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Cut and Paste
BEFORE YOU READ THIS:
Please be aware that Cut and Paste went through a major plot make-over. Please make sure that you've re-read the story to absorb all of the new plot additions. If not, you'll be so confused, your head will be left spinning. Sorry if this is an inconvienence for any of you... If you have any problems or questions, feel free to give me a PM.
Chapter 14: The Sports Festival, Part One
With only a week left to prepare, everyone scrambled to get things done in time for Osamu Tezuka's biggest event, the Fall Sports Festival.
A finger smashed against the Dr. Pepper button, followed by a satisfying clack clack click click clack thud noise from the machine, with a 20 oz. bottle at the bottom, waiting to be drank.
"Yes..." Natty sighed, reaching down to grab her prize. She twisted the cap with a crisp snap! and drank a quenching-satisfying gulp.
"Natty!" A voice called excitedly. Natty looked up, still drinking, and saw her attractive neighbor Kuro. She spat out the drink, and coughed viciously. Kuro paced over to her, and patted her back.
"You ok?!" He asked. Natty nodded, and looked up with a red face.
"What are you wearing?!" She asked with a raspy voice. Kuro looked down at his attire. Then he noticed his black slacks and bowtie, and white button up collar shirt.
"Oh this! My team is holding a cafe for the festival. I'm a waiter." he explained. Natty looked at his attire again, and began to blush. She quickly distracted herself by fixing his bowtie and patting it into place.
"You look really good in it!" She complimented. Kuro's face brightened up, then he smoothed out his shirt with a grin.
"Heh, well, thank you. And what's your team doing? You look like a housewife!" Kuro pointed out. Natty's eyebrow slowly rose. She picked up the tip of her plain white apron and looked up at Kuro.
"We're having a ramen stand, why? Is it a bad thing?" She asked skeptically. Kuro's eyes drifted off in thought.
'Well actually... She does look pretty cute in that apron...'
-Kuro's Inner Mind Theater- (He watches too much Ouran Host Club!)
"Ah! Welcome home, Kuro!" Natty greeted sweetly, covered in flour and chocolate. Kuro loosened his tie dramatically, and smiled back at her.
"It's good to be home." He sighed happily. Then Natty looked a little distressed, and bit her lip in worry.
"I'm sorry, but the kitchen's such a mess... But I really wanted to make you a good batch of chocolate brownies..." She pouted, looking back at the mess. Instead of getting mad, Kuro smiled brightly and grabbed Natty's hands.
"Chocolate brownies! My favorite!" He chimed. Natty smiled back in relief and wrapped her arms tightly around Kuro's waist.
"I'm so happy!"
"Me too!"
-End of Kuro's Inner Mind Theater-
Kuro slowly drifted back to reality, and looked at where Natty used to be.
"Kevin! Over here!" He heard her shout. He turned around to see her walk up to her old friend, Kevin.
'Oh, it’s that guy...' Kuro thought. His body loosened in sadness.
With Kevin being dragged along, Natty walked back up to Kuro. "Kuro! Remember Kevin? That guy who popped out of nowhere that one night when we stayed up?" She asked excitedly, smiling back at her red-head friend. The tip of Kuro's lips jerked up into a small smile, and gave a nod.
"Yeah, I remember. Natty's old friend, right?" He asked. Kevin raised an eyebrow.
"And you're the over-protective neighbor, correct?" He asked. Kuro's cheeks turned a tinge pink.
"Kevin..." Natty mumbled, pinching her friend's arm.
"Ow!" Kevin squeaked, looking down at her. "What was that for?" He asked. Natty narrowed her eyes up at him.
"Don't say stuff like that!" She mumbled. Kuro got the idea, and took a step toward his next door neighbor.
"I better get going anyway. I'll see you later, ok?" He rubbed Natty's hair to mess it up, and smiled at her as he walked out of the building. Natty turned around to watch him leave.
"See you later!" She called out. Kuro didn't look back, but he rose up his hand and waved. The doors closed behind him, and she turned back around to Kevin, who lowered his head down to her level.
"So what was that all about?" He asked curiously. Natty turned a furious shade of red.
"What are you talking about?!" She shouted, shoving Kevin's face away from her own. Kevin laughed at this, and ran his fingers through his hair.
"The way you're acting around that guy! I've never seen you like that before." He noted. Natty looked at the doors that Kuro left from, and back at Kevin.
"Like what? I didn't act any differently that how I act around you!" She said. Kevin smirked, and found interest down the hallway.
"Believe me. You were acting different from the usual." He said. Natty pouted at him and crossed her arms.
"Whatever. I don't believe you." She mumbled. Kevin pinched her cheek playfully, and then put his hand on the middle of her back to scoot her toward the door.
"C'mon, we gotta get back to the team." He reminded. Natty laughed and scratched the back of her head.
"Oh yeah! Let's go then!" She said, walking ahead of him. Kevin stuffed his hands in his pockets, and looked down at the ground as they walked back to the classroom where their team was working.
"You didn't have to." He muttered, turning a tinge pink. Sara smiled back at him, and shook her head.
"Well I wanted to. So take it!" She commanded, handing him his box and a plastic fork. Momoji grabbed it and opened it up to let the steam roll out.
"Wow, it's still hot." He noticed.
"Well, I ran here as quickly as I could so it could still be hot!" Sara explained, opening up her own box and sticking her fork in to grab a bite. They took their boxes of food into the main area, and sat down at Momoji's desk. Sara saw a stack of papers sitting at the edge.
"What's this?" She asked. Momoji looked at the stack.
"What I'm working on for the festival." He answered.
"Can I see?" She asked. Momoji sat down and waved his hand as a 'go ahead' sign. She sat down in the seat next to him, placed her box on a safe spot on the desk, and picked up the stack.
"A Murder in the McNay House. A thriller comedy by Robert Franklin." She read out loud. Then she read it to herself again in astonishment. She looked up at Momoji with big eyes.
"Your name is Robert?" She asked jokingly. Momoji's face went flat.
"Yeah?"
"Robert."
"Yeah...?"
Sara bent her head back and let out a big howl of laughter. She even had to hold in her stomach. Momoji hung his head, and waited for her to stop.
"Oh my gosh! Can I call you Bob? Can I? Can I?" She joked, pointing her finger at him and still laughing. Momoji took the stack away from her hand.
"I shouldn't have let you read this." He growled. Sara stopped and took it back.
"Oh c'mon, lemme read it! I was just kidding." She said, reading the title again.
"Then don't ever mention my real name again. Or Bob. It's bad enough that my family calls me Bobby." Momoji grumbled, looking to the side. Sara pinched his cheek and stretched it out.
"Fine then. I'm sorry." She said, her mouth curling into a smile. Momoji swapped her hand away and faced his dinner to hide his pink cheeks. Sara looked down at the stack again, and flipped the page.
"Is this a play?" She asked.
"Yeah." Momoji said with spaghetti stuffed in his mouth.
"On a cold and rainy night of December, Blaine did not know what he was in for when he landed in the small town of Winchester." She started to read out loud in a low and dramatic voice. Momoji stifled a laugh and covered his mouth so that spaghetti wouldn't spill out. He swallowed his food, and looked up at her.
"Don't read it out loud! Geez..." He mumbled. Sara laughed and continued to read it by herself. Minutes passed by, and with each page Sara became quieter, except for the few laughs at the funny parts. She finished the last page, and patted the stacks together.
"This... This is really good, Momoji!" She complimented. Momoji looked up at her with a surprised look.
"Really?"
"Yeah! It was really good! Are you going to be in it?" She asked. Momoji shook his head.
"Nah, I'm directing though. That's what I'm here for anyway." He said.
"For directing? Directing what?" Sara asked, now putting the manuscript away and picking up her box.
"Animes, dramas, anything." He said.
"Shouldn't you be in film school, then?"
"Well, I thought this would be a more interesting school." Momoji shrugged his shoulders.
"Huh... If you went to film school instead, I never would have had the pleasure of meeting you." Sara said, smiling softly at him. Momoji blinked, and looked down to play with his food.
"Yeah. Me too."
Sara's smile grew wider, and looked down at her food.
"Mmm... Yesss. Thanks Waru." She said, closing her eyes and smelling the sweetness.
"No problem." Waru said, grinning. He walked off to attend the next customer in the Lounge. The cross-dresser sat down at a near-by table, and took a sip of her coffee. She sighed again in satisfaction, and leaned her head back in bliss.
"Enjoying that coffee a little too much?" A familiar voice asked. Above her, magenta eyes glowed.
"Koichi!" She straitened up, and turned around in her seat to face him. "Funny to see you here!" She said, now sounding uncomfortable. Last time she saw him, he had woken her up from passing out on his bed. She found Koichi's face very close to hers as he was putting a new cold towel on her head. That was after she found out Koichi's true identity.
'All this time, my fiancé was right in front of me... Does he even know that he has his fiancé right in front of him?' She thought softly. She chewed on the edge of her cup as she thought to herself.
Koichi smiled at her, and sat across from her at the small table.
"Long time no see! We haven't been able to do the tutoring lessons lately..." He said, then taking a sip of his hot tea. Inky looked up at him, and placed her coffee down on the table.
"Yeah, the festival is so time consuming... There's no time for ourselves at all!" She noted. Koichi smirked and rested his head on his hand. Inky turned red, and looked toward the wall to her right.
'He's been smiling like that since that night that I found out... I wonder why...' She thought.
"Yeah, they want to test how well you can handle multi-tasking. So they make you try to juggle school, after school activities, and the festival all in one month. It's a lot of pressure." He said. Inky nodded, and tried as hard as she could to avoid eye contact. Koichi leaned into her line of view.
"What's wrong with you? Are you running a fever again?" He asked. He reached his hand out to her forehead and checked her temperature. "Hm. You seem fine." He kept the back of his hand on her forehead anyway, just in case. Inky flinched and swatted his hand away.
"I'm fine! I don't have a fever!" She almost shouted. Koichi's eyebrows furrowed in worry.
"Ok then... If you say so. I just don't want you to pass out again like last time. You scared the shit out of me." He said, looking away from the cross-dresser and taking a sip of his tea. Inky's face heated up as she remembered the scene again.
"Well I'm fine now. You don't need to worry." She mumbled. Koichi glanced at her quickly, and looked back at what he was staring at (which was nothing, really).
"So how have you been doing on your homework? Since I’m not doing it for you?" He smirked. Inky sunk into her chair and found her half-empty cup very interesting.
"I've been ok... It gets a little tough, but I'm ok." She huffed.
"That's good. If you feel desperate for help though, you can always call me." Koichi offered. Inky finally looked at him willingly, and found him smiling at her again. She sunk deeper into her chair to hide her red face.
'Why am I acting like this?! This is getting so annoying!' She scolded herself. She straitened herself up and traced the edge of her coffee cup.
"Yeah, I'll call you." She said. Koichi got up from the table and walked up to where Inky was sitting.
"Well I better be going then. My team is going to be doing last minute touch ups before the big day next week." He announced, looking down at her. He looked at the exit, and then tapped the table. "Oh, and my birthday is in two weeks." He reminded her. Inky looked up at him and crinkled up her face.
"And what's the big deal about that?" She said sarcastically. Koichi’s mouth gaped. He turned around and rubbed his knuckles into the girl's hair.
"So get me a present for your awesome tutor, you numbskull! Make it a good one, too!" He said. He stopped and saw Inky smirking at him.
"Yeah, yeah..." She said in a snooty tone. Koichi chuckled, and shook his head as he exited the cafe. Once again she looked down at her coffee cup, and tilted it from side to side as her thoughts wondered off.
'How did all of this happen...? First Koichi and I hate each other, then we become studying partners, and before I know it, it seems like Koichi never had a mean side to him. And now I found out that he's the fiancé I was told to look for. Mom, Dad... I got to know him, but I didn't expect to get along with him this much...' She gave a heavy sigh, and rested her head on her fist in distress. She made a mental diagram in her head. 'I mean, I guess he's not bad fiance material... I mean, c'mon. He's interesting... and he has similar interests... And he's just plain sexy..! Wait... What the hell am I saying?!' Inky grumbled to herself and stared intensely at the cup.
"Is your coffee ok?" Another familiar voice asked in her ear. She shot up in her chair, almost spilling her warm coffee on her lap. She turned around to see Waru laughing. She narrowed her eyes at him, and turned away from him.
"Jerk! You almost made me spill my coffee! And it's fine, thank you very much." She said. Waru sat in the seat next to her and pulled one leg over the other to get comfortable.
"That's good. So what were you and Koichi chatting about?" He asked curiously.
"Oh, nothing really. He's still freaked out about when I passed out on his bed." She mumbled. Waru smiled in interest, and rubbed his hand over his mouth and then rubbed his chin.
"Well, he tends to be such a mother cat whenever it involves someone he really cares about." He said, emphasizing on that particular word. Inky raised an eyebrow at this. She wasn't that stupid when someone was trying to give her a hint.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked. Waru was surprised by this, and looked at the bar area of the lounge.
"Oh nothing really. Just saying that Koichi does have a soft side. He doesn't show it to very many people. I think Momoji, you and me are the only ones that know that it exists." He noted. Inky cocked her head.
'Huh. I guess he's trying to make me feel special or something.' She thought to herself. He looked at Inky again, and gave her a scoping look.
"You want to know something interesting?" He asked, leaning over slightly.
"What?" Inky raised an eyebrow.
"Did you know that Koichi has a fiancé?" He said. Something inside her thumped against her chest. Waru smirked at her reaction. Inky looked at her cup again.
"Wow, are you serious?" She half-heartedly chuckled. "Who in their right mind would marry that hot-head?"
"Well, they actually haven't been acquainted yet. It was arranged by their parents." Waru explained. Inky bit the inside of her cheek.
"That is the worst thing that a parent could ever do." She mumbled.
"Yeah... Koichi's really nervous. He was against it at first, of course, but his mom made him a deal that if he meets her, he can decline or accept. Same with the girl." Inky listened carefully, even though she had already heard this before. But it was different when it was from someone else's point of view.
"How are they supposed to meet?" Inky tried to sound interested.
"Apparently she's here too. Which surprises me, honestly." Waru said with a glint of suspicion in his eye. Inky's head tilted.
"Why is that?"
"Well, in the school system, it says that there are only three Albanian students enrolled. That's Koichi, me, and you. So where is the fiancé?" His eyes were set on hers, and his voice turned low. Something thumped again, and she realized that it was her heart. It started to beat faster, harder.
"Ah...! That is interesting!"
"So hopefully the fiancé will reveal herself soon, so this can be done and over with, ya know?" Waru started to relax, and ease back into his chair casually. Inky grew more tense.
"You make it sound like she's hiding..." She noticed. He was hitting it right on the nail.
"Think about it. If her parents confirmed that she enrolled into this school, how come she's nowhere to be found in the systems or on campus? I would consider that hiding." Waru explained. He rested his head on his hand and let out a huge sigh. "I don't blame her though. I would hide too." Then he got up and smiled at her.
"I better be getting back to work."
"Oh, ok then." Inky nodded and looked up at him. Her heart started to calm down. Waru gave an unfamiliar sly smile, and leaned close to her face.
"By the way, his exact birthday is November 5th. Try to do something special for him, won't you?" He said. He straitened back up and scooted his chair back under the table. "I'll talk to you later, alright, Ana-chan?" He said, giving her a quick wink. Inky lost her control, and her face busted into a shade of crimson.
"Ana-chan?! Where did you get that from?!" She shouted.
"Just a nickname Koichi and I cooked up. Cute, isn't it?" Waru chuckled as he went back to his station in the bar area. Inky sat alone at the table once again, and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. What is Waru cooking up...?
"There are five teams for each grade, making 20 teams. For example, the Freshman grade, team four is called 1-4! Sophomore grade, team one is called 2-1, and so on! These teams were chosen using the old random numbers in a bowl trick. Which ever team gets the most points gets the prize!
"There are more contests within the three day event, including best teamwork, best team player, most popular stand, most creative stand, and best costume at the Halloween Dance! These winners will get trophies with food coupons for the cafeteria!
"Indoor sports events will begin in the morning, and outdoor sports will be held in the afternoon! So don't miss all of the action! And keep listening to know when certain sports will be held today!
"Have a good day everyone! And good luck!"
"Blaaaaake!" Girls squealed on the sidelines of the basketball court. The tall British boy waved awkwardly at them.
"Looks like they're still trying to get my attention, no matter what..." he mumbled to Jordan, who sat next to him on the bench. Jordan snapped her hair into a ponytail and patted his shoulder.
"It'll calm down eventually." She assured him. Blake hung his head in doubt, his shiny black hair making the girls swoon. Blake ignored it though.
"I've got a bad feeling though..." he said to himself. Jordan tilted her head.
"What was that? I didn't hear." She said. Blake looked at her and shook his head.
"Nothing, nothing..."
On the other side of the court...
Natty was off in her own little world, and was surprised when she felt something cold run along her cheek. She turned around to see Kuro with a purple energy drink.
"Here, a good luck token." He said. Natty rubbed her cheek where the drink left a water trail, and pouted.
"That was really cold!" Kuro sat next to her on the bench and placed the drink at her feet.
"Well, I would hope so. It wouldn't taste very good at room temperature." He said, giving her a smirk. Natty couldn't help but smile back.
"Are you here to watch?" She asked. Kuro nodded.
"Definitely. I wanna see some roommate vs. roommate action! Lets see some skulls cracking!" Kuro cackled playfully. Natty grabbed her drink and twisted it open.
"Well... I don't know about the skull cracking, but it'll be a good game." Natty said before taking a small sip. Kuro rubbed her hair, which almost made her spill her drink.
"Watch it!" She squeaked, holding the drink away from her to make sure it didn't get on her.
"Hey Nat, I got you a-- Oh, you already have one." Kevin said, holding up two energy drinks.
"Oh! Thanks Kev, I'm sorry... But Kuro already got me one..." She said, feeling a little bad. Kuro tried to hide a victorious smile.
'Beat you to it!' He thought. Kevin sat on the other side of Natty and cracked his open.
"I guess all the more for me." He mumbled in defeat, then took a few big gulps. Natty then realized something, and reached behind her neck.
"I better take this off." She mumbled. She unlocked her necklace, making the bell give a small jingling sound. Kuro and Kevin's eyes watched in amazement.
"Of all of the years that I've known you, I've never seen you without your bell." Kevin said in awe. Natty laughed placed the bell and chain in her hand.
"Well, I don't want to be jingling my bell all down the court! It would be distracting." She explained.
"But you wear it during soccer practice..." Kuro pointed out.
"Well that's because no one is going to keep it safe... That's why..." Natty signaled him to open his hand, and she placed the bell and chain into the palm of his hand. "You're going to hold it. I don't want to lose it." She asked. Kevin's jaw dropped at this action.
"What! But that's--"
"Kevin, it's only a joke. Drop it." Natty grumbled, sharply turning her head to glare at him. Kuro raised an eyebrow.
"What are you talking about?" He asked. Natty hung her head in embarrassment and Kevin was delighted to explain.
"Well, we made this inside joke that the bell represents her virginity, since she guards it like as though it was, and won't take it off for anything. We said the day she actually loses her, ya know, she has to give it to the guy that she lost it to." He explained. Natty's head hung even lower.
"How embarrassing..."
Kuro looked down at the bell and clenched it with determination.
"Then I'll make sure not to lose it." He declared.
"Thanks..." Natty mumbled. Then a whistle tweeted and caught everyone's attention.
"The game is about to start!" Kevin announced. The three stood up and looked at the court. Natty and Kuro faced each other and stood awkwardly together. Kuro finally just smiled.
"Good luck. And I'll hold onto the bell." He assured her. Natty's ears started to burn up, but she gave a quick nod.
"Thanks!" Then Kuro gave one last pat on the head and left to sit in the bleachers. Kevin walked onto the court after seeing this, and sighed heavily.
Everyone walked onto the court after that, and they all set into position. Kevin and Natty's team was defense; Jordan and Blake's team was offense.
The ball was thrown into the air, and the tallest player from each team jumped up to slap it across the court. And the game began.
"Ah! Here it is!" Sara said, walking into the gymnasium with C.C. and Go-Go.
"Look! There's Natty, and there's Jordan!" C.C. pointed at the court. Go-Go nodded them to find a seat.
"This looks like a good place." he said, sitting in an empty area. The girls followed and sat next to him.
"Natty's team is winning by two points!" Sara said. Then the whistle tweeted urgently. Everyone on the court and on the bleachers stopped to see what happened.
"She pushed me down! The bitch pushed me to the ground!" A girl on Natty's team complained as she got up from the floor. She pointed at Jordan. Jordan was amazed at this, and shook her head.
"No! I barely touched her!" She said. Natty looked worriedly at Kevin.
"We all saw, Kristen. She didn't push you. You probably tripped or something." He said. The referee looked at the spectators, which confirmed Kevin's statement.
"No foul counted." He announced. Kristen glared at Jordan, an obvious message yelling out 'Stay out of my way.' Jordan backed away but bumped into two taller girls from Natty's team, with an even more disgusted scowl on their face.
Sara and C.C. watched intensely, making sure it didn't happen again.
Half an hour later, the referee gave a long tweet from his whistle, signaling the end of the game. Jordan and Blake's team hoorayed in victory, but Natty could see that her room mate still looked troubled. Kevin patted her back as a sign that Jordan was going to be ok. Their team sighed heavily in defeat and dragged their things out to get ready for the next event. Kuro walked up to the two.
"Hey, I've gotta go right now. My team is going to be competing in softball pretty soon!" He explained. Natty waved her hands at him.
"Oh! It's no problem!" She said. Kuro gave a nod and attempted to jog off until Natty realized something.
"Hey! My bell!" She yelled. Kuro froze and turned back around.
"Oh yeah! Let me see..." he mumbled, searching his pockets. Then he froze again, and started to panic. "I know I had it in this pocket... Where is it?!" he whispered. He threw his bag down and searched through that. No sign of it.
"Ahhhh!" He whined. He looked up at Natty worriedly. "I think I lost it! I'm really sorry!" He said. Kevin leaned over him in a threatening pose.
"You what?! How could you lose it?!" He yelled. Kuro's head drooped. Kevin looked at Natty, who's head hung low.
"Oh, it's fine... Really." She said, touching her neck. Kevin rubbed her back in attempt to comfort her, but she just shrugged him off.
"I'm fine! Really, it's cool." She said, giving a smile to them both. Kuro got up from the floor and slung his bag on his shoulder. All of a sudden, someone jumped on Natty. C.C. laughed maniacally.
"Hey guys!" Sara greeted. She looked at Natty and Kevin and tilted her head towards the exit. "C'mon! Anami wanted us to meet up with him at the pool. Koichi and Waru's team is swimming." She said.
"Oh! Right!" Natty said, who completely forgot. Kevin looked at Sara.
"Who are they?"
"Oh yeah! You haven't met them yet. They're Anami's friends..." Sara explained. C.C. noticed something wrong.
"Hey, where's your bell, Natty?" She asked.
"Kuro lost it." Kevin sneered. C.C.'s mouth dropped.
"Natty lost her virginity to Kuro!!" She shouted. The two fell over in plain shock that she said that out loud.
"Don't say that out in public, stupid!!" Natty yelled as she bonked C.C. on the back of her head.
"Heheh, sorry." She giggled. Kuro scratched the back of his head nervously.
"Wait, I'm not getting it." Go-Go chimed in.
"It's a long story." Everyone said. Sara nudged the gang toward the exit, and they said their goodbye to Kuro.
'Waru is up to something, but I have no idea what he's trying to do...' She thought. She shook her head rapidly before the gang came up to her. 'And I need to get out of this slump! The girls will worry...' She looked up at Sara, who stood in front of her.
"Sorry about that! We couldn't find Jordan after the game, and Kuro lost Natty's bell. There was a big uproar." The tall girl explained. Inky looked shocked at her poor kitty.
"How could he! How could you?! First you accidentally pull off your shirt in front of him (In Chapter 4), and now this! You two sure do move fast! So who was on top?" Inky asked curiously. Kevin roared in sudden anger.
"WHAT?!"
"Kevin! It's not what it sounds like! It was an accident! I was half asleep, and--"
"Save it for later, kids. I wanna watch the race!" Inky commanded as she pulled out a random pair of binoculars. The two looked at her. Then they looked back at each other with flushed faces. In the distance, Waru snapped on his goggles, and adjusted his swimming cap.
"Waru looks pretty serious." Sara pointed out.
"That's because he used to be on the swimming team." Someone said behind her. Everyone got chills up their spines and turned around to see Momoji.
"Geez, Momoji! Why do you always creep up on us like that! It's so... creepy!" Go-Go whined.
"Are you saying that I'm creepy?" Momoji asked innocently. Then the buzzer interrupted them, followed by splashes.
"Look! There he goes!" Sara said. They were doing the 400 meter butterfly stroke, and Waru was gaining in on the lead.
"Whoa! He's fast!" C.C. gawked. Everyone agreed. Inky watched in astonishment. She never knew this about Waru, and it surprised her at how great he was.
"Momoji... Why isn't he on the swim team anymore?" She asked, still watching the race.
"Because he didn’t want to turn his hobby into something serious. His coaches put too much pressure on him, so he quit. He was here on scholarship, so when he stopped swimming, his parents made him get a job to help pay for the tuition." Momoji explained.
"Oh..." Inky let out a soft sigh, and continued to watch Koichi's best friend.
A hand reached out for Waru to grab, and pulled him out of the pool.
"Good job, Waru." Koichi said as he patted his back. Waru took off his rubber swimming cap and goggles and shook his head like a dog.
"That was refreshing!" He stated, smiling. He looked around the natatorium. "Did our cute Ana-chan see me? Did he?" He asked eagerly. Koichi spotted Inky out, who gave a small smile. Waru waved at her, while Koichi turned away to do other business. Inky leaped off the bleachers and walked around the pool to Waru and his team.
"That was really good!" She said softly. Waru swept his half wet hair out of his eyes in a dramatic pose and gave a charming smile.
"I did it for you, Ana-chan." He said in his deepest, huskiest voice. Koichi ran back up to the two and smacked him upside his head. Inky tried to smile, but she was still troubled by what Waru said that day in the lounge.
'He seems to be normal... Maybe he isn't suspecting me... Maybe I was just overreacting...'
"Don't say things like that! Now get dried off!" He grumbled. Waru winked at Inky secretly.
"He's just jealous that you came to see me." he whispered loudly. He was suddenly grabbed by the shoulders and whined at the nails that dug into him. Inky sweat dropped, but heard the intercom come on.
"Attention you guys! We've got the latest scores recorded at noon of the three leading teams! In the lead, with sixty-two points is team 4-3, and right behind them at fifty-nine and fifty-seven points is team 2-2 and 3-5! C'mon freshman! Catch up! And in the next hour we have volleyball, soccer, and much more! See you then!"
"Did you hear that, Ko-Ko?! We're in the lead!" Waru looked over his shoulder and gave a sheepish grin. Koichi shot a glare, and looked away.
"Stop calling me that!" He growled. Inky's eyes glinted in interest.
"Ko-Ko?" She asked. Koichi straitened up in alert.
"No. Not you too." He mumbled. Inky gave a devilish grin.
"I'll call you that from now on! Ko-Ko!" She exaggerated on his nickname, making him sound like a pet.
"No!"
"Ko-Ko!"
"Stop it!"
"Ko-Ko!"
"Stop it already!" He roared, jumping forward and covering her mouth with his hand. Inky looked up at him. Then there was a sharp pain in his palm.
"Ahhh! You bastard! You bit my hand!" He yapped, drawing his hand away. Inky stuck her tongue out at him.
Waru watched the scene with a smirk, but his eyes said something...else. He watched Inky intensely, watching her specific body movements.
'Enkelete... There's something that you're hiding. And I will find out soon.'
-Natty
