Chapter Eleven
“Moshi?” Nino replied groggily as he picked up his cellphone early Sunday morning. He had spent all Saturday morning and afternoon at the theme park with Yamapi, while the two played computer games late into the night. He was glad that Yamapi avoided mentioning Sho the whole day, knowing that Nino didn’t really want to think about it for a while.
“Sorry, did I wake you up?” A familiar voice filtered across the phone, causing Nino to sit up. He hadn’t check who called before picking up the call.
“Sho-kun!”
Sho chuckled. “Ah, I guess you just woke up, huh? Maybe I’ll call back later?”
“Eh, no, it’s ok.” Nino replied hurriedly. He was glad to hear Sho’s voice, but at the same time, curious as to why Sho was calling him. He tried to sound as normal as he could. “What’s up?”
“Nah, was kinda bored, so wondering if you wanna go catch a movie or something.”
Was Sho asking him out on a date? Nino started to panic. He didn’t know what to say, what to do. Maybe he was thinking too much. Sho probably just wanted to hang out. But he could have asked anybody else, like Tsubasa, Okada, or even that Aiba Masaki. Nino didn’t know if he wanted to go or not. He was happy that Sho asked him out, but what if he started behaving weird and Sho got suspicious? He wasn’t even sure if he definitely liked Sho in that way or not. Nino looked down at Yamapi, as if hoping his best friend could help him, but the latter was peacefully sleeping.
Nino decided to buy himself time. “Er, sorry, can I call you back later. I’m at Pi’s house now. I’ll call you when I get back home, k?”
“Oh, that’s fine with me. Sorry I woke you up.”
“It’s ok. Uh, talk to you later.”
“Yeah, later.”
Both parties seemed reluctant to put down their phones, but Nino finally ended the call. Turning to Yamapi, Nino shook his friend. “Oi Pi! Wake up! I need your help!”
“Urusai! I’m still sleeping.”
“Aren’t you supposed to help your best friend when he’s in need?!”
“What is it?” Yamapi grumbled.
“Sho-kun just called me. He asked if I wanted to go watch a movie with him.”
“Oh, he’s already started asking you out on a date? So what’s the problem?” Yamapi rubbed his eyes.
“I dunno if I want to go or not.”
Yamapi glared at Nino. “That’s your problem? Don’t ask me to help you when you’re being stupid. I’m going back to sleep.”
“Oi!” Nino whacked Yamapi, but that latter had fallen asleep once more, and Nino was left alone to decide. “Argh, fine, I’m going home.”
* * * * *
Nino rested his head on the dining table, staring at his cellphone which had Sho’s number on display. All he had to do was press the ‘call’ button and he would hear Sho’s voice. But he really didn’t know what to say. On his way back home, he was vacillating between his two choices of either going out with Sho and taking it as just the two of them hanging out as friends, or pretending he was sick and turning down Sho’s invitation. Nino’s thumb hovered over the ‘call’ button, before finally pressing it.
“Hey you’re back home already?” Sho asked as he picked up the call.
“Er, yeah.” Nino coughed, hoping it sounded authentic across the phone. “Sorry I had to-” He coughed again. “-end the call earlier.”
“Nino daijoubu?” Sho asked, voice filled with so much concern that Nino felt guilty for bluffing him. “Are you sick?”
“Ah, not really.” Nino sniffed. “Throat’s a little itchy and nose’s a little runny but I’ll survive. So you were-” Another cough. “-saying that you wanna catch a movie?”
“Forget about it.” Sho told him. “If you’re sick, you better go see a doctor and get lots of rest then.”
“But-”
“No ‘but’s. Do I have to go over to your place to bring you to the doctor?”
“Eh?! No!” Nino said immediately. “I’ll go by myself. Don’t worry.”
“Ok. If you really feel horrible make sure you ask someone to go along with you alright?”
“Hai hai.” Nino said, smiling. He was touched by Sho’s concern for him, but remembered to cough once more for effect even though it made him feel really guilty. “I’m sorry I couldn’t go out with you to catch the movie.”
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be happy as long as Nino’s fine.”
I’ll be happy as long as Nino’s fine. Was it just his imagination or did that line just sound a little dubious? Not dubious in a bad way, but dubious in a ‘Sho-kun might really like me after all’ kind of way that Yamapi had talked about. Nino shook his head. What am I thinking? Sho-kun likes that Aiba Masaki.
“Nino? You still there?”
“Ah yes. Sorry, I was trying not to sneeze.” Nino lied.
Sho chuckled. “Okay, you better go get some rest before you see the doc. See ya tomorrow k?”
“Ah, ja.”
Putting down the phone, Nino slouched even further onto the table, closing his eyes to try to catch a few extra winks when someone slapped him on the back.
“Itai!”
“Kazu-chan looks perfectly healthy to me.” Anne said as she sat across the table from Nino.
“Physically yes. Mentally, maybe not.” Nino mumbled.
“Who’s that you were trying to bluff?”
“Just someone.” Nino brushed Anne’s question aside, when a question popped into his own head. “Hey, Anne-chan, how do you know when you started to like Pi?”
“Hm? Well… I dunno. At first, I just thought Yamapi was really cute but later, I realised he was really nice as well. If you ask me what I like most about Yamapi I can’t answer that question because my answer would be everything.”
“Erm, okay.” Nino said. “But how did you know that you like him in that way?”
Anne shrugged. “I just did? I feel happy whenever I see him, even when I had a bad day earlier. I think about him a lot? Oh, and Hiromi told me that when other guys try to ask me out, I compare them with him and immediately decide that they are hopeless, that’s why I’ve not gone on a date for so long.”
“I thought it was just cos no one asked you out.”
Anne whacked Nino who was too tired to duck. “Why are you asking me such a question anyway?” She asked, before gasping in realisation. “Is it cos Kazu-chan likes someone? Oh no, I wonder who the poor girl is.”
Nino rolled his eyes, ignoring Anne’s question. “But y’know, Pi doesn’t like you in that way. He treats you like his little sister.” Just like how Sho-kun probably sees me as his little brother.
“Well I know that…” Anne paused for a moment. “…I can’t help it though.”
Nino looked at his cousin. He knew there were definitely lots of guys pursuing Anne, yet here she was, pining away for his best friend. What was it about Yamapi anyway that made girls — and even guys — fall head over heels in love with him so easily? Nino wondered if Yamapi even had any inkling of Anne’s feelings for him.
“Anne-chan, are you ever gonna tell him?”
Anne looked up. “Hm? Tell Yamapi?” Nino nodded. “I dunno. I want to. But I don’t have the courage to do so, I guess.”
“And you’re afraid of rejection?”
Anne thought for a while, before replying. “I am prepared for that actually. I know Yamapi doesn’t like me in that way, and he probably never will. I just- I… I think I’m more afraid of the fact that after I tell him, friendship isn’t even possible for us anymore.”
Nino sighed. He realised that maybe he was having the same dilemma as his cousin, except that Anne had been going through it for years now while his problem just began. Remembering all the times he saw Sho with Aiba, he really couldn’t help but believe that Sho liked Aiba — if he was gay in the first place, that is. Yamapi claimed that Sho was especially nice to him, but he’d convinced himself that it was because Sho saw him as his little brother, not as a koibito. And like Anne, Nino didn’t really want things to get awkward with Sho if he ever decide to confess to the latter one day.
“Anne-chan, I think you should just get over Pi and find someone else who’s better for you and who loves you.” Nino said, though he wondered if he could do the same.
“Easier said than done.” Anne snickered.
Nino nodded. Anne was right.
* * * * *
“Hey, isn’t that our senpai?”
“Really? Who’s he?”
“Don’t you know? Sakurai Sho!”
“And he’s going into our classroom too.”
“What for?”
As Sho walked along the corridor pass the year one classrooms, he could hear the chatter all around him. He was so used to it though, that it didn’t bother him, even if they were going to make snide comments. He finally reached his destination, sliding open the back door of room 1-3, and immediately spotting Nino in the closest back row seat. Nino had his head rested on his desk and was sound asleep.
Sho tapped Nino on the shoulder, causing the latter to stir and awake. Nino yawned as he stretched himself, before rubbing his eyes to see who had awoken him.
“Oh, Sho-kun… EH? Sho-kun, what are you doing here?!”
Sho laughed. “Sorry for waking you up.” He said as he placed a flask on Nino’s desk. “You feeling better?”
“Eh?” Nino stared blankly at Sho, before remembering the lie he had told yesterday. “Uh, not as bad as yesterday.”
“Well, take this medicine and you should get better soon.” Sho pushed the flask towards Nino.
“Erm, what’s this?”
“Medicine for your cough. It’s kinda bitter, but’s it’s really effective.” Sho explained, before putting on a stern expression. “If you don’t drink it, I’m going to tell Tsuba-chan not to let you train later.”
“Again?” Nino reached for the flask and opened it, the smell immediately causing him to pull back. “Eww! This smells horrible and you want me to drink it? I’ll probably get sicker!”
“I’m not leaving until you finish the last bit of it.”
“Okay, fine, fine.” Nino said as he pinched his nose and braced himself for the bitter taste of the medicine. He was starting to think that it must be retribution for lying to Sho the previous day.
“Oh, the rumours were right. Sho-kun is here.” Yamapi remarked as he entered the classroom to look for Nino. “And Sho-kun even brought something for Nino.”
Nino finished the last drop and immediately grabbed his water bottle, taking a huge gulp. “Yuck! That’s the worst thing I’ve ever tasted.”
“What’s that?” Yamapi asked, amused.
“Chinese medicine for Nino’s cough.” Sho replied. “I swear, it’s really effective!”
“Nino had a cough?” Yamapi looked at Nino slyly, knowing that his best friend must have lied to their senpai. “But he was perfectly healthy when he left my house on Sunday morning.”
“How would you know when you were busy sleeping?” Nino shot back, hoping that Yamapi would not bust his cover.
“True.” Yamapi nodded. “Ah, Nino must have fallen sick because of the shock he got from Nagase-senpai’s confession.”
“Pi!”
“Nino said ‘no’ of course.” Yamapi told Sho reassuringly, but Nino couldn’t really tell what Sho was thinking at that moment. “Oh, and it’s not just that. Nino also had a dream-”
Before Yamapi could finish his sentence, Nino had covered his mouth and tried to wave off whatever Yamapi had said. “Haha, just ignore Pi. He’s talking rubbish.”
Yamapi shook his head violently to show that he wasn’t lying, causing Sho to chuckle at the sight. “I’ll see you two during training then.”
“Ah, yeah, ja ne.”
As Nino watched Sho leave, Yamapi took the vacated seat in front of Nino and smiled at his best friend.
“What’s with that scary smile?” Nino asked. “And why did you have to open that big fat mouth of yours?”
“My mouth ain’t big nor fat. It’s small and cute.”
Nino rolled his eyes. “Whatever. You know what I meant.”
“It was just a slip of the tongue.” Yamapi replied, but was met with an icy glare from Nino. “Ah, gomen ne. I won’t talk about that dream ever again okay?”
“If you dare mention anything about it in front of Sho or anybody else for that matter, I’ll kill you.”
“Nino should stop making such threats, ne.” Yamapi said. “Anyway, why did you have to lie to Sho-kun about you being sick? And look what happened. You had to drink some yucky medicine.”
“At least he was concerned enough to prepare me the medicine.” A small smile crept onto Nino’s face.
“Ah, when it comes to Nino, Sho-kun will do anything!”
“Urusai.”
“Ha, I bet you’re feeling guilty about lying to him right?” Yamapi laughed. “But oh, I hope I didn’t scare Sho-kun by saying that you rejected Nagase-senpai.”
“Scare him off?”
“Yeah. He might think twice about confessing.”
“Why?”
“Don’t worry. It’s either that or he’ll be more confident of expressing his love for you since he now knows that he doesn’t have a rival.”
“Just because he doesn’t have a rival doesn’t mean that he won’t be rejected.”
Yamapi eyed Nino. “Please tell me that you will not reject Sho-kun if he confesses to you. It’ll be the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.”
“Why the hell are we talking about this?” Nino stood up. “I’m hungry. I need to eat or at least drink something to get rid of this horrible taste in my mouth. Drinking water didn’t work.”
“You could just have Sho-kun kiss you. I’m sure the after taste will be much better.”
“PI!”
“Joudan, joudan.”
* * * * *
“Ahem.”
The basketball team looked up to see their coach and immediately stopped their warm-ups, rushing to stand in line.
Kimura-sensei gave a yawn as he looked around. “Taki.”
“Hai.” Taki nodded as he stepped forward. “Today, the regulars are going to split into two teams and we’re going to have a friendly match. Tsubasa and I will select our team mates, and Kimura-sensei will be doing the refereeing. And I’m picking Sho-kun first.”
“Hey, how come you get to pick first?” Tsubasa turned to Taki.
“Because I’m vice-buchou so I’m usually at a disadvantage.”
“That’s fine with me. Nino, you’re on my team.”
“Eh?” Nino looked at Tsubasa in surprised, but his buchou merely smiled at him. Nino thought that Tsubasa would have gone for one of the first-teamers before picking any year ones.
“Tsuyoshi.” Taki called out.
“Kame.”
“Eh, Tsuba-chan, are you trying to go easy on me?” Taki raised an eyebrow. “Koichi.”
“Ooh, this is like the first team minus Tsuba-chan versus Tsuba-chan’s team of the future.” Koichi remarked.
“Yamapi.”
“You’re not the only one who picks kouhais! Taisuke!”
“Okada.”
“Ah, breaking the trend now, Tsuba-chan?”
“I need someone to play centre.”
“Maa, maa.” Kimura-sensei interrupted the banter. “Taki, stop behaving like a child in front of your kouhais. And I thought it was only Sho who had behaved in this way.”
“Oi, Kimura-sensei!” Sho and Taki protested simultaneously.
Kimura-sensei ignored the two and instructed them to finish picking their teams, do some warm-ups and get him when they were ready for the match. “Thirsty.” He mumbled as he walked away to get himself a can of drink.
When everyone was almost done with their warm-ups, Tsubasa clapped to get his team’s attention and called them over.
“Okay, listen carefully. Nino, Yamapi, Kame, Okada and I will start while the rest of you will come on as subs from time to time.” Tsubasa said as he drew out a rough sketch of the tactics they were going to follow and indicating each player’s zone to defend. “And Nino, I want you to guard Sho.”
“Ore? But shouldn’t you guard Sho-kun, Tsubasa? You’re probably the only one in our team who can play against Sho.”
“I’ll be heavily guarded, so I need you to pull Sho away. And since it’s Nino, I’m sure you’ll be able to do it.” Tsubasa smiled at him, showing that his decision was final. “Okay, let’s go get ready.”
Nino nodded in acceptance when Yamapi nudged him as they walked onto the court.
“Our buchou is so nice, ne? By letting you guard Sho-kun, you can stay close to him at all times.”
Nino glared at Yamapi, who immediately dodged in case he was going to get hit by his best friend.
The game got on with usual competitive bantering between the teams. The teams were pretty much neck and neck when Taki’s side had a slight edge as Sho pushed past Okada, causing the other the tumble while he scored in the process. “Oi, that’s a foul!” Okada grumbled as he got off the court floor and brushed the seat of this pants. The scorer was unrepentent however. “No whistle, Bussan. Too bad, that counts.” Sho laughed, patting Okada’s shoulder uncompassionately, before hi-fiving his teammates.
“Nino! I thought I told you to guard Sho.” Tsubasa said in a sharp whisper.
“But-”
“No buts. Sho needs to be man-mark. Zonal defence alone isn’t gonna work against him, just like it won’t work against me.” Tsubasa was unabashed with his self-assessment, merely stating facts. “See how they’ve been double teaming me? You go stick yourself next to Sho like super-glue, so that he can’t come and bother me. The rest of us will continue with zonal defence, so that way he’ll get double team wherever he goes. Got it?”
Stick himself to Sho?! But. But. Alarm bells were ringing, but Tsubasa was adamant.
“Get going, Nino!”
Nino sighed. “Hai.” There was no point arguing with the buchou during a game when his competitive streak made him somewhat more dictatorial than usual.
So it went ahead, Operation ‘Stick-to-Sho-like-glue’, and it wasn’t long before Sho’s attempt at a dash towards goal sent Nino flying to the ground.
“Ite!” Nino cringed instinctively.
“Sumimasen!” Sho immediately rushed to help Nino up. “Nino, are you hurt?”
“Eh?” Nino felt himself starting to blush as his face was very close to Sho’s when he was pulled up. “N- No. I’m fine. Thanks.” He said hurriedly, turning his eyes away from Sho’s and walking back to position as Tsubasa started their team’s attack.
Soon, despite Taki’s team early lead, they couldn’t break away despite their greater experience as Tsubasa managed to score much more frequently for this side.
Sho’s earlier attacking had been more muted, and he didn’t continue his earlier aggressive tact of shirking his marker to double-team Tsubasa. Instead, whenever Nino came closed to him, Sho was worried about hitting Nino again, that he’d somewhat lost his concentration on the actual game itself.
“Time out!”
“Hey, Sho-kun, come here.” Tsuyoshi called the younger boy over.
“Yeah?”
“I don’t care who is it but I want you to bulldoze whoever’s in your way so that you can stop Tsuba alright? We’re letting Tsuba score too many times already even if we’re still ahead on points.”
“Ah, okay. Sorry.” Sho replied sheepishly, realising that wasn’t carrying out his defensive duties properly.
Sho played better after the time-out, reverting back to some of his more agressive play. However, he still seemed wary whenever he was near Nino, apologizing immediately at the slightest nudge or push, even though the other was still firmly on his feet.
The final whistle blew. Taki’s team won easily by eight points.
“I’m still the top scorer though.” Tsubasa stated. “Even Sho-kun’s a distance second this time. I wonder why…”
Tsubasa’s question seem to have caused Sho’s face to turn a little pink. Yamapi, who was substituted near the end of the game, jogged towards Nino, who had played the whole match.
“I know why Sho-kun didn’t score as many points as Tsubasa.”
“Because he’s not as good as our buchou?”
“Well, it’s partly that, and it’s also cos he was too busy watching you and making sure he doesn’t hurt you.”
Hontou? Nino reflected on his friend’s words, and recalled Sho’s look of concern during the match.”Sho-kun yasashii ne.” Nino blurted, as he couldn’t help the smile on his face.
Yamapi smirked, as he watched Nino’s expression. “Ah, so Nino admits it too ne. Sho-kun having double standards when it comes to Nino.”
“What? I did no such thing.” Nino started to protest but was ignored. Instead, crossing his arms behind his head, Yamapi made a big show of walking towards the seniors.
“Wah, Sho-kun has double standards. I’m going to complain yo.”
“Urusai! Oi, you come back here, you! Pi baka!”‘
* * * * *
© Copyrighted by O-Baka! | Home
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Didn’t you say your muses had gone on strike? *ggg* Glad to see they returned to you ^o^ *gives them an other cookie* (and an extra one for squeezing in some PiKame love ^.~)
Nino is so cruel by playing hard to get at the end *laughs* And by teasing Sho and making him repeat himself.. poor guy *pats Sho-chan* *lol*
But at least they FINALLY ended up together… somehow… I hope… XD”"”
The part about Ryo interrupting Pi’s date with Kame made me crack up X3
I’d soo~ love to read about this in detail *nudge nudge*
And I need to bribe your muses in favour of the sequel ^_______^
Konnichiwa..i’ve read the whole fic already and I have to say that I am impressed. I love your writing style a lot and the pairing is refreshing. The way the everyone was portrayed in here is great and makes the story smooth going. Keep up with the good work. Ganbatte XD
P.S I luv Kame-kun lol Of course I love others as well. They are so cute but if possible could you finish the sequel. I’m so excited