A/N: The bolded words are spoken in English.


Chapter 2

She squinted, focusing intently on the flurry of movements going on in front of her. The girls were jumping left and right; most were swinging at the empty air, but a well tossed ball would eventually connect with someone's palm and a resounding 'pak' would send it hurtling toward the opposite side of the net. Then the opposing teams would dive down to the floor with no regard to their body, trying in earnest to keep the ball afloat.

Mai frowned in disbelief. So not only were the players expected to constantly jump high in the air, they were also expected to fight low on the ground, too. It was a physically taxing sport, for sure. She felt winded just watching the girls rally. Beside her, Michiru sighed.

"I wish I can be a regular."

Mai turned to look at her, and from the corner of her eye, watched as the score was updated five-to-eight. It was their advantage, she was told. The whistle blew and a girl Mai had occasionally seen around the school grounds moved to the back to serve the ball. She did it very well, it seemed, for the opposing team scrambled and failed to return properly, while their entire team (Michiru and Keiko included, which startled her a little) cried out in unison, 'nice serve!'

"Are first years not allowed to be a regular?" she asked naively.

"No, anyone can be a regular. You just have to be good, like Kasai-san," Keiko answered, motioning her head toward the girl who just served. "She became a regular in her first year. Now she's our ace and she's only a second year student!"

Mai hummed in amazement. Kasai-san was tall and athletically built; her demeanor commanding and determined. Turning to her friends, she said sincerely, "You'll get there soon, I'm sure of it. You guys work too hard." A hand ruffled her hair and Mai looked up to see Michiru smirking at her.

"Yeah, we'll do you proud. Promise. By the way, how's remedial class going? Keiko and I haven't been able to hang out with you as much, but since we have a match today we probably will get a day off from practice tomorrow. We can help you if you need."

Mai shook her head. "No worries, I've been working hard myself. Today's actually my last remedial class so we were let out early. It's why I was able to come watch you guys."

"Oh okay, if you're sure. Good luck! I think it's best if you don't cram anything today to let your mind rest."

"Yeah, agreed!"

-0-

After their first practice match against the other school, the volleyball team got called for a victory huddle. Before leaving her, Michiru said they would be getting critiques on their plays, figuring out what worked and what didn't, and possibly even go for a few drills before sundown and urged Mai to head home before them. She congratulated them one more time and walked away, happily waving them good bye. However, although she was happy for their sake, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy. It seemed so much fun having team mates and going over game tactics! If only she could find a place where she could belong.

"After I pass this test I can finally honestly consider my options," she said to herself with determination. Suddenly she heard a sharp sound echo around to her left. Ten seconds later, she heard it again. In a steady interval she heard 'thuck'. 'Thuck'. 'Thuck.' It was undeniably the sound of a ball and since the tennis courts were nearby, she figured it must be someone playing tennis. Having never really gone around this area of the school before, all Mai could do was rely on the sound and follow it. Eventually she saw courts, the green-painted floor standing in a sharp contrast against the red, and a lone boy on one side of the court. She clenched her fists as she realized that it was not just any boy-it was scowling boy. Next to him was a basket full of tennis balls.

She approached silently, watching transfixed as he tossed the ball high up in the air, with his keen eyes following it like a hawk. The left hand he used to toss the ball he brought straight down, folding it in toward his chest gracefully like a ballerina, and in the same fluid movement bent his knees, arched his back slightly backwards, then sprung up in the air like a spring in a recoil, with his right arm swinging powerfully in an arc and making a resounding 'thuck' as his racket made a square contact with the ball. His hair swayed forward, following the direction of his movement, as he watched the ball whiz straight to the corner of the square on the opposite side, diagonal from his position. Mai assumed that whatever he did was 'in'.

"A-amazing..." she whispered to herself, entirely mesmerized by his movements. She didn't know how many times he repeated the action with similar results. Before she knew it, the basket next to him was already empty. How long had she stayed just watching him do whatever he was doing?

"So 'scowling boy' is a tennis player," she mused. Then remembering how rude and mean he had been toward her, she suddenly became really annoyed at how he could be both handsome and incredibly good at the sport. The damn boy looked cool! Even the way he picked up stray balls was cool. It annoyed her so much that she decided to turn on her heel and leave with a huff.

Why did it seem like everybody else have something they were good at, while she was still floundering around trying to find her 'calling' like an idiot?

-000-

He didn't want to be the first to acknowledge her presence. He figured if she wanted something from him, then she would call out to him eventually. However after he finished his basket, she just left without a word. What in the world had she wanted?

The creak of the gate opening and closing barely preceded his twin's cutting voice, anger evident in its tone, making Oliver shut his eyes and pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Noll! What the hell are you doing!"

Gene was definitely going to be annoying again so he just ignored him and wordlessly continued picking up the balls he conveniently kicked into the corner.

His twin continued on, "You were supposed to meet us at the library, so why the hell are you here grinding away at your cartilage by practicing your serves! Don't tell me you've somehow got it in your idiot mind that you wanted to show off in front of that girl just now?"

Oliver rolled his eyes and made up his mind that he was now only going to address future replies to Yasuhara, who was standing beside his brother. "You said you'd finish by five-thirty. I was at the library until then but neither of you showed up."

Yasuhara sheepishly apologized, saying his the student council meeting went twenty minutes over. "Then it didn't help that I had to go searching around for Gene since he finished his remedial class before my meeting ended and had wandered off."

But Oliver wasn't moved. "So as you can see, instead of pointlessly wasting my time waiting for you two, I decided to head out here and use my time wisely."

Gene grabbed his right forearm and squeezed it tight, just slightly below and to the left of the elbow, causing Oliver to wince in pain and jerk his hand away.

"No, Noll, not wisely. Your elbow is still obviously injured, and your shoulders and knees can't have healed that fast so you should be taking it easy, otherwise you'll just end up making it worse! For someone so smart I don't understand why you can't get that through your thick head!"

"I am already being forced to take it easy. As you are well aware, I've been demoted to be your doubles partner."

Gene grabbed him by the collar and hissed, "You had better be careful about being an ass to me, Noll."

Yasuhara promptly jumped in between, trying to pry the two brothers apart and jovially commenting in a sing song, "Whoa, wow! Okay both of you guys are scaring poor little me here. Remember that children are often the ones who suffer the most in domestic problems." The three of them stayed stock-still for several intense seconds, neither one of the twins willing to back down.

"Play nice," Yasuhara said once again, his voice now low and serious, all traces of his previous playfulness gone. Slowly, the twins backed off and Gene's grip loosened on Oliver's shirt, but their eye contact never broke.

Oliver was the first to break the continuing silence. "We are not in any position to be slacking in our current situation. Me being injured forces you to move around more than usual, and with your remedial classes cutting into our practice time, we haven't been able to sync up our doubles play. Yasuhara-san is forced to play outside his comfort as his usual play style and stamina is not compatible for singles position. Takigawa-san still needs to polish up his ball control, and Lin will have to play above his usual level so that's difficult for him to manage. The only people unaffected by the reorganization is John and Sakauchi-san, but securing only one point out of five is not enough to get us through. So tell me, when will all of you finally start to take this seriously?" Oliver gripped his racket tighter. "We are not the same strong team we were last year. Can any of us be confident we'd even get through the district matches?"

When neither of them rose to answer his challenge, Oliver scoffed and resumed picking up the balls. Eventually Gene stepped up and silently began helping him out as well, although the two still stubbornly refused to even look at each other.

Yasuhara silently sighed and began helping out as well, and was not at all surprised when he cast a glance toward Gene and saw the pained expression of guilt and sorrow evident on his face.