Chapter Thirty Six: Siblings and Pairings

The final bell rang, releasing everyone from their first day back to school.

Sachi stretched as she got out of her seat. "I didn't fall asleep that time," she said proudly.

"Nice work, Sachi," Kyoko complimented. "But I didn't see you taking notes the whole time…"

Sachi glanced down at her notebook that lay open on her desk. The pages were blank. "I was so preoccupied with not falling asleep, I didn't pay attention at all…" she groaned as she closed the notebook and placed it in her bag. "Fuji…"

"Yes?" Fuji asked as he looked over with a smile.

"Can I borrow your notes…pretty please?" she asked with a sweet smile.

Fuji's smile broadened. "Alright, but you owe me."

"What do I owe you?" she asked looking at him suspiciously.

"I'll come up with something," Fuji said.

This answer seemed to be okay with Sachi, though the suspicious look never left her face. "Hey, Eiji…" she said turning to talk to him, but found him not to be by his desk. "Please tell me he's not by that girl…"

Kyoko stood in her line of vision so she couldn't see Eiji talking to the girl. "He's not by that girl," she said with a fake smile.

Sachi peered around her and saw he was with the girl and a few other people. "Ugh…I think I'm going to have to remove him from the premises…"

Before Fuji or Kyoko could stop her, Sachi marched over to their group and linked arms with Eiji. "Ready to go to tennis practice, Eiji?" she asked, giving the girl a mix of a smile and a glare.

The girl forced a smile as she locked eyes with Sachi. "Who's this, Eiji?"

"This is Sachi," Eiji said, trying to get out of the arm link with her.

"Yeah, Eiji and I are best friends," she said. "Closer than close, right Eiji?"

Eiji, not totally sure of what she was doing, smiled and nodded. "We're siblings."

"Siblings, huh?" the girl asked. "For a moment I thought you two were dating…"

Sachi laughed, maybe louder than she meant to. "No, nothing like that. I watch over Eiji like a hawk, though. He's like my little brother that I won't let anything bad happen to," she said, patting his head protectively.

"Oh, that's nice…" the girl replied in the nicest voice she could manage. "Well, it was really something to meet you. But I've got to go train in preparation for practice tomorrow. See you later, Eiji."

With a wave, she and the rest of the students left the classroom.

Kyoko and Fuji joined Eiji and Sachi as Sachi spoke, "She didn't even tell me her name. That's rude."

"I bet she didn't want you to know her name because you're a psycho sister!!"

"As I recall, there was a brother who was always worrying about his sister to the same degree…" Fuji said with a knowing smile.

Eiji smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh…I guess you're not being psycho…" he said apologetically to Sachi. "Well, what did you think of her?"

"She's…something," Sachi replied.

"Something good, huh?" Eiji asked, but when Sachi only replied with a shrug, he sighed.

"She seemed to like you, Eiji," Kyoko pointed out, trying to cheer him up.

"You think?" he asked excitedly.

Kyoko nodded and Eiji smiled.

"Shall we go to practice now?" Fuji asked. "We don't want to run extra laps, do we?"

"No way! Not on the first day!" Eiji exclaimed as he ran out of the classroom.

Fuji smiled and ran to catch up to him. "I'll race you," he said as he was even with him.

"I'll win!" Sachi said as she ran past both of them.

"I'll meet you guys there…" Kyoko called out as she walked out of the classroom.

She watched them run down the hallway until they were out of sight, then turned her attention to the hallways. There were a few students lingering to talk about their first day, and catch up with others that they hadn't seen all break.

"Did you enjoy your first day?" she heard someone ask.

She turned and saw Ryoma walking up to her.

"Oh, hey Ryoma," she said with a smile. "It was pretty fun…Eiji found a girl that he likes, and Sachi's playing big sister."

"Really? That's nice," Ryoma said. "Do you like the people in your class?"

"I don't know most of them, but they seem nice…I sit next to Eiji, Fuji and Sachi, so I only really talk to them."

Ryoma nodded, but didn't say anything.

"How was your first day back?" Kyoko asked.

Ryoma shrugged. "It was fine, I guess. Most of the time I heard people whispering about you and Sachi," he replied.

Kyoko turned to him curiously. "What were they saying?"

"They were just talking about how the 'two girls that hang out with the Regulars are back'."

"I guess there's no indication of whether that's a good or bad thing…" Kyoko said with a sigh.

She looked down at her uniform and pouted. It made her and Sachi stand out even more than usual.

"It sounded like a good thing from their tones," Ryoma said, attempting to comfort her. "A couple of them said they hoped you weren't dating any of the Regulars so they could talk to you."

Kyoko laughed. "I've got first year admirers? That's cute," she said with a smile. "I'm sure Sachi has every grade admirers."

"You do, too," Ryoma said.

"Oh?" Kyoko said. "Well, if I do, I've never seen them before…none of them talk to me."

"Maybe they're too intimidated?"

Kyoko gave him a sarcastic look. "I'm five foot one…not exactly a ferocious monster…"

Ryoma shrugged. "Maybe it's your looks."

"I look…scary?" Kyoko asked.

"No, I mean…maybe they think you're pretty, so they're scared to talk to you…"

Kyoko laughed a little, but realized Ryoma was serious. "Oh…well, if that's the case, may the bravest win a conversation with me," she said with a serious face. "And it seems I've found the first brave man."

She gestured toward Ryoma and he smirked.

By this time, they reached the tennis courts where everyone was stretching inside and outside of the courts.

Sadaharu stood by a table where a bunch of what looked like Inui drinks sat.

Ryoma leaned to Kyoko and said, "Drinking one of those takes bravery."

Kyoko nodded and cringed as Ryoma walked over by Momo and stretched.

Kyoko looked around for Eiji, Fuji and Sachi. Eiji was by Oishi on the bench within ear shot, while Fuji was talking with Tezuka. After searching the courts, Sachi didn't seem to be anywhere.

Walking over to Eiji, she asked, "Where's Sachi?"

Eiji looked over and rolled his eyes. "You should've seen it, Oishi. Sachi was talking about how close we were to her!"

"Are you talking about the girl you like?" Kyoko asked.

Eiji nodded and smiled. "Oishi here found a girl he likes, too. Tell her, Oishi!" he said patting Oishi on the back.

Oishi blushed. "Well, when Tezuka and I went to set up the tournament, it was at a meeting of all the sports, and she's in one of the sports."

Eiji elbowed him in the side and smiled knowingly. "Looks like the Golden Pair is finding love, eh?"

Oishi smiled and continued blushing.

"So…does that mean you know where Sachi is?" Kyoko asked.

Eiji shook his head. "She said she had 'other engagements' that she had to 'attend to'," Eiji said, using his hands as quotation marks to quote what Sachi had said.

"Oh…I guess I'll just see her later then…"

"Everyone," Tezuka announced in his stern voice. "Ten laps."

The first and second years groaned as they began, but the Regulars continued stretching.

"When I say everyone, I mean everyone," Tezuka said.

"At least we won't have to do extra laps," Eiji pointed out as they began running around the courts.

Oishi nodded in agreement as Kyoko walked over to Tezuka. "What's the Inui juice for?" she asked as she pointed to the table by Sadaharu.

"Inui wanted to try out a new flavor on everyone," Tezuka said. "After they're done with their ten laps, they'll have matches against opponents I choose."

He showed her the blank notebook in his hands.

"You haven't chosen anyone yet?" she asked.

"I'm working on it…"

"Let me help…" she said, taking the notebook from him, and sitting down.

She sat cross legged and tapped the pen against her cheek thoughtfully. She patted the spot next to her for Tezuka to sit down, which he obediently did.

"So, we'll have to make it so they'll gain something out of each match, but each match has to be something where they don't expect it," Kyoko said. "For example, Oishi and Eiji shouldn't be paired against each other, because they'll be expecting it."

Tezuka nodded. "But wouldn't they gain the most out of it? Because they're doubles partners?"

Kyoko paused. "We should match up the ones who don't know the other's strengths and weaknesses other than what they've seen. It'll be somewhat of a random pairing. I know they've all played against each other at one point, but maybe each hasn't played everyone else as much as they should…"

"I don't see how that'll benefit them…"

"Okay, let's say we put Momo against Taka," Kyoko said, trying to imagine a scenario. "They're both power houses, and they'll just try to use their power to overcome the other. But they can't always win using power…so, if we put one of them against Sadaharu, for example, he'll easily figure out a way to diminish their power. So they'll need to come up with more ways to win."

Tezuka nodded as she spoke. "I guess that'll help…"

"Okay, then…" Kyoko said with a triumphant smile.

She began writing down names in her neat script, and when she finished she handed it to Tezuka, who looked it over.

He nodded his approval. "Looks like this works for today's practice. Thanks."

"No problem. Glad I could be the 'manager' today," she said.

"You don't want to play any other sports instead of being here?" Tezuka asked.

She shook her head and smiled. "Tennis will always be the sport for me."

Tezuka nodded in understanding. The two waited for everyone to be done, and then gathered the Regulars.

Kyoko and Tezuka stood in front of them as they waited for their instructions. "Today, we're having matches that Kyoko has chosen," he said as he looked down at the notebook. "First match is Echizen and Takashi. Second match is Momoshiro and Fuji. Third match is Oishi and Kauro…"

Eiji looked around panicking. "But that means…"

"Fourth match is myself and Kikumaru."

Eiji looked over at Kyoko and glared. "Thanks a lot, Kyoko…" he muttered.

Kyoko smiled at him and took the notebook back from Tezuka as he spoke again. "If you lose a one set match against the other person…"

"You have to drink my new juice," Sadaharu said as he suddenly appeared beside Tezuka. "It's the penal-tea's second generation: 'Punishment'."

After a pause, Oishi asked, "There's no pun to this one?"

Sadaharu smiled. "Not this time. There's a little more flavor to this one…"

Eiji leaned to Fuji and said, "It's more awful flavor, I bet!"

Fuji smiled at Sadaharu's table where all the juices sat. "That does look good…" he said before turning to see Momo cringing at the sight. "But I think Momo would enjoy it much more."

Momo stared at Fuji with wide eyes. "Fuji-Sempai…"

Fuji smiled at him as he walked past him to their assigned court. Everyone else soon followed suit and prepared themselves for a fight against 'Punishment'.