"Toru Ari?" He stood up when they entered offering a polite bow. "I'm Mr. Masaki, the school registrar. Welcome to Yoshimura. Though I understand your arrival has been somewhat delayed."
"I was in the Hospital," Ari said, returning the bow. Even while bowling Ari still towered over him.
"Yes, I have the documentation here. Bus accident, quite serious." Mr. Masaki's expression showed genuine concern. "How are you feeling now? Fully recovered?"
"Mostly, yes."
"Good, good." He gestured for them to sit, pulling up files on his computer. "We'll get you processed quickly. Class schedules, dormitory assignment, meal plan, all the administrative necessities." His fingers moved very fast on the keyboard causing a clicking sound while he was talking. "You'll be in the first-year dormitory, East Wing. Single room. 347." He finally stopped typing and turned to both Ari's parents before looking back at Ari. "Given your late arrival, we don't want to disrupt an established roommate situation."
AriToru felt a mix of relief and disappointment at the same time. Single room meant privacy, but also isolation.
Mr. Masaki continued processing forms, occasionally asking questions or having Ari and his parents sign documents. The man had that born to be in education administration energy. It was brisk but not unkind.
Then he paused, looking at Ari over his glasses and then back at his desktop as if to confirm something. "Six foot six. Sixteen years old." A small smile. "Let me guess, basketball?"
Ari felt his parents tense slightly beside him. This was the question he'd been dreading and anticipating in equal measure.
But for the first time in his life, when someone asked if he played basketball, Ari answered clearly and confidently: "Yes."
"Excellent! We have a strong program here. Very competitive, but rewarding. The draft tryouts are tomorrow, actually, if you're interested. Though given you just arrived, you might want to wait until—"
"I'll be there."
Mr. Masaki's eyebrows rose slightly. "Tomorrow? You're sure? That's... well, that's quite immediate."
"I'm sure."
[YES BUT LET US NOT FORGET YOU ARE NOT THAT GOOD AT BASKETBALL]
The system's comment flashed in Ari's vision, but he ignored it. Mr. Masaki looked like he wanted to say something, likely something cautionary about the difficulty of the tryouts or the wisdom of jumping in so quickly, but instead he just nodded.
"Alright then. Best of luck. Coach Hosei runs a.... difficult program, but if you're serious about basketball, then this is. the best place you can be" He finalized a few more documents, then stood. "That's everything from my end. Now we just need to get you ready and to your dormitory. Let me call our student assistant."
He picked up his phone, dialed, spoke briefly. "Five minutes," he said, hanging up.
They waited in silence, Ari's parents were taking in the office's decor while Mr. Masaki organized paperwork. Ari stared at a trophy case on the wall that were Yoshimura's pedagogical achievements.
Then after five minutes.
A girl walked in. Ari recognised her as Elaine de Vries.
He'd seen her among Yoshimuras page, one of the schools most visible and important students.
Seeing her in person was a different feeling for Ari.
She wasn't Japanese, that was immediately obvious. She had blonde hair, but a darker hue. Dark blonde. It was tied in a neat bun at the base of her neck. Her face was striking. It was immediately the first thing you'd be drawn to. Large spaced eyes. Slightly reddish healthy glossy skin. High hollow cheekbones. Thin Cupid lips. She was just... Pretty.
She wore the Yoshimura school uniform well too. Dark blue jacket over a white shirt, the school's red-striped tie was loosened just enough to look casual. Black skirt, perfectly fitted. She was so classy Ari couldn't even look at her indecently if he tried. His eyes wouldn't dare.
She wore beautiful gray socks. Everything was so coordinated. Like eye candy in the most regal way possible. *She looks like Barbie* Ari thought. Blonde and bright ice blue eyes.
Elaine wasn't that tall but at this second she looked like a giant to Ari. You just knew she was used to being listened to and admired.
But Elaine's expression however, was not pleased. Infact she was most annoyed. Like she'd been pulled from something more important than to babysit some unserious first-year with too much black clothing.
"Mr. Masaki." Her voice had a natural breathyness to it.
"Ah, Elaine. Thank you for coming." Mr. Masaki gestured to Ari and his parents. "This is Toru Ari. He is a first-year student. He is a late arrival due to medical circumstances. So I'll need you to give him the usual orientation. His dorms, what he'll need, classes."
Elaine's eyes flicked to this Toru Ari, taking him in with a single comprehensive glare. Tall. Too tall. Black clothes. Awkward posture despite the height. Clearly uncomfortable. Definitely a Mama's boy. Unprepared. This was going to be such a drag for her.
Then she turned back to Mr Masaki, "Of course."
But her tone though said it was very much not "of course." Yet she had no choice. It was her duty as the student assistant.
"Mr. and Mrs. Toru. I'm Elaine de Vries, third-year student assistant. I'll make sure your son gets settled properly."
Her Japanese was more articulate than Ari's and now even her manners.
"Thank you so much," Ari's mother said, bowing. "We really appreciate your help."
"It's my responsibility." Elaine returned the bow.
*Ugh...I feel like I'm being babysitted* Ari groaned inside.
She rose slowly from her bow and was staring at Ari with her body angled to him. Her expression cooled back to its default state of cold annoyance. "Toru Ari."
"Yes. Hi. Hello." Ari felt his face heating. "I am Toru Ari or AriTmis fine."
[YOU NEED TO WORK ON YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS]
Elaine's expression didn't change. Ari bet she didn't even bother to listen to a single word of his mumbling introduction. "Let's get you to your dormitory. Your parents can help with luggage until we reach the student-only areas."
Mr. Masaki smiled his calm, professional smile. "Excellent. Toru-san, everything is in order. Good luck here."
They walked out of the administrative building, Elaine was leading at a maximum walk pace. She knew where she was going and she definitely wished she was already there.
Ari's parents followed, carrying most of his luggage despite his protests. Ari brought up the rear, feeling conspicuous and awkward.
"Ari," his mother whispered, nudging him. "She's very pretty."
"Mom."
"What? She is! And she seems capable. A bit cold, maybe, but—"
"Yes mom she's okay."
His mother giggled quietly, which only made Ari's embarrassment worse.
Elaine led the Toru's along the central campus, past buildings that Ari couldn't properly appreciate because he was too busy trying not to look as out-of-place as he felt. Also because Elaine de Vries was walking too darn fast. Students were everywhere now and many of them looked at their families procession with open curiosity.
Or more specifically, they looked at Elaine with admiration and respect, then at the tall goth in all black walking behind her with his parents like a lost child.
[THEY THINK YOU ARE HELPLESS TORU ARI]
*Aren't I. I just want this whole thing to be over with*
[YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THAT. THE STUDENT ASSITANT ALSO WANTS TO DROP YOU TO YOUR OWN DEVICES]
*Hehe... I'll be out of her hair soon enough. I never liked feeling like a drag*
The First-Year-Den was a monolithic building, four stories for the boys. It had a large beautiful promenade that went on to this giant brick wall. Behind that brick wall Ari guessed was the first year female dorm area.
Just Infront of the brick walls were sakura trees. But the dorm where Elaine was leading them to was fronted by willow trees. And that was a separate 3 story array of buildings. That was the Male dorm.
So all three buildings were connected.
It all got confusing. Some classes were in the First-Year-Den but not all of them. It was more a recreational small building for all first years.
They reached the entrance, and Elaine stopped suddenly and she turned to AriTorus parents. "This is where I need to take over. It's student-only areas beyond this point. You can say your goodbyes here."
And there it was. The moment Ari had been dreading.
His mother's eyes were immediately filled with tears. "Already?"
"University protocol," Elaine said, not unkindly. "For student safety and privacy."
Ari looked at his parents, his mothers black eyes were turning blurry with tears. His father was practicing composure but with that tell-tale tightness around his gray eyes.
"Mom, don't cry. You're going to make me—"
"I know, I know, I promised I wouldn't." But the tears were falling anyway. She pulled him into a hug, hugging his torso while he bent down. "Call me. Every day. Or text. Just let me know you're alive and eating properly."
"I will. I Promise."
His father was next. The hug was brief, a man's man's hug, but Ari felt his father's hands shake. "Remember what I said. About knowing who you are. Don't let this place change you."
"I won't Dad."
"And Ari?" His father pulled back, and made sure to look at his big beautiful boy. "Enjoy the basketball." Hideaki managed to sniff whatever minute signs of tears came, "...and make the team."
Not "try to make the team." Not "do your best." Make it.
"I will."
Michiko hugged him again, whispering things about clean socks and studying hard and making friends and being safe. His father clasped his shoulder once more. Ari placed his large hands on his mother's belly imagining his unborn sibling was also bidding him goodbye. Hideaki had to hold his wife's hand otherwise she'd crumble in tears again.
Then they were walking away, his mother was looking back every few steps, his father's arm was around her shoulders.
Ari watched them disappear around a building, feeling like something vital had been cut loose.
[SO EMOTIONAL YOU ARE TORU ARI. THEY ARE JUST AN HOUR AND A HALF MINUTES AWAY]
*Shut u_*
"Toru Ari."
Elaine's voice SNAPPED Ari back to the moment. He cleaned his eyes and followed her, she was already heading inside.
[YOUR BAGS]
Ari jerked, turning back, grabbed his remaining bags and hurried after her. Now that his parents were gone, Elaine's pace was fucking brutal. All her movements were driven with the sole purpose of getting this over with.
The interior was as impressive as the exterior. Polished hardwood floors, high ceilings with exposed beams, large windows that let in natural light. The walls were painted in warm neutrals, with bulletin boards every few meters covered in club announcements and event posters.
Elaine didn't give him a tour so much as navigate through it, occasionally glancing at a file she'd been given....presumably his student information. She made turns without hesitation, climbed stairs without slowing, all while Ari struggled to keep up with his luggage and increasingly burning thighs.
"Your dormitory is on the third floor," Elaine said without turning around. "East wing. Single room."
"Okay."
"Obey the dorm rules. It's all in the guidebook".
They reached the third floor—Ari's legs were screaming now, from training and the stairs. Elaine led him down a hallway lined with identical doors. She stopped at one marked "East 347."
"This is yours." She pulled out a key from the file, handed it to him. "You'll need to get your student ID from the administrative office tomorrow for electronic access. Until then, physical key."
Ari unlocked the door, pushed it open.
The room was...
[MEH]
It was far from 'meh.' Ari was expecting a standard room but with all he'd seen this was of course what an average home looked like in Yoshimura standards. It belonged in a boutique hotel. The walls were a pale cream, carved with European style motifs. The corners were trimmed with elegant molding that framed the soft amber glow of wall sconces.
A large queen-sized bed stood against the far wall, layered with crisp sheets, a navy throw, and two oversized pillows that were dangerously enticing Ari to jump on them and sleep his life away. He was exhausted.
To the right, a sliding frosted glass door led to his own bathroom. His Own bathroom.
"The common room is on the first floor. The laundry is in the basement. The cafeteria opens at 6:30 AM and closes at 8 PM. Your meal plan is unlimited access."
She reminded him. "Again. Read the dorm rules in the guidebook".
"Your classroom." She was already walking away.
Ari dropped his bags in his new room and followed. Again.
They descended back to the first floor and exited the male dorm into the main campus. The building Elaine led him to was only a few minutes walk—massive, modern compared to some of the oldwith the easyer structures, with large glass windows and multiple floors.
"First-year academic building," Elaine said, entering through automatic doors. "You'll find your schedule in your student guidebook....page 67. Your homeroom is on the second floor."
She was practically a robot of ultimate efficiency.
Up more stairs. Down a hallway. Past students who were moving between classes, clustering in groups, talking and laughing like people who'd been here for two weeks.
Elaine stopped outside a classroom door. "This is your class. 1-C."
Ari looked through the door's window. The classroom was empty....AND MASSIVE. So large that when he tapped the window it echoed within the class.
The students were probably at lunch or in other periods. He could see glossy beautiful wooden desks in large rows, a very long traditional green board thag spanned the length of the class.
Elaine suddenly pulled out a small notepad and pen from her jacket pocket. She wrote quickly, her handwriting was an attractive cursive." The textbooks you'll need to get started".
She tore off the page and handed it to him. "Get them from the bookstore."
She did a few more things—showed him where the staff room was, where the library was located on the map, the labs, some more labs, the bathrooms, the counsellors office. All of this within the first year academic building
Ari's eyes turned to spiral noodles.
Between the First Year Den, the male first year dorms and the First year academic building there were billions of ways for him to get lost.
Finally, she pulled out his guidebook from her other pocket. "Your complete schedule is on page 89. The Classes, the homeroom, everything."
She remembered that too. The exact page number.
"Thank you Elaine-senpai," Ari said. "You've done too—
"Don't mention it", She cut him off, firm as hell.
"Classes are still going on. The choice to attend the night classes or not, all yours".
She turned and walked away. He could practically see the relief in her shoulders.
......
........
[TRYOUTS]
[STOP SPACING OUT]
"Ah, I totally forgot." Ari shouted," Wait!"
Elaine stopped. Turned back. Her expression openly irritated at have been called flack from afar. "What is it?"
Ari bridges the distance.
"The basketball tryouts. How and_ Where do I register?"
She was quiet for a moment. Her eyes moved over him in an icily sweep. Starting from his face, down his lanky near two meter frame, the way he carried himself was that he wasn't carrying himself. Awkward with no hard muscle mass whatsoever.
He could see her calculation: Tall. Obviously tall enough that people probably asked if he played basketball constantly. But built like he'd never survive 5 minutes in a gym. Slender to the point of looking fragile, but still had a fitness to him. New student....Two weeks behind everyone else. In all likelihood had some fantasy about making the team based purely on whatever skill he thought would be enough.
"The Pavilion," she said finally. "You register at the Pavilion."
Silence
"The... Pavilion?"
Ari saw her jaw tighten, he caught wind of her muttering something under her breath. Maybe french or Dutch. Something along those lines.
[DUTCH]
She extended her hand, saying one word: "Guidebook."
He quickly handed it over. She flipped the book mercilessly. Knowing exactly where to look and then holding it up, pointing to a specific section.
"That's the Pavilion. The Main athletics building. Where the basketball team trains. There's no time limit. You can register tomorrow morning if you please."
She tossed the book back to him. He caught it clumsily.
"Thank you. Really. I appreciate—"
She was already turning away again.
But then she stopped. Just stood there for a moment, back to him, like she was having an internal debate. Then she let out a tired sigh.
"Don't bother."
Ari blinked. "What?"
She turned around slowly. Her face was composed, calm, but her eyes held pity.
"Don't bother joining the basketball team."
The words hit AriToru like cold water. Waking him up. Waking his emotions up. And she said it like she was giving a true objective truth and not just mere advice.
[DID SHE JUST—]
[WHO DOES THIS—]
[THE AUDACITY—]
"You'll get crushed." She said it simply. No malice. No emotion. "Two hundred students are trying out. Most have been playing since elementary school. Many are already scouted. The team is nationally ranked. Get out of your delusion and save all of us the sight."
She looked at him again, and this time the pity was clearer. " It's easier if you just stay away from basketball." Her voice taking on that advisory tone people used when they thought they were being helpful.
[_____THIS LITTLE______WHY I'D____]
She held his gaze for a moment longer. She looked so certain, like she'd given this speech before. And like it was a blessing to the ones that she had spoken to.
Then she turned and walked away. Just left him standing in the empty hallway with her words hanging in the air like a verdict. A fucking verdict?!
Ari stood there, watching her retreating stupid perfect hourglass figure disappear around a corner. Other students passed by, glancing at him curiously.
The tall first-year in all black just standing motionless in the middle of the hallway.
His grip tightened on the guidebook in his hands...hard enough to wrinkle the hard cover. The edges dug into his palms, it tore slightly under his massive hands. His jaw constricted, teeth grinding together with enough force that his molars ached. Ari was enraged. His face was in an expression that looked straight out of a horror slasher.
He thought about his stats. About his two weeks of brutal training that had given himself a chance to success.
He thought about being two weeks behind everyone else.
He thought about his parents driving home, believing in him. About Mr. Masaki's surprised but accepting nod when he'd said he'd try out. About the system that had given him a chance when he'd had none.
The system however didn't send any message. It was quiet. The same way it usually was when he was with mom and dad. But now, it was almost expecting something.
But for AriToru, a pure emotion has built in his chest. A terrifying anticipation. Ohh, he couldn't wait. He wanted to play basketball. You could feel the anger and excitement oozing out of him.
He'd never been good at comebacks. Never knew what to say in the moment when someone dismissed him or doubted him. He wasn't a talker. He'd never been a talker..
His teeth ground together one more time. Then his jaw relaxed. His grip on the guidebook loosened.
"I'll show her," he whispered to the empty hallway, in a voice the system had never heard before. He turned away to make his way to the Pavilion , "I'll show all of them",
[INDEED]
[YOU WILL]
Ari looked down at the guidebook in his hands, torn slightly from his grip. He kept a finger buried in the Pavilion's page. Then he started walking.
Tomorrow was the draft try outs. And he ...was tired as hell.