"It's inevitable; not an accident.
Piles of accumulated facts; data doesn't lie.
It's no coincidence; everything is according to my calculations.
It's all predictable; data doesn't lie.
What you need is technique in order to use data.
What's important is the feeling to manipulate it.
At this point, I'm undefeatable."
...
The sound of rugged breathing could be heard by anyone's ears as they passed by the public tennis courts in Tokyo. Usually the sound would be drowned out by the thwacking sound of tennis balls colliding with rackets and the courts but, with the setting of the sun, the street courts were found mostly empty.
The only person found to be practicing so late at night, with no one else around to watch, was a short teen. Choppily cut, short dark brown locks were drenched with sweat and plastered to their forehead. Eyes of the same shade cut dangerously, glaring at the spot on the wall that they were aiming for. Dressed in a pair of loose black shorts and an oversized hoodie, one would assume that it was just a regular teenage guy practicing his tennis game.
That was no teenage guy.
That was me, and I definitely wasn't a guy.
However, the only way for me to actually push myself at this school was to disguise myself as someone of the male gender, hoping that I'd be able to make the boys regular tennis team. The girl's team at Seishun Gakuen, affectionately referred to as Seigaku, was horrible. They lacked motivation and could hardly use the basic skills. Not only that, but they gawked too much at the guy's team, preferring to watch them play rather than practicing and improving their own game.
One could say that tennis was my life.
I wouldn't chastise them for saying so, because it was partially true.
The one consistent thing in my life was tennis.
Even when my family had to move because of my Dad's business every so often, there was always tennis. Sure, some towns had more skilled players than others, but tennis was tennis. Just like math was math. No matter the language barrier between people, some things were always the same.
Of course, I had learned Japanese while I was younger. I'd been to Japan a few times before, and Dad thought that there was a good possibility of us staying here for a while. I was able to understand much of what people spoke around me, even if my grasp on the language was a little rusty. Most of them probably thought of me as the typical American teenage boy; interested in sports, not talking or friendship.
My sharp brown eyes narrowed onto the neon yellow ball as it bounced off of the wall once more. Swinging my racket back, I felt the ball easily connect with the sweet spot in the center of the strings. Slicing it forwards, I lightly cursed under my breath; I was still unimpressed with the speed and power of that shot.
Despite the fact that I had broken my left arm, my dominate arm, I still chose to play. I had to make the team the next time ranking matches occurred. I wouldn't let my busted limb affect my game. My right arm was nowhere up to my standards, currently. I lacked the familiarity of practicing for hours on end with my dominate arm, and using my right still just seemed so awkward.
Tennis club practices ended at five-thirty, and I had already been here for a few hours, so I wasn't too sure how late it actually was. The sun had set long ago, leaving the court illuminated with the artificial streetlights, the moon, and the stars.
"Lleyton?"
Hearing my alias name, I flinched in surprise; I had thought that I was alone. Turning towards the sound of the deep voice (which sounded so familiar to my ears), I lightly cursed in my mind as my eyes kept traveling upwards until they landed on the black opaque squared glasses that I had seen almost every day since I began attending Seigaku.
"Inui-Senpai," I hedged, blinking owlishly up at him as I tried to steady my rugged breathing. "What are you doing out here?"
"I was just finishing my training menu for the day." The data man explained, eyes hidden behind his thick glasses.
However, even with his eyes hidden, it still felt like he was staring me down. Even since the first time I met him, he sort of made me feel on edge. Was it because of his glasses? Because I couldn't see his eyes, I didn't know what he was thinking? Or was it because he was just so tall? He easily towered over my petite frame, and I had to crane my head just to stare at him properly.
No, I idly thought to myself, it wasn't because of his physical characteristics that put me on edge. There was something about him as a whole. Right off the bat, I could tell that he was a very observant person. Maybe a bit too observant, one could say.
I could never really think properly around him, not that I actually took that much time to think before I spoke. He was the one who asked what my name was, and all my scrambling brain could utter out was "Lleyton," after the famous player Lleyton Hewitt. I had modeled some of my tennis after his own; with my sharp forehand with a giant backswing, the occasional double handed backhand (which was rather useless now that my left arm was broken), and using my well-developed leg strength to run after any ball that landed on my side of the court.
Inui, of course, latched on to that name and immediately made the connection between the "Lleyton" that I used, and connected it with the well-known professional player "Lleyton Hewitt." I had to quickly blubber something about how my Mom had always adored the name "Lleyton," so of course she'd name her son that. And as a kid, when Hewitt was rising in the ranks, he became my idol. Of course I'd copy his play style while I was younger, and it was just too easy to fall back on it when I had to. I don't think Inui bought my lies; it felt like he could see through me.
He was a force to be reckoned with, that Inui Sadaharu. Even if he wasn't a current regular, I had a feeling like he wasn't just going to sit around and stay off the team for good. No, Inui seemed like a fighter. He seemed like the person that would quietly wait for revenge and strike when the opportunity is right.
Inui, however, seemed a bit uncomfortable with the silence that had fallen while I was busy thinking about him. "Are you doing extra training as well?"
"Yes," I blinked again, shrugging my shoulders as I tightened my grip on my racket. "If I want to make it on the regulars, then just practicing with them isn't enough. Isn't that right?"
"Well said," Inui gave a slight nod of his head, bringing out his bright green notebook and scribbling something down. "How long have you been here practicing?"
Blinking once more, I propped my racket against the wall and ran my right hand through my sweaty dark brown locks. "I went on a run, cooled down a bit with a drink, and I've been practicing here since then? Why?"
Continuing scribbling in his book, I thought I heard the mumblings of "Ii, data~"
"Inui-Senpai?" I asked, feeling my brows furrow at his blatant ignorance of me. Really, I shouldn't have been too surprised; Inui always became like this whenever something intrigued him. He'd stop what he was doing, whip out a notebook, and begin madly scribbling things down.
"Chances of Lleyton hiding something… raises to seventy-two percent."
"Inui-Senpai!"
"Hn?" Inui's gaze rose from his notebook, trust pen still poised in his grip. "Did you say something?"
Shaking my head, I sighed and picked up my racket and tennis ball once more. "It was nothing, senpai."
I could feel Inui's gaze on me as I continued my rally with the wall and, truthfully, it was a bit unnerving. Why? Because his previous mutterings had sounded like he thought I was hiding something.
Which, I was.
I had always been a horrible liar.
But, at least I was good enough that the data-man of Seigaku hadn't discovered who I truly was yet.
"It seems like we share goals, Lleyton. What would you say to us training together to aim for a regular position?" Inui proposed.
I felt my jaw drop at his proposition. My mind went blank, and the tennis ball that I had been rallying with ricocheted off of the wall and collided with my forehead. Wincing, my left hand instinctually rose to provide comfort to my throbbing forehead.
"Probability that Lleyton's left arm, his dominant arm, is broken… Ninety-six percent."
Sharp brown eyes narrowed accusingly at the elder teen, directing a stern glare in his direction. "Inui-Senpai, what makes you think that? And why such a high probability?"
"You model your style of play from the professional player 'Lleyton Hewitt,' who also hails from America. While Hewitt is a right handed player, for your current style of play to be so sloppy and underpowered, it logically makes sense that you've recently had to switch arms while playing. During classes, you wear the jacket, keeping the left arm covered. During practices, you wear the assigned jacket. Now, on your own practice time, your left arm is still covered. Instinctually, when you were hit in the head by that ball, your left arm rose to the injured area. With all of these facts, I was able to deduce that you are in fact a southpaw."
"And what if I am? Even with my dominant arm broken, I can still play." I argued, glaring up at the much taller male. If he was able to deduce all of that, then what are the chances that he knows that I'm actually female? I really need to limit my time around him…
"But with your current practice menu, you will not improve enough in time for the ranking matches this June. However, with my help, you might just be able to obtain a position." Inui spoke while flipping through his notebook. "And why not work together when we are trying to accomplish the same goal?"
"You'd know my faults." I bluntly stated, not really thinking. "You'd know my tennis better than anyone. If we had to play a match against each other, you would easily be able to defeat me with your data tennis."
"True, but it's a risk you should decide to take." Inui closed his notebook, crossing his arms as he stared down at me. "However, wouldn't you also know my faults as well?"
Blinking, my right hand rose to cradle my chin as I thought. "I guess you're right. We'd know each other's strong and weak points. So… Yes! I'd love to team together!" I smiled, dropping my hand and placing it on my hip without a second thought.
As silence met my ears, I thought over my previous words. Realizing how my voice was a bit higher because I wasn't really concentrating on my guy voice, realizing how I smiled, and realizing how my hand was on my hip… I knew I had slipped up a bit.
"U-Um," I coughed, moving to awkwardly cross my arms over my chest as I deepened my voice a bit. "I mean, yeah. That'd be cool."
Uncrossing his arms, Inui opened his notebook once more.
"Chances rise to seventy-eight percent…"
...
"Lley-Ko~"
Before I could blink, Kikumaru had launched himself at me. Loosely wrapping his arms around my neck, the acrobatic doubles player laughed as he pulled me close and affectionately ruffled my hair. Of course, this was the usual by now.
Weeks had gone by. The ranking matches had ended a few weeks ago, but I hadn't managed to secure a spot as a regular. I was ranked under Momo, who had lost his regular spot to Inui. So, if anything were to happen to a regular, Momo would take their place. If anything happened to anyone else, then I'd be up. I was fine with that; I didn't really stand much of a chance against power players. Women just weren't able to counter such displays of power, which is why I had evolved into a volley specialist. I wasn't anywhere as good as the famed volley specialist of Hyoutei or Rikkai, but I was getting pretty good.
It was all thanks to Inui's help, too. He told me that at the rate I was going, he didn't have a second doubt that I'd be able to be a regular next year. He had taken Kaidoh and me under his wing; we were both grateful to him.
"Senpai~" I whined for a moment, before giving in and briefly returning the friendly hug. Kikumaru was the only one who called me 'Lley-Ko,' because that's just the way he was. He did call Fuji 'Fujiko,' and Fuji didn't seem to mind that much. And Fuji and I did resemble each other a bit.
"But we woooon, Lley-Ko! You should be more excited, nya~" The acrobat exclaimed, pulling away from the hug and flashing a grin down at me. Giving me his 'V' for 'Victory' sign, he threw an arm around my shoulders as the other regulars gathered around us. "We're all going to Taka-San's restaurant to celebrate our win! Lley-Ko should come, too, nya~"
"Eh~" I blinked, pursing my lips as I looked up at Kikumaru. "Senpai, you seem to forget that I'm not a regular; I didn't help you guys win."
"Hoi hoi, not true!" Kikumaru exclaimed, deep blue eyes widening in what looked like true horror as his other warm wildly waved in the air. "Lley-Ko was there the whole time, providing support!"
Crinkling my nose in disgust, I shook my head. However, my usually choppily cut hair stayed in place, due in large part to the headband that I was forced to wear during the matches. "Providing support? Senpai, you make me sound like a cheerleader or something..!"
"Nya~ Lley-Ko is like our chibi-cheerleader, ne?" Kikumaru asked, bringing his free hand up to ruffle my hair. "All senpai have to tease their precious kohai, right?"
"No," I huffed, trying to fight the embarrassment I was feeling. Kikumaru really was touchy-feely, which tended to make me feel uncomfortable; especially when he was this way in front of all of the other regulars. "Senpai should be nice to their kohai~" I chided him, wagging my finger in his face and laughing a bit as his wide eyes followed it just like a cat would. "And I resent being called 'chibi.' That word is reserved for Ryoma only; and I'm taller than him, at least."
"Mada mada dane," Came Ryoma's cool reply. I quickly noted, however, the upward twitch of his lips. "At least I'm still growing."
"Che, cocky brat."
"What happened to senpai being nice to their kohai?" Ryoma questioned, smirk still stretching across his lips.
"I..! You..!" I hedged, my jaw dropping as I stared down at the cocky rookie. "Drop it, Ochibi~"
Ryoma's golden hazel eyes instinctively glared at the usage of the nickname that Kikumaru had bestowed on him.
"Cut it out guys..!" Oishi interrupted what was sure to be a fight between me and the first year, casting worried glances down at the both of us as we huffed and turned away from the other. "Can't we just go to Taka-San's in peace?"
"Huh?"
"Chances of Lleyton forgetting that he was invited to Kawamura's Sushi… One-hundred percent."
"Eh!" I screeched, jumping a bit when I heard Inui's voice close behind me. It was scary how quiet someone of his height could be. I'm sure perfecting his spying (although he insists that it's 'data gathering') helped.
Kikumaru burst out laughing, crumbling over and wrapping his arms around his gut. Ryoma let out a few chuckles, with Oishi, Momo, Kawamura, and Fuji joining in. Tezuka was silent as ever. Kaidoh let out a stray 'Fshuuu,' while Inui merely looked down at me in interest.
"Chances rise to ninety-three percent…" The data-man muttered, bringing out his notebook to skim through it while writing down a few more things.
Sheepishly chuckling myself, my right hand rose to mess with the hair at the back of my head. "Ehehe, sorry, sorry. You just shouldn't sneak up on people like that. You could have been a robber for all I knew~"
"Lleyton is right, you know." Oishi nodded, "Well, should we get going? We've managed to kill quite a bit of time…"
"Yeah! Come on Lley-Ko~ You can sit with me and Oishi! We'll keep scary Inui away from you, nya!"
"S-Senpai..!"
Inui and Ryoma's gaze met.
If something could be found under the watchful eyes of the data man of Seigaku, then it was certain that it wouldn't escape from the cocky first year's cat like eyes.
The smaller teen idly nodded his head up at his senpai before bringing a hand up to lower the brim of his trademark white FILA cap. "Mada mada dane, senpai. Chances are one-hundred percent."
...
Inui had gone over his data multiple times.
In the end, it just didn't seem to add up. It was illogical; how could his data be missing something? Obviously, he knew that Lleyton was hiding something. He just wasn't able to figure out what.
Of course, there were many hints that he had uncovered along the way:
Lleyton would frequently blubber out whatever was on 'his' mind.
Sometimes, 'his' voice would come out in a higher pitch; almost feminine.
'He' had the habit of smiling a lot, not to say that guys didn't smile that often, but it just felt more feminine than any other smile's he'd seen (and yes, Fuji was included in that).
When frightened, Lleyton would yelp in a high pitch. He was definitely jumpy, like he was hiding something.
And when Inui had hidden those fake love letters in their shoe lockers, Lleyton, he noted, merely shrugged and tore the note up before throwing it away.
Not typical guy behavior.
Inui couldn't help but also take note about how Lleyton's eyes would soften when 'he' would occasionally let a true smile out. 'His' eyelashes, Inui noted, were longer than most males. 'His' hands were slender and soft; there weren't any rough callouses and the nails were always kept in perfect condition.
For his sake, Inui had hoped that Lleyton was actually a female.
Yes, Inui thought as he watched the delicate way that Lleyton ate 'his' sushi while they were all at Kawamura's restaurant, for my sake I hope he's actually a she…
...
"See you later, senpai-tachi!" I exclaimed, waving goodbye to my senpai that was traveling in the opposite direction. Kikumaru heartily returned the wave, bouncing up and down before he bounded away with Oishi.
Once they were out of sight, I let out a sigh of relief. Being around all of them together was stressful when you were trying to keep your identity a secret. Turning, I began the long walk back to my house.
"Women shouldn't be walking home alone at night."
Screeching in surprise at the deep voice, my body immediately launched into defense mode, thinking that there was some pervert behind me. Before my brain could comprehend, my elbow flew back and collided with the person's stomach.
The low grunt that met my ears was familiar.
"Senpai...!" I questioned, eyes going wide as they landed on the hunched over form of the senpai who had helped me so much. "Inui-Senpai..? Are you alright?"
"Maybe I didn't need to worry about you making it home by yourself…" Inui mumbled with his arm still wrapped around his stomach.
At his words, I froze. "H…How long have you known?"
"For a while now," The data man replied, slowly straightening his back out so he was towering over me once more. "Data doesn't lie, Lleyton. If that is your name."
"You have to understand, senpai..!" I exploded, losing myself to my emotions. I had thought I was doing so well… "Tennis is everything to me! I didn't do this to deceive anybody! I wanted to be challenged..! I wouldn't have been able to play seriously if I had joined the girl's team! I've learned so much more from you guys! You have to understand, Inui-Senpai!"
"I never said I didn't understand the reason you did this." Inui stated, bringing his hand up to push his glasses up a bit.
"When did you figure it out?"
"I've had my suspicions for a while," Inui sighed. "After all the time we've spent together, it was only logical that I came up with the right conclusion."
"Are you one-hundred percent sure?"
"Probability of 'Lleyton' being female…one-hundred percent." Inui answered, pulling his notebook out from seemingly nowhere and flipping through its pages. "There are countless instances where you gave yourself away…piece by piece."
Stepping closer to the older teen, I looked up at him with the biggest puppy dog eyes I could muster. "Inui-Senpai… You won't tell the others, will you?"
"T-That…" Inui stuttered, a light blush dusting across his cheeks, "That should be your decision. You should be the one to come clean to them."
"Thank you very much, Inui-Senpai!" I exclaimed, beaming up at him for a moment before throwing my arms around his waist for a hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
Inui initially stiffened when I hugged him, but he loosened up and returned the hug after a few seconds. "It's nothing."
"Inui-Senpai is the best senpai of them all~" I almost sang, feeling like I was on cloud nine. At least I didn't have to hide my true self from everyone now. I had someone by my side.
"By the way, what is your true name?" The data man asked, looking down at me. This was one of the times where I wished that I could see behind those thick glasses of his, where I wished I could see his eyes.
"Manda," I grinned, taking his left hand in my right and lacing our fingers together. "You said that females shouldn't walk home alone. Would you accompany me, then?"
"Y-Yes."
It's illogical, Inui thought to himself as he looked down at the cheerful girl at his side. He had always thought that his type of girl was calm and older than he was. However, love was illogical.
Somewhere, between her lies and posing as a male, he'd fallen in love, if that's what this feeling was. It was new to him, but he was bound to analyze and figure out what it was.
If it was love, then he knew one thing:
It's illogical.
...
Authoress' Note: Thank you so much for reading! This was another old OneShot from my Quizilla days. This one was for SeigakuPrincess, using her OC Manda. Once again, I do not own Prince of Tennis or the lyrics at the top, which are from the Prince of Tennis musical and the song, "Data wa Uso o Tsukanai."