Girl Next Door

Chapter Eight

After the freshmen welcoming ceremony, it was time for the students to be going to their respective classrooms and meet their class adviser. Kyosuke learned that he was to be classmates with Risa in class 1-A, something that greatly elated him. Ichiro was also put in the same class. Takeru however, was put in class 1-B with Yukie.

Kyosuke sat comfortably in his seat, close to the front. Risa meanwhile, sat one seat behind him. As Kyosuke turned around, Risa waved at him from the back of the person behind him. He smiled.

At last the teacher came in. It was Megumi.

"Good morning class," she greeted her students. She then wrote her name on the chalkboard.

"I'm Miss Megumi Iwamoto," she introduced herself, "and I will be your class adviser for this year. I hope I can have a great year with you guys."

Kyosuke was staggered at how young Megumi looked. She was a young woman in her early twenties, but she looked as if she was barely older than him. To him she looked attractive, but then he thought of Risa. He was confused.

Now it was time for the students to introduce themselves. The time Kyosuke was called, he took a deep breath and stood up, rubbing the back of his head. Some of the girls giggled.

"Morning everyone," said Kyosuke, smiling nervously. "I'm Kyosuke Matsumaru. I'm sixteen years old. I love baseball and playing the guitar. I hope this year will be great for all of us."

His introduction was followed by an applause from the class.

"All right, thank you, Matsumaru-kun," said Megumi with a smile. "Anyone else?"

Risa raised her hand.

"Oh," said Megumi, "yes, miss."

Risa stood up, and all eyes were on her.

"Good morning," said Risa with a sweet smile. "My name is Risa Takanaka. I just moved in from America after three years, so you might think I'm acting weird sometimes, but I hope I can make friends with you guys."

As Risa spoke, some of the boys wondered at how attractive she looked. They stared at her viciously.

"Wow, she's so pretty...!" whispered several boys at once.

Kyosuke heard the boys' whisperings, and rolled his eyes.

"Thank you, Takanaka-san," said Megumi. At that, Risa took her seat.

Meanwhile, in the other class, it was time for Takeru to introduce himself.

"Yo," he said in a casual, lazy tone. "I'm Takeru Sakurai. I like playing baseball and going to the arcade." He then threw himself onto his seat.

"Is... there anything else you want to add?" asked the teacher.

"Nah, I'm good," Takeru said with a smirk.

"Oh-kay," said the teacher with a deep breath. "Next?"

The girl sitting behind Takeru raised her hand.

"Yes?" said the teacher.

The girl stood up.

"I'm Mio Tsukisaki," said the girl. "I'm sixteen years old. I like to swim, and I'm hoping I could join the swim team in this school. Oh, and if there's one thing I don't like in this world, it's BOYS."

Everybody was shocked. This was truly a first in the class.

"Is that supposed to be a joke?" said Takeru, and as he turned to look at Mio, he saw that she was a tall girl with short, shoulder-length green hair with a red ribbon in it. She had a stern look in her face, but looked quite beautiful in some manner. She was less buxom than the other girls in class, sporting a small bust. 

"All right, thank you, Tsukisaki-san," said the teacher, quite shocked himself.

Takeru looked at her wonderingly.

"What are you looking at?" said Mio, looking quite annoyed.

"Nothing," replied Takeru as he turned away from her.

Mio leaned her head on the table to take a nap.

"This girl is something else," Takeru thought to himself.

Recess, and it was time for the students to look for some clubs to join. Kyosuke and Takeru planned to join the baseball team, so they headed for the stadium. Along the way Takeru caught sight of Ichiro.

"Yo, Prez," Takeru called out, waving.

Ichiro looked around and as he saw Takeru, he raised his right hand in reply.

Takeru and Kyosuke approached the student council president.

"Looking for a club?" asked Takeru, leaning the back of his head on his joined hands.

"Yes, actually," answered Ichiro, adjusting his glasses. "And I do believe I have you to thank for nominating me as president," he added sarcastically.

Takeru chucked. "Well, that's me. Creating politicians everyday. I'm Takeru Sakurai, and this is Kyosuke Matsumaru."

"Nice to meet you, Sakurai-kun, Matsumaru-kun," replied Ichiro.

"So what clubs are you planning to join, Toyama-kun," asked Kyosuke. "What are your interests?"

"Well," said Ichiro, "I like reading books, so I might join the literary club."

"That's a great choice, Toyama," quipped Takeru. "A lot of girls join literary clubs these days."

"What a player," said Kyosuke with a huge sweatdrop on his head. "Well me and Takeru here gonna try out for the baseball team."

"You are?" said Ichiro. "Well good luck with that."

"Thanks," replied Kyosuke. "See you later then, Toyama-kun."

Kyosuke and Takeru headed for the stadium, where the baseball tryouts are being held. As soon as they got to the baseball field, they saw boys clad in baseball jerseys trying out for the team.

"Well," said Takeru with a deep breath, "this is it, buddy."

"Yeah," said Kyosuke with a confident smile. "Let's go fulfill our dreams." Then they walked towards the baseball coach on the side of the field.

"Excuse me, coach," said Kyosuke, "me and my friend want to try out for the team."

The coach was a tall, stern-looking, no-nonsense man in his early twenties. He turned to Kyosuke.

"Oh, do you?" he said sarcastically. "You think you have what it takes to be on this team?"

"Hell yeah, we do," answered Takeru, smirking.

"Hmph. I'll be the judge of that," said the coach. "Saito!"

The person he called was a tall, handsome boy, about seventeen to eighteen years old, with distinctive black hair parted in the middle. He was wearing a baseball jersey with the number 08.

"Yes, coach Hiashi?" he said, running up to the coach, whose full name was Hiashi Moriyama.

"This is Saito Toriumi," Hiashi said to Kyosuke and Takeru, "the captain of this team. I will separate the team into two smaller teams. You two wlll join one team, and you will be playing against Saito's team."

Kyosuke eyed Saito for a while, then said with confidence, "Okay, let's do this."

Saito gave a smirk as the two teams got ready to play.