Part Five: Two plus one is three – Rivals and Friends
Echizen Ryoma was the type of person who was always up for a challenge. He had the confidence that he would eventually win. Of course, there were people who stood in the way of his victories. There was his father, Tezuka and Fuji. They made tennis worth playing.
His father was a wall he had been climbing ever since we picked up a racket. It was a wall that was keeping him from putting that racket down.
Tezuka was a wall in his own way. Yet this was a wall that was willing to risk its destruction if it meant the rise of a new pillar of Seigaku.
Fuji, however, wasn't a wall. Fuji was a bamboo, he thought. He would sway at the direction the wind was blowing, bend and yet won't break. He played by his opponent's potential; waiting for the opponent's potential to shine out. Then, it wouldn't really matter to him if he lost or won.
At first, this irritated Echizen to no end. Would that mean that his level was well below the tensai's? It was completely unacceptable especially since Fuji didn't exactly play seriously all the time.
He wanted to get Fuji's full attention. He wanted to get Fuji to play seriously against him.
It was one reason why he decided to play as well as he could. He wanted to earn Fuji's respect and he knew he could only do that by making the tensai see that he was worth it.
The thing was, he didn't plan on what happened next.
He fell for Fuji.
He couldn't really understand how or why it happened. It just did. One moment he saw Fuji as a bamboo he wanted to break, the next thing he knew... well, he was in love.
Argh... he so did not want to say that.
"Is it just me, Echizen, or is Fuji-sempai blooming today?"
Echizen blinked out of his reverie and looked at the object of Momoshiro's question. Fuji was standing beside Inui, talking to him, discussing the data that the latter had gathered. If one had untrained eyes, one would never notice the slight change in the tensai's smile and aura.
"He is different today, Momo-sempai. If that's what you're pertaining to."
Momoshiro shook his head. "No, Echizen. You're just not seeing it."
The freshman raised an eyebrow. "See what?"
"Fuji-sempai looks like he's in love or something."
In-love? Echizen's eyes refocused on the tensai as if analyzing every detail. Sure, Fuji looked like he was in cloud nine or something but couldn't it have been because his beloved ototo came to visit? Did it exactly mean that Fuji was in-love? And to whom? The person he knew that was his rival was far away in Germany...
Then suddenly, something in Fuji's neck caught the sunlight.
Golden eyes widened at the sight of a silver chain hanging on the tensai's neck. So that's it, he thought. But who gave that?
"I see you're wearing it."
Echizen turned his attention to the person standing beside Fuji. Inui was no longer there and was replaced by – if his memory served him right – the tensai's childhood friend.
Was it him?
There was a grin in the tensai's lips. "I never knew Tezuka had a nice taste in jewelry."
Buchou?!
Saeki laughed. "He does, actually. But he had difficulty picking what you would like more so he asked my help."
Echizen raised an eyebrow. There was something in that tone that told him that the guy was actually a bit jealous about the whole thing regarding the necklace. Another rival, he thought.
There was a tease in the tensai's voice in his next words. But the freshman caught something mixed with it. Jealousy, perhaps?
"You spent a lot of time with Tezuka, didn't you? And here was I thinking that I was the one you loved."
A blush appeared on the other's cheeks. "W-What do you mean, Fuji?"
"So cute and so easy to tease, Kojiroh," he said with a chuckle.
"Ne, Echizen," Momoshiro called to him as Saeki pouted and glared at the tensai. "Fuji-sempai is a real killer, isn't he?"
"Killer?"
"Yeah. He already killed two hearts, Saeki-san's and Buchou's."
Echizen shook his head. "What you mean is that he captivated both men."
"That's what I said."
"Why do you always have things the gross way?"
"It is not gross! It's just..."
"Gross, Momo-sempai," he continued, lowering his cap before walking away from a fuming sempai.
He sighed to himself. Fuji had indeed captivated two hearts. And another one.
His.
The question was, who would get the tensai's heart?
He did not know about his two rivals but he was determined that he would be that one.
"It's from Tezuka!" Oishi exclaimed as he opened his cell phone.
"From Tezuka?!" asked Ryuzaki Sumire.
The third years gathered around the temporary captain.
"Mail from Buchou?" Momoshiro inquired, joining his sempai-tachi.
"Let's see. Let's see," said Fuji, excitement evident in his voice.
Echizen raised an eyebrow at the tensai's rare show of anticipation. Usually, even if he was that excited, he just smiled but didn't say it out loud. But this was Tezuka. Fuji was always different around the buchou.
"What does it say?" the acrobatic player asked.
"Imagine if it was in German," joked Kawamura. Momoshiro and Kikumaru snickered.
"Yudan sezu ni ikou," read Oishi.
"Yudan sezu ni ikou," mimicked his partner. "That's it?!"
"He hasn't changed at all," Fuji said, amused.
Echizen lowered his head. "That's more like buchou anyway."
"And this part here," Momoshiro pointed out. "It's as if he's fighting with us."
The tensai smiled wistfully, his hand unconsciously clutching the necklace Tezuka gave. Momoshiro was right, he thought. Their stoic buchou always seemed to be close by – watching every match – even if he was in Germany. All of a sudden, his cell phone vibrated.
He fished the cell phone out of his pocket and wondered who could be sending him a message at this time. Sea-hued eyes opened when he saw the person's name.
Tezuka...
Win today, it said.
Fuji wanted to chuckle. Tezuka was so confident. It wasn't a question or a request. It wasn't even a command. He said as if it was already definite.
I will, he replied. Then after a few minutes of hesitation, he added something.
Because you're here. The whole team will win for you. And so will I.
Echizen lowered his cap and walked away. Perhaps it was his fault that he positioned himself behind Fuji. Perhaps if he wasn't there, he wouldn't have read what Tezuka mailed the tensai and the tensai's reply. And if he didn't get to read it, perhaps he wouldn't be feeling what he was feeling now.
He wanted to grab Fuji and make him see who was here. He was in Japan not the buchou! What did it take to get his attention? What did it take to not lose it?
Momoshiro stared at the fading back of his kohai. He pitied Echizen's opponent later on.
The only reason why he had an MSN messenger and address was because he wanted Oishi and Inui to update him with what was happening with the club. It was too expensive to be calling or sending text messages. To chat there wasn't as expensive and they could discuss other strategies while they were there.
Ryuzaki-sensei would e-mail once in a while and so did the other seniors. Fuji's messages were the ones he looked forward the most. Especially because it had photos attached to his stories. It made the story all the more come alive than Kikumaru's descriptions.
What he did not expect, though, was for Saeki to know what his MSN address was.
Kojiroh's the man ('coz he's hot and cool at the same time) says:
Yo, Tezuka! How's Germany?
Tezuka says:
Fine. How about you?
Kojiroh's the man ('coz he's hot and cool at the same time) says:
What a boring MSN name, Tezuka. I'm ok. And so is Fuji.
Tezuka ignored the first sentence.
Tezuka says:
That's good to hear.
Kojiroh's the man ('coz he's hot and cool at the same time) says:
Ne, I played doubles with Fuji and Kikumaru today.
Kojiroh's the man ('coz he's hot and cool at the same time) says:
It was fun but I lost.
Kojiroh's the man ('coz he's hot and cool at the same time) says:
Fuji seems to have developed a very good drive to win.
Tezuka says:
It's only fit that he should win. He knows that he's the ace right now.
Kojiroh's the man ('coz he's hot and cool at the same time) says:
Sou ka...
Kojiroh's the man ('coz he's hot and cool at the same time) says:
I think it had to do something with the necklace.
Seriously, Saeki thought. He was beginning to think that jewelries had powers. Maybe Sailor Moon wasn't as farfetched as he thought after all.
There was a small smile on Tezuka's lips as he remembered what Fuji mailed him earlier.
Kojiroh's the man ('coz he's hot and cool at the same time) says:
Echizen's drive and will was something too, y'know.
Kojiroh's the man ('coz he's hot and cool at the same time) says:
I think he's just itching to finish the game tomorrow.
The buchou could very much picture how Echizen looked like.
Tezuka says:
He's Seigaku's pillar of support.
Kojiroh's the man ('coz he's hot and cool at the same time) says:
So I am told.
Kojiroh's the man ('coz he's hot and cool at the same time) says:
Echizen's slowly getting his attention.
Tezuka says:
I expected as much.
Kojiroh's the man ('coz he's hot and cool at the same time) says:
He's gaining ground, I think.
Yes, Saeki thought, recalling how Fuji praised the freshman. The tensai was indeed paying enough attention to Echizen. It wasn't really out of the ordinary. Echizen was a strong tennis player. And that was something that attracted Fuji.
Kojiroh's the man ('coz he's hot and cool at the same time) says:
What are you thinking?
Kojiroh's the man ('coz he's hot and cool at the same time) says:
Threatened?
Tezuka stared at his monitor. Was he threatened? What did he feel that Echizen was getting Fuji's attention? He knew it would happen someday. He already saw that when the tensai approved of Echizen being his bench coach in that match with Hyotei's Akutagawa Jiroh.
Was he threatened?
Kojiroh's the man ('coz he's hot and cool at the same time) says:
You picked him, right?
Tezuka says:
To lead Seigaku to the Nationals, yes.
No more, no less, the buchou thought.
Yet, it wasn't all that Echizen was doing.
He was getting Fuji's attention and was gaining ground.
Was he threatened?
Was Saeki threatened?
Kojiroh's the man ('coz he's hot and cool at the same time) says:
When are you coming home?
Tezuka says:
Soon.
Saeki sighed. With the way things were going, the rivalry between him and Tezuka seemed to have faded a bit. He did not know how but it did.
Perhaps, he thought, the time they spent together in Germany did it. The Tezuka he was with in Germany didn't feel like a rival. Tezuka felt like his friend. And he was ok with it.
He and Tezuka weren't only rivals anymore. They were friends.
Somehow – weird as it was – it felt wrong. The 'friends' thing with the buchou felt wrong. It was as if he had used the wrong term or something.
Wrong term? What was he saying?
He shook his head. He had been watching too many romance movies with his mother.
Wait. Romance?!
Tezuka stared at the bracelet that Fuji gave.
Was he losing a match with Echizen? Were they?
The way Saeki had phrased everything – it was as if the rivalry between them was gone. Well, it felt like that when he was touring Germany with the fukubuchou.
Perhaps he could say that they were friends now.
Tezuka sighed. Somehow, that sounded a bit incomplete.
Deeper sort of friends, perhaps?
Yeah.
Wait. Deeper?!
Tsuzuku...
Author's Notes: Echizen finally makes an appearance, doesn't he? Thank you for those who have reviewed and I hope you will continue reading until the last part (and I hope I would not disappoint you with the ending).