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Sun And Sunflower

Yukimura x OC, Tokugawa x OC, Tanegashima x OC

Chapter Five

Sigh...

That was the fifth sigh Haruka let out while standing in front of the bulletin board, staring at the list of shuffle matches that was updated that morning. She never really paid attention to the list before because well...it never concerned her. But there was one particular name that caught her attention this time round. Well, two names. Both of which, she was extremely familiar with. Oni Jujiro, third year high school student, currently a participant at the camp on court five. Haruka was not particularly acquainted with Oni but he was one of a handful who took good care of the Kobayashi sisters during their stays at the camp. To her, he was that uncle they would never see until New Year's yet he still doted on them with gifts as if to make up for the times they missed out on.

The other name was right next to Oni's, meaning he was the high school player's opponent. Momoshiro Takeshi. Second year student at Seigaku, Haruka saw him more often than she did Oni (whom she had known for a longer period of time). It was hard not to like Momoshiro; he was always so full of energy and so kind. And although he was a year younger, there were times when Haruka felt like he was an older brother to her. Seigaku had come to be like a family to her and seeing Momoshiro against Oni in a shuffle match was more worrying than anything right now.

Something cold was suddenly pressed against the back of Haruka's neck, making her shiver and jump at the same time. Fuji chuckled at her reaction, offering her the bottle of cold orange juice that he teased her with. Though, when Haruka refused the offer, Fuji knew instantly that something was bothering her.

"What's wrong, Haruka?"

Instead of verbally replying, Haruka pointed to the bulletin board where the list was pinned onto. Fuji raised an eyebrow before looking to the board himself, instantly catching Momoshiro's name.

"Looks like our Momo will be playing in a shuffle match today. But why do you look like that? Isn't it a good thing? If Momo wins, he'll be able to move up to a higher court." Once again, Haruka pointed to the board but this time, she made sure that Fuji could see the one specific name that she was pointing to. "Oni...he was one of the three from yesterday, wasn't he?"

"Oni-oji is from court five," Haruka sighed. "I'm just worried about Momo-chan."

"Do you believe in Momo?" Fuji asked, tilting his head slightly to the side.

"I do."

"Then there's nothing to worried about," he smiled.

Of course, Fuji had no idea who Oni was and what he was capable of. But Haruka did. That was the reason why she was worried. With his words of comfort, however, Haruka gave Fuji a soft smile and nodded, taking the bottle of orange juice before walking off with her good friend, getting onto the court and sitting on the bleachers by the side. As they were waiting for the shuffle matches to begin, Haruka found herself looking around for a specific person.

"None of the Rikkai members are here yet but I'm sure they would be soon," Fuji informed. "He was not there in the morning though, he left before I woke."

"W-who are you talking about? I wasn't looking for anybody."

"You're a very bad liar," Fuji chuckled. "He's here."

Sure enough, Yukimura was coming to watch the shuffle match between Momoshiro and Oni with the rest of Rikkai following behind him. The aura about Yukimura was definitely different to everyone else. With his usual style of his jersey jacket hanging on his shoulders, Yukimura walked up to the first row of bleachers, talking to Sanada as he did.

Haruka was brought back to reality when everyone else started cheering for Momoshiro as his match with Oni was about to begin. There was something about not being in the nationals that united all of the middle school players. The people who were against them throughout the year was now standing on their side, cheering for someone they once swore to beat on the court. Haruka got right into the spirit of cheering on her underclassman despite having her worries before. Fuji was right. She should believe in Momoshiro.

But as she had predicted, the match was painful to watch.

The difference between a middle school and a high school player was obvious. As the gatekeepers of hell (or so they called him), Oni was going easy on Momoshiro either, hitting his 'Black Jack Knife' over and over again. And it was only getting progressively worse for Momoshiro, especially since he was not listening to anyone. Not even his upperclassmen who were repeatedly telling him that it was okay if he gave up on the match. But Momoshiro had something to prove. He knew, they all did, that none of the high school players approved of their arrival at the camp. They did not think that they were good enough. And while this match was only proving further that they were definitely not on par, Momoshiro was not backing out from it. He was not adding coward to the labels they were giving the middle school players.

No matter how strong Momoshiro's will was, there was just no fighting against Oni and the match ended, as expected, in Oni's complete victory. And it was through this match that the middle school players were slowly understanding that it was all the coach's intention to humble them a little.

"Ugh.."

Arms stretched up to the sky, back arched, and Haruko let out a satisfied groan. While Haruka was enjoying a slow morning, watching the shuffle matches, Haruko had already delivered six crates of tennis balls to different courts across the camp that were about to begin their practice. She was really starting to feel the fatigue coming on despite the day having just started not too long ago. It was typical of Saito, to arrange for her to have the most physically demanding tasks out of the three sisters. You are taller! You are stronger! You do the best job! Those were his exact words whenever she would complain so there was really no talking to him. Ever. Then again, there was no arguing against his logic either. Koharu was the princess of the family. While she was willing to do some simple errands, anything too physically demanding was just impossible for her. And while Haruka had the heart, she did not have the physique.

Hoo~

While she was deep in her own thoughts, hot breath was suddenly blown on her ear and Haruko jumped, swinging a punch backwards at whoever it was. Tanegashima dodged her punch just in time, stopping her first with his hand before grinning at her. All while he was still balancing on the Segway. "Good mornin', Lil Spring." Of course it was Tanegashima. With a roll of her eyes, Haruko ignored the tennis player and continued walking, getting straight back to work. But Tanegashima followed closely behind. Despite wanting to run away, Haruko knew it was almost impossible. Firstly, he was on a Segway. And even without the aide of the Segway, with his longer legs, it would not take Tanegashima much effort to run after her. "Ya 'sposed to greet someone back when they greet ya a good mornin', Lil Spring."

"You're supposed to get someone's name right after they have told you a million times."

"Does that mean if I get yer name right, ya gonna say good mornin' to me?"

"Goodbye, Tanegashima."

Haruko had no time for his nonsense. She hated seeing his face. It was that smile of his. That...bright smile. How could someone live their life so carefree? And why did he find joy in annoying her? Since the very first day he joined the camp, Tanegashima was fascinated with Haruko for some reason. And he had been a constant pain in her neck ever since, though Haruko had given up trying to get rid of him by now. She did, however, learn to ignore him.

"Don't you have practice anyway?" Haruko asked.

With a camp as strict as this, it was surprising that a participant could be roaming around the campus on a Segway with no practice to be heading to. If one player so much as strayed from their schedule (sometimes even with reasons), they would be booted.

"Oh wow, I didn't think ya the type to care 'bout me like that, Lil Spring."

"Yeah, I don't care about you. You're just in my way."

Blunt and hurtful as she was being, Tanegashima was not affected in one bit. That was another thing about him that irked Haruko. Most people would have taken the hint by now that she did not like them and would do their best to keep their distance. But insult after insult and she was still finding Tanegashima by her side. Koharu had lectured her on this many times before. He's just being nice, her little sister stated, so why can't you be nice too? Because this was Tanegashima...

"Then let's play 'Look Over There'. If ya win, I won't bother ya for the rest of the camp. But if I win, ya hafta greet me good mornin' everyday."

It was not a bad proposal. Tempting, even. Play a game, and if she won, Tanegashima was going to leave her alone for the rest of her stay at the camp. That condition itself was more tempting than any Grand Slam titles or money in the world. And subsequently, the losing condition was not too bad. It was just a simple 'good morning' that she had to greet him with everyday. Not to mention that the game 'Look Over There' was just a childhood game that everyone played. There was no skills to it. She was willing to bet on it.

"Alright. Two out of three."

"Alright!" Tanegashima grinned. "Look over there~"

He pointed to Haruko's left and she looked up. Tanegashima blinked, taken back with the fact that Haruko had so easily won a game. This was a game that Tanegashima never lost because he was extremely good at predicting flawlessly the other person's movement in an instant. Most people would have little habits like looking in the direction they intended for before moving. It was those habits that Tanegashima looked out for but he saw none of it in Haruko. There was not even a little twitch or a blink.

This was something new for Tanegashima.

"What are you staring at?" Haruko asked. "Come on, one more game and I'm gonna win."

"Look over there~"

Once again, Tanegashima pointed to the left but Haruko looked to the right. That was two games in a row and Haruko won the bet. She smirked and walked off without another or even a look at the model. Tanegashima was frozen on the spot, unable to grasp the concept of losing at 'Look Over There'. But when he finally came to, he could smirk as he watched Haruko walked away with almost a spring to her steps.

She was definitely interesting.

"Kobayashi-san!"

Turning at the call of her name, Koharu tilted her head slightly at the person who approached her. She had seen his face around the camp before though she did not know his name. She politely presented him with a smile although Koharu knew where this was going. This was a familiar scene that Koharu had been through many times before, be it at this camp or at school. It would sound cocky if she said it out loud, but Koharu was getting tired of these confessions. Sometimes, she would just like to get through the day without some guy calling out to her to ask her out.

"Hi there," Koharu smiled. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"I was wondering if you would be free this Saturday? If you are, I was thinking maybe we could go to the movies? Have dinner too."

Typical kind of date. How many of those had Koharu been on before? And they were all the same. While she was not interested at all, Koharu had to find the best way possible to let him down. Just as she was about to reject the guy, Irie and Tokugawa were walking towards them. And in the spur of the moment, Koharu said something that she did not mean to. "Of course!" she smiled. "I would love to. I'll meet you by the gates on Saturday night then."

"Really? Awesome! I'll see you Saturday night!"

"Still popular as always, I see," Irie smiled, walking up to Koharu. Tokugawa stood by them, though his attention was on the guy who just asked Koharu out and was now jogging away happily. Irie glanced up to the younger before returning his attention to Koharu. "If I got here a second earlier, perhaps I would be the one going out with you this Saturday night." With that statement, Tokugawa looked to his upperclassman with a frown. Was Irie being serious or was this his acting again?

"You're so funny, Irie-senpai," Koharu giggled. She could not help herself as she glanced up to Tokugawa, wanting to see what his reaction was. But there was nothing except for the same old stoic expression he always wore. "I always thought Haruka was more your type."

"Hm...you're right, Haruka-chan is more my type. But I thought your type had always been...tall guys?" Irie asked. It was obvious that Irie was teasing her when he looked up to Tokugawa when he said 'tall guys'. Koharu opened her mouth though it was not long before she shut her mouth as she mumbled about having to get back to her work and ran off. Irie chuckled and shook his head, looking to Tokugawa. "You have a scary expression on your face right now, Tokugawa. No wonder Koharu-chan ran off."

"What are you talking about?"

"Ah...you're so clueless," Irie sighed, shaking his head once more.

Across the camp, on the courts, the middle school players were finally undergoing the vigorous training that the high school players did on a daily basis. Most of them were way past exhaustion but they were barely done with the schedule. Being the caretaker of the players, Haruka went on a round of distributing water bottles as they were finally allowed on a break. As she got to Yukimura, that was when Haruka's heart started to beat a little faster. Her face was bright red as she approached him, handing him a water bottle.

Only when she was this close to Yukimura did she realise that he was so much taller. When they met at seven, Haruka was taller than he was. Not by much, but she remembered being so upset when one day, Yukimura showed up taller than she was. He had always teased her, from their very first day of middle school together, about how small she was. He was not much taller than her then, but now, he stood a good head and a half taller. The child-like features she had remembered of his were no longer there either. Instead, he looked much more mature than the last time she had a proper look at him.

"Is something the matter, Haru?" Yukimura asked.

"N-nothing," Haruka replied, turning to leave after she was caught staring. She was pretty sure she was red as a tomato too; all the more reason for her to leave. But Yukimura was quick to catch her by the elbow and turned her around with his face inches away from hers. The distance between was not helping the case at all as Haruka felt her cheeks heating up and her heart beating so fast that one might mistake her being on a caffeine overdose.

"Your face is extremely red. Are you sure?"

When Yukimura pressed the back of his hand against her forehead, Haruka could not help but notice that despite having not seen each other for almost three years, despite the physical changes, he was still so gentle with her. It was this physical touch that made Haruka realise just how much she missed him. Three years was a long time for not getting in contact with someone, pretending as if they were never friends to begin with. Subconsciously, Haruka reached up and grabbed Yukimura's hand. Even his hand was so much bigger than hers now.

"Haru?"

"S-sorry," Haruka mumbled, letting go of his hand instantly.

"You can hold my hand if you want, Haru," Yukimura smiled, holding his hand out for her.

If it was possible for Haruka to get any redder, she was pretty sure she would. Yukimura was teasing, she knew. His tone of voice was always slightly different whenever he was teasing and over the years, she had picked it up. Before she could succumb to his teasing, however, Haruka was suddenly yanked away, dragged off by the collar of her shirt. Yukimura blinked, staring after the girl with a small smile on his face as he watched Haruka struggling against her sister.

Having ran off from Irie and Tokugawa, Koharu found herself near the courts where the middle school players were training. That meant that Haruka would be around. At that thought, Koharu went to those courts looking for her little sister. It was not hard to spot the middle school players because while there were only fifty of them, they were all clad in their respective jerseys instead of the U-17 camp's own uniformed jersey. They stuck out like a sore thumb from a mile away. But Haruka stuck out the most. She was small but it was not hard to spot the tiny girl zipping in and out through the crowd of tennis players, handing out water bottles.

As Koharu was walking up to Haruka, she watched as the interaction between Yukimura and her little sister unfolded. That was the guy, was it not? The one whom Haruka never talked about but went to Kanagawa for visits. He touched Haruka's forehead as if he was checking to see if she had a fever and before then, Haruka's face was already red. Watching the way he smiled at her sparked the jealous in Koharu. Why did Haruka get to enjoy the guy of her dreams being so nice and gentle with her when all Koharu ever got was an expressionless face? Why did Haruka get to be by the side of him when Koharu had to run away?

Out of jealousy, Koharu quickened her pace and grabbed Haruka by the collar, dragging her little sister away. It was not until when Haruka finally broke free from Koharu's grip did the older sister realise what she did.

"Koharu-nee!" Haruka frowned. "What did you do that for? My neck hurts..."

"Sorry..." There really was no reason apart from the fact that she was jealous. But it was not like Koharu could tell Haruka the truth... "There's something I need to ask you. Are you free Saturday night?" she asked. She had to make something up as an excuse for dragging Haruka away and the only thing that popped in mind was that date she promised to go on to make Tokugawa jealous. "I um...kind of promised someone I would go on a date with him..."

"Wait, what?" Haruka raised a brow. "I'm not going on the date for you."

"Yeah...I thought so. But I was thinking of a double date, actually. Find someone to go on a date with you and we can double date. It would be less awkward with you there."

"Why did you say yes to a date when you didn't want to go?" Haruka asked. "And who am I going to ask to go on a double date with me?"

"That guy you were talking to just now. He's the Kanagawa guy, right?"

"Sei-kun? I-I can't..."

"Sei? Oh! Yukimura Seiichi! Your little play date, right? You should definitely ask him."

"I can't!"

"Then...Ah, the one you go to school with. What was the name again...Fuji!"

"Why can't you ask Haruko-nee instead?"

"Who do you think would go on a date with Haruko-nee? Any guy she had not scared off is already afraid of her to begin with," Koharu sighed. "Please, Haruka, I'm begging you. Please?"

"Alright...I'll think about it."