Chapter Three – Instructor
"So, how was your afternoon, Miyako?" Kara asked.
"Rather dull. I felt so lazy for doing no exercise. I can't wait to play tennis this afternoon." Miyako replied.
"Nn, all those chores you said you were going to do…they sounded hard."
"Mum stopped me when I tried to clean the toilets." Miyako stated, still feeling a little annoyed. "And Kaiya's told her all about Tezuka-senpai and now for some reason Mum thinks I should talk to him more." She said, frustratingly shoving a piece of hastily made sushi into her mouth.
Kara giggled. "He is cute though."
"Whether he is or not isn't the point here, Kara." Miyako corrected. "He hates me. I know he does. He glares at me and he was mad that I couldn't keep a better eye on Kaiya. As if I didn't feel worse about it already…"
"I don't think he was mad…I think he didn't want Kaiya-chan to get hurt again." Kara said. "I mean, I can't judge because I wasn't there – but the way you said he looked over her injury and the advice he gave. It doesn't seem like the kind of behaviour of a person who would be at all cruel."
"But he is cruel. The guy who let the ball hit Kaiya, he had to run fifty laps."
Kara burst into giggling fits. "That's awesome; I wish I'd been there to see him suffer." She paused and suspiciously looked at Miyako. "Beyond that though, you didn't deny that Tezuka-senpai is cute."
Miyako splattered into her drink bottle, flushing red.
"Yo, Miyako-san."
Both girls looked up as Momo walked over and leaned one handed against Miyako's desk.
"Are you going to practice this afternoon?" Momo asked.
Miyako nodded. "I need to get two days worth of practice in to make up for yesterday, why?"
"This is from the Captain." Momo said, handing over a folded sheet of paper.
Miyako flushed darker as she carefully took the paper, as though she was afraid that it would burst into flames. "Tezuka-senpai?"
"Yup. He said something about wanting to talk with you about Monday afternoon." Momo replied, shrugging indifferently.
Dread filled every fibre of her being as she thought of what he could possibly say to her – or if he'd make her run laps. He probably would.
"Oooh~!" Kara cooed. "What does it say?"
"I'm not showing you." Miyako said defensively, holding the note away from her friend. "I'll read it later when you can't read it over my shoulder." She informed her and carefully placed it into her racquet bag, where it would definitely be safe.
That didn't keep Kara from insisting over and over again that Miyako should read it as soon as she should – in other words: right then and there so that Kara could know what it said. Miyako however wasn't going to fall for that. She'd had experience with this kind of thing when Kaiya was concerned and was very good at ignoring the persistent.
Once the bell for the end of class rang, Miyako stealthily slipped the note out of her racquet bag and opened it under her desk before slipping it under her book to carefully read it without getting caught by the teacher.
'Self regret will get you nowhere in life. Meet me at the half-courts after school. I expect you to have your racquet ready. Tezuka.'
How did he know….? She looked over at Momo who was slumped over his desk, hiding behind his text book as he slept. He must have told Tezuka everything. She glared in his direction, then sighed and reread the note. Then read it again.
Sighing again she put the note back into her racquet bag and tried her best to concentrate on the lesson.
. : . : . : .
"Are you really going to go?" Kara asked.
"I'd be going to the half courts anyway, so why shouldn't I go? Besides, I won't appear afraid of him – and I owe him. Twice. It's the least I could do to just show myself." Miyako explained.
"Well…good luck I guess." Kara said as they parted outside of the school building.
"See you."
Nerves began to affect her as she turned the corner around the school building and made her way past the courts and on the usually empty courts she saw the ever familiar form of the tennis club regular's captain. Looking towards her feet she walked right over and placed her bag down and then her racquet bag.
"I'll be back." She said, not even daring to look at him, and retrieved her tennis shirt from the bag and headed for the change rooms. And she realised the mistake of this instantly.
"I wonder why Tezuka-senpai is over on those courts." A girl said.
"I don't know. I don't think I've ever seen him over there." Another replied.
"Isn't that second year girl always over there?" A first year girl asked.
"She's not even on the tennis club." The first girl replied.
"Maybe he's there to tell her to get lost." Another girl giggled.
Unable to hear anymore of the gossiping girls, Miyako threw her school shirt off and then her tennis shirt on straight after. Folding the school shirt she made her way out of the change rooms. Keen to get the afternoon over with. Whatever he wanted to talk to her about couldn't be good.
When she returned to the court he was still standing there, arms crossed, dressed in the Seimaku's white, blue and red tennis jersey.
She averted her eyes quickly and got her favourite white and aqua racquet out of her bag. Then she switched her school shoes for her sneakers and finally turned to look at him, standing as tall as she could manage against his clear height advantage over her. "What did you want?" She asked.
Tezuka looked over at her. "You skipped practice."
"I'm not on the team." Miyako stated. "I can skip if I need to."
"Punishing yourself isn't any reason to skip something that brings you happiness." Tezuka countered. "I'm aware that you felt bad for Kaiya-chan's injuries, but that is no reason to skip tennis when you didn't need to."
"Don't you get it? I had to teach myself a lesson. No one else was going to do it!" Miyako exclaimed. "My sister means more to me than anything in this world. She even comes before tennis and I forgot that on Monday."
"I don't want to see you skipping practice again, or you'll be running laps."
"I hope I never find a reason that I have to." Miyako replied. "I felt so empty yesterday that I wanted to play all day today. Lessons are such a drag."
Tezuka nearly smiled, but he hid it by turning to remove his jacket.
"W-what are you doing?" She stammered.
"Your wrist hasn't stopped flicking, I'm going to assist you in fixing it."
"I don't need a teacher." Miyako stated.
"But you need an instructor." He countered, picking up his racquet and a yellow tennis ball. "Onto the court, now."
Miyako scowled, but obeyed. "Tezuka-senpai, I don't need an instructor either. I can easily fix it myself."
"It's been two weeks and you still haven't managed it. I've had enough watching you injure yourself." Tezuka said, throwing the tennis ball to her. "Now, serve and play a rally – don't flick or I will stop you."
Miyako froze half way through her serve, turning to look at him. "You've been watching me?" She whispered accusingly.
Tezuka's expressions froze and he gulped a little, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "It's hard not to. The courts are right by each other."
"Hardly."
"Just serve."
Still suspicious – and caught off guard by the fact she'd been watched – she did as she was told.
Tezuka stood back off the court, carefully watching her every move to see if there was anything else that he had to correct in this once off lesson. Her foot movements were good; she knew how to maintain balance and would have a hard time tripping herself up – except that the laces on her shoes were a little loose. Her first return was fine. Her grip on the racquet was good, held at the right spot. Her second return was okay, but he nearly stopped her. She kept her eye on the ball at all times, nothing distracted her. Her mouth hung open slightly as she let as much fresh air into her lungs as possible to keep herself active.
"Stop." He stated.
Miyako let the next ball pass her and she whined. "What? But I wasn't flicking."
"Yes, you were." Tezuka said. He walked onto the court, racquet in hand. "Now, you've got good concentration on the ball, but now you have to focus on keeping your wrist straight when you return a shot."
. : . : . : .
"You're keeping a close watch on them, Inui?" Fuji asked, appearing beside Inui who had found an acceptable hiding spot by the half courts.
Inui smirked as his glasses shone. "It's not every day that we see the Captain interacting with a female like this." He explained as he took a note down in his book.
Fuji smiled wickedly. "Then allow me to observe with you."
"Certainly."
"What do you think the chances are?" Fuji asked.
"As things go now, it'll be a twenty-five percent chance that something intimate and awkward will occur." Inui predicted.
"Only twenty-five?" Fuji asked, disappointed.
"If this happens again the chances might increase." Inui replied, nose in his book.
"Inui?..." Fuji muttered
Inui looked up and his mouth opened a little.
Tezuka had gotten to the point where she was just not getting it. He'd come up behind her and held her racquet over her hand.
"Hmm…" Inui muttered, writing the new information down. "Perhaps the chances are a little higher than I thought."
. : . : . : .
Tezuka groaned in frustration, put his racquet down and walked behind her. His fingers then clung to the racquet around her own and her cheeks flushed. "You need to concentrate." He slowly swung her hand back and then pretended to return a ball, keeping her wrist perfectly straight against his own.
"Wow…that felt really different." Miyako whispered, forgetting just how close his chest was to her back.
"That's how it feels when you don't flick." Tezuka informed her, repeating the action again. "It feels better, doesn't it?"
Miyako nodded.
"And now that you know how it feels you'll know the difference when you do flick." Tezuka said as he once again repeated the action, ever so slightly loosening his grip.
"Tezuka-senpai?"
"Hmm?" Tezuka asked, repeating the action with only his fingers on hers.
"Thanks."
"What for?"
"Everything." Miyako replied as she swung the racquet on her own, her wrist perfectly straight. "Including today." She added, lowering her racquet and holding the handle with both hands. "I'm sorry, for being stubborn before and being a pain. And I'm sorry that I let Kaiya get hurt when she should have been under my care."
"Arakaki – "
"And also…I never introduced myself." Miyako added as she turned to face him.
"I've discovered your name." Tezuka reassured her. "There's no need to now. And Arakaki-san, there is no need to think that you are a pain to anyone."
"And please, Tezuka-senpai, calling me by my surname is creepy and only my teachers do that. My name is Miyako." Miyako insisted.
Tezuka allowed his eye brows to raise a little to make up for masking his smile. "Now, keep practicing. If I see that wrist flick you'll be running ten laps."
"What?" Miyako whined.
"Start, now."
Miyako grumbled and served.
. : . : . : .
The rest of the week, Tezuka found himself walking over to the half courts to observe her play and pull her up on any mistakes or problems with her techniques that he would notice.
And if she ever turned up late he would make her run laps.
"You're cruel." Miyako puffed, leaning her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.
"Did you do any exercise on the weekend?" Tezuka demanded, handing over her water bottle.
"Of course. I walked and played a game of fetch with my dog – and despite popular belief I had to do a lot of fetching myself."
"That was only ten laps and you're completely worn out – on Friday you managed fifteen without a problem."
"So sue me. I'm not on the team, Tezuka-senpai." Miyako reminded him.
"You should be. You're very good."
"I've told you, Tezuka-senpai. I don't like competition. I just want the fun."
"Don't you think that playing against new and interesting people can be fun?"
"But all they look for is a way to get to the top. And besides, I like to find a pace to play my game at. That's why a wall is so much better."
"Playing yourself? Don't you think that's a little dull and repetitive?"
"And you'd like to prove that ideal wrong?"
"I would love to." Tezuka replied.
"Name the time and place." Miyako countered.
Tezuka opened his mouth to reply when a sharp sound turned his head towards the direction of the school building. "What in the world?"
Miyako stared in the same direction and she gasped. "Kiba? What is she doing here?"
"Your dog?"
"Yes. My dog." Miyako said running out of the courts. "Kiba!"
The Golden Retriever yapped excitedly and bounded its way over to her, licking and smacking the girl's legs with her fluffy tail.
"Easy girl. How did you get here?" Miyako demanded, taking a hold of the dragging lead.
"She had to have a proper walk sometime."
Miyako looked up from the dog and in the direction of the much missed voice. "Dad?"
Tezuka crossed his arms and leaned against the gate frame as the girl flew into the man's arms and the dog bounded over to join them. He smiled a little – there were few girls who would do that to their Father's in front of so many of their classmates.
"I've missed you so much, Dad!" Miyako exclaimed as she released the embrace. "How was Osaka?"
"The scenery was nice, the events were dull to put it lightly." The man replied.
"We should go home, I'll bet that Kaiya is home by now – she'll be thrilled to see you." Miyako said, leaving her Father and dog behind to collect her belongings. "Sorry Tezuka-senpai, but I'll have to cut this short."
Tezuka nodded. "I understand. But it'll be fifteen laps tomorrow to make up for it. And our match."
"Oh, tomorrow is it?"
"It was going to be right now, but in view of the circumstances I'll postpone it." Tezuka replied.
"Thanks, Tezuka. I'll see you tomorrow."
Tezuka didn't have time to respond as the girl finished collecting her belongings and had run back to her Father. He should be mad that she'd forgotten the honorific to his name, but he didn't care in the slightest.
Despite himself he felt his cheeks gain heat and he splashed water from his drink bottle into his face, determined to cool it down quickly.
. : . : . : .
"Tezuka you say?" Tamie asked. "Why…isn't he the boy who helped out Kaiya when she was hurt?" She asked, looking at her eldest daughter accusingly. "Am I missing out on something here?"
Miyako begrudgingly shoved a mouthful of rice and curry into her mouth to avoid the question.
"He was standing right by the courts." Naoko Arakaki explained. "A very handsome young man. Does that jersey of his come off at all?"
"Depends." Miyako replied, without thinking. And instantly regretted it.
"Depends?" Tamie asked.
"I mean if he plays a match or something!" Miyako explained, panicked. "He doesn't take it off very often though."
"So this Tezuka-senpai person, you spend a lot of time with him now, do you?"
"No. He comes and invades on my practice." Miyako insisted. "Tezuka-senpai is – " Suddenly she gasped. "Oh no…."
"What?" Naoko asked.
"I forgot to call him 'senpai'." Miyako whispered, horrified.
"But you just said it then." Tamie said.
"No, Mum. When I said goodbye this afternoon when I left with Dad. I didn't call him 'senpai'. Oh no. This is bad! And I have to see him tomorrow or he'll track me down and make me run twenty laps, not just fifteen. Oh no, what do I do?" She panicked.
Naoko laughed. "Don't worry about it. He might not have noticed either."
"He's my senpai. He would have noticed."