Chapter Fifteen
Choosing seats in a restaurant is a real war.
"You take care, Sengoku-san!" She waves her hand to a departing Sengoku. Shortly after their awkward encounter with her childhood friend Atobe, Yume leaves the scene while dragging a confused Sengoku along. As a form of respect, he decides not to inquire about the sudden change of behavior of the girl and leaves the issue be.
Instead, they strolled for a few more minutes, chatting about themselves and Sengoku's dreams as a tennis player. He asks for a number to which she simply smiled and replied, 'Maybe next time when we bump into each other again.' He cannot bring himself to force her into what she doesn't like, so Sengoku just wishes for his luck to meet her again.
"You, too!" Sengoku replies as he starts to walk away. "I'll see you again, Ojou-san."
Yume smiles as they depart. She likes the feeling of having met a new acquaintance and friend even though she may not really be sure of when their next meeting will be. When he seems to have walked a long distance already but still on her sight, she turns around to return back to Shitenhouji's tennis matches with hopes that they happen to be still ongoing).
"Hey, by the way!" Sengoku stops in his tracks and calls to her again. She turns to his direction. "You look cute today, but I personally prefer seeing you wearing dresses. You look prettier with cute dresses, Ojou-san!" He continues to walk. "Bye!"
She smiles.
"Right, right. You look a lot cuter with dresses," Hikaru whispers in her ears.
Yume gasps in shock. "Z-Zaizen-san?!" She sighs in relief. "You startled me. Could you please not do that again?"
"Round 2 games already ended. You missed it, Senpai," he informs, "We won and we are advancing to the next round. Where were you?"
"With a friend."
"Hmm…" Hikaru inspects her and glances at the direction where Sengoku went off. "… that guy? Is he a player?"
Yume nods. "Yanabuki Junior High's Sengoku Kiyosumi." She sighs. "His team lost after Round 2."
"That's unfortunate, but that's how things are."
Again, a sigh.
"Anyway, we're going to eat some dinner and we'll be returning to our inn. You comin' along?"
Yume stares at his face, raising a brow. "Is that an offer someone just forced you to say?" She remembers that night when Hikaru asked her to the movies and his mother apparently obliged him to do it.
He sighs. "No."
"Then, is it alright to come along?"
"Of course."
She giggles. "Funny," Yume mutters to herself. "I'll come then!"
"You pay for your own meal, though."
"Of course!" She smiles to him.
Hikaru looks at her.
"Oi, you two!" The Shitenhouji tennis club regulars are heading their way. Shiraishi and Chitose are chatting among themselves. Osamu is walking straight to them with a grin on his face. Gin, as usual, has his calm aura. Koishikawa looks quite serious. Koharu is being pursued by Hitouji, who has been begging his doubles partner for forgiveness and offering a bouquet of flowers. Kenya runs towards them at full speed.
"Kazuyoshi!" Kenya arrives less than a minute. He places his arms over their shoulders. "You brat!" he says to Hikaru as he rummages his hand through the lowerclassman's hair.
Hikaru grunts and removes Kenya's arms. "Please stop, Senpai."
"And, Kazuyo-" Kenya is about to do the same to Yume, but he deliberately removes his arm over her shoulder as his eyes met hers. "Uhmm…" he clears his throat. "K-Kazuyoshi, do you-"
"Kazuyoshi! Let's go eat ramen!" Hitouji calls to her.
"Fine! Go out with Cutieyoshi-kun," Koharu turns away from his doubles partner, crossing his arms. "After all, he's the better partner for you."
Hitouji gasps. "Koharu! That's not what I meant. I said I'm sorry, please forgive me!" he begs.
"That's right, Koharu! Forgive him so that he'll stop bothering Kazuyoshi here," Kenya says as his eyes momentarily glance at her.
"Koharu! Don't you want to tease Kenya-kun together?" Hitouji pleads, "Forgive me and then let's make fun of Kenya-kun together, just like how we used to be. You know that I love you, right?"
"That's disgusting, Senpai," mutters Hikaru.
Yume laughs at the scene they are making. The whole team stops at her.
"Sorry, sorry," she says upon noticing that they fell silent at her laugh. "Please continue on with your fight."
Shiraishi smiles. "Yosh! Let's go eat…"
"RAMEN!" they shout altogether.
"So, Kazuyoshi Yuki-kun…"
"Y-yes?" she nervously replies, barely looking at the man talking to her.
The Shitenhouji tennis club regulars (plus their coach, Yume and another girl) settle down at the ramen restaurant nearest the inn Coach Osamu has booked for them. The restaurant may not be that large as one expects from a relatively well-known ramen restaurant but the team realizes why it is a famous chain around Tokyo.
There were only four seats at the counter and four seats for each two tables left unoccupied when they came in. Even before people are able to pick their own seats, Osamu took the honor of being seated at the table nearest to the counter together with Yume and two other people who are not of the name Oshitari Kenya.
"Since we have a new tag-along person with us, I'll have to sit with him," Osamu announced.
"Y-yes!" Yume replied obediently.
"And, of course, any two persons can sit with us…" His eyes turned to Kenya, "… except Kenya-kun."
Kenya straightened up and gulped down his complaints.
Hitouji snickered behind and raised his hand. "Then I'll sit on the same table with Kenya-kun, Zaizen and my Koharu!"
Koharu, still mad at him, crossed his arms and turned away from his doubles partner. "I'm not going to sit beside you. I'll rather sit with Gin-san!"
Hitouji gasped. "Koharu!"
"Am I a simple backup plan?" Gin muttered to himself.
Harada Miu, the only outward girl in the group and announced girlfriend of Koishikawa, giggles, "I'll be sitting on the same table with Kenjirou-kun." She clung onto her boyfriend's arm.
Koishikawa blushed. "I suppose we'll just take the table with Osamu-sensei."
"I'll be eating on the counter," Chitose raised a hand. "After all, I like watching how they prepare the ramen."
Gin nodded. "I'd like to sit on the counter as well."
"If Koharu won't be sitting with Hitouji, I will be the one on the same table with them," said Shiraishi with a serious look.
"Well then, it's settled. Let's go eat!"
"But my Koharu!"
"… you entered Shitenhouji just recently, right? Why did you transfer only during the middle of the team? And to add, you transferred on your third year?" Coach Osamu inquires.
Miu looks at Yume and gasps. "Kazuyoshi-san is already a third year? I thought you were just in your second year. You and Zaizen-kun looked particularly close."
Yume scratches her head. "Well… it's kind of a personal thing as to the reason why I transferred just recently. But it has already been planned about a year ago, just a few delays."
"Ohhh… But you could've finished middle school first back at London, then you could fly here for your highschool," Koishikawa remarks.
"Right, right." Miu nods. "Because of what you did, you've become the newly-transferred weird student who entered Shitenhouji at the middle of the year."
"It's also… personal," Yume apologetically bows for the fact that she cannot answer.
"Well, well. it's fine." The coach looks at her. "Then instead, how did you come to know the tennis club?"
"Ah! Ishida-san is my seatmate at Class 3-5. He showed me around the campus on my first day. That's when I was also introduced to the tennis club."
"Ohhh…"
"Then, how about Oshitari-san?" asks Miu. "How did you meet him?"
Yume glances at her and sees her eyes oddly sparkling with interest. "O-Oshitari-san is… I met him also during my first day at Shitenhouji," she shyly replies.
"How did you get so close to him in a short span of a few weeks?"
"Uhmm… well, let's see." She looks up at the ceiling and tries to remember. "There was one afternoon when I went home with him, you know, to comfort him. He seems so sad then." Yume sighs. "And after that one event, he started bothering me every time he sees me."
"Then, do you like him?"
"Huh?" She looks at Miu in confusion.
Coach Osamu laughs. Koishikawa raises a brow at his girlfriend's question but is likewise interested.
Miu giggles. "Do you like him? Oshitari-san, that is," she repeats in a louder voice.
"Well…" Yume scratches her head. "… he's not bad, so I guess he's just fine."
"You barely answered the question." The smile on Miu's face gets bigger. "How 'bout Zaizen-kun? I heard he is your neighbor."
"Zaizen?!" The coach utters in surprise.
"Uhmm… yes. Zaizen-san is my neighbor, but we barely talk."
"Ohh…" Miu pouts and thinks of another question.
"He's one..." Yume sighs upon remembering every single thing the lowerclassman did that pushed her over the edge. "… annoying brat."
"Can I just ask?" Koishikawa raises his hand. "Does… Hitouji always do that to you?"
Yume tilts her head. "Do what?"
"You know… when he suddenly put an arm around your waist…?"
She blinks. "Does he not do it always to people? I thought he's the type of person who would like hugging people. After all, he and Koharu-san always hug, right?"
"Ah, I see."
Miu stares at Yume and giggles.
"Thanks for the food!"
The dinner has ended and it is now time for them to retire for the night. A whole day has gone and the sun is to set. The sky is dark and stars are already twinkling in the sky. Even people outside are less in number since they have to retire themselves to their own houses. The breeze of the air is chilling yet calming.
Being the first to exit the restaurant, Hikaru yawns and turns behind to look at the others walk out one-by-one. Yume and Coach Osamu exit the store together last. They seem to be in good terms already, Hikaru thinks. After all, they have been laughing at each other's stories even while they were eating.
"So, Kazuyoshi-kun, where will you stay for the night?" the coach asks.
"Ah! I called a hotel just this morning to book a room," Yume replies.
Coach Osamu whistles. "As expected of rich people."
"A hotel?!" Kenya gasps.
"How rich!" Koharu also gasps.
Chitose gasps as well. "Y-you're rich, Yuki-kun?!" He rubs his chin. "Maybe that's why you've got really soft hands. It's because you're rich."
Gin gasps in utter shock. "I-I never knew anything…"
Hikaru looks at his teammates. "I don't think such fact is worth getting that surprised or something," he comments. Miu chuckles at the second year's remark.
Shiraishi looks at Yume worryingly, "Do you know where it is?"
Yume nods. "It's only a walking distance from here."
"You sure you won't get lost, Kazuyoshi-kun?" the coach asks.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"But if you do get lost, please contact us immediately and we'll do our best to help you," says Shiraishi, "And if you arrive at your hotel room, let us also know."
She nods. "Sure."
"Contact me if something happens!" Kenya says.
"Right."
Hikaru looks straight at her. "Kazuyoshi-senpai, send me a message when you get to your room. Give me a call tomorrow morning when you wake up."
She blinks. Everyone does and looks at their lowerclassman.
"… says Okaa-san." He closes his phone and shoves it into his pocket.
"O-okay," Yume stutters. "Y-you were reading from your phone."
"Okaa-san?" Miu whispers to her boyfriend. Koishikawa only shakes his head out of surprise.
Hikaru turns to walk away. "Let's go. It's dark already. I wanna go sleep already."
"R-right," Coach Osamu says. "We got to get going, Kazuyoshi-kun. See you."
"See you tomorrow!"
The Shitenhouji tennis club regulars, Coach Osamu and Miu start to walk away after bidding their farewells. When they were a little far, Yume also walks her own way.
Kenya turns around to watch her walk away for a moment and dashes off to overtake the whole team.
~ End Chapter ~
