A/N: I won't be able to post anymore chapters until Monday, since I'm going to Gothenburg. Please R&R! (:

Silver and Solid Steel
Chapter 3

Two days quickly passed. Practices were hell for Shishidou – he'd never realized how boring the normal practices was. He had grown accustomed to the sub-regulars' training, and then the regulars' training.

The normal practices weren't enough from him to get better, so he started to spend hours and hours on the street courts, playing against a wall, improving his stamina or practicing his serve. He wanted to wear that regular jacket once again.

Shishidou quickly shoved down his t-shirt into his bag, and put on another one. He threw the bag over his shoulder, before he exited the club room. Practice had just ended. Shishidou hurried out of the club room, eager to get to the street courts. He could feel the change inside of him, and he enjoyed it to a maximum.

However, on his way out, he bumped into someone slightly taller than him. He quickly looked up, and met a pair of brown eyes; those eyes he didn't wanted to meet.

"Ah, Shishidou-senpai." Ootori said, surprise evident in his voice.

"Yeah, that would be me." Shishidou answered, and Ootori fiddled with his regular jacket.

"Um... It was nice to see you, Shishidou-senpai." Ootori said, probably nervous. Shishidou nodded at the younger boy, before they both left the awkward silence. But then, an idea sprung to Shishidou's mind.

"Oi, Ootori!" Shishidou called out as he turned around. Ootori turned around, and his eyes slightly widened with surprise as Shishidou called out his name. Shishidou gave off a smirk at the boy.

"Are you up for a match?" Shishidou said, and Ootori slowly nodded.

"I don't have anything else to do right now, so..." Ootori answered, but before he continued, Shishidou had already taken off to the courts. He wanted to experience that serve. After all, he was a dash specialist, so he should be able to return it. Right?

They entered the now empty courts. Even the freshmen had left, and Shishidou quickly got into position. Ootori looked at him with a surprised glimpse in his eyes.

"Don't you want to serve, senpai?" he asked, and Shishidou shook his head as he got into position.

"Show me that serve of yours!" The moment he said those words, the surroundings seemed change in a strange way. He looked over at Ootori, who looked like a completely different person than before; his eyes were slightly squinted in concentration, and it even felt like the temperature dropped a few degrees, but that could just have been Shishidou's imagination. He followed the ball as Ootori threw it in the air with a controlled throw. He followed the motions of Ootori's racquet, but he never saw the ball that was hit over the net; he barely managed to take one step against the ball before it was far behind him.

"What the..." Shishidou whispered to himself. The serve looked even faster than when he'd simply watched the match between Ootori and Taka. Now, when he was the one who was receiving the serve, it didn't surprise him that Taka had never been able to touch Ootori's serve during that match. He looked over at Ootori again. The boy had already changed positions, and he was getting to serve again. Shishidou quickly went over to the other half of the court.

After two other, flawless serves from Ootori, something disturbed their match.

"Ootori!" a voice said; a voice that both of them recognized. It was Sakaki, the coach of the tennis team and also in charge of the orchestra. Shishidou frowned at Sakaki. Why was he here? Sakaki cast one, simple glance at Shishidou, before he turned to Ootori again.

"The orchestra is having an unprepared rehearsal." Sakaki didn't have to say anymore; Ootori turned to Shishidou with a sheepish smile on his face.

"I'm sorry, Shishidou-senpai. We'll have to finish this match some other time." He said, and Shishidou barely had time to nod before the silver-haired boy was off the court. Ootori quickly went into the regulars' clubroom, probably to change clothes again, and Sakaki went into the school.

So Ootori was a member of the orchestra? That was quite... interesting. Shishidou would never have guessed that. He wondered what the younger boy played. Piano? Violin? Or maybe cello? Not that it was his business, he thought as he grabbed his bag and started to walk off the school ground. He didn't bother to change clothes. He was going to the street courts anyway, so it didn't matter.

He spent the night playing against a wall.

He wanted a challenge; this was as good as he would get from playing against a wall. He needed strong players to face; otherwise he would never be able to become a regular again.

The air was cold as he opened the door of his house, when he was leaving for school. His house was pretty big, but it was nothing extraordinaire. It was Thursday morning, and the dark clouds were hovering over Tokyo. It looked like the rain would start falling at any moment. He sighed as he grabbed his bag, and then slammed the door.

When he reached the train station, Oshitari was already there. They lived pretty close, so they always had each other's company on the train.

"Good morning, Shishidou." Oshitari said, and despise feeling incredible sleepy, Shishidou grinned at the blue-haired tensai.

"'Morning, Oshitari." Shishidou replied just as the train arrived at the station. Both of them quickly got on the train, and they sat down on their usual seats. A deep silence lied over them, but it wasn't an awkward silence. Shishidou actually enjoyed this silences so early in the morning, and he didn't feel uncomfortable with Oshitari. After all, they had known each other since they were small.

Ten minutes later, they went through the gates to Hyoutei Gakuen. Shishidou remembered what his mother had said when he'd said he was going to Hyoutei Gakuen.

"That's a school for snobs, Ryou. Why do you want to go to that school?" she had said, and she had sighed as she had heard her son's reply. After all, the main reason he wanted to go to Hyoutei was because of the tennis team. The tennis team in Hyoutei Gakuen was one of the best in Tokyo, maybe even in Japan, and it definitely was the biggest. He had known he would improve there; after all, all he was striving for in life was to become a hell of a good tennis player.

"Which class do you have now?" Oshitari asked, and the comfortable silence between them had disappeared. Shishidou hesitated for a moment.

"I think I have... uh... English?" he said, trying to clear his thoughts. "Yes, I have English." He said and made a grimace. English wasn't really his best subject. Frankly speaking, it was probably his worst.

"Didn't you say that you were having a test today?" As soon as Oshitari said those words, a whole chapter of incomprehendable words sprung into Shishidou's mind. He suddenly remembered what he was supposed to do last night.

"Fuck!" Shishidou said, slamming his palm into his forehead. "I'm screwed!" he said, and Oshitari chuckled.

"Well, good luck." He said, and with those words, Oshitari started to walk along the long corridor, and disappearing into the biology classroom. Shishidou were standing completely still, dumbfounded.

"Stupid English test. Stupid English. Stupid, fucking school!" Shishidou exclaimed, angrier this time. How could he have forgotten about the test?

His teacher would kill him. He longed for practice after school, when all classes would be over. God, how he hated school.

"Shishidou-senpai?" a voice said behind him as he entered the English classroom. He was practically growling for himself, and that was probably why everyone was looking strangely at him. He turned around, and he looked into a couple of brown eyes. Shishidou's mouth hung open, and he stared at the tall boy in front of him.

"Ootori?!" he said after a couple of seconds in silence. "What are you doing here?" he said, and he looked around in the classroom. Yes, he was in the third-years' classroom.

"Ah, the teacher told me to move up a class for English." Ootori replied with a soft smile. Shishidou stared at the kid. Ootori was regular of the tennis team, a member of the orchestra and he had good grades? His grades were apparently good enough for him to move up a grade in this subject, and that was saying a lot.

"Oh, I see..." Shishidou answered. "Is this your first lesson here?" he then asked, because he couldn't remember seeing Ootori in this classroom before. He would surely have remembered that, right?

"This is my fourth lesson with you, senpai." Ootori answered as he started to fiddle with his uniform. Probably a bad habit, because this was the second time Shishidou had seen Ootori do that. But as Ootori's words started to sink in, Shishidou frowned.

"Fourth?" he said, and Ootori nodded. Why hadn't he noticed Ootori before? But before they could exchange anymore words, the teacher entered the room. Ootori gave Shishidou a small nod, before Ootori went to a seat far in the back. Shishidou suddenly realized why he hadn't seen Ootori before; Shishidou had been assigned a seat in the front, because of his habit to fall asleep in English. He was starting to become like Jirou, but he couldn't help it. After all, English was the most boring subject ever. His grades could prove that.

One question, however, was stuck in his mind for the rest of the lesson. When had he become so accustomed to Ootori's presence? He spoke pretty freely with the boy now, which was quite a surprise for Shishidou. Ootori was the one who had taken over as a regular when Shishidou was kicked off, but strangely enough, that didn't bother Shishidou anymore.