A MID-VALENTINE'S DAY DREAM
None of the regulars had ever taken Valentine's Day seriously. February 14th was just another school day to them. Just another day of tennis.
This year, things were no different. Eiji Kikimaru staggered into the boys changing room, exhausted as usual after all the intensive training.
Desperate for a drink, he rummaged in the box where all their bottles were kept.
All thoughts of thirst disappeared, however, when he spotted something strange in the corner of the box.
Taking the bottle out, he cautiously inspected the pale pink liquid inside it. The label on the bottle spelled out 'Inui'. Figures.
"Nya, whats this?" Obviously it was the latest mutation of Inui's Vegetable Juice.
The cat-like boy's curiosity bubbled over again. "Wonder what it does?" A mischievous twinkle sparked in his deep crimson eyes when he heard footsteps outside the changing room.
Quickly standing up, he turned to meet the new comer.
"Hey, Oishi!" Eiji pounced on his favourite doubles partner.
"Hi, Eiji," the worn out vice captain said weakly.
"You must be tired. Have a drink!" Eiji thrust out the bottle in his hand.
The unsuspecting Oishi took it without looking at the label, muttering "Thanks" before gulping it down.
Opening his eyes wide in anticipation, the trickster eagerly awaited for the juice to take effect, expecting a gagging, coughing and screaming session. If Oishi fainted, he reasoned, he'd have a whole night to recover. And while the results of drinking the infamous liquid were potentially catastrophic, it hadn't killed anyone. Yet.
Oishi lowered the bottle from his lips and a puzzled expression crossed his face as he stared at his friend.
"Well, how do you feel?" Eiji demanded excitedly.
A beatific smile spread across the vice-captain's face.
"Nya! Could it be true? Has Inui finally made a vegetable juice that actually tastes good?" Eiji gasped.
"Oh Eiji! You must be so tired after all those laps."
"Uh, sure," Eiji said, unsure of the tone Oishi was using.
"You poor thing! Look, you're sweating so hard." Oishi dabbed at Eiji's forehead with his towel.
"Wait--wait. Oishi, what are you doing?" He backed away in alarm.
The other boy grew tearful at once. "What, Eiji-chan? Don't you love me back?"
"WHAT?!" Take a moment to imagine the question marks exploding over his head.
"I love you so much, Eiji! Please don't push me away!"
"Nya?! Get away from me! What happened to you, Oishi? Was it something you ate? Was it--" Wait. The panicking boy looked at the bottle in his 'admirer's' hand.
"It's a love potion!"
Oishi seemed to have absorbed only one word out of the previous sentence. "Love? Oooh, does that mean you love me back now?"
"No! No! No! NOOO!" Eiji's flailing arms were the only things that kept Oishi from encasing him in a hug.
One of the hysterical boy's hand hit Inui's bottle, so that some of the pale pink substance squirted out, landing neatly into Oishi's grinning mouth.
"Whoa!" An invisible force threw Oishi backwards. "Hi, Eiji. Why are you shaking?"
"O--Oishi, you--you don't remember--? Um, nothing. I'm just tired, that's all."
Shrugging, Oishi left after waving good bye.
Eiji contemplated the love potion that Oishi had left behind. Compared to Inui's previous multi-coloured concoctions, it looked harmless enough.
"So you drink it and you fall in love with the next person you see. Another drink and you return to normal and forget what happened." Eiji's mischievous grin appeared again.
He could have some fun with this new toy.
"I wonder if there's any more." He would have to make sure that there was enough for everyone. He was so engrossed in his search that he didnt hear another person come into the room.
"What are you looking for?"
"Buchou? Oh, nothing, I've, um, lost my water bottle."
"Carry on then. Find it or it's 10 laps. Could you pass me mine?"
Eiji took up another bottle, still concentrated on his rummaging, and held a hand out.
"Too bad, there's no more here. But at least I've still got--Nya?!" The boy started at the bottle still in his hand. The bottle labeled 'Tezuka'.
"Buchou!"
Too late. Tezuka had already gulped a mouthful down.
"Yes, Eiji?" He started to turn his head.
"No! Buchou, don't look--"
"Tezuka, Eiji." At the last moment, Tezuka's line of sight was diverted to the doorway where a third person had appeared.
Eiji breath a heavy sigh of relief.
"Saa, still here? Don't mind me, I just want to get some water." Fuji smiled.
"Oh, ok, I'll get it for you!" Tezuka nearly knocked Eiji over getting to the water bottles.
"Thank you." Fuji started to drink, but stopped in mid-swallow, seeing Tezuka gazing at him with a most particular expression on his face.
"Is anything wrong, Tezuka?"
"Has anyone ever told you how handsome you are, Syusuke?" Tezuka asked.
Fujis eyes snapped open.
"And your eyes," the captian continued. "A brighter blue than sapphires, beautiful enough to drown in..."
This was too much even for the poker face Fuji. "Buchou, are you feeling all right?" He looked at Tezuka uncertainly.
"No, I'm not," Tezuka murmured in a condoling tone, stepping up to Fuji and taking his hands. "I won't be until you promise to spend the rest of your life with me in marriage..."
"Te--Tezuka--"
Giggling with glee, Eiji skipped off with the love potion, leaving a very confused tensai to fend for himself.
"What should I do now?" Ready to unleash chaos within Seigaku, Eiji scurried around in search of his next victim.
"Ah, I know. I'll make Ochibi fall in love with Sakuno. I can just see the look on her face!" He clapped his hands excitedly. "Or even better, Tomo!" Having once made up his mind, Eiji set out for the tennis courts.
"Eiji senpai! Water!" Momo gasped, rushing towards the red haired boy and snatching the bottle out of his hand.
"No! Momo, that's not for you--" Eiji made a lunge for it, but was distracted by a low hissing noise.
"Ill mannered baka..." Kaidoh intoned.
Momo spun around to confront him. "Why you..." his sentence died away as a look of bliss overtook him.
"Kaidoh...goddess, nymph, divine...to what, my dear, shall I compare thine eyne? Crystal is muddy, oh let me liss, those kissing cherries..."
"Nya? This love potion does a lot more than make you fall in love. I'm sure Momo has never read Shakespeare in his life!"
But Kaidoh didn't seem impressed by the beautiful poetry Momo was reciting as he tried to pull the irate Kaidoh into an embrace. "TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF ME, YOU BAKA!"
"Oh, why rebuke you him that loves you so? Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe!"
"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Eiji shook his head. Some things never changed, whether people were in love or not.
Momo was still continuing his vain attempts to hug his hissing friend, while Kaidoh had the expression of someone who was being strangled.
"Pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty..."
"SHUT UP AND STOP SPEAKING IN RHYME!"
The fond bickering had broken out into a full fight. "Stop it, you two!" Eiji hurried to separate them, and managed to get an arm between the two boys. "Just--stop--it--Aahh!"
Momo gave him a sudden accidental kick in the shins and--yes, you've got it--Eiji tightened his grip on the bottle as he fought to regain his balance. A squirt caught Kaidoh full in the face.
"Ugh!" He grunted, screwing up his eyes. He blinked a few times in rapid succession and looked up before Eiji could blindfold him to see--
"Ochibi!"
Echizen glanced round at the pair of lovers battling it out, looking bored as usual, totally unaware of what was to befall him.
"Eiji senpai, Momo senpai...Kaidoh senpai, why are you...blushing?"
It was true. All eyes turned to Kaidoh as he allowed his face to grow red openly for the first time. Then, the size of Echizen's eyes was directly proportional to the increase in Kaidoh's ever widening grin.
"Love," Eiji concluded, half fearful of the potion he was holding, "is a powerful thing."
"Are you busy tonight, Ryoma? If you're not, let's go out for a romantic dinner. I'll cancel my evening training just for you."
A thunderstruck Echizen choked out "M--mada mada dane!" before kicking up the dust while he shot off in the direction he had come from.
Crestfallen, Kaidoh stared at the ground. "He thinks I'm not good enough for him. I must train harder."
"How now, my love? Why is your cheek so pale? How chance the roses there--"
"BAKA! IF YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY SET ON HAUNTING ME, COULD YOU AT LEAST SPEAK ENGLISH?"
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" A voice blasted into Eiji's ear, causing him to jump.
"Aah!"
And then...
"AAAHHH!" A jerk of his hand had unlatched the lid of the love potion's bottle, splashing it all over his coach's face.
"EIJI!" A furious Coach Ryuzaki rounded on the helpless redhead. Of course...
"Can't you just yell at me for ruining your favourite sports jacket?" he whined pitifully.
"Why would I yell at you, my dear?" The smitten coach took his arm.
Eiji chuckled weakly. "Sensei, there is such a thing as an age difference, you know? And, um, arent you married?"
"I don't care, as long as I can be with you, sweetheart."
"AAARG!"
Back at the changing rooms...
"Tezuka, can we do something before we say our vows?" Fuji coaxed, a hint of desperation in his voice.
"Of course we can! I'll do anything for you, my dear Syusuke! I'll climb Mount Everest, swim across the Pacific--"
"I'm sure you would, so why don't we warm up by playing a game of tennis?"
A bundle of nerves--recently known as the tensai of Seigaku--led Tezuka out onto the tennis courts.
If Fuji could knock the captain out with a ball, there just might be time to get away.
At the tennis courts...
"I have to find Ryoma and tell him how I feel!"
"Spurn me, strike me, neglect me, lose me; only give me leave, unworthy as I am, to follow you--"
"Now, Eiji dear, would you like to stay the night at my place tonight? I'm sure I'll be able to find you a bed..."
"STOP IT!!"
Then it came to Eiji. "Oh, wait, I just have to reveres the effects of the love potion!" He peered into the bottle...
"WHAT?!" There were only a few drops left at the bottom.
So, what should Eiji do next? Should he:
Find Inui and ask him for more potion? See Ending One: Ask For Help. Or figure that the effects of the potion shouldn't last too long, and go off to enjoy the fun? See Ending Two: Oh, What The Heck?