Seasons of Chances and Love 1: Classic Love In Spring

Fears From Reunion

CHAPTER 6

Just like what Kazumi had promised to Tezuka, it only took her two weeks in Vienna in order to finish her monthly check up there with regards to her heart condition. Of course, he was regularly updated with regards to that through the help of her mother who went there with her. Though Tezuka wasn't saying anything, Kazumi could feel that he was worried for her no matter how composed and stoic he was. Besides, she knew him to be someone like that. He cared for her a lot and it was evident to her. Those two weeks hadn't passed by without Tezuka checking out on her situation like every day through e-mail and phone calls. She would've preferred a webcam to communicate through video call with him but he wasn't actually the type who would do that.

Or at least that was what he had told her in secret.

And now she was finally back to Japan. She looked around the airport—specifically to the waiting area—where she might see some people familiar to her and now possibly waiting for her arrival. A smile crossed her face as she nodded once when she saw no one familiar. At the very least, she expected it since she had not mentioned to anyone that she would arrive that day. She was thinking of surprising everyone and somehow, she was hoping it would work.

Carrying her backpack and pulling her trolley bag, she proceeded to get out of the airport. As soon as she got out, sweet spring breeze assaulted her senses with a twist of crisp and slightly cold morning air hovering around. Well, it was a nice morning, to say the least since she had just arrived at six o'clock in the morning. It was also refreshing, she has to admit that. Come to think of it, when was the last time she had that kind of feeling as if everything felt like things would work out fine?

I haven't felt like this after I left Japan more than two years ago... after I regretted a lot in life because of that. But this time, she chose not to be bitter about it. She came back, the pain she had suffered was undone because of one person's presence and love that she would never forget whatever happens.

Looking around the area, she was supposed to call for a taxi in order to head home first before heading to Seigaku even though it was Saturday. She knew that the different clubs would start (or some of it had already started a week ago) their recruiting period today. In the tennis club's case (both boys and girls), the ranking competition would start today, as well. From what she had learned from her doctor, he condition was already in a par to someone who had not suffered a congenital heart disease at all. In short, she was back to her normal healthy self.

And to be honest, she was extremely glad with that.

"Kazumi-san," a voice suddenly called out from out of nowhere and disrupted the flow of her thoughts.

Of course, it was a natural reaction for her to frown as she looked around in order to look for the source of the voice. But she knew one thing about it.

It was familiar, no doubt about that. It was just that she couldn't find it in whichever part of her mind the reason why it was familiar. Where could she have heard it?

"More than two years since you left and you have forgotten about me, huh? Talk about being cruel..." That familiar voice spoke again. This time, she was sure it was near.

And she was damn right. Except for the fact that—

This guy was just too near to me! She could've scream that right in front of the guy's face—which turned out to be none other than her cousin from her father's side, Oshitari Yuushi—if she could do so but it would be rude of her. Besides, she was used to this. Oshitari just had the habit of nearing his face to her as if she was going to kiss her or something similar. He said it was a part of a special greeting exclusively for her—whatever that means.

Instead of shouting in front of him, she just gave a slightly disbelieving smile with hints of gladness. He was right, it had been more than two years since she last talked to Oshitari. She unconsciously cut ties with anyone in Japan after she headed off to America before.

"You know, Yuushi-kun, if you don't get rid of your suffocating face in front of me, I will bump my head to your nose and face," she jokingly threatened. In a way, Oshitari took that message quite seriously though he knew it was a joke. This was his cousin she was talking about, after all. His tough and yet gentle cousin who managed to surpass the trials of death and now continuing to live.

Oshitari distanced himself from Kazumi a bit before he took her trolley bag from her hold and walked towards the opposite direction.

"Oi, Yuushi-kun, where are we going?" Kazumi asked as she tried to keep up with her cousin. To her irritation, he didn't even look back at him to at least answer her question. Why do I have a cousin who's so full of himself and who thinks he's cooler than any other guy around? And she couldn't even understand how she managed to keep up with that all this time. Scratch the fact that they were related. Keeping up with his personality was—in a way—obligatory if it was family relation they were talking about.

"We still need to go somewhere before you head to Seigaku," Oshitari said without looking back.

At the tone of his voice, Kazumi could sense it was important. As she continued to look at Oshitari's back since they were just a meter apart, the answer to her question as to how important the issue was illustrated on it. He knew how important it was to her, as well.

"How did you know I'll be going to Seigaku today?" Yeah, it was a question that suddenly hit her.

That was when Oshitari stopped walking which also made her stop. A few seconds later, he faced her with a knowing—and at the same time, sly—smile that was too familiar to her. Just how many times she had seen that smile before? She already lost count.

She raised her eyebrow. "Don't tell me the news reached Hyotei already?" It was a statement rather than a question, though.

"Like wildfire, my dear cousin," Oshitari answered with a grin wider than how it was a while back.

All she could do to that was to sigh. "I should've known," was all she could say after that. "And then? How did that egoistic Atobe-san react to the news as soon as he heard it?"

"Shell shocked would've been an understatement, I suppose. He was a little frustrated and I think I have to add infuriated, as well."

"Infuriated? I guess I can understand why considering the rivalry between Atobe-san and Kunimitsu. But frustrated? Why would he?"

"Because Tezuka managed to have a girlfriend ahead of Atobe despite the former being stone-cold and stoic all over. No offense," he answered a bit mockingly but with a sincere smile on his face. Kazumi wasn't just sure is it was meant for Tezuka or for her.

Or for himself... Of course. How could she forget that? Oshitari had a bit of an egotistical personality, too.

Okay... maybe not just a little bit.

"Satisfied with the way Atobe-san was pissed and frustrated as soon as you delivered the news to him?" she asked as she continued to walk beside him. Oshitari, too, resumed his walk.

An even wider grin of satisfaction appeared on his face. At that moment, she perfectly knew the answer. Her cousin got more than what he really wanted as soon as the deed was done.

"You're impossible..." she muttered with a smile.

"Seems to me you got the same thing as I did, Kazumi," he said in a tone so serious it was obvious that he didn't need to demand for an answer. She knew because he called her by her name without the honorifics they used to piss off each other—which was a failure from the start, anyway.

"You could tell, huh?" she said before sighing inwardly and then she smiled. "I just hope it would be a lifetime satisfaction, though."

Oshitari frowned at the sad and slightly doubtful—not to mention insecure—voice of his cousin. "What do you mean?"

"I'm scared of losing him again, Yuushi," she sadly admitted. "I don't want to go through the same pain again. I don't want to relish those excruciating days where I have to wallow in misery and regret over and over. I just don't want to go through that anymore. I'm tired of all that." And before she knew it, hot tears streaked down her cheeks that already blurred her sight. But she didn't care. After all, Oshitari knew. In a way, he could feel it, too.

He saw Kazumi in that state once and to be honest, he didn't want to have a glimpse of that agonizing state ever again.

They stopped in front of a white van and let go of Kazumi's trolley bag as soon as he let it stood. Without a word, he pulled her into a tight embrace that he usually gave her whenever she wanted to cry because he outwitted her in something. This time, however, his embrace had a purpose of dissipating her fear of losing her beloved Tezuka again. It only proved how much Kazumi loved that stoic Seigaku tennis player.

"You won't lose him, Kazumi. I can promise you that," he assured her.

A smile crept on the brunette's face despite the tears continuing to fall. Yes, she had an idea on how much Seigaku hated Hyoutei's guts to many extents and vice versa. And yes, the fact that she was a part of Seigaku and Oshitari was from Hyoutei wasn't denied, as well. But at that moment, school rivalry didn't even matter to her. The one embracing her right now was just Oshitari Yuushi, he cousin that loved her and supported her during those crucial times, even without her answering any of his calls and e-mails to her before. He just said and wrote those words of support, of encouragement, of finding her life again after losing it.

In a way, it helped. But even though she wished, it didn't help that much.

"Thank you, Yuushi... so much..." she said sincerely.

After all, those were the words she never got to say to Oshitari despite all those things that he had done for her. It was about time she let him know how thankful she was for his efforts.

"Come on, let's go. We don't want to stay in this place a little longer or the sun will be too hot for your sensitive skin," Oshitari said after releasing her from his embrace. This, of course, made Kazumi laugh a bit since it was a little unusual for him to use the sensitivity of her skin to the sun as an excuse of some sort.

The only answer she had to that was a light punch to his arm as they entered the van and went to the place where they were supposed to go that day. She guessed that going to Seigaku could wait for a bit.

.....

However, only doing so would appear to be her biggest mistake... and the start of another reason for her to suffer. Kazumi realized that two days after that encounter at the airport.

Of course, at first she had no idea about it. After all, her arrival and surprise visit to Tezuka's tennis practice did its job. The sparkle in his eyes was priceless the moment he saw her. But as she had expected, he didn't show it to others, especially his friends who were obviously ready to record whatever reactions he would show. Right after his tennis practice, the two of them went home together—alone. She thanked Kana afterwards for creating a good diversion and escape plan for her and Tezuka to have "alone time" together without the interruptions of his friends, especially Fuji and Inui—the master blackmailers of Seigaku, as Hanako once pointed out.

Two days after the airport encounter, she headed back to school for class. It was a good thing the teachers gave her advance lessons for her to review and study on so that she wouldn't miss any lessons just in time for her return from Vienna. But as she entered the school building, she couldn't help feeling a bit weird—or a bit would be an understatement—upon noticing that the students were actually looking at her as if she was some sort of a specimen under a microscope. Not only that, they looked at her with a mixture of disgust, hate and... pity?

Wait just a freaking minute! What in the world is going on around here? Why are they like this? Kazumi thought, starting to feel scared for some reason. She looked down—even though she didn't want to do so—because she wanted to avoid their stares as much as possible. I don't like this... I don't like being looked at like this.

It was then that she realized the reason why all of this uncomfortable—and at the very least, suffocating—atmosphere hovering around the place.

How did something like that happen? She didn't know, she couldn't figure out. And worse, all of them misunderstood the situation. This couldn't be right, she knew that. But that wasn't how it looked like to the others. To them, this was an opportunity... one that could destroy everything. At least to her...

At that instant, she felt her heart beating fast again. And what was worse, it was beating irregularly. She didn't want that feeling again. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

"Kazu-chan? Are you alright? Why are you pale?"

That voice brought her back to her senses but the look on the students' eyes as she walked towards the classroom was something she couldn't take. What was supposed to be just a normal walk became a stride just to get away from those judgmental eyes as if she had done something terrible—totally unacceptable would have been the precise word.

How did that happen? How come a picture of her and his cousin Oshitari was taken during the time he embraced her at the airport? And now it was scattered throughout the school. Who the hell did that?

"I never thought she's such a flirt. Tezuka-sama's already her boyfriend and yet she's seeing another guy."

"Yeah. And it's from Hyotei at that. How terrible."

"Just what is she trying to prove, anyway? That she's beautiful enough to have the attention of any guy she wants?"

"Well, it's for the best if Tezuka-sama did break up with her after that. That way, we could still have a chance to be his girlfriend."

"I would be very glad if he broke up with her in public and let the others know it's over already."

Please... stop... Kazumi wanted to voice—or specifically scream—that out to those people taunting her with those words enough to stab her to the core. But at that moment, she couldn't find her voice to do so. Those words somehow caused her to feel weak all over.

And afraid, as well. Completely afraid.

Those voices continued to taunt her. But it would appear that her mind shut down the moment she saw that one picture—a picture that would probably be more than enough to ruin everything. Even though she chose to put her faith on Tezuka that he would demand an explanation (in a figurative sense) as to how that picture came to be, that faith was slowly faltering as each seconds passed by. There was no knowing what could possibly happen if that picture reached Tezuka.

"Will you please stop with your nonsense blabbering as if you're so good and perfect like pure angels?"

Kazumi was startled upon hearing that voice. It was the same voice that called out to her earlier and asked her if she was alright. It was then that she finally recognized it as Kana's. She blankly peered at her red-haired friend who had now cast a sharp glare to each and every one of their classmates. Kana was terribly angry at the situation, she could feel it. Kana's expression was stern and undoubtedly cold. It had been a long time since she last saw her childhood friend like this.

"Miyuzaki-san, stop defending her all the time. Didn't you see the picture? Isn't that enough for you to realize what kind of slut your friend is? I'll be more than glad if Tezuka-sama broke up with her after all that," the girl said with a sneer and looked at Kazumi.

But what came next had definitely surprised all of them. A thud on the cold floor, along with the clattering of the seats resounded in that room after someone slapped that girl so hard she was knocked over. It was followed by feeling a dark aura coming from one person they least expected to show such anger enough to scare everybody.

"M-Miyako-chan...?" was all Kazumi managed to utter after recovering from shock.

Yes, Miyako was a reserved person but still friendly in some sense. And it was a shock for her to see this blonde girl to suddenly burst out like that. What was even worse, not only their class saw Miyako's deed but also some students from the other class, as well.

"What do you think you're doing?" a deep, stern voice resonated throughout the room that froze Kazumi to her seat and made her unable to look up. It was a familiar voice, no doubt.

She just talked to him last night, didn't she? His voice resounded in her mind as she remembered their conversation last night, especially when they exchanged their good-night's and I-love-you's to each other and it was enough to complete her day. Her exhaustion from the travel immediately faded after that exchange of sweet words.

Kunimitsu... She wanted to utter his name and call him out. She wanted to make sure everything would still be okay.

That was when she finally raised her head and looked up. As soon as his brown eyes clashed with her emerald ones, every hope that she had in her heart faded. Whatever Tezuka was thinking, it was evident that he made a resolve to it. No one could possibly defy that.

Not even me... I know it... I can feel it...

"Tezuka-sama, did you see that? Did you see what she did to me?" the girl asked hopefully (trying to be sympathetic, of course) as she tried to stand up from being knocked over by Miyako. "This girl pushed me! And here I thought she was brought up properly."

"I did? Oh, I'm sorry. I must have hit the wrong seat and let it be thrown to you. I was so sure I was about to hit my own seat because of anger and frustration." Miyako obviously couldn't hide the sarcasm in her voice as she said those words. Most of the class shuddered at that. Miyako still had that cold exterior as she faced the talkative and crazy Tezuka fangirl with a sharp glare. Her silver eyes looked like eyes to the others.

Hanako, Kana and Aika were serious. None of them did anything to at least prevent Miyako's outburst. At the very least, they were expecting this.

"Next time you talk like that about Kazumi-chan, don't expect I'll be holding myself back from hitting your face a hundred times over. What I did to you a while back was still out of respect to my friends who didn't want me to hurt anyone in a disgracing manner," Miyako said threateningly as she gave one last glare to the girl before she walked with heavy (and obviously angry) footsteps and ice cold expression on her face.

As expected, most of the students felt and icy chill that coursed through their spines because of that. Even Oishi, Eiji and Kawamura felt that same icy chill. Inui was just scribbling something down on his notebook. Fuji's eyes opened at the sight of Miyako heading towards Tezuka (who was still stoic) and stopped to his side.

The tensai couldn't figure out what Miyako had said to Tezuka at that close distance. But it was surely enough to make the stoic man even more serious than before. (Not that he could tell the difference since Tezuka was stoic whatever happens, but the aura hovering around told him about that) In fact, if he wasn't mistaken, Tezuka's eyes narrowed as if he was angry—no, enraged would have been the perfect word to describe his expression.

I wonder what could have Yumemiya-san said to Tezuka for him to be like that? Fuji could only ask to himself since he couldn't really figure out the answer to that. He wasn't that good in lip reading at that particular point of that time since it appeared that Miyako whispered whatever words she had spoken to Tezuka. Whatever it was, though, was surely enough to stir Tezuka from within.

After that, Miyako went out of the room; her cold expression never left her face. His gaze never left her until after she disappeared from his sight. But that wasn't what he has to worry about right now. Tezuka and Kazumi's relationship was definitely hanging in a thread.

All because of a picture he has no idea of knowing where it came from. But it surely was enough to stir up the entire high school freshmen population in commotion (1). And at that moment, he was sure of one thing. It won't let Tezuka just sit in one corner and do nothing about it. After all, this was Kazumi they were talking about.

As for the concerned stoic bespectacled tennis player, he just stood to his spot for several more seconds as he stared at the brown-haired girl that had become a victim of a rumor. Tezuka has no knowing whether that picture shoved to his face by some guy was authentic or not. But at that moment, it didn't even matter. All he had to care about at that moment was to ease his girlfriend's fears and worries.

But... how was he supposed to do that?

How would it be possible... if Kazumi won't even look at him?

Why won't you look at me, Kazumi?

Kana approached Kazumi to her seat. The brunette was looking down and won't even face Tezuka at all. But from that alone, she could tell that Kazumi was... scared as hell.

"Both of you need to get out of here to have some privacy. I don't think this will be a short talk at all," was all that Kana said as she patted Kazumi's back a bit. "I'll just say you call in sick today just in case Nakayama-sensei looked for you. Okay?"

Kazumi could only look at her friend with a slight feeling of hesitancy and fear in her eyes. But then maybe it was for the best if she did talk to Tezuka about the issue. Though somehow, she was having a really bad feeling about it. She just couldn't point her finger to it.

Without a word, Tezuka turned around and walked away from there. But soon after, he halted to a stop.

"Meet me there after school," Tezuka said without looking at Kazumi.

She couldn't help feeling something as if someone grasped her heart and tightly clenched it. Why...? Why won't he look at her now? She was supposed to accept Kana's suggestion that they should talk it out as soon as possible—before everything went worst. But now...

"I can't believe that iceberg!" Hanako hissed, shaking her head. "He just said 'meet me there' without even saying where. How was Kazumi-chan supposed to know that place without even a single clue about the location?"

Good thing Tezuka and the other tennis players were out of the room before Hanako burst it out like that.

"I guess returning here was a bad idea after all..." Kazumi mumbled most likely to herself before she allowed her tears to fall freely.

Unfortunately for her, Kana and the others heard it. They were supposed to ask her about it when they saw Kazumi immediately stood up from her seat and ran towards the door. She slid it open and went out of the room to look for Tezuka and talk to him now.

I can't... I can't let it continue like this. I have to explain! I have to tell him the truth. Two years of suffering is more than enough. I don't want to have a repeat of that again.

But not all things would flow smoothly like how she wanted it to be.