Chapter 8: Soccer Connection

Hey, it's me. Kudo Shinichi.

I hope you haven't forgotten about me, about Kuroba Kaito, about Miyano Shiho. I hope you haven't forgotten about our story. Especially after all the trouble I went through, writing all of this.

What happened, you ask? Here goes.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lying down on my bed, staring blankly at nothing, I was thinking of what happened earlier that afternoon, with the confident runner who was supposed to be my best friend.

Kaito... What made him say that?

I mean, it was weird for Kaito to ask if I liked her. It wasn't like him to even care. But then, I guess, it was also unusual for me to actually be showing interest as well. But that was only because she seemed so familiar. It wasn't anything more than that… Or so I thought.

Miyano Shiho... Who is she? Why do I feel like I know he-

Beep! Beep!

A message?

Before I looked at my cellphone, I mentally went through the list of people who had my number. Since there were only my parents, the coach, and a certain somebody, I had no doubts as to who the mystery sender was.

I flipped my phone open, and looked at the message he sent.

I've got business to take care of, so go to school without me. -Kaito

He's acting like nothing happened...

It's always like that. Always has been, and always will be. Whenever something happened between us, whether bad or good. We'll fight, go home, then the next day, we'll be the same we were before whatever happened happened.

I was used to it and, to be frank, I preferred it that way. Saying sorry, I probably don't even know how. Neither did Kaito, especially if what we fought about wasn't really of that much importance. If that's the case, them I believe that we should never have fought in the first place.

But there are just times when it can't be avoided. So we fight, and neither of us says sorry, but we're both okay the next day. I guess you could say it's better than those fights where people don't talk to each other for weeks, but it also means we've never experienced apologizing.

Maybe I was relieved. There was no need to swallow my pride and apologize after all. I let out a small sigh, then pushed the buttons to reply to Kaito's message. Can you guess what I said? Being me, I said, "Okay."

Yes, a bit lacking. But I was never one to say much.

I was an idiot then. It never even occurred to me think what Kaito would possibly need to do on an early Tuesday morning.

With a sigh, with my thoughts jumping all over the place, I realized that I wouldn't get much straight thinking that night.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ittekimasu!"

I shouted this as I ran down the street, racing for school. It always happened, on the days Kaito wouldn't walk with me, I ended up waking up late. Which meant I never got to eat breakfast and had hastily dressed, my tie still crooked.

Somehow, I made it to school in time. Greeting with Mouri-sensei just before he opened the door, him responding me with a rising of the eyebrows, I casually entered the classroom with him.

The girl who had haunted my mind, when I wasn't thinking about Kaito, was sitting right there, by the window, on the chair beside mine. Ignoring the fact that everyone was staring at me, being late and all, I walked up to her, sat down, and, much to my surprise, greeted her with a soft, "Good morning."

She gave me a slight glance, then looked out the window. If I hadn't been paying attention, I wouldn't have heard the soft whisper that escaped her lips. "..what's so good about the morning..?"

That made my eyes widen a bit, but my gaze on her was forced away as coach started homeroom saying, "Kudo, you better be paying attention! Especially since you were almost late!"

I blinked once, then gave a carefree grin that masked my thoughts and said, "Yes, sir."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Classes went by, and in the short duration of our morning schedule, Miyano Shiho had somehow managed to show and prove to the teachers and the entire class that she was better than them.

No, she didn't stand up and announce, "I'm better than you idiots and you know it! I now give you the freedom to wholeheartedly worship me!" followed by one of those high-pitched laughs like someone did some time ago. What she did do was answer the teacher's questions.

Doesn't seem like such a small incident can actually show her superiority huh? But it did. How? Well, during Math class, or Trigonometry if that's what you wanna call it, here's what happened:

She stared out the window.
The teacher called on her.
She answered immediately with a look that said, 'No sweat.'
The teacher was speechless.

It just so happens that the question she answered was the one the class had been trying to solve for the last five minutes. And it just so happens that the class who were solving it were calculating with a paper and pen (we're not allowed to use calculators). And it just so happens that her answer was right.

That can't be called anything other than genius. Unless, of course, if she just so happened to encounter the exact same problem before and just so happened to memorize the answer.

Chances are unlikely, huh?

There's also that incident during Biology. It was a lecture on… apoptosis? I think. Now, I'm pretty good in Bio, especially since most of the cases I've been involved in usually have something about Bio or Chem, but this is the first time I've heard of apoptosis.

Classes had just started, and when the teacher saw that she was the one person who didn't try to even act like she was taking notes, Shiratori-sensei called on her right away with the question: What is apoptosis?

I first thought, that's unfair! You can't expect a normal high schooler to know that!

But she did know. She answered with such confidence and accuracy (I could tell from sensei's face that her answer was right), she rendered everyone speechless.

She probably wasn't normal.

The onlyteacher she didn't have a problem with was Jodie-sensei. She didn't call on Miyano-san, but I noticed that they had a staring contest that spanned a few seconds. And after looking into her eyes, sensei smiled, a small knowing smile, and said, "I see." But what did she know? What did she see?

By lunchtime, the only thing I really did know was that I wanted to know.

Confusing? Not really.

Bear in mind that the girl in question just so happens to be (how many times have I wrote that already?):

A possible soccer fan

A genius

Someone I know

So nobody can really blame me if I wanted to know more about her. And nobody can really blame if I tried to strike up a conversation. Nobody can really blame me if she got mad at me.

…can anybody?

"Miyano-san. Do you play soccer?"

Silence.

"Ummm… where did you learn about apoptosis?

Greater silence.

"Miyano-san?"

I reached out to touch her shoulder, but before I did, she turned her head from facing the window to me and whispered in a soft voice, "..what's it to you..?"

With my hand outstretched, I slowly pulled it back. Seeing her melancholic, blue-green eyes, I tried asking another question.

"Have we met before?"

Suddenly, the melancholy in her eyes turned to anger. She silently slammed her hands on the desk with a great, yet controlled strength, and in a sharp, low voice said, "Did your best friend teach you that line?"

I haven't even replied yet, when she grabbed her bag and left me standing there, staring at her back.

What did I do?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After Miyano-san left me, wondering what it was I had done, my legs, which somehow had a mind of their own, made their way to Kaito's classroom.

So there I stood, hand on the doorknob, trepidation mixing with confusion, asking myself what the hell I was doing. Of course, there was really no need to ask that, was there?

What had Kaito done to Miyano-san?

I took a deep breath, and was about to open the door, when-

The bell rang.

Rrrrrrriiiiiiiiiinnnnnnngggggggg!!!

Saved by the bell.

That's what I thought. But really, what was I saved from? Why did I hesitate so much to talk to Kaito? Was it because of yesterday's conversation? Was it because of Miyano-san's words? Or was it because… I myself felt that I should avoid him? The he was...

I quickly headed for 2-1's classroom, trying to ignore where my train of thought was taking me.

When I got there, the first thing I laid my eyes upon was the seat beside mine.

Empty.

Where was she?

I turned on my heel, intending to search the whole school for her, but there was Mouri-sensei right behind me. Blocking my path, and effectively pushing me back into the classroom, he announced to the whole class, "We're gonna start studying Europe's history, so get back to your seats."

I couldn't have objected. I couldn't have told him off and ran out the room. After all, what was Miyano Shiho to me? She couldn't have been important enough to send me to the guidance counselor now, was she?

So I complied. Grudgingly, mind you. But I didn't show it. Obediently, I went back to my seat as if nothing was bothering me.

My reddish-brown haired seatmate never came back.

Right after the bell rang, right after the last class's dismissal, I rushed out to look for her, almost leaving a trail of smoke behind me.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Which made me aware of one problem. One very big problem.

I had no idea where to look.

I didn't know anything about her. I wouldn't know she'd be. I wouldn't know where to look. And after a not-so-thorough search around the school, I came to the conclusion that she wasn't inside the school grounds. She probably didn't feel enough attachment to Teitan High to actually stay.

Which means there was only one place she would go.

Home.

Her home. And I'm not stalkerish enough to know where that is. Sigh.

I skipped soccer practice just to look for her, and when I didn't find her… Well, there's not much to do but go to my home, is there?

So there I was, walking back home, mentally cursing myself for forgetting my ball (my only salvation), when something rolled to a stop in front of me.

A soccer ball.

Lucky! Finally smiling, I picked it up and bounced it around before almost walking off with it. Note, -almost-. Because then, it came to me that if it was rolling, that meant somebody must have kicked it. If somebody kicked it, that meant somebody owned it. And if somebody owned it, I couldn't bring it home. With an apologetic look on my face, ready to say sorry to the ball's owner, I looked in the direction the ball came from.

Looking at me, with the same surprised eyes was…

"Miyano… san?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

And that's it. For the first part anyway.

I guess you're probably wondering, 'What's the sudden obsession with Miyano Shiho?' To tell the truth, even I didn't know. And I had a feeling then, that it wasn't just the familiarity about her. It wasn't just the mystery conncection with her and soccer. There was something else. Something I couldn't place at the time.

But now that I do, well, it just makes me think that I should have realized it earlier.

Sincerely, ~Kudo Shinichi~

Chapter 8: Soccer Connection end