Chapter Four : DDR Time!

Past Chapter:

Half of the team already left so it was quiet hopeless for her to go home. No one she knew really well was there so it would've been awkward for them to take her home. She turned around and closed her eyes, while secretly thinking of what to do.

"I'm going home, I'll just take her with me." Zaizen spoke as he plugged out an earphone and sighed. "Rika, where do you live. I'll take you back…"

Rika looked back at the helpful person but he seemed irritated that he'd had to take her back home. She frowned and sighed, she didn't know if he'd really want to do it.

'If he didn't want to help out then why bother? Zaizen…I swear, sometimes you're so…' her thought ended when she was pulled away by the wrist.

"Let's get going I gotta go to the restroom…" he stated, unembarrassed, as he hurried home. "Hurry up Rika."

"E-Eh?" she looked back and plead the coach to save her, while he waved happily.

"Take care Ri-chan!" everyone left on the team stated as they watched them walk away.

Rika walked behind Zaizen, who was leading the way, silently and sighed. He loosened his grip on her wrist as he finally left her hand fall back to her side. For the past ten minutes all that took place in their hearing was the other pass-byers, for Zaizen it was his music.

She sighed softly and thought, 'I guess he' s not really a jerk…He's more like a person who pities a lot…'

"Do you remember this path?" he asked as he pulled an earplug out, and waited for her.

"No." she gave a short answer and continued to walk after him.

He walked straight ahead and made a right turn down the alley, waiting for the frozen Rika. He beckoned her to follow him, but she wasn't a fan of alley ways so she smiled slightly. Instead of acting like a girl who wants protection, she wants to be the one that's able to protect the one's she love.

'It's not that bad…Alley ways are just dark that's it. Nothing wrong with that. Just keep on walking Rika. Keep on walking.' she mentally encouraged herself to face her fears and followed Zaizen.

"Do you recognize the path now?" he asked once more.

"Yea, I do. Thanks Zaizen." she stated as she walked ahead, although he still followed her. "Um…Thanks…You can go home if you want."

"Well, are you sure?" he gestured her to look to the right, and look at the gang. "Well okay, if you want." he shrugged and watched her walk away.

"Yea I'm okay. Don't worry, and sorry for the trouble." she smiled as she felt horrible for dragging him along.

"No problem." he replied as he lifted his hand, as a gesture of good-bye, while she waved. 'I wonder if she'll be okay, well I'll just watch her walk past them before I walk the other way.' he thought, he was a thoughtful person.

She brushed passed them easily it seemed liked they didn't bother her unless she bothered them. He continued to watch as he slowly began to walk ahead, nothing strange went on so he continued on. As he continued down the path he gave a crummy look and looked at his hand.

"Ah….It's her bracelet." he said in a monotone voice and sighed. 'Mmmm…I'll give it back to her tomorrow. I must've pulled it when I dragged her.'

While Rika managed to get home she met a worried grandmother and grandfather, although they knew that she was going to be late. She smiled as soon as they nodded, welcoming her back, and went straight to bed.

"Sorry, I made you guys stay up." she apologized as her grandfather patted her head and smiled.

"No need to worry, we know you're in tennis." he assured her apologize wasn't needed, "Well then, I have to wake up early tomorrow. Good night Rika-chan."

"Right, good night grandpa." she mumbled as she headed towards her bedroom and locked the door. 'Ugh I'm so…tired.' as she rubbed her wrist she sat up in shock and almost screamed out in shock. "My bracelet! Zaizen must've pulled it off when…when he gripped my wrist. Argh! That idiot! He better have it…" she declared, worried as well.

Flashback:

"I'm going home, I'll just take her with me." Zaizen spoke as he plugged out an earphone and sighed. "Rika, where do you live. I'll take you back…"

Rika looked back at the helpful person but he seemed irritated that he'd had to take her back home. She frowned and sighed, she didn't know if he'd really want to do it.

'If he didn't want to help out then why bother? Zaizen…I swear, sometimes you're so…' her thought ended when she was pulled away by the wrist.

She sighed as she flung herself onto her bed from tiredness, after she changed, and fell fast to sleep.

Next Morning:

Shitenhoji was quiet in the morning, to Rika's surprised, when the team wasn't here it was quiet peaceful. She changed into the traditional yellow, green and white outing and ran around the courts. She was stressing out as much as ever, last night's dream wasn't helpful.

"Why couldn't you be more like your older sister. She's obedient and listens to what we say." her mother's harsh words pierced through the child's heart and felt tears swelling up. "You're such a nuisance…"

The tears began to overflow to it's breaking point as the mother simply continued to yell with a fierce and unloving voice. While the father sighed and didn't even acknowledge her presence as a daughter.

"Just get out of my face!" her mother demanded with rage.

"Mom, what's going on?" Rika's older sister came in, after waking up.

"Huh? Oh, nothing dear. Your sister was being a hassle so I had to tell her to stop." she spoke so gently towards her sister, it bright her tears to crumble down her cheeks.

She walked towards her bedroom and looked around her plain bedroom, everything was either white or in a basket. Her sobs and tears were falling out as she held them back as hard as she could, yet they continued to ignore her messages. Her hands clasped over her face as she scrunched her knees close to her chest and wept.

After twenty laps around the courts the regulars began to come in and didn't know that Rika was there, they assumed it was a new member. Expectantly Kintaro hurried to greet the member who's head was covered with a towel, her hair was wet.

"Welcome to Shitenhoji! I'm Kintaro Touyama! What's-" Kintaro stopped and dropped his jaw and hugged Rika. "Ri-chan! You're early today!"

"Haha, what were you doing Kintaro?" she asked as she took the towels off. "I'm not a new member, geez."

"Eh? Rika-chan why are here so early?" Shiraishi asked as he walked over with the others.

"Nothing, just running laps around the courts. I felt like coming early today." she smiled and ruffled Kintaro's hair, he was only up to Rika's lower neck.

"Ah I see, well we're going to change. Kin-chan you can stay with Rika-chan if you want." Shiraishi stated as he walked past them both.

They all walked away from them and went towards the club house, expect for Zaizen. Who paused and walked back towards Rika and gave back her bracelet and walked away.

"Thanks Zaizen!" she stated as he raised his hand and brought it back down.

"Nee! Nee! Ri-chan wanna go to the game arcade with me today?" Kintaro asked as he stared into her caramel eyes and grinned. "Kenya can't go today! So can you come with me today?"

"Kintaro…Um I need to think about it then." she laughed as she tried not to say yes, her weakness is cute things. "I don't think I can though."

"What! That's so unfair!" he began to whine loudly like a child until the coach came.

"What's unfair Kin-chan?" he asked while Kintaro frowned and pointed at Rika.

"She won't go to the game arcade with me! Kenya can't go today!" he stated as he stomped his foot on the ground. "Nee, tell her to come! You're the coach!"

Rika slowly backed away and went towards her racquet and plugged her headphones in her ears. She looked at the saddened Kintaro and felt horrible for saying no, but she wasn't in the mood today. She gripped her racquet hardly and kept slamming the ball against the wall until the coach tapped her on the shoulder.

"Rika-chan, why don't you go with Kin-chan? I'm sure he'd want you to go with him." the coach stated as Rika looked down and sighed.

"Watanabe-sensei, I'd love to but I can't my current guardians aren't healthy at all. So I need to take care of them." she furrowed her brows and sighed, again. "I'm sorry."

"Hmm, how about a match then. If I win you have to go with Kin-chan, if I lose you can leave early from school and go help out your grandparents." he stated as he smiled, knowing he'll win.

"What! Are you kidding me? Sensei! That's so-" he placed a finger across his lips and walked towards the court. "Argh! I can't believe this…"

Rika slowly followed as they passed the team and followed them, they were all heading towards the courts. While others waited for the coach to say something, others played games and left one open. They walked towards the middle court and began to play.

"Rika-chan don't forget~!" he stated as he grabbed a racquet and a ball.

"Yeah I know…" she lazily replied back as she knew the results. 'Ugh, I'll just go with Kintaro…I want a day to relax.' she thought as soon as she spoke, "Wait! Sensei, I'll just go with Kintaro."

Everyone looked at them with questioning looks as they wondered what they were talking about. Other then Kintaro, who was cheering up and psyched up to go to the arcade with Rika, they seemed lost. Most of all they wondered why the coach was playing in the first place.

"Ri-chan~! Arcade! Arcade! Yea!" Kintaro stated as he continued to hop around. "Alright!"

Rika smiled in defeat but was rather happy that she'll hang out with someone today, she didn't feel like going home just yet today. There was so much on her mind that she's just itching to get rid of and what better then hang out with a loveable first year.

"On one condition Kintaro, we have to play DDR." she grinned as he frowned, he didn't like DDR, "Okay?"

"Eh?…Okay, then we'll play the other games right?" he exclaimed as she nodded and walked towards the coach.

"You know I wasn't really going to make you lose." he stated as they shook hands.

"Yea I know, but I might as well have fun while I'm in middle-school." she softly replied and walked back towards the others, the new female players.

Kintaro began to talk about the games he was going to frolic with Rika at the game arcade. Although when he saddened his tone, she knew he was talking about DDR, but ignored it. Rika smiled and stuck out her tongue when Kintaro kept asking to not do DDR from afar.

"Kin-chan I didn't need to go home early anymore, so I thought we were going together." Kenya assured as he gave him a questioning look, "Zaizen was going with us too."

"But I thought you couldn't go, so I asked Ri-chan." he replied with a confused face, which suddenly turned into a grin. "I know! Let's go together, it'll be more fun!"

"Sounds good to me, I don't mind." Kenya stated as he glanced at Zaizen over his shoulder, who just nodded. "Alright then let's tell Ri-chan. Ri-chan!"

Rika turned back, looking away from the girl's who asked her for help in tennis, and waved at them. They beckoned her over to them with their hands. She walked up to them and wondered what those two needed this time.

"Need lunch…again Kenya?" she sighed as she almost predicted the situation.

"No although that sounds pretty good to me~" he laughed as he joked around. "I'm just playing. I was actually curious if you'd mind me and Zaizen coming along with you and Kin-chan to the arcade."

"No I don't mind at all. The more the merrier." she smiled, besides she'll get a chance to get to know them better.

She didn't know them as well as the other tennis players at her old school, Seishun Gakuen. So this'll give her sometime to get to know them better, and perhaps get their help her in some tennis or so.

"Okay, then we'll meet by the gate after school." Zaizen suggested as the others nodded.

After they began their regular classes and finished their club activities they met up at the gate. Rika came with the second and third year while the first year waved at them. As they got there, they began to make their way towards the game arcades and talked, mostly to Rika. Since she was from another school and she didn't know most of the things here yet.

"So are we going to do DDR?" Kenya questioned as he looked at the others, then at Kintaro. "Kintaro, don't wander off."

"Yep~! But, um if you guys didn't want to then we can-" she paused when they shook their hands.

"It's fine by me Ri-chan, I made you come with me so you could play whatever you want too." Kintaro assured as he made the victory sign with his fingers and smiled. "Look there's an open one! Ri-chan come on!"

"I'll take care of your stuff, pass it over to me." Kenya suggested as he and the others watched. "Have fun~!"

"You guys don't want to try it? It's loads of fun~" she stated as she tried to get someone to play with her.

"I'll play then." Zaizen said as he stood next to Rika on the mat. "You pick the song."

Rika nodded and scrolled down the list of songs and found none that she happened to like, so she just chose random as a song. Kintaro and Kenya knew that DDR was one of Zaizen's favorites and they began to bet on who'll win.

"I think Ri-chan will win!" Kintaro stated as he smiled. "What about you Kenya?"

"I doubt it, Zaizen always plays this whenever we came here. I bet you my lunch tomorrow he'll win." he stated as he held onto their stuff.

"You're on." they shook hands and grinned, waiting for the results to enter as soon as they began.

The screen was brightly light and the words, "Are You Ready? Start!" lit up on the frame and a random song began to play. The tempo of the song was quiet fast, it was a pop song, yet they kept up. Rika's score was the same as Zaizen's score, yet their dances differed a bit. Rika was more of up-beat -basically pop- while Zaizen was more like a freestyler.

"What! Ugh! I can't believe I lost…" he grumbled as he saw that scores' difference -one hundred points- and crouched to the ground as he laid his head on his arms.

"Alright! I won!" Kintaro and Rika announced as they hopped up with one arm in the air.

'Argh I can't believe I lost to Rika!' he stood up and glared at the cheerful brunette who stood next to him, "Rika, I want a rematch."

"Y-You're really determined to win Zaizen…" Kenya whispered and placed their stuff in front of them. "We're going to play another game, have fun you two~! Let's go Kintaro!"

"Ou!" he exclaimed as they wandered around the arcade for a few minutes.

The two "dancers" became intensely involved in the DDR game and always had rematches. They dared not to lose a single match, it became so intense in the match just like in tennis, before their break.

"It's a tie…" Rika stated as she flicked her bangs back with her hand and sighed. "Rock paper scissors."

"Fine, I'm getting tired." he stated he wiped the sweat that fell down to his chin. "Rock. Paper. Scissors!"

Rika closed her eyes, while Zaizen's jaw dropped open and gave out an empty expression. As Rika peeked on the outcome she smiled and saw, Rika's scissors beat Zaizen's paper. He ruffled his dark brown spikes and sighed and grabbed his stuff, while handing Rika her's.

"I'll treat you then…" he smiled, he had a great time, as she did the same. "Where do you want to go?"

"Thanks, but shouldn't we tell Kenya and Kintaro?" she asked, worried.

"Nah, they'll be fine. Kenya's stupid but not that stupid." he remarked as he hopped off first, "Where too?"

"Mmm, I always wanted to try shiratama zenzai, my grandpa likes those so I want to try to make it. But…I want to see how it tastes first." she thought as she streamed her hands through her hair, collecting them, and tied it into a cute quick bun. "Is that alright with you?"

"Sure, I know a great place to get them." he affirmed her as she smiled. "Let's go then."

They walked down a couple of blocks and talked about little details such as Kenya and Kintaro, since they were mainly the topic those two could talk about. Other then that topic they talked mostly on dancing and music, then there was tennis.

"Watanabe-sensei told them that if I laughed then I'll go and join tennis." he gave a slight sigh of amusement, reminiscing on the past. "So they all tried to make me laugh, sadly they did. But I laughed at their stupidity."

"That kinda sounds like you." she remarked with laughter as he opened the door for her, "Thanks. Hmm~ I wonder how it tastes."

"Zaizen-kun, welcome. The usual?" the waitress asked as she saw him raise two fingers up, "Okay then, two shiratama zenzai."

Rika stared at the picture of the shiratama zenzai and began taking out a pencil and her tiny notebook. Zaizen raised a brow of wonder and glanced over to see what she was doing. It seemed as if she was taking down the ingredients and directions on how to make it.

"Here you go. Two shiratama zenzai." she smiled sweetly, making Zaizen smile back. "Anything else?"

'Ohohoho~ this fella has a thing for sweet girls~ Well any ways I'll try to make this when I buy the ingredients.' she thought as she glanced up at Zaizen's face, then to the shiratama zenzai. "Um may I have green tea? Uwa~! It looks so good~ I can't wait till I make one like this. Itadakimasu~!"

"Yea um, I'll just have the usual drink I get." he said just seconds after her, "Itadakiasu." 'I wonder why'd she smile and giggle when she glanced at me.' he thought as he ate his mochi first.

They silently talked as they enjoyed their red beans and mochi soup. This instantly became one of Rika's all time favorites as she savored each bite she took from the soup and hummed in bliss, while enjoying her green tea. He glanced at her expression as she bit the mochi, he gave out a wryly smile, before looking back down.

Yeah, this chapter is mainly concentrated on these two. However since I'm still struggling on what to do for the AtobexOC(Hiroki Otonashi), I'm planning to focus on them in another story. But I'll try to imply their coupling stuff and yea...*sigh* Again please forgive the over usage of OCC-ness in Zaizen. I clearly don't know him that well, especially his personality. Or the other OCC-ness in the other characters.

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Zaizen : Yea, what she said. *eating shiratama zenzai*