The Rumour
Chapter One: Extreme Punishment
"Eiji, Momoshiro, Echizen! Twenty laps for disturbing everyone's practice."
"What?!" yelped Momoshiro, releasing Ryoma from the headlock he's gotten the first year in shock. "But Buchou!" the spikey head player spluttered. Ryoma simply kept quiet, adjusted his cap and started to run, leaving his two senpais behind.
"Noooo fair!!! We weren't doing anything!" protested Eiji. "We were just playing with Ochibi –"
"Thirty laps."
"Argh!" Eiji and Momoshiro began to run. Ryoma was already more than a quarter-way of the court ahead of them.
"Oi, Ochibi, wait up for us!"
Inui studied the frown on their buchou's face from the safety of the other side of the court and made another notation in his notebook under Tezuka's entry. This was getting to be a little worrying. At the rate he's going, their Buchou has handed out 38% more punishments than usual and is looking to hit 40% within this practice alone.
Tezuka has always been scrupulously fair about stuff like this, which made this sudden increase a little out of the ordinary. In fact, it's gotten so that he's taken to his data collection activities with a lot more caution than usual. It wasn't that Tezuka is just handing out punishments without justification, but rather that things that the buchou normally let ride– like a little rambunctious horseplay between the three regulars now running laps – were now rigorously enforced with laps.
The object of his study was now striding towards the courts where the non-regular team members were practicing, causing a wave of quiet in his wake.
"Hey Inui!"
Ah, that was the tensai prodigy, back from his own twenty laps around the court, with his perpetual smile still intact despite the sheen of perspiration on his face. Inui flipped to his Fuji entries in his notebook and made a small notation. No change in breathing, despite a full practice and twenty laps with leg weights. Also, there's a 76% probability that Fuji is pissed, despite his smile. He would have given better odds, except this was Fuji they were talking about. He was, however, one hundred percent sure about what Fuji wanted to talk to him about and was ready to answer.
"Say, have you noticed anything different about our buchou recently?" Fuji asked semi-casually, wiping away his sweat with a towel.
Bingo. Inui adjusted his glasses, a tiny smile lurking at the corner of his lips. He flipped back to his notebook and looked down at the notes he didn't really need to consult.
"Buchou has handed out 38% more punishments to the team since his return to recovery. Also, he's spending about 40% more time on the non-regular members' training than usual. He's also asked me to prepare more of my special juices for the non-regulars as well," Inui looked up, glasses glinting in the light.
"If I really have to make a guess, I'd say that the reason for buchou's sudden strictness stems from his meeting with Ryuzaki-sensei and Oishi two weeks ago."
"Ryuzaki-sensei and Oishi, huh?" The smile dropped off Fuji's face momentarily as he gazed at the tall slender form of his buchou. He turned back to Inui, "Do you know where –" Fuji broke off and followed Inui's pointing finger to find Oishi standing in Court B overseeing the match between Kaido and Kawamura.
"Thanks!" Fuji smiled brilliantly. "And say, leave me a portion of the juice you're making for the non-regulars, okay?"
"No problem," replied Inui, adjusting his glasses. "Of course, you would tell me what is going on after you find out, right?"
"Sure," agreed Fuji, as he started walking towards the vice captain with a rather ominous air about him.
Things are going to get very interesting, very soon. That's one of the best things about playing tennis in Seigaku, thought the data collection specialist returning to his notebook. There's never a dull day with team members like this.
Oishi was studying the match between Kaido and Kawamura. The two players were closely matched, with Kawamura's strength and stamina pitched against Kaido's indefatigable spirit. The vice captain watched quietly as Kawamura fired off another successful Burning attack that has Kaido hissing in exasperation and made a mental note to talk to Inui about expanding Kaido's range of training. The Snake and Boomerang Snake were great scoring moves, but both Ryuzaki-sensei and Tezuka had agreed that Kaido needed more work to be a more all-rounded player.
Just then, his thoughts were interrupted by a cheerful voice. "Oishi, can I talk to you for a minute, please?" Fuji asked with his usual smile plastered on his face. Oishi glanced back at the match before him. "Er, sure. Just five minutes, all right?"
"That's fine. I just wanted to ask you if everything is all right. Tezuka seems a little stressed these days."
"Oh, that. Yeah… The coach called us in a couple of weeks ago for a discussion about next year's team. You know how most of our regulars are all third year students right…"
~ Flashback ~
"… With just one more term before graduation, that leaves us very little time to fix up the next cadre of regular players," Ryuzaki-sensei said heavily. "Frankly, I'm getting very worried about this. The posts for captaincy and vice captaincy would go to Momoshiro and Kaido of course, that goes without saying. But we could hardly just play with three regular players. I've been looking through the non-regular lists to find possible replacements for the members we'll be losing.
"Tezuka, I need you to concentrate on developing some of the more promising players. Talk to Inui about working out a special training programme for those you've identified. Oishi, I'll need you to oversees the regular members' training. You know the drill," concluded the Seigaku coach.
"Yes Ryuzaki sensei," the two boys chorused.
"Tezuka, I know you wanted to concentrate on Echizen's training, but –"
"It's all right sensei. I understand," said Tezuka quietly. "This is our last chance to put together a team that will continue to take Seigaku to the finals. We will do what we have to."
~ End Flashback ~
"Since that meeting, Tezuka's been working on identifying possible regulars from the existing club members," ended Oishi.
"I see, no wonder our buchou is in such a bad mood these days, if he has to bootstrap people into the regulars' slots." Fuji mused, tapping his racket to the side of his leg. "Hmm, hmm, hmm. Hey, I think I've just gotten a great idea to help our team improve," the tensai smiled angelically.
Oishi shuddered. Somehow, there was something very scary about Fuji's smile. "Er, Fuji. It's okay really. I mean, I'm sure Ryuzaki sensei and Tezuka will come up with something soon."
"Nonsense! It's everyone's responsibility to make sure that Seigaku stays one of the top tennis schools, right, Oishi?" Fuji continued to smile sweetly. "In fact, all they need is a little more incentive to spur them on, and I've got just the thing for it." Still smiling, the tensai walked away happily.
Oishi's heart sank. He had a really terrible feeling about this. "Should I warn Tezuka that Fuji's got a plan?" the vice-captain wondered out loud.