Deafening Silence ( prince of tennis) (#wattys2016)

33

'Wakame' is Japanese for 'Seaweed Head' or something along those lines.

And for those of you asking, no I will not have Roko choose between a music concert or the Nationals, because that's like High School Musical and HSM is the bane of my life.

Rikkaidai Fuzoku School Grounds

"Where's Echizen?"

Karupin's eyes quickly snapped open from his deep sleep, already scanning the area for the source of the voice. He couldn't detect it, but he sensed motion below him, and looked down from the branch of the tree.

He had selected this tree to sleep in because it was a very attractive pink colour, even when it was approaching winter, and it was the largest he had seen in the area. The branches were particularly comfortable, and Karupin stretched lazily whilst watching the humans who were apparently sitting on the ground below him.

There were a total of seven humans, and Karupin noticed that one had very bright hair and another was the one who had noticed him earlier today, the one with his eyes shut.

"I'm not sure; he said he had to pick up something"

Karupin paid the conversation of the humans no mind, lazily scanning them like they were delicate morsels on a plate, and then his eyes snapped to something.

There was a human amongst them, his hair oddly white like that of an old human. He had a rather ugly grin and he sat lazily against Karupin's own tree. But Karupin only had eyes for the thing on his head.

It was the white tail of a rodent, swishing back and forth in time with the human's own head.

Food, was the only word that came to Karupin's mind.

His tail suddenly swished back and forth in excitement as he watched the rodent's tail with a predatory gleam in his eyes. He salivated suddenly at the imagination of the taste of the rodent.

And so he tucked his legs under himself, and with a second's pause, he leapt off the tree, pouncing at the unsuspecting rodent on the human's head.

Rikkaidai Fuzoku Music Hall

Roko had suspected as much, and now he knew for sure. Karupin was here, in Rikkaidai Fuzoku.

He mentally replayed the events in his mind.

He finished his breakfast with Ryoma, and entered the hallway, reaching for his cello case and closing the clasps without looking inside.

When he reached the music hall, he opened the clasps again, reaching into the case, into the pocket on the side and withdrawing his music piece for Yamura-sensei without actually looking into the case. He just felt around inside, grabbed his piece, pulled it out, and forgot to lock his case again.

Karupin had climbed into his cello case before he left, and now was amok in Rikkaidai. He had suspected ever since he saw the blur in his cooking class, and knew for sure when he checked his case, noticing the case was open and there was cat hair inside.

He mentally groaned. This was going to be difficult. He didn't even know whether Karupin was in the school, he might have wandered anywhere, and Roko may never be able to find him. The realisation made him panic, but he quickly calmed himself, hoping that it was untrue.

He knew that running around in the hope of finding Karupin would never work, and so he just had to hope that Karupin would find him. He remembered Kirihara mentioning a racoon in the clubroom, which was definitely Karupin, so hopefully he would return to the clubroom. He hoped, anyway.

He mentally sighed, deciding that he should return to the regulars for lunch.

Rikkaidai Fuzoku School Grounds