Seasons of Chances and Love 1: Classic Love In Spring

Side Story: For Real?

Was it really considered a miracle for the renowned "statue" of Seigaku's tennis team to fall in love, much less have a girlfriend? Well, Tezuka Kunimitsu was someone famous all over the campus. In looks, in tennis, in academics, in extracurricular—he was known for it all. Almost all of the female population of Seigaku admired him; all were wishing that somehow, they'd find ways to capture his heart. His stone-like personality, his monosyllabic replies (more often than not), his stoic expression, his almost unnoticeable determination and dedication in tennis—these were by far more than enough to make these girls go crazy and wild about him (in some cases).

Of course, no one would actually think that someone had captured Tezuka's attention and melted his heart a long time ago. No one knew that one girl—known for her amazing ability in playing the piano—had managed to do all that. And when that girl came back to his life one spring time, at the start of the semester, his life revolved in ways no one had ever thought possible.

Tezuka Kunimitsu had come to love a girl by the name of Hondou Kazumi—his childhood friend and the only girl he ever loved. Only a few people knew their story, though. For now, it was for the best that only a few people knew the struggle they've been through, the pain that the past had cost them and made them suffer, and also the love that had existed in their hearts for so long.

Fangirls of the said stoic tennis player weren't much delighted by this fact, of course. And if looks could kill, Kazumi would've been dead already if it wasn't for the help of the master blackmailers of Seigaku. Do I have to say who they were? Duh! Anyway, the master blackmailers of Seigaku had done a lot to help Kazumi avoid the danger that the fangirls could cause to her. Not only that, having friends like Miyako (who was a member of the renowned family of sharpshooters and businessmen, the Yumemiya family), Aika (whose blunt words—once pissed and angry—could really be as sharp as knives), Hanako (who can seriously kill someone—once she had the intent to do so—with just one of her karate kicks), and Kana (who can seriously take down and humiliate someone with her speed, strength, and words; she was a member of a family renowned for their martial arts skills, the Miyuzaki family) was definitely something beneficial for the pianist and the stoic tennis player's safety.

One way or another, reputation such as those could really do so much once it was firmly established. And those firmly established reputation had scared the fangirls big time.

But that wasn't the real issue here.

News could spread fast—maybe even faster than forest fire. And the news about Tezuka having a girlfriend had definitely caused some of their rival schools to be in an uproar. Most especially, to two of their rival schools in the Kantou region. Now this was seriously something considered troublesome.

And what might these rival schools were?

Hyoutei Gakuen and Rikkaidai Fuzoku.

Very troublesome, indeed.

-x-x-

Well, first up was Hyoutei Gakuen.

And Atobe Keigo, the king of the said school, was definitely not in a very good mood when he heard the news. He couldn't believe it at all. For his rival Tezuka Kunimitsu to have a girlfriend before him? What nonsense!

Okay, he did have a girlfriend even before Tezuka. But there was a big difference between his situation and to that of Tezuka's. Of course, no one knew that at all. But still, he couldn't help feeling something.

He was frustrated about the issue.

"Atobe, you'll be breaking that glass any second if you gripped it too much," Oshitari Yuushi reminded, with a smirk on his face, of course.

"Shut up, Yuushi," the Hyoutei king could grumble. But somehow, he heeded his teammate's words. He loosened his hold on the glass, but that didn't dissipate his frustration. And to make it worse, Oshitari's smirk seemed to have been plastered on the blue-haired tensai's face longer than usual.

And he hated it even more. This guy liked to watch him getting frustrated more often than not. Okay, to simply put, this heck of a guy liked to see him all messed up because of something seriously shocking.

As for the (currently) hated tensai of Hyoutei Gakuen, all he could do was to smirk. Sure, he'd been doing that ever since he saw Atobe after the news reached them. But no one knew, not even his doubles partner Mukahi, that he was happy that Tezuka finally confessed to Hondou Kazumi, Oshitari's beloved female cousin.

No one knew that Kazumi was his cousin. Of course, it was natural for him to know the pianist's feelings for the stoic tennis player of Seigaku. He also knew how she suffered when she chose to leave for the sake of her father, hiding the truth from Tezuka in return.

Well, it was for the best that those two ended up together. At least, he was the only one among the Hyoutei tennis team to think like that. For now, it was okay that there was someone who think like that.

"I guess the news doesn't have to be taken as a bad one, Atobe-senpai," Ohtori said that snapped everyone in that clubroom out of their musings. He decided to visit his other senpais in the high school division that time.

"Well, it's still uncool, though. For the famed stoic player of Seigaku to suddenly have a girlfriend," Shishido commented placidly.

"I heard that the girl was beautiful, though. The daughter of a famous musician, or so I heard," now Mukahi gave his comment.

Atobe faced the rest of the team. "What else do you know about this girl? Ore-sama wants to know."

Uh-oh! That wasn't a good sign for Oshitari. He stiffened as he heard the serious (not to mention demanding) tone in Atobe's voice. This guy surely doesn't want to give up, does he? But the Hyoutei tensai had to be careful. His cousin could be in danger with regards to this one, although he doubted that something threatening could happen to her.

"What for?"

"Ore-sama has to know how that girl managed to have Tezuka as her boyfriend. I want to know her personalities and ability—reasons for Tezuka to fall in love with her."

Oshitari decided to do a little something when he heard that. "Why do you want to know so much about her, Atobe? Are you jealous?"

"Shut your mouth, Yuushi. I mean it!"

And shut up he did. Without removing the smirk on his face, of course. Well, he could feel a little calm now. Or maybe not. What Atobe said wasn't still an assurance that Kazumi would be spared.

"How Hondou Kazumi-san managed to capture Tezuka-san's heart is not your business, Keigo," a voice of a girl suddenly said.

Upon looking around, they saw a girl with mint green hair tied in a large ponytail and wearing something casual sitting on the windowsill. Wait a minute! How did that girl entered the clubhouse without their notice?

"Julie, again with your cat-like moves. Didn't Ore-sama tell you not to sneak up on Ore-sama like that?"

"Sorry, but I don't remember Keigo-bochama saying something like that to me," Julie replied casually and looked outside. "By the way, why you do want to know about the girl that has become Tezuka-san's girlfriend? Shouldn't you just be glad about the fact that he found the one who melted the ice surrounding his heart?"

"Ore-sama just wants to know. Not many girls could do something like that to Tezuka, especially if that girl would end up to be his girlfriend in the end."

The girl named Julie just faced Atobe with a serious expression but that didn't erase the fact that the girl was like emitting a very deadly aura. "Don't try anything funny, Keigo. I'm willing to disclose the details to you about this girl. But if I find out anything that could cause her to get hurt, or if I find out that it's your fault, I won't hesitate to take you down in three seconds flat. I mean it, Keigo."

Oshitari wasn't sure if he would be glad with what Julie stated or be more afraid of her. But the fact that this girl could protect his cousin like that was enough for him to feel relieved. For real.

"Ore-sama is not that foolish, Julie. Ore-sama mean it when Ore-sama said that Ore-sama just want to know her."

Wow... Atobe was serious about that? The rest of the team could only gape at the sight. How could a girl do this to the king of Hyoutei, anyway?

"Just who is that girl?"

"Who knows. Anyone of you know her?"

"Not a clue at all."

"Usu."

"I think I kinda like her, being able to approach Atobe like that and give off an aura saying 'I could kill you instantly.'"

"Come to think of it, no girls in our school had done that to Atobe-senpai at all. Most of them just adored him and were following him."

They saw Julie placed a folder on top of the coffee table and left without a word. Of course, she made a stop beside Oshitari, which surprised the blue-haired tensai.

"Don't worry. I didn't include in that file about your true relationship with Hondou-san. But even still, take care of her. At least do it for my cousin Miyako who's a friend of your cousin. You know her, right? I'll do my best in ensuring that nothing will happen to her and Keigo will not harm her at all, though I doubt the last one will ever happen." She said those words in whisper—one that only he could hear and somehow assured him that everything was going to be all right for now.

"Thank you." And then he slightly faced her. "By the way, who are you really?"

"Ask him," was all she said as she glanced at Atobe reading the files in that folder.

"As if he will answer it," he snorted.

"He will. But don't be too surprised as his answer. Okay?" And she winked at him before finally leaving the clubhouse. Her steps were surely as light as a cat.

What was that supposed to mean?

"Ne, Atobe, who's that beautiful girl you were talking to?" Mukahi found the guts to ask the narcissistic tennis player about that.

No answer came out from Atobe at first. Of course, they had expected it. He was busy reading the files, anyway. But the words he had spoken soon after was surely enough to give them a shock of their lives.

"Julie is Ore-sama's fiancée," was Atobe's proud answer. Duh! How else would he answer it?

Now another shocking news was about to spread out fast—like wild fire. But Oshitari hoped that the details Julie had provided to Atobe was enough to stop him from doing something—anything—to Kazumi.

"Now that Ore-sama had known all this, Ore-sama must meet Hondou Kazumi at all cost."

Or not. Oshitari slapped his forehead because of disbelief. This is going to be a long day...

-x-x-

Well, that was seriously not what the tennis team of Hyoutei Gakuen had expected to know in one day. Oh, well. It was their personal lives, anyway.

But what about Rikkaidai Fuzoku? Surely, with Seigaku's stoic tennis player to have a girlfriend was a news that caused them to be in an uproar. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration. But their reaction was something close to that.

"Genichirou, did you hear the news?" Yanagi immediately asked his stoic friend the moment he saw Sanada entered the tennis courts.

"What news? Make sure it's something sensible."

"Any news that Yanagi say is sensible, Sanada. Especially if it's about people's personal lives—or to be specific, their love lives," Niou commented with a smirk.

"Then it has nothing to do with me. I'm not interested," Sanada replied nonchalantly, as always.

"If the news about Tezuka having a girlfriend is something that is not sensible, then I guess it's not worth mentioning."

All eyes opened wide as soon as Yanagi's words registered in their minds.

"EH?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?"

"That stoic tennis player Tezuka has a girlfriend? For real?"

"120% real, Marui."

"Where did you hear that news?"

"Sadaharu provided me the data long before it circulated to the rest of the junior high school circuit."

"Now that's definitely a news worth mentioning, Renji."

"I know you'd agree with me, Seiichi."

That was when Yukimura looked at Sanada. Though the capped tennis player remained expressionless, one emotion was evident in his eyes. As a result, he chuckled at the sight of it. "You don't have to be that surprised, Genichirou."

Well, it wasn't obvious to tell but those words were enough to snap Sanada out of his surprised state. "Who said I was surprised? Better get ready before Nanasaki-buchou scold us again."

"You're avoiding the issue, Sanada. Are you really that allergic when it comes to love?" Niou taunted. But Sanada chose to ignore it. Marui snickered.

Sanada resumed to take his racket out of his tennis bag. But Yukimura could see how tight his best friend gripped the poor racket. Now that was weird. Could this sort of news had possibly infuriated Sanada?

Well, Sanada was gripping his tennis racket tight for some reason. But it wasn't out of infuriation. He just felt... outwitted. Weird... He had no desire of finding a girlfriend at this point of time. It was a thought he considered insane. Or maybe not. After a few moments, the grip on his racket loosened that Yukimura noticed. The aura he was emitting was different, too—which was something that the Child of God felt. With this, he understood Sanada's actions. The stoic tennis player remembered a painful past, at least he could tell that.

So you remembered her, huh? Yukimura had the urge to tell that to his best friend but decided not to. He soon faced Yanagi. "Do you have any data on Tezuka's girlfriend? If she does exist, that is..."

"Of course, she exist. She's Miyako's friend."

The boys turned around, only to see a girl with long single-braided sea green hair. She was wearing Rikkaidai school girl and now she was approaching them. That girl was holding a clipboard on one hand and the strap of her duffel bag slung on her shoulder on the other.

"Miyako? Who's that?"

"My childhood friend studying in Seigaku right now," the girl answered nonchalantly as she glanced at Sanada for a few seconds and later faced the others. "And aren't you supposed to be preparing for your practice? Your training menus will be changed again today. Onii-san and Hirota-fukubuchou already finished formulating it. There's only the implementation left to all of you—regulars and non-regulars alike."

"Again?! That's the third change of training menu for this month already. Is buchou really trying to kill us?" Marui complained.

A sigh of exasperation escaped from the girl's lips. "If you got any complaints, say it to my brother. Not to me. I'm only making sure of its implementation to all of you and record its results." After that, she left.

"Hotaru's a demon. A demon, I tell you!" Niou ranted.

Yukimura laughed a bit at that. "More like a malevolent angel to me. No demon is as beautiful as her."

"Well, it's just a disguise. If there's anyone who tries to kill us, it's her, not buchou," Marui retorted as he popped the bubble he blew from his gum.

"But is it true? Miyako knew the girl?"

Yanagi nodded. "It's true, since it's in Sadaharu's data. He was there when the couple sorted things out."

"Sorted things out? What's that supposed to mean?" Yagyuu asked, speaking for the first time.

As soon as Sanada heard those words, something struck him. He approached Yanagi with his stoic face still on. "Could it be that the girl's name was... Hondou Kazumi-san?"

Well, it was no surprise that the others were stunned to know that.

"You know her, Genichirou? Not because of the fact that she's a famous young pianist, of course," Yanagi said, although he doubted that Sanada would even like to listen to classical music in which Kazumi was specialized at.

But Sanada didn't answer the data master's question. In fact, the emperor just let out a smile—albeit a sad and small one, at that. "So he really waited for her, huh?"

"A famous pianist?"

"Hondou Kazumi, 15 years old, an only child of the famous musicians and the granddaughter of the renowned musician Hondou Renji—" At this point, someone commented something like "You must be glad that her grandfather had the same name as you, Yanagi," which he ignored as he read along. "—Blood type: AB. Born September 28 and currently a first year at Seigaku's high school division. She's in the same class as Miyako," he informed as she scanned his trusty notebook. "But I didn't know you know her, Genichirou."

"I only know her by name." Thanks to Tezuka's grandfather that knows the whole story who told me about her through my grandfather, he would've added but decided not to. With that nonchalant answer, he stepped away.

Choosing to let Sanada do what he wanted to do, Yukimura faced the data master. "You said that Tezuka and Hondou-san sorted things out. Did they had a fight before?"

"More like words that he wanted to undo saying to her before she left Japan during the late part of the 2nd semester of their freshmen middle school." And Yanagi began stating the details of what happened the day Tezuka and Kazumi reconciled. He stated it according to Inui's data, of course. And to make it even more... exciting, Yanago also showed a picture of Tezuka embracing an elegantly beautiful girl wearing a Seigaku school uniform to the rest.

Well, really good facial expressions showed up to the team's faces and Yanagi took the time to record it in his trusty notebook while the others still looked at the picture in extreme disbelief. With the exception of Yukimura and Sanada, anyway.

"Are you sure this is authentic, Yanagi?"

"He's really hugging a girl here?"

"Here's a picture of Hondou Kazumi-san." Yanagi handed another picture to Yukimura. It was a solo picture of Kazumi in a casual dress. Where he or Inui got that photo was beyond everyone's knowledge.

"Wow! She's beautiful. I wonder how Tezuka managed to capture her heart."

"They're childhood friends and they met at her grandfather's memorial hall when they were kids."

"But in any case, I guess they look good together. And it's safe to assume that they already love each other long before this."

"Call it a miracle, Jackal. I mean, the stoic Seigaku tennis player to fall in love? Many people will surely keel over from shock, I tell you."

They continued discussing the issue with Sanada remained quiet on one side. He was busy testing his racket's string tension when he saw both Captain Nanasaki Satoru and Vice-Captain Hirota Sui entering the courts.

"If you're done discussing and snooping on details of other people's personal lives, then I guess it's better if we start the implementation on your training menus. If you have the time and energy doing that, then you have the time to stay focused on your training," their captain scolded that made the members cringe a bit in fear. Niou and the others just winced at it.

"Oh, crap! We're dead!"

"The demon captain's here. Too bad we can't run for our lives now."

"Niou, careful with your words..."

"Niou, Marui, 100 laps around the court! Now!"

"100 laps?!"

"Keep complaining and I'll make it 500. Now start!"

"Demon..." Niou and Marui both grumbled as they started their laps. Yukimura and Yanagi just laughed a bit and proceeded with the other regulars to start the implementation of their training menus.

Oh, well. That was what they got for complaining too much. And that was what they got for having a captain crueler in training than Yukimura. They just have to deal with it.

-x-x-

A loud sneeze echoed in the room of a chateau in Vienna while Kazumi was playing the piano in the music room of that night. She just returned from the rehabilitation facility where her check-up was done a while back.

"I wonder who's talking about me..." she mumbled before heaving a sigh. "Probably just someone who doesn't have anything to do with his life..."

At that point, she heard her phone rang. A gentle smilecrossed her face as soon as she saw the name of the person calling her at that hour.

"Why do I have a feeling that you had the same intuition as I did?" she started with a smile, even though she knew that the person she was talking to wouldn't see that.

"Intuition? What do you mean?"

"That somebody was talking about us... Kunimitsu..."

A slight chuckle was still heard from the other line that made her smile more. "It should be something expected already, Kazumi. Especially if it's about me..."

"Conceited."

"By the way, how are you there? Are you going to be okay?"

"Don't worry. I'll be up and kicking when I get back there with you. But I guess I'll be preparing myself for whatever will happen as soon as I come back."

"I'll be with you whatever happens. I want you to remember that. Okay?"

"Okay. I will. Thank you, Kunimitsu."

"That's to let you know how much I love you. But I guess Grandfather can't really wait to meet you again. He already heard about us being together again."

"I might as well have his expertise in training me again in judo. I miss doing that... if only I wasn't suffering from this sickness before."

"You'll be fine. You said so yourself." Worry filled up his whole being just hearing her mention about her "sickness" like that again. "I'll train you myself if you want to."

"I'll only ask the help of your expert grandfather, Kunimitsu. Don't take the attention all to yourself. I'll just play the piano for you. That way, our time will only be for ourselves and no one else."

"If you say so." Silence surrounded them for a few seconds. "You should get some sleep."

"I know. I just want to finish practicing Mozart's piece before I do so. I have a competition to attend to a week after I return to Japan. And also, I want you to hear this before all that. Will you be able to listen to it some time?"

He smiled, even though she wouldn't be able to see it. "I will."

Ah... Love was in the air despite the mile-wide distance that separated them temporarily. And it was a love that they both held on to in spite of everything that had happened in the past. It was a love that they had no plans of letting go at all.