"What are you writing?" Niou asked.
"I'm writing my term paper in my Philosophy class, Metaphysics to be exact."
Niou read the manuscript of this chapter, then nosebled and fainted. "T-This... is..." Ootori passed by, and upon seeing Niou collapsed on the ground, he examined him.
"Aren't you Ootori from Hyoutei?" he nodded as affirmation.
"Nice timing! I wanted to interview you for my next fic, would you mind?"
"No, not really." then he left Niou who was still lying on the ground. After Ootori left he stood up.
"K' d-does not own The Prince of Tennis." Niou said while wiping away the blood from his nose.
Party Arrangements
Tomorrow's the big day, the Rikkai Regular's party and Sakuno's their only guest. At lunch break, they were discussing where to hold the party. They needed a big house where they can freely do whatever they want.
Then Yagyu suggested, "Why don't we hold it in Sanada's house, where it's big and classical?" Sanada's house was a typical Japanese house with a big garden and a koi pond.
But Sanada glared at him, making Yagyu shrink to his seat. Then Yukimura smiled and said, "That is a pretty good idea, don't you think so, Sanada?" he beamed at Sanada who was plainly annoyed but he didn't want to say no to Yukimura.
"Way to go, Mura." Niou whispered at Yukimura's ears and his buchou just smiled. "Well then, it's decided! We'll hold the party at Sanada-fukou-buchou's house."
"What about our food?" Jackal inquired. He was right. No one within their group was good enough to fry a perfect sunny side up egg. Everyone quieted down and thought.
"…" there was silence. Nobody had a good idea. Sanada wouldn't want to bother his Kaa-san to cook for them, it's too embarrassing. Then Marui piped up and took in a fresh strip of bubblegum.
"Where's our brat?" he gestured to Renji who just shook his head. He looked at everybody and no one knew where he was. They sighed, that kid was a real pain in the ass.
"Where could that damned brat be?" Niou was a little sad; he didn't have anybody to pick on.
"Achoo!" Kirihara sneezed and rubbed his nose. 'Somebody must be talking about me…" then he went back to sleep.
"Never mind him. We still have our own classes and lunch break is almost over. We can talk after practice." Yanagi said and everyone agreed and stood up from their seats and went back to their classes.
What Is Love Exactly?
At the practice, everyone turned to Kirihara when he arrived. Niou grappled him and asked him, "Where have you been!? We were discussing things about the party tomorrow!" he was angry yet happy because he can bully him again. Then Yukimura approached and Niou let go of his kohai.
He then spoke softly, "Where were you during lunch break?" Yukimura's gaze seemed to pierce through Kirihara that he can't hold his secret in.
"I, uh…" for the first time in history, Kirihara was actually lost for words. Then Yukimura cocked his head, seeming impatient. "I was…" he blushed and scratched his head. He remembered Sakuno. "At the junior high building." He said shyly. 'What's this!? I'm shy!?' he was grossed by his own actions. "I ate lunch with Sakuno." He said almost whispering.
"Don't worry, I won't tell Niou." Yukimura gave him a reassuring smile and he finally felt comfortable. He didn't want to be teased all day 'til tomorrow. "She made food for you?" The boy nodded. "I see… She has a talent in cooking, huh?"
"Yeah. The food was fantastic." He evaded Yukimura's eyes as he tried to remember how delicious the food was.
"She'll cook for us tomorrow then." Yukimura said. Kirihara was shocked.
"If it's fine with her, then it's decided." He said. Inside, he was excited to try other food that Sakuno made.
The regulars, except for Yukimura and Sanada, were doing net exercises. Yagyu initiated the talk, "I heard from buchou that Sakuno is going to cook for us tomorrow." When he finished, Marui's concentration was taken away a little from what he was doing, and Kirihara blushed a little. Renji made some mental notes about the two's reaction.
"Marui, keep your eyes on the ball." Renji noted since the other's control of the ball slipped a little. Niou noticed the slight blush and made fun of his kohai.
"You really have a crush on Sakuno, ne?" he said while continuing on their practice while back-pedaling to the backcourt and hit the ball with the right amount of force.
"Shut up! I don't have a crush on that clumsy girl!" he scowled at his senpai who was mocking him.
"Denial is affirmation in itself says St. Aquinas." Marui said and everyone was surprised by his words.
"And where did you get that, Marui-senpai?" Kirihara asked while he was confused at the same time, embarrassed.
"I read philosophical books, baka! Try it and you might become a genius like me." He replied coldly.
"Then what about you?" Renji said. He was quiet all the time when the topic was brought up. "Don't you have a crush on that girl too?" he said with a hint of teasing in it.
There was silence between them and only the sound of rackets hitting balls and the sound of bouncing balls could be heard. Out of the blue, Marui suddenly asked a very intriguing question and every body turned their attention to him.
"Why can't love be like tennis?" Marui spoke, his concentration still on his activity. Jackal was his partner in this practice and looked very amused.
"You never asked things like that. What's wrong?"
Niou whistled, "She's gotten under your skin, huh?" he said teasingly. Then continued, "There're a lot of answers for that question, you know." Marui blew a bubble while he mused on the question he just asked.
"But according to Kant, love and marriage are completely irrational sentiments." He said sadly.
Yagyu chuckled and said, "You're reading too much of Kant's rationalistic works, Marui. And besides," he paused to catch his breath, "Love has no cognitive importance, only that it gives pleasure to man and emotional gratification. So there's no point in finding rational reasons for love." Almost everyone jaw-dropped, they were speaking in Renji's language!
Niou butted in, "Besides, if love was like tennis, you'd win too easily, Marui." Then he turned to his kohai who was silent all that time, trying to absorb whatever they were saying. "And Akaya would eagerly beat somebody to the ground to win, and that would be awful." He chuckled at what he said that was pertaining to Kirihara, who was known as The Devil.
Yukimura suddenly spoke, which almost gave them a heart attack (he wasn't there moments ago and just suddenly appeared, like poof!). "And there is no such thing as game, score and most importantly, game over in true love." He smiled while observing their practice. He moved his hand as a signal to tell them to stop. "Although they are quite similar in a way, that you enjoy both of them." Marui was struck by what his buchou said. All that has been happening to him and his actions were all strange to him; he has never been like that.
He smirked then muttered words loud enough for everybody to hear. "Your advices somehow imply that all of you had fallen in love." He eyed Yagyu who just shrugged then looked at Yukimura who shook his head, then to Niou who just sighed. "Great! Asking for advices from inexperienced people! How worse can it get?" he sighed and everybody laughed.
Niou was able to recognize a faint figure outside the courts and exclaimed, "Have I told you that Sakuno had been watching us since we started practicing?" Marui and Kirihara suddenly cringed.
'What if she heard everything that we were talking about?' both of them thought. She waved at them and they shyly waved back at the little girl. Then a boy approached Sakuno and they walked home together. Marui's smile faded from his lips. There was this sharp pain within his chest.
"Who's that guy?" he asked Kirihara.
"That's her friend; he's always with her." He said, with sadness in his voice.
Marui suddenly frowned and said, "Hmph! I'll gladly beat up that twerp!" He fervently stated while he blew a bubble. His teammates were amazed by his sudden change in attitude.
Kirihara chuckled, "Count me in!" and everybody laughed heartily.
"TARUNDORU!" Sanada shouted and commanded everyone to run 50 laps around the courts. While they were running, Marui was able to think about what Yukimura said.
'Just enjoy the challenge and don't give up.' He told himself while glaring at Kirihara who was arguing with his Niou-senpai.
"But then again, it's a matter of her choice." Yukimura said as he remembered his conversation with cute, little Sakuno.
"Ryuzaki-chan! What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Anou… I just w-wanted to watch a l-little bit." She answered meekly.
He giggled at the girl and asked, "Can you cook for us tomorrow." then she turned red and bowed. "It's alright if you don't want to."
"No! That's not it senpai!" she said as she waved her hands in front of her. "I'll b-be glad to do so." Then Yukimura bowed to show his gratitude.
"Thank you, Ryuzaki-chan." He smiled.
"Please call me Sakuno…" she blushed. Yukimura had already turned away to return to the courts. Then he eyed the people who were practicing in the court.
"Whom do you prefer, Marui or Kirihara-kun?" Sakuno gasped at her senpai's question.
"I-I…" she played with the hem of her skirt.
"It's okay. I was just kidding. You take jokes too seriously!" Yukimura, of all the people, made fun of Sakuno.
"Mou! Yukimura-senpai!" then he waved goodbye to her and she smiled.
"I'll see you tomorrow then!" then he went back to practice.
"I wonder who would be the lucky person..." he said as he joined Sanada in supervising his teammates.
So sorry that I practiced what I've learned in class. This chapter became too philosophical though I really intended it to be that way (Marui would lose himself again after this chapter, hehe). Sorry if I'm 'torturing' Marui too much.
Preview of next chapter:
Marui walked towards the school, and as he did so, he heard female voices arguing about something. He didn't care so he just shrugged it off. When he was close to the schoool gates, he saw Sakuno surrounded by a group of girls. Then one of the girls lunged forward while holding a knife, ready to stab Sakuno in the face.
"Sakuno!" he quickly thought of something and grabbed his tennis racket and ran between the girl and Sakuno, as if he was trying to catch a ball that bounced on the other side of his court.
Sakuno closed her eyes and when she opened them, found that she wasn't hurt and the girl who tried to stab her was being grappled by a young man with a racket.
Making fics is much better than making assignments, just kidding! I hope you enjoyed this nosebleed chapter of The Devil vs. The Prodigy vs. THe Rikkai Volleyist.
Ryoma's appearance will be soon, but he won't be getting a warm welcome from me, hehe.