#5 Junior High School

Yuichi continued his daily routines, going to school, practicing martial arts under that old man, playing with his friends sports, and then occasionally spending time with Mei since he was aware that she is a shy type of person in an unfamiliar city so he was trying to make it easier for her to adapt. He also didn't forget about his promise to show her around and he did as he promised.

Overall, they became good friends, however, Yuichi still preferred to spend his time playing soccer or other sports with his gang. The old man aside from teaching Yuichi martial arts was also occasionally asking him very weird questions but Yuichi got used to it very quickly and accepted it as his way of seeing through his real character, however, sometimes those questions didn't even have a firm and right answer which slightly confused Yuichi.

In a blink, 3 years passed by and Yuichi turned 12...

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It was another morning for Yuichi who got up early to do a few push-ups as a warmup and then a bit of stretching. After a little exercise, he was feeling completely awaken so he went towards his wardrobe and when he opened it, the first thing he noticed was a black school uniform.

'Today is already opening ceremony...Junior High School, huh?' *sigh* Yuichi thought before releasing a tired sigh. He grabbed the uniform and dressed up before going to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast.

"Yu-chan, it's your first day attending Junior High school so please behave and don't get into any trouble." His mother immediately warned him with a worried expression before he could leave the kitchen.

"Everything will be fine, mother, I promise. However, can you please stop calling me that? It's kind of embarrassing." Yuichi said with a pleading expression while scratching back of his head.

"*sigh* Are you perhaps already in that rebellious phase? It's alright, no matter how I will call you, you will always be my little Yu-chan." His mother shook her head with a disappointed expression before saying with a bright smile and thumb up.

"...Now you are doing it just on purpose." Yuichi replied with a blank expression while looking at his mother.

"I liked you more when you were small and not so smart" His mother muttered with a thoughtful expression while holding her chin and looking sideways.

'I can hear you...are you really sure mothers should say such things to their children?' Yuichi thought while looking at his mother's face in bewilderment.

"I don't think it has anything to do with me getting smarter...Hm?! I should go now or I might miss the opening ceremony!" Yuichi replied before he noticed the clocks from his peripheral vision, making him to sharply turn at the clock before rushing towards the front door.

The moment Yuichi exited his house, so did Mei, causing both to stop walking and look at each other in bewilderment.

"Hey, Mei-san!" Yuichi raised his hand as a greeting while resuming his walk and Mei followed his example.

"Good morning, Yuichi-kun. How excited are you for our first day at Junior High school?" Mei wearing the same hairstyle as always asked with a curious expression and friendly smile.

"The only thing I am excited about is probably Sports clubs, I don't see anything else worth being excited over." Yuichi replied naturally with a grin.

"That's exactly what I expected from you...For you, everything is about sports." Mei muttered while shaking her head with a helpless smile.

"Hey! I also like to draw so it's not like I only know how to run around and play." Yuichi replied, dissatisfied with Mei's words.

While they were walking together towards their new school, someone tried to jump on Yuichi's back. Fortunately for Yuichi who was beaten up so many times by the old man already, reacted fast enough and stepped to the side, dodging the person's attack. making them stumble over.

"Hey, Ren-kun." Yuichi said while looking down at his probably best friend on the ground.

"Hey! Did you have to dodge that?! How did you even do that?! Ah, Wang-san, hello." Ren immediately started shouting at Yuichi who caused him to lose balance but when he finally noticed the girl next to him, he greeted Mei with a polite smile.

"Good morning, Nakada-kun" Mei nodded her head with the same polite smile. Those two never really clicked together since both were friends with Yuichi who already had a small amount of spare time, therefore they were always competing with each other over Yuichi's time.

"You shouldn't surprise attack people like that. Also as for how I did that...I felt you coming from behind!" Yuichi said with narrowed eyes in a mysterious tone.

"...Seriously? Are you spider-man or something?" Ren asked with a dumbfounded expression.

"I am just kidding...It's just that you suck and I heard your steps from a mile away!" Yuichi said with a smirk, angering Ren.

"Jeez, I really thought that you might have some supernatural ability..." Ren muttered with a bit disappointed expression.

"You spend too much time reading manga..." Yuichi rolled his eyes and picked up the pace or they might end up a little late.

"And you spend too much time with all that training and healthy lifestyle routines, like for real...What the hell is this?" Ren rebuked while pointing at Yuichi's body.

"? What do you mean?" Yuichi looked down at himself before asking with a confused expression when he couldn't find anything wrong.

"Your physique! Your height! You will definitely be popular with girls." Ren said resentfully but there was still a faint smile across his face.

"Having a healthy body can get you a girlfriend? Interesting..." Yuichi muttered with a thoughtful expression, with a doubt filling his eyes.

"...Ugh, I give up" Ren groaned before waving his hand to abandon the previous topic.

"Nakada-kun, that's simply how Yuichi-kun is." Mei shook her head to correct Ren's view of Yuichi being a hopeless case.

The trio quickly arrived at the school right on time for the opening ceremony where the principal held his speech. The rest of the day was more informative than studying. After the classes ended, Ren and Yuichi obviously went to look around the school clubs and when they spotted students playing soccer on the school's field, they immediately knew where to go.

They asked around and got to know where is their official club room but they let them sign in right on the field without any trouble.

"Well, I don't have my things for soccer with me so I will be going home for today, see you, Yuichi-kun" Ren said, waved his hand, and left the field without Yuichi, who remained next to his Senpais who were responsible for signing them in.

"Senpai, can you please tell me where I can find the basketball club?" Yuichi suddenly asked.

"Wha-? Iwamura-kun, are you aware that students usually attend only 1 club? Or is there any other reason why you want to know this information?" A guy in white-green sports clothes asked with a surprised expression.

"Is there any specific rule that students can't be part of 2 clubs at the same time?" Yuichi asked with a frown.

"...No, there is no such rule set by the school, however, as a full-fledged club, we expect from you only your best, we don't really want someone who is sometimes attending and other times not. We want only hardworking students, that's also why I accepted both of you right here without any major formalities because you both looked eager. And this is the way how all clubs work here." The guy tried to convince Yuichi but upon hearing his reply, Yuichi just smiled.

"I promise that I won't let you down, Senpai! You can kick me out of the club anytime you want, please..." Yuichi requested with pleading eyes.

"That...*sigh* If you are so determined then it's fine. The basketball club's room is right in the gym, you can't miss it. They should be even playing right now, also tell them that Toyama sends you, so you won't have to explain everything to them once again. I will do it for you since I am going into the same class as their club leader, however, you will still have to explain everything to your homeroom teacher so they can take care of it." Toyama started massaging the bridge of his nose before agreeing...

"Thanks, Toyama-Senpai!" Yuichi thanked with a bright smile.

"No problem and don't call me Senpai, it's too formal for me" Toyama said with a helpless smile.

"Alright, Toyama-kun. I will be going now, I still want to join the basketball club!" Yuichi said, waving at Toyama while slowly leaving.

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Yuichi arrived at the gym in a few minutes where he explained the situation and by mentioning Toyama's name, others let him join despite being dissatisfied with him attending two clubs.

For Yuichi, it was a very fruitful first day of his Junior High school life, however, at this school, he might finally realize that people are not always what they seem to be.