Chapter Ten: The Canceled Plans

Saturaday came before Satoshi knew it, and a week of school was rounding up to a close. He was looking forward to sleeping in on Sunday and generally not doing anything. He had it all worked out. Kitamura-san had given him the day off because he was going to do some inventory thing, and Saki was going to the pool to practice most of the day. So that left him alone in the apartment until evening, which was fine for him.

Meanwhile he had to get through the rest of the school day. He currently was in P.E. class, which he didn't prefer. It required him to move around more than he wanted too. Ever since his intense training and work out sessions though, P.E. wasn't a challenge, but he was still lazy at heart, even if he didn't show it. The class was doing a rare co-ed team up, playing mixed soccer. Their P.E. Teacher, Nagashiro, tended to do this a lot. Satoshi rightly guessed the reason from this was because he was too lazy to run back and forth from the groups to check on their progress. If the girls were working with the boys, they had to show off to each other, while if they were alone, they could slack off somewhat. The day before they played co-ed Volleyball, at which the girls royally stomped the boys (even if the teams were mixed together). Before that it was Basketball in which the boys were better than girls. Soccer seemed about even. The boys had the power and the girls had the speed.

Turns out that martial arts training was just the thing for soccer. Learning how to move ones body accurately to avoid hits made it easier to move around to control the ball without his hands. Not to mention the power kicks he had learned. He had never played soccer before. Satoshi only knew which end the ball needed to go, who his team-mates were to pass too, and to not touch the ball with his hands. That was enough though. His Aikido and Karate lessons kicked in on the field and he was practically fighting the ball down the field for points.

"Martial-Arts Soccer." Ando teased, breathing heavily at him after Satoshi scored another goal with a particularly impressive mid-air spinning wheel-kick.

"It's working isn't it." Satoshi complained. "Not like I know what I'm doing."

The hot steaming body of Natsume jumped on his back. He could feel her chest press against his back. Ordinarily this would be a cause for stimulation, but it's was hot, he was sweaty and so was she. But by now he was used to her public displays of affection. "This is so exciting. You should teach me Karate. I want to play soccer like you."

He straightened to his full height shaking her off his back. She landed gracefully on his feet (having perfected the method of recovery whenever he flung her off him) and grabbed his sticky arm into hers. "It's too hot for all that."

"I wouldn't complain if I were you." Ando grumbled jealously. Natsume stuck her tongue out at him.

"We're almost finished with the game. Let's get it over with so we can take a shower." Satoshi looked at them.

Natsume let go of him and ran to her position. Sports really was her thing. She was without a doubt the best athlete in the class. Satoshi just shined a bit more in soccer because of blind luck. But she seem genuinely more warm to him on some sort of sporting event than she did anywhere else. In a way she was cuter as a team mate than a fake girlfriend. At least her excitement and her appreciation for him was real.

Before they could finish out the game properly, Nagashiro-senshi blew his whistle and signaled everyone to take a quick shower before heading to their next class. Satoshi's side won by an overwhelming amount. Ordinary boys might have felt a bit of pride in winning, but Satoshi was just lazy enough that his apathy toward anything sports related stamped it's mark in this situation as well.

When he finished cleaning up he met the rest of the class back in their homeroom. Yuriko and Natsume were standing near his desk talking to another girl who sat behind him. When he took his seat, Yuriko broke from the conversation the other two were having and gave him a sweet smile. Suddenly the day got better.

"You sure were great out there." She said softly.

"You weren't so bad." Satoshi lied. She wasn't bad, but she wasn't outstanding either. Just held her own. It also didn't help that she was on the losing team.

"I just don't have the stamina you and Natsu-chan have." She blushed. "My legs still kinda feel it."

"Don't worry, mine do also." Satoshi rubbed one of his legs for emphases.

Their conversation was cut short when the girl behind Satoshi, Ayane, smacked the back of his head. "Hey I'm talking to you."

He turn his head around and saw her blushing face. "Are you out of your mind?"

"Sorry. But you ignored me."

"I was talking to someone else, of course I didn't realize you were talking to me." He gave Natsume a raised eyebrow at the absurdity of Ayane's actions. She returned a similar gesture.

"I was just wondering what you and Natsu-chan were going to do tomorrow?" She asked, ignoring his logic.

"What?" Satoshi's eyes shifted from Ayane to Natsume, then back to Ayane. "What business is it of yours?"

"Well you're going out, right? And Sunday is our free day. So naturally you're doing something. I just wanted to know what. I might see you around town or something, and maybe we could have lunch."

"What, after you violently assaulted the back of my head?" Satoshi teased, evading the question.

"Actually…" Natsume started but was interrupted.

"What about you Yuriko-chan?" Ayane switched gears.

"Pardon?"

"Are you doing anything interesting."

"I…" Yuriko blushed, obviously trying to come up with a satisfying answer. "Well, I was planning on going to see a movie… with someone,"

"Oh really? Who are you going with?"

Satoshi sighed. Somehow watching Yuriko struggle was painful to watch. "She's going with me and Murasaki-san. We invited her to come with her sister if they weren't busy. You know, to take the pressure off a first official date."

Natsume stared at him, then after a moment agreed with him. "The plans aren't set in stone or anything."

"Oh." Ayane said. "That's interesting because I might go to a movie myself tomorrow. Me and some girls were planning on seeing that new Kunoichi movie."

"Whoa, that's out already?" Natsume blurted out. "Cool."

"Then I'll see you there, won't I?" Ayane grinned, but suddenly got called away by another classmate. "Sorry, I'll be back, we can make arrangements to meet up later." All three watched her leave and almost in sequence all gave a collective sigh.

"There goes my day off." Satoshi groaned and slunk in his seat.

"What are you complaining about?" Natsume grumbled. "You're going out with a bunch of girls. I was planning on hanging out with Yu-chan alone on Sunday."

"You were?" Satoshi gave them an interested look.

Yuriko blushed again. "I thought it would be fun to go to a movie with Natsu-chan. I apologize for getting you into this situation."

"It's not your fault." Satoshi admitted. "You just told the truth, I was the one who elaborated on it."

Natsume smacked his arm. "Yes, thanks for that, my savior."

Yuriko's eyes looked up, as if not trying to face them. "Shouldn't you two want to go on dates together, since you're going out?"

Natsume smirked slightly, her eyes never leaving Yuriko. "We had agreed not to let our relationship interfere with any plans we had on our own."

Satoshi thought she was great at covering up the fact that they weren't really interested in each other. She wondered what Yuriko would think if she found out they weren't really a couple. She always seemed about awkward around him, but he just attributed it to being shy. Maybe she didn't approve of them going out. He didn't know. She did seem to genuinely enjoy the company of both of them. Perhaps she didn't like being the third wheel? If that were the case, Satoshi would gladly drop Natsume for the chance of asking Yuriko out.

"I guess I have to talk my sister into going to see the movie then." Yuriko bit her bottom lip.

"She doesn't have to come. I said she might show up."

"But if she doesn't come, then it'll look like we dragged Yu-chan on a date with us. How awful would that be?"

Satoshi sighed. "It doesn't really matter anyway, Ayane will be there with whoever she's bringing."

"I guess that's true." Natsume sighed.

"Oh." Yuriko started. "Okada-san, you work a lot with my sister, don't you?"

"She usually is cashier when I'm working." Satoshi told her.

Natsume leaned in closer to Satoshi. "I wonder why Yu-chan doesn't work at the store?"

"I'm busy." She quickly said.

"Doing what?"

She looked cornered. Satoshi hated seeing that look from her. "Just drop it, Murasaki-san, she doesn't have to tell us what she does."

"No, it's okay." Yuriko still looked uncomfortable. "I'm tutoring World History to someone at their house."

"This early in the school year?" Natsume pressed. "That sounds sort of strange."

"Well, she's always had trouble with it, and the pressure finally caught up with her." Yuriko looked embarrassed. "I promised I wouldn't say anything."

"Don't worry, I don't care what you're doing." Satoshi told her, but was not sure why Natsume looked so gleeful in teasing Yuriko about her social life. He thought it was best to bring Yuriko back to the original topic before Natsume had another go at her. "You were asking about your sister?"

"Oh, yes." Yuriko returned back to her original intent. "Why don't you ask her to the movies with us. You'll probably see her before I will at work."

"Plus it's always better being asked out by a boy than by your sister." Natsume nudged Satoshi.

"I didn't mean it like that." Yuriko gasped.

"Don't worry, I know you're not trying to set Sato-chan to two-time me." Natsume grinned. "You see, he's got it real bad for me."

"Shut up." Satoshi rolled his eyes. "You joke around too much." Natsume only giggled. He turned his attention back to Yuriko. "I'll ask her for you if you want me too, but you might want to also ask her yourself, just in case I forget."

"Okay. I'll do my best." Yuriko smiled happily.