Chapter 4

"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet."

"Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?"

"Tezuka!"

The serious man sighed as Fuji scolded him.

"Can't you say that a little more…romantically?"

"You do realize who you're telling this too."

"Be a little more serious about this!"

"I am serious."

"Not that type of serious!" Fuji sighed, clearly exasperated.

The two boys were sitting on the bed in Fuji's room, rehearsing the script in their hands, and the tensai was growing more and more frustrated with the way the bespectacled man was reading his lines, not that he should be surprised that it turned out this way.

"Okay, Tezuka. Do this part." Fuji pointed at a particular line in the script.

"Aa." Tezuka adjusted his glasses. "I trust your words. Just call me your love, and I will take a new name. From now on I will never be Romeo again."

Fuji nearly fell backwards. Tezuka had managed to say that whole romantic line in the most dry, monotonous, and boring manner ever. He sighed again as he looked unenthusiastically at his script.

"What is it, Fuji?"

"Nothing." Fuji tossed the script to the side and got on his knees on the bed, leaning towards Tezuka. "Can't you try to act out the part at least?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Tezuka! This is one of the most romantic scenes in the whole play, and you managed to turn it into the most boring material that's going to put the whole audience to sleep!"

"But I'm not playing Romeo. I'm only helping you remember your lines right now."

"That's not the point!" Fuji stared at those serious deep brown orbs and stoic face. He was looking forward to having Tezuka help him rehearse, thinking that it would be romantic. But the bespectacled man had managed to make it the most frustrating experience ever. Blue eyes opening mischievously, Fuji grabbed Tezuka by the collar and tossed him onto the bed with his back against the mattress.

"F-Fuji!" Tezuka cried out in shock, looking up at the tensai who was hovering over him now, those hazelnut bangs tickling the edge of his forehead dangerously.

"If you can't loosen up to play the part of Romeo, than perhaps I can help you with that." Fuji slyly slid a hand down the stomach before slipping into those black pants.

"Fuji!" Tezuka tried to push the tensai away when he gasped at the feel of a palm against his groin.

Fuji leaned in closer towards the bespectacled man's ear, whispering seductively, "My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words of that tongue's uttering, yet I know the sound."

"Fuji, stop! What are you doing? Ah!" Tezuka yelped as passionate heat traveled to that sensitive area where Fuji was feeling him up in a very pleasurable way.

"Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?" Fuji continued reciting his lines, watching in satisfaction Tezuka clench his eyes shut, completely flustered and red. Smiling, he whispered, "What does thou want Juliet to do down here?" He gave a playful squeeze, enjoying the moan before adding, "Kunimitsu?"

Tezuka's eyes snapped open and he immediately sat up and pushed Fuji off of him, blushing profusely and panting for breath.

"Oi!" Fuji complained as he watched the taller man clumsily adjust his glasses.

"Gomen, Fuji," Tezuka apologized between breaths, his heart still beating fast. "It's not that I don't want to do it right now. I'm under a lot of stress." He raked his hand shakily through his hair, something he normally doesn't do, as he glanced away to try to calm himself down after that little session.

Fuji frowned and got behind his Buchou on the bed, wrapping his arms around him and leaning down over his head and against his back. "Ne, Tezuka. I understand. But I can help you relax, no? I can give you some relief," he tempted.

Tezuka lowered his head at the tensai's hot breath against his neck. "I...you don't have to give me that type of relief." He felt rather embarrassed having this conversation.

Fuji chuckled. "I'll just give you a massage for now." And thus, the tensai proceeded to massage Tezuka's shoulders, loosening those tense muscles with his skills. Immediately, he felt the taller man relax, allowing him to work out the hard tissues underneath his skin.

"Aa. Thank you." Tezuka looked to the side. "Shuusuke."

Fuji blinked at this before beaming brightly, enjoying the sight of Tezuka's flushed ears. "Hm, Kunimitsu."

The next morning, the tennis regulars of Fudomine, Hyotei, Rikkadai, Rokkaku, and of course Seigaku all gathered in the auditorium to work on the play. Tomoka and Sakuno, mostly Tomoka, assigned some of their teammates to design the costumes for the characters in the play. Inui and Yanagi were put in charge of logistics and all backstage duties, using their data to determine the best and most efficient way of setting everything up. Atobe, of course, took it upon himself to oversee the rehearsals with the actors.

"It is not necessary for me to read from a script," Atobe had declared proudly on stage that morning. "For I have already memorized all of my lines."

"That's because he had planned to be Romeo from the very beginning," Momoshiro snickered to Echizen from the edge of the stage as they began working on building the background sets.

Near the curtains, Sanada looked at his script. "Hm, I was never fond of this play."

"But Sanada, I thought you enjoyed classics very much," Yukimura said playfully as he looked at his script too.

"Aa, but I know more Japanese classics. I am not too familiar with foreign classics."

"I see. But this will be fun, right? I do think Tybalt is a rather fitting role for you." He crossed his arms in amusement.

"Perhaps. At least I am not a Montague like Atobe." Sanada watched in annoyance Atobe flashily read off his lines to himself, practicing with no one in particular. "As long as I don't have to be on the same side as him."

Yukimaru chuckled at this. "Sanada, you amuse me." He looked at his script once again, resting his chin on his finger. "Hm, Paris would be a very interesting character to play."

"And you have no problem with the fact that you are the suitor of Juliet, who is a man in this version?"

"Why, I have no problem whatsoever." Yukimura glanced at Fuji, who was talking to Oshitari next to the curtains on the other side of the stage. "Fuji makes a pleasant girl, so it makes no difference to me. Or…" he looked up at Sanada closely with a smile. "Do you find it so wrong for a man to pursue another man?"

Sanada looked at those vague eyes of his captain, always steady, always seemingly pleasant, and always hiding something frightening and sometimes deadly underneath. He looked away, unfazed. "It's an unnecessary question."

"Hm, you disappoint me," Yukimura remarked with a shrug, more to himself than to his vice-captain. And then, the two noticed the tall bespectacled student council president of Seigaku step onto the stage where the hazelnut-haired tensai was.

Sanada's hands immediately tensed over the script, slightly shaking. His bold dark eyes narrowed as he watched Seigaku's capatain from a distance. "Tezuka."

"Oi, you two," Niou interrupted, throwing both arms around his captain and vice-captain from the middle. "Do you have your lines memorized already?"

"Not yet," Yukimura smiled. "How about you, Mercutio?"

Niou smirked playfully, his light gray bangs hanging over his face. "Mercutio, one of the most extraordinary characters in the play. Witty, feverous, imaginative, charming, strange, and satirical – I do say that I have a great part, not to mention he's my favorite character."

"Yes, I do feel that he fits you perfectly, Niou," Yukimura noted to the trickster of his team.

"But Yukimura Buchou, I'm sorry to say, I thought Yagyuu would've been perfect for Paris, not that you wouldn't do a good job at it. It's just that Yagyuu is the gentleman of Rikkadai."

"Hm, I agree with you. But I will enjoy being Atobe's rival for Juliet's hand," Yukimura motioned to where Hyotei's captain was still basking in his own glory.

Niou snickered. "That Atobe. I can't wait to see when he has to kiss another guy." Both he and Yukimura broke out in good hearty laughter. "Sanada, you should loosen up," he added with a playful shake, watching his vice-captain stand there with arms crossed, still unfazed.

Sanada immediately took Niou's arm off of him. "We don't have time to fool around. We have a lot of things to do," he spoke curtly, his eyes still on Tezuka. "I will defeat that man one day."

Niou rolled his eyes. "Sanada is so obsessed with that Tezuka." He noticed that Yukimura wasn't paying attention. "Yukimura Buchou?"

"Huh? Oh, gomen, Niou. I lost my train of thought," the captain gave a pleasant smile. "It does look like we're about to begin."

The regulars on stage gathered towards the center where Tezuka and Atobe stood, with the two freshman girls Tomoka and Sakuno joining besides them as well.

"Today is the first day of rehearsal," Tezuka began, arms crossed in his captain stance. "The next few days will be tough, so be prepared. We have a lot to do. All actors must memorize their lines as soon as possible by the end of this week. Starting next week, you should not have to use a script. All backstage hands should be nearly finished with the props and sets by next week. And all costumes must be properly fitted and measured by tomorrow, with the final designs completed by next week. Rehearsals will begin at 8AM sharp every morning and run until 2PM in the afternoon with an hour lunch during the day. Is everything clear?"

"Hai!"

"Don't let your guard down."

Kikumaru whispered quietly to Kawamura. "Ne, Buchou is treating this whole play like some military operation."

"Should you be surprised?" The power player chuckled.

"I have here the roles and actors for the play," Tomoka took a step forward, waving the list in the air as Sakuno quickly went to pass out each sheet to everyone. "We tried to be fair and make sure that every school is represented. I will be reading off the names and characters. Please remember who you are and who everyone else is before the end of today."

Everyone glanced down at the character list they received:

Romeo – Atobe Keigo (Hyotei)

Juliet – Fuji Shuusuke (Seigaku)

Friar Lawrence – Oishi Shuichiro (Seigaku)

Mercutio – Niou Masaharu (Rikkaidai)

Tybalt – Sanada Genichiro (Rikkaidai)

Capulet – Yagyuu Hiroshi (Rikkadai)

Lady Capulet – XXX (Seigaku's captain of girl's tennis team)

Montague – Oshitari Yushi (Hyotei)

Lady Montague – Tachibana An (Fudomine)

Paris – Yukimura Seiichi (Rikkaidai)

Benvolio – Jirou Akutagawa (Hyotei)

Prince Escalus – Tachibana Kippei (Fudomine)

Friar John – Aoi Kentaro (Rokkaku)

Balthasar – Kabaji Munehiro (Hyotei)

Sampson, Capulet household – Kamio Akira (Fudomine)

Gregory, Capulet household – Kaidoh Kaoru (Seigaku)

Abram, Montague household – Saeki Kojiro (Rokkaku)

The Apothecary – Inui Sadaharu (Seigaku)

Peter – Amane Davide (Rokkaku)

The Chorus (narrator) – Ibu Shinji (Fudomine)

The Nurse – Ryuzaki Sumire (Seigaku)

"R-Ryuzaki Sensei?" Oishi blurted, staring at the list.

"Oishi-kun, did you think I would not like to be a part of this play?" The coach of Seigaku stepped out onto the stage, surprising everyone. "But of course, I would've liked to play the part of Juliet, hm? Too bad Fuji stole my role. I would've made a very beautiful Juliet," she smiled flirtatiously in an exaggerated sigh.

Everyone groaned in disgust at this prospect.

"Tachibana's sister is in this play too?" Momoshiro blinked at the name on the list along with Echizen in surprise.

"Ne, Momo?"

"Eh?" The second year jumped at two large eyes that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, catching him off guard. "A-An-chan?"

The young girl with short light brown hair giggled in amusement. "Momo, it's good to see you again."

"Oh, hehe," Momoshiro rubbed the back of his head, slightly blushing. "I didn't expect to see you here. So you wanted to be a part of the school play?"

"Hm. I asked my brother if I could join too to show my support for Fudomine. He talked to Tezuka-san about it and he gave his permission."

"That's great!" Momoshiro exclaimed. And then, he blinked and glanced to his side. "Oi, Echizen! Where are you going?"

The freshman only waved his hand with his back already turned away, uninterested.

"This list certainly looks interesting," Kikumaru noted to Kawamura. "It almost seems like Hyotei completely represents the Montague household, while most of Rikkaidai is the Capulet household." He looked up just in time to see the two infamous meganes face each other in a standoff near the front of the stage.

Oishitari adjusted his glasses, a glint flashing across the lens for a brief second. "Ah, Yagyuu, it looks like we will be serving as the head of our respective households."

"That appears to be the case, Oshitari," Yagyuu replied, pushing up the bridge of his glasses as the lens hid his eyes.

"Oh, they look so cool," Kikumaru remarked.

At the front of the stage, Tomoka suddenly took out a megaphone before the group. "All right everyone, we are now going to begin rehearsal. All actors take your respective places. We will start at the beginning of the play."

"Oi, young girl, I'm supposed to be directing the play," Atobe protested, going up to the freshman.

Tomoka held up the megaphone at Atobe. "But Tezuka Buchou said I can-"

"Don't point that thing at me!" Atobe slapped the loud megaphone away. "We agreed that I would be directing the play."

"There have been a change of plans," Tezuka stepped in. "My apologies, Atobe, but we have discussed this in great detail, and it would be better for the lead to concentrate on his role rather than direct the play at the same time."

"Eh? Are you saying I am incapable of leading this school play and perform my role successfully?" Atobe looked extremely offended. "No one doubts the great Atobe!"

"That is not the case. It is simply for logistical reasons."

"And besides, I have nothing else much to do," Tomoka added. "My team is doing well on the costume design, and Sakuno will be dealing with that mostly, so why not use some of my leadership abilities to help direct this play? Plus, I know Romeo and Juliet like the back of my hand."

Atobe was obviously not happy about this. But before he could say another word, Tezuka interrupted, "Please excuse me. I need to go check on the rest of the school clubs. I will be back before noon. Tomoka-chan, I leave the rest up to you. Don't let your guard down." And with that, the Seigaku Kaichou left, leaving Hyotei's own captain with his jaw open in disbelief and the young freshman girl beaming with pride.

Tomoka held up the megaphone. "All right, everyone in their places!"

Atobe jumped at the megaphone blaring in front of him before stomping away, fuming.

An hour before noon, Tezuka returned to find the regulars well into the middle portion of the play. Surprised that they already gotten that far, he reached the bottom of the stage and spoke with Tomoka, who said that everything was going well.

Well, almost everything.

"Atobe-san! You need to be more natural in this scene!" She yelled into the megaphone.

"Oi! I'm trying to!" Atobe retorted, not liking being ordered around by a freshman girl of all people. "Do you know how hard it is to try to act out a romantic scene with another man?"

Tezuka blinked and glanced up to find Atobe holding Fuji's hand rather awkwardly.

"One more time," Tomoka ordered.

Atobe coughed before reprising his role. "Alas, one angry look from you would be worse than twenty of your relatives with swords. Just look at me kindly, and I'm invincible against their hatred."

"I'd give anything to keep them from seeing you here," Fuji replied, acting shy and distraught.

"The darkness will hide me from them. And if you don't love me, let them find me here. I'd rather they killed me than have to live without your love." Atobe held Fuji's hand closer to him, looking into those closed eyes.

A pause.

"Atobe-san?" Tomoka called into the megaphone.

Atobe sighed loudly in frustration, cringing as he tried hard to look Fuji straight in the face.

"Just jump to line 107," Tomoka sighed. "The vow scene."

Atobe forced himself to put on his most charming manner. "Lady, by yonder blessèd moon I vow, that tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops—"

"Who told you how to get here below my bedroom?"

"Kabaji did," Momoshiro nudged Kikumaru from behind the stage as the two chuckled quietly, deriving a furious glare from Atobe.

The Hyotei captain continued, trying to ignore them. "Love showed me the way-OI!" Atobe threw a dirty look at three Seigaku individuals who now began laughing loudly from the back.

"Momoshiro, Kikumaru, Echizen - 20 laps today at practice!"

The three immediately stopped and slumped over, groaning.

Tomoka looked at her watch, frowning. "Hm, it's almost noon, but maybe we should take a short break for now. I was going to wait for Ryuzaki Sensei to come back from her meeting." She glanced back up and held up the megaphone. "Backstage hands, let's take a look at how far along you are with the background sets. All actors, please return to your places in five minutes! We're taking a break."

Everyone began mumbling, eager for the break as Atobe breathed quietly in relief and quickly released Fuji's hand to head towards the steps of the stage. "Kabaji, I need water!"

"Usu."

"Kawamura."

The power player standing on the side where the crew was preparing to showcase their progress turned to see the maroon-haired Kamio from Fudomine tap him on the shoulder. "Want to play a short fun match during lunch? I'm curious of your skills. I want to test my strength against yours."

"Well, I'm not that good to be honest," the power player scratched the back of his head sheepishly and humbly.

"Oh, but I'm really curious to see your skills. Plus, I want to take my mind off of this play. It's creeping me out to see Atobe having to romance his way to Fuji. So what say you, a friendly match during lunch?"

Kawamura chuckled. "I guess, but don't expect anything much."

About ten feet away from the two regulars conversing, Tezuka walked up the steps to join Fuji near the front of the stage.

"Ne, Tezuka, how did your rounds around the school go today?" the tensai asked.

"Good," the taller man replied.

Fuji looked up at the man curiously. "How did I do at that scene? Was it good?"

"Aa."

Fuji chuckled awkwardly. Wanting to probe further, he purposely took a step closer and said in a rather mischievous manner, "Do you find my scenes with Romeo rather convincing?"

"Aa."

Fuji furrowed his eyebrows, getting rather annoyed as he stared at the stoic man retaining the same wooden expression.

Meanwhile, neither boys paid attention to the background set of what seems to be the shape of one side of a twenty feet tall castle-like structure being erected besides them.

Tomoka observed the two dimensional structure as a few of the regulars steadied the design on stage. "Momo-senapi, is that going to hold?"

"It's not the complete finished piece," the second year said as he tried his best to keep the structure in place alongside a few of the other regulars helping him. "And oi, what is Jirou doing there sleeping?"

A few individuals on stage turned their heads to see the sleeping Hyotei student breathing peacefully on the ground.

"Oi Jirou, wake up!" Oshitari called from off the stage next to Atobe and Kabaji. "I'm going to kick you if you don't!"

Upon hearing his teammate's voice, the orangey-hazelnut haired boy with wavy strands opened his eyes sleepily and yawned, slowly getting up onto his feet to stretch. "Is it already time for lunch?" he sighed lazily with a content look on his face as he looked out at where Oshitari stood.

Fuji chuckled at the humorous sight before returning his attention to Tezuka. "Ne, I wonder sometimes why he's always sleeping." He sighed in amusement while the tennis player close to him rubbed his hair sheepishly at the blue-haired genius of Hyotei continuing to scold him. "Want to come with me to go get some water, Tezuka?"

Tezuka nodded and proceeded to follow Fuji towards the stage staircase.

"BUUUURRRNNNINNNNNGGG!"

The sudden booming battle cry filled with fiery passion crashed through the auditorium like a tidal wave, making everyone jump in fright.

"K-Kamio, what did you do?" Oishitari ran up to the Fudomine boy frantically, staring in shock at his teammate swinging the tennis racket in his hand wildly.

"I-I only handed my racket to him to have him take a look!" Kamio quickly defended as he watched in shock the power player raise his hand in excited exuberance as imaginary flames emitted all over him.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!...BURNINNNNNNNGGGGG!"

"Oi, Taka-san! Not too close!" Momoshiro quickly called out, trying to move away from his enraged senpai when he suddenly lost his grip on the structure on stage. "O-oh no! Look out!"

The other regulars who were holding up the structure, upon feeling one end lose balance, began to feel the rest of the weight slowly shift forward.

"Jirou! Get out of the way!" Atobe cried out in horror.

"Hm?" The sleepy boy gradually looked over his shoulder upon feeling a shadow slowly dawn on him, his ears not even hearing the young freshman girl's scream in the distance as his eyes widened in shock at the structure falling towards him in what felt like a torturous eternity.

No one had time to fully process what happened right at that moment, for there was suddenly a blur of a tall man leaping forward, long legs dashing with great speed to reach the Hyotei regular just in the nick of time. There was a loud crash, and everyone jumped and gasped as the structure broke into three large pieces on stage, the impact too much for the already fragile architecture. A rumble echoed throughout the room for a brief moment before silence finally settled in.

Jirou, who had his eyes shut tightly, slowly opened them to see a painful blur of the stage lights above him. He heard shouts of his name, various incomprehensible voices, and the sound of running feet. His back slightly ached at the feel of the hard stage floor underneath.

"Jirou, are you okay?" He recognized Oshitari's urgent voice.

"Oi, Jirou! Say something! Jirou!" Atobe's demanding voice rang nearby too, his captain hovering over him.

"Hey, are you two all right?"

You two?

Jirou blinked a couple times, focusing his vision, and then realized that there was the weight of another body on top of him, a rather heavy one. Slowly, the larger figure above him rose onto his knees, those serious orbs looking down at him before asking, "Are you okay?"

"T-Tezuka?" Jirou couldn't believe his eyes as he felt himself carefully lifted back onto his feet, nearly stumbling before steadying himself. "What happened?"

"Tezuka saved you," Mukahi, one of Hyotei's doubles player, explained to him. "You're lucky he reached you in time to grab you and pull you out of the way." He pointed to the broken structure on stage behind them. "Look what could've happened!"

"You, you saved me?" Jirou looked up at the stoic man who, despite still maintaining a calm demeanor, was slightly out of breath and a little rattled as well by the incident.

"What matters is that you're not hurt," Tezuka said.

The Hyotei regular continued to stare into those deep, brown orbs, finding himself speechless.

"Buchou! Jirou! Are you okay?" Momoshiro asked worriedly, running up to them along with the backstage hands.

"I'm so sorry," Kawamura quickly apologized, the racket now gone from his hand. "I lost control."

"No, it was my fault," Kamio lowered his head in guilt. "I shouldn't have given you the racket."

"It was just a careless mistake," Tezuka reassured, looking at the group that gathered around them anxiously. "Let's just not get careless next time."

"That's right! Let's not get careless, baka!" Atobe smacked Jirou on top of the head.

"Ow! Atobe Buchou is mean! I nearly got hurt!" The sleepy regular cried out childishly, rubbing his head.

"Damn right you nearly got hurt! Don't sleep around in random places like that again!" Atobe continued scolding the boy.

"Tezuka, are you all right?" Fuji lightly touched the taller man's arm worriedly, quite shaken himself after watching the whole scene unfold before him like a movie he would rather not watch again.

"Aa, I'm fine," Tezuka said, dusting himself off. "It is good that no one got hurt."

"Hm," Fuji nodded.

Meanwhile, Tomoka sighed in relief upon seeing the two regulars all right. "How about we just break for an early lunch, everyone? Momoshiro, you and your crew can recreate that set later, right?"

"Hai, we'll just remake it right after lunch," the second year called out from the stage. "It's not too hard. We already got the dimensions and layout figured out anyway, and Inui has all that information in his notebook."

As everyone mumbled about the incident and began to disburse, slowly making their way towards the exits, Fuji said to Tezuka, "Ne, guess it's better that we take our lunch early after that rather scary event, huh?"

"Aa."

"Let's go, Tezuka."

The two Seigaku regulars began heading towards the staircase once more.

Meanwhile, Jirou continued to receive more unwanted lectures and scolding on stage.

"Jirou, next time, be more aware of your surroundings. It's really important, just like in tennis," Oshitari stated very seriously to him.

"You really scared me, Jirou! Really, really scared me!" Mukahi repeated.

"I will not have any misfortunes befall on my team!" Atobe declared. "Oi, Jirou, are you listening?"

But as the rest of the Hyotei team continued rattling on rather passionately, Jirou stared dreamily at the entrance of the auditorium as a certain regular made his exit from the room.

Lunch was rather uneventful compared to the previous incident that day. But that was what Tezuka had desired. It was enough having to deal with his daily rounds checking up on the progress on all the clubs. It was worse that someone almost got hurt during the day. Thus, having a quiet lunch was anything that Tezuka could have hoped for, not to mention he finally got to spend some peaceful time with the tensai.

"Ne, it's a good thing that you jumped out in time to save him," Fuji continued to comment as the two walked towards the school locker room after having their meals. "Jirou could've gotten seriously hurt."

"Aa. We need to make sure that we take more precautions in the future to not let something similar repeat itself."

"Hm, poor Taka-san is feeling so guilty right now though."

"As long as we don't get careless, everything should be fine."

"True…"

The pair reached a large room and Fuji opened his locker to take out the script he had left in there. Upon opening the door, his eyes lit up in surprise at finding something else inside. "Roses?"

"Hm?" Tezuka glanced down, watching the tensai pull out a very small mini bouquet of three roses neatly wrapped together with a pink ribbon.

Fuji chuckled in amusement. "Tezuka, did you do this?"

"No."

"Eh?" Fuji blinked in surprise at the taller man, finding only a serious and rather confused face staring back at him. He then looked at the flowers again. "If you didn't give me this, then who did?"

Tezuka stared at the small red roses. "Is there a note?"

"Doesn't seem like it," Fuji said, checking his locker one last time. "Ne, it seems like I have a secret admirer. She even knows my locker combination!" He began chuckling in amusement when he felt the mini bouquet taken away from his hands. "T-Tezuka!"

Tezuka tossed the flowers into the trashcan nearby.

Fuji stared at the large bin in shock. "Oi, Tezuka! Why'd you do that? That was mean!"

"It is better to reject the person directly," the bespectacled man stated plainly, his arms crossed.

"Huh?"

"It will be irresponsible of you if you carry that bouquet around and lead the person on."

At this seemingly stoic response, Fuji coyly glanced up at his captain, who stared back with the same immovable face. He tilted his head playfully. "Ne, Tezuka, are you jealous?"

"That is irrelevant. I was simply stating the logical course of action."

"You are jealous."

"Fuji," he warned, narrowing his eyebrows disapprovingly.

The tensai chuckled as he saw Tezuka start to become exasperated. "Fine, fine, I'll let you off the hook since you've had a rather stressful day." Taking the script out of his locker, the tensai closed the door shut and walked alongside the bespectacled man out the door. Unbeknownst to the two third years, a pair of eyes stared quietly at their backs safely from a distance behind a row of lockers just a few feet away.