It was romantic.
That was her verdict.
With only the two of them on top of the hill, distantly standing opposite each other under a colorful sky, as the weakening sunlight shone on the white-haired girl, yet, casted a shadow on the black-haired boy – effectively creating a beautiful contrast – this scenario was nothing but romantic.
She was standing still, slowly tilting her head up to meet his gaze while he was silently closing the distance between them. When there was roughly a little more than a feet between them, a deep voice broke the silence.
"Rest for five minutes, then let's go back."
And just like that, he turned his back against her and walked back to the railings – leaving her confused and feeling oddly cold in the summer.
The walk slash jog back to the villa with the captain was filled with nothing but quick breaths and shoes meeting the ground. Although Nijimura was still his kind self by not leaving her behind and patiently going with her pacing, Tsumiko knew that there was something off about him, and it was seriously bugging her.
Despite their surroundings getting darker and them being only a few meters away from the villa, the first year stopped in her tracks and lowered her head at the second-year, who immediately paused as well.
"I apologize for having you wait for me and dragging you into the punishment for being the last ones to arrive. I vow to be a better coach, and train more, so.."
When she felt hands on her shoulders, she raised her head to meet the scowling teen, who was finally speaking, "Oi! Oi! Stop being so formal. Why are you sorry?"
Blinking rapidly, she asked back, "B-but aren't you mad?"
She could see his facial expressions shift, as his scowl deepened when he replied, "Mad? What? I– ", as his eyes shut when he sighed, and as his face became more relaxed when he stated, "No, I'm not mad."
"But still, you had to wait and.."
"I wanted to."
She was not given the chance to even breathe, as he continued, "So fucking stop this shit."
As quick as he had uttered those words, he had also came to realize his crudeness, and tried to redeem himself by adding "...Please."
Still in the process of absorbing the situation, Tsumiko could only crack a smile and nod.
And just like that, he retracted his hands and turned his back against her again.
"Let's go. It's getting dark."
Despite him saying that, though, the two of them just strolled side by side – talking about stuff, such as the training camp; guessing what chore would they be assigned to do as punishment; and Nijimura learning that she was about to get her own jersey jacket.
The silver-haired girl was ready to take on any chore, except this.
"Iro-chan! See, this is how it's done...I think"
"Um, I'm not sure if that's how you slice a carrot for fried rice, Momoi-chan."
Looking at the round carrot slices on her chopping board, and comparing it to the other's long carrot strips, Tsumiko returned her friend's frustrated smile and shrugged, "but I don't think I got it right either", before they softly chuckled together.
Helping in cooking breakfast for the second day of the camp was the task given to the young coach and captain. The manager simply believed that helping out in general was part of her responsibility, in addition to her initial interest in cooking. Unfortunately for the two girls, who were both considered to be promising in their roles in the team, they weren't exactly gifted and experienced in the culinary field.
"Oh my! You young girls really need to learn how to cook", the middle-aged lady, who was the head of the kitchen staff, playfully remarked once she passed by them. Gently patting both of them at their backs, she called out to the other middle-schooler inside the kitchen, "Nijimura-kun?"
The said boy, who just arrived minutes ago after finishing early in the team's morning training, quickly answered, "Yes", while walking towards them with a bowl of perfectly sliced onions on his hands, "I finished chopping the onions."
In the perspective of both of the first-years, the bowl of onions was sparkling, and in the perspective of the shorter first-year only, the second-year was sparkling as well.
Satisfied at the onions, the head lady nodded, "Nijimura-kun, since you mentioned that you knew how to cook fried rice, I hope you can guide these two. Just assist and listen to the other kitchen staff, and if you need something, I'll be over there cooking sausages and eggs, okay?"
Both the dark-haired and the light-haired students politely bowed, "Yes, we'll work hard", whereas, the pink-haired one raised her right hand then spoke, "Um, I would like to help out with the eggs and sausages, would it be okay?"
"Sure, follow me", the lady warmly replied.
The pinkette only looked back at her schoolmates to innocently grin.
Before Tsumiko could even be enveloped by the embarrassment caused by the fact that she was bad at cooking, Nijimura already helped her with it through his comment, "Shall we begin with the carrots, ojousama?"
The rest of their time in the kitchen was spent with them assisting the kitchen staff – with the older boy teasing her, but at the same time showing her the correct way in doing things. It was when the fried rice was almost complete, that the younger girl finally saw a chance to get back at her senior.
"You're really meticulous with the taste, huh? You're too serious now, senpai", she attempted to tease him, as she watched him taste the fried rice then add random stuff, then do it all over again. The male kitchen staff beside them could only step back and let the black-haired kid meet his satisfaction.
Sprinkling what appeared to be salt - or was it sugar (honestly Tsumiko had a hard time in differentiating between the two, as proven by a very prior incident that would not be mentioned anymore) – the fried rice master revealed, "Of course. Fried rice is my favorite food."
"So that's why! I wonder who taught you how to cook this", the ridiculously amateur cook 'oohed', with the male kitchen staff joining in, before masking his amusement with a cough.
There was a short pause, and Tsumiko caught a brief glazed look in his dark eyes, before the latter responded, "I learned it together with my sister."
There was another pause, and the male kitchen staff tried to fill it with one more cough, and one more. Fortunately for the staff's throat and lungs, the oblivious cause of the awkwardness finally smirked then celebrated, "Okay, much better!"
Immediately after, Nijimura took another chopstick of fried rice, then proudly guided the chopsticks towards his junior, "Here, try this."
Perplexed by the offer and how the chopsticks was already near her lips, Tsumiko let him feed her. Once the flavors exploded in her mouth, she wordlessly bobbed her head in glee – causing her to literally forget whatever questions she previously had, and to not realize that they shared the same chopsticks.
The male staff, who was just observing them, checked the time and decided to pop the kids' own bubble by one last cough.
If there were two things that Murasakibara Atsushi cared about, those would be food and snacks.
Yes, snacks are food, but they're so great, they needed to be placed separately from food, in general, for emphasis.
If there were two things that he hated about this camp, those would be the tiring and bothersome training, and the limited intake of snacks, due to this being a training camp.
Because of this drought of snacks in his system, he had to compensate with food – which kind of sucks because their food intake were monitored, as well.
With this on thought, the purple giant grimaced at his almost-empty second bowl of fried rice.
Although the fried rice was still not as tasty as his snacks, whoever made it still did a good job in making it. Too hungry, he kinda just heard words before the food was served, but failed to digest them. However, now that he had eaten something, he decided to spare just a little effort and energy to at least mentally acknowledge those who cooked the delicious fried rice. From what his mind recalled and processed, their manager, captain and new coach were the ones who helped in cooking their group's breakfast, but the captain and coach were specifically assigned with the fried rice.
Yay, good job to them, but that wasn't enough to make him happy.
Still not reaching his fill, he pouted at his now-empty second bowl of rice.
Glancing at his left, he saw that the much shorter boy next to him still had around half of fried rice in his bowl.
He wanted more.
But it was a hassle to raise his hands and ask for seconds.
Aka-chin would probably let him have some. He couldn't remember a time when the vice-captain rejected him after asking for some of his share previous times. Sometimes, he didn't even need to ask for Aka-chin to give him part of his portion. The redhead had little appetite in Murasakibara's standards. It was no wonder why Aka-chin was tiny.
Shouldn't he eat more to grow taller, though?
But then again, sometimes he just doesn't get Aka-chin.
An example was yesterday at the view deck. It was when the others suddenly began rushing down the hill, while he was still enjoying his spot on a bench. Mido-chin and Aka-chin weren't really joining the flock of boys, so he decided to just wait for what Aka-chin would do, since Aka-chin always acted as if everything was just going according to his plans. Suddenly, Aka-chin, ever so confident, told them to go ahead without him. He said that he'll wait for Iro-chin with the captain. When Mido-chin reminded him about the punishment, Aka-chin simply said that it won't be long until he'll be following after them.
And it was true.
It took him just a few minutes before he caught up with the two of them, overtaking most of the exhausted second-years. When Mido-chin asked about the captain and the coach, he made another one of his vague replies, "The sunset is a must for them to enjoy."
Again, Aka-chin spoke as if everything just sailed smoothly for him.
Just what're his plans exactly?
"Aka-chin, are you going to eat the rest of your fried rice?", he finally asked.
Ever so politely, and probably for the first time, the vice-captain sent out a rejection, "My apologies, Murasakibara. This fried rice is just delectable, I am already considering asking for seconds myself."
Ah, Aka-chin's just too sly.
He wasn't completely sure, but after hearing such answer and seeing the other's satisfied expression through his purple eyes, he finally got some idea about Aka-chin's plans.
"Murasakibara, first of all, you should watch your diet. Second, if you want more, go get more yourself, and stop asking others' share."
Sighing, the purple head stretched his long right arm and asked for seconds, before shaking his head at the boy on his right, "Mido-chin, you just don't get it."
"What?"
The camp went by fast, that Tsumiko didn't have the time to visit the villa's rose garden she had seen in one picture at the villa's reception. She finally remembered about it during their last night at the camp, when she was having difficulty in going to sleep. Convincing herself that she had no other chance since they were leaving early morning, she stood up from her futon then slowly opened and closed the sliding door – careful not to wake up her camp roommate, Momoi.
Their room was at one end, along with their coaches' room and a comfort room, so she had to pass through both of the rooms of the second years and first years, and another comfort room to get to the back of the villa, where the rose garden was located.
Once she had reached the engawa or veranda, she saw a typical Japanese garden, that was lit by garden lights. At one side of the garden, there were bushes of pink and red roses. Not wasting any more time, she leaped then skipped to the roses.
The first thing she had noticed was that the rose bushes appeared to be well-maintained and trimmed, with the bushes not being as tall as her. Buds of white, red, and pink roses were beginning to bloom. Back in Tokyo, they have a single bush of red roses in their garden, whereas in Kyoto, her grandmother have roses in different colors, except the yellow ones – with the belief that yellow roses symbolize jealousy and pain.
"Irosuzuka?"
Randomly and suddenly hearing her name in the middle of her secret visit to the rose garden in the middle of the night, she shrieked and sharply turned around. It took her some moment of staring for her to calm herself a bit and figure out who the person at the engawa was.
"Akashi-san?"
"Lovely evening, Irosuzuka."
Still flustered at being caught sneaking at the garden, she hurriedly approached the redhead standing at the engawa, while trying her best in asking him casually, "Uh, w-what are you doing here? Why are you still up?"
In contrast to her stuttering, her fellow first-year smoothly talked, "I wish to read a book."
Understanding that he probably didn't want to turn the lights on in their room, as it might disrupt his fellow first-years' sleep, she only 'ooh-ed', while raising her head to meet his eyes. She continued to follow his gaze, as he wordlessly sat down at the edge of the engawa and directly in front of her.
Instinctively, she looked away while answering his unspoken question, "I..uh.. I was just looking at the roses."
"Hmm, it must be a unique experience to go flower viewing at night."
"I heard they have a rose garden, but I've been busy with the camp so I wasn't able to visit. So, tonight's my only chance before we go back tomorrow morning", she immediately explained, before catching on to his teasing. Even more defensive, she looked back at him and resumed, "B-besides! It is not that odd to view flowers at night, since some flowers bloom during night time."
Showing a hint of genuine interest, his eyebrows raised, "Oh? Flowers that bloom in the dark? I believe I might have read about them before."
"Yeah! I hope to see one some time."
"So, are there such flowers in this garden?"
A little embarrassed at not being able to prove her point, she decided that it was better to sit beside him than to dumbly stand in front of him and meet his ruby eyes directly, "No, I'm not sure. But my grandmother told me that they're usually more fragrant to attract pollinators like insects."
"I see you have inherited your grandmother's interest in flowers."
She hummed then slightly turned her head to the left and locked eyes with him, "You know about my grandmother?", only for him to break away and look forward, as soon as she had finished asking.
"I simply know her from the Ikebanas she had generously sent to our house...before...and.."
Tsumiko had a feeling of deja-vu, when she noticed a change in Akashi's gaze for a moment. It was vacant, as if he was reminiscing a memory. The situation felt similar with Nijimura's glazed look at the kitchen before.
As fast as he shifted his focus back to her, he shifted the topic, "Can I therefore assume that you could make an Ikebana as well?"
Caught off guard, she looked down then tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "Uh, I'm still learning, so please don't expect anything. I'm certainly nowhere near my grandmother."
Her dark eyes then lit up after remembering something, "Akashi-san, you've been at the past birthday parties of Kobayashi Corporation's Chairman, right?"
"Yes, I have. Kobayashi-san is still very energetic, despite his old age."
Kobayashi Corporation was considered to be Japan's top construction company – home to Japan's best engineers, architects, designers and etc. It was not surprising for the Akashi group of companies to be one of their clients and partners. The same goes with a shipping company as of that of the Irosuzukas. Despite this, Tsumiko has never been to his party before. Unlike her brother and apparently, unlike her redhead classmate, she seldom attends such high-class parties. It was because her parents thought that she was still too young. This year, though, her parents deemed that as a middle schooler, she was already old enough, but this didn't mean that she was not feeling like a newborn, especially if there were expectations everywhere.
"The truth is, it's my first time going to his party and I'm feeling anxious. I was asked to perform a live Ikebana as a gift for his birthday next month. I heard you played the piano last year. Are you performing this year as well?"
Nodding, he replied, "I'm planning to play the violin this year."
"That's great. I'm still not decided on which flowers I shall use. It's difficult to find good flowers on September", she drawled, until her eyes landed on the book at his lap, "Ah! You're supposed to read a book, right? Sorry, go ahead."
"No worries. I have also interrupted your viewing, have I not?"
Shaking her head as her response, she jumped off the engawa, then gestured towards the roses, "Then, I'll be right over there."
It took her around 20 minutes to skip back to the engawa, and silently sit next to the vice-captain, who was absorbed in his book. After hearing a few more pages being turned, she heard a book being closed and Akashi's gentle voice, "How was it?"
"The roses were just starting to bloom. But, I saw a yellow rose", she excitedly said, while staring into his red orbs.
Slightly tilting his head, he inquired, "Are yellow roses supposed to be special?"
She let out a giggle at her own shallowness, "Not really. It's just that yellow roses usually bloom during spring. But some could still bloom until late summer, so I was just a little surprised to see one here."
At her amusement, he offered her a fond smile, "I see. Well then, shall we go now?"
"Is it okay? Are you done reading?"
"Yes. Let's go."
Seeing him standing up, she followed suit, and started walking next to him.
She tried to decipher what kind of book was he reading by peeking at its cover, but when she failed to do so, she gave up, "What's the book about?"
He faced her then smiled, "Greek mythology."
This caused her to gape at him, "Ah, that's so amazing!"
At her reaction, he could only blink and wait for her to speak again, "You actually remind me of someone I know. He reads a lot even if exams are coming up."
"Is that so? He sounds like a very confident person."
Finding what he just said to be funny, she bit her lip, before disagreeing, "I can't say that. In fact, I think he needs to boost up his self-esteem more."
"Oh! He's in the third-string, by the way", she added, as they near the room of the first-year boys.
At that information, Akashi raised his eyebrows.
With a single nod, she resumed, "He's also a freshman. His name is –", only for both of them to stop in their place, when the comfort room's door at their left side opened – revealing a raven-haired teen, who also froze as soon as he saw them.
.
.
.
"Yo. What are you two doing?"
Out of white and red, the redhead was quicker to respond, "We simply bumped into each other at the engawa. I was reading a book, while she was looking at the flowers."
Nijimura slowly bobbed his head, "Um, okay", before walking towards the second-years' room at their right. He glanced at them one last time, "Just go to sleep. We leave early tomorrow", before going inside the room.
Tsumiko finally spoke, "Yes."
In her right periphery, she saw Akashi walking away as well. He looked back at her, then politely lowered his head, "Well then, I'll be going inside, now."
When she returned his bow, she heard the door being shut. A weird feeling welled inside of her and after blinking at the two adjacent doors, she decided to ignore it and just go back to her own room.
Sliding the door behind her, she was relieved to see that she had not woken Momoi up. Carefully sliding into her futon, she felt her phone inside, so she took it out. With her phone on one hand, the ice popsicle key-chain dangled, as she checked the time. It was almost midnight, and there were two unread messages during the past hour from a certain yellow-haired model.
"Hey hey hey! The photoshoot I told you about was moved to an earlier date. It will be this Friday-ssu~~. You still goin?"
"Oops, you're probably asleep already since you're at a camp lol."
Appreciating Kise staying true to his words and updating her, she replied,
"Hello, Kise-san. We'll be going back to Tokyo tomorrow, so I'm available on that day. Thank you. Good night."
She then realized that she hasn't properly wished the other two boys a good night, so she typed in a message for each of them.
"Good night, Nijimura-senpai."
"Good night, Akashi-san."
After pressing send, she placed her phone at her side, and prepared to finally sleep. It took only a few minutes for her phone to go off.
"Aha! You're still awake. Did you just ignore my text? No fan ignores me, Irosuzuka-chan~"
Thinking that he deserved an explanation, she messaged him back,
"I apologize for the late response. I went out and left my phone in the room."
Re-reading his text, she rolled her eyes at his last remark,
"And I'm not a fan."
At the same time she had sent that, another message came in,
"Geez, you're being too formal again. I told 'ya to drop that."
Then another,
"Whatever~ But what could you be doing outside late at night, hmmm? Did you meet with anyone? Oh oh Irosuzuka-chan~"
Shaking her head at his teasing, she teased him back,
"It's none of your business, Kise-san."
Despite not seeing him for a long time, she could almost imagine his "hurt" expression from his reply,
"Why are you so mean? Can't wait to end our deal and say goodbye to you. LOL."
Feeling sleepy, she texted him,
"Good night, Kise-san."
"So cold~ You must be tired lol. Nighty night, Irosuzuka-chan~ See you!"
Even if she enjoyed the little banter with the blonde, she still remained bothered by the dark-haired and red-haired boys, and their lack of response. For the last time that night, she keyed in a message,
"Thanks for replying, Kise-san."
It took a few minutes before the first-year model answered,
"Uh, you're welcome?"
A/N:
Hey! How are you guys doin'?
First of all, thank you so much to all the reviews! ;A;
To AliceRuiLin, ikr it was also hard for me to choose T-T But in the end, I decided to pick Nijimura. I hope it's fine with you. The same goes to aikioikawa. I gotta give this moment to Niji-captain first! Aww sorry :( don't worry, there will be more interactions with Akashi! I still have plans for the three of them ;)
To the guest who reviewed, I hope I satisfied you with Niji-senpai!
To all of the new followers, thanks and welcome to this story. To all the faves, as well, thank you!
Anyway, how did you guys find Murasakibara's POV? (lol) And yes, Kise's back, yay! Please do share your thoughts on this chapter :)
