Minna, Thank you for the very warm reception you gave me and my new story, Tezuka-buchou no Imouto, or as I've named it in English, The Captain's Sister. This is not the direct English translation of the Japanese title; rather, it is my preferred English title for this story.
Again, thank you for the warm welcome. This story has been in my head for a really long time now, at least six months to a year I think. I've only succeeded in writing a few days ago. I'm overwhelmed by your reception. That's why, I THANK YOU WITH ALL MY HEART~!
To the following people who reviewed chapter 2:
Nejisakura
Konohagrl1432
Freezechain
Different Child
Sakuraxgaara2233
Chika_25
Thank you very much for reviewing.
Chapter 3- The Tezuka siblings
The new family was in the garden having their afternoon refreshments. Yumi and Tezuka had just finished touring the entire house and they were now enjoying pastries and juice. Ayana personally prepared these refreshments for them; something that she rarely did since they have their own family chef.
"I wonder where Ojii-sama is right now," Tezuka questioned aloud.
"He's probably with some of his friends. You know how he is, he loves having long conversations with his old friends," said Ayana.
"Or maybe he's in his dojo, fast asleep after training the new recruits," said Kuniharu.
The conversation started to trail into several different topics from their grandfather, that Yumi had yet to meet, to various other things like school and hobbies. When they started talking about experiences that they had in school, Kuniharu remembered that his daughter needed to enroll into a particular school soon. It had been a while since his daughter entered a normal school. He was wondering if the little girl was ready to face her new life now.
"Which school would you like to enter, Yumi?" Kuniharu asked.
"That's right, you're also in Junior High like Kunimitsu," said Ayana.
"I'm not familiar with the schools in this district yet, so I'm still not sure," said Yumi.
"Well, Seishuun has a lot of schools. There's that Seisou Music Academy, that art school near my office and I guess there's a lot more. Let's not forget about Seishuun Gakuen, of course," said Kuniharu.
"That's the school Kunimitsu is attending," said Ayana.
"Is it a nice school?" Yumi asked.
"Seishuun Gakuen is one of the top tennis schools here. It's a private middle school. Academic wise the school is good as well," said Tezuka.
"Well, if its academics we're asking, you're one of the best there, ne Kunimitsu-kun?" Ayana asked.
"I'm not the only one. There are a lot of students who are great in academics," said Tezuka.
Yumi thought about it a bit more. Attending Seishuun Gakuen sounded like a more practical choice rather than her old school. Her old school was in the same region but from her new home, the school was just too far. She would need to take a train ride and a bus just to get there. And with the unpredictable traffic in Tokyo, being late for classes and going home late would be something that she couldn't avoid. For a student like her, it wasn't a very practical thing to do.
"So Yumi-chan, which school would you like to attend?" Kuniharu asked expectantly.
"Is it all right to attend Seishuun Gakuen?" Yumi asked.
"That's a great idea, Yumi!" Ayana exclaimed.
"That way you can come and leave school with your brother. It's a wonderful idea," said Kuniharu, looking rather relieved to hear the girl's response.
"That actually reassures me more," said Ayana.
"I'll bring her to school on Monday, okaa-san. Please have her requirements for enrollment ready by then," said Tezuka.
"Thank you, onii-chan. I'll try not to cause you any trouble," said Yumi.
"Why don't you introduce her to Fuji-kun and all your other friends from the tennis club? She's probably in Echizen-kun's year, they might become good buddies," said Ayana.
"Ah, I will," said Tezuka.
Monday…
Ding…dong…ding…dong…
"Welcome to Seishuun Gakuen, Tezuka Yumi-chan," said the kind looking principal after looking over the entrance examination results.
It was an early Monday morning when Yumi and her new brother headed for Seishuun Gakuen. It was much nearer than she had expected it to be. They only took a bus from the bus stop near their house to get to the school. Almost everyone who saw them, when they got off, was looking so curiously at them. Most would look at Tezuka and then giggle; but the moment they see Yumi, they would start murmuring. They were probably wondering who she was.
"Arigatou, sensei," said Yumi. "Please take her to Room 105. She'll be staying in class I-A where Echizen-kun is staying. I'll be there in a minute, I'll just attend to something important," said the principal as he addressed Tezuka.
"Hai, sensei," said Tezuka.
The two walked together until they reached the first floor. The room for class 1-A is found at the very end of the hall in the first floor. It was pretty easy to spot since almost all the doors had a name plate, except for the teacher's office. Students were prowling about in the first floor halls, since their homeroom teachers were still not there.
In Seishuun Gakuen, the year level of a student is determined by two ways. First, it is determined by the floor level where their room is found. First years are always placed in the first floor, second years on the second floor, and the third years on the third floor. The fourth floor is used for club rooms for non-sport clubs. The second way is to look at the button on the male students' uniform collar and the number of lines on the sailor collar of the female students' uniform.
"This is your room, Yumi," said Tezuka as they stepped in front of the room's door.
"Hai, onii-chan," said Yumi as she followed closely.
"My classroom is at the third floor. It's room number 309, for class 3-A. If you need anything, you can just come to me upstairs" said Tezuka.
Tezuka was about to leave and go to class, when he suddenly felt a tug on his sleeve. He turned slowly to look at Yumi, who looked very much like she was going to start crying anytime soon. By the looks of it she didn't want Tezuka to go anywhere yet, probably because she's not familiar with any of the people inside the class yet.
"All right, I'll wait until your homeroom teacher gets here. I'll introduce a kouhai of mine to you as well," said Tezuka as he was wiping the single tear that left Yumi's eye.
"Gomen, onii-chan. I'm just nervous," said Yumi.
"It's fine. I understand how you feel. I'll call Echizen so that you won't feel too scared," said Tezuka.
Tezuka walked near the student entrance and then opened the door. He was welcomed by an auburn haired boy with a weird looking mono-brow. The boy looked shock to see the third year in his classroom. He looked like he was nearly going to wet himself right on the spot.
"Horio, is Echizen around?" Tezuka asked the boy.
"Tezuka-buchou! Hai, he's in his seat!" said the boy Tezuka addressed as Horio.
"Thank you," said Tezuka.
Tezuka looked around the room and checked if the boy he mentioned was really present. After spotting a guy with green-black hair who was leaning on his table, Tezuka stepped into the room. He signaled for his sister to follow suit. They approached said boy, not minding the fact that almost all of the students in the classroom were staring at them, wondering why the senior and an unknown girl entered the room so suddenly.
"Echizen," Tezuka called.
The boy stirred. He was sleeping, Tezuka thought. It was an odd time for a student to be sleeping. School didn't start too early, why would someone sleep during this time of the day when most people are supposed to be active and high with energy? Setting that thought aside, Tezuka tried to coax the guy awake again.
"Echizen, may I talk to you? I'd like you to help me with something," he stated, the other guy seemingly aware of the other person talking to him now.
"Buchou, sorry, I was napping. What is it that you need?" said the guy named Echizen.
"My sister is going to start to attend Seigaku today and she is in the same year and section as yours. I was wondering if you could possibly assist her, especially for her first day today," Tezuka explained.
Echizen stood up to face the two individuals that were looking at him. Did he hear it right? Did his captain really say that his sister was coming to Seigaku? He looked up at his upperclassman, and then at the girl standing right behind him. She certainly looked a lot like Tezuka-buchou, he wondered.
"It's all right. I'll take care of her. If she's your sister, I'm betting she isn't as noisy as other girls, right?" said Echizen.
"Ah," said Tezuka.
"Thank you very much," said Yumi.
"This is Tezuka Yumi, my younger sister. This is the kouhai I was talking about, Yumi," Tezuka introduced the two to each other.
"Nice meeting you," said Yumi.
"Likewise," Echizen said bluntly.
After a while, the principal and the homeroom teacher arrived. The principal was already informing the homeroom teacher about Yumi's arrival. After spotting Yumi and Tezuka, the principal smiled and then signaled for the Yumi to step in front. It was time for her to be introduced to the class. That also meant that it was time for her big brother to leave her alone and go to his own class.
"I'll come and pick you up for lunch later," said Tezuka.
"Okay," said Yumi.
"I'll leave her to you Echizen. I'll see you both later," said Tezuka.
"Hn," Echizen muttered.
"Onii-chan, please don't forget to come early later," said Yumi, approaching Tezuka right before he leaves.
"Ah," said Tezuka, then he kissed her forehead as if to say that everything was going to be all right.
After Tezuka left, the principal left the class to the homeroom teacher, Terada-sensei. He looked like a kind person to Yumi. He looked a lot like someone that everyone would simply assume as a teacher because of his looks; a clean cut hairstyle and a well-ironed uniform. He definitely looked like a teacher in Yumi's eyes.
"Good morning class, today we're going to be joined by a new student. This is Tezuka Yumi-chan, she will be a member off our class from now on. Please introduce yourself, Yumi-chan," said Terada-sensei.
"Good morning, my name is Tezuka Yumi, twelve years old. I came from Lilian Girls' Academy," said Yumi.
"All right, are there any questions for Yumi-chan?" Terada-sensei asked.
A few hands shot up to ask some questions. Some were trivial stuff like 'when's your birthday?' or 'would you send our confession letters to your brother if we asked you?' Luckily, the teacher was quick enough to dissuade people into asking such things from her. It seemed like majority of the girls in her class (and a couple of *cough*guys*cough*) found her brother very attractive. One of the playboy types in the class asked her something unusual for her though. The question was, 'Do you have a boyfriend? If you don't can I apply to be yours?' She answered truthfully of course. She already had a talk about this with her dad and Tezuka, where they made her promise not to entertain such questions because Kuniharu didn't want his daughter to get snatched away that easily.
"Settle down, people. Now, Yumi-chan, you can sit at that vacant seat in front of Echizen-kun," said Terada-sensei. "Ah, thank you, sensei," said Yumi, then she walked towards the seat she was directed to.
"All right class, you can have your lunch now. Be back early afterwards, all right? Miss Yamaguchi has been complaining about how late third fourth period starts because most of you are always late," said Terada-sensei.
"Hai, sensei," said the whole class.
The third period class just ended and everyone else in class left for either the cafeteria or other places for them to go to. They were going to start eating lunch now of course, but Yumi was still inside the classroom waiting for Tezuka. He was still in his classroom, trying to finish activities.
"Do you have your lunch pack with you?" Echizen asked.
Yumi thought that he had already left the room. He was so quiet that she didn't even notice that the guy was still sitting behind her. Well, he just woke up actually. First, second and third periods were sleeping time for the tennis prodigy. Yumi thought that the guy her brother talked to for her was going to leave her behind just after the kind tennis buchou talked to him in person.
"Uh, I thought you already left," said Yumi.
"No, I was just sleeping," said Echizen.
"Oh, uhm, I didn't bring any. Onii-chan and I thought that I'd only be taking the exam today so I didn't bring any food with me," Yumi explained.
"Ah, well, maybe buchou will just buy your food later in the cafeteria," said Echizen.
"By the way, Echizen-kun, thank you for agreeing to accompany me even though this is the first time we've met," said Yumi.
"It's not a problem. It's rare for buchou to ask something like that, so I said yes," Echizen explained.
"I hope onii-chan doesn't take too long," said Yumi.
"Yumi," said a voice.
Yumi and Echizen turned to see the tennis club captain. He had a brown paper bag with food and drinks. He obviously decided on buying their lunch first before coming to fetch his sister.
"Sorry, class ended early so I decided to buy the food first. I wasn't sure what you wanted so I bought these instead," Tezuka explained as he showed the paper bag's contents.
"It's fine. I don't mind," said Yumi.
"I'll go ahead then, buchou," said Echizen suddenly as he stood up. "I'm going to go and nap at the rooftop. See you later."
The two headed out of the room and looked for a good place to eat their lunch. The best place they found was the bench near the water taps near the tennis courts. The two sat comfortably while eating the bentou box that Tezuka bought from the cafeteria. Ayana's cooking was a lot more delicious than the store bought bentous but it was at least something that they could eat.
"How was your class?" Tezuka asked, the first to break their silence too.
"Pretty good I think. I'm still adjusting to their lessons here so I guess it'll take a while for me to fully adapt their curriculum," said Yumi.
"It'll be all right. The teachers are they accommodating?" said Tezuka.
"They're a lot more accommodating than I expected," said Yumi.
"Don't worry, you'll be adjusting well to this school. There'll be a lot of people you'd meet later so don't worry. You'll have new friends later," said Tezuka.
"Are they the once Okaa-san was telling you to introduce to me?" Yumi asked.
"Yeah, they're from the tennis club," said Tezuka.
"By the way, Onii-chan, thank you for talking to Echizen-kun to accompany me. Although he only sleeps inside the classroom, he's quite helpful to me too," said Yumi.
"You're my sister. I always want what's best for you, remember that," said Tezuka.
'You're my sister…That's nice,' Tezuka thought.
Who wouldn't think that way anyway, right? Tezuka dreamed of having a sibling of his own and after what happened to his mother he never expected that dream to come true anymore. But surely, fate was giving him another chance. Now all that's left is for the tennis club to find out about it.
Hope you like that. A big thanks to Different Child who did edited my work patiently. Again, please R&R. ^_^