And, ezyl is BAAACK!
Disclaimer: Nope. I can't even rally a tennis ball properly, do you really think I'd own this? o.o"
"Momoko-san…"
I smirked, but frowned when I realized he'd used my nickname anyways.
"What now, Kikumaru?"
The annoyance in my voice was probably a bit too much for cat-boy. His hands instinctively reached his hips, but then abruptly slackened as he cocked his red-head and muttered a muffled, "I-I'm sorry, nya."
A grin appeared on my face. So this was what Oishi Syuichiro, cat-boy's doubles partner had been angry about all morning. I had heard him scolding a sober-faced Eiji in the empty English classroom before the end of last period – something about disrespectfulness to classmates, embarrassing and abusing a role as a popular student, and sexism. I didn't catch everything, being in a hurry to escape China-chan's third forced attempt at makeup retouching, but it was clear that Oishi had been furious with Eiji, and Eiji had stopped nya-ing every three seconds.
"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that," I tried to keep a giggle from escaping my mouth, "could you repeat, what you said, louder?"
The acrobat's face was redder than a ripe tomato in my grandmother's vegetable garden, as his head twisted upwards and he yelled, "I'M SORRY…A-ABOUT EATING ALL YOUR GUMMY CANDIES, MOMO-CHAN!"
"Really," the smirk on my face was stretching, as I noticed the lunchroom monitor look up from his newspaper with a concerned expression, "and that's all? What a waste of time."
The red-haired boy was about to give a nasty retort, when an arm clapped around his shoulder, and a stern-sounding voice, "Eiji…apologize. Now."
Ha.
"Okay, nya…"
I waited while he took a deep breath, looked in Oishi's eyes for reassurance, and then glanced back down at his toes, "Mizutani-san, I-I apologize for being so rude to you yesterday, a-and yelling at you."
"And…?" I prompted.
"…and for calling you 'Momo-chan'," he whispered, and then ran off towards the boys' bathroom, his face a nimbus storm cloud about to erupt. His doubles partner chased after him, calling his name.
I stared in amusement, watching the Golden Pair together. Eiji was now weeping rivers on Oishi's school shirt, while the other boy held him with a…a…loving look sketched all over his face as he caressed Kikumaru's hair, looking all the world like a reassuring boyfriend.
My first thought: That Kikumaru…he is such a child.
And then: Dear kami-sama, they couldn't be actually doing it together, could they?
Oh, the many curious mind workings of a self-acclaimed fangirl. A blush appeared on my cheeks when I thought of Inui doing anything like that.
Who would Inui do, anyways?
A fshhh sounded at a nearby lunch table. My blush deepened when Kaidoh Kaoru came to mind. It was a possibility…
There was always Yanagi Renji, too. Sadaharu had once told me about him, and his meticulous methods at procuring data. From Inui's nonchalant-yet-not-so-nonchalant tone, he had sounded like a rival, until I found out that they were great friends, and had once played doubles in tennis together. That is, until…
Yanagi left Inui.
It was what China-chan had told me, at least, when she was gossiping about some of Seigaku's rival schools (and their own list of hot boys). I had also heard from China-chan that Renji had a girlfriend, too, or something like that.
Someone coughed in front of me.
"Mizutani-san, could I have a word with you?"
It was Fuji Syuusuke. I wondered what such a popular boy would want with me, and then remembered the icy glare he had emitted across the entire cafeteria during Kikumaru and Oishi's little hurt/comfort scene.
I was going to ignore him, still having the nasty impression of the guy blowing me off when I had said sorry so many times, but then recalled the interest Inui had in taking the tensai's data.
Instead, I smiled bright, "Hello, there, Fuji-kun. Can I help you?"
The brunette had a light, sinister smile on his face as he settled his lunch tray (a plate containing only a single wasabi riceball) down at my table, "Where's Chinatsu?"
"She's in the bathroom," I rolled my eyes. It was the fifth time today she had gone back to look for her lost makeup kit.
"Good," Fuji's eyes seemed to shine with a malicious glimmer that gave me chills. Seriously, a puppy dies every time that guy so much as lifts the corners of his mouth up...even a little, "I need to ask you something."
This time, a feeling of curiosity coursed through, and I tried to smother my interested expression with a look of indifference and a cool, "Oh?"
That's right, Maruko. Play it cool. And then you'll get the data that Sadaharu wants.
I could've fallen out of my chair at what the boy had uttered, next.
"Will you go out on a date with me?"
"W-Why…?" my eyes widened as I held onto the rim of the table for support.
"Because I think you're very cute."
Oh, he did not just say that. Rainbows were cute. Kittens were cute. But Momo-chan was definitely not cute.
"What? No. Nonono," I waved my palms back and forth and pointed at Kaneda Hiroko, Tezuka's fanclub's vice-president (the one who had condemned me a while back with a large, unintentional slap to the side), "you see that woman? She's cute. Go ask her out."
Fuji's smile thinned out, but then, if possible, increased a notch in intensity until I feared he had some sort of brain control technique, "But she's no where near as pretty as you, Maruko-san. And you're a hundred times smarter, too. So, what do you say?"
"No," I responded flatly.
I'm Inui's fangirl, the unspoken thought hung in the air like dead mist.
The brunette sighed, and a hand went to his forehead, "It's a shame, Maruko-san. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this…" and then, with a grand flourish, the boy produced a brown manila folder, stuffed chock-full of photos. I watched in fascination as Fuji sifted through the folder with a skilled hand, and then tugged two photos, paper-clipped together back-to-back out and handed them to me, "Look familiar?"
"No…" I turned to examine the two images, and then my eyes widened in shock, "C-China-chan…?!"
For there, right smack in the center of one photo, was my dear best friend's thong-clad ass, digitally-enhanced to a shiny degree, and lying innocently on the floor. The other one displayed the other end of the flipped-up skirt, all the way up to my best friend's unconscious features. A chill went down my spine and I tried my best to look courageous.
"You…you…"
Fuji's smile seemed to grow each second, while admiring my livid face with a twisted sense of pleasure.
"It was lucky that I was on the way to photography club, and had my camera with me. I'm sure it'd be a good one for the school life portfolio, ne? Or wall décor, perhaps, in the boys' room? You know, Momo-chan, even Tezuka-buchou sometimes gives your friend there some indecent looks…"
My eyes bulged, and I ignored the fact that he'd used my pet name, "No. NO! Don't you DARE show this to anybody else!" With that I grappled at the photos and ripped them in half.
Fuji was shocked, just for a second, before replying in a softer voice, "I got them digitalized, too, Maruko-san. Should I give you the address of my photo-sharing site? It's also been blown up 300 percent, for more detail and perception."
I couldn't speak.
"Saa…how does the date sound, then?"
My head seemed to wobble up and down on its own. I didn't trust my voice.
The evil tensai clapped his hands together, the sound like a cymbal clash in my ears, as he rattled on cheerfully, "and I'll pick you up at seven for a movie, tonight. Or would you prefer a walk in the park, with ice cream? See you, Maruko-san. I'm sure we'll have fun."
And then he swooped down and landed a peck on my left cheek.
That bastard.
"Ohmigod," China-chan popped out from behind me, a triumphant look on her face and a pink plastic makeup bag clutched tightly in her hand, "Did Fuji Syuusuke just kiss you?"
"No," I replied, "but we're going on a date this evening. Would you mind telling Inui that I can't meet up with him at the café today?"
My friend seemed suddenly take life when she heard the word date, and sprung into action like a winded-up toy monkey with too many springs, squealing, "Momo-chan!! You have a date with Fuji-kun! You are ah-mazing! When?"
I sighed, "At seven."
And you're the reason I got into this mess. You and your stupid thong.
"So we have only three hours to prepare? That's barely any time, at all! You'll need to skip dinner, Momo-chan. I'll have to do the quick makeover, too," she whipped out her cell phone, ignoring the no-cellular-devices sign right in front of her eyes, and dialed for her hairdresser (it could only be her hairdresser, as she'd pressed the speed dial button and one afterwards), "Hey, Hana there? Yes, this is China-chan. I have an emergency."
I choked on my rice balls in the background. An emergency? Yeah…right.
As China-chan continued to babble on and monopolize her entire private collection of fashion designers and make-up suppliers, I wondered what Fuji wanted from me. It was obvious that he didn't like me, really. The blackmail proved as much. But there wasn't anything I really had that he would need…unless?
No. Fuji hadn't tried to come onto Inui when he had his data, so why would he choose this line of attack? It was something else…
The picture of Fuji's blue glare of doom came to mind, when he had seen Eiji crying on Oishi's shoulders halfway across the lunchroom.
Could it be…?
--
We ended up taking a walk in the park, Fuji grabbing my hand in a way that suggested it was clearly not our first date and me looking squeamish as I tried to mentally calculate and remember the different permutations the brunette had when bending over, in hopes over reporting to Inui later on.
"Ne…that was some delicious ice cream, wasn't it, Momo-chan?"
"Y-Yeah…" I agreed, trying to shake my hand out of his.
He grasped my wrist tighter, and somehow forcefully laced his fingers into mine, "Let's sit down, shall we?" And he directed my elbow into a nearby park bench, right beside one of those great green storage bins near the edge of the railing.
There was an awkward silence, and it was made worse when Fuji leaned his head on my shoulders. I tried not to look uncomfortable, and stuck to the mantra in my head.
Rememberthephoto, rememberthephoto, Maruko, just remember the photo, dammit!
"Can I ask you something, Fuji-kun?"
"Hmm?" his voice was muffled in my lacy blouse, the most orthodox one I could find in China-chan's wardrobe (she had withheld my own clothes and locked her best friend into her walk-in closet in order for me to choose a top).
"Why did you ask me out?"
The boy raised his head, and then lifted a finger to his lips, "Shhh…they're going to come in exactly four seconds."
"Who?" I asked, a little too loud so that Fuji raised his eyebrows.
"You know."
"No, I don't know," I shook my head, my gaze landing on the metal park storage bin. I heard footsteps, and then two voices, one high and one slightly lower in pitch, approaching our park bench.
And then it dawned on me.
"YOU! YOU WANT TO M—"
I must have shouted the words out a little too loud, as Fuji had finally taken action and kissed me on the lips, effectively muffling my voice and also alerting the two other figures that were slowly making their way up to the storage bin…
"You want to make cat-boy jealous, don't you?"
It was a brilliant plan, if I had had a say in it. Kikumaru hated my guts. And if Fuji had caught the right time and led me to the right place, well, it was a melodramatic soap opera waiting to happen.
I realized this when Eiji let out a yelp of surprise, leapt down from the green box beside us, and promptly slapped me in the face.
Correction: Kikumaru wasn't just a child. He was also, such a girl.
A/N: OMG. I had so much fun writing that. It was planned too long ago. I just had to insert the FujiEiji scene...XP
Oh, and yes, I am officially out of hiatus. If you feel like it, please drop by my current angst project, Crying. It's a TeFu. I'm trying my hand at more yaoi. 8D
Review? I'm AM a review whore, you know. And I just looked at the number of alerts on this story. TWENTY-TWO. And I get, like, about two for every chappie. Is that fair? (Though I know that a bunch of people have already given up on this story, but still...do I have to BEG?!)