Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis nor its characters. Any title of songs used in this fic aren't mine either, such as "Eyes on Me", "Fukai Mori", and "Yasashii Yoake"...
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Chapter 17
Long Day
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The Musical Arts recital was a success. Everyone, except Seigaku, had left the audience area for the Musical Arts Class.
"Who would've guessed that little sarcastic Kitami actually had talents in playing the flute and singing?" said Momoshiro as he quickly recalled the girl's performance.
During her part, Tatsue wore a sleeved white dress with black pants and her usual droopy pigtails were held up on the back, making her a little less childish than usual. She played "Eyes on Me" and "Yasashii Yoake" by concert flute, which isn't exactly an easy play; and just right before Emiko's notable performance, she was sort of "forced to sing" "Fukai Mori". Her voice was trembling when she sang it.
"But Tatsue-chan… she looked really pale." Muttered Sakuno, "She was… white as a marble at that time."
Ryoma frowned. Sakuno didn't meet Tatsue earlier than he did, and yet, here she was worrying too much about it.
"That Hide-chan," said Kikumaru, "She didn't look like the Hide-chan I know."
"Yeah." Kawamura nodded in agreement, "That Hide-san we saw sing…"
"Was totally gorgeous!" Momoshiro exclaimed, "Was that Hide-senpai some sort of fraternal twin of that girl earlier?"
Inui's glasses glinted, "No. It was really Hide Emiko. You should've noticed that she just didn't wear her glasses and unbraided her hair. Pretty much the same to me."
"Liar." The rest of the members accused the data man. Yes, Tezuka included.
"Oi! Seigaku!" a now-glassed and now-braided Emiko waved, "Over here!"
Beside her was Jun, who was holding a digital camera. They were followed shortly by their two of their kohai, Tatsue who seemed to be of normal color at that time and held a box of 'something-which-they-hope-didn't-have-the-slightest-connection-with-Inui's-and-Emiko's-veggie-and-medicinal-juices, respectively', and Atsuyo, who was holding a basket of newly baked cinnamon roll.
Seigaku approached the girls, and asked why they were there. (Atsuyo and Tatsue gave the food and drinks to the players, though Atsuyo still seemed to be a little pissed off with Ryoma)
"The Street Dance Competition will start in a matter of minutes." Emiko cheerfully. A flash caught Seigaku off guard, except Tezuka.
"S-Sanyu-senpai!" exclaimed Sakuno.
"Daijoubu." Said Jun, reassuringly, "It's for our joint presentation."
"The SDC… I mean, street dance will be held on the soccer field." Said Emiko, and punching her hand into the air, "I can't wait to see Mariko and Sachimi-chan kick that bitch Kimiko's butt."
"Emi-chan!" Jun warned.
"Fine, fine… but really, I still can't believe Mariko had just let that pass!" Emiko frowned. She shook her head and then asked Seigaku to follow them to the soccer field.
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Seigaku and the four Daigaku girls sat on the dry grass which was just some feet away from the plain field. There were a DJ booth on their right side, but there were very few people on the grassland.
"Earlier…" said Momoshiro, "was it really you, Hide-senpai?"
Emiko blinked, "Uh… what are you talking about?"
"I mean, were you really the last performer?" he said, "I mean… I don't get it."
Emiko smiled sheepishly, and then chortled, "Of course it was me, baka Momo!"
"It was really you?!" Seigaku chorused.
The four Daigaku girls laughed. Jun told Seigaku that Emiko had wanted to look like some sort of nerd ever since they were kids, that's why she sported the "glassed-braided geek sans the braces" look, which she found herself comfortable in. She commented that Emiko proved to be much of a geek anyway.
"A stalking, beauty conscious… Although it's whenever she's not on her data mode, data freak kind of geek, actually." A boyish voice said from behind them. It was Mariko, and along with her was Mai. They wore their school uniforms, in contrast with other students who dressed whatever they liked.
"Hi!" Mai chirped happily. Kikumaru noticed that there was a small scrape on her hand; maybe he was going to ask about it… if he remembered, though.
"Hanami-chan! Sachimi-chan! Where have you been?" exclaimed Kikumaru. He waved at the girls, Hanami held her hand a little, while Mai gave him a smile. He smiled back at the younger girl.
"Practicing." Answered Mariko, she turned to the two third years from Daigaku, "That bitch really kicked the bucket this time, if you asked me."
Oishi raised a brow. These girls didn't seem to mind cursing that much, don't they?
"Oh? What did Kimiko do this time?" asked Jun, as she gave space for Mariko and Mai to sit with them on the grass.
"They would use last year's winning piece." Said Mai, who didn't seem pleased about it.
Atsuyo said, "Then it would be off for them, right?"
Emiko shook her head, "Definitely not. You see, last year, that song was for the nasty-perverts who came to cheer. This time, that bitch will not only use it for those nasty-perverts, but also to make them look good."
"They have assets, damn it." Mariko cursed, pulling her head back, "All of them are fucking third years, for Kami's sake!"
Jun chuckled, "Not to mention surgically… Ehehehe… enhanced."
Ryoma looked at them, obviously oblivious of what the girls meant, "What are you talking about?"
Tezuka and Oishi stared unbelievingly at the Pillar-of-Seigaku-to-be; Fuji and Inui chuckled evilly. Kawamura and Kaidoh were flustered by the question, Kikumaru and Momoshiro joined forces in rolling on the grass, laughing at the boy's comment.
"For the win, ochibi-chan!" exclaimed Kikumaru as Momoshiro howled with laughter.
"What the?" Ryoma raised a brow, still not getting any of it. Well, not until Tatsue was about to give him a rather… straight answer.
"Baka." She said, "It's-"
Unfortunately, she was cut off by Emiko and Mariko who covered her mouth; they smiled awkwardly at the boys. They faced the first year and gave her a whack.
Sakuno blushed, as she thought she knew that her friend's answer would be rather… straight forward or her senpai-tachi won't do that. Ryoma, on the other hand, just tipped his cap down to hide the forming blush on his face, more because of embarrassment of asking such a stupid question. He just thought he knew the answer when he saw a group of buxom girls strutting their way to where they, Seigaku, were sitting.
Emiko sniffed and scowled, "I can smell their stink. Kimiko must be near." Jun nodded in agreement.
As Ryoma thought, the girls really did approach them.
"Whoa, I thought you don't like boys, ne, Hanami-san?"
Mariko swiveled her head to the source of her name. Sure enough, it was the girl named Kimiko, who was surrounded with fellow third years; all of them sported rather… er… outfits that could beat Tomoka's sense of skimpiness.
"Uhm, not exactly." Mariko rolled her eyes and whirled her head back to where she was looking previously, "But close enough."
Kimiko narrowed her eyes, her companions glowered at them. Finding nothing that would be of their advantage, they wheeled their back; just as they were about to leave Tatsue spoke.
"Ne, senpai…"
Kimiko looked back.
"What's with the skimpy outfit?" asked Tatsue, "Going to a bar or something, senpai?"
Kimiko raised a brow, "I don't like the way your tongue slips, Kitami." She turned to the kendo fukubuchou, "Seems like your kohai had just inherited your immense bitchiness, Hanami."
"She-" Emiko pointed at Tatsue,"-ain't bitch, Kimiko." Emiko said blithely. She smiled mockingly at Kimiko, "You are."
Kimiko narrowed her eyes more, if it was possible, "Why you!"
"Maa, maa. Let's play it nice." Jun suddenly spoke, smiling, "None of you would want to be disqualified, ne?"
The Daigaku girls blanched. Jun did seem to be… serious.
Kimiko had a whoosh of air escape her, "You'll see, Hanami. We'll kick your ass in the fight!"
"Want to bet on it?" said Mariko in a foreign language, "Whoever loses… must treat the winner to the most expensive eat-all-you-can restaurant, regardless of how many they are?"
Kimiko scowled at the rival and stomped off. The three third years laughed their hearts out while Seigaku had their jaws hanging, just inches before it reached the ground.
Mai and Atsuyo looked at each other, 'She could speak English?!'
"Surprise, surprise." Said Tatsue, "Hanami-fukubuchou and English, heh?"
Mariko checked her watched, "Oh, it'll start shortly… you guys stay here, Sachimi-chan and I have to take off for now." After standing up, she helped Sachimi to be up on her feet. Both bowed (though Mariko just seemed to tip her head a little low) and left.
Sakuno turned to Tatsue, 'Your senpai-tachi… are they really like that?"
"Pretty much. But it doesn't matter to me, nor any of my fellow kendoka… you'll know when you meet our bunch." Tatsue shrugged.
"Ok…" Sakuno trailed off. The music had started, and Seigaku was excited with the upcoming dances.
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"Congratulations, Mariko-chan! Sachimi-chan!" Emiko and Jun clapped their hands enthusiastically. "You totally kicked their ass!" Emiko added.
Mariko shook her head, "It was everybody's work that sent those bitches to hell."
"You're being too humble… here have some mince pie." Emiko grinned as she forced a forked mince into her friend's mouth. Mariko sighed, but ate nonetheless.
Inui's glasses glinted, "You used kendo footwork earlier, didn't you, Hanami-san?"
Mariko was taken aback, so she wasn't able to answer; it was Emiko who replied, "Of course. Kendo has its moments; you know… it's also a good way of personal vocalization!"
"Vocalization?" asked Kikumaru.
"Yeah, it is. You see, we have this kiai… a sort of cheer, but more of a personalized "explosive" yell for yourself that you use during a match. Hide-senpai's kiai sound more of a… note on a song, actually." Answered Mai, "Natsume-bochou's… I haven't actually heard it because she only participates every once in a while…"
"Why?" asked Momoshiro, helping his self with a plate of Italian pasta.
"Because she doesn't really need to… Hide-senpai, Sanyu-senpai and Hanami-fukubuchou usually kick the heck out of their opponents and wins almost every single time." answered Tatsue who was now eating a single serving of chicken curry rice.
"…"
Seigaku and the Daigaku kendo club girls stayed their noon on a small food stall that was run by Atsuyo and her group mates. It was an open booth, unlike the rest of the food centers which were enclosed in air-conditioned rooms. The costumers sat on long benches with equally long tables to complete the picnic motif of their stall, which was a little different from the kind of food they served.
The student-waitresses giggled and blushed as they watched the Seigaku tennis club regulars, some even asked for autographs. However, they were stopped by Mariko who coolly told them to stop acting like that.
"You're too cruel, senpai." Frowned Atsuyo, who was their waitress for the meal.
Mariko scowled, "Yes, I am." Emiko and Jun looked at each other and giggled uncontrollably.
"No, you're not." Oishi suddenly said, earning a raise of brow from the girl.
"Hmph, look, Oishi-san, just because I'm not being cruel to you doesn't mean that I'm not. It's just a matter of preference of who to be cruel to."
Oishi smiled, "The cruelty of most people is lack of imagination, their brutality is ignorance. Kurt Tucholsky says so."
Mariko smirked, "Not bad, Oishi-san."
"Do you really think you're ignorant, Honey?" asked Shinichi, who popped out of nowhere, catching Mariko off guard and made her jump. He was now sort of listening to a recorded something on his iPod.
"SHIN-ICHI!" Mariko shouted as she punched the boy on the gut, "DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!"
"I-itai…" Shinichi crouched.
"Kya! Mariko-chan! You're mean! Why did you hit Shin-kun!" exclaimed Emiko, rushing to Shinichi's side.
Mariko glared at the boy, "It's because he's acting like that old man again!"
"Oh, yeah… you hate surprises." Emiko crossed her arms. (now on her seat) She looked at her watch, "My gosh… it's almost time! Hey, you finished eating?" she looked up at the monsters before her, "Er… it's almost Jun's film showing…"
"…" Seigaku was busy devouring the food that was served to them.
Emiko sighed and shook her head.
"What a bunch of hungry wolves."
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After the sumptuous meal in the culinary arts' class stall, Seigaku and Diagaku kendo girls went to the Daigaku Film Institute which was just some good 500 meters away.
The building wasn't that large, and the movie center wasn't exactly new either. What caught their attention though were the tarpaulins and the posters that seemed to be everywhere.
Inside the mini-cinema, they caught a glimpse of Jun, but wasn't able to talk to her because the movie had started.
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Sniff.
Sniff.
Sniff.
Armed with a white handkerchief, Sakuno wiped the tears that smeared her cheeks after watching the last short movie. It was about a girl, who met her prince once, and they promised to meet each other someday but in the end, the prince left her and never came back. Something like that.
Seigaku and the Daigaku girls (with Jun) exited the film center and started to walk their way to the Theatre Arts division. Kikumaru praised the dramatic finale that Jun shot, while Sakuno said that the shots were amazing.
"Well, Aya-chan was the one who wrote the script." Said Jun, smiling.
"But it would've been useless without the pictures." Fuji told her, making Jun stare at him, surprised.
"I dunno… maybe." She smiled a little and shrugged.
"Fu fu fu…" Emiko grinned wickedly as she watched the two people walk side by side, "Fuji-san is right, Jun-kun! You should be happy that he noticed something so complicated as that!"
"What are you talking about?" Jun whirled at Emiko a little.
Emiko fixed her glasses, "Hi-mi-" and stuck her tongue out, "-tsu!" She skipped some steps forward, making sure that Jun and Fuji was behind her.
Momoshiro and Kaidoh walked together, not talking to each other; Kawamura and Atsuyo chatted about some recipes on sushi as they paced with the others. Mariko and Oishi talked about how Shinichi was able to speak well in front of crowds, the former gave him a short list that Shinichi was about to give the latter but had no time to (despite the fact that Shinichi seemed to have a lot of it earlier). Kikumaru followed Mai, looking a little worried, while Tezuka just remained silent as he walked. Tatsue stood in between Sakuno and Ryoma.
"I'll go first." Tatsue suddenly said. Sakuno frowned a little, "I almost forgot that thing that Hide-senpai borrowed earlier."
"Uh… Ok…" Sakuno replied, the handkerchief still on her hand. She watched her friend flounce away to her glassed senpai. Ryoma arched a brow as she lifted her right hand.
"Ne," said Ryoma, tipping down his cap, "Who gave that handkerchief?"
Sakuno looked at him surprised; she didn't expect him to ask such trivial question. Then again, the hanky wasn't an ordinary one. It was given by Minami Kenichi…
"A-anou… it's n-not important…" she waved her hands before her.
Ryoma sighed, and looked away.
"Hm. It's from that boy from the playground, isn't it?" he thought out loud. Well, he wasn't supposed to say that, but well, let's just say that puberty's got the better of him this time. (wicked smile from the author)
"R-Ryoma-kun… you saw… you saw… ?!" Sakuno stuttered. This she didn't expect.
Ryoma wanted to kick his self for saying that carelessly.
Sighing, which became sort of his habit nowadays, Ryoma said, "Never mind it…" he grabbed her vacant hand and dragged her with him.
Sakuno stared at him with puzzled a look, "R-Ryoma-kun?"
"C'mon, let's go, before those people think…" he trailed off. Shit.
It was too late.
They saw Ryoma and Sakuno holding hands.
"KYAAA!!!" Emiko tittered, (with all of the heart effects) "KAWAII!!!"
Mai piped, "OI! OI! Echizen-kun! You're holding her hand?!"
Mariko grinned like mad, "Oooohhh… Ryoma-kun, you're being too fast, aren't you?"
Jun nodded in agreement and added, "And here we were wondering what took you so long!"
Atsuyo and Tatsue looked at each other and sighed. They said in unison, "Senpai-tachi, yamete kudasai."
OH WAIT. Not only them… these people actually…
Oh shit.
Momoshiro and Kikumaru sniggered while Fuji smiled evilly.
"Kawaii! Ochibi-chan!" Kikumaru jumped into the air. Momoshiro rushed to the two first years and forcibly pulled down Ryoma's hat.
"S-senpai! Stop it!" Sakuno stammered as Ryoma was strangled by Momoshiro's arms.
Inui scribbled some data into his notebook, "Hhmmm… so Echizen's finally come in terms with her feelings? Data… data…"
"You're still going to put that there?" asked Oishi.
"Not exactly, but if he's going to date Sakuno-chan, then he'll have to train a lot… and more Inui juice for him, maybe…" answered Inui.
Oishi and Kawamura paled, it was a good thing they haven't thought about having potential date-materials, let alone girlfriends…
Kaidoh hissed as usual. Tezuka sighed, watching his teammates in such riot… not exactly the best feeling for a captain.
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The cajoling and teasing continued even though they already entered the hall. They were, however, greeted with utmost hullabaloo when they got to their seats; it was still early and yet people had already flocked the seats, some of them wore shirts that had "NATSUME-SAMA DAISUKI" and "NATSUME-SAMA AISHITERU", some also had "NOMURA-SAMA" printed on them.
"It seemed like Aya-chan reserved some seats for us." Mariko said, as she approached Seigaku and the kendo club girls. She went backstage to talk to Ayashi and Shinichi.
They immediately went to a special row of seats.
(There's two rows reserved for them at the center position… On the first row, on the leftmost is Mariko, then Emiko, Jun, Atsuyo, Mai, Tatsue, Sakuno and the rightmost is Ryoma. On the next row, the left most is Tezuka, then Oishi, Inui, Kaidoh, Kawamura, Fuji, Kikumaru and Momoshiro.)
"Kakoii!" Emiko giggled, she turned to Jun, "Ayashi-chan's in the lead role again, right?"
Jun nodded, "But I heard that she's not supposed to play it… I guess she preferred scriptwriting."
"What are they talking about, Tatsue-chan?" asked Sakuno, who was at the far-right position.
Tatsue turned her head to Sakuno, "You see, Natsume-buchou isn't really an actress, though of course she knows how to act, she loves writing a lot more than she likes acting."
Kikumaru leaned forward, "Then why's she getting the lead role, nya?"
"It's because the actress for the part got sick last week and wasn't able to practice… so Natsume-buchou filled in for her." Answered Mai.
"Kendo club members seem to have lots of talents." Said Fuji.
"Of course!" shouted Emiko from the left side, "Just because we're practicing kendo doesn't mean that we can't be good in other stuff, ne!"
"Of course." Inui replied, "That is true… but don't you have anything that you can't do? Especially your buchou… she seems to be in perfect control of everything…"
Tezuka glanced sideways.
Mariko, Emiko and Jun laughed, "You'll know what things she can't do!"
"Things?" Oishi wondered aloud.
"Of course!" Mariko grinned, "She'd be extremely dull to be with if we can't tease her!"
Oishi stared unbelievingly, "But she's your buchou!"
"I am perfectly aware of that, thank you very much." Mariko raised a brow, "However, we do know when to separate our club business with personal life, Oishi-san."
The two stared at each other, eyes narrowed.
"Hora, hora! Stop that! The play's starting!" Emiko gasped.
On the other side of the rows…
Momoshiro, Kikumaru and Fuji had been terrorizing the two freshmen ever since the start of the conversation on the left hand side. They've been teasing, pestered, bantering Sakuno and Ryoma. Poor Sakuno had been blushing all the time.
"Kya, did you kiss her, Ochibi-chan?" Kikumaru asked playfully.
"No." Ryoma replied.
"Did you hug her?" it was Momoshiro's turn, "Did you do something else?"
Ryoma was getting pissed off with his senpai-tachi, "No."
Though of course, it wouldn't be bad if I'd do that if I and Sakuno would be close… wait?! What the heck am I thinking!
Fuji's devilish smile graced his lips, "Do you have any plans to do so, Echizen?"
Ryoma felt his heart skip a beat… did he say those stuff out loud? No, of course not… it must be because of Fuji-senpai's dirty tactics of making him helpless…
He cleared his throat, "Of course… not."
Sakuno frowned a bit, while Tatsue was torn in between feeling sorry for Sakuno for having such seniors, or feeling relieved that she wasn't Sakuno.
The lights dimmed and everyone shut up.
"Oh, it's starting." Said Tatsue.
On the stage, a stature of a small girl appeared. It was Ayashi.
"I waited… and waited… but you didn't come." her expression was pained and suffering.
They heard Mariko say, "As expected… she knows exactly what to do…"
Tezuka looked a little surprised as he heard Ayashi say her lines.
"Under the pale crimson sky, I waited for you… and yet, you didn't come… was the wait too long for you to leave me?" Ayashi walked to the center of the stage. She was wearing something like Alice's dress from Alice in Wonderland, albeit it was all white, in direct contrast with her dark hair.
"I waited for you, and yet you didn't come… could it be you don't love me anymore or you've found someone you loved more?"
Tears had already welled up on her equally dark eyes. Tezuka's brows furrowed as she continued to say her lines. It was as if he knew what she was talking about and at the same time, completely clueless about it.
And the play progressed, it was no sooner that sniffs and sobs and cries from the audience was heard.
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"Black Alice" was finally finished and it was time to go home. It's already four in the afternoon, and Ayashi too had joined the group.
"Well done, Ayashi-chan." Cheered Mariko, who threw a can of apple-flavored Ponta to the kendo buchou.
Ayashi opened the can and a fizz was heard, "I missed three or four lines. It was good that Shinichi was my partner or our class president will kill me."
"For a scriptwriter, you kicked ass." Emiko said, and went beside Ayashi and put her hand on Ayashi's head as if measuring her, "But I'm still taller than you." (Ayashi is just a head shorter than Emiko, she's the smallest among the four seniors)
"Shut up." Ayashi stuck her tongue out at Emiko; hesitantly, she turned to the Seigaku buchou, she bowed, "Gomenasai, Tezuka-san!"
Tezuka looked at her indifferently and spoke, "For what?"
"Eh?" she frowned, "For the extra note… erm… it's not supposed to be given to you… I'm really sorry." (Ayashi's mental note: Because it's supposed to be in my "insult" notes…)
Tezuka sighed.
"Betsuni." He replied coolly. The girl grinned sheepishly; Tezuka then remembered something, "Natsume-san," Ayashi looked up at him (Tezuka is like… 179 cm and Ayashi's only 161 cm…), "were you the one who wrote that play?"
Ayashi nodded, "Why?"
"Nothing." The stoic boy replied, "Natsume-san, we will now take our leave."
"Oh… do your club mates mind if our kohai join you?" she asked, "I know it's too much, but I sort of-" Ayashi was scratching her cheek with her forefinger, "-don't want them to go home alone tonight."
Oishi asked her, "Why?"
"Well, the seniors will have to talk about the upcoming program for the next two weeks… you know, the Daidouji Gakuen Winter Festival." Said Mariko, "So, there's no one who could escort them home. Their homes are far away from here, we can't possibly just let them go alone."
Tatsue raised a brow but didn't say anything, while Atsuyo glanced at her best friend.
"Very well." Tezuka said indifferently, "We'll escort them."
"Hey, thanks!" Emiko exclaimed.
Mai protested, "Senpai! We can go home by ourselves!" She seemed to be the only one who complained about it.
"No. You there will be accompanied back to your homes." Said Ayashi, in a manner that left no space for objections or arguments. Mai was taken aback by her senpai's reaction, but sighed in defeat.
The four third years bowed and left, though Mariko warned the girls that if they won't follow what their buchou told them, she definitely had ways to know.
Tatsue commented as the fukubuchou left, "Scary."
Mai and Atsuyo looked at each other and gulped. Mai hung her head in defeat, "Looks like we have no choice."
"Aa." Atsuyo nodded.
It was going to be a very long afternoon.
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A/N: By far, this must be the most boring chapter I've made… almost 1 week of thinking of how the heck am I supposed to finish this… AT LAST, I can now move on the next chapters!
P.S. Does Echizen Ryoga exist in the manga (or is he just, well, another filler character for the movie)? Just asking… haven't read all volumes of PoT…