A Brief Introduction by the Author
Welcome back. If you're here, hopefully you enjoyed the first chapter of this little drama. In the interests of helping you, the reader, from the second chapter on, I'll be providing some notes on the new characters in this story. In this, the second chapter, we'll be following Hida's vice-captain, Tetsuya Ito on the morning of the tournament, so let's start with him.
Tetsuya Ito (3rd year) - Hida's Vice-Captain, Tetsuya is strong tennis player in his own right, though not as strong as his (fraternal) twin brother Hirohito. He is much shorter than Hiro, very skinny, and some students at Hida mistake him for a 1st year. He has very straight medium length black hair, which frames a heart-shaped face with the same green eyes as his brother. Tetsuya is often quiet and softspoken, with a sensitive and caring nature. He harbors a fierce competitiveness, however, that few people besides his brother have seen. (The real Tetsuya is, I kid you not, classic bishounen and looks uncannily like Satsuki Yatouji from X/1999)
Play Style: Serve and Volleyer
Plays: Left-handed
Height: 156cm
Weight: 50kg
Blood Type: B
Birthday: 16 July
Dark Horse
Chapter 2 – Nightmare Scenario
The sky was dark overhead, starless, as Tetsuya Ito stepped onto the tennis court. The only illumination came from two floodlights, positioned at either end of the arena. The stands around the court were silent and empty, but they had the pristine, untouched look of a hospital. On the other side of the net, a lone figure stood expectantly, racket in hand. Tetsuya couldn't see him clearly, the floodlights were blinding him, but instinct told him that the other player was his twin brother Hirohito.
In silence, Hirohito leveled his racket and pointed it at Tetsuya. And then Tetsuya watched as his brother's form moved, uncoiling like a taut spring. Hirohito's arm shot upward, tossing a tennis ball in the air. At the same moment, he arched backward, and then sprang forward almost too quickly to follow. Hirohito's racket struck the ball as it was still rising from the toss. The ball crossed the net, flat and low, and struck the corner of the service court. Tetsuya was already running, focusing on the return, but his legs felt heavy, waterlogged. He was going to miss the return. Tetsuya lunged, thrusting his racket in front of him. Not enough! As his foot struck the hard court surface, he kicked off again, diving for the ball. Finally, Tetsuya's racket connected. He struck the ground and turned his head to watch the tennis ball curve through the air. Tetsuya's shot was going to clear the net; it was going to land back in Hirohito's court. He had done it.
A blur of motion at the net, a black shape set in stark relief by the floodlights behind him. Tetsuya watched as a racket spun and struck, before his return even landed. The smash careened toward Tetsuya, struck just centimeters away from where he was lying after his dive, and rebounded into his diaphragm, knocking the breath out of him. Hirohito's voice, usually loving but now icy cold, rang out from the other court. "No good. Again."
Tetsuya stood, ignoring the pain in his chest, and planted himself at the service line. Again, he watched as Hirohito's form whipped back and forward, again he saw the Rising-Toss Serve whisper past the net and rebound against the outside corner of the service court. Again, Tetsuya found himself lunging, then diving, for the return. Again, he succeeded in connecting, this time sending the ball back to Hirohito's baseline. With cold precision, Hirohito swung his racket in a forehand arc. The ball struck the taught strings of the racket and sprang back toward Tetsuya, still lying prone. Tetsuya tried to block the ball, tried to roll away, but he couldn't. The ball slammed into his left calf and rebounded into the air. Tetsuya wanted to scream, but he clenched his teeth against the pain. He could not let Hirohito think he was weak. Tetsuya would endure whatever his brother made him endure.
And again, that same glacial voice. "No good. Again."
As Tetsuya rose to his feet, trying not to favor his left leg, a buzzing filled his ears like the voice of a thousand angry bumblebees. He gripped his racket more tightly and shook his head, hoping to dispel the ringing. It passed for a moment, but then came back more insistent than ever. The buzzing was making it hard to concentrate. Distracted, Tetsuya hardly noticed as his brother's back arched once more, as his racket smashed into the ball. The ball rebounded in the middle of the service court this time, moving faster than ever before. The buzzing faded again, and Tetsuya realized that the ball, still moving far too fast, was traveling straight for his head.
Biting back a yelp of terror, Tetsuya sat bolt upright in bed to discover that the hotel alarm clock was chiming insistently. He blinked, disorientated, the frightening image of his brother still burned into his mind. It took Tetsuya a full half-minute to remember the alarm and press the wall buttons to turn it off. Slowly, he came back to himself and glanced around the still-dark room.
Hirohito was lying on a large bed about a meter from Tetsuya's own. He was snoring softly. The alarm hadn't been enough to wake him. Tetsuya glanced at the clock. Four in the morning. Well, it had been his choice to get up early. Tetsuya had wanted a chance to warm up for today, the first day of the tournament, by using the hotel gym. He had asked Hirohito, before they had both gone to sleep, if Hirohito wanted to join him in the morning. Hiro, though, had decided he would rather sleep a little longer. Tetsuya had agreed to wake him by five-thirty. That gave Tetsuya about ninety minutes to work out in the gym. Tetsuya liked to wake up early, even on weekends, but he found himself fighting off a yawn as he changed into his training-wear and left to find the exercise room.
The hall outside was still quiet. No one, not even Tetsuya's teammates, was likely to be awake this early. Tetsuya stopped by the vending machine on his floor and bought a half-liter bottle of Pocari Sweat. Then, tossing his workout towel over his shoulder and fighting down another yawn, he wandered back out to the elevator. When it arrived, Tetsuya stepped inside and traced his finger over the floor listings. First floor: check-in and bar. Second floor: meeting rooms, Italian restaurant. Third floor… there it was. Third floor: exercise facilities, pool, and sauna. Tetsuya hit the button and leaned back against the wall as the elevator rumbled to life.
For half a minute, the pervasive silence of the early morning was broken by the low thrum of the elevator. Then it chimed, and the elevator doors opened onto a brightly lit corridor with glass windows showing an Olympic-sized pool to the left and an extensive collection of exercise machines to the right. Tetsuya walked down the hall and slipped through the door to the gym. The lights were on, invitingly, but it was quiet in the empty exercise room. Quiet suited Tetsuya's mood; he was still brooding about the dream that had woken him.
Tetsuya knew that Hirohito would never hurt him, not on purpose at least. Sometimes Tetsuya felt like his brother made him train harder than the rest of the club combined, but that didn't bother Tetsuya. The dream, no, the nightmare, couldn't mean anything...
Could it? Tetsuya didn't like the question, but it came unbidden to his mind, and he found himself unable to push it away.
Ever since the Tokai tournament, Hirohito had been different: colder, harder, more distant. Tetsuya had played tennis with his brother since they were both barely out of diapers, and he knew how much Hirohito loved the game. But in the weeks since Tokai, Hirohito had lost his usual smile, and the grin he always, always wore on the tennis court had vanished entirely. Hirohito was like a different person, not the brother Tetsuya knew at all.
Tetsuya's thoughts roamed over the time since Tokai, cataloging all the changes in Hirohito. Was it really just the pressure of the national tournament, or was it something more, something Hirohito wouldn't even tell his own brother. The thought nagged at Tetsuya. There was no one in the world closer to him than Hirohito, and Tetsuya had thought his brother felt the same about him. But Hirohito had never seemed this distant before. There had been plenty of pressure before the Tokai tournament, and still Hirohito had been his same carefree, happy self then. What had changed since Tokai?
Again, a ringing noise pulled Tetsuya back to the real world. He glanced down and found himself jogging on a treadmill, the digital watch on his right wrist beeping it's own alarm to tell him it was five-fifteen, time to return to the room and wake Hirohito. He didn't remember starting on the treadmill, or on any of the other machines for that matter. His body must have just moved on instinct as he stewed in his own thoughts. Wiping his damp forehead with the exercise towel, Tetsuya powered-down the machine and grabbed his bottle of Pocari. Absorbed in his brooding, Tetsuya hadn't notice the time pass. As he left the exercise room, Tetsuya realized that his planned morning warm-up hadn't helped. A chill had settled into his bones. He was worried about his brother, but at the same time Tetsuya was too afraid to confront him. How much could he have changed?
Back in the room they shared, Tetsuya flipped on the lights and walked over to Hirohito's bed. His brother was still sleeping soundly, lying on his side with his hands folded under his pillow. Tetsuya reached out to grip his brother's shoulder, noticing that his hand trembled as he did. He shook Hiro gently and tried to make his voice cheerful as he called, "Wake up, sleepyhead. We've got a tournament to win today."
Hirohito shivered and blinked, and for a moment as his eyes met Tetsuya's own, he smiled. Tetsuya almost gasped. It was the old Hiro looking at him, the one who had stood up for him in elementary school when other children picked on him for being so small, the one who was always there to comfort Tetsuya when he got hurt. For a moment, all the fear of the previous hour fled and Tetsuya felt safe and warm again. And then, as he watched, that same hardness slipped over Hiro's eyes. It was like a lead weight falling in the pit of Tetsuya's stomach.
Tetsuya took an involuntary step back as Hirohito swung his legs off the bed. Stretching his arms over his head, Hirohito asked, "Do you mind if I use the shower, Tetsu?" Tetsuya shook his head quickly and turned his back on his brother, hoping none of his anxiety had shown on his face. He snatched his duffle bag from the foot of his bed and began rummaging inside it, trying not to be conspicuous about avoiding his brother's gaze.
"How was the gym?" Tetsuya heard a rustle of sheets behind him, announcing that Hiro was climbing out of bed.
"Fine, I guess. I was the only one using it. It seemed pretty nice." To Tetsuya's own ears, his voice sounded hollow. Hirohito didn't seem to notice, though. Tetsuya's brother hardly seemed to be paying attention to the conversation. From the corner of his eye, Tetsuya saw Hiro slip past him and enter the bathroom. The door closed behind him, and moments later Tetsuya heard the roar of water announcing Hiro's shower.
With Hirohito safely in the bathroom, Tetsuya grabbed the duffle bag he had been fiddling with and threw it petulantly across the room. This was pointless. Tetsuya was in danger of succumbing to his own paranoid delusions. In this state, he'd probably lose his first match before he stepped onto the court. Tetsuya flopped backward onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. He had to be strong today, for Hida's sake and for Hirohito's. People were counting on him.
As Hirohito showered, Tetsuya tried to focus himself on the tournament, on what he and the rest of the Hida team would face today. In his head, Tetsuya ran over what he knew of the schedule. Because they had won the Tokai tournament, Hida would be given a bye through the first round of play. Their first opponents would be whichever team won between Osaka's Tennoji Junior High and Chiba's Rokkaku Junior High. Assuming Hida won there, they would probably play AIT, the Tokai number two, in the quarterfinals. After that would come the semifinals, if Hida could make it that far. There were six teams competing for those semifinal slots, but it was a safe bet that Rikkai, last year's national champions, would come out on top. And then, if Hida could win against Rikkai, they would be in to the final, against whoever claimed victory in the other block of matches.
Slowly, slowly, Tetsuya forced his anxiety about Hirohito to the back of his mind. There were more important things, at least for the next two days. And however much Tetsuya might worry, it seemed unlikely that the situation with Hiro could be resolved just now, with the pressure of the tournament looming over the whole Hida team and most especially its captain. As Hirohito stepped out of the bathroom, steam rising off his body from the residual heat of the shower, Tetsuya even managed some of his usual chipper banter before taking his own turn to wash up.
The bathroom was still thick with steam when Tetsuya entered. Closing the door, he slipped out of the training clothes he had warn to the gym and started running the tap. Tetsuya tested the water with his hand and, finding it too hot, adjusted the temperature down to a comfortable level. With the team preparing to meet in the hotel lobby at 6:30, Tetsuya knew he should shower quickly. But another part of him knew that today, more than any other day, he needed the relaxation afforded by the shower. 6:30 was still more than half an hour away and, frankly, Ando-sensei's schedule planned for them to arrive at the Arena Tennis complex so early that Tetsuya didn't think it would matter if he delayed the team by a few minutes.
Tetsuya stepped into the large tub and pulled the curtain closed behind him. He let the water wash over him and felt his muscles slowly relaxing. He wasn't sure how long he spent in the shower, trying to calm his nerves and forget the morning's dream. Time seemed to fly by, and just as Tetsuya reached for the shampoo, he heard a loud knock on the bathroom door. "Move it, Tetsu. We're supposed to meet Ando-sensei in the lobby in fifteen minutes."
Sighing to himself, Tetsuya called back. "All right. Just let me finish washing my hair." Rubbing his hands together, Tetsuya scrubbed them quickly through his scalp and lathered the shampoo into a foamy mess. After rinsing it out of his hair, Tetsuya stopped the tap and began briskly drying himself with one of the white towels provided by the hotel. He wrapped it around his hair to absorb any excess water and pulled on his boxers. Throwing the training clothes over his arm, he pulled the door open and stepped into the much-colder air of the hotel room.
Hirohito was already dressed, with his racket case slung across his back. He was perched on the edge of his bed, pouring over a small packet of papers, information about the national tournament, that Tetsuya was sure Hiro had already read through at least fifty times.
"Learning anything interesting?" Tetsuya asked, trying to return to his normal cheerfulness.
Hirohito shook his head without looking up. "No, not especially. But I want to make sure I don't forget anything important. Everybody will be counting on me today. Not the time for me to make stupid mistakes." The same cold, dead tones that had haunted Tetsuya's dreams.
Tetsuya squashed the fluttering feeling in his stomach. This was no time for him to fall apart, either. Tetsuya was Hida's vice-captain, and he had a duty to be a leader for the team. Even if, especially if, the captain couldn't provide that leadership himself. Tetsuya made a conscious effort to relax his voice before speaking. "Don't worry so much, Hiro. There are seven of us on this team. You're not alone. And just think, even if we lose in our first match, no one from Hida has ever done anything like this. We've already gone farther than anyone could hope."
At those final words, Hirohito's head whipped around and his eyes burned deep into Tetsuya's own. An image flashed in Tetsuya's mind, of the dream, of Hirohito's silhouette standing at the net and cruelly, coldly, ordering him to continue. And then Hirohito spoke, in a voice like mixed ice and fire. "Don't you dare talk like that, Tetsuya! Don't you even think about losing! I didn't expect I'd hear that from anyone on this team. But from you?"
Hirohito rose, clenching the sheaf of papers in his hand, and for the first time in his life Tetsuya was aware just how much larger his brother was. Tetsuya took a step back. He wanted to cower, wanted to run from Hirohito as fast as his legs would take him. Tetsuya was still wearing only his boxers and the towel wrapped around his hair. Near nakedness somehow made Hirohito's verbal assault even more frightening to Tetsuya. He felt like a panicked rabbit staring into the eyes of a ferocious wolf.
But then Hirohito visibly controlled himself. His lips twitched, writhed, settled into a thin, tight line. The fire slowly faded from his eyes to be replaced by the same leaden blankness they had shown so often of late. Hirohito moved downward, slowly settling himself once more on the edge of his bed. He glanced away for a moment in what looked like embarrassment, and then brought his eyes back to meet Tetsuya's.
"I'm… sorry, Tetsuya. I don't know what… I didn't mean to snap at you like that. It's just…." Hirohito's voice trailed off into silence and his eyes slipped down into his lap, where one of his hands still held the crumpled tournament information packet. But even now, Tetsuya still heard the edge of that same icy distance in Hiro's tone.
Tetsuya went to his duffle bag and began digging for his uniform. It took him a while to find something to say, too long he knew, but he was still trembling at the memory of the scene that had just played out. "…it's okay, Hiro. You're under a lot of pressure. We all are. Don't worry about it. Just… try to relax, y'know?" The words must have sounded hollow even to Hirohito, but Tetsuya knew he couldn't do better, not anymore.
The nightmare this morning had been just that, a nightmare. And however long it had taken, Tetsuya had finally managed to get past it, finally managed to convince himself that he was giving too much weight to the changes he saw in Hirohito. But this, the blazing fury he had seen in Hiro's eyes, was something else entirely.
Finding his uniform, Tetsuya focused his thoughts on unwrapping the towel around his hair, pulling the jersey over his head, sliding his arms through its sleeves, slipping into the loose, cool tennis shorts. Anything to keep his mind from Hirohito, anything to put off confronting what had just happened. Hirohito seemed to be doing the same now, smoothing out the crumpled papers and making a show of checking that all his equipment was in order. Silently, as Tetsuya finished dressing and grabbed his racket, they both made their way to the door and exited into the hall.
The walk to the elevator was funereal. Neither Tetsuya nor Hirohito seemed able to find the words they needed to break the silence. Not that Tetsuya was sure Hiro even cared to try. They walked in a slow lockstep, each wanting to be alone, but unable to find even a flimsy excuse to leave the other. What happened, Hiro? Where did you go? The thoughts came unbidden, and in a sudden rage Tetsuya screamed in his mind for silence. But still, the thought came.
Why did you leave me here, alone?
Alone. That one word resonated inside Tetsuya's heart, striking with a force that made him stumble. Tetsuya stabbed his finger at the button to call the elevator, trying to disguise his falter. A part of him wished he hadn't. A part wished he'd just fallen beside the wall, something to huddle against as he sobbed his heart away, and then maybe Hirohito's eyes would soften, maybe his brother would hold him and make everything better, like he always used to before.
But then that word came back, alone, and cold fear clutched Tetsuya's chest. This wasn't the Hirohito he knew. This Hirohito didn't hold him and stroke his hair to take away the pain. This Hirohito was every bit as frightening as the silhouette in Tetsuya's dream.
This Hirohito was not his brother. And Tetsuya was alone.
The elevator chime sounded mockingly cheerful to Tetsuya's ears. As the door slipped open, he stepped inside on legs that felt like lead. Hirohito pushed the button for the lobby, and for the second time that day, Tetsuya spent the ride listening intently to the mechanical rumblings of the elevator.
An eternity later, the doors opened onto the brightly lit lobby of Tokyo's Palace Hotel. Tetsuya almost gasped with relief when he saw that most of the team was already assembled around Ando-sensei in the middle of the lobby, a small crowd of pale-blue and black uniforms. He hurried out of the elevator to join them, finally finding a worthy excuse to escape the stranger that was his brother.
Tetsuya skidded to a stop next to Sunama, his usual smile back in place. Inside, he still felt the same persistent dread he had a minute before, but Tetsuya found it easier to act like his old self when he was with the other members of the tennis club. Turning to Sunama, Tetsuya found that his voice had regained its usual exuberance as well. "Hey, Kazuki! What's up?"
Sunama turned his head and gave a small nod to Tetsuya. "Good morning, Sempai." He didn't smile; Sunama never smiled. Sunama was the only member of the tennis club shorter than Tetsuya, but he had the sort of dignified presence that commanded respect and courtesy. And because of that, no matter how many times Tetsuya called him Kazuki, he would remain, now and forever, Sunama.
Ando-sensei gave a small nod of greeting to Tetsuya and another to Hirohito as he entered the circle of players. Glancing around the group, he did a very quick headcount and clicked his tongue in exasperation when he found one member still missing. "Kamishimizu. Again. Where is that blasted boy?"
Sunama took a small step forward and bowed his head. The other players fell silent, focusing their attention on the small boy. "He and I left our room at the same time, Sensei, but he stopped to buy something from the vending machine. I don't know why he's taking so long." Conversation stopped for a moment as everyone turned to listen to Sunama. With another small bow, however, Sunama retreated back into the circle. The moment passed, and conversation resumed among the players.
Sunama reached into his tennis bag and extracted a small, blue notebook that he opened and began to read. Tetsuya had been about to join in the conversation between Kurari and Daisuke Yamaguchi when the notebook tugged at his attention. It was the same notebook, unless Tetsuya was much mistaken, that Sunama had been reading after practice the day before. Curiosity impelled Tetsuya to take a closer look at what his teammate was reading, and he shifted his position slightly to see inside the notebook.
Sunama made no indication that he was aware of Tetsuya's attempt, but he adjusted his position. It looked like the most natural thing in the world, the action of someone who had been standing still too long and needed to reposition his body, but the motion left Tetsuya totally unable to view the notebook. Now more curious than ever, Tetsuya was beginning to consider abandoning subtlety and stepping around behind Sunama to read over his shoulder. A loud call from the elevators, however, disrupted his concentration. Seiichi Kamishimizu had appeared, late as usual, and was sprinting across the lobby toward the gathered members of the tennis club. Tetsuya glanced at Sunama again, but found that they boy's notebook had disappeared back into his tennis bag.
"Hey! Sorry Ando-sensei, sorry guys," Seiichi panted as he rested his hands on his knees and tried to regain his breath. "I was up at the… and there was this… and then…." Seiichi made wild arm gestures as he spoke, as if they could explain the details so sorely lacking in his story. "And anyway, she found it and now there won't be any problem with the fish," he concluded.
Tetsuya wondered, not for the first time, if Seiichi's non-stories represented a gift for making excuses or a genuine mental defect.
Ando-sensei just scrubbed a hand through his hair and glanced at the Hida players to see if anyone understood what Seiichi had just said. Six blank stares met his own. He sighed. "Whatever. Just try to be on time tomorrow, Kamishimizu, all right?"
Seiichi looked crestfallen at the lack of enthusiasm in Ando's voice. "But she was… and they were all like… and then the fish!" However poor the story might be, Tetsuya thought Seiichi was doing rather a good job as an air traffic controller.
Ando's voice had a conciliatory tone. "It's okay, Kamishimizu. We all understand." Clearly, none of them did. "You… erm… I'm sure you did the right thing." Tetsuya noticed Ando-sensei's eye twitching violently at those last words; it looked like it was taking real self-restraint for the tennis club advisor to keep himself from throttling his ace singles player.
Apparently, Ando's platitudes were enough to mollify Seiichi. Beaming with delight, he gave a quick bow to Ando-sensei and took his place in the circle with the other students.
"Well… Now that…" Ando's eye twitched again. "Anyway! I want to go over the schedule one last time before we head to the courts." It's… about six-thirty now. The opening ceremony will start at nine o'clock, so we should have quite a bit of time before that happens. I want you all to warm up before the ceremony. We'll use the same courts as yesterday. Don't work yourselves too hard. Save your best play for the real matches today. We'll head over to center court at eight-forty. Then, after the ceremony, I want all of you watching the other teams, like we talked about yesterday. Hirohito and Tetsuya will take the Tennoji-Rokkaku match; whoever wins there will be our first opponents. Kamishimizu and Yamaguchi will watch AIT – we beat them once at Tokai, but that's no reason to get lazy. Kawakami and Iwasa, you're on Doshisha and Miyake. And I don't care what you think, Iwasa; if I find out you weren't watching that game I'll have you running laps every day for the next month. And Sunama will take care of Rikkai. Everyone got it?"
The Hida players gave a loud, chorused "Yes!"
Ando nodded in approval. "Then let's get out of here." He kicked the boxes of tennis gear at his feet, the same boxes he had brought out the previous day. "I'll carry one of these today. Yamaguchi, you get the other."
Daisaku Yamaguchi's face flared with indignation. "Me? Why me? Seiichi's the one who was la…"
Cutting him off before he could go any further, Ando growled. "Just do it, Daisaku." Twitch. "Faster we get to Arena Tennis, the more time you all have to warm up. Move it!" Reaching down, Ando grabbed one of the boxes and headed for the hotel doors. Grumbling to himself, Daisaku reluctantly picked up the other box and followed. Fortunately, Hirohito seemed perfectly happy to shadow Ando-sensei, walking beside Daisaku and ignoring the rest of the team. Tetsuya hung back near Sunama. The other players were talking with one another, but Tetsuya still felt better-suited to silence.
As the Hida tennis club rounded the turn they had taken the day before, Kurari danced in front of Tetsuya and began to walk backwards while he talked. "Hey, Sempai, what's up? You seem kind of quiet today. Nervous about the tournament?"
Tetsuya gave a convincing grin and shook his head. "Nah, I don't worry about things like that. We're the best," he declared with mock bravado. "We've got this one in the bag."
"Glad to hear it, Sempai! I was worried Shouta and I might have to really play today, pick up the slack for you and the Captain," Kurari laughed. Along with Shouta Iwasa, Kurari made up Hida's Doubles Two team. Both he and Shouta were strong players, but they were notorious delinquents as well, on and off the court. They only played their best when they really thought there was a reason to do so. Tetsuya hoped that being at the national tournament would be reason enough to make them play their best.
"You just do your part of it, and we'll see to ours," Tetsuya warned with a small smile. "There's nothing I'd like better than to keep Kazuki off the courts all day." Tetsuya turned his smile on Sunama, still walking beside him. "No offense, Kazuki."
"None taken, Sempai," Sunama responded in his usual emotionless voice.
Kurari dithered. "Well, I don't know about that… Shouta looks awfully tired to me, and I could use some more sleep myself." This was going somewhere, and Tetsuya was sure he didn't want to know where that was. "Hey, Sempai, how about you put in a word with Ando-sensei! Everybody knows whoever wins between Doshisha and Miyake, they haven't got a prayer against Rikkai in the quarter finals. And Shouta an' I, we play first! I think we'd both do better if we could get a nap instead of watching that stupid match."
Tetsuya laughed out loud, his face splitting into a wide grin. "You want me to ask Ando-sensei to let you out of watching your match? What, are you crazy? No way are you getting me into this. Ando-sensei says you watch that game, so you watch it. And don't you dare try to skip out, or I'll make sure you're doing more than extra laps every day. Whose idea was this, anyway?"
Kurari gave a sullen glance to his left. "It was Shouta's…. He figured maybe you'd be willing to ease up on us. We really are tired, you know."
Tetsuya fixed Kurari with the strongest glare he could muster. "Everyone's tired, Kurari, and not just on our team. This is Nationals, not like one of our games back in Hida. Everybody works his hardest today. That's how we do this. You and Shouta watch your game, and then you be ready to play, and win, the first set we play against… whoever wins the match I'm watching. Got it?"
Kurari sighed and gave a little nod before turning his back on the vice-captain and taking up his place beside Iwasa again.
Tetsuya walked the rest of the way to Arena Tennis in silence. He forced himself not to brood, instead trying to let his mind drift. After a minute, Tetsuya discovered that he'd started sightseeing. Tokyo was the largest city in the world, and like any huge city, it was by turns both ugly and picturesque. Vast stretches of Tokyo were nothing more than concrete jungle, without even the lurid beauty of neon signs. Other parts, like Akihabara, were lovely in their own way because they were part of the concrete jungle, but with such a dazzling array of lights and attractions that you couldn't help but love them. But in all of Tokyo, there were few places as scenic as the area near the Imperial Palace. The buildings had an elegance here, and they fit well with the surrounding greenery. As he walked, Tetsuya slowly became lost in the scenery, and it was with surprise that he noticed the looming arch of the Arena Tennis complex standing before him, just another set piece among the trees.
Ando-sensei guided the team through the complex on the same path they had taken the previous day. Even before seven o'clock, though, Arena Tennis was alive. There were players wandering the paths in uniforms of every color. At first, Tetsuya tried to pay attention to all the uniforms and see if he could find any of the teams he knew were playing, but he quickly realized that there were many more uniforms present than there were teams playing in the tournament. With the national competition being held in Tokyo this year, no doubt every school in Kanto with a serious tennis team would want to come watch. And considering the number of people who lived in of the Kanto region….
When the Hida team arrived at the courts they had used the previous day, they found another team already using half of them to practice. There were small clusters of observers in the stands, watching the team on the courts. Each group had its own uniform, and bunched together in little pockets the stands looked like a spotty rainbow. Ando-sensei led the way down the steps to the floor of the large practice arena: half the courts were still open, and they would provide just enough room for the Hida players to warm up as well.
As he walked down the stairs, Tetsuya tried to get a look at the team on the other courts. They had black uniforms with white lettering on the back. Tetsuya thought the characters spelled 'Fudomine', but he wasn't entirely sure. The name was not familiar, but Tetsuya hadn't learned all the tournament teams by heart. He assumed they must be part of the tournament, or else why would they be practicing this morning. Which meant they must be playing in the other block. In that case, this would probably be the only time Tetsuya saw them play, unless the team in black somehow managed to beat out all the seated teams and make it to the finals.
At the bottom of the stairs, Ando-sensei deposited his box against the back wall of the court. Daisaku did the same, sighing gratefully to be rid of the load. As the Hida players filed onto the court, they circled around Ando-sensei again.
"Okay, I want everyone working in the same pairings as yesterday," Ando told them quietly. "Kamishimizu, you and Tetsuya take the courts by that other team. Sunama and Iwasa on the next court. Yamaguchi and Kawakami, the court after that. And Hirohito, I'll help you warm up on the far court." Ando pointed to each court as he named the pairs and, at the end, unslung the racket case from his back and unzipped it to reveal a red Prince O3 that drew stares of both admiration and envy from the team members. Ando always brought a racket to practice, but it was a very rare event for him to actually hit with the team, and no one had known that Ando was secretly harboring the premier racket of the Prince line.
Once he had removed the racket, Ando laid his case on the ground and popped open one of the boxes to reveal a pile of tennis balls. He grabbed a handful, shoved them in his pocket, and began walking toward the far court he would share with Hirohito. The other players were quick to follow, freeing their own rackets and leaving the cases in a pile near Ando's. When Tetsuya had his own Wilson Triad 4 out, he took a few of the tennis balls and headed to the court adjacent to the black-jacketed players.
As he walked to his court, Tetsuya had another chance to read the white characters on the jacket. They did say 'Fudomine', but nothing else, nothing about where this Fudomine team might be from. As he watched the two players on the nearest court, Tetsuya started to wonder why he hadn't heard the name before. One of them was wearing a black cap, and seemed to be pretty strong. Black-cap had excellent court coverage and very fast ground strokes. He looked better than most of the players Tetsuya had seen at Tokai; better than any of the ones Tetsuya had played against, certainly, even the AIT pair that he and Hiro had lost to in the finals. But it was the other player who really caught Tetsuya's attention.
Across the net from Black-cap was a tall, muscular player with short, spiky bleach-blond hair. His appearance reminded Tetsuya of Hida's own Daisaku Yamaguchi, and his game seemed to revolve around power, also like Daisaku. But the similarities ended there. Daisaku's game centered on power because his strength was his strongest asset. It was clear that Fudomine's Blond-hair focused on power only because he chose to. Blond-hair wasn't just strong, he was fast and he was precise. He moved around the court with a fluidity and grace that Daisaku had never shown, and his shots went exactly where he wanted them to go. Blond-hair had all of Daisaku's strengths, but none of his weaknesses it seemed.
With the possible exception of Sunama and Seiichi, Tetsuya had never seen anyone play at the level Blond-hair was playing, and as good as the rest of Hida might be, Tetsuya knew that without those two to anchor the singles line, Hida never could have made it to the national tournament. If this team, who Tetsuya had never heard of, had players like them, maybe even players better than them…. The national tournament, it seemed, was going to be much harder than the Tokai competition.
Seiichi appeared at Tetsuya's elbow. "Hey, do you know who those guys are?" he asked.
Tetsuya glanced around and saw a look of intense concentration on Seiichi's face. It was the sort of look Seiichi occasionally wore in the middle of his games. In the last year Tetsuya had come to realize that in the moment Seiichi got that look, for all practical purposes, his match came to an end. Tetsuya had never seen anyone but Sunama score a point on Seiichi after he entered that focused mode. For him to be wearing that look now, when Seiichi wasn't even playing….
"Their jackets say 'Fudomine', but I've never heard of them. Sorry, Seiichi."
"Fudomine? I think I remember reading something about them…." Seiichi's voice sounded distant. "Yeah. They're from Tokyo. Not in our block. They haven't won a tournament all year. But they've been at all the same tournaments as Seishun Gakuen, the guys who beat last year's champions."
Tetsuya shivered. This wasn't like Seiichi at all, this type of encyclopedic knowledge. There was something strange in Seiichi's voice, something that chilled Tetsuya to the bone. He remembered listening to Hirohito tell ghost stories once, when they'd gone on a camping trip in elementary school, and Hiro's voice then had had the same eerie quality that Seiichi's possessed now.
"They say the team is all second-years," Seiichi continued. "Everyone but the captain, Tachibana. Tachibana trained them all, built the team himself, and they've been going up against strong teams all year. Only two teams they haven't beaten at least once: Rikkai and Seigaku.
"You remember a few years back, when we were all in elementary school, a guy named Goran Ivanisevic won Wimbledon? I remember, I'd played for a few years but I was just starting to enjoy watching the game on TV. They said Ivanisevic was a wild card. Hadn't won a tournament all year, wasn't even ranked in the top 100. And he came to Wimbledon, and he beat everyone. The final match went five sets, and the last set lasted for sixteen games. My dad told me he'd never seen anything like it.
"I kinda thought we were like Ivanisevic this year: the dark horse, the team no one expected to win that went all the way. But we're not. Fudomine is the real Ivanisevic. They've only lost three times this year, and they've never lost to the same team twice.
"Every single player on that team is good, better than anyone we've played all year. But their singles squad is second to none. And Tachibana, their captain, is supposed to be one of the best players in this tournament. I don't remember too much about him, other than that he has a mark, right in the middle of his forehead, like a little dot…."
Just then, as Tetsuya and Seiichi stepped onto their court, the Fudomine players stopped for a moment. Black-cap put a hand to his visor and did a quick survey of the Hida players. Blond-hair turned as well, and Tetsuya got his first clear look at the Fudomine player. He had a presence like Sunama that commanded respect, and he wore a look of iron will on his face. Blond-hair didn't bother shading his eyes against the sun; he looked out over the Hida players like a lion surveying his prey. And as Blond-hair's gaze swept past him, Tetsuya noticed a tiny spot, like a pinprick, in the middle of the Fudomine player's forehead.
Tetsuya felt that same ghost story tension, but magnified tenfold. He glanced over at Seiichi to see if he had noticed the dot as well.
Seiichi, who Tetsuya thought he knew so well, Seiichi who was always laughing and making jokes, now looked like a completely different person. His shoulders were square, his back straighter, and there was a fire in his eyes that Tetsuya had never seen. The look of concentration Seiichi had worn a moment before was replaced now with a focus so intense it made the rest of the world, Tetsuya included, seem pale and washed-out. Glancing back, Tetsuya saw that Blond-hair, Tachibana, had stopped surveying the Hida players as well, and that his eyes were directed at Seiichi. The connection lasted no more than a second, and Tetsuya wasn't sure anyone else had even seen it, but he knew that something had been communicated in that brief time. Someone had issued a challenge and someone else had answered it.
Seiichi's mouth twisted into a small, secretive smile, and he spoke to the air in front of him. "I want to play against him."
Tetsuya, still feeling uneasy, tried to bring his teammate's attention back to the present. "Fudomine is in the other block, Seiichi. We're not going to see them unless we make it to the finals."
Shaking his head in surprise, Seiichi looked down at Tetsuya and stared for a moment, almost as if he'd forgotten where he was. Then he seemed to come back to himself and gave a warm smile. "Well, then, Sempai, I guess we'll have win our way there."
