Chapter Eleven – Apologies
It was Friday afternoon.
It had been three weeks since she had spoken to her Father. He'd gone on another business trip two days before she'd planned to speak to him again. And that extinguished her chances of apologising to her Father. She wasn't going to say it to him over the phone and she wasn't going to write a letter. She had to do things the right way. And that meant waiting for two longer than usual weeks until he would get home.
The Friday before the camp.
Her Father had returned several minutes prior to her courage building up enough for her to leave her room and walk slowly down the stairs. Her heart was breaking. As she walked, Kiba remained by her side. A pillar of support. She walked into the living room and her Mother looked up, but her Father was reading the newspaper and hadn't noticed her presence.
"Dad?"
Naoko looked up, surprised to hear the voice. "Miya."
Miyako felt the tears build as the bottled up guilt overflowed and she stood in the doorway, silent streaks of liquid trickling down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Daddy. I'm so sorry."
Without hesitation, Naoko put the newspaper down and stepped over to embrace her, allowing all of her weight to be placed on him. "Me too, sweetheart, me too."
"I love you, Daddy." Miyako whispered.
"I love you too, kiddo." Naoko replied. "And I promise: I'll accept him with open arms the moment that he finally asks you to stand by his side."
Miyako nodded minutely. "Thank you."
"That camp starts on Monday, doesn't it?"
Miyako nodded. "I need to be at the school earlier than usual too." She replied. "What time did the note say Mum?"
"Seven o'clock." Tamie replied.
"Then I'll make sure that you get there on time." Naoko said, kissing the top of Miyako's head.
The phone rang throughout the house and Miyako only had time to turn towards the kitchen when Naoko slid by her to answer it.
"I'm proud of you, Miya." Tamie said softly.
"It was tearing me up inside, Mum. I can't be happy unless I've resolved everything."
"So you won't be happy until Tezuka-kun has resolved everything?"
Miyako looked at her in shock, but slowly she nodded. "Yeah."
"Miya." Naoko called.
"Hai~?" Miyako called.
"Tezuka-kun, for you."
Miyako skidded out of the living room and took the cordless phone from her Father and placed the receiver to her ear. "Moshi~ moshi~." She greeted.
Tezuka chuckled at her excited tone. "Moshi moshi." He replied. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, and you?"
"Yeah, fine." Tezuka replied. "You've spoken to – ?"
"Hai, everything's fine now." Miyako replied. "I feel much better now."
Tezuka hummed. "Maybe you'll be able to focus on tennis a little more now?"
Miyako giggled. "Yeah, I've been a real pain, but…well…I'd never had such a conflict with my Father before. I'd never felt so broken inside." She admitted, explaining what she couldn't in person.
Naoko had begun to walk back to the living room when he noticed that she was speaking to Tezuka about their fight. Hearing the words leaving her he felt a swell of pride and immense joy. He'd been foolish. His daughter had survived because Tezuka had worked her through every day until she could finally apologise – though in his eyes there was nothing to apologise for.
After all, he was the fool who made the mistake.
. : . : . : .
Kiba was in her special travelling harness, hanging her head out the window of the car, tongue and ears flapping in the wind. Miyako was sitting with her knees shaking under her clenched fists, hair tied back the usual way, she wore a plain t-shirt with a wide neckline and reached her hipline, she wore a pair of khaki shorts that reached just above her knee along with ankle socks and her tennis sneakers. In the boot of the car was her travelling bag and an extra bag of supplies for Kiba. When they pulled up outside the school most other Regular's were there, along with the bus that would take them all to the location by the beach.
While her Father retrieved the bags from the boot she opened the back door and grabbed Kiba's lead to free her from the car. The puppy excitedly sniffed around at the familiar-ish ground, her tail wiping at Miyako's legs.
Tezuka was the first to reach her, wearing a familiar lavender shirt that caused Miyako to flush. "Miyako, you really bought Kiba?" He asked, letting the dog sniff and lick his hand.
"Of course." Miyako replied. "Why don't you go and help my Dad with my bags." She added.
Tezuka gave her a funny look.
"He wants to apologise." She whispered. "It's okay."
A little hesitant, Tezuka walked over to the back of the car. Miyako's plan had been to listen to what they were saying, but a squee of delight distracted her.
"A dog~!" Eiji exclaimed, leaping in front of Kiba. Instead of being startled as Miyako had been, Kiba leapt up onto the redhead, licking at his face excitedly. "What's her name~?"
"Kiba." Miyako replied as the other Regular's walked over to see the source of the commotion. "She's my special girl. And I just couldn't bear to leave her behind – besides, she'd be a pain to my family."
Fuji knelt down beside Eiji and pet the dog on the head – in response Kiba forgot Eiji for the moment and tried to lick Fuji instead. He laughed. "She's very friendly." He commented, holding her back by vigorously scratching at the dog's fluffy chest.
Miyako nodded, kneeling behind the dog and saying. "Kiba, calm down."
The dog instantly eased her advances towards Fuji's face and sat down, looking back at Miyako forlornly.
"Don't give me that face, you know better than that." Miyako scolded.
Eiji was looking at Miyako wide eyed. "You talk to her like she's a person…"
"And she understands?" Miyako asked. "Yeah. She was trained that way. Mostly because three years ago when I got her Kaiya was three, and we had to be sure that Kiba wouldn't cause any trouble around her." She explained. She laughed. "With her boundless puppy energy I don't think she'll ever be an adult of any kind."
The other Regular members all knelt down to pet the dog, but Miyako noticed that Kaidou was standing back a bit, eyeing the dog, but still pretending not to be interested. She smiled knowingly. She knew an animal person when she saw them. She knelt down again and took the lead off Kiba carefully.
"Shh." She whispered to the boys. "See, Kaidou-san over there? I just have something that I want to try." She then made Kiba face her. "You see that guy over there? With the bandana?"
Kiba looked in the direction that Miyako pointed and then looked back expectantly.
"Go and play with him." Miyako encouraged.
Kiba looked at her owner sceptically.
"Go on."
Kiba instantly jumped up excitedly and bounded over to Kaidou, yapping and licking.
"What is going on?"
Miyako turned as Tezuka appeared beside her, her bag in hand. "Oh, it's just a little experiment."
Kaidou was staring at the dog as she bounced around him, and then, finally, in an act that confused nearly all of them – Kaidou bent towards the dog and then began to rile the puppy up, trying to make her jump up in the air. To which Kiba obliged joyfully.
Miyako giggled. "As I expected." She said. "This should be an interesting week." Then placed two fingers between her lips and whistled soundly. Kiba instantly paused and ran back over and sat at Miyako's feet. "Good girl." She said, putting the lead back on.
As the other members walked towards the waiting bus, Eiji hung back, eyeing the dog.
Miyako chuckled and handed the lead to him. "Just don't let her run off."
Eiji squeaked happily and ran off with the dog in hand.
Miyako smiled warmly.
"He'll be bouncing off the windows all the way there." Tezuka informed her.
She shrugged. "I'm pleased that he's happy." She said to him. "So, is everything alright?"
Tezuka nodded. "Yes, and I won't be telling you a word." He smiled a little at the disappointed look on her face. "Come on, we need to get onto the bus."
Miyako nodded and walked with him all the way to the bus, but as he was loading her bags into the baggage compartment she turned and flew to her Father. "Goodbye, Dad. I love you."
"Love you too, Miya."
"Did you give it to Oshiro-sensei?"
"Yes, and she'll be sure to provide it to you every morning after breakfast."
"Thanks, Dad. Bye-bye~!" She called, running back to the bus and jumping on. She found the spare seat in front of Tezuka and sat on it, dropping her backpack on the bench beside her. "This is gonna be awesome~!"
Kiba barked, leading the response from Eiji and Momo.
"Hey….Where are the girls?" Miyako asked.
"They're fashionably late." Inui replied, from the other side of the bus.
Miyako pouted. "How rude."
Echizen then walked onto the bus, Sakuno following close behind him.
"Yo, Ryoma!" Momo greeted. "You're not the last here for once."
A chorus of laughter passed over the bus as Echizen glowered at Momo angrily before letting Sakuno pick a seat and then sliding in beside her.
"Where are the others?" Echizen asked.
"Who knows." Tezuka muttered so quietly that only Miyako heard. She giggled quietly.
"Oh, who invited her?"
Miyako turned and decided that the seat beside Tezuka was a better place to seat herself. Staring at Anne carefully as she swung around to slide herself onto Tezuka's seat.
Anne's eyes narrowed dangerously and she along with the other girls chose seats by the front of the bus, leaving a space of at least three seats between them and the boys.
Tezuka muffled a chuckle.
"Miyako-chan~!" Eiji called.
Miyako turned expectantly and saw that Eiji was struggling with the lead on Kiba, trying to tie her to the seat. She laughed. "Kiba, sit." She ordered and Kiba instantly ceased her struggles and sat calmly on the seat beside Eiji. Miyako fluidly stood up and walked over to tie the lead down. "There. Now, she'll make a little whimpering sound when she wants to go…when that happens we will need to stop the bus." She said, turning to see that the couches had heard her. "But she shouldn't need to go for several hours." She informed.
"Hey, where's Suzuki-kun?" One of the female Regulars asked panicky.
"He's just getting the tennis supplies from the store room." Oshiro reassured her.
"Shouldn't I be helping?" Miyako asked.
Oshiro looked at Kikuchi and then nodded. "Yes, you probably should. Make sure he hasn't made a mess."
Miyako nodded, saluted and skipped her way off the bus. She ran happily, singing lightly to herself onto the school grounds and around the corner of the school and then tried her best not to burst into laughter. "You're Suzuki-san, right?"
The blonde haired boy looked up from the mess on the ground, trying frantically to pick up all the tennis balls. "Um, ohayo gozaimasu, Arakaki-san."
Miyako knelt down and began to help him. "Just call me Miyako-san." She informed him. "We're both coach assistants and second years, we're comrades now, right?"
Suzuki smiled. "Hai, arigatou~." He said, bowing slightly as they finished picking up the mess and stood up.
"Not a problem. Come on, they're all waiting for you." Miyako said, leading the way back to the bus.
. : . : . : .
It was two hours before they arrived at their destination.
The Honey-Bee Campsite was nestled in between a vast forest and the sands of the beach. Each cabin was set up traditionally with Futons ready to be used. There would be one cabin for each of the Regular teams, one for each gender paired coach assistants and another for the coaches themselves. There were two shower blocks – one for male and female. There was a large hall where they would eat and hold gatherings – this is set in between the boys and girls cabins and respective shower blocks as a perfect barrier.
"Now, remember our rules." The camp manager said sternly. "No males in the female cabins and vice versa. This isn't my rule entirely, but a rule for the school board as well. So don't let there be any breaking of that rule or there will be severe consequences."
Miyako looked at Tezuka, making a fake face of fright before turning around to look at the beach. She hadn't been to the beach in several years. Not since before that charity picnic. She sighed at the memories.
Kiba was already forcing Eiji to prance around the grassy area they were standing on. Between the trees between the large hall and the beach there were sets of tables and benches that matched them. To the boys side of the cabins were four trampolines set more than a metre above the ground and a pair of fenced off tennis courts. On the girls side there was an obstacle course made of wood and rope, linked up around the trees grown there and a pair of trampolines set the same as the others.
"Wow…this place is pretty extensive." Miyako commented as the groups began to disband to their cabins to put their bags away.
"That's why we have a week here." Tezuka informed her. "We only started this camp last year and it certainly helped. Mostly this is a camp to encourage interrelations between the Regulars – so we've got a lot of leeway in what we can do every day. But there is a program. Two hours a day there will be tennis training, as normal. Except it will be one hour in the morning and one in the afternoon. Just to break it up a bit."
"That's pretty cool." Miyako said and then took in a deep breath as a salty sea breeze blew towards them. "I love the beach."
"Miyako-senpai!"
Miyako turned at the sound of her name and smiled. "Sakuno-chan. There's no need to call me 'senpai' you know. 'Chan' will do fine."
Sakuno blushed a little. "Hokay…" She whispered. "Uum, we need to go to our cabin now and then Oshiro-sensei and Kikuchi-sensei want to see us outside of their cabin to talk to us about our duties this week."
Miyako nodded. "Okay, I'll be right there." She looked back at Tezuka and picked up Kiba's bag of things and placed the backpack straps over her shoulders and then lifted her bag off the ground. "Off I go then. Ja ne~." She farewelled and followed Sakuno to their cabin.
The cabin was sitting on half metre stilts that would protect it was extremely high tides and had a metre wide veranda around the perimeter and had shelter of roof overhanging. It was smaller than the cabin for the Regular's, but Miyako assumed it was because there would only be two of them in there anyway. She kicked her shoes off by Sakuno's disgarded shoes and pulled her bags in and set them up on one side of the room. It was a little warm in the cabin so she slid open the door further to let the breeze in.
"Are there any other windows over there, Sakuno-chan?" Miyako asked, looking over her shoulder to where Sakuno was on the other side of the room.
Sakuno replied positively as she slid open another large door with looked out to the trees.
Miyako hummed in complaint. "We'll just have to look out to this one then, huh?" She suggested, looking out the main door. Besides the five or so trees dotted along the way, there was a relatively uninterrupted view of the beach. "It's a nice place, isn't it, Sakuno-chan?" She asked.
Sakuno stepped up beside her and nodded. "I'm glad that I got to come."
"Me too." Miyako said with a smile. "Oh, we should get going." She said, sitting on the veranda to put her sneakers back on and she lead Sakuno to the coaches cabin.
Suzuki and Inui were already there, as were the coaches. Both coaches smiled when the girls arrived.
"Sorry we're late." Miyako apologised. "We were admiring the view outside out door." She admitted. "This is a really beautiful site, Sensei~." She complimented to both the teachers.
Oshiro smiled. "It's perfect for everything that the tennis club requires – courts and everything." She explained. "Now, we have something important for all four of you to know."
"We said you were our assistants." Kikuchi took over. "But that's a very loose term. It's really just an excuse for us to pick two students each who we think deserves to be here too."
Miyako shared a glance with Sakuno. Neither of them understood how they deserved to be there.
"Miyako-chan?"
"Hai, Oshiro-sensei?"
"Where is your dog?"
"She's probably with Eiji-senpai." Miyako replied. "He really enjoys her company."
"She'll be for free use won't she? For other members."
"Well, yes of course." Miyako replied hesitantly.
"There is someone you don't trust?"
"Not with the health of my dog, no. I have particular issues where Harris-senpai is concerned and I apologise if I seem to be stepping out of line." Miyako said, bowing.
Oshiro sighed. "No, no. I understand completely."
MIyako stood upright. "But as far as everyone else is concerned, I think it would be good for Kiba to get all the human interaction she can. She really only has any kind of connection with me and my family – and Tezuka now and then." She admitted. "And I do find that training with a companion like Kiba can be very relaxing."
Oshiro smiled. "You and Tezuka-san are very close, aren't you?"
Miyako flushed darkly, looking out towards the beach. "I don't know." She whispered
Oshiro chuckled softly. "Well, that was all that we wanted to talk with you all about. If we do need assistance with any jobs we may ask you to be on call – just to keep a part of the paper work official."
All four students bowed and were then dismissed.
"I wanna head into the waves, what about you Sakuno-chan?" Miyako asked as she and Sakuno made a dash back to their cabin.
"Yeah, okay."