AN: At some point, I have somehow made a story for most of the next generation captains (Kirihara, Zaizen, and now Hiyoshi), and all of them revolves around inferiority complex. I would freak out too, if I have to live up to their respective buchous. Their buchous are not human.
The music was deafeningly loud coming from the brightly lit mansion. What was he expecting from a party hosted by Atobe anyway? He walked away to somewhere more quiet, like the football court sized garden. Though he could still hear the faint thrumming of the beat, at least he could hear his own thoughts here.
Standing on perfectly trimmed patches of grass in the middle of the field, Hiyoshi took a seat on the ground, not caring that his suit would get dirty. He stared at the full moon that adorned the pitch black sky. A deep sigh escaped his lips.
If his one month younger self was here, he would be standing at one corner of the mansion, unable to sit still. He would be tapping his foot to the beat impatiently, wishing that they could just get to the main highlight of today's party: the passing of Atobe's captaincy to him.
Fast forward and Hiyoshi was sitting all alone in the centre of ridiculously large patch of grass, away from the conundrum that was happening behind him, one that was arguably thrown for him. Hiyoshi had spend a good few minutes or so trying to enjoy the party inside like everyone else until he decided he could no longer bear this constricting feeling in his gut and went out.
Hiyoshi had no idea what he was supposed to do. He wanted to stay and took the title in stride as much as he wanted to bail the party entirely. He thought fresh air could clear his mind. If anything, it reminded him as to why he did not want to walk back and take the title from Atobe.
"The heck are you doing here?"
Hiyoshi turned his back to the source of the voice. He also did not expect to see him of all people here. "Same question to you, Mukahi-senpai."
The red head senior placed both hands on his hips and pouted. "I asked first."
Hiyoshi was not in the mood for childish bantering. He turned his head back to look at the moon. A few seconds later, he heard shuffling of fabric and found Mukahi sitting next to him. "There'd better be only soil on this ground and nothing else." Mukahi eyed the patch of grass around him suspiciously. Hiyoshi rolled his eyes and returned to moon-gazing.
"Seriously though, what on earth are you doing outside? The party's just started!" Mukahi furrowed.
Hiyoshi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. If he was going to explain anything, this childish and child-height senior of his would be the last person to hear it.
Mukahi grinned at Hiyoshi's stoic expression. "Did you just get dumped?"
Hiyoshi's sharp glare at Mukahi meant no.
"Fine, fine." Mukahi raised both arms in a gesture of defeat. "What is it then? You can't possibly be sick, can you? Did you just get scolded? Did you fail your test or something? Did you-"
"Just leave me alone, Mukahi-senpai." Hiyoshi hissed.
"No." Hiyoshi swore inwardly at his senior's petulance. "I'm not moving till you tell me why you're here." Mukahi crossed both his arms and legs to emphasize his words.
When Hiyoshi did not say anything, Mukahi began complaining. "You're weird. Today's our graduation from the club, which also means you'll be the captain from tomorrow onwards. You always say 'gekokujou gekokujou' and whaddya know, today's the day. I totally expect you to be more happy about this, though you probably still frown throughout the entire thing, but definitely not wasting your time here."
The thing that was constricting Hiyoshi suddenly strangled him at the word 'captain'. "I lost." He heard himself say before he could realize it. He immediately regretted it.
"Say what? You lost?"
Hiyoshi kept his lips sealed, fixing his eyes at the moon so intensely that if it could, the moon would have a hole through it by now.
Mukahi shifted in his seat to twist towards Hiyoshi. "Which one? To Atobe? To Seigaku's shorty? Or is it the nationals one?"
'All of them' would be Hiyoshi's answer. But he opted to remain as still as possible.
Mukahi grimaced at Hiyoshi's silence. Unlike Mukahi, Hiyoshi preferred to keep a lot of things to himself. Mukahi was no genius like Oshitari. He could not guess the complete picture with only two pieces of puzzle given to him.
"In case you can't remember, we lost together on the nationals. It's not your fault." Mukahi said the last sentence with less vigor compared to the rest. Hiyoshi noticed, and turned his attention to check on his senior. Mukahi was staring intently at his crossed feet.
"Senpai?" Hiyoshi called out.
"You know, I always play doubles with Yuushi." Mukahi indulged without prompt. "Whenever we're together, we lost, and then Hyoutei lost. But when Yuushi's all alone, at least he won his match. Besides that shortie monster from Seigaku, you did just fine on your own. Then you're paired with me and then we lost…"
Mukahi's eyes seemed to glint more than normal. It took a while for Hiyoshi to realize that his senior was crying. The realization dropped his heart to his gut. He had no idea what to do during this kind of situation, especially if it's Mukahi since that's Oshitari's job. What to do, what to do... Hesitantly, Hiyoshi slowly reached an arm out towards Mukahi.
"What are you doing?" Mukahi asked, staring at the hand that was moving towards him suspiciously. Hiyoshi quickly withdrew his hand back, pretending he had not moved it in the first place.
"Anyway," Mukahi shrugged, wiping his tears off with his fingers. "You lost. So what?"
Hiyoshi flinched at the sudden shift of the spotlight. He really did not want to talk about this, not after his senior's sudden outburst. At the same time, he wanted to refute a certain flaw in Mukahi's rant just now. His impulse forced him to do the latter.
"You're not captain." Hiyoshi berated himself for slipping once again.
Mukahi stared blankly at Hiyoshi for a second. Then his eyes grew wide and he flung his finger pointing at Hiyoshi, his body recoiled slightly backwards. "Ahh! You think you can't be captain because you've lost!"
Not quite the entire story, but Hiyoshi did not want Mukahi to know any part of the story in the first place. Now that the cat's out of the bag, there was no getting out of this. He might as well straighten everything before false rumors started spreading.
"Buchou also lost." Hiyoshi pointed out. "But he is the strongest in the club. He's the richest. He's the student council president. He gets the most chocolate on Valentine's day. He's…at the top."
Mukahi gave him a confused look. Hiyoshi sighed. "Gekokujou. Next year I'll be the senior, the one that is to be surpassed." Hiyoshi could not bring himself to elaborate further than that.
"Wait. Does this have something to do with what you said just now? That you lost?" Mukahi questioned. Hiyoshi felt the same frustration he had when he taught his younger sister. He gave a curt nod.
Mukahi still did not get it. "Okay, so you lost. And you're not the richest, the council prez, or the one with most chocolate." Mukahi counted down each point with his fingers. "You're the strongest in the club though, since we left and all that."
"Ootori." Hiyoshi mentioned.
"Fine. Both of you are the strongest then." Mukahi snorted. "I don't see the issue here."
Now it was Hiyoshi's turn to give Mukahi a dumbfounded look. Hiyoshi refused to waste his breath trying to explain things.
"If you want to keep quiet, fine." Mukahi glared, propping himself up to a standing position. "Atobe has chosen you as his successor. He threw this party for you. You're not bailing out on this."
"It's you senior's graduation party." Hiyoshi corrected.
"Fine, both." Mukahi hissed. "You can continue your sulking inside!" Mukahi grabbed Hiyoshi's arm and tried to drag him up. Hiyoshi quickly planted his feet on the ground for resistance as he tried to retrieve his hand back. They continued this game of tug of war that gradually became a contest of endurance. Hiyoshi won.
"Stop being such a stubborn brat." Mukahi gave up, crossing his legs and sat on the ground with a huff. Hiyoshi quietly followed.
"You know, the thing I said just now about losing?" Mukahi said after he had regained his breath. "I told that to Yuushi, and he told me that at least I improved my stamina issue, and that there's always a next time. If I ever run out of opponents to lose from, Yuushi said that he'll gladly be one." Mukahi reminisced with a pout.
"I guess you don't have Yuushi, or me, or Atobe anymore next year. But that doesn't mean you have nothing to overcome."
Hiyoshi raised an eyebrow. "And that is…?"
Mukahi grinned, though grief flashed his eyes for a brief second. "Our great king failed to bring Hyoutei to win any competition. Not the prefectural, not the regionals, and not the nationals." Mukahi leaned closer to pat Hiyoshi's shoulder. "As the captain, bring the team to the top. Then show it off to that arrogant king. I wonder what kind of face would he make~" Mukahi snickered.
That advice was unexpected, coming from Mukahi. Hiyoshi was speechless. "But I…?" Hiyoshi pointed at himself.
"About the losing thing?" Mukahi confirmed and Hiyoshi nodded. "Well, look at it this way. I don't care if instead of Atobe, Taki is the captain instead." Then he quickly changed his mind. "Okay I definitely would mind, but that's because that guy's completely useless. He's like Atobe, without the skills."
A thin, almost undistinguishable curve was formed at the corner of Hiyoshi's lips.
"What I'm saying is that as long as the captain can lead the team properly, he can lose every single match for all I care. He can even get himself dropped out of regulars like Ryo did. Now that I think about it, back then, the reason why Atobe became captain was not because he's the strongest. It's because he's the strongest, and he makes everyone else stronger."
Hiyoshi listened to Mukahi's words attentively. If he got this right, his senior was telling him that he still had Atobe's leadership to overcome. That, and no one cared to surpass him. There would probably be some, Hiyoshi doubted, but Mukahi was probably trying to say that it did not matter to his role as a captain.
Mukahi noticed the light coming back to Hiyoshi's eyes. He sprang up to his feet. "Now let's go back before the food's all gone!"
Hiyoshi slowly followed behind his bubbly senior.
'As of today, ore-sama will be stepping down as the captain of Hyoutei tennis club. The one that will take over ore-sama's role will be Hiyoshi.'
'Hiyoshi, anything to say?'
"As promised." Atobe passed Mukahi a plate of a large slice of an expensive looking cake.
After the party had ended, Atobe had generously offered the regulars to stay for the night in his numerous spare rooms. Still dressed in his magnificent white suit, he was observing the cleaning of the hall from the stairway when the red head came to collect his end of the bargain.
Oshitari walked down the stairs and approached Atobe as Mukahi dashed up to devour the cake in his room. "I would have done a much better job at convincing him." Oshitari complained.
"Your short partner needs to grow up too, no?" Atobe shot back. Oshitari could only give a smile in return. Like what Mukahi had brilliantly said, Atobe might be the strongest person he had ever known, but he was their king because he knew how to use that to make everyone else stronger. Not so much because of his responsibility as a captain, but more because he took pride in the fact that he was the strongest.
But…a man like Atobe was something that came once in a million year. Oshitari understood the pain of having to live up to someone of such prowess. He also could see why Hiyoshi was the chosen one.
'…Under my rule, we'll train twice- no, thrice as harder. We'll surpass you, seniors. I'll surpass you, Atobe, because next year, Hyoutei will win!'
It took a lot of guts to endure the pain of a losing fight.
AN: A bit announcement on Prince of Cowardice here. I'll be going through schedule slip from now onwards. Next chapter should be done in one or two more weeks' time, and the subsequent chapters will be posted at two to four weeks interval. Sorry.
Also, I'm working on something for the special occasion next week~
About the story: Can this even be called HiyoshixMukahi? I'm seeing more of indirect AtobexHiyoshi instead. Whoops.