Title: Fury

Characters: Mouri Jusaburou, Yukimura Seiichi

Summary: Yukimura hated Mouri, but everyone around him believed it was due to his senpai's laid-back attitude and habit of skipping tennis practice. It had been over a year, and yet he still held onto these feelings of ire. Why was that the case?


I hated him the moment I met him. He was the second year ace when I joined the tennis club and he made sure everyone knew it. Not once did I see him take practice seriously. Not once did I see him play against his opponents seriously. Not once did I see him take anything he was responsible for seriously. He took advantage of our captain's goodwill and always made Renji run around in circles just to find him. People protected him from any sort of reprimand. I tried my best to make him pay, but everyone seemed to stop me when I tried. It made me angry.

Why was everyone acting this way towards him? Why did he get all this special treatment? They claim he's some "genius", but I have yet to see any of his supposed "talent". He was some nobody transfer student and suddenly became Rikkai's best player? I refused to accept that, but I couldn't say anything about it. I was only a freshman, after all. It was a privilege that I was even allowed to play as a regular on the team to begin with—even if I totally deserved it.

I had the unfortunate displeasure of meeting him for the first time at the opening ceremony. Sanada had disappeared somewhere and I went to go search for him, but I got lost in the process. I was walking around aimlessly in the halls when I turned a corner and tripped over someone who was sitting on the ground.

"Ah!"

The person leaned over and slid themselves under me, causing me to land on top of them.

"Easy there, princess," they laughed. "What's the rush?"

"I'm so sorry," I panicked as I quickly stood up. "I didn't see you."

The person got off of the floor. I looked up at them to see an overly cheery boy towering over me.

"Wow, you're a bit too cute to be wearing a boys' uniform, you know," he laughed.

"I am a boy, though," I responded, confused.

"Huh?" He crouched down and looked me in the eyes. "Wow, you really are! And a cute one at that."

I didn't know what he meant by that. I just stared back, unsure of what to say.

"Not much for talking, are ya, Yukimura Seiichi?" he smirked.

"How do you know my name?" I asked.

"I know the names of all my cute kouhais, of course!"

"Yukimura! Where are you?" I heard Sanada's voice call out.

"Sanada?" I turned around to see if I could locate him, but there wasn't anyone.

"Over here!" the boy I was with hollered out. "Well, I'll see ya later, Yukimura."

"Huh?" I turned around to face him and was met with his lips briefly on mine before he ran off.

The next thing I realized was Sanada grabbing onto my shoulders and shaking me, yelling "Yukimura, are you okay?!" to my face.

"I..."

Was I okay? What just happened? Who the hell was that guy? I never got answers until I joined the tennis club later that week. My lips were tingling for months afterwards.


The first time I ever saw him at practice was after the captain sent Renji to fetch him for the first time. Both of them returned to the courts together, but I knew something had happened between the both of them. Renji's face was absolutely red, confused and distracted the entire time. After practice, Sanada and I decided to confront him about it.

"Is something wrong, Renji?" I asked.

His reply was almost instant. "No. Sorry, Seiichi, I am just not feeling well."

Sanada was a little more huffy than usual. "Now is not the time to be distracted. Kanto is only days away," he lectured.

"You are right, Genichirou," Renji responded.

We were about to head back to the club room to change out of our uniforms when he happily skipped towards us. He was blowing kisses and winking at us. Why?

"See you in a few days, my lovely kouhai!" he grinned.

I raised an eyebrow. He was only referring to one of us, but who was it?

"If he has that much energy, perhaps he should use it properly," came the comment from Sanada.

"Seeing him like that infuriates me," I added. "All that talent and he does nothing with it."

"A shame," Sanada continued.

But, Renji was silent the entire time. I didn't want to press him about it, but I could tell that something had happened between him and that thing I'm supposed to address as my senpai.


The rest of our first year of middle school went as one would expect it to go. We won Kanto and the Nationals, which was an added bonus. When it was time to move up a grade, I found myself taking on the captaincy of the team, seeing as there was no one else around to assume the position. If he was actually around for more than just the official matches, then he would have easily been given the role. Who knows what would have happened to the club if that were the case? I absolutely refused to let that happen.

Unfortunately, any of my attempts to kick him off of the team were futile. Our mysterious club advisor was always several steps ahead of me and prevented me from doing anything like that. Their reasoning? Apparently, he has "potential" and I would be doing more harm than good by quashing it. I could smell that there was something deeper to this, but if Renji couldn't dig anything up, neither could I.

I'll spare you the bore of recounting my second year. Not much happened anyway, other than winning Nationals for a second time. Life went on; he continued to skip practices and only ever showed up for official matches; Renji continued to chase him for some reason; and Sanada and I grew increasingly more frustrated as our hands were tied behind our backs. We just had to accept that this was our reality and move on.

That was until I fell face-first into the cold concrete train platform one day after practice.

Not being able to physically feel anything was a very surreal experience. My body was failing me. The only thing I could do was watch helplessly as I began to lose parts of myself. It was terrifying. I was a prisoner to my own body, unable to do anything without fear of deteriorating into nothing. During this period, I found myself isolated from everyone, as I was unable to go to school nor do anything tennis-related. I don't know what was scarier—losing control of my body's basic functions, or being left alone with my thoughts.

Unfortunately, I was never alone for too long. Between the visits from my family, the other regulars, and my always-changing team of doctors, I always had one more visitor. I had nowhere to run and I couldn't avoid him. He always had that damn smile on his face that never disappeared. It was torture every time he showed up because it was like he was purposefully trying to see me when I was alone.

The first time it happened, I was fading between states of consciousness as a mixture of unknown drugs were circulating around my body. He showed up at my room, holding what seemed to be a bouquet of asters. The only thing I could really focus on at that time was how he was able to get a bouquet of asters out of season.

"Don't you look awful?" he joked as he waltzed in.

"Why are you here..." I groaned. I could hear my speech slurring.

He put the flowers into the empty water jug that was on the side table before sitting down in the chair by my bedside. "And not at practice? Do you really need to ask, my lovely kouhai?"

"Don't... call me... that..."

He placed his large, calloused hands on my head and ruffled my hair, making it messier than it originally was. "Aw, who can't articulate their words today?" he mocked. "You're adorable when you're like this, you know?"

"Go..."

"Away? Home? Back to practice? Fuck myself?" he asked as he began to list off a bunch of plausible endings to my thought.

I let out another groan as my eyelids finally decided to shut themselves closed. I had no strength left in me to keep them open.

"H-hey, are you alright?" I heard him ask. It sounded as if he was genuinely concerned, but I know it was probably just an act.

"Tired..." I managed to mumble.

I wasn't exactly sure what happened next, but I felt a strange sensation pressing on my forehead, followed by a faint whisper that I couldn't quite make out. The next thing I knew, it was morning and I was no longer drugged out of my mind.

What happened? Was him visiting me a hallucination, or something that actually occurred? What was that firm, yet delicate feeling that lingered on my forehead? Before I could try to make sense of it all, the morning nurse came in to check on me.

"Good morning, Yukimura-kun," they greeted me.

"Good morning," I responded.

Before looking at my charts, the nurse walked over to the side table and picked up the empty water pitcher with asters resting in them.

"My! These sure are wonderful flowers. I'll go switch these into a vase with water," they smiled.

"W-wait," I stuttered, "those are real?"

The nurse looked at me with a concerned expression. "Is something wrong, Yukimura-kun?"

"If those asters are real, then..."

My lips were tingling just like that time in my freshman year. The faint whisper I heard the night before began to reverb around in my head.

'Sweet dreams, Yukimura.'

It dawned on me that he kissed me before I passed out.


Since that day, I kept seeing him around the hospital grounds after school. He never came to visit me specifically, but he was always around and within my peripheral vision. Every time, I would always see him chatting up a random girl—never the same one twice. It was either that, or he was with his friends. I was infuriated at first, because he was rubbing in the fact that he could do whatever he pleased, whenever he wanted. Eventually, my anger just dissipated into silent resentment. I was growing more and more weary every day and the last thing I wanted to do was waste what little energy I had on him. I kept the bitterness to myself.

One day, while I was sitting outside to get some fresh air, he showed up once again, but he was alone this time. I knew I was going to regret whatever would happen next the moment we made eye contact with each other.

"You seem well," he smiled as he sat himself down beside me.

"And you should be at practice," I spat in response.

"Aw, I liked you a lot better when you were sleepy," he laughed. "Besides, don't you know that practice was cancelled today? Your resident trickster filled the club room with soap bubbles and Sanada seemed ready to kill him."

I rolled my eyes. "Why are you here? Don't you have a random girl to be flirting with?"

"Is that all you think I'm capable of? What if I don't even like girls?"

"Ah, how insensitive of me," I responded sarcastically. Does he not get hints? "Don't you have a random boy to be flirting with?"

"Random? No," he grinned. "I came here to flirt with you!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Excuse me?"

"You know you're adorable, right? And exactly my type."

Just as I turned my head to glare at him, his grotesquely cheerful face was just mere millimetres away from my own. Before I could even open my mouth to curse him, our lips met for several, intense seconds.

"Heh, you're not that bad," he smirked.

I sat there, surprised, horrified, furious... Flustered? What was happening to me?

He gently cupped my face and titled my head up until we were making intense eye contact. "Gosh, if I knew this was the best way to get you to shut up, I would've done it a long time ago."

"L-let go of me..."

The strange glint I saw in those dark chestnut eyes softly faded away as he slowly backed away from me. The sinister smirk that was plastered all over his face changed almost immediately to a more neutral, pitiful expression.

"Why do I even try?" he mumbled. "You're still just a kid."

I said nothing as I watched him get up and walk away from me without turning back. I felt the pounding in my chest grow as I struggled to articulate what I was feeling. There was rage boiling away from within, but I felt my heart ache at the same time. I wanted him to come back, but why did I want that?


Graduation season had come and gone, but he was still the same as ever. I would have hoped that moving on from middle to high school would cause him to grow up, but that never happened. I always found myself making eye contact with him, which made my heart race every time. Was I falling in love with him? I don't know, but I couldn't turn to anyone for advice.

My condition was improving slightly, but I was nowhere close to being back to my old form. There was still a long road ahead of me. In order to regain some sense of normalcy, I begged Renji to take me away from the hospital just for a little bit. Aside from my strong desire to get out of that sterile prison, I wanted to talk with Renji since he had been looking despondent as of late. I wanted to pick his brain to find out why that was.

"It feels so nice to be able to smell something other than a hospital," I sighed. "Tell me, Renji, what's been on your mind lately?"

His eyes lit up for a brief moment. "Nothing in particular, Seiichi. Why do you ask?"

"There's something different about your eyes. I can't quite place my tongue on it. It's almost as if you're missing something."

He looked hesitant to say something. "I am fine, Seiichi."

"If you say so."

I was getting tired of standing and walking around, so we stopped at a cafe to rest. Renji led me to an empty table outside the small shop before going in to order something for the both of us. When he got back, he placed a hot cup of chamomile tea and a flaky, buttery croissant in front of me. We sat in an amicable silence until I noticed Renji furrowing his eyebrows for some reason.

"Renji, did someone break your heart?" I asked.

He choked on the cold tea he was drinking and began to cough.

"Who is it? Maeda-san? Yoshida? That quiet girl from history?"

Renji was now extremely flustered. "Seiichi, I can assure you that I'm—"

Renji stopped mid-sentence as he started staring out into the distance. Curious, I turned around to see what he was looking at. Sure enough, it was him with another girl. Those exact same confusing feelings I felt after he kissed me returned. I felt like I wanted to cry. Why was I feeling so frustrated all of a sudden?

"That is the eighth time this month that I've seen him here instead of at practice," I sighed. "Why the hell did God pick me to be sick? Why couldn't it have been him instead?"

"Seiichi—"

"Sorry... I just get angry every time I see him. I wish that was me with that body instead of this sick one I got stuck in."

Renji looked like he was seething with jealousy as something inside him broke.

I picked up my cup of tea and took a sip. "I haven't seen her before."

"What do you mean by that?" Renji asked me.

"Oh, it's just that there's this rumour going around about him. They say he's gay, but I've only ever seen him with girls."

"Really?" was his only response.

I was taken aback at how little Renji seemed to know. "Out of all the people across Rikkai's three divisions, I was certain you would have heard these rumours by now."

"I would have thought so as well..." The jealousy in his eyes slowly morphed into general disappointment.

It dawned on me that my best friend was in love with him.

"Could it have been you, Renji?" I asked.

Now, Renji looked at me as if he was a deer caught in the headlights. "Why would it be me, Seiichi?"

"He would only ever come to practice if it was you who went to go get him," I pointed out. "Wouldn't it be funny if it was you?"

"Not in particular," he mumbled sheepishly.

I decided to prod him further. "Oh? Do you like him?"

There was a long silence before Renji spoke again. I could tell he was thinking really hard of what to say next.

"As a teammate? No—he was the worst person to ever work with," he finally said.

I knew he was lying, but I pretended to look confused and disappointed. I wasn't going to get anything else out of him, but I had to wonder, just what happened between those two?


Later, back at the hospital, I was working away at another problem set that Renji gave me before he left for the day. I was so preoccupied with seeing him earlier today that I couldn't focus on what I was doing. I didn't notice there was someone else in the room until the pencil in my hand got taken away.

"What the—"

He was standing over me. "Working hard, or hardly working?"

I said nothing as I glared at him.

"Ouch. Not even a 'go away' or 'why are you here'? Cold as ever, Captain," he laughed as he gave me back my pencil.

"Don't you have a better place to be? If I was skipping tennis practice, I wouldn't choose to come here," I spat.

"What fun would that be? I wouldn't be able to check on my lovely kouhai if I didn't come here!"

"You? Checking in on me?" I had never heard a more ridiculous string of words coming from him.

"I'm not that cold-hearted, you know."

I don't know what came over me, but the seething fury within me took over.

"You? You're not cold-hearted," I began. "You're cruel."

He opened his mouth to say something, but in my fit of rage, I pushed everything aside and forced myself to stand up to face him.

"You... Do you understand how hard it is for me to be stuck here, unable to control my own body? Do you understand how infuriating it is to see you without a care in the world?! I would do anything to be in your position right now..."

I sank down to the ground, as my legs couldn't support my weight anymore.

"H-hey! Easy there," he panicked as he got down to try and support me.

"Don't touch me!" I shoved him away. "To be able to play tennis whenever you want, but you choose to slack off... In front of me... Rubbing it in my face... Playing with my feelings..."

I glared straight into his pathetic eyes. He looked right back at me with a twinge of sadness as he bit his bottom lip.

"Why? Why do you go through all these lengths just to mock me? Torture me?" I felt my chest tightening, as if someone was squeezing it with a vice-like grip. "And despite everything you've done... I..."

"Yukimura..."

He tried to reach his hand out to do something, but I slapped it away.

"I'll never forgive you."

My vision was blurred by tears at this point, but I didn't care. I wanted to shout more, but I felt my breath getting shorter as the pounding in my chest grew faster. I just silently sat on the ground as I watched the source of my anger, frustration, jealousy, and depression slowly back out of the room. He looked like he wanted to say something, but just shook his head and walked away.

That was the last time I ever saw him.


It felt like a blessing to hear that there was a treatment that would reverse the progression of the disease I had, but there was a catch. It was an insanely risky surgery where I had a 50 percent chance of coming out alive, and the rehab afterwards could impact my chances of playing in the Nationals. Though my parents were the ones who signed off on the paperwork, I, ultimately, had the choice of whether or not to do the surgery. I knew the risks, but if I didn't take this chance, I don't believe I'd ever be able to hold a racket ever again.

When I woke up from the surgery, I was sure that I had died. The team was in my room, looking all upset. When I asked them how they did, Renji was the one to tell me the news.

"We lost."

"You're joking," I laughed. "If that's true, I must be dead."

But, it was, in fact, the truth. I was alive and they had lost to Seigaku at the Regionals. I couldn't believe it at first, but after getting past the anaesthetic brain fog, I accepted it.

While disappointed, my focus had to shift to getting through rehab as quickly and as safely as possible. There wasn't much time left between the end of the Regionals to the beginning of the Nationals. I knew I would likely miss out on the first few rounds, but my goal was to be ready to play by the semifinals. I had the utmost faith in my team to get us to that point. With that in mind, I was optimistic going into rehab.

I just wasn't expecting it to be so hard.

Muscle atrophy was a very real and terrifying thing. Things I was able to hold easily in the past were now hard to grasp. I could barely lift up the weight of my own tennis racket. Walking on my own two feet was a challenge too. I never knew how hard it could be to relearn all of these basic motor functions. It was painful. I wanted to give up. I suffered a lot of setbacks in my progress. I broke down at night because I felt utterly hopeless.

One day, after a disappointing session, I returned to my room to see a cold bottle of Pocari Sweat sitting on top of the side table. I was confused, since the nurses never left out cold drinks like that. I made my way to the table and picked it up. There was a ring of condensation on the surface where the bottle was sitting. There was no note. I wasn't sure who left it there, but I was feeling parched. It was too sweet for my liking, but I felt a lot better after drinking it.

The next day, a brand new bottle of Pocari Sweat was waiting for me after my session that day. This couldn't be a coincidence. Who was it that was leaving the drink in my room? I decided to confront my teammates about it. I had a strange suspicion that Niou was messing with me, as per usual. They all came to visit me shortly after my session. I guess I caught Renji off-guard because I had the silliest grin on my face when they all arrived.

"Seiichi, you look lively today," Renji pointed out. "Did something happen?"

I nodded. "I've been visited by the Sports Drink Fairy."

There was a moment of silence before Marui looked at me, as if I had lost my mind. "Huh?!"

"Is that like the Tooth Fairy?!" Akaya asked excitedly. "Wait, what do you need to leave under your pillow to get the Sports Drink Fairy to visit you?"

Niou smacked the back of Akaya's head. "You idiot, there's no such thing as the Tooth Fairy."

"What the hell was that for, Niou-senpai?!"

"Niou! Akaya! Stop creating a commotion and bothering the people in the hospital!" Sanada yelled at both of them.

"Yukimura-kun, what is it that you are referring to?" Yagyuu asked.

"I said what I said. It's a fairy that brings me a sports drink."

Jackal looked utterly confused. "A fairy that brings sports drinks? I'm sorry?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Every time I return to my room after rehab, there's a cold sports drink waiting for me," I explained.

Everyone started glaring at Akaya and Niou.

"It wasn't me!" Akaya shouted.

Niou held his hands up as if he were surrendering. "Me neither."

"W-wait! D-do you think it's a g-ghost?!" Akaya shouted back. Sanada smacked him again.

I burst out in laughter. "I don't know who's doing it, but it feels like they're pushing me forward, telling me to keep trying."

"Sounds like we got ourselves a mystery," Niou pointed out.

"I thought this was one of your tricks, Niou-kun," Yagyuu commented.

"As if. Why would I do something like that?"

I looked up to the sunny spring skies. "I hope I get to meet that fairy someday."

Renji seemed the most puzzled and concerned about this development. He decided to watch over my room while I was out for my session the next day. By the time I got back, neither Renji nor a cold sports drink were waiting for me. It was a bit of a bummer, but I guess Niou or Akaya got scared after what happened yesterday and decided to stop.

But, there were two cold bottles waiting for me the next day after I finished. There was even a note this time. I picked up the piece of paper and unfolded it to read its contents.

"'Sorry 'bout yesterday. Here's 2 to make up for it!'" The handwriting wasn't familiar, but something about the way it was written was familiar—I just couldn't figure out what it was.

Renji entered my room not too long afterwards.

"Renji! The fairy came back today!" I exclaimed.

"I... I can see that..." he hesitated.

"Look! They even left this today," I said as I handed him the note. "Analyze the handwriting and see if you can figure out who it is."

Renji took the note and read it out loud. I could tell he was really trying hard to focus on the strokes of the characters to try and decipher it. Ultimately, he handed me the piece of paper back.

"I'm sorry, Seiichi. I cannot distinguish who wrote it."

It was unfortunate, but I couldn't blame him for trying. "It was a long shot, but thanks for trying." I took back the paper and studied it some more. "I swear I've seen this style of speech before."

"What do you mean by that?" Renji asked

"There's someone I know who speaks like this, but I can't remember who."

I could tell Renji felt the same way I did as he took the note from me again.

"You feel it too, don't you, Renji? We do know someone who speaks like this! But—"

"'Who could it possibly be?' is what you wanted to say," he said as he finished my thought for me.

"I wonder if I'll ever meet them," I sighed. "Oh well. They're telling me to push forward, so I have to do it for them as well!"

The drinks eventually stopped appearing, but by that point, I had made enough progress that I was going to be fit enough to play in the Nationals. If it weren't for those cold bottles of liquid encouragement, I don't think I would've made the progress that I made. I kept the note as a symbol of strength and as a reminder to find them some day so I could thank them.


The Nationals came and went, which was bittersweet in retrospect. We didn't become the third consecutive champions like we were hoping to be. It was my fault. I shouldn't have lost to that boy, but what could be done by that point? The Nationals were over in the blink of an eye, along with the end of summer.

When summer break was over, there was a mysterious letter waiting for us in the club room. It was an invitation to the U-17 tennis camp and the Rikkai regulars were among the 50 middle schoolers invited to join. Without much thought, we all accepted the invite and went to the camp. It was there that we learned of the harsh realities and general ruthlessness of the world of tennis beyond what we understood at the middle school level.

It had been several weeks since we had gotten to the camp when news of the foreign expedition team returning began to spread. I was rather curious about the whole ordeal—especially after I learned I was the only middle schooler selected to face off against the Top 20. It was unfortunate that none of the players ranked 11-20 were good. I was really hoping for a challenge.

By the time I got back to the main court, it seemed like a storm was brewing as the Nos. 1-10 showed up. Out of all of the members of the "Genius 10", there was one person I never thought I'd see alongside them.

I blinked twice and rubbed my eyes, but it was not a hallucination. He really was there in the flesh and he was No. 10.

"Yukimura," came the stern call from Sanada.

I just turned to look at him. Sanada must've sensed what was on my mind.

"I know," he nodded. "We'll crush him. Don't worry."

I gave him a small smile before I turned to look back, only to see that everyone had started to disperse. I watched as he started skipping away with an even taller person in tow. I didn't know what came over me, but I decided to follow them. Why did he show up now? What happened to him? Just as I was getting close, the taller guy with the strange blue highlights turned around and glared at me. I froze in place, unable to move as I watched him turn around to catch up to him.

He turned around briefly, noticed me, and then turned to address the taller guy. He coaxed the taller guy into leaning down before kissing him. They were too far away for me to make out any of the conversation before they continued on their way. The next thing I knew, Niou was waving his hand in front of my face.

"Yo, buchou, what're you gawking at?" he asked me.

"Huh?"

Niou placed his hand on my forehead, as if he was checking for a fever. "You were just standing there and spacing out. What're you looking at?"

I gently removed his hand from my face. "Sorry. I didn't mean to worry you."

"H-hey, buchou... Are you sure you're good? You're crying."

Confused, I reached my hand up to touch my eyes. They really were wet.

"I... I don't know..."


I continued to observe him from afar. He actually showed up for practices and he took them seriously too. I had to pinch myself multiple times throughout the session just to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Even if we were in the same area, he would actively ignore or avoid us. If we were scheduled to play each other in a practice match, he would find a way to get out of it.

This continued on until we reached the quarterfinals of the U-17 World Cup, where we learned that Renji was going to be paired up with him for Doubles 1. We were all surprised to learn about this, but none of us could protest the coach's decisions. Renji was not thrilled in the slightest and promptly left as soon as the meeting was over. Worried, I went to chase after him, but I felt myself freeze in place once again when I heard his voice.

"Y-yo, Yukimura," came the stutter. "How are ya?"

"I'm sorry, did I hear a mouse squeak?" I responded in an annoyed tone.

"Hey, don't be like that—"

I turned around to address him.

"Don't be like what? Angry? Infuriated? Livid? Spiteful?"

He instantly shut his mouth. He was a deer caught in the headlights.

"You want to play with my feelings again? Rub into my face how good you are at tennis when you don't care about the game at all? Steal kisses from me with no intentions of going further than that?"

He started biting his lower lip as he averted his gaze towards his feet.

"I have no more words for someone like you," I spat. "I would prefer if this conversation was our last."

Why was he looking at me with such remorseful eyes? It angered me more as I gritted my teeth and pushed past him to return to my room.

I was alone in my room and free to cry my heart out, but nothing came. It was frustrating. Why did he have to make me like this? What was wrong with me?


Match day came and overall team morale was relatively low. We had just lost the Doubles 2 and it was up to Renji to win us the next one. There was this innate fear within me that Renji wouldn't be able to pull this victory off on his own. Even if he had a partner, the fact that it was him wouldn't make this game any easier. I knew how much Renji struggled to get any sort of data on the French team, but this was the first time he had gone into a match completely blind to his partner's capabilities. He assured me that Japan's victory was certain, but I worried what would become of the team's morale if we lost both doubles matches going into Singles 3.

"Do your best, Renji," I nodded to him.

"With data on my side, I will not lose, Seiichi," was his rather confident response.

The beginning of the first set played out rather passively. France didn't seem like they were aggressive as Renji returned every shot with finesse. He didn't even let him get the ball once. I was truly impressed at the lengths he was going to keep it that way. If France was going to keep up this passive pace, the first set was basically secured for us.

Midway through the set, both of them stopped to rehydrate. He approached the team bench, reached into his bag and pulled out two bottles.

"Here, catch!" he said as he tossed one of them to me.

Instinctively, I reached out to catch it. I was going to throw it right back at him until I felt the coldness on my hands. I looked down at the bottle of the sports drink, which had a piece of paper stuck to it with the words 'sorry' written on it. At first, I was irritated that he had the audacity to apologize like this, but there was something familiar about the handwriting. I reached into my jacket pocket frantically and pulled out the crumpled piece of paper to examine the handwriting on it. Sure enough, it matched the writing on the bottle he tossed me.

My eyes shot right back up at him, who was winking at me as Renji came to the same realization.

"You were watching over us during the Nationals, were you not, Mouri-senpai?" Renji asked him.

He held his finger up to his lips. "That's enough talk for now. C'mon, only one more game for the first set. Relax, okay?"

I felt a tear run down my cheek as I watched them head back onto the court. Sanada must've noticed as he offered me a tissue.

"Here," he whispered as he gave me the sheet. "It really was him after all, huh?"

He cared about us... About me...


It was amazing what Renji could do in such a short amount of time. Not only was he able to collect data on him, but he was able to turn the tides and win Doubles 1 for us.

After the match, we all went out to look for Renji so we could all go check out the shopping centre in the village. Akaya found him off in the distance talking with him and ran towards them.

"Akaya, stop!" Sanada called out as he started bolting towards him.

The rest of us had a bit of a chuckle as we slowly made our way to stop Sanada from killing our ace. Akaya had practically leaped onto Renji's back, clinging on for dear life.

"Yanagi-senpai, please protect me!" he cried.

"Akaya! I told you not to interfere!" Sanada scolded.

"It's fine, Genichirou," was Renji's calm response. "What are you all doing out here?"

"We're going out to the shopping centre and wanted to see if you're coming too," Niou told him.

"It's not the same without you there, Yanagi," Marui added. "Plus, you gotta celebrate that win in Doubles 1!"

"I suppose I do not have much of a choice," Renji smiled. "Akaya, please let go. I promise I am not going anywhere."

"Damn right, you aren't!" he shouted as he slid off of him.

I was rather curious about Renji's conversation. He suddenly ran out after him once the match was over. What was so important that it couldn't wait?

"What were you and Drink Fairy-senpai even talking about?" I asked.

"We were apologizing."

I tilted my head. "For what?"

"Something that happened years ago," was his poor attempt to cover up the real topic of the conversation.

I saw right through Renji's sad attempt at being coy. "It was him, wasn't it?"

It really was him, wasn't it...?

"You guys go ahead. I have something I need to do," I said hastily to the group before running off in the direction I saw him walk off to.

It didn't take long to catch up to him. I had to collect my breath before calling out to him.

"Senpai!"

The two of them froze before turning around to look at me. He turned to his partner, Ochi-san, and asked him, "Tsuki-san, can you give us a sec?"

The absurdly tall and serious-looking man just nodded and stepped away from us.

"You look well," he smiled.

"T-thanks," I stuttered. "I'm not completely cured just yet, but Kimijima-san is arranging for something in America after this is over."

"Oh, that's what Kimi-san's been doing," he realized. "But, that's why you're here, isn't it, Yukimura?"

There was so much I wanted to say to him, but I felt a lump in my throat. All I could muster was just a one-word question: "Why?"

He reached over and wrapped his long arms around me, pulling me closer to him.

"I'm sorry for leading you on all these years," he began. "Especially the stuff that happened in the hospital... I guess I liked you, but didn't know how to go about telling you that. Even then, I think Sanada would—"

"I liked you, Mouri-senpai," I blurted out. "I still do, I think..."

"Well, ain't that a bit of a problem," he chuckled. "As nice as it would be, I'm not the right guy for you, my lovely kouhai. I'm sure you realized that too, huh?"

I nodded. As much as it hurt to hear that rejection, he was right.

He let go of me and patted my head gently with his rough hand. "I think you should head back to your friends. They're probably still waiting for you."

"Thank you for giving me strength to get through rehab, Drink Fairy-senpai," I smiled. "I might not even be here if it weren't for you."

"Any time, my lovely kouhai," he laughed. "I wouldn't want to lose my favourite one, now would I?"

We both turned and went our separate ways. Though my chest ached a little, I felt like I could move on. The heaviness in my heart had lifted and I no longer felt the fury that had plagued me all this time. I looked back in his direction, but he was nowhere in sight.

Thank you for everything, Mouri Jusaburou.