Love Me or Leave Me
Learn To Fly

"You still thinking about what Ryuuzaki-sensei said?" Oishi looked up from his book to see Eiji staring off into space.

"Yeah," Eiji admitted, his voice soft. He shifted, sitting up on the floor. "It's just, she was right. If I did go to a bigger school, one with a better name and more players, I could do a lot more." Because damned if he hadn't tried to change it otherwise, Fudomine still had the "thug" name attached to it, even though that incident was years in the past and the program had actually been good ever since. "I'm not saying I'd want to go to somewhere like Hyotei." Eiji fought a shudder at the size of that monstrous tennis club.

"But somewhere slightly bigger, like Seigaku?" Oishi set the textbook to his side.

Eiji was quiet, not answering not because he didn't know how to but because the answer was all too obvious. In the past couple of days, ever since Ryuuzaki Sumire had all but offered Eiji her position as Seigaku's tennis coach, it'd been one of the few thoughts that had been dominating the redhead's thoughts.

Yumi walked through the living room just then, a small suitcase at her side. Eiji frowned. "Where are you going?"

"My editor and I are going on a research trip," she told him, an exasperated look on her face. "I've only told you, oh, I don't know, like a thousand times."

To say that Yumi wasn't still angry at Eiji about his little "slip of truth" was like saying ice wasn't cold and that water wasn't wet. "I'll be gone for the next week," she added, somehow coming off as even more annoyed.

"Aww, that means no Minami-breakfasts," Eiji realized, pouting a little. He loved Minami-breakfasts. They were so delicious! If it weren't for that fact that his sister and her assistant were so in love, and that he had Oishi, Eiji would have snatched up Minami long ago.

"Well of course not, he's coming with me," Yumi replied, rolling her eyes. Eiji grinned. Yumi groaned. Oishi just looked at the two siblings, amused. "I'll be back in a week," she said firmly, walking to the door. "See you, Shuu-chan."

"Bye," Oishi answered, waving as she shut the door behind her. Eiji's pout only seemed to grow as he realized his sister had essentially snubbed him.

"Bratty older sister," he mumbled, giving the door a dark look. Oishi just chuckled.

Oishi looked at his watch and picked up his pace. He had ten minutes to get to the sushi shop before he was technically late. It wasn't like it was completely his fault though. A student had shown up right at the end of office hours and it'd kind of thrown his whole day off-schedule. Luckily he hadn't had class but he had been late meeting up with Maeda and Hara.

He entered the store with three minutes to spare. Oishi nodded to Kawamura Masahiro, who stood behind the counter talking to a long-time customer.

When he looked over at the sink, it was all he could do to not groan. No one had obviously done dishes in a while from the looks of things. He rolled up his sleeves, the feeling that this would be a long shift sticking with him.

Eiji frowned as he looked at his phone. He knew exactly who had just messaged him. Just who it was was the strange part. Still confused, he quickly replied. After he was answered almost immediately, it became clear that the other person was waiting on him. Glancing out the window, he decided he'd just call once he got off at his stop. This seemed like a conversation better spoken than sent through messages.

"Hello?" He couldn't hide the confusion in his voice—nor did he want to.

There was a soft sigh and a hesitant, "hello Eiji-kun. I wasn't expecting you to call."

"It seemed appropriate," Eiji replied as he walked towards Fudomine. The school was nearby—he could see it and thankfully it was still open. It was way after school hours and Eiji had almost been home when he'd realized he'd forgotten his briefcase. "What's wrong?"

The other person gave a soft groan. "My parents are going to kill me."

"Because you're talking to me?" Eiji asked, already knowing that was exactly it. "Why are you talking to me?" He was curious, he'd admit. They hadn't spoken in awhile and the message had been rather out of the blue.

"Yeah."

Eiji waited for more but it never came. He stopped just inside the school gates and gave an impatient sigh. "Ako-chan." He drew her name out.

"I miss my brother," she finally said, her voice soft. Eiji was glad it was quiet because he doubted he would have been able to hear her voice otherwise.

Eiji shook his head. "He misses you too." Even though Oishi hadn't said anything, the redhead knew it was true. Something inside of him just knew. The two Oishi siblings were close but in a different way than that of the Kikumaru siblings. If Eiji had to compare it, he'd say it was kind of similar to the relationship he had with his oldest brother, Kei, so he could kind of understand it.

"Why'd you take him away?" She asked. "Why'd you make him leave us?"

He bit his lip and ran his free hand through his hair. He didn't know how to answer her, mainly because he didn't feel like he had taken Oishi away. It had been Oishi's choice because at that point, Eiji had ended things. In the back of his mind, a part of him protested, saying that half the reason Oishi had said anything was because of Eiji and all the pressure the redhead had been putting on him.

"Ako-chan," Eiji finally said after the girl had calmed down a little. "If you really want to see him, I can tell you where he's staying now."

"You mean it's not with you?" She sounded confused.

"It's not," Eiji confirmed. "You remember our old friend, Kawamura Takashi?"

She gave a little annoyed hum. "The guy with the sushi shop near Seigaku."

Eiji couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, him. Do you remember the shop, Kawamura Sushi?"

"Yeah." Ako sighed, her confusion coming across clearly even through the phone. "What's this got to do with my brother?"

"He's staying there now," Eiji told her. "He's working part-time in exchange for room and board."

There was a slight pause. "Thank you, Eiji-kun," Ako finally said. The line went dead as she ended the call. Eiji stared at the phone in his hand for a moment before shaking his head. Apparently that was all she'd really wanted. Besides, it wasn't like there was a whole lot more he could do. There was only one person who could really answer Ako's questions and that person wasn't Eiji.

Oishi stepped back from the sink, twisting and stretching, feeling shoulder pop. He'd been doing dishes for the last hour and a half straight. He'd been almost done half an hour ago when Toho had brought back at least two tables worth, a sorry look on the teen's face as he did so.

"Taka-san's back," Baba half-yelled as she rushed into the kitchen. Oishi looked over at Toho and the two nodded, heading out to the dining room.

Sure enough, Taka was back and was seated at the counter. His father was giving Taka concerned looks and it was clear he wanted to do something. Baba, for all her energy just moments before, stopped just outside the kitchen, Toho standing beside her. Oishi glanced at the two teenagers, noting they both seemed apprehensive. It was understandable. This was a rather terrible situation, even for an adult. None of them knew quite what to say or do.

It was Taka's father who spoke. He stood in front of his son, placing a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "Come on," Masahiro said, his voice laced with a tone that said he wouldn't take no for answer. Taka looked at his father for a moment before nodding once, following Masahiro into the kitchen.

The two teenage workers exchanged a look before settling their gazes on the closed door. Oishi could practically hear their thoughts. "Don't," he ordered. "Taka doesn't need all of us crowding around him right now." There were just somethings that friends couldn't help with, things that family could. Oishi ignored the pang that went through him.

The door to the shop opened and all three turned to see the newest customer. Oishi's eyes widened in shock as he recognized the person.

"What are you doing here?"

A/N: No ownership. So, I've been reading the translations for PairPuri and the crack is real! It has been way too long since I've read actual PoT stuff and not fanfic. I 3 PairPuri for all the crack it has now added (like Sanada/Tezuka rivalry going back for generations and their grandpas texting each other; the fact that Yagyuu snarks at Sana all the time; Sana's blatant obsession with Yuki; Atobe giving Sana an old-person cell-phone and Sana being all "omg it's awesome"; Jackal and his TOITLES!; the fact that GP is all but canon; Zaizen and his cellphone blog (3); Yuu-chan!; I could go on for a long time). So yeah, I need to watch Another Story so I can see baby!Hyotei and baby!Rikkai. I wanna see Shishibee and Gakkun and Jirou was first years so I can see how much my head-canon matches up with actual canon. And serious, baby!Hyotei is so freaking adorable! Katsu wa no Hyotei! Makeru no Seigaku! - The part of me that RPs as Tezuka feels very unloyal about this but every other part is all STFU HYOTEI IS AWESOME! - Umm, round 2 I guess on writing this note. The first version was even worse and even more wtf if you can imagine that.