Secrets

Harumi spent the next two hours going from shop to shop and restaurant to restaurant, looking for work, but her mind was miles away from her purpose. Besides, all the spots had already been filled by high school students who had applied early for a summer job.

After yet another unsuccessful visit to a clothes store in downtown, it was getting too hot and her feet were killing her. She stopped for ice cream and ate it without knowing how it tasted, sitting at an outdoor café, under the shadow of the colourful umbrella erected in the middle of the circular table.

Her thoughts fleeted an instant to the conversation she'd had with Fuji that morning about Eiji's situation, but it was soon replaced by Fuji's eyes, so blue and so dark, bearing onto her. She stood up and walked away, throwing the unfinished cone in the garbage.

It was nearing 6pm as she walked back to Amaya's house and dropped her butt on the bed. Sighing, she lied down and closed her eyes.

She was almost falling asleep when a French tune startled her back to wakefulness. She rummaged through her hand bag with her eyes half closed and then opened her cell phone.

"Moshi mosh?" She mumbled from the side of her mouth.

"Hey Harumi! Amaya here! How was your job hunting?"

"Remarkably unproductive."

"Oh, I see. How come I'm not surprised?"

Harumi pouted. "Hey, somehow you're making this sound like it's my fault? Blame those high school kids. I just can't compete with their eagerness to throw their summer away."

There was a silence on the other end of the line. "Was that the only reason you were so unproductive?"

Harumi twitched. Damn that Amaya for always being so perceptive.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" She asked.

Amaya paused. "Depends? How personal?"

"Very, very personal."

There was another pause. "Well, now you're scaring me. So, ask away."

Harumi took a deep breath and started counting the patterns on the ceiling.

"Hello?"

Harumi turned over onto her belly and stared at the phone for awhile. Just stared at it. Then put it back against her ear: "Have… you... I mean. You know."

"Harumi, you're not making a lot of sense right now."

"I know. Pretend I didn't say anything."

She cut off Amaya in mid-sentence by hanging up. She counted to three before the phone started ringing again.

"You did not just hang up on me."

"Yeah, no, sorry. The call got cut."

"Ha ha. Right." Amaya's sarcasm faded away and concern crept into her voice. "Harumi, are you all right? Did something happen? Why are you acting so weird?"

Harumi's cheeks felt like they were on fire. She couldn't possibly ask Amaya over the phone. "I'll tell you later, ok? In person."

"O-kay. Now you're really worrying me. The only reason I'm not rushing home this instant is because I have to go have dinner with Oishi. I promised him I would and I can't get out of it now, especially since we are both busy and we haven't seen each other in awhile. He'd kill me if I ditched him tonight. Can you hang on until I get back?"

Harumi frowned, and then laughed. "Amaya, it's not that serious. Take your time on your date."

She ended the call and lied on her bed, staring out at the sun still bright outside her window. She enjoyed the way the days were longer in the summer, stretching until 9pm when the sun finally descended below the mountains at the confines of the city. Usually, lying on her bed and staring outside the window into the skies could always calm her down, but today she felt restless.

After a good stretch, she lifted herself off the bed, and leaving the shopping bags where they were, she went to the bathroom to quickly fix her hair and her clothes before grabbing her wallet and exiting the house.

She remembered this little ramen restaurant that she had been to before with the girls, but she couldn't remember exactly where it was. As she walked down the familiar street, she noticed that there were some changes. Some shops had disappeared, being replaced by new ones. She paused outside the tennis store at the corner of the street, and stared at the tennis shoes displayed just inside the window.

She continued her leisure walk and soon passed by the busy part of downtown to reach the area near her old middle school Seigaku.

She walked up some stairs and spotted the courts for street tennis. Some players were already on the courts, exchanging shots, and a band of guys of around 15 or 16 years old were battling it out on the center court, screaming, hollering and jumping excitedly up and down. They really reminded her of how the male Seigaku tennis team used to be.

Still were.

She smiled and pursued her walk. The last court of the area was separated from the others by a wall. It was sometimes reserved for people who wished to train for tournaments, but there was a fee to be paid for the reservation.

She peeked around the wall because she could hear the sound of ball meeting racket. What she saw made her stop and jerk back. Biting her lip, she breathed in deeply and peeked again.

And there was Eiji.

He was running all over the half of the court closer to where she was, hitting back balls to none other than Kirihara. She neared the wall for a better look, her heart beating wildly as if she was spying on something she wasn't supposed to see.

Eiji was running from right to left, reaching out his racket to return the balls that Kirihara was mercilessly smashing against the corners. They were both panting and sweating abundantly, with Kirihara's curly locks of black hair placated against his forehead and Eiji's red hair wet against the base of his neck.

She watched them for a moment, and then decided it was better to just go. She had promised Mai that she wouldn't go near him. Encountering him here was an accident, but lingering and eventually attracting his attention would be asking for it. However, there was something weird about the scene before her eyes that she couldn't put her finger on.

Eiji turned around to run after the ball, and Harumi quickly stepped back behind the wall, cringing at the possibility that Eiji had seen her standing there. When she peeked again, Eiji had both hands on his knees, panting wildly. He must have missed the ball then. How very unlikely of him.

The young girl frowned, and her glance travelled up to the other half of the courts where Kirihara was regaining his breath, his racket swung over his shoulder. Kirihara wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, revealing a smirk.

"Come on Kikumaru. Are you really this pathetic?"

Harumi frowned, her hands clenching into fists unconsciously. Eiji scrambled up on his feet and good naturedly wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Sorry. Let's try again." He said in between breaths.

He picked up his racket and resumed his position. Kirihara's smirk didn't disappear as he served the ball hard. Harumi itched closer to the corner of the wall, her hands grabbing the edges of it anxiously.

Eiji returned the ball with a groan, and a rally broke out.

After three or four more exchanges, realization dawned on her. The match in front of her eyes had felt so wrong because Eiji wasn't doing the acrobatics that he normally did. He was running around the court, but there was not the usual alertness to his moves. Harumi wondered for how long he had been training. He looked exhausted.

Kirihara smashed a ball to the left corner with such a speed that the ball was a blur. She thought for sure Eiji wouldn't catch that one, but he jumped sideways, pushed on the ground with one hand, reached his racket hand and sent the ball back with a backhand.

"Yes!" She cheered quietly. However, Kirihara was right at the net, and his eyes had a scary light to them. His hand tightened on his racket as he smashed the ball right back onto Eiji's left wrist, causing him to collapse to the ground with a grunt of pain as he dropped his racket to cradle his left wrist in his right hand.

Harumi felt her heart literally stop. Her friends had told her how dirty Kirihara had played against Fuji, but she didn't know how horrible it would be to witness that in person. Before she knew what she was doing, she was inside the court.

Eiji was standing up now, with his back still to her, but Kirihara saw her approaching from over Eiji's shoulder. His green eyes held a glint of surprise upon seeing her, before being replaced by amusement, which just made her even angrier. In a second, she was between him and Eiji, and she got into his space.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?"

Kirihara held up his hand not holding the racket. "Hey, hey! Who are you to ask me that? You do look familiar though…. mmm…"

Harumi's purple eyes glinted with fury. "You don't need to know who I am. Just get the hell away from Eiji!"

"H-Harumi?" She didn't need to turn around to see the surprise and shock on Eiji's face.

"It's okay Eiji - she said, eyes not leaving Kirihara's - you don't need to play with this jerk anymore."

Kirihara grunted in a dangerous voice. "Who are you calling a jerk?"

"I saw what you did! You despicable low-life! You shouldn't be allowed to hold a racket because all you do with it is hurt other people. You..."

She felt Eiji yank her back on the arm. "It's okay, Harumi. He's not..."

"You don't need to explain Eiji, I saw what he did to you! He's just a stupid boy who likes to bully others."

Seeing Kirihara's eyes harden, Eiji quickly twirled Harumi around, forcing her to face him. "Harumi, stop! Right now!"

Harumi eyed his face, at the way he was still panting slightly from the exercise, and her glance slid down to his wrist. "But he..."

Eiji twirled his wrist in front of her, and seeing that she was still sceptical, he twirled his racket around his wrist too, the way he always did before matches. Smiling at the look of mild disbelief on her face, he said in his most soothing tone. "See? No harm done!"

Harumi looked between them suspiciously.

"Why are you playing with him in the first place?"

Kirihara huffed and walked away. "We are done for today, Kikumaru."

"No... wait!" Eiji protested.

"I can't deal with girl drama, especially when it comes from this particularly annoying female specimen."

"What!" Harumi yelled after him, extremely offended. "What did you just call me? A specimen?"

Eiji winced and quickly patted her shoulder, trying to be soothing. "It's okay, let it go. He's really bad at taking insults, and you issued quite a lot of them back there."

Harumi watched in disbelief as Eiji tried not to laugh as he said that.

"You've got some explaining to do! What on earth are you doing with the likes of him?" She finally asked, forcing her voice to go back to a normal timbre.

Eiji walked back to his bench and put back his racket inside his bag. He then threw a towel around his neck. "We're just practicing tennis. He's my friend."

"Friend?" Harumi replied incredulously. She then held up his wrist. "What 'friend' would harm another friend on purpose?"

Eiji gently extricated his hand. "He's helping me. I'm glad he's doing this, because if he doesn't, I won't learn."

"Learn? Learn what?"

Eiji wet his lips, trying not to look into her eyes and started walking away from the court. Harumi strutted right beside him. "Learn what Eiji? What could you possibly learn from the likes of him?"

"Look, just... can you let it go? And don't tell the others either about you saw. Please?" He pleaded, looking at her innocently.

Harumi skidded to a halt in front of him, stopping his advance.

Yeah right, like playing cute can still work on me.

Except that it did. She felt her tone softening as she asked: "What's going on, Eiji?"

Eiji slowly wiped his sweat with the towel still around his neck. His eyes darted to her face, and then to his feet, and then back to her face.

Suddenly, Harumi's eyes widened. "I shouldn't be here…" she muttered anxiously as she peered around, afraid that Mai would pop out of nowhere.

Eiji closed his mouth and swallowed back the words that had been on the verge of flowing out of him.

"Yes. Why are you even here, Harumi?" He asked angrily.

"I..." Harumi backed down at his tone.

For a moment she had almost forgotten. She was suddenly very aware that they were alone together for the first time.

Eiji pushed past her and kept going. Harumi watched him leave, frozen on the spot, wondering what to do. After a few seconds, she ran after him, but he had already disappeared among the crowd at the turn of the next corner. Throwing back her head, she ran a tired hand through her hair and wearily turned around to walk back home. For the first time that day, her troubles concerning that look in Fuji's eyes were forgotten. But the new troubles that replaced the old ones were not that much better.

She was reminded of the thing with Fuji again when Amaya came home. But she didn't want to talk about it anymore, so she faked to be asleep and didn't answer when Amaya knocked on her door.

"What? You're leaving in two weeks?" Harumi asked Naoko, who nodded sadly.

"Yes. I only have one month of vacation, and that was already asking for a lot."

"Noooo, sister, you can't go." Naoki cried while holding on to her. Naoko sweatdropped a little and tried to push her off. "Moo, can you stop doing this in public?"

Naoki wiped an imaginary tear from her eye. "What's wrong with some public display of affection?"

"There's nothing wrong, but you are just faking yours!"

"OHH" Naoki exclaimed, clutching a hand to her chest. "You are so mean! Do you doubt my sisterly love for you? After all these years?"

"So, your program looks pretty hard Naoko." Amaya interceded promptly before Naoki could get more melodramatic than she already was.

"Well, skating isn't exactly a piece of cake. If you stop training, your adversaries will eat you alive at the next competition." Naoko wrung her hands nervously. "In fact, I'm starting to regret this one month of vacation. I know the other girls aren't taking any. I'm going to fall behind at this stage."

Chiharu grabbed her hand and forced her to stop wringing them. "It's alright. You are already twice as good as them, so all they will do in one month is catch up to you." She winked.

"What kind of skating do you do, Naoko?" Harumi asked after sipping her iced orange juice.

Naoko, Naoki, Chiharu, Amaya and herself were enjoying a girls' date on Sunday afternoon, when everyone was miraculously free from tennis practice, summer school and work at the same time.

"I do ice dancing." Naoko replied excitedly. "It's not all about the technique. It's also an art form."

"So… does that mean you have a partner?"

Naoko blushed. "Yes?"

"Oh my god!" Amaya exclaimed. "Come on Naoko, tell her all about your partner."

"What, is he hot?" Harumi asked, suddenly interested, while Amaya giggled excitedly.

Naoki swatted them both on the head with her napkin rolled into a tube. "Aren't you two ashamed of yourselves? You've both got boyfriends. What would Oishi and Fuji say if they could see you like this, hmm?"

Harumi massaged her head. "Well, they don't need to know, do they?"

Amaya winked. "Nope! So come on, Naoko, show us the PICTURE."

Naoko looked around with a pink shade to her cheeks and bit her lip while she slowly produced a picture from her wallet.

Chiharu snatched it away from her and examined it. "Heh! How come I've never seen this? Oh wow, he's so tall and fit!"

Naoki snatched the picture from Chiharu's hands. "Yeah, and he's got such nice grey eyes!"

Amaya snatched the picture from Naoki and pointed at his face. "Look at that face, Harumi! Isn't he the cutest thing? He could be a movie star with a face like that!"

Harumi peeked at the picture, and saw a pretty handsome young man, smiling at the camera. He had slightly curly blonde hair and a pair of intense looking grey eyes. He had his arms crossed and was visibly posing for the camera while standing tall on his skates. She nodded. "He's got a nice smile! You know… like one of those colgate smiles. If skating doesn't work out, he could always do ads for dentifrice."

Naoko snatched the picture back and huffed. "No such luck! He's a great skater. He knows how to lead on the ice. It's very easy to skate with him."

Harumi giggled. "Yes, I was kidding. You lucky girl! So, what's his name?"

"Kyon."

Harumi spat out the juice she'd just drank and burst out with laughter. "Kyon?"

"Yes, what?" Naoko asked defensively.

Harumi tried to stop laughing, but couldn't. Naoko glared at her, and also at the others, who were trying their best to hide their smiles as well. When Harumi finally calmed down, she wiped away tears from her eyes. "Well, no one's perfect."

"What's wrong with Kyon?" Naoko protested.

"Nothing, nothing, sister – Naoki patted her on the arm – it's an inspirational name. "And the winners of this round of ice skating are… Naoko and KYON"." She puffed behind her hand.

Naoko's eyes narrowed. Harumi was still snorting from her side of the table.

"Hey, how about we do a party to send Naoko off?" Amaya proposed quickly.

"Ehhh? Another party? – Chiharu complained – we just had one."

"What happened? You used to love parties." Harumi asked.

Chiharu waved her off. "I do. But two in two weeks? That's pretty… boring. How about we do something more original? It is summer after all."

"Do you have anything in mind?" Naoki asked.

"Well, on Sundays we are all free. And I'm sure one day of break for the boys from whatever they are doing can't hurt them. So how about next weekend we go on a trip?" She proposed excitedly.

"A trip? I'm not too sure." Naoki intervened carefully. "I'm kind of broke. I can't afford the ticket."

"It's okay, I can drive." Chiharu proposed.

"So can I but… - Naoki sighed – fine, where do you want to go?"

Chiharu hit a fist against her palm and smiled. "Well, that is the key question. It's still open for deliberation. But hopefully we will choose a place where I can get tanned. I need a beautiful complexion for the summer."

Naoko sighed. "I knew you weren't thinking of me when you proposed the trip."

Chiharu was offended. "Of course I did! It's for you to have fun with everybody! But I never said I couldn't benefit from it too."

"So? Any suggestions?" Amaya asked.

"How about… hiking?" Harumi suggested.

Chiharu frowned immediately. "Ummm, I was thinking more about a trip to the beach?"

"The beach is not original enough. And I hear you can get a better tan at the top of a mountain." Harumi confided seriously.

"What? For real?" Chiharu eyed Harumi's earnest eyes while the wheels turned inside her head. "Yosh! It's settled then! We will go hiking! Hooray!"

"Wait… what about our opinions?" Naoki protested.

"What, you have a better idea?"

"Well… not for the moment, but if you just let me…"

"Yosh, then it's settled then! We don't have time to waste. This requires preparation. And Amaya, Harumi, ask your boyfriends. They HAVE to come. If they do, the rest will follow. So I'm counting on you, okay?"

Amaya reluctantly nodded and turned to Harumi with a you-shouldn't-have-given-her-ideas look. Harumi shrugged and smiled apologetically. She had gone hiking once when she was in France and she had liked it.

In the meantime, Chiharu was continuing her excited rant. "… and canned food, and tents, because we will be at least spending one night there. I will google the nearest hikable mountain tonight and we will drive there next Friday. I'm sooo excited! I have been waiting for an opportunity to get away, and the more I think about this, the better of an idea it seems. This city can be so stuffing in the summer. You can barely breathe with all the activity going on here, don't you think? We will get fresh air up there at the mountains, and..."

Naoko raised her hand. "Waiter, we are done here." She muttered. "Seriously. It's supposed to be MY goodbye party but of course no one asks for my opinion…"

"It's okay, I know we don't indulge you much in here, but Kyon-san will make it up to you when you get back." Naoki whispered.

Naoko blushed. "No, it's not like that. We don't have that kind of relationship, okay?"

"… and that's that – Chiharu finally finished her rant and panted for air – okay, so… I have some place to be now. If you will excuse me… I will see you gals later!"

Chiharu squirted her way out of the table and dashed for the door.

"Well, looks like at least one of us is excited." Amaya sighed.

Harumi and Fuji were walking together towards the tennis courts for an early morning practice. Instead of going through the residential area, they passed by downtown that morning. Harumi walked happily beside him with the soothing feeling of her tennis bag banging gently against her back at every step. It had been a few days since the "INCIDENT", like Harumi called it in her head now, and she had figured out that the best way to deal with this is to pretend it never happened, at least until she got to talk to Amaya about it. And to her surprise, it wasn't awkward with Fuji either, like she had feared.

Since it was early, the streets weren't as crowded yet, and Harumi watched with interest as people were setting up their products out on their street stands to get ready for the day.

"So what are your plans for today, Harumi?"

Harumi grinned up at him. "Well, you know that hiking trip I told you about last night? I was thinking about buying some of the necessities. I don't have anything that I can use. I mean, I used to own a camping tent back in France, but I didn't bring it here. And you? Do you have anything going on after practice?"

She was thinking maybe they could do some shopping together, since she knew she was going to go back downtown for the ring. They haven't really had a real date yet, and she knew it was typically the boys who asked the girls first, but it didn't need to always be that way, right?

"I'm really sorry Harumi, but I have something going on with my photography club."

"The one you joined in high school?"

Fuji nodded, and his lips spread out in a smile. Getting animated, he explained. "Yes! I'm in charge of the club along with two of my other classmates. And since we are all going to Tokyo University, we were thinking of going to various places during the summer and take pictures to use as an introduction to our new club at the university. What do you think?"

One of Fuji's other main passions beside tennis was photography, and she was happy to see him this enthusiastic.

"I think it's great! Where are you going this afternoon?"

"We are thinking of going by the river. Yuriko and Jiro want to take some pictures of the bridges."

"Yeah, it's pretty nice over there. Well, have fun!"

Fuji nodded excitedly and went on to talk about his beloved camera for awhile, how one had to catch the right angle with the luminosity, and how if he went on the bridge, he could take beautiful pictures of the river flowing into the center horizon. Harumi listened as they neared the boys' locker room beside the tennis courts.

"Show me the pictures you take, Syusuke!" Harumi asked.

"I will!"

They smiled at each other and Harumi balanced back and forth on the balls of her feet as she bit her lower lip. Fuji gently petted her head. "I'll go change now. See you on the courts."

"Yes! See you in a minute!"

She petted her own head where Fuji had touched her earlier, and then ran giddily to the girls' changing room. She went to her usual locker and started changing. Some whispering in the corner of the room caught her attention.

Maybe it's the other girls? That's weird though. I thought it would be only me and Mai here today.

She had hesitated at coming because she didn't think spending the whole morning with Mai was going to be a mood lifter, but then she had brushed it off. She wouldn't run away from Mai anymore. But anyway, it was weird that there would be someone in the locker room.

Curiously, she turned and peered into the second row of lockers. All she saw at first was a hand tangled in shiny black hair, which she then recognized as belonging to Amaya.

"Stop it… let me change! Oishi…" Amaya whispered unconvincingly and then fell quiet when Oishi bent down to kiss her neck. He was sitting on the bench, and she was sitting on his lap, facing him, with one leg to each side. One of his hands was gently caressing her hair, his fingers sliding effortlessly between the strands of black; his other hand, Harumi noticed with a deep blush, was underneath her friend's half buttoned blouse, running up and down the bare skin of her back.

"Come on – he whispered against her neck as she shivered at the closeness of his breath – let me help you change."

"No… you aren't helping at all. Stop, Tezuka is going to get mad at you for being late."

Her hands were slowly travelling the sides of his torso, however, and she looked like she had no intention of letting him go anytime soon. Their lips met for a languorous kiss and as Oishi slightly bent over her to accommodate her better, Harumi caught a glimpse of her friend's bra. She stopped breathing. She wanted to get out of there, but she couldn't move.

Oishi removed his hand from inside her blouse and dropped it to her thigh as he slowly trailed a finger over the pale skin lurking from underneath her skirt. He then grabbing her leg and pulled her closer to him, never interrupting the kiss. Amaya moaned.

Feeling her heart beat at 200 per minute, Harumi finally managed to unglue her feet from the ground and quickly stepped away. Still not breathing, she started to run towards the exit, flushed and embarrassed at witnessing such an intimate moment. She had never seen Amaya nor Oishi touch each other this way. She felt guilty for having seen what was not supposed to be seen.

Her foot got caught in her tennis bag lying against the bench and she let out a small scream, literally flying out of the locker room and falling on her hands at the threshold of the door.

"Itaaa!"

A few hours later found Harumi morosely sitting against the fence surrounding the tennis courts. Her right hand was bandaged, and because of that she hadn't been able to play. She unconsciously rubbed her hand as she watched Fuji and Takasan exchanging balls.

The image of Amaya and Oishi making out flashed behind her eyeballs.

"Ahhhh!" She screamed. "I need to unsee this!"

"Unsee what?"

She whipped her head upwards, meeting the stern glance of Tezuka.

"Hello Tezuka-san!" Harumi saluted him calmly.

Tezuka nodded back. "Yamazaki, I don't know why you are talking to yourself again, but I'm glad you are still here. Do you think you can do me a favour?"

Harumi inclined her head curiously. "What kind?"

"Do you know where Atobe lives?"

Harumi frowned. She remembered the party that Chiharu and Atobe had organized together back in the days before she had left Japan.

"Yeah, I remember how to get there. Do you want me to go to his house?" She asked a little incredulously.

Tezuka pushed up his glasses. "If you don't mind. I was playing a match against him the other day and left my rackets at his place. Just now, one of the strings snapped on this racket, so I really need those other ones."

"Please don't mind me asking this Tezuka-san, but… why can't you go yourself? I don't even know Atobe that well. It would be awkward for me to just go knocking on his expensive marble doors out of the blue."

Tezuka's expression didn't change. "I have to be here to keep an eye on them, especially Kikumaru. He tends to slack off when no one is watching him properly. And I don't want Inui handing out his juices behind my back either."

Harumi threw him a glance. He wasn't their captain anymore, but he still acted like one. She guessed that was a good thing.

"That's not true though!"

"It is certainly very true. Inui has gotten worse lately."

"No, no… I don't mean Inui. I mean Eiji is not the type to slack off. He…"

She bit her lip, remembering their encounter at the public tennis courts. He had asked her not to say anything. She wondered if his friends really did not know about him playing with Kirihara after he was done practicing with them.

"Yes?" Tezuka prodded, a slight frown breaking his poker face.

Harumi swallowed and jumped up to a standing position beside Tezuka. "I mean look! He's doing his acrobatics and all. Ohhh there, he just jumped really high! – she exclaimed by pointing a finger at his figure – oh look! Kaidoh just lost the match against him! Does that look like slacking off to you, Buchou?"

Tezuka carefully stepped away to maintain some respectable distance between them. He cleared his throat: "He is working hard today," he admitted. "So will you go get my rackets from Atobe?"

Harumi sighed. It wasn't as if she had much to do here anyway. None of the boys wanted to practice with her, not even her own boyfriend. They all underestimated her too much just because she was a girl! Feeling grumpy, she humphed and strolled away. "Yeah, why not. See you later Tez!"

Tezuka's eye muscle twitched at the unsophisticated nickname.

It didn't take her long to find Atobe's mansion, but it did take her fifteen minutes to find the entrance. She strolled around the massive property, going down countless streets by following the protective fence around the mansion until she finally came upon the main entrance door. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and pulled on her shorts and tshirt, feeling awfully underdressed to be standing in front of such a place.

Suddenly, she caught some movement from the corner of her eye, and lifting her head, was shocked to find a girl huddled on one of the trees outside the mansion fence. Upon closer inspection, she recognized that girl as being Chiharu. Her red hair was pulled up and hidden underneath a cap. She was wearing huge sunglasses and a scarf that looked too hot for this weather.

Chiharu was holding on for dear life to one of the branches of the tree while at the same time stretching her neck to peek inside across the nearest window. Harumi carefully walked to the foot of the tree.

"Knock knock."

Chiharu looked down at her, alarmed, and let out a scream as her foot almost slipped from the trunk.

"Harumi! What the hell are you doing here!"

"Ano… I think I should be asking YOU that question?"

Chiharu quickly looked around and signalled for her to lower her voice.

"Get back. Don't just stand there!"

As Harumi complied, she jumped down from the tree and landed gracefully on her feet. Clearing her throat, she quickly looked around to make sure that no one had seen.

"Are you stalking Atobe?" Harumi asked.

"What?" Chiharu retorted indignantly. "Don't be absurd! Why would I stalk that useless, selfish and sorry excuse for a man?"

"Then… why else would you be perched on a tree near the windows of… I'm guessing his living quarters?"

Chiharu's eyes widened, before she let out a laugh. "Since I don't want you to see me as a crazy stalker, I guess I have no choice but to tell you." She got close to Harumi's face and seriously whispered : "But you can't tell anyone, deal?"

Harumi nodded.

Chiharu looked around her, and then reproduced a camera that she wielded proudly. "Atobe's father is apparently trying to make him take on the family business. But is Atobe really fit to be the successor? I mean, with his personality and work standard, the company would be in ruins in no time. That guy, apart from tennis and girls, can't take anything else seriously. He has a party going on in his mansion at least three times per week, and there's never alcohol and girls lacking during those parties."

The redhead rolled her eyes. "I heard he's preparing another one tonight. His father is overseas a lot, so he has no idea what his precious son is doing with his money back at home. I'm going to catch him right in the act with this – she shook the camera – and expose what kind of person he really is. Then his future will be done for." She smiled devilishly.

Harumi blinked. "But… why do you even care that much? I know you guys broke up, but is there a reason to hold such a grudge against him? Whether he's a playboy or an irresponsible successor, it's got nothing to do with you anymore…"

She took an involuntary step back as Chiharu's green eyes suddenly turned dark with rage. She had never seen such a scary expression on her friend's face before and she was taken aback.

"Don't say those things easily." Chiharu hissed with her fist clenched around the camera. "That person ruined my life. So I'm going to ruin his. He will know that he messed with the wrong person."

Harumi took another step back and her shoulder hit the button for the intercom by accident.

Both girls froze and stared at each other with eyes the size of saucers. Then Chiharu's rushed to push Harumi aside, but it was already too late as the buzzing echoes of the intercom died within the mansion.

"What the hell are you doing?" Chiharu exclaimed, sweating profusely underneath her cap and scarf.

"Sorry, that was…"

But Chiharu wasn't listening. She quickly put the camera back inside her bag, and then turned to leave.

At that moment the gate was pushed open by no other than Atobe himself.

"Good afternoon ladies." He greeted them politely, tossing his freshly washed grey blue hair to one side.

He eyed Chiharu up and down with amusement. "Oh my, quite a… interesting fashion style you've got going on there."

Harumi watched Chiharu's back, scared of what her reaction might be, but after a few seconds of silence, she turned around and her face reflected nothing of the feelings she had harboured before. She eyed Atobe haughtily and removed her cap and scarf. "Well, I can't trust anything that you find "interesting", so I will be taking off these fashion garments now."

Atobe chuckled. "Oh, you don't need to do that, because "interesting" was not really a compliment from my part. So you can keep them on."

Chiharu clenched her fist slightly, and then relaxed them again. "Are you really one to talk about fashion?" She stepped close to him and eyed the green shirt he was wearing with disgust. "Green really doesn't suit you. Who is the incompetent fool who chose his piece of clothing for you? You should fire them immediately." Fake surprise then overcame her features as she tapped a fist to her palm. "Oh wait! I forgot that you actually pride in dressing yourself! So I guess you can't fire that incompetent fool after all. You are stuck with him for life. Poor you."

A brief look of annoyance passed in Atobe's grey eyes, but then he chuckled mockingly.

"This shirt came from Spain. It is made of the best material. I'm sorry you are too unrefined to appreciate its true worth."

Chiharu smirked. "100% silk or some shit? I know exactly what its worth is. But quality is not everything. You can't wear something that does not fit you, for only rich fools do so, and end up looking like clowns."

Atobe just eyed her condescendingly. "No matter what you think of my fashion, at least I have dignity."

Chiharu quirked her eyebrows and Atobe smirked triumphantly. "You are so naïve, Chiharu. You should know by now that ore-sama has cameras all around my magnificent property. And just a few minutes ago, one of them picked up something very… peculiar."

His eyes fell on the tree that Chiharu was perched on before. The redhead paled, and then her cheeks flared up in anger and embarrassment.

"I don't know why you would even do such a thing – Atobe drawled – do you miss me that much?"

Chiharu looked down at her hands, which felt sticky from the dirt and vines from the tree trunk. Without looking at him in the eye, she walked past him and smashed her hand to his chest.

Atobe looked down at her face and saw two green eyes looking up at him in disgust. And then she walked away. Atobe looked down at his expensive shirt and saw dirty fingerprints on it. His face went livid.

"Hold it! – he yelled – how dare you ruin oresama's shirt! You will have to pay for it!"

Chiharu didn't even look back. "Cheer up, mister Ego, and please realize that I just did you a favour. Now you finally have an excuse to throw that disgusting shirt away."

Harumi looked between the both of them in bewilderment. They sure were far from the perfect and loving couple they once were. She saw that Atobe was about to chase after her in a fury, and quickly lashed out to retain him by the arm.

"Ano, Atobe-san…"

Atobe turned towards her and yelled "What!", before eyeing the place where her hand was still on his arm. Harumi quickly withdrew it.

"Ano… I came to see you."

"See me? Who the hell are you anyway?" He retorted coldly, eyes not leaving Chiharu's retreating back.

Harumi took a deep breath. "My name is Harumi Yamazaki. I am Fuji's girlfriend."

At these words, Atobe finally turned his full attention upon her, and this time his grey eyes were calm. He eyed her for a few seconds, and then a look of recognition passed across his face.

"Fuji's girl, huh? Didn't you leave a long time ago?"

"Yes. But I'm back now. For good." She added for good measure.

Atobe studied her face with one eye. "And what brings you here?" He asked while stepping through the gate of his mansion. Harumi quickly followed him.

"I came to retrieve the rackets that Tezuka left the other day."

"Mmm, Fuji's girlfriend and Tezuka's errand girl, huh?"

Harumi frowned but remained silent.

The gate clicked shut quietly behind them, and in the silence that ensued, Atobe's mocking voice asked:

"So does that mean you're sleeping with the both of them?"

"Excuse me?" Harumi exclaimed, in shock.

Atobe turned around and winked. "Don't worry, I won't expose you."

Harumi could feel her face heating up. "I am doing no such thing!" She yelled.

Atobe merely chuckled and motioned at her to follow him without looking back. Harumi stayed where she was for a few more seconds, just glaring at his back incredulously, before reluctantly following in his footsteps.

The gate closed behind them soundlessly. They walked on the paved pathway through the beautiful gardens. The naked Greek statues above the fountains spewed clear water from their bodies, creating a crystalline sound that enveloped the both of them. Even though the sound was pure and uplifting, Harumi found it hard to breathe as she followed the Lord of the manor into the house.

A butler came rushing forward the moment they stepped through the entrance.

"Atobe-sama."

"Please guide this young lady to the tennis courts. Now, if you will excuse me." He saluted her without really looking at her.

Harumi watched as Atobe disappeared at the corner of one of the many hallways, and made a face at his retreating back. He sure was a disagreeable person with a horrible sense of humour. She really didn't know how anyone could date him. Back in the days, she couldn't even tell if Chiharu was really serious about him. It always seemed that she was more interested in his money anyway. And now, seeing how much they hated each other, it seemed pretty obvious that they did not have a strong connection to begin with.

As she followed the butler, she wondered once again what might have caused them to split. Did Atobe grow tired of her constant demands? Or did she have enough of his arrogance? Chiharu and everyone else would always evade the subject, and now she had just said that Atobe had ruined her life. She wondered why she had said that. Her life seemed pretty perfect right now, with her modelling career kicking off, and on top of that she had been accepted into Tokyo University.

Harumi passed under majestic arches that she had a clear memory of. She had run through these halls once upon a time, and she had danced in the area that was now decorated as a private resting room with large couches and a big plasma blue-ray TV. Back then, she was desperately chasing after a man she thought she would never get, but now she had finally caught up with him. Fuji had waited for her, and now, he looked only at her, smiled only at her, and loved only her. She pressed a finger upon her lips to hide her smile.

Finally, they reached the tennis courts, and the butler directed her towards a black tennis bag sitting on the bench.

"Is this it, Miss?" The butler asked.

Harumi eyed the bag but she had no idea what Tezuka's rackets actually looked like. However, she doubted that Atobe or anyone else would leave their things on a bench like this. She shrugged and picked it up.

"Yes, I think so!"

The butler nodded curtly. "Anything else you would like me to do, Miss?"

She shifted on her feet, quite uncomfortable to be treated so formally. "Umm.. I don't think so. Thank you."

The butler bowed slightly and then opened the tennis court's door to her. She cracked a smile and then went through it. As she followed the butler back to the main entrance, she passed by Atobe's swimming pool. As she glanced inside at the quiet waters, the storage room at the far end held her attention for a second.

It had once been used to store cases of beer, when there had been a party in the mansion three years ago.

She must have stood there longer than she thought, just staring at the door of the storage room, because the butler was suddenly beside her again, inquiring:

"Is everything all right, Miss?"

Harumi batted her eyes, as though coming out of a trance. "Yeah… yes…"

She unconsciously brushed her lower lip with her thumb, and then turned away to follow the butler out of Atobe's mansion.

Later that day, Harumi ran into Mai while she was shopping for the food that Amaya's Mom had asked her to buy.

Mai's clear blue eyes widened a little when they caught Harumi's small wave. The two girls haven't really talked to each other ever since their conversation outside the restaurant.

"Are you cooking today?" Harumi asked her.

Mai looked down at the stack of potatoes in front of her before carefully picking out one. "Yeah. I'm making lunch for Kikumaru, since he's living by himself and all."

Harumi chewed the side of her cheek and smiled. "Ahh, that fellow is lucky to have someone like you looking out for him."

Mai kept on picking out the potatoes in silence. Harumi looked around awkwardly then signalled to the casher. "I'm going to go pay first."

Mai nodded.

Harumi sighed as she walked away; well that was definitely uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as she had dreaded. After all, they were both doing the right thing now, so there was nothing to worry about. After paying for her groceries, she stopped by the vending machine outside the supermarket and picked up a Ponta. Sitting down on the bench with her bags of purchases at her feet, she gulped down the cool drink eagerly.

A few minutes later, Mai came out also. Harumi saw her from the corner of her eye and waved goodbye. However, to her surprise, Mai also went to grab a Ponta and then sat down beside her.

"It's so hot every day." Harumi sighed after a couple of minutes of silence.

Mai nodded.

"Look – Harumi continued – I don't want us to… feel awkward every time we see each other. I'm glad we had that conversation last time. Don't worry, I will keep my promise because I know now that it is the right thing to do."

She played with a strand of her hair, and then smiled. "So take good care of Eiji, neh?"

Mai threw a quick glance at her, and her usually impassive face softened a little. "Yes, I will."

Harumi cheerfully tapped her feet together while staring up at the cloudless blue sky. "We are going hiking next weekend. You should come too, along with Eiji. It will be like old times, when everyone was together. Or almost everyone at least. Aika and Echizen are not here."

Mai blew a strand of hair away from her eyes. "I've heard of your hiking plans, but I don't know if I can go. They might ask me to work. One or two days are okay, but I heard that you guys will be camping there too, so how long will that take?"

"I don't know. We will have to see, I guess. But it will be really cool if you can come. You know Naoko is leaving soon. Just think of it as a get-together to send her off."

Harumi threw her empty can of Ponta in the garbage can next to her. "Think about it, okay? And give me a call when you decide. Do you have my number?"

Mai shook her head. The girls then proceeded to exchange numbers and email addresses.

"Oh, and try to get Eiji to come too. You never know what can happen during a hike." She winked at Mai meaningfully.

Mai just stared at her for a moment. "Alright, I will call you within the week."

"Well, I have to get going now." Harumi said after glancing at her watch.

The two girls bid each other goodbye and Harumi swiftly walked away, carrying her bags.

Mai sighed and watched the shadows dance on her shoes. She thought about what Harumi had implied about outdoor activities bringing people closer. This might be a good opportunity after all.

The sound of a can dropping into the garbage can pulled her from her thoughts.

"Mai-chan."

She lifted her head. "Oh, Oishi!"

The young man sat beside her in silence.

"Were you listening to our conversation?"

Oishi didn't answer. Mai closed her eyes for a moment before fluttering them open again, and there was now a hard glint of determination in them.

"Neh Oishi, I think I might need your help again. Will you help me?"

Oishi turned towards her and his eyes were hard. "No, Mai, you need to stop. I already regret what we have done and the lies we have told. I don't know why I even accepted to help you back then."

Mai grabbed his arm urgently. "You can't back out now, Oishi! It's too late! It was all for Eiji's sake! That's why we did what we did."

Oishi's gaze wavered uncertainly.

"Oishi – Mai spoke up coldly – if you want to call yourself his friend, you will do as I say."

Helloooooooo! :) Thank you all for the reviews! And here's a new chappy. Lots of you were wondering why Kirihara was in the first chapter. Well, you will see! He's Eiji's friend for now, and he will be around in future chapters too. I hope you don't mind, cuz I also love Kirihara and his devil-ness LOL.

And HAPPY THANKSGIVING!