Breaking the Contact

"Will I be able to do that?"

took a deep breath, before stepping in the class with her new teacher. She had just arrived in Japan a few days ago, and her parents insisted that she go to school already. There was no reason for her to miss much, and the sooner she gets used to the school environment, the sooner she would be able to catch up with her lessons.

"Students, attention please!" The teacher told the class.

He didn't really need to catch the students' attention though, because twenty pairs of eyes had been watching the new girl since the moment she passed through the door.

"Today, we are welcoming a new student. Please treat her well."

The teacher let his place to . Blushing, the girl bowed, and introduced herself. "Hello, I am . I am from America, and I'm going to live here for a few years. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu."

The teacher showed her where she was going to sit for the rest of the year, and asked a boy, "Ne, Ootori-san, will you help -san with the formalities? Like take her on a walk around the school, show her the clubs?"

"H-Hai, sensei," the boy answered.

looked at the boy. He seemed nice, and he was definitively cute when he tried to help her setting her school stuff.

"Thank you," whispered as she sat down.

"Ah, you're welcome," answered the boy.

He may have noticed the look on the girl's eyes, because his cheeks started to blush, and he added quickly, "I am Ootori Choutarou. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu."

"Yoroshiku," said with a smile.

**********

"So… That new student? I heard she was pretty charming…"

"Oshitari-senpai!"

"What? Can't I express my interest in her? Except if…" The bespectacled boy approached the second year, with a genuine smile.

"Except if… what?" Ootori whispered, not at ease.

"Except if you're already interested on her," Oshitari answered.

"Oi, Oshitari, leave him alone, and go join the flippy acrobat partner of yours," came an irritated voice.

With a grin, Oshitari patted Ootori's shoulder, and went to the courts.

"Thank you, Shishido-san…"

Shishido just frowned without saying anything. He definitely didn't care about girl stuff.

**********

"So… you're really willing to join the music club?"

Ootori's heart was beating fast and he was trying to suppress the smile of contentment on his face. He did not have a chance to speak with since her first day, because a group of girls decided that they would take care of her. He was very disappointed that he would not be able to know the young American better, but he had heard of her interest in joining the music club. He didn't want to miss a chance to let her know he was in the music club.

"Why do you ask?"

didn't even look at him. Her voice was sharp, and kind of suspicious. Ootori couldn't answer for a few seconds, but finally managed to babble. "Eh… W-well… I'm in the club too… So I wanted to know if…"

"Well, you'll know it later," the girl answered coldly.

She got up abruptly, and left the boy.

**********

"Why? Why did I react this way?" thought.

She felt totally stupid now. Ootori just asked something. She just had to answer "yes" or "no", and everything would have been well! But she had to get mad. And she got mad for something Ootori didn't even know. Nobody knew, so why did she always think everyone was making fun of her?

With an angry moan, she threw herself on her bed, and tried to catch her breath as a dark veil fell upon her eyes.

**********

Choutarou didn't understand the young American's reaction. He just wanted to be nice, and show her that he cared for her. But the more he thought about it, the more he didn't understand why things went wrong. He had been polite though… Maybe, in America, those kinds of thoughts shouldn't be asked? Or was it just the girl's personality?

No matter how much he tried to think that was maybe not the one he hoped for, he couldn't forget her eyes, her voice, her lips… When he was thinking about her, his heart beat so fast that it could have jumped out of his chest, and he had butterflies in his stomach.

**********

"Ootori-san? May I have a moment please?"

"Ah? Oh, yes, yes, sure."

The boy followed outside the classroom. He was wondering what could be so important for her to ask him.

"Anou… she started."

She coughed a little, and then:

"IwantedtoapologizeabouttheotherdayIdidn'twanttobemeantoyou."

Ootori blinked many times, surprised by her flow of words. But before he could answer, she was already inside the classroom again.

After that, the young American seemed to lose her aggressiveness toward Ootori, and thanks to the music club, the two were getting closer. They talked about art for hours. The boy explained to her a lot of Japanese customs, and , confused sometimes, seemed to get more and more used to the Japanese life.

Everyone noticed the attraction between the two young people. Ootori was always teased by his peers, asking him when he would make the first move. And every time, the second year was rescued by Shishido's intervention. But, one day, the capped boy told him:

"So, Choutarou, when will you introduce that to us?"

Cheeks on fire, Ootori babbled. If his doubles partner started to ask, it was because his little crush on the American was becoming really too obvious…

The next day, his choice was made. During lunch break, Ootori offered to eat with him in the park.

"Ne, -san…"

"Call me , please. I'm not at ease with that way of speaking…"

"S-sure… So, … Would you like to teach me how to play the piano?"

"Play the piano?" The girl asked. "But… Don't you already play the violin?"

"Yes, yes! But I would like to play many instruments. And, when I heard you the other day, at the club… I think you made me want to play too."

laughed a little, while eating her sandwich.

"Very well", she finally said. "I will teach you some things."

"Sugoi! Ah… I mean, thank you very much!"

Choutarou's smile made blush.

"And to repay you," he happily added, "I will teach you how to play tennis!"

's eyes froze, and her smile vanished. Calmly, she took her stuff, and got up.

"I don't care one bit about your tennis," she said between her teeth before leaving.

**********

And then she did it again… She sent Choutarou to his own business, the only boy she was ever interested with, and who seemed to really be interested with her. But she couldn't allow her feelings to rule her. No. She swore that she wouldn't be a burden any more. She just had to… forget him.

But really liked Choutarou a lot. She was so lost when she enrolled at Hyoutei, after leaving all her friends in America. Students were nice with her though. But she was still the "foreign girl", the "girl who comes from America". And she was too shy to really make friends with anyone, except with Choutarou. The first time she saw him, her throat went dry, and her hands shook. It was a strange feeling, but she liked it. She liked the way he looked at her, the soft tone of his voice when he was talking to her. She even liked the blush on his cheeks when she smiled at him. Something happened between them.

But… She had to forget.

**********

"So Choutarou, what's going on with that girl?"

"Eh? What girl?"

Shishido sighed in disbelief. For a few days, his partner had been acting strange. He decided to leave the music club and focused on tennis. And, even if Shishido had to admit that Choutarou made some progress, something was definitely wrong.

"You should stop wondering," he said then. "And you must look for the answers."

The second year's eyes lit up a few seconds later.

"Hai, Shishido-san!"

Why didn't he think about that before? It would have been better to try to understand than mope. But he was going to fix it immediately. He was going to force to explain to him, and he was even going to tell her…

He stopped abruptly. Someone had told him that was at the school park, and he ran to meet her there. But now, his feet couldn't move any more, and his eyes couldn't stop staring at the image just in front of him.

She was there. As pretty as he remembered. But she was not alone. Why was Oshitari holding her hand? Why were his lips moving to 's? Why…

's eyes turned on Choutaro then, as if she felt his presence. Her mouth opened to speak, but Ootori was already running away.

"Stupid Oshitari-senpai! Will you let me go now?!"

She pushed the third year with a force she would never have thought she possessed, and ran after Choutarou.

"So, Shishido," Oshitari said when was already far away, "Didn't I tell you it would work?"

"Che…"

**********

Such an idiot! Why did she accept to talk to Oshitari? Why did she allow him to touch her hand? And, why just in front of Choutarou?

"Choutarou!" yelled. "Wait, Choutarou!"

Ootori was fast, and used to run. While he was going more away from her, felt her legs becoming heavy, and her heart ached. She had forgotten to breathe, and she fell. Desperately, she tried to catch her breath, but her eyes went black and… nothing.

**********

"! Oi! !"

The girl felt something inside her mouth. It was strange, but familiar. Yes. That smell, that taste. It was her medicine.

She recognized the weird feeling of air in her lungs, and the buzzing in her ears stopped. She felt strangely at ease, comfortable. She was wrapped in a nice warmth, and someone was touching her cheek. She remembered then what just happened.

She opened her eyes and saw Choutarou's worried face. She realised she was in his arms, still in the park. It was almost night, but she was warm, and she didn't want to break the contact.

"Are you alright?" Ootori asked, whispering.

"I think I am…" answered.

He held her tightly, and told her:

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to be a burden for… someone who likes sports."

"Who cares about that when you love?"

just smiled and snuggled a little more in Choutarou's arms. No, she didn't want to break the contact.

##########

August 23, 2006
Written by: Serena
Edited by: Rikapyon!