I know some of you may be like 'woah what is this', but frankly I think Roko needs some background going on. Even if it is depressing.
Headmaster's Office
Akaya was nervous. First of all, he was in the Headmaster's Office, which is never a good sign of anything. Secondly, his English teacher was also present, glaring at him rather evilly since he was his least favourite student. English had never been a good subject for him, in fact Akaya wondered how he even managed to get this far in English, since he was so bad at it.
Akaya sat in his seat nervously, trying not to squirm under his English teacher's gaze whilst the Headmaster pulled up his chair and made himself comfortable.
"Kirihara-kun" he greeted calmly and Akaya immediately knew that the Headmaster was serious. He'd been here a lot of times, and not once had the Headmaster ever used '-kun' after his name.
"Hello" he returned rather lamely in an attempt to sound normal. If the Headmaster even noticed his casualness he didn't show it.
"Do you know why you're here?" he asked, and Akaya squirmed.
"No..." he said rather uncertainly, though he was sure he had a good idea. Before the Headmaster could give a verbal response Akaya's English teacher, Satoshi-sensei slammed his hand on the desk loudly, causing Akaya to jump an inch into the air, and the man glared at him coldly.
"Your English grades are awful" he stated bluntly, and Akaya tried not to frown. He'd heard that so often before from him it wasn't even worth a reaction.
"Thank you, Satoshi-san" the headmaster stated calmly, and Satoshi-sensei grunted in response and stood up, stepping back, and Akaya mentally exhaled in relief. The Headmaster just continued to look at him calmly, and that calm, misleading look reminded Akaya of Yukimura.
"Yes" he began, "Your grades are not up to standard, Kirihara-kun" he stated, and Akaya could only nod in response.
"You got 12% on your recent test!" Satoshi-sensei cut in, and Akaya flinched. It wasn't his fault he was so bad at English.
"Enough" the Headmaster stated once, and Satoshi-sensei frowned but stopped, not speaking any further, and the Headmaster sighed.
"Kirihara-kun. If your English grades continue like this any longer you will be removed from the tennis team" he stated bluntly, and Akaya froze. Oh no. It had gotten to this point at last. Akaya had always known that one day he would be kicked off the regulars for his English grades, and so he tried to delay that and study the best he could, but he just couldn't understand English, and nothing the teachers explained made sense. Kicked off the regulars? Never. Akaya loved tennis more than anything in the whole world, and the idea of it being taken away from him scared him, and on top of the fact that Sanada-fukubuchou would kill him for it.
"So..." he began uncertainly, "Why is Echizen here?" he asked, glancing at the other person in the room.
From what he could tell Echizen hadn't moved a millimetre in his seat, his back perfectly straight and his head facing forward, his hands falling lazily at the sides of the chair, which was positioned slightly behind Akaya's. He looked at Akaya from the corner of his eye but didn't turn his head in acknowledgement, though Akaya didn't really expect much from him anyway.
"Ah" the Headmaster began, as if he was only just noticing Echizen, "I asked Echizen to come because I want him to be your English tutor"
Akaya gaped at him, turning back to Echizen, whose face had not changed at all. Echizen be his English tutor? While that did sound like a good idea, Akaya wasn't really sure if that would work, Echizen couldn't talk after all, and he could teach Sanada-fukubuchou because he was the only person in Rikkaidai who could understand him.
"According to Setsuko-san, his English teacher, Echizen achieves the highest grade in his class without really trying" the Headmaster stated, "And his tuition with Sanada-kun has improved his grades immensely, and so I thought it would be a good idea for him to help you as well". Akaya's eyes widened at his statement. Echizen got the best grade without even trying? He should have expected that since he grew up in America, but it still came as a surprise.
"But I can't understand Echizen" Akaya protested, and the Headmaster frowned.
"That's why he's here" he stated, turning to Echizen, who still had not moved as if he was a statue, "I am aware that you can communicate through a pen and paper, Echizen-kun, but that might make the task more difficult, though if you think you can do it then I would ask you to help Kirihara-kun pass English".
Akaya looked hopefully at Echizen, who just glanced between Akaya, the Headmaster and Satoshi-sensei, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the pen and paper he always carried with him, and quickly wrote on it, and Akaya held his breath. Would he be a burden to Echizen if he had to tutor two people at once? How would Echizen handle it? Would he be too busy?
Echizen held up the paper.
Tutoring two people at once will be difficult, the paper said, and Akaya felt his heart sink into his stomach. He would be a burden to Echizen, and suddenly he felt extremely guilty.
"Well" the Headmaster returned calmly, "Since you have no trouble in any subject, and English is extremely easy for you, it should be manageable to tutor two people at once, yes?" he asked, and Echizen frowned ever so slightly at his rhetorical question. He paused, and then simply nodded in response. The Headmaster smiled and clapped his hands together.
"Good" he said, "You're both dismissed, and I expect Kirihara-kun's grades to improve". Akaya just sat there dumbfounded before finding himself again and standing up, following Echizen out of the door.
What just happened? He thought.
Rikkaidai Fuzoku Music Hall
Roko and Oharu compared pieces they had selected for a while, playing each of them to test which was the best, and they eventually settled on one of Roko's pieces that he had found. Oharu decided it was a softer and faster piece at the same time, and it would be interesting to play. This project was the play a duet of a classical music piece, and so the groups for this were put together based on their instruments.
What everyone else, including Oharu didn't know was that the piece they had decided on was actually a strings interpretation of one of Roko's favourite English rock songs, but that wasn't important.
What was important however, was the Music Transfer Programme. According to Yamura-sensei it would happen next week, the day after the regulars' first match in the Regional Tournament. It wasn't really a big deal - the date, anyway - but Roko was still bothered by the fact he had to go to Hyotei. He'd rather stay at his own school where he wouldn't be tested for a scholarship he didn't even want, but since he couldn't argue even if he wanted to he decided to leave it.
"Echizen" Oharu said softly, and Roko looked up to her in acknowledgement, "Should we practice our duet?". Roko nodded in response, moving to his cello case and opening the clasps, carefully picking up the polished wooden instrument and the bow and carrying them to his seat next to Oharu, who already had her violin resting on her chin and a stand with their chosen piece placed on it in front of her. Roko sat down and positioned his cello in front of him, placing his own bow over the cello strings.
"1, 2, 3"
Roko began the duet, playing the low, fast-paced notes at a decent rhythm. After moments of playing Oharu joined in, playing the higher notes on top of Roko's baseline rhythm, and Roko smiled ever so softly as he lost himself in the music, forgetting where and who he was.
He'd forgotten what it was like to feel at peace, and it almost felt alien to him, since this was one of the rare times where his consciousness' voice wouldn't haunt him like a ghost. Roko never had a normal childhood after the crash, and he often wondered what his life would have been like if Ryoma had suffered instead, but in his own opinion their roles would have simply swapped places. His life had been one incident after another, and Roko felt himself drift into his own memories like a leaf in the wind.
At the age of three, Roko and his family moved to America after his mother got a job there.
At the age of four, Roko was a perfectly normal child living in America with a twin brother and his two parents.
At the age of five, a drunk driver in a truck hit their car head-on. Ryoma and his parents were unharmed, but Roko suffered brain damage in his Broca area, which controlled the signals sent to his vocal chords, and was in critical condition for six days.
At the age of six, Roko was diagnosed with severe depression and fell ill constantly because of this, and was assigned a personal psychologist. Ryoma also fell into a similar stage and became withdrawn.
At the age of seven, Nanjiroh adopted Echizen Ryoga.
At the age of eight, Roko was cured of his depression after hundreds of therapy sessions.
At the age of nine, Ryoma won his first Junior Grand Slam Tournament
At the age of ten, Ryoga disappeared from their home
At the age of eleven, Roko and Ryoma both became Junior National-level tennis players, despite how they didn't play for their school's tennis team.
At the age of twelve, Nanjiroh decided to move back to Japan.
At the age of thirteen, Roko was here.
Roko wasn't a normal child. A normal child hadn't spent his life battling with two psychologically damaging mental disorders along with depression and the despair of his brother abandoning him, even if he was adopted. He had been through a lot in life, and if there was one thing he had learnt it was that you could only solve your problems yourself. Despite all the psychological help he had received, it was him alone who had made everything possible, and in the end the hows and whys don't matter, as long as what's done is done.
He didn't know how long he played for, but suddenly the music that had placed him in his trance stopped, and Roko opened his eye to see Oharu smiling at him appraisingly.
"That was great, Echizen" she said confidently with a wide smile.
Roko just nodded in response.
Rikkaidai Fuzoku School Grounds
Yanagi sat with the regulars under the largest sakura tree as they ate their bentos whilst conversing with each other. Sanada was talking with Yagyuu about the School Council meeting that they would both attend, whilst Marui, Jackal, Niou and Kirihara were having their own conversation about who-knows-what, but Yanagi remained silent, watching the smallest member of the Rikkaidai regulars inquisitively.
Echizen was being quiet.
Scratch that, Echizen was being quieter than usual, which was saying something. Nothing seemed out of the norm, Echizen had turned up slightly later than everyone else, because he obviously could not control what time the trains arrived, and got ready for tennis practice. His play was as unpredictable as usual, defying Yanagi's data once again, and Yanagi was sure that Echizen was still hiding data from him. It wasn't surprising really, since it was rather difficult for someone who couldn't speak to reveal secrets anyway, and the fact that Echizen was so reclusive only made the task more difficult.
Sanada had not mentioned anything about Echizen's behaviour in English. Akaya had mentioned that Echizen was his new English tutor, and Yanagi silently wished Echizen good luck. Teaching Akaya English was similar to mental torture.
But that wasn't the cause of this. For whatever reason, Echizen was being even more withdrawn than a mute child who hated small conversation could be, and Yanagi was stuck between being intrigued and being concerned. Echizen sat eating his bento slowly, no one making conversation with him, since it was rather easy to not notice he was even there. Yanagi just watched curiously as Echizen ate his food, not paying attention to the others.
After a moment Echizen stopped, his one visible eye moving to make eye-contact with Yanagi in a passive stare, and Yanagi cocked his head innocently.
"What is it?" he asked, feigning unknowingness, and Echizen just looked at him for half a moment before returning to his food like nothing had happened. Yanagi sighed mentally, as his attempt to get Echizen to talk failed miserably. Echizen was never one for small talk.
"Oi, Echizen" Akaya said suddenly, and Yanagi looked up at him sharply, his chest flaring in hope. Echizen looked up at him to acknowledge him, and the group all frowned curiously at Akaya.
"When are you going to tutor me?" he asked rather bluntly, and Yanagi had to restrain himself from scolding Akaya. Echizen just raised an eyebrow, putting down his bento box and making signs with his hands, and Yanagi glanced at Sanada.
"It would be easier after school" Sanada said bluntly, and Akaya nodded to himself.
"We can do it at my house after school today" he offered, and Echizen just nodded in response.
"Be careful Echizen" Niou warned seriously, "Wakame couldn't learn English if his life depended on it". Yanagi silently agreed with him, and Akaya's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.
"Oi, Niou-senpai!" he exclaimed, "Stop making me look like an idiot!"
"Then what are you good at, Wakame?" Niou returned easily, "Aside from tennis"
Akaya didn't respond, gnashing his teeth and clenching his fists in anger, and Yanagi felt nothing but sympathy for him. Echizen didn't even notice the conversation going on next to him, placing his empty bento box in his bag and pulling out a wrapped object in paper, and Yanagi frowned curiously.
"What is that, Echizen?" he asked, and Echizen looked at him and simply unwrapped the paper instead of responding, and Yanagi practically rolled his eyes as the chocolate cake inside was revealed, which he noted was a rather thick slice. The team collectively frowned, except for Marui of course, whose eyes lit up at the sight of it.
"Can I have some?" he immediately asked, and Echizen didn't even acknowledge him, picking up the slice of cake with his right hand and taking a large bite out of it without the use of cutlery, much to Yanagi's displeasure.
"Echizen!" Sanada exclaimed, "That is improper!". Echizen didn't even glance at Sanada, taking another bite out of the cake as if he didn't exist, eliciting a frown from Sanada. Marui took this as an opportunity to crawl forward slightly so he was in front of Echizen, staring at the cake with large beady amethyst eyes.
"Can I have some?" he repeated and Echizen just shook his head. Marui frowned, and leaned slightly further forward, promptly invading Echizen's personal space.
"Bunta" Jackal ordered, "Leave him alone". Marui didn't even glance at him, focused on the slice of cake in Echizen's hand.
"Please?" Marui pleaded, and Echizen just rolled his eyes.
"Oi Marui" Niou called, "You eat enough sweets, leave Echizen alone". Marui turned to Niou, the carefree smile gone and replaced with an annoyed frown.
"I do not each too much" he argued, and Niou just scoffed at him, making Marui narrow his eyes dangerously. Yanagi just prayed silently that Marui wouldn't end up trying to kill Niou again. Actually, quite a few people have tried to kill Niou recently; he'd have to add that to his data.
Echizen just continued eating his cake watching the scene with a bored expression, contrasting greatly with the pursed lips of anxiety of everyone else in the immediate area. Marui's annoyed stare did not falter even when Jackal tried to get his attention, and Yanagi just watched worriedly. After a while he noticed Echizen shifting around in his bag, and he withdrew another wrapped object in paper, and Yanagi frowned. How many slices of cake did their kouhai carry?
Echizen held the wrapped object in front of Marui, who noticed it immediately, his stare melding into child-like glee as he quickly took the cake with a wide smile, and everyone mentally breathed a sigh of relief aside from Echizen, whose face was perfectly blank.
"Thank you, Echizen" Marui chirped happily, and Echizen just nodded in acknowledgement, taking the last bite of his cake and finishing it completely. Yanagi blinked as he realised Echizen only started that cake slice twenty seconds ago. How fast did he eat that?
Yanagi concluded that their kouhai was just strange, and left it at that. He would gather more data later.
Kirihara Household
Sanada had advised him to come prepared for Kirihara's tuition, and so Roko had come armed with cue cards and post-it notes with the basic grammar structures of English written on them, since if Kirihara only got 12% on a test then his English must truly be awful.
And it was. If anything Roko was surprised that Kirihara was still a regular from how bad his grades were. Fortunately Kirihara seemed to be grasping what he'd taught him somewhat, and he was staring at his homework sheet like he was trying to bore a hole through it, Roko watching analytically.
"Ugh!" Kirihara moaned, burying his face in his desk. Roko mentally sighed and simply tapped his shoulder, gaining Kirihara's attention as he sat up again.
"I just can't remember it, Echizen!" he complained, and Roko frowned at him, writing on the piece of paper he had with him.
You completed the first six questions, the paper said, and Kirihara sighed in exasperation.
"Yeah" he agreed, "But I can't remember the past tense endings!". Roko mentally smirked, remembering how Sanada was in the exact same predicament. It seemed they both struggled with past tense, which at least made things easier.
"I'm going to the bathroom" he suddenly stated, standing up from his desk and moving out of the room quickly. Roko stared at the doorway for a moment before looking at the notes he had brought. Sanada had advised him on a few things, the first being that Kirihara had the attention span of a goldfish when it came to English, and the second being that Kirihara found it impossible to read from a textbook, due to the first problem, which gave Roko an idea. During the course of his tuition with Kirihara he'd taken notes on what he struggled with - which was admittedly a lot - on post-it notes, and since Kirihara was in the bathroom this would be the best time to do it.
Roko took the post-it notes and stood up from his chair, looking around the room curiously. He first looked to the mirror at Kirihara's wardrobe and peeled off the first post-it note, sticking it to the top of the mirror. Hopefully when Kirihara looked in the mirror, he would briefly scan the basic forms of English past tense, and he would unconsciously remember it the more times he scanned it. It was a technique people often used for studying that helped a lot, but of course most people preferred to read a text book than stick post-it notes all around the house.
He then placed a second post-it note on the back of Kirihara's bedroom door, and a third one on his window. Roko then moved out of the room quickly, down the stairs and into the corridor. He immediately peeled a note and stuck it on the front door and another by the main light switch in the corridor. He then moved into the living room, spotting three places Kirihara would glance at the most: the lights switch on the wall, the TV and the door into the kitchen, and so he stuck a post-it note next to each place.
Roko continued this process for a while, moving around the house and sticking a post-it note on the most likely places Kirihara would glance at, until he had used all of his pink post-it notes successfully redecorating the downstairs of Kirihara's house. Hopefully his parents wouldn't mind it, since they probably knew about his atrocious grades as well.
"Oi, Echizen!" Kirihara's voice cried, suddenly appearing around the corner of the kitchen, "What are all these?". Roko just looked at him flatly, since it was rather obvious what they were, and when it became clear he wouldn't reply Kirihara glanced at the note on the fridge door curiously.
"These are English words!" he cried, prodding the note on the fridge door with his finger, and Roko mentally sighed. What else could they be?
"How are these supposed to help me?" Kirihara asked loudly, and Roko took the piece of paper and pen out of his pocket, writing on it quickly.
I put them in places you'll glance at often, so you'll look at the notes often. It'll help you remember the rules, the paper said, and Kirihara frowned.
"I guess that makes sense" he said uncertainly. Roko simply glanced at the clock on the wall, noting the train to Tokyo would arrive in twenty minutes. He quickly scribbled on the paper, holding it up to Kirihara.
I have to go, the paper said and Kirihara frowned deeper but nodded.
"Ok then" he said simply, and Roko put the paper and pen back in his pocket, leaving the room and moving into the corridor where his bag and cello case sat. He put the case on his bag and carried the bag with his left hand, glancing at Kirihara who he noted was looking at the notes with distaste. This would take some time.
"See you" Kirihara said, and Roko nodded, opening the door and walking out of the house.
"Same time tomorrow!" he called, and Roko mentally sighed. He didn't really want to think about tomorrow. It was the School Fair tomorrow after all.
Echizen Household
Ryoma watched carefully and with sweat on his face as Roko bounced the ball on the baseline with his left hand before throwing it into the air and jumping after it, slamming it hard towards him. Ryoma was immediately moving, since he couldn't let that serve bounce. From years of experience he moved quickly and countered the ball before it could bounce, sending it back towards Roko, who was already moving and returned the ball down the centre of Ryoma's court, and Ryoma ran towards it, shifting backwards and putting his weight on his heels as he glided forward, the friction generating sparks, and Ryoma leapt up and countered the ball with a Drive B.
Of course Roko had seen that before, since they played each other almost every day, and so he moved and quickly countered the ball before it could bounce with a Rising Shot, sending it flying towards Ryoma's left corner, who barely reached it in time and countered it. Roko simply moved towards the net and dropped the ball into Ryoma's court lazily, tapping the ball with the edge of his racket.
Thud.
Ryoma frowned in annoyance.
"That's Roko's win" Nanjiroh called lazily, watching the match with an amused expression.
"Che" Ryoma spat in annoyance, pulling his cap low. Roko didn't respond in any way, simply moving off the court with his racket and towards the house, sweat dripping from his face. They were both exhausted, but Ryoma didn't feel satisfied. Their record was currently at 53-52 matches, with Roko in the lead. That meant Roko was currently better, and Ryoma could not allow that. He would take the next game they played tomorrow.
Ryoma jogged after his brother lightly, catching up to him and keeping pace.
"Ne, Roko" he said, "You're playing your first match in the Regionals next week?" he asked, and Roko turned to him and nodded.
"You'll be playing at the same time as Seigaku, so we can't cheer each other on" he pointed out, and Roko simply made signs with his hands.
"Neither of us need it" his hands stated, and Ryoma smirked.
"Heh?" he asked amusedly, "You make it sound like the Regionals won't be a challenge". Roko didn't respond with signs, but instead smirked softly, moving into the open room at the side of the house and picking up the towel that was on the table, wiping his face with it. He quickly passed it to Ryoma, who did the same thing, and then he simply threw the towel back on the table.
"So how's tennis training going?" Ryoma asked, and he could see the mental groan in Roko's eye, and he smiled amusedly.
"That bad huh?" he asked, and Roko just shook his head, which translated to 'You don't even know the half of it', in Ryoma's mind.
"Tezuka-buchou trains us just as bad" Ryoma stated, and Roko just looked at him with his eyebrow raised in slight disbelief.
"It's true" Ryoma insisted, "Inui-senpai makes us test his new juices if we fail the training regimen". Roko just looked at Ryoma understandingly, frowning ever so slightly, and Ryoma rolled his eyes.
"I know. They're disgusting" he said with distaste, and Roko's eye glittered in amusement, much to Ryoma's annoyance.
"Oi" he said bluntly, "Don't feel happy about that. You're supposed to feel sorry for me". Roko's expression didn't change, and he simply left the room moving into the kitchen, and Ryoma sighed. He was definitely going to make tea, so he'd probably go up to their room when he was done.
"Oi, seishounen" Nanjiroh said, suddenly appearing next to Ryoma, reading the newspaper with a glazed expression that made it clear he was in fact not reading a newspaper, "You're losing to Roko" he stated amusedly, and Ryoma frowned.
"Whatever, oyaji, I'll get him next time" he stated bluntly, and Nanjiroh just scoffed and walked away. Ryoma scowled in annoyance and decided to get some payback.
"And put that porn magazine away, oyaji!" he called loudly.
"NANJIROH!" came the expected shout from his mother, and suddenly Nanjiroh was running, clenching the 'newspaper' to his chest as if it was a lifeline, swiftly followed by the blurred figure of his mother wielding a frying pan as a weapon. Ryoma just smiled amusedly as he went upstairs to his room.