((A/N: Sorry about all the grammatical errors everyone. I have a C+ in English even though I've lived in the US all my life…))
((Oh, and people who read the previous chapter before I changed it, read it over again. I changed the majority of it, and without reading it, you won't be able to follow the story very well.))
"Johnson Ava… is that an American name?" Fuji's sister, who's name was Yumiko asked me as she served Fuji, Yuuta and I some pie after we had dinner.
"Ah, yes. My mother was American." I said, remembering the story Fuji told me as my background.
"Then your mother is…" she trailed off.
"It's ok. She died in a car crash protecting my dad and me. She told us not to punish ourselves because of her death," I explained.
"What about your father?" asked Yuuta, playing along.
"He isn't well. He blamed himself since my mom's death," I said acting as if I didn't want to talk about it anymore. I looked down at my pie on my lap and I could feel Yumiko's eyes on me with concern. "Is it ok with you if I stay here until he calms down, right?" I asked looking up at here.
"Of course. Please make your self at home," said Yumiko.
I smiled, "Thank you very much." I got up. "Fuji, could you show me around the house?"
"Sure," Fuji replied and got up too. As soon as we were out of earshot, he said, "Good job, back there."
"Thanks, I feel a bit guilty for taking advantage of your sister, though," I said.
"I don't think she'd take it lightly if we just told her you appeared from nowhere, so it's probably better this way," said Fuji.
We reached his room and went inside. "Where am I going to sleep?"
"I see no problem with you sleeping on the couch," Fuji said. "Though I'm sure you could get a bed if you tried."
I sighed, "I'm not even going to ask what you mean by that." Fuji chuckled and went to his desk.
"I have homework due tomorrow, and I really need to get it done, so…"
"I'll wait here," I sat down, leaning on a wall. After a few minutes, I got pretty bored.
"I think I'm going to go to Yuuta-kun's room. I sort of want to play his gamecube," I admitted and went out to the hallway. I remembered where his room is and the door was halfway open. "You in there, Yuuta-kun?"
"You can come in, Jo-san," came from inside the room.
I opened the door to see Yuuta in his pajamas, playing his gamecube again. Unfortunately, his pajamas were not anything I could make fun of. They were just a black tank top and blue plaid pants.
"What's up?" he asked me. I sat down next to him.
"Fuji's boring," I answered.
"Do you want to play the gamecube?" Yuuta asked.
"What games do you have?"
"The only multiplayer game I have is Metroid Prime 2: Echoes."
"Cool, let's play!" I exclaimed and we started playing.
The game was pretty un-eventful. It was basically Yuuta beating the crap out of me and giving me a few pity kills.
"Good game," Yuuta said untruthfully.
"You're just saying that," I said.
"Uh, it's getting a bit late so you should probably go to bed,"
"Good idea," I said with a yawn. "G'night, Yuuta-kun."
"Night."
I woke up around 6:30am to Fuji telling me that we needed to leave in a half an hour. When I had asked him why, he said he had a morning session of tennis practice and I needed to apply to Seishun Gakuen, his school.
Right now, Fuji and I are walking to Seigaku and he is explaining my background story to me.
"So I am your cousin that lived in the United States and I'm living with you because my parents were killed in a car crash, right?" I asked to make sure I got everything right.
"Yes, just make sure you stay to that story, ok?"
"Sure, if I make any other details up, I'll be sure to tell you."
"Good plan. It looks like we're here."
We went inside of the front gate of Seigaku. We headed to the tennis courts—well, I guessed that was where we were going.
"Should I go to the principle and tell him the story?" I asked Fuji before we were near the tennis courts.
"We have enough time after the morning session to do that," Fuji answered. "You can probably just watch the practice if you want."
"Do you think if that'd be ok?" I asked not wanting to face Captain Tezuka's wrath.
"Of course," said Fuji smiling.
"Ok," I said unsurely. We were walking up to the person I really didn't want to face. He was in his very characteristic pose facing the tennis courts—watching his team practice.
"Tezuka," said Fuji and said person turned around. Fuji gestured to me. "This is my cousin, Ava, and she's staying with me for a while. Is it alright if she watches the practice?"
Tezuka looked at me and I nearly squeaked. Man, is he scary. "Don't disturb my team," he commanded and I had half the mind to salute.
I, thankfully, didn't do that and I settled with, "'K."
"Come on," said Fuji and led me to the opening of the court gate.
"He's scary," I whispered to Fuji.
Fuji chuckled and then said, "I need to go change. Wait here."
Fuji left the tennis courts and I nearly said, "What am I supposed to do?" but I didn't because I had something to do. Fuji had lent me an extra backpack to put homework in, and I decided that I should put some paper, a clipboard and a pencil in there in case I got bored. In this case, I guess it was just lucky.
I sat against the fence and got out all of the things I brought. I was just staring at the black piece of paper with the pencil in my hand and I couldn't figure out what to draw. I looked up and I saw that Kawamura was practicing his 'Burning Serve' and I then decided that I should draw a flaming tennis ball.
I started drawing a circle and remembered that I can't draw a circle. I settled with an oval and started to draw the flames. I was half way done when Fuji came back.
"Aren't you going to watch some tennis?" he asked a little bit surprised.
I stood up and said, "I thought it would be weird if I was standing like that Tezuka guy watching a game."
"I suppose, but practice is going to start soon so it won't be weird."
"Gather around everyone!" yelled the coach of the tennis team, Ryuzaki.
I stayed put, knowing it was only the tennis team being called.
"I'll be back in a second," said Fuji and ran off with the rest of the team.
I yawned loudly and I leaned against the fence. This probably would be cooler if I wasn't so sleepy.
"Hey, who are you?"
I turned around to see the Sakuno and Tomoko standing behind me.
"T-Tomo-chan…" whispered Sakuno.
I'm guessing that was Tomoko. "I'm Fuji Shuysuke's cousin, and you are?"
Tomoko put a hand to her mouth and exclaimed, "Fuji-sempai has a cousin?"
I sighed, "Yes, and you are?"
"Jo-chan, come here! I need you to help me!" exclaimed the familiar voice of Kikumaru.
I waved to the two freshmen that I wasn't supposed to know and said, "And with that, I am off."
I walked over to Kikumaru and he asked, "Could you feed balls to me? I need to practice a move."
"Sure," I said and went to the other side of the court with an extra racket that Kikumaru had had. "Does it matter what type of hit?"
"Lobs—all around of court," he spread out his arms indicating the entire court.
"M'kay," I said and grabbed a tennis ball from a small cage. I lobbed it like I was paid to do it—no, not really, I nearly missed hitting the tennis ball—and it went high into the other side of the court.
Kikumaru flipped into the air and smashed the tennis ball into my side of the court while shouting, "Kikumaru Bazooka!" I kept feeding him balls and he kept shouting 'Kikumaru Bazooka!'.
Eventually, someone behind me said, "And who exactly are you?"
I turned around to see Ryuzaki-sensai glaring at me. "My name is Johnson Ava. I'm Fuji-kun's cousin. I lived in the United States until a while ago. Kikumaru-kun just asked me to feed lobs to him. I'm sorry to disturb your team, Sensai," I quickly explained out of surprise and remembered the Japanese custom of bowing, so I did just that.
Ryuzaki-sensai looked at me for a while. "How long will you be attending my team's?"
"I'm not sure, Sensai, probably from a week to a few months," I answered, hoping Inui would find how to send me back pretty soon.
"Come with me," she motioned for me to follow her and I told Kikumaru that I had to go for a while and I followed her. She led me near the club's changing room and stopped. "Do you know Inui Sadaharu?"
"Yes," I replied uncertainly.
"He is the manager of the team," she explained to me. I nodded. "He won't be able to come to school for a while, so we need a manager for a team." I nodded again. "I was wondering if you could be the manager in his absence."
He's probably not going to school so he can work on his contraption. Hmm, missing school seems so out of character for him. "Sure, what do I have to do?"
She was pleased with my answer. "Watch the regulars and record how they are doing in a notebook or something close to that. Give the notes to me after each practice and I will give them to Inui. Ok?"
"Seems like an important job," I said. "When's the next practice?"
"In two days. We have a morning session and an after school session that day."
I smiled, "I'll be sure to have a notebook by then. Thank you for the opportunity!" I bowed again and noticed that Tezuka had just dismissed everyone from practice.
"Don't be late."
"I won't," I said, got my things and met up with Fuji.
"I can't believe it's my first day here and I already forgot to get lunch," I sobbed and sat down with Fuji, Kikumaru and Oishi at a lunch table.
"I thought you might forget to get a lunch so I packed two lunches," said Fuji and handed me a bento.
My eyes nearly started watering, "You're the best, Fuji." I looked at the contents in my bento. Hmm, noodles, sashimi, veggies, and rice with a sauce on it, and something that I've never seen before.
"Fuji, what's this?" I whispered to 'my cousin'.
"Chinese cake. It contains pine nuts, acorns, jujube, peach, and oranges," he replied to me quietly as Oishi and Kikumaru were playing a serious game of 'Rock-Paper-Scissors.' They were going so fast that they failed to notice my question about not being cultured.
There were some chopsticks packed in the bento, as well as a fork. Thank goodness for Fuji. I picked up the fork and started to eat the veggies. Kawamura pulled up a chair and sat at the table.
"Your Fuji's cousin, right?" Kawamura made sure to emphasize the word 'cousin'. I nodded.
"Kawamura, right?" I asked. He nodded too. "Can I arm wrestle you?" He looked at me weird. "I heard you are really strong, and I was the strongest at my old school. It was sort of a stupid obsession, but I always made sure to arm-wrestle everyone to make sure I was the strongest. It is sort of a habit of mine to look for strong competitors," I explained in a few breaths.
"Ah, sure," he said and went across the table from me.
"It'll be the end of the universe if you actually beat Taka-san," speculated Kikumaru as he got up to let Kawamura sit down. "Me next, ok, Jo-chan?"
"Sure, Kikumaru," I accepted. Both Kawamura and put our elbows on the table and held hands. "Uh, Oishi, can you be the judge, please?"
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Nya, Oishi, like this!" exclaimed Kikumaru and put both his hands on Kawamura and my hands and said, "Ready, set, go!" Kikumaru's hands went off our hands and both of us started to push the other's hand. Well, I couldn't tell if Kawamura was trying, he looked like he could go on for a while without a pulsing vein in the wrist.
I breathed deep and tried with all my might. The arm wrestling match went slightly in my favor, but then Kawamura said, "Wow, you're the first one to do that. I guess I'll have to try."
There was a sudden power against my arm and my arm was on the table under Kawamura's.
I looked at my arm and it was trembling. "Holy crap, you are pretty strong. I'll be sure to avoid getting you mad.." I trailed off, still looking at my hand.
"Me next, me next!!" exclaimed Kikumaru like a kid in a candy-store. I smiled and Kawamura got up and Kikumaru sat down.
I won against Kikumaru, barely lost to Oishi, won against Fuji (he wasn't trying), lost against Momo, and now I was against Tezuka.
It isn't like he wanted to, but Fuji and Oishi encouraged him so he reluctantly agreed. He sighed and sat down in the chair. It started just like the four times before. I thought that, since he's the captain, he should win. I didn't have to worry about that though, because as soon as he sat down, the bell rang, signaling to go to the next class.
Fuji wrapped up my bento and I looked at my schedule.
"Let's see, I have 'The Study of Musical Instruments.' What do you have?" I asked Fuji.
"Literature," he answered and we started walking down a hallway.
I frowned, "That sucks, I want to have class with you , Fuji!" Fuji knows me to well already; no one who has known me for as long as him would think I'm whiny and annoying. He already knows that I was half-joking.
"I'll walk you to class," said Fuji, and I continued to followed him.
We got to a classroom and Fuji explained to the Sensai about my situation. I got to choose a certain instrument I wanted to study and I choose the flute, seeing as I played it for 3 years.
No one in the tennis club was in the class, but I was looking in the back. I saw in the front was Tezuka. I took the flute case and my backpack and sat next to him. He glanced at me, nodded and went back to his work—which I noticed was marking the notes on some sheet music.
I looked to Fuji who just finished talking to the Sensai. Fuji walked to me and said, "You have the same classes as Tezuka for the rest of the day. Just stay with him and you'll be ok."
I nervously nodded and Fuji left the room.
The class started with the Sensai saying to the class, "Everyone, today we have a new student. Miss Johnson, please stand up and introduce yourself."
I groaned loudly and stood. I waved sheepishly and said, "The name's Johnson Ava, I used to live in the United States. And I don't really see a need to say anything else." I sat back down and class officially began.
We all received a sheet of music and we were all expected to play it. I looked to my side to see Tezuka ready to play a violin. I nearly chuckled to see his seriousness, but the teacher told us to begin and I started late.
I started to remember that I suck at playing flute, no matter how much I practice. During one of my long brakes, I looked at Tezuka who had a violin solo at the moment.
It's a wonder how he's a genius, can play instruments like he's paid for it, and how he's able to lead an entire tennis team at the same time. I should definitely think of a nickname for him, not that I'd tell him of course. I'd just keep to myself to humor myself when he annoys me.
This time in this universe will be a wonderful experience for me.
After one of the stupidest class in the world, I followed Tezuka to Trigonometry. I don't think anyone here actually knows my age, and that I should be in Momo and Kaidoh's class. Oh well, if all goes well, Inui will figure out how to send me back to my universe.
Great, I hope that I didn't just jinx it.
The sensai is now teaching about something with lines and letters. I'd be able to give you more, but I really don't understand what he's saying.
He just wrote, 'f(x)asin(bx+c)+d' on the board. I'm in Algebra 1, I shouldn't even be listening to this, let alone studying it.
"You all should do problems 1-40. It's due next class period." The bell rang and everyone started putting away their own things.
I groaned and put about 5 lined pieces of paper in the page of the book and closed it and put it in my backpack.
"What's the next class?" I asked Tezuka as we walked down a hallway.
"It's free period and then school ends," he answered.
I stretched my arms above my head and yawned flamboyantly. "Finally, then where are we heading?"
"I'm heading to my house," he replied.
"Can I come?" I asked as if I were a close friend. If I was talking to Fuji and I was staying at Tezuka's place, he'd be able to figure out that I was half-joking.
Before Tezuka could kill me with his evil glare, Kikumaru called to me to come over to where him, Oishi and Momo were standing.
"See you later, Tezuka," I said and went over to where I was called. "What's up, guys?"
Kikumaru motioned for me to come closer. I did and he whispered, "Momo-chan, Oishi and I are planning Fujiko-chan's birthday party and we need you to help."
"When's his birthday?" I questioned.
"Today!!" exclaimed Momo and Kikumaru at the same time.
"We need you to get Fujiko-chan to the Super Fun Emporium in two hours, ok?" Kikumaru asked me.
I was completely puzzled, "How the heck am I supposed to do that?"
"Just do it; you're the only person who can convince him to come because Tezuka would never want to come to the Super Fun Emporium," explained Kikumaru.
"Besides, you could always use your female charm," snickered Momo.
I scowled at Kikumaru and Momo who were laughing, by now. I saw Fuji out of the corner of my eye and Kikumaru, Oishi and Momo ran off.
"What were those talking about?" Fuji asked friendly.
"Uh, they asked me to go to a local burger place, but I said I should probably wait for you,"
"You can still go if you want," Fuji suggested.
"No, it's ok, I'm not even that hungry," I lied and said, "Hey, I heard some people talk about The Super Fun Emporium, have you heard of it?"
"Yes," Fuji answered and he and I started on our way to his house.
"What exactly is it?" I asked out of true curiosity.
"I've never been there, but I heard that there is a bowling alley, a few pool tables, volleyball nets, and a karaoke machine."
"Cool, I think we should go there!" I exclaimed a little to loudly.
"Why, exactly?"
"It sounds so fun, and I don't like monotony. And Fuji, this is monotony. I think we should go!" I declared and grabbed his wrist. "I think that we should go home first, seeing as we—I mean you have your uniform on and you should go change. So let's go!" I ran off dragging him off with me.
When we got to Fuji's house, Fuji got changed in about five minutes and was ready to go. I declared that his clothes didn't match and I should choose what he should wear. Gosh, I hope I didn't creep him out that match…
I'm digging in Fuji's closet now and I ordered that he should be out of the room. The funny part is that most of his clothes would probably look good on me. It's really tempting for me to actually try them on.
I looked at the clock. It's about twenty minutes till the time Kikumaru wanted me to bring him.
I grabbed a flowy, white shirt and some black pants that I had picked out about an hour ago and went outside the room.
"These are wonderful, you should wear these," I said and showed them to Fuji. He grabbed a part of the shirt.
"It's ripped," he mumbled.
"Oh, my apologies, I guess you'll just have to wear that then," I said gesturing to his clothes that were the same as the one's I had chosen except the rip and the colors.
Fuji sighed and said, "Yumiko can take us." Wow, I really think I'm actually annoying him. I hope he doesn't glare at me or anything, which would scare me to death…
Fuji and I both followed Yumiko to her car and we got in. The car ride was pretty much silent. When we got there, Yumiko said, "Call me when you're done, ok?"
Fuji nodded and we both went in.
"Happy Birthday!!!"
Fuji and I looked around and we saw that the Super Fun Emporium was actually a one-floored gym—except that it was about the size as about 8 gyms. The entire place was covered in decorations, top from bottom. I saw that most of the teams that faced the Seigaku Tennis Team were there, minus the teams from the All-Japan tournament.
Aside from the things Fuji had mentioned to me before, there was also a giant 20 by 20 feet tv with a wii connected to it, and a few ping pong tables.
Before anyone could talk to Fuji, I said to him, "I'm really sorry for being annoying, please forgive me."
He chuckled, "Don't worry, it's ok."
We both walked into the emporium and quickly settled down to our separate things.
Right now, I'm playing ping-pong with Tachibana Kippei. It's pretty serious, too. We're rallying back and forth really fast, it's weird that I can actually see the ping-pong. My arms getting really tired too. I don't think Tachibana would appreciate it if I gave up…
He hit it sort of high, and I smashed down on his side of the table. He missed it. I jumped up and immediately told Tachibana that that was the best game I've ever played.
We shook hands and we went to a different activity. I went to the snack table that was more like a snack wall-long counter.
A guy that I recognized as Niou Masaharu came up to me. "Are you Fuji's girlfriend?" he asked.
I nearly choked on the punch I was drinking. I hacked a while and then I said, "Why do you think that?"
He laughed, "You are, aren't you?"
I glared at him. "No, I'm not. I'm his cousin."
Niou nearly choked on the punch he was drinking. "Really? Wow.." He walked away and left me there laughing at him.
I decided to join a volleyball game because they needed another person. I was on a team with Saeki Kojiro, Oshitari Yuushi, Sengoku Kiyosumi, Amane "David" Hikaru, and Kamio Akira.
I'm sort of anxious to hear a 'joke' from David, seeing as he's my favorite character from Prince of Tennis. But oh well.
We are playing against a team of Oishi, Kikumaru, Tezuka, Kaidoh, Momo and Echizen. It sucks, we are a makeshift team and they've known each other for a long time. It'd be a miracle if we win.
By choose, I was the first server. People in my school were afraid of my over-hand serves. Let's see if the fear starts again.
I stood at the normal service spot and squatted. I put the volleyball in my left hand and I threw it high into the air. I jumped as high as I could and hit the volleyball with all my might. It went straight on the other court and I got an ace.
I was being a little soft, usually I aim for the strongest player's head… I wonder who's the best player..
"Nice serve, Johnson," said Sengoku and handed me the volleyball.
"Thanks," I mumbled and went back to my service spot. I did just as I did before, except I aimed at Tezuka's head. I just supposed he was the best because he is the club captain.
Well, he was pretty good. Tezuka set the ball easily and Oishi set it next to the net. I got in my 'ready position' and waited. Kikumaru jumped up and spiked the ball. "Kikumaru Beam!"
Kamio dove for the ball and hit it straight up. I moved forward, as if I was going to spike it. Oishi and Kikumaru jumped up to the net and tried to block my oncoming spike. I setted the ball over their hands and got us another point.
My team won the game 21-25. Everyone wanted to see a doubles match between me and Tezuka versus Oishi and Kikumaru. I agreed, hoping I wouldn't destroy Tezuka's reputation if I lost. It started with Tezuka serving so I got in my 'ready position.'
Tezuka and I won 38-40. I got rather mad that the stupid volleyball rules were that someone had to win by two points. Tezuka got 21 points out of our forty, I was mad about that too.
After the match, it was time for cake and ice cream. There was about forty small tables, so after everyone got their desert they sat down at a table. The table Fuji was at was crowded so I walked by it. His table had all the Seigaku members plus a few others. I walked by and saw that Yuuta was sitting with his teammates from St. Rudolth. I decided that I shouldn't bother them and I also walked by them.
I sat down on a table with Tachiobana, Kamio and Ibu Shinji.
"Sorry, is it ok if I sit here with you guys?" I asked them.
"Sure," said Tachibana and the others just nodded. I sat down and I started a conversion with them easily. I looked around and saw that this must have been a dream.