavily scribbled sheets of papers on every desk in the ninth grade classroom of Ms. Harazuna. Frustrated breathing and troubled pencil tappings rose from every fourteen year old student.
All except one blonde, Kyouyama Anna, who silently looked out of the large window next to her, her fingers wrapped around her chin and her eyes looking lazily outside. Her free hand ruffled her hair as she grew restless. Another thirty minutes until her exam was over but sitting silent didn't appeal to Anna, her dark abyss of eyes observed the tense classroom, moving from one classmate to another, until a small boy, with orange-blonde hair caught her eye.
Manta's pen zoomed across his sheet, stopping only to read over the beginning, scratch something off quickly, and add in something twice as long. A while ago, Anna saw, that Manta had already reached the end of his examination papers just before she had. This must've been his seventh time checking over his work, Anna thought.
That was the difference between his work and hers, the top two students of the class. When Anna thinks she's done enough, it's enough. Whereas Manta makes sure everything is perfect and more, exceeding expectations. Academic scores didn't bother Anna too much, she didn't need to know how x plus thirty-seven bracket a plus nine bracket equalled one, or what the melting speed of brass is, but Anna would not stand to be marked as unintelligent, there was too much pride at stake to take that chance. That was just the way she is.
She sighed, her eyes left the small fourteen year old, landing to the boy in front of him. His bright orange headphones clashed violently with the bare walls of the classroom. Yoh's head was bent over, his hands running through the page, his eyes showing struggle on the third last question. Anna smiled to herself. Yoh had been improving. Improving physically, mentally and academically. He'd come to a point where Anna's intensive training program proved too childish for him, making Anna drop it, and another point where he would correct Anna on her assignments, annoying her to no end but thoroughly glad he caught her careless mistakes.
Yoh leaned back and stretched, noticing Anna watching him out of the corner of his eye. He looked her way, their eyes made contact and a goofy smile washed across his tired face. Anna turned away, she hadn't intented on him catching her, and a smile curled.
"Fifteen minutes!" said Ms. Harazuna, not looking up from her text book (Grade Eleven: Quantam Physiques).
Anna looked down at her package of sheets, her fingers playing with the edges. With one last look over her work, Anna dropped her pen, picked up her examination papers and stood up, causing others to look up from their work for a split second and then their eyes would lock onto their sheet once more.
Ms. Harazuna looked up from her book and smiled as Anna made her way towards the front of the class.
"Ah, Kyouyama-san," she breathed. "Done already? Well, I'm looking forward to marking your work. Now just place your sheets face down on the corner of my desk and you may return to your seat until the exam is over, alright?"
Anna bowed, placed her sheet onto the table and began to walk back towards her desk.
"Oh, Kyouyama-san?"
Her steps came to an abrupt stop. "Hai, Harazuna-sensei?"
"Would you kindly meet me after the final bell? I'd like to discuss something important with you, if you don't mind."
"Hai," Anna said quietly, now all eyes were on her. She wished they would all look away. She moved towards the back of the room, briefly making eye contact with Yoh, who smiled, and sat down, her head on her arms.
She closed her eyes and took a quick nap.
The final school bell rang, followed by Ms Harazuna's barking orders for everyone to come up silently and hand in their exams.
"Settle down! You! To the office. Remember, class, for those of you who want to apply for Tokyo High, you must know that the date for the girls' exam is in three weeks prior Sunday. And the boys' will be held a week before, giving you lot around two weeks to study. Niwaga-kun, do you really want you sick mother to know her only son's behavior at school?... I thought so."
Anna's eyes slowly opened to find Yoh, with another goofy smile, welcoming her from her sleep. Anna blinked slowly and sat up straight, a yawn rose from her mouth. She looked towards the door of the classroom to see everyone filing out, talking loudly amongst themselves about how hard number twenty seven was or how their eighteen hour study session didn't cover anything in the exam.
She left her chair and stood next to Yoh who murmured what sounded oddly like Tokyo High as Manta joined them, his face still flushed from frustration.
"Dammit, that exam was a mess," mumbles Manta.
"I've heard you flip over your papers more than twenty times behind me, and there were only three sheets," laughed Yoh. He turned to Anna and said, "Hey Anna, me and Manta're gonna wait for you outside, alright?"
Anna nodded and watched as Yoh and Manta walked outside of the classroom. She turned to Ms. Harazuna, still buried behind her oversized textbook.
"You wanted to talk?" asked Anna.
"What? Oh! Yes, yes, if you don't mind, you can take a seat," answered Harazuna. Her wrinkled face tore away from her textbook and was now face to face with Anna. "Now, you remember what I've been telling the class for the last two weeks? About applying to that exclusive highschool, Tokyo High? Well, they've allowed each homeroom one student a scholarship to their school and naturally I've recommended you."
"Why didn't you recommend Oyamada-san?" asked Anna automatically. "He's more Tokyo High material."
Harazuna Nayako leaned back and after a brief second, she replied, "Yes, well, it seems that they have already saved him a position there. His father must've pulled some strings and had taken the privilage of getting Oyamada-kun into the school without taking the entrance exam which, by the way, is just about three weeks."
"If they've already given me a position, I still need to take the entrance exam? Why?"
"It's more of an opportunity of seeing your work, so they can decide to put you in the advanced classes or just the regular ones. You should be glad I've chosen you, only seven students from each homeroom will be accepted and since more than four-fifths of the grade nine student body is trying out, it'll be very difficult," replied Anna's teacher, "Their academic program gives them the title of the top school in Japan."
Anna sat there quietly, thinking. Highschool wasn't such a big deal to her, but she couldn't pass up the opportunity of going to one of the top highschools in Japan.
"So," continued Harazuna, "If you you decide you choose Tokyo High, you'll still be able to hang around Manta-kun."
"Nani?"
"Hm? I always see you two together, along with Asakura-kun," concluded Nayako. "Ah! I see. Asakura-kun. Good choice, my dear.
Anna stared, her eyebrow raised. "Harazuna-sensei, that is... inapproriate. Please stop that."
Ms. Harazuna chuckled lightly. "It is him. Asakura-kun, I mean. My, Japan's youth these days... Yes, well, maybe if he studies hard enough, he could have a good chance to get in. I've recently noticed his grades rising remarkably! Your sensei from last year was surprised he had made honour roll. I was actually considering him for the scholarship.
"He'd make a fine addition to their athletics department. Your Phys. Ed. teacher, Sato-sensei, has taken a liking to Yoh-kun. I've heard that he had never seen anybody run an 800 m. run as fast as Yoh-kun can," said Harazuna, her eyes twinkling. "And the athletics program in Tokyo High has given it the top three schools exceling in athletics."
Anna continued to stare, her head tilted to one side. Her eyes moved from Ms. Harazuna to the clock above her. "If you're done, Harazuna-sensei, I think I'd better leave soon," interrupted Anna.
"Huh? Anna-san? Oh! My... I'm sorry, dear. It's just been a while since we've had a track star in our midst," she smiled warmly. "Excusing my behavior, might I ask if you have any questions?"
Anna shook her head.
"Might there be a chance of you accepting the scholarship?"
Anna sat still, thinking.
Harazuna just smiled, "That's alright, dear. You have plenty of time to decide. Just let me know as soon as possible."
She stood up from her desk, picking up the exam papers as Anna got up. And before leaving, Anna turned to face her teacher.
"Arigotou, Harazuna-sensei, for choosing me amongst everyone else." Anna turned out of the door and into the near-empty hall, her strides echoing softly.
The open windows along the hall welcomed the sunshine, causing Anna to shield her eyes, a moment too early, as she turns a corner and bumps into Yoh.
"Ah, sorry, Anna," says Yoh meekly as he helps pick her up from the ground. "You've been in there for so long I was starting to wonder what was going on, so I came to check if you were okay."
Anna got up and cleaned off her skirt, "You really didn't need to, Yoh. You were just wasting your energy."
"That's okay, Anna," he reassured her. "I gotta make sure you're alright, shouldn't I?"
When Yoh was given the OK-signal, the two of them walked the rest of the hall together. And when they reached the entrance door, Yoh kicked it opened and a fresh breeze swept passed them.
"C'mon Anna, Manta's waiting for us," said Yoh. He grabbed onto her hand quickly and began tugging her away. "Then you can tell us all about what happened."
Manta held himself up against a large tree, thinking over questions he remembered from the test, muttering curses when he thought he made a mistake. Really, he was just creating that illusion himself.
"'Ey! Manta!"
He looked up to see Yoh and Anna coming to him. Manta looked at Yoh's grip on Anna and chuckled. Anna scrunched up her face and glared. But Manta continued to laugh and Anna looked away, her face bearing the expression of annoyance. The three sat down, their backs against the tree and Yoh asked Anna what Harazuna talked to her about.
"She chose me for the scholarship program for Tokyo High," she said roughly. Her eyes closed slowly, blocking away the strange faces Manta and Yoh gave her.
"Oh? She chose you for the scholarship?" asked Manta.
Anna nodded slightly.
"Heey then!" hollered Yoh. "Congratulations, Anna! We ought to celebrate, eh, Manta?"
"Mmhm," said Manta. "That's great Anna-san. Then we can be classmates again!"
Yoh looked to Manta. "Classmates? You haven't taken the exam yet, how do you know you'll get in? I mean, more than half the class is trying out and it's about a seven out of twenty chance," he remembered from a lagging homeroom several days ago. "But... of course, they'd let you in anyway, with your size of brain, nobody could refuse."
"Manta's father had already got Manta a position. So whether or not he passes the test, he'll still have a position," answered Anna.
"Haa..." understood Yoh. "Tokyo High, eh? What's it like? I've walked by it a couple of times. It's huge."
"Tokyo High is one of the top schools in Japan. It's known for three things," Manta began to explain as he held up three fingers. "The academic rank, athletic rank, and the foreign exchange program with their partners in several different countries," - Manta added more fingers, "I don't know all of them but I'm sure that there are Canada, America, Korea, China, and England. They've also got some partners from the northern and southern parts of Japan. Plus, the uniforms are pretty nifty. So I guess you can say they're famous for four things."
"Ah, cool!" exclaimed Yoh.
"Yoh-kun? Are you going to try to get in?"
"Humm? I'm not so sure yet. It sounds like a pretty cool place. But seven out of twenty? That's a pretty slim chance," Yoh laughed and gave a strange smile, "But even if I don't get in, or even bother to try out, you'll keep Anna company, no?"
Manta laughed nervously.
"So Anna, how do you feel about getting to go to Tokyo High? Pretty exciting, hey?" Yoh turned to Anna.
Anna got up. "I never said anything about actually going."
"Hunh? You don't want to go? Why not, Anna-san? It's a great school. And you deserve it after studying so much," fought Manta.
"Quiet, shorty," Anna said coldly. "You two, get up. I want to go home."
"Eh? But Anna..." said Yoh. He got up and looked at Manta. "Manta, you don't mind if me and Anna go home?"
"N-no," stumbled Manta. "No, that's okay. I've still got Cram School. See you two later."
Yoh watched as Manta left and turned to see Anna beginning to walk away. He jogged after her and slowed down as he got closer. When he looked at her face, he could see irritation. But when he looked from the corner of his eyes, he saw a troubled expression wash over. He felt a lurch of guilt at the pit of his stomach. He had a fair idea of why Anna refused to go.
The walk home was inconversable, Yoh's remorse grew steadily, the closer to the onsen they walked.
He had to do something to make up for it.
As they reached the gate, he opened it and led her in. The pair walked slowly up the path but when Anna reached for the door, Yoh grabbed her hand timidly and brought her up the roof.
Slightly curious, Anna sat down and waited for Yoh to do the same. But he just stood their, facing out into the evening sky.
"It's me, isn't it?"
Anna looked up at Yoh, the light of the blood red sky outlined his features. He shoved his hands in his pockets.
"You're not going to go to Tokyo High because you heard me tell Manta that I might not even take the exam, right?" asked Yoh, daintly.
"...no," she lied in a casual way. "It means that if you don't go then I'll have to hang around that noisy fool."
Yoh chuckled and didn't say anything. He was waiting for the truth, and Anna knew he was. She sighed, unbearing the silence that drifted among him.
"Fine, it is," she said simply. "But I still have no intention of going."
"You may not, But..." Yoh smirked. "I do. I have every intention of getting you there, whether you like it or not. When is the girls' exam? The boys' are in two weeks so... In three weeks?"
"Yoh, please," she said in her monotonous voice. "What would I get from that school anyway? It would probably have nothing to do with what I've decided to be one i get older."
"That onsen inn bit?" Asked Yoh. "Come on, Anna. You tried way too hard just to be that. Tokyo High can open up more opportunities. You deserve that than anyone else I know."
"Do you remember, Yoh, what I wanted in life?" Anna continued in her tone. "I said I wanted an easy life. And life in the inn is my way of one. I don't even understand why you're encouraging this so much."
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I've sort of got this idea. It might not make sense now but... I'd understand why you're so suspicious," said Yoh. "But trust me. Okay? Yeah! So let's get you studying for that exam!"
"I told you-"
"Okay fine," Yoh cut her off quickly, his hands waved frantically. "How about a deal? If you take that exam and get your results back, I'll get you a surprise. My plan. I'll show you what I've been up to. Something that'll make you glad you're going to Tokyo High. Fair?"
Anna sighed in frustration.
"And," added Yoh, "I'll start training again. Just for you."
"... fine," Anna said, defeated. "But if what you're going to show me is stupid, I will hurt you everytime you breathe. Now let's get down, I'm hungry."
Yoh laughed and led Anna down the roof, ingredients for Anna's dinner rolled in his mind.