kokekokko: Oh, it's Toriko! Nice seeing you again, bud. Hey, sorry about the long updates on my K fanfic. Ever since I caught up with Return of Kings I have no idea what to do. I've reached a stump I need to get out of. And about Hiyori, I'm doing just that. She's often seen as this serious person, but has quite a bit of quirks (which are seen as cute by the Oshitari cousins on most occasions). Serious, yet an airhead. Is that possible? I'm fleshing her out as I go. Thanks for the reviews~
It's quite strange to see...
l
An Aggressive Hiyori?
Naniwa's Biggest Idiot and Hyoutei's Hopeless Romantic
Hiyori was overjoyed with the help she received from Kenya this past month.
Her eyes were visibly sparkling and she was looking more alive than usual during math, the last class of the day. She remembered how people often underestimated Kenya's intelligence in elementary school, but it was mainly because of his inability to sit still. At the end of the school day, Hiyori pulled her homework from her bag and went up to the front to hand it in. The math teacher Moriyama-sensei smiled down at her gently.
"Excellent work on the assignment from two nights ago. It was difficult, but you were one of the few to pull it off. I look forward to more great work from you."
"Thank you." She thanked her teacher and Kenya inwardly for giving some of his time to help her.
Making it back to her seat, Yuushi leaned to the side and praised her.
"You're one of the few to impress her."
"I really couldn't have done it without Kenya."
"Kenya?" Yuushi raised a brow at his cousin's name.
"Don't you remember? He's pretty good at math. He's been helping me out on the nights Moriyama-sensei assigned homework."
"I often forget that idiot isn't dumb at all." Yuushi pushed his glasses up his nose and collected his things. "I'll go on ahead, Hiyori."
"Ah, right. Practice. I'll catch up to you when you're done so we can head home together."
Yuushi headed straight for practice and Hiyori decided to take a better look around the school. She wasn't going to get lost this time. There was a certain place she wanted to check out though. There was another tennis court just beyond the one for the stadium the boys use for practice.
Upon reaching the courts, she was surprised to see that it wasn't a full blown stadium, but still had the same amount of courts. It was fenced at all sides and there were girls dressed in t-shirts and skirts with Hyotei's signature blue and white color combination.
Seeing them play against each other was refreshing. That went with watching any kind of tennis game. Be it doubles or singles. It made her remember the joys of holding a tennis racket and returning the ball hit into her side of the court.
"Katagiri-san?"
She heard a familiar voice beside her calling her name. When she turned to her right, she recognized the voice of the same girl that called out to her when she ran out of the classroom that one day.
"It's you..." Hiyori only managed to say. It was the first time she really took her time to look at her. The girl's dark red hair was tied up in a short side pony that reached the top of her shoulders and she sported the same uniform as the girls inside of the court. She had very kind eyes that were the color of amethysts.
"What are you doing there?" She asked Hiyori.
"I just came to see what was here in this part of the school. I knew we had a boy's tennis club, but I didn't think tennis would be this popular with girls too."
Hiyori squeezed the metal twine of the fence with her fingers and looked back at the practicing girls,"This is the girl's tennis club?"
The girl bobbed her head.
"Yes!"
"Mm, I see. Must be nice." Hiyori smiled to herself. "I'm guessing you're a part of it too."
"W-Well..."
"Hey! Inoue!"
Hiyori watched the girl's face change from kindness to distress in an instant. There was a group of three girls with their rackets in hand, staring in their direction menacingly. She recognized one of them as the other girl that came up to her with this Inoue girl during her first few days in class.
"Are you slacking?!" The girl with a high bun on her head asked Inoue with her hands crossed over her chest.
"We told you that you could practice once you collected the balls on the court! Or perhaps you want to quit now?!"
They called out to her one by one menacingly. Even Hiyori knew this treatment was just wrong.
Inoue looked visibly worn out now. Without another word to Hiyori, she tilted her head down and ran past her towards the entrance of the tennis courts. Hiyori looked back at those group of girls. They were quite a ways of way, but she heard their obnoxious laughter.
She shook her head disapprovingly at such rude behavior.
Hiyori decided to follow after her and see if she was all right. Walking around the perimeter of the court, she spotted the gate leading to the inside. The girl was there on her hands and knees picking up the scattered tennis balls all over the court. Quietly, she made her way over to her and bent down beside her. As she reached out for one of the tennis balls, her hand was gently touched by the girl's.
"Ah..."
"Hey." Hiyori smiled at her and snatched up the ball. "It looks like you need a hand."
"Thank you." The kind smile came back again and Hiyori went ahead to pick up the rest.
"In fact, you can stay here. I'll get the rest real quick."
"What?"
Before Inoue could even protest, Hiyori was already running around the court. In no time, she returned with an arm full of brightly colored tennis balls.
"That was... amazing." Inoue was left in awe. "Do you play any sports?"
"I do actually." She thought about it before a bit. "I play tennis."
"Tennis?"
"Yeah." Hiyori laughed sheepishly. "Just for fun though, nothing competitive."
The two leaned against the fence and chatted with each other casually. It was the first time she really talked to a girl about tennis to this extent. In primary school she had only hung out with whoever Yuushi and Kenya hung out with, which were just boys really.
"Inoue-san?" Hiyori stretched her hand out to her. "We're in the same class right? You also offered to take me around the school with your friend one time."
"Right. I noticed how nervous you looked that time and I wanted to apologize for being so insistent. That person wanted to know more about you." Inoue took her hand and grasped it firmly. "I'm Nobara Inoue."
"That person?"
The group of girls from earlier passed through her memory.
"She isn't your friend?"
"No..." Inoue's eyes drooped to the court again. "Kanazawa-senpai? She never was. I made the mistake of following her around. All she ever does is use people to her advantage."
Then from the other side of the court, the three girls appeared again and yelled from behind the fence. It was even more irritating to hear it a second time. Were middle school girls this nasty? Something unfamiliar boiled up inside of her.
The girls entered through the gate on the opposite of the court. They were tapping their rackets impatiently on their bare leg as they approached Hiyori and Inoue.
"Hey, you done yet? We want to play."
They scanned the court with their eyes thick with eyeliner and mascara.
"About damn time." One of them blew a thick bubble of gum from their lips.
"Oh, it's the transfer student from Inoue's class." That Kanazawa girl who Hiyori first saw with Inoue stepped forward and studied the two leaning on the fence. "Are you interested in joining the girl's tennis club?"
The feeling inside of her was bubbling up again.
"I am actually."
"Sweet!" She looked back at the two other girls behind her and nodded approvingly,"I can tell. She's much better than that pathetic excuse of a tennis player."
"Pathetic excuse of a tennis player?" Hiyori's lip twitched.
"Yeah." That menacing smile came back on Kanazawa's lips. "Inoue here had been demoted to the club's ball girl. Ne, Inoue?"
The group erupted in laughter once more. It wasn't hard to see how embarassed the red haired girl was. She refused to look up from her shoes. The uncomfortable, rising feeling in her heart; it was anger.
"Kanazawa-senpai, was it?" Hiyori asked with clenched fists.
"That's right." Kanazawa stared her down from head to toe.
"Are you the captain of the girl's tennis team?"
"Captain? Yeah, I guess that's me."
"You must be pretty strong to be talking so big." Hiyori mused sarcastically.
The girls sensed the passive aggressiveness coming from the Osaka native.
"There isn't anyone I haven't beat yet. You want to try me?"
"It'd be my pleasure." Hiyori couldn't stop the small smile that was growing on her face. "May I borrow your racket, Inoue-san?"
Inoue hesitated at first but she eventually pressed the racket into Hiyori's hands. Hiyori felt Inoue touch her arm lightly and she noticed the apprehensive expression she gave her.
"Please be careful, Katagiri-san..." Her eyes looked up at her almost pleadingly. "Kanazawa-senpai is very ruthless on the court. She does anything to win."
"Don't worry..."
'Because I do too.' Hiyori admitted to herself.
Taking up the racket, she suddenly felt empowered.
"A control racket?" She gripped it into her left hand firmly and did a few practice swings to get a quick feel. "This is perfect."
"Take score for us, okay?" The fired up girl asked Inoue.
"I got it."
"If you're ready, let's get started." Kanazawa was already at the other side of the court with her legs bent and holding the head of racket in one hand.
"One set match. Kanazawa and Katagiri." Inoue climbed into the tall referee chair announced the start of the game. "Katagiri's serve."
Hiyori went to her side of the court. Inoue threw her a tennis ball which she caught swiftly into her hand. She already noticed a crowd gathering from behind the fence around them.
'It's going to be quite a show.'
Bouncing the ball, she studied her opponent across her.
'She's got the positioning right, I'll give her that much.'
Hiyori bent her knees and threw the ball into the air.
'But let's see how she performs!'
She wound her body up as much as she could before serving it straight to Kanazawa. It was clear she wasn't expecting it. Kanazawa hadn't moved an inch from her position even after the ball hit her side of the court.
The ball bounced beside her and flew straight towards the fence behind her. It hit the fence with a clang; causing the crowd to flinch and step back farther from the metal barrier.
"F-Fifteen to love, Katagiri!" Inoue announced.
The crowd went utterly silent before erupting around them.
'This adrenaline...'
It's been awhile since she felt such adrenaline rush through her veins.
Yuushi just finished practice and exited the locker room with guy was still spouting the gossip he had heard during their practice.
"There's still a crowd growing at the girl's tennis court! That must be a pretty good game going on, right?!"
Yuushi didn't see Hiyori observing their practice today so he had assumed she went home after he parted ways with her. There was no point in staying any longer. Not to mention he was still tired of keeping up with Mukahi's bursts of hyper and spontaneous behavior.
"Naa, Oshitari?! Are you listening?"
"As tempting as that sounds, I'm not going to use that as a reason to chase skirts." Yuushi brushed off his doubles partner. "Especially at the girl's court of all places."
"You're no fun at all." Mukahi started to sulk and walk off on his own. "They say one of the players isn't even a member at all-"
The red headed boy smashed a fist into his palm of his left hand.
"And she's beating the crap out of a third year regular!"
That piece of information grabbed his attention.
"Almost reminds me of how you came to play Atobe out of the blue; still in your school uniform and all. Oh! This girl is a fairly recent transfer student from Osaka too!"
Yuushi followed Mukahi anyway. Like Mukahi had said, there was indeed a massive amount of people crowding around the perimeter of the court. Probably a little over half the amount of students that came to watch Atobe play during game practices; which was still quite a lot of people.
They pushed through the tight spaces of the crowd to get a better look. Managing to secure a spot right behind the fence, they observed closely.
The girl on the side of the court closest to them was evidently breathing hard. Signs of falling was evident from the dirt marks peppering her skirt and top.
"You're the captain?! Don't make me laugh!" Hiyori's voice was yelling at the other end of the court. "You're just a bully, Kanagawa-senpai!"
'Hiyori?'
It was strange to hear her voice so loudly. A lady shouldn't be shouting at all anyway. Where had her calm demeanor go? The sight unsettled Yuushi quite a bit. It just wasn't in her character. She stood cross court in her school uniform. No blazer, just her button up shirt without her tie and the standard green skirt. It was definitely similar to Yuushi's match against Atobe.
"Just shut up will you...?!" The regular growled back at her. She was just as heated up when she hit her serve.
Hiyori returned the ball, creating a steady rally between the two of them as if she were playing with her opponent. Clearly running out of stamina, Kanagawa hit a desperate lob towards the front of the net. That turned out to be a huge mistake.
She rushed to the front before jumping with her racket high in the air.
"It's over."
Her arm swung down her racket like a hammer and the ball was smashed right onto the baseline of the court behind the wheezing Kanagawa.
"Six games to zero! Katagiri's win!"
That was it. Hiyori had won. He was glad to see her victory on the court, however she seemed quite scary.
Kanagawa just stood there on her feet immobile. Like a spoiled child, she suddenly threw down her racket in frustration.
"And you ridiculed Inoue-san for being a pathetic excuse of a tennis player." Yuushi could feel the anger laced in every word. "I wonder what that makes you, senpai?"
Kanagawa just ran out of the court immediately, followed by two other girls who grabbed her racket before running after her. If you asked him, it seemed like that senpai was the one who was ridiculed by Hiyori. Everyone started to clear out after that. Several members of the girl's tennis club were crowding around Hiyori like a flock of birds. The girl on the referee chair lifted herself off the high seat and joined in as she returned to Hiyori with her blazer.
"That was really Katagiri." Mukahi, like many others were still in awe. "That senpai was already worn out when we arrived and Katagiri still had some damn good control. Did you see how her overhead smash hit the baseline?"
"She's also a left handed serve and volley player like you."
"What the heck? You didn't even watch the whole match and you know her play style?"
Yuushi just crossed him arms and watched as Hiyori was evidently becoming overwhelmed by the masses of girls that surrounded her. As she was floundering around and looking for some way out, she noticed Yuushi and waved in his direction like a signal for help. The sheepish smile Hiyori shot Yuushi had eased him further.
"I've played against her countless times in Osaka after all."
-OMAKE-
Meanwhile in Shitenhouji
After practice, the Shintenhouji tennis club huddled in a corner of the court upon their captain's request. The first week of November hit and the cold was hitting them harder than Hara's *Moukohan.
"**Kinoshita Toukichirou is drawing nearer!" Their captain Hirazen announced. "Have we decided upon what we'll be doing?"
Everyone started throwing out their ideas in a messy fashion.
"Manzai!" Konjiki and Hitouji shouted in unison.
"Oh, manzai sounds really good!" Hara put his hands together. "Let's do that!"
"S-Senpai..." Shiraishi looked to Koishikawa and Kenya with a wry smile. "We can't learn manzai before the weekend hits..."
Hirazen was nodding his head in agreement.
"It could be possible, but it'd be too much work to train little Kenya here."
"Hey now!" Kenya threw his fist up in the air.
"Let's face it, boy! Your comedy sucks!"
"Ever think it's probably yours that sucks, captain?!"
"Hahn?! Say that again!"
"All right, all right. Maybe not manzai." Hara came between the two of them. "What else could we do?"
"Smooching booth!" Konjiki suggested next.
"Smooching booth?!" Shiraishi and Kenya exclaimed together. They couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"You'd be surprised by how many people would pay to smooch you, Kura-rin!"
"Would you seriously go with that Shiraishi?" Kenya was eyeing his friend.
"Oh~ you too, Oshitari-kun!" Konjiki was crooning at him now,"Lots of girls talk about how splendid of a guy you are~"
"Me?!"
"If you people don't make a decision soon, we might as well go with that!" Hirazen was waving their cultural festival admission print in their faces. "The upperclassmen girls identify the two of you as the club's cuties, I'll have you know. It's not a bad idea to consider."
"Oh my god..." Kenya slapped a hand to his own face. "I'm not going to have my first kiss stolen for the sake of raising tennis club sales... Wait!"
Everyone's eyes were trained on Kenya.
"I know how to play the drums!"
"Really now?" Hirazen seemed pretty impressed.
"So...?" Shiraishi had his hands to his chin in deep thought. "I mean... what can we do that?"
"A rock band?" Koishikawa suggested.
"Bingo!" Kenya swung his arm around Koishikawa,"He's got it!"
"And I can play the guitar!" Hitouji was getting into it as well. "Koharu can sing with Shiraishi-kun, Tetsuhara and the captain!"
"Nah!" Hirazen exclaimed and put his own arm around Hara. "Tetsu and I already decided on our own manzai group!
Their orange haired senpai explained even further,"This will be your guys' way of appealing to the rest of the student body- so we can cover more ground! We'll be sending this into the committee organizing the festival!"
The two senpai began laughing as they ran out of the court. They set them up real good. Kenya, Shiraishi and Koishikawa were just glad that they didn't have to embarrass themselves with their own manzai. They had Konjiki and Yuuji in the club so they didn't have to do it.
A/N: TAKING A BREAK FROM STUFF BECAUSE I'M GOING SOMEWHERE. BE BACK SOON.
*Moukohan: Yoshiyuki's... or rather captain Hirazen's name for Hara's overhead smash. When Kenya played doubles with Momoshiro, Hara unleashed and it hit Kenya's butt LOL. It created a huge bruise as a result.
**Kinoshita Toukichirou: The name of Shitenhouji's cultural festival and an alias of the historical figure Toyotomi Hideyoshi. I dunno. It's all strange to me too. Okay Shitenhouji.
So Hiyori... you're secretly hot blooded?! Well, I think anyone would be pissed after hearing someone talk like that. I mean... if that were me, I would've smacked the shit out of Kanagawa first thing LOL.
Next time is: Hiyori gets some unwanted attention starting now... but mainly from girls? AND WINTER BREAK BEGINS! What are everyone's plans? Yuushi will be visiting Osaka with his parents and his doting older sister Erina to spend the holiday with Kenya's family. Kenya will be in for the greatest surprise he's had all year. Hiyori is also traveling back to Osaka with her father for different reasons. Yuushi's father Eiji reveals the reason why winter is a bit somber in the Katagiri household...
