Study, Nikogaku, Study! - Day 1

by Wind Chijmes

It started auspiciously enough.

The morning baseball practice went smoothly. Hiyama's batting had improved by leaps and bounds; he could even hit Aniya's pitches once in a while now, when in the past, all he could do was look. Shinjo's stamina had increased so much that he was now right up there with the best. The rest maintained consistently good standards during practice.

It was later, after the practice ended, that the day began unravelling.

All the boys exceeded their time allocated for the lunch break, reporting for the day study session only at one in the afternoon, a whole hour past schedule. Most of them were unrepentant as well, groaning and grumpy as they filed into the club room.

They took another hour to get settled. Many had forgotten to bring the necessary textbooks and revision exercises. Some could not remember which subjects they had failed in the first place. Others had issues with the dimensions of the club room. Not built for the purpose of study, the club room was already packed with lockers, boards, benches and baseball equipment. Now filled with ten restless youths, it was practically bursting at the seams.

Trapped in a room with too little space and nothing to do – the original purpose of studying notwithstanding – it didn't take long for the first quarrel to rear up.

"Get outta the way, Okada," Wakana said to the boy sprawled near the door.

Under most circumstances, Okada would have complied, and quite readily too. It was not so much out of fear, but simply the wisdom in choosing the least troublesome option. Wakana was in a foul mood half the goddamned time, and Okada valued his wellbeing enough to avoid unnecessary injuries. The only problem was, Okada had been trying unsuccessfully for close to an hour to teach a thick-headed Yufune the basic concept of calculus, and now he was frustrated and in a mood as black as anyone else's.

"Piss off, Wakana." Okada refused to budge. "You shouldn't be going out anyway. I bet you don't know what pulmonary arteries are!"

Wakana was stunned for a second, as if he could not believe Okada just mouthed off to him, about Biology no less. But he recovered almost instantly. Reaching down, he gripped the youth's shirt and hauled him up to his feet. Okada's expression did not even flicker as he stared defiantly up at Wakana. He might be smaller than Wakana, but he could hold his own in a fight, and they both knew it.

Before a fight could erupt however, Mikoshiba was already there, sandwiching himself between the feuding boys. "Stop it!"

All three were locked in that situation for a tensed moment, before Wakana snorted and released Okada with a shove. "I'm getting some fresh air," he muttered to no one in particular. "Fucking stuffy in here."

Mikoshiba glanced at Okada. The youth eased off, now looking more sullen than angry. "Fine," Okada said shortly, once again sinking to the floor and picking up his scattered books.

Twenty minutes later, at two in the afternoon, and another hour short of the schedule, the rest of the boys decided it was time for post-lunch break, which was most definitely not in the schedule. Led by Shinjo and Sekikawa, they trooped to the door, where Mikoshiba had stubbornly planted himself. No, he would not budge, not even when Sekikawa nicely told him to fucking move, please. So, Shinjo bodily hauled him out of the way not-so-nicely, and everyone departed.

A defeated Mikoshiba was left in the club room, staring down at the assortment of books scattered around the room like bits of litter.

Later on, none of the members turned up for the evening baseball practice, and certainly not the night study session.

Prologue ~ Day 1 ~ Day 2 ~ Day 3 ~ Day 4 ~ Day 5 ~ Epilogue ~