Secrets, Socials, and Seigaku

Chapter 3

Everyone was looking at us. I wasn’t even sure if I was still breathing. Kikumaru finally broke the silence. ”Clair? O’chibi?" He waved a hand between the both of us almost comically. How ironic, I could laugh at the coincidence. "What’s wrong?”

It took me a second, but I replied, ”I know him.” 

“Oh, wait, what?” Everyone said at the same time not including Tezuka, Kaidoh, or Inui of course. They all stood still.

A smile broke out over my face. “Ryoma Echizen, huh? I never thought I would see you again.” I smirked, remembering all of our memories together.

He started smirking as well. ”I thought I was rid of you forever, it’s too bad.” He replied.

I started chuckling. Then I made my way towards him, forgetting about the handshake, and bent down bringing him into a hug. After all, it had been three years since I last saw him, it was only natural. He started blushing from embarrassment and just stood there as I hugged him. He tugged on his hat so no one could see his face. Now everyone had wide eyes even Tezuka, Kaidoh, and Inui. The latter was writing data down faster then my eyes could follow. Momo interrupted as I pulled away from the hug with a giant smile on my face. “Wait, are you Echizen’s girlfriend or something?”

Echizen glared at Momo who started backing away slowly. I didn’t answer him just to piss Echizen off and god was it working. With each passing second everyone was staring in disbelief at him. He swiftly turned away and answered the question on everyone’s mind. ”No she’s not. She’s just someone I know from America who I haven’t seen for awhile.”

 I pretended to look hurt and put a hand over my heart. Aiming for a dramatic touch I made myself tear up. ”Just?" i echoed sadly. "Ryoma." he twitched at the sound of his first name. "I thought we were more than that? I thought we had something ...special?”

Everyone was now glaring daggers at Echizen. I put my head in my hands as I pretended to cry. Really I was just laughing at Ryoma's stunned face, but no one had to know that yet. ”Echizen how could you hurt Clair like that?”

“You call yourself a real man?”

“You'rr too cruel O’chibi.”

Echizen was left speechless with wide eyes. It was hard not laughing at this I didn’t know how much longer I could bare it. Echizen tried to talk. “W-w-wait, b-but s-s-she-.“

“No excuses. Take responsibility for your actions and say you're sorry.”

I couldn’t hold it in anymore, as I started cracking up Echizen turned his glare on me. If looks could kill I would have been sent to hell ten times over.  Everyone stared at me confusingly. Who could blame them? I mean I was just crying a second ago to them. After my laughter died down Oishi was the first person to break the silence. “So he didn’t leave you?”

Him asking that only made me start chuckling more. I mean come on! The thought of Echizen and me? Together? Especially if you knew our history. I decided to end my fun and come out with the truth.

“It’s kind of a long story, do you mind if we talk somewhere else?”

Taka answered this time. ”We could go to my dad’s sushi restraunt?” He offered.

Kikumaru was the first to reply. ”That’s a great idea! come on, I’ll show you the way Clair.” He started dragging me along eagerly before I finally got my footing and stopped him.

“Wait, I have to grab my skateboard. How about I meet you in front of the gates?” Everyone just nodded their heads and went to get changed out of their clothes as I started to run back into the school. 

I finally got my skateboard and started making my way outside. I saw them waiting there for me. I ran down the stairs toward them and smiled. ”Ready!” I called.

Kikumaru grabbed me and turned to his team with a giant smile again. ”Clair and I will race you guys there since we both have something to ride.” He looked at me before shouting, “Go!” Then bolted off in the direction of the shop, riding his bike. I turned and screamed. “Wait up! I don’t know which way to go!” Ignoring the laughter coming from my new friends behind me, I grabbed my skateboard and followed him. I could just barely make out his back with my eyes. I saw him make a right-turn up ahead and mirrored his movements once I got to the corner.

It had been around ten minutes since we started this race and it felt like I would never get to this store. I sped up until I was right next to Kikumaru. Geez he was fast! “Kikumaru, how much longer till we’re there?” He turned his head slightly so he could still see the sidewalk, but talk to me at the same time. ”We’ll be there any second now. I took the long way so that the rest of the team could catch up with us.” He said to me smiling while he explained this to me. “What? If I knew that was the case I would’ve just walked with the rest of the team instead of skating a marathon!”

He stopped suddenly which caused me to almost run into him, but I caught myself. ”What’s the matter?” I said.

He looked at me with drool almost dripping out of his mouth. ”We’re here! Time for sushi!” He said as he opened the door to the shop with eagerness and enthusiasm. So much so that I thought he could run a marathon and still be able to run another one after that. I saw the whole team already at their tables eating and decided to sit next to Echizen seeing as we had to explain to them how we knew each other anyway.

Momo asked the question that everyone was probably dying to hear about. “So Clair, How do you know Echizen? He told us that he met you in America, but that’s it.” He finished nudging Echizen in the ribs for his stubborness.

I looked at him confirming that I could tell the story. He nodded his head in agreement. “Well, I guess I should start off by telling you a bit about myself in order to tell you how me met, now where to begin?” I asked myself.

Everyone was silent.

“Well, I was born in America, but lived in LA most of my life. When I introduced myself this morning at school I guess you could say I was kind of lying about where I lived though.”

Fuji looked at me in confusion. “How were you lying? You said you lived in LA. didn’t you?”

“To be more precise I’ve spent most of my life in LA, plus the last place I came from was LA. But since I was nine I’ve been travelling around. I’ve been to Europe, China, Spain, etc…”

This time Oishi spoke in a worried tone. “But why?”

I sighed. Might as well tell them the parts they needed to know; besides they would probably find out sooner or later. ”The reason we travelled around is because we wanted a new life, and by ‘we’ I mean my dad andI. You see, my mom left me and my dad when I was nine, I never really new why, but I didn’t need to. The point was she left. My dad didn’t know what to do with himself after that and then one day he came up with an idea…