Chapter Nineteen

Fuji

The old cheering, the old glory. It all came back once I stepped back onto the court. Screaming fans and hollering teammates, it was all just like before.

I let the shouts and yells blow past me like the wind, the crowd no more significant than the morning mist. Immersed in the game, everything else slid from my mind.

The whole thing was a game, and my opponent a rather infuriated playmate. It was exciting, it was fun.

"You were great, Fuji!"

It ended all too soon.

Being clapped on the back and congratulated my various teammates, all I could think of was how I longed for the next match, tired as I was.

"Amazing, Fuji," Oishi said. "It's like you were never gone."

I smiled. But I have been gone.

Informing the elated captain that I was thirsty, I strode off to the water fountains. Predictably, swarms of fan girls got to me first.

"Fuji!" they yelled, "you were wonderful!" like they had been doing this all their lives.

A polite nod was all they got. None of these shrieking girls wanted to know Fuji Syusuke. All they wanted was to get close to the tennis prodigy who had just won his match. I'd had to break a leg to find that out.

While they continued on with their meaningless screaming, I searched the crowd for the one face I wanted to see but didn't see.
It was incomprehensible that Tezumi hadn't come to watch my match. Yet it had happened. The cool water I gulped down seemed much less refreshing.

I splashed my face and arms. Forcing my eyes open, I spotted the towel held out to me. My heart leapt. Tezumi. It was one of the small details only she noticed. I took it and mopped myself up.

"Thanks," I said, looking up, and was immediately disappointed to see it was Takahashi, not Tezumi, who stood before me. Even stranger, she was alone, when she and Tezumi were normally joined at the hip, and was only around me when Tezumi was there.

"You want Tezumi, don't you?" Takahashi grinned. Another girl who was way too good at reading people's minds. "She said she had to go somewhere and told me to give you that." She gestured towards the towel.

Go somewhere? Like where? But even after a careful search the area remained devoid of any other people. With nothing else to do, we headed back to the courts. I sighed. Everyone was there, everyone, except the person I wanted to see most.

Why hadn't Tezumi stayed to share my victory, as I was bursting to do with her?

Impatiently, I awaited the next school day.

I was up so late the night before wondering about where she had gone, what I should say...well, wondering in general, that I overslept and was nearly late for school. So, no chance of catching her before class. Thus, I had to wait impatiently for Math class to roll around instead.

"Nya, Fuji, what's the hurry? Fuji?" Eiji called after me as I charged out of our Geography class at top speed, determined to take enough time for a decent conversation.

"Tezumi," was my detailed explanation.

I got to class with five minutes to spare. With a to-the-point person like her, it was more than enough.

She was there in the classroom already, of course. Not alone either, Ishizaki was bothering her again. The annoying jerk had been hanging around more than ever lately, despite my various efforts to fend him off, helped by a half hearted Tezumi, who seemed to have gotten much friendlier with him since the camp.

"So, Tezumi, doing anything on Saturday night?" he was babbling.

I refrained from rolling my eyes with difficulty. Didn't he know by now that Tezumi spent almost every Saturday with me and Takahashi? She'd never think of doing something with him, of all people.

"Saturday? Uh...nothing, I think."

What?

"So, movies and dinner? That sound ok?"

Shut up, Ishizaki, you little--

I chose the shortest possible route to Tezumi's desk, where this delightful conversation was taking place. "Tezumi!"

She looked around. "Oh, Fuji, hi." Not the reaction of someone who had just missed out on her best friend's first match since said best friend recovered from a broken leg. She turned away again. "What were you saying, Ishizaki?"

WHAT?! She couldn't have said that.

But unfortunately she had. "Is dinner and a movie ok with you, Saturday night?"

"Well—"

I had to stop this before she actually agreed to something. What is she doing? Is she on drugs?

"Tezumi!" I said loudly, making quite a few people stare. I just let them. "Um, aren't we going somewhere that night? Us and Takahashi, I mean," I pleaded. She couldn't go on a date with Ishizaki. I couldn't articulate what I had against the guy, except that I loathed the very sight of his idiotic grin.

She hesitated. I searched her eyes. They were as soft as they used to be. She wanted to go with Takahashi and me, it was so obvious.

But then, something changed. She squared her shoulders like she was steeling for something. I couldn't catch on, of course. It was as though a dark veil had alighted upon her, deadening all emotion. The activity in her brilliant green eyes shut down completely.

What's going on? 'Emotionless' wasn't a word normally used to describe her. The way she looked now, it was scary, it was unnatural, it looked more like...

For a moment I thought I was looking at myself in the mirror.

I heard her draw a deep breath.

"Dinner and a movie sounds good, Ishizaki."

...what?