Chapter 37.
At the end of afternoon practice, Yukimura made an announcement regarding the regular-challenges. Most people didn't listen, and their captain's words going in one ear and out the other. He said that anyone who wanted to sign up could do so on the sheet attached to the notice board.
Kirihara groaned at his locker when Yukimura finished talking. "Can't Yanagi-senpai do the challenges for once? They're boring."
"Akaya, you do the challenges for a reason," Yanagi said.
"Yeah, 'cause no one can beat you guys," Kirihara mumbled.
"Akaya, watch your tone and just do as you're told," Sanada ordered.
The regulars changed and left in their little cliques. Yukimura left with Sanada and Yanagi to go to his father's store. Yagyuu and Niou left together, but went separate ways at the school gate. Kirihara left and called one of his friends, asking if they wanted to hang out and do something. They had always been like that – separated, yet together in some strange way.
Marui and Jackal headed out without changing, looking for Urayama and Oyama so they could go to the street courts and work on their new formation. Jackal spotted Urayama's pink hair by a tree – it was hard to miss. The closer they got to the first years, the louder their voices were.
"Kenta, you're so stupid, thinking I'll let you get away with this," Urayama said. Oyama was sitting next to Urayama, a white stick hanging out of his lips. They hadn't changed out of the tennis uniforms either, though Oyama had put in his earrings, which were apparently against school dress code.
"Does he smoke?" Marui asked.
Jackal looked shocked. "I hope not."
Urayama and Oyama looked up when the two third years stopped in front of them. Marui leaned down, pulling on the stick in Oyama's mouth. The first year opened his mouth, allowing Marui to take it out.
"Oh." Marui felt dumb as he stared at the red candy at the end of the stick.
"Lollipop," Oyama said. "Can I have it back?"
"He took it from me," Urayama explained as Marui handed it back to Oyama. Urayama took it from his partner and stuck it into his mouth with a grin.
"I don't smoke, Senpai," Oyama said, eyeing the stick hanging out of Urayama's mouth. There was a hint of teasing in his voice, but his words still seemed cold. "Shiita, that was mean."
Urayama grinned.
"Come on," Marui said, "let's get going. I gotta be home for dinner."
.
They went to the street courts that were close to the high school. They were relieved when they saw that the courts were almost empty – only a few junior high kids were hanging around. They didn't want to risk other schools in the tournament knowing about their new formation.
The four set their bags on a bench and got their racquets out of their bags. Oyama and Urayama were both right handed, which was strange for doubles, but not unheard of. They probably chose to be partners rather than being assigned.
"How about we try actually switching positions today?" Jackal suggested as he pulled a ball out of his bag. "We need to do it eventually."
Oyama nodded after thinking about it for a second. "Okay, but it's not going to be easy. You've played one style for six years, and your bodies are used to that. It'll be like starting over as partners."
"It can't be that hard," Marui said. "Let's go. It'll be easy as pie."
.
It was as hard as fruitcake.
Marui felt like a doll being dragged from left to right. Urayama and Oyama were purposefully aiming at the corners, forcing Marui to run. His legs were on fire, his knees shaking and hitting each other as he stood. It felt like ages before the ball reached him. The anticipation of those few extra seconds made his nerves settled in his stomach, making his sick.
Jackal wasn't doing much better. When he was at the back, he had time to find the ball. At the net, it was in front of him in an instant. He was barely able to react fast enough to hit the balls back. In the rare case that he managed to hit a ball, it was out.
Marui reached his arm out, practically lunging to reach the corner. He was short. His arms didn't reach that far, and he wasn't fast enough to compensation for that. The ball blew past him. That was it. He had had enough. He growled in frustration, tossing his racquet against the court.
"Jackal!" Marui yelled. He stormed up to his partner, shoving him back several steps. "Get your act together and hit the ball for once in your life!"
"You don't hit half the balls when you're up at the net!" Jackal shouted.
"But you have better stamina! If I miss a ball, you can hit it! I can barely keep up back here because you're being lazy and refusing to hit easy shots!" Marui retorted. "Half of these balls you can hit! The ball isn't going to hurt you!"
The two continued to shout, their argument drawing the attention of everyone on the courts. Urayama and Oyama jumped over the net, rushing over to their bickering doubles pair. Oyama walked right between the two and shoved them apart without hesitation.
"What the hell?" Marui snapped.
"Get it together," Oyama said. "I told you it would be hard. It takes practice. Fighting with each other won't do anything."
"It doesn't," Urayama agreed. "You need to trust each other. Marui-senpai, Jackal-senpai is trusting you to hit the balls he doesn't. Jackal-senpai, Marui-senpai needs you to put yourself in front of the ball and attack. If either of you doesn't trust the other, you'll fight."
"I trust him," Jackal said.
"Yeah, same here," Marui mumbled.
"Then get back in position and we'll try again," Oyama said.
Marui and Jackal looked at each other, nodded, and then got back in place. Oyama and Urayama returned to the other side of the court, wondering how the hell those two were going to do this in a National-level match.
.
Jackal put himself in front of the ball. He didn't care that his shots went out – he was hitting the ball, he was doing his part. He would worry about the rest later. All that mattered was playing.
Marui reached the balls. He began to read Jackal's movements. He knew when his partner would hit the ball and when he wouldn't, and when he would need to run after a stray ball. It didn't matter that Jackal didn't hit every ball because Marui was there to hit every ball Jackal didn't.
It was rough, but it was beginning to look like a formation.
Urayama just grinned when one of Jackal's shots went flying by him. "Kenta, I think that's it for today."
"Come on, we were just getting into it!" Jackal complained. He was barely breathing hard. When he looked back at Marui, he saw his partner lying on his back, staring up at the sky, completely exhausted. "Or maybe we can finish."
"Thank you!" Marui shouted before he broke out into laughter. Jackal walked back to him, holding out a hand for Marui to grab. Jackal pulled his partner to his feet, wiping Marui's sweat off his hand. "I think my legs turned to jelly."
The four walked back over to the bench, Marui stumbling more than once. The red head collapsed, his chest rising and falling at a rapid pace. Oyama reached into his bag, pulling out his wallet.
"Do you guys want something to drink?" Oyama asked. "I'm running to the machines."
"Water," Marui and Jackal answered at the same time. Marui's sounded more like a wheeze than a request.
Oyama nodded and looked at his partner. "Shiita, what do you want?"
"Gatorade."
"What flavor?"
"Purple."
"Purple isn't a flavor."
Urayama sighed. "Kenta, you know what I mean. No one knows the Gatorade flavors. They just say the colors. Dur."
Oyama rolled his eyes and jogged off. Urayama sat down next to the third years, pushing his hair out of his face. His pink hair seemed darker when it was damp with sweat.
"Are you guys going to sign up for regular-challenges?" Jackal asked curiously.
Urayama nodded. "Yup. We're going to challenge Niou-senpai and Yagyuu-senpai. We figured it'll be easy than challenging you guys. You guys know how we play. And I never really got Niou-senpai's tricks."
"Because you follow the ball, not your opponents' movements," Jackal remembered. Urayama nodded again. "Why do you do that? Akaya said you had ADHD or something."
"Yeah, I do," Urayama said, not sounding the least bit uncomfortable or offended. "During my second year of junior high they diagnosed it. I take meds so it's not that bad anymore. My grades are better. Kind of."
"That's good," Marui said, unsure of what else to say. He hated being in that situation' not knowing what to say, but feeling like he needed to say something. It was like that awkward moment when you don't want to text someone anymore and they just won't stop sending you messages.
Urayama felt something pressing against his head. He reached up, grabbing the purple Gatorade Oyama was holding there. He grinned. "Thanks, Kenta."
"Here, Marui-senpai, Jackal-senpai," Oyama said, handing them their water bottles. Oyama sat on the ground since there wasn't enough room on the bench. He opened a can of juice, taking a long sip. When he swallowed the sweet liquid, he looked at Marui. "Senpai, you raised up your stamina so you don't have to eat cakes anymore, right?"
Marui nodded. "Yup. Two years ago I trained on low oxygen. Why?"
"I was just curious," Oyama said. "I just realized you don't eat cakes anymore."
"He went through sugar withdrawal," Jackal joked. "It was funny."
"Shut up," Marui muttered. "It was hard. Akira kept bringing me cakes every damn day just to make me mad. Then she ate them in front of me."
Everyone but Marui laughed.
.
The four settled down talking and laughing about this and that. Urayama stretched his arms above his head and looked at the courts. Then he turned his head towards his red headed senpai.
"Marui-senpai, when do you need to go?" Urayama asked.
Marui checked his phone for the time. "An hour," he said, slipping his phone back into his bag. "Why?"
"Can you help me with Tightrope Walking?"
"Yeah. Totally forgot about that."
The two headed out onto the court, one walking onto each side.
Oyama crawled onto the bench, rolling his shoulders. They watched as their partners started up a rally, Urayama hitting Tightrope Walking. Marui shouted for him to freeze, jumping over the net to look at his posture.
"Urayama-kun told us you two are going to challenge Niou and Yagyuu," Jackal mentioned. "Do you guys have a plan?"
Oyama nodded. "Shiita isn't affected by Niou-senpai's psychological play, so he can be up at the net. Niou-senpai and Yagyuu-senpai drag out matches, using trick plays to score. We figured the best thing to do is to attack. We just need to finish the match before Shiita runs out of energy."
"That's smart."
The two fell into silence, watching their partners. Marui was scratching his head, trying to figure out why Urayama's Tightrope Walking didn't work one hundred percent of the time. The ball was rolling, but it just wasn't rolling long enough, or it tittered to the wrong side. They were around the same height. His form was perfect, but his follow through was a bit strange – though, that shouldn't have affected the shot because the ball already left the racquet...
"Raise your spin," Marui said before he jumped over the net to get to the other side of the court. He couldn't find anything wrong with his form. Maybe it was the actual hit?
"'kay, 'kay," Urayama chanted with a smile.
"So how does someone like you get along with Urayama-kun?" Jackal asked curiously. "You two seem like complete opposites."
Oyama shrugged. "I just do."
Jackal nodded. He had no idea what that meant, and he didn't feel comfortable asking.
.
They left the courts together. Urayama's Tightrope Walking still wasn't perfect, but Marui promised to help him again. Marui didn't usually teach people his moves. He had created them with his own sweat and genius. There were his. Yet Urayama was different. The first year had figured out the move – not to the extent that Marui had, but figured it out nonetheless. Besides, it was the least he could do for Urayama in return for his help.
As they walked, Oyama and Jackal hung behind Marui and Urayma.
"Urayama, how do you play doubles with Oyama? You're different," Marui said.
"I don't know." Urayama looked over his shoulder. Oyama and Jackal were talking about the regular-challenges. Jackal was saying something about Yagyuu's Laser. Urayama looked at Marui. "I guess I just do. Why do you get along with Jackal-senpai?"
"Good point."
The four went different ways a little farther ahead. Marui and Jackal took a left, Urayama and Oyama continuing straight. Oyama told Urayama he wanted a lollipop in return for the one Urayama took earlier. Urayama said it was his to begin with, so he didn't owe Oyama anything.
"Do you understand them?" Marui asked once they were out of hearing distance. "They kinda freak me out for some reason."
"Ditto. They're just, you know?"
"Yeah."
A/N: I'm updating instead of writing an essay for my college application (because I'm not using the satire on the zombie apocalypse that I wrote).