Chapter XXXVI- "They Opted to Run to Our Destination."

The entirety of Team Genius was scrunched in the backseat of a taxi, whistling innocently to themselves, except for Kirihara who had the map opened up and was peering at it intently.

"Well," he said. "According to these directions, we're actually going to a mall."

"A mall?" questioned the entire team as they leaned over to look at the map. And Kirihara happened to be sitting in the middle so it looked choreographed.

"Yeah," said Kirihara. "At least, that's what it looks like."

"So whatever item we're looking for is located inside of a mall," Fuji reasoned.

"I hope we don't have to buy anything," said Sengoku. "I didn't bring any money."

"We could always do a street show or something," said Marui. "We've already shown that we have talent in both our talent show and our skit."

"That's true," said Fuji. "We could get a tablecloth and a table and some expensive china."

"Where would we get that stuff?" said Kirihara. But everyone else glared at him so he quickly added, "Never mind…"

Meanwhile…

"Wait a second…" said Oishi slowly as he held up his map. "We're right back where we started!"

The rest of Team 3rd Years looked around and gave a heavy sigh.

"We're reading this wrong," said Saeki. "I wish we had gotten the directions."

"This is horrible!" exclaimed Jirou. "I don't want to switch our team around!"

"We're so cohesive!" Yanagisawa added.

"Cohesive?" Ryou repeated. "You think of that one all on your own?"

"Don't even start," Saeki warned. "Let's keep this positive."

"Wait a second!" came a voice that did not belong to a third year. They spun around and saw Team 2nd Years all scratching their heads and peering at their directions.

"Which way is north?" Momo said with an exasperated sigh.

"This is impossible!" Kamio agreed.

"I sort of wish we had gotten the map…" Hiyoshi admitted.

Then they looked up at saw their elders standing in front of them.

"Say…" said Oishi. "Do you guys wanna…team up?"

"Team up?" Momo said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "It sure is tempting!"

"It would be quite ironic for the 2nd years to team up with the 3rd years even though we've been treating this entire competition among all of us as a sole competition with just you guys," Shinji added.

"Don't tell them that!" said Kamio.

"We respect your ability to do well in the challenges," said Hiyoshi to the 3rd Years.

"And we respect your…" Jirou started. "Your…" He looked to his teammates for help.

"Ability to…wear…lots of purple," Saeki finished haltingly.

"Are you mocking us?" said Momo, putting his hands on his hips.

"No," said Saeki. "Look, you want the map and we want the directions. How about we just trade?"

"That might work better," Yanagisawa agreed.

"Hold on, we have to have a huddle," said Hiyoshi, grabbing his team and pulling up away into a huddle.

"Why are we having a huddle?" questioned Shinji. "They just want to trade so I think we should so we can move on and get back to the race and not place below the Waitlist Team."

"But I think it's a much better idea to team up with them," said Hiyoshi. "They've placed in the top three in all of the challenges. The top two, I think. We're always somewhere in fourth and fifth. I think they could boost us to a higher place, don't you?"

"That's true," said Kamio. "I think we should do it."

"Team up with them, you mean?" said Momo. Everyone agreed.

"OKAY BREAK!" cheered the team as they all clapped their hands and separated.

"We've decided we want to team up," said Hiyoshi to Saeki since they were the appointed captains after all.

"Hm…" said Saeki as he turned to his 3rd Years.

"Um…" said the other 3rd Years. Then they shrugged.

Saeki turned back to the 2nd Years. "Okay," he said.

"All right!" cheered the 2nd Years.

They were just about to turn around and head out on their way when they found Team ROFLMAO standing there with their arms crossed in a sad attempt to look somewhat bad ass.

"So you two are teaming up…" said Ryoma. "How about us too?"

"Why would we want to team up with you?" said Hiyoshi, raising an eyebrow.

"Because we're the Freshmen, you're the 2nd Years and you're the 3rd Years!" said Horio. "Our years will be equally represented!"

The 2nd Years and 3rd Years looked at each other skeptically.

"You just want to team up with us because you accidentally ripped up your directions," Saeki inferred.

"Er…" said the freshmen awkwardly.

The elders threw their heads back, laughed and then left the freshmen in the dust.

"What are we going to do now?" whined Kachirou.

"Let's follow them!" said Katsuo deviously. "They'll never even know!"

"We have to be sure to stay quiet!" Dan reminded them even though it was totally obvious.

So as that team with a random acronym chased after the 2nd Years and 3rd Years, Team Waitlist was waiting at the bus stop.

Kentarou was standing with his arms crossed and a massive frown on his face as the rest of the team stood a few feet away from him because they had been bonding over the past few days and didn't like Kentarou being there just as much as he didn't like being there.

"All right, what the hell!" Kentarou finally yelled. "They can't call themselves Team Captain anymore because Jackal is so not a captain! I am! Me!" He turned to the rest of the team. "Right? Me!"

"Whatever," they said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"And why is this bus taking forever?" Kentarou demanded, coming oh so close to throwing a temper tantrum.

"Chillax, whoa," said Akutsu. And you know if you get a "Chillax, whoa," from Akutsu, you are way over the edge.

Thankfully, the bus pulled up just then. If it had taken any longer, Kentarou would have probably had a seizure. But his not-seizure was pointless because when they boarded the bus, the found Team Captain was already on it.

It was super awkward for the moments they stood near the bus driver.

"Oh dear," said Yukimura finally.

Kentarou sat down in the front seat and Team Waitlist filed in, deciding not to sit in the same seat as him since he was radiating bitterness that was just so darned uncharacteristic of him that it made it twice as frightening.

"Did we make the right decision?" Atobe said to his teammates since they were out of earshot of Team Waitlist.

"Of course we did," said Tachibana.

"You voted for me," Atobe reminded him.

"Are you always going to bring that up?" Tachibana said.

"Thanks for picking me, by the way, guys," said Jackal.

Everyone else kind of ignored him. Kentarou had a point that it was weird to have him on the team because he wasn't a captain but they were still called Team Captains. We can't have Jackal going around under the impression that he is a captain or will be captain someday. That would just be disastrous, especially for Yukimura because he is the captain on the team Jackal wishes he's the captain of.

"Tell me again why we're riding the bus?" said Tezuka.

"What?" said the others.

"Because we're following our directions," Yukimura answered, holding up the scroll.

"But doesn't Atobe have buckets of money at his disposal?" Tezuka sighed, looking out the window.

"Why do I always forget about that?" Atobe pondered.

Atobe stood up and pulled the "Stop" string that makes the bus driver know that you have a stop. They once again had to have an awkward moment as they passed by Kentarou, and then exit the bus. Atobe used his state of the art cell phone to call his limo driver that he apparently had forgotten all about.

"Stop that bus!" came the collective voices of Team Hard Workers as they ran up, but the bus drove away before they had the opportunity to get on it.

"Sorry," said Yukimura, but he probably wasn't really sorry. Then again, it's Yukimura so maybe he was.

"Great," said Mizuki. "Now what are we going to do?"

"Looks like we're going to have to run after all," said Inui.

"I wanted to do that anyway," said Kaidou.

With that, Team Hardworking ran off, but Mizuki stayed where he was with a shocked expression on his face, and then he looked at Team Captain (which has Jackal on it even though he's not a real captain).

"What is this?" he demanded, gesturing at his team that was disappearing over the horizon.

"It's your own fault," said Tachibana as Atobe's super fast limo driver pulled up and opened the door for them.

Mizuki watched them all get in the car and drive off, and he frowned very animatedly.

Then he happened to catch sight of another bus driving up to where he was standing. His team was already gone, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to get on the bus anyway.

And, as it happened, Team Doubles was already on the bus.

"Hello," said Mizuki, waving to them as he sat down with Eiji who happened to be the one who ended up sitting by himself. Knowing Team Doubles, they were probably fairly rotating who had to sit alone to make sure everyone had a turn to sit with everyone else.

"What are you doing here?" said Eiji.

"Riding the bus," Mizuki answered as the bus started moving again.

"Where's the rest of your team?" Choutarou asked, standing up and looking around for Shishido.

"They opted to run to our destination," Mizuki answered, rolling his eyes. "You guys don't mind if I tag along and meet up with them once they get there?"

"We do kind of mind, actually," said Gakuto rudely.

But it's not like Gakuto could do anything to stop him.

Meanwhile, Team Tall was outside a sandwich shop, waiting for Kabaji to exit with delicious treats for them.

"How long have we been waiting for this taxi?" Sanada questioned, gazing helplessly at the directions.

"Too long," Renji said as he turned to Bane. "Where did you tell them to pick us up?"

"Right here!" said Bane. "Don't try to blame their lateness on me."

"Hey guys," said Taka. "Can we make a promise to each other that no matter what we'll do as much as we can to make sure the five of us go to the tennis camp?"

"How so?" said Bane. "If we lose then we have to switch someone to the Waitlist Team."

"Well," said Taka. "I think if that happens then we should lose on purpose the next time and just switch the person back."

Everyone mulled over what Taka said.

"Good man," said Renji, patting Taka on the back.

Kabaji came back with their sandwiches and handed them out, and then Team Tall made a promise that the five of them would go to the tennis camp.