“OI!” she sighed as she finally came to a stop and turned around, “I told you to stop stalking me!”

He merely grinned a cheeky grin as he and his buddies closed in on the brief distance she had created before, “What makes you think we’re stalking?”

“You have been following me all the way to school!”

“And it didn’t come to mind that we need to go the same way to get to the same school?” Ryosuke chuckled. True, it was Wataru’s idea to keep an eye on her instead of taking their own route because he still didn’t trust neither Saburou nor her. But it was pure coincidence that they crossed paths this morning on their way to school.

“Yeah right,” she huffed as she crossed her arms and leaned against the school gate. “Well, we’re here. Go get to school then.”

“And what are you planning to do?” he frowned. He knew that she was still not happy with him following her all the time and forcing himself into her situation but since Saburou tried to put the blame on him he gave her no other option. “Baka!”

“Teme,” she insulted back.

“Oi!”

“Nezumi-chan~”

She groaned as she hit her head back against the gate. “What do you want?” From one bother to the other.

“You’re just the person I’m looking for,” she grinned as she stopped by the gate entrance. She was wearing her gym clothes. “You are just in time!”

“Ohayo Michiyo-chan,” Ryosuke grinned as he walked up to her but she just brushed past him with her attention directed to Nezumi alone, leaving him standing there in shame.

“Just in time for what?”

“To help set up, of course,” she said with a cheerful smile. She had always been a rather cheerful girl but somehow she was extra cheerful today. And most importantly, to her.

“What are you talking about?” Wataru frowned.

“Don’t tell me you guys have forgotten about the sportsfestival today?” she sounded rather surprise.

“Eh?”

“Sportsfestival?” she repeated. She barely knew something like that existed. Then again, at her old school sports didn’t really matter so it wasn’t any surprise.

“Hai,” she nodded. “You need to help set up some stuff before it opens,” she continued before turning to the three yankees. “And you should report to Yuuta for final rehearsals.”

“Rehearsals?” Nippori repeated. “For what?”

Michiyo blinked in surprise that he actually asked her that question. Was he just playing dumb or did Yuuta really fail to mention how important their participation today is? After all, this was their chance to show the rest of the school that they are all ready to bring another title home.

“Eh? For the showcase later today of course,” she explained. “Both male and female tumbling teams are going to perform a routine as closing ceremony... You didn’t know?”

“No one told us anything...” Ryosuke tilted his head.

“But I bet Yuuta knew,” Wataru growled before marching off towards the school with Nippori hot on his tail.

“Ja na?” Ryosuke saluted Michiyo before following his friend.

Nezumi chuckled as she watched the boys walk off and even louder when a confused Michiyo stared at her.

“Either you are very clueless... Or very mean,” she explained. “Either way, it amuses me.”

“Eh?” she blinked.

“Nan demo nai,” she sighed as she stretched her arms above her, “Anyway, thanks for getting them off my back... Ja ne?”

“Chotto, Nezumi-chan!”

“Nani?”

“You really need to help setup,” she said.

Nezumi laughed as she shook her head and headed for the entrance before looking back, “Well... That for you,” with that she entered through the gates.

“Ah, Akimoto-san,” Kashiwagi approached her with a clipboard and pen in hand sporting a very cheerful smile as well. Apparently everyone was in good spirits during the sportsfestival.

“Nani?”

“Have you decided yet?” he asked innocently.

“Decided what?”

“Which activity you’re going to participate in,” he explained. “It’s manditory for everyone who is not in a sport activity club to participate in one of the many activities today.”

“EH?!” just because she wasn’t part of any sports teams she had no other choice but to participate today?! That hardly seemed fair to her.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be lots of fun,” he still smiled. “Plus you’ll get some extra credit.”

Well, at least that. It counted as a school activity which means it would count as actual school credit. Not that she cared for school credit but at least it wasn’t forced voluntary work.

“Eto...”

“How about the three legged race?” he suggested as he looked down on the piece of paper on his clipboard. “We still need people there...”

“The... what?” she frowned before shrugging, “Whatever... I guess...” she didn’t feel like participating in anything but since it was manditory she didn’t care what it was as long as it was fast and easy so she could get out of that mess quickly.

“Good,” he smiled as he scribbled down her name. “It will be announced when the race starts,” he said before moving on.

She sighed as she walked on. There were some booths where several sports teams were waiting with all kind of pictures and posters and yelling at people to come check out their club. It was either to find some supporters or to gain new members. A lot of teams were having a sign up for try outs today. Even Michiyo and her team were there, handing out flyers and talking to some girls who strangely enough seemed very interested.

“Nezumi-chan,” Michiyo tried to call her over once she spotted the girl pass by. “Koko ni kite!”

“Sorry,” she shrugged. “Not interested.”

She didn’t really know why she was being so friendly all of a sudden. But Nezumi found it very suspicious. Maybe the girl did make a complete turn around and maybe even wanted to be something like her friend but Nezumi wasn’t really sure what to think about that. Especially with the whole Saburou thing going on.

“YOU FORGOT?!” now this tone of voice did spark some curiousity with the girl as she turned around to see Wataru marching after Yuuta with the rest of the team close by. Apparently Yuuta forgot something and Wataru was anything but happy about it.

“Gomen,” he said without looking up or around. “Does it matter, though?”

“Yes!” he gained in on the tumbling captain and stopped right in front of him. “You could have told us we were supposed to perform today. We should have practiced!”

“I tried telling you, and I tried scheduling practices...” he sighed. “But you were too busy falling back into old habits!”

“Eh?”

“Oi, Takenaka! Didn’t you say yourself that you agreed that Wataru had no other choice, ne?” Ryosuke frowned.

“I did,” he shrugged. “But that didn’t mean that our team had to suffer because of it and besides, I didn’t know about that until last night...”

“Doushiyou?” Nippori asked slightly worried.

“It’s obvious, ne? We’ll just perform the old routine...”

“I thought the showcase was to show the rest of the school something new and exciting with which you are planning on taking the title?” Nezumi couldn’t resist to meddle with this conversation. After all, anything Wataru could do she could do better and there was nothing she could do better than meddling with people.

“Ah, Nezumi-senpai,” Satoshi greeted her. He was probably the only one on the team that she actually liked. Maybe because he was her junior by two years and he came across as this fragile innocent little brother-type. Who knows.

“And what do you care?” he frowned.

“Oi, I like winning as much as you do...” she pouted. “Besides, I thought I told you once before that if you’re planning on wow’ing the judges you need to come up with something spontanious and special...ne?”

“Do you even know what you’re talking about?” Wataru frowned.

“Tabun. Tabun nai,” she shrugged. “That has never stopped you from meddling, has it?” with that said she turned around and walked the other way.

“She’s got you there, Wataru,” Kiyama grinned.

“WILL THE PARTICIPATING STUDENTS OF THE THREE-LEGGED RACE PLEASE REPORT BY THE ENTRANCE OF THE BUILDING. THANK YOU.”

With a sigh she reluctantly made her way back to the entrance of the school. She had to get this over with although she rather had been in class today.

Surprisingly enough she also found Wataru, Ryosuke, Nippori, Kiyama, Michiyo and several other students waiting there who were also in a club activity. Was it manditory for everyone or did they really like stuff like this.

“Ah! You’re participating too?” Michiyo wondered as Nezumi came to a stop with the group.

“I had no other choice...” she sighed before turning to the yankees. “What are you doing here?”

“Baka Kashiwagi didn’t grade our last project so we had to make it up,” Wataru growled barely loud enough to hear. He sure was in a grumpy mood today.

“Good, you’re all here,” Kashiwagi smiled as he came outside carrying the clipboard and several red ropes. “I have already paired you up accordingly.”

“Because you are so good at that,” she rolled her eyes.

“Saa... Saruwatari-san, you’ll be paired up with Tsukimori-kun,” he grinned he handed her one of the ropes.

There was this cheeky smile that appeared on Ryosuke’s face although Michiyo seemed slightly obvious for that. Maybe she was just playing hard to get or maybe she wasn’t interested at all. Or maybe she really was that obvious.

“Azuma-kun,” he continued as he looked up at the red haired boy. “You’ll be paired up with Akimoto-san.”

“Eh? Nande?!”

“Not again,” she sighed as she shook her head. Why did the idiot keep pairing them up together even though it was obvious that they pretty much loathed each other. Or at least couldn’t coöperate the way Kashiwagi wanted them to. And now they were forced to run the race together. Just their luck.

“Yoshi, this is going to be so much fun!” he smiled before leaning closer to the girl, “Ne, Michiyo-chan?”

“Listen up, pretty boy,” Michiyo turned around, her cheerful smile had disappeared and been replaced by a very determined and serious look. “I have never lost this competition. So you better listen to my directions and do your best to win this! Got it?”

Ryosuke shrunk a few feet as he gulped and nodded “H-hai...”

“Good,” she smiled pleased as she placed her hands on her hips, “Because I hate to lose. And I especially don’t want to lose to THEM.”

“Oi,” Nezumi scoffed, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t worry, Nezumi-chan,” she smiled as she waved her remark away. “Let’s just have fun and do our best, ne?” with that she turned around and once again cheerfully walked towards the starting line.

“Mattaku... She’s so serious...” Ryosuke said with a tilted head and a slight pout.

“Good luck with that,” Wattaru chuckled as he patted him on the shoulder.

“Ryosuke-kun! HURRY!”

“H-hai!” he quickly nodded as he followed her orders and joined her to be tied together.

Nezumi shook her head with a slight laugh. It was funny to see both of them so out of themselves. Or what they came across . Michiyo was this cheerful girl but she could be very tough and harsh when she had her mind set on something. She almost reminded her of Mizumi. Then there was Ryosuke who was the biggest playboy around, yet he seemed so nervous when it came to Michiyo. He could’ve just told her to buzz off with that attitude. That guy was whipped even before you could speak of an actual bond.

“Yoshi!” Wataru turned to Nezumi with a smile on his face and his fist pumped into the air, “Let’s do this!”

She tilted her head, “Eh?”

“I don’t know about you but I don’t like the way Michiyo-chan talks about winning...” he explained as he lowered his hand again. “So let’s show her how real winners do it!”

A smirk appeared on her face, “Prepare to eat our dust,” she nodded as the two of them headed for the starting line.

“Yoshi, the rules are simple,” Kashiwagi explained. “You have to cross the line tied together. The team that finishes first is the winner.”

“Ok, follow my directions. When I say left you move with left, get it?” Michiyo hushed at Ryosuke who merely nodded.

“Get ready?”

“Let’s show them we cán work together,” Wataru said as he prepared himself for the signal.

“Eh?” she frowned but shook her head as Kashiwagi signed off for the race to start.

And off they were. Nezumi and Wataru sort of figured out a pattern in which they would move to get forward and it actually worked. But Michiyo and Ryosuke had managed to get ahead of the others. They were actually close to winning, when suddenly the pair lost their balance completely and ended up tripping and landing on the ground.

Nezumi laughed but Wataru pushed on. “Yoshi! Chance!”

“Hai,” she nodded.

The two of them ran as fast as they could, unaware that the rope that tied their legs together was starting to loosen the faster they went and the closer they got to the finish line. They were just a few more steps away when the rope eventually snapped and unaware of this the two of them ran past the finish line, followed by Kiyama and his partner and lastly by Michiyo and Ryosuke.

“Baka,” Michiyo scoffed as she untied herself. “I told you to follow my directions, didn’t I?”

“Eh? I did!” he jumped. “You were the one that messed up!”

“I said left!”

“I went left!”

“I meant my left!”

“Ne, that doesn’t make any sense,” he scratched the back of his head.

Nezumi and Wataru laughed which drew their attention.

“Just accept you lost already,” Wataru shook his head laughing.

“Ne, Kinoko-atama,” she leaned with her arm on Wataru’s shoulder to make a point, “How does it feel, losing to us?”

“Muri desu...”

“We’re a perfect team, accept it!”

“Number 1!” she grinned as she held up a peace sign.

“A...Ano... Actually,” Kashiwagi interupted. “You didn’t win either...”

“EH?!”

“Ah? Douyu koto?” he tilted his head.

“Ano... You didn’t cross the finish as a pair...” he pointed down, “The rope came loose before you crossed...”

“Oh come on!”

“Well... who won then?” Michiyo frowned. She wasn’t that happy that she lost but at least Wataru and Nezumi didn’t win first place.

“Kiyama-kun,” he smiled as they turned to the black-haired boy behind them. “Omedetou.”

“Omedetou, Kiyama,” Ryosuke nodded.

“Hai,” Wataru nodded with a smile.

“Ah, domo,” he nodded.

Nezumi sighed, “Mattaku...”

“Well... At least we had fun... ne?” Michiyo tried to smile as cheerfully as before even though it was clear she really didn’t like losing. To anyone at anything.

“Yoshi, I can go now,” she said as she turned around.

“Oi! Where are you going?”

“I only stayed because this part was manditory. We’ve finished the race so I don’t have to stay anymore...” she shrugged before she started walking.

“Nee~” Michiyo called her back, “Aren’t you going to stay for the closing ceremony?”

She stopped and turned around with an arched brow, “Like I’m interested in seeing either of you prance around on music, doing a few flips and animal movements,” she scoffed. “I can see that in fights too, and honestly it’s more entertaining as well,”

“Are, masaka Nezumi...” Wataru said with his back turned to her. Unclear for her to see that he had a mischievous smirk on his face, “You can’t possibly leave now,”

“Douyu koto, Wataru?” she tilted her head with a frown.

“You always talk about our routine like you know everything, yet you have never seen us in action other than some rehearsals,” he continued. “Don’t you want to see if you’re right?”

She scoffed, “Ah?” she crossed her arms. “I don’t. I already know I’m right. I am always right,” she then turned around and glance back quickly, “Besides, if I leave now I can be sure you won’t be stalking me all the way home... Ja matta!”

“Eh...” Wataru turned around. His plan didn’t exactly work out the way he had planned. He was supposed to challenge her to stay... but she had thought this over already. And she was right, because of the closing ceremony he couldn’t leave since they had to perform their routine.

The sportsfestival ended rather late. The sun was already setting and colored the sky a soft color of purple and orange mixed together. It looked rather like a painting than a real sky. The cool breeze that started to set up brushed through the strands of hair that escaped from the hood she was wearing as she was leaning against the gate of the school.

“Ah? Nezumi?”

She turned her head slightly and gave a brief salute to greet the group. They had been busy chatting about their apparently succesful demonstration earlier and it wasn’t until Wataru had noticed her waiting there and spoke up that they stopped laughing and talking.

“I thought you went home already?”

“I did,” she relaxed her arms and pushed herself away from the gate, turning slightly to face them directly. “But I got bored...”

“So you came back here?” Yuuta frowned.

“Do you have a problem with that?”

“Iie... But it seems so unlike you, Nezumi...”

She chuckled slightly as she took a few steps forwards, “Funny you should say that,” she placed her hands on her hips. “Since you hardly know me...”

“Ne, Nezumi-senpai,” Satoshi piped up quickly, “Are you joining us?”

“Eh?”

“Ano.. Satoshi-kun... Maybe you shouldn’t...”

“Ah?” she tilted her head. “Nani desu ka?”

“We’re going to celebrate at the restaurant...” Mizusawa explained since it was too late to just wave it away now.

She frowned, “Celebrate what? You haven’t won anything yet... Well, except for Kiyama, but that’s beside the point...”

“Because we rocked our demonstration today, that’s what!” Nippori pumped his fist into the air as he leaned over Wataru’s shoulder, “Ne, aniki?”

“Hai,” he nodded with a smile. “So? Are you coming or what?”

“U-unless you don’t want to, of course,” Kaneko quickly added.

She tilted her head towards him now and took a few steps closer to him.

“What’s the matter? Are you intimidated by me?” she smirked. “Or just dumb.”

“Oi, Nezumi!” Wataru interupted. “Play nice.”

“I’m not nice, you should know that by now,” she grinned before turning back to Kaneko and nudging him, “Lighten up, Megane-sama” she turned around. “Sa, ikou...”

“Honestly,” Wataru started as they were on their way to his home and his mother’s restaurant. “I actually thought you were going to look for Saburou again...”

She scoffed as she was walking a few steps ahead of the group. “Masaka, you were worried?”

“Of course not,” he frowned. “But you seem to make a habit out of it...”

“I don’t go looking for trouble, it finds me,” she waves back. “Besides, I couldn’t find him...”

“Eh?” most of them called as they stopped walking. Were they actually thinking she would be so stupid to go look for him again, especially without any preparation and still healing from the previous meetings. Were they actually worried?

“Baka,” she laughed as she stopped walking for a moment and turned around. “Mattaku...”

Bzzzt bzzzt bzzzt

She fished her phone out of her pocket and flips it open. A text message. The third one today.
 

Don’t think I have forgotten about it.

I am still watching you. And you’re not my only target anymore...

S.I.

She stared at it for a few moment, the rush of cheerfulness that she had felt just moments ago had sunk completely and was drowned by the sudden rush of anxiety. The worst kind of anxiety. He was close, she was sure about it. And he’s not only keeping an eye on her for the perfect moment, he had more than one target to aim at. Which was her fault to begin with.

“Daijobu desu ka?” the guys had caught up with the distance between them while she was reading the text a couple of times. And apparently the sudden change of mood had not gone unnoticed.

“Ah?” she quickly flipped her phone again and nodded, “H-hai, daijobu desu...” she grinned nervously before turning around. “Let’s get going.”

She couldn’t tell them. It was bad enough that they were keeping an eye on her because of Saburou, and it was clear that Wataru wasn’t really his best pal either but she didn’t want to worry the others. She just had to keep a close eye on them in turn. Maybe she would tell Wataru about Saburou’s threats... later.