Chapter 1: The Mountain, Bamboo, and the Moon

"Your face is so weird! Look at those freckles, they look like pimples!" A taller boy laughed as he pushed a young Yamaguchi down. The other boys in their group proceeded to throw their backpacks down towards the fallen boy, "You're on backpack duty today like always, so-"

"Heeey!" Everyone's head shot up and saw a girl running towards them at full speed. She pushed one of the boys down and stood over the fallen Yamaguchi, "You bullies leave Tadachi alone!"

"Ho-Hotaru-chan!"

The small girl then proceeded to swing her backpack in front of her to ward off the bigger boys away from her friend. The bigger boys looked at each other and laughed, "You're so pa-"

"Pathetic." Everyone turned to look towards the direction the cold voice came from. A top the hill was a tall, blonde boy with cold, cold eyes. The bullies began to panic, thinking he was older than them. They grabbed their bags off the ground and hurried away. Hotaru and Yamaguchi looked up at the stoic boy and smiled.

"Obaa-chan, we'll be heading out now!" Hotaru yelled from the doorway with her little brother next to her. A few years have passed since the incident with the bullies and not much has changed. Hotaru's hair has grown down past her waist but her emerald eyes still shined with the same innocence as they did back then. She held her little brother's hand as they walked down the steps away from the shrine their grandparents managed.

Two young boys waited at the foot of the steps and waved as the two made their descent, "Sasori hurry up!" Hotaru's little brother, Sasori, looked up to his older sister who merely nodded and let go of his hand. She watched as the little boy happily made his way towards his friends and they left her sight as they ran towards the elementary school. Hotaru began to make her way towards Karasuno high school as did many other students.

Hotaru perked her head up a bit and saw the backs of two familiar boys. She smiled and rushed up to them, "Tadachi~ Tsukki~!" She called out.

Yamaguchi's face lit up as he waved to his dear friend, "Hotaru! Hurry up!"

Hotaru caught up to the two very tall boys and smiled up at them, "Good morning you two, how was your weekend? You both weren't answering the group text very much."

"We played a match against the other two freshmen that joined the volleyball club." Yamaguchi pointed to his athletic bag, "We also got our volleyball team jerseys!"

Hotaru's eyes lit up, "Really?! That's so cool!"

Tsukishima's face went from his usual stoic expression to an all-out frown, "I hate it when you get excited, that usually means…" Hotaru rummaged through her bag, pulled out a camera, and smiled at the two boys. Tsukishima sighed, "You'll want to take a stupid and embarrassing picture."

Hotaru skipped a few feet away from the two, "Take out your jerseys and put them on you two!" She ordered as she began to get her camera into focus.

"We're out in public and right before the start of school, you don't think you can do this at a more convenient time, Takenaka?"

Hotaru shook her head at the giant of a boy, "No time like the present. Now hurry up or else we'll be late for homeroom." Tsukishima's eye twitched at his inability to persuade the tiny girl as Yamaguchi tried to calm the tension between the two, "Calm down, Tsukki. It's just a real quick picture." He said as he took his volleyball jersey out. Years of friendship has taught Yamaguchi that there was no stopping the girl if she had already made up her mind.

Tsukishima sighed and took his jersey out as well. Years of friendship has taught him that it's easier to just go with the flow when it came to these two idiots. He reluctantly put on his jacket and looked away from the camera as Yamaguchi smiled and threw up the infamous peace sign.

Hotaru smiled. Pictures were always like this.

Yamaguchi smiling.

Tsukishima wishing he was somewhere else.

Hotaru took the picture and smiled at the outcome, "Now…" She bounded towards the two boys, brought Yamaguchi closer and made Tsukishima bend down to an awkward and uncomfortable height, much to both of their surprise, "One more~." She sang and took a selfie with the two of them. She looked at the result and smiled, "Perfect as always."

Tsukishima flicked her forehead, "You need to stop doing that. Especially in public. It's annoying." He said and walked ahead of them.

Hotaru laughed as she rubbed the small red spot on her forehead, "You think you would get used to it by now, Tsukki…"

Yamaguchi packed his jersey back into his bag and slung is over his shoulder, "You know how Tsukki is. I don't think he'll ever get used to taking pictures."

Hotaru pouted as she quickly looked through the old pictures in her camera, "Tsukki isn't smiling in any of these. Most of them he's not even looking at the camera." Her pout disappeared once she found a picture of Yamaguchi and Tsukishima playing video games with her little brother. She sighed and gave a slight smile, "Well it's not a smile…. But at least it's not a frown." Hotaru looked up and saw that the two boys were already far ahead of her. She packed up her camera and ran to catch up to the two.

Once the trio entered the school grounds, they were immediately greeted with a chorus of "Good morning Nadeshiko-oujosama" and "Looking as stunning as ever, Nadeshiko-oujosama!" Tsukishima frowned as they walked through the crowd of fawning teenage boys, "Why is it like this every morning? If I had known it'd be the exact same as middle school I would have chosen to go to a different high school."

Within the short amount of time that school has been in session, Takenaka Hotaru's reputation spread throughout the entire school, even up to the third years. Ever since elementary school Hotaru has been what is known as a yamato nadeshiko. In short: she was the perfect wife. She was short and petite with long, black, undyed hair. Her green eyes shone with the innocence that was hard to find in a high school girl in this day and age. She was polite, smart, modest, kind to everyone, and her smile could rival that of the stars in the sky. Just as her name Hotaru suggests, she can light up the night just by her presence.

Tsukishima, on the other hand, can make a blooming flower wilt just by his glare. He kept this same glare present as the trio made their way to the classroom, warding off any of the young men who thought they could get a chance to talk to Hotaru. Yamaguchi chuckled, "Tsukki, you can't start off every day at school with that same facial expression."

"Tch. As long as that idiot keeps attracting attention we can never have a quiet walk to school. It's troublesome and annoying." He said as he took his seat.

Hotaru turned around and faced Tsukishima who sat right behind her, "I don't understand what this 'attention' is you speak of. Isn't it normal to say good morning to your schoolmates?"

Yamaguchi and Tsukishima looked at her, frowns making their way on their faces, "It's nothing you need to worry about…."

The homeroom teacher entered the classroom and ushered everyone to get to their seats, "It's around that time that we need to assign the class representative." She looked up at the class with dull eyes, "Are there any volunteers?"

None.

She sighed, "Is there anyone who would like to nominate someone?"

Tsukishima reached forward and flicked Hotaru on the back of her head, "Why don't you do it, Takenaka. You weren't planning on joining any clubs right?" He said with a devious smirk.

The teacher looked towards the two, "Oh did I hear that right? Takenaka are you willing to do it?"

"E-Eh?! Me?" Hotaru stuttered out frantically. She turned around and pouted towards Tsukishima who merely widened his smirk. He knew she wasn't good with public speaking and having everyone depend on her stressed her out. Hotaru turned back around, "Th-Then I nominate Tsukishima!"

Tsukishima nearly fell out of his seat, but quickly regained his posture, reached forward and grabbed the back of Hotaru's collar and brought her back a bit, "What do you think y-"

The teacher frowned, "Well we have two nominations out, so I suppose it's up to the class to decide."

Everyone turned to the two. On one hand they have sweet and little Takenaka Hotaru, the princess of Karasuno High school. On the other hand they have the tall and menacing Tsukishima Kei. Which one did they want as the face of the class? The class turned to face the teacher and with a unanimous, "Takenaka-oujosama" Hotaru was elected as class representative. Yamaguchi turned around to look at his two best friends. He saw Tsukishima sitting there with a triumphant smirk as Hotaru sat there trying to hold in her tears.

About the OC
Name: Takenaka Hotaru (竹中 蛍)
[Note] The kanji for her name and Tsukishima's name is the same, but pronounced differently
[Note] Her name means "Firefly within the bamboo"
Birthday: December 24
Height: 150cm
Weight: 43kg
Favorite Food: Dorayaki (Red Bean Pancake)
Current Concern: Making sure she doesn't mess up being class representative

[[Aero's Afterthought]]
So I'm literally coming out of a 4~5year rut. Ahahaha I'm so old now. orz
When I used to write more my chapters were always super long, this is actually only about half (a third?) of what chapter one was supposed to be, but tell me what y'all think. If it's too short I'll make my chapters long or if it's just right I'll continue with about this length.
Also, I typically follow the story line when it comes to these things, but I was debating whether or not I wanted to go full out shoujo manga with Tsukishima or not. Tell me what y'all think / would like to read!

Like I said, I'm coming out of a rut so please review or message me!

よろしくお願いします！