Chapter 11 – Secret Investigator
"Aah! Good morning Ryoko-chan!" Tomo greeted as Ryoko closes the door of their classroom.
"Good morning, Ryoko-chan." Her fellow classmates greeted her as well.
But as usual, she just ignored them. Her classmates stared at her as she walks straight to her desk and sat down. Tomo and Sakuno went closer to her seating on the available seats near Ryoko's place. It seems like they want to chat with her.
"Ryoko-chan," Tomo started the chat with a curious face. Ryoko looked at her and said, "What?"
Tomo asked her, "Were you there at the Seigaku and Hyoutei's practice match?" and then looked at Ryoko seriously. Ryoko picked her books up and put it on her desk ignoring Tomo. She arranged her things properly. And Tomo, who was hoping to get her answer, got pissed off.
"Hoi, I'm asking you Ryoko!" she said. Ryoko kept on doing other things but soon, she answered, "Yeah." Tomo was surprised to what Ryoko said. "E!" she reacted.
"Why, is it that surprising?" Ryoko asked frankly. "No, I mean, kind of." she answered. Ryoko sighed and continued what she was doing. Then silence followed. Sakuno, who was hoping she could make friends with Ryoko, thought on what to say next.
"Um, you're fortunate, Ryoko-chan, to see such a great match." Sakuno continued the chat. She smiled at Ryoko naively. Ryoko looked at her and said, "That wasn't so great after all." Sakuno and Tomo was surprised of what they just heard. "R-really? T-that was a bit...harsh...I think....Heh heh heh.." Sakuno tried to smile and thought she shouldn't have brought that topic out. Tomo got pissed off again. Tomo breathed in and out. "Not great...huh?" she murmured to herself clenching her fists in and out. Sakuno held Tomo's arm and tried to calm her down.
"Ryoko-chan...are you CRAZY?!" Tomo stood up and scolded Ryoko. Sakuno held one of Tomo arms and whispered to her , "Calm down, Tomo-chan, Calm down. She still doesn't know much about our school's tennis club regulars. She's just new here. Please be patient to her." Tomo then tried to calm herself down. She stopped talking to Ryoko for a while to bring her temper down.
"If I am CRAZY then I should be undergoing rehabilitation now instead of going to school." Ryoko provoked Tomo again, bringing Tomo's hot temper back.. Tomo got angry again and reacted, "What?!"
"Tomo," Sakuno called. Tomo breathed hardly looking at Ryoko angrily. "She's really getting into my nerves! And I hate her philosophy. But, calm down Tomo, calm down." she thought. Tomo calmed herself and sat down. She started changing her bad mood to a pleasant face. Tomo breathed in air and then let go of it. Sakuno looked at Tomo and then at Ryoko. She breathed in hardly. "How did you know about the match, Ryoko-chan?" Sakuno asked. Ryoko placed both of her hands at the back of her head and leaned her head against it(?). She obviously tired of answering it. "Kikumaru-senpai invited me to do so." she answered.
Sakuno smiled and told Ryoko, "You're so lucky. I wish I was there too." Ryoko did not reacted and stayed quiet. Sakuno looked at Ryoko hoping that she won't ignore her anymore. She waited for her to talk first but no words came out from Ryoko's mouth. Sakuno frowned but still hasn't losing hope in making friends with her. She thought once again of what to talk acout next. "T-The club did not informed us that why we did not know they were having a practice match. But...it's worth watching right?" Sakuno sure is trying hard to have a good chat with Ryoko but...."Ryuzaki..."at last Ryoko spoke first to Sakuno. Sakuno was happy that Ryoko finally spoke up first. "What is it, Ryoko-chan?" she gladly asked. Ryoko looked at her and paused for a while, and then continued, "You talk too much..." Ryoko harshly told her. Sakuno was of course shocked and was really offended. She just shut her mouth up and kept quiet. Sakuno almost cried that time.
"She's truly harsh and....frank." Tomo thought. "Sakuno was really trying hard to make friends with her...but it seems Ryoko doesn't want to...Then, I'll try to make friends with her..for Sakuno..." she decided.
"Ryoko, Could you please tell us all the details during the match?" Tomo asked. She gave off a big smile to Ryoko. Ryoko paused for a while. She sighed and answered "....I refuse." Tomo was dismayed but did not gave in. Once again, she asked, "Please tell us," "I refuse," Ryoko repeated. Tomo kept on asking her the same thing but still, Ryoko's answers were all constant.
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"So, her friends are Tomo, and um, Sakuno..." a mysterious voice said. "...okay...my data's almost complete." A girl wearing tanned leather coat with a red-striped scarf, brown pants, tanned hat, black boots, and black sunglasses peeked on something or someone inside Ryoko's classroom gathering data from the outside of it through an open window on the left side of Ryoko.
"...She sure has attitude problems..." she murmured while she writes down on her notebook the data she has gathered and what she recently said. She continued to peek and gather data on Ryoko.
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"Why won't you tell us!" Tomo cried. "Tell us...tell us...tell us..." she added. "I don't want to...I don't want to...I don't want to.." Ryoko answered. Tomo kept on convincing her but Ryoko still doesn't want to.
"Stop it please, Tomo-chan." The abashed Sakuno told her dear friend. Tomo just continued to do what she was doing earlier. Sakuno had nothing to do but be ashamed for her friend. Ryoko sighed and said, "Mada mada...dane." She ignored the girls and picked her notebooks from her bag which was on her left side. By a chance Ryoko saw the mysterious person staring at her through an open window.
"Uh!" Ryoko reacted. The mysterious girl saw Ryoko looking at her and was really nervous and worried that Ryoko might identify who she was.
"What's the matter Ryoko?" Sakuno asked. Ryoko looked at her saying, "There's a person..." She pointed at the window. "What is it?" Tomo asked. She looked back to the window and saw nothing. She was confused. "What's with the window?" Tomo asked. Ryoko stopped pointing. "Nothing." she said.
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What really happened:
When Ryoko looked at Sakuno which made her look away or unaware about the mysterious girl, the girl took advantage of Ryoko's unawareness. She yanked down and ran away.
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After a while their history teacher came in and asked them to get back on their on their proper seats. Sakuno and Tomo went back to their proper seats. Then their history teacher started her lesson. After all their teacher taught, she asked her class to get their history books. The students got their books except for Ryoko. Well, she wasn't paying attention after all. It was all because of the mysterious person. It seems to be bothering Ryoko.
Her teacher noticed that Ryoko did not get her book. Her teacher instructed the class once again to get their books, history books to be specific, to cover up Ryoko's unawareness (cool teacher huh!). But it did not work. Ryoko is still not paying attention. Their teacher had nothing to do but to call her favorite student. She went towards Ryoko, her favorite student. "Ryoko-chan," she called. It did not work at first. Her classmates looked at them.
"Ryoko-chan," her teacher called for the second time. "....uh!" at last Ryoko's attention was caught. She looked at her teacher. "P-pay attention please." her teacher scolded her but deep inside, she doesn't want to scold her favorite student. Ryoko frowned a bit which made her even cuter. Her classmates blushed while staring at her. "S-sorry, sensei." she said.
"KAWAII!" cried her classmates.
Her teacher (her teacher is a girl) blushed. She was worried of course and ashamed because she doesn't want to see her frowning or sad. She forced herself to smile. "Ahahahaha! No need to worry, Ryoko my dear! Ahahaha! It's nothing you know. I should be the one apologizing to you. Ahahaha! You can do whatever you want you know!" she reasoned out inorder to cheer Ryoko up and refrain from frowning. "Ahahaha!" the teacher laughed as she slowly walking backwards back to where a teacher should be placed.
"Weird," Ryoko murmured. The class soon continued.
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"(breathing hard)!" the mysterious girl refrained from running and then panted. "Pant! Pant! Pant! Damn it! I was almost caught!" she murmured. She stood up properly and looked at her environment. "...ugh!" she reacted. It was the time when she noticed that the tennis courts were just in front of her. There she saw the tennis club with the regulars of course. "Seigaku....tennis club," she wondered. After a moment, she widened her eyes. "They might notice me!" realizing this thought, she hid behind the nearest bush near the courts (let's assume there are bushes around the courts) with great haste. She peeked on the regulars. "I should sneak out before their eyes." she murmured. She was about to sneak out when she overheard the regulars talking about Ryoko which made the girl interested to continue eavesdropping.
"They're talking about Ryoko, this might help me collect more data about her." she thought. She prepared her data notebook and her pen and started listening.
"Aah, I want to see Ryoko today," Momo, who was running laps together with his fellow regulars and some non-regulars, announced. "You bet," Eiji agreed. "Me too," the other regulars except Tezuka agreed. "Seeing her just for a while or longer completes my day," Fuji added. "Really? Me either!" Kawamura said. They all sighed and kept silent for a while.
The girl was surprised of course. She didn't expect the regulars such words. "Are they obsessed with that damn girl?" she murmured angrily. "What did she let them eat to make them that obsessed with her?" she added. She continued listening and writing down details.
"Everybody," Momo broke the silence. The regulars except Tezuka looked at Momo curiously. "What is it Momo?" Oishi asked. Momo smiled. It seems that he thought of a good idea. "Let's visit Ryoko this lunch time." he announced. Everybody (except Tezuka as always) grinned slowly.
"That's not a bad idea." Fuji said. "Momoshiro thought of a good idea for the first time, fushuu!" Kaidoh added. "Okay!" Oishi announced. All agreed (except Tezuka again) and decided to do so.
"Damn it. They are really falling for her, but....Tezuka isn't." she murmured. She wrote down all her gathered data. "I really hate that girl!" she added. She continued to write down some details. After a while..."I guess these are enough." she said. She sneaked out of the picture and went home straight to her room.
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She took her disguise off and opened her data notebook. She read all the details written on her notebook. After she read all that is written on it, she closed it hardly, annoyed. "Time for the first plan." she announced to herself and smiled evilly, as if she was planning something wicked that might hurt Ryoko. Who could that girl be? What is she to Ryoko? What is she planning? Find out on the following chapters....
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I guessed this was a bit rushed and I'm sorry. I'm not good in writing stories and even my siblings thought of it as a rushed story...but it's okay! I'll try to improve my writing. But I hope you all understand the thought of this chapter and the story as well. Thank you!
Next Chapter: The New Transferee
