ℍ𝕚𝕕𝕕𝕖𝕟 𝕚𝕟 ℍ𝕚𝕤 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨

Chapter 8

"friend!" Tezuka shot, his voice laced with anger and authority. Misako looked ashamed and irritated.

"UGH! I hate you Yoshika Yukimura! You'll always be Seiichi's shadow!" Misako caterwauled. She then ran off, leaving Yoshika and Tezuka to be alone in the silence left behind.

Tezuka stood as still as a statue, not a word being passed between the 2 friends, but emotions were being sorted. Yoshika couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain when Tezuka referred her to the title of 'friend' but she didn't understand why it hurt the way it did. While she was sorting her feelings out, Tezuka was cooling his head. He was definitely upset with Yoshika from hiding this, but he was also confused as to why he was hesitant about calling Yoshika a friend.

Yes, he didn't want her out of his life, but he didn't know where she stood in his life. One thing he was certain about was that she was going to be someone special in his life and future.

Getting tired of the silence, Yoshika decided to speak up, "T-Tezuka~kun, a-are you u-upset with me?"

There was a long pause before Tezuka turned around and answered her, saying, "Kunimitsu." This made Yoshika confused. Why would he say his first name? He didn't answer her question too...

"W-What?" Yoshika blurted.

"Kunimitsu. Call me Kunimitsu. Also, no, I am not upset with you, but I am slightly agitated with your actions..." Tezuka replied, "but I want to know... why didn't you tell me?"

Yoshika looked down at the floor in guilt, "Because I didn't want to burden you..."

Tezuka sighed heavily before holding his hand out to Yoshika. Yoshika warily grabbed it, pulling herself up. Tezuka pulled her close to his chest, embracing her in a hug.

"I don't see you as a burden. I want to protect you Yoshika, I don't care that you might be threatened, I'll always be there..." Tezuka said.

Yoshika's face began to heat up at Tezuka's words. He sounded a lot like he was her boyfriend or something. She tried to calm herself down before parting her body from Tezuka's and smiled.

"Let's go have lunch with the others Te-Kunimitsu~kun!" Yoshika smiled. Tezuka smiled at Yoshika's attempt to say his first name. He patted her head gently, his hand covering most of her head.

"You'll get used to it Yoshi~chan. Let's go?" Tezuka encouraged. Yoshika smiled and nodded, pulling him along with her towards the rooftop where the others were having lunch.

When they got up to the rooftop, the others spotted them, Eiji and Momoshrio pulling them to sit with the others. "Where have you 2 been! We've been eating without you! Kawamura brought sushi!" Momoshrio exclaimed.

Yoshika brightened up at the mention of sushi. She was a die-hard lover of sushi, so she quickly ran over to the others, thanking Kawamura before digging in. Kawamura was happy that Yoshika liked his cooking and that he did a good job.

Similarly, Yoshika was like Fuji in the sense that she loved spicy foods. Not to the extent that she would be able to handle Inui's drinks, but enough that she could eat the wasabi sushi that Kawamura would make for Fuji.

Being with the others made her day, feeling better than before and being able to forget the problems that she previously had with Misako. She was happy that the others were with her as she tried to forget the hurting insult that Misako threw at her before running off to who knows where. Yoshika and the boys chatted for a while, taking about how tennis was going and how each team was doing in training and tournaments...

While they were eating, Fuji brought up the topic that the others were hesitant to ask about, but yet still had lingered in the back of their minds...

"Yoshika, Tezuka, what took you guys so long?"