Tatami, Karuta, and Youth to Spare (Chihayafuru inspired 1x1)

[Craftsdwarf]

overview

• 
  Cool weather, light sunshine, the start of school, cherry blossoms...it was Spring indeed! Standing by one of the windows, one student quietly watched the large tree in the middle of the courtyard at the center of the school, a handful of pinkish-white blossom petals falling with every whistling breeze, lit lightly by the early morning sun. Encapsulated a bit, the boy, a bit taller than average, his short, well kept hair a light brown color, couldn't move his dark green eyes away. He wore the a light red colored coat with matching pants over a white dress shirt with a green tie. Also in his arms were a few papers, seemingly forgotten.
  
  As the young man watched through the window, footsteps approached, but he did not heed them, until a voice called out, "Hanayume Yutaka?"
  
  Snapping his head towards the adult, Yutaka gave a surprised gasp of, "Yes!?"
  
  The shorter, portly man with a bristly mustache and shaved head, wearing a rather plain shirt and black tie noted, "You're here rather early for your second day."
  
  Yutaka admitted, "Er, I guess I'm just excited..." He scratched his head as he let out a nervous laugh.
  
  The portly man nodded, blinking his gray eyes before stating, "I can tell. I believe this is yours?" Yutaka gulped as he saw the paper, matching the bundle he had in his hands: at the top, it read 'Competitive Karuta Club!', and on the bottom 'See Hanayume Yutaka at lunch in class 1-A'. Sandwhiched in between was an image of an old man in a colorful, traditional outfit, like one might see on one the Hyakunin Isshu reading cards.
  
  "A-ah, is it too early to stat looking for club members? Or does Akayamamine already have a-"
  
  "There was one of these in every desk in my classroom. And this one came from the bookshelf."
  
  "Well, I though that no one would expect to join a Karuta club, so I should put them in unexpect-"
  
  "It's too intrusive. We have a bulletin board for club advertisements, you know. It's by the principal's office." Glancing at the stack, the teacher asked, "How many of those have you scattered around?"
  
  "W-well, 1-A, 1-B, 1-C, I was about to go to 1-D..."
  
  With a sigh, the teacher said, "Please fetch them. I'll place this one on the bulletin board for you."
  
  Slouching a bit, Yutaka muttered, "Th-thank you, sensei..." As he went by, Yutaka was alone in the halls once again. Holding up his stack of papers he had planned to pass out, he shoved them into his face before groaning quietly, "What a waste of money..."
  
  Trudging on his way, he moved back to 1-C, entering the still empty and clean classroom, before going along to take the papers he'd left. A few desks on, he grabbed one paper, but instead of taking it, he hesitated, before pushing it back deeper inside the desk and moving on. Just that one, he offered.
  
  A few desks along, he did so once more, thinking, Or about five...
  
  Some minutes later, he stepped outside, ready to move to the next room. ...Per class...
  
  

Cool weather, light sunshine, the start of school, cherry blossoms...it was Spring indeed! Standing by one of the windows, one student quietly watched the large tree in the middle of the courtyard at the center of the school, a handful of pinkish-white blossom petals falling with every whistling breeze, lit lightly by the early morning sun. Encapsulated a bit, the boy, a bit taller than average, his short, well kept hair a light brown color, couldn't move his dark green eyes away. He wore the a light red colored coat with matching pants over a white dress shirt with a green tie. Also in his arms were a few papers, seemingly forgotten.

As the young man watched through the window, footsteps approached, but he did not heed them, until a voice called out, "Hanayume Yutaka?"

Snapping his head towards the adult, Yutaka gave a surprised gasp of, "Yes!?"

The shorter, portly man with a bristly mustache and shaved head, wearing a rather plain shirt and black tie noted, "You're here rather early for your second day."

Yutaka admitted, "Er, I guess I'm just excited..." He scratched his head as he let out a nervous laugh.

The portly man nodded, blinking his gray eyes before stating, "I can tell. I believe this is yours?" Yutaka gulped as he saw the paper, matching the bundle he had in his hands: at the top, it read 'Competitive Karuta Club!', and on the bottom 'See Hanayume Yutaka at lunch in class 1-A'. Sandwhiched in between was an image of an old man in a colorful, traditional outfit, like one might see on one the Hyakunin Isshu reading cards.

"A-ah, is it too early to stat looking for club members? Or does Akayamamine already have a-"

"There was one of these in every desk in my classroom. And this one came from the bookshelf."

"Well, I though that no one would expect to join a Karuta club, so I should put them in unexpect-"

"It's too intrusive. We have a bulletin board for club advertisements, you know. It's by the principal's office." Glancing at the stack, the teacher asked, "How many of those have you scattered around?"

"W-well, 1-A, 1-B, 1-C, I was about to go to 1-D..."

With a sigh, the teacher said, "Please fetch them. I'll place this one on the bulletin board for you."

Slouching a bit, Yutaka muttered, "Th-thank you, sensei..." As he went by, Yutaka was alone in the halls once again. Holding up his stack of papers he had planned to pass out, he shoved them into his face before groaning quietly, "What a waste of money..."

Trudging on his way, he moved back to 1-C, entering the still empty and clean classroom, before going along to take the papers he'd left. A few desks on, he grabbed one paper, but instead of taking it, he hesitated, before pushing it back deeper inside the desk and moving on. Just that one, he offered.

A few desks along, he did so once more, thinking, Or about five...

Some minutes later, he stepped outside, ready to move to the next room. ...Per class...

 

[SecretSounds]

Brown hair, waist length. Brown eyes, clear complexion. Tomboyish figure on the curvy side. Not the school idol, but pretty non-the-less, even if her eyes were a little watery with early-morning drowsyness.

Shoria gazed longingly at the poster newly pinned to the bullitin board. She couldn't help but think that the old man advertising Karuta looked like her father and how furiose he would be if she ever compared him to a mere karuta player. After all, there wasn't even a professional league for the game.

The thought of her father killed any smile that might have leaked onto her face at the site of the poster. Supressing a sigh, Shoria closed her eyes and continued to her original destination of class, passing by a boy with more posters on the way.

"Room 1-B, 1-B . . . ah, right, it's here." Shoria slid the door open and moved to her seat. A moment later the teacher entered and started role-call. Shoria settled her stuff into her desk while waiting for her name to be called, removing a piece of paper in the process.

"Shizukana Shoria"

"Hai!" Shoria answed rollcall, staring at the flyer in her desk. That Hanayume-san really seemed intent on getting club members if he was even leaving these things in people's desks. She couldn't help a mild chill at the thought that she'd already seen this thing three times this morning, in differnent places. Surely that meant it wouldn't hurt to check it out?

Shoria had chewed her pencil to tiny splinters by the time lunch arrived. Quickly brushing the wood off of her long red skirt, she left the classroom. She idaled in front of room 1-A for a full five minutes before gathering the courage and walking in.

"Uhm . . .Hanayume . . . San?"

 

[Craftsdwarf]

Sun beaming down on the rooftop, Yutaka looked up as the bell rang, the pace of his heart beginning to quicken a bit. Trying to swallow a bit of his nervousness, he shot a look to the door as the students began to shuffle and stand, as if a prospective member would come through this moment. He was quite close to the door, but of course, there were only people leaving rather than coming in...

Taking a breath, he tried to relax a bit, reaching for the school bag hanging at his desk, digging out a white bento box and beginning to eat his lunch of rice, assorted veggies, and leftover pork.

After a few minutes of that, the door to the classroom opened once more, but Yutaka paid no attention to that, moving to take another bite of rice as a soft voice meekly asked, "Uhm...Hanayume...San?"

But fate was a cruel mistress. Turning his head, bite in his mouth, Yutaka's heart jumped from excitement, just as the sensation of the chunk wasabi that had been hidden inside his rice kicked in. As his nasal passages burned, he gagged from the heat, patting his chest with his free hand as he tried to avoid choking. As his eyes watered, Yutaka wondered to himself, What did I ever do to deserve that, onee-san!?

One of the other students of 1-A looked away from Shoria, calling so that his voice would reach the back of the class, "Hanayume-san?"

A few eyes looked over, and a hand or two shuffled for a certain piece of paper. Yutaka finally managed to recover, turning out of his seat as he choked, "R-right here."

Trying not to blush at his little episode, Yutaka stepped over, looking over the shorter girl for a moment. Realizing what she was probably here for, he asked, "So, you saw the flyer?" Starting to get a bit excited, he quickly asked, "Do you want to join? What rank are you?"