Chapter III: Cherries, fangirls and tennis balls
-Skip time: 2 months and a half-
He returned the ball with a simple slice, and the first-year boy failed to hit it. Kiyo won the match automatically.
"Game, set and match won by Mitsumoto-" said another guy who was umpiring the match"-six games to love"
He sighed. Since his first day in the tennis club he did nothing but have boring matches against the easy boys. And most of them didn't know how to return the ball properly.
Don't think he stayed quiet. He was constantly complaining about that in front of Yukimura, but the blue-haired boy just smiled as he always did, and said "Be patient, Mitsumoto. Once you enter the tennis team, you'll have the best matches". However, Kiyo knew he wouldn't have chances to enter the tennis team till the next year.
Yes, he missed the tournament for selecting the regulars. He was too busy practicing with the band of the music club, training in the kendo club and studying for all the Biology, Math and History tests. And Kirihara didn't bother to mention it. Or at least Kiyo didn't listened him.
But, he was pretty lucky. He could sneak in the team's practice without any problems. That was the only time when he didn't get pissed when they thought he was Marui. However, something that Kiyo didn't know was the fact that Yukimura wasn't foolish; he had great eyes, and he always watched Mitsumoto join the regulars practice without asking him, but Seiichi didn't say a thing.
"Kiyo, you should be doing the swing exercises-" Akaya said, running alongside the red haired "-instead of sneaking in the regulars practice."
"I already know how to swing my racket" Kiyo replied, calmly "Besides; those types of practices are for beginners."
Akaya smirked "So, you're saying you can actually reach our level?"
The other nodded, looking at his friend in the eye "What? You think I can't?"
"Of course not!" He laughed "You can't do it. It's too hard for you."
"Don't judge people if you don't know them."
"I'm not judging you."
"Kirihara" Kiyo was retaining himself from smacking the younger one "You just said that I can't reach your level. That's judging."
"Uh…" And he blinked, as he processed the information "…really? I thought I was just saying a simple sentence. Didn't know I was judging you"
Mitsumoto sighed, as heavily as he could "Now you know it, Kirihara"
Somebody chuckled behind their backs. It was Niou. Obviously, he was entertained by the second-year pair.
"Is he always like that?" The red haired asked to his senpai.
"All the time" The trickster replied, chuckling again "How can you actually stand him, puri ~?"
"I don't know…"
Kirihara pouted.
"Hey! Stop talking like I wasn't here!" He looked to his friend "And, Kiyo, you're the one saying that I shouldn't judge people, but you're the one doing that!"
"I am not" Kiyo explained, glaring at the seaweed boy "I just asked Niou-senpai if you're always like this"
Niou laughed quietly, and Akaya smacked him. He wasn't an idiot! -he thought-…, or, at least, not THAT idiotic for don't knowing that Kiyo was lying. He hated that everyone labeled him as the slow and kind-of-stupid boy in the team. He said it a couple of times in front of his teammates, but someone always interrupted him with the phrase 'Then stop being like that, baka'. And he stayed quiet, because he didn't know how he could do that.
The practices ended soon, and everyone went to the dressing rooms. Well, at least the club members. The regulars could only do a few steps before a huge crowd of fangirls made a circle and kept them imprisoned. Two seconds of silence passed before the squeaks and screams started.
"Kya~! Yukimura-sama, you're so cool playing tennis!"
"Niou-senpai, how can you be so mysterious? I love it!"
"Renji-senpai! Can you give me your phone number? I need someone who can help me in Science…"
As expected, the girls confused Kiyo with his identical senpai. Some of them even hugged him.
"Waa! Marui-sama, you've grown up a lot!"
"You look so handsome!"
"We love you!"
"Wha…?" and he didn't know what to do. That was the first time where the girls acted like that with him. But he reacted, making a very annoyed face. "I-I'm not Marui, damn it!" he shouted, trying to get rid of the girls.
"You can't lie" one replied, patting his shoulder "There's only one boy that has red hair and is in the tennis club!"
"I'm not even a regular!" Kiyo shouted, freeing his arms from the climbing fangirls. "You're confusing me. I'm Mitsumoto Kiyo, not Marui Bunta"
He turned and put the (now surprised by the action) tensai besides him. The fangirls blinked and stayed there quietly, gazing at the two boys, trying to understand why the hell the two of them were almost the other person.
One of them smiled.
"Marui-sama has an older brother!"
Some of Marui's teammates managed to hear that, and exploded in laughter. Akaya was one of them; even the "number one" fans of the volley specialist couldn't see the tiny differences.
"Girls," Kirihara passed his arms over the red-headed boys' shoulders."Marui-senpai has only two brothers. And this is Kiyo. He studies with me"
"Nani? But he looks older…!" One of the girls pointed at Kiyo, surprised.
If Mitsumoto had more energy, he would shout at them the differences, and why they shouldn't confuse him with his senpai, but he was too tired. He just stepped out of the circle and went to the dressing room. He couldn't stand any more stupid fangirl squeaks.
While he was walking, he could hear the complaints of the older one. He was truly offended; they were his fangirls, and they had the capacity for distinguishing Kiyo from Marui. But they didn't. It was maybe because they were too excited, as usual.
"Kiyo! Wait!" Akaya yelled, struggling to reach his friend.
"What, Kirihara?" the blue-eyed glared, irritated "Did you come for mocking me more?"
"Whoa, calm down" the seaweed boy raised his arms as if he was defending himself "I just wanted to walk with you, baka"
The only answer from the older one was a groan. He was obviously not in his best mood. Oh, what the hell. Kiyo wasn't never in his best mood. His friend was always with that you-talk-to-me-and-you'll-die attitude that reminded him of Sanada-senpai. But he knew Kiyo had all the reasons for doing it. He was constantly confused with Marui-senpai, even after two month saying the same phrase; "I'm NOT Marui!"
But still…it was plain frustrating that Kiyo just said a couple of words when Akaya was chatting with him.
"I know!" The black haired said a couple of minutes later "Wanna go to the ice-cream parlor? Ice cream always cheers me up!"
His friend looked at him curiously for a few seconds, but agreed with no hesitation. Maybe Akaya was right. Or maybe he was hungry.
"I'll eat the banana split!" Kirihara said to the waitress, grinning.
Kiyo stared at the other, pretty amused. How the hell did he eat so much? Banana splits were the biggest ice creams, at least for him. But well, everyone has different likes. And stomach sizes.
"Uh…" Kiyo looked at the desserts menu, pretty undecided. It had at least twenty different ice cream flavors "I think…I'll eat the lemon one"
The waitress said a faint "yes", and went into the restaurant.
Both of the boys stayed quietly. They didn't know what to say. Well, Akaya didn't want to talk with Kiyo's bad mood. He would probably glare at him and continue eating quietly. The second-year Ace waited in silence until the woman brought the ice cream. He stared at his friend's face, waiting for him to change his face. And that was exactly the thing that Kiyo did. He ate the first spoonful of ice cream, and he widened his eyes, looking at the dessert as surprised as he could.
"Wow! This is good!" He said, devouring his ice cream "You were right, Kirihara. This is the best ice cream I ever had!"
"I told you, Kiyo" the other replied, chuckling. He managed to change Kiyo's mood with a simple ice cream! "Ice cream always cheers everyone up!"
Mitsumoto tried to say 'yes', but with all that ice cream in his mouth, the only sound that came out of his lips was like 'uh (munch) (gulp) huh! (munch)". Akaya started eating his banana split too, trying to laugh quietly. He knew Kiyo would get mad again if he did it.
Three minutes later, both of them finished their ice creams. The seaweed boy cleaned his mouth with a napkin.
"You know something?"
"What" The red headed did the same thing.
"Life is just a bowl of cherries, Kiyo"
Kiyo looked at his friend. He clearly didn't understand what the meaning of that phrase was.
"And what the hell does that suppose to mean?" he asked, puzzled.
"It means life is simple" Akaya explained ", and you have to take it easy, instead of being mad at all the people in it"
"You think so?" Kiyo was going to glare at the other, but something stopped him of dong it.
"Yeah. You should try to do that. You'll see that if you can try being more tolerant with people and less aggressive, everyone will treat you with respect"
Mitsumoto gazed at the park silently for a few seconds. Akaya wished to have the power of reading minds. That way he could know what Kiyo was thinking at those moments.
"Will you do it, Kiyo?"
"I'll try it"
Sorry! School keeps me so busy… I hope everyone liked this chapter ;_;U It's hard to make a chapter with low inspiration…
