Kyandi: Howdy everyone! Sorry I've been gone so long!
Shunsuke: You should be ashamed.
Kyandi: Whatever! I said sorry. Anyway, I know it's been a while, and I apologize. During the summer my work load increases and my access to internet, decreases. But I'm back now!
Shunsuke: That means we're back too. Right, Haruhi?
Haruhi: Right.
Kyandi: So I won't beat around the bush today. Lets get to it!
Shunsuke: Please enjoy and review.
Haruhi: Kyandi-sama does not own New Prince of Tennis
Chapter 2 The Beginning
The time had finally come. For the competition in the U-17 World Cup, the teams would meet in Australia. Before the actual tournament started, each country would be revealed through a series of exhibition matches called the Pre-World Cup. It was at the drawing for the matches set-up that Oishi found himself standing the middle school rep, along side Byodoin.
"Before the World Cup kicks off, they'll be taking one day to unveil all of the various countries through exhibition matches. They're calling it the "Pre-World Cup"." Byodoin said, looking somewhat professional in a suit.
"S-Sir!?" Oishi replied, sweating bullets.
Of course Oishi had gone through a drawing before, when he had taken over in Tezuka's absence, but back then he had Hikari at his side and she was always a calming influence. Not now. Oishi missed Hikari, as all of his friends did, and none of them had been able to even talk to her since she had cut off her own phone. None of them knew what the girl was doing, but they knew she would be fine. She had her female friends with her, after all.
"Each country will have a high schooler and a middle schooler pair up and send out three teams each. This seems to be for the sole purpose of familiarizing all the faces of the various countries to all the sponsors and preparing for the global marketing campaign." Byodoin told Oishi. "Some countries will use this opportunity to mask their true strength while others will show their true potential...the mind games have only begun."
As if Oishi wasn't already nervous enough. Byodoin was just adding on to it. If given the choice, Oishi would much rather be at a drawing with Hikari. At least she didn't say things that made him even more tense.
No, she saved that for the actual matches.
It was then that Oishi spotted a familiar face and left Byodoin behind to go to him.
"Te-Tezuka!?"
Tezuka looked up as Oishi came running towards him.
"Oishi." he greeted.
"What are you doing here?" Oishi asked.
"As one of the prerequisites to becoming a pro, I'm participating in the World Cup as a German Rep." Tezuka replied.
"A Ge-German Rep!? The mean the world's best team that's already won the World Cup nine times now? That kind of team...really suits you." Oishi said.
Tezuka didn't know about that, but he wanted to know something else.
"Have you heard from Higarashi?" Tezuka asked.
Oishi's expression dropped. That would be a flat out no.
"I talked to Sosuke-kun, but he still hasn't heard from her either. He said he handed her over to Hisoka-kun and the two have been out of touch since." Oishi replied.
Tezuka found himself wondering, not for the first time, what Hikari was doing. The girl's action always had confused him before, but this was really confusing. She had passed up the chance to be standing at this tournament with the Japan team and now was gone. He half wished he knew what she was thinking, but the other half of him really didn't want to know what he would find in that head of hers.
The possibilities were terrirfying.
"But you know Hika-chan. She'll be fine and will probably pop up again soon. She always does when there's a big tennis tournament." Oishi assured him. "But I can't believe we'll be facing you as an opponent. Speaking of which, wait til you hear this Tezuka! That Echizen has..."
"Well look what we've got here. 'Sup kiddos."
Tezuka and Oishi turned at the sound of a familiar voice and came face to face with Shunsuke.
"Shunsuke-kun!?" Oishi gasped.
The Higarashi brother grinned, giving them a two fingered salute in greeting. The young man, like everyone else present, was wearing a suit, but his dress shirt was unbuttoned at the throat and his tie loosened. His usual sunglasses were perched on the top of his perfectly styled hair. His eyes flickered to Tezuka and a brief look of distaste flashed across his face before he cleared it once more. Apparently the Higarashi brother didn't like Tezuka.
"What are you doing here, Shunsuke-kun?" Oishi asked.
"I'm a Greece Rep. My mother was half Greek, you know. Haruhi and I are both on the team and have even recruited Candyce's little brother, Teal. You know Candyce, right? American bumpkin, blond hair, annoying accent, goofy-looking cowboy hat always on her head. You met her during the summer trip you took to America with Hikari." Shunsuke said.
"Yeah, we remember. She's kind of hard to forget." Oishi answered.
"You're not kidding. But yeah, her little brother is on our middle school team. Good player, but a little mild-manner in my opinion." Shunsuke replied, with a shrug of his shoulders.
"So, um...have you heard from Hika-chan?" Oishi asked.
Shunsuke paused, his grin faltering as he looked at the two middle schoolers before. Shunsuke frowned as he jammed his hands into his pockets. He shifted his weight onto the other foot as he considered the two and what to say.
"Look, kid, my sister has always been a bit of free spirit. She comes and goes as she pleases. We've never tried to limit that. No point. Hikari will do what she wants, when she wants. Just you wait and see, she'll be back in your life causing all kinds of grief before you know it. So don't worry about it. She's just going through a phase of rethinking what she wants to do with her future. This one here had her questioning herself for the first time since Hikaru's death." Shunsuke answered, jamming a thumb in Tezuka's direction on the last part.
As if Tezuka didn't feel bad enough about the whole mess, Shunsuke had to go and rub salt onto open wounds. Leave to Shunsuke. The man always seemed ready to take a bite out of Tezuka's otherwise good mood.
"Don't worry about Hikari. She'll turn up again. She always does." Shunsuke told them with a shrug.
He obviously wasn't the least bit concerned with the disappearance of his sister. And he knew her better than them. They would of had a reason to worry if he had worried, but he hadn't. That was good, right?
"Shunsuke! Eínai schedón i̱ ó̱ra gia na xekiní̱sei."
Shunsuke half turned, revealing a young boy about fourteen. The boy was tall, muscled with hard muscles. His skin tone ranged on the dark side of olive and his face had the same sharpness to it that Hikari's sometimes could have. His eyes were a coal black, like his mass of thick hair and he had one strip of fire red dyed in at his left temple. He had spoken in Greek, calling for Shunsuke with a jerk of his chin.
"Yeah, I'm coming. Looks like I better go before Pharlos pops a blood vessel." Shunsuke remarked to the two Japanese boys. "See ya later."
Shunsuke gave them a wave of his hand as he walked off to join the Greek boy, who raised an eyebrow at him, his dark eyes flickering back towards Oishi and Tezuka.
"Friends of my sister." Shunsuke replied, clapping him on the shoulder. "The one with glasses was her former captain."
The Greek boy, Pharlos, leaned to the side, staring at Tezuka in astonishment. His mouth even dropped open in awe. Why awe, they didn't know.
"That's the one that pissed her off!? He's got some balls then. The prinkípissa scares me too much." Pharlos replied in heavily accented English.
"Yeah well...she scares us all." was Shunsuke replied, turning the boy and leading him to their seats.
Volk came to get Tezuka at that time, Tezuka promising to talk to Oishi later before walking off. Oishi returned to his seat next to Byodoin as the drawing started.
"At this time, we'd like to begin the draw!" an announcer said in English, calling each team up before reaching Japan.
When they reached Japan, Byodoin turned to Oishi.
"Okay, you're up, Baldy!" Byodoin said.
"I-I-I-I'm going!?" Oishi asked, pointing to himself.
Byodoin nodded and Oishi got to his feet. In his rush to get to the front, he tripped, managing to get a laugh from the crowd. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Shunsuke elbow his younger companion when he laughed. Oishi reached the front without further mishap and pressed the button to get their number. A ball with the number seven on it, came rolling out, announcing their slot to be seven. Oishi turned to face the screen, only to freeze when his eyes landed on their opponent.
Germany.
Oishi returned to his seat, amidst the muttering from other reps who believed Japan was done for even before the matches started. Shunsuke leaned back in his seat, watching Oishi. He watched as Oishi rejoined Byodoin, apologizing for what he believed was a sucky draw. Byodoin assured him he did good. Shunsuke's attention turned back to announcer as they called Greece. Getting to his feet, Shunsuke set his shoulders back and put his chin up, as his father had taught him, and stalked up front with all the grace of a predator.
He heard the whispers of others as he passed. "Its one of the Higarashi brothers! They're all pros!" and "I heard they're all monsters, on and off the courts. Real vicious. Even their sister!" sounded from around him. They weren't far off, Shunsuke knew. Hikari was a real monster when she wanted to be. She could rip a person a new one in less time then it took her to do her hair. And she didn't spend much time on that.
It made Shunsuke a proud big brother.
Shunsuke gave the woman by the machine for drawing numbers, one of his charming smiles, making the woman blush, before he turned and push the button. He came up with number thirteen, putting Greece up against Chad. Shunsuke gave the two reps of the opposing team a feral grin, that had the middle schooler sinking in his seat. He returned to his seat to watch the rest of the draws.
When it was all over, Shunsuke and Pharlos found a quiet corner, and Shunsuke pulled out his cellphone, calling the first number in his call log and putting the phone to his ear. The other person answered on the second ring.
"Well?" they asked.
"We drew number thirteen, putting us up against Chad." Shunsuke answered.
"Good. I have plenty of data to go off for that team."
"And another thing." Shunsuke said. "Japan drew seven and is up against Germany."
There was silence from the other end of the phone, before a muffled yell sounded. The person on the other end had just put a hand over the phone to yell, "Castor! Watch your back hand!", before they were back.
"Japan against Germany, huh? It'll be interesting to see how that one turns out. Return to the hotel. We have a lot to work out before the match."
"Got it."
With that Shunsuke cut off and looked at Pharlos.
"Lets go. There's going to be a meeting." Shunsuke told him.
Pharlos nodded, falling into step beside him. Shunsuke was looking forward to seeing how this all played out. There were many surprises to come and at least one of them was going to blow the others teams out of the water.
-0-0-0-0-
"Rejoice everyone! Our opponents will be the world number one, Germany! This will be a great chance to test our mettle! We got super lucky!"
Oishi's words were met with a stark silence from his middle school teammates. For a long moment, none of them spoke and when they did, it was a reaction Oishi hadn't been hoping for.
"Go drown yourself in the silent, beautiful ocean." Kite told him.
"Oishi-san, what the hell! Talk about worst case scenario!" Kirihara exclaimed.
"You're not fooling anyone with this brave front you're trying to put up." Atobe told him, flicking him on the forehead.
"Pathetic! Of all the lottery balls you select you had to pick that one!" Sanada added in, also flicking his forehead, but with a lot more strength behind it.
"You are such an useless egg. Puri." Niou told him, jabbing Oishi in the backside, with two fingers.
Poor Oishi didn't stand a chance against the onslaught of his teammates. Byodoin had said it was a good draw. Why couldn't they see it as such, too?
"But, you know...Oishi-kun does have a point." Shiraishi said.
"It's exactly what I hoped for." Yukimura added.
"That's right." Fuji agreed.
"Now that I think about it, it's quite fortuitous really." Gin remarked.
"Basically...we find out immediately if we're gonna sink or swim." Sanada remarked.
"Fine by me." Atobe said.
Oishi was glad to see that at least a few of his teammates were on his side and thanks to them, the others agreed. As long as he didn't get poked, flicked, or prodded anymore. Inui and Yanagi, acting as managers, appeared then.
"Oh, you're all here. Akuto-sempai obtained some intel on Germany. Anyone interested?" Inui asked.
The others jumped on the chance, Atobe ordering that they all gather in Oishi's room. Much to the boy's surprise.
"Oh! One more thing!" Oishi said, stopping them all. "I saw Hika-chan's brother, Shunsuke-kun, today. He's playing on the Greek team along with Haruhi-kun and Candyce-chan's little brother, Teal-kun."
The other players looked at each other. They all knew what that meant. If Shunsuke and Haruhi were competing then there was a real chance that Hikari would come to watch them. She was always looking for a chance to watch one of her brothers' matches. There was a real chance, that they would get to see her again, very soon.
And they refused to look bad in front of her.
-0-0-0-0-
The day of the matches, saw all of the Japan boys determined to show the world what they were made of. They boarded the bus ready to go to battle.
"Tanegashima-san's gonna make it in time for the main matches, right?" Tokugawa asked, Akuto.
"He's taking a ship here, it seems." Akuto replied.
"I hope it goes all Titanic on him!" Tohno piped in, laughing at the thought of the ship sinking on Tanegashima.
"Speaking of the "Pre-World Cup", we're teaming up high schoolers and middle schoolers." Shirashi remarked.
"I want to pair up with Atobe-kun." Irie said, peering over the seat in front of him at Atobe.
"Sorry, ain't happening." Atobe replied.
"You're kidding, right!?" Irie asked.
"Hey, you and me?" Omagari asked, looking at Akutsu.
"Hey, Pompadour Four Eyes, you're teaming up with me!" Tohno said, leaning over the back of Kite's seat.
"Sorry, but I must-"
"But you'd just end up backstabbin' me anyway so no way that'd work!" Tohno added, cutting off Kite.
"I'd be happy if I got to team up with Kimi-sama." Marui said.
"Kimi-sama! Do what you gotta do to team up with Byodoin-san!" Kirihara told him.
The argument continued between the two as several of the boys pointed out who they would like to be teamed with. The argument ended, however, when Inui, dressed in a female bus guide's outfit, pointed out the exhibition center. The sight was not a pleasant one to behold. They had finally arrived at the arena where they would get their first true look at their opposing teams.
"All the other countries' players are entering the arena already!" one boy remarked.
Exiting the bus, they found their locker room, where the head coach briefed them, ending with, "Go win! That is all.". Now they would prove to Germany, and the world, that they could stand with the best. It wouldn't be easy, but nothing ever was.
-0-0-0-0-
"Huh, where's Ralph?"
Ryoma looked around at his teammates, searching for their captain, as he sat down to eat his hot dog. He was sharing a table with Ryoga and Dudu, the three waiting for Kiku to join them.
"He's off doing recon on the champions, Germany. I feel bad for your homeland having to face Germany so early." Dudu replied as Ryoma took a bite of his hot dog.
"Chibisuke, you still feeling some love for Japan~?" Ryoga asked, pointing out that Ryoma had ketchup on his cheek.
Ryoma wiped the ketchup away with the sleeve of his jersey, obviously not caring that it was getting it dirty.
"Not really." Ryoma said.
He decided not to point out that Ryoga had ketchup on his face as well. Sometimes they really were too much alike to be anything but brothers.
"Not even the slightest bit of pity for former teammates that are about to get pulverized by the champions?" Kiku asked, carrying his tray to the table.
"Not really." Ryoma replied again.
Kiku took his seat across from Ryoma, who returned to his hot dog. They were former teammates, Ryoma and the Japan team, but this was tennis. Even when they had been his teammates, he had wanted to play against and beat them all. It was made no difference in they were on the same team or not. And he was pretty sure they could hold their own, or learn a lesson from their defeat. Either way, it didn't matter to him in the least.
"Ryo-chan?"
Ryoma froze. He knew that voice, and that nickname. Only eight people in the world called him Ryo-chan and they were all in the same family. His eyes flew up, locating the person who had called him. The hot dog in his hand, slid out, hitting his tray on the table as his eyes found the person. Brilliant smile, white hair cropped short, gleaming silver eyes, and bandages wrapping up the left arm and leg.
Ryoma couldn't believe his eyes.
"Higarashi!?"
END
Kyandi: Hehe, I love cliffhangers.
Shunsuke: Yeah, well your readers hate them.
Kyandi: I know. Anyhow, we're going to translate those two Greek phrases for you all!
Shunsuke: "Eínai schedón i̱ ó̱ra gia na xekiní̱sei." means, "Its about to start" in Greek.
Haruhi: And "prinkípissa" is Greek for "princess".
Shunsuke: Which is what Hikari acts like.
Kyandi: Hikari would hurt you if she heard you.
Shunsuke...Damn it, you're right.
Kyandi: Aren't I always? Anyway, everyone enjoy and review.
Shunsuke: We'll be back soon.
Haruhi: Bye!