Hey girls, thanks so lot for your support towards SG Boarding School!

I just want to say that eventually someday this fic will end (though not now), and I want to take this opportunity to thank all those who followed the fic all the way through and bear with my terrible grammars! It’s a pleasure to write because there are readers like all of you out there who actually enjoyed it.

Here’s for the comments:

DemonGirl13: -glomp back- glad that you liked the previous chapter! I wasn’t really happy with Chapter 32 but I couldn’t think of anything much to capture because the main focus is on Chap 33.

Fubuki Sakura: Thanks for the info! I’ll see what I can make use of it. As for Sanada… I’m having difficulty in pairing him with anyone so I guess you might get actually get what you requested! Lol

Undine1: You never fail to review on every chapter and just to let you know, I’m always looking forward to reading what your comments are! Same goes to Tuli-Susi, Ulat Bulu, Am loves Syusuke and DemonGirl13! Even if you gals don’t review, I’d still have a feeling you wouldn’t miss the updates!

Golden Typhoon: Hi, though I wished to update as often as I could, I couldn’t find much time to write the following chapters – as oppose to updating. Anyway happy reading!

Tuli-Susi: lol suspense! You’re about to find out – in this chapter! Thanks for the review!

Ulat Bulu: No problem, you can always skip the top and scroll down to find out—though it kinda spoils the fun, isn’t it? Lol

Am loves Syusuke: hehe thanks for pointing out the mistakes! I tend to miss a thing or two everytime! Uwaaa Fuji plushie!? I have a Chopper plushie (from One Piece), and Mokona. I want an L (from Death Note) plushie!! Our POT plushie don’t look nice though so I didn’t thought of buying them. (PS: they don’t look like the characters, pretty distorted in my opinion)

PhoenixShadow: Phoenix, arigato for all your reviews! Lol I know, everytime I think, “Ah, I should write some more… There’s a long way to go.” I’ll be de-motivated for some reason. It’s either a new TV series, newly bought movies/ series/ animation or busy chatting with friends. Good excuse, huh? I’m easily distracted!

Yes, now that you mentioned it… Fuji & Yukimura do have a common creepy smile. Mizuki has that too; it’s just that he got excluded from your list of pretty-boys-with-creepy-smile list right? Hahahahaha!

Yin’s Crescent: Arlo, enjoying the fic? Yes, a confession! But whether it’s –toot- or –too-, you’ll have to find out in this chappy!

POTL: Will try my best in future! Thanx for da support!

BlackBunny15: -blush- so happy! Very glad that you liked this fic… Everyone have their very own opinion on each fic and though I cannot satisfy everyone’s request, I hope I didn’t disappoint anyone! Nay, you don’t have to be nervous/ worry. I read and appreciate all reviews - good or bad. Thanks for your support ya!

Jibakurei: No problem, as long as you enjoy the story - that’s what matters most. And it’s all thanks to you and BlackBunny15 that I actually noticed it’s been so long since I last updated! lol

Let’s waste no time and dwell into our next chapter…

--

Chapter 33—Hokkaido Part 2: Operation Susukino

“Akazawa, it seems like you said something wrong.”

Tachibana said while stirring his miso soup at the dining table for breakfast. They were reflecting on what happened the night before.

“Did I? But I was only saying that—”

“We knew what you said.” Mizuki gestured. In fact, everyone knew well enough that they don’t any repetition.

There were 2 missing members on the table—Sengoku and Kamio.

“What happened to Kamio-kun and Sengoku? Aren’t they having breakfast?” Kajimoto appeared in another pair of dark blue yukata.

“Ara, Kajimoto-kun, you look nicer in yesterday’s yukata.” Mizuki gave another sinister smile.

Momoshiro, Ishida, Sakurai, Mori, Nitobe and Minami chuckled, trying to hide their face behind the rice bowl.

Kajimoto’s face turned pale. He had double confirmed that his room door was locked before going to bed. He even pushed the side table against the door as to avoid anyone from sneaking in. Well, most likely there’s only 1 person who might do such a thing…

“Both of them aren’t feeling well. We will just let them rest for today since they said it’s not a problem to go without them.” Tezuka answered.

“Really? Did they have a fever or something? Do they need anything?” Kajimoto questioned further, oblivious to the fragility of the issue on hand.

“Kajimoto-KUN, that’s really kind of you. If you insist, we can have MIZUKI fill you in with the details between those two later.” Yukimura smiled happily.

“Th—There’s no need for such trouble. I—um, I—er, I believe they’ll call to us if they need anything. I’ll just ask the kitchen staff to keep their breakfast for them.” And Kajimoto hurried away from the dining room, bathed in sweat. The idea of Mizuki and him ALONE, talking, is too much to bear. Yukimura nailed it right on the spot.

“Seems like it isn’t such a bad idea for Kajimoto-san, isn’t it?” Momoshiro whispered to Ryoma between mouthfuls of rice and giggles.

“Momoshiro-KUN, would you like to stay back and take care of those two?” Mizuki shot him a deadly glare.

“Iya… No… I’m sorry…”

“Er—so where are we going today?” Atsushi asked, trying to avoid yet another uncomfortable round of silence.

“Weren’t you paying attention, Atsushi? It was stated in the itinerary passed to you yesterday afternoon. You need to be more alert!” Mizuki replied in a stern voice.

“We’re heading to Odori Park first, then the Sapporo Beer Museum. After lunch we will be visiting the infamous Clock Tower. Mizuki-san, please don’t vent your anger on Atsushi.” Ryoh answered curtly. His dissatisfaction with that head-dorm had been bottling up since he arrived at SG Boarding School.

“Really? If only Atsushi had more sense than you, Ryoh-KUN, I would be happy to comply.”

Ryoh was about to make another remark, but the embarrassed Atsushi gave him “the look” which his twin understood immediately as “stop”.

“Mizuki, this may not be any of our business but we know well enough that Atsushi-kun did not make any mistake that earned him the telling-off. So please hold yourself back in trying to give any snide remarks.” Tachibana defended the twin firmly.

Mizuki jeered at him without any comment and continued to eat his chawan mushi as though Tachibana was invisible.

Though Tezuka does not agree with Tachibana going against Mizuki in front of the members, he couldn’t have given more approval by keeping silent. It had been an implicit rule on not to “tell-off” another head dorm in front of his team members or dorm students because it would look bad on the head dorm himself. A head dorm is to be respected and obeyed. Well seems like there’s an exception in Mizuki’s case. He did earn obedience from his team members – but due to fear, not respect.

Tachibana may have broken the implicit rule but no one would disagree that Mizuki deserves it.

“Why is everyone getting so fired up this early in the morning-nya?” Kikumaru whispered softly to Fuji, who merely shrugged.

Ryoma sighed. Everything is unbelievably turning hellish without Yukimura planning anything… how he wished he hadn’t boarded the plane here, and then he would be in the tennis court practicing as usual. As a matter of fact, he’ll be practicing in PEACE.

--

Funnily enough, apart from constant interruption by Kirihara, Yuuta and Shinji, the visits went pretty well. Aoi was made to follow the other head dorms in taking care of tickets, keeping head counts, keeping lookout for any missing members, and tail those who might sneaked off somewhere while no one’s looking. They had an enjoyable day walking around the park and getting fascinated over the process of beer-making and its (yawn) history.

Lunch was fabulous, as all the hungry tennis players gobbled down their food with second and third servings. Momo would have gone for a fourth serving if it wasn’t for the time constraint (since they had to follow the schedule prepared). After travelling for more than 30 minutes, they finally reached the Clock Tower. Everyone walked around, and those with camera like Kirihara took this opportunity and snapped several photos with Ryoma, who like all other times were dragged unwillingly. While Kirihara was yelping with happiness, Yuuta and Shinji merely scowled in jealousy. Aoi had been full of tears, since he hadn’t got a chance to be near Ryoma at all throughout the whole morning.

“Alright, everyone gather around!” Tezuka called out to the scattered group of tennis members. “We’re heading back now. Get into lines.”

--

“Aaaaaah I’m so tired!” Momoshiro yawned.

“Atsushi, let’s go to the hot spring before dinner time. We still have 2 hours spared.” Ryoh called over to his twin from the opposite bed.

“Eh? Then… Momoshiro-kun, are you going?”

“Me? Hm… Maybe not. Echizen, what about you?”

“I’m going to bed.”

“WHAT!? This early-nya!?” Kikumaru kicked Momo aside.

“There’s nothing to do… and I don’t have my racquet with me…”

“NO ochibi! There’s something I want to talk to you about. You’re coming with ME!” Kikumaru pulled Ryoma out of the room, towards the garden.

“What is it, senpai?” Ryoma asked. He felt tired and curious at the same time. Having Kikumaru dragged him away so that they could be alone… doesn’t sound like anything good will come out of it.

“Ochibiiii! Help meeeee!”

Ryoma sighed. He could have guessed it’s “that” matter huh... Niou’s harassment had driven his senpai to a corner.

“Senpai, I can’t help you…”

“Yes you can! I’m not going to take this lying down anymore, so ochibi; you’re helping me get rid of him!”

Ryoma’s eyes popped out in disbelief. What? HIM? Get rid of Niou? This is madness… it won’t work and he’ll just land himself into a frying pan.

Again… entangled into something he had totally NO connection with. He’d give anything in the world to play tennis. To be alone with his tennis racquet, in a court… He might as well call his dad right now and BEG him, no matter what, to let him transfer school right away.

“You see, I worked out this strategy this morning-nya. Since I can’t reject him without any reason, I might as well make one. That is… well, if I get a “boyfriend” he will then gives up and leave me alone-nya. Don’t you think this is ingenious? Nyahahahaha!”

“Senpai… don’t tell me…”

“Yes. YOU will be my “boyfriend”. Of course-nya, it’s just pretentious. Even so, we will have to make it look real though, otherwise he won’t believe us.”

“Senpai, I can’t do it… It’s impossible…”

“O-chibi you haven’t even tried! What we need is practice!” Kikumaru squealed in a most pleading manner.

“But… I can’t. Niou-senpai… He’s—“

“I understand Niou is very intimidating-nya… but then you’ll just have to endure it for a while. I believe he’ll understand once he found out that we… um, really like each other.”

Will he?

Just the thought of it made his skin crawl.

“… … …”

“PLEASE o-chibi! This is the only favour I’m asking of you!”

“No… senpai, you’re forgetful. Remember the time you pushed me into the crowd so as to buy you the curry bun? And there was this time you made me stayed back to be your practice partner. And when you fought with Oishi-senpai, you forced me to be your doubles partner… and last month—”

“Enough! That has nothing to do with this!!”

“… they are all favours.” Ryoma groaned.

“Fine, you make me do this-nya.” Kikumaru cleared his throat. “Hem. As you senpai, I order you to go along with my plan.”

“Senpai, isn’t Ohtori-san or Momo-senpai more suitable? Maybe Mukahi-san might do as well…”

“Huh? Why them? And of all people, Mukahi? No way-nya. We don’t even get along.”

“But he might change… Mukahi-san isn’t that bad anyway…”

“O-chibi, what’s wrong? Why are you siding with him? At any rate, it’s not possible to ask the rest to help. I’ve decided it’s going to you because you won’t tell anyone (and don’t you dare). My future lies in your hand-nya.”

There’s no point in arguing further. Kikumaru had won the battle. All he could now is to comply and try his best to avoid any harassment by Niou in future.

--

Right after dinner, both Ryoma and Kikumaru was nowhere to be seen. The rest went to the recreation room for TV, ping pong and chat. Kamio came out for dinner half an hour later when the rest were done. Sengoku joined the other head dorms for dinner. According to Kajimoto, both did not leave their room except for breakfast and lunch. Sengoku actually went to the onsen once before lunch but Kamio is basically rotting in his room.

“—and then she turned her head and said, “return… my baby… to me…”!!” Marui shone the torchlight towards himself, and frightened the group of people who were listening to his story.

“!” Kaidoh screamed and ran out of the recreation room. The image of Jackal holding a baby and an axe in the haunted house flashed into his mind. He wasn’t exactly paying attention, but as he was reading a magazine beside them, he couldn’t help but overhear!

(A/N: trust me when I say that Marui did it on purpose to scare Kaidoh)

Kaidoh soon stopped in his tracks. He had ran out of the inn and reached the backyard of the ryokan. There was no one around, so he decided to take a walk and calmed himself down. Well, there’s no such thing as ghosts or spir—

“No…”

Kaidoh jumped. There’s someone here. He just heard a voice. It can’t be his imagination. Definitely not.

“I—I… I like senpai…”

“What?”

“Er… well… as I said, I like senpai.”

“Are you serious?”

“… Yeah.”

“For real?”

A nod.

“Why?”

“… … … …”

“CUT-O! That’s not right! You have to say it properly. Niou will ask you questions like, “why me?” and all so you have to be prepared to answer-nya. And you just can’t keep quiet! Can’t you think of a reason why you like me?”

“But senpai, I’m not your fan.”

“Well then just think of a reason why you like me!”

“Niou-san’s “like” and my “like” towards senpai are on a totally different level.”

Kikumaru sighed. “You’re right.”

Kaidoh hid behind a tree. He didn’t know why he did that, but something tingled and told him to stay. He couldn’t hear what they were saying but surely his senpai and his kouhai were acting rather suspicious. Why would they meet and talk behind the backyard so secretly? Was it something they didn’t want others to find out?

“Maybe we shouldn’t confront him with words. Niou is someone who’s rather hard to convince… perhaps its better to prove it with action than words.”

“How do we do that?” Ryoma asked. Anything is better than the current strategy they employed.

“Maybe we make him see something he wouldn’t like. Something like THIS.”

Kikumaru pushed Ryoma towards the ground and pinned him down.

Ryoma stared blankly at Kikumaru. “Senpai, do you think this will work?”

“I don’t know. He might murder you if he saw this scene. Guess it won’t work as well-nya.”

However, before he had a chance to see what happened next, Kaidoh Kaoru already ran back to the recreational room with a I-have-seen-something-worse-than-ghost expression.

--

“Hey Kaidoh, where were you just now? Were you THAT afraid of the story?” Marui asked with a laugh.

The rest joined in the laughter.

“Mamushi yo, are you going to sleep with lights on tonight?” Momo said loudly.

“You… shut up! I am not… not afraid!”

“Yeah right!” Gakuto joined in the fun. “Then why do you look so pale?”

“I… I … I just saw… saw…” Then his mind flew back to the scene where Kikumaru pinned Ryoma on the ground. His face turned even paler. He can’t imagine that he’d saw something like that, especially between the happy-go-lucky Kikumaru and poker-face Echizen. Both of them had shared a relationship like brothers so it never occurred to him that they would be involved in a… well, you know.

“What was it? Did you see a ghost?” Ishida asked excitedly.

“According to scientific research, there’s no such thing as ghost. “Ghost” as it appeared is merely a form of illusion created by the brain when being stimulated—”

“Inui, cut it out.” Shishido said. This is no time to listen to some evidence of scientific research.

“So, what did you see?” Saeki asked while returning Yanagi’s shot at the table tennis.

“No… nothing… I didn’t see anything… nothing… I didn’t see anything…”

It sounded more like a chant to himself than answering their question.

“What? Come on, tell us dane!” Yanagizawa said impatiently.

But Kaidoh shook his head and slowly walked towards the door and head back to his room, leaving the others in a puzzled state. What he had seen minutes ago were just nightmare. Nothing more.

--

“Hey, are you sure about this?”

“Shhh! Keep it down!”

“What if we got caught?” Minami hissed violently.

“Then you stay back!” Gakuto said without hesitation.

“Shhhhhhh! Will you guys stop talking so loudly!” Momoshiro replied.

“Who do think you are? We are your senpai!”

“Now’s not the time to talk about seniority! We are not pla—Kirihara, get off me!”

“What? I can’t see!”

“Ishida, you’re stepping on my foot!”

“Sorry, Kamio. Kaidoh-kun stepped on mine too just now.”

“Fsssh. Sorry.”

“It’s alright… there’s no need to apologize (since your scary face doesn’t look sorry—couldn’t add that in).”

“Well?”

“WHAT?” Momo replied, annoyed at Kirihara.

“Can we move now?”

“Of course—NOT. Can’t you see Kajimoto-san there? Ibu-kun, I’d appreciate it if you don’t start mumbling now.”

Several of them sighed in disappointment. They are stuck between the staircase and the hallway. Unless Kajimoto leaves the reception area, otherwise he’d find a bunch of them sneaking around.

“Momo, what if he doesn’t leave-nya? O-chibi, come closer. We can’t have Ibu-kun standing too close to you.”

This provoked Shinji and Niou, much to the pleasure of Yuuta and Kirihara. What could Kikumaru possibly meant by that? Everyone is basically standing shoulder-to-shoulder with each other since a bunch of them were squeezed together, trying to kept invisible.

“This ingenious plan of yours had the biggest flaw I’d ever seen. We’re STUCK here. Admit it, Momoshiro.”

“Shishido-san, you can go back to your room if you wish.”

As soon as Momo finished his sentence, Kajimoto was seen walking towards his room.

“Okay, now’s the time or never!” Momo gave the cue. They had to get past the empty reception before someone else comes.

The whole gang walked past as quickly and quietly as possible, stopping once in a while when they heard sounds coming from the kitchen.

Several minutes later, they were all standing outside the inn.

“Yaaaaaaaaaay, we made it!” Marui rejoiced under the starry sky.

“It’s 11.30pm now. Which way are we going? Momoshiro, don’t tell me you don’t have a plan?” Niou asked.

“Of course I do, senpai. Kisarazu-kun, I mean, Atsushi-kun. Please take out the map.”

--Flashback--

Back in the recreation room, after 10pm

“Alright, we’re going back to the room. We still need to finalize our plans for tomorrow.” Tachibana said.

Atobe and Tezuka stood up. Mizuki, Yukimura and Aoi followed suit.

“What? That’s so boring. Buchou going to bed so early? The night’s still young!” Marui complaint after the head dorms left.

“What are you saying? We have a tight schedule tomorrow. It’s better to sleep early to replenish enough energy for tomorrow.” Inui said and bid everyone good night.

“Yes, as Inui said. I think it’s time for me to take my leave too.” Akazawa announced and left the room with Oshitari. Kabaji carried Jiroh back to his room. Saeki, Sanada, Renji and Oishi were gone as well soon after.

“It’s just us now.” Bane said.

“Are we continuing dane?” Yangizawa asked.

Jackal shrugged and replied, “Its fine with me.” Although he won for the 17th time in a row, Yanagizawa still hadn’t made any improvement in his chess skills.

“Hey Echizen, do you want to play?” Niou asked, as Nitobe gave up and threw the table tennis bat to Ryoma.

“Senpai. I have a suggestion.” Momo chirped in.

“What suggestion?” Marui asked.

“This evening, after we got back from the Clock Tower trip, I saw something interesting on Kisarazu’s guide book. There’s this place—Susukino, the night life of Sapporo! I think we should go and check it out.”

“Are you mad? Buchou said we can’t go anywhere out of this inn, especially at night. Do you know what kind of trouble we’ll cause by doing that?”

Everyone jumped at the voice. It seems like Kamio had decided to stop with the self-confinement thingy.

“If you’re afraid, then you might as well stay back. No one asked you to come along.” Gakuto said.

“Who said I’m afraid? I’m on!” Kamio shouted angrily.

“Mukahi-senpai, Atobe-buchou—”

“Ohtori, forget about Atobe for now, will you?” Gakuto snapped and Ohtori merely sat down quietly, pondering how to explain to Atobe when they were found out.

“But this might not be a good idea… Marui, if Yukimura found out, we’ll be punished!” Jackal did not see how they will get away with the whole thing if the head dorms ever found out. Well executing the plan is the bigger issue now.

Marui and Niou trembled at the thought.

“That is, if buchou ever found out.”

“Ya—Ya—Yagyuu…?”

All heads turned towards Yagyuu. The four Rikkaidai members had their mouth hung open in disbelief.

“Hm?” He tilted his head in response. Who could have guessed the quiet and cool member would have this rebellious side in him?

Everyone cheered and applauded.

“So everyone’s in?” Momo asked for confirmation.

“Ossu!” They answered happily.

“Echizen, where do you think you’re going?”

Momo pulled Ryoma back by clawing on the back of his shirt.

“Wah!” Ryoma struggled but it was futile. He is now surrounded by everyone else in the recreational room.

“Echizen, we can’t have you exposing us to the head dorms. So you MUST come with us.” Shishido said.

“I promise I won’t say anything, so—”

“No, can’t do. We can’t risk that, can we?” Marui asked with an evil laugh. Soon, the crowd was imitating the “Ohohohohohohohoho” laughing style.

“Right, and you’ll never know what will happen to you if you ever leaked this piece of news to the head dorms…” Kurobane said.

“Alright, I understand, so please stop and let me go!”

“Ahahahahahaha! I knew you’d give in to us. Right then, we shall do this very carefully. We need to go back to our room and pretend as though we’re going to sleep. By 11.15, everyone should have changed and grabbed your stuffs—whatever you need to bring. Make sure not to wake the rests up in the room, nor make any noise otherwise the head dorms will be alerted by it.” Momoshiro felt proud to have done some “leading” job.

“Momo, do you really think it’s a good idea? If Tezuka found out he’ll be angry… I mean, we are tennis members. Discipline is important, don’t you think? And if—”

“Hai, Taka-san.” Fuji handed the table-tennis bat to Kawamura.

“BURNING! Susukino-chan or Suzuki-chan, I’M COMING! WAIT FOR ME! GREAT-O!” And the Kawamura in burning mode declared his will loud and clear. “Ochibi-chan, don’t even think you can escape, ADVENTURE!”

Ryoma sighed. Nothing can change their mind now. Simply put, it’s a dead end once again.

As a matter of fact, for Kaidoh to join the group wasn’t part of the plan. However, when Amane, Itsuki, Masami and Muromachi who slept in the same room with Kaidoh were caught in the act, they gagged him and pulled him outside to avoid waking Akazawa up. Without much explanation or idea on what’s happening, Kaidoh ended up like Ryoma, threatened to be an accomplice.

--End of Flashback--

“See here? Susukino is down south. It’s one stop from the Odori Station and 2 stops from Sapporo Station on the Subway Nanboku line.” Momo explained as he showed the map to the rest of the crowd.

“Then if we walk along this street, we’ll reach the nearby train station.” Ohtori added.

And so, somehow (which I’m too lazy to elaborate hahahaha) all of them managed to reach Susukino safely.

“WOW!” Mori exclaimed once they got off the underground rail transit.

“THIS is what I’d call fun-nya!” Kikumaru screamed in excitement.

“So where should we start first?” Ishida asked with a cheeky expression.

The Susukino district is packed with stores, bars, restaurants, karaoke, shops, pachinko (a favourite game among young ones and adults, and is similar to pinball) parlors and red light establishments. The place is highly packed at night and closes in the morning. During night time is where life just begun in this busy district.

“Ramen.”

“Of all the places? Let’s go pachinko first. Supper can wait…”

“Nope, it’s definitely had got to be the… BAR!”

“What? No way! We’re all underage, there’s no way we could pass the doorman!”

“Hey, I want to walk around the shops. Some of them sell really exotic candies!”

“To the GAME ARCADE!”

“No, it’s the karaoke. Ne?” Niou winked at Kikumaru, who felt a gust of bone-chilling wind.

“Wait, why don’t we just split up if that’s the case?” Gakuto suggested.

“You know, red-hair, you’re making sense for the first time.” Minami laughed. “That’s a good idea.”

“What! He’s also a red-hair!” Gakuto exclaimed at Marui, who pretended not to hear the accusation.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. If we split up, it would be hard to meet up or contact each other later.” Jackal, who have had such experience during the E-Day replied nervously.

“But don’t you think it’s even harder to travel in such a huge group? We will be attracting too much attention.” Hiyoshi commented.

“Even so, it’s wiser to stick together. At least if something ever happened, we’d be able to help each other out.” Fuji spoke for the first time since they reached Susukino.

And they continued to debate, with more than half the group agreeing to split.

In the end, majority won. They had agreed to split up on the condition that no one will wander off alone and that they’d meet up in front of the dragon statue 1am sharp.

“Then Kikumaru-kun, let’s go!” Niou whistled happily.

“Eeeer, no. I want to eat ramen with ochibi. Right, ochibi?” Kikumaru nudged him.

“Ri—right.” Ryoma said without meeting Niou’s eyes.

Kaidoh was extremely nervous. He didn’t know what to do in this situation… but he MUST stop his senpai and kouhai from exposing or continuing their current relationship. It’s WRONG. He couldn’t let them end up like Kamio and Sengoku. Not especially when they are all in the same team. Where’s the group harmony?

“Fssssh Echizen, come with me! I have something to say to you!”

Ryoma followed Kaidoh with Kikumaru after them. Niou followed suit. Fuji, along with Yuuta, Kirihara, Shinji, Gakuto and Ohtori went the same way.

“Restaurant this waaaaaaaaay!” Momo sang happily.

Kawamura, Shishido, Hiyoshi, Masami, Muromachi, Kisarazu twins and Yanagizawa went with Momo.

Kamio led Uchimura, Sakurai and Nitobe to karaoke where he wanted to sing to his heart’s content. Nomura and Kaneda followed them quietly. Perhaps singing doesn’t sound so bad since they’d had a full dinner which lasts till now.

The pachinko team consists of Ishida, Mori, Ichimura, Kurobane, Amane, Itsuki and Shudou Satoshi.

This left the last group—Marui, Minami, Yagyuu and Jackal. They started off with a elegant-looking cake shop that sells varieties of selection. Jackal felt his teeth trembled with the sweetness. As a matter of fact, each time Marui ate his cake, he’d tried to stay away. Even so, looking after Marui had been his job since they became doubles partner. It’s a habit he couldn’t kick.

--

“Senpai, ramen is this way.” Ryoma tugged on the edge of Kaidoh’s sleeve.

“Eh? Ah…” Embarrassed, Kaidoh turned left. He’s supposed to lead and yet he kept making the wrong turn.

“So this is the famous Ramen Yokocho? I’d wanted to come here for a long time!” Kirihara said excitedly, running left and right.

Basically Ramen Yokocho is a narrow lane lined with nothing but ramen shops serving the famous Sapporo ramen.

Since the ramen shops are particularly small (with only few seats available in each stall/shop), they were forced to split up to different shops.

“O-chibi, we’re going for this one!”

“Senpai, me too! Fssh.”

“Sure, Kaoru-chan!” Kikumaru replied and pulled both of them over.

“Ah!” Niou was left all alone with the rest.

“Senpai, is this alright?” Ryoma asked.

“Of course-nya! You have no idea how glad I am to get away from him even for a while. Seriously, I am much happier and relaxed when I’m with you guys.”

Ryoma let out a small sigh and sat down.

“What would you like?” A friendly wrinkled-faced old man asked.

Upon placing their order, Kikumaru proceeded with his complaint over Niou and how boring the trip had been up till now.

Kaidoh had been restless since they sat down. He didn’t know when would be the right time to bring this topic out. Not that senpai and Echizen looked any different from they were back in school. Maybe what he saw was just a misunderstanding? Or perhaps his own illusion? That might be the case since it was pretty dark back there… but he indeed saw Kikumaru and Echizen together at the backyard. If they had to talk, they could have done it in the recreational room and not there. Or is there a need to discuss about something that couldn’t be overheard by anyone else?

Kaidoh’s head spun. He couldn’t handle the mounting pressure.

“Kaidoh-senpai, are you alright?”

“Eh? … Ah. Yes.” Kaidoh can’t help feeling that he must at least help his junior. He was never someone to poke his nose into someone else’s business… but this is the first time he felt an urge to do something about the situation. He can’t let his junior walk down the wrong path. Even if on later account his senpai might not forgive him, he’d still risked it.

“Senpai, if you don’t eat your noodles soon, it’ll become soggy.”

“Oh…” Kaidoh came back to reality. He stared at his bowl of ramen. He didn’t even notice when it arrived.

“Kaidoh, you seemed to be absent-minded tonight. What’s wrong-nya?”

Is this a good time to bring it out? But the courage needed… is lacking in his state.

“I…”

“You see, though normally I might not be much of a senpai but sometimes I’d still want to be able to help my cute juniors!” Kikumaru hugged Ryoma who sat beside him.

“Sen—Senpai, that’s WRONG!”

“Eh?” A surprised Kikumaru released Ryoma almost instantly.

“Senpai… I … I saw what happened at the backyard just now!”

“Huh? What did you see?” they did various things back there… there’s no telling which one Kaidoh saw.

“Senpai you—you pushed Echizen to the ground.”

Kikumaru burst out laughing. It was so loud that the rests who were sitting nearby stopped with their supper and poked their head.

Ryoma’s face turned dark. Why does it have to be that particular scene?

Kaidoh chose to ignore Kikumaru’s laughter. “Senpai, I know it’s rude for a junior to intervene but … but I’d still think it’s wrong. I mean, look at Kamio and Sengoku-san, they are—”

This time Kikumaru laughed even harder. Tears were brimming in his eyes.

Ryoma’s expression turned even darker as he shook his head. “Senpai, you’ve got it wrong.”

“Wait, wait, ochibi. Then Kaidoh, what do you think?” Kikumaru asked once he managed to composed himself.

“I—I think it’s not right!”

“No, not that. I mean, how was it? It looked real, didn’t it?” Kikumaru asked while clutching the sides of his stomach to stop himself from bursting into another fit of laughter.

“Still, it’s not rig—huh? Looked real? Fssh senpai, what do you mean?”

Kikumaru wasted no time and filled Kaidoh in with the details. Since he witnessed it, can’t be helped.

“So—so it wasn’t real?”

“Of course! Can you actually imagine the two of us together-nya?”

“Then senpai, why did you chose me?” Ryoma asked grudgingly.

“Even if Niou were to harass you, it wasn’t really possible! You’re surrounded by Fuji ototo, Ibu-kun and Kirihara. They’d definitely come to your rescue if Niou was to do something!” Ryoma shivered at the word “rescue” used by Kikumaru. He doesn’t need anything of such. He may seem small but he’s reliable and played tennis better than any of them. Why in the world does he need help from all the players who lost to him?

“Oh…” Kaidoh nodded in agreement. He seemed to be at ease finally. He felt a huge boulder had been lifted off his shoulders.

“But the plan had been put under hiatus. Even if Niou saw that but doesn’t believe it, there’s no point. Ochibi can’t act well and he’s bad at lying too.”

“Look who’s talking!” Ryoma said. “Senpai you’re the unconvincing one! You’re always looking away when you lied about something and that’s a big giveaway!”

“What! You are the one! You refused to look into Niou’s eye when I said we’re going for ramen together just now! You were the obvious one!”

And so the ranting continued. Even so, Kaidoh felt relieved that it wasn’t what he imagined. The bickering didn’t bother him, and he ate his soggy ramen happily.

--

“What—is—LOVE! No—one—understands—MEEEEEEEE—!”

“When is he going to stop?” Sakurai asked with his forefinger stuck in his left ear. “It’s deafening.”

“Well I wished someone would tell him that he can’t sing.” Uchimura added. “Not me though. Akira can break a neck without hesitation now.”

Kaneda and Nomura became nervous. They thought that Kamio had turned back to his usual self when he appeared at the recreation room. There was no sign that the event would turn this way though.

“I don’t even have a chance to sing! He practically dominated all the songs!” an irritated Nitobe said.

As a matter of fact, no matter what song was picked Kamio just kept singing. And when Nitobe thought that if he picked a duet song, he’d at least have a chance to sing, he was proven wrong. Kamio sang on – male voice, female voice, background music… as though the rest were invisible, and regardless of a duet or rock, he sang on and on…

“Ano… Uchimura-kun, do you actually know what happened between Kamio-kun and Sengoku-san?” Kaneda whispered softly, so that his voice is inaudible in Kamio’s sharp ears.

“Not really… Akira did not mention anything though.” Uchimura shrugged his shoulders.

“… but…”

“What?”

“No, it’s just that last night I heard Akira talking in his sleep. He was saying something about ‘stupid orange hair’ and ‘cheat’ … then along the line I heard he murmured ‘kill’...” Sakurai finished with a chill in the air.

The rest were shocked.

“He—hey, it can’t be real… right?” Nitobe asked with a pale face.

Sakurai shook his head, “I don’t know. It was in his sleep. He may not even realized he had said them.”

“Wha…what should we do!? I mean, we have to report to buchou! What if Kamio-kun did something rash? We can’t have that!” Kaneda said in a panicked tone.

“Shhhh, not so loud!” Uchimura tilted his head and sank down in relieved when he saw Kamio continued his singing without a notice.

“Sakurai-kun, how come you didn’t tell anyone about something this important?” Nomura asked.

“Well I woke up because I need to pee. And that’s when I heard it. But after finishing my business in the toilet, I went back to bed and forgot all about it until Kaneda-san brought the issue back now.”

“I think you ought to tell Tachibana-san…” Nomura said.

“But it isn’t such a big deal. I mean, maybe Akira just had a nightmare or something. We can’t trouble Tachibana-buchou anymore. He already had enough to worry about… the trip, club expenses and all… besides Akira won’t do something like that, would he?”

“I understand your feeling, Sakurai-kun. Even so, never underestimate what “love” can destroy especially someone’s character. Though in the past we can be sure that Kamio-kun will indefinitely not do such a thing, the current Kamio-kun cannot assure us.” Nitobe replied.

At the same moment, all heads turned towards Kamio.

Kamio is singing a romance song with an uttermost bitter expression. As a matter of fact, he looked so bitter that the rest thought they saw a glimmer of madness in his eye. It spooked them and they turned their attention back to the current discussion.

“Then what do you suppose we should do?” Uchimura and Sakurai asked in unison.

--

“Aaaaaah I’m full!” Momo exclaimed happily while hitting his stomach softly with his right hand.

“Yea –burp- ooops.” Shishido said and burped. Momo, Masami and Muromachi gave a small laugh.

“A-ra? Taka-san, aren’t you going to finish it?”

“Eh? Hm…”

“Why? What happened, dane?”

“It’s just that… Akutsu went off.”

“What? What do you mean?” Shishido couldn’t believe his ear.

“Well, he was right behind me just now but then—”

“WHAT? Taka-san, you mean Akutsu… as in A-K-U-T-S-U?” Momo’s eyes popped out.

“Yes. When we snuck out just now—“

“WAIT. You mean he was among us all this while!?” Momo almost had a heart attack when he heard Hiyoshi blurted out this question.

“Um… I don’t know if any of you forgot about him… but he was in the recreation room when Momo announced the idea of going to Susukino. Akutsu was sitting at the corner.”

“What the hell’s he doing in a corner!? Can’t he sit somewhere more visible?” An irritated Shishido said.

“It’s too late for that now…” Touji sighed. “Then what happened? Seriously, I didn’t saw him throughout our whole ‘Operation Susukino’ …”

“We got out of the room at 11.15 as Momo said. Akutsu was the last in line…”

“I thought I was last dane! No wonder I felt someone breathing behind me dane! My mother say never turn behind when you suspect something dane, or else they’ll get you dane! So I didn’t turn to look dane! Gave me a scare dane!!”

“Shut with the dane-dane thing!” Shishido said angrily. He wasn’t in a particularly good mood when Ohtori went off with the ramen-group and refused his invitation to the restaurant instead. Then this upcoming problem with a missing Akutsu did not improve his mood.

“Shishido-san, that’s the way Yanagizawa speaks. He can’t help it.” Atsushi said.

But Shishido was not in the mood to argue further. He merely showed a surly expression and kicked the table.

“Then we went together… he was behind me all the time. And when everyone agreed to split, I saw him joined Momo’s direction to the restaurant and thus followed. But when we went into the restaurant, he disappeared.” Kawamura finished his story.

“Well he moves like an animal, there’s no telling that anyone could have missed him.” Hiyoshi said without much concern, which as a matter of fact no one but Kawamura and Fuji noticed he was in the group.

“That’s not the problem. Anyway, he’s not a kid, is he? We agreed to meet by the statue at 1am. I suppose he can find his way there…” Muromachi suggested.

“I don’t know… It’s a first time for him here. I’m afraid he’d pick up fights with someone when he’s alone. I had been stuck to him since the beginning because I’m afraid he’ll end up in trouble…” Kawamura shook his head in sadness.

“But still, he wandered off on his own.” Momo let out a small sigh. He didn’t know what to do. What if Akutsu did not make it to meeting them at 1am? What if he got into trouble with some gangsters? And what if he got entangled into some unknown business and ended up in the local police station? Then all the buchou will know what happened tonight and he’s to be blame for all this since he suggested it! He’ll get everyone else into trouble as well… this is bad…

“We still have some time till our meeting time. Let’s look for him.” Ryoh said all of a sudden.

Momo looked at him with gratitude. He couldn’t express his thanks enough. If he were to suggest this, the rest might blame him for dragging them into this situation and may not be willing to help. But if someone else came up with this idea, the rest might actually comply…

--

“Mori, look! Isn’t that Akutsu?”

Upon Ishida’s words, Mori and Ichimura both turned their heads. Indeed, standing just 3 feet away from them is Akutsu, half concealed by several people.

“What is he doing here?” Shudou asked.

“No idea… maybe he sneaked out like us too.” Ishida shrugged.

“Winning yet?” Kurobane asked Ichimura who sat beside him.

“Tough luck. But the night’s still young!” and so they continued with their pachinko.

“Itsuki-san and Amane-san’s pretty quiet isn’t it?”

“What are you talking about? They are just over-concentrating.” Kurobane answered.

Both Itsuki and Amane were squinting their eyes at the machine and counting their pocket money very carefully. They are as poor as the Fudoumine. No, perhaps even poorer than them. Even so, they couldn’t resist the urge to have a go at the machine.

“I wonder if Akutsu’s winning?” Mori said all of a sudden.

“Why?”

“Don’t know, just wond—“

At that precise moment, they heard something dropped and turned in time to see Akutsu hitting a man in blue shirt.

“TEME! I saw that!” And Akutsu continued to hit him. The man cowered behind a chair.

“Akutsu! Stop it!” Bane shouted.

Akutsu did not say anything but glared at them as though they were his enemies as well.

“Why did you hit him!?” Ishida asked.

“It’s none of your business. Don’t poke your nose in it!” Akutsu said angrily.

Knowing Akutsu’s strength and agility, there’s no point arguing with him. His stubbornness and bad temper is also part of the package.

“Akutsu, you better leave now before the security or anyone else comes around. We don’t want to make a scene that’ll cause the school any problem.” Bane spoke in such a low voice that he doubted Akutsu heard him.

But Akutsu did hear him. With his usual “Hmph!” Akutsu walked towards the main door and left.

The rest sighed in relieved. They looked at each other and decided its best to leave the pachinko parlor too.

“Young man, please wait for a while.” An elderly man in a white shirt patted on Itsuki’s shoulder.

“Was that your friend just now?” He asked.

“Err… well… you could say so… though we weren’t that close, right?” Sakurai nudged Mori who was on his left, to which the latter nodded vigorously.

“A good one, nonetheless.”

“What do you mean by that, o-jiisan?” Bane asked.

“Well, he was sitting to my left. I had my wallet out and placed it beside the machine. That man just now—” indicating to the man who was being hit minutes ago (and had disappeared now) “—was actually trying to steal my wallet. He saw it and took it back for me.” The elderly man patted on his breast pocket which he had just put his wallet.

“Really? Akutsu did that?” Ichimura asked in amazement.

The Akutsu they knew were the kind who wouldn’t hesitate to hit a baby or elderly woman. Right, that was an exaggeration but he ain’t some good guy who’d help someone either.

The elderly man nodded. “Thank him for me, will ya?” and he left.

The few of them stood there dumbfounded. It’s as though they just found out that Akutsu took ballet lessons. All of a sudden, a flash of light blinded their eyes and they saw an illusion: Akutsu who walked past a dark lane heard a sound and went near it. Upon pushing some boxes away, he found 2 puppies hidden behind a garbage bin. Akutsu patted them on their head and brought them home, smiling happily at the puppies.

Mori shook his head. That was ridiculous. Its Akutsu we’re talking about… if he hadn’t glared at the puppies, it’d be a wonder!

--

“Oh no… where are they?” A nervous Jackal turned around.

There were people all around him, but not Marui, Yagyuu nor Minami. No sign of them.

--Flashback--

“Ooooh this one, this one!” An excited Marui rushed inside another cake shop. Yagyuu and Minami hurried behind him. Jackal too. Babysitting Marui isn’t easy and more than 1 babysitter is recommended.

They had been into more than 5 cake shops, and Marui had eaten more than 8 pieces of cakes. Yet that doesn’t seem to satisfy him as he raids all the candy and cake shops.

Jackal merely shook his head and stood aside as Minami and Yagyuu joined Marui in as the boy picked some sugary candies. Again, Jackal’s teeth tethered painfully at the sight. Then something caught his eye.

“Yagyuu, I’m going there for a bit. I’ll be right back so wait for me.”

Yagyuu nodded and turned his attention back to the black forest cake he’d selected.

Jackal ran across the walkway towards the opposite shop. A new model of SHAVER. That’s the one he saw in a men’s magazine and had been on the hunt for it. The shops in Tokyo had outsold them. No matter which shop he tried, they’d all ran out of stock.

“I’ll have this one.” Jackal said in an excited voice and gladly hands over three 1000 yen bill.

Armed with a new shaver for his head, Jackal walked back to “Kino’s Bakeries” where he last saw his team mates enjoying the sweet delicacies and to which now is empty.

--End of Flashback--

“Excuse me, where had my friends gone to? They were still here moments ago.” It wasn’t difficult for the waitress to identify who Jackal indicated as Marui and the rest were the only customers during that hour.

“I’m sorry, I have no idea. They left about 2-3 minutes ago when the red haired boy took one bite at the strawberry cake and said he didn’t like it. All of them left right after that.”

The exasperated Jackal thanked the waitress and walked out of the shop, wondering where his team mates might be now.

--owari--

Curious on what’s install for you next?

Here’s sneak preview to Chapter 34—Hokkaido Part 3: Operation Susukino 2:

CRACK

The door opened and Uchimura came back in. He had calmed down a little, and without looking at his team mate, he took a seat on the opposite side.

“WAAAAH!” Nitobe screamed all of a sudden.

Everyone jumped.

“It’s already 1 in the morning! We should be gathering at the dragon statue!”

“WHAT!? We’re late!”

And the group hurriedly called for their bill to be paid and dashed out of the karaoke centre. But as they reached the dragon statue 10 minutes later, they saw NO ONE there.

“Oh my god, they must have left us because we were late.” Kamio said nervously.

“No way! They would at least call us if they don’t see us by 1, wouldn’t they?” Uchimura said anxiously. “I mean, they won’t actually leave us here and went back on their own, right?”

--END--

A/N: Yes, that’s it for Chapter 33 and do anticipate Chapter 34 on part 2 of our Operation Susukino! Will the head dorms find out what they’d been up to? Well, you can have a good guess! Till then, take care minna-san!