Brightest of Shadows Chapter 13: Winner!
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Hello there my minions! So real quick before this gets started; this story will now continue with Sachiko and Yami in their teenage years, but don't worry, I'll be making several oneshots of the two growing up, including but not limited to a dance at the original Kisaragi gangs senior year, Yoshiki and Ayumi's wedding, and Satoshi and Naomi's wedding! Just keep an eye out for those soon! Without further ado onto the chapter! Oh and PS, pay close attention to the gym teacher. Notice anything familiar? ;)
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-Years Later, Kisaragi Acadamy-
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In the soft summer air, the school building of Kisaragi stood proudly, like the shining becon of education that it is. With it's pristine halls and beautiful exterior, the school was always the envy of the other schools in the area.
Even it's students appeared to be the model of perfection, the epitome of dignaty and respect that others schools could only dream of. Regularly seen volunteering or otherwise working hard to make there community a better place for everyone. They were truly the living example of what to strive for as a student.
"MISS SHINOZAKI! GET BACK HERE!"
Or at least most of them.
With little more than that shout as a warning, the peace that normally permeated the halls of Kisaragi High was suddenly shattered as the front door suddenly burst open and a teenage girl wearing almost all black and red, with long dark hair that fell to her waist, tore into the halls, followed closely by a man with light brown hair and a small amount of stubble on his chin with what appeared to be a newly formed black eye. Though she was quickly losing him.
"C'mon Tsubota-sensei! I expected a better chase than this from you!" The girl laughed, as she effortlessly vaulted over the back of a student who had been on his hands and knees, scrubbing the floor, only for that same boy to be shoved out of the way a moment later by the pursuing teacher, causing the boy to land face first into the soapy water.
"Shinozaki, if you don't stop this instant I'll-..." That was all the teacher could say before the girl took a sharp right and dove into a classroom, slamming the door behind her with all her might.
The loud smashing sound against the door told her all that she needed to know.
"Ha! Suck it!" She yelled at the door, pumping her arms up in a mock victory salute, only to freeze like a deer in headlights when she heard the sound of an awkward cough behind her.
Whipping around like a bolt of lightning, the girl smiled nervously as she came face to face with none other than a class full of students, along with the school's principle, Yui Shishido. "Hello Sachiko, getting ourselves into trouble rather early today aren't we?"
After spending a few years as both an assistant and a teacher, Yui Shishido had finally climbed the ladder to principle of the school, although despite that, she insisted that she continue to teach classes and have a homeroom. She knew it would be extra work, but she would be damned if she had worked so hard as a teacher to just become one of the faceless administration to the students. She was a teacher at heart, and so a teacher she would continue to be.
"Trouble? What, me? No! Nev-..." Sachiko trailed off into an awkward laugh as she heard the pained groans of the teacher attempting to stand up on the other side of the door. "Uh... Heh heh... I can explain."
"Oh no need. I'll be seeing you after classes today either way. I have some news for you and it seems that someone else will be wanting a chat with you anyway." Principle Yui laughed, before pointing to an open closet. "I'll tell him you climbed out the window."
"Thanks Yui-sensei! You're a life saver!" Sachiko laughed before running over to the closet, stepping inside before closing the double doors of the closet with a soft 'click' remaining motionless as the teacher came charging into the classroom, now recovered from his impact with the door, in search of her.
It took all of Sachiko's willpower to keep herself from bursting out into laughter as she watched the teachers face fall as Principle Yui explained how his escapee had run right past her before she could stop her and had climbed out of the window to the school track field below.
The disgruntled teacher was running out of the room in a storm of stomping feet and loud curses a moment later.
A snap of Principle Yui's fingers singled to Sachiko that the coast was clear at which point the teenager in question stepped out of the closet and calmly grabbed a desk, before listening to the principle as she picked up her book. "By the way Shinozaki, what exactly have you done to Mister Tsubota? That was quite the black eye he had."
"Oh well..." Sachiko laughed nervously for a moment as she shrugged. "I guess you could say that my aim with a baseball is a little Too good."
It took nearly 5 minutes for Principle Yui to silence the sudden roars of laughter throughout the classroom.
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A few hours later, Sachiko found herself in Principle Yui's official office, sitting directly across from the very teacher she had been running from earlier that day. The gym teacher, in all his rude, loud, and smelly glory. His swollen black eye still bore the fruits of Sachiko's incident earlier.
"You're a real problem child you know that? A delinquent." He seethed as he paced on the other side of the room, his hands in his pockets. "You're just like your cousin-in-law. He was always a pain as well."
"Aw! Good to know I'm continuing family tradition!"
"Don't be smart Shinozaki! I have no patience for directionless misbehaving students like you!" The gym teacher screamed as he slammed both his fasts down onto Principle Yui's desk all while the woman in question silently typed away on her laptop, not even flinching upon the fists impact. "I wonder what your parents must think of you? No wonder they dropped you off at your cousins house!"
Sachiko said nothing, merely keeping her arms crossed around her midriff as she watched the gym teachers mouth wag up and down as he yelled, silently wondering how eager he would be to yell without a tongue. Or a jaw.
"You, Miss Shinozaki, are extremely rude to the teachers you should respect, you are foulmouthed to an almost-..." The gym teacher trailed off upon hearing a soft sound coming from Sachiko and upon glancing up noticed that Sachiko had not only stopped listening to what he was saying, but had begun to yawn! "MISS SHINOZAKI!"
Sachiko immediately jumped back into an aware state as the gym teachers voice reached her ears, causing her to clamp her hands over her ears. "Alright, alright, I'm listening Blockhead!"
The gym teacher clenched his teeth and fists as he let out an audible growl. Instead of countering with an insult or argument of his own, he decided to continue with his previous vein of conversation.
"You even refuse to wear our school uniform! You wear this ridiculous goth style like a second skin, and there isn't a minute of the day that you aren't wearing that goddamn choker!" The gym teacher had to pause in order to take a breath as he jabbed a finger at the black choker around Sachiko's neck before he continued at full gusto once again. "And to top it off, for some reason our principle refuses to take action against you!"
"Mister Tsubota, I believe there's another matter we have to bring up to miss Shinozaki." Principle Yui said, silencing the gym teacher for a few moments before he found his voice.
"Yes... As much as I would love to continue the almost endless list of behavioral problems you possess..." The gym teacher said glaring at Principle Yui before turning back to Sachiko with a sigh. "That's not the only reason we've called you in today..."
"You remember the contest the school had a few weeks ago?" Principle Yui's voice seemed to cut through the tension in the room like a warm knife through butter, while the smile on her face brushed away any that remained.
"The one with the winner and three friends being awarded a trip to Hawaii right?" Sachiko asked, finally pulling herself into a proper sitting position now that she was not being endlessly yelled at by the gym teacher.
"Yes well... Somehow..." The gym teacher paused once more, as if hesitant to let the next few words in his sentence pass through his lips. "Your name was drawn. Congratulations."
"What? How? I never even entered the contest." Sachiko asked as she shrugged, keeping as stoic as ever on the outside, while in her mind she couldn't seem to silence the myriad of thoughts assaulting her. She won something she never even entered? How was that possible?
"You never had to." Principle Yui interrupted pointing to a small sign-up sheet on the inside of her door. A myriad of names were listed on the paper in a random order. "Students are entered into the contest by a combination of good grades and the recommendation of other students."
This made Sachiko pause for a moment as a look of guilt crossed her face for but a second. Yami had done all of her homework for her whenever she was too tired or too stubborn to do it herself. That was what most likely shot her grades up enough to win a contest. If she got to go why should he not? Of course she would have to convince Yui to allow a male student to accompany her, a rule that mat not be as easy to bend as others in the past.
"Sachiko? Are you alright?" Principle Yui asked as she raised an eyebrow in curiosity, though it did not possess the same cold lack of empathy that the gym teacher wielded in his eyes.
"Huh? Yeah, sorry I-..." Sachiko paused for a moment, glancing down at the floor, knowing that what she was about to ask was extremely risky. She knew it was now or never however. "About the friends I'm allowed to take... Do they have to be all girls or can I bring a male friend?"
"Let me guess; Yami?" Yui with a smile, before chewing on her pen in mild thought, though her attention was still focused on Sachiko.
"Yeah." Sachiko her own soft smile gracing her lips as her gaze softened ever so slightly for a moment before the gym teachers voice caused her calmer self to vanish in nearlyan instant.
"Wait, Yami? As in Tsukino Yami? What on earth would you want to bring one of our Academy's best with you for?" The gym teacher asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "You aren't planning to corrupt him into acting like you I hope!"
"Well Tsubota-sensei, if you would stop fawning over your prized 'star students' for 5 minutes, you'd see that me and him are best friends." Sachiko hissed, visibly clenching her teeth in anger, making absolutely sure that the gym teacher saw her fang-like canines.
"Why you little-..." The gym teacher's assumed threat was almost immediately cut off by Principle Yui upon realizing that this conversation would not be headed anywhere productive in it's current state.
"That's enough, both of you." Principle Yui chastised both teacher and student before turning her full attention to Sachiko. "Why don't you go and find the friends you plan on asking and bring them back here? We'll get everything sorted out from there!"
"So I can ask him?!" Sachiko's face broke into a bright smile as she jumped up, to which only Principle Yui could smile and nod, prompting Sachiko to cheer and rush out of the room, leaving a smiling Yui and confused Tsubota in her wake.
-Entrance to Kisaragi Academy-
"Hey guys, did you hear about what just happened!?" A blonde boy with glasses adorned his face ran up to two other boys his age who were leaning on the main door of the school, watching the various clusters of students preparing to head home or to some extracurricular activity.
"What? What is it Sataso?" Another student with puffy brown hair that didn't quite fit the rest of his sharp featured face all that well, asked as he pulled himself into a full standing position.
"They say Shinozaki Sachiko won that trip to Hawaii!" Sataso replied, visably shaking from excitement due to the news. "And one of the students overheard her talking to Principle Yui! They say she is going to be inviting a guy to come with her and her friends!"
"No way seriously?!" The brown haired boy cried as his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, appearing as if he was now extremely interested in the conversation taking place. After all, news like this did not come around every day. "Who do you think she's going to invite?"
"Psh, me obviously." The third boy, another high school student with medium length reddish hair and tan skin remarked, spitting onto the dry pavement below. "What girl in this school isn't after me, Yori? Especially for an entire week in a place like Hawaii."
"Good point Yutaka. Will you say yes?" Yori asked, the disappointment evident in his voice as he seemed to come to grips with the thought that even if Sachiko ended up asking him, Yukata would most likely demand to take his place as one of the guests for the trip.
"A week alone with Shinozaki? She is paler than most girls I usually get with, but she has a hell of a body, so yeah I'll go. I doubt we'll leave the hotel room that much though." Yutaka sneered as he watched Sachiko, who appeared to be searching for something or someone, from a distance, all while Yori silently seethed behind him at the thought of the two together.
"Are you sure? Shinozaki has never dated anyone that I know of or even shown interest in people. Plus she doesn't seem too eager to ask you." Sataso said looking at Sachiko who was holding a piece of paper looking around before she finally seemed to take notice that they were watching her, calmly strolling over to them with an expectant look in her eyes.
"What was that you were saying Sataso? Just stand back. Watch and learn." Yutaka chided as he dismissively waved his hand in his friends directions, signaling for them to create at least a few feet of space between them and whatever was about to happen.
"Hey Yutaka, can I ask you something?" Sachiko asked, her eyes still drifting around the school lot, though Yutaka assumed this was merely her making sure that no one would come and find her asking him to join her on the trip, and cause her embarrassment.
"Ask away dear Shinozaki. After all we're dear friends aren't we?" Yutaka said as he casually strolled over and threw his arm over Sachiko's shoulders almost as if he owned her. It took quite a bit of resolve to not send him to the ground with a knee to the groin.
"Uh... Okay." Sachiko shrugged off Yutaka's arm, while simultaneously resting the urge to spin around and deliver a right hook to the jaw. "Anyway, have you seen Yami around anywhere? I need to talk to him about something really important."
"Huh?!" Yutaka cried as Sataso and Yori went wide eyed behind him. "Yami?!"
"You know, Tsukino Yami? An few inches taller than me, brown hair, brown eyes. Remember? He's in our class." Sachiko's voice was that of a patient teacher or parent attempting to teach a child how to tie his shoes. Yutaka quickly realized she was just being sarcastic at his expense.
"I know who you meant. He's with the rest of his nerd squad over there in the corner." Yutaka jabbed his finger in the direction another group of 3 students all happily talking with each other, and seemingly getting quite involved with the conversation. Suddenly Yutaka's irritating voice flowed through the air like a wasp once again. "But don't worry about him! Isn't there something you forgot to ask me Shinozaki?"
"Uh. No. Don't think so." Sachiko said, attempting to act clearly annoyed, though it seemed Yutaka was far from receiving the message, until she turned around and gave him a hard, almost lifeless stare that caused both Yori and Sataso to step back, giving a test glance behind them to confirm that they had an escape route from that terrifying glare.
"Really? Nothing involving Hawaii?" A desperate smirk crawled onto Yutaka's face as his confidence that Sachiko was truly after him dropped like a rock.
"Oh the trip?" Sachiko said as she shrugged with the best innocent smile she could muster, attempting to feign surprise at his comment. Her eyes still held malicious intent however. "I already know who I'm going to ask to come along."
"What?!" All three guys yelled at once, recoiling in the sheer shock and surprise.
"Why do you think I need to talk to Yami so badly? I'm asking him to come." Sachiko clarified as her tone took on that of a sarcastic mother once again, before she began to walk away towards Yami and his friends.
"Oh. Well, okay. Have a good day then." Yutaka muttered as he watched her walk away, though he secretly was paying much more attention to her behind than her back.
"Yeah you too, see ya." Sachiko spat, her sarcastic tone unwavering. She sped up in her walking pace after a few moments. She did not need to be in his presence any further, and she wanted to get away as soon as possible.
After Sachiko got out of earshot, Yutaka finally snapped, whipping around to face his two friends before going off. "I don't get it! I'm rich, good looking, smart, and the most popular guy in school! What on earth does that Tsukino chump have that I don't have?!"
"Uh... Shinozaki's attention?" Yori quipped.
"SHADDUP!"
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"-and now they haunt the place in those robots every single night, and you have to survive each night." A boy with glasses and blue tinted hair explained, pushing his glasses back up his face.
After a few moments of silence another boy, much shorter than the first with the same shade of blue hair finally spoke up in a nasally voice. "You forgot the part where killer is revealed to be-..."
The second boy was interrupted by the sound of a twig snapping behind them. Tey both knew what was about to happen next, as it had so many times before, which resulted in many ruined lunches and homework assignments lost to the mud.
Their friend was quite good friends with a certain, always popular, rebellious girl. That girl was sneaking up on him at that very moment!
The two turned to their third friend, a boy with light brown hair that covered his head like a mop who was silently reading a more gusto than either boy they they possessed, both of them yelled out to alert their friend of the coming danger. "YAMI! Behind you!"
Yami, who had barely even been paying attention to his book was quick to react, jumping out of the way as a form narrowly missed tackling him, instead stopping just short of slamming into one of the two boys.
"Hey guys." Sachiko sighed as she backed up a few paces.
"H-... Hey there Shinozaki. Uh. I mean..." The first boy faltered for a moment as he tried to conjure the words to speak in such a way as to paint him to be cool and collected. Eventually though he just spit out the first thing that came to mind. "What're you doing here? You usually only try to scare Yami during lunch."
"I need to talk to Yami, you guys should go and do your homework or something." Sachiko paused and silently groaned for a moment upon realizing that the two had seemingly stopped all motor function. "Now!"
"I uh-... Yeah! Yeah, we'll go." The second boy sputtered before pushing along the first boy, not wanting to anger Sachiko. Once again the second boy spoke up. "Man, I can't believe those two are friends... I really wish someone like Shinozaki would notice me someday.
"Ha! Get real. They would notice me first for sure!" The first boy laughed as he sniffles and pushed up his glasses yet again, before they disappeared into the crowd of departing students, laughing as they went.
Back at Yami and Sachiko's conversation, Yami had finally packed his book back into his schoolbag and finally turned to address the rather happy looking Sachiko.
"Hey Sachhan, what're you doing here? Aren't you usually eager to go home?" He asked, a smile appearing on his face upon noticing the shine in Sachiko's eyes.
"Oh I am, but guess what?" Sachiko asked as she huffed out her chest in pride.
Yami tilted his head in curiosity, a habit that he had never quite grown out of from his childhood years, though he was sure that the constant compliments about how cute it was from his Aunt Seiko did little to deter him from the habit.
Sachiko held up the piece of paper she had been holding, displaying a picture of a beautiful hotel in a tropical paradise. "We're going on a vacation!"
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And so begins the second part of Brightest of Shadows! May your days be filled with happiness, joy, and pizza! Until next time my minions!