Bad Boy

Chapter Three

"Sticker Photos"


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It was past one p.m., classes had ended some time thirty minutes ago, leaving Sakuno's classroom empty except for two in-duty students whose names were written with yellow chalk on the blackboard-one of which, was her own:

Kobayashi Shouta / Ryuzaki Sakuno

As Kobayashi dragged the trash can out of the class to be emptied (his ears being stuffed with earphones and his face wearing a sour look after losing a bet of some sort with the other guys), Sakuno tiptoed in front of the massive blackboard, eraser in hand. She wiped the blackboard with as much energy she could muster, shutting her eyes tightly as she rubbed and rubbed like her life depended on rubbing. In the process, she let out a big, mournful sigh.

Upon finding out that she had left Ryoma with Okumura Eri alone on the school roof at lunch break, Tomoka had lectured her like a mother hen panicking over a stolen egg. Although Sakuno felt bad enough, Tomoka had insisted on making her feel worse; she'd declared not to help Sakuno with cleaning the class that day, and true to her words, she'd hurried to go home as soon as the bell rang, hauling both Minami and Kotoko with her. The cruel treatment was supposed to be Sakuno's punishment for carelessly leaving "Ryoma-sama" with another girl.

"I didn't know you like cleaning the blackboard that much."

Sakuno's eyes snapped open at Kobayashi's voice. Her hand froze in the air, and she turned around sheepishly.

"I got carried away." she admitted.

Kobayashi smiled.

"I can see that." he said. "Why didn't that ego-complex guy wait for you?" he asked.

Sakuno contemplated for a moment, before she realized that "that ego-complex guy" was meant for Ryoma.

"Ryoma-kun was called by Tezuka-senpai." she explained. "He'll be here after that."

Kobayashi's lips pursed in distaste.

"I'm dead curious." he said. Sakuno tilted her head to one side. "Is that guy nice to you? I mean, he looks…" he struggled for the right word. "It's kind of hard for me to actually imagine someone like him in a relationship."

There was something strange in the way Kobayashi said it. Sakuno felt uneasy, but she smiled and nodded.

"Ryoma-kun is nice." in his own, Ryoma-ish way, she thought. But Kobayashi didn't need to know that. She was satisfied with the Ryoma she had.

"So he calls you at night?" Kobayashi prompted.

"Um… Yes."

"When you two go out together, he pays for your drinks and food and all?"

"Yes." Sakuno answered, thinking the questions odd. "Unless when Ryoma-kun wants to eat something I make, that way I'll pack a meal from home." she added, and she blushed when Kobayashi raised an eyebrow.

"So that guy's normal after all." he sighed. Sakuno wondered what kind of thing Kobayashi had been thinking about involving Ryoma. "One more thing," he frowned thoughtfully. "Does that guy take sticker photos with you?" he asked, looking almost doubtful.

"Um," Sakuno pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh. "Once."

"Ah." Kobayashi nodded, as if understandingly. He sat on a desk which Sakuno recognized as one of the girls', Sonomi, and fiddled with his iPod. "Then what about Okumura Eri?" he asked.

Surprised, the blackboard eraser nearly slipped from Sakuno's fingers.

"W-what about Okumura-san?" she asked back, warily.

For some time, Kobayashi seemed hesitant. He scratched at his head and mumbled about it not being his problem.

"For one thing," he finally muttered. "Okumura's asked me more than once about why did that ego-complex guy stop playing tennis. I don't know what she and that guy have to do with each other, but if you ask me, I'd say she's annoyed about him quitting tennis."

Sakuno fell silent. She was discomfited at the fact that Okumura Eri was giving so much thought on her boyfriend.

"R-Ryoma-kun didn't quit tennis." she corrected.

"Really?" Kobayashi sounded unconvinced. "It's been nearly two months since he got back to school, nobody has seen him picking up a racquet yet. And I heard it was him who requested to be excluded from any practices."

"T-that's true. But it's only temporary." Sakuno responded. Her heart was beating hard and she felt like hyperventilating; she had never spoken about that topic with anyone else except Ryoma himself, and that too had been mentioned only once, back almost two months ago.

"He's healed." Kobayashi said, putting it plainly.

"Yes." now Sakuno felt like crying. "You can say that." she whispered.

"What do you mean by—" Kobayashi started to ask, but then, he noticed how Sakuno had bent her head inch by inch toward the floor, and he decided to drop it. "—look, I'm sorry. I know it isn't my place to ask—"

He was cut short by a loud noise of something hitting a metal. He and Sakuno turned to see a Ponta can falling clamorously into the trash can at the far end of the classroom.

"Done." Ryoma announced, standing by the door. He took one look at Sakuno, and then he stared blankly at Kobayashi. "Did you pervert try to touch my possession while I was gone?"

Spontaneously, Kobayashi's expression turned comical. You could've figuratively seen the steams puffing out between his earphones.

"Who the hell you're calling a pervert?" he bawled.

Sakuno wiped her eyes and smiled.

"Kobayashi-kun and I were just having a talk, Ryoma-kun." she said.

"Hn, that explains why you cried." Ryoma concluded.

"What's that supposed mean?" Kobayashi challenged.

"Let's go home." Ryoma walked in the classroom and took Sakuno's bookbag, purposely ignoring their seething class president. "Pervert-kun bored you to tears, didn't he, Ryuzaki?"

Sakuno giggled.

Kobayashi glared.

~;~

On the way to the school's main gate, Ryoma and Sakuno had come across Eiji and Fuji as the two regulars loitered in front of the vending machine. Eiji had cheerfully chirped out sayonara to them (and sang a bit of a weird song, intended for lovers), while Fuji had smiled amusedly.

Not long after they left the school compound, walking side by side, Ryoma took Sakuno's hand almost subconsciously, intertwining their fingers before shoving their hands together in his pocket, as if her hand was actually his own. Sakuno blushed, but didn't complain.

"Ano, Ryoma-kun? What did Tezuka-senpai want from you?" she asked.

"He's royally pissed off at me."

"H-he is? Why?"

"Eri keeps coming to the tennis court asking about me." Ryoma sounded as if he was thinking of something unpleasant. "Buchou says he doesn't care what's happening between me and Eri, he wants Eri to stop bothering the team; it really means bothering him, though."

Sakuno tried to smile, but she felt like her face had turned into rubber.

"So Ryoma-kun really knows Okumura-san, after all." she said, and she hated how her voice came out softer than she intended. She didn't want Ryoma to think she was someone quick to take offense, even if him knowing Eri did bother her. After all, he could've had mentioned it to her. Eri had been in school for two days, three including today, but he'd said nothing.

Ryoma glanced at her, and Sakuno kept her eyes on the pavement. He looked away.

"She's just someone I know since I was a kid." he offered, lightly squeezing her hand.

Sakuno couldn't decide what she should say in return. Suddenly she felt heavyhearted, sad, depressed. She wasn't sure if it was worth it. Ryoma had done nothing wrong, had he? Surely she was overreacting.

After composing herself once more, she nodded her head and smiled.

"Okay."

~;~

The otherwise blue and white sky was orange, purplish blue, tinted with specks of red as the sun descended upon the horizon. Nanjiro had been standing watching his son and Karupin Junior for about ten minutes. Ryoma had been sitting on the wooden floor next to the temple's large bell quietly for a full ten minutes, and if Nanjiro hadn't been watching, he would've thought his son was dead. Sitting with his left shoulder leaning against a wooden steeple, the fifteen year old had barely moved an inch; the only sign of life so far had been Karupin Junior who would occasionally sharpen his claws on Ryoma's black shorts. Ever since he'd returned from school that evening, Nanjiro thought his son had acted funny, more or less like a zombie. Nanjiro couldn't be sure, but Ryoma should notice that he was being watched, considering he was standing only a few meters from him at the house's entrance. Either way, his son showed no response; his eyes staring vacantly across the neighborhood, his expression completely blank.

Hrmm. He seems out of this world already.

Nanjiro decided to conduct an experiment.

"Oy, shounen? You dead?" he shouted over.

Ryoma didn't budge.

"Ano, Ryoma, are you letting mosquitoes dining on your blood?"

Nothing.

"Ne, hotheaded! Dinner's ready!"

The birds twittered in the sky, returning to their nests after a day's work. Karupin Junior meowed and stretched, climbing into Ryoma's lap and curling into a furry ball. Still, there was no reaction from the tennis prodigy.

Nanjiro tried again,

"Uwaaa! I found porn magazines under your pillow!"

At that, Ryoma blinked.

"Shut up, will you?" he muttered, frowning irritably.

"Joy, your hearing ability's back." Nanjiro chuckled. He crossed his arms, putting his hands in his yukata's sleeves. "Just what you're brooding about? Come on, let's have a game." he said, trying to push a button.

Sure enough, he succeeded.

As soon as Nanjiro said "game", Ryoma scrambled to his feet. He carried Karupin Junior with him and stomped into the house, stalking past his oyaji without another word. Nanjiro counted exactly fifteen seconds, and then there was an earth-shaking sound of a door being slammed from upstairs.

~;~

Ryuzaki Sumire sat silently at the mahogany table, watching as her granddaughter bustled about the kitchen. It had almost been a tradition to see Sakuno preparing meals on Saturday evening. She would act fidgety and occasionally, she would stammer an exclamation that she had put the wrong ingredients into her cooking, and then she would hurry to get things fixed, fretting and lamenting along the way. Sumire thought amusedly, that Echizen Ryoma would luckily have a good housewife, that was-if he decided to keep Sakuno until the end.

"You never know what that silly shounen's thinking." Nanjiro had told Sumire on the day they found out that their son and their granddaughter were going out. "First he was all aloof and didn't seem to know a thing, and next he's gotten himself a cute girlfriend? I keep asking him how he did it, you know; how he asked Ryuzaki-san out, but all he told to me was to get lost."

Sumire hadn't wondered. Knowing Nanjiro, the man would probably have had asked Ryoma in an infuriating fashion, and so Ryoma couldn't have had replied any way better.

"You're preparing for tomorrow, Sakuno?" Sumire asked. "Could you leave me a portion of whatever it is you're making?" she requested smilingly.

With a red face, Sakuno nodded her agreement.

~;~

Doing homework wasn't exactly Sakuno's favorite way of passing the time. Then again, it wasn't exactly anyone's favorite way of passing the time. That night she tried harder though, mainly because tomorrow she would spend the day with Ryoma, and also because she wasn't one who liked to procrastinate (a trait which was envied by Tomoka, who frequently whined about not wanting to even look at her homework).

The clock continued ticking, half past eight; the moon was shining bright outside Sakuno's windowpane. She tapped her pen thoughtfully on her lips as she tried to figure out a rather intimidating mathematical problem.

Then, suddenly, there came two serial knockings from the window.

Startled, Sakuno turned around in her swivel chair, and she saw Ryoma lounging idly on the branches of a tree which had grown just outside her room. In disbelief, Sakuno stood up abruptly, mouth opened. She blinked and looked again, just in case she was hallucinating; a thin lamp pole stood in the distance. Her boyfriend, wearing casual black slacks, a white-and-red t-shirt and a dark-blue sweater, complete with a cap, was still lounging on the tree outside her window.

"R-Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno whispered. She rushed across the room, unlocking the sash lock and poking her head outside. Ryoma shifted slightly, holding one of the upper branches to get closer to the window. It wasn't that late at night, and any neighbor could have just peered out their window to see a random boy perching on a tree to a girl's bedroom. "W-what are you… What are you doing, Ryoma-kun?"

"I've been thinking." he said in monotone.

"Y-yes?" Sakuno frowned.

"Let's elope."

"Eh… Elope… Eh?"

"Keep your voice down, you can say no." Ryoma smirked. With his free hand, he reached out and touched Sakuno's face, but she didn't seem to notice. Even as he began to caress her cheek, she kept frowning, apparently giving the "eloping" idea a deep thought. "I was bored, I sort of just… Came over."

After the "Let's elope" suggestion, Sakuno wasn't really listening to what Ryoma was saying anymore. Her mind raced a million miles per second, seriously pondering over the idea of running away with her beloved. They would need to work to earn money for their living. Their parents and teachers and friends would be frantic and they would need to send letters telling them they were okay and happy…

Sakuno was pulled back from her thoughts when she felt Ryoma's fingers on her mouth; they felt cold. His thumb traced slowly along her lower lip, and when Sakuno glanced at him, her heart skipped many beats. His brown eyes seemed so clear, the way they always seemed whenever he was about to kiss her, and he looked drunk, the way he always looked whenever his fingers played with her hair; intoxicated.

Sakuno felt her face heating up as she thought, shamelessly, how she wanted him to kiss her. The shame was quickly forgotten though, because Ryoma seemed to have read her mind.

He pulled her face to him and pressed his lips on hers. They didn't realize when he lost his cap. Not that he minded. He was too busy trying to keep himself from falling off the tree and kissing at the same time. Involuntarily, she shivered when he teasingly licked her lower lip.

"W-wait, Ryoma-kun." Sakuno said breathlessly. "Y-you could fall."

"Yeah?" he held the back of Sakuno's head, pulling at the crimson hairband which tied her long hair in a simple ponytail. Sakuno squeezed her eyes shut when he leaned over to her ear, so close that she could feel his hot breath against her neck. "Invite me into your room, then." he whispered.

Her heart hammering in her ears, heat coursing through her like electricity; Sakuno pushed the window to her room several inches wider, and Ryoma skillfully helped himself inside. He wasted no time at all, wounding one arm around Sakuno's waist and using another to cup her face. At first, Sakuno thought it was frightening how his intention was so evident, but shortly the fear sort of evaporated. He trailed kisses along her jaw, down her neckline, and he already had her pressed against the wall when he started fiddling with her pajamas' buttons.

It felt so… right. Sakuno didn't mind it at all, but somehow, somehow, her mind took over and her mouth spoke on its own, whispering,

"I want to know about Okumura-san, Ryoma-kun."

And Ryoma's fingers stopped on the second button.

Sakuno heard him sigh against her neck, and she had never felt as terrible as right now.

"The mood's been killed." Ryoma informed.

"I-I'm sorry." Sakuno whispered guiltily.

Ryoma pressed his forehead on Sakuno's left shoulder, and they stood silently for a long minute.

"Actually," he began. "I came here to tell you about Eri, but it was your fault that I forgot."

"M-my fault?"

"Hn."

Sakuno frowned thoughtfully, racking her brains for anything she'd done wrong. She couldn't find any.

"A-ano, Ryoma-kun? W-why did you come here to tell me about Okumura-san?" she asked.

"That was your fault too."

"My fault… Too?"

Ryoma stood straight and touched his head, wondering where his cap had gone.

He looked around, giving Sakuno's bedroom an inspection. Everything was predictably neat. The curtains were pastel green, the bedcover was green, and even the Mickey Mouse shaped clock adorning the wall was greenish in color. In fact, majority of the things inside the bedroom was harmoniously green. Sakuno's tennis racquet was placed horizontally on a brown duffel bag. Ryoma made no comment. Instead, he made a face when he saw the sticker photos which he and Sakuno had taken on their third date; they were pasted appreciatively on her wardrobe's wall. Taking sticker photos hadn't really been his idea, he'd agreed to do it because Sakuno had looked so hopeful.

"I looked like a clown." he said. When he received no response, he turned to see Sakuno smiling wide from ear to ear. He walked to her and pressed his palms on her cheeks. "Stop laughing." he commanded.

"I-I'm not." she giggled. "It's not that you don't know how to pose in front of a camera, Ryoma-kun."

"I just don't get the idea of posing inside that… Pink tent."

"There was a camera in that pink tent."

"It was awkward and stupid. I'm never doing it again."

"I-I could try asking again, you might just agree again." Sakuno mumbled, and Ryoma stared at her with narrowed eyes.

"What did you say?" he demanded, squishing her face in his hands.

"N-nothing." Sakuno protested, but her giggles blew it away. She held his hands, trying to stop them from kneading her face like bread dough. "R-Ryoma-kun—"

There was a knock on the door. They both froze.

"Sakuno?" Sumire called from outside. "Come downstairs, your parents are on the phone."

"O-Okay…" Sakuno whispered. Ryoma looked amused, and she blushed as she realized her mistake. How was her grandmother going to hear that? "Okay!" she said louder.

They waited until Sumire's footsteps had died away.

"Why are your parents on the phone?" Ryoma asked.

"T-they would call from the oversea… To check on me." Sakuno explained.

Ryoma lowered his hands, removing them from torturing her face.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning." he said. "I'll tell you everything you want to know about Eri."

Sakuno was pleased. Although, she was quickly disappointed that he was about to leave.

"A-are you going home already?" she asked.

"You want me to stay? I won't let you sleep if I stay." Ryoma said with a straight face.

"W-what could we do if we don't sleep?" Sakuno asked nervously, following him to the window.

"A lot." he told. It was then that Sakuno noticed; a small tuft of Ryoma's hair was tied with her crimson hairband, and it was sticking up funnily on the top of his head. Ryoma climbed over the window with ease, as if he'd been doing it every night. Once his feet landed on the tree branch, he pulled her face to him in a long, tender kiss. "I bring no money, no cell phone. So if I don't show up tomorrow… You'll know I've been kidnapped." he said.

"D-don't say that, Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno called out in panic, but Ryoma had jumped off of the tree. From the ground, he looked up at Sakuno and smiled smugly, enjoying the fact that she was worried about him. "B-be careful to weird strangers!" Sakuno whispered, and she closed the window reluctantly when her grandmother called again.

Sakuno fixed her pajamas before skipping downstairs. She couldn't stop smiling; Ryoma had come all the way to her house because he'd noticed she was upset about Okumura Eri.

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