It's Time for Mini Golf!
The Leafe knights go miniature golfing for the first time. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Pretear in any way, shape, or form… unfortunately.
Spoilers: This takes place after the series, so… if you haven't finished watching the series… you may be a smidge surprised about things.
Chapter 1
"Its such a nice day out, guys," Himeno said cheerfully to the seven Leafe knights and Mawata, who had all been lounging around by the pond at the Awayuki mansion. "It's been awhile since we've done anything fun."
"Yeah, this is boring just sitting around here," Mannen complained.
After Go bonked Mannen on the head, he said "Well, Himeno did you have an ideas?"
"Well… since you all probably haven't done much in the way of fun here on Earth, I have a great idea of what we could do!" Himeno replied excitedly.
"And what is that?" Kei asked, mildly intrigued.
"We should go miniature golfing!" Himeno said, jumping up from the bench with her fist in the air.
"Yeah!" said the three youngest knights jumping up and down.
"It sounds interesting," said Kei.
"Then lets go!" Go yelled enthusiastically.
"Agreed," Sasame said.
"All right!" yelled Himeno.
"Wait a minute," Hayate said in a commanding tone, cutting her short. "Are you sure that we're not going to be more bored there than we are here?"
"Of course we won't. I'm telling you, Hayate, it's really fun."
Hayate had a grumpy look on his face, debating if he should go or not.
"Geez, Hayate, don't be such a stick in the mud," Mannen taunted.
"Yeah" Hajime and Shin chimed in.
"Oh, fine. I'll come along," Hayate said, mildly annoyed.
"Well then, let's go!" Himeno yelled excitedly as she marched toward the front gate of the mansion, grabbing Hayate by the wrist on the way to make sure he didn't change his mind.
"Hey… Tulip head!" Hayate yelled as Himeno dragged him along.
Mannen, Hajime, and Shin ran to go follow Himeno with Go running after them at their heels. Sasame chuckled quietly and headed toward the gate as well, wishing Takako was not working today so that they could enjoy the day together. Which left Kei and Mawata behind. Mawata had not said much during their conversation, she was still getting used to the idea of having lots of people around.
"Aren't you going to come with us, Mawata?" Kei asked seeming somewhat disappointed.
Mawata had a pensive look on her face, but after a moment or two she said, "I think I will," and let a small smile cross her face as she started toward the gate. Kei walked along with her.
Chapter 2
When everyone arrived at the miniature golf course, the three youngest knights could barely contain themselves as they saw all the fun looking obstacles on the course. Mawata paid for everyone, as Himeno handed out golf clubs and golf balls.
Once everyone had a club and a ball, Himeno explained the rules that were on the back of the scorecard.
Since everyone seemed to understand, Himeno said, "Okay, I'm going to go first to demonstrate what to do. Then why don't we go in oldest to youngest order."
The first hole was pretty much a straight shot about fifteen feet from the beginning of the green. The only obstacle on the hole was a mechanical man with a large golf club who swiveled back and forth. Every couple of seconds, the mechanical man's golf club would block the green, but then just as soon, it would move out of the way.
"Well, here I go!" Himeno put her ball down, attempted to aim her club correctly and swung. The ball just barely missed the obstacle and stopped rolling about three feet from the hole.
Hayate was surprised that she got the ball so close, and he was a little impressed. He stepped up to the green and said; "This looks easy, Tulip head," in a somewhat mocking tone, yet he reluctantly put the ball down. Without much of a delay he hit the ball. It rolled towards the obstacle just as the mechanical man's golf club blocked the green. The ball smacked into the mechanical man's club and bounced back a foot. "Damn," Hayate said, and looking down, walked toward the opposite end of the green to avoid being teased.
Sasame saw that this wasn't quite as easy as it looked and said, "If you don't mind Kei, I'd like to watch you go, and then I'll go."
Kei shrugged his shoulders and stepped up to the green. After he put his ball down, he walked along the side of the green surveying the lay of it. He then stopped and watched the mechanical man swivel back and forth and then looked at his watch. After about twenty seconds had gone by Mannen said, "Oh, come on Kei!" Kei, unaffected by Mannen breaking the silence, stepped up to the ball and hit it. The ball completely missed the obstacle and went right into the hole.
"Wow, a hole in one, Kei!" Himeno said excitedly. Kei smiled smugly as everyone congratulated him. Hayate was the last to do so, saying "Nice hit," rather dryly.
Sasame went up next. He placed the ball down and did a smooth swing. His timing was slightly off, but the ball still passed the obstacle and landed close to Himeno's ball.
As Sasame had been swinging, Go had run up to the mechanical man and was giving him moose ears.
"Go, what are you doing?" yelled Mannen. "Shin's going to turn seven by the time you get over here to go!"
Himeno quickly said, "But Mannen, its Mawata's turn now."
"Oh yeah. Sorry Mawata, you were so quiet." Mannen apologized, actually meaning it.
Before Mawata moved, suddenly Shin realized that he would be the last one to have a turn. "I have to go last. Ohhhh, I don't want to go last," Shin said with a sad voice.
"How about I'll go last," Mawata said, patting Shin's head, smiling.
"Okay."
"Go, get your butt over here!" Mannen yelled.
"You better watch it," Go said playfully as he passed by Mannen and put his golf ball down. Go awkwardly swung and the ball bounced several times on the green and then went out of bounds and into a bush. "Ohhh," Go whined.
As Go was retrieving his ball, Mannen stepped up and said "All right, I'll show you how this is done, Go." He dropped the ball down and stopped it with his foot, trying to look cool. He swung wildly at the ball and yelled "Forrrrrrrr!" The ball never touched the green after he hit it, but instead went flying off to the left where Go was, and nailed him right in the groin.
A loud pain noise came from Go as he hit the ground. Mannen burst out laughing. Hajime and Shin looked shocked and slightly scared. "I'm going to kill you, Mannen" Go said between his teeth still lying on the ground.
Hajime dropped his ball down like Mannen, but it started to roll away a little, so he bent down and placed it in the right spot. He, like Mannen, swung a little wild, but he did not put half as much power into the shot as Mannen. The ball bounced on the green once and then went out about where Mannen's ball had gone out, and it plopped down on Go's head as he was attempting to rise to his feet.
"Sorry, Go." Hajime said very scared now.
Go got up, rushed over to Mannen and Hajime, and tackled them both to the ground. Shin, who saw how wildly Mannen and Hajime swung the golf club decided that hitting it hard was a bad idea. Shin put the ball down and patted it. Then he gingerly hit the ball… causing it to roll about four feet. Shin was overjoyed. "Look Mawata," he said proudly as he pointed to the ball.
By this point, Go, Hajime, and Mannen had caused enough of a scene to bring the manager out of the office and he was heading over to them. In the mean time, Himeno and the older knights had just been standing off to the side, watching the other knights golfing and goofing off, and they were actually having a good time.
The three stopped wrestling and stood up as the manager approached them. "I don't want this kind of horse-play going on at my golf course," he said angrily. "And wait… how many people are in your party?" Suddenly, the other knights, Himeno, and Mawata looked concerned.
Kei walked up to the manager and calmly told him there were nine in the group altogether.
"Nine? That is way too many to be in one group," he said sternly. "Didn't you read the rules on the back of the card?"
"Oops. I must have missed that one." Himeno said, embarrassed.
"I want you to divide into two groups, that way you don't take forever." The manager stood there, making sure that they divided up.
"This hole was hard. Let's go ahead a few holes! I want to check out the one with the castle!" Mannen said. Go, used to being the babysitter, said dully, "All right kids lets go."
Sasame, feeling bad for Go, said "I'll come with you and help."
The manager seemed satisfied enough with that grouping and said to the remaining four "You two couples have fun." As he walked away… Himeno, Hayate, Mawata, and Kei all blushed simultaneously.
Chapter 3
After the manager had left, Himeno went on the green and hit her ball again, getting it in in two shots. Hayate tried to get his ball in next. Each time he tried to get the ball past the mechanical golfer, but the mechanical golfer's club kept moving just into the way. "Damn," Hayate would mutter under his breath each time. After his third try, Himeno could no longer withhold her laughter and started to giggle. Hayate stopped mid way through his fourth swing. He turned and looked at Himeno solemnly, and then silently walked off the green, not even bothering to take his ball off the course.
Wishing he could transport to somewhere else, but knowing he couldn't, Hayate quickly scanned the area and looked for a place to go and hide. Finding no such place, he briskly walked off toward a bench that was near the outskirt of the course.
Himeno suddenly froze in place. She wished she could take back her laughter. Why was she so mean to him? She didn't mean to hurt Hayate's feelings. After running through this all in her head she finally turned to Kei and Mawata and said "I'd better go after him." She bent down and picked up Hayate's navy colored ball off the green and started jogging after him.
"Well…" Kei said attempting to break the uneasiness, "looks like it's just the two of us."
"Yeah," Mawata replied, blushing a little bit again.
"You don't mind that it's just you and I do you?" Kei asked, concerned.
"Well," Mawata said thoughtfully, "at least you will be the only one to see me mess up." She smiled a weak smile and continued, "I'm really not very good at miniature golf."
"Perhaps, I could help you."
"I would like that."
When Himeno approached Hayate, he was sitting on the bench. His arms were crossed and he stared coldly at the ground. He didn't bother to look up when he felt that someone –that someone probably being Himeno- was right in front of him, nor did he say anything. Himeno stood there for a moment, wondering that if she said something if he would get even more angry at her.
"Hayate…" Himeno started gently, putting a hand on his shoulder.
With the warm touch of her hand, he could not help but to look up into her eyes. Even though he was angry, her eyes were beautiful and serene. He stared at her now, his eyes softening to some degree, but he remained silent.
"I'm sorry I laughed at you. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Its just that…" Himeno said, trailing off.
Finally, Hayate spoke. "Yes?" he asked in a solemn tone.
"Well… it reminded me of the first time that I went miniature golfing. I was at this course, and I got so mad at that mechanical man that I kicked it and made a huge dent in it. It took me weeks to earn enough money to pay to repair it."
"Really?" Hayate asked with a flicker of a smile crossing his face.
"Yup, you can ask my dad. I said that I never wanted to go golfing again after that. But now, I think it's lots of fun. Even though I'm not much better than when I started. I got lucky on the first hole this time." There was a pause, and then she continued "I shouldn't have laughed at you Hayate. Especially since it's your first time golfing. Please forgive me."
"Its all right, Himeno," Hayate said, the anger gone from his voice. He then picked up the golf club he had randomly dropped on the ground earlier and stood up. "Let's continue playing, I'm going to need some practice if I'm ever going to beat Kei. Just promise me you won't hit me with a ball or something, Tulip-head."
Himeno felt the compulsion to hit Hayate upside the head with her golf club for that remark, but she restrained herself, and headed back to the second hole with Hayate.
Mawata gently placed her ball down on the green. She made sure that she aimed the golf club correctly so that she would hit the ball straight. She then looked up shyly at Kei, as if for encouragement. Kei smiled and said "Looks good. Now remember what I said. Make sure you hit the ball just when the golfer begins to turn away from you."
Mawata nodded her head. After watching the mechanical golfer move toward her and then away several times, she hit the ball just when Kei had told her to. The ball missed the obstacle and stopped only about a couple feet away from the hole.
"I did it," Mawata said to Kei somewhat surprised. Kei couldn't help but smile as Mawata grinned at her success. He had never realized how beautiful Mawata looked when she actually smiled.
Mawata walked over to her ball and set herself up for her next hit. "Kei, should I hit it in? Kei?"
Kei stopped spacing out after Mawata had repeated his name. "Hmmmm?" he responded.
"Does it look like I'm lined up?" Mawata asked.
"Go ahead, you should be able to get it in."
Mawata gently hit the ball and it rolled right into the hole.
"You seem to be doing rather well for someone who isn't very good," Kei said playfully.
"Its only because you helped me," Mawata said smiling. "Thank you."
"You're quite welcome."
In the meantime, Sasame, Go, Mannen, Hajime, and Shin were up at the fifth hole, which had a huge stone castle with three tunnels.
"It's so pretty," Shin said while Hajime and Mannen were on their hands and knees looking through the tunnels, attempting to see which one was the best one to hit the ball through. Mannen reported that the left tunnel seemed to be the one that would get the ball closest to the hole.
Each of the knights took their turns, and all of them managed to keep their balls from going out of bounds, surprisingly.
Sasame's first hit fell short of the left tunnel, but when he hit the ball through the tunnel on his second shot he paused, listened carefully, and then smiled. "I got it in," he said without having to walk around to the other side of the castle.
Go's ball had managed to go through the castle on the first hit, but via the middle tunnel. He walked around to the other side of the castle and tried not to hit the ball too hard so that it would go right over the hole. Nevertheless, the ball went right past the hole, but bounced off the wall and then came back toward the hole, leaving Go a putt that was only a few inches. "So, close" he said slightly annoyed, and then carelessly tapped the ball in.
It took Mannen two shots to get the ball into the left tunnel, and as he swung for his third shot, Go poked him in the side. "Hey!" Mannen turned and shouted at Go and then turned around to see that the ball missed the hole.
"That was for earlier," said Go.
Mannen grumbled and then hit the ball in on his fourth shot.
Hajime also took two shots to get the ball into the left tunnel, but eyed Go carefully before shooting. Go was picking paint chips off the castle and lighting them on fire discreetly, so Hajime hit his ball lightly and got it in. "Yay, I beat Mannen on this hole," he said joyfully.
Shin, who was busy looking at a patch of clover while the other knights shot, forgot about being sad to go last. He gently placed his ball down on the green. Each time he swung, he hit the ball a little too softly, and got his ball into the hole in six shots. "Did I do the best? I got the highest score didn't I?" Shin asked Sasame.
Sasame smiled, and was about to give a very kind sounding answer that skirted the idea of him doing the worst- something like… 'You did a very good job Shin, and I really like the color of the ball that Himeno gave you' but Mannen beat Sasame to an answer.
"You dummy… the person with the lowest score wins!" Mannen blurted out.
Shin looked as though he was about to cry when Sasame said "You did a very good job Shin, and I like the color of the ball that Himeno gave you. Look, it matches the clovers."
Shin forgot about being sad for a moment and looked at his ball. "I like the color of my ball, Sasame." Then he looked at his beloved patch of clovers. "The ball does match the clovers," he said giggling as he tried to hide his ball in them.
Sasame, Go, and Hajime gave a huge sigh of relief. "C'mon slow pokes, I'm going to start without you," Mannen called from the next hole.
Chapter 4
Over by the snack bar of the golf course, a strange rustling came from one of the bushes. Slowly, binoculars poked out of a tall hedge. They moved back and forth methodically, as if the looker was looking for something… or someone.
A little girl eating an ice cream cone noticed something funny sticking out of the bushes. "Mom, look at the funny bush," she said tugging on her mom's pant leg. When her mom and her turned to look, the binoculars were gone.
"I think it was just your imagination, honey," the mom said. "Let's head home."
As Go, Hajime, and Shin went to catch up with Mannen- who was impatiently waiting at the sixth hole- Sasame stood in place. Once again, listening carefully.
"What is it Sasame?" Go asked, stopping when he turned around and saw that Sasame wasn't following.
"I can hear a lot of rustling of leaves, and low whispers. I can't make out what is being said, though. The sounds seem to be coming toward us," Sasame said, somewhat concerned.
Hajime and Shin told Mannen to come over. When they all were together Sasame solemnly pointed towards some bushes by the fourth hole. All the knights tensed up, ready for battle, when suddenly they heard the bushes rustle and were blinded by a bright light.
"What is this?" Go yelled as all the knights shaded their eyes.
A figure had jumped out of the bushes. It was a stout, middle-aged man with glasses, who was wearing a suit… his shiny, balding head catching the sunlight just so, which caused quite a glare.
"Ah ha! I've got you, you mischievous kids!" the figure yelled pointing in the direction of the three youngest knights.
Mannen was the first to look up when the glare subsided. "It's baldy Tanaka!" he yelled as Mr. Tanaka sweatdropped, and one lone hair flew off his head and into the wind.
The other knights looked up as well, and saw Mr. Tanaka in front of them, as well as some wiggling coming from the bush. Mayune soon thereafter crawled out and was covered with dirt and leaves.
"Tanaka!" yelled Mayune. "You made me crawl around in all the bushes just to sneak up on them? These are Himeno's friends you idiot! I told you to spy on some lone cute guys for me!"
Mayune grabbed the strap of Tanaka's binoculars (that were around his neck) and said "Now, let's get back to business," as she dragged him back towards the snack bar. Mayune giggled awkwardly, but loudly. "Have fun golfing!" she called from behind her to the knights.
Chapter 5
After the incident with Mayune and Tanaka, nothing too interesting happened as Himeno, Mawata, and knights were playing golf, with a few exceptions.
TP had decided to look for the knights and was mistaken for a golf ball by a snotty little boy.
Himeno accidentally hit Hayate in the shin with her golf club. Hard.
Hayate actually got a hole in one… albeit on the kids' practice green.
Kei actually got a score other than one on the eleventh hole when Mawata smiled at him and said she was having a really good time.
Mawata won an all-paid dinner and mini golf date for two when she was the 100th person to return her golf club.
Go hit his ball out of bounds into a large, scary, algae infested pond.
Sasame spent half the time on his cell phone with Takako, telling her how much he missed her. In fact, so much so, that Mannen almost pushed him into the large, scary, algae infested pond.
Mannen was stuck in one of Go's head locks for one minute and nineteen seconds after he stole Go's ball and threatened to throw it back in the large, scary, algae infested pond.
Hajime got the best score out of the three youngest knights.
Shin found a cute, fuzzy, caterpillar.
By the end of the day, Himeno, Mawata, and even all the Leafe knights were worn out. They reconvened at the exit and headed home together telling each group all the funny things that had gone on.
Back at the Awayuki Mansion, everyone was back where they started, lounging around the pond. Go was sitting on the grass with his back against a tree and the three youngest knights were all curled up around him sleeping, using him as a pillow. Takako had come over after work and was sitting on a bench with Sasame, massaging his neck since he had said that it had started to hurt while golfing (more like while talking on the cell phone =P). Kei and Mawata were sitting on the edge of the pond together, talking softly and quietly chuckling often. Lastly, Himeno and Hayate were sitting together, watching the sun set. Hayate had one pant leg partially rolled up and a small bag of ice sat on his bruised shin. Occasionally the two would swap insults... Hayate would tease her and call her Tulip Head, and then Himeno would pluck off his ice bag and poke his bruise, causing him to slightly wince each time. Then there would be silence.
Hayate sat for a while, reminiscing the day. He had actually really enjoyed miniature golfing -despite his injury- especially, with Himeno. 'I really should thank her for making me go,' he thought to himself.
"Himeno. Himeno?" she had fallen asleep, leaning against his shoulder. "Thank you," he whispered in her ear.
A/N: Hi all! I hope you enjoyed this! If any of you happened to have noticed that way back when I had a sequel in the works for this story, it is still in progress AND I am posting up part of it now. It's called "It's Time for Mini Golf… Again!"