Chapter 1 - Welcome to the U-17 camp
Disclaimer: I don't own PoT it belongs to Konomi Takeshi. Some of the dialogue is from the anime and manga.
Edited: 19/4/2015
"Hey."
As the evening sun was beginning to set on the horizon, a young male stepped off the bus as he greeted the three men standing at the gates. The tall man who had visited him just weeks before stood there accompanied by two men. The first was a man in a white suit,with long, brown hair with a single strand across his face. The other was a muscular man with brown hair slicked back.
"Welcome back Rei-kun" The long, brown haired man greeted in response.
"Kurobe-san, Tsuge-san, it's nice to see the two of you again. I can't say the same about you Saito-san."
"Waah! Why Rei-chan?!" The man tall man cried as a shocked look crossed his face for a second before morphing into a questioning one in response to the young male's reply.
"You just answered your own question." the young male in question calmly replied in response.
"When? All I did was ask you why Rei-chan you were mad at me. Is there something wrong with that Rei-chan? Rei-chan?"
"Enough teasing Saito, Rei-kun needs to settle back into the camp as soon as possible. The high schoolers are already here and training. The middle schoolers are arriving tomorrow morning." The man with the long brown hair interjected before the young male's faint twitch turned into violence in the forms of the most sadistic means of torture.
Sighing, the long brown haired man turned towards the young male whose anger that was hidden behind his ever present smile and glasses began to fade. Even when he was furious beyond measure, he would continue to smile, scheming a slow torture and humiliation surpassing that of an ordinary human. Having calmed down, the young male's face continued to beam in front of the judges.
But only for now. His anger was merely placated.
"Alright. I'll need to see the files of those currently at the camp and how much they've improved."
"You'll be surprised at the rate of growth for some. Especially Tokugawa. The strength he's acquired since losing to -"
"I'll be the one to judge for myself. The files are just there as a guide."
Sighing at the interruption, the brown haired man merely shook his head at the young male's response.
"By the way, I've been curious. Are you still dating Kyoko?"
"I-I fail to see how my private life is any of your business! You don't see me intrude intruding on your relationship with your wives!" Huffed the young male, before turning and striding towards the camp. Though the three men can were able to spot the faint blush that briefly dusted the young male's cheek before disappearing.
"That's because Kyoko's agreed to be our resident doctor for the duration of the camp." The tall man replied.
"Wha-?"
"She agreed the moment we mentioned that you were going to be here. She said that she wanted the two of you to spend 'quality' time together." Smirked the brown haired man.
"Humph!" Turning his head as a faint blush again crossed his face, the young male began, to sprint towards the camp before the two males were again given a chance to embarrass him, the youngest.
Shaking his head in disapproval and sighing, the brown, slicked back haired man turned and gave the two men a look of disappointment.
"And you two wonder why he never visits or calls either of you during the year."
"Eh? Rei-chan talks and visits you during the year?" exclaimed the tall man, while the brown haired man merely cocked his head in question. Without a word, the muscular man simply turned back towards the camp and started walking.
"Oh come on Tsuge! Tell us! So does he?" Yelled the tall man as he chased after the silver haired man while the long, brown haired man sighed, shaking his head before turning to follow the two."
Sighing as he unpacked what little he had brought seeing as how he already had clothes and such from the previous years that he had stayed at the camp, he looked at the room that he had modelled after his own office at the school, with the neatness of this room being the exception. In the dark room that closely resembled the camp's monitor room, he sat down in front of the monitors as he quickly set about to read the files. Seeing that all he could concentrate on was his earlier conversation with Kyoko when he found her, the male quickly turned the screens off, opting to instead go to bed, the moon high above the sky in the west, hinting at the time long past midnight.
*SLAM*
The young male quickly marched into the room, nearly slamming the door off its hinges before walking towards the woman that casually sat on a swivel chair, with her elbows propped up on the desk behind her.
"Why didn't you tell me that you were going to be here Kyoko?"
"Oh, Rei. I didn't expect you to be finished chatting with the three of them so soon. And here I was going to surprise you. Guess they spilled the beans huh."
"When were you going -"
"-to tell you? When you got here of course! Is it so wrong for a woman to want to spend time with her boyfriend?" Standing as she finished his sentence for him, she walked closer, wrapped her arms around him, hanging from his neck.
"Now that you're here, why don't we have some fun nee~?" she whispered before leaning into him.
Needless to say, he didn't get back to his room till past midnight.
Shaking his head, he quickly cleared his mind of the day's events and surprises, knowing if two certain coaches were to find out what had happened, he would never hear the end of it or live it down.
"Tokugawa! Irie! Oni! Tanegashima!"
At the sound of their names, four high schoolers turned around to greet the young male who had called out to them.
"Coach! Welcome back." They replied.
"Did you hear about how middle schoolers are being invited to the camp today?"
"Yeah."
"As expected of you Coach since it's you we're talking about here. Who are you going to be coaching this year?"
"We'll see. As it stands, I'm thinking of taking on some of this year's middle schoolers if not all of them. The potential some of them have displayed to me during this year's National is phenomenal."
"Ara, it must be something special to have caught your eye. You almost never give that kind if praise. I mean, Tokugawa was the only one last year who caught your eye. Right?"
"Of course. Especially the drive some of them will have when they see the strength of the upper courts." Smirking, the young male closed his eyes as he reminisced on the ones at the camp he had seen with the potential to rise to the top of the professional world.
"Humph. Yeah, well I'm going to head over the monitor room now. My suggestion is that the four of you are outside when Coach Kurobe makes his announcement to the camp when the middle schoolers arrive. Head Coach Nyudou's going to drop some presents later."
Standing, the young male headed towards the exit.
*Ring, Ring*
"Moshi moshi."
"Oi! Seishoujo! Did you know that Ryoma's accepting Japan's U-17 invitation?"
"Yeah I did hentai oyaji and please stop calling me that."
"No way! Besides I'm your father you should be showing your old man respect!"
"So you are admitting that you are an old man. That's good to hear. They say that acceptance is always the first step."
"Hey! I'm still young and a hit with the ladies. In fact, isn't it because of me that your relationship with Kyoko-"
"What else did you call me for baka oyaji, because I'm really busy. If it's something stupid my finger might accidentally slip and I might accidentally call Rinko kaa-san and accidentally let slip all your hiding places for your perverted magazines. That would be a real shame wouldn't it. Especially the limited edition ones that-"
"Alright! Alright! Geez you're pure evil! I bet your smirking right now!"
*Smirk* "I haven't the faintest idea of what you're talking about now talk, please."
*sigh* "Ryota's a German U-17 representative. He called just now."
"...Really. That is interesting. Looks like Ryoma's hurdle is much higher than before. ...Ryoma... has always been chasing after Ryota, hasn't he oyaji? Even though they're twins, Ryoma's never once beaten Ryota. Ryota was always faster, stronger and more naturally talented than him. But, it's changed now hasn't it? His growth leading up to Nationals was exponential and at this rate, it's only a matter of time before Ryoma catches up to Ryota. My bet is that he'll catch up by the time it's the World Cup. Because, the person he is closest to, the person he doesn't want to lose to anymore and the person he wants to defeat more than anyone else in the world is his twin, Ryota, and that worries me sometimes."
"Quit worrying too much. You're taking the role of their nii-san too seriously. They're my brats and I know them better than anyone else. One's growth drives the other to improve while one's improvement drives the other to keep training to stay ahead and not be left behind. Together the two of them help each other to grow and improve. They'll be fine."
"..."
"Oi! Seishoujo! Are you there?"
"Sorry. I'm just so shocked that you still have a functioning brain and can actually say something so meaningful."
"Hey!"
*chuckle* "You know oyaji, there's a limited edition magazine that just came out that I managed to get my hands on. They only printed a thousand of them. If you want, I'll give it to you. Just be careful Rinko kaa-san doesn't find it. If she does, I'm going to deny any involvement."
"Heh heh, I knew I could rely on you seishoujo. Well bye!" *click*
"I told him not to call me that. Maybe I should replace the women's bodies in the magazine with bodybuilders' and send it to him? ...Nah, maybe another day I'm feeling generous today."
Opening the doors, the young male slowly entered the darkened monitor room that somewhat resembled his own, lit only by the monitor screens. The tall man and the long haired man were watching the monitors while the man with the brown hair slicked back was doing push-ups on the floor.
"Oh Rei-chan! You're finally here and just in time as well! This year's National champions Seishun Gakuen just arrived." The tall man remarked in response to his entrance.
"Ah."
Pulling out a chair, the young male then took out and began eating a box of strawberry pocky, disregarding the tall man's comment as he watched the monitors.
"If I remember correctly, wasn't your brother the reason they won?"
"What of it?" The young male snapped, glaring at the tall man, not the slightest bit pleased at being interrupted in the middle of eating his favourite snack.
"Nothing, nothing, just a passing thought. Oh look! It seems some hot headed high schoolers are there to test their skills!" In a poor attempt to change the subject and divert attention from him, the tall man frantically pointed to the monitors. Uninterested in continuing to torment the tall man, the young male filed the annoyance that had just taken place in the back of his mind for later and turned back to the multiple monitors.
As the long, brown haired man continued to list the names and skills of the middle schoolers, the young male continued to file them in his mind for later purposes, having already either seen or heard of most of them from Ryoma. There were a couple of players whose skill and potential definitely caught his eye.
"Hmm, they're doing far better than I expected."
"It's time for me to make the announcement." the long brown haired man commented. Standing, he started to make his way to the balcony.
"Nice to meet you. I'm the Strategic Coach Kurobe Yukio. I have the duty of directing this camp while the Head Coach is away. At this time, while the 20 members of the 1st string are away in Korea, the 2nd string members will have 50 middle schoolers added to it. Even though all you high schoolers do not approve of this, I have heard this year's middle school tennis level has risen quite high." 'You got that right. Most of them are better than more than half the high schoolers already here.' thought the young male in response to Coach Kurobe's observation.
"Men! We must work together to cultivate our talents. As such, let us aim higher as the Japanese U-17 representatives."
"However, I have a message from the Head Coach.'300 members seems to be too big. Drop 250 balls and those who cannot obtain one must return home immediately.'"
Having said that, Coach Kurobe returned to the monitor room.
Watching from the monitor room, the four of them watched as the high schoolers struggled to obtain a ball, whereas all 50 middle schoolers were able to obtain a ball. Some even more than one.
"Quite a lot of people are going to be eliminated. Right Rei-chan?" the tall man questioned as he turned to the youngest amongst them
Ignoring the tall man, the youngest turned to Coach Kurobe for a number of those who weren't able to obtain a ball.
"Almost half of the players don't have a ball-."
"-and those are all high schoolers. Right? Made made dase." the young male stated, having already guessed from what little he had seen.
"That's right."
"Nee Rei-chan, I don't see your brother anywhere amongst the middle schoolers. At this rate, he'll definitely be eliminated."
"It's fine."
The high schoolers struggled to reach the last ball.
"He'll definitely come to defeat strong players. And knowing him-"
The last ball shot in the air and landed in a familiar hand.
"-he'll make a flashy entrance"
"Chisu."
Authors Note
Hey again. Thank you to everyone who followed or favourited the story and many thanks to SilverSapphire34523, Librajem, BunniesRcute and Aprilia Echizen for taking the time to review my story. Thanks to that I was able to finish the next chapter so fast. Please excuse any errors cause this chapter is hasn't been proofread yet and I typed this up on my phone and please review favourite or follow. Thanks :)
Published: 16/4/2015
Updated: 19/4/2015 - I managed to proofread my chapter so i hope i got rid of any errors that were in it. I also made some minor changes to certain parts but not much. Thanks again to SilverSapphire34523 for reviewing this chapter as well as miuruzeny for taking the time to review my story, although personally I was hoping for more responses on what to improve on an what everyone thinks of the story so far. I'll try to keep the characters from being OOC and limit any OCs to a minimum as I personally don't like using a lot of OCs. But that's fine. Anyway, please review, follow or favourite my story. Constructive criticism is fine but PLEASE don't flame