Tennis no Ouji-sama © Konomi Takeshi, Shuheisha, Inc.
- Act XXIII -
[ Cinderella's Feet ]
Some people were born perfect while some were not. Some looked normal but actually hid their imperfection. Hikari was very much the second.
Though she had made it far in her ballet career, no one knew about how hard she was working to stand on pointe with her feet. Some of her ballet teacher knew but Hikari tried her best to keep it hidden from her possible rivals so they wouldn't have the reason to impose her.
Whenever she had to keep her balance, Hikari had to be extra focused to keep it but ever since he stopped replying to her messages, Hikari's mind strayed to him over and over again. That burden finally took its toll and made her lose her balance. Unfortunately, it wasn't overlooked by her current ballet instructor, Suzumiya Ume, who told Hikari to meet her in the office.
"So your feet size is different by two centimeters?" Ume said while examining her feet. Hikari bit her bottom lip and nodded. The teacher chuckled. "No wonder you often lose your other shoe while walking."
"I usually use a shoe cushion for my left foot. It often happens when I forgot to wear it," Hikari sheepishly said while scratching the side of her face.
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"
"I… never had many problems about this before and I… don't want it to be in the way, Suzumiya-sensei…" Hikari said. "Maybe it's just that I'm not in my prime condition lately."
"Tezuka-san." Ume placed her hand on Hikari's knee. "The Cinderella audition is going to take place this July. You won't want to miss this one, do you?" Hikari shook her head. "Then clear your head from whatever bothering you and get back on your feet."
Hikari slowly nodded. "Alright…"
Ume tapped Hikari's knee twice and told Hikari to wear her shoes before dismissing her.
But clearing her mind turned out to be a hard task. Back in her home when studying Kanji, Hikari couldn't help but stare at her different-sized feet. The reason why she loved dancing bare-footed was that she didn't have to be bothered by how loose the shoe on her left foot was. She was a dancer and she felt it was unfair for her to be born with different-sized feet. Hikari touched the toe of her left foot and pulled it, thinking that doing so would make it longer. That was until something tapped her head. She looked up to see her brother holding a pen. He was helping her studying while he was studying for his own exam.
Hikari was extremely tired with the whole adaptation to Japanese school, especially since her brother was going as far as going through sleepless nights just so she could ace her exams.
"Focus. You don't want to score badly in tomorrow's exam." Hikari puffed her cheek and glanced at her brother's feet.
"Onii-chan, can I see your feet?" Her brother cocked his brows at her odd request. "Please?" Though it was an absurd request, he still took off his socks and revealed his perfectly same-sized strong-looking feet. Hikari moved closer to him to compare it side by side. Indeed, how pitiful the size of her feet was compared to him. "What's your size again?"
"27.5."
"Must be easy to do anything with feet that size…" Hikari puffed her cheeks while swaying her feet.
"Is this about your feet again?"
"Yes! I really need a way to fix this! Why do I of all people have to have this kind of feet! So unfair!" she said while pulling her left toe.
"Fair enough compared to those who don't even have legs." He was making so much sense that she couldn't retort back."Stop whining and work harder."
"Says Mr Perfect," she whispered to herself but it wasn't unheard by Kunimitsu.
"I'm still far from it."
"I'm not talking about Pinnacle of Perfection… or whatever you call it." Hikari nudged her brother's foot with hers. To her surprise, her brother nudged back. Hikari added more pressure when she nudged him back and so did he. It became a game and Hikari couldn't stop laughing while her brother smiled a little.
"Do you have a problem with your progress in ballet?" Hikari slowly nodded. "Because of your feet? You've overcome this long ago."
Hikari chuckled. "Maybe I'm just trying to blame something for my own weakness…" Hikari crouched and rested her chin on her knees.
Her brother patted her head. "Take your time and recover. Don't feel bad about feeling like this. I did a lot of times." It was rare for him to say something like that that Hikari curiously craned her head in his direction.
"You?"
"Do I not look like a human to you?" Hikari promptly shook her head, making him sigh in protest.
She chuckled at his reaction. "I'm kidding.I'm just surprised that even you can feel down."
"I was like you too—blaming something out of my weakness," he said while holding his left arm. "I want to be the pillar that supports my team but when I wasn't strong enough, I blamed this." Hikari furrowed her brows. "But the fault was always in my mind."
"So what did you do to overcome it?"
"Cool my head and stay calm. Always proceed with caution and never let my guard down." Hikari rolled her eyes at this, somewhat expecting that very answer from him. "So what's bothering you exactly?"
She rolled her eyes and sighed. "You better not know." Her brother would only make things worst if he knew.
"Is this about a boy?"
Bull's eye.
If Hikari was chugging a drink at that moment, she would definitely choke on it. "W-what are you talking about, Onii-san? There's no way I would have one in mind with such a tight schedule, right?" She sheepishly laughed.
"Just asking. You're on thestage when you're usually struggling with one."
"You definitely don't sound like someone who's only two years older than me," Hikari said with eyes flattened.
"Whatever. I'm still on my stance, Hikari. You're still too young for romance." He then pushed her Japanese book to her front. "This should be your priority for now."
Sometimes, she wondered which one was the grandfather in her house.
"And one more thing…" He suddenly rose to his feet and took out what looked like two thick stacks of envelopes. "Since tomorrow is the last day of mid-exams, it should be safe to give this."
"Hm? What is this?" Hikari cocked a brow while accepting the stacks.
"The replies for the love letters I've received." Hikari widened her eyes at this.
"Y-you wrote the replies to each of them?! Each two hundred of them?!" When he nodded, Hikari felt her admiration towards him skyrocketed to anything in this world, especially when he said…
"They spent a lot of effort writing letters like these. This is the smallest thing I could do to appreciate them. I didn't give themto you until tomorrow because I don't want to ruin their concentration for the mid-exams."
Her brother thought so far ahead for other people, even though the girls were people he didn't know at all… Even with such a tight schedule with all the responsibilities he had to do every day… The sparkling stars started to appear around him, at least in her eyes, that Hikari circled her arms around him.
Her brother was indeed the best man in the world…
"Onii-chan, can I just marry you in the future?"
"Don't be absurd and resume your studies." He lightly poked her head.
She wished she could meet someone who matched her brother's quality if one ever existed.
But if even someone like her brother didn't underestimate a love letter, writing one should be the best option to express her feeling, especially with his sudden disappearance Hikari didn't know how to confront him. That aside, Minako had shown to her how powerful a love letter could be when it was written with when she told the idea to Kotoha, she once again asked Hikari one thing…
"Do you really love him that much to be prepared for the broken heart scenario, not counting nights of embarrassment post confession?I can prepare a curse for you in case you're rejected, Hikari-chan! This voodoo has proven to be effective!"
How much she wanted to cry at the 'broken heart' phrase (after the first sentence, Kotoha's words were nothing more than an echo to her). Staring at the empty note, Hikari took a deep breath as if doing so would allow her to breathe in the knowledge and wisdom to write a good letter. She sat on the court surrounded by grass and flowers since she thought the place would be the best to get inspiration.
Since he wouldn't be home for a while, it was the best moment to execute her love letter—full of love and sincerity.
"I've learnt a lot of kanji thanks to my brother. I hope that's enough to make me look clever in this letter," she confidently said as she continued writing. "Please, please, don't let him come home until I finish!" She stopped several times as she allowed the words to pop into her mind and giggled as she continued writing."Hmm… This should be nice enough, right?"Unfortunately for her, a shadow was looming over her. Hikari quickly turned around and shrieked when she saw him behind her.
"What are you doing?"
Hikari quickly flipped the note so he wouldn't see the content. "I t-thought you'd be home in an hour or so!" she sheepishly said.
"I finished things sooner than I expected, so…" he glanced at the note she hid behind her back. "What is that?"
"I-it's nothing!" But he walked closer instead. "Hey! What are you doing?!"
"You looked very serious when you wrote on that thing so I'm curious."
"It's a... psychology essay! I'm writing about human feelings so I need to concentrate to pour everything here!"
"A psychology essay… on a flowery pink note, ahn?" He pulled that annoying smirk, still approaching her with both hands behind his back.
"I-it's to support my statement! You know that colours have a deep impacton human psychology!"
"Hm? What is that?" Hikari glanced in the direction he was pointing at and had her letter snatched by him in a flash. Her jaw hinged open the moment he set his eyes on her letter, even raising it so it was out of her arm'sreach. Hikari felt like the time had done something to slow her movement and gave him the time to read instead.
"N-no! Don't read it!" She did everything it took to stop him so she jumped on him, pushing him down to the ground in the process. Hikari shut her eyes when both of them fell, pushing herself off from him and shocked at what she saw when she opened her eyes.
Her heart stopped beating when she saw his face half-covered by her letter.
Because he looked exactly like…
"Ouch!" He pushed the letter off his face and stared directly at her.
They got the same dark blue eyes…
"Y-you are…"
He smiled at her and placed both hands on her waist. "Do you enjoy sitting on top of me that much?"
The heat was growing from her nose to her ears. "P-pervert!" She took her note and slapped his forehead with it.
"Ouch, hey!"There was no way he could be him. They were too different both in attitudes and personalities.
"Don't you ever try reading my writing again!" she said as she quickly packed her note inside her bag. "It's private and personal!"
"That's a good essay though." She quickly looked past her shoulder.
"Y-you've read it?!"
"Almost half of it," he said with a smirk. Slowly, she raised her hands to cover her reddened face. How much she wanted to make a hole and bury herself in it.
Of all people…
"Why did you've read it?!" Hikari crouched down to the grass and started to wail. "Why do you have to read it?!"
"H-hey!" He held her shoulders but Hikari slapped his hands off.
"Don't touch me! I hate you! I hate you for reading it!" She crouched lower to hide her embarrassment. "It's my first time writing something like that! I'm not ready to be seen!"
Suddenly, she felt herself being pulled. Without her realising, her face had landed on his chest. His hand moved towards her cheek and wiped her tears.
"Forgive me for my impudence—for reading your letter and for holding you like this." His other hand rubbed her back. "I… don't know who are you going to give the letter to but… I would be very happy if I were him… There's nothing about the content you should be ashamed of."
"B-but…" She hiccupped.
"I'm okay. I respect your feelings," he said while brushing her hair. "Go ahead and give him your letter. I wish you the best of luck." Somehow it crushed her heart to hear him say that.
"I'm sorry…"She clutched on his shirt.
"No. I'm sorry," he said. "The fault is mine. But just so you know, in case of a broken heart, this nice chiselled chest is available for you to cry on." Hikari couldn't help but chuckle while pinching his chest.
"Stop being absurd, idiot! I should be prepared anyway. Anything for the sake of peace of mind!" She pushed herself off from him and cleared her nose. She then told him about her upcoming audition and her desire to get back her focus.
"Ore-sama thinks that you're the most suitable candidate to play Cinderella in this entire Japan. You have the Cinderella's feet after all. No one can play it better than you."
"Cinderella's feet?"
"Your left foot is smaller than your right one, right? That's why you always lose your shoe." He winked when her mouth gaped in surprise. "Do you think I didn't realise that?"
"What are you?! The black book of my disgrace or what?!"She did question how much he paid attention to such a small detail about her.
"Ahn, disgrace? Do you really think your feet are a disgrace?" He offered his hand so she accepted it, thinking that he wanted to help her up but he pulled her close instead."Step on my feet." She tilted her head in question. "Just do it."
When she did, he circled his hands around her waist while she automatically put her hands around his shoulders as he started to move in a slow dance.
"W-what are you doing?"
"These are the perfect feet that enable you to enchant many people with your dance…" Leaning down to her ear, he whispered, "Including me." He smiled at her. "They're doing a perfect job so far so I want to let them rest and let me do the job—to dance with their owner…"
So easily, did he lift that dejection she had her entire life to her feet.
Though she didn't want to intimately touch him while she liked someone else, Hikari decided to go with the flow and put her arms around him, so did he hug her tighter, holding her head so she rested it on his chest.
Why did she like this moment when she was in love with someone else?
Was it right for her to wish for the clock to never strike twelve?
Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to relax in his touch, completely unaware that the man was holding her like that to keep her from seeing his blushing face.
AN: Honestly, I enjoy writing this part so much especially her part with Tezuka because it has been a while since the sibling's interaction. I think the downside of this version is that since I didn't show much of Tezuka in the beginning part (since I have to focus on Atobe and Hikari's development), his position in this fic felt somewhat vague, but don't worry, you'll get his POV soon enough!
How do you feel about the fluff in the later part though? Unfortunately, June would be quite hectic for me so I won't be able to update as much as this month. ;_;
Do share what you think about this story so far and what do you want to see more in this fic.
Also, what do you think will happen in the next chapter? XD
Favorite, follow, and most importantly—review are gold for me! As I mentioned in the previous chapter, the story is also posted in Wattpad. Since the site allows me to post videos and images, I might be able to pamper your eyes there. Check my account in ReikaNanatsuki!
Thank you faericire and mapl3nin2cool for your reviews!
Thank you for reading and have a nice day!
