The first time Hino Rei saw Aino Minako was on the first day of her second year of high school, in the locker room before PE. Normally seeing another girl in a locker room was nothing to take note of, however this particular girl had just transferred in, and no one seemed to be able to talk about anything else. Rei had spent all day listening to her classmates gossip about 'the new girl in the class across the hall, who had gone from regular girl, to blonde-haired delinquent, to shameful harlot, to ditzy air-head throughout the day. Frankly, it was getting annoying.

But when she saw her for the first time, Rei could kind of understand what all the fuss was about. Even among all the chattering, changing girls the transfer student stood out. The other girl was tall, about as tall as Rei was, with long legs. She had full, blonde hair that fell to her butt, and a pretty face capped by bright, blue eyes. She was also... thin wasn't quite the right word, and Rei furrowed her brow trying to think of a better one. It hit her when the other girl took her shirt off; fit. Aino Minako was incredibly fit. Yes, it was actually very easy to see why everyone was talking about this girl.

Rei's eyes focused on the blonde's face and she was startled to discover that the other girl was looking back at her. She quickly averted her eyes and started changing, acting as nonchalant as she could. Rei was sure that, as a transfer student, the other girl had been dealing with stares and whispers all day, and she didn't want to contribute to alienating the blonde. Besides, she wasn't really interested in what her classmates did, regardless of if they were new or not. She wasn't in school to make friends or be social.

When she finished changing, Rei joined the flow of students to the gym. Physical Education would be shared between the two classes twice a week, consisting of some warm-up calisthenics followed by whatever sport or activity the teacher felt like playing that day. It was pretty standard stuff; soccer, handball, volleyball, dodgeball and the like, and Rei could tolerate most of them. Although she could be pretty good if she tried, she didn't really see the point. Sure, the exercise was fine, but getting invested in meaningless games with classmates she didn't talk to seemed unnecessary, and certainly wasn't enough to motivate her to take the class seriously.

So it was with a sigh that she listened to the teacher tell them they were going outside for soccer. Although it was temperate for fall, the air had been nippy that morning on the way to school. The teacher probably wanted to get the students outside a few times before the weather worsened, but Rei really would have preferred staying in, away from the cold. She'd always been more of a hot weather person.

Still, she waited patiently while each class was separated into three teams, each of which would rotate for a few minutes of play at a time. Her team was on the field first, so Rei moved towards the goal, away from where most of the action would take place. She let someone else take the goalie position, and settled into a spot off to the right of the goal itself. Apparently the other team would be getting the ball first, and Rei was only mildly surprised to see Aino Minako receive the ball from her teammate and start running down the field.

The game was a disorienting mess, as a bunch of high school students with no actual soccer experience ran around, kicking the ball without any strategy or foresight. The transfer student was right in the middle of it all, always near the ball. She clearly had a lot of enthusiasm as she threw herself around, smiling and laughing, joking with her teammates and even the kids from Rei's own team. She almost made it look like fun.

With all the chaos and movement something had to give, and it seemed Aino's energy paid off as suddenly she had the ball at a full sprint. Even though she didn't really care about the game or the class, Rei moved to intercept the other girl. It'd be pretty shameful to allow a goal without even trying to defend it, so she positioned herself in front of the transfer student's charge. Aino spotted her and moved left. Rei followed, but at the last moment the other girl juked to the right and slipped past her, shooting and scoring easily.

The blonde girl whooped and leapt around and her team celebrated around her. The teacher called for the teams to switch out, and as Rei headed towards the sidelines she passed by the other team. Aino looked at her and shot her a grin and a thumbs up, which was fine, probably a show of sportsmanship, to let her know it was just a game. But then the blonde... was that a wink? Did the transfer student just wink at her? How was she supposed to take that? Just another friendly sign? Or was she taunting Rei?

Rei had a while to stew over the gesture, as the other two teams from her class had their turns on the field. The other class moved ahead two more goals, so by the time her team was up again most of her teammates had checked out of the game. Rei wasn't surprised when the other side cut through them quickly. At the head of the attack was none other than the transfer student, and she was making a bee line for Rei with a smirk on her face. Rei felt her anger flash hotly, and moved up again.

This time when Aino juked, Rei stuck with her. However the transfer student must have planned for that, because she juked again, and again Rei found herself out of position. The blonde shot, and her team moved ahead another goal. Rei groaned in frustration. She didn't even know why she cared; even her teammates had put in less effort than she had on that push.

The goal had been scored early in their turn, so the teacher reset the teams and started play again. Even though her team started with the ball, Rei watched as it was quickly turned over, and the other team advanced again. The transfer student waved for the ball, and for the third time Rei found herself the target of the other girl.

Her anger rose again, and she was determined not to lose this time. Aino juked again, but Rei stayed with her. She backpedaled, trying to stay between the transfer student and the goal, but that gave the other girl the advantage, and soon she passed Rei again. Rei growled and turned to follow, and pushed herself faster. She pulled even with Aino just as the other girl was preparing for a shot. Rei slid desperately and hit the ball, but her momentum plus the other girl's made for predictable results. The transfer student fell over Rei's legs and tumbled forwards, ending up flat on her back.

A whistle blew and the teacher indicated a free kick. Rei blinked and she felt her anger fade. Sliding in like that had been pretty dangerous, especially considering it was in a meaningless PE soccer game. Rei pushed herself up and walked towards the transfer student, to make sure she was all right. She stepped in front of the other girl and found her staring up with a happy grin on her face. It occurred to Rei then that it was possible the other girl hadn't meant anything at all earlier, and was just an excitable girl.

"Sorry about that," she said as she extended a hand to pull the other girl up. Aino chuckled as she was pulled to her feet.

"It's fine," she said as she slapped her hands on her clothes to get some of the dirt off. "I didn't give you much of a choice, huh?"

"What do you mean?" Rei asked.

"Well I kept coming right at you," the blonde said, the silly grin never leaving her face. "I wanted to see how you'd react."

Rei was stunned. The transfer student really had been pushing her buttons.

"My name's Aino Minako," the blonde said, holding her hand out. "Nice to meet you."

Rei was still too surprised to process what the other girl had said, but habit and her upbringing had her shaking the offered hand and giving her own name.

"Rei, huh? I like it," Minako said.

Their teams had arrived for the set piece and Rei shook herself. She opened her mouth to yell, but before she could go off on the blonde, the other girl was talking again.

"I think I'm gonna like this class, too," she said, and nudged Rei towards her team. "Not just anyone can get me on my back," she said, and she sent another wink at Rei.

Rei felt her face heat up, but she wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment or anger. She was sure about one thing though; it was going to be a long year.