~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko and the guy (she still didn't know his name) walked out by the edge of the soccer field. "Come on, enough stalling," he said, impatiently.
Neko nodded. "You first. I have to match or beat the number you do, okay?"
As he began to juggle the three balls he had brought with him, some bystanders began to come closer, watching with interest. He continued on, fueled by the attention. Finally, his tosses grew a little more wild, and he missed a ball.
"147," Neko informed him. "That's not bad." Then she pulled a soccer ball towards her with her foot and began her type of juggling.
"That's not juggling!" he shot at her, angrily.
She replied innocently, "Ara, you never said I had to use my hands! Can't I show off a little?" She hit the ball with her knee and then her head for some variety.
"Come on! That's only one ball!" He began to get desperate as he realized just how good she was at this and how quickly she was approaching his number.
"I only agreed to how many times before we drop one. I didn't agree to any number of balls beyond that."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mi-chan and Jian-wa hadn't found Neko in the lunch room, so Mi-chan followed her psychic compass to find Neko. They were surprised to see a bunch of people hanging out on the field, watching some impromptu event.
"What's going on?" she asked someone nearby.
"Michiru-san and Tejinashi-san are having a juggling contest. He did three balls with 147 catches. Now it's her turn. I think they're betting with a date or something."
Mi-chan had forgotten about Tejinashi's challenge the other day at lunch. She was going to take him up on it, when the bell signaling the end of lunch rang. In the excitement of their joke, she had forgotten to follow up on that. But if she was here, then that meant it was Neko meeting the challenge. *But, Neko-chan, can't juggle worth anything! What is she doing out there?*
Together, she and Jian-wa forced their way through the crowd, so they could finally see Neko and Tejinashi. Neko was juggling a soccer ball from foot to foot, occasionally using her head, knees, and chest as well. Mi-chan sighed in relief. That's why Neko was the smart one.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"146. 147. 148!" Neko bounced the ball off her head and caught it with her hands. "You owe me a clean dirt bike!"
She looked up triumphantly and was pleased to see Mi-chan there, though she had known her sister had joined the crowd. Her victory was short lived, however, for Jian-wa was fuming.
"Jian-kun�," she whispered, but he ran off before she could do or say anything. She tossed the soccer ball to the juggling guy and ran after Jian-wa, as did Mi-chan.
"What happened?" Mi-chan wanted to know.
Neko lowered her eyes. "He knows I'm me." There was no escaping the fact that Jian-wa would know that Mi-chan couldn't do that. No, only he, Neko, and maybe a couple other people on the soccer team would be able to juggle a soccer ball for that long without dropping it. Especially, as Neko hadn't been afraid to do things like kick it, spin around, and catch it with her foot again.
"Oh." Mi-chan seemed to come to her own realization. "You know, he almost said something to me� to "you" about me. He's probably embarrassed about that too, huh?"
Neko nodded. "We shouldn't have done that to him."
"Well, don't tell me. Tell him!"
They split up, hoping that one of them could find him before lunch ended.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mi-chan felt like she had searched everywhere for the boy, but even though it was stupid, she checked the training room, just in case he returned here to work out some issues. Sure enough, here Jian-wa was, taking it out on a punching bag hanging in the room.
"You know, that bag never did anything to you," she teased him as he threw several punches into it.
He didn't bother to stop as he answered angrily, "So you decided to give up your act?"
She came up behind the bag and held it in place for him. "Jian-kun�, we didn't mean to hurt you. It was a prank. An April Fool's joke. It totally wasn't personal."
"I can't believe�." He shook his head and sent a roundhouse into the bag. "Is this how you guys treat all your best friends?! I can see now why�." He cut himself off, instead shouting out in frustration as he hit the bag again, even harder this time.
"Why what?"
"Nothing!" he yelled at her. He sent a spinning rear kick into the bag so hard that it knocked her off her feet and to the ground. But the outburst seemed to help relieve a bit of his frustration. As she looked up at him, his dark brown eyes seemed to soften a bit. "Mi-chan, I�. Here." He held out a hand to help her up.
As she got to her feet, she asked, "Feel better?"
Jian-wa nodded. "It's just� I might have told you�." He began to blush again, so she didn't push it.
"Ne, Jian-kun, do you know what I hear really helps when you're upset?" He looked at her curiously. She smiled and said with a sly smile, "I hear kata really help center you� or something like that. Why don't you teach me that one again?"
He blushed again, knowing all too well that him teaching her gave her ample opportunity to flirt with him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko and Mi-chan worked on their modern Japanese homework together up in their room.
"So let's not do that again," Neko suggested.
"No, not again�. But let's finish out today." Off Neko's skeptical look, she implored her, "Come on, we haven't messed with Chibi enough. And just think we could go mess with Kou-kun's mind too!" She knew she had won when Neko giggled at that idea.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jian-wa knew he was going to get in trouble for losing his cool today. Tanzen wouldn't want to hear how the twins had lied to him today. She'd just remind him that it was an example of why he shouldn't show any sign that he was angry at them. He needed to stay in control and give them no hint that he hated them.
Actually, he felt a little confused while he considered why, if he hated them that much, it would matter if they lied to him. But deep down, he knew why. It was because they seemed so nice the rest of the time, and he hated that it caught him off guard. Well, he mused, all he needed was a little patience.
Soon he would finally have his revenge. Then they'd see who the real April fools were.
(or not)
