The Baseball Team's Tutor

Chapter 7

The next morning, Koaru was getting ready for school when she mentioned her revelation to Chiyo, who let out a screech of surprise.

"Kao-chan, are you sure? What made you think so? Miyuki is pretty popular with the girls at our school and he's a total baseball head!" her friend was in a panic as she listed off the things she knew about the glasses wearing catcher.

Curling her hair, Kaoru waited patiently for her friend to catch her breath. Once Chiyo stopped her trail of words, Kaoru reassured her, "Chiyo-chan, please don't worry! I don't plan on acting or anything," she said.

"I've only ever had one crush before and I was never around him so this is new territory for me, but I don't want a boyfriend - especially one like Miyuki," Kaoru said with a laugh at the end.

It isn't that she thinks Miyuki would be a bad boyfriend, per se, but he is definitely single-minded when it comes to baseball, something Kaoru admires and understands. But, she always knew she wouldn't settle for being second place in someone's life.

"I guess I just think he's cute, and he has dimension as a person which I like, but as a couple, realistically, we wouldn't work," Kaoru added as she grabbed her bag.

Chiyo gave a suspicious look to her friend before nodding, "I guess I can rest easy knowing you still have your wits about you," she said with a relieved sigh.

With a gasp, Chiyo grabbed her friend's arm, "wait who was your first crush! When was this?" she asked with wide eyes. Kaoru sweatdropped, looking awkwardly away from her friend.

"Last year..." she replied nervously, "I never told anyone because he goes to a different school." Kaoru hoped that someone would interrupt the interrogation she was about to endure as Chiyo narrowed her eyes at her.

Kaoru could nearly see the light bulb above Chiyo's head brighten as she grinned victoriously at her friend, "Akaashi-kun, right?" she asked, a smug look on her face.

Blushing ten different shades of red, Kaoru pouted, "how did you figure it out so quickly?" The two girls were standing outside Kaoru's classroom, and Chiyo was giving Kaoru a 'are you serious' look.

"Really? You talk to two guys outside of our school and one of them is your brother," Chiyo teased. "In my opinion, Akaashi would be quite a catch," she said dreamily.

Kaoru was still blushing, "I mean yeah, but we never got past formalities with each other since we go to different schools," she said sadly. "Also I think my brother put a dating ban on me with his team," she added with a giggle.

Chiyo smiled at her friend gently, "well, the best way to get over the catcher is to focus on the setter, am I right?" she said, "Akaashi-kun is safer too because he doesn't go here!"

Laughing, Kaoru nodded in agreement, "I'll be sure to rekindle that crush," she said jokingly. Chiyo always knew how to get her to laugh, the two could really talk to each other about anything.

The bell rang startling both girls as Chiyo turned to run down the hallway to her own class, yelling over her shoulder "enjoy thinking of his dreamy face all class!" with a wink she rounded the corner and was out of sight.

Kaoru fought a blush at her friend's loud comment, shaking her head with a laugh, she turned to enter the classroom when she came face to face with a smirking Miyuki, Kuramochi holding in a laugh beside him.

Miyuki placed a palm on his chest as he looked at Kaoru with faux humility, "I didn't know you had been thinking of my dreamy face," he said, his lips curving up into a smirk.

Kuramochi let out a laugh at the catcher's comment. Kaoru steeled herself, giving Miyuki an innocent look, "Chiyo wasn't talking about you," she said.

It wasn't a lie, and Kaoru was not going to let herself think about the way Miyuki's face fell momentarily or the way his eyebrows furrowed slightly, his beautiful brown eyes displaying a feeling Kaoru couldn't quite place.