Many thanks to Xrucious, Booksmusiclove and Rainswalker for reviewing (: It's finally chapter 5 and the training camp! Year 1 is such a drag, but there's still a bit more to go. After this we'll finally be seeing something more interesting. Year 2 is where the fun starts!
P.s. I don't think I have mentioned it before, but romance is slow in this fic because I don't believe in love at first sight, at least, not this Yukimura Seiichi I had portrayed, he's a hard nut to crack but that's why it's fun. Another thing is that this story will be pretty long, as you can probably tell from the way it's already chapter 5 and yet they are still in year 1.
Twice I rewrote this chapter, but it's still so damn freaking dissatisfactory. Ugh. In all honesty I'm bad at making romance develop, but my hand is so freaking itchy and I keep writing romance after romance. Gawd. I felt so much more comfortable when I was writing the training portion. Perhaps I should consider writing a separate fanfic about Rikkai's girls team dominating the tournament…
Higher than the Wind
Training Camp (2)
Although it wasn't the best time to ruminate on the past, Tsugi's thoughts drifted back to the day they had paired up for the Art project.
—Flashback—
"Would you like to pair with me for this Art project, Yanagi-san?" Yukimura had turned and smiled – a very, very beautiful smile that put even the blossoms of spring to shame – at her, putting forward a very attractive proposal.
—End of flashback—
Subconsciously, Tsugi superimposed the current situation on the scene from that day, and she realized something. Now that she thought about it, she can't imagine how she managed to miss the apathy in those eyes back then. Yukimura's smile was perfect, but his eyes, his face and his expression were void of all emotions.
This smile he was offering to her now was very different from his smile before they were properly acquainted; it was the natural smile that only a privileged few got to see from Yukimura. Even though it wasn't the least bit perfect, rather, his natural smile was just, normal like any other typical teenage boy's, Tsugi liked this smile much better than the smile which he routinely graced the public with. It made her feel special, and treasured.
She didn't even realize how much she missed his smile until she saw it. Tsugi felt the corners of her eyes turn a little moist, she knew she was getting a bit emotional. She was so absorbed in this that she failed to notice the sneaky glances from some of the seniors who exchanged 'knowing' looks. Being the ones who were involved in the planning of the skit, they knew that the last scene was improvised. They already had the idea that Yukimura was (once again) abusing his authority solidified in their mind.
Youth, it was such a beautiful period in life no?
Kichi glanced curiously at the two, but she respected their privacy and didn't try to sniff around. Likewise for Renji, he didn't as much attempt to look over at the two. He wasn't silly enough to meddle in Yukimura's affairs. If Sanada ruled the club with an iron fist, Yukimura ruled through devious ploys and instilled fear within the minds of all his people. The former would give you a head-on onslaught, but the latter would insidiously lure you onto the road to no return. Having decided upon that, it didn't stop Renji from feeling a tad amused by the situation.
Even his omnipotent captain had a mundane side to him, so it would seem. The fact that the tepid relationship between Tsugi and him bothered Yukimura says enough about Tsugi's status in Yukimura's mind. Yukimura really treasured Tsugi as a friend. If it had been just a random person who had the audacity to make the Yukimura wait to reconcile, he or she would probably be off from Yukimura's mind the second they fell apart, even if it had somewhat been Yukimura's fault. But Tsugi, Renji mused, Tsugi was different, regardless of whether Yukimura realized it or not. Even for Sanada and Renji himself, Renji believed that if they ever had a dispute with Yukimura, Yukimura would have sat on his throne and waited patiently until they approached him first because Yukimura Seiichi didn't do compromises. Or rather, there wasn't a person whom he needed to make compromises for because people always gave in to him and fell at his feet instead. But twice, Renji noted, twice Yukimura had approached Tsugi after they sort of fell out. This was certainly a new experience for Yukimura.
Renji glanced over at the crowd; the seniors were still contemplating (or at least, pretending to while sneaking glances over here) over the pairings, so the two of them had a little bit more time to sort this out. He trailed after Kichi who he was tasked by Sanada to bring away from Tsugi's side. Training had been multiplying exponentially with time for Nio and Yagyuu, so he wasn't surprised when Sanada approached him. Based on his calculation, there was a 72.5% chance that Nio and Yagyuu's extra trainings would become so overbearing that Sanada would feel compelled to intervene. Sanada needed his players alive, not dead or zombified. Unfortunately, the training menu Yukimura had recently found delight in making up for Nio and Yagyuu had been sucking the life essence out of them. The only reason Yagyuu managed to triumph over Sanada was because Sanada had overheard the conversation between Yukimura and Yagyuu by chance. Yukimura explicitly told Yagyuu that if he didn't manage to outrank Sanada in the final examination, he and his doubles partner's training schedule was going to multiply by another nifty three times, and that, Renji concluded, could seriously kill.
"Yanagi?" Yukimura called out again as he took another step towards her.
"Ah - yes, Yukimura-sa—" She nearly addressed him as 'Yukimura-san' again until she remembered what he had said to her. "Yukimura," she nodded at him, hands unconsciously gripping her racquet tighter. She was nervous, nervous to talk to him after three months of being distanced from each other.
"It has been a while, hasn't it?" His effulgent smile illuminated the night, easily soothing her nerves at the same time. A chilly night breeze picked up and his jersey which was hanging off his shoulders billowed in the wind. Tsugi thought it looked just like a king's cloak as he sat in his court; a regal aura emanated from him, easily differentiating him from the average crowd.
Only Yukimura could make the mud-yellow of Rikkai's jersey look like high-end aureolin. Not even Sanada, the 'Emperor', could pull off the same look.
"Yeah," Tsugi acknowledged in a soft voice, "it had really been a while."
"You haven't answered my question, Yanagi," Yukimura reminded her, an amused tinge to his voice.
"Question?" Tsugi looked bemused for a moment before a look of realization surfaced in her eyes, "oh, of course. I'd love to, Yukimura."
Neither of them mentioned anything about the past three months, but as they conversed, the unpleasant memory was smashed into tiny pieces which quickly sublimed into nothingness. It was as though they had never been distanced in the three months at all, there was no time gap, no hard feelings.
This was odd, Yukimura mused. He had expected this reconciliation which was uncalled for to be difficult, awkward even, but everything just fell into place naturally like nothing had ever been wrong. Not that he was complaining, because it was just like the feeling Tsugi gave to people, the mild and refreshing feel which he hadn't witnessed on any other girl (but then again, he hadn't interacted with any other girl enough to have a benchmark for comparison), or boy for all it matter. The male and female species were intrinsically different; the friendship he had forged with Tsugi showed him a different kind of life experience which he did enjoy.
"We should be getting back into the court," Yukimura glanced over his shoulders, Wakanari was beginning to frown and Hanashitari's eyes were furtively darting towards this side. Well, not secretive enough to escape his hawk-like eyes.
"We should," Tsugi agreed upon noticing that they were the only ones outside the borders of the court.
2 minute and 50 seconds, that was much faster than his anticipation, Renji noted surreptitiously as he watched the two of them return into the court. It's quite difficult to imagine that the two of them had been in a cold war for the past three months if one just looked at them now. They looked so normal. The seniors quickly got into their pairs when Yukimura and Tsugi walked back into the court. They were stealthy (or so they thought) about it, since peeping at their juniors was nothing glamorous.
Upon seeing that all the pairs have formed, Hanashitari cleared his throat and readied himself to make the next announcement.
"Now that you're done pairing up, who'd like to challenge the night walk first?" Hanashitari draped a lanky arm around his partner Wakanari's neck and asked the eight pairs standing before him.
"Let go, Hanashitari," Wakanari snapped and glared at Hanashitari icily. Wakanari was a very touchy person. Hanashitari pouted but he obeyed. He didn't have the guts to incur the wrath of his ex-vice-captain who was famed as the then Demon of the boys tennis club.
"Shall we go first, Yanagi?" Yukimura looked over at Tsugi. Even though it was grammatically phrased as a question, Tsugi had the feeling that it was really a statement. Perhaps she was gradually becoming biased towards Yukimura, because she didn't feel like his current tone, so similar to the 'Child of God' persona he displayed that day during Art class, was condescending anymore. After getting a more in depth picture of Yukimura, Tsugi felt like she could get accustomed to this side of him.
"I'm up for it," Tsugi flexed the strings of her racquet as well and nodded at Yukimura. In matching, confident strides, the two of them walked up to the front before any other pair responded.
"And sooooo the first challenger appears! A round of applause to the Yukimura-Yanagi pair!" Hanashitari's dramatic performance humored a few people who chuckled softly.
"Before you embark on the spookiest journey in your life, I have to tell you all something. Each pair will be timed, and the pair with the worst timing will have to do a forfeit which will be decided by the best team. I suggest that you do not run in the forest, because this is not an easy trial. Wouldn't want you kids falling down and breaking a bone or two, y' know?" Hanashitari continued with his exaggerated actions, making a face at Yukimura and Tsugi when he mentioned the word 'spookiest'. Much to his disappointment, both first years looked unimpressed.
"Ready? Set, go!"
Yukimura and Tsugi exchanged a look when Hanashitari was talking. They nodded at each other, and sped off as soon as Hanashitari said 'go'. Hanashitari shook his head at the two who didn't take his advice.
"Well, maybe they will show us something surprising…" Hanashitari grinned goofily, an uncharacteristic sly glint in his eyes. He was expecting a lot from Yukimura and his right-hand men. There was a strong reason to believe that Rikkai's daring ambition of three consecutive National wins could be fulfilled with Yukimura, Sanada and Yanagi around.
"What do you think they have in store for us, Yukimura?" Tsugi asked as they ran with their steps completely in sync.
"It has already begun," In a powerful motion, Yukimura swung his racquet towards his left side. A long 'thud' was heard as a bolt of neon green flashed through the trees.
"Eh? Interesting. This seems like it's going to be an exciting night," Tsugi grinned when she caught sight of the object returned. It was a tennis ball. Almost as if in acknowledgement of her words, a flurry of balls appeared. Tsugi returned 3 balls, while Yukimura returned 5.
"This pair isn't so bad! It seems like we can step up the challenge a little, Minori," Yumi whistled as she did a backhand flip with her racquet, balancing it perfectly on her left hand's ring finger. Her right hand was completely stretched out and holding one ball in each gap between her fingers.
"12 balls," Minori stated. Without further ado, she smashed three balls towards Yukimura and Tsugi and bullet-served the next three.
"You got it!" Yumi's smile fell from her face when she finally got serious. After taking a deep breath, she served four balls in a go and two more consecutively without breaking her rhythm.
"Your last ball was angled wrongly. Your racquet should have been lowered by 2 degrees," Minori eyed her partner critically.
"Yes, yes, I'll watch out in future, baa-chan," Yumi responded with a dismissive chortle, "the randomness is what makes it fun though, isn't it?"
On the other hand, Tsugi struggled to catch all the balls in her way. Yukimura looked unfazed, but he had certainly upped his attention. In smooth motions, Yukimura returned 7 balls plus 1 which Tsugi missed.
"As expected of the 'Child of God'," Yumi whistled. "Yanagi is pretty good as well." For a 13 year-old non-prodigy, she had certainly played above and beyond her ability. Perhaps the presence of Yukimura had that kind of effect. That boy, as they have been told by Hanashitari and Wakanari, always seems to be able to motivate the people around him to play to their very best, be it consciously or unconsciously.
"I'm sorry, Yukimura. It would have been better if you had paired up with a senpai," Tsugi said sincerely after the second round of sudden attack. She counted 12 balls but she only returned 4. That would mean that Yukimura returned twice the amount of balls she did.
"Don't let your guard down, Yanagi," Yukimura plagiarized the tagline of a certain auburn-haired tennis player from Seigaku instead of responding to that. He saw a glimpse of something in the bush. "Remember the theme of this walk."
The theme of the walk, he says? Tsugi followed his line of vision and she saw the bush rustle. She glanced at Yukimura whose eyes were fixated on the very spot. It would seem that he had been aware that something was there for a while.
"Hmm." Tsugi rubbed her chin as she took a ball out from her pocket. Three, two, one… She did a mental countdown in her mind.
Whoosh.
At some unspoken cue, she did a low serve which sent the ball diving towards the bush. The yellowish-green furry ball sliced through the air and with a loud 'thud', it made contact with whatever was hidden in the bush.
"Ow!" The person hidden in the bush let out a cry of pain. A short lean boy dressed up as a vampire crawled out from the bush, clutching the left side of his forehead.
"It has been a while, Leo-senpai," Yukimura had an amused expression on his face as he greeted the boy politely.
"To hell with 'been a while'! If not for this camp I never want to see your damned face again!" The boy with a small build crassly snapped at Yukimura, lifting his face to glare at Yukimura. It was an amusing sight. Because of Leo's tender facial features, he seemed more like a sulking child than a senior of Yukimura. It was obvious that this was another senior whom had been trounced by Yukimura in the past.
"They discovered Leo before he had the chance to make a move on them," Minori frowned disapprovingly. She had an urge to plagiarize the tagline of that first year vice-captain from the boys team. Tarundoru.
"Minori, he is Yukimura Seiichi," Yumi sighed and reminded her partner, saying his name as if it explained everything.
"Umm… I'm sorry to interrupt but we are still being timed," Tsugi didn't want to disrupt the one-sided glaring contest, but they had a trial to complete.
"I'll see you around, Leo-senpai," Yukimura beamed gaily at Leo before he picked up his pace again, Tsugi closely followed by his side.
Leo took a few deep breaths to chill himself down. Yukimura Seiichi. That damned son of a – ugh, he couldn't even scold him because of his nickname!
In the course of the trial, Yukimura and Tsugi fended off several attacks from third year seniors whom were asked by the high school seniors to make guest appearance during this part of the training program. Due to Yukimura's competence and Tsugi's support, they passed the night walk with flying colors and emerged at the end of track with a timing of 12 minutes and 47 seconds. Considering that the trial was projected to last about 15-20 minutes, they certainly overachieved.
But the final results left everyone's mouth agape, because Yukimura and Tsugi weren't placed first. The winner was the Yagyuu-Matsuhitsu pair, a seemingly hopeless combination of two people who were equally petrified of supernatural creatures. They made it back to the court with an exemplary timing of 7 minutes and 42 seconds, beating the Yukimura-Yanagi pair by a mile. But considering that they were both speed-style players, they most likely sprinted all the way back and avoided coming into contact with any of the seniors at all.
Yukimura smiled affirmatively at Yagyuu, a smile which left Yagyuu's blood vessels constricted and feeling very uneasy; it seems like all the training had been paying off. But on the other hand… Yukimura's facial expression darkened a little when he looked over at the losing pair, the Nio-Atsunaya pair. Nio had busied himself with pulling pranks on the seniors who were acting as supernatural creatures. Their result was a preposterous timing of 28 minutes and 11 seconds which got Himeko going hysterical. How could she lose to Rei by more than a few folds!? This was all Nio's fault! She glared venomously at him. Well, to apply an overused idiom, if looks could kill, Nio would be dead a thousand times over.
"It would seem that you're at my mercy, Nio-kun," Yagyuu did his signature move of pushing up his frameless spectacles which rested a little too low on the bridge of his nose for his liking, and spoke to his partner in mock amusement. This was the first time the 'Gentleman' had ever so explicitly outdone the 'Trickster' in public.
Nio tch'd and defiantly folded his arms across his chest.
"Do what you want, Yagyuu-kun. I'm not resisting it," He cooed; his suggestive words and supposedly seductive wink at Yagyuu generated some "woooh" from the onlookers.
"You don't expect me to go easy on you just because you attempted to swindle the public into believing that we have something going on between us, do you? If anything, that's only going to make your forfeit worse," Yagyuu didn't buy his game one bit.
"One could try though, puri," Nio laughed, not feeling the least bit chagrined by his loss.
The other doubles pair was also engaged in a heated argument.
"Well well well, what do we have here?" Rei smirked as she folded her arms and appraised Himeko from head to feet, "a loser, I see?"
"Shut your trap, Rei! We all know that the only reason you won is because you practically dashed through the night walk. I don't want to be dissed by a person who's scared of figments of her own imagination. Boohoo," Himeko snickered and made a face at Rei at the last part.
"Why you little—" Rei nearly lost her cool but she sucked in a deep breath and returned a malicious smile to Himeko, "by hook or by crook, I've won and you've lost. That's an indisputable fact," she declared.
Yumi and Hanashitari rubbed their foreheads simultaneously. If this was how the doubles pairs were behaving towards each other, they ought to be worried about the Regional Tournament first. Yamabuki specialized in doubles.
"Whatever it is, take your dispute back to your dormitories. Yagyuu and Matsuhitsu, quickly decide on the forfeit game so that the rest of us can turn in. You do recall that there is still practice tomorrow, don't you?" Minori glanced indifferently at them, her cold grey orbs literally sucked the warmth out from all whom she laid eyes on. The legend had been true; a look from Ice Queen Minori was really chillier than the winter wind.
"Yes, Haruno-senpai," Rei quickly bowed to Minori. "Yagyuu-san, what would you like to make them do?"
"I have a bit of cleanliness complex and I like my room to be kept spotless. Unfortunately, I have been far too occupied recently to take the job upon myself." Yagyuu smiled enigmatically as his glasses gleamed with a devious glint. "What do you think, Matsuhitsu-san?" He turned to face Rei.
"I agree!" Rei's response was almost spontaneous. Having the daughter of the Atsunaya family which was filthy rich cleaning for her would be beyond satisfactory. It would totally be her wildest fantasy come true.
Himeko's expression was warped by sheer morbid horror as she stared at Rei. Oh no she didn't just—
"Then it's decided. Nio and Atsunaya, you will be in charge of cleaning Yagyuu and Matsuhitsu's rooms from now on. While you're at that, you can also help out in the seniors' rooms."
Nio twitched.
That Haruno Minori just blatantly abused her authority, didn't she?
Himeko was smarter than to go against Queen Minori. She still had five days to go at this camp, the repercussions of an obviously fruitless attempt to resist Queen Minori outweighed the inexistent benefits.
With a consensus achieved (coerced), Nio and Himeko had to take charge of cleaning duties for not just one room, but five and a half (inclusive of their own) rooms every single day till the end of the camp.
Yukimura watched the entire ordeal with amusement, not the least bit empathetic towards his own teammate. Knowing Nio, he wouldn't swallow it up. Oh no, Nio would definitely strike back insidiously, if he had anyone to worry about, it was Yagyuu and his roommate.
"No questions? You have 10 seconds to evacuate the court then!" Hanashitari waved them off. Members of both teams took off the second Hanashitari's sentence finished.
"Hmm, they have better be prepared for tomorrow," Yumi snickered, "don't you just love this camp, Minori? All the participants this year are so adorable."
"I beg to differ, Yumi. Your definition of 'adorable' is twisted," Minori flatly refuted Yumi.
Yumi pouted, but Minori ignored her.
"We should be getting back to our rooms. Tomorrow's training will be intense," Wakanari remarked coolly.
The other three seniors nodded in agreement, and together, they made their way back to the hostel.
~x~
The theme of the training on the third day was to prepare the players for the most adverse circumstances.
"In today's training, you can put away your racquets because you won't be needing them," Yumi glanced at the row of girls before her and declared. Minori took their tennis bags from them and put them down in a corner of the court, "because, all of you will be using this! Ta—da—!" Yumi produced a racquet with only two strings, one vertical and one horizontal, which intersected at the supposed 'sweet spot'. She waved the sample racquet around for everyone to see.
The racquets were passed out and everyone received an identical racquet.
"There will be 3 stations in today's training. You will begin easy on the first station; all you have to do is to hit the balls from the tennis machine back into either of the baskets placed at the two corners on the baseline. Finish up 10 in a row and you're set to go. This is merely to get you warmed up to your racquet. In the second and third station, well, you'll see! If you finish early you'll get to have the rest of the day free, so work hard everyone!"
There were only three stations to be completed for the day? The girls team felt like they were in some sort of dream and walking on cloud nine.
While they were trapped in a trance, Minori and Yumi went off to their designated stations.
"Naive," Minori sneered; they must be stupid if they think that they were going to be let off the hook so easily.
"Indeed," Yumi conceded, "aren't they so cute?"
"More like foolish," Minori corrected.
"I think we can go for breakfast and perhaps hang around the billiards room, they wouldn't be appearing at your station for at least two hours, I'd expect," Yumi stuck out two fingers.
"I'd say that three hours is such an underestimation," Minori countered as the two of them left.
True to their words, the girls team didn't manage to make it beyond the first station until it was almost time for lunch. It was really difficult controlling the ball because should they even miss the sweet spot by 1mm, the ball would fly off with an extra spin that would distort the intended path. It was truly a test of their accuracy and precision. Tsugi was the third to pass the test, right after Rikkai Dai's resident female genius Heibi and Cho the control master. Like Cho, Tsugi too was conditioned to control her moves to achieve the most using the least because she lacked the strength and stamina to continuously perform powerful stunts. By the time the last member – Kichi, who had terrible control due to her immense power which was both her strength and weakness, got past, it was time for lunch.
At the second station, the girls were given blindfolds.
"The challenge is upped a little now. You have to judge based on your hearing and strike the ball into one of the baskets placed in the court. I don't care if it's by fluke or concrete skills, you just have to get 10 balls into any of the baskets and you're done. The score is cumulative which means you don't have to hit 10 balls in consecution," Minori explained.
"Yes, Haruno-senpai," The girls chorused.
"We will go by the name list then. Hana, you try first. 20 balls per try," Minori called out.
Hana obliged.
It wasn't an easy training, because not everyone had great hearing, and those who do, may not possess the same uncanny accuracy which Heibi and Cho displayed. These two were the aces of the girls team. Once again, Heibi and Cho quickly cleared the module, while Tsugi struggled because of her handicap. It was a new experience to play tennis without her sight for her, and it has proven to be very challenging for one so dependent on her sight. After 5 rounds, she only managed to get 3 balls into the baskets, even worse than Kichi who got by through pure luck. It was clear that Tsugi neither had the skills nor luck for this game today, for when the only remaining member besides her– Himeko who clearly made it through flukes cleared the stage, Tsugi was only at her 6th miserable ball. She took a deep breath, and concentrated on her racquet.
Nobody could see Tsugi's eyes which were hidden behind the blindfold, but everyone could see her dedication to her sport emanating from her. Her will to accomplish was enheartening and even Heibi, who'd usually give anyone who dared to make her wait a dressing-down stood quietly aside, observing Tsugi in her game.
Clang! Another ball fell into the basket. She was down to her last three balls. Just a little more, she told herself, she could feel the invisible barrier already, it could shatter if she just tapped it at the right place, all she needed was the right opportunity to click.
Clang! Two more balls.
Clang! The last ball remained. As the digit of the countdown got smaller, Tsugi could feel the spark of light in her mind getting brighter and brighter until it illuminated the whole world before her.
It was complete. She could see through the blindfold, everything was crystal-clear.
Thwack! Her stance was firm as she swung her racquet. The ball made contact with the 'sweet spot' just at the right angle, and it was sent sailing towards a basket which nobody had reached – the basket placed right on the middle of the baseline.
Clang! The sound produced by the final ball falling into the empty basket reverberated through the court, reaching out to everyone's ears. At her victory, Hana scrutinized Tsugi closely. Somehow, she could understand why this girl was able to break down the walls the 'Child of God' had built around himself. That steadfast will to push and achieve was indeed charming, wasn't it? A daring idea sprouted in Hana's mind, one which should have been an absurd idea to even ponder on. But that bold thought was solidifying in her mind. At the moment, it was still a premature plan, but who knew if it will grow to become something grandiose?
The last station wasn't so challenging for Tsugi, because it took away her hearing. At this station, they were handed earplugs. Heibi and Cho were challenged, because they played by their ears. Hana, like Tsugi, relied heavily on her eyesight so she was the first to pass. However, Heibi didn't earn the title of 'genius' through nothing, and she soon surmounted the challenge. Cho caught on as well, and Tsugi finished immediately after Cho.
Yumi watched them closely, her mind deep in thoughts.
Because they only managed to complete the last station at 7.30pm, they didn't manage to earn themselves any free time. After dinner, they were sent off to bed.
~x~
"What do you think about the team, Minori-chan?" Yumi sat on Minori's bed and asked.
"I expect greatness out of them," Minori replied after a short pause.
"That's the exact thought on my mind! They will definitely defeat Shitenhouji. I can't imagine Heibi or that girl Cho losing, and well, while Himeko and Rei are constantly arguing, they are not shabby at all. Not to mention there's Hana, her serve-and-volley style would give her opponent a run for her money," Yumi beamed brightly and chortled.
"What do you think about that first year, the one called Yanagi Asaitsugi?" Minori suddenly asked.
"Hmm? So you've noticed too?" Yumi propped her head up with her fists and ruminated on it, "she's nothing like Heibi, but you got to admit that she has the drive and motivation to excel, and I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I think that Yukimura Seiichi is rubbing off on her. She seems to have that inspirational feel about her; it's subtle, but it's there."
"She has potential," Minori stated objectively.
"What did she do to gain the approval of our Queen Minori?" Yumi grinned. It was a rare occasion that the Queen would openly praise a person.
Minori however, ignored her and pulled her blankets over her head.
"I'm tired, go back to your own room, Yumi."
No matter how Yumi tried to make Minori continue to talk to her, her green-haired counterpart refused to answer to her.
Yumi could only stand up and leave the room feeling more and more mystified. Just how did that Yanagi Asaitsugi manage to pique the interest of the Queen?
~x~
On the fourth night, the high school seniors did something crazy. By crazy, it truly qualified as insane, demented to the point of — psychotic. Once again, both the boys team and girls team were gathered on the court at night. This time, they were each handed a backpack and were taken into the middle of the forests.
"Tonight's challenge is adaptability and resourcefulness," Hanashitari flashed his pearly-whites and grinned, "it's just like what you're thinking now. Tonight, none of you are going back to the hostel. You're all staying out in the forests! Have no fear because this is a man-made jungle, the animals here are all very tame. They won't attack you unless you provoke them first. Anyway it's already winter, most of the animals are in hibernation. Just don't go around poking in tree-holes ok? You might stir up a nest of snakes."
… They have got to be joking.