First fanfic. Re-edited. All disclaimers apply.
FIREWORKS DISPLAY
By: Ren Nomiya
--PoT--
The bell rang indicating the start of their lunch break. The Seigaku students hurriedly went out of their classroom to get their foods from the cafeteria. Meanwhile, while all of this are happening, a bragging first year student approached his classmates.
"So, with my two years of tennis experience, I have found out that coach's granddaughter made lunch for the four of us! What do you say, Echizen? You in?" Horio confidently said as Kachiro and Katsuo looked at him annoyed.
"Of course, Ryoma-kun is going to come. After all, it's Ryuzaki-san's cooking. Don't you agree?" Kachiro smiled and asked Katsuo.
"Of course!" Katsuo answered. The three looked at Echizen, who was looking bored all throughout their conversation. Ryoma noticed their stares and stood up.
"Whatever. If you'll excuse me…" Ryoma went out of their classroom.
"Wait! Aren't you going to have lunch with us? Don't you want Ryuzaki-san's lunch?" Kachiro quickly asked before Ryoma got completely out. He stopped walking and turned his head.
"I didn't know what Mr. Two years was talking about. I thought he was just bragging about some things so I ignored him." Ryoma said.
A sweat drop formed in the ichinen trio's head. Then Horio explode when he heard Ryoma was ignoring him. "You're so mean, Echizen! How dare you insult my two years of tennis experience!" Horio almost cried.
"Hn. Whatever. Where's Ryuzaki anyway?" Ryoma asked when he looked at Horio.
"H-Huh? Well… coach said that we should go to their class to meet them…" Horio said.
Ryoma went to Sakuno and Tomoka's classroom, which is right next door. When he opened the door to their classroom, shining stars filled Sakuno's background as she naps quietly in her chair. Guys are staring at her with dirty looks. When they sensed Ryoma's utterly dark aura, they turned around and saw him staring at them with a murderous glare. The ichinen trio is behind him wandering why Ryoma stopped in his tracks.
"H-hey… isn't that Echizen Ryoma from class 1-2? What is he doing here?" someone from the crowd of boys asked.
"I don't know but he looks mad at us…" a guy trembled as he said that.
Ryoma walked slowly towards Sakuno, the boys moved sideways to give way. He bend down and whispered something to the sleeping Sakuno.
"Ryuzaki… I'm hungry," he said.
The boys are now terrified. What will happen if Ryuzaki got Ryoma mad? What would they do?
Slowly, Sakuno's eyes opened up. When her vision cleared, and saw Ryoma was leaning to her, she lost her balance and fell from her chair. She rubbed her thighs when she sat up and then Ryoma offered her a hand. Sakuno blushed and stares at him for a while before she gently grabbed his hand and stood up. She bowed her head low and apologized for making Ryoma wait for his lunch.
"Hn, it's okay," he said.
They were about to leave the room, while Ryoma was staring at the guys who stepped back helplessly, when Tomoka arrived. "Sakuno! I'm so sorry I didn't wake you up! You see, the teacher called for me and asked if I was having problems with my math tests then…" she cut herself off when she saw Ryoma. "RYOMA-SAMA! Are you here to see me? I'm sooooooooo happy! Wait! Let me get the banner I made last night!" Tomoka yelled.
Tomoka showed her drawing to Ryoma. She drew him dressed up as a prince while holding a racket in a tennis court background. "What do you think, Ryoma-sama?"
Ryoma paused for a while. "Hn." Sakuno sweat dropped in a chibi form. Tomo squealed then followed Ryoma and Sakuno out.
The ichinen trio followed them, too. Horio said he knows a perfect spot to eat their lunch. He led them under a Sakura tree near the tennis courts. They sat under it and Sakuno started opening the bentos. When everyone was ready to eat, a tall guy interrupted them.
Surprisingly, it was someone they never knew… except Ryoma.
"Hello there, Chibisuke and company! I was just in the neighborhood when I saw this school and decided to visit my brother for a while!" Ryoga Echizen said.
"Brother? He looks kind of like Echizen… d-don't tell me… you're…!" Horio asked,
"Yup… my older brother…" Ryoma said.
"You have an older brother, Ryoma-sama? What's his name?" Tomo asked.
"Ryoga! It's Echizen Ryoga, pretty lady!" Ryoga answered.
Ryoma rolled his eyes and continued on eating his lunch. Ryoga noticed Sakuno and found her cute. He squats beside her and started chatting with her. "Hi! My name's Echizen Ryoga! I play tennis, too! You know Chibisuke right? Well… he's not that cool as he looks. He suckers for his cat and he does not study at all! He just plays tennis all day and plays his video games when he's bored. Oh, I almost forgot! He reads porn magazines while no one was looking-"
Ryoma threw a fork on Ryoga's way. It almost hits him but good thing it only hits his hair. For Ryoma, though, it's a bad thing.
"Che. Miss him," Ryoma murmured.
They all stared surprisingly at him. Ryoga got mad and started messing Ryoma's hair irritatingly. "You really can't do anything right! Darn you, Chibisuke! You have no respect towards your elders!" Ryoma fought back, and they started hurting each other.
Tomo nodded and smiled. She has two brothers and knows that it's their way of showing love towards each other. Sakuno forced a smile as she looked at Tomoka.
The two stopped their mini fight and Ryoma said, "It's not brotherly love. I hate this guy!" When he was about to get another head punch from Ryoga, they heard a guy shouting.
"HEY! SAKUNO-CHAN AND KOSHIMAE!" Kintarou shouted as he approached their spot. It's kind of weird to them that people kept on coming their way today.
"What do you want?" Ryoma asked, obviously annoyed. He can't enjoy his decent meal because of them.
"Don't be so mad, Koshimae," he stopped to look at Ryoga… then suddenly pointed at him, "Koshimae the second!" he yelled when he recognize him as Ryoma's look-alike.
"K-Koshimae…? Hey… that's not the right way to read our last name…" Ryoga's sweat dropped.
"So anyway… since Koshimae seems to be unfriendly today, I mean… all the time, do you want to go out with me this coming Sunday?" he grinned as he looked at Sakuno.
Sakuno was surprised when he said that and blushed furiously. She lowered her head and started playing with her fingers. Her heart beats faster every second and she started to stutter as she speaks, "S-Sorry, Kintarou-kun. I-It's n-not that I-I don't want to… i-it's just t-that-"
Kintarou interrupted her before she finished her sentence. "Don't worry, Sa-chan! Let's just invite other people besides Koshimae," he looked at the ichinen trio, Tomo and Ryoga, "do you want to come with us?"
They all nodded and agreed. The ichinen trio suggested that they should invite the tennis regulars as well. Kintarou's grin widened and nodded happily.
"Where are we going anyway? We keep on agreeing with you even though we don't know where you want us to go!" Horio suddenly asked.
"Since the summer festival is almost near, I thought all of us should go there, since my senpais doesn't want to. It's in the temple here in Tokyo!"
"Echizen lives in a temple, right?" Horio asked Katsuo.
"Yeah…"
"Not Koshimae's temple! The other one!" Kintarou said. He turned to face the blushing Sakuno again and held her hands. "Thanks for coming with me this Sunday, Sa-chan! I'm so glad you agreed! Make some bentos for us okay? I really love them!"
Ryoma gave Kintarou a murderous glare, like he did with the crowd of boys a while ago, and Ryoga noticed it.
"Kinda weird, but, Chibisuke looked annoyed and… jealous! I guess it's because of this noisy kid! Maybe, this kid also likes Sakuno thus, making Ryoma jealous. Oh, I know! I could use this kid to toy Chibisuke for a while!" Ryoga said to himself.
"You know, this kid is right! You guys should enjoy this year's summer festival" Ryoga said.
"Ryoga-san is right! I love watching the fireworks!" Sakuno said. "You should join us, Ryoma-kun!" she gave him sweet smile.
Then in a comedy style anime, Kintarou and Ryoma eyes flamed and they both looked determined to have a sweet time with Sakuno by watching the fireworks. It is romantic. They imagined themselves watching the fireworks with her.
"Yeah! I love watching the fireworks, too!" Katsuo disrupted Ryoma and Kintarou's imagination. "This would be fun!" Horio said. "Ryoma-sama, I'm so excited," Tomoka added. "And the senpais are coming as well!" Kachiro smiled.
"Oh crap! Why did you have to come as well? Isn't it obvious that with you guys, I won't be able to have a private time with Sakuno?" Ryoma murmured to himself.
"Okay! Then we should go on Sunday. We meet at 5 p.m okay?" Kintarou butts in.
"All right! My perfect plan works!" an evil laugh comes out of Ryoga's head.
--PoT--
Skip to Sunday… five o'clock in the afternoon…
All of the Seigaku regulars came, with the freshman trio, Tomoka, Sakuno, the Shitenhouji freshman Kintarou, and even Ryoga!
"I'm so excited, nya!" Kikumaru cheered as he bounced everywhere.
"Yeah! Enjoying the summer with everyone is great! And I get to eat lots of food!" Momo said.
They went to different booths to play, and eat. Momo is with Eiji and Fuji, Tezuka is with Sakuno, Tomo, Kintarou and Ryoma, and Inui is with Kaidoh and Kawamura while Oishi's with Ryoga and the ichinen trio. They all had fun playing games together, and eating lots of food especially, on Momo's side.
Unfortunately, Kintarou and Ryoma can't seem to get close with their precious Sakuno Ryuzaki. Sometimes, it's because of Kikumaru bumping them, sometimes, it's because of Horio or Tomoka or because of Fuji's sadist tactics. The worse part is, Tezuka is getting in the way. When they spotted Sakuno alone for a while, they quickly approached her but when they noticed that both of them are approaching her, they started stopping each other's tracks. They just can't get a private time with Sakuno.
A few minutes to go before the fireworks displays are on.
"I know a great spot to watch the fireworks," Kintarou said happily, "I have explored this area just for the right spot to watch the fireworks!"
"Where?" Momo asked.
"The rooftop of the temple in our…"he was cut off by Inui.
"He's right! By the fireworks angle, and the angle in the rooftop of the temple, it would be a great spot for watching fireworks. However, there is a 69.8 percent possibility that not all of us will be able to see all of them since we're too many to fit in the roof that is only 10 feet wide. And besides, our weight is too heavy for such an old temple to support us all. Thus, making the possibility of some of us not being able to watch the fireworks in that certain area is now 88.0482 percent." Inui calculated.
"Okay… (With a sweat drop in his forehead) so how many fits in?" Oishi asked. "Two or three. But if it were the freshmen to sit, I say three to four." Inui answered.
"I know! We should let O'chibi and Sakuno sit there so they can be together!" Kikumaru said with a happy dance.
"NO!" Ryoga and Kintarou shouted together. Then, they looked at each other. Ryoga lets out a weak laugh and Kintarou looked at him confused.
In the end, they all decided that they should find another spot to watch the fireworks displays. They all split up to buy foods and have snacks (even though they're already full from the foods they ate earlier amd Sakuno's homemade meals). They decided that they should watch the fireworks in the pond. It is also a great spot to watch the fireworks and fireflies are around.
Sakuno looked awed by the pond's view. She's alone this time since the senpai said that she should stay here while waiting for them to come back to buy some snacks. She stretched her hand and a firefly landed on Sakuno's finger. She placed the firefly in her palm and looked at it as it glows. She smiled and looked around her only to find the fireflies glowing one by one. The pond is now filled with fireflies floating around perfectly matching the flowers around.
Ryoma stared at her for a while behind a tree. He walked away from his senpais to have an alone time with Sakuno. He noticed a tulip flower on the grass and picked it up. He caught a firefly and put it inside the tulip. He walked slowly towards Sakuno and handed her the tulip flower. She thanked him and asked what's it for.
"Just wait. When all of the fireflies are glowing, that one will glow, too." Ryoma answered.
Then a few seconds later, the tulip flower glowed! She was surprised at first but she saw that a firefly was in it. Ryoma smirked and looked at the pond. "I've never been on a summer festival before. This is my first time. It's great." Ryoma said.
Sakuno blushed and smiled. "I'm glad that you liked it. This is my first time being in a summer festival with my senpais. Last year, I was only with Tezuka-senpai."
"W-What? You've been alone with buchou before!?" Ryoma looked at her, eyes wide.
"Yeah… since he's my-" she quickly covered her mouth before she completely lets out her secret, "I-I mean… grandma said that he should watch the fireworks with me."
Ryoma knew that she was lying in her last sentence. He wanted to know her relationship with Tezuka so badly but he decided not to ask any more questions. After all, being involved with Tezuka means that something bad is going to happen… like, being kicked off the team.
Kintarou was spying them behind a tree, and Ryoga was spying Kintarou spying them behind the tree Kintarou was behind. (A/N: Needs to be complicated, for humor purposes.)
After that, Ryoma and Sakuno were just silent. Not a word coming out from them.
"What the heck am I doing!? Why am I not talking to her! This is a perfectly good chance to have a nice conversation with her! So what if she has a secret relationship with buchou? I don't' care!" Ryoma's pride was too high to talk to his princess.
"I almost spit out our secret! Me and my big mouth! B-but, he's silent now. I wonder if he's mad at me. I hope not, and he gave me a nice tulip as well. I'm sorry, Ryoma-kun…" Sakuno thought.
"Well, at least, they're not talking to each other," Kintarou said to himself.
"Uhm, a-ano, Ryoma-kun, I was thinking, w-we should go to the temple's rooftop to watch the fireworks," Sakuno said shyly and blushing. It's the only way she thought to repay him for the nice things he has done today.
"Why?"
"Uhm, because, w-we haven't had a c-chance t-to uhm, a-ano… have t-time together…. (Sakuno realized what she's saying) Oh, I shouldn't have said that! We should watch the fireworks with the others! Please don't mind what I just said!"
"You're right, we should," Ryoma turned his back on her.
"Huh?"
"I do not like to watch the fireworks with those noisy senpais and co-freshmen," he turned his head to look at her.
Sakuno smiled. Kintarou realized that they are going into a different path than the food stores. He realized that they are going to the temple. He was going to stop them but Ryoga stops him. "Stop. I'll let you go when I know when's the right time," Ryoga said to Kintarou.
"When IS the right time!?" Kintarou asked with an annoyed voice.
"Just wait, chibi jungle-boy."
The fireworks display started. Ryoma and Sakuno went upstairs of the temple and managed to reach the temple's roof before it started. Sakuno is very happy to be with her prince, Ryoma, but the two didn't speak with each other but their hearts sure are. Happiness can be felt in these two as they watch the fireworks display together. Suddenly, fireflies started glowing again.
"I didn't know that fireflies are also here…" she saw her tulip glowing, "it's really beautiful!"
"Yeah…" Ryoma whispered to himself as he looked at Sakuno.
Ryoga and Kintarou are downstairs, "Okay, you can go now, Chibi jungle-boy. Make sure you won't cry when you see those two." Ryoga said to Kintarou.
"Why? What do you mean?" Kintarou asked.
"Just go, Tooyama."
Kintarou hurriedly runs upstairs to get to the temple. When he reached the top, he was surprised in what he saw. Sakuno and Koshimae are happy being together. His bangs covered his eyes.
Ryoga held Kintarou's shoulder and said, "For the past weeks, you have been with Sakuno and had a great time with her right? As the time pass, you suddenly felt this love for Sakuno… and decided that you should be with her all the time. But you thought that she would forget her love for Chibisuke by doing that. Unfortunately, you're wrong. No matter what will happen, love is love, you can't JUST simply change it. Sorry Shitenhouji regular."
Kintarou just stood till in his spot.
Then Ryoga saw the others running towards them, saying that they couldn't watch the fireworks if they are not complete. They saw Sakuno and Ryoma together and Kikumaru and Momo started teasing them. The two was surprised (they went down the roof) and Sakuno blushed and Ryoma glared at the others again. "Why do these people keep on interrupting my privacy!?" Ryoma said to himself again.
Ryoga looked at Kintarou from the corner of his eye.
Kintarou faked a smile… "This day is the best of my life!" and looked at everyone.
E N D .
--PoT--
Re-edited: 09/07/08
Re-Re-edited: 10/04/08
Ren-chan