Chapter Fifteen – The Mutiny
Despite her better judgement, Miyako strained to listen in. Her heart was pounding so hard she could not only feel it in her chest, but also drumming away in her ears.
"We've been thinking a lot about earlier today about what happened to Kiba and we've decided that we should tell you the whole truth while we can." Rika said.
"While you can?" Oshiro asked.
"When Anne is around…it's harder to speak completely truthfully about something she doesn't want to be said." Rika explained.
Oshiro sighed. "She did it, didn't she?"
There was silence for a moment until Yori spoke. "Kiba came running towards our group – I have a dog myself, so I can tell that she only wanted to play."
"But Harris-senpai picked up a stick and….well…I looked away."
"We all did." Rika added. "The sound that the dog made still echoes in my head."
"But she told us not to say a word to anyone!" Teruko added.
"And we just want her to just…leave Tezuka-senpai and Miyako-san alone." Susumu said softly. "They've done nothing…and Harris-senpai treats them in such an unfair way."
"I can't help but agree with you." Oshiro said to them. "But there is little that I can do but insist to the principal that Harris-san be disbanded from the Tennis club."
"We think that it would be the best idea." Rika said. "And…we're not doing this for any glory or notice. I don't know if I even want the responsibilities of being Captain, but…I've noticed now that Tezuka-san actually cares about his team members. He takes care of them. All Anne does is make sure that the team takes care of her." She sighed. "And a team just doesn't work that way."
A hand suddenly landed on her shoulder, and Miyako turned in surprise as a familiar feeling hand covered her mouth to keep her from screaming. "Tezuka…" She mumbled.
He frowned at her from behind his glasses and turned her towards the doorway. "Come on Miyako, you should eat something before you faint." He said, pushing her through the door.
"Uh, h-hey, Tezuka!" Miyako stammered, stumbling in ahead of him.
He smirked and whispered. "Serves you right for eavesdropping."
"So sue me, Fuji-senpai and Eiji-senpai had a bad influence on me." She said as he led her towards the counter where one of the kitchen staff was cleaning a bench top on the other side of the window.
"Excuse me?" Tezuka asked. "There should be a bento box dinner kept from tonight's meal."
The woman nodded and walked off.
Miyako looked at the group from the corner of her eye. They had fallen completely silent when Tezuka had pushed her into the room and now she felt like such an idiot.
The woman returned with a traditional styled bento box and handed it to Tezuka along with disposable chop sticks.
He handed it to Miyako. "There you go."
Miyako smiled. "Thanks." She said softly.
Tezuka sighed and gently took a hold of her elbow and led her out of the hall and towards the beach. "You know, people like you more than you think." He said, looking out towards the waves.
Miyako began to eat from the bento box, forgetting how hungry she really was.
Tezuka chuckled. "Don't make yourself ill, Miya."
Miyako looked at him slightly, a little sashimi hanging from her bottom lip.
Tezuka only chuckled further and reached out to take the piece away. He looked at it and then back at her with an amused smile before eating the piece himself.
"That was a little sexy." Miyako commented.
His eyes widened and a surprised red began to form on his cheeks as he stared at her in shock.
Miyako burst into fits of laughter. "You're so easy to tease, Tezuka!"
Tezuka sighed heavily as he looked back out to the ocean, though all anyone could see was the white foam lining the waves as they broke on the shore.
"All joking aside, Tezuka…that did make my heart jump." Miyako admitted, picking at a piece of sushi with her chop sticks. "Tezuka…can we forget for a while that Harris-senpai doesn't exist?"
Tezuka didn't respond, staring out to the ocean, hair dancing with the salty breeze. "I wish I could – but her existence is so plain to me that I can't put her aside and risk hurting you."
"Tezuka – "
"She's watching us right now." He said.
Miyako turned around in a flash. "She is?"
Tezuka nodded. "She's in the trees to our right."
Miyako looked past Tezuka and sure enough there was a flash of blonde as a figure hid within the trees. "For the love of – god, I am sick of this." She threw the bento box into the sand and stormed over to the bushes. "Have you had enough yet?" She cried. "Have you ever thought that maybe a person needs to live their own life and that people like you should just let them go?"
The bushes rustled and Anne appeared, staring almost maliciously towards Miyako, towering over the shorter girl. Miyako put her poker face on and stared straight back.
"You think you can tell me when to let go of anything?" Anne asked darkly. "Do you really think you know anything about me?"
"I know enough." Miyako replied.
Tezuka took a hold of Miyako's elbow. "Miya, you shouldn't do this."
She released her arm and glared at him. "No, because you're not doing anything to stop her."
"I've already tried this, Miya. It won't work." Tezuka insisted.
Miyako turned back to Anne, her eyes prickling with tears. "I know what it's like to die."
Anne scoffed. "Oh you do, do you?"
"I felt my lungs collapsing on themselves and I was in a coma for two months." Miyako stated. "I could hear everything around me, but I couldn't see and I couldn't speak. I couldn't tell my weeping parents that I was okay. I heard every confusing word the doctor spoke – but I couldn't ask what or why." She hissed tearfully. "I waited for health to come – I learned never to wait for anything for too long, ever again."
"You're still waiting huh?" Anne asked softly. "Maybe you should move on and find another guy to fawn over."
Miyako raised a hand and watched as Anne flinched and raised her hands up in defence. She smirked. "Only someone with no sense of pride would recoil like you have." She turned, brushed by Tezuka and walked to her cabin.
She no longer felt the need for company.
. : . : . : .
Fuji shifted a little under the blanket, turning over and for a moment opening his eyes and closing them again.
Slight confusion set in as his mind vaguely registered that there was something missing. He opened his eyes again and stared at Tezuka's empty futon, slowly sitting up so that his movement didn't disturb the rest of the cabin. He looked around, wondering if maybe Tezuka had simply gone to his bag, but Tezuka wasn't even in the room. Standing up he walked to the door and after sliding it open found the Buchou. He was sitting on the edge of the veranda, his glasses dangling from his fingers.
Fuji slipped through the space in the door and slid it shut again behind him. "Kunimitsu, are you okay?"
"Syusuke… She said I wasn't doing anything…"
Fuji smiled a little. "It does seem like you're not." He said, sitting down beside his friend.
"I have been…I've been…"
"Doing nothing. And I can see it…it hurts her."
Tezuka pressed his thumb and forefinger against the bridge of his nose. "There's so little that I can do."
"You're hopeless, you know that? You have a girl who cares for you so deeply but you're not accepting it."
"If I did then things would only become worse for her. Only when I know that Harris-san won't intervene in any shape or form can I – "
"Kunimitsu, Miyako-chan doesn't want you to wait. I heard her; whatever illness she had gave her the state of mind that waiting is pointless and useless. Especially with something that has to do with the heart."
"But can I allow her to be open to those who would willingly cause harm to her?"
Fuji smiled a little. "I have no doubt that Harris-san won't be a problem for much longer. Her own team mates are revolting against her – they asked for some of my wasabi just before lights out." He explained. "I asked to be let in on the plan, but they said it was something that they had to do for themselves."
"Wasabi?" Tezuka asked.
Fuji nodded.
Tezuka placed his glasses back on and looked at his friend sceptically. "You let them have it?"
Fuji chuckled lightly and placed a hand on Tezuka's shoulder. "For you and Miyako-chan, I would give it all up, Kunimitsu. My friend's happiness means the world to me."
. : . : . : .
Anne Harris woke up groggily to the sound of someone slamming loudly against the door. She growled darkly as the voice of her novice coach wafted in and she sat up, brushing her mess of blonde hair back and out of her eyes. But she found herself staring at an empty cabin.
"Where is everyone?" She muttered. She grumbled. All of the girls had been a pain since Arakaki had her little spack at her last night. The stupid little transfer didn't deserve to even talk to her, let alone Kunimitsu Tezuka.
She climbed out of her futon and towards her bag, searching for a brush. For a long while she dug in the bag, thinking that in her tired state she was simply disorientated and couldn't find it. But soon she searched the whole bag and couldn't find the brush anywhere. She growled angrily, cursing in English before she tied the hair right back and then changed into her belt short denim skirt and low necked tank top then a pair of sneakers without socks. She would change things – she would have Tezuka.
She stepped out of the cabin and into the bright light of the early morning. She yawned lazily and scratched at a spot on her back. It was too early to be awake.
Though in her opinion being awake at all was a problem to her. But she'd make her Father proud. She would be the Tennis Club Captain as he had been back in the day and she would bring the Girl's Squad a victory at the next tournament – it was too bad they were out of the running for the National's unlike the Boy's Squad.
It was all Tezuka's fault anyway – he should have just left well enough alone. The first year brat was trouble and it seemed that only she, Anne Harris, saw it.
Besides, wasn't their romance the perfect kind? The two leaders? They were both Buchou's. It was destiny – she knew it.
As she approached the hall she started her signature cat walk step, making sure that what bounced, did so and what skin showed shone in the lack of sunlight. But when she walked in she was met with an impossible sight.
The Girl Regular's had pulled their table to connect with the Boy Regular's table and they all sat around it together, enjoying a breakfast of western styled hot breakfast. The dog she'd injured the day before was weaving in and out of chairs, whining and begging for a piece of spare bacon.
So that's how it was going to be. So be it.
Anne walked over to the counter and picked up the only plate sitting there and walked to a spare table to begin to eat. She grumbled as she dug messily into the scrambled eggs on her plate and slowly, much too slowly she noticed the off taste.
And then her tongue began to burn.
Screaming in panic, clutching a hand to her mouth she fled from the hall, unable to hear the trail of laughter and victory cheers that followed her leave.
Miyako giggled brightly, clutching her stomach as a stitch began to make itself known. "I've gotta say, that was brilliant." She said, still giggling. "How did you come up with that Hime-senpai?"
"Ever since I've known her she's been adamant that any kind of spice she eats will provide her with a one way ticket to the bathroom for at least five hours." Rika replied. "That and her tongue is very sensitive."
"And with the amount we got into those scrambled eggs and how much she actually ate of them: I'd say we won't see her until at least afternoon tea." Yori added.
"Can we stop talking about what Buchou is going to be doing all day? I actually want to eat my breakfast." Susumu stated.
. : . : . : .
Anne wasn't seen at morning training or lunch. She appeared, looking worse for wear, for afternoon training, but didn't participate. She only glowered darkly at the girl Regulars and Miyako – who was being constantly coached by Tezuka. She didn't eat afternoon tea, but she cautiously ate dinner that night, again sitting at a table alone.
The Talent Show had to be cancelled – instead they would be seeing the wonders of Fuji's stomach of steel and then would watch a movie before retiring to their cabins.
After sitting back and watching Fuji eat five whole chillies and three packets of wasabi and then willingly drink a whole jug of Inui Juice, she left the hall. The whole day she'd been ignored and no one spoke to her. It was a strange concept and she wondered what had happened to suddenly change everything.
"Harris-san."
Anne turned to her coach expectantly. Any kind of notice was good notice.
"After this camp is finished you will be cut from the duties of being Captain and dismissed from the Tennis club indefinitely." Oshiro informed her.
Anne's eyes widened. "What? But why?"
"The trouble you have caused here at camp and back on the school grounds can no longer be ignored – your Father has been informed and if you continue to cause trouble for students at Seimaku then you will be expelled without delay." Oshiro explained flatly. "This will mean that you won't do your final exams and finish school this year. You will have to repeat your final year at another school."
Anne felt angry tears threaten. "But I've done everything right!"
"No, you haven't. The harassment of students on the club and off the club proves to Kikuchi and I that you should never have been given the privilege of Captaincy when this year started." Oshiro said. "Good night to you."
"I'd rather go home."
"Your Father wants you to say here – he payed for this trip after all."
Anne huffed and left for the shower block.
. : . : . : .
Anne couldn't sleep that night; there was an unbelievable amount of silence that drove her around the bend. All of the girls had returned from the movie night – Susumu giggling and blushing from the teasing of the other girls who had seen that goodnight kiss from Kokone. But once they had changed and settled into their futons there was complete silence.
She wondered: what had changed? Why were her friends suddenly turning on her like they had? It couldn't have been something that she had done. That was impossible. Oshiro always had it out for her anyway.
But now, without her Captaincy to the Tennis Club she had no chance with Tezuka anymore – not that anything like that would ever stop her anyway.
She would show all of them that she didn't need to be the Captain just to become the one Tezuka cared most about.
. : . : . : .
Miyako ran towards the beach with Sakuno close behind. The both of them were in their swimmers, prepared for a challenge. The volleyball nets had been bought out and it was free range. There were four different courts set up by the camp staff on the soft sand.
It was their last official day on the campsite – the next day, Friday, they would be going home. This was the day that they could properly enjoy and cherish the last moments of their camp before they had to return to school.
When they reached the sand all of the nets were already in use. Doubles teams had been created and they were playing steadily and competitively in the sun.
"Mou…" Eiji complained, walking off one of the courts and towards the girls with Oishi close behind. "Buchou and Fujiko are cruel, nya…" He mumbled disheartened by a pitiful defeat.
"Don't worry, Eiji." Oishi encouraged. "Let's go and practice tennis on the courts."
Eiji instantly brightened, picking up his Lei from the sand where he had placed it for safety. "Yeah~! Let's go nya~!"
Miyako giggled lightly as Eiji led the way to the tennis courts. "He's still wearing the Lei?"
"He even takes it into the shower block." Fuji informed her.
Miyako and Sakuno laughed.
"You should come and play us." Fuji suggested.
"No way, Fuji-senpai!" Sakuno exclaimed. "That's not even worth walking on the court."
Tezuka stepped up beside Fuji. "She's right. We'll split and team up with the girls instead for this match."
Fuji hi-fived Tezuka. "Then Sakuno-chan and I will kick your ass."
Miyako smirked. "I think not, Tezuka's the Buchou."
"And I'm the prodigy." Fuji countered, leading Sakuno onto one side of the court.
"Do you know how to play?" Tezuka asked as he led Miyako to the other side of the court.
"Can you perform a Drop Shot?" Miyako asked. Tezuka looked at her, perplexed. She sighed exasperated. "Yes, I know how to play."
Fuji picked up the ball from where Eiji and Oishi had left it and stood on the far left corner. "Ready?"
"Hai~."
He threw the ball into the air and served.
The large ball went straight over Miyako's head, but Tezuka readily returned, aiming for Sakuno's side of the court – but Fuji swooped in and saved the girl who jumped, but just missed it. Fuji once again aimed for the space just above Miyako, but she leapt up and slammed it just over the net on the side they had left unguarded – earning the first point.
"Yes!" Miyako rejoiced and turned to earn a hi-five from Tezuka.