Disclaimer: I don't own PoT
This is the longest and last chapter… don't worry… or do… there's an epilogue.
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They soon found that it was ridiculously easy to pick up the skinny acrobat. It looked as if he had lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time. Kaidoh easily scooped the older man up. Tezuka, having been the only one in the group, other than Eiji, who had ever been in the Oishi home, lead the way to Oishi's room. They all stood outside the door for a moment, unsure of whether or not they actually wanted to go in. Echizen was the first to move, he boldly opened the door and walked in. The all smiled at the room, it was almost exactly what they expected of Oishi. The fish tank and a teddy bear on Oishi's desk were the only things that seemed out of place. Kaidoh set Eiji down on the bed.
"mmm… Oishi…" he mumbled and hugged the pillow to his chest.
"It's sad," said Fuji sitting down on the bed and brushing Eiji's bangs out of his eyes. "They finally confessed and it was just a little too late." The others nodded, well except for Tezuka.
"You heard what Kikumaru said, he doesn't think it's sad. They both knew, and they probably both knew for a while." Said Tezuka quietly.
"You're right," said Taka. "It's like they were married all through middle school and high school anyways." The others smiled at the thought. They all stood there for a while unsure of what to do next. They were all just soaking in the memories of Oishi.
"I never knew Oishi liked fish…" said Momo.
"I never knew Oishi liked Kikumaru," said Kadioh. They all smiled.
"… it's kind of funny, Oishi had a kitten and fish, they usually don't mix," said Echizen. They all laughed quietly at the idea.
A few minutes later Mrs. Oishi popped her head in.
"Are you boys okay?" she asked. She smiled at the site. Eiji was cuddled up with a pillow on what had been long ago dubbed his side of the bed. Fuji was sitting next to Tezuka on the floor in front of the bed as if they were guarding the younger man. Inui and Taka appeared to be playing a game of Go, they had found the game on the desk. Momo, Kaidoh and Echizen were all glued to the fish tank. Those fish were addicting. She smiled.
"It's funny…" All the boys, well other than Eiji who was asleep, jumped at the sound of her voice. She smiled apologetically.
"Those fish were Oishi's pride and joy. They're very hard to take care of and he's had those since he was five. We didn't think he was responsible enough for a puppy, so we got him some goldfish to prove it to him. He became more interested in fish… I can't tell you how many times I came up here and seen Eiji and Shuichiro mesmerized by those fish. They'd watch them for hours… It really doesn't surprise me that the first thing Eiji did was break into the house to feed Shuichiro's fish," she smiled.
"… Which one is Kikumaru's fish?" asked Echizen curious. Mrs. Oishi smiled and pointed to a bright red and yellow one that was swimming happily through the plants.
"That one. I don't know what he named it though. Shuichiro never thought of naming his fish. Eiji decided that it was mean to not give the fish names, so he named them all… all though, I can tell you that there's a fish named after each one of you,"
"What?" asked Taka now turning his attention to the fish surprised to learn that there was a 'Taka' fish. Mrs. Oishi nodded.
"You'll have to ask Eiji about it in the morning. He claims they all have personalities as well… I just came up to tell you boys that you're more than welcome to stay for the night… The couch pulls out comfy enough to sleep three and we also have a few futons-"
"Would you mind
if we all stayed in here?" asked Fuji.
"All of you?" she
asked. She doubted that the cramped room would comfortably sleep all
eight boys. They all nodded back to her. "Alright, if that's
what you want," she smiled. She then completely entered the room
and opened the closet. The young men grinned to see that everything
was organized and color coordinated. That was so Oishi. She reached
to the back of the closet and pulled out a large well worn gray
t-shirt and some PJ bottoms. She went over to the bed and gently
shook Eiji awake.
"Eiji? You need to get on your PJs and brush your teeth before bed," said Mrs. Oishi. Eiji nodded sleepily and began to pull off his shirt. She placed a hand on his shoulder effectively stopping his motion.
"Eiji, you have guests, change in the bathroom okay, and brush your teeth while your in there." Eiji who, was for all intents and purposes, was still asleep nodded his comprehension.
"Which toothpaste do I have here?" she gave a smile.
"The strawberry one," He nodded and stumbled across the hall to the bathroom. Mrs. Oishi then walked over to Oishi's desk and picked up the teddy bear and placed it where Eiji had been sleeping.
"It's Eiji's bear," said Mrs. Oishi. "He's always so adorable… I'll bring up the futons in just a moment. Just do me a favor and make sure Oishi doesn't drown attempting brush his teeth in his sleep," smiled Mrs. Oishi. It was nice to have her house filled with boys, it took the sting off the loss. She wiped away the lone tear and went to find the spare futons.
Eiji returned a few minutes later, infinitely more awake.
"What are you guys doing here?" he asked surprised to see them all in Oishi's room.
"We're spending the night," said Fuji.
"All of you?" asked Eiji cocking his head to the side. Fuji nodded. Eiji shrugged and walked to the bed. He stopped for a moment biting his lower lip. He then turned around and smiled at the other men before sitting down on his side and hugging his teddy bear. There was an awkward silence. Oddly enough it was Taka that broke the silence.
"What are the fish's names?" he asked. Eiji smiled. "That one is Tezuka-buchou." Said Eiji pointing out a silver fish in the middle of the tank. "That one is Ochibi," said Eiji pointing to the smallest fish.
"Ochibi," muttered Echizen glaring at the fish. He proceeded to show all the regulars which fish they were. Other than Echizen they all seemed to be happy with their fish.
"Kikumaru-sempai?" asked Kaidoh hesitantly as if he was afraid of making the older man hysterical again. "Where's your and Oishi-sempai's fish?" Eiji frowned.
"I'm not made of glass. There's no need to walk on eggshells around me," said Eiji defiantly. "I swear I'm done being hysterical."
The other men almost visibly slouched in relief. That was a small part of the reason they had decided to stay the night. Mostly it was to share memories, and just say one final goodbye to their friend.
"To answer your question, Oishi never let me name a fish after him, so I wouldn't let him name a fish after me, that's why the last two are called Totoro and Sushi" this brought a few grins around.
"… can I ask, why you have a teddy bear and PJs here?" asked Inui. Eiji smiled.
"Hoi! Of course you can ask… I spent practically half my life here. If I wasn't at school or at practice, Oishi and I were either here or at my house… He has PJs and clothes at my house too, and a toothbrush." Then everything fell into awkward silence.
"Nya! Guys, wanna play a game?" asked Eiji. They smiled for a moment noticing that Eiji was finally using those ridiculous words again.
"As long as it's not Karaoke," groaned Momo.
"Fssh…whatever it is I'll beat you" said Kaidoh.
"You're on mamushi!" said Momo.
"It's not that kind of game!" said Eiji. "The memory game!" said Eiji. "Oishi and I used to play this all the time," said Eiji as he bounced over to Oishi's desk and pulled out a well-used spiral notebook.
"The memory game? I don't think I know that one," said Fuji.
"Nya! Fujiko! You don't know the memory game!" asked Eiji clearly shocked. He bounced back over to the bed. "Well you see, you think of a really good memory and then you write it down!" said Eiji happily.
"So kind of like a diary for funny times?" asked Fuji. Eiji nodded.
"For example…" began Eiji flipping through the pages. He stopped to look at one, turned bright red and then flipped a few pages after, ignoring the grins and questions from his teammates, well actually it was mainly just Momo and Fuji who were teasing him.
"Hoi! Here's a good one… Oishi wrote this one! 'We were played doubles today in the park. An old lady walked up to us, she thought Eiji was a girl,' " the other men all grinned, every single one of them having mistaken Eiji for a girl at some point in time.
" 'She told Eiji that it was highly improper for a young lady not to be wearing a tennis skirt. Then she sat down to watch us play for a little while. She was appalled to see Eiji doing his acrobatics. And then called Eiji a scarlet woman before running off, telling all the little girls in the area to stay away from the slut in boys clothes'" said Eiji bursting into laughter along with the rest of the regulars.
"I've got one," said Tezuka, surprising the rest of the group. They hadn't expected him to be first.
"I'll write it down Tezuka-buchou!" said Eiji happily reading his pen.
"There was this one time, about a week before middle school started, before we both met the rest of you… It was a particularly warm day and Oishi decided that instead of playing tennis that, we were going to go to the pool instead. So he woke me up at seven in the morning to drag me out of bed and down to the public school," seeing the disbelieving looks on the other's faces Tezuka quickly defended himself. "Oishi could be quite forceful when he chose to be."
"Hoi! Hoi!" agreed Eiji pen moving a mile a minute, while the rest of the men grinned at the thought of Tezuka getting dragged anywhere.
"So anyways we got to the pool and Oishi just jumped right in…." Tezuka trailed off. "Maybe this wasn't such a good one to share," he said blushing slightly.
"Nya! Can't stop now! I've already started recording it!" smiled Eiji. Tezuka frowned.
"Fine" said Tezuka before continuing on with a aggravated voice "… so anyways Oishi jumped right in. Then he tried to get me to come in the water. I told him no… He argued with me for a good half hour before finally giving up. He got out of the pool and then pushed me in-" He story was interrupted by the laughter coming from all the other men.
"Fssh- fssh-fssh… Pushed you in?" asked Kaidoh with that weird, snake-like laugh.
"Yes. He pushed me in… unfortunately I didn't know how to swim." Said Tezuka. Causing even more laughter. Their buchou not knowing how to swim, it just seemed so strange. "The lifeguard rescued me, Oishi apologized and then we were banned from the pool-"
"Oh is that the on by the subway!" asked Eiji. Tezuka nodded slightly. "I always wondered why Oishi never wanted to go there! Whenever I suggested swimming he wouldn't go there… but that wasn't it was it! He wasn't allowed to go there!" grinned Eiji.
"It didn't matter because the next day we went to a different pool. Oishi brought with him almost every inflatable device known to man-" this caused more laughter. It was so Oishi-like to overdo the safety precautions. "But then he taught me how to swim instead. End of story" said Tezuka, blushing slightly from embarrassment.
After that everyone had a story. Momo told about how he and Echizen had convinced Oishi to take them to an R-rated movie. Echizen told a story about how he'd found Oishi and Eiji stalking him, just to make sure that he really wasn't sick. Well Oishi stalking him out of concern, Eiji stalking him for the hell of it. Fuji told a story about Oishi and a nasty math test dream. Kaidoh told the story about him and Oishi getting lost in the mountains on a training trip a few years back. Taka talked about the first time Oishi had tried his wasabi sushi. Inui told a story about the side effects Oishi had from a particularly nasty Penal Tea.
About halfway through Momo's story Mrs. Oishi came up with futons and blankets. They were quickly all set up, and before long all the men found themselves falling asleep in the comfort of Oishi's room, memories and all their comrades to share their memories with.
Eiji had long since fallen asleep on "his" half of the bed cuddled up with Oishi's pillow and his teddy bear.
The last one awake was Tezuka. He was the only one to notice when Mrs. Oishi snuck in the room. She carefully tiptoed her way across all the young men to cover them all with their kicked off blankets. She finally kissed Eiji on the forehead and then returned to the doorway silently crying.
"Thank you," she whispered to no one in particular. "Thank you for being such great friends."
The next morning dawned bright and early. The young men all trooped down to join the remaining Oishis for breakfast. It was good and they all told Mrs. Oishi as much. They all thanked her.
"Wait!" She called out to them, as they were just about to leave. They stopped and watched the woman come rushing to them to large bulky bags on her arms. "I… I want you to have your fish," she said. She showed the bags she was carrying were filled with 8 identical travel size fish tanks. She brandished a fish scooper and handed the bags to Inui who was standing the closest.
"Go get your fish… Shuichiro would want their name sakes to have them," she smiled. Eiji nodded and led them back upstairs. They all filled the tanks with water, and then descended into chaos attempting to catch their fish.
"Nya! Kaidoh! That's Momo fish!"
"Stop trying to steal my fish mamushi!"
"Nya! Ochibi you're getting away!"
"Wrong Fujiko! That's Tezuka fish!"
"I know"
"Fujiko!"
"I want me"
"That can be taken so many ways Tezuka-buchou… mada mada da ne… stupid fish got away again"
"If I go to the left there's a 75 chance that I can catch my fish"
"BURNING-O! GREAT-O!"
"Taka! That's a net not a racket!"
Mrs. Oishi stood in the doorway watching the proceedings with great amusement. A few minutes of closely monitored chaos later, the eight men stood watching their fish in the travel tanks. Only Eiji looked at the large tank sadly.
"Totoro is gonna be sad, all his fishy friends are gone," said Eiji.
"I can fix that," smiled Mrs. Oishi. She took the scooper from Kaidoh, who had the most trouble catching his fish. In one swift motion she scooped up Totoro and dropped him into the Eiji's tank with Sushi.
"But then you won't have any fishes!" spluttered Eiji.
"Don't worry, Totoro and Sushi need to be together don't they," she said with a knowing smile to a bright red Eiji before kissing him on the cheek and shuffling all the men out her door.
"Promise you'll all come back and visit!" the men all promised they would and then all went their separate ways, and then Mrs. Oishi returned to her broken, quiet home.