"Riko, we're here. Seisen Academy. It's a boarding school, but you can come home over the weekends if you want to." Rinko smiled at her daughter.
"Eh? She can come home? I thought we were getting rid of her for good-" with one look from Rinko, Nanjiro flinched. "I mean, of course she would want to come home. She'll be welcome. To play some tennis and visit me. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I meant."
"Che baka (1), why would I ever want to visit you?" Riko scoffed, pulling the first of her large luggage out of the taxi trunk.
"You wound me with your sharp words, seishounen(2)..." Nanjiro grumbled under his breath as he lifted his daughter's second luggage. "Hurry up, let's just go check in."
Walking up to the school, Riko noticed the excellent facilities and campus amenities. There were 6 full-length basketball courts, a sign indicating the location of an indoor swimming pool, 3 soccer fields, 3 running tracks, and another sign pointing towards an indoor gym complex just within her view. And then... her eyes fell on the real prize. A long row of tennis courts. "Hey mom, I needa use the bathroom," she said with a straight face. She turned around to go, until...
"Oh no you don't," a sharp voice said, as a hand grabbed the back of her shirt collar, pulling her off balance. She turned around to find her mother staring at her with the ever-famous Rinko glare only her mother could pull off. "I've lived around a tennis freak like your father long enough to recognise that look. Don't even try to pull one past me, I know where you want to go. You can go after we check in and drop your stuff off."
She scowled. "Fine, let's just keep moving. The faster we get this over with, the better.."
Strolling into a tall brick building, she couldn't help but feel the fancy-ness of the overall room. Maybe it was the cold marble floor, or the neat line of paintings.
"Hello, how may I help you today?" A female voice asked.
"Hello, I'm here with my daughter Echizen Riko? I believe I called the other day regarding her late enrolment," Rinko replied, smiling sweetly with no sign of her signature glare from before present on her face.
"Ah, Echizen! Yes, I have all your papers right here. I believe you missed the orientation, because your flight was delayed. No matter, I'll assign another student to show you around. So if you'll just sign here, please! And we'll take her from here!" The woman whipped out a clipboard, flipping to the desired page.
"Excellent. Thank you. If anything comes up, please drop us a call," Rinko said. "Oh and Riko, please leave us a message tonight so we know you've settled in."
"I know, I know, I will. Promise."
Her parents managed to sign the papers and leave within five minutes, but not without Nanjiro first attempting to hit on the receptionist, and then getting dragged out of the room by the ear (courtesy of her mother, of course).
"We'll have to go through the orientation first, and your bags look heavy. Why don't you leave your stuff here, I'll have someone take it up later." the woman (who, according to her name tag, was called Vicki) offered.
Riko nodded, leaving all her luggage except for her tennis bag. "I'd prefer carrying this one with me, if you don't mind…" not that it would make a difference if you did, she resisted adding.
"Of course not. So first, we'll be heading to the enrolment office. You're lucky you chose to enroll a few weeks after school started, the first two days are always hectic."
After climbing up 3 ridiculously wide flights of stairs (did the school have a lot of students, or just have really... horizontally challenged people? Or perhaps they simply liked the grand effect?), they entered through tall mahogany double doors into the office.
"Hello Vicki. Who is this?" A tall blonde man was sitting in a chair, drinking something from a mug and checking off names on a paper.
"Hello. This is Echizen Riko. Riko, meet Coach Sakaki. He's doing the new student enrolment listings right now, but during tennis season, he's one of the three coaches."
Riko couldn't care less about the man, until the word "tennis" reached her ears. Immediately, she perked up. So this was one of the supposedly excellent but Spartan coaches of Seisen academy. She nodded her head in greeting.
After a long and overwhelmingly boring process where she had to fill out forms regarding her past school records, medical conditions (shouldn't that have been done during enrollment?), and for some reason, personal food preferences, she was told that there was only one more thing left to complete.
"As you may know, Seisen is an elite, but still large school. In order to make the student body more manageable, they are divided into three houses. Those houses are Hyotei, Rikkai Dai, and Seigaku (3). Each house runs by its own rules, but still in accordance to general school regulations. Do you have any questions?"
"What about sports?"
"In terms of sports, there are two separate systems. The first is the house-run system. Within each house, there are sports teams who compete against the other two houses. The second system is the school-wide system. There are 3 trimesters to complete a school year. Obviously, the season for each sport runs for less than half of that time, usually only 1 trimester. Thus, house competitions are held in the other two free trimesters, whereas during the season, a school team is formed. In order to ensure school team is of utmost quality and potential, competitions are held. Only the first string team plays in tournament games. However, there is also a second string, technically still considered to be 'regulars'. Those who are a part of the club, but do not qualify for either the first or the second string simply continue playing on the house team, or simply as a house activity."
"Practice schedules will be further explained by your house master, but practices can include members from all 3 houses, unless a particular house requests individual practice facilities," Vicki added with a cheery smile.
And with that, she was satisfied. After all, a person who ate, breathed, and lived tennis wasn't interested in much else. Perhaps there were a few questions that she should have asked, like what determined which house you were in, or how the rooming systems worked. But alas, she did have a rather one-track mind like her father. Well, to be exact, her dad had a two-tracked mind: tennis and girls.
"No more questions? Excellent. Of course, you'll be put in Seigaku, your father's house-"
"No."
"Excuse me?"
"I said no."
The man, what was his name again? looked startled. "Hm, what house do you want to be in, then?"
"How are house's normally determined?"
"Well we look at talents, past history, siblings, other relatives who are attending or have attended the school, bloodline, and also personality and preferences."
"Fine, which house has the best tennis team?" She demanded.
He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well they're all relatively evenly matched, to be honest. But I have to say, I think that the best is-"
"Oh no don't listen to him," Vicki interrupted. "He coaches one of the teams, he's biased. All three of the teams are exceptional in terms of ability. Why do you ask?"
Riko started at her like it was obvious. "Well I want to play strong people. And I want to win."
Sakaki's eyes gleamed. "I was a bit unsure where to put you at first, but now I'm sure of it. You'll fit right in at Rikkaidai. Are you sure you don't want to be placed in Seigaku?"
Her deep scowl gave him enough of an answer, but she responded, "I'm not entering somewhere because of my father's history and merits."
-Time Skip Because I'm Too Lazy to Write Some Parts Here-
She zoned out through most of the orientation, and barely heard Vicki say she was going to quickly use the restroom. But she was brought back to reality by two people crashing straight into her, with another person looking disdainful while walking quickly behind them. She managed not to fall over, but staggered backwards from the impact.
"Ahh sorry sorry sorry~" the first one, a boy with bright pink hair who was chewing on green bubble gum that smelled like apples exclaimed with a grin. And then.. "Wait woah Riko?"
She blinked in surprise. "Bunta! You go to school here?"
"Ahahaha look! Yanagi-senpai (4), Marui-senpai has a girlfriend!"
Immediately her eyes snapped to the left, feeling the rage pooling in the pit of her stomach.
"Oh no no no, Akaya really didn't mean it like that Riko, don't do anything, just let it go... calm down, calm down, calm-"
BAM! An excellent upper cut straight in the ribs. Marui grimaced. "I tried to warn you, Akaya..."
Meanwhile, Yanagi continued to watch as Akaya lay collapsed on the ground, groaning in pain while clutching his right side.
She nodded to him. "Apologies for harming your friend, but he really deserved it."
He just nodded in agreement, as Akaya slowly pulled himself off of the ground, looking pissed.
"Oh, you wanna go? Come fight me!" He yelled.
Before she could move to hit him again though, Marui moved in between them. "Woah easy there. Please, Riko, calm down and use your words, not violence. And Akaya, stop provoking her. Oh and Yanagi, could you please act more responsible? Yukimura-buchou (5) did tell you to keep him in check after all!"
Yanagi pushed his glasses up. "I believe that your friend here has kept him in check plenty." He nodded in Riko's direction.
"Ok I guess introductions are in order. Riko, these are my friends and team mates, Yanagi Renji and Kirihara Akaya. Yanagi is in my year, and Kirihara's in yours (A/N: I know Ryoma is actually a year younger than Akaya, but for the sake of convenience in this fan fiction they are now in the same year :D). Yanagi, Kirihara, this is my friend from when we were younger, Echizen Riko. I visit her in the states when I go there for summer. We went to the same elementary school for a few years!"
At this, he turned to look at her. "You still play, right?"
"Of course. That goes without saying. Your friend's hair looks like seaweed," Riko blurted out. It had been bothering her since they'd first met, and if she didn't say it now it was going to kill her. After a moment of silence, Marui cracked up while Kirihara looked as if steam was about to come out of his ears, he was so mad. But before he could do anything...
"I'm back! Oh what's this? I see you've already met some of the tennis regulars from your house!" Vicki chirped in her (obnoxiously) happy voice. "Excellent, I'll leave you with them then, you've seen most of the school by now! Just tell them your room number when you're ready to go back to the dorm, they'll lead you there."
"Wait what-"But before she could say anything else, Vicki was already gone, leaving her with her friend, a slightly weird but seemingly smart guy, and... a seaweed hair idiot.
Suddenly, "Hey! you're carrying a tennis bag!" Apparently said idiot wasn't the most observant person either. "Play a match with me!"
"Uh no Akaya I really don't think you want to play against her.." Marui trailed off.
"Akaya-kun, I don't believe she's on the tennis team, and is thus not allowed on the courts. I also believe she must be jet lagged after flying here from America, as Marui-kun previously told us. As she is on the same floor as you, why don't you show her to her room, wherever it may be. Marui-kun and I need to purchase our class books." And with that, her friend and the slightly weird but seemingly smart guy left, leaving her with... the seaweed hair idiot. Great.
"So what's your room number?" He seemed to have already forgotten about her uppercut to his ribs previously, or he had gotten over it. Perhaps it hadn't been as hard as she had thought it was.
"411 B"
He blinked once. twice. three times. "AHHH SO YOU'RE MY ROOM MATE!"
"Sorry what?" She felt confused. Room mate? No, she was a girl. And he was a guy. At least, she was pretty sure he was a guy. Yes, he was definitely a guy. He must have lost his mind. Maybe her uppercut was a lot harder than she thought it was, and it somehow struck a nerve in him causing his brain to malfunction and-
Her thoughts were cut off by his loud voice exclaiming "Aww that's not fair! How come I have to room with a girl, but Yukimura-buchou gets to room alone? And Niou-senpai gets to room with Yanagi-senpai! Even Yanagi-senpai somehow got to room with his friend in Seigaku, but I have to room with a GIRL?" He truly looked distraught. Meanwhile, she was pissed.
"Excuse me, but are you saying there is something wrong with being a girl? And also, what the hell are you talking about? Not only are classes co-ed, but rooming is... is... mixed as well?"
He blinked. "Yeah of course. You didn't know? I mean, there are separate teams for sports and stuff, but it's not uncommon if a girl is really good at the sport to join the guys' team or vice versa. A lot of the girls' sports teams are just fan clubs for the guys' teams anyways, like the tennis club for example."
She blinked. Oh, hell no.
A/N: Anddd there's the prologue! Honestly, it should just be chapter 1 but I really like using the word 'prologue' because it makes me feel sophisticated :D
(1) Baka- basically it means stupid, or idiot
(2) Seihounen- Nanjirzou uses it a lot with Ryoma. It basically means young one, youth, etc.
(3) Hyotei, Rikkaidai, Seigaku- I included these three because they're the biggest 3 schools in the anime. Later on, during tournaments, I will introduce schools like Fudomine, St. Rudolph, Yamabuki, Shitenhouji, etc. etc. And I know that the full name for Seigaku is actually Seishun Gauken, but putting that would indicate that it's a middle school, so I just used 'Seigaku'
(4) -senpai, -kun, etc. - basically these are honourifics, which show the nature of your relationship with this person. For example, -senpai is for someone who is in a grade that is above yours. You can attach senpai to someone's name (i.e. Yanagi-senpai) but you can't really do that with kouhai (see below) (at least, I've never heard anyone say that around me). -kun is someone who you are acquaintances with. More honourifics will be explained if necessary, or as they're used.
(5) buchou = captainReview if you have anything to.. like.. review :D Sorry about the formatting issues, they have been fixed.
Next update: Probably tomorrow because I'm on summer break and I have no life but drawing, watching anime, eating, and reading/writing fan fiction