Chapter Five
“What’s that you lookin’ at?” Toma asked as he snatched away the newspaper Kame was reading, making sure to hold it out of reach of Kame as the latter started flailing his arms in hopes to grab the paper back. “Isn’t this Hyouyama’s newsletter?”
Curious, Taisuke poked his head next to Toma’s to take a look at the paper. “Ah! Kame, don’t tell me you actually got your hands on Hyouyama’s paper so that you could drool over the picture of that Akanishi fellow?!” Taisuke asked, pointing at the picture of the Hyouyama first-year. “Kame, you’re such a fan boy. Fan boy! Fan boy!”
“Takes one to know another.” Ryo deadpanned as he slid into his seat next to Kame.
“I’m not a fan boy.” Kame pouted at Ryo.
“Of course. You’re not a fan boy. You’re my other half.” Ryo corrected. “Taisuke, on the other hand, is such a fan boy and he doesn’t even bother to hide that fact either. Ah, Sho-kun taihen na.”
“Hey, don’t call Sho-senpai ‘Sho-kun’ when you don’t even know him personally!”
Kame chuckled at their banter as he took back the paper from Toma and proceeded to finish reading the article.
“Ne, don’t you think that Ryo-chan and Kame are like a couple. You hardly see one without the other.” Toma started, turning to Taisuke. “And you know how when you said or did something stupid Kame would shoot you down easily? Now, he can’t seem to defend himself without Ryo-chan ‘protecting’ him.”
“Ya, ya! He used to be so mean to me, but now he leaves all the evil doings to Ryo-chan! Not saying that he’s nice to me now, but it’s like he’s some rich man’s wife who only needs to sit there and enjoy life. Heck, even I can bully him now!”
“That’s cos Kame cannot be bothered to waste his energy insulting you, especially since you’re so easy to bully.”
“Deta! Deta!” Toma pointed a finger at Ryo.
“Ah, so this is the Akanishi Jin guy you like?” Ryo asked Kame as he peered over Kame’s shoulder, ignoring Toma. “He’s quite cute.”
“Aren’t you jealous?” Taisuke smirked.
“Whatever for? This only proves that my other half has great taste.”
Taisuke made a face, turning to Toma as he gestured towards Kame and Ryo. “I don’t get the two of them.”
“That’s cos your brain is too small to process everything.”
“Toma! You’re supposed to be on my side!”
“Yeah, but I already escaped Ryo’s insults for quite a while so I better not push my luck.”
Kame smiled at his friends’ antics. Despite the fact that his first impression of Ryo wasn’t good to say the least, after all the time they had spent together, which was largely due to Ryo’s doing, he had grown accustomed to the latter’s idiosyncratic ways. Somehow, in the short space of time, Ryo had made a smooth transition from evil villain to best buddy in Kame’s circle. True, Ryo had a mean streak and a way with words that most, even Kame, found hard to defend against. But that had its advantages when it came to crushing little flies like Taisuke. In fact, Kame hardly had to say anything much nowadays. He could leave it to Ryo. After all, Ryo was really much more effective.
The back door of their classroom slid open then.
“Nishikido-kun, today’s tennis practice will start early.”
“Ah, ok, thanks for telling me Ko-chan.” Ryo nodded his head in acknowledgement. “Kame, wanna come watch before your training?”
“Okie, Ryo-chan.”
“Bleah, I’m gonna puke from their mushiness.”
* * * * *
“40-0!” Kame watched as Ryo served up three aces on the trot. “Game, set, match. Nishikido wins, 6-0.”
Amazed was probably not enough to described what Kame felt now. He knew that Ryo was a good player, but had never seen his friend play at all until now. Granted the Waseio tennis team wasn’t exactly great compared to the other sports clubs in the school, but there was no denying the fact that Ryo was a national level player.
“Ryo-chan sugoi na!” Kame remarked as Ryo settled down next to him, towel slung over his shoulder.
“Eh, that was just warm-up, no big deal.”
“Only warm-up?” Kame raised an eyebrow. “Then I fear for whoever your opponent is during an actual match.”
Ryo shrugged. “What time’s your training?”
“Oh, yeah, in half an hour. I should go get changed and start warming up now. Lost track of time when I was watching your match.”
“Awed by my prowess?”
“Haha.” Kame rolled his eyes, not wanting to boost Ryo’s ego any longer since the other already thought highly of himself. “I better get going. See ya later after practice? Or are you ending early?”
“Dunno. At most I’ll wait.” Ryo replied. “Oh yeah, tell Yamapi not to always rush off after practice before I can even hit on him.”
“Uh, you can tell him that yourself. It’s not up to me if Yamapi needs to rush off for his dates.”
“Hm, maybe I should set a date with him.”
“Ha, whatever.” Kame shrugged as he picked up his bag. “See ya.”
As Kame walked off, he didn’t notice that three of Ryo’s tennis team mates were watching him intently.
“Hey, who do you think that guy is?” Kusano asked the other two. “He’s cute.”
“Dunno.” Kato shrugged.
“I think he’s Ryo’s classmate. Thought I saw him in Ryo’s class today when I went there this morning.” Koyama replied. “Why don’t you just ask Ryo yourself?”
“You’re right.” Kusano said as he bounced towards where Ryo was resting. “Ne, Ryo, who’s that guy?”
“Who?” Ryo asked.
“The guy you were talking to, of course.” Kusano said, exasperated.
“Oh, Kame.”
“Eh? A turtle?”
“No, Kamenashi Kazuya. The ugly guy’s my classmate.”
“He’s not ugly! He’s so cute! Kakkoii!” Kusano objected. “Hey, wait, is he the guy who’s in the basketball team? I’ve heard Nino mention him before!” Kusano continued excitedly. “Ryo, you must introduce us! I never knew that there were such cute guys in 1-4!-Ah! Itai!”
Kusano hand flew to nurse his right cheek that had just been slapped by Ryo. “Ryo! Why did you hit me?”
“Urusai.” Ryo stated flatly as he just got up and walked away, in spite of Kusano’s whining.
* * * * *
“Nino, Nino. You must introduce me to Kamenashi-kun!”
“Eh? What?” Nino looked up from his notebook, the next day in class. “Introduce you to Kame?”
“Yes!”
“Aren’t you in tennis? Why don’t you just ask Ryo-chan? He’s Kame’s best friend.”
“He is?!” Kusano exclaimed. “Waaah, that guy slapped me!”
“Eh?” Nino started sputtering, covering his mouth to hide his laughter. “Well, you probably deserved it somehow.”
“What? I was just saying I never knew there were such cute guys in 1-4.”
“Exactly. You just insulted Ryo…” Nino stated flatly. Although I’m sure it’s more than just that.
“Ah, oh ya. But anyway. Couldn’t you just be nice and introduce us? Please?”
“When was I ever nice?” Nino waved Kusano’s request away, as he returned to looking at his notes.
“Nino, ne Nino…”
“Damatte yo. You want another slap?”
* * * * *
“Ne, did you hear?” Nino asked as he, Yamapi and Sho boarded the train after school. “About Ryo-chan slapping Kusano?”
“Huh?”
“Cos Kusano wanted Ryo-chan to introduce him to Kame, and he said, I quote, ‘I never knew there were such cute guys in 1-4.’ so Ryo slapped him.” Nino explained.
“I don’t know the guy, but poor Kusano-kun.” Sho said. “Seems a bit harsh.”
“So did Ryo slap him because Kusano thought Kame was cute or because he made it sound like Ryo wasn’t?” Yamapi asked.
“It’s Ryo. How would I know what he’s thinking?”
“True.” Yamapi sweatdropped. “Oh yeah, we’ll all be dropping off at the same stop since I’m going to Nino’s house today!”
“Why are you so happy about coming to my house?” Nino made a face. “Anyway, it’s not all of us. Sho-kun lives just one stop down from yours so he’s not getting off with us.”
“Eh? Then Sho-kun, why were you always getting off at Nino’s the other times?”
“That guy refuses to tell me.” Nino rolled his eyes as Sho explained.
“Saa, it’s nothing really. I was just meeting Aiba-chan to play one-on-one at the court near his school.”
“Aiba-chan? You mean Aiba Masaki?” Yamapi asked. “Oh, I didn’t know that Sho-kun was close to Aiba-san, especially since Taisuke always made you out to be rivals.”
“Ah, no, it’s just friendly competition.” Sho smiled. “Anyway, what are the two of you going to do later?”
“I’m going to tutor Nino in English.” Yamapi smirked.
“Eh? Nino needs help in English? Nino, if you need any more help you can ask me too.” Sho offered.
“Saa, whatever.”
“K, it’s my stop now. Mata ashita!” Sho waved as he alighted.
“Wah, I never knew that Sho-kun plays one-on-one with Aiba-san. I would like to watch that.” Yamapi remarked.
“Why? What’s the big deal?”
“Aiba-san’s a really good player! Oh, but Nino didn’t watch the game.”
“Don’t know why everybody keeps going on about this Aiba Masaki. Aiba-chan this, Aiba-chan that.”
“Haha, you sound exactly like Okada-senpai.” Yamapi chuckled.
“What are you trying to say?”
“Oh, nothing. I wasn’t implying anything. Really.”
* * * * *
“Are? Nagase? You’re here?” Koichi pointed his finger at Nagase when he discovered the other’s presence at the usual field where some of the Waseio boys played Saturday baseball. “Why are you here? I thought you said you lost interest?”
“Someone renewed my interest.” Nagase swatted Koichi’s pointing finger away as he looked past the other, casting a searching gaze around him.
Koichi squinted, following Nagase’s gaze. “What are you looking for?”
“Oh, uh nothing. Is everyone who’s playing here?”
“Not yet but they should be here soon though, ah there- Hello there! Tsuba! Kame! Nino!” Koichi waved in greeting. ” Tsuba, look who’s back!”
“Nagase ka?” Tsubasa was a tad surprised. “Back to play?”
“Hai hai.” Nagase said enthusiastically. “You all welcome me back, don’t you? Ah, first years right?” Nagase continued quickly, turning to Nino with a bright smile, extending his hand. “Hajimemashite. Nagase Tomoya desu. Ninomiya-kun deshou?”
“Eh?” Nino hesitated, surprised that his name was known to the other, before realising he was being rude not to shake the other’s offered hand. “Hai, Ninomiya Kazunari desu. Hajimemashite.”
Nagase grinned at Nino, before Tsubasa coughed slightly. “Um, and this is Kamenashi Kazuya.”
“Oh yes, of course. Nice to meet you too! ” Nagase shook Kame’s hand quickly. “So shall we play? Let’s split teams. Ja, Ninomiya-kun can be on my team. Don’t play on Koichi’s team. He’ll lose.”
“Oi! Nagase Tomoya! Watch your mouth!”
* * * * *
“Ah, one more lousy day of menial work!” Nino whined.
“It’s your last day. Just bear with it Nino.” Yamapi stated as he, Nino and Kame walked into the gym.
“Yeah, then you can get back to training with us.” Kame just finished when he realised the other two were gawking. “Eh?”
Sidestep, feint, swoosh.
With a drop of his shoulder, Sho skipped past Taisuke for the upteenth time to score during their one-on-one game.
“Maketa yo.” Taisuke sighed as he plopped heavily on the gym floor. “Sho-senpai’s too good na.”
“Oi, Taisuke get up.” Sho dribbled the ball over to where Taisuke sat. “We’re not done yet. Let’s play till 100 points.”
“100? Ah, gimme me a break senpai. I’m already loosing 50 to 6. Though it’s probably going to take you another five minutes to score another 50, but I’m kinda tired.”
“Sho-kun, why do you even bother to play Taisuke?” Nino called out.
“It’s still good practice. Doesn’t matter who I play.” Sho replied, as Taisuke muttered as he laid back onto the floor.
“Taihen na…”
“Oi, Taisuke, get up!” Nino looked pointedly. “You’re getting your gross sweat all over the gym floor, and I have to wipe it dry later before other people fall and slip on it!”
Kame tilted his head quizzically. “You have to clean the floor?”
“Not now. But knowing coach, he’ll make me anyway.” Nino rolled his eyes. “Oi, Taisuke-”
“What? You guys are playing already?” Tsubasa, poked his head amongst the group, surprising everyone with this Kimura-sensei-like ability to appear suddenly out of nowhere.
“TSUBA-CHAN!” Sho glomped Tsubasa. “Ne, play one-on-one with me?”
“No.”
“Eh? Nande? C’mon, let’s play a game!”
“No.”
“Tsuba-chaaan…”
“Oi, Sho.” Taki, who with the rest of the team, had followed not far behind Tsubasa, tapped Sho’s shoulder. “Stop glomping Tsubasa already.”
“Nani?” Sho grinned. “You mind?”
“Yes.”
“Ooh.” Sho chuckled, as Tsubasa drawled.
“Even if you continue to hold on to me like that, I’m not playing. So you might as well go find someone else who will.”
“Why not? What? Is Tsuba-chan afraid of losing to me?”
“That’s not going to happen in a million years.” Tsubasa retorted. “It’s just that it takes too long to defeat you what with your ‘first to reach 50 pts wins’, and I have a meeting with Kimura-sensei. Go find someone else. Or ask Taki.”
“Taki! If you don’t play a game with me, I’ll never let go of Tsuba-chan!”
“Don’t be silly. I’ve got to go to the meeting too. And I’m not that mad to play with you.”
Sho sniffed as he let go of Tsubasa. “Hmph. Fine, you two can go do your stuff together.”
Sho looked around, and zoomed in on Okada. “Bussan! Let’s play a game!”
“No mood to humour you today.” Okada, as usual, was brief and to the point.
“Eh, Okada’s being mean too.” Sho made a face.
“I’ll play you gaki.” Tsuyoshi said as he stretched lazily. “Since I’ve never played with you one-on-one before.”
“Cool. Tsuyo-senpai it is then.”
“But not 50 points. Just 15 will do. You can start off.” Tsuyo gestured as he settled into his usual defensive stance.
“Ii yo.” Sho grinned, as he twirled the balled lightly in his palms. “Ja, iku yo.”
“Go Sho-senpai!” Despite his earlier weariness, Taisuke had perked up instantly when the game started as he considered his duty to be his beloved senpai’s personal cheer squad. “IKOUZE! SHO-SENPAI KAKKOII!”
“Urusai na!” Nino, who had been starting on his duties, smacked Taisuke as he walked by.
“Itai! Nino!” Taisuke rubbed his head, whining as he scowled at Nino paid him no heed. “Aren’t you on cleaning duty?”
“Shut up. I’m watching the match.” Nino said dismissively, ignoring the other boy as he took in the play before him.
Tsuyo-senpai tsuyoi.
Tsuyoshi was one of the better, if not the best defensive player on the team, in particular when it came to the area below the net. Nino had first hand experience on Tsuyoshi’s strength, having practiced defensive plays with his senpai before his suspension. He was markng Sho tightly, matching almost all his sidesteps, which Nino knew to be a test, as Sho wasn’t known as a tensai for nothing.
Even without Taisuke’s constant wowing, gushing commentary by his side, Nino could see that Sho was good. Very good in fact that he seemed to Nino to be toying with the third-year defender. Nino felt that Sho was just biding his time, having a bit of fun. Sure enough, about a minute where Tsuyoshi marked Sho step for step, and didn’t let the younger player near for a shot, Sho seemed to finally decide to up his play. His speed and movement went up another notch, and in a movement Nino thought was impossible, Sho had somehow feint and twisted pass Tsyoshi to score.
Sugoi… Ano hito wa hontou ni sugoi.
“15 – 6! Sho-senpai sugoi! ” Taisuke’s cheer called out the final score.
“Good game, gaki.” Tsuyoshi slapped Sho lightly on the head.
“Thanks!” Sho grinned, as he and the third year walked towards the bench, looking about for a new challenge.
“Ah, Kame, Yamapi. You two want to have a go?”
“Ah, no thanks. I don’t have a death wish.”
“Yea, I’ll pass too.”
“Ah why not? C’mon? You two against me. 2 vs 1?”
“Oi, you three. Practice’s starting.” Tsubasa called out as he approached them, returning from his meeting with the coach. “Go run 20 laps.”
“Just another game Tsuba-chan. Yamapi and Kame versus me. We’ll only play till 15 points, I’ll finish the game really fast.”
“Then what’s the point? Go run laps.” Tsubasa drawled and pointed at the rest of the team who had started running.
“Hai.” Kame and Yamapi started to turn away.
“Ne, onegai, Tsuba-chan.” Sho whined and tugged at Tsubasa’s shirt. “Just one game ne? Tsuba-chan, ne?!”
“Hmmph. Ah alright.” Tsubasa shrugged as Sho glomped him.
“Yosh, Tsuba-chan saikou!”
“Kame, Yamapi.” Tsubasa called out to the two boys who stopped in their tracks and turned around.
“Buchou?”
“Go play a game with Sho-kun. And if you lose, you run 40 laps.”
“MAJI DE??”
* * * * *
TSUMANAI! Screaming those words in his head, Nino made a face as he shuffled along the edge of the court. He was bored. He had finished all his chores before schedule and the rest of the team were still training. Kimura sensei had scheduled the training as a physical endurance session, so the rest of the players were outdoors doing a circuit run. As a rule however, despite not being part of the session, Nino had to stay behind as long as the others as part of his punishment.
Bored, Nino started treading along the white line that marked the boundaries of the court, setting his feet forward one at a time carefully, arms raise as if he were treading an imaginary tightrope. Left, right, Left, right, Left, ri-Ah. Wavering, as he almost lost his balance, Nino faltered slightly, then regained his bearings. Just then he noticed that the goal’s net’s white roping had loosened, leaving an unsightly gap. That’s it. I’ll go replace it with the new one in the storeroom. Zipping into the storeroom and back with a stepladder and the new roping, Nino started on his task to change the basketball goal’s net. Anything to lift this boredom.
“Nino, what are you doing?!” A voice called out as Nino stepped off the ladder, basketball net in hand.
“Oh, Sho-kun, you’ve finished running 20 laps?”
“Tsuba-chan let me do only 10.” Sho grinned.
“Woah, our buchou sure is kinda biased.”
Sho chuckled. “Anyway, what are you doing with the basketball net?”
“Changing it. I’ve got nothing better to do anyway.”
“Well, you should have asked me to help you get the net at least. What if you fell?”
“Sho-kun, my foot’s alright now. You don’t have to be so paranoid.” Nino rolled his eyes as he took the new roping. “Anyway, it’s all your fault. My foot healed in a week, but because of you I had to miss another two weeks of training!”
Laughing, Sho shook his head. “How is it my fault? The punishment was becos you skipped watching the match last time, though I have to admit, your injury might have been one of the factors that Kimura-sensei considered when dishing out such a punishment. He could have made you run 100 laps every training session.”
“Well, 100 laps might be a little extreme…” Nino paused, before continuing. “But at least it would have kept me fit! Look at me! If it wasn’t for the fact that I play baseball on weekends, I’ll be even fatter than I am now.”
Sho’s eyes widened, an amused look on his face. “How in the world can Nino grow fat?”
“Hey, I think my body fat is over 20% and I think I’ve put on some weight too.”
“Hey Nino, what exactly are you doing?” Tsubasa interrupted as he stood next to Sho.
Nino lifted up the net. “Fixing this.”
Tsubasa nodded. “Ah, maybe Nino should remain as the team manager since he’s so good at it.” He quipped. Nino glared at him threateningly, as if saying ‘If you dare to suggest to coach to make me team manager permanently, I’ll murder you!’, but Tsubasa merely deadpanned. “I’m buchou. Don’t be rude.”
As Tsubasa walked away, Nino hit Sho violently on the head.
“Oi!” Sho exclaimed as he turned to Nino, confused. “That hurts! Why did ya hit me for?”
“Too bad.” Nino stuck his tongue out. “I can’t hit buchou, so I’ll just have to hit you.”
“But I’m still your senpai, ne?” Sho pouted, before changing the subject. “Hey, you wanna go eat some ramen for dinner later? I know a place near school that had really good and cheap ramen.”
“Hontou? Ah, Pi, you and I can go together afterwards.” Nino agreed, before frowning. “Maa, but wasn’t I just talking about body fat earlier? The irony…”
* * * * *
Nino bent over his steaming hot bowl of ramen, taking a whiff, before sitting upright, and holding up his chopsticks. “Itadakimasu.”
“Dou?”
“Waa, ume!” Nino announced after taking in a mouthful of the slippery noodles.
“Oishi ne? I haven’t come here for a while. Glad it’s still as good.” Sho grinned as he took some of his own. “Mm, umai!”
“It’s so near school too! Shall come here and eat more often.” Nino nodded enthusiastically. “Ha, too bad Pi’s on a date and missed out on such a delicious dinner.”
“We can all come together again.” Sho said as he phone rang.
“Excuse me.” He set down his chopsticks. “Moshi? .. Oh Aiba-chan? … Ah, you found a good and cheap ramen shop? I’m actually eating ramen now…. You want all three of us to go there? But Ueda won’t be back till who knows when…. Ah, yeah. Long term planning. Yeah yeah.” Sho laughed. “Okay. We’ll do that. But how about we go and eat after our schools’ play each other next week…. Yeah, test the waters before Ueda actually has to eat it. He’s quite fussy…. Oh. That’s a date then. Ja.”
Sho set down the phone, and picked up his chopsticks. “That was Aiba-chan. How coincidental that he’s talking about ramen while we’re eating it. Eh, Nino? Why aren’t you still eating?”
“Ah, nothing.” Nino shook his head, and started eating again. “Maybe I’ll come here with Pi after the Hyouyama match.”
“Sou.” Sho nodded, as he took a gulp. “Atsui!”
* * * * *
© 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