Chapter 3

I yawned, 'I still got a chem lab report to do. Better go home and take a quick nap first though.'

"Rukawa-san…" Haruko said.

"Hn?"

"You played very well today," she complimented.

I was about to say thank-you but I spotted Hanamichi, 'What should I do? Will he think I'm flirting with her? I don't want a misunderstanding. But if I act cold towards her, he'll probably head butt me like the first time we met.'

'He's coming closer… It's better that he head butts me than misunderstand I want the same girl as him,' I decided and gave her a snort before walking away.

"Haruko-chan, you shouldn't talk to that rude kitsune."

I sighed inwardly and pretended that I didn't hear it, 'Everyone calls me rude, I'm use to it. But why am I offended whenever he calls me that?'

.

I stretched and looked at the table, '8:13.'

I went to the kitchen and began boiling the water, as I looked through the cabinets, 'Guess I'll be having macaroni and cheese.'

The water was ready and I was about to dump the macaroni in when the phone rang. I put down the box and went to pick up the phone, "Moshi-moshi?"

"Rukawa it's me, Sendoh."

'Why is he calling me?'

"Hello?"

"Yes."

"Oh, you're still there. I thought you hung up," Sendoh said, "since we're on the phone I can't tell if you fallen asleep, so you got to give me some signal that you're still there and paying attention."

'What kind of signal do you want me to give?' I thought.

"You're probably wondering how I got your number, huh?"

'The thought has crossed my mind.'

"Hikoichi. Aida Hikoichi. He has stats on very basketball player in Kanegawa. I think his sister helps him," he said, "anyways you're probably also wondering why I'm phoning you, right? Take a guess."

"No," I stated, 'it's statistically impossible to guess something like that. How should I know why you're phoning. Not like I'm you.'

"Well, ok. I'll tell you…"

I sniffed, 'Something's burning…'

I turned to the box of Kraft dinner that had caught on fire. I slammed down the phone, jumped up, and ran over to the burning box and dumped it into the boiling water, "…"

I fished out the box with chopsticks and looked over at the phone, 'Ooops, I hung up on him. I didn't mean to. Should I phone him back to apologize? Wouldn't that be weird? What should I say? I should just forgot it and not worry.'

I opened the box and dumped the macaroni in. The phone rang again. I picked it up and before I could even say moshi-moshi, the person on the other line said, "I guess you accidentally hung up on me. So where was I?"

'You were about to tell me why you're phoning me.'

"Oh, I remember now. I'll tell you how come I phoned."

'Guess, I don't have to apologize to him. That's good.'

"I thought about it and I decided it's not fair."

'What's not fair?'

"You see him everyday. You have to know a lot of about Hana-kun. You have inside info that I don't. I think you should share what you know with me. After all, you wouldn't want to win using some underhanded tactic now, would you? You want a fair fight, right?"

'I know nothing about him. How can I share any information with you, if I know nothing? And what good is seeing him everyday if it only make shim loathe me?' I wondered.

"So what's the inside scoop?"

'This is really a question, right? And not a rhetorical one. He has a tendency to ask and answer his own questions.'

"Rukawa?"

'Oh, he actually expects and an answer,' I thought surprised, "No inside scoop."

"Really?" he said sounding surprised and suspicious.

"Hn," I said, 'you can believe whatever you want.'

"Don't be offended. I'm not implying that you're lying or anything. Hm…I know. We should keep each other updated if we learn anything."

'Sounds fair. After all, you practise with him, you actually talk to him. You got to know more about him than me.'

"So what are you doing?"

'Cooking. About to eat dinner,' I thought but responded with, "cooking."

"Oh, am I interrupting you?"

'Not at the moment. Maybe I should say yes. That way he'll hang up and leave me alone. But that would mean lying. Hm…'

"So, what are you having?"

"Macaroni and cheese."

"Oh, you should eat something healthier. You know what goes well with macaroni and cheese?" he asked.

'Guess he's not going to hang up for a while. I should probably make myself comfy,' I thought laying down on the couch.

~T.B.C