DISCLAIMER: Ain't mine.
TO TEZUKA-SAN WITH LUUUUVBy: Chachachar
19.01.04
CHAPTER IV: Interlude - TEZUKA-BUCHOU TO FUJI-SEMPAI!!! RABU TORAIANGERU (love triangle)!!! NANI?!?!?!
"Ne Eiji, did you notice something strange with Momo today?"
"Hmm, something was a little off… he's usually somewhat attentive at practice but today he's just gawking at Tezuka. I wonder if he has crush on Buchou…"
"Really? I thought he was gawking more at Fuji…" Oishi blatantly ignored the 'crush' comment, "but Tezuka, he seemed more… serious than usual."
"You mean more there-is-a-stick-up-my-ass-that's-making-me-uptight-and-cranky than usual."
"Ah ha ha…" Oishi couldn't help the sheepish laugh because, although he tried to articulate it politely in respect to Tezuka, Eiji phrased his thoughts precisely. Fortunately, before he could begin to worry about what was bothering his stern friend, Eiji called out to someone across the street.
There were actually two people across the street that Eiji hollered at. Faster than Oishi could say 'No Way', he found himself sitting beside Eiji with Momo and Echizen across a Wacdonald's table, treating all three to a 'snack'. Of course the term 'snack' should be used loosely since with Momo, a 'snack' was not JUST a snack… He could almost hear the pitiful sobs of his bereft wallet.
"So Momo, what's up with you today?" Oishi figured that he was entitled to some answers, after all HE was feeding Momo… and he was really concerned about his kouhai.
"What do you mean, Oishi-sempai" With his mouth stuffed with hamburgers, Momo seemed to have forgotten whatever it was that was bothering him.
Oishi was not one to be deterred so easily; he all ready paid dammit! "You were too busy staring at Fuji to pay attention to practice today."
"And Tezuka" Eiji interjected.
"You were too distracted." Oishi watched Momo paled slightly. He leaned forward a bit and asked quietly, "Did something happen, Momo?"
Echizen made an unintelligible noise while munching.
"Do you know something, Ochibi?" Eiji asked when Momo didn't seem forthcoming with an answer.
"Mada mada da ne." Was all they got. Go figure.
"Anou… Oishi-sempai… Eiji-sempai…" Momo fidgeted as his two sempai focused on him. "Something happened… and it could be big."
Another unintelligible noise came from Echizen but this time it was ignored. One more 'Mada mada da ne' was not worth Oishi's money.
"Does sempai-tachi know a Kabura-san?"
"Kabura Chiharu from Tezuka's homeroom, right?" Oishi confirmed.
"Yeah, she's tall for a girl with long hair and glasses, really smart and makes the top ten every term, right?" Eiji contributed.
"Really?" Momo's eyes were huge and he looked comical sitting there with that look on his face clutching a burger, "well, I don't know her… Is she pretty?"
Before Eiji could answer and tangent the conversation into a completely different direction, Oishi asked, now bordering on irritation, "What does Kabura-san have to do with anything?" Oishi considered himself to be very patient but even he, who was now broke and still did not have any answers, had limits.
"Well…" Momo slowly placed the hamburger down on his tray; his expression dead serious and Oishi felt that this was it. "Tezuka-buchou… Kabura-san…and Fuji-sempai are caught up in a…" Momo trailed off. Using his two index fingers and both his thumbs made a triangular shape and held it up at eye level.
Eiji gasped, Echizen snorted and Oishi just… stared.
Dumbly, he turned to his doubles partner who looked very surprised, if not a little scandalized. He turned back to look at Momo who was still holding up… whatever THAT meant.
"Really?" Eiji whispered.
"Yeah… we heard for ourselves, na Echizen?" Momo whispered back but the freshman only rolled his eyes.
"When?"
"Today!"
"You mean before practice?"
"Yeah when Ba-chan sent us to look for him and Fuji-sempai."
"So that's why they were late!"
"I don't get it." Oishi listened to the rapid-fire exchange of words between Momo and Eiji but became more and more confused by the second and WHAT THE HELL WAS MOMO'S HAND THING SUPPOSED TO BE?
Oishi was too lost to feel insulted when Eiji looked at him as if he was stupid.
"Oishi…" Eiji began in a whispered tone, slowly so that his poor doubles partner could keep up, "Tezuka… Kabura-san… and Fuji are caught up in a love triangle." Eiji ended with Momo's hand thing.
It took a couple of seconds for the meaning to sink in and then…
"NANI?"
"Not so loud Oishi!" Eiji looked around to see if anyone was eavesdropping.
"HOW?"
"Momo and Ochibi overheard" Eiji looked to Momo for confirmation. Momo nodded his head gravely.
"WHEN?"
"Today."
"You mean before practice?"
"Yeah, when they were looking for Tezuka and Fuji."
"THAT'S WHY TEZUKA AND FUJI WERE LATE?"
"It seems like it and keep it down Oishi."
"But I thought Inui and Kabura-san…"
"No, they're just good friends. Great minds think alike kinda thing."
Oishi looked like he was going to hyperventilate soon and so Echizen, in order to prevent it (or maybe help it along), decided to help his sempai to put things in perspective.
"Ne, does sempai-tachi remember how practice went today?" Echizen wanted to make sure he had their full attention. He didn't want to waste his breath after all. Seeing that Oishi was looking at him as if he was a lifeline and Eiji's excited gaze was on him, he continued his recount of that afternoon's events.
"When Ryuzaki-sensei asked if anyone had seen Buchou and Fuji-sempai, Inui-sempai said that he had asked Buchou to return something to one of his classmates for him on his way to see Sensei and Kawamura-sempai told her that Fuji-sempai went to give some pictures to the photography club. Since Buchou and Fuji-sempai were taking too long, she sent me to go look for them but then Momo-sempai tagged along." He paused to take a sip of his drink and to check if he still had their undivided attention. He did.
"We went up to Buchou's homeroom but right before we turned the corner we heard something fell and then a girl ran past us. Then we heard them talking."
"So that could be Kabura-san!" At this point Momo jumped in, all too eagerly, to tell the rest. Echizen thought that Momo had a penchant for stating the obvious.
"So, we heard them talking and it seemed like Kabura-san gave a love letter to Tezuka-buchou."
"Wah…" Eiji breathed out excitedly.
"But then Tezuka-buchou said that Kabura-san like Fuji-sempai too."
"Nya!"
"Yeah, but Fuji-sempai insisted that Kabura-san likes, NO, LOVES Tezuka-buchou!"
"Oh…"
"And he sounded kinda jealous."
"Really?"
"Yeah, he said something like… 'Don't you like Kabura-san? She's a lovely girl' then he was gonna say something else but Buchou cut him off. You know what Tezuka-buchou told him?"
"What?"
"I. Hate. You. And it really sounded like he meant it!"
"No!" This time it was Oishi.
"Yeah!"
All four remained quiet for a while. Oishi was beginning to agree with Momo; this could be big. Not only could this hurt the dynamics of the team, this could potentially hurt all of those involved. Fuji was in love with Kabura-san but Kabura-san loved Tezuka and Tezuka believed that Kabura-san also liked Fuji but how does Tezuka feel about Kabura-san?
"So, do you think Tezuka loves Kabura-san?" Oishi asked no one in particular.
"I think so. Tezuka sounded really mad at Fuji and I think it's because Tezuka's jealous 'cause he thinks that Kabura-san likes Fuji too." Eiji reasoned.
"Sou desu ne, Tezuka-buchou might also think that Fuji-sempai could steal Kabura-san away from him." Momo gave his two cents.
"What about Kabura-san?" Echizen piped up.
"What about her?" Oishi, very worried about the emotional state of his friends, almost forgot that Echizen was sitting with them.
"Who does she really like?"
"Tezuka."
"Tezuka-buchou."
"Tezuka."
"How can sempai-tachi be so sure?" Echizen was a little taken aback by the overwhelming response.
Eiji shrugged, "All the girls like Tezuka best."
The freshman could only blink stupidly at his sempai. He opened his mouth to utter his trademark line but Momo stuffed him with fries before a sound could leave.
N/A: Am I the only one laughing at this? I hope not… Please review! Also, I'VE GOT ME A BETA-READER!!! Everyone say hello to Yuki! Yuki, my dear, where have you been all my life? Mwha! Luv ya!
THANKYOU-S
RoYale – Yep, I've got me a MarySue and I'm very glad that you are enjoying it so far (despite the very low tolerance of the fandom for the genre). Thank you so much for the encouragement.
Crimson Butterfly of the Snow – Thank you very much for your time and I'm happy that you enjoyed it. I'll try very hard to keep up with your expectations for the next chapters.
NEXT: Chapter V Pause – Tezuka walks home with Inui and proceeds to interrogate him. Tezuka twitches some more. Inui gathers more data.