Ellie-chan (COMPLETED)

Nine - Ellie's ball

It was pretty hot that morning. I felt sorry for the kids who had to perform their field demonstration under the scorching heat. They had no choice. Everybody had to do it. After all, it was our undokai (sportsfest).

I was busy attending to our takoyaki (octopus ball) stand that I didn't realize it was my turn to be in the field with some other teachers. Hiroki had to call my attention for that. I was told to go to my team and listen to the instruction of the game master. I ran towards Sakamoto-sensei who was already all set for the relay. She was on our team. The runner was told to hold a racket with a tennis ball on it and run to the next runner of the team until everybody reached the finish line. Since I was the youngest in our group and was presumed to run faster than the rest, I was asked to be the last runner. We were competing against the parents of the kids.

I saw Sakamoto-sensei, with all her chubbiness, ran as fast as she could. But she was no match to a much younger mother who beat her pretty easily. But at least, she made it to the next runner without dropping the ball. The parents' team were two minutes ahead of us. I was a bit disappointed. I hate losing, you know. When it was my turn to run, I tried to move a few meters away from where I was supposed to stand while stretching my hand to grab the racket from my teammate. When I finally had it, I ran as fast as I could. Students actually went wild cheering for me because I overtook the runner of the parents' team. It was pretty noisy and my heart was loud and wild with the excitement that I didn't hear it when the tennis ball fell off my racket. I continued on running. I sensed somebody was running towards me, shouting, "Erie-sensei your ball! Your ball!" He was running after me, too. But I was pretty determined to win that I just ignore it. When I reached the finish line, I yelled "Yes!" That's when I noticed the ball was missing. I saw Naoki running towards me and handed me the ball. But then, the mother from the parents' team had reached the finish line. They were hailed as victors. I was pretty disappointed.

"Daijoubu yo (It's okay)," Sakamoto-sensei assured me while laughing.

I felt bad but I was relieved when my team members just laughed at my carelessness. When I went back to the takoyaki stand, I froze for a moment. There, he was. The twins' brother. He took his sunglasses off, looked at me seriously but then burst into a chuckle.

"You are CRAZY," he said shaking his head.

I blushed. He saw me. My Gosh. I felt so stupid.