Title Doppelganger
Author Uozumi
Genre General
Word Count 166 words
Rating PG
Summary Sometimes people are pulled into things untrue just to satiate their own desires.
Warning Please note SPOILERS for the most recent Japanese chapters.
Note
There are no pairings intended in this drabble. I also tried to leave
who will win the actual match open-ended since I don't have that answer
yet.
If it were love, Fuji would have called Nioh on it. If it were admiration that went beyond tennis, he would not accept the lie before him.
Nioh, for as tricksy as he was, was not Tezuka. Nioh did not have the passion or restraint nor the physical maladies that keep wolves at bay. If Tezuka ever seduced Fuji, it was this sham of a player who could give the Seigaku genius what he sought.
Yet Nioh was not Tezuka, so the question of superiority was void. The opportunity before Fuji was nothing but an illusion. The question still stood even if Fuji managed the win because Nioh will never be Tezuka.
Nioh pulled off Tezuka because it would be a psychological advantage. To put on the guise of the buchou, he could trick the underlings. Histories and quandaries were nothing over simply psyching another person out. Perhaps his victory is the acceptance of the illusion no matter what the score box told at the end.