The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 7
It was night in the small town beside a large recreational area, and the stars were twinkling brightly in the dark sky, watching over the inhabitants of this town. Under an onsen roof, in the cafeteria was a multitude of teenage boys, sitting down in front of a table of food and chatting about that day’s training. Among these pubescent-infested tables was one young girl, currently fighting with a red-haired boy.
“Give it back, Gakuto!”
“I called dibs, !”
“Don’t you dare-,”
Before finished her sentence, Gakuto quickly took a bit out of the shrimp tempura he was currently holding hostage in his chopsticks. Furious, the girl whacked Gakuto in the forehead with her chopsticks, making him yelp in pain and drop the tempura onto the floor.
“Now look what you made me do!” He exclaimed, pointing accusingly at the tempura sitting innocently on the floor. growled at him, crossing her arms and turning her head away.
“It’s not my fault you can’t keep a hold of things with your chopsticks.” She replied. “Midget.”
“What was that?!”
Everyone around their table sighed, watching the two erupt into a staring/glaring contest. Their fierce battle was soon interrupted when Atobe Keigo, captain of the Hyotei Regulars, tapped his chopsticks regally against a wine glass, catching the attention of his team.
“Enough. If you’re all done eating, we are retiring to our room to sleep. Come.” Atobe commanded, rising from his seat and walking off, Kabaji soon following. One-by-one, the rest of his team began to follow grudgingly, knowing that a good night’s sleep would benefit them tomorrow in training. Sighing and scratching her head, lagged behind slightly as she cleaned up the mess they left behind.
Once she caught up, she saw Atobe standing outside his door waiting for her.
“Atobe-senpai.” She greeted, bowing. He nodded his head to her.
“. Are you going to sleep now?” He asked. shook her head, smiling.
“I thought I’d soak in the hot springs for a little while before heading to sleep.” She answered. Atobe’s eyes narrowed.
“Again? You did that yesterday too.” He said. Blushing, looked away.
“Can’t a girl relax after a strenuous day of taking care of the lot of you?” She snapped. was suddenly startled when Atobe turned her around to look at him, and he began to smooth his hands over her face.
“Gomen. But please go to sleep early. I’ve noticed you seem more tired than usual.” He commented, paying attention to the dark bags under her eyes. Eyes widening, quickly pushed away, stiffly making her way to her room.
“I-it must be your imagination.” She answered quickly, opening the door. “Anyways, I’ll see you in the morning. Oyasumi.” Atobe sighed, flipping his hair out of his eyes and coming to the terms that he wouldn’t be able to get anything out of her today.
“Oyasumi.” With those final words, Atobe abruptly turned and walked into his own room. Leaving to herself, the girl quickly grabbed her bathing things and hurried over to the hot springs. As the hotel was currently restricted to only tennis teams, was the only girl and was able to bath in the hot springs alone. She stared at herself in the mirror, tracing the dark bags under her eyes and sighing.
“Is it really that noticeable?” She murmured to herself, before stripping and stepping into the onsen.
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“Ohayou!” greeted cheerfully, standing at the front of the cafeteria with a bright smile on her face with her hands on her hips looking quite proud of herself. Rubbing their eyes of sleep, the tennis players all gathered and sat down in their seats, puzzled as to who this girl was (for those who didn’t know) and why she was up so early and so cheerful.
“, ohayou.” Atobe greeted, swiftly taking his seat. Giggling and bounding over to her team, plopped down in her chair and waited as the plates of breakfast were handed out. Eyes sparkling as they looked at the delicious food, all of the tennis players wolfed down their food, each sighing once they finished. It was very good.
“Like it? I helped the chefs make it.” giggled. Everyone looked at her with wide eyes.
“Really? Wow! -chan might actually make a good housewife!” Shishido commented, patting his full stomach. She shot him a glare.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Growling, leaned over the table to start another staring contest, only this time with the hat-wearing Hyotei Regular.
“Training starts in one hour, so please eat breakfast at a reasonably fast pace.” Atobe cut in, drawing the attention of the two.
“Hai, Atobe-buchou.”
“Ryokai, Atobe-senpai!” exclaimed. With a grin and a giggle, the girl excused herself to spend a little social time with Tezuka.
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“Ah, gomen -chan. I should get ready for training.” Tezuka said, rising from his seat. nodded, standing as well.
“Of course! I have to be there for their practice anyways.” With a smile, got ready to head off, until Tezuka stalled her for another minute.
“I just wanted to ask… is everything okay, -chan?” Tezuka asked. Freezing for a slight second, turned up to him with an innocently confused expression.
“Of course, Kuni-kun. Nothing could ever put me down. I’m a raging little pit bull, remember?” With a giggle and a wave, jogged off to join her teammates. “Don’t worry, don’t worry! I can take care of myself!” She added to reassure him. Tezuka stood looking at her for a few seconds, before sighing and heading off to gather his things.
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“It’s not my fault!”
“Yes! It’s you and your horrible aiming skills, Gakuto!”
“Well you were the one who volunteered to pick up my wayward balls!”
“Because I thought your aim would be at least mediocre!”
The Hyotei Regulars sighed once more, leaning back to watch the mildly interesting argument between and Gakuto. It wouldn’t be too long now before Atobe stepped in to send them all to sleep.
“Forget this.” snarled, slamming her hand on the table. “I’m right, you’re wrong, and now I’m going to take a dip in the hot springs! Good night!” Abruptly standing up, stomped over to the women’s section, leaving behind a steaming acrobatic tennis player.
“Whiney little brat!” He cursed, before getting up as well to stalk off to his room. With another sigh, the regulars reluctantly followed him to get to bed. They could see the look on Atobe’s face. It was better to face darkness than to stay around to feel their captain’s wrath.
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“Stupid Gakuto… stupid tennis balls… stupid aim.” grumbled, sinking deeper into the water with a sigh. The day had been quite eventful, as had any other day here at the NWTTTC (Nation-Wide Tennis Training Camp). She had been able to feed off of the energy of the other people and keep herself hyper and running smoothly, but sitting here and letting the hot water relax her bones made the brunt of her restless nights come weighing down on her.
With the combined heat of the water, the fogginess in the air, and her exhaustion, it was inevitable that in the next second, everything went black.
©Snowflake