When You Smile - Complete

Chapter One - Seimaku

Chapter One - Seimaku

Sitting in a classroom was never her ideal place of residence. She'd rather be on the court. On the court she was free - she could fly if she imagined it so. In the classroom she was a captive of the continuous and repetitive lessons that downright bored her to tears. A small sheet of folded paper landed on her table and she found her ticket. She glanced over at Kara who looked just as bored as she was, looking expectantly in her direction from the corner of her eye. Miyako stealthily opened the piece of paper and had to stifle her laughter at the small message.

Kara had gotten her wish. They had English, Literature, Mathematics and History together. Literature was their current lesson - all they were doing was discussing the topic they would be studying and the texts that went along with it. She'd breathed a sigh of relief when she found one of the books she had read already and the other book seemed interesting enough to read.

Miyako looked down the row she and Kara were seated on and she managed to muffle her laughter again. Takeshi Momoshiro was fast asleep in the middle of the class. His hand cupped his chin and kept his head up; fake glasses covered his eyes to make it look as though they were open.

A worthy attempt, but the teacher had noticed several minutes ago.

Miyako looked down at the note again and grinned. 'This happened all the time last year. He's supposed to be responsible because he's a Regular on the tennis team, but he's not so the teachers show him no mercy.'

As the teacher slammed his ruler against the desk and Momoshiro started awake, Miyako smiled a little as the class erupted into cackles of laugher, but turned her eyes out the window. Being outside was infinitely a better idea than being couped up in a stuffy classroom.

"So, Miyako, are you going to join the tennis club?" Kara asked, leaning across the gap between their desks. The teacher was still yelling at Momoshiro so there were no worries about getting caught.

Miyako shrugged. "I don't know. I'll go along to have a look. But I'll have to think about it."

"But you bought a racquet, didn't you?" Kara asked. "I'd join the club myself but I have to help out at my parent's shop in the afternoons."

Miyako smiled. "I intended to just have a little muck around on the courts seeing as they were available. If there are no spare courts then I'll probably just go home"

"That's a shame, to have a racquet bag like that one you must play a lot." Kara muttered lightly as the teacher was bringing the class back to attention.

Miyako instantly regretted having her racquet with her at all. If she'd wanted to muck around on the courts then there would surely be spare racquets that are free for use. She supposed it was just a habit - if there was a chance of playing tennis she would have her racquet handy.

Finally the bell rang shrilly and the teacher excused themselves and wished the class a good lunch break.

"Awwww!" All eyes found the middle of the room again where Momoshiro was slumping against the top of his desk. "I ate all my lunch in first period!" He exclaimed. "Oh well! I'll just go and buy it!"

While the class, yet again, laughed at the class clown, Miyako retrieved her bento box from her bag and opened it to eat. Kara pulled her chair from behind her desk and lined it up beside Miyako's desk to sit beside her.

"So hey, we're friends now right?" Kara asked. "I don't know anything about you." She said.

Miyako smiled. "You're right. Umm. Well, I don't know what to tell you." She admitted sheepishly.