Neverending Promise: (Fuji) Chapter Nine (Syuusuke) (10)
Neverending Promise: (Fuji) Chapter Nine (Syuusuke) (10)
A/N: text-flashbacks/thoughts/emphasized words
text-spoken in another language
text-written
Chapter Nine: The Two Pillars of Seigaku and Other Adventures
(Am I making it sound too much of an episode in an RPG?)
OoOoO
"What's he doing here?" Akari asked herself as she saw Tezuka coming from Ryuzaki Sumire's office one late Sunday afternoon. Her questions were answered not long after when the buchou confronted the two freshmen regulars.
"…Haruno University, 3 PM, three days from now."
"He's challenging Ryoma to a duel?" Hayato asked hours later. "I don't know whether to be excited or annoyed at his childishness."
"Rai too," Akari added. "And that's not so childish." Hayato raised his brow. Akari just smirked and said, "Try to see. You'll know soon enough that it's not childish. He just actually copied that from someone else."
When Hayato gave her an inquiring look, she added, "Just remember: Control."
Ryuzaki walked toward the practicing Regulars. "Echizen called in earlier sick."
The Regulars looked around. "Tezuka?"
"Sick."
"Yamato?"
"Sick."
"Oishi?"
"Sick."
"I sense some kind of conspiracy," Fuji commented.
"What conspiracy would involve tennis?" Kikumaru asked.
Akari, up on a high branch of a nearby tree, shook her head and began jumping down. 'You have absolutely no idea…'
Akari watched their game. The buchou was going one-on-one with them, but almost the same things happened.
"Do you think you can defeat me, Echizen?" The question was repeated later with Rai. "Do you think you can defeat me, Yamato?"
Both inquiries received the same answer. "I'll do it if you say so."
Akari looked down at the anxious Oishi, and back at the players. She closed her eyes, knowing full well what the outcome would be. 'Right now Ryoma…You still can't beat him. Not yet. Develop your own style of tennis first.'
She opened her eyes and watched as Tezuka talked to the freshmen half lying on the court.
'But it's not impossible.'
Ryoma's Holiday (The final part of it anyway)
It was a late Sunday afternoon when a jogging Akari saw Ryoma and Sakuno on a bridge. The former, in his usual cap, black shorts, and red and pink jacket over red-and-white tennis shirt, gave the latter a can on Ponta using the hand that did not hold his racquet.
'They're both in pink…' Akari noticed. 'Does he ever wear different clothing?' Shrugging it off, the female Senior jogged to her intended destination – street tennis courts.
Rai was just outside the door of the racquet stringers'. He was listening, but not necessarily eavesdropping, and waiting for them to come out. Just below the sign of Harihatsu's Stringer Shop.
"Ryoma-kun." From the sound of it, the hazel-eyed freshman paused and stopped right in the middle of opening the door. Rai backed away a bit, going to the side opposite to where the two would be going. "Is it alright for you to play this easy tennis?"
"Why are you playing like a kid?" prompted the stringer further. Before opening the sliding door, Ryoma gave a curt answer, making Rai smirk.
"I am a kid."
Rai almost sweatdropped when Sakuno fell.
"That's the form that got commented?" Ryoma asked, his voice monotonous.
"No! Of course not!" Sakuno said defensively. 'Ryoma-kun brought his racquet just for this…' The girl stood. "Please do it again, Ryoma-kun."
Rai smirked at the sight but was distracted by Nanjiroh's grumbling stomach.
"Hungry…"
Rai really sweatdropped this time.
Where's My Cat? (Karupin's Adventure)
Akari, already in her gakuran and toting a paper bag was wandering around when she passed the Fuji residence.
"The weather is good today, isn't it?" the middle child of the Fuji family commented as he tended the cacti on the desk near his window.
"Syuusuke, you have a postcard from France," came an older girl's voice.
Smiling, Akari continued to jog until she reached the Echizen residence. Akari looked at her wristwatch. 'If I actually run from here to Seigaku, instead of jogging again, I'll be able to make it.' With that, she jumped over the wall.
"Ohayo, Akarii-san," a blue-haired girl greeted when she saw open the door shouting "Ryoma!" "You missed Ryoma-san by minutes."
Akari almost pouted. 'Darn, I stopped at their house for too long' She shook her head and began looking for a furry white-and-brown ball of fluff that had yet to rub against her legs. Her forehead creased a bit. "Have you seen Karupin lately, Nanako-san?"
"I saw him just a while ago," she responded. "Ryoma-san was in too much of a haste to play with him after going down."
Akari nodded slowly. "I'm going to leave something for Ryoma in his room." Going up the stairs, she suddenly remembered that she had still not removed her outdoor shoes. "Sorry about the floor! And Nanako-san, Ryoma'd prefer a Japanese breakfast."
"I'll remember that next time," Nanako laughed.
"Karupin's toy isn't here," Akari muttered as she set her paper bag down in Ryoma's room. With much more haste than planned, Akari said a hurried goodbye and ran out. While running, she called someone using her silver cell.
Her cousin picked up. "You're calling because…?"
"Really-really-sorry-to-disturb-you-but-I-think-Karupin-followed-Ryoma-to-school," she said in one breath.
"Again?"
Akari could hear her cousin's classroom through the mouthpiece. She sighed. "Those two like each other too much."
"And she's jealous," Hayato jested.
"Am not!"
'If I remember correctly, his first subject is English, Science, then recess and P.E. and…I don't remember the rest,' Akari thought to herself as she continued to gaze out the window. She blinked. She was sure she saw a familiar white-and-brown pattern amongst the never ending pink of sakura blossoms. Another blink.
'I was right!' Akari thought frantically, sitting up on reflex. 'He did follow Ryoma to school!'
"Is there a problem Masato?" class two's English teacher asked, going near her. All around the room, the students were looking at her, their test papers forgotten, curious at her sudden outburst. "Erm…You're done…"
"Sumimasen," Akari muttered and sat back down. When she looked back at the place where she had seen it, the cat was no more.
"Hey Eiji." In the classroom of 3-6, the Tensai's book was in front of him, blocking him from the teacher's view in front. To his right, Kikumaru was in the same position, hiding behind his upright book. Apparently, both had not been listening to the teacher. Fuji was looking out the window, smiling as usual, and the redhead cat was busy. The Tensai was leaning on his hand. "Have you ever seen a Himalayan Spotted Cat before?"
"Huh?" the redhead blinked and looked in the direction of his bestfriend.
"Next reader," the teacher announced, "Kikumaru Eiji."
Panicking, the redhead stood, his arms extended, book in hand, frantically trying to locate the poem.
"Read from page eighty-six, line six," Fuji whispered.
"Right on track."
In Class 3-1, the Tennis Club's buchou was beside his cowering teacher near the board. "Sensei."
"Wh-What is it, Tezuka-kun?" the teacher stammered, his square glasses almost falling from his nose.
"I believe you made a miscalculation on formula three."
"Momoshiro! Eating again?" the current teacher in 2-8 boomed. The junior immediately stood, and sure enough, his mouth was stuffed with food. "If you don't get a ninety on the next test, you're going to retake the whole thing."
"Unfair!" Momoshiro whined miserably as his classmates laughed.
An hour later, Rai was to be found near the Chemistry Lab 2, locking the door. He noticed that someone was using the Chemistry Lab 1, so he decided to take a look. Just then, Ryoma and Horio walked by and entered the lab. After little hesitation, Rai decided to follow.
"Inui-senpai, what're you doing here?" Horio asked, after having almost screamed in fright upon noticing the older black-haired guy who was already inside the room.
"I have some experiments I wanted to do during my break," he said, looking over at the freshmen. "Of course, I got permission from the teacher."
The inquisitive freshmen made their way over in time to see Inui drop a green liquid into a beaker of pale yellow fluid. The mixture immediately turned purple upon contact and started to bubble.
"Interesting color. What is it?" Horio asked.
"A prototype of my new vegetable juice. Want to try it?" When the Senior looked back at where the freshmen had been, all he saw was dust, and a wrenched open door.
"Let's eat lunch!" Horio said happily, holding up his bento.
The door slid open and in came Rai, holding a bento of his own. "Mind if I eat here?"
Ryoma shook his head absentmindedly. "So it was Karupin after all," he muttered quietly.
"Ryoma-sama!" a high-pitched voice screamed and the door slid open yet again. Rai looked over to see Tomoka waving a large sign saying, "Winner of the District Tournament! I love Ryoma-sama!" Grinning madly, she said, "Ryoma-sama, I finished the banner!"
"Tomo-chan," Sakuno sighed from the doorway. She placed a large bento on the desk in front of Ryoma. Taking off the lid, she displayed five small cakes.
"Awesome, looks delicious," Horio said. "Wow, did you actually make this?"
"I-it's actually very easy. All I did was bake," Sakuno said with a light blush.
"Now, Ryoma-sama, eat this and do well on your match tomorrow," Tomoka said.
"I'll take one piece," Horio stated, reaching for the cakes.
"No you won't!" the fan girl yelled.
"Why not?" Horio, being Horio, whined.
"Because we brought it for Ryoma-sama," the fan stated.
"And for Rai-kun too," Sakuno added.
"Don't be such a cheapskate, it's just one piece," Horio persisted.
"Echizen!" The door slid open yet again and there stood Momoshiro. "Yamato's here too? Oh, you have some good stuff here!"
"I want some too," he said, running over, a mountain of food in his arms.
"Go ahead," Tomoka encouraged.
"What? But you gave me such a hard time," Horio whined again.
"He's been taking care of Ryoma-sama and Rai-sama so it's okay," Tomoka reasoned.
"Taking care?" the two nonchalant freshmen echoed.
"Mmmm, delicious!" Momoshiro was obviously enjoying his piece. "What's wrong Echizen?"
Ryoma walked past the junior, halted, went back and got one of the many packages. He then continued walking out the door behind Rai. "Momo-senpai, please give me this."
"Those kids really don't think of me as their senpai, do they?" Momoshiro sighed.
"Let me guess." The remaining occupants of the room looked up when they heard the sliding doors open – again. This time, standing in the doorway was Akari. "I missed him again."
Not bothering for any form of reply other than the lack of the person's presence, she shut the door again and resigned to eat with the class of 3-6, even though she was not scheduled to meet Nishida Kana then. Of course, nobody would know if the two kept quiet. It would be too out-of-character for Akari – at least, out of character from what she has shown so far.
"Nya! Aka-chan!" Almost immediately after she had opened the door, the hyper redhead engulfed Akari with one of his oh-so-famous suffocating hugs. "It's good Fujiko and I decided to have lunch here today!"
"Too tight," Akari said, just loud enough for Kikumaru to hear, but did not make any attempts to remove the hyper redhead. "Mind if I join you?"
Nishida Kana immediately went to their clustered desks. "Konnichiwa Akari-sama!"
Akari flinched at the choice of honorifics. "Can't you choose something other than '-sama'?" She looked up and found sapphire orbs staring into her bento. "Go get whatever you want."
Fuji chuckled beside her. "Saa, aren't you getting softer by the minute, Akari-san?"
"Soft?" Akari repeated in her usual monotonous voice. Her eyes, though, were a different story.
"Something you're worried about?" Rai asked Ryoma when they were in the locker rooms. Both had not changed yet and were sitting quietly and, in Ryoma's case, staring at the cat toy in his hands. "Say, something with a cat?"
Ryoma looked at the other freshman, startled. "How'd you know?" When Rai said nothing, Ryoma sighed. "My cat, Karupin, I think I saw him at school."
"Followed you?"
"No, he couldn't have. My house is quite a distance from here," Ryoma stated, shaking his head.
"I heard from some of the juniors that they saw a white raccoon on the roof a while ago during Lunch," he said hesitantly. 'When I got there, though, he was already gone.'
"Hey, Echizen, Yamato, you're early!" Momoshiro greeted happily as he strode through the door. "What's with the long faces?"
The freshmen did a quick recap on the day's happenings and the junior confirmed the news Rai had said.
"I-I'll go check the roof," Ryoma said. He attempted to run off but was pulled back by the Junior.
"Hey, wait, that was during Lunch Break when they saw him, and he ran down the stairs and escaped," Momoshiro said, feeling a bit guilty.
"But he's around here somewhere," Ryoma said, looking up to his senpai.
"Here," Momoshiro said with a sigh, holding out a key. "You can borrow my bicycle. Go look on the streets from here to your house. Don't worry. We'll take care of practice. Cats are better at finding their way around than people, you know."
Ryoma thought for a moment, received a nod from Rai, and took the key. "Momo-senpai, I will definitely return the favor. I'll be back soon."
After a moment of silence, Rai said, "Who told you I'd be staying?"
"Eh?" The junior looked at him incredulously. "Why?"
The freshman stood and started for the door. "I'll return the favor, senpai." With that, he was out.
Akari had been searching frantically within the past forty-five minutes, but had seen no trace of Karupin. She sighed and leaned against a wall. Her cellphone suddenly vibrated and she read the text message.
Tennis training done. Early dismissal. Meet you at sports shop. Note: Rai was not in practice. Ryoma too, but I guess you knew those beforehand.
It was almost immediately followed by another text message.
Momo-senpai bringing Karupin. Kaidoh-senpai had been playing with him. Ryoma and Rai coincidentally left both their bags and…Do you know whose address is written on Rai's tag?
With a sigh of relief, Akari started walking to the sports shop not far away. The final turn gave her a view of Kikumaru jumping up and down, asking Oishi to lend him eighty yen.
"Konnichiwa, Masato-san," Oishi greeted when he saw her. Kawamura, Ryoma, Rai, and Kaidoh were the only ones not present in their group. As Hayato had said, Karupin was safely tucked in Momoshiro's uniform. She nodded and directly went to pat Karupin's head.
"You know, you remind me of my classmate back in elementary," Momoshiro said as he examined Akari's face. "But she acts the exact opposite of the way you do. She's a giggling, wild, sporty prankster who dislikes subjects because they're so boring."
"Really? That would make a really nice picture," KIkumaru said, grinning. "Her doing the same kind of pranks Momo would."
"What was her name?" Inui asked, trusty notebook in hand.
"Tezuka Atsuki."
There was silence then Kikumaru broke it by repeating, "Tezuka?"
The regulars looked at the buchou's impassive face.
"If I remember correctly, Atsuki was the name of your year-younger cousin," Inui read from his notebook. "Correct?"
"I thought that was just coincidence, the last names," Momoshiro mused "You don't seem to have any similarities with her buchou. I mean, she was just wild! Where is she?"
Tezuka shook his head, signaling the end of the discussion.
"Oh well, I thought I'd be able to see her again. It would be nice to pull of pranks with that person," Momoshiro said with a sigh, oblivious to his buchou's plunging spirits.
"Yo," Momoshiro greeted as Ryoma opened his door. Ryoma looked at his remaining senpais and slid the door closed – like what he did at the sushi place. Wrenching the door open, Momoshiro said, "Hey Echizen!"
"I believe you were looking for him," Oishi said as he handed Karupin over to the stoic-faced freshman.
"Thanks," he said, a small smile forming on his lips.
"This is from Ryuzaki-sensei," Tezuka said, handing Ryoma a piece of paper.
"Sorry," Ryoma muttered and took it.
"I'll leave your bag here," Oishi stated, laying a bag next to Ryoma's porch.
"See you tomorrow," Kikumaru grinned as they left.
"As I said, I'll return the favor," Ryoma said, turning to Momoshiro. The junior raised his brow. "There's a tennis court out back. Get ready to be beaten."
"Oi, Ryoma, why were you so worked up about your cat?" Momoshiro asked as they played. "I mean, it is expensive and all, but you became sentimental for some reason."
Ryoma was silent for a while as he kept hitting the ball back. After some time, he decided to answer. "The former owner gave it to the previous owner who gave it to me. Let's just say that they trusted me enough to give it to me. It means a lot."
"Big house," Inui commented as they looked at the looming house of Rai.
"House?!" Kikumaru repeated. "This isn't a house! It's a mansion!!"
They buzzed the intercom and conversed with someone they did not recognize. Moments later, the gates opened, revealing Rai standing beside a rather old man in a suit.
"Extend my congratulations to your relative," Oishi said, handing Rai his bag.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Akari popped out from behind him. "What was that about?"
Rai shrugged. "I have no idea what Momo-senpai told them." Shaking her head, Akari headed out for her usual jog.
Fuji Syuusuke was looking up at the starry sky as he leaned on the window, tending his cacti.
"Syuusuke, do you want to have a tarot reading session?" Akari heard Yumiko ask.
"Oneechan, your tarot reading skills are so good, it's scary," Fuji commented but went anyway.
Akari stood there, looking at the spot where Fuji had been. She smiled before heading back home. Later, before she went to sleep, Akari smiled, thinking how Ryoma would sleep with Karupin by his side.
She got a nudge and lifted her blanket. An enormous black-and-silver canine was looking at her with its icy blue orbs, seemingly telling her that he was there too.