Author's Note: Yeah, I've still got more... I should've probably uploaded all the chapters I had all at once, but I didn't. So you get to keep reading. This is still Oishi's PoV.

I really liked doing this chapter. Tezuka is unbelievably fun to write for.

Enjoy!

My conversation with Tezuka was interesting. It was everything I should have imagined a phone conversation with him would be…

"Tezuka?"

"Yes."

"This is Oishi."

"Yes."

"I guess… you wanted to play tennis?"

"Yes."

"So, uh… where should… I mean—"

"We can play at the school courts."

"Oh! Okay. Um, Eiji's at my house right now. Can he—"

"Bring him."

"Okay. So—"

"I'll see you in twenty minutes." Then he hung up.

I sort of just looked at the phone for a moment before hanging up. That was… special.

Soon my doubles partner bounded down the stairs, looking very ready to play. He bounced up and down. "Ready?"

"Hang on, I have to get changed," I responded, heading upstairs.

"Hurry up!" he called, grinning.

I tried to change as quickly as I possibly could. I'm not sure why I was so excited… But I couldn't really argue with playing tennis with Eiji and Tezuka. I mean, come on. It was tennis. And it was my two best friends in the whole world. It didn't get much better.

With all of this in mind, I couldn't help enjoying the walk to the school. Casual conversation ensued. Eiji was so easy to be around when he was happy. And today, he was downright pleasant. Sometimes he would sort of skip ahead, walking backwards so he could still talk to me. I took this chance to really look at him, noticing things like the way the sun shined off of his red hair... I don't actually remember saying much. But my eager comrade filled the time with his cheerful chatter. He liked hearing himself talk. I liked hearing him talk, too.

We passed the bench we had occupied the night before, when Eiji had needed to rest. I heard his voice now, farther away than it should have been. "Hey! Why'd you stop?"

I looked up at him. I hadn't realized that I'd stopped walking. Eiji had a look of puzzled annoyance on his face, and was resting his hands on his hips, waiting for an answer. I looked into his eyes, remembering what I'd compared them to while sitting on that bench… Sapphire glass? Man, I was tired… But still…

"Um… Nothing. Sorry." I quickly caught up to him, and we walked side by side. Silently.

I didn't look at him. I don't know if he was looking at me or not. The silence was uneasy. Keeping my eyes on the ground made it a little easier, for me at least. I wasn't so uncomfortable that I was unhappy. There was something I enjoyed in Eiji's presence alone, something I didn't think he'd ever understand. And because he didn't understand, he was getting frustrated. Finally, when he couldn't stand the silence any longer, he shouted, "Race ya!" Then he took off running.

It was all I could do to keep up. There was something in his dash that was almost frightened. I suppose it might have just been that pent-up frustration.

When we got to the courts, I yelled out to Tezuka before collapsing seconds later at his feet beside my doubles partner. I laughed from the fun of the chase. Tezuka just sort of looked at us strangely.

It took us a few minutes to catch our breath. In the meantime, Tezuka explained what we'd be doing.

"We'll play two-on-one. Alleys are in on both sides. Best two-out-of-three sets. Six games each. You serve first."

Once that was settled, I grabbed some balls and went to the court, where Eiji and Tezuka were already waiting. I tossed up the ball and was interrupted by Tezuka's voice.

"Kikumaru. Aren't you forgetting something?"

I froze, letting the ball drop. Eiji cocked his head. "Eh?"

"The new training device Captain Yamato-senpai gave you. Don't you remember?"

"But this is… this is practice!" Eiji protested.

"Practice is training." Tezuka wasn't backing down. He never did.

Now Eiji stamped his foot. "But this is just for fun!"

Tezuka crossed his arms. "Your partner needs this training." Ouch. "Don't you want him to be able to back you up?"

Eiji now turned to me. "You don't need it, right? It wouldn't help you any…"

I could feel Tezuka's gaze burning into my face. Eiji couldn't win this argument anyway. Knowing this, and fearing Tezuka's wrath more than Eiji's, I responded, "Well, Eiji, you never know. Yamato-senpai seemed to think—"

Eiji dropped his racket and threw up his hands. "Now you're against me!" Ruffling through his tennis bag, he added, "You're all crazy!"

"Here, let me get that." I feebly attempted to make up for it by offering to tie the bell around his neck for him. At least he stopped complaining. I could feel a strong sense of triumph silently radiating from Tezuka's side of the court.

We began our game without any further fuss. Tezuka gave himself further disadvantage by playing with his right hand, which was a little insulting. But at least we won some points off him.

Eiji had become very good at ignoring the bell, it seemed. He was genuinely having fun. I tried to let him have the net as much as possible, but a few of our position switches were a little messy, and the ball easily got passed us. There were a couple of times, though, when everything just seemed to work. I really started to enjoy covering my partner.

I also loved watching the impressive dives and jumps he attempted while trying to hit every ball. Maybe he was a showoff. I didn't care. My favorite one was a time when he misjudged the ball, going one way and realizing the ball had been hit another. He did a backwards dive for the ball, with his back parallel to the ground. Tezuka's shot had been nice and hard, so all Eiji had to do was block it, which he did. Of course, Tezuka simply returned this shot to the spot Eiji had left open, and I just didn't have enough time to get there.

Eiji twisted his body and landed in a crouching position. I laughed, unable to resist the comparison: "Eiji, you landed on your feet like a cat!"

He grinned at me. "I got skills."

"Y'know, with that bell, it's almost scary how cat-like you look right now," I teased, knowing I was in no danger of being snapped at. Eiji was too proud of his last shot to be annoyed.

He stood up. "Cat-like, huh? Nya." He flashed a victory sign and joined me in chuckling.

Again, Tezuka was looking at us strangely.

There was one point I'll never forget. It was my serve, and Eiji decided to poach. Of course, he never told me this. Tezuka hit a shot down the line, to my side of the court, and started running toward the net. I got ready to hit it back. "Ding!" I heard Eiji's bell ring. Instinctively, I went the other way, which was against everything I would have done before. And I didn't even have to look at my partner.

Eiji volleyed it back, aiming straight at Tezuka. Tezuka returned it hard by twisting his arm to block it in front of his face. Now I was right in position to hit it back, which I did- right down the alley. Tezuka didn't quite make it, and we won the point. I barely knew what had happened. If I hadn't moved before, that shot would have been way too fast for me to reach in time. It was just so… perfect.

Eiji and I did a high-five, grabbing onto each other's hands.

"Nice poach."

"Nice cover."

Tezuka was stunned. Well, maybe not stunned… just kind of impressed. After a moment's silence, he nodded in approval. "Nice teamwork."

We played some long, hard tennis. Looking back, it was one of my favorite matches, despite our defeat. Yeah. Tezuka whooped us.

Afterwards, Eiji ran to get a drink and Tezuka sat next to me on the bench, looking pretty tired. "You made me run."

I laughed. "Well, that's what happens when you have to cover the alleys by yourself."

Out of the blue, he remarked, "Your best friend is a very interesting character. Very good at the net, though."

There was a pause. I couldn't move or speak. Tezuka rubbed his face with a towel and walked away, following Eiji to the water fountain.

Best… friend?

Until now, I'd always thought of Tezuka as my best friend. This completely caught me off guard. I was positive Tezuka didn't think any differently of me than he always had… The change he implied was on my side.

And he was right.

For a moment, I worried. Was Tezuka upset? Was he jealous? What had I done to him, without realizing it?

Then I caught myself. No… there was no hint of hurt in Tezuka's voice. And suddenly it hit me.

He was trying to tell me that it was okay.

So I took it as a go-ahead. In a way, Tezuka said goodbye to me in this match. It was certainly a turning-point in my relationship with Eiji. I began spending almost every waking moment with my doubles partner. I had no time to spend alone with anyone else.

Looking back, I wonder if Tezuka was lonely. I wonder if he ever got jealous, or missed the times we walked home from school together. I wonder if he ever got tired of Eiji, wishing he would disappear, leaving just me and Tezuka, so we could talk privately. I wonder if there was anything he wanted to say that he never got the chance to say, just because Eiji was there. But looking back, I have no regrets. I just wonder.