Secrets, Socials, and Seigaku

Chapter 32

He looked at me confused before looking down at my hands and froze. “Where is it?” He asked slightly scared of the answer he was going to receive, and I couldn’t really blame him.

I looked at him sheepishly. “Not here?” I managed to squeak out.

His face turned very pale, very quickly. “You know that Tezuka’s going to-“ I held up a hand.

“Yeah, I know.” I said helplessly. I’m so screwed… 

“Clair!” An older voice called from behind. Coach Ryuzaki looked less than pleased with me, although I was hoping she would let my tardiness slide it appears that wasn’t the case. “Where have you been?” She asked with quite the demanding tone. My hand found it’s way to the back of my neck rather quickly as I let out a nervous laugh. “Well, Coach Ryuzaki, it’s a really funny story actually.” I tried keeping a somewhat happy smile, but it just came out distorted. 

Her eyes narrowed noticeably as she glared at me. “I’m listening.” 

Taking deep breaths I did the only thing I could think of. “ Y-you see, Nanjiroh told me it started at a later time when I,” I tried to come up with something believable. “When I-I ran into him this morning!” My eyes met hers as adrenaline ran through my veins like water.

“Nanjiroh never leaves the house.” She said plainly, putting a hold to my verbal getaway.

I tried to think of something fast. “He said he was going to the store to get more of his perverted magazines.” Sure, it sounded like the farthest thing from believable to someone like Momo, who was looking at me with a face that said ‘really?’ But that’s only because he didn’t know that perverted monk like me and Coach Ryuzaki did.

“That idiot.” She grumbled, while tightening her fists in annoyance. “Can’t he do anything right?” she asked herself.

I played off of her feelings as to not seem suspicious. “The man just get’s worse and worse every time I see him.” I said shaking my head in disappointment.

She raised a hand to her temple and massaged it in slow circles, trying to calm down. Momo and I just gave each other a look that questioned what we should do in this sort of situation. “Clair.” She said sternly. Momo and I quickly turned around to cover up our silent conversation. “You’ll be playing soon, so  warm up. Tezuka isn’t too happy about your tardiness, so I suggest you get a move on.” She said a beckoning me to follow her back to the team. I gave a brief nod and followed obediently with Momo on tail.

“What are you gonna do about the racket?” He whispered quietly in my ear from behind. I stiffened at the proximity, I wasn’t too happy with people being close to me after the Mizuki incident, and I quickened my pace a bit.

“Let me borrow yours.” I said bluntly, eyeing Ryuzaki to make sure she didn’t catch ear of our conversation. 

“Pfffft, I think not.” He countered. “Why would I do something like that?” Sometimes I wonder if Momo wants me to hurt him, because he really tempts me sometimes.

I glared at him as much as I could from in front of him. “Come on, I’m your senior, show some respect!” I whispered threateningly.

His eyes only seemed at laugh at my pathetic plea. “Your not very mature for a senior, or respectable for that matter.” He laughed quietly. 

My eye twitched in annoyance. “hey there, Momo, if you want me to suffer so badly; I’ll have you know I have ways of getting back.” I threatened once again with a menacing tone.

He stiffened slightly at the sudden change of tone too. I smiled; this was my chance. “Some of Inui’s juices look just like water don’t they? I’d be a shame if it somehow ended up in your water bottle before a match, huh?” I hinted sadistically. My eyes caught sight of the team as we almost reached the benched area beside the courts. You could literally see Momo’s face go green as a violent shiver shot up his spine. “What? You don’t like Inui’s drinks?” I teased.

He put a hand on my shoulder and spun me around, trying to hold back the fluids that threatened to leave his stomach. “It’s in the blue bag at the end of the bench, when I’m done you can have it.” He replied shaking.

I put a hand on his shoulder and patted him with comfort. “See? How hard was that? Now sit down and feel better ‘kay?” I added cheerfully. If he was up to it he would look at me like I was the devil, but lucky for me he wasn’t feeling up to it right now. I chuckled at my own inside joke.

“Clair, Momo, gather round.” Tezuka ordered. He turned his sharp gaze to my own. “Don’t let your lateness effect the rest of the team.” He said unemotionally, but I could still see anger swirl in his honey brown eyes. I didn’t bother defending myself as I huddled into the team with Momo by my side.

I leaned on one foot as I tried to take careful note of what was going on so far, but Ryoma interrupted my train of thought. “You still have much to learn.” I heard him mutter cynically from beside me. I quickly smacked the hat off his head and on to the ground successfully without a second thought. I didn’t know if anyone noticed, but if they did they weren’t turning to make a spectacle out of it. He, surprisingly, didn’t move an inch the whole time and just glared at me as if he was somehow teaching me a lesson by doing so. 

“You still have much to learn.” I whispered back with a confident smirk on my face. He scowled and quickly grabbed his hat off the floor before dusting it off dramatically and putting it on. I rolled my eyes; I swear sometimes I think this kid belongs on a drama show rather than on the courts.

We all directed our attention to Tezuka as he started his boring lecture– I mean inspiring speech. I was trying to listen to him but as he started talking I could see the other team filing in to the benched area meant for them as well. I scanned each member of the team until I came across the one real opponent in this tournament I wanted to beat. 

Mizuki the manager

He pissed me off. I won’t lie when I say I hated everything about him. I could make a damn list about everything I hated about him. Here’s a good idea. Let’s try, shall we? 

1) His position. He thought he was so high and mighty because he was manager! Can you believe that? A manager! Everyone probably thought he was too weak to be on the team!

2) His stupid hair. He’d always be running his hands through his hair like a freakin’ girl would. I mean really I don’t even run my hands through my hair!

3) Lastly, the thing I hate most about him? His face. His smil–-No! His smirk never ceased to amaze me. He would always smirk like everything around him was a game and we were his pawns! For god sakes he was worse than Atobe! In fact, I prefer the Hyotei Captain to him! 

I could feel the anger boiling up as I thought about him getting close to me and putting his grimy hands under my chin as if he thought I would submit to his will. 

I scrunched my hands into fists, trying to contain the burning rage inside me. I looked up trying to concentrate on Tezuka again. Across the clay courts his eyes darted over to mine and I froze. I could feel his eyes travel up and down my body not letting up once till he landed on my eyes. I felt sick, I still couldn’t move, but then he did something that just set me off to no end. He simply smirked and turned his back on me.

I’m pretty sure a blood vessel broke in my head. “Clair.” A calming voice snapped me out of my thoughts. On the other side of Echizen, Inui stood watching the whole thing play out. I stared into his mirrored glasses and started to calm down. I nodded once at him and smiled a bit as a thanks. He didn’t smile back, but simply refocused his attention on Tezuka as he started to talk again. 

“Don’t underestimate our opponents.” He finished off. Tezuka had that kind of voice that people just listened too, a natural born leader. “And remember, don’t let your guard down.” He said, like he did before every game I’m told.

We all nodded before sounding out a team cheer of  “Seigaku!”. I turned my head back to where St. Rudolph sat and watched each of them warm up until my eyes landed on Mizuki. He smirked at me with confidence and catching him off guard I smirked right back. Then I did something that if Tezuka saw I would be in trouble for bad sportsmanship for. I caught his attention again with the wave of a hand and his indigo colored iris’s looked at me questioningly.

I simply pointed to him and took one finger and glided it across my neck, sealing his team’s fate. Like I’ve said before; I never go back on my promises, no matter what they entail. I smiled and sat down on the benches, ready for the games to begin.