a/n: I'm not going to lie, I could write novels about Yanagi. There is so much to him than meets the eye. xD
-x-
Data Tennis is something Yanagi Renji stumbles across when he is nine years old. Akuto is a big boy, going on twelve, and he lives in the same neighborhood as Renji, so eventually sooner or later the two bond over tennis. He's the brother he wished he had, and so Renji childishly names him Akuto-nii-chan.
"You notice that you can predict what other kids can do, right?" Akuto is taking Renji today on an expedition to his elementary school, and he points out the small children out on the tennis court. "If you memorize the sequence of how they react to certain shots, you can steal points from them. And then win."
He right. Renji tries it, and winning becomes ridiculously easy from that day on.
Renji starts keeping a notebook, and at first it's a giant conglomeration of unorganized observations at first. Akuto shows him how to fine-tune those observations, and they slowly evolve into a form of strategy that Renji starts to depend on.
His first entry is one of Inui Sadaharu, a classmate that is just as smart as he is, but Renji is too afraid to approach him.
When he tells this to Mayuko (who is a second year in middle school) she gets a peculiar look on her face. "Renji, you need to go out and talk to people, not take notes on them."
"But Onee-san, he's smarter than me and I'm afraid he's going to hate me if I try - "
"You want me to talk to him?"
"No!" Here Renji crosses his arms together, but Mayuko just laughs at him and pokes his forehead. "I bet Inui-kun isn't that bad. You like tennis, he likes tennis. What's the big deal?"
"He's... weird. He doesn't talk much."
"You don't either, Renji." She rises up, and he looks at his older sister enviously. Mayuko doesn't have to work at being sociable, because it comes easily for her. She's too pretty and smart not to be.
"But he - he's so tall."
"You're going to be tall too. What about Akuto-nii? He's tall."
That's true. "But he's a lot like you, Onee-san. He's not as intimidating."
"Eugh, no. He's such a weirdo. Keeps data on everyone."
Renji frowned. "But he's cool and he wins his matches all the time."
"Data can only get you so far," Mayuko said succinctly. Renji listens, because his sister knows more about people than he does. And he likes being in her room. There are pictures of fishes and marine biology on her wall, complicated textbooks on her shelf.
She started brushing her hair, and he started to count the times she ran it through her silky tresses. Fifty's been his record so far.
"Renji, you should make some new friends. I can't be here for you all the time, alright?"
"Okay."
"Now shoo. I have a date in a few hours."
"Again? Who is it?"
"None of your business."
He hops off the stool, knowing Mayuko wants the room to herself now. Now that she's fourteen and all grown up, she doesn't want to do much with him.
He knows that she's right though. He sticks a note on the fridge that says he's going to the park in a bit, and he takes his blue notebook and a pencil with him. He records everything.
Hibiya Park isn't located too far away from his house. Renji climbs up a bench and opens his notebook, thinks about what he wants to write.
(His handwriting is neat, so says his teachers.)
After a while he decides he'll write about Mayuko's new date. She brings home a new boy every week, but gets tired of them just as quick. Their parents don't notice, but Renji happens to know all of their heights, weights, and blood type. He also knows if they cheat on Mayuko.
He's busy scribbling down notes until a shadow descends on him. He looks up.
"Yo," Inui said. "You're Yanagi-san, right? Want to play a match with me?"
Inui, to his delight, is just as good at tennis as he is. Intrigued by the precision and accuracy of Renji's Data Tennis, he quickly picks it up and he becomes Renji's best friend in a matter of weeks.
(Mayuko is thrilled. It means she doesn't have to babysit Renji anymore, even if he claims that he's too old to need constant supervision.)
The coach at their elementary school recognizes their compatibility, and just for fun, he registers both of them into a local doubles tournament. Both of them are surprised at first, but after a while they like the idea. They practice formations and research their opponents so thoroughly that they take first place without breaking a sweat.
From that on, they aren't just friends. They're partners, two compatible people who match up perfectly; one half fitting to another. Their nicknames are for fun, but eventually they replace first names. Renji is called professor, and Sadaharu is a doctor. Hakase and kyouju.
The two are unstoppable. When they win their fifth doubles tournament, they're exhilarated. They even hold a whimsical belief that no one can stop them.
When Inui is eleven, he says, "Let's be doubles partners forever."
Renji agrees. It's too bad it's the beginning of an end.
Things happen, and somehow he ends up at Rikkaidai. He never had the chance to prepare himself in this new environment. He misses Akuto-nii, misses Sadaharu and playing doubles, and he finds that the Kanagawa Prefecture is different from Tokyo. Lots of people live there, but they commute to the capital to work. It's something that's boggled his mind, spending three or more hours on transportation. Still, he joins the tennis club and hopes he can play doubles again.
At twelve, he's more serious and quieter. His sister, who is already in her final year of high school, is getting ready to move out, and he realizes he has to be more independent.
There's a boy called Sanada, and they immediately bond over shogi and calligraphy. He is headstrong and powerful, and he can beat most of the third years. The rest don't even bother to fight back, which is why he can't claim he's defeated the entire court.
Then there is Yukimura, who is cunning and bright. Renji is wary of him at first, mainly because he is unpredictable, but gradually, he learns to trust Yukimura's leadership.
Yukimura, however, welcomes Renji with open hands. His data is analytical, and therefore serves a good purpose. He can find flaws in others, and correct them accordingly. Renji's tennis is always deliberate, with little flaws to speak of, whereas Sanada - when riled or angered, can get careless.
Yukimura's tennis is perfect, no question about it. He's strong. When the captain pits him against Yukimura, Renji wins three games at first, simply because he's memorized all of Yukimura's data. Then Yukimura fights back, and Renji ends up collapsing on court. He's completely overwhelmed.
Renji doesn't fight Yukimura, not the way that Sanada does. Tennis isn't an ego trip for him like it is for the Emperor or the Child of God. He prefers to cooperate with others - it's natural and he likes to compromise some of his habits to make room for others.
When Sanada finally acknowledges that Yukimura is better than he is, Renji feels it is safe to call both of them by their first names.
Their first victory at Nationals is immortalized with a picture where Seiichi is holding the award, Genichirou with the trophy, and Renji carrying the team flag.
"You should smile more often." Seiichi is passing out photo prints to the tennis club, and Renji looks over his thoughtfully. The reporters have given them the title of The Big Three, upcoming players to watch out for.
"Yes, Genichirou, I've heard smiling is healthy for you," Renji says, and he passes a meaningful look to Seiichi. The two of them smile together. Being socially adept has never been one of Genichirou's strengths. "I mean, we just won Nationals."
"Tarundoru," the other boy grumbles.
Renji is instinctively better at playing doubles than singles, unlike Yukimura, whose tennis threatens to harm the other person if they ever went too close to him. Similarly, Sanada is too independent and proud to share a court, and so Renji himself improves his caliber by working with the rest of the team.
Yagyuu has to have boundaries, Jackal is dependable and rarely makes mistakes, Marui is wonderfully brilliant with his serves and volleys, Niou is tricky, and Kirihara is violent and hot-headed. Renji finds that adapting to their individual styles takes considerable talent, and his ingenuity is stretched to the limit as he figures out which moves compliment their form best. But he finds his best match is with his kouhai, Kirihara Akaya.
The incoming freshmen is such a clear cut juxtaposition to the quiet and soft-spoken Renji that initially, the team is shocked as to why Renji gets along better with him than anybody else.
Sanada can't stand Akaya, yet Akaya worships Yukimura. In Renji, it is only then that he can finds a balanced medium of the two. Akaya doesn't need to be the baby of the team in front of him, because Renji can see past his need for attention and approval. Renji disciplines Akaya with kindness and patience that is rewarded with growth and maturity.
In fact, most of the team finds Renji to be the most objective and level-headed member of the team. That's why they tell him their secrets - even Niou asks for help one time or another. It's over math homework, and Renji discovers that Niou is incredibly smart, but prefers not to show it. In return, Renji promises them silence. Unlike others, he doesn't abuse the privilege of confidentiality.
He'll listen to them, and calmly prescribe them a solution; he is an advisor. It allows the team to co-exist together in harmony. In a team full of such talented athletes, there are certain personality types that clash. Niou's supposed nonchalance irritates Yagyuu, and Yukimura's psychological maneuvering gets on Sanada's nerves too many times. Renji sees this all too clearly, but he doesn't ask them why they don't. It's his niche. He thinks that if he doesn't have that role anymore, he'd quit the team.
Their second victory at Nationals comes with much cheering from the third years. Renji, however, is busy calculating how much money they have this year to allocate to next year's training.
He realizes that he holds responsibility within the team when his new position is Head Treasurer of the club. He has the not-so-glamorous job of reserving the ball machines and ordering shipments of new equipment. By then, he was so used of taking care of the team that it becomes second nature to look for all the technicalities.
Everything starts to go wrong when Seiichi is in the hospital. It's so unexpected that it is like an avalanche that threatens to ruin everything.
Yukimura is supposed to be the leader of their team. He is supposed to bring perfection and the guarantee of success, substantiated by his record of no official losses. He's supposed to be strong; Renji knows that he won't let the others see him in a state of weakness. And so Yukimura pretends to be a shadow of what he used to be.
Renji doesn't have an explanation or solution for anything this time. Neither does Genichirou.
When Inui Sadaharu greets him on the court, all that Renji can think about is how long it's been. The data says it's been four years, two months, and fifteen years, but it feels much longer to him. Both of them are much taller now, and they are wiser and stronger. He doesn't have the same pageboy haircut anymore, and Inui looks more like a man than a boy.
Unexpectedly, the emotions and guilt come barreling in his mind like a whirlwind. Renji wonders if Sadaharu ever bore resentment for him. He wonders if his old friend has spent nights asking him why he never said goodbye, or told him he was leaving.
Which side are you on? his rationale screams out. Renji remains calm outside, but he is torn between doing his best for the sake of Seiichi, and his past with Sadaharu.
In the end, he finds out that Sadaharu has surpassed him, when the bespectacled boy has thrown away his data. He's won the match, while Renji walks back to the bench, facing horrified stares and indignant glares.
He remembers what his sister said, all those years ago. "Data can only get you so far."
Renji forces himself to acknowlege the irony in those words as he waits for Genichirou's punishment, head down.
The entire team watches in silent horror as Yukimura loses points against Echizen Ryoma.
The Child of God, losing to a measly freshmen? Impossible. Yet the impossibilities were turning to certainties, and Renji is the first one to see that there is no going back. But the others - they still hold hope in their beloved captain.
Renji closes his eyes, and doesn't want to watch the match anymore. It's too sad.
Renji is the first one to approach Yukimura after their loss at Nationals.
Everyone else is too scared to. No one blames him; after all, even Sanada has lost to the freshmen, but one thing that the captain has never approved of was the look of pity in their eyes.
Seiichi is sketching a picture of a gardenia when he finally sees Renji sitting close by him. The school rooftop is filled with the fruits of his labor; the flowers are especially beautiful this year.
He rips the picture in half.
"It was supposed to be our year," Seiichi says bitterly. "I had the perfect team. And then - then - " There's a swell of emotion in his voice that crescendos into anger, then subsides like a wave to resignation. "- we lost. I lost. It was my fault."
"You tried your best," Renji says, and he knows Seiichi won't snap at him, simply because he is who he is. Out of all the team members, he thinks that he understands the captain the best; knows his flaws and imperfections better than Seiichi knows himself.
"I know. It's my fault though," Seiichi says, and he says this so matter-of-factly that it breaks Renji's heart. "I couldn't fulfill our promise. We were supposed to win three times in a row."
"It was never your fault, Seiichi." Renji replied. "Never was. You've created us, and led us to where we were. Perhaps the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."
The blue haired boy breathes out all his frustration, and finally, he looks up to Renji with a half smile. "You're right. How do you always know the right things to say, Renji?"
"Practice," Renji replies solemnly, but he opens his eyes, and the two both share a hidden amusement.
Seiichi takes out his sketching pad, clicks his pen, and starts mapping out a field of sunflowers. They sit together for a while before Seiichi speaks again.
"That boy was right, you know," Seiichi mused. "I still have a long way to go."
The U-17 camp comes around, and this time, he honorably leaves his position in the camp for Akaya. After all, Akaya is responsible for the direction of the Rikkaidai tennis team next year, and Renji has decided that he's going to pursue more intellectual ventures after he graduates from middle school. He requests Shiraishi to take care of his kouhai, and he does.
The bus, however, does not take them back home. It was a fatal miscalculation on his part.
He climbs the mountain with Genichirou and the others, and his body aches from the exertion. Even though his stamina is top-notch, he cannot deny that the training is harsh and unforgiving.
Sadaharu, on the other hand, lends him some help that makes life a little easier. The two are back to a doubles pair again. Renji had forgotten how good it felt to be working with someone who applied theoretical concepts on the same level as he did. On the irregular bounce court, the two easily culminate their data together so that they are an unstoppable force. They return every ball that the high schoolers serve without fail, and even though their effort ends up in vain, Renji is proud to be standing next to Sadaharu again.
When the representative high schoolers battle with the middle schoolers, that's when everything comes back full circle.
Mitsuya Akuto spots him first, and smiles. It's been a long time, Renji-kun.
He predicts what Renji is going to say, and then he engages in battle. Here is the teacher seeing whether his pupil has surpassed him.
Even though Renji has trained so hard in the mountains, Akuto still manages to overwhelm him, exhausting him mentally and physically. Inui carries him, places him on a bench, and promises him that he will win the match for him.
And he does. His partner has the badge of honor and presses it into Renji's palm. The No. 17 glitters in the sun against his jacket collar.
When camp ends, there's an immense sense of satisfaction - the coaches, high schoolers, representatives, and middle schoolers stand together and there are new rivalries and friendships made. The skill level brought to the table has increased exponentially. It excites many of the graduating third years who are hungry for the chance to compete with new contestants.
"What do you think, Renji?" his captain asks, as the three of them all are lingering at the table, waiting for dessert. The other teammates are mingling with everyone else, but still, the three of them prefer the company of their closest friends. "Are you going to pursue tennis after this year?"
Renji knows Genichirou is, but anything beyond the first year of high school for the kendo specialist is a hit or miss. It'll depend on the schematics of the other players - there are upperclassmen to deal with, and Seiichi is going to be met with hard opposition if he tries to take over the team the same way he did in middle school.
"Maybe," Renji answers, taking a sip of his tea. "I'm taking the entrance exams for several high schools. It depends."
"I see," Genichirou pours more of the hot beverage into his cup. "Renji, if we don't see you next year, it would be a disappointment and a great loss."
These are not words to be taken lightly, especially when they come from the Emperor, a person of few words. Renji smiles, and acknowledges his words with a toast.
"To the Three Demons," he says, and the three clink their glasses together.
"To the Three Demons," echoes Seiichi. They drink, swallow the bitter taste down, and set their cups down.
Mayuko is back home, fresh from her second year at university. She smells like the ocean and new discoveries, and Renji is glad to see her again, after weeks of training and playing and conditioning. There aren't any girls at camp, and while he didn't mind then, she brings stability and a feminine touch to home.
"Oh, you're taking high school entrance exams? How nolstagic," she comments. She picks up one of his cram school books and flips through the pages.
"Do you think I should quit tennis?" he asks her, because Mayuko is still knowledgeable and wiser than he is. She isn't surprised that he's at a crossroad, because she's been there once.
"What would you lose if you quit?" she asks, ruffling his head affectionately. "Think carefully."
The rest of his summer vacation is coming to a close, and it will be September soon. Fall is coming, and his parents are awaiting to see his decision. They aren't worried about his ability to get into high school - Renji is too studious for that - but they are curious. They know one of his long-term goals is to be accepted into Todai University. High school will be a crucial stepping stone between where he is now and where he will go in the future.
Rikkaidai is still a good choice, but there are better schools out there. Renji looks at his small, growing collection of books and knows that there are still things he can pursue outside of tennis.
Still, he reflects on the people who have made him the way he is. His thumb brushes the gold pin he won from the camp, and he realizes that everything important to him is connected to the game of people hitting a ball back and forth with string rackets.
He draws up a list of schools after a while, and finally makes a decision in December.
The examination room is filled with many hopeful students, and Renji scans the room for anybody he knows.
Seiichi gives him a wave, and Renji smiles.
-x-
a/n: so um... review. :)