The first time walking through those vicious halls was nothing in comparison to the second time around. It somehow seemed like there were even more kids bustling around than before and you were starting to curse yourself for not doing more research into the school you knew you were headed to before you actually came.
Your counselor had told you Sendai was a much smaller city than Tokyo, so you figured the school you were headed to wouldn't be too terrible. Now you were simply questioning the size of Tokyo schools if this monster was from a small city.
Still, you found your moment of solace as you rounded a corner to a much quieter hallway. At the end of it was nothing except for a door on the left that was propped open. The light radiating from it was a different shade than the mixture of fluorescent light and daylight that lit up the halls. It was warmer.
As you walked through the threshold slowly, you looked around and found no desks. Only big easels with individual stools were scattered around, a paint-stained but beautiful rug beneath each one.
The warmer light had been coming from lamps that were scattered around the room. Your eye scanned until it ultimately landed on the only desk in the room. It was tucked away at an angle and the teacher that sat there was a small woman with kind eyes. They were the kindest eyes you had seen this entire day.
You almost fell to the floor in complete joy as she regarded you with a smile. You could tell that you already felt safer here than anywhere else.
"Oh, ho, who are you?" came another voice that made you turn towards the sound. It was a boy slouched over on the nearest stool that had been brought over to sit only feet away from the teacher's desk. Judging by the fact that he was facing her direction and her the same, you guessed that they had just been in conversation with each other.
Seeing the boy alone caught you off-guard. He was different than all of the other kids that you had been walking past all day. His shirt was untucked, his tie was completely missing, and his ruby red hair was wildly spiked.
He regarded you with wild eyes with a slight smirk on his face. You weren't sure what to make of him, but instantly you wondered how he made it through Shiratorizawa alive if you had felt like you were going to be burned alive for paint on your hand.
"I'm, uh, (y/n) (l/n)," you answered, bowing just a bit towards the teacher.
The boy brought his hands up that had previously been holding onto the seat below him as he got up and studied you a bit closer. You were instantly caught off guard by his height. He was much, much taller than you and he even bent a little bit to study you as if he were trying to make it that much clearer.
"You're not from here, huh?" he asked
You weren't sure which way he meant that comment as he said it, but you nodded your head slowly to confirm. "She's the new exchange student, Tendou-kun," said the teacher as she stood from her chair. When she stood you were caught off guard in a different way. She was very short to the point that when she stood next to the boy it was almost comical.
"Ah, got it," he said with a smirk— or maybe that was just his face?— as he held out a hand out to you. "Welcome, Miss Exchange Student. Tendou Satori."
You smiled back even though you weren't sure if he was even giving you one in the first place. It was the first introduction you had received all day and you were grateful for it. You took his hand in yours to shake it back. "I was never expecting to get a handshake while in Japan."
He walked back to grab the stool that he had been sitting on earlier. "Eh, well, no reason not to make you feel at home, right? This school's probably been cold to you so far."
"How'd you know?" you asked as you watched him drag the chair over to a nearby easel. You had hardly even spoken yet today, but conversation with this guy was so easy you didn't feel uncomfortable at all as you continued.
"I know this school and the population of students in it," he answered with a shrug as he took off his jacket to toss it on a nearby lamp with no regard. He rolled up his sleeves as he reached over to a pile of aprons and flung one across the room to you.
You regarded the apron for just a second before lowering it and finding your teacher right in front of you. She bowed slightly and you did back. That felt much more like a proper greeting in this country, but as you glanced over and found Tendou humming to himself and dancing as he got set up, you guessed not much was "proper" about him.
"Hello, (l/n)-san," she said with that same warm smile. You smiled back. "I'm-"
Before she could continue, Tendou came rushing over quickly, a paint brush in his hand that he pointed directly at her as if he were accusing her of something. "Yamamoto Sensei! What is the prompt?"
The teacher towards him with her eyebrows raised as she reached up a hand and slowly lowered his paintbrush from her face as if it were a weapon. "There's no prompts this year. It's only you two so you guys can do whatever you would like."
"Anything?" you asked, your own excitement now peaked as you began to tie the apron around your waist.
"Oh, yeah. This'll be good," Tendou said as he spun on his heels and made his way over to his own canvas. He pointed his brush to you from across the room. "I can't wait to see what you're made of. Yamamoto Sensei was talking highly of your work before you got here."
You turned back to your teacher after he said that. "Really?" you asked excitedly.
She nodded before turning back towards her desk. "They sent it to me after they accepted you in the exchange program. It's excellent work so I see how you were chosen. The board has been trying to make art more popular again here."
"Seems to be going so well," Tendou said in a sing-song voice that was a bit muffled. You glanced over to find him already painting, a paint brush stuck in between his teeth as he went. "Such a big class this year."
"I have bigger classes," corrected your teacher. "You guys are just the only third years I have."
"Ah," Tendou nodded as he pointed a long finger at you, his brush set down and his other one removed from his mouth. "Well, as you are the only other third year capable of art it seems as if we are destined to either be great partners or great enemies. Which do you prefer?"
You laughed a little bit. He was dramatic and eccentric to the point that it caught you off-guard. Honestly, it was hard to tell what you even thought of him. His intentions were hard to read and it almost made you nervous wondering what he was actually thinking and what he was truly like.
In these circumstances, though, you couldn't bring yourself to even find the time to question his motives. He was a happy face among confusing crowds of stares. Back home you would be reading into it more, here you had no choice but to take it at face value.
"Partners would be great," you said as you sat down on a stool in front of your own easel and started to get yourself ready to paint.
His eyebrows quirked up as he regarded you, and you saw those droopy eyes light up even brighter for a moment. "You got it, partner," he said with a smile.
i usually prefer to write as close to canon as possible meaning that i take inspiration directly from the manga/anime for the personalities of the characters and their interests, but i love the idea of tendou being into art so much. as an artist myself, i thought it would be a good starting point of this story :)
edited (2/15/22)