A new character, which means we're finally delving into a deeper sense of the story and more characters from the show! :D Yay!
Clocked002: Thanks so much for your review! It made me do a little happy dance, LOL. I'm glad you like Echizen Kamiko, and I hope you can accept these next few characters that will support the main plot!
"Oi~! Shishido! Gakuto! Jirou! Check it out!" A young Japanese girl with deep, dark brown hair and unusual blue eyes waved happily from the cafeteria, and held up a plate of sweets, "There's even dessert!"
"Put that down, Hitomi-chan!" Shishido Ryo scolded.
Ito Hitomi stuck her tongue out, and the four first years heard commotion in other areas. All the places they checked out were brand new to the school. newly installed, and state of the art. Even the theatre, Hitomi's favorite place, was brand new and ready to be used for cases such as Broadway (or the Japanese equivalent). Unfortunately, Hitomi's day ended in the middle of class when she got a call from one of her high school friends, claiming that they'd found a Hyotei kid walking around the streets.
"Oi! Hitomi! One of your friends?" Sai, her high school friend, called out.
Hitomi noted the blue haired boy immediately, and shook her head, "Ie, not one of my friends. You're from Hyotei?"
"Name's Oshitari Yuushi." He muttered, he obviously did not like the fact that he was being escorted to school by a girl, and Hitomi rolled her eyes.
"Hitomi's my name, don't ask about my family name." She added quickly when seeing Oshitari's eyes tense in curiosity, "So you play tennis?"
She motioned to the tennis bag right away, and Oshitari nodded.
"I played a bit in the Kansai region."
"Kansai... Oh! You're Oshitari Yuushi! I should have known!" Hitomi exclaimed, "Hm... well, I guess it makes sense that our tennis club would have another guy who's going to be popular."
His glance at her as they walked into the gates asked for an explanation, and Hitomi gave one rather quickly.
"A kid in our class, Atobe Keigo, is joining the tennis club too. He transformed the school overnight with his money from Atobe Directorate. My friends told me he was joining the club, so I looked him up. He's played a lot in Europe."
"You research fairly well." He said.
Hitomi nodded, "Well, I'm gonna go check up on them, don't get lost again, kay, Oshitari-kun?"
He nodded, and watched as Hitomi walked to the tennis courts, taking his cellphone out so he could talk to his cousin on the phone.
The thing is, when Hitomi got to the tennis courts, she found no one. That is, until they walked out onto the courts.
"Oi, oi! I'm earlier than you are and it's your practice!" Hitomi yelled to Shishido, Gakuto Mukahi, and Jiro Akutugawa. Though, she seemed to scold the senpai also, "Is it a good idea to do that when you're supposed to be aiming for the Nationals?"
"Geesh, we can't have two kids scolding us." A third year muttered, "Especially when this one is a girl."
"Two...?" Hitomi had seen Atobe Keigo walking onto the courts, racket in hand, a cocky smile on his face, "Oh... Well, that just sucks for you, doesn't it?"
"Hitomi! Watch your mouth! They're your senpai too!" Shishido scolded.
Hitomi stuck her tongue out, "Gomen, gomen, but it's so much fun to watch people squirm when no one else can tell you you're wrong."
"We tell you you're wrong all the time..." Gakuto muttered.
Jirou snickered as Hitomi stuck her tongue again, narrowing her eyes for a glaring effect. She leaned against the rail, and spoke to the team as the first of the regulars stepped onto the court.
"Is that Atobe kid going up against a regular?" Hitomi asked.
Gakuto nodded, "Yeah, he was making a fuss in the clubhouse so the captain said that if he won against all the regulars he could do what he wants, but if he lost even one match, he'd get kicked out of the club."
"Heh?! Really? That's c-... Actually, what did he say he wanted to do?"
"He was talking about how age is just a number and we should have our ranks based on skill."
"That's not too bad though, if you think about it." Hitomi said, pressing a finger to her lip in thought, "Actually, that's been done before plenty of times! It's a cliché, actually."
"Who are you calling cliché?" The young Atobe seemed to pout, but it was replaced with a smirk once his 'senpai' lost 6 straight matches. It'd only been 10 minutes.
That's when Hitomi got snarky, "Oh, I'm sorry, is there another Atobe heir I should know about? A better looking one, maybe?"
She covered her mouth once she'd spoken the words, yet heard several snickers throughout the crowd.
"Uh... Gomen! That was rude of me."
It seemed as if the Atobe heir hadn't heard the girl, as he'd moved onto the next regulars, each and every one was beaten, and it just made Shishido angrier.
"I still don't want you to be my captain!" Shishido yelled stubbornly.
"A~hn? Is that so?"
"Yeah!"
Gakuto had to help his friend, and of course, sided with Shishido, "I'm not satisfied either."
"Then step onto the courts, but, it's waste of time if I play both of you separately."
"Two-on-one?" Everyone whispered.
Hitomi scoffed, took a page from her script, and threw a ball of paper at Shishido's head.
"Itai! What the hell... HITOMI!"
"Whatever!" Hitomi rolled her eyes, "I'm saving face for you! You're gonna lose this one!"
"How do you know?" Gakuto asked, the doubt from her made him want to play even more.
"I call it how I see it," She said, "And I see that you're gonna lose even if it's two against one."
"We're playing anyway!"
"Fine..." Hitomi sat down next to Oshitari, and rolled her eyes.
"I think you should let them play." He said.
He didn't regret it half an hour later when the two first years lost 6-3. Hitomi sat up straighter then.
"Hey," She said, "Why don't you play?"
Oshitari looked onto the court, "It does seem interesting..."
"Then go!" She pushed Oshitari onto the court, and found herself helping Gakuto up.
"No outsiders-"
"I know the rules." Hitomi interrupted, "But, like I said, I'm saving face for you. At least this guy won't lose too bad."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Oshitari muttered as he loosened his tie, by that time, multitudes of students had gathered round (most being girls), and it was hard to hear a lot of things being said.
Hitomi smiled anyway, "Hey, I can't deny a good player when I see one, no matter how absurdly obtuse he can be at proper manners."
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/plot/etc., of the PoT manga/anime.