Disclaimer: The Prince of Tennis do not belong to me.
Chapter Seventeen: A Meeting of Miyu's Doing
The next day, at lunchtime, Yukimura made his way to the girls' classroom.
He was followed by Yanagi and Sanada, who were curious as to this sudden interest in Sakuno. They were not so naïve as to think that he wanted to see Miyu and he was not so stupid as to think they thought he wanted to see his sister. After, Yukimura and Miyu had come to school together just that morning because she also had morning practice.
When they reached the classroom, they found the rest of the regulars there.
Bunta was mock-wrestling Miyu but he stopped when Yukimura looked at him silently. He might enjoy having fun at his sister's expense but that did not change the fact that he was her over-protective brother.
The 'over' was everyone's, apart from Yukimura's, opinion because Yukimura had been known to go frantic when he thought any boy to be hitting on his sister.
After 'looking' at Bunta, Yukimura was about to ask the reason for their combined presence when, Yagyuu started explaining that Sakuno had received permission to stop using the crutches after her bandages were removed this afternoon and she could also start playing tennis again.
Bunta had heard about it from Amano-sensei when he went to the san for medicine because he ate too much during break and had told Jackal with Niou nearby, who told Yagyuu and Yagyuu told Akaya because he knew that Akaya sometimes accompanied the girls to the san.
They thought about telling the other three but they guessed that they would not care less. How wrong they were!
Sakuno's eyes brightened when she saw Yukimura and she got a bag out of her schoolbag.
Yukimura bit his cheek; he was looking forward to this. Yanagi sensed something was going to happen and took out a pen and his traditional notebook.
Sakuno said shyly, "Ano, Miyu-chan, I know that you were worried about the Japanese project we had to do and Yagyuu-senpai only had one copy each of the books he recommended, so Yukimura-senpai helped me yesterday to get to the public library and I got them for you. Now you don't have to worry that you don't have anything to read for the project."
She handed the bag of books to Miyu who had a fixed smile on her face.
She forced herself to look inside the bag and saw the books inside. She quickly put them down and gave Sakuno a tight hug, so that Sakuno would not be able to see the glare she was giving her brother who looked like he wanted to burst out laughing.
She thanked Sakuno in a bright and happy voice, "Thank you so much, Sakuno! I am so sorry that you have to do this when your ankle was not well. Next time, let me treat you to ice-cream."
Sakuno was touched.
888888
She did not notice some of the regulars' expressions. Most of them were aware that Miyu was not particularly fond of reading.
Bunta's shoulders were shaking silently; he did not want Sakuno to know he was laughing because she would want to know why and he did not want to tell her.
Akaya also knew and he just went outside and laughed his fill before coming back in.
Sanada was amused but he did not show it.
Yanagi, as usual, was penning everything down.
Yagyuu and Jackal were aware that Miyu disliked reading and were surprised by the others' reactions.
Niou simply smirked and kept quiet.
Miyu smoothed over her glare and released Sakuno, smiling, "Let's go now, Sakuno. Amano-sensei would be waiting for us."
Although she was not 'pleasantly surprised' by the books, she was touched by Sakuno's thoughtfulness.
However, she told herself, she would get back at these wretched regulars who were laughing at her.
It did not matter that some of them did not laugh; she usually just put them into one big group. Besides, it promoted teamwork, one for all and all for one, right? She smirked to herself.
She had not missed her brother's involvement in this little 'surprise' and decided since her dear brother also seemed to be interested in her sweet friend, she would 'help' him and the lot of them by quickening the pace of her matchmaking plans.
888888
That night, she gave Yanagi a call and explained to him what she wanted.
She always got along with Yanagi because even when she was smaller, he never treated her like a child. He would speak to her as an equal.
Besides, he did not seem interested in Sakuno other than collecting data from her or using her to collect data about the regulars. Oh, he liked her as a person but he just did not feel the need to get close to her.
888888
After listening to Miyu's request, he told her to wait and he would get back to her later that night.
He hung up and called Inui Sadaharu.
Inui was pleased to receive his call. They never lost time on trivial greetings and Yanagi explained Miyu's request immediately.
Inui was interested, of course, and said that he knew the girl and Yanagi had probably seen her before as well, a few years ago anyway, so that might account for him not remembering who she was and who her grandmother was.
To his credit, Yanagi remembered as soon as Inui gave the hint about Sakuno's grandmother, "So she was Ryuzaki-sensei's granddaughter. I remember now, but she was even smaller when we first saw her at the Junior Training Camp when we were gathered to choose a team for the match against the Americans. She had a really loud friend, didn't she? An Echizen-fan, I think."
Inui chuckled, "Yes, you are right. There is more to it though. I don't have all the details but I will come to Kanagawa to meet you and Yukimura's sister this Sunday. By that time, I will have all the details and we can plan…"
The last words were faintly nasty and Yanagi smiled, though Inui would not be able to see, "Yes, then, we can plan…"
They hung up simultaneously; the in-grained reflexes of a remarkable doubles' pair.
Yanagi called Miyu to let her know about Sunday, telling her what Inui had said and Miyu, (no wonder they got along), gave an evil chuckle, "Thanks, Renji-niisan. Call me when you have decided where to meet and I'll be there."
The three of them went to bed that night, feeling very pleased and excited at the prospect of making a 'plan…'