Unexpected Reason

“Come on Ibu! That was an easy shot!”

“I am sure it was, but if you didn’t distract me with your yelling I may have been able to hit it back. Well, I shouldn’t be blaming somebody else for my mistake. I should have been able to return that shot, but I was too slow. Man I really suck. Tachibana-san is going to be so disappointed…”

“Shut up Ibu!” Kamio yelled at his tennis partner who continued to ramble.

“Both of you zip it! Let’s hurry this game up so Tachibana-san won’t catch us not studying!” Sakurai said.

It was after school and the Fudoumine boys decided to play tennis before they went home to do their home works. As usual they were procrastinating as much as they can in order to avoid the math equations and pages of literatures that they were assigned to read.

“Oy! Shouldn’t you all be at home studying?”

The four boys turned their attention to the speaker and guiltily nodded.

“Let them play a little longer, An.”

“You always let them do whatever they wanted, onii-chan.”

Tachibana Kippei laughed at his little sister’s comment and took a seat on the bleachers. The boys smiled and continued to play their game with An proclaiming herself as the referee. Tachibana smiled as he watched Kamio dash for the shot that Sakurai had returned while Ibu watched Ishida to better position himself for an attack.

“Shouldn’t they be at home studying, Kippei?”

Tachibana chuckled as a girl took a seat beside him.

“They just need to unwind after school,” he answered, “Shouldn’t you be at home studying and growling at whoever disturbs you, ?”

The girl rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the game in front of her. Her uniform indicated that she attends Hyotei Gakuen, the prestigious, and often referred to as snooty, institution. had the honor of receiving a scholarship to attend Hyotei Gakuen based on her academic success. Her family knew that she was a very gifted student but they did not have the finance to send her to a private school. The scholarship to Hyotei was a tremendous help to the family and a great accomplishment for the family.

“I already did my homework at school,” replied frankly. She waved to An who smiled and left her post to chat with her.

“Oy An! Was that in?”

“You guys argue it out!”

“EH?!”

laughed. The two families have become very close after the Tachibana’s moved next door to the ’s after Mr. Tachibana’s company went bankrupt⁽¹⁾. The two families immediately helped each other out in any way possible. Mr. helped find a job for Mr. Tachibana and their wives lent each other a hand with chores. and Kippei both attended the same elementary school and were in the same grade so they naturally became friends. Since An would always follow her brother around, the three became inseparable. Even after receiving the scholarship to Hyotei, still kept in contact with the Tachibana’s and would occasionally bump into each other during tennis matches.

“You should try playing tennis sometimes,” An said as she took a seat next to .

“You know that sports are not my forte,” sighed. Tachibana shook his head furiously in agreement. She loved watching the game but was never really an athlete herself. Tachibana tried to teach her once but vowed to never do it again after she accidentally threw the racquet and broke a car window. The two were held responsible and were forced to do manual work to pay off the damage.

“Well, since you like to watch so much, why don’t you spy on the Hyotei team and tell us their weaknesses,” An said evilly.

“I may be the manager for the tennis team and have access to every important training menus does not mean I can exploit the trust that Sakaki-sensei has on me,” replied solemnly, “Although I am very tempted to help you because Atobe Keigo’s arrogant attitude seems to have gotten worst and his fan club is constantly harassing me about him, but then again I could never disappoint sensei.”

“We don’t need it anyways An. We will do well as long as we work hard and persevere,” Tachibana said confidently.

“That Atobe Keigo is so annoying! Argh! I just want to strangle him!” An growled as she choked an invisible Atobe in front of her.

“At least you don’t have to see him everyday. The man is so full of himself,” sighed.

“We should all go home. It’s getting late. Hey! You four! Stop the match. It’s almost dinner time. I don’t want your parents to get worried,” Tachibana called out to his juniors who obediently started to pack their tennis equipment. stood up with the Tachibana’s and started to walk with Kamio, Ibu, Sakurai and Ishida right behind them.

“Do you think that if I get it for my mom she’ll like it?” Ishida asked.

“Well, is she into collecting figurines?” Sakurai said.

“Umm… she has some in her room. It’s mostly from little bazaars that come to town,” Ishida replied.

“What about some flowers?” Kamio suggested.

“That would be sweet Ishida-kun! Good idea Kamio-kun,” An turned her head and smiled at the others. Kamio immediately turned crimson and barely mumbled a thank you.

“I think you should make something for your mom, like dinner. Therefore it would not be as easily forgotten and I think she will also appreciate one night of not cooking for the family. Also you can offer to wash the dishes, clean the table and just let her relax. She will definitely appreciate all the cleaning and-”

“That’s an excellent idea Ibu-kun! Ishida-kun, do that instead! Actually, give her some flowers AND make dinner!” interrupted An.

Tachibana shook his head and looked apologetic to who smiled back.

“This is more my kind of atmosphere. Hyoutei is always so tense and thick. I can’t seem to breathe in there sometimes,” she said which Tachibana can easily understand as they continued to walk up the steps and enter the main streets that led to town. The group was greeted with bright lights that started to illuminate from the many shops that they passed. They all continued to chat about what to cook for Ishida’s mother while An and suggested different types of dishes that they can teach Ishida to cook. Tachibana listened intently while leading the pack of excited students when he heard familiar voices across the street from them.

“Oy Echizen! That’s no way to speak to your senpai!”

“Mada mada da- ack! Momo-senpai! Let-urck!- go!.”

“Alright you two, cut it out!”

“Saa, if you two don’t stop, Taka-san may revoke his offer of going to his father’s restaurant to eat for free.”

“Ahh Fuji-senpai!”

“He was just kidding you two.”

He turned his eyes to the opposite street to see the whole Seigaku tennis team walking in the same direction as them. He chuckled when he saw Momoshiro lifting up Echizen and attempting to strangle him while bystanders started to stare and pointing at them.

“Not again,” Oishi sighed. He shook his head and tried to separate the two.

“Hoi Ochibi! Do you want us to not get free food?! Momo! You too!” Kikumaru bounced around as Oishi continues to pull Momo away.

“Eiji, I am not going to be that mean,” Kawamura rubbed the back of his head and chuckled.

“Taka-san, maybe you SHOULD just cancel it. They might scare your dad’s customers away just like how we’re attracting a crowd right now,” Fuji smiled as what he said was true. A small crowd of people had stopped walking and wanted to see what the commotion was all about. A few were whispering with each other, making comments on what was happening.

“You’re embarrassing us you stupid idiots!” Kaidoh barked at the two. Momoshiro abruptly lets go of Echizen who fell on the ground with a soft thud and slowly walked towards Kaidoh.

“Momoshiro! Echizen! Ten laps around Kawamura’s restaurant when we get there!” Tezuka yelled. The Seigaku students went quiet. The bystanders also went quiet. Tezuka pushed his glasses up and continued with their journey. Inui scribbled in his green notebook and followed right behind Tezuka. Momoshiro and Echizen glared at each other as they also followed their senpais.

“Momoshiro-kun!”

Momo turned his eyes to the other side of the street.

“Momoshiro-kun!” An continued to yell. Kamio scowled at Momo who waved back at the girl. An laughed. She grabbed by the arm and started to run towards the street light where they can cross to the other side of the road. The minute the lights turned green, An sprinted with being dragged behind her.

“An! W-wait!” struggled as her friend pulled her in between the crowd of people. When An actually stopped, she let go of her who did not have time nor the proper co-ordination to make herself stop. She tripped and bashed into one of the Seigaku players.

“!” An gasped.

“Ouch…” mumbled as she rubbed her head.

“Get… off…” a voice croaked under her. was still a little dazed that she did not realize that she was on top of Echizen.

“Here.”

She looked up. Her eyes were still trying to adjust to her surroundings. A hand was held in front of her, offering her some assistance. She slowly took it with her left hand while her other hand was holding her head.

“Thank you,” blinked and shook her head. She was still seeing doubles when she tried to look at the person standing in front of her. She shook her head, which is not always the best thing to do when one falls. She felt slightly dizzy and took a step backwards.

“! Ah crap! I shouldn’t have run like that,” An said as she helped her try to stand still.

“Are you alright?”

nodded slowly and smiled to the boy who helped her up. She felt her cheeks heat up as she saw whose hand she was just holding.

“Thank you Fuji-san,” An said. Fuji smiled.

“I guess you were really excited when you saw Momo.”

“Eh?! What’s that suppose to mean, Fuji-senpai?!” Momo shrieked as his face began to turn red.

“Of course! Seigaku is always a fun team to see,” An replied with a wink.

“Why are you hanging out with somebody from Hyoutei?” Kaidoh growled eying the girl’s uniform. gulped and slowly inched away and tried to hide behind An. She bumped into another student who was much taller than she was. She turned around and looked up to see a pair of square-framed glasses staring back at her. yelped and jumped back. Fuji chuckled and held ’s shoulders.

“Don’t worry. That’s Inui. He’s not that creepy once you get to know him,” he said. blinked at Fuji and laughed nervously.

“So what is your connection with the Fudoumine team?” Inui asked. He looked down on the Hyoutei student with a monotonous face. quickly took a step back and gently pressed her back into Fuji in order to avoid the close encounter of Inui’s face. Fuji gave a small surprised look and quickly smiled.

“Inui-san! Don’t treat her as if she’s a spy! In fact she doesn’t even tell us anything about the Hyoutei team even though she hates Atobe Keigo as much as I do. So basically, she’s pretty useless,” An said. looked down and shook her head. An was never the best at defending people.

“So, you don’t like Atobe?” Fuji asked. ’s eyes widened, finally realizing that she was leaning against a complete stranger. She quickly spun around and bowed to Fuji.

“I am so sorry! And yes I don’t like Atobe!” she sputtered out. Everybody stood still for a second, then burst out laughing.

“Well, now we have evidence that there are girls in Hyoutei who actually despise the great Atobe Keigo,” Fuji said causing to giggle.

“Man! That’s hilarious! Thinking that Atobe-san could be disliked by somebody attending the same school!” Momo choked in between laughter. Echizen smirked and pulled his cap down. Inui smiled and quickly recorded what the girl had just said in his notebook while Oishi and Kawamura struggled to cover their laugh, not wanting to be rude.

“Where are you guys off to?” An asked after the group has finished their giggle fit.

“We were just going to eat at Taka-san’s,” Oishi replied.

“Can we come?” An asked.

“An-chan! That’s rude!” hissed. An ignored her friend and looked at Momoshiro and smiled sweetly. Momoshiro blushed and quickly turned to look at Kawamura.

“An, it’s rude to just invite yourself like that,” Tachibana emerged from the crowd.

“Tachibana-san, how’s it going?” Fuji greeted.

Tachibana bowed to the Seigaku team and put an arm on his little sister’s shoulder.

“I am sorry for my sister’s behavior. It is dinnertime and she gets a little excited when she’s hungry,” Kippei said making An scowl and elbowed her brother.

“Besides,” he continued, “Mom’s making my favorite dish.” An rolled her eyes and sighed. patted An on the shoulder.

“You know what will happen if Kippei misses out on his favorite dish,” reminded. An nodded furiously and looked at the Seigaku students.

“I’ll take a rain check this time!” she said causing the boys to sweat dropped. shook her head and smiled at the boys.

“We will be going now. Have a good evening,” Tachibana bowed to Tezuka and started to walk away from them. An waved good-bye and bowed as well. The three walked back to the streetlights and crossed the street where the rest of the Fudomine team was waiting.

“Neh Momo! You can stop blushing now. She’s gone,” Kikumaru teased.

“Me?! I wasn’t blushing!” Momo blurted as he turned around to cover his face.

“Momo-senpai, we can still see you blushing,” Echizen said. Momo had turned towards a store front that had a mirror to display their items which reflected Momo’s bright red face for the others to see. Momo glared at Echizen and quickly grabbed the younger boy by the neck and raised him up. Just like before, Momo was attempting to strangle the first year player.

“Momo! Stop it!” Oishi yelled as he, yet again, tried to save Echizen’s life.

“We’re attracting another crowd…” Kawamura nervously stated. Fuji smiled and looked at Tezuka, who quietly sighed and wished for the day to end.

“Saa Tezuka, should you make it fifty laps?”

~~~

After taking a hot shower, stepped out of the washroom, drying her hair with a towel. She walked towards her computer and sat in front of the screen where her assignment for science class was almost finished. It was due in two weeks but since it was one of her favorite subjects, she thought that it would be best if she finished it as soon as possible. As she typed away on her keyboard, her cell phone started rang. stopped her typing and grabbed her cell phone from her bag and looked to see that An was the caller. She smiled and picked up the call.

“Hello? -chan?”

“Hi An-chan. What’s up?” answered.

“Ah! Did I catch you at a bad time?” she asked with concern.

“No, it’s alright. I can spare you some of my time,” rolled her eyes and smiled.

“Gee thanks,” An replied back with a tone of sarcasm, “I was just wondering if you were busy tomorrow?”

“Well, there’s going to be a little tennis tournament being held at night down by the public courts if you’re interested,” An continued.

“You know I don’t do sports,” sighed as she leaned back against her chair.

“I didn’t say anything about playing,” said An, “Watching games is your thing and I usually do the playing. But, since it’s going to be mostly guys playing, I thought you would want to go and watch with me.”

paused.

“Does your brother know about your little rendezvous with random guys, at night time, and at some tennis court?”

An snorted.

“Of course. He’s coming too, that’s why I am going. Kamio-kun actually asked me to go and I had to ask my brother,” she said, “Of course knowing Kippei, he suggested that he should come. Along with the rest of the Fudomine team!”

laughed. It was definitely something that Tachibana would pull off. His brotherly love always affected An’s relationships with the opposite sex. Sometimes it is a good thing to have somebody to protect you like that, but other times it’s not so pleasant.

“Well, I do have a lot of other stuff to do…” said. She had another assignment to do but it was not due for another month.

“You have another assignment don’t you?” An said suspiciously, “And I bet it’s not due for another… month or so?” An knew that she was right when she heard gulp on the other end of the phone.

“It’s decided! You’re coming with us tomorrow! We’ll meet at the park at around 7 after dinner. See you then!”

Before could say anything, An had already hung up. She knew that it was pointless to argue with her especially when it involves both tennis and boys. She sighed and decided to finish as much as she could tonight and finish the rest the day after tomorrow.

~~~

“You actually made time for us?”

elbowed Tachibana as the two walked behind An and the Fudomine team. Tachibana and An had picked up after dinner and headed to the park to meet up with the Fudomine boys.

“I decided that I needed a break,” answered with a smug smile. Tachibana rolled his eyes causing another elbow attack from the girl.

“Besides, An needed some company and probably some protection,” continued.

“Well, I am here aren’t I? Am I not enough protection?” Tachibana questioned.

raised an eyebrow.

“She needs some protection from YOU.”

Tachibana gave the girl a confused look. shook her head and continued to follow the rest of the group. She didn’t want to tell Tachibana that his over protectiveness is something that he needs to work on. An was chatting loudly with Sakurai while clinging on to Kamio’s arm, who was obviously uncomfortable but at the same time happy that she was giving him so much affection.

“How come you never worry about An hanging on to Kamio like that?” asked nudged Tachibana by the arm.

“It’s because Kamio is a good guy and he is acceptable for my sister,” he replied. was a little taken back to his response. She couldn’t believe that he actually accepted someone as a possible candidate for his little sister.

“Besides,” he added, “he doesn’t have a chance with her.”

almost tripped on her feet. She glared at Tachibana who gave a small smile. shook her head in disapproval.   “I don’t know why girls like him.”

“Here we are!”

looked ahead to see that An was jumping up and down with Kamio still in her arm. They had finally arrived to the public courts that An was talking about. There were two tennis courts that were brightly lit with large outdoor lights. Crowds have already gathered in both of the courts one court displayed doubles playing and the other was singles games. An spotted a pair of familiar faces and smiled. She started to jog towards them and waved.

“Does she know EVERY guy that plays tennis?” raised an eyebrow to Tachibana.

Tachibana sighed and nodded solemnly. He leaned against the railing and watched as An conversed with Izumi Tomoya and Fukawa Kimiyoshi, the doubles pair that were regularly seen in the public courts. smiled and stood beside Tachibana to keep him company while the rest of the Fudomine team went to chat with the other players on the courts.

“Yea right!” An laughed at something that Izumi had said. She looked up and waved to the direction of her brother and .

“-chan! Come down! You’ll get a better view here!” An yelled out from across the bleachers causing some spectators to turn to their direction. and Tachibana sweat dropped. sighed. She turned to Tachibana and gave him a really desperate look. He nodded and lead down to where An was standing.

“Good evening Tachibana-san,” Izumi and Fukawa greeted. Tachibana nodded in response.

“This is ,” An introduced. waved shyly from behind the taller boy.

“So who’s here tonight?” An asked.

“Nobody really good,” Fukawa sighed out loud as he placed his racquet on his shoulder.

“In terms of doubles, so far we have beaten everybody,” Izumi added as he looked across the bleachers to see if there were any other challengers.

“Eh?! Tachibana-san’s here?! Finally somebody worth playing against! Lucky~!”

Tachibana’s eyes caught an orange-haired boy who was jogging to their direction. An smiled and waved.

“Sengoku-san!”

“Eh?! An-chan’s here too! Double lucky~!!”

saw Tachibana’s eyebrow twitch as Sengoku arrived in front of their group. She looked at the said person in front of them. He looked like an average boy except for his bright colored hair and incredibly wide smile.

“How’s your new boxing step coming along?” An asked.

“It’s coming along great! I’ve been practicing really hard and it’s been providing me luck during my tougher matches,” he replied.

“Boxing step?” asked quietly.

“Almost all of the tennis players that we have come across, An has remembered their strength, weaknesses and even their special moves,” Tachibana explained, “I am not scared of An hanging out with the other guys. I just don’t trust them coming close to her.”

finally understand why Tachibana was so protective. It’s was not because An was so boy crazy, it was because she was cute and she was always being approached by the opposite sex. She was actually an information gatherer for the Fudomine team and will observe all the players at any day and any time, making her look like a tennis player fanatic.

“That’s so sweet of you Kippei,” teased as she poked him on his side. Tachibana rolled his eyes and cleared his throat as he regained his posture.

“Oh? Tachibana has a girl friend? Lucky…” Sengoku said as he peeked behind An.

“He’s not my-”

“Heh… You didn’t tell me that you had a girl friend Tachibana.”

, Tachibana, An and Sengoku turned around to see Fuji, Momoshiro, Kawamura and Echizen standing on top of the steps in regular clothes with their racquet bags in their shoulders.

“She’s not my girl friend,” Tachibana sighed. He was quickly developing a headache as the Seigaku students started to walk down the stairs. shook her head furiously in agreement.

“Momoshiro-kun!” An smiled. Momo quickly flushed and waved back.

“Momo?!”

Kamio narrowed his eyes and quickly ran to where they were standing.

“Yo,” Momoshiro replied back. Echizen rolled his eyes. He knew that there was going to be another argument between the two rival players.

“What brings you guys here?” An asked as she stood in between Momo and Kamio.

“We just finished eating at Taka-san’s restaurant and wanted to see if anything interesting is happening in the courts,” Momoshiro answered.

“Apparently there is,” Fuji smiled at Tachibana and .

“Fuji…” Tachibana mumbled. Fuji chuckled.

“Just kidding,” he said and smiled at . She gave a nervous laugh and sat down and placed her hands against her cheeks knowing that they were crimson. An rolled her eyes and went to sit beside .

“Come on! Let’s see some good games!” An yelled. Kamio glared at Momoshiro and took a seat beside An.

“How come you’re not playing Kamio-kun?” asked.

“Eh? Well…”

“Scared Kamio?”

Kamio glowered at Momoshiro who started to stretch his arms. He took off his sweater, took out a racquet and smirked at Kamio. Kamio slowly stood up but was interrupted by tennis ball flying across both boys’ face. They turned towards the direction of where the ball had come from to see another set of familiar faces. The crowd went silent as all eyes fell on the new comers.

“Yo.”

There stood Kirihara Akaya and Niou Masaharu of the Rikkai Dai tennis team. Kirihara was bouncing a tennis ball on one hand and was holding on to a racquet on the other. Niou finished his can of drink and threw it into a garbage bin. The two started to walk down the steps causing some of the players to whisper in excitement.

“Those two are from Rikkai!”

“No way! What are they doing here?”

“Hey! That’s Kirihara Akaya! The devil himself!”

“Shh! Are you nuts?! He’ll kill you with his knuckle serve!”

Kirihara sneered at the crowd who automatically stopped whispering when they saw him looking at their direction.

“Anybody want to challenge me?” he asked them.

“We could play again.”

Kirihara’s eyes slightly widened when he heard the voice. He turned to see Fuji smiling at him.

“Che. We already played before. I want to play with somebody new,” he answered. Fuji shrugged his shoulders and took a seat in front of An.

“Hey that’s Fuji Syuuske! The genius! He’ll protect us!”

An and Kippei rolled their eyes while Fuji gave a small chuckle.

“I’ll play you!” Sengoku waved madly. Kirihara smiled and jumped on to the court and walked with Sengoku to the other court. Niou took a seat and had his legs up on the bleachers in front of him.

“How come you’re not playing?”

Niou looked at An and shrugged. He smiled and placed his hands on his head.

“I only play doubles,” he answered.

“Why don’t you call Yagyuu-san?” An pressed on. Niou continued to ignore her and kept his eyes on courts in front of him. An narrowed her eyes. She never liked being ignored. placed her hand on An’s shoulder to prevent her from doing something irrational to the Rikkai Dai player. Kippei also knew that may not be able to hold down the annoyed girl so he took his seat beside his younger sister.  An rolled her eyes. She folded her arms and turned her attention to Kamio and Momoshiro who were still a little stunned at the newcomers but regained their attention to each other. Momoshiro was smirking away as Kamio prepared to give him a piece of his mind.

“Eh? -senpai?”

turned her head and smiled when she saw students who she finally recognized.

“Oy ! What the hell are you doing with those people?”

It was ’s turn to roll her eyes.

“Shishido, just because Fudomine beat us does not mean that I can not be seen with them,” sighed.

“She has a point Shishido-senpai.”

“Che. Chouta you can be so dumb sometimes.”

Ohtori Choutarou gave a small laugh and placed a hand behind his head while Shishido Ryou was still glaring at Tachibana.

“Oy Shishido, you’re the dumb one. Leave Ohtori-kun alone,” said with a tired voice. She knew how Shishido was when he was around people that he does not like. She knew that if she stayed any longer, Shishido would cause some sort of commotion and Ohtori would try to calm the older boy down. She also knew that the only way to prevent the whole situation from happening was to leave as soon as possible.

“I’ll see you guys later,” bowed to Tachibana who replied back with a nod.

“I’ll call you later,” he quietly said. nodded and turned around to see Fuji standing in front of her. He smiled.

“I’ll see you around as well?” he asked. nodded shyly. She walked passed Fuji, who said something that was barely auditable to anybody else except for her.

“Don’t let them get to you.”

smiled as she jogged up the steps and started to pull Shishido away from the courts who disputed loudly about being dragged away by some girl. Tachibana shook his head when he heard yelling back at her school mate and pulled at his ear about being rude towards others and how he is being such a sore loser. The Fudomine and Seigaku players sweat dropped when they heard Shishido screamed in protest at ’s comment and the pain that she was doing to him. They could also hear Ohtori trying to calm both parties down as they finally disappeared around the corner.

“She’s…aggressive?” Fuji said and smiled.

“You have NO idea.” The Tachibanas replied in unison

Fuji and shook his head. He walked towards Kippei and took his racquet out of his tennis bag.

“Saa…Shall we play, Tachibana?”

~~~

sat quietly on the benches while holding a clipboard and watched as Gakuto returned a shot from Hiroshi. Oshitari was taking a break and was sitting beside Atobe who was watching Kabaji and Shishido practice with each other. Ohtori was practicing his serve by himself while Jirou was taking yet another nap.

“Kabaji, give Shishido a work out.”

“Usu.”

rolled her eyes as Kabaji delivered a powerful straight shot to Shishido who barely had enough strength to hold on to his racquet, let alone return the shot without lobbing it.

“Damn it!”

As the ball was returned with a very high and very slow lob, Kabaji easily smashed the ball back to Shishido’s court. Shishido growled at the younger player and narrowed his eyes at Atobe.

“Shishido, go do twenty laps,” Atobe smirked causing Shishido to throw his racquet on the bench. He sighed and started to jog around the courts. gave a sympathetic smile to Shishido who was jogging towards her.

“Don’t worry Shishido. At least this cuts down your laps to fifty for today,” said reassuringly. Shishido had a shocked look on his face as he jogged pass her. looked through her clipboard that held the team’s training menu. She flipped through the pages of each player and frowned.

“Ok… Shishido’s done his weight training, Ohtori’s practicing his serves, Kabaji is done with his laps, Atobe is… well being an ass… Oshitari finished with his scrimmage against Gakuto, Hiroshi is working on his weight lifting and Jirou…”

“Where’s Jirou?”

turned around and bowed to Hyoutei Gakuen’s infamous coach. As usual he was dressed in his expensive looking suit and had his hair styled. He nodded and started to walk to her.

“Jirou is…” trailed as she tried to think of an excuse to cover for Jirou’s absence on the court.

“Is he sleeping?” he asked with a hand on his face signaling that he was developing another headache.

gave a nervous chuckle as she nodded.

“Get him to do some laps.”

“Yes sir.”

walked down to where Jirou was usually sleeping. He was there, curled up into a ball and sleeping happily. She felt bad for waking him up but she knew that if she didn’t, both of them would get in trouble. She knelt down and started to get Jirou to wake up.

“Jirou…” she gently nudged the curly haired sleeper.

The boy shrugged ’s hand off and muttered something quietly and went back to sleep.

sighed as she tried again to wake the boy up.

“Jirou, wake up or else you’ll get in trouble,” pleaded.

He did the same thing as before and turned to his side, facing away from . scratched her head as she stared at Jirou’s back.

“Wake up Jirou!”

Gakuto pushed Jirou with his foot. Jirou rolled on his side and yelped as he fell off the bench and onto . fell flat on her bottom and at the same time threw her clipboard up into the air.

“Watch out!” Gakuto yelled out as the clipboard descended from the air. Atobe was talking to Kabaji who was wiping himself with a towel while Oshitari was still sitting on the bench. The three looked up as the clipboard finally fell on one of them.

“Are you alright… Kabaji?” Oshitari asked with a stunned look on his face.

Kabaji’s face was unmoved. He slowly bent down to pick up the clipboard that fell on his head and then on to the ground.

“Usu.”

“Kabaji!”

immediately got up causing Jirou to roll over and hit the bottom of the bench as she raced down the steps to check up on the second year. Kabaji stared at her as she made it in front of him. He calmly held out her clipboard.

“Are you alright?” she panted. He nodded in reply.

“Clumsy idiot.”

glared at the person who made the comment.

Atobe was facing away from her and continued to walk towards the courts.

“Jirou! Let’s play.”

Jirou’s head popped out form the benches. He immediately formed a smile on his face and raced down towards the courts where Atobe was already stretching.

“Stupid Atobe,” growled as she took the clipboard from Kabaji’s hands.

“How can you stand him?” she asked him. She could have sworn that she saw Kabaji smile for a little while and turned around to sit where Atobe’s equipment was.

let out a small breath and smiled. “He’s a good kid. Just a little strange when it comes to picking friends.”

“.”

rolled her eyes again as she flipped through the sheets of paper.

“Oshitari, you can go and do thirty laps. Gakuto, you too,” said. Oshitari pushed up his glasses and smirked.

“But ! I just finished playing,” Gakuto whined.

“Gakuto. Thirty laps.”

Gakuto knew that voice was someone who he should not disobey. He gulped and started to jog away from .

“, if there is anymore misconduct from any of the players, just call my cell phone,” the coach said.

“Yes Sakaki-sensei,” bowed as Sakaki walked away from the courts and out of the gym.

“-senpai, what am I suppose to do now?”

turned to look at Hiroshi Wakashi who had just finished his weight training.

“You can take a take a break, Hiyoshi. After that you can play against Ohtori when he’s done with his practice.”

Hiyoshi nodded. He walked to where his tennis bag was to grab a towel and his water bottle.

watched as Atobe played against Jirou when her cell phone started to ring. She ran back up to where her school bag was and took her phone out. It was Kippei. She raised an eyebrow. It was not like him to call her during practice.

“Senpai, what should I do now?”

jumped in surprise when Ohtori stood in front of her causing her to drop her cell phone.

“I am so sorry senpai!” he said as he picked up the phone, which had stopped ringing.

“Go play a game against Hiyoshi,” she quickly told him as she grabbed the phone out of his hands. Ohtori raised an eyebrow but complied with what his senpai had told him to do.

“Hello?” she answered.

“, are you busy tomorrow after school?”

“Err… maybe?” she said with an unsure tone.

“An wants to know if you want to join her in visiting Seigaku to watch their training session,” he explained.

“Why does she want to go visit a rival school?”

Kippei chuckled.

“You’re starting to sound suspicious, just like Shishido,” he said, “You’re definitely someone who represents Hyoutei.”

“I resent that comment!” yelled at the phone. Her eyes widened when there was a sudden halt of sound coming from the tennis courts. She cursed silently and slowly turned to see that all eyes were on her. She gave a meek smile and started to walk out of the tennis courts.

“I was just kidding,” Kippei continued.

rolled her eyes.

“So, is that a yes or a no?”

“It’s a maybe and I’ll call you later. I need to pay attention with my team’s training,” said.

“Alright, call me when you are finished.”

“Bye.”

let out a sigh of relief as she hung up on Kippei. She walked back to the courts to see that Oshitari was standing and smirking at her. She raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

Oshitari shrugged as he turned his back. He had finished his laps so he watched as Gakuto drag himself towards a bench and finished his last lap. took a seat behind Oshitari and looked through the clipboard blankly. She was still thinking of what the reason Kippei had for calling her in the middle of practice. She had a feeling that An was up to her tricks again and Kippei was actually helping her out. She let out another breath.

“So who was that on the phone?”

raised an eyebrow but continued to look through the papers.

“None of your business,” she replied.

“Well, I hope you are not giving out any information about our training,” Oshitari warned, “Shishido mentioned that you were handing out with some people from Fudoumine.”

“Since when are you so nosy, Oshitari? This is out of character for you,” said sharply. Oshitari turned his head to look at the girl.

“Hyoutei will win even if you are handing out free information about our training,” he said seriously. glared at the blue haired kansai.

“I am not someone who will betray people’s trust and in this case, the team and the coach’s trust,” she said frigidly.

“I am just advising you to be careful with whom you are seen with, especially when you are wearing our uniform,” Oshitari said as he turned his head back to the courts. gritted her teeth and held the clipboard tightly. She was tempted to strike the back of Oshitari’s head, but refrained from doing so since Gakuto started to walk towards them.

“Yuushi’s right . Just be careful with who you’re talking to,” Gakuto said as he drank from his water bottle.

“I don’t need to listen to this crap,” growled as she stood up and threw her clipboard to Oshitari and Gakuto’s direction. She walked up the stairs to grab her school bag and started to walk out of the courts.

“Don’t be such a little brat.”

stopped and turned around and stuck her tongue out at Atobe. She decided that she should at least give the coach a call to let him know the situation and that she is leaving early for the day.

“He won’t be too happy, but at least I’ll save myself from getting suspended after killing them.”

~~~

“Where did go?” Shishido asked as he wiped his brow with a clean towel.

“I think we may have something to do with it,” Gakuto said.

“Just putting out the flame before it becomes a risk,” Oshitari smirked.

“She’s just being sensitive,” Atobe waved his hand, dismissing Shishido. The blue capped boy scowled as he continued to dry himself.

“-senpai knew them before she came to Hyoutei,” Ohtori said while taking his towel out of his bag.

“More the reason to warn her,” Oshitari reasoned, “You never know with these commoners, especially .”

“Well… she did receive a scholarship for a reason so she is a responsible person,” Ohtori rationalized.

“That’s enough,” Atobe ordered, “Let’s not waste our time on these trifle thoughts.” He picked up the clipboard on the bench where had left.

“Oshitari and Gakuto, weight training. Shishido, serving. Ohtori, scrimmage with Jirou. Hiyoshi, laps,” Atobe checked off the list.

“Atobe.”

Atobe smirked. He turned around to see their coach looking annoyed.

“What is it coach?” he asked.

“If I hear another conflict between the team and , there will be consequences,” he said icily. Atobe, Kabaji and Oshitari were unmoved by their coach’s warning while the rest of the team nodded in reply.   

“Continue.”

“Che,” Shishido grunted as the coach left the courts.

“The school has enough rats that report to other nosy schools,” Atobe said, “we don’t need any on our team.”

The team did not make any comment as everybody started with the work that they were assigned to do.

~~~

Kippei looked over his notes that evening. He had a quiz next day so he wanted to review over some of the material. He sighed as he recalled what had happened earlier that day.

“Tachibana-san.”

Tachibana looked around and saw Fuji standing behind the wire fences. It was lunch time and the Fudoumine team was practicing.

“Fuji,” Tachibana said as he walked towards him, “What brings you to our humble establishment?”

The boy chuckled.

“Just wanted to drop by for a chat,” he answered. Tachibana raised an eyebrow. He knew that Fuji always has a reason whenever he visited. He opened the wire door and started to walk with Fuji.

“Alright,” Tachibana said, “We’re away from them, so out with it man before lunch is over.”

Fuji smiled.

“How close are you to -san?”

Tachibana’s eyes widened in shock. He cleared his throat and looked at Fuji suspiciously. Fuji’s face remained unchanged as he smiled innocently back at him.

“Fairly close. Any particular reason for your question?” he looked at Fuji’s face carefully.

“Ummm… just interested,” the tensai smiled. Tachibana let out a sigh.

“Fuji, you’d better be careful with this one. She’s not somebody to be toyed with,” Tachibana cautioned.

“Somebody who does not like THE Atobe Keigo is someone of my interest,” Fuji smiled. Tachibana slightly narrowed his eyes.

“Fuji. That is not an appropriate reason to see someone,” he said slowly. Fuji chuckled and shook his head.

“Just kidding Tachibana. I find her… refreshing and therefore would like to see more of her,” he reasoned, “Unless you’re not allowing me to do so.”

Kippei shuddered as he pictured the look that Fuji had left him before he returned to Seigaku. He started to read his notebook when his door suddenly slammed open.

“Onii-chan!”

An growled as she quickly approached Kippei’s study table. He raised an eyebrow.

“How come you didn’t tell me about Fuji-san visiting today?” she demanded as she slammed her hands on the table. Kippei stared at her blankly and continued with his reading. An grabbed her brother’s notebook out of his hand and held it behind her back. Kippei narrowed his eyes.

“An, this is unlike you. Return my notebook. Now.”

An frowned. She followed her brother’s order and slumped down on his floor. She stared at her nails wearily.

“Kamio-kun told me that you guys were gone for a while. The others thought you guys were gonna go at it,” An said as a matter-of-factly.

Kippei sighed and flipped to the page where he was reading.

“Fuji just wanted to know if he can see ,” Kippei said. An’s eyes widened with excitement.

“No WAY! Anything that I could help you with?!” she shrieked causing Kippei to flinch. He turned his chair to An who was smiling happily at herself.

“Actually there is,” he said making the girl’s smile even wider.

“We are going to Seigaku tomorrow to watch their practice and will be joining us,” Kippei explained. An raised an eyebrow. Kippei shook his head.

“It’s Fuji’s idea,” he said which caused An to look even more puzzled.

“Just listen,” Kippei said as he laid out the plan that Seigaku’s genius had made. An listened carefully and frowned at her brother after he finished explaining.

“We barely get to do anything,” she whined as she fell back on the floor.

“If this was calculated by Seigaku’s data man, then we have to be there,” Kippei nodded.

“Well, if Inui-san said so. I guess we have to do our best,” An said as she straightened herself up and walked out of Kippei’s room.

~~~

“Why exactly are we following -senpai?”

Ohtori was hiding behind the rest of the Hyoutei team sans Atobe. Shishido was in front of him and was peeking against a wall with Oshitari. Gakuto was hiding in a tree with Hiyoshi and Kabaji was behind Ohtori with Jirou on his shoulders. When they were leaving from school they spotted Tachibana outside the gates with . Atobe immediately ordered his teammates to follow and report any suspicious activity that was planning to do.

“How come Atobe isn’t here himself? He’s the one who wanted to know if she’s going to sell us out,” Shishido grumbled.

“He said something about not wanting to get caught sneaking around like some sort of lowlife pervert,” Oshitari mumbled.

“And yet we are doing this because?” Shishido questioned as he tiptoed towards another wall.

“Because I want to see for myself if she is actually going to betray us since she hates Atobe so much,” Gakuto replied as he jumped down from the tree and followed Shishido.

“I am also curious with her connection to the Fudoumine team,” Oshitari added as he pushed his glasses up and walked behind Ohtori.

“This just feels so wrong,” Ohtori sighed and scratched his head, “Following a fellow classmate and thinking that they would do something to compromise our school.”

“Choutarou, you are too trusting sometimes,” Oshitari patted the taller boy’s back, “Take Shishido for instance. He makes us all believe that he goes home to do his work right after practice when he is actually seeing a girl in my class.”

Shishido stopped on his tracks and turned around to face Oshitari.

“Wait! WHAT?! How did you-”

“See what I mean?” Oshitari shrugged his shoulders and smirked as he walked pass Shishido who still had a shocked look on his face.

“Really? Is that why you didn’t want to walk home with us any more?”

“Shut up!”