Author's Note: I probably should spend more time on this but I decided to update it now.

The buchou after Shiraishi Kuranosuke was Zaizen Hikaru. Even though he was not as skilled at tennis as Kintarou, Shiraishi, Kenya and Watanabe all agreed that he would make a much better buchou- provided that he changes his attitude.

But it was not easy for Zaizen to be the buchou, because his predecessor has been buchou for two years. Like the other now third years in the club, he still really regards Shiraishi as the buchou.

He also has great difficulty in trying to govern Kintarou, who, ironically enough, was the fuku-buchou.

"It is your job to mould him into next year's buchou." Watanabe said simply. "I'll step in only when you really need help, that is what I did with Shiraishi."

Zaizen sighed as he stood in front of the club to start this day's meeting. Being a buchou was much harder then his original anticipation, even if he was not prepared to do all that Shiraishi did.

"First of all, Watanabe-sensei is back." Zaizen announced, referring to the mystery trip that Watanabe suddenly made.

The coach of Shitenhouji gave every one his typical lazy smile, what they expected of him. Since he was smiling so cheerfully, no one would ever guess the true nature of his absence. Wasn't that what Tanako Aizuki said? He kept on pretending that nothing was wrong.

What did happen that night? He had been drinking a lot, not something new, and he was sure that he was crying- that was a surprise. But he didn't wake up outside the bar, he opened his eye to discover that he was in his familiar empty apartment.

So she must have sent him home, although she left no clues behind.

A pity because he did wish to talk to her again.

"And secondly, I am very pleased to say that we will be having four visitors today." Zaizen stated before he turned to their coach. "They contacted me while you were absent."

"They?"

"Shiraishi-buchou, Kenya-fuku-buchou, Koharu-senpai and Hitouji-senpai." Zaisen said easily.

"Are they visiting us?" Kintarou immediately yelled out. His voice drowning out everyone elses'. "Is this really true, Zaizen?"

At this address Zaizen sighed once again before he clenched out: "It's 'Zaizen-senpai'!"

He knew that he should stop caring about this and be grateful that he wasn't simply called by his first name, but it still annoyed him every single time.

Watanabe smiled a true smile at this news. He was very glad at the opportunity of seeing these boys again. This was his forth year in being the coach in Shitenhouji and these boys had been his pupil for the first three years.

"Then we should start practising right now!" he announced, which was immediately picked up by Zaizen, grateful at this rare aid.

"Everyone, we will do what sensei just said!" Zaizen yelled out. "We will let Shiriashi-buchou and the other senpai-tachi see that our generation is as good as their's."

For many third and second years, the mere memory of their previous buchou was enough to make them practice. This was not really a surprise, since he appeared as the one who did almost everything in the tennis club.

Practise was only paused when the four senpai in question arrived. Even though the four of them wore an almost identical school uniform since both Shitenhouji's junior and senior high school used the common black gakuran, there was something that marked them as being senior high school students instead.

"Hello, everyone!" Shiraishi said in a very friendly voice, "Does anyone still remember us?"

"Yes, buchou!" all the second and third year immediately said, causing Shiraishi to smile and remind them kindly that: "Zaizen is the buchou now, you should all be calling him buchou, not me."

"I don't mind because I still call you buchou." Zaizen replied back easily.

"Nonetheless I am not the buchou anymore. Everyone, just call me Shiraishi-kun, or Shiraishi-san if you want to be more formal." The previous buchou of Shitenhouji insisted.

"I like calling you buchou because it reminds me of the moment I first fell in love with you! Do you remember how you helped me to serve properly when everyone else was laughing at me? That was when I decided that I love you."

"What would be happening if I didn't help you that day?"

He didn't even know whether he wanted to have an answer to that question. As she made him so happy, he was sure that his life would be very dull if she was not there, but yet he was deprived of any happiness now that he knew what it would have been like.

Watanabe was standing some distance away from Shiraishi and Zaizen, who were gossiping about what has happened to the third year regulars last year, he was far enough to not let them suspect that he was actually hearing every single word. He wanted to talk to Shiraishi, but knew that it was best to wait for a while. Even though his students could easily joke with him, he was still regarded as different due to being much older.

"Chitose has returned to Kyuushu, while Gin decided to only play tennis leisurely." Shiraishi was saying, "But Kenya is a regular in the tennis team in senior high and so are Koharu and Hitouji, although they don't play their joking tennis any more."

"What about you, buchou?"

"Me? I am not in the school tennis club, let along the team, but I belong in an individual tennis club that arrange matches for me. My own buchou is actually in that club and we play doubles sometime."

"Whenever the buchou in Senior High school sees Shiraishi he will practically get down on his knees to beg him to join!" Kenya stated as he sat down beside them. "He even offered the position of fuku-buchou to Shiraishi, as well as the promise of being buchou next year."

"Which is the worst thing that can happen to me!" Shiraishi pointed out.

Upon seeing that Hitouji and Koharu were ending their game, Watanabe decided that he could go and talk to them now.

"By the way, I am playing a game this Saturday. I'll be really happy if you guys come, and of course, that includes you too, Sensei." Shiraishi said at the appearance of their coach.

"Of course I'll come!" Watanabe declared out. "You are amongst the first group of students that I saw graduating after having endured you guys for three whole years!"

"Don't say that you weren't upset as we all remember the tears that almost fell down at the graduation!" the joking pair laughed out as they made their way to join their old team mates and the one who was once their coach.

"I know, I was so surprised because I never thought that I would ever see Sensei cry." Kenya agreed. "Because he just always seem to be smiling or laughing."

"Me too!" Shiraishi joined this conversation with another laugh. "Although he still didn't cry in the end."

Because I discovered that I couldn't take my mask off, Watanbe thought to himself, this façade that I put on in order to cope with Sakurako's death became too strong. If I cry that day then I would probably start to weep for Sakurako.

None of these boys realise that the man he had been during their graduation ceremony was probably more like the real Watanabe Osamu, the person without this mask of empty laughter.

"What about your previous Ashita?" Hitouji teased, cuffing his friend on the head.

"She will be there." Shiraishi said confidently.

Of course Tanako Ashita would be watching her boy friend, but would Tanako Aizuki be present a well? It was very possible that she would be there, since she would be interested in tennis.

Did that mean that he might see her again?

It is such a pity that Chitose and Gin are not here, Watanabe thought when one of the first years offered to take a photo of this reunion, because this picture is not complete without these two.

But this was reality, some things would disappear forever if they slipped out from your fingers, no matter what you might believe or say. The once firm bond between the eight boys in the tennis team last year was already beginning to be severed due to the departure of Gin and Chitose, and the prospect of college will do more damage to it.

He mourned for this even though he has been trying to tell himself that he should simply be grateful for being able to retain some memories. But he still found himself wishing that things might be different, as well as clinging onto hope and idealism. He almost wished that he could be like these boys, believing that everything would always turn out the way they wanted.

Or be like Sakurako.

"I will never stop loving you, and I know that you will be the same too!"

He wished that this could be true, that these memories will never be blown away by the wind that time command.

To an extent, he cared for Shiraishi the most out of all the boys he has taught so far, because Shiraishi was the student he has worked with the longest- being the only first year in the team when Watanabe became the coach. But this emotion would eventually fade into a slight affection that only appears whenever he happened to look at images of the past.

This was what happens in real life, and it would occur despite his denial. But he was a fool because he continued to hope otherwise, especially in the matters that Sakurako was involved in. Even if he accepted the fact that she would never wake up in this world, he still believed that his love for her was really different.

He vowed that he would live the rest of his life in mourning for her.

Shiraishi's tennis match was certainly interesting, and he was very glad to see that the boy was no longer playing his perfect tennis, but in a way that he truly enjoyed. Wanabe had a good talk with the over-all winner of the round, and the conversation did make him more at ease due to his actions in the past. But his sense of peace did not last long.

He ended up sitting in that bar again, after having visited Sakurako and placed some more flowers onto her grave with Tanako Aizuki beside him.

"Would she still want flowers from you? Would such things really matter to those who are no longer in our world?" she muttered bitterly when she placed her own bouquet down. "Would my parents actually be happy if I bring them flowers every single day?"

"Ta…Tanako?" he asked her a bit uneasily, his hand stretched to grip her shoulders, although he never picked up the courage to do that.

"I am just doing another round of complaint." Aizuki said with one of her shrugs. "Somehow I am reminded of my parents' death."

"Why don't we go and have a drink together?" Watanabe suggested, causing her to life an eye brow in surprise, as well as commenting out: "You are not a faithful husband if you are committing adultery after less then a month.

"A drink between two friends." He quickly corrected her. "You listened to me, so I will be willing to do the same for you."

"What is there to tell, really?" she asked him dryly as she shook the glass of drink he brought for her in order to make the liquid inside swirl. "Like millions of teenager girls I had a bad relationship with my parents, you might even be able to recall this from our days at Shitenhouji Chuu. Then my parents got killed in an accident, just as things were improving since I was much older by then."

"An accident?" Watanabe automatically asked curiously.

"Do you want me to tell you the exact details of my parents' death?" she asked almost angrily, which immediately made him mumble out an apology before he stopped speaking.

The other reason Aizuki didn't want him to know about her parents' death was that she did not wish him to feel even more guilty, since he already blamed himself for Sakurako's death.

"I was the one driving, the one that caused the car to crash." He had whispered when he was no longer conscious of anything.

"And why do you only remember her death?" she whispered out aloud in response as she prepared to leave his apartment, after laying him down onto his own bed. "What about these two innocent walkers who your car crashed into?"

She didn't blame him for her parents' death as she knew that his car only crashed into the pavement because he was trying to prevent it from hitting the two children crossing the road after the drunkard driver behind him collided into his car.

That was something he couldn't understand that yet.

She was not someone full of fancies, but when she discovered that they were actually linked due to that car accident eight years ago on Sakurako's funeral, she decided to help him.

"So I wonder what good I am doing by going to their grave when what I really need to do is to apologise to them." At this she suddenly burst out laughing, causing many others to stare at them. "That is what you really should be doing too!"

"We really are alike." he commented sadly.

Oh but you are worse then me, much worse, Aizuki thought to herself as she watched him preparing to forget by the help of alcohols again. Was this how he spent all his weekends? How could such a man be a teacher?

But she felt that he would have been quite a good teacher, almost like Akio, if this tragedy has not choose to make him the one scarred. Akio was different because he only needed to grieve and mourn, unlike Watanabe Osamu, who was chained to guilt.

But then, she reminded herself, he would be a professional tennis player if Sakurako was still alive.

"Please don't smoke." She told him, snatching his unlit cigarette from him, "I am not fond of that smell, and I don't want Ashita to smell that sickening scent on me."

"She seems pretty different from you," Watanabe commented, taking another swig of his glass since she took away his lighter as well. "I'll say that she is more like your twin brother."

"Ashita had the advantage of being born a whole decade later, when money was no longer so scarce, and I am very glad about that. My parents really loved each other, but their love was severely tested in their early days of marriage due to financial problems."

"Should you not be speaking with more respect?"

Aizuki simply scoffed at this: "They are my parents and I do love them. But that is not going to stop me from saying how stupid they are by having children before they even reached fifteen. Why are you so surprised?" she asked him dryly. "It is not as if they did any thing illegal."

The cosy home she now lived in used to be very different, and Ashita might not even believe her if she told her young sister about the condition they used to live under: their very affectionate and loving parents would constantly scream at each other on the rare occasions when they were both home at the same time. Sometimes the two who were not ready to be parents would even yell and scream at their two children.

It was not as if they never apologise immediately, but such a way of life caused her to be under constant stress, as well as being very resentful, even after she understood that her parents actually did quite a good job given their circumstance.

"So I tried to do all that I can to anger them," Aizuki finished, "Hanging around with the bad girls, as well as taking my pick of boy friends from those I should really stay away from."

The actions of her and her twin brother contrasted with one another so much that it really ended up in a cycle that worked against their whole family.

Watanabe just listened to her recollect the past without saying anything, doing the same thing she had done after Sakurako's funeral.

He only spoke again when he accepted her offer of dropping him.

"I should have guessed that you would have a motorbike despite your yukata." He said with a slight smile as he took his place behind her. "I don't believe that you would be the type to walk alone in the middle of the night."

"Much more convenient then a car or bike, and cheaper then calling taxis." She replied easily. "Although taking a drunkard home is not easy."

"For that I would always be grateful to you." It was a bit awkward for him to lock his hands around her waist, but he still had to do it. The last time he consciously hugged a woman…that would be just before he and Sakurako got on the car.

Will I ever be able to forget? He asked himself once more. Do I want to?

"But don't tell me that you actually walk home." Aizuki commented out, purposely distracting him as she could sense that he was thinking about Sakurako once more.

During the first few years of her parents' death she kept on recollecting the past, wondering what she should have done instead, but Watanabe was much worse then her. He seemed to be able to link every single thing to her.

"I certainly can't drive considering the amount that I drink." He replied back rather lightly, talking to her was almost like a distraction.

"And you had the nerve to lecture Shiraishi for practising too long after school." She said with a roll of her eyes.

"I guess you would naturally hear about that accident since it made your little sister into some sort of hero due to what she did."

"I just heard about the whole detail today as I managed to get Shiraishi to talk about you. He told me that you lecturing him is the proof that you really do care about them."

But half the time they just saw him as being someone really irresponsible, whose main teaching seemed to be encouraging them to have fun.

"I was really tempted to tell him that you were my buchou and used to be very different. I wouldn't say that you are like Shiraishi but you could be really serious, and you often get really worried about the upcoming competitions." Aizuki continued. "It's almost funny, people tend to be more serious when they grow older but you actually appear as the opposite."

Appears, that was the important word.

By the time they reached his apartment he was barely able to stand, Aizuki commented out that the surprising fact was that he managed to stay awake throughout the whole ride.

"How did you do this last time?" he asked as she pushed him into the elevator.

"What do you think?" she asked dryly, putting one of his arms over her shoulder. "I don't know why I don't just leave you to sleep outside the bar."

Due to how toxic he was, he ended up leaning onto her with his face toward her when the lift give a slight shake just before it was going to stop. To an observer, they seemed to be two couples who were about to kiss.

That was certainly what the person standing outside the lift thought.

"Ta…Tanako Aizuki…" this was actually clenched out, and his tone even made Watanabe turn around to look at that person.

"Who are you?"

It seemed to be someone roughly the same age as them, and Watanabe thought that he might have seen this person once or twice, he was probably a resident of this apartment as well.

But the person was addressing Aizuki, not him. That was why it was so strange.

"Hirasawa-san." Aizuki said in a rather strained voice. "Well, fancy seeing you here."

"Who is that guy?" was the cold reply. "Is this why you refused to go out with me?"

"He…well, you see, he…"

Whatever Aizuki wanted to say was interrupted by Watanabe, who leant forward and placed his lips directly over her's. Since the time she hit that guy in junior high school with her tennis racquet, no one has ever tried to rob a kiss from her. She certainly would never have thought that it would be from the man who was still in mourning after eight years.

This, she repeated to her self over and over again, was the reason she didn't' push him away immediately.

"As you can see," Watanabe said, forcing his voice to be as steady as it could, "This is who I am, so please take the next lift." He added cheerfully as he pressed the close button.

He believed that Aizuki didn't slap him because she was still shocked at being kissed by him, although he was certain that a slap would soon be given if he didn't explain quickly.

"I was trying to help you." He told her very sincerely. "Think of it this way, what would be worse? You going out with an idiot, or you being with some random man at this late a time in the night?"

"You are not exactly a total stranger." She reminded him. "But I guess this is the best situation. He's one of Akio's friends and that twin of mine tried to set me up with him."

"That obviously didn't work."

"Good boys shouldn't go out with bad girls." She said a bit sadly.

He should have released his hold on her when they reached his room, but he didn't. Instead, he actually tightened his arms around her neck.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, her voice was finally raised.

"Strangely, this doesn't feel bad." He told her softly, pulling her a bit closer, and he even slightly stroked her face. "I am surprised that you still are alone. You…you are actually very beautiful, Tanako Aizuki."

"That is because you are drunk." She said very softly, but she still did not push him away from her. Unlike him, she had no excuse for what she was doing.

She was realistic, men were different from women by needing to have sex, instead of just wanting, especially those who has never done such things before. Watanabe was extremely unusual as he was so devoted to Sakurako that he has never once been with any women, as well as waiting for her.

"I only want to do that when we are married, can you give this to me? Other then you loving me forever, that is the only promise I want from you."

"Of course. Although it isn't that easy a thing, Sakurako."

"Why isn't it?"

But now, for the first time, he was finding himself being tempted. As he drew her close to him, he realised that he really missed this feeling, of a woman being in his arms, even if she was not the one that he loved. Perhaps it was due to the mere physical proximity after having been alone for such a long time.

He knew it was unwise, and so did she. But he still bent down to kiss her on the lips again, while she actually remained immobile in his arms. She has been kissed many times before, yet this was different.

But he was only doing this because he was drunk, did not care for her in that fashion. If she did not protest then he would probably continue with his kiss, and perhaps this strange passion would even cause them to spend the night together, doing what lovers would

Aizuki shook her head firmly and pushed him back, wasn't that the one thing she would never do? As for him…he would never forgive himself if he slept with a woman that was not Sakurako, perhaps he might never wish to see her again, as she would be the painful reminder of his 'crime'.

Maybe it was already too late.

If she was lucky then he wouldn't remember what had happened. Closing his door, she sank down onto the corridor outside as she suddenly realised something.

She wanted to stay in there with him.

Author's Note: This chapter was hard to write in the very beginning because the story was almost shifting from Watanabe to Shiraishi, to be honest, I am not that satisfied with the first half of the chapter as I still think that I have been focusing on Shiraishi and his team mates a bit too much, when this story is to focus on Watanabe. Although writing this chapter gave me inspiration for 'chapters', my collection of one shots about Shiraishi. In regard to what happens to the regular, I don't know why but I just want to make them like that.

As for what happens in the end of the chapter…please don't condemn them. I am not going to talk much about what has happened because I want to explore that idea through the story. But anyway, please keep in mind that one of the themes I am trying to show is that love can be different and it is not just limited to one person.

Aizuki's past is revealed a bit more and I think to an extent that make it more realistic, I guess you can say Ashita have the better deal. Sure, she was poor but she didn't mind that much. It was not as if she was starving or anything, and her siblings loved her. This is not really symbolic or anything, it is just the way her family happened to be. Although I guess unlike sacrifice this story is more realistic? Or I am trying to make it more realistic.

By the way, and I think people probably already worked this out. The italic is what he and Sakurako said to each other in the past.