DISCLAIMER: Konomi Takeshi owns Prince of Tennis and its characters. I don't.
NOTES: Please forgive the lack of detail in this one...I still need to know more about the Rikkai players in order to properly flesh out their characters.
So again, this is pure speculation. Effects such as an Aono Park in the Kanagawa prefecture, Kirihara's sister being in college (that is not Rikkai), Yanagi having Hawaiian family, etc, are my own additions: not official information. Nuh-uh. The setting is when the older Rikkai regulars are in their second year, and Kirihara is still a first-year, but already a regular.
I think I'm building a reputation for writing about characters I don't know that much about yet, screwing myself over in the process. Hanging on to the hope that I won't be making a complete fool of myself when Konomi-sensei finally tells us more...
This attempt at making sense goes out to Mithas the Ever-Clement, who's put up with one too many broken promises for fic and pic.
Brought to you by...various Christmas carols.
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Last Good Day of the Year
by MorphailEffect
I. Preparations
"Aw c'mon, Kaasan! Let me go just this once!"
There was going to be a free concert at Aono Park. A lot of indie bands were playing. He had never been to any sort of concert before, and Kirihara Akaya had given his word to his upperclassman Jackal that he was going.
His mother didn't seem to grasp the seriousness of the situation.
"It's Christmas eve! You should spend it indoors, with family, like a good little boy."
Kirihara pouted, and seethed inside. The fact that he came across as a "good little boy" to his parents, if not to anyone else, found the worst possible times to take prominence.
"But Neesan's going to be out all day! How come she gets to go out with friends and I don't?!"
His mom only stated what Kirihara already knew: "Your sister is only home from college for the holidays. She gets to spend less time with her childhood friends than you do."
Kirihara was becoming desperate. He had dressed up and was ready to go, this was the only stumbling block to his plans.
He was 13 and he wasn't missing out on the cool stuff, dammit.
So at last he brought out his secret weapon: the Pout. The uber-cuteness of it was reserved solely for his parents, as it would ruin his reputation for badassness if he tried it on anyone else.
His mother fell prey to the almighty attack. She cracked in seconds. Smiled and pinched his cheeks.
"Akaya-chan is much too cute. He should stop being clever with his mother." She sighed plaintively. "Oh, all right...but be home before 9. It's Christmas Eve, so we have a special dinner tonight."
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Yagyuu Hiroshi was putting away his books when a little girl came into the room and knelt on the floor beside him.
"Oniisan, let's go to Aono Park today!"
He was thankful that his pretty, cuddly little sister waited for him to finish studying before troubling him. It wouldn't have been good manners to do otherwise.
Sonomi was still in grade school. It was the best time for proper etiquette to be ingrained in her impressionable mind.
"That's quite a way off, isn't it? What's at Aono Park today?"
"A big free concert. All my friends are going!"
Yagyuu sighed. He could sense a ploy to get him out of the house and into his sister's social circle, a mile away.
He couldn't help it that he was crushed on by her sister's friends. And it wasn't as if the attention wasn't welcome. Better that those starry-eyed children looked up to him than any of the young hooligans out there...
(Yes, it was his brotherly duty to revel in the attention.)
"Well...who's playing?"
"Who cares?" Sonomi chirped. "I'm meeting Fee-chan and A-chan and Yui-chan and Kai-chan..."
"It's Christmas eve, shouldn't they be staying home today...?"
She shook her head. Her long, straight, neatly-kept hair swished to and fro. "They won't be staying out all day! We'll be on our way home before dark." She blinked up at him. "Please, oniisan?"
Yagyuu didn't see the harm in a brief outdoor excursion. The park wasn't that far away, either.
He smiled indulgently.
"All right, let's go to the park."
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"...Next time, then. Goodbye."
Yanagi Renji put down the phone and sighed.
It wasn't that he hated the cold, it was just that he was more used to days that were "too hot to spend indoors." It also came out of being close to his Hawaiian side of the family, he supposed...
The truth was, Yanagi just didn't see the reason for going out. One, it was cold. And two, it was Sanada who had called him up, asking if he would like to come visit Yukimura at the hospital.
Which meant Yanagi would be hanging out with Sanada AND Yukimura. Both of them. Together.
Of course the reluctance came out of an extensive processing of quantifiable data, as he counted the times when he caught Yukimura stealing sidelong glances at Sanada, their tense silences, the times when their hands touched as they handed things to each other...the little things that one would only notice from a uniquely opportune vantage point.
Say, for example, that of a third wheel.
Still, it wasn't always awkward. In fact, there were times when hanging out as a trio was actually...fun. Those times reminded Yanagi of their freshmen days, when their priorities were just coming into place, and their sense of humor wasn't so jaded.
Yanagi rather missed those days.
He started to change his mind as he looked out the window. On a day like this, a year ago, they had gone out together, all three of them, to a certain park at the heart of the city. And they had laughed, and told jokes, and had fun.
"Family stuff" was just an excuse. All he had to do indoors before dinnertime was laze around and read, really...
So he thought, What the hell.
It was too cold a day to spend indoors anyway.
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Waiting was the worst part.
Yukimura Seiichi's restless mind wouldn't let him spend the next ten minutes in peace.
What if he wouldn't come?
No one else was slated to visit him at the hospital today. It may have been Christmas Eve, but it was still a normal day for that particular region of Japan. Everyone else was of course busy. He had said to everyone, it was okay. It was the holiday season, after all.
He didn't need anyone to visit.
Nonetheless, someone promised that he would.
And Yukimura found his whole day revolving around that promise.
Whenever he could, he found it funny, this fixation of his on promises. Somehow he knew that other person shared it. The one thing they both hated was people going back on their word, for any reason.
Yet they both knew that things got in the way...that sometimes promises didn't work out.
There could be so many reasons why he couldn't make it to the hospital today. His family might want him to stay in, after all he rarely stayed home even when school was out. He might want to practice instead.
Or he might want to visit someone else.
He tried to think of other, more pleasant things. Things he used to think about to get him through the worst of the relapse. The Rikkai team winning this year's national tournament. That third golden cup gracing their trophy cabinet. His teammates celebrating.
He didn't have to see himself in those visions to enjoy them.
Then there was a knock on the door. A familiar terse pattern. Yukimura turned. The door opened. His heart skipped a beat.
And his weary face broke into a relieved smile for the newcomer.
"Sanada..."
(to be continued)
