Disclaimer: I own nothing, except for the OC characters.
A/N: This chapter turned out a lot less fluffy than I expected. I hope you still enjoy it, regardless. And it ended up being like 40 pages. Oops.
I'm actually in London right now, but I will be leaving in two days. I interned for HSBC... hence the stock exchange reference. -_-
Thanks to everyone that has reviewed, as usual!
Dedicated to: The Jabberer and coffeelatte, for general handholding and just being awesome. Also, Scheherazade's Sonata for the endless plot ideas (hope I did them justice.)
PPL NEED TO STOP CHANGING THEIR PENNAMES. JK haha, you can do what you want. I just don't recognize some of my constant reviewers anymore.
To Catch A Falling Star, Chapter 29: Be Mine, Valentine
~X~
But don't change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay, little Valentine, stay
Each day is Valentines Day
~X~
Kenji was right. After the next week or so had passed, the ruckus around the tennis team's loss had died down. The two students involved with the vandalism that occurred were part of the curling team – ("That's a sport here?" Aiko asked dubiously.) – a team that was cut in order to increase the tennis club's budget. Those students were suspended, and the rest of the student body turned their attention to a much bigger matter at hand: Valentine's Day.
Valentine's Day was a big deal at Seigaku.
A very, very, very big deal.
There weren't any decorations, or signs (besides the one that reminded students that teachers were forbidden to accept any kind of gift), but there was a buzz in the atmosphere. Like the air before a summer storm – how it is crackling and alive with terror and magic.
The air promised something big.
It was in the whispers of the hallway, the hopeful and excited glances between girls and guys. Girls were already pulling out their baking gear, and boys were already taking bets on who would end up with a higher pile of goods. Valentine's Day was rather like a particularly hectic day at a stock exchange. Take a risk, and your reward could be great. Play it safe, and you wouldn't end up with much more than your investment either way.
"Are you giving chocolate?"
"Of course I am!"
"To who?!"
"You're finally going to confess?!"
"Ne, do you guys want to come over to my house to make chocolates sometime this week?" Kimiko asked her group of friends as they packed up their books for the day. "I've got more than enough for all of us!"
A couple of her friends excitedly accepted. "Sure! I'll come!"
"What about you, Aiko-senpai?" Kimiko turned to her partner with a happy bounce. Aiko always came to her classroom before tennis practice so they could walk to the courts together. "Planning on sending any chocolates this year?"
"I don't think so," Aiko said uncertainly.
"What?" Kimiko looked surprised. "Not even to Oishi-senpai and Kawamura-senpai? But you work with him!"
Aiko gave her a puzzled look. "Why would I give them chocolate? It's not like I'm dating them."
The short second year suddenly clapped her hands together in realization, startling her partner. "Oh right! You don't know!"
The tall girl was positively befuddled. "Don't know what?"
"Here the girls send chocolates to the boys on Valentine's Day! You can send some to your friends, and then make a special one for someone you care about. Usually, you're supposed to send giri-chocolate to boys that you're friends with."
At this point, Aiko had pulled out her Japanese-English translation dictionary and was punching words into it furiously. "Seriously? Obligation chocolate? I don't want to be obligated to send anyone anything," she grumbled. "Valentine's day is supposed to be a girl's holiday. What is with this tradition?!"
"We have White Day!" Kimiko told her excitedly.
"Which is… when you wear white?" Aiko somehow pictured herself making a toga out of bed sheets. Toga parties were pretty popular in America.
"No, silly! It's when the boys you gave chocolate give you a return gift."
"Oh. Okay."
"Traditionally, boys are supposed to send you a gift that is worth three times as much as the chocolate you give them."
"So, if I send one hundred chocolates, I should get three hundred dollars worth of presents?" Aiko deduced.
"Well… that's the tradition… but…"
She grinned. "Excellent."
Some Japanese traditions weren't so bad after all.
~X~
"Akane, this is a stupid decision," Coach Ryuzaki told her bluntly, crossing her arms. "You have absolutely no reason to even feel this way."
Akane shuffled through some papers on her desk. "We'll see what teams we're matched up against in the Kanto Regionals. There's no doubt that we'll meet Fudomine and Hyotei again. Not to mention the top seeds from Chiba and Kanagawa. But yes," she concluded, looking up. "I would like to be benched for the next two games."
Coach Ryuzaki sat down in the seat across from her. "Is this because of what people have been saying?" she asked more quietly.
Akane stared at the papers pensively. "I've let the team down twice now, Ryuzaki-sensei."
"You were poisoned once!" she retorted.
"I had no business losing to Fuuma Eri."
"Everyone loses." Ryuzaki Sumire wanted to smack her forehead; she hardly believed what she was hearing. "Akane, I expected this kind of reaction from Sakuno or Izumi, or some of the other players. You were the last person I'd expect to feel this way."
Akane just looked out the window, silent. Her usual piercing gaze was clouded.
Coach Ryuzaki sighed, touching her gently on the hand. "It's not like you listen to what other people are saying."
As much as Akane was hard on her team, Ryuzaki Sumire knew that she was a thousand times harder on herself. Though the third year went through life with a brisk sense of confidence, Sumire suspected that there were times that even she felt discouraged and downhearted.
She was just better at hiding it.
The third year clasped her hands together tightly, fingers interlocking. "I want to be a good example for the team."
"You are a good example."
'Not when I've lost twice. Not when I couldn't help them take the trophy home.'
Ryzuaki chuckled exasperatedly, shaking her head. She reached a hand out to bonk Akane on the side of her head. "Akane, have you ever considered preaching to yourself?"
~X~
"Ah, Sakuno!" Tomoka groaned, positively frustrated. She was ready to throw something at the wall. "I don't understand how you do it!"
"It's easy!" Sakuno said, picking up the plastic mold. They were making heart-shaped chocolates together. After allowing the melted chocolate to set in the fridge for around an hour, they were in the process of popping the sweets from their heart-shaped molds. The shy first year deftly popped one of the hearts from the mold with a satisfying 'crack!' sound. "You just have to be firm with it!"
"Hmph. Stupid chocolate. I'll show it who's boss." Tomoka thrust her thumbs onto the back of the mold and pressed with all her might. Cr-Cr-Crack!
The chocolate came out of the mold in pieces.
"AAAH!"
"Calm down, Tomo-chan," Sakuno comforted, smiling hopelessly. "Maybe you should just decorate." She handed her the icing tools and swept away the broken chocolate.
Tomoka fared much better at decorating, and soon they had a few dozen lovely chocolate hearts that were iced in designs of red and pink. One of them was smeared; a failed attempt at drawing Ryoma's face on the small chocolate canvas.
"You're giving one to each of the senpais, right?" Tomoka asked, counting out the wrapping paper in sheets of two.
"Ah, yes!" Sakuno said as she started to wrap the chocolates in neat little boxes, skillfully maneuvering the paper around. "And Horio-kun, Kachiro-kun, and Katsuo-kun too."
"And Ryoma-sama!" Tomoka pointed out, wagging her finger in Sakuno's face. "You mustn't forget him!"
Sakuno blushed a pretty shade of pink. 'As if I could…' "Ano… I don't think that'll be a problem…"
"Oh, by the way," Tomoka said, tying a ribbon. "Do you want to go to the movies this Saturday? There's that new film that's just out… I don't know what it's about, but the trailer seems cute!"
"Hmm? Ah, I can't!" Sakuno told her regretfully. "I'm playing street tennis with Suzume-senpai."
"SUZUME-SENPAI?!" Tomoka yelled, dropping the box she was making. "Sakuno, are you crazy?!"
"Ah, It's fine, Tomo-chan!" Sakuno tried to assure her, holding up her hands.
"But she was so mean to you last week!" Tomoka shivered at the memory – she'd wanted to stand up for Sakuno, but even strong-minded Tomoka didn't dare go up against the red-headed third year. Suzume's morals were questionably fluid, and her demeanor was frightening enough. (Plus, she knew karate.)
"We've practiced together a few times already! She's been really helpful," Sakuno insisted. "I think…" She wrung her hands together, remembering the way Suzume fixed her form, prodding her with her racket in places that she needed work. It was a sort of rough-gentleness that she couldn't describe. "I think it's her way of apologizing."
"Ok…" Tomoka said, untrustingly. "Just be careful."
~X~
Momoshiro stared at the nuclear warzone disaster area that used to be where their kitchen was. There was chocolate on the floor and on the walls and dripping down the ceiling –don't ask him how that happened.
Actually, he had a pretty good idea how it happened.
"…Sayaka?"
His sister sheepishly crawled out from behind the counter, covered head to toe in melted chocolate. "I… uh… I think I'm going to buy my Valentine's chocolates from the supermarket this year."
He fought the urge to burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. "Yeah. Yeah, that might be a good idea."
~X~
"Watanabe-san, what are you doing?"
Reina carefully measured out a couple milliliters of bright green liquid into a test tube. "Chemistry. Is this not the chemistry club?"
"Yes…" the boy said. "But… um, Watanabe-san, do all your experiments involve chocolate?"
"Valentine's Day is tomorrow." With a steady hand, she allowed the green liquid to drip into the boiling chocolate, the concoction making a hissing sound. From her left, she picked up a syringe, the needle gleaming silver in the fluorescent lighting.
The poor classmate gulped and backed away. For once, he prayed that the pretty third year would not send him any chocolates.
~X~
Tezuka was never late to tennis practice. Or class, for that matter. Actually, he just wasn't late. It had been ingrained into his mind as a little boy that lateness would not be tolerated. No matter the event or the task, he would arrive on time. It earned him respect, and it also allowed him to punish other people's tardiness with laps. It wouldn't do any good if he had to make himself run laps, would it?
Tezuka Kunimitsu was not late.
However, there was one tiny exception.
If February 14th did not fall on a weekend, Tezuka always arrived a good ten minutes after tennis practice began. That was simply because on that particular day, he purposefully took the long route to school.
Taking the long route meant there was an eighty percent less likelihood of being cornered by a fan, classmate, Shiba the reporter, or any other girl.
Dear god, help him. He was spending too much time with Inui.
~X~
As morning came on Valentine's Day, Izumi got up a little earlier. She brushed her dark hair out thoroughly, securing it in the typical chignon she wore. Then she opened the window, breathing in the crisp morning air, and waited for his familiar figure to pass by.
Today, instead of just waving, she called out, "Kaidoh-kun!" as he jogged by, and went downstairs to meet him when he paused.
"Here," she said kindly, giving him a small, velvet drawstring bag of chocolate. "Happy Valentine's Day."
Kaidoh went pink in the cheeks and fshhhed.
That made her smile.
Everyone seemed to fawn over Ryoma (she understood why, as his cheekiness was rather endearing, but the fact that he beat her at archery on his first try…), however Izumi also had a special place in her heart for Kaidoh. It wasn't just their five-second routine every morning, where they simply waved and acknowledged each other's existence. She admired his stamina, his training regime, his persistence. Things seemed to come naturally to Ryoma, but Kaidoh worked for every skill he had, often against all odds. She looked up to him.
(And he looked up to her too, even though she didn't know.)
However, right now he didn't seem so confident. He looked like he was waiting for her to say something else. He fidgeted, unsure of how to act, and started to fiddle with the drawstrings on the pouch uncomfortably. Social situations with the opposite sex were clearly not his forte.
"I'll see you at practice," Izumi told him, generously setting him free.
"Ah! Thank you, senpai!" He dropped her a quick bow, and proceeded to jog away in what she suspected was relief.
As she watched him disappear into the distance, she concluded that they had a lot more in common than she originally thought.
Ryoma, Shryoma, she thought. Kaidoh was the best kohai anyone could have.
(Ok, maybe she was still a little miffed that he beat her in archery.)
~X~
"Morning…" Suzume yawned loudly as she slid into her seat at the table, waiting for Kai to present her breakfast. She'd never been really fond of mornings.
"Morning, sunshine," her brother Kai practically sang, sliding a plate piled high with scrambled eggs, potatoes, and bacon in front of her.
At his tone, she lifted her eye to him suspiciously. "You're in a good mood," she muttered as she began to fork the food into her mouth. "What's going on?"
"What's not to be happy about?" Kai countered. He mussed her hair fondly, earning a scowl from her. "I've got a great job, a lovely sister, it's a beautiful da—"
"Good morning," a decidedly female voice came from the stairs, making her jump. (Female voices weren't often heard in her household.) Suzume looked up, bewildered, and her eyes landed on none other than Fuji Yumiko.
"Oh," Suzume went. Then her brain registered what she was looking at. "Oh." She tried to sneak a furtive glance at her brother, but Kai's face remained completely neutral, betraying nothing. "Good morning, Yumiko-nee-chan."
No wonder her brother was in such a good mood.
"It's about damn time you two made up," she added between bites of food. She jerked her head in her brother's direction. "He was a mess while you two weren't speaking."
"Oh come on," her brother protested good-naturedly, looping his arm around Yumiko. "I wasn't that bad."
Suzume gave him an eye-roll. "Did Ren-nii tell you that he burned the meatloaf?" she asked Yumiko.
"He did!" Yumiko said delightedly. "I'm just happy it didn't happen at the restaurant." She poked him on the nose. "You could've gotten in a lot more trouble."
"Well, Yuuta-kun informed me that you accidently got lip gloss in a client's eye," Kai accused playfully. "You could've gotten sued for that."
Their mischievous teasing went on for a little while longer, including more and more lighthearted touches and swats here and there, until Suzume ahem-ed really loudly.
Yumiko colored and took a step away. "So, Suzume-chan, are you sending any chocolates today?" she asked amiably, effectively demolishing the third-wheel situation she was in. "Anyone special in mind?"
Kai had to cough several times to cover up his laughter.
"Nope." Suzume popped another piece of bacon in her mouth.
"Well that's too bad," Yumiko said sympathetically. "Any guy would be lucky to grab your attention."
Kai's coughing got more and more raucous. Suzume shot him a glare and was overcome with a desire to throw something at him. Like a chair.
"Anyways!" Yumiko said, her voice suddenly becoming extra bright. "I have some extra chocolates with me! You should hand them out to some people at school!"
"Oh, but I don—" Suzume tried to object, but Yumiko slid a set of tiny boxes into her bag determinedly.
"Just do it! It's Valentine's Day!"
"Yumiko-nee-san," Suzume said plainly, but with a trace of fondness, "Just because I played matchmaker for you and Kai-nii here doesn't mean that you have to do the same for me."
Yumiko flushed a little.
~X~
Suzume had the full intention of throwing the chocolates out once she got to school. She would've thrown them out sooner, but she didn't see any trashcans along her way and littering was bad for the environment.
As she entered the school building, her eyes were drawn to a commotion in the hallway. Some second years were bullying a first year boy. Unfortunately, this was a common occurrence. A glance left and right told her that the hallways were still pretty empty, and the teachers wouldn't be arriving until later.
Usually, she would ignore it. She was a firm believer in 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.' Besides, boys generally didn't like it when girls stood up for them. It was the epitome of emasculation.
It was none of her business. She shouldn't get involved. 'Just walk away, walk away.'
But today… "Oh, what the hell," she said to herself. As a random gesture of goodwill, she located the first year's locker and dumped the chocolates in them.
Every single box.
(Except one. She kept one for herself. She might be becoming a better person, but she wasn't working towards sainthood.)
~X~
"The Kantou Regional registration is next week," Oishi reminded them as they changed into their tennis uniforms. "Tezuka and I will be attending the combination order lottery that determines who we play first."
"Our position is already decided, right?" Momoshiro asked.
"That's right," Oishi confirmed. "The top two seeds from Tokyo will be at opposite ends of the bracket. The number one seed from Chiba and the number one seed from Kanagawa will also be on the opposite sides."
"I'm so excited!" Kikumaru announced, spinning his racket around his arm. "I can't wait to get back in the tournament!"
"We won't be facing Yamabuki right away, but we could face Fudomine or Hyotei, depending on what numbers the other schools draw…" Inui noted.
"Not Hyotei," Momoshiro groaned. He had gotten tired of hearing that name. "Echizen, what do you think?"
"Whatever," Ryoma said indifferently, pulling his school shirt over his head. He opened his locker to get his shoes…
... only to be buried under a pile of glitter, candy, chocolates, and colorful packages bound in ribbon.
Momoshiro burst out laughing.
"What the—" Ryoma poked his head out of the pile. "What is this crap!" There seemed to be hundreds of tiny little boxes, filling up the area, wedged between his books, in his uniform pockets, and even in his shoes – (Ew, he wasn't eating those. He made a note to give them to Horio later.)
"Well, Echizen," Fuji observed amusedly, "Looks like you did pretty well this year." The slender third year deposited his own, rather large pile on the ground as he changed.
"I thought girls weren't allowed in the locker room," Ryoma grumbled as he clambered out of the mini-mountain of candies, scattering them. He certainly didn't remember this happening last year. This was going to take him forever to get rid of.
"Guess they snuck in," Momoshiro said, his mouth full from a candy bar. "I'm not complaining."
Kaidoh opened his locker, turned a loud shade of pink, and slammed it shut.
"Oi, what's the matter Mamushi?" Momoshiro called, peering over interestedly. "You all right there?"
"S-shut up!" Kaidoh was backing away from his locker like it was poisonous.
"Huh?" Momoshiro scratched his head. "What's the big deal?" He went over and opened the door. Kaidoh's stash of chocolate was not unimpressive, so that wasn't the problem. He was just about to close the locker when a random gust of wind caused something to float out of it, floating slowly to the ground.
For a moment they all stared at it.
It was a bandana.
It was pale pink, and had embroidered red hearts all over it. The sides of it were trimmed with white lace.
"Oh my god…" Momoshiro breathed, his shoulders shaking with mirth. "Oh my god..."
"SHUT UP!" Kaidoh, now a brilliant fuchsia shade, grabbed the bandanna and shoved it back in his locker like it was a dangerous animal. (Not that he would ever treat an animal that way.)
Momoshiro was in fits of laughter on the ground, laughing so hard that his laugher had become silent gasps of air.
"Hmm…" The offending object suddenly reappeared in Ryoma's hands, who was examining it with an amused smirk. He held it out. "It suits you, Kaidoh-senpai."
"Gimme that, you brat!"
Fuji reached it first. "It looks hand stitched," the tensai commented, plucking it from Ryoma's hands and holding it up to the light, much to Kaidoh's dismay. "Someone spent a lot of time and energy on this. Impressive, very impressive."
"Possibly it is from a secret admirer… One hundred percent," Inui noted, writing it down. "It seems the way to Kaidoh's heart is not through fabric head ornaments, however…"
"Wear it!" Momoshiro implored, still rolling on the ground. "Mamushi, you have to wear it! Show the person your appreciation!"
"NO WAY IN HELL AM I—"
"What is going on?!" Tezuka entered the locker room, glaring at the chaos that was in front of him. At his sudden presence, Momoshiro got off the floor, and Kaidoh lowered his raised fists.
"Ah, Tezuka," Fuji said, all smiles. "It seems Kaidoh here has gotten a Valentine's Day present." He held up the innocent bandanna, turning it just-so to make sure all the intricate patterns and details were visible.
Tezuka's gaze went from the pink bandana to Kaidoh's expression of pure horror and back again.
In that brief moment in time, his lips twitched ever so slightly.
But the moment was short lived. "Twenty laps around the court! All of you!"
~X~
Akane had just finished handing out giri-chocolate to some classmates that she'd worked on a project with, and was in the midst of getting some things out of her desk when a familiar body stepped in front of it.
"Well hello there, Akane," a male voice said.
She groaned inwardly, but straightened up. "Why, hello there, Sato. I believe the privilege to call me by my first name was revoked when we broke up."
"Oh please, Akane," he scoffed, running his hand through his hair in a "cool" gesture. "Everyone calls you by your first name." He leaned forward, resting his arms on her desk so they were eye-level.
She was half-tempted to poke her pencil in his eye. She was also tempted to tell him that everyone who wasn't a backstabbing, narcissistic moron was welcome to call her by her first name, but unfortunately he didn't make the list. But, for the sake of appearing mature, she just sighed and said, "What do you want."
He twirled her eraser around on her desk lazily. "You sending any special chocolates this year?"
The pencil was looking more and more tempting now.
"None of your business. Now, if you'll excuse me…" she said pointedly, getting out her textbook.
"Come on, Akane. You haven't gone out with anyone since we broke up. Is it true that you're still hung up on me?"
She slapped her textbook down on her desk. "Yes, I'm madly in love with you," Akane said, all her resolve at being mature evaporating into thin air. "I love you more than there are stars in the sky."
He looked out the window. "It's morning."
She opened her book. "Exactly."
"Well…" At least Sato had the grace to look a little nonplussed. "Well… Call me." He left the room just as the bell rang.
Akane felt like banging her head against the desk, but reminded herself that it killed brain cells, and god knows how many she'd already lost just from listening to Sato's drivel. After all, she'd already resorted to using childish comebacks that she pulled out of her back pocket.
Natsuko, who had seen the whole thing, giggled bemusedly from her desk. "I can't believe you dated him."
"It was only for a few weeks," Akane said, flipping a page and acting like it was no big deal. "I was young and stupid back then."
"Akane… that happened last year…"
"…Oh be quiet, Natsuko."
~X~
"Tezuka-saaaan! I made this for you!" A bright, cheerful voice interrupted his reading like the blaring of a French horn. "Please accept it!" An uninvited box was plonked down right on top of his desk, knocking his pencil case to the ground.
The box was bright pink with white-rabbit print and a lime-green ribbon in a giant flower bow. He wondered what made girls think he wanted bright pink, white-rabbit-printed, lime-green-ribbon-embossed presents.
Girls. They knew him so well.
He suppressed the weary sigh that was arising in his lungs and maintained a crucially neutral expression. "Thank you," he said, taking the box in his hands. He'd learned the hard way that refusing could lead to a tearful breakdown. Much as he didn't like being the object of someone's affections, he much preferred that to being the cause of their tears.
"You're welcome! I hope you like them!" his classmate chirped hopefully, batting her eyes.
Tezuka managed to excuse himself politely and exit to the hallway. He went to his locker and added the new box to the ever-growing pile. Each box was stacked neatly on top of each other, but the tower was so high that it swayed precariously. Suddenly, it seemed to waver on collapsing, and he pushed against it to keep it upright.
"Um… Sorry… bad time?"
He turned to see Chiharu, holding yet another box.
His expression was crucially, crucially neutral now.
"I don't mean to add more of a burden on you," she said with a timid smile. "But, um… I got this for you." She handed the small box to him hesitatingly. It was wrapped in navy blue tissue with a silver ribbon.
At least there weren't any rabbits.
"Thank you," he said after a pause, accepting it in his hands in a very formal and stiff manner.
"Um," she started, her words coming out in an anxious breath. "I know you got a lot of chocolate this year, so I thought I'd get you something different. It's dried plum."
He raised an eyebrow.
"I know you eat them in the morning," she explained. "Inui told me."
He turned the box in his hands, feeling the plums shift inside. "Inui thinks it's an old fashioned habit."
"It is old fashioned," she said, surprising him. "My father does it. But there's nothing wrong with tradition." Here she smiled gently, her eyes like drops of amber. "I… I like tradition. But," She laughed nervously. "I guess that doesn't make sense then, since traditionally I'm supposed to give you chocolate." She stopped, biting her lip and looking downwards in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I'm rambling."
Tezuka didn't know what to say, so he nodded again, his fingers subconsciously skimming over the box.
"And… thank you, for last week," she added shyly, her fingers playing with her blue-gray locks. "I know I'm still not playing my best, but I'm getting there." Her voice grew a little stronger, a little bolder. "I'm getting there. I won't let you down again."
This time, instead of turning the box over in his hands, he just looked at her through his glasses. Really looked at her, with one of those intense gazes that made her shiver with fear and another feeling she couldn't quite name, but one she knew she liked. "You've never let me down."
~X~
After second period, Aiko laid out the boxed chocolates on her desk in neat rows. She, under Kimiko's guidance, had prepared one for Kawamura, Oishi, two other boys in her class, and, as an afterthought, one for Ryoma as well.
She lifted a lid on one of the boxes to make sure the contents were okay, and couldn't help but smile at the treats inside. They were tea-infused white chocolate balls dusted with matcha powder. The bitterness of the matcha paired well with the sweetness of the chocolate, and she found that she really liked this east-west medley of flavors.
If chocolate could tell a story, this would be hers.
The thought of presenting Valentine's chocolates made her surprisingly nervous, however. Aiko wasn't even sure what to say. In America, valentines were often accompanied with a poem.
'Roses are red,
violets are blue,
I suck at poetry,
just eat the damn chocolate.'
Hmm… maybe not.
Gathering her gifts, she walked on over to Kawamura's classroom. Both Akane and Chiharu were in the class, which made her feel a little better about entering. She located him and tried to look natural as she walked up, though she was always a fish out of water. "Here, Taka-san," she said as she set it on his desk. 'Not that you need it,' she thought, eyeing the pile of chocolate that was on his desk. 'Wow. I had no idea you were so popular.'
"Ah!" he smiled, looking surprised – he clearly wasn't expecting her to give him anything. "Thank you!"
"My chocolate cooking is better than my sushi cooking, " she told him, barely stumbling over the words. This drew a laugh out of him.
"Your sushi cooking is not that bad!" he objected.
"If I were a chef at Kawamura sushi, you would've gone out of business a long time ago," she said, thinking about the sushi she made that just crumbled apart in her hands. They made a little more conversation, before she checked her watch and set off to find Oishi.
As it turned out, Oishi was even more popular than Kawamura. He couldn't even walk back to his classroom without being mobbed by girls of all grade levels (mostly first and second years.)
Girls thrust packaged gifts and cards to him from all sides.
"Ano – I really – I need to go… I-um…" he said, holding up his hands and trying his best to wade through the crowds without getting swamped.
Aiko retreated and decided just to leave it on his desk. It made it easier on her, anyways.
Lastly, she still needed to track down the short-ass wonderboy. Upon learning Japanese etiquette, Aiko also learned that it was acceptable for an upperclassman to go downstairs to visit a kohai, but it was almost never done the other way around. This got her in trouble one of the times she dragged Ryoma upstairs to be her translator.
Respect, respect, respect. That was the foundation of Japanese customs.
To her surprise, as she entered the room she found the Momoshiro twins also hanging out in the freshmen's classroom. Sayaka grinned and waved when she saw her. "Yo, Aiko-senpai."
"Is Ryoma here?" She looked around.
Katsuo pointed at the front of the room helpfully, where Ryoma and two girls were cleaning the blackboard. "He's just finishing up classroom duties!"
"Crap!" Sayaka suddenly cursed, bolting from the desk. "It's my turn to do them too! See you guys at practice later!" She disappeared out of the door in a flurry of movement.
Horio inspected at the box in Aiko's hands. It was wrapped in a light colored paper with a pretty design on it. He found it rather uncharacteristic of his tough senpai to be holding it. "That's for Echizen, right? Don't tell me…" His eyes went wide with disbelief at the possibility. "Is that… honmei chocolate?"
"What?" Aiko said blankly. "Yes, it's homemade."
Apparently this was the wrong thing to say, as everything seemed to explode at that moment.
"WHAT?!" The freshmen trio exclaimed.
"No way!" Tomoka gasped.
Sakuno clasped her hand over her mouth.
"Did you hear?"
"Honmei, she said, honmei!"
Momoshiro stood on a chair and bellowed across the room. "Hey, Echizen! Komboi-senpai has honmei chocolate for you!"
"So how long has this been going on?!" a girl she didn't know asked her excitedly.
"You guys would have beautiful Blasian babies together," one of the other girls in Echizen's class said dreamily.
"Komboi-senpai is already half-Japanese, right? So their children would be three quarters Japanese."
"I never thought Komboi-senpai would…"
Everyone was speaking way too quickly. If she had a magic remote control, Aiko would've turned on the subtitles option right now. After she used it to zap Momoshiro into oblivion.
Ryoma strolled over, having heard everything. He glanced from the box on his desk back to the tall, dark-skinned senpai. "Honmei chocolate, huh?" he echoed, unperturbed.
Aiko scowled, annoyed that she couldn't understand what was going on. "What's the big deal about homemade chocolate?"
"Honmei, not homemade," Ryoma corrected in a bored tone. "Unless you are trying to confess your feelings to me."
Comprehension dawned on her face. "Oh." Now that he mentioned it, she did remember seeing the definition for it next to giri-chocolate in her dictionary.
He sat down and ate one of the chocolates. "No offense, senpai," he said. "But you aren't my type."
Aiko's eye twitched. "And what's that supposed to mean?"
He shrugged, putting another chocolate in his mouth. "I don't date girls with bigger muscles than me."
(Behind them, Sakuno secretly glanced at the size of her own forearms.)
Aiko let out a short bark of laughter. "You're not my type either," she told him. "I prefer them sane. And taller."
"Hmm…" He smiled cheekily as he continued to eat the chocolates. "Such high standards, senpai…"
~X~
"So… um… I think I like you. Will you go out with me?"
Sayaka's first instinct was to laugh. So that's exactly what we did.
Then she went, "Wait, what?" and poor, mortified Kenji was forced to repeat his confession.
When she actually heard what he meant, her jaw dropped and she flushed a vibrant red. "Um… Um… You-I… that is…. I'm sorry!" she blurted. 'Wow, I'm an idiot.' "I don't… I…" Her palms were starting to feel sweaty, and her tongue tied itself into thousand knots. "No," she finally stuttered out. "No. We should just be friends."
Kenji was visibly downhearted. "Ok then…"
"I'm sorry!" Sayaka said again, distressed. "It's not that you aren't cute-" Because he was, but saying this was a mistake as he lit up when he heard these words, "I-I just… I don't feel that way about you. Friends," she grasped the word with emphasis, like it was a lifeline. "We're better off as friends." She really wanted to punch herself. 'Smooth, Sayaka. Real smooth.'
"Ok. Friends," he echoed uncomfortably, forcing a smile. "If that's what you want."
"I'm sorry!" she all but wailed.
"It's cool, it's cool. No hard feelings," he assured, flashing her a grin that was more sincere. "Besides," he added. "Momoshiro probably would've beaten the shit out of me."
"Haha, nah I don't think he would care," Sayaka laughed, feeling much relieved. "Well, that was awkward." She turned to him with a hopeful glance. "So, we're good?"
"Yeah, we're good," he replied, giving her a light punch on the arm. "See you in class."
~X~
While Kenji displayed various moments of intellectual aptitude, confessing to her in the middle of a hallway was not one of them. Obviously, it didn't take long for this rumor to circulate throughout the entire school. Later, as the tennis players gathered for lunch, Momoshiro made her retell the whole thing.
"So someone confessed to you and you did what?"
"I did the first thing I thought of!" She buried her head into her hands. "I laughed."
Fuji chuckled. "Sayaka-san, I didn't know you could be so cruel."
Suzume rolled her eyes. "Says the guy that rejected five girls this morning."
"Ah, I'm not quite that popular…" Fuji protested, smiling. "I've had three confessions since this morning."
"Damn, Fuji-senpai…" Momoshiro whistled. He ran a hand through his hair, purposely messing the back of it up a little. "I need to step up my game." His sister shoved him and said, "What game?"
"Akane-san, didn't an underclassmen confess to you today?" Oishi asked nervously. "I don't mean to be nosy! But I thought I heard a rumor about it…"
"Was it Takada?" Sayaka asked eagerly, glad that the attention was diverted off of her. "I knew he liked you!"
"Takada is a cute one!" Kimiko put in.
"No way!" Momoshiro practically spat out his drink. "Takada?! He's in my class!"
The ginger-haired girl massaged her temples tiredly. "Yes, Takada Yusuke confessed to me. Yes, I turned him down."
"Just like you turned down Mori from our year…" Fuji added teasingly. "You're the popular one."
"So I got a couple confessions." Akane shrugged her shoulders. "Tezuka has us all beat at sixteen…"
"What?" All of them glanced over at their captain who was sitting at the far end.
Tezuka neither confirmed or denied this fact. He was reading a new novel he acquired recently and pretended to be extra engrossed, ignoring all of them.
Aiko frowned confusedly. "I thought girls were supposed to confess to boys on Valentine's."
"No no," Kikumaru shook his finger in his face, a sparkle in his large eyes. "Girls give boys chocolate. But anyone can confess. Anytime! It's not just limited to Valentine's Day."
Aiko grumbled something about "complicated Nihon traditions" under her breath before taking a long drink from her water bottle.
"Speaking of which…" Fuji mentioned cheerily. "I heard a rumor that you and Echizen were going to run off to America and have eight children together."
The stream of water that was supposed to go down her throat was suddenly airborne. It nearly hit Reina in the face. "What?!"
Ryoma carried on chewing his lunch apathetically. "Why eight, of all numbers? Weird people..."
Aiko whirled on him. "That's what's weird about this?"
"Eight children. Your own tennis team roster," Inui responded to his previous question. He pushed his glasses up, the lenses flashing. "Reserve included."
(He said it like a commercial. 'Batteries included.')
"To make it clear. We're not," Aiko stated with absolute certainty, and the regulars laughed.
"Pity, pity…" Reina murmured.
The din in the cafeteria lessened considerably when Kenji entered. Nearly half the room turned around to look at him, as almost all of the student body had heard of his confession and subsequent rejection. He walked stiffly in, making sure to stare straight ahead. As he entered the buffet line, he happened to catch Sayaka's eye, and they both turned bright, bright red. As quickly as possibly, the poor boy bought his lunch and fled from the room, forgetting to pick up his change.
Sayaka proceeded to hide under her arms. "Kill me."
Kikumaru patted her head kindly.
Akane cringed for Sayaka's sake. "Well… that was… pretty bad."
"Namazu-chan, aren't you in the same class as him?" At Sayaka's depressed nod, Suzume chortled. "Ha! Good luck."
"Sayaka, Sayaka," Momoshiro tittered, snorting behind his hand. "Did you really have to laugh?!"
She flailed her arms around. "I didn't know what else to do! I've never gotten a confession before!"
"Seriously?!" Kikumaru exclaimed in shock. "But Sayaka-chan is so cute, nya!"
"Haha. No." She rubbed the back of her neck self-consciously. "So, how are you supposed to reject a confession anyways?"
"I suppose we could ask the master…" Fuji suggested, turning to his left with an angelic smile. "So, Tezuka?"
A muscle jumped in his jaw, but he kept his eyes on the book.
"I usually just say that I'm too busy for dating," Akane supplied helpfully. She tilted her head to her friend. "Reina likes to scare them off."
Reina looked affronted. "I merely tell them the incitement is simply heightened dopamine activity in the right caudate nucleus and right ventral tegmental area of the brain, and they should withhold their tortious emotions in abeyance."
Stunned silence.
"Told you," Akane concluded with a nod and a grin. "It works."
Fuji looked at all of them. "Actually, now I'm curious. How many people here have never gotten a confession?"
Sayaka sheepishly raised her hand. Inui did too, after a moment.
"Even you got a confession once?" Momoshiro asked Suzume incredulously.
Rather than being offended, Suzume just nodded casually. "You remember Murakami from 2-4? He transferred last semester."
"Yeah? Isn't he the one that came to school with a broken nose on White Day?"
"Yep."
"…"
~X~
"Th-thank you, Ryuzaki!" Kachiro and Katsuo said at the same time with rosy cheeks as she handed them their Valentine's Day chocolates.
"It wasn't a problem!" Sakuno insisted happily. "Tomo-chan and I made them over the weekend! Here, Horio-kun!" She handed him a box as well. "Happy Valentine's Day!"
"See, Echizen, I got my own chocolates!" Horio announced pompously, puffing out his chest. He rubbed his hands together greedily. "This looks so good!"
Ryoma sat at his desk, pretending to ignore them, when in reality he was waiting expectantly.
"Ah…" He heard her approach him. "R-ryoma-kun…"
'Why does she do that?' Ryoma thought, irked. Normally, Ryuzaki was perfectly capable of carrying on a typical conversation, but with him everything became "R-r-r-r-ryoma-kun", as if her tongue was determined to trip over his name. Weird girl.
"T-these are for you! I hope you'll accept them!" She put a box on his desk gingerly, her eyes focused on the floor.
Ryoma opened the box. "Hmm…" he murmured, sounding disappointed. "They aren't tennis chocolates?"
"Ah! I'm sorry!" Sakuno said, evidently dismayed. "I couldn't find any tennis-themed molds, but if Ryoma-kun wants, I could try and—" A light kick to her ankle stopped her.
"I'm not serious, Ryuzaki," he said, very seriously.
"Ah…ah…" she fumbled.
He picked one of them out of the package. 'Heart chocolates.' Hardly original, but he grudgingly had to admit they were cute – decorated nicely with pink and white designs. He bit into it, eyes widening. 'Delicious…'
"H-how is it?" she asked nervously.
He shrugged noncommittally. "Good."
She let out a relieved, serene smile, one that made his cheeks fill with warmth. "I'm glad."
"Your hair's still too long though."
She spun and planted her hands on her hips. "Ryoma-kun! That has nothing to do with anything!"
"Heh." 'Mada mada da ne.'
~X~
At the end of last period, Izumi got up and walked to Kikumaru and Fuji's desk. As discreetly as possible, she handed them each a tiny bag of chocolates. "Happy Valentine's Day," she said quietly.
"Thank you, Morioka-chan!"
Izumi hesitated – then, " 'Izumi' is fine."
Kikumaru's eyes widened. Even though he had convinced her to call him 'Eiji' in his second year, she continued to remain distantly formal, adding the appropriate honorifics after other people's names and addressing them with utmost respect. Sure, she had allowed Fuji to call her by her first name a while ago, but Kikumaru suspected that the incident was more impulse than anything else.
This time, it seemed like she was ready for it, and he sensed it was a big step for her. "Ok! If that's what will make you happy!" He added for emphasis, "Izumi-chan!"
Her name sounded totally foreign and strange on his lips, but not in a bad way. Her lips curved into a smile. It would take some getting used to. She turned to Fuji, "Fuji-san, if you could give these to Yuuta-kun…" She laid another drawstring bag on his desk, one exactly like his own.
"Of course," Fuji promised. "I have no doubt that he'll appreciate it."
"Izumi-chan," Kikumaru asked curiously, pointed to the last few gifts she had in a plastic bag on her desk. "Who are those for?"
"Tezuka-san and Oishi-san," she replied, picking up the plastic bag self-consciously and putting it away quickly. "I gave Kaidoh-kun his this morning."
Fuji noticed that there were three bags left, but he didn't know how to question her about it without sounding interrogative. He didn't trust himself enough to keep the sour tinge out of his voice.
~X~
From a distance, she looked like an elf that was running away with Santa's presents. Kimiko huffed and puffed, before finally heaving the giant sack onto the courts. "Here!" she presented, looking thoroughly and absolutely pleased with herself.
It was black and lumpy and huge, and for all they knew, held a mountain of potatoes inside.
Aiko was the first to respond. "…all right, Kims, whose body are you hiding in there?"
She stuck her tongue out at Aiko, before turning to the rest of them with a smile that stretched from ear to ear. "I made chocolate for you all!"
"What?"
"That's all… chocolate?"
"All of us?"
"Cool!" Kikumaru said, diving headfirst into the sack.
"Eiji!" Oishi scolded. His doubles partner emerged with two boxes in his paws-uh, hands- and one chocolate between his teeth. "Iff dfood!"
"…what?"
He swallowed and beamed. "It's good!"
Akane rubbed her forehead, resigning her attempt to achieve any logical explanation. There was rarely a logical explanation when Kimiko was involved, anyways. "You realize that we'd each have to eat our weight in chocolate in order to even get through half of that."
"That is incorrect. Judging by the dimensions and the size…" Inui measured the general pile with his hands. "We would only have to consume around 2.5 pounds of chocolate each."
Reina picked up a package of chocolates and offered them to the others, smiling extra sweetly. "Diabetes mellitus, anyone?"
"Chocolate is the lifeblood of the world!" Kimiko declared stubbornly.
The Seigaku team wouldn't be surprised if her veins ran with chocolate.
"So, Kims, why exactly did you decide to turn your home into Willy Wonka's factory?"
She held out her arms as if she was expecting a giant hug. "Because I love you guys!"
Kikumaru went "Awww…", Oishi smiled heartwarmingly, and even Kaidoh's face relaxed from his normal scowl. But Aiko just looked at her and waited.
Kimiko made a face at her.
Aiko waited.
"Fine, I was just mad," Kimiko finally said, throwing up her hands. "I was really mad about the mean people in school and stupid Hyotei and being runner-up and the dumb curling team vandalists ("Vandal," Reina cut in, correcting her) and losing and…" Her rant came to an abrupt halt; she either ran out of air or things to say. She lifted her shoulders nonchalantly. "And when I'm mad, I bake things. And now I have too much chocolate." She made giant puppy eyes and begged them, "Please help me eat it all."
"Don't need to tell me twice," Momoshiro said between bites, chocolate smeared all over his mouth.
"Well, I suppose it would be a shame to waste it," Inui agreed, picking up a package for himself.
Ryoma stared. "Marui-senpai, you must have been very, very, very mad."
"Pretty mad!" she agreed cheerfully, nodding.
After a couple minutes, the giant Santa sack of chocolate was clearly not diminishing. "Yeah… We need to get rid of that."
"Um…" Kimiko scratched her head, at a loss. "We could melt it and make fondue?" she suggested.
"Right," Suzume said scornfully. "Anyone have an empty pool we could borrow?"
~X~
In the end, the first years were delegated with the task of removing the sack from the courts. Inui called it "muscle training." Akane called it "slave labor."
"That reminds me…" Reina said after practice had ended. She pulled out a box and presented it to Inui. "Here. I have attempted injecting the essence of Inui Juice into the filling, but am not sure if I have been successful in my endeavor."
"So that's why you wanted a sample of each juice…" Inui said, gently opening the package. Each chocolate truffle had a small toothpick with a flag attached sticking out of it, much like tea sandwiches. On the flags, she'd written small words describing the contents in neat handwriting. As he skimmed over the words, he recognized a few names – 'Original Inui Vegetable Joice… Golden Deluxe Remix… Aozu…' He blanched at the memory of that one and set that particular chocolate aside. He would've offered it to Fuji if he didn't fear the repercussions.
"Thank you, Reina-san," he said, touched, fingering one of the flags. "This was very thoughtful."
"You're welcome. I…" She faltered.
He looked up. "Yes?"
She closed her mouth. "Nothing. It's nothing. I hope you find them satisfactory."
~X~
The bus ride to Kanagawa was so long that Kimiko dozed off and nearly missed her stop. When the bus pulled up at Rikkai, she got to her feet groggily, mumbled a 'thanks' to the bus driver, and climbed off. How Bunta managed to travel on that thing was beyond her.
Secretly she wondered if she was small enough to be lifted by one of those remote controlled helicopters. That would be fun. She could fly herself back and forth from Rikkai and Seigaku.
She yawned, and clumsily rooted in her bottomless bag for some coffee candy and popped those in her mouth. In a few minutes, her eyes were large and bright again, a sugar buzz running through her veins.
It didn't take long to find the tennis courts. The majority of the student body seemed to congregate around that area. She just followed the crowds. Once she got there, she found him easily too; his bright hair shone like a beacon.
She took in a deep, deep breath.
"BUNTAAAAAA!" she yelled across the courts, waving like a maniac. (Note to self: Always give your children a name that ends in a vowel, so it carries when you yell.) "HEY, BUNTAAAAA!"
Everyone, including Bunta, turned around, looking for the source of the noise.
When his eyes landed on her, his face lit up. "Yo!" He gave his practice partner a halfhearted apologetic bow, and then sprinted over to meet her. "Hey there, Kimi-chan." He ruffled her hair.
She smiled with all her pearly teeth and shoved a small bakery box at him. "I got you something! Happy Valentine's Day!"
"Strawberry cake? Aww, you shouldn't have." He unwrapped it and immediately took a bite. His expression gave way to one of euphoric bliss. "Jk, you totally should've because this is awesome."
"It's from a pastry shop in Tokyo!" she said happily. "I thought about baking you something, but your cakes always turn out better than mine anyways…" She pouted. "And you still won't teach me. Hmph."
"Hey, I did teach you!" Marui said in defense.
"Well, how come mine never turn out like yours?"
"The secret ingredient is…" He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "An extra teaspoon of genius."
She smacked him on the arm.
"Whatcha got there, Marui?" A voice interrupted as a taller boy appeared, resting his arm casually on Marui's head. It was obvious that he wasn't referring to the cake.
"Oh hey, Niou. This is my cousin, Kimiko," Marui said, swiping the back of his hand over his mouth.
"Nice to meet you!" Kimiko said cheerfully, extending a hand.
Niou outcooled her with a I-don't-care-but-I'll-acknowledge-your-existence nod. She blinked, discomfited, and then retracted her hand like she meant to do that all along.
"So is it true that this girl on your tennis team is seeing 'Mura-buchou?" Marui asked, his mouth half-full.
"What, Izumi-senpai?" Kimiko frowned thoughtfully. "I don't think so. I thought they were just friends."
"Izumi?" The cake almost came flying out of his mouth. "The girl with long hair who beat you?"
"Hey!" Kimiko snapped huffily. "She's pretty good, all right?!"
He laughed, "All right, all right. Still. That's odd."
"What's odd?"
Marui shrugged. "I don't know, I just always thought 'Mura-buchou would go for someone more, you know." He made weird, flippy gestures in the air with his hands. "Hell, it's Yukimura. He can do whatever he wants."
"Why is that even a rumor, anyways?" The hospital wasn't terribly far from Kanagawa, but she didn't think the rumor mill could circulate cross-Tokyo. And she hadn't heard anything of the sort at Seigaku.
At this question, Marui pinned Niou with an accusingly look. The lanky boy returned it with a bored glance. "What? I merely noticed her tennis uniform, okay?"
"And casually mentioned it to the worst gossipers in Rikkai," Marui said reproachfully. "On that note," He turned to Kimiko, eyeing her Seigaku jersey. "You've got nerve, wearing your uniform here."
"Oh," She tugged at her jersey, suddenly aware of all the attention that was on her. As she glanced around, she could see other people pointing her out, noticeably talking about her. One didn't need to be an artist to tell that blue didn't quite blend in with mustard yellow. "I didn't even think about it."
"Word has probably reached Hayashi by now," Niou surmised, craning his neck to see the adjacent courts. His eyes found the brunette in charge, who was glancing their way every five seconds. "Yup. I'm surprised she hasn't popped a vein yet."
"Hayashi?" Kimiko repeated, confused.
"The vice-captain the girl's team," Marui elaborated as he licked the icing off his fingers. "Hayashi Yuzuru. She gets annoyed when other teams come to check out the competition. Really freakishly annoyed. She's basically kind of nuts. Like fukubuchou."
"Marui…" Niou said meaningfully.
"What?" Marui said. He waved an arm around for emphasis, miming anger with his hands. "It's true! She yells all the time, and I wouldn't be surprised if she slapped them around too, like fukubuchou does to us when… I mean, it's not that he's bad… he's just needs to liven up. He…" He suddenly froze, finally deciphering Niou's head-jerks. "He's right behind me, isn't he."
"It seems you've got some instinct left in your thick skull, Marui," came Sanada's deep voice. "Now give me ten laps around the court. Tarundoru!"
"Yes sir!" Marui scrambled to his feet and ran off, leaving Kimiko with an apologetic wave and an empty cake box.
Sanada spared the newcomer a two-second glance, before quickly deciding that she was of no interest. He turned his gaze to Niou. "Do I need to tell you?"
For a moment Niou stared at Sanada, and Sanada stared right back.
"Nope," Niou replied indolently, breaking the tension. "I'm off. Nice meeting you, Kimiko." He gave her a lofty salute, and headed to the courts to join Marui.
Kimiko's mouth dropped open at his audacity to use her given name, so her response was an intelligent, "Hey! Ah… see you…"
Sanada gave her another glance before following the two boys back to the court, his hands in his pockets and his posture stick-straight.
She blinked at the familiarity of him. Come to think of it, Marui mentioned this 'Sanada' person to her before. He was supposed to be good, real good. 'No wonder Bunta doesn't have time to visit anymore…' she thought, as it seemed practices were far stricter here than at Seigaku. This Sanada person actually reminded her a lot of Tezuka-buchou – they were both so stern and serious. They should go dancing. Or sing karaoke. She smiled to herself. Everything was better with karaoke.
She was in the middle of picturing a singing and dancing Tezuka-buchou when someone said, "Oi. You. Seigaku", disrupting her thoughts. A girl had walked over.
"Who, me?" Kimiko pointed a clueless finger at herself.
"Are you gonna leave so we can get on with practice?"
"Oh, don't mind me!" she responded cheerfully, not moving from where she was sitting on the ground.
The girl stared at her incredulously, as if to say, 'Are you fucking kidding me.' "Kind of hard to do, when there's a spy watching our every move."
"I'm not a spy!" Kimiko whined indignantly. "I'm just… visiting." 'Geez, can't a girl visit her cousin in peace?'
"Yo, it's fine." Another girl walked over, laying a hand on the first girl's shoulder. "It's fine, Kurosawa. It's not as if spying on us would help them. Didn't you hear how badly they got creamed by Hyotei?"
Immediately, Kimiko shot up like a bolt of lightning hit her. "HEY!"
"Hey," a new voice responded, her voice soothing and rolling, like water over river rocks. A third girl joined them, although she possessed an authoritative quality that the first two didn't have. As she turned to the two Rikkai girls, her hair caught the light and wavered along a pink spectrum of colors – it seemed to be indecisive what color it wanted to be, rose or gold. "Easy there, both of you. Go practice backhands on court F."
"Yes, Tsukino-senpai." Disgruntled, the two girls left, but not before shooting Kimiko some dirty looks first.
"Sorry about that," the newest girl said with a shrug. "Second stringers." She extended a delicate hand. "I'm Tsukino Anna."
"Nice to meet you," Kimiko leapt up and took her hand with pleasure. 'Finally, someone nice!' "I'm—"
"Marui Kimiko," she answered, cutting her off. "Second year, Bunta's cousin, doubles one, with a special shot called "Tidal Force", and a proficiency in computer forensics." She smiled, a mysterious flicker in her blue eyes. "We know who you are."
The Seigaku second year blinked her big lavender eyes at her. "Are you a data thingy?" she asked suspiciously. "Or a robot?" Her eyes were soft blue, Kimiko noted, kind of like glass. 'Robot eyes?'
She laughed lightly, pulling a tendril of her pinkish hair out of her face. "No, I'm not a data thingy. I did watch your game against Matoko and Narita from Hyotei. You played well."
Kimiko beamed. It felt so good to hear that from someone, especially after all the grief that Seigaku had given her. "Thank you!"
Suddenly, the brunette that Niou had been looking at earlier stepped over as well. "Hey, Tsukino. I sent you over here to get rid of her, not make friends. Yoshima needs a sparring partner. Go."
"Yes, fukubuchou," Anna said diligently.
Kimiko perked up with interest. So this was the vein-popping vice-captain…
"Sorry kid, closed practice." The vice-captain made a gesture that clearly indicated it was time for her to leave. Her gray eyes, though sharp, were not unkind.
"Oh-okay…" Kimiko said slowly, taking the time to size her up. She was shorter than Kimiko expected, and her light brown hair was pinned up in a bun. In her left hand, she held a silver tennis racket. 'Southpaw, huh?' "Yep, I'll just be leaving then!" Kimiko flashed them all a big smile and waved enthusiastically. "Bye-bye guys!"
As she bounced away, Yuzuru turned to exchange a strange look with Anna. "Well," she commented. "That was interesting."
"She's exactly like Yuki-chan told us," one of the other girls contributed, pausing in between her rally. "Exactly."
From the other side of the court, the silent captain watched Kimiko's magenta hair disappear over the hill. The quietest murmur escaped her lips, so quiet it was immediately lost to the wind.
"Seigaku, huh…"
~X~
He kissed her deeply, his hand reaching out to brush the hair away from her face, letting his fingers run through her locks tantalizingly. "I love you," he whispered in her ear, feeling her shiver delightfully as his lips traced a path down her neck.
She sighed heavenly in response, arching her back, allowing him more access to her neck. His hand slipped to unknot the buttons of her—
"Oshitari!"
Oshitari jerked up from the novel he was reading. "Is that tone really necessary, Minako-chan?" he sighed, lightly annoyed. His book was just getting to the good part.
Shigohara tossed her hair back, crossing her arms. "I wouldn't have used that tone if you had answered me the first two times."
"Yes, well, I was rather engrossed in my reading," he responded, eyes flicking back towards the book meaningfully.
She gave him an unimpressed gaze. "Another one of those trashy novels?"
"Quality literature," he corrected mildly, and not without a hint of impatience. "Anyways. What can I do for you, Minako dear?"
In response, she slid a ribbon embossed box across his desk. He raised a curious eyebrow at her before undoing the shiny satin ribbon and lifting the lid. "Chocolate," he said amusedly. "Why Minako-chan, if you wanted to declare your undying love for me, then all you had to do was—"
"Really, Oshitari?" She leaned over his desk, her eyes twinkling merrily. "Is that what you want?"
He felt the corners of his mouth quirk up. In all honesty, their past relationship had been for show. Their parents introduced them to each other to help facilitate a business merger, which ended up falling through. So, although their courtship was a rather enjoyable one, there was no financial or social reason for continuing it, and they parted ways amicably.
However that isn't to say that he didn't find her extremely attractive.
He pushed up his glasses. "You know, we could get back together," he said, his voice low and suggestive.
She leaned in even closer, her face less than an inch from his. He waited, his eyes gleaming in anticipation.
Instead, she tapped him lightly on the nose with her finger and said, "Not going to happen." Then she turned on her heel and sashayed out of the room, her shiny hair swinging back and forth.
He shook his head, a reluctant smile on his face. Not that he was expecting anything, but sometimes he truly wished his life could be like a romance novel.
~X~
"Akane-san, nice seeing you here," Fuji said pleasantly when he wandered into the café.
"I'm always here," Akane said, twirling her pen around her fingertips. "Paperwork is a lot easier to do with caffeine in your system."
Fuji glanced curiously at the contents of her coffee cup. She took her coffee hot and black, no sugar. It suited her. Straightforward and no-nonsense.
He himself ordered a latte with cinnamon. "Mind if I join you?"
She inclined her head at the empty seat across from her. "Please."
His coffee arrived, hot and foamy. "So," he said, taking a ginger sip. "What are you working on?"
Akane squinted at the paper as if she was also trying to figure that very thing out. "I just filed our registration ticket for the Kantou tournament. The committee sent us some handouts, and I'm calculating the game count from each of the top seeds."
"Our girl's team is the number two seed, then," Fuji said.
"Yep." Akane scribbled something down. "Hyotei's number one from Tokyo, Rokkaku is number one from Chiba… and from Kanagawa…" She read the name and grimaced. "Rikkaidai."
Fuji looked over at her writing. Rikkaidai vs Mukogaoka, 3 – 0. First set 6-0, second set 6-0, third set 6-0. "They won the prefectural championship without dropping a game?"
Akane shook her head. "Worse," she muttered. "They're completely undefeated so far." She circled something else on her piece of paper. "I just hope they play Hyotei before they play us. Or the Chiba seed." She tapped her pen on the page, pointing it out.
"Rokkaku vs Mazuragaki High," he read aloud. "Six games to love, six games to one, six games to two." He took another sip of his coffee. "They sound skilled."
"We have our work cut out for us. And of course, there's the mixed doubles matches this weekend as well…"
"Who are we sending to play? Is it Momo and Sayaka-san?"
"No," Akane said shortly. "We're not risking Sayaka's wrists anymore."
'You seemed to have no qualms about risking them before,' Fuji thought to himself. Casually, he murmured, "I wouldn't mind playing."
She gave him a look. 'I'm sure you wouldn't.'
He just smiled back.
She bent over to write something down, only the blue ink of her pen faded into the paper halfway. Shaking it briskly, she tried again. "Fuji, do you have an extra pen on you?"
"I might." He rummaged through the school bag on the table, successfully pulling one out. "Ah! Here you go." As he held it out to give it to her, he noticed her eyes were on something else.
Akane was looking at the chocolate that had also tumbled out of his bag, in an innocuous velvet pouch. She arched her brows. "That's not the only chocolate you got."
"Hmm?" He followed her gaze to the pouch. "Oh, this. I'm dropping this off at Yuuta's, actually. It's from Izumi-san to him."
"I see…" Akane said slowly, as if prompting him to say more.
He kept his smiling expression the same as always. "It's very thoughtful of her."
Akane folded her hands together. "She gave you one too, didn't she?" she hazarded.
"Yes, she did."
Akane studied him for a little longer. Fuji began to understand why so many people felt uncomfortable under her examining gaze. It made him feel somewhat like a specimen in a Petri dish. He became very aware of her eyes fixating on every muscle in his face, every twitch and every turn of his lips, decoding and deciphering all the underlying clues that were a gateway to his inner thoughts.
After a moment, he turned up the level of his smile to something razor-sharp and deadly. "If you want to say something, just say it, Akane-san. It's not like you to beat around the bush."
She didn't even blink. "You're disappointed."
"Of course I'm not."
"Fuji, I thought we agreed not to lie to each other."
"I don't remember agreeing to anything like that."
"So you are lying to me."
His lips parted slightly, having been caught off guard. He chuckled. "Touché, Akane-san, Touché."
"Fuji." Akane faltered, hesitating for a second. "I meant to ask you this a while ago."
Inwardly, he braced himself. Outwardly, he smiled.
"About Izumi…" Akane said, her eyes never leaving his face. "Do you… like her?"
Fuji didn't answer immediately. He paused, waiting for a few moments, whether to be enigmatic or to buy time, she wasn't sure. Finally he looked down and smiled as he always did, a smile layered with riddles and secrets. "I don't know."
Akane looked at him, her turquoise eyes searching his face as if she was reading a treasure map. "Ok," she responded, although her tone suggested that she was not satisfied with his answer. She took a sip of her coffee and looked ahead. "Well, you better figure it out, or else stop leading her on."
His smile suddenly froze. "Excuse me?"
Akane sighed and put her coffee down, the saucer rattling slightly. "I'm calling it like I see it, Fuji."
"And what do you see?" His expression was dangerously blank.
"You're trying to get closer with her, but you aren't making your intentions very clear," she laid out. "Either ask her out or leave her alone. It's getting painful to watch this endless dance of yours."
"As painful as it is to watch you and Oishi?" Fuji said deliberately, an edge of malice in his voice.
For a flash of a second, the color in her face drained. Akane had a true deer-in-the-headlights look, and the vulnerability in her eyes was so stripped-bare that it almost made him reel backwards. Not even a second later, however, the look was gone. Her face closed up instantly. She looked down and took another sip of her coffee, allowing an awkward silence to descend between them.
That hurt, but she'd asked for that, she knew. She'd called him out on his actions, and he'd done the exact same. God, it felt awful, but she knew she deserved it. She was an awful person.
Akane usually hated flirting, but Oishi made it so easy. He blushed at all the right moments, and stuttered like a thirteen year old. Before she knew it, with every wink and smile, she was unintentionally wrapping him around her finger.
It was sickening, how methodical it was.
She'd never been above manipulating people's emotions. To her, it was actually fun. Wasn't that just the worst thing?
With a swift blink, Akane cleared her eyes of the unshed, guilty tears.
"I'm sorry," Fuji finally said.
"No, you're right," she said. A horrified, bitter laugh escaped her. "You're right. I have no right to tell you…" she bit off. "I'm a mess," She put her head in hands, massaging her temples. "I need to stop."
"At least you know you like him…" Fuji pointed out. "And he obviously feels the same way. That makes things a lot simpler."
"You think Izumi doesn't like you?"
"I can never tell what she's thinking…" Fuji exhaled. "That's why I…" He stopped and shook his head. "Never mind."
"She's confused," Akane told him. "That I can see as plain as day. But… you should just take her out on a date. It'll help both of you figure things out."
Again, Fuji took some time to mull over his thoughts, although this time Akane felt like he was genuinely pondering the situation. When he spoke, his tone was a little more naked, a little more sincere. "I don't want to scare her off."
Akane understood, because Izumi was a skittish character. Like a bird, easily alarmed by loud sounds or sudden moves. Move too fast and your chance would fly away in a heartbeat.
"But you," Fuji continued. "You should just tell him. You have no excuse."
She shook her head, her ponytail swinging. "It's not going to last."
"Akane-san, that is one of the weakest arguments I have ever heard."
"Is it?" Akane shot back, hitting him with a challenging stare. "Fuji, when I date, I'm either all-in or all-out. I don't play around." 'I'm not like you,' went unsaid.
"Then," he said contemplatively. "What are you doing right now?"
Another awkward silence settled over them.
To his shock, Akane suddenly burst out laughing. She brushed her hair out of her eyes, her gaze much warmer and friendlier now. "Oh Fuji," she said, shaking her head again, a hopelessness in her eyes. "If anything, I'm glad we can at least be honest with each other."
~X~
In the end, she decided to shoot him a text and roll with whatever happened. 'Take a chance, take a leap of faith, go on, just go for it.'
"Oishi-kun!" She waved, seeing his distinct, egg-shaped head appear at the door of the café.
"Ah, Akane-san!" He quickly took his seat near her. "Sorry I'm late! I didn't see your text until later!"
"It's nothing that serious." She graced him with one of her charming smiles, making him blush easily. "I just wanted to give you these personally." She set a small package on the table. It was wrapped in shiny gold paper and decorated with black ribbon. A well-known chocolatier brand was on the side of the box, the brand name written in flowing script.
This box of chocolates just screamed honmei.
His cheeks went from warm to fire-hot in a second. "Oh! Um… wow. Thank you, Akane-san."
Her lips curved upwards. "Of course."
'You should just tell him. You have no excuse.'
She opened her mouth. "Oishi-kun… I…"
"Ah, what is it?"
"I… just wanted to hear your thoughts on the Kantou tournament," she finished quickly. Internally, she sighed. She had many opinions about herself, but she never thought she was a coward.
"Oh!" He seemed relieved that the conversation had turned towards tennis. This was an area that he was comfortable with. "Well…" he began. "Last year, we played Hyotei, and Atobe Keigo beat our captain, Yamato in a…"
Akane nodded along, although her mind was elsewhere.
Why did she like him? He wasn't the most attractive boy in Seigaku, but he was unquestionably good-looking in his own way. He had the smoothest skin, and the most expressive olive-green eyes she'd ever seen. They glistened and glowed and spoke volumes of emotion. She smiled secretly to herself. He would be terrible at poker.
This crush was rather strange, as Akane wouldn't classify him as her usual 'type'. She had a tendency to fall for boys that were overtly confident and assertive. But of course, confidence more often than not turned into arrogance, and that was something she had little patience for. Half the boys that seemed to be self-assured were really just fronting, self-possessed narcissists.
Those boys were overtaken with a fierce compulsion to act like men. Oishi was different. He wore his heart openly on his sleeve.
That's what drew her to him, she decided. He wasn't afraid to show that he cared.
He was saying something now about the Chiba seed, but she wasn't listening. She was too busy admiring the curve of his jaw, the arch of his upper lip.
She could only think about how cute he was.
The practical side of her told her to give up on her emotions. She was a third year, a senior. She had to concentrate on getting into a good college. Dating wasn't important, and even if it did work out, it was unlikely that they would end up going to the same school afterwards. It was a meaningless phase, she told herself. It would never last.
'Get your priorities straight.'
A little voice whispered in her ear, 'But you never do anything for yourself.'
'It's not the right time.'
Then what was the right time?After college? No, she'd already decided that after college she'd go grad school or some other higher education program. And surely after she started working, she would have to concentrate on her work, right? In order to rise up the career ladder as fast as possible.
There was no time for romance. There was no right time.
So, mid-sentence, she just said, "Screw it," out loud and grabbed the back of his head, startling him.
Then she kissed him, full on the lips.
~X~
End Chapter Twenty-Nine.
A/N: Review please?
Also, after you review, feel free to tweet me at fyerigurl on Twitter. I'll be tweeting about story progress and stuff, and you guys can tweet me any questions you have about the fic. I should warn you: I'm a n00b at twitter.
Those of you who guessed the couple right, congrats! Dedicated to these smart individuals: Maria-Reynne, Amai Itonami, Wondering Snow, wolfchick55, Music4Life1791, PandaEyedTsundereHypRRNeRd, Lilyice , Its'Noelle'not'Nole'5327, laughsandgiggles, coco597, Guest, Nami1503, tAnGeRiNe-jUjUbE08.
(I was tempted to just have Yumiko and Kai get together and call that the couple. Haha.)
FAQ: Why didn't X give Y chocolate?
A: I wanted to keep all the characters and the OCs in character. And also, I couldn't write THAT much. Give me a break, haha.
Fun facts about Ito Akane
She has a deathly fear of spiders. Cockroaches, centipedes, or wasps she can handle. But not spiders. She is fully aware that they are probably ten times more scared of her than she is of them, but regardless. She makes Chiharu – Chiharu – take care of them for her.
She sometimes wears men's cologne instead of perfume.
She never understood the "head over heels in love" phrase. Isn't your head always over your heels?
She secretly enjoys reality TV shows.
She dated the captain of the basketball team, Sato, for three weeks. She still can't figure out how it took her three whole weeks to discover that he was an idiot.
Rikkai is coming in to the picture. Hope you guys are okay with that.
Shigohara makes a lovely appearance in coffeelatte's It's All Greek, Ch 10. Go read it because it is brilliant. Yes, I am friends with coffeelatte. Be jealous.
I will have to rewrite my first few chapters sometime. But I'd rather update first. I hate it when authors take down a story for revision coughMYKOUHAIYOURKOUHAIcough.
ALSO: I am currently in the market for a Beta. I need someone to look over spelling/grammar, general plot consistency, as well as being able to help with the flow of the writing. For example, pointing out if I use the word "grin" too frequently. The pros: You get to see the chapter before everyone else! The cons: You have to deal with my horrible preliminary writing and me. PM me if interested.
I really want to commission an artist to finish drawing my OCs. If I had money… :( Maybe I should start a donation pool.
In the next chapter, a White Day date leads two schools meeting. Also, I will be writing some mixed doubles scenes – who do you want to see play?
Sneak peek for the next chapter:
Ring, ring. "Hello?"
"It's a date."
"INUI!"
Ring, ring. "Hello, this is Tezuka."
"...that's the situation. What should we do, Te-" Inui heard the dial tone and stared at his phone confusedly. "He hung up."
