Chapter 2: The Birth of the Stalker
The next morning, Hikari arrived to school a little earlier than the usual, and with her legs better than yesterday, she happily skipped through the corridors and into the tennis court. Digital camera at hand, and a Taylor Swift song on loop in her iPhone, she did the first step of knowing Fuji better without the need of talking to him in person: STALKING.
"GOOD MORNING, TEZUKA-BUCHOU!" the whole tennis club greeted the arrival of their captain as he entered the tennis court. Then the whole party went to their usual routines during morning practice: warm-ups, jogging around the courts, and a few rallies. Hiding behind a large tree, Hikari tried to locate where her target stands. And she spotted him there: affixing a new grip tape on his tennis racket.
She tried her best to be as well-hidden as possible, so her pictures of him weren't the best ones. Most of them are out of focus and blurry. "Grr... Fuji please stay still!" she whispered angrily after taking a fail picture of Fuji's perfect routine of Tsubame Gaeshi. With her disappointment, she didn't realize someone was already tapping her back for a couple times already.
"Your pictures look terrible, Mori Hikari-san."
EEP! What is Inui Sadaharu, Seigaku Tennis Club's Data Man, doing there, hiding in the bushes (complete with a fake bush)? "Inui-san!" Hikari quickly hid her camera and backed away, "What are you doing here?" "Fu fu fu... ii data~" Inui said as he jot some notes with an evil smile. "Inui-saaaaaan... what are you doing here?" she impatiently asked him again, as Inui fixed his glasses and said, "I'm collecting data from afar, Mori-san; I want to know the..." as he rambles along, Hikari spotted another Fuji's technique and then again, failed.
"DAMN!" Hikari gritted her teeth and Inui got her camera and remarked, "I see... you're stalking Fuji Syuusuke eh? Seems legit... my data didn't lie after all." "Huh?" Hikari is completely confused; what's with Inui's... data? "I've been conducting some surveys these past few months, and I found out that Fuji's the most popular tennis club member... only a few points ahead of Tezuka." Hikari was shocked at the revelation: she doesn't know if she's going to fangirl over Fuji or shout a big "IN YOUR FACE!" at Tezuka.
Fuji's practice match ended pretty much soon and Hikari began deleting the fail photos from her camera. Sighing heavily, she ended up at DSC_ , which is the one and only photo that she took without blur or any flaw.
It was only Fuji on it; playing tennis.
And he's smiling.
And he's somewhat looking through the camera lens.
She let out a fangirl squeal, and Inui clapped his hands slowly. "You seem to be a lucky one today, Mori-san," Inui remarked as he copied the filename of the photo [for unknown reasons] and then he added, "Why won't you try mastering your photography skills? My data reveals that Fuji loves photography."
Hikari just let a "pfffft" sound and told Inui, "Please; I am the next President of the Photography Club," she proudly announced, "They were just blurred because photography and stalking people are two different things." Inui nodded merely, tapping his chin, "Well, I have some tricks on my sleeve, but it's all for the purpose of gathering precious data..." Inui stopped at Hikari's puppy-eyed plead. He now knows where this is going.
"Inuuui-saaan, can you please...?" "No; you have to do it on your own, Mori-san. I'm sorry," Inui said and Hikari pouted. "Stingy," she whispered as Inui explained that his data gathering ~skills~ are FBI-class and are not to be shared with anyone else. Hikari just shrugged her shoulders, stood up straight, and made a pact with Inui. "I can handle this Inui-san all by myself," Hikari proudly said, "Watch me stalk Fuji-kun better and better by the day. HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
It was a mistake that Hikari let out a high-decibel evil laugh, because as soon as Ryuzaki-sensei turned around at her direction, she quickly few off the scene, leaving Inui and his fake bush alone.
As Tezuka went inside the classroom, he saw the familiar redhead snoozing on her seat; her face buried against her Literature book. Out of the blue, he remembered Fuji's text message yesterday and thought if he'd give it a try. Even though they're classmates, Hikari and Tezuka rarely interacted with each other, either because Tezuka's been busy with everything or Hikari's basically avoiding him. Or both.
Placing his left palm against her shoulder, he tried to wake her up. Sleeping inside the classroom is of course, a big "no" for him. "Mori-san, you should not sleep inside the classroom," his voice woke her up all of the sudden. Damn. Hikari didn't realize she's already sleeping while reading, and ALREADY 15 MINUTES LATE FOR HER CLUB MEETING! Before running off to the Photography Clubroom, Hikari asked Tezuka, "Hey Rival-kun, don't you guys have tennis practice for today?" Tezuka raised his eyebrows slightly. It was the first time this entire school year Hikari talked to him. "Our club will go to Kawamura's today," he simply replied.
Oh right, Hikari thought, it's the last day of the school year, and some clubs are planning to have a party. Not her own club, though. She simply nodded and headed out of the classroom, half-grateful that stoic guy woke her up.
The club meeting only went on for a few minutes, mostly it's only their upperclassmen saying their farewells to the lowerclassmen. Hikari, being the next year's President, is being expected to do her job without any accidents [even though it's a fact that Hikari's one accident-prone creature]. After the club meeting, Hikari met up with Miiko and Shina outside the school gate.
"HIKARI WHERE ARE YOU? WE'RE STARVING!" Miiko sent her a text message while Hikari was running- brisk walking. For the three of them, they planned to head to Hikari's house and pig out. Hikari doesn't have to reply; she read the message as they went home together.
Going home. Huh. Somehow it ticked a good memory from a few days back.
Yes, it's pretty obvious that she's pretty much lovestruck again, because she's grinning her signature fangirl grin and her friends are now being crept out. "Let me guess, you remembered the time when Fuji went home with you, right?" Miiko asked her with rolling eyes and Hikari just nodded. The two just giggled and let Hikari do a fangirl rant regarding her debut as Fuji's stalker. "Ooooh, so now you're proclaiming yourself as his stalker..." Shina tried to digest the situation. Who knew Hikari was already this smitten? Hormones.
As they arrive home, Hikari treated Miiko and Shina to some Italian pasta - she cooked it - and as they enjoy swirling the pesto around while watching Legally Blonde, a random idea popped out of Hikari's mind. The tennis club is now at Kawamura's Sushi bar... and would it not hurt if she peeked through their so-and-so party?
So, leaving her two friends in the living room, she went up the stairs, then inside her older brother's room, and borrowed a polo and a pair of baggy pants. She hid her short red hair in a dark-colored fedora hat anddonned non-graded glasses. Hikari went down, and both Miiko and Shiina were shocked at her non-girly look.
"Hikari... is that you?" Miiko asked with eyes popping. "Is my disguise perfect enough?" Hikari said with high pride on the tone. Then she quickly filled in with the details regarding her plans of sneaking through the shop and both girls automatically said "NO".
Instead of feeling bad, Hikari took it as a blessing. Besides, it's not already "stalking" when more than one people are doing it, Hikari thought. It's like a CIA-like thing to do.
Now, the male Hikari [now disguised as "Hikaru"] is walking a little waywardly by the sidewalk, half-excited because it's his first official stalking job. Miiko and Shina opted to wait for him to go back; one troublemaker is enough for this situation. Readjusting his Converse sneakers, he went inside Kawamura's Sushi Shop and instinctively headed for a private room.
"Hey..." Taka-san's father called his attention, "that place is reserved for the evening." "I'm sorry, Kawamura-san," Hikaru said in his lowest voice. Of course, he can't simply slip in though the doors and stare at Fuji, right? So, even though his tummy was already full, he ordered a simple plate of California Maki and sat by the shop entrance, slowly eating the rolls.
It's been an hour since he arrived and thankfully, the tennis club members were slowly getting out of the room. Taking the chance, he peered by the door, hoping Fuji would come out soon.
But, bad fortune came when he bumped into someone, knocking him almost entirely. "I'm sorry, are you alright?"
OH GOSH. IT'S TEZUKA! Hikaru quickly adjusted his hat and glasses, grateful his identity was not yet blown. "Yes... I'm alright, sorry I was in the way," Hikaru replied and quickly straightened his stand. "Oh," Tezuka has nothing else to say and promptly excused himself. WELL THAT WAS A RELIEF, he thought; he will never know what Tezuka would do if he was a girl at that time...
He then saw Fuji still sitting inside the room, with the sobbing Kawamura and Eiji... like they're on the brink of death or something. Hikaru shifted his attention to the table filled with sushi injected with something that looks like wasabi. Wasabi sushi?
"C'mon guys, help me finish them," Fuji sweetly said to the two and they were already pleading him with a series of "NOOOOOO" and "PLEASE SPARE US NYAAAAAA~". Hikaru can't help but giggle over two things: Fuji being cute amid of the fact that he's already torturing his two teammates, and Fuji's love for wasabi sushi. "Aaaw, you guys are too sweet, thanks for the extra wasabi sushi~" Fuji said with a chuckle and ate every roll as if they're filled with sugar instead of wasabi. Eiji just widened his eyes as Taka-san asked him for the hundredth time why he loves them so much.
"Noted~" Hikaru said with a smile, taking a quick photo using his iPhone. He quickly took his leave from the shop and removed the hat off his head. Finally, he's turning back as Hikari again.
Hikari's Revelations on Fuji #1: Fuji Syusuke loves to eat wasabi sushi... and to torture others just for fun.
If only being a middle school junior went on a bit longer... she thought with a sigh as she walked home. Who knows, maybe when senior year comes, her stalking skills would go up... of course, when we grow older, we go wiser as well.
Sometimes.
Author's Notes:
DSC_ is derived from Fuji's birthday, February 29th.
Note the change of pronoun usage from the time "Hikaru" pops out in the story. Since Hikari's now disguised as a boy, she's now being referred to as "he". Just in case the readers get confused.
If the readers are wondering, the Taylor Swift song Hikari was playing on the first part of the chapter was "I'd Lie", which was my inspiration while writing this fan fiction.