Chapter 1

November

"Please be careful, Kei-chan. I don't want you to get hurt again."
"It's a training camp, mother. We're just going to play tennis." Oshitari Yushi looked over at the King of Hyotei who was speaking on his cellphone beside him, Atobe Keigo, when he heard the word 'mother', rarely ever hearing him talk to his parents. Atobe arched an eyebrow in return, daring him to say anything. They were taking one of Atobe's big travel buses to a special training camp only for people under 21. High schoolers previously were not invited to the camp until this year for some odd reason.
"I'm sorry your father and I weren't there with you at the hospital again. You know how your father hates hospitals. We also had-"
"I know. You had business to deal with. I know." Atobe tried not to sound too rude and couldn't help adding. "Father is always too busy anyways."
He heard his mother sigh softly and half regretted his words. "He loves you very much. You know that, don't you?"
"Yes, mother."
"And I hope you're doing okay. There's no easy way to bring this up but," She paused and he closed his eyes as he felt it coming. "I'm sorry about Mizuka. I know-"
"Mother, I have to go."
"Oh...okay. I love you, Keigo. Be safe."

"We moved her stuff to the garage." Ayana replied when Tezuka asked her where Mizuka's belongings had gone. The Tezuka residence had gotten much quieter. The refusal to use her name was applied without the need to say so. "You better get going. The bus will be here in any moment."
"Yeah." Tezuka stood up while his mother cleaned up the dishes. He couldn't help but feel that she was rushing him out of the house.
"And good luck! I know it's a rare opportunity for high schoolers to be invited to that training camp." His mother smiled warmly at him. "Congratulations. I'm very proud of you." He gave her a grateful look before leaving the kitchen.

"I can't believe we've been invited to the U-21 Camp!" Mukahi Gakuto exclaimed.
"Yeah, I can't believe it either! We'll get to compete with OBs!" Shishido Ryo said.
"Do you think they invited the other high schools as well?" Ootori Choutarou asked.
"Well, if they invited us, they would've invited Seigaku as well. They did win the National Championships." Hiyoshi Wakashi said. "I can't wait to get back at that chibisuke. Gekokujo."
"Yes." Kabaji Munehiro spoke his one and only reply.
Oshitari looked at Atobe who sat beside him. Their Captain was staring out the window, watching the forest scenery fly by. Atobe had become quieter than usual. He was back to his old self after weeks of being depressed and unsociable. They had given him his space after the traumatic event of losing his girlfriend until he one day went into morning practice with his usual grace and his charming smile. They had no idea what had happened but it was better than him snapping at everyone. He, however, adapted into the habit of staring into space at times, deep in thought and not paying much attention to what was happening around him. "What do you think, Atobe?"
Atobe blinked a couple times before he looked at Oshitari and grinned. "Of course Seigaku will be invited. Rikki Dai will probably be too. And Shitenhouji." He looked back out the window of the bus. "It'll be like the nationals all over again."

They ran into Rikkai Dai Fuzoku Chu outside of the main entrance as well as Yamabuki when they got off the bus. "Ahn, Sanada, what a surprise it is to see you here."
"The surprise would be seeing you here." Sanada Genichirou, Vice-Captain of Rikkai Dai, retorted.
Atobe spread his arms wide. "And a grand surprise I am indeed."
"Hmph."
Atobe grinned with his sparkling white and straight teeth and led the way inside the training camp after the gates were opened. He always liked teasing Sanada because of how serious he was.
"Hey, Oshitari!"
"Sengoku, it's good to see you. How are you?" Oshitari said to the orange haired teammate who ran up to walk beside him.
"I'm good. It feels like I haven't seen you guys in so long. We should hold practice matches together." Sengoku said. "How is everything? Is Atobe okay?"
"Ahn, if you want to know how I'm doing, Sengoku, don't you think you should ask me instead? I am here after all." Atobe's drawled voice called over to them. He turned to look at Sengoku with his lazy grin. "I'm fantastic, like always."
Sengoku did an embarrassed smile. "That's good to hear."
"He's doing better." Oshitari said quietly. "He'll live."
"Keigo.."
Atobe spun around, his face white, his eyes searching. Jirou, who was mid-yawning, bumped into him. Oshitari stopped, and so did the rest of the Hyotei and Yamabuki Regulars as the Rikki Dai Regulars walked past them.
"Oshitari, did you-" Shishido started.
"Yeah." Oshitari stared at the silver haired Rikki Dai Regular who had turned to flash a grin at them.
"Puri." He winced when Yagyu hit him on the head.
"That was very insensitive of you. Don't do that again." Yagyu Hiroshi turned to Atobe and did a bow from the waist. "I apologize for my teammate."
Oshitari thought Atobe might not reply as he stared at him until Atobe, his expression unreadable, nodded his head and they continued walking.
"Bastard." Shishido muttered.
"What an asshole." Mukahi said, glaring at the back of Niou's head.
"Very inconsiderate of him." Ootori said.
"Really? That's all you can think of to call him?"
"It's mean to call people names."
"You don't think what he did crossed the line?"
"Stop fighting." Oshitari said as he walked in between them. "You can expect nothing less from the heartless trickster."

The signaled knock on her door came just as she was brushing her hair. She opened the door and smiled at her visitor. "Tokugawa-san. Good morning!"
"Shuffle matches are about to begin." He said. "It's time to go."
She quickly grabbed her hat to put her hair under and wore the large red, black, and white jersey over her hoodie. She looked herself up and down before looking at him and asking, "How do I look?"
He barely looked her over as he said. "Let's go."
She was under strict instructions to conceal herself, to hide the fact that she was a girl in a camp full of boys. "It's for your safety." Saito Itaru, the Mental Coach, had said with a gentle smile. Until yesterday, the dorms on the second floor were completely empty except for the two clueless U-21 members, Tenjin Kosuke and Hirari Tonpei.
"Those two are complete imbeciles." Tsuge Ryuji, the Circuit Coach, had said when he assigned her the dorm room. "The only people that will know you are here will be us Coaches, the employees, Oni-kun, Irie-kun, and Tokugawa-kun. You are not to leave your dorm unless you are escorted by one of them."
Even though they took precautions to keep her hidden, she still had to hide her face and look the other way when there was somebody else was in the vicinity. She only went out when either Oni Jukjiro, Irie Kanata, or Tokugawa Kazuya had come to escort her from her dorm, room 219, which was on the far north side of the second floor. Otherwise, she was locked in her room reading books; books on tennis, novels, and poetry. That did not mean that she did not try to go out by herself. She had been tired of being locked in her room so she snuck out one day and when Oni had found out, he severely reprimanded her when he did not find her in her room.
"Thanks for coming to get me." She said as they walked down the stairs. "I'm interested to see how good the high schoolers are. I wonder if any of them are going to be in the shuffle matches." She didn't know why she looked at him for a reply since she knew he wasn't going to say anything. She was used to his stiffness, his stoic face, and his lack of emotions from the four weeks that she had been there.
"Don't worry. He's always like that but deep down inside he's actually really caring." Irie had whispered to her and gave her a wink.
"What are you looking at?"
She realized she had been staring at him cause his gray blue eyes were staring piercingly back at her. She quickly looked away and murmured, "Nothing." They were walking along the first floor now, on their way to meet with Oni and Irie. The first floor dorms had almost been completely emptied out since the 1st-Stringers had left for their Foreign Expedition Campaign in Europe and South Korea three weeks ago. Everything was quiet in the dormitory building; some people were still waking up and some were already out warming up and training. They walked past a couple people as they made their way down the hallway. She returned the smile that Irie gave her when she saw him waiting outside room 102.
"Where is Oni-san?"
"He's shuffle paired up against a high schooler. We can go watch after we get some food." Irie said and he turned to lead them through the building. "This way."
"But why would they pair the high schooler up with Oni-san out of everyone?" She asked. "He's going to crush them."
"It's just to show them their place." Irie replied simply. "Although, you should've seen the high schoolers yesterday. They defeated a bunch of the lower court members."
"Did they? What happened?"
He tilted his head and looked at her curiously. "Tokugawa-kun didn't tell you?"
"No, he doesn't tell me anything."
He chuckled. "The people they defeated were only court 10 members and lower." He then added when he spotted a group of people further down along the hall. "Keep your head down and walk behind us."

"This is like a high end hotel." Fuji said in amazement at the amount of luxurious food prepared and laid out on the tables in the cafeteria.
"Hey, can we eat all of this?" Kikumaru asked.
"Yes, please eat all you like of whatever you'd like." The head chef replied to which Kikumaru cheered in gleeful happiness.
"Hey, morons. Don't you think you're getting too excited? Ahn?" The Seigaku Regulars looked to see Atobe at the other end of the table. "If you're going to treat this like a field trip, pack up your bags and get out of here. You're an eyesore." Atobe scoffed and turned to walk down the hallway with the Hyotei Regulars behind him.
"Atobe, don't you think that was a little too rude?" Shishido said.
"If you agree with them then go join them." Atobe waved his hand in annoyance. He didn't care if he was rude. He wasn't particularly in the mood to deal with pesky people.
"I wonder if he's still bitter about what Niou did." Mukahi muttered.
"I think we all are." Ootori said.
"Yes."
Atobe could still hear them murmuring and tried to close them out, not wanting to think about it anymore than he already had. Little did they know, he was just a little annoyed about his assigned roommates. How could they put him of all people in a room with those idiots? He stopped when he saw the same curly haired player and the tall dark blue haired player, who reminded him very much of Tezuka, from yesterday.
"Good morning!" Irie greeted with a smile while Tokugawa barely glanced over at them.
Atobe merely nodded and continued walking past as his teammates said their own greetings. The player behind them with a hat lowered over his face caught his eye. He wondered why he was trying to conceal himself by the way he was looking down. The jersey was way too big on him, the way he walked...Those legs...The height...A jersey over the hoodie?...It better not be fucking Niou trying to fuck with him again...It was so strikingly familiar from the first time he ever saw...He can see right through it, just like he did the first time. It can't be.
"Atobe, what's wrong?" Oshitari asked when Atobe had suddenly stopped walking.
Atobe's hand reached out to grab the wrist to pull them back and they let out a familiar yelp. It can't be. His other hand already snatched away the white cap and her dark brown hair tumbled down. It felt like time had stopped forever, like they were frozen in place, as they stared at each other. What. The. Fuck.

She was surprised when someone took hold of her wrist out of nowhere but she couldn't help but feel annoyance shoot through her when the high schooler had the audacity to pull her hat off. She spent all that time concealing herself and he just had to ruin it, just like that. She pulled her arm out of his grip and said, "Give me back my hat." She held out her hand as the purple-black haired high schooler just stared at her with his dark blue eyes. He can't be all Japanese. She can see his eyes studying her, going over the details on her face. She knew she was a looker but the way he was staring at her made it look like he had seen a ghost. She then noticed that his teammates were all looking at her with the same expression, white-faced and shocked.
"Mizuka?" The long blue-haired guy with round spectacles said. "Mizuka, is that really you?"
She felt her cheeks blush when he said her name and she tilted her head and studied him curiously. "Who are you?"
"What are you saying? Don't you recognize us?" His short red-haired teammate said.
"No, who are you? I don't know who you guys are."
"This has to be a joke. You have to be joking." Another said. "And it's a lame joke."
"Sorry, she said she doesn't know who you guys are." Irie had come to stand beside her. "Please give back her hat."
"What's going on over here?"
She turned to see more high schoolers from a different school behind them. They too held similar faces of shock when they saw her.
"Mizu-chan!" An ecstatic red-haired guy cried out and he took a step forward but was stopped by his teammate
She looked at Irie who was looking out the ceiling high windows. She glanced out to notice several U-21 members stopping to look at her through the window at the commotion. He must have seen the panicked look on her face since he gave her a gentle smile and then looked at the guy still holding her hat. "The hat if you would please."
The guy, who she could only assume to be the Captain of their team because of the air he carried around him, was still staring at her with those eyes of his. He no longer had the look of shock on his face but a cool calm complexion as he handed the hat back. He kept his eyes on her face, his eyes calculating and she stared back at him. Blush. Gods. She saw his eyes spark and he looked at her with what she thought was satisfaction.
"Tokugawa-kun, take her back to her room." Irie said as she bunched up her hair to hide under her hat again.
"Just wait a moment. Mizuka, do you really not remember us? This is your brother, Tezuka."
They turned to look at the high schoolers wearing the red, white and blue jersey. She stared and stared and stared at the boy he indicated beside him. She slowly shook her head, feeling numb, as some odd feeling went through her. "I don't..I don't know.." She said quietly and it may have been the fact that they were all frowning and looking at her with sad eyes because she added, "I'm sorry."