Chapter Three:
"Is that a bet, Hazuki?" I dared.
"I'm challenging you, Ella-chan, to see who gets more members first!" Hazuki yipped happily like a puppy.
"You're-on!"
He thinks he can challenge me without considering how many disadvantages he is at? Puh-lease! I'll mop the floor with this pansy and be on my merry way within the lunch period. It'll be that simple!
Oh...I guess I skipped ahead. Fine...let's go back..
If I'm right, then before all this was the giant fiasco of Kasumi passing out in the Nurse's Office after seeing Nanase in his swim trunks. Everybody was running around and making a fuss of it when I was the only one wishing I had my cell phone with me. I had left it back in the locker rooms by the pool, and I had to grab my bag and Kasumi's after Samantha volunteered the two of us to take Kasumi back to her house. Their teacher and the adviser, Ama-sensei, told us where to go, but I already knew that street where she lived. It may have been a different house they moved into than when they first stayed in many years ago, but I remembered the way like it was on the back on my hand (although, Sam would probably say that I didn't help whatsoever taking Kasumi home. It's not my fault at all! I'm not strong and I was the one with the bags. I was helping!).
Kasumi's mom recognized me after staring for a little bit. Maybe it was the longer and highlighted hair that was different or the blossoming figure of a young lady that made it hard to tell I was the squatty little brat from way back, but her mom hadn't changed a bit. She still had the same young look and bobbed haircut, to say the least. After seeing her I remembered that she and Kasumi were much alike. What was that phrase again? "Like mother, like daughter?". Something like that, anyway...
She let us take Kasumi upstairs to her room and offered to make us tea. Samantha piped in (once again) that we were fine (even though I could've gone for some water for my parched throat), and so we were left to take care of Kasumi until she woke up. I was in the midst of missing a TV show I wanted to watch if I didn't leave within the next half-hour, given that it took awhile to go back from this side of the town. But there wasn't a slightest chance of getting to see it. Oh well, I thought, So much for that...If only Kasumi hadn't oggled Nanase's damn lean bod!
In the mean time we had to wait for Kasumi I wasn't in the mood for sitting in a corner and staring at a wall. If I were missing a show, I was going to compensate. And that meant that I could easily snoop through a huge cardboard box of old manga laying out on the floor. Samantha joined with me in glossing over the yellow-paged manga and pulling out some to read (she'd also want to say that I wasn't on my best behavior and blah-blah-blah, but there would probably be even more after that. I really didn't care about it then or what we were talking about. She'd give specifics, but I wasn't in the best of moods. So I don't care to remember a lot then). The ones we took out were from the series "Aino-chan! Let's Go!", an old one that discontinued when I was in junior high. Seeing the first few pages brought back memories, and I ended up reading half-way through it before Kasumi woke up.
And that's where things got strange. Well, first I ended up falling on the floor because I was laying on her desk chair on my stomach (I wanted to see how long I could balance myself while reading, duh...), with which Samantha just had to make a comment about, but that wasn't the main point. Kasumi didn't want us to go through that box, and at first I thought it was because it was manga or that it was technically "invading personal space", but she couldn't bring herself to say it straight away. She made up a dumb excuse that it was "weird" to have manga. In my mind, that seemed too crazy. She was definitely hiding something, and that something ended up in my hands when I looked through the box while asking, "What? Reading manga? Why would reading comi-hey, what the hell is this?"
A black notebook with all kinds of rubbish and nonsense glued and taped onto its front. I felt like I picked up some kind of "hentai" comic from the adult's section because of how bizarre it looked. And it was even weirder to read the title: " 'Sorcery Guide to the Perverse and Divine'. 'Written by Osana Magische Flugel'."
"Did you just say something in German?" Samantha asked.
Kasumi had her head burrowing in her carpet like an ostrich after apologizing. All I could think was, So she was a 'chuuni'? Really? She's owning up to being something like that when she was younger?!
Of course, I had to explain what a 'chuuni' was to Samantha. Unless someone was an anime fan from America or otaku from Japan, no one would've understood the concept of junior high life. And that's probably why they came out with the anime series actually called "Chuunibyou".
Being Samantha, she took it like a "bleeding heart" sap and told Kasumi that we'd forget this entire thing ever happened, even making me swear to do the same. I could look over it, but finding out that someone like Kasumi used to be a 'chuuni' was about the most shocking and funniest thing I'd heard. Kasumi is so shy she blushes and practically cowers behind Samantha every time someone taller than her walks by in the hall. How could she have gone from "I believe in my power of darkness! Fear me!" to "I'm so helpless I can't even stand up when a gust of wind hits me"? And her tiny little voice chanting some "spell" from her "spellbook"? You've got to be kidding! But I couldn't understand it for a second when Samantha tried to level with Kasumi that she used to pretend to be a fairy princess in elementary school all the time. Are you kidding? That's not going to make anything better!
Not too soon after that both Samantha and I had to leave. Kasumi and her mom saw us out the door and we hit the streets as the sun was setting. But the walk was awkward. Nothing but silence.
I wanted to say something to her but where would I have started? "Yeah, so you used to play 'fairy princess'? Oh, me too! How 'bout it?"
No...Just. No..
Thank God she spoke up before I did. I was not at all prepared to walk down that road of awkward silence. So it was great and all...yeah...until she left...and I had stumble across the one person I didn't want to see nearby.
"Oi! Ella-chan!"
Well, screw me blind! Where do I go the next time this happens?!
I looked the left and right to see which shortcut I could use to avoid Hazuki. But Quick Bronze, because he was fast as a racehorse, was on me in seconds with that stupid open-mouthed smile on his face.
"Where're you goin', Ella-chan?" he asked while nearly bouncing up and down on his feet.
"Home...why?"
"I'm goin' home, too. But I have to ride the train..."
Thank God...
"Oh, okay...Then I think I'll go..."
Spinning the other way around I headed the way I was supposed to go. A few seconds later he's at my heels following me like some poor dog.
" 'Neh, neh', wait for me, Ella-chan!"
I cranked the jogging level to "Axe-Murderer is on My Ass". He started running after me.
"Aren't you riding the train?!" I shouted while zipping down the street.
"I got time!"
"Well, I don't!"
" 'Chotto'-"
I didn't look in time to see the slanted block in the sidewalk. My shoe dug right in, and I nearly fall right back onto my stomach if it hadn't been for him. He caught me by the hand and pulled me into him. The last time he took my hand was in the Nurse's Office...and I felt just as tingly and gross like before. Even for a short guy, his hand was slightly bigger than mine, but not as calloused as I would've imagined...not that I'd ever imagined what his hand felt like.
Pull yourself together! He violated your personal bubble! screamed a voice in my head.
I puffed my chest out and turned around to hound him for grabbing me, but when he smiled and sighed, "Thank goodness! I was going to tell you that the sidewalk wasn't safe...", I fell apart mentally like a broken down car. It definitely wasn't the time to be girly and embarrassed in front of him, but my knees were buckling and my cheeks were red. If he looked into my eyes, he'd know for sure that something was up.
"Why-Why'd you do that?" I growled.
"Why'd I help you?"
"Why did you touch me? I thought I said before that..."
But I couldn't bring myself to finish saying it. I was losing my ground.
"Oh, 'gomen, gomen'. It was just a spur of the moment...I guess..."
He airly laughed and tried to play it off, so for the sake of time I brushed it away with, "Just don't do it again..."
"By the way, how is Kasumi-chan?"
"...She's fine."
"That's good. Hopefully she'll be alright to go to school tomorrow. We're thinking of having a meeting at Haru-chan's house."
That made me shift into a different mood.
"Who's 'we'? I never heard anything about it earlier."
"Haru-chan, Mako-chan, and I were gonna talk to you all about it until-"
"Fine. Whatever...Is it for the club?"
"Uh-huh. You coming?"
I muttered, "Sure...whatever," as my cheeks set aflame again.
Even without looking at him I could tell he was grinning.
Whatever...it's not like I'm giving in to his way...Or having a crush on him...That Baka...
Thanks to the train station he left in a hurry to get home, and so did I. I returned to try and find a moment of peace to myself while my little bit of hell was watching me from my bedroom door smirking like cheeky little monkeys. Those evil little gits decided to spit paper wads at me from the dinner table that night "as punishment for not walking them back home". Seems like they wanted to harp the same things Mom and Dad were grinding on me for. When that happens, I just try and shove them aside so I can lock myself in my room for the rest of the night. But thanks to Hazuki and him taking my hand I barely slept a wink.
"Hey, Takemono!"
"Oh, hey, ummm...Chiyo...wasn't it?"
My classmates from before came to me at lunch, then when the final bell rang and everyone was heading out. They asked what made me leave the last time they were with me, that time they ripped apart the letter from Ryuko, and so I swept it under the rug saying, "Oh, I was a bit sick that day. Woozy, I guess..."
"I know what you mean. Ryuko's attitude sure is a disease."
"Totally..." one of the three agreed.
"Ah...yeah...yeah..." I sighed. No idea where that came from, but I better just play along...
"So, we all need to get together," Chiyo suddenly burst out. "I think we should go out to karaoke or fast food. How about it?"
"Sorry, I got to go to a club meeting after school..."
"Aww, can't you skip?"
"No, I promised Nagis-"
Why-The-HELL did I just say that?!
"You mean Hazuki? The real short guy?"
"Uh...yeah..."
"You're in a club together?"
"The..swim club..."
"Huh...sounds like you guys get along. How much?"
She said that like she were hinting toward me really "knowing" him. That was the time I needed to shut it down before I'd make a fool of myself.
"Outside of the classroom? Not much...he's kinda...really giddy...Maybe a bit too much."
"Yeah, I guess you could say that," she said disappointingly. "He's not much to look at, unlike his upperclassmen friends he hangs out with."
"You mean Tachibana and Nanase?"
"Oh, yes! They are so good-looking!"
"Nanase-kun is so cool!" the third girl chirped.
"And Tachibana-kun is so tall and so hot!" the second giggled.
And yet those two have their own weird sides to them like Nagisa...
"Man, you're so lucky! You've got all the boys for yourself!"
"Oh, no...really?"
"Of course! You gotta talk to them for us!"
"Yeah, yeah! Introduce us to them! We'd never be able to go up to them in person by ourselves."
"Well, I guess it's okay-"
"Yay! You are so nice, Takemono! I hope we can be friends with you!"
I smiled and nodded, thinking that, just maybe, I'd have the opportunity to make friends by being as good as this. Maybe even become class rep so that I'd become most popular in a matter of days than the year...Sounds good enough for me...Hehehehe...
Even though everyone forms their own groups/cliques by this time, being picked for class rep. or something similar was a guaranteed success to being noticed. It's decent for me when I'm a newbie here with two upperclassmen friends and a part of a club that has a standard amount of attention drawn to it. But I could do better.
The three made me promise to go out after school as soon as I had a free day and left when they saw my friends in the hallway waiting for me. From there we walked with the guys to Nanase's house. Oddly enough, it was quaint for what I took him for. There was enough space for all of us to sit in the living room. But real skinny hallways.
Our so-called "meeting" was a load of worthless discussion about what we were planning to do in the future. We should've thought about it after we established who's actually good at swimming and who can barely float on top of the water, but I guess we need to feel good about ourselves to set a goal.
Save for that the first thing I'd heard come out of Hazuki was, "What about our captains? What do you say?"
Thing of it was, the girls' team hadn't assigned jobs yet. We probably did on the club form, but no one really knew which job should go to who. We had to finish the pool. That's a good enough excuse to putting off everything else. That and the lanky pervert from that day who also decided to follow us to Nanase's house. He watched us talk with a creepy, fixated look on his face. Yuck...
I quickly snagged the Treasurer spot because a) counting money and keeping track was easy and b) the other jobs sounded boring. Samantha was the only one without a job (Kasumi sneezed at the right time Nagisa was handing out "Vice Captain", then Sam lost to jan-ken for it). But she wasn't sure if she wanted it.
"I'm already Treasurer, Sam. And Kasumi-chan seems to be preoccupied at the moment.."
"Wha-ii-choo!"
"C'mon, Samantha-chan! You'll be a great leader!" Happy-Go-Lucky Hazuki exclaimed.
"Samantha-senpai, you'd do great as a captain!" Color-Me-Pervert chimed in.
Where does he get the gall to say something in this private conversation?!
"Who invited you in?!" I snapped at him.
"I've been here the same time you have..."
"I guess if no one else can do it..." admitted Sam.
I knew she'd come around. Everyone else (who was an active member) was equally pleased, even the loser in the back. And he took advantage of our new leadership to worm his way in as manager when Kasumi, Samantha, and I left to go home. He convinced Sam to let him join with suck-up remarks and promises to behave, but I saw right through him. Sam didn't.
It completely ruined my day after that, Sunday, to know that come Monday he'd be accepted into our club and take "Manager" position. Plus, the Little Devils stuck gum in my hair so I had to spend an hour or so using peanut butter to get it out.
All that time I thought that Sam wasn't making the right decision. What if she would keep making mistakes like that and end up ruining our club? How were we supposed to live with that? How could she think that that guy was equipped to handle "Manager". He wasn't even qualified to hand out tissue packets at a lottery stand!
...Sad as it sounds, she might not even be able to adapt to "Captain" as well as we thought she could be. Heck, I'd probably be better at it than her. If it were me, I'd keep perverts like him out of the club. No exception. Kicking ass and taking names!
So that's where my determination led me to before. Standing in the second-floor hallway with that weirdo Nagisa on a Monday being challenged to a recruitment battle. If I'd win, then I'd definitely know for sure that my skills and will were enough to have me as "Captain". Although, we didn't mention any punishment for the loser. Lucky for him I was in a generous mood for squabs of his kind. I'd need to be righteous and forgiving as a leader, so I might have well started there.
Nagisa ran one way, and I headed in the opposite. There were more people ahead of me, unknowing of my people skills and persuasion that'd have them begging to join the club.
"Hey, there! How about joining the swi-"
Then they kept on going. Still chatting with each other.
Those limy bastards! Screw them if they won't take the opportunity to make themselves useful.
I brushed it off and moved on to the group. And then another...and another...then a straggler...and some more...
By the time our lunch break was coming to an end I was breathless and sore from carrying the fliers the team made.
This was completely...useless!
I didn't want to go back empty-handed and have my name smothered in dirt by the rotten lug. If I could save my dignity I'd feign an injury and call off the battle until the next time. While walking back I thought of which injuries I could go for. Sprained wrist or ankle...stomach cramp?
But all of those involve me going to the nurse, and the last time that happened Nagisa...
No, I am never going to think about that again. He has too much of my attention on him and the last thing I need to be thinking that I like him!
That's what I decided when I turned the corner. However, the sudden bump into another person made my brain jumble that I couldn't remember exactly what I told myself, even when I landed on my ass and not on the head. All of my fliers went sailing into the air like birds.
The other person apologized, but I knew they didn't mean it.
"Don't waste your br-"
If it were anyone else I would've pushed past them, but I didn't expect to see Ryuko on her knees with some of the fliers in her hands.
Great, I probably look like a freak since I didn't get enough sleep last night. And I'm cranky...
"Ryuko-san, was it?"
I held my hand out to take the fliers back. But she didn't understand.
"The fliers...?"
"Oh, here..."
I sighed to myself after I realized that she should've kept one.
"You might as well keep one since I'm handing these out to people. At least one person is eager to take 'em..."
She glanced at the one I gave back and asked if the school really did have a swim club. Like the other times I encountered the same question I had to explain a brief history about it that I had memorized for a while.
"Yeah,...if you wanna join, that'd be a relief to us."
"Me? You'd...you'd want me to join?"
"Why not? Doesn't really matter if you can or can't swim. I'm tryin' to teach that idiot over there that he can't win a bet against me," I said with my thumb sticking out to Hazuki from a little ways down.
Maybe I wouldn't lose after all. She was interested enough to meet me at the end of the day, even though she ran away as soon as our three classmates showed up to wish me luck with Hazuki (I knew it was a joke because they were giggling in between, so I laughed with them and handed them some of the fliers). As for Ryuko, I was having difficulty after that day to win her over. I had her hooked into signing up while meeting the team, but then Hazuki just had to ruin everything to show us a "classmate" that had to join the club because of his name at the track, and then this really weird moment where Ryuko's "uncle" showed up in a tailored suit to pick her up from school. She bailed on us from there and I hadn't heard from her since. Hazuki urked me that entire week telling me that she was scared of me or that he could certainly recruit her faster than I could. I almost gave in to his mistreatment when Thursday came, the day Kou scheduled us to a joint-practice with Samezuka Academy at their school, and I was at my locker putting my outdoor shoes away. Ryuko approached me asking if she could join.
"Say what again?"
"Um...'what again'?"
"N-no! You said what about the club?"
"I-I would like to join the swim club."
I closed my locker (or slammed it, but who cares?) and asked, "Seriously?"
"I am serious."
"Do you know what this means?" I squeaked.
"I-I actually don't-"
"This means that you have saved me from social embarrassment!"
I was so happy that I didn't care if I were in public nearly hugging her hip like we were best friends, her being uncomfortable or not, or if she had a weird uncle or was still in dark to me about being a friend or foe. All that mattered was that I'd win and Hazuki wouldn't. Had I known before when I saw him bending over for air in front of the entrance with Tachibana and Nanase, I'd kick him straight in the rear and gloat about him being my homework slave for a day.
That classmate he mentioned-showed up that afternoon as we were getting together to go to Samezuka. His name was Ryugazaki, a class nerd that kept quiet in the back of class. I should've known that Hazuki would go for easy bait like that guy.
Fine, I can play hardball, I thought while we walked into Samezuka's natatorium.
My goal for this joint-practice was to show Ryuko that the team was decent enough to join and that our competition wasn't anything special. It wouldn't be a pushover to join, so she'd definitely want to join and I'd beat the sucker to the punch line first. I also had to make sure that she knew our new "manager" was kept on a leash so she wouldn't feel threatened. He did a lot of running around trying to take pictures of girls in their swimsuits while Samantha chased after him, so in an essence he was a dog that could only run to the end of his chain and bark. Sam was doing a sloppy job of keeping him at bay, but at the same time she had to meet the other captains of the Samezuka team and encourage Kasumi to not chicken out on practicing like a wuss.
So all was fine come the time that the girls not in swimsuits went to go get dressed and the boys took first turn to practice. I let Ryuko sit back and assess the outcome for herself, and I watch Sam take care of everything else as "Captain". One screw up and she'd probably throw away the title for something other. And I'd be there to pick up the trash...
I stood near the edge of the pool with some other girls watching a row of boys get ready to dive, one of them being Hazuki. When he started swimming, he made it seem like we were all kids in a kiddie pool with the way he smiled before he dove. Then his expression changed once he was in the water.
After him came Ryugazaki. He stepped up to the diving board, looking at the water with a serious face and waited for the whistle. The other boys' captain, Mikoshiba, blew it. They dove-Ryugazaki flopped in like an elephant in a pond. A bunch of people watched and exclaimed, "Eh?!" as he fell, then it grew deadly quiet as we all waited for him to come back up. He took too much time.
"Will Ryugaza-agh!"
I didn't even notice Ryuko next to me. She spoke up just as Nanase dove in to save the nerd and then she slipped on a puddle. Our hands happened to grasp the other as she fell, taking me down with her into the cold water.
This wasn't what I asked for when I wanted to be popular! Now they'll all stare or laugh, for crying out loud!
Sam stayed by the edge to ask us if we were alright as we resurfaced, but no one helped us out of the pool. Typical, but there were some that crowded around asking us the same thing Sam did and others that went to get mops to check for any other damn puddles. Kasumi was the most helpful; she gave Ryuko and I our towels.
The captains wanted us to sit out until the end of the boys' time trials, and at first I didn't want to, but soon I realized that there was more to see than just people swimming in a pool.
I hadn't thought about incidents like this would be like for captains. Sam had to go to the other captains and let them know that our team was okay and that delays like that wouldn't happen again. To me it wouldn't be that big of a deal to bring up anything like it to the captains...but when you're the face of your team you have to bow and apologize for anything out of order. I guess I wasn't considerate enough like Sam to handle the job.
I guess I'm not as good a captain as I thought I could be when Samantha is more equipped.
And...she's my friend...Friends don't doubt each other, right? So...I'll let the whole "captain" thing go for now...But if that pervert "Gou" slips up I'll be as quick as lightning to take his place.
Seems about fair..
While sitting to the side with Ryuko I noticed Ryugazaki on her other side. The thing that caught my attention were their glasses that were as colorful and noticeable as a traffic cone. His were red and slim, and hers were kinda blue and...crooked?
I pointed it out to her that they needed fixing. She did so, but she didn't think at all that she needed goggles to swim with up next.
"Y'know you're supposed to put on some goggles instead of glasses, right?"
She watched me laugh like a schoolgirl befuddled in her own way as I was cracking up because of her. Ever since the first day I hadn't thought of what she was really like. It wasn't as important as now when she seemed kind yet was intimidating to others, including me (a little), but I never thought of her as distracted or nervous for a club event. If she were Richie Rich rich I'm sure that her family would want her to wear as much pride on her shoulders as a cow has flies buzzing around its head.
And it was funny to fall into the pool with her. I tried to imagine what our faces were like as we fell in.
"Takemono-san, are you alright?"
I stopped to answer her.
"Y'know, I never knew what to make of you since we started school, but now it just seems like you are just a magnet for bad luck. Oh my God..."
A chuckle escaped my mouth as I leaned back. Then I added, "Well, I guess I'm just laughing the pain away. But you're pretty funny. Actually we were pretty funny falling into the pool. I probably looked stupid when I splashed in. But your face-!"
She laughed at it too. Her guard let down when she started laughing into her hands, her arms then wrapped around her sides, near the verge of crying. I did mean what I told her about not knowing what to think of her. Her being a magnet would make sense, being brought into all that trouble over the letter and getting caught off-guard falling into the pool, that time where her uncle showed up included (the pain I mentioned was from when I got out of the pool. I thought my leg or foot twisted in the water, but it didn't hurt as much).
And then her magnetism for bad luck started up again. While laughing she leaned to the other side and accidentally bumped into Ryugazaki. Both of them turned to each other, both blushing hard.
Oh, wow, so this is what they call Nerd Love.
The whole package came with awkward bowings of apology and slight brushing of the fingers as he gave her back her glasses that fell to the floor.
I guess you could call it cute, not that I'm an expert on these kinds of things. Ugh, it's starting to hurt watching them blush...
The silence was unbearable as well. I quickly interjected, "Oh, hey, Ryuko-san, look at Fins over there!", just to break the tension.
"Fins...?"
It was so obvious that I was pointing to Nanase at the diving board. He jumped in at the sound of the whistle. Then swam to the other end like a dolphin wiggling through the sea. I stood up with the other two to get a better look at him, totally stunned at the talent. I almost wanted to admit that he was better than me at something. Anyone could admit that knowing him closely he was too in love with water that he'd try to dunk his head in an outdoor pool in the wrong season, but I finally understood that his weakness was also his strong-suit.
We'd definitely have a shot at tournaments with him on our side. And more members as well.
" 'Ki-rei'..." gasped Ryuko.
"Looks like everyone was right. He is incredible. But he looks too happy in there, like a puppy with a bone to chew."
I wasn't going to admit defeat like that, and I nudged Ryuko in joking manner that probably shouldn't have come up. But at least she smiled.
After Nanase's turn in the pool our classmates came up to check on us and talk to the boys. It was our turn to do the practice, but suddenly Kasumi was on one of the boards getting ready to dive in.
Wait...
"Misuzu-san!"
"Kasumi!"
A/N: 8/1/15-Hey, everyone. Thought I'd give a quick update as to where I am right now. Got back some time ago from an anime convention and had some writer's block while finishing the rest of the rough draft. Usually I'd write the whole story down in a notebook and then type it up as a final draft, but most of this chapter was re-written in a couple of hours because of how the block effected me. Whether or not you can tell the writer's block caught up at the last part to me, I hope you enjoy and I'll see you in the next chapter!
*Also, Happy Birthday, Nagisa! Just on time too...Well, sort of.*
