Legend:

"This" is speech.

'This' is thoughts.

'This' is the inner thoughts Taiya usually has, but does not appear very often.

"This" is to signify those who are capable of speaking Chinese, are speaking Chinese -.- You get the point.


"God~! It's hot!"

Most of the student body of Seigaku Junior High would recognise this figure as Sanzushi Taichi, a Regular on the boys tennis team. It was only natural that talented, 'handsome' tennis players were to be admired from around the school campus.

But that's only a small part of it. Recently, something really screwed up the boys tennis team. That's Sanzushi Taichi. Why?

!Because he's a 'she'!

Sanzushi Taiya had taken the role of a male transfer student from China ever since the start of her 3rd year in Middle School, befriending Fuji Syusuke the Tensai and Kikumaru Eiji the Acrobat as both team-mates and classmates. It was a secret that had remained unrevealed...for a total of 3 months maximum. To think it was nearly the end of February.

'I can't believe it was only two weeks ago.'

By this time, everyone was working extraordinarily hard in preparation for the next tournament. Although they were a renowned school for bringing up great tennis athletes, they 'can't let their guard down'. Not as if it's possible with Tezuka Kunimitsu as their legendary National-level captain.

Taiya, who was known to become influenced by her nerves, had to be consulted by Oishi and Momoshiro a few times in order to raise her self-esteem.

I know; pathetic.

"Tai-senpai, you beat Taka-san once, right? That's not an easy thing to do," said Momoshiro, giving a playful pat on her back. Taka-san agreed.

"Yes, e-even if you're not a power player like Momoshiro and myself, you're flexible like Eiji," he stated. This seemed to help Taiya a bit. She gave a small smile.

"Thanks..."

"No problem. Hey, Tai-senpai! Wanna join me, Echizen and Eiji-senpai over for burgers?" Momoshiro said enthusiastically. "It'll fill you up after all this tennis practice! Plus," he grabbed her arm, fully exposed as she was wearing the Seigaku T-shirt, and he easily could touch his fingers together as he held her forearm with his hand. "You're too skinny! You gotta put more meat onto those bones!"

Taiya laughed. She snatched her arm back and said, "I'm touched that you care about my well-being, Momoshiro-kun." She grinned before she tensed her arm up, now showing a light fix of toned muscles in her forearm. "But I think I'll be fine for now. If I'm in the mood, I'll join you guys after school at the burger joint."

"You don't know how weird it is that I know you're a girl but you have a weird voice."

"Shut up before I do something illegal."

"Yes, senpai -.-"

Taiya headed over to the taps and let the chilled water run into the large basin, where she soon splashed it onto her heat-radiating face.

Things were finally falling back into place, she figured, smiling to herself.

Two weeks; what a magical number. After two weeks, Fuji and her were on better speaking terms, which she was glad for, and the atmosphere had loosened up around them. There used to be times where she felt like she was suffocating in his very presence. It didn't help that he was her next door neighbour. She had to wake extra early just to avoid walking with him. And that wasn't the best option for Taiya, who ended up getting tired in the middle of classes.

-CLICK-

A flash of a camera caught her attention before the thrashing of the bushes told her that the impudent photographers had gotten away

'Newspaper...club?'

"Tai-san, we're all going to run laps now. Quickly, before we get in trouble."

A voice broke her out of her thoughts, and she turned, only to see Taka-san smiled gently, waiting for her to come.

Kawamura Takashi; Seigaku's third year power player, also referred to as 'Taka-san'. Taka-san has this, well, thing where whenever he grabs hold of a racquet, he goes into personal thing called 'Burning Mode'. He was the first player Taiya played against in Seigaku, and had given her the points to be able to become a Regular. Taiya planned to never play against him ever again in future.

"Aa."

"And, uh, Tai-san..."

Taka-san had a bit of a flush on his face. He tugged on his shirt, staring away at the sky, and Taiya stared at him inquiringly. Taka-san's tugging seemed to be a lot more urgent, and only then did Taiya stare down.

'Oh God.'

Her tennis t-shirt was stuck onto her body due to the excess sweat and, despite the tight wraps bounding her chest like a corset, there was a tiny—no, miniscule detail of telling that Taichi was actually a girl. Taiya quickly pinched a section of her shirt and flapped it, making it all loose and ruffled again.

"E-eh, thanks, Taka-san," she said gruffly, coughing into her hand, embarrassed. She pumped a fist into the air. "Alright, practice!"

Yep. Taiya realized as she was running that it was harder to hide her true gender now, for she was 14 and still 'growing'. Not that she was too worried, because she from the start was flat-chested, having not inherited too much of her mothers feminine figure. Sanzushi Aiki had even commented that she thought she had two sons instead of one, which deeply offended Taiya, surprisingly enough (seeing as Fuji and Eiji constantly told her that she enjoyed being a boy).

'It wouldn't be all that bad to be a boy, actually. For one...I could adjust to the practices a lot better than now,' the girl thought, rubbing her arm muscles. 'It's getting increasingly harder for me day by day.'

No matter how Taiya looked in the mirror while she was in the guys uniform, she knew she was a girl. She was still a girl trying to adjust to the boy's practices.

And so even if she could mentally take the challenge, her body speaks otherwise.

"Hey, Tai!"

Kikumaru Eiji and Fuji Syusuke stood in front of her, dressed in their school shirts and pants. "Everyone's out of the change room now; you can go in."

"No wonder you always went in last," Eiji snickered.

"Well, I'm still a girl."

"That's why we're worried~," joked Eiji, holding a hand over his mouth as he continued sniggering.

"Shut up, Eiji; what I mean is, I'm a normal girl, not a fan girl. Anyway, you guys go ahead or you'll be late."

They both waved as they left. Taiya returned the gesture with a nod before disappearing into the change rooms. As usual, it was a bit of a mess, with water everywhere and papers scattered across the floor. Steam clouded up the mirrors and the smells of various colognes and deodorants lingered heavily in the air.

But Taiya could distinctly recognise the delicate smell of the cologne Fuji wore...

Taiya suddenly blushed, flabbergasted.

'How the Heck do I know what he smells like? This room is dangerous—it's giving me the creeps! I gotta get out of here, gotta get out!'

Taiya re-emerged from the change rooms with her uniform worn neatly on her small frame. Although, Taiya does admit she has grown a little taller seeing as she took a sneak peek in Inui's data book...and she had grown a good 1 cm definitely. Anything in Inui's book was about 99.99 percent correct.

Well, 10 more centimeters and she's catching up to Fuji.


Eiji, who sat in the seats behind Taiya and Fuji, observed his two friends in the front, chatting rather formerly with each other since they were seat-mates. Eiji was the unlucky one to be casted away from the group—English lesson was the only lesson they didn't get to choose their own seats.

But Eiji gave a mischievous chuckle from his seat, staring at his two friend's backs over the top of his English Literature book. 'They make a surprisingly good pair from afar, even though the different colours of eyes and all...but they match! Black with brown, purple with blue! It's so charming!'

"Ah, I've ran out of lead."

"Here, you can use some of mine, Fuji."

"Ahh, thanks, Tai."

'Ahhhhh~, the beautiful love that sparks between them (what love?)! What a match made in Heav'

"Oi, Fuji! What the Hell was that flash? Don't tell me you took another friggin' random picture of me again!"

"Fufufu (evil chuckling). Of course not."

"That wasn't convincing at all, you—!"

A disappointed Eiji laid lifeless on his desk behind them.

'Maybe I'm wrong...'


"Oi, is it just me, or is Eiji staring at us a LOT?"

"You only just noticed?"

"Shut up, I'm not a genius like you."

"It doesn't take a genius to notice that."

"Aiya, you're getting on my nerves."

During the last 15 minutes of mathematics class, Taiya and Fuji—the fastest workers in the class—ended up talking about...well, anything that came to mind after completing all board notes and book exercises.

"So..."

"...Yes?"

"Just trying to make conversation. Hey, I know!" said the transfer student abruptedly. "Let's do that question thing! Where we ask a question, then the other person asks a question and so forth!" She gave a grin. "We may be constantly near each other, but we know nothing about each other."

"Hmms, so...can I start first then, Tai-kun?"

Taiya twitched but smiled pleasantly.

"Please."

"Favourite colour?"

"Blue? Or purple?" 'That's why his eyes are nice.' Taiya suddenly choked and realized her mistake. Staring at Fuji gravely from the corner of her eye, she pulled a face. 'What the Hell is wrong with me?' "My turn; birthday?"

"It has technically passed already."

"Aiya, and I was going to get you something," the girl said to herself, unaware the brown-haired classmate of hers overheard.

And he had to wear that silly little hopeful smile on his face.

"Planning to get me something? Oh, I'm so touched—"

"Don't think ridiculous things and just answer the question!"

"Hai, hai—February 29th."

As these words circulated around her head...

"Huh? T-that means you only celebrate every 4th year?" Fuji sure was a unique baby, Taiya thought with a small sweat-drop on the side of her face. "So that means...we can only celebrate next year, hah?"

Fuji glanced towards his present he-she classmate ("Don't call me a he-she!" rages Taiya) with an unreadable expression. "Is there something wrong?"

"N-nah, nothing. Just me thinking too much—"

"Oooh, that's rare—"

"You spoiled the mood, Fuji!" said Taiya rather sourly in a hushed voice, careful to not attract any more unneeded attention onto herself and her seat mate. Then the school bell gave a mind-ringing screech, and their teacher lowered his glasses before dismissing them for lunch.

"I think it's my turn to ask a question now. But let's get seated first and have lunch."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure," she replied absent-mindedly, walking around, not really paying attention to her surroundings. Unlike most of their classmates, the two enjoy either pacing the school grounds or sitting in the shade of an undisturbed tree instead of hanging around the classroom with the annoying buzz of other company. That is if they are in the company of each other, of course (they both gag to think of spending too much time around each other). Fuji plopped down on the soft ground, the redolence of the sweet, freshly-mown grass meeting his nose.

"Okay, Taiya," Fuji started, knowing it was safe to call her by her original name. "Do you have any love interest right now—" He quickly caught the dim sim she threw roughly towards his beautiful face. He took a bite. "There are better ways to offer food, Ta—-"

"WHAT THE HECK DO YOU MEAN 'DO I HAVE A LOVE INTEREST'?"

Dead silence greeted these words.

Suddenly the sound similar to buzzing bees caught her ears and she glanced around only to see girls blushing as they whispered in huddles, looking at Fuji and herself. And only then did she realize she had stood out from outrage when she shouted that last comment. Guys smirked and laughed from around, and others didn't care at all. Taiya flushed, arms shaking beside her as she plopped back down onto the grass. Grumpily grabbing a half-cold spring roll, she shoved it in her mouth while glaring at Fuji, who seemed happy that she had just embarrassed herself in a whole crowd of people.

"Dammit, we look so gay, two guys sitting under a—" Taiya glanced up. "—Sakura tree? God, you know how homo this looks?" she said, outraged.

"It doesn't really matter if 'two' guys, or shall I say 1 and a half—"

"I'm not sure how to take that, seeing as I'm supposed to be a guy but am originally a girl. Being half a guy isn't good on both accounts—"

"Anyways, back to the conversation; what I meant was, do you have anyone in mind now?" he explained, repeating the question for her. She gave a forced sweet smile.

"A-ah, I see you're s-still asking that, eh, F-Fuji?"

"Your smile looks so demon-like," Fuji sighed dreamily, obviously mocking her.

"Thanks for sharing," Taiya said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"So, are you going to answer?" said Fuji. Taiya lightly punched him on the arm, shooting him a particularly nasty glare.

"What happens if I said I do have one?" said Taiya, closing her eyes as she ate her lunch. What she saw after she opened her eyes though was totally unexpected. The corner of Fuji's mouth twitched and his smile seemed force.

'Bloodlust!'

"Oh, so you do now, heh?" he said. Taiya shivered. He was beginning to freak her out. She retreated, nervous sweat dotting her forehead. "E-eh, what I meant was—"

"Is it me?" said Fuji abruptly, all smiles all of a sudden. ^^

Taiya froze comically into a block of ice, eyes turning into mere dots.

After the ice shattered by itself, she shouted, "WHAT THE HELL?" Despite being supremely, eh, angered, her face was crimson and her ears were turning red too—a danger sign.

NOW even MORE people were staring their way, and things didn't look...so good...

...or sound so good...

"Oh my God! First the question, and now Taichi-kun is blushing!"

"Do you think they're in a forbidden relationship?" a girl squealed excitedly.

Taiya froze, ears twitching in the process. She slowly turned around. "No..." She stared at Fuji. "No..." She stared at the tree. "No...! ...NO!" She stared up at the sky, fist raised.

"NOOOOOOO!"

Reputation; tarnished.


A/N: First chapter of the sequel—long, boring and draggy, but you get the point.

Needs further editing, but for not it will have to do since ff. net took off the self-typed dashes that act as separators. -.-

Thanks for reading~!