Thanks for all the reviews, favs and alerts!

Hyotei regulars alert!


Something was pressing down on her neck, cutting the oxygen. Every breath she took was excruciatingly painful as though there were nails being driven into her lungs.

Her eyes flickered madly in the darkness that surrounded her, trying to find the source of those voices that were calling her name. Somewhere deep in her heart, she recognised them and knew they would save her from this agony.

As time ticked by, their voices diminished, and yet she could only hover in this strange universe feeling helpless.

"Wait!" she exclaimed overcame by a pang of loneliness at the thought of them leaving her here. She stretched her arms far and wide before her in a feeble attempt to catch something...anything. "Don't go!"

XXX

"W-wait…you haven't given me the ice-cream…" Akemi murmured incoherently, trashing around in her bed. "Give me back my money!" Her eyes flew opened and stopped in mid-trash, just as she felt a strange weight on her neck vanished with a series of hissing and spitting. She twisted her head around to see her cat, Felicia, on the floor giving her a death glare before slipping through the small gap between her bedroom door and the bookshelf.

Still feeling sleepy, she let that slip from her mind with a sigh, dropping her arms beside her head on the pillow. 'That was only a dream?' she sighed, staring at the ceiling. Strange, how a dream could make her heart pound like that as if she had ran a marathon. 'Oh wait, that must have been Felicia. That explains a lot.'

Beyond the muffled sound of the other occupants in the house, there was something closer that required her attention.

Sitting up slowly, she reached for her vibrating phone on the bedside table and tapped the screen to reply, not bothering to check the name fist.

"Hello?" she greeted groggily, brushing off the smoky grey furs Felicia had 'kindly' deposited on her pyjamas when the moggy had used her neck as a pillow.

"Hello? Where are you Akemi-san?"

Even in her state of half-awareness due to the sleep still occupying her head, she was able to recognise the feminine voice. "Huh? At home –well, more precisely in bed. What's up, Chitose-san?" she yawned, ripping the curtains above her bed apart and was nearly blinded by the process.

Though she couldn't see it, Akemi guessed from the long pause that Hinata was trying to calm down for some weird reason. Beyond the sputtering noise coming from the end of her friend's line, her ear was picking up a strange noise in the background, though it was sporadic. She was about to ask about it when Hinata interrupted.

"Aren't you coming to watch the finals? It's already quite late," Hinata said, dejectedly.

"The finals?" echoed Akemi through another supressed yawn, confused. Despite what her friend had said about 'late', it definitely felt 'too early' to her brain.

"Tennis? National tournament?" Hinata tried in a hopeful manner. Akemi racked her head as hard as a person who had just woken up could. "Please tell me you didn't forget…" she sighed exasperatedly.

There was a pause, until it was interrupted by a loud crash from Akemi's end.

"Hello? Hello? Akemi-san!?" Hinata's panicking voice called, obviously having heard the racket. "Are you alright?"

Blinking rapidly to clear her mind, Akemi swiftly bent down over her bed to grab the phone which had fallen off her grasp earlier. "Yes, I'm fine; very fine," she replied calmly, though her hammering heart said otherwise. She glanced at her wall clock and her eyes widened in shock. "I'm so sorry! Must have overslept!" she exclaimed, jumping off her bed and began pacing in her small room. Akemi had assured both Hinata and the tennis regulars that she would come to watch the finals match.

Never mind the regulars. The immense guilt weighing her down was mostly directed towards her promise to Hinata; they were meant to meet up at the stadium, get her ticket (Hinata had already bought hers online), and watch the match together.

She felt like slamming her head against the wall, but took to venting her frustration by giving the pillow a good punch before letting her head fall onto the soft fabric with a groan.

"Akemi-san?" Hinata said, uncertainly at first. "I've checked with the ticket seller, and he said they are a couple left." Advance tickets sold online for the finals had sold-out a week ago, but it was still possible to get tickets on the day itself. Hinata continued, "So if you hurry, you might just make it in time."

Akemi gave the wall clock another quick glance; the tournament had started about two hours ago. She shuffled to her feet, set the phone to speaker mode before placing it on the table. "I understand, Chitose-san. Thank you for asking and I apologise again," she said, calming her frizzy hair with a hairbrush in a frantic manner.

"That's okay, Akemi-san," Hinata laughed sheepishly. "It's unlikely there are any empty seats close to mine; it's quite full where I am. Just send me a text when you're here. The stadium forbids the use of mobile phones during matches," she added the latter.

"Thanks; I'll keep that in mind," she answered, grabbing a change of clothes from the closet and throwing them haphazardly on the bed. 'Gee, what I would give to live in a simulation world where all I need to do is spin around, and voila, I'm wearing different clothes,' she thought dryly, bidding goodbye to Hinata.

In a flurry of movement, she dashed into the bathroom to freshen up, and scurried back into her bedroom to change. Not one minute later, the door reopened with a bang. Not caring if she had broken the door off its hinges, Akemi bounded down the stairs.

"See you later!" she shouted to whoever was in her house, swinging her bag over her head. Oh wait, she just ran past her confused father who was watching the news in the living room.

"Where are you going, Akemi?" the voice of her mother called out from the kitchen.

"Tokyo!" she answered shortly, slipping into a pair of flats and grabbing the bicycle helmet from the shoe cabinet.

XXX

"Good afternoon, Sanada-jii!"

The elder Sanada, who was taking an afternoon stroll around the neighbourhood, greeted back uncertainly, wondering who had zipped past him with a rush of wind. He shrugged it off after pondering over it for no more than two seconds.

With practised ease, Akemi controlled her bike as she made her way down the steep hill towards the direction of the train station.

To her relief, traffic was light today, and she was able to make it to the station in ten minutes, although the station itself was a different picture. The place was packed full of travellers heading for a weekend getaway. This meant locating a free spot for her bike became a difficult task. Eventually she found one and after securing her bike, she headed straight to the information centre.

"Excuse me; can I get a ticket to Tokyo station, please?" Akemi asked between breaths, clutching her knees.

For some weird reason, the smartly dressed man behind the window was becoming increasingly nervous at her appearance. It was until he had explained that wearing a helmet and a pair of sunglasses on made her a suspicious-looking person. Akemi flushed, quickly removing the cycling accessories; with all the adrenaline coursing through her, she had forgotten about them.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she eventually exchanged the cash in hand for the ticket, and turned around to navigate through the sea of people.

Once through the ticket barrier and onto the platform, the size of the crowd lessened, and she was able to move around without bumping into every single person. She lost count on the number of times she had uttered 'excuse me' and 'sorry'.

Akemi glanced at the arrival/departure board in the distance. 'Two minutes,' she noted, squinting. Two minutes were like two hundred years to Akemi, and even when it had arrived on time, her body felt as if it had aged a hundred years as she stepped into the train, and another one hundred by the time she left Tokyo Station twenty minutes later.

Since the city was still a mystery to her, Akemi relied on her phone's map to find her way around the city to the stadium. It wasn't far, so she had opted to run to her destination.

XXX

Akemi practically slid to a stop in front of the ticket counter.

"One student ticket, please!" she said with a huff, shoulders shaking with the effort to calm her erratic breathing.

Stunned by the sudden disruption to the once peaceful lobby, the ticket seller didn't respond at first, preferring to stare at her with a perplexed expression. Eventually he managed to snap out of it and adjusted his glasses. "I'm sorry, but the last ticket had been sold a few minutes ago–umm…miss?" He stood up slightly from the chair, staring at the gloomy form of Akemi leaning against a pillar.

"Ahhh…I feel so tired," she mumbled, miserably. 'I wasted my time and used up two weeks' worth of allowance to come all the way here; and this happens. On top of that, I've broken my promise with Chitose-san. I'm a horrible friend.' She repeated that thought in her head, burying deeper into guilt and misery, until she was brought out of her state by a voice behind her.

"You're Noda Akemi-san right?" Despite the question, the voice had said it without any hints of doubt.

Akemi turned around to find a boy around her age with dark blue hair and piercing dark purple eyes that stared unblinkingly at her through round glasses. He was dressed neatly in a tracksuit, of which the jersey was periwinkle and white.

"Yes?" she answered, eyeing him warily.

He must have picked up the signal, for he held out his hands before him and said with a chuckle, "There's nothing to fear. I'm just a friend." Judging by the look of alarm in her eyes, his words had come out the wrong way. "Ah please ignore what I've just said," though it seemed like it was not going to happen soon. He cleared his throat with a cough. "I am Oshitari Yuushi, one of the tennis regulars from Hyotei Academy." Akemi blinked in recognition. "I presume you are well acquainted with one of my teammates?" he added with a knowing smile.

XXX

"B-but surely this is against some kind of law?" Akemi tried to talk sense into Oshitari, as she followed him up a flight of stairs.

Oshitari only smirked, "The security guard let you in didn't he? So stop worrying about it, Noda-san."

"Yes, but even if you've dropped Keigo-san's name and the guard works for his father's company, it still doesn't change the fact that I got in without purchasing a ticket. Mou! What was I thinking when I agreed to your suggestion?" she said through gritted teeth, gripping the side of head.

Oshitari remained in a contemplative silence, though amusement played in his eyes. 'Oh? They're that close already?' Oshitari remarked at her reference to the self-acclaimed King by his first name.

How he came to know her name, or the fact that Atobe and she had met each other once upon a time?

Well, to put it simply…

First; he's good at reading the captain, who despite his insistence that everything was alright (fine and dandy even), had for the past week been unusually absent-minded at class, student council meetings and club activities. There were even times when Atobe seemed to have forgotten that his lunch was in front of him and would wear this strange far-off gaze that gave most of the regulars the creeps, and irritated some.

Second; and Oshitari had resources from within the Atobe family (actually he had casually asked one of Atobe's many maids; who said charm was limited to Atobe only?), and according to them, the heir had been acting like this ever since the wealthy family held a welcome dinner for the family of Mr Atobe's old friend last weekend. Although there were variations to this newfound oddity, most of them seemed to center around a certain girl.

It was pure luck that he saw her on the way back from the toilet.

Third and lastly; years of reading countless novels and watching films of the romance genre had given him great insight into the minds of others. They might as well award him with an honorary doctorate in romance.

The corner of his lips twitched upwards into a smirk. Oshitari found it immensely intriguing that the source of the proud, obnoxious captain's recent odd behaviour was a mere girl; when even with his (ridiculously) immense popularity within the female population of Hyotei Academy (and that included teachers), Atobe was never affected by their constant flirts…at least not in this way.

"I can assure you, Noda-san; everything will be fine. If anything happens, I'm sure Keigo will help you out," he said, confidently.

"I do hope so," she exhaled in exhaustion, evidently with none of his confidence. Although that night's event had become fuzzy over the past few days, she remembered quite vividly their childish arguments (which mostly involved name-calling), of her attacking him with twigs, and then nearly suffocating him to death (even though he partly deserved this for his 'kidnapping' attempt).

In short, Akemi doubted he would ever forgive her (she had based this speculation on his diva attitude).

"Well, it's a bit too late to turn around now," he remarked with a casual shrug, "Look, we're here."

Akemi, who had been trailing behind Oshitari with bowed head, lifted her gaze and was nearly blinded by the light that filtered through the top of the stairwell. Narrowing her eyes against the glare, she followed the bespectacled boy through the entrance and was met with a sudden blast of cheers and screams which echoed throughout the stadium.

Curious, she tried to peer over the waving arms and backs of the crowd by balancing on her toes, but couldn't see what was happening at the court below.

Noticing this, Oshitari, without pausing from his trek down another flight of stairs, informed her that Rikkai had won the Doubles 1 (triggering a gasp of delight from Akemi), and thus bringing up the number of sets won and lost by both schools even; which meant the last set would determine who would win the National Tournament.

Despite the gravity of that last statement, Akemi still couldn't help but smile brightly at Rikkai's recent winning as she swiftly made her way down to catch up with him.

As they descended down the stairs, she caught a glimpse of Niou and Yagyuu shaking hands with their opponents from Seigaku. Despite their mutual resentment towards one another, Akemi supposed she could set aside that burning hatred just for today.

"Do you know you're being followed by a weirdo, Oshitari-san?" A voice beside them said in an annoyed manner, snapping her out from her thoughts.

They stopped beside a row of seats occupied entirely by boys who wore the same apparel as Oshitari.

Akemi frowned in displeasure at the one who spoke up, ignoring the glare she was receiving back; that was really uncalled for.

"Manners, Hiyoshi," Oshitari chided lightly, crossing his arms, "She is a friend –especially of our dear captain's," he paused, shifting his gaze to said captain whose eyes were fixated on the court below.

Ootori, who had only realised Oshitari had returned (and with company), paused in his clapping. "Atobe-senpai's?"

Oshitari smirked inwardly at the innocent wording. "That's right; Atobe-senpai's," he nodded.

"Please don't talk about me as if I'm not here," Akemi informed him in a deadpan voice.

"Ah! Apologies, Noda-san," Oshitari chuckled. As the crowd around them moved to sit back down, he did a quick survey around the area for free seats, and to his delight, there was just one right in front of Atobe. "Well, why don't you take a seat beside Keigo?" he said, gesturing at the empty spot between Atobe and Mukahi. Akemi felt her eyes bulged at the huge frame beside the Hyotei captain. "We can do introductions after the match is over."

"Eh!? But isn't that yo -!?" A hand was hastily placed on Hiyoshi's mouth, effectively cutting off the rest of the sentence.

Oshitari bent down to his level and whispered lowly, "Why don't you be a gentleman and let the lady through?"

It was not a request.

Fortunately Hiyoshi caught the hint, and stood up; albeit begrudgingly. Akemi and Oshitari stepped aside to make space for him at the stairs. He was soon followed by the ever friendly and polite Ootori who beamed widely in greeting at her.

Akemi thanked them with a smile of her own, before cautiously making her way through the small gap, passed a sleeping figure who took up three seats ('Is that even allowed?' Akemi wondered in puzzlement), before stopping dead beside one of the largest person she had ever seen. She felt rightfully dwarfed by his presence. Akemi blinked in astonishment, unsure whether the huge bloke was a high school or college student.

But either way, she couldn't see another way past him until she made her presence known.

Akemi breathed a sigh before clearing her throat for starters. "U-umm…can you please let me through?" she asked, tentatively.

A pair of blank eyes shifted to rest on her. Akemi could feel the hesitancy growing in the pits of her stomach.

When a voice spoke, it most certainly wasn't him who did.

"Who dare asked ore-sama to move, Kabaji?"

For some weird reason, he had thought that the request was meant for him. Although he seemed not bothered enough to check who it was on the other side of this fleshy wall, Akemi was 100% certain that drawling voice belonged to him. Who else would refer himself in such an arrogant way?

'Only him'

"Me," she vented a sigh, growing impatient at his arrogance.

"Who?" came the curt reply.

Akemi eyes were beginning to twitch violently. "Your worst nightmare if you don't ask your friend and your sorry behind to move this instant," she said through gritted teeth, nails sinking into her bicycle helmet. Oh, what she would do to chuck the helmet at his precious face.

There was a collective gasp (from Ootori) and snickers (from Oshitari) behind her. Mukahi and Shishido on the other side stared at her wearing the same bewildered expression.

Nobody (apart from the regulars and some of the braver ones from other schools) would even begin to think of threatening the self-proclaimed king in such an immature way.

And it would seem that Atobe had the same opinion.

The Hyotei captain leaped onto his feet as though electrocuted by his chair with a menacing glare. He looked as if he was about to fire a retort back until his mind registered the scowling face in front of him.

Atobe blinked in surprise, rage instantly evaporating into the surrounding air to be replaced by confusion. "A-Akemi?"

She rolled her eyes. "One and only."

Then seemingly regained his cool composure, he coughed. "Why are you here?"

"The same reason why you're here," she continued briskly before he could interrupt her, "Now before I repeat myself again; please let me through?"

But Atobe raised an eyebrow at her. "Where though? The seats here are taken."

"The one beside you?" she gestured lazily at the empty spot next to him. "Unless you've brought an imaginary friend, then I understand the sentiment," she trailed off, turning around.

"W-wait, what!?" He paused, as comprehension dawn on him. "Ore-sama don't have any imaginary friends!" he shouted.

Akemi paused to give him a flat stare over her shoulders.

"That seat belongs to Yuushi!" He pointed at said seat and turned to glower at the bespectacled regular who had appeared in the seat right before him. Akemi blinked in surprise at the sudden apparition, but said nothing otherwise. "Yuushi! What's the meaning of this?" Atobe growled, leaning down to give the aloof Oshitari a hard stare.

Oshitari smirked without turning back and cryptically said, "Call it a favour."

XXX

For the past week, he had repeatedly convinced himself that the whirling sensation in his stomach, as if his organ was doing somersaults, was due to a nasty disease, every time his mind would drift back to Akemi.

Oddly enough, the strange feeling seemed to have vanished the moment she came back into the picture. In the end, he had simply shrugged it off as a non-life threatening pathogen that had somehow gotten into his system.

Then, there was that shrewd Oshitari.

''Call it a favour'' he mimicked the bespectacled genius with absolute precision in his head. 'What is he getting at!?'

Atobe was finding it hard to concentrate on the match between Yukimura and Tezuka. He tried the hardest not to keep glancing back and forth the court and Akemi, who was silently engrossed in the match, beside him. He didn't want to dwell too deeply on how that accursed friend of his came to knew of her -of all people. Kicking the back of his chair would only prove whatever theory he had cooked up in that brain of his correct.

So he had settled with tapping his foot irritably on the ground, but stopped when Akemi slowly turned her head around to give him an unamused look.

Akemi sighed inwardly, turning her attention back to the match just as Yukimura scored the last vital point.

"Game set! Won by Yukimura Seiichi by 7-6! RIKKAI DAI FUZOKU WINS THE FINAL!"

The stadium immediately erupted into an ear-splitting cheer. Akemi's own was drowned out by the sheer volume from the spectators around her. She was certain that it would leave her half-deaf for the rest of the week, but as she stood grinning ear to ear and clapping until her hands turned red, Akemi didn't care. This was the first time she had been to this kind of sporting event, and the experience so far had left her in awe.

With everyone's attention on the prize-giving ceremony, Oshitari took a peek out from the corner of his eyes behind the 'couple' and felt a smirk cross his face. He briefly deliberated on informing Atobe that he was being none too subtle with his staring at the happily oblivious girl beside him. The glazed look in the captain's eyes was bordered on confusion and fascination, with a miniscule hint of jealousy.

One of Oshitari's eyebrows quirked up to form a perfect arch at that last observation.

In the end, he decided to remain quiet for the time being; teasing Atobe could wait.

XXX

Akemi was lucky to have bumped into Hinata in the toilet queue. She had apologised profusely for oversleeping, her late arrival and not being able to sit beside her during the match, but Hinata just waved it away with a sincere smile. They bade each other farewell as Hinata had to return early to tend to her family's shop.

So that was one problem solved.

Just one…

"No really, you don't have to take me home, Keigo-san," Akemi asserted politely, but the dangerous twitch on the corner of her mouth said otherwise. "I am pretty capable of taking care of myself."

"Pfft! Says the person who needed help getting unstuck from a tree like a cat." Akemi blushed furiously at that reminder. "Ore-sama don't think it is right to let you go all the way back to Kanagawa on your own. It's starting to get dark here," Atobe pointed out, unperturbed by the glare he was receiving.

True, the sky was turning into a beautiful hue of pink and orange, and stars were already visible.

And underneath the romantic setting, Akemi and Atobe had entered into yet another row.

For the bemused Hyotei regulars standing at some distance away from the 'couple' outside the stadium, it was the first time they were witnessing something as extraordinary as their well-respected and dignified captain bickering with a girl.

Oshitari thought that Atobe should know very well not to publicly embarrass himself by flailing his arms frustratingly above his head just to prove his point and getting his right ear pulled to stop his monkey act. After all, the name Atobe wasn't just for show. Fortunately for him, the number of people idling about had dwindled to a few.

"Sheessh! If she insists on not coming with us on the limousine, then Atobe might as well give up so that we can all go home. I'm hungry already!" Mukahi huffed, crossing his arms on his chest. "Can't you do something about this, Yuushi?"

Oshitari had to resist allowing his own stomach to take control over the decision, though his face remained impassive. "Hmm… I think we should let them finish their bickering. You don't want Keigo to bring his temper into an enclosed space with no means to escape, and listen to him rant about the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over -"

"Alright! I get it!"

"Ara, aren't those the Rikkai regulars?" Ootori piped up from beside Kabaji who was carrying Akutagawa on one broad shoulder.

True to his words, they saw the National Tournament winners trooping out from the stadium, and seemingly noticed the bickering couple, made a beeline towards Akemi and Atobe; well, it was mostly them casually following an extremely excited Marui.

"AKEMI-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

One moment, Akemi was standing with both hands on her hips, scowling at the impertinent fool disguised as an egotistical high school student under the name of Atobe Keigo, and the next second, the upper half of her body was pulled backwards into an arch, and she was staring wide-eyed at the evening sky.

She would have cried in surprise at the random hug attack from behind, if it weren't for the pair of muscular arms that was wrapped tightly around her neck, and thus rendering her voice box useless.

"You've came! I knew it was you at the VIP box with Hyotei!" He shouted. "But why did you hide yourself underneath a pair of sunglasses when I waved at you!?" Akemi made a pathetic noise that sounded more like someone having a hard time in the toilet. "What's that, Akemi-chan?" He cut off when something collided against them. "AHHHHH! JIROU-KUN!"

Atobe remained in an impassive silence (although his inner-mind was in turmoil), watching as Akemi struggled uselessly to free herself from the combined bear hug courtesy of Marui and Akutagawa, who upon hearing the voice of his favourite idol had jolted from his sleep and bounded towards them before engulfing the Rikkai students in a tight embrace.

He didn't move or speak when the two volley specialists were eventually pulled away by the collar.

"Th-thank you, Jackal-san – Mukahi-san – Ootori-san," she coughed, massaging her neck.

Akemi raised an eyebrow at the Hyotei regular who was talking animatedly to Marui like nothing happened. She was astounded by the energy the former possessed with his wild gestures and excited tone when he had slept through a cheering crowd.

Then remembering there was somebody else who should have saved her, Akemi turned to Atobe with narrowed eyes showing her displeasure. "Why did you just stand there and do nothing? Call yourself a high-class, well-brought up elite?" she said with a small pout, snapping him out of his reverie.

Atobe was about to retort back when the rest of Rikkai and Hyotei regulars appeared out of the blue beside them.

"Ara… Are you friends with Atobe-san, Akemi-san?" Yukimura asked with a smile, there was a strange gleam in his eye which Oshitari recognised instantly.

Something akin to a small fire sparked to life when Rikkai's captain mentioned 'Akemi-san'.

"...I suppose you can call it like that"

"Hmm…I thought it would be hard to even have a decent conversation with him though, what with the living-in-a-world-of-his-own attitude," Kirihara said, but immediately clamped his mouth shut when Sanada sent him a warning glare.

The fire went off with a 'poof' as the egoist in him flared up.

"Well, no surprise there. Lowly commoners such as yourselves-," Atobe gestured lazily at the expressionless Rikkai regulars, before bringing his hand up into his trademark pose, "-have no inkling of the elite world of which ore-sama belongs."

Unsurprisingly, it was the Hyotei regulars (apart from Kabaji, Oshitari and Ootori) were the ones to react. Despite the years under his captaincy, there was one thing they still couldn't stand of him.

"Did he just somehow insulted us too!?"

"Tsch! Gekokujo!"

"That self-conceited, arrogant, knuckle-headed scumbag!"

"Calm down! Calm down, everyone…" Ootori chuckled sheepishly.

Atobe smirked, well accustomed to this sort of reaction from them. If possible, his smirk widened when Akemi began to approach him. Thinking that she was finally about to show her admiration for him, he puffed out his chest.

Who wouldn't adore him? He had the status, popularity, wealth and vast talents.

"Keigo-san…" she murmured, stopping in front of him.

With her eyes hidden in shadows and her toneless voice, it was impossible to judge her expression. But Atobe was too proud to notice.

"Yes?" he grinned toothily, ready for the confession.

"You're…"

Somehow everybody had ended up holding their breaths in anticipation.

"…a hopeless case."

XXX

"Y-you should have seen your face in the mirror, Atobe!" Mukahi guffawed, holding his stomach. "She really had you nettled good"

"Tsch! Just shut up already!" Atobe said, grinding his teeth. He tapped his index finger irritably on his crossed arm; eyes clenched shut in hopes it would make the pesky regulars disappear. But then, he himself had said magic didn't exist.

"Don't be such a grouchy old man, Keigo. It's not good for your complexion, you know," Oshitari said with a grin, "Oh look! There's a wrinkle-"

"ORE-SAMA DON'T HAVE ANY OF THOSE ABOMINATIONS!"

'And here I thought Oshitari-san wanted Atobe to diffuse his rage before getting into the limo,' Hiyoshi thought from the other end of the vehicle, bored of the 'let's-tease-Atobe' gag.

XXX

"Seriously, you're a harsh person, Noda," Niou reminded her from the table behind hers, shoving the Yakiniku into his mouth. "I've expected better from a girl; then again, you're not a normal person to begin with."

"Shut up!"

He was lucky that Akemi was sitting too far away from him or she would have chucked a sizzling piece of meat at his face.

"See?"

"Stop rubbing her the wrong way, Niou-kun," reprimanded Yagyuu from his side.

"No."

TWACK!

On any ordinary day, Akemi would have given Sanada the thumbs up for whacking Niou on the head.

But as it was, Akemi bit down on her lower lips in an effort to resist the temptation to add in the pain. 'Why did I agree to come with them?' she exhaled. Then again, as she sat there picking out her favourite sushi, she recalled that there had been no choice to begin with.

Earlier in Tokyo after the Hyotei regulars had left, Akemi was invited to join them for a victory dinner at Jackal's family restaurant.

She had of course politely turned down his offer to join them, arguing that she was not part of the team. But Yukimura being Yukimura did not back down on the offer regardless and, wearing a wry smile, promptly asked Niou and Jackal to grab her before she could escape.

She flushed at that memory; being dragged down the streets of Tokyo had been an excruciatingly embarrassing experience, something she would rather not relive in her next life.

At least they had let her go when she promised not to run.

So she had spent the entire train journey back to Kawasaki and then walking to the restaurant sulking, sending death glares at the back of Sanada and Yagyuu, who were in for the plan to ask her to join them (although dragging her around like a toy was not their idea of asking her nicely), and ignoring Niou's snide comments about her breaking Atobe.

Akemi paused in her search for the next tempura, as she swallowed the sushi.

Apparently, she had shattered the Hyotei captain's ego (as Oshitari had put it); leaving him stupefied to the point of being unresponsive to any prodding and finger-snapping, or when he was easily hefted onto Kabaji's shoulder and brought to his waiting limousine with the rest of the Hyotei regulars in tow.

She tried to convince herself that it was because of his oversensitive that had led him to this. 'It's his fault,' she kept repeating that line. But, Akemi was self-conscious of her actions. Atobe had done nothing wrong but offered her a ride home, which in actual fact was very nice of him. Akemi exhaled, losing the heart to eat.

"Don't let it get to your head, Akemi-san."

She snapped back to reality at that voice, and shifted her gaze to the person beside her. It still surprised her that Yanagi could still move about and eat with his eyes closed.

"I'm 80% certain that Atobe-san won't take it to heart. He is someone who will fight to the top just to prove his strength to everyone; and that earned him the respect and admiration from his peers, Hyotei and tennis players from other schools." he added the latter before turning his head to Akemi. "Perhaps convincing yourself to witness his fruits of labour one day will help you decide on what kind of person he really is."

"…"

"Well, forget about that for now. It's time to enjoy your meal," he said cheerfully, before casually adding, "Oh, by the way; have you thought of becoming our manageress yet?"

Akemi choked on the half-chewed tempura, nearly coughing it out in the process.

Niou actually looked genuinely scandalised.

She sniffed, disgusted by the feeling of tiny bits of meat that had almost gone up the wrong way to her nose; searching frantically for a tissue hiding in the midst of plates, bowls and condiments. The smoke, although light, coming from the grill in the middle of their table was definitely not helping to alleviate her situation.

"Here you go, Akemi-chan."

Akemi eagerly took the offered tissue box from Jackal's mother with a hoarse thank, and wiped away the tears.

"Sorry."

"That's okay," she managed to say. It's not like he had done it on purpose…hopefully.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded, crumpling the tissue in her hand. 'Might as well keep it there for a while.'

"That's good. Now, how about we go back to Renji's question?"

Akemi fought the urge to aim the tissue at Yukimura's smiley face opposite her, but ultimately resigned with a sigh of exhaustion and bobbed her head lazily.

She stared into her green tea.

Truth be told, she had wanted to tell him about her decision earlier at the stadium…yesterday at school…the day before yesterday outside the school gates, but either found the timing bad or her brain had magically cooked up a last-minute excuse.

She looked up from her tea and jerked back with a cry of astonishment at the sight of all the regulars huddled up around the table and leaning close (well, as close as someone could get without getting seared by the grill) with eyes burning in anticipation.

"Ummm…err…" Akemi kept anxiously flicking her eyes around the restaurant, avoiding their intense gazes. There were no means of escape; Yanagi and Sanada were like two solid walls in addition to the one behind her.

Leaping over the table was definitely a no-no.

"Come on! Don't be shy, Akemi-chan!" prompted Marui.

Surely there won't be any terrible consequences? (Apart from having to stay in the same space as Niou more often than usual)

"The afternoon practice sessions and our recent national triumph have impressed you right?" Kirihara added with a boyish grin.

Akemi nodded wordlessly.

"Then?" The regulars asked in sync; heads titled to one side.

She gripped her other wrist tightly in her lap, and bobbed her head in affirmation. What happened next, was definitely what she had not expected.

"THHHAAAAAATTT'S GREAT!"

Wide brown eyes blinked in bafflement at the colourful streamers and confetti raining down over the table (missing the grill) and onto her hair, courtesy of Marui, Jackal and Kirihara.

"Wha?"

"We've already known for a long time you will say yes sooner or later!" Kirihara grinned.

"Huh?"

"When it comes to reading people, very rarely, do I get it wrong," Yanagi said with a wily smile, "But I wasn't the only person who had noticed the change in your perception towards tennis and us."

The rest of the regulars nodded.

"Then, why have you not say anything until now?" Akemi asked flatly, narrowing her eyes at them in displeasure. "Do you know how hard it was to keep that to myself for days?"

"Awwww! But you looked so cute when you were dithering!" Marui cried, engulfing her in a consoling hug. He took one look at her and exclaimed, "Heehee; you're pouty face is cute too!"

She had enough of bear hugs for one day. "Marui-san! Get off me!" Akemi shrieked, shaking him off without success.

Alas, Sanada had deemed the 'peace and quiet' was disrupted for too long, and without a moment hesitation, freed Akemi of her misery before giving Marui a very stern look.

The night went on without any more hitches. That is if one excluded the moment when Kirihara had accidentally knocked off a bottle of soya sauce and sent it bouncing off the walls before hitting an unimpressed Sanada and dispersing its contents onto his head. Well, an angry Sanada with soya sauce dripping down his hair was actually quiet an amusing image to see…for the non-perpetrators.

XXX

Was it because she was of the opposite gender that Akemi kept getting offered a bodyguard to send her home?

"I will be fine, Genichiro-san," Akemi buckled the helmet strap, "I've been here once or twice before; it's not like I will get lost in this neighbourhood. And I do have my phone with me."

Sanada who had followed her to the restaurant's door remained doubtful. "Getting lost is the least of my worries. What if you get mugged?"

"I have a pair of powerful lungs too," she beamed, eyes glinting with pride, "Honestly, you're starting to sound like a fussy old woman. Go back and continue your celebration with the others."

"This isn't funny!"

But Akemi had already gotten on her bicycle and rode away with a "Cheerio!"

"Akemi-san!"

"Why are you shouting her name?" enquired Jackal, who just came down from his room above the restaurant, clutching a shonen manga magazine for Kirihara. He popped his head out, glancing around the vicinity, and noting her bicycle was gone, he turned to Sanada. "She left?"

"Ah."

Jackal glanced back to the chaotic merriment behind him, then back to Sanada; his eyes taking a serious tone. "Did she leave with anyone?"

Rarely did the stern fukubuchou was left speechless. He could feel the dread creeping down his spine, but was quick to regain his composure; though the feeling remained. "No; I offered to accompany her back, but she refused…what's wrong?" His eyebrows creased into a frown at the stunned Jackal.

"Fukubuchou…have you heard of the rumours about a bunch of high school students who have been causing a lot of ruckus for the authorities to deal with for the past week?"

Sanada felt his heart accelerating as sweats formed on his forehead.

"Lately, they've been spotted around this neighbourhood at night."

XXX

Lights from the streetlamps reflected off from the canal so that the still surface of the water glinted in the dark; the empty road along the man-made water channel was cast in a dull yellow tone where light fell.

Akemi puffed her cheek out. 'There should be an end to this kind of discrimination! Talk about gender equality in a modern world,' she thought irritably, pedalling down the bicycle lane.

She had opted to avoid the main road, which at this time of night, was filled with the usual pub-goers who had forgotten the proper use of their limbs. Right now though, perhaps a little bit of company no matter how intoxicated they were, wasn't such a bad idea.

Every flicker of movement in the shadows where the light didn't fall was starting to get on her nerves.

The clammy hands grasping the handlebars tightened as she increased the speed of her pedalling. Her heart leaped unpleasantly when she passed a group of jeering teenagers.

'Almost there!'

Just as that thought came into her mind, Akemi felt the strap of her bag being tugged against her shoulder, and in the blink of an eye, the bicycle had disappeared below her and she was sent flying backwards.

Akemi landed on the pavement with a grunt; the sound, followed closely by the tell-tale sign of her fallen bicycle not far behind. She slowly pushed herself off the ground, cursing under her breath, but froze when mud-caked shoes suddenly appeared before her eyes.

"What do we have here?" a nasal voice said mockingly.

A hand roughly yanked her up by the helmet, causing her to gag when the strap caught her throat.

"Get up!" he spat.

Not wanting to know what will happen if she didn't comply, cautiously and painfully, Akemi shifted her legs around to stand. It was then she'd noticed one of the yobs was fumbling inside her bag.

A cry of pain escaped her when her helmet was yanked again and she was brought face to face with her assailant, who looked to be around her age but the unkempt facial hair made him looked like a middle-aged goon.

"Where are you looking at, little missy?" he droned.

Scrunching up her nose at the bad breath, Akemi glared at him. She clenched her hands tightly.

"Oh? Careful there, Boss. Little miss wants a fight," someone behind her snickered.

"Hmph! A girl like you possibly can't pack a pu -!"

Akemi fell onto all fours, the moment the rough hold on her helmet disappeared. Breathing hard, she lifted her head and felt her eyes widened.

Before her, Jackal and Yagyuu were restraining, with all their might, a hyperventilating Kirihara from punching again. He glared menacingly with bloodshot eyes at the 'Boss'

"B-boss!" the one, who had been holding her bag, threw the item to one side and rushed towards his fallen leader.

"How dare you -!"

"-try to hurt our dear manageress?"

Akemi started, whipping her head around to Yukimura who stood behind her with Yanagi and Sanada on either side of him. She remained silent when he gently helped her onto her feet.

The 'Boss' seemed to recognise the Rikkai captain (or it could have been any of the Three Demons, but Akemi was uncertain) if the fear in his eyes were of any indications. "Y-y-you're-" He whimpered, scrambling back from them.

Yukimura only smiled sardonically in answer.

"Buchou!"

The smile remained, but his eyes glinted without the previous malice, upon the arrival of Niou and Marui. They slid to a stop beside Jackal, Yagyuu and Kirihara, panting hard from the running.

Clearly outnumbered, the 'Boss' scrambled up, turned tail and ran with his underlings closely behind, presumably all the way to Hokkaido.

Akemi sighed in relief, but nearly jump in fright when the imposing figure of Sanada appeared before her. She swallowed hard; steeling herself for the lecture. Then –

"Are you hurt?"

Blinking rapidly, she gazed up at the vice-captain and shook her head slowly.

A long sigh escaped through his slightly-parted lips.

"I'm sorry," Akemi murmured, diverting her gaze to the ground. Just within hearing range, the now-normal Kirihara was being admonished by both Jackal and Marui for being too brash. "I'm sorry for not listening to your advice a-and take up on your offer." She hastily bowed and added, "I'm sorry!"

A sudden weight on her helmet made her look up.

"The one who should be apologising isn't you, but me," Sanada said firmly, dropping his hand to his side. "I should have stopped you from leaving. But knowing your stubborn attitude, perhaps chaining you to a pillar would have been a better idea."

She blinked, speechless.

"Eww; never thought Fukubuchou-san has such a dirty mind."

The sound of a popping vein was enough of a warning sign for the trickster's turn to turn tail and run, screaming at the top of his voice.

Smothering her giggle into hand, she watched with the rest of the amused regulars as Sanada pursued Niou down the street with murderous intent clear in his eyes.

With the history between Akemi and Niou, she wouldn't mind if dummy-head was chased off the face of Earth.


Oh my, I thought the previous chapter was long...

Thanks for reading until this end though! XD

Next installment: The Rikkai regulars and their new manageress visit Tokyo Sea Life Park, and Atobe seemed to have caught wind of it!