Boys WON'T Be Boys (Karasumori Male Tumbling Team)

[Mary Murdoch]

Mary wasn't quite sure how she had been enlisted for this. She was a music teacher, not a coach. Not a dance instructor. And why her classroom inconveniently had been chosen as the practice venue--she couldn't quite understand that either. The school had a gym, didn't it? So why was her (in her opinion) tiny music classroom being used? She had watched, rather bitter, as some older students came in to push all the stands and chairs aside. She'd had to yell at one of them to watch out for the instruments lined against the walls, as those were the only instruments students even had to use for class.

Tapping her foot, she now paced the room, glancing down at the mats laid out on the floor, while waiting for her guests to arrive. They were the school's male tumbling team. She knew absolutely nothing about tumbling, except that it could be a gymnastic sport. Some kind of mix of dancing and gymnastics...She hadn't bothered with the full details, because she had only been called on to help them choose some music for their next routine, and make sure their moves fit the music. That would be easy for her. Even if she knew nothing about tumbling, she could tell when someone was properly moving to the music. The movement had to be like the notes on the page, completely precise. Being too late or too early was just as bad as it was in music--it would make the overall product seem juvenile. And that wouldn't do.

She was considering going to sit down at her desk and waiting for them there, but didn't move when she saw someone entering the room.

"Watch out for the instruments," she spoke sharply, afraid for the massive tuba that had been moved to the corner near the door.

[Tsukimori Ryosuke]

Ryosuke didn't technically mind working with other people, even the geekiest kids in the school, but he definitely had a rather different comfort zone with those people he did consider, at the least, close acquaintances. There had always been something sort of frightening about Murdoch Sensei, the music teacher at Karasumori High, and Ryosuke had done everything in his power to see to it that he never had classes with her.

Until now, he'd been quite successful. He'd always secretly wanted to learn more about music, maybe singing too, outside of karaoke....just not from this woman.

In fact, Ryosuke hesitated at the doors to the music classroom. He'd arrived much earlier than the others, from what he could see peering in from the corridor. The classroom looked completely empty, aside from the mats laid out across the floor, the musical instruments set to all sides of the room. Losing himself to his thoughts, his unfocused gaze stuck on a silver trumpet lying on a lonely classroom chair, Ryosuke pondered just what about Murdoch Sensei really scared him.

Well, for one thing, she was fairly tall for a woman. He didn't think he'd ever met such a tall woman before, not even in the city. Another, he couldn't pronounce her name, even though he'd prided himself in his decent ability in English class. Third of all, he'd heard that she was something of a feminist deviant. That was possibly scariest of all. Feminists were a completely different species to Ryosuke. He hadn't even known the word until he'd heard it from another classmate and looked it up on his own in the dictionary.

He....didn't really understand feminists.

And he didn't understand why he was here now either.

Oh yeah, Tumbling meet.

With rather bitter apprehension, Ryosuke took a deep breath, pocketed the cell phone he'd been fiddling with all the way down the hall, and stepped inside. The first thing Ryosuke saw was the somewhat frightful woman. She looked stern, as she often did when he saw her, but more than that, she seemed annoyed. Her gaze seemed to narrow down on him as he entered, and that was probably scarier than anything else. Like she was trying to read his mind or something.

Ryosuke froze, his eyes widening, waiting for whatever she looked about to say. Was she going to kick him out already?

"Watch out for the instruments."

Ryosuke looked behind him. Oh.......a....tuba, was it? Whatever that big instrument was called. He merely nodded his head at the woman, grimacing at the thought of having to be here for another hour or so, at the thought that after all his hard work of avoiding her, he was finally going to his doom.
"You'd think they were her kids or something..." he mumbled under his breath, staring at the instruments grudgingly as he tried to find space in the room to stand without having to get too close to Murdoch Sensei or her precious instruments.

[Mary Murdoch]

Mary narrowed her eyes at the sight of the boy in front of her and groaned inwardly. The awkward blonde hair over the Japanese face, the way his uniform jacket wasn't buttoned-up properly. Just from the sight of him she could tell he was one of those delinquent students--not like the delinquent she had been. She, at least, had taken an interest in the arts, busied herself with something other than being a bad *ss. Whereas from the looks of this kid, he probably hadn't tried very hard. She certainly had never seen him in her class before, and she could only assume by the look of him that he had no interest in anything artistic. He didn't even look like he wanted to be at this tumbling practice, or whatever it was.

That being said, it didn't occur to her that it was special that he, as a delinquent, was even devoting his time to being in the school's male tumbling club.

The boy's eyes widened at the sound of her voice, but she didn't show him any remorse for her words. She was serious. This might be a poor school, but if he broke anything, he was going to pay for it one way or another. She saw the boy turn around and stare at the precious tuba in the corner by the door, before he turned around, mumbling to himself while looking around the room awkwardly.

"What was that?" she asked him, her voice as loud and confident as usual. She was sure whatever he'd said had something to do with her. Knowing she wouldn't get an answer out of him though, she narrowed her eyes again and rose to her feet, staring at him over her glasses and eying his hair distastefully. "I don't quite appreciate children who talk to themselves. Makes one seem a bit off, in my opinion. But since you're here now, I suppose you can just start with practicing, or...whatever it is you do." She folded her arms and stared at him impatiently.

[Kiyama Ryuichiro]

Kiyama was anxious.

Despite popular belief, it wasn't exactly a rare occurrence. It was because this "Murdoch" lady, she was something else.

Her name made her sound like the villainess of a Final Fantasy game, while she looked like the evil stepmother from a kids' movie. The fact that she was a foreigner did nothing to help matters -- it just made her seem that much more strange and alien in his mind. And then there were the stories.

Kiyama couldn't recall the last time he'd been intimidated so much by a teacher, but he tried to keep an open mind. He knew that he didn't have the warmest demeanor, and if he had a yen for each time he overheard an outlandish story about him... he could probably afford the tuition at Washizu. Unfortunately, he'd heard that Murdoch's reign extended to the rich kid school, too.

In any case, Kiyama wasn't musically inclined, and he knew it. Until then, he'd had cause to avoid her class like the plague, but this day... this particular day, it had been decided that she would help the gymnastics team with the dance portions of their newest routine.

But practice was practice, he thought, as he stood outside of the music room that afternoon. The door was open, so he cautiously stepped in to a small, jumbled room with furniture and instruments lining the walls and mats set up in the center. In the middle, he saw Tsukimori Ryosuke. He inwardly smiled. The blonde wasn't his favorite person in the world, but any kind of distraction from the fabled foreign fright was a good one. And across the room, well, it was her. She was staring at Ryosuke, seemingly with all the disdain in the world. Although she wasn't even looking at Kiyama, he felt the room's temperature drop a few degrees when he caught a look at her eyes.

Kiyama had often heard his peers refer to his "scary gaze" and "cold eyes", but a glimpse of those icy... blue... man, there was no way his could be that bad.

He turned his attention to the room's other occupant. Hmmm, Ryosuke looked aggravated already. Kiyama wondered how much of that was the boy's just being irritable in general, or if Murdoch had actually started to harass him. He slid over to Ryosuke, standing so the other yankee was between him and the fierce-looking instructor. Part of him wanted to greet his teammate, and maybe ease some of the tension in the room... but the mere presence of the woman deterred him from saying a word. In his best attempt to cover his nervousness, he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked over the instruments surrounding him, doing his best to look interested in them and avoid the gaze of the bespectacled lady.

[Tsukimori Ryosuke]

"What was that?"

Ryosuke pivoted on the spot he was currently standing at, his eyes wide again. Had he been so loud that she'd heard him? Anyway, whatever....Why was he afraid of her? He'd just been telling the truth...

Still, the teacher gave him the look of death, peering at him from over her glasses with the kind of eyes he imagined people like the Devil and characters from Ju On and Ringu might have. It was really very uncomfortable being alone in the room with this woman, especially knowing that any move he might make could cause some random, unseen instrument crashing to the ground and spur Murdoch Sensei into a fit of fury he was sure he didn't want to see.

"I don't quite appreciate children who talk to themselves," The woman went on, still watching him carefully. "Makes one seem a bit off, in my opinion. But since you're here now, I suppose you can just start with practicing, or...whatever it is you do."

Then she folded her arms and just stood there to stare.

Ryosuke found he had to look away, still not entirely sure what to think about what she'd just said to him, but knowing speaking against it would be rash. Yet even when he finally turned his head, he found she was still looking. Was she waiting for him to practice on the mats or something?

Well, then she was in for quite a wait. First things first, he wasn't doing anything without any of the other guys present, he still had to change into his warm-up clothes (which he figured he'd do in one of the practice rooms he'd noticed while walking into the music room), and perhaps most importantly, there was no way he was giving this old broad a show. He felt like gagging just at the idea alone.

Then Kiyama walked in. Ryosuke didn't even care that his sigh of relief was probably more audible than Japan's next largest earthquake was bound to be. Instead, he just sort of nodded his head to the other. Even though he didn't smile outwardly or even wave a hand--with Murdoch Sensei watching, it just felt too awkward--he really was grateful. Fate had seen to it that he didn't have to put on any kind of freak show for "Murder-Rock Sensei". That was good.

Ryosuke waited impatiently for the moment of silent staring from their new instructor to pass, turning his head slightly with an eagerness to talk to Kiyama. Even the dark-haired Yankee looked very much as though he'd prefer to be quiet, though Ryosuke realized that was typically always how the other looked.

"Did you see the others coming?" he asked, simultaneously daring a glance at Murdoch from the corner of his eye.

[Mary Murdoch]

ooc: It annoys me how she judges them before she knows them.... And guys, don't worry if you can't write a lot in response. I think the rest of the team (or as many as possible) need to join in before we can write a lot anyway! I'll have Mizusawa join in next, probably!

ic:

The boy didn't answer her, as she expected. Rather, he looked away from her, apparently unable to maintain her eye contact. Of course, he still wasn't moving to do anything productive. Was he one of those lazy students as well? Perhaps the "lazy one" on this team of boys? Maybe there were all like this though. After all, as far as she'd heard--and what she'd heard had been quite little--the male tumbling team at this school was something of a joke. Not wanted and apparently unneeded, considering the female team was top in the area. (A thought of which brought her feminist side great joy.)

But she wasn't going to gloat about that now. First she had to get through a full practice with the boys themselves. Maintaining her gaze on the blonde boy, she clucked her tongue at him and then moved to go back to her desk.

She didn't see another boy enter the room, not until he was standing beside the blonde. This one looked like a troublemaker too. He was very tall, very built, for a high school student. And he had all the demeanor of another delinquent. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. The school might be poor, but that shouldn't mean so many kids were delinquents. She had plenty of good kids in her music class. Now she was beginning to see why the male tumbling team had been considered so wishy-washy. They probably didn't take it seriously at all.

This one was shoving his hands into his pockets, looking a tad nervous about something. She wondered if he'd committed some crime before coming here, robbed a kid of his lunch money or something. But then again, as a delinquent, that probably wouldn't bother him.

A phone call home might, she thought, staring at him now and deciding that she'd be the first to make that call if he caused her problems.

She continued to watch as the blonde turned to the darker boy, still looking quite uncomfortable.

"Did you see the others coming?"

"I might ask you the same thing, Mr...?" She watched the blonde for a moment, before turning to the other. "I suppose if I'm going to have to teach you how to understand music, I ought to know your names first. Both of you," she added, looking back at the blonde.

[Tsuchiya Satoshi]

It wasn't like him to be late, Satoshi always tried to be either early or on time when they had meetings, and this time they were allowed to practice in the band room. He slowed his pace, feeling a quick pang in his chest. He leaned against the wall as he evened out his breathing. His medication was back in the boys' clubroom, and after a few minutes, his breathing returned to normal.

Satoshi took a deep breath, his feet beginning to move again as he neared the band room. From the small window on the door, he could make out Kiyama by some instruments. A wave of relief came over him. If Kiyama was there, then surely he wasn't late. He reached the door, his chest no longer hurting, and he gripped the handle, pushing the door open. He bowed, not sure how many people were really in the room.

"Sorry if I was late." He lifted his head, finally seeing Ryosuke and the teacher. A smile slipped onto his face, as if to counter the atmosphere in the room. Suddenly he noticed just how... quiet it was.

[Kiyama Ryuichiro]

Kiyama stifled a groan as he scanned the perimeter of the room, quickly finding that he couldn't name half of the instruments surrounding him. He was way out of his element, and it really bothered him. He mused on looking up some music stuff (despite the fact that going the extra mile to garner favor with a teacher was totally un-yankee-like) when he felt it.

She was looking at him now... Murdoch. Judging his very soul.

He turned to the side, just enough to see the teacher out of his peripheral vision, and confirmed that he was right. She didn't look all too happy to see him, either -- did he do something wrong? Or maybe she'd heard the rumors about him?

Before he could ruminate on the woman's gaze anymore, he saw Ryosuke shoot her a look, almost defiantly. It was a really Ryosuke-like thing to do... Although he felt feel a bit worried for him, Kiyama couldn't help but think, better him start trouble than me.

That's when the blonde yankee asked, "Did you see the others coming?" He still looking to the teacher.

Kiyama wanted to shrug, but quickly decided that would be much too flippant for being in the wake of the Murdoch threat.

But before he could decide what to do, the woman cut in, her voice as firm and as condescending as Kiyama imagined it would be. "I might ask you the same thing, Mr...? I suppose if I'm going to have to teach you how to understand music, I ought to know your names first. Both of you."

Kiyama swallowed hard, flashing Ryosuke a nervous look. He turned to Murdoch and had to surpress the urge to look away.

Why did she make him this nervous? He was Kiyama Ryuichiro, known as a badass amongst badasses. He probably couldn't count the number of fights that he'd been through the years. He knew that a well-placed look from him could send a shiver down the spines of most of the Kara High student body... and staff, for that matter. So why the hell did this little old British lady intimidate him?

"Kiyama Ryuichiro... ma'am," he answered, more promptly than a proper yankee should.

Still, his voice was firm and as monotonous as ever, at least, he hoped it was. He debated adding something else when the classroom door slid open and stole his attention.

He turned to see Tsuchiya Satoshi standing at the entrance of the classroom; he immediately bowed.

"Sorry if I was late."

Then he smiled, and a part of Kiyama wanted to tell him to run, and far away -- the kid was much too nice to be skewered by scary foreign teacher lady. Another part of him reminded him that Tsuchiya was far more resilient than he looked... the kid would be okay.

And finally, there was this voice that was telling him that he was just being stupid.

Kiyama started chewing on the inside of his cheek, and turned to inspect what he guessed might be a trumpet. Or a tuba. Trombone? Why do they all begin with that sound...

He moved to shove his hands in his pockets, and felt a bit silly when he found that they were already there.

[Tsukimori Ryosuke]

"I might ask you the same thing, Mr...?"

Ryosuke shared a look with Kiyama, raising his eyebrows to signal his own disbelief, then turned back to the frightening woman.

In fact, he only realized Murdoch was speaking to him once he'd turned around and was once again met with her stony gaze. He wasn't even sure he wanted to give her his name (he got the feeling she might use it for some creepy voodoo practice or something, whatever gaijin teachers did to students they didn't like), but he knew he didn't have much choice. Murdoch decided to reiterate that fact.

"I suppose if I'm going to have to teach you how to understand music, I ought to know your names first," she said. "Both of you."

"Tsukimori." Ryosuke's voice was low. He still had his hands in his pockets. Why the hell did she have to stare at him like that?

She didn't know know his first name, yet anyway, so hopefully it would stay that way and any black magic she tried to cast his way would fail. Hell, she could go for Kiyama. That would be okay. That guy was such a rock, Ryosuke got the impression that even bullets bounced off him.

And that was when Tsuchiya flounced in. Ryosuke almost felt indebted to the younger Tumbling team member for providing a distraction.

The somewhat naive little guy bowed, his usual smile on his face, then said, "Sorry if I was late."

At any other time, Ryosuke would have waved a hand to signal it was nothing, maybe just shrugged it off, but everything seemed to droop along with Tsuchiya's smile when he saw Murdoch. So scary witch lady even had the ability to make the happiest kid in the school cower in fright. That was definitely a feat.

Ryosuke suddenly felt a tad determined. Not to be afraid of this lady. It didn't seem right that she had this kind of power over them, or that they had to feel like they deserved her judgment. They'd done nothing to her--at least Ryosuke knew he personally hadn't--so maybe it was time he combated this feeling of being inferior. Maybe that was what made it worst of all. Feeling inferior.

"You're not late, Tsyuchiya." He finally shrugged. "So ummm........" Ryosuke hesitated. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to speak at all, but maybe if he showed Murder-rock Sensei that he wasn't intimidated, even if he was....

"What kind of music stuff are you going to be teaching us?"

[Mizusawa Taku]

ooc: Sorry it's so short! >< I wanted to write one for Murdoch though!

ic:

Mizusawa was on his own heading to the band room. Truthfully, he'd been hoping to meet up with a friend before going there, but he'd had to stay after in class to ask Kashiwagi Sensei about something on one of his recent tests, and he hadn't wanted to make the others late because of him. Actually, he'd ended up being much later than he intended because Kashiwagi had also insisted he try a few new types of cookies he had made...some which Mizusawa was regretting trying right now. He grimaced as he touched a hand to his stomach. He didn't feel so good right now.

As he neared the band room, he heard a voice. A female voice. The teacher? She didn't sound very happy. He got closer and saw now that another figure was in the door. From the hair and height, he guessed....Tsuchiya?

"Hey there, Tsu--" he began, but before he could finish, he heard a piercing, snide, accented female voice. "Will you get in the room? Don't dawdle, we haven't got all day!"

He hesitated until Tsuchiya had gone inside, then quietly made his way in as well to face the teacher. He'd known she was a foreigner by her name alone--Murdoch. But seeing her now--somehow he'd never noticed her in the school before--he was a bit intimidated. She didn't look very friendly. Or maybe it was just that she was angry right now.

"Osokunatte, sumimasen," ("I'm sorry I'm late") he said quietly, bowing his way in.

[Mary Murdoch]

The first to respond was the dark-haired, taller delinquent. "Kiyama Ryuichiro... ma'am," the tall, dark-haired boy said quickly, though she still found something about his voice irritating. And she certainly had not missed the exchange of looks that had occurred between he and his comrade a moment before he'd spoken. She would let that slide, for now. At least they were finally getting somewhere with names. "Mr. Kiyama," she repeated, before turning on the other boy for his answer.

Of course he sounded just as defiant when he answered her. "Tsukimori." Ryosuke's voice was low. He still had his hands in his pockets. She stared at him for a moment. "Is there a first name that goes with that?" she asked him, feeling a tad annoyed at the way the boy had spoken to her. She had to keep her cool.

And then, the party finally seemed to arrive. It wasn't nearly all of them yet, but finally a third person had arrived.

"Sorry if I was late." This one was smaller than the other two, but unlike them, he actually looked--how could she put it?--normal. Like the sorts of kids she taught in her music class. He even bowed when he entered, and a smile graced his face when he looked up. Although for whatever reason, at the moment she was feeling particularly annoyed with the other two boys. Maybe that was why the smile, the bow, the normalcy...none of it was enough.

"You're not late, Tsyuchiya."

The blonde was speaking, and had already introduced the younger boy, to some extent. She opened her mouth to say something to this Tsuchiya, but before she had the chance, the blonde continued to speak. She frowned.

"So ummm........" Ryosuke hesitated. "What kind of music stuff are you going to be teaching us?"

She stared at him. "...Music stuff?"

Before she could say more (how dare the blonde delinquent refer to music in such an insignificant way!), another boy walked in. Like the one before him, he apologized for being late and also bowed, and he too--though a little bigger than Mr. Tsuchiya--looked like the average high school boy. So how many delinquents versus regular students were on this team? She'd heard there were nine of them in total. And right now, in her classroom, there were only...

"Four of you are here. That's it? Names please, you two." She motioned to the two new boys, fixating her gaze on the little one first. Slipping behind her desk once more, she took out a pen and paper and began jotting the names down that she already had. Then, looking at Mr. Tsukimori and Mr. Kiyama, she frowned. "Well, a space has been cleared for you, as you can see. Why don't you start doing those stretches or whatever it is you do."

[Tsuchiya Satoshi]

ooc: Short response is short, but I tried to move the thread along.


No sooner had Satoshi entered the music room did another come behind him, he glanced back, finding Mizusawa. He gave his senpai a nod, turning back at the rest of the people in the room.

Only to find the foreign woman in the room looking in his direction. He froze up, finding her stare to be a little bit scary, to say the least. She pointed his way, "Four of you are here. That's it? Names please, you two."

“Ah!” Satoshi suddenly felt himself jump to attention, pitching forward so he was bowing again, “I’m Tsuchiya Satoshi. Pleased to be working with you.” He lifted his head, a smile on his face. He couldn’t help it. A smile naturally comes on his face, even when he couldn’t help it.

He watched as the woman, Murdoch-sensei, jot something down before turning to the two Yankees on the team, "Well, a space has been cleared for you, as you can see. Why don't you start doing those stretches or whatever it is you do."

Satoshi felt his cheeks flush, his voice sounding extra high amongst the quiet, tense atmosphere. “Ano…” He dipped his head again, “We need to be in proper attire. The others can’t stretch in their school uniform.” He looked up, seeking approval from the rest of his teammates. At least, those that were there.

Where were the others anyway?

Not to dwell on stuff negative thoughts, he held up a bag he carried in with him, a bag that he had momentarily forgot he had with him, “I brought along everyone’s uniforms. That’s why I was late.”

[Tsukimori Ryosuke]

As soon as Ryosuke had spoken, he realized he'd touched a nerve. Murder-Rock's glare had just gotten icier.

"...Music stuff?"

And that was when Mizusawa Taku flounced in and saved 1/100th of the day.

"Osokunatte, sumimasen."

Ryosuke looked up.

Mizusawa had just entered the room. He was looking about as thrilled as everyone else present, something that would have been laughable if it weren't for the fact that an aura of complete stony seriousness now hung over the room. Mizusawa and Tsuchiya had both always been pretty good students--Mizusawa had been in Ryosuke's class for a while now for him to see that with his own eyes, and Tsuchiya often got praised by Kashiwagi, so the Yankee was sure the younger guy was just as capable in the classroom as he was as a team manager. The fact that they were intimidated by this teacher as well definitely meant it was something big.

Anyway, Ryosuke was just glad that the woman's attention seemed to have turned to some new thing to pick apart. She was no longer about to eat him alive for being bold as brass.

"Four of you are here. That's it? Names please, you two."

Ryosuke chanced a glance at Mizusawa and Tsuchiya as the teacher busied herself getting back to her desk. He wasn't sure if either of the two would even dare look his way when she was addressing them, but...... Sh*t, Murdoch was looking.

"Well, a space has been cleared for you, as you can see. Why don't you start doing those stretches or whatever it is you do."

Ryosuke blanched. Was she serious? Wait, was anyone serious? Why had this been set up for here and now to begin with? They hadn't even been given the chance to change into their uniforms, and even then, Ryosuke was fairly positive he didn't want to be doing anything remotely close to a stretch in those tight pants. Not in front of Murder-Rock Sensei, anyway. He'd gotten a little more used to the fact that it had to be done in front of their female schoolmates, and come to accept that. But doing it in front of Murdoch and her icy stare? Heh heh.........noooooo, someone had to have been joking when they set this up.

But Tsuchiya had brought the uniforms....

"Uh so.....yeah." Ryosuke didn't really want to speak, but he was well-aware that the longer they all stood there saying nothing, the more Murdoch Sensei would insist they start stretching or changing or whatever, and that just couldn't happen right now. "Can we all be excused to the bathroom? Tsuchiya brought the uniforms, yeah, but we can't stretch without them and we can't change in here."

In the event that Murdoch Sensei did want them to just change right there, right now, he quickly added, "I mean...we might....knock over a drum or something by accident."

[Nippori Keiji]

Nippori was mentally kicking himself. Why did he always end up being late more than anyone else? It was almost only whenever the club was to meet with someone though, that he was late. It was like some sort of...‘late’ curse. Or something. It never led to anything good though. He had already embarrassed himself in front of Minami once for being late, and he was sure that this wasn’t about to leave a positive impression on Murdoch-sensei either.

He didn’t know much about the foreign teacher, except that she was, well, foreign and that she taught music. That was it. Nothing else. Although, that was probably to do with the fact that he hadn’t ever seen her around the school, not that he recalled at least, and because he never took music as a subject. He knew about her reputation of being quite strict and intimidating though, and that was enough for him to mentally kick himself even more for being late.

The reasoning for him being late almost always went back to his teachers though. He wasn’t doing all that well with his studies lately – well, less well than usual – and his teacher had held him behind after class to discuss things. He had never been the smartest, but he had always managed reasonably well (at least in his opinion) considering how little schoolwork he managed to get done at home. Part of him was determined to do better, but then there was the bigger part of him that just wanted to relax and/or sleep when he got home from work.

He didn’t blame his lack of enthusiasm for learning on anyone but himself, however, but lately things had been a little more hectic and stressful at home than usual. He hadn’t said anything to his friends, because he didn’t want to worry them any. They probably had things of their own to be dealing with, so they didn’t need to hear about his problems, right?

By the time he had managed to escape from his teacher, Nippori was already late, so he had ran all the way down to the music department to make sure he wasn’t too much later, and he expected everyone else to be there already. He was probably going to get scolded, he guessed...even if it wasn’t really his fault he was late, disregarding the fact that he was failing at his schoolwork being the reason he was kept behind.

He dashed quickly down the corridor to the music classroom, before quickly skidding to a halt, stopping just before he reached it. Regaining his footing, he opened the classroom door and stepped inside.

What happened next happened so fast that it didn’t even register until after it had already happened. Either he hadn’t regained his footing properly yet, or it could have been because he was in a rush, he wasn’t sure. But either way, he managed to knock the large Tuba by the door with his leg pretty hard, causing it to topple to the side into a bass drum beside it. There was a clang as the Tuba hit off the metal rim of the drum before it hit the floor, but thankfully the drum was secured in place by another instrument beside it, so it didn’t fall over as well.

He was completely unaware that all of this happened in rather comical timing with Ryosuke’s words before he entered, although it seemed doubtful that anyone would laugh. At least the instruments aren’t damaged... he thought to himself, although he doubted that Murdoch would see it that way. He grimaced, wincing, waiting on the teacher to yell at him, knowing that it was coming any second now...



((ooc – oooooooh dear, Nippori’s in trouble now. What a wonderful first impression he’s made XD sorry this took me so long to do (OMG, needing to say that, ONCE AGAIN ><). I guess I was nervous about Nippori getting yelled at...? lolz. Also, I’m not sure if I like this post or not because I kinda rushed it, but I don’t care because IT FEELS GOOD TO WRITE WITH NIPPORI AGAIN XD))

[Kiyama Ryuichiro]

OOC: I KNOW this took forever and a day, I'm so sorry! And then I really don't move things along any... ^^;; This post is such a cop-out, I know~ I was tempted to do something, but I really don't want to get in the way of Murdoch's reaction to Nippori! Maybe next time... XD


After stating his name, Kiyama tried his best to tune out what was going on around him. The way it was looking, his teammates were all trickling in. It would take a while for them all to get there and they couldn't get started with less than half the team in the room. And as aggressively as she spoke, the only thing coming out of the teacher's mouth were... something like reverse-formalities, and Kiyama really never liked yelling and fussing that much, no matter who did it.

He looked around the room once more as he half-listened to some dialogue being passed between the other two boys and the teacher.

His attention wavered like that until he noticed another person appear in the doorway -- Mizusawa. After she commanded introductions from the new additions to the room, she turned back to the direction of the yankees, still looking as grumpy as ever. "Well, a space has been cleared for you, as you can see. Why don't you start doing those stretches or whatever it is you do."

Kiyama looked to his blonde teammate before frowning. Intimidating foreigner or not, this woman had a really bad attitude and it he found that it was really getting on his nerves. It seemed kind of acceptable when it had just been him and Tsukimori in the room; they were the "infamous" delinquents and teachers rode them all the freaking time. Yet this woman was snapping at everyone, even kids as innocuous as Tsuchiya and Mizusawa...

"Ano… We need to be in proper attire. The others can’t stretch in their school uniform. I brought along everyone’s uniforms. That’s why I was late."

Kiyama nodded, hearing that. That Tsuchiya, always thinking! Kiyama toed at a stray scuff mark on the floor, wondering why he hadn't thought to change before arriving.

That's when he heard a few words from Tsukimori's direction.

"Can we all be excused to the bathroom? Tsuchiya brought the uniforms, yeah, but we can't stretch without them and we can't change in here. I mean...we might....knock over a drum or something by accident."

And four points for you, Tsukimori! Offering a way out... this was good. Kiyama bit his lip; he knew should probably contribute too. Not that he usually piped in during these kinds of situations, but one look around the room told that none of the boys seemed to be too thrilled in the room with the English lady, and the two that had spoken nothing but the truth about the uniform thing.

Kiyama furrowed his brows, ready to... say something to the effect of "let's get the hell away from this crazy so we can change" (though in a much less offensive manor)... when something amazing happened.

It happened so quickly, that he almost didn't notice that it was Nippori that came sliding into the classroom. And he kept sliding... until he collided with a big, shiny... horn-looking kinda thing, which in turn knocked over a drum. As the proverbial dust settled and a clang resounding throughout the room, Kiyama couldn't do anything but stand and stare at the pile of yankee and instrument by the door.

Considering how protective Murdoch seemed of the instruments before, and how fussy she'd been when no one had done anything wrong, Kiyama didn't even want to think about wrath that the second-year yankee would incur. He had the passing thought to... do something, but between the foreign teacher's volatility and his own damn luck, there was nothing good that would come of it.

So... Kiyama just kind of stood there, waiting for what he knew would happen, and wondering if one of his teammates with more initiative might do anything to make this meeting less painful.