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DISCLAIMER: I do not own Prince of Tennis… not even Tezuka-sama, Momoshiro-kun and Ryoma-sama! (fangirl squee!) Not even Konomi-sama!

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Chapter 19

Strangeness

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After splitting from Kikumaru and Mai, Kawamura and Atsuyo walked together at the streets of Tokyo. In complete contrast of Tokyo's bursting noise, the two walked side by side with silence that you could even hear a pin being dropped.

What an earth shattering silence.

Kawamura sighed, but it was Atsuyo who first spoke.

"Ne, Taka-san, I think you stepped on crap."

"W-what?!" he then immediately left off to somewhere to take the crap off his shoes. Atsuyo stared at him intently, her blue eyes scrutinizing the soft-spoken boy; it made him fidget a little.

"Ne, Taka-san, do you have sort of personality problem?" she asked nonchalantly at him.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" he asked back as they continued walking.

She puckered her lips, "When you play tennis… and when you hold a racket, you would magically become loud and bellicose person."

Kawamura only laughed.

"Hide-senpai told us everything… er… almost everything about Seigaku's tennis club members before hand." Said Atsuyo, her hands neatly rested before her as she walked.

"S-she did? Ehehehe…"

"Uhm." Atsuyo nodded, "But only when in terms of your team's performance on the court, but she said she was too lazy to take other information whatsoever. My senpai-tachi are such a lazy bunch." She spat.

"Oi, is it okay for you to talk like that about your senpai?" Kawamura asked.

"Nope. But I feel better when I talk about what I think about other people." She said casually, as if she's used talking like that. "You won't tell it to other people, ne, Taka-san? What I said about my senpai?"

"Well… I dunno."

Atsuyo raised a brow. Kawamura sighed.

"O-okay, I won't tell anybody."

Atsuyo held up her left hand, her little pinky finger outstretched while the others were hiding in her clutch, "Pinky promise?" Kawamura blinked and commented mentally of how childish it was.

"Pinky promise."

Oh well, he promised anyway.

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The girl fell silent again as they continued on walking. She walked small, seemingly equal steps and she had the aura of something he didn't notice until that day… er… afternoon.

She was cautious. Really cautious. Of what, he didn't have any idea, but from the way her eyes shiftily darted from left to right it seemed like she was expecting something to jump at her.

Takashi cleared his throat, taking the attention of the red-haired girl.

"Ne… Nozomi-san…" The girl stared at him. "…"

Damn… I couldn't think of anything to say!

"Taka-san?"

Okay, it's official. I'm speechless.

"You look pale. Are you sick?"

"Er… no. Not really." Answered Takashi. But at the moment, he felt like he was going to be sick.

Atsuyo continued to watch him, "Let's go buy lollipops." She said as she tugged Kawamura's arm with her to the sweet shop that they just passed by.

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They continued to walk on, one of their hands busy holding a big candy on a stick. Atsuyo chose the rainbow colored one which was bubblegum flavor, while Takashi bought an odd flavored one.

"Doesn't that… taste bad?" Atsuyo gave him a freaked out look… or rather, she gave his bought-sweet a freaked out look. "I haven't known anyone who enjoyed eating… mushroom flavored candies in my entire life."

"I love mushrooms." Kawamura replied. He was immediately countered by the little girl.

"Soups are different from candies. I would certainly understand why you would like mushroom soup… but mushroom candy?!" she gave the candy a disgusted look, "Gross."

Takashi frowned.

Okay, he preferred that she'd just shut up and not talk. The usual Nozomi-san… ah! Wait!

He gave the girl a good look and tried to remember what her older brother said about her.

"She still is a child-minded girl."

She's not like this when we're with other people; she would usually keep silent and tried not to bother anyone… but now…

He kept what he thought to himself as he watched the girl intently. She kept on babbling about a lot of things, and he was surprised, that she pinpointed how a girl who just passed by them looked like she was going to some bar because of her skimpy clothes, which he thought he heard from someone earlier.

Kawamura continued on observing the girl and found out a lot of stuff that she didn't like… the infamous Inui juice for example.

"But you haven't drunk any of Inui's Penal Tea, Nozomi-san." Kawamura reasoned.

"I know. But Sanyu-senpai told us that Inui-senpai also made veggie juices that taste a lot like her medicinal drinks…" Atsuyo scowled, "And those were really gross."

"Oh, I see…" Kawamura gulped.

This is it.

"Y-you seem to be… much more talkative now, ne, Nozomi-san."

The girl puckered up her lips, "It's because you promised."

"P-promised?"

"Yeah." She nodded, "The pinky promise." She showed her left hand, her pinky finger standing out. "You promised you won't tell it to anyone. Mai-chan made that promise too years ago."

"…"

Atsuyo continued to walk while Kawamura felt that his feet were rooted on the ground. He was confused with her. He couldn't grasp her at all. Sometimes she acted like she was some kind of detective talking of such trivial things like the way something was thrown carelessly at the ground, sometimes she talked like she was some kind of child from kindergarten with all of her pinky finger promise, sometimes… he just couldn't get her at all!

If this was what her brother told him of her being child-minded… this wasn't being child-minded at all!

She's kind of some messed up person!

"Oi, Taka-san!" he snapped back to reality, Atsuyo was now some good feet away from him. "I'm going to leave you there if you don't hurry up!" a wide smile was on her small lips.

She smiled. She really smiled… wait, she did?

"Y-yeah, coming."

The two continued to walk.

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The two had finished their candies, and was almost just some good quarter parts away from the Nozomi household.

"Mai-chan used to live in Shibuya." Atsuyo said without much of reason, "But the food there was awful."

Kawamura shot a confused look at the little chef.

"When we met… almost six years ago, she would complain nonstop about her home." Atsuyo continued, "It was like salad without the dressing or the vegetables."

"But that would… taste bad."

"Uh huh. When we became best friends, she'd rather eat with my family than with her own family. My family tried to talk to her about her behavior, but it was useless." She shrugged, "Mai-chan's such a stubborn bull."

An idea came on his chef's mind. He turned to Atsuyo, "She doesn't enjoy her food, does she?"

"Bingo." She exclaimed, but continued on walking anyways. "Food doesn't only make people feel full, but it also makes them happy. The happier the people eating the food, the tastier the food is! My mother always tells us about it."

"She… doesn't enjoy eating?"

"Only when she's at her house in Shibuya. She's always told me that she didn't want to stay at that place, that's why she moved with us."

Kawamura stayed still.

"You sure do know a lot about Sachimi-san, Nozomi-san." He said.

Atsuyo nodded, "Of course. She's my best friend forever after all!"

Kawamura smiled.

Of course. There must be no other reason why.

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They finally reached their destination and the sun had already set a good ten minutes earlier. Atsuyo asked Takashi if he'd want to eat some of their served food for the day but he refused. He told her that he's still got a lot of things to do at his father's sushi shop. The girl nodded and told him that she won't insist on doing so.

"Come and eat here if you have the time, Taka-san." She told him, "And rest of Seigaku too, the more the happier."

"Sure." Kawamura nodded. He then remembered something, "Oh… Nozomi-san… are you still angry at Echizen?"

Atsuyo nodded, "Yeah… a little. That cocky little brat needs some spanking, but it's not for me to do that. Nothing I could do about it." Takashi nodded.

"Ja ne, Nozomi-san." He waved.

The girl waved back, "Ja, Taka-san! Don't forget our promise!" He nodded. And it was enough to give her a good night's sleep.

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A/N: Yay! Another chapter finished!! WHO HOO!!! More ideas from the readers are very much appreciated! 3 MWAH!

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