A/N: Amended to OC! The narration still feels a bit off, but oh well.
It was 7pm and Reika Mizuno was still stuck at her desk in school, filling up acquisition forms at a mile an hour. Her hand was aching, her eyes were exhausted, her mind was numb, but she continued to plow through.
If there was one good trait about her, it was being absolutely stubborn.
She slowed down her handwriting and glared at the guy sitting in front of her, the one responsible for her current predicament.
His forest green blazer draped gently on his shoulder, as he sat sideways on his chair while crossing his long slender legs. His azure eyes were currently focused on the book which he was holding with one hand, as he was looking down, his long and fine eye lashes captivated her attention.
He is so beautiful, She thought, and… that is why he could get away with anything.
If he is as angelic as everyone said he is, why is he so mean to her?
Thinking that he could not see her given his concentration on his book, she stuck out your tongue at him in defiance.
She widened her eyes as he chuckled gently, azure eyes now peering at her with a very amused expression on his face, "Really, Mizuno-san. If you have time to be mischievous, why are your hands stopping?"
She swallowed her venomous rebuttal that is at the tip of her tongue and smile back at him albeit with a twitch, "I'm not stopping, Yukimura san. I'm just taking a break. Say, when will your right hand be healed?" She asked with dripping sarcasm.
"Hmm…" Yukimura pretended to ponder for a moment while briefly touching his arm that was currently bandaged and on a sling, "Dr. Oishi mention it be 3 more weeks before it can fully recover. After all, it is a very thorough fracture, and we cannot risk it getting inflamed from doing strenuous work, can we?" He speaks gently but she detected his emphasis on the word 'strenuous'.
Both of them smiled at each other. A random student who walked past the classroom almost did a double take, rubbing his eyes when he thought he saw an ice and a fire storm swerving in the classroom. But upon taking a better look, he walk away thinking, ah, it's so nice of Yukimura to accompany his girlfriend for finishing her work. Young love.
She groaned in frustration, slapping out the next form on the table and settled back in writing a little harder on the paper, while she seethed in rage.
How did this happen?! Child of god, my butt! He's the demon! The demon king of Rikkaidai!
But who to blame but herself?
If only she was not running away from her teacher, Yamato sensei who was buggering her about submitting her graduation form…
If only she think just for one tiny second that it is a very bad idea to leap from the window of the second floor despite her shouts of warning…
And if only Yukimura were not standing beneath said second floor window…
And if only HE DODGE like a normal human being would, rather than attempting to catch her…
He appeared to have hit his head, was seemingly dead to the world, while she was straddling him, she briefly wonder whether she would appear in handcuffs on the news for killing the Child of God.
Regardless, the entire Rikkaidai school body almost had her head on the platter for fracturing the Rikkaidai's tennis captain's arm, who by the way, managed to bring back gold medal for 2 consecutive years of National Tennis Championship.
Hence when both of them appeared in front of the principal in his office, who was about to send her off on suspension, she mistakenly thought just for that moment, Yukimura was really an Angel sent from heaven, when he spoke on behalf of her that it was not her fault for leaping from the second floor.
Yukimura had him hook, line and sinker when the principal merely gave her a warning before leaving the office, smiling and elated. Simply because Yukimura also managed to charm him by saying his wig hair looked absolutely fabulous and shiny that day.
"Thank you… Yukimura san. I'm so sorry about your hand." Reika blushed, despite how thick-skinned she is, she still know it is her fault.
"Ah, don't need to thank me. I need to thank you instead." He chuckled, gazing at her with an amused expression.
She prides herself as a quick learner and had from that point onwards, learn that when Yukimura has an amused expression, it generally means bad news. The entire tennis club can attest to that.
"Huh?" She blinked in confusion.
"After all, now I have someone who can help me take notes in class. Mizuno-san, you are such a nice girl for offering your help, taking pity of me." She tried to stop him but he continued, "And oh, because I can't play tennis like this, I will also need your help with my club activities. Thank you once again!"
With great efficiency, he had also managed to rope her in as deputy head of the Beautification Committee. He convinced the members during a meeting which she was coerced to go, that she have a fierce passion for flowers, and is almost like a professional green thumb. After the speech, some girls even sobbed, grabbed her hand, shaking it furiously and swear on their life that they would assist in her great spectacular dream of beautifying the entire school with flowers.
Hence, by being in the committee, a temporary tennis club manager and coincidentally his classmate, she literally spend every single hour of school following behind him like a slav...assistant.
During the following weeks, he continued to work Reika like a slave, delegating everything to her, from picking him up to and from his house and doing all the menial and admin work for the tennis club. It was simply everything, just short of following him into the toilet or feeding him his lunchbox. She was also made to rise early in the morning, because he 'cannot stomach canteen food' and insist upon hand-made obento from her. By his twisted logic, he would lack essential nutrients, hence his arm cannot recover fully and will only prolong her agony. Reika totally want to call out his bull****, but when he feint pain on his injured arm, she had no choice but to comply.
Out of anger, Reika tried to prank him on the first day with a super spicy obento that would probably make Fuji's sandwiches look like a joke, but Yukimura seems to have a knack in sensing tricks, for he deftly ask her to 'taste test' his lunchbox before giving it to him. Needless to say, while Reika was gulping down large amounts of water, his laughter only further cemented her image of him as a demon king.
Speaking of Demon King, while the entire female student population looked on at Reika with spite and envy, the entire tennis club actually empathized with her. Even Genichirou Sanada.
Reika only knew because while she was hand-washing the usual mountain load of laundry for the tennis club by the personal order of the Demon King, Sanada actually stopped by and pat her head gently without saying a single word. The rest of the regulars also showed their unique ways of support. Yanagi gave Reika a hand-written recipe book for simple obentos. Marui offered her his last gum. Niou withdrew all his pranks towards her. Jackal offered her to come by to his family restaurant and her meal would be on the house. Yagyu gave her a puzzle ring to 'destress' and Akaya offered her his favourite Final Fantasy game.
On the first day after introductions with the tennis club members, Yanagi had already stuffed Reika with books and DVDs on the basics of Tennis, and as she go along and learn, she found tennis to be pretty interesting.
Reika mentioned this in passing to Yukimura, during one of your many after-school sessions together, and his eyes seemed to lit up in response.
"Really? In what sort of aspect you find interesting?" He asked, while passing her another form for seeds acquisition.
"Hmm…" Reika ponder, while absentmindedly tapping the pencil on her lips, "I guess the unpredictability? The excitement? Like when I watch a match. Despite knowing the score from the onset, watching them rally, using different skills trying to outwit one another, it had me on the edge of my seat. I could be cheering one time, and biting my hand in another. I really like watching tennis, and it's so awesome that you are so good at it."
For once, Reika beamed genuinely in front of him at the thought of tennis. Yukimura widened his eyes and blinked, before looking back down on the form again. She too, went back to concentrating on the forms, hence she did not notice the slight pink tinge on his cheeks.
2 weeks in as his assistant, Reika had gotten used to the tennis team and their training regime. They were really nice to her for obvious reasons, and combined with her outgoing nature, she also have natural aptitude in being their manager.
"Yanagi san, please take a look of this." Reika handed some notes of observation to Yanagi before turning around to shout at the seaweed head.
"Akaya, don't think I didn't see you trying to slack off. You still have 3 more laps to go! Jackal, please make sure he don't skip laps!"
"Niou, stop trying to paste that "Beware! Bear" sticker on Sanada's back. AND SANADA, what are you doing? Do you know how much a racket cost?!" Reika screamed, before stomping over, trying to stop in vain to whatever Sanada was doing.
The tennis club was running smoother than ever, with Reika around, and the regulars often sing praises of her to the captain. They often suggest to him to consider keeping her on permanently as a club manager but for some reason, Yukimura only nodded with his usual smile on his face and said he will think about it.
It was on the final week of her service with Yukimura that Reika remembered all this arrangement was supposed to be temporary. It only dawned upon her when she accompanied him to his checkup in the hospital. When Dr. Oishi exclaimed that his arm was healing a lot better than he thought and Yukimura can be off his cast in 3 days' time, Reika noticed the smile on her face felt empty and fake.
When she walked Yukimura home as usual from the hospital, for some reason, there was a tense atmosphere between both of them, and neither were chatting as normal. The two of them used to talk and tease each other non-stop, but Reika just did not feel like it this time. It appeared the same for Yukimura, for he did not say a word until they were about to reach their destination.
He suddenly grabbed her hand with his uninjured arm and pulled Reika in. She lost your balance and bumped right into his embrace via momentum, and Reika was about to push him away when he whispered in her ear, "I'm a coward."
"What?"
"I'm a coward. The injured arm is an excuse."
He tilted her head by capturing her chin with his hand, forcing Reika to look at him in his eyes, "I have liked you for a long while. Even before this accident. Your fiery personality, your honesty captivates me. But to you, I am always just your classmate, just the school's tennis captain to you."
Reika blinked in confusion as he continued, "I have tried talking to you. I even tried asking Renji for help. I tried to charm you away, like I do with the rest, but you never took notice of me."
"But… But…" She tried to force herself to think, however she simply couldn't as she was very mesmerized by the affection reflected in his eyes.
"Of course I was surprised, when you jumped off suddenly from the second floor. I have time to dodge, but in the split second when I notice that it's you, I knew I have to catch you. But…" He chuckled, "What child of god am I, when I can't even catch the person I like and passed out like a loser?"
"Seiichi Yukimura, you are not a loser!" Reika glared at him.
"But I am a coward, when I used the injured arm as an excuse to keep you with me." Yukimura smoothly countered before releasing his hold on her. "I want to be with you all the time. I want you to look at me and come to like me eventually, like the way I do with you."
Reika regarded Yukimura in a whole new light. She never thought in a million years that he would have a crush on her. She tried to think of the times when he turned around from his seat in front and hold a conversation with her. She thought his smiles, his easygoing personality is just being him, hence she never think further of it.
No.
I forced myself not to think further of it.
In a bout of inferiority complex, Reika had managed to convince herself that Yukimura would never notice her.
Even now, his confession felt like a dream. As Reika was fighting against her own inner demons, Yukimura unfortunately took her silence as rejection. He turned away from her while smiling bitterly, "I'm sorry. I must have scared you. Nonetheless, I hereby end our arrangement. Once we have wrapped up planting the flowers for spring this Friday, I will be fine on my own."
He continued to walk towards his house, while Reika stood there dumb folded. She felt something wet on her face when she realized it was her tears. In her hesitation, fear and panic, Reika had missed the window of opportunity. As she turned her back, walking back towards the station, she can only repeatedly cursed herself for being so slow in realizing her feelings.
The next 3 days were awkward. Despite Yukimura's pledge to end the arrangement, it was also true that he still needed someone to help him in class. Reika received a message from him that night to cease making lunchboxes for him anymore as he can eat in the canteen. On Reika's part, she had also stopped appearing in the tennis courts, because by some warped logic, she felt she had no right to be with the tennis team.
After all, this is just temporary right? It isn't as if they needed me right?
Unbeknownst to Reika, the tennis club members had immediately noticed her absence and all had deduced, including Sanada who is usually slow in these things, that it has something to do with their beloved captain. After all, said captain actually forgot to assign the usual 50 laps for Akaya when the latter turned up late for practice. The regulars together with Yanagi, thought of intervening, because they really do like Reika around, but concluded that since none of them have girlfriends, they are no expert in this field and should refrain from commenting.
However, there was no way for Reika to avoid the meetings for the Beautification Committee. As deputy head, she is the go-to person, to know what flower goes where, which fertilizer will be coming on which day or who the reliable vendors are. Hence she continued to sit through the meetings, with the trusted head of committee by her side, even though both of them could barely acknowledge one another.
During the last meeting of the committee, Reika was not listening to her treasurer on the fine intricates on how to lower the cost, her mind is somewhere up in the clouds trying to think of solutions to solve this dreadlock.
This is my last chance.
Once this meeting has ended, Yukimura and herself will find no reason to be together. It will be just a few more months away from April, where all the third years will be graduating onwards to high school. She knew Yukimura and herself will continue to Rikkai High, but the chances of them being together in the same class, and sitting close to each other is very slim.
20 minutes…
15 minutes…
Reika continued to glance at her watch and time was slowly slipping by, yet she simply could not find the chance to tell him how she feel.
She was about to give up, resigning herself to fate that she will grow old and die with 9 cats, Yukimura caught her attention again when he slumped back with his left hand draped behind the back of the chair. He appeared to be deep in thought listening to Ms. Treasurer who was now going on about budget.
Reika did not think. She just reacted.
She leaned back as well, and with her heart at her throat, she gingerly touched his palm with her right hand. His eyes widened in recognition when he turned to look at her who was so red and self-conscious, Reika simply did not have the courage to glance back at him.
His response was simple really.
He intertwined his hands firmly with hers while he pretended to be paying attention.
As if to say he will never let her go again.
That was perhaps the most embarrassing but also the happiest 15 minutes she ever had in her life.
.
.
.
The entire tennis club welcomed Reika back with open arms, and with unanimous vote, she officially became the club manager. The junior members groaned in frustration as they will be left without a manager again upon her impending graduation in a few months.
The day when Yukimura symbiotically hand the clubroom keys to Akaya, Reika was there with the rest of the members looking on solemnly. Despite her short tenure with the Tennis club of the junior high school division, she had a feeling she will continue on to be the club manager when she goes to high school. Reika took this opportunity to ask Yanagi this nagging question she always had.
"Ne, Yanagi san. How did you boys survive without a manager for these 3 years?"
"Hmmm? What do you mean?"
"I mean, that truckload of towels, clothes and laundry required to be washed after every practice. I doubt everyone would take it back home and wash themselves as it is still school property."
"Oh. Junior members were on rotation for laundry duty. Our club was assigned a fat budget after we won the nationals. So they just take them to the nearby laundromat for cleaning. …. Mizuno-san, you look like a rage demon now, are you okay?" Yanagi asked innocently.
"…SEIICHI YUKIMURA!" Reika screamed in anger, "YOU COME BACK HERE, RIGHT THIS INSTANCE!"
A/N :Hope you like it! ^_^ Please review!