Chapter 9

Yakuza Stalkers

An open suitcase lay on Miki's bed as she was getting ready to pack for the trip. She still couldn't believe that they got to go to the tennis camp so early. She was also surprised at why it was at the beach and not in the mountains like it usually was. Tsubaki had said something about building more leg muscle by running in the sand. Miki sighed as she remembered the commotion the announcement made.

~Flashback~

Thursday, the day after the festival, everyone was freaking out about what Tsubaki had said. They were going to move the tennis trip closer? How much closer? Close enough that they went when the girls still hated the guys? It was bothersome to think of those things.

No one got a hold of Tsubaki or Tezuka during the whole day. They seemed to be busy with something. Preparations for the trip?! They all searched desperately for the two, but everyone seemed to just miss them by a second.

Only during tennis practice did they all get the news.

"The tennis training trip is going to be held next week," Tsubaki announced.

"What?!" everyone shouted in unison.

"Pack your bags, because we expect you to be here at the school on Sunday at 11am, sharp. Anyone who doesn't make it in time will not be going. We will leave on Sunday, then start the camp on Monday. Sunday is like a break day you could say," Tezuka declared. "You all will be able to skip school for the week, but when we come back, you will have to make up for all of the missing work."

"We'll be staying at a cabin on the beach, it has enough room to fit all of us. Oh, and there will be two other schools training there at the same time we will be training there," Tsubaki added.

"Please work hard, and remember to not disturb the other two teams."

"Who are the other two teams?" Takashi asked.

"They are Hyotei Gaken and Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku."

"Damn!" Ayumi said under her breath. "Why the hell does Hyotei have to be there?!"

No one heard her, but the few people who were standing beside her gave a curious glance.

"Don't forget to meet us at 11am, Sunday!" Tsubaki shouted.

~Flashback End~

The girls were all suppose to meet today, they were going to go and buy some new sports gear for the trip. Tsubaki also had to buy some extra stuff that they could use while at the training camp. Miki put on her shoes and left the house, shouting out a "goodbye" to her parents.

The girls all met up with each other in front of Koizumi's guitar studio. But of course, all of the guys were having lunch at the burger shop across the street. Tsubaki wasn't with the girls, she was waiting at the park.

"Eh? Koizumi-chan!" Eiji shouted from inside the burger shop.

All of the girls looked over to the place, Eiji was waving his hand, and he was sitting next to the window.

"Damn," was all Koizumi said before she and the rest of the girls sprinted off.

They could all hear a bell ring from behind them, and footsteps. The bell was from the door of the burger place, and the guys all ran out to chase after the girls. The girls sped up, sprinting now. They could easily outrun the guys, if there was a place to run to. They ran past the park and saw Tsubaki waiting for them next to a Takoyaki stand. The girls did a sort of U-turn and ran back to Tsubaki. The boys ended up running past the girls when they stopped. The momentum of their sprints made go past the girls. They stopped about a good ten meters away.

"Tsubaki-buchou! Sorry we're late," Koizumi said.

"Why were you guys running away from the boys?" Tsubaki questioned, one eyebrow raised.

"Um, no reason. Just thought we would jog here, you know, good training and all."

"I see..." It seemed as if Tsubaki didn't quite believe them, yet.

"What are you doing at a takoyaki stand?"

"Buying takoyaki."

Two buff, mean-looking guys were making takoyaki and selling it. Koizumi almost laughed out loud at the sight of the two. The two guys were Tsubaki's most trustworthy bodyguards from the yakuza. The tall, lean one was named Hosono Suzuki, and the buffer, chubby one was named Matsudo Yano. They were the funniest guys on earth and they were always worried about Tsubaki.

"Hey! Why did you guys run away from us?" Momo asked. The guys all came back, looking at the girls.

"Oh, we didn't hear you," Ayumi replied. "That's why we started running.

"No. You guys started running because you heard us!"

"Is that so?"

"Yes!!!"

"We have to get going now," Tsubaki stated. "Before the day ends."

"Oh, yeah, right. Going, now, to the place," Saori said, a little confused.

"You are welcome to come with us," Tsubaki said to Tezuka.

"I'm pretty sure the guys would appreciate being able to go to the store before the trip tomorrow," Tezuka nodded.

The big group all walked away. Suzuki and Yano didn't trust the guys yet, so they decided to follow them. No one was going to lay a finger on Tsubaki. The two just sneaked quietly behind the group.

"Hey, those guys from the takoyaki stand are following us!" Oishi said, appalled.

Everyone turned around to look at the people. But all they saw were two elderly guys, walking. Tsubaki cursed a little bit in her mind. The "two elderly guys" were actually Suzuki and Yano in disguise. If you're going to follow someone, change clothes every time they see you so that it doesn't seem like you're stalking them. Suzuki was carrying a huge basket full of their disguises.

The group started walking again, but this time, they were slightly on their guard. Tsubaki was going to give those two some heck of a beating as soon as she got home.

"Someone else is following us now!" Eiji whispered.

They looked back, only to see the two ugliest girls in the world! Suzuki and Yano had dressed themselves in girls' school clothes and were pretending to be Fuji's fan girls. They were shouting things like "Fuji-sama" and "we love you". Fuji, instead of pretending to be Faye's guy, started walking away faster. These two "girls" were just way to creepy to even interact with.

"You sure do get a lot of weird stalkers, Fuji-sempai," Ryoma stated, taking a sip of the ponta that he had brought with him.

"I've never seen them before," Fuji admitted.

It seemed like forever until they got to the sports shop. Maybe it was because every time they looked back, someone was there. And the people they saw, all looked vaguely similar. Of course, Tsubaki could tell who they were right away. She would recognize them no matter what. Koizumi, having been Tsubaki's best friend since they were kids, recognized them too. Koizumi tried to hold in her laughter every time she saw them dressed up as something. She couldn't help it, they were way to funny to ignore. The other girls knew that Tsubaki was yakuza, but they didn't know who had relations to her.

Two "bird watchers" entered the sports shop five minutes after the others had. They were looking at binoculars and were talking about bird watching. They sure made convincing actors.

Tsubaki was buying tubes of tennis balls. She could hear exactly what the two were talking about. Of course, to go along with their disguises, they were talking about birds.

Tsubaki walked up to them with a smile plastered politely on her face and said, "Hey, if you guys are interested in birds, there's this great bird viewing spot, downtown. You know, next to that big, old, Asian-looking house, with the label on it that says 'Oto Clan'. It's a really nice place, and I suggest you two go there."

"Thank you...Miss. We appreciate the offer, but we have to watch over a rare specie of this certain type of bird, it's very rare, and great things are in store for it. We don't want it to get hurt or anything. Especially now that it is migrating with different types of birds," the two guys replied nervously.

"Is that so? Well then, I guess you'll have to suffer the consequences when the bird decides to hurt the weird bird watchers that are stalking it."

"Tsubaki-san, are these guys bothering you?" Tezuka came up asking.

"No, it's fine. They just wanted to know if there were any good bird watching spots around here. I suggest that we leave now. Tomorrow is a big day for all of us, and we better go home to rest."

"Good idea, I'll tell everyone now to finish up what they're doing."

Everyone bought at least one thing; from shoes, to rackets, to weights. Everyone bought something. They really were excited for tomorrow, for the training they were going to get, but they weren't in the greatest spirits about going with each other.

The girls separated from the boys as soon as they could, and walked themselves home, even though some of the guys insisted on walking them home. Ayumi called a limo, of course, and offered to drive everyone home, but no one excepted. It was a nice day for walking.

Tsubaki, when she came home, was not in a good mood. Her father and mother questioned about what happened, but she didn't answer. So she waited up until her guards came home and gave them the most terrible beating of their supposedly natural lives. She was the next heir to the Oto Clan, and if she couldn't handle some "dimwit guards", she wasn't worthy to lead. She had been trained her whole life, and that made it all the worse for the other two.

All that was left was how to get through tomorrow, and how to get along with not only the boys' team, but the two other schools too.

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Hey! If you guys want to see what the characters look like, the links to their pictures are up on my profile.