Kirihara was woken up when the bus suddenly stopped which made his head hit the seat in front of him with a small thud. He moaned and rubbed his temple. There were voices coming from the front of the bus, and Kirihara peeked between the small opening of the two front seats.

Oh great he thought. Just what I didn't need – the wholefrickin' Fudomine tennis team! What the hell are they doing in Kanagawa? He wasn't exactly fond of that particular team of weaklings, and they probably wouldn't scream like fangirls once they saw him, either. Not after what he'd done to their buchou at the Kantou tournament.

Kirihara grabbed a nearby newspaper thrown at a seat, and made himself small where he was hiding behind the paper.

The bus soon started rocking again. After a few minutes, Kirihara growled as he saw the bus stop he usually got off at, pass by. With those guys from Fudomine who probably wanted his blood, he couldn't get off the bus before they did. And they were probably going all the way to Tokyo.

After a while, he started listening to their conversations. He still thought they were idiots and even more so when he heard one of them ranting and mumbling under his breath. When sneaked a peek, he saw one of them listening to music, bobbing his head and moving his feet in time with the music.

They seemed to be having fun, though.

He recalled that all the members in Fudomine except for their captain were second-years. Must be nice he thought. Not being mistreated by your senpais everyday.

"Kamio!" the one with the cap said, and tapped the redhead on the shoulder. "Hey, Akira! Where're the snacks?"

"Eh?" the redhead pulled out the earphones. "What?"

"The snacks?"

"They're in my bag." He put the earphones back in again.

"So typical Kamio", the longhaired mumbled. "Putting our snacks into his bag without saying anything. I could've carried them instead. At least I hear when others are talking to me but how is he supposed to hear anything when he's always listening to music? And he's supposed to be our fukubuchou too… he's not very responsible. How will it be next year when Tachibana-san isn't with us?"

"It'll be just fine", Tachibana assured him.

"Yeah because then you won't be the only third year in the club", Kamio said, pulling out his earphones. "Cause you're going to continue play at university, right Tachibana-san?"

At least they've got each other, Kirihara thought. But I'm the only second year, that's totally unfair!

"But who's gonna replace you in the club, Tachibana-san?"

"Idiot Uchimura! Tachibana-san is irreplaceable!"

"It'll probably be some second year and we'll have to teach him how to swing properly and how to warm up so that he won't injure himself" Shinji mumbled.

"Cool, it'll be just like having a little brother!" one of the Fudomine people exclaimed.

"And we'll be third years by then! That's cool!"

"Oi! This is our bus stop!" Tachibana said. "Everyone get off Shinji, don't push him!"

"Stop pushing, stupid!"

"You two stop bickering! I'm not your mom so I shouldn't have to tell you off. When're you guys gonna learn to be more careful?"

"You could always start assign us laps like Rikkai's Sanada-san does" Uchimura suggested jokingly.

"I should probably start doing that everytime you're arguing. That would probably calm you down a little... and maybe prevent you from playing when you're injured."

"It was just once!"

The voices of the Fudomine team died as the sound from the motor filled the bus. Kirihara sighed. Maybe it wasn't that entire problem free to be a team consisting of only second years…

The sound of his phone filled the bus.

"Hey Akaya? Where are you?" Great… Marui-senpai.

"Hi senpai. Uh, I think… I'm in Tokyo…"

"Tokyo?! What? Why're you in Tokyo?"

"Cause the bus I got on when I was escaping my evil senpais is going to Tokyo?"

"Stupid kouhai! This is no time to be sulking! Get your ass back here, Yukimura-buchou is treating everyone to ice-cream after practice!"

"OK Marui-senpai! I'm on my way!"

"Great! And if you make it before four o'clock I'll treat an extra! Just see it as a favor to my favorite kouhai!"

click

Well… maybe being the only second year had its benefits from time to time…