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Chapter 7: A Date, At Last!

Kogure barely slept for 5 hours when suddenly…

Whack.

"Ah!" Kogure woke up and found Mr Gouhara glaring at him, with a roll of newspaper in his hand. "Wake up, boy, it's already 6am!"

Sleepily, Kogure struggled to get up while Mr Gouhara went and slapped Mitsui directly on his head.

"Itai!" cried Mitsui as he woke up. "Nandayo!"

Mr Gouhara moved on and kicked the basketball away from Sakuragi. As a result, Sakuragi's head fell and hit directly on the floor.

"Itai!" Sakuragi got up and rubbed his forehead.

Soon, all the boys woke up and Mr Gouhara yelled, "Get up everyone! It's time for exercise!"

"What exercise?" demanded Mitsui.

"Morning exercise. Don't you boys do it at home?" asked Mr Gouhara.

"Only when there's a basketball match on that day." said Sakuragi as he yawned. Miyagi fell asleep and was now leaning on Sakuragi for support.

Mr Gouhara glared at Miyagi, went over to him and gave him a slap on the head with the newspaper.

"Ah!" cried Miyagi.

"Then I will teach you boys to make it as your habit!" barked Mr Gouhara. "Now go and run six rounds around the area!"

"Make us." said Mitsui darkly, glaring at Mr Gouhara.

"Mitsui, don't…" started Kogure.

Mr Gouhara glared back at Mitsui. "Or there will be no breakfast for you."

"Then I will eat at home." snapped Mitsui, folding his arms. "You can't make me to do what I dislike."

Seeing that a fight was going to begin, Kogure quickly said to Mitsui, "Mitsui, you can't go hungry throughout the whole morning."

"Of course I can. After seeing this bear, I probably won't have the appetite anyway." said Mitsui.

Mr Gouhara scowled at the term that Mitsui gave him. Sakuragi and Miyagi stifled their laughter.

"But…" started Kogure.

Mitsui sat down on the sofa and closed his eyes. "I'm not running and that's that. I'm here for a break, not to attend an army camp."

Sakuragi sat down as well. "I'm with Mitsui."

Miyagi followed. "Me too."

Kogure looked at Akagi for help, but he sat down as well.

"Fine, then all of you can forget about your breakfast!" said Mr Gouhara.

Kogure looked at his team mates desperately. Then he sighed and turned Mr Gouhara. "Gouhara-san, if my friends don't run, let me take their places. Just let them have their breakfast."

Mitsui's eyes snapped open and he looked at Kogure.

"Oh?" said Mr Gouhara.

"That means I will run 30 rounds around the area." said Kogure.

Kogure's friends looked at him in shock.

Mr Gouhara shrugged. "If you are stupid enough to willing to take their places, go ahead."

"I just don't want my friends to go hungry." said Kogure and went out of the house.

"Kogure, chotto!" cried Mitsui. He got up and cursed. "Aho…"

Kogure didn't realise that it would take him a long time to complete a round around the area. It would probably be late afternoon by the time he finished the 30 rounds…

"Oi, Megane-kun, chotto matte!" yelled a voice.

Kogure turned around and saw Sakuragi, Miyagi, Mitsui and Akagi, all running towards him. "What are you all doing?" asked Kogure, puzzled.

"Baka, accompanying you of course." said Sakuragi, grinning.

"We can skip our breakfast but we just can't sit back and watch you do our rounds." said Miyagi.

"It would be unfair." said Mitsui, ruffling Kogure's hair in a brotherly way.

"But your knee…" started Kogure.

"I got my knee protection bandage on." said Mitsui, showing Kogure his left knee.

"We will just do our six rounds, together." said Akagi.

Kogure smiled and nodded.

"Yoshi, let's go!" yelled Akagi.

"Hai!" said the boys together and they set off together.

By the time they got back to the bungalow, it was already 7.30am and they were all dead beat. They all sat down in the living room tiredly.

"Breakfast is served!" called Ayako in the kitchen.

The boys looked at each other and they went to the kitchen. They found breakfast was prepared for everyone.

"Why are you boys standing there? Sit down." ordered Mr Gouhara.

"Er, hai." said Akagi and motioned the boys to sit down.

"Where have you guys been?" asked Haruko.

"I send them for a morning run." said Mr Gouhara. "6 rounds."

"Otousan, you can't do that to my friends!" said Hiroko in horror.

"Of course I can, it's for their own good." snapped Mr Gouhara.

"Well, it's good for our health anyway, let's eat." said Kogure quickly as Hiroko opened her mouth angrily.

"Itadakimasu." said everyone and they started eating.

Kogure was relived that Hiroko didn't start an argument with her father. He couldn't wait for breakfast to be over, then he and his friends could go home and had a good rest.

"Arigato, minnasan, I had a good time." said Hiroko politely when everyone alighted at the bus station.

Kogure and his friends smiled at her.

"Ne, can we call you up for a chat sometime?" asked Haruko.

"Ayako and Haruko can call her, but the boys can't." said Mr Gouhara before Hiroko opened her mouth.

"We're not asking you, old man." muttered Sakuragi.

"Ja ne!" said Hiroko and she and her father left.

Kogure finally got home and the first thing he did was to lie down on his bed and sleep. So he did, and he didn't wake up until 3pm in the afternoon.

"Konnichiwa, Kiminobu." greeted his mother as Kogure came yawning into the living room.

"Konnichiwa…" said Kogure and sat down on the sofa.

"Want anything to eat?" asked his mother.

Kogure shook his head and flipped open a sports magazine that was lying on the table. Then he found an advertisement featuring a parade and new rides at the amusement park.

"A parade? Hey, maybe Hiroko wants to go… but it is the amusement park…" thought Kogure, frowning.

Kogure would love to ask Hiroko out, but he knew that her parents wouldn't let her to go to the amusement park…

It took Kogure a very long time to decide to call Hiroko and ask her out. Who knows, maybe her parents would let her go…

"It's just an outing, call her like you call any of your friends…" said Kogure to himself as he stared at the phone.

Mrs Kogure looked at her son from the kitchen, wondering why was he standing in front of the phone and not moving at all.

Kogure hesitated before he reached for the phone. Holding the phone to his ear, Kogure took out his phone book and flipped to Hiroko's number. Taking a deep breath, he dialled the number.

Kogure swallowed nervously, his heart beating faster than usual.

Click.

"Hai, Gouhara residence." said a male voice.

Kogure sucked in his breath sharply, it was Hiroko's father! Mr Gouhara wouldn't let Hiroko to come to the phone if he knew it was him who was calling!

"Moshi moshi?" said Mr Gouhara impatiently.

Kogure thought fast and got an idea. This was embarrassing, but he had no choice. Quickly, he said in a high-pitched voice, "Eh, is Hiroko home?"

"Are you a friend of hers?" asked Mr Gouhara.

"Hai," answered Kogure in his high-pitched voice. "My name is…" Kogure needed to come up with a female name. Then he remembered his own name: Kiminobu. "…Kimiko." he ended.

Mrs Kogure paled. Why was her son talking to the phone in such a girlish manner?

"Chotto matte." said Mr Gouhara and called, "Hiroko, phone! It's Kimiko!"

Then Kogure heard Hiroko's voice in the background, but he couldn't make out what she was saying.

"My daughter says she doesn't know anyone named Kimiko." said Mr Gouhara suspiciously.

Kogure panicked. How was he going to let Hiroko know that it was him? Quickly, he said in his disguised voice: "B-but she has to know! I'm Kimiko Kogure, Kiminobu's sister, my brother must have told her about me!"

It was silence at the other end before Mr Gouhara said, "Chotto matte, I will try again to get her to answer it."

Kogure sighed in relief and caught his mother staring at him in horror. Covering the mouthpiece, Kogure laughed nervously as if nothing was wrong.

"Hai," said Hiroko uncertainly from the other end. "Hiroko here."

"Ah!" said Kogure in his normal voice. "Hiroko, it's me, Kogure."

"Ah…" said Hiroko, sounding pleased. "Chotto matte."

Kogure heard a door being opened and closed at the other end and Hiroko saying: "Okay… you can talk now."

"Did you have a good rest?" asked Kogure, relaxed, now that he could talk to Hiroko freely.

"Arigato, I did. You?"

"Sure did."

"I didn't know you have a sister."

Kogure blushed. "T-that isn't my sister. In fact, I don't even have one. I just disguised my voice so that your father would let you come to the phone to talk to me…"

Silence.

Suddenly, Hiroko laughed. Her laughter made Kogure's cheeks burnt with embarrassment.

"Oh my… Gomen ne, I didn't mean to laugh. Just that…" she continued to laugh.

"I have no choice!" said Kogure in protest. "Your father won't let any boy except your cousin to call you."

"T-that's true." said Hiroko, still giggling.

But then Kogure thought for a while, the conversation just now with Mr Gouhara was pretty funny. Soon, he was laughing as well.

"…so what are you calling me for?" asked Hiroko after she had controlled herself.

Kogure paused before he said, "Ano… um, I-I'm c-calling to ask you…"

He swallowed before he continued. "… if you are free next Saturday…" he whispered.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that." said Hiroko.

Kogure cleared his throat. "I'm calling to ask you whether you are free to go out with me to the amusement park next Saturday…"

"The amusement park!" exclaimed Hiroko loudly and then she dropped the volume of her voice to a whisper, as if she's afraid that her parents would hear her, "I love to!"

"But what about your parents?" asked Kogure.

"I will think of something to convince them to let me go. What time should we meet?"

Kogure just couldn't say how happy he felt that Hiroko said yes. "Well, there's a parade at night…."

"Then I will meet you in the afternoon, is it okay?" asked Hiroko excitedly.

"Afternoon?" asked Kogure.

"I want to spend the whole day there." explained Hiroko. "This will be my first trip to the amusement park, please?"

Kogure thought for a while. "As long as you can convince your parents to let you go, then I guess it's okay."

"I will think of something." said Hiroko.

"Then I will see you at 3pm, okay?" asked Kogure.

"Hm!" said Hiroko in agreement. "Don't you forget!"

"Of course I won't." said Kogure, laughing. "I will see you then."

"Ja." said Hiroko and paused. "Kimiko." she teased and giggled.

Kogure smiled. "Well, next time your parents tell you that it's Kimiko who's calling, you will know that it's me."

"All right, I will keep that in mind. Ja." said Hiroko.

"Ja." said Kogure and he put down the phone. Once he did, he grinned and jumped around, "Yes, whoo hoo!"

Mrs Kogure looked at her son's crazy actions and shook her head. "Must have studied too much."