1 + 1 = You and Me
"Are you sure you want to stay for practice? You need to review, you know." Oishi Syuichirou asked his friend and tennis captain, Tezuka Kunimitsu. Oishi was inside Tezuka's classroom, talking between meager bites of onigiri about the upcoming ranking matches with Tezuka and...the math quiz competition.
"I'll be okay. I won't be careless." Tezuka said. Chosen as the class representative for the senior level math quiz bee, he was studying hard. Oishi was a little worried, though, afraid that his friend might be straining himself. He tried to set aside his worries, and changed the topic. "I've heard that the math competition is going to be interesting this year. The girl from Eiji and Fuji's class is really good, and from what I heard –"
"Nya! That's true! It's hard to beat -chan!" And Kikumaru Eiji popped out of nowhere.
"Eiji! Don't just come in like that!" Oishi exclaimed. He turned around and he saw that Fuji Syuusuke and Inui Sadaharu were walking towards their side of the room. Eiji makes a face, and Fuji smiles. "Are you guys talking about our math ace?"
Tezuka looked at Fuji and nodded. Meanwhile, Inui flipped through the pages of his data notebook (with the label MATH) and read aloud:
" , 14 years old, 160 cm. Fascinated with Math since she was a kid. Favorite colors: black and green. Won the inter-class math competition for the past two years. Also won several district and regional quiz bees..." he paused after re-reading several lines. "She's also a member of the girls' tennis team."
"Eh?!?" Eiji exclaimed. A smile is still plastered on Fuji's face while Oishi looks surprised. He turns to Tezuka. "I didn't know that. I mean, -san playing tennis for Seigaku."
Fuji pulled a vacant seat and sat near Oishi. "She says she rarely goes on the court since most of the matches are in conflict with the other competitions she's in."
The others nodded. But then Eiji pokes Fuji. "How come you know about this?"
Fuji just smiled at him and said, "Why, -san is also my Math assignment partner."
**********
entered the door and put on the apron that was hanging on the dish rack. She tied her hair and muttered "yoshi" under her breath. 's parents manage a school café at St. Rudolph's dormitory, ever since its establishment in the late 1990's. When she reached middle school, she had already been dropping by the school after class to help her parents cook dinner for the students. Today was no exception.
She started chopping some vegetables when she heared someone enter the kitchen. "Sumimasen," she said, and turned around to see the boys' tennis team manager, Mizuki Hajime. "Mizuki-san," she greeted. Mizuki saws her and gave her one of his rare smiles as she approached.
"Anything I can do for you?" she asked. Mizuki twirled his hair, and handed her a small piece of paper. "I already talked to your parents about this, but it's only today that I made the list." already knew what was written on the paper: the special menu for the boys' tennis team. "Please tell them to call me at the dorm if they have any questions," he continued. grins. "Ryoukai. I'll hand this to mom once she gets back."
She was about to go back to her chores when Mizuki called back, "Oh, your father told me that you're going to compete in an inter-school math quiz bee, is that right?"
pivoted and faced him. "Hai! And this year, it will be more exciting since one of competitors is from the boys' tennis team."
Mizuki looked surprised. "Nani? Who is it?" If the contestant was to be a good mathematician… a tennis genius. Must be Fuji Syuusuke.
"His name is Tezuka Kunimitsu."
"Oh."
**********
His wristwatch read 7:00 am and Tezuka sighed. He had just finished answering his 20th problem set his teacher gave him for practice. He looked around the library and saw the librarian gesturing to the door, signaling that she was about to close. He nodded slightly, fixing his school things. He now had to go home.
He left the school and decided to buy something to eat. He entered a small café a few blocks from Seigaku and ordered a small cup of tea and a slice of Chocolate Fudge cake. As he was eating, he caught sight of a girl wearing a Seigaku uniform seated right across his table. The girl had her black hair tied up, and her table was a little messy - a tall glass of ice coffee on her left, stacks of paper haphazardly spread around, with a calculator and a small pencil case on her right. He was about to finish his cake when he noticed that the pieces of paper on her table were the math problems not unlike the ones he was working on in the library.
That and the girl was also looking at him.
**********
There's no mistake, told herself. After helping her parents for a bit, she had asked them if she could leave early to review for the the upcoming competition. And who would have thought that the stoic-faced boys' tennis team captain, Tezuka Kunimitsu, would be sitting across her table – and eating chocolate cake!
She noticed him staring at her. That was odd. She glanced at her paper, then glanced back at him. This time, Tezuka saw her looking as well. He was slightly frowning. Surprised that she was able to elicit some sort reaction from the guy, she decided to talk to him.
"You're Tezuka Kunimitsu, am I right?" She asked. The spectacled-boy nodded. She extended her hand, greeting him the western way. " , from Class 6. Yoroshiku." Tezuka took her hand and shook it lightly.
"I'm sorry for intruding on your space. I can see that you've been studying." said the boy. He seemed to be at a loss for other, less mundane words to say.
smiled at him. "Iie, no problem at all. I already studied during our lunch break. I'm just reviewing some of my answers..." she stopped, and then continued. "Have you finished reviewing for the math quiz?" She asked, as she started to keep some of the piles of paper inside her plastic folder.
Tezuka nodded. "I'll be answering more tomorrow, since I'll be receiving more questions." smiled, understanding what he meant. She finally stood up, sipped the remaining contents of her ice coffee and turned to Tezuka. "Well, I should be going now. It's pretty late." She bowed.
Tezuka remembered that he had to be going as well. "Chotto matte kudasai -san," he said, as the girl turned around to look at him. "Where do you live?"
was surprised, but answered the question nonetheless. "A couple of blocks away from here. Why?"
Tezuka stood up and fixed himself. "It's already late. Would you mind if I walk you home?"
was really confused by this turn of events, but seeing the serious and sincere look on the guy's face, she wouldn't have been able to say no if she tried.
"Sure."
**********
It had been a couple of weeks since met Tezuka inside the café, and they had become friends of a sort since that time. still thought that she and Tezuka considered each other more of as school mates instead of friends, since Tezuka was usually quiet, not to mention, he only talked about math whenever they were together – they had decided to start studying together for the math competition a few days after they met.
Although Tezuka did not talk that much, admired the fact that her competitor knew how to set his goals. She noticed that Tezuka had improved on his math-solving skills over a couple of weeks. She didn't think of him as a threat, though. In fact this improvement led her to study harder; despite the idea that she knew she would be able to ace the quiz easily. She wasn't called a math genius for nothing.
**********
Saturday. Just a couple of days before the competition. Tezuka and were at the public library, solving a new batch of problem sets. Tezuka noticed that his school mate had been doing really well in solving the problems. Too well that he realized that she did not even have to study with him, since she can really win the competition without exerting much effort. So the question still lingered – why was still there?
But Tezuka has to admit, he was enjoying 's company. He learned new shortcuts in solving some math problems because of her. Aside from that, she was a very interesting girl for her age. She reads a lot – she was very intellectual. She did not bore him even for a minute.
But it seemed that Tezuka was still oblivious of the possible answer for his question. Then again, it seemed that was, too.
"Done." Tezuka announced. turned to look at his answers, and comparing it to hers. "Sasuga Tezuka-san!" She beamed. "Mou, I guess it will be hard to win the title again. You're one tough guy to beat!" Tezuka just smiled and said. "I do not want to be over-confident. Let's just say that I will not be careless..." And then stopped when he saw and heard imitating his last few lines. A small smile suddenly crept on Tezuka's lips.
"Suteki! This is the first time I saw you smile, Tezuka-san." This caught Tezuka off-guard, and looked down. patted his shoulder. "Hmm, maybe we should leave now, since we're done reviewing. How about..." stopped for a while, and then continuing her sentence, "maybe we should go eat outside. I'm hungry." Tezuka nodded in agreement, and after fixing their things, they went out to eat at the café where they first met.
While eating, Tezuka asked the question that has been bugging him. "-san," he started.
The girl looked at him, stopping from eating her clubhouse. "Hai?"
"I was just wondering... I mean, I heard. I mean, I know you are a math genius. We've been studying for a couple of weeks now, and I have been observing you..." Tezuka stopped, then continued. "You're really great. But I am wondering why you still study with me when obviously you can win this competition even without this."
looked at the guy across him. "Well, you're right... " And then thought for a while. Actually this question lingered in her mind before, but she did not pay much attention. "Demo Tezuka-san, I think you're doing well too. So you really don't have to study with me as well..."
Both parties thought for a bit, and then suddenly, the two of them came up with a reason.
"I like being with you."
This left and Tezuka stunned. They looked at each other surprisingly. saw that Tezuka's hand was now on top of hers. She looked at the guy in front of her and that the stoicism was replaced with anxiety and with a mix of… wonderment? He was blushing lightly, but staring at her nonetheless.
"A-anou..." said, glancing at their hands. Tezuka somehow only just noticed this and hastily pulled his hand away. "Gomen nasai, -san." nodded. She felt embarrassed, saying that to Tezuka. She stole a glace and saw that Tezuka was looking away. Silence engulfed them once again. couldn't stand it any longer that she decided to go home.
"I'll walk you..." Tezuka offered. But refused. "I'll be okay, Tezuka-san. Thank you very much for helping me out." She managed to smile before leaving the café. Tezuka followed him with his gaze and let out a sigh.
He did not expect to have been so careless.
**********
It was the start of the competition. Student contestants were in the gym, as well as some teachers facilitating the event. Fuji, Kikumaru, Inui and Oishi were also inside to support Tezuka. Fuji and Kikumaru were also there not only to support their tennis captain, but also their classmate, . Eiji nudged to Fuji to get his attention. "I want to shout ‘You can do it, -chan!' but I'm afraid that Tezuka might get angry at me..."
Fuji smiled. "Demo Eiji, you're not supposed to cheer loudly anyway." Kikumaru made a face. Inui started flipping through his notes. Oishi looked at him. "What do you think?"
Inui looked at the vice-captain. "It seems that Tezuka has improved by 90%. However, -san..." he then checked his notes for accuracy. " -san's capacity is already 100%, and during the past few weeks of reviewing, her chance of winning rose to 200%." Both Oishi and Fuji looked surprised, while Kikumaru asked, "Where did you get that data?!" Inui re-adjusted his glasses and smiled wickedly, and looked at his notes again.
"... Also, Tezuka and -san studied together for the past month. The number of times Tezuka smiled when he saw -san was 30. However, they haven't been talking for the past few days..." Now this time the three boys were looking questioningly at Inui. "What do you mean studying together?" Asked Oishi.
Inui re-adjusted his glasses again and looked at Tezuka and . "Well, I saw them before eating at the café a few blocks away from Seigaku. Their problem sets were on the table..." [1] Inui was unable to finish his sentences when he was bombarded by questions coming from the Golden Pair.
"Are they dating, are they dating?!" Kikumaru asked.
"They haven't been talking for days? This is bad... probably because they're competing against each other! I fear for Tezuka... he must have been hurt! But how about -san? She's probably hurt too. But they must resolve this one and for all..." Oishi continued his litany of worries, which made his other team mates look at him.
"Sasuga, Oishi. That's why you're called the ‘mother of Seigaku.'" Inui said.
**********
A couple of hours, and the quiz bee finally reached its end. of Class 6 again won this year's competition, while Tezuka Kunimitsu came in a close second. They were given their medals and certificates as prizes. Her triumph also meant she was to represent the school for the district quiz bee.
There were still a lot of people inside the gym, and was about to leave the area when she saw Tezuka approaching her.
"Omedetou." Tezuka said, extending his hand. She took it, smiling at him. "Omedetou," She answered, "and thank you."
"Would you mind if I borrowed your time for a bit?" Tezuka asked. looked at him questioningly. Tezuka fidgeted, but regained his composure. nodded, and the two of them left to go outside. Fuji, Inui, Oishi and Eiji saw this and they decided to follow the two.
Tezuka and walked and stopped by the tree right outside the library windows and decided to stay there. Once again, silence wrapped around them, along with the feeling of uneasiness.
thought about things before the competition. Different things, especially those that involved her and Tezuka. Why was she happy when she was with Tezuka? The happiness that she felt was different from the feeling that she has everytime she was with other guys or girl buddies. Somehow, being with Tezuka gave her this inner peace, and at the same time, the feeling of strength that everything will be successful. It took her days before she finally figured out how she felt. Now if Tezuka felt the same way, she had no idea.
didn't know that Tezuka was also thinking the same way. And for the first time, he was about to confess how and what he really felt. But was today the right day, he thought. He lost to , and now he wanted to tell her, yet felt unable to.
"What is the difference between 1 + 1 and two people?" suddenly quipped. Tezuka looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
leaned on the tree trunk and looked at him. "Is there a difference between the mathematical expression 1 + 1 and two people?" she repeated her question. Tezuka looked confused. noticed this and she smiled.
"In the mathematical expression 1 + 1, the answer is two. However..." she pauses, trying to figure out the right words to say. "However, when you combine two people... they become one." [2]
With this statement, Tezuka's face became filled with surprise and astonishment. He understood what she meant. He smiled and said, "I've become careless again."
Now it was 's turn to ask. "Nani?" Tezuka took her hand and looked at her. "I – I was supposed to tell you how I feel, but I was not able to muster the words to say... and in the end it was you who said it for me."
blushed. "I haven't told you anything." She grinned.
Tezuka looked at her once again. "But I can feel it." he whispered, holding her hand tightly. He then noticed the heads of his tennis teammates at the library window. He sighed, but instead of getting angry, he looked at the girl in front of him.
Now that he had her heart, he will try his very best not to be careless with it.
##########
April 15, 2006
Written by: Megane-ko
Edited by: linchpin
[1] Inui saw Tezuka (with the lead girl) studying inside the cafe. You can read the Inui DN, "The Perfect Recipe" for this one.
[2] I have a feeling that I read this somewhere but I cannot remember where or when; in any case since I'm not sure then I'm not claiming this line.