บท 3: CHAPTER III: Exploring Tokyo Part 1
PUBLIC TENNIS COURTS
It was still sunny, much to Reina's closed her eyes and everything went quiet. All she heard were the beautiful birds singing their songs, as well as the relaxing sound of rustling leaves. When a leaf landed on her face, she opened her eyes and switched to another mode of past-time:
Staring blankly into thin air.
She watched the clouds pass by for a while and waited for her eyes to hurt. It didn't take her long to get bored, and so she decided to take a little stroll around the park. Her mother did ask her to come back before dinner and she was planning to do just that. The clock said '10:30am' hence there was plenty of time to spare.
'What to do... what to do…' she chanted as she wandered around. She noted that the vending machines were quite far apart from each other…
'I wonder how many Pontas each of them have.' She pondered automatically, used to the first things that she thought about.
After thinking (and making some rough 'calculations') about the quantity of Ponta in each vending machine, she decided to walk around and watch ongoing tennis matches. But her eyes left the courts practically as soon as she laid eyes on them.
'What boring matches…' she mused disapprovingly, and rightfully so.
She continued to walk around hoping that she would encounter something interesting.
Then, she heard it.
It was the sound made by a tennis ball and a tennis racket when they make contact at precisely the right places, at precisely the right moment. With that, she knew immediately that she was walking towards an amazing player.
Tezuka Kunimitsu was bored. It was Saturday and he would've preferred that he stay home. He still had quite a bit of work to finish before Monday, the start of classes.
He was planning on doing his assignments in academics, student council, and fixing certain issues in the tennis club. Yes, he had a lot of work to do. Wasting his time outside, when he should be doing other things, and hitting a tennis ball for an hour on the wall could be quite stressful.
What was his mother thinking?
...
TEZUKA HOUSEHOLD
"La~Lalalala- Awchoo!" A pretty woman with silky brown hair wiped her nose, soon returning to cleaning the floor. She sang again, quite in a good mood. She did something good that day.
She smiled.
She, Tezuka Ayana, was 45 years old and was getting younger. At least, that's what she believed…
Ayana was one of those people who believed that age depended on a person's state of mind. So yes, she WAS getting younger. She was a now a very young woman, indeed!
Well…, compared to her son, anyway.
Kunimitsu was his grandfather's favorite, and was raised by him for most of his childhood. The old man believed that she wouldn't be able to raise his grandchild the way he wanted to, so he took the liberty to take him into custody until he was 13 years old.
Old man Kunikazu was a very conservative and traditional man. He was firm on his beliefs and was incurably close-minded. His concept of strength was having a devoid of emotions. And he wanted everyone, with his blood, strong.
And so a family without emotions was born.
Much to her dismay, her son was said to be one of the 'strongest' in their family. His lack of emotion and will to enjoy life was worse than his father...
His father...
Ayana married Kuniharu because of her nearly unconditional love for him. She didn't really understand herself, but it has something to do with wanting to change him for the better.
And she wanted to be the one to change him.
Yes, it was sappy. But who didn't want to have a effect on the person they love?
She only managed to make him smile occasionally. That's that. She worked hard year after year only to get her husband to open up, but she reaped only minimal results. She still loved him, don't get her wrong. It was just a bit depressing how serious Kuniharu was about everything…
And Tezuka was even more stoic than his father.
Having the thought that her son would never smile like a normal person terrified Ayana consequently making her determined to do something about her son's predicament. Albeit he seemed a bit happier now, thanks to tennis and his team, he still lacked the joy she wanted him to experience. Kunimitsu, as he was now, only smiled through his eyes. And even those moments were pretty rare.
So she told herself that she was going to make a move.
Again, she felt quite proud of herself.
-flashback-
"B-But Mother!" Her son tried to reason out with her as he was being pushed towards the door. "I have so many things to take care of before the class starts." He exclaimed. Although in his case, 'exclaimed' meant his eyebrows met and the volume of his voice was a little louder than normal.
Ayana frowned in disapproval.
"Oh don't you say you're BUSY! I know you could finish everything tomorrow." She yelled. "The weather is so good today!" She muttered and opened the door. "Go enjoy yourself." She said as she literally shoved her son outside the door.
Kunimitsu just sighed and went to the gate.
Then Ayana remembered how much of a workaholic her son was. She took a hold of the bag beside the door and shouted at him before he exited the yard:
"NO going to libraries or anywhere else wherein you're planning to do your work!" She threw him his tennis bag. "I trust that you will do only tennis and other -preferably the other- recreational activities for today, Kunimitsu.
"AND DON'T COME BACK BEFORE DINNER!"
Then she closed the door with a satisfied smile.
-End of flashback-
DEEP INSIDE THE PUBLIC TENNIS COURTS, present
She saw him. She watched him. And soon, she admired him.
He had an extraordinary tennis form. He received the ball coming from the wall with grace she so rarely witnessed. He was tall and good-looking: He had silky light brown hair partnered with eyes of the same color but with a lighter shade. 'He looks like a high school student.' Reina even assumed.
She continued to watch him in the side, careful not to get noticed. She was good at hiding her presence, a skill vital to girl with crazy fan clubs. And as she watched him, she concluded many things. She knew that this guy had a passion for tennis, even when he looked bored as hell. She smirked at a thought.
'He probably thinks he's bored right now.'
Not a moment later, though, he noticed her. 'Oh… He's sensitive.' Reina thought a little impressed.
But even as their eyes met- he just stared at her, waiting for her to say something. But for a few moments, she just stared back. She looked at his beautiful yet emotionless brown eyes, and she knew immediately what he needed.
"Ne..." She uttered coolly. "You look bored.
"Play with me."
...
*Several Minutes Later*
"6 games to 3. You win." She muttered. He smiled a little with his eyes, getting Reina to smile back. The game took 40 minutes to finish. Reina was breathing heavily, still surprised at how good her opponent was. She definitely did her best and she just knew he held back. She didn't know why, but she wasn't offended. She just felt that he wasn't willingly holding back.
"Well, that was amusing." She shrugged as she stood up straight and went to the net. "Indeed." Tezuka agreed and did the same. Both of them admitted to themselves that their opponent was truly exceptional and that it was definitely a great game. It was the first time for both of them to have such an unusually amusing game with a stranger. They wanted to get the other's contact number so that they could do it again.
It was Tezuka who initiated, "It was a great game. Mind if we play again sometime in the future?" He asked as stoic as ever.
"Not at all. In fact, I was about to propose the same thing." She replied in her usual apathetic tone of voice.
Tezuka noted that he was unusually happy with the stranger's reply. He just attributed it to the good game they just had. "Tezuka Kunimitsu." He blurted out, startled at himself for being so eager to introduce himself… and find out the strange girl's identity. The girl's expression softened, much to Tezuka's mysterious delight, and told him her name.
'Echizen Reina. Reina… it suits her-" he swiftly caught himself and dismissed that last thought. He was going to have a headache, he was sure. So, he tried to push all the alien thoughts away.
"So, how do we contact each other?" Reina asked suddenly remembering that she broke her phone, by accidentally dropping it on the stairs, before they left for Japan because they were in such a hurry. "I no longer have a mobile phone…"
Disappointed that he wouldn't be able to contact her with a handy mobile phone, Tezuka just offered if they should go with e-mails. She nodded, and they exchanged their email adds.
They walked to the court's gate together, but what baffled both of them was that they were going to the same direction even after they already said their good-byes.
"'Where to?" She asked. She was going to get a can of Ponta. Tezuka replied by pointing at a vending machine. Reina found an almost invisible smile creep up her face.
"Ah, so we're going to the same spot, then."
When they reached the machine in question, she saw that the counter under 'Ponta' indicated that there was only a single can left. 'Oh… This might be my lucky day.' She thought in satisfaction. But, when she was about to open her drink she noted that Tezuka looked at it for a moment and she saw some kind of instantaneous disappointment in his eyes.
"You like Ponta?" She inquired. This startled Tezuka a bit since her question caught him off guard, not that anyone but Ayana, Inui, Fuji, and now Reina would have noticed. He was about to lie when he felt something cold being pushed to his stomach.
"Here." The girl offered her Ponta by softly pushing it to him. "I was thinking of trying something else, anyway." Tezuka let out an extremely faint but unwanted blush, and was about to say something to politely refuse her offer when she put the can in his hands and nonchalantly took his coin as payment. And before he knew it she was holding a green can with the name "Broccoli juice" embedded on it.
"Seriously?" He asked in incredulity. The girl just pouted. "What? I was curious on how it would taste… "
Tezuka, also curious, just watched the girl to see her reaction. The girl was pleasantly surprised at the taste of the mysterious beverage, much to his delight.
"Honey… They added sweet, sweet honey!" She uncharacteristically exclaimed (which was an odd and hasty thought since they just met) with eyes so enthusiastic that he couldn't help but feel her joy.
But then the girl offered him her drink, catching him off-guard (again). "Taste it. It's even tastier than I thought!" She proposed with such anticipation that he couldn't refuse.
And it did taste good, much to Tezuka's surprise. He just nodded, looking as stoic as usual, in agreement. Reina then took her can back and he watched her drink her new found favorite, when it hit him.
His eyes twitched.
Did they just have an indirect kiss?
"What's wrong Tezuka-san?" She asked as she drunk her 3rd can of broccoli juice. "You haven't touched your Ponta yet…"
She paused. Tezuka's blush that was now deep enough for very observant people to notice. She stared at him anxiously. "Do you have a fever? I didn't notice."
Tezuka shook his head and unconsciously smiled. "I just need to drink because it's really getting hot now, I suppose." He lied. Reina felt that he wasn't telling her something but she just let it go.
A few minutes of chatting later they both found out that neither of them could go back home before dinner, so it only seemed 'natural' for them to decide that they should eat together.
It was natural, even if they would normally prefer eating alone than being with a stranger.
Right...?
JOLLIBEE
The two teenagers decided to spend their lunch at certain fast-food chain swiftly becoming popular in their area.
Tezuka took a single order of chicken barbeque with rice while Reina bought 2-piece burger steak with 2 extra rice and 1 piece chicken-sandwich accompanied by a serving of peach mango pie and a sundae cone for dessert. Tezuka was no longer surprised at his company's big appetite. After all, just a few minutes ago she drank 12 cans of Broccoli juice in a matter of minutes.
While they ate, they started talking about their lives. Apparently Tezuka was still a junior-high student, pretty much hitting Reina conscience. She quickly apologized for her rudeness but Tezuka just said he was used to it. He went to a familiar sounding middle school called 'Seigaku'. Reina wondered why it sounded familiar and asked Tezuka if he knew why.
"Our school is famous for our boy's tennis club." He stated as apathetically as he could.
"Oh? You're a regular there, I'm sure." She said and he nodded. She knew she wasn't familiar with the school because of the tennis club, but she just let the thought go for now.
Tezuka stared at her as she pondered about something. "In fact, I'm the Captain." He declared, surprising himself yet again. Normally he would just admit he was a regular. But he felt this surprising urge to show off for reasons he had yet to comprehend.
"Ehh…" She smiled, only slightly impressed since she thought that he is too good not to be captain. Nevertheless, Tezuka felt a strange kind of pride.
"So, tell me about your team." She requested and Tezuka debated himself whether or not to speak about them. He himself disliked being talked about behind his back so he wasn't so sure if it's right to talk about his friends behind their backs.
Reina noticed the inner war Tezuka was experiencing. But she was really curious as to what type of people the guy hung out with everyday.
"Hmmm… Then what about we make some sort of code name for them, then…?" she suggested. He nodded, telling her to continue.
"Hmm… Say you're codename is K-san."
"K-san?" He asked, perplexed.
"For Kunimitsu, no?" She said matter-of-factly.
Tezuka was quick to tame his heating cheeks. He really liked the way his name sounded when it came from her mouth. Maybe they should refer each other on a first-name basis.
His eye twitched at that last thought. ' But you just met her, Kunimitsu.'
He sighed. Quite audibly and it caught Reina's attention at the worst possible time.
"You don't like it?" Reina asked, and Tezuka couldn't even say anything. Reina took his silence as a 'yes'.
"Mah, you don't need a codename anyway." She shrugged. "So… Describe your teammates and we'll make names for them." She offered with a smirk, and he could not help but agree.
*Several Minutes Later*
They had fun talking and commenting about the regulars. They even chuckled a lot. Although in Tezuka's case, the laughs were rather instantaneous. He always managed to stop himself from showing too much of himself… In fact, there were several moments during and even before their lunch together wherein a part of him wanted to run away. His behavior at the moment was considered weak in his family, and of course he didn't want that. He took great pride in his 'strength' since as far as he could remember.
And now this girl, without even trying, was ruining everything.
He looked at the said girl with a mix of emotions, some of which he could not describe. She was writing down the new names of his friends. She seemed enthusiastic about this for some reason…
Then she suddenly smiled, making him feel as if he was melting. She seemed to have finished her naming and told them to him as well as her reasons for choosing the names. He couldn't help but smile.
Moonhead-san – The vice captain. Tezuka described the guy as a mother figure to the team (much to Reina's amusement). The vice captain also had a hairstyle that followed the curve of his head. One of his trademark techniques is name 'Moon Volley' as well.
Glue guy – Be on this guy's bad side and you'll find yourself in a sticky situation. He also liked Wasabi, which you can use to make paste. And there's the fact that his eyes are always closed as if they're glued together and he had a smile seemingly plastered to his face.
Sushi Monster – His family owned a sushi restaurant. An aspiring Sushi chef. He was a very meek and quiet person. But when gets a hold of something his hands could grasp he turned into this over-confident, bad-mouthed, semi-English speaking dude. 'Seems like someone who has a bad case of inferiority complex.' She thought to herself upon hearing Tezuka's description.
Neko-chan – Simple. Tezuka described this guy as a human cat.
Porcupine-nii– Tezuka said the guy's hairdo resembles a porcupine. This was person is also a data player. He, like Reina was gifted with the gift of observation. He also had opaque glasses. And hence, the honorific.
Bushyeyebrows-kun– Self-explanatory.
Buggy-kun – It was originally 'snake-kun' since Tezuka described him as a human snake. But it didn't sound cute at all. Also, the technique of said guy called "snake" was a version of the buggy-whip shot. Tezuka added that he always frowns, growing eye bags along the years.
"These are pretty accurate." Tezuka complimented. She just grinned in satisfaction.
...
OUTSIDE THE FAST-FOOD CHAIN
They stood there silent for a while. Now that lunch was over, there was really no reason to continue hanging out.
'So this is goodbye then…' he said to himself with a hint of sadness that he didn't detect. 'This is good, right? There was always a part of you who wanted to get away from her, anyway.' Right. So, why was he hesitating?
'It's still early…' he muttered. 'She did say she doesn't need to be home by dinner… I certainly can't go home too early…'
'What the heck are you trying to say, then? You want to stay with her a while longer?' His inner voice commented in skepticism, as if he was the idiot he dreaded to be.
'Well, no…' He replied, missing the fact that he was not quite sure anymore.
The debate went on. Normal people wouldn't notice this at all, though. Tezuka really just looked like he was on the street walking away from home and had to abruptly stopped because he suddenly realized that he forgot something, and was now trying to remember what it was.
His voice of reason finally threw out his final shot: 'Well. Just don't blame me if you get humiliated. Only weaklings get humiliated, Kunimitsu.'
"Tezuka-san?" A very familiar voice said caguely. He forced his other voice away.
"...yes?"
"Do you have something you need to do…?" She asked. He decided to answer immediately before he engage to another inner war or something. "No, I don't." He replied as stoically as he could.
"I see, then." She said, looking at the pavement. Somehow Tezuka didn't like this atmosphere. "So this is it then. It was nice to meet you, Tezuka-san."
"What?"
They blinked simultaneously at that reaction. Tezuka just knew his voice was uncharacteristically higher and he could see what his inner voice was saying about completely humiliating himself.
"I..." she whispered, evidently not quite knowing what to say. Tezuka felt a twinge of guilt for causing her uneasiness. "I said it was nice to meet you."
Silence
"Likewise."
But there they stood, frozen.
They simultaneously smiled.
It was so obvious neither of them wanted to part quite yet.
"So... would you like me to show you around?"
She grinned. "Thanks."
...
They walked side-by-side enjoying the comfortable silence for a while and took advantage of it to arrange their thoughts.
Reina recalled earlier events with a smile. She was pretty satisfied with the names she made. In a sense, she felt a bit closer to Tezuka now, since she knew to some degree the friends he played with everyday. That's why she was quite enthusiastic about the naming.
But then she remembered- a little too clearly- that there were instances that Tezuka was simply acting weird…
Those dreaded moments when she actually fought with insecurities- which was highly disturbing because of the self-confidence she usually had.
Did he dislike what she was doing? Or her in general? Was he just holding himself back because he was a gentleman…?
She was really starting to think he disliked her. After all, he frowned quite often while they were together. He also stopped himself if ever he started laughing. Then, those are those moments when it seems like he's having a war with himself. At those times she thought that he was debating himself how to tell her he needed to go and do something else…
So when he offered to be her guide, she was greatly relieved of all the discomforting thoughts. He didn't seem to have unwillingly offered it at all, either.
They went to see the central library, the shopping center, the doubles-only tennis courts, and then stopped at the park to get some rest. This time, Reina bought a Ponta while Tezuka bought their new discovery – the broccoli juice. While she was drinking, she noticed the big stand-alone clock in the middle of the park. It said 4:00pm.
'Oh, man.' She murmured. Tezuka noticed this (slight) change in expression and looked at what caused it.
'She didn't need to go now, did she?' Tezuka narrowed his eyes and his large brain automatically formulated assumptions. Personal ones, at that, and it perturbed him greatly. What was even more disturbing is that the assumptions simply would not stop.
He tried to convince himself. He was making quite an effort to push the thoughts away that he didn't notice the girl was already in front of him.
"Tezuka-san…" She muttered looking down in embarrassment. "I-I have to go home now…"
Tezuka blinked at her sudden appearance. She just said the words that he didn't want to hear yet. Why? Didn't they have some sort of unspoken mutual agreement that they will hang out until (before) dinner? Or was that just him, after all…
He couldn't believe how disappointed he was. Was he this bored?
"Do you have to go somewhere?" He just asked looking indifferent.
"I just said I need to go home…" She replied confused by the sudden harshness in the voice of her friend.
"Yes, but I thought that you need be home a little before dinner?" He asked, although he noticed that he sounded as if he was interrogating her. Maybe he was interrogating her.
"You see…" Reina flushed all of a sudden, much to Tezuka's displeasure. 'Does she have a date with someone?' He asked himself. Wait. Why did he care anyway?
Blasted assumptions just wouldn't stop. .
"I get lost so easily. It's kind of like a curse, really. In addition to that, I barely know this place. So if I don't go now, I will most probably be late." She said as a matter-of-factly and Tezuka was relieved beyond his comprehension. He smiled, and then asked her address. Maybe he could help her find her house. Reina obliged, not questioning him at all.
"Oh? This… is just a few streets away from my house." Tezuka said, surprised…both by the strange coincidence and his unreasonable glee.
"NO WAY!" She exclaimed quite shocked by the turn of events. Then she suddenly laughed "That is so cool."
Tezuka couldn't help but laugh with her. He now made no attempt on stopping himself. He remembered the constriction he put on himself earlier almost cost him well... her.
"Tezuka-san, since I doubt I'll get lost now…" She grinned and pointed towards the theater they passed through before. "I'll treat you as a thank you."
STREETS LEADING TO THE ECHIZEN HOUSEHOLD
They talked about the movie they watched on their way to her home. The movie was Walt Disney's Wall-E.
Reina still liked that kind of cartoon as well as animes at her age. In fact, she thought she would never get tired of them.
Tezuka, on the other hand, never watched cartoons before. He thought they were too childish. But the fact that Reina looked so happy… seeing her like that gave him strange surge of joy that suddenly pierced his body.
"AH, here we are." Reina abruptly stopped. Tezuka didn't see a house, instead he saw stairs - the type of stairs leading up to a temple.
He just looked at her suspiciously and she giggled. "My father was asked to take care of the temple by an old friend of his. So in exchange, the whole family was allowed to live there for free." Then she stared at him and asked: "Would you like to join us for dinner?"
'I would love to.' he wanted to reply. But that was just pushing it. They just met after all, her family would be worried.
Tezuka just replied with a soft smile. "I have to go home now, Mother will be worried. Besides, with our house this close to each other, we're bound to meet each other again from time to time." He said as reassurance, more to himself than to her.
She held out his hand, and he unthinkingly went to shake it. A moment of understanding passed by and they smirked at the same time, feeling the same way.
"Pleasure to meet you, too."
...
TEZUKA HOUSEHOLD
Ayana just finished making dinner. She wondered where her son could be; normally he would have been here 20mins ago. She was about to get worried when she heard a familiar voice say: "Tadaima."
She was startled at her son's peculiar tone of voice. It simply wasn't the emotionless and bored tone she was used to. Curious, she ran quietly to the hall.
What she saw made her heart burst out in joy.
Her son was humming... Humming!
…and it was accompanied by the biggest and most beautiful smile her son had ever worn.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง