Lucifer of Rikkaidai
Chapter 29: Something Between
Sanada and Yanagi were sitting around in Sanada's room to discuss the ladder for the upcoming match against Seigaku.
"According to my data, their ladder should go like this: doubles 1, the golden pair, doubles 2 Kaido-Momoshiro, singles 3 Inui, singles 2 Fuji, then singles 1…"
"Echizen." Sanada finished off and Yanagi nodded.
"You're contemplating whether or not you should put Akaya in singles 1, Genichirou." Renji said and Sanada nodded.
"It is very hard. It would make sense that I'd make Akaya play Echizen, but…"
"You want her to try facing Fuji Syuusuke."
"Exactly."
"Although our saying is "Always win Rikkaidai," I don't care so much about that anymore when it comes down to our kouhai." He said, his eyes getting soft.
"…You've gotten soft, Genichirou." Yanagi smiled and said, and at that Sanada turned slightly red.
"E-Ehem." He just coughed, but didn't deny. "Anyhow, I'll just put her in singles 2."
"Understood."
-The Next Day, the Final Round-
"AH~AH! It's so boring!" Akaya exclaimed, putting her head down on the table. The regulars were sitting nearby a café in the tennis park, waiting for the final match. Sanada was off to the side at the sign-ups table taking care of some paperwork.
"How long do you think it's going to take?" Marui asked while sipping on his drink.
"I call less than two hours!" Akaya shouted, drinking her soda.
"According to my data, it should be around and hour and fourty-eight minutes." Yanagi said.
"Akaya, can we watch a movie on your phone?" Marui asked with sparkling eyes.
"Sure." Akaya took out her phone and plugged one side of the earphone on her ear and the other side of the earphone in Marui's ear.
Niou, who was sitting on the other side, wasn't happy. Why? He just wasn't, seeing Marui so close to her. Their faces were only a couple inches away, both trying to see a movie off of a tiny screen.
In fact, they got so close to a point Marui put his arm around the back of the chair that Akaya was sitting on, which pretty much looked like he was putting an arm around her shoulder.
'That bastard…! He doesn't need to get so close…!' Niou, a poker face, could not help but show a slight hint of distress, which his partner Yagyuu, and the data master Yanagi, did not fail to notice.
"Eh! I drank it all…" Marui said with a disappointed look as the cup made an empty air sound from the straw. "Hey Akaya lemme have a sip!"
'Oi, oi, wait a minute!' Niou panicked. If she was giving Marui a drink, and if he were to drink it out of the same straw that Akaya was using—it would be an indirect kiss.
It's not that they've never done that before. In fact, Marui and Akaya were like sisters who pulled all sorts of pranks and shared drinks time to time. And Akaya really didn't seem to care.
"You can have it all."
"Yesss!"
Akaya handed her drink to him. Just before Marui got to it, Niou snatched the cup away—and drank all of the liquid inside, leaving not a single drop.
'Th-that's our first indirect kiss…' Niou thought and couldn't help but blush very faintly, which of course, Yagyuu and Yanagi noticed again.
'Hou… so that'show it is…' Yanagi smiled inside as he quickly calculated his "possibilities and outcomes."
"NIOU!" Marui yelped, trying to reclaim his drink. "YOU ASSHOLE! THAT WAS MINE!"
"You had two cups already you fatass." Niou scoffed and thus a quarrel began between the two and Jackal was stuck in between, trying to calm them down.
"We're ready." Sanada came back and the team stood up and left to their match with Seigaku.
"Man, today's not our day." Akaya grumbled as she walked with Yanagi and Sanada. They were walking in a mild rain that wasn't right enough to have them run for cover but just right enough to stop a tennis match.
Unfortunately, the games had to be postponed until a week and a half after. Akaya was grumpy at the fact that she couldn't play and that she had to wait a whole week.
"Eh? It's Seigaku!" Akaya said. There were the Seigaku regulars as well as Tachibana, his sister, and Kamio. The three were passing by; Sanada stopped and the Seigaku players just looked at the three.
Tachibana smiled at Akaya nicely; feeling awkward and a bit embarrassed, she tipped her head very little and bowed.
"It seems you've saved some time." Sanada said. "Either way, you'll lose to us without Tezuka."
Sparks flew between the three Rikkaidai regulars and the Seigaku regulars.
"A-Choooo!" Akaya sneezed. She noticed that the rain was pouring harder and harder; she felt her skin getting soaked.
"We should get going, Sanada. Akaya's been a bit weak these days." Yanagi said and Sanada nodded.
"It's cold…" Akaya started shivering. Sanada panicked a little so he took his jacket off without a second thought and draped it over her. Then he took his beloved hat and put it on her head.
"A girl shouldn't stay in the rain to long." He smiled as he put the cap on her head.
"Fuku-buchou, I'm not that weak." Akaya pouted, lifting up the large hat to see Sanada's face.
"Well it seems you're about to catch cold, just do as I say." He tidied up the jacket around her shoulder and scolded lightly.
Now the Seigaku regulars were totally out of the three Rikkaidai regulars' sight. Seigaku regulars were shocked that such a stone-faced Sanada could do such a considerate, gentle thing.
"Huhu." Fuji quietly chuckled, seeing a heartwarming daughter-father like interaction, and so were Ann and Tachibana.
"Now then, let's go." Sanada, Yanagi, and Akaya all left to reunite with their teammates.
"DUUUUUUUUDE!" Kamio, who was standing with Seigaku and Tachibanas, exclaimed. "WHAT THE HELLLLLLL!"
"Calm down, Kamio." Tachibana chuckled and said.
"How in the world can that stone-face Sanada-san be so nice to her!" He pointed at the place they were standing and flailed around.
"As the only female and youngster in the team, it is certainly expected." Fuji chuckled as well and said. "I've never seen such gentle Sanada before—especially what he did right there."
While Tachibana, Fuji, and Kamio talked about the soft spot that Sanada had for Akaya, Ryoma was just drinking his ponta when Momoshiro and Kikumaru hopped over to him.
"What, senpai-tachi."
"Hehe~" the two grinned a bit weirdly. "Ochibi~ You like her, right?"
At that Ryoma spat out the ponta and coughed violently, making the two grin impishly.
"Everyone~! Echizen likes the Rikkaidai female regular~!" Momoshiro cupped his hands and announced with a loud voice.
"I DO NOT!"
"ACHOO!" Akaya sneezed. "Ugh…" She rubbed her nose.
"I told you." Marui scolded. "Walking around in the rain while having a cold… you sure are stupid!"
"Shut up senpai!" Akaya retorted.
"It's good that we have a week to reconsider our line-ups." Yanagi began. "I was still uncertain of the ladder… and plus I can have another look at the data."
"So what should we do now?"
"We should continue training for the last week as well," Yanagi said, "but we have a problem."
"Yukimura-buchou's surgery, right?" Akaya said gloomily.
"Yes. It's on the same day, roughly thirty minutes before the match begins." Yanagi said. "We may make it depending on how fast we can finish it."
"Of course we'll have to finish it quick!" Marui exclaimed.
"We're going to finish it."
"By the way, where's Sanada?" Marui looked around.
"His bag's gone too."
Sanada was done playing a match with Echizen. He had asked for a match; and Sanada accepted to show him his limit and that Rikkaidai would be above Seigaku.
"You're still nowhere close my level," Sanada said as he walked away, "and Akaya as well. You'll never catch up to her unless you have some godly luck."
He knew that Echizen was good—maybe in terms of experience, Echizen might be better. But Akaya had everything else—physical condition, natural talent, and the most important out of all—effort and ambition. She'd always aim for more and more, and there was no end to it; and that's just what Sanada found impressive in Akaya.
"A camp?" Akaya cocked her eyebrows. The team gathered up in the very morning of the first day of the week.
"It seems that Seigaku is having a specialized camp in the mountains for three days." Yanagi said to the team. "And Hyotei is near their lodge as well, I believe they may hold a practice match."
"That's a problem…" Sanada pondered.
"Is Sanada here?" A strange man from nowhere in hoods suddenly interrupted practice.
"I-It's Atobe from Hyotei!" Someone yelped and everyone started mumbling.
"Sanada, I challenge you to a match." He said.
After a while, the two renowned tennis players were facing each other.
Sanada was winning 3-0; then suddenly, when Atobe squinted his eyes, Sanada froze—not even able to budge to go after the ball.
"Stop right there," a feminine voice said and the net dividing the two lowered onto the ground. Yukimura had loosened the net.
"Yukimura!" Sanada exclaimed. "We're in the middle of a match!"
"I know." He just smiled. "But did you forget that no non-members can be allowed on the courts?"
Sanada just shut his mouth at that.
"Sorry Atobe, a rule is a rule. You've played three games, at least." He said, smiling. Atobe just turned away and left.
"Why did you stop us, Yukimura?" Sanada tried to reason.
"I said, a rule is a rule. And besides," he frowned, "you would've lost at that pace."
"It'd be a problem if Echizen gets a chance to play with Atobe. He'll improve after playing him." Sanada said.
"Then we should hold practice matches also." Yanagi said. "We have no available schools that match up to our level for now. We'll just play amongst ourselves."
Sanada nodded.
"And that means," Yanagi smiled, "Akaya will get a chance to play against Genichirou and me again."
"Alright!" Akaya exclaimed. "I'm pumped up! I'll definitely beat you this time, Yanagi-senpai and fuku-buchou!"
"It's still too early, Akaya." Sanada chuckled.
"But how lucky~ they get to go camping in the mountains…" Akaya said.
"Actually, we could use our lodge." Yanagi said.
"Lodge?"
"Yeah, we went to Yanagi's place for training last year too." Marui said. "It's in the mountains and it's suuuuuper nice."
"We can go for the next few days again." Yanagi said. "I'll let you know when we can go. We should be able to get some good training done by the mountains."
"YAAY! CAMPING!" Akaya exclaimed in excitement.
"I'm so excited for the camp!" Akaya pumped up her fists. Niou and Akaya were walking down a corridor to after school to attend practice. "We'll play tennis, eat good food, camp out~"
"You're such a kid." Niou laughed.
"I am a kid."
Then they headed over to their shoe lockers for Akaya to change into her normal shoes—and a pile of love letters fell out.
"Oh shit. Fuku-buchou is going to kill these people." Akaya broke a sweat and put them in her backpack.
"Why are you reading them?! Give that to me!" Niou shouted and snatched the letters away from her hand.
"Wha—give it back, senpai!"
"You're not even going to accept them!"
"Well, this person took an effort to write it so I should do as much as reading them!"
"No!"
"Why not?!"
"Cuz' I don't like you reading these stuff!" Niou blurted out.
"…" Akaya just stared at him, blinking her big, green eyes. "Why not?"
"You're never allowed to read these, you understand? If I say so, then that's how it should be." Niou said.
"I don't understand Niou-senpai sometimes…" Akaya sighed and shook her head sideways lightly.
'Che. Have some clue, you idiot.' Niou scoffed inside. 'But still… there're way too many guys after her.'
