Running on the beach was fun, but extremely tiring. Bane didn't much like it; preferred running around the neighbourhood because the roads were flat and there were people to wave to as he jogged by. But Atsushi had dragged him and Itsuki for a run along the beach, so here he was, getting sand in his shoes and more out of breath than he'd been for a while.

What they didn't expect to find along the way, though, was the strange boy standing by the waves, one hand propped by the other under his chin. "Nfu," he said to them. "You there, in the hat."

Atsushi, panting and confused, pointed to himself with a quizzical noise. The stranger nodded and made that weird 'nfu' sound again, then said, "I was watching you play earlier. Would you like to join us in St Rudolph?"

"Huh?" was Atsushi's incredibly intelligent reply.

The boy's eyes narrowed slightly, then widened as he realised something. "Oh, how terribly rude of me! My name is Mizuki Hajime, and I'm the manager of St Rudolph Junior High's tennis club… I'm on the lookout for talented players like yourself." He smiled, and Bane thought it made him look even creepier. "Walk with me," he said to Atsushi, who complied, leaving Bane and Itsuki to stare at each other in complete confusion.

They never did find out what Mizuki said to Atsushi, but two weeks later, Atsushi had transferred to St Rudolph and Ryou was coping rather badly.

"Where the hell am I supposed to find a doubles partner who can work as well with me?" he ranted to Davide, who just sat there and listened and nearly strained something trying not to make puns because Ryou-senpai would kill him if he did. "Stupid Atsushi. Stupid Mizuki. Stupid Catholic boarding school."

In the end, Ryou started playing singles. A second year named Shudou took Atsushi's place in the regulars, and Saeki and Itsuki started to train as a doubles pair. About a month after Atsushi's transfer, they got a long letter from him that started off with the words "He thought I was RYOU!", which made Ryou fall over in hysterical laughter and the rest of the team fall over from the sheer irony of the situation.

Life, school, practice, seafood and Saeki's teasing of Kurobane-nii-chan continued. Bane and Davide soon developed a strong chemistry, both on the courts and off, and Bane didn't spend half his time at the baseline trying very hard not to stare at his kouhai's ass. Really, he didn't. He wasn't staring. Maybe just glancing. But definitely not staring.

When a shiny printed invitation for practice matches arrived in Ojii's mailbox from Hyotei, the team crowded around to poke at the glossy paper. "I wonder how much the paper cost," Saeki said, flipping the letter around and around. "If only they had given us a few blank pieces to reply on. We could sell them and buy ice cream."

They accepted, of course. As the team poured off the bus, they all stopped and stared at the huge school in awe. "We should totally have sold the paper," Bane muttered. "Bought ourselves a new barbecue pit."

Saeki strode over to shake hands with the Hyotei captain, a tall guy with spiky red hair. "So what's your line-up like today?" Saeki asked, voice friendly. There were at least three hundred people standing around the tennis courts, all in the exact same outfit, making it near to impossible to tell who was a regular and who wasn't.

"I'm playing singles two," the captain said. "Doubles two is Taki and Yoshio. Doubles one is Oshitari and Mukahi. Singles three is Shishido. Singles one is Ohtori. Yours?"

"Doubles two is Itsuki and I, doubles one is Kurobane and Amane, singles three is Kisarazu, singles two is Shudou, and singles one is Tanaka. Let's play a good match," Saeki said with a smile and a bow.

The matches went well, though Bane had to struggle not to beat his opponent over the head with his own racket; he didn't like the way Oshitari, smirking and glinting and looking disgustingly pleased, had looked Davide up and down before drawling a slow, "Let's have fun today," and taking his place behind his short redhead partner.

Of course, Davide, being Davide, had just nodded at Oshitari and replied, "I have lots of puns." Then, "Pfft," and the Hyotei pair goggled as Bane took his frustration out on Davide and clocked him over the head with his racket. The strings of it, at least. No sense killing his partner before the match even started.

"That hurt, Kurobane-nii-chan," Davide complained, rubbing his head and giving Bane a baleful look that made Bane want to hit him some more.

Oshitari glinted at Bane from across the net, and it took all of Bane's control not to serve the ball straight into that pair of glasses.

After the matches were over and handshakes had been exchanged, a boy who hadn't played in the matches walked up to Davide and said something that nobody else could hear. To everyone's surprise, Davide had frowned, picked up his racket again, and stalked over to the courts with the boy.

"Davide! What are you doing?" Saeki yelled. "The matches are over."

The first year didn't answer, eyes narrowed and stance completely different from his usual. His Hyotei opponent smirked, and served, and was quickly and brutally beaten.

Davide straightened. "Does anyone else have anything to say about what I choose to call my senpai?" he called out, completely ignoring the stunned looks on his teammates' faces as well as the shocked Hyotei member on the other side of the net.

"Well, this looks like fun," said someone from the stands, and soon there was a whole line of people coming forward. "We'll play you," the first boy who had spoken up challenged. "How many do you think you can beat?"

Davide shrugged. "How many of you are willing to be humiliated?"

One by one, the Hyotei members swaggered onto the courts, prepared to be the one to bring this new challenger down, and Davide wiped the court with each of them. After what had to be over fifty people, the Hyotei members were whispering among themselves while Rokkaku just continued watching incredulously. Bane knew he was gripping his racket a little too hard – his hand was numb – but he didn't really care. What the hell had the first guy said to get Davide so worked up? And… did it really have something to do with Bane?

After the ninetieth person, Davide looked like he was about to collapse, and Bane could feel his grip tape being twisted right off the handle of his racket. About ten new people had appeared to watch, over on the Hyotei side of the stands, and one of them was obviously someone rather important or at least thought he was.

"That's Atobe Keigo," Tanaka said suddenly. "That one who looks like he should be their captain."

Bane had heard that name before. Everyone in the Kantou region junior high tennis scene had. "What's he doing here? I thought only pre-regulars played practice matches," Ryou exclaimed.

"Spying," Saeki said darkly, then grinned. "Nah. Davide there probably caused enough commotion for the Hyotei regulars to come pay us lowly peasants a visit."

Bane was silent as Davide nearly lost to a player with short orange-brown hair and the strangest poses, and all of a sudden someone cried out, "That's one hundred people. That crazy kid just beat a hundred people."

"That's enough," intoned a new voice, and everyone except Davide, who was on his knees on the court, turned to stare at Sakaki Tarou, Hyotei's coach. "You've proven your point, Amane."

Bane dropped his racket and vaulted over the railing. Davide's chest was heaving, and Bane dropped to his knees as well and put a hand on his shoulder. "What the hell was that all about?" he hissed at his kouhai, who raised his head long enough to blink once at him before toppling into Bane's arms. "Fuck," said Bane with feeling, and hauled Davide's dead weight back to the coach's bench.

Saeki made sincere apologies to Sakaki and the Hyotei captain while Davide regained some semblance of consciousness. The captain grinned and told Saeki not to worry about it, while Sakaki eyed his team and said without emotion, "If they can all be beaten by one single person, they definitely don't deserve to be regulars."

It was without much ill will that Rokkaku left the Hyotei compound. On the bus, Bane turned to his half-awake doubles partner and repeated his question.

Davide's eyes were still as green even when heavy-lidded and slightly glassed-over, Bane noted uncomfortably. And they still made Bane feel like taking a few cold showers. "That guy," Davide started, and then coughed. "That guy said you were a perverted creep for… what… for tainting an innocent like me." He snorted lightly. "I had to get back at him somehow. Pfft. I'm not innocent." Then he fell asleep against the window.

Bane didn't really think the Hyotei guy was entirely wrong, especially considering the thoughts going though his head at the moment – Davide's hand had fallen onto Bane's thigh and the second year was wondering if he should move to another seat.

"Awwwwww," said Saeki from behind him, and Bane decided his current seat was just fine. "Ikkle Davide was defending Kurobane-nii-chan's good name." There was a round of good-natured laughter from the team as they gathered around for Bane to glare at. "But a hundred people in one shot," Saeki continued. "It's scary."

They joked and laughed all the way back, and Bane had to half-support, half-carry Davide down from the bus. "You're an idiot," he told the redhead, who just smiled at him from under hair that had come loose from its ponytail. Bane hadn't realised it had grown so long, and hadn't realised Davide had put it up during the games.

"You're the idiot," Davide said after a while. "Bane-san."

"Eh?"

A shrug. "Calling you Kurobane-nii-chan gets you into too much trouble."

If anything, it was Davide getting himself in trouble, but Bane didn't say it. He was too busy ignoring some strange inner voice crowing about how this new suffix didn't make him feel like he was having dirty thoughts about a little brother. Funny how this inner voice sounded like the twins when they were in one of their shared-brain moods. "Whatever you want," Bane replied instead.

"I want lots of things," Davide said hazily. "Like a good nap. And maybe an ice cream sundae." He brightened. "Wanna go for an ice cream sundae, Bane-san? Even though it's a Friday. Pfft."

Bane headbutted him lightly and grinned. "You're such an idiot," he said fondly, and his arm tightened a little around Davide's waist. "Yeah, let's go for ice cream."