“Psst!”-Kei-kun's (Long Awaited!) Discovery!
“Psst!”
Keiko looked up from the telephone, to see Otaru standing behind her with a smile.
“Good evening!” he piped.
“Otaru!” Keiko was relieved. She wanted to hold him, and whine non-stop about her problems (like she wish she could with her rather unsympathetic brother), but she held her crybaby tears back with a sigh, and put hand on his shoulder in exasperation. “Man, has it been a day.”
“Care to share?” Otaru said good-naturedly, turning to walk to his dorm.
“I ran into this brat of a girl in the mall today…” Keiko walked alongside Otaru. “And she latched onto me like some sort of leech!”
Otaru laughed. “You know a lot of headstrong girls.”
“Yeah. Call me cursed, I guess.” Keiko replied, although she convicted herself as being one of them. She felt a twinge of guilt in her heart.
Otaru opened his dorm room door. “I feel sorry for you.” He looked up to Keiko standing outside the door while he walked inside. “Come on in!”
Keiko felt her pulse speed up at the offer. She couldn’t refuse, it would give her away…that’s what Anji would think, right?
…but what about Daddy?
Keiko stepped into Otaru’s room. Dad probably wouldn’t care. She sarcastically thought. She noticed one side of the room was mostly empty and untouched.
“I don’t have a roomie this year. Lucky me, huh?” Otaru smiled, and sat on his bed.
Keiko blinked, and looked around. The room overall was a bit bland. His bed was neatly made, and a few books were stacked on his desk.
“A big reader, huh?” Keiko sat on his desk chair, and looked at the book on the top of the pile.
“Not really. I have to read these.” Otaru took one of the other books. “Macbeth.”
“The Tell-Tale Heart by Poe…” Keiko read out loud, and opened it.
“And The Human Comedy…” Otaru picked up another book, and sneered. “One thing in common, they’re all depressing.”
“Talk about inspirational readers…” Keiko set the book down, and then turned the chair around the face Otaru. “Going to the tennis match tomorrow?”
Otaru grinned. “If I don’t sleep through it.”
“Very funny.” Keiko flatly glared at him, although she was smiling.
“Where are you going to sit? I’ll try to find you if I wind up going.” Otaru asked.
Keiko waved her hands in front of her. “No way I’m going! Not on my life!”
“Oh?” Otaru blinked, obviously wanting to know more.
“I have nothing against tennis matches, don’t get me wrong.” Keiko lowered her voice. “But that girl is going to be there…”
“Amuro’s sister?” Otaru grinned wider.
“No, her opposite!” Keiko grew angered at the thought of someone confusing Mai for her. “This girls is horrible, and she won’t stop following me!!”
Otaru raised his chin a bit. “Oh…” he laughed a bit. “Wow, do I feel sorry for you.”
“And I don’t know how to get rid of her! She just irritates me!” Keiko flexed her fingers, “And it’s not like she’s nice, even! She’s a real nasty creature!”
“I don’t know what to say.” Otaru said with a sympathetic smile.
“Tell me, how do you get rid of a girl?!” Keiko asked.
Otaru’s smile faded. He lifted his legs off of the floor and shifted to an Indian-style position, with his legs folded. He held his socked feet. “Gee, I really don’t know.” He quietly continued. “I’ve only had one girlfriend, and we just kinda agreed to end the whole thing together.”
Keiko was taken aback for a moment. “You had a girlfriend?”
“Yeah, back home. I just went to such a far-away school, we could tell it wasn’t working.” Otaru smiled again. “So we both agreed to end it peacefully while it was still good.”
"Wow…” Keiko felt a bit overwhelmed by her discovery. “I’m sorry, I never knew…”
“I never expected you to!” Otaru replied in his usual light-hearted tone. “Why do you feel so guilty about everything?! It’s odd!”
Keiko snapped out of her trance. “I guess I just felt like I had to say something.”
Otaru laughed a bit. “I’ve noticed that you don’t like things being quiet.”
“It’s awkward.”
“Not really. Just because it’s not done often, perhaps.” Otaru replied. “Try it sometime. It’s not as awkward as you think.”
Keiko paused before answering Otaru. “Okay, let’s try it now.”
“Sure!” Otaru replied.
That was the last thing that was said. Otaru brought his briefcase up on his bed, and opened it. Keiko watched him silently sort through it.
Keiko felt her impatience begin to slowly simmer inside her. She looked over at Otaru’s alarm clock. Only a minute had passed, and Keiko was dying to break the horrible silence.
She continued to stare at Otaru, who was absorbed in his briefcase’s contents. Her impatience was beginning to boil.
She looked again at the clock. Only thirty seconds had passed since she last checked!
Her impatience had boiled over by this point. She burst into laughter.
Otaru yelped in surprised, and she dropped the papers he was holding.
“I can’t help it! I can’t stand the silence!” Keiko held her stomach, and stomped her feet on the floor.
Otaru began to laugh along. “You’re supposed to occupy yourself, too!”
“That’s the trick to it!” Keiko’s laughter calmed, and she said more calmly, “It’s getting late.”
“Yeah, and I better rest well, I’ve got a full day ahead of me tomorrow.” Otaru teased.
Keiko paused for a moment, and her eyes brightened as she realized the joke. “Ah, that’s right! A day full of more sleeping!” Keiko replied. “Well, I should leave, then!”
Otaru laughed. “I hope you’re not bored tomorrow, Sempai.”
Keiko stood, “I’ll find something to do, I’m sure.” She walked to the door, Otaru following her. “Maybe I’ll sneak in here and add something to put a bit of life in your room.”
“Wouldn’t that be a treat.” Otaru said with a sarcastic tone.
Keiko stepped out the door. “Have fun tomorrow.” She smiled, and lifted a hand to wave.
“You too.” Otaru grinned, and lifted an index finger. “I’ll want a full report on your misadventures Sunday.”
“Yessir!” Keiko piped, and grinned once more as Otaru closed the door.
“`Night.” He said with a cheerful smile before shutting the door completely.
Keiko stood in front of the doorway. A few dim lamps lit the hallways.
I’ve decided…Keiko thought as she turned around to walk back to her room. I’m not going to distance myself from Otaru.
The warm glow of the lamplight seemed to affect Keiko’s mood in a way she couldn’t quite describe. The warmth of the light could be felt so easily, and it gave her a new feeling of…perhaps confidence?
I don’t care what Anji wants…she approached the door. I know Otaru…I’ll have to tell him the truth before he graduates. She got out her key, and opened the door. I can’t just never see him again.
Anji had passed out on his bed in his tennis uniform, his racket on the floor.
“…Probably practiced real late.” Keiko muttered quietly. “Stupid.”
Keiko undid the collar of her uniform, and looked over to her bed. It doesn’t feel like ten o’ clock…Keiko slid off her uniform quietly, It’s too late to shower now…she unpinned her gauze, and let it fall to the ground. She kicked it over to her bed with her feet, and pulled one of Anji’s old pajama shirts over her head.
I will tell Otaru…Keiko crawled into her bed. I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t…
Keiko closed her eyes, and as she drifted off into unconsciousness, she could almost hear that violin music lull her to sleep.
I wonder…
…I wonder…how he would react…?
The benches were filled completely Saturday afternoon.
“Eeeeee!!!” Aika shrieked at the top of her lungs. “Anji’s first game of the season! How exciting!!!”
Naoki was sewing something in her lap. She looked very enthralled in her project. Her straight frown quickly melted to a smile. “All done!” She lifted up a white t-shirt with red letters. “Here’s yours, Aika-chan!”
“All right! Thanks, Naoki-chan!” Aika pulled the shirt over her head. She pulled it out a bit to read the red letters A-N-J-I, followed by a heart. “I’m all ready!”
“We’re both set!” Naoki pulled her matching shirt over her head. “Just one hour to go!”
“And we’ve got the best seats, too!” Aika beamed. “Look around, anyone else here?”
“Hmm…” Naoki craned her neck to look around. “There’s Staci-chan over there…”
Aika “hmph”-ed, not easily forgetting that Anji just dated her the other day…she was no longer a friend, she was a rival!
“Rina-san’s over there, too…” Naoki smiled. “How nice! She’s with Nakaijima-sama!”
“How nice.” Aika sulked.
“Keiko—no, I mean—Kei-chan isn’t anywhere, though.” Naoki blinked. “You’d think she’d be with her male friend, but she’s not with him.”
Aika straightened up. “She’s not with that Wataru guy?”
“I think it’s O-taru, Aika-chan.”
“Right, right…” Aika replied. “Hmm…” she mischievously grinned. “Hey, I got an idea! Let’s get him to talk to us and see if he can spill any embarrassing stuff about Keiko—Kei-kun! Kei-kun, I mean!”
Naoki blinked her large eyes. “But we might lose our seats we came two hours early for.”
“You stay here, I’ll do the investigating!” Aika stood, and made her way over to the unsuspecting Otaru.
Naoki looked over to the table where the two headmasters and council presidents would be sitting. Rina and Nakaijima were on one side of the court, while Jiro and Obari were on the opposite side.
“I don’t see why I had to come to this match, Nakaijima-sama.” Rina looked absolutely frightened being on the courts of the boy’s school.
“Don’t be silly. Making an appearance at our rival’s…” Nakaijima cleaned her throat, “…our unworthy rival’s first game of the year makes us look like we’re above all of this competition.”
I was hoping we were…Rina thought to herself, suspiciously eyeing her headmistress.
“Hmph.” Jiro folded his arms as he watched Rina. “Looks like Nimai-kun is about to break out runnin’.”
“Youki has always been the kind to force people into things.” Obari replied with a confident smile.
Nakaijima caught sight of Obari’s smile, and huffed. “He’s always so confident and sure of himself! Has he ever considered that he might lose?!”
“I highly doubt that will happen!” Obari shouted across the courts.
Nakaijima grimaced in shock. “He heard me.”
Rina grimaced in embarrassment. “Along with everyone else, I’m pretty sure.”
Obari kept his smile plastered on his perfect face, and walked across the courts. Jiro followed closely behind.
“Youki-chan, it’s been so long!” Obari formally bowed, and then earnestly shook Nakaijima’s hand.
Rina and Jiro both silently bowed to each other. Jiro looked at Rina with a crooked smile that was just too-well known around the school.
Rina looked at him with wide, round eyes for a short moment, but immediately broke their stare as she looked back to Nakaijima.
“We just saw each other last week.” Nakajima bitterly replied.
Anji and the challenger from Yosei Fine Boy’s School walked onto the courts in their tennis uniforms, and carrying their rackets.
Aika tore her attention away from trying to get through the crowds to reach Otaru to cheer for Anji.
Naoki jumped off her seat, and screamed at the top of her lungs.
Soon, a lot of the observers of the game did the same, cheering the two players.
The boys froze, never facing such an enthusiastic crowd before.
Jiro and Rina both had expressions of bewilderment on their faces.
“I’ve never seen such spirit…” Rina murmured.
“Hmm!” Obari folded his arms. “That would be the new spirit of Unicorn Academy. A spirit of championship! Our idea is to do everything with all of your passion!” Obari triumphantly smiled.
Nakaijima sneered a bit, and sweatdropped. “All of your…”
“…passion…?” Rina’s face matched Nakaijima’s.
Obari just triumphantly laughed, his hands on his waist. Jiro took this as his queue.
“Obari-sama has transformed our school!” Jiro’s voice was excited (and eccentric, Rina thought dryly), and he made fists. “Our students have never been so thriving and eager to participate in school projects and events!”
“Enough, Jiro.” Obari quietly interrupted the fiery council president before he could make a fool of himself (and the school).
“Yessir!” Jiro straightened up, taking the stance of what Rina could only identify as a soldier. Rina held back all laughter, for she saw the dilemma her Headmistress was in.
Nakaijima growled a bit. “That’s quite a bit to boast, considering you’ve been headmaster for no more than a week!!!”
“I have confidence in my star tennis player.” Obari raised an eyebrow, quite amused at getting a rise out of his childhood rival.
“Hah! I just pray the poor boy can boast better tennis skills than you, Shuu-chan.” Nakaijima grinned.
“Amuro is at least a better player than you, my dear Youki-chan.”
Uh-oh…Rina apprehensively looked up to the face of the Headmistress. Indeed Nakaijima’s temper was at the boiling point.
Oh, no…it was well past that.
“Is that a CHALLENGE?!” Nakaijima rose her voice.
“Oh, no. That was an insult.” Obari kept his voice at its normal tone and volume. “And if I guess correctly, which I always do, a challenge will be made right about…”
“ON THE COURTS, SHUU!”
“…now.” Obari smiled. “As I anticipated, Youki, you love to throw yourself into situations of defeat.”
Nakaijima stormed onto the tennis court, snatching the racket belonging to the Yosei School’s player. She turned to the audience. “Who in the audience wears a size seven shoe?!”
After getting a pair of sneakers from one of her students, Nakaijima Youki tied the laces of the shoes, and picked up her racket.
Having anticipated Youki’s challenge far in advance, Obari had a tennis uniform and shoes nearby and waiting.
“You think you’re so smooth.” Nakaijima muttered beneath her breath.
“I don’t think it, I believe it.” Obari smiled in reply.
“This is insane.” Rina said to Anji. She kept her eyes on the Headmistress, “We’re going to have to re-schedule the game.”
“How do you think this will make our schools look?” Anji sighed.
“You’d be the last person I’d expect to care.” Rina sarcastically said.
Anji turned to look at Rina. “What’s that mean?”
“What is means is that you were trying to ruin my school’s rep--” she lowered her voice to a whisper, “—by sneaking your do-nothing sister in here!”
“Gee, it’s all about you, Rina-san.” Anji rolled his eyes.
“That’s untrue!” Rina blurted.
“Don’t you think it could ruin TUA’s rep, too?” Anji leaned against the table where the two dueling adults should be sitting.
“What?! What could ruin TUA’s rep?!” Jiro jumped into the conversation.
Both Anji and Rina put a hand on Jiro’s face, and pushed him away. “Nothing!” they both replied in an irritated voice.
“After hearing that Mai’s now stuck in this mess forces me to stay directly involved. “Rina kept her voice low and threatening. “I was just going to handle it thought Staci, but…”
“Oh, I wish you would!” Anji got starry eyes. “She’s much more pleasant to work with!”
Rina glared at Anji. “You know that was deserving of a slap.”
“If it was Keiko, sure. But she doesn’t get offended by that.” Anji replied.
“Who’s Keiko?! Your girlfriend?!” Jiro barged back into the conversation.
Both Anji and Rina raised their voices at Jiro. “STAY OUT OF THIS!”
“Ah--! Identical faces!” Jiro gasped, his eyes wide. “Are you brother and sister?”
Rina turned up her nose. “I am wildly overjoyed to state that I am not the Amuro sister.”
Anji gave Jiro a glare, and then aimed it at Rina. “If Rina was my sister, I wouldn’t have survived to be eighteen.”
“Nnh…” Jiro blinked in confusion.
“What’s this?” Otaru looked down onto the courts. “The two headmasters are playing? This is a surprise.”
“BOO!” Aika popped up beside Otaru.
“GYAAAH!!” Otaru cried out in surprise, and scooted back a bit in his seat.
Aika grinned. “You’re alone again.”
Otaru blinked with fearful eyes. “Please, don’t come any closer.”
"Sure!” Aika sat down. “Where’ Kei?”
“Not here. He’s trying to avoid someone.” Otaru answered.
“Who?” Aika’s eyes widened. “Did he get in a fight?”
“No, that was earlier this week.” Otaru said. “There’s some girl sweet on him, and he doesn’t like her one bit.”
Aika was still recovering from the shock of the first statement.
“I can’t stand lying to you anymore!” Keiko clenched her fists. “It’s not…it’s not honest!”
Tears lined her eyes, and she dramatically took off her glasses.
“I’m not a boy! I’m Amuro Keiko, from Phoenix School!” Keiko bluntly stated, revealing her effeminate face.
Headmaster Obari stood behind his desk. His face was struck with shock.
“I’m so sorry for deceiving you!” Keiko deeply bowed, “I can understand…if…you can’t forgive me!”
“You’re…a woman?” Obari’s voice was soft, and his brown eyes were wide.
Keiko squeezed her eyes shut with shame as she remained in a deep bow.
Obari put his two hands on Keiko’s face, and lifted her face to look up to him.
His face was soft and serious. “Thank goodness. Thank goodness.”
Keiko gazed into Obari’s brown eyes. “…eh?” she breathed.
“I was so worried…you were so beautiful…I was devastated that you came here as a student. I thought we could never be together.” Obari held Keiko close to him.
Keiko blushed a bit. “W-wait, Obari-sama! We’re teacher and student! This isn’t right!”
Obari looked at Keiko seductively, “We conquered the boundary of you being a man…we can conquer this boundary as well…” He lowered Keiko onto his desk, and their lips grew close.
“Oh, Obari-sama!”
“Oh, Keiko!”
Keiko closed her eyes, and suddenly opened them. She found herself chained up to a giant tennis ball. “Wh-what’s this?!”
A giant tennis racket hit the ball she was pinned to, and she flew across a humongous tennis court.
She screamed at the top of her lungs, the waterworks in flood mode.
Keiko jerked awake. She looked up at the blurry white ceiling. She blinked, and caught her breath.
Anji left the curtains wide open so that the warm spring sun could leak in.
Keiko felt hot in her long-sleeved nightshirt. There must’ve been a warm front last night. It finally felt like the chill of winter had passed.
Keiko took hold of her glasses, and slipped them on. Anji’s alarm clock read 12:40.
Keiko yawned, and rubbed one of her eyes. “Anji’s already on the courts, I guess.”
She set her feet on the floor, and stood. “I guess I’ll go shower…” she muttered with another yawn.
Instead of her usual hot shower, Keiko showered in tepid water to cool off a bit. The sun shining through the few windows proved to be invigorating, and Keiko concluded that she had the energy to spend the day over in the library, searching the records some more.
Keiko got dressed in the empty shower halls, in front of the mirror. This made the task of strapping down her bust much easier.
Instead of weary the black uniform jacket with her black pants, she wore a short-sleeve white button-up shirt with the crest of the Unicorn Academy monogrammed on the chest pocket.
As Keiko walked across the hallway, she saw a small group of girls crowded at the music hall’s doorway.
Quite faintly, Keiko heard the song she heard a few times before. Her eyes widened, and she bolted into her dorm room. She threw her things onto her unmade bed, and headed straight for the music hall.
Aika grabbed Otaru by the collar, and put one of her feet on top of the bench seat. “What do you mean ‘that was earlier this week’?! Who’d Kei fight?!”
Otaru took Aika’s wrists, and pried her hands off of his shirt collar. “Tanaka Koji. Jiro’s right hand man.”
Aika released her grip on Otaru abruptly, and Otaru fell back on the bench.
“Jiro…” Aika blinked, “As in…Kanzaki Jiro?!”
“Yes.” Otaru sat up.
“You jerk!” Aika’s eyes were aflame. “Why didn’t you stop him?! Kei can’t fight worth ANYTHING!”
Otaru’s brow furrowed. “Would you please get your hands off me?”
Aika blushed, and nervously laughed as she once again released Otaru’s collar. She brushed it a few times before sitting back.
“I was…” Otaru tried to search for a tactful way to state that he was beat up so bad that he couldn’t do anything. “…I was the one he defended.” He sighed miserably.
Aika’s eyes widened. “That’s why you were all beat up the other day!”
Otaru looked onto the courts, and rubbed the scab on his chin. “Don’t think of me as weak. I just don’t see a place for fighting on school grounds.”
Aika looked at Otaru with watery eyes.
Otaru’s eyes looked to the side, and saw Aika’s expression.
Aika whimpered, and smile on her face. “That’s…that’s just so sweet!”
Otaru once again got a fearful look on his face. “E-excuse me?”
Aika had blissful tears in her eyes. “Kei defended you…?!”
“You make it sound like it’s a good thing.” Otaru nervously smiled.
Aika grabbed Otaru’s cheeks, and pinched them. “You lucky little boy! Kei must really like you!”
“I down’t undaa-staaand…” Otaru’s speech was a bit altered by Aika’s pulling on his cheeks.
Aika let him go, and Otaru rubbed his face to soothe it.
“Kei would never fight! He doesn’t know how!” Aika rose an index finger. “Maybe he would to defend himself, but I would never imagine he’d defend someone else.
Otaru blinked. “He seemed so eager to fight, too.”
“That’s quite strange!” Aika grinned, and winked. “Now what’s this about a girl? Any idea who it is?”
Otaru shook his head. “Not a clue.”
Aika furrowed her brow. “Well, you’re useless.”
“Useless?!” Otaru nervously smiled. “Excuse me, but who’s the one who abandoned her friend to pry into Kei’s personal affairs?”
Aika’s eyes widened, and she sweatdropped. Caught in the act!
Aika nervously laughed. “I think I should go check on Naoki-chan…!” she began to run down the stairs. “Bye!”
Otaru continued to watch the two adults on the courts. “I wonder if this match was planned.”
Aika rubbed her arms as she walked back to her seat up front. That Otaru guy’s sharper than a tack! Keiko better be careful around him if she wants her identity to stay a secret. She looked onto the courts. Though…I bet he already knows.
Rina, Anji, Jiro, and the player from Yosei were all sitting on the table now.
Anji was noticing that Rina’s legs were crossed at the ankles, and they were swinging freely a few inches off of the pavement.
Rina leaned back on her palms, and watched her Headmistress miss Obari’s latest serve. “She’s losing bad…” Rina muttered, and turned to Anji. “How much longer—uh!” She grimaced when she saw all three boys staring at her legs. In a low voice, she spat out “What are you doing?”
Jiro blinked. “Wow, you’re short.”
Rina’s eyebrow began to twitch. Short?!
“Does she always swing her legs like that?” the Yosei player asked Jiro. “I didn’t expect their President to look so childish.”
Rina’s face turned red. Childish?! With an evil glare plastered on her face, she looked to Anji.
Anji laughed, and held the back of his head. “That’s funny, I was noticing what great legs she had!”
Rina turned a deeper shade of red, and with a nearby clipboard laying on the table, she nailed each of the boys.
“Hiiragi-kun?” Staci held her notepad, and put the pencil’s eraser to her lips.
“Yes, Staci-chan??” Hiiragi (like all other boys who encounter the femme fatale) stayed close to Staci, ready to fulfill any whim she had.
Staci watched the two adults on the court. “Do you see something developing here?”
Hiiragi took Staci’s hand. “Staci-chan, you’re ever the observer!”
Staci nervously smiled, pulling her hand away tenderly. “Is this match almost through?”
“I believe it’s the game point right now.” Hiiragi took Staci’s hand again. “But Staci-chan, what’s this you were saying about something developing?”
Staci once again removed her hand from Hiiragi’s. “Excuse me for a moment.”
She walked over to the table where Rina and the three guys were.
“Rina-san? What started this?” Staci asked the president.
“Ridiculing on Obari’s part.” Rina sighed.
Staci wrote something down on her notepad.
“And you can quote me on that.” Rina snobbishly said.
“What?! It was your headmistress that challenged Headmaster Obari!” Jiro shouted at Rina.
“It never would’ve happened if you headstrong Headmaster kept his ego in his pants were it belongs!” Rina snapped back.
Staci nodded, and bent in towards Jiro. “Can I have a name, sir?”
Jiro’s angry stare turned to Staci, and his mouth gaped. His cheeks turned pink.
Staci laughed nervously, and held her face. She turned to Rina. “Why do I always get these reactions?!”
Rina hung her head. “Some girls are born lucky.”
“Staci-chan, this blubbering boy is our Student Council President, Kanzaki Jiro.” Anji put a hand around Staci’s shoulder. “I’ve told you about him, right?”
Staci blinked. “He’s the one who punched Kei?!”
Rina’s eyes widened. Punched?!
“Mm-hmm. Twice.”
Rina gasped. “Twice?!” she squeaked.
Staci looked over her shoulder to look at Rina, when she noticed Anji’s arm around them. She flatly glared up at the tennis player. “Hey. What’s this?”
Anji gave his most convincing smile. “What’s what?”
Staci shrugged away from under Anji’s arm. “We’re dating, not going steady.”
Rina and Jiro both blinked, watching Staci and Anji’s light-hearted conversation.
“So?” Anji laughed.
“So? Shoulder-holding’s possessive. You can’t do that unless we’re steady.” Staci grinned.
Rina folded her arms, and glared at the two. “Could you two please focus on the circumstance we have in front of us, please?”
Staci blinked, and both she a Anji looked at Rina with wide eyes.
Rina’s gaze had already shifted back to the adults on the courts. She squinted a bit, as though focusing in on one of the adults.
“I’ll see you later?” Staci tapped the side of Anji’s face with one of her fingers. “After the match, maybe?”
“We could go out, since I don’t have to worry about showering after.” Anji smiled.
Staci smiled back. “Well, at least change clothes, okay?”
Anji grinned. “Of course!”
Rina’s eyes discreetly followed Staci as she ran back to the press bench.
She folded her arms a bit tighter, and began to swing her legs again. She tried to concentrate again on the match ending. Her mind was beginning to blur, thought. She shook her head. Probably all those extra hours at school this week. None of that next week.
The referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the match.
Nakaijima’s tight bun was coming loose. Her face was red and flushed. She was panting heavily for breath.
Obari should’ve been in as bad shape. His face was merely glowing. He had his usual confident smile on his face (of course he did. He won, after all!), and his breathing was far less rapid than his opponent’s.
“Game over.” He breathed. (Keiko would’ve probably swooned at this, but luckily, she was tied up elsewhere…you’ll see where.)
Nakaijima sent Obari a lethal glare, and dropped her racket. “I demand a rematch.”
“Yes, Youki-chan.” Obari twirled his racket. “But all in due time. Maybe next time you could come in the appropriate attire?”
Nakaijima looked down at her long-sleeved business suit and skirt.
“I’m amazed that you’re not overheated in that miserable outfit. And surely that adorable skirt is quite restricted, as far as movement is concerned.”
Nakajima glared back up at Obari.
“Ah, well! At least you found tennis shoes!” Obari let out a good laugh. “I would’ve have like to have seen you attempt a tennis game in pumps!”
Rina and the three boys all had bewildered looks on their faces.
“He’s grinding her pride into the ground…!” Anji said in awe.
Keiko froze in the propped open doorway of the music hall. A group of about eleven girls filled the doorways, and it was impossible to get through. Keiko stood on her tiptoes to see over the heads of the swooning girls.
Her heart jumped into her throat at what she saw.
Standing in front of a solitary music stand was a solitary Unicorn Academy student playing the violin.
Keiko looked up to see the face of the pale boy seen on her first day and in English class.
His eyes were lowered considerably as he stared at the sheets of music on the music stand.
Keiko stared at him for a moment, noticing his soft facial features and gentle countenance. The violin music was mesmerizing. She had never heard the violin played with such feeling before. (But then again, she never listened to much classical music.)
Keiko blinked, snapped out of her trance. Was I just getting hypnotized…? Her thoughts occurred in spontaneous spurts now.
She looked at the expressions on the girls’ faces. They all looked like they were staring into space. Girls acting strange! She turned to take a look at the faces on other girls. More than usual!
She looked back into the music hall, at the pale, raven-tressed boy. In a blur, everything—the playing at night, disappearing in class, and the girls under hypnosis—it all came together.
GHOST!!! Keiko broke through the crowd of girls (to which there were a few “hey!”s and “ow!”s…so the notion that they were under hypnosis can now be scrapped. But Keiko wasn’t thinking about that.), and ran into the hall, having the full intention of attacking the ghost.
End Chapter Five