Uchuu no Houseki
The Universe of Jewels

Volume 9:
Turbulence of Emotion
By Emi

    The streets were empty and silent.  No one ever was out at this hour, it was too early, too eerie.  Things were still, too still… asleep, quiet, hidden, cold and misty in the early hours.  The faint blue iridescence of the moon bathed the Earth below in an almost celestial light.  A symphony of night creatures could be heard even within the lively city, one thing that seemed to never retire.
Blending into those sounds were those of footsteps, hushed, almost cautious sounding, walking through the darkness.  The unusually chilly air that had developed due to the clear Spring night nipped at his nose as he walked down the streets, which appeared more to him like solid black rivers that faded away from the moonlight into unknown lightlessness.  A little wary, as one might be when walking alone at such an hour, he held the strap of his duffel bag tighter in his palm, wrapping his fingers securely so that it could not get away from him.
    Finally, after what seemed much too long from a trip that was not very pleasant, he came to his destination and gave a sigh of relief.  As he walked back into the safety of his home, there was one watching him.  Koji had been up in the Sakura tree all night, thinking, composing, pondering, watching… he saw Daisuke return, his eyes glowing in the blackness (that would be Ko-chan’s eyes, not Dai’s ^^;), and the silent watcher sat still, as still as he had been all night.  He could sense a troubled air to Daisuke, he knew something was wrong.  With his superior intuition, he thought he knew exactly what it was that was bothering Daisuke so much, but then again, there was no way he could be exactly sure.
    He removed his shoes and as quietly as possible made his way back to his bedroom, shutting the door behind.  Walking carefully over to his desk, being careful not to stub his toe or trip on anything in the dark room, Daisuke flipped on the lamp on his desk and dropped his duffel bag to the floor in the center of the room.  As if completely drained, Daisuke fell back onto his bed, staring at the ceiling.  He stayed this way for a few minutes, just staring and thinking deeply.  The entire house was silent, his thoughts could not be clouded by anything.  He had just been at the pool doing some rather rigorous training, it was the only thing he could do when he had those terrible thoughts about loosing Yoshiko to Koji.  In some ways, he was feeling better, but in others, he was feeling worse than ever.
    Daisuke glanced to the clock on his desk.  “4:48…  I was gone for a long time.”  He sat up and looked at the pile of textbooks and blank paper inhabiting his desk.  “I should do my homework.”
    As if dazed by the recesses of his own thoughts, he opened his math book to the right lesson and saw that he had only done a few of the problems, leaving him with still many others to work through.  Sighing, he felt a little sorry for himself.  Math wasn’t his forte.
    While trying to work, his mind kept wandering.  He kept thinking about Yoshiko and all the feeling he had hidden deep down inside for her.  He thought about how much he truly loved her and how he would gladly do anything just to see her smile.  Then, like poison, depressing thoughts of Koji slipped into his mind and devoured the prior happier ones.  Koji possibly stealing her away from him was an idea much like suicide to him, dark and formidable.
    Sighing loudly, Daisuke closed his math book.  There was no way he could concentrate on that right then.  Right when he was about to totally give up on homework, he saw out of the corner of his eye a familiar small velvet box.  He stared at that box, many things running through his mind, and was hesitant to reach for it.  Finally, he did and opened it to reveal again the beautiful locket necklace that would look lovely around Yoshiko’s graceful neck.  However, with the previous thoughts still on his mind and invading more than ever now, Daisuke could not handle looking at the locket.  He closed the box quietly with a deep, sad sigh.  “Why kid myself…  It’s hopeless…”
    Extraordinarily depressed, Daisuke held the small box firmly in his hand and went over to the small wastebasket by his door.  In one sad, slow movement, Daisuke dropped the tiny box inside.  He looked down to it for what seemed an eternity full of sorrow and distress.  In a voice full of hurt he said quietly, “Goodbye… Yoshiko…”
    He went back to his homework and tried to resume his math.  He kept blanking out as the lack of sleep caught up to him.  Daisuke would try to stay awake because he knew how important it was for him to do his homework and cursed himself for not doing it earlier.  Well, mind over matter didn’t play as his friend on this occasion.  Eventually, exhaustion won and Daisuke laid his head down on his math book and fell right asleep.  It was then about 5:00 in the morning.  At least in sleep Daisuke wouldn’t have to think about all the causes of his anguish.  For then, it was like a short escape from his many troubles.

    There were several knocks pounded on Daisuke’s bedroom door.  Tenko huffed when no response came, she wouldn’t let her efforts go unnoticed, no matter how much of a pretty boy Daisuke was.  “Daisukeniichan!!” she exclaimed and burst into his bedroom, “Time for you to wake up, sleepy head!” Tenko put her hands on his shoulders and shook to try to awaken Daisuke, still sound asleep on his incomplete homework.
    Slowly, he opened his eyes and became aware of the shaking and the one who was responsible for the shaking.  “Tenko-chan…” he groaned and sat up, quick to wipe the stream of drool from his chin.  Where his face had been on the book all the while he was asleep was slightly red.  He was still very groggy and wished to be back asleep.
    “You’re finally awake!  We thought you’d sleep all day!”
    He satisfyingly stretched and yawned and rubbed his eyes, then looked back at Tenko.  It took him a little while, much longer than usual, but then finally he realized it.  “Dang it… I’m late, aren’t I?”
    She nodded, “Yoshiko-chan and Misami-chan just left because Yoshiko-chan couldn’t bring herself to wake you for some reason…  Misami-chan pulled her out too quickly anyway, so she never had the chance even if she wanted to, but I told them I’d wake you up and so I did!” she quickly said, almost proudly.
    Daisuke sighed, “Sounds like Misami alright…”
    “Anyway, you gotta get up now, Daisukeniichan!  You don’t wanna be even more late!” she grabbed hold of his hand and pulled to try to pull him to his feet.  Of course, it didn’t work at all.
    Letting her vainly attempt pulling, with his other hand Daisuke turned his clock to face him and then had no trouble raising to his feet, which made Tenko fall back against his bed.  “I’m so late!!” he cried and immediately ran to his closet and flung out his school uniform.  Nearly panicking and not even seeming to notice poor Tenko watching, Daisuke began to get dressed as quickly as he possibly could.  He put his shirt on over the white T-shirt he had been wearing and buttoned it very ineptly, missing certain buttons and such.  Then he threw his shorts off and put on his slacks over his blue boxers with little moons and stars on them.  He didn’t even bother to hook his belt around his pants or tighten his crooked, loose tie.  He ran a comb once through his hair, shoved everything he was supposed to have worked on into his school bag and sped out of his bedroom.  “Itekimasu!” he called and ran out of the house, off to school.
    Tenko was in a daze and blindly stared forward.  Finally, she blinked and almost appeared to become aware of things once again.  “D-Daisukeniichan…” her cheeks turned pink, “your underwear is cute…”
    Daisuke looked at his watch.  “Dang!  If I keep running I shouldn’t be too late…” he quickened his running, but had little aplomb for his own words.  He didn’t see any other people rushing to school, thus reinforcing his being terribly late.
    Finally, he could see the big clock on the front of his school.  Quickening his pace, he ran to the gates but stopped immediately with what he saw.  All the member so his elite swim team were standing in the entrance, almost seeming to block it.  Daisuke could see many other students crowded behind them, and still many others eagerly looking out of the many windows of the school, like some sort of sporting match.  Naturally, he wondered what was going on and looked to each of his friends’ faces to see displeased scowls as cold as stone.  They all had their arms folded and their vexed glared directed on Daisuke.
    He caught his breath from running and walked a little closer to the wall of swimmers, but with every advancing step he took, the more acrimonious each appeared to become.  He stopped again when he was about two meters from them and tried to look as cool and normal as possible.  Daisuke raised his arm and waved to them, a bright smile beaming on his face, “Hey, guys!  Nice morning, eh?”  There was no reply.  His smile slightly failing, he brought his hand down again.  Something, he now knew, was not right.
    Daisuke looked to either side; Maybe I should just find another way to get inside… he thought.
    “Mizuno!”
    His attention was pulled back to the swimmers.  Again, they looked dangerously perturbed.
    The one in the middle of the blockade spoke to him, “You have betrayed not only yourself, but all your team mates also after years of trust.  Come on, Mizuno, what do you have to say for yourself?”
    He just stood there with a very blank look on his face and wondered what this was all about.  Obviously, he had no idea what he meant by that or what he was talking about.  Then he figured it was probably just a joke, he knew the guys liked to screw around like that.  He smiled and laughed, stepping forward again, “Oh, that’s funny!  You guys like to joke!  Hahaha!” looking again, he saw that none of them shared his one-sided rapture.  Daisuke cleared his throat and stopped walking.  “Alright, maybe it’s not funny, but I gotta get inside, I don’t want to be any later!”
    The guys didn’t move a muscle at his request.  In fact, they just stood their ground stronger than before!  Well, by this time, Daisuke was getting pretty annoyed with them and more confused than ever.  “Guys,” he wasn’t smiling anymore, “I’m serious.”
All the swimmers looked to each other and then back to Daisuke.  “And you don’t think we are?” the same as before asked.
    “Tarou, what are you talking about?” Daisuke asked him.
    He looked even madder, “Don’t act stupid!  You know exactly what I’m talking about!  You’re going to be punished for going against all of us and the promise YOU made up all those years ago.”
    “…Promise?”  Suddenly, Daisuke felt a sharp blow to his stomach.  He arched over and fell to his knees, cringing in the pain.
    The guys circled around Daisuke and looked down to him.  “You brought this on yourself.” Tarou glared, “I can’t believe you’d do something like that… you traitor.”
    Daisuke looked up to them, trying to override the pain.  The sun shone in on one of his eyes, making their images unclear and causing him to squint.  “No way… guys, what are you saying?”
    Tarou looked beside him to Osamu and nodded.  Osamu reached in his pocket and handed Tarou something.  The whole time, Daisuke was looking up at his face.  “Mizuno Daisuke,” he began, looking back down to Daisuke.  Loudly, Daisuke could hear his heart pounding inside his chest.  Tarou looked troubled and very sad at the thing he had to do, but knew that it was necessary for the team’s conviction and pride.  “You’re off the swim team.” He threw to the ground next to Daisuke a medal of victory he had won with all the other members.  It spun around and finally settled on its tail end with a deafening metallic sound.
    Like a bullet of shock had been fired straight at him, Daisuke gasped and heard his heart beat slowly until it seemed to stop.  Everything seemed to stop.  All of time and existence.  The guys from the swim team were all very dispirited to have to release Daisuke from their midst, but rules are rules and a promise should never be broken.
    Turning from him, all the guys walked away, melancholy on their faces and in their steps.  Tarou shook his head and joined soon behind.  Daisuke watched them all leave and could feel the bitter sting of hurtful tears in his eyes.
    He shook his head and reached his hand out to them.  “No… wait…” he tried to say, but his voice was much too quieted from sorrow.  They continued to walk away and soon disappeared behind the crowd of students, still gathered at a distance, watching in unbelief.  He swallowed the lump in his throat and felt a tear stream down his cheek.  Daisuke knew then that it was over.
    Osamu had been standing there still the whole time.  He looked down to Daisuke and it ripped him up inside.  Daisuke was one of his best friends.  He couldn’t believe that he had to be discharged from the team, nor did he want to believe it.  For a minute, their eyes met and everything was silent.  Osamu just couldn’t bare it any longer and had to get out of there.  “Shark man, sorry…” he said softly and threw something down to him and then turned and left with the others.
    It landed right in front of him on the ground.  It was the photograph of his mother that had been his good luck charm for every match.  Daisuke must have accidentally left it in his swimming locker during practice (yeah, he can be kind of forgetful).  He saw both items, the medal and the photograph, and his eyes became even more blurred.  Glancing upwards, he saw all the students disturbed and disheartened in their confidence in him.  There was no way Daisuke could deal with it all, he had just been hit with more weight than he could hold up.  Everything seemed to go against him, he had become the world’s oyster.
    Grabbing the photograph and the medal, he stuffed them in his school bag and came to his feet.  A sharp breeze blew and ruffled his already messy hair.  Teachers swarmed out of the school and yelled as loud as they could for their students to get to class.  Nearly the entire student body was watching Daisuke and witnessed his exile from the one thing he lived for: the (to be determined (still)) High School swim team.
    Daisuke dried his eye and looked back at the school.  There was nothing left for him there, no need in going.  He felt like an outsider, unwanted, rejected.  The one thing he truly had a passion for was taken away from him.  He felt useless and alone.  “Well, if that’s how you want it…” he quietly uttered to himself and turned the other way, “you won’t see me again…” He ran from the school with no real destination in mind.  All he wanted to do was to get away from there and be alone with his pain.
    The entire time this ordeal was unfolding, Ryuichi had been standing with the crowd of students.  He wasn’t up by the rest of the swim team, but he could see perfectly what had happened.  The sight of Daisuke being kicked off the team made a wide smile play across his lips.
    As the other students silently filed into the school (all were still too shocked to speak), Ryuichi sneaked his way through them to outside the gate.  Looking as inconspicuous as possible, he looked to the opposite side and flicked his finger, as if signaling someone to come to him.  Parked right near there was a white limousine that slowly drove up to him.  The black tinted window rolled down next to the driver.  Ryuichi leaned to the window, still trying to look inconspicuous.  In a quiet way, he ordered “Follow him.”
    “Yes sir,” answered the driver who began to follow after the way Daisuke ran to.
    Ryuichi smirked in an evil sort of way and felt quite pleased with the morning’s occurrences.  “Poor little Daisuke,” he said, “you’ll know soon enough what real torment feels like.” He laughed to himself and walked into the school, among some of the final students to do so.
    “Hamada, you’re late!” cried Mr. Shizumo.  On this particular morning, since all his students were not present in his class right off, he was quite a bit more frantic than usual, if that’s possible…
    “My apologies,” he said in an arrogant way and took his seat at the back of the class.  He smiled to himself and seemed much happier than usual.
    “What are you so happy about?” asked Hitomi, who sat right next to him.  She had applied much make up to hide the bruises inflicted by his hand.
    He shook his head, “Never mind.”
    Mr. Shizumo was trying to do attendance all over again and Yoshiko looked worriedly to the empty desk beside herself.  Hiroshi was on the other side of the empty desk and stared forward, like in a state of nervous concentration.  “Shiozawa-san?” she called softly to him.  He jumped slightly and looked over to her.  It was a very difficult question to ask, “Do you think Daisuke-san is alright?”
    Slowly, he shook his head, “You saw what happened, Dai’s totally crushed and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
    Her face became very somber.  She felt so much like crying for him.  “I wish there were…”
    Hiroshi took out his Special Little Notebook and opened to a very specific page.  “Just be positive.  Right, Dai?  Somehow I have the feeling that that won’t work too well right now…”
    Yoshiko sighed deeply and looked out the window beside her, out onto the campus and everything else she could see out there.  She wished so much she could be out there with him, to comfort him and make sure that he felt loved.  The whole thing was unfair, she thought, and no one, especially Daisuke, deserved that kind of treatment.  Daisuke-san, she said in her mind, wherever you are, I hope you know that I love you…

    Pale gray clouds formed together up above and a soft, tender drizzle seemed to float down from them.  It collected on whatever it came in contact with, soon giving the entire city a slick, clean look.  Within little time, it heightened into a sprinkle and then a light rain.  People could be seen everywhere along the streets holding up an array of brightly colored umbrellas, standing boldly out against the mundane grays of the Spring shower.
    Daisuke stepped into a large puddle of rainwater along the sidewalk.  It soaked him up to his ankle, he looked down with furious surprise and soon decided it was too small a thing to waste all his built up anger on.  He had been walking with no destination in mind, just thinking with his feet to guide him wherever.  In fact, he really didn’t care where he ended up and thought no one else did either.
    He had wandered deep into the city.  Finally, Daisuke realized that he was feeling very hungry, so he stopped his walking and let many people pass him and the light rain fall over him.  Blankly, he looked forward onto the wet sidewalk as an enticing aroma came to him.  He looked up to the direction of the delicious smell and saw right near him a modest noodle shop.  It was nothing fancy, just a small place, but it smelled wonderful.  “I guess I have some money,” Daisuke slowly walked to the shop and entered, the wonderful aroma calling to him more and more.
     "Irasshaimase!" Called a very kind old man from behind a counter.  He had small eyes and a happy smile, both set around kind wrinkles that only made the man look friendlier.  Around his bald head he wore a white headband, tied neatly on the side and he also wore a white T-shirt.  Daisuke thought he looked just like one of those sweet little monks from a monastery he had visited as a small child.
    Daisuke looked around, it really was a small shop, there were three stools by the counter and he could barely see back behind the counter where the man was standing to where all the food must was prepared.  Despite it being so small, Daisuke really found himself liking this place.  Not wanting to be rude, he went up and sat on a stool.
    The old man smiled more, his wrinkles making him look like an old paper bag.  “What could I get for you, young man?”
    Daisuke could still smell it and knew that whatever that was, he wanted it.  “What smells so good?”
    “Okonomiyaki.  I thought we would try out a little more than just noodles.” He laughed hoarsely.
    “I think I’ll take that,” responded Daisuke, “with some tea.”
    He nodded and turned backwards and called, pulling the small curtain to the side, “Okonomiyaki and tea!” then the old man turned back to Daisuke and saw the small pile of money he set on the counter.  He took it and handed him back his change.  Daisuke just sat there still the whole time, he didn’t make and effort to talk or look up or anything.  All he did was sit there quietly and wait for his food.  The old man could sense something was wrong.  In his kind, inquisitive way he leaned on the counter and looked straight on to Daisuke.  “Excuse my asking, but, shouldn’t you be at school?”
    Daisuke glanced his eye over at him and sighed, resting his chin on his hand.  “What’s the point?” he asked, “They don’t want me there anyway.”
    “What makes you so sure?”
    “I was just dropped from practically the only thing I like to do and am good at and I have no clue why.  The guys I thought were my best friends now seem to hate me, and the girl I thought I loved-” it was too hard to continue.
    The man could sense the pain in Daisuke’s story.  He had compassion and even sympathy for him inside.  Slowly, he nodded his head and set a towel he had been using to clean the counter over one shoulder, leaning further to Daisuke, “You think everything’s going against you.”  Faintly, Daisuke nodded and kept his head faced the other way, “Well, maybe I’m just a foolish old man, but I think that trials like this actually can help a person.  They can make him stronger and learn how to better appreciate the good things in life.  And you’ll see, this’ll all pass soon and everything will work out to be just fine.”
    That caught his ear.  He looked to the old man with a scrutinizing glance.  “You really think so?”
    He nodded, “I can sense it about you.  You’re not the kind of person to give up so easily.  Just hang in there and everything will work out.”  He gave him another wrinkly smile and Daisuke took to heart the wise words of the old man.
    “Okonomiyaki and tea!” Balancing a large plate in one hand and a cup in another, a very pretty young woman came out from the back of the shop and set Daisuke’s order on the counter in front of him.  She smiled and wiped her brow, tightening the long cascading ponytail that flowed down her back.  Looking to Daisuke, the girl smiled and winked her big brown eye.  “Enjoy, Dai-kun.”
    “Aya?!” he was very surprised to see her.  She waved to him and giggled.
    The old man looked between the two, “You know each other?”
    “Yeah, Dai-kun is one of my best friends,” answered Aya, feeling proud to refer to Daisuke as that, “and this is my cute little grandpa.” She introduced.
    Daisuke was even more surprised to find out that the old man was Aya’s grandfather.  After they had properly introduced, Daisuke could then begin to eat.  “This looks great,” he said as he looked over the okonomiyaki.  It made him smile when he saw the little message Aya had written on it: Gambatte!  “Thanks, Aya,” he looked up to her, “this is just what I needed.”
    “So why don’t you eat it already?” she teased.
    He grinned and took the first bite, Aya waited nervously to see if her cooking could pass the test against the person she saw as the best cook in the world.  “Awesome!” he exclaimed.
    She was so happy he liked it.  “Thanks, this is really the only thing I’m good at making, and ramen noodles and things like that and that’s only because I’ve starting working for grandpa and helping him out when his other employees can’t make it.”
    “Is that why you’re here today?” he asked between bites.
    She nodded, “We’re way under staffed and grandpa needs all the help he can get, especially with catering and stuff.  You know, you could work here too and earn some extra money.  You’re going to need it with all those guys now living at your house.”
    Slowly, he nodded.  “I’ll think about it.”  Daisuke finished it in no time and gave his compliments to the chef, “Gochisosama deshita!”
    Winking graciously, the old man took the dishes into the back to be washed.  Aya smiled down at him, but could sense that through the smile he returned to her, there was pain and sadness.  “So, why aren’t you at school?” she asked quietly, starting to hint at the source of his apparent depression.
    He shrugged, “I’d rather tell you later.”
    She nodded and understood, “Well, why don’t you take these with you, I just made them.” She set on the counter in front of him a small basket wrapped in a red cloth.
    “What is it?”
    “Toasted rice cakes.  My first try, so if they taste terrible, I’m sorry…”
    He smiled faintly again, “Thanks.” Daisuke pulled out the rest of his money and didn’t have with him as much as he thought he did.  He sighed, discouraged.
    “Don’t worry, they’re a gift.”
    “Again, thanks!” he gladly took the warm basket, put it in his school bag, and stood from the stool.  The two looked into each other’s eyes with smiles beaming on their faces.
    The old man then returned and Aya whirled around to him, “Grandpa, is it alright if I take my break now?”
    He nodded slowly, “Sure thing.”
    “Thank you!” she said and looked back to Daisuke.  He then realized that Aya wanted to go off with him somewhere to discuss his problems.  He smiled, it made him feel good to know that he at least still had someone who seemed to care about him.
    Aya came from behind the counter and walked to the exit, “C’mon, Dai-kun.” He followed after thanking the old man for the meal and hospitality.
    Together, the couple walked to a café just across the street and sat down in a booth, neither intended on ordering anything, but when the waitress came, they could not refuse and both ordered strawberry Italian sodas.  As they enjoyed their refreshments, Aya provoked Daisuke to share with her what was bothering him.
    “I have competition.” He said simply, sipping through the straw.
    “What does that mean?”
    Daisuke blushed slightly, “You know… for Yoshiko.”
    “Oh!” she giggled and slapped Daisuke’s shoulder with a giddy wink, “You hound dog!  So you admit, you do love her!”
    “Not so loud!” he hushed her, “And it’s not something to joke about, I’m really serious!”
    “Sorry.  I already knew you had competition, the whole testosterone oriented population of school is after Yoshiko-chan.  You, my friend, stand a way higher chance of sweeping her off her feet than anyone else, so why are you so worried?  You’ve practically won her already!”
    He was quiet for a minute, “I wouldn’t say that exactly.  It’s not really the guys at school I’m worried about, it’s this other guy I know…”
    Aya leaned forward, like she was hanging on his every word.  “And, go on!” she insisted, “What guy?”
    He narrowed his eyebrows, stirring the straw violently in the soda without even realizing it.  “Takamoto Koji.”
    She sat up straight and observed Daisuke.  To her, it seemed like saying that name for him was like uttering doom.  She could tell there was something really deep going on, something she just needed to know about.  “Would I know this Koji person?”
    Daisuke shook his head, “It feels like I barely even know him and he lives in my basement now.”
    “So, how many does that make now…” Aya muttered jokingly as she took another sip, hoping Daisuke wouldn’t get mad at her making light of the situation.  “So,” she licked her lip, “you think this Koji guy, who now lives with you, is your major competition for Yoshiko-chan, is that correct?”
    “Yes, and I don’t think so, I know so.”
    “Alright, calm down.  How do you know that for sure?  Did the guy go and announce it to the world or something, or did he come up and challenge you?”
    “No, Koji-kun’s not like that.  He’s very quiet and secretive, he’s got his own mysterious ways of doing things,” Daisuke sighed, “like winning Yoshiko over…”
    “Well if he’s so mysterious how do you even know he’s trying to steal her from you in the first place?  What did he do to make you think that?”
    Daisuke looked to the side, out of the window to the street with rain pouring down.  “It happened last night,” he began, his lips tightening, “well actually I guess it had been going on ever since we first met him.  Just the way he had acted toward her and everything… and what happened last night…” Daisuke told her the entire story, about how he thought Koji was in love with Yoshiko also and what made him think that.  Aya listened intently and again hung on his every word.  When he was finished, there was a long silence as Aya absorbed everything he had said and tried to come up with the best friendly advice she could devise that wasn’t too sweet or too grim.
    “I see,” she finally said, sipping her soda.  “So you’re afraid Yoshiko-chan might choose him over you…?”
    There was pain in his voice, “Possibly.  There’s a lot of reasons why.”
    She paused, “Like what?”
    “There’s something that Yoshiko and Koji-kun have in common… something I could never compete with.  I’m not going to say what it is, so just please believe me on this.  Let’s just say something makes them way more compatible to each other than Yoshiko does to me.”
    “Ok…” she wasn’t sure she understood fully.
    “And when they’re together, I dunno, but there seems to be like this royal eminence or something, like they both glow, it’s really hard to explain.  Either that or maybe I’m just going insane.”
    “Dai-kun,” Aya taunted, “how many times have you said that?” she smiled, able to squeeze a small smile out of him also.
    “Anyway, so I’m afraid that I might loose the first girl I’ve ever really had such strong feelings for.  She means so much to me now, if I loose her, I just… I don’t know what I’ll do…”
    Aya set her hand on top of Daisuke’s, instantly gaining his gaze directed straight into her own.  She had a faint smile on her lips, it was one that Daisuke rarely ever saw on her.  He didn’t know what was coming, but when he saw the faint blush on her cheeks, he began to worry.  “Love is such a complicated thing, isn’t it?  One minute you’re on top of the world, the next you’re half-dead in a dumpster trying to find new bait to catch and follow.”
    Dumbfounded, Daisuke blinked uncomfortably, “Aya… you’re not… coming on to me… are you…?”
    There was a twitch that developed in her eye as she slammed her hand on the table and screamed, “IN YOUR DREAMS, SHARK MAN!!!”  Daisuke shielded his head, along with his ears from her yelling, and could feel the stares of everyone in the café.  Aya cleared her throat and sat back down again calmly, as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.  Daisuke’s eyes were spinning still.  “Can’t I just try to be a little girly once in a while?  And besides, you know that if you ever thought of me as more than a friend, I would be forced to beat you up.”
    “Thanks for making that so crystal clear.” He said sarcastically and took a deep breath to level his heartbeat, hoping the people in the café would stop staring.
    “Now, Dai-kun, there’s nothing to worry about if you’d only tell Yoshiko-chan how you feel about her.  I know it’s hard, but that’s the only way you’re going to make sure she won’t leave you.  In the meantime, keep an eye on Koji, make sure he doesn’t cross the line.  If you do those things, the girl’s as good as yours.”
    “Oh, don’t worry, I’ll be doing plenty of that, well, except the admitting part…  You know, you give some good advice.  Maybe you should be a guidance counselor or something.”
    “I’ll just stick to martial arts, thanks.  So, you feeling better?”
    Daisuke nodded slowly, “A little, it was good to tell someone my problem.  Maybe you can help me in the future.”
    “I’ll do anything I can, you’ll just owe me big time!  Hey, you can start your payback right now, tell me that story again of how you wet your pants at Hiro-kun’s house!”
    He laughed forcibly, quickly raising his hand as the waitress walked by before he had to succumb to such embarrassment again, “Check, please!”
    They walked out of the café and waited under the protective roof before walking out into the street, it was really coming down now, maybe they could wait for a slight break in the storm.  They leaned against the wall, Daisuke stretched his arms out widely.  Aya turned to him and stared on his crocked tie, “Are you going back to school now?”
    He cracked his knuckles, surprised she’d ask that, “I don’t think they’d let me in now, I’m so late.  Maybe I’ll just wander for a while and think things over.”
    She nodded, “Wait a minute, this whole love crisis thing, it doesn’t explain why you’re not at school in the first place, unless there’s something you’re not telling me.”
    He wished that subject didn’t have to come up again.  It hurt so much, like acid.  Daisuke turned the other way so that she could not see his face.  “I have to go.” His voice sounded so dark and sad altogether as he started to walk away.
    Aya reached out to him, “Wait!” he stopped and she ran up to him, standing behind him with no roof over their heads.  Both were getting soaked, but didn’t seem to care.  There was something more to direct their energy on and Aya stepped forward, rain streaming down her cheeks, “Please,” she said gently, catching Daisuke’s ear, “just tell me this one last thing.”
    Daisuke shut his eyes in a sickened way when he remembered what happened that morning.  “I was kicked off the team.”
    Gasping, Aya could not believe that.  She knew very well that Daisuke was the heart and soul of the swim team.  “What?  But why?!”
    In a weak movement, Daisuke shook his head, “I don’t know… Unless-” suddenly, Daisuke remembered the letter.  It had fallen behind his desk so he forgot all about it and didn’t read it like it instructed.  He knew that that had to be the key.  He would have to go back to his home and get the letter, then maybe, with any luck, he could sort things out better.
    He turned to Aya with a look of determination on his face.  “Maybe I can work this out after all.  There’s something important I have to do now, so thanks again, I’ll see you later.” He turned to run from her.
    “Hold on, can I help?” she yelled after him.
    He stopped and looked back to her one last time with a shake of his head, “No, this is something I have to do alone.”  She understood and let him on his way again.  Daisuke smiled at her and ran down the crowded sidewalk toward his home.  As he ran, the rain brushed against his face in a refreshing manner.  At that time, things did not seem totally and completely hopeless, if only he could somehow find a way to clear things up with the team.  He was determined to try and would not give up.  Whatever it was that made them want to kick him off, he would certainly find what it was and try his best to heal it.
    As he ran to a busy intersection, his attention was caught by a beautiful, luxurious white limousine.  He stared at it, along with many others, and naturally wondered what it would be like to ride in it, he himself never being experienced in such ways.  What surprised him further was seeing the sleek, black tinted window roll down with two eyes looking straight on to him in a welcoming way.  A hand, clad in an expensive looking leather glove, reached out and bid him come nearer.  Stupefied, believing this too good to be reality, he found himself gravitating to it, as if entranced by the seductive call of opulence and wealth.
    When he approached the dream-like vehicle, he found the door opened for him by a man in a neat black suit.  He was too enthralled by excitement to tell where the man came from, all he knew was that he wished him to enter inside the limousine.  With no hesitation, he did so.
    Soon, they were on their way driving again as Daisuke sat in the back of this impressive, extravagant limousine.  It was like he had entered a completely different world.  There was a TV in the corner, even a tiny refrigerator on the side, no doubt filled with caviar and fine champagne.  Everything was extremely comfortable and desirable, the seat that stretched around the entire interior was smooth black leather, even that itself must have cost a small fortune.  He pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, and suddenly seemed to fall back into reality again.  He began to analyze the situation and realized he didn’t know what the heck he was doing inside a rich limousine!  Trying not to panic, Daisuke called toward the front, “Excuse me?”
    The glass rolled down and a man sitting next to the driver looked back to Daisuke, who was quite a ways away from him.  “Yes, sir?” he asked in a stuffy rich voice.  Very cliché.
    Daisuke swallowed and looked around him again, “Sorry to bother you, but, what exactly am I doing here?”
    “It was requested we pick you up to let you enjoy a view of the city through an aristocrat’s point of view.  Please, old sport, do not be alarmed.” (Ok, I know I got that ‘old sport’ thing from Gatsby, but hey, it’s the coolest thing for rich people to say, y’know?!)
    “Oh…” Daisuke leaned against the cushy leather seat again.  “And who may I ask requested that?”
    The man and driver glanced at one another as if speaking things that could not be heard, then the man turned back to Daisuke, “A surprise, you wouldn’t want someone to reveal you if you were to do something like this, would you?”
    “Well, no I guess not…”
    “Relax, sir, enjoy the ride.  Soon we will take you to meet the friend who set this surprise up for you.”
    Curious, Daisuke thought, that someone would do something like this for him.  He wondered why, but just accepted it casually as a friendly act.  He looked out the window at the tall buildings and all the people and cars and tried to figure out which one of his friends would pull off something like this for him.  He was stumped and couldn’t wait to find out who did this and thank them.  It was just what he needed to help his day go better, but there was no way it could go perfectly, he knew, unless he did a certain thing.  “Oh, excuse me,” he called up again, feeling badly as if he was bothering the man with a favor, “may I request a stop before we meet them?”  The man looked to him again.  “If it would be alright, I’d like to go to my home first so I can get something.”
    Smiling, the man nodded, “Certainly.”
    “Thank you, I’ll give you directions then, but we can drive around the city more if you’d like.”  That is what they did and Daisuke looked out onto the rainy city.  Many people looked to the limousine in the same way Daisuke had.  He was beginning to feel like some sort of celebrity and was enjoying very much the ride in the lavish limousine.

    “Hey, Mr. Brain!  Show me your homework!”
    “No, I got first dibs!”
    “Shut up, I was here first!”
    “So?  At least I tried to start mine, that’s more than you can say!”
    “Er… well, you don’t have a little sister that likes to drool all over your homework, now do you?”
    Two rather uncouth and unintelligible members of the human race were arguing right in front of his eyes.  Of course, he tried his best to just ignore them, as he did with most of his classmates, but at times it proved to be a rather impossible task.  As right now, it was proving to be.  Nonetheless, he focused on his book, not once looking up, and blocked them from his awareness.  Their whining voices were now squealing at him, like little piglets, but he did not once pay them any mind.
    “Mr. Brain!” one yelled pitifully, “Science class is next and you’re one of the only kids who actually knows how to do this stuff!  You have to show me your homework, come on!”
    “I’ll give you chocolate if you help us!” bribed the other.  He did not look up.  Trying not to panic, but failing, he grabbed his book and got down on his knees to beg, “Please!  Pay attention to us and help us!”
   With deep, cold stares, he looked at the both of them.  They had faint smiles on their faces, believing the next words out of his mouth to be those like “Alright, I will help you.”  “Return my book.” He said instead, to their horror.
    The two looked to each other, a wicked gleam soon to form in their eyes.  “Nope.  Not until you help us.”
    He was not amused and said again, “Return my book.”
    “Mr. Brain, we won’t do what you want until you do what we want,” he chuckled, looking to the book in his hand, “what is this anyway?  Theories on Astrophysics…?”  Puzzled, he looked back to him and wondered why anyone in their right mind would want to read such a thing.  He didn’t even know what astrophysics was!  (He probably didn’t even know what theories were either.)  He shook his head, “You’re always reading stuff like this.  Next year at high school, if they see you reading stuff like this, they’ll dunk your head in a toilet!”  They both laughed jokingly, he kept his stare locked solid.
    Drumming his fingers on the desk, the other ordered, “Come on, class is going to start soon.  If you want to see your book again, you’ll whip out your homework right now!”
    “Is that so?” came a female voice from behind the rather annoying couple as she snatched the book from his hand.  Both boys looked behind them to see her, their faces becoming red.  She just smiled at them and taped her foot impatiently on the ground, the book in her grip, “I don’t think he has to do anything for a couple of sniveling weasels like you.  Now why don’t you try actually reading the chapter for a change instead of sleeping in class all day?  If you start now, you might be able to finish before lunch is over.  Oh, and I think the only ones who will get their heads dunked in toilets around here are you two!”
    The boys looked to each other and knew there was no way they could take the easy way out this time.  They hobbled away as the girl sat on the desk, feeling rather pleased with herself.
    “Idiots, why do people like that have to exist in the world?” she mused, handing the book back to him.
    “Thank you, Namie-san.”
    She smiled, “Don’t mention it, Koji-kun.”
    Namie was a good friend of Koji’s, one of the only ones he had, in fact.  Just about everyone else thought that Koji was a weirdo who just studied all day to become super smart and never talked to anyone.  Not Namie, though, she thought he was a very interesting person and she was drawn to his vast wisdom and intelligence.  She herself was also very intelligent and always sought deep conversations, but never found any until she met Koji.  She could discuss with him for hours things she couldn’t talk to anyone else about, either they would get bored too quickly or wouldn’t understand what she was saying.  Of course, it was mainly her who did the talking, Koji was an amazing listener though, and would hear and ponder everything she said.  She knew he was infinitely more intelligent than she ever could be, but she didn’t let that make her feel inferior.
    More importantly than that, though, was that she seemed to be the only one who actually understood and accepted Koji for who he was.  She didn’t think it odd he was so quiet or that he always got perfect scores on everything.  She noticed he had a special gift and respected him as some sort of prodigy.  In fact, she thought he was the coolest person she had ever met and felt proud to be one of his few true friends.  However, she was a little discouraged by the fact that he seemed to never express emotion.  She was usually always a very happy, peppy person and she wished he could be more like that also.  Reflecting back over the very long time she had known him (about five years) she could never recall a single time she saw him smile.
    “Well, I saw how you completely smoked the guy at the last tennis match.  That was incredible how you made the ball burn that hole through his racket!”
    He just nodded and turned a page in his book, not once changing his expressionless face.
    She scrunched her face on the side and noticed he seemed a little less enthused than usual.  She could tell something was wrong, now she just had to figure out a clever way of getting at it, “So… The rent’s still bad, eh?”
    “I moved out.”
    “From your apartment?” she blurted, very surprised indeed, and Koji nodded, turning another page.  Namie had to make sure she had heard that right, she thought Koji would stay in that apartment forever, at least until he was done with school!  She ran her fingers through her long straight lavender hair, “Well then… so where are you living now?”
    He closed the book suddenly, as if he was uninterested in it anymore (or as if he had finished it, which he probably had since he is such a fast reader).  “Someplace where I am no longer welcome.”
    She blinked plainly, staring down at his beautiful, blank face.  Thinking of no better thing to say, she asked rather nosily, “What?”
    He looked up at her with his wild, colorless eyes with thin slit pupils.  She was so concerned for him, he noticed, her eyebrows pointed upward with worry.  “The one I am staying with now I believe is upset with me.  It is for the better if I return to my apartment again.”
    “But, Koji-kun!  The company hasn’t given you anymore funds since they nearly went bankrupt last month, there’s now way you can go to school and find work to pay the expensive rent and do all the other things you need to do!  You have to live somewhere where you don’t have to worry about rent, and just contribute what you can.  That’s what you’d be doing at this new place, right?” he nodded, “Well you can’t afford to live alone again, literally.  Make up with this person so you can both get on with things.”
    “I do no know what he is upset about,” he explained, “I could sense he was very angry and I knew that it was because of me.”
    She jumped off the desk when class was about to start again, “But you don’t know why?”
    He was slow to answer, “Correct.”
    Namie was now even more worried.  She wished that there were some way she could help Koji, but knew there probably wasn’t.
    Lunch ended and everyone scurried back to their own desks to begin science class.  Koji couldn’t focus on science that day.  He kept thinking about Daisuke, trying to figure out what was wrong.  Namie peeked over at him several times through the lesson and saw him staring blankly forward, as if surrounded in deep thought.  All Koji wanted to do was return to Daisuke’s house and talk to him and find out why he was so angry.

    Daisuke ran into his house, bolted to his bedroom, and nearly knocked his desk over as he reached for the letter that he had knocked there.  He was happy it was still there and sprinted back to the limousine.  Sitting comfortably again, trying to catch his breath, Daisuke tore into the envelope and pulled out the folded paper inside.  Eagerly, he began to read the letter:

Mizuno-

What you did is unforgivable.  Don’t you remember the promise you made all those years ago with all of us?  The one that said that as long as we were on the team together, we wouldn’t do things that would avert our attention from swimming so we can focus mainly on that and being the best we can be?  You've been with Yoshiko and you've betrayed us all and yourself.  You know the consequence for going against the promise.  All of us looked up to you so much, we thought you were the coolest and most talented athlete at our school, but now you no longer have our respect and obedience.  You are no longer one of us and we'll settle this officially at school today.  Does this seem too harsh?  Well, Mizuno, it was you who decided on this type of punishment.  You’ve got only yourself to blame.

The swim team

    Daisuke sat back against the seat and let the letter fall from his hand.  Was this really happening?  The guys on the team thought something that wasn’t true.  All this was probably because of what had happened with Hitomi and the signs, Daisuke concluded.  Now, it would be his job to again clear up the misconceptions and get the guys to understand that he was innocent.  “Oh man,” Daisuke said to himself in a discouraged way, “why does my life have to be so complex?”
    Soon Daisuke realized that they were driving straight back to his school!  He knew the team was there and if they saw him again, they’d probably try to kill him, so he wasn’t too excited about going back.  On the other hand, he knew he had to clear things up, but he still didn’t wanna!!
    They parked right in front of the gates and the man opened the door for him.  Taking a deep breath, he grudgingly stepped out, the rain falling all around him.  Daisuke looked to the school, it was set in dreary gray hues.  Fog covered the top of it where the huge clock was supposed to be, giving the school an even more ghastly feel.  He wanted to turn back and jump into the limousine, but then heard it speeding away, abandoning him alone in front of the dreadful school.  He caught a final glance of it and saw its taillights fade into the rain.  Clutching the letter in his hand, he sighed and began to shiver from the cold rain, feeling more alone than he had felt in a very long time.
    “Enjoy the ride?”
    A voice sliced through the hum of the rainfall.  Daisuke turned back around and saw something far more detestable than anything else he had known that day leaning casually against the closed gate, his arms folded, a cocky smile on his lips.  His eyes narrowed and anger flooded him, “Hamada.”
    Chuckling, Ryuichi opened a black umbrella and held it over his head.  Of course, he wouldn’t offer it to Daisuke too, at least, not seriously.  His smirk remained as he eyed him head to toe, shaking his head at his condition, “Well, well, you certainly look shabby.  I will remember to have number seven cleaned thoroughly before I set foot in it again.”
    “Number seven?” Daisuke hated making small talk with Ryuichi, but found no way around it.
    He nodded, “That white limousine you were riding in.  Number seven of ten my father owns.  Just a small tribute to my family’s vast fortune and success.”
    Daisuke felt a growl deep in his throat, “What the hell would someone need ten limousines for?”
    “My, you’re feisty also,” Ryuichi said in a mocking way as he set a long white cigarette in his mouth.  “I don’t suppose being kicked off the team helped any, did it?” he laughed as he lit the end with a silver lighter.
    Daisuke felt like going over and ripping his head off, but held himself back.  Ryuichi wasn’t worth his energy, but he certainly was worth his rage.  He just stood still, grasping the letter, rain falling and soaking him completely as he shivered uncontrollably, partially from cold, but mostly from fury.
    He blew out a gray puff of smoke and looked back to Daisuke, still mocking him silently.  “So,” he began, “now that you’re the biggest loser at school what are you going to do?  I highly doubt any of the other sport clubs are going to let you join, but you might be able to squeeze into chess club, or maybe even golf… I’d love to see how stupid you’d look wearing one of those golf getups.” He laughed sinisterly to himself, “You should join just so everyone can laugh at you!”
    “Shut up!” Daisuke yelled.
    To his surprise, Ryuichi did just that.  He looked to Daisuke a bit shocked at his outburst, but that soon faded away and his face turned back to its old saucy expression.  “You’re really feisty.  I didn’t think being uncrowned would effect you so much.”
    He paused, “What is that supposed to mean?”
    He took another puff and looked Daisuke straight in the eyes, “Face it, Mizuno, you’re a joke now, a loser.  You’re not Mr. Popular anymore, people have seen you for who you are and, to put it lightly, are disgusted with you.  Well, at least, they think they’re disgusted with you.” He smiled to himself grimly and looked anywhere but Daisuke’s eyes, puffing the life out of his cigarette.
    Daisuke cocked an eyebrow, “Think?”
    Ryuichi took it from his mouth and offered it to Daisuke by holding his arm out.  Daisuke knew he was doing this on purpose, to change the subject.
    He shook his head, “No thanks, I like my health.”
    Ryuichi shrugged, “Suit yourself,” and flicked it.  It landed next to Daisuke’s foot, he glanced down to see it completely extinguish in the rain.
    “Hamada,” he said, “what have you been doing?”
    “Hmm?  What do you mean by that?”
    Daisuke was growing very impatient, “Don’t play dumb.” He said sternly and was ready to at any second go and kill Ryuichi if he didn’t cooperate.
    “Oh, calm down, just a few white lies!  But you don’t have to worry, at least you know they’re not true.” He smirked and laughed again.
    Daisuke was boiling with rage, “You’ve been spreading rumors about me?” his voice quivered as he spoke.
    “I saw what my girlfriend did yesterday and thought it was a wonderful idea.  Only, I used a few different tactics, if you know what I mean.”
    Daisuke was beginning to see red, “You son of a-”
    He shook his head simultaneously with his finger, “Tisk, tisk, you shouldn’t get so upset.  Now that you don’t have such a strenuous reputation to live up to, you can just relax with all the other losers.  Now that you’re worthless, no one will care what you do.  It’s a beautiful thing, really.”
    “I am not worthless,” Daisuke said through tightly clenched teeth.  It took all his energy to keep from strangling his nemesis.
    Ryuichi smirked again and thought of the one thing that would really get straight into Daisuke’s soul, “Oh, really?  Well, your parents sure seem to think so.”
    At the mention of his parents, Daisuke gasped.  Instantly, his head was flooded with all sorts of memories that he had suppressed through the years.  Memories of his kind and gentle mother singing softly to him and then departing from him, of his stern father leaving him alone and forgetting special events in his life, along with countless other memories that seemed to flash in his mind all at once.
    Through the turmoil of these memories, he could hear Ryuichi’s sneering laughter.  “You must be worthless to have your mother leave you all those years ago and never try to contact you again.  And not to mention having a father who sees you enough times in a year to be able to count on your fingers.”
    Daisuke lowered to his knees and looked down onto the ground.  He breathed heavily as the memories continued to flash and as Ryuichi’s cold words somehow found a hint of truth inside of him and haunted him.  He was staring blankly at the ground in a weakened state and could hear as Ryuichi walked ever closer, the maniacal laugh escaping his lips.
    “Face it, Mizuno,” he set his dirty foot on Daisuke’s shoulder (which was clean and white) and leaned down closely to him, the umbrella now covering both of them.  In the darkest tone he could muster, Ryuichi whispered mercilessly “you’re worth less than dirt.”
    Finally, a hint of self respect lit up in Daisuke and he snapped out of his self pity, “Maybe so,” he said quietly, making sure Ryuichi could barely hear him, “but it’s better than what you’re worth!”
    As quick as lightening, Daisuke took a hold of Ryuichi’s foot and stood, throwing him off of him.  Ryuichi landed on his back in the muddy ground, his umbrella rolled beside him.  Daisuke stood up again and looked down to him with disgust, yet there was a hint of glory on his face.  “Learned that from Aya,” he said, wiping the mud from Ryuichi’s shoe off his shoulder.
    Ryuichi sat up, looking to Daisuke with shocked rage, “Clever,” he said, stinging with pain.
    “Yeah, well shouldn’t you run along to class now?  It’s got to be more interesting than being beaten up by me.”
    “Is that a threat, Mizuno?” he came back to his feet again, clasping his umbrella.
    “Could be.  What do you think?”
    The smirk suddenly wiped off Ryuichi’s face as he set the umbrella aside.  “I think…” he looked up to Daisuke with vast hatred in his eyes, “it’s time for you to go to hell!”  he flung forward, just barely missing Daisuke with his fist.  The two fought each other brutally, trying to dodge the other’s blows and get in the best, hardest hits possible.  They were both strong opponents for each other.  A victory could go either way.
    Yoshiko suddenly felt a cold chill run along her spine.  She looked out the window and could barely see through the fog and rain the fight happening just beyond the front gate.  She gasped and could not take her eyes off, “Oh my goodness…”
    “What’s wrong, Yoshiko-chan?” asked Hiroshi, very happy to take his mind off the numbing lesson and boring tone of his teacher.
    “Out there,” she pointed to the fight.
    “Eh?” Hiroshi stood up and looked down out of the window.  It didn’t take him long at all to see, “WHAO MAMA, A FIGHT!!!!!”
    At the mention of the word ‘fight’ every student in the class was glued to the windows.  The teacher was going mad trying to get them back in order.  Of course, it was all done in vain.  The fight was much more interesting to them all than schoolwork.
    Hiroshi was among the ringleaders of squishing his face against the glass to get a better look.  As he did so, though, he just ended up fogging up the window, so he would constantly have to wipe it off and try to hold his breath.  There was a bright flash of lightening and Hiroshi got a closer look at the fight.  “Hey, that looks like…” he strained his eyes and then yelled in unbelief, “DAI AND RYUICHI?!”
    That was even more of a shock and just made them all want to watch more.  Yoshiko gasped loudly again when she heard that.  She looked for herself and, sure enough, saw that it was them.  She felt her heartbeat slow down and could hear it nearly deafening her.  She set a hand over her chest and her eyes stung with tears.  “Please stop.” She said in a quiet voice.
Hiroshi looked down to her, “Man, they’re both gettin’ their butts whooped!  I never thought Dai- Yoshiko-chan, are you alright?  You look pale.”
    She suddenly came to her feet and called out, “They have to stop this!”
    He was starting to worry about her and set his hands on her shoulders, “Sometimes fighting is the only way for guys to settle somethi-”
    “No,” she moved away from him, “you’re wrong!”  Yoshiko called and escaped through the barricade of students out of the classroom and into the hall.  Hiroshi watched her go and knew that this was a lot more serious to her than he thought.
    “Wait up!” he called after her and ran to the hall.  Other students saw them leaving and naturally tried to follow, but the teacher wouldn’t have it and stood madly before the door so that they could not escape.  With that nervous twitch in their eye, no one would want to try to escape through that anyway…
    Yoshiko ran out the front of the school and stood momentarily under the dry protection.  Looking forward through the heavy gray mist and rain, she saw the fight.  She could hear the hits being taken and the curses uttered, she could see the red droplets combine with the rain and fall to the muddy ground, she knew that it was blood.  In a state of overwhelming astonishment, tears began to flow from Yoshiko’s eyes as she ran forward to the gate whereon the other side the one she loved was fighting.  “Stop!” she called and collapsed to her knees, her fingers grasped around the bars of the gate.  Painful tears flowed as she lowered her head and sobbed.
    For a split second, Daisuke glanced to the person on the other side of the gate.  He was completely shocked and said quietly to himself, “Yoshiko!”
    The next thing he knew, he was laying on his back on the ground after a piercing punch from Ryuichi straight into his nose.  Looking up into the dull gray sky feeling an incredible amount of pain, he then saw Ryuichi’s sinister face looking down onto him, hate was lit all about his countenance.  Breathing heavily, Ryuichi wiped a small trickle of blood from his mouth and glared to Daisuke, “Go to hell.” He spoke ruthlessly.
    “Ryuichi, Dai, stop!” Hiroshi came running and stood right next to Yoshiko, staring through the gate at the two of them.  The two looked to him, Hiroshi was afraid when he saw them, they both seemed to be completely transformed into fighting demons or something!  Blood flowed off of their many injuries and stained the ground around them a deep red.  Hiroshi then recognized the seriousness and realized why Yoshiko wanted them to stop so badly.  He knew that they would not stop fighting on their own until one of them was killed.  It was just the way Daisuke and Ryuichi were, they were sworn enemies, and the way the fight had been going, a death did not seem such a difficult thing to arrange.  Seriously fearing the life of his best friend, Hiroshi began to pull on the gate to try to open it.  Yoshiko stood and saw this.  She helped Hiroshi pull the gate open through the thick mud to try and help stop the fighting before it was too late.
    Daisuke, once he came a bit more coherent after being nearly knocked unconscious, looked to see Ryuichi eyeing Hiroshi and Yoshiko nervously and felt a burst of resentment, an explosion of malice inside of him.  As fast as he could, he jolted back to his feet and tackled Ryuichi from behind.  Once they both hit the ground just before the gate, Daisuke looked down to Ryuichi, pushing his shoulders deeply into the mud.  There was a crazy, almost murderous gleam in his eye and a bitter snarl in his voice as his blood dripped and ran down Ryuichi’s face, “You’re the one who will go to hell!”
    Daisuke then felt his body unable to move to finish off Ryuichi.  He looked down to see arms wrapped tightly around him and heard soft crying by his ear.  Looking to his side, he caught a glimpse of the top of Yoshiko’s head and heard her whisper, “Please stop.”
    Gasping, he felt the blazing fire of rage and hatred escape him.  Looking down onto his hands, stained in blood and tears, he wondered what he had been doing.  How could he have done such things, he asked himself.  He was about to kill Ryuichi, and he would have if…  Feeling a tear fall from his eye, Daisuke put his hand on Yoshiko’s, still wrapped around him, and silently thanked her.
    Ryuichi saw this change come over Daisuke and scooted safely away.  He recognized Daisuke was about to beat him and would not be able to live with himself with that fact constantly haunting him.  He stood and approached the two sitting on the ground, hate flashing in his eyes and heart.  As he stepped to them, he pulled from his pocket a small shiny gun from a holster that shimmered through the rain.  The couple saw him and saw the gun he was now holding.  They grasped onto each other more tightly as they feared for one another more than ever.
    “Please, Ryuichi-san, please stop this!” pleaded Yoshiko.
    “Why should I?” he asked, “Why should I do anything anymore?”
    “Hamada!  Put down the gun!  This is going way too far!”
    Ryuichi looked down to Daisuke grimly.  He held onto the weapon tighter and said, “You were about to kill me, weren’t you?” Daisuke was too petrified to answer.  Ryuichi pointed the gun directly at his forehead and asked demandingly, “Weren’t you?”
    “Stop this!!” cried Yoshiko from behind him.
    Ryuichi held the gun there strongly through Yoshiko’s crying.  His own lips quivered and he shook his head, the whole time keeping his eyes on Daisuke’s.  “The only way I won’t pull this trigger is if… if you hand Yoshiko over to me.”
    “Not on your life!”  A sudden voice was heard and soon they saw Ryuichi fall to the ground, the gun escaped his hand.  She caught the boomerang as it returned to her and saw that she had hit her target at exactly the right spot.  “Alright.  He should be dreaming for about an hour now.”
    “Aya?!” Daisuke couldn’t believe it and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.
    Aya saw him and waved under her umbrella.  She walked over to and shared her umbrella’s shelter with them.  She knew they were shocked to see her there.  “What?  I practically save your tails and all you can do is stare at me?”
    He snapped out of it, “I’m sorry, it’s just that- What are you doing here?”
    “I knew something was up, so I just had to come here and find out.  You know I couldn’t let you deal with something like this one your own.  That’s what friends are for!” she gave him a peace sign.
    He smiled, “Thank you, Aya.”
    Yoshiko looked to Ryuichi lying in the mud, “But what about…?”
    “Hmm?” she glanced back at him, “Oh, he’ll be fine.  I just had to knock him out for a while so he wouldn’t be a nuisance.  By tomorrow he’ll be back to his old terrible self again.  This boomerang dad got in Australia really comes in handy.” She showed them the gift from her father and again felt very proud of him.
    Hiroshi ran to Ryuichi and immediately picked up the gun to inspect it.  He found something strange about it, “What the… hey Dai, this thing’s empty!” he laughed a little, “And you won’t believe this, it’s a freakin’ cap gun!”
    “A cap gun?” they all said together, not quite knowing what to think of that.  Glancing at one another with the same feelings of shock, they all then erupted into laughter.  Daisuke felt the sting of his injuries as a reminder of the real rage and intent of Ryuichi and soon stopped.
    “That’s just a warning,” he said, “I know that at his house he’s got plenty of real ones.”
    Aya and Yoshiko helped Daisuke up and supported him.  Hiroshi looked to Daisuke and smiled.  Then, to all their surprise, he rushed over and flung his arms around Daisuke!  At first, it was disturbing, but then it was kind and appreciated.  “Hiro…” Daisuke softly whispered.
    “Idiot,” he said softly by his ear, “why d’ya gotta fight like that?  If that gun was real, I would have lost you…”
    Daisuke smiled, “It’s good to know you care so much, thanks man.”
    Hiroshi smiled more and held onto him tighter, “Not to change the subject, but this feels really weird.”
    “What do you mean?” asked Daisuke confused.
    “Well, it’s been a really long time since I’ve hugged someone with a flat chest.”
    Daisuke’s eyebrows narrowed and he flicked the side of Hiroshi’s face with a sigh, “hentai…”
    “Mizuno!”  He knew that voice.  Dreading what was to come next, Daisuke turned to surely enough see the entire swim team (minus Ryuichi, of course) standing and again barricading where the gate should have been.  Their stares were as cold as stone.  Obviously, they had all seen what had happened in one way or another and had come out to have a little “chat” with Daisuke.  This would be the time, it was now or never that Daisuke would have to try to set things right again.  He was so nervous he nearly wet himself.
    “Yo.” He greeted meekly, his stance flinching slightly under the support of the two girls.  It was apparent they were waiting for an explanation, so Daisuke cleared his throat and took a deep breath.  “Look,” he began, “I know you guys all hate me now, or at least think you hate me, but I- there’s something we gotta clear up.”  Daisuke looked behind him and saw lying there his school bag and right beside it the small white envelope.  Hobbling over with the girls’ help, he picked up the envelope and returned to the team.  Though it was quite wet, fortunately the envelope was able to protect the letter for the most part inside.  He took it out and held it up for all of them to see, “This is the letter you guys brought to my house last night, correct?” each member nodded, “Well unfortunately, when I finally got to read this it was a little too late.  You guys had already kicked me off the team without me realizing just what your motivations were.” He put the letter back inside the envelope and put it in his pants pocket.  “I guess what I’m trying to say is… as stupid and pathetic as this may sound… I’m innocent.  I haven’t broken any of the rules and have definitely not gone against the promise I made with you guys all those years ago.  There’s no way I could ever do that!  So what ever you guys think is wrong, I swear.” He looked to them all and saw their understanding faces, it actually looked as if they were believing him!  “The team is my life,” he went on, “it’s just about the only thing left I have to live for… and I’d never do anything to defy any of you guys or myself.  And, I guess that’s all I have to say.”
    Everyone in the team looked to each other to see what they thought.  Daisuke’s pleading was very convincing, now all that was left was to determine his fate on the team or otherwise.
    Meanwhile, Daisuke could feel his heart nearly in his throat and his blood flowing madly within his veins.  He directed his eyes downward and waited for them to come to a decision.  One by one, he saw small red droplets fall and mix with the rain.  Running a finger under his nose, he knew that he was still bleeding and probably very injured from the brutal fight as well, but at that time, it didn’t seem to matter too much.  All he cared about was finding out his fate as he knew it was now within their hands.
    Yoshiko noticed the seriousness on Daisuke’s profile and set a hand on his shoulder for comfort.  She also hoped that he would be allowed to stay a part of the team.  All she wanted was to see Daisuke happy.
    After discussing, the team looked to Daisuke again, the expressions on their faces not having changed much.  Tarou nudged Osamu in the ribs, signaling that he was supposed to talk at that part.  Giving a small ‘I’ll get you for that later’ kind of look to Tarou, Osamu directed back to Daisuke with the message that would crush him or accept him.  “Um…” he started out, collecting his thoughts, “well man, what you said was really awesome, I mean, if it’s all true.  There’s no way we can go on being a decent swim team and not have you with us.”
    Daisuke’s eyes lit up, “So you’re saying…”
    He smiled widely, “Welcome back, Shark man!”
    Ecstatic, Daisuke looked to Yoshiko and saw from her the biggest, most gracious smile ever.  Before he caught himself doing so,  Daisuke found his arms wrapped around her in a grateful hug.  She hugged him back and was so proud of him a tear rolled down her cheek.  “Congratulations.” She whispered.
    “Thank you,” he replied, “thank you.”
    The team surrounded them and all welcomed Daisuke back.  Hiroshi was glad things were looking up again, he wished he could capture the moment on film.  Aya slapped Daisuke on the shoulder, a rather warm gesture from her actually, and Yoshiko never ran out of gorgeous smiles for him.  Things were looking a lot brighter then, he didn’t even seem to be too bothered by his injuries.  In fact, he never wanted that moment to end.
    After Hiroshi tired to give Daisuke a noogie, yet failing and being instead attacked by several from everyone else, he realized he didn’t really know how this whole thing started.  “I’m just confused by one thing,” he said, “we all know Dai’s awesome and he’d never do anything to screw up the team, so why in the heck would you guys think he was trying to go against you?”
    “Well, Hamada said…” Osamu pointed to Ryuichi, out like a light, and everyone’s eyes moved to him.
    Hiroshi glared, “Another one of his doings, I’ll bet.”
    Tarou sighed, “Dang, that guy’s got a stick or two up his- I mean… he just told us all that crap he made up about Shark man to get us to kick him off.  I get it now… that’s one jealous loser.”
    Aya yawned and went over to the practically demised Ryuichi and hoisted him up to her back.  “I’ll take him to the nurse or something.  Or maybe I should just dump him in a trash can?” everyone laughed and really wouldn’t mind that too much, but knew it probably wasn’t such a good idea (especially if the principal or someone saw that…).  Aya walked to the school with Ryuichi hanging limply over her shoulder to take him to the school clinic.  Although she wouldn’t do it on purpose, her being an angel and all, if any opportunity came up Aya would do everything in her power to try and get Ryuichi suspended for at least a few days.  Hey, we all have our evil streaks, no?
    Daisuke looked to Yoshiko under the umbrella Aya left them and knew he owed her an apology.  “I’m sorry, I don’t know what got into me.  It’s just, when he said those things about my parents especially, I just lost it.”
    She nodded once, a tender smile on her lips.  Yoshiko looked so beautiful to Daisuke right then, he just loved how understanding and forgiving she was.  “Just don’t do it again.  I hate to see you get hurt.”
    “Hurt?  Me?  No, I’m fine!” Daisuke thrust himself forward, but then determined that a very bad idea once he doubled over in pain.  He gave a sheepish snicker and blushed, “Well, maybe a little…” Yoshiko laughed softly and was so happy things were back to normal again.
    “Shark man,” Osamu came over to him, “since you’re ‘a little hurt,’ I think you should skip practice today to rest up and stuff.”
    Rest sure did sound good to him, “You mean it?”
    Osamu nodded, “With you and Hamada out, we won’t be doing much practicing anyway.”
    “Thanks.  Well, since I’ve skipped all of school so far anyway, might as well endure not going the whole day.  How sad,” he said sarcastically.
    “Alright, better be here tomorrow though,” Tarou said, although it was more of an order.
    “Yes sir.”
    Hiroshi found his place to interrupt, as he always does, “Well, if we don’t get back in there now, our teachers will have our heads on platters… of course, what am I saying, I’d much rather skip with you, Dai… of course…”
    Daisuke looked at him blankly, “You’ve got your porn in there, don’t you?”
    He paused momentarily as the others laughed, “SHUT UP!”  Daisuke had to laugh, even though it hurt.  In a huff, Hiroshi stormed back to class along with the team after they said ‘bye’ to Daisuke and apologized again for believing Ryuichi.  Yoshiko said goodbye to him also and followed soon behind the others, disappearing back into the building.  A smile remained on his lips even after they all left.  With Aya’s umbrella still in hand, Daisuke picked up his school bag and closed Ryuichi’s umbrella, setting it against the opened gate.  With a final thought of gratitude, Daisuke walked down the rainy streets back toward his home.
    As he was walking, he kept noticing his vision going in and out, getting fuzzy and clear again.  His head also began to hurt immensely.  Worrying for his wellbeing, Daisuke leaned against a fence, but the symptoms didn’t ease up any.  He knew the fight had made him weak, and being out all day in the cold rain hadn’t helped either.  Before he could call out for help, Daisuke fainted and collapsed to the ground on a sidewalk in a rather archaic part of the city.

    His fuzzy eyes opened to see the distorted image of an unfamiliar ceiling.  There wasn’t too much light, maybe from only a lamp in the corner, and of course the fading light from outside.  He could hear the storm, the rain pattering overhead and every once in a while saw a faint blue flash flicker from a window he could not see.  Daisuke didn’t know at all anything that had happened, all he knew then was that his head hurt like a hammer had almost split it apart.  He groaned and brought his hand up to rub his forehead.  No intelligent sound came from him.
    “Oh, you’re awake.”
    He heard an unfamiliar voice and brought his hand down.  He tried to sit up a little to catch a glimpse of whoever it was who had said that.  There sitting, on the far end of the bed Daisuke discovered he was laying in, was a boy just barely younger than himself, very short spiky black hair and dazzling jade green eyes.  He was wearing all black, Daisuke could tell, and had one of those spiky chokers around his neck.  Daisuke laid back in the bed as his head began to hurt again.  “Where am I?”
    He didn’t answer and came over with a cool rag to set on Daisuke’s forehead.  “You’ve been asleep for about two hours.  Why don’t you try to get some more sleep as I finish drying your clothes.”
    “My clothes?” feeling less than well, it took Daisuke a moment to become worried from that statement.  Dreading the truth, Daisuke slowly lifted the covers up and peeked down to see thankfully boxers but the rest of him completely naked!  He squeaked and pulled the covers tightly around his neck, looking desperately up to the goth boy.
    He smiled with a small laugh as if nothing was out of the ordinary, “I couldn’t let you stay in those soaking clothes, you know. Besides, there was blood and mud all over them, what happened?”
    “Um, I’d rather not bring it up again,” said Daisuke, adjusting the rag on his forehead.
    “That’s fair,” he said, dipping the rag in the cool water again.
    Daisuke looked all around the room he was in.  It was decorated beautifully in a contemporary way with just a hint of medieval style.  As odd as the situation seemed, Daisuke was very impressed.  “Wow…” he hoisted himself up to get a better look at it all, “nice room.”
    He smiled, “Thanks.  My parents are really into decorating and love the theme of medieval Europe.  I really like it as well.”
    Daisuke looked at him again, “So you must have found me on the side of the road then?”
    “On my way home.  I just couldn’t leave you there, I thought you may be terribly sick.” He doused his forehead with the rag and then thought to himself smiling, And besides that, you’re dang hot too!  He cleared his throat, “All you need is rest and you’ll be fine.  You mustn’t over work yourself.”
    Daisuke was possibly overconfident of his strength, “Thanks for the advice, but I think I just need some aspirin and I’ll be fine. Besides, if you say I’ve been here two hours, I really should get home.  Thank you so much for all you’ve done though.”
    “Oh no, I insist you stay here longer.  You’re still weak.”
    Daisuke looked to him in an odd way, unaware that the covers slipped off from around his neck, exposing his chest, “Thank you for your help, but I really should be going.”
    He nodded, almost looking disappointed, “I understand.” He took the rag from his forehead and began to walk quietly away.
    “Uh, wait!” Daisuke called back to him, thinking he had been maybe a little too brash, “Sorry for my rudeness… It really hasn’t been my day.”  He smiled at him and bowed his head, “By the way, my name’s Daisuke.  Thank you so much for your help.”
    He smiled back, “Oh, not at all.  But are you sure you’re feeling better?  You had a small fever when I brought you in.”
    Daisuke put a hand to his forehead and then shook his head, “I think I’m fine.  I promise to go home and drink lots of liquids and bundle up in blankets.”
    He laughed softly and then smiled back to Daisuke, who returned his smile.  Suddenly, there was a small beeping sound heard and he turned to face the door, “Oh, that would mean your clothes are done.” He turned around to Daisuke, still smiling sweetly, “I will go get them for you, Daisuke-sama.” With that, he turned and left the room.
    Daisuke was still smiling as he left.  He was so glad to be brought in by someone who was as nice as him!  Soon, he returned back with his clothes folded neatly.  Daisuke thanked him and changed back into them after he left the room to give him privacy.  All the while, Daisuke was so grateful for people like that, who were so kind and giving.  It was just the thing he needed after the kind of day he had had…
    Stepping out of the room, Daisuke found the boy who had helped him sitting in a rather large living room, decorated very grandly, in what he thought to be the most uncomfortable and bizarre position ever!  He was on the ground, sitting on a soft tatami mat, his legs folded back behind his head, looking at some sort of book.  Daisuke tried not to stare, but in a position like that, it was nearly impossible not to!
    The boy saw him out of the corner of his eye and set the book down, “Is there anything else I can do for you before you go?” he asked kindly.
    Smiling, he shook his head, “You’ve done enough already.  Thank you again.”
    Untangling his body with great ease, he stood up and walked Daisuke to the front door of the large, beautiful apartment.  There, Daisuke put on his shoes and he opened the door for him.  “Please,” he said as Daisuke walked out, “take care of yourself then, Daisuke-sama.”
    “I will, thank you.” He bowed respectfully.  “Goodbye.”
    With one last smile, he waved, “Bye bye,” and shut the door.
    Daisuke stood a minute just looking at the door of the penthouse apartment he had just exited.  Taking in a deep breath, he looked to his other side to see a beautiful view of the city.  His apartment must have been on one of the top floors, because from there he could see almost everything, it seemed like.  The rain was still falling down, a little less violently now, and Daisuke knew it was time for him to get going.  He knew as soon as he walked through the door he’d probably be yelled at by Misami who would be worried sick about where he had been.  Sighing, he knew he had his own life to get back to.  Daisuke began to walk to the elevator and his thought soon traveled back to the person who had helped him so much.  As he boarded the elevator, he realized something that made him feel both very stupid and embarrassed.  He had no idea what his name was!  Unable to believe his daftness, he smacked his forehead with his hand and leaned against the wall of the elevator as it brought him down to street level.  Somehow he would have to find him again and do something in return, Daisuke thought, he swore that he would and definitely find out his name.
    When Daisuke walked out onto the rainy street, he looked up at the large expensive apartment building.  Before he began to try and find his way home from there, he smiled again, blocking the rain from his face.  “Thanks again,” he said quietly, “whoever you are.”

To be continued…