Athlete's Pride: Can Gossip Destroy It?

Chapter 2: Found Out! A Rumor Only Lasts for Seventy-Five Days

Okay, for the title "A Rumor Only Lasts for Seventy-Five Days" it might sound pretty strange because few have probably heard it before. I just heard it in some anime I watched but I can't recall which anime at the moment, so please bear with me!

"Suou-senpai! Can you bring this over to table two, please?" Sara handed Mikoto a tray of dumplings, and pointed toward the door's direction. "Table two is that one, second from the door!"

"Okay!" Mikoto answered, she took the tray and walked toward the table. It's only been a day since she entered Mei-Li restaurant as a part-timer, and she was already getting used to working with Sara and Asou in the restaurant. "Sorry to keep you waiting, sir!" Mikoto chanted as she placed the food in front of the customer.

"Mikoto's doing a fine job, don't you think so, Asou?" Chen said, observing Mikoto's every move. "She's quite strong too, carrying all those heavy dishes on a single tray by herself!"

"Yeah, she's perfect for this type of stuff…." Asou absentmindedly nodded.

Suddenly, the door opened, and an immensely loud, jeering voice came spreading into the restaurant.

"I was TELLING you! Our school's basketball team is the best! Seriously, and did I mention all the cute girls in our grade and the athletes in 2-C?" Suga Ryuuhei babbled loudly into his cellphone.

Asou's face looked as if it had been struck by a flaming arrow. Hurrying out of the kitchen and into the front, he grabbed Suga's arm and dragged him to the back.

"Have-to-go-I'll-call-you-later-bye!" Suga, who saw Asou's pain-stricken face, quickly hung up the phone.

"Oi! Suga! How many times have you been here and how many times have I told you to KEEP YOUR VOLUME DOWN when entering the restaurant? I bet those times number greater than the times you've BEEN here!" Asou hissed furiously as he tightly gripped Suga's arm.

"Oww! Not the arm! That arm is needed to play basketball, you know! Fine, I'll try to be quieter, but LEGGO OF ME FIRST!" Suga whined, struggling to get out of Asou's grip.

When Asou finally released Suga's arm, he immediately led Suga back into the store, and sat him down firmly in front of the kitchen counter.

"Hey, man! Was that Suou I just saw? Man, she looks so cute in that uniform! Is she a new part-timer here?" Suga asked, lowering his voice so only Asou could hear.

"Yeah, she and Sara get along pretty well here." Asou said dully as he set a bowl of noodles in front of Suga. "Here!A bowl of ramen, now eat."

"You're so lucky to have Suou with you during work! Why do you always get the girls huddling over you! I'm so jealous!" Suga said, he chewed so noisily that Sara flinched when she saw them. "Wait 'til the school hears about this! You'll be even more famous!"

---

Meanwhile, a few tables away stood Mikoto, who was taking a customer's order when she saw the incident with Suga. Trying hard to remain calm, Mikoto finished serving the customer and headed toward the kitchen counter.

"Yo! Suou! Having fun being a part-timer with Asou?" Suga said, his mouth was still full of ramen.

"Eh, hi, Suga. Why are you here?" Mikoto was disgusted at Suga's eating habits, but she greeted him anyway.

"You two look so good together, you know that, Suou?" Suga said, chewing with his mouth open. Asou blushed, "Oh look, man! You suddenly turned pink! First time you react toward a girl, you know! Well I guess there's a first for everything!"

Mikoto just ignored him and turned to Asou, "One order of wonton noodles, please!" she requested.

"Okay." Asou didn't even turn to look at Suou, but wheeled around to the stove.

"Suga, when you're done eating, please behave yourself, or you might get it at school on Monday!"

Suga mumbled an "okay." and continued to finish his ramen. Mikoto just stood there, dumbfounded, for a few seconds, and then went off to welcome a new customer who just came in.

---

After another day of part-time work, it was finally Monday morning. Mikoto let out a breath of relief as she reached the school gate.

" 'Morning Mikoto! I heard you got a part-time job!" Tenma squealed, bouncing up and down the second Mikoto slid open the classroom door.

"Wha-? What? How did you know? I don't recall telling you guys about that!" Mikoto wailed, dropping her bag onto her desk.

"Well, it was what Suga hollered this morning when he was having basketball practice with Asou!" Eri said as she and Akira joined the two at Mikoto's desk.

"It's a part-time job with ASOU too! Mikoto! You're such a lucky girl!" Tenma said, nudging playfully at Mikoto's arm.

Mikoto just kept silent. A thought swept through her mind as the bell soon rang. The class took their seats and the teacher came in to start the lecture. Does the whole school know? Looking back from that basketball match, Asou seems to be pretty popular…if it's a rumor about him, it's sure to get around pretty fast...

A small paper ball suddenly came landing onto Mikoto's desk. Surprised, Mikoto opened the note and read:

"I heard Suga holler something about you and Asou this morning during basketball practice! Good luck with him during part-time work!"

After she finished reading the note, Mikoto turned her head, hoping to find out who threw her the note. Eri and Tenma looked perplexed at what the teacher was saying, and Akira was calmly reading her book at her desk. I don't think it's those three, they look too occupied to be sending me such a note. Also, weren't we just talking about this a few minutes ago?

Mikoto turned her head the opposite way, and saw Sagano Megumi grinning at her. Sagano Megumi was known to be a really good female basketball player in 2-C, and also for probing into other people's relationships in school. Great, Mikoto thought, if Sagano knows, then there's a hundred percent chance that the rest of the school knows too!

Turning her head back around, Mikoto decided to forget about it and focus on the teacher's lecture. I'll find more about this after class!

---

Forty-five minutes later, class ended and it was breaktime. Mikoto quietly stalked over to Sagano's desk and asked, "Did you throw that note over to me?"

"Yup! Congrats on your relationship, Mikoto! Asou is a terrific athlete, he matches you perfectly!" Sagano said, beckoning for Mikoto to come closer.

"You know," Sagano whispered into Mikoto's ear, "I heard that he was extremely popular with the girls in school, both first-years and second-years! You're pretty lucky! Suga said that Asou blushed when you came!"

"What? Suga told you all this? Oh, I'm so gonna to kill that stub-headed-!" Mikoto ferociously glared toward Suga's seat."Wait!" Sagano interrupted Mikoto silently, "Just let it go, Mikoto! Rumors aren't that bad!"

"Oh yes they are! I don't like being in the center of attention, you know!" Mikoto said sternly, a bit louder this time.

Mikoto soon stood up from her kneeling position next to Sagano's desk, and stalked out of the room.

"Hey did you hear...Mei-Li restaurant…." A freshman girl whispered to another girl, "Yeah, Yeah! I heard! Asou-senpai and Suou-senpai...!"

Mikoto peered at them strangely but said nothing and walked on.

"Hey you know! I heard Asou-senpai finally got a girlfriend!"

"Really? How did you know? "

"Oh, I think some senpai told me, or so I heard!"

"Wow! Asou-senpai's so cool though! Maybe we can go see him on weekends at the restaurant!"

"Yeah! Good idea! Now we know where he works!"

A squeal was heard, and Mikoto saw a huge group of girls in front of her. Mikoto noticed that a majority of them were from the group that was cheering loudly for Asou during the last basketball match. The girls saw Mikoto approaching, and glared at her coolly as she walked past.

"We'll be having a lot of customers this weekend…." Mikoto muttered to herself as she walked on. Those girls... don't they know that they should treat their upperclassmen with respect? Oh well, I think the phrase for this is "love conquers all"?

"Hey look it's Suou-senpai! Rumor has it that Asou-senpai likes her!" Another freshman girl whispered to her friend and pointed her finger at Mikoto.

Refusing to hear another word of the rumor, Mikoto increased her a pace and finally reached the rooftop.

As her arms hung over the railing on the roof floor, Mikoto thought about how she was going to deal with all the gossip about her.

Wow…Asou is pretty popular! Would people be surprised now if they see me talking to Asou at school? Once they found out about Asou and my part-time job, I became some celebrity to everyone or something….excluding those bratty freshman girls!

---

Half an hour later, Mikoto heard the bell sound, and she knew it was time to go back to class. I still have no idea how to deal with that gossip! Were we that snobby and obsessed when Tenma, Eri, and I were freshman last year? Forget about Akira, she may be sly and sneaky, but she surely wasn't a snob!

When Mikoto finally reached her classroom, she went through the door and sat down at her desk."Hey Mikoto! Where have you been? I was pretty worried because ASOU came up to me asking where you went!" Eri said, rushing over to Mikoto's desk, looking quite annoyed.

"He was? I was on the rooftop. I can't stand this rumor and gossip! Do you have any clue how to get rid of it?" Mikoto groaned as she looked desperately at her friend.

"Uh no…but I heard a lot of people say that 'one rumor can only last seventy-five days'!" Eri said brightly, hoping that that would cheer Mikoto up. However, Mikoto's desperate look didn't fade, and it was clearly shown on her face that what Eri said was completely effortless.

"Take your seats, please!" The teacher said as he entered the room. Class resumed and Eri sharply returned to her seat. Mikoto just sat there and stared at the blackboard, her mind completely occupied with mixed thoughts about the rumor and the teacher's lecture.

Mikoto sighed in her seat, her back slouched, and she started lightly tapping her pen against the surface of her notebook. What's going to become of this stupid rumor? I want to know why Asou wanted to see me too! She wondered as she impatiently scribbled down some notes onto her book. After some inner frustration, Mikoto sighed again and decided once more to focus on class.

---

After several yawns, pages of notes, and the teacher's constant " 2-C! Please settle down, class is still in session!" alerts, class was finally over. Mikoto stretched her arms out and got out of her seat. P.E. was next, and it was something Mikoto excelled in. As she was gathering up her stuff, she saw Asou approaching her as everyone departed the room.

"Hey, Suou, you've been hearing that rumor, huh? You look really stressed..." Asou said, looking as if he was used to all the rumor about him. "Me too, I don't really like being talked about a lot in school, so I hope it's not getting to you too much!" "Anyway, look on the bright side, Sawachika told me that one rumor's life span is about seventy-five days."

Hello? Seventy-five days is longer than you think! I can't believe Eri talked to him too! What the heck was she thinking? Mikoto thought, feeling even more frustrated.

"Yeah, she told me that too. Look, I have to go change into gym clothes now, I think you should too! See you later!" Mikoto replied as she grabbed her bag. Shooting Asou a small smile, she crossed over to the door and left the room.

(End of Chapter 2) I'll try to post Chapter 3 later! Please review )