Punching Babies
Hey, guys! ^^
Sorry for the delay, but I'm trying to write more chapters of Hey! Say! JUMP Solves A Mystery before posting any more! My life has been so busy lately! XD
However, here is a one-shot-type story that I wrote for my Creative Writing class as one of my formal pieces that stars Nakajima Yuto (and a whole slew of other famous people)! ^^ This all started out with an exercise in Creative Writing where I had to develop a character through his/her Facebook statuses, which is why it alludes to Facebook so much...^^;;
I hope you will enjoy this! :D NO BABIES WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS STORY! I DO NOT PUNCH BABIES, NOR DO I CONDONE THE PUNCHING OF BABIES, I SWEAR!
Punching Babies
As Mina Tanaka clicked on the “Share” button on Facebook, she could not help but read over what she had posted just seconds before: “Mina Tanaka is excited for her first day at Horikoshi School tomorrow!”. There was nothing sarcastic in her Facebook status - she was genuinely happy to have to the chance to go to Horikoshi School, the top ranked high school in the country that was for the rich and famous. Although Mina was neither of those things, her test scores from the nationwide high school exams were high enough to place her as the #6 ranked student who got in, something she was intensely proud of. See, as long as you are willing to work hard, your dreams will come true, she thought to herself, a silly grin on her face as she looked out towards her bedroom window.
Little did she know, she would soon regret her acceptance into Horikoshi.
* * *
“Oh, my god! Did you see them? Did you see them? They’re sitting right there! Aren’t they so dreamy?”
Mina glared in annoyance at a group of girls crowded around the entrance of her classroom, shamelessly ogling something at the other end of the room. Mina shook her head and snuck a glance at the object of the chattering girls’ fangirling and saw three relatively good-looking boys sitting there, apparently at ease with the attention they were getting.
“Ah, you see them too, right?” asked a voice to her right.
Mina whipped her head around and saw a girl with medium-length black hair and doll-like round eyes looking back at her. The girl gave her a friendly smile and stuck out her hand. “Hi, my name is Mirai Shida. You can call me ‘Mirai-chan’. It’s nice to meet you.”
Mina stared at Mirai in amazement, taking her hand as if she wasn’t sure if the girl was really there or not. No way! This can’t be the Mirai Shida from all the television dramas, movies, and CM’s! “H-hi!” she stuttered back. “I’m Mina Tanaka. ‘Mina-chan’ is fine for me! It’s an honor to meet you!”
Mirai laughed openly. “It’s alright, Mina-chan! You don’t have to look so scared. Here, at this school, mostly everyone is famous, so we don’t care much about special treatment or anything! Just think of me as a normal person! Really, I mean it!” As Mina nodded slowly in reply, Mirai continued, jerking a thumb toward the three boys, “That’s why, you see, those three are taking the fangirling so calmly. They’re used to people observing them all the time, hoping that one of them will mess up and do something silly. But, they truly are here to learn, just like you and me!”
“Wait, so they’re famous?” Mina asked, confused by Mirai’s statement.
“Of course!” Mirai exclaimed. “You don’t know them? They’re my friends, Ryosuke Yamada, Yuri Chinen, and Yuto Nakajima from the boy band, Hey! Say! JUMP! They’ve been getting some publicity recently. You really don’t know them?”
Mina shook her head. She really didn’t remember anything about a band called Hey! Say! JUMP. But, then again, most of her music consisted of J-rock, not J-pop. Something told her that a band with a chipper a name as Hey! Say! JUMP would not be creating rock music like HYDE or Ayabie.
“Hey, Mirai-chan!”
Mina looked up and saw a round-faced boy with a naïve grin on his face waving wildly at Mirai.
The young actress waved enthusiastically back, saying, “Hey, Ryunosuke-kun! What’s up? Got any new drama roles lately?”
The boy nodded. “Yup! I was so happy when I heard that I got the part in ‘Bloody Monday 2’! Can you believe it? I’m going to play a computer-hacking terrorist!”
Mina once again found herself staring at another famous person. I can’t believe it! It’s Ryunosuke Kamiki! Just how many celebrities go to this school?
Ryunosuke seemed to have noticed Mina’s staring, and said, “Who’s this, Mirai-chan? Is she a friend of yours? I don’t think I’ve met her before.”
Mirai nodded, patting Mina gently on the shoulder. “Yes, this is Mina Tanaka. I just met her not that long ago.” She turned toward Mina, gesturing toward the round-faced boy. “Mina-chan, this is Ryunosuke Kamiki. Ryunosuke-kun, this is Mina-chan.”
Ryunosuke stuck out his hand, and Mina shook it, still trying to suppress the surreal feeling that was swirling around sickeningly in her stomach. “Nice to meet you,” she murmured, feeling shy in Ryunosuke’s presence.
At that moment, a middle-aged man with glasses barged through the classroom doorway, narrowly missing the crowd of fangirls. He stopped at the podium in the front of the room, dumped his materials on it, and called for everyone’s attention.
“Hello, everyone! I am Yamamoto-sensei and I am going to be the homeroom teacher for Class 1D! It’s nice to meet you all!” he said, smiling widely.
Like robots, everyone in the class replied, “Hello, Yamamoto-sensei!”
A boy sitting at the top right desk stood up and announced, “Everyone, rise and bow!”
All of the students followed his orders, rising and bowing in unison. As she stood up to do so, Mina looked over at her two new friends, who both gave her a thumbs up in encouragement, Ryunosuke winking at her playfully from his bent over position.
With that, Mina Tanaka’s first day at Horikoshi School started.
* * *
“Yes!” Mina skipped through the school hallways, punching her fists into the air as she celebrated her victory over the test during break time.
Ryunosuke groaned. “Really, Mina-chan. Do you have to be so outspoken about your test scores? You make the rest of us ‘normal people’ feel so stupid!”
Mirai giggled, putting her hand on Ryunosuke’s shoulder. “Oh, come on, Ryunosuke-kun! Let Mina-chan have her fun! Just because the rest of us all got less than passing scores on the English test doesn’t mean that Mina-chan can’t celebrate when she gets a high score! It’s only natural for her to feel happy about it. Isn’t that right, Mina-chan?”
Mina nodded, her head bobbing up and down as she shouted back toward her friends, “Yup! I’m so putting this as my Facebook status when I get home!” She sighed contentedly as she leaned against a window ledge, the sunlight pouring in and illuminating her already radiant face.
Just as she was about to look out at the sunlit scene below, Mina felt someone grab her roughly by the shoulders and spin her around.
“Hey! What gives?” she exclaimed, rubbing her shoulders, where her attacker’s fingernails had dug into her skin.
Four of the girls who she had witnessed fangirling on the first day of class were standing in front her, their hands on their hips and their seemingly plastic faces wearing haughty expressions of anger. One of the girls stepped forward, and said, “Don’t get such a big head just because you got a little higher score on the test!”
“Yeah, you’re still nothing compared to us, you little peasant!” snarled another one.
Mina looked from one angry girl to the next. “What are you talking about? I’m not getting a big head! And…did you just call me a ‘peasant’?” she demanded, her face reddening in fury.
“Hey, hey! Break it up!” Ryunosuke shouted. Both he and Mirai had finally caught up to Mina.
“What do you girls think you’re doing?” asked Mirai, slipping in between Mina and the angry girls.
The leader of the group threw her head back arrogantly, saying “We’re just teaching this peasant her place! Just because she gets a high score doesn’t mean that she can prance around like she owns the place!”
Ryunosuke crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Hey, don’t you think calling Mina-chan a ‘peasant’ is going a bit far? What are we, still stuck in the feudal Edo period? If she wants to be happy about her test score, it’s her right to. You can’t go around restricting her actions!”
Mirai sighed, as the girls glared at Ryunosuke. “Fine. If you girls really aren’t going to back off, we have no choice but to tell Yama-chan about this.”
“No! Not Ryosuke-sama!” gasped the girls in pure horror.
Mirai nodded as if in defeat. “Yup, I’m talking about that Ryosuke-sama. Don’t forget, we’re actually friends with him and not just his rabid fans!”
Upon hearing this, the girls dispersed and Mina sighed in relief. Never before, had Mina faced such animosity at school!
“Well,” said Ryunosuke, patting Mina on the shoulder comfortingly, “that just goes to show you that not everything at Horikoshi is all stars and rainbows.”
Mina nodded grimly. I had no idea that girls could be such plastic ho-bags!
* * *
Mina pounded on the bathroom stall’s door, desperate to get herself out. It was a few days after the test score incident. The plastic ho-bags had found her after classes had ended, shoving her into the bathroom stall and propping both a mop and a chair against the door to keep
Mina from letting herself out. The girls had proceeded to drench Mina with a hose through the gap at the top of the stall before vacating the premises, their maniacal laughter trailing after them.
“Let! Me! Out!” she shouted, her pounding fading away gradually as the futility of her situation sank in. “Please! Just let me out!”
An hour passed, as Mina sank to her knees and waited for someone to set her free, her exhaustion getting the better of her. Just as she thought that she was going to be stuck in a bathroom stall forever, she heard a scuffling noise and suddenly, the door swung open, revealing a concerned-looking Yuto Nakajima.
Mina stared up at the tall boy helplessly, mentally cursing herself for appearing before the celebrity in such a wretched state. “W-what are you doing here?” she asked.
Yuto smiled gently at her. “I overheard some girls talking about how they locked Mina Tanaka of Class 1D in here.” He extended a hand and slowly helped her up to her feet. “You are Mina Tanaka of Class 1D, right?”
Mina replied, “Yeah, I’m in your class…”Her voice trailed off as she thought, Hasn’t he ever noticed me before? We see each other EVERY DAY!
Yuto sighed in relief, his lips stretched in cheerful smile. “Oh, good! I’ve gotten your name right! I was so worried that I had misheard or something!”
Mina raised an eyebrow. He can’t be serious. “Okay, then…Thank you, Yuto-kun, for helping me,” she said.
“You’re welcome! I’m glad to be of some use to you, Mina-chan!” Yuto exclaimed, his cheerful smile still in place.
Mina bid goodbye to Yuto and walked out of the bathroom. She shook her head. Who knew that one of the members of Hey! Say! JUMP was such an idiot! Does he even know which way is up?
* * *
Oh, no! I’m going to be late! I’m going to be late! This is bad!
As Mina tore through the hallways, trying to get to class with only one minute left to spare, her thoughts screamed at her to keep running. Her legs were beginning to burn, but she didn’t care anymore. She wasn’t about to be late to class if she could help it!
Suddenly, her running was brought to an abrupt halt as she slammed into a person in front of her. The impact sent Mina sprawling, the pain it brought only matched by the shock she felt from having run into someone. She felt her eyes tear up as she tried to pick herself up.
A hand swam into view, and Mina took it, allowing the other person to pull her to her feet. Through her watery eyes, Mina dimly made out the features of Yuto Nakajima.
“I’m so sorry, Mina-chan!” exclaimed Yuto. “I can’t believe that just happened! I was looking out the window at the pretty sunrise and all of a sudden, I felt something hit me from behind! Are you alright, Mina-chan?”
“You idiot!” Mina yelled, losing control of her temper. “Why on earth didn’t you get out of my way? Now, we’re both going to be late!”
Yuto looked Mina with a wounded expression on his face. “It’s going to be okay, Mina-chan. Yamamoto-sensei is pretty lax with attendance.”
“But still!” She hung her head in defeat. “I’ve never been late before in my life.”
Yuto patted her gently on the head. “It’s going to be okay,” he said soothingly.
Mina pushed his hand away forcefully. “Don’t touch me, you idiot!” She stormed away, leaving a very hurt-looking Yuto Nakajima rooted to the spot.
* * *
“You did what?” asked Mirai, her eyes wide and her chopsticks halfway to her mouth.
Ryunosuke shook his head, setting his bento down on his desk. “Yeah, that sounds like Yuto Nakajima alright. He means well, but sometimes, he can be a bit of a space case. But in an endearing way, of course!” Ryunosuke added the last sentence quickly as Mirai shot him a look that could have pierced glass.
Mirai’s gaze softened as she turned her attention back to Mina. “Are you alright, Mina-chan? Any injuries?”
“No, I’m perfectly fine. Well, other than a few bruises here and there, that is,” Mina replied, waving away her friends’ concerns.
It was lunchtime, and Mina had just recounted the events that had happened that morning which had led her to stagger into the classroom three minutes late. Just as Mina was picking up the onigiri her mother had made for her, she heard a scraping sound to her left. Yuto Nakajima had pulled over a chair and was attempting to sit right next to her. It’s him! Mina thought, her face livid.
“Hey, guys! Mind if I sit here?” asked Yuto, his tone bright.
“Um…It’s okay with us, but…” Ryunosuke’s voice trailed off as he glanced meaningfully in Mina’s direction.
“No, you can’t sit here,” Mina said flatly.
“But -”
“No!” Mina glared up at the tall boy, daring him to try to sit down. However, Yuto didn’t take her up on the challenge.
“Fine,” he said, his eyes sad. Just as he was about to turn and leave, Yuto added, “I really am sorry about this morning, Mina-chan.”
Mina examined her onigiri, obviously ignoring Yuto. Getting the message, Yuto left to go sit with Ryosuke and Chinen, his head hanging low like a lost puppy. That Yuto Nakajima makes me so angry! So angry that he makes me want to punch babies!
* * *
“Hey, Mina-chan, is it okay if I sit here?”
“No! Get away from me, you idiot!”
Even on the bus, he wants to sit with me! How childish! One day, I’ll punch this idiot in the gut!
Why does he have the ability to make me so angry?
* * *
Mina sighed. It was March again, and like with all the years before, it meant that the school year was about to end. But in addition to marking
the end of the school year, March was significant because of another reason.
White Day was coming.
Ever since she was young, Mina had dreamed of receiving handmade chocolate from a boy on White Day. Unlike Valentine’s Day when girls were expected to give chocolate to the boy they liked, White Day occurred exactly a month later and was the day that boys were expected to give chocolate to the girl they liked. It was a romantic time.
Unfortunately, Mina had never been all that popular with the boys in her class, and so had never fully experienced the sweet feelings of love that came with White Day. She leaned her face against her hand. Oh, well. It doesn’t matter that I don’t have a boyfriend! I don’t need one!
But still, she couldn’t stop herself from dreaming.
* * *
“Mina? Mina-chan?”
Mina looked up groggily from where she had laid her head down in her arms. She had just sat through a particularly boring math class. Without meaning to, she must have fallen asleep.
“What is it?” she asked, wiping the sleep from her eyes on the back of her uniform’s sleeve.
When she removed her sleeve from her eyes, Mina saw a nervous-looking Yuto Nakajima standing there, his hands hidden behind his back.
“Oh, it’s you.”
“Hey, that’s not very nice of you to say!” exclaimed Yuto, pouting slightly.
Mina struggled not to laugh. “I don’t really care. Look, I don’t have time for you to take up, okay? What do you want?”
Yuto’s nervousness seemed to increase as he withdrew something from behind his back. As Mina looked closer, she realized that it was a white, heart-shaped box. “Here, Mina-chan. I just wanted to give you this…for White Day.”
Mina took the box hesitantly from Yuto and opened it. She couldn’t hold back a gasp when she saw what was inside of it. It’s chocolate! And it looks handmade too! “A-are you giving me this, Yuto-kun?” she asked.
“Yeah…Mina-chan, I like you…very much,” said Yuto, struggling over his words.
Mina looked at him as if Yuto had suddenly sprung an extra limb. “Why?”
“What do you mean ‘why’?”
“I mean, why would you like…me?” she asked, looking up at him shyly as her face became tinged with pink.
Yuto said, his words at first coming slowly, but then became a rush, “Well, you’re smart and pretty, and I’m not really sure why, but I really like you! I really do! I find myself wanting to be with you, even though you treat me badly sometimes. There’s just something different…” He looked about him helplessly as if trying to find the right words to say. Finally, he sighed, closing his large eyes. When he opened them again, he seemed much more serious than Mina had ever seen him before. “I just want to protect you, Mina-chan, and let you know that you really do belong at Horikoshi. Because…that’s how I can be with you.”
Mina felt a warm feeling spread across her body. Is this love? “I may not know why you would ever like someone like me who treats you so cruelly, but I think I understand what you mean about finally belonging at Horikoshi. You see, I think I like you too.”
As Yuto brought her to him in a warm hug, the classroom around them erupted in cheers, led on by Mirai and Ryunosuke. Mina couldn’t help but feel truly happy for the first time at Horikoshi School.
Maybe it was worth it after all.
---
I hope that it was fun to read (and that I get a good grade in Creative Writing)! :3
Sorry for the delay, but I'm trying to write more chapters of Hey! Say! JUMP Solves A Mystery before posting any more! My life has been so busy lately! XD
However, here is a one-shot-type story that I wrote for my Creative Writing class as one of my formal pieces that stars Nakajima Yuto (and a whole slew of other famous people)! ^^ This all started out with an exercise in Creative Writing where I had to develop a character through his/her Facebook statuses, which is why it alludes to Facebook so much...^^;;
I hope you will enjoy this! :D NO BABIES WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS STORY! I DO NOT PUNCH BABIES, NOR DO I CONDONE THE PUNCHING OF BABIES, I SWEAR!
Punching Babies
As Mina Tanaka clicked on the “Share” button on Facebook, she could not help but read over what she had posted just seconds before: “Mina Tanaka is excited for her first day at Horikoshi School tomorrow!”. There was nothing sarcastic in her Facebook status - she was genuinely happy to have to the chance to go to Horikoshi School, the top ranked high school in the country that was for the rich and famous. Although Mina was neither of those things, her test scores from the nationwide high school exams were high enough to place her as the #6 ranked student who got in, something she was intensely proud of. See, as long as you are willing to work hard, your dreams will come true, she thought to herself, a silly grin on her face as she looked out towards her bedroom window.
Little did she know, she would soon regret her acceptance into Horikoshi.
* * *
“Oh, my god! Did you see them? Did you see them? They’re sitting right there! Aren’t they so dreamy?”
Mina glared in annoyance at a group of girls crowded around the entrance of her classroom, shamelessly ogling something at the other end of the room. Mina shook her head and snuck a glance at the object of the chattering girls’ fangirling and saw three relatively good-looking boys sitting there, apparently at ease with the attention they were getting.
“Ah, you see them too, right?” asked a voice to her right.
Mina whipped her head around and saw a girl with medium-length black hair and doll-like round eyes looking back at her. The girl gave her a friendly smile and stuck out her hand. “Hi, my name is Mirai Shida. You can call me ‘Mirai-chan’. It’s nice to meet you.”
Mina stared at Mirai in amazement, taking her hand as if she wasn’t sure if the girl was really there or not. No way! This can’t be the Mirai Shida from all the television dramas, movies, and CM’s! “H-hi!” she stuttered back. “I’m Mina Tanaka. ‘Mina-chan’ is fine for me! It’s an honor to meet you!”
Mirai laughed openly. “It’s alright, Mina-chan! You don’t have to look so scared. Here, at this school, mostly everyone is famous, so we don’t care much about special treatment or anything! Just think of me as a normal person! Really, I mean it!” As Mina nodded slowly in reply, Mirai continued, jerking a thumb toward the three boys, “That’s why, you see, those three are taking the fangirling so calmly. They’re used to people observing them all the time, hoping that one of them will mess up and do something silly. But, they truly are here to learn, just like you and me!”
“Wait, so they’re famous?” Mina asked, confused by Mirai’s statement.
“Of course!” Mirai exclaimed. “You don’t know them? They’re my friends, Ryosuke Yamada, Yuri Chinen, and Yuto Nakajima from the boy band, Hey! Say! JUMP! They’ve been getting some publicity recently. You really don’t know them?”
Mina shook her head. She really didn’t remember anything about a band called Hey! Say! JUMP. But, then again, most of her music consisted of J-rock, not J-pop. Something told her that a band with a chipper a name as Hey! Say! JUMP would not be creating rock music like HYDE or Ayabie.
“Hey, Mirai-chan!”
Mina looked up and saw a round-faced boy with a naïve grin on his face waving wildly at Mirai.
The young actress waved enthusiastically back, saying, “Hey, Ryunosuke-kun! What’s up? Got any new drama roles lately?”
The boy nodded. “Yup! I was so happy when I heard that I got the part in ‘Bloody Monday 2’! Can you believe it? I’m going to play a computer-hacking terrorist!”
Mina once again found herself staring at another famous person. I can’t believe it! It’s Ryunosuke Kamiki! Just how many celebrities go to this school?
Ryunosuke seemed to have noticed Mina’s staring, and said, “Who’s this, Mirai-chan? Is she a friend of yours? I don’t think I’ve met her before.”
Mirai nodded, patting Mina gently on the shoulder. “Yes, this is Mina Tanaka. I just met her not that long ago.” She turned toward Mina, gesturing toward the round-faced boy. “Mina-chan, this is Ryunosuke Kamiki. Ryunosuke-kun, this is Mina-chan.”
Ryunosuke stuck out his hand, and Mina shook it, still trying to suppress the surreal feeling that was swirling around sickeningly in her stomach. “Nice to meet you,” she murmured, feeling shy in Ryunosuke’s presence.
At that moment, a middle-aged man with glasses barged through the classroom doorway, narrowly missing the crowd of fangirls. He stopped at the podium in the front of the room, dumped his materials on it, and called for everyone’s attention.
“Hello, everyone! I am Yamamoto-sensei and I am going to be the homeroom teacher for Class 1D! It’s nice to meet you all!” he said, smiling widely.
Like robots, everyone in the class replied, “Hello, Yamamoto-sensei!”
A boy sitting at the top right desk stood up and announced, “Everyone, rise and bow!”
All of the students followed his orders, rising and bowing in unison. As she stood up to do so, Mina looked over at her two new friends, who both gave her a thumbs up in encouragement, Ryunosuke winking at her playfully from his bent over position.
With that, Mina Tanaka’s first day at Horikoshi School started.
* * *
“Yes!” Mina skipped through the school hallways, punching her fists into the air as she celebrated her victory over the test during break time.
Ryunosuke groaned. “Really, Mina-chan. Do you have to be so outspoken about your test scores? You make the rest of us ‘normal people’ feel so stupid!”
Mirai giggled, putting her hand on Ryunosuke’s shoulder. “Oh, come on, Ryunosuke-kun! Let Mina-chan have her fun! Just because the rest of us all got less than passing scores on the English test doesn’t mean that Mina-chan can’t celebrate when she gets a high score! It’s only natural for her to feel happy about it. Isn’t that right, Mina-chan?”
Mina nodded, her head bobbing up and down as she shouted back toward her friends, “Yup! I’m so putting this as my Facebook status when I get home!” She sighed contentedly as she leaned against a window ledge, the sunlight pouring in and illuminating her already radiant face.
Just as she was about to look out at the sunlit scene below, Mina felt someone grab her roughly by the shoulders and spin her around.
“Hey! What gives?” she exclaimed, rubbing her shoulders, where her attacker’s fingernails had dug into her skin.
Four of the girls who she had witnessed fangirling on the first day of class were standing in front her, their hands on their hips and their seemingly plastic faces wearing haughty expressions of anger. One of the girls stepped forward, and said, “Don’t get such a big head just because you got a little higher score on the test!”
“Yeah, you’re still nothing compared to us, you little peasant!” snarled another one.
Mina looked from one angry girl to the next. “What are you talking about? I’m not getting a big head! And…did you just call me a ‘peasant’?” she demanded, her face reddening in fury.
“Hey, hey! Break it up!” Ryunosuke shouted. Both he and Mirai had finally caught up to Mina.
“What do you girls think you’re doing?” asked Mirai, slipping in between Mina and the angry girls.
The leader of the group threw her head back arrogantly, saying “We’re just teaching this peasant her place! Just because she gets a high score doesn’t mean that she can prance around like she owns the place!”
Ryunosuke crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Hey, don’t you think calling Mina-chan a ‘peasant’ is going a bit far? What are we, still stuck in the feudal Edo period? If she wants to be happy about her test score, it’s her right to. You can’t go around restricting her actions!”
Mirai sighed, as the girls glared at Ryunosuke. “Fine. If you girls really aren’t going to back off, we have no choice but to tell Yama-chan about this.”
“No! Not Ryosuke-sama!” gasped the girls in pure horror.
Mirai nodded as if in defeat. “Yup, I’m talking about that Ryosuke-sama. Don’t forget, we’re actually friends with him and not just his rabid fans!”
Upon hearing this, the girls dispersed and Mina sighed in relief. Never before, had Mina faced such animosity at school!
“Well,” said Ryunosuke, patting Mina on the shoulder comfortingly, “that just goes to show you that not everything at Horikoshi is all stars and rainbows.”
Mina nodded grimly. I had no idea that girls could be such plastic ho-bags!
* * *
Mina pounded on the bathroom stall’s door, desperate to get herself out. It was a few days after the test score incident. The plastic ho-bags had found her after classes had ended, shoving her into the bathroom stall and propping both a mop and a chair against the door to keep
Mina from letting herself out. The girls had proceeded to drench Mina with a hose through the gap at the top of the stall before vacating the premises, their maniacal laughter trailing after them.
“Let! Me! Out!” she shouted, her pounding fading away gradually as the futility of her situation sank in. “Please! Just let me out!”
An hour passed, as Mina sank to her knees and waited for someone to set her free, her exhaustion getting the better of her. Just as she thought that she was going to be stuck in a bathroom stall forever, she heard a scuffling noise and suddenly, the door swung open, revealing a concerned-looking Yuto Nakajima.
Mina stared up at the tall boy helplessly, mentally cursing herself for appearing before the celebrity in such a wretched state. “W-what are you doing here?” she asked.
Yuto smiled gently at her. “I overheard some girls talking about how they locked Mina Tanaka of Class 1D in here.” He extended a hand and slowly helped her up to her feet. “You are Mina Tanaka of Class 1D, right?”
Mina replied, “Yeah, I’m in your class…”Her voice trailed off as she thought, Hasn’t he ever noticed me before? We see each other EVERY DAY!
Yuto sighed in relief, his lips stretched in cheerful smile. “Oh, good! I’ve gotten your name right! I was so worried that I had misheard or something!”
Mina raised an eyebrow. He can’t be serious. “Okay, then…Thank you, Yuto-kun, for helping me,” she said.
“You’re welcome! I’m glad to be of some use to you, Mina-chan!” Yuto exclaimed, his cheerful smile still in place.
Mina bid goodbye to Yuto and walked out of the bathroom. She shook her head. Who knew that one of the members of Hey! Say! JUMP was such an idiot! Does he even know which way is up?
* * *
Oh, no! I’m going to be late! I’m going to be late! This is bad!
As Mina tore through the hallways, trying to get to class with only one minute left to spare, her thoughts screamed at her to keep running. Her legs were beginning to burn, but she didn’t care anymore. She wasn’t about to be late to class if she could help it!
Suddenly, her running was brought to an abrupt halt as she slammed into a person in front of her. The impact sent Mina sprawling, the pain it brought only matched by the shock she felt from having run into someone. She felt her eyes tear up as she tried to pick herself up.
A hand swam into view, and Mina took it, allowing the other person to pull her to her feet. Through her watery eyes, Mina dimly made out the features of Yuto Nakajima.
“I’m so sorry, Mina-chan!” exclaimed Yuto. “I can’t believe that just happened! I was looking out the window at the pretty sunrise and all of a sudden, I felt something hit me from behind! Are you alright, Mina-chan?”
“You idiot!” Mina yelled, losing control of her temper. “Why on earth didn’t you get out of my way? Now, we’re both going to be late!”
Yuto looked Mina with a wounded expression on his face. “It’s going to be okay, Mina-chan. Yamamoto-sensei is pretty lax with attendance.”
“But still!” She hung her head in defeat. “I’ve never been late before in my life.”
Yuto patted her gently on the head. “It’s going to be okay,” he said soothingly.
Mina pushed his hand away forcefully. “Don’t touch me, you idiot!” She stormed away, leaving a very hurt-looking Yuto Nakajima rooted to the spot.
* * *
“You did what?” asked Mirai, her eyes wide and her chopsticks halfway to her mouth.
Ryunosuke shook his head, setting his bento down on his desk. “Yeah, that sounds like Yuto Nakajima alright. He means well, but sometimes, he can be a bit of a space case. But in an endearing way, of course!” Ryunosuke added the last sentence quickly as Mirai shot him a look that could have pierced glass.
Mirai’s gaze softened as she turned her attention back to Mina. “Are you alright, Mina-chan? Any injuries?”
“No, I’m perfectly fine. Well, other than a few bruises here and there, that is,” Mina replied, waving away her friends’ concerns.
It was lunchtime, and Mina had just recounted the events that had happened that morning which had led her to stagger into the classroom three minutes late. Just as Mina was picking up the onigiri her mother had made for her, she heard a scraping sound to her left. Yuto Nakajima had pulled over a chair and was attempting to sit right next to her. It’s him! Mina thought, her face livid.
“Hey, guys! Mind if I sit here?” asked Yuto, his tone bright.
“Um…It’s okay with us, but…” Ryunosuke’s voice trailed off as he glanced meaningfully in Mina’s direction.
“No, you can’t sit here,” Mina said flatly.
“But -”
“No!” Mina glared up at the tall boy, daring him to try to sit down. However, Yuto didn’t take her up on the challenge.
“Fine,” he said, his eyes sad. Just as he was about to turn and leave, Yuto added, “I really am sorry about this morning, Mina-chan.”
Mina examined her onigiri, obviously ignoring Yuto. Getting the message, Yuto left to go sit with Ryosuke and Chinen, his head hanging low like a lost puppy. That Yuto Nakajima makes me so angry! So angry that he makes me want to punch babies!
* * *
“Hey, Mina-chan, is it okay if I sit here?”
“No! Get away from me, you idiot!”
Even on the bus, he wants to sit with me! How childish! One day, I’ll punch this idiot in the gut!
Why does he have the ability to make me so angry?
* * *
Mina sighed. It was March again, and like with all the years before, it meant that the school year was about to end. But in addition to marking
the end of the school year, March was significant because of another reason.
White Day was coming.
Ever since she was young, Mina had dreamed of receiving handmade chocolate from a boy on White Day. Unlike Valentine’s Day when girls were expected to give chocolate to the boy they liked, White Day occurred exactly a month later and was the day that boys were expected to give chocolate to the girl they liked. It was a romantic time.
Unfortunately, Mina had never been all that popular with the boys in her class, and so had never fully experienced the sweet feelings of love that came with White Day. She leaned her face against her hand. Oh, well. It doesn’t matter that I don’t have a boyfriend! I don’t need one!
But still, she couldn’t stop herself from dreaming.
* * *
“Mina? Mina-chan?”
Mina looked up groggily from where she had laid her head down in her arms. She had just sat through a particularly boring math class. Without meaning to, she must have fallen asleep.
“What is it?” she asked, wiping the sleep from her eyes on the back of her uniform’s sleeve.
When she removed her sleeve from her eyes, Mina saw a nervous-looking Yuto Nakajima standing there, his hands hidden behind his back.
“Oh, it’s you.”
“Hey, that’s not very nice of you to say!” exclaimed Yuto, pouting slightly.
Mina struggled not to laugh. “I don’t really care. Look, I don’t have time for you to take up, okay? What do you want?”
Yuto’s nervousness seemed to increase as he withdrew something from behind his back. As Mina looked closer, she realized that it was a white, heart-shaped box. “Here, Mina-chan. I just wanted to give you this…for White Day.”
Mina took the box hesitantly from Yuto and opened it. She couldn’t hold back a gasp when she saw what was inside of it. It’s chocolate! And it looks handmade too! “A-are you giving me this, Yuto-kun?” she asked.
“Yeah…Mina-chan, I like you…very much,” said Yuto, struggling over his words.
Mina looked at him as if Yuto had suddenly sprung an extra limb. “Why?”
“What do you mean ‘why’?”
“I mean, why would you like…me?” she asked, looking up at him shyly as her face became tinged with pink.
Yuto said, his words at first coming slowly, but then became a rush, “Well, you’re smart and pretty, and I’m not really sure why, but I really like you! I really do! I find myself wanting to be with you, even though you treat me badly sometimes. There’s just something different…” He looked about him helplessly as if trying to find the right words to say. Finally, he sighed, closing his large eyes. When he opened them again, he seemed much more serious than Mina had ever seen him before. “I just want to protect you, Mina-chan, and let you know that you really do belong at Horikoshi. Because…that’s how I can be with you.”
Mina felt a warm feeling spread across her body. Is this love? “I may not know why you would ever like someone like me who treats you so cruelly, but I think I understand what you mean about finally belonging at Horikoshi. You see, I think I like you too.”
As Yuto brought her to him in a warm hug, the classroom around them erupted in cheers, led on by Mirai and Ryunosuke. Mina couldn’t help but feel truly happy for the first time at Horikoshi School.
Maybe it was worth it after all.
---
I hope that it was fun to read (and that I get a good grade in Creative Writing)! :3