Takamiya Academy is a school for intelligent, aspiring youth. It was started by Misata Takamiya, daughter of Miyu Takamiya, an extremely wealthy business man. Misata, in her youth, had been a fiesty tomboy who, though very smart, was bored by normal school subjects. Her only passion was to fight. She started a school, with her dad's help of course, for children who wanted to persue their dreams as fighters, rather than end up with an average job they would be unhappy at. If a student has shown promise when they reach the age of 14, they are given the option to attend Takamiya.
Over time, the variety of the subjects taught at the academy widened. Today, there are special classes for students who want to be musicians, artists, writers, dancers, scientists, mathemeticians, sculpters, and more, rather than just martial artists. Regular curriculum is taught as well, and students must keep up their grades in these classes to remain at Takamiya.
Many succesful people in the martial arts, fine arts, business, and entertainment world have originally come from Takamiya. It's a common goal for most children younger than 14 to be accepted there.
A tall girl with medium length blonde hair ran down the staircases that scaled Takamiya Academy from the first level to the the roof. She had slept in, and on today of all days. She was supposed to have been awake at least 30 minutes ago, to show the newbies(aka the first years, dubbed "newbies" by the freshmen) around the school.
"Dammit...I hope none of 'em'll tell," she muttered, starting down the staircase to the main hall. She looked around and saw the group of 14-year-olds, about 100 in all, waiting for her.
The girl jumped off the second to last step and landed on the carpet of the first floor, and ran to the expectant group. "Hi...sorry I'm late; I slept in." She straightened up and smoothed out her black dress. "I'm Riko Hayashi. I'm a sophomore here, and I'm supposed to give you guys a tour of the school, so let's start."
Riko turned around and said, "This is the main hall. On Mondays, sometimes a shop is set up here, and every other Friday, we get our bimonthly grading report here. To the left is Headmaster Yui's office. In front of us is Nurse Shinichiro's office, and to the right is the library. You can't study there, but you can get materials.
"The second floor is where the normal classrooms are," Riko said, leading the group upstairs. "The doors are labeled, so you can figure 'em out by yourself. The last room down there," she pointed west, " is the computer lab. At the other end are the teachers' lounge, the study room, and the students' lounge. Our lounge is open until 8:00, and the study room and computers lab are open until 10:00. After 10:00, you are to go back to your dorm, unless given a special pass by a teacher or the headmaster. And of course, the teachers' lounge is off-limits to students, just as it is in regular schools.
"Okay, moving on, the third floor is where all the larger classrooms for martial arts, dancing, and stuff are. Down at the west end is the cafeteria." Riko stopped and let the others look in the rooms for a moment, before proceeding up. "Come on, we gotta hurry, since I was late," She walked up the stairs.
"The last floor most of you know about. It's the dorms. Behind us are the double B dorms, in front are the double A dorms, and at each end of the hall are two singles, the C dorms. Now obviously, the whole school can't fit up here, so there are large buildings that provide dorms for each grade level surrounding the school. The students that stay up here are drawn randomly, and you can remain up here as long as you wish," Riko said, then added, "Oh, and in case there aren't enough rooms for everyone, there is a hotel not far away that gives free rooms for students, so no one should go without a place to sleep."
"Up this last staircase is the roof. You're allowed to come up here until 7:00," Riko said, climbing the last steps. "And the roof is off limits if it's raining, snowing, or whatever." She went over to the edge and looked out across the grounds. "It's always nice to study or read up here, and you don't have to remain that quiet, since it's not directly above classrooms, and the dorms will be empty for most of the day. Alot of students come here on nice days."
Riko turned around. "That's the tour. Any questions?" She surveyed the group, but no one raised a hand or spoke up. "Okay. You can all return to your dorms. Classes begin at 10 and end at 3 today, but the normal schedual will start tomorrow."
Riko nodded at them, and went downstairs to her dorm, B3. Her roommate, Asa, was already gone, so Riko didn't have to deal with her. Riko couldn't stand Asa, who was constantly complaining. Riko climbed up the ladder to her top bunk and immediatly pulled out her hidden stash of sweets, which weren't allowed in dorms, from under her pillow. She grabbed a hand full from the bag and began eating them greedily. She was still used to sleeping until about 10, and having problems sleeping last night weren't helping. She needed a nice energy burst right now.
Sosi Isara, a somewhat short girl with medium length black hair, walked down the stairs, staying near the back of the group of newbies. Clutching her black bag that held her laptop, books, and papers tightly, she went into her dorm on the fourth floor. She was one of the only three newbies that had fourth floor dorms. The only reason she had it was because her father, who was now dead, had been a top student at the school, and had reserved it for her even before she had been born.
Her roommate Keira was still asleep, so she came in quietly and sat on her bed, the bottom bunk. Sosi still wasn't used to the idea of a boarding school. Not that she didn't want to attend; coming to Takamiya had been a dream for as long as she could remember. But she knew she would miss her mom and her two cats, Meimi and Kuji.
She sighed. And she missed some of her friends from her old school. She'd never had any close friends, but she had grown used to them. Coming to Takamiya meant starting all over again, with new teachers, rooms, peers...
Sosi fell back onto her bed and set her clock to go off in an hour. She wanted to sleep a little while before actually starting over.
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