This is the rewritten version of Battle of the Tensais!
Author's Notes: I'm running out of words. Online thesauruses are annoying, and I can't rely on MS word too. I feel like I'm overusing a few words. I should really get a thesaurus. Oh well... Hope you like this one.
UPDATE:
I'm so happiiiiii! Thanks for all the positive reviews guys. And the readers who said they're getting confused with the pairing, that means I'm doing a good job! LOL! Sorry if I'm confusing though...
LOL itssoMelissa-- who knows, I might make it Tezu/Fuji... despite the fact I'm "NOT a big fan" of Yaoi...
Chapter 8
Mondays are hell days.
--Tokyo, Japan (Monday)--
It was yet another Monday in Tokyo, Japan. The sun shined radiantly, the birds chirped cheerfully, the faint smell of rain lingered in the air from the slight morning drizzle. It seemed like Mother Nature decided to brighten up Tokyo and its inhabitants, to prepare them for the start of another...
Hell week.
Yes, Monday signalled it was again time for work. Students had to go to school and study tirelessly, in hopes it would prepare them for the real world, the 'adult' society that demanded one to slave—work—for meagre income that would barely pay taxes, mortgages, food and what-nots. The citizens of Tokyo refused nature's early greeting as they slumbered in the privacy of their homes.
VOOOOOOOOM!
The sound of a hair dryer seemed to have awakened the inhabitants of the Hasegawa household. Hasegawa Reiko, unlike the rest of the people in Tokyo, hummed a merry tune as she blow-dried her hair. Reiko has been up since the crack of dawn. Heck, she never slept at all. It was not because she had morning practice, it was cancelled. It was because she did not feel the need to sleep. Time seemed longer as she counted down how many hours were left till her first, personal, training session with Seigaku's famous tennis captain. She grew restless at every second.
"Reiko! What's that racket?!" A disgruntled Mr. Hasegawa knocked furiously on the bathroom door. He had only been sleeping for three hours, when the deafening sound of the hair dryer was heard.
Flashback
It was 10:00 in the evening, the usual lights-out time in the Hasegawa residence. Mr. Hasegawa snuggled to his wife in bed as he positioned himself to sleep. He turned off the lights and shut his eyes when—
"AAAAAAH!"
Mr. Hasegawa scrambled to get up and ran to the sound of a woman's shrill shriek.
"Reiko! What happened?!" A worried Mr. Hasegawa flew in his lounge/home-theatre room with a golf club.
"Eh? Otou-san? What's with the club?" Reiko looked at her shaken father with a puzzled look.
Mr. Hasegawa saw his daughter sitting in front of his big-screen screen T.V., sound system at full blast. Reiko was watching "The Exorcism of Emily Rose". A vein popped on the displeased man's forehead.
"What are you doing? Are you playing around with my system? I told you not to touch it without my permission!" He bellowed at his 'insolent' daughter. Reiko only shrugged and resumed watching.
"I'm watching a horror movie." Reiko said impassively, her eyes glued to the screen.
"I can see that. At this hour? It was light's out 5 minutes ago." Mr. Hasegawa reprimanded through gritted teeth.
"I couldn't sleep. So I decided to pass the time." Reiko answered simply, not bothering to look at the man who raised her.
"Can't you watch that in your computer?" Mr. Hasegawa asked annoyed.
"Otou-san, it's a horror movie. Hellooooo You HAVE to watch it in big screen WITH surround-sound! That's like common sense." Reiko retorted impudently at her father.
"Don't stay too close to the t.v., you know that's bad for your eyes." Mr. Hasegawa reminded her daughter of the "Dangers of Watching T.V."
"Uh-huh..." Reiko replied with a brush-off tone.
Realizing it was hopeless, Mr. Hasegawa left his daughter with her horror movie after telling her to turn it down a notchReiko just gave him a 'Can-you-still-not-connect-the-dots?' look before he sighed and headed back to the master's bedroom.
"I knew I was too slack in raising her." muttered a frustrated Mr. Hasegawa, dissatisfied at how his daughter turned out.
Mr. Hasegawa couldn't bring himself to sleep so he decided to finish some paperwork. When he finally felt the urge to hit the sack and went back to their room. He'd just found the perfect position when a blinding light occupied the bedroom.
"Argh." Mr. Hasegawa looked over to his wife to find her sleeping peacefully with her trusty ear plugs and eye shade (a/n: that shade thing you put on over eyes when you sleep). Reiko came in their room and headed to the master's bathroom. She flicked all the lights on before heading to the door.
"Reiko... It's 3am, what are you doing?" Mr. Hasegawa felt his blood start to boil.
"I'm keeping all the evil spirits out. Don't turn it off or they'll possess you! The portal opens at 3 am you know." Reiko warned her dad of the supernatural before heading outside to turn the rest of the lights in the house on. Mr. Hasegawa stood up to turn off the lights when he found that the switch had been superglued.
"REIKOOO!"
Mr. Hasegawa tried to sleep with the lights on. When he figured he couldn't, he went out of their room to find a dark place. He spotted the linen closet and remembered it didn't have any lights in it. He positioned his pillow and blanket and lay down in the big but stuffy closet. He struggled to find the right position for hours, he sighed happily when he did. Not long, a sound of what seemed like a hair dryer rang through the house.
"I would've had better luck in Krypto's dog house if it weren't wet."
End of Flashback
"7 more hours till we get some alone time." Reiko counted devotedly as another hour went. It was now 8:00 in the morning. She brushed and blow dried her hair some more. When she felt satisfied with herself, she went out the bathroom to grab some breakfast. She found her mom smile sweetly at her as she headed in their dining area for breakfast.
"Ohayou!" Reiko greeted her mom good morning before turning to face her dad. Her hairs stood up when she was greeted by dishevelled hair, dark thick beard and big, black eye bags. Mr. Hasegawa looked at his daughter lifelessly.
"W-what's wrong with otousan?" Reiko was aghast as she asked her mom. Mrs. Hasegawa gave her daughter a clueless look and shrugged.
After grabbing some breakfast, Reiko headed outside. It was 8:30 am, she had a good 30 minutes before school. She smiled as she realized there was enough time to water her lemon plant and feed her dog.
"Ohayou, Krypto-kun!" The fluffy, white dog wagged its tail excitedly at the sight of its master as it greeted her with a cheerful bark. Reiko patted her dog and gave it its food before getting the watering can. The loyal dog followed its master as she headed to the front yard and stopped in front of a brown pot.
"Ohayou, Mr. Lemon! You'll be 2 years old tomorrow. Won't you be sprouting soon?" Reiko poured some water over a soil-filled pot with no trace of anything green.
Flashback
2 years ago, a bored Reiko sucked on a lemon as she tried to think of anything to do. She cracked a bright smile when she spat out a lemon seed.
End of Flashback
Reiko's eyes twinkled at the distant memory.
"Hasegawa-san, did I hear you say the pot is 2 years old?"
Reiko's bright smile instantly turned into a scowl at the sound of an all-too-familiar voice. She looked over to the other side of the fence to see the ever-smiling face of Fuji Syusuke.
"I was talking to my plant! Teme!" Reiko snapped, her blood pressure rising.
"What plant? I don't see any in the pot?" Fuji asked innocently.
"Mr. Lemon is a..." Reiko thought of a word to describe her precious plant, she took the pot and covered it with her hands so it wouldn't hear what she was about to say.
"He's a late bloomer."
She looked at 'Mr. Lemon' to check if it heard anything. She convinced herself it hadn't before turning to leave.
"Saa... Maybe you're not treating it properly." Fuji suddenly remembered his beloved cacti as he walked over to Hasegawa territory to have a look at Reiko's 'plant'.
"Woof! Woof!" The huge, fluffy dog barked at Fuji as he 'crossed-over'. Fuji stopped and motioned the dog to come to him.
"Hah! Krypto would never submit to someone like YOU, ne Krypto-kun? Go ahead! Bite his head off!" Reiko commanded her dog with an evil smile. The dog tilted its head at its master curiously before running toward Fuji.
"That's—" Reiko's jaw dropped when she saw her 'loyal' dog lie down on the ground, as if motioning Fuji to stroke its tummy.
"Wrong! Bad dog! Don't fraternize with the enemy! Traitor!" Reiko reprimanded her 'faithful' dog angrily, only to have it look at her with a questioning stare. It turned to the brown-haired boy and gave his hand a friendly lick before lying down on its back again. The tensai stroked the dog's belly.
"That's a good boy. You're smart, ne?" Fuji patted the dog as he praised it for making a 'good decision'. Fuji took out a tennis ball from his racquet bag and moved it in front of the dog's face. He smiled to see it stand up and eye the ball's movement anxiously, wagging its tail excitedly.
"Saa... Hasegawa-san, you seem to have a smart pet. Can he fetch?" Fuji asked in a curious tone.
"Che... Of course he can! He's probably smarter than you!" Reiko sounded appalled. She turned her back on Fuji with an uninterested look as she started to stalk off to Seigaku.
/ How dare he question my Krypto's intellect?! /Reiko thought furiously that she didn't notice the disturbing smile that spread across the sadistic tensai's face.
"Then, can you think fast Hasegawa-san?" Fuji threw the ball at the unsuspecting Reiko who caught the ball without looking. She smirked and turned around to throw the ball back at Fuji.
"HAH! Is that—". Her jaw dropped when she saw her 3 foot hound charge towards her in excitement. No, Hasegawa Reiko apparently cannot think fast.
CRASH!
Reiko crashed into a bush as her dog jumped her for the bright yellow ball. The dog seemed satisfied when it got the bright tennis ball from its 'master'. It ran back to Fuji to get praised as he handed him the ball.
"Saa... So he really is clever, Hasegawa-san." Reiko struggled to rid her uniform of the leaves that stuck to her uniform, the saps making it stickier and harder to take off.
"We better hurry Hasegawa-san, I think we have maths first period." Fuji reminded her with a contented smile as he walked past the rundown girl.
--Seigaku: Class 3-6, First period... MATHS!--
"Kikumaru! Would you be so kind and show the class how to answer the question on the board?" The cracking voice of Sato-sensei asked his "favourite" student "sweetly".
"NYAAA!" Kikumaru squealed in horror when he saw what he had to do.
An isosceles triangle was drawn on the board.
In Kikumaru's head, 2 sides of the triangle have numbers outside it, and 3 numbers with circles superscripted on its right were found in the corners of the triangle (a/n: -sighs- They're called angles, but Kikumaru doesn't know that). On top of the triangle, it read:
"Solve for 'X' using the cosine rule."
Kikumaru walked nervously to the board, bracing himself for what Sato-sensei would do to him this time. He glanced over the frail teacher and saw him stroking the hair on his mole with a disturbing grin. He grabbed the marker with quivering hands. Just as the marker touched the board the classroom door opened.
Everyone turned white at the sight before them. There stood a pale-faced girl who's blouse was stained with what looked like paw prints, a few leaves stuck out of her greasy-looking hair. Kikumaru dropped the marker AND his jaw at the 'person' that stood out the door.
"NYAAAA! J-j-j-ju-ju... JU-ON!" Kikumaru exclaimed in fear as he tried to look for an emergency exit, other than the door. He felt a slight feeling of relief when he saw a wide open window. Kikumaru didn't think twice before he jumped out the window of class 3-6, which happened to be on the fourth floor.
"Sumimasen Sato-sensei..." Reiko bowed stiffly as she apologised dully, not bothering to explain why she was late.
She discreetly glared at the root of her problem, who turned out to be the brown-haired boy that gave her a wave as he sat right next to her empty seat. Sato-sensei grinned menacingly at the opportunity for revenge.
"Hasegawa! Are you really trying to spite me?" The sensei questioned as he continued to stroke his mole hair.
"Well, seeing Kikumaru has... disappeared to the unknown... would you do us the favour of finishing what he started?" The bald teacher pointed to the question on the board before cracking a sadistic grin.
Reiko walked to the board and picked up a marker like a zombie. She answered the question with a dead expression before turning to her seat. The sensei fumed and his mole hair had stiffened, again.
"HASEGAWA!! TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE!" The steaming teacher barked at his student. Reiko nodded lifelessly as she started to the principal's office robotically.
"Ne Yumi-chan, does that mean I shouldn't copy the answer on the board?" A clueless Chiharu asked her friend. Ayumi could only roll her eyes.
--Recess at Seigaku (Females' Toilets)--
As soon as the bell for recess rang, Ayumi and Chiharu dragged their filthy friend to the lavatory to get her fixed up.
"No punishment at all?" Chiharu questioned Reiko once more when she heard the bespectacled girl tell them she was let off for coming late to class with a warning.
"I'd pity you too if I saw you like that. How'd you manage to get yourself in that state anyway? Ayumi inquired as she brushed friend's raven hair. Reiko's eyes twitched behind her spectacles as she vividly remembered what happened earlier.
"I don't want to talk about it..." Reiko muttered through gritted teeth.
"Don't worry Reiko-chan! We'll get you fixed in no time!" Chiharu encouraged cheerfully as she took out the leaves that were still on her friend's hair. Reiko felt her mood lighten a bit when she thought of how lucky she was for having such good friends.
"Although I can't say I can do anything about your uniform... OR your passé hair sty—SMACK!" Ayumi slapped her 'lagging' friend's head as she started to rant about the other's lack of fashion sense.
"What was that for?!" Chiharu asked Ayumi irritably before looking back at her pale-faced friend who looked like all life had been sucked out of her.
"Ne, Reiko-chan, sorry I can't fix your face either, I forgot to bring make up." Chiharu continued to speak carelessly, oblivious to the fact she'd just brought back Reiko's foul mood.
"Aaaargh!" Reiko stomped away to leave her 'so-called' friends. She pushed the door so hard it almost flew off its bolts.
BANG!
Ayumi's and Chiharu's eyes bulged.
Reiko looked in horror as she realized she'd hit a person square on the face when she pushed the door with full strength.
"T-T-Tezuka-s-san?!" Reiko's face turned blue when she saw her precious buchou on the floor. She rushed over to the stoic captain worriedly. The girls who happened to pass by gaped in horror. Their precious "Tezuka-sama" had been physically abused.
"G-g-gomen ne T-Tezuka-san!" Reiko stretched her hand out to help Tezuka up.
"Aa..." Tezuka grabbed the outstretched hand when—
CRASH! Reiko was about to pull Tezuka up when the physical contact drained her body of all her strength. She fell forward and landed on... her object of affection. Everyone's jaw dropped. The girls all looked in horror. Their Tezuka-sama was no longer a "virgin".
"Daijoubu, Hasegawa?" Tezuka eyed the girl on top of him closely as he inspected for injuries. He was relieved to find none. Reiko blushed furiously when she realized how close she was to her precious coach.
Reiko got ready to stand up when—
CLICK and FLASH!
She heard the distinctive sound of a camera shutter and felt her eyes slightly blinded. They then started twitching once her vision finished adjusting.
"NYAAAA!" Kikumaru exclaimed, gawking as he watched the 'display'. Momoshiro's jaw was wide ajar, Echizen smirked, and the rest of the school population's eyes bulged out.
"Ii data..." Inui cackled madly as he wrote hysterically on his green notebook.
Tezuka cleared his throat and snapped Reiko out of her stupor. Reiko abruptly stood up and kept her head bowed down.
"Saa... Would you like a memento, Hasegawa-san?" Reiko's hands started to shake uncontrollably as they felt the need to throttle the distinguished sound of a deep, almost-feminine voice.
A mischievous smile was on Fuji Syusuke's face as he held out his Nikon digital camera to Reiko, motioning her to look. The feeling of embarrassment quickly faltered and the new feeling of anger seeped through her insides.
"What's everybody doing?!" Everyone fearfully went back to whatever they were doing at the warning voice of the stoic Tezuka.
"I didn't know that was your style, Tezuka." Fuji teased the impassive captain who felt his eye twitch at the remark.
"Ii... More data..." Inui was now really getting excited. By the way things were going; he would be able to fill a whole notebook with precious data within a day.
Tezuka pushed the bridge of his glasses up as if to regain composure. He should probably get an MRI scan soon, his migraines were becoming more frequent since the start of the term.
"G-g-gomen ne Tezuka-san!" Reiko bowed so low her head almost touched the floor. She looked up to find Tezuka's impassive face, when she saw half of it was darker. Reiko felt aghast.
"NYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Kikumaru cracked up laughing when he realized the door left a souvenir on Tezuka's usually blank face. Now it was half stoic, half red!
"BWAHAHAHAHA! Buchou's face looks like a tanning disaster!" Momoshiro pointed a finger at the 'souvenir' as he too started cracking up after Kikumaru. He just noticed the unusual uneven colour of their 'respected' buchou's face.
"FSSSSSH! URUSAI BAKERO! You'll pull everyone down with you!" Kaidoh hissed at Momoshiro for his insolence, he did not want to be punished for Momoshiro's stupidity.
"What did you say, MAMUSHI?!" Momoshiro barked. A deluge of colourful cuss words filled the hallway.
Tezuka tried to keep his calm demeanour and turned to the blue-faced Reiko. He adjusted his glasses once again.
"Aa... See you after school." He looked at the girl once more, and then eyed Fuji.
"Yudan sezu ni ikō." Tezuka walked off with his usual impassive face, leaving the poor Reiko in the hands of her highly intrigued friends and nosy regulars. As soon as the area was Tezuka-free, 10 figures leered over the helpless Reiko.
"That's right, Tezuka did tell me to take charge of practice on Mondays and Fridays for a few weeks." Oishi spoke out loud, everyone grew more curious.
"Reiko-chan, is there something you want to tell us?" Chiharu asked her friend with puppy dog eyes. Reiko seemed unfazed no matter how adorable her friend looked. She was still pissed at the earlier events. Everyone anxiously looked at Reiko when they saw her rub her chin in thought.
Flashback
Reiko was about to go to bed when her mobile phone started ringing. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her spectacles when she read the caller I.D.
"H-h-hello?" Reiko answered the line nervously.
"Goodevening, Hasegawa-san." Reiko's heart started beating at a thousand beats per minute when she heard the well-known deep voice that echoed through the line.
"T-Tezuka-san?" Reiko asked to make sure. She felt herself smile when she heard the person reply.
Aa..." came the short reply.
"Y-you wanted something?" Reiko curiously asked the voice on the other end, wondering why THE Tezuka Kunimitsu called her at that time of the night.
"I'm sorry to bother you at this hour. I wanted to ask you to keep our personal training sessions a secret from Varsity and Regulars." Tezuka replied straight-forwardly.
"Oh." Reiko replied disappointed. That was the longest Tezuka ever spoke to her and was a bit let down that it was about tennis. What did I expect? She thought to herself.
Tezuka heard the slight disappointment in the girl's voice and decided to continue.
"If the others found out, I'm afraid the training will no longer be... effective." Tezuka had a point. The Regulars and the Varsity would definitely keep pestering them if they knew about their one-on-one sessions. Reiko smiled as she marvelled at the captain's wisdom.
"Of course." Reiko replied happily.
"Then, 3pm tomorrow.Oyasumnasai Reiko heard the line click after the Tezuka bid her goodbye. Reiko felt restless the whole night.
End of Flashback
"No, not really..." Reiko turned her back on everyone to leave. She felt 20 hands pull her back.
"Mou, after all we've been through, the hardships we've endured together." Ayumi attempted to make her friend feel guilty.
"Che... What 'hardships'? It's only been 2 weeks." Reiko replied coldly. Ayumi pretended to look upset. "Not working Ayumi." Reiko remained unfazed.
"There is a 0 percent chance that Hasegawa-san will tell us anything." Inui stated knowingly.
"Urusai Inui! You're encouraging her!" Everyone yelled at Inui who cackled as he wrote down on his 'data' book.
"Mou, Reiko-senpai! We're team mates!" came Momoshiro's lame attempt.
"Uh, no we're not." Reiko crossed her arms stubbornly and looked away.
"Nya! Minna, don't pressure her! She'll tell us when she's ready! Ne, Rei-chan?" Kikumaru 'defended' his friend from her predators. "You know I'm always here, for anything, ne Rei-chan? Kikumaru gave Reiko one of his trademark hugs.
"Thank you Eiji." Reiko smiled at Kikumaru before turning around. "Not gonna happen." She started to walk away. Kikumaru's face fell not noticing that Echizen had sneaked a racquet to Kawamura.
"BURNING! COME ON BABY! OORYA!" Kawamura swung his racquet in the air like a barbarian in an attempt to intimidate the raven-haired girl. Reiko pinched Kawamura's arm just above the elbow and the 'Burning' boy's fire was extinguished.
"Ahaha..." Kawamura chuckled bashfully while rubbing his arm.
"Saa... I guess you leave us with no choice, Hasegawa-san." A devious voice called out to the bespectacled girl. She cautiously turned around and froze at what she saw. Everyone had an evil smile on their face as Inui held out a bottle of mud brown liquid. Reiko was about to make a run for it when strong sets of hands grabbed her.
Just when they were about to put the bottle in her mouth—
RIIIIIIING!
Reiko sighed in relief as the bell rang to signal the end of recess. Everyone involuntarily let her go at the sound of the bell. Reiko flashed a victory sign and smirked triumphantly before heading back to her classroom.
Everyone's face darkened in disappointment when they failed to get what they wanted.
"Mada mada dane, senpais." Echizen Ryoma picked the wrong time to speak as frustrated hands grabbed him from behind.
UWECKH!!
Ryuzaki Sakuno's pencil lead broke at a distant sound of someone retching.
"Ryoma-kun?"
--Class 3-6: 6th Period Physics--
"An example of Newton's third law of motion is a pen..."
Everyone was dumbfounded at what the seemingly distracted teacher had meant. How can a pen be an example of Newton's third law of motion?
"A pendulum, a pendulum." The seemingly distracted physics teacher clarified what he'd meant to his class. Everyone then nodded in realization as their teacher continued.
TAPTAPTAPTAPTAP
Reiko tapped her pen impatiently on her desk as she stared out the classroom window. In just a few minutes, 00:07:14:007 to be exact, she'll be starting her personal training with her precious 'Tezuka-buchou-sama'.
The horizontally challenged teacher's eye twitched uncontrollably. He cannot take the incessant tapping anymore. He walked towards the back of the class and stopped in front of his raven-haired student's desk. Everyone's eyes followed the heavy-set sensei attentively.
Their physics teacher was impossible to ignore. If you miss his eye-sore of a body, you definitely cannot ignore the stench of body odour that trailed right behind him. He taught of the modern advancements physics brought upon, but it seemed he was not aware that chemists have also come up with an important breakthrough, which is the oh-so important deodorant.
"An object in motion, stays in motion..." The teacher started again. Reiko wrinkled her nose and looked up to find her smelly physics teacher in front of her. She stopped tapping her pen on the table and the teacher continued to speak.
"Unless disrupted by a net force." He finished. Yes, the force of his putrid body odour was truly a powerful one that can even instantly stop an accelerating 18-wheeler from 50 miles away. The teacher smiled contentedly as he resumed his lecture without any disruption.
"Force causes object to both move and stay stationary. Gravity is the force on earth that pulls everything to the it's centre."
CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK
Reiko clicked her pen impatiently on her head as she continued her count-down. Pochani-sensei's eye twitched in-sync to the sound of each click. (a/n: Pochani when interpreted would be pocha2. Pochapocha is a Japanese word, that when translated to English, means "Chubby".)
"The simplest things would not work without gravity, not even a ballpoi—"
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGGGG!!
The class hurriedly dashed out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang. They breathed heavily for fresh air, as if they were going to run out of oxygen in the next 5 seconds. Everyone heaved when a dust cloud suddenly zoomed through the corridor. Everyone scoffed. When the cloud cleared, they found their bespectacled classmate was gone, the red-headed Kikumaru was also nowhere in sight.
--Seigaku Gates--
Reiko patiently waited at their designated rendezvous spot. She tried hard to hide her excitement as she saw a familiar figure come into sight. She pushed her fringe back and dusted her muddled uniform like it would make it look any better. She waved at the nearing figure and smiled.
"..." Tezuka eyed the smiling Reiko with the same impassive expression. Reiko sweatdropped but then felt relieved when she found the dark half of Tezuka's face had lightened, slightly.
"Ahaha..." She mentally slapped herself when she realized she'd just chuckled out loud for no reason. She cleared her throat before deciding to speak again.
"How was school, Tezuka-buchou-sama." She could've sworn she saw Tezuka's eyes widen a few micrometres at the name she'd called him. It was that or her ridiculous question. She slapped herself on the head, not mentally this time, making her look weirder.
"A-a-anou..." She closed her eyes and mustered all her courage before continuing.
"Iknowaplacenearmyhousewecangoto." Reiko finished her statement in one breath, her cheeks felt like they were burning.
"Aa..." was all that came out from the ever-stoic captain of the Seigaku tennis club. Reiko sighed before she walked and led the way. They were oblivious to glimmering blue eyes that belonged to a certain redhead who was hiding inside a garbage bin.
"Nya!"
--Tennis Grounds--
Oishi decided to do a head count before starting training. He'd been informed by Ryuzaki-sensei that Reiko wouldn't be joining in the Monday and Friday training for other commitments. Tezuka also told him to take charge of Monday and Friday after school sessions for a few weeks. He knew something smelled fishy but it was not his business to pry.
/ So that leaves 11. / He looked at the players that gathered in the courts before starting.
"Varsity is complete. Eto... Echizen, Momo, Kaidoh, Taka, Inui, Fuji, myself. So that's... 10?" He looked over the players that gathered on the grounds once more and realized his doubles partner was missing. Oishi started to panic.
/ Where could he be? What if he's been kidnapped by fan girls? Or got hit by a truck? Or— /
Oishi's thoughts were disrupted by an all-too-familiar "Hoi".
"Eiji!" Oishi felt relieved as he saw a running figure that could only belong to Kikumaru.
"Hoi!" Kikumaru greeted his doubles partner cheerfully.
"Where were you? I thought something happened to you! And why do you smell like rotten eggs?" Oishi scolded the other half of the golden pair in a motherly-tone as he covered his nose in disgust.
"Nya? It's only been 2 minutes since practice started, mother Oishi!" Kikumaru tried to relax the overprotective fukubuchou.
"Ne Yumi-chan, doesn't Oishi-kun look so cute when he worries? It's like he's going to faint!" Chiharu excitedly watched her precious Oishi-kun from the end court.
"You think that's cute?" Ayumi shot her friend a weird look before shaking her head and went back to her stretching.
"I think Inui-san and Oishi-san will make a good couple." An unusually deep female voice chimed in. It was the gentle giant, Kaita Keiko. Chiharu and Ayumi looked at the giant like there was something weird about her—other than resembling a giant.
"Nya! Minna! I have interesting news!" Kikumaru exclaimed as he successfully gathered everyone's attentions.
"Buchou is on a date with Rei-chan right now!" Kikumaru stated more hyped up than ever. Everyone's eyes bulged out of their sockets, except Fuji.
"D-date-o?!" Momoshiro asked disbelievingly.
"Fshhh..." Kaidoh hissed as he went back to his routine with the look of disinterest. Everyone followed suit. It was not uncommon for Kikumaru to start a false rumour for he hastily jumped to conclusions all the time.
"Nya! It's true! I saw them with my own eyes." Now everyone's attention was fixed on Kikumaru, there was no question that he and Echizen had the best eyesight on the team.
"Are you sure?" Kawamura asked in his normal state. Kikumaru beamed and nodded.
"Hontou Eiji-senpai?" asked a now intrigued Momoshiro.
"Hontou, nya!" Kikumaru assured as he gloated.
"Ii data..." Inui quickly grabbed his trusty green notebook and started jotting like crazy.
"Are you sure Eiji?" Everyone turned to see the three Varsity members who held skeptical looks.
"Mou! How many times do I have to repeat myself?!" Kikumaru asked, getting frustrated by his teammates' questioning stares.
"Saa... Then there's only one thing to do." Everyone looked at the resident tensai in understanding.
"Follow them!" Everyone chorused. Oishi's palms started to sweat intensely.
"Minna! I don't think it's a good idea. It'll all put us in trouble with Tezuka." Oishi tried to convince the team to drop the idea.
"He has a point. Do we really want to anger our buchou?" Kawamura tried agreed as he tried to calculate how many laps their would-be furious buchou give them if he found them stalking him on his 'date'.
"Saa... What's wrong with looking out for them?" Fuji threw a rhetorical question as he tried to persuade his teammates that they'd merely be following them to make sure their buchou and new teammate remained safe.
"Fuji-senpai has a point, it's our responsibility to make sure our buchou and Reiko-senpai is safe." Momoshiro added.
"Nya Fujiko! I didn't know you cared so much!" Kikumaru marvelled at how "thoughtful" the tensai was. Everyone was finally convinced to proceed with the stalking idea.
"Lead the way Eiji." Inui initiated the redhead to guide them. Kikumaru stared at the data-man blankly.
"Nya? Why me?" Kikumaru asked naively. Everyone stared at Kikumaru outrageously.
"You were the one who told us they were on a date Eiji-senpai." Momoshiro answered starting to get confused.
"Eiji, you DO know where they went right?" Fuji now asked with a somewhat threatening voice.
"Nya? I saw them leave the school together so I ran to inform you guys! Nya!" Kikumaru beamed proudly, still marvelling at how great a friend he was to inform his teammates first instead of tailing the 'targets' by himself. Everyone fell to the ground.
"Mada mada dane, Eiji-senpai." Echizen told his confused senior emotionlessly as he went back to practice. Everyone did the same.
"Jeez... He got us all hyped up for nothing." blurted a disappointed Ayumi as she and the other 2 Varsity members also resumed training.
"Mou, weren't we going to follow them?" Kikumaru asked innocently.
"Urusai!" Everyone shut him up, feeling frustrated at Kikumaru for creating all the hype, then crushing them with his undeniable idiocy.
Kikumaru's face darkened as a cold breeze passed him by. He limply scampered to a desolate spot to practice by himself as all of his 'friends' ignored him for the rest of the practice.
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Author's Notes: This came out longer than I had intended. Please stay with me! Next Chapter: "One-on-one training."
