CHAPTER 3: It's not just the heat
When they reached the nurse's office, the girl still didn't remove the hat over her face. She stubbornly insists that she should have some time alone and didn't urge to bother what her father says. After a few minutes the principal of Seishun Gakuen arrived with a worried look on his face. He apologizes over and over to the couple and the girl in front of him who got hit by the tennis ball.
"I should talk to Coach Ryuizaki about this accident" he said apologetically to them
"Oh, its okay. Don't bother. After all its only an accident, right dear?" Louise said over to her daughter as she moaned.
After that the principal left. As he opened the door most of the members of the tennis club was eavesdropping to their conversation. He paused and gave them a disappointing look and asked where coach Ryuizaki is. Then he left with Oishi to talk things over with the coach. Fuji and Kawamura went to look for Tezuka to give him the message to go the principal's office right away.
Tezuka looked at his reflection tensely over the mirror of the comfort room. His thoughts went over and over what happened a while ago.
"Man, that must've hurt…" he thought as he washed his face. To his surprise, an unusual looking girl burst in to the boys' bathroom. She looked surprised as him. There was silence for a few seconds then with a horrified look on her face, she screamed. Tezuka looked stunned and it seams that his whole body was paralyzed. Finally he spoke,.
"I'm sorry but this is the boys' bathroom…" he said reluctantly as he wiped his face with his towel… but the girl can't seem to understand what Tezuka said.
"pardoner!!!" the girl said as she run quickly as she can.
"What did just happen?" he thought "Nah,., I'm imagining things. I need to go to principal's office…"
As his way to the principal's office he completely forgot about the bathroom incident… he nervously opened the door and saw the principal talking to coach Ryuizaki and the couple whom he had a conversation earlier they all turned their heads to Tezuka who look pale.
"Tezuka, where have you been?" coach Ryuizaki asked as she offered a chair to him
"Sorry, I was at the bath-"
"Gasp!! You!!"
"Yes, this is Kunimitsu Tezuka, captain of the boys' tennis club. I see you already met each other." Said coach Ryuizaki
"Mom! He's the guy I was talking about.. the one I saw in the bathroom!!!" the girl said while pointing to Tezuka
"Dear,. You know that it's bad to point." Louise said while reaching for her daughter's hand
"Oh, I see that the reason why she looked horrified when she returned." Ryuizaki said smiling mischievously
"You must've enter the boys' bathroom by mistake ma chére" Viktor said
Tezuka had no idea she was the girl who got hit by tennis ball. Finally he spoke up.
"I'm sorry I gave your daughter a fright." He said as he bow down in excuse
"How rude of me, I haven't introduced myself. Viktor Nicholas Miaskovsky, I'm very pleased to meet you, and this is my wife Louise Alexandra Miaskovsky." He said as he and Tezuka shake hands.
"They are from Russia, St. Petersburg to be exact." The principal said
"Hhhhmm… Miaskovsky??? Sounds familiar, could she be….??" Tezuka thought
"Gabrielle Yvonne Miaskovsky, the great, great grand daughter of the Grand Duchess Alexandra from the house of royal Windsor. Particularly one of the next line to the royal family. She is the one and only daughter of Viktor Miaskovsky and Louise whose mother is of course the Grand Duchess Alexandra. If Russia would still have dynasties they would probably hold the crown."
The girl seems to be irritated by this and looked away with a frown…
"Hhmmm, if I'm not mistaken, is she the one who won the French Open for the junior division?" Tezuka asked as he tries to recall whatever details he knew about the certain event.
"I daresay I was in the French open last year, but I can't continue anymore due to my physical conditions…" the girl said courtly as looked down and took grasp of her dress.
"Tezuka Kunimitsu…? How are you related to Kumamura Tezuka?" Viktor asked with great pleasure in his eyes
"He's my grandfather, but how did you-?
"The owner of the Tezuka Corporation ofcourse!! They have invested a lot in Russia, dated back to the Japanese-Russo war!!" he said in awe, Tezuka seemed amazed too.
"Aw, come on Papa!! We didn't fly all the way from France to talk about business here!!" Gabrielle said as she irritatingly stood up and walk to the near window to have a look at the campus.
"Right. We'll leave her under your supervision. Please take good care of her. Our plane should be here in 3 hours." Viktor said to the principal and coach Ryuizaki.
"What?! You're leaving already!! I thought you're gonna stay here for a couple of days!!" Gabrielle said exasperatedly as she approached her mother.
"I am hoping that she'll recover a bit here. I heard that you're very good in training your tennis players." His father said as he smiled to Coach Ryuizaki.
"Mama!! You're not listening to me!!!"
"Ma chére, we've already talked about this-"
"But you said you're staying for a couple of days. It seems that it turned out to be a couple of hours!!! Hmmpp!!" she stubbornly said to her mother.
"Actually, I want you to meet the ace players of Seigaku. Would that be ok for you Ms. Miaskovsky?" the principal asked
The girl's face turned a light bright. At least there's something to ponder on while she's in Japan. She looked at her parents who gave a quick nod and turned to Coach Ryuizaki.
"I….I guess so…." She mumbled as she frowned at her parents
"That's great. Tezuka, would you like to show her around for a while. I'm sure it'll be good for her to catch some fresh air right now." Viktor said as he smiled mildly
"Yeah Tezuka, show her around and if ever introduce her to some of the teachers if you pass across them." Coach Ryuizaki said looking intensely at Tezuka
"But,. I-"
Coach Ryuizaki gave him a look.
"Sure." He finally said "Would you like to go now?" he timidly asked the girl across in the room. To his surprise, she turned around and gave a small nod.
"Okay, it looks like I really need some air right now. I'm getting a little nauseous around here." Gabrielle said lazily. "I'll tell you when we're leaving." Her mother said as she gave her a kiss as the girl numbly hesitated as she walked away from her mother and passed in front of Tezuka, he followed her and closed the door.
It was sure an awkward moment for Tezuka, well I'm not that sure, and he's used in not talking. Unexpectedly, he acted a bit different, it was really AWKWARD.
He was trying to have a conversation after he closed the door but Gabrielle was staring into a distance, looking into nothingness then finally, Tezuka remembered something which is he was sure they have in common. Tennis.
"Um, so how long have you been playing tennis?" he asked not making any eye contact
Gabrielle looked over to Tezuka. She looked surprised but then she replied dazedly. "I started playing when I was 5."
She emotionlessly stared into the corridor. They turned right and then hear the bell ring. Students came out of the empty corridor and filled it quickly. Gabrielle ignored it, so as Tezuka did. As they walked through the corridor, many students looked surprised to see Tezuka with a foreigner. Actually, a girl. He was never seen with a girl before. Of course he gave no reaction to this. They walked down the stairs and at last reached the tennis court. Tezuka entered first.
"Come." He said to Gabrielle who seemed to have been absent minded through out the day. As she entered the court with Tezuka, everybody took notice and eventually stopped whatever they're doing.
Everybody was astounded to see the girl who came in with their captain. To everybody's observable eye, she was wearing a red sleeveless sundress. The hat she was wearing a while ago was now removed and everybody can see her. Her dazzling emerald green eyes shone brighter as the sun showed its brightest. Her eyes swept the court as she was stunned to see everyone paused. Her wavy blonde hair swayed gently as the cool breeze was felt in the court. She was standing beside Tezuka when he called.
"Regulars gather up!" Tezuka shouted
Gabrielle was looking strangely at Tezuka. "What?" he stiffly asked
"Oh, I forgot that you're the captain, that's all. What am I supposed to do here anyway?" she asked with great frustration
"That's the longest sentence she'd said." Tezuka thought as he looked at the regulars who are approaching them
"They're all boys?" she quietly asked
"Yes. Unfortunately, there's no girl in this school who's that good to pass the regular standards of the school." Tezuka explained
"Oh. That's bad." she nervously said seeing the guys are getting closer.
"Hey Tezuka! Who's-"
"This is Gabrielle Yvonne Miaskovsky. She's from Russia and from now she'll be studying here in Seishun Gakuen and- " he was cut by Momo
"OOOOhhhhhhh!!! You're giving her a tour around the school right?" Momo asked in great enthusiasm
"For your information, the coach had asked me to, and to add that I may tell you that she was the one who got hit by a tennis a while ago by two freakishly stupid regular members-"
"YOU MEAN SHE'S THE HOT CHICK?!!!?????" Eiji asked excitedly
"Huh? Pardoner?" Gabrielle asked, she was not sure of what she heard
"She can't quite understand Japanese." Fuji explained. Gabrielle noticed him and he gave her a gentle smile. She just stared back at Fuji. "Maybe that's how she says thank you." Fuji thought as he gave a small chuckle
"Ms. Miaskovsky, this is Oishi Syuuichiro. He's the vice-captain of the Tennis Club" Tezuka said
"Please, just call me Gabrielle."
"This is Ryoma Echizen, he's a Freshman. Kaidoh Kaoru, Inui Sadaharu, Kawamura Takashi, Syusuke Fuji and lastly, Kikumaru Eiji and Momoshiro Takeshi, the two idiots who hit you with a tennis ball."
"Well, we thought you're a mirage-" Eiji said apologetically
"And so to check if you're real, Eiji here tried to hit you-" Momo quipped
"Pft-!!! With a Tennis Ball!!!" Kaidoh muttered
"We're really sorry!" Eiji said
Gabrielle just stared back.
"I'm not sure she understood correctly." Fuji whispered at Eiji
"She doesn't speak at all! Aw.. she's just like Tezuka." Momo said glumly
Gabrielle heard this and eventually looked at Momo with a blank expression and then she looked at Tezuka who she noticed was gazing at her for a while. Surprisingly, she smiled sweetly at Tezuka which he hadn't seen before. A smile he hadn't seen before in his life. Seeing her smiling made him feel light and for him she seemed very charming. Very different from what he had seen a while ago. Yes. A whole lot different. Different from what he had seen in the office. She's more of a frowning and complaining a while ago. "Maybe, the heat's getting to her" Tezuka thought.
