This chapter is average.
Streets of Kanagawa
Aside from walking from the train station to school and back, Roko had never really explored Kanagawa at all, so it came as a surprise when he realised just how close Rikkaidai was to the beach. It was only a few minutes' walk, and the coastline looked beautiful even when it was the middle of winter. The streets were lined with stores and cafes that had a nice view of the beach, but there was no one really around aside from him and the regulars. Roko didn't really know where they were going, but he hoped it had Japanese food, since he was really craving some right now.
"Echizen, how can you carry that thing all day?" Kirihara asked curiously, and Roko looked to him with a raised eyebrow and made signs.
"You get used to the weight" Sanada translated, and Kirihara frowned.
"Yeah but, that thing is as tall as you" he protested, and Roko just rolled his eyes at him. In truth his cello wasn't really that heavy at all, either because it was designed to be lighter or Sanada's monstrous tennis training programme had paid off, but Roko wasn't sure.
"By the way Echizen" he heard Marui say, and he turned to him, who was blowing a bubble of apple gum, "When did you learn the Tezuka Zone and Higuma Otoshi?" he asked, and Roko didn't fail to notice how everyone was watching him now, and he smirked and made signs. He could see Sanada's eyes widen and he hesitated, much to Roko's amusement.
"The Tezuka Zone is a copy from the original Samurai Zone developed by my father" Sanada translated, and Marui's eyes widened.
"So your dad taught you that?" he asked. Roko just nodded his head in response.
"And what about the Higuma Otoshi?" Yanagi asked curiously, and Roko smiled. In truth he had no idea whether he'd be able to pull it off just from watching, and he was amazed at how he successfully used the Higuma Otoshi, when he just expected to do some sort of embarrassingly awkward movement. He would mention to them about how he'd watched every one of Seigaku's Distrcit Tournament games, but somehow he felt like maybe he shouldn't mention that detail, and it was their own fault for never asking where he went, though they probably assumed he was going home.
Yanagi leaned forward in curiosity, and Roko just smiled and shook his head at him, to which Yanagi frowned.
"Ah, there it is!" Marui said cheerfully, and Roko looked up to see they were walking towards a large building made entirely out of wood in the traditional Japanese style, and it had a large sign on the front that read 'Kuwahara Ramen Shop'
So this was Jackal's family restaurant. Interesting, but more importantly it served Japanese food, and Roko forced down the large smile that was threatening to appear. They quickly entered through the front door, and Roko immediately noticed that the place was empty, not surprising considering it was mid-winter. The room was a traditional Japanese style with small tapestries on the wall, with long rectangular wooden tables and long benches on either side of them, and a counter with benches along the front, where the chef would make the ramen.
A moment later a tall man with dark skin who looked very similar to Jackal appeared around the corner, wearing an apron over a white shirt and black trousers.
"Ah you're here" he stated with a large smile, and the team collectively nodded and proceeded to the benches in front of the counter, and Roko followed suit, placing his cello case by the door. He sat down between Sanada and Niou, and put his bag down, and Jackal's father moved to the counter and noticed him.
"I've never seen you before" he stated, "So you must be Echizen". Roko nodded in response, and Jackal's father smiled widely.
"It's nice to meet you" he said, before looking up to the rest of the team. Roko could tell that he knew he was mute, which was good, since it spared him the awkward moment when someone realises he's mute.
"What will you guys have?" Jackal's father asked. Everyone placed their orders, and Roko noticed that Sanada was looking at him expectantly. He couldn't help but smile at the tiny gesture in that, and he made signs to Sanada who translated his order. Jackal's father went to work making the ramen, and almost immediately there was a delicious scent filling the room. Roko smiled widely involuntarily.
"Heh, I've never seen you smile before, Echizen" Kirihara suddenly said from down the counter, and Roko turned to him with a raised eyebrow. It was clear from the looks of most of the team that they too had never seen him smile, and Roko for some reason felt offended.
"I've seen him smile" Marui stated from behind Kirihara, "When I offered him cake". The entire team rolled their eyes, and Roko smiled amusedly at the memory of the free cake Marui gave him after he had a panic attack from Kirihara's Bloodshot Mode. He immediately erased the image from his mind and instead turned back to the counter to watch Jackal's dad make the ramen. It was nice to be here with the team, and the presence of them, especially Sanada made him feel more comfortable.
He's like my older brother, Roko thought amusedly.
Jackal's father finished making the noodles, and placed a large bowl of colourful ramen in front of him and a cup of green tea. Roko smiled widely, already eating the ramen before the others could receive their own food, and he could see Sanada frown but he said nothing. Roko smiled widely when he realised how good it tasted, and started to eat it faster, but not too fast that he would give himself indigestion.
"Echizen appears to enjoy Japanese food" Yanagi said in the background, but Roko ignored him, continuing to eat, and the others soon got their own ramen and started to eat too. Jackal's father smiled widely at the sight of them eating the ramen, and he walked away from the counter into the back room, but Roko paid him no mind, continually inhaling the delicious ramen.
Kuwahara Ramen Shop
Sanada couldn't help but scowl at how fast Echizen was eating. It was clear he was hungry and had a love for Japanese food, and that he was trying to pace himself, but it was still rather disturbing how fast the ramen was disappearing.
"Echizen, stop eating your food so fast" Sanada scolded, and he noticed how the regulars snickered amusedly. Echizen looked up from his ramen with amusement on his face.
"Tarundarou" was his simple reply, and Sanada spluttered in an undignified way, outraged that Echizen used his own catchphrase against him.
"What did Echizen say, Sanada?" Yanagi asked curiously, and Sanada could see he was very amused by his sudden change of expression.
"Nothing" he replied too quickly, and returned to his ramen like nothing had happened. Only Echizen would be able to make him splutter like that, since he was used to such comments from Yukimura and Yanagi, but never him.
In that moment there was a chime, and Echizen turned and narrowed his eyes as he took his phone out of his pocket. Niou leaned over next to him and read the message.
"The Seigaku regulars are all sleeping over at Echizen's house" he stated, and Sanada's eyes widened. All of them? Even Tezuka?
"That's of no surprise" Yagyuu added, "Since Echizen's brother is a Seigaku regular himself". Sanada didn't miss the visible irritation on Echizen's face, which probably meant he disliked the regulars.
"You know the Seigaku regulars?" Kirihara asked, and Echizen just nodded his head, much to the apparent amazement of the team.
"Hm?" Yanagi mumbled, "That would be a valuable asset to my data" he stated to himself, and Sanada just rolled his eyes. Of course it would, everything would be a valuable asset to his data. Echizen put his phone back and continued to eat his ramen, occasionally pausing to sip some green tea, and the rest of the team followed suit. They ate in a rather comfortable silence for a long while.
"Echizen" Kirihara suddenly spoke up, "What are you doing for Christmas?". Sanada looked up in slight curiosity at Echizen's response, and he made signs to Sanada.
"We don't celebrate Christmas" his hands said, and Sanada repeated his words.
"Eh?" Kirihara asked, "Why not?"
"It's a boring holiday and since our birthdays are so close there's no point celebrating them separately" Echizen's hand stated, and Sanada repeated his words.
"Ah yes" Yanagi said suddenly, "Your birthday is on the 31st of December, yes?" he asked, and Sanada raised an eyebrow. What was he doing? Echizen nodded in response.
"Do your family plan to do anything for your birthday?" he asked bluntly, and Sanada was thankful that Echizen had his back to him or he would have seen his eyes widen. The rest of the team seemed to be frowning but said nothing. Echizen shook his head, and Yanagi frowned.
"No?" he questioned, "Why is that?". Echizen turned to Sanada, whom had recovered by this point, and made signs to him.
"I've never been a fan of big parties, and there's not much you can do when you're snowed in in the middle of winter" Sanada replied, and Yanagi nodded his head. Echizen returned to his ramen and quickly finished the last of it, sipping the last of his green tea as well and smiling happily.
"Echizen" he heard Kirihara say, and the team turned to him, "What do you plan to do over the holidays?" he asked, and Echizen made signs to Sanada.
"I'll probably just sit indoors and write, read some books and listen to music" Sanada translated hesitantly.
"Eh?" Marui asked, "You write books, Echizen?". Echizen nodded in response, and Sanada could tell that Yagyuu had thought of something by the way he randomly pushed his glasses up his face mid-conversation. It was rather sad how everyone was trying to extract information from Echizen to find out what he likes, and doing it rather obviously. But Sanada supposed this would be the last time they saw him so they had to be rather desperate.
"What kind of books?" Yanagi asked curiously, and Echizen made more signs.
"Whatever I'm inspired to write" Sanada translated, and he could see the tiny frown from Yagyuu in the background. He could tell that the team was now desperately trying to keep a conversation going, and Sanada mentally sighed.
You idiots, he thought.
Streets of Kanagawa
After a disappointingly uneventful dinner, mostly due to the fact that no one would leave Echizen alone, the team had decided to call it a day and go home. Niou had still not managed to come up with an idea for Echizen's gift, but he knew Yagyuu had an idea just by looking at him, since Yagyuu could hide nothing from him.
Fortunately he lived in the direction Echizen was walking in, so it was Niou, Echizen and Sanada walking together. Niou wasn't the least bit intimidated by Sanada, and so he saw this as his golden opportunity to learn something useful. He noticed that Echizen had his earphones in his ears with his cello case on his back, and Niou noted that Echizen's steps were in time with the music coming from his earphones.
"Echizen, what are you listening to?" he asked rather bluntly, and Echizen looked at him for half a moment in hesitation before handing him one earphone. Niou was honestly surprised that he did, considering he nearly died twice by his hand, but he took it without hesitation and pressed it to his ear. He recognized the song; it was one of the songs he listened to when he stole Echizen's iPod, the one with the weird man-bird on the album cover. This was his chance!
"Never heard of this" Niou muttered out loud, "What band is it?" he asked, and Echizen rolled his eyes, taking his iPod out of his pocket and showing him the album and band name.
Breaking Benjamin. Niou repeated that name to himself over and over again mentally, making sure to remember it. He knew what he would get Echizen now; he just hoped that it would work out okay. He just shrugged and handed the earphone back to Echizen, who took it gladly and put it back in his ear, and they continued to walk in silence until they reached the main road where Sanada and Niou split off since their houses were down the opposite road, and so Echizen nodded to them in goodbye and walked off.
"You could have been less obvious" Sanada stated when he was gone, and Niou snorted.
"Are you kidding? Were you even paying attention in Jackal's restaurant?" Niou returned, and Sanada grunted.
"Well now he definitely knows we're planning something" he stated.
"He'd probably know even if we didn't make it obvious, since we would definitely celebrate his birthday" Niou said, and Sanada grunted in agreement.
"Just don't give him a ridiculous prank as a gift" Sanada ordered, and Niou smiled in amusement.
"Oh? Sanada, you've gotten soft" Niou stated, and Sanada turned and glared at him, but Niou only laughed.
Echizen Household
Coming home to a house full of loud, annoying blue-clad teenage guys with his parents away visiting relatives in the middle of winter was not Roko's idea of fun. In fact, it was pretty much the opposite of fun.
He mentally sighed loudly and quickly moved to the stairs and reached his room before anyone could intervene. Ryoma was busy entertaining the Seigaku regulars in the living room, so hopefully they would leave him alone. It was still the afternoon so Roko figured he would listen to some CDs, maybe practice the cello or write and then go to bed. Though that would probably be impossible due to the seven annoying teenagers currently inhabiting his house.
Roko didn't bother asking why they were here, because in all honesty he didn't care why they were here, but that they were actually here. Seigaku was a team full of annoying people, from the loud-mouthed Kikumaru and Momoshiro, to the anti-social and constantly glaring Kaidoh. Even Kawamura became hectic despite his quiet personality, when he held a tennis racket, but somehow Roko felt that even he would be shouting all night too. Fuji and Tezuka were quiet, but whilst Fuji was secretly a sadist and a nosy intruder into Roko's life, Tezuka was incapable of talking in a full sentence. And Inui, don't even talk about Inui.
In his opinion Oishi was the only normal one on the team, well, as normal as Seigaku can be, but Oishi reminded him of Jackal quite a lot since he was the one that held the team together. He was also quiet and never really raised his voice, which made him a good person in Roko's opinion.
He honestly wondered how Ryoma dealt with these mad people. Rikkaidai was also pretty crazy but not to the extent of Seigaku.
He threw himself onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. Ryoma was probably going to sleep downstairs in sleeping bags with the other regulars, which meant Roko had the room to himself for once. It was a rather odd realisation that for the first time in his life Roko was going to have a room all to himself.
Actually, that was a pretty depressing realisation. But it was true at the same time, since ever since they were born he and Ryoma and shared the same everything, and it was a rather difficult tradition to break. But the Seigaku regulars had given him some peace - depending on your definition of peace - and so Roko was thankful.
He quickly decided to get up and go downstairs for a drink. He quickly reached the living room, completely unsurprised to see Momoshiro and Kaidoh fighting with Oishi trying to break them up and the rest of the team blatantly ignoring them. Fuji looked up and noticed him, and smiled warmly in a way that reminded Roko of how Yanagi smiled when he knows something that others did not.
"Hello there, Echizen-kun" he said softly, and the rest of the team looked up to acknowledge him, and in an instant Kikumaru was moving.
"Echizen~" he called as he jumped to him and crush him into a death hug, but Roko just side-stepped and Kikumaru flew past him and hit the ground, as practiced from Marui. The regulars looked rather stunned, although Kaidoh and Momoshiro hadn't noticed at all and were still fighting.
"I've never seen anyone dodge Kikumaru's death hug before" Inui noted, scribbling in his notebook, which appeared out of nowhere, and Roko rolled his eyes. He left them to their own devices, moving into the kitchen and filling up the kettle before flicking it on. He waited a while, listening to the sounds of Kaidoh and Momoshiro fighting and conversation in the background, and he unconsciously shook his head. Seigaku were really weird, and they were here the whole night.
He mentally groaned loudly as the water finished boiling, and he took a ceramic cup from the cupboards and filled it, placing a tea bag in and stirring it gently with a spoon. He moved back into the living room, stepping around the still-fighting duo as he did.
"Ne, Echizen!" Kikumaru called, seeming to forget about Roko dodging him a minute ago, "We're going to watch a horror movie later, want to watch with us?" he asked, and Roko shook his head lightly and walked back upstairs with his tea. He disliked horror movies, no, he hated them, because horror movies had blood in, and blood was something he did not like.
He moved into his room, closing the door and setting the tea down on his desk before opening the drawer and taking out his incomplete novel. It was about a travel writer who travelled around Japan documenting his adventures as he did, and meeting the heiress to a multi-million dollar company when she ran away, sick of her secluded life. The novel was basically about the two travelling Japan together and visiting all the sights, and Roko had not got much further than that. He knew that at some point the girl's father would come back with a vengeance, but he wasn't sure how yet. He'd have to work on that. He also knew they would fall in love, since he was unafraid to write about romance, but he wanted them to fall in love in an interesting way, not one of those corny scenes where they walk into the sunset.
He put his earphones in his ears and sipped his tea before unlocking his iPod, selecting slower electronic music to help his brain come up with ideas, and he began to write.
I think that Roko is secretly writing PoT fanfiction