Sakura Kiss (Wizard School Romance)

Ban is only a first year, but he is known throughout Hiyari on the strength of his family's name alone. Clan Ban produces the Japan's greatest weather-workers, and over the course of generations has become responsible for everything from ensuring good harvests to averting typhoons. It won't be many more years before Ban inherits his father's lordship, and the Hiyari students are keenly aware that on that day their friendly, unassuming classmate will become one of the most powerful men in Japan.

So it's particularly odd when a first year girl slams him bodily against the vending machines and calls him an asshole.

It's another brutally hot summer day, the heat actually visible as a hazy shimmer on the air. Frequent ice-cold drinks are basically a necessity for survival, and it's Ban's turn to pick up the tab. So while he sits through an ever-lengthening line, you're passing the time chatting with Nakamura Kaoru. She's telling you about how the third years claim the school has intentionally sabotaged the weather to make a fortune on the vending machines, but you're mostly just enjoying the way her nose crinkles when she smiles – until you hear the racket.

"What did I just say?!" A girl snarls, and from your position at the back of the crowd you can just make out Ban's face, utterly puzzled as his back is pressed hard against the transparent front of the iced coffee machine. You give Nakamura a wistful smile, brush your fingers against her arm to watch that crinkle one last time, and then push through the crowd to see if you need to save your friend.

Upon closer inspection, you can see that he definitely needs saving by somebody. Whether you're going to go out on a limb to be that somebody remains to be seen. Ban has found himself at the mercy of Hinata Chidori of class 1-B.


You can recognize her easily despite the fact that she has her back to you because of all the nearly three hundred and fifty students at Hiyari, Hinata is the only blonde. Hiyari doesn't technically have any rule against dying one's hair, but the magi community is strongly conservative even by Japanese standards. So for a student to be willing to put the school's good graces to the test on the issue is considered scandalous all by itself. You suppose it makes sense then that she would be the one to dare lay a hand on Ban Naoya.

"I said…" Hinata growls, and now she pulls him back towards her so that they're nose-to-nose, even though Ban has nearly six inches on her, "what the hell did I just say?"

"I, uh…" Ban stammers. "Uh, stop...crowding me?"

"So you can hear me!" Hinata says. "Great! Now maybe you can explain what the fuck you were doing instead of that!"

Maybe he's had enough, or maybe the situation has just sunk in, but Ban seems to regain a bit of his spine. Literally, as he stands up straight, despite Hinata keeping a firm grip on the front of his shirt. "Come off it," he says, looking around the crowd. "We're packed in like sardines here. I don't think-"

Hinata knees him in the crotch.

Ban's eyes go wide and he staggers, falling back against the vending machine before sliding slowly to the ground. He leaves a trail of lit-up buttons behind him, and the machine proceeds to have a minor seizure as it tries to process two dozen orders simultaneously. A hushed gasp ripples through the crowd, shock and no small amount of amusement. They are teenagers, after all. A certain level of sadism is to be expected. In the silence, you can just barely hear the music, playing from some far off corner of the school.

"What?" Hinata shouts, rounding on the onlookers, every muscle in her body straining with challenge. "Somebody else wants some?" Her eyes cut through the crowd like a scythe through wheat, and of all those assembled, they fall on you. Maybe she recognizes you as Ban's friend, or maybe Natsume is right and you have a truly punchable face. Maybe you're just unlucky. Whatever the reason, she points directly at you. "You want some?"

[X] "You can't just treat people like that."
+1 Confidence

[] "Nah, I'm good, thanks."
+1 Cool

[] "I don't think I'd stand a chance."
+1 Charm