Second chapter time! (: Sorry for the extremely long wait, I was on vacations and wanted to improve this a bit before posting it.. Hopefully you won't have to wait so long for the next chapter, which will also be the last..
Anyway, hope you like it! : D
Disclaimer: Konomi's, not mine. If it was, it wouldn't be suited for all ages, if you know what I mean ;D
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"Buchou...I need to talk with you..." Kaidoh started, the following day, before the team had begun their training.
"What is it, Kaidoh?"
"Could you...call the team to the clubhouse? I need to talk with everyone..."
"Can't this wait until after practice?" Kaidoh looked past Tezuka, to Eiji. He had been stalking him, telling him to talk with Tezuka, and now he was shaking his head.
"I don't think so..." Tezuka sighed, and gathered the team. Soon, they were in the clubhouse, waiting to hear what Kaidoh had to say. Anyone could see by their faces that tennis hadn't helped getting over what had happened to the acrobat last day. He was missed, and so was the energy he gave to the team. The team was completely silent, and Eiji's absence was the cause of that awkward, deafening silence. "I... I know this is hard to believe, but you'll have to trust me on this one...I...Thing is, I can see and talk with...dead people." He wasn't sure a straight-forward approach would be the best, but then again, beating around the bush would only be worse.
"Kaidoh, if this is about Eiji, don't even start. It was bad enough already." Oishi started. By far, he was the most affected by Eiji's death. It was evident to everyone that he was grieving, although he was trying so hard not to let it show.
"Please, Oishi-senpai, just listen. It is about Kikumaru-senpai, yes, but... He wants you to hear it. He wants all of you to hear it."
"How can you even think you know what he wants?" The fukubuchou said, standing up.
"Because he told me."
"This is not funny, Kaidoh."
"I'm not laughing, senpai. Eiji-senpai is here... He wants to talk to you...all of you..." Oishi left the clubhouse without saying another word. If he stayed, he knew he would start crying, he didn't want to remember. Yes, he was fully aware Eiji was gone, but why was Kaidoh doing this?
"Please go get him, Kaidoh... If there's someone I need to talk to, it's Oishi. Please?" Eiji asked. Kaoru got up, followed Oishi, and asked him to go back to the clubhouse.
"Why? Why should I? Kaidoh, if this is a joke, I-..."
"It's not a joke, senpai. He's here. He wants to talk to you. It's the only way I'm ever going to get him to cross over..."
"Cross over?"
"Go to the light, I guess... I don't know, it's the first time I'm doing this, but please, believe me, Oishi-fukubuchou..." Oishi gave in, walking back to where he was seated, next to Tezuka and Ryoma.
"Thank you, Kaidoh... Guys, I... I don't want you to miss me. Forget about me! Get a new regular and win the Nationals. You can't do anything to help me now, but you can let me rest knowing that you'll win the Nationals this year, nya! I know...no more Golden Pair, no more Dream Pair... I'm sorry... I never meant to cause you trouble... Don't miss me... Be happy. I hate seeing you sad... Keep playing like you did! It used to make you happy... It still makes you happy. It makes me happy...It always does..."
"He doesn't want us to miss him. He wants us to be happy and wants us to keep playing because it makes us happy, and it makes him happy too. You can't help him now, but he wants us to win the Nationals for him."
"...as expected from Eiji..." Fuji whispered, the smile on his face sad like never before. "We promise we will. It's the one last thing we can do for Eiji, and we will do it. Won't we?"
"Yes, we will." Tezuka answered.
"Thank you..." Eiji walked over to his fukubuchou and kneeled down in front of Oishi, whose eyes were diverted to the floor, almost looking through the cat-like teen. "Oishi... It wasn't a coincidence, you and me being there... I was following you, determined to talk to you... Oishi... I love you..." With Eiji's last three words, Kaidoh's eyes widened, suddenly realizing: yesterday... Yesterday had been Valentine's Day!
"Is that why you asked me if I knew what day it was?" He called out, earning the spirit's attention.
"Yes, yes it was." Eiji explained.
"Still... Eiji-senpai... I'm not sure if I'm the right person to say that."
"Please, Kaidoh... You're the only one that can... You are the right person... You have to be...please..."
"Oishi-senpai... Eiji-senpai wants you to know that..." The snake-like teen sighed, gathering the courage to tell it to his senpai. "...He wants to tell you that he loves you..."
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"...what?" Oishi said, staring at Kaidoh with an unnamed expression in his eyes. He didn't believe any of this.
"Oishi-senpai..."
"...Stop making fun of this situation, Kaidoh!! Stop mocking him!" Oishi snapped, leaving the clubhouse. All the other regulars looked at the door, and then at Kaidoh.
"It's true! He's here!! You have to believe me!!" Kaidoh said, while everyone else was going the same way Oishi did.
"Kaidoh-senpai...cut it off." Ryoma calmly said, straightening his cap before walking away as well. Practice began without a word and without Kaidoh too. When he finally joined them, he kept seeing Eiji, watching him, begging with his eyes for him to do something while he cried. But he couldn't, they didn't let him do anything. And Kaidoh just tried to do the same and ignore him as much as he could, look away from him, but still distracted by the sounds of Eiji crying. Seeing Kaidoh avoid looking at him, Eiji decided he had had enough.
"Why won't you listen to him!?" He shouted, the baskets with the balls starting to shake, as well as the nets and iron grids around them. They were all being blown away by a strange wind that only seemed to affect the tennis courts. "Why!?" He repeated, still shouting and crying, as the baskets fell, sending the balls flying in every direction.
"Eiji-senpai!! Stop!!" Kaidoh asked, running to where Eiji was, across the court from him. "Eiji-senpai! Please!!"
"No, I won't!! I want Oishi to listen to me!! OISHI!! Tell him to listen!! TELL HIM!!" Eiji was crying.
"What're you doing, mamushi??" Momo shouted, crouching, next to Kawamura, both of them trying not to get hit by balls. The glasses in the clubroom windows broke, adding sharp shards to the chaos.
"It's not me!! Eiji-senpai is angry because you aren't listening!!"
"Kaidoh, the dead don't return!!" Inui shouted, next to Oishi, Fuji and Tezuka. "Let go!!"
"He never left in the first place!! I'm not doing this! Other than him, does your data give you any answer to what's happening!?" Inui kept silent. "Oishi-senpai..." He called. "He wants you to listen to him. Please..." Oishi started crying again, still feeling guilty about Eiji's death, and knowing that his spirit - if Kaidoh wasn't making that up - wanted him to listen.
"...I'm listening." The wind ceased as rapidly as it began. Kaidoh turned to look at his red haired senpai but he was no longer there. Instead he was kneeling in front of Oishi.
"Oishi...Please believe me... Please believe Kaidoh when he says that I love you... It's true..."
"...He wants you to believe what I told you earlier... Please..."
"Kaidoh...I'm sorry...I can't...I can't believe you, I'm sorry... It's too hard."
"You're wrong, Oishi-senpai... What really is "hard" is having my friend's spirit haunting me since I'm the only one here that can see him. "Hard" is having to hear him cry over you because you just won't listen. "Hard" is knowing that you, all of you, don't believe me." If it was Momoshiro he'd been talking with, they'd be screaming at each other for a while now. But Oishi was his senpai, so he couldn't do that, although it was evident that he was trying to control himself so he wouldn't snap.
"Kaidoh, stop it." Tezuka interrupted.
"...You don't believe me either, do you, buchou?" It wasn't really a question, and Tezuka didn't answer. So Kaidoh just headed for the door on the grid iron fence to leave. But Eiji slammed it closed. "Eiji-senpai, let go. What do you want me to say? I'm sorry, I tried. I can't make them believe me. ...Please, senpai, just...leave me alone."
"Kaidoh..." Eiji pleaded, trying to get a reaction from the younger boy. But he didn't move. He just kept staring the floor at his feet. "Wait... The picture."
"What?"
"Oishi has a picture of us from last year; we took it on our last day of school. I have the same, and only we know where we keep them. Please, Kaidoh, that has to make him believe you! His picture is in the first drawer of his nightstand, I know it is." Kaidoh decided to give it one last shot, since his deceased senpai was probably going to insist until he did something.
"Fukubuchou...Eiji-senpai said something about a picture...? On the first drawer of your nightstand..." A new expression suddenly dawned on Oishi's features. He was scared, surprised, and shocked at the same time.
"...So he's really here?"
"That's what I've been trying to tell you all along."
"Oishi..." Tezuka called. Oishi shook his head at his captain.
"No, Tezuka, it's real. There's no way Kaidoh could've known about it." Oishi explained, gaining a new strength, like a new hope that his friend was still there with them. "Kaidoh...please...tell him, that I'm sorry. It was my fault, if I was paying a little more attention, he would still be here."
"He can hear you, senpai." The viper informed, and Oishi closed his eyes for a second, shaking his head and looking at the sky.
"Eiji...I'm so sorry. I never meant to do you harm. I care for you more than anyone on this Earth, and I'd give my life to bring you back. I'd give everything to see you again, and to have to look back at me. There isn't anything I wouldn't do or give to play one last game with you, or to spend just another minute by your side. Though it wouldn't make goodbyes any easier... Eiji...please forgive me...I'm sorry. And I guess I love you too... I feel empty without you here..." He fell to his knees, burying his face in his hands. Fuji, who was closest to Oishi, put his hands on his shoulders, trying to comfort him. Eiji kneeled down in front of Oishi.
"Oishi, it's not your fault. I don't blame you. I guess it was just the time for me to go...I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye, but I'm saying it now. Please...let go of me, but don't forget me... I love you, and I'll miss you." He planted a soft kiss on his head, and Oishi looked up, almost as if he had felt his kiss. "Please tell him that, Kaidoh." The second year nodded.
Eiji sighed, and got up, looking in the direction of the iron grid door to the courts. "...is that the light? It's...warm, and inviting..." He said, walking over to it. "But..."
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