Chapter Twenty-seven.
Being plain is a way of life.
The sky is beginning to turn bright orange. The first day of classes has finally ended, and so is the little club fair for the highschoolers. Inside the tennis courts are five first year students, standing side by side in a straight line as the main attraction for that afternoon. Opposite them are older batches of tennis club members, male and female.
"Welcome to Yamabuki High School's tennis club!" the captain greets with a smile and a look of pride. She is tall and has long legs. She wears her long hair with a tight ponytail. "I am Hanasaki Yoko, the captain of this team. And this is my vice-captain…" Yoko glances at the person beside her.
The vice-captain is the same height as Yoko's and seems to have a happier disposition. His eyes remain closed as he scratches the back of his head. Kouki laughs as he greets the first years. "I am Toshiyuki Kouki, vice-captain of the tennis club. Please try to have much as fun as you can here."
All first year students bow again to also greet Kouki.
"Anyways…" Yoko continues as she places her fists on her hips. She looks at each applicant. "… Is it safe to assume that all of you were previously part of the tennis club… middle school division?"
Yume slowly raises a hand. "Uhm..."
The captain looks at her. "Oh. You're not from the Yamabuki middle school tennis club?"
"Yes. I just transferred here this year."
"Ohh…" Yoko nods her head. "I see. But were you part of a tennis club back in your previous school?"
She shakes her head.
"Played tennis at least?"
"A little."
Yoko smiles. "Hmm… a little is good enough for me. Anyways…" The captain looks at the courts, gesturing her hand as if presenting the area as a valued treasure. Various male and female students – some are wearing a green jersey while others are simply wearing their P.E. uniform – are rallying tennis balls around their own courts. There are a few people in the farthest right corner who are routinely swinging their rackets. Students in the farthest left are doing various warm-up exercises such as push-ups, squats and sit-ups among others. A few students, who are jogging around the vicinity, have just passed behind them. "… this is our beloved courts. As you can all see, in our tennis club as compared to our middle school counterparts, we practice together – the boys and the girls."
The people standing beside Yume are Sengoku on the left and a taller guy with spiky hair on her right. She notices that the guy on her right is gasping in amazement. "It's bigger than I expected," he softly mutters.
Sengoku is likewise left in awe. "This is amazing."
In fact, everyone is. Yume glances at everyone else in her line, and their mouths are all open wide. Their eyes sparkle at the sight of the tennis courts.
"By the way…" Kouki looks at the first years. "… you do know each other, right? After all, the five of you are the only applicants we have so far. You should at least get to know each other."
The first year students, except Sengoku, turns to Yume. Blinking and in slight panic, her head turns sideways to see the people looking at her. "W-why?" she asks, shyly and almost frightened.
"I'm Sengoku Kiyosumi!" the orange-haired boy says in a loud voice to divert the focus to him. All the other first year students turn to him. "I was previously a member of the middle school tennis club."
"My name is Minami Kentarou! Nice to meet you." The spiky-haired boy bows to Yume and to the upperclassmen. "I was previously the captain of the middle school tennis club."
"I am Higashikata Masami, previously Minami's vice-captain and doubles partner." Higashikata, standing beside Minami, bows down to the upperclassmen and to Yume. Unlike most of the other students inside the campus, he has black slick hair.
"I'm Nitobe Inakichi." He bows to Yume and the upperclassmen. He looks at the other males in his line. "I actually know these guys, too. We're all in the same team back in middle school." Yume notices that Nitobe has a weird hairstyle. A curly leaf is sprouting at the top of his brown bowl-cut hair.
As she is the only one left, Yume bows and introduces herself. "I'm Kurumizawa Yume. I studied at Kansai and moved here recently." She glances at Sengoku's direction. "Sengoku pulled me here and asked me to join since he knew that I was a tennis enthusiast."
"Ohh, a fan, I see." Kouki smiles. "Most of us also started from being a simple tennis fan."
Yoko claps. "Yosh! Everyone is done. Since this is your first day here, you may slack around for the meantime, watch the others play, or even do practice matches. Do whatever you want, but only for this afternoon." Kouki hands her a small blue notebook, which she opens up to a certain page. "Tomorrow, an hour before class starts we'll do morning warm-ups and our routine swings. In the afternoon during this same time, we'll be officially starting our tennis training with you guys. 'Ya guys understand?"
"Yes!"
Balls bounce forwards and backwards across the courts while the players chase after them. The wind blows every once in a while that afternoon and the smell of sweat lingers in the air. On one side of the court is an enormously large man who barely looks like a first year highschool student. He grips on his racket as if the instrument is a light glass – something that can be held effortlessly but may be too fragile to drop. As the ball touches his racket, the man returns the ball with a powerful striking force. Despite the power being put into the ball, the tall and frail man on the other side of the court returns the ball perfectly.
Shiraishi and Koharu stand near the aforementioned tennis court as they observe Gin's match against a third year highschool student, who is a member of the highschool tennis club.
"Gin…" Shiraishi smiles as he rubs his chin. "… seems to have improved even more than before."
Koharu replies, "The U-17 training camp really did help Gin-san improve his accuracy of shots and even his speed."
Shiraishi nods. "Everyone made drastic improvements." He looks at another court where Hitouji is playing against another upperclassman. "Hitouji has become a better singles player. Maybe someday he can even reach the level where he does not need to play with a doubles partner in national tournaments."
"That's right," the genius proudly replies as he also glances over at Hitouji's direction. "I just hope we're still together even when he's a much better singles player."
Shiraishi chuckles nervously. "The two of you are still on that act, huh?" he softly mutters. "Just like the old times."
"You talk like an old man, Kurarin~"
He chuckles. "I'm still missing the team back in middle school. I wonder how things will be with just Zaizen and Kin-chan."
"They'll be fine. After all, Zaizen is the most reliable straight man in the team. He'll lead the middle school tennis club in the right direction. Although, he would have to take over in pacifying our extremely wild and rowdy Kin-chan."
Shiraishi sighs.
"You don't have to worry much about them. I'm pretty sure they can handle things well by themselves. Osamu-chan is still there, too, anyway."
"Maybe you're right. I shouldn't worry much." He nods. "Well, Koishikawa decided that he'd prefer to prioritize other things for now."
"I think he's still pursuing to be in the Beautification Committee. Koishikawa may not look like it, or may be usually ignored, but he is the type of person to really care for the cleanliness and physical appearance of his environment."
"And it's our thanks to him that the tennis club room is always organized even though Kin-chan and Kenya tend to mess things up."
Koharu blinks. "Speaking of… do you know what happened to…?" He looks at Shiraishi. At one look, the latter automatically understands what the genius is talking about. "Sadly, I have no idea what he is doing now. Only that he had been staying away from people."
Shiraishi stares down at the ground in grief. "I don't know what came up to him. After our graduation, he began gradually avoiding us."
"Well, I've been hearing a few things about him before he became like that." Koharu adjusts his glasses. "I would not want to believe these rumors, but… some say that it was because of his toxic relationship with Miyoko-chan."
"Miyoko-chan?!" Shiraishi gasps in surprise. "I just heard that they started going out after graduation, but…"
"I've heard from a former classmate that Kenya couldn't stand the relationship with Miyoko-chan. I'm just not entirely sure whose fault or which source the dissatisfaction came from."
"That's… really terrible."
Koharu clears his throat. "Some also say that since then, Kenya-kun has been going out with different girls from other schools for short periods of time. He couldn't sustain his relationships with anyone for long." He looks at the other courts again to observe. "Right now, I've been hearing that Kenya-kun wouldn't talk to anyone. He does not even go out of his house over the break. I guess, he's still like that – distant and cold – until now."
"I haven't tried talking to him yet today," Shiraishi mutters to himself.
Koharu sighs. "I also haven't yet." He pouts and bounces like a little girl. "I'm too scared to approach him because I saw him this morning and he simply ignored me."
Shiraishi ignores the impersonation of his teammate. "Then… what happened to Miyoko-chan?"
"She went to the States to study. She was very heartbroken when Kenya-kun broke up with her."
Nitobe stretches his arms upwards as he lets out a yawn. "I'm tired. That was a long day."
"But you barely played matches, Inakichi." Sengoku teasingly grins. "You were mostly talking with the Senpais around regarding your leaf sprout."
The first day of the five applicants to the highschool tennis club has finally ended. They have been permitted to leave earlier than the required time for the club members. Yume wants to go home first, but Sengoku insisted that he should accompany the girl on the way home. Even though she does not particularly want to walk together with the orange-haired boy whom she has been seeing throughout the day, Sengoku's persistent nature has defeated her will. Nitobe, Minami and Higashikata also went together with the two, thinking that it would be a good opportunity to get to know the transfer student.
"T-they were the ones who were asking, man. I just tried to answer as much as I can," Nitobe explains. "It was on an insistent demand."
The orange-haired boy laughs. "You weren't answering anything at all as far as I can recall. You were actually like, 'Can you guess what this thing on the top of my head is?' You were deliberately trying to get their attention."
"Ha! At least I wasn't like you, who were too distracted to actually play tennis." Nitobe points his thumb towards his chest and proudly announces, "I played four matches with Kano-senpai… unlike a certain someone here who only flirted with the women in the tennis club."
"But there are a lot of cute girls there!" Sengoku chuckles. "It would be a waste not to have a chat with them while the captain says that we are free to do whatever we want." He glances at the group walking behind. Yume is walking in between Minami and Higashikata as they chat among themselves.
The girl laughs at something that Minami has just said. "That's just so sad."
"I know right!" Minami replies teary-eyed.
Higashikata, although on the other side, extends his arm to pat Minami's back. He sighs. "It's okay."
"So…" Sengoku intrudes in their conversation, "…what were you guys talking about?" Nitobe also glances behind him to see the other three.
Still chuckling, Yume replies, "Well, Minami here just told me how plain he was that he had to keep telling everyone in their – your tennis club back in middle school that he was the captain of Yamabuki Middle School tennis club because everyone else thought that you were the captain, Sengoku-san."
Sengoku and Nitobe laughs.
"That is so true," says Nitobe. "Even my female classmates refer to Sengoku as the 'captain of the tennis club.' There was even the time when we lost during the Nationals Tournament, most of my classmates went to Sengoku to comfort him because they simply thought that he was captain."
Yume gasps. "That is just so sad." She glances at Minami, who has been enduring to keep up a smile, and pats the male's back. "There, there."
Higashikata sighs. "And no one came for me or Minami to comfort us that time… only the other tennis club members." He looks at his partner. "I guess we're really meant to be plain, huh?"
Sengoku looks up at the sky with hands under his chin. "Hmm… but then again, how did you guys even get to become plain? I understand that your tennis techniques are plain because they were more sticking to the basics, but…" He looks at his former captain and vice-captain. "… how did you become plain even in your daily lives?"
"If you come to think about it…" Nitobe also looks up to gather his thoughts. He looks at Minami. "You have that spiky hair, and that isn't plain at all, Minami-san." Then, at Higashikata. "And you have your hair slicked, Higashikata-san. That kind of hairstyle is anything but plain. No middle school student tries to have that hairstyle, after all."
The orange-haired boy nods in agreement. "That's right."
"So why are you guys the 'Jimmies'?"
Yume chuckles. "Maybe the lifestyle is what makes them plain…? Or perhaps their behaviour…?"
The Jimmies turn to the girl. Higashikata asks in a desperate voice, "If our lifestyle or our behaviour is the reason why we are being called plain, then what should we do about it?"
She raises both her shoulders. "How would I know? I just met you this afternoon. I wouldn't know what kind of things you guys do."
Sengoku laughs. "Maybe evaluate first and then see what should be changed."
"But where should they even start?" Yume looks at Sengoku.
"How would I also even know that?"
"I'm home!" Yume enters the house and places her shoes on the shoe rack. She heads over to the living room and sits on the sofa.
Zaki and a middle aged woman appear from the kitchen. "Welcome home, Yume-sama," greets Zaki.
The middle aged woman gently smiles. "You're early home today."
Yume nods. "Ah, Yukihara-san, I went to the tennis club with a friend. We were allowed to leave early."
"Oh, I see." Inui Yukihara, the woman of the household, wipes her hands using the apron she is wearing. "You're joining clubs. That's great! It's good for you to improve also on your social skills."
"Yes!"
Zaki snickers. "At least now you'll have something else to do other than lie in bed all day."
Yume pouts. "I have my part-time job during weekends, you know. It's not like I'm always at home."
"Well, joining a sports club keeps your body active." Yukihara glances at Zaki. "Maybe that's what Zaki here means to say." Zaki simply continues to snicker as Yume glares at him.
"I'm home," a person with a deep voice greets. A spiky-haired boy with a pair of square-framed glasses enters the living room. He heads towards the group chatting in the room.
"Sadaharu-kun, you're also home early. I thought you were going to the tennis club."
Sadaharu adjusts his glasses. "We only did the welcome ceremony and a few warm-ups thereafter." He momentarily glances towards Yume's direction but his attention goes back right afterward.
"Right." Yukihara claps once to end the little chat. She looks at her son and at her niece. "You two, you better get yourself freshened up. Do your homeworks before dinner." The two nod in response and are about to head on about their own room and lives. The mother, however, immediately calls their attention again. "Before you two go…" She looks at her son. "… Sadaharu-kun, please do your studies with Yume-chan. Help her in a few things that she might not understand." A frown appears on Sadaharu's face.
Yume gulps as she notices her cousin's reaction. She nervously chuckles. "Uhm… I can do my assignments by myself, so I don't think a joint study session would be necessary. And besides, classes have just started so there's not much to do, Yukihara-san."
Yukihara looks at her and gives a threatening smile. "Oh… no, Yume-chan. I insist. You two should bond together. After all, you were really close friends when you guys were a lot younger. Bonding wouldn't really be a problem, right?"
Both Yume and Sadaharu have a sweat bead appearing at the side of their heads. Seeing the threatening glare but usual smile of Yukihara, they have no choice but to agree to what she has just said.
"Right! Since we're all in agreement here, I should see the two of you bonding over something when I call you to dinner. Oka~y?"
~ End Chapter ~
