Well, here's the fourth chapter….Um. No notes really, but that's okay! All I can really warn is that I'm writing this as it comes, so…I don't really know where this whole story's gonna go. XD
*looks down and shuffles feet* ….No, Prince of Tennis doesn't belong to me, as much as I want it. Oh, well.
Oh, and I don't own the Blair Witch, either. O,o
Onto the fic!
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Day One
7:36 PM [19:36]
The remnants of sunset were finally fading from the sky, leaving a warm, breezy evening in its wake. The sky was darkening quickly with stars winking out the last bits of daylight.
The majority of the Seigaku tennis team sat around an empty fire pit in the middle of a clearing. People were crowding around, trying to make room for their friends, and waiting for the fire to be started.
This was not going exactly as planned.
It seemed that someone had used up the matches or lost them altogether, Ryuzaki-sensei had misplaced her lighter, and there were still a few people wandering around looking for firewood. They had yet to return, so the rest of the students had gathered and simply sang car songs for the past two and a half hours while munching on the few snacks that didn't need a fire to be eaten.
"This land is my land! It is not your land! I've got a shotgun—"
"Eiji! That's not how the song goes!"
"Oh."
Ryuzaki was getting a headache. If she had to listen to "Row Your Boat" one more time, she was sure she would lose it. As though the very fates were against her, the entire team began to croon the song she had cursed only moments before. She rubbed her temples and looked at Tezuka. The young man understood.
"Everyone! Twenty laps around the tent area, now!"
The effect was instantaneous. Everyone was on their feet within moments and began clambering around each other, scrambling to follow their coach's order.
"Wah, buchou! I thought we were on vacation!" A particularly sour-faced junior wailed as he turned to look at Tezuka, regretting this as he slammed into a nearby tree. Tezuka remained silent.
It didn't matter where they were. There was always time for some painful, gut-wrenching exercise.
7:40 PM [19:40]
"So what exactly are we supposed to be doing, again?" Momoshiro sniffed, leaning over to pick some of the black, slimy leaves from the bottom of his shoe with exquisite care.
"How about you just stand there and pretend to be useful." Ryoma suggested blandly, gathering a few gnarled branches in his arms and scrounging around for more.
"You're such a loner." Momo replied breezily, pulling a few stray twigs from his hair with the air of one ignoring an elephant in their living room. A small, pretty, raven-haired elephant with startlingly golden eyes, but an elephant never the less.
He eyed the smaller boy, and suddenly got an idea.
"We could make Blair Witch dolls out of those branches!" He exclaimed happily.
Ryoma quirked an eyebrow.
"Blair wi-blair what?" He tried to fit his mouth around the words. It certainly sounded familiar, though he wasn't sure why.
"That evil witch that lives in the forests of America! Didn't you ever see it while you were over there, Echizen?" Momoshiro looked too excited for his own good. "Did you, did you?!"
Ryoma blew up his bangs in frustration and took ten deep, calming breaths.
"It's just a story, Momo-senpai. It's not real." Ryoma ground out after a moment, snatching up a few extra branches. Honestly, the other boy could be so aggravating! Believing in stupid stuff like that at his age. He probably still thought Santa would be coming around every year, for goodness sakes!
And it was then that they heard it; a strange gargling sound and a snapping of twigs, as though something big and wet was moving nearby.
The two partners had latched onto each other in record time.
"Oh, my god it's the blair witchshe'smadyousaidshewasn't—"
"Momo-senpai, Shhhhhhh! Where's the flashlight?!" He held out his hand for it expectantly. Momo frowned at him before whispering fiercely.
"I left it back in our tent! I didn't think we'd be out here for long!"
"God! How could you jus—"
A louder gurgle from somewhere off to their right interrupted their argument.
Ryoma decided, quite calmly, that now would be a fantastic time to panic. Or run.
Or both.
8:02 PM [20:02]
"—And all that remained was their car and their cooler. No sign of struggle or anything." Eiji finished his story, looking around at all of his listeners.
After finishing running laps, they had settled back down for some good, old-fashioned storytelling. The effect was sort of ruined by the lack of a warm, crackling fire and the scent of roasted marshmallow, though.
"Maybe we should go look for them!" Sakuno prompted suddenly, rubbing her shoulders and looking worried. Eiji blinked. "Yukino and Osamu, the missing campers?" He questioned.
"No…the people who went to get some wood! They might have gotten lost, 'ba-san!" She looked pleadingly up at her grandmother.
"Well, how far could they have gone?" Kaido muttered, startling nearly everyone by actually contributing to the conversation. "Like anything could happen to them out here."
There was a sudden shrill scream from somewhere in the woods surrounding them. Let it be noted that only a few young men had gone since none of the girls had wanted to get burs in their hair. So as a male, being able to scream that high is a pretty amazing feat.
"Oh, for Pete's sakes!" Ryuzaki-sensei slapped a hand to her forehead, snatched a flashlight and sallied forth, disappearing into the dark trees. Tezuka followed without a word.
After a moment Eiji stood up and grinned, bounding after them.
Oishi watched all of this with a rather incredulous expression on his face. How on earth had everything gotten so disorganized? And it wasn't as if he could just let his partner run off alone, anyway. So he jogged after him.
This was a mistake.
Practically everyone else began running around in a frenzy for their flashlights, wanting to get in on the action as well, save for Inui, Kaido and Taka. They were too exhausted from their earlier excursion with the tent from hell.
As for everyone else…well.
Never let it be said that tennis players aren't enthusiastic.
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*falls over* Now they'll all be running around the dark, scary woods! Boogem! *walks around in a white sheet*
Anyways, please review! I know this chapter wasn't too great…but I'm trying! *points to the little button below* Click, please!
