"Yoo, Atsushi, da ne," Yanagisawa drawled as he leaned against the doorway of the dorm. "Let's go to the street courts today da ne."
If Yuuta had any reaction to that invitation, he hid it well as he shoved away the latest delivery of fresh laundry.
"Yuuta-kun's coming along with us da ne, aren't you Yuuta-kun?"
"Hn," he answered non-commitally. He was usually up for a visit to the street tennis courts – any practice was good. But he didn't want to seem to enthusiastic either. It might attract unwanted (but truly deserved) suspicion.
"If you come along with us, we can do doubles against Mizuki and Yuuta-kun da ne. Come on, Atsushi," and Yuuta marveled at the persistent person that was Yanagisawa Shinya.
"I've got too much schoolwork," Kisarazu grumbled, but eventually logic won over, and the four made their way to the street tennis courts.
"Yuuta-kun, does your brother go to the street tennis courts often?" Mizuki suddenly asked.
Yuuta wasn't surprised that Mizuki had asked this question. He was developing a rather unhealthy obsession with his aniki. But it wasn't his business and who cared? As long as Mizuki still helped him to become a better player. And as long as their relationship status remained as Rivals Only.
In response to his question, Yuuta shrugged. "Not too frequent, I guess." Not as frequent as someone else, anyway.
"Damn, da ne," Yanagisawa cursed when they reached. "There're lots of people today da ne."
Yuuta had to agree with him, and part of him was disappointed that they might not be able to find a court easily. But the other part of him jumped for joy. At least, as much as he would let it.
After all, full courts nearly always meant that she would be there as well.
"Do you think we should just go?" Mizuki said impatiently. After all, if Fuji Shuusuke didn't go to the street tennis courts often, it probably meant he wouldn't be there.
Waaaait a second. "Come on, we've come all the way over here and we're just going to give up? I'm sure we can find a court somewhere." Yuuta tried not to sound too foul over the idea of leaving. It was perfectly true, anyway. St Rudolph wasn't exactly near this place.
"He's right," Atsushi said. "Now you've dragged me all the way here, we might as well fight for a court."
"That's right," an unfamiliar voice spoke up. "If you're planning to use a court, you have to challenge someone who's playing. And it's doubles only."
The four boys turned. "Heyy, it's you da ne!" Yanagisawa exclaimed in glee. "The cute one from last time."
The petite girl smiled happily. "Thank you!"
Yuuta summoned all his willpower to repel the blood rushing to his cheeks.
"Well, doubles isn't a problem for us," Mizuki declared. "St. Rudolph's doubles one pair is right here."
"That's right, da ne! Say, if we win, would you go out with me da ne?"
She laughed. "Thanks, I'm flattered. But I can't."
"Aww, da ne," Yanagisawa moaned as they five of them moved off to find a doubles pair to challenge. "Are you already attached da ne?"
Yuuta's heartbeat jumped up so quickly that he almost choked.
"Well, not technically, but Kamio-kun scares off everyone who tries to-"
Kamio. That rhythm guy. The one who keeps yelling. In fact, I think I can hear him from here-
"Aww, that's too bad da ne," Yanagisawa pitied himself amongst the other guys who had tried to ask An out and failed.
They soon found a court to challenge.
"Watch us! Da ne."
Yuuta followed Mizuki to a bench nearby and sat down next to Mizuki.
She sat down with them.
Now, given the circumstances, Yuuta technically should have been jumping for joy. After all, this was the scene he'd always dreamed of – he and his friends coming to the street courts, she being there, she approaching him and he would ultimately be cool and irresistible, and-
"I've never seen those guys before."
So Mizuki didn't appear in his dream scenario, but it made things better. If it had been only him and her, he mused, he would have …collapsed? No. But he wasn't exactly the smooth talker Mizuki was, so having Mizuki around calmed him down. Although he would not exactly call himself calm right then.
"Oh, they're from a neighbourhood school around here. They always come around to play because their school doesn't have an official tennis club."
"So you know all these people?"
"Yeah."
Yuuta wished he had been born with the gift of talking to girls without making a twit of himself.
"Oi! Mizuki!" An unfamiliar person waved over from the next court.
Mizuki lifted his hand in acknowledgement, and as fast as lightning, he was gone.
OhGodOhGodOhGod.
Yuuta cursed Mizuki's acquaintance from the bottom of his heart.
What am I going to say? If I say something, it'll come out totally dorky and she'll be repulsed by me forever. If I don't say anything, I'll come off as unfriendly and she'll never talk to us again. She'll think I'm this antisocial-
"Fuji Yuuta, right?" She smiled at him.
She called me by my name.
Yuuta was so flooded by relief that she had started the conversation that he knew he wouldn't have given a damn if she'd said "Fuji no otouto, right?" but he felt his spirits soar, all the same. She had remembered his name.
"Thanks," he blurted out, and was immediately docked over by how stupid his reply had been. "I mean, for calling me by my name." Shit. I sound stupider and stupider.
She laughed. "I get what you're trying to say. I get irritated by people who keep calling me Tachibana-imouto as well."
Yuuta smiled slightly. His chest had stopped thumping. Maybe this would work, after all.
"So…Tachibana An, right?" He was hit over by how lame it sounded, but it fit into the flow of the conversation at least.
"I go by An-chan. Hey, good one!" she applauded the Yanagisawa-Kisarazu pair who had scored a point on the line.
"We'll get this court in no time, Yuuta-kun, da ne!" Yanagisawa boasted.
An giggled. "He's funny, isn't he?" she commented.
Yuuta nodded. "Yeah he is." As flaky as Yanagisawa is, even An remembers him, 'cos he's funny.
He racked his brains for something else to say when things fell silent. He glanced at her for a fraction of a second, and found her concentrating on the game. Talk tennis.
But nobody chose to do anything spectacular, and once again Yuuta was left with nothing to say.
"They're not very flashy, aren't they," An suddenly said.
Yuuta was once again relieved. "No, they're not," he admitted. "Not like Seigaku's doubles one, or Rikkai's. But they work well together, and they're a stable pair with good individual abilities."
"Don't you play doubles, Fuji-san?"
"Yeah, occasionally," he answered, "but I don't have the knack for it. I guess I'm just trying to make my singles game better."
An smiled sweetly. "I think you're a really good southpaw."
Yuuta felt his stomach contort in a mixure of happiness, pride and nervousness. But he smiled. "Thank you."
"An-chan! Your brother's here!"
"Oh!" She stood up and turned to Yuuta, offering a hand. Somewhat dazed by the sudden and unwelcome interruption, Yuuta took it.
An shook it firmly, almost comically. "Well, it was nice to talk to you, Fuji Yuuta-san," she said seriously. Then she smiled sweetly again. "You should smile more. You'd be surprised at the number of hearts you may break."
Something about Yuuta's expression must have been rather interesting, for she laughed and then was gone, a figure clad in purple and white.
Yuuta pinched himself. It hurt.
Did he just dream it, or did she just say something along the lines of "I think you're good-looking?"
It left him in a stupor such that he did not hear his schoolmates cheer over their victory.
"Oi! Yuuta! Come on, let's play! Where's Mizuki!"
Atsushi's yell brought him out of his reverie, but he did not snap entirely out of it either. He walked to the other end of the court they had walked, absently spinning his racket as he did.
"Saw you talking with the kawaii girl, da ne," Yanagisawa said teasingly. "Say, you're not trying to steal her away from me, are you?"
Yuuta flinched. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh come on," Kisarazu said in Yuuta's defense. "She's a naturally friendly girl. Everyone who plays in the street courts knows her. Just because she talks to Yuuta doesn't mean anything."
"Sorry guys," Mizuki came running up, "old friend."
As they spun rackets, Yuuta glanced at the other far end of the whole lot of courts. She was talking to someone else.
Atsushi's right. She's naturally friendly. She probably wanted to lighten up the mood, or something.
"Let's place a bet, da ne," Yanagisawa suggested. "It makes things more interesting."
I don't stand out. I'm not funny like Yanagisawa. Or good-looking like Atsushi. I'm just another guy who wants to use the street tennis courts.
"That's dumb. You're obviously betting on yourself."
"Bye, Fuji Yuuta-san!"
Yuuta turned, surprised that she had yelled goodbye over three tennis courts. She waved, and he waved back.
She was just being friendly, he tried to explain it to himself.
But she hadn't yelled goodbye to anyone else.
It doesn't mean anything, he thought forcefully. She was just being friendly. We just had a conversation. It was only polite.
"Atsushi, you serve, da ne."
It's not worth the humiliation and embarrassment to find out if it means anything at all.
He turned his attention back to the game.
But the street tennis courts is a good place to hang out, as long as she's still around.
owari
A/N: This is, in my opinion, the most boring unrequited one. But it's what most of us suffer from. Unrequited because we're way too afraid to find out for sure, because of the fear of rejection, and we hang on by a thread hoping for more signs, but we never get the courage to do anything about it.
And yeah, I didn't originally intend it to be this way, but you can take it as a companion piece to the previous chapter.