Spring Fever
X. Epilogue:

The Next Day

It was a quiet day at the Fuji household until the door to the house suddenly tore open with a resounding crash.

"ANIKI!"

The loud yell was followed by the thunder of running footsteps, and then a second door being slammed open.

"ANIKI!"

Fuji Syuusuke calmly looked up from where he was carefully examining one of his cacti by the windowsill as if it was just a normal day when his younger brother burst into his room looking as if he wanted to commit homicide. Who knew? Perhaps it was.

"Can I help you with something, Yuuta?"

"What did you do to my White Day present!" Yuuta jumped straight to the point out of long experience.

Fuji looked tilted his head in askance. "White… Day… present?"

Yuuta, however, was not buying the innocent routine. "Yes!" he grounded out between clenched teeth, "the present I gave M—You switched it with some poisoned candy!" Some sense of caution prevented him from naming the recipient of his present, even though it was likely a moot point.

Fuji, however, was still playing innocent. "Me? Why do you say it's me who did it?"

"Because I know you!"

"Maa. What kind of person do you think I am, to poison some poor girl you like?" It was amazing how Fuji could still put on a hurt look with his eyes closed.

Yuuta couldn't stand it anymore. "Baka aniki! Mizuki-san's in the hospital because of you!" he blurted out.

As expected, Fuji immediately jumped on to the identity of the gift's intended recipient. "Mizuki?" he asked blandly, "but what would he have to do with your White Day candy?" However, his eyes had opened just a bit, in serious contrast to his words.

Even Yuuta could sense the seriousness of that look, and knew that their conversation wasn't going to get anywhere. Frustrated, he gave one last outburst of "BAKA ANIKI! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" before storming out the room and slamming the door behind him once more.

Not long after his brother had departed, and before Fuji could decide whether to follow, his thoughtful contemplation of the door was interrupted by a shrill beeping from his phone.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Fuji, this is Tezuka." The familiar voice as stern as ever.

"Maa, Tezuka. This is a first. What can I do for you?"

There was a slight pause. Then, "Fuji, did you send a White Day's present to Atobe in my name?"

"Ne, why would you think that, Tezuka?" Fuji asked in the exact same tone of innocence he had just used with Yuuta.

"Because I didn't see him at Hyotei yesterday and I received a call from Sakaki-sensei today informing me that Atobe is in the hospital for food poisoning... from White Day marshmallows delivered with my name on it." If Tezuka was unhappy with the situation, his voice certainly didn't show it, even as it always was.

Fuji almost pouted before he remembered that Tezuka couldn't see it over the phone. He settled for a hurt voice. "And you automatically assumed that it was me who did it?"

"Inui tells me he gave you samples of his latest Inui Candy and Aozu two days ago."

"Anou… Maybe I just wanted to try it out myself?" Even Fuji couldn't quite make that sound like a viable excuse, though he certainly tried.

"Fuji." The tone was as stern as ever, and there was an implicit demand of honesty in it.

"Yes, Tezuka?" But Fuji defied it anyway.

There was another small pause. Finally, "50 laps around the court, first thing tomorrow morning."

"…Hai."

"Inui will be running half of those with you." Click.

-.-.-

A Week Later

Atobe dialed the cell phone number he had obtained from St. Rudolph's tennis team manager. It was occasionally useful to deal with stalkers. It was also useful to be able to afford the most expensive Caller ID Blocking services. It wouldn't do for the prey to be alerted before oresama fired his warning shot, after all. He waited until the familiar voice answered the phone.

"Fuji Syuusuke," Atobe announced in his most arrogant voice. "This… means war."

Then he hung up.

-Owari-

Vocabulary:
aniki - older brother
baka - stupid; idiot
moshi moshi - phrase used when answering the phone
sensei - teacher, coach
oresama - highly grandiose reference to oneself
owari - end