Chapter 1: Be Careful of What You Wish For
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Tezuka sighed as he walked out the automatic sliding doors of the Hanno General Hospital. His tennis bag hung on his shoulder, black school uniform buttoned up all the way; it was Winter, and it was cold. The sky was getting dark and the sun was covered by grey clouds. Maybe rain was coming soon?
"Hey." A person said from his right as the sliding doors closed.
Tezuka turned his head; it was Fuji. A brown coat worn over the black uniform, umbrella held by his side and the same tennis bag hung on his shoulder.
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"I see. It was just a check-up," Fuji said. They walked beside each other. Their homes were in the same direction, "I saw you going into the hospital and I got a little worried."
"You could have gone in."
"I didn't want to be in the way of people waiting for their check-ups. I wasn't bored because I was thinking."
"Thinking...?"
"If you and I had entered different schools, what would have happened?"
"You were thinking about things like that?"
"Maybe we would have bumped into each other at some tournament and a grand match might have occurred."
"Maybe."
"Which would you have preferred? Being in the same school... or being in different schools as enemies?"
"I wonder... Daydreaming is not to my liking."
"That's so much like you...Ah, Tezuka,"
"Hm?"
"It's snowing."
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Fuji lied on his bed, pondering on the conversation he and Tezuka had at the walk from the hospital to their houses. What if they went to different schools? Would they meet each other? And if that happened, what would happen then? He closed his eyes, ready to go to sleep.
What if…
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Fuji woke up the next morning knowing there would be morning practice a little earlier than usual. Nationals was weeks away but they still had to train more, seeing how there would be even stronger rivals than they had before. He got up from his bed, did his morning things and went down for breakfast.
The first thing he noticed was how different the house was. Why was kitchen on the opposite side of where it used to have been, and why was the bathroom there? Yumiko and Fuji's mom where in the kitchen having breakfast and seemed to have no problem with it so he decided he was just seeing things.
After eating he quickly rushed up back to his room to get his tennis bag. He opened it to check if everything was there. Racket, homework, and…where was his uniform?
"MOM?" He yelled out from his room door.
"What dear?" She yelled back.
"Where's my uniform?"
"It in the dryer, I washed it for you yesterday!"
Fuji grabbed all his things and ran to where the washing machines were. He opened the dryer and quickly pulled out his uniform. He glanced at the clock, he was going to be late for practice if he didn't hurry. He was such in a rush he didn't even notice his uniform wasn't Seigaku's color of blue and white.
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"I'm going!"
Fuji closed the door and started walking to school. His front yard wasn't what it used to look like. Two garden of flowers were on both sides of the walkway in front of the house. Maybe they had redone it without him noticing? That's impossible. But before he could figure out why he hadn't noticed someone yelled out for his name.
"FUUUUJI-KUN!"
He walked out of the fenced yard and saw a blur thing running towards him.
"HI!" And the blur stopped. The blur had blond hair and was also carrying a tennis bag. He looked vaguely familiar. Where did he see him? Oh yeah! Hyoutei's singles 2 player, Akutagawa Jirou!
"Ah, Akutagawa-kun, good morning." He greeted back.
"Akutagawa-kun? Why are you calling me that? Back to the formalities? I thought we were friends!"
"Huh?"
"What do you mean 'huh'," Jirou whined, "Why are you being so mean?"
"Umm, Akutagawa-kun, I don't know really know you well enough to call you Jirou." He was slowing backing away from him. It was weird that Jirou would be here, and what he was talking about made this situation even weirder. Backing up..slowly…steadily…
"What are you talking about? We've been best friends since the first year of Middle school!"
He stopped in his tracks, "What?"
"Um, Fuji-kun are you feeling well?"
"I'm fine," Then he said sarcastically, "Well, if you've known me since 1st grade, what school do I go to?"
"Hyoutei Gakuen, of course!"
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Re-posted: May 4, 2007
