Time: 25 minutes
Character/Theme: Kaidoh, Ohtori, tiptoe (yes, it's there, barely)
Notes/Disclaimer: Serves as a companion to Broken Hearted. Tenisu no Ohjisama Konomi Takeshi-sensei; the American Shonen Jump is badly translated, don't read it, watch the anime!
"Kaidoh-kun... would you mind if I talked to you for a moment?"
Kaidoh was surprised. Ohtori Choutarou from Hyoutei? He had faced him in the infamous Seigaku-Hyoutei match, and he never really felt comfortable talking to people he had lost to (or any people, really). But Ohtori was a really nice guy, so he would probably stop talking if he sensed that Kaidoh might be getting uncomfortable or even bored. So. He hissed his assent.
"Ano... you know my doubles partner, Shishido-san, right?" Kaidoh nodded. "I saw him talking to your Inui-san a few days ago, and I was wondering..." He looked suddenly sheepish, and paused to reform his thoughts. "Could you find out what he said about me?"
Even more surprising. It had taken Kaidoh a long time to realize that he actually was Inui's best friend as far as tennis went, and it was even more awkward to find out that everyone else had realized this a long time before him. So if anyone wanted something from Inui but was too intimidated to go directly to him (this happened more often than one might think), they went to Kaidoh.
And the number one reason they'd want to go indirectly to Inui was, well... the notebook.
Everyone wanted to know what it said, and nobody knew. Kaidoh barely knew anything – he'd get statistics recited to him every once in a while, but he had actually numbed his mind to most of them. And he never paid attention to what Inui said about personal data; that was none of Kaidoh's business. None at all.
"Wasn't Shishido-san with the others at karaoke?" Kaidoh asked. He wouldn't know – he never went to karaoke if he could get out of it.
"No! I even waited around for him for a little, but he never showed up, and I only saw him talking to Inui-san after everyone got back. I think..." Ohtori looked unsure of himself, "I think he's avoiding me or something! So I really need to know what he told Inui-san!"
Kaidoh really couldn't think of a single reason that someone would seek out Inui for a conversation, unless they actually wanted to listen to the data that would eventually spout out of his senpai. Hyoutei didn't have another match scheduled for a while, so if Shishido-san had wanted to find out information about his next opponent, he probably wouldn't even know who he was to play yet. It didn't make any sense to Kaidoh.
"Or... well... does Inui-san keep personal data on players?" Ohtori bit his lip. He couldn't imagine what personal data would do for anyone in a match, but a few days before...
"Yeah, he does." At least Kaidoh could answer this question.
"Oh... but he's all data, isn't he?"
"I don't understand."
Someone with an analytical mind can have difficulty figuring out the less rational sides of a person, but they can still observe, and form hypotheses based on the observations.
"Kaidoh-kun... what if your senpai told you he didn't want to play doubles anymore?"
Kaidoh shrugged. Inui-senpai had been the one to ask Kaidoh to play doubles in the first place, and Kaidoh had refused. If Inui-senpai thought that Kaidoh had repaid his debt and could play with his own moves, then Kaidoh knew that Inui-senpai had formed a high opinion of him.
Unless it meant that Inui-senpai felt he had surpassed Kaidoh, who could no longer be of any use to him.
"Shishido-san helped me so much with my serve" Kaidoh had heard about this (from Inui-senpai, of course), "and he's so good at dashes now, he doesn't need a partner... Kaidoh-kun, do you like Inui-san?"
Kaidoh almost shrugged again, because general apathy was the way he reacted towards most people. But he stopped. Did he really like his senpai? He was the only one on the team who didn't really tease him, and he had certainly learned a lot (about tennis, and about his other teammates). "Yeah."
Ohtori sighed, almost theatrically (but he really meant it). "I've been walking on eggshells around Shishido-san, but now he's just ignoring me, and talking about singles... I don't know if you should ever tell him or never tell him, Kaidoh-kun. But... I guess you're so different from me..." Some members of Hyoutei floated into view, and Ohtori started. "Sorry, Kaidoh-kun, but could you please ask Inui-san what I asked you?" He gave a quick bow and ran off to his teammates.
((I... don't know what that was. I'm sorry, it was so disjointed and... awkward, and Ohtori was probably terribly characterized, but... feel free to interpret it however, I suppose. I can't believe how many ways it is possible to typo senpai, but I think I hti all of them. I'm really sorry!))
galaxysong9