"Our next match is between The Rhythm and The Team That Is Better Than Shuusuke's Team." Ojii said as he took his place in the referee seat since Banji had departed. The coaches were, in case you haven't noticed, alternating being the refs for each match because they're so fair that way.
"All right, it's so important for us to win our first three matches so Shishido doesn't have to play." Said Oishi to his team as they lied Shishido down on the bench and put a blanket on him.
"That won't be too hard, right?" said Itsuki.
Just then, Ryuuzaki walked over.
"Um…what's going on here?" she asked.
They only stood there looking suspicious. "What do you mean?" Sengoku said finally.
"Is Shishido well enough to be playing tennis?" she inquired, pointing at him.
"Of course he is!" said Sengoku. "We're ALWAYS well enough to play tennis!"
"Then why does he look like he should be in bed resting?" Ryuuzaki questioned.
"Um…" said Team Five slowly.
"Because he's conserving his energy!" Kamio said. "He's playing Singles 1 and he wants to make sure he's got enough energy to defeat his opponent, so he's taking a last minute nap!"
Ryuuzaki didn't look like she was going to accept that as an answer, but then she nodded.
"All right, I'll buy that." She said as she walked away.
"Nice job, Kamio." Said Oishi.
"WOOGITY WOOGITY WOOOO!" the whole team said as they did their secret handshake.
"Will the doubles teams please come onto the court?" Ojii said. "Oishi and Itsuki from The Rhythm against Bane and Jackal from The Team That Is Better Than Shuusuke's Team."
He paused.
"That's such a mouthful…" he said. "Do you mind if I shorten it?"
"What do you plan on shortening it to?" Yuuta asked.
"Well, I'll just take out all the stuff at the beginning…" Ojii said. "How about just easy… Shuusuke's Team?"
Yuuta looked like he was in shock for a little bit.
"NO." he said. "We will be The Team That Is Better Than Shuusuke's Team and you have to pronounce it all the way every single time!" Yuuta announced as he ran back to his bench to cry.
Fuji was only standing there chuckling warmly.
"Enough about your inferiority complex angst." Said Bane, looking annoyed at Yuuta. "I've been waiting to play tennis for four days straight and there's no way I could wait anymore."
"I agree." Jackal said.
"Very well!" said Ojii. " The Team That Is Better Than Shuusuke's Team to serve. Who will be serving?"
"I'll do it." Said Bane. "I have a super powered serve after all."
"Do you?" said Jackal.
"I do." Bane said proudly.
"Okay, whatever." Jackal shrugged.
Oishi looked at Itsuki. "Bane's on your tennis team, isn't he?" he asked.
"Yeah." Said Itsuki. "Why?"
"Do you know how to receive his serves?" Oishi asked.
"Better than you, I guess." Said Itsuki as he got in position to return the serve.
The match began. And even though Oishi has seriously not played doubles with anyone except Eiji for like an entire year, he managed to transition pretty well, even though Itsuki and Eiji definitely are totally different partners.
Bane did a few of his mad awesome serves, and Itsuki managed to return a few as well, unless that would be totally out of the question, then we'll just say they didn't return them. After all, The Team That Is Better Than Shuusuke's Team won the first game!
They went to their benches to switch courts.
"You guys are playing like you've never played doubles before." Said Sengoku. "At this rate, Shishido's going to have to play and it'll be all YOUR fault, Oishi."
"Don't worry." Said Oishi. "We'll be all right. It's our service now, thanks to this ridiculous new set of serving rules we have."
"And Bane won't be serving again, ALSO thanks to the ridiculous serving rules." Kamio added.
"We can still win." Oishi assured them.
The Team That Is Better Than Shuusuke's Team were also having a pep talk from Yuuta.
"Come on, guys!" he said. "We have to win all the way so I can beat my brother."
"You have noticed, of course, that he's in a totally different bracket than we are, and that would be taking a huge chance to assume that he wins his next game and we win our next two games and…" Shinji trailed off. "And then you probably won't even beat him then anyway."
"You know what?" Yuuta said. "Stop! Okay?"
"Okay." Shinji shrugged.
The two teams took the courts again, and this time it was Oishi's serve.
The Rhythm (no the team, not Kamio's actual rhythm) was ON this game, because they managed to run away with winning that game. The Team That Is Better Than Shuusuke's Team (whether it actually is better than Fuji's team or not is beyond even us, but that's their team name anyway) was less than thrilled that Bane and Jackal failed to attain the single win they required to really have the advantage for the next match.
Atobe sort of wanted to them to lose, though, so he could have a chance to play tennis too. And he was looking over at the other team to guess who would be playing Singles 1, and simply could not remember the last player that seemed to be amiss.
"Game set and match!" said Ojii, raising his hand and then pointing at The Rhythm; Oishi and Itsuki. They did an extended high five that lasted longer than it really needed to.
Eiji ran up to the sidelines.
"Nice job Oishi!" he cheered even though he was secretly jealous that Oishi would dare play doubles or do an extended high five with someone besides him. But there's no way he would show it.
"Thanks Eiji!" said Oishi, giving him the thumbs up.
They returned to the bench.
"All right, so far so good." Sengoku said, eyeing Shishido as if HE had done anything. "We just have to keep this winning streak up."
"Winning streak?" Kamio repeated. "We've won ONE game."
"Shut up and go play tennis!" Sengoku ordered.
"Singles 3!" called Ojii. "Kamio from The Rhythm against Shinji from The Team That Is Better Than Shuusuke's Team!"
They took the court.
"It's interesting to play against you." Said Kamio.
"It is interesting, because we are ones that usually play doubles together." Shinji agreed.
"Well, I'll win." Said Kamio, pointing at Shinji with his racket. "Because I'll have you know that I am in the rhythm."
"I'll keep that in mind." Shinji said.
They both turned their backs to each other and retreated to their baselines.
"Why are those two being so dramatic?" Jackal said, raising his eyebrow.
"We have to win this one, otherwise the best we'll be able to do is shoot for a tiebreaker." Bane said, sitting at the edge of the bench.
"I'm going to go see if there's a snack bar." Atobe said, wandering off.
He didn't know what he expected to find, but it WAS an indoor tennis court after all, so maybe there would be a snack bar. Even though of course no one would be behind the counter.
Atobe came across Team Three, AKA Pillars, AKA the team with too many captains on it.
"Tezuka," he said.
Tezuka looked up.
"What do you want?" Tezuka said with an expression that seemed a little bit like displeasure.
"Nothing." Said Atobe. "I just wanted to come over and tell you that in the unlikely event that my team gets the opportunity to face yours, I am looking forward to playing against you."
"Unlikely event?" Tezuka said. "Why is it so unlikely?"
"Because my team is terrible." Atobe said. "And your team is stacked."
"Oh." said Tezuka, looking over at his team, and then back at Atobe. "Well, I suppose this is true."
"I must take my leave now." Said Atobe, turning around and observing a ruckus over at the tennis courts. "It seems as though something worth my noting has occurred."
Atobe turned his back to Tezuka who only looked at him with a face that said, "Whatever."
When Atobe returned, Shinji was returning to the bench looking completely complacent.
"What is it?" Atobe asked.
"Shinji lost!" said Yuuta. "If you had been here instead of wandering around then you would have known that!"
"I just wasn't in the rhythm I guess." Shinji sighed.
"Now the best we can do is have a tiebreaker." Yuuta frowned.
"Well, keep in mind, Yuuta, that if you don't win then we lose all together." Said Atobe. "So no pressure or anything, but I want to play at least one game so don't lose, even though I hear it is in your nature."
Yuuta looked so betrayed that he might have just run away crying. Instead, he decided to channel his sadness into rage and use it to defeat his opponent on the court.
The Rhythm (as in THE TEAM) were all cheering for Kamio for being in his rhythm today, and then urged Sengoku to win or else they were screwed for the last match.
"No pressure!" said Kamio.
"Right!" said Sengoku. "Hopefully I'll be lucky!"
Sengoku and Yuuta both advanced to the courts.
Yuuta looked around and spotted his brother who was watching him. HIM. Of course, Fuji had been watching him while he was just sitting on the bench and when his team wasn't even playing… okay, so Fuji watches him all the time. But it was different because now he was playing tennis.
Yuuta knew that he had to win.
Of course, Sengoku ALSO knew that he had to win. It didn't take a lot to evaluate that Atobe would likely beat Shishido even if he were feeling on top of his game.
"Go ahead." Said Ojii, looking a little annoyed that they hadn't already started.
It was Sengoku's serve, so he used that specialrific serve that he has and thus the match began.
But something was definitely off about Sengoku's serve. He got a fault, and even as he went on to continue to serve, he continued to fail. He couldn't figure it out and finally just said, in quite an Engrishy sort of way, "Unlucky!"
In the end, Yuuta's strength and determination and obsession with being better than he brother carried him through the match, which ended in his favor with the score of 2-0.
Sengoku was devastated as he returned to his bench.
"You off your game or something?" Oishi asked.
"I guess…" Sengoku said. "I haven't played tennis in a while."
"Neither have we." Kamio pointed out.
"Stop rubbing it in!" Sengoku ordered.
"Looks like we're going to have to go to that tiebreaker." Said Oishi, looking at Shishido.
"Singles 1!" called Ojii. "Atobe from The Team That Is Better Than Shuusuke's Team versus Shishido from The Rhythm!"
"Well, we have to at least put on the show that Shishido would be playing, or else our coaches will get mad at us for not telling them that Shishido is sick." Kamio said.
"You're right." Said Sengoku.
They woke up Shishido and forced him to stand up, even though he whined and complained as they steadied him on his feet.
"Take this, and just throw the match." Said Oishi, giving Shishido a racket. "But don't let them know you're sick!"
Shishido glared at him, but then they pushed him in the direction of the court. He very slowly advanced to his place and looked very pathetic, as he could hardly even stand up straight.
Atobe was standing there just watching him the whole time.
"Interesting." He said, putting his hand in front of his face.
Then he looked over at his team who were all nodding their heads feverishly.
Atobe turned to Ojii.
"Excuse me," he said. "There is a certain person on this court who is not feeling well enough to play."
"Oh?" said Ojii, looking around.
"It is I." Said Atobe, striking a pose of despair and putting the back of his hand against his forehead. "I am not well. I feel far too ill. I cannot participate. How unfortunate for my team."
The Rhythm's mouths dropped to the floor.
The Team That Is Better Than Shuusuke's Team's mouths dropped to the floor.
Shishido dropped to the floor.
"ATOBE!" yelled his entire team.
"I apologize." Said Atobe as he made his way towards the bench with such an arrogant strut that it was pretty obvious that he was not the unwell one.
"Why did you throw the match?" demanded Yuuta. "After I worked so hard and you gave me a hard time! We could have won the tiebreaker!"
"Probably." Said Atobe. "But I just don't like you guys."
Atobe then decided that he'd grace someone else with his presence.
The Rhythm ran over to Shishido and ambushed him, telling him he did an awesome job, and to hide the fact that he could hardly walk on his own from the slightly suspicious coaches, they hoisted him up over their heads and carried him away in a celebratory manner.
"Well, that was a peculiar turn of events!" said Ryuuzaki, taking center stage once again. "Let's move on right away to find out who will be playing The Rhythm in the next round!"