Chapter 37:
"Stop it! I hate you!"
His hand went to his cheek where she had slapped him. "Atobe." He looked to see that the Hyotei Regulars were staring at him.
"What?"
"Is it just us? Or are we picking up anyone else?" Shishido asked.
"No, it's just us." Atobe said and ordered for the driver to take them to the stadium as he continued to stare out the window.
Shishido looked at Oshitari who shrugged and shook his head. "Where's Mizuka?" They both looked at Mukahi and glared. "What?" He said innocently.
"She's with her brother." He frowned slightly and looked back at them. "We'll see her there, don't worry." He blinked a couple times at their confused look and realized he said that to himself rather than to them. "She'll be there."
The Seigaku team watched as Kawamura finished his difficult and painful game against Gin Ishida from Shitenhoji, the school that Seigaku was facing off in the semi-finals. Mizuka put her hands over her face and smoothed it over her head and let out a huge sigh and she turned and walked off.
"Mizu-chan -"
"She's going to the washroom." Tezuka said briefly.
"How-"
"He's her brother! He knows everything, right Tezuka buchou?" Momoshiro said, cutting off the confused Kikumaru.
"But-"
"It must be her time of the month." Inui stated, studying his notebook.
"Time of the month?" Echizen repeated.
"You're too young to understand, Echizen." Momoshiro teased.
"I know what it means!" Echizen snapped.
"You don't see the way they look at you. YOU don't know what's going through their mind. All you do is wear that slave outfit and serve people like the worthless slut you are."
Mizuka slammed her fists onto the sink and let out a loud sigh of exasperation. His words were stuck in her head and almost brought tears to her eyes. She stared down at the sink hard, pushing her tears back and hating him for saying that to her.
She roughly pulled one of her hands free from his grasp and slapped him across his face and pushed him up. "Stop it! I hate you!" She yelled. He was still looking at her clothing with his cold eyes. She quickly fixed what she could of her clothes and left the limo and ran into her house.
"Mizuka!" She quickly turned around and saw her brother staring at her with wide eyes. "Mizu-"
"Nisan!" She ran into his arms and cried.
"Who did this?! What-"
"P-Please...Please don't.."
He sank down to the floor with her against the wall and cradled her in his arms. It was the first time they had made contact in a while. She had been angry with him for telling Atobe to break up with her and had been avoiding him. His arms felt so comforting to her and he sat there in silence as she sobbed.
"Ow! What was that for?!" Mukahi complained, rubbing his head after being hit by Oshitari.
"You already know that when he's in that type of mood, it's usually because of Mizuka." Oshitari said. "Wait, let me correct myself. Whenever he's not normal, it's always because of her."
"When is he normal?" Shishido said.
"Atobe normal."
"I've never seen him like this about any girl." Mukahi thought. "In fact, I've never seen him like this at all. Hey, how many girls has he slept with?"
"What? I don't know. Why are you asking me?" Oshitari said.
"Because you would know."
"What? How?"
"Because he tells you everything."
"No, he doesn't."
Shishido and Mukahi both looked at him knowingly. "Oshitari, everybody knows that Atobe tells you everything."
Oshitari sighed and pushed up his glasses. "Atobe may tell me a lot of things, but he doesn't tell me everything. There are a lot of things that are bothering him that he keeps to himself. I do want to help him but I'm not one to pry. He'll tell me when he's ready."
"You're not one to pry? Really? You are always in his business." Mukahi stated.
"No, I'm not!" Oshitari denied.
"Uh, yes you are."
"Okay, guys. Stop arguing like a couple." Shishido said. "And where is Atobe anyways?"
"I saw him walk off when we got here."
"Then why didn't you say something?" Oshitari said as he smacked his teammate on the head.
"That's why!" Mukahi angrily exclaimed, rubbing his head. "Because you hit me on the head and I forgot!"
"You have to admit, it's fun." Shishido laughed as he patted him on the head.
"Not fun for me!"
"You look like dorobo-nichan."
Mizuka stared at the tanned little girl with pony tails she had bumped into while leaving the washroom. "Huh?" She heard a laugh as a teen boy who resembled the little girl came from behind her.
"She means to say you look like Tezuka." He held out his hand for her to shake. "I am Chitose Senri from Shitenhoji. This is my little sister, Chitose Miyuki."
"Tezuka Mizuka."
"Ahh, so you are related to dorobo-nichan. Don't tell me you are also a thief."
"Huh?" Mizuka said again, confused by the little girl's words.
"Dorobo-nichan stole my racket." Miyuki said. "But when these guys were bullying me, he helped me and fought them off."
"Nisan was in a fight?!" Mizuka exclaimed.
"Phrase your words properly, Miyuki." Chitose said.
"Well, we were playing tennis and these guys came and tried to kick us off the court. They were really rude about it too. Dorobo-nichan lost his match at first trying to defend me but he won after."
"Oh, there you are." One of Shitenhoji's Regulars came up to them. "The Doubles 1 match is starting soon."
"Really?!" Miyuki exclaimed. "Let's go watch it!"
"Weren't you about to use the washroom?" Mizuka asked.
"Oh, right!" Miyuki said and dashed past her into the washroom.
"I am Shiraishi Kuranosuke, Captain of the Shitenhoji's Boy's Tennis team." Shiraishi introduced.
"Well, you wouldn't be Captain of the Girl's Tennis team, would you?"
He chuckled. "I suppose it is implied that it would be the Boy's Tennis team since I am a boy."
"Or are you?"
"I am!" He laughed and his gaze focused on behind her. "Well, look who it is. If it isn't Atobe Keigo." Mizuka froze and felt herself heat up. "Who are you here to root for?"
"I am here to root for nobody." Atobe nonchalantly said as got to them and turned his gaze to Mizuka who looked back at him with distant eyes. "I am only here to spectate."
"Atobe." They all looked to see Tezuka, who had come to check up on Mizuka, standing behind the Shitenhoji players. There was silence as the tension in the air thickened as Atobe and Tezuka stared at each other, Atobe with his cool blue gaze and Tezuka with his fiery brown ones . Oshitari, Shishido, and Mukahi slowly walked up behind Atobe when they finally caught up to him.
"Nisan." Mizuka had walked up to him but he didn't seem to hear her. Shiraishi looked from one Captain to the other and then gave Oshitari a questioning look but he only received a shrug in response. "Nisan!" Tezuka snapped out of his stare with Atobe and looked at his little sister. "Let's go."
"Yeah.."
"Man, that was awkward." Mukahi let out a breath when the siblings were finally out of earshot.
"What happened? If you don't mind me asking." Chitose asked.
"Nothing that concerns you." Atobe coldly replied as he started off toward the stadium.
"Well, then." Shiraishi started. "We should probably get back too."
"Please forgive Atobe." Oshitari quickly said. "He's not quite in a good mood right now."
"Yeah, I think we can all tell." Chitose said.
"There you guys are!" Kikumaru said. "What took you so long Mizu-chan? Tezuka even went to look for you."
"I was just-"
"You were taking a poop, weren't you?"
"What?!" She exclaimed. "No-"
"Hmm...Interesting.." Inui's glasses gleamed as he added that to his data on her.
"Don't write that down!" Mizuka angrily said. "We bumped into members from Shitenhoji!"
"Oh, which ones?" Oishi asked.
"Umm...I think Chitose and his little sister and their captain, Shiraishi." She looked over at her brother who was taking off his tennis jersey to get ready to play. "Good luck, dorobo-nichan."
Tezuka gave her a quick look while the rest looked confused at her words. He then looked at Inui who smiled and wrote that down in his notebook before he got on the court with him.
"Continuing on with Seishun Gakuen versus Shitenhouji, the Doubles 1 match will now begin. Tokyo's representitve, Seishun Gakuen: The pair of Tezuka Kunimitsu and Inui Sadaharu. Osaka's representative, Shitenhoji High School: The pair of Zaizen Hikaru and Chitose Senri."
"Hurray!" The Seigaku team cheered as they celebrated winning the National semi-finals in a yakiniku restaurant.
"Mizu-chan!" Kikumaru cheerfully said. "Have a drink with us! We won the semi-finals!" He handed her a small cup filled with clear lizuid.
"Shouldn't you rest? The Nationals-"
"You're just like Tezuka! He worries too much! The Nationals have been postponed for 3 days because of court problems!"
"Oh, right..." She drank from her cup that she thought was water which burned her tongue all the way down her throat to her stomach. "K-Kikumaru!" She coughed. "Wha-What is this?!"
"It's sake!"
"What! I'm not allowed to drink this!" She exclaimed. "You're not even allowed to drink this!"
"Shh..Shh, it's okay, Mizu-chan!" She winked at her and smiled. "Don't be such a party pooper."
"I'm not!"
"Prove it!"
"Oi, oi! What's going on here?! A drinking competition?!" Momoshiro quickly joined the table.
"I can drink more than you!" Kaido claimed.
"I don't think that's a good idea..." Oishi started.
"Let them do it, Oishi. I want to see how long they last." Inui said. Oishi looked at Fuji for help but he only smiled and watched with the table of older Regulars as the younger Regulars drank.
"Tezuka's going to get mad when he comes back..." Kawamura stated.
"This looks interesting." Echizen said for them to realize that he was sitting with them.
"You're not going to join them, Echizen?" Inui asked.
"Nope. I only want to drink Coke."
Mizuka blinked slowly when she woke up with the sun shining through the window. She noticed that the arm that was around her waist on the blanket had bandages on it and she quickly turned around to see Atobe sleeping beside her. Rather than being angry at seeing him, she was confused. "Keigo.." Atobe opened his eyes and sighed. "What-"
"You are the worst drunk person ever."
"What? What happened? How did I get here?" She asked. "And more importantly, what happened to your arm!"
Atobe stretched and lifted his bandaged left arm to speculate it. "You set it on fire."
"What?!" She exclaimed as tears surfaced her eyes for injuring him. "I did?! I'm so sorry!"
"I'm just kidding."
"Keigo!"
"You should've seen the look on your face." He chuckled.
"What happened last night?" She looked at Atobe questioningly as he gazed back at her tiredly.
"We had amazing sex."
"..What? We had...Okay, never mind. What happened before that?"
"K-Kikumaru...I don't feeeeel well.." Mizuka said after lost count of the last shot they took. "I-I think I'm starting to see things...There are a lot of people here.."
"That's because there are a lot of people here!" Kikumaru raised his voice because of the increase in noise. "Shitenhoji, Rokkaku, Higa...And Hyotei is here too!"
"Hyotei..." She thought and wondered if Atobe was also where they were. She was about to take another shot when a hand covered her mouth and the drink poured on her clothes. A hand grabbed her arm and she was instantly pulled up, making her lightheaded and she stumbled into a shoulder.
"What are you doing?!" She heard Atobe ask.
"She's just having fun some fun, Atobe."
"Kikumaru, why would you let her drink? If she gets caught, she'll be in big trouble! Where is Tezuka anyway?"
"Umm...I think he went to call Ryuzeki-sensei.." Momoshiro replied.
"Leave me alone." Mizuka tried to walk away from Atobe for him to pull her back to him.
"Mizuka, we should leave before your brother gets back."
"No! I don't wanna!" She tried to pull her arm back but he held on.
"Mizuka, lsiten to me. You're not supposed to be drinking. You're not even allowed to drink. All of you are not allowed to drink in here. How did you guys-" He paused when Kikumaru showed him a fake ID. "You would."
"Come on, Atobe. Don't act like you've never drank any alcohol."
"Fine." He sighed. "Mizuka, let's go."
"No. Go away!" She yanked her arm from his grasp.
"Mizuka, Tezuka is going to-"
"Why do you care anyways?! All I am is a big slut!" He paused as her words caught him by surprise as he stared at her.
"Atobe!" Kikumaru stood up. "You called her a slut?!"
"Be quiet, Kikumaru!" Atobe hissed. "Mizuka, I didn't mean-"
"What? Didn't mean to call me a slut?" She cut him off and couldn't stop the words from coming out of her mouth. "All you want to do is fuck me, right?"
"Mizuka." Atobe took hold of her hand but she pulled it away. "Mizuka, we have to go before Tezuka sees you."
"Who cares if he sees me. He probably thinks I'm a slut anyways. He'll probably just want to fuck me."
"Wha...Mizuka, you're drunk!" Atobe heard his tensai laugh. He had been watching with the Hyotei Regulars at their table and had come to help Atobe but heard the last sentence and started laughing. "Oshitari!"
"Sorry, Atobe." Oshitari said. "That was really funny."
"Just help me get her to the limo!" Atobe said in frustration.
"No! Why should I even go with you? So I can be your slutty maid?"
"Oooo, Atobe-kun's girlfriend is a maiddd?" Konjiki Koharu, the tensai tennis player from Shitenhoji, repeated. The bald tennis player with glasses inched on closer to Mizuka and reached out with his arms. "Ooo won't you be my slutty maid too?"
She was pulled behind Atobe as he glared at Koharu. "Don't you fucking dare lay a hand on her."
"I might as well! I already serve people like him at the cafe."
"Mizuka!" Atobe exclaimed.
"What? Do you want me to call you Atobe-sama too?"
He looked at her incredulously. "Don't call me that."
"Why-"
"Mizuka, just come with me." He tried to take a hold of his girlfriend but she backed away and tripped back on the table. He quickly reached out to put his arm around her but their weight also made him fall forward. His eyes widened as they were going to fall on the sizzling hot grill and quickly put his arm down on it and wrapped his other arm around her to protect her from it. He cried out and was pulled off and onto the ground with her, feeling the burn on his left arm.
"Atobe! Are you okay?!" Oshitari quickly asked. "Get me some cold water!"
"Fuck it!" Atobe grit his teeth as his left arm was all tense from the pain. He looked at Mizuka who was quietly staring at his wound beside him. "Mizuka, please come with me." She slowly nodded and he pulled her up with him.
"But Atobe, your arm!" Kikumaru said.
"We have to put cold water on it!" Oishi added.
"I'm fine." Atobe calmly said as he lead the way out of the restaurant with Mizuka.
When he finished, she had her hands over her mouth at being shocked from the story. "Keigo, I'm so sorry." She gently touched his bandaged arm.
"It's fine." He sighed. "You repaid me with amazing sex so it's okay."
"...Why do you keep saying amazing? Isn't all of our sex amazing?"
Atobe laughed. "Yes, all of our sex is amazing. But.."
"But what?" Her eyes were wide with curiosity. "Tell me."
"You were really wild." He licked his lips and looked at her lustfully. "You were on top of me the whole time."
"Oh." She blushed.
"Yeah. You rode me till the end."
"Okay, I get it.." Her face reddened even more.
"You should get drunk like that more often."
"But your arm.."
"It was worth it."
"Keigo!"
"Well, I suppose you don't have to be drunk to ride me like that."
"I don't think I ever want to get drunk to the point where I don't remember anything again."
"Yeah, I want you to remember riding me."
Mizuka giggled. "What if I rode you right now?" She screamed lightly when he pulled her on top of him. "I'm kidding!"
"I'm not."
"You're the worst!"
"You guys fought again." Oshitari stated.
"Nope. Nope, we didn't fight." Atobe had his face in his hand before he looked up at him.
"You're sulking."
"I am not."
"Yes, you are."
"Okay, fine. We fought. But why does she have to work there? It's not like there's nowhere else for her to work. The one place she chooses to work and she chose to work at a cafe wearing a fucking maid outfit."
"What is wrong with you? It doesn't matter where she works."
"Yes, it does. I get served daily by my own maids, I don't need her to go working as one too."
"Woah." Oshitari said. "That is low even for you."
"I don't care." He crossed his arms and stared ahead as the beginning of the national finals commenced. He sat higher up in the bleachers to get a better view and to not be in the crowd. He also sat by himself, not feeling the need of communicating with anyone until Oshitari came to bother him.
"Please tell me you didn't say that to her."
"Of course I said it to her."
"Atobe, that is honestly the worst possible thing you can say to her. What did she say?"
"Well.." Atobe looked thoughtful. "Something along the lines of 'I hate you so much. I can't believe you just said that. You're the worst.'"
Oshitari smiled lightly at the monotonous voice he used. "So, what are you going to do now?"
"Nothing. I'm going to relax and enjoy the show." He sat back with his hands behind his head only to notice Momoshiro running up the stairs toward him. "Now what does he want?"
"Why do you do this?!" Mizuka angrily yelled at her brother. Tezuka was barely able to stand due to the injury to his arm. He sat on the bench and stared tiredly at his sister as she continued to yell at him. "Is tennis really that important that you would have to sacrifice your own arm?"
"I'm sorry."
"You're only saying sorry because you lost." She sighed and crossed her arms. "I thought you loved tennis." She looked up to see Momoshiro running down the stairs with Echizen by his side looking a little lost.
"It was all thanks to Atobe." She heard Momoshiro say when she approached them. "Without Atobe's help, we would have never gotten to Echizen and came back in time for the tournament."
"You know you can just go and talk to her."
"I don't want to talk to her."
"You're staring at her." Oshitari stated as he too looked down the bleachers at Mizuka who had joined in to hear the news that Momoshiro brought to them. Atobe's eyes widened slightly when she started making her way up the stairs toward them. "She's coming."
"I can see that."
"Good morning, Oshitari." She greeted and then looked at Atobe. "Keigo."
"Good morning, Mizuka." They said simultaneously and looked at each other.
Mizuka giggled and said. "I wanted to thank you guys, that was a really nice thing for you guys to do."
"It was mainly Atobe. He supplied the chopper and he agreed to help out. I just went along with him."
"No need to be so noble, Oshitari. She clearly came all the way up here to thank the both of us."
"Okay, I'm going to give you two some space because you guys clearly need to talk." Oshitari turned and walked toward his teammates that were watching from afar.
"You know, I don't even know why you're thanking me. You're not even from Seigaku."
She put her hands on her hips and stated. "Well, I'm thanking you on behalf of my brother. I'm not sure how it would turn out if he thanked you ever since your last encounter with each other."
"He's a big boy, he can thank me himself. Why don't you skedaddle back down there. Your job thanking me is done."
She sighed in frustration and looked at him angrily. "What is your deal with my job?"
"I already told you before that I hated you working there." He looked at her with the same cold blue eyes whenever he was angry. "I hate what you wear." He hissed, taking a step toward her, making her back touch the wall.
"Why?"
"Because you look like a big slut, that's why."
"Well, you'll be happy to know that I won't look like a big slut anymore. My last day is tomorrow."
"What? Really?"
"Yuki and I only planned to work there in the summer. I didn't want to depend on my parents for money and I definitely didn't want to depend on you for it."
"Mizuka." He sighed and pulled her toward him, wrapping his arms around her for a hug. He made her look up at him to see that her eyes were watery and he pressed her face into his shoulder. "I'm sorry for the way I acted. I should never have said those horrible things to you." She nodded and hugged him tighter.
"What are they arguing about?" Shishido asked once Oshitari sat down beside him.
"Her job." He replied shortly.
"Again?"
"I don't get it. Why does Atobe care so much if she works there?" Mukahi asked.
"Supposedly it's because she wears a maid outfit."
Shishido looked taken aback. "That's it? Atobe is upset over that? Are you sure?"
"He didn't exactly tell me. He just complained that she wore the same outfit that his maids serve him with too."
"I wouldn't exactly say that it's the same. Like what Yuki and Mizuka wear is more provocative." He saw Mukahi look at him surprised. "What?"
"Wow. Never knew you knew such a big word."
"Oh, shut up." Shishido rolled his eyes. "Anyways, I think Atobe just doesn't want her working there because of the way some guys look at her."
"You mean, like the way Mukahi looks at her?" Oshitari looked at Mukahi who smiled innocently and shrugged.
"Yeah but Atobe knows Mukahi isn't a threat."
"Hey!"
"It's also what some of the guys say too?"
"Like how Mukahi-"
"Okay, okay. I think we get it!" Mukahi glared at his doubles partner.
"That girl is hot. She looks so sexy in that maid outfit." One guy said to his friend after he left the cafe.
"Mmm..I like her friend more." His friend replied.
"Which one?"
"You know the one I like, the one wearing red. She's pretty cute."
"And then what? And then what?" Mukahi urged him for more.
"Uh, I think you can pretty much guess." Shishido said.
"What? You guys beat them up?"
"No, but Atobe was pretty pissed."
"What? And you weren't?"
Shishido blinked a couple times in confusion. "No, why?"
"Cause they were talking about Yuki too?"
"Oh, well yeah I guess I was a bit angry but I don't really care. Yuki can handle herself, she's pretty rude to guys who hit on her. But Mizuka is kind of naive, you know? She's too nice." Shishido said. "She hasn't had a very good experience with boys and I think that's what Atobe's worried about. It's like you have to watch out for her cause she doesn't see it." Oshitari and Mukahi both laughed and he gave them a weird look. "What?"
"You've become such a softie."
"Shut up." Shishido said to the shorter of the two.
"No, Gakuto. It's called being a good friend. He's just watching out for her. We all know that he's always been a softie." Shishido sighed in frustration and put his hands over his head.