Chapter 4

The old hag had chewed me out so thoroughly earlier that I could still hear her grating voice ringing loudly in my ears. Given, it's really my fault… But does she really need to shout directly into my poor ears?!! And if that wasn't enough, she even felt the need to conk my head at times when she needs to make a point – like when she said to 'not mix personal business and club activities together'. Gah. She grilled me so much my head is still hurting.

And after she finally deemed that she's proved her point right up my head, she then unleashed Inui-senpai's fury on me. I don't know what happened or what I did but I just sensed that Inui-senpai's really, really angry at me for something. He's never been so wicked to me. But today, he just sentenced me to be the permanent taste and effectiveness tester of his juices and had given me an impossible routine to improve my tennis. The thing is I can't remember a single instance in which I could have done something horrible to him. To Kaidoh maybe. But to Inui-senpai? Nah.

Oh well, all is done anyway so I can't do much more about it. So instead of dwelling upon Inui-senpai and his sudden sadistic nature, I decide to turn my attention to finding Eiji-senpai and Fuji-senpai to tell them the good news. Fortunately, practice is over and the members and regulars are pouring in by the numbers inside the clubroom. I decide to station myself beside Fuji-senpai's locker. For some reason or another, Eiji-senpai always hangs around Fuji-senpai's locker first before going on to Oishi-senpai's locker – at which you'll never get the chance to talk with him again. So this will be the best course of action to have the chance to talk with them both.

And just as I predicted, they appeared together and were looking kind of exhausted. Of course, you could never tell for sure with Fuji-senpai but with Eiji-senpai's dropped shoulders and labored breathing you'd know he's dead beat. I clap our resident acrobat on the shoulder.

"Had a rough practice today, senpai?" I ask cheekily as I sat down on a nearby bench. Eiji-senpai sticks his tongue out as he plops down beside me.

"You're lucky you're not in practice, nya!! Tezuka-buchou's in a sour mood today and he ordered us an extra 100 laps for stamina training – nya!!"

"That should be a breeze for you Eiji-senpai." I said as I look at him skeptically. Lately, our acrobatic player has been building on his stamina and an extra hundred laps shouldn't be a burden for him.

"Well, he and Echizen had a match prior to the laps." Fuji-senpai reminded the red head as he opens his locker and pulls out his school uniform along with the other knick-knacks that I can hardly recognize. I look at Eiji-senpai curiously.

"Did he get better?" I ask as the acrobat lies on the bench with his head on my lap. He looks up at me weirdly.

"We're talking about the Ochibi here, nya. Of course he got better!! Tons better, nya. But of course, I'm not just sitting idly by here either, nya." I turned to Fuji-senpai.

"So they had a long match?"

"A long, excruciating and exciting match." He says as I watch him button up the front of his uniform. Then finishing his task at hand, he turns his attention to me.

"So how was your day?" He asks pointedly as he opened his eyes for a bit before closing them again. I look down on Eiji-senpai and rolled my eyes.

"Oh nothing much. I just need to consult an ear doctor later and then meet up with a lawyer so that I could write my last will and testament." I say with much melodrama. Our acrobat shoots up from his lying position and looks at me with big watery eyes.

"Why? Are you dying because of an ear infection?" He asks as he holds my hand to his chest. Eiji-senpai is far more gifted on dramatics than I am. And damn, am I jealous at times.

"No. It's just that the old hag had probably damaged my ear drums and Inui-senpai had finally found a permanent tester to his concoctions he calls juices – Me." I say with much flair. Instead of going on through with the act, Eiji-senpai drops my hand and jumps on the bench to let out a joyous swoop.

"YAY!!! I won't ever have to taste Inui's juices again, nya!!" But then Fuji-senpai has decided to burst the red head's happy bubble at that instant.

"Eiji, Momo is just a tester. Inui's juices will still be handed out as punishment or enhancement juices you know." And with that the acrobat's happy face turned down into a sad little smiley.

"Nya. I didn't think of that…" He wails as he resumes his lying position and then he proceeds to pout when he sees me smiling smugly down at him. A lapse of silence clouded the three of us. Eiji-senpai is busy resting, I'm busy thinking of a way to tell them the good news and Fuji-senpai is just plain busy with his bag and observing other people. Then our tensai decides to break the silence.

"Are you two busy today?" Fuji-senpai suddenly asks as we both watch him organizing his bag. I look down on Eiji-senpai and he looks back at me with wide eyes and gives a shrug. I turned my attention to Fuji-senpai.

"Nope. I don't have anything planned today." I say as I stretch my arms over my head.

"Oishi needs to help Tezuka-buchou with the rosters today, so I'm free too, nya." The red head answers as he turns on his side to look at our resident tensai.

"Good. So now dress up and I'll treat you to burgers and shakes." As soon as we heard 'treat' and 'burger' in the same sentence me and Eiji-senpai immediately gave Fuji-senpai our sole attention.

"Really?!!" I ask loudly.

"Really, nya?!" Eiji-senpai asked at the same time. Fuji-senpai just smiles serenely.

"Yes. So get dressed already before I could change my mind." At that proclamation, me and Eiji-senpai jumps from our seats and raced towards our respective lockers so we could get dressed. And I swear, I can hear Fuji-senpai's somewhat-evil chuckle as I raced towards my own place.

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I walked towards my home with a goofy smile on my face. Even though I suffered in tennis practice today – what with the old hag and Inui-senpai, I still managed to make the day overall a happy event. I just had succeeded to ask the brats out on that carnival date and found out that Fuji-senpai is the best senpai ever. You know, he rarely treats but when he does, he goes all the way!! Ha. Even when I ordered my 15th burger he didn't even cringe or stop me or whatever. He just sits there with that perpetual smile on his face!! What a day!!

As I'm rounding the corner to my house, I begin to whistle a happy tune. Anyway, it turns out that I don't even have to deliver the good news to my senpais. They already knew about my asking Echizen out on that date because they overheard him relaying the invitation to Kevin Smith. They weren't able to find out if Kevin said yes or whatever, because Tezuka-buchou had stepped in and had ordered them all to have the extra laps.

My train of thought breaks when I see someone standing just outside my house. Since I can't see the visitor clearly, I decide to just meet him up front. My jaw literally drops when I came in close enough to recognize the visitor – it's Kevin Smith!! I'm just thinking about bolting out of here, when he turns and sees me. His blank expression didn't change when he acknowledged me. He just starts to make his way towards where I am frozen on a spot.

"Momoshiro-senpai." He greets as he stands tall before me. I cringe at his cold tone. I manage a small, faltering smile.

"Kevin! What's up?" I ask him. He just continues to stare at me and I swear, his glare is so intense I'm starting to sweat. He doesn't answer my question.

"So, what are you doing in front of my house?" I ask yet again, this time my tone of voice gathering a little irritation. You know, I shouldn't be intimidated by him, even though he likes to think that looks can kill. Besides, I'm a senpai and taller than him!!

So I decided to give him a dose of his own medicine and stared him down. Kevin looks away – finally – and sighs.

"Why don't we have a match at the street courts, Momoshiro-senpai?" He asks. I look at him confused.

"Now?"

"If it doesn't bother you." He says sharply as he looks anywhere, everywhere but me. I could see that he wants to tell me something but just can't tell it outright. It seems that he's still awkward around me and figured that he should start where we have something in common – tennis. I sigh. I'm not really up to any physical activities at the moment but I can't deny that I'm curious about what he's going to say.

"Okay. There's a court just near here." I wait for his response and he nods. I lead him the way.

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Sweat is pouring down my face, my leg and arm muscles are aching from too much exertion and I'm starting to get tired. And yet Kevin is still relentless on giving those powerful serves and shots. I grumble to myself as I returned a serve. Now I know why he made it to the American selection team. He's good. Tons good.

"Momoshiro-senpai, Ryoma says you invited us this weekend." Kevin says as he lobs the ball back at me. I jump in preparation for my dunk smash.

"I did." I say as I delivered my specialty with a grunt. It hits the far left side of the court and Kevin missed it by inches. Love - Fifteen.

"So will you come?" I ask as he retrieves the ball, and positions himself for the serve. He looks at me and I nod, signifying I'm ready for it.

"Yes." He answers me as he pitches the ball up, hits it and gets an ace. Fifteen all. He gets another ball from his pocket, bounced it a couple of times and looked at me directly.

"But you know senpai. I didn't like it one bit." He launches the ball up, hits it and gets another score. Thirty – fifteen. It wasn't an ace, since I didn't even try to return the ball. I'm just so flabbergasted by his direct comment that I can't even move my limbs to try and return his serve. He didn't stop the game and his tirade as he finds another ball in his pocket, bounced it three times before pitching it up again.

"And if it wasn't for Ryoma…" He hits the ball and I heard the ball rushing past my ear. Forty – fifteen. I continue to gawk at him as he produced yet another ball from his other pocket and without even bouncing it, launched it into the air and hits it. I barely had the time to evade the ball coming right at my face that I clumsily fell down on my behind in my effort to dodge his twist serve. Game, set and match. Winner - Kevin Smith.

"I wouldn't even consider it." He finishes his statement as he puts his racket comfortably on his shoulders and strolls his way towards my side of the court. He looks down on me as he puts on his game face for the first time since we started playing. I want to put on mine but I'm still in a state of sheer shock that I can't even look like a half decent match for him.

"I know what you're doing, so you better stop it or else." He states with conviction as he continues to give me an evil glare that could match Fuji-senpai's when he's in wrathful mode. And me? I could only gape at Kevin Smith bullying me down. Kevin, seemingly content that I'm doing a perfect imitation of a fish out of the bowl, turns his back, and started making his way out.

"You had your chance before Momoshiro-senpai. You ruined it so don't ruin mine." I hear him say one final time as he exits the court and out of my sight.

I don't know how long I stayed on the court, sitting ungracefully. All I know is that, it felt forever before I found the strength to get up on my feet to head home.

TBC