Covered Court Unofficial Opening Theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGPqcNNj1EM&feature=youtu.be
It was almost ten years ago where I could still remember being one of the thousand aspiring Todai applicants that swarmed the bulletin boards stationed near the red gate, impatiently waited for the test results to be posted. Most of us walked back and forth in distress while others ran in circles.
For an otaku like me, killing boredom was easy. Packed with several volumes of my favorite magical girl manga inside my green sling bag, I was good to go.
Several minutes passed as I reached the last page of the manga I was reading at the moment when a fat guy accidentally stomped on my feet. It was so painful that I threw up the manga. He seemed to be a nice guy for apologizing after what he did. I couldn't ask for his name because he suddenly left afterwards.
Just as I was about to read the next volume, one of the school representatives walked by the area and brought with his the lists of the students who got accepted. Upon posting the lists, the people raged forward hoping that they have passed.
Since I was shorter back then, shorter than my height now, I couldn't penetrate the swarming crowd. The moment I started to lose hope, I noticed that my body suddenly rose and a force placed me over an elevated object. I shove my head downwards and saw hair, lots of it. And then I realized I was being carried by that fat guy I encountered earlier.
"You wanted to see the results, right?" he asked.
I couldn't answer him because I was terrified by how huge he was. He looked like a monster. Whatever my expression was at that time, he helped me reach the ends of the humongous crowd using his humongous size. As we took over the front area, I grabbed the opportunity to look for my name on the lists posted. People were complaining, shouting on how unfair it was for us to overtake them. But that didn't stop me from what I was doing.
I sighed in dismay as I couldn't find my name after having searched on all of the lists. I looked at the fat guy carrying me and heard him calling out names with his low voice. My ears erected after hearing him mention my name. I immediately crawled down to his hips and asked where he saw my name.
"What's your name?" he asked.
How stupid of me to ask him when I even haven't told him my name. "Akuma... It's Akuma Kochibi..."
He laughed and made a pun out of my name, "I didn't know that the son of the demon was a shorty like you."
I never knew why I wasn't able to get mad at him, but seeing his smile changed my impression of him.
"Kochibi, huh? It's number 6723." he added.
I directed my eyes to where he pointed his right index finger. My number was there, it was really there. I couldn't believe it. I passed! Right before I could thank him for helping me out, I didn't notice that I was already standing on the ground. He disappeared, again. I mean, how could a big guy vanish like that without getting noticed?
None of that have mattered anymore since I focused on congratulating myself and the other passers for getting accepted in Todai.
Several days have passed since then, I started my college life. Despite being an anime otaku, I challenged myself by taking up Architecture. You could say I'm in it for the T-Square, using it as a sword during my delusional playtime.
The course itself was difficult, but I had to choose that course for the sake of my mother. She wanted me to take over her small architectural firm. I focused on studying during weekdays and save the otaku stuff during the weekends. This was the cycle I followed all throughout the semester.
Good thing I managed to pass all of my subjects for that semester and proceeded to the following semester. Things then started to become more difficult to the point of almost giving up on all of my otaku-related stuff. At the same time, I was facing a crisis that I never expected to happen at such a prestigious university. That crisis was called "bullying".
I understood that my height was shorter than of an average Japanese male and I never thought that it would be much of an issue in college. I guess things from high school were bound to repeat themselves. Good thing I was enthusiastic despite the bullying. What I did to prevent these bullies from pulling me down was I style my hair differently, far different from the usual male hairstyles so that they'd gross out.
But that didn't put an end to all of it. Instead, it became worse. They discovered that I was an anime otaku and they took advantage of it and made fun of me. They would edit pictures of me cosplaying as a magical princess. They even printed a lot of copies and gave them out to other students.
Their bullying became scary to the point that I'd start skipping classes so that I won't see them. The moment I noticed my grades started dropping, I thought about the reason why I was studying in Todai. My desire of helping my mother motivated me to move forward and just disregard all the bullying.
One day after one of my classes, I spent time studying while eating something at the canteen. Some students approached me. This time, they weren't the usual bullies. One of them grabbed the book I was reading. They saw my name on my ID and made fun of it.
"Look at his name, guys. Isn't he scary?" said one of them.
"He's too small for a demon. A demon's child, perhaps?" said another.
I endured their insults as always. I clenched my fists, trying to stop myself from causing any commotion inside the canteen. Despite the chance I gave them, they didn't settle with just insulting me.
"I bet his parents are real demons?" said another one.
"What bad luck his mother got. Marrying a demon and having a peep squeak like him for a son? What a wench."
The moment I heard him call my mother a wench, I slowly lost my sanity as I opened my left hand and palmed it on the left side of my face. I couldn't remember the details, actually. But someone told me that I started laughing hysterically during that time.
According to that person, they started grossing out but didn't stop ridiculing my parents. My laughter later on sounded devilish and it reached a point where I stood up and almost assaulted one of them.
"Stop bullying the shorty!"
I somehow regained my conscious self after hearing those words. I glanced on to my right side and saw a big hand tapped on my shoulder. The voice seemed familiar but had a imposing pitch. I turned my head back and saw that one person I ignored back then. It was the fat guy. He looked fierce while glaring at the bullies.
"You're safe now, shorty." he said.
The students shivered in fear and one of them stumbled on uttering words that somehow described the fat guy's identity.
"He..he..heyyy. We du..don't wa..waa..waana.. de..deal.. with Ku..ku...Kuro...Kurogane!"
The fat guy took advantage of their shock and told them to scram. He then looked at me with a refreshing smile on his face and asked if I was alright. I had a shortage of words, so I just nodded. He then extended his right hand and introduced himself.
"I think we've already met before near the red gate. Kochibi, right? The name's Rei by the way. Kurogane Rei."
I extended my right hand as well, but I couldn't say a thing as I was still in shock with what just happened. I thought those bullies were just afraid of his size, but there was more to it.
"REIIIIIIII!!!" screamed a woman of her early golden years.
Everyone inside the canteen was startled and drew their attention to the woman. Her name was Asako Megumi, one of the school directors. We never knew how she was related to Rei but some say that she was his grandmother.
She was very strict with him as she approached him and scolded, "What do you think you're doing here, causing trouble?"
I was about to utter words that might have saved him from getting scolded, but he asked her, "How could you guys let bullies roam around and study in this university? Don't you think it's a disgrace?"
Without a doubt, he had a point. The director seemed to have understood and answered, "You know, Rei-kun. If your friend here just looked normal, he wouldn't have been bullied like that."
The fat guy strongly disagreed and told her, "It's not his fault for being born a short guy. He may have weird tastes, but that doesn't give them the right to bully him."
Seeing the students looking at the fat guy as he was pointing out several things, the director tried to calm him down. Just as he was about to stop talking, he stated, "Our names should never be ridiculed, even if it meant ugly or nasty things."
The director couldn't say anything as everything the fat guy said was true. Despite that, she twitched his ear and dragged him away from the canteen given his enormous weight. After that incident, I never got the chance to see him again so that I can thank him for everything he did for me. Everything was back to normal since then. No more bullies and no more bullying. Even if there were attempts, those who tried had to think twice and end up not doing it. It's as if there was a barrier wrapped around me that's stopping them from bullying me.
The rest of the second semester was bliss. The only hardships I had to endure were related to my studies, especially on those classes that I had to skip due to heavy bullying. I tried my best to save myself from failing these subjects, but I still failed on one.
Just a day before spring break, I wandered around the campus in contemplation about the things that have happened during my first year in Todai. As I drowned myself in thought, I didn't notice that I was already inside a spacious sports area. They called it the "Covered Court".
As far as I could remember, there were a total of fourteen concrete columns erected, making it look rectangular. On top of these columns was a cylindrical roof, probably polycarbonate ones. Don't ask me what that is. I'm still in my early years in college, after all.
I sat down on one of the wooden benches placed at the sides and noticed a guy on the opposite side. it was the fat guy whom I never saw for the past few months. That time, I decided to throw away all of my hesitations and finally gathered the guts to approach him. As I get closer, I was surprised to see him crying. Al of a sudden, I felt a string connecting the two of us. I seemed to have understood why he was crying, so I ended up asking him, "Are you feeling lonely, big guy?"
Startled as he noticed me, he quickly wiped off his tears with a handkerchief and denied, "Lonely? Who are you calling lonely? I'm not lonely!"
I knew he was trying to look strong so that he could cover up his real nature. I assumed that this guy was a softie.
"Alright, alright. You're not lonely. Kurogane Rei, right?"
He then took a closer look at me and realized that I was the shorty he saved back then, "Kochibi-chan! Long time no see! How have you been?"
Seeing his reassuring and refreshing smile made me forgot what I was thinking. We then started talking about a lot of things, mostly random. At some point in our conversations, we reached a topic that we both find interesting; Anime. He liked and watched a lot of series, but he was more inclined to watching Tokusatsu. By Toku, I meant metal heroes; Kamen Rider and Super Sentai series. By the time we stopped talking, I began to understand our similarities and discovered the we somehow share the same goal: to find a friend in Todai.
Covered Court Unofficial Ending Theme
(Listen to this while reading the last sentences below.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3WT6EndPDw
I ended my first year in Todai having Rei as my first friend. We may not have the same course nor have been in the same classes in minor subjects, we made sure to find time to hang out at the covered court.
Covered Court, eh? That place for me started my friendship with Rei. Later on, it will become a place of beginnings. They may not be necessarily happy ones all the time, but I know that place will become a significant part of our lives.
To be continued...