Osaka
Summary: For Fuji, Osaka is a place of warm yet chilling and surprising yet predictable memories. Shitenhouji, Fuji, and Atobe centric.
Warnings: Shounen-ai
Pairings: Shiraishi x Fuji, Atobe x Fuji, slight Chitose x Fuji
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is not mine.
This is the last chapter to this story (I was trying to make it 13 chapters, but I failed. xD;;). I think this might be the shortest chapter, too. I borrowed characters from other anime for some of the contestants in the contest. I don't know some of their personalities, because I basically went to Wikipedia and searched random anime, so maybe they're not right. Some of the characters I know, and some of them I don't. But anyway, please read, review, and enjoy! Thsi is the last chapter for this fiction. I'm writing the sequel now. I'm on chapter 5 or so. Please bear with this (horrible) ending until the sequel comes up. Thanks!
Chapter 12:
After all, when you put a time limit on tennis players, there's nothing that they can't do.
Includes characters from Mai-HiME, Magical Canan, Suki na Mono wa Suki Dakara Shoganai, Princess Princess, and Strawberry Panic. They aren't mine either.
They were all running to that same hotel where they turned in their entry. It probably looked strange, Fuji mused, all of them running down the street together like that. He wondered what teenage girls in cars thought. He smiled.
They were panting by the time that they got to the hotel. It was jam packed with people already, but there were still some open chairs in the back, reserves for entrants. Fuji and Shiraishi sat down, while the others stood at the end of the row. Fuji asked Yuushi for the time, since he knew that the blue haired boy wore a watch. Instead, though, Chitose answered. "It's 11:49."
"How did you know? You're not wearing a watch," Fuji pointed out.
Chitose pointed at the western wall. "There's a clock right there."
Fuji looked. "Oh, right," he said. "I guess I'm just nervous."
"I'm sure you're going to do well!" Kintarou said. Fuji smiled.
"Thanks." The last ten minutes felt like ten hours. Fuji kept fidgeting again, and especially bouncing his knee, much like the people around him. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the microphone went on. Fuji looked at the speaker, which happened to be Sachiko, the girl from the hotel the other day.
The microphone customarily squeaked in the beginning, but it got better after she tapped it a few times. "Thank you all for entering and coming to the award ceremony of our Osaka Autumn Art Contest for the year 2007. This year was phenomenal, with more people entering than we've ever had before. The judges had the most difficult time deciding the winners, but we've finally come up with the top ten.
"Before we announce the winners, I'd especially like to thank our sponsors who help us with a contest every season, and the professors from the Osaka College of Arts that volunteered to help judge these masterpieces. Even though the classes have not started yet, they still take time from their busy summer schedules to help us with this event. Professors, will you please stand?"
The entire front row stood up. Everyone clapped, and in the midst of the clapping, Chitose whispered, "I bet she says that there were more people who entered that year than ever before every year." Shiraishi and Fuji looked at each other.
"She's a nice lady," Shiraishi commented, and Chitose shrugged. The clapping died down and was replaced by tension in the room that Fuji could virtually see.
"I see you're all nervous to find out the winners. So I'll stop talking now and give you guys what you came here for!" The professors stood up again—there were eight of them—and walked up to the podium. Sachiko's sister, Ayumi, got up next to Sachiko, who was on the end.
The professor on the opposing end was a lady in her middle ages. She held up an envelope and started reading off of a card that was probably behind it. "The tenth place winner is called 'The Branches'." The professor took something out of the envelope. It was the art, obviously. It was a picture of branches outside a window, taken probably at dawn, and the branches were almost black, contrasting greatly with the pastel-like light. "The artist is Miss Kuga Natsuki. Congratulations."
A dark haired girl with pale skin and green eyes stood up calmly. She walked up to the professor, accepted her art and medal, bowed, and sat back down. "Congrats again, Kuga-san," Sachiko said. Everyone clapped.
The second professor was a guy. He was quite young, maybe in his late twenties, and had dark black hair. He said, "The ninth place winner is called 'Midnight'." He took out a picture from his envelope. It was a dark picture, almost completely black. The only thing that could be seen on the picture was bright green eyes of a cat. "The artist is Kojima Emi. Congratulations."
A young-looking high school student stood up. Her friends around her were cheering like mad, but she seemed quite reserved. Her hair was a very light purple and her eyes were red. She walked up the podium, accepted her things, smiled shyly, and returned.
The next professor was another male. He had greenish hair and looked also in his middle ages. "Our next winner is 'Mt. Fuji'." He held up a picture of Japan's tallest mountain taken on an overcast and foggy day. It was taken from a helicopter, since there was a visible ring of fog around the mountain. It was probably taken at dawn, also. "The artist is Hashiba Sora. Congratulations."
A boy with messy (really messy) long blue hair stood up, looking kind of embarrassed. His friends were clapping and cheering for him. He walked up to the podium, accepted his stuff, smiled happily and walked back.
Fuji watched other people walk up to the podium as their names were being called. The pictures were somewhat original, and Fuji saw some pretty good ones. Surprisingly, there were none of the cliché ones that Fuji and Shiraishi had mentioned. Fuji smiled. The people of Osaka were too good for that.
It finally came down the second place person as a pretty boy named Shihoudani Yujirou with long golden hair sat down. Ayumi put on a cheerful face as she brought out her envelope. "Our next winner is a photograph called 'The Colors of Shadows'," she said. The photograph was of a girl who had blue hair cropped short like Fuji's. Her face was shown in the picture, with light depicted on one side and dark on the other. The photograph was tinted blue. "The artist's is Suzumi Tamao, with respects to her model, Ohtori Amane. Congratulations."
A girl with blue hair tied in a bun in the back walked up to the podium, with a taller, older girl, the one in the picture, following behind. They accepted the trophy, thanked Ayumi, bowed, and sat back down.
Sachiko stepped forward and took the microphone from her sister. "Now, what you've mostly been waiting for, the first place winner. This photograph was really beautiful, and I judged it myself. It really deserved to win." Everyone was holding their breath, and it was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. "The title of the photo is…" Sachiko paused there for a dramatic effect. "'The Forbidden Love.'"
Fuji's eyes snapped open as he let out his breath. He looked at Shiraishi who looked back at him. His friends standing at the end of the row patted him on the back and gave him thumbs-up signs. "The artists are Shiraishi Kuranosuke and Fuji Syusuke, and they are also the models in the picture," Sachiko said. She held up the image, and a loud applause rang through the entire lobby. Fuji and Shiraishi stood up together, hand in hand, and walked up to accept the picture.
When they got to the podium, Sachiko whispered, "Aren't you guys happy I let you enter? Great job!" She couldn't be heard by anyone other than them, though. They both smiled at her and accepted their awards. The trophy was golden, and the top part was a piece of paper curled up at the end. There was a camera sitting on the paper. The neck of the trophy was a bright blue color. The bottom of the trophy said, "Osaka Autumn Art Contest 2007; First Place."
When Fuji got back to his seat people were already packing up their stuff and leaving, murmuring about the winning photos. Fuji was hugged by Chitose, and Shiraishi was glomped by Kintarou. "CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! See?!?! I told you you'd do well!!!!!" he shouted. Fuji smiled.
"Thanks, he said.
While he was walking home with his friends, his cell phone rang. Fuji handed the trophy to Shiraishi and pulled it out of his bag. He opened it and looked at the screen, but instead of it immediately picking up, it showed that he had 10 calls at the same time. He was given the option to send them all to voicemail or pick up on one of them. Fuji selected pick up on one of them and scanned through the calls to see which one he would answer.
He was having a dilemma at that moment. There was a call from Yuuta and Saeki, and Fuji couldn't decide which one to pick up on. His heart was telling him Saeki, and his mind was saying Yuuta. Fuji then remembered Atobe's words. Always follow your heart and your mind. Because if one of them is the right answer, then they both should be saying the same thing. Fuji looked at his phone again and scanned through the rest of the calls. His eyes fell on one name, and he suddenly knew which one he would pick up.
He hit the OK button and brought the phone to his ear slowly. "Hello?" he said.
"Fuji?" a deep voice replied. "I almost can't believe you actually picked up."
"Tezuka," Fuji replied. "I can't believe you actually called me."
"I heard about your award. I actually saw it on TV. Yours was…really good," Tezuka said. Fuji smiled.
"Thanks."
There was a silence for a short moment.
"So, was that your new boyfriend?"
"Yes."
"How long has it been, Syusuke?"
Fuji's eyes snapped open. When Tezuka called him by his first name, it meant he was serious about something. "Three years. Three years, four months and six days. April 21, 2004. And now, it's August 27, 2007."
"Fuji, look, I'm—"
"I know. You're sorry. It's alright, Tezuka. You're apology was three years overdue, but it's still accepted. I'm over it now."
"You are?"
Fuji sighed. "Tezuka, really. I'm fine." He changed his voice to a teasing voice. "Ku-ni-mit-su, you sound like you're surprised. Are you—"
"No." Fuji laughed.
"Then life is good. Right?"
"…Yeah."
"Alright then. I'll talk to you later, Tezuka."
"Bye, Fuji. And thanks for the text message."
"No problem." Fuji hung up and smiled. His friends looked at him. "A lot of people called, but I picked up Tezuka's call."
Shiraishi patted his back. "Good job. It was the right thing to do."
Fuji put his hands behind his head. "Aaah, I love Osaka. Feels like I've lived here for my entire life."
His friends looked up at the cloudless, bright sky and smiled along with him. "You're right, Syu-chan."
The ending sucks, right? That's what sequels are for! I'm going to do my very best...and I'm going to write as quickly as possible! xD;; Please review!