School Daze: Chapter Eight
By: Juiicy
The entrance exam was over and Anna found herself back at school the next day. As part of the Funbari Hill's tradition, the graduating ninth graders were given the last two weeks of their Junior High School life without classes but with the flaw of remaining on school property until the final bell whilethe rest of the school continued their studies. This year's Elite Swim Team were doing laps in the pool, the Go Club played several games against eachother, and some others were seen running around the halls trying to finish up their volunteer hours they have failed to finish. But the Graduation Committee seemed to be the busiest of them all, making preparations for the Year End Ceremony for the graduating students.
Yoh, Manta and Anna, on the otherhand, did not do anything productive. They just sat in their comfortable quietness and watched the business' of everyone else. Though their peers, in their restless perspectives, believed it was pointless to spend the next two weeks in their faded and, in some cases, outgrown unifroms, Yoh saw it completely differently. He jumped enthusiastically at any opportunity to catch up on his sleep, which for the last few years, was a lot of ground to cover. Anna followed where Yoh went and Manta just enjoyed hanging around his two favourite people, although the list varied depending on Anna's unpredictable moods. They sat wordlessly under the protection of the tree's shadows and a curious silence hung around them.
In the past two years, they've gotten somewhat closer. The boys had noticed a change in her. No longer is she the cold Itako the rest of the group remembered her. Though it wasn't much, it was a good start. Anna was, of course, one who didn't always appreciate drastic changes.
Anna observed a soccer game and as one of the players tumbled and fell. Almost immediately two other boys from the opposite team came and picked him up, laughing. Then she observed a group of fidgety girls nearby. They huddled closely as they kept an eye out on the soccer boys. Often, a large fit of giggles errupted. After staring absent-mindedly, something else caught her attention. Holding hands, a couple walked by, smiles pressed on to their faces. She wondered if all of these things that she wantedhappened to be rubbing their wealth in her face.
Yoh's eyes were closed while he leaned himselfagainst Anna and the tree's sturdy trunk.
Manta, seated on the other side of Anna, looked up from his new pocket encyclopedia that Anna and Yoh had given him for Christmas. A troubled look occupied Anna's almost-always vacant expression. And being the observer he was, he knew something was bothering her even though she showed little emotion. He couldn't help but feel that he should do something. He hesitated and flipped through his new pocket encyclopedia and he read down an entry of John F. Kennedy, a former American President. Manta finished it quickly and closed it. He looked at Anna again. She was still transfixed and a slightly less troubled expression was caressed on her face and her lidded eyes looked over her knees. Manta looked down at his pocket encyclopedia again and this time flipped to an entry of the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci, the Mona Lisa. He chose to read it slower this time.
"Manta? Hey, what're you doing?" asked Yoh. He looked at him from the otherside of Anna with sleepy eyes. "You were flipping those pages pretty loudly. What's wrong?"
"Huh? Ah, sorry, Yoh. But..." Manta looked up at Anna, who was now peering at him at the corner of her eye. "Erm... Anna..."
Yoh looked at Anna up and down and stroked his newly fuzzed chin. Anna arched her eyebrow.
"Don't look at me like that, Yoh. It's awkward," Anna said dully. Yoh smiled and apologized.
He turned to Manta. "She's right here. What do you mean?"
"... Nevermind," Manta laughed nervously. "Um, Yoh? I'm going to have to talk to you about something important. But, you know, maybe later. Is that alright, Anna?"
She nodded hesitantly and said, "... yeah?"
"Well, we'd better start getting up, the Grad. Committee's going to call us back in soon. We might as well start heading into the gymnasium right now," concluded Manta. He stood up, not too far from the ground, and slapped his thighs to clean off his pants. Yoh and Anna shrugged and slowly got up. Yoh got up first and clasped onto Anna's hands. He helped her and held onto her long, thin fingers even after she was up. She didn't dare try to pull away.
Manta beamed and led the couple into the gymnasium.
They piled into the gym just as an anouncement had rang throughout the entire school:
"Excuse this interruption for all classes in session. The Graduation Committee would like to invite the students of the graduating class to the gymnasium immediately after this anouncement, regarding the Year End Ceremony, which is fast approaching. Thank you... click..."
While Yoh and several other boys brought out the bleachers from against the wall, Manta and Anna, the more delicate ones, stood against the walls and waited. Other students were setting the stage and the Graduation Committee ushered the rest of the ninth grade student body into the gym.
As soon as the bleachers were all out, Yoh signalled Anna to come up and find spots while Manta and him talked just outside. She found great spots at thetop back and the boys gave her an OK-signal. The two walked out into the gym's foyer so Manta wouldn't have to raise his voice to talk to Yoh. His smile wasted away as he saw the worried expression on Manta's face.
"What's wrong, Manta?" he asked.
"Ano... Yoh...? Didn't you notice Anna today? Sheseemed conservative than usual," Manta replied. "And I think I know why."
Yoh said nothing and when Manta was sure he wasn't going to say anything at all he began, "Why don't you just come clean and tell Anna already? She's probably upset because, as far as she knows, she's going to Tokyo High without you and she obviously doesn't want to hang around me for the next three years."
The taller of the two just gave his friend his reassuring smile. "Nah, don't worry about, buddy. It'll work out in the end. She might be pissed but that's okay. Let's get back in or else she'll get suspicous." With that, Yoh made it clear that this conversation was over. Manta still felt guilt but he trusted Yoh whenever it came with dealing with Anna. He knew her more than anybody in the world did.
Several threats and glares later, Manta and Yoh regretted asking Anna for seats at the top. When they sat themselves down on either sides of her, she behaved as if they had been all along.
"Hi everyone," said a voice from all corners of the gymnasium. Sotuse Maiko stepped up behind the microphone at the center of the stage. "Thank you all for joining us even though you really didn't have a choice to. As president of the Graduation Committee, I am pleased to say that High School is just around the corner and we'll never have to come back here for a long time!"
A roar of applause and hoots filled the room. Maiko laughed and then began to hush the crowd.
"I'm sorry, Akochi-sensei, but it's the truth," shrugged Maiko as she apologized at a grinning principal. "Anyways, thanks to this year's wonderful team of students, we've been making really good progress on our preparations and we're just about done. We have planned an excellent ceremony and we hope you will enjoy yourselves."
Maiko looked down at the sheet of paper in her hand and cleared her throat. "As tradition, we will have a small Recognition part for those who had excelled well here at Funbari Hill's Academy educationally and athletically as well as those who had improved since the seventh grade. And later in the afternoon we will award those who had recieved scholarships.
"We will anounce those who will be recognized in a few days as we organize ourselves," she said. "I would personally congratulate those who had recieved scholarships to Tokyo High School, the most prestigious school in Japan. Although students in our area will not be recieving their acceptance letters his week, we were informed today that students who had applied and written an exam for Tokyo High in the farther parts of Japan and Internationally are all getting their letters today."
The boys grinned. Yoh nudged Anna playfully at her side and Manta gave her a thumbs up. Anna ignored them. If there was one thing she hated, it was when people give too much attention to herself. She enjoyed watching others being recognized rather than them recognizing her.
Maiko continued, "We are already in charge of catering, decorations and entertainment so that all of you wouldn't have to worry about it. This leaves you all to take some time out of your vacation to come back here one more time with your friends and family."
The president of the Grad. Committee stepped aside for other representatives and several presentations later, the students were dismissed just before the lunch anouncement clicked all over the school.
Anna followed after Manta and was walking stride by stride with Yoh. Manta turned for the cafeteria while the other two walked for their lockers. Yoh opened up his locker and removed his lunch while Anna went to a nearby vending machine and bought three cans of different drinks depending on the drinker's favourite.She pulled out tea, orange juice and milk.
They left and headed for the door when a familiar face appeared. Ms. Harazuna smiled lovingly at Yoh and Anna.
"Good afternoon, Kyouyama-kun, Asakura-kun," she said. Her greying head shimmered under the lights but her forty year old face looked half as young. "I'd like to talk to you about the Graduation Ceremony, Anna-san. But not right now, it seems you already have plans with Asakura-kun, I suppose."
Nayako winked knowingly at Yoh, who tilted his head in confusion as she recalled from her last meeting with Anna. She looked blankly at her ridiculous teacher and kept reminding that she was a teacher no matter how she behaved.
"... hai, Harazuna-sensei," said Anna, keeping her expression to a minimum.
"Hm, I'll leave so I won't be too much of a bother for you two," she laughed lightly. "Please see me as soon as lunch ends at my room, okay, Kyouyama-san?"
Anna could only nod. Nayako turned to Yoh and said, "Asakura-kun, Sato-sensei would like to speak to you, as well. And will you two tell Oyamada-kun that Uchido-sensei wants to speak to him, too?"
"Yes, ma'am," said Yoh and with that, Ms. Harazuna smiled, turned on her sandals and walked into the hallway.
Yoh found his chance so he looked at her questioningly, "Anna, what did she-?"
"Forget it, Yoh," she said. Anna took his hand demandinglyand led him outside. "You should be more worried about whether the lunch you made will be good and edible enough."
Yoh held onto her hand and obeyed. The couple walked hand-in-hand and found Manta at their usual spot.
"Hey, you two," Manta welcomed them. "What took so long?"
The two sat in front of him. Manta whipped out some instant noodles while the other two opened up the packed lunch Yoh had prepared. Anna removed the lid and revealed an assortment of dishes.
Manta was impressed, "Wow, Yoh. You've really sharpened up yours cooking skills! That looks excellent compared to your earlier work. Anna, your lucky to be eating real food." He looked down at his cold plastic bowl of Kim Chi. He may be incredibly wealthy but his constantly out of town family preferred to be cheap, justso the money would last longer.
"Well, I watched Ryu cook a couple of times and he gave me some pointers. That guy can really cook. He'll find himself in America sometime soon," smiled Yoh.
Anna unwrapped two pairs of chopsticks and held a pair in front of Manta. He looked at the chopsticks and then to Anna as if it was the first time seeing them.
"Anna...? What...?" asked Manta, confused.
She took his small hand and place the thin wood into it. "For a smart ass, you're really stupid," she said when he still couldn't figure it out himself. "I don't know what the hell your parents are thinking but a shrimp like you need to grow if you want to survive high school. Especially without Yoh. Don't think for a second that I'll protect your sorry ass," Anna said coldly. It amazed people when she managed to make sentimental things like that sound so harsh. "And anyway, Yoh really outdid himself today. You might as well have some. Me and Yoh will share- what are you two doing?"
Tears of joy overflowed their wide eyed eyes. Anna looked at them disgusted.
"I didn't know you cared," Manta wailed. "You're a good person, Anna."
"You like my cooking and you showed concern for Manta's growth," cried Yoh. He wiped a stray tear and sighed. "The world is great today. We may as well have a celebration tonight. I'll cook. You don't have Cram School today, right?"
"Nope," cried Manta. "Today really is good!"
Anna shook her head as she ate quietly. "Please. Don't do that or I'll have to abandon you both on the streets," she said. "Now hurry up and eat."
The boys obeyed. Manta ate slowly and savoured the taste of real food. He was really looking forward to going to the onsen for it's been awhile since he last visited. Yoh and Anna shared and took turns using the chopsticks and in no time flat, the container was eaten cleaned.
Manta fell onto his back in satisfaction, cushioned by the emerald green grass. "You're right, Anna. Yoh really did outdo himself today," Manta said. "You're even better than Ryu-san himself! You two have been holding out on me all this time."
Yoh cleaned up and thanked him.
"Thank you, Anna," Manta said.
Anna grunted and sat against the tree, later joined by Yoh. She took out the drinks and handed them out.
Manta drank his milk mindlessly while Anna drank her warm tea and Yoh sipped his orange juice. They all stayed still for a while.
"So," Manta started and he wiped off his milky moustache. Manta remained on his back and watched the cloudless, blue sky as itstood stock still."You guys still haven't told me what took so long."
"Oh, I completely forgot," Yoh slapped his head. " Well, Harazuna-sensei wanted to talk to Anna about the Graduation Ceremony after lunch. As far as I know, it's probably about the recognition part of the ceremony since she got the scholarhip for Tokyo High."
Manta nodded. "Yeah?"
"She said that Uchido-sensei wanted to see you after lunch," he added confusion hinted in his voice. "And she added that Sato-sensei wanted to see me, too. I don't get it though. I understand why Harazuna-sensei would look for Anna, but why us?"
Manta shrugged as he played along.
"Duh," said Anna as if it was that obvious, sipping her tea. "Manta's the smartest and you're the fastest."
The boys sweatdropped. "... right," they laughed nervously.
"Well, we'd better start cleaning up soon," Yoh said as he looked at Manta's small wrist watch several minutes before the end of lunch. Manta finished the last of his milk while Yoh packed up the empty lunch box.
Anna amused herself by watching the two teenage boys clean up. She rubbed her new, lightly tanned arms as if she had just carried something really heavy. Spending every lunch outside in the warm Tokyo sunshine for the last two years have rubbed off on her skin. Anna liked the new change. It complimented her blond hair. She smiled at her no longer pale white legs and arms. She wasn't as dark as Yoh, who spent almost every waking moment in the sunshine, but she preferred this lighter shade.
"Looks like we should head in, right, Anna?" Manta smiled as he threw out his cold noodles.
She nodded slightly and said nothing. Yoh was to go in a different direction, the track field, while Anna and Manta were wanted in the school building.
"Right," said Yoh as all three of them got up simultaneously. "Let's meet up at the lockers after. The final bell should ring by then." He walked slowly toward the opposite direction of where his two friends stood. "Ja ne!"
Manta stood still and watched after his friend as Anna turned on her heel and headed towards the building. Several moments later, Manta noticed her absence and turned to see her walking away. He ran quickly and caught up with her.
They stuffed their lunches into their cramped little lockers quickly just as the bell rang to anounce the end of lunch. Anna gracefully avoided the mob of students who were on their way to classes. She plucked out an almost-stepped on Manta from deep in the crowd and dragged him by his collar, careful not to choke him, into the halls.
Manta breathed a sigh of relief when they arrived at the hall where they would go their seperate ways. Anna placed Manta back onto the ground and began walking into the right hall.
"Arigatou," cried Manta as he turned for the left hall and headed for Uchido-sensei's classroom.
HAHA! IM BAAAACK. Well, not really. Right now I should really be doing my art project but its been such a long time since I've been on the computer. I never realized how much fanfiction has such a big impact on my life. haha. Anyways, yeah, I know this chapter's kind of slow. I think my writing skills kind of dulled but oh well.
Keyo-Red Angel of Hope: Shameless! haha. you should really be doing your homework. but meh, who am i to say? im ditching homework right now because i couldnt stand to be away from this story any longer. haha. and thanks for the offer of editing my stuff but its okay. its just the server that seems to bunch up my words together. ive done an experiment because i was reaaaally pissed off one day and i had nothing better to day (asides from the homework). HA!
dooil: haha they probably will, or probably wont. just wait for the next couple of chapters to find out, okay? haha.
Sailor Otaku: actually, all of those questions will eventually be answered. but if you're really observant, then one of your questions had been answered in this chapter. haha.
BattleAngelKurumi: oh gosh. im amazed that ive actually inspired somebody! well, thats one thing crossed out in my "things-to-do-before-i-die" list. haha. i'll read it and support you as much as you've been supporting me. promise!
asn water: haha. actually, at first i was going to makethe girl (that reminds you of yoh) and daisuke siblings but then i though against it. it'd be nice to introduce another character. i loved the idea of "will anna train those boys?" it's probably going to one of the things that happen in the school year that u'll have fun playing around with. haha.
BlackIcyRoses: AH! I'm so sorry for doing that toyoubut heres thechapter. hopefully you wont be angry anymore? lol.
Yuki KIKI: oh. its a shame that your computers all topsy turvy but thats okay because i only care if people read my stories and like them. im a very simple creature. lol. and just to make you happy, i'll say that what you said about the inn actually being an innmay (or may not) be part of this story. hum... gee, i wonder. haha. oh yeah, whatsa muse-gumbo?
sweetkukumalu: haha. i'll think about. its a good idea, though.
Haru Glory: dont worry, that crazy ghost will pop up sooner or later...
dana: haha actually, an itako is a kind of shaman because they can see and come into physical contact with ghosts, if i recall from the first volume in the manga (which i happen to have). lol. i'd go deeper in detail but im waaaay too lazy. HA! anyways, heres your chapter! and thanks for the review, you're quite an observant person! lol.
cripes! that was a lot of reviews i've gotten. thank you all SO much. words cannot describe my feelings of bliss right now. lol. see? i've been expanding my vocabulary on my break. haha. maybe i should go on hiatus more often. but anyways, im not back for certain, okay? so dont get mad if i dont update in a couple of weeks. for the next few weeks i'll just be editing some of my mistakes in this story because im reaaaaally picky and obssessive when it comes to mistakes. i'll also be continuing my other story, "to make her happy," because i finally found a way to start the next chapter. joy!
hopefully this was all i really needed to say. until next chapter, later gaters!