Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis. The Japanese author and novels I mentioned below do exist and no, I do not own them.

Author's Notes: Abe no Seimei was an onmyoji from the 11th century. He was a real person according to historical accounts,but most of the stories told about him were based on myths. Yokomizo Seishi was a 20th century writer who specializes in detective novels. His greatest and most famous creationwas the detective, Kindaichi Kousuke.

Chapter 15: A Sunday at the Café (Part Five)

Miyu's flashback while she was eating continued:

You might find it hard to believe but sometimes people tended not to realize Yagyuu Hiroshi's presence when he was among the group of Rikkai regulars. He might be tall and good-looking but his quiet gentlemanly air was often eclipsed by the bright arrogance of others like Sanada, Akaya and Bunta.

At this moment, however, it would extremely difficult to miss him because he was making his presence known. If I must be plain and honest, he was actually talking a mile a minute.

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After they had been to the san, they slowly, because of Sakuno, made their way to the library.

Along the way, Miyu and Sakuno explained about their Japanese project in detail and Yagyuu started to recommend novels that they might read for it.

He was enjoying himself because he rarely had the chance to talk about his favorite novels with others. Sometimes, he would discuss books with Yanagi but the discussion was always limited to literature because Yanagi only enjoyed reading Japanese literature. Yagyuu, on the other hand, read almost everything but his preferences were mystery and supernatural novels.

He was talking about a series of novels about a famous onmyoji called Abe no Seimei from the 11th century.

Miyu, not being an avid reader, was already spaced. She had tuned him out in the first five minutes, not really wanting to pay attentive to all that book-talk. Besides, her objective was not to listen to him ramble on about this novel or that novel but something else.

Sakuno was listening with interest until Yagyuu started to describe some of the demons and monsters that Seimei had fought with. Then she started to look a bit green in the face.

Yagyuu was describing a particularly nasty, though exciting, adventure of Seimei's when he glanced at his companions.

He stopped and turned to look at Sakuno.

Miyu, he just ignored, knowing that she was thinking about something else already; the spaced-out look she had on her face was the exactly the same one that Yukimura sometimes wore during a boring History lesson - blank.

"Ryuzaki-san, was I disturbing you with all the monsters talk?" His face was expressionless as he looked at Sakuno, his eyes hidden by his glasses.

Sakuno lowered her eyes, not really wanting to answer because she thought it was rather rude of her when he was being considerate and kind in helping them with their project. She did not know that Miyu was not listening at all.

Yagyuu lifted her chin so she was facing him directly and asked again.

This time Sakuno, looking slightly ashamed, answered, "Uh… h-hai, Yagyuu-senpai. G-gomen-nasai, I really enjoyed hearing about Abe no Seimei but I think I am a bit scared of the monsters."

Yagyuu let go of her chin and pushed his glasses up, a sure sign that he was not comfortable, although you could never tell from his face.

"I am sorry, Ryuzaki-san, I forget that one should not talk about monsters in the company of a lady." He did not really think of Miyu as a lady since he remembered her when she was about eleven and more like a boy than a girl.

He went on, "You should have told me when you did not like what I was saying, Ryuzaki-san."

Sakuno bit her lip and thought, "Oh no, Yagyuu-senpai sounds so stern. I wonder if he is angry." She thought whether she should apologize again but she saw that Yagyuu was not paying attention.

He was thinking about what other novels that might not disturb the gentle sensibilities of Sakuno. Sakuno looked at him, immobile with his chin resting on his hand, as he thought.

Suddenly, he looked down at Sakuno again. The action was so sudden that Sakuno gasped softly.

The gasp brought Miyu out of her 'space' and she looked around, "What? What?"

The other two looked at her. Miyu grinned sheepishly, "Oh, sorry, I spaced out; Hiroshi-san was so long-winded when he was talking about that novel… I forgot the name."

Yagyuu was slightly annoyed at this younger sister of Yukimura but he did not show it. How dare she dismiss the interesting novels he was talking about so easily?

However, he ignored her, not wanting to get angry at a little girl though rude she may be, and turned back to Sakuno. "Ryuzaki-san, I think I have the exact author that you can write about. He is a highly respected author with plenty of information that you will be able to find. There are no monsters in his work, so you don't have to worry."

Miyu cut in, seemingly lost after her spacing-out, "Monsters, were you talking about monsters, Hiroshi-san? I should have been listening then! Monsters are cool!"

Yagyuu was irritated now and Miyu could tell, she had known him for three years after all and inwardly giggled. She may respect him but she also found him to be a good source of amusement because he was so serious sometimes, especially about things that he liked.

Sakuno sensed that Yagyuu was not entirely pleased and not wanting him to be angry with Miyu, tried to distract him, "A-ano, Yagyuu-senpai, who is the author you wanted to recommend to us?"

Yagyuu was distracted successfully, "Oh, gomen, Ryuzaki-san, I am sure that you have heard of this author, he is Yokomizo Seishi."

Miyu interrupted again, deliberately, "But, Hiroshi-san, we are doing a literature project, would it be alright? I mean, isn't that guy a detective novel writer? Is that literature?"

Yagyuu, not liking Miyu at all in this moment, said, "Miyu-san, then would you like to suggest someone else?"

Sakuno was distressed now. Miyu was not usually this provocative and she did not understand why she was being like this.

Sakuno said to Miyu softly, "Miyu-chan, I-I think it would be alright because sensei didn't say it has to be literature. Besides Yokomizo Seishi is a respected writer. Obaa-chan sometimes reads his work; she really likes the detective he created – Kindaichi Kousuke, ne."

Miyu pretended to look dubious and said, "Well, if you say so, I guess…"

Yagyuu was hard-pressed not to say what was on his mind, "If you don't trust my judgment, then you should not have asked me in the first place, you brat!"

However, sweet little Sakuno was around and she did not deserve to hear harsh words when she had been so attentive, appreciative and polite.

Instead, he cleared his throat and said, "In that case, it's settled. Let us go on to the library to see if there are any works of Yokomizo-sensei to be borrowed. Even if there are not, I have his entire collection and I can lend them to you."

He was looking at Sakuno when he said, not really wanting to lend anything to Miyu after her dismissal of the value of Yokomizo Seishi's works.

Miyu mentally rolled her eyes; she could tell that Yagyuu was not about to speak to her again if he could help it, at least today anyway.

She did not really care because she had accomplished her initial goal and that was to have Sakuno leave a good image in Yagyuu's mind, a girl that was sincere and polite.

She was confident that both of them now had a positive impression of each other. After all, Miyu was not Yukimura's sister for nothing.

Her gentle brother may be the best out of all the regulars in the tennis club but that was not the only reason he was buchou.

He was buchou because he knew how to manipulate people and she learnt that from him. How to push the right buttons to get a person to react the way she wanted.

She knew that it would be difficult to get under Yagyuu's skin because he was so gentlemanly and calm.

However she also knew that he was extremely protective of the things he loved and therefore, she let Sakuno be the attentive audience, no difficulty about that, and herself be the rude one, no difficulty about that either.

She did not like reading anyway and she could always get Sakuno to tell her about what he had said later.

As she had suspected, Yagyuu's gentleman-beliefs worked in her favor because although he set a high standard of behavior for himself, it also became the standard of behavior for people around him, so it did not take a lot for him to think that a person is rude.

Usually he would ignore it, accepting that not everyone shared his beliefs but when combined with the rude dismissal of his passions, like reading, tennis or golf, then he could be easily irritated.

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Personally, apart from their tennis skills, brains and looks, Miyu did not have a very high opinion of the Rikkai regulars.

They were on the whole, arrogant, proud but also awfully childish. Moreover, they were too into their tennis to notice anything else around them. If they had been so dense, she would not have to become Matchmaker Miyu to help them get a life.

Em… she thought she liked the sound of that: Matchmaker Miyu.

She vowed that if she ever found a boyfriend, she would not have someone like them. They were too strong and obsessive; she wanted someone she could mother, rather like a boy-version of Sakuno maybe.

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For the rest of that lunchtime, Yagyuu totally ignored Miyu and promised to bring some of Yokomizo Seishi's best novels in the next day to lend to Sakuno because the 'crappy' library, as he mentally termed it, did not have a very good collection of Yokomizo Seishi's works.

Sakuno wanted to ask him to lend some to Miyu but she knew that he was not pleased with her so she decided to go to the public library later and borrow some for her friend.

She forgot that she did not know the way to the public library yet because she only moved to this area recently and anyway, it would take her ages to hobble there in her present state even if she did not get lost.

Privately, she enjoyed the afternoon very much, apart from the description of the monsters, Yagyuu was knowledgeable and he made the stories he told her come alive.

She thought that if the novels were as he described, then she would have to find time and read them for they sounded so interesting and alluring.

Later, she reflected to Miyu that, "Yagyuu-senpai was like a magician. He made pictures with his words and it was amazing! I never knew that novels can be so interesting! I can't believe that I thought Yagyuu-senpai to be a stern person in the beginning; he is so funny and considerate!"

Miyu smiled to hear it and was happy for her.