The families decided to stay together while they were eating so they could figure out better strategy. Except for the teams that lost of course. It would be silly to think up strategy NOW. It would have been helpful beforehand, but now it was obviously too late for that.
SHATS…
"It will be easier to predict the outcome of the matches now that we know who we will be up against." Fuji said. "We know that David and Kabaji will be playing doubles against Taka and I."
"Will we be able to beat them?" Taka said, looking nervous.
Fuji looked at Taka. "Taka." He said. "Oh Taka."
"What?" Taka said uneasily.
"Believe in me, Taka, the way I believe in you." Fuji said, taking Taka's hand.
Taka slowly took his hand back.
"But…" he started. "I played against Kabaji before. He can copy our moves! That's dangerous."
"No one can copy MY moves." Said Fuji as he daintily put his napkin in his lap.
Then he paused.
"Well," he said. "And get away with it, anyway."
"Oh geez." Said his whole team.
"I wasn't really paying attention to who played in the singles spots for that team we're playing against." Yana said after a little while. "Who's playing in Singles 3? Someone I can beat?"
"Um, no, not really." Said Taka. "It's some kind of genius first year captain kid from Rokkaku."
"Oh." said Yana. "Bummer."
"So it looks like we'll end up losing Singles 3 again." Said Fuji, looking only SLIGHTLY affected by this issue.
"Hopefully I'll get a chance to play this time around." Said Mizuki. "It was so disappointing when my opponent had to forfeit because he was hacking up blood."
"Well, you'll be playing against Tachibana." Kirihara said. "Don't worry about him. He's a pushover. Then again, YOU might have trouble with him."
"Oh?" said Mizuki. "Well, keep in mind that you and I are not in the same league."
"I know." Said Kirihara. "That's why I'm worried about you."
Mizuki glared at Kirihara.
"I meant I was better." Mizuki said.
"Oh." said Kirihara. "Well that's just not true. Right, Fuji? You've played against both of us. Aren't I better?"
"Hm…" said Fuji, picking up the menu and hiding behind it.
"That means yes." Kirihara whispered to Mizuki.
"No it doesn't." Mizuki whispered back.
Playing Doubles With Five People…
"You're playing against Oishi in the next match, aren't you Ootori?" said Eiji enthusiastically.
"Yeah!" said Choutarou. "He's YOUR doubles partner, isn't he?"
"He is!" said Eiji. "I WOULD tell you all of his tendencies and quirks on the tennis court, but that wouldn't be a good idea in the long run when we play against Hyoutei for real!"
"Oh, okay!" said Choutarou. "I guess that makes sense. You wouldn't want to give Hyoutei and unnecessary advantage when we play you in the future."
The two only sat there with horseshoe eyes while facing each other.
"So anyway, guys…" said Momo, clearing his throat.
"Oh my gosh!" Choutarou exclaimed, turning to Momo. "You're playing against Shishido in Singles 1!" Choutarou then paused and smiled. "I'm so proud of Shishido for getting to play in Singles 1! He works so hard!"
"Yeah so if you want to give me any hints on how to beat Shishido…" Momo led.
"Well," Choutarou started but Gakuto jumped up and put his hand over Choutarou's mouth.
"Hell-LO?" Gakuto yelled. "What did you JUST have a conversation with Eiji about? HM?"
Choutarou stopped.
"Oh right." Choutarou said. "I'm sorry, Momo! You'll have to beat Shishido on your own."
"It was worth a shot." Momo sighed.
Then they all looked at Marui.
"Why are you all looking at me?" Marui said with a raised eyebrow.
"Because you haven't said anything yet." Said Momo. "Don't you want to say something?"
"About what?" said Marui.
"Anything." Said Choutarou. "How was your day? Tell us how you feel."
"Um…that's okay." Said Marui. "I'm good just listening to the conversation."
Then there was silence.
"Oh my god." Said Eiji. "I just had a really great idea. Let's all tell funny stories about silly things our doubles partners have done!"
"YEAH!" they all cheered.
Pillars…
"There are a few facts surrounding our match with Team One." Said Tezuka as he pulled out a piece of paper and started making a diagram. "We will not win the Doubles Match."
"Hey!" said David. "We will TOO win the doubles match!"
Tezuka nearly dropped his pen as he gave David a disapproving sigh.
"No." he said. "You will not."
"What makes you say something like that?" demanded David.
Tezuka picked up his diagram and showed David that the first match was 'David and Kabaji versus Taka and Fuji'.
"So?" said David. "We can beat them."
"Taka and Fuji are a very dynamic pair when they play doubles together." Tezuka said as-a-matter-of-factly.
"I think you have a little too much faith in your team." Said Tachibana. "Your Seigaku team, I mean."
"Well I don't like your face." Said Tezuka. "What do you say to that?"
"I say you couldn't think of anything else to say in response to my totally justified comment so you just took a personal jab at me." Said Tachibana.
Tezuka stared at him.
"And I don't think you really have anything against my face." Tachibana threw in.
"Are you coming on to me?" Tezuka said, his eyes narrowing.
Tachibana used the brand new sound effect for eyebrow raising.
"Don't flatter yourself." Tachibana said.
"WHATEVER." Said Aoi with an exasperated sigh. "How are we going to do in the match BESIDES doubles?"
Tezuka sat up straight and looked at his diagram. "So, we'll lose doubles, and we'll win all three of our singles matches." He said. "Aoi, you won't find Yanagisawa from St. Rudolph to be much of a challenge and Tachibana, I don't think you'll have trouble with Mizuki."
They paused.
"And of course, the fact that I will win my match is a given." Tezuka said when he didn't get a response right away.
"Whatever, Tezuka." Said Tachibana.
The Prince of Tennis and Friends…
They were all staring at each other.
Actually, only Saeki, Hiyoshi and Sakurai were there, considering Yukimura had taken a recent ambulance ride to the hospital, and considering Ryoma had just bled from the eyes not a few hours ago, the teachers had decided that it would be best to take him to the hospital as well.
"So…" said Saeki. "Kinda sucks that we don't get to play anymore tennis, huh?"
"Yeah." Said Hiyoshi. "And you'd think that out of everyone, we should have done the best considering we made our own tennis court in the street."
"I know!" said Sakurai. "And we've been practicing!"
They paused.
"You know what this means, don't you?" said Saeki.
"Not really." Hiyoshi and Sakurai admitted.
"The OTHERS made tennis courts too!" Saeki announced.
The other two gasped.
"And what's WORSE!" Saeki went on. "Since they beat us, OBVIOUSLY they made BETTER tennis courts than us!"
"Or maybe…" Sakurai said slowly, getting to his feet. "The teachers were giving them special treatment and let them use the tennis courts while we were stuck at home playing on the street or griping about something else!"
"That's not fair that they got special treatment!" Hiyoshi slammed his fist down on the table.
"Actually…" Saeki rubbed his chin. "Now that I think about it… Yukimura was feeling fine before he had to play tennis against Mizuki."
"I bet the other team foiled him and poisoned his water!" Sakurai yelled.
"Foul play!" agreed Hiyoshi. "Conspiracy!"
The three of them sat there fuming angrily when all of a sudden, a waitress came over.
"Who ordered what?" she asked. "Finger Lickin' Chicken?"
"Oh that's me." Said Hiyoshi, raising his hand.
"Who got the Bitty Burgers?" said the waitress.
"Right here!" said Sakurai.
"So YOU must have ordered the Hot Doggie." Said the waitress as she put the final meal in front of Saeki.
"YAY!" all three of them cheered as they started eating.
The Rythem...
"I don't know HOW we managed to get away with that win…" Oishi said as he and his team sat around the table with their Virgin Strawberry Daiquiris raised high in the air. "But we all have Atobe to thank for it."
"To Atobe!" chimed the rest of the team as they clinked their glasses, except for Shishido who resembled a rag doll slowly sliding down his chair.
"But…" Sengoku said as he put his drink down. "I get the feeling that that probably won't happen when we're matched up against Playing Doubles With Five People."
"Eiji's on that team, and I know when he's serious…" said Oishi glumly.
"How about we don't get down on ourselves right away?" suggested Kamio. "Let's try to just figure out their weaknesses and exploit them!"
"Good idea!" said Sengoku. "Itsuki and Oishi, you guys are playing against Gakuto and Ootori in doubles and you'll have no trouble since they're both pansies."
All of a sudden, Shishido's hand raised high in the air and slammed down on the table so all the silverware and the like jumped up into the air and landed again. The rest of his team stared at him.
"Don't make fun of Choutarou." He said flatly and had a certain edge to his tone.
"Are you feeling better, Shishido?" Itsuki asked.
Shishido didn't answer, he just suddenly collapsed to the side and landed on the floor.
Everyone worked together to pick him up and prop him back on the chair.
"I'd hate to be in your shoes, Kamio, playing against Eiji and all…" Oishi said, shaking his head slightly.
Kamio wanted to say something along the lines of, "I'll beat him NO PROBLEM!" but he didn't want Oishi to have a similar reaction as Shishido and end up killing him.
"Oh gee, boy am I worried." Kamio said.
Oishi nodded and looked remorseful.
"Should I be worried about Marui?" Sengoku wondered.
"Well, if you play as horribly as you did against Yuuta then you should be worried about the girl's tennis team." Itsuki said.
"Hey!" said Sengoku. "That was uncalled for!"
"We just have to win all of our games so we don't even give the other team an opportunity to scare us like Atobe did." Oishi said. "So everyone has to play our best so Shishido doesn't have to!"
"YES!" they all yelled as they threw their hands in the middle, temporarily got offended that Shishido didn't as well, and then forced him to join them.
The Snakes…
"I TOLD you guys that me and Ryou were incompatible." Said Atsushi.
"We BOTH told you." Said Ryou.
"Well, at least you two agree on that much." Said Oshitari with a sigh.
"We could have won." Said Akutsu angrily. "If we had been smarter with the line-up, we could have easily won."
"How so?" said Oshitari. "The only game we won was because the other person threw the match."
"No." said Kaidou, standing up and looking overly dramatic. "Did you see their team? It was amazing. No matter what happened, they would have beaten us, no matter who they were up against."
"Well, Kaidou…" said Ryou. "I'm pretty sure that I remember you forfeiting your match without even bothering to try."
"What was the point?" Kaidou yelled. "My opponent was Tezuka!"
"I have to admit too that I didn't really try all that much." Said Akutsu. "After my opponent scored easily the first few times I sort of threw my match too."
"And it's likely that if my opponent didn't throw his match, I probably would have thrown mine." Oshitari admitted.
"You guys all suck!" said Atsushi.
"Yeah!" said Ryou. "Even though Atsushi and I hate each other, we still at least TRIED!"
"And where did it get you?" Oshitari said. "You lost your matches just like Kaidou and Akutsu."
"Yeah but…" said Ryou and Atsushi sadly as they bowed their heads in shame.
"Whatever." Said Akutsu. "Tennis is stupid anyway."
Then there was silence. Everyone stared at him.
"How…could you even JOKE about that?" said Kaidou.
"Joke?" said Akutsu. "Who's joking? Tennis is stupid."
"That's it!" said Ryou, standing up. "Push me around, force me to wear a helmet in public, make fun of my hair… FINE! But never…NEVER… insult tennis!"
"HERE HERE!" yelled the rest of them team as they all jumped from their seats with flaming torches and pitchforks.
ii Data…
This particular team was doing nothing really. Their wounds were still fresh from their ever-so recent defeat at the hands of the silly doubles players.
It was a disappointment to lose against such a frivolous team, especially since they had had so many hardcore data sessions beforehand that should have well prepared them for their upcoming matches.
But that was all in the past now. And it wasn't helping their team morale to just sit there giving each other the silent treatment.
"I am sad." Sanada broke the silence. "I didn't get to play tennis."
"We're sorry Sanada." Said the rest of them at the same time.
"If only we had managed to win at least one of our games then you would have gotten to play." Said Tetsu.
Sanada tried to be the bigger man. "It's…it's all right." He said with a sigh.
"Now what?" asked Jirou.
"I agree." Said Renji. "What else will our coaches do to us?"
"They stated at the beginning of this experiment of theirs that it would last only five days." Inui reported, flipping back in his data book. "They may let us escape any time from the end of the tennis matches that the others are completing up until tomorrow at around midday, which will make exactly five days since we first began."
"Do you really think they'll go right down to the hour?" Renji asked.
"There's no way to tell." Said Inui. "Our teachers are psychotic."
"Yes they are." Everyone agreed as they simultaneously took bites of their food, which was delicious.
"Guys, do you think our coaches would mind—"
"Jirou." Sanada interrupted. "Chew. Swallow. Then talk."
Jirou frowned. Then he chewed, swallowed and continued. "Do you think our coaches would mind if I took at least one of the disco balls home?"
"Why would they mind?" said Tetsu.
"Would YOU guys mind?" Jirou asked.
"Why would WE mind?" demanded all four of them together.
The Team That Is Better Than Shuusuke's Team…
"You forfeited your first match EVER just because you didn't want me to get a chance to play against my brother?" Yuuta said angrily to Atobe who was only sitting there looking comfortable.
"No." said Atobe. "I forfeited my first match ever for various reasons, one being, of course, that I didn't want to give you a chance to play against your brother."
"Besides, he was playing doubles and you're playing singles so it's not like you would have played against him anyway." Shinji pointed out.
"WHY do you do this, Atobe?" demanded Yuuta, ignoring Shinji.
"Just when we're starting to think that you might not be THAT BAD, you go and pull something like this on us!" Jackal chimed in.
Atobe just sat there.
"Don't you have anything to say?" said Bane.
"No." said Atobe. "If I had anything to say then I would have said it. I wouldn't have waited for you to prompt me to say something. That's just silly."
"You're hopeless." Said Yuuta, shaking his head.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Atobe questioned.
"Someday when you go out into the REAL WORLD, you're going to realize that it actually doesn't revolve around you." Yuuta explained.
Atobe looked contemplative.
"What are you talking about?" he said finally. "Of course it does."
"It might as well." Shinji agreed. "Face it, Yuuta. You're just jealous because the world doesn't revolve around YOU."
"There we go." Said Atobe.
Yuuta smacked Shinji upside the head. "NOT HELPING!" he yelled.
"At this point, getting into anymore arguments is pointless." Jackal said. "This is our last night together and then we can all go home and if we really wanted to, never talk to each other again, since we're on different teams and all."
"That's true." Said Yuuta. "I will make it a POINT to never talk to Atobe ever again!"
"That breaks my heart." Said Atobe.