Chapter 2! This was quite the fast update. I thought I should let you guys know I post as I write. So if I come across a difficult chapter, then it may be a while before it comes up. Speaking of which, it's a great thing that this is a quick update because for the last week of August I'm leaving the country (so that's like this weekend), and I'll try my best to have Chapter 3 finished by then. But it's not a promise or anything, because this weekend is coming up quite fast.

Also. Sorry for any spelling/punctuation mistakes! I read over everything so I know the grammar and stuff is pretty good, but if I accidentally misspelled a name once or whatever, please, feel free to point it out.

And I know that "Ore-sama" is a substitute for "me" or "I." Except, to my English speaking tongue, "Ore-sama" sounds like a 3rd person pronoun. So technically, the sentence, "I am above you," would be, "Ore-sama am above you." But that sounds weird to me, so instead I put, "Ore-sama is above you." But this was only necessary once or twice. Other times I changed the sentence structure so it all works out.

Sorry for the long note! Anyway. Enjoy reading!

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One Step Forward
Chapter 2 - Two of a Kind

After Sanada had gotten over his general surprise that he was, in fact, being kissed by Atobe Keigo of Hyoutei Gakuen against the brick wall of his own school in front of his two best friends - and Kirihara - Sanada finally realized that this was what he had been - unintentionally, unconsciously, and completely against his will - fantasizing about for the last two weeks and three days, Sanada grabbed Atobe's tie and started to kiss back.

But just a little bit.

He completely forgot about the shocked audience that they were currently in front of. Frankly, if he was being completely truthful, he'd have to admit that he didn't really give a damn.

"Mm," smirked Atobe, looking at Sanada with slightly lidded eyes. "This is completely the reaction Ore-sama was aiming towards."

Sanada was blinking down at Atobe, trying to clear his head. Not only had that been completely intense, but his mind was still trying to catch up with the situation. "..."

Atobe pouted, hands still pushing against Sanada's chest. "What's the matter, Sanada? Was that to your satisfaction? Ore-sama was quite sure that you were in awe of my beautiful skills in the art of-"

"What was that?" Sanada interrupted, not quite comprehending the situation at hand.

Atobe paused, looking at Sanada as though he were an idiot. "A kiss, you imbecile. I cannot believe that I just kissed a fool. Really, Sanada. Ore-sama thought a bit higher of your intelligence. Not at the same level as mine, of course, but-"

"Atobe."

Atobe smirked. "A-ahn?"

Sanada wordlessly opened his mouth and just stared.

Thankfully - or maybe not thankfully - Kirihara chose that moment to fill the silence in with his own thoughts.

"What the hell?" he asked, rubbing his hands over his eyes and blinking at Sanada and Atobe, who stared back at him with an almost detached curiosity. He pinched himself and winced. "Okay. Not a hallucination from a lack of water..."

Kirihara took a deep breath and walked over to Yukimura. "'Mura-buchou. Hit me."

Yukimura gave Kirihara a look that clearly would've said, are you insane?! , were it anyone else. But as it was Yukimura, the look said, instead, oh dear - poor Akaya seems to be a bit under the weather.

Kirihara whacked himself on the forehead. "Oh. Of course. Sorry, 'Mura-buchou. Yanagi-senpai?"

Renji took one look at Sanada, then at Atobe, then looked at Kirihara, and backhanded Kirihara across the face before smacking himself as well.

"Crap, that hurt," Kirihara rubbed his stinging cheek. "But at least I now know that if I'm insane, Yanagi-senpai is as well."

"This is irrational," Renji muttered to himself. "There was less than two percent chance of this happening. Unless I derived the wrong unknown. What was the integral..."

But his voice trailed off and his eyes widened - or they would have, were they open - as Atobe decided to ignore their presence and started to kiss Sanada once more, except this time, very obviously not on his lips.

"Renji," whispered Yukimura as Renji continued to mutter about mathematical logic and prrofs and other such nonsense. "I think Atobe has gone insane."

"No kidding," agreed Kirihara.

"But at least some good is coming out of Atobe's random burst of craziness."

And somehow, that seemed to make something click in Renji's head, and he stopped thinking about derivatives and how pi may have been involved in all of this.

A slow smile spread across his lips.

"Seiichi," he began to say, but then he was cut off as another voice entered the fray. A very familiar, a very skeptical voice.

"Sanada?"

Sanada looked up absently. "Hmm?"

And stared. "Atobe?"

Atobe removed his lips from Sanada's neck and arched an eyebrow. "Yes?"

Sanada gaped.

Yukimura blinked.

Renji smiled.

Kirihara slapped himself.

"Ore-sama must admit," said Atobe, who was staring at the scene with a bewildered sort of amusement, "that this was not what Ore-sama expected to see here."

"And who are you?" asked the Atobe that was currently pressed against Sanada.

"Ore-sama should be asking you that, identity-stealing peasant," Atobe glared rather haughtily at the other Atobe. "Although, Ore-sama is rather impressed that you managed to pull of such a convincing double."

"Ore-sama was about to tell you the exact same thing," said Atobe the First. He got off of Sanada and walked over to Atobe the Second, one hand resting on his hip while the other flicked off a lock of hair.

"What the hell is going on?" Kirihara wanted to know and Sanada thought that that was a reasonable question to ask.

"Hmm?" Atobe the First looked at Kirihara. "Some low-life rascal thought it would be amusing to try and duplicate Ore-sama's beautiful presence."

Atobe the Second scoffed as he crossed his arms. Sanada thought it was eerie that they both had the same, not-part-of-the-uniform jacket as well. "Except, of course, that there is only one Atobe Keigo, and there is no way anyone could copy Ore-sama's magnificence."

They both glared at each other for a few seconds.

"Ore-sama challenges you to a tennis match," Atobe the Second said, pointing towards the courts.

"Hah, as if an impostor has any chance of defeating the true Ore-sama."

"Then you should know that you have no chance of winning."

"Ore-sama does not need to prove anything to the likes of you," Atobe the First scoffed before walking forward a bit more and looking suspiciously at Atobe the Second. "But Ore-sama must know how you managed to pull this disguise off so well."

"Ore-sama is brilliant in every aspect. And it is I who should be asking you the same question," Atobe the Second said, reaching forward to touch the other Atobe's cheek. "Magnificent. You have almost managed to replicate Ore-sama's perfect skin."

Atobe the First smirked.

"And you have almost mirrored Ore-sama's stylish haircut down to the texture and length," Atobe the First commented, dragging his fingers through the fine strands of hair that belonged to Atobe the Second.

"Are you as handsome underneath this facade as you are right now, impostor?"

"Ore-sama is beautiful no matter what," grinned Atobe the First. "But there is something Ore-sama has been meaning to do for some time."

"You must've read Ore-sama's mind, then, impersonator."

"Wait a minute," Sanada finally - finally - managed to say as his head caught up with the sight before him. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What-"

"Do hush, Sanada," said Atobe the First at the same time Atobe the Second said, "Be silent, Sanada."

Sanada glared.

"Can you not see that Ore-sama is quite busy at the moment?"

And it didn't matter which on said it or the fact that Sanada was about to say something biting. Because right then, as though both the Atobes were the same person, they took a step forward and - for a lack of a better term - started to make out.

Yes. Making out. Right there.

In plain view of the public eye.

Except, not really, as they were in a rather shady side of the building, and most of the students had gone home, and not even the tennis club members were in the right angle to be able to make them out.

But the point was, all the dots that were rapidly connecting in Sanada's head disappeared at once. His eyes widened, he loosened his tie, he blinked an awful lot. But he simply could not get himself to look away from the smoking hot scene in front of him where Atobe was making out with himself.

And not just a, kissing-that-was-slowly-becoming-more kind of making out. Atobe's hands were everywhere . The other Atobe's hands were also everywhere. Atobe's lips were on Atobe's lips. Atobe's fingers were on Atobe's hair.

It didn't matter that Sanada knew that something was seriously wrong here. His mind was just caught up on what his eyes were seeing.

And somewhere behind him, Kirihara slapped himself again.

Twice.

"This has finally reached a level of creepiness that I don't understand," Kirihara said, directing his comment to both Yukimura and Renji. "But why can't I look away?"

Renji cleared his throat awkwardly. "I know the feeling, Akaya."

"No you don't, Yanagi-senpai. Your eyes are closed."

"Yes. But that doesn't mean that I can't see them."

Kirihara opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something more, but then he stopped himself. Partly because he finally realized that Renji was Renji and could therefore do things that was not understandable to normal human beings, and partly because the Atobes were putting on quite the show.

"I pity Genichirou," Renji said sympathetically.

"Why?"

"Because, Akaya, you saw his reaction when Atobe kissed him the first time," Yukimura finally said. The smile on his lips that was usually so calm and controlled was now giving off the slightest twitch, as though he was trying to stifle uncontrollable laughter.

Which he was.

"Seiichi, I think that you should put a stop to this right now," said Renji, still facing the direction of the Atobes.

"Come on, Renji. Let's see how this ends up."

"'Mura-buchou, please?" pouted Kirihara. "This is doing all sorts of weird things to my head. You don't want your successor to go insane, do you?"

"Akaya..."

" Seiichi," Renji said sternly, feeling his face heat up from the actions being done before him. He vaguely wondered if he was exhibiting the beginning signs of voyeurism. Because truly, he just could not look away.

"Oh, alright," Yukimura said, clearing his throat.

"Niou, Yagyuu!" he barked, eyes focusing in on the two Atobes as it did when he was in the middle of a particularly intense tennis match. "Stop this right now."

The two Atobes paused, and then turned to look at Yukimura.

And there was a moment of silence.

Then Atobe the First grinned. "Sweet, buchou. Which one of you figured it out first?"

"It was Renji, actually," Yukimura said, face back to it's usual content look. "But I'm surprised your cover wasn't blown the second Yagyuu walked in."

"Yes, well," Atobe the Second said, reaching for eyes before stopping, and placing them back down. "It was a huge gamble to put the success of our entire operation on the extent of Sanada-san's infatuation."

"But, in all," continued Atobe the First, "we think that it was a job well done for having only a twenty-four hours notice."

"Only a day?" asked Yukimura, looking mildly curious. In a really, oh my, that is quite interesting, kind of way.

"Yeah. We only discovered that it was Atobe only yesterday, after all."

"That's pretty good, actually," said Kirihara. "How long did it take you guys to do it for that match against Seigaku in the Regionals?"

"That took a day, Kirihara-kun," said Atobe the Second. "But that was because we were impersonating each other. It's much easier than tackling on a project as complicated as Atobe-san."

"If you don't mind me asking," asked Renji, completely ignoring the fact that Sanada was still frozen in his spot in shock, "just how did you narrow it down to the fact that it was Atobe? I mean, I was so sure that I was being deliberately vague."

"You see, Niou-kun forgot his wallet while we were leaving," explained Atobe the Second. "So we were coming back to get it. On our way back we saw Sanada-san looking quite uncomfortable, and you and Yukimura-san looking rather... satisfied? At any rate, we concluded that you managed to figure out the identity of the person."

"Yeah. So we just kind of hung out by a tree." Atobe the First looked rather un-Atobe like, with a devil-may-care kind of smirk on his face. "Easy to overhear what was being said."

"I suspected as such," murmured Renji.

"Oh?" asked Yukimura. Renji nodded in response.

"Excellent job with the outfits, by the way," added Renji. "Except, would it be too much to ask for you to change back to normal now? Although I've managed to conclude which one of you is who, it does get quit disconcerting after a while."

"Of course," said Atobe the Second, removing some accessories to revert back to Yagyuu. He reached inside his Hyoutei pants and pulled out his glasses.

"You've gotten way better at the whole kissing thing, Hi-ro-shi," grinned Niou.

"Thank you, Niou-kun," said Yagyuu politely. And, in just as mild of a tone, without even looking slightly embarrassed, he continued, "Would you like to try that again, sometimes?"

"Sure. Right now is good." A smirk spread across Niou's face as he pulled a bit on his ponytail. Kirihara groaned.

Yagyuu looked as impassive as ever. "Well, if you insist-"

"I do."

"Wait, wait, wait." Yukimura cut in before pointing at Sanada. "We need to make sure if Sanada is alright, first. We can't have the Emperor of Junior High tennis to be stuck in such a state."

"Of course," nodded Renji, and all five of them waked up to circle around Sanada. "Genichirou, can you hear me?"

Kirihara prodded Sanada on the shoulder. "Yo, fukubuchou?"

Sanada blinked.

Yukimura smiled. "Excellent. Now that-"

"Seventy-five laps."

Needless to say, everyone blinked at that. Even Renji's. Except his eyes opened for a split second before closing again, where everyone else's closed. "What?"

"Make that one hundred," glared Sanada, staring at Niou and Yagyuu with the look of utmost anger on his face. "For assaulting me."

Niou grinned. "I wouldn't say assault, Sanada. You were quite the willing participant."

Sanada's eyes narrowed. "I am not above hitting you, Niou. And you better start running in the next five seconds or the number of laps I just assigned will keep on increasing."

Niou and Yagyuu shared a look of disbelief.

"Sanada-san, if you don't mind me pointing out, you are no longer our vice captain-"

"Hundred and fifty."

And somehow, seeing the look in Sanada's eyes, Niou and Yagyuu exchanged a significant look before dashing off towards the tennis courts, neither of them understanding why they were doing so.

"And you," Sanada turned around to look at Kirihara who 'eep!'-ed before hiding behind Yukimura. "You breathe one word of this, I will do everything in my power to make sure that you never even think about tennis again, much less play. Got it?"

Kirihara nodded vigorously, and in his fear, forgot to find this situation amusing.

"Good. Now... go and captain your team."

Kirihara sprinted off.

Sanada didn't waste another moment before he started to march home in tight, controlled steps. Renji swore that his shoulders were shaking.

"Sanada!" Yukimura called, jogging to catch up. "Hold on! We were supposed to go-"

Sanada adjusted the cap on his head and said in a very even voice, "I think I'm just going to go home."

Yukimura frowned. "Sanada-"

"Let him go, Seiichi," Renji intervened, watching Sanada's retreating back. "I think he needs some time to swallow down his embarrassment. It doesn't matter how amusing it was for us. For him it was something completely..."

"I get it," said Yukimura with a sigh. "For someone who was brought up as strict as him, it was already difficult enough to accept the fact that he's attracted to Atobe. But now seeing just how attracted he is..."

"Exactly."

"Still," and now there was a hint of a smile on Yukimura's face. "I have to say that I am impressed beyond belief at what a stellar job Niou-kun and Yagyuu-kun pulled. Sure, it was a reckless and they'll be running laps till the sun's gone..."

"I know what you mean," replied Renji. "I feel terrible that it was all in Genichirou's expense, but still. All that background information as well? How did they find out that Genichirou was meeting Atobe on Wednesday? Even we didn't know."

Yukimura chuckled. "It's very romantic. Almost like a first date."

Renji smiled. "Indeed."

--

Needless to say, once Sanada reached home, he got absolutely nothing done.

--

"Well, this is just perfect," Niou gasped as he turned the corner of his one hundred and twenty-fourth lap. "I guess I was wrong about him not controlling out souls anymore. Clearly he'll always have that power."

"Agreed," said Yagyuu. "Do you think we pushed Sanada-san a bit too far, Niou-kun?"

Yagyuu found it almost endearing that Niou had the sheer audacity to smirk at that, given their current situation. But then again, this was Niou he was talking about.

"Heh. No way. It was a good experiment. Now we know a hell of a lot more about Sanada than before." Niou started to cough slightly. "I need water."

Yagyuu shivered slightly as particularly chilly wind blew by. I was already night time, and they'd be here for a long, long time more if they wanted to finish all these laps. "Say, Niou-kun. Why don't we just leave?"

Niou looked aghast. "Are you insane?"

"Of course not. It's just that Sanada-san would have no way of knowing whether or not we finished. I found it rather disheartening that we listened to him in the first place. It says something fierce about our lack of defiance in authority."

"It's Sanada, Yagyuu. He'll know." Niou paused. "And what do you mean authority? Fukubuchou is at a whole different level than say, the district police. Not that I ever did anything that would require their presence."

Niou gave a rather shifty laugh.

Yagyuu sighed, but kept on jogging, and ignored the sketchy parts of Niou's comments. Sometimes, it was best not knowing. "If you insist..."

On the bright side, both of them were practically guaranteed to stay at home tomorrow. There was no way neither of them was coming out of this without the flu or something. And Yagyuu rather hoped it wasn't the 'something.'

--

Even though Sanada should have felt slightly better about his dilemma at the sight of Niou and Yagyuu with bleary eyes and sniffling noses the next day, he strangely didn't. Maybe it was because of the smug smirks that Niou sent his way every time he glared.

But the point of the matter was, by the time Wednesday afternoon came around, he was seriously considering to cancel his meeting with Atobe.

Except, of course, that would be ridiculous. In a burst of Global Warming, the afternoon was brilliant. Sanada didn't know how a day near the end of November could be so refreshing. It was the perfect day to play.

"Ah, Sanada! Good to see that you didn't want to waste a single moment to bask in Ore-sama's prowess," Atobe smirked as Sanada walked on to the courts. "Not that you could be blamed for not being able to resist Ore-sama's company."

Sanada rewarded that statement with a flat look. "When did you get here?"

Atobe ran his fingers through his cropped hair, somehow still giving off the impression that he was the next most important thing since the wheel, and everyone who didn't know that should either smarten up or go to hell.

"Ore-sama has been gracing these courts with his magnificent presence for the last ten minutes. But don't worry. As you are an ordinary civilian, Ore-sama understands that you must face the horrors of public transport."

"And where is you esteemed chauffeur?" Sanada asked, hoping his sarcasm would reach past Atobe's ego as he searched the surrounding area for any expensive cars. When he found none, he half expected this to be another stunt like before.

"Ore-sama gave him the hour off. Although, it may have been a bit too much time, don't you think?"

No, it was really Atobe.

Exasperating. Because that's what Atobe was in a nutshell. Not vain. Not egotistical (okay, he was stretching it here). But exasperating. And irritating. And... Sanada had never before in his life felt such an urge to hit someone before. Not even Kirihara.

He didn't know why he was fooled into thinking that it was Atobe before. With Niou and Yagyuu. Because there was something almost a little bit tame about their rendition of Atobe. They could never pull off his sheer level of... Atobe-ness.

"...If I cared to continue this conversation, I would grace that with a response."

"A-hah," Atobe snapped his fingers and Sanada half expected to see an entourage of... some impressive something to pop up. "Except you did just respond to Ore-sama's previous statement."

Sanada rolled his eyes. "Technicalities."

"But Ore-sama must applaud you on you ever sharpening wit. Although it is still considered dull when being compared to, say," Atobe paused for a moment, as though he was seriously considering, "a tennis ball, I must say, it does hold an edge over cotton."

Sanada glared, and Atobe just let out a chuckle full of mirth before heading towards the court.

No, it would have been entirely the wrong decision to not come. Atobe was the kind of person who thought the world revolved around them. If Sanada backed out, he had no doubt in his mind that Atobe would hunt him down and demand to know just why he couldn't show up. Ore-sama's time was very special, after all.

Which was why had taken a deep breath, ignored the encouraging smiles and knowing smirks thrown his way, and resigned himself to his match with Atobe. This had to be the first time in as long as he could remember where he wasn't looking forward to playing a match with a talented player.

But since he really, really hated backing up on preset arrangements without even a good excuse at hand - well, a good excuse he could actually use - he thought he might as well.

"Rough or smooth?"

"Smooth."

Sanada spun the racket.

"Hmm. It seems that Ore-sama has won."

No kidding.

"Serve or receive?"

"Receive. Ore-sama has a new move that needs to be tried out. You should be honored, Sanada, to be graced with such an opportunity."

And Sanada just gave Atobe a look that he should have been able to understand, given his infamous Insight.

But no. Atobe just laughed, and Sanada wondered if Atobe was laughing at the situation, or at him.

Then he remembered it was Atobe he was talking about.

So now, there he was, staring blankly at the bright green tennis ball in his hand, trying with all of his might to put his all into this game.

"Sanada!" called out Atobe from the other side of the court as he tapped his foot impatiently. "It would be appreciated if you would throw the ball in the air and hit it with your racket and perform the action known as a serve."

Sanada glared - all sentimental thoughts evaporating from his head in an instant - and he thought it was impressive enough to be felt across the court. He tersely muttered, "Of course."

Atobe grinned victoriously as Sanada threw the ball into the air. "Be prepared to be awed by Ore-sama's prowess."

And even though Sanada had held himself perfectly well up until that point - remarkably well, really - that sentence sent images to his brain of a previous memory that he never, ever, ever wanted to experience again.

And with the image of Atobe/Niou making out with Atobe/Yagyuu flashing across his head, Sanada hit the ball. And given the circumstances, Sanada thought that his serve was a mighty good one, especially as it made it across the net in an impressive speed.

Atobe didn't look too impressed though as he caught up with it easily. "You have to do better than that to stand a chance against Ore-sama, Sanada!"

As if Sanada didn't know that.

But as the game progressed, Atobe's frown became more and more pronounced on his face. Atobe's taunts had faded away to sheer disbelief, and Sanada was frankly in awe of the fact that he even managed to get the one game that he did in comparison to Atobe's four. Which was probably why Atobe wasn't talking to him at all during their break. In fact, if he had to define the look on Atobe's face, it would be angry bordering on disappointed.

Sanada knew this was not his best game. This wasn't anywhere near his best game. If anything, this was one of the worst games he had ever played in his life. Which was saying quite a lot, if he thought back to that first time when Yukimura completely obliterated on the courts. Hell, even that one time he had been completely out of it with that wave of the flu that hit Rikkai, he had given it his all in his practice match against Renji.

But Atobe wasn't Renji. No.

And it wasn't Renji - or Niou and Yagyuu pretending to be Renji - that Sanada saw the day before yesterday, doing acts with himself that Sanada would've found lewd if he wasn't completely captivated by what was going on.

He couldn't even look at Atobe properly because those images just popped up in his mind if he just even thought about him.

But, thought Sanada as he looked at Atobe who was lightly shifting from foot to foot to keep up his rhythm and inspecting his racket, he wasn't being at all fair to Atobe, either.

He knew he was looking forward to this match, because it seemed as though none of his matches with Atobe had ever finished. Well, one did, but that was so long ago he couldn't bring himself to count it. They had both improved drastically since then. In Atobe's eyes, Sanada was showing him the utmost disrespect by not playing to his fullest extent.

And Sanada didn't want Atobe to think that.

Not because Sanada wanted him or anything weird like that - no matter what Yukimura and Renji implied.Because Sanada didn't. So what if they had spent a random Sunday together because they ran into each other, and decided to arrange a tennis match? That was so, completely reasonable.

And Sanada didn't even like him. No, really, he didn't. Sanada thought it may actually hurt his physical heath sometimes to be around Atobe. It was just that irritating.

But still, Sanada respected the man's honest skill and talent. And it completely wouldn't do for one of the more promising members of the junior high tennis circuit to think that he wasn't good enough to be played against seriously.

And that was the truth. Not some insane reason like... like Sanada wanted to impress him or anything. That idea was way too absurd for even Yukimura to consider.

No, he was just making it clear that they had a mutual understanding of each other's skill.

Which was why, when Atobe got back to the court and stood in his standard starting position across the net, looking at Sanada with a cool indifference, that Sanada set forth the fastest serve he had.

Atobe blinked as the ball swished past him, and finally, a satisfied smile spread across his face. "Not bad, Sanada. But don't expect Ore-sama to not return it the next time."

Sanada smirked as he threw another ball into the air. "Let's see you live up to that."

And surprisingly, after that, it wasn't that difficult to imagine this Atobe - the real Atobe - as the real Atobe. Because Atobe had serves and special attacks that Niou and Yagyuu could not possibly learn in a matter of days. And the look of exhilaration on Atobe's face now was much different than than whatever Niou had done before.

Yes. It was surprisingly easy getting over that whole ordeal as he got caught up in the match. Atobe's Ice World was a sight to behold. And sure, he may have been losing against it the last time, but who's to say that this time he wouldn't find a weakness?

All he had to do was get his mind wrapped around the fact that it wasn't Atobe whose face was like that when he was being kissed. Or more.

No. If Sanada were a betting kind of man, he would have put a lot of his money that when it was actually Atobe in that kind of situation, the look on his face would be a hundred, no, a thousand time more se-

Sanada faulted.

Across the net, Atobe glared, hand on his hip while the other was being used to point at Sanada with a racket. "Ore-sama will be very disappointed if you go back to that dream land of yours, Sanada. We're playing a match. Concede or play seriously. Do not waste Ore-sama's time with such a pathetic display of skills."

Sanada narrowed his eyes. "Let's wait until the game is over before making any assumptions."

Atobe snorted - in the most elegant way possible. "It's no longer an assumption, Sanada. Ore-sama can guarantee you that you will lose."

Sanada growled. He knew this was true. And the fact was, none of this would be happening if it wasn't for what happened on Monday. It was completely taking control of his mind.

Well, Sanada wasn't going to let some out of control prank get in the way of his tennis. Especially in a match against Atobe. Lord knew that someone needed to slap some sense into him. As if Echizen with his hair-shaving escapade wasn't enough.

Atobe smirked as he raced for the ball, which Sanada made sure was twice as heavy than his usual. The muscle training had done him good. "Hmm. You seem especially determined to prove Ore-sama wrong today."

"It's not that difficult," Sanada retorted as he hit the ball back, which was the beginning of a rather long rally.

"Resistance is futile when it comes to Ore-sama, Sanada. It'll do you good to remember that."

"Hn. Remind me to answer when I start to give a damn."

No, Sanada wasn't going to let outside forces control his life. And as if to prove it, he forced himself to think the things that would normally cause him to choke, and kept up the game at the same time.

Of course, he was thinking of those things because it helped him exercise his mental strength and will. Not some totally absurd reason like he actually enjoyed the sight of Atobe and Atobe doing... things to each other.

If he wasn't so focused in hitting the ball, he would've scoffed.

As if.