(A/N: Thanks again for those that gave reviews. I'm glad to hear that the readers like what they're reading so far. I just recently came back from Anime Expo and bought a whole lot of PoT stuff. Just a forewarning: this chapter will be a little sad. (I would add Drama to the General/Romance, but only this chapter for now would fit under that. May change it later). Please enjoy. I got a comment about not knowing what she looks. There was a little description in the 1st chapter but I added some more here if it helps. )
Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own PoT/Tenipuri.
Chapter 3: Behind the Smile
Over on the girl's courts (2 total to be exact) Reiko was playing a match against one of the members. Many thoughts were running through her head. Maybe her dad was right that it wasn't a good idea to have tried out for the team. She heard that Seigaku had a good tennis team and took this as a chance to play against other good players. But somehow, she wasn't so sure about that idea.
"15-40"
"Oh yeah, I'm still playing." Reiko remembered. She received the serve that was dealt and then aimed a strong forehand to the right corner"
"Game Set. Tanaka 6-1"
Reiko just won against her second opponent.
Seigaku girl's tennis team was good and Reiko seemed to fit in quite well.
Today was supposed to be a normal self-practice day for the girl's team. When the coach heard that she had played tennis for almost 9 years, the coach just had to see for herself how good she was. Reiko was nervous playing her first opponent. She wasn't sure how well she would play against one of the regulars so she went all out. 15 minutes later, the match ended with Reiko winning 6-0. Reiko thanked everyone she played with a smile. The coach was astonished with her talents and the members were glad to have another good player join the team. The situation was nothing compared to what happened before. She was really happy that she was welcomed to join.
Reiko played another game. She thought about holding back, but realized this girl was a much stronger player than the others she played. "Probably a really good singles player." Reiko thought. Reiko focused where to direct her shots, followed through with efficiency, and was able to win the match 6-3.
"Reiko you play very well." The last girl she had just beaten said. "I noticed you are quite well at controlling your shots."
"Arigatou. You're a great player as well and thank you for the match" Reiko replied. "Can I ask for your name?"
"I'm Makoto Harada, a third year" The girl replied. "What year are you?"
"I'm a third year as well."
Ah yes…she was a third year. She wasn't at the bottom like before (aka: 1st year). "I don't have to worry about what happened before" Reiko thought.
"Let's play again sometime okay? I hope we can become good teammates." Makoto said offering her hand in a handshake.
Reiko shook her hand and nodded "I'll be happy to play you again."
Her dad was wrong. Trying out for the team was a good idea.
"Speaking of which" Reiko thought. "I wonder how Syu-kun is doing?"
Meanwhile…on the other tennis courts where the guys were playing…
Well…they weren't playing yet. They were running laps.
A loud scream was heard.
Seems like there was another victim of Inui's special drinks.
It was the same as always. The regulars were strong enough to keep up with the laps while the rest of the members suffered the fate they so wanted to avoid. Either they learn to run faster or Inui must be stopped. Sadly the second choice wasn't going to be happening anytime soon.
Inui was watching and was quite amazed as to how Oishi was able to keep running those laps while his mind was somewhere else on another planet. "This could be good data for later." Inui thought.
Eiji however was very concern for his double's partner. He tried to find out what was wrong earlier only to have Oishi yell at him and become even more outta focus. Still, Eiji was determined not to give up.
"Oishi? Ne….Oishi?" Eiji tried to get his attention with no success…for the 4th time.
Eiji tried to think about something that would somehow get Oishi's attention. Knowing Oishi very well, he thought up something fast.
"Oishi…" Eiji said. "You're thinking about a girl aren't you?"
"Eh?" Oishi turned to look at Eiji. Only thing that Oishi heard was "girl" and that seemed to wake him up.
Seems like Eiji does know how to get his attention.
"I was right!" Eiji exclaimed. "You were thinking about a girl!"
"Oishi you sly one." Momo said after hearing in. "So who's the lucky girl? Is it someone from your fan club?" (A/N: For those that haven't seen episode 52, yes Oishi does have a fan club.)
"Hey guys." Oishi was blushing hard. "You got it all wrong. It isn't like that!"
"Don't be embarrassed." Fuji said. "Everyone reaches that time at one point."
"That time?" Kaidoh asked curiously. (The guy is quite naïve about these things)
"You know…" Momo replied. "When you fall in love with someone."
Both Kaidoh and Kawamura both blushed upon hearing that. "Love?" They both said.
"Minna!" Oishi exclaimed. "You're taking it the wrong way."
"Gambatte Oishi-sempai." Ryoma said with a smirk.
"I just can't win." Oishi said sadly.
Tezuka as usual, made no comment about the issue.
(A/N: Sorry if this sounds similar to that incident with Kawamura. Running laps while talking was the best way to get all the members together to pick on Oishi (yah I can be mean) ^_^;)
"Last lap!" Inui called out. "And you know what will be waiting for the last member." Inui grinned evilly and brought out a pitcher full of a murky yellow mixture.
If the thought about girls got Oishi's attention easily, Inui's juice was another. The regulars thought that Oishi would have ran much slower from being distracted. Instead, he ran so fast that all the members had to catch up to him.
"This will definitely be good data" Inui said with an evil smile as he looked on as the regulars frantically ran to make sure they weren't last place. In the end all the regulars finished at the same time so they all escaped another day from the terrifying clutches of Inui's juice.
PRINCEOFTENNISPRINCEOFTENNISPRINCEOFTENNISPRINCEOFTENNISPRINCEOFTENNISPRINCEOFTENNISPRINCEOFTENNIS
"Come on now focus." Oishi told himself while washing his face at the nearby faucets. Oishi, known as the "Mother of Seigaku" always watched out for and worried for the other members. Now, it seems like everyone was watching for his well-being. After running, the regulars played short matches against one another. He matched up with Kawamura. Oishi tried his best, but truthfully he felt he just wasn't all there. His shots weren't very strong and his hits weren't very accurate. The match ended with Kawamura winning and Oishi getting smacked in the head once again with a tennis ball.
"It's been a crazy week." Oishi said to himself as he dried his face with a towel. First it was the weird dreams, then he gets smacked with a few tennis balls, his childhood friend suddenly appears, and now he's the talk of the tennis team.
He smacked his hands to his face. "Baka!" He told himself. "Why did I get so worked up over a girl? She's my childhood friend! We always hung out like best buddies. There was nothing else!" Oishi took a deep breath. "Ah…I feel much better now that my mind has straightened out. Back to the courts." Oishi walked back.
Smacking himself did do the trick. He played a match against Kaidoh and was able to hit all his shots well. Kaidoh, having watched the previous match with Kawamura, was off guard seeing Oishi play so well all of a sudden. Oishi realized he was well focused playing and felt much better. "Finally got my mind back in order" He thought.
Fuji after finishing his match watched the Oishi/Kaidoh match. "Looks like he's back to normal" Fuji said to Tezuka who was standing next to him. Tezuka nodded in agreement.
And so, practice that day came to an end.
PRINCEOFTENNISPRINCEOFTENNISPRINCEOFTENNISPRINCEOFTENNISPRINCEOFTENNISPRINCEOFTENNISPRINCEOFTENNIS
Oishi quickly changed and locked up the clubroom. Before going to practice, he and Reiko decided to meet up a bit after practice ended. He ran out to see Reiko standing near a tree nearby.
"Gomen!" Oishi said as he ran toward Reiko.
"No problem." Reiko said. "I just got out recently so I wasn't waiting long." She looked at her watch. "I didn't know practice ran so late. I was hoping we could talk longer but I have to get back soon."
"That's alright." Oishi replied. "If we can't talk that much now, they'll be plenty of other times. How about we talk a bit while walking back home?"
"Good idea." Reiko said to Oishi with a smile. Seeing her smile reminded her of the same girl she was when they were younger. "Same as always." Oishi thought.
Both started walking home. Oishi started to feel a little awkward. There were a million questions he wanted to ask her, but for some reason, he just couldn't think of anything to say.
He took a glance at her. She had removed the band that held her ponytail and her long black hair that went to her mid back was flowing in the wind. Her brown eyes sparkled with cheerfulness and she stood about 160cm. "She looks much more cuter that before." Oishi thought. He then shook his head. "She's just a friend." He kept telling himself.
"Ano…" Both exclaimed at the same time. Suddenly, they both burst out laughing.
"Gomen" Reiko said giggling. "There are so many things I wanted to ask you but I totally forgot what they were"
"Hontou?" Oishi said laughing. "I was thinking the same way."
Yes. It was almost like old times. They talked about the fun times when they first started school together and when they began playing tennis.
"Those were fun times." Oishi also told her about the weird dreams he had this week. Reiko couldn't help but be amused and laughed. However, he didn't tell her about that 'incident'. He wasn't sure how she would react towards it, let alone want her to remember it.
"So how did practice go for you?" Oishi then asked.
"It went pretty well." Reiko said cheerfully. "The coach and the girl's were very friendly and welcomed me. I never really expected that."
"Oh how come?" Oishi asked curiously.
"Well…when I tried out for the tennis team at the start of junior high." Reiko replied. "I was meet with a lot of hostility."
"Hostility?" Oishi said in a concern voice. "Why would that happen?"
"Being a year younger for my school age, many of the girls weren't happy that a little girl was beating them out on the team. I made the team those 2 years, but I got picked on a lot and couldn't make friends. It got lonely so it wasn't that fun." Reiko said in a joking tone. "But anyways, must be boring hearing about me getting picked on" She laughed.
Oishi however didn't laugh. He knew how it felt getting picked on by the sempais. He recalled from when he was a first year on the tennis team that all the older members would look down on them. Tezuka was injured by a sempai he angered when he played a match using his weaker arm. Since that incident, both he and Tezuka respected the younger members. Oishi always tried his best to make sure all the members were comfortable being in the tennis club.
"How is your family?" Oishi asked changing the subject. Reiko smiled. "My dad is doing well. He's adjusting back at his new workplace. My sister is in 2nd grade and so far it seems like she's made lots of new friends."
"That's good to hear. How is your mom doing?" Oishi asked upon not hearing anything about her mom.
"Um…okaasan…" Reiko said quietly. "…died late last year."
"Eh?" Oishi said in shock. He didn't expect to hear something like this. "W…What happened?"
"A few years ago she caught some viral infection. It was in remission, but when last winter came it just got worst and…" Reiko's voice trailed off.
Oishi didn't know what to say. "Gomen…"
Reiko shook her head and smiled to Oishi. "Don't worry. I'm fine. Sometimes it's hard, but life goes on…" Reiko brushed the bangs from her eyes. "Sorry for saying such depressing things. Anyways, how is your family doing? Is your dad, mom, and little sister doing alright?"
Oishi just stood there. A pain began to develop inside his heart.
Since she went back to America, he eventually made new friends and had a very enjoyable life. For her, she had to endure hardships by herself. Like most friends when they leave, you sometimes forget about them as the years go by. Oishi thought he never see Reiko again as time went by since he had not heard anything from her. Since being reunited after hearing her life the past years, he really wished he could have been there for her when she needed him the most.
"Rei-chan." Oishi looked at her.
"Nani?" Reiko said smiling back at him.
The smile he saw wasn't the same as before. It wasn't the same smile as the girl he knew before.
It was as smile that was hiding pain. Seeing it brought him more pain. "If…If only I could have protected her from the pain." Oishi thought.
He gave her a hug.
This hug wasn't like the playful hug Reiko had given him earlier when they first reunited. It was tight…almost as if he never wanted to let her go.
"Syu-kun?" Reiko was startled by the gesture Oishi did and blushed.
"How…How can you keep smiling after all the painful things you had to endure? Weren't you sad going through those times?" Oishi said in a sad voice while still hugging her tightly.
Reiko still smiled after hearing the question. "There were times when I wanted to cry. But, I realized helping my family was the best thing I could do." Reiko replied. " I smile because I don't want anyone to see the pain I went through. If I was sad, my family and everyone I know would be sad and I didn't want that to happen."
Reiko continued talking. "At one point early on (during 1st year), I was hurt pretty bad and wanted to quit the tennis team. But then I realized that I could never do that. I could never quit tennis."
"Doshite?" Oishi asked. "What could possibly have made her want to keep playing if it hurt?" Oishi thought.
Reiko smiled. "I realized if I quit then, there was a promise I would never been able to fulfill."
To be cont.
(A/N: I hope this was an interesting chapter for you. Sorry if this made people sad. I promise you the next chapters won't be depressing. I realize this story will be a mix of some romance, drama, and humor, I guess kinda like how life can be a mix of all three (I'm making some of this up as I go XD). As always, give me reviews to see how it's going and persuade me to write more (its my first fanfic so I need reviews to help me out). My biggest worry is how detailed I should go into describing a game or situation. I don't want to make it too shallow nor too long that it causes boredom. I hope this chapter gave you a better feel for how I developed my OC and possibly made you love Oishi even more XD. Midterms are coming, but I'll try my best to keep up.)
Preview of what's to come: A match with a bet?