Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis.
Chapter Fourteen: A Sunday at the Café (Part Four)
"Is something wrong, Yukimura-chan?" Fuji Syusuke asked as Miyu spaced out while she was thinking of the Orange Juice Incident as she now called it.
With a start, Miyu looked at Fuji and smiled, "Huh? Oh, no, please don't mind, I was just thinking. Now, where was I? Oh, yes, we were talking about Sakuno when she finally managed to use her crutches without tripping over too much."
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Miyu's flashback while she was eating continued:
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Sakuno was finally able to hobble properly with her crutches without anyone supporting her. She was so happy about it that she showed Miyu several times, going up and down the corridor.
Miyu was amused at how child-like Sakuno was.
That afternoon, they went to tennis practice and while Miyu changed into her uniform, Yamamoto Reika came up to Sakuno.
"How's your ankle, Ryuzaki?" the girls' buchou asked. Sakuno answered respectfully, "Amano-sensei said that the bandages can come off in a few days time and then, I can start practicing again, Reika-buchou!"
She really liked Reika because of her understanding about her hurt ankle and during these two weeks, when Sakuno turned up for practice along with Miyu, Reika would let her sit at one side and read theory books on tennis that she had collected herself.
Reika grinned, pleased, "Cool, make sure that you take care of yourself, kiddie!"
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Now that Sakuno could use her crutches by herself, she was no longer dependent on Miyu to help her go to the toilet when she needed to. She made her way to the toilets closest to the girls' training grounds.
She made it there without tripping but unfortunately, she was concentrating so much on using the crutches properly that she mistook one entrance for the other. We have to remember that while she was not tripping over the crutches, she was still painstakingly slow.
The entrances to the men's toilet and the ladies' toilet were just next to each other and she entered one of them, not looking at the sign properly.
The next thing she knew were screeches of the strangest kind. She absentmindedly thought that screeches were supposed to be something only girls did as she tried to take in what was before her.
When she did, she screamed the loudest of them all and clapped her hands over her flaming face.
It was the most embarrassing moment of her life or so she thought, because just then she felt herself tipping forward. She had forgotten that she was only balanced on one leg for the time being and was about to fall down in the men's toilet.
"Why does it have to be this place of all places?" She thought to herself frantically, not really wanting to fall but even more unwilling to show her face from under her hands.
Thankfully, she was suddenly caught from behind to lean against a solid chest. A steady voice said, "What on earth are you doing?"
Sakuno was so surprised that her hands dropped away from her face and when they did, she screamed again and immediately hid her face.
The person holding her now had a pretty good idea what had happened. She felt him sigh; she could feel his chest against her back rather than actually hearing him amidst the chaos in the toilet.
The person picked her up and carried her outside to a bench nearby. He then left and very soon came back with her crutches.
Sakuno still had her hands stuck to her face; she was mortified and was cowardly hoping that since she could see no one, maybe no one could see her, or maybe it was only a horrid dream that she was going to wake up any moment.
Not a chance when the person took hold of her hands and pried them away, saying, "You're outside now, so don't worry and I don't like talking to hands, Sakuno."
Sakuno lifted her eyes slowly and saw Kuwahara Jackal. He was wearing his regulars' uniform and he looked amused.
Sakuno swallowed and said in a tiny voice, "A-arigatou, Jackal-senpai…" Jackal laughed good-naturedly, "You're lucky that I came along, otherwise you'd have fallen flat on your face!" Sakuno nodded miserably, "I know, senpai. I only wanted to go to the toilet."
Jackal took pity on the girl and let go of her hands. He handed her the crutches and told her, "Go on, I'll wait for you here." Sakuno mumbled a thank you and hobbled as quickly as she could to the right entrance. It was still slow-going and Jackal was thoroughly amused.
He waited for her because he knew that Sakuno might bump into those boys in the toilet earlier. They would most likely harass her after that episode for she was so defenseless.
He was right because very soon a group of boys came out of the toilet andlooked around for something. He called out to them, "Looking for something?"
The boys turned to look at him and they recognized him. One of them said, "Why do you care, Kawahara?"
Jackal raised an eyebrow and his expression turned dangerous; the regulars did not like being challenged in their own school. The boys were intimidated by his look and wisely ran off.
Sakuno came out and hobbled back to him, her head hanging all the way.
Apparently she was still embarrassed. Jackal waited until she reached him and he bent over at the waist; she was so short. "Come on, I'll take you back to the tennis grounds. I remember that there's girls' practice today, right?" Sakuno nodded, lifting her head shyly at his kind and steady tone.
She saw a bright pair of smiling eyes peering at her, "So that's what you look like! You had your head down for so long; I'd almost forgotten your face."
Jackal was hoping to put her at ease. He knew that she was friends with Sanada and it felt strange that she would be shy of him, one of the friendliest regulars, when she was so comfortable around scary Sanada.
Sakuno giggled at his words and she smiled, "Thank you, Jackal-senpai."
As they walked, Jackal used all his conversational skills to try and make Sakuno laugh. He was a naturally friendly person and she was such a sweet little thing that he could not help trying to make her forget her shyness around him.
By the time they reached the courts, she was looking at him without reserve and they were chatting like old friends.
He nodded to Reika when she saw them together, took his leave of Sakuno and ran back to practice, his mind now on the excurse he was about to give.
Later Miyu found out what had happened from Sakuno, who felt she had made a new friend that day. She knew Jackal from before of course, but never had the chance to speak to him like today and his bald head gave him a gangster-appearance in Sakuno's point of view so she had no idea that he was so friendly.
As she described animatedly how surprised and shocked she was, Miyu was stamping her feet in her mind, saying, "How could I have missed it? Oh, it would have been so funny!"
Later that night, she told Yukimura what had happened in the afternoon and he said, "So that was the truth. Jackal told us some cock and bull story about how he had to save a kitten from a tree and got stuck up there. He was a very bad liar and Genichirou was quite angry. Well, he was punished already but it was nice to know that he was really saving someone, only not a kitten and not up a tree."
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The next day, as Sakuno and Miyu made their way to their classroom; they talked about the project they had to do for Japanese. They had to choose a novel each by the same author from a certain period, read them and write about the novels and the author in detail.
They thought they could go to the library at lunchtime after they went to the san. At lunchtime, one of the regulars came to pick them up.
It was Yagyuu Hiroshi today and Miyu greeted him respectfully. He always inspired that in her, "Hiroshi-san, konnichiwa!" Sakuno also greeted him politely, "Konnichiwa, Yagyuu-senpai."
He nodded to them and they went to the san.
Yagyuu did not speak and the two girls continued suggesting what novels they should choose. Yagyuu listened to them and when they mentioned a novel that he had read and enjoyed, he said, "That is a good one, I enjoyed it."
The two girls were surprised and looked at him.
He continued on to describe the novel in some detail, pointing out relevant points.
Miyu thought, grinned and tugged at his sleeve, "Ne, Hiroshi-san, after we're finished at the san, can you help us in the library? We have to do a project for Japanese and you like to read, don't you?"
Yagyuu's glasses flashed at the mention of one of his favorite past-times.
He agreed readily, secretly flattered that they would solicit his help on choosing novels to read. Mostly people only concentrated on his tennis' skills.
Miyu grinned to herself at his answer. Now, fellow readers, from past experiences, do you really think that it was only Yagyuu's expertise on books that Miyu was after?