Chapter Thirteen.

Sports is all about sportsmanship!

"Oi! Yume-chan~"

She has been walking around, passing through courts and occasionally watching games. That is until her redhead friend has spotted her. As she takes a sip from her soda, Yume turns around to see Marui running towards her. Following him are two other men - one with dark skin and one with black curly hair.

"Ah! Marui-san," Yume says while waving a hand.

Upon approaching the short girl, Marui smirks. "Well someone looks like a dude today."

She chuckles. "This is how I look like every day."

"Oh, right. I remember. I prefer your more feminine appearance, though."

"Of course, you do," she deadpans.

Marui laughs. He looks at his other teammates beside him. "Anyway, this is Jackal. He's my doubles partner," he says while pointing to his partner.

Jackal bows politely. "Hello, I am Jackal Kuwahara."

"Nice to meet you." She replies with a bow.

Marui leans in toward her to whisper in a voice loud enough for Jackal to hear. "Jackal is the one who is half-Brazilian in our team and the one who has sweaty bald head."

She chortles.

Jackal gasps in shock. "Marui, you-!"

"Oh, yes… Jackal-san," she says, "Marui-san always talks about you. He always sends me pictures of you when you're sleeping or when you guys are in the change room after practice."

Jackal's face heats up. "M-Marui, please don't tell me you actually send embarrassing pictures of mine."

Ignoring his doubles partner, Marui turns to introduce his younger teammate, placing his arms over his lowerclassman's shoulder. "And this is our Bakaya. He's the only second year in the regulars' lineup."

"Can you please not ignore me, Marui?!" Jackal protests on the sidelines.

"It's not Bakaya!" Kirihara protests. He turns to introduce himself to the girl. "I am Kirihara Akaya, second year."

Yume smiles. "Nice to meet you, too. You must be that 'seaweed brat' that Marui talks about."

"S-seaweed?!"

She laughs. "I should introduce myself. My name is Kurumizawa Yume. I am from Shitenhouji Middle School."

Kirihara looks at her with amazement. "Is it true that you're Marui-senpai's girlfriend?"

Her brows wrinkle in confusion and then she looks at the redhead for an explanation. Yume realizes that it might just be a simple confusion. Then, she chuckles.

"It's a misunderstanding," says Marui.

"No, it's nothing like that. We just met at a cafe and we started having phone conversations since then." She chuckles. "It was actually just a week ago."

"E-eh? But you two look like as if you've known each other for so long."

"Well, it's not like Marui-san is hard to talk to. He's charming and fun to chat with." Yume looks at her friend and whispers, "Though, he's quite boastful. That's the hateful part about him."

"I know right!" Jackal nods in agreement. "And he's a real burden. He always has this tendency to brag about himself. Whether it is during tennis practice matches or not, Marui never stops being proud of himself." He shakes his head and continues to rant. "Do you also know that whenever we go out to eat after school, I'm always forced to pay for what he eats?!"

"That's so horrible!" she replies with an exaggerated frown. "I feel so bad for all his friends."

"I know! I just wish that one day he would pay for the things he consumes. I also hope that someday Marui would also pay for my meal... for all those allowances I spent on him."

"Your allowance?!" Yume shakes her head. "Such a terrible friend."

Marui frowns. "Could you please not talk about me when I'm in here?"

Kirihara laughs. "It's not like they're wrong, though. Isn't it the truth?"

Jackal glares at the young boy. "You're like Marui, too, you know. Don't you think?"

Yume chuckles as she watches Marui. "We're just kidding."

"I'm not," says Jackal.

"Huh? Kazuyoshi, is that you?" A man's voice from a distance calls out. It is coming near them. "Kazuyoshi-kun!"

Jackal, Marui and Kirihara turn to see who it was approaching them. Since the voice is heading towards their group, they wonder whom the man was calling. "Kazuyoshi? Who is that?" asks Jackal.

Yume becomes alarmed upon seeing the approaching 'best friend' of hers. Thinking fast on her next move, she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.

However, the man is already there in an instant when she opens her eyes. "Yo, Kazuyoshi!" Kenya greets.

Yume quickly changes into a deeper voice. "Oshitari-san!" A bead of sweat drops at the side of her head. "Y-you're so fast. You were just in a distance a while ago. How did you even get here in a blink of an eye?"

"Kazuyoshi," Kenya chuckles. "You're just too slow that even when you are blinking I'm faster."

"That doesn't even make sense."

The Rikkaidai trio is surprised upon the sudden change of voice of the girl. While Kirihara and Jackal remain confused, Marui remembers of the unique case of his friend. The plain clothes that severely mask her femininity and the short messy haircut that does not accentuate her facial features remind Marui that Yume is not throwing away her male identity. Marui bursts into laughter. Everyone looks at him. Yume frowns that the male would see her acting towards her schoolmates. She glares at him.

"Is something the matter?" Jackal asks worryingly.

"Nothing, really." Marui smirks at her.

"Ah! Introductions!" Yume says to shift the conversation. "Oshitari-san, these are Marui-san, Jackal-san and Kirihara-san. They are from Rikkaidai Middle School." She then turns to the trio. "This is Oshitari-san, a schoolmate of mine from Shitenhouji Chuu."

"Ah, nice to meet you," Jackal greets Kenya while Kirihara follows with a bow.

"So you guys are Kazuyoshi's friends from Rikkaidai. Nice to meet you," Kenya says with bitterness in his words. "How is your team doing?"

Marui replies with confidence, "We got a 'bye' for the first round, so we still have time to relax."

"Oh? You guys do relax after all?" Kenya replies.

Kirihara raises a brow. He smirks, his pride swelling up once again. "Well… not that our team could ever lose at the National Tournament. Of course, we can lie down and fool around for a while."

Jackal looks at Kirihara. "Our vice-captain will smack your head if ever he hears you say that," he murmurs as he hits Kirihara with his elbow.

"Oh? News was that your team was beaten during the Kantou Tournament by Seishun Gakuen," says Kenya. "Maybe it's best if you cut on your relaxation time."

"Tch!" Kirihara growls. "And from what I heard from my upperclassmen, your team was crushed last year… by our team."

Jackal senses the rising tension between the two. "Oi, Kirihara. Stop it," he tells the seaweed head calmly. The second year gives off a smirk to Kenya to which the bleached hair man responds by a glare.

Marui chuckles as he bumps Kirihara's head with a fist. "Cool down, you seaweed head." He turns to Yume and smiles. "Well, Kazuyoshi-kun~ we're heading out first. Our vice-captain is probably waiting for us. Let's just have a chat soon." He winks before he heads out, pulling Kirihara away from the arising pressure between the men.

Jackal bows in respect. "I should apologize to the misbehavior of our little boy." He looks at Kenya. "Good luck to your team. Probably we'll still see you soon." Then, he leaves.

Kenya grits his teeth.

Yume sighs in relief. "That was a close one," she mutters to herself. Then, she looks at her friend. "Oshitari-san, what was that about?"

Kenya ignores the question and growls. "Did you see what that redhead just do? Why did he wink at you? Does he always do that?"

"Huh? He doesn't." She becomes dumbfounded. "W-what about it?"

"What about it?! What kind of question is that? I don't like it."

"I'm seriously not getting it." Yume sighs. "But whatever that is, please do not pick a fight around here."

"I'm not!"

"Okay, fine. But please don't do that next time." She sighs again. "Anyway, what was all that about? Was there a quarrel between your teams in the past? You just sound so… salty back there."

"Not really. It's just-" He sighs. "During the last year, our team went against each other during the Semi-finals of last year's National Tournament. Their team was strong. And in the end, we…"

"... lost?" She pats Kenya's shoulders. "That's okay. I guess you'll just have to do your best this year."

"I was even in Singles 3." Another sigh. "But I lost. I didn't even get a single game from my opponent."

"Come on. Let's go back to your teammates."


The games have not even started yet, but his swarming fans are already being fired up as Shiraishi (and the whole team) starts warming up outside the court they will be using. It is only the second round of the preliminaries, and Shitenhouji Middle School is up against Okakura.

"Where's Kenya? He went out almost thirty minutes ago. Why is he not back yet?" Shiraishi asks worryingly.

"Senpai only said that he'll be buying water because he forgot his jug," Hikaru remarks.

Koharu frowns. "But he shouldn't take this long. Is it possible that our Kenya-kun might have gotten lost?"

"As far as I'm concerned, Kenya's only problem is on balance, not on his sense of directions," Koishikawa remarks.

"Do you think he might have brought his phone?" Shiraishi asks as he scrambles his bag, reaching for his phone.

"I have his phone right here," Zaizen replies while holding up the object in question.

"I'm here!"

The whole team turns to see their bleached-haired teammate walking towards the court as a small frame follows behind him.

"Is that Kazuyoshi-han?" Gin asks.

Hitouji chortles upon watching the two together. He notes that Kenya seems to be walking in a slightly quicker pace than his proclaimed 'best friend.' However, there is a heavy emphasis on slightly. It is noticeable that Kazuyoshi does not walk too fast compared to the others and such observation seems to be consistent. Meanwhile, Kenya is walking slower relative to his normal self.

Koharu looks at his doubles partner and smiles in a manner that he is about to laugh. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Zaizen glances at the 'homo pair' and raises a brow.

Shiraishi sighs in relief when the two arrived. "I was worried, Kenya. The games are about to start."

"Ah, sorry." Kenya scratches the back of his head and bows.

"Please do warm ups. And quickly, please."

"Good morning, Kazuyoshi-han. It's nice to see you here," Gin greets.

Yume smiles as a response. "Good morning, everyone! So… who will play first?"

"I will play Singles 1!" Kenya exclaims.

"Oh, really? Hmmm… okay then." She shrugs him off, teasing him. "I was asking for the first player, though. Not you." She looks at Gin.

Gin tries to remember the lineup. "That would be… Zaizen-han."

She cautiously glances at Hikaru, who surprisingly did not give her a devious glare. "Well, uhmm… G-good luck, Zaizen-san."

He simply smirks. She is quite surprised that she didn't get mocked or something. Hitouji blinks… then smiles.

"Oh? Are you the so-called newcomer?" A man with thick black and curly long hair comes to them. He inspects her and offers his hand for a shake. "Chitose Senri. Nice to meet you."

"Kazuyoshi Yuki." She sticks out a hand and shakes his.

Chitose's eyes open wide. He chuckles. "Your hand is so soft. They almost feel like my sister's." He squeezes her hand and massages it firmly.

She has no words for this and watches how Chitose massages her hands in confusion. Koishikawa stares at her hand and raises a brow.

"Anyway… please cheer us on, Yuki-kun!" Chitose lets go of her hand.

"Of course!"

Hitouji snickers as he noticed the obvious frown on his Kenya's face when Chitose held his 'best friend's hand. More even so, Chitose is the first one in the team to call the newcomer by her given name. Hitouji is convinced that Kenya feels jealous. "Such a couple, they are," he mumbles to himself.

Meanwhile, Koishikawa raises a brow at Kenya. He senses that something was not right with the way their teammate behaves. He, for a second, glances at Yume then back to his friend. He blinks twice, shrugs off what he has in mind.

Zaizen clicks his tongue.

~ End Chapter ~

A/N: Hmmm... an update after almost two years. It's been so long since I last looked upon this story, but I'm back anyway and even more willing to finish this story. *wink wink*