Thanks to those who have stayed all the way to the fifth chapter, and to those who have faved and added the story into your alert list :) I probably would have lost a bit of motivation that way, and I do apologise for updating slowly. It's not nice to have writer's block :(

But seeing that the story has reached past 1000th views made me really happy!

Hope you all will enjoy this chapter! Leave a review if you want to at the end :)

Next day...morning practice

The tennis regulars were packing up their belongings and discussing their evening plans in the locker room when Yukimura walked in, with Sanada and Yanagi in tow, and called for an announcement. They obediently stopped whatever they were doing and gathered around him, gearing up for one his usual post-training pep talk.

But none were prepared for what he had to say at the end of it.

"Everyone, as you are now acquainted with Noda Akemi -" he smiled, but Yagyuu noticed that his eyes lingered a second longer on Niou who visibly stiffened beside him. "There won't be any short introduction. She has expressed an interest in becoming our team's manageress," there were a few murmurs of surprise and confusion, but he carried on indifferently, "But on the condition that we impress her during our afternoon practice, the friendly match with Hyotei and the Finals." He paused for a bit. "Any questions?"

His own was immediately followed by a barrage.

Like the calm and collected buchou he was, Yukimura took all of them with stride.

Sometimes Yagyuu, even by his own standard, had to admit his admiration for this.

When everyone seemed to have exhausted their questions, they departed the place in smaller groups, leaving Yukimura, Sanada and Yanagi to lock up the tennis courts.

As the three made their way through the school gates, Sanada asked, "After what Niou did to Akemi-san, how did you convince her into accepting your deal? Any sane person would want nothing to do with him." He murmured the last bit mostly to himself, but Yukimura heard them.

"I made a similar promise to her when she asked for my permission to punish him," said Yukimura with a smile, remembering how infuriated Niou was at her ideas and Sanada had to step in to prevent a war. "It's nice to have someone who can issue non-physical punishments, which is one of the key reasons that I want to recruit her. You two will work great as a team."

Sanada sighed resignedly.

XXX

Akemi could feel the effects of sleep deprivation sapping her life force.

Well, that probably was a bit of an exaggeration. But that didn't disregard the fact that it happened two nights in a roll, and that was more than enough to turn her into a living zombie.

'But come to think of it, zombies are the living dead. So isn't that a bit contradictory in the first place?'

Thinking deeply was headache-inducing, she realised as her brain was starting to tune off the monotonous sound of their geography teacher. Right now, violently slamming her forehead on the table was very appealing; not least after finding out that she was partnered up with the one person she hated the most in the room for their project.

Maybe she should just throw herself out the window, but that would be too much effort.

For the rest of the day, Akemi kept to herself.

Mostly because the exhaustion prevented her from using even the tiniest facial muscles, so even when she noticed all the stares and whispers from her classmates and even strangers on corridors, she didn't care.

Truth be told, there were a few things that she didn't put a single thought into today. Like when she was roughly pushed out from the boy's toilet because she mistook it as the girl's, or when she had sat through English period because the chair was too comfortable to leave despite being given looks of confusion.

She was happy to just sit there with droopy eyelids and dark eye circles.

Yagyuu and Hinata had tried to talk to her, but after getting no response except a reassurance that she was healthy and not close to death, they let her be.

Perhaps now it's for the best, and the bespectacled class president made sure (under Yukimura's order) that his best friend would not upset her for the duration of the day (much to Niou's disappoint). So he was not surprised when she didn't show up during their tennis practice that afternoon.

Niou could not stop complaining about this new restriction that was imposed on him. The buchou and fukubuchou he could forgive, but Yagyuu going against him was a bit too far. 'No, think about it this way. If I be the good boy they want me to be, I can make a living hell out of that girl's life when she becomes our manageress. There's no running away for you!'

"Ummm…are you sure threatening him will stop Niou-senpai from pranking Akemi-senpai? I heard from Yagyuu-senpai that they were assigned to do geography project together," asked Kirihara from the sidelines as he along with the three monsters watched what should be a doubles match between Niou-Yagyuu and Marui-Jackal.

Niou was cackling on top of his voice and with hands on hips like he had already won.

"Don't you worry too much, Akaya. This is only temporary. Plus, if I do make this a permanent fixture, it will only drive Niou-kun crazy one day," said Yukimura, smiling calmly as usual.

"Are you sure 'one day' isn't today?" Kirihara muttered to himself just as Sanada 'courteously' reminded the still cackling trickster of the match.

Suddenly feeling thirsty, the freshman excused himself and went to one of the benches where they had dumped their bags on.

He scratched the back of his head at the clutter before him.

Some of the messy ones (that included himself) had their small belongings such as towels and books strewn all over the bench.

Cursing under his breath, he rummaged through the pile for his water bottle. Moments later, he heard footsteps coming towards him.

'That's strange, I thought buchou has banned all fangirls from the vicinity until our Finals are over,' he wondered without looking around at the source. He didn't mind fangirls as long as they don't literally throw themselves all over him. A little admiration here and there was harmless.

"You're killikaya-kun right?" said a very familiar voice that sounded unsure.

"EH? EEEEEHHHHH!?"

Kirihara shrieked at what was supposed to be his name.

He wheeled around, dropping the bottle which he had found only a fraction of a second ago onto the floor.

Akemi sighed warily as he openly gagged at her. "I'm sorry if I've muddled up your name, but my head was all over the place when your buchou made the introduction yesterday. And please don't scream into my ears like that; head is starting to hurt," she groaned, rubbing her temples for emphasis.

"S-s-sorry, Akemi-senpai," he said, scuffing his foot on the ground. Then feeling a bit more like himself he added with a boyish grin, "My name is Kirihara Akaya. Class 1-A"

"I see the missing letters," she chuckled embarrassingly, before recomposing herself.

"Can you do me favour?" she asked, extending a sheet of paper to him.

Akemi might be feeling like she was run over by several removal vans, she was able to remember the day's event. That did not exclude her project with the accursed classmate of hers.

"Give this to dummy-head and tell him to look through the list of useful websites and books I've found for our geography project. He is to note down key things relating to our topic and show them to me tomorrow morning before homeroom. I am doing the same with my own list tonight. If he finds more on the internet or other resources, I'm fine with that."

"Ah, sure thing," he said, taking a curious glance at the paper in his hand. He didn't need to ask her who 'dummy-head' was.

Akemi thanked him and turned around.

Right then, he felt a sudden wave of curiosity and before he knew it, Kirihara called her to wait.

"What is it?" she asked over her shoulders, but not in an unfriendly manner. Okay, just slightly ticked off if the twitchy eyebrow was of any indication.

"Umm…why did you consider being our manageress even after what Niou-senpai did?" he asked, tentatively. His buchou might have given him an answer, but he wanted to hear it personally from his senpai.

Akemi stiffened for a moment before turning her head away from him. "People like him will never stop me from doing anything," she said, tightly.

Kirihara frowned at the statement. Before he could say anything, she whipped around, wearing a determined look that coupled with her tired features made her look comical. But he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut, noticing the fire in her eyes.

"Remember my words, Kirihara-kun. You should never let others push you around. Your life is yours, and nobody can say otherwise!"

And with that, she turned on her heels and marched off.

Kirihara blinked, confused by his senpai, but shrugged it off and started to head back with the bottle now in his hand.

At least she got his last name right.

XXX

Upon returning home, Akemi immediately made a beeline towards her room, fell face ward onto her bed and fell asleep straightaway without bothering to change out of her school uniform.

There was no point in telling her mum not to disturb her since she slept like a rock. The only time she had opened her eyes was when her mother came into her room to wake her up for dinner. She obediently went down for food, albeit in a half-awake state which prompted an order from her mother to shower, brush her teeth and go back to sleep.

Fully refreshed from spending the entire day in bed, she went to school the next day feeling more cheerful and was more than eager to clean all the windows on her own during cleaning duty.

That was until Niou walked in with Yagyuu ten minutes before attendance period.

Akemi pointedly ignored the trickster and greeted Yagyuu with a big smile before resuming her duty.

Not a second into it, her thoughts were disrupted by the 'dummy-head'.

"Oi, Akemi-san."

She gave Niou a flat look over her shoulders. The damp cloth in her hand was a nice piece of material to wrap around his neck.

She turned back to the windows before resuming wiping it.

"Noda," she said shortly. "You have no right to use my first name."

But her words went unheard as Niou continued.

"Whatever."

Maybe she could just whack his cheeks with the cloth instead.

"Quickly finish up with your cleaning duty so we can discuss our geography project. We don't have much time before homeroom. I suggest doing it at your table."

"Yes, yes," she said in an impatient manner, waving her hand dismissively.

Then, it suddenly occurred to her.

Niou watched as the cloth fell gracefully from her hand. He looked back up at Akemi, who stood frozen in her spot, gaping out the shiny glass surface with slackened jaw and a look of pure horror. It didn't take him long to put two and two together.

"You…" He narrowed his eyes as he trailed off purposely.

By now, the conversation had caught the attention of Yagyuu and her two cleaning partners.

She could feel their eyes on her.

For some unknown reason, Niou's gaze was the strongest. Perhaps it was because he was the only one looking at her with an aloof expression, but whatever it was Akemi regretted letting go of the cloth. No matter how soiled it was, hiding her face behind it seemed like a good idea.

"Don't tell me you didn't do your share of research, Noda?" he whispered in false mortification.

She nearly stumbled away as a notebook was suddenly shoved in front of her face, but it didn't mean that she was not startled.

"I spent the rest of the evening after practice doing what you asked me to do, and I came in here with pages full of notes to find that you haven't done the same? For shame, Noda!"

She spun around, this time she did lose her balance; stumbling backwards when she realised how close their faces were. Luckily for her, she didn't blush or turn into a pile of goo on the floor like any of his fan girls would.

This was probably why he didn't mind scaring her by being this close; Yagyuu thought.

"Please stop doing that to Akemi-san," the class pres said, putting his hand on Niou's shoulder and giving her an apologetic look. "I'm sure she has her reasons."

"What? Laziness?" Niou snorted in derision. "Last time I heard this is a group project, not solo," he smirked. At least he had straightened up so that Akemi was able to breathe properly. "If you think you can get away with this, think again."

"I came home exhausted from two sleepless nights, Niou!" she snarled, quickly regaining her composure. She grabbed the cloth with one swift motion. "What would the first thing you do when you're home because of that?" She didn't allow him even a second to respond. "You sleep like the dead!"

With a huff, she turned back to the windows.

Niou made a 'tsk' sound but returned to his desk without another word.

The bespectacled class president watched Akemi as she wiped the window with all the force she was channeling from her anger.

No sooner, the glassy surface was glittering in the sun.

Yagyuu thought if she was not careful enough, the window might shatter, taking her along with the shards for a ride down the school building. He heaved a sigh of relief, thinking back to when he first saw her lost temper. Akemi looked as if she would not hold back a punch. He didn't know where that thought came from, and shook it off before sitting down in front of Niou to remind him of Yukimura's 'request' to not upset her.

But being the quick-witted person he was, Niou retorted, "Buchou only told me not to prank her, he didn't say anything other than that."

It took a lot of effort to stop himself from banging his head on the table. At least he was good at hiding his exasperation behind a mask. Niou was right about Yukimura's loophole, but that did not mean he should get away with it. He leaned forwards so that Niou could only hear him.

"If you upset her too much to the point she decides against becoming our manageress, you'll be in trouble with the buchou…and most likely Sanada-kun," he said in a low voice.

Yanagi had cautioned against spreading this piece of news to prevent trouble. Everyone knew what he implied. Facing an army of screaming fangirls alone terrified some of them. Yagyuu knew if words should spread, Akemi would be the one facing a tirade of jealous (and not to mention murderous) fangirls.

"Urgh, I understand," Niou grumbled in a deadpanned manner, scratching the side of his head lazily.

"Good," said Yagyuu, adjusting his glasses.

Sometimes he wondered why Yukimura picked her out of so many other 'normal' girls in the school. After all, the buchou only spoke to her for no more than an hour on that one afternoon, and he highly doubted Sanada had talked about (not least mentioned) her during one of their conversations.

Yagyuu himself was unsure of her prowess despite spending more time in the same room than any other tennis regulars (Niou aside).

She's fluent in Japanese and English (the latter enough to receive an official exemption from the principal), had terrible mood swings when she's sleepy (he prayed to the heavens to help them should she agree to become their manageress), but made up for the lack of energy by having huge meals that could put Marui and Kirihara to shame (apparently, it became a habit since a long time ago as she had admitted in front of a group of flabbergasted and envious classmates).

Then it occurred to him an important bit of information was missing, as he jotted down the maths equations during physics class.

Her knowledge on tennis.

When he brought this up with Yukimura before afternoon practice, the response he received was...

...not exactly ideal.

"Hmm…Akemi-san did mention she understands the basic from watching a few Wimbledon matches in the past," Yukimura said, gripping his chin as if in thoughts. "But apart from that, she has no clue."

The way he said as if it was not an important point for any tennis managers to have, nearly made him facepalmed.

"We'll school her until she's pro."

Yagyuu glanced up, and for a moment, he noticed an odd look in his buchou's eyes. But that disappeared as soon as Yukimura smiled.

"I trust that she will handle whatever we throw at her."

His eye's widened behind his glasses as Yukimura started to head towards the courts.

"That trial...there is another motive behind it apart from giving her time to decide isn't it...?" he asked in a low whisper, causing his buchou to stop.

Yukimura only gave him another smile over his shoulders before continuing his walk, leaving Yagyuu deep in thoughts.

It took a few moments for him to snap out it. He adjusted the glasses before following him, but in smaller steps.

'Was the loophole Niou-kun found purposely placed there by Yukimura-buchou?' He watched the back of said captain as they neared the courts.

"Spot on," Yukimura commented from the front as though he heard Yagyuu's thought.

It startled him, but the bespectacled boy put on a calm composure, something he learnt from his buchou over the years.

"Akemi-san is still a mystery to me even with Renji's data. After all, she'd never set foot in any schools in Japan. We don't know what she's good or bad at," he looked over his shoulders wearing that smile that very rarely faltered "Although I have seen just part of it, I am most curious to see how she will handle someone like Niou-kun."

'Someone like Niou-kun?' Yagyuu repeated Yukimura's words in his mind. He racked his brain for the meaning behind the words.

Ah...

What Yukimura wanted to know was what Akemi would do in a difficult situation involving people worse than Niou (in her terms).

Yagyuu then understood what kind of manager that his buchou wanted.

Fortitude

His mind went back to two days ago when Akemi had insisted that he'd tricked her into signing a form which turned out to be a fake job seeker's letter, and then to this morning when she refused to give in to Niou's persisting taunts (his best friend had vowed to remind her of this little incident whenever there was a chance).

Her strong sense in self-belief...to help them reach their goals and wanted to widen that potential.

'Buchou'

XXX

"ACKCHOO!"

Akemi sniffled, stopping in the midst of annotating a neatly drawn diagram of the hydrological cycle to wipe her nose clean with a tissue.

'Urgh, how many times have this happened in a space of an hour again?'

She was well fed up with the constant sneezing.

There was a popular saying that if a person was thinking of someone, the latter would sneeze at that precise moment.

One to represent something good, two meant that there's another 'enemy' out there in addition to Niou.

She didn't want to go as far as three, thinking that she would fall off her chair in hysterics that someone was smitten with her. But she could not fight off the giggles that escaped her.

"Losing your head so soon at this young age, Akemi?" said a voice, immediately cutting off her giggles and starting their daily father-daughter bickering.

Ten minutes in, a fuming Akemi decided it was enough and told her snickering father to leave her alone so that she could continue with her research for the geography project.

'Pfft teenagers these days,' thought the Mr Noda.

XXX

Next day

Akemi arrived at school twenty minutes before homeroom.

She was fine with that, since she had wanted to read through her notes before 'dummy-head' arrived. They had agreed to look through each other's work at the start of the day, after shouting her promise into Niou's ears when he acted like he couldn't hear her.

Well, he had it coming, thought Akemi as she briefly looked up from her notebook.

It was just her and two other classmates on cleaning duty.

And by jove, they're probably two of the snobbiest girls she had ever met.

They were hardly doing any cleaning, as if moving an inch of their arms would hurt them.

Although she was obviously sitting smack middle in the classroom, they either ignored her or just didn't care that there was another person in the room that could hear them backstabbing a girl from another class.

Her eyes twitched dangerously, but she tried to remain indifferent to their behaviours and started to tune out their high-pitched voices, which to her sounded like someone was rubbing styrofoams right next to her ears.

Their laughs were false and spoke volume of their vanity, she could tell that much having met a few in her previous school. Most came from very rich families, and judging by the expensive-looking accessories they wore like jewelled crowns, Akemi had no doubt that those two girls belonged to the same category.

It irritated her.

But, above all it was irritating.

"Oi, new girl!"

Akemi immediately stopped grinding her teeth in frustration upon hearing the mosquito-liked voice, and later realised that she had said it out loud. Putting her pen down slowly, she sighed warily at the trouble that was about to come next. She turned around, but was met with someone's stomach and so had to crane her neck to see who it was.

The two girls who had been gossiping in one corner and ignoring their chores were standing around her desk with their arms crossed and glaring reproachfully at her with noses high up in the air.

One of them (she remembered as only Korin) took her sigh as a show of arrogance, and it offended her so much that Akemi was given a full account of her family's wealth and business.

The other just stood there, adding more sugar to the tea, and act to please her more superior (and not to mention snobbier) friend.

Akemi started to tune off her babbling about showing respect to people of high status like her, and how many lands her millionaire family owned in the whole (because she could not stress this enough) of Japan.

Korin...that girl and her friend...

On her first day at Rikkai, they literally barricaded her way out during lunch break, trying to persuade her into joining Korin's house party at her family's mansion.

Obviously, Akemi had politely declined her offer.

Korin was quite empathetic then and certainly not at all like today.

"Just because you're the new girl from across the continent and happen to land a project with Niou-sama." Akemi nearly gagged at the honorifics attached to 'dummy-head'. "Don't you think you can act all arrogant and ignore my presence!" she shrieked.

Banging her head on the table was very appealing. It was a huge mistake on her part to think Japanese schools would not have the same problem. She wondered if this was a universal.

Someone coughed. It came from behind the two girls, and was none other than their class vice pres, Hinata Chitose.

'Chitose-san!' Akemi sighed in relief, tired of playing deaf. She was glad that her friend had chosen this moment to arrive at their classroom, but feared that her petite size and the fact that the other two towered over her like a couple of giant statues would be a disadvantage despite her authority as class vice president.

"Is there a problem?" Hinata asked, politely as usual with a neutral expression. But her measured voice showed her displeasure at the harassment Akemi was receiving from two classmates who were meant to be cleaning up the classroom before the rest of the gang poured in.

Turning around to the petite class vice president, Korin made sure to add some flair into it by sweeping her long curly brown hair over her shoulders, nearly slapping Akemi's face in the process if she had not dodge quickly enough.

"Hinata-san! Good morning!" she smiled in a false sweet manner. "A problem you say? There isn't one -right, Aoi?" She laughed – really loudly.

Beside her, Aoi nodded in agreement.

Liars.

The laugh suddenly stopped. Korin smirked sadistically at Hinata and had that sinister aura around her, which made Akemi tensed. Hinata, however, did not flinch even once at the way Korin was regarding her with contempt.

Korin gripped her chin. "But I wonder how you can just stand there and do nothing when Akemi-san has snatched away Niou-sama right under your nose? Hmm?"

'Wha?' Akemi raised an eyebrow, straightening up in her seat. She watched Hinata curiously, aware that her friend's back had stiffened slightly.

"I don't understand where you're going with this, Fujiwara-san," Hinata said, slowly. She prayed that nobody could hear her heart beating rapidly. Hinata was terrified. She disliked confrontations, but could not stand watching Akemi in trouble, not least with those two girls in front of her.

"Oh? Is that so?" Korin said in a drawling voice, lowering her head so that her face was at level with Hinata. "Don't take me as an idiot, Hinata-san. I've seen the way you have looked at him when you think that no one's looking. Admit it, you're head over heels." She laughed at Hinata's flushed cheeks.

There was a sharp sound of a string snapped in half.

It was all in her mind, but Akemi could not care less at the very moment, feeling her anger bubbling up at the way her friend – who had only been telling Korin off for her – was treated like trash. Heaven knows how many people she deemed 'unworthy' were subjected to her daily taunts.

"You're not worth Niou-sama's attention. Not even the slightest!" Korin flipped her hair. "Heed my advice, and stay away from him. After all…" she slowly raised her hand.

Fingernails dug into the desk.

"…you're just a poor shopkeeper's daughter!"

Akemi shot straight out from her chair, yelling Hinata's name just as Korin was about to grab Hinata by the collar, and was about to stop the other girl when someone grabbed Korin's hand.

Startled by her own classmate's action, Hinata stumbled backwards a couple of steps from Korin. Her eyes twitched violently before it stopped upon realising who had stepped in between them. Her light green eyes went from her would-be assailant to her saviour.

And she was not the only one.

"I don't know what's going on," drawled Niou, one hand firmly holding Korin's and staring intensely into her eyes. "But don't you think hurting someone – let alone your class vice-president – is a bit too much, Fujiwara?"

"Ah-ah-I-I-" Korin stammered, her face flushed in a mixture of anger and embarrassment. She tried to glare back at Niou, but the look in his eyes seemed to have an effect of freezing her entire senses.

"I'll let you off." He released her hand and it fell back to her side like a dead weight. "But don't expect me to play the nice guy all the time. I am not Yagyuu."

Korin bit her lips, trying to stop the tremors that were rocking her on the inside. Without another word, she turned around on her heels, grabbed Aoi by the arm and hastily left the classroom for heaven knows where.

Akemi breathed a sigh of relief as soon as they were gone.

"Oh? You don't have to stand in attention when I'm here."

One of her eyebrows twitched at the cackling, but ignored it. She knew who those words were directed at without asking him. She turned to Hinata whose head was bowed such that her fringe covered much of her face.

"Are you alright, Chitose-san?"

Her hand was about a centimetre from touching her shoulder, when Hinata suddenly bolted (startling Akemi in the process) and shot out of the classroom.

Niou scratched the back of his head in puzzlement. He had expected the class vice-president to thank him.

"Sorry, Niou."

"Huh?" He turned to Akemi who was rummaging inside her bag.

"Can we discuss our geography project during lunch break instead? I'm going after Chitose-san."

"Oh…ok," he said, but she was gone in a blink of an eye.

Niou vented a sigh, feeling like Sanada had punished him by dragging a tractor around the tennis court fifty times. He wished Yagyuu was here, but he was taken by Miyagi-sensei for another errand. He sighed again, dropping his bag on the floor next to his desk before sitting down.

The bespectacled class president would know what to do in this kind of situation.

'Just hope Noda has that in her too.'

XXX

Finding Hinata was easier than expected.

It was the first place she went to check, after remembering the time when her friend told her that the rooftop garden was her most favourite place to think.

'I'm glad it's not raining now,' Akemi thought, spotting her friend sitting quietly by herself on a wooden bench with her head bowed.

Cautiously (although a part of her wondered why she needed to be), she made her way towards Hinata and sat down beside her, making sure that she did not invade her personal space too much. She handed a pack of tissue to Hinata who accepted it with a whispered thanks.

For a while, neither spoke.

But Akemi was content with admiring the view of the sea from here, while she waited patiently for Hinata to clear her head. Although it was from a different angle, she wondered if the wooden shack and the hidden bench, where she first met Sanada, Yukimura, and Yanagi, were somewhere nearby.

"I hope he didn't hear what Fujiwara-san said about…my…feelings."

Akemi turned to Hinata who had raised her head slightly. She had removed her glasses, which rested on her lap along with the tissue pack, revealing red puffy eyes.

"I'm 100% certain that dummy-head didn't," Akemi assured, crossing her legs. "He was acting his normal annoying self when you fled the room. So you will have nothing to worry about, Chitose-san."

Hinata sighed in relief, but she was still downcast.

Attempting to change the subject, Akemi asked the first thing that came into her mind.

"How long have you realised it?"

Hinata lowered her eyelids.

"Since a long time ago…I have secretly admired him from afar. Don't get me wrong, Akemi-san, but despite his constant pranks, he's a good guy," she blurted the last bit, blushing furiously, remembering what Akemi had told her yesterday about the prank.

"I didn't say anything," Akemi chuckled lightly.

"Sorry…I know you dislike him ever since he pranked you. That's why-"

"It's okay, Chitose-san. I don't mind it."

Hinata nodded her thanks.

"When he joined the middle school department, he was always causing a ruckus in school. Unlike Yagyuu-kun who has always been my classmate, Niou-kun was not. I became curious each time I hear laughs and the unmistakable scolding from the next classroom. There was a rumour in our class that they're always related to him. Even if I disapproved of his behaviour, there was a tiny part of me that wanted to see this person that was nicknamed 'the trickster' ('Someone's been creative,' Akemi thought sarcastically).

"The time came when he popped into our classroom during lunch break and talked to Yagyuu-kun for a long time. Niou-kun tried to convince Yagyuu-kun into switching from the golf club to tennis. He failed the first time, but he kept coming back. I don't know how he had done it, but Yagyuu-kun joined the tennis club in the end." She gazed down at her shoes. "Maybe that was when it all started. It was his strong-will. He doesn't give up easily, and the fact that he cares for his friends in his own ways…before I knew it, I have fallen for him."

She suddenly sat bolt right up, blinking as something dawned on her.

"Have I fallen so badly?" she asked no one in particular.

"I'm afraid so," Akemi chuckled awkwardly. She's terribly inexperienced in this department. Not like she minded.

But that poor girl looked as though she had harboured this secret for millennia. Truth be told, she was flattered. To be entrusted with a secret...

"I am not as brave as the girls who had confessed to him. Maybe I'm just scared of being rejected after seeing the faces of so many other girls," Hinata muttered, looking downcast again.

"Hmmm….." Akemi placed her index finger on her chin pensively. "The Hinata Chitose I saw today doesn't match the person you have just described." She received a puzzled look. "The Hinata Chitose I know is brave and willing to stand for her friend against two snoots," she smiled widely.

"Akemi-san…" Hinata whispered, feeling all teary eyes again but she was able to control them this time. She looked down at her lap; a smile of her own slowly appearing. "Thank you."

At that moment, the bell rang; the sound echoing throughout the school.

Both Akemi and Hinata left the rooftop garden together.

XXX

He had only been tending to his herbs, when Hinata and Akemi sat on the bench that was next to the hedge that hid Yukimura and his herb garden.

There was one thing he disliked, and that was eavesdropping.

But in this case, he would ignore it, deciding that this was a good chance to assess her personality.

He heard Hinata expressing her thanks and the tell-tale sound of the two departing for class at the bell.

A smile tugged at his lips.