Kayashima knew something was wrong with Nakatsu before his roommate even walked through the door. He gently closed his textbook and waited. Not a second later and Nakatsu was barreling through the doorway and closing the door behind him, leaning back on it like he was trying to keep something out. Kayashima just raised a delicate eyebrow at him and waited for him to speak.

"God! What is with that nosy reporter!" He exclaimed after letting out a sigh of relief at attaining sanctuary. "Kayashima!" he whined pitifully, not knowing exactly what he wanted the psychic to do about his plight. All he knew was that every bad situation would mysteriously become better when his best friend was around.

"What happened?" Kayashima asked quietly, reopening his textbook, it seemed he was mistaken about the severity of Nakatsu's agitated aura. Nakatsu stomped over to Kayashima's desk to speak directly to him.

"He just won't leave me alone! He thinks that if he follows me around long enough, that he'll be able to wrangle an interview out of Sano!" Kayashima frowned a little.

"Isn't Sano visiting Ashiya in America?" Nakatsu nodded his confirmation. "Then just tell the reporter that." Nakatsu's eyes widened and he shook his head vigorously.

"No! Sano's visiting secretly! He want's to get away from the reporters as much as I do!" Kayashima sighed. Of course, Nakatsu was an almost stupidly kind person. He'd never betray Sano like that. "Then, good luck getting the reporter off your back. Leave me out of this." Nakatsu did his best imitation of a kicked puppy and Kayashima just blinked at him impassively.

But, in the end, it was Nakatsu's depressed and desperate aura that overpowered Kayashima's resolve, it was near smothering him. He sighed in defeat. "Alright, Nakatsu. What's your plan of action?" Nakatsu's relieved aura flooded the entire room before shrinking to a nervous blue hue, Kayashima resisted the urge to glare at his roommate. The man had no plan at all.

Luckily, Nanba poked his head inside the room at that very moment and called Nakatsu away before Kayashima said anything snide. "Uh, well, I'll be back soon then!" Nakatsu stammered sheepishly and was gone the next moment. Kayashima was left to his own musings.

Three days later, Kayashima was watching Nakatsu's soccer practice when he was approached from behind by a bright, cheerful aura. He was startled when the owner of said aura clapped him heartily on the shoulder. "Sano! I see you're just as friendly with Nakatsu as always, huh?" Kayashima blinked up from his seat to see Karasuma towering above him. Then Karasuma blinked and flushed heartily. "Oh, sorry! I thought you were... from the back... um." The reporter floundered but Kayashima wasn't listening to her anymore. An idea came to mind.

"Sorry, I've got to go..." Kayashima trailed off lamely, shooting one last glance in Nakatsu's direction before taking off in the direction of their dormitory.

Karasuma cocked her head to the side. "Weird kid..."

"Haa! I'm beat!" Nakatsu exclaimed in satisfaction when he returned to his room. But Kayashima was nowhere to be found. He strained his ears and heard the shower running. "Hey, Kayashima! Are you almost done?" All sound of anyone being in the shower immediately ceased. "Kayashima?"

He heard Kayashima sniff and clear his throat. "Um, Nakatsu, I'm going to be out in just a second... promise you won't panic?" Nakatsu blinked bewilderedly at his friend's strange request.

"Please tell me you haven't broken any bones doing yoga, or done something completely insane for... you know..." Nakatsu was never very good at having conversations involving Kayashima's abilities. Kayashima let out a breathy chuckle.

"Don't worry, it's nothing, really. It just might be a little surprising at first." Kayashima told him, quite self-conscious of himself. The shower door opened and Sano walked out with a towel wrapped around his thin waist.

Nakatsu jumped a foot into the air and let out a startled yelp, he didn't scream like a girl at all, no. "Woah! What...! Sano?" Then he took a closer look. "K-Kayashima...?" Even that was spoken unsurely. Kayashima raked his fingers through his hair and glanced at himself in the mirror.

"I cut my hair, the rest of the effects are makeup." he explained. "I just need to talk to the reporter once and say that I'm busy and that maybe he could interview Sano around next week."

"And Sano will be back by then." Nakatsu realized.

"I also talked to Karasuma-san a few minutes ago and she told me she knows Sano is in America. She knows your situation and will stick around us and speak for me, she knows more about Sano than I do." Kayashima smiled a little. "Besides, why would Karasuma-san follow a fake around? The reporter will have to think I'm the real deal." Nakatsu stared at Kayashima like he was a genius.

"Kayashima... I don't know what to say... You know that if we're caught, we'll get into huge trouble, right?" he asked nervously, Kayashima nodded in reply.

"We won't be caught. And besides, if worse comes to worse and the reporter presses for me to jump, we could always have Umeda Sensei to play along." Nakatsu let out a sigh. Usually, he would jump at this opportunity to shake off his near-stalker, but he had a bad feeling about this endeavor.

It seemed like a normal day for Nakatsu and Sano but was, in reality, a far cry from it for Nakatsu and Kayashima. It was all wrong. Kayashima was walking slightly ahead of Nakatsu while the soccer player just tagged along... and thanks to Kayashima's subtly platformed sneakers, Nakatsu was shorter than him. He frowned a little. Nakatsu was talking some other nonsense like the stuff he always spouted out and Kayashima took the time to carefully inject a few irritated comments just like he had seen Sano do often.

Karasuma spotted them and waved to them cheerfully, bounding over to the two. "Sano! Nakatsu!" she called out as she neared them. Then, she lowered her voice. "Ah, nice to meet you again, we spoke on the phone, I'm Karasuma." Nakatsu had trouble remembering that Kayashima and Karasuma have never yet met officially. Kayashima nodded at her quietly.

"Kayashima." Then, Nakatsu's loyal stalker found them.

"Sano-kun! I've been wanting to meet you for a long time!" He gushed over Kayashima, rudely ignoring the other two. Nakatsu and Karasuma both felt something in them snap.

"Good morning! I've also heard alot about you from Nakatsu!" Karasuma smiled through her teeth. The reporter merely shrugged her off and returned his full attention to Kayashima.

"Please! Let me interview you!" Kayashima bowed politely.

"I'm sorry, Sir. I'm really busy right now. Maybe sometime later? Next week, perhaps?" Of course, Kayashima knew that Sano would immediately turn down the request when he returned but it would be his problem then.

"Oh, alright, but how about a picture then? By 'busy', you mean with all the training you're undertaking, correct? Please let me watch!" Nakatsu and Karasuma exchanged worried glances but Kayashima kept his cool expression schooled onto his face.

"No! Umeda Sensei said that Sano shouldn't strain his body too much!" Nakatsu defended him and Karasuma was quick to concur.

"Please! Just one jump!" The reporter pressed unabashedly. Karasuma fumed.

"Hey! You can't just barge in here and force Sano to do something that might damage his body!" Her reprimand was effortlessly ignored and Nakatsu asked her to go and find Umeda Sensei.

"She's right, you know! Sano hasn't been jumping for a while and too much strain on his body might be dangerous!" Nakatsu continued. The reporter glared at him.

"That woman, Karasuma, is a reporter also, isn't she? You're letting her interview you and take pictures of you exclusively, it's not fair!" Kayashima ignored the angry reporter to shoot Nakatsu a warning look. The soccer player looked like he was about to blow up at the reporter, both for Kayashima and Sano's sakes.

"Sano hasn't let anybody interview him!" he shouted heatedly. "And he's trying his best! He'll get good at jumping again and become so famous that you'll have alot of opportunities to take pictures! So just lay off and leave him alone!" Kayashima let out a groan. Again, Nakatsu had introduced an uneeded problem.

"This doesn't have anything to do with you! So shut up!" The reporter shouted at the Osakan. "I'm only interested in Sano's high jump, go back and play your pathetic soccer!" Kayashima twitched visibly as he fought to keep the two hot-heads separate.

"Hey, that's not a nice thing to say to a future J-Leaguer." he sighed annoyedly. The reporter's head snapped around to glare at him.

"I wouldn't have started fighting with this delinquent if you just jumped in the first place!" Kayashima froze, was this man thinking of writing bad things about Nakatsu to destroy his career before it even started? His arms dropped limply to his sides.

"Alright." he muttered. "I'll jump only once so take your pictures and leave." He turned and began walking to the running grounds. Nakatsu gaped after him and followed dumbly.

The bar and mattress was set up far too quickly for Kayashima's liking. He always did things at his own pace but the reporter was staring at him intently with his camera ready. He couldn't back down or ask for more time to prepare himself. He could hear Karasuma shouting something in the back of his mind but he was only focused on the bar. He took a calming breath and sprinted forward.

He felt his heart hammer as his feet struck asphalt, then a rush of wind, he heard the click of a shutter, and the mattress met him square in the back, knocking the air out of him. The bar shuddered but stayed.

Nakatsu didn't breathe, he was caught between wanting to breathe out a sigh of relief or gasping in awe at the gracefulness of the flight. He had no idea Kayashima could jump! "Wow." Was all he could breathe out.

Umeda Sensei and Karasuma gaped at him, the reporter had whipped out her camera with lightning speed to catch the performance. Then Umeda Sensei stormed over to the pesky reporter and forcefully escorted him out of the premises.

Nakatsu rushed over to Kayashima to check for injuries but the psychic was unharmed, only a little shaken. "Kayashima! That was amazing! I had no idea you could high jump!" Kayashima blinked at him owlishly and just nodded dumbly. Then Umeda returned to the scene and dragged Kayashima away to the infirmary. Karasuma promised to print out the pictures and give them to him.

"So, what happened while I was gone?" Sano asked boredly when Nakatsu had somehow found his way into his room again. Nakatsu seemed more interested in a photo that he had folded in his shirt pocket.

"Kayashima high jumped." he hummed dreamily and stared at the photo again. Sano blinked at him.

"Course he did." Nakatsu stared at him, shocked.

"You knew he could high jump!" Sano just nodded.

"He asked me to teach him. Why do you ask?" Nakatsu's eyes widened.

"Why!" he demanded.

"Because I felt sorry for him. You know, he thinks you admire high jumpers?" Then Sano gulped as if in after thought. "Oh, I wasn't supposed to tell you any of that."

Nakatsu cocked his head. "Why? Sure, high jumping is a beautiful sport, but why would Kayashima want to do it? As far as I know, he's not that interested... he likes table tennis better..." Sano smirked at the oblivious soccer player.

"Why indeed? Why don't you think about it?" And he shooed his friend out of the room.

Nakatsu wandered around the dormitory before finding himself in his own room. Kayashima was sitting at his desk as usual and looked up when he came in. Nakatsu decided to get straight to the point. "Hey, Kayashima, why did you start high jumping?" Kayashima stared at him for a moment, wondering what to reply.

"It's graceful, you feel like you're flying. Everybody likes the sport in one way or another." he stated simply.

"And you didn't tell me!" Kayashima shrugged his shoulders.

"I wanted to show you when I was sure I could do it. You probably wouldn't be as impressed if Sano could do it better." Nakatsu blinked.

"Why are you suddenly competing with Sano?" A slight pink tinge bloomed on Kayashima's cheeks as the psychic turned away stubbornly.

Then Nakatsu thought about it... really, thought about it. Kayashima was jealous of all the attention Nakatsu lavished generously to Sano and was competing for his... attention? Why? Then a look of understanding washed over Nakatsu's face and he flushed. Oh... Oh!

Kayashima, who had been reading Nakatsu's aura's carefully, knew his secret was uncovered and buried his face in his hands in despair. Who was he to compete with Sano for Nakatsu's attention, much less, Mizuki, for his love?

Nakatsu scratched the back of his neck sheepishly as he fingered his precious photo. "Well... for what it's worth, I think your jump was awesome." Then he flushed a deeper shade of red. "Just... just be sure to tell me next time you practice, I want to watch!" Then, the dinner bell rang and Nakatsu was dashing away.

Kayashima blinked in surprise, then smiled softly. Who knew he would be able to see that shade of pink since Ashiya left?

The End