A/N: So I'm back with Chapter Two! Thank you to everyone who reviewed this story- I really appreciate the time you have given up! Sorry about the very, very late update, but I also had to post several new chapters for my other story and I didn't have time to get back onto this story until recently. And I had to spend a lot of time studying. Basically, this story was last priority for me. But anyway, here's the new chapter, so enjoy, and please review!
This chapter is dedicated to my AMAZING and very talented friend, Descending Rainfall, who I am going to be collaborating with on this story and her story From Sky High. Her characters will be making cameo appearances in this story from now on!
Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis, but I own the OCs. Descending Rainfall owns her own characters.
Jun winced as she felt cool fingers probe her head. She couldn't help but flinch away from the pain, even if it had already receded to a dull ache.
"Next time you know not to run." Jun looked up timidly to see the handsome, arrogant face of Atobe himself, eyes focused on whatever he was doing on the back of her head. She immediately flushed slightly again, looking away before he could notice.
"I'm sorry…" Her words were hushed- they were so quiet that Atobe barely heard them- as it was, he had to lean closer to catch them anyway. He huffed elegantly- was that even possible?- and looked down at her.
"Why are you even apologizing?" At her awkward silence, he lifted a perfectly arched eyebrow. "Arn? Most girls I know would be ranting about how much their head hurt by now, and complaining about how much they hate Harada-"
Jun's eyes flickered upwards in surprise, and Atobe found himself realizing just how dark her eyes were. They weren't at all to his taste- no, Atobe preferred large, beautiful blue eyes, the epitome of elegance- but he had to admit that they were unusual.
Very strange indeed.
"No, no, I don't hate her at all!" Atobe was surprised at that- he used to most girls over-exaggerating their emotions and feuds with others so much that he couldn't even tell if they were just making everything up or not. This girl was different- in a good or bad way, he couldn't tell yet.
Jun was oblivious to all of his musings- she was still talking. "Harada-san didn't mean to hurt me…" At Atobe's incredulous look of disbelief, she elaborated. "I saw the surprise on her face when I fell- she didn't mean it-"
"You don't blame her in any way?"
Jun flushed, and she looked away for a few moments, embarrassed. "Well…I do, but I understand why she would…besides, it's not her fault."
Atobe's eyebrows were lifted very high by this point, and Jun felt like burying her face in a pillow and hiding under the blankets. God, this was so humiliating. She had just gone and made herself look like a fool in front of Atobe, out of all people. Her explanation was weak and completely failed to explain anything. He must see her as an idiot- why couldn't she have acted confident and self-assured like she was supposed to?
"Hmm…I see."
"…huh?" Completely not the reaction she was expecting to see.
Atobe finished examining the back of her head and ran a hand through his- was it platinum? Was that even a colour?- hair, and looked down his nose at her.
"Arn, next time don't fall down. Be more like Ore-sama," he tossed his head, "and exhibit perfection from every angle."
Jun was only left feeling even more unsure of what to do in the situation- what did he expect her to say, anyway? It wasn't like she had an answer for that sort of statement.
Luckily for her, though, Atobe continued talking, unaware of how uncomfortable he was making this predicament for her. "What were you doing talking to Harada and her lackeys anyway?"
Maybe not so lucky. And who still used the word lackeys in the twenty-first century anyway?
"T-they came over and talked to me. I don't know any of them." This was all said in a soft voice, as though she didn't really want him to hear. But he heard her anyway.
"Hmph, well don't talk to them, if you take my advice," he sniffed, "they are too vulgar for Ore-sama's taste."
"Tanaka."
She turned and looked nervously at Atobe, who wasn't looking at her- rather he was gazing off to the side, as though he was unwilling to meet her eyes.
"What is it, Atobe-san?"
"…I'm sorry."
"…" She stared at him in open shock- because since when did Atobe Keigo apologize to anyone besides his own reflection?
He seemed to be a little bit uncomfortable- a strange sight for the King of Hyotei- and he shifted irritably. "I just wanted to let you know that, alright? Now go to where you need to, commoner. Ore-sama has better things to do than loiter here."
"A-ah…" Jun decided to take his advice and quickly swung her legs off the bed, standing up far too quickly. She stumbled back, head spinning wildly and vision blurry.
But before she could knock something over or fall again, a pair of warm hands caught her, and she closed her eyes tightly, praying that she was wrong. Please don't let him have caught me again…
Fate had some kind of grudge against her, apparently. Because when she looked up, there was Atobe Keigo, staring down at her withamusementin his eyes. Amusement.
Jun flushed in embarrassment, covering her red face with her hands. To embarrass herself in front of someone who she had always lost to without fail was incrediblyhumiliating.
Luckily, Atobe didn't say anything worse than, "Hmph. Watch your step."
Jun supposed that she was lucky. Atobe had been very likely about to say something like, Consider yourself lucky that Ore-sama deigned to catch you.
She bowed hurriedly, and apologized profusely. "Yes, I'm so sorry!"
Atobe just smirked and held back the laugh that he wanted to let loose as she managed to get up on her own and began to head for the door. After all, he had hurt her feelings that day already, it seemed, and he was enough of a gentleman to leave it alone for the day.
And really, he didn't know her well enough to make fun of her.
Just as Jun opened the door, Atobe said in a suddenly serious tone, "Hey."
She looked around, startled and not a little nervous. He resisted another smirk at the expression on her face- it was something that he found immensely amusing.
"Yes, Atobe-san?"
At her half-fearful, half-curious look, all humour faded from the situation, and after a moment of tense silence, he said in a low voice, "…I'm sorry." And it wasn't the same apology this time.
Jun couldn't believe her ears- she half-believed that she had heard him wrong. Atobe Keigo, the king of Hyotei, apologizing? But his determination to not meet her eyes seemed to prove her ears right.
"…w-what?"
That seemed to break the spell. Atobe immediately glanced back at Jun, and there was a mixture of irritation and amusement in his eyes. "Don't question Ore-sama. It was nothing worth your questioning."
A hesitant, reluctant smile made its way onto Jun's face, even though Atobe didn't see it.
The three tennis regulars looked up when the door of the library opened, and all three of them noticed that the girl had walked in alone.
Choutarou called out to her, "Jun-senpai! Over here!"
Looking around, Jun spotted the three of them at a table, and hurried over to join them. The tall second-year smiled with relief as he saw that she wasn't crying any longer. Shishido glanced briefly at her, and seemed satisfied that she was alright.
"Yo, Jun, where's the diva?"
Jun looked genuinely confused. "Diva? Who's that?"
Shishido felt the sudden urge to hit himself in the face and sigh with exasperation. Honestly, he didn't know anyone more naïve than Jun.
Oshitari cut in smoothly, smiling kindly at Jun. "Ah, Tanaka-san, whenever Shishido mentions a diva, he is most likely referring to Atobe."
A look of realization crossed Jun's face, and her eyes widened in understanding.
"Oh, you mean Atobe-san? He said he had something important to do…"
Shishido scoffed, and flung himself back into his seat, propping his feet up on the desk in front of him. "He's probably gone to admire himself in the mirror and fix his hair. Che, that diva."
Choutarou flushed at Shishido's blunt words, looking strangely more embarrassed than Shishido himself. "Shishido-san-!"
Oshitari let out a light laugh, and from where he was standing near the window with his arms carefully folded, glanced outside with a pensive, unreadable expression. "Hmm…I wonder…"
After a while of talking and Jun's attempts to teach Choutarou how to tell the difference between a vowel and a consonant, the tensai decided to take his leave of them.
Exchanging polite and friendly words with Jun, and an "I hope Atobe wasn't too bad", and a pointed look directed towards Shishido and Choutarou, Oshitari made his way out of the library.
Once he was outside in the corridor, shutting the door behind him, he glanced speculatively in the direction of the classrooms.
"Hmm…maybe I'll just go by the classroom…I believe there may be something of interest going on…"
His smirk said otherwise.
Hyotei did not do second-class.
And there was nothing less than perfection exhibited at all times in the school.
So it had come as an immense surprise for Minori (that in itself was surprising, she was almost never surprised) when Atobe came while she was talking to Jun. Atobe, of all the people that it could have been.
Really, she didn't like him all too much, as a person. He was far too vain and…like a peacock for her taste. But she pretended, as though her life depended upon it, that she did. Because in a way, it did.
Atobe was really the epitome of high society- an only child, sole heir to a multi-billion dollar company, good looks (or so he thought), and a famous name. What else could he want, since he already had the money, looks and name?
Nothing, and she knew it, everyone knew it- hell, even he knew that everyone knew it. Although that was to be expected.
Still, whether she liked him or not wasn't the question. In this level of society, what mattered was the name. And the money.
From the moment Atobe had set foot inside the school, he had immediately come into control of the entire student body. There was not a thing he said, not a gesture of his that went unnoticed- he had become a prince among princes, a god amongst gods.
Of course, news travelled fast. Soon enough after Minori had begun her first year in Hyotei, she had been summoned (and it didn't happen often in her household) to her father's study. When she had entered, her father had been sitting at his desk, an expression on his face happier than she had ever seen him before.
Waving her in, he motioned for her to take a seat. "Minori. Take a seat."
She had done so gracefully, elegantly, just as he had raised her to be. In a polite tone- "What is it, Father?"
"I heard that the heir to the Atobe Corporation is currently attending Hyotei in your grade. Is this true?"
Minori- gracefully- tossed her red hair over her shoulder, falling in a cascade of rebelliously beautiful waves. "Yes, Father. Atobe Keigo is in my class."
At that moment, she could have sworn his eyes had shone, gleaming with a new scheme that he was probably plotting in his mind. Honestly, there was no word that could describe her father more fittingly than gold-digger. Although she preferred father-that-would-sell-his-own-daughter-for-a-connection-to-the-Atobes.
But it wasn't like she was one to talk- everyone told her that she was the carbon copy of her father. This was perhaps untrue of her looks- after all, although they shared the red hair and witchy green eyes, Minori had fortunately inherited her beautiful socialite mother's elegant, exotic features and slim, tall figure.
In terms of personality, however, it was true that she took after her father far more than her soft-spoken, submissive mother.
Not that it was bad or anything. After all, Minori couldn't bear the thought of not having the ambition, the passion, the smiling mask that only served as a flimsy cover for the vicious ruthlessness underneath.
"I hear that the Atobe boy is not involved with a girl as of yet."
Minori would have blushed at her father's rather vulgar hint, but she was his daughter, there was no way she would see things differently to him. "I believe he is not." Keep calm, she told herself, you know what he's going to say next-
"Perfect." Her father leant back in his chair, looking very satisfied. "Minori, I expect you to do everything in your power to get him interested. Do you understand?"
There was only the slightest of hesitations before- "…Yes, Father. I understand perfectly."
He leant forward and patted her cheek affectionately, even though Minori knew that it was only a farce, he didn't see her as a daughter, only a possession that could be traded, bartered for something worth more to him than his own flesh and blood.
No no no this couldn't be happening-
"Good girl. Tell me, what is the rule of society again?"
Minori tried her hardest to convince herself that he was right, there was nothing except selfishness in their world, but in her heart, she knew that this was so, so wrong, and she shouldn't be doing this-
"…Everyone for themselves."
Except she was. And she was going to do it, no matter what.
"What do you want, Harada?"
The harsh words of Akechi Yuuka replayed incessantly in Minori's mind, irritating her when nothing should have, ruffling her composure to the point she was beginning to feel her fingers twitch with the urge to throw something.
"Didn't I already tell you several times that I won't help?"
Calm down, Minori, she chastised herself. Ladies don't throw things, and you are a lady.
"I do have some advice. It's the three step plan called shut up, stop being a bitch, and then getting the hell out of the country before I can murder you. Does that help at all?"
Akechi wasn't. Wasn't, had never been, and was never going to be. That small fact comforted Minori somewhat, if only slightly.
"Must I remind you of the fact that you mean nothing to Keigo-kun? I'm still his friend."
Still, she had to admit the words stung. A lot. But she was Harada Minori. What couldn't she handle? Surely not a few small, harmless, bitter words spoken by someone who, despite her big words, had still broken up with Atobe Keigo.
Minori was just clearing her desk when the door slammed open, and in walked Atobe.
Atobe Keigo, out of all the damn people that could have chosen to walk through that door.
She admonished herself in her head- ladies don't use such vulgar language, Minori, you can do better- and immediately pasted a beautiful, dazzling, and incredibly fake smile on her face. "Atobe-san, this is a pleasant surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Atobe didn't waste any time on meaningless pleasantries- he strode over to her desk, and stopped in front of her, arms folded and an inscrutable, tense expression on his face. "Harada. Explain."
Her deliberately blank, unreadable look said clearly that I know what you're talking about, but I'm not going to say a word. Atobe knew it, and it did not please him in the slightest.
"What are you talking about?"
"You know damn well what I'm talking about. What did Tanaka do to you to warrant such behaviour from the daughter of Harada Hiroto?"
To her credit, Minori's facial expression didn't falter in the slightest. Neither did her voice. "I told you, Atobe-san. I did not hurt Tanaka, nor did I intend for her to be hurt. There's nothing else to say."
Atobe's handsome face twisted into a frown- he didn't like Minori, nor did he like her strange way of twisting lies into half-truths. He had had too much experience with those already- again, who had not, in the world of high society?- and he didn't want to deal with them.
"Harada, I'm asking you one more time. Why did you do it?"
For a second, Minori's expression wavered, and just when Atobe thought she was finally going to show her true colours and prove that she wasn't such a shallow person like he had thought, she steeled herself again.
"I told you already, there's no reason. I didn't do anything, and
Because she was elegant, beautiful, like a bird, and like a bird, she was locked in a cage.
A deliberate cough, laden with sarcasm, sounded from the doorway, and both of them instinctively glanced in the direction of the sound.
There, leaning nonchalantly (as though this was an everyday thing, finding Harada Minori and Atobe Keigo in the middle of an argument) against the frame of the doorway, was Akechi Yuuka.
Also known as ex-girlfriend of Atobe Keigo. And vehement, notorious hater of Harada Minori.
All of this only went into the makings of the most unlikely, strange, and awkward situation ever.
Fortunately (or rather, unfortunately), Yuuka didn't seem to find anything strange about the situation the three of them were in. Instead, with a small smirk that seemed to spell trouble for Atobe, and I'm going to humiliate you in front of Atobe and you can't do anything about it to Minori, she deliberately strolled over to the two of them, sitting casually on a desk in front of them.
"Lovers' quarrel?" she enquired, almost friendlily (but Minori just knew she wasn't), and leant backwards, propping herself up with her elbows. Minori hated- hated so much- how she could look so cool and nonchalant while being so unladylike.
For heaven's sake, what had Atobe seen in this girl?
Atobe scoffed elegantly, his next words stinging Minori like a whiplash- so, so painful, but dull- "Lovers? Hmph, as if Ore-sama would dally around with women like her."
A covert, gleeful glance from Yuuka told Minori that the jab had been deliberately set up. White-cold anger rushed through her, sending a burning flush through her cheeks. But she maintained her composure- she was a lady, after all.
Ladies don't lose their tempers.
"Akechi," she opted to greet stiffly, giving Yuuka a wintry, disdainful glare. But the other girl seemed to let the frigid look simply slide off her like melted glass. She instead turned to smile at Atobe playfully, who just rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically.
"Keigo-kun, do you want to go to that café across the road after this? I remember you mentioned wanting to go there once." While she said this, she was glancing snarkily at Minori, who suddenly felt the urge to strangle Yuuka slowly, bit by bit.
God, she was irritating.
And the most infuriating thing of all was that Atobe, Atobe, the vain, egotistical king of Hyotei himself, didn't say a word in objection. Instead he shrugged and sniffed, "Do what you like. Ore-sama does not need to deal with such commoner issues like cafes."
Yuuka just laughed lightly, leant forward and flicked him on the forehead. The last straw came when she said in a sarcastic, sickeningly sweet voice, "Alright, whatever you say. See you outside, Keigo-kun," with a deliberate emphasis on the Keigo-kun.
Minori was just itching to stab that girl with a knife. Preferably one with serrated edges. That was how furious she was. But of course, she didn't show a single jot of it. All she did was stare at the two of them (particularly Yuuka, of course) with a hard, inscrutable gaze that said, Just get out of my sight.
Yuuka, as if she had heard the unspoken message, glanced mockingly her way, and blew a kiss jeeringly at her. And then she curtseyed, the mockery in the long-drawn gesture so blatantly obvious that Minori was surprised Yuuka's forehead didn't brush against the ground. "I'll see you around, your highness. I hope you have a most pleasant evening."
With that, she swept dramatically out of the room, only pausing briefly to wink at Atobe and say, "I'll be waiting for you, pretty boy," in a sarcastic drawl that could only be meant for Minori to hear.
Atobe rolled his eyes indulgently again, before nodding curtly to Minori. "Harada," was all he said, before standing up to leave.
Minori found, rather startled, that the words had escaped her lips before she could stop them. "Atobe-san, wait."
He paused, but didn't turn around. "What is it?"
His cold tone almost- almost- made her flinch, but she managed to control herself. "…why her?"
She didn't have to say anything more for him to understand. His gaze hardened even more, before he moved, striding out of the room.
"You don't need to know," were the last words she heard before Atobe shut the door behind him.
In the middle of explaining the difference between a preposition and a conjunction to a very eager-to-learn Choutarou, Jun noticed someone walking in the library door.
And that someone looked strangely familiar.
Noticing the girl's curious glance over his shoulder, Choutarou put his pen down and glanced in the general direction as well. His eyes brightened in pleased and surprised recognition. "Ah, it's Kataoka-san!"
Jun's soft brown eyes widened in surprise at his exclamation. "Kataoka-san? You don't mean-?"
But her question was never finished. Because at that moment, the girl who had just walked in the door happened to look their way at that moment, and a hesitant, shy smile appeared on her face. "Ootori-kun, is that you?"
He called out to her with a shy grin on his face, "Kataoka-san! Over here!"
Chizuru jogged over to them, the light blush on her face becoming very apparent, even from such a distance, to Jun and the deliberately (but not really) bored Shishido, who was still slouched in his seat with his feet propped up on the desk in front of him, earphones plugged in and blasting loud music.
When Chizuru was within a few metres, Jun managed to get over her initial shock, and whispered under her breath, "…no way…Chizuru-san?"
No one knew how it had happened (certainly not Jun herself), but although her words had been so quiet as to be almost unheard by herself, Chizuru heard her. She turned towards Jun, and her mouth parted in surprise.
"…Jun-senpai?"
Choutarou blinked in surprise, glancing between the two girls in quick succession. He seemed to realize what was going on. "Oh, that's right, the two of you know each other, don't you?"
Jun smiled a strained but still pleased smile, one that told of more than just happiness in this meeting. "You could say that…"
Chizuru, on the other hand, looked almost ecstatic, but in a strange way, rather scared as well. "Jun-senpai! I haven't seen you in so long! How have you been?"
"Good…how's track been going?"
Chizuru's smile widened at this inquiry, and she immediately set off on a gushing rattle about what their training involved, how the captain was being so unnecessarily strict before their upcoming tournament, how badly she wanted to do well-
Then she stopped, breaking off in the middle of her sentence, and suddenly looking embarrassed and very awkward. God, how could she have been such an idiot? Jun was obviously not comfortable with the subject- the older girl was shifting in her seat, looking down at the thick textbook in front of her.
How did Jun's reluctance to broach the subject escape her in the first place? Surely she should have known that the older student would have been forced into a dilemma at her unwittingly hurtful chatter about the track team.
And Choutarou, who was looking painfully embarrassed, and clearing not knowing anything to say. What was she thinking, acting in such a childish manner in front of him?
God help her, he must think she was a fool.
Finally, finally, Shishido spoke up in his usual blunt manner, yanking his earphones out. "Oi, Kataoka. How's it going?"
She gulped, and managed to muster the voice to speak up. Cringing at the strange, hoarse tinge to her voice, she answered shakily, "G-good, Shishido-senpai. How about you? How's your tennis coming along?" Her question, although mainly addressed to Shishido, was followed by a discreet, questioning, half-fearful glance at Choutarou.
He snorted, and leaned back into his chair, tilting it backwards dangerously on the two back legs. "Che, talk about crazy. That diva drives me crazy!"
Choutarou admonished gently, "Shishido-san, don't talk about Atobe-buchou like that…"
Chizuru widened her eyes. "Oh, you were talking about Atobe-senpai? Isn't he your team captain?" This was directed more towards Choutarou, who answered with a smile.
"Ah, he is. He's a good captain."
"Good captain, my foot!" Shishido scoffed, cracking his knuckles. "He makes me want to just dash my head into the wall with his pompous comments!" Putting on a high-pitched, rather exaggerated imitation of Atobe's voice, he mimicked, "Ore-sama is nothing less than brilliant! Be awed by my prowess! Fetch Ore-sama's racket, commoner!"
Chizuru and Jun let out giggles of amusement, while Choutarou laughed rather embarrassedly. "Shishido-san, you shouldn't be so rude to Atobe-buchou!" But the force of his reprimand was rather diminished by his shaking with laughter.
After she had caught her breath again, Chizuru turned to Jun again, ready to try again and initiate a conversation with her upperclassman. "What about you, Jun-senpai? How're you going?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, she wanted to take them back and burn them. But Jun didn't seem to take them so badly. "I'm going okay." She smiled a small, sad-happy-lonely smile at Chizuru, and then glanced down at her watch.
"Oh," she exclaimed in surprise, "I'm late!" She glanced apologetically at Choutarou. "I'm sorry, but I really need to get going now. After school tomorrow fine with you?"
Choutarou looked thoughtful for a moment, before looking nervously at his upperclassman. "I'm sorry, Jun-senpai…but I think I might need to come a bit later…Atobe-buchou wasn't happy with me leaving early today…"
From his seat, Shishido snorted again, letting the chair tilt at a dangerous angle (how did he not ever fall, Jun wondered) as he flipped a coin in his fingers. "Who cares what he thinks? I don't."
"Shishido-san?"
Jun glanced half-amusedly, half-seriously at Shishido, before getting out of her seat and ruffling his hair fondly, despite his "Hey!" of annoyance. "Shishido, you really need to stop disrespecting Atobe-san like that-"
He huffed in half-joking annoyance. "Oi, why are you being so defensive of him now? Atobe's a diva, and that's that."
Jun looked like she desperately wanted to laugh, but gathered up her books and glanced at her watch again. "I really need to go now, but Choutarou-" at this she looked at said second-year, "-make sure you both go to training tomorrow. Both of you." She glanced at Shishido pointedly, and Choutarou laughed.
"Don't worry, Jun-senpai, I will!"
Shishido lifted a lazy hand in farewell. "See you, Jun. Watch out for scary divas!"
A faint laugh escaped her lips, before she glanced towards Chizuru, and said shyly, "See you around, Chizuru-san. It was nice talking to you again."
All Chizuru could manage was a "Yeah, me too," before Jun headed out of the library, books cradled in her arms. She felt so stupid, embarrassing herself with her clumsy talking in front of Jun and Choutarou.
One day, she needed to find a way to just vanish into the floor. Seriously.
Locking the door behind him, Atobe made his way out of the student council room, and turned around to be met with the sight of Yuuka leaning against the wall, looking incredibly bored.
"Keigo-kun, hurry up," she drawled deliberately. "I'm bored of waiting for you."
He merely raised an elegant eyebrow as the two of them began walking down the corridor together. "Oh? And why do you think that Ore-sama cares?"
Rather than looking offended, she just gave him a deadpan stare, as if to say, What the hell? Instead, she said, "Let's go already. I'm hungry."
Just as the two of them made it to the entrance hall of the school, Yuuka caught sight of a small figure making its way out from another corridor, heading towards the front gates.
Her keen eyes immediately picked out the long, mahogany hair and the pile of books that the girl was carrying. She nudged Atobe, and when she had his attention, pointed lazily in the general direction. "Hey look, do you know her?"
Atobe turned his head in the direction she was pointing in, and his eyebrows lifted. "Oh? Isn't that Tanaka? Why is she still here?" There was a faint note of curiosity in his voice that Yuuka hadn't heard for a long time.
Speaking of which, that name rang a bell. She thought back through what had happened that day, and finally-
"Tanaka Jun? Who's she?"
"A student here on scholarship, consistently gets second or third place."
Well, her own words were surprising her. Now that was surprising. (Yuuka just loved surprising herself.) "Tanaka? The scholarship student?"
Atobe barely managed to nod in reply before they came within hearing range of the other student. It was apparent to the two of them that she was talking on the phone with someone- and she sounded upset.
"No, I told you, I can't do it- what do you mean? What- are you serious? You can't be- fine! Fine. I don't care. Do what you want."
With that, she hung up, thrusting her cell phone back into her pocket. The girl was obviously distressed- but Yuuka had to give it to her, she had managed to keep it in quite well.
No sign of tears yet.
At that moment, Jun looked up, and with a shock, realized that Atobe and Yuuka were standing quite close to her, staring at her strangely. With a start, she took a step back and gasped, not expecting to see two people whose names she was so familiar with right there.
Atobe looked at her strangely. "Tanaka, why are you still here?"
Absently brushing a long strand of hair behind her ear, Jun replied distractedly, "Oh, I had to finish Choutarou's lesson."
Yuuka tilted her head to the side slightly, observing Jun with a detached sense of curiosity. It wasn't that she had an urge to find out more about the girl- why should she?- but she had to admit, she seemed rather interesting.
"Aren't you the girl who placed second in the midterms?"
The blunt question startled Jun, and quite frankly, Atobe. He knew Yuuka, but even he hadn't been expecting her to be quite that forward.
"Well-"
But before Jun could form a reply, Yuuka interrupted. "The one on scholarship? I remember your name. Tanaka Jun, right?"
"Yuuka," Atobe muttered sharply, but the damage had already been done. Jun looked down at her feet, suddenly too embarrassed to speak, and managed to mumble something that sounded like, "I'm sorry, I need to go," before hurrying off.
But not before accidentally dropping one of the books she had been carrying behind her, sprawled on the ground.
Atobe bent down to pick it up, but by the time he had stood up again, Jun was already turning the corner at the gate.
He didn't bother trying to chase her- there was no point anyway- and turned towards Yuuka, a deep frown etched on his face.
"Yuuka. That was insensitive."
She shrugged carelessly. "So? I am an insensitive person. You, of all people, know that."
Atobe had nothing to say to that last part. "Still, you shouldn't have said that to her."
"You know what? I just don't give a damn."
Atobe didn't say anything. After all, he knew Yuuka, and he also knew that arguing was of no use. But the frown remained on his face as he looked down the street, deep in thought.
Because he was falling, from his high pedestal, and he was learning the meaning of what concern for another felt like.
A/N: Jun's character is becoming very interesting. I've decided to go with slightly shorter chapters for this story, but more frequent updates, seeing as this is second priority right now. Just a reminder that Yuuka and Chizuru are both the property of the one and only Descending Rainfall. I do not own them, and I never will. Anyway, please, pretty please review.
Someone asked me what Jun looked like, so here it is: mahogany hair, brown eyes, pale skin, very small (petite) and wears glasses.
Fact about Jun:
She's left-handed, but writes with her right hand, for reasons later to be revealed.
I'll leave you all to torment yourselves with curiosity and guess the reason for this. In the meantime, please review!
