Disclaimer: I don't own Slam Dunk. It is the sole property of Inoue Takehiko. There is no financial gain made from this and created for entertainment purposes only.
Chapter 4: Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Redhead
She wondered what he was thinking.
Mizuki discreetly glanced over her shoulder at the now sleeping boy. She didn't know whether she should be disappointed or relieved to learned that he was no longer watching her. Or was that glaring? She could never tell with his emotionless face.
"Honestly, what's with all that creepy staring?" She thought, trying to formulate reasons for his unusual behavior. First on the list, he's wide awake before class even started; usually he's halfway on his dream filled slumber the moment he reached his seat. Secondly, he answered the teacher during roll call. That never happens before, and in her almost three weeks stay in this school, she never saw him respond to anyone during class hours. She almost thought him to be mute. The first time she had heard him talk was from yesterday at the rooftop, and that was even accidental. His voice sounded low and dangerous at that time. Thirdly…Mizuki blushed at the memory..She caught him looking at her..or glaring.. or whatever it is called...but the point is, their eyes met, more than once, and she felt something unexplainable stirred at the pit of her stomach.
When she responds to her name being called, she felt his gaze on her again. She forced herself to be unaffected, trying to look preoccupied with solving some math problems. Feeling extremely self-conscious, she tugged at her bangs downwards, in an effort to hide the scar above her right eyebrow; thinking that the reason he was staring at her was because he caught a glimpse of that hideous scar. Sadly, hers were not as cool as Harry Potter's lightning bolt scar, to be gaining such undivided attention from him.
She deems it impossible for him to recognize her as the girl who was wailing at the top of her lungs from the rooftop. After all, he never gets the chance to see her face. She nearly had a heart attack when she found out that Rukawa's favorite place to hang-out or rather sleep was the rooftop, the same place she considered as her own sanctuary; her refuge when she wants to escape from the chaos surrounding her. She should have experience his wrath by now if ever she did manage to disturb him from his sleep. But nothing happened. There's no sign of animosity, like what occurred between him and little miss drama queen yesterday, or get pummelled like Satoshi-kun. Maybe he sleeps like the dead that time when she's having her impromptu concert, or he's not even at the rooftop, or he probably just enjoyed listening to her vocal prowess.
"Yeah, right. The chances of that happening is one is to million." She mused. She knew for a fact that singing was not one of her redeeming talents, but it surely is one of her favorite past time.
She didn't know what compelled her to write those words to him. Although, she did felt smug when she saw the slight widening of his eyes, albeit for a brief second, from her unexpected response to his blatant staring / glaring. But afterwards, she felt guilty with the way she reacted. It is true that she found him rude, but her action towards him was also disrespectful.
"He doesn't seem to mind, though" Mizuki concluded, as she saw him just shrugged his shoulders and buried his head on the desk to sleep after seeing the words she had written on her notebook.
"Oh well,he'll probably forget all about this when he woke up." she thought, willing herself to focus her attention back on the math problems on her desk, and not to take another glimpse on the sleeping beauty behind her.
xxxxx
Outside, the Sakura flowers were in full bloom. Most of the students prefer to take their lunch on the school ground; where they can enjoy the beautiful scenery, as well as the cool breeze created by the spring season.
For a certain redhead though, spring means new beginning; the perfect time for him to finally reveal his true feelings to the oblivious blue-eyed girl of his dreams.
Hanamichi Sakuragi stood underneath the old Sakura tree, located in a slightly secluded part in the school yard. Mustering all of his courage, he clasped the hands of the smiling girl standing in front of him; deliberately ignoring her somewhat pudgy hands, before saying in a serious tone, "Haruko-chan, we've known each other for a long time now.. I just want to say that you are a beautiful person, inside and out, and I'm very lucky to have met you in my life."
"Awww, you are making me blush. That is so sweet of you, Sakuragi-kun." His long time crush smacked his shoulder rather strongly, causing the redhead to lose his balance and staggered a bit. Sakuragi gritted his teeth, struggling to keep his temper in check.
He returned to holding her hands, squeezing her fingers tightly, and stared into her deep blue and unblinking eyes.
"Haruko-chan, Aishiteru."
The girl began to swoon in an exaggerated manner, and wearing the same cheery expression, she replied, "Oh, I feel the same way, Sakuragi-kun."
As if on cue, horn of trumpets filled the air and tons of confetti started falling from above their head.
"Now, that wasn't so hard, wasn't it, Hanamichi?" Nozomi Takamiya said, removing the mask printed with an image of a smiling Haruko on it, from his chubby face.
"Don't forget our deal, Hanamichi. You must confess to Haruko-chan by today, if not, you will be joining Rukawa and the other students for an audition this coming Friiidddaaay." His blonde friend, Yuji Ohkosu teased in a singsong voice, throwing the remaining confetti in the air.
"Yeah, and don't you dare chicken out! How many opportunities have you wasted because you're so scared out of your wits to reveal your undying lo-!" Chuichirou Noma's words were cut off as he received the brunt of the redhead's vexation through his infamous head-butt.
"Shut it, moustache! Nobody's asking for your stupid opinion!" Sakuragi's anger finally exploded.
"Relax, Hanamichi, there's no need for a bloodbath." said Yohei Mito; the gang's unofficial arbitrator at the moment, placing his right hand on the fuming redhead's shoulder in order to placate him. "This is it, my friend, the moment you've been waiting for. Go get your girl!"
"Oh yeah! Nothing can ruin this perfect day for me! Not even you, Noma, and your horrendous moustache! This Tensai here is going to seize the day! Carpy Dime!" Sakuragi exclaimed, loudly pounding his right fist twice on his chest for added effect.
The Sakuragi Army facedropped.
"Idiot! It's Carpe Diem!"
"Hey, who are you calling an idiot, porkchop?!" Sakuragi grabbed Takamiya's shirt, preparing to tear him to pieces.
Frightened of suffering the same fate as Noma, the bespectacled portly guy quickly put on his makeshift Haruko-face mask. "Sakuragi-kun, ya wouldn't hurt me, would ya?" Takamiya said, doing a bad job of mimicking Haruko's sweet voice.
That irked the redhead even more. Within seconds, the chubby little guy was sporting a huge bump on his forehead.
"That oughta teach you a le-"
Whatever it is Sakuragi's about to say was interrupted by Mito. "Incoming! Incoming! Subject spotted at 3 o' clock!" The latter warned the group as a familiar girl with shoulder length hair and bright smile was seen approaching their hiding spot.
"Return to your positions." The four guys comprising the Sakuragi's Army scrambled to the nearby bushes to conceal themselves.
Sakuragi began to tense up, blood draining from his face. He took deep breaths, clenching and unclenching his fists to reduce his anxieties. His senses had gone haywire as Haruko finally reached him. "Sakuragi-kun."
"H-Haruko-chan…..c-can I help you with something?"
"What an idiot!" His so-called army thought in unison.
"Eh?! You're so funny, Sakuragi-kun." Haruko giggled at his perplexed reaction.
"I know,right?!" The redhead commented awkwardly, shifting his weight back and forth on his feet while rubbing the back of his neck, his confidence waning.
"I received your note from Mizuki-chan." She showed him his letter with a detailed drawing of the location of their meeting place. "I believe you owe me an explanation to why you asked me to come here."
Sakuragi's mind goes blank as Haruko gave him one of her heart stopping smile. His eyes began to glaze over as tiny hearts fluttered above his head.
"Uh-oh. He's blocking out." Ohkosu muttered to the others who were also crouched behind the bushes, shamelessly eavesdropping on their conversation.
"Tsk. He's grinning like a moron. He totally forgot his lines." Mito grimaced, disappointed with the turn of events.
"All that late night rehearsal and practice ended up with nothing." Noma complained, shifting from a crouch to sitting position.
"Owww" Takamiya only mewled, still nursing his bruised head.
"Sakuragi-kun? Sakuragi-kun!" Haruko was now waving one of her hand into his face.
A small rock flew and hit the daydreaming redhead at the back of his head, bringing him back to his senses. "Hey! Who did that?" Sakuragi protested, rubbing the part of his head where the rock collided. He looked for the source of the flying rock and saw his buddies peeking from the bushes and signalling with their hands; mouthing something like 'stick to the plan' at him.
"Is everything alright, Sakuragi-kun?" Haruko asked, a crease forming between her eyebrows.
Sakuragi slapped his cheeks, trying to wake himself from his stupor. He took a deep breath to steady himself. A look of concentration filled his face, and Haruko was slightly taken aback by the sudden change on his emotions.
Hidden behind the bushes, the Sakuragi Army waited in breathless anticipation…
"Haruko-chan.. There is something I've been meaning to tell you.."
"W-what is it, Sakuragi-kun?" She looked up at him, her big blue eyes filled with worry.
"We've known each other for a long time now.. I just want to say…"
Haruko waited patiently for him to continue.
"I just want to say…" Sakuragi twiddled his thumbs, looking anywhere but her. Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.
"I just want to say… that the gang and I are going to audition for the school play!"
"Eh?!"
The Sakuragi Army facedropped.
"How hopeless."They sighed simultaneously.
And that is how the Sakuragi Army found themselves registered as one of the thirty something hopefuls to land a role for the upcoming school play.
xxxxx
Mizuki doubled over in apparent mirth, bursting into a fit of giggles as she clung into the mop for support. Her cousin; sitting atop one of the desks just watched her, half annoyed and half amused, while the rest of Gundan unwillingly clean the room.
Their group minus Mito were the cleaners of the day for their class section. It's a general practice for students to tidy up their room after school hours, as a way to instill discipline and responsibility.
"I can't believe that all of you are going to audition for the school play." Mizuki said in between laughter. "I am so looking forward to watching you squirm in front of the stage. It will be a blast!"
"Quit your laughing, it's so unladylike. You'll never get a boyfriend if you snort like that. " Mito said with an evil glint in his eyes.
The others laughed loudly at Mito's comment.
Mizuki stuck out her tongue at him childishly, poking his side with the top edge of the mop stick in her hand. "Be careful with your words, oh dear cousin of mine, you wouldn't want me for an enemy, right?" Mito's face suddenly becomes pale, clearly remembering the hair fiasco from yesterday, where she intentionally hid his treasured hair gel.
Mito was so caught up in his thoughts that he failed to stop her from reaching out to ruffle his hair, messing with his gel styled jet black hair.
"Hey! Hands-off the hair will ya?" Mito grumbled, not expecting the sudden attack.
"Hah! You will never get a girlfriend if all you think about is your hair." She teased back as she continued on mopping the floor.
"But seriously speaking, you guys can just back off from this whole audition; after all, the initial dare was for Hana,right. The deal was for him to confess to Haruko-chan by today, if he didn't do it, he have to try-out for the school play. In the end, he chickened out, so he has to keep the end of the bargain." She explained.
"Well, that's the initial bet…" Takamiya replied, busying himself with wiping the blackboard for almost the entire cleaning duration. She saw Mito out of the corner of her eyes gesturing something to Noma and Ohkusu.
"So, what changed?" She asked, looking warily at them. Noma went to the front of the room, pretending to help Takamiya with cleaning the board. She knew all too well that the reason Noma was there was to prevent the portly guy from talking too much.
"Nothing. We just wanted to… you know, have a change from our usual routine. You always scolded us for our slacking. So we decided to make ourselves busy with joining the school play." Mito answered nonchalantly, while smoothing down his hair. A picture of ease.
"Nothing? Oh come on. There must be something more to the dare." She narrowed her eyes towards the four of them. "All right, spill."
"Geez, it's not like we have some hidden agenda or something. No need to be so suspicious." Noma said, avoiding her intense glare by furiously wiping the already spotless blackboard.
"Really..I smell something fishy in here."
"Oh, it must be coming from the trash bin…Probably Satoshi-kun's lunch…Let me just take out the garbage.." Ohkosu didn't wait for a reply as he hurriedly grabbed the bin and went out of the room.
Mizuki racked her brain, looking for answers to their suspicious behaviour. She remembered Rukawa being offered some role to the school play, all because Sakuragi put a prank on the stoic guy. She learned just recently that the mischievous redhead was the one responsible in putting Rukawa's name on the registration's list, thus making the snotty freshman, Ohara Fumiko, assumed that the sleepy guy was interested with the school play.
A lightbulb popped above her head. "Of course."
Sleeping Beauty… Ohara Fumiko….The kiss of true love…
She shook her head, chuckling slightly. "I got it now."
"Oh man, there she goes again with her assumptions. I don't want to hear another one of your preposterous theory, okay." Mito replied, getting down from the desk and preparing to escape.
"Hold it!" She placed the stick mop between him and the door, blocking his exit way.
Mizuki ignored his protest, and still informed them of her point of view regarding the matter.
"I believe that the reason why the rest of you have agreed to join the audition was because there is a 100% probability that a certain cutie named Ohara Fumiko, will get the role of the main character, Aurora a.k.a Sleeping Beauty…"
"Who in the world is this Ohara Fumi- Fujiko?" Noma exclaimed, scandalized.
Mizuki raised one of her eyebrows at him. " You'll make a fine actor, one day, Chuichirou -kun."
"Anyway, as I was saying, Fumiko-chan will be Aurora in this play, so the rest of you are then vying to get the role of her prince charming, and I know you are very much informed on the storyline of the Sleeping Beauty."
The three of them just stared at her with feigned innocence.
"Unless maybe, you're more interested on getting the role of the evil witch or perhaps.. the fairy godmothers?"
They shook their heads frantically.
" Right.. the prince in this story had a very important task at hand: to break the spell casted upon the princess through the power of true love's kiss."
"K-kiss?!" The three of them cry out in perfect symphony.
"Will the three of you stop pretending already. I know you know all along the plot of the story, and who Ohara Fumiko is. The freshman girl you've all been giving googly eyes, obsessing and collecting pictures of lately!" She ranted.
"I'm aware that all of you had never had a girlfriend before, so you have this insane bet that whoever gets to experience their first kiss will become the winner and the losers will then end up being some sort of his slave for a week, am I right?"
"Actually, it's for a month." Takamiya corrected her, which earns him a death glare from the two guys.
"Seriously,guys." Mizuki said in a condescending tone.
"Geez, don't be such a party pooper, Zuki." Mito reprimanded her while leaning against the wall with arms crossing on his chest.
"I am not." She said defiantly.
"Am I becoming one?A buzzkill?" She reflected on the past few days where she only has negative thoughts, criticizing herself nonstop, looking only on the downside of things. She shook her head, erasing the onslaught of unpleasant memories.
"I am not." She repeated before saying, "I just don't like being kept out of the loop, you know. And as I said before, I am super excited to watch all of you squirm during the audition. I wouldn't miss it in the world. I might even record them.. so, any one of you got a camcorder I can borrow?"
The three guys groaned in unison, not at all happy to see her enthusiasm with their predicament.
A/N: There's no Rukawa interaction on this one. (A total downer, I know!) But fear not, our favorite fox will show up in the next chapter. Also, I noticed from the previous chapters that I wrote 'Sempai' instead of 'Senpai'. There's no difference in their meanings according to Google, but since majority of the fanfic that I've read spelled it Senpai, I'll probably write them that way in the succeeding chapters. So yeah, enough of my ramblings, I'm more interested in hearing yours! Reviews are very much appreciated. (=^_^=)
