Chapter 2
Mieko found herself thinking of Mitsui and Rukawa but she is closer to Mitsui. Due to her closeness to Mitsui, she earned a few dirty looks from a bunch of girls especially from Aika who has been trying to flirt with Mitsui but he just dismissed her.
Mieko whispered into Mitsui's ear, "Hey, you seem to be attracting a lot of attention around here." Mitsui chuckled and whispered back into Mieko's ear, "You're not that bad yourself, cutie pie."
Mieko looked around and found two guys looking at her, one of them blushing when she looked at him. The blushing guy is Fukuzawa and the other is Nakago. Both of them started laughing which earned a stern look from the language teacher who was translating a passage from English to Japanese.
After class.
Mieko and Mitsui were talking and laughing while taking out books for the next class. Mieko abruptly stopped laughing. Mitsui who noticed this also kept quiet. He wondered why she had stopped laughing all of a sudden. Mieko saw a familiar face. Expressionless and cold. 'Rukawa.'she thought as he walked past, not caring about the world around him. Mieko continued to feast her eyes on Rukawa's muscular, 1.87m built as he disappeared to a distance.
"Hellllooo.?? Mieko.??" Mitsui waved his hand in front of her when he noticed she stopped laughing and started staring at that fox.
"Huh? Oh.!! I'm sorry, Mitsui. What were you saying?" Mieko looked at him blankly.
Taken aback that she wasn't paying attention, he replied, " We were talking about how stupid your brothers acts while being around Haruko when suddenly you stopped laughing and started drooling while staring at that kitsune as he walked by."
Mieko blushed and her face turned beet-red. " I.urm..I.. I was just admiring his height. That's all!" as she tried to defend herself.
Mitsui gave her that mysterious look and she shyly turned away. As she slammed her locker door, " C'mon! We'll be late for Math!" She walked quickly to class as Mitsui hastily followed her from behind.
*~*~*~*~*~
As the last bell rang, Mieko started packing her stuff. She turned around wanting to ask Mitsui something. " Mitsu--?" 'Huh? Where did he vanish to?', she thought. She stuffed whatever books she had left and hurried outside. She saw Mitsui already walking down the hall. "Mitsui!!" she called out as she ran down the hall towards him. "Where are you going?"
" Oh. I was heading for the basketball gym. Practice starts in 15 minutes." He replied. "Oh.I see." 'Hmm... maybe this is the chance for me to see how good that super-rookie is,' she thought to herself as she walked down the hall with Mitsui in silence. Mitsui broke the silence which startled her. " Urm..Mieko?" "Hmm..?" " Are you free now?" he asked. " Um, yeah. Why?" " Well, I was hoping that you would come to practice and maybe watch- -" " Of course I'd love to go and watch you play!" she exclaimed before Mitsui could finish his sentence. ' I thought he'd never ask!', she told herself. " Oh.! Great! C'mon, let's go get changed." He pulled her towards their respective changing rooms.
*~*~*~ They were busy chatting away as they headed for the gym. As Mitsui opened the gym door with Mieko next to him, a tall figure did a slam dunk right in front of them. Mieko was stunned while Mitsui mumbled under his breath, "Show off." It was Rukawa. At the other end of the gym, there were 3 hormone-crazed girls chanting "Ru-ka-wa! Ru-ka-wa! L-O-V-E Ru-ka-wa!" Sakuragi was very annoyed at the cheering brigade. Thus, he chased all of them out and locked the gym doors. The brigade, unsatisfied, pounded on the doors and demanded Sakuragi to let them in. Sakuragi just ignored their pleas.
Suddenly, all the pounding stopped. There was a small knock at the door. " Sakuragi-kun, please open the door," a soft voice called out. Sakuragi's ears perked up as he recognized that sweet, soft voice. Without hesitation, he opened the gym doors and his eyes immediately turned into shape of hearts as he saw a small, cute figure standing in front of him. " Haruko- chan." It was Haruko Akagi. Sakuragi advanced towards Haruko but suddenly, he sensed a dark and towering presence. He looked up and saw Akagi behind him *Boink* Akagi was Haruko's brother and he gave Sakuragi a taste of Gori- punch on the head. "Ite!!" cried Sakuragi while clutching his head.
"Serves you right, red-haired monkey!" cried the cheering brigade. "You can't say that to a tensai!" said Sakuragi and with that. He slammed the gym door shut.
All the members of the basketball team just shook their head except for Rukawa who was still playing basketball by himself. As he bent down to pick up the ball, he looked at Sakuragi who was flirting with Haruko as Akagi just left the so-called 'tensai' alone. "Doaho", muttered Rukawa to himself referring to Sakuragi. But he was glad that it was the exact same doaho that chased the irritating brigade away. What he didn't notice was a pair of brown eyes was staring at him. Mieko had been on the bench, watching every move that Rukawa made. The lay-ups, jump shots, slam dunks. Everything was so perfectly done. *~*~*~*~*~
Mieko left Mitsui on the bench to strike up a conversation with Rukawa. She went up to Rukawa and greeted him.
" Hi! I'm Sakuragi's sister, Mieko." She held out her hand but Rukawa didn't even look at her, what more to shake her hand. Mieko could feel her face flushed with anger and she spat out, " Here I am, trying to be friendly and you just blow me off like a speck of dust?! Who do you think you are? Some cool and mysterious guy with a bunch of hormone-crazed girls chasing you like a dog chases its tail? Well, you're wrong! You're only a snobbish and brainless guy because you never say a complete sentence. Same old word 'doaho' and always direct it to my brother, Sakuragi. Have you ever thought maybe YOU'RE the doaho?! At least my brother knows more words than you do!" With that, Mieko sat back down on the bench with Mitsui leaving everybody shocked.
Rukawa thought, 'Nobody has ever talked so harshly to me before with the exception of Sakuragi. Most girls either blushed or giggled when they try to talk to me. But not this girl with a fiery temper. She was very sharp with her tongue.' Rukawa went back to shooting but most of the balls just bounced off the net because he couldn't concentrate.
Mitsui whispered into Mieko's ear, "You're fiery but that's what I like about you". Mieko looked at Mitsui and saw a sparkle in his eyes and she merely smiled at him.
Mieko found herself thinking of Mitsui and Rukawa but she is closer to Mitsui. Due to her closeness to Mitsui, she earned a few dirty looks from a bunch of girls especially from Aika who has been trying to flirt with Mitsui but he just dismissed her.
Mieko whispered into Mitsui's ear, "Hey, you seem to be attracting a lot of attention around here." Mitsui chuckled and whispered back into Mieko's ear, "You're not that bad yourself, cutie pie."
Mieko looked around and found two guys looking at her, one of them blushing when she looked at him. The blushing guy is Fukuzawa and the other is Nakago. Both of them started laughing which earned a stern look from the language teacher who was translating a passage from English to Japanese.
After class.
Mieko and Mitsui were talking and laughing while taking out books for the next class. Mieko abruptly stopped laughing. Mitsui who noticed this also kept quiet. He wondered why she had stopped laughing all of a sudden. Mieko saw a familiar face. Expressionless and cold. 'Rukawa.'she thought as he walked past, not caring about the world around him. Mieko continued to feast her eyes on Rukawa's muscular, 1.87m built as he disappeared to a distance.
"Hellllooo.?? Mieko.??" Mitsui waved his hand in front of her when he noticed she stopped laughing and started staring at that fox.
"Huh? Oh.!! I'm sorry, Mitsui. What were you saying?" Mieko looked at him blankly.
Taken aback that she wasn't paying attention, he replied, " We were talking about how stupid your brothers acts while being around Haruko when suddenly you stopped laughing and started drooling while staring at that kitsune as he walked by."
Mieko blushed and her face turned beet-red. " I.urm..I.. I was just admiring his height. That's all!" as she tried to defend herself.
Mitsui gave her that mysterious look and she shyly turned away. As she slammed her locker door, " C'mon! We'll be late for Math!" She walked quickly to class as Mitsui hastily followed her from behind.
*~*~*~*~*~
As the last bell rang, Mieko started packing her stuff. She turned around wanting to ask Mitsui something. " Mitsu--?" 'Huh? Where did he vanish to?', she thought. She stuffed whatever books she had left and hurried outside. She saw Mitsui already walking down the hall. "Mitsui!!" she called out as she ran down the hall towards him. "Where are you going?"
" Oh. I was heading for the basketball gym. Practice starts in 15 minutes." He replied. "Oh.I see." 'Hmm... maybe this is the chance for me to see how good that super-rookie is,' she thought to herself as she walked down the hall with Mitsui in silence. Mitsui broke the silence which startled her. " Urm..Mieko?" "Hmm..?" " Are you free now?" he asked. " Um, yeah. Why?" " Well, I was hoping that you would come to practice and maybe watch- -" " Of course I'd love to go and watch you play!" she exclaimed before Mitsui could finish his sentence. ' I thought he'd never ask!', she told herself. " Oh.! Great! C'mon, let's go get changed." He pulled her towards their respective changing rooms.
*~*~*~ They were busy chatting away as they headed for the gym. As Mitsui opened the gym door with Mieko next to him, a tall figure did a slam dunk right in front of them. Mieko was stunned while Mitsui mumbled under his breath, "Show off." It was Rukawa. At the other end of the gym, there were 3 hormone-crazed girls chanting "Ru-ka-wa! Ru-ka-wa! L-O-V-E Ru-ka-wa!" Sakuragi was very annoyed at the cheering brigade. Thus, he chased all of them out and locked the gym doors. The brigade, unsatisfied, pounded on the doors and demanded Sakuragi to let them in. Sakuragi just ignored their pleas.
Suddenly, all the pounding stopped. There was a small knock at the door. " Sakuragi-kun, please open the door," a soft voice called out. Sakuragi's ears perked up as he recognized that sweet, soft voice. Without hesitation, he opened the gym doors and his eyes immediately turned into shape of hearts as he saw a small, cute figure standing in front of him. " Haruko- chan." It was Haruko Akagi. Sakuragi advanced towards Haruko but suddenly, he sensed a dark and towering presence. He looked up and saw Akagi behind him *Boink* Akagi was Haruko's brother and he gave Sakuragi a taste of Gori- punch on the head. "Ite!!" cried Sakuragi while clutching his head.
"Serves you right, red-haired monkey!" cried the cheering brigade. "You can't say that to a tensai!" said Sakuragi and with that. He slammed the gym door shut.
All the members of the basketball team just shook their head except for Rukawa who was still playing basketball by himself. As he bent down to pick up the ball, he looked at Sakuragi who was flirting with Haruko as Akagi just left the so-called 'tensai' alone. "Doaho", muttered Rukawa to himself referring to Sakuragi. But he was glad that it was the exact same doaho that chased the irritating brigade away. What he didn't notice was a pair of brown eyes was staring at him. Mieko had been on the bench, watching every move that Rukawa made. The lay-ups, jump shots, slam dunks. Everything was so perfectly done. *~*~*~*~*~
Mieko left Mitsui on the bench to strike up a conversation with Rukawa. She went up to Rukawa and greeted him.
" Hi! I'm Sakuragi's sister, Mieko." She held out her hand but Rukawa didn't even look at her, what more to shake her hand. Mieko could feel her face flushed with anger and she spat out, " Here I am, trying to be friendly and you just blow me off like a speck of dust?! Who do you think you are? Some cool and mysterious guy with a bunch of hormone-crazed girls chasing you like a dog chases its tail? Well, you're wrong! You're only a snobbish and brainless guy because you never say a complete sentence. Same old word 'doaho' and always direct it to my brother, Sakuragi. Have you ever thought maybe YOU'RE the doaho?! At least my brother knows more words than you do!" With that, Mieko sat back down on the bench with Mitsui leaving everybody shocked.
Rukawa thought, 'Nobody has ever talked so harshly to me before with the exception of Sakuragi. Most girls either blushed or giggled when they try to talk to me. But not this girl with a fiery temper. She was very sharp with her tongue.' Rukawa went back to shooting but most of the balls just bounced off the net because he couldn't concentrate.
Mitsui whispered into Mieko's ear, "You're fiery but that's what I like about you". Mieko looked at Mitsui and saw a sparkle in his eyes and she merely smiled at him.