Be True To Your School, 1/2
Title: Be True To Your School
Rating: PG-13 (for language)
Characters/Pairings: Nino/Sho with a little bit of Aiba/Jun and Ohno/Ishihara Satomi in the background
Summary: Nino enrolls at Arashi High School for the Performing Arts. Volleyball, friendship, and a crush on a guy with a very strange hobby ensues.
Notes/Warnings: High school AU! For this year's ninoexchange
It had been five months and fourteen days since Nino had set foot on school grounds. He hadn't missed getting up early or wearing the stupid uniform. The Arashi High School for the Performing Arts uniform, however, wasn't so bad. Aiba had even told him that dress code enforcement was pretty lax. Even now he watched students file past him to enter the building. Shirts untucked, ties half-assed. There was a lot about this school that seemed pretty half-assed all around.
For one, they didn't seem to mind that Nino was starting up in the middle of the term. For two, the building was in a pretty sorry state: the front gate was rusted out, there were cracks in the concrete walls of the two-story structure, and they were downwind from a small cat food manufacturing plant, leaving the air perfumed with the odor of stale tuna and cornmeal. And for three, out of twenty-four performing arts high schools in Japan, they were ranked twenty-third.
Twenty-fourth place went to Sunshine Arts School at Sea, which was just a boat that puttered around the harbor in Kobe bankrolled by the yakuza. It was only a "school" for tax purposes, Nino assumed.
He shuffled his way into the school building, finding an empty shoe locker. He had to keep telling himself that this was the right decision. That in the long run, it was good to have a high school diploma, even from a shitty school. As he headed for his new homeroom, he tried not to laugh at the rest of the student body.
Girls dancing around with ribbons. A guy playing bongo drums in the middle of the hallway, swaying his head to the unsteady beat. At least four mimes. There was a reason Arashi High was the bottom of the barrel - they took anyone rejected by the other 22 performing arts schools.
Speaking of bottom of the barrel...
"Ninooooooo!"
He was tugged into a classroom and nearly crashed into a desk as his best friend Aiba Masaki yanked him by the arm. "You're here, finally here!"
He and Aiba had gone to elementary school and junior high together before Aiba decided that his dream of one day being half of the world's greatest manzai duo was more important than going to a normal high school. So he'd enrolled at Arashi, leaving Nino behind. But here they were, reunited again.
Aiba was a well-meaning kid, earnest and sweet if kind of airheaded from time to time. Which made his one half of the world's greatest manzai duo preparations all the harder. How many times had Aiba started up some comic routine before devolving into an explosion of giggles and "wait, what was the punchline again?" grumblings?
"Here, here, you sit next to me. I paid off one of the mime kids with invisible money," Aiba explained as he brought Nino to the desks in the rear of the classroom.
What was nice about Arashi High School for the Performing Arts was its relatively free and open daily schedule. He'd be here in homeroom with Aiba for an hour, and the rest of the school day was mostly at leisure to "focus on your craft." Kids often left halfway through the day for auditions, and some headed off for bit parts in commercials or daytime drama episodes. Aiba bragged that one of the third-year girls was joining one of the new AKB spinoff groups - although Nino had Googled her and discovered it was actually an AKB cover group that performed at birthday parties for creepy middle-aged fanboys.
Nino took his seat while the other second-year students filtered into the classroom. With Aiba at his side (mumbling some not-really-funny routine to himself) he felt safe. Safer than he had in months. And given that most of the students he had encountered so far were socially awkward and obsessed with their own mediocre talent, he figured most people would leave him alone.
Their homeroom teacher, Katori-sensei, waltzed into the room clad in women's clothing. "It's part of the act," Aiba whispered to him.
Nino was puzzled. "What act?"
Katori-sensei had been in some idol group during his teens and having fallen upon hard times when the group disbanded, he'd turned to teaching at Arashi High. Which still didn't explain the crossdressing. But unlike in most schools where transfer kids had to get up in front of the class and introduce themselves, Katori-sensei ignored Nino completely and spent most of the homeroom period talking about himself and the "good old days."
After homeroom, Nino was supposed to "focus on his craft" but he'd left his guitar at home, having not truly believed he'd have as much free time during the school day as he actually did. Instead he followed Aiba to one of the five small auditoriums in the building. In lieu of classrooms where genuine instruction took place, students were mostly left to their own devices: they could put on their own plays, jam with a band, or use one of the genuinely crappy but decently soundproofed practice rooms for individual study.
He and Aiba sat in the rear of the room, watching what to Nino appeared to be the worst play in the history of all plays. The acting was stiff, half of the "cast" were reading straight out of their scripts, and the plot was apparently about falling in love with a girl at the dry cleaners. But in Kabuki style for some reason. "Dry Clean My Heart And My Overcoat" was due to premiere on Arashi High "Talent Night" in a month's time, one of the only obligatory school events. Talent Night was more like Talent Day and Night since every student had to showcase their talents in some capacity. It took hours.
"Why are we here?" Nino whispered, jabbing a pointy elbow into his friend's side.
"It's good though, isn't it?"
Aiba's taste had obviously become warped inside this building full of weirdos. Nino took a nap instead, waking only when a smattering of applause signaled the end of that day's rehearsal. And it was then that Nino discovered just why Dry Clean My Heart And My Overcoat had Aiba so enraptured.
A boy Nino kind of sort of recognized from their homeroom class hopped off the stage, jogging up to them with greasy white paint smeared across his rather large face. "Yo, Aiba-kun," the guy said, smiling with a mouth full of equally large teeth.
"Matsujun, hello."
Nino could see it instantly even if Painted Face and Aiba could not. A romance in the works. He endured some rather awkward flirting on Aiba's part before finally being introduced to Matsumoto Jun, future acting star. Or so he desperately hoped. Matsumoto seemed like a decent guy, but he'd been the biggest stinker in the Dry Clean My Heart And My Overcoat cast. But, Nino decided, they were still in rehearsals.
"And what is your focus?" Matsumoto asked, seeming way more serious about himself and about this crappy school than anyone ought to be. Perhaps he didn't believe that Arashi High was the biggest joke around.
"Music. Guitar mostly."
Matsumoto crinkled his nose a bit at that, making even more of his makeup smear. It seemed there were acting cliques and music cliques. Nino wondered where Aiba fell. But there was little time left to wonder as an announcement came over the public address system.
"Ah...hi...it's working?" came a stuttering voice. "This is on?"
Aiba snorted and Matsumoto sighed.
"Ah, hello everyone. Hi. Sorry to interrupt your busy day, but if you, ah, could all please assemble in the courtyard there's, ah, there's an announcement. So uh, please...how does this thing turn off?"
--
The voice on the P.A. was Arashi High's principal, Joshima-sensei. Like Katori-sensei, he'd been famous in his younger years. However, Joshima-sensei had been in a rock band so he'd led a harder, alcohol-fueled life. It left him where he was now, a 40-year-old stammering principal of a school full of no talent hacks, unsure of how he'd even gotten there that morning.
They were lined up in the courtyard, every Arashi High homeroom class, waiting for him to make his important announcement. All the teachers were up at the front with him while one of the students specializing in audio tech was futzing around with the microphone and speakers. Every few seconds a loud screech of noise came thundering out of the speakers, making everyone cringe and moan.
Nino was on the shorter side and he'd found himself standing behind both Aiba and Matsumoto, who were taller than him and whispering excitedly. They blocked his view of the stage, not that Nino figured he was missing much. Maybe it was an announcement about Talent Night. Or maybe someone had been cast in a major movie or play. Looking around, Nino doubted that one very much. Mimes, jugglers, and at least four creepy looking clowns. What the hell was with this place?
Finally the microphone situation was sorted out. "Hello!" Joshima-sensei announced, waving cheerfully to the students like they were all in kindergarten. "Some, ah, some news to report."
Matsumoto crossed his fingers. Nino noticed that there was still a streak of white makeup on his neck. He'd let Aiba find and attend to that - if anything, Nino wanted to support his best friend, even if Matsumoto was a little weird. "Please say I got the part," Matsumoto mumbled. "Please say I got the part."
"It turns out," Joshima-sensei continued, "that Arashi High has been in violation of the ah, the law for ah, well, since the school's inception when it comes to physical education..."
A hush fell over the crowd of students.
"So, um, unless we want to be shut down by the Ministry of Education, haha, uh, all students must be enrolled in a physical education course. And um, to make up for the ah, the lost time, you will be spending two hours daily in a phys ed situation until the completion of this school year. Your instructors will have more detailed, ah, information. Um, one more announcement, ah, the Joshima Band greatest hits album is now on sale in the, ah, the cafeteria..."
A ton of boos and jeers rose up. After all, wasn't the open school day the appeal of Arashi High? Being able to spend five hours every day in Kabuki makeup (if that was your idea of fun)? And now they had to waste two full hours of every day in freaking gym? Nino hated everything about phys ed. The teasing in the locker room, the rope climbing, the whole exercise thing. Maybe he'd made a mistake in coming back to school. Suddenly the thought of wasting his time on the Internet all day and eating cup ramen in his room sounded great again.
But as the students dispersed, Aiba wrapped an arm around Nino's shoulders. He tried to wrap his other arm around Matsumoto's, but the guy was apparently not interested in a personal space invasion. Aiba really needed to tone it down, Nino thought. But his friend was undeterred, smiling the confident smile of someone who had a modicum of physical ability. Nino and Aiba had played baseball throughout junior high, and the guy had been on the track team too. Phys ed would be a walk in the park for someone like Aiba. But Nino doubted very much that the mimes and clowns were in decent shape.
"This is going to ruin rehearsals!" Matsumoto was pouting. "And not to mention any kind of auditions I need to attend. Who has two hours a day to waste on this?"
"Matsujun, don't worry," Aiba said. "How bad could it be?"
--
The following day Nino found himself standing in between Aiba and Jun at the front gate of Horikoshi High School. The number one ranked performing arts high school in Japan was a mere two train stops away from number twenty-three Arashi High, and to Nino, it looked like one of those high schools in a manga. More fortress and/or luxury resort than school, Horikoshi boasted 12 AKB girls, at least 25 members of Jimmy's Entertainment, and an Academy Award-winning movie director among its alumni.
Its walls were a glistening, sparkling white. Its facilities were full of the very newest tech - soundboards, light fixtures, rehearsal rooms. Horikoshi was the glittering jewel of Japanese arts education, and all around him was talent. Not one god damned mime in sight. Instead the three of them walked past students composing operettas, a boy on rollerblades playing a mandolin, and a group of breakdancers popping and locking and spinning around on their heads.
"Show-offs," he heard Jun mutter under his breath as they headed to the massive athletic department housed on campus.
Because not only was Horikoshi tops in the arts, the school was full of slam dunking violinists, soccer-playing actors, and swimming ballerinas. Some students graduated with offers from acting troupes and professional sports teams simultaneously. Horikoshi was welcoming Arashi High to their facilities, as the school had so many wealthy sponsors that there was more equipment on campus than students to use it.
Nino could see some of the Horikoshi kids pointing and laughing as the other Arashi High students slunk onto their campus, slipping into the locker rooms. He, Aiba, and Jun were directed to Gym 14 (the fact that there were at least 13 other gyms left Nino a bit weak in the knees). Since Arashi High had no physical education program to speak of, Horikoshi was also lending uniforms. Not that they were good uniforms. Nino grumbled as he changed into an ill-fitting t-shirt and ridiculously short shorts. Aiba laughed at him until he too discovered that his shorts were so short his balls would probably be showing if he bent over at a certain angle.
They headed to the gymnasium, where a Horikoshi official directed them to the rear corner of the floor. The place was divided into about a dozen volleyball courts. Already Nino could see Arashi High kids struggling. By the time the three of them made it to their assigned court, four kids had face planted while trying to dive for the ball. Another five had run into the net. At least one girl was sitting on the floor crying because she was trying to understand the volleyball's feelings for an upcoming one-person play. "The Volleyball Inside Me," Jun informed Nino with a straight face.
There were two other guys waiting on their court when they arrived. One was at the net, staring off into space while the second had his back to them and seemed to be speaking to the wall.
"Ah, that's Ohno-senpai. A third-year student," Aiba explained, gesturing to the kid at the net.
"Is he sleeping?" Nino asked.
"He's a great dancer. The best in our school in fact," Aiba said, smiling rather awkwardly as Ohno didn't move or acknowledge him. "But yeah, I think he's sleeping."
"Well the sooner this two hours is over, the sooner I can get back to rehearsals!" Jun complained.
Jun picked up a volleyball and flung it towards Ohno to try and snap him out of whatever reverie he was in. Unfortunately Jun was really awful and the ball made it about halfway before dropping from the air, rolling up to thud gently against the back of Ohno-senpai's sneakers. It did the job though, the older boy turning around to stare at the three of them blankly.
"Ohno-senpai!" Aiba cheered. "Looks like we're a team."
The kid still looked half asleep. He had a round face and messy hair. Unlike the three of them in their clearly "made for girls" gym shorts, Ohno was dressed like some sort of hip-hop star. His loaned shirt was more of a tarp, the "short" sleeves stopping mid-forearm, and his shorts hung low on his hips, the bottoms hitting his legs at the knee. "Hello," he said, his voice barely audible above the sounds of other Arashi High students struggling to be physically educated.
"So that just leaves..." Jun's voice trailed off as they turned to the fifth member of their squad.
As this kid turned around, horror crept into every cell in Nino's body. "No," he mumbled to himself. "No no no no no..."
"Hi everybody!" came a high-pitched squeaky voice in rather oddly-accented Japanese. "I just know we're going to be the best team ever!"
That voice belonged to a plastic face with stringy blond hair, bright red cheeks, blue lifeless eyes, a gigantic plastic nose, and a gaping maw of a mouth. Of course because it was the face of a ventriloquist's dummy. Somewhere under the dummy's red, white, and blue USA FOREVER t-shirt and miniature blue jeans was a sweaty hand. And that sweaty hand was connected to the arm of a boy with a forehead you could land a plane on.
Fortunately clad in Horikoshi phys ed gear in his own size, the kid had black hair, big round eyes, and a toothy smile. As he continued to make the USA FOREVER puppet "talk," his lips kept moving. It was the most pathetic thing Nino had seen yet, and that included the girl set to perform The Volleyball Inside Me. This was the kid's act? Ventriloquism? And he thought Aiba's comedian shtick was pushing the envelope on what a performing arts high school might include.
"Maybe you should introduce yourself, partner!" the puppet cheered. Now Nino got it. The puppet was supposed to be American.
Unlike Nino, his other teammates didn't seem remotely concerned that the fifth member of the volleyball squad was certifiably insane. Aiba just held up his hand and waved. Did he know everybody? "Sakurai-senpai, what's up?"
Nino didn't expect the deeper voice to come from the boy, given the obnoxious high-pitched voice of the puppet. "Ah, yes. My name is Sakurai Sho. I'm a third year. Nice to meet you all."
Introductions continued - Ohno and Sakurai were in the same homeroom and despite the former's near-total silence and the latter's, you know, puppet, they were apparently best friends. Nino was too busy staring into the puppet's dead eyes to give much of a self-introduction, but Aiba picked up the slack. God, he hated puppets.
"By the way, this is Larry-kun," Sakurai said, and the puppet's head bobbed a bit. "He's from Los Angeles, California. Larry-kun will be the sixth member of our team."
"I love volleyball!" Larry-kun chirped. "I'm from Los Angeles, California!"
Nino blinked when nobody told Sakurai to get off the court and go back to the asylum he surely broke out of. Instead Matsumoto retrieved the volleyball and they all got in a circle to practice passing the ball like the kids on the other courts were trying and failing to do. They also tried and failed for the next two hours.
Nobody said a word when Larry-kun remained attached to Sakurai's left arm, making it thoroughly impossible for him to fully participate. The ball kept smacking Larry-kun in his plastic head, resulting in at least a dozen variations on "Jesus Christ, that hurt!" or "Oh my God, it hit me!" Ohno-senpai had been quiet earlier, but all of Larry-kun's obnoxious half-English, half-Japanese outbursts made him laugh. Which helped Nino understand why Sakurai and Ohno were best friends. Ohno was a damn enabler of Sakurai's behavior.
Finally a whistle sounded at the other end of the gymnasium. The first day of Arashi High's mandatory physical education was over. Ohno tugged his shorts back up his narrow hips, following Sakurai (and Larry-kun) to the locker room on the north end of the gym. Nino didn't want to find out how Sakurai changed his clothes, trudging along behind Aiba and Jun, who were praising one another's mediocre volleyball skills, just as an excuse to pat each other on the arm or the ass. Nino rolled his eyes. Get a room.
With gym done, Nino's day was over and he and Aiba took the train towards home. "So Nino," Aiba said cheerfully, wiping some sweat from his forehead. Nino had never seen anyone sweat as much after doing so little as Aiba did. "Wasn't that fun? Isn't Larry-kun awesome?"
Nino stared at his friend.
"Sho-chan's the only ventriloquist in the school. He's way popular. I just know Larry-kun's Talent Night act is going to be awesome. I keep wondering if I should get a puppet..."
"NO!" Nino cried out, louder than necessary. An old woman sitting across the train carriage from them gave him the evil eye. "I mean, no, Aiba-chan, stick with the manzai."
Aiba looked at him, frowning. "You don't like Arashi High much, do you?"
Nino knew that if he admitted the truth, that Arashi High was full of the most bizarre kids Japan had to offer and that his secondhand embarrassment was through the roof, he'd hurt Aiba's feelings. After all, Aiba loved his school. He'd made a ton of friends. And he'd personally vouched for Nino's talent, helping him get admitted without having to take an entrance exam.
"It's...not what I expected," Nino replied meekly.
Aiba wrapped an arm around Nino's shoulders, armpit sweatier and stinkier than someone who'd run a marathon. And that after only two hours of volleyball, with an hour and fifty minutes of it standing around while someone chased after the ball. "It's the best school ever. Once you give it a chance."
He thought back to the sheer sprawl of Horikoshi, knowing that tomorrow he'd be there once more, surrounded by the best (and worst) talent Japan had to offer. "We'll see."
--
In the two weeks that followed, Nino was surprised by how quickly he got used to commuting from his house to Arashi High and then from Arashi High to Horikoshi. After homeroom, he usually stole away with his guitar, taking one of the shitty practice rooms to work on an original composition he planned to use for Talent Night. A three and a half minute song about his admiration for Cup Ramen was a much better choice than a lengthy skit or play. He'd get his participation credit and be done with it.
After lunch period he had a little more guitar time but instead usually found himself sitting in the back of the auditorium watching rehearsals for Dry Clean My Heart And My Overcoat, Aiba at his side. It was pretty obvious why Aiba liked Matsumoto Jun so much. Even if he was a pretty crappy actor, he put in a lot of effort. When he forgot his lines he'd stand there, downstage, posing stoically until the line came to him. It gave off the illusion that he was actually sort of cool. He wasn't really cool, at least in Nino's estimations, but that aura was enough to hook his friend and half their homeroom class. Each day the audience watching rehearsals grew, even as Jun's makeup smeared and ran under the too hot stage lights.
And besides, Jun wasn't really a bad guy. Although he was probably the worst volleyball player ever. Well, the worst volleyball player with two free arms. Sakurai Sho, who still toted Larry-kun to and from the court, didn't really count.
He'd grown closer with his teammates over the course of these two weeks. He and Aiba had fallen back into their same rhythm from their junior high days. Jun was rather serious most of the time, but like Nino, he enjoyed finding excuses to tease Aiba for something or other. They were already bonding quickly because of it. And despite his quiet demeanor, Ohno-senpai was a decent guy. Even if he didn't talk to anyone outside of their group, he regularly asked how Nino was progressing on his ramen song, which was more than Nino could say for anyone in his immediate family.
The only connection Nino hadn't made yet was with Sakurai Sho. He suspected that the infamous Larry-kun had a lot to do with it. It took everything Nino had not to lash out, yank the puppet away, and smash his big-nosed face into the unforgiving gym floor. But still the dead puppet eyes locked onto him, Larry-kun's jaw dropped as Sho looked elsewhere, waiting for the volleyball to come his way so he could half-ass a spike or two.
"Why doesn't he just leave the puppet in his locker?" Nino asked Aiba on the way home one day.
"But Larry-kun is part of who Sho-chan is," Aiba explained, as though that would surely clear things up.
But having the puppet on his arm 24/7 didn't really make Sho a better ventriloquist. Sometimes it was hard to tell who was really talking, Larry-kun or Sho, if only because their voices would start mingling if the group's intense volleyball action (a rally of two consecutive hits or more) really got going. And Sho's lips moved every single time Larry-kun was supposed to be speaking. Wasn't that rule number one of ventriloquism?
Of course, since Aiba was Aiba and he didn't like there to be issues with group harmony, he decided to make Nino's life worse one day as phys ed came to a close. Ohno and Sho were heading off to the locker room when Aiba tapped Sho on the shoulder.
"Hey Sho-chan, you know," Aiba started, looking a little smug, "Talent Night's in two weeks, and Nino's been complaining non-stop about the crappy practice rooms back at school."
Well, sure he had been complaining. But what was he supposed to do? His mother worked nights and slept during the day, and his grandfather lived with them and went to bed early. That left Arashi High as the only place Nino could comfortably practice his guitar. Sure it was less than ideal but that was life. One less than ideal situation after another.
At Aiba's implication, Sho turned, Larry-kun's head tilting and his mouth dropping open. "Well, why didn't you say so, dude?" Larry-kun squeaked out. Sho moved up into Nino's space, Larry-kun getting equally up close and personal. "Please come to our house and practice!"
It was a generous offer, but Nino didn't really know Sakurai Sho. Why would he bother? "That's awfully nice of you, Sho-san, but..."
Larry-kun's plastic hand came flying, smacking Nino on the shoulder. "Sho-kun's sister plays the viola. We have a really bitchin' music room at home you can totally use! Please come over!"
Even Ohno nodded agreeably, Cup Ramen song fanatic that he was. "Sho-kun's house is really cool, Nino. You should go."
Sho's own voice returned, and Larry-kun eased up. Sho beamed at him. "Seriously though, if you need a place to practice, you should come by." If Nino completely ignored the Larry-kun attachment that was Sakurai Sho's left arm, the rest of him was kind of...attractive in this moment. "Why don't you drop by today? Unless you're busy?"
Before Nino could politely decline, Aiba gave Nino a slap on the back. "Of course he'll come!"
And just like that Aiba had probably convinced himself that all was well with their little volleyball squad. Once he'd changed out of his awful gym clothes, he pulled his guitar case from the locker and reluctantly followed Sakurai Sho (and Larry-kun) home.
He gulped when they arrived at the place. Nino was fairly certain that the entire house he lived in was the size of the garage at the Sakurai home. Or more like the Sakurai estate. Larry-kun offered an obnoxious guided tour as they passed through the front gate and entered the immaculate house. Well, Ohno-kun had been right. Sho's house was really cool. Intimidatingly so, seeing as how a maid opened the front door and welcomed both Sho and Larry-kun with a kind greeting.
With his odd ventriloquy obsession, Nino hadn't expected Sakurai Sho to actually be some rich kid. Though he should have expected as much once he'd mentioned having a dedicated "music room" in his house. It was a huge brick mansion of a house, two stories with tons of windows and full of fancy paintings. Sho explained that his father owned a company and his mother was a professor, so they were in and out of the house all the time. His siblings were involved in all sorts of club activities at their respective schools, so they weren't home much either.
"Honestly, if you need a quiet space to practice, this house is your best bet," Sho explained. His voice echoed off the cavernous walls, further driving home his point. They passed his father's study and an ornate dining room before arriving at the basement door. Sho led him downstairs to a room that was just as good if not better than what Horikoshi had to offer. Sho's sister was a viola prodigy, so their parents had installed the practice room in the basement.
By the time Nino was fully set up, strumming his guitar and enjoying the absolutely perfect acoustics of the room, Sho was back and hovering in the doorway with a bookbag. Larry-kun was nowhere in sight. Perhaps he'd been put away. He looked up from his playing to see Sho looking a little lost, almost naked without the silly "American" puppet to make terrible jokes.
"I'm not staying," Sho said awkwardly.
Nino's brow furrowed. "Huh? But I just got here..."
Sho scratched his head. "Ah, that's fine. You stay as long as you want. My sister won't be home from lessons until late. Sumiko-san, that's the maid upstairs, she'll be here. Please be comfortable here."
"But where are you going?" Nino asked, feeling even more awkward.
Sho wiggled his bag. "Cram school."
"But I thought you wanted to be a ventriloquist? Isn't that your dream? Isn't that why you're at Arashi High?"
It was then that Nino saw a real crack in Sakurai Sho's facade for the first time. The smiling boy who entertained everyone (save for Nino) with his silly puppet was very different away from school. Sho grinned weakly. "I'll be there until 8 PM. Again, stay as long as you want so you can be perfect for Talent Night."
And like that Sho was gone.
Part Two
Rating: PG-13 (for language)
Characters/Pairings: Nino/Sho with a little bit of Aiba/Jun and Ohno/Ishihara Satomi in the background
Summary: Nino enrolls at Arashi High School for the Performing Arts. Volleyball, friendship, and a crush on a guy with a very strange hobby ensues.
Notes/Warnings: High school AU! For this year's ninoexchange
It had been five months and fourteen days since Nino had set foot on school grounds. He hadn't missed getting up early or wearing the stupid uniform. The Arashi High School for the Performing Arts uniform, however, wasn't so bad. Aiba had even told him that dress code enforcement was pretty lax. Even now he watched students file past him to enter the building. Shirts untucked, ties half-assed. There was a lot about this school that seemed pretty half-assed all around.
For one, they didn't seem to mind that Nino was starting up in the middle of the term. For two, the building was in a pretty sorry state: the front gate was rusted out, there were cracks in the concrete walls of the two-story structure, and they were downwind from a small cat food manufacturing plant, leaving the air perfumed with the odor of stale tuna and cornmeal. And for three, out of twenty-four performing arts high schools in Japan, they were ranked twenty-third.
Twenty-fourth place went to Sunshine Arts School at Sea, which was just a boat that puttered around the harbor in Kobe bankrolled by the yakuza. It was only a "school" for tax purposes, Nino assumed.
He shuffled his way into the school building, finding an empty shoe locker. He had to keep telling himself that this was the right decision. That in the long run, it was good to have a high school diploma, even from a shitty school. As he headed for his new homeroom, he tried not to laugh at the rest of the student body.
Girls dancing around with ribbons. A guy playing bongo drums in the middle of the hallway, swaying his head to the unsteady beat. At least four mimes. There was a reason Arashi High was the bottom of the barrel - they took anyone rejected by the other 22 performing arts schools.
Speaking of bottom of the barrel...
"Ninooooooo!"
He was tugged into a classroom and nearly crashed into a desk as his best friend Aiba Masaki yanked him by the arm. "You're here, finally here!"
He and Aiba had gone to elementary school and junior high together before Aiba decided that his dream of one day being half of the world's greatest manzai duo was more important than going to a normal high school. So he'd enrolled at Arashi, leaving Nino behind. But here they were, reunited again.
Aiba was a well-meaning kid, earnest and sweet if kind of airheaded from time to time. Which made his one half of the world's greatest manzai duo preparations all the harder. How many times had Aiba started up some comic routine before devolving into an explosion of giggles and "wait, what was the punchline again?" grumblings?
"Here, here, you sit next to me. I paid off one of the mime kids with invisible money," Aiba explained as he brought Nino to the desks in the rear of the classroom.
What was nice about Arashi High School for the Performing Arts was its relatively free and open daily schedule. He'd be here in homeroom with Aiba for an hour, and the rest of the school day was mostly at leisure to "focus on your craft." Kids often left halfway through the day for auditions, and some headed off for bit parts in commercials or daytime drama episodes. Aiba bragged that one of the third-year girls was joining one of the new AKB spinoff groups - although Nino had Googled her and discovered it was actually an AKB cover group that performed at birthday parties for creepy middle-aged fanboys.
Nino took his seat while the other second-year students filtered into the classroom. With Aiba at his side (mumbling some not-really-funny routine to himself) he felt safe. Safer than he had in months. And given that most of the students he had encountered so far were socially awkward and obsessed with their own mediocre talent, he figured most people would leave him alone.
Their homeroom teacher, Katori-sensei, waltzed into the room clad in women's clothing. "It's part of the act," Aiba whispered to him.
Nino was puzzled. "What act?"
Katori-sensei had been in some idol group during his teens and having fallen upon hard times when the group disbanded, he'd turned to teaching at Arashi High. Which still didn't explain the crossdressing. But unlike in most schools where transfer kids had to get up in front of the class and introduce themselves, Katori-sensei ignored Nino completely and spent most of the homeroom period talking about himself and the "good old days."
After homeroom, Nino was supposed to "focus on his craft" but he'd left his guitar at home, having not truly believed he'd have as much free time during the school day as he actually did. Instead he followed Aiba to one of the five small auditoriums in the building. In lieu of classrooms where genuine instruction took place, students were mostly left to their own devices: they could put on their own plays, jam with a band, or use one of the genuinely crappy but decently soundproofed practice rooms for individual study.
He and Aiba sat in the rear of the room, watching what to Nino appeared to be the worst play in the history of all plays. The acting was stiff, half of the "cast" were reading straight out of their scripts, and the plot was apparently about falling in love with a girl at the dry cleaners. But in Kabuki style for some reason. "Dry Clean My Heart And My Overcoat" was due to premiere on Arashi High "Talent Night" in a month's time, one of the only obligatory school events. Talent Night was more like Talent Day and Night since every student had to showcase their talents in some capacity. It took hours.
"Why are we here?" Nino whispered, jabbing a pointy elbow into his friend's side.
"It's good though, isn't it?"
Aiba's taste had obviously become warped inside this building full of weirdos. Nino took a nap instead, waking only when a smattering of applause signaled the end of that day's rehearsal. And it was then that Nino discovered just why Dry Clean My Heart And My Overcoat had Aiba so enraptured.
A boy Nino kind of sort of recognized from their homeroom class hopped off the stage, jogging up to them with greasy white paint smeared across his rather large face. "Yo, Aiba-kun," the guy said, smiling with a mouth full of equally large teeth.
"Matsujun, hello."
Nino could see it instantly even if Painted Face and Aiba could not. A romance in the works. He endured some rather awkward flirting on Aiba's part before finally being introduced to Matsumoto Jun, future acting star. Or so he desperately hoped. Matsumoto seemed like a decent guy, but he'd been the biggest stinker in the Dry Clean My Heart And My Overcoat cast. But, Nino decided, they were still in rehearsals.
"And what is your focus?" Matsumoto asked, seeming way more serious about himself and about this crappy school than anyone ought to be. Perhaps he didn't believe that Arashi High was the biggest joke around.
"Music. Guitar mostly."
Matsumoto crinkled his nose a bit at that, making even more of his makeup smear. It seemed there were acting cliques and music cliques. Nino wondered where Aiba fell. But there was little time left to wonder as an announcement came over the public address system.
"Ah...hi...it's working?" came a stuttering voice. "This is on?"
Aiba snorted and Matsumoto sighed.
"Ah, hello everyone. Hi. Sorry to interrupt your busy day, but if you, ah, could all please assemble in the courtyard there's, ah, there's an announcement. So uh, please...how does this thing turn off?"
--
The voice on the P.A. was Arashi High's principal, Joshima-sensei. Like Katori-sensei, he'd been famous in his younger years. However, Joshima-sensei had been in a rock band so he'd led a harder, alcohol-fueled life. It left him where he was now, a 40-year-old stammering principal of a school full of no talent hacks, unsure of how he'd even gotten there that morning.
They were lined up in the courtyard, every Arashi High homeroom class, waiting for him to make his important announcement. All the teachers were up at the front with him while one of the students specializing in audio tech was futzing around with the microphone and speakers. Every few seconds a loud screech of noise came thundering out of the speakers, making everyone cringe and moan.
Nino was on the shorter side and he'd found himself standing behind both Aiba and Matsumoto, who were taller than him and whispering excitedly. They blocked his view of the stage, not that Nino figured he was missing much. Maybe it was an announcement about Talent Night. Or maybe someone had been cast in a major movie or play. Looking around, Nino doubted that one very much. Mimes, jugglers, and at least four creepy looking clowns. What the hell was with this place?
Finally the microphone situation was sorted out. "Hello!" Joshima-sensei announced, waving cheerfully to the students like they were all in kindergarten. "Some, ah, some news to report."
Matsumoto crossed his fingers. Nino noticed that there was still a streak of white makeup on his neck. He'd let Aiba find and attend to that - if anything, Nino wanted to support his best friend, even if Matsumoto was a little weird. "Please say I got the part," Matsumoto mumbled. "Please say I got the part."
"It turns out," Joshima-sensei continued, "that Arashi High has been in violation of the ah, the law for ah, well, since the school's inception when it comes to physical education..."
A hush fell over the crowd of students.
"So, um, unless we want to be shut down by the Ministry of Education, haha, uh, all students must be enrolled in a physical education course. And um, to make up for the ah, the lost time, you will be spending two hours daily in a phys ed situation until the completion of this school year. Your instructors will have more detailed, ah, information. Um, one more announcement, ah, the Joshima Band greatest hits album is now on sale in the, ah, the cafeteria..."
A ton of boos and jeers rose up. After all, wasn't the open school day the appeal of Arashi High? Being able to spend five hours every day in Kabuki makeup (if that was your idea of fun)? And now they had to waste two full hours of every day in freaking gym? Nino hated everything about phys ed. The teasing in the locker room, the rope climbing, the whole exercise thing. Maybe he'd made a mistake in coming back to school. Suddenly the thought of wasting his time on the Internet all day and eating cup ramen in his room sounded great again.
But as the students dispersed, Aiba wrapped an arm around Nino's shoulders. He tried to wrap his other arm around Matsumoto's, but the guy was apparently not interested in a personal space invasion. Aiba really needed to tone it down, Nino thought. But his friend was undeterred, smiling the confident smile of someone who had a modicum of physical ability. Nino and Aiba had played baseball throughout junior high, and the guy had been on the track team too. Phys ed would be a walk in the park for someone like Aiba. But Nino doubted very much that the mimes and clowns were in decent shape.
"This is going to ruin rehearsals!" Matsumoto was pouting. "And not to mention any kind of auditions I need to attend. Who has two hours a day to waste on this?"
"Matsujun, don't worry," Aiba said. "How bad could it be?"
--
The following day Nino found himself standing in between Aiba and Jun at the front gate of Horikoshi High School. The number one ranked performing arts high school in Japan was a mere two train stops away from number twenty-three Arashi High, and to Nino, it looked like one of those high schools in a manga. More fortress and/or luxury resort than school, Horikoshi boasted 12 AKB girls, at least 25 members of Jimmy's Entertainment, and an Academy Award-winning movie director among its alumni.
Its walls were a glistening, sparkling white. Its facilities were full of the very newest tech - soundboards, light fixtures, rehearsal rooms. Horikoshi was the glittering jewel of Japanese arts education, and all around him was talent. Not one god damned mime in sight. Instead the three of them walked past students composing operettas, a boy on rollerblades playing a mandolin, and a group of breakdancers popping and locking and spinning around on their heads.
"Show-offs," he heard Jun mutter under his breath as they headed to the massive athletic department housed on campus.
Because not only was Horikoshi tops in the arts, the school was full of slam dunking violinists, soccer-playing actors, and swimming ballerinas. Some students graduated with offers from acting troupes and professional sports teams simultaneously. Horikoshi was welcoming Arashi High to their facilities, as the school had so many wealthy sponsors that there was more equipment on campus than students to use it.
Nino could see some of the Horikoshi kids pointing and laughing as the other Arashi High students slunk onto their campus, slipping into the locker rooms. He, Aiba, and Jun were directed to Gym 14 (the fact that there were at least 13 other gyms left Nino a bit weak in the knees). Since Arashi High had no physical education program to speak of, Horikoshi was also lending uniforms. Not that they were good uniforms. Nino grumbled as he changed into an ill-fitting t-shirt and ridiculously short shorts. Aiba laughed at him until he too discovered that his shorts were so short his balls would probably be showing if he bent over at a certain angle.
They headed to the gymnasium, where a Horikoshi official directed them to the rear corner of the floor. The place was divided into about a dozen volleyball courts. Already Nino could see Arashi High kids struggling. By the time the three of them made it to their assigned court, four kids had face planted while trying to dive for the ball. Another five had run into the net. At least one girl was sitting on the floor crying because she was trying to understand the volleyball's feelings for an upcoming one-person play. "The Volleyball Inside Me," Jun informed Nino with a straight face.
There were two other guys waiting on their court when they arrived. One was at the net, staring off into space while the second had his back to them and seemed to be speaking to the wall.
"Ah, that's Ohno-senpai. A third-year student," Aiba explained, gesturing to the kid at the net.
"Is he sleeping?" Nino asked.
"He's a great dancer. The best in our school in fact," Aiba said, smiling rather awkwardly as Ohno didn't move or acknowledge him. "But yeah, I think he's sleeping."
"Well the sooner this two hours is over, the sooner I can get back to rehearsals!" Jun complained.
Jun picked up a volleyball and flung it towards Ohno to try and snap him out of whatever reverie he was in. Unfortunately Jun was really awful and the ball made it about halfway before dropping from the air, rolling up to thud gently against the back of Ohno-senpai's sneakers. It did the job though, the older boy turning around to stare at the three of them blankly.
"Ohno-senpai!" Aiba cheered. "Looks like we're a team."
The kid still looked half asleep. He had a round face and messy hair. Unlike the three of them in their clearly "made for girls" gym shorts, Ohno was dressed like some sort of hip-hop star. His loaned shirt was more of a tarp, the "short" sleeves stopping mid-forearm, and his shorts hung low on his hips, the bottoms hitting his legs at the knee. "Hello," he said, his voice barely audible above the sounds of other Arashi High students struggling to be physically educated.
"So that just leaves..." Jun's voice trailed off as they turned to the fifth member of their squad.
As this kid turned around, horror crept into every cell in Nino's body. "No," he mumbled to himself. "No no no no no..."
"Hi everybody!" came a high-pitched squeaky voice in rather oddly-accented Japanese. "I just know we're going to be the best team ever!"
That voice belonged to a plastic face with stringy blond hair, bright red cheeks, blue lifeless eyes, a gigantic plastic nose, and a gaping maw of a mouth. Of course because it was the face of a ventriloquist's dummy. Somewhere under the dummy's red, white, and blue USA FOREVER t-shirt and miniature blue jeans was a sweaty hand. And that sweaty hand was connected to the arm of a boy with a forehead you could land a plane on.
Fortunately clad in Horikoshi phys ed gear in his own size, the kid had black hair, big round eyes, and a toothy smile. As he continued to make the USA FOREVER puppet "talk," his lips kept moving. It was the most pathetic thing Nino had seen yet, and that included the girl set to perform The Volleyball Inside Me. This was the kid's act? Ventriloquism? And he thought Aiba's comedian shtick was pushing the envelope on what a performing arts high school might include.
"Maybe you should introduce yourself, partner!" the puppet cheered. Now Nino got it. The puppet was supposed to be American.
Unlike Nino, his other teammates didn't seem remotely concerned that the fifth member of the volleyball squad was certifiably insane. Aiba just held up his hand and waved. Did he know everybody? "Sakurai-senpai, what's up?"
Nino didn't expect the deeper voice to come from the boy, given the obnoxious high-pitched voice of the puppet. "Ah, yes. My name is Sakurai Sho. I'm a third year. Nice to meet you all."
Introductions continued - Ohno and Sakurai were in the same homeroom and despite the former's near-total silence and the latter's, you know, puppet, they were apparently best friends. Nino was too busy staring into the puppet's dead eyes to give much of a self-introduction, but Aiba picked up the slack. God, he hated puppets.
"By the way, this is Larry-kun," Sakurai said, and the puppet's head bobbed a bit. "He's from Los Angeles, California. Larry-kun will be the sixth member of our team."
"I love volleyball!" Larry-kun chirped. "I'm from Los Angeles, California!"
Nino blinked when nobody told Sakurai to get off the court and go back to the asylum he surely broke out of. Instead Matsumoto retrieved the volleyball and they all got in a circle to practice passing the ball like the kids on the other courts were trying and failing to do. They also tried and failed for the next two hours.
Nobody said a word when Larry-kun remained attached to Sakurai's left arm, making it thoroughly impossible for him to fully participate. The ball kept smacking Larry-kun in his plastic head, resulting in at least a dozen variations on "Jesus Christ, that hurt!" or "Oh my God, it hit me!" Ohno-senpai had been quiet earlier, but all of Larry-kun's obnoxious half-English, half-Japanese outbursts made him laugh. Which helped Nino understand why Sakurai and Ohno were best friends. Ohno was a damn enabler of Sakurai's behavior.
Finally a whistle sounded at the other end of the gymnasium. The first day of Arashi High's mandatory physical education was over. Ohno tugged his shorts back up his narrow hips, following Sakurai (and Larry-kun) to the locker room on the north end of the gym. Nino didn't want to find out how Sakurai changed his clothes, trudging along behind Aiba and Jun, who were praising one another's mediocre volleyball skills, just as an excuse to pat each other on the arm or the ass. Nino rolled his eyes. Get a room.
With gym done, Nino's day was over and he and Aiba took the train towards home. "So Nino," Aiba said cheerfully, wiping some sweat from his forehead. Nino had never seen anyone sweat as much after doing so little as Aiba did. "Wasn't that fun? Isn't Larry-kun awesome?"
Nino stared at his friend.
"Sho-chan's the only ventriloquist in the school. He's way popular. I just know Larry-kun's Talent Night act is going to be awesome. I keep wondering if I should get a puppet..."
"NO!" Nino cried out, louder than necessary. An old woman sitting across the train carriage from them gave him the evil eye. "I mean, no, Aiba-chan, stick with the manzai."
Aiba looked at him, frowning. "You don't like Arashi High much, do you?"
Nino knew that if he admitted the truth, that Arashi High was full of the most bizarre kids Japan had to offer and that his secondhand embarrassment was through the roof, he'd hurt Aiba's feelings. After all, Aiba loved his school. He'd made a ton of friends. And he'd personally vouched for Nino's talent, helping him get admitted without having to take an entrance exam.
"It's...not what I expected," Nino replied meekly.
Aiba wrapped an arm around Nino's shoulders, armpit sweatier and stinkier than someone who'd run a marathon. And that after only two hours of volleyball, with an hour and fifty minutes of it standing around while someone chased after the ball. "It's the best school ever. Once you give it a chance."
He thought back to the sheer sprawl of Horikoshi, knowing that tomorrow he'd be there once more, surrounded by the best (and worst) talent Japan had to offer. "We'll see."
--
In the two weeks that followed, Nino was surprised by how quickly he got used to commuting from his house to Arashi High and then from Arashi High to Horikoshi. After homeroom, he usually stole away with his guitar, taking one of the shitty practice rooms to work on an original composition he planned to use for Talent Night. A three and a half minute song about his admiration for Cup Ramen was a much better choice than a lengthy skit or play. He'd get his participation credit and be done with it.
After lunch period he had a little more guitar time but instead usually found himself sitting in the back of the auditorium watching rehearsals for Dry Clean My Heart And My Overcoat, Aiba at his side. It was pretty obvious why Aiba liked Matsumoto Jun so much. Even if he was a pretty crappy actor, he put in a lot of effort. When he forgot his lines he'd stand there, downstage, posing stoically until the line came to him. It gave off the illusion that he was actually sort of cool. He wasn't really cool, at least in Nino's estimations, but that aura was enough to hook his friend and half their homeroom class. Each day the audience watching rehearsals grew, even as Jun's makeup smeared and ran under the too hot stage lights.
And besides, Jun wasn't really a bad guy. Although he was probably the worst volleyball player ever. Well, the worst volleyball player with two free arms. Sakurai Sho, who still toted Larry-kun to and from the court, didn't really count.
He'd grown closer with his teammates over the course of these two weeks. He and Aiba had fallen back into their same rhythm from their junior high days. Jun was rather serious most of the time, but like Nino, he enjoyed finding excuses to tease Aiba for something or other. They were already bonding quickly because of it. And despite his quiet demeanor, Ohno-senpai was a decent guy. Even if he didn't talk to anyone outside of their group, he regularly asked how Nino was progressing on his ramen song, which was more than Nino could say for anyone in his immediate family.
The only connection Nino hadn't made yet was with Sakurai Sho. He suspected that the infamous Larry-kun had a lot to do with it. It took everything Nino had not to lash out, yank the puppet away, and smash his big-nosed face into the unforgiving gym floor. But still the dead puppet eyes locked onto him, Larry-kun's jaw dropped as Sho looked elsewhere, waiting for the volleyball to come his way so he could half-ass a spike or two.
"Why doesn't he just leave the puppet in his locker?" Nino asked Aiba on the way home one day.
"But Larry-kun is part of who Sho-chan is," Aiba explained, as though that would surely clear things up.
But having the puppet on his arm 24/7 didn't really make Sho a better ventriloquist. Sometimes it was hard to tell who was really talking, Larry-kun or Sho, if only because their voices would start mingling if the group's intense volleyball action (a rally of two consecutive hits or more) really got going. And Sho's lips moved every single time Larry-kun was supposed to be speaking. Wasn't that rule number one of ventriloquism?
Of course, since Aiba was Aiba and he didn't like there to be issues with group harmony, he decided to make Nino's life worse one day as phys ed came to a close. Ohno and Sho were heading off to the locker room when Aiba tapped Sho on the shoulder.
"Hey Sho-chan, you know," Aiba started, looking a little smug, "Talent Night's in two weeks, and Nino's been complaining non-stop about the crappy practice rooms back at school."
Well, sure he had been complaining. But what was he supposed to do? His mother worked nights and slept during the day, and his grandfather lived with them and went to bed early. That left Arashi High as the only place Nino could comfortably practice his guitar. Sure it was less than ideal but that was life. One less than ideal situation after another.
At Aiba's implication, Sho turned, Larry-kun's head tilting and his mouth dropping open. "Well, why didn't you say so, dude?" Larry-kun squeaked out. Sho moved up into Nino's space, Larry-kun getting equally up close and personal. "Please come to our house and practice!"
It was a generous offer, but Nino didn't really know Sakurai Sho. Why would he bother? "That's awfully nice of you, Sho-san, but..."
Larry-kun's plastic hand came flying, smacking Nino on the shoulder. "Sho-kun's sister plays the viola. We have a really bitchin' music room at home you can totally use! Please come over!"
Even Ohno nodded agreeably, Cup Ramen song fanatic that he was. "Sho-kun's house is really cool, Nino. You should go."
Sho's own voice returned, and Larry-kun eased up. Sho beamed at him. "Seriously though, if you need a place to practice, you should come by." If Nino completely ignored the Larry-kun attachment that was Sakurai Sho's left arm, the rest of him was kind of...attractive in this moment. "Why don't you drop by today? Unless you're busy?"
Before Nino could politely decline, Aiba gave Nino a slap on the back. "Of course he'll come!"
And just like that Aiba had probably convinced himself that all was well with their little volleyball squad. Once he'd changed out of his awful gym clothes, he pulled his guitar case from the locker and reluctantly followed Sakurai Sho (and Larry-kun) home.
He gulped when they arrived at the place. Nino was fairly certain that the entire house he lived in was the size of the garage at the Sakurai home. Or more like the Sakurai estate. Larry-kun offered an obnoxious guided tour as they passed through the front gate and entered the immaculate house. Well, Ohno-kun had been right. Sho's house was really cool. Intimidatingly so, seeing as how a maid opened the front door and welcomed both Sho and Larry-kun with a kind greeting.
With his odd ventriloquy obsession, Nino hadn't expected Sakurai Sho to actually be some rich kid. Though he should have expected as much once he'd mentioned having a dedicated "music room" in his house. It was a huge brick mansion of a house, two stories with tons of windows and full of fancy paintings. Sho explained that his father owned a company and his mother was a professor, so they were in and out of the house all the time. His siblings were involved in all sorts of club activities at their respective schools, so they weren't home much either.
"Honestly, if you need a quiet space to practice, this house is your best bet," Sho explained. His voice echoed off the cavernous walls, further driving home his point. They passed his father's study and an ornate dining room before arriving at the basement door. Sho led him downstairs to a room that was just as good if not better than what Horikoshi had to offer. Sho's sister was a viola prodigy, so their parents had installed the practice room in the basement.
By the time Nino was fully set up, strumming his guitar and enjoying the absolutely perfect acoustics of the room, Sho was back and hovering in the doorway with a bookbag. Larry-kun was nowhere in sight. Perhaps he'd been put away. He looked up from his playing to see Sho looking a little lost, almost naked without the silly "American" puppet to make terrible jokes.
"I'm not staying," Sho said awkwardly.
Nino's brow furrowed. "Huh? But I just got here..."
Sho scratched his head. "Ah, that's fine. You stay as long as you want. My sister won't be home from lessons until late. Sumiko-san, that's the maid upstairs, she'll be here. Please be comfortable here."
"But where are you going?" Nino asked, feeling even more awkward.
Sho wiggled his bag. "Cram school."
"But I thought you wanted to be a ventriloquist? Isn't that your dream? Isn't that why you're at Arashi High?"
It was then that Nino saw a real crack in Sakurai Sho's facade for the first time. The smiling boy who entertained everyone (save for Nino) with his silly puppet was very different away from school. Sho grinned weakly. "I'll be there until 8 PM. Again, stay as long as you want so you can be perfect for Talent Night."
And like that Sho was gone.
Part Two