1: Before School
Boys vs Girls. Battle of the Century.
Regular - Korean | Bold - English | Italicized - Chinese | Underlined - Japanese
Narrator's POV
It was the day of the annual Korea Arts University-University of Seoul volleyball exhibition match and as the libero, Kari woke up at 5 am and got dressed in her practice oufit, stuffing her school uniform and volleyball uniform in a duffel bag, before grabbing her belongings and jogging to school. She lived alone in a rather large house - complimentary from her paretns - about 3 blocks away from school. Her family was well off, her father was a board member for a big car company in Tokyo and her mother was a famous Japanese chef. Kari has 4 younger siblings, two pairs of twins. The first pair are freshmen in high school and the second pair are 4 years old.
Kari arrived at the gym and opened the double doors, she was thankful that the gym doors are always open on game/practice days. She plugged in her headphones and started listening to her pre-game playlist as she ran laps around the gym. Unfazed when someone else entered the gym. She ignored the boy and kept running, stopping moments later to take a break.
"good morning Kari" he said. She gave him a head nod in return, walking to the gym office to get a volleyball. "you're here early"
"so are you" she said curtly bouncing the ball around.
"well of course, as the starting outside and captain of the boy's varsity team-"
"I didn't ask for your boasting, Mark Tuan" Kari spat wiping her sweat with a towel.
"hey, we're on the same side here Kari" he put his hands up in defense
"are we really?" she scoffed hitting the ball against the wall
"okay, when it comes to school rivalries, we're on the same team" he said taking the ball
"yah!" Kari shouted
"I'll hit at you" Mark said going on the other side of the net
"bwoh?" she said
"I said I'll hit at you. I need hitting practice, you need receiving prctice" he said
"I never asked for your help" Kari said putting a hand on her hip
"well too bad. Outside" he tossed the volleyball up and flawlessly hit it to the line. It most likely would have been an ace, barely anyone can perfectly receive it. But Kari wasn't Asia's best libero for nothing, getting to the ball and passing it to the setter's spot. Mark was impressed "nice"
"it's like you haven't seen a pass before" she said going to the middle back of the court. "go"
The two of them rallied like that for a while, until a loud shout came from the entrance
"Mark! You better have a damn good reason for making us come here at 6 am!" Jackson shouted
"wanna play?" Mark asked. Jackson stared at him blankly before going over to the bleachers and lying down
"don't wake me up before 7" Jackson said
"hyung, what're you doing?" Bambam asked
"practicing" Mark said
"with noona?" he asked
"don't call me that" Kari said walking over to her duffle bag and getting her phone, chuckling when she saw a text message
"surprise~ uri maknae~" JJ cheered coming in with a half-asleep Suzy. JJ's smile turned into a scowl as she saw GOT7 "what are they doing here?"
"well isn't that a beautiful tone of voice" JB said
"no one asked for your side comments Im Jaebum" JJ turned to him
"unnie, they're here because of this one" Kari said pointing to Mark
"it's not nice to point" he said
"no one asked you" JJ spat.
"unnie, why are you here early? I didn't tell you to come" Kari said
"Jiyeon woke me up because she wanted to make breakfast for you before school" Suzy yawned
"aw komawo unnie" Kari smiled
"I bought you coffee too" Suzy said holding up the cup "your favorite"
"man, you look ugly" Jr stifled his laughter at Suzy
"Park Jinyoung. I am literally on the verge of passing out and pouncing on you like a cheetah. Shut up" Suzy glared with what energy she had. Jr hid a smile.
"so what now danhoMark? I'm starting to cool down from my sweating, that's not good" she said tightening her ponytail.
"Youngjae-ah, mind setting?" Mark asked
"no problem" the younger boy said, going on the court. The rest of them stayed by the bleachers, sitting at the two furthest sides. And it became a routine like that. Youngjae setting, Mark hitting, Kari receiving. Jackson eventually woke up by the noises of s.
"can't a man get some sleep?" Jackson complained
"says the one who's usually waking us up" JB said
"hyung" Jackson said covering his mouth.
"woo!" JJ yelled as Kari did a pancake "that's our maknae right there!"
"Jiyeon-ah, turn down" Suzy said making her sit down
"OOH YEAH!" Jackson shouted as Mark did a killer hit. JJ glared at him
"so that's how you wanna play" she scoffed "Get it Kari-ah!"
It went on, Jackson and JJ trying to out-cheer the latter.
"aish chincha. Hajima jeom!" Jr shouted at the two "you're both acting like kids!"
"you can't tell me what to do!" JJ spat venomously
"unnie, chill" Kari said slinging her bag over the shoulder
"good job uri maknae" JJ smiled patting her
"unnie" Kari whined
"how can noona change in like a second?" Yugyeom asked
"don't call me noona" JJ snapped at him
"I'm gonna go shower" Kari chuckled
"me too" Mark nodded taking off his shirt
"ooh damn" Jackson said slapping his abs "it's like I'm looking at the sun! so hot!"
"then go blind and go on fire" JJ scoffed
"you honestly don't need to strip like that here" Suzy said taking a sip of Kari's coffee
"pfft. I've seen better" Kari said bluntly going into the girls' locker room. It was about 7:30 when Mark and Kari came out refreshed. The Japanese girl had exactly 40 minutes to eat the breakfast JJ prepared for her before school started. SJK expected GOT7 to leave, but instead they just kept hanging around
"you can leave now" JJ said taking a bite out of her dish.
"I'm hungry." Suzy said and just like that, the three of them shared the breakfast.
"when you win later, we should have a party" JJ said
"we're going to the club remember?" Suzy said "let's have the party there"
"drinks on me then" Kari smiled
"yah andwae" Suzy said
"unnie wae?" Kari whined
"you do crazy when you're drunk" Suzy said
"do not!" the younger girl declined
"are you kidding? you went on a stripper pole!" JJ shouted
"where was this?" Jackson butted in
" off" JJ gritted her teeth
"one time" Kari said and checked her phone "yeobosayo?"
"Akari ane*" a boy said
"oh? Daiki-chan*~" Kari cooed "how's my precious otouto*? I miss you"
"I miss you too ane-san*" he said "I'm okay, Aki-chan's good too. So are the little twins, Daichi-chan and Arichi-chan."
"well that's good. I really wish that I could visit home more often" Kari said, pouting unknowingly "I miss Japan...so why'd you call? Shouldn't you be going to school right now?"
"actually ane-san, I want to ask you a question" Daiki said shyly
"is this about a girl?" Kari asked and he giggled on the other line "oh my God! It is about a girl! About damn time Daiki-chan, you're already in high school!"
"Akari ane, you're overreacting" he said
"whatever. Tell me all about her!" Kari said
"she's been my kanojyo* for about 2 months now" Daiki said "It's her birthday next week and I don't know what to do for her"
"does she like romantic things?" Kari asked and he made a sound of approval "then..why don't you like sing a song for her? or give her something that you made? ooh! what about have a date by the beach under an arch of rose petals? Daiki-chan~ aigoo neomu kyeopta."
"I'll think about it" he said "arigatou* ane-san. I'll talk to you later"
"oke* ototou. Ja-ne*" Kari said hanging up
"that was interesting, who was it?" JJ asked
"nae namdongsaeng, Daiki" Kari said
"I need to go to the bathroom" Suzy said
"right now? the students are piling in" JJ said
"I'll just see you girls in first period" Suzy waved giving a quick glance to Jr before exiting the gym
"I'm heading out" Jr said "need to do something for saem before class starts"
"see you later then" Mark slapped his back. Jr, too, exited the gym, leaving the remaining 8. It was silent for a minute before Kari and JJ stood up.
"kaja unnie?" Kari asked
"mm, being in their vicinity for too long disgusts me" JJ said and the pair left
"aren't they a work of art" Youngjae scoffed
"how come they're so mean to us, hyung?" Bambam asked
"it's just...a rivalry we've always had Bambam-ah" Mark said watching Kari's back. "it'll end in the future"
"hopefully not, that JJ girl pisses me off" Jackson crossed his arms
"aye, you and JJ are so similar" JB said
"blasphemy, hyung" Jackson said "I don't want to talk about her. Let's just go. This place is getting hot."
*ane - older sister (informal) - equivalent to unnie
*-chan - informal talk - equivalent to -ah
*otouto - younger brother - equivalent to namdongsaeng/dongsaeng
*-san - formal talk - equivalent to -ssi
*kanojyo - girlfriend - equivalent to yeochin/yeoja chingu
*arigatou - thank you (informal) - equivalent to komawo
*oke - okay - equivalent to arasso
*ja-ne - goodbye (informal) - equivalent to annyeong (annyeong as in bye..lol yeah)
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