Sigh… I want more comments. (Hint, hint) This may sound a bit lame but a comment really makes my day better ^.^'

Hehe… by the way, Akaibara just means "red rose." (akai=red; bara=rose)

Surmise of the Day: Are the surmises of the day at all interesting for y'all? (Non-rhetorical question)

Surmise of the day2 : I'm craving rice. I'm writing part of this at school and I am hungry…

Maa=well


Chapter 9

Violence is Always the Answer

I woke up very early in the morning on Saturday and began to worry. If you believe stress shortens your lifespan, I was going to die decades younger than I was supposed to. Now I was pulling a serious Oishi…

About the dance, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do. I didn't know how to ask someone the same sex as myself to basically go out on a date with me, and I didn't want to try that demon Inui's juice fresh from hell either. My sleep-deprived brain couldn't think of another alternative.

On the bunk below me, Fuji was awake as well (though I wasn't aware of it). He stared vacantly at the multicolored stripe blanket in front of him and wondered to himself.

I sighed and climbed down the ladder. It seemed to creak more than usual.

"Riko? You're up, too?" my roommate croaked from behind me. I turned quickly.

"Y-yeah," I answered. "When did you wake up?"

"Oh, two hours ago. I'd say about 4:30."

"Me too, ish. Wait, why isn't breakfast starting yet?" I asked, looking at the clock. "It's almost 6:45."

"So?"

"It's past time."

"Well, since it's a Saturday, and no one is in any particular hurry, breakfast starts at 7 instead of 6."

"Oh."

"A word of advice…"

"Nani?"

"Be prepared for a stampede in the cafeteria."


"Ah, that was so good, nya!" cried Eiji, stretching.

"Yeah," Fuji agreed. "Traditional Japanese breakfasts are the best."

I sat in between the aforementioned two with Tezuka, Oishi, Taka, and Inui on the other side of the table; I didn't want another incident with the mother hen. My head would periodically sag down onto my hand, which was barely being stabilized by my elbow on the off-white cafeteria table.

"Ne, Rikio-kun, are you tired?" Taka asked with a sideways smile.

"Yeah," I replied groggily. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"That's too bad," he replied, resting his chin on his bent wrist. "You must've been too amped up after winning the prefectural tournament. After all, the other guys were pretty scared of you anyway because of your eye." The shy boy laughed quietly.

"Something like that," I dismissed the last sentence, getting up to clear my tray. At the same time, Inui, the data man, stood as well and walked with me to the exit door.

"Hisakawa-san, I'd like a word, if I may," he said. I nodded in response and followed him up three floors to his dorm room, which happened to be 321. It struck me then how daunting his height was. Being 5'4", I was naturally afraid of those who were 6' or taller (except Taka because he didn't have glasses and a generally unapproachable air about him cough Inui cough Tezuka cough).

I sat down on Data Man's lower bunk, wondering what this little chat was going to be about.

"I'll get straight to the point since you probably have something planned for today," he said in a monotone, opening his green notebook. "There is a 98% chance that you are, in fact, female."

I didn't reply, but I managed to gape at him.

"And judging by the color draining out of your face I'd make it 100%."

"H-h-how… how did…"

"I collect data, Hisakawa-san. Now would you please tell me what you are doing here?"

"In your dorm room?" I didn't realize at the time what a stupid question it was.

"For Kami's sake… No, at Seigaku."

"… "

Inui raised an eyebrow, his pen ready to write.

"I… I can't tell you. Su-sumimasen!"

I ran out and down the hall and inside to my room. Once inside, I flew up my bunk ladder and lay face down on my bed. Would Inui tell? I had no way of knowing.

How had he found out? He couldn't have discovered on his own (A/N: simple-minded…), and there was only one other person who knew. So therefore the only reasonable explanation was… Fuji.

No. I didn't want it to be true. I didn't want to believe that he would tell someone else.

But on the other side, he had already made one slip-up around Eiji that would've cost me my secret had the redhead been less dull.

I started to tremble with anger. So Fuji was going around telling people my secret now? Why had I even trusted him in the first place? I should've seen this coming.

Outside the dorm room door there was the sound of several of the tennis team members talking. Fuji was coming.

And I was going to give him a piece of my mind.

Moving quickly, I positioned myself by the bathroom door in case I needed to bolt inside. The front door opened slowly and Fuji entered the room, but he halted when he saw my confrontational pose.

"What's the matter?" he asked with a chuckle, kicking the door gently closed and walking past me towards the desk.

"You jerk," I started. Fuji looked at me in surprise, his blue eyes wide and staring.

"Wha-"

"You can't keep your damn trap shut, can you? Why? Why did you tell Inui?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think you do." My fists were clenched. I was almost blind with anger at this betrayal.

"Listen, Riko, I-"

"Shut up! Just shut up! Don't tell anyone else! That's all I want!"

I stomped over to my duffel back and swung it over my shoulder with one hand.

"Where are you going?" He had sad tones laced in with his angry ones that I didn't care to take notice of.

"To Eiji's."

"Don't-" Fuji started, reaching out.

"Leave me alone!"

BAM!

The door was slammed in his face.

I wished then that I had chosen a farther location than the room next door, because I didn't feel dignified by simply walking a 180 degree angle and heading next to where I had just had a fight.

"Rikio-chan? What are you doing in my room?" Eiji asked, taken aback after shoving the door open into the wall.

"I need to stay here for the night."

"Wha- why?"

"'Cause Fuji's a complete imbecile."

I dropped my bag in the floor and sat down on the lower bunk in his room, my clenched fists still twitching with anger. I didn't say a word.

"That didn't sound very good in there, nya," Captain Obvious pointed out.

In answer, I collapsed sideways onto the bed and swung my legs up so I was laying down facing my temporary roommate.

"Eiji, how do you get a date for a dance?" I asked awkwardly.

"Oh, you mean for the Akaibara dance?" he wondered. "Well, since it's a Saturday the campus is probably open and we could go get dates."

"That didn't answer my question."

"Oh. What was it again?"

"How to you get a date?"

"You just talk to them, and if you like each other you take them to the dance. It's not that hard."

It's funny how girls are like aliens here… Eiji doesn't even say "girl," it's just "them."

"What, so you've done it before?"

"Uh… ie…"


"Riko-chan, wake up," someone said, shaking me.

I rolled over and looked up. My vision was blurry with sleep.

"Fuji?" I asked.

"N-no," Eiji refuted. "It's Eiji, nya."

"Why are you calling me Riko?"

"Demo, Fujiko-chan gets to call you-"

"But you don't. Sorry."

I swung my legs over onto the floor and sat up.

"What time is it?"

"Past time for dinner; your nap was pretty long. You hungry?"

"Mmhmm. Let's go."

I trotted out of 219 and down the hall. Eiji and I walked side by side, him with his hands in his pockets and me looking up at him in curiosity as we chatted. Once in the lunch room, Eiji, with his superior eyesight to mine, spotted our group of tennis players quickly, and we headed over.

"Konnichiwa, minna," the acrobat greeted.

I scanned the group. Ryoma, Momo, and Kaidoh had all joined the group, but one guy was nowhere to be seen.

"Ne, where's Fuji?" I asked. My anger had mostly dissipated by then, and I had realized my stupid mistake of yelling at the tensai.

Oishi shrugged. He had his normal worried expression on his face. "I don't know. I knocked on his door, but there wasn't an answer."

I sighed and went with Eiji to get our dinners. When we came back we seated ourselves across from one another where there was room.

"So, everyone," Momo nagged, trying to make conversation. "Have you found your dates yet?"

"Hai," Ryoma responded in a bored tone. His senpai-taichi looked at him amusedly.

"Ah, to be young," the spiky second year said dreamily.

"Ugh, I have no idea what to do!" I exclaimed, hanging my head in my hands. "I've never had to do this type of thing before!"

"Well… you could always go as a girl." Eiji suggested.

Everyone at the table gaped at him, even Tezuka, though Mr. Stoic's face was somewhat less flabbergasted than, say, Oishi's.

"What!" I cried. "I… I can't do that!"

"Why not?" the redhead asked, smiling crookedly. "You look like one, anyway."

"But he's not," Oishi pointed out (falsely). "That's the point."

"Yeah, I know that, but..." Eiji mused. "Well, if Riko-"

I kicked him hard under the table. He flinched and coughed to hide his mistake.

"Ahem… If Rikio-chan dressed as a girl she could go with one of us and we wouldn't have to find a date."

The table was quiet for a while. Some people were worrying or thinking while others were simply amazed at Eiji's unusual feat of understanding.

I slumped in my seat. "Fine," I sighed. "There's just one question."

"What's that, Rikio-kun?" Oishi asked.

"Who's my date?" I wondered aloud with a half smile. This was going to be interesting.

Every guy's cheeks at the table went at least slightly red at that question. (A/N: she doesn't get it, though… )

"I will," Eiji volunteered. "But that means I get to help with the costuming."

"O-kay…" I reluctantly agreed. "When are we going to go get stuff ready?"

"How about Sunday? Nothing's going on then, I'm pretty sure!" the acrobat suggested energetically.

"Y-you don't need to get so excited about it, it's just a dance," I said.

"I know! But still!"

"Ano… minna, Tezuka's gone," Oishi interrupted apprehensively. "The cafeteria's going to close soon…"

"Let's go, then!" Eiji cried, grabbing his food tray to dump the trash in one hand my arm in the other to drag me behind him.


Lol… the suggestions on M[icrosoft] Word are hilarious sometimes :D

Oishi- fishy, oasis, Ishim; Tezuka- Toluca, Tesuque, Temuco; Rikio- ratio, radio, Richie (?); Eiji- Elijah, Fiji; Riko- Ricoh, rook, rake : 3