I decided to write a longer chapter. I tried to make it funny by adding little snips inside it...hope you enjoy them!

Summary: Discover the secret why dreadful plays written by rookies were the ones chosen to be performed officially in the school. Discover why pigs can fly. Discover the secret element in Eiji's play.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Prince of Tennis.

Enjoy!

Eiji Adventures – Part Five

Eiji and the school play

The redhead had his hands held together under his chin, his eyes were glimmering and he was looking inspirationally at the sky. His words were spoken with passion and his body language showed how committed he was into his story.

"…nya, so the kitten took out his long silver blade and hoi hoi, courageously chopped down all the evil vines with thorns on. After he chopped them all down, nya, he found a beautiful princess kitten! The princess kitten thanked the courageous white kitten who saved her nya, and invited him to live in the big castle not so far away. The white kitten kindly accepted nya, and…-"

Oishi decided to break his fantasized doubles partner's passionate speech with a loud cough.

"Uh, Eiji, I think this play is very…creative and it would definitely be chosen. I will watch it as a surprise then…" Oishi forced out an uneasy smile.

"Nya? You think it'll get chosen?" the hyper third year jumped in grace, "Don't worry, I won't let you down!" Eiji jumped off.

Oishi was left alone in the corridor, class was about to begin and he wondered…if Eiji's play was really chosen…then pigs could fly.

The annual play performance was coming up soon and people were starting to write scripts. Eiji was working very hard to submit a script to the drama department. It was morning when Eiji performed his script in front of Oishi. At lunch on the same day, those who wrote a script would perform out their play summaries to the judges who would choose only one play out of many. The performance of the summary had to be lively and must interest the judges, not otherwise. Not many people wrote scripts because it was too hard to be chosen. Those who wrote were the ones who were very confident about their creativity.

However, some strange results had occurred during the past years which caused the frustration of several brilliant play writers. The judges chose plays from rookie writers. Those who are ignorant did not understand the relationship between the previous chosen plays. Actually, the plays which were chosen all had something in common, and we would uncover it in here.

But in Eiji's case, it was probably his obsession in kittens that motivated him to write, not because he had confidence in writing.

The performing had started. At the back stage of the hall where all the summary speakers gathered, Fuji and Oishi were encouraging Eiji.

"Eiji, good luck," smiled the tensai, "bring us a sparkling show."

"Remember, Eiji, speak loudly and make sure you get the judges' attention!" said Oishi, who was dead worried that Eiji might fall off stage for jumping too much.

Eiji nodded and muttered 'nya' under his breath to show that he understood. For the first time in his life, he was nervous. He had never spoken in front of audiences on his own before.

Meanwhile Ryoma and Momo were watching the summaries from the audience area. Ryoma was smirking ever so slightly at the ridiculous plays that people thought up. For heaven's sake, weren't the people who wrote these plays meant to be creative? He smirked more at the thought of the word creative. So far, all the stories were vaguely the same. Castles, princes, princesses…kings, queens, and evil advisors. There was no originality in this. Ryoma yawned at the point when the performer on the stage spoke long and nauseating words. What was the point of putting those words in when nobody understood them?

Momo, on the other hand, wasn't smirking like the brat next to him was. He was frowning very noticeably.

"Echizen, can't I go finish my hamburger? I don't want to spend lunch time listening to ridiculously seedless plays!" Momo was drooling at the thought of beef hamburgers with extra filling, "Please? Let's have lunch?"

Ryoma wasn't hungry; in fact, he was full enough after listening to so many plays that people had written. He also wanted to see his hyper senpai's play. He snickered at the thought of what it would be like.

"I'm not hungry," the dark haired freshman stated, "and besides, I want to watch Kikumaru senpai's play summary."

Momo sighed, "Fine," and sat down. His stomach gave a loud growl, "you know, I just realised one thing, you need to be a very good actor and speaker to be chosen."

"Uh-huh," replied Ryoma. That was obvious enough, thought the young tennis genius.

"Have you been listening?" said Momo, whose stomach growled again, "Oh, I need food…" and held on to his stomach.

Back at the backstage, Eiji was jumping up and down, warming up.

"Eiji, you don't need to warm up for performances like this you know?" said Oishi, who was worried that Eiji would go out of breath before his turn came. Knowing Eiji, he was the one who lacked stamina. Even if he had been training under thin air condition, the training only started a week ago, progress couldn't be seen so soon.

"Saa, Eiji?" said Fuji.

"Nya?"

"It's your turn."

The redhead looked at the stage. Indeed, the performer before him had gotten off stage. The judges were calling him out.

"Kikumaru Eiji," said a judge with a loudspeaker, "Kikumaru Eiji, last call, Kikumaru Eiji."

Eiji walked out onto the stage. The cold air blew crashed upon his face and he inhaled deeply. He tapped his foot on the floor twice and turned to face the judges who were sitting before him."

"I'm Kikumaru Eiji, class 3.6," The third year announced.

The judges all gave a nod for Eiji to begin. The redhead breathed in deeply again. Slowly, as he breathed out, he kicked off sharply.

The kitten, the princess kitten, the castle, the king, the queen, the knights, and the evil advisor toad, that was Eiji's special story that he had been preparing for a long time. All in all, it was pretty much the same story compared to the others except that this one had all the characters portrayed as animals.

The audiences were laughing wildly, pointing accusingly at Eiji's story. Their mocking fingers piercing through Eiji's face, ripping his band-aid. Those who got bored of the story retreated from the area. Those who like to ridicule others stayed and snickered like little kids. Even Momo and Ryoma couldn't help it but start chuckling a little.

Eiji had never felt such a rapid hope loss in all his life. All these years, he had always been the youngest one in the family. Everyone cared for him, loved him the most. Whenever he did something, the people around him would feed him with wonderful commendation that he thought he had deserved. Hadn't he deserved any of it?

Now that he realised something, all the times when he thought he was brilliant, he was really the worst person in the field. And this time did not count as an exception.

His play was dreadful. That was the truth, the fact.

The supposedly hyper third year ran off stage. He ran and ran, out of school, along the path. He had never been this disappointed before. And at this time, the best comfort would be the large cargo box that he and Oishi always consulted whenever they were sad.

Eiji sat on top of the large box, staring into the horizon. Lessons were about to begin, but he didn't care. He was going to skive, and that was his best decision.

He mumbled to himself about the play. He mumbled the lines that he had spent day and night memorising. The night before, he stayed awake all night trying to get everything into his head. Now everything was wasted. His played wasn't really going to be chosen.

Oishi lied.

So Oishi was one of them then? Those people who lied to him because they thought he was a thick child? They all thought he was a thick child. Eiji refused to approve that fact.

The redhead sat on the cargo box and lost track of the time. But why did the time matter anymore? He was sad and his play wasn't chosen, those facts certainly overtake time, right?

The play meant so much to him. He spent his time on the play whenever he's not studying or practising tennis. He wanted to be chosen, was his desire for this hope not enough?

Eiji sighed; the yearning obviously wasn't enough then. The play needed to have quality, creativity, and originality. The person who wrote it also needed to be a good performer. He had none of those virtues, whether in his playwriting or himself.

The sun was preparing to set, the disappointed third year decided to run back to school and fetch his bag that he had left when he ran away.

He jumped off the box and ran as the sky turned orange for the sun was getting to rest. When he got back to school, he ran up to his locker, where he had kept his bag and all the precious belongings inside during lunch. The redhead took out his keys and unlocked his locker.

Indeed, his bag was inside, he took out his bag and prepared to start running back home. He ran to the gates but stopped as he approached a shadow. The shadow had a bad haircut. Eiji looked up from at shadow.

"Oishi?"

"Eiji, Fuji told me you weren't there during lessons," Oishi scratched his bad haircut and continued, "You went to the box, didn't you?"

Eiji wasn't surprised that Oishi knew where he had been He gently nodded and remained stationary.

"Your performance wasn't bad," Oishi said to reassure Eiji.

Normally, Eiji would be happy again after Oishi reassured him and cheered him up, but this time was different. Eiji looked more disappointed as Oishi tried to tell him that his performance was good.

"Oishi?" Eiji began.

"Hm?" Oishi said, telling Eiji to continue.

"You're lying."

Oishi stood at the gates, wide eyed. Eiji never talked back like that, and besides, he wasn't exactly lying, was he? Compared to the others, Eiji's summary was exceptionally good and had more originality because of the animals. Oishi looked at Eiji, who was staring back at Oishi in the eye. Ouch, it was such a strong stare.

"Look, Eiji, I wasn't lying, compared to the other plays, yours was exceptionally good, and if you're angry because you think I'm lying, then you shouldn't be-"

"It is okay, Oishi. I'm not going to be chosen, nya."

Oishi stopped and analysed the red haired boy in front of him. His eyes revealed a wounded sharpness that stared coldly at Oishi. His lips were turned down and he was frowning slightly.

Eiji was very serious.

"See, I'm sorry if-"

"Nya, there's no need to apologise, it's not your fault that my play was dreadful," Eiji finished his last words before the day and pushed pass his golden pair partner.

Oishi stared at the slowly dissolving shadow of the hyper part of the Golden pair. The hyper part he was, but now very dismayed.

"We'll see," murmured the Seigaku doubles player with a bad haircut.

Oishi expected Eiji to be fine by the next day like he usually would be, but unexpectedly, he wasn't. During morning practise, Eiji didn't pay attention to the ball at all. He got smacked down several times. And by the end on practise, the redhead's face was sore red with many tennis ball cuts on it. Oishi sighed; as the mother of Seigaku, what was he to do? What can he do? Not much, almost nothing. Eiji wouldn't pay attention to the ball in tennis, why would he listen to Oishi?

Fuji, being an observant person that he was, also noticed something about Eiji. He asked Oishi about it and Oishi told him all that he knew…

"…So to round it up, Eiji's play was criticised, and Eiji is very upset about it," concluded Fuji.

"Basically, that's what it is."

"All right, I'll see what I can do," the sadistic third year trotted away from the changing room and hurried to class.

Fuji sat next to Eiji as he got into class, keeping his smile pierced onto his face, charming as ever.

"Eiji, is something bothering you?" Fuji attempted to ask.

Eiji was looking out of the window, and didn't hear Fuji call him.

"Eiji?" Fuji tapped Eiji on the shoulder. The redhead turned around in surprise.

"N-nya?" Eiji didn't know someone was calling him. He turned around and saw Fuji, "Fuji, when did you come in?"

Fuji just about knew how upset Eiji was.

"Nothing, I just wanted to tell you about that the results for the performances of the play summaries from yesterday. They will be on the bulletin at lunchtime today," Fuji said.

"Oh," replied Eiji bluntly, "It doesn't really matter, I won't be chosen anyway." Eiji shrugged. He didn't decide to go check the bulletin today, he knew his play was dreadful, who didn't?

"All right," Fuji made a mental note to check the bulletin for Eiji.

Class started and ended. Time flew pass so quickly that the judges from yesterday was pinning the result sheet onto the bulletin, smiling slightly at the winning contestant's name.

Ryoma and Momo were in the queue in the school cafeteria when Horio came running towards them.

"Have you seen the results for the play summary judging? I hear the judges really love the chosen play because-"

Before Horio could finish his point, Ryoma dragged Momo off the queue to look at the results of the summary speeches.

There was a large crowd around the bulletin. People were sighing and making noises of surprise and shock. Those who were curious of who won were also shaken by the results of the contest.

"What? How could he have won? His play was rubbish!" said one.

"Mine was way better than his, what were the judges thinking?" said two.

Ryoma, granted for his small body, squashed himself into the crowds and was at the front in a matter of seconds. He read the large name printed in black ink on the bulletin board. His eyes widened in disbelief.

"This can't be…" he muttered under his breath.

By that time, Momo was also managed to push through to the front of the crowds. He studied the notice board.

"Nan de…" said Momo in astonishment.

Oishi and Fuji were also there. They were there before Ryoma and Momo but only just survived pushing through the crowds. They were both shaken, in a good way by the results.

"I told you it would be all right," said Fuji in reassurance.

"Pigs can really fly..." Oishi said in amazement.

"What?"

"Nothing," Oishi replied instantaneously.

Oishi and Fuji both ran to Eiji's homeroom.

"Eiji! Guess what! The results for the judging-" Oishi began.

"Stop trying to depress me, nya! I know I'm not chosen!" Eiji said miserably.

"Saa, Eiji, maybe you would like to see it for yourself then."

With the force of two people, Oishi and Fuji pulled Eiji to the notice board. The crowds were pretty much gone by then. Oishi and Fuji stopped when they were in front of the notice board, the results of the contest before them.

Eiji had his eyes closed and refused to open them, "I know you're just trying to trick me. I know it! I'm not stupid!" said Eiji.

"No, Eiji, you're not stupid, but look at the notice board!" Oishi said.

Momo and Ryoma joined in as they spotted their senpais. They tried to open Eiji's eyes with their fingers.

"Oi oi! Don't threaten me to look! Nya!" Eiji said. But just as his eyelids were opened for the flash of a millisecond, he saw something that caused him his bewilderment.

"Nanska…." he said. The redhead saw his name clearly printed on a piece of paper on the notice board.

Kikumaru Eiji (3.6)

Play Title: The tale of the Kitten Kingdom.

There it was, placed right in front of his eyes. How could it be? He was sure that he saw everybody laugh and criticise his performance with their offensive laugh and their piercing fingers. He was sure that he saw the judges-

One moment, what were the judges doing at that time? He wasn't very sure, he wasn't aware of it.

A large grin was plastered onto the once again hyper third year. He jumped up and down in joy. His arms were flung naturally with the movement of his body, and he did several somersaults in the air. A back flip, a front flip, and a double spin. It was all too natural for him right now. He's happy, he's satisfied, and now, he knew he had gotten what he wanted.

A brown haired uni-browed first year appeared several metres away from the joyous group of Seigaku students. He was looking rather prideful as he always did, and he walked over to the celebrating students.

"Senpai-tachi, Ryoma, do you know why Kikumaru senpai's play got chosen?" the brown haired boy smiled with superiority.

The happy group now all turned to look at Horio, who had crossed his arms and nodded wisely, "I knew you wouldn't have known," the boy coughed and continued, "Well, you see, the results are decided freely by the judges and," he paused, "one of the most powerful judges liked animals very much." Horio had both eyes closed, but he opened on eye to see the reaction of the senpai-tachi.

Kikumaru senpai remained happy; he didn't care why the judges chose him, as long as his work paid off. But the other senpais thought different, and cracked up in hysterical laughter.

The day ended with Eiji who skipped happily home to inform his family about the exciting news. It seemed like he had already forgotten how sad he had been several hours before, though it really wasn't a bad thing to forget sorrow.

Ryoma and Momo couldn't wait for their senpai's play to be performed officially. Momo, once again, missed his lunch because he had to celebrate his senpai's success in playwright.

Oishi could finally put down something that he had to worry about, and could concentrate in worrying about the tennis team. Also, he didn't lie, after all.

So the real reason behind the difficulty of being chosen for your play was discovered by Kikumaru Eiji. Nobody had ever written about animals so distinctively, and it was really what the powerful judge wanted to see. When the judge saw Eiji's play, it was immediately chosen, despite the mocking laughter from the audience.

"Mada mada Dane, Kikumaru senpai," muttered Ryoma in his sleep.

End----------------------->

Well, it wasn't that long, I suppose. But definitely longer than the last two chapters...

Did you enjoy it? Drop me your review!

I personally like this. Though...ahaha, Eiji's rapid hope loss.

Read and Review, as always.