Bildungsroman

Chapter 28

Hola! It's been a while, and I'm sorry about that. Hope you're all healthy, and keeping yourselves isolated and safe :)

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed, or favourited this story! You have no idea how much it all means to me. I love you all very much.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, with no copyright infringement intended. I don't own PoT, which belongs to Takeshi Konomi.

Nomura Ayano had an earworm.

Damn Kazumi. 'Kyun' was a nice enough song, but all goddamn night? Surely that was a bit much, even for a die-hard fan of the group. The band themselves must be sick and tired of their own song, given that it was playing everywhere. Including inside Nomura's head.

She huffed and crossed out the last problem- a particularly tricky integration. It was no use; she'd been stuck on this final problem for half an hour, and she was no closer to solving it. She'd come back to it later.

Maybe a walk would clear her head- she still had that stack of college brochures her teacher had pressed on her.

'Tennis is all well and good, Nomura-chan, but you should have something to fall back on.'

No one, not one of their teachers had said that to Tezuka. Nomura knew; she'd listened for it. And goddammit, that burnt. She was exceptional- she knew she was exceptional. And yet, because she was female, they wouldn't see it.

Tezuka's had pros knocking on his door since he was 14. At 14 , you lost your school the Nationals.

That was one of the thoughts her counsellor was trying to armour her against. Tezuka's circumstances weren't hers. They'd both faced incredible odds. Neither they nor their odds could be compared.

Don't see that stopping anyone.

The track was deserted; Nomura sank down in the middle of the field and dug her fingers into the dirt. Brown collected under her nails, and still she dug.

"Gardening?" She turned at the voice, hardly surprised at this point. Truth be told, she'd been expecting this for a week now. "Gotta say, Ayano, your thumb isn't very green."

Nomura snorted. "Boohoo. I need to vent, and digging here won't get me killed."

Ikeda nodded, lowering her own butt to the ground. "Fair. Or you could talk to me?"

"About what? Tennis, Ikeda-buchou?"

"Please." An elbow to the ribs, she felt, was a bit much. "It'll be a cold day in hell before you talk to me about–"

"We're going pro, right?"

Nomura hadn't meant to blurt that out, but damn, it felt good. And who else was likely to understand this? All that Kazumi was sure about was that tennis wasn't her future; Mikabi didn't have the burden of being exceptional; Imako and Kagawa were sure they were going to be something else. There was no one else.

For a few moments, Ikeda said nothing. Rising, she offered her hand to Nomura, who let her pull her up as well. They started for the building together.

"Of course we're going pro." Ikeda replied, once they drew near the girls' wing entrance. "We promised."

You're not going to disappoint her, are you?

"Yeah…" Nomura trailed off. She let her head fall back, her cheeks burning under the afternoon sun. "We made a lot of promises, Kotone."

When she looked around, there was a much gentler warmth in Kotone's eyes than she'd ever seen.

Sakura wasn't a coward. Never had been.

Alright, so maybe she liked Sanada more than originally planned. A lot more. But that was… normal. It happened. There was always that one teenage crush who was different. She wasn't going to make things weird(er) by acting like a spooked filly, or avoiding him, or weird high-school-rom-com crap. She was an intelligent, capable girl and she'd handle it.

Somehow.

Maybe her heart raced when they talked- or when he caught her eye across the mess hall- and her face got all hot, but she could control herself. She wasn't great at hiding physiological reactions, but maybe a bit of misdirection wouldn't hurt- if required. It wasn't like she didn't have options.

Fuji-senpai would probably agree, if only for the privilege of teasing her mercilessly for the rest of their natural lives.

And anyway, Sakura reasoned, Sanada wasn't even in her face all day. They only really talked in the evenings, and then she was usually either elbows-deep in homework, or the common toom was so full of chattering teenagers that it was difficult to really have any sort of private conversation.

Her phone chirped. 'I will never understand how you stand Fuji for long periods of time.'

She snickered while replying: 'Hypocrite.'

"Kagawa! If I see you on your phone one more time-!" Ryuzaki-sensei barked. "Break's over, get your ass off the bench!"

She duly got her ass off said bench, joining Mei on the court. They were working on an adaptation of the Australian Formation, but it wasn't going well- Oishi and Eiji complemented each other. Mei and Sakura were just too similar as players- they needed a lot of pre-arranged signals and rote-memorised plays to function as a team.

"Well," Ryuzaki-sensei shook her head. "I did think it might work- Kagawa, you could try that with Fuji when we get back to school. Akitaka, try working with Momoshiro instead. Momoshiro!"

Sakura nudged Mei. "Try getting in with him a bit," She murmured. "He's Mikabi's partner, so they spend a fair bit of time together."

Mei winked. "Way 'head o'ya."

"Yo, Akitaka!" Momo tapped her on the head with his racquet. "C'mon, let's see if I can succeed where Kagawa failed. And you still owe me that milkshake."

Mei batted his arm away. "Sure, peach-butt. Maybe yeh'll get too fat t'play in th'Nationals- Osh'tari migh' even thank me."

No one could accuse Mei of not taking initiative, Sakura thought, turning her attention to her footwork drills with… Kamio and Tachibana An. The latter was one of the fastest players on the circuit, and naturally had the footwork to back it up. Tachibana An had been playing tennis since she was three, and was pretty light on her feet.

The less said about Sakura's lightfootedness, the better.

While Kamio and An couldn't match Kazumi-senpai for sheer ruthlessness, they made up for it in terms of making her do things her feet literally could not do.

And yet. No one had ever called Sakura a quitter (except Yamato, maybe, but the less Sakura dwelt upon that, the better).

By the time Ryuzaki-sensei called time on practice, Sakura's feet were… to put it mildly, a mess. An helped her stretch them, explaining about fomentations and keeping her toes active and the importance of flexing her calf muscles every 15 minutes. "Maybe leave off the weights for today, Sakura-chan." She advised, with the confidence of a girl who knew the ropes of this kind of thing. "Remind me to show you some toe-strengthening exercises before morning practice tomorrow!"

"Will do. Thanks, An-chan." They'd fallen into an easy camaraderie- An was hard to dislike, and even harder to keep at a distance. Sakura liked her for it.

She caught sight of Sanada as Sakaki-sensei's group ran into as they entered the camp building. He nodded, and she waved, but was distracted by Fuji-senpai's arm slipping through hers. "Are you limping, Sakura-chan? His brow was furrowed with concern.

She nodded, smiling tiredly. "Footwork drills. An and Kamio showed me some things… I've exercised bones I didn't even know I had."

He laughed. "Should I carry you back to your room?" He waggled his eyebrows at her, but she only snorted. "Nice try, senpai. Oh, I asked Oishi-senpai to tutor me in genetics, so…"

Fuji looked pleased. "He's a good teacher. Maybe you'll actually understand it this time."

Some nights, though, the simmering energy of over 70 teenagers boiled over and exactly no work got done. Like tonight. Kazumi and Eiji teamed up to steal her books, the latter claiming that she was getting old and wrinkled, working so hard. "You're full of it, senpai." She grumbled.

Oishi gave her a commiserating shrug, but allowed Eiji to drag him over to where he'd been sitting with Inui and Fuji. Sakura grinned at Fuji, who winked. They clearly had something planned for Oishi, and for a moment, Sakura wished she'd thought to join them. Sanada, Yukimura, and Kirihara were sitting nearby, too- she was rather proud of the fact that she had refrained from staring longer than–

Okay no. She hadn't. But she'd caught herself- that counted for something, right?

Nomura and Ikeda were both the knot of girls that Kazumi dragged Sakura over to. "Looks like your homework's gonna have to wait." Ikeda smirked at Sakura. "You always this nerdy?" She edged back some more, allowing Sakura to put her fomentation bowl in the middle of the circle.

"Not when I'm shopping." Sakura replied sweetly, dipping her towel into the warm water.

"Oh, yeah, I loved those boots you had on the day you got here." Ikeda sighed. "High heels, though- I couldn't pull them off." Nomura pushed a mat in Sakura's direction. "Put your feet on that to soak up the water." She advised.

Mei nudged Mikabi. "Finished wi' tha' Biology I saw ya workin' on?" She asked. "God, I hate Biology."

Mikabi nodded fervently, but all three seniors looked surprised. "What's so difficult about Biology?" Kazumi enquired, puzzled.

"Genetics."

"Everything."

Sakura and Mikabi blinked at each other.

"How are you bad at genetics?" Mikabi demanded. "Kaidoh said it's just like Maths! You're good at Maths!"

She threw her hands up. "I just am, okay?! I don't get it- it's gibberish. Oishi-senpai was supposed to tutor me today, but…" She trailed off, smirking at Ikeda. "It's gonna have to wait."

"Honestly, I'm just looking to pass– and stay on the team, duh." Mikabi tacked on hastily, catching Nomura's eye. "I don't give a shit about the nervous system anyway- it's not like I'm going to college."

Ikeda looked at her with interest. "So you're going pro too?" She asked. "That's good- Japan really needs more woman power players… can't leave it all to the Americans."

Mikabi gave her a lazy salute. "Exactly."

"Having good grades will help, though." Nomura added sternly. "Tennis won't last forever… it's good to have something to fall back on."

Mikabi's reply was lost in a gale of laughter from across the room. Fuji, Eiji, and Momoshiro were rolling about as a very red Oishi was trying to shout them down. "I was fourteen! Fourteen!"

"What's going on?" Sakura called. "Oi, Momoshiro! What's up?"

Anything that amused Yukimura- he was wearing that angelic smile again- and made Sanada look borderline ill was one hundred percent worth knowing.

It was Eiji who answered her: "Oishi had a crush on Nagase Reiko back in junior high!"

Sakura's eyebrows rose, and she couldn't quite stop the twitch of her lips. "Whoa. Oishi-senpai, I wouldn't have thought she was your type."

"Oh please," Mei elbowed her. "Nagase Reiko's ev'ryone's type."

"Seconded!" called Sengoku from a corner. Sakura rolled her eyes. "Anything female is your type, Sengoku!" She shouted back, rolling her eyes at his shit-eating grin.

Sanada looked between them with narrowed eyes. Sengoku looked far too chipper for someone who had, mere days ago, been 'handed his ass in a matchbox', to quote Kirihara (crass as that sounded). And Sakura was… rolling her eyes as she held the wet cloth to one ankle. No look of annoyance, as had been common at the start of the camp? One corner of her mouth had even faintly risen! What-?

"I had a crush on Yuzuru Hanyu." Kazumi announced smugly. "Before he became famous."

"You have a crush on Yuzuru Hanyu." Mikabi snorted. "Not that I blame you- if I went for men…"

"Right?" Kazumi sighed. "He's gorgeous, talented-"

"Has a butt worth million yen-"

"-Cheekbones that can cut glass-"

"-legs I would commit cold-blooded murder for-"

"Okay!" Mei rapped the table. "We geddit. D'y'all need a bucket t'drool into?"

Mikabi shot her a dirty look.

"Furreal, though- my number one crush as a kid was Taylor Swift." Mei announced, to general shock. "Wha'? Her music's good, and she's hot."

"Good music my ass." Sakura snorted. Sanada wrinkled his nose at her turn of phrase. He couldn't possibly offer a comment on the subject- and wouldn't, either, if they continued in this frivolous vein!

"Notice you're not contesting the hot part."

"I don't get into fights I can't win."

Kazumi suddenly grabbed a pillow from beside Ikeda. "Most embarrassing crush- go!" She lobbed it at Sengoku, who laughed as he caught it. "Maria Sharapova!"

"Typical." Mikabi snorted. Sengoku only grinned and tossed it to Eiji.

"Ehhh… Ming-Ming from Beyblade!" He giggled. "Oishi!"

(Sakura giggled as Mikabi muttered, "Was the second one an added confession?") Sanada's softened at the sound of her laugh.

"We all know this one!" Ikeda chortled. "Just pass it on, Oishi-kun."

He eyed Sakura's feet, slightly concerned. Her limp earlier that evening hadn't escaped him, but then of course, Fuji had slipped an arm around her and made her laugh and–

Oishi blushed even deeper and threw the pillow at random. It caught Gakuto in the face. "DAMN IT-" He spluttered. "Scarlett Johansson!"

Rikkai's Junko scoffed from her spot next to Sengoku. "Oh, real original." Gakuto gave her the finger, tossing the cushion to Atobe as he did so.

Oooh, this oughta be good, Sakura thought, exchanging a glance with Sanada. The latter looked both interested and slightly appalled at the turn things had taken.

(Sakura stifled a giggle. And one (1) blush)

"Ore-sama does not consider his feelings to be embarrassing." Atobe declared. "Sanada Genichirou!"

Sakura's jaw dropped, as did approximately 90 percent of the room's.

"Atobe liked Sanada?!"

Wow… Sakura stole a glance at Sanada, hoping he wasn't too embarrassed. He seemed as surprised as the rest of them, but not repulsed.

"I… was unaware of your feelings, Atobe." He rumbled carefully.

"Ore-sama is a master at dissembling." Atobe waved a hand carelessly. "If ore-sama had wished you to know, Sanada, it would have been a magnificent spectacle indeed. But ore-sama did not wish to do so, as ore-sama's life did not hold the space for a relationship at that point in time. Hence, you lost a golden opportunity. Ore-sama's apologies."

Sanada went red to the tips of his ears. A quick glance showed him that Sakura's knuckles were stuffed into her mouth, and her eyes were traitorously bright. Beside him, Yukimura was shaking with silent laughter.

No one else bothered with concealment. Ikeda was choking.

"Thank you." He managed. Sakura's cheeks were pink with suppressed laughter.

Atobe, true to his word, looked supremely unconcerned by their reactions. "Fuji, we hold our breaths." He spread his arms, dropping the pillow into Fuji's lap. Nothing so pedestrian as tossing for Atobe, apparently.

Sakura leaned forward, eager to hear this one. Sanada, still flushed, caught her eye, and she winked.

Fuji had as little shame as Atobe. "Two, in my case." He announced. "Tezuka and… Ryuzaki-sensei."

There was a beat of silence, and then:

"EWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

"Ryuzaki-sensei?" Sakura reared back, horrified.

"Ah, so judgmental…"

Ikeda looked a little green about the gills. "Someone get that pillow away from him before he scars us all."

"Sasori from Naruto!" Junko called, giggling. She tossed the pillow to… Sanada, who sighed, but didn't resist.

Sakura would not look at Fuji.

"Yukimura." Sanada grumbled. The boy in question merely smiled beatifically as Sanada all but flung the pillow at Sakura, clear across the room.

"What- oh!" She managed to catch it, taking a second to collect her very disordered feelings.

"Don't we know this one too?" Momoshiro asked, an unmistakeable note in his voice. Sakura's head snapped up– yeah. That was the devil in his eyes alright. She wasn't going to get away this time.

"I don'." Mei replied, throwing her invisibobble at him. He yelped as it caught him in the forehead. "Can' b'lieve Momosh'ro knows, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura blushed bright red. "He doesn't know shit–" She began, but Mikabi cut her off. "Yeah, no. I don't know jack-shit about your crush history either, Sakura-chan. C'mon, spill. It can't be worse than Fuji-senpai's."

The boy in question sighed. "That's hurtful, Takada." He fixed Sakura with a dancing azure gaze. "But I would like to know about Sakura-chan's own skeletons too."

"I heard a rumour about you and Fujiko, Sakura-chan!" Kikumaru butted in. "D'you think he's handsome, nya?"

"I don't know," Kazumi added slyly. "I've heard talk of you and Tezuka all year."

Nomura snorted. "Kazumi, you're a gossip." The girl in question gaped at the unexpected severity. But Nomura abruptly focused on Sakura as well. "But honestly, Kagawa, if I'd dated that Shouta kid, I'd be plenty embarrassed."

"Captain!" Sakura exclaimed, cheeks absolutely burning. "What's wrong with Shouta? He was nice!" Granted, it had been a short-lived junior high relationship, but nice was the very word for Shouta, even now.

"Oh, come on." Mikabi snorted. "He's so… so vanilla."

"Oh my god!" Sakura threw her hands up. "It was Tezuka-senpai, alright!" She glared at Momoshiro. "You happy now?!"

Fuji had the gall to laugh. "That explains our partnership, Sakura-chan- similar tastes!"

Ikeda collapsed into Nomura, laughing uproariously. Sakura's face went bright red, then green, then red again.

"Well, at least you've levelled up in taste." Mikabi conceded. "Since when, though? I thought that was just a rumour- do you still—?"

"In junior high." Sakura admitted, giggling guiltily. "I was young and stupid- and I didn't know he was such an utter slavedriver—"

"She still likes him!" Momoshiro butted in, grin like a Cheshire cat.

"I do not!"

"She flutters!"

"Oh, fuck you Momoshiro-" She was going to kill him, she really was–

"Pass the damn pillow, Tezuka-lover!" Kirihara hollered, only to be cut off as it caught him in the face. "Mmph!"

Her cheeks blazed. "Fuck you too!"

Kazumi, the incurable gossip, was laughing raucously. "Bet you just love practice, don't you, Sakura-chan?" She called. "Can't blame you, really- he's not my type, but you've got great taste!"

Sakura groaned. "I'm over it, Kazumi-senpai!"

"Yeah, well, that's what they all say!"

Sakura buried her face in her hands. Why.

WHY.

"Let's move on." Nomura, sweet, merciful captain that she was, suggested. "Kirihara, unless you've got a name that's not Tachibana An, you should pass that on."

Yukimura and Niou burst out laughing. Sakura's blush faded somewhat.

The universe hated her.

That was the only thing that made sense.

Why else would it have put Tezuka Kunimitsu in the mess hall at breakfast the very next day?

If Tezuka noticed the inordinate amount of giggling, nudging, and whispering that surrounded him, he gave no sign of it. He was engrossed in his breakfast, and after that, in speaking with the four coaches, as well as Tachibana Kippei and a tall European woman.

"Didn't he have a professional contract?" Sakura murmured to Oishi- the least likely to act like a literal child about this- looking at you, Momoshiro.

Oishi nodded, looking perplexed. "And Tachibana's supposed to be training in Russia, I believe. I wonder what they're doing here."

"No idea who the women is?"

He shook his head. "None."

They weren't left in the dark very long- once the plates had been cleared, Sakaki-sensei rose to address the camp.

"Good morning. As you can see," He gestured to the three newcomers. "We have three new guests. Tezuka-kun and Tachibana-kun are, of course, known to you. Also joining us is Ms Anne Hardinge, who trains women tennis players at the Damenclub in Munich." A murmur of interest rose from the girls. "They will join the coaching team here, at the camp. We hope you will take this opportunity to learn as much as you can."

"Dismissed!"

That word acted like a gunshot: 'did you know?!' was on everyone's lips, as were 'of course not!', 'can you believe it?', and 'They're just students like us!'

Only Sanada, Yukimura, and Atobe slipped out without a word. Sakura's eyes followed them to the door.

"Well, 77 players is a lot to divide between just four coaches…" Nomura was saying to Kazumi. They all rose. "And Tezuka was sort of a stand-in for Ryuzaki-sensei even back in Junior High, wasn't he? Personally, I'm more surprised at Tachibana's inclusion."

Mikabi nodded. "Yeah, he played for Fudomine, right?"

Imako shook her head. "Only in junior high. He was offered a professional contract like Tezuka- his was in Russia. He took it. I don't think he comes home much."

"He didn't even finish high school?" Mikabi looked interested. "Wow. He must be good."

"Yes, well…" Nomura murmured, as Tachibana An practically jumped her brother in joy. "He's something alright."

"I guess they'll further divide the groups between the new coaches." Imako continued. "I hope I'm in the woman coach's team!"

"Same." The captain agreed. "But I don't think they'll take me out of my group- Hanamura won't give me up, I don't think." She sighed.

"Guess the organisers didn't account for the stress of having 70-odd players, instead of just 35 boys like in the Juniors." Sakura mused.

"38." Mikabi corrected. "You're forgetting Fudomine- or Yamabuki- or St Rudolph- or someone. But it was 38 back then… and it's 76 now. Kawamura-senpai was at the Junior camp, but he's not here."

"Oh yeah… Anyway, I guess having Tezuka-senpai and the others will take some stress off the other coaches. Especially Ryuzaki-sensei and Banda-sensei."

Mei made a face. "Mus' be 'ard t'coach when yer pushin' middle age."

"Ryuzaki-sensei's great!" Sakura frowned at her. "I mean, she doesn't demonstrate, sure, but we don't exactly need that sort of coaching at this level. It's more guidance than anything."

Mei rolled her eyes. "I didn' say anythin' abou' demonstratin'." She replied. "S'not like Sakaki-sensei does. But numbers do take a toll, ev'n mentally. Anyway- ya do realise tha' Tezuka-san comin' back's gonna be a problem for ya?"

"Don't remind me." Sakura groaned. "The looks I got at breakfast- Christ, I hope I'm not reassigned to his group. That'd be it."

It was, in fact, it.

Fuji only laughed when she griped about Kirihara's relentless teasing. "Can't you scare him into shutting up, senpai?" She begged. "If Tezuka-se– ugh, Coach Tezuka ever figures it out, I'd be humiliated."

"Or he might only wait until we're back in school before making a declaration of his undying love for you." Fuji countered, eyes dancing.

Imagining Tezuka making any sort of romantic gesture- towards her or anyone- prompted a snort of laughter. "On bended knee." She suggested. "With heart-shaped balloons, and the goddamn choir acting as chorus!"

"So imaginative." Fuji pretended to dash away a tear. "So will you accept this proposal and become the envy of every girl in school?"

"More like the prime target of every girl in school." She muttered. "And I would not- and you know it!"

He ruffled her hair as he moved to join his group. "Don't worry about Tezuka, Sakura-chan. I don't think he'll care very much, even if he does figure it out."

That was small comfort, as Mei's prediction about Tezuka's return wasn't an overstatement: Sakura couldn't go three hours without ribbing about her little confession. Of course, no one dared do the same to Fuji-senpai.

That being said, being under his direct guidance was incredible. The U-17 teams weren't allowed to field professional-tier players, and Tezuka, with a club contract all but signed, was considered as such. But he could coach, and coach well. While he had been a silent presence at school, he'd rarely offered any pointers (beyond 'don't let your guard down', of course). Now, though, he was a coach, and he picked up on little things in her form and play that she didn't know could be an issue. Centre of gravity. Crouch height. Angle of swing.

"What were you working on in Ryuzaki-sensei's group?" He asked her after the group- consisting of herself, Kirihara, a Jyosei boy, Yamada Junko, a couple of Yamabuki girls, Momoshiro, and Echizen- had finished warm-up. Each had split off, doing the training exercises Tezuka had ordered.

She shouldered her racquet. "Doubles- sometimes with Sengoku, that was actually pretty good," He blinked as she smirked, then clearly decided not to ask. "Once with Mei- that was a disaster- and a couple of times with Kikumaru-senpai. That was… okay. Ish." She made a face. "He's difficult to read."

Something like a smirk crossed Tezuka's lips, but Sakura couldn't be sure. She continued, "I started working on my footwork yesterday, with Kamio-san and Tachibana An. I have the list of exercises noted down, if you want to take a look?"

Tezuka considered it. "After lunch. Play a match with Yamada now."

Ugh. Counter-puncher against counter-puncher. Even if Yamada Junko was totally freaking amazing, it wasn't exactly the match of your dreams.

Junko was watchful, careful; so careful that Sakura wondered how she and Ikeda even inhabited the same plane, let alone the same team. Sakura couldn't be as reckless as Ikeda- not for more than a couple of games- so this was going to have be a grind.

Okay then. She could grind.

After two hours, and no result, Tezuka called time on the match. "Kagawa, you played a good waiting game. By doing that, you didn't give many openings. However, you failed to capitalise on a few errors on your opponent's part. You should keep a closer eye on their play, looking for weaknesses and openings. Also, you need to bend your knees more. It lowers your centre of gravity and allows for quicker reflexes, especially in a volley."

"Yes, Coach." Sakura murmured.

"Yamada," Junko raised an eyebrow. "You held back even more- perhaps a bit too much. While playing another counter-puncher, that strategy will not always work. Sometimes, you must look to force an error, even while playing a waiting game. Switching between your own style and a slightly more aggressive approach, as the situation requires, is something you need to work on."

"Yes, Coach."

She tuned him out as he went from player to player, listing out their strengths and weaknesses. Maybe she should try and–

"Dismissed!"

As they walked to the main building, Junko caught up to her for a moment. "Damn, girl," She grinned. "I see why you liked him!"

Momoshiro snorted. Sakura was just thankful Tezuka had retired to his office already.

Before they knew it, it was the weekend; half the camp was already over.

Sanada was no stranger to hard work, but even he was ragged around the edges. Unlike Yukimura and Kirihara, he was determined to stick to a lighter regimen for the next two days. He did, in fact, know how to take it easy. Sometimes.

He wandered- if he could ever be said to do something as purposeless as wander- into the common room. As expected, Kagawa was at her books.

What was not expected was the person beside her.

Something hot clawed its way from his stomach to his throat as he watched Sengoku tap her nose with a pencil. Instead of shoving him to the ground (or breaking his goddamn wrist), Sakura merely wrinkled her nose and pushed his hand away. "Are you even working, Sengoku?" She demanded. "I'm a little busy–"

"We should play doubles, you know…" Sengoku winked. "We've got a real connection, you and I."

Sanada's lips thinned. At that moment, Sakura looked up and caught sight of him. "Sanada-kun!" She waved him over. Sengoku, he was pleased to see, leaned a little further away from her as he approached.

"Thought you'd be out with Yukimura-san and Kirihara." She said, shifting a bit to make room for him. "Are you slacking?"

He 'casually' leaned forward, placing himself in Sengoku's direct line of sight. "It's important to relax as well."

She chuckled. "Who are you and what have you done with Sanada-kun?" She nudged him. "I'd have thought you have homework, at least."

"Not much," He demurred. "But you seem to spend all your free time on yours."

Was he rude for effectively cutting Sengoku out of the conversation? Probably.

Did he care? Probably not.

"Oh, this is just studying." She waved a dismissive hand. "I only have genetics left, but Oishi-senpai and I can never get our schedules to sync now that we're in different groups. He's supposed to be tutoring me."

"Hmm." Sanada eyed her books, and decided it might be worth the risk. "You should take a break. How long have you been here?"

Sakura made a face. "About… two hours. But thanks to someone" She threw a mock-glare at the boy on her right. "I haven't read a word in the last 15 minutes."

He grinned, leaning closer. "Do I distract you, Sakura-chan?"

Under Sanada's consternated eye, she threw her head back and laughed. "Yeah." She winked. "Like a gnat." She glanced at Sanada with an expression like can you believe this guy.

He couldn't believe this girl. But he certainly did fix Sengoku with a very real glare, in case the puppy took any ideas into his head. Which he had, judging by the way he ignored Sanada and continued to lean into Sakura.

Sanada was not having it.

"Can I have a word?" He didn't spare Sengoku a glance; whatever 'joke' he was in the middle of spouting didn't matter. "In private?"

The nice thing about 'in private' was that it wasn't specific; he could've taken Sakura to a corner of the common room, but Sanada was never one to take foolish risks.

"Ugh," Sakura stretched. "This was a good idea. I've been sitting for two hours." He tried not to wince as she cracked her spine in at least 3 places.

"I can tell." She laughed as he pushed open a door. "I thought you might appreciate a walk."

She threw him a sideways glance. "And some time away from Sengoku? Don't act like you didn't try to rescue me."

Sanada felt… caught. But she looked amused, rather than accusatory. Even so, he couldn't help but frown. "Sengoku is… " An idiot who doesn't deserve your time. "Annoying."

They were walking along the lawn tennis courts now. They were deserted, and very green indeed.

"He's harmless, believe me." The corner of her lips quirked up. "He's learnt his lesson, at least as far as I'm concerned." There was a satisfied glint in her eye that would have merely amused him just last month.

Now, he tried not to clench his teeth as he spoke. "Sengoku flirts with you."

Sakura was unfazed. "So? It's just flirting, Sanada-kun. I don't need to be protected from that."

Sanada actually paused. Something strange and sharp curled in his chest. "Of course," And his tone was almost vicious. "If you want to lower yourself to that…"

Damn it. He could have bitten his tongue off, as Sakura's shocked gaze deepened into a burning glare. "Watch it," She growled. "You're way out of line."

Three years ago, Sanada would have shoved his foot even more firmly in his mouth. Maybe with another ill-considered remark, or by blurting out you're so beautiful when you're angry, or simply storming off. Time and friendship, though, had made him wiser. "You're right," He conceded, watching her- the heat in her eyes, the flush in her cheeks- and willing his hands to stay motionless by his sides. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled-for."

He watched that heat and that flush peak, and then die out of her face, followed by a telltale bob of her throat that was almost worse.

His fingers flexed, and not for the first time, he noted the deserted corridor, and that she was only a step away. Her eyes searched his face and he wanted to stay here forever, and he wanted to move closer, crowd her against the wall and–

She blinked; he blinked. "It's alright." She said, and though her voice was quiet, there was the hint of a smile on her lips. "But can we not talk about Sengoku?"

Nothing would give him greater pleasure– well, no, that was a lie. But this worked just fine. "I think I can manage." He replied, and revelled in her answering laugh.

"What I do want to know…" He tensed at the unmistakeable laugh bubbling under her words. "Is… Yukimura?"

"I was fourteen."

All things considered, Tezuka was rather pleased.

Not that his group could tell, of course. Upon completion of one task he simply offered them critique, and assigned them the next one. It wasn't his way to offer more than a nod of acknowledgement, or in exceptional cases, a word of praise, and thankfully, none of them seemed to expect it. Apart from Echizen and Kirihara, none of them was exceptional, and those two prompted headaches more readily than praise.

Echizen, unsurprisingly, was unparalleled in that department; Tezuka made a mental note to thank Sanada for having- somehow- pummelled some degree of sense into his junior. Certainly Kirihara was incapable of shutting up, and his confidence in his abilities (while not misplaced) bordered on the overt, and he needled the girls so incessantly that Tezuka had to wonder whether he was sixteen or six; but for all that, there was a maturity (to his game only) that Echizen could stand to learn from.

A sharp slap echoed around the gym; Tezuka sighed as Kagawa withdrew her hand, scoffing at Kirihara. Another of their spats- the boy seemed to take inordinate delight in provoking her, judging by the smirk on his face. Tezuka didn't much care what it was about- he had better things to do than wonder about the petty squabbles of teenagers- but he did wonder how Sanada viewed Kirihara's determined flirting with Kagawa.

He wasn't blind- not that Kagawa and Sanada's interactions could have escaped him even if he had been. Sanada wasn't one to suffer a rival, though; Tezuka hoped he'd refrain from killing Kirihara until after the Invitational matches. Tezuka had a lineup to help determine and Sanada's love affair was not going to screw everything up.

He rolled his eyes as Kirihara let out a (well-deserved) yowl of pain.

Rather filler-ish, but inspiration has been slow in coming. I'm still not 100% happy with this, but it's something, anyway.

Hope you're all staying home, and staying safe! Wash your hands :D

Cheers and good health,
Chilli.