Chapter 005:
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis/Tennis no Oujisama does not belong to me. Sadly.
Bold is English. Regular is Japanese.
Miyuu's POV—
"Are you related to Kikumaru-senpai?"
"You're Kikumaru-senpai's cousin, ne?"
"Kikumaru-sama is soooo cool! Can you get me an autograph?"
"That's the acrobatic tennis player's relative?"
I tapped my pencil against the desk, a headache already starting to form. And class hasn't even started yet. "Yes, I'm Kikumaru-senpai's cousin. Obviously. We have the same last name."
A bunch of girls squealed and I resisted to urge to stab them in the eye with my pencil. I breathed in deeply. Calm down, Miyuu, calm down.
"Miyuuki-chan?"
"WHAT?"
"E-eh."
I opened my eyes to see a Momo with a terrified expression on his face. "A-ah, I'm sorry. Just… everyone's getting on my nerves."
He snickered. "Yeah, well, that's what you get for being related to one of the most famous people of this school."
I sunk down into my chair. "It's frustrating. We don't even talk."
"Eh, really?"
I nodded. "I lived in America my whole life and grew up in a complete Japanese home, but I had never visited Japan before this. So, I've never met Kikumaru-senpai."
"Ah, I see."
"I'm sorry, Momo-chan, what did you need?"
"I was just going to ask if you were going to stay after school to watch the tennis team again."
I shrugged. "It all depends on Kayde-chan. And considering we still haven't bought any groceries, we're probably going to eat out. And Kuni-chan doesn't like it when we eat separately. So, if Kayde-chan wants to stay and watch Ryoma-kun, then we'll wait."
"Ryoma-kun? Echizen, Ryoma?" He seemed taken aback.
I nodded. "Why? That's Kayde-chan's cousin."
"He's an amazing tennis player, is all," He mumbled.
"Momoshiro-san, in your seat!"
"H-hai, sensei!"
Kuni's POV—
"Tsuji-san!"
"Hai?"
"Please answer the questions!"
"Hai, sensei."
I stared at them for a few moments. "19, 5, 83, 24, and 176."
"Uh…" Sato-sensei stammered. "Have you already worked them out?"
"Hai. In my head, sir."
Everyone in the class turned to me like I was a freak.
I nervously gave a half-smile.
"Wow! Kuniko-chan is so smart!" Horio-kun shouted.
I shook my head immediately. "N-no… I'm not smart…"
We were all in advanced classes back in the US. Giselle studied the most. She would spend hours in her room, just re-teaching the material to herself over and over. Miyuu studied only for things she thought she needed. Kayde was always too lazy to study, but she was talented enough to get things quickly.
And I always made sure to study with all three of them, even if Kayde would just fall asleep on me. I wanted my grades to be perfect. Study hard, work hard. Then I will get far in life. And I won't need to rely on my money for having a successful future.
"Very good, Tsuji-san."
People were still staring.
"Che. Show off."
I turned to my left to see Ryoma smirking at me.
"What…?"
"You heard me. Show off."
I felt a vein throb in my forehead. "Please, like you're one to talk."
All he did was smirk at me.
And suddenly my face became flustered.
Wait… am I angry…? No…
What is this?
Giselle's POV—
"Hoi, hoi, Giselle-chan, did you like our practice yesterday?"
I forced myself to keep a serious face. "It wasn't much of a show…"
Eiji pouted. "That's because you haven't seen us really practice!"
My eye twitched. He's so freaking adorable.
"Ne, ne, why are you so serious?" He poked my cheek with a pencil. "You should smile more often. Pretty girls smile!"
And thus, my façade was broken.
"Like that!" He grinned widely.
"Saa… Kikumaru-san," Syusuke turned around to face us. "You should leave Stryker-san alone."
I raised an eyebrow. "Why so formal, Syusuke?"
"Eh, dropping honorifics so fast?" Eiji stared at me with wide eyes.
"Stryker-san is my cousin," Syusuke stated, clearing the air.
"It's Giselle," I corrected. "We're close enough to drop honorifics, no?"
"Mm, I guess." Syusuke replied, with that fake smile still on his face. "Kaa-san's wondering when you're going to come and visit."
"I'll visit when I'm not busy," I sighed. "I have three other girls to watch over, y'know. They're a hassle."
"I'm sure Darcel-san can care for them."
"Eh? You met her?"
Eiji interjected. "Yeah! Yesterday!"
I blinked. "Oh. That's interesting… What do you think of her?"
"She's quiet," Eiji declared, with his index finger in the air.
I nearly cracked up. "Ah, well, once you break her shell, you'll see that that's not the case."
"How long did it take for you to break her shell?" Syusuke asked.
"We met when we were children," I shrugged. "It didn't take any time. She had no shell back then. But considering her now, it'll take a while."
"Is that so…" Syusuke trailed off, turning back around.
"Syusuke-kun sure is weird…" Eiji mumbled.
Kayde's POV—
"I hate work, I hate school, I hate life~" I sung under my breath. "I'm gonna be a hobo when I grow up~"
"Eh? What's that?"
I looked up to see Ryoma looming over me.
"It's a song that I'm going to teach to the glee club today."
"We have a glee club?"
I sweatdropped. "Yes, Chibisuke. We do."
"Is it in Japanese?"
I shook my head. "And that's the problem. I'm going to have them work on their enunciation. So, I'm starting out with a song that they should know."
I handed him the paper.
"'Baby' by Justin Bieber…?"
I shrugged. "It's a famous song."
"Are you guys ever going to perform?"
I shrugged. "It all depends."
"Who's even in the glee club?"
"Seven girls, not including me. And five guys."
"That's surprisingly a lot."
I nodded. "It's bigger than my group in the states."
"Your group won competitions, right?"
"Yeah."
"You were the leader then, too, right?"
I nodded.
"I'm expecting big things from Seigaku's glee club then."
"Alright, guys! Good job!"
"Thank you, Darcel-sensei!"
I shook my head and laughed. "No, just call me Kayde-chan."
Most of the class left, leaving only Kuni and I there. She wiped the sweat off her forehead. "This is surprisingly a lot of work."
I nodded. "Luckily, most of them are already good at English."
I turned around the face the huge mirror in front of me. This room was one of the older dance rehearsal rooms. But they decided to let us have it. Unfortunately, the mirror is one-way, so, there's another room connected to it, where people can sit and watch.
I'm the only one aware of this.
"I need to tape everyone."
Kuni shook her head. "They're not going to like that. I mean, I know I'm nervous in front of a camera."
I raised my arms up in the air and stretched. "Yeah, well, we'll see."
"How was practice?" Miyuu asked, walking with us to the tennis courts.
"It was okay." Kuni replied, sipping her soda. "Just a little frustrated with the song choice." She glowered at me.
I chortled. "Come on. We can't just jump from no knowledge of show choir straight to something like Bohemian Rhapsody."
"Ah, but some of them do have experience with choir!" Kuni replied. "Amaya-chan's won a few singing competitions before!"
I nodded. "But she doesn't know how to step to save her life."
"Oh… Right… Then what about Haru-kun?"
"He has a great voice, but he's scared to show it off." I sighed. "I need a good, strong male lead."
"Like Jace back in the states?"
I froze.
"O-oh… Sorry, Kayde-chan…"
I shook my head. "No, it's alright."
"Oi, what's this?"
I looked to where Miyuu was pointing. Ryoma was standing there, and the guy who threatened him yesterday threw a wooden racket at him.
Ryoma always seems to get into trouble.
"That crummy old racket from the floor!" The freshman with the ugly shirted exclaimed.
"The strings are loose… The frame's rickety," A guy with a mushroom haircut continued. "Nobody can use this thing!"
"Except for Chibisuke," I muttered, gripping the fence in front of me. "He's going to be causing a lot of issues."
"You can say that again," Miyuu scoffed in agreement.
"What's wrong? Afraid to play me, 'Amazing 7th Grader?'"
"OI, RYOMA!" Everyone turned to me. "KICK THIS GUY'S ASS!"
"K-Kayde-chan," Kuni tapped my shoulder. "Please calm down."
"BEAT THIS GUY TO THE GROUND."
"Miyuu-chan," Kuni sweatdropped.
"Can't stand douche bags like that guy," Miyuu pursed her lips. "Your cousin's good at tennis?" She turned to me.
I smirked. "Eh, he's average."
I saw Eiji walk over towards us and opened the gate to the fence. "You guys want to watch up close and personal?"
I smiled. "Yeah, sure."
"Where's Giselle-chan?" Eiji searched back and forth.
"Probably at Archery practice," I replied.
"Aw," Eiji pouted. "I wanted her to come see me practice."
We walked back onto the courts and got a clear view of Ryoma vs. the eighth grade douche.
"Let's just play."
"Always been the serious one, Chibisuke," I chuckled out of earshot.
I heard someone laugh from behind and saw Fuji grinning. "I think I'm gonna watch for a while."
"I knew you were going to say that," Eiji frowned.
Standing side by side with Fuji, I finally decided to ask.
"Who is that guy anyways?"
"That's Arai-san," Fuji replied.
"Why is he such a jerk?"
He chuckled. "I guess your cousin provoked him."
I sighed. "Of course, he did."
"You talked so big earlier, now play big!" Arai exclaimed.
The ball flew over Arai's head.
"He's got no control at all!"
"Did you hear the sound of those strings?"
"Swinging normally is useless," Inui stated.
"Yup," Eiji agreed.
"With those strings, he can't put any spin on the ball."
"Che," I mumbled. C'mon, Chibisuke. What's taking you so long?
I saw Ryoma hitting the strings with his knuckles.
Ah. Finally.
"You got no chance!"
That is, until my brilliant cousin spun his entire body in order to put spin on the ball. "Now, that's the Ryoma that I know."
"S-sugoi," Kuni mumbled.
I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "He's single, you know."
"EH?"
Miyuu busted out laughing.
Kuni's face flustered into a deep red. I pinched her cheeks. "I wouldn't mind having you as a cousin-in-law."
"S-shut up…"
I merely snickered.
I looked back at Ryoma. He looked dissatisfied.
He returned the ball back with a pretty good force, causing Arai to miss.
"That's what you get, loser." Miyuu snickered. "Ey, your cousin's pretty good!" She poked my side. "Even with that crappy racket!"
"The master painter… makes art with any brush."
I looked to my right at Fuji. His eyes were open.
My breath caught in my throat, and I stood there, not even being able to blink. But just as fast as they had opened, they were closed once again. He looked at me and smiled with that fake smile. "Ne, Kayde-chan?"
I simply nodded, while clearing my throat. I turned back to the match.
But I couldn't get the vision of his eyes out of my head.
They were gorgeous, and I had only seen them for a split second. A beautiful blend of aqua and cerulean. Just like the ocean.
I attempted to shake my head to clear it.
"Arai's so stupid… Embarrassing the eighth graders like that."
"Hey, Kaidoh."
"I'm going to the bathroom."
Ah, well, someone's pissed.
"Okay. I'm done warming up!" Ryoma announced.
"What?"
"The string's broken…" The mushroom head said.
"Oh well. You're not done yet, are you, Arai-senpai?" Ryoma smirked, with his hand in his pocket, looking all cool.
Freaking A, mayne.
Arai just laughed nervously. "H-haven't you had enough?"
"Nope!"
I piped up. "I suggest you leave Ryoma alone from now on."
Arai turned around to look straight at me, a look of anger and fear obvious on his face. Ooh, I made him mad.
"Ah, here comes Oishi-kun." Eiji pointed.
"Captain said for everyone to run laps!"
"H-hai!"
The seventh graders and eighth graders immediately got to it. Ryoma just stood there for a second, sighed, and walked out after them.
"Regulars, too!"
"Eh?" Eiji whined. "Why?"
"Tezuka-buchou said everyone."
"Saa… Can't fight the captain." Fuji smiled.
"Sayonara, Kady-chan!" Eiji exclaimed. "And Miyuu-chan!" He pinched her cheek and she scowled right back. "And freshman-chan!" He patted her head before running out after the group.
"Freshman-chan…?" Kuni mumbled.
"Saa… I guess until next time," Fuji waved at me.
"Bye, Fuji-san."
His eyes opened.
"Just Syusuke-kun's fine."
A/N: I'm squealing so hard in my head right now. Yee~
