Editing Mahou Sensou:Volume 1 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 4===

It was the second day of summer vacation, and even though there were no lessons, the school was filled with a lively atmosphere from the energetic students who had come here for club activities.

“Takeshi, you’re going to the dojo, right?”

When they arrived at school Kurumi parted with Takeshi to go to the girl’s locker room while he went towards the clubroom.

It was nearly 9:00am, you could hear the encouraged shouts from around the sports clubs which had already started their practices, from inside the school musical notes played by the woodwind club echoed.

Takeshi walked along the side of the clubroom near the sports ground, when a lone student came out from one of the storage sheds and considerably waved his hand.

In fact, even from a distance, Takeshi was quite familiar with this person, so he called out to them.

“Good morning Ida.”

“Yo!”

The person who approached was Ida, and they were in the same class.

As the distance narrowed, an unpleasant sparkle was noticed from his hair.

Spiky, blond hair held up by wax and dressed in clothes that were not allowed to be worn at school.

Seeing that gaudy colored T-shirt, Takeshi wryly smiled.

“It will anger sensei<ref>Teacher</ref> if you wear those clothes.”

Takeshi pointed at the bright red T-shirt while Ida’s face formed a sneer.

“Things like wearing a uniform during a holiday are meant for the military right?”

Takeshi wanted to ask Ida why he was at school during break when he wasn’t a member of any clubs.

“Makeup classes, makeup classes. Is Nanase here for club activities? It must be troublesome.”

“It’s not troublesome if I like doing it.”

It was better than his house and he felt it was more reasonable to be praised for being here, but he kept silent.

For some reason, Ida restlessly looked around.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, if people saw us meeting then your reputation would be hurt.”

“Reputation huh……”

“No, it’s true.”

For some reason Ida felt relieved after he checked his surroundings.

It may seem strange to see these two together, Ida, who by all appearances was a Yankee,<ref>Delinquent</ref> and the Kendo devotee Takeshi who is seen as serious when praised and dark-natured when criticized.

Because of his outward appearance, Ida was known as a flamboyant person around school.

That did not mean that there were no other students with dyed hair, many of the sensei did not worry about that. Ida was just unusual because he was assertive and had a fierce presence, furthermore, he had evil looking eyes and used the Osaka dialect,<ref>It's generalized as Kansai dialect, but the author specifically wrote Osaka-ben</ref> so even another classmate wouldn't readily approach him.

Takeshi was one who rarely concerned himself over such details.

“I don’t really care,” Takeshi said as Ida raised his eyebrows.

“You don’t care!”

“Ida, frankly it’s not the first time I’ve said that.”

“I don't care, people don't care, there's too much of that around.”

Ida frowned as Takeshi complained to him.

“Isn't it that you give off a different feeling instead of actually not caring? That is, you would worry about anybody who was like me. In short, if you weren't like that then you and I would not be talking.”

Heh, Heh, Ida looked away and regretfully laughed as Takeshi shook his head.

“But if that is the case, why are we talking now?”

“That is my slight kindness.”

Ida hung his head.

“Then maybe I should become a free spirit like Ida. I'll dye my hair, wear a T-shirt like that and then it wouldn't be strange for me to talk with you, right?”

Ida opened his eyes wide when he heard Takeshi's suggestion, it seemed like it was a good idea to him.

“Stop! That would be no good! If such a thing ever happened I would beat you on the head in my own way and send you off to the hospital. The T-shirt is one thing, but what possessed you to say your other ideas!?”

“I can probably guess which store Ida bought that T-Shirt from.”

Takeshi pointed to Ida’s flashy red T-shirt.

However, Ida's eyes hardened as he stared at the serious face of Takeshi.

Then, suddenly, Ida let out a relieved sigh.

“Y, you, the way you look when going on about the T-shirt, such a useless point!”

He suddenly laughed loudly.

“Ida?”

“....It...it's no good...you, haha...have an amusing imagination. Heh, heh.”
 
For a long time, Ida was rolling on the ground laughing. When it finally subsided, he looked up with watery eyes.

“You say you want to look like me but frankly that would be too much and you should just stop!”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah!”

When Ida flatly said that, the sound of the bell could be heard from the direction of the school building.

“Uwah, this is bad! That's the chime ringing, if I’m late I won't earn my credits. Well see you later Nanase!”

“Ah, yeah……”

“Keep that appearance! The T-shirt is out of the question!”

After saying that last thing with a laugh, Ida stood up and ran away.

"So it wouldn't be suitable?" Takeshi muttered immediately and started to walk in the direction of the club building.

When Takeshi arrived at the club building another first year member was already inside changing clothes. 

“Yo, Nanase.”

“Good morning.”

The club room was small, it was only 4 tatami mats <ref>A way to measure the size of rooms in Japan, approximately.88m by 1.76m for the Tokyo area, other areas have their own measurements.</ref> wide and had lockers side by side along the wall.

Takeshi pulled out his Kendo uniform and started to change clothes.

The other members had already finished changing clothes and had gone to the dojo.

Takeshi began to hurriedly change his clothes when a friend called out to him.

“Weren’t you with Ida a little while ago? I was watching you talk to him.”

Anyone going to the clubroom would have seen them.

It seems even the class next door was familiar with Ida's face, so he wouldn't be surprised if someone knew that Takeshi was speaking with him, his friend just shook his head in confusion.

“That's impossible. After all, why would you speak with Ida Kazumi.”

“He’s not really a bad guy,” Takeshi said as he put on the navy blue hakama.<ref>Traditional Japanese clothing worn by men, though today you can see both sexes wearing it</ref>

“Well, you may be right. It does appear that way a little. Though if the sensei saw you together they might say otherwise.”

The Sakuraya Senior High School is a prep school for students who plan on attending university, the moment they are first years, many of 
them will pay careful attention to their grades.

Takeshi understood that there was a connection between Ida and his grades, he would be really surprised to know that his classmates would say that was exactly why they kept their distance.

To other classes, Ida appeared to be unfortunate.

Ida would pay attention to the sensei during lectures, Takeshi who was also in the same class witnessed it. Still, being together never had an effect on their grades.

“That guy is pretty ordinary, when I spoke with him today he said he had makeup classes. I think, appearance aside, he's pretty serious.”

Takeshi calmly defended his friend and shrugged his shoulders.

"If you say so. In middle school there were rumors about that guy from various people that hung out in front of the station once awhile, they said he got into a fight with another school."

"Did you even verify the credibility of that rumor? Besides, setting aside the fact it's old, you would expect that he would have had to of come back with one or two injuries. As I thought it's simply just a rumor."

Suddenly, after his friend heard that, he covered his eyes with his arm.

“Really, you and that guy,” he said as he mimicked crying.

“What do you mean?”

Takeshi was confused at his idiotic friend's gesture, and had an angry expression on his face.

“No! No! I wasn't disagreeing. Seriously. I failed at trying to persuade Nanase who has amazing ability!”

“You really are an idiot after all.”

“I am not.”

Takeshi was still angry at his friend but he forced a smile onto his face, after a little while the tone was altered to a murmur.

“Even so, be a little more careful. Once you get very involved in something it becomes hard to separate yourself from it.”

Takeshi was amazed when heard that, and he softened his smile.

“Thank you for your concern, but I'll be okay.”

It's not good for someone's health if they are always worried.

“U Uoou!”

“What the heck was that?”

He was surprised by his friend’s sudden outburst.

“As I thought, Takeshi and that guy!”

''Ponto''.<ref>Onomatopoeia for hitting the shoulder</ref> 

Lightly tapped on the shoulder, his friend retreated one step, two steps. Then he suddenly jumped back and opened the door.

“Well, I'll be going ahead of you. Since you're the last one, make sure to shut the door, yoroshiku!”<ref>Generally a greeting when meeting someone, in this case it's being used as "I'm counting on you"</ref>

“Oi!” As it was, he needed to quickly run to the dojo. “Taku,<ref>Words of exasperation</ref> it can’t be helped.”

While he grumbled about his heartless friend, Takeshi looked at the clock. 8:57am. He was unlikely to make it the dojo by 9:00am.

If he was late for training, the second year senpais<ref>Senior, sometimes written as sempai</ref> would force him to do the days chores.

He would have to atone in his outfit. Takeshi finished changing his clothes and hurried out of the clubroom.

He started to run under the blazing sun drenched in sweat.

However, several minutes before he got there, he stopped and realized he had forgot something.

“Not good, I forgot a towel……” he muttered as he looked down at his empty hand.

He was dejected at the fact that he had to turn around and go back to the clubroom.

At this time Takeshi had no idea that this choice would alter his fate in a big way.

If he had known, he would never have gone back to get the towel.

Still, the only thoughts inside Takeshi's head at the moment was the fact that he was late and would be forced to do many chores.

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