Chapter 15
"I'm transferring to a high school outside of Tokyo for the rest of high school. They have a good medical program and I got accepted into it."
"Ore-sama is going to England as soon as the current school year finishes. Ore-sama will be working with Ore-sama's father at one of the branches of Atobe Corporations."
"I accepted an offer to go to Germany to train to be a professional tennis player. I probably won't be able to return to Japan for a while if the finishing transactions get through."
"I applied for a high school dealing specially in business that's in Osaka. They've accepted me, and I'll be transferring in a month or so."
Everyone gaped, mouths open and eyes wide, at the four boys who just up and suddenly announced that they would be leaving. For several moments, no one could speak, and then Eiji finally squeaked out, "Nya?!," which, when translated from Eiji-language to normal Japanese, was, 'Repeat that please… five hundred or so times would be nice.'
Oishi sighed, shaking his head and offering a soft smile at his former doubles partner, who looked on the verge of tears. "Eiji, we repeated ourselves five times already. There's no way we can make it any clearer," he said gently. A loud sniffle came from the redhead as Miho patted him reassuringly on the back, murmuring soft words of consolation into his ear.
Suddenly, a thought struck Eiji and he pulled away from Miho, an absolutely horrified expression on his face. "If Oshitari's moving, then what about Miho?!" he asked. Before either of the Oshitari siblings could answer him Eiji was wailing at the sky. "I don't want Miho to go! Can't Miho stay here? Please, please, please, please!" He took a deep breath before wailing, "Oishi! Fujiko! Help me!"
"Eiji, Fuji's not even here right now," Taka prodded gently, while everyone tried frantically to make Eiji stop wailing so that they wouldn't all end up in detention or something of the like.
"Who's not here right now?"
Everyone looked up to see Fuji and Asa standing there, looking puzzled. Eiji let out another loud sniffle and launched himself at Fuji, who caught the redhead with just a little difficulty. Eiji burrowed his head into the crook of Fuji's neck, sobbing miserably, trying to speak and failing at forming coherent sentences. Fuji simply patted his back and let the redhead hang off of his neck, crying for all he was worth.
"What's wrong?" Asa asked worriedly, glancing from Eiji to the group and back to Eiji. "Did something happen?"
Before anyone could answer Eiji was speaking, having recovered his ability to form sentences. "Atobe's going to a place close to the end of the world!" he whimpered. "Tezuka's going to the end of the world! Oshitari's moving and taking Miho with him and I'll never see Oishi ever again!"
Fuji was silent and Asa blinked, neither of the two being much enlightened then they were a moment ago. "Atobe-kun is going to a place that's close to the end of the world and Tezuka-kun is going to the end of the world," Asa echoed.
Eiji nodded furiously. "And Oshitari's moving away and I'll never get to see Oishi ever again. Never ever."
Asa blinked again. "Where's the end of the world?" she asked, frowning lightly.
"Germany," Eiji whimpered.
Realization hit her, and she clapped her hands together. "Oh! I understand, now! Okaa-san was talking about this last night! Atobe-kun's going to England for a year in order to learn how to properly manage a big corporation under his father, and Oshitari-kun is moving back to Osaka for technically the same thing. I applied, too, for that business school."
"It's a pity your application didn't get accepted," Oshitari sighed. "I heard it was really close to getting accepted, though."
"So have I, but I guess it's alright. I've grown to like Tokyo," Asa said cheerily, while the color slowly returned to Fuji's face (it had paled slightly when Asa had said that she had applied for the business school as well). "Besides, there are always people who are going to be better than me out there in the world."
"Tezuka is going to Germany to train to be a pro, right?" Fuji asked curiously, sitting down on the ground so that the pull of gravity on his neck with Eiji still attached to it would be lessened, if only by a tiny bit. He looked up at Tezuka, who nodded.
"My coach during my rehabilitation found a coach that would be willing to train me. The finishing touches to the paperwork need to be ironed out, but if everything goes smoothly, I won't be able to return to Japan for a while," Tezuka answered, and Fuji nodded in understanding. A professional tennis player's training schedule was intense; Fuji just hoped that Tezuka got enough rest and good nutrition while he was on the road to becoming one. That a few emails and phone calls would be nice.
"And where are you going, Oishi? To the other end of the world, I'm presuming?" Fuji teased.
"Actually, I'm moving to Kyoto," Oishi admitted, although he chuckled lightly, not seeing the least bit disturbed with the news of him moving added onto everyone else's. "One of their high schools has a prestigious medical program that I've always wanted to get into. My application last year was rejected, but they let you continue to take the entrance exam throughout high school with appropriately formatted exams, which involves a bit of self-study. This year, I passed the exam."
Fuji flashed him a congratulatory smile and turned back to Eiji, who still looked absolutely miserable. "See? They're not going far, Eiji," he chided his best friend. "We can still talk to Tezuka, Atobe, Oshitari, and Oishi through phone calls and email."
Asa kneeled on the ground so that she could be eye-level with Eiji. "Besides," she said, taking one of his hands in her own, "they aren't going to be leaving until after this school year ends. That gives us a few more weeks with everyone!"
Miho nodded enthusiastically, kneeling on Eiji's other side. "That's right! Besides, I'm not going with Onii-san," she announced, and Eiji looked at her, incredulous. Miho smiled in evident amusement. "I got accepted into a high school there, but I've decided that I'm going to be staying here with Okaa-san. Otou-san and Onii-san are going to go to Osaka, and Okaa-san and I are staying in Tokyo." A relieved smile crossed Eiji's face and he let go of Fuji's neck. The honey-haired genius collapsed backwards, sighing lightly, enjoying his new-found freedom.
"I'm glad we got that sorted out," he said cheerily, while Eiji snuggled happily against Miho, chattering about something or another that didn't involve people moving away. "You guys better give me your contact information before you leave, otherwise I may be forced to take drastic measures in order to obtain them." There was a dangerous smile on his face that compelled each and every one of them, regardless of whether or not they were the four that were actually leaving, to nod. They didn't try to think about what those 'drastic measures' of Fuji's would be. If Fuji said something with that smile on his face, then they could rest assured that the punishment wouldn't be pretty.
Fuji nodded to himself as he studied the information that was printed neatly on a sheet of paper. When he was satisfied that he had everything he needed, he pocketed the piece of paper, smiling like a Cheshire cat. "It's all good now!" he said cheerfully and his friends shrunk away from him, deathly afraid of this smiling boy named Fuji Syusuke.
A soft sigh directed everyone's attention to Asa. "What's wrong, Ijuuin-san?" Choutarou asked politely, studying the older girl.
"Ah… it's no big deal," Asa murmured, "but I'm going to miss everyone when they leave." She sighed again, getting off of her knees and straightening up her uniform. "Maa… I guess there are just some things that you can't do anything about."
She trailed off for a moment, before suddenly whirling on the four leaving. "If you dare to vanish and never contact us back, I swear that you'll face consequences far worse than what Fuji-kun can give you!"
Oshitari tilted his head to the side, asking, "And what consequences would these be?"
She glared at him, hands planted on her hips, lips pursed slightly as she thought. Her eyes suddenly brightened and she pointed to Inui, and there was a collective gulp. "There might be a way to send Inui Juice long distances. I wonder which one would work the best on everyone? Tezuka-kun must need a really strong one." She padded off, musing aloud the components of Inui Juice, Inui trailing behind to offer tips. Smiling impishly, Fuji leaped up, heading after them to add in his two cent's.
Miho patted her older brother on the arm. "Best not forget about us, Nii-san," she said. "I don't want to go to your funeral just yet." His answer was to glare at her, to which she shrugged and dashed after her friend, calling cheerfully for her to wait up.
***
It was the week after that that the graduation ceremony for the seniors commenced. Fuji honestly couldn't see the point of going to these end-of-term ceremonies. After all, the only ones who received recognition were the graduating seniors. Of course, the class representatives and the student council president got to go up and make a speech (it was actually quite amusing to listen to Tezuka have to give a speech in front of the entire student body, although he was quite good at it, having been the class representative for four years in a row, as well as student council president. He had had quite the experience with speech giving), but Fuji was not the class representative, nor the student council president, so he was forced to sit through the whole ceremony, staring into space with a bored expression on his face, pretending to look like he actually cared about what was going on around him.
He would have considered sleeping through the entire ceremony, actually, except that Miho was sitting next to him and between him and Eiji, and was in full monitoring mode, and in set intervals poked both Fuji and her boyfriend to make sure that they didn't fall asleep. Thus, sleeping was out of the question for anyone within Miho's poking range (some of the upperclassmen who sat in front of them were rudely awakened by Miho jabbing her finger into their shoulders).
When the ceremony was over, Fuji breathed out a sigh of relief, standing up and stretching luxuriously, yawning. Promptly, he was poked in the ribs by Miho, who glared at him. "Perk up!" she commanded, wagging a finger in his face. "Graduation ceremonies are not meant for you to sleep through them!" Miho was getting all fired up and promptly launched into a huge speech about graduation ceremonies that Fuji could only stand there and listen to (Eiji could have sworn that Fuji had even shrunk a little bit under Miho's tongue-lashing).
Fuji's savior came in the form of Asa, who was also yawning, which irked Miho to no end. She pounced on the other girl, freeing Fuji of listening to the lecture and instead transferring her efforts to Asa.
"Gomen, gomen, Miho-chan!" Asa pleaded, and Miho released her friend, although she was still grumbling about how people took graduation ceremonies so lightly. Asa sighed, rubbing the back of her head. "I know it's not a good thing to sleep through graduation ceremonies, but you'd think that they'd make it just a tad more interesting," she murmured. "I almost can't wait to graduate myself, except then I'd feel old. Sleep or be old? Decisions, decisions…" she sighed again, giving a light shake of her head.
"Ijuuin-chan."
Asa turned around to find Nakamura standing behind her, holding a flattish rectangular box, white in color, in his hands. "Nakamura-sempai!" Asa greeted, before glancing at the box curiously. "What's that?" she asked. "It looks like one of those boxes the tailors give you when they complete an order or something."
He chuckled softly. "It is, actually," he said easily, handing it over to her. Surprised, she took it, looking slightly puzzled. "Okaa-sama ordered a dress for you for tonight's event. It's custom-tailored; she got your measurements and favorite colors from your mother."
"Oh…"
He smiled at her before walking away. "I'll see you tonight, then," he called over his shoulder. She nodded mutely and he left, leaving her holding a box and not wanting evening to come.
***
Asa stood in front of her bedroom mirror, staring at her reflection, looking like an owl. Night had already fallen outside her window. She was wearing a floor-length evening gown, simple in design but much fancier than anything she had in her wardrobe. Its base color was cerulean blue, but many shades of blue blended together in the skirt, making it shimmer like the sea with even the faintest movement. It was beautiful. It was classy.
She shouldn't have been wearing it.
"Do you think I can not go?" she nearly begged her parents, who nodded approvingly at her appearance when she appeared in the living room.
"Absolutely not," her mother said, and she drooped, dejected. Kurumi and Narumi patted her on the shoulder, trying to comfort her. "And don't forget this." She handed a small white box to her, opening it to reveal the necklace that she had gotten for White's Day. "Nakamura-kun requested that you wear it, if just for this one time in your life." Not having the heart to protest, she took it and clasped it around her neck, where it dazzled and sparkled and made her feel stupid. Wearing high-class jewelry made her feel… small? Insignificant? It was like the gems were mocking her, almost.
Twenty minutes later, she was huddled in a corner of a packed room, trying to be a wallflower and failing miserably, if she had any say in the matter. Her dress and the gems around her neck gave her away almost instantly. That and it seemed that everyone present knew her or her family. Many people came up to her, introducing themselves, and she would nod and greet them as she dimly recalled that these family names that they were saying were those of really powerful and wealthy families.
She wanted to go home. Why couldn't she go home? This wasn't fair, making her stay here…!
Her eyes found Atobe and she breathed out a sigh of relief. Atobe-kun! She actually knew someone here! Politely excusing herself, she started to walk towards him, calling his name when she was within hearing distance of him. He turned around, saw her, and nodded in greeting.
"You're here, too, Atobe-kun?" Asa asked curiously.
"Not only is Ore-sama here, but most of us are here," he said imperiously. True to his word, she found both Oshitaris, Gakuto, Jirou (although the blond looked sleepy and tired), Eiji, Oishi, and Fuji. Even Tezuka was there, much to her surprise.
She didn't get to stay long with her friends, because a hand landed on her shoulder. Glancing over her shoulder, she found herself face to face with Nakamura, who murmured something about getting ready in her ear. Uttering a tiny 'Oh,' she turned to follow him as he weaved through the crowd. Atobe watched her leave before turning to Fuji. "Ore-sama is surprised that you decided to come, Fuji," he said.
Fuji glanced at him, his head tilted to one side. "Well, I was going to be here whether or not I wanted to," he replied, "since this is what they term as a 'political union'." In truth, he would have been fine if he was allowed to stay home, but his mother had been adamant (his sister, too. For once, he was envious of Yuuta, who was over at St. Rudolph's dorms and thus didn't have to come).
There was a light tapping sound that echoed throughout the room, and everyone's attention turned towards the raised podium set up in the front of the room. Asa stood there, looking nervous, fiddling with the microphone, Nakamura standing at her right side, both sets of parents seated on the other. She swallowed nervously before offering a tiny smile at the audience. "Um… thank you for coming tonight," she squeaked out. I sound pathetic, she thought, drooping a bit. She sounded more like a mouse than a person.
Besides her, Nakamura gave her a worried glance. He knew that it was a bad idea to have her speak. He had offered to be the one speaking during the event, but her parents had been firm in their decision.
'There are some things that Aa-chan needs to clear up by herself,' her father had said. 'It would have no meaning if she didn't speak.'
Nakamura had protested, naturally, but the older man had laid a hand upon his shoulder, where it rested, gentle but firm. 'I appreciate you wanting to help her, but in light of the situation, all you can do is support her. Let her do it; she's stronger than you think.'
"Ijuuin-chan," Nakamura said slowly, and she turned to look at him. He offered her a crooked smile. "You can do it," he encouraged, and she smiled brightly, giving a nod, a silent 'thank you,' evident in her eyes.
Turning back to the microphone and the audience, she took a deep breath, steadying herself. It would be alright… her Nakamura-sempai was not far away and he was supporting her. She could do it. She could, she could, she could.
"As you all know, my parents and Nakamura-sempai's parents had proposed an engaged marriage between myself and Nakamura-sempai earlier this school year," she continued, her voice stronger, her head held a little bit higher. "I enjoyed getting to know Nakamura-sempai over the course of the school year. Nakamura-sempai is kind, considerate, and very much like an older brother figure to me. After careful consideration, the two of us decided… that we were going to cancel all marital arrangements between the two of us."
There was silence, and she pressed on, Nakamura giving her an encouraging smile. "While I understand that this move was to strengthen each of our families' respective businesses, I believe that there could be the potential to weaken them through this move. Should we have carried through with the original plans and something had gone wrong, it could bring both companies into the fray and possible exposure. I believe that, as friends, we can prevent this from happening since our private lives will have little interference with company running."
She glanced around the packed and silent room, gaze sweeping quickly over the people. "There is, however, another reason. Our parents gave us some leeway in our decisions; I was given the choice that if I felt nothing for Nakamura-sempai besides that of regular friendship I had every right to cancel the arrangement. To me, Nakamura-sempai is a good friend, but nothing more."
That came out a bit harder than I would have liked it, she thought, glancing quickly over her shoulder. But Nakamura didn't seem to be fazed out by it, and so she continued, putting her last thought out there in front of all those people.
"There is already someone that I like. That's why I have to cancel this arrangement."
She bowed to the audience, breathing a soft sigh of relief. That worked out better than she would have ever expected. "Thank you for listening to me. Please enjoy the rest of your evening."
A poke in her shoulder as she straightened up made her pause. "What?" she asked, turning to Nakamura, who looked unsatisfied with something or another that she did not know.
"You forgot," he said, and she was puzzled. "You forgot to say who you liked."
"This was a confession?" she asked, oh-so-intelligently.
He groaned, throwing his hands up into the air in an exasperated manner. "Ijuuin Asa-chan, I officially give up on you. You have caused me to take drastic measures; I expect heartfelt thanks when this is all over." She blinked, thoroughly confused, and the next thing she knew, was stumbling backwards off of the podium. He had pushed her right off, and while it wasn't that high to begin with, she couldn't move her whole body beyond spastic twitches, not in the dress that she was wearing. She anticipated a hard landing as she twisted herself so that she could land on her hands and knees.
Fuji's eyes snapped open as he took off like a rocket from where he had been standing at Atobe's side. The diva watched in faint amusement as Fuji streaked away, weaving around people when he could, although he preferred to shove right through them. There were indignant protests, of course, but he paid them no heed. "Fast, isn't he?" he asked quietly. He was expecting no answer and got none, although Tezuka, standing at his other side, was shaking his head with an expression on his face that radiated with the 'twenty laps' threat. Atobe almost felt sorry for Fuji.
Almost, but not quite.
Fuji dashed forward, thankful that the spot where he had been standing had been close to the podium. He was also thankful for the immense amounts of training that he had to undergo for tennis. The genius made a vow to himself that he would never, ever, give up self-training even when he was grown and graduated, as he lounged forward, catching a girl who had already prepared herself for saying hello to the ground. "Got you," he murmured softly into her ear as he skidded to a halt, her head nestled on his chest, hands instinctively clutching at the material of his shirt.
Glancing up, he flashed an icy glare up at Nakamura, bristling. "What were you thinking?" he fairly hissed out. "You don't push people off of podiums!" You don't push Aa-chan off of podiums, he added venomously in his mind, still glaring.
Nakamura ignored the seething Fuji, focusing his attention on Asa, instead. "You can say it, now, Ijuuin-chan," he called out cheerfully (much too cheerfully, Asa thought, he definitely was planning something when he pushed me.). "It'd be a shame if you didn't since you seem to have his undivided attention right now."
Asa groaned softly; she had a sneaky sempai. Somehow, he was beginning to remind her of Fuji. Looking up, she was met with mildly curious cerulean eyes, which innocently posed the question of 'am I supposed to know something?' to her. At the same time, she came to a sharp realization of the compromising position she and Fuji were in, what with him sitting on the floor and her half-sprawled in his lap, in a public area, in front of some of the most influential people in Japan. With a squeak of 'I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to squish you!' she leapt up, cheeks burning with embarrassment.
Or tried to, at least, since Fuji's hand clasped down on her wrist and effectively pulled her back into his lap, where she tumbled to with another squeak. "You didn't squish me," Fuji said, sounding amused. "I doubt you could if you wanted to." She frowned, giving him a glare of her own.
"Did you want something?" she huffed, trying to be dignified and failing (sparking an amused chuckle from Fuji).
"I did, actually," Fuji admitted, looking thoughtful. He held up three fingers. "Give me three clues. If I can guess who this person is, I'll leave you alone in relative peace and will do nothing other than to tease you about your crush for the rest of your life. If I can't, you get to pick a punishment for me, m'k? Just please don't make it drinking Aozu."
"That's childish, Fuji-kun," she answered, but seeing no way out, she agreed to give him clues. "Let's see… I met him after I moved to Tokyo." I love vague clues, she thought happily to herself as she saw Fuji's puzzled expression, eyes roving around thoughtfully as she thought. "He's really popular with the girls in our school and outside. And this year, he's four years old." She stood up, brushing herself off, while Fuji remained silent, standing as well.
"You wouldn't be nice and tell me his name?" Fuji asked, to which she gave him a look that said 'what would be the point of giving you clues?' He sighed, feigning defeat, but his mind was still trying to grasp the whole situation, focusing on the last clue. Four years old… four years old… "Is he…"
He glanced up at her, wondering quietly to himself when she had acquired such a guarded look in her eyes. "…me?" he finished, not quite sure whether he should dare to hope. No other four-year old who was popular with girls at Asa's school came to mind, and if he thought about it, he was four years old (such was the joys of being born on Leap Day).
Asa was silent, quietly contemplating what he said while Fuji bore holes into the side of her head. Finally, she grinned, reaching over so that she could lace her fingers through his. "His name is Fuji," she said cheerfully. "Fuji Syusuke."
An apologetic look flashed across her face as she looked up at him. "Sorry, Fuji-kun. I'm awfully slow, aren't I?"
"You're fast enough to deal with," Fuji said slowly, before one of those silly grins that Eiji usually wore crossed his face. He didn't have much time to revel in his triumph before Eiji and Jiroh had pounced on him, both excitedly chattering into his ears.
Smirking with a quiet satisfaction, Atobe turned from his friends, beginning to walk away. A soft voice interrupted him, asking him, "Aren't you going to go congratulate them?"
Atobe shrugged. "No. Ore-sama knew this was going to happen using Ore-sama's Insight."
Nakamura laughed, looking quite content despite the fact that his intended had dumped him. "Quite impressive… this Insight of yours."
"Of course."
***
The bell above the door jingled merrily and Asa glanced up from where she was placing a cup of hot chocolate in front of Kenta. The nine-year old ('I'm turning ten in two weeks!') paused in his happy chattering about school to look curiously at the door. "Good afternoon!" Asa called cheerily, a bright smile stretching across her face as she saw who entered.
Miho and Eiji waved to her before staking out a table. Fuji strode right up to her, hands falling lightly on her shoulders as he stole a quick kiss. He smelled faintly of wind and soap, apples and spices, the perfect combination of Fuji and tennis.
"I got a letter from Tezuka," Fuji murmured, stepping back, looking satisfied while Kenta stared up at him with wide eyes.
She clapped her hands together, looking excited. "Really? What did he say? How's training going? What's Germany like?"
He laughed gently at her enthusiasm, ruffling the hair on her head. "He's doing well. He's sweeping the tournaments, actually. It shouldn't be long before we see him in the big ones. I hear that his arm is doing fine, too, so there's no need to worry." She looked relieved at this, and Fuji handed the letter to her so that she could read it.
She turned the letter over in her hand, studying the neat handwriting that was so much like her Fuji's. "How was practice?" she asked, pocketing it to read later during her break.
"It feels funny with no one telling us to run laps," Fuji admitted, sitting down next to Eiji at the table while Asa got their orders. "And it's so quiet with no Atobe saying something or another about his prowess. No Oishi to be worried is a new thing, too. But we got Momo and Kaidoh this year; it's quite amusing with them on the team again. Hyoutei's Choutarou and Hiyoshi also joined us. With the sempais, we can make a strong team."
"Oishi still nags over the phone and email!" Eiji said happily, cutting into the conversation. "And Oshitari is still his usual self, reading romance novels, nya!"
"I'm glad that everyone seems well," Asa said. "Echizen-kun's going pro, too, isn't he? I saw an interview on TV the other day. He looked like he was enjoying himself." She vanished behind the counter and returned a few minutes later with orders, setting them down on the table. "Taka-san also said that his training was going along well. I can't wait to head over to Kawamura's Sushi some day. I'm sure his sushi tastes delicious."
"Mm-hm…" Fuji agreed, sipping carefully at his hot drink. These afternoons were quickly becoming his favorite, when he could stop by the shop and chat with Asa over their friends abroad and things that happened in the tennis club. Second years in high school, now, they were finding themselves more immersed in schoolwork than before, but he supposed it was alright if he could still visit the shop for a rewinding session before trekking home. Yuuta had entered high school; Fuji was excited over the prospect of playing his little brother in a tennis tournament.
When they got up to leave, paying their bill, Fuji snuck up on Asa, spinning her around and stealing another kiss from her. She gave a faint squeak of surprise; usually he only took one, so she hadn't been expecting this one, but he didn't quite mind. She tasted like chocolate and vanilla mixed together, like everything in the shop blended together until it got the perfect blend of sweetness.
"See you tomorrow," he said brightly. She smiled back and lifted her hand up, murmuring a soft, 'See you then,' watching them leave the shop before returning to her post.
A/N: I need to work on endings. *sighs* There will be an epilogue and then this will be finished! I'm almost a bit sad to finish this... :)
Until then, leaving a review would be nice! Thank you!