"Well, how did your first day go?" Akina's mother peered at her only daughter through the kitchen's doorway, worry evident from the wrinkles on her forehead.
Akina tossed her bookbag into a nearby corner and kicked off her shoes as she plopped down on the sofa, readying herself to watch some television. Her mind flashed to the cute brunette that waved to her this morning. "Oh it was fine. I met a girl named Yoko. She's going to take me out and show me around the neighborhood near Rikkaidai this weekend."
Her mother visibly relaxed. "Oh that's good. You know I worry sometimes."
"All the time," Akina rolled her eyes at her adorable mother.
"Anyways, have you thought about joining the volleyball team?" Her mother snidely mentioned her own best sport. Akina's mother was an absolute beast when a volleyball was in her hands. She might not have been great at tennis, but she had something sporty going about her.
Akina sat up. "Actually, I might try out. But I was going to see if the tennis team wanted a manager."
"Oh…. Are you sure you just don't want to just stare at cuties all day?"
"Mom! I was going to ask the girl's team!" Akina lazily tossed a pillow in her mother's direction. The poor pillow landed half way across the room, almost hitting the poor Echizen cat. As she whispered apologies to Karupin, her mind wandered to the words Kikumaru had told her. How could Rikkaidai's female team be so terrible?
"Oh, I'm just teasing you, Akina," her mother popped her head back in, watching as the family cat made itself home on the fallen pillow. "Seriously though, maybe you should try out for volleyball."
"I might, but I'll definitely ask the girl's team first."
Her mother gave her a playful pout. "Well, okay then. No one in this household ever wants to follow their mother's footsteps. Always going after tennis like Nanjiro…."
Akina rolled her eyes at her mother's antics and wiggled herself into a spot on the couch. She glanced at the clock. Bright red lights flashed four o'clock at her. Akina sighed, already knowing that Ryoma wouldn't get home until another hour and a half. Ugh. It was so much easier back when they could just walk home with each other. What was once a simple five minute walk from their house to their school in America was now a forty minute train ride. Akina rolled over, her eyes landing on the family cat that wiggled around on her thrown pillow.
Beep beep.
Beep beep.
"Fucking hell, Ryoma," Akina yelled from her room, hoping that he could hear her but also hoping that their mother couldn't. She reached for a random pillow, tossing a fat cat plush into her brother's room. Unfortunately, her aim was off and the poor cat pillow ended up thwacking itself on her door frame and plopping to the ground in an ungraceful manner. "Turn off your goddamn alarm!"
"Shut up!"
"Ryoma! Akina! Breakfast is ready!" Nanako's sweet voice rose up to greet their ears. As Akina clasped her hands together and prayed to the food gods, her brother bolted from his bed in a mad rush to beat Akina to the Japanese omelets. "And I made you guys lunch!"
The elder Echizen scrambled out of the sheets when a flash of her brother's pajamas violated her eyes. Picking up another unfortunate pillow, she threw a plushie corgi at her brother's leaving form. The corgi pillow thunked against the ancient walls and squished onto the floor. Legs flailing, the elder sister launched herself from spot on the floor and bolted after Ryoma. "Trip, you little shit!"
"How about you get your fat ass up earlier?!" Her brother threw over his shoulder as he ran down the Echizen stairs.
"Call me fat again and I'll make you go on a diet!" Akina knew how terrible of a cook her brother was. He's going to end up killing himself on accident by eating his terrible food. He is thoroughly screwed if he doesn't get a girlfriend who can cook or if he doesn't live at home during college.
"Ryoma! You almost ran over Karupin!" Nanako's voice filled the house.
Akina found the poor kitten by the edge of the stairs and swaddled the cat in her arms. "Yeah, Ryoma! You ass!"
"Akina," her cousin rolled her eyes at Akina's teasing.
She laughed, setting the cat down to let Karupin wander around the kitchen like a normal cat. The black-haired girl slid into her proper seat and started poking at the food on her plate. It was an American style breakfast— something that would no doubt make her brother quite sad. Oh no! While she didn't mind American food, she knew that Ryoma definitely did. Akina had to hold off a laugh as Nanako told off her brother for complaining about breakfast.
Something pawed at her leg, leaving light scratches on her skin. The girl looked down at her legs, watching a sad kitten pathetically paw at her bare legs in a desperate attempt for one of his humans to play with before they leave for school. Karupin meowed at her when they caught eyes.
"Aw…," Akina cooed. "I can't play with you. I have to go to school."
Shoving the rest of her breakfast in her mouth, Akina bolted back up the stairs to slip into her uniform. With a few waves of her hand, she was out the door with her lunch box in hand and ready to get the week over with.
"Oh shit," Akina whispered under her breath.
"Echizen-chan?" Yoko leaned closer to her, staring at the perfect Japanese lunch staring back up at the two girls. A few heads in their group turned towards the two black-haired girls. "What's wrong?"
A bubble of gum popped. Marui. "Yeah, your lunch looks great."
"It's my brother's," Akina sighed. She should have known to check the bag before yoinking it off the table. Oh well. Ryoma will have to deal with it.
"Aw, you have a brother?" Yoko tilted her head.
The Echizen smiled. "Yup. And the baby's helpless. And terrible to deal with. Like all baby brothers really ."
"Oh my god, yeah," Marui popped another bubble as he nodded to Akina's words. The rest of his lunch was pushed off to the side— all thoughts of cleaning up left as an afterthought. It seems as though he wanted to pay more attention to the girls' mindless chitter chatter than do his currently unfinished homework that was probably due earlier today. But could Akina really give him shit? No. She couldn't. She didn't do her homework either. "My little brothers are a pain in my ass."
Yoko— the only child— threw back her head and gave a cute laugh. "There's no way! I would love to have a baby brother!"
"Isn't Yanagi the youngest of his family?" A guy named Niou joined in on their conversation. Akina scrunched up her nose, desperately trying to remember why that name was so familiar.
"Oh yeah—" Before Akina could remember and before Marui could finish, a snarky looking boy wrapped his arms around the two males in the conversation and leaned forward— so forward that he was starting to annoy Akina with how much he had leaned over her food. Even Yoko pretended to whack his tie out of the way; the girls stifled their laughter.
"Are we talkin' shit about Yanagi-senpai?" The boy's lips broke out into a devilish smirk.
"Yo! Akaya! Quick question for ya," Niou patted the boy on the back. The boy named Akaya merely gave him an odd look. "Are you the youngest sibling?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Ahahahaha, it makes so much sense!" Marui exclaimed, patting the confused Akaya on the back. Niou joined in on the laughter, clearly enjoying an inside joke.
Akina merely smiled at the boys, already seeing their comradery before even needing to have someone tell her about whatever they had. They were probably in the same club or something like that. "Hey, Yoko-san?"
Yoko leaned closer to her. "Mhm?"
"Do you know where the tennis club meetings for the girl's team are? I'm thinking about joining them, and I couldn't find them after school yesterday."
The brunette cringed. "No, I'm sorry. I know when the guys meet up, but that won't really help you. I know that the tennis courts on campus are only for the guys team this week."
Silver hair poked itself into the girls' view. "You thinking of playing for Rikkaidai?"
"Well, I was thinking of more of managing, at least for the tennis team."
Marui nodded. "If you're willing, you can meet me by the tennis courts, and I can show you the weight room. We switch between the weight room and the tennis courts weekly, so that's probably why you didn't see them on the courts."
"You'll have to tell Buchou-san what you're doing," the younger black-haired boy said. Marui only shrugged at the younger boy's words.
"Oh, really? That'd be great!" Akina smiled. "So, I'm guessing you're in the tennis club then?"
"Yeah," Niou nodded again. "Me and Marui."
"And me!"
"Oh yeah, and Akaya." Niou's and Mauri's lips broke out into mischievous smiles. There was no doubt that Akaya was often at the butt of their teasing. Akina, remembering all the times her brother and she teased Ryoma, smiled. She wished that her siblings could go back to that.
Niou pulled back his arms, his eyes furrowing with the stretch that the movement brought to his arms; it had always felt good to stretch. The screams, on the other hand, were not something he looked forward to. It was truly annoying. He took a peek from the corner of his eye and internally cringed at the line of girls just standing out of the fence. While the newbies— mostly freshmen— were picking up last round's tennis balls, the non-regulars were making laps around the tennis courts. Niou looked over to the Three Demons struggling with the too big club and realized how much they needed a manager.
"You know," Niou tilted his head, not really speaking to anyone in particular, "maybe the transfer could be our manager."
"The girl from earlier?" Akaya squeaked out as Jackal pushed him to stretch further. "I thought she was going to try out for the girl's team? Wasn't that the point of Marui-senpai taking her to find their captain?"
"I heard that she couldn't join the team," a deep voice spoke from behind Niou, startling the boy into dropping his racket. "It's such a shame. My sourcees had high remarks for her doubles playing. She could have really helped the girl's team."
"And why does that make her unable to play for us?" Yagyuu joined in on the conversation, curious to who the new transfer was.
Yanagi shrugged. "I'm not sure. I tried asking our principal, but I don't think he understood what I was trying to say."
"And who are we talking about that got in the way of our practice?" A light, yet scary, voice popped up from behind Niou, scaring the poor boy again. These Rikkaidai Monsters really get on his nerves. Everyone jumped back to their regularly scheduled training program, except— of course— their innocent baby.
"Oh!" Akaya happily exclaimed, ready to help their captain in anyway he could. "The new transfer— Echizen Akina!"
Yukimura sighed. "Akaya-kun."
"Senpai?"
"Get back to practicing." Yukimura took a deep breath. Practice had just started, and he was already annoyed with another girl messing up his practice. Although, it seems as though this new transfer had something that could be possibly useful. He'll have to look into it more.
When you hear the Bells of Ireland, good luck will come your way.
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