A/N: I'm beyond all humanly reason sorry for having taken so long to write this. I really really am. Things got a bit tight around here and didn't have enough time and much less inspiration to write and we all know that if a writer isn't hit by insperation their stories don't inspire much of anything into a reader. Anyways here is CHAPTER 14. I might feel a bit filler-ish... but it's not. ^_^. I'd like to give a BIG thanx to my beta on this one. Okay... i'm sure you are tired of reading my apologies so here we go:
“Observing”
"To linger in the observation of things other than the self implies a profound conviction of their worth."-
Charles-Damian Boulogne, My Friends the Senses “Goto-san did that?” Ayaka exclaimed into the speaker of her mobile phone.
“Yup” Yossy confirmed. “Hold on, I have line”
“It’s probably Mai” the coconut guessed confidently.
“Sugoi Ayaka! How did you know?!?”
“I just did, pick up the line before she’s sent to voicemail.” Yossy quickly did as told and switched lines.
“Moshi Moshi, Maicchin?”
“Hai! Moshi Moshi”
“Hold on, okay? I have Ayaka on the other line. I’ll click you in”
“Aa O.K. O.K” Yossy quickly performed the necessary combination on her phone and soon all three best friends were talking.
“Alright, so Goto-san kissed you on the cheek in front of everyone after flirting with you nonstop and grabbing your thigh?” Maicchin recapped.
“Ho-How did you know?” Yossy’s eyes widened.
“Me and Ayaka are connected” Mai explained.
“Connected? Do you mean… telepathically?” Yossy asked in a low tone. Both Ayaka and Mai couldn’t hold it in any longer. They busted out laughing.
“Yocchan” Ayaka tried to settle down enough to talk. “You are too easy sometimes.” Yossy was thankful they were on the phone and couldn’t see her embarrassment.
“For real!” Mai approved “She texted me all about it a few minutes ago. She said to call you”
“Alright, alright” Yossy was slightly annoyed. “Back to the topic”
“Right” Mai agreed.
“So what are you going to do about this? About Goto?” Ayaka asked.
“I’m not sure. Nothing, I suppose. You all know how Gocchin is, both of you have fallen prey to her before” this time it was Mai’s and Ayaka’s turn to slightly feel ashamed.
“Ehem” Mai cleared her throat. “I guess it’s just a matter of wait-&-see”
“Hnmm”
“I agree with Maicchin” Ayaka spoke up “On another note, how did Ogawa-chan take you leaving with Goto?”
“Mako-chan?”
“Un~, Hai”
Yossy sighed “I don’t think she was too happy. She seemed a bit upset”
“Actually, she was really upset” Mai declared.
“Waddayah mean?” a guilty conscience started to wake up.
“Well, two days ago when I was walking towards the elevator, ready to go home, I saw Takahashi-chan and Niigaki-chan going in it. I was about to tell them to hold it for me but I heard Takahashi-chan ask someone if they had been crying. Once I reached the elevator, the doors were already closing but…” Maicchin paused.
“But what?” Yossy urged on.
“I caught a glimpse of Ogawa-chan crying, Reina-chan was there too”
“When was the whole thing with Maki again?” Ayaka questioned.
“Two days ago” Yossy told her once more.
“Hmm interesting?”
“What’s interesting?”
“Didn’t you say that Takahashi-chan and Reina-chan randomly joined you guys?”
“Yes, what are you getting to, Ayaka?”
“Do you think they were sent in to ruin your date with Goto?” Ayaka pondered.
“For the 100th time! It was NOT, I repeat NOT a date! And NO I don’t think Makoto would send them”
“Send them to do what?” Maicchin asked.
“To sabotage my date” Yossy answered. The sound of Ayaka and Mai laughing uncontrollably made Yossy realize what she just said. “UGH!” She sighed infuriatingly.
“I thought it wasn’t a date~?” Mai picked on her boyish best friend.
“I’m guessing tomorrow will be odd” Ayaka sighed.
“Why?” Mai didn’t understand what she meant by that.
“You guys have practice tomorrow afternoon; you’ll be there with Goto and Mako practicing. Not to mention that most of haro!puro will be there to cheer you guys on.” You could hear the rustling of Ayaka’s sheets as she sat up in her bed.
“True” Yossy said softly.
“Demo~ Daijoubu!” Mai stated. “I’m going to be there.”
“Don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, Maicchin” the would-be-captian of Gatas kidded.
“Mou~ Hidoi!”
_______________
Dark, thick sunglasses shaded her pupils from the bothersome lights that lit up the stadium as clear as day, while her facemask made the sweat stench filled air breathable. The frequent throbbing on her upper left tempo, consequently, glued her index and middle finger to the spot, applying pressure for relief. Yet, no matter what amount of pressure she put on, her ears could not block out the excruciatingly constant chattering of the crowd around her or the screaming of the coaches “Kei, remind me why I was forced to be here” her voice was slightly muffled.
“Tsunku said you had to report today’s events back to him” Kei was leaning forward on the bleachers, hands on lap. Her eyes were studious, examining all the participating girls that ran laps around the field. She knew very well the sober Yuko wouldn’t do her job, hell she knew the buzzed Yuko wouldn’t do her job.
“I need a drink” the older woman pushed her self up to a stand. The overwhelming surroundings were making her annoyance levels go dangerously high. As she lifted one foot over Kei, she felt a something pull on her pants. She glanced down and to no surprise she spotted Kei’s hand gripping the hem of her jeans. She looked over at her companion who only shook her head from side to side.
“Sit” Kei ordered, glancing back at the still warm spot on her side.
“You’re kidding me, right?” Annoyance levels rising even more. “Who are you to make me sit? You are not my mother and certainly not my boss” due to the sunglasses and facemask, the tone of voice was the only indication of how close to death the second gen. member was.
Yasuda looked up at her and gave a smirk “Hai~ Mama, demo I am the person who is doing your job, nee” her voice had changed to this ill executed tone of cute. She puffed her cheeks and pouted along with it. “So, unless you want to give Tsunku-san a big pile of nothing and put your job at risk, I suggest you sit down, nee” she gave two awkward, yet humorously amusing, peaces signs to Yuko. It only took one quick imitation of Kemeko Deshu to make the leader of H!P realize just how serious Yasuda was. She ripped off her sunglasses and intensely looked down at her second in command. Slowly, she took a step back and sat down on her original seat, never breaking the menacing eye contact.
“I won’t forget this” she growled, putting her sunglasses back on.
“Yes, you will” Kei opened her purse and tossed a large metallic container over to Nakazawa’s lap. “Make sure none of the kids see you” all the blonde could do was stare down at her lap in astonishment. Tears of joy build up and an uncharacteristic quiet squeal emerged from her. She delicately picked up the can and stared at it in awe, as if a celestial light shine upon it. For a split moment, she could’ve sworn she heard angels, off in the distance, singing and playing their harps harmoniously. She then quickly opened the top and took a strong whiff at its contents.
“Aaaa, just what Mama likes” she looked over at Kei, who in return was just ignoring her. Abruptly, she wrapped two tight arms around her and gave a quick wet kiss on the cheek. “You know how to keep me happy” She giggled and let go of Yasuda. Redirecting her attention back to the liquid substance of her delight “Straight up vodka” she said sweetly to the container, then monstrously took a swig from it, utter desperation could be heard in every gulp she took. A satisfying sigh was the result of her short chugging session.
After a few minutes and a couple of chugging sessions later Yuko was as genki as ever. In fact, she had single handedly entertain the crowed and motivated the running girls. Her nonstop yelling at the girls as they jogged by, probably led to their steadfast determination to finish running quicker and the crowd of H!P members was most likely now tired of doing the wave every other ten minutes. “Se~~~NO~~~” Yuko hollered at the crowd. “WOOOOO” she stood and sat back down. As Yuko tried her best to keep busy, Kei was determined to not only keep an eye on the girls but particularly their wager investments. The only interesting thing that had happened on the field so far was an unnatural horsing around between Fujimoto and Ishikawa, Goto and Matsuura competing with one another, Mako, Konkon, Tsuji joking around while Yossy never left Mai’s side.
‘hmmmmm’ her brain processed the information carefully. The scenario was telling her something important; it was up to her to make the proper interpretation.
“Hey, Yuu-chan” she leaned over. “I think I have new prospective betters” she whispered. As Nakazawa began to process the information, three slouched figures rapidly approached them.
“Kei-Chan~, Yuu-chan~” the shortest of the three figures jumped on the unsuspecting women.
“YAAAGUUUCCHI!” Kei quickly turned, pouting comically from her seat.
“What took you so long?” Nakazawa bellowed at the three arriving girls.
“Nacchi kept forgetting things in her house” Yaguchi rolled her eyes. Kaori scooted over Yuko and sat at the end of the bleachers.
“And I got to the point where I just simply refused to move from her door until she was sure she hadn’t forgotten anything” the tallest of the girls stated.
“Aww, come on guys. Stop picking on me” the baby faced one plopped down next to Kei and rested her head on her shoulder.
“Now, now Nacchi” Yaguchi took her place between Kei and Yuko “No need to get so upset. We all don’t need phone calls from your mother” Abe shot her a dirty look.
“ha ha ha funny” the buzzed ex-Momusu leader said dryly. “Now cut the crap and shut up, Kei was just about to tell me something important” the freshly sat girls looked over at Kei expecting some kind of recap.
“Well…”she started “I was just about tell Yuko I have two new prospecting betters in mind” she cleared her throat. “I’ve been observing the girls on the field for a while”
“Eeewww Kei-chan! Hentai” The Gooch joked but was quickly reprimanded by Yuko’s smack on her head.
“I said cut crap, now listen” Yaguchi pouted and rubbed her head.
“Right, so… while observing, I’ve noticed hardly any interaction between the girls. I tried understanding why. It’s not doubt that if we set strategies and such, we’ll see them interact but we need them to interact on their own. I realized that the girls were probably not going up to Yossy at all because of Mai. Which made me realize, we need Mai and Ayaka to stay away from Yossy… that would give openings for our bets to come in and do their thing.” They were now in a tight circle listening intently.
“But Kei-chan” Kaori interjected “Ayaka, Mai and Yossy are really close friends. I doubt they’ll ever leave each others side for extended periods of time” Everyone else nodded in the group, except for Kei and Yuko. You see, Kei and Yuko have always had an interesting bond. One they noticed very early in their relationship. They had the ability to know exactly what the other had in mind just by looking at each other. Hence, Yuko already knew where Kei was taking this.
“Exactly” Yasuda pointed at Kaori “You can’t beat them… but if you can’t beat them… then join them… and if you can’t join them… then have them join you” she smiled confidently.
“What… do you mean?” Abe was perplexed.
“Ayaka and Mai are my perspective betters. I want them to join us, not only would we have the “opening” issue resolved, but we’ll have an intimate look at Yossy’s feelings through this all.” She leaned back against the cold metal of the bleachers and extended both hands behind Yaguchi and Abe, sitting proudly. Nakazawa started a slow clap.
“Kei-chan…. SUGOOII~” Abe complimented, the shortest and the tallest ones joined in on Yuko’s clap. Suddenly, Yaguchi stopped.
“…you know I’ve been thinking about this too” Every one now looked over at her “it’s nothing much. But here I go” the cute shorty stood up as straight as possible. “Having been Yossy’s Mentor, I do know a thing or two about the girl” They all agreed with a nod “Everyone here has great traits that anyone would be lucky enough to find in a partner, but they also have qualities that can make them loose” Yaguchi pointed out. “Rika tends to be over sensitive, Miki vicious,” Nakazawa frowned. “Goto cold,” Nacchi frowned “and Ogawa clingy. When you really think about it,” Yaguchi giggled “it comes down to choosing the lesser evil” The others smiled at it but became concerned with the points Yaguchi had made. It really does come down to the lesser evil.
Having nothing else to say about the matter, they quickly drew their attention back to the field, where training continued. Spectators could see the girls being separated into five groups. There was one group who stood out from the others though; it was the group with gloves.
“What are they doing?” Nakazawa questioned.
“I think they’re being separated into five groups, each group is going to be training for different positions. The group with gloves is going to give it a go at the “goalie” position” Yaguchi piped up.
“How do you know?” Nacchi stared at her in alarm.
“The pamphlet says so” She lifted a yellow sheet of paper up.
“They were giving out pamphlets?” Kaori looked dumb struck.
“Yup” Yasuda confirmed. Out of the blue, a familiar voice filled the air.
“Kei-chan, Yaguchi, Nakazawa-san, Koari, Nacchi~” Ayaka walked over.
“Crap, who invited her” Yuko breathed.
“Not me” Kei-chan said through her tight smile.
“How are we going to talk about the bet?” Yaguchi looked worried.
“Just don’t talk about it” Yuko glared.
“I’m sorry to interrupt but do you think maybe I can sit with you guys, the people I’d normally be visiting this with are… well… out in the field” she smiled sheepishly.
“Of course you can” Kei nodded approvingly.
“Here, you can sit next to me” Abe patted the side that was available next to her. As Ayaka shuffled to the spot indicated, Kei looked back at everyone and gave them a wink
‘Trust me’ She whispered.
_______________
“Tanoshii nee~” Sayu poked her cheek cutely.
“Neee~” Eri imitated back. They waited a few second before shifting their gaze over to Reina, who was, at the moment, staring intently at something and clenching her jaw. “Oi, Reina!” Eri called out, but there was no response. “REINA, it’s your turn” she all but screamed.
“What the…” Sayu blinked.
“I don’t think she can hear us” Eri lifted her hand slowly waving it in front of Reina’s face.
“Wow… no reaction” Usagi was in disbelief. “What is she looking at, anyways?” she stood up from where she sat and walked over to Reina, sitting exactly behind her she tried to figure what was fellow gen. member’s current bulls eye.
“What do you see?” Erinrin asked.
“Hmmmm I see Ayaka-san.”
“Reina is starting at Ayaka-san!?”
“Ayaka-san and… Abe-san!” Sayu exclaimed.
“ha?” Reina blinked out of her daze “Did someone mention Nacc- I mean, Abe-san?” the magic Reina-summoning word had been mention. Her fellow rokkies rolled their eyes at the fact.
“Reina, why don’t you just give it up?” Sayu shook her head. “I don’t think you’re her type” she smacked Reina on the back while swooping her head uncomfortably close with a silly grin.
“Pshaw… you don’t know what you’re talking about”
“Really? Then what were you staring at?” Sayu’s grin grew wider.
“I was just thinking” Reina nodded.
“Right, it looked more like you wanted to rip someone’s head off” Eri was unconvinced. Sayu’s eyes hen enlarged with realization.
“You’re upset at how close Yasuda-san and Ayaka-san are to Nacchi, weren’t you” she clapped while laughing at Reina. The sound of Sayu’s mocking laughter made chills of anger run up Reina’s spine and down to her clenched hands.
“I WAS NOT STARING AT HER!” Reina stood and slammed her fist on the aluminum seats. Ironically, though, everyone else in that stadium was now staring at her. Slowly turning her head towards the crowd of faces that now looked worried for her she quickly sat down and mumbled an apology. Thankfully, everyone else returned to their previous activities. Lifting her head up, assuming it was safe to look up again, her eyes automatically zeroed on to the only pair of eyes that hadn’t turned back to the court. Abe gave a quick giggle and flashed her a smile before turning her head back around. A silly little smile appeared on the Yankii’s face. She lifted her hand gently and gave a quick wave.
“Reina” Eri looked concerned “are you okay?” Eri’s cold hand came crashing on to Reina’s forehead. “Sayu, I think she might be sick”
“No, I’m not sick” Reina stated dreamily. “It’s hard to be sick when an angel smiles at you” the silly grin grew wider…
“Oh dear God” Sayu shook her head in disbelief. “Honestly, Reina, with you… there’s a fine line between corniest girl alive and H!P’s most bad ass yankee under 18 years old”
“We can give her the Most Corniest Yankee Ever title” Eri thought out loud.
“I worry about you, Reina, one day she’s gonna catch you stalking her”
“WHAT!? Reina’s been stalking Abe-san?” Eri got surprised.
“You didn’t know? For the past three days she’s been stalking her and I see any probability of her to stopping anytime soon”
“Reina” Eri placed her hand on the day dreamy’s shoulder “Reina, that’s CR-EE-PY! You should, no you need to stop”
“Sayu… Eri” Reina sighed gladly “Shut up before you become the next thing my fist wants to meet at full force, nee” she raised her arms up, placing her chin on her palms.
‘
So close yet so far away’ she thought as she stared at the person she wanted the most.
_______________
It had been about two hours since practice had finished, one hour since the stadium had cleared out and 30 minuets since Yoshizawa had thrown herself on the floor of the court, resting her head on a futsal ball. She looked all around her, taking her surroundings in. The cold hard floor she laid on, the slightly moist sneakers she wore, the lights that shined upon her from the ceiling. Unbeknownst to many, but today had been a life changing experience for her. Today, for the first time, she felt something she hadn’t felt in a long time. She felt inspiration. Running along 20 plus girls on a field who were all striving for a goal, made a fire grow in her and that fire that lit in her caused perspective for her life. Running and pushing her self to be better didn’t make her feel that emptiness she had been experiencing for a while, seeing how the other girls pushed themselves as well, made her feel full and with depth. Not only did she want to make sure she became better, but wanted to see how the other progressed as well. She wanted to be a part of the comradity, she wanted to experience that kind of dependency. Dependency where you have to depend on all the other and the others have to depend on you. Yossy was jolted out of her deep though by a nudge on her foot.
“Mai-chin, I told you to just leave without me. Tell Ayaka not to worry about me, too.” This was the fifth time they came to bother her. Instead of hearing a response, Yossy felt someone suddenly lay next to her. The smell of strawberries quickly identified who it was and it certainly wasn’t Ayaka or Mai. “What do
you want?” she asked coldly.
A sigh escaped the other girl’s lips “Yossy, can’t we just have a normal conversation, once?” Rika placed her hands behind her head, her elbow slightly touching the taller girl’s. “All I really wanted to do was tell you “you did great today”, it’s been a while since I’ve seen that face of yours”
Yossy rolled her eyes, but the mention of a “face” caught her curiosity “What do you mean face?” she asked.
“One where you have a non-disappearing smile, and your eyes crinkle up. I don’t know, it’s just this aura that I get from you. You look so happy and carefree. It reminded me of the first time I saw it.” Rika giggled. Curiosity seemed to once again grab a hold of the blond girl.
“What time?” She slightly turned to face Rika. The sudden genuine interest from Yossy caught her off guard and the fact she was now being starred at caused her heart to slightly beat faster.
“Um…” she stuttered a bit. “When we had just joined, we went to Hawaii, remember?” the younger girl nodded. “We all got put in different teams and every time you had an event, even you were nervous as hell” they both laughed at that remark “yet, you seemed so happy once the game started.” She finally built enough courage to look over into Yoshizawa’s eyes. They locked on each others gaze for a while, it was the first time since they had that fight years ago that they could look at each other smiling rather than glaring. “Yossy, I…”
“It has never been a secret to anyone that I like sports” she quickly interrupted Rika’s sentence. “Then again, I was never much of a spectator, but when it came to playing I was all up for it.” She looked back up to the ceiling, not wanting to look at the girl that had hurt her “I’ve never been much of a talented player either, but I put the most heart in my game. One of the many reasons besides the thrill of the game that made physical activity so important to me, was its honesty. You can’t lie when you play. There is no way a physical movement can be corrupt. If you fall, you fall, if you get hit, you get hit, if you score, you scored. It’s a simple, easy to understand language, one that would never lie or betray you” she added extra spite to those last words. Rika only nodded. “All in all, Rika-chan, you did really well too” she pushed herself up and brought her knees to her chest, resting her elbows on them “I really hope you make it to the final cut” Yossy nodded.
“Me too” Rika turned on her belly and then lifted her self up. “Well, I know you want to be alone. So I’ll see you later” She waved good bye and took a quick jog to the locker room. Unwillingly by Yoshizawa, she stared at her as, she just couldn’t help but check out the girl she never had. After a while, she too stood up and looked around stadium. The stage where she sang was her job, but the field where she played on would now be her domain.
From a far place, two eyes had been studying her for the hour or so. The man had secretly been spectating the training session, but closely observing Yoshizawa Hitomi. Without saying much, he crossed his arms and turned on his heels. He reached into his pocket as he walked into the darkness of the corridor. Taking out his cell phone he dialed a number. “Ano… Iida-san?” he confirmed the voice “It’s me Tsunku… I need to talk to you, in private”
Topic: Tears, Kisses, Cowards and The Brave (CH: 14 OBSERVATION) (Read 43393 times)