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~The Splits
Chapter Three
Yamabuki Chuu
Alice and Riku stared up at their Uncle with wide eyes, begging him to agree to their -well, Alice's, plan.
"Let me get this straight, little midgets." Uncle ignored Riku's and Alice's mirth at the nickname as he continued to outline the plan that they, Alice, had presented him. "You want me to go to your mother, your scary, Italian, bad tempered mother, and tell her that as your punishment for running through the house like heathens and breaking-"
"Riku broke it." Alice interrupted, "I'm just stuck with the same punishment for 'bringing the game inside the house.'" Uncle stared down at the little red hair girl in amusement. Alice's tone had been completely bland and apathetic, a sure sign that told those who knew her that she truly didn't care about her punishment or the reasons behind it. What a weird kid.
He huffed out a laugh before shaking his head, continuing from where Alice had cut him off. "Okay, why you got your punishment aside, you still want me to tell your mother, and let me reiterate here, your scary mother, that as punishment from breaking her china dining set you two get to come with me for a tennis lesson, something that you love to do? Doesn't sound like much of a punishment to me."
"It is if it leaves us drop dead tired, sore, and unwilling to move. Plus, if we we're that tired we wouldn't be able to cause any more trouble -which would make Mom even angrier at us." Riku added nonchalantly. Alice was the one who wanted out of their original punishment while he honestly didn't care, but if he didn't try and help convince Uncle to 'save' them, Alice would get back at him for it later, and some of the stuff she had on him...
Uncle laughed again, shaking his head. "And just what, might I ask, will get your mother to agree to this?" He stared at Alice, knowing that Riku wouldn't know how to manipulate his mother like little Alice could. To be fair, Riku could now and again be pretty sly with his words, but compared to Alice and her constant twisting of words... amazing, what that girl could pull out of her hat sometimes…
"Mom's stressed." Alice started out, leaning back against the wall behind her, placing her palms flat against her thighs -her manipulating pose, as Riku called it.
The two twins had had to wake up earlier than they normally would so that they could corner Uncle before he reached the house to help their mother with breakfast. Uncle, as per the agreement he and their parents made, had moved into the guest house that was just behind the actual house. "She's had to deal with Oji's death, Dad's grief, her own grief, our grief, Sofu commanding us to move to Japan quite against our will-" here Uncle coughed, still not quite used to the kid's disrespectful way of speaking about their paternal grandparents. "-and Riku and I acting out for the past couple of months to show our displeasure at the idea of coming here. Breaking her china was just the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. She's upset, sure, but really she just wants us out of her hair for a while. To calm down and de-stress a little." Here Alice paused, rolling her eyes. "Mom didn't even like that china. So yes, we can spend how ever many hours out here working in the gardens, but she knows that both Riku and I kill any plant we touch-"
"I do not!" Alice stared her brother down; trying to mentally tell him that now wasn't the time to defend his pride. Riku really wasn't all that great at taking care of plants, but he tried to from time-to-time to grow something unsuccessfully. Unlike Alice, he didn't have a hatred for gardening, but he wasn't really enthralled by it either. It was more like the plants held a hatred for him, and besides the plants refusal to cooperate with him, gardening was just gardening to him. Nothing more, nothing less; although, he would admit that he'd take a day of tennis over a day of gardening any day.
"As I was saying," Alice glared at her brother a little more before turning back to Uncle. "We could spend days out here and it would probably look worse than it does now. Or you can do her a favor and take us away from the house for a day or two for a couple of hard tennis lessons. Trust me, she'll agree."
Uncle stared down at the girl for a moment before closing his eyes and running his hand through his hair. "Sometimes I forget how smart you are, little Alice." Uncle stared down at the girl in bemusement, "Perhaps, if you want to fit in, you could try sounding more your age? You know your only fourteen, right?"
Alice snorted, staring up at her uncle wryly. "That's not quite the point, Uncle."
The man sighed and turned away from the two teens, pacing away a few steps before turning back, a smile playing on his lips. "All right you little troublemakers. I'll speak to your mother before breakfast is served. You two better run along now, in case she scents out your involvement in this." The two nodded before turning away, walking around the house to get back to the front door.
Uncle stared after them in bemusement. "Precocious little kids…"
*%%*
"You're sure Mom will go for it Alice? It seems a bit farfetched to me."
Alice nodded absentmindedly from her position on his bed. She traced the lines in his ceiling with her eyes like she used to back in Italy, finding the intricate patterns hidden there. After their mom had scolded them for breaking her china and handed out her punishment last night, she had sent them and Mr. Ikuma up to their rooms to start setting everything up. So far they had all their basic furniture laid out and now all they needed to do was start unpacking their clothes and nick-knacks, so unopened boxes still littered the house.
Riku rolled his eyes at his sister, moving a box that was sitting on his desk chair so that he could sit in it. Alice was back in Wonderland, which meant she thought that her job here in reality was done and it was A-Okay for her to space out again. And while this was slightly annoying for Riku, seeing as the girl was on his bed, it also meant that Alice really was confident that their mom would agree to the idea of them having long tennis lessons as a punishment.
"Cool." He murmured to himself, happier than he was willing to admit that he wouldn't be doing any gardening. He really did suck at it…
-Knock-knock-
Riku stared at the door for a moment, before shrugging and going to answer it.
"Hey kiddo."
"Oh. Hey Uncle. What's up?" Riku tried to keep his hope out of his voice, but knew he failed when his uncle laughed and ruffled his hair.
Uncle leaned against the door frame, his arms folded. "Your mom sent me up here to tell you that there's a change of plan involving your punishments." He smirked down at the boy, a twinkle in his eyes. "Immediately after breakfast you two are coming with me, where we will then have a grueling, back-breaking tennis practice. Proceeding this practice I get to come back here and help your father and mother unpack; meanwhile, you two will be sent to explore the city with express instruction not to lose each other." Uncle turned a speculative look toward Riku's twin, almost rolling his eyes at her dazed out look as she stared at the ceiling. "Especially Alice," He tacked on.
Riku let out a whoop of excitement, spinning in a circle with his hand clenched in a fist above his head. He then let out a yell of surprise when he tripped over a foot. He looked up from his sprawled position on the floor to glare at his laughing sister.
"Told you," Was all she said. The two siblings glared at each other for a moment before Uncle cleared his throat. Honestly, the atmosphere between the twins was bipolar as far as he was concerned; the way it could instantly go from good to bad and sometimes back again or even to indifference in the blink of an eye still befuddled him.
Once their attention was on him, he continued. "I've also been sent up here to tell you two that breakfast is ready. So get going." He gestured for them to leave the room. Alice was the first to obey, leaving her brother's room with a skip in her step and a kiss to her uncle's cheek, who in turn ruffled her hair.
Riku stayed on the floor for a moment, glaring after his sister, irritated, before he snapped out of his mood when a hand appeared in front of his face. He followed the hand up to his uncle's smiling face.
Uncle pulled the boy up to his feet and, once he was up, swung an arm around his shoulders, leading him out of the room. "Don't let your sister get to ya. You know how she is." Riku sighed and nodded, walking down the stairs and to the kitchen with his uncle.
"Yeah, I know. Doesn't make her any easier to deal with…" Uncle just laughed and squeezed the boy's shoulder before taking his place at the table, leaving Riku to grudgingly sit next to his twin.
Breakfast was a family tradition in the Ikuma household. Mrs. Ikuma would make breakfast, with Uncle helping when he was around, and would proceed to wake her husband and kids when she was finished. The family would then sit and talk about what they were going to do for the day and about anything else that popped into their heads. Today; however, breakfast was filled with yawning. Mrs. Ikuma, Riku, and Alice were all jet lagged and were trying to adjust to the different time zone while their bodies were telling them that it was in the middle of the night and that they should be asleep. Mr. Ikuma and Uncle were simply used to getting up later since they had been alone for the last couple of weeks and hadn't bothered with breakfast before starting their days.
Once everyone had woken up a bit more and had cleaned their plates they washed up. Alice and Riku were about to go get dressed for tennis practice when Mrs. Ikuma gestured for them to sit down again.
Mrs. Ikuma looked at her children intently, studying their wary expressions. "Did your uncle tell you about your new punishments?" The two children nodded. "Good. Now, normally I wouldn't change my mind once it was made, but your uncle made a good point about getting you two out of the house, but also away from the gardens, which you'll surely destroy. Your uncle has promised me that you will go through whatever he has planned for the next couple of days without a complaint. Can you do that?" Once again the two children nodded.
"Good." She said again. "He has reassured me that he will make these next tennis lessons the hardest you two have ever been through, to make it a proper punishment." Mrs. Ikuma leaned back into her chair, eyes still on her children. "Your father and I have also made some calls and have gotten you registered at Yamabuki Chuu. The headmaster there is a man called Takamatsu Shinichirou." Here she slid a map of the area to Riku. The map had a pathway traced from their house to what appeared to be Yamabuki, and another path from what Riku knew to be his father's company's sport's facility, which included the tennis courts, to the same place. "He expects you two in his office today before it closes at 3:30. You will head there after your tennis practice and lunch. I expect you to pay utmost attention and respect to Headmaster Takamatsu-san. After your meeting he has permitted you to explore the school and its grounds. After that, you can spend the rest of your day exploring the city. Your father and I will expect you to both have your cell phones with you," here she stared pointedly at Alice until the girl nodded, "and you will be home, without any reminders, at five o'clock for dinner. Are we clear?"
"Unescapably." Riku immediately winced under his mom's glare. "Ahem, I mean, yes ma'am." Mrs. Ikuma smirked at her children, standing up. Playing the bad cop on the odd occasion could be so much fun.
"Well, it's already six in the morning. You two have a long day today, so scat and go get ready."
Alice and Riku were immediately on their feet and out of the room, anxious to get out from under their mother's watchful stare.
Mrs. Ikuma turned to Uncle, her expression softening and amusement coloring her features. "So, I never did get the chance to ask you when you started taking orders from the children."
Uncle scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, offering a smile to the amused women. "Now you know I normally wouldn't, but I would do almost anything to get those children away from the gardens, and apparently Alice knows that, what with her bringing up dying plants. I mean, who knows what disasters they would cause?" Uncle shuddered lightly in horror, imagining just what the two terrors would do to the gardens. "Nothing good." He muttered.
Mrs. Ikuma giggled; covering her mouth with her hand, and Mr. Ikuma outright chuckled, clapping his long-time friend on the back. "Sometimes I forget how much you're obsessed with plants and gardening!" Mr. Ikuma exclaimed, laughs still escaping his mouth.
Uncle pouted slightly. "I'm not obsessed! I just have a healthy appreciation!" The adults all fell into laughter, the three of them recalling some of the more amusing incidents involving Uncle and his 'healthy appreciation'.
Mrs. Ikuma sighed and smiled at Uncle, laugh lines crinkling around her eyes. "I meant to ask you about that. We know that we kinda dragged you with us from Italy, and we figured we'd compensate you beyond just giving you the job of being Alice's and Antonio's tennis instructor." Mr. Ikuma waved off his friend's protests and continued where his wife left off.
"This isn't any sort of charity; we just figured we'd also offer you the job of being our gardener. We all know you love gardening, and thought that you'd do just as nice a job as a professional gardener or landscaper. What do you say?"
Uncle stared at Mr. and Mrs. Ikuma, stunned. A smile slowly stretched across his lips and a happy laugh escaped. "Free board, tennis, and gardening? Oh, you know I can't turn down an offer like that!"
*%%*
"Alright you two," Uncle said as the twins set down their tennis bags. They went to pull out their rackets, but were stopped by Uncle. "You know my policy. Go do your warm-ups first. Make sure to do them extra well today. If you don't, you won't survive what I have in store for you for the rest of the day," he said with an unnerving smile. Glancing at each other the two nodded, and took off to start their warm up laps around the court. "By the way," Uncle called after them. "I want you to double your warm-up laps today." Groans came from the teenagers. Doing fifteen warm-up laps around the exterior of the fence surrounding the courts was annoying enough, but thirty? Hearing their groans Uncle smirked. "If you both don't finish in less than fifteen minutes I'm tripling the rest of your warm-ups!"
"What?" Riku and Alice exclaimed, stopping in their tracks and turning around to face Uncle. If he tripled the rest of their warm-up they'd spend over an hour without even touching their rackets.
"I wouldn't stand there if I were you. Time's ticking ya know." Glancing at his watch Uncle nodded to himself. "You've already lost half a minute just standing around. Now you only have fourteen and a half minutes to finish your laps." Paling visibly, the twins took off running. They knew better than to waste more time arguing about it. Uncle might joke around about a lot of things, but when it came to tennis, he was always serious. As he watched his two students run around the courts, Uncle would call them out on things he didn't like.
"Stop running on your heels Alice-it's slowing you down. Run on your toes and the balls of your feet more. Antonio, stop shifting your weight as you run. You know how to keep your body balanced better than that, so do it already. Remember, bad practice off the courts turns into bad habits on the courts."
Taking a short break from watching them, Uncle looked at his watch and compared the time left with the number of laps remaining. Sighing, he shook his head. Riku would be able to make it with his speed, but Alice would fall short at this rate. Maybe if he told them how much time remained she could figure out a way to finish within the time limit, but it wasn't his style to do something like that, especially since this practice was supposed to serve as a punishment. Alice might have thought they got the better deal by turning practice into punishment, but Uncle was determined to make these next few practices the hardest ones they have ever had in their lives by a long shot.
Watching as the remaining time ran down to only a minute, Uncle looked up and called out to the twins, "I want both of you to sprint your remaining laps at full speed!" Instantly, both of them sped up and the difference between them in speed became blatantly obvious. Riku had already been ahead of Alice, but now he was close to lapping her.
Coming up behind Alice, Riku pushed his legs to go faster. Uncle knew how fast Riku was when he sprinted full out, and if he could tell Riku wasn't running full out now he'd pay for it later in the practice. Not even bothering to give Alice a glance Riku sped past her and kept running. He slowed slightly as he reached the corner so he didn't spill from trying to turn too fast before instantly going back up to full speed. Two laps to go.
*%%*
Panting heavily, Riku leaned over onto his knees having just finished his laps. "Don't lean over Toni." Uncle reprimanded. Toni was his nickname for Riku when Alice was out of earshot since she detested the name and wouldn't talk to Riku when he responded to it. "You'll give yourself side cramps doing that. I want you to stand straight and raise both hands high above your head while you go walk out your legs." Nodding, Riku walked off as Alice came in from finishing her laps. Uncle looked at his watch and sighed. Alice had come in over half a minute after Riku which put her well past the time limit. Telling Alice to go walk off the run like Riku, Uncle gave them a minute to get their breathing slowed down before talking to them again.
"Alright you two. Antonio, you finished your laps in fourteen minutes and fifty-eight seconds." A grin spread across Riku's face at his accomplishment before he realized what that meant. Alice had finished way after him and Uncle had said they both had to finish within the limit or… the grin disappeared from Riku's face almost as quickly as it got there. "Alice," Uncle continued having been amused by watching the change in Riku's facial expressions, "you finished with a time of fifteen minutes and thirty-two seconds." Alice grimaced before sending Riku an apologetic look. If it was just her that had to triple the warm-up routine she wouldn't feel so bad, but Uncle's new rule made them both suffer.
"Now, like I said, both of you needed to finish within the time limit or your warm-up routine would be tripled. Alice, since you didn't make it in time you'll be doing just that. I suggest you get started because we'll be here for a while." Nodding, the twins finished walking out their run and began to stretch.
Sitting on the ground, Alice stretched her legs out in front and tried to grab them. Her fingers were a few inches from reaching the tips of her shoes and her calves burned painfully. She really needed to work on stretching more to increase her flexibility. Glancing over, Alice saw Riku doing the same stretch, but his fingers were touching his shoes just barely.
"So it's three hundred reps of everything instead of one hundred, right?" Riku asked nonchalantly.
"Yeah," Alice sighed, "my bad. Uncle's never pulled the 'you both have to make it in time' rule before. He doesn't usually set a time limit either, for that matter."
"Well, this isn't a normal practice now is it?" Uncle said as he walked up behind Alice. "You're the one that turned your next few practices into punishments, and that's just what I plan to make them. I will say this though; there is a method to my madness." Kneeling down, Uncle put his hands on Alice's back and lightly pushed, eliciting a groan of pain from her. "You really need to work on your lack of flexibility Alice. Now, as I was saying there is a reason for my new rule which I warn you, it's here to stay from now on." Both twins groaned, earning a smirk from Uncle.
"If you think about it, when one of you makes a mistake on the court it affects both of you since you're a doubles pair, so, from now on any mistakes you make off the court will affect both of you as well. This is to help strengthen you as a doubles pair, and to make you more aware of each other's weaknesses. This way, you'll be better prepared to help cover for each other out on the court and you'll want to make less mistakes because you'll be more aware of how it affects both of you." Nodding as they thought it over, Riku and Alice finished up their stretching before moving onto the three hundred push-ups, sit-ups, and squats waiting for them.
When they finally finished about fifty minutes later, the two were already feeling exhausted and sore even though they hadn't even touched their rackets yet. The entire time Uncle had been watching them to make sure they used the correct form so they didn't injure themselves, but it also meant that he made them go all the way down on the push-ups and squats. Collapsing on the ground next to their bags, Alice and Riku both grabbed for their waters.
"What, are you two tired already?" Uncle asked innocently as he walked up to them. "All you've done is warm-up. Finish getting your drinks, and grab your rackets. I want you to warm up your strokes for a few minutes and then we'll start on some drills I've been working on." Groaning, the twins put down their waters, pulled out their rackets, and stood up. Riku took a few balls from Uncle as they slowly made their way over to the court. Starting up close to the net to warm-up their volleys, the two worked their way back to the baseline over the course of several minutes. When he was satisfied that they were sufficiently warmed-up, Uncle called for them to stop and called them over to the side of the court. In his hands was a roll of masking tape.
"What's up with the tape Uncle?" Riku asked, eyeing it warily.
"This is for the first drill. I want the two of you to get on one side of the court while I divide the other half into sixteen equal squares using this tape." When he was done laying down the tape, Uncle met the twins at the net. "Okay, so this is how it works from here." Turning so he was facing the taped up half like the twins, Uncle held up his hand and pointed. "The box in the upper left corner there is box number one. Going right you have boxes two-four making up the rest of the row. The box right below number one is number five, and it goes across that row ending with eight. The pattern continues with all the boxes until you end with box number sixteen up here by the net on the far right. Make sense?" Both twins nodded.
"This is some sort of aiming drill isn't it Uncle." Alice stated as she looked at the tape squares.
"Right you are Alice. I'm going to stand back behind the baseline and feed balls to you guys. For now you'll both start back at the baseline and take turns going every other ball. I'll call out a box number and that's where I want you to hit it. Now, going with our new rule if one of you misses, you both have to give me ten push-ups, sit-ups, or squats with the correct form. So, let's get started. Alice, you're up first."
Taking the basket full of balls that he'd brought, Uncle went to stand behind the tape covered court. Once Alice was in position and Riku was back against the fence, out of the way, Uncle fed the first ball. "Five." he called out as Alice took the ball with a forehand, and sent it towards the left where it hit close to the center of box number five. Uncle had expected as much. Alice had great accuracy. Happy with her shot, Alice smiled as she stepped back and Riku stepped forward, his fist tightening slightly on the handle of his racket. "Twelve." Uncle called as he hit to Riku's backhand. Grabbing his racket with both hands, Riku caught sight of his target in the corner of his eye as he swung through and hit the ball. It sailed over the net in the right direction, but Riku felt a sinking feeling in his gut. The ball was taking too long to drop. Sure enough, the ball hit the outside edge of box eight instead of box twelve like it was supposed to.
"And there's our first miss. Close Antonio, but in this drill close doesn't cut it." Uncle said with a bland face, but inside he was smiling sympathetically. Riku's control wasn't horrible by any means, but this drill would be a big struggle for him. "Okay, as I said," Uncle continued without skipping a beat, "you both owe me ten of something, so hurry up and get to it." Grimacing, Riku set his racket down and started doing push-ups while Alice chose to do sit-ups. The sweat on his forehead dripped down Riku's nose and fell to the court as he lowered his body towards the ground. This sucked. "All the way down Antonio." He heard Uncle call before forcing himself even lower so that his nose was mere centimeters from the ground. Yeah, this really sucked.
"You'd better not miss many more shots or I might kill you." Alice growled as she struggled to bring her body up into a sit-up. They were both already sore and exhausted from warming-up, so even doing just ten of something was torture.
"If you don't Uncle will." Riku grunted back. Gardening was beginning to sound like paradise.
*%%*
Dead. That's what Riku felt like, and he was sure being dead was a better option than this. Every muscle in his body ached; even muscles he didn't know existed until now. He and Alice were laying stomach up on the court gasping for air, and if he knew his twin at all, she was plotting ways to kill him for making so many mistakes.
After finishing the original drill which had resulted in lots of mistakes being made, more from Riku than Alice, Uncle had made them move into doubles positions while still aiming for specific numbered squares. Finally, he'd played them one-on-two where before each point he'd set a rule. For example one time they could only hit squares that were oddly numbered, and if they hit an even number square instead they lost the point and had to give Uncle ten of something. Even serves had to obey the rule. Riku wasn't sure just how many push-ups, sit-ups, and squats he'd done since they'd arrived, but he knew it was way more than he'd ever done at one time before in his life, and he was feeling it. A lot. The past three hours had literally been torture. If it weren't for the fact that he'd go to prison for life, and if he screwed up Alice would make the rest of his life miserable, he'd kill her for getting their punishment changed from gardening to tennis.
"Good work you two." Uncle said as the twins slowly sat up. "Go ahead and put your things away and we'll call it good for the day, but expect this and even more again tomorrow." Groaning, Alice and Riku got up and put away their rackets. "I'll meet you at the car." Uncle said shouldering his own tennis bag and picking up the basket of balls they'd used for practice. Tiredly, Riku and Alice followed quite a ways behind him. As they were walking, they passed the other tennis courts, most of which were empty, but one had a boy with brown hair and an 'x' shaped scar on his temple practicing with his instructor. Alice and Riku stopped outside the fence for a minute to watch as the boy hit repeated rising shots.
"He's good." Riku stated; impressed by what he saw. The boy had the rising shot down perfectly.
"And he's a southpaw." Alice observed. She too was somewhat impressed by the boy's shots. After the boy hit another rising shot his coach called for a stop.
"Nice shots Yuuta. Let's call it for today."
"You're just saying that because you're my coach." Yuuta said as he went and grabbed his water.
"Well then, how about we say it too. Your rising shot is amazing." Alice called through the fence. Looking up, startled, the boy stared at them.
"Uh…thanks, I think, but who are you guys?" Yuuta said as he put his water back down.
"I'm Ikuma Riku, and this is my twin, Alice. Do you come here a lot?" Riku supplied before Alice got the chance. She threw him a quick look, but he ignored her. The boy's coach looked at the two of them sharply. He'd heard the owner's grandchildren had moved into the area, but to actually run into them…
"Yeah, I take all my lessons here." Yuuta said uncertainly as he recognized their last name. "Why?"
"We should play each other sometime." Riku said nonchalantly as he adjusted the strap to his tennis bag so it sat more comfortably on his shoulder. "Well, we need to get going, but it was nice meeting you. Oh, we never did catch your name." The boy seemed to tense slightly before speaking.
"I'm Fuji Yuuta."
"Oh, Cool. Well, maybe well see each other around here again. Keep your rising shot polished in case we get the chance to play each other." Riku said with a wave as he turned to leave.
"See ya." Alice called before following after Riku. As they turned the corner, she caught sight of a girl in brown sweats with short purple hair approaching…uh, what was his name again? Oh well, she could always ask him again later if they ever met. Before the courts went out of site behind a hedge Alice saw the two shaking hands. Maybe they were going to play a match? Not that it was her business anyways.
"Come on Alice." Riku said grabbing his sister's arm. "It's this way to Uncle's car -not that way. The faster we get to his car the faster we can go find somewhere to eat, and I don't know about you, but that…that thing that was thinly disguised as practice made me really hungry."
*%%*
Riku and Alice tiredly waved goodbye to their uncle, watching him drive away. He had dropped them off on the beginning of a street that he and their dad had apparently explored before they arrived. He had assured the kids that there were plenty of restaurants on the street that they could pick from. He also left them with a wallet full of money and programmed the local emergency numbers into their phones, "just in case." he had said.
The twins exchanged glances before starting down the road, Riku making sure to keep hold of Alice's hand. He really hated holding her hand like they were five again, but he knew that on a street like this, she was extremely likely to wander off and if he lost her his parents really would make him garden for the rest of summer, although after today's…practice…maybe that wouldn't be so bad? …No, he decided, that would be bad. Plants hated him, Alice hated plants, and combined it all equaled up to an unparalleled disaster. Maybe he could get just his punishment changed back to gardening? Nah…he wasn't that lucky, and it would be way too boring by himself.
The siblings wandered down the street, stopping in front of restaurants and peeking inside if they looked interesting before they moved on. They finally found a small sushi place that they agreed on called Kawamura Sushi. It seemed to be a small place, most likely a family owned business, but both Alice and Riku agreed that family owned places tended to be better than large chain restaurants.
They entered the small place and were immediately greeted by a man behind the sushi bar's counter.
"Hello, hello! Welcome to Kawamura Sushi! Please take a seat here at the bar or at one of the smaller tables! I'll have my son right out to bring you water and take your orders!" The twins traded bemused glances at the man's energetic greeting but smiled and nodded at him anyway. The looked around for a moment, looking at the different people scattered throughout the building before simultaneously deciding to sit at the bar, close to the back where it was a little less crowded.
Alice sat on the bar stool and immediately sighed in relief. She hadn't really let herself notice until now, but she was dead tired. Uncle's tennis lesson was brutal, and she was sure that as bad as she was feeling now, she would feel exponentially worse tomorrow. Where they'd have to do it again. Alice let out a groan and slumped over the bar, letting her forehead smack onto the hard wood. Her only consolation was that she had a bit more stamina than Riku, and so he was, most likely, a little worse off than she was at the moment.
"Um, e-excuse me?"
Riku rolled his eyes at his sister before turning to the boy who spoke, nearly groaning himself at the pain it caused. The boy in front of him was well muscled, but everything about his body language screamed 'shy and insecure'. From the similarities found between this boy and the man who had initially greeted them, it was no problem for Riku to deduce that this was the son spoken of.
"Yes?"
"Erm, hi." The boy awkwardly bowed, keeping the water in his hands steady. "I'm Kawamura Takashi, welcome! I have your water."
Riku smiled, amused by the shy boy. "Thank you Kawamura-san, I'm Ikuma Riku. Please, don't be insulted by my sister, Alice. She has the tendency to wander away from reality." Kawamura obviously didn't know how to take that, giving Riku a weird look and glancing uneasily at the girl that still had her head against the bar.
"Ahem, it's no problem Ikuma-san." Somehow what should have been a statement came out sounding like a question to Riku. Kawamura seemed to realize the same thing, if the blush that stole across his cheeks was any indicator. The brown-haired boy hurriedly set the water in front of the two, and then handed two menus to Riku, stealing another uncertain glance at the unresponsive Alice.
"I'll be back soon to take your orders." After bowing again Kawamura rushed away, leaving Riku to stare after him, a little confused at the abrupt, shy, behavior, but mostly amused. He shook his head and turned back around, nudging Alice.
"Come on sis, the white rabbit can wait for a minute." Alice mumbled something that even she didn't understand before sighing and straightening back up. She blinked at the glass of water in front of her.
"When did this get here?" She turned to her brother, an eyebrow raised in question and a finger pointing at the water glass. Riku just rolled his eyes.
"Two seconds ago with the owner's son, Kawamura Takashi-san."
Alice blinked rapidly, trying to remember, before giving up. "Did we get some menus too?" Riku nodded, handing her one before ignoring her in favor of pursuing his. Alice shrugged and opened the tri-folded, laminated menu, looking over its contents.
"What do I feel like eating today?" She muttered to herself, mentally crossing out food items as she read through the menu. Something light would probably be the smartest choice, what with the heavy workout they just had. She finally decided on a combination of Spring rolls and some California rolls. She set her menu down and twisted around on her stool, leaning back against the bar. She spent several minutes just watching the people eating there before a person, who must have been the waiter, came back with a writing pad and a pen in hand.
"Hello." She greeted cheerfully. "You must be…" Alice trailed off, not remembering the name her brother had told her. For that matter, she honestly didn't remember the name of the restaurant.
"Waiter-san." She finally decided on, beaming at the brown haired boy, idly wondering how the seemingly shy kid would react to the nick-name.
"Um, I suppose?" Alice laughed lightly at the response.
"Nice to meet you then, Waiter-san!" Waiter-san rubbed the back of his neck, a blush spreading across his cheeks. Alice grinned at his adorableness.
"You as well, Ikuma-san-" Alice cut him off before he could continue, pulling her camera out from her tennis bag that was beneath her feet.
"Do you mind if I take your picture?" She hurriedly continued before he could speak, "it's just that I have a horrible time remembering faces and names…" Alice trailed off, staring up at the shy boy imploringly. Waiter-san stared down at her for a moment, confusion written across his features, before he slowly nodded.
"Great!" Alice exclaimed. "Smile!" Before Waiter-san could actually follow her order, Alice snapped the camera in his face, immediately taking the photo out from a slot on the side. The camera was a slim purple one that was about six inches long. The reason was because the camera was a sticker camera, with the pictures immediately developing and coming out with a sticky back.
Alice pushed her camera back into her bag and took out her small notebook and pen. She opened to the first page and stuck the picture on it, writing beneath it 'Waiter-san.'
"Perfect. Thanks Waiter-san!" The poor boy obviously didn't know how to respond to the girl and blushed, once again rubbing the back of his neck.
"H-have you decided what you would like to order?" Alice nodded, spinning back around to pick up her menu.
"I'll have your combination dinner with Spring rolls and California rolls, please." Waiter-san nodded, writing her order down, before turning to her brother.
"What do you want, Riku?" Alice asked, saving the shy boy the trouble of speaking up. Riku glanced up from his menu, which he had been staring at in the vain hope to ignore his sister and her weirdness. Sparing a glance at his sister and Kawamura before looking back down, eyebrows furrowed, he finally gave the menu to Kawamura, slightly frustrated.
"I'll have whatever she got." He murmured, pointing at Alice. Kawamura made a confused sound in the back of his throat and Alice laughed.
"You're speaking in Italian, brother." She kindly informed him in the same language. Riku blinked in confusion, running the last sentence through his head, not picking out any language difference.
"If you say so." He murmured, giving his sister an odd look. "Sorry Kawamura-san. I said that I would get whatever Alice ordered." Kawamura nodded and, after writing the order down, left.
"Language confused much?" Alice asked teasingly. Riku glared at her before sighing and shrugging his shoulders.
"I didn't notice a difference." He admitted.
Alice nodded, giggling lightly. "You were definitely speaking in Italian." She told him. Riku stared at his sister for a moment, trying to decide if she was telling the truth or not, before shrugging again.
"I'll have to take your word for it." He murmured.
The two siblings sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts. They continued in silence as they got their food and ate it, neither having much to say and both tired from their tennis practice. After finishing they paid their bill and left. Riku pulled out the map their parents gave him, and quickly found the new pathway Uncle had drawn from the street they were on to Yamabuki.
"Looks like it's going to be a long walk." He informed Alice, who wasn't even paying attention. She'd just snapped a photo of the store front and written down its name on the picture. Looks like they'd be coming back here to eat again if Alice was bothering to do that. The food had been really good though… sighing, Riku rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand, pulling her along behind him as he led the way, looking down every once in a while to look at the map.
Several times while they were walking Alice began to panic and tell Riku they must be going the wrong way because it was taking too long to get there. Finally, she tried to take the map from Riku, but he didn't let go in time, so the map ripped in two leaving each twin with half of it. "Good going Alice." Riku said in frustration as he held his half of the map uselessly.
"You're the one that didn't let go in time." She retorted defensively as she glanced at her half of the map.
"Well you're the one that wouldn't trust me to get us there in the first place. I was doing just fine until you decided to grab the map." Riku said as his eye twitched in annoyance.
"But it's taking way too long to get there. You must have made us take a wrong turn." Alice said as she tried to grab the other half of the map from Riku, but he held it away from her so she couldn't get to it.
"Alice. Listen. To. Me." Riku said, slowly saying each word as he caught his twin's eye and got her to stop going after his half of the map. "You're tired from practice. We both are." He added quickly as she went to protest. "We are also in Japan right now, and need I remind you that you had enough trouble learning your way around Italy? I know being here puts you on edge and makes you more likely to panic, but I need you to trust me here alright?" Riku said calmly as if he was talking to a little kid.
"Stop talking to me like that!" Alice snapped. "I'm not a little kid Riku. I don't need to be patronized."
"Okay, okay. Whatever." Riku said holding up his hands. "Just give me back the other half of the map, and I promise I'll get us to Yamabuki safe and sound. Okay?" He asked as he stared down his sister. He was done playing Mr. Nice Guy. Finally blinking, Alice glared at him before huffily giving him back her half of the map. "Thanks." He said sarcastically as he smoothed the wrinkles out of the two halves of the map and held them together to see where they were supposed to go from here.
*%%*
"Almost there." Riku said about half an hour later. It was a good thing Alice was bad at holding grudges or the last half of the walk would have been horrible. Luckily, they both realized the other just needed a little space and they were fine now after having walked in relative silence as each of them cooled off their tempers. He looked up from the map, startled as Alice began laughing. He turned to her, ready to defend himself from whatever she was about to tease him for, when he noticed she was pointing ahead of them at something. He followed her finger and blinked at the imposing building in front of them.
They were standing in front of a red brick gate that enclosed the grounds around the building. Written in stone inlay was Yamabuki Chuu.
"Found it." Alice said cheerfully, bumping her brother's shoulder. Riku rolled his eyes good naturedly at his twin and started up the path that led to the front doors of the school. He'd told her that he'd get them here safe and sound, but he didn't say "I told you so" in case it would set Alice off again which would in turn set him off again.
"We've made it just in time too," Riku opted to say instead as he pulled out his phone to check the time, "it's about two o'clock now, so we'll have about an hour to get everything settled and explore a bit."
Alice ignored her brother and looked around the school's grounds. Everything was very… lush. The grass was very green, the trees were super green, the petals on the flowers were almost glowing, even the pavement they were walking on was amazingly clean and it… sparkled under the sun.
"Umm, Riku?"
"Yeah?"
"This place makes me want to throw mud at something." Riku stopped walking and stared at his sister for a moment before shaking his head and started up the steps to the door.
"I don't want to know." He told himself, holding the door open for his sister. Alice smirked at him and winked as she passed him. Passed the front doors was what looked like a giant foyer or commons that the students could chat in. Leading off from the commons was two halls on the far left and the far right of the room. In the center of the back of the room was a wide staircase that led up to the second floor. Once again, everything was very clean and polished. The state of the school really made Alice want to have a food fight or something.
"So, where to?" She asked her brother, not having a clue as to where to go.
Riku blinked at his sister before scrunching his nose up, trying to remember if his parents or Uncle had told him.
"Err, I have no clue." He scratched the back of his head, glancing around the commons, looking for a sign or a map that said where the headmaster's office was. No such luck. There was a sign for the first year classrooms down the right hall and a sign for the second year classrooms down the left hall, and that was it. The third year classrooms were probably up the stairs on the second floor.
Alice snorted, "Well, so much for you getting us there Mr. Hotshot." She murmured, making sure to keep her voice low so Riku wouldn't hear her. She didn't feel like listening to his nagging right then. Sighing, she looked at the two halls and the staircase leading away from the commons and played a quick mental game of 'eenie meenie miney moe' to pick which way to go. "Right?" She finally asked Riku, nodding her head toward the right hall.
"That's as good as anything, I guess." Riku agreed. They both set off down the right hall, glancing at closed classroom doors and bulletin boards on the wall, looking for any sign that would tell them where the headmaster's office was.
"At least we're getting our exploring done." Riku told her sister, trying to not get frustrated. They had basically circled the bottom floor and now they were heading back down what was the left hall to the commons.
Alice hummed in agreement, glancing down one of the off shooting halls that connected to the main one
"People!" Riku started at Alice's exclamation and turned to find her running down an off shooting hall toward a door at the end of it that was closing. He stared after her for a moment before sighing and running after her.
"Excuse me!" Alice burst out of the door, finding herself in front of the tennis courts. She took a moment to examine them, happy that they were a little more ruffed up than the rest of the school, before turning her attention to the black, short haired boy and the brown, spikey haired boy that she was chasing after.
"Excuse me." She said again, ignoring their bewildered looks and bowed quickly. "I'm Ikuma Alice and this-" her brother burst through the door and almost tripped at having to stop quicker than he had anticipated. "-is my twin, Ikuma Riku. We were wondering if you could help us find Headmaster Takamatsu-sama's office." She beamed at the two boys, enjoying their shocked looks and easily ignoring Riku's annoyed one.
"Um, sure?" The brown haired boy said. Alice's smile widened at the statement that ended up sounding like a question. People were so easy to shock.
The black haired boy cleared his throat and a stern look slid across his features. Alice figured that this was his normal look, and she would only see anything else if she shocked it out of him again. "Takamatsu-sama's office is on the second floor to the right along with the main office and the other administrator's and teachers' offices. It'll be easy to spot once you are up there." Alice quickly thanked the two boys before grabbing her brother's arm and dragging him inside. She did this partly because she wanted to see if she could leave a lasting impression on the two boys, who were clearly tennis players, and partly because she knew it would annoy her brother -her unspoken and probably unneeded payback for him annoying her earlier. It was a win-win to her.
The twins made it about half way down the hall before Alice stopped and slapped her forehead. Not explaining anything to her brother, she turned and ran back down the hall, ignoring the burning in her calves from their punishment that morning.
She burst back out the door and was happy to see that the two boys hadn't made it that far.
"Excuse me!" She yelled again, jogging after them. They turned around and gave her curious looks.
"Yes Ikuma-san?" Alice smiled sheepishly at them, twiddling her fingers slightly.
"Sorry, but I forgot to ask you something." She smiled at them, trying to look her most innocent.
"What is it, Ikuma-san?" The brown haired boy asked.
"We-ell," Alice drew the word out, "You just look like you're on the tennis team so I was wondering if you could tell me when tryouts for the next school year would be." The boys exchanged looks before the brown haired boy spoke again.
"You mean you don't know?" He asked, and his eyes widened slightly when Alice shook her head. "Oh, well, they're starting Monday Ikuma-san." Alice felt her own eyes widening and did nothing to try and stop herself.
"So soon?" She asked. The boys nodded, and this time the black haired boy answered.
"Banji-sensei likes to hold tryouts early in the summer, so that the new regulars will have plenty of time to get used to our practices and get integrated onto the team. It also gives them the chance to watch the last tournament of the summer which goes through the first day of school." Alice nodded her understanding and bowed her thanks to the boys, skipping lightly back into the school where Riku was waiting. At his questioning look she explained.
"I forgot to ask when tryouts started." Riku's eyes widened.
"I completely forgot about that too! What did you find out?" He asked.
"Well, tryouts start Monday." Alice quickly retold Riku what the boys had told her, and he nodded in understanding.
"It's a good thing you remembered." He murmured, wincing at the thought of missing tryouts. Alice nodded her agreement, and both began wondering back toward the main hall.
"Well, back to finding the headmaster." Riku said to no one in particular.
*%%*
The headmaster of Yamabuki turned out to be as boring and as pristine as the school looked. He was a fairly lean man in his later years dressed in an immaculate suit, and his office was very orderly. Alice sighed and sat straighter in her seat. Something about this man triggered the same instincts that her Japanese grandparents did, making her sit straight backed and keep an interested, polite expression on her face. It also stopped her from fidgeting, which she really wanted to do.
Alice glanced around the office again, wanting to sneer at the diplomas displayed on the walls and the nothing-out-of-place book shelf. How boring! It was a good thing that Riku paid better attention to authority figures than she did, or she was sure she would regret it later. She finally turned her attention back to the headmaster and almost slumped in relief when she saw him give Riku some papers and a polite dismissal. She stood and, after nodding her thanks, followed her brother out the door.
"Finally!" She exclaimed as soon as they back in the hall near the stairs, making sure to keep her voice down just in case sound carried well in this school. Riku snorted, throwing her an exasperated look.
"Why are you so excited? You didn't actually pay attention to the man! I, on the other hand, suffered! I mean, he could sell recordings of his voice as sleeping aids!" Alice made a face at her brother before thinking about it. Headmaster Takamatsu really did have a monotonous voice that seemed to drone on.
"He must have been a math teacher before becoming a principal." She told her brother, sending him a serious look. Riku nodded back just as seriously. The two of them made it about five steps before chuckling together, neither that amused but finding humor in the slight truth of the statement, having seen the mathematics diplomas on his walls.
"So, are we going to explore more now?" Alice asked her brother. Riku nodded.
"I figured we could just head outside and explore the grounds." He told his sister, starting down the stairs. "You know, since we've pretty much covered inside." Riku didn't turn around to see if his sister agreed with him or not and just continued down the stairs, across the commons, and out the doors. He looked around a bit and chose to follow the path leading around the school to the left.
"At least wait up!" Riku smirked at his sister's call, but did slow down. He wanted to get this done fast, because his muscles burned and he felt disgusting, having not showered yet.
As soon as Alice caught up to him he quickened his pace again. As he looked around at the pristine grounds Riku found himself agreeing with his sister's earlier statement. Yamabuki Chuu was a well taken care of school, with the lawns mowed, the gardens taken care of, and the sidewalks scrubbed clean.
"I kinda want to throw some mud too." Alice snorted following slightly behind her brother.
"Told you."
Well, there's chapter 3 for ya. We hope you all enjoyed it, and we want to say thanks to Rainbowlalaland, miiika, and Yanza for the awesome reviews on our second chapter. Thanks guys! To those of you that favorited or alerted our story, we also thank you, but your name won't show up here unless you actually leave a review which we hope you'll take the time to do since you seem to like our story.
There were finally some cannon characters in this chapter, but we'd still like more feedback on Alice and Riku if you've got anything to say about them or just the story in general. Thanks for supporting our story!
~The Splits
