heartbeat circle | nekoma hs.

things to note pt. 1

★ Heartbeat Circle is set in Tokyo, Japan, however, the school has been 'Americanized' so it has features and traits of an American school. I wanted to make this clear so that no one comes after me in the comments saying schist like "Japanese high schools don't have football games" etc, etc. Some American school traits that have been incorporated:
↳ Football games and marching band. I sort of had to make it American in order to incorporate marching band because I'm honestly unsure how I can write about marching band without the games they go to and the experiences they have after each performance.
↳School schedules. Japan, like many other countries such as Cambodia, don't have different classrooms to go to for classes. Students stay in one class and it is the teachers that move from class to class, teaching their subjects. Or perhaps it's just one teacher who teaches all subjects for one class. Either way, I'm changing that. Students will move from classroom to classroom for each of their subjects and they will have block schedules of odd periods and even periods.
↳Programs instead of class numbers. Nekoma will have different programs that the characters are put into. So, for example, both Kuroo and Yaku are Year 3, Class 5 students. Instead of Class 5 students, they'll be RCSE students. Hopefully that makes sense. The programs will be based on programs at my own school and will have mostly the same flaws and benefits. I'm doing this because I want to spread the experiences that my friends and I had while being in our programs. And, of course, cope with the stress that these programs have given us.

★ This story centers around the main character and her sport: Color Guard. I myself am barely a weapon line (I only just mastered the single toss) and I'm barely learning sabres right now so please don't expect me to perfectly explain everything and whatnot. I just wrote this to spread information about the sport in hopes that more people get interested in it and decide to take it up as an extracurricular.
↳EDIT: I wrote this note in May of 2022, but it is now January of 2023 and it is safe to say I know much more about weapon line and I can comfortably write the main character using weapons. Gah! I am a proud veteran of Color Guard, that's all I have to say.
↳For the sake of Japanese school systems (they start April and end in March), the Winter Guard season has been moved up by one month. The competitive season now starts in December and ends in March.