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Chapter 5: Sweet Escape
-June 19th, 2008, 74 days left before Italy-
"Hello? Hi Natsuki-san, this is Chitose. I, well we, were wondering where you were? Kenya said that you left his home before the whole family woke up and we're slightly worried about you."
Moriguchi Natsuki angrily pressed the delete button on her phone before the voicemail continued to play.
After Chitose started to strip last night, she rushed out of the clubhouse and called up Osamu-kantoku and quickly explained the embarrassing situation. However, by the time he arrived and entered the room again with her in tow, the tennis players had all passed out. Osamu-kantoku seemed to think it was funny and laughed it off, but the image of Shiraishi Kuranosuke kissing each one of her fingers was forever burned into her mind. And she couldn't even forget about Zaizen crying no matter how much she tried.
So, because of all of the traumatic events that occurred yesterday, she decided that she deserved a day off. A day off from all of those stupid tennis players. A day to just enjoy herself.
Which is why she woke up at around 5 AM that morning and took the earliest bullet train to Tokyo. Natsuki decided to just shop at Harajuku for the whole day so that she could get rid of her stress in a healthy way.
Currently, it was 11 AM and she was sitting at a table outside of Starbucks, drinking her iced caramel macchiato, letting her golden hair shine in the sunlight. Some of the shoppers couldn't help but stare at the girl while they walked by. But who could blame them? She had chosen to wear a lavender, ruffled, tube top with short jean shorts. A pair of Ray bans sat on the bridge of her nose and her hair was done in a waterfall braid.
This is nice. I had forgotten how relaxing life could be. Having no idiotic, tennis players around is super nice. It feels so tranquil. I could die of happiness right no-
"Excuse me?"
Natsuki stayed frozen in place, hoping that whoever had spoken hadn't spoken to her.
"Excuse me. Aren't you Moriguchi Natsuki-san?"
Damn it. Well it's not a voice I recognize, but it sounds so annoying for some reason.
Natsuki lifted her sunglasses out of her face and straightened her posture before glancing at the owner of the voice. A boy about her age with slightly curly, black hair stood in front of her. He wore a school uniform that she didn't recognize, and the sight of his face made her agitated.
"Yes, I am Moriguchi Natsuki. However, this is my day off, so if this is about a job or an interview, could we please wait until tomorrow?"
She didn't even wait for an answer before bowing slightly and walking away from the table.
"Wait! Moriguchi-san I think you're mistaken. I'm not here for an interview or anything."
Yeah, no duh. You're around my age, why would you be here to interview me? I just wanted you to leave.
"I'm a tennis player from St. Rudolph. My name is Mizuki Hajime."
Oh hell no. I refuse to talk to any tennis players.
"What do you mean you refuse to talk to any tennis players!?" His shrill voice snapped her out of her thoughts. Oops, she hadn't meant to voice her thoughts out loud but oh well.
"I mean exactly what I said Mizuki-san. I apologize for saying it so rudely but I am currently on my short, one-day vacation so please leave me alone."
She hissed the last part of the sentence. Many of shoppers that passed by them kept whispering about how they were witnessing a 'tragic lover's quarrel.' The tips of Natsuki's ears turned red from embarrassment and anger. How dare these people assume that she would date this boy!
"I'm afraid I cannot do that Moriguchi-san. Why don't I take you out on a nice date while you explain to me why St. Rudolph wasn't chosen in your little plan to go to Italy with Sakaki-kantoku." His voice trailed off coldly.
Natsuki stared at him with wide-eyes. Oh god, he was going to take her to a back alley somewhere and kill her.
I'm sorry mother, father. I may die today.
She took a deep breath before readying herself into her boxing pose. If all went well, she could break his nose and run away before anything got too serious.
"I'll have you come with me."
Her hand moved to punch his face as he said those words. But both were surprised to see a hand appear to catch her fist.
"Hey Mizuki-san. Am I interrupting a date?"
Natsuki whipped her head around to see a boy with spiky, silver hair. He was pretty good-looking, but she didn't even register his looks. All she could think about at that moment was to run away from this Mizuki Hajime.
"Hello Niou-kun. And yes, you are interrupting a date so if you'll excuse us." His gripped his hand tightly around hers but Niou wouldn't let go of her fist.
"Mizuki-san, why does your girlfriend look so uncomfortable?" His tone stayed nonchalant, but his eyes stared right into Natsuki's.
"Well Niou-kun, it's probably because you're holding onto her hand."
At that comment, Niou let go of her fist but she frantically grabbed his hand the moment he let go of hers. She then proceeded to mouth the words 'help me' to him.
He only smiled a bit and nodded before hardening his eyes and looking over at Mizuki.
"Mizuki-san. There is a police station right around the corner. I could get a cop and report to him that you're sexually harassing this girl. She would agree and support me and you would be taken in. Or you could let her go now and save yourself the embarrassment. Your choice."
Natsuki stayed tense but began to relax as Mizuki removed his hand from her wrist.
"Fine. You win today Niou-kun. Goodbye." He stepped back from them, gave them a rigid bow before sprinting away.
They both watched Mizuki's form running away before laughing.
"Thank you so much! I was really close to breaking his nose until you came by. I'm Moriguchi Natsuki by the way. I go to Midoriyama Chuugakkou." She bowed deeply while making sure her appearance was still fine. She hadn't realized how hot this guy was until now.
"It's no big deal. I lost my idiot friend in the crowds and I saw you trying to get away from Mizuki so I thought I'd help. My name's Niou Masaharu. I go to Rikkaidai Fuzoku." She stared at him with wide eyes. "Uh, yes?"
She shook her head a bit but smiled. "Nothing nothing. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you're a tennis player right?" She continued as he nodded his head. "Well, as thanks for saving me, would you like to get something to eat? The shop down the street that sells crepes is pretty good."
I didn't know asking a boy to go on a date was so nerve-wrecking! Hopefully he won't think that I'm a creep or something….
"What kind of guy would I be if I didn't accompany a pretty lady to get some crepes? Lead the way sweetheart." His words seemed to make her melt. She could only nod in response as he intertwined their fingers and led her down the street.
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At around 5 PM, the Shitenhouji boys were gathered in Kenya's house for an emergency meeting. None of them had heard from Natsuki all day and they were extremely worried about the pretty blonde.
"Nee-chan's not coming back!"
Tooyama Kintarou started screaming and thrashing around on the sofa.
"Our poor poor daughter! She's probably lost, cold, and alone! Our poor baby!" Koharu and Yuu-kun began crying as Kin-chan's behavior seemed to encourage them.
"Just stop it guys. She was probably stressed and needed some time alone. It wasn't even our fault she went somewhere so we shouldn't worry about it." Zaizen chided at his peers but glanced at Koishikawa as he cleared his throat.
"Uh, but Zaizen-kun, it is your fault."
The tennis players all stopped talking with one another and focused on what their vice-captain was saying.
"What do you mean it's Hikaru's fault?"
"Well not just Zaizen-kun. It's also Kenya-san and Kura-san's faults too."
The group became super quiet, waiting for him to continue speaking.
"What I mean is, you guys made her uncomfortable last night." They all looked at each other but shrugged. "Well. Zaizen-kun you cried to her and asked her to never leave you. Kura-san, you began seducing her and telling her to…well…uh…sleep with you. And Kenya, you started talking in a southern accent."
A silence fell on the stunned group. Then, Yuu-kun and Koharu slowly rose and walked over to where the guilty trio was sitting.
"You three did that to our daughter…never forgive you…" They extended their arms and made a motion of strangling them.
"Wait, guys calm down!"
Chitose tried to yell over the group but they were too loud. "SERIOUSLY GUYS STOP! NATSUKI IS CALLING!"
That got everyone to shut up and listen to the soft, violin ringtone that was playing.
"Um Natsuki-san? Are you all right?"
Chitose spoke into the phone but sneakily put it on speaker.
"Hey Senri-kun. Yeah, I'm fine. I just needed to get a break from the tennis team. Um…I'm not sure if you remember about what happened last night but I just really needed to get away from everything."
The three tennis players gulped as the rest of the group glared at them for a moment.
"It's completely understandable Natsuki-san. Are you on your way home?"
"Yeah, sorry I was in Tokyo for the whole day." She let out a dreamy sigh. "And hey Senri-kun, you can keep a secret right?"
"Uh…" He glanced at all of the tennis players who were listening in but they just urged him to continue. "Of course I can Natsuki-san."
"I think I'm in love."
Everyone in the room could hear the shattering of Zaizen Hikaru's heart.