it doesn't belong to me
So it had all come down to this. How could they have known? The old coach would never tell. So would Tezuka-buchou. Despite being an idiot, his father would also never betray him in such a confidential matter. His mind narrowed on the one person who could have spilled it out.
Ryuzaki Sakuno.
Hm. This was interesting, Tomoka thought. If anyone looked closely enough, there were actual dark clouds looming above Ryoma-kun's head, complete with flashes of lightning, torrential rain and all. And if one paid even more attention, traces of booming thunder could be heard. Oooh, this was terribly delicious. All that tension, centred on her best friend if her predictions were correct. And given they way that he was clutching his pencil while sending off a frightening aura towards Sakuno, Tomoka was sure that her best friend was in for a very good time tonight. Snicker, snicker.
Of course, Sakuno was terribly innocent when it came to intimate behaviour. That guileless naiveté attracted species of the male variety in hordes, if only she bothered to notice. Naturally, Tomoka had beaten them off with her fists and Horio had 'aided' by bragging that he had two years of boxing experience. And if that did not work, Momo-senpai and Kau-, ahem, Kaido buchou were around to help. No way were they letting Sakuno fall into the sweaty hands of some perverse teenage boy.
Except for Ryoma-kun of course. That was inevitable; kami-sama knew how long all of them had waited for this. She hoped Ryoma-kun had enough sense to not muck it up this time, that lovable brat. If he made Sakuno cry by leaving one more time, Tomoka would squish more than his tennis balls.
Ryoma would have been clutching Ryuzaki's deceitful neck if he had not been waylaid by a glomping Momo-senpai. It was the end of the school day and he had been about to demand an explanation from her when he had been dragged by the collar. Of course, he knew it was Momo, who else dared to give him a noogie while making baby noises? This strangely mollified him somewhat; he had missed this old familiarity. Not that Momo-senpai needed to know that.
"Get off me," He growled, though both of them knew he did not mean it. He was squished further into Momo's armpit instead.
"Ehhh, think you're all grown up eh? Keh, no matter how tall or old you are you're always 'Ochibi' first!" Momo punctuated this absurd statement by ruffling Ryoma's already messed up hair.
"Dammit Momo-senpai!" Both of them grappled with each other, knocking into students who had the unfortunate sense to not stay away. Yelps and muffled laughter drifted out from the pair. It was a strange sort of bonding ritual for two people who had not met each other for years. Kaido looked at them from his leaning stance on a nearby wall. If the two of them didn't break up the fuzzy moment, he was going to start hugging people. He really had to get rid of his inner softie.
"Ahou. We're going to be late."
"Mamushi-buchou! I told you not to sneak up on people,"
"What did you call me?!"
"...Mada mada dane."
What the hell was Tezuka-buchou's problem? For the past half hour where he had been trapped in the booth, the man had not stopped staring. All around him, his old team members were yakking away. But no, not the great Buchou. He had to tap his fingers on the table while glaring at his youngest kouhai. Ryoma glared back, determined to come out the winner.
Of course, he had expected this gathering of some of Seigaku's greatest tennis players. The whole gang was here, except for Kikumaru-senpai and Fuji-senpai who had gone to order drinks for them all. Oishii-senpai and Momo-senpai were in a heated debate over what was considered an acceptable punishment for coming late to tennis practice. Momo-senpai was arguing strongly that a smack at the back of the head was all it took. Naturally the soft-hearted Oishii senpai claimed that running twenty laps was more than enough.
Kawamura-senpai and Inui-senpai were both clucking over the current Seigaku captain's well developed muscles. There was a slight flush on Kaido-senpai's cheeks, seemingly embarrassed by all the attention. Tezuka-buchou on the other hand, was quietly sipping his tea (where did that come from?), not at all bothered by the conversations around him. He tilted his head as he stared harder at Ryoma, who was considerably wary as to what was going on inside his head. Ryoma was mildly tempted to throw something at him, just to see if Tezuka-buchou was capable of producing emotions.
"You are well?"
Wow. Tezuka-buchou was finally speaking. Although, it sounded like he was commanding instead of the politely phrased question that it was. "Ah..." Ryoma muttered, eyes finally shifting away.
"Have you been practicing?"
"Practicing what?" Ryoma cautiously replied. There was no answer from Tezuka, whose eyes sharpened further in response.
"Ahou. Tennis of course," Kaido said. He had been listening in ever since Tezuka had started talking. So had the rest of them actually.
Ryoma's anger spiked up. Kuso, he did not need this on top of everything else. What was he, some kind of infant that everyone had to keep asking him such questions? Enough was enough. He rose up, all prepared to walk out of the restaurant. If it were not for Fuji-senpai's restraining hand against his shoulder, he would have been stampeding his way across town by now. "Echizen...we are all worried. Forgive us if we seem too upfront about it."
His eyes were suddenly stinging. If he came back all the way here just to bawl like Horio in front of his senpais he would kill himself.
With all eyes centered on him, he shrugged off his senpai's hand while giving him a warning glare. With a credible amount of grudge, he sat down. Collective sighs of relief were heard all around the table.
"Saa," Fuji-senpai continued. "How about a ponta then?"
"…But I do! I do love you-"
Click.
"…5 percent chance of rain in the easter-"
Click.
"…test if these are rea-"
Click.
"…sensei, you are alwa-"
Click.
"…Oh I love you to-"
With a last audible click, Sakuno switched off the television set with the remote. She was horribly tired, yet she was so wired from the day's events that she couldn't fall asleep. Oh dear, she thought. It wouldn't do to recall today. Cheeks flushing, she buried her face against a nearby cushion and tried to dispel the less than innocent images. Okay, so they were fairly graphic images if she were being truthful. Sakuno never knew that she was such a perverted individual. Of course, she knew about the birds and the bees, how could she not when she had Tomoka as a friend? Still, she had never given much thought about it until…until…
"Mou…" Sakuno muffled through the cushion. She was so confused by Ryoma. And the pathetic truth was, she had no past romantic experiences to carve out an explanation from. Ryoma was Ryoma, noone else she knew behaved the same infuriating way that he did. Being 17 now, perhaps his male tendencies had finally caught up with him thus resulting in this sudden oddness. Who would believe that Ryoma would ever get that close to a girl? To whisper softly to her? To hold her hand?
Sakuno told herself to calm down. There should be a logical explanation for all the recent events; it would be prudent to not jump to conclusions. After all, from what she knew, he didn't even like her. She had to remember that, to forget would mean a disaster. Yosh! It was settled then!
"What are you doing?"
Sakuno had been pumping her fist in the air, while lying on the couch, her face pressed against the cushion. Was it always going to be like this kami-sama? Would she always be doomed to have Ryoma walking in on her embarrassing moments? She lay quietly, pretending that she hadn't heard his voice. If life was fair, she would slowly dissolve into air at this moment.
"Ryuzaki."
Well, fine then. Sakuno sat up and stared at a pair of sneakers, not daring to venture above there. She hoped she was still not giving off an impression of a tomato, though it was likely a futile hope. There was a sudden awkward pause in the room when none of them spoke, each waiting for the other to begin first.
"Your hair…"
Her hair?
"It's loose…"
Oh. "I just washed it. It hadn't dried then. I'll tie it up, if it bothers you."
"It doesn't. You just look different,"
"Ah...Souka..."
Different? That meant she looked horrible right? Sakuno began to fidget with the material of her pyjama bottoms, growing increasingly uncomfortable with the situation. Of all nights for her grandmother to be working late, she just had to pick tonight.
"So," Sakuno said haltingly. "Was there anything you needed?" She pasted a bright smile on her face, finally braving to look at him. It was of no surprise to her that he was wearing an unreadable expression, she was used to it.
"You look better without glasses."
She looked better without glasses. Ryoma said she looked better without glasses. She looked better.
"But your hair is still too long,"
Enough. "What do you want?"
He raised an eyebrow at her change of tone. Sakuno was very protective of her hair, not even the great Ryoma could get away with insulting it.
"Well?" She further stressed when he continued to present a condescending front towards her. His mouth twitched slightly, but other than that his expression did not waver. Instead, he slouched further in his seat. One might think that he looked relaxed, if not for the burning gaze of his eyes.
"You're really lucky you know."
Sakuno did not know how to reply to such a statement so she merely kept mum. Better for him to let it all out first, lessening her chances of saying something idiotic.
"I met all the ex-regulars today."
She meekly nodded, careful not to make any sudden movements.
"Apparently, Tezuka-buchou told everyone about me. And about my arm." He looked at her meaningfully, as if she was supposed to catch on to the implication behind his words. When she gave no indication of such an understanding, he gave a loud huff and continued.
"I was…upset at first. Nobody was supposed to know. Though it was stupid of me not to expect Tezuka-buchou to tell everyone, being the former captain and all…" He looked lost for a moment, presumably recalling the glory days of Seigaku's past. Sakuno understood. She would always remember the excitement of being a supporter at all those matches, when school spirit for her was at an all time high. Funny how it disappeared when Ryoma left.
"Anyway," He said, picking up from where he had stopped. "I thought you went ahead and told everyone about…my arm."
Sakuno was between wanting to cry or to laugh madly at his lack of faith in her. Of all the asinine ideas, he thought that she would pass around such private information like it was gossip fodder?
"I was really angry at Ryuzaki. But after thinking it through I realized-"
"Don't worry." She blithely cut in. Sakuno did not want to know what else he thought of her.
"I didn't tell anyone about your injury."
"Just like I didn't tell anyone about your letter."
I got bored and updated. So..yay?