everything comes with a price

Chapter 8: We dump ice cream on Tezuka's head!

We've got to make sure Echizen learns his lesson that playing pranks is not funny." said Momoshiro. They finally got the elevator to stop at their floor the next morning during breakfast, and the Seigaku regulars were fuming because they didn't get to train during that free afternoon. They were eating lunch at their floor, and they were discussing how to get revenge. "But doing it on Echizen is hard." said Oishi. "Why don't we target the other boy instead? He seems to be close to Echizen." The others nodded. "Good idea. What should we do?" Momoshiro thought about the bow the boy used to shoot him the other day. "I know! We should steal his bow!" The others nodded. "Great idea, Momo! So when should we steal it?" Fuji, who was chewing his bread, said, "I think I know when we should steal his bow...." He smiled an angelic smile, one that means that someone is going to get it very soon.

Meanwhile, Pakura was shooting away at targets, enlisting Ryoma and Atobe's help. They launched silly fake birds high up in the air for her to shoot. When she shot down six birds in a row, Ryoma and Atobe applauded. "As expected of you, Caru." said Ryoma. Pakura smiled. "Thank you, Ryoma." She shot the birds for another half an hour before she said, "I'm going to need the bathroom for a while. Could you take care of my bow for me?" Ryoma and Atobe nodded and she left. I don't know if you have ever been to the ladies room at the Training Center, but it's totally the nicest one in Tokyo. It's all pink, and there are mirrors and little couches everywhere. The floor was also covered with pink carpeting. Pakura went into one of the stalls, which besides a toilet, has its own private sink with a huge mirror and a dressing table with a little stool that has tassels hanging off it. She did her business and the toilet automatically flushed, which still scared her till today. Meanwhile, Ryoma has taken a picture of Atobe tripping on a silly fake bird, laughing. Atobe chased him to delete the photo, and they ran out of the archery gym, forgetting about Pakura's bow. Unbeknownst to them, the Seigaku regulars have been waiting for this moment, and Fuji crept out of his hiding place. "See, I told you they will leave sooner or later." said Fuji. "That's quite clever of you, Fuji." said Tezuka. "Momo. Go get the boy's bow."

"Yes, Captain." said Momo. He ran to the case which contained Pakura's bow, closed his fingers around the handle, and lifted it. Surprisingly, he couldn't lift it. It was too heavy. "What's wrong, Momo?" said Fuji. "I...can't...seem...to...LIFT IT!" he grunted. Fuji rushed over to help, and he couldn't lift the suitcase either. The others helped, and of course, they can't lift it, not even Tezuka. Just then, they heard footsteps. The Seigaku regulars rushed back to their hiding place. The door opened and Pakura appeared,fuming, followed by Ryoma and Atobe, repeatedly apologizing. "I told you to take care of my bow, DIDN'T I?" she shouted. "S-s-sorry!" they said in unison. Pakura scanned the gym, and found her bow. She sighed. "Never mind. My bow is still here anyway." The regulars watched as she lifted her bow easily, and she wielded it as easily as a painter would his brush. The question that bugged them was how did he wield that bow easily when they can't even lift it? After all, the boy is less muscular than Tezuka and was half a head shorter than him. Also, physical wise, he doesn't seem like a threat. They were so deep in their thoughts they didn't notice an arrow flying towards their direction. Startled, they look up, only to find three pairs of eyes looking at them.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Seigaku regulars." said Atobe.

"So it seems." said the boy.

"What are you guys doing here?" said Ryoma.

Momo stood up. "Why can't we be here?"

"Funny, you don't strike me as the type to shoot arrows." said Ryoma. "All you did was to do that Dunk Smash and Jack Knife move back in junior high." Momo made a move to punch them but Tezuka stopped him. "Stop it Momoshiro, we don't want to get in trouble."

"Stop it, Momoshiro, we don't want to get in trouble." Pakura mimicked his sentence in a mocking tone. "Wise move, Tezuka. As captain, I am sure you will protect all your teammates. However, you can't even lift my bow, so how are you going to protect them?" Ryoma and Atobe started laughing at that. The Seigaku regulars widened their eyes. How did he know about the attempt on her bow? Then it dawned on them. He was watching them steal her bow, but made no move. "Let's go, Ryoma, Atobe. It's dinner time anyway." With that, they left for their Training Center rooms elevators, and pressed the twelve button.

Tonight, they had a thick carrot soup, green salad, lamb chops and mashed potatoes, cheese and fruit, and chocolate cake. Pakura ate everything this time, and listened to Ryoma's elevator prank, and they all laughed, including their servers. After dinner and dessert, Pakura wanted to try some ice cream, so she ordered a big bucket of vanilla ice cream and simply scoop it into her mouth with spoons, not bothering to use a bowl.

"Need help finishing that off?" said Ryoma. He and Atobe appeared behind Pakura, holding hands. Pakura shook her head. "Nah, I was just thinking if I can't finish, I want to use it as part of my revenge against Seigaku, but I don't know how."

"I know! What if we dump the rest of the ice cream right above a pedestrian's head and make them flip out?" said Atobe. Pakura stopped eating her ice cream. "Hey, good idea!"

"Look, it's Tezuka!" Atobe exclaimed, pointing down. Tezuka was at the balcony on his floor, sipping tea. "Let's do this!" Pakura grabbed the bucket of ice cream and tossed the contents over the roof and peered down to see the effect. Meanwhile, at the sixth floor balcony, Tezuka was enjoying his cup of tea, and relishing the cool night air blowing against his hair. He heard something falling and looked up. He yelped as he saw the bucket of ice cream falling on his head. Splash! The ice cream fell on his hair, dyeing it white.

Meanwhile, back at the twelfth floor, Ryoma , Pakura and Atobe were laughing away." YES! Exactly the kind of humiliation the captain of the team of betrayers deserves!" said Pakura.

"Did you see his face? He looked like a retarded old man!" said Ryoma, laughing hysterically.

"He looked even more like an old man with that hair color!" said Atobe, failing to conceal his glee.

"That was a great prank, Atobe!" said Pakura.

"Why thank you, Caru." said Atobe. "Thought I won't bet on Tezuka thinking the same thing."

Back at the sixth floor, Tezuka stormed back to the lounge to the surprise of the other regulars. "Wow, Tezuka, what happened?" said Fuji.

"I am so going to kill those 3. I bet it was them that dumped the ice cream on me."

"But you have no evidence." said Fuji. "It could be any of those three."

"Well, at least we have it narrowed down to three." said Momo. Fuji turned to him. "Wow, thanks for the point, Momo." He said sarcastically.

"Anyway, all we can do for now is to keep up with our lie." said Tezuka. "And maybe enlist some help in time." With that, he left for the showers.

Back at the twelfth floor, while Pakura was tying her shoelaces, they broke. 'Something tells me Seigaku's plotting something. I hope I will be there to save him.'

Omake (Pakura)

That night, Pakura's nightmares were bugging her again, so she wrote a poem:

We are promised a life

Of riches, fame

And glory to our name

But all these cannot

Make things the same

Because we became a piece in their game

We are the champions

We've seen it all

The nightmares and horror

Still cause us all pain

That will eventually make us fall

We are the champions

We show our passion and secret skills

Because that's the only way

A champion survives

The losers never played again

The winners went insane

I thought things will go fine

When I had won

But a happy, peaceful fate

Was never meant to be mine

I am a champion

And to you, I confide

That I would rather have died

A single teardrop smudged the last word. The person cradled her head and silently cried under the study table light.
So that's for today chapter I'm really sorry for the wait is just with work everything is a little bit slow the updates but I promise to update more often .