“Arrgh. I’m running late again.”

Tori slammed off the alarm clock which read 7:30AM. Mihara Tori a 17 year old high school second year of Sakura Gakuen in Tokyo, Japan was running late again. It wasn’t the first time or the last time but it was possibly the thousandth time, at least. Following her daily ritual she quickly combed down her short unruly tomboy style hair, slipped into her school uniform and put on her big round harry potter type glasses. If she only had a scar she might have been mistaken for Japanese harry potter.

Her appearance wasn’t refined or womanlike whatsoever. With her short hair and curve less body she was often mistaken for a boy. Even some elementary school kids had developed more than her.Regardless of all this, she still went with her like as usual. She wasn’t desperate enough to pretend to be something she wasn’t.  

Tori ran down the steps to have breakfast.It wasn’t a very proper breakfast, but breakfast nonetheless.She then picked up the instant noodles which had been cooking as shehadchanged and brushed her teeth. She quickly drank them down making slurping noises. The noodles tasted minty, but she didn’t care. Tori thengrabbed a bento box from her father.She always relied on him for help.“Late again?” he asked.

With a grin she waved goodbye and got on her skateboard.Most girls would usually walk together to school, but not her. She wanted action in her life.This is what being the only girl amongst her three brothers had done to her. Tori had two older brothers in college and one younger brother who was in middle school.They never really treated her like a sister, but as one of them.

“Wait up!” Her best friend since first grade and her neighborMatsuyama Yuichiwas now chasing her, desperately biking to keep up.Yes. For some reason Tori is capable of skateboarding faster than a normal person can bike.At this rate, they would both be late. She allowed him to catch up to her and he got off of the bike panting. “You should have slowed down earlier.” He said.

“Give me a minute. I’m out of breath…. You’re a monster Tori.”And out of breath he was. He was panting heavily and beads of sweat began to fall down his face. He grasped his knees. His heart felt as if it was pounding outside of his chest. Was it even possible for that girl to skateboard so fast?  

Tori stared at Yuichi panting and then sighed. “I guess I have no choice then….”

Tori all of a sudden started to her skirt and Yuichistared at her in shock. “W-what are you doing?I’m not mentally prepared for this yet.” he shouted.He tried to cover his eyes, but found himself peeking through his fingers.  

“What in the world are you talking about? Relax.” Tori answered. “I was wearing shorts underneath.” She put the skirt away in her bag and handed him the skateboard. “Sitbehind me.” Tori said. “I’ll pedal.” she hopped onto the bike and with her legs now free to move, she peddled.

Yuichi couldn’t resist the urge to place his arms around her waist. He tried to think of an excuse. “You’re going so fast. If I don’t hold on to you, I will fall off.” Although how impossible it may seem for a girl of her size, they were probably going 49 kph. Normal people typically travel at half that speed. The two of themmanaged toreach their school in no time.With a few minutes left to catch their breath.  

“Geez Tori kun,” said Matsuyama Yuichi. “With your stamina, no wonder you’re the head of the karate club.” He used the wrong honorific again. As if he didn’t look at her like a girl.Well of course most people didn’t look at Tori as a girl, but Yuichi just enjoyed teasing her. He found her pissed off face to be cute.

“Okay Yuichi chan.” She teased. “Why couldn’t you have biked faster?” Yuichi with his spiked hair sighed.Tori was the one who was biking insanely fast. His biking speed was normal for the average person.Tori was stillbeingas unwomanly as ever,but that is what he liked about her.

*Yuichi’s memory*

They both came from middle class families and understood each other like peaches and cream. One was always at the other’s back whenever the other was in need of help. When Yuichiwas a kid, he was bullied by the biggest kid in primary school.Apparently the big kid had thought Yuichi a push over and would take away his lunch box every day. Yuichi was too scared to fight the bully off himself, but had no one to help him. He would always ask his friends to help him, but they were all too scared.

Then one day Tori came. At first he thought her to be a quiet transfer student, the type to never get in trouble, when she introduced herself. He didn’t think that he would get to know her better. At that age, he never played with girls. He thought all girls were obsessed with things he didn’t like such as Hello Kitty and Barbie dolls. However it was this girl that was to become his best friend.

Like all other days, on the day that she transferred, the bully was picking on him again. It was the third week that this had been going on. And as always, Yuichi would look to his friends for avail, but they wouldn’t budge. It was then that Tori walked over to his table.

“Is everything alright classmate Yuichi?” she asked.

Yuichi quickly looked at the bully eating his lunch and then turned back to look at Tori. He gulped and bit his lip. “I-I th-think I’m okay…” He managed to say.

Tori looked at him and then looked at the bully. She nodded as if she understood what was going on.

“Genta kun!” Tori grabbed his arm and smiled. “Can you come with me outside for a moment? I have something to tell you” Genta blushed and then walked outside with Tori with a big grin on his face.

 A few minutes later, Genta was seen coming back inside with a black eye and clutching his stomach. He looked as if he was going to throw up. “Th-there were some bad men outside, but I managed to escape.” He refused to admit that he was beaten up by a girl.

Tori had then grinned and gave Yuichi a thumbs up. She then walked up to him and whispered into his ear. “I don’t think Genta is going to mess with you anymore. At least while I’m around.”

Yuichi giggled and whispered back. “I didn’t think a girl could be so strong.”

“Yah.” She punched him lightly on the shoulder. “I hate it when people think I’m weak.”

The bell then rang and they went to class. They were giggling to each other and chatting the whole time because they sat next to each other. Their sensei had told them to shut up a few times, but eventually got fed up and sent them both outside the classroom and told them to raise their hands.

“Yah.” Said Yuichi. “First you save me, and now you get me into trouble?”

“You’ve never been in trouble before?” asked Tori. “You look like the type to get into trouble all the time.”

Yuichi blushed. “What do you know?” His stomach then grumbled.

“Oh yeah. You didn’t have lunch.” Said Tori. “Wait a second.” She took a lollipop out of its wrapper and stuck it into Yuichi’s mouth.

“Vat iz dis?” Yuichi kept his hands up because he was afraid of getting in even more trouble by the teacher.

“It won’t fill you up, but it will make you feel better.” said Tori. “My older brother Akira would always give me a lollipop whenever I was sad. The lollipop would always be too sweet for me to continue crying.”

“Vat makes you dink dat I waz sad?” asked Yuichi. “Boys don’t cry.”

“You really weren’t going to cry?” asked Tori. “If I hadn’t come, you would probably be sobbing on the floor because of that stupid bully.”

Yuichi crunched on his lollipop and swallowed it. “Genta may be mean, but he’s not mean enough for me to let go of my pride and cry.”

“Eight year old boys have pride?” Tori laughed.

“Of course we do.” replied Yuichi. “You must be stupid not to know that.”

“Who are you calling stupid?” asked Tori.

*End of Yuichi’s memory*

 It was after this day that she had become one of his closest friends. The others boys would always complain that Yuichi would be spending more time with Tori than he was with them. It was because Tori was a lot more fun to spend time with. And she was the first girl that he didn’t find weird to talk to. Eventually as time passed and they had gotten older, he couldn’t stop himself from falling for her. He found her boyish charm and strong personality to be cute.  

Tori thought of Yuichi as her best friend. He had always been there for herever since they were kids. She especially recalled the timewhen her father’s takoyaki stand was poor in business. It just seemed as if their normal costumers weren’t showing up anymore. It may have been due to the barbeque restaurant that had opened up across the street. Nothing hurts business more than competition.

She and Yuichi had been in middle school at that time. Tori’s father was at the brink of closing the stand and finding other job opportunities; however they refused to let him give up.Yuichi had volunteered to work together with her father in advertising the stand.They printed out flyers and were posting them at the local schools, the grocery store, the martial arts academy, the bath house, or anywhere else they could think of.After a rough week of hard work,the place became crowded with costumers.Yuichi had even worn a dress and did a skit to help Tori attract customers. Something he wouldn’t normally do of his own free will.

She always wondered why Yuichi had put so much effort into helping her. It may have been becauseYuichi who lived with his mother had thought of her father as his own.It was as if they formed a complete family together. Yuichi would take home her father’s takoyaki and would bring over sweets from his mom’s rice cake shop. Until they entered middle school, they would also have sleepovers all the time with each other.  

The first bell rang and the two managed to make it into class and sit down right before the second bell rang.

“You two were almost late again.” Said Satsuma Haruka. Haruka was her friend since middle school and she was one of the smartest girls in the class. She was alsoin the top ten for their school class. “What was it this time?” she asked.

“Well, Yuichi was being a slowpoke today, riding his bike like a granny.” Tori explained.

“Well that is because somebody slept in today. And I was waiting outside their house.” Yuichi shot back.

“Well, you didn’t have to wait.” Tori replied. “We’re no longer in primary school.”

Yuichi was silent at that. He couldn’t just tell her that he did it because he liked her. It was just too awkward seeing that they had been friends for so long. Tori nudged him a few times with her elbow and when she saw that she didn’t get an answer she gave up.

“Well…” said Tori. “I guess it’s because we have been best buds since primary school.” Tori elbowed him in his side. “Right?” she asked.

“R-right!” Yuichi stammered after his long pause. He would remain happy as long as he could continue to be by her side.

After a few minutes their English homeroom teacher Kashiwa sensei walked in. “Today’s lesson will be basically quizzing you to see if you remember the words from the vocabulary list I gave you. Matsuyama san, what is the Japanese translation of the English phrase how are you?”

Yuichi had just realized he had been called on when Kashiwa sensei threw a piece of chalk at him. “Hajimemae.” Yuichi shouted out.

Kashiwa sensei glared at Yuichi as if he had made the largest mistake in his life. “The correct translation of how are you.” Kashiwa sensei stated. “Is 'ogenki des ka?'”.Yuichi was in for it now, maybe another punishment of clean up duty after school. It would probably be the twenty third time this semester and today was the final day of the semester before our one month break.

Tori and Haruka sat at together at a table located in the corner of the cafeteria. Yuichi came back a little later, glad that Kashiwa sensei had forgotten to give him his punishment. Yuichi sat down and took outchopsticksthat he keptin his jacket pocket. He took them out of his case and then motioned for Tori’s takoyaki which was in her bento box. Tori’s hand quickly snapped the box shut, preventing Yuichi from even getting a taste of the deliciousness which was packed inside.

“Come on.” Yuichi pleaded. “Can’t I just have a little bite?” Yuichi gave Tori puppy dog eyes which made him impossible to refuse. Then he gave the final blow. “I didn’t have breakfast this morning.”

Tori reluctantly opened the box and offered a piece of takoyaki to Yuichi. Every time she tried to stop herself from giving in to him, but Yuichi’s trick from primary school never failed to work. Yuichi picked up the piece dripping with sauce with utter happiness. He stuffed it into his mouth and chewed whilst savoring its taste. He somehow managed to get some sauce on his face.

“Yuichi kun, you got a little sauce right here.” Tori gestured.

“Here?” Yuichi wiped his face where it was completely spotless.

“No, no.” said Tori. “Here, let me do it.” Tori wiped the soy sauce off on her finger and the sauce.

“Kyaaah.” Said Haruka. “You two are like a couple!” Several heads turned towards them.

“I just didn’t want to waste good Takoyaki sauce.” Tori blushed.

Suddenly a mob of girls crowded around the table. They all started pushing and pulling on Yuichi. “We can’t let this tom boy take away our Yuichi sama.” Apparently Yuichi had his own fan club which was composed of all of the girls in their first and second years and even a few from third year.Tori had to admit that her friend Yuichi wasn’t bad looking, but was he really at the level of idols in terms of looks. The shouts of people calling him senpai or sama really sickened her. How could a person enjoy that kind of obvious flirting.  

“Yuichi.” Said a girl with freckles on her face, braided hair, and braces. She was the second smartest girl in the school. “Feel free to borrow my notes anytime!” she continued.“Or borrow me if you need a personal tutor…” The girl just wouldn’t stop giggling in front of him. Was he really that hot?

“I’m fine because I have Tori kun.” Said Yuichi. He pulled her close to him. Although Haruka was in the top ten, Tori although she didn’t look like it, she always scored first on all exams. Her tom boy appearance and near late appearances to school had always fooled people into thinking she was in the bottom heap of the examination score list when she was actually on the top.

Life was perfect and Universities had already started to ask her what field she was planning on majoring in. Although she enjoyed all of her classes, her favorite was literature. As a cover up she stated that she was making a computer game, which wasn’t a lie, while at the same time she would write stories. Her desire to become a novelist was kept from everyone except her two closest friends, Yuichi and Haruka.However, becoming a successful novelist is something difficult to do. And she had already decided that it was probably an impossible dream to pursue. Her writing just wasn’t interesting enough.

“Tori kun is good at sports too.” Yuichi continued. Yup, Tori’s only faults were not being rich and not being gifted with elegant looks. But everyone can’t be perfect, no matter how hard they try. You can’t have everything in life without losing one thing or another.What matters most is that you’re happy and satisfied with what you have.  

“Geez Yuichi!” Tori had said after all of the girls had left. “Why do you use me to get rid of all of your fans? Huh?” Tori was pissed off that her friend was so popular. “Why can’t you just date one of them? You might end up liking them.”

“I haven’t even given the slightest consideration into doing such a thing!” said Yuichi.

“Dude, don’t tell me,” Said Tori. “Are you gay?” Yuichi was taken aback. He couldn’t believe he was hearing such words, especially coming out of the mouth of the girl he liked. Although Tori wassmart, she still couldn’t tell that he had feelings for her.

“No! Where in the world did you get that stupid idea?” shouted Yuichi.

“Maybe because in all 17 years of your life you haven’t dated a single girl while they’re all lining up to get a glimpse of you!” said Tori.

“Well I…” said Yuichi. “Just shut up!” Yuichi stormed off and left the table without another word.

“What’s up with him?” Tori asked Haruka. “Couldn’t he tell that I was just joking?”

Haruka, who understood the feelings Yuichi had for Tori answered, “Don’t like that. You went way too overboard.”

“What do you mean?” Tori sat in a completely unwomanly pose with her legs spread out. She thought it didn’t matter because she was wearing shorts underneath. With her head tilted back, eyes closed, and arms crossed she went into her thinking state of mind. ‘Maybe, just maybe Yuichi likes me.’ She thought. ‘Nah. That possibility is impossible.’

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A/N: So this was more of an intro chapter. I have yet to introduce the other main characters and the plot line. xD Feel free to comment, and I'll try my best to update.