AD: I know I don't update my Facebook page almost as little as I update my stories, but I do appreciate you folks checking it out! Hihi. It's called Nispedana, that humble fangirl
DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own Slam Dunkand Kawamura Takashi from Prince of Tennis.
...
CHAPTER 16: Expansion
Naito Pastry Shop was a small store, with a handful of tables and a customer room size no bigger than the regular convenience stores. Still, it was almost adorable—something unexpected from a Naito's household—with its pastel colored walls, patterned vinyl tiles, and its simple but beautiful ornaments, all complemented by classical music that usually lulled Hanamichi to sleep.
There was a mere total of five tables in that shop, three of which can fit only 2 people—one of which was occupied by Hanamichi and Prince's owner. The Prince had said he would treat her cake, and the rest of her gang followed suit. Though to be fair, they really were heading to the place. So they weren't stalking. Nope.
"What do you thinking of pretty boy?" Nozomi mumbled to the person beside him. Noma, in response, squinted his eyes as he looked at the adjacent table.
"He's… soft."
"Wow."
Ohkusu cackled. "You really need to expand your vocabulary, man."
"But he is!"
By this time, the queue to the counter was rather long. Naito said they usually did have people in the shop, but seeing a lot of people in it was almost a surefire way to get passersbys to at least be curious to what they offered. For this, he said he'd forgive all the noise. For now.
"I bet if Kawamura was here, you wouldn't mind the noise." Nozomi mumbled, earning himself cackles from his friends, though they were all promptly shut up by Naito's very annoyed glare.
Still, they were friends with the Hanamichi Sakuragi. This dude's glare was kitten glare compared to hers. "Did we annoy you?"
"Shall we call Kawamura?"
"He's Great-oh at comforting people."
The bald man's eyes twitched, though fortunately for them costumers called on to him, thus allowing them to keep their lives just a bit longer.
In the middle of all this was the Prince's companion—bodyguard?—who was forced to sit with said rowdy group of friends. The man's rather somber disposition darkened even more. He watched as the attention shifted from Naito to his teammate and the fiery redhead that seemed awfully familiar to him.
Where had he seen her before? He asked himself, staring at her very, very, red head.
It was then he remembered he saw her at one of Shohoku's games, a game even the captain of Kainan took great interest in. He narrowed his eyes at the other table, while his seatmates did the same but with much less analysis and a lot of idiocy.
"Look at that cat. It seemed so behave in that dude's arms."
"Sakuragi Hanamichi is too much like a dog for it to like."
"A lot of bark and bites a lot."
"Anger her and you'll turn into a SACK of RAGS. Get it?" The fat one said with a shit-eating grin, obviously proud of himself for coming up with the lame joke. "Sack of Rags? Sakuragi?"
"HAHAHHAHAHA"
"Hahahhhahhaha!"
They turned to Hanagata. "Why aren't you laughing."
"Since it is not funny."
Silence
The (formerly) most reasonable-looking one blinked, puzzled. "It isn't?"
One of them (the blonde) nodded, similarly perplexed. "Pretty sure it was." And the blonde looked around, meeting his friends' eyes, then all of them simultaneously turned their heads to Hanagata's direction. He almost shivered.
Hanagata would realize a moment later that they just made it their night's mission to make him laugh.
…
Meanwhile, Hanamichi stared at her companion with blunt fascination. The cat… the cat was not the demon lion that she knew it was! What the hell—
"Thank you so much for taking care of Prince." He paused. "My name is Fujima Kenji, by the way." He said, correcting her as she had been calling him Prince the whole time.
She slightly looked down in discomfiture and her hand moved on its own to her head, as if scratching the embarrassment away. "It was kind of my fault we had no idea whose it was." She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry." "Ah, I'm Sakuragi Hanamichi. Nice to meet you."
The cat meowed, as if to introduce itself as well, and they stared at it. Fujima smiled fondly, seeing it as saying something adorable, while Sakuragi frowned seeing it as the feline monster mocking her. The damned cat.
"He likes you very much."
She laughed at this. "Can't you see?" Hanamichi asked him, pointing at the cat. She slowly placed her hand near the cat, and the cat promptly and rather enthusiastically swatted it away. "We hate each others' guts."
This made Fujima raise a brow, and his eyes remained on her. "You sure risked heavy injury for something you hate."
"Why wouldn't I?" she asked in return, genuinely puzzled. He stared at her, and she stared back. There was a moment of silence then, before Fuji broke it with a smile, fingers tickling his cat's head.
"Sakuragi-san…," He paused, just before raising his head to meet her eyes. "Prince always ignores the people he hates."
…
Hanamichi Sakuragi was relatively quiet as they ate their desserts. She was eating red velvet while he chewed on his blueberry cheesecake. The cat took most of the berries. Blueberries, mostly. Apparently it was good for them, too.
They ate in relative silence and ignoring the noise from the other table (by this time Nozomi was physically forcing Hanagata to smile), and she couldn't help but steal glances at her companion. He was almost exactly her height, though her eyes were closer to her forehead while he had a daintier face so she always looked down at him standing up. He had angular face that emphasized the delicate features of his face, flawless porcelain skin, and about a dozen other feminine features that reminded her of Haruko-chan.
"Is there something in my face?" He asked, smiling gently, as he tilted his head up. She blushed in embarrassment, back straight in alertness.
"Nothing." She said almost immediately. "You're very handsome."
He blinked at this, surprised at her bluntness, before letting out a faint smile of amusement. "You are quite pretty yourself, Hanamichi-san."
She blushed furiously at this—not quite used to that type of compliment—and swatted the air as if the awkwardness would fly away. He chuckled at this, from the bottom of his gut, and he internally mused that it was pretty rare. She then cleared her throat and looked at the ceiling, probably looking for a different topic to talk about.
"So… you like basketball?"
"You could tell?" Fujima asked, surprised. It was not very often people could tell he was a basketball player with a mere glance. After all, he was relatively short, and he was told he looked very fragile—like a pale but expensive porcelain vase.
She extended her arms and pointed at certain muscles on his upper body—his deltoids, triceps, and forearm muscles—and looked at him. "They're all quite prominent, I could see through your shirt." She said so straight-forwardly he wondered if she was the same girl blushing so profusely in embarrassment.
Frankly, it took him an uncharacteristic number of seconds to mutter a response. "You know a lot about the sport. Do you play, too?"
She paused at this and for a moment he saw her purse her lips. "Not really," she said, forcing a nonchalant shrug. "I just know a few things."
"Hmn…"
It seemed that Hanamichi Sakuragi got even more interesting.
…
RUKAWA RESIDENCE
Meanwhile, a few miles away, Akagi Haruko found herself marveling at her crush's house. "Wow," Matsui uttered in amazement, Fuji nodding in agreement right behind her. Haruko managed to convince them to come with her, even if only outside the gate. "I didn't know Rukawa's loaded."
Matsui cleared her throat, right as she gave Haruko a reassuring pat on the back. "Well, good luck then~"
"EH?"
"Bye, Haruko!"
She realized what was happening when they were already ten meters away. "Wha—" She squeaked, holding out her arms as if she could reach her friends. "Y-You two!"
And there she was, standing alone in front of a very intimidating gate. She gulped. She's his friend, she told herself, no need to be afraid, Haruko!
She reluctantly pressed the doorbell and a woman about fifty emerged. Their eyes met and the older woman seemed surprised, as if she was expecting someone else. Perhaps Rukawa-kun isn't at home, yet?
"My, what a pretty little thing you are." The woman said so naturally and Haruko blushed twenty shades. She shook her head. "My name is Akagi Haruko. I'm Rukawa-kun's schoolmate—friend—" she raised the item in question. "He left this in the gym earlier and since it's personalized, I thought that it may be important..."
The woman blinked and stared at the towel. She had yet to see the small picture of the pig, but the size and the textile alone was enough for her to know this wasn't her watch's possession. "This isn't Kaede's..."
"E-Eh? We saw him using it, though..."
The woman tilted her head in puzzlement as she gingerly took the fabric and examined it. "He doesn't use other people's—" She stopped as she saw the embroidery. Her eyes visibly softened and immediately she went into her own little world. And then a moment later, to Haruko's surprise, the other giggled upon what seemed like a realization. "Oh. This must be hers, then."
Hers? She almost uttered aloud, but she bit her tongue. "...is it safe to say I can leave it here, then?"
"Oh, yes." She smiled. "Oh! My name is Maya. Would you like to come in and have some tea? Kaede'll probably be home shortly."
She would've blushed, but the word 'her' still echoed in her ears. "I-I-I-please don't bother." She bowed. "Thank you, Maya-san."
"Thank you, Akagi-san."
"It's Haruko, please. Akagi-san is my brother." She said shyly, but lacking the warmth she was used to giving off. She walked away, with her two friends (who have been hiding in a corner nearby) following her worriedly.
Haruko will be unable to sleep tonight.
...
SHOHOKU HIGH
The Next Morning
"Geez, Haruko. Are you that disappointed you didn't see Rukawa in his house?"
"Mou—I told you that's not it!"
"Then what is it?" Matsui whispered vehemently. "You know I can assume all sorts of things."
Fuji looked at her two friends. Neither of them wanted to force Haruko to talk, but the large eyebags and the lack of her usual luster really concerned them. Before they could push further, however, they heard squeals a few meters ahead in the corridor.
It was, unsurprisingly, the three leaders of the Rukawa fan club. "Congratulations on your wins, Rukawa!" the middle one said and the other two squealed in agreement. "Although it is expected of course!"
Haruko sighed, looked at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the world, and walked past the surrounded-Rukawa. Soon, they arrived at the corridor outside their classroom, well outside of Rukawa and her fans' earshot.
"I...I think Rukawa-kun's interested in someone already."
"You mean something, right?" Fujii corrected. "i.e. basketball?"
"Or sleep." Matsui supplied.
"No..."
There was silence for a while but Matsui, ever the optimist, patted Haruko's head. "Well, at least you know he's straight."
"Fuji-chan!"
"I mean he had a pink bike and a towel with a pink pig?" Fujii said carelessly, not noticing the figure approaching behind her. "You must have had doubts at some point."
"Oi."
They flinched. But they realized Rukawa's only talking to Haruko, who almost lost her footing. "R-Rukawa-kun!"
He raised the towel. "Thanks."
And he walked away.
Haruko felt like she was floating, momentarily forgetting her previous woes. "Whoa," Matsui said and Fuji gulped. It seemed like she still couldn't give up, after all.
...
Lunch time came in as usual, but for some reason, Rukawa thought, his usually quiet rooftop was now filled with idiots.
"Haruko-chan!" The biggest Idiot shouted. "This bento is wonderful!"
"Is that teriyaki?" Her fat friend said, looking at her box. "LET ME TASTE IT!" His face met the Idiot's feet instead.
"No way." She said holding it out to the opposite direction, her large palm on her friend's face.
"Dwarnit Hanamwichi!"
The blonde took something though while she was distracted with the fat guy. Mito scooted away in advance, just as she headbutted the blonde and ate her food from his chopsticks. The fat guy proceeded in eating whatever the half-conscious blonde had left.
Captain's sister and her friends laughed at the boys' antics, while Rukawa just sighed and ate his foods and vowed to find a new place to sleep, because he told himself he disliked this rowdiness.
Still..., the bell telling lunch rang much more quickly than usual.
...
The class after lunch started a bit late because of the teacher's tardiness and most of them prayed he didn't show up at all. They had a show to watch right then and there, after all.
The class watched as Sakuragi and Rukawa bantered (if one called her soliloquies that) about something no one even remembered anymore. Regardless, everyone was already used to it and many ended up enjoying the show. It was funny to watch the redhead make a fool of herself, and to see the human popsicle actually react even with just the slightest twitch of the eyebrow.
Soon enough, the fanclub members in his class intervened, creating a wall between them. "Oi. You act too close to Rukawa-sama!"
Another nodded. "You spread your germs!"
"...ha?" Hanamichi literally had question marks floating in her head, while Rukawa just leaned down to take a short nap. "Close with that baka-kitsune? Are you blind?"
But seeing as the baka-kitsune's already asleep she just went to her seat. The girls begrudgingly went to their respective seats as well, albeit not taking their glaring eyes off of her at all.
"Speaking of men... who do you have eyes for?" A random seatmate asked. At the question, Hanamichi spared no time to think.
"Sendoh-san, of course."
Mito laughed at this, sparing a look at Rukawa's 'slumbering' form. He had mixed feelings about this teasing, but oh well. Once one accepted the status quo, this situation was actually quite fun. Yohei grinned. "You were fawning about another guy yesterday tho." He told Hanamichi, though his eyes were in the ebony-haired basketball player instead. "She even called him 'prince'."
Hanamichi unashamedly laughed, not really getting Mito's implication. "Funny because the cat's name is Prince as well."
"Anyway, you are one sinful monkey."
"Well, because I'm so great I can afford to be." And then she cackled.
She stopped when the eraser was thrown at her face... by the professor, who nobody noticed until then. "Why doesn't anyone listen to me anymore? I've been calling you brats three times now!"
Everyone gaped at him, genuinely seeing him for the first time that day. "...HA?"
...
GYMNASIUM
After Classes
Hanamichi raised an eyebrow, meeting kitsune's eyes in defiance. "...what are you staring at?"
Rukawa threw the towel at her face in response. She gasped—"OI!"—her left hand holding the towel in place by reflex. He did not say thanks to her, however, and turned away. It was her fault anyway his own towel was gone.
He was, though, grateful that it was found. He was still a bit bitter (and more annoyed after today) that he had had to go through trouble trying to look for it—his motivation being to avoid the Idiot's smug 'you owe me' look at all cost. He would rather not owe a monkey who seemed to have eyes for multiple men at the same time.
This idiot.
"OI." Monkey yelled, following him like the predictable primate that she was. "OI. What was that for?"
"I didn't want to see your ugly face."
Hanamichi froze for a moment in aghast just before her anger switch turned on and suddenly she was on the verge of another one of her usual explosions. Rukawa recalled a certain something he passed by that morning, ignoring the imminent threat. "The court is done." Meaning she no longer had to use the one in his home anymore.
Explosion stopped with a poof and was replaced with a nod. Simple-minded idiot.
"Yeah I saw." Hanamichi said, but lacked the enthusiasm she expected to have. "It looks nice. It can probably take twice the gorilla dunks."
"Or head-butts from you." He said which made her eyes twitch. He walked on. And she followed, as she always had-continuing with her nagging as she did so. But Rukawa didn't really mind.
…
"And baka-kitsune." Hanamichi asked, pausing, as she passed the ball to the non-regulars practicing free throws. Rukawa was beside her at the time, looking his usual bored self, as it was his rotation to help out the non-regulars for a while. "Is Maya alright?"
He shrugged. "I guess. Why?"
"I told her about the court earlier this morning, since she tends to expect me lately..." She paused, a ball still on hand, eyes glazing over a little. "I just noticed…"
"Hanamichi-san!" Furo, a newcomer, called (he had been waiting for the ball for a minute). Hanamichi flinched.
"Oh. Sorry." She said and threw the ball. She threw a few more before pausing again, peripheral vision directed at Rukawa. "She's a bit thinner and paler than before, isn't she?"
The super rookie was silent in thought. Frankly, Rukawa hadn't really noticed (he rarely saw the details) but, in retrospect, it seemed that she had a point. But if she was, not only was it bad for Maya—who was closer to a mother than the woman who actually gave birth to him—but he also felt peeved (because guilt was too sappy) that this Idiot noticed and he had not.
It was almost offensive.
So… the first thing he did when he got home was to ask her precisely that: "Are you alright?" He asked, and added quite bluntly. "You look bad."
The woman looked up at him. "You should never tell a woman she looks bad, Kaede."
He only stared.
She chuckled, but weakly. "I am fine, child. Just a little headache. Goodness—I can't be sick. You probably won't eat anymore."
"I got someone to make bentos for me." He said, wanting to ease her worries. Unfortunately, she brightened a bit too much.
"Hanamichi-chan?"
He flinched a little. "...no."
Rukawa's eye twitched as Maya's shoulder sagged in disappointment. "Bummer. If then, it's almost like you're going out with her."
His eyes twitched even more. "You are sick."
And she just laughed-eyes looking at her watch's slightly flustered reaction-knowing full well she wasn't that kind of sick.
.
.
END OF CHAPTER 16
Coming Soon:
CHAPTER 17: Proposition
The Tensai becomes a kitsune's housekeeper?!
WHAT—
REPLIES TO ANGELS
Jula – and Thank you for the review! And I'd be honored to have my work translated. Feel free to do so. Thank you!
Little Ms. Pumpkin – Thanks so much for the review! And I have been taking care of myself. Hope you are as well! Hope you enjoy this chap!
Fiery Seraph – heheh I lurve reverse harems hahahah and noted! I like her with Rukawa too hehehehhe Thanks for reviewing! God bless you too, and thanks for the kind words. Hope I do keep it up!
Hopelssromantic – hahaha for a moment there I thought you wouldn't want a reverse harem! Hahah. Thx for commenting~
Sairakanzaki – hahaha a love rival eh? Dunno yet. They're probably just gonna be friends but who knows right? Thx for your review and thinking my work is beautiful!
Silverhastears – Me too! I just find it soo hard to find scenes where Sendo'll fit in!hahaa. I'm loving Sendoh as well! Thx for reviewing btw~
Hikaru Itsuko – You don't need to be pressured, take your time in translating! Thanks for the review and your thoughts~!
Htsukino23 – Ohh? Why is your mind blank right now? Ehhehehe Thanks for commenting!
Guest [Dec 30 2018] – Good luck to him, indeed! Hehehe Thx for commenting~
Fan – Here it is! I'm sooo sorry for the delay! I've just been stuck a while. Hope this is a fine chap and thx for reviewin!
…
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