Chapter 1: History & a Lesson
“Nacchan!” Miyabi heard coming from a voice that didn’t seem to exist. “Nacchan, wake up!!”
Miyabi murmured something unintelligible before realizing she was lying on something rather hard, and also in not the most comfortable position. In actuality, it was a position she was quite used to.
“Nacchan!” came the voice again, which she recognized to be Chinami’s.”Wake…!” But the girl cut off suddenly.
Groaning slightly, Miyabi sat up in her seat and stretched, smacking her lips a bit while brushing bright honey-colored threads of hair out of her face, her eyes blinking groggily at a form hovering above her. When it came into focus she finally recognized the features of Miki Fujimoto, her history sensei.
“Taking a nap are we, Miss Natsuyaki?” the woman said in a low, dangerous voice.
At first paying it no heed, Miyabi gazed blearily around to see her classmates all staring at her, some in amazement, some with condescending ‘I told you so’ looks, and others in fear of the impending confrontation.
“Only a little one,” Miyabi protested, finally looking up at her frowning sensei. She lifted her watch to check it. “Class has only been going on for like 20 minutes now, right? I haven’t had time for more.”
A hissing sound filled the room as many of the other students sucked in a collective breath.
“Well, Miss Sleepyhead,” sensei replied curtly, “Perhaps I won’t fail you for the day if you can tell me who the first of the great Ashikaga shoguns was?”
Miyabi stared blankly at the sensei before having her eyes caught by Chinami, who had glanced desperately in her book before looking up with bright eyes and mouthing syllables in her direction.
“Ta-ka…uji?” she eventually replied slowly, and not very convincingly.
Fujimoto-sensei stared at her a moment longer with arms folded beneath her breasts before spinning and heading back toward the front of the room. “Perhaps you won’t fail this day, Natsuyaki-chan,” she said sardonically. “However,” and she spun again upon reaching her desk, “Tokunaga-chan, you will.” Miyabi noticed her friend and cohort sink down into her chair. “It is cheating to give answers to other students.” An evil smile curled the sensei’s lips. “Somehow I doubt such a mark would hurt either of you more than you’ve already earned otherwise.”
Some of the other students stifled giggles at this, though at an all-encompassing glare from Miyabi most quieted. Except for a few boys in the corner, who didn’t even try to hide their laughter as they slapped each other on the shoulder playfully. Takeuchi and his so-called “gang” were perhaps the most annoying boys in the school, but the only harm they ever really did was try to look up some of the girls’ skirts.
However, they never touched Miyabi. She smoothed her long skirts as she tried to sit up more alertly in the chair. That was one of the reasons she liked to keep them long.
She glanced over at Chinami, who was still sulking in her seat. “Thanks for that,” she told the tanned girl. “But you didn’t need to. I could have handled old bat Fujimoto and the principal both if it came to it.”
“It’s just her eyes…” Chinami said, shaking her head aghast. “I’m all about egging on the teachers, but Miya, Fujimoto-sensei’s scary.”
“Well you just have to be scarier then,” Miyabi replied, gazing out from beneath her eyelashes at the sensei who had continued on again with the lesson.
She saw one or two of those boys still looking back at her, so she shot them a glare. Eyes widened and jaws dropped before they collected themselves and turned quickly back toward the front. Miyabi smiled in satisfaction, though the mere fact of her having to deal with them made her shiver.
“Kimoi!” she thought in disgust.
After class the students burst into the hallway, Miyabi as usual in the lead with Chinami right beside her. She had just remembered in horror that their next period was gym, before an abnormally tall girl from their class strode casually up to them. Some of the students behind gasped, and whispering broke out, but Miyabi stared back at their classmate nonplussed.
“You shouldn’t harass Fujimoto-sensei like that,” the girl said in a deep, slightly raspy tone. Despite her size she wore the seifuku expertly, her hair smooth and black and tied back into a long ponytail. Her appearance caused the boys they passed to stare and drop their books, and even many of the girls fluttered in awe. “Or any sensei for that matter. It disrupts the harmony of the classroom.”
“Harmony?” Chinami asked, eyes widening for a different reason before she fell into giggling.
Miyabi smirked. “I daren’t think it’s possible to harass Fujimoto-sama,” she replied, the appellation trailing venom in its wake. “Nothing disrupts her harmony, that’s for sure.” Then she adopted a thoughtful look. “You know, there could be a fun experiment…”
“Why do you insist on always pushing and pushing and then pushing some more?” the tall girl asked, unfazed herself.
Miyabi raised an eyebrow toward her. “Why are you following us to the gym? Aren’t you exempt from physical education due to your involvement in… what sport was it now?”
“Basketball,” Chinami chimed in helpfully, a smile beaming once again from her face.
“Ah yeah, that’s right,” Miyabi agreed. “So easy to forget such things.”
The face of the tall girl, one Yurina Kumai who was not just any basketball player but star of the varsity team and perhaps even of the whole school, darkened with every word Miyabi spoke, but it was someone comparatively tiny and pig-tailed bursting through them with books held tightly in her arms who broke the tension.
Miyabi at first thought some primary school girl had lost her way and might be soon to meet a very unlucky demise, but a second glance identified her seifuku as the same black-and-white as theirs and she realized she had actually seen the girl before, somewhere…
“Senpai…?” Chinami asked, and it clicked for Miyabi just as the girl whirled around to face them, pigtails flying, to stand with feet apart as if about to go to battle and her arms around the books as if she was trying to strangle them. Oddly, Miyabi noticed two pinky fingers stuck out straight from each fist.
The girl’s face glanced shyly up to Kumai’s before crinkled eyes fixed themselves on Miyabi, stopping her in her tracks. “Teasing others can be tolerated,” the girl almost squeaked out, “but NEVER dishonor Kumai-chan like that!”
“It’s really all right...” Kumai said, now looking uncomfortable as she scratched below her ear. “She’s free to have her own opinions about the…”
“It’s just not right!!” the girl chirped again, and then glanced around as if terrified at what she’d just said before yelping and dashing off down the hall ahead of them.
The three remaining girls stared after, stunned, as students flowed awkwardly around them. Almost each one gave an odd glance in their direction, although they tried to be subtle. Miyabi was used to such though, so recognized the expressions easily.
“Um,” Kumai said. “Well then…”
Other members of the team with similar heights came up behind her, laughing and urging her on with them. They ignored the two delinquents still standing to the side.
As she shuffled away awkwardly now herself, Kumai glanced back at them. “I never answered your question, did I?” she called back. “We’re off to run on the track!” And then they were already halfway down the hall.
With the star attraction gone, Miyabi noticed a group of girls who had apparently just been standing there watching suddenly start moving and brush past them down the hall as well, many shooting her dagger-like glares despite her reputation. After they passed they fell into hushed, girly conversation, some of which Miyabi managed to catch.
“Who was that little girl who stood up to Natsuyaki-san? Was she from the middle school?”
“No! She’s actually in third year just like us. I remember seeing her in some of my classes, but never knew her name since I don’t know if I’ve hardly ever seen her talk…”
“Tsugunaga Momoko!”
“Really? I heard that her papa…”
The rest of the conversation died out down the hallway in the shuffle of students between classes, most of them heading to the gym since it was time for the day’s physical education period.
“Those girls were senpai?” Miyabi asked, trying to keep a sneer from her face. “If I ever turn out like that Chinako, please gut me and make it quick.”
“Roger, Sukeban,” her friend said cheerily, and Miyabi groaned at her.
“I told you not to call me that anymore…” she said, taking the girl’s arm to drag her down the hall. “We’re hardly a gang now, after all.”
“There’s more than one of us still,” Chinami said brightly. “So that’s good enough for me! Being just the two of us isn’t that bad, is it?”
“I guess we do hold our own pretty well,” Miyabi replied, pondering sullenly as they walked, or rather marched, down the hall. At least it wasn’t a difficult march since whenever they were about to trample someone, the wise student jumped quickly out of their way. “You know, I might wanna skip P.E. today.”
“We can’t,” Chinami pointed out. “One more time and we can’t attend festival, remember?”
“Why would that be a bad thing again?” Miyabi brooded. “Oh, never mind. You’re right again as usual.”
The other’s face brightened at the compliment.
After having a whole aisle to themselves in the locker room to change, the two girls trotted out in sweats to see a flurry of activity already begun in the expansive facility. The gym was one of the largest in the area and the pride of the school, encompassing a center sports court with bleachers around it surrounded on either side by smaller courts, some with the basketball hoops lowered and some with nets strung for badminton or other activities.
Other multipurpose space surrounded the course, and along the border of the entire room ran a track. Miyabi noticed Kumai already running there surrounded by her teammates, some others jogging closely but not too closely behind in order to likely “keep an eye” on the stars.
As usual Chinami made a bee-line straight for the badminton court, disrupting the first-year class that was already using it. None complained at her arrival though, most bowing spontaneously and awkwardly at the well-known delinquent. Only one girl with full raven hair stood apart from the rest; she didn’t argue Chinami’s arrival either, but unlike the others stared almost regally when she appeared.
Miyabi shrugged and began stretching herself, watching everyone around her carefully. Like always no one dared come up to her, but she did catch a few boys and girls from the other side of the court she stood at giving her some glances and talking softly to each other. Again, nothing out of the ordinary.
She trotted to the outskirts of the grouping of students when her class – #3, 2nd year – was called over by Ishikawa-sensei, who today had decked herself out in gray sweats with pink edging. After doing roll-call, during which Miyabi nodded her name and the teacher glanced over at the badminton court upon calling Chinami’s, she informed them in that cutesy voice that the class activity today would be basketball.
Sighing in disappointment at an activity she did not want to do, especially with what happened along the way, without hesitation Miyabi walked away. She thought that maybe she’d hit the weight room again, and although that was on the other side of the building decided there was nothing better to do.
Along the way she passed by a few girls working on gymnastic equipment, each wearing tight tees and shorts, and Miyabi almost chuckled. You’d certainly never catch her alive in “clothing” like that. However, she found herself staring at the girls’ bodies as she adjusted her own baggy shirt and pants. There was something beautiful about their forms and the way they moved…
After a moment she realized that the girls, though pleasingly exerting themselves, were actually training only half-heartedly. They kept casting glances over to the mat spread out beside the equipment, and Miyabi continued walking until she got a better view of what they were looking at.
A single girl, rather small but stunning with dark brown hair tied back in a knot, twisted and occasionally tumbled in what Miyabi recognized from some corner of her mind as a floor routine. Her movements were graceful, and light reflected off a thin sheen of sweat that covered her body – most of it exposed since she also wore the tight tee and thigh-baring gym shorts. She also had the most perfect, rounded face with matted bangs falling just to her eyes…
After a moment, Miyabi realized she was actually blushing while staring at the girl, and snapped back straight again. She glared around her to make sure nobody saw, but the only ones close enough were the gymnasts. They were certainly focused on someone, but it was not her.
Refusing to look at the mat again, and now furious with herself, she stalked down a hall the short distance to the weight room and lay back on the bench. When she started the stimulating exertion of pumping iron, any such crazy thoughts from the gym left her head in her rhythm of movement.
After a moment she saw a group of boys draw nearby, but she continued on with the deep breathing and lifting as they talked quietly among themselves while darting glances her way. She thought she recognized them as from her year, though these were far from as annoying as the ones she’d had to glare at earlier in Fujimoto-sama’s classroom. A few of them might even be called cute.
As she knew they would, eventually one – the cutest even – broke apart from his peers and strode up to the side of her bench, his eyes on her the whole time. She pretended to ignore him, her eyes fixed on the ceiling as she drew labored breaths.
“Excuse me,” the boy said. “Miyabi-chan?”
Deciding to humor him, she lifted the barbell one last time before letting her hands guide it back to its rack. The boy even helped her as a spotter would, which almost made her chuckle.
“Yes?” she asked in a skeptical voice. “Um… Sakai-kun, right? What is it?”
A bit of nervousness seemed to strike the boy again, but he recovered quickly, his friends urging him on from a few steps away.
“I was just wondering…” he said, still politely, “Um, would you like to, you see, maybe hang out after school some day?”
Miyabi blinked. “With you?” she asked in disbelief.
“Yes,” he said, face equally blanked that the issue needed any clarification.
Miyabi stared at him a moment before suddenly bursting out laughing, and she sat up, taking a towel to wipe at her face.
The boy had frozen, still staring at her, and Miyabi saw redness coming into his cheeks. Surprisingly, she didn’t think it was from embarrassment. Maybe this Sakai was tougher than he looked. “You’re serious?” she asked, her laughter now having fallen into hoarse giggling.
“Yes I am!” he responded, and she could definitely sense the anger in his voice. “You think you’re so tough, so unlike a normal girl, that even though you’re beautiful you’re maybe going to end up old and alone, and someday miss what you could have easily had!!!”
Miyabi peered up at him, impressed at his tirade, and stood to look him in the eye. He was so close to the bench that it made him step back awkwardly, breaking the force of his attitude a bit.
“And what do you think I could have?” she asked quietly. “You?”
“Maybe,” he said, some of the anger fading now with the teenage hormones acting on him at her proximity. He glanced back at one of his friends, who nodded firmly. “Well since you like things tough I’ll give you a challenge,” he said, raising his chin in an attempt at pride.
Ah… Miyabi thought. Now they were getting to the heart of it. The boys obviously knew there was no hope in his initial proposal, so this had been the real plan all along. She couldn’t help but be a bit curious now what the boy had to say. If there was something that always piqued her interest, it was the idea of a challenge.
“So what challenge do you propose, then?” she asked amusedly.
He tilted his head toward the door. “There are boxing gloves and helmets in the equipment room next door. I hear you like to fight. How ‘bout we go out there and you show me what you got?”
This was becoming more amusing by the second. “What I got, huh?” she asked. “And what’s in it for me?”
“Reputation, I guess,” he said with a shrug. “That’s what you go for, isn’t it? Knocking a guy out in front of half the school would certainly improve your sukeban image.”
Miyabi’s amusement faded at what she thought the idiot might be implying, as if her image needed improvement. It wasn’t really a secret that her gang had been weakened yet again with Ishimura transferring to study abroad halfway through the school year. She had certainly not weakened though, and this boy seemed determined to learn that for himself.
“I can’t say it would suck,” she said offhandedly.
“But that won’t happen,” he said confidently, and she raised an eyebrow again. “And when it doesn’t, my reward will be that you go out on a date with me.” When the tips of her mouth curled as if to laugh out again, he continued quickly, “How ‘bout it? You accept the challenge or not?”
Stifling the laugh, she let her mouth fall into a wicked grin. Maybe she’d use a different tactic this time. She took a breath, and then gave an attempt at a sweet smile. “Always,” she replied calmly, and brushed past him toward the door. While passing his friends she winked at them, cracking up inside. “Oh,” she said when approaching the door as if just remembering something, and glanced back. “By the way, I don’t wear helmets.”
And she strode out of the room, beaming almost as widely as Chinami ever could.
Topic: Tsuukai! Berryz Gakuen (Decisions) (Read 18984 times)