Disclaimer: Usual, don't own.
Hey everyone! Sorry I'm late with the new chapter! It's quite long actually. I just CAN'T SHUT UP SOMETIMES. This was meant to be a sort of summary… but… you know me, my chapters just EVOLVE sometimes.
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To Catch A Falling Star—Chapter Fifteen: Life Continues
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Sushi continued…
After they had finished the food, the team just sat around talking for a while. Perhaps it was the exhilaration from just winning a tournament, but none of them were quite ready to return home. Later, Momoshiro produced a package of cards, and they cleared the tables. Fuji, Kawamura, Chiharu, Sakuno and Izumi all politely declined. Kaidoh declined as well (not so politely). Inui and Reina were also in low conversation about something 'secret' and didn't look like they would enjoy being disturbed.
"Damn, Aiko," Momoshiro said as she put down her second winning hand—four of a kind. "Either you have the best luck in the world, or you're a star at poker."
She vaguely understood him. "It's poker," she replied. "It's the same in every country."
"You know, for this kind of game…" he said as he dealt the cards out. "I'd expect Kimura to clear us all out."
Suzume just shook her hand as she looked at her cards. "Saki-senpai was the good one at gambling."
"Well, there's one thing I don't get," Momoshiro went on. "If your family owns a dojo, why do you live in an apartment? I mean, shouldn't you live near your dojo?"
Suzume looked down at her cards. Their colorful, smiling faces seemed to be mocking her. "Too many memories…" she said quietly. Suddenly she stood, handing her cards to Ryoma. "Here, have mine." She then pulled out a box of cigarettes and a lighter and went outside before anyone could react.
They watched her slide the door close. "Oi… did I say something?" Momoshiro asked.
"No…" Chiharu spoke up tentatively. She had been watching. "You didn't… It's just that Suzume's father died last year. She's a bit sensitive right now."
"Royal straight flush." Ryoma said halfheartedly, putting Suzume's winning hand onto the table.
"Momo…" Oishi began.
"Yeah, I should probably go apologize…" Momoshiro said as he put down his cards (they were junk anyways). He slid open the door. For a moment, he didn't see anyone, then he realized that she was sitting on the ground. He coughed at the smoke. She spared him a glance, inhaling on her cigarette.
"Oi…" he said as he sat down next to her. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings."
She took another drag on her cigarette and blew the smoke out. "I miss him, that's all." She looked depressed.
"You wanna talk about it?"
She shook her head, gently releasing the smoke from her lips. She closed her eyes, conjuring up the memories of her father. She'd always been rebellious, but never once had he raised his voice with her. "I wish he were still here… but then he'd see me like this…"
He looked her up and down, taking in the tattoos, the multiple piercings in her ears, her nose stud… "You look pretty good to me."
She forced a smile. "Thanks, man… but this wouldn't be what he wanted…"
"Then why…?" He didn't know how to phrase his question. "Why are you… like this?"
She shook her head again. "I don't know what to do."
For the first time to Momoshiro, she looked vulnerable. He'd always thought she was a strong person, one that wasn't afraid to stand up for what she believed in (which was usually wrong), but now it seemed like that hardened exterior was cracking. "Well, you know…" He reached out and swiped the cigarette from her fingers. "At the rate you're going, you'll kill yourself with these cancer sticks."
The minute he stamped his foot over the cigarette, she stamped on him. Hard.
"Oi! What was that for? You let Oshiro-senpai take the cigarette from you last time!"
"Well, the last time I checked, you weren't Chiharu-senpai!" she said.
"Why are you so nice to her, anyways?"
She looked upwards for a moment, silent. It came as a slight surprise, for he'd been expecting a fiery retort. The clouds floated across the sky, casting a gentle shadow over her eye. Her words were very quiet; he almost didn't hear them. "She saved my life."
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The physics homework was a bit difficult, Izumi decided. The multiple choice questions were pretty easy; it was the few problems at the very end that she kept getting stuck on. She wondered if she should approach Inui about it, but he still seemed to be in deep conversation with Reina. 'Maybe later…' she decided, putting her pencil down. She needed a break.
Suddenly, a soft, melodious tune drifted in her ear. She closed her eyes. The notes were long and sweet; with her eyes closed she could almost see them shimmering in front of her, like molten gold. The sound had such a smooth texture, as if she could reach out and feel the silken melody within her fingers. Music, no inhibitions, no restraints, it was just pure feeling. Again, she was lost, lost within melody, within the tempo, within the unfiltered emotion…
The music stopped. When she opened her eyes, she was standing in the middle of the room. Everyone was staring at her. "What?" she asked, embarrassed. Had she subconsciously been walking towards the source of the music?
Fuji lowered the flute from his lips.
"Morioka-san…" Oishi stammered. "That… that was beautiful."
"What?" she asked, completely puzzled. "What just happened?"
"You were dancing." Chiharu said softly.
She quickly sat back down. "I'm sorry… I didn't realize."
"No… it was beautiful," Akane ran a hand through her ginger hair. "Even when you were the lead of the dance team, I've never seen you dance like that before."
She sat there, silent for a moment. "It was the music…" she said at last, looking at Fuji.
"Ne, why do you even have a flute in your tennis bag?" Kimiko asked.
"Saa…" Fuji replied, taking the flute apart. "I think I accidently left it in my bag after I took it to school for music class."
"Fuji-senpai is a tensai for everything…" Sakuno murmured to herself.
"Hey, we should probably get going," Akane said, standing up and glancing at the clock. "We still have school tomorrow after all."
They all said their goodbyes and thanked Kawamura and his father for his hospitality, before leaving. Some of them, (coughMomoshirocough) needed to cram all the homework that was due tomorrow in tonight. After all, even if you win a tournament, life just keeps moving on.
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A month later…
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"Oishi, thank you for listening to me last time," Akane said. The two had settled for hot chocolate in a nearby café. The days were cold now, although there was no sign of snow and the trees still had some of their leaves. They had coincidentally both found their way into the café on a Saturday morning. "I really appreciate it."
"No… it's fine." Oishi replied.
"There's a long break before the prefectural tournaments…" she murmured. "We can't let the team's skills get rusty…"
"I'm sure Inui's menus should help," he said. "They've worked for us before, so it should be fine."
She made light conversation with him for the next few minutes. He was just so easy to talk to.
"Did you talk to Ryuzaki yet?" Oishi suddenly asked.
"No…" Akane admitted. It had been several weeks since their match against Fudomine, and she still hadn't apologized to Sakuno for using her. "I don't even know if I should… she looks so happy to be playing doubles…"
"It might make you feel better…" he said, blowing on his chocolate before taking a sip.
She nodded, trying to come up with something to change the topic. "Weren't you supposed to meet Kikumaru here?"
"Yeah…" Oishi glanced down at his watch. "He was supposed to be here ten minutes ago, actually. I wonder what's going on."
Meanwhile…
"I wonder if they're on a date…"
"I thought you were supposed to meet Oishi here, Eiji-senpai!"
"I was! But did he invite Ito along?"
"Ii data…"
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"Ryuzaki…" Ryoma closed his eyes and exhaled, telling himself to be patient. "You're still losing your grip when you smash." Yes, this flaw in her playing was the cause of the banana-shaped bruise on his forehead. Of course, it was fairly enjoyable and almost worth it when she was leaning over him and making sure he was okay—'Wait! What am I thinking?'
"Ah… Gomen…"
"Don't apologize. Make it right." He reached out and adjusted her fingers over her racket. "If you hold it like this, you'll have a stronger grip, see?"
"Hai!" She blushed slightly. It was almost has if he was holding her hand. "Um… Ryoma-kun… I'm really sorry about hitting you with the racket a few days ago…"
"It's nothing."
The bushes rustled, but neither of them noticed.
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"Hey, Yuuta-kun." Izumi greeted as she stepped in the door.
"Oh, Izumi-senpai," Yuuta said as he closed the door behind her. She'd come over several times in the past few weeks. "Hey. Aniki is upstairs in the studio. But Nee-chan isn't here today…" He looked confused. "Are you modeling today too?
She looked equally puzzled. "Yes, I should be… but if your sister isn't here…" Yumiko had always done her makeup, so it was pretty strange.
She went upstairs to find Fuji, who was on the computer. He heard her come in and turned his head. "Hi."
"Hey… I just heard that your sister isn't here, so maybe—"
"Yeah, she needed to stay at work for a little longer. But I don't think that we'll need her today." He motioned for her to come over. "Come look at this for a moment…"
She walked over and looked at the computer screen. "You're editing the photos?"
"I usually erase the parts in the background that I don't want…" He smiled, offering the mouse to her. "Do you want to try?"
Hesitatingly, she moved her hand to the mouse and slowly erased the background. She traced the eraser around her own shape, getting rid of the shadows. Her hand slipped a little and she erased part of her arm. "Ah, gomen."
Fuji chuckled, tapping a few keys on the keyboard to undo the eraser. "Here, like this…" He put his hand over hers on the mouse. Although she froze for a small second, she was getting used to his touch. As much as she didn't want it, they were getting closer due to the fact that she spent a few hours every week modeling for him.
"Hey, I wanted to try something else…" Fuji said quietly as he saved his work. Izumi immediately looked around the room curiously and noticed that it was empty. He pulled out his camera and a tripod. "Why don't you… dance for me?"
"Dance?" Izumi repeated. "Um… okay."
He smiled, setting up the tripod. "Whenever you're ready…" he told her, looking through the lens of his camera.
She breathed out, closing her eyes. She played one of her favorite tunes in her head, moving gently to the music. The clicking of the camera interrupted her thoughts and she stopped. "Something's not right," she told him, opening her eyes. "It doesn't feel right. I… don't think I can…"
He told her to imagine that it was like she was on the tennis court, naturally moving, and she did try. Her movements were fluid and elaborate, but it lacked feeling. It was as if she was dancing purely for show, on a superficial level. "Something's missing…"
"Wait." Fuji said, changing a setting on the camera that would cause it to take a picture every 1.5 seconds. He went to the side of the room and picked up his flute. Izumi couldn't help but notice that it was already pieced together.
"You… you prepared that, didn't you?" she asked.
He kept smiling. "If only you'd seen how you danced at the sushi place last time…"
"But I don't know how I did it last time… I don't remember any steps or anything!" She felt self-conscious with the camera clicking every second.
"Just dance." he repeated, raising the flute to his lips. He played the same melody as he did a few weeks ago. The bare music was just longing for some movement to accompany it, and before she knew what she was doing, her feet were gracefully moving across the floor. She felt the music wash over her, gently caressing her as she twirled. She imagined that she was dancing upon water; lightly, gracefully, tracing ripples. Her hands became blooming flowers, flickering flames, wings in flight… And there was a feeling that she couldn't describe… she didn't feel happy, nor sad… almost refreshed in a sense.
'I feel… free…'
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"I hate parent-teacher conferences…" Momoshiro complained as he and Sayaka led their parents down the hallway to their homerooms.
"You should talk…" their father told them. "You don't have to go to four of these meetings where your teacher tells you that your child is crap."
"Hey!"
"Oh, look, buchou brought his grandfather!" Momoshiro said suddenly, pointing to Tezuka leading an older man dressed in a hakama. Sayaka turned immediately.
"Well there's a spitting image…"
"Yo, Namazu-chan." Suzume appeared next to them.
"Hey…" She introduced her parents, and Suzume introduced them to her brother. Now that she knew Suzume's father was deceased, Sayaka vaguely wondered where her mother was. It was interesting to see people with their parents. It was always so surprising. Take Inui, for example. He, (surprise, surprise) had an extremely normal pair of parents.
"Ah, Fuji-senpai!" Momoshiro called waving. Several of the guys were eyeing the beautiful girl that was accompanying him, which was Yumiko.
He smiled back, then took his sister up the stairs. The third years' homerooms were on the third floor. "Good morning, everyone." he said to everyone that was crowding around his homeroom, waiting their turn with the teacher.
The crowd would probably be smaller if Tezuka wasn't standing in the middle of it. Several girls were pointing Tezuka out to their mothers. Several mothers were staring at Tezuka longingly. Kikumaru bounced over, snickering. "Tezuka is pretty popular, isn't he?"
"Hey, Eiji… who's in there now?" he asked.
"Oh, Watanabe-chan is," he said cheerfully. "They're going in backwards alphabetical order!"
"Yeah, why on earth are they doing that?" Oishi asked.
"Sensei lost the slip of paper that had the As-to-Ms names on it," Akane said, rolling her eyes. "I just found it for her. She had to start from the back."
"Well at least this way, it delays the pain a little…"
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"Ryuzaki-chan is doing quite well…" her teacher was saying. "However, her grades have taken a slight drop since she joined the tennis team… I'm a little concerned."
Sumire Ryuzaki merely smiled. It didn't matter to her if her granddaughter wasn't acing every single subject. As long as she was above the minimum grade requirement that allowed her to play on the tennis team, it was okay with her. 'No,' she suddenly thought. 'I must stop thinking like that.' "Is there any subject is particular that she needs work on?"
"English," her teacher replied promptly. "As you can see, she's nowhere near failing, but it is her worst subject and I'd appreciate it if she had more help at home.'
"I think I can arrange a tutor…" she murmured.
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"Your sister is failing everything." the teacher said bluntly. Strangely, Suzume started to think her teacher resembled Akane now.
Her brother Kai took the situation very delicately. "I'm extremely sorry about this, miss, but the last time I heard, straight Ds were not a fail. The symbol for that is an 'F'."
The teacher gave him a look. "It's an Asian fail."
Suzume rolled her eyes. Yup, this teacher was looking more and more like Akane by the minute.
"You must understand that she's been through a very hard time—"
"I'm concerned with her involvement in the tennis team. The team constantly has to use up class time for tournaments, and takes up her free time as well. This is time that she could be used for studying."
"Look, my sister's grades weren't any better when she wasn't part of the tennis team," Kai pointed out. "And the tennis team… it makes her happy. That's all I want for her right now."
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"Your daughter is doing extremely well."
Izumi felt her mom grip her hand. "I'm proud… but it's so stressful for her. She tries so hard, you know?"
Izumi shook her off and stood up, walking outside. She didn't care how rude she looked. She closed the door behind her. It was nearing noon, and most of the people outside had cleared. Closing her eyes, she leaned against the wall.
"Izumi-chan!" Chiharu said.
"Hi…"
"Aren't you supposed to be in there with your mother?" she asked. She caught sight of Izumi's expression. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah…" She sighed. "I really don't like it when they talk about me as if I'm not there."
Chiharu reached out and pulled her into a hug. "Hey, it's going to be okay…"
Somehow Izumi felt that Chiharu had guessed more than she let on.
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"Aiko, it seems you are doing okay!" her mother said in perfect Japanese.
"I'm barely passing my subjects," Aiko replied, but inside she felt relieved. She thought that her mother would be disappointed in her.
"Hey, you are going to be fine…" Her mother hugged her. "Okay? Now we just need to consider a Japanese tutor for you…"
"I'd really like that." Aiko said. Class would be so much easier if she could understand it. Not only that, but she was tired of people laughing at her accent and she hadn't really made any friends since the start of the year. Of course, Oishi was in her class and often defended her the best he could but… he was a bit of a pushover himself.
Man, was Ryoma helpful. She often went downstairs to drag him up to the third year classrooms for translations. Not that he was very willing, but two Pontas a week and he was quite happy to help her.
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"So how'd it go with all of you?" Kikumaru said as they sat down with their trays. Since the parents were in a meeting upstairs, and plenty of students were still missing, all of them sat randomly in the cafeteria instead of being segregated by several cliques. That meant that the tennis team found the largest table and filled the seats quickly.
"Okay, I guess…" Chiharu, sensitive as she was, noticed the slightly forced smile on Fuji's face. "Is something wrong, Fuji-san?"
Kikumaru giggled with glee. "He just got another confession!"
Izumi suddenly found her salad very interesting.
"Ooh, really?" Kimiko squealed, clapping her hands together. She enjoyed gossip. "Tell us about her!"
This caused Kikumaru to go into a fit of laughter. "Her?"
There was a long pause.
"It was a guy?"
"Yup."
"Fanboys?"
"According to my stalkin—ahem, research, Tezuka's fan club is the biggest, with 107 fangirls; Fuji comes a close second at 79 fangirls and 22 fanboys."
"Thanks Inui…"
"Tezuka-saan!" Two girls approached the table, noticing that the place next to him was empty. "Can we sit here?" She had already put her tray down. The other girl didn't have a place to sit, but since Tezuka was about an arm's length away, she was willing to sit on her friend's lap if that was what was needed. Tezuka didn't even glance at them.
"Sorry," Suzume said. "Chiharu-senpai is sitting there. Bye."
"But… Oshiro has a seat over there…" the girl said, pointing.
Suzume crossed her arms. "Logic has never been my friend. But violence is, so—"
That did it. The two girls ran for it. Suzume had quite a reputation.
"Hey," she said, snapping her fingers at Chiharu, who hadn't budged. "Senpai, I'm serious. You better move before some more of those rabid fangirls try to take that seat."
"Umm… I really don't—"
She grabbed her senpai's tray and shoved it, sliding it over to the empty spot. It went a little over the edge, and Kikumaru had to dive for it to prevent it from falling. "Like I said, logic isn't really my friend."
"O-okay then…" Chiharu got up and moved shyly.
"Morioka-senpai, you might want to move over before one of those guys comes over and takes the spot next to Fuji-senpai."
Izumi moved another place right of Reina, so that she was next to Fuji. Some of those guys that were staring hopefully had downcast expressions on their faces. "Thank you." Fuji whispered gratefully, and a rare smile appeared on Izumi's face.
The rest of the meal was pretty uneventful. It was a bit awkward, as they felt the eyes of the rest of the student body upon them. Most of the girls directed waves of hate with their eyes towards the girls at the table. However, none of the crazy fangirls did anything until Chiharu stood up to dump her tray. She'd almost made it to the conveyer belt on the opposite side of the room when one of the girls conveniently stuck out her foot. Had it been Izumi, or Sayaka, they would've been able to dodge it. But this was Chiharu, and being the klutz, she fell straight to the ground, shattering her plates of food.
"Oh my god, are you okay?" Oishi got up started moving towards her.
"Bitches…" Suzume muttered under her breath as she also got up. However she was moving towards the girl that tripped her.
"Oi!" Momoshiro grabbed Suzume's arm. "You can't!"
"Watch me."
"Kimura," Tezuka said. "Stop."
She glanced at him. He'd also stood up, but wasn't moving at all. She felt a surge of anger on Chiharu's behalf. Ripping her arm out of Momoshiro's grasp, she continued striding forward. "Stop me yourself."
"Kimura." he repeated more forcefully. Suzume stopped. She didn't know why.
Before Oishi had gotten over to Chiharu, someone was already there, helping her up. "Nii-san?" Suzume said softly.
"Sorry this had to happen to you, Chiharu…" he was saying. "I guess some girls aren't as mature as you are."
This drew several indignant gasps from around the crowd. Yet some of the girls had guilty looks on their faces. Kai had that effect on most people.
"I'm guessing the conference is over?" Fuji was asking his sister, who just came down the stairs.
"Yeah, it was really boring too…"
"Senpai, are you okay?" Suzume was asking as Kai brought Chiharu back to the table. Oishi was examining her for scratches or cuts.
"She's fine," Kai answered with a smile.
"Kai-nii, you've met mostly everyone already. These are my senpais from the tennis club…" She proceeded to introduce everyone. Kikumaru shook Kai's hand really enthusiastically. "Your sister is one of my favorite kohais!" Fuji then proceeded to introduce his sister to everyone who didn't already meet her.
"I guess the rest of the parents/guardians must still be upstairs talking with the teachers. I was a bit tired of hearing how awful my sister is." Kai said, affectionately putting an arm around Suzume. She smiled.
"That's really nice of you…" Yumiko said. "And what you did for Oshiro-chan back there was really sweet…"
"Can I ask of your age?" Kai said politely.
"I'm 24, 7 years older than Syusuke here."
"Really? Me too." His tone was very… strange. Suzume and Fuji exchanged a glance. Was it possible he was… interested?
Yumiko smiled and looked down in an almost shy manner. She adjusted her bracelet. (Fuji, of course, found this extremely amusing.) "So… why are you here instead of the parents? Mine went to his little brother's conference instead."
Suzume felt Kai's arm tighten around her. "I'm sorry…" he said quietly. "It's kind of personal…"
"Oh, gomenasai!" Yumiko said, alarmed. "I didn't mean to pry."
He smiled. "Well, you can make it up to me by letting me take you out to dinner tonight."
Long pause. Long, silent pause.
"I'd love to."
Everyone hit their smiles behind their hands. Fuji and Suzume exchanged another glance, this one carrying a mischievous look. They were going to have a lot of fun with their siblings…
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"Did your brother say anything?" Fuji asked during practice the next afternoon. They were running the usual amount of laps.
"Only that Yumiko is the nicest girl he's ever been with," Suzume told him between breaths. She had forced it out of her brother yesterday evening. "What about her? She say anything?"
"Not really, but I think she had a really good time. She can't wait for him to ask her out again."
"I'm on it," Suzume said, pulling out her cell phone. "Tell her to expect a date for tomorrow."
"Fuji, Kimura," Tezuka said as he ran past them. "No talking. You're disrupting your breathing."
Again, they all crossed the finish line at the same time, and all were spared of the pitcher bubbling with green juice. As Inui began going through the menu for the day—pairs practice—he suddenly stopped, confused. There was an odd number in the group. Someone was missing.
"Izumi's not here…" Akane suddenly said. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen her all day."
"Was she in class today?" Tezuka asked Kikumaru and Fuji, while thinking of how many laps to assign her as punishment if it turned out she was skipping practice. There was her health to consider.
Kikumaru frowned. "I didn't notice that she was missing… Did you, Fuji?"
Fuji shook his head. "We had a test second period, so I guess we were too caught up in our work. But we should've noticed during roll call…"
"Well, if any of you see her later, tell her that I expect 30 laps around the court for being late."
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—FLASHBACK—
'If I had reached that ball… she wouldn't have had to run recklessly to reach it. She wouldn't have gotten hurt. If I had trusted her, she wouldn't have had to prove herself… and none of this would have happened.'
The doctor easily patched up Kimiko's cuts with several scraps of cloth. She asked if there was anything that could make it heal faster, and he decided to prescribe some cream for her to apply to the wounds every evening. When he left the room, Aiko shuffled towards her a bit awkwardly.
"I just want you to know…" she said, enunciating every word clearly in Japanese. "That I trust you."
—END FLASHBACK—
Although Aiko was still tending to hog the ball a little, she was beginning to learn how to play with Kimiko. If she held the opponents back at the baseline, Kimiko could suddenly intercept a shot and hit one of her classic cord balls or drop shots, and her opponents wouldn't be able to reach it. That meant letting Kimiko make all the point-scoring shots. That was… okay with her.
She was an aggressive player; defense really wasn't her thing. Akane suspected that Aiko's frustration at being stranded in a foreign environment added to the sheer force in her play. And she liked the spotlight, which made it hard for her to give it up.
A few weeks of playing together, and they worked it out wonderfully. Even Akane was impressed. "It's because Aiko's jumping skills are really good!" Kimiko said, jumping up and down after they'd won a match against the Sayaka-Sakuno pair. "If I force the opponent to lob, then Aiko can get it!"
Aiko smiled slightly, but she glanced at her arm in dissatisfaction. In order to keep her opponents back at the net and the same time stay true to her aggressive style, she needed to hit powerful shots, risky shots—'stunners' as they call them in the tennis world. The shots are the type that shush the crowd completely and are played over and over on online video sites. One problem: they had an extremely low accuracy rate. Errors were high. She needed to perfect a shot that was un-returnable… but was nearly always in.
"Hey, Kawamura-san…" she said, approaching him. She didn't bother to use Japanese.
"Yes?" He turned around.
"Teach me the Hadokyuu."
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Next day…
Fuji and Kikumaru paid special attention to Izumi's empty seat this time. Neither of them could figure out why they didn't notice her missing yesterday. Had she been missing? Or had she just been skipping practice?
The teacher went through roll call smoothly, and began giving out the tests all of them took yesterday. The class groaned. Fuji and Kikumaru both got their tests back and looked fairly satisfied with their results.
Suddenly, it hit him. "Eiji…" Fuji said. "Did Sensei call Izumi-san's name out during roll call?"
"That's it!" Kikumaru cried. "No, she didn't! That's why we didn't notice!"
After class, they both got up and approached the teacher. "Sensei," Fuji said. "Why didn't you call out Morioka's name during roll call?"
The teacher put her papers in the briefcase and closed it with a decisive click. "Morioka has taken a leave of absence." She focused her squinting eyes on both students, looking at each of them in turn suspiciously. "That's all there is to it."
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"Leave of absence?" Tezuka repeated during practice. "Under what circumstances?"
"Sensei wouldn't say." Fuji said.
"You have to get permission from a parent to take a leave of absence," Akane put in. "It's probably important."
"Ryuzaki-sensei couldn't get any information out of your homeroom teacher either," Oishi said. "It seems that it was a very private matter."
"Since the upcoming tournaments are several months away, I'll let it go," Tezuka said sternly. "But not telling the team about it was irresponsible of her."
"She might have a good reason why she doesn't want you to know." Suzume muttered quietly.
Fuji heard her.
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Two days later…
"You were off by half a step, Suzume!" Akane said, pointing at her feet.
"I got the ball in, didn't I?" she answered with an eye roll. However, when she smashed the ball again, her step was on time. That was one of the things Akane liked about Suzume. She'll sneer off all your criticisms, but inside, she really takes it seriously.
Yet today, she seemed to be extra-sneery and extra irritated. Akane suspected it was because a certain member had been missing for four practices. Within the month and a half that the team was together for, they had become quite close. Although they all had their own little circles of friends, the tennis team was becoming a circle that was growing tighter.
Akane still sat with Chiharu at lunch, and they still talked with their friends such as Natsuko (who was completely in love with Fuji), but in the hallway, they would always greet Sayaka, Kawamura, Momoshiro—people they never really talked to before. Izumi became closer with Fuji and Kikumaru, people she used to ignore in class. Kaidoh found new senpais to admire—Aiko and Reina, to name two. And Sakuno, the shyest, now had a whole new array of friends.
"Izumi-chan's still not back…" Chiharu said, a wrinkle of concern in the middle of her brow as she drank from her water bottle. "I wonder if everything's all right…"
"Her cell phone's on, but she's not answering calls or texts…" Reina said.
First Suzume, now Reina. When Reina began speaking in an understandable language, it's a sure sign that something's wrong.
"I called her at her home…" Inui said, popping out of nowhere like he usually did.
"Really?" Half the team crowded around, not even bothering to ask how much data collection he did in order to find out her home phone number. "What did she say?"
"She didn't say anything. Her parents claimed she wasn't home," He pushed his glasses up his nose. "We've got a missing member here."
"If she's not home… where could she be?"
"We should conduct an investigation!" Kikumaru suggested enthusiastically.
"Ne, where's Ryuzaki?" Ryoma suddenly asked out of the blue. They looked among themselves. Sakuno also appeared to be missing. Practice had only started for about 10 minutes… but it wasn't like her to be late.
"Noticed she was missing rather quickly, didn't you?" Momoshiro grabbed Ryoma and rubbed his fist against the first year's hair.
"I've heard of this before…" Inui said, lowering his voice. His glasses flashed. "The unknown force will hunt us down, one by one…"
"Inui!" Oishi scolded. "Now look, Kaidoh's missing too!"
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Tezuka Kunimitsu was not in a good mood.
His history essay had gotten an 89. Well, it was their history teacher—she was known for giving the harshest grades. And if he'd gotten an 89, it usually meant that all of the 3rd years had gotten bad grades. Fuji had gotten an 87, and that was with his help. As long as he, Tezuka, was at the top, it was fine.
Izumi had gotten a 93.
That didn't bother him that much. What bothered him was that he couldn't even borrow her essay to see what she did better than him.
No, that wasn't all. His team wasn't doing so well, as seen in the last practice. Suzume had completely missed the basket she was supposed to be smashing at and hit Momoshiro in the chest. He thought it was on purpose, and she—being Suzume—encouraged that thought. After he'd given them both laps, Inui thought it would be funny to have Kaidoh and Aiko drink his new juice to see who had the stronger Juice tolerance. Those two went to the infirmary, and Inui got 50 laps.
It wasn't even that. He should've expected that at any normal practice. But even Reina and Oishi—two of his most steady, most precise members were making unforced errors that were just… stupid. And then Akane wasn't reading her opponents movements well, and Fuji's Higuma Otoshi went out. TWICE. Ryoma got hit in the face with a ball from Sakuno that he could've EASILY returned. And Chiharu, Chiharu of all people was misinterpreting the ball's path.
And this—this shouldn't have bothered him, but the court was a bit quiet. Too quiet. Both Kimiko and Kikumaru had shut up for most of practice. For the first 30 minutes, he enjoyed the silence. But after that, it was just irritating to not have those hyper squeaky voices disrupting the peace.
On top of that, Suzume's tennis privileges were being threatened again. Apparently, some of the girls in his fanclub had spilled coffee all over Chiharu's books on purpose. That bothered him the most, and he didn't even know why. Suzume ended up sending several girls to the infirmary. He understood why she felt angry, but why did she had to be so protective over Chiharu…
And… his arm was aching again, so he was scheduled to see the doctor today. That also irked him.
So, when he got to the courts and saw his team members taking an elongated water break… well, they sped off to practice before he could say anything. They knew not to get on the bad side of their captain when he was wearing that expression.
A quick scan around the court told him that Izumi wasn't back yet. Sakuno wasn't there either, he noticed. 'Please don't tell me that two members missing means that today's practice will be twice as bad as yesterday's…'
No such luck.
After seven missed balls in total, two overturned baskets, and a new batch of Inui Juice that had the side effect of vomiting on the spot, Tezuka was ready to blow his top.
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Sakuno was rushing back to school. Her grandma had asked her to pick up some tennis equipment for the clubhouse, but told her to be back on time. She checked her watch. 15 minutes late. If only she didn't get lost at those crossroads…
"Sorry!" she said as she pushed open the door to the tennis courts, panting a little. "I'm so sorry I'm la—!"
"You're fifteen minutes late," Tezuka said coldly. "What have you been doing?"
Everyone on the court stopped what they were doing and turned to stare. Never had they seen Tezuka use such a harsh tone on a girl before.
"I-I'm sorry…" Sakuno stammered. "I was—"
"Ten laps around the court!"
Sakuno's eyes filled with tears at being addressed so severely. Sayaka made a move towards her, but she swiped her arm across her eyes and began running before any of them reached her.
"Tezuka-san…" Chiharu said quietly. "You… you didn't have to be so harsh with her. She—"
"I will not tolerate anyone who breaks the rules," he said. He rested his eyes on her and repeated, "Anyone."
Chiharu's eyes widened. "I'm… sorry, buchou," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "I'll be running my ten laps for talking back at you now." The next thing he knew, Chiharu had joined Sakuno in running around the court. And he had no clue what was going on.
"Everyone, back to practice!" he barked.
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"Fuji…" Tezuka said when they were again the last ones in the changing room. He was rubbing his temples. "I don't understand what happened today."
"Hmm?" Fuji said, closing his locker and turning around. "What do you mean?"
"Why did Chi—everyone react so strongly when I gave Ryuzaki ten laps?"
"Ah…" Fuji said with a knowing smile. "Girl trouble." He looked amused.
"Fuji…" Tezuka said in a tone that screamed: WARNING.
"Tezuka," Fuji shook his head. How dense was this guy? "You simply can't address girls in the same manner as you do boys. And we thought you knew that, since you seemed somewhat softer with the girls before."
"That makes no sense whatsoever," he replied. "Both girls and boys should be treated equally."
"I'm not saying that you should've given Ryuzaki-chan five laps instead. But really, you didn't have to be so harsh about it."
Tezuka stayed silent and zipped up his tennis bag. He had a doctor's appointment to get to. Before he left, he turned around. "I hope Morioka gets back soon."
Fuji heard the door close behind him. "Me too."
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Chiharu was sitting at her desk, her head in her arms.
She was crying again.
Not that it was a surprise to anyone. She's the kind of person who would shed tears over that commercial where the kid lost his dog. Some of them expected a puddle to have formed on her desk by now. No, a lake, that was more like it.
She'd calmed down a bit, but an occasional sniffle could be heard. All because she'd been 'scolded' by him. It didn't even count as being scolded. And it wasn't as if Tezuka was being especially strict with her—he was like that with everyone who broke the rules.
But still. It hurt.
"He doesn't deserve you…" One of her friends was saying in attempt to comfort her. "You should just give up so I can have a go at him," She grinned. "Just kidding."
"Yeah, I don't see what you see in him. I mean, Fuji is just as talented as Tezuka, and he's got these gorgeous blue eyes, and that smile… and when he talks in that low, velvety voice it completely melts my heart…"
"Kisa-chan, stop drooling," Akane had entered the classroom to pick up her books. She'd just finished changing. "Fuji isn't interested in dating. Actually, that might not be entirely true—"
"It's Morioka, isn't it?" Kisa cut in. "I mean, not that I don't like her, but isn't she a little… creepy? Pale skin, the dark spots beneath her eyes? Definitely vampire material."
Chiharu choked a laugh through all her crying. "Don't say that, Izumi-chan is really nice."
"Well, I don't have a problem with her, so if she gets Fuji, I'll have lost fair and square." Kisa shrugged good-naturedly. (Yes, nice fangirls do exist.)
"Hey, you know, we should go. The janitors are locking up soon." The rest of them picked up their bags and left, patting Chiharu on the back several times.
Akane picked up her tennis bag. It was bulging from the textbooks she stuffed in it. "Chiharu, stop being upset over Tezuka. It's not worth it."
She cracked another smile through her tears. "No sympathy from you?"
"Nope, if you're looking for someone to play Mom, go to Oishi," Akane said dryly. "I'm just me. Actually… the best person to go to for comfort…" Akane gave her a smile—the kind that won her several confessions a month. "Is you, Chiharu."
"Thanks…"
"You coming?" Akane asked, waiting by the door.
"I just want to be alone for a while…"
"Okay, but don't stay too long or you'll get locked in."
Chiharu closed her eyes and sighed, the sigh being punctuated by a few sobs left in her throat. She didn't even know why she liked him. It was just a sort of attraction. Of course, there was his appearance, which attracted everyone, but should've the negative sides to his personality repel them too? Look at Reina for example! She was the beautiful one, except all everyone did was stare and think why such a beauty had to become such a nerd. He was intimidating, aloof, and had a completely lack of social skills. Why… why him?
"Oshiro-chan?" Kikumaru suddenly hopped into the room. "Why are you still here?" He saw the tears. "Daijoubu?"
"I'm fine," She wiped the traces of tears away swiftly and forced a smile. "Why are you here, Eiji?"
"Nya, I lost my wallet! I've been looking for it forever! Have you seen it anywhere? All my ID cards and everything is in it! I can't lose it, my parents will kill me!"
"Wait… Is it made of black leather, with a furry keychain of a cat hanging off the edge?"
"Yes! That's the one! You've seen it?"
"The office has it."
"Oh, thank god!" He collapsed in a chair. "And here I thought I was done for. Ne, Oshiro-chan?" he said, suddenly changing the topic. "Why were you crying?" He was tempted to make a joke and ask her if she'd squashed an ant or something, but he remembered what Oishi said about making insensitive remarks and kept his mouth shut. Besides, if he asked, the first thing she would do would be checking the bottom of her shoe.
"It's nothing. I'm just being stupid again."
"It's because of what Tezuka said, right?"
She reeled slightly. "How… how did you know?"
He grinned. "It's so obvious, Oshiro-chan! All of us saw it! And I think all of us thought he was a bit mean to Ryuzaki, but you know, that's just who Tezuka is. Hey, come here," He leapt up and pulled her into a tight hug. "Everything is going to be all right."
She had to bite her lip to prevent more tears from flowing out. "Tezuka—"
"—is a douchebag." he finished promptly. She laughed at that. He joked with her about Tezuka's never changing expression and the time that he drank Inui Juice. Even though her vision was still blurry, she was laughing. Her spirits considerably lightened when the janitor finally knocked on the classroom door and told them that he was locking up. He hugged her again and she whispered in his ear, "Why couldn't I have fallen for you…?"
He was so happy, so cheerful—something that Tezuka would never be, and she felt sad to think that she may never be able to laugh with him as she did with Kikumaru.
He blushed a little at her comment. "Don't worry, I'm sure it'll work out with Tezuka. I mean, he's about as dense as that metal block over there, but he's not completely stupid."
"He doesn't even like me…"
"I'm not sure if that's true, Oshiro-chan," Kikumaru said, a twinkle in his eye. "You see, the only times we've nearly seen Tezuka smile was when he was with you."
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Later…
Tezuka finished getting an examination of his arm. It was supposed to be completely healed; even the doctor was at a loss of what these pains may mean. They decided to continue observing him for a few months, so he signed on to appointments every other week.
He buttoned up his shirt and thanked the doctor. He walked down the rows of hospital rooms towards the exit. All of the hospital rooms had names next to them, indicating the patients. The one Akane stayed at was in the emergency wing. Vaguely, he wondered if the ones Chiharu and Reina visited were in the research wing.
'Chiharu…' Her name brought back memories of that afternoon. He still couldn't figure out why she was so… upset? Maybe he should apologize. No, that was stupid since he didn't even know what to apologize for.
Suddenly, his train of thought was interrupted. One of the names had caught his eye.
Ward 1709: Morioka Izumi
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Izumi was reading her history textbook when she heard the knock on the door. "Come in," she called out. When she saw who it was, she felt the book slip from her hands and land in her lap. "Tezuka…san?"
"Morioka." he said curtly.
"Wh-why are you here?" She hadn't told anyone, and her teachers had promised to keep it a secret.
"I came across your room by chance. Morioka, why didn't you inform any of us that you'd been hospitalized?"
She could've lied. She could've said that she didn't want them to worry about her. That would've made her seem like a good person, right? Instead, the words that came from her pale lips were nothing but the truth: "Because I didn't want you all to think I was weak…"
Tezuka shook his head. "The whole team has been so worried about you…"
"I don't want that!" Izumi retorted. "I don't want the team to treat me like I'm a frail, sick person. I hate that. Weak people get sick."
"Do you realize that if I'd never known you'd been hospitalized… I would have given you 100 laps as punishment for skipping practice?"
"Do you realize that I would have run them?"
Tezuka closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was impossible to reason with this girl. "Morioka, you don't know the trouble you've caused just by disappearing like that." He proceeded to summarize the events that happened with her gone, and a smile flitted across her face when he named all the unfortunate events, one after another. "You have to tell us if you're taking a leave of absence. There are things like programs and menus that need to be altered if a member isn't going to present."
She bent her head down. "I'm sorry for causing trouble."
"Why have you been hospitalized?" He glanced at the IV that was protruding from her wrist.
She followed his gaze. "I've been running a dangerously high fever for a few days and I started to be unable to keep down liquids. The doctor was afraid I'd become dehydrated, so he kept me under observation."
He nodded. He understood. Dehydration and high temperatures were keys to evolving into a seizure. "How long—"
"It's fine, I'll be out in a couple of days."
"Get well soon. We'll need you for the prefectural tournament." Before he turned to leave, Izumi called out.
"Tezuka-san. Please don't tell anyone."
The tone of her voice implied, "Please don't tell him."
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Ryoma stopped serving balls at Sakuno and let his arm fall by his side. The latter wasn't performing well. "Hmm… Something is bothering Ryuzaki…" he said.
"That's not true!" Sakuno got back into her 'ready' position. "One more, please!"
He waved her request away. "It's pointless. You aren't into it today." He got out two cans of Ponta and tossed one towards her. She missed it and fell. Didn't she always? She joined him on the steps leading up to the tennis court, sipping their drinks. They'd been practicing like this for quite a while now.
Normally, Sakuno would try to make conversation with Ryoma at this time, and he would listen, occasionally tossing in a word or two, but today she was silent.
Ryoma broke the ice. "Buchou will always be buchou…" he suddenly said.
"I… I don't under—"
"That's who he is. So you shouldn't be upset you got laps."
"I guess…"
"Everyone gets laps. He was in a bad mood, I think. I can never tell. His expression's always the same."
She giggled. Ryoma acted like he didn't care about anything, but sometimes she could tell that he was actually a pretty sensitive person. "I just… I hope Izumi-senpai is back soon."
"It's not nearly as bad as the time Momo-senpai quit on us."
"Yeah, but still… everyone wasn't doing their best today…"
He shrugged and finished his Ponta. He then tossed the can backwards at the garbage can. It missed by about half a meter and landed in the bushes.
"OW!" the bushes screamed. Sakuno jumped. "A talking bush?"
"Momo-senpai, Kikumaru-senpai, mada mada da ne."
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"Tezuka…" Fuji said after practice the next day. "You know where she is, don't you."
"I don't know what you mean."
"Izumi-san. You know where she is."
Tezuka stayed silent as he put his things away and zipped up his bag. How could Fuji tell? Well, he was a tensai, so this kind of thing should be expected.
"Tezuka."
He ignored him and picked up his bag to leave. Suddenly Fuji did something he hadn't done since they were first years in middle school. He grabbed Tezuka by the scruff of his shirt. The taller boy let his bag slip to the ground in shock.
Fuji's eyes were open, the blue of his eyes searching his face. "You know. Where is she?"
Tezuka didn't speak.
"You have no right to keep this a secret from us, Tezuka. She's our teammate, our friend too."
His resolve crumbled. He'd only really known Izumi for about two months, whereas Fuji had been his friend for three years. "She's at the Tsuchiya hospital."
Fuji let go and picked up his bag to leave.
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Izumi had just finished reading the new chapter in her history book when there was a knock on the door. 'Tezuka again?' She called out hesitatingly, "Come in."
This time, her book fell to the ground. "Fuji-san!"
"Sorry for bothering you," He smiled as he picked up her history book from the ground. "Here." His tennis bag indicated that he'd come directly from school.
She took the book from his hands. "Fuji-san… how… how did you know I was here?"
"Tezuka."
"But… I…"
'But I told him not to tell you.'
"Did he tell you about your history grade? You got the highest mark in the grade—a 93. Congratulations."
"Thank you…"
The silence between them was awkward. This came as a surprise to both of them. After spending hours in each other's company they thought they'd moved past that barrier. "Izumi-san…" Fuji opened his eyes. "Why are you in the hospital?"
For a moment, she didn't answer. It was easier to answer this question when Tezuka was asking—he knew everything already. But Fuji… Fuji knew nothing. She swallowed and told him. He listened, sitting in the chair next to the bed. After she'd finished, she asked, "So… what do you think of me now?"
"No differently…" he promised. "Except… that's not all you're keeping from us."
The hint of a bitter smile appeared. "You're right…"
"Why…" Fuji's eyes scanned her face. "Why didn't you tell me that you were hospitalized?"
"I…" She avoided the question. "I didn't tell anyone."
"Tezuka knew."
"He came across the ward by chance. He had his arm examined in this hospital."
"I see."
'Fuji couldn't be… jealous, could he?'
She decided not to tell him who she met at the hospital.
—FLASHBACK—
Four days earlier…
"Yoshino-kun, moving day!" One of the nurses said to the boy that was in the room. "We're moving you to a shared ward! That way you'll have a roomie!" Izumi felt a little bad about taking his room as the nurses wheeled him away.
'I hate hospitals. I hate hospitals.'
She hated how the nurses were all trained to have that sympathetic but cheerful expression. She hated the smell of medicine and disinfectant. She hated missing school and tennis practice. And she hated that she couldn't think of anything to do but work ahead in homework.
Hospital food was quite an achievement—she'd finally found something worse than airplane food and cafeteria food combined.
After lunch she finished studying for the quiz that was two weeks away and all her homework. The streaks of boredom were finally getting to her. Now she knew why that kid—Yoshino?—had brought his PSP.
Suddenly, the door opened. "Yoshino-kun, I've come to return the book I borro—" he stopped when he saw the girl lying there instead of his friend. "Well Yoshino, it seems you turned into a girl, and a cute one too…"
She wasn't sure how to react. She knew his face well. "They moved your friend this morning."
"So I see…" Instead of turning to leave, he stepped forward, extending his hand. "Hi, I'm—"
"Yukimura Seiichi," she said. She knew his name. Everyone that played tennis did.
He smiled as he took her hand. "Nice to meet you."
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A/N: For those of you who wanted a love triangle, here's the first hint of one!
Next chapter will be wintery and leading into Christmas fluff. All the regulars are going on a trip to the mountains, courtesy of… one of the girls that's actually surprisingly rich.
I wrote a little list of boredom that's called "You Know You're Watching Too Much PoT When". Go check it out.
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