Kiseki was smiling. She flexed her right hand, the white envelope between her fingers. Atobe blinked at the girl in front of him as he searched for his voice that suddenly disappeared. She circled around him, using the envelope to hide her face, acting coy.
"You know, if you had wanted me to stay, you could've just asked."
"Hold on. What are you doing here - "
Before he could continue, he felt a warm hand to his cheek. The sensation was inexpressible – gentle, reassuring, happiness - the simple gesture was many things at the same time. He watched as the envelope fell from her hand, revealing a cheeky smile. She chuckled softly as both of her hands cupped his face, her dark irises looking up slightly into his dark blue eyes.
"You still haven't asked. I did just miss my flight for you y'know?" she whispered.
Surprise was an understatement to describe his current state of emotions. It was less than 10 minutes ago that he had managed to convince himself that the past is in the past. He was more or less prepared to live with the regret of his own lack of action. And focus all this negative energy towards the opponents of the next tournament.
Hands that began to slowly slip away snapped him out of his reverie. Instinctively, he grabbed onto the hands to keep them in place. At this distance, he could hear a small gasp and eventually, her steady breathing.
"What about England?"
"Keigo, that's not the right question. But if you must know, I will personally explain to the admissions office. Though I am prepared to hop on the next flight out if I'm not convinced otherwise."
He pulled her against him in one swift movement, and wrapped his arms around her tightly as though she was really leaving, again.
"Stay, please."
He heard her sighing before her arms snaked around his torso, her head tucking safely at the joint between his shoulder and neck.
"Okay," she replied, almost breathlessly.
"This time, I'm not letting you leave."
"Hey there, I'm only staying because Keigo-sama asked nicely," she said while hitting his back with mock reprimand.
She was definitely grinning. He just closed his eyes and gave in to the upward curl of his lips.
A few days later, she attended the Rikkai High entrance ceremony much to the surprise of everyone but Yukimura. Atobe and Kiseki had decided to give dating a try but were unable to keep it under wraps for long. The Hyotei tennis club had overheard a phone conversation during break. News promptly travelled within the campus and by the next day, it had reached the ears of Atobe's fans everywhere. The female fans were less than impressed by this update.
Many speculated on their relationship. Gakuto argued that it is part of Atobe's plan to rule the tennis circuit since Kiseki was one of the top players in the Kanto region. On the other hand, Niou suggested that it was an obvious lust-driven relationship for they're both attractive individuals. Atobe's female fans were adamant that it was a case of short-term attraction and deduced that they would break up after at most, a month.
Granted, they haven't had much time together since they started high school. They've both been busy with academic responsibilities on top of tennis. Atobe continued to lead the Hyotei's high school division tennis club after convincing the third years with his play. At Rikkai High, the tennis club is as strict and gruelling if not more than the middle school division. Less than a month after the term started, training camp had commenced in preparation for the District and Prefecture games. Early morning practices and longer after-school sessions reduced the amount of free time they had in their already packed schedules. By the time they see each other back home, they barely caught up on each other's day before falling asleep in whoever's bed they had ended up in.
Atobe finished third in the Tokyo Prefectural with Hyotei. Both of Rikkai's team wins Kanagawa Prefectural, the female team defeating Kanagawa First with a close 7-5. Even though there were two weeks before the Kanto Regionals, one week is usually dedicated to rest and light training.
Luckily, there had been a matsuri nearby after the finals. All the Rikkai senpais had insisted on going. "To reward ourselves!" they had said. Kiseki and a few teammates were waiting for their takoyaki when Atobe called. She asked Yukimura to keep an eye on her order before turning her back to answer the call.
"Hello? Keigo?"
"Why is it so noisy, where are you?"
She couldn't hear him clearly from all the noise and had to hold back from yelling her reply.
"I'm at the matsuri near Daishi Shrine. All the senpais, well us too, wanted to go."
There was a gentle pull at her shoulders and she turned around to have piping hot takoyaki almost shoved into her face.
"Ack -! Wait what? Keigo?"
She looked at her phone, realising that the call had ended. She wondered what he had said when she was distracted. Shrugging, she waved off Yukimura's apologetic smile and accepted the small tray. Famished from the game, everyone else was already scarfing down hot balls of octopus goodness and moving on to the stall selling yakisoba.
Later, the team began to head towards the riverbank for the scheduled fireworks. She found it convenient that there was a riverbank nearby. Matsuris are not complete without an exhibit of pyrotechnics she thinks. As they walked down the stone path, her eyes looked around, taking in the details of a new area. She could hear chatter in front of her, of how the grilled squid tasted like the sea and goldfish scooping was a unique skill.
"Everyone's still so energetic, no?"
She returned Yukimura's smile next to her. He was still sipping from a can of tea.
"Wait till the post-victory rush dies down and we'll all crash."
He chuckled and nodded in agreement. They continued walking in a comfortable silence, the river slowly coming into sight. The riverbank was pretty crowded and the team waited as everyone took turns to descend the steps, giving way to the small children and elderly. When it was their turn, Yukimura was about to let Kiseki go first when he heard a small yelp. He turned just in time to see her being dragged away by a taller man through the crowd, some of the people were not too impressed. He smiled at the sight of familiar grey jersey. Before descending the steps, he pulled out his phone to fire a quick text.
To: Atobe Keigo
Sub: Really?
You could have just asked.
Kiseki mutters apologies to all the people they, more like Atobe, pushed through without any care whatsoever. He was walking too fast, not that she can't keep up but she did just played a two hour long match under the sun. Not to mention there was delicious yet greasy food in her stomach. She almost trips on her own feet a few times. They finally stop when a 'pop' is heard and a green burst brightens up the night sky.
"Would you look at that…"
The clear night sky gradually became filled with multiple bursts of colours, shapes and sizes. Kiseki was smiling as though it was the best ever fireworks display she'd ever seen. Atobe could feel his own facial muscles hurting from watching her.
"Did you just ditch your own team to come here, Atobe-sama?"
"Ahn? They're all here, fighting over grilled squid."
Chuckling, she let go of his hand and moved to lean against him. His arm instinctively wrapped around her shoulder.
"By the way, congratulations on winning the Prefecturals."
"Thanks. You too, third place isn't shabby for Tokyo."
"We're going to go all out against Rikkai in the Kanto Regionals."
"Hm, really? Don't underestimate our senpais, they were National Top 4 last summer."
This was quite a change in pace for the pair, since it had been a while since they are able to just quietly enjoy each other's company. Kiseki briefly wonders how people are able to maintain long-distance relationships when she finds this quite tricky to balance as it is. How does Keigo cope?
"We should do something when this is all over," she suggests, right hand reaching up to meet Atobe's.
"Hm, what do you have in mind?"
"Not now, too tired to think."
When the fireworks display ended, the pair decided return home. Kiseki, feeling a sense of responsibility to her teammates, sent a quick text to Yukimura and made sure Atobe at least did the same.
To be continued.
Author's Note: So as you can see, this is gradually being rewritten. It's not that I do not like the first few chapters that were posted ages ago. I just decided I wanted the couple to develop in a slightly different way (with a possible extra dose of Yukimura). This is mostly due to my own experience in the past few years. Also, I may or may not have laughed at my own writing (and notions of romance) when I was younger.
I will replace the chapters as I go along, so feel free to continue reading a slightly disjointed fic. I would recommend reading the prequel Blinded from the Start but it has some of the most cliched tropes, and my early ventures in writing.
TL;DR Thanks a bunch for even clicking on this.
