DOPAMINE PoT Dream Novel: Where’s My Knight in Shining Armor?

Where’s My Knight in Shining Armor?

“Get the hell out of our house and if I ever see you touch my sister again Oshitari Yuushi I’m going to break that pretty face of yours,” snarled , a white haired, green eyed student of Seigaku to the tensai of Hyoutei. Trying to get past was her little sister Reiko, a black haired green eyed female student of Seigaku as well. Reiko was two years younger than and Oshitari. was kind of angry finding her little sister and Oshitari making out in her little sister’s room. Sniggering could be heard from the little brothers of Reiko and .

“Nee-chan,” whined Reiko.

“Shut up, Reiko,” snapped , glaring still at Oshitari. The tensai was standing on the front porch of the home, angry.

“Reiko is my girlfriend, -san,” mocked Oshitari. He really did like Reiko very much.

“GET OUT OF HERE,” yelled , effectively slamming the door in his face. “Reiko, just go to your room. Hiro, Tai go outside and play.” sighed as she entered the kitchen to finish dinner. Being the oldest in the family was hard, especially when her sister is trying to date a tensai, her brothers are treating the house like a war zone, and her parents are workaholics. She grumbled as she attempted to make some food.

The next day at school headed to class. She usually remained in the back of the classroom trying to pay attention to the lessons. The light haired girl was still annoyed about yesterday and she was giving off an aura that said not to mess with her today. Unfortunately for her, some of her classmates were highly obnoxious, mainly girls who gushed and giggled over Tezuka and Oishi, whom are in her class.

“Good morning, -chan,” said Oishi.

“Good morning,” grumbled , heading to her seat, “Oishi-kun, Tezuka-san.” Tezuka sat there next to his best friend, reading.

“Good morning, -san,” said Tezuka, his deep voice echoed through the nearly empty classroom. always thought that he was a bit creepy since his facial expressions NEVER changed, but he was always polite and was the epitome of calm. Oishi, knew, was an all around good, nice guy. The girl especially knew why girls ogled at them, but that’s beside the point.

“Someone’s in a bad mood,” said Fuji Syuusuke, entering the classroom. The green-eyed girl twitched.

“Oh Good Lord why are you torturing me so with ANOTHER tensai to deal with,” moaned . The three tennis players just looked at her as if she had twenty heads.

“Ah, yes I did hear that Oshitari is dating your little sister,” said Fuji, smiling politely.

“Yes, unfortunately,” said . “He thinks he can do whatever he wants…stupid little brat.”

“Who, Oshitari or your sister,” asked Fuji. Oishi sighed as he knew that Fuji was getting on ’s nerves and Tezuka sent Fuji a look that said he better back off.

“Fuji-san, just go to your own classroom,” snapped , standing up abruptly then plopping back down in her chair. The blue eyed boy knew when he was not wanted and headed out. All was silent until the other students came in and got prepared for a long day of studying. Their sensei came in the classroom looking particularly cheerful which crept out many people.

“Okay, kiddies, guess what,” asked their sensei, cheerfully. Everyone stared at her blankly. “I just got engaged last night and I’m in a good mood so I decided to partner you all up to be with new people. For next test in history, you have the four chapters to study and remember your math test on chapters 7 and 8.” tuned her out and frankly did not care anymore after the word ‘math’ was mentioned.

“-san,” said Tezuka, snapping her out of her trance. She blinked and noticed people were in pairs.

“Oh, sorry Tezuka-san,” said . “I kind of spaced out.”

“We have to study for our history and math tests,” said Tezuka, blankly, expression unchanging. sheepishly smiled.

“Right, so uh, where do you want to start,” asked . At the end of the day, wondered if Tezuka ever smiled or changed his facial expressions. During the time they studied in class (While their sensei admired her ring or looked at bridal magazines), noticed that he already knew a lot of the history they were studying. He was pretty good at math too and unfortunately he made her feel like an idiot as well. She headed out to wait for her sister so they could walk home together. Today was not her day apparently. Oshitari Yuushi was waiting outside Seigaku’s gates. Reiko rushed passed and straight to her boyfriend, whom she was not supposed to be seeing.

She was going to go over there and get Oshitari away from her sister but saw something that abruptly changed her mind about the whole idea of Reiko dating Oshitari. They both were really happy to see each other. In fact, never saw Reiko ever look so happy before. And Oshitari smiled at Reiko, which he normally does not smile. He is gentle with Reiko and knew that he was not a bad person from the start but the idea of her little sister dating was unnerving to . She sighed and supposed that she, , will talk to their parents concerning Reiko and Oshitari. As long as Reiko is happy, grinned, she will leave them alone.

“You know staring is not nice,” teased Fuji. turned to glare at the other tensai. Tezuka was standing there blankly staring at Fuji to leave the poor girl alone. “Are you going over there?”

“Nah,” said . “I suppose it isn’t that bad that they are together.”

“Fuji-kun, let’s go,” called his girlfriend, Hall Sapphire. Fuji bowed almost mockingly towards and headed off to his girlfriend. That left Tezuka and standing there in silence. The white haired girl felt like she should leave because any minute now Tezuka’s girlfriend was going to show up. Yes, the stoic tennis captain has a girlfriend. Sano Hoshiko is the captain of the girls’ tennis team and probably the most wanted girl in the school. met her once or twice she was really nice and was not stuck up at all, in ’s opinion. Of course very little people realized that Tezuka and Hoshiko were actually dating, unlike Fuji and Sapphire (In which Fuji can get a little crazy when another boy flirts with his girl) who everyone knew that they were dating.

“See you tomorrow Tezuka-san,” said , heading out.

“Be careful,” said Tezuka. waved to the captain and sighed. Home was going to be hell with the evil twins she called brothers. Luckily her brothers did not blow up the house by the time she got there. The elementary school gets out before the high school, which thinks is really a stupid idea. One time she found Hiro and Tai get ready to jump off the roof with some sheets tied around them. What a fun day that was, she had to climb the ladder and forcefully get them back through the window.

“Nee-san, where’s nee-chan,” asked Hiro, in an annoying voice.

“Out, now let’s do you homework,” said .

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,” shouted Hiro and Tai, running away. She thus began the daily chase she dubbed ‘getting little brothers to do their homework’ chase. A few days later, had talked to her parents about her sister and Oshitari. Her parents always listened to ’s judgment because most of the time she was usually right about a person. Reiko was so happy that she made her favorite dessert—warm apple pie with vanilla ice cream. Hell, even Oshitari thanked for seeing that he was not that bad. So now decided to take Hiro and Tai out into the town because frankly they were getting restless and since it was such a nice day out decided what the hell and was going to spend some of her allowance on them. Reiko, of course, was spending the day with Oshitari at Atobe’s house or something like that.

“Nee-san,” whined Hiro, “Can we get ice cream?”

“Nee-san,” said Tai, “Can we go to the arcade?”

“Yes and yes,” said , each of her brothers held one of her hands so they would not get lost in the crowd.

“Nee-san,” said the combined voices of both of her brothers, “Can we go bowling instead?” nodded and they went to the bowling alley. As paid for her and her brothers, she spotted the Seigaku tennis team there. She hoped and prayed that they would not notice her. Unfortunately, their lane was right next to theirs.

“Ah, -chan, hello,” greeted Oishi.

“Hey, boys,” said , “and Ryuuzaki-sensei.” Hiro and Tai looked at the boys with disdain. “Hiro, Tai, come let’s not bother them.”

“Ah, -chan you would not be bothering us at all,” said Fuji.

“Ne, Fuji-kun, leave poor -chan alone,” said Sapphire, sitting nearby.

“Thanks, Hall-chan,” said . Her brothers already started the game up; they just so happened to be on the elementary school’s bowling team and were really good at the game. “Oi, Hiro don’t drop that ball on Tai’s foot!”

“I wasn’t doing anything Nee-san,” said Hiro, innocently. Tai glared at his twin. The twins were about to start fighting, but thankfully glared at them.

“Behave or no takoyaki tonight,” said .

“You wouldn’t,” gasped Hiro and Tai.

“Try me,” said , blankly. As the games proceeded, noticed Inui had his special drinks and thanked the Lord that she was not playing with them. She merely watched her brothers try to beat each other at bowling, making sure that they were behaving themselves. Unfortunately Hiro and Tai began to get bored of the game and watched the tennis players bowl.

“Hey, Nee-san,” asked Hiro, whiningly. “Who’s the boy in the glasses with no expression on his face?”

“That’s Tezuka Kunimitsu, he’s the captain of the team,” said . “Don’t bother him or any of the other boys.”

“Nee-san, how come Reiko-nee-chan got a boyfriend before you? Boys probably don’t like you because you are violent and unattractive unlike Reiko-nee-chan,” stated Tai. began twitching, but she knew what he was saying is true.

“Yep, Nee-san is very unskilled in lots of things,” said Hiro. twitched and knew that was true too.

“Aw, come on now, -chan is very cute,” said Kikumaru, overhearing the conversation. “Isn’t that right Fujiko-chan?”

“Of course, but Sapphire-chan, my dear, is much cuter,” said Fuji. Sapphire just looked at him. “Momo, Kaidoh, Echizen don’t you agree that -chan is cute?” Momo nodded and the other two just shrugged, they were not getting involved in this situation.

“No way, Nee-san is so scary,” said Hiro and Tai. “How about you two, what do you think?” He was referring to Oishi and Inui.

“-chan is very pretty.”

“There’s a ninety-nine percent chance that -san will pummel me into the ground if I answer,” said Inui, pushing up his glasses. just stared at the boys; her brothers were arguing with the Seigaku tennis team over whether or not she was cute. She groaned and knew she was blushing red; this was very embarrassing indeed. At least her brothers were not going to ask Tezuka, because he probably is the most honest one.

“Ne, what about Stoic-man over here,” asked Hiro. wanted to bang her head on the table; she did not know why Tezuka’s opinion is so important.

“Yes, Tezuka do tell,” said Fuji, egging on Tezuka in which he got a look from Sapphire that said he better behave or else.

“-san is a very beautiful girl,” said Tezuka, blankly. Everyone blinked and began to blush more. These boys were just pulling her leg. She could already see Inui scribbling down some stats, just what she needed. Suddenly, ’s cell phone rang and it was her mother.

“Okay, enough fun,” said to her brothers. “Okaa-chan wants me to bring you home to clean your room.”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,” yelled Hiro and Tai, trying to escape. grabbed both of them by the backs of their shirts.

“Let’s go, you little brats,” said . “I still have my chores to do as well. See you all at school, boys. Bye Ryuuzaki-sensei, it was nice seeing you again.” She dragged her brothers off. Fuji turned to Tezuka to say something but Sapphire stepped rather hard on his foot.

“Ow, that hurt,” complained Fuji.

“I thought I told you to leave poor -chan alone,” said Sapphire. Kikumaru sniggered; Fuji was in trouble with his girlfriend. Tezuka felt like he wanted to roll his eyes at the antics of his friends after all these years. Actually he was surprised at himself that he actually answered the little boys’ question after all he had his own girlfriend, Hoshiko, to dote upon. He should not have said that to a girl that was not his girlfriend.

Soon and her little brothers arrived home in which their mother took the boys to their room to watch them clean it. went to her own room. Her room was not actually a bedroom but a finish basement. She had a bed, couch, television, two dressers, and the second refrigerator/freezer in the house. The white haired girl plopped herself on her bed and reached under her pillow for a notebook. She has not written anything in her diary or journal in a few years but she needed to see something.

‘Hey, I don’t know why I’m still writing in this thing since I’m in my last year at Seigaku Chuu…’ skimmed over the random things in the notebook and finally got to the part she wanted. ‘I can’t believe I have a crush on Tezuka Kunimitsu, he is way out of my league.’ She almost forgot that she had a crush on Tezuka three years ago; it had since died down for various reasons and she really wished that she did not feel her crush coming back.

“Alright, , don’t do this again. Tezuka-san is happily in a relationship with a very nice girl and, for Christ’s sake, why can Reiko and I NOT like tennis players,” muttered the girl. She unfortunately knew that she could too easily manipulate her way into Tezuka’s heart but it was not right and knew that she will eventually meet someone who can make her happy. She just now had to figure out a way to stop her feelings. All she had to do was stop thinking about Tezuka or anyone related in anyway to him.

It was going to be a long weekend.

“Good morning -chan,” said Oishi, the next school day.

“Hn,” muttered , tired since she barely got any sleep this weekend after her stupid revelation. She sat in her seat in the back and put her head on the desk; she willed herself not to fall asleep.

“-chan, are you feeling alright,” asked Oishi, worriedly.

“You should not have come to school if you were feeling ill,” said Tezuka. squeezed her eyes shut before lifting her head up. She smiled at the boys.

“Don’t worry about me, I just didn’t get to sleep last night because I was reading a really good book,” said . Oishi looked skeptical, so did Tezuka, but no one could really tell what he was thinking. The girl sighed and at least they bought it for now. At lunch went outside to see if she get some sleep, but Sapphire sat down next to her.

“What’s wrong,” asked the blue haired girl.

“You’re just going to tell Fuji-san,” said , blankly.

“Between us girls I swear I won’t tell Fuji-kun or anyone,” said Sapphire, seriously.

“Well, um, when did you start liking Fuji-san,” asked .

“Probably sometime during second year of middle school, why,” asked Sapphire.

“Well, in our third year, I kind of had a crush on Tezuka-san,” said , trying not to blush. Sapphire nodded for her to continue. “Well, that disappeared sometime after graduation but now I think I kind of like him which is wrong since he has a girlfriend.”

“I see your dilemma,” said Sapphire, “and you were up for the past two nights trying to make the feelings go away. Trust me, I tried that with Fuji-kun years ago, it didn’t work.”

“Hall-chan what am I going to do? I can’t have feelings for him because I just can’t,” said , almost hysterical.

“And if you tell him, you’ll never be able to look him in eyes again,” said Sapphire, sighing. “I don’t know what to tell you, -chan, but all I can say is to keep quiet about your feelings and act normal.”

“So basically just see what life throws at me,” said , rubbing her forehead as if she was getting a headache. Sapphire smiled in reassurance. But both knew it was never that simple. And unfortunately the fuku-buchou of the girls’ tennis team, Hoshiko’s best friend, Ana overheard the conversation, not all of it but enough. Oh no, the girls’ fuku-buchou was not going to Hoshiko with this information but the other members of the club that respected Hoshiko very much so. That afternoon, was at her locker getting ready to go home. Reiko was just picked up by Oshitari. They asked her if she wanted to walk with them but declined.

“Yo, ,” said Ana, the fuku-buchou with two other members behind her.

“Yeah,” asked . She really hoped that these girls were not looking for a fight because she did not want to get in trouble this year.

“Stay away from Tezuka-kun,” said the girl.

“Alright,” said , she knew that Sapphire would never rat her out to the girls’ tennis team so this girl must have overheard their conversation.

“Seriously, or we are going to tell Hoshiko-buchou,” said Ana.

“I swear I will,” said , walking away. The next day, her class was in the library doing research for an essay that was assigned. was busy looking for a few books on the shelves. Oishi was busy on the computer and Tezuka was sitting at one of the table reading. through the book shelf she was standing near she watched Tezuka carefully.

‘Oh God, I’m a stalker fan girl, this is getting really bad.’ shook her head and began searching again for the book she needed when her sensei called her over.

“Yes,” asked to her sensei.

“Your sister is in the infirmary, she got into a fight,” said the sensei, handing her a pass to go see her sister. nodded and left rather quickly. Her sister was actually unscathed; it was just that the other girl was beaten up. The other girl was Ana.

“Reiko,” asked , confused. Her normally mild-mannered sister was angry.

“Don’t worry about it Nee-chan this girl won’t talk bad about you again,” said Reiko.

“I don’t care what people think of me,” said , sitting next to her sister.

“But I don’t like it when someone bad mouths my Nee-chan,” said Reiko, livid, glaring at the girl.

“Apologize to the girl Reiko,” said . Reiko huffed and shook her head ‘no’. “Reiko…” Reiko huffed again and got up. The girl moved away from Reiko.

“Listen I’m sorry that I hurt you but don’t talk about my sister that way,” said Reiko.

“She’s a whore and a boyfriend stealer,” said the female fuku-buchou, hissing. Reiko was ready to lunge at the girl again when stopped her.

“It doesn’t bother me,” said , sternly. never cared what people thought of her, she has been called many names like ‘bitch’, ‘slut’, ‘psycho’, ‘ugly’, ‘stupid’, and the list goes on. It never fazes her. was a prideful person but she never wanted trouble. However if someone comes picking a fight with her she will defend herself without a doubt. That afternoon, Reiko was suspended for a few days; sighed as she sat near her locker. She was thinking about things when Hoshiko, the pretty buchou, sat next to her. She was a dark haired girl with a tan probably because of all the time she spent outside.

“I’m sorry,” said Hoshiko. “My fuku-buchou told me everything.”

“No need to apologize, Sano-san,” said . “I’m sorry Reiko hurt your friend.”

“She was just doing what any sister would do for another sister,” said Hoshiko. “I always thought highly of you, you know? I respect you.”

“Thank you,” said , puzzled.

“But I’m afraid I’m not going to let you be near Kunimitsu-kun, I hope you understand,” said Hoshiko. knew that the female tennis player was just as prideful as .

“Ah, don’t worry, I never planned to steal Tezuka-san away from you or anything like that,” said . “I understand fully.”

“Good,” said Hoshiko, taking her leave. banged her head against the lockers, closed her eyes and sighed. She was going to have to ignore Tezuka, meaning she’ll probably have to ignore the rest of the tennis team.

“Oi, -san,” drawled the voice of Oshitari, entering.

“What the hell are you doing here,” asked .

“Well, your sister, my beloved girlfriend, told me to come and escort you home just in case,” said Oshitari, smirking. “You know -san, I figure you be the type of girl to actually go after what she wants.”

“What I want, and what I can’t have are the same,” said , standing up. “It’s no use trying to make him like me because he has Sano-san.”

“Che, maybe I should set you up with Atobe or Shishido,” said Oshitari, motioning her to start walking.

“They’re not my type,” said , blankly.

“How would you know what your type is,” mocked Oshitari.

“Oh shut up you stupid tensai,” said , snapping. Oshitari chuckled. ’s mind was off her problem for now. Meanwhile Tezuka was walking home Hoshiko. She was holding on to his hand, smiling. But she really wanted to ask him what he thought of ; however Tezuka does not usually disclose what he thinks of people.

“Ne, Kunimitsu-kun, what do you think of -san,” asked Hoshiko, she figured it could not hurt to ask.

“She’s a good person,” said Tezuka. He will never tell Hoshiko what he really thought of ever. No one knew. No one knew that he admired her very much so.

“I think so too,” said Hoshiko, remembering the talk she had with the white haired girl only a little while ago. For , her day was not over because as she sat in her room, her father came in. Despite both her parents working so much, she knew they loved her and her siblings very much so.

“, Reiko told me everything. Don’t worry your mother does not know,” said her father.

“Otou-san, you need not worry about me I’m fine,” said .

“But I do worry because I’m your father,” he said. “Tell me more about this Tezuka guy.”

“Um, what did Reiko tell you,” asked .

“That he was the buchou of the boys’ tennis team and a wonderful player,” said her father, smiling.

“He’s really nice, stoic, he never smiles but you could tell that he’s a good person. He loves tennis and is dedicated to it just like his friends. And he’s really polite, but you know he has this really great girlfriend. I kind of like her too,” said , eyes shining.

“I was afraid of that,” said her father, sighing.

“What,” she asked.

“You’re in love with him.”

“WHAT?”

“There’s no mistaken it,” he said, mused.

“I’m not—” started before blinking. She swore, in which she got a look from her father for using that word. “This is really not my day or month.”

“, I think you should tell him. Keeping your feelings secret will eventually make you burst out with either anger or sadness,” said her father.

“Otou-san, I can’t,” said , blankly. “I have to stay away from him, I’ll be fine.”

“You can always come to me to talk,” said her father.

“I know,” said , smiling. Her father left. lay on her bed, arm lying across her forehead, praying to God that life will get easier. And for the next month it did not. She ignored Tezuka, except for her customary morning greeting just to be polite. As time went on, found herself watching Tezuka in class, barely paying attention to their teacher. But at least she gained a friend out of this mess; Sapphire and get along fairly well. As is not a people person, her only friend up until now was Reiko. The white haired girl is still trying to process why Sapphire is with Fuji. Sapphire was the one that confided in and the blue haired girl never told a soul.

“It’s getting harder for me to ignore him,” told Sapphire one day when they were doing homework in the library. Luckily Fuji and the other boys had tennis practice. Sapphire chewed on the pen she was writing with, noted she did that when she was thinking. And the scary thought is that Sapphire could probably be more cunning than Fuji and Saeki, from Chiba, put together if the blue haired girl put her mind to it…which probably is why Fuji loves her.

“You’re going to have to tell him,” said Sapphire. “Then maybe you’ll be able to get over him.”

“My father said the same thing,” said , sighing.

“He’s right,” said Sapphire.

“I can’t,” said .

“I know you are afraid because you know he’s going to reject you,” said Sapphire, nodding her head. “But still Tezuka is not a mean person and he is polite.”

“I know,” said , frowning. “I don’t want him to feel bad or anything plus I told Sano-san I stay away from him.”

“Hmm,” said Sapphire, thinking. did not like the sound of that ‘hmm’. It was about a week later, it was announced that this year’s senior play would be an original play by Hall Sapphire. Everyone was required to try out for a part, except Sapphire whom was the director. had a strange feeling Sapphire was planning something. She was not much of an actress, to be honest, but she thought she did alright with her try-out. did not really want to be in the play, though.

And the next day got confirmation that Sapphire was indeed up to something. When the white haired girl looked at the list of who would be playing what part, swore she was going crazy. She got the lead. How the hell did she get the lead female role? This was not happening to her. ‘I’m gonna kill Sapphire,’ thought , angrily and annoyed. But then things got worse, the male lead was Tezuka.

“Hall Sapphire, I can’t believe you,” said , annoyed, to the amused girlfriend of Fuji.

“It’ll be fine. I wrote the play in a way that you can subtly tell Tezuka you’re in love with him,” said Sapphire, smiling.

“Now I know why Fuji-san loves you—you’re a secret evil genius. He probably sensed your genius,” said , laughing somewhat at her herself but mostly at the predicament she was in. At least her role was not too bad. The play was about a young woman wanting to be a knight in the king’s army. The King (AKA Tezuka’s character) wants her to prove himself to him that she can indeed fight and she does. Soon, the young woman and the King find themselves falling in love with each other and there are two problems: the King’s married to the Queen (Hoshiko) and the young woman was to go out to a battle with the rest of the army in a matter of days. There was no happy ending to this story which is probably why Sapphire’s play was picked over the others. This play is realistic.

Thus after weeks of rehearsing, the play night arrived. stood back stage with the rest of the cast members. Fuji (cast as the King’s advisor and best friend) was making the white haired lead sick because he was doting on the director way too much. She was nervous as it was performing in front of people and with Tezuka, who is less than thrilled to be the male lead. Hoshiko just sighed as she straightened her crown; she was uncomfortable with the subject of this play for obvious reasons.

“Show time people,” said Sapphire, loudly as she could. breathed in and out. It’s show time. A few scenes later, was really trying to keep her cool. She had Tezuka’s undivided attention and it was scaring her. Sapphire came over during the intermission to calm her down.

“You’re doing great, -chan,” said Sapphire. “You can do this.”

“I’m gonna figure out a way to get back at you,” said , glaring at her friend. Sapphire nodded, like that will ever happen. sighed and got ready for the almost last scene where she was going to confess to the ‘King’. The stage was set and swore she felt like passing out at that very moment. She was getting warm in her outfit not to mention even more nervous. Tezuka stood there, calm and cool as always, ready for the next scene.

The scene was a garden near the castle. was standing there, seemingly waiting for someone. The crowd was very much into this play. Tezuka walked over to her, he did not even have to pretend to be a king because he had the mannerisms of one—regal and such. bowed politely as one would do towards a king.

“Come now Suzuki,” said Tezuka, his deep voice resonated throughout the auditorium. The two of them swore she heard some of the girls in the crowd giggle. “There is no need for formalities.”

“Of course, Milord,” said . She felt her throat beginning to close and damnit why was it so hot? “I just wanted to tell you something before leaving tomorrow with the army to the battle.”

“I’m listening,” said Tezuka. As per what they rehearsed, took Tezuka’s hands in hers and stared in his eyes. The green-eyed girl felt like she could die. Her hands were sweating and she wished that she was not there at that moment. As took the long pause practiced, Tezuka noted that she was not looking too well. She was really nervous, but it seemed that something else was bothering her.

“I know, Milord is married to My Lady but I love you.” ’s eyes bore into Tezuka’s eyes and the tennis captain realized was not acting. He swore he saw her eyes get watery as if she was going to cry. Tezuka did not say anything as bolted and the curtain fell. Kikumaru was the narrator for the story and he concluded the play. Meanwhile ran to the backstage bathroom.

“Oh dear God,” said , leaning against the bathroom wall. She loosened her clothing for it was too tight. Her nerves were a mess and she hoped no one realized (other than Sapphire) that she was not acting. Something wet was on her face and knew she was crying. “Why are you crying stupid? You’re the idiot that fell in love with a boy that loves another girl.”

“That’s not true,” said Hoshiko, entering the bathroom. “He has never told me he loves me.” All the sound that was in bathroom was ’s sniffling. “The crowd loved your performance but I know that this was a plan by Sapphire to help you out.”

“Was I obvious,” asked , wiping her face with her sleeve.

“And you know I found something interesting out from middle school,” said Hoshiko, not answering ’s question. “You were the one to take Kunimitsu-kun to the infirmary on the day that those senpai hurt his shoulder. , you broke your hand punching those senpai and you did not even care. Then in third year when he was getting rehabilitated again, you went to see him because you have family near there and you got to talk to him.” Hoshiko had a strange look in her eyes. remembered those things briefly. She hated bullies and she had to give Tezuka some schoolwork that day.

“Sano-san…”

“I’m thinking that maybe your love for Tezuka started in that first year of middle school,” said Hoshiko. “I hate you for loving him longer than me.”

“He would never go for a girl like me,” said , smiling bitterly. “I told you that I was never going to steal Tezuka-san away from you.”

“I think you already did, but I’m not going to back down,” said Hoshiko.

“Wait, what the hell are you talking about,” asked , getting hysterically upset. The girl tennis player did not respond as she left confused and upset. And neither knew that the bathrooms had thin walls and that Tezuka was in the boys’ room listening to the whole conversation. He remembered those things did for him years ago; he never thanked her for those things. Tezuka did not know what to make of the conversation he just over heard and he thought he just heard Hoshiko challenge . He was going to need some really good advice from the last person he really wanted to go to on the matters of the heart…Fuji Syuusuke. He was going to kick himself later for this.

The next day Tezuka sat in the Fuji household with a highly amused Fuji.

“I see your problem and you have no idea who you really love otherwise you would not be asking me for help,” said Fuji, smiling.

“Fuji,” said Tezuka, seriously.

“Saa, okay, how about word association to help,” said Fuji. “Say the first thing that comes to your mind.”

“Fine,” said Tezuka.

“Racket,” said Fuji.

“Tennis,” replied Tezuka.

“Sleep,” stated Fuji, enjoying this a little too much.

“Night,” replied Tezuka, blankly.

“Silver,” said Fuji.

“Gold,” stated Tezuka.

“Sandwich,” said Fuji, smiling.

“Bread,” stated Tezuka.

“Wasabi,” said Fuji.

“Hot.”

“Sapphire-chan,” said Fuji, lovingly about his beloved girlfriend.

“Fuji,” said Tezuka. He could not picture Sapphire without Fuji.

“Music,” said Fuji.

“Freedom,” replied the stoic buchou.

“School,” said the blue-eyed tensai.

“Boredom,” Tezuka replied. He does not see how this is helping any.

“Light,” said Fuji.

“Dark,” replied Tezuka.

“Love,” said Fuji, trying not to like this too much.

“.”

“Aha, there you go,” said Fuji, smiling wider. Tezuka glared at the tensai.

“That’s a mind trick,” said Tezuka.

“I’m going to tell you something important—follow your heart, it knows what’s right, Tezuka,” said Fuji. Tezuka got up and left the Fuji household with a lot of thinking to do. Tezuka was now kicking himself internally. What was he going to do?

Meanwhile got stuck with Saturday morning detention for cursing at the PE sensei. She sighed. She calmed down about her feelings for Tezuka, she was sad but she knew she could not obsess over her feelings.

“Ne, -san,” drawled Ana.

“What,” asked, turning to the girl. The white haired girl cursed in her head. Besides Ana, there were four other girls and they did not look like they were here for a pleasant conversation about tea and scones. “Does Sano-san need to speak with me?”

“No,” snorted Ana, “why would she want to talk to you?” knew something was indeed wrong. Ana took a punch at ; she () knew something was indeed wrong.

“What the hell,” asked. It was five on one; wished she had some help right now.

At the household, Reiko had Oshitari over to help babysit Hiro and Tai. Hiro and Tai running around the house like banshees giving both Hyoutei’s tensai and their older sister headaches. The two young boys DO NOT like Oshitari and Reiko was not as scary as , thus they did not listen. Then the door of the house opened and the four knew was home from detention.

“Nee-chan,” started Reiko, watching as her older sister walks right by her, straight downstairs to her room. “Nee-chan, what’s wrong?” Reiko, Tai, and Hiro followed downstairs. Oshitari hung back because it seemed to be a family issue. But to his surprise, Reiko called out to him the strangest thing ever. “YUUSHI CALL A DOCTOR AND OUR PARENTS NOW!”

A few days later, Tezuka and Oishi were sitting in class. did not come to school yesterday so they wondered if she was sick. Reiko came yesterday to pick up the work her older sister missed and gave Tezuka a dirty look. After talking with Fuji, Tezuka realized that he was indeed in love with . He still has not figured out how to break off his relationship with Hoshiko either.

“Ne, Kunimitsu-kun,” asked Hoshiko, “can we talk?” Tezuka was walking her home after tennis practice that afternoon. She was oddly quiet and usually she holds his hand but she was not today.

“What’s wrong,” asked Tezuka.

“I think we should break up,” said Hoshiko. “I mean I’m still in love with you, but I believe your affections lie with someone else.” Tezuka did not realize that Hoshiko figured out that he loves .

“How do you know,” asked Tezuka.

“It’s a girl thing,” replied Hoshiko, simply. “And I should tell you that -san is not sick, Ana-san and some of her friends beat up her up while she was at Saturday detention.” Tezuka’s eyes visibly narrowed. “I think you need to go talk to her.” Thus Hoshiko led Tezuka to ’s house and Tezuka did not ask how she knew where lived.

“Tezuka-senpai, Sano-senpai, what are you two doing here,” asked Reiko, narrowing her eyes and glaring at them both.

“We need to talk to your sister,” said Hoshiko.

“Why should I let you go near Nee-chan,” asked Reiko. Oshitari then appeared at the door.

“Reiko-chan, let them in, I’m sure this will be good for -san,” said Oshitari. Reiko relented at pointed Tezuka and Hoshiko at ’s room. The tennis girl knocked and was then told rather rudely to leave. Tezuka opened the door.

“I told you I don’t want to talk to anyone, Reiko,” snapped . She blinked as Tezuka was there instead of her sister. Hoshiko was behind him. “Get out.” There was no heat in her words. She looked awful, sitting on her bed. She had a black eye, her left cheek was bruised and those were the only visible bruises. She has a few on her stomach and back.

“-san,” started Hoshiko.

“Get out,” said , still with no heat in her words. “GET OUT NOW!” Hoshiko sighed and left but Tezuka stayed, staring intently at her.

“-san, we need to talk,” said Tezuka, moving closer to her.

“What,” asked, willing herself not to look at him.

“During the play, you weren’t acting were you,” stated Tezuka. She did not answer. “I have an answer for you. I love you, I’m sorry I didn’t realize it sooner.”

“I see,” said . “And Sano-san has no problem with you being in love with me.” She stood up still not looking at him in the eyes.

“She and I broke up,” said Tezuka.

“I don’t know what you want me to do,” said , finally looking into his eyes. She knew that he was not lying to her. “I love you so much.” She began getting red in the face. Tezuka moved closer and placed his hand on her right cheek, the one without the bruise.

“You were always there,” muttered Tezuka. “Thank you.” She smiled at him, eyes shining happily. She then blushed more as Tezuka gave her a small smile. tip-toed and kissed him on the cheek. She then hugged him. never felt happier or safer when in his arms. Tezuka knew that this was the girl for him.