The Rumour
Chapter 7: Truth Vs Grapevine
Tezuka returned to the privacy of the tennis club's meeting room with an infinitesimal twitch in his face. Now that the crisis is over, and Oishi safely ensconced in the infirmary and resting, Tezuka found his mind circling back to the shouting he'd heard just before Oishi collapsed. What was it again? Ah, yes, 'Atobe, you spawn of evil! Stay away from Buchou's virgin ass, indeed! A faint flush rose in Tezuka's face at the vivid mental image his obliging mind had thrown up at those words.
The Seigaku captain took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself. Logic, Tezuka ordered himself, willing his blush to go away. Logic is the only thing that could help right now.
It was definitely Kawamura shouting, Tezuka was certain of that much. And he'd stake everything he'd own on the fact that honest, dependable Kawamura couldn't tell a lie to save his life – both in normal and Burning mode. So, taken at face value, that means – what? That Atobe is here? That Kawamura believes that Atobe was harbouring some kind of …feelings for him? Tezuka struggled past that distracting thought and managed to move on with his line of inquiry. But that doesn't really make sense either? Why would Atobe tell Kawamura of all people if he has a… thing for me? No, he frowned. Something is very wrong with this picture.
Tezuka meditated for another long moment.
The problem with the whole thing, Tezuka thought slowly, is its *timing*. Oishi expediently bearing him off at that particular time for a discussion at the exact moment Atobe shows up? When Oishi has been avoiding him all week? And shortly after which Kawamura warns Atobe off? How … convenient.
And talking about suspicious happenings… Tezuka narrowed his eyes in speculation. Oishi's avoiding me. Momoshiro blushes every time I talk to him. Eiji's jumpiness. Kaido's abnormal behaviour. The non-regulars' sudden desire to improve their game. The smirks and looks I've been getting from people. He ticked off a mental list in his head. Only Inui and Echizen have been behaving more or less normally. Does this mean that the entire club knew about Atobe and have been keeping it from me all along?
No. He rejected that possibility immediately. For one thing, those hot heads in the team like Momoshiro, Kaido, Kikumaru or even Echizen would never have let that kind of knowledge pass, without some kind of reaction. And I'd have heard about it if any Seigaku player went about challenging Hyotei players. Tezuka got up and stood by the window overlooking the courts. Something nagged at him. I'm missing something. But what?
Sighing, Tezuka cast his eyes across the diligently practicing club members. He could just about make out the non-regulars playing a practice game. Those second year players have really improved in this past week, Tezuka noted absently. Good form, particularly from Arai and Ikeda.
Arai… – that's it! It was something Arai had said. The second year non-regular had been even more incomprehensible than usual recently, and Tezuka had been tuning out his non-tennis conversations. But he could have sworn that Arai had said something about given his buchou the best night of his life or something along those lines just recently. Tezuka sat down again, mind racing. Come to think of it, there's been a whole string of strange remarks like that directed at him recently, and not just by Arai either. He'd shrugged them off at the time but now… It was the way they said it. In fact, those remarks now made a skewed sort of sense if taken in context with Kawamura's shouted warning. Seen that way, Kawamura's shout was positively… illuminating.
Certain things finally fell into place for Tezuka. This has all the hallmarks of someone's prank, he thought grimly. Some incredibly subtle prank worthy of, say, a certain tensai in the club? But why bother with such a weird trick? Why *me*? Tezuka thought, feeling perplexed. Well, there's only one way of finding out,
Tezuka returned to the courts, and called the regulars to assemble in the corner of Court A, which offered a modicum of privacy. He started without preamble. "I just came from the infirmary. Oishi just collapsed from the stress of the past week. He's feeling better now, but the school nurse told him to rest, so he won't be returning to the courts."
Anxiety leapt into everyone's face, Eiji's in particular. "Nyah! I'll go see Oishi right away!" Eiji said.
Tezuka nodded. "Eiji may go visit Oishi, but I want the rest of you to stay back." Eiji ran off in a mad dash. Tezuka watched him go before turning back to the rest of the assembled players.
"Now, I want to know what have stressed the vice captain of the team so much so that he had to be sent to the infirmary." Light played across Tezuka's glasses. The Seigaku captain had never seemed more ominous. The silence stretched. Slowly, one by one, the Seigaku regulars edged sideways, leaving Fuji alone in the centre. I have you now, thought Tezuka with grim satisfaction.
"Well?" Tezuka waited with a single raised eyebrow.
Fuji beamed, his smile unwavering. "Oh, that. I was going to wait till after the ranking tournament to tell you… But since you asked…" Fuji looked at Tezuka, his smile widening as he continued. "I told everyone that the person who beats you in a tennis match would get to date you."
The rest of the regulars turned to watch Tezuka's reaction to that bombshell with bated breath. To their disappointment, Tezuka's expressionless face did not even flinch.
"And why would you do something like that, Fuji?" Tezuka asked, sounding for all the world like he was simply inquiring after the time.
"I was sure that it would give all the club members further incentive to improve. And I am right, aren't I?" Fuji smiled happily.
"Nn," Tezuka glanced at the rest of the rest of the regulars. "And you all knew about it?" he asked.
The regulars shifted uneasily on their feet and chorused in uneasy unison, "Yes, buchou."
Tezuka studied his team mates for a long moment. Finally he spoke. "Since there is such an overwhelming amount of concern over improving the quality of play in the club, I will have Oishi draw up a roster for those people who are going to volunteer an extra hour after every practice to help train the non-regulars. That means you regulars." Tezuka paused and fixed a hard glare at his team mates. There was not a single sound of protest. "And Fuji, you and I are going to have a talk soon. But in the meantime… I want to see everyone running. 100 laps around the courts." His eyes narrowed. "Now."
The regulars bolted. Once he was sure that the regulars were out of sight, Tezuka permitted himself the smallest of smiles.
"Man, this sucks," complained Momoshiro as the regulars jogged around the courts. "And it's all your fault, Fuji-senpai! I promised my parents I'll babysit for them after practice. Now I'm stuck teaching a bunch of first years instead."
"Mada mada dane."
"Hey, it's not just me! Doesn't Taka-senpai have to go help his father after practice too?"
"Hss…"
Fuji simply smiled. "Oh, it's not too bad… After all, Tezuka didn't tell us to stop the match."
"EH??!"
SOMEWHERE ELSE…
Oshitari clutched his phone with one hand, and a cold compress to his nose with the other and continued ranting. "… and then the stupid viper just throws that tennis ball at my nose! Have you any idea how much that hurts? It's still swollen and red! And it hurts like crazy too! That's the last time I'm ever going to Seigaku, even if Atobe gets down on his knees and begs me to! I can barely breath as it is! And the stupid Kawamura went crazy all of a sudden and ---"
A long and laborious hour later, Gakuto finally hung up, rubbing his ear in pain. The knock to Oshitari's nose may have caused some unseen damaged to his mind as well, turning his normally calm and taciturn doubles partner into an incredibly whiny, self-pitying wimp. Gakuto had only managed to escape a two-hour monologue by lying that his mother needed to use the phone.
But even through most of the conversation was boring stuff about Oshitari's nose, there were some rather interesting nuggets of information about the things Seigaku members got up to with their precious buchou. A sly grin grew on Gakuto's face. Oshitari, I've just found the perfect way to payback those Seigaku regulars who'd humiliated you and Atobe buchou. He dug around for his address book, flipped through the pages till he found the right entry and picked the phone up again.
"Moshi moshi? I'd like to speak to Shinji please."
Ibu Shinji hung up the phone in a state of disbelief. He couldn't believe his ears. Atobe actually went to profess his love for Tezuka and got himself and Oshitari so badly beaten up that Kabaji had to carry them back to Hyotei? And now he's going to play against Tezuka on Saturday in order to win Tezuka's body?! Wait till Tachibana buchou hears about this! Shinji grabbed his mobile and hit his speed dial. "Hello, Tachibana buchou? This is Shinji… You're not gonna believe what I heard…"
Tachibana An was just about to leave her house to hang out at the street tennis courts when she spied her older brother standing in the middle of their living room, staring blankly.
"Ni-san? Are you okay?"
Tachibana turned towards his sister and swallowed. "Atobe went to Segaiku today and tried to force himself on Tezuka," he said hoarsely.
"WHAT?!"
"It's true! Shinji heard it from one of the Hyotei players. Fortunately, Kawamura managed to fight him and Oshitari off with a tennis racket just in the nick of time… But now Atobe's sworn to defeat Tezuka again in a tennis match this Saturday, and the stakes will be Tezuka's body!"
An's mouth dropped open in shock. Her brother continued agitatedly, "I'm not going to let Atobe get away with it. An! Help me call everyone back! I'm calling a special training session to prepare for a fight with Hyotei now!"
"O… okay! I know some of them are already at the street courts! I'll go find them now!"
"Hurry, An. Hurry!" Tachibana whispered as his sister dashed out. Tachibana looked towards the east – towards Seigaku – with burning eyes. Tezuka, wait for me! I'm coming!
As An had predicted, Kamio, Sakurai and Ishida were at their favourite hangout, the street tennis courts. This time round, they'd met up with Rikkai's Marui and Jackal for a round of street doubles, with Kamio refereeing when their buchou's little sister suddenly came running onto the court in the middle of their game.
"An-chan! You should know better than to come onto the courts in the middle of a game!" shouted Sakurai angrily.
"It's important!" gasped An. "Ni-san wants all Fudomine players to go back for a special practice… right now!"
"What?" "Why?" Kamio and Ishida asked simultaneously.
"Oi!" shouted Marui. "Are we still playing or what?"
"There's an emergency."
Marui and Jackal came up to the net. "What's wrong?" Jackal asked.
An took a deep breath then blurted out, "The Hyotei buchou just raped Tezuka-san! He was caught in the act by Kawamura-san and the other Seigaku players, and barely escaped with his life! Now he's swearing to get his revenge by beating Tezuka in a special tennis match this Saturday! And the worst thing is, if he wins… Tezuka-san will be his forever!"
"No way!"
"You're kidding?!"
"Atobe, you dog!"
"It's true!" insisted An. "Ni-san heard it from Shinji-san, who heard it from one of the Hyotei players! And Ni-san says he's not going to let Atobe get away with it and he's going to fight him for Tezuka-san! That's why he's calling for a special practice! So please, please, just hurry!"
Kamio, Sakurai and Ishida nodded. "Sorry guys, we have to run. Maybe we can play some time again," offered Kamio as the Fudoumine players began to shoulder their rackets and leave for their training.
"Hey, no worries," shrugged Jackal. As the Fudoumine players vanished, Jackal and Marui exchanged looks. "I still can't believe Atobe did something like that!" exclaimed Jackal.
Marui shrugged. "What do you expect from a guy who likes to go around with his own personal cheerleading squad? Those guys are always the first to snap."
"Hey, let's go find the rest of the guys and tell them the news!"
The Rikkai players walked away, not noticing two shadowy figures lurking in the background. Mizuki and Yuuta walked forward. "Did you just hear that, Yuuta? I think we can use this piece of data to script a new and interesting play for Seigaku…" Mizuki smirked.
Back at Rikkai, Marui was just about to finish recounting what they've heard. "So anyway, Atobe buggered Tezuka and got beaten up by the entire Seigaku regulars when they found them. Now Tachibana and Atobe are going to play each other on Saturday, and the winner gets Tezuka as his own personal sex slave!"
Sanada gave a scornful harrumph. "Tachibana and Atobe? Huh! I've always said that the only person worthy of beating Tezuka is me, Sanada Genichirou!"
"Er, senpai?"
"Yes?"
"What about Yukimaru buchou?"
"It's all right. He'll understand. After all, it's for the pride of Rikkai Da!"
"Hai!"
"Besides, he won't be discharged from the hospital until the end of the month. I've plenty of time, really."
"…"
And so, the news spread. All through that night, the phone lines between various top junior high tennis players sizzled with the new and delicious rumour about Tezuka. By the time morning dawned, very nearly everyone in the junior high tennis world knew about the play for Tezuka's body (or some variation along the theme). The details of the rumour may vary, but two things remained constant: Saturday at Seigaku. The Match to win Tezuka!
~~~
Sorry for the late update… Was sick (but then again, I was always sick…) er, really flu-sick, that is. Anyway, for the people who liked the last chapter, my evil split personality thanks you. For those who couldn't find the words… don't worry about it. Oh, and you needn't cry or worry about Tezuka… He enjoyed it, really. Says it gives new meaning to the phrase 'team effort' smirks Or maybe he meant that the team that sleeps together, stays together?
