Disclaimer: I do not own Hana-Kimi.

In the Crowd of People

By: Higasa

"Please dad?" Mizuki asked. A white envelope laid opened on her bed, as she showed her father the ticket to Izumi Sano's high jumping contest that Nakatsu had sent her in their latest letter to him.

"No, I'm sure it'll be broadcast on TV," her father said. "Besides don't you have a final to study for that day?"

"It's a holiday dad," Mizuki reminded him. "My finals are going to be done the Friday before."

"And you have school the next day," her father replied. Without another word he closed the bedroom behind him. "Night Mizuki."

"I hate you, dad," Mizuki muttered, as she pulled up the blanket and covered herself over her head.

…

"Nice day for a competition isn't it?" Kagurazaka said to nobody in particular. The jumpers were busy getting ready for their high jump, next to the first aid tent that had been set up along the fence. He then turned to Izumi who didn't say anything, but sipped on his cup of water his coach had given him earlier. "It's too bad that your brother didn't make it to the Nationals isn't it?"

"Hmm…" was all Sano said.

Kagurazaka looked at him for a while. He could see that Izumi wasn't paying the slightest attention to him at the moment. Heck, his eyes wasn't even looking at him, but instead glancing out towards the big crowd that that just kept coming in.

The competitors could hear many girls squealing in the stands and pointing out to them, some cheered them on, but most of the finger pointing was directed either to Izumi or Kagurazaka. Sano finally found Nakatsu along with their usual bunch of friends.

The only person he was disappointed to see who wasn't there was her…

"Hey," Kagurazaka said suddenly, making Sano turn to look at him.

"What?" he asked.

"What happened to that Ashiya guy? I haven't seen you two hanging out much these days," he said. "Did you two break up or something? Or were you two so busy studying for the entrance exam to be lovey-dovey?"

Lovey-dovey? Izumi thought, frowning a bit. It wasn't a word that he was quite used to hearing.

Kagurazaka seemed to be taken aback when he looked at Sano. "Hey, I didn't mean to be insensitive," he said. "I mean anything can happen in three months. So what happened? I don't see him in the stands either if that's who you were looking for."

Sano smiled slightly. He heard his name being called by the announcer and crushed the white plastic cup. Before he walked towards where he was supposed to be jumping he said, "She is in California and for your information we did not break up. We're just having a long distant relationship that's all."

Kagurazaka's jaw dropped to the ground and thought, "She? Ashiya was a she? All this time I thought he was queer…Sano Izumi sometimes I don't really understand you at all…you're such an enigmatic."

Fin.

Poor Kagurazaka! He always misunderstands those two.