I don't own Prince of Tennis.


"What are you doing?" she asked ever-so-sweetly.

"Why, just visiting baby bro, nothing else," he answered just as innocent.

"Then why are you pushing me out of my classroom?" Minori pressed her heels into the ground but Niou's physical strength kept her sliding forward inch by excrutiating inch. "Anyone? Hello? I'm being kidnapped," she looked for help from her classmates but they kept on snickering and staring, great classmates that they were. Akaya slept. To her greatest regret not even Ryo was present, taking a day off to treat his swollen eye—which had apparently gone sore from a stray gravel sticking to the ball when it hit him, unlucky bastard he was. Their text messages earlier in the morning had went accordingly:

Waaaah! I'm going blind!

...then how are you writing this?

I'm not blind yet!

They were both masters of words.

The forced trip down the hall was a short one surprisingly. He stopped as soon as they were out and on the hallway. "Your cellphone number," Niou demanded with an outstretched hand, tongue darting out to brush against his upper lip.

Minori blinked rapidly. "My—no." This had to be a joke. And why can't that mole stop moving around, please?

Too bad it wasn't. Even worse, the bad part was yet to come. He smiled, that scheming expression where his eyes slanted ever so slightly; triumphantly, witty and clever, so clearly holding the upper hand. He knew something she didn't. And she didn't like it one bit. "If you don't give me your number you will never find out why the girls are avoiding you like the pest."

Minori froze. Straight to the point! "You know?" she asked mechanically and as wary as a rabbit about to bolt.

He grinned. "I may have overheard something."

Her left eye twitched in annoyance. "Or you're the one spreading some weird rumor again. What was it about Sanada? Flirting with a first-year?" When the vice-captain found out (the first-year girls had practically cooed around him, wishing to know which girl it had been) he came to practice with such a fierce expression that Minori didn't wish to bestow her greatest enemies in their worst nightmares. Even Niou must've learned his lesson then—do not trifle with The Emperor. Ever. And if you do, try not to get caught. Probably by escaping the country.

"If baby brother doesn't want to know~" He turned to leave.

"Wait!" Minori stopped him by his elbow. He sent her another smirk, briefly distracting her from his calculating eyes to his lips again. He's doing this on purpose! "It's only my number, right?"

He hummed. "And a little bit of your time on Saturday." He slowly peeled off her hand.

"Is this revenge for the changing rooms yesterday?"

"Revenge? No." He leaned down to match her height, catching her gaze with his. "I'm only getting serious. Tomorrow, 1 P.M. at the mall."

She snorted at his audacity. Let's see what he had planned out for her.


He was planning something all right. And judging from the shy-as-a-curled-up-hedgehog girl standing right in front of her at the supposed meeting place, he was planning something very, very annoying.

"Hey, Noriko-chan," Minori greeted through a strained smile. How exactly did her Saturday end up being occupied by a date with the one girl she wasn't supposed to talk to (courtesy to the Ice Queen)?

Just thinking about it didn't make sense. She was on a date!

The girl mumbled something she couldn't decipher and Minori's phone vibrated with a new text message just then. Minori drew a hand through her hair and bit back a groan. She needn't upset the poor girl any more than she already was.

Minori flicked the phone open. You're so gloomy. She's going to cry at this rate.

She withstood the urge to smash the phone on the ground. A) Minori still had no clue whatsoever about her wrongdoings with the girl population, courtesy to one tight-lipped trickster and she wanted to find out, badly. Getting nasty looks isn't fun. B) From the sound of the message, Niou was probably nearby and stalking the two unfortunate souls. Smashin the phone would probably be counterproductive. Reason C) arrived in the form of yet another message: You're going to do everything I tell you, are we clear?

The heart at the end of the message did not make things better whatsoever. Minori ruffled her hair a second time around before tugging at the ends of her printed t-shirt, smoothing away the wrinkles. If she was found out—

"M-Maybe we sh-should just head home," Noriko managed before instantly pulling a 180° and tippytoeing away. Minori barely managed to grasp her arm before the crowds in front of the mall managed to swallow the girl up whole.

She looked like a deer caught in a car's headlights, simply staring and blinking. Minori sighed and let go. "Look, I—" Wherever you are, Niou, you better listen in on this well. "—asked you out so what we could speak about what happened. Between us." I guess? The words tumbled awkwardly out of her mouth, the barest bone of information she'd been thrown to nibble at. Because, really? How did she end up in a situation like this?

Since the initial wrongdoings are yet to be found out, Minori's thoughts veered to the day Akaya, Ryo and she had gone to a coffee shop for learning. First she meets this girl and her friends inside the coffee shop by chance. The result being that one of her friends completely cast her out and away, to get out of her face, as she'd so kindly put it. And Minori, completely run over by the train of hate, had no idea what she'd done to deserve that sort of treatment nor had she had a chance to speak up against the Ice Queen (she was taller, damnit). Hell, she barely knew Noriko herself from one brief encounter and already things had turned messy.

With the Ranking Matches—it almost seemed like a different world, them being only less than 48 hours ago—knocking at her front door she was preoccupied elsewise anyway. On last notice had she heard about them from Ryo; on last notice had Toshio managed to give her a full rundown of the procedures and dangers involving the matches and her disguise; and on last note had they managed to sneak out of school (Toshio did), buy some weights (Toshio did), get into those changing rooms and stir the wrath of one mad trickster by going full-offensive (obviously her part) before he could strike.

She'd really liked Toshio in the janitor suit. Looked fancy on him somehow.

It was Saturday now and they had another seven days until the District Preliminaries. And Minori's nerves were on edge about Yukimura's condition. The time ticking away was like a bomb waiting to blow. Would he make it or would he not? They never spoke about his condition again, less whether it was worsening or not but every fibre of her being warned her to watch out.

And now, for some reason, she had a date. That started off like a trip to a relationship therapist. Because Niou wants to play serious now. Talk about screwed-up situations.

Noriko fidgeted with her fingers. Minori had to focus on the girl's voice to hear her words over the noises of the streets; the blaring of cars, the constant chatter of passerbys and the low hum of the electronic advertisement panel right above their head almost swallowed them up. "There was nothing b-between us. I was t-too f-f-full of m-myself." All of a sudden she bowed in a perfect 90°, brown hair whipping after her in a sharp arc. "I'm sorry! I'm only troubling you!"

Minori blinked. Huh? "Care to expla—I mean," Minori coughed into her fist. Saved. "I don't think I can follow." One misstep and she was out of the game. It's not Akaya she was talking to but a poor, frightened, innocently cute little girl. With the prettiest ruffled overall she'd ever seen a girl wear. How envious she was sometimes.

"E-Eh?" Noriko blinked in confusion, big doe eyes staring up (she was so tiny!) at Minori in question.

The words almost formed themselves. "My friend told me that I should talk things out with you. And it's not Chiaki-chan this time, I swear." Minori sighed. The easiest and fastest approach to get to the bottom of this would be the truth. How did Niou convince her to meet up with Minori anyway? Judging from the girl's shyness she should have crawled into a hole the moment the trickster rounded up on her. Maybe she's a tsundere. Minori eyed her form. Everyone has hidden secrets, right?

Riiight, girl-boy. She gave herself a pat on the back. What a great joke.

Anyhow! "I really don't know what's going on. I thought that by meeting up alone—" Almost alone, thanks Stalker-kun. "—you could actually tell me what the problem is. You know, when your friend completely insulted me. And now all the girls hate me as well. You're the only one I have a chance to talk to. What did I do wrong?"

Noriko blinked perplexed, reminding her all the more of a deer. "You're very straightforward, Minori-kun." No stutter?

"So I'm told," she shot her a relieved grin. Noriko blushed. Tsundere, huh. That's some serious mood swings otherwise.

Minori's phone vibrated. Goddamnit, she was almost there! What did he want now?

Now you're moving too fast, baby bro. Give the girl some rest. Grab a coffee or ice cream or something. No talking about sensitive topics yet, puri.

Puri. He even puri'd in his text messages?! Bzz bzz.

If you don't manage to change topics I'm going to have to force you to kiss Haruma.

Minori looped her arms with Noriko's, almost electrifying the shy girl from the sudden contact. "How about we go get us something cool to drink first? We need a clear head if we're going to talk about this. It's really hot today, don't you think so? Hahaha~"

Meanwhile Niou snickered to himself in a far-off corner, not at all planning to let the crossdressing girl off so easily.


The date (Toshio would kill her. Or laugh his ass off.) went surprisingly well. Although Noriko had managed to drop her ice cream on Minori's shirt in a fit of fumbling nervousness—and looked so horrified at what she did, Minori thought for a moment that the ground would really open up just to swallow her—and there had been the occasional very awkward silence between them; but overall it went fine.

Bzz bzz. Only Minori really wished he would stop conducting her every step and just let her ask the girl about why all the 2nd-years were out to get her poor male self. How about you go down the main street?

To anyone else it may have looked as if he was supporting her; offering her ideas on how to go through the date successfully. Because he really must've had a lot of experience, right? She couldn't imagine him being anything less than a womanizer. The truth was, though, that every question mark of his was an unspoken exclamation mark, demanding she do as he say. Or else.

And if she didn't comply within the minute, another text message with a horrifying threat would appear. Minori pointed down a busy street. "How about we go down that direction?"

Noriko perked up. "Eh? Do you need to buy something, Minori-kun?" Then her face went from pale to tomato-red. "Y-You don't need a new t-t-shirt, r-r-right? I'm so sorry!" She stared at her boots.

Minori picked up the end of her shirt, thumb brushing over the dark spot. Since Noriko was so little it had gone far south. Much to Minori's luck—anything close to chest height was a danger zone. "It's nothing I can't clean up at home."

She sighed in relief. "I can't believe my own c-clumsiness sometimes."

"There's nothing bad with being clumsy every once in a while. Guys think it's cute," Minori offered with a smile, only noticing the extent of her words when her date's face flared up once again. Minori placed a hand over her own mouth. She really had to watch out what she was saying. Walking around with a girl made her forget who and what she was right now. "You're really shy, you know that, Noriko-chan?"

She nodded her head fervently and they headed down the main street. It was filled with stores of varying sizes; mannequins posing with the newest fashion as they walked by. As it was Saturday, the streets were packed to the brim with people. Minori's eyes shifted left and right. There's no way she'd catch a glimpse of the trickster in as busy a place as this.

Noticing that the girl behind her had been awfully quiet, Minori spun around to crack some joke or two—

—only to see that the girl was gone.

"Noriko-chan?" Minori called out once. No answer. "Oi, Noriko-chan!" A couple heads turned to watch her antics but she couldn't be bothered as she backtracked their path, pushing people out of the way that were hindering her progress. The Ice Queen would have her head if she managed to lose the girl now and thus, she continued searching.

"Noriko-chan!"


"Let me go, I'm gonna kill him!" The hiss caught Niou's attention and for a brief moment he looked away from his pet.

"Koizumi Kaoru! Can't you just—for one second—ugh, stay still!" Then the sound of somebody whacking another. Niou pressed forward to where the voices originated from. Hm, who could it be?

"Ouch!" The first girl whined. "He lost her! He doesn't care, I tell you!" He was getting closer. Niou veered to the left, not wanting to stumble right into their arms but get himself a good overview of the situation. "I'm gonna lynch him—"

The other girl sighed. "For all your mature looks you sure are like an animal sometimes." Niou stopped to a halt by a beauty salon, grinning victoriously. Found you~

The two girls stood just at the corner of the salon, overlooking the street. One of them—Koizumi Kaoru, he guessed—was busy glaring and trying to escape from her friend's grip, while the other had a most fine expression of why always me on her face. Yagyuu managed a similar expression whenever he was unvoluntarily dragged into one of the trickster's schemes again. It was Niou's favorite look.

Back to the situation at hand, though. What were these girls doing here, stalking the girl-in-disguise and her, nicely arranged by him, date? Apart from...

Koizumi Kaoru stopped in her struggle, pointing over the head of her friend. She was a good deal taller than her friend was. "Hey, isn't that Noriko over there?" When the other girl didn't react instantly, tip-toeing to be able to even look over the crowd's heads, the taller girl heaved her up by her armpits like a toddler. "Oooh, doesn't she look so cute, Nana? I dressed her myself this morning!" Her delighted face contorted into a disapproving grimace. "Why did I do that? She's only meeting Kobayashi Minori." She almost spat the name.

Nana blankly stared ahead. "I now know why your big sister describes you as the house dog sometimes. Looks like Noriko is your mistress. Now let me down!"

Niou hummed under his breath as he flicked open his phone. House dog, eh? Things sure had gotten interesting.


Bzz bzz. Look to the store to your left.

Minori was panting hard when she stopped at the store's entrance. Thanks, Stalker-kun. "Found you," she squeezed out between breaths. Noriko blushed embarassed.

"I—the crowd—and you didn't hear me—" she mumbled, each word quieter than the last. Minori laughed and stepped out of the way of a couple leaving the small clothing shop.

"You know what?" Minori said, catching the girl's doe-eyed attention. "I'm going to introduce you to my friend Ryo. He's going to teach you how to speak up real loud. In fact, he can't shut up talking at all. He might learn from your good example."

"Ah. Uhm." Noriko's eyes shifted to her feet again. "I'm not really good with people. Especially boys," she squeaked.

Minori blinked stupedly, pointing at her flat chest. "I'm a boy." Technically.

Way to go to make girls blush. This time the girl hid her face behind her hands. "I-I know!" She peeked from between her fingers. "B-But somehow I can s-speak more easily with you. I don't know why myself!"

Minori tried her hardest to not let the goofy smile slip from her lips. Poor Noriko-chan. Some part of her must know that the male in front of her wasn't completely male at all. She, albeit subconsciously, found out Minori's secret in her own way. It was her luck that her brain hadn't caught up on what her body was telling her, else she was busted.

Bzz bzz. Good thing Noriko was busy trying to calm her racing heart by not looking in Minori's direction. Anyone else would've wondered about the amount of messages she was receiving by now otherwise. Get inside that store.

The girl-in-disguise frowned. Well, improvising she goes. "Girls like to shop, don't they?"

Noriko blinked before slowly nodding her head in affirmal. Minori grinned, pointing inside the shop. "You wanna try something on? This would look good on you, don't you think?" she said, specifically targeting a white-and-red dotted dress with a white collar, reminding her a great deal of the fifties. Why did he want them to go shopping in a boutique now? He didn't have a weird fetish, did he?

The threat came immediately in form of another text message. You want to make out with Sanada instead? Try explaining that one to the Club, boy.

It was really difficult to push that sort of imagery away.

Noriko blinked before regarding Minori with a long stare. She shrug her shoulders in defense, lies coming up in her mind with an ease that frightened her. She tried to downplay them as closest to the truth as she could. "I'm gonna tell you a secret," she started ominously, lowering her voice.

Like a child, Noriko was all ears and leaned in. Cute! No wonder Ice Queen was so fond of her. "My Mom is a very fashionable woman. She would've really liked a girl daughter but all she got are two very different-looking sons." Noriko nodded. Minori briefly wondered if Niou talked crap like this to get a girl of his liking. "She had to live her urges out on someone..."

Her eyes gleamed, big and curious. "No way!" Noriko whispered. Minori nodded her head fervently, pulling back to stand at full height again. "So you...?"

"Occasionally." Minori shrug her shoulders. "Maybe that's why I'm so easy to talk to. Mom trained me to be nice to girls. Or she'd have busted my secret. She has a lot of pictures of that time." Somewhere behind her someone snorted. When she spun around she could've sworn she saw a rat-tail disappear back into the crowd.

Technically she wasn't lying. Too badly, that is. If someone ever came across her childhood pictures, she could draw in Noriko as witness to her Mom's weird urges. And anyone who met her Mom in person wouldn't question the existence of weirdness anyway. All in all, things went well. "So, wanna go in?" The boutique was still waiting.

"M-Maybe." Her eyes wandered over to the dress on the mannequin. "Do you really think it'd suit me? It's s-so revealing." Her cheeks flared but her eyes stayed heated with yearning. Minori hummed to herself. She only ever needed a good push in one direction but then Noriko's pretty determined to go through with pretty much anything. Lots of blushing and hiding her face may be involved but if she had a direction to head towards, she would go forward, step by step.

No wonder the Ice Queen is so protective of her. "Try it out," Minori said, searching through the sizes until she found the smallest one. "If I'm the only boy you can talk to, I'm going to train you for future dates starting now! You have to be more confident in yourself!"

Her small fingers pressed the clothing to her chest. "You sound just like Kaoru-chan now." At Minori's perplexed look, she clarified. "My friend. The tall one in the coffee shop."

The light bulb went on. "Ice Queen!" Minori quickly plastered her hand over her mouth again. "Sowwy," she managed to muffle out.

To her surprise Noriko laughed. "She does seem a little cold sometimes, doesn't she? But she's a really nice and caring girl on the inside."

"I can agree to the caring part—she looked as ready as a rhinoceros to trample over me—but nice? Uh. You know. Bad first impressions."

"I think you'd get along," Noriko said with a smile. "It's because of Kaoru-chan I'm here right now."

Minori frowned. "How's that? Did she force you to meet up with me?"

The carefree ease changed for let-the-earth-swallow-us-whole tension once more. "Uhm." Noriko fidgeted both her fingers and the dress, rumpling and scrunching up the cloth between her fingers. Minori was amazed how far being excessively shy could get you. The poor dress looked more like a red tennis ball than anything else after the rough treatment. "W-W-W-Well..."

"Hm?"

"Shemademewritethelovelettertoyou," Noriko blurted out quickly. "I'm sorry! I was a bother to you!"

If only she could decipher the burble she'd thrown at her. She. To you. Lob letter. No, that's not right. Love letter sounds more like it...

Wait a minute. "I thought that was a prank."

Noriko looked up in surprise. "E-Eh?" Her grasp on the manhandled dress loosened.

Minori pointed between them. "You wrote me the letter?" N. For Noriko. It stands for Noriko! She'd thought—"Oh god, that's why everybody's ignoring me! And that's why Ice Queen was so angry!"

Bzz bzz. Oh for the love of—! Not now, Niou! Noriko looked ready to tear up where she stood. "Why w-would you think it was a p-prank?"

"I—" What could she possibly say that didn't sound completely asshole-ish? Best to whip out the truth this time. Minori ruffled her short hair. "Look, Niou and I are having a war of sorts. You know him, right? Silver hair, tall?" She nodded. Who was she to ask, everybody knew Niou. Sometimes from first-hand experience.

Minori cleared her throat. "Anyhow, we're fighting over..." Uh. Right! "...the trickster position on the team. And I thought..." This sounded even more ridiculous when spoken out loud. "We started this whole thing around the time I received the love letter. And I thought N. stands for..."

Doe eyes again. "Oh."

"Yeah. Oh."

It didn't make it any better that not only did she know the reasons behind the misunderstanding now. The girl she had been with for half the day, whom she wasn't supposed to talk to and whom she hadn't even known all that much before—she's a girl that wanted to confess her very real and actual feelings to male Minori. To which Minori had been completely oblivious and acting as carefree as ever. I haven't seen you around in forever! she remembered saying.

Awkward didn't even remotely encompass the situation she was in. She must've come off as a real laddish asshole.

"Do you need help in choosing?" a friendly saleswoman approached them. The two girls (boy and girl) jumped in fright, hiding the crumpled dress behind their backs quickly.

"N-No," Minori managed through a strained smile. The saleswoman nodded before heading for the next pair of customers. Noriko and Minori let out a breath of relief. "That was close."

"I thought she'd make us p-pay for the dress for sure," Noriko agreed.

They glanced at each other, seizing one another up. Then they laughed as tensions crumbled apart. "She couldn't have chosen a better moment, right?" Minori whispered with a sideway glance to the saleswoman.

Noriko tried her best to stifle her chuckles. "It was the worst!"

Minori pulled out her phone, opening the message with a sigh. Better now than later, when things were looking brighter again, with the whole misunderstanding out of the way.

Her heart skipped a beat as she read through the message. No way.


Niou dropped following Minori and her date in favor of watching the girl's friends, Nana and Kaoru. "What are they doing now?" The tall girl gasped and Niou chuckled, hidden away in the darkest corner of the street. He got all the information he needed through them. They were very talkative.

Kaoru lowered the binoculars—he'd have to get a pair for himself, it's ingenious—to stare at her smaller friend. "I don't understand what I'm seeing, Nana."

She frowned, tiny brows scrunching up above her eyes. "What do you mean?" Then Nana snorted. "Them getting along? It happens when a boy and a girl fall in love—"

"Don't say such things! Noriko isn't ready for love!"

"You were the one who told her she had to step out of her shell!"

"That was then!" Kaoru pressed a hand to her chest. "I didn't know she'd get her heart broken so easily." She dropped the dramatics in favor of pressing the binoculars into her friend's hands. She looked them over as if she wanted to comment on it but chose not to. Probably for the better, Niou thought. "Can you explain to me what Kobayashi is doing right now?"

Nana rose a brow before placing the binoculars to her eyes, looking out over the street and through the store's window. After a little adjusting she managed to spot her tiny friend and... and... "Why is he wearing a dress?"

Niou flicked his phone close. "Puri." She listened well. He had just begun thinking about another good threat to go by when she acted. It made it all the more amusing that she was—unbeknownst—making a fool out of herself to the girls watching over their friend. Good reactions. He was just about to leave the two shocked girls alone to get a better view on his favorite toy of the day when the taller girl shrieked out aloud.

He spun around to catch her gripping her own phone. "I'm going to use this as blackmail!" She raised the phone high above her head but cursed. "I can't get a good pic from here. Let's get closer!"

"Kaoru, what are you doing?"

Fire shone in the eyes of Koizumi Kaoru. "I'm not handing over Noriko this easily. I'm not going to lose to him!" Niou sighed when they hurried right in his direction. This, in turn, he didn't like happening. It's his web and his game. Variables he didn't calculate in should just leave. Taking pictures of something of his was one such thing.

The trickster stepped up from the shadows and stopped to a halt in front of the two girls, greeting them with a smile that sent shivers down their spines. "Neither am I."


"You look good," Noriko said, clapping her hands. Minori hung her head in shame. "I understand your mother now better than ever." Oh dear lord in whatever heaven there was. Please let lightning strike upon Niou and destroy his freaking phone.

"Right? Super embarassing, pleasedon'tmakepictures," Minori rushed with a shaky chuckle. Her knees were weak and the jelliness didn't stem from the sudden breeze passing her bare legs.

Choose a dress of your liking. I'd like to see Minorin in girly clothing.

And she'd like to see Niou dropped into the nearest river, a stone attached to his foot.

"It is a little, isn't it?" she chuckled. "Still, you look really good in it. I think that counts for coolness, being able to wear a dress!"

Minori crossed her arms over her chest. She'd chosen a simple black evening dress that had no straps but a turtle neck collar. It was the only kind of dress that wouldn't reveal her bandages instantly. Her shoulders felt vulnerably bare, though. Let's not even talk about her knees. She had to withstand rubbing them against each other in a vain attempt of hiding what's not there.

"I'd rather look as cute as you do," Minori said, oozing whatever testosterone she inhabited in an attempt to draw attention away from herself, and nodded in Noriko's direction. She wore the exact red-and-white dress from before. They'd swiftly traded the crumpled one for a tidier version. Minori drew a hand through her hair in embarassment. "This is seriously taking up all of my confidence." Becaue she could be found out any freaking minute.

"Thanks for trying it with me," Noriko said with a tiny smile. "You really go through with things when you chose to, don't you?"

"It can be an issue at times..." She should really do something about her ego and challenge-syndrome. "Can I change now?" Her ludicrous date nodded, disappearing into her own cabin to undress.

Out of all requests, she'd never guesstimated this one. And out of all the ridiculous request she'd never imagined her excuse to work so well. Minori slid the dress over her head before grabbing her shirt and sliding it back down over her chest. She'd stood so completely still upon reading the message that Noriko had worried about her, waving a hand in front of her face until she snapped out of her shocked trance.

How the hell was she supposed to explain her sudden urge to dress up in girls clothing?

Her mouth had moved on its own. "I have an idea," she'd said. Complete and utter autopilot. She moved through the rows of displayed pieces, hand picking up one dress after the other. Noriko followed her like a curious puppy until she found the black one. "We're going to do a dare." Minori nodded at the balled-up dress. "If you wear that without blushing even once, I'm going to wear this. Without blushing even once."

A blush crept up to her cheeks in an instant. "E-Eh? Minori-kun is going to wear a-a-a...!"

"Only if you manage to look completely confident in that dress. Like, wipe my face all over the floor." Noriko gulped, blinking. "I may not have listened to your confession but the least I can do is embarass myself thoroughly in front of you as compensation. Ice Queen, I mean Kaoru-chan, would like that, I bet. Let's have a good day. Become friends." She pulled a move from Niou then, leaning in close, lowering her voice to a whisper as the words left her lips. "Maybe you'll fall in love with me all over again."

Don't condemn me for my actions, dear fate, please don't, she prayed inwardly.

Noriko must've blushed away her whole reservoir on the spot because when she came out dressed in the aforementioned dress, she didn't blush even once. She smoothed her collar, chuckled nervously and spun around but she didn't blush although Minori could've sworn to hear the girl's heart beating all the way over from her own cabin. And then it had been her turn and damn was she happy things were over and dealt with.

Minori stepped out of the dressing cabin, sighing in relief when she was back to boy-mode. She turned her head to look for her tiny friend.

"Puri."

Only to find Niou standing in front of her.

Minori startled, back hitting the cabin with enough force to shake it. "Putain de merde! What are you doing here?" She thought he'd play stalker for the rest of the day. Had she missed out on a text message? Her eyes swayed to the side, noticing two girls behind him that looked vaguely familiar, calming her heartrate down from the shock. "You on a double-date?" With the other male probably eradicated as competition.

The tall girl with the long and straight hair huffed indignantly, turning her head aside. "No way I'd go out with the likes of him."

Niou sent her a sideways glance. "Aren't you acting a little different than before, Miss Binoculars?" What the hell had binoculars to do with—

"Kaoru-chan? Nana-chan?" Noriko exclaimed, coming out of her dressing cabin. "Why are the two of you here?" Her eyes widened. Doe-mode. The girl was quick to read but also very quick to change expressions. "Don't tell me...!"

"Nononono, it's not what you're thinking, Noriko," the tall girl said, waving her hands frantically. Niou stepped up next to Minori and she frowned up at him. He simply looked on, apparently awaiting a show of sorts. "I'd never do something as stalking you to make sure that guy's not doing inappropriate things to you."

That guy—was she talking about her?! Hey! She wouldn't do that!

Then again, she had commited sacrilege by not listening to Noriko's confession. Half the girls thought her heartless.

Noriko made a stern face. More akin to a pouty face because she simply could not be anything less than cute in everything she did. "You were spying on me and Minori-kun!"

"Uhm. Nana, I need assistance?"

The middle-sized girl of the three, the one with a brown-haired bob, turned to look at the ceiling. "Not going to help you out here, dog. You used up the last of my debts when you asked for super-glue."

Super-glue? Why would she need super-glue for...

Minori's mouth fell when she finally recognized the duo. They were the same two girls from the coffee shop! And the tall one, with the mature looks and cool stare, she must be—

"Ice Queen. You glued my shoes to the shoe box?" Minori asked, shutting her mouth mechanically before mock-smiling in Niou's direction. "And here I thought it was my dear trickster of a friend here. I hope the math test didn't strangle you for real. It'd be such a shame."

He returned the smile with a fake beaming one of his. "Right? I'm not always conspiring behind your back. And no, I aced it, don't worry."

Kaoru crossed her arms over her chest, looked away from Minori again. Her behavior ticked her off more and more. "You deserved it."

"How about I glue your arms together right now?" Minori countered nonchalantly. Kaoru gasped in surprise, pointing at the small (fake) boy.

"See? I told you he's rude! And a weird crossdresser. I saw you wearing that dress, you know—ouch!" Kaoru rubbed her side. Somebody had pinched her.

To all of their surprise it had been Noriko. "I-I'm sorry," she instantly apologized, bowing twice before looking up at them again. "Kaoru-chan, you're horrible." Said girl's expression derailed in utter shock. "You were the one saying I should step out of my shell. W-Well, I did!" She rose to her full height. "I want you to stop the rumors. Minori-kun did nothing wrong. He even embarassed himself in front of me, to make it easier."

"To make what easier?"

Noriko pursed her lips. "T-To be friends."

"He has you wrapped around his little finger, right?" This time Kaoru spun around to face Minori, one arm to her collar. Minori's left eye twitched. Bipolar much? "Do you know how shocked she was about you not showing up? She almost reverted back to zero just when I had managed to get her to talk to people normally!"

"Then why didn't you tell me? Instead of going behind my back," Minori gritted out. Don't let the temper flare. They're just girls. She has blue eyes, not Akaya's green ones. She was just trying to take over control, not throw pencils. No need for acts of violence.

Kaoru blinked. "You know what you did."

"No, he didn't," Noriko interrupted, glancing up at Niou briefly before staring point-blank at her friend and Minori. "It was a misunderstanding. We cleared it up today. I would like you to leave my friend in one piece, Kaoru-chan." Noriko clasped her hands together, smiling. "Actually, let's all be friends, okay? We can exchange numbers!"

In one piece? Like she could threaten her. Even if she was taller than Minori by half a head—she's the one used to Rikkai's spartanic training methods. They glared at each other for a long moment, seizing the other up. Friends, my—

"Do you need help in choosing?" the friendly saleswoman from before crept up on the group of middleschoolers. They jumped in fright, Kaoru and Minori jumping away from one another.

Niou had stayed calm through the whole ordeal, answering the woman's question with carefree ease. "No, madam. I think they managed on their own."

She smiled at him before patting his arm. "You shouldn't fight over a guy this openly. It's not becoming of a girl." She gave Niou's arm a squeeze. "Don't hold it against them. Girls their age are like that."

"Don't worry. I won't, puri." The saleswoman disappeared back in the dephts of the clothing store.

The silence that followed her disruptance was almost deafening.

Minori drilled a finger into Niou's chest. "She thinks we're fighting over you?"

He shrug his shoulders. "I told you I'm handsome."

Kaoru and Minori groaned at the same time, for once completely agreeing.


Minori smiled at small Noriko. "We're going to go this way then." She pointed to her right and meant Niou and herself.

Before Noriko had a chance to answer, Kaoru pushed herself in front of her friend, no longer caring to uphold her icy and mature appearances. "Don't follow us! If I see you anywhere near Noriko again, you're—"

"Dog. Down," Nana said out aloud. Kaoru froze on the spot but kept on glaring. "I told you to get away from her, Kobayashi-kun."

Minori sent back a glare of her own before responding. "I thought you meant it in a different way. It looked like you were supporting her."

Nana laughed, the only sane person in the group apparently. "No way. I'm just here to keep her on a leash before she goes off to rampage. She gets real clingly sometimes."

"I'm not clingy!" Kaoru protested.

"No, you're worse."

They bid each other farewell, going in opposite directions. What a mess. So the date had turned into a tripled stalker-mission with Minori's identity hanging on a thread and at least one girl's broken heart mended. Hey, at least she was making girl friends! And some enemies. Rivals, more like.

Minori eyed Niou with a guarded expression. He didn't seem to notice or wasn't bothered by it. She couldn't tell. "You knew."

"I told you I overheard something," he chirped amused.

"Huh." That's right. He did mention something along those lines. They stayed silent for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts. He was playing serious, she got that. The date—his demands—stretched the limits they'd tested out immensly. One week until the Preliminaries. One week until her reason to hide became reality and he'd have to stop. He wasn't stupid, he'd know in an instant what was going on. She'd almost blurted the truth out once, right before the Ranking Matches.

Or things wouldn't change and they'd keep playing cat and mouse forever. She wasn't sure whether she had enough angry energy to keep it up at this rate. Today had been an exception, with Noriko explaining the misunderstanding Kaoru had brought upon Minori. She had had no clue. The letter had come really untimely. How rude it must've looked like on her part.

But if he were playing serious... "Why did you help me today?"

"Hm?" He turned to look, warm turqoise. "When did I help baby brother?"

Was he playing coy? "Kaoru and Nana. They've been watching and you led them—" She stopped mid-sentence. "Actually, forget it." She smiled, placing her hands inside the pockets of her jeans. "You didn't help one little bit, Stalker-kun."

"Of course not, Minorin." His eyes found hers. "We're enemies after all."

She laughed at the audacity, this time their combined one. They were bold, the two of them, walking that thin, thin line between friendship and rivalry.


This. Ohmy. Minori's on the boy end of cliché shoujo manga dates in this chapter, including female protagonist's clumsiness, an ice cream incident and some heavy (or not so heavy) flirting. And, of course, stalking friends.

Translations:

Putain du merde Bloody hell!