First page shows a hand
tossing an athletic shoe, while feathers float down around it.
Then we see the title page
with our two main characters[ed.: I wish I had this picture, I love
Takaomi...ok, I'll stop drooling]
The scene opens at Shiratori
Academy, an exclusive school for girls. It's flower arranging class,
and one of the students is not quite getting it... in fact, she's
thrown her flower scissors so hard, that they're embedded in the wall,
and the teacher is a bit traumatized by that!
Meet Hanazato Tsugumi,
first year student! Her friend, Suzu, gently points out that she's
upset the teacher...
Count Rumieru appears.
He seems to be the idol of the school to everyone except Tsugumi.
She seems to find him annoying. He announces that a girl will be
chosen as Miss Madonna of Shiratori -- and that that girl will compete
in various events -- the Queen contest.
Later on, Tsugumi and Suzu
are sitting outside. Tsugumi is orating about something (I can't
tell what) while Suzu patiently listens. Suddenly, Tsugumi whips
out a spagetti roll that Suzu gave her. She's really thrilled about
having it (Tsugumi loves to eat!) They are interrupted by Ayaka-senpai.
Ayaka is a beautiful older
girl -- and a Shiratori, related to the family that founded/owns the school.
She seems to like Tsugumi, and is teasing her about something, that causes
Tsugumi to become uncomfortable. Tsugumi is backing off, and has
started to eat her roll, when she's knocked out by a spinning blow
to the head delivered by a tanuki! (or a raccoon -- I'm not clear which
this is supposed to be!) He grabs the roll and when Tsugumi yells at him,
delivers a kick to the jaw and runs off with the roll. Tsugumi is
in hot pursuit while Suzu and Ayaka look on with long-suffering looks on
their faces.
Tsugumi follows the tanuki
to a large tree, and is looking around to see if she can spot him when
she hears a rustle in the tree. She takes off her right athletic
shoe and throws it into the tree. A dark haired and cute boy falls to the
ground. He picks up her shoe and asks if it's hers. Tsugumi
says it is, and wants to know why he is on the grounds of the Shiratori
Academy, when he's from Shokaku School for Boys. They argue, but
it's cut short by the tanuki, who drops onto Tsugumi's head, yelling, "I'm
hungry!" (I think - "Ore wa Araiguma da" is what he actually says.)
Tsugumi chases him back
up into the tree, and finds that her shoe has disappeared from the boy's
hand. They argue some more, and Tsugumi makes the boy so angry that
he punches the tree beside her head. He's got her pinned against
the tree and tells her something threateningly -- she's somewhat daunted
by that. He turns away and leaves. Tsugumi has been turned
away from him, trembling, but I think it's from anger, rather than fear.
She turns back to see him gone and starts to go after him, but is stopped
by Count Rumieru's whip, which wraps around her. The raccoon eats
the spagetti roll.
That evening, Suzu offers
Tsugumi a ride home in the limo that has come to pick her up, but Tsugumi
cheerfully refuses -- she'd rather walk. She's got her school shoes
on, in place of the athletic shoe she never got back!
As she walks briskly through
a park, boys from several schools, who are talking, see her and comment
on how attractive she is. She passes a guy in a school uniform sleeping
on a bench, and does a double take -- it's the guy from the tree!
She is about to pass him, when she hears some guys talking to him.
They're from another school, and it looks like they are trying to start
a fight -- but the tree boy doesn't even wake up. They kick the bench
over, and he STILL continues to sleep!
Tsugumi is furious.
She grabs the boy by the lapels and wakes him up, yelling at him, probably
about not standing up for himself! The two boys make some rude comments
about the two of them and their schools, and Tsugumi and the boy get angry.
They punch the boys, and send them flying, saying something simultaneously
(The only difference is that they each use the name of their own school!).
The two boys are out of it, and the two stare at each other for a bit,
then Tsugumi give him a big "beeda" and stomps off.
Ayaka who has been watching
from a distance, seems interested that the two of them have met.
The next morning, Tsugumi
is looking for her sneaker and is frustrated that she can't find it!
She's finally dragged off by Suzu, to class. In the tree, the boy
is lounging on a branch, thinking what a noisy woman she is, when the sneaker
drops on his head. The tanuki had taken it and hidden it in a hole
in the tree. Because the hole is full, the shoe fell out.
The boy decides to return the shoe to Tsugumi and sets off across the campus
in a determined fashion.
Meanwhile, Count Rumieru
is about to choose the Madonna of Shiratori. He's standing on a balcony,
and all the girls are gathered on the lawn below him. Ayaka, Tsugumi
and Suzu are all standing together. The tree boy sees the girls,
and doesn't want to go up to Tsugumi with that crowd there -- so he stands
at the edge of the lawn, among the trees. Rumieru has a fancy bow and a
arrow tipped with a rubber sucker point. Whoever he hits with the
arrow is the new Miss Madonna. He's aiming for Ayaka, whether
because she's a Shiratori, or because he has a bit of a crush on her, I
don't know. He releases the arrow, and it flys towards Ayaka.
However, at the same time, the tree boy throws the sneaker at the back
of Tsugumi's head. The sneaker hits Tsugumi, and she stumbles forward,
into the arrow's path. Tsugumi is the new Madonna of Shiratori.
She doesn't realize it
at first -- she's been knocked silly by the almost simultaneous blows!
The boy decides to go take a nap, while Suzu congratulates Tsugumi, who
wants to know what happened! Count Rumieru is disconcerted -- Tsugumi
is not at all what he had in mind! Ayaka is pleased, however, and
with a smile, crowns Tsugumi as the Madonna. As another girl hands
Tsugumi her scepter, Ayaka congratulates Rumieru on his choice. He's
very noncommital about it!
From another building,
two young men are watching the "ceremony". (They look exactly like
Sahara Leo and Okami from Seishun Shiteru Kai, and the two older brothers
from an earlier story that Azuki-sensei ran -- the Superfamily Yamada.)
They say something about "OUR Madonna".... meanwhile, the tree boy
and his tanuki are asleep.
Part
2 (January 1998):
Cinderella is preparing
for the ball... but Tsugumi is having a hard time of it! She's especially
hard on her partners, and the Count is not amused.
Later on, we see Tsugumi
letting off some steam playing video games, while Suzu watches. Suddenly,
a guy appears behind her. He introduces himself as Kijijima.
His friend Shigimiya shows up immediately after. The two introduce
themselves to Tsugumi and Suzu-- and are very attentive to Tsugumi. Tsugumi,
who is rather taken aback by all this attention, gets into the limo with
Suzu and they drive off. The boys are disappointed, but plan to try again
(I don't know what they are planning, darn it!)
On her way to school the
next day, Tsugumi meets Kijijima and Shigimiya again. They are pretty
funny as they vie for her attention -- Tsugumi seems a bit embarassed by
the whole thing. Count Rumieru shows up and sends the guys away...
At school, Ayaka asks where Tsugumi is, and Suzu tells her about the boys.
Suzu seems a little worried about what's going on, but Ayaka assures her
that it will be ok.
That afternoon, Tsugumi
is window-shopping, when she meets the tree boy again, with his tanuki.
They get into an argument of course... only to be interrupted by Kijijima
and Shigimiya. The two of them are all over Tsugumi, which seems
to displease the tree boy. The two go to the same school, and they
tell Tsugumi that her tree boy is really Hououji Takaomi, a first year
student. Kijijima puts a hand on Takaomi's shoulder and is knocked out
by the tanuki... Shigimiya tells Tsugumi something about Takaomi
that upsets her... I don't know what, darn it..
This doesn't stop her from
eating lunch with him. She's brought spagetti rolls for the three
of them. Ginjirou, the tanuki is munching away at his, but Takaomi
seems reluctant, so Tsugumi crams it into his mouth. She's all smiles
and happy chatter as they eat. Takaomi isn't so cheerful, but he
stays.
Later, we see Tsugumi in
her ball dress. Count Rumieru is giving her some last minute instructions,
but as she walks in with the other girls, she looks lovely. She's
very uncomfortable, though. Even the arrival of Kijijima and Shigimiya
don't help. But then she sees Takaomi walking in the garden, and
is much happier (gee, I wonder why???)She goes out to talk to him.
For some reason, she goes
up a tree - possibly because she sees Kijijima and Shigimiyu coming and
doesn't want to meet them. The two of them see Takaomi and get rough
with him. They slam him into the tree, and yell at him. In
the course of the conversation, Tsugumi finds out that they've been lying
to her -- the two of them aren't falling in love with her -- they're just
paying attention to her because she's Miss Madonna. She's up in the
tree getting angrier and angrier, when Takaomi pulls her down into his
arms. I guess he decided that the two of them said enough.
Kijijima and Shigimiya
are totally embarassed, and are trying to get back into Tsugumi's good
graces. We can't see her face at first, but then, she smiles at them,
and lets them take her back to the ballroom. Takaomi just watches.
Once there, she throws them all over the room, and tells them off at the
top of her lungs, then stomps out of the ball room and back to Takaomi.
A smiling Ayaka delivers the coup de grace....
Outside Tsugumi is upset
because her dress has gotten dirty. Takaomi smilingly (I know you
said he didn't smile at her until the end of the series, but this sure
looks like a smile to me!)[ed. hey c'mon, I missed this chapter^_^],
tells her something that ticks her off, and they're back to fighting again!
The chapter ends with Count Rumieru after Tsugumi with his whip again....
Part
3 (February 1998): In February's issue, she was chosen to be Shiratori's
entry into the Queen Race, a very difficult horseback riding competition.
She didn't want to, as she didn't even know how to ride, but Count Rumieru
strted giving her lessons. She had problems finding a horse as a
companion. She chose to ride Momoe, a new horse that was less highbred
than the other horses. But Momoe wasn't very cooperative either.
Her first time riding Momoe, Tsugumi ended up in a tree. In the tree,
she encountered Takaomi, a guy going to the neighbouring boys school, taking
a noontime nap. She surprised him awake and they fell out of the
tree. Tsugumi was curious about "Minako", because Takaomi said her
name in his sleep, but he was pretty touchy about it, so she left him alone.
Later, she found a way to bribe Momoe because the horse was a big fan of
a music group called V3. Yes, the horses here talk, to each other,
and I think sometimes to the people. Anyways, so Momoe and Tsugumi
worked hard for the tournament and got a lot better. The day before
the tournament, they again met Takaomi, who was skeptical of their chances.
Tsugumi tried to cheer Takaomi up, coaching him to be more forceful and
mentioning "Minako" again, but Takaomi just said that works for Tsugumi
because all her problems are simple to solve and walked away.
The
day of the competition we meet a new character, Fujin Benikujaku.
She's really snotty and says that Shiratori has no chance of winning.
Part
4(March 1998):
In March
we find out that the horses have gotten sick because they had food poisoning,
but Momoe was okay. Outside, Momoe and Tsugumi are having a disagreement
with Benikujaku and her horse(some would call it a brawl) and two boys(I
guess from Takaomi's school) make some comments, but are stopped when Takaomi
neatly lands on their heads. He wonders why he did that, and the
race starts. Momoe remains in the blocks, looking stunned, I don't
know why. They do catch up though, and Benikujaku is in the lead.
Momoe overtakes her, but Benikujaku manages to jump through a big rose
covered hoop first. After she gets through, the hoop bursts into
flame. Takaomi sends some help, namely his pet raccoon, who chomps
Momoe and sends her flying through the hoop. Benikujaku glances back
to see what looks like a flaming demon, and Tsugumi gets right beside her.
However, Momoe is getting a little too excited and thinks that the group
of bystanders nearby are the members of V3(actually, they're Takaomi and
the two guys from before, who are wondering why Takaomi knocked them down
earlier). With Tsugumi still holding on to Benikujaku, Momoe charges
towards the audience and causes a panic. The two guys get kind of
trampled, but Takaomi jumps aside and notices that Momoe is out of control
and headed straight at a concrete wall. Showing amazing horsemanship,
he swings up behind Tsugumi and brings Momoe to a halt before they crash.
Unfortuantely for Benikujaku, she wasn't so lucky and she smashed into
the wall with her horse. Tsugumi looks up at Takaomi, but Momoe rears
and topples them off while neighing "Where is Goro?!" That's her
favourite V3 member, and the one that she mistook Takaomi for. Tsugumi
and Momoe are upset with each other, and start exchanging blows, while
Takaomi watches. The announcer says that Tsugumi and Benikujaku are both
disqualified for leaving the course, and Count Rumieru looks very unhappy.
As Takaomi is leaving, Benikujaku jumps in and starts a tirade against
Tsugumi, but stops when she notices Takaomi. She recognizes him.
Tsugumi is trying to figure that out, and then Benikujaku challenges Tsugumi.
It looks like next month we'll be hearing some angry words from Count Rumieru,
as he is standing in the background with an upraised whip and glowing eyes.
I love this series.
Part
5 (April 1998): Tsugumi has to be Juliet for a play, and she complains
because Kijijima, who plays Romeo, is getting too into the part.
She tells Takaomi to wake up(he's napping during the rehearsal) and then
asks how he knows Fujin. He says he doesn't. Then Ayaka says
when they were little, at a party Fujin tried to pick Takaomi up, but he
shunned her(actually, he was just taking off to go sleep). Someone
says, this year, try hard in the play, and says not to have it called off
like two years ago. Tsugumi doesn't understand and Takaomi ignores
that remark and says he's going to buy Ginjirou some food. Tsugumi
doesn't want to work anymore and says she'll come too.
Later,
Tsugumi and Takaomi are sitting outside and Tsugumi is reading the play.
She doesn't like how the play has such a miserable ending, and thinks that
Juliet is stupid for committing a double suicide with Romeo. She
says she should just marry the rich guy. Takaomi says you can't help
who your heart chooses, and Tsugumi is going to ask him what he means when
the Count finds them.
Later,
Ayaka tells Tsugumi that two years ago, that year's Miss Madonna had a
fiancé chosen by her parents but went out with someone from Shoukaku.
That Miss Madonna was Takaomi's fiancé, Minako. Tsugumi is
shocked.
On the
day of the play, Takaomi asks Tsugumi what's wrong because she has a weird
look on her face, and Fujin shows up and gloats that the play is ruined.
She and her minions have ruined all the costumes. Tsugumi is really
angry, but determined that the show will go on. The audience is surprised
when it turns out that this play takes place in the Heian period.
During a sword fight, Kijijima and Shigimiya start giving Takaomi a hard
time because he humiliated them before(I guess at the horse race?) and
Tsugumi gets mad because they're screwing up the play. She enters
as another swordsman, a friend or servant of Takaomi's. Then Fujin
launches her second plan and all the actors are hit on the head with various
things. Fujin shuts up when three well-aimed swords miss her, but
still has something up her sleeve.
Kijijima(Romeo)
is unconscious due to several blows to the head, and the Count is manipulating
him like a marionette. Takaomi thinks back to when Minako left, telling
him she had to go her own way.
Near
the end of the play, Tsugumi is playing dead and Kijijima is going to kiss
her(though he's still unconscious and actually has blood dribbling down
his face). Before he can, one of Fujin's servants causes the wall
behind the actors to fall on them, not knowing how heavy it actually is.
Tsugumi is saved by Takaomi(apparently Kijijima got another whack on the
head). Fujin runs away with her hair in flames again thanks to an
errant candle, and before Tsugumi can chase her the Count gets quite mad.
Tsugumi gets back into character and ends the play by falling in love with
Takaomi for saving her and going off with him. As they leave, a mysterious
guy with a camera and a campus newspaper badge watches them and seems
to recognize Tsugumi...
Part
6 (May1998)-The conclusion!!! Tsugumi and Takaomi are walking along,
Tsugumi happily eating a spaghetti roll, when the camera guy takes a picture
of her with it stuck in her mouth. She recognizes him and calls him
by name, surprising Takaomi, and Karasuma(the guy) makes a comment about
how much she's moved up in the world. She goes to punch him, but
he stops her by taking her picture. She can't seem to do anything,
and is being pulled away by Takaomi when he makes another comment about
her 'involvement' with Takaomi. This time he does get punched, I'm
not sure whether by Takaomi or Tsugumi, and is left to think that this
is becoming interesting.
Tsugumi
explains how she knows Karasuma: he was at her previous school and one
day asked her out. She agreed and then lots of guys popped out of
the bushes congratulating Kurasama on getting 50 acceptances in a row,
even from Tsugumi, the worst-tempered girl in school. She then humiliated
him by roundhouse kicking him into tomorrow, which ended up being on the
school newspaper front page (I guess instead of his love success story).
Takaomi asks if she kind of liked him, and she doesn't respond. He
says she has bad taste, and she fires back a comment about how she's probably
way different than Minako, which makes Takaomi mad and he agrees, saying
Minako was always a real lady. Tsugumi knocks him down and storms
off, but is stopped by scre ams from the tennis court. She asks what's
wrong, and the girls says that some weird guys were taking pictures of
them. Back in the school, Ayaka has found out why all the cameramen
are around: it's a contest to get the most embarrassing(I think) picture
of the girls at that school. Tsugumi gets mad because Karasuma is
dragging everyone into this just to get back at her, and swears to get
even. They set traps and scare off the guys, which pisses Karasuma
off because his plan is ruined. Tsugumi is walking in the woods,
thinking about Takaomi and Minako, when she's dragged off, leaving only
her sneaker.
Takaomi
is also walking thinking about Minako and then how annoyed he is with Tsugumi,
when he runs into Ayaka, who asks him if he knows where Tsugumi is because
she's late for tea. He asks why he should know, when Ginjirou
does a spinning screwdriver into his head and draws his attention to Tsugumi's
shoe, lying on the grass.
In a
closed off room, Karasuma has tied up Tsugumi. She's breathing fire(literally)
but she can't do anything, and Karasuma says he's going to create a huge
scandal and seems like he's about to kiss Tsugumi when...Takaomi kicks
him into the wall and saves the day. Behind him comes an army of
female students, and Karasuma tries to run away, without success.
The girls triumph and get a very flattering picture taken for the newspaper.
Later, Ayaka and her friend gloating, and the snotty guy from Takaomi's
school asks if they're not embarrassed by the kind of publicity that Tsugumi
brought to the school. Ayaka says no, because she hates it because
people take them lightly because they're ladies, and Tsugumi proved them
wrong. Tsugumi is offering all her food to Takaomi, thanking him
for helping her all those times, and Takaomi says she hsould just act a
little more mature. He's joking though, and actually SMILES at Tsugumi(only
time in the whole story-ok, the second time). He says that it's never
boring when she's around, and she thinks of how he helped her so many times,
and she thinks he seems like a prince(maybe a knight in shining armour?)