Read on!! Sorry for the late update (this apology is valid for all my other fics – please take note) (hahahaha!)
Maemi: Me hope the fuzzy feeling is a pleasant one. ^_^
Fiery-ice: Pop over here too!
Rae-chan: Read and find out what happens when they go bowling! He he he…
Unchained: Arigato!
Tensaispira: Darn. I hate school. *pouts*
Chidero: Kiyota makes a gorgeous pervert! I wouldn't mind if he said that to me!! Ha ha!
Krappkarmin: I'm sorry, but school's started and I'm already starting to struggle. I'm facing my O levels this year, see, and the teachers kinda think it's their utmost priority to see to it that I spend my evenings beneficially by giving me dozens of homework. But hey, maybe when the next school holiday? ^_^ Koshino IS dishy! He he!
Kka: ha ha ha!
Alexia: I wish I could play basketball too… but I'll just stick to watching it. ^_^
Shari da idiotic Moron: Me thinks so too. Kiyota's a nice character. ^_^ *thoughts start to turn dirty* er… anyway, enjoy this chap!
Fer-chan: Your gutter balls? The best of it's kind? You sure? Have you seen mine?
Patty g: They're bowling, they're bowling!
Silhouette Panther: *sees a huge nut* Oh gosh. Now I keep imagining you to be a walking, talking, rolling nut.
"I noticed Kiyota hasn't been coming over to disturb you anymore," Jura said conversationally as they leaned against the bus stop on a warm Saturday afternoon.
Shouri snorted. "He's probably realised what a horrible person he is and turned over a new leaf." She muttered half-heartedly, unsure if she was glad or anxious about it. "What are we waiting for anyway?"
"Takesato."
"And what, may I ask, is Takesato?"
"It's a 'who'. Someone from Class 4. I managed to get him to drag along a classmate, so it'll be like a double date." Jura winked. "Exciting, eh?"
Shouri stared blankly. "Sorry, but when we stepped out of your house this morning, you said we were going to go buy you a new dress. A NEW DRESS. I don't remember you mentioning anything about Takesato or classmate or double date." Her head swelled up. "HOW DARE YOU FOOL ME INTO THIS –"
"Hey, Jura! Sorry we're late!"
" – RIDICULOUS NOTION OF YOURS AND THINK THAT I –"
"Hey, Takesato!" Jura greeted back, waving enthusiastically. "Is he here? Did you manage to persuade him to come??"
" – WILL BOW TO IT AS IF YOU'RE MY MOTHER OR SOMETHING –"
"He's somewhere around. He got distracted by a fortune-telling machine. But I'm sure he'll be along soon. Somehow." Takesato turned to Shouri. "Hey, you must be Jura's cousin."
" – I SWEAR I WILL – oh, sorry. Yes. I'm Shouri Hanataka. Nice to meet you, Takesato. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to continue giving a piece of my mind to my cousin. JURA, WHEN WE GET HOME, I WILL PERSONALLY SEE TO IT THAT –" she broke off abruptly. "YOU!"
Kiyota, dead in his tracks, stared right back. "AND YOU TOO!"
Takesato scratched his head even as Jura squealed delightedly. "He's here, all right. How did the fortune-telling go, Nobunaga?" he asked, taking the trouble to drag Kiyota over from his frozen state.
"The machine told me to beware," Kiyota answered with a sigh. "I should've known why."
Shouri turned red. "Excuse me? What's that supposed to –"
Jura quickly butted in, putting herself in between her babbling cousin and the guy of her dreams. "Hi, Kiyota. I'm so glad you could make it. I know you're busy and all with your basketball practice and homework and everything."
Kiyota flashed a downright flirty smile. "Anything for you, sweetie."
"Homework, hah! If the guy did any homework, the Eiffel Tower would drop and –"
Kiyota leaned over Jura's shoulder to look at Shouri. "Listen, duchess, don't simply quote things you have no idea about or someone will cut your tongue off – possibly me. Nyahahahaha! Now if you'll –"
Since Jura was blissfully blank because of the close contact with her idol, Takesato thought it was up to him to clear the air. God knows Kiyota picks fights with almost everybody wherever he went. He coughed loudly. "Come on. Jura and I were thinking we'll go play a sport or something. There's all sorts of stuff over the corner there."
"Me versus you," Kiyota challenged Shouri, eyes narrowed. "Basketball."
"Chicken," she accused. "You're only suggesting that because you know I don't play basketball. Let's play something we're BOTH terrible at."
"I'm good in anything. Name the game!!"
Shouri thought about it. "Golf."
"GOLF??" Kiyota screeched, taking a step back. "GOLF?? That game fifty-year-olds play??"
Takesato coughed again, his own head starting to spin at the yells. "Um, there's no golf course here." He looked around and quickly pointed. "How about bowling?"
The look on their faces revealed the fact that neither had touched a bowling ball before.
"B-bowling?" Shouri repeated doubtfully.
"Yep," Takesato raised an eyebrow at Kiyota. "Bowling's fine with you, isn't it, Nobunaga? As you said, you're good in anything, so it shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Kiyota gulped. "Of course. Um, of course. No problem. Me genius. Ha ha ha! Woo hoo! Bowling it is!"
"Shouri?"
Shouri checked the groan in. "No problem either. I'll uh, I'll beat the crap out of him in this." She blew a breath. "Right. Absolutely."
"Wonderful." Takesato clapped his hands together in satisfaction. Now at least there'll be some sort of a peace. Surely those two can't keep on yelling and rolling heavy balls at the same time. "Jura, we're going to the bowling alley. Jura? Jura?"
"Yes." Jura answered dreamily, still able to smell Kiyota's fragrance even though he'd already stomped off enthusiastically for the bowling alley.
It was already the eighth set, and the scores were:
Super Rookie - 0
Takesato – 5
Jura - 3
Shouri - 0
All around them, weekly bowlers struggled not to smirk or laugh at the pathetic scores, as their own scores went all the way to a hundred by the fifth set. Those high school kids couldn't produce enough points to match the fuss they were making.
Shouri was crouching on her knees, the ball in between her legs. Almost experimentally, and much to the shock of the spectators, she gave it a tentative push, and the heavy ball rolled painfully slow before dropping into the gutter even before reaching a metre. "Aaaah! Not again!"
Kiyota's cackle overrode the stifles of laughter from everybody else. "Ha ha! Might as well get used to it, Hanataka! Ha ha!"
Shouri stalked back. "I don't recall you hitting any of those hour-glass shaped plastics either, you brain-dead monkey!"
"I'm waiting for the right time," he replied smoothly, stepping up for his turn. "It's coming, duchess. It's coming, so prepare yourself for the humiliation!"
"Mine or yours?"
He snorted. "I don't answer obvious questions." Then he started to cackle like a maniac.
Over the other side of the bowling alley, a girl his age was enthusiastically dancing to the beat blasting from the loud speakers. She winked invitingly at him, which he just as naughtily returned. But then he turned back to the lane. He had business to do.
He placed the ball directly in the middle of the lane. Making the watching crowd wonder what he was up to now as he took a few steps to the back, Kiyota rubbed his hands together. And then, to the bowling manager's horror, he came forward and kicked the ball with all his might (after stuffing a boxful of tissues over his toes to lessen the impact). The ball zoomed and then dropped with a resounding crack on the polished lane (all 2.5 kg of it). It wobbled, spun and then narrowly went into the 'drain' before it made any contact with the thing Shouri had called 'hour-glass shaped plastics'. However, one of them dropped, most probably from the earthquake the drop had caused. "YES! HA HA HA HA HA HA!!"
Shouri couldn't say anything.
The manager was pushing his way through the throngs of people. "OUT!" he yelled angrily. "You want to play football, you get out of here! OUT OF MY BOWLING ALLEY!"
Kiyota gave him a wave. "Chill, sir. That technique was one of its kind."
"TECHNIQUE??" the man was turning decidedly purple around the neck. "Do you know how much the maintenance for the alleys alone COST?? Dropping a ball onto it would crack it! Just as I'm about to crack your head with the very same ball you used!"
Jura and Takesato quickly jumped in, pale-faced and dismissing the busily laughing Shouri away. "We're absolutely sorry, sir." Jura said apologetically. "It was his last set, sir. The rest of us have one more set to go, you see, so we'll just finish it and be on our way." She bowed down profusely.
Takesato copied the move. "It won't happen again, sir. Really." He nudged Kiyota. "Apologise, you fuddle-brained!"
Kiyota grunted. "So-ree." (sorry)
The man breathed in and out loudly. "One more set!" he yelled as frantic workers ushered him back to his glass-walled office. "JUST ONE MORE SET!"
Takesato and Jura quickly got their turns over it, both getting no points at all at their hastiness. Shouri got up then, anxious about her last shot. She had to get a point at least, preferably two, to take that haughty look off Kiyota's face.
"Since he's already done it football-style," she murmured distractedly to herself. "I guess I'll have to do it baseball style." Then, with surprising strength, she lifted the metal ball high above her head, making the spectators go ooh and aah. With one mighty throw, she released the ball and it went pelting over the lane.
The manager was halfway out of his door. "Noooooo!"
The ball landed with an even noisier sound, left a visible dent on the shiny lane before knocking over to the farthest end of the open hole. Shouri held her breath. One dropped. And then – another one fell to its doom. "YAY!"
The screen flickered.
Super Rookie - 1
Takesato - 5
Jura - 3
Shouri - 2
"OUT! GET OUT OF MY BOWLING ALLEY!"
Hastily skipping out of the manager's way, the four of them exited speedily, with Shouri releasing incoherent sounds of victory. "I won!" she announced, going up-close to Kiyota on purpose, whose face was as black as a rainy cloud. "I won! I won!"
Takesato rubbed the back of his head. "I thought I was the one with five points." He told Jura.
Jura's eyes were narrowed down to their maximum narrowness. "Apparently, and quite clearly, they've forgotten that we exist." She bristled at the thought of the mixed up dating system, which had gone quite the other way than she had expected. She reminded herself to have a little talk with Shouri once they get back.
Someone tapped Kiyota on the shoulder and he turned away from Shouri grumpily, unable to sustain his I'm-a-cool-guy-you-won-only-because-I-pitied-you-and-gave-you-chances act under her triumphant gaze.
It was the dancing girl. "Hey Super Rookie," she murmured. "You were so cool back there."
His face brightened in a beat. "Of course!" he declared. "Ha ha ha! Everybody knows that!"
Jura and Shouri were both looking threateningly over his shoulder at the girl. She ignored them. "I was wondering if you're like, free tonight. We have this dance and –"
"NO!" Jura screeched.
"NO!" Shouri yelled.
They stared at each other.
"Yes," Kiyota answered. "Anytime, gorgeous."
"What were you doing, screaming out 'no'??" Jura demanded a little later. "Why were you so bothered about him going out with that girl? That was supposed to be my job!"
Shouri shrugged, backing away. "I was just protecting your interest."
"Oh really?" Jura questioned testily. "Oh really?"
"Yes, really. Now shut up."
They glared grumpily out the bus window, each thinking: What did he see in that girl??
Nothingtodo: Protecting her interest. What a good excuse.
Shouri: Shut up. You made me say that.
Nothingtodo: That's why I said it's a good excuse.
Anyway, me am no bowler (only went two or three times) and I actually don't know many bowling terms. Eheh heh heh. Sorry about that.