Disclaimer: Don't own, don't own.

Quick update, right? RAWR.

It's a short chapter this time. Like a beginning of a new arc.

Dedicated to Elvira-RM, who drew a beautiful fanart of Aiko. It's exactly how I imagined her to be! Link is on my profile, go check it out.

Thanks to all readers and reviewers!

To Catch A Falling Star—Chapter Sixteen: Hot or Not?

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Suzume stared at the letter in her hand.

She'd been sitting at her desk during lunch period when the office delivered it to her. Apparently it was mailed to the school rather than to her home. It was written with flowery script on paper that was probably at least 70% linen. She could smell the perfume that was sprayed on the letter. Or maybe they sold scented paper now. She had no idea.

Momoshiro was walking towards the cafeteria to buy some more food. He paused as he was walking behind her desk, half a sandwich in his mouth. "Oi Kimura, what have you got there?"

"It's a letter from my mother." she replied, not taking her eyes off of said letter.

"Your mother?" He leaned in to peer more closely at the letter.

"Yeah." She pulled out a thick bundle of train tickets from the envelope, counting them. There were exactly eighteen. "She wants all of us to go visit her. The tennis team, that is." 'She didn't even enclose tickets for Ren and Kai…'

"ALL of us?" Momoshiro exclaimed, snatching the tickets. "Where does she live? The mountains?"

"That's just like her to force this upon us so last minute." Suzume shook her head. "Winter break is only a few days away."

"Do you even have housing for all of us?"

Suzume handed him a brochure. "She owns this."

Momoshiro's eyes bulged out of his head. "Th-this is that new hot springs resort that hasn't opened yet! It's supposed to be seven stars! It's heated with natural hot springs and has an outdoor onsen and its own ski slopes!"

"Yeah, that's the one," Suzume said unenthusiastically. "But we're not staying there."

"What?" Momoshiro looked crestfallen. "Oh, okay. Where are we staying, then?"

"She's afraid it isn't good enough for us, so we're staying at the little mansion on the side."

"'Little mansion'?" Momoshiro said incredulously. He'd never heard a mansion being described as 'little'. Face it, mansions were mansions. "Are you serious?"

"What?" Suzume asked.

"I didn't know you were rich!"

"I'm not," Suzume said. "This is my mother's money."

"What do you mean?" he asked. The way she said it made it seem like they weren't related.

"Don't get me wrong. Even though there's always a sort of distance between us, my mom is still my mom. But it's just…" She shrugged. "I don't live off her money, you see? I'm in custody of my brothers. Both of them work, so it's enough to support us. Her money is… detached, you know?"

"Then you don't really have parents…" Momoshiro said softly.

"My brothers are my legal guardians," Suzume said. "They're all I've ever needed."

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"Regulars, gather round!" Tezuka commanded after practice had ended and the non-regulars had been dismissed. The days were pretty chilly now, although the skies had yet to grant them snow. The regulars took a moment to shuffle into their jackets before assembling in a line in front of him. The stoic captain looked at each of them in turn before speaking. (Or it seemed he looked at each of them in turn. His eyes jumped from Akane's straight to Reina's, skipping Chiharu.)

"Kimura's mother has kindly offered us a trip to the mountains in the Yamagata Prefecture, all expenses paid. We will be staying at her mansion, but we may use all facilities the seven star resort has to offer," He went on to talk about the duration of the trip and the crucial dates. "All in all, if we go, we will be spending most of the holidays there. Is everyone available?"

No one spoke for a beat. Some of them (Momoshiro) could barely contain there excitement, whereas others looked less than glad to be offered this trip.

"Why not?" Fuji said with a smile. "I've always wanted to go on a trip to the mountains with everyone."

"I'm free!" Kikumaru called, jumping up. "I can't wait!"

"It's more meaningful if everyone goes." Oishi pointed out. "I'll go as well."

"The tennis courts are available, right?" Tezuka asked Suzume, who nodded.

"Christmas with everyone!" Kimiko squealed. "I'm in!"

"Fsssh…" Kaidoh hissed in agreement.

Everyone else agreed, with the exception of Sakuno, Kawamura and Izumi (who had to check with their parents first), and Ryoma (who flat out refused).

"Come on, Ochibi!" Kikumaru pleaded. "It'll be fun!"

"Yadda."

"Echizen! Don't be a party pooper!" Momoshiro said, clamping down on the freshmen boy's head.

"Yadda."

"We need to give him some motivation…" Inui said. "Unfortunately, I have not yet finished my new batch of Inui Juice Deluxe Platinum Special, but…"

"Actually, Inui, that won't be necessary," Fuji said, pulling out an envelope from his bag. He reached into it calmly and pulled out a photograph, holding it out in front of Ryoma. "Unless he wants me to publish this in the next edition of the school newspaper."

Ryoma recoiled a little, his cheeks carrying a faint tint.

Momoshiro tried to lunge for the photograph, but Fuji pulled it away, handing it to Ryoma. He stuffed it in his pocket immediately.

"Echizen, what was that?"

"Let me see, Ochibi!"

"I've still got the negative," Fuji continued. "So, your answer, Echizen?"

After a long pause, Ryoma finally gave a disgruntled groan. "Fine. I'll go."

"What's the photo of?" Kikumaru asked Fuji later. His eyes were large and curious.

"Not much. Just a little something I took that time he was practicing with Ryuzaki… Of course, a little bit of photoshop and you can make some things seem very real…:

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"You should go, Suzume-chan…" Kai said, running a comb through his hair. "It'd be nice to see Kaa-san again, right?"

Suzume rubbed alcohol on the tiny infected area on her earlobe. It stung, but she didn't wince. "I don't know. I guess, but we're kind of used it now. She's never home."

"Well, it's your turn to go anyways. Last time Ren and all the pupils from the dojo went to the beach for a week," Kai smiled. "I remember when I got to go to Italy for that food festival…"

"I'm not going for the money," Suzume stated. "Kaa-san is… she's still our mother. She's just a bit of a workaholic. I think that's how she grieves. By the way," Suzume suddenly turned, looking at her brother. "You're looking awfully good tonight. Don't tell me you're taking Fuji's sister out again?"

He laughed. "Thanks for letting me know that I normally don't look so good."

"Don't even try to avoid the question, nii-san," Suzume said, just as the doorbell rang. "Ah, now who might that be?" She gave him a significant look before opening the door. "Hi, Fuji-nee-san."

As her brother escorted Yumiko down the steps, Suzume called out, "Hey, I call bridesmaid!"

Now that would give them something to think about.

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"Of course you can go, Izumi. If that's what you want." her mother said as they were eating. "I'm so glad you are making friends."

Izumi had almost wished her mother had said no. She thought maybe her mom would give in to paranoia ("They don't have good enough doctors over there! What if you get a high fever and don't get proper treatment?"), but apparently her mom decided to put her happiness first.

She wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to go. Something just made her… apprehensive. Nervous.

'Something…? Or… someone?'

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"So this trip they're taking sounds pretty fun, right? My son is making me manage the shop all on my own for a week!"

Aiko had brought her mom to Kawamura sushi, insisting that it was the best sushi she'd ever had. Her mom immediately formed a rapport with Kawamura's father. Aiko could only understand snippets of their conversation, and felt extremely left out. She couldn't come up with anything to say to Kawamura either. Besides, he was working.

"Her Japanese isn't so good. I'm worried."

That, Aiko understood. Her mother said that so many times the Japanese pronunciation was etched in her eardrums. She bit her lip, half from anger, half from embarrassment. It wasn't entirely her fault, okay?

Kawamura's father said something kindly, and Aiko's mom's face lit up.

"Really? That'd be wonderful! Thank you so much!" She turned to her daughter. "Did you hear that? Kawamura-san is willing to offer you work here! That way you can learn more Japanese!"

"Like waitressing?" she asked uncertainly. "Mom, I can't do that. I can't pronounce half the words on the menu."

"It won't be that hard," Kawamura said in English, picking up her plate. "We'll teach you."

Aiko considered it. The only way she could start living a normal life in Japan was if she spoke the language. "Fine."

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"Syusuke, did you pack your camera?" Yumiko said at the door.

"I did," Fuji said with a smile. As if he would forget something that important. "I'm leaving straight from school. Take care of Yuuta while I'm gone, okay?"

"Of course!" Yumiko immediately latched onto Yuuta, who had appeared next to her. "He's safe with me."

"Oi, nee-san… let go already…" After shaking her off, he smiled at his older brother. "Have a good trip, Aniki."

"By the way, Syusuke…" Yumiko said just as he was about to leave. "I did a Tarot card reading on how your trip will go. It is extremely possible that you'll find love before the holidays are over." She raised her eyebrows at him. "Is there something you want to talk about?"

"Ne, nee-san…" Fuji said. "Are you sure you didn't read your own fortune by mistake?"

She froze. Damn. He had her there.

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"I'm leaving now…" Reina said, picking up her bag.

Her mother shook her head. She simply couldn't understand her daughter. Within the last year and a half, her daughter had gone through a huge change. She couldn't describe the change as being positive or negative… it was just… a change. A huge change. Perhaps it was because her sister had decided to go to boarding school and never came back to visit. "Reina… are you happy?"

Only the sound of the door being closed answered her.

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"Akane-buchou!" Kimiko called, dragging behind her the biggest suitcase Akane had ever seen.

"Whoa… Kimiko, are you sure you didn't hear Suzume wrong? We're going for a week, not a year."

"Well, you know…" Kimiko said with a cheerful grin. "I like to be prepared!"

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"I can't believe you get to go…" Tomoka grumbled. "I want to spend Christmas with Ryoma-sama too!"

Sakuno smiled sympathetically. "I'm really sorry Tomo-chan, but Kimura-senpai only had eighteen tickets…" She held up two dresses. "Which one should I bring?"

"You can't bring those! You'll freeze!" Tomoka began throwing clothes out of Sakuno's closet until they were piled on the ground in a huge heap. Then she literally dived into it. She came back up with a couple of outfits that were more suitable for the frigid weather.

"Sakuno…" Tomoka's eyes started glinting as she thought of an idea. "Make sure you catch Ryoma-sama under the mistletoe!"

"Eh?" Sakuno turned bright red. "I-I… I can't do that!"

"You have to! Or…" 'Actually, I'm sure there are other people that'll make sure it'll happen.'

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"Tezuka, Oishi..." Sumire Ryuzaki had called both of them to her office on the last day of school. "I won't keep you for long. You're ending practice early today because you have a train to catch, right?"

Tezuka nodded.

She smiled. "I'm glad you are all going on this trip together. It'll strengthen the bonds between the team. But stay safe, okay? I'm counting on both of you to watch over the team and make sure no one gets hurt."

"Hai, sensei."

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Today's practice was going fairly well, Tezuka decided halfway through the session. Soon he and the rest of the team would be on their way to the mountains. He'd gone to the mountains every year with his family, but was looking forward to this trip that involved just his friends. As much as he didn't show it, he enjoyed their company. Most of the time, that is.

Something was missing.

It had been over a month since he spoke with Chiharu.

He glanced in at her as she played a warm up match with Izumi. He still couldn't understand what made her so upset. Neither of them had approached the other and apologized, and apologizing now would be silly since the incident occurred nearly a month ago. She seemed to be ignoring him completely. At first, he didn't notice. It was only when he was taking the subway to his relative's house that he realized.

He had no texts to reply to on his mobile.

That just made him feel like a part of him was missing. He wondered if she felt the same.

"Excuse me, Tezuka…" A soft voice from behind him interrupted his thoughts. He turned around and saw the last person he expected to see.

"Yukimura…?"

The captain of Rikkaidai was accompanied by his loyal fukubuchou, Sanada. The blue-haired boy smiled. "I'm sorry for bothering you, but could I speak to Morioka Izumi for a moment?"

Tezuka blinked. How he knew Izumi and why he wanted to speak to her was a wonder. He glanced over, and saw that she was still rallying a ball around with Chiharu. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait until we have a water break. I cannot allow a disruption in our practice."

He chuckled slightly. "I understand. We'll wait."

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"Morioka," Tezuka said after they'd finally taken a break. She'd won the warm up match, but then again Chiharu didn't play to her full strength. "There's someone here to see you."

She looked around, her eyes resting on Yukimura. Her eyes widened in genuine shock. "I… I don't know what he's doing here…"

"He wants to see you." Tezuka repeated. She gave him a questioning glance and he nodded, giving her permission to go speak with him. She went outside and around the green wire fence.

"Yukimura-san…"

"Ah, Morioka-san. How are you?" He smiled.

"Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital now?" She glanced at the person that was with him and had another shock. "Sanada…kun?"

"Do you two know each other?" Yukimura said, his gaze traveling between the two of them.

"We've been acquainted," Sanada said.

It was sort of true… except that 'acquainted' seemed far too close a word to describe their relationship. They hardly knew each other. Izumi used to live on the edge of the Kanagawa prefecture when she was younger. She and Sanada used to be neighbors. However, later her family decided to enroll her into Seigaku, and they moved. The traditional estates were always built close to each other. Actually, now she found that she was only a street away from Tezuka. Traditional families flock together.

"Yukimura-san… why are you here?"

"I heard that the whole Seigaku tennis team is going on a trip today…"

She nodded. She wasn't surprised he'd heard. News like this traveled fast (Eiji had loose lips), and several girls had asked if there were extra tickets, hoping that they too can spend the holidays with the regulars.

"I guess that means you won't be visiting me this week."

Again, she nodded. After spending a few days in Yukimura's company together at the hospital, she found she enjoyed it. She continued to visit him once a week.

"Why do you play tennis…?"

"I don't know. It's like dancing… it makes me feel free. Like a release… Why do you?"

"Tennis is who I am. Without tennis, I am nothing."

"I just want you to know," he continued. "That I really enjoyed your company." He handed her a single rose. "I hope you will visit me again."

Izumi just couldn't decipher her feelings at the moment. She'd be lying if she said she didn't feel flattered, but why was there a tinge of… guilt? "Thank you." She reached out to take the rose, only to drop it suddenly at a sharp pain to her finger. A single drop of blood had oozed from the tip of her index finger. The crimson contrasted with her white skin, and the first thing that came into her mind was that poster print that Fuji made. The black and white girl kneeling on the ground, blood painting her lips red, roses scattered at her feet.

'Fuji…'

She didn't need to look up to know that he was watching her.

"I'm sorry…" Yukimura said. "I should've checked for thorns. Here," He took her hand. "Let me." Much to her utter surprise, he raised her hand and put his lips to her finger.

Her eyes widened and she had absolutely no idea what to do or how to react. She just stood there.

Even after the brief moment of intimacy was over, she could still feel the touch of his lips linger on her hand.

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"Ne, Fujiko…" Kikumaru said, with a puzzled face. "Since when does Morioka-chan know the captain of Rikkaidai so well?"

"Hmm?" Fuji turned around after taking a well deserved drink from his water bottle. His eyes fell on Izumi and Yukimura, who were talking outside the fence. Suddenly, he lifted her finger to his lips.

He froze, his azure eyes open. The sudden feeling that came over him was like nothing he'd ever felt before. There was a sudden dryness in his mouth that he couldn't describe, and his palm was beginning to hurt strangely. He then realized that he was clenching the water bottle so tightly it caused pain to his hand. The feeling didn't stop until after Izumi had re-entered the courts.

And even then, the aftertaste was bitter.

The only consolation he had was that the trip they were about to take was for Seigaku regulars only.

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The roar of the train on the railway filled their ears as they waited at the station. "Mou… Ochibi's late again!" Kikumaru said, glancing at his watch every three seconds. "He better be here soon! We can't let him make us miss the train."

"Cheers…" The smaller boy made his appearance, cap in place.

"Ah, Ryoma-kun…" Sakuno smiled shyly.

"Let's go!" Kikumaru said cheerfully as they made their way into the line and began to board the train one by one. Because the train ride was a relatively short one, all luggage was carry-on. (Except for Kimiko's. Her oversized bag had to be put in the cart at the back—it was just too big.) Tezuka and Oishi stood at the boarding entrance of the train and passed the luggage onto it, one by one, much like a conveyer belt.

There was a rather large gap between the train and the platform, but all the girls could cross it pretty easily, due to muscle training in their legs. Kimiko and Sakuno were the ones that had a little trouble—while they didn't slack off on muscle training, they were certainly several inches shorter than every else. Kikumaru (after hopping on the train himself) and Oishi each took one of their hands and hoisted them onboard. Unfortunately, Sakuno's bag chose to split at that moment, and everyone near the entrance got on their hands and knees, helping her pick up her things.

Only Sayaka and Chiharu remained on the platform. Sayaka jumped onto the train easily, making most of her long legs. However, Chiharu paused, staring at the gap. There was no telling what her clumsiness would do. She decided to wait for Oishi and Kikumaru to finish picking up Sakuno's things first.

Tezuka automatically extended his hand out to her.

She hesitated.

He hesitated.

Everyone else watched both of them.

It'd be rude for him to retract his hand, and equally impolite for her to refuse it. It was a stalemate of feelings. She didn't move. He didn't move. Their eyes met. Then, cautiously, as if questioning her every move, she reached out and took his hand. He grasped hers tightly within his, pulling her upwards. Even after she was standing on the train, she never took her eyes off his. They just stood there, him looking down into her eyes, her tilting her head upwards to look into his.

Until finally, finally Kikumaru poked Chiharu in the waist, distracting her, and the moment was broken.

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The train ride was supposed to be only three hours long.

Well, three hours can seem like a long time when you have nothing to do.

Reina was enjoying herself. She'd just won her second game of chess against Inui, who was constantly taking notes and muttering "It's illogical…" under his breath. However, even the fun from that wore out quickly, and most of them were left with expressions of boredom on their faces.

Kimiko swung her legs out to the side of the seat to look at everyone else. The seats were in fours, where four people faced each other with a table between them. "Ne, let's play a game."

"A game?" the rest of them repeated.

"Sorta. It's like an icebreaker thing that I played at camp once when I was little. We'd say a label, and then we'd decide which one out of all of us fits that label."

"Label?"

"Yup. Like Best Dressed, Smartest, you know. Like superlatives!" She grinned enthusiastically. "Except all of you have to promise that you won't take it too seriously! Okay? I'll start! Hmm… Let's start with Most Talkative! Girls first!"

"…Kimiko, you have that category locked up pretty tightly…" Akane said.

"No duh," Suzume scoffed.

All the boys nodded simultaneously.

Kimiko sweatdropped. "Eheheh… okay, how about for boys then?"

"Eiji-senpai!" Sayaka said immediately.

"Yeah, Eiji-senpai!" Momoshiro agreed.

"Nya? I think… Inui! Because he's always muttering about something!"

"….Eiji, that doesn't mean he's talkative. It's like saying Ibu Shinji is talkative."

"Fine! Then I vote for Ochibi!"

"…I do not understand your logic, Kikumaru."

"…Momoshiro…" Kaidoh decided.

"What? Why do say that, Viper?"

"Easy! It's because you won't SHUT UP!"

"WHY YOU!"

"Okay, moving on!" Oishi said, trying to distract the two. "Umm… how about… Cutest?" He blushed a little. "I don't know… I can't think of anything."

"Kimi-chan is cute!" Kikumaru said. Kimiko glowed happily at that comment.

"Hmm… but I think Marui has a little competition in that department…" Fuji said, a thought stirring in his mind. "Oshiro-chan is pretty cute too… Don't you think so, Tezuka?"

Tezuka had been staring outside the window since the beginning of the game. He continued to do so.

"Tezuka?" Fuji prompted.

He turned, giving the tensai an irritated look. "Aa."

Momoshiro grinned, seeing how Fuji was going with the whole idea. He decided to take part in it. "Ryuzaki is pretty cute too, huh, Echizen?"

"I guess…" Ryoma said unenthusiastically, drinking from the ever present can of Ponta.

"I vote Marui-san," Oishi said.

"I think Chiharu is cute too… but Kimiko is a flashier sort of cute. I vote Kimiko," Akane said.

"That's not fair! Now I have two labels!" Kimiko pouted. "Fine. What about the boys then?"

"…Eiji-senpai, I think." Momoshiro said after some consideration. "Now he has two labels too."

"No way!" Sayaka said. "Echizen's "I'm better than you" attitude is too cute!"

Ryoma twitched at being addressed in such a manner. Kikumaru laughed and flung an arm around the smaller boy. "Of course Ochibi's the cutest!"

Most of the others nodded, or stayed silent, and they proceeded to the next label. Which Momoshiro decided to come up with: "Hottest!"

Several of them shifted uncomfortably. Suzume rolled her eyes. "Once a pervert, always a pervert."

"Oi, I'm not a pervert!" he insisted. "Inui-senpai's the one with all the data like your weight and your three sizes!"

Suddenly all the girls turned to Inui. "And… how would Inui-senpai know that…?" Sayaka asked, her voice steely.

"Eto… Ano…" Inui felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of his face.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Akane said. "Inui was the one that corresponded with the tailor for our uniforms."

"Ah." The girls then relaxed, and Inui thanked Akane mentally for being so practical.

Except that none of the boys wanted to offer their opinion on who deserved the label. They cursed at Momoshiro silently, because since the label was suggested they couldn't help looking at the girls' bodies in an entirely different way than before. The girls too, tried to act like nothing was wrong, but now they were totally self conscious about their figures.

"I think… Ito-senpai…" Momoshiro finally said. "No offense."

Akane was definitely the most curvaceous among the girls, no argument there. Inui's data could prove it. (Not that he brought it out.)

Now it was the boys' turn to be scrutinized. They felt like little ants under a magnifying glass, waiting to be fried. Of course, none of them would comment on each other—that was wrong. Momoshiro suddenly wished he hadn't chosen that label. Curiosity killed the cat, after all. However, the girls seemed to be enjoying this part.

"I don't know…" Akane said, savoring every word like she was enjoying the pain she was causing. "Kawamura's a bit too muscular—" He blushed with embarrassment. "—Fuji's a bit on the skinny side—" His smile became frozen. "—and I'd be called a pedophile if I said Echizen—" He pulled his cap down.

"Eiji-senpai—too cute, Oishi-senpai is kind of on the skinny-cute side too…" Kimiko said, and nodded. Both of them turned red.

"So that leaves Momoshiro, Kaidoh, Tezuka and Inui," Akane summed up. "I think Kaidoh, actually."

"Kaidoh." Sayaka agreed, causing her brother's mouth to drop open in shock. "What?" she asked him defensively. "I can't have said you; that's called incest."

"Inui…" Izumi offered her opinion lightly. The rest of them goggled at her, including Inui himself. "Just a personal opinion…"

"Actually, I agree with Izumi-senpai there." Suzume said. "Just look. Kaidoh's still a bit on the muscular side. Inui-senpai is a perfect medium between two extremes."

"What do you think, Aiko-chan?" Chiharu asked kindly. She noticed that Aiko had sort of been left out of the game since the start, and she wanted to make that right. Besides, that way she could escape from answering herself.

Aiko simply pointed at Tezuka. Reina also nodded. "I also find Tezuka the most physically attractive… and it is 99.8% likely that Chiharu does too."

Everyone's eyes found their way to Chiharu. She turned the color of the rose Izumi had put on the table. "Wh-what?"

"Well?" Suzume prompted. "Do you or don't you?"

She wanted to hide behind her hands. She wanted to dive down a hole. Yet not answering was the worst possible choice. It would make her feelings more obvious than they already were. "Yes… I do…" she whispered. Everyone giggled and winked at her, before nudging Tezuka. "Hear that, Tezuka?" He ignored them, which was probably for the best.

"Wh-what about you, Sakuno-chan?" Chiharu asked in a desperate attempt to shift the attention to someone else.

"…I… ano… I don't know?" Sakuno said helplessly.

"It's easy," Suzume said, pointing with her thumb. "Which one of those idiots over there do you think is the best looking?"

"Eto… ano… I… um…" Sakuno stammered. It was on the tip of her tongue to say Ryoma-kun, but she wasn't sure if she found him physically attractive. Who was she kidding, she liked everything about him. But still… something seemed… wrong about offering his name for the label. "Momo-chan-senpai, I guess." she finally said. That seemed like a pretty safe answer.

Of course, Momoshiro gloated, but the one beneath the cap was beginning to have a few doubts. He'd been almost sure that Sakuno would pick him.

"Most Beautiful Eyes…" Izumi suggested. "Let's do that one…" She remembered what Yumiko had said about Chiharu's eyes.

"Chiharu…" Most of the people said. Her soft amber eyes were simply… beautiful. They weren't stunning like Akane's, but they had a sort of soft, sweet beauty about them. Fuji asked Tezuka twice about his opinion, and he finally nodded his agreement. Kimiko put Akane's name forward as well and Oishi agreed with her.

"Chiharu-senpai gets that one…" Sayaka said. "What about guys, then?"

Most of the girls said "Fuji," simultaneously, but they were broken by one voice.

"Inui," Reina declared.

"EEHH?"

Inui put his hand to his head. "I forgot. You've seen them, haven't you?"

"REINA'S SEEN INUI'S EYES?"

She realized her mistake. "Once. Only once," Reina emphasized, holding up her hands.

"Hey, that's more than any of us!" Momoshiro exclaimed. "So, what are they like? What color? Are they big or small?"

Reina closed her mouth in a tight line and shook her head repeatedly.

"Hey… enough about appearances…" Chiharu said, noticing that Reina looked uncomfortable. "How about who has the best voice?"

"But I wanna hear more stuff about Inui's eyes…" Kikumaru whined.

"Best voice?" Sayaka grinned. "More like Sexiest Voice, if you ask me." She laughed at the almost scandalized look Chiharu gave her.

All of them paused to ponder for a while, trying to recall the voices of their friends. "Actually, I think Kimura has a nice voice," Momoshiro decided. Suzume gave him a killer look and made a vow to talk less often. Who knew what kind of perverts out there had a fetish for voices?

"I think Morioka-san…" Oishi said.

"Hmm…" Fuji murmured. "I actually think Watanabe-san has quite a seductive voice. The way those long words roll off her tongue…"

"Reina," Reina told him to call her, mentally telling herself to use shorter words. "Reina. Reina.

"What about the guys then?"

They all glanced over at the boys. Everyone was quiet for a moment, before Ryoma turned to Tezuka. "Ne, buchou. Say something."

Tezuka ignored him.

"I have a match tomorrow. What should I do?"

"Yudan Sezu Ni Ikou." The words were out before he could register what he was saying. It was a reflex.

Echizen and Momoshiro exchanged a glance. "Nope, not him."

"There's a 21% chance that Echizen will win that title. There's a 27% Fuji will get more votes than Echizen, if you consider the different components of fr—what?" All the girls were looking at him, intent expressions on their faces. He shifted nervously.

"Yup, it's you," Akane finally said. "It's definitely you."

"Oh look, we're almost here," Oishi said as the landscape outside slowed.

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All of them stared at the place, their mouths agape. None of them spoke.

"What?" Suzume asked, slinging her bag over her shoulder. She walked towards the giant double doors, her hand reaching for the exquisite handles. "Aren't you going to come in?"

Momoshiro finally spun to face her. "Little mansion? Little?"

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"Atobe?" Oshitari was murmuring in the changing room after practice. "I heard Seigaku is taking a trip together to the mountains. We should do something like that too, as a team."

"I can create mountains. Is that enough for you?" He toweled his hair dry. "But I didn't know a school like Seigaku could afford to send their students on a holiday together…"

"The school didn't pay for it. According to my knowledge, a student called Kimura did."

"Kimura?" Atobe frowned. "I don't know any rich people by that name, although it does sound familiar." He put his racket in his bag, zipping it shut slowly. He seemed to remember something about that name… "Oh, you must mean that widow who was so overcome with grief that she threw herself into her work and racked up a fortune on her own." He shrugged. "Her wealth is only equivalent to about one sixth of ore-sama's."

"Atobe… that's a lot…"

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End Chapter Sixteen

Okay, wait for the next one. The regulars explore the mansion happily and find everything they need, and so much more. New talents are displayed, old ones are renewed. The facilities the mansion and hotel offer leave them in awe. Especially when they decide to go to the onsen… only to find… it's a mixed onsen? Oh dear.

To Catch A Falling Star—Chapter Seventeen (tentatively titled): Lifestyles of the Rich

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