The girl turned her head. There was a black-haired boy in front of her class' door.

    "Oishi-kun," she replied as she put some books to her backpack.

    "Ready yet?"

    "Aa—chotto..." she double-checked under her desk, making sure she hadn't left anything. "Yap," she said as she quickly walked to the boy. "Oh yeah, I have to put my stuff in my locker first."

    "I'll walk you there."

sweat dropped. "It's not far."

    "That's okay, -san."

    "Won't Buchou be mad if you're late today?"

    "Well, that's another thing."

She giggled as they walked towards her locker. She opened it and put all her belongings there.

    "You know, Oishi-kun, you don't have to walk me to the tennis court every practice. I can go there myself," she uttered.

    "No! I'm afraid you'd—"

Not looking to where she went, suddenly tripped and lost her balance. Fortunately, Oishi got her hand before she landed to the ground.

    "—Fall down," he finished his sentence, not letting go of yet. "Daijoubu ka?"

    "Ah... Hai."

Over Protective

    "Ah, there's -chan and Oishi, nya!" Seigaku's acrobatic player exclaimed and bounced to them. "Oishi, Buchou wants to see you!"

    "Eh?" he blinked. "Ah—okay..." He then walked quickly to where the captain was.

was a student in Seishun Gakuen class 3-3 and had been the tennis club's manager for nearly two months. You can say she was popular with guys because she was pretty and smart. But other than that, she was actually a really clumsy girl. She seemed to like falling down, as she always tripped every time she could. Not to mention she often forgot things, which sometimes caused troubles for both her and the club. Nevertheless, everyone in the club seemed to love (in friendly manners) her in their own ways.

    "So...-senpai," Momo smirked. "How's your relationship with Oishi-senpai going?"

    "Huh?" she raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

He looked surprised. "Eh? Don't tell me he hadn't asked you out yet!"

shook her head. "I can't believe you're still saying that! I've told you there nothing between us! We're just friends!"

    "...For now, ne?" Eiji said, placing his hands on 's and Momo's shoulders.

    "Eiji, we don't feel that way towards each other."

    "So why does he come to your class and walk you here every practice?"

    "He's worried I'd fall down, that's all."

    "My data says there's more than that, ," Inui, popped out from nowhere, said. Eiji, Momo, and backed in surprise.

    "Where the heck did you come from, senpai?!"

    "You're scaring us, nya!"

    "You really should stop doing that, Inui."

    "Anyway," he opened his sixty-fourth notebook and read it silently before he showed it to the three. "Data never lies."

They examined it quickly. "What's this—'The Number of Times Oishi looks at Everyday'?"

    "Heh, what do you mean by this, Inui?" questioned. There was a barely noticeable blush on her face, but it wasn't Inui if he couldn't see that.

    "Ii data..." he mumbled and wrote something to his notebook. "And by the way, , the number of this—" he pointed to 'The Number of Times Oishi Looks at Everyday' table "—surprisingly, increases everyday."

    "May—maybe they're all coincidences. You wouldn't know," she defended.

    "For someone who has a really good focus like Oishi? I think not," Inui replied, followed by Eiji's and Momo's nods. "The first time you came here as a manager, he looked at you 3 times in practice. Now the number has increased to at least 27 times a day."

    "Eeh?!" they cried in surprise.

    "That many??"

    "Yes. There are times when he only takes a quick glance at you, but sometimes he actually stares at you for a few seconds, the longest being 13.4 seconds. Maa, they can't be all coincidences, ne?" Inui grinned. flushed. "Another blush. actually blushed twice when we're talking about Oishi... Ii data..."

    "That—that's not it!!" cried as she frowned, the blush hadn't left her cheeks. "And can you not write on that book for just a second??"

    "What's this?!" suddenly, the boy they just talked about appeared. Seeing the annoyed look on the manager's face, he turned his head to Inui, then Momo, then Eiji. "Have you been teasing poor -san again?"

    "But we were just playing with her nya, Oishi," his double partner responded.

    "Playing?! Eiji, she's not your toy!!"

    "But—"

    "Can't you leave her for just a moment??"

    "But I—"

    "No buts!"

    "But I just—"

    "No use, Eiji-senpai," Momo placed a hand on Eiji's shoulder. "When Oishi-senpai's around, 's his."

    "What do you mean by that?!" they chorused and looked at each other in surprise.

    "Ooh, that was nice," Momo grinned.

    "Momo!" they chorused again.

    "Whoa~ Perfect harmony! Eiji-senpai, you have to be careful or you'll lose your Oishi!"

    "Momo!!" Oishi cried with bright pink lines on his cheeks.

    'Kawaii... Ah, this isn't the right time to be thinking of this!!' shook her head.

    "Wai! Oishi's BLUSHING, nya!"

    "Eiji!"

    "What's going on there?"

The five of them turned their heads.

Tezuka.

    "Aa—we were just about to play ne, Eiji-senpai?" Momo quickly walked to an empty court.

    "Sou da, sou da! Ah Momo, wait up nya!" Eiji said as she bounced to the boy.

***

    "Ah, there's -san and Oishi, nya!"

Funny how you could hear Eiji saying that sentence every practice.

    "Aa Eiji, have you warmed up yet?" Oishi asked as he put his bag. The acrobatic player nodded.

    "Of course, nya! I even played a set with Fuji! You're extremely late, Oishi!"

Oishi nodded. "Ja, I'll be warming up, ne," he said and jogged around.

    "Haaaaahh... I'm exhausted... That Echizen made me run around the court like crazy..." Momo let himself fall to the ground. "Water..."

    "Aa, this," she handed him a bottle of mineral water.

    "Sankyuu, -senpai..." he sat up and drank. "Oh yeah, why were you and Oishi-senpai late today?"

    "Oh, that. I got called by my science teacher because I got a bad grade on the last test," she stuck out her tongue.

    "Eh?? -senpai can get a bad grade, too?? I didn't know."

    "Well—once in a while. But now I know where I made my mistakes on, so I WON'T FAIL AGAIN!!" she said in burning-mode.

    "Aa—sou ka?" Momo sweat dropped. "But why was Oishi-senpai late, too?"

    "Well, he insisted to accompany me—" she stopped when she saw a grin on Momo's face. "Ah, but that was nothing!!" she quickly added.

    "Oh~? But it's obviously a hint~"

    "Indeed," Inui, as usual, popped out from nowhere.

    "What's with your appearance everyday, Inui..." shook her head. "I thought my heart's jump out. Where did you come from anyway?!"

    "That's not important for now. You know, Oishi had never done that to another girl—no, another person—except ."

    "Hooo~" Eiji suddenly said. "Right! Come to think of it, he never does that to me, too! He definitely cares for you, -chan!"

    "He cares about everyone," quickly said.

    "Not as much as he does to you," Inui held up his sixty-fifth data book. "There's a 98—no—99.8% chance he likes you. Data never lies."

    "That—" tried to hide her blush.

    "And also..." Inui went on. "According to my data, he doesn't have enough courage to tell you his feelings towards you, . My advice is, you have to make a move first."

    "What are you talking about??" walked away from the group, blushing. "There's no way I—"

    "-chan, watch your steps, nya!!"

Too late. landed perfectly on the ground.

    "Ouch..."

    "—"

    "-san!!!!"

Everyone turned their heads. Oishi rushed to the girl. "You fell down again? Are you all right? Is something hurt? How about your feet? Are they okay? Did you sprain anything?"

The whole court was silent, listeing to every question the panicked Oishi asked to .

    "AH!! Maybe I have to get some ice—"

    "Aa, daijoubu, Oishi-kun..."

Oishi looked like he didn't believe her at all. "...Are you sure...?"

    "Yeah! Hora, I can—" she tried to stand up but lost her balance. But this time Oishi was ready. He caught her.

    "See? You sprained your left foot."

    'I did? Oh, come to think of it, it really does hurt...'

    "Ah, but this is okay. I—"

    "I'm taking you home now."

    "Eeeh!?" cried. "It's okay, Oishi-kun! Only a sprained foot!"

    "Not okay," he quickly said. "Wait here, I'll take your bag." He went away before could say anything.

She glared to Momo, Eiji, and Inui who had that "we told you" looks on their faces. She sighed.

***

There was an awkward silence as they walked to 's house together, especially because Oishi was holding her shoulder, making sure she wouldn't fall again.

    'Wha—what am I going to do? Oh my God, he's so close to me!' she thought, flushing with bright pink lines. Oishi's face looked as red as hers. 'His body is so warm...' she closed her eyes for a second. Then something came to her mind. 'Should I confess? Inui definitely said he likes me, and his data is really accurate... But I...' she looked to Oishi. He was trying his best not to make any eye-contacts with her.

Finally, they reached 's house.

    "Umm... Arigatou Oishi-kun, taking me home like this..." she said, looking at Oishi's eyes.

    "Don't even mention it, -san."

Neither of them moved.

    "You have to make a move first."

    'This is silly. Why do I have to listen to Inui?'

Oishi hadn't let go off her yet.

    'But then again...'

moved in front of him. They were looking at each other, face-to-face.

    'It's worth a try...'

    "Oishi-kun..." she whispered as she placed her hands on the back of his neck and pulled his head to her.

It was when their lips met.

could feel his lips, so soft and smooth.

Then they pulled away. Both looked at each other, blushing furiously.

    "Err... Oishi-kun... Go... Gomen..."

    "Aa... That's... That's okay, -san..."

And 20 m from them, three pairs of eyes were watching behind the bushes.

    "Wow~ Nice!!"

    "That was really unexpected, nya..."

    "July twenty-eighth, made a first move on her relationship with Oishi Shuuichirou... Probability of them being a happy couple: 100%..." Inui smiled, felt satisfied. "Saa, like I said, data never lies..."
 

[ owari ]
// Akira Ichigo 2005.07.03