"So..." Honey said with a curious light in his eyes. "Who's who?"
"You mean like who is 'we' right? Well that Ice Queen Barton is my best friend, you know, the one I told you about with the sleepovers. Her English name is Anna Barton, but she has a Japanese first name too. It's Akane. She's Caucasian, but her parents divorced when she was young. Her dad ended up remarrying a Japanese lady, and that's where Akane learned all her Japanese. She was living in America with her parents until they moved after elementary school. Actually, did you know, that in America sixth grade is the first year in middle school?"
"Yeah, America uses that English measurement too." Honey replied with a giggle.
"Yeah, feet and miles. America is funny." I smiled. "Anyway, earlier that was Mickey, the one that was being bullied. And Mina is Minnie. They weren't dating in middle school. It was all thanks to Akane and I that they are dating at all. We PLAYED Cupids, pulled a few strings, and got them together. They're such a cute couple."
Honey's lips curled upwards softly. I rolled onto my stomach to face him.
"What?" I asked, when he CONTINUED to watch me with that warm smile.
"I like it when you talk about your friends." He said. "You seem happy when you do." I blinked and digested his words for a moment, before a SLOW grin spread on my own face.
"That's cause I love them. But I like talking to you too, Mitsukuni. You're a calm presence, you know?" I rolled BACK onto my back.
"What else? How did you get the gang together?" "Okay... Let's CONTINUEthen... The NEXT day, I arrived at class and had to introduce myself to them. The good thing about having only one classroom is only having to do one introduction.
"Hello everyone, I'm Akamatsu Rika. Please take care of me." I bowed to the classroom. The class seemed excited to get a transfer student, considering it was nearly a month into the school year.
In my class, I identified some familiar people from the day before. The Ice Queen, Asari, and those three bullies were all in my class.
Akane looked at me with a calm gaze. I felt like maybe she knew who I was. The bullies certainly did. The leader gulped and immediately looked away from me. The other two ducked their heads down.
"Any questions for Akamatsu-san?" Anzai-sensei asked.
"Why did you transfer so suddenly?" One student said with a raised hand.
"There were some difficulties at HOME," I said with a smile. For some reason, that seemed to attract more attention.
I could hear a group of boys whispering. Their conversation ran something like this: "She's pretty cute."
"Doesn't seem like your type though."
"What are you talking about?"
"Shut up, you guys! She can probably hear you!"
A girl sitting nearby whirled around to snap at the boys. "We can all hear you guys!"
The boys shut up, laughing nervously and some even turning a light shade of pink. One waved at me with a cheerful grin.
He had simple, blond hair and light hazel eyes. He looked quite handsome, like a typical popular guy of the school.
I smiled back at him and waved though. I wanted to get along well with these people.
There'd be little point to attend a public school with hostile classmates. But, with my vast knowledge of Shojo manga, I knew that an unpopular and/or new girl attracting the attention of the most popular boy of the school was usually bad news, for the new girl that is. Because then the new girl would be bullied by the other girls who liked the popular boy. And if the new girl showed contempt for the popular boy, she'd be bullied even further.
Which meant that I had to discreetly avoid the popular boy (which was my first impression of him) until I had built enough strong friendships with some girls.
There were five rows and six columns of desks. I was given the seat to the farest right, opposite the wall with the windows, but it was in the back. I was seated behind Akane. Two rows to my left was Asari. Two rows past him and towards the front was the leader bully, whose name I still didn't know.
Akane didn't glance at me as I passed her. I did greet the others though before taking my seat. Class began. It was, not surprisingly, easy. My elementary school had prepared me well.
During lunch, I decided that I'd talk to Akane. She was the only one that had seen me the day before after all. The maid that had been sent to take care of me, Hiraga Mariko, had made me a fancy lunch.
I followed Akane out of the classroom and outside, where she sat down under a Matsu pine tree to eat her own bento.
"Hello!" I gave her a cheerful smile.
"Why are you following me?" She asked in her accented Japanese. It was cute, actually.
"I want to be your friend. Is that okay?" I said. "May I sit here?" I pointed at the spot beside her.
She let out a sigh. "Sure. And my Japanese isn't that bad. Just don't use any big words."
"Where are you from?" I sat down and pulled out my lunch.
America," She replied.
I nodded. "Do you like Japan so far then?"
"It's alright." She was eating a sandwich. That was basically what our conversations were like. I'd ask a question, and then she'd give a short reply.
When I was returning to my classroom, a girl with shoulder-length brown hair approached me with a friendly smile. "Hey. I saw you talking to Barton-san earlier."
"Yes. And you are?"
"Ichikawa Noriko." She said. "Just a tip, since you're new here, avoid that Ice Queen. And avoid Asari. And, if you want to stay on the good side of the girls, stay away from Ashida-san."
"Barton-san? Who's Asari and who's Ashida? And why them?" I asked. Technically, I didn't know who Asari was. We reached our classroom.
Asari was sitting in his seat reading. Noriko pointed at him. "That's Asari. He's a troublesome kid. If you don't want to get into any trouble, you'll be wise to avoid him. And Ashida is the boy that waved to you. He's considered the Prince of our grade, and a fair amount of girls at this school like him. I wouldn't say all, but certainly half. You either crush on him afar like all the others or you don't bother with him. Those are your only two options. Is that clear?" She crossed her arms and gazed at me.
"Got it." I nodded then grinned. Thanks for the tips, Ichikawa-san."
She shrugged lightly then headed towards her seat, upfront and towards the window.
"Don't forget your place, Akamatsu."
Pompous. That was the best way to describe her. Or maybe arrogant. When she said that to me, I was tempted to tell her that my weekly allowance money was probably more than what both her parents earned a month. Or that my parents could probably buy the entire town.
But the fact that she said to avoid Barton and Asari just made me more curious about them.
The next few weeks I spent lunch with Akane every day. I asked her questions, and eventually, we began to have a more legit conversation. I found that she liked anime, not really manga though.
"K-ON is good." She said once.
"Oh, the manga is good." I said. "They're so cute!"
"Ah." She turned away with a slight nod.
The best way to describe Akane is that she's a tsundere. A real life tsundere! When I realized that, I spent even more time with her. I smiled and laughed all the time.
And it paid off.
The third week, Akane said. "What does your name mean?"
"What? Akamatsu Rika?" I asked. "Well Akamatsu means red pine. And Rika means clever flower."
Akane smiled faintly. "A red, clever pine flower."
I chuckled. "Basically."
"Red." She said suddenly. I stared at her and she glanced at me. "That's what red sounds like in English."
"Wow." I grinned. "Can you teach me English?"
She blinked then raised her eyebrows. "English? Why do you want to learn that?"
"Just teach me how to speak it." I said, eyes widening in excitement.
"That's too hard." She frowned.
"Why not? I heard you were smart."
She shrugged. "Maybe."
"Hey, hey. In return, I'll help you with your Japanese." I said. Akane's reading and writing weren't the best. She'd told me before that Kanji was difficult and annoying to her.
Eventually she agreed.
"So that's how you know English!" Honey said.
I nodded, then smiled. "Yeah. Not because I went to a school abroad." I yawned. I hated waking up so early in the morning. Damn my mom for doing this to me.
"Are you hungry?" Honey asked.
"Yeah, kinda." I stretched out on his bed. It was almost one. "And tired. Oh, hey. What do you think of Mitsu- kun? Or Mitsu-chan?"
He grinned. "Sure! Come on, let's get some lunch."
We had some simple sandwiches, then returned to Honey's room. We sat on his bed to continue the trip down my memory lane.
Ring! Ring!
I glanced around. That was my cellphone. I fished it out of my pocket and glanced at the caller ID. It was Mickey.
"Hey," I said, taking the call.
"Hey, Captain." Mickey replied. "I'm guessing you're at a safe place?"
"Yeah, I'm at Mitsukuni's place." I replied. Honey raised an eyebrow in question and I just smiled at him.
"Wow, at the first name basis already?" Mickey laughed, causing me to blush faintly.
"Anyway, that program you wanted me to write is done. How do you want to upload it?"
"Can you send it to the red notebook? I can upload it to my computer and then transfer it to a USB."
"Sure, that'll work. Just don't open the file."
"I know, I know. Come on, Mick. This isn't the first time."
He chuckled. "Yeah, I know. Okay. I'm transferring it right now. Check to see if you get it. Just email me back."
"Alright. Thanks, Mickey." "Anything for you, Captain." "Bye."
"Bye."
I snapped my phone shut and then reached for my bag, which I'd brought into Honey's room. "What was that?" Honey asked curiously, leaning back on his hands.
"Mickey," I said, pulling out my red notebook. "I asked him for a favor. Want to see my notebook?"
"Sure." He scooted closer, crossing his legs as I opened my red notebook. It looked like any kind of typical notebook. It could have been a Deathnote just with a red cover. The only difference was that it wasn't really a book that you could write in.
Inside was a blank sheet of paper. I flipped that aside to reveal a black screen, framed by yellow, lined sheets.
"Woah," Honey said.
I pressed the power button and then said with a grin, "This is your captain speaking."
The screen sprang to life, revealing a plain wallpaper of some flowers. Then Akane's voice rang out: "Password."
"Aka-ryuu."
"Red dragon?" Honey glanced at me as the screen unlocked itself to reveal the home screen. It was really just a tablet with some modifications to it. Mickey added the special procedure of unlocking it, while Goofy had been the one to fit it into a book. And, of course, Akane was the voice.
"Yeah, it was the name of our gang. We were the Red Dragons from Akawari." I grinned.
"Anyway, it's really just a tablet. Mickey and Goofy made it for me."
"It's cool." He said.
I nodded, then went to find the file. Sure enough, it was there. "It's a program that's kind of like a virus, but it's controlled."
"And why do you need it?" He asked.
"Revenge," I chirped with a smile. "On the twins of course."
"Oh." He nodded slowly. Then he shrugged and flopped down onto his back with a quiet
sigh. "Tell me more."
"About middle school?"
He nodded.
"Okay." I turned my tablet off. "Well, the next person I wanted to get to know was Goofy."
"What's his name?"
"Asari Ryota."
"What was he like?"
"What was he like? Well, at first, he was this cold, aloof kid that did whatever he wanted to do. He made random things with spare parts. Once he pieced together some scrap metal into a shape of a car and then made a remote control and could drive it around. And I guess you could say he was a troublemaker. He'd make random things and test them on whatever student or teacher was nearby.
Like, one time, I saw him with a strange thing that looked like a trap, like a hunting trap. It was circular and had two clamps. He set it down by a corner of the hallway once and then moved away to watch. This one poor girl turned around the corner, and her foot stepped right into that trap. It snapped right up and bam! Her foot was stuck around it. She wasn't hurt or anything. But she started screaming and jumping around, and interestingly enough, the trap didn't move. I didn't seem him nail it down or anything. Well she saw him watching and started screaming at him. It was something like: 'Of course it'd be you, Asari! You always waste your time and effort on crap like this! Now hurry up and get me out of here!' Well obviously he wasn't very happy to hear that, so he just walked away."
"Just walked away?" Honey echoed.
"Mean huh?" I let out a short laugh. "Yeah. But when I came back after the next class, the trap was gone. And I saw the girl walking around the school. So he probably freed her. And after I got to know him... Well, I guess... I'll just tell you later. Okay?"
"Okay."
"The first time I actually spoke to him was on Sports Day, which was some time in May. Before that, I didn't say much to him. I mainly spoke to Akane, Kazuki, and a few nice girls I'd met at the school library. They were this tight-knit group of four girls who'd gone to the same elementary, and they were more down-to- earth than the rest. Those girls who don't spend hours in front of a mirror, fussing over makeup or hair. The ones who don't paint their nails or gossip too much. But anyway, on Sports Day..."
I was signed up to run the 100 meter dash, and Ryota was running it too. I'd heard he'd won the event every year in elementary school and was an excellent runner. I'd been observing him. I'm not a particularly good runner, but I decided to take the chance to talk to him.
He was knelt down in front of his position at the starting line, tying his shoelaces, when I approached him. "Asari Ryota, right?" I smiled. "I heard you're a very good sprinter."
He looked up at me and then shrugged. "Sure." He finished tying his shoelaces and stood up. I remember that he was actually shorter than me then.
"I'm Akamatsu Rika." I said. "Cool," he said.
He was difficult to talk to, just like Akane. At that time, I'd thought that I just had the luck to pick two of the most difficult people.
"Good luck then." I smiled and nodded at him before taking my place.
Well, Goofy won first, but I got second.
He nodded at me and said, "Not bad."
So after that I started talking to Ryota. The next morning, he was sitting at his desk and reading something. "Hey, Asari-kun!" I waved and smiled at him.
He looked up and stared at me for a moment, then he finally nodded. "Hello." Then he went back to reading. "What are you reading?" I peered at the book in his hand. It looked like a light novel of some sorts.
"None of your business," he said.
"How come you're always here so early though? I thought you were the delinquent type that'd be late."
He snapped his book up and glared at me. "Can you shut up and leave me alone?" I frowned. "Okay. Sorry then."
But the next morning, he was there, reading again. And how could I resist? I walked over to his desk with a bright smile. "Good morning, Asari-kun!"
Ryota looked at me and scowled. "You again."
He was such a tsundere, just like Akane. Maybe the two of them would hit it off well. I nodded. "Yup! Do you read manga by any chance?"
"Yeah." He turned back to his book, holding it up close to his face. He was obviously trying to tell me to go away.
"What manga then? One Piece? Bleach? Naruto? Oh, have you read Bakuman before? That manga is so good!"
"Ugh, just shut up and go away." He said, dropping his head into his book.
"Aw, come on. I want to talk about manga to someone." I pouted. He slammed his book on his desk and glared at me.
"What is your problem? Just because I said something to you on Sports Day doesn't give you the permission to be all friendly to me! Just leave me alone!" He yelled.
I smiled. "Finally you got mad."
His eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by that? You crazy or what?"
"No. Well, actually maybe I am." I smirked. "I'm going to form a gang, Asari-kun, and I would like you to be a member."
"Hell no," Ryota growled.
"Aw, why?" I pouted again. "You're an excellent runner, and I've seen what you can do with your hands."
"What do you mean by that?" he said.
"I saw you set up that interesting contraption. It was a creative twist to such an original prank."
His gaze was steady. "What are you talking about?"
"The day before I transferred. It was sometime in early April, and, on the roof, you set up a little trick to help out those three bullies."
"How did you see that?" He asked.
I grinned. "Maybe I'll tell you, if you join."
"What makes you think I want to join some stupid thing like a gang? Don't you know we have enough in this area? Besides, we'd just get the hell beaten out of us by all the others ones." He turned away stubbornly.
"Do you think I'd want to form a gang just to be beat up? I know what's going on at this town, Asari, and I'd like to change it. What do you say?"
"No thanks." He said.
"Just think about it," I told him, before returning to my seat. That day, I also decided to ask Akane to join. She was quite friendly to me by then and would even occasionally start a conversation by herself.
"Hey, Akane-san, do you know about all the gangs in this area?" I asked her during lunch.
She nodded. "This place is pretty dangerous."
"I'm going to form a gang." I said. She looked at me, an alarmed look in her face. "Would you like to join?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"Why? Well, I guess you could say I'm bored. And why not? Besides, you're a good fighter. I'm a good fighter. We could easily beat up these lame gangs."
"How do you know I can fight?" She asked.
"I saw you." I replied simply.
"Two people wouldn't be a very strong gang though."
"Is that a yes?" I turned to her with excitement. Maybe my eyes were even shining. "Don't worry! I'm already scouting out others! There are lots of interesting people at this school with interesting talents."
"Like who?" She asked wearily. But I did notice that she didn't deny my question. I sat back against the tree. "Asari-kun."
"Oh." She shrugged. "I suppose. But three people still isn't enough. There are gangs out there with hundreds of members."
"..."
She glanced at me and then sighed. "You didn't know that?"
"No! I'm sorry. I didn't do much research!" I cried out, clutching my head in panic. Hundreds? That sounded more like yakuza than an ordinary gang!
"Pfft."
Akane was smiling. Actually, she was laughing. She was so cute with that smile that I couldn't help but smile too.
"You're so cute when you smile, Akane-san!" I told her with a grin.
"Wh-What? No I'm not!"
Haha, what a tsundere.
This day was also the day that I chanced upon Mina and Yuuta. I was walking back home when I heard a little boy yelling.
"Get down here you stupid, fat cat!" He was a scrappy little kid with short black hair, and he was standing under a tall tree yelling upwards.
I looked up and saw a cat sitting on a branch far above, mewing contentedly. It didn't seem like it wanted to come down anytime soon.
"Argh! Come down you dumb cat!" He yelled, stomping his feet on the ground in frustration. Then he grabbed the tree trunk and tried to shake it. The tree didn't budge. I smiled. He was a cute kid. I was about to help him when a familiar girl stepped towards the boy before me.
"Do you need some help?" Long and wavy black hair. It was Mina.
The boy stared at her and then pointed up at the cat. "Make this stupid thing come down." I moved a bit to the side to get a better view of the situation.
Mina was frowning. "Don't call the cat a stupid thing. A boy or a girl?"
"A girl, I think." The boy replied.
"Well you shouldn't call her a thing," Mina replied. "I'll get her down from there. Here, hold my school bag."
"It's not my cat, so I don't care." The boy said with a scowl, taking the school bag.
"Whose is it then?" She stared up at the tree.
It was not an easy tree to climb. First off, it's lowest branch was quite high off the ground. It couldn't be reached easily. She'd probably have to jump, and even then, she might not make it. Secondly, the branches were quite steep, tilted at a ridiculous angle. The cat was nestled farther out along a branch, between several thinner ones.
"My neighbor's. I didn't even want to take care of it. It's so annoying. Stupid old lady."
Mina stretched her arms out below the lowest branch. It looked like it was a full two and a half heads taller than her. She bent down and then jumped up, grabbing onto the branch. She hung there for a moment, swinging her legs back and forth to build up momentum.
Then she swung her legs up, hooking them onto the branch.
Uh... At that time, I'd been worried about the fact that was wearing a skirt. Luckily, she had shorts underneath.
"Aiya!" They boy yelled, backing away and covering his eyes. "Come on, Onee-san, did you have to do that?"
"Sorry" Mina called, as she pulled herself up onto the branch. Then she stood up, grabbing onto a nearby branch.
The next moment, she was climbing through the branches quickly and agilely. It was amazing. It looked like she was dancing among the branches. She pulled herself up, twisted and maneuvered her way towards the cat. When she finally reached the branch, she let out a sigh.
"Come on, kitty." She said, extending a hand. The cat just stared at her.
"It's not a kitty! That's an old cat you're talking to!" The boy yelled from below.
"Meow!" The cat said as if trying to refute the boy's statement.
"Come on, kitty." Mina said patiently.
The cat stood and then slowly walked over to Mina's open arms. I watched as a slow smile bloomed over her face. She sat there on the bench for a while, petting the cat with a soft smile.
"Oi! Hurry up, Onee-san!" The boy yelled. Really, he was such a brat.
"Okay, okay." Mina picked the cat up with one arm. Her other arm was used to support her as she made her way down. On the lowest branch, she knelt and then hopped off the branch, landing neatly.
"Here you go," Mina said, handing the cat over to the boy. "Take better care of her, okay?"
"How many times do I have to tell you that this thing isn't mine?" The boy yelled.
"Okay, okay." Mina's smile seemed strained. She took back her schoolbag.
"Thanks , Onee-san!" Then the boy ran away.
After seeing her climbing abilities, I decided that maybe Mina would be a good member of the gang. "Hm?"
Mina stood in front of me, blinking curiously. "You're a student at my school, aren't you?
"What are you doing here?"
Oops, she'd caught me watching the whole scenario.
I smiled and bowed. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Akamatsu Rika. I transferred this semester."
"Ah!" Mina bowed quickly too. "Nice to meet you too! Uh, I'm Katsushika Mina!"
"You're really good at climbing trees, Katsushika-san." I said with a smile.
"Eh? O-Oh, you saw that did you? Hehe, not really." She smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "How did you learn to do that? It was really cool." I said.
"Oh, well I do gymnastics, and I like climbing things." She chuckled nervously. "I guess it just happened? A- Anyway, I have to go!" She glanced around. "Um, it was really nice to meet you and talk to you." She bowed quickly.
I nodded and waved. "Bye."
"Bye-bye!" Then she quickly walked away. It's really interesting how this world works.