NOTES: And the OOC-ness worsens!

Just a reminder: this story is purely speculative. So all the names, places, events, etc, that you don't see appearing in the manga, are my own additions.

However, I've taken the teams' sibling arrangement from the Rikkai profiles of the Fruity Explosive Translation website So while I made up names and attitudes, I'm taking it as official info that Marui has two younger brothers, Yagyuu has a younger sister, Niou has an older sister and a younger brother, etc.

Seriously, those very talented people at FET should get explicitly grateful fan mail from me everyday.

-- MorphailEffect



III. Come Together

Niou and Marui (and a suffering Hijiri) approached the group of girls from opposite directions, and reached them at the same time. As one, the Rikkai players both said "Oi, Yagyuu -- !"

The whole group of girls fell silent. Niou, Marui and Yagyuu stood still and stared at each other in surprise for a few seconds.

There would have been tumbleweeds.

But before that could happen, there was laughter.

"You two! What are you doing here?"

"Out with family. What about you guys?"

"My little brothers wanted to see that concert. I didn't really want to go."

Niou smirked over at Marui. "Me neither. Hard to deal with family during the holidays, huh..."

"God, you said it." He pulled forward the dead weight attached to his hand. "This is my youngest brother Hijiri, by the way."

"Hijiri-kun! What a surprise!" a particularly doll-like girl cried, with a wide welcoming smile.

Hijiri's face was turning red beyond belief.

"Glad to meet you, Hijiri-kun," Yagyuu was saying. "Niou-kun and Marui-kun, you've met my sister Sonomi...these are her friends..." He gestured politely to the other girls as he spoke their names. At the end, he told the girls "Minasan, these are Niou Masaharu-kun and Marui Bunta-kun. We play on the Rikkai Dai Fuzoku middle school tennis team."

"EH?! YOU GUYS PLAY TENNIS WITH HIROSHI-SAN?!"

In a flash, Sonomi's friends divided into two groups, one to crowd Niou and another Marui.

"We're huge fans of Hiroshi-san! What are your play styles? Is either of you left-handed? Is it fun playing in the Rikkai team? Is it true your captain got sick? Are you going to win in the nationals this year, too?"

"Puri!!" escaped Niou before he could choke it back.

Sonomi hung back with her brother, smiling pleasantly as she watched Niou and Marui start looking rather embarrassed. "So it's not just you after all, Oniisan..."

Yagyuu chuckled. "Thank goodness. I feel less lonely now."

There was a blast of drums and electric guitars from somewhere nearby. People cheering. Marui thought the noise couldn't have come in at a more fortunate time.

"Ah -- " he said as he backed away from the girls moving in on him, "has the concert begun? I have to go look for my other brother now." He hastened to leave, glancing over his shoulder just to wave at Yagyuu. "Take care of Hijiri for me!"

Once more, Hijiri was rooted to the spot. He watched his treacherous older brother vanish from sight.

Pretty Ruri-chan pouted. "Hijiri-kun, you never talk about your eldest brother! We didn't even know he was on Hiroshi-san's team!"

"Um..." Just when one would think Marui's little brother couldn't get any redder, he did.

"Don't worry, Hijiri-kun. I'm not mad. And I'll take good care of you while your oniisan is gone!" Ruri-chan hooked an arm around Hijiri's.

Niou chuckled to note that the poor kid would probably get more out of the experience if only he wasn't about to piss his pants.

"Well, we should be heading to the concert, too." Yagyuu turned to Niou. "Are you joining us, Niou-kun?"

"Sure. I'll just go tell my brother and sister."

"You can go with Niou-san if you want, oniisan," Sonomi said to Yagyuu, a knowing smile on her face. "We can take care of ourselves."

"Eh? But Sonomi..."

"We have our cell phones, ne?" Sonomi had started to herd off her gang toward the direction of the noise/cacophony/rock music. "We'll either meet up with you guys later, or be home before dark, we promise!"

"But what about -- "

"Can you tell Marui-san we want to have fun with his little brother for a while?"

Yagyuu was about to say something, but Niou laid a hand on his shoulder and answered for him. "Leave it to us, Sonomi-chan."

"Niou-san is so sweet! Alright, we'll see you later~!"

Yagyuu stood looking after his little sister and her group, feeling vaguely...used.

"..."

Niou scratched his nose, one of his many unconsciously cute gestures.

"...So, well, I'm about to introduce you to my family now. Are you up to it?"

Yagyuu put on a brave little smile.

***************

Kuwahara Jackal's greeting to the newcomer was a gruff "You're late!"

"Sorry. Things." Kirihara was still catching his breath. Black hair fell damp all over his face.

Kuwahara didn't sympathize. Both he and the younger boy lived near the area, where Yukimura's hospital and Kirihara's favorite tennis club were also located. There was no call for being late.

And if by "things" Kirihara meant "parent problems" ...well, his parents didn't want him to go, either! His Brazilian mother had been intent on making him help her with the Christmas shopping, and the fixing of Christmas Eve dinner. She was telling him firmly that Christmas eve is a traditional holiday that should be spent with family, as he was making his way out the front door.

In Kuwahara's reckoning, she took her Christian holidays way too seriously. But then, Kuwahara admitted that he rarely took anything seriously. Tennis was probably the only thing he actually ascribed any real importance to. Which was probably why it occurred to him to ask the first-year Kirihara, a fellow club regular, of all the friends who lived in the vicinity, if he wanted to come to the concert.

"Well, you're lucky...the first band sucks," Kuwahara snorted. "No wonder this thing's free..."

Kirihara was busy surveying the area, wider-eyed than Kuwahara was used to seeing.

"Wa~h, so this is what a concert looks like... Why the fuck is the bass so loud?"

"Because the stage technicians don't know how to work the acoustics worth shit."

Kirihara looked up at him. "A...kosuchikku...?"

Kuwahara rolled his eyes. While Kirihara could be a pain in the ass, he was also one of the most naive people he had ever met. Poor child couldn't even get a grip on basic English pronunciation if his life depended on it.

He laid a hand on the much smaller boy's head.

"Come on," he instructed. "let's find a spot closer to the stage. We'll want to be there when the good bands start."

Kirihara irritably squirmed out from under his upperclassman's hand, and walked ahead. "Hey, how did you know which bands are playing?"

"There were people going around giving out flyers a while ago. It had the lineup, looks like the good bands are all bunched up at the end." He took out a folded piece of newsprint from his pocket and handed it to his companion. "Here. Keep that, it's yours."

It wasn't that Kirihara had any clue about indie bands, but a glance at the lineup would prove educational. He accepted the flyer without comment, brought it up close to his face, and started reading as they walked.

As a result, he wasn't able to keep from crashing against a younger boy with shaggy red hair. The younger boy had been busy looking around, himself, and had not seen Kirihara in his path.

"Watch where you're going, asswipe!" Kirihara snapped, roughly shoving the boy away from him.

The boy fell back against the tall, broad Kuwahara, who helped him steady himself by holding on to his shoulders as he got to his feet.

"YOU watch where you're going!" the younger boy hotly retorted. "You didn't have to push me so hard!"

Kirihara blinked. The kid's voice sounded familiar, too...

"Sorry, kid," Kuwahara said to the boy, almost smiling. "My friend here just doesn't like people getting too close to him. He didn't mean to push you..."

"Yes I did." Kirihara was holding the boy's gaze now.

"What the hell does that mean?" the boy challenged, stepping up to Kirihara. "Wanna fight? Huh??"

A corner of Kirihara's lips lifted. "Don't stand so close to me."

"I wanna, so what are you gonna do about it??"

A calm, placating voice said from somewhere nearby: "There is a 100% probability that our friend will break one or more of your functional limbs. While I admire your drive for vengeance, I don't encourage that you pursue this endeavor."

All three boys turned. A tall teenage boy was making his way toward them in slow and leisurely steps, hands in his coat pockets.

Kirihara's new acquaintance found himself staring. Either the newcomer was looking down at the ground as he held his head up, or he was actually walking with his eyes closed.

"Yanagi!" Kuwahara exclaimed. "Come to watch the concert, too?"

Yanagi Renji smiled. "Well...I guess I am. I was just out for a stroll, and I learned about this event just today." He glanced at the nameless boy standing too close to Kirihara than has got to be good for him. "Who's this?"

"This..." Kuwahara began, laying a hand on the boy's shoulder in a friendly gesture.

The boy shrugged his hand off violently.

"I don't have to introduce myself! This kid here pushed me and he won't even apologize!" He shot daggers at Kirihara. "You just wait til my older brother gets here..."

"Oh?" Yanagi seemed serious. "We're not looking for a bloodbath, but just out of curiosity, which older brother are you referring to?"

"He's a top player in the Rikkai Dai Fuzoku middle school tennis club! He's real strong and he can kick your ass!"

Kuwahara's eyes went wide. "Huh...?"

Kirihara's face fell fast into "clueless" mode.

"So," Yanagi Renji said coolly -- as if he'd expected this sort of answer. "Having eliminated all the possible alternatives, I'm guessing your older brother is the Rikkai team's master volleyer, Marui Bunta?"

The boy became still.

"Hey, you know Bunta-niisan?"

Yanagi nodded. "We are...close with the Rikkai tennis team. Your brother is truly strong. We wouldn't want to get into a fight with him." Yanagi glanced over at Kirihara. "Therefore, our young friend must apologize for whatever offense he has committed against you. If he knows what's good for him."

Kirihara met Yanagi's stare and gave a low growl.

Surrounded by upperclassmen and ordered around again.

Kuwahara found himself smiling. He wanted to provide some comfort to his younger friend in this situation, but he couldn't deny that the little bastard deserved it.

"...Fine. Sorry," Kirihara said through his teeth at the boy. And promptly turned his attention somewhere else.

"Well done." Yanagi stepped up to the boy and smiled at him. "I hope an apology is sufficient. Your brother might want to know that he has friends in the area... but if he doesn't want to see us, please just send him our regards."

The boy, still sort of dazed with the speed of the events, nodded. "Sure, uh...okay. See ya." He sprinted off without looking back.

Kuwahara let out a long breath of air.

"What do you know," he said to Kirihara, "of all people who'd run into your face, it had to be Marui's little brother. And you had to pick a fight with him too!"

"Shut up," Kirihara huffed.

Kuwahara ignored the impudence and asked the newcomer, "You were out alone today, Yanagi?"

"Not really...I just came early. I've invited some friends to join me." He looked far past Kuwahara's shoulder, at a pair making their way slowly to the stadium. "And it seems they made it to the appointed place on time."



(to be continued)