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by: OrangeAce


To Set Things Straight
chapter 3

It was an incredibly hot afternoon, and it had been pure torture for the entire Seigaku Tennis Club to do their warm-ups and have their usual dose of intense tennis action. Sure enough though, all the regulars were game for anything, considering the fact that their first tournament of the year was really near. But it had been an absolute wonder why two certain boys were given extra 'attention' that day.

"Why are Momo-senpai and Kikumaru-senpai running an extra 10 laps?" Echizen muttered as he dried his dripping hair with a towel. With the extra effect, he just had to shake his head and sweat splattered everywhere. There was an immediate explosion of fan girl squeals at the gesture, but the boy completely ignored them.

"They skipped class yesterday to go to Ryuuzaki-san's interview," Fuji replied with a growing grin, his gaze directed towards Seigaku's captain who currently seemed to be lecturing Momo and Eiji as they ran past him. "I'm sure you've heard about what happened to Ryuuzaki-san, right?"

Echizen shrugged. "Hn. Buchou's being quite unreasonable. If it weren't for the senpai-tachi, Ryuuzaki wouldn't have been found early."

Fuji's eyes suddenly opened, his smile more enigmatic than ever. "Don't you find it interesting that Tezuka's looking at it in a different way?"

Echizen merely stared at his senpai, still left completely clueless as to what the heck Fuji was talking about. He chose to ignore Fuji's widening smile. "Tsk. I don't really care," he replied.

"Ryuuzaki-san got hurt despite Momoshiro and Kikumaru following her," Were Fuji's last words which made Echizen's eyes a fraction wider.

"Excuse me…"

There was a young woman right outside the courts, the stranger astonishingly managing to break through the area where the fan girls usually stayed. From their peripheral vision, they saw the Seigaku supporters huddled in a group, murmuring in low voices as they regarded the unfamiliar person standing in the midst of Seigaku Tennis Club. It made them wonder what the fuss was about. But other than the excited-looking fan girls, no one else seemed to notice their visitor.

"Is there anything we can help you with?" Fuji asked courteously, being the first to respond.

The woman smiled at Fuji's politeness. "Yes, actually. I'd like to talk to the club's captain …" she started as she began digging for something in her enormous hand bag. "There is something I would like to discuss with him." At that moment, she already had a pen and notebook in her hand, her face suddenly serious.

"Buchou's in trouble?" Echizen remarked with a smirk. "Heh. This year's not going to be so boring after all."

Fuji looked at his teammate and smiled. "With that in mind, Echizen, would you do the honors of informing Tezuka that there is someone who wants to talk to him?" His smile turned devilish when Echizen's face suddenly paled, his mind reeling with the possible consequences of being the bearer of bad news to their apparently 'in a bad mood' captain.

"Whatever." Ryoma obliged while pulling down the brim of his cap, secretly dreading for Tezuka's possible reaction, with a stranger suddenly wanting to see him and actually had the audacity to interrupt their practice when the first tournament was only weeks away!

"Eh? That's the famous Echizen? Hm... I guess like father, like son."

Fuji's eyes widened at how much the stranger knew. "Sorry, but I didn't catch your name," he said politely, his smile still pleasant. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Tezuka approaching with a gloomy Echizen in tow. It seemed like the freshman had exhibited unnecessary cockiness while informing the captain about the stranger. That definitely was a wrong move, especially when Tezuka was in such a bad mood.

Even before the young woman could introduce herself to Fuji, Tezuka had arrived and greeted in that monotonous voice of his, "Good afternoon." Was all he said at first while looking at the unknown woman with his penetrating gaze. "I am Kunimitsu Tezuka, captain of the Seigaku Tennis Club. My teammate says you wish to discuss something with me."

The next moment, everyone's attention was directed towards the mysterious woman, her identity soon to be revealed.

She smiled at everyone's anticipation. "I am Kogane Era, a journalist from Japan Daily. And I was hoping you'd accept an interview from me." Her voice resounded loud and clear throughout the suddenly silent tennis courts.


Heaving a heavy sigh, she dragged the black trash bag through the back and front lawn before she placed it in the garbage bin located just beside the Ryuuzaki household mail box. Reaching the house at around four pm, the first thing Sakuno did was clean the house. She swept, dusted, washed, and polished. It had been several days since the house was last cleaned that she could already feel dust tickling her nostrils. Not only that, but currently lacking the presence of Sumire who usually was her look-out when it came to accident-prone objects, she bumped into three flower pots while working around in the garden, tripped in the stairs as she attempted to catch the pieces of paper she attempted to file neatly; thus, resulting her crashing into a nearby vase, broke two pieces of china while polishing some dinnerware, and a whole lot more catastrophes that gave her a massive headache. After enduring three hours of house management without a break, her entire body felt like it had undergone a hundred hits from Echizen's twist serve, and she knew that she could just collapse right there and then. As she made her way around the house, her eyes were already drooping that it made her wonder if Fuji-senpai would give her a pat on the back for almost being at par with him in walking around with eyes closed.

By the time she finished all household chores for the day, she felt like she was half dead. She was tired. She stunk. And she was starving. Sakuno plopped herself on the living room couch and closed her eyes for a few moments of rest. She wondered if she could survive the entire duration of her grandmother's absence after experiencing a dose of living home alone (hell!) for the first time. With fatigue quickly engulfing both her mind and body, Sakuno was on the brink of entering dreamland when her momentary serenity shattered in the blink of an eye.

DING DONG

Sakuno was still slightly disoriented as she headed for the front door. Without even thinking, she opened it, totally disregarding her current state and appearance.

It felt like she was dumped a bucket of cold water at the sight of the person she just happened to open the door to. For the next moments, all she could do was stare at the unexpected visitor. Red quickly crept to her face when she was finally hit by a big boulder of realization. She could just see it in the headlines the next day: A Girl Dies of So Much Embarrassment!

"T-T-Tezuka-senpai?!"

How she wished that she could just be swallowed by the earth to end all sufferings and humiliation.

For the past five minutes, the Ryuuzaki living room was enveloped with an awkward silence. Sakuno couldn't bring herself to stop fidgeting from the heavy scrutiny she was receiving from Tezuka. Seigaku Tennis Club's Famous Captain. One of Japan's Top Teen Tennis Player. The person lacking the gift of smile… in her living room. How was she supposed to react to that? She never even expected someone as glorious as he to step foot in her house ever! Most especially that he just had to show up when she smelled like sweat, covered in grime, and had the response capacity of a wall. Not to mention that talking to Tezuka-senpai was like talking to a wall… so a wall to wall conversation for the night. How wonderful. But why was he in her house in the first place?!

Sakuno cleared her throat and forced herself to speak. "Uhm… W-Why are you here… T-Tezuka-senpai?" she stuttered. How Tezuka was looking at her was really starting to bother her for some reasons. She wondered if he could smell her from where he was. The thought made her panic. She was getting paranoid.

Tezuka's forehead started to crease. "What happened to you, Ryuuzaki—"

"I-I'm sorry I stink!"

Tezuka blinked.

There was silence for the next moments as the older teen merely stared at Sakuno, whose face was currently buried in one of the couch's pillows. Before she even dove for cover, he caught a glimpse of her burning face that it worried him if he should already ask a doctor to come over.

"I don't smell anything, Ryuuzaki." Tezuka's voice resounded in the silent house, the tone firm and reassuring. He then shifted his gaze to an area where remnants of a porcelain vase still lay on the floor. From what he could see, the house was still pretty normal apart from the mess by the stairs. But still, he wondered. "What happened here?" It was a demand.

Sakuno visibly stiffened at the tone of voice her senpai used on her. From the corner of the pillow, she peeped at the boy just sitting across. He was looking at her with that scary glare of his. She immediately straightened up and mumbled, "I was cleaning the house, senpai."

Tezuka blinked yet again. "How dirty was the house?"

Sakuno instantly reddened at the fact that Tezuka seemed to notice every single detail. She was feeling more uncomfortable as moments passed by of intense staring. Why had the heavens brought Tezuka to her house anyway?!

Just when she was about to ask once again, her stomach grumbled.

Tezuka blinked repeatedly for the third time that night.


Sakuno was practically at loss for words. She couldn't bring herself to say anything at what was currently happening. Her senpai was by the counter, chopping vegetables. She couldn't believe her eyes. She just couldn't. Tezuka-senpai cooking??? No way! But no matter how hard she rubbed her eyes, it really was the stoic captain making miso soup. At first she thought her ears were playing tricks on her when Tezuka offered to make her dinner and asked her to take a bath. She wasn't sure if it was her expression that caused Tezuka to pat her head, but at that gesture, she understood that Tezuka's asking her to take a bath did not mean that he was offended with however she smelled. He was merely concerned for her. She blushed when he asked where the kitchen was, and she kindly showed him the way, her face burning the entire time.

"Uhm… Aren't your parents looking for you, senpai?"

"They know I'm here."

Sakuno blushed even more. "B-But don't you have more important things to do… like homework?" she whispered as she shyly watched Tezuka's continuous chopping of vegetables.

"I've finished all of them."

"Oh…"

There was silence as Sakuno merely watched her senpai work in the kitchen, still amazed at the fact that Tezuka was in her house… and cooking! She wasn't sure how many times she actually attempted to insist that she can cook by herself for the past minutes, but Tezuka had been giving off this weird aura that said: 'Do not disturb'. So, she gave up.

"Ryuuzaki, have you taken a bath yet?"

Sakuno was out of the kitchen faster than lightning.


KRING KRING

Tezuka stared at the phone as it rang relentlessly for the fifth time. He had just finished making the girl's meal, and he decided to wait for her in the living room when the phone started to ring. He turned his gaze towards the stairs for any sign of Sakuno picking it up herself, but there was still no sight of the girl. With a sigh, Tezuka stood up from the living room couch.

KRING KRING

"Moshi moshi…"

"Hello, Sakuno? How are you?"

Tezuka almost dropped the phone.

"Oh no! I forgot obaa-chan's going to call tonight!" Sakuno's voice sounded in the house's upper floor.

For the first time, Seigaku's Tennis Captain did not know what to do. He could hear Sakuno's hurried footsteps and continuous rants that it worried him the girl might trip again. Just as he decided to head towards the stairs to hand Sakuno the wireless phone… an unexpected sight greeted him. By the stairs was Sakuno dripping wet, clad in only a towel.

"T-Tezuka-senpai?!"

"TEZUKA?!" Sumire's voice reverberated in the deathly silent house.


"Y-You should have said so earlier, senpai…" Sakuno's eyes had still not made contact with Tezuka's even if she had already started talking to him. "Uhm… Y-You wouldn't have been bothered with a lot of things if you chose to inform me beforehand…"

Right after Sumire overheard everything and took it in a different way (it was 8pm that time and any boy left alone in a girl's house would be suspected), Tezuka braved himself to explain himself as Sakuno took time to dress up. He explained that he came over for the reason of personally informing Sakuno that she had passed the interview and was now part of the editorial board. Sakuno heard Tezuka's statement and was obviously surprised at the fact that she passed. Moreover, having her senpai come all the way to her house for that reason! Sumire, who found it quite queer for a boy to be with a girl all alone in a house, still trusted the righteous captain's words and then proceeded into talking to her precious granddaughter. After the call, everything had just been plain awkward between the two.

They were currently by the dining room table, and Sakuno had just finished eating Tezuka's prepared meal. Which in her opinion was absolutely delicious by the way. Was there anything Tezuka-senpai wasn't good at?

"I apologize for not informing you earlier… it's just that your appearance was much unexpected," he explained, pokerfaced.

Tezuka-senpai does have a flaw… He doesn't smile… Sakuno thought sadly. "Uhm… It's alright, senpai. And I'm sorry for… appearing like that, I guess." she said with a small smile, hoping that this would spur the desired reaction. "And… did I really pass?"

Tezuka nodded, but did not smile. He heard Sakuno sigh as he got something from his pocket. It was a white envelope and a business card. Just as she was getting the items from Tezuka, her fingers slightly brushed his that it instantly made her jerk. His calculating gaze never left Sakuno's face as she began to read the letter and pretended to have not acted weirdly just a moment ago. Then she turned to read the business card.

"K-Kogane Era?" she cried surprised. "How did you get her card, senpai?"

"Seigaku was offered to be interviewed and featured in the teen sports section of Japan Daily."

Sakuno squealed. "Wow! Kogane Era's offer is a good opportunity, senpai! Uhm… You said yes?" Her eyes were almost twinkling.

"I said no."

"And obaa-chan would be surprised to see you in the newspaper when she comes back—" she stopped midway. Sakuno turned to her senpai with eyes wide and mouth hanging open. "N-No?"

Tezuka was as impassive as ever. "There are tournaments to worry about, Ryuuzaki. We can't afford to let our guard down and waste a day for an interview." He said this with so much conviction that it gave Sakuno no room to argue. And at his statement, it proved that Tezuka was serious about bringing Seigaku to another glorious victory. "You can have the card."

At what Tezuka said, Sakuno looked at her senpai as if he had just declared his undying love for her. "T-Thank you so much, senpai. You went all the way here to tell me that I passed and… uhm… thank you. For everything…" she muttered. Her face was averted from Tezuka's gaze in an attempt to hide her red face.

"Just do your best and remember we'll support you all the way." When she turned to look at her senpai, it was then she saw - for the second time - a potential smile on Tezuka's face. It made her feel good, as if her fatigue had just ebbed away.

"Thank you, senpai… for coming all the way from your house to tell me this. I-It must have been a bother…"

Tezuka shook his head. "It wasn't… I don't live thatfar."

But still... Thank you, senpai. Sakuno smiled.


Breathe in. Breathe out.

"Okay, Sakuno, this is it…"

Slowly, she turned the knob and pushed the door open. There were five pairs of eyes directed towards her upon entrance. Shyly making her way inside the room, she took a seat in the front row where it was most deserted. She could still feel everyone's gaze on her back, but she decided to ignore it and began looking around the room instead. Where she was currently was going to be where she'll spend most of her afternoons from now on: The Newspaper Circle's office – the place where she'll hopefully belong. In truth, Sakuno had never felt more nervous as soon as she stepped foot right outside the office that afternoon. She did not know what she was getting herself in; whether it was really going to be a helpful experience or just bring forth pain. But, all she knew was that she decided to enter this new world of writing for her senpai-tachi. For Ryoma-kun, Kaidoh-senpai, Momo-senpai, Kikumaru-senpai, Oishi-senpai, Inui-senpai, Kawamura-senpai, Fuji-senpai, and Tezuka-senpai…

"Ryuuzaki-san?"

Sakuno smiled delightfully when she saw who it was. "Natsume-san." The two did some catching up before they shifted towards the topic of the Circle itself. "Uhm… So is this all of us?" she asked curiously.

"Mr. Yagami mentioned in the interview yesterday that there will be eight chosen people for the editorial board. These are the editors in News, Features, Literary, Sports, Opinion, Layout, Cartoon, and Photography… and there are only six of us at the moment…"

Suddenly, the door flung open.

"Well, I guess there are eight of us now…" Ayame muttered while eyeing the girls who just entered the room. One of whom aired the condescending aura that belonged to only one person in Seigaku.

Sakuno's heart was pounding so hard that it almost hurt. It was Watannabe Meira seated a few chairs away from her. Inside The Newspaper Circle office. How was she supposed to survive the year now? She planned on not letting Meira see her, afraid but almost certain that she'd be getting some sort of death threat from her after the meeting. She just knew that she could do nothing against the senior, especially that she had cronies that surrounded her every minute. But fate was against her that day because Meira decided to look her way. Before she broke the eye contact, for the second time, she saw the blazing eyes which almost made her appear like she was on the brink of committing bloody murder.

A few seconds later, the office door opened again. It was Yagami-sensei. The room was suddenly silent as the moderator took a seat by the desk in front of the room. He began browsing through his folders, picked, and opened one of them. Then he turned to the rest seated quietly across him.

"Good afternoon, everyone," he greeted as a smile slowly made its way on his face. "Let's have attendance check."

Watannabe Meira was the first to be called, her grin taunting as she turned Sakuno's way. Igahara Hikari appeared to be Meira's friend for the fact that she had given her disdainful glances several times. Misora Aki was the silent bob-haired girl seated at the far-end corner of the room. Masuda Toshiro was the boy with jet-black hair who was as tall as Momoshiro-senpai, but looked like Tezuka-senpai. Uchimura Yuka was the boy beside Toshiro and had exactly the same build as him except for the fact that he was opposite Toshiro-senpai's personality, loud and cheerful. Otake Kumi was the four-eyed, red-haired beauty seated at the other far-end corner of the room. Natsume Ayame was obviously the very friendly girl beside her. And when it had been Sakuno's name called, she had never felt so happy to say 'present'. She was part of the circle. And that meant she could show full-blown support to her senpai-tachi once more.

News Editor:

Literary Editor:

Features Editor:

Sports Editor:

Layout Editor:

Opinion Editor:

Cartoon Editor:

Photography Editor:

Sakuno's heart missed a beat. Yagami-sensei had just finished writing on the glass board and anticipation hung thickly in the air. It was the moment of truth.

Meira's smile was from ear to ear, absolutely confident that she just attained the position she wanted: Features Editor. She looked at Sakuno with such malevolence that the auburn-head almost melted at the intensity of the senior's gaze. Sakuno could feel the blatant hatred radiating off of Meira. Feeling intimidated, she turned to Yagami-sensei who had resumed writing on the board. This time, he was writing down names beside each position. Toshiro's name beside News Editor; Ayame's name beside Literary Editor; Features Editor was left blank.

Sakuno's heartbeat pounded faster. It was left blank. From the corner of her eye, she saw a wave of confusion hit Meira, too. What's going on?

Aki's name was beside Sports Editor; Kumi's name was beside Layout Editor; Opinion Writer was left blank. Hikari's name was beside Cartoon Editor, and Yuka's name was beside Photography Editor. All eyes were on Sakuno and Meira right after Mr. Koga finished writing. At the next moment, Meira's hand shot up in the air. "Sir, if I may ask… what position did I get?"

Mr. Koga smiled. "Well, Ryuuzaki and you did a great job in the interview. You have impressed Mr. Tamamura, Ms. Kogane and I so much," he started. "… that we decided to give both of you a chance to get the position you want."


"Nya! Life had never been more boring…" Kikumaru whined as he back-flipped towards the locker rooms in boredom after practice that very afternoon. "If only Tezuka accepted the interview with Kogane-san, I'll be happily roaming around to flaunt my face off to the neighborhood!"

"But you have to understand Tezuka's reason for rejecting it, Eiji," Oishi said. "We really do have to prepare for the upcoming tournament. Especially now that Echizen has joined us."

"Why is everyone making such a big deal of my return…" Echizen mumbled as he passed by his conversing senpai-tachi.

"As I was saying! Tezuka had made life so boring!" Kikumaru whined yet again. "Can't you do something about it Oooishi? You're vice-captain, aren't you?"

"And Tezuka's captain."

"A currently boring one!"

"Sorry to interrupt. But I beg to differ in that statement, Kikumaru…" Inui managed to wedge himself in between the Golden pair without them even noticing. Both Oishi and Kikumaru leapt away from the data man at his sudden appearance.

"Nya, Inui! You almost gave me a heart attack! Stop doing that! You're like a mushroom!" Kikumaru frantically waved his hands in the air.

"What were you saying, Inui?" Oishi turned to the data man who was in the middle of contemplating how exactly he was a mushroom. "Why do you say that Tezuka is not boring?"

Inui's eyeglasses glinted as if on cue, his smirk so mischievous that it almost made Oishi and Kikumaru scram. Almost. But they didn't move an inch… because they themselves were curious as to how Tezuka became 'un-boring' for the first time.

"I called the Tezuka household around 8pm last night and someone picked up…"

Oishi blinked. Kikumaru cried, "That's it?!"

Inui pushed his glasses nearer the bridge of his nose as he flipped a page from his data notebook. "…and said that Tezuka was in Ryuuzaki's house." he ended and shut his notebook close.

Oishi's soul had currently left his body as Kikumaru was already out of sight to spread the news. The two shouldn't have instantly jumped to conclusions, but it was all Inui's fault, really.


Sakuno didn't know what made her dare think that approaching Tezuka-senpai was going to end all her current problems. With every step she took towards the tennis courts, it was as if gravity pushed her to the world's very core. Oh, it wasn't soothing words she needed. It wasn't his comforting pats either. She was going to ask something big from him. But she was desperate! She had nowhere else to go. She couldn't back out now that she had gone as far as landing in The Newspaper Circle's editorial board. She could feel everyone's eyes on her as she made her way through the courts to reach the captain directly across, but she tried her best to ignore them. Luckily practices were over, so it wasn't that difficult to have Tezuka spare a few minutes of his time for her.

The rest of the regulars held their breath (save for Echizen) as they watched Sakuno head towards their captain without hesitation.

"Ryuuzaki-san really is approaching Tezuka-senpai," Momoshiro's eyebrows were knotted. From the corner of his eye, he looked at Echizen. And quite unexpectedly, the young prodigy looked interested.

"Are our suspicions coming true?" Oishi asked quite worried, his gaze never leaving Sakuno and Tezuka. "Would it be alright to leave them be?"

"Tezuka is Ryuuzaki-san's big brother at the moment, isn't he? It shouldn't be much of a surprise that Ryuuzaki-san will approach him," Kawamura remarked.

"But it still is intriguing in some way…" Fuji opened his eyes. "I've never seen Ryuuzaki-san have that boldness before. She must be comfortable around Tezuka to approach him without hesitation."

"Ryuuzaki-san is buchou's girlfriend?" Kaidoh murmured to himself. At the words he just uttered, he was suddenly hit by a random tennis ball. He looked around for the possible culprit, but the only suspicious difference in the scene was Echizen heading towards the vending machine.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go closer to find out!" Kikumaru ushered excitedly.


"… Please walk me home, senpai."

Tezuka's eyes widened at the sudden fire he saw in Sakuno's gaze. It was the same fire when they had found the girl slumped on the cold floor of the girl's restroom. With that thought it mind, the Seigaku captain immediately came into the conclusion that the freshman wasn't asking him to walk her home for the reason that she was irrevocably in love with him or anything, but because she had to talk to him about 'business'. Without a straightforward response, what Tezuka did was grab his tennis bag, slung it over his shoulder, and said:

"Come on."

It surprised the girl that her senpai had consented so easily. But she didn't complain even if it made her wonder why. The walk home had been silent, with Sakuno fidgeting awkwardly the entire time. She wasn't really sure how she was going to introduce her situation to her senpai. The two walked side by side without them realizing that there were six snoopy regulars tailing behind.

Tezuka watched his anxious kouhai from the corner of his eye. "What's wrong, Ryuuzaki?"

Instantly, Sakuno turned to her senpai, "The position I want in the board is up for grabs… And I need to earn it by creating a features article on an interview made by a professional." Sakuno's eyes were pleading.

Everything instantly clicked in Tezuka's mind.

"A-And I was hoping that Kogane Era's invitation would help me in this one…" Sakuno said softly, her spirits slowly crumbling as she saw Tezuka as expressionless as ever. "I know it's very selfish of me to only consider myself … b-but I honestly don't know where else to go…"

Sakuno was interrupted when Tezuka placed his hand on top of the girl's head. And it was at what she saw the next moment that all worries had drifted away.

The unexpected curved line on Tezuka's face had definitely set things straight.

TBC


Up next: How Sakuno spends her Saturday afternoon with the Seigaku regulars! Definite fun, fun and fun! But the question is, why is Sakuno spending her Saturday afternoon regulars when her senpai-tachi really should be practicing? Wait and read the next update to find out!

Review? :3