Well, to put it lightly, everyone in hyotei thought he was the laziest kid in the world. He couldn't care less. His team members knew him to be hardworking on the courts, and that's what mattered. Besides, sleeping before a match not only gave him extra energy and endurance, but relaxed him as well. It was a perfect way for his opponents to let their guard down. However, this particular bright, sunny day, Jirou was a little restless. As tired as he was, dehydration was more of a problem at the moment. Bleary-eyed, he rose from his resting spot on the bench and stumbled toward the vending machine across the park. On his way, he passed the seigaku bench. They looked a bit less impressive than their reputation suggested, he thought off-handedly, but he knew better. He knew what it felt to be crushed in a match against seigaku. Suddenly he tripped and nearly fell on his face over a sleeping body laying against a tree. "huh?!"

After he regained balance, he turned to see a sleepy kid peering at him through half open eyes. Who the heck slept before a tennis match except him?! And judging by the jersey, this kid was a seigaku regular too. "Um… what are you doing there?"
Ryoma flashed his, 'you-just-asked-a-really-stupid-question look' but answered, "Taking a nap."
Jirou was not getting the answer he wanted. "Are you playing today?"
Ryoma nodded. "Then, why are you sleeping?"
Annoyed, Ryoma evaded the question, "Look, who are you?"
"haha, how rude of me! I'm Akutagawa Jirou. Just Jirou is fine. And you?"
"Echizen Ryoma."
Oh, actually, Jirou had heard this name before. This kid was pretty famous on the local tennis scene.
"yoroshiku" and Jirou flashed a big smile at the freshman. Suddenly he remembered something important that he hadn't slept through, "Oh! I remember you! you played against atobe! That was awesome!"
Ryoma just replied, "It was just a practice match, you know."
"Oh," said Jirou, just as a buddy of Ryoma's sauntered up, "Well I'd like to play a practice match against you too!"
Without replying to Jirou, Ryoma looked at his friend and said, "Oy, Momo-chan-senpai"
Without replying to Echizen, Momo looked straight at the handsome hyotei kid standing in front of him and said, "You're in the business of practice matches? How about tonight at the park? There's no one there we couldn't beat, even high school kids, so we'd have the court all to ourselves."
Ryoma was suddenly jealous now that Momo had taken interest, and even more jealous because he knew that he wouldn't be able to go no matter what because he had to work at night. (and really, with school and tennis, what other time would he work?) Jirou looked sadly at Momo, "sorry, I'd love to, but I have a nighttime job."
Aww, that's too bad, thought Momo. "well, I guess it can't be helped. Where do you work at?"
Jirou smiled, "I work at the pet store. I know that Eiji kid of yours pretty well."
Momo laughed, "Yep, that's our Kikumaru-senpai"
but Ryoma was staring wide-eyed at Jirou. "You work at the pet store? Wow."
"Wow what?" inquired Jirou, wondering what was amazing about him working at a pet store.
"I start there tonight." Answered Ryoma, "I just got hired."
At that, Jirou laughed, "Hey cool! That means we can be co-workers and rivals at the same time! It will be awesome!"
Ryoma only grunted, "nn" in reply, but deep down felt glad to know someone that was going to be working with him. Meanwhile, the silent wheels were turning in Jirou's head. He had already thought of a pick-up line to use on Ryoma at work. 'hey look… everyone else is doing their thing… let's do our thing.' This one worked well in the spring when all the creatures… tended to take a fancy to each other, if ya know what I mean. That, and he knew Ryoma's mind would probably go straight for the inuendo, but he could pretend to be talking about anything, like sweeping the floor, or sleeping. Heh heh… why didn't people call him tensai? A part of his rational brain said, 'because they call you lazy.' But he ignored it.

Snapping back to reality, he said, "Well, its almost time for my match. I've got to get going. I'd love to play either of you on Saturday when I'm free."
Momo and Ryoma raced to get the words, "I'll be there." out of their mouth first.
Seeing them both reply, eager and similtaneous, Jirou flashed an award winning smile, "Well, I'll see you then."
Looking at Momo, he said, "I'll bring a doubles partner." And Momo nodded. Jirou walked away with a smirk. He checked the work schedule in his pocket. Sure enough, Ryoma was on the schedule tonight. It will be so much fun, He thought. There will be so many inuendos, but he will think I have no idea what I'm saying. Looking a few weeks ahead on the schedule, he saw that he and Ryoma were working alone. Jirou cracked open his ponta and smirked. Atobe briefly wondered what Jirou was so happy about. Jirou caught his glance and threw an 'if-only-you-knew look' back. Heh heh. He stretched out in the sun. It felt like he was sleeping on air. Nothing could disturb his day now. Even as he slept, a big smile light up his face.