© 2015 Gold
Title: Beyond: A Tribute – Part Nineteen: That Other Generation
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis and New Prince of Tennis are created by Konomi Takeshi-san. This work is a piece of fanfiction and no part of it is attributed to Konomi-san or any other entity holding any rights associated with and arising out of Prince of Tennis or New Prince of Tennis. This was written purely out of fanservice and it is not to be used for profit or any false association with Konomi-san or aforesaid entities.
Author's Notes:
In my dreams, Momoshiro and Kaidoh became co-captains, and Echizen, for a little while, came back and became vice-captain. 'cause Seigaku always did things differently and I wouldn't expect any less of Ryuzaki-sensei.
Parts 18 and 19, and the next three chapters, affect one another, so they couldn't be posted up until now. Each chapter had at least eight separate drafts (and some drafts went into versions like 6.5 which is where I ended up for Part 18). We're still some way away from the end. I think we're not that far, but the last time I even thought that way, I was somewhere in the tenth chapter of this. I sometimes underestimate rather seriously how long the bridge is from the beginning to the end.
Part Nineteen: That Other Generation
Kirihara Akaya hopped as he waited, first on one foot and then the other. He had just received what Yanagi Renji termed a "basic" training menu customised to his height, weight and other relevant data collected from the last one hundred and twelve matches that Kirihara had played. Basic, Kirihara thought a little sourly. One hundred and seventy-five different exercises didn't appear to be "basic" by anyone's standard.
Less than a minute passed before Kirihara heard footsteps echoing in the stairwell and Kaidoh Kaoru, Echizen Ryoma and Ibu Shinji tramped into sight. Looking down at them, Kirihara had a sudden, almost irresistible urge to giggle at the parade of scowling faces before him. But it was easy to restrain his mirth, given what he wanted to talk about. He sat down on the steps and leaned forward, hunching his shoulders.
"Anyone heard from the others?"
He was referring, not to the rest of Seigaku, or to the others who were congregated in Atobe's palatial summer estate (or cottage, as Atobe liked to call it), but specifically to his generation of tennis team captains and vice-captains. Kirihara couldn't speak for the generation that came after him, but in his time, there had been a fierce, unspoken bond of trust between the captains of the different schools that had transcended the almost-manic rivalry among their teams.
Their seniors had proudly left them a fine inheritance that read like a string of riches galore: strong, disciplined clubs; new club traditions; proud keeping of old traditions; indomitable school spirit; memories of glory; pithy lessons both on and off the courts; boot camp training for incoming regulars; and so on. Yet those selfsame seniors had also left behind a gaping crater within the school tennis clubs. For their sheer, almost unbroken dominance over the years had meant that Kirihara's generation of tennis captains had a much tougher time cobbling together a decent tennis team, given the lack of actual top-level tournament experience (and genius) amidst the remaining tennis club members. Seigaku's philosophy about pillars of teams notwithstanding, it had become a very real problem. Talent was a-plenty, but genius was in extremely short supply (and in some cases, near-extinct).
Through adversity does one find the strangest of bedfellows, and necessity is the mother of invention. So it was that the (then) newly-minted captains (and vice-captains) had little choice but to turn to one another for assistance, and in those fires of adversity was an unbreakable bond forged. Kirihara's word was as good as gold to them, and he in turn took them at their word without question. It was not something that was easily understood. One had to have been in the right place, at the right time – and with the right people. You had to have been there.
Kaidoh shook his head in response to Kirihara's query. "It's past midnight now, in Japan."
Kirihara shot a glance at Ibu, who shrugged.
"I don't think Akira knows and if Tachibana-san knows, he won't tell anyway, because I guess Atobe-san is still thinking about it, but they should just tell us, because all of us are affected by their decisions and by what's happening, although I think they still see us as the kouhai they need to protect and to guide, but we're adults and grown-up now, and there are things that we can do that they can't, so it's actually—"
Echizen didn't bother to reply.
Right. It was a dead end. Kirihara pursed his lips.
Kaidoh cleared his throat. "Kirihara... did you get a message from Yanagi-san?"
Kirihara thought for a moment. Ah, that message. Kaidoh was the only other person likely to have received identical instructions to his. It was a consequence of both of them having sempai-mentors who were practically best friends and shared distressingly similar interests. "Inui-san told you?"
Kaidoh hesitated, his brow furrowed. "Actually, Inui-sempai only said to give you all the help you needed with a request from Yanagi-san."
Kirihara scowled. Sometimes, the Master and Seigaku's Data Man were really too much. Was it so difficult to give detailed instructions and a few clues along the way? And perhaps to keep everybody on the same page so that they could stop wasting time putting pieces of the puzzle together?
Kirihara was under orders from Yanagi-sempai, who had texted him across a number of time zones with a very specific instruction. Under normal circumstances, Kirihara would have asked ten thousand questions because his curiosity was insatiable (as was his general tendency to resist authority). But Yanagi-sempai was currently rather upset with all of them because of Yukimura-sempai's condition and it was best not to make him more aggravated than he already was. The consequences would be unthinkable. Kirihara was just grateful that there were continents between them right now. He still had an extremely powerful memory of having his ear chewed off by Yanagi-sempai a couple of days ago for a new record of nearly eleven solid minutes. Kirihara hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise and he still impulsively put his hand up to his left ear every now and then, just to ensure it was still attached to him and in good working order. It was why he was extremely leery of any telephone call from Yanagi-sempai. (Thankfully, the second telephone call had been less blistering, and after those two calls, Yanagi-sempai had switched to text messaging, hallelujah).
"Yukimura-sempai, Sanada-sempai and Tezuka-san need to talk to Atobe-san, but it's got to be in an open space, because Yukimura-sempai has been cooped up, so closed rooms are not his thing at the moment. We're supposed to find a location that has sunshine and open space. And it's got to be private too, so not just anyone can come poking in." Kirihara scratched his curly head.
"Oh." Kaidoh blinked. "What about the hospital garden?"
Clearly, Kaidoh also had been well-trained to jump to attention if his sempai so requested, and to direct his mind to solving problems at hand and not to ask impertinent questions such as why couldn't Atobe find a place, why us, etc.
"Yukimura-sempai doesn't like the hospital garden," Kirihara explained. "It's too hospital-like. It makes him feel even sicker. And there's no way they're going to meet on rooftops. Hospital rooftops look the same everywhere, like – like hospital rooftops."
Echizen Ryoma, who had been listening intently despite all appearances to the contrary, spoke abruptly. "The carpark. We could cordon off an area."
Kirihara considered the idea briefly and brightened. "It has sunshine and it is an open space," he said hopefully. "And it's shady too, if they're in the right spot."
"It stinks and it has cameras," pointed out Ibu Shinji, who had been silent until then. "There are a lot of cameramen and reporters, and they are staking out the hospital and just waiting for one of us to come out, and we haven't left in days except today, and we had to put on silly disguises just to get here and to go back to the hospital, and actually we can also meet here, so I don't understand why they can't talk to Atobe-san here, because we're already here, which is much more practical and –"
Shinji was right, but Kirihara doubted if their sempai-tachi were still in the area. Although Yukimura hated hospitals, clinics and anything that was remotely medical-related (which extended to an aversion to watching medical dramas), he was not exactly in a position to refuse their care. In any event, as a result of previous hasty indiscretions that allowed Yukimura to practise tennis regularly even though he was very sick, Sanada Genichirou was now performing deeds of repentance by meekly obeying orders from Yanagi Renji to enforce Yukimura's convalescence with an iron fist. (Sanada wasn't always successful in that respect, but that is another story).
"We can –" Echizen paused, searching for the right words. "Run interference," he said finally in English.
Kirihara was puzzled. His English had improved over the years, but those two words, together, made no sense. He'd never even heard of the second word. "Huh?"
"Distract the reporters and cameras," replied Kaidoh, who had acquired exceptional proficiency in American slang over the years. "We don't have time for that. Let's skip the carpark, then."
Kirihara looked at him approvingly. Kaidoh was a very decent guy; Kirihara had dealt with him in their years as heir apparents to their respective tennis clubs and as captains. Besides, Kaidoh had one other star on his epaulette that no one else in the world had: he had acquired Yagyuu-sempai's good opinion in a time when Seigaku and Rikkaidai were rivals, and Kaidoh had been a literal nobody to Rikkaidai. Kirihara had heard the story later, a parting gift from Yagyuu-sempai when Kirihara had taken over the captaincy of Rikkaidai junior high's tennis club, and he'd probably been a bit nicer to Kaidoh because of that. (That had always riled Momoshiro Takeshi no end. It was a good thing that they had finally found that lost baka.) Just a little bit nicer. Not much more.
Echizen shrugged. "Rooftop, then."
Kirihara rolled his eyes. "Like I said, it looks like every other hospital rooftop and Yukimura-sempai doesn't like hospitals."
"He's in one," Echizen pointed out very reasonably, but unhelpfully.
Kirihara glared balefully at Echizen.
"Buy a florist's shop," Shinji said unexpectedly. "Yukimura-san likes flowers, so we can buy a florist's shop and move the potted plants and flowers to the rooftop, because a flower shop is enclosed space, and Yukimura-san doesn't like that, but if we disguise the rooftop and –"
"It's a good idea," interjected Kaidoh hastily.
"Thank you," said Shinji, looking taken aback. "I usually have many good ideas, but they don't always get adopted, because most people probably are not really listening, or else perhaps they don't have the ability to execute my good ideas, and sometimes people just don't approve—"
"Yes," interrupted Kirihara, "but now we have to find a florist to buy. Can we really by one in the next hour, maybe?"
"We could also split up and buy many flowers and potted plants from all over," Shinji suggested. "There are many florists, since this is a big city, and since Yukimura-san was your buchou previously, you will surely know what his favourite flowers are, and even if you don't, we should ask the florists to recommend flowers that a sick person would like—"
"Yukimura-sempai doesn't like that," said Kirihara shortly. "At least not in his current mood. He'll want vibrant colours for plants and flowers. But yeah, okay, I will tell you what to get." It was not difficult to carry on a conversation with Ibu Shinji as long as you interrupted him as and when you really needed to say something important to him. Shinji only talked a lot to people he really knew and clammed up in front of strangers or people he didn't trust or like. It had taken Kirihara years to figure that out (and actually it was Kamio Akira who had told him).
"I think we had better leave the flowers to you." Kaidoh glanced at Echizen and Shinji and thought for a moment. "Take Echizen with you," he decided. "Shinji can come with me. We'll find Kabaji or Haginosuke-san and arrange for whatever else is necessary."
Kirihara understood. Echizen spoke the best English; he'd been brought up in America, after all. "Thanks, Kaidoh."
Yagyuu-sempai was right. Kaidoh Kaoru was a good guy.
"Kirihara."
Kirihara blinked at Kaidoh. "Yeah?"
"I think that we should be at this meeting, too."
Kirihara fairly beamed. Scratch that last thought. Yagyuu-sempai was so wrong. Kaidoh Kaoru was a super guy.