Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, if I did I would be very, very rich.
"" is talking is for thinking and reminiscing ** is for coughs or sighs
CHAPTER ONE - The problems with tradition
Yami glared at the departing car of his guardian and then turned to enter the school building, scowling the entire way. The critical words of Kurai- san burned in his mind as jerked his locker open, almost ripping it off its hinges.
The door banged against the locker beside it with a resounding crash that made several students jump and glance at him.
Yami ignored them and piled his science books into his bag, not caring that the cover of his chemistry book tore as he stuffed it down into the bottom of the bag.
"Bullying younger students, are you INSANE!? What will Tokyo University say when they see THAT on your record, you stupid boy?"
Yami closed his eyes, breathing deeply. He hadn't wanted his guardian to find out about that, no one would have found about him if that stupid snitch Joey hadn't gone running to the principles office to prattle on him.
Everything was going wrong, exams were coming up and he was failing everything, EVERYTHING.
Luckily his guardian hadn't found out about that, as far as his guardian was concerned he was at the top of his class. Yami's lies and ingenious way of altering grades on all his report cards had kept his guardian believing that he was a sure shot into Tokyo University.
But.
Panic surged through him, what was he going to do? He didn't want to go to Tokyo University and study to be a doctor, he wanted to go into the gaming industry, he had so many ideas that he was sure would make it.
"You must work hard Yami, both your parents were doctors and it would make them proud to see their only son a doctor as well. I can't imagine what your father would say if he ever saw you were still wasting your time with silly games like Duel Monsters. Why don't you study for that test you have next month?"
He grit his teeth, he didn't have a choice, he couldn't dishonour the memory of his parents, but. goddamit he was SO MISERABLE!! COULDN'T ANYONE SEE THAT!??
He slammed his locker shut and fighting the feeling of despair in his heart, put on his 'don't mess with me face' and strode to his class.
He'd been deteriorating for months; it had all begun when he found himself unable to keep up with the others in the sciences. He just couldn't understand any of the formulas in chemistry, biology was no better (he really didn't care less about how the body worked) and physics was a disaster. He had really tried (even taking extra lessons) but nothing, absolutely nothing worked.
His best subjects were and always had been art and computer programming. He didn't mind math at all, he'd always done well in that subject and the sciences had been fine (not brilliant) up to a point but then he gradually found himself being left behind by the others who all had a knack for it.
Tanaka-sensei had suggested to him when all the students had been choosing their subjects that he go into the computer sciences while continuing his art.
"You have the makings of an excellent program designer, I suggest you don't throw it away," had been Tanaka-sensei's exact words.
Yami had liked the idea of becoming a program designer, he had made a few games before and gotten excellent grades for them (the best in the school history) but when he had come home and told his guardian what his teacher had advised. Kurai-san had scoffed and told him that he was to be a doctor and programming was a waste of time.
He had been forced to drop his favourite subjects and enroll in all the sciences. Yami's heart ached every time he saw his classmates heading for their programming and art courses. All the teachers had advised the students well and all his classmates were in their proper niche of study but he was spiraling in an abyss of confusion that was heading steadily for a black hole of failure.
But there was more too. He'd found himself bullying the younger children in the school. It had just happened one day, a little 7th grader had asked for directions to a class when he was particularly pissed about a grade and he had lashed out.
Seeing the crying kid run away from him gave him a perverse sense of power, a sense of control and soon he was bullying anyone smaller than he was and even some persons in his own grade.
Yami had always been intimidating; his sharp purple eyes took in everyone and made them feel small. Now that he was actually using his natural authoritative aura negatively he was creating quite a stir in the school. The odd friend that he had began to avoid him completely. Yami too wrapped up in his problems and his mad power trip hardly noticed until he was completely alone.
Being alone meant he had no one to talk to, being alone meant he had only himself to look to for advise, and Yami had to admit to himself that he was one lousy counselor.
He finally got to his homeroom and skulked to the back of the classroom using the shadow of a bookcase to lurk in. All the students carefully moved their desks away from him, not sparing him a glance.
When the teacher came in and everyone had said their cheerful, 'Ohayo Gozaimasu!' (albeit Yami who stared out the window, scowling) the teacher came round giving all the science students their Physics test results from the past week's prep exams.
She told the programming students that they'd get their results after lunch and the art students were to ask their teacher.
There were a lot of happy sounds from all the science students as they got their papers, the majority of them were all really prepared for the upcoming exams and the few who were behind a bit, were well on their way to catching up. The teacher handed Yami his test results and moved on to the next student.
Yami slowly opened the paper, hoping against all hope that maybe this time.
10 percent?
It took everything Yami had to not weep right there in his seat. He found himself crumbling the paper and ripping the edges apart. He then took a lead pencil and began stabbing the crumbled test paper with savage thrusts. He'd stayed up all night studying for that test. it just wasn't .FAIR!!
"I'm sure all of you are studying hard for the upcoming exams, remember this is the college placement tests so I suggest you work extra hard from."
Yami vaguely heard the drone of the teacher's voice, slipping away into his pit of despair with every stab of the pencil into the test paper.
".there will be a school meeting after school, all students please be."
He HATED his life, he wished his parents were alive so he could ask them if it was okay to be something they weren't, if they would still be proud of him.
"And for the last issue of the morning, we have a new student, his high school was destroyed by a fire last week and he'll be one of the five students who will be transferring to Domino High, please make him feel welcome and help him catch up with some of his lessons if you can, its terribly unlucky for him that such a thing happened just before exams. Yugi- san?"
Several students gasping brought Yami out of his stabbing trance; he glared up at the front of the classroom and his own eyes widened in surprise.
To be continued
Vocabulary
Ohayo Gozaimasu - a very good morning 'Name'-san - respectful way of greeting 'name' -sensei - term for teacher
"" is talking is for thinking and reminiscing ** is for coughs or sighs
CHAPTER ONE - The problems with tradition
Yami glared at the departing car of his guardian and then turned to enter the school building, scowling the entire way. The critical words of Kurai- san burned in his mind as jerked his locker open, almost ripping it off its hinges.
The door banged against the locker beside it with a resounding crash that made several students jump and glance at him.
Yami ignored them and piled his science books into his bag, not caring that the cover of his chemistry book tore as he stuffed it down into the bottom of the bag.
"Bullying younger students, are you INSANE!? What will Tokyo University say when they see THAT on your record, you stupid boy?"
Yami closed his eyes, breathing deeply. He hadn't wanted his guardian to find out about that, no one would have found about him if that stupid snitch Joey hadn't gone running to the principles office to prattle on him.
Everything was going wrong, exams were coming up and he was failing everything, EVERYTHING.
Luckily his guardian hadn't found out about that, as far as his guardian was concerned he was at the top of his class. Yami's lies and ingenious way of altering grades on all his report cards had kept his guardian believing that he was a sure shot into Tokyo University.
But.
Panic surged through him, what was he going to do? He didn't want to go to Tokyo University and study to be a doctor, he wanted to go into the gaming industry, he had so many ideas that he was sure would make it.
"You must work hard Yami, both your parents were doctors and it would make them proud to see their only son a doctor as well. I can't imagine what your father would say if he ever saw you were still wasting your time with silly games like Duel Monsters. Why don't you study for that test you have next month?"
He grit his teeth, he didn't have a choice, he couldn't dishonour the memory of his parents, but. goddamit he was SO MISERABLE!! COULDN'T ANYONE SEE THAT!??
He slammed his locker shut and fighting the feeling of despair in his heart, put on his 'don't mess with me face' and strode to his class.
He'd been deteriorating for months; it had all begun when he found himself unable to keep up with the others in the sciences. He just couldn't understand any of the formulas in chemistry, biology was no better (he really didn't care less about how the body worked) and physics was a disaster. He had really tried (even taking extra lessons) but nothing, absolutely nothing worked.
His best subjects were and always had been art and computer programming. He didn't mind math at all, he'd always done well in that subject and the sciences had been fine (not brilliant) up to a point but then he gradually found himself being left behind by the others who all had a knack for it.
Tanaka-sensei had suggested to him when all the students had been choosing their subjects that he go into the computer sciences while continuing his art.
"You have the makings of an excellent program designer, I suggest you don't throw it away," had been Tanaka-sensei's exact words.
Yami had liked the idea of becoming a program designer, he had made a few games before and gotten excellent grades for them (the best in the school history) but when he had come home and told his guardian what his teacher had advised. Kurai-san had scoffed and told him that he was to be a doctor and programming was a waste of time.
He had been forced to drop his favourite subjects and enroll in all the sciences. Yami's heart ached every time he saw his classmates heading for their programming and art courses. All the teachers had advised the students well and all his classmates were in their proper niche of study but he was spiraling in an abyss of confusion that was heading steadily for a black hole of failure.
But there was more too. He'd found himself bullying the younger children in the school. It had just happened one day, a little 7th grader had asked for directions to a class when he was particularly pissed about a grade and he had lashed out.
Seeing the crying kid run away from him gave him a perverse sense of power, a sense of control and soon he was bullying anyone smaller than he was and even some persons in his own grade.
Yami had always been intimidating; his sharp purple eyes took in everyone and made them feel small. Now that he was actually using his natural authoritative aura negatively he was creating quite a stir in the school. The odd friend that he had began to avoid him completely. Yami too wrapped up in his problems and his mad power trip hardly noticed until he was completely alone.
Being alone meant he had no one to talk to, being alone meant he had only himself to look to for advise, and Yami had to admit to himself that he was one lousy counselor.
He finally got to his homeroom and skulked to the back of the classroom using the shadow of a bookcase to lurk in. All the students carefully moved their desks away from him, not sparing him a glance.
When the teacher came in and everyone had said their cheerful, 'Ohayo Gozaimasu!' (albeit Yami who stared out the window, scowling) the teacher came round giving all the science students their Physics test results from the past week's prep exams.
She told the programming students that they'd get their results after lunch and the art students were to ask their teacher.
There were a lot of happy sounds from all the science students as they got their papers, the majority of them were all really prepared for the upcoming exams and the few who were behind a bit, were well on their way to catching up. The teacher handed Yami his test results and moved on to the next student.
Yami slowly opened the paper, hoping against all hope that maybe this time.
10 percent?
It took everything Yami had to not weep right there in his seat. He found himself crumbling the paper and ripping the edges apart. He then took a lead pencil and began stabbing the crumbled test paper with savage thrusts. He'd stayed up all night studying for that test. it just wasn't .FAIR!!
"I'm sure all of you are studying hard for the upcoming exams, remember this is the college placement tests so I suggest you work extra hard from."
Yami vaguely heard the drone of the teacher's voice, slipping away into his pit of despair with every stab of the pencil into the test paper.
".there will be a school meeting after school, all students please be."
He HATED his life, he wished his parents were alive so he could ask them if it was okay to be something they weren't, if they would still be proud of him.
"And for the last issue of the morning, we have a new student, his high school was destroyed by a fire last week and he'll be one of the five students who will be transferring to Domino High, please make him feel welcome and help him catch up with some of his lessons if you can, its terribly unlucky for him that such a thing happened just before exams. Yugi- san?"
Several students gasping brought Yami out of his stabbing trance; he glared up at the front of the classroom and his own eyes widened in surprise.
To be continued
Vocabulary
Ohayo Gozaimasu - a very good morning 'Name'-san - respectful way of greeting 'name' -sensei - term for teacher