Bad Boy
Chapter Seven
"Baby Pictures"
.
.
Eri found their class president in the hallway not far from the school's clinic. He sat comfortably on the floor next to the vending machine, holding a can of grape juice and a pack of melon bread. There was a plaster on the left side of his forehead, another plaster on his right forearm, a bruise on his nose, and some signs of blood on his lips. Not that any those small wounds really mattered. Eri had heard from Aoi Mizuki that Kuroboshi Shouta was formerly a delinquent before he was magically voted as their class president. According to the other guys, he wasn't bad, just undisciplined. Even the teachers had said so.
"Kuroboshi." Eri called as soon as she was near enough.
The melon bread stopped an inch from the class president's mouth. He looked up at Eri strangely, before he frowned.
"It's Kobayashi." he told.
"That's what I said." Eri returned. Kuroboshi looked slightly annoyed, but didn't argue. He ignored Eri as she continued standing towering in front of him, giving attention only to his melon bread and his grape juice. Eri observed that Ryoma had given him quite a beating, but the class president wasn't exactly bothered. He didn't even flinch as he ate. "I want to know what you and Ryoma were talking about in the Tennis Club room." Eri said.
"Why don't you go ask Echizen?"
"He wouldn't tell me."
"Then why do I need to tell you?"
"Because you have nothing to do with the matter."
"And what about you?"
"I'm the one doing the asking here." Eri reminded impatiently. She was irritated, but it seemed so did the class president. He looked at her as if she was the most-twisted creature he had ever seen in his life. "What're you looking at?" she challenged, holding her head high.
Unperturbed, Kuroboshi averted his eyes and returned to his meal.
"I don't have anything to say. If you want to know anything, go ask Echizen." he said simply. Instead, Eri crouched down in front of him, grabbing his melon bread and his grape juice from his hands. She took them away quickly so he had no time to react, and when she threw both the bread and the juice into the trash can, he abruptly stood up. "What the hell's wrong with you?" he almost shouted.
Exactly as Eri thought. She wasn't about to give in just yet. How hard could it be, anyway?
"I want to know what you and Ryoma were talking about." she repeated. Kuroboshi seemed like he wanted to hit her, but Eri knew he wouldn't. He was that kind of guy who thinks twice before lying a hand on girls, and it only gave her the more advantage. Eri walked closer to him, and he stood motionless when she touched his shirt collar. As far as looks went, she decided Kuroboshi passed the test. The girls did pick the four "cutest" guys in class to be Cinderella, Step Sisters and Fairy Godmother, after all. Eri leaned to his ear. "And if you don't tell me, I'll scream right now… I'll tell everyone that you tried to touch me." she whispered.
~;~
After getting news that Ryoma had fainted (which had been delivered by Eiji to the class himself), Sakuno had rushed to the school's clinic. She'd been even more surprised to see her class president injured. Before leaving the school's clinic (to get some food as he informed her he was starving), Kobayashi had told Sakuno to listen to anything Ryoma might want to say.
Mrs Manabe, the school's nurse, seemed entertained at how concerned Sakuno was about Echizen Ryoma. Since the first-years were having free periods, she had allowed Sakuno to stay at the clinic until her boyfriend woke up.
While Mrs Manabe rambled on and on about teenagers nowadays always getting into a fight, Sakuno sat quietly in a chair next to Ryoma's bed, watching him with a portion of guilt in her heart. Come to think of it, Ryoma hadn't really done anything wrong. She was swayed by what Eri had said; she became worried and undecided, then the next day she had left for school without him. Only the day before they had gone out together to visit Kaori, hadn't they?
What was it all about?
"I'm such an idiot…" Sakuno closed her eyes and heaved out a deep sigh. When she opened them again, she almost jumped in her seat. Ryoma was awake, and his brown eyes stared at her as if they had been doing it for a long time. Sakuno decided although they were beautiful, they were sometimes scary. She smiled at him. "How are you feeling, Ryoma-kun?"
He didn't reply. He turned his head to survey across the room, taking note of the picture frames and latticework which hung on the clinic's peach-colored walls. He looked at the row of neatly arranged beds around him, then finally returned to look at Sakuno.
"Where's pervert-kun?" he asked in his monotonic voice.
"Pervert-kun… Oh, Kobayashi-kun's gone out to buy some food." Sakuno said. Mrs Manabe didn't move from her desk at the far end of the clinic, only stopping her rambles before continuing her work. Sakuno put a palm on Ryoma's forehead and another palm on her own forehead, comparing their body temperature. "You're really warm, Ryoma-kun. You shouldn't have gone to school this morning." she said with a frown.
"I'm fine." Ryoma objected, although he seemed otherwise. He was still pale and sweating cold. But as Mrs Manabe had said it, the fever was nothing that couldn't be fixed. "Did you see pervert-kun before?" he asked again.
Sakuno was sure it had something to do with the little wounds inflicted on the class president.
"Um, what happened?" she asked.
"Nothing." Ryoma retorted, averting his eyes from her. Sakuno thought this was the time to ask him whether he had anything else to say to her. After all, Kobayashi did remind her to "listen" to anything Ryoma might have to say, but before she could ask, he took her hand and held it with his own. "I think I'll come back to the team." he prompted.
At first, Sakuno didn't really understand, nor did she really listen. But once she grasped on the meaning of his words, her eyes widened comically with sheer joy.
"You will?" Sakuno blurted out, too surprised and excited and relieved and much more that her voice went a few notes higher than she intended it to be. Mrs Manabe looked up from her desk, Ryoma even raised an eyebrow, and she blushed furiously. "I-I mean… Y-you will?" she asked quieter, but her bright smile was too large to be missed.
Ryoma looked at her for a moment, and then he smiled, lightly, with a hint of a smirk in it.
"You sounded like I've just accepted your marriage proposal." he told. Sakuno blinked, her cheeks darkening into another shade of red. Ryoma used the hand which wasn't holding her hand to gesture at her. "Come over here." he said.
Sakuno moved away instead.
"W-what?"
"Come over here." Ryoma repeated patiently.
Sakuno had the flickering idea of what he wanted, because his eyes had that crystal look in them again. She turned back nervously to look at Mrs Manabe. The nurse seemed absorbed in her work, reading a black file which was sprawled open on her desk.
Feeling somewhat adventurous and sneaky, Sakuno leaned forward from her chair, and Ryoma pulled her by the waist toward him. And as he pressed his lips on hers, he did it all over again. His hand, moving like it was a habit up to the back of her head, maybe a little impatiently this time, unwinding the pink ribbons which kept her long hair in braids. Sakuno could feel his warm, feverish breath, and she wondered if she was about to get a fever too. Ryoma pulled her closer until her knees knocked against the metal part of the bed, and she was half-climbing to kneel in front of him before she realized they had to stop now. Somehow, he was being more fervent than usual, and when she felt his cold fingers on her neck, she knew she had to stop him before it progressed any farther.
"Ryoma-kun," Sakuno whispered, pulling back. Ryoma didn't seem to hear her, and Sakuno had to pry his fingers from her school uniform. Maybe it was because of the fever. Or maybe not. She could never be sure with him. She glanced back at Mrs Manabe, relieved the old nurse hadn't been paying attention. But then, even if she had, they wouldn't have known. "I-I think you should lie down again, Ryoma-kun."
Reluctantly, with quite a pitiful expression, Ryoma lowered himself to the bed and slumped down again, squeezing his eyes shut. He rubbed his fists on them like a small child rubbing off sleep from himself.
"I can return to class now." he said as he grimaced and pressed a fist lightly to his temple.
"I think you have a headache, Ryoma-kun." Sakuno presumed, sitting again in her chair, carefully fixing her demure school uniform. Ryoma opened his eyes and looked at her for a long time, not saying anything, only lying on the bed and looking. Sakuno tried to look back, but then she grew more and more nervous. "W-what is it…?" she asked.
"Are you happy?" he asked. Sakuno racked her brains for what the question could be about, but failed to decide. "Are you happy with me?" he asked again.
"Oh." Sakuno smiled, shyly, nodding without even noticing. "Yes…"
"Are you happy I'm returning to the team?"
At that, Sakuno clenched her hands together, full of spirits. She punched her fists animatedly in the air.
"More than… More than anything!" she declared loud, imitating Tomoka and Minami. Ryoma seemed amused, although he didn't make a comment. She turned to peer at Mrs Manabe, and the old nurse quirked up an eyebrow at them. Sakuno smiled sheepishly. "I-I'm sorry …"
With a knowing look, Mrs Manabe rose from her desk, walking over toward them.
"I think you still look terrible." she informed. Ryoma said nothing, and he lied obediently as the nurse examined him and took his temperature again. "How are you feeling?"
Ryoma hadn't the time to answer. Suddenly they heard a girl's piercing scream from outside the clinic, startling all three of them.
"That's Eri's voice." Ryoma said.
As he quickly climbed out of bed, Sakuno helped him to stand, before they both rushed to the door following Mrs Manabe.
~;~
The hallway was being surrounded by some first-year students and teachers by the time they reached the area.
Sakuno immediately saw Kobayashi as he stood beside the Educational Guidance teacher, Mr. Sawaguchi. She also noticed Eri was staying close to their Mathematics teacher, Mrs Habuka, who seemed to be trying to calm her down. From the look on Eri's face, Sakuno assumed something bad had just happened. Her school uniform seemed crumpled, as if she had just come out from a street fight.
"What is it?" Sakuno heard Ryoma ask, and the boy nearest to them nudged his head at their class president.
"That girl claimed Kobayashi did something to her." he said.
Sakuno was surprised, and she quickly turned to look at Kobayashi. He wasn't looking in their direction, but as Mr. Sawaguchi continued to bombard him with questions, Sakuno thought the class president seemed casual enough.
"I'll go and see Eri." Ryoma said, and Sakuno nodded.
Whispers from the watching students began to rise around them, and after a while, Mr. Sawaguchi motioned for Kobayashi to follow him to the principal's office. He caught Sakuno's eye as he walked past her, and he shrugged half-heartedly when Sakuno threw a questioning look at him.
"Kobayashi-kun?" she called.
"S' nothing." he said, and like the rest of the students, Sakuno watched him and Mr. Sawaguchi leave.
~;~
Strange as it was, Eri seemed to be avoiding Ryoma instead of wanting to see him. Sakuno thought it was expectable that she would want to talk to Ryoma about what had happened, but when Ryoma had tried to approach her in the hallway, Sakuno noticed Eri had intentionally left with Mrs Habuka, and even after they returned to the classroom, she only stayed within Mizuki's group of friends and listened silently to what their other classmates were saying as they discussed about what they had just heard happening in the hallway. Not like usual, she barely even glanced at Ryoma. Instead, she appeared to be lost in thought. Sakuno wasn't sure if she was entirely correct, but from the look on Eri's face as everybody around her talked and tried to soothe her, Sakuno thought Eri wasn't really paying attention.
"She doesn't even look like she needs all the calming words." Tomoka muttered skeptically. "For a girl who's just been "harassed", she seems fine to me, not traumatic at all."
"I hope President's fine too, the school can't just expel him could they?" Minami asked anxiously. She leaned across the desk and lowered her voice to a whisper. "I don't think President did anything to Okumura."
"Of course he didn't." Tomoka harrumphed. "I don't know him that well, but he's cute."
"What does being cute have anything to do with not being guilty?" Kotoko questioned.
"Well then, he's cute and problematic but doesn't look like a pervert." Tomoka elaborated huffily.
Sakuno almost smiled at the "pervert" word, remembering that it was a nickname Ryoma had seemed to give Kobayashi.
"Maybe he didn't do it," Kotoko began. "But I wouldn't be too sure. He's a boy, and his past record isn't exactly good. I don't even know how someone like him became class president."
It was a natural event; words travel fast because people talk about everything they hear. And as Sakuno's three friends continued devising guesses and possible conclusions, Sakuno turned to see how Ryoma was doing. He had stubbornly demanded to be let out of the clinic to return to the classroom, and Mrs Manabe had seemed like she wanted to tie him to the bed, but finally she had let out a big audible sigh, and nodded for Ryoma to leave. Her only warning was that if Ryoma fainted again that day, the clinic wouldn't accept him and he would have to be put away in the dusty storeroom until school ended. But of course they knew the old nurse was only bluffing.
Sakuno saw that Ryoma was sitting with his chin resting on his arms on the desk, and although he seemed sleepy, he appeared to be listening to what Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo were vehemently arguing about. The three boys apparently had the same routine as Tomoka, Minami and Kotoko, gathering at Ryoma's desk exactly the way the girls gathered at Sakuno's.
Ryoma glanced up and saw her. He blinked slowly a few times, his expression dreamy. When Sakuno intended to smile at him, Ryoma's eyes drooped further and finally ended up closed. She wanted to giggle, but she resisted because her friends were too near. So maybe she was wrong. He wasn't completely awake in the first place.
"No, no, that's not what I meant." Sakuno heard Minami say, and she turned back to her friends. Minami was frowning intently, stooping even closer toward the three of them. "I mean haven't you noticed? President's never had a girlfriend, never agreed to a confession from a girl, and we've been in the same class with him for years. So I suspect President's actually a homophile… You know, he likes boys." Minami whispered.
The three of them fell silent. Tomoka frowned deep, her eyes wandering to the ceiling as she pondered over the theory. Kotoko leaned back in her chair, turning her eyes the other way as she contemplated the possibility. On the other hand, Sakuno bit her lip trying not to laugh.
"Ano, Minami-chan." she said. "Kobayashi-kun likes girls."
"How would you know that?" Tomoka and Minami demanded in unison, while Kotoko stared at her with an expectant look.
Immediately, Sakuno regretted having spoken up.
"It's because Kobayashi-kun and Mizuki-san had been dating in middle school." she told, and when she caught the various expressions which broke on her friends' faces, she hastily added, "Not many people knew about it back then, and I think not many people know right now either. I only found out by coincidence, so please keep it quiet."
Of course, Sakuno didn't add that it was also the reason why Aoi Mizuki had first begun to dislike her, because her friends weren't even aware of the fact that the class vice president disliked her.
~;~
They planned on taking a ride with Sakuno's grandmother to go home that day. The tennis coach herself had sternly forced Ryoma to agree after she found out the tennis prodigy had made quite a scene in the Tennis Club room. That way they also had the time they needed to stop by the tennis court after school ended, since Ryuzaki Sumire still had a few matters she needed to finish. Ryoma decided to let Tezuka be one of the first to know about his comeback, and after that he would tell Sumire and the rest who mattered. Sakuno decided she didn't really mind. Either way, he was finally returning to the team.
"But I think buchou won't even be surprised." Ryoma predicted, sounding almost mournful. Maybe Sakuno was being too anticipating, she couldn't stop herself from tugging at Ryoma's arm, fiddling with the crimson hairband he still wore around his right wrist. Not that he was complaining, he even seemed pleased as she clung to him. "Do you want to punch the air like before and break the news to them?" he offered as they almost reached the tennis court. Sakuno shook her head smilingly. "But you're almost floating." Ryoma pointed out.
"I'm really happy for you, Ryoma-kun." she expressed for the umpteenth time. Then, as she was suddenly struck by the idea, she frowned. "B-but… You haven't touched a racquet for two months haven't you Ryoma-kun? W-would you remember all the moves? A-and—" Sakuno stopped when Ryoma turned to her, staring at her blankly. "—I-I mean…"
"Don't look down on me. I've played tennis since I was a baby." he gloated. Sakuno pursed her lips thoughtfully. "You don't believe me?" he challenged.
"W-well…"
"I'll show you soon." Ryoma said.
"Eh?" Sakuno frowned at him, wondering how he could show something like that to her now. Surely he couldn't just turn into a baby again to play tennis in front of her. "Oh. So you have pictures when you were a baby then, Ryoma-kun?" she guessed.
"I wouldn't show you my baby pictures even if I die." he said bluntly.
Sakuno frowned again, but this time in dissatisfaction. Now that he'd mentioned them, it only made her want to see his baby pictures.
They stepped in the tennis court, immediately seeing the regulars hanging around, practicing and shouting out loud. Eiji was apparently trying to hide behind Fuji as Kaidoh seemed to be lashing out angrily about something at him. Momoshiro scratched his back with his racquet and yawned uninterestedly, Inui drank yet another glass of green juice, while Takashi busied himself staring at the network strings of his racquet. Tezuka watched from a distance with Oishi standing next to him, talking quietly with each other. The remaining Tennis Club members lurked here and there, swinging racquets and picking up scattering tennis balls.
"W-why won't Ryoma-kun show me his pictures when he was a baby?" Sakuno asked.
"Because it'd be humiliating." Ryoma said matter-of-factly.
"It-it won't be." Sakuno protested. "If you won't let me see those pictures, how would you show me you could play tennis since you were a baby?" she tried to make a point.
Ryoma watched the Tennis Club members silently for a while. Sakuno thought he was almost wearing that composed, prepared look he used to wear back when tennis had been practically everything in his life. Back when she hadn't been a part of him.
Without taking his eyes from the court, Ryoma smirked lightly.
"When we get married, I'll teach our twelve children to play tennis when they're still babies, that's how I'll show you." he planned cleverly.
"T-twelve children…" shocked and embarrassed, Sakuno hung her mouth speechless, and before she could stammer out an answer, he had run over toward his senpais, announcing his long-awaited arrival at the court.
.
.
.
