Cruising Together

Chapter Four

Wednesday, Poseidon’s Grace, room 401, 10:08 a.m.

“Masaharu.” Yagyuu knocked on the bathroom door. “You’ve been there for more than half an hour. I still have to shower.”

Niou ignored his roommate as he continued to take his time. Sanada had planned for the team to meet up at eleven o’clock for lunch. They were to discuss their training preparations for the week since -san’s schedule had been changed yet again. The host would be arriving on Sunday afternoon instead of Thursday.

“Ahh so refreshing,” Niou sighed as he turned off the water. He dried himself with a towel and placed it around his neck then opened the door to let Yagyuu in. Yagyuu shook his head and fixed his glasses.

“Please have some dignity,” he said and threw an extra towel at Niou. Niou shrugged and covered his bottom half with the towel that Yagyuu had given him. He braided his ponytail while Yagyuu prepared to take his shower. He stepped out into their room and went towards the glass windows. He slid the door open and was greeted with a warm ocean breeze and the bright sun. He walked out onto the balcony and stretched his arms.

“Morning, Niou!”

Niou looked to his right. A few meters away stood Marui on his own balcony, waving madly at him. Their room was in closer to the ship’s bow so the wind was blowing from behind Marui. Niou waved back. He heard Jackal in the back ground telling Marui that it was his turn to use the bathroom. Marui went back into his room and Jackal came out. He greeted Niou with a smile and took out his electric razor and started to shave his head.

“Jackal! Watch it!” Niou yelled as the wind blew and tiny hairs started to fly towards his face.

“Ah! Sorry Niou!” Jackal said and quickly turned his razor off. Niou brushed off a few bits of his teammate’s hair off his face and narrowed his eyes at him. Jackal gave an embarrassed smile and waved goodbye as he ran back into his room.

“Niou? Why are you waving your fist?” Yagyuu questioned as he towel-dried his hair.

“Jackal was… aww never mind,” Niou grumbled.

“Well, I am done,” Yagyuu said after he cleaned his glasses with his towel. “Let’s go ahead and wait for the others.”

“Alright.”

~~~

Wednesday, Poseidon’s Grace, 2^nd floor, indoor pool, 10:41 a.m.

“Kaidoh, do ten more laps,” Inui said from behind his notebook.

“Okay,” Kaidoh replied and took another breath then started to swim.

“Momo, when you go into the gym, please tell Eiji and Taka-san to come out to the pool area after they are done with weight training so they can do some laps,” Inui reminded Momoshiro without shifting his eyes.

“Yes, sir!” Momoshiro said with a salute and jogged away.

“Oishi, Fuji, you are both done with the treading exercise. Please place your weights inside the bin when you come out of the water and do thirty laps around the deck,” Inui said while scribbling in his notebook.

Oishi and Fuji swam up to the edge of the pool and were gasping for air at the same time. They hauled their weights onto the side of the pool and slowly pulled themselves out. They dropped the weights into the plastic bin that Inui had mentioned and slowly jogged away from the pool area towards the elevators to start on their laps.

“Tezuka, Echizen. You can both go for a quick rinse and then do some treading exercises,” Inui said when they arrived after finishing their thirty laps around the deck and had taken the elevator down to the second floor. They were already in swimming shorts so all they had to do was take their shoes off, go for a quick rinse and jump in. Tezuka was silently taking breaths in while untying his shoes whereas Echizen was out of breath. Echizen couldn’t believe how the older student was not as exhausted as he was.

“This may be a very harsh training menu, but we need to prepare ourselves for the matches on Sunday,” Inui explained.

“Yo, Inui!” Kikumaru called out cheerfully.

“How many laps did you want us to do?” Kawamura asked.

“Why are you so cheerful?” Echizen growled. Tezuka was behind him when they stepped out of the shower stalls.

“Oh, the gym was air-conditioned so it was really comfortable,” Kawamura explained since he knew the people who were doing laps had to do it under the scorching sun.

“Nya! It’s so hot out here! Thank goodness we were in the gym. I didn’t even break a sweat!” Kikumaru smiled cheekily, knowing that the youngest player had been forced to run under bleak conditions. Echizen took his weights from the plastic bins and started to march towards the acrobatic player, ready to shove it down the older player’s throat. Without lifting his head from his data book, Inui poked Echizen on the side of his head with enough force to push the first year into the pool.

“Please refrain from hurting your other teammates before a tournament,” Inui informed the younger boy when his head appeared out of the water. Echizen glared at Inui and started to tread water.

Tezuka took his glasses off and placed then on the nearest table. He took his weights and quietly slipped into the pool. He swam near Echizen and started treading.

“Eiji, Taka-san. Please change into your swimming shorts and start with fifty laps.

“Fifty?!” Kikumaru yelped. Echizen chuckled evilly. Tezuka cleared his throat and gave Kikumaru a look. Knowing that he couldn’t avoid his fate, he slumped his shoulders and headed towards the changing rooms with Kawamura patting his back.

~~~

Thursday, Poseidon’s Grace, Tennis courts, court B, 9:54 a.m.

“Are we done yet?”

Atobe looked over to where his team was standing.

“Another ten because of Jirou’s constant whining,” he ordered. The team groaned in unison as they gathered themselves up to do the laps. Their training for today composed of running towards pylons that were set up every five feet on the tennis court. The players were to run to each pylon and back to where they were standing until they have reached the end of the court. They also had to carry with them a twenty pound body suit that Atobe had requested from the gym in order to build their strength while improving their stamina.

Atobe looked up just in time to see , and walking and disappear around the corner. He knew where they were off to. He knew how the ladies of his age liked to spend their time when they are on a cruise.

“Everybody,” he said, “After this exercise we are going to do some laps.”

“But-”

Atobe shot a glare at Jirou who immediately quieted down. Oshitari chuckled which caused Atobe to give him a look as well.

“Atobe.”

Their captain looked at the blue-haired genius. The Kansai man fixed his glasses and smirked.

“Never mind. You need this opportunity with them, especially when there are other rivals around this ship.”

Atobe narrowed his eyes.

“Another ten because of Oshitari’s smart remarks.”

“Yuushi!”

~~~

Wednesday, Poseidon’s Grace, Second Upper Deck, outdoor pool, 10:13 a.m.

“There are a few empty chairs over there,” said. and followed her. The three had decided that they should relax and get a tan before lunch since it was more convenient for them.

“Ahhh... This feels good,” sighed when she positioned herself on the chair.

“The sky is clear. Perfect timing for a tan,” agreed.

“This is indeed a nice spot,” said and pulled her sunglasses down.

“Yep,” replied with her eyes closed. She was too busy soaking up the sun’s rays to notice that was actually talking about the sight in front of her.

“It’s even better when we have visitors,” smirked as she lay on her chair, pretending that she did not see the newcomers.

“Good morning ladies.”

opened one of her eyes and quickly closed it. raised her sunglasses and winked.

“Well, aren’t we training hard today, Atobe-san,” she purred. shook her head while keeping her eyes shut.

“It is never too early for us to get into shape,” he replied back.

“Ah… Atobe… Need… drink…”

Atobe rolled his eyes. The rest of his teammates were lagging behind him and had finally reached him.

“Gakuto, go lie on one of the pool chairs,” Oshitari suggested. He was not as overwhelmed as his doubles partner from the laps. He gave the girls a slight nod in greeting.

“Stu… stupid Yuushi… getting us in trouble,” Gakuto panted as he flopped onto the pool chair beside .

Atobe ignored the redhead and kept his attention to the girls.

“You ladies are working hard on your tan. It’s only a little past ten o’clock. I am impressed,” Atobe said.

“Not as impressive as your commitment to tennis,” replied. let out a soft sigh and decided to take a look at their visitors. Her eyes widened in surprise.

“Are you guys wearing weights while running?” she questioned. Oshitari nodded. She looked at Gakuto and gave him a sad smile.

“This is a simple exercise that we do, nothing special,” Atobe smirked. cleared her throat. simply ignored her by batting her lashes at the boys. looked awkwardly at the two older girls.

“When will you boys be finished with your practice?” asked.

“We still have to do a few more exercises, but we should be finished before lunch,” replied Atobe.

“Would you like to join us for lunch then?” purred.

finally opened her eyes and glared at . She was so sick of hearing her trying to convince every boy on the ship to join them for lunch. She took her towel and other items and marched off the deck. Everybody watched with confusion as the girl disappeared from their sight.

“Well, that was rude. Not surprising coming from her,” sighed, “Uneducated pauper, wouldn’t you all agree?”

Atobe raised an eyebrow and ignored 's question. He turned around and started to jog away. The rest of his teammates followed him, leaving a very shocked . She narrowed her eyes at the boys.

“I think you were just a little bit snobbish -senpai.”

rolled her eyes.

“I would have thought he had better taste,” she said.

smiled. It was always like that between and . didn’t care as much about boys as did. knew that there was no point in arguing with the older girl and decided to relax as much as she could before another group of boys distracted them again.

~~~

Wednesday, Poseidon’s Grace, third floor rooms, section A, room 306, 10:49 a.m.

“There goes my chance of getting a tan.”

walked out of her room after changing into some casual clothes. She pressed the elevator button to go up and waited. She sighed to herself.

“This trip is getting to be such a nuisance,” she mumbled to herself. The elevator arrived and opened its doors letting the red-haired girl in. Inside the elevator were two familiar faces.

“Good morning, Kuroban-san.”

She smiled and scratched her head.

“Ahh… I am so sorry. I don’t remember your names,” she chuckled nervously. She knew that they attended the same school as the man that was blackmailing him, Yanagi Renji. She felt nervous since she was unsure if they were pretending to not know who she really was and were trying to get information out of her.

“Yagyuu Hiroshi.” The bespectacled boy bowed. stepped back a little. He seemed to be a little too formal for her.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s always like that.”

looked at the other boy who was leaning against the elevator wall with his hands crossed across his chest. A hint of mischievousness twinkled from his grin as he held out his hand to .

“Niou Masaharu,” he introduced himself. shook his hand while trying to not show any signs of discomfort. That didn’t work since the minute their hands touched, Niou noticed her uneasiness and chuckled.

“I am not as wicked as you think I am,” he said. The girl raised an eyebrow and withdrew her hand. Yanagi cleared his throat to tell Niou to stop his nonsense. The elevator stopped at the second upper deck.

“So where are you headed to, Kuroban?” Niou asked, stretching his arms.

pondered for a moment. She wasn’t too thrilled about going back to where was since she had had enough of her acts for one day.

“I am really not too sure,” she replied with a smile.

“Well, would you like to join us for the day then?” Yagyuu offered. furrowed her brows. She was not sure either if she wanted to spend the day with Yanagi. Niou noticed the look on her face.

“Is there something wrong with hanging out with us?” he asked as he came face to face with . She glared at Niou.

“What a rude boy,” she thought.

She ended up shrugging and looked at Yagyuu.

“I would love to spend the day with you guys,” she smiled, “As long as you keep him away from me.”

Niou smirked and placed his hands in his pocket. Yagyuu nodded.

“Let’s go.”

~~~

Wednesday, Poseidon’s Grace, Second Upper Deck, Restaurant, 11:03 a.m.

“So what are we doing after this, Renji?”

Yanagi looked up from his notebook. He smiled.

“We are going to have some fun today,” he replied to Marui. Marui almost choked on his noodles when he heard this while the rest of the members on the table shot suspicious looks at Yanagi.

“And what is the meaning of that, Renji?” Sanada questioned calmly.

“Because there is a 100% chance that SOMEBODY will be working the team harder than usual,” Yanagi answered as he took a spoonful of his soup. This left the team confused.

“But Yanagi-senpai, if you were implying that Sanada will be working team harder than usual, it would not really make a difference because that is what he always does,” Kirihara uttered. The rest of the team shook their head in agreement. Sanada raising an eyebrow at them.

“Unless-” Yanagi smiled even wider when he saw who came on to the floor “-there is some sort of catalyst to make Sanada work us even harder.”

“Catalyst?” Jackal said and turned his head to where Yanagi was looking.

“Yo everybody! Look who we managed to drag with us.” Niou pulled 's arm and gave her a tight hug. glared at Niou as she tried to wriggle her way out of his arms.

“Masaharu, stop it,” Yagyuu said and attempted to pry one of his arms off the girl. Niou held on her tightly and refusing to release her.

“Masaharu.”

Niou looked at the table to see Sanada’s face, sternly staring at him.

“Let her go. Now.”

Niou smirked. He let go of . She let out a sigh of relief. Niou took a seat beside Kirihara. He looked beside him and saw an empty seat. He made a quirky face and looked at the girl then patted the seat beside him. scowled. Yagyuu shook his head and pushed Niou’s hand away from the seat so he could sit on it instead. Niou glared at his doubles partner. chuckled and sat beside Yagyuu and Sanada. Yanagi secretly chuckled when he saw Sanada twitch when smiled at him asshe took her seat.

“So, what are you boys eating?” questioned and eyed the plates of each player.

“Whatever is written on each of our personalized menus,” Kirihara sighed.

“Renji has carefully calibrated the amount of intake that we need and what kinds of food we need to enhance our performance,” Yagyuu said and showed a laminated sheet of paper. glanced at Yanagi when she took the sheet. Yanagi in turn shifted his head and smirked. The girl shuddered and turned her attention back to the sheet that was handed to her.

“Wow,” said an impressed . This was definitely an example for the definition of specific.

“That’s how Renji operates,” Yagyuu said when returned the sheet.

“He observes our exercise routine, keeps track of our body weight,” Jackal said, then looked at Marui. “And watches our eating habits to come up with this plan.”

“Which totally stinks,” Marui glared at Yanagi. “He totally cut off my dessert intake!”

“I did not take out ALL of your dessert options, Bunta. I simply modified it to your proper body type. You are only allowed to have more sugar before a game, but you cannot have almost your entire intake in the form of high-sucrose foods,” Yanagi reasoned.

The girl chuckled when Marui objected to Yanagi’s ban of his beloved sweets. Sanada cleared his throat to tell the candy-loving boy to quiet down.

“That’s a lot of… Green and orange on your plate, Sanada-san,” noted when she glanced at Sanada’s plate. He nodded.

“I already ate the other food groups so now I am just consuming the fruit and vegetable part of the diet,” he said.

“He needs four servings of fruits and vegetables for lunch. Excellent choice with the mandarin orange and spinach salad, Genichirou,” Yanagi commented. continued to look around the table and saw that everybody was indeed eating something healthy.

“Did you also want me to make you a personal meal plan, Kuroban-san?”

shivered when she heard the emphasis that Yanagi had put on her fake name.

“That would require further research and observation,” Yanagi continued then looked at with a cunning smile. narrowed her eyes.

“Even on a ship in the middle of the ocean, Renji is still able to find time to stalk girls,” Marui grumbled and took a bite out of his Caesar salad. He made a disgusted face.

“Bunta, you need to eat all of that since you finished your noodles,” Jackal encouraged the red head.

“Bunta, please finish your greens. You will need your energy when we continue with our training for today,” Yanagi saids since he was looking through the many pages of training sequences that he had prepared. He suddenly smiled and looked at . She gulped and Sanada immediately noticed it.

“Are you alright?” he asked the girl, who suddenly looked very pale.

“Kuroban-san,” Yanagi started, “would you like to join us for our training?”

“Uhhh… I think I’ll pass for today.”

Yanagi raised an eyebrow.

“I strongly suggest you to come and watch us train,” he said slowly while looking at .

“Yea! You should see how Sanada and Renji work us like a bunch of dogs!” Marui blurted while in the middle of chewing his veggies.

“Bunta! Gross!” Jackal yelped when a few of the vegetables flew out of his mouth.

“Yes. And in fact,” Yanagi smirked and looked at Sanada, “I am sure that some of us would be delighted to have you join us.”

The vice-captain remained emotionless but shifted uncomfortably. Yanagi was determined to have the girl join them for the day. Knowing that she didn’t really have a choice, sighed in defeat.

“Sure. I’d love to come and watch you guys play,” she mumbled with her head down.

“Great! We will meet back on the second upper deck in an hour,” Yanagi said cheerfully. A little too cheerfully since the rest of his teammates gave him strange looks (which he ignored).

“Oh, by the way,” Yanagi added, his smile getting bigger by the minute, “please bring proper attire for this training.”

looked at the mad man’s face with confusion.

“Proper attire?”

~~~

BabyBel

Edited by: Elenniel

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Note(s):

(1) Retrieved from "Fruity Explosion Translation"

(2) This is just an estimation that I calculated using an online site called "Health Status"

(3) The servings and the major food groups were retrieved from "Health Canada". The suggestions are also just an estimation that I made.

Enjoy and Eat Healthy Everybody! ^_^