Chapter 21: Bridging the Gap

"Mind if we join you?"

Rukawa didn't need to look to know who the voice belongs to.

He'd recognized that voice anywhere.

Still, he continued eating and pretended not to hear her. He raised the canned drink to his lips to hide his smirk as he heard her annoyed huff and the scraping of a chair.

She sat down on the empty seat across from him.

"Mizu-chaaannnn."

He stopped mid drink at the sound of a whiny voice.

"He doesn't mind. Silence means no, Hanamichi."

"He doesn't want us to sit with him!"

Rukawa placed his drink back at the table and scowled at the whining redhead.

"See! He just gave me the evil eye!"

"Sit down, Hanamichi." Mizuki said, her tone demanding.

Sakuragi mumbles a few unintelligible protests before plonking himself down into a seat next to her, dropping his metal tray with a loud clang. Mizuki casts the redhead a disapproving look.

Rukawa's eyes flicked between the two intruders, silently waiting for an explanation for this sudden invasion of his private space.

"Don't ask me! This was ALL her idea." Sakuragi grumpily replied before stuffing a heap of rice into his mouth.

"Hanamichi was feeling guilty for what he did." Mizuki stated as she split her chopsticks. "And he promised that he will stop with the pranks and treat you more nicely. He even suggested that we join you for lunch, observing how you look so lonely eating here all by yourself."

Bits of rice flew from Sakuragi's mouth as he vehemently objected. "What? I never said that! Why would I even -"

Mizuki kicked his leg under the table. The redhead glowered at her but didn't say anything more about it. He busied himself with shoveling food into his mouth while Mizuki initiated conversations.

"I don't know why you even bother talking, Mizu." Sakuragi commented as soon as he finished his meal. Without food to keep his mouth shut, he couldn't help but gave a snide remark about her one sided conversation with Rukawa. "He clearly doesn't want our company."

"Oh trust me, he likes hearing me talk. Isn't that right, Rukawa-kun?"

Rukawa nearly chokes on his chicken karaage. There was a slight twinkle in her eyes as she peers at him.

"Yeah right. He didn't even answer you." Sakuragi snorted.

"Silence means yes, Hana-kun. So it means he enjoy our company."

"What? You just said earlier that silence means no."

Mizuki merely shrugged and proceeded to peeled back the lid of her strawberry yogurt.

Rukawa was about to finally voice out his objections but then he got distracted by her licking the lids of her yogurt. He quickly averted his eyes away when he realized he's been staring.

He decided to just let it pass for today. This will simply be a one-time occurrence. There's no way he could tolerate their presence, especially with how loudly the Dou Ahou chews his food. The next time they asked to join him for lunch, he will definitely say no, as simple as that.

But he should have known that things were never that simple with rooftop girl.

xxxxx

The following day during lunch, Rukawa found the two of them already seated at his usual table in the cafeteria near the window.

He halted his steps, contemplating his options. He glanced around the cafeteria, searching for a vacant table and noticed that almost half of the occupants in the room were watching him.

When he shifted his gaze back to his table, he saw her waving at him with a huge smile spread across her face. Besides her, the redhead was shooting him the most menacing glare he could muster. Rukawa barely noticed.

As he stood frozen to the spot, her smile became hesitant and she slowly lowered her hand and averted her eyes.

'To hell with it.'

Later, he would tell himself that the only reason he went to sit with them was because he likes the view from the window.

That it has nothing to do with her and the smiles she keeps on throwing at him from across the table. He wishes that she would stop doing that. But he refuses to say anything about it.

xxxxx

By the third day, the rest of the Dou Ahou's squad joins them, much to his displeasure. They even dragged two more tables to further accommodate their group.

The redhead situated himself at the head of a table (claiming he was the Alpha of the pack), leaving a substantial distance between them. His sidekick took a sit to his right, occasionally glowering at him like it's his fault they're stuck in this shitty situation.

'Blame your cousin.' Rukawa returned Mito's glare, silently challenging him.

His eyes flitted back to Mizuki, who was seated across from him, and she's too preoccupied with her packed lunch (Her Aunt prepared bentos for her and Mito every Wednesday and Friday –he heard her mentioned about it during lunch) to even notice the animosity emanating between him and her cousin.

Seated beside her and taking the Dou Ahou's previous seat was a bespectacled, portly boy who Rukawa remembered as the one who was with rooftop girl during the fainting and running scenario at the track field.

If he thinks Sakuragi was lacking table manners, it was nothing compared to this Nozomi Takamiya. The guy was a slob and a total glutton.

The table Rukawa's currently sharing with Mizuki and Takamiya is cluttered with stacks of plates, the latter gobbling up his eight serving of udon noodles. And even with all those food, Takamiya was still not satisfied, as he keeps on stealing pieces of vegetables and dumplings from her bento box. What irritated him more was that she didn't even bother to stop him. In fact, nobody from the group bother to rebuke their obese friend for his gluttonous behavior. Not even her bff Hanamichi batted an eye.

Dou Ahou.

For pete's sake, the guy weighs like a hundred times of her weight.

As though sensing his gaze, she looked up and raised both eyebrows at him as she chew on her food. "You want some too?" She asked, offering the shrimp dumplings from her chopsticks to him.

He grunted his response and returned his attention back to his food.

'Why is he still seating here?'

Right, this his spot and he likes the view from here.

Those were the ONLY reasons he decided to stay.

xxxxx

There was a loud screeching noise as Rukawa make an abrupt stop, hitting the brakes hard, in order to avoid being run over by moving cars.

The other pedestrians waiting at the crosswalk eye him warily and gave him a wide berth.

Rukawa blinked sleepily at the red don't walk signal. He had just finished practice and he was looking forward to sleeping in his soft, king size bed.

"RUKAWA!"

He was jostled awake by someone shouting his name. He instantly recognized the voice belonging to Onigiri girl, with whom he was forced to become well acquainted.

"RUKAWA!"

He frowned. There was a sense of urgency and panic in her voice.

He jerked his head around, scanning the crowd. He spotted her in the near distance running towards him. She stumbled to a stop, panting harshly with her hands braced on her knees, and hair hanging down around her face.

"Hey!"She said breathlessly as she looked up at him. His gaze travelled over her paint smudged face, hands and white PE tshirt, wondering if students were ganging up on her again.

She ignored his silent query and went to repeatedly press the pedestrian push button while bouncing from one foot to another as she anxiously waited for the walk signal.

"Actually, can I ride with you?"

She didn't bother to wait for his response and quickly hopped on his bike just as the light turned green.

He remained unmoving. Whether it was from his shock to her brazen move or his consternation from their close proximity, he never got time to ponder as he heard voices yelling behind them.

"There she is!"

"Get her!"

A group of guys were headed towards their direction, and one guy stood out among the rest because his entire face and long hair were covered with green paint.

"The sign means GO, Rukawa!" She was in a state of frenzy once again.

"Don't let her get away!"

He took another look at the green haired guy before pedalling at a leisurely pace. He was quite certain he had seen that long haired guy somewhere before.

Ah. He remembers now.

"Can you go a bit faster?" His slow pace seems to agitate his passenger even further. She then slams her fists against his back, urging him to pedal faster. "GO! GO! GO!" He obliged and rapidly pedaled away, only slowing down when he was sure that those guys who were after her were out of sight.

They rode in silence, passing along the bridge overlooking the beach, neither of them wanting to ruin this rare moment of tranquility.

"I think we lost them." She finally said afterwards. He then felt a tug on his sleeve. "Umm.. You can just drop me here."

He stopped and she quickly got off his bike.

They spoke at the same time.

"Sorry for the trouble -"

"Is that guy giving you trouble?"

She blinked at him.

He quickly looked away. "Never mind."

"Do you know him?"

He shrugged, keeping his gaze fixed on his bike handlebars.

"How did you know him?"

"How did you know him?" He fired back, eyes snapping back to her.

Her cheeks reddened as she gave a nervous chuckle. "I was doing part time job." She began, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "And I was currently painting a wall when I accidentally spilled some paint on this guy. I think the guy's name was Tetsuo or something."

"Some paint?"He asked incredulously.

"Well, it's actually a quarter of the bucket. Or maybe half. I dunno really."

"Huh."

"I know, that was very clumsy of me." He raised his eyebrows at her, which she promptly ignored. "And I wanted to apologize, but he looks like he wants to murder me so I ran away."

"And good thing I was a fast runner." She added proudly.

She then noticed that the back of his jacket was now slightly smeared with paint. "Oh no. Sorry about that. I can wash it for you, if you want."

He simply shrugged his shoulders. "At least it's not on my hair."

She giggled and he tried his best not to stare.

"Your fans club will still want you regardless of the color of your hair. Heck, they won't even care if you are balding."

He makes a deep grunt of annoyance.

"On second thought, I think they will care very much if you turn bald; your hair is one of your great features, aside from your eyes, of course."

Her hand flew to her mouth, shocked at her own outburst. Looking anywhere but him, she said, "Anyway, thanks for the ride. I'll just take the metro from here."

Her nose scrunched up in confusion as she scanned the area, trying to locate where she was but failing miserably.

"Ummm.." She cleared her throat, blushing. "Which way is the train station again?"

"I'll take you there." He heard his voice said.

She stared at him like he'd grown two heads. Frankly, he wished he had so he can have an explanation for his odd behavior.

"Fine!Since you INSIST." She chirped before hopping back on his bike.

"I never got to say thank you for what you did last time." She said after a few quiet moments, " Takamiya told me everything that happened. So, thank you."

"Go ahead." She grumbled. "Remind me how stupid I acted that day."

"You were upset." He told her. "But yeah, that was stupid."

She harrumphed and even though he can't see her, he was sure she was rolling her eyes at him.

"You really got the knack of getting yourself into trouble."

"Hey!" She thumped a fist on his shoulder. "I didn't ask for you to carry me all the –"

She paused before asking, "Why did you help me?"

"That guy, Takanoya looked ready to pass out from trying to carry you." He explained.

"I didn't know you care so much about Takamiya."

She laughed and he was suddenly distracted by the feel of her breath on the back of his neck.

Where the hell is that metro station?

"Silent Knight. How fitting." She stated merrily.

"Awww." She said in a teasing tone. "Are you blushing? Your ears are all red."

He was startled when he felt the tip of her index finger lightly grazed his ear. He was so taken aback that he swerves and nearly lost control of his bike. Mizuki let out a frightened squeal as her hands went to grip his waist.

Almost immediately, she released her grip and pulled slightly away from him. Rukawa mentally curse his carelessness.

When they got to the train station, she simply thanked him, bowed her head and reminds him not to fall asleep on the way home.

"Don't trip on your shoelace." He retorted as he turned his bike away, not wanting her to have the last word.

But of course, she wouldn't concede.

"Hey Momiji!" He ignored her, pretended not knowing that it was her nickname for him.

"Try not to run over someone else's dog, okay!" He heard her shout at him. "Or knock over someone's potted plants!"

"Bye Momiji!"

He sighed with exaggerated annoyance and raised a hand to wave goodbye before turning the corner, going all the way back to head home.

xxxxx

'How on earth did I end up here?'

Rukawa thought as he finds himself seated on the tatami mat in the Dou Ahou's living room, (of all places!) eating instant noodles, junk foods and every unhealthy foods on the planet with the redhead, rooftop girl and the lanky boy who recently disclosed to him that he was the one responsible for circulating the article meant to slander his reputation.

Truthfully, he didn't really give a shit about the prank and the poorly done photoshopped of his face onto the body of a scantily clad female. What baffled and annoyed him at the same time, was the fact that she's still friends with these idiots who brought her so much trouble and misery.

"Here, Toshi. Careful, it's hot." Mizuki said as she handed the perpetrator, Satoshi (that's what Rukawa recalled his name was, not Toshi) a bowl of steamy noodles.

Icy blue eyes regarded the gangly boy sitting on his right, who was obviously uncomfortable under his scrutiny and being in such close proximity from him.

After learning from Mizuki that he and the perpetrator Satoshi went to the same school during Junior High, it finally clicked on him why the guy looks familiar. It was because freaking Satoshi once tried out for the basketball team during the time that he was appointed as Captain. It turns out that the guy took the rejection personally and held a lifelong grudge against him because of it.

"Geez, Kitsune!" Sakuragi's loud outburst interrupted Rukawa from his thoughts. "Stop glaring at my apprentice! You're scaring him."

Rukawa let out a snort and proceeded to take a gulp of his bottled fruit juice, making a disgusted face afterwards at the overly sweet and sugary drink.

"Eat, my apprentice. Ignore him. You need all the energy so next time, you'll be able to kick this guy's stinking butt."

He scoffed at the redhead's remark.

"Oi! Oi! We almost beat you back there."

"Because she's a cheater." " Rukawa gestures toward Mizuki with his chopsticks.

Mizuki paused in pouring the contents of the bag of chips into a large bowl, wearing an exaggerated shock on her face at his accusation. He looked at her pointedly. He found his eyes straying to her mouth, her lips stained cherry red from her fruity drink.

She shrugged her shoulders and continued in emptying the bag. She then popped one potato chip into her mouth before offering the bowl to him. "Chips?"

He didn't know why but when it comes to her, he realized he couldn't say no.

That's what got him into Sakuragi's house in the first place, sipping too much sugary drink and eating too salty food.

He sighed. He really should have minded his own business.

Earlier this morning, he head out to practice at his usual basketball court -which was a five kilometer bike ride away from his neighborhood. Upon arriving, he realized that a group of teens had already beaten him out of the place. Getting off his bike, he decided that maybe he could occupy the other side of the court while they use the other half. As he was taking out the ball from his backpack, he heard the all too familiar and irritating voice of Sakuragi Hanamichi.

A sense of dejavu hit him.

A year ago, Rukawa's Sunday morning practice routine was ruined by the Dou Ahou, who was being tutored the basics at that time by their Captain's sister.

Hidden behind the tall bushes, he went to take a peek, expecting the same scenario, but to his shock it was the redhead who was giving basketball tips on some boy, who Rukawa later discovered was Satoshi aka the Perpetrator. And cheering for them was none other than rooftop girl, who he realized was the first time he had seen her wearing clothes other than her school and PE uniform. There's the mascot costume last time but that didn't count of course.

With her short hair pulled up in a half top knot, he could clearly see her face. And as if sensing he was lurking around somewhere, her eyes began scanning the area and before he could retreat, she spotted him from his hiding place.

She raised both arms to wave at him, a huge grin plastered across her face. While she was excited and ecstatic to see him, the same could not be said for her two other companion. Sakuragi instantly accused him of spying on the great Tensai while Satoshi became agitated and tense from his unexpected appearance.

It turns out that Sakuragi was planning on having Satoshi join the basketball team, hence the training. The redhead even boasted that under his tutelage, Satoshi will become one of Kanagawa's best players, "Next to me, of course." The Dou Ahou added smugly.

He was about to make some snide remark when he saw the crescent shape scar on the left side of her forehead. She immediately stiffened, and turned her head away in an attempt to hide her scar from his view.

Wanting to see the exuberance and happiness she exuded a few minutes ago return to her face, he found himself challenging them, "Let's play. The three of you against me."

He could tell by the way her expression lit up that his plan worked.

"Prepare to lose." She said to him, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

xxxxx

Sakuragi was getting better and better, Rukawa had to admit to himself, and although this Satoshi guy was acting way too nervous to be playing against him, he was obviously taking notes of his tutorial lessons with the redhead as he was definitely not the same blundering guy he had come across during Junior High.

And rooftop girl?

Apparently, she was more prepared this time. She was not this confident and carefree when the two of them had an impromptu game several weeks ago before her interview with him. Maybe because she was with her two friends and they clearly outnumbered him. Or maybe she was getting comfortable around him?

Still, either she didn't know the rules of the sport or she just didn't want to stick to the rules because several minutes after the game starts, she already committed numerous violations, which he grumblingly points out during the duration of the game.

Besides her total disregard of the rules and regulations, she also resorts to trickery and schemes to screw up his concentration.

As a result, he only managed to win by five points against them.

The Dou Ahou was very bitter about the loss, but there was nothing new about his attitude because he always has something to complain about.

And right now the redhead was whining about his empty stomach and suggested that since they lost against him (ONLY because he was hungry and lacks his usual energy), Rukawa owe them food and drinks, which earned him a punch in the shoulder from Mizuki with that statement.

In the end, they decided to share money to buy some snacks, but they only gathered a few, measly yens since every one of them didn't bring enough money. Sakuragi had glared at him as if accusing him of being stingy.

He really had no intention of joining them, especially when she mentioned that they will be eating at Sakuragi's place. But he relented in the end, mostly because of her power of persuasion- those were the words bumpkin used when she manage to convince him to join them.

And three hours later, there he was, lounging at Sakuragi's living room; munching chips and watching the redhead slurped his bowl of noodles hungrily. Rukawa did not expect to wind up at his place.

They were startled by the sound of the doorbell ringing. Sakuragi elbowed Mizuki and told her to check who's at the door but the latter argued that it was his house; he should go see who it was. After what seems like the fourth ring, Satoshi offered to get the door.

The two continued their bickering, and this time their argument was about who was going to wash the dishes.

Just then, they heard a voice from the doorway.

"I'm looking for Hanamichi. Is he home?"

Sakuragi immediately tensed up.

"Umm, Sakuragi. There's someone who wants to speak with you." Satoshi stepped away from the door, allowing them a complete view of the person standing on the other side of the door. He was a man in his mid 40's, but what caught Rukawa's attention was the color of the man's hair. It was the same shade of red as Sakuragi. In fact, he's an exact carbon copy of the Dou Ahou, albeit an older version.

Rukawa turned to look at Sakuragi and was taken aback by the anger simmering in his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

The doppelganger took a tentative step inside the house before saying,"Hello, son."