Bribe me

By Jerui

Author's note: Okay. I'm sorry for this very, very, very late update. I got obsessed by something and I was distracted after our semester ended last march.

For those who subscribed and reviewed, thank you guys. Hope you give me a review this chapter and support me. I was actually a bit lost right now on what to do with this since I have low feedback. I just don't know if it is actually a good read.

This is unedited. Constructive criticisms, grammar improvement, and plot suggestions are always welcome.

Anyway, here it is. You must not forget to review. I'll only update if I got five reviews. :P:P

Chapter 3 Confusion

The past few days after the tournament have been strange.

The day after, it was bad because I was late and I have class duty with Ryuuzaki-san. The most bewildering part is that she didn't get angry. But is that how you would normally take it?

I was panting, my hand on the door, the other holding my blazer and my bag.

"Ryuuzaki-san! Sorry, I was late!" and then I bowed. Whispers broke out. There's no helping it, I wasn't able to comb my hair, and my uniform might be a bit shriveled because of running and my tie not properly knotted. Or maybe they are talking about something else? Whatever.

I tuned them out.

Argg, whenever I remember my stupid old man not waking me up saying I was on the age that I should wake up on my own pisses me off!

I looked up at her and she was just standing there, not looking my way but all the same she said that it's alright that I was late. Weird. She wasn't like that towards me before. She's even stuttering!

I approached her and told her that I'll do the chores in the afternoon but she said that she'd still help, still not looking at me.

After that, during lunch, she offered me a packed meal during break. Usually, I buy bread or any other food available at the food stall; I seldom bring a packed lunch made by my mother. Of course, a lawyer doesn't have that much time.

Ryuuzaki even invited me to eat to the rooftop, but Horio and his gang were there so it was noisy.

Astonishingly, the bento contained fried fish, rice and tamagoyaki which I like. I repressed the urge to look at her questioningly. And then it came to me that maybe, just maybe, it was a coincidence.

After that, she called me out almost every day, to eat lunch. There were times that it was just the two of us, sharing a silence I enjoy one way or another. Each day, the packed meal would contain my favorite Japanese homemade food, tasting almost like my mom's cooking. Just how in the world did this happen? Is she a stalker? Was she somehow able to contact my dad? Maybe that old coach did?

Why though?

And I don't get it.

She would blush whenever she give me stuff. One time, she handed me a Ponta (reminding me the day of the tournament). That time, she didn't flush so why the hell is she now? It gives me the wrong impression that she might have just fallen in love with me after seeing me playing, that she likes me or something.

Or she is?

And it went on for two weeks even after the class duties.

It was like waiting for a confession, every time she asks me to eat with her, her cheeks red, her eyes not looking straight at me, and she fidgets from time to time. And then what was weirder about it was I wasn't thinking of rejecting her if ever she confesses. Damn it.

…

Ryoma,

I'll be staying in Japan for a real! Can you believe it? I finally got my parents (especially papa) to let me come to your country! Yay! Can Aunt Rinko let me stay at your house? I'll be coming in a month. I was also admitted to your school so we'll be schoolmates (and maybe classmate!). I improved my Japanese language proficiency too!

Anji

That stupid old man! He's nuts but it gets more confusing when he says that my letters are love letters from some weird girls. Lucky I read this one. It was from a relative in America.

Anji Matsuyama is Aunt Reiko's child, a relative on my mother's side. Aunt's husband is American so Anji ended up having foreign sounding name.

I went down and found my mother in the kitchen, cleaning.

"Ma, Anji's coming over," I informed my mom, grabbing the milk carton from the fridge and pouring some in a mug.

"Yes, yes. I was informed by my sister. I was about to prepare her room in a week's time," she replied. "It's so nice to have a girl at home. I wonder when you will bring a girlfriend…" she added with a scrutinizing stare as I drank my milk.

"It is troublesome." Yeah, seriously mom, you don't know what trouble I am in right now, feelings all muddled up, not knowing what decision to make. I'm not even sure that I like her but she was just so good at cooking…and her hair was the same color as my mom's which I very much like plus those clear brown eyes…

EH? WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?

"Wait, a week? Didn't aunt say that she'll be here in a month?"

"You just opened your letter? That was two weeks ago…" and then she added. "You are very much unlike your father…I wonder if it's a bad or a good thing….."

"Hn," here we go again. I don't want to be compared to that perverted old man. I don't have a melon fetish.

I wonder how my mom ended up marrying him.

"My son spends too much time on tennis… no friends either… I wonder if we did something wrong while he was growing…I hope things go right with—" I heard her babble as I go upstairs.

I sighed. It wasn't the first time that my mom opened up this topic. It's not that I don't want a girlfriend. It's just that I don't want to pick randomly.

I think I liked somebody in America ages ago, because she has the same shade of eye color as my mom and a warm smile.

I was young though.

And what the hell is growing up anyway? I see nothing different from when I was a child up until now… maybe having a perverted father made me unaware…no, scratch that…indifferent about the those things up until now.

I lied down on my bed.

"Meow."

Karupin climbed up and lied down over my stomach. I automatically stroked him and scratched his ear gently.

It was the day of the entrance ceremony. The wind blew gently, making cherry blossom petals fall attractively. As I entered the gym that was almost full, I found an empty seat near the front beside a brunette with twin braids. (I need to be as close as possible to the stage because I was the top student who got the highest score on the exam.).

"Can I sit here?" I asked, looking at her.

She turned and looked at me with a smile, her clear brown eyes looking at me unwavering, strong and then suddenly my heart skipped a beat.

The scene dissolved.

"Ryoma, why didn't you take a look on our tennis club? Don't you want to join?" Sumire Ryuuzaki, old man's middle and high school coach, confronted me a week after the entrance ceremony.

I was standing inside the faculty office, facing her across the table and she was sitting, checking and examining her chart.

"No."

"And why is that?" she looked up to me.

"It's nothing." On the contrary, I looked down from the window to the courts as they practice. I can tell that the other members aside from the regulars are average. I find them pitiful but I haven't watched the regulars play. They must be good, bringing the team on the nationals last year.

First years aren't allowed to play until summer.

And I'm just fine being alone.

"Is there any way I can convince you to join?"

"There's none. I came to Seishun just to study."

I went out the room and then I was looking again at a pair of clear brown eyes.

"I give this to you as thanks for saving me at the train earlier," Sakuno Ryuuzaki said, holding out a can of Ponta. I reached out my hand-

Suddenly I was in my room, on my bed.

….

Damn it. What the hell is wrong with me?

"Hey. Go out with me."

To be continued..