The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 5
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Atobe Keigo had never quite been this uncomfortable before.
Sitting in front of him was , and Tezuka.
And they were eating dinner together.
Go figure.
“I’m so glad you decided to join us, Atobe-sama.” ’s mother giggled, covering her mouth politely. said nothing, keeping her eyes on her food. Atobe flashed a dazzling smile at her.
“It is an honour to eat with the family.” He bowed slightly in his chair. ’s father set his fork down from the other end of the table.
“It was the least you could do for us, since you graciously took time out of your busy schedule to return ’s bag.” He replied. could feel her mother’s glare from where she was sitting, and stuffed a piece of chicken into her mouth stiffly. Atobe pretended not to notice, and nodded to ’s father.
“It was no trouble at all.” And so, silence ensued once more.
Tension was thick in the air for a few minutes, until dinner was finished and they all retreated to the living room. ’s mother and father left the three to themselves, retreating to work in their respective offices. Atobe casually sat down on one of the couches, legs and arms crossed. Tezuka, silent as usual, sat in an armchair, which left .
“I’ll go get some cake and tea for us.” She said softly, before turning to disappear into the kitchen.
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When she re-entered the room, Tezuka and Atobe were openly glaring at each other, but still stoic in their respective chairs. felt like she was intruding upon a battle scene.
“Um… I brought the tea?” She squeaked. Atobe waved a hand dismissively.
“Leave it on the table.” He said curtly, and nodded. Tezuka, his eyes not leaving Atobe’s, put up a hand to stop her.
“Don’t just order her around like she’s your servant.” He replied. The tension thickened, and gulped, still frozen in her spot.
“Well she certainly can’t just stand there like a doll, holding onto a heavy tray of tea and cake.” He snapped.
“Ano…”
“Why don’t you let her decide where to put it herself, instead of sounding like an arrogant, childish boy?”
“Would a mere boy own several of his own establishments all across Japan?”
“He would if he was an arrogant, childish boy from the Atobe family.”
“Are you implying something, Tezuka?”
“And if I am, Atobe?”
“K-Kuni-kun, A-Atobe-senpai-,”
She suddenly froze. Her breath hitching as something flashed across her eyes, and a voice echoed into her ears.
STOP FIGHTING!
CRASH
She was jolted into awareness when the tray slipped from her hands, crashing onto the floor and sending hot tea splashing everywhere. gasped in pain, slipping and falling on her behind and flinging the hot liquid off her legs.
“Itai, itai, itai!!” She sucked in a breath.
“!” Tezuka and Atobe shouted, dashing over to her on the floor. Two maids barged into the room.
“-sama-,”
“Get a towel, and some cold water!” Atobe ordered, and they nodded and scurried away. Tezuka was busy checking the burns on her legs.
“They don’t appear to be severe, so just applying some lotion or ointment will be fine.” He said, lightly tracing his fingers over the burns. nodded, sniffling and wiping her tears away from the corners of her eyes. “Are you alright, -chan?” She nodded once again, not daring to look him straight in the eye. The maids came back with the towel and water, and Atobe wet the towel to begin cooling off the burns.
“G-gomen nasai, Kuni-kun, Atobe-senpai.” murmured, watching Atobe and Tezuka look at her legs guiltily. “I should have been holding onto the tray more firmly.”
“It was my fault.” Atobe said. “If I hadn’t ordered you to put it down, Tezuka wouldn’t have argued with me.”
“And I shouldn’t have lost my temper like that, especially over something so trivial.” Tezuka backed up. “So don’t worry, -chan. It was our fault, not yours.”
She smiled up at them through tears, nodding.
“Arigatou.”
But she couldn’t help but wonder why the voice that echoed into her ears made her shiver. Where had it come from?
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“Ohayou!”
“Ohayou -san!”
giggled, depositing her school bag on a chair and grabbing a clipboard. Quickly, she skimmed through the schedule as the tennis club assembled in front of her.
“Alright then! First years practice swings on court E and F! Second years take turn volleying to each other on courts A, B, C, and D! I’ll be back to check on you in 30 minutes!” She said, and they saluted her before shuffling to start their training. After that was done, flipped through the pages and ambled her way over to the private regular training area. They were all stretching out their bodies to prepare, and closed the glass door behind her to catch their attention.
“Oshitari-senpai, Gakuto-senpai, rally for 10 minutes to warm up fully. Kabaji-senpai, Jirou-senpai, 25 laps around the courts. Shishido-senpai, Ohtori, keep stretching and then go warm up with Kabaji and Jirou when they’re done their laps. Atobe-senpai, Hiyoshi, play a one-set match.” said, and they all promptly got to it. Sighing, scratched the back of her head and went to sit down on a chair, surveying their training and scribbling notes down.
She looked down at her legs, which were tingling somewhat. Sighing once more, she placed her clipboard on the table and brought out a jar of ointment, spreading it over her legs to relieve the sensation. Rubbing her sticky hands, looked up to see Atobe standing and looking at her.
“Ah! Atobe-senpai, your match with Hiyoshi is done already?” She asked, and he nodded. She grabbed the clipboard and flipped through the pages. “Eto… Go do your special training for thirty minutes.” She directed, checking off a couple things on the sheet of paper. A few seconds passed, when she realized Atobe hadn’t moved. “Atobe-senpai?”
“How are the burns?” He asked bluntly, and she blinked.
“Ah. They’re healing well. My doctor said they wouldn’t leave any scars.” She commented offhandedly. He nodded, and then walked off. watched him go with a slightly puzzled expression, but shrugged it off and continued scribbling on her clipboard.
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“Ne, -chan?”
“Hai Aya-chan?”
“Did you always have that scar?”
blinked, looking down at her hip to see the end of a scar peeking out from underneath her panties. She and Ayaka had just come back from PE, and were changing to go back to class. touched the top of the scar lightly, and smiled brightly, laughing.
“Silly Aya-chan! This is a birthmark!” Her best friend blinked, before breaking out in laughter.
“Oh! I see. Good, you worried me for a second there.” She giggled. Leaning closer, Ayaka poked ’s birthmark. “That’s kind of cool. But you don’t have 100 percent smooth skin anymore!” She pouted, and laughed, shrugging into her school shirt.
“It’s not the end of the world, Aya-chan.” teased. Ayaka stuck her tongue out at her best friend.
“I wasn’t saying it was, but it’ll be hard to find a boyfriend with that thing on your hip.” raised a brow at Ayaka, bursting into laughter.
“They won’t even see it half the time, and even if it is showing, they won’t notice it!”
“Well I noticed it!” grinned at her.
“After knowing me for two years, and having to change in the exact same room with me for PE.” Ayaka flushed, hitting her friend on the arm as she burst into another fit of giggles.
“Shut up!”
laughed harder.
©Snowflake