The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 6
“Nation-Wide Tennis Team Training Camp?”
asked, blinking as she sat across from Coach Sakaki’s desk. The prestigious coach of Hyotei’s tennis team nodded, face stoic as he slid a sheet of paper to her.
“As manager of Hyotei’s tennis team, it is imperative that you come along. It will be a good chance to gather information on rival tennis teams, like Seigaku and Rikkai Dai. The camp lasts for two weeks, and will not affect your grades in any of your classes. Usually, managers would sleep in the same room as the rest of its regulars, but you are a special case, so a separate room will be set up for you beside the Hyotei Regular’s room. Ultimately, the decision is yours, -chan.”
“H-hai. I will consider it, Sakaki-sensei.”
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‘What should I do?’ groaned inwardly, staring at the piece of paper with a distasteful look. Sighing, the manager tucked the sheet back into her school bag and flipped open her sketchbook once more. ‘If I go, then I’ll only have two weeks left to finish my dress… Would I be able to bring sewing materials to the trip? Mou…’ Groaning out loud this time, buried her face in her knees.
“-chan~! I heard, I heard! You must go, you must!” Ayaka blabbered on excitedly. “This is your chance to really get close to the tennis regulars! If you don’t go, I’ll never forgive you.” Snatching ’s bag, she fished out the form and filled it out for herself. “There! Now go hand this in to Sakaki-sensei and get packing! I’ll help!”
Seeing the bright smile dancing on Ayaka’s face, sighed and resigned to her fate, getting up to find the coach of the Hyotei Regulars.
“Bring me back a souvenir!” She heard Ayaka call back from her original spot. “Because you’re going to an onsen!” Stifling her laughter, raised a hand to indicate she understood as she walked off with a little bounce in her step. Ayaka always knew how to cheer her up.
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“Make sure you have your toiletries! I packed them up and left them on your bed.” ’s mother shouted from downstairs, her daughter busily packing her clothes into a large suitcase. She tried desperately to ignore her father, who was pestering her with a small can of pepper spray.
“You never know, -chan! I don’t trust you to sleep in a room beside a bunch of hormone-driven teenagers!” He exclaimed, avoiding her slapping hands.
“Dad~! I told you, I’ll be fine! The doors have locks on them, and no one would dare come into my room! If any of them try anything, I’ll just run to Kuni-kun and he’ll protect me!” Pouting, her father shied away and ran down to her mother to complain about how their daughter was being rebellious again. “Honestly… he’s such a worrywart!” She mumbled, zipping her suitcase closed. Grabbing a large green bag off of one of her shelves, began to fill it with sewing materials and fabric.
“Almost ready, dear? The bus is coming soon, and you don’t want to keep anyone waiting.” nodded, zipping the bag closed and grabbing her cell phone, stuffing that in her coat pocket. Slinging her bag and purse over her shoulder, her father came up to help carry her suitcase down the stairs and out the door. It didn’t take long for a large tour bus to roll up her street, the doors opening to reveal Atobe.
“, it’s time to go.” He said, allowing her to nod and pass her suitcase to the bus driver. Kissing her mother and father on the cheek and giving them one last hug, bounded over to Atobe. The heir to the Atobe’s helped her up the steps, leading her into the bus.
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“Ohayou -san~!”
laughed, greeting the rest of the Hyotei Regulars as they waved at her on the bus. The trip to the camp was about five hours, so they’d be there at about seven ‘o’clock at night. It would be enough time to unpack and get settled into their respective rooms. The teams were arriving at different times, so hoped Tezuka would be there before her, so she could hang out with him after she finished unpacking. They hadn’t seen each other in a few months, since school started, and she missed her best friend a lot.
Until then, would just have to sit back and enjoy the ride.
“DAMN IT JIROU, STOP HOGGING THE DAMN SEAT!!”
sighed. Or not.
Feeling a heavy weight on her lap, looked down to see Jirou’s head nestled on her lap, snoring softly. Blinking, stifled a giggle, reaching down to gently stroke the tennis player’s hair, marvelling at its silkiness.
The atmosphere in the bus suddenly took a drastic turn, a tense aura soon replacing it.
“Eh?”
“Jirou. Get off of ’s lap.”
“A-Atobe-senpai?”
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Cheeks puffed out and eyes narrowed, glared at Atobe as he helped her off the bus. The dirt crunched noisily beneath her runners, and she childishly gave him the cold shoulder, walking to gather her suitcase from the bus driver. She could feel his gaze boring into her back like daggers, but held strong and stalked into the onsen hotel.
“Hai. We’re from Hyotei Gakuen, and we’re here for the Nation-Wide Tennis Team Training Camp.” stated loudly, slapping a piece of paper down on the front counter. The old woman behind the counter took the envelope, checking everything and then giving two keys.
“Hello there, dearie. I didn’t think a young girl would be here, in a place like this, but it seems so.” She chuckled at that point. “Your teammate’s rooms are 23, and you’re in room 24. Is that alright?” , calming down after speaking to the peaceful senior, smiled and nodded her head enthusiastically. Taking the keys with gratitude, bowed to the old woman and turned to lead the Hyotei team to their room, which was on the second floor.
It was quite a sight, seeing the esteemed Hyotei Regulars being lead up to their room by a petite, black-haired girl glowering at them all.
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“If anyone is still hungry, there’s food down in the cafeteria. You have no curfew, but you are expected to show up at your assigned court at nine in the morning everyday, except for Sunday. Saturday’s will be half days, ending at twelve, but Monday through Friday you will be expected to train from nine to three. Ten minutes from here is a great place to shop and explore, and the owners encourage you to take a look around. The hot spring is open all day, but closes at ten. Any questions?” asked, finished reading the instruction sheet. When no one’s hand rose, spoke again. “Alright then. Our tennis court is court C, see you tomorrow then.”
Closing the door swiftly behind her, sighed and made her way to her own room, which is small compared to the others, but that was expected. It was still quite a large room for one person, though. Most people would be really ecstatic to have such a large room all to themselves… but…
All it did was scare her.
©Snowflake