Craziness. But anyway.

(Written by: Nithila)

"I knew those drinks always had strange side effects, but this time, Inui, you have gone way overboard."

Inui stood meekly in front of Ryuuzaki sensei, who'd been yelling at him for quite some time. Most of the team lay 'dead' around him, having fainted after the side effects of his newest juice started wearing out.

"I'm sorry."

"No you're not-don't look at me like that, you know you're not."

It was true. He wasn't.

Inui rapidly began scribbling the results of his concoction in his notebook. "I believe that it was a bad idea to add the fried ladybug. If I remove it, and instead add a different beetle, there is a 96% chance that the side effects will not be quite so alarming. I will bring it in sometime next week-"

"Don't even think about it."

Inui was stunned. "Pardon me?"

Ryuuzaki sensei looked at him sternly. "I forbid you to bring anymore of your juices to practice, or to matches, or anywhere else, for that matter."

Inui was, if possible, even more stunned. "There is a 72% chance that Seigaku will not play nearly as well without such motivation."

"You call that motivation, Inui? Personally, I do not want my entire team to die before the nationals because they drank liquidized fried ladybugs."

Inui's hands started shaking. This couldn't be happening. Seigaku's destiny depended on his juices-what was this woman thinking?

"If you disagree with me, you may leave the team."

There was a 45% chance that she had gone insane…or was it more?

"Seventy two percent," he concluded out loud.

Before he knew what was happening, he had raised his bottle of juice and emptied the contents in the coach's face.

Fuji was ready to kill.

He was one of the few people who were still conscious, but even he hadn't escaped from the side-effects. His head was still throbbing from them, but he had seen the entire conversation between Inui and Ryuuzaki sensei. For once, he'd agreed with the coach. It was fun to watch the rest of his teammates suffer from the juice, but experiencing such…disturbing side effects himself was another thing altogether.

Now, Inui had poured the juice on top of the coach herself, and, sure enough, a large portion of it had gone down her throat. In a few moments, she would be experiencing the disturbing side effects as well.

Inui's total lack of respect for their sensei shocked him.

"Inui," He bit out icily. The taller boy turned towards him, his opaque glasses seeming more opaque than usual. "What are you doing?"

Inui looked at him, and looked down at his (empty) bottle of juice. "She's gone insane, Fuji. The data never lies."

….huh?

Ryuuzaki sensei lay in a heap on the floor. It would only be a few minutes before she woke up and the side effects kicked in.

"You should leave, Inui." Fuji said flatly.

Inui stared blankly at him.

"There won't be any place for you on the team anymore after this."

Despite the utter mess Inui's brain was in, it managed to understand that complex statement.

"I understand, Fuji."

"Good."

Inui left the courts.

As Inui walked home, he started feeling ashamed of himself.

After two minutes of feeling ashamed, he decided he wasn't ashamed after all. It was, after all, Ryuuzaki sensei's fault.

'Seventy two percent,' he reminded himself. The data never lied. If Seigaku lost the nationals thanks to a stupid coach, well…Inui had tried to help them.

So what if he put beetles in his juices, anyway? They were perfectly organic. And edible.

His phone pinged as he received a message. He didn't recognize the number, and the message wasn't signed.

'Inui Sadaharu-

I know what you're thinking. Join me, and together, we can take revenge on Seigaku. The whole world - Hyotei, Rikkai, Shitenhouji, Fudoumine - will realize your true greatness.

You can join me as the ruler of the Land of Tennis.

Your acquaintance.

There was a ninety eight percent chance that the sender was Mizuki Hajme of St. Rudolph.

But Yukimura was supposed to become the next ruler of the Land of Tennis, wasn't he? How would Mizuki have any power there?

'Probability of Mizuki lying- 100%.'

Ah, well. He'd meet the boy anyway.

Mizuki-san-

I agree to work with you.

Inui.

It couldn't hurt to try.

Mizuki leaned back in his leather chair and attempted to laugh as a super-villain would.

He failed miserably. Scowling, he tried again.

"Mizuki-senpai, what are you trying to do?" Fuji Yuuta asked from another corner of the room.

Mizuki's scowl deepened. He decided to ignore his lieutenant. "Are all the machines working?" he demanded.

Yuuta sighed. "Yes."

"Zoom in on Seigaku on the main screen."

"Yeah, okay."

Mere seconds later, a bird's eye view of the Seigaku tennis club appeared on a large screen in front of him. Mizuki leaned forward and rubbed his hands together. He almost attempted another super-villain laugh, but then he remembered that Yuuta was still in the room.

He twirled his hair around a finger. "Zoom in on Fuji Syuusuke on the left sub-screen."

Yuuta complied.

Mizuki stared at the older Fuji as he played a match against one of his juniors. "Fuji Syuusuke," he said out loud, smirking, "I will get my revenge."

Yuuta rolled his eyes in his corner, but Mizuki didn't notice.

"Echizen!" Horio shouted dramatically, brandishing a tennis racket with his right hand. "I challenge you to a tennis match!"

Ryoma raised an eyebrow warily. "Really?"

Horio blinked for a moment, but then shook himself back to his senses. "Really!" He shouted dramatically.

Ryoma sighed. Matches were taking place all around them – Ryuuzaki-sensei had told them to play against whoever they wanted to.

It was a pity he'd have to play Horio, but he would do.

"Fine," he said.

Horio grinned. "I, with my two years of tennis experience, shall defeat you!"

"I'm sure you will."

"Um…Mizuki-senpai?" Yuuta started.

Mizuki didn't look up from his screens. "Mhmm?"

"I've been meaning to ask…didn't you tell Inui-san that you were the ruler of the Land of Tennis?"

Mizuki tensed. "So?" he snapped.

Yuuta shrugged. "Well, you're not."

A vein pulsed in Mizuki's temple. "I will be soon! I shall make Yukimura hand me the drone!"

"…I think you mean the throne."

"Whatever! Get back to work!"

Somewhere far away, past millions of bushes and trees, Yukimura Seichii sat in his own leather chair, chuckling at his own screens.

"Now this will be entertaining. What do you think, Genichirou?"

"Usu."

Yukimura winced in irritation. "Atobe…I don't remember inviting you. Or Kabaji."

"Usu."

Yukimura's eyebrow twitched, and he struggled to keep his smile intact. "Atobe…"

Behind him, Atobe flipped his hair malevolently. "You should be honored to have Ore-sama visit you."

"Unfortunately, I am not. You do know that I have means to forcibly drag you off the premises."

"Usu."

Yukimura gave up on his smile and scowled.

"What do you want, Atobe?"

Atobe smirked. "Why, I want the same thing you do."

Yukimura raised an eyebrow. "Which is…?"

"The throne."

Yukimura smirked. He swirled in his chair to face Atobe.

And then he laughed a perfect super-villain laugh.

"Of course you do, Atobe, of course you do." He swiveled back to face his screens, and zoomed in on Mizuki's control room. On another screen, he zoomed in on the Seigaku tennis courts, and on yet another, he brought up a visual of Inui Sadaharu.

"We all do."

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