NEW CHAPTER TIME!!! Hope I didn't make you guys wait too long! So here it is!

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Without friends, I… I won't be myself.

-1 Liter of Tears

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He looked worn out.

A different worn out from when he came back from practice; it didn't have that healthy shine. More mentally and emotionally worn out. He didn't have a smile on him either.

He was just plain tired.

"Syuusuke? How was it? Are you okay?"

She saw him blink noticeably; he hadn't realized she was there.

"I'm fine nee-san." He forced a smile up. It trembled a little before falling. Making no effort to try smiling again, he started walking towards the stairs.

"Yuuta isn't here today. He said he might drop by but he probably won't. Ah, Oka-san and Otou-san went to visit grandmother. They'll come later in the night. But they will be late so we'll have to eat dinner by ourselves."

"I see…" He put his foot on the first step.

"Would you like a slice of pie? I baked it earlier. It's raspberry."

"No thank you. I don't think I should have it right now." Already he was on the third step.

"Syuusuke, are you-"

"I'm tired nee-san. Could you call me down later?"

Taken aback, Yumiko stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "Ah… yes… I will."

"Thank you."

She stood for a while, listening to the muted steps of her little brother until a soft click told her he was in his room. Then came music though she wasn't sure what it was; it was too quiet. Yumiko sighed.

There really was nothing she could do.

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He wasn't sure what he was doing in the library. He didn't really come to the library often. For school projects sometimes, but he wasn't someone who enjoyed books that much. Staring at nothing in particular, his eyes sharpened as he remembered that he was kicked out by his stupid oyaji.

-"Oi. Brat."

Ryoma didn't look up. He continued to stare at his tennis ball.

"Oi! Shounen! I'm talking to you!"

"…" He glanced at the perverted magazine peeking out of the corner of the newspaper. He snorted.

"Stupid brat! Stop sulking around here! You lose a game or something? You're taking up perfectly good space."

"…baka oyaji. I never lose. And I'm not taking up space. If you're going to read one of your perverted magazines again, go somewhere else."

"What?! I'm… I'm not! I'm reading the newspaper! The newspaper! And stop being rude! Go out or something! Don't you kids do anything these days?"

Nanjiroh however had hit a nerve. Ryoma stood up brusquely to glare at his father.

"Leave me alone."

Nanjiroh watched Ryoma walk out of the room. His even footsteps soon followed by the sound of the door closing.

"Che. What's with him?"-

Ryoma moved to pull down an imaginary cap. He quickly put his hand down in annoyance when he realized he didn't have a cap. He had forgotten his cap in his haste. Along with his tennis racquet and money. His eyes narrowed in irritation; he couldn't go to the tennis courts to hit balls nor could he buy Ponta.

…damn…

His sharp olive eyes focused on the bookshelf in front him. He was in a library. Might as well look at books.

The young tennis player quickly glanced at the book titles without registering what he was seeing fully. None of them caught his attention. There wasn't one book about tennis on the shelf. Not even a regulation book. He paused. Maybe he was just in the wrong section.

Ryoma walked to one of other shelves to look at the library guide. Section 5 – Sports. Without so much as a thought, his legs automatically moved to section 5 where he could indulge himself in tennis magazines. Or he would've if a familiar figure hadn't stopped him.

Only a few feet away stood Fuji Syuusuke.

Unknowingly, Ryoma gulped. He quickly turned and escaped into one of the shelves near him. He let a long breath out. What was he so nervous for? He probably didn't see him anyways. Even if he did, Ryoma doubted the prodigy would come to talk to him.

"Echizen?"

He was wrong.

Echizen turned reluctantly to face a smiling face. Fuji didn't look the least fazed by meeting his less than polite kouhai again. In fact, he looked happy.

"Hai…"

Fuji leaned down slightly to be closer to Ryoma's face. "What are you doing here Echizen? I never figure you were the type to read books. A school project?"

The younger of the two lowered his head; compensation for not having his cap.

"Hai… I mean… no… I just came here…"

Ryoma licked his lips; his mouth had gone dry all of a sudden. He needed Ponta.

"Well I'm glad I found you. Would you like to help me?"

Ryoma immediately raised his head, granting Fuji a full view of his cat-like eyes.

"Help?" repeated Ryoma dumbly. Fuji nodded. The prodigy gestured to the books under his arm.

"Yes, help. I want to look for some good English books."

Ryoma looked at the books. They were indeed in English, but he didn't recognize any of the titles. He looked back at the middle school senior suspiciously. He only smiled back. Not sure of what to do, Ryoma nodded slowly. It couldn't hurt. Fuji's already smiling face grew brighter and he led Ryoma away to a shelf in the back at once.

"I want some that are a good read but not too hard since I'm not very fluent with English. Do you know any good ones?"

"Uh…well…"

"Hm… Gone with the Wind. I've seen the movie. Maybe it'll be too hard to read? What do you think?"

"… I wouldn't know... I haven't read it."

"Really? Saa… I thought you would read some English books since you're from America."

"Ha…."

Ryoma sighed inwardly. It was going to be a long afternoon.

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In the end, Fuji ended up borrowing Watership Down. A story about a bunch of talking rabbits, thought Ryoma sarcastically. Personally, Ryoma thought Fuji was beyond that but what did that matter? The latter obvious liked the book. But they had spent a good hour or two choosing the book. Or in Ryoma's case, grunting and repeating 'I haven't read it' to Fuji as he pulled out various books.

At least he's treating me for 'helping him', Ryoma thought. Then he immediately lowered his head; he didn't have any right to think that.

"Mah, what's wrong Echizen? Don't you like Ponta? You drink it everyday."

Ryoma quickly picked up his nearly empty can from his lap. "Iie. I do. Like it."

"Sou?"

They were sitting on a bench close to the library conveniently placed near a vending machine. Ryoma watched the older boy drink his Ponta Peach. He was going to die soon. So how could he? How could he drink Ponta so carelessly? The thought brought Ryoma back to his Ponta Grape can. Downing the rest of the fizzy juice in one motion, he set the can on the ground.

"Done already?"

Ryoma nodded. He leaned back to watch the sky. Fuji was torturing him. Taunting him. His own form of revenge. Why else would he be so patient with him? He was planning something. Maybe he had put something in his drink. Ryoma sat still as spit started to gather in his mouth. He forcefully swallowed. No, Fuji-senpai probably isn't that devious. He looked across at his senpai again. This time, Fuji turned with his smiling face.

"You seem to be thinking a lot. Worrying about the Junior Invitational match?"

Turning away from Fuji hastily, Ryoma stumbled over an answer. "I was… I… no. Not really." Which was the truth; he never worried about a match. There was no point worrying about something that he could easily overcome: he hadn't lost a match yet, and he doubted he would.

"I see. Well that's good. I thought the whole Kevin thing might be getting to you."

Forgetting his initial discomfort, Ryoma stared at his senpai. Fuji looked into olive eyes that never betrayed its emotion.

"You saw it too than?"

Fuji nodded in response. "Mah, I wanted to see who you were all up against."

Ryoma moved his head up and down in the familiar nodding action. He wasn't sure what to say to his senpai about that. Except it pissed the hell out of him. He was going to bash his face in during the match.

"Well thank you for helping me today."

Fuji put tossed his empty can into the air to the garbage can near by. It hit the rim and rolled on the ground, its hollow sound ringing loudly in the abandoned street. Without a sound, Fuji stood up to retrieve his can. Ryoma picked up his own can but made no move to put it in the garbage can.

"I also want to apologize Echizen."

"Apologize for what?" the younger of the two blurted out. He turned the Ponta can in his hand. The happy smiling idiotic grape mascot glared back at him.

"I think that I was too sudden for announcing it to everyone. And I think maybe I scared you."

The prodigy took a step back as the 1st year stood up abruptly. "I wasn't scared." He turned and dumped his own can into the garbage can; purposely letting it hit the rim to make a piercing metallic ring. But just as suddenly this change came, it disappeared. Ryoma remained as stoic as he was before.

"Sorry."

Confused, the thin brunette gazed at his kouhai. "Sorry? For what?"

"Gomen nasai Fuji-senpai." And to Fuji's surprise, Ryoma bowed (though still not as deep as normal people bow). But it still meant so much to Fuji. To have the cocky 1st year who never bowed to anyone bow to him in apology was… well he couldn't quite put it into words other than that Echizen had reached a certain mental maturity.

"Thank you Echizen." Cautiously, Fuji petted Ryoma head. The petted head shot up at once, his eyes demanding justice for being treated like a cat. Laughing a little, Fuji lifted his hand from the soft green hair.

"And I would like to apologize too. My way of telling you wasn't fair to you. Next time I'll consider your feelings more."

'Ah' was the awkward response that Fuji received. Still, the prodigy did not mind. He beamed at Ryoma. "I'll visit practice once in a while ne? I want to see how you're all doing."

Ryoma shrugged nonchalantly, fully recovered. "It's up to you Fuji-senpai. You can visit us whenever." However, Ryoma couldn't help but let a small smirk slip. He hoped he would visit. Not that he would say it out loud.

"Saa… my bus will be coming soon. It was nice meeting you Echizen. See you soon."

Ryoma watched Fuji disappear from his view as he rounded a corner. Checking his watch, he walked toward the library again.

What was it called again…? Spino… something atrophy.

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Yuuta gaped at his cell phone. Or what his cell phone was telling him. He had about 25 voice mails waiting to be listened to. Twenty. Five. He had never gotten that many messages before, voice mail and texting combined. But what was less surprising was the fact that they were all from the same person. He sighed.

Aniki.

Pressing the confirm button, he started listening to the many voice mails; he soon realized they held nearly identical contents, something along the lines of 'let's meet and talk. I have something to tell you'. After listening to each one, he started the process of deleting all of them except one; he didn't want to take up space with useless voice mail.

"What's wrong Yuuta? You seem angry."

Mizuki lounged next to him at the bus stop, twirling his black curly hair without stop. Yuuta was afraid he might pull out his hair like that one day.

"Ah… it's nothing Mizuki-san. Just lot's of mail…"

"And I bet all of them are from your brother no?"

Mizuki smirked arrogantly. His finger continued to wrap around the curl that refused to stay curled onto the finger.

"Actually they are."

"And what are they all about?"

Normally they didn't talk too much about private lives, but Mizuki had a way of worming into everything that interested him. Especially Yuuta's private life.

"Ah… he just wants to meet me sometime and talk together. I better call him back and say okay or he'll leave a bunch of more messages."

Instead of answering, Mizuki hummed to himself, obviously thinking about something that would raise St. Rudolph's prospects. Yuuta watched him, getting increasingly worried that it would be another scheme that could never go right.

"Yes you should arrange a meeting. Oh and I hear your brother has quit the Seigaku Tennis club. Any particular reason?"

"H-how'd you hear that? I mean um, never mind," Yuuta added hastily. The gleam in Mizuki's eyes was getting dangerously zealous. "And yeah it is true. But it's strange. He didn't really tell me the reason. Not that I'm home that often."

"Hmm…" Finger never pausing its artificial curler duty, Mizuki became lost in thought. He didn't even seem to notice the bus creeping its way to the bus stop slowly. Getting up from the burning hot seat, Yuuta slipped his cell phone into his pocket.

"Mizuki-san, the bus is here."

"Perfect."

Somehow, Yuuta didn't think Mizuki was talking about the bus. Mizuki's next statement confirmed it.

"Arrange a meeting with your brother Yuuta. It'll be the wonderful opportunity to find Seigaku's weakness! And perhaps even recruit a new member to St. Rudolph. Of course, I will be there with you."

Whipping around at a dangerous speed, Yuuta's jaw hit the ground.

"WHAT?!"

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Mail?

Fuji opened his cell phone and in one quick motion listened to the message.

"Ano… Aniki? It's Yuuta. Uh… I can meet on Friday after practice. We'll decide where to go after. Uh… yeah… I'll see you- what? No I can't say that. That's not right, he'll be sus- um I'll see you soon! Mizuki-san-"

Done!! But I can't seem to get enough time to edit T.T Woe is me! Gah, sorry. I promised to edit this time but I didn't. –sigh- sorry sorry. But I updated! Yay!