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After joining the tennis club, he managed to secure a place as a regular. He was able to compete in a few matches but was usually put as a reserve player since he was still a freshman and joined the club late. He managed to keep up with the regular's training regime but he still had to follow the freshmen's training regime which included cleaning up after practice had finished and stamina training. There weren't many freshmen who had joined and most of them didn't care so he had to cleaned up alone most of the time.
He doesn't spend lunch break on the roof anymore. The library was a much quieter and cooling place where nobody could disturb him as he sleeps or studies. Bad rumors about him were still being circulated around the school. Shiraishi tried to include him into their team bonding activities but he could feel how the third years really felt about him and declined, very politely at that. It was fine, he doesn't trust any of them and he was already alone in the beginning anyway.
As the third semester ends and the year end examinations around the corner, all club activities have come to a halt and a year was almost gone.
"Oi Hikaru! What are you doing here?" said Shiraishi. It was rare to see both Kenya and Shiraishi at the library. They were always at the cafeteria eating.
"I always spend lunch break here buchou. What are you doing here?"
"Our exams are almost starting so I thought we should study here in the meantime." said Shiraishi.
"I see."
"Don't you have any friends brat?" said Kenya.
"Not really…"
"You're really anti-social aren't you?" said Kenya.
"Shouldn't you be studying senpai?"
"Why you…" said Kenya.
"Kenya! He's right, we should study." said Shiraishi.
The both of them were finally quiet. He decided to plug in his earphones and drown into the beautiful melody of the music he was listening to. After looking at Kenya mulling over a question which wasn't all that hard in the first place, he decided to speak up.
"Senpai, if you use these here you can get the answer."
"You haven't even learned this topic yet, how do I know you're right?" said Kenya.
"Senpai, you could check the answer at the back."
"No way…Shiraishi! He's right, I can't believe it!" said Kenya.
Either he was really smart or Kenya was just plain stupid. The questions were really easy despite being second year's topics.
"Sorry Hikaru, I'm always getting you to teach me." said Kenya.
"It's fine senpai."
"Hikaru, you're actually a nice guy deep inside huh?" said Kenya.
"What are you talking about senpai?"
"Well, if you were really as the rumors say, you wouldn't even have bothered right?" said Kenya.
"…"
"Oi where are you going?" said Kenya.
"Lunch break is ending soon senpai."
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He was on the last lap of his examinations and before he knew it, the fourth semester had ended and the holidays starting. His parents decided to move to Tokyo to live with his brother's family leaving him all alone. The house was even quieter than it already was and it became even more suffocating to be at home. Luckily he had tennis practice to occupy his time.
Now with the third years gone, Shiraishi had begun to place him in doubles with Kenya and occasionally, singles. He never really did play seriously in any of those matches but somehow or other he managed to gain the nickname 'genius'.
As the first semester of the new year starts, they had gained two new regular members, Tooyama Kintarou and Chitose Senri. Kintarou had a really loud voice and was ten times more energetic than Kenya, whom he thought was already too cheerful for his own taste. He rarely talked to Chitose but he was a pretty weird guy, though he was rarely around. Now he was even more convinced that he was the only sane person on the regulars.
After finding out that he always spend lunch break alone in the library, Shiraishi and Kenya had literally dragged him to the cafeteria to eat with them. "It's not good to skip lunch Hikaru." Shiraishi, who was apparently a health nut, would say. He doesn't usually eat lunch or breakfast for that matter. He doesn't have much of an appetite and the cafeteria food sucks. He tried it once and instantly disliked it. Even if they dragged him to the cafeteria, they couldn't force feed him.
"Hikaru, you should at least eat something! It's not healthy to skip meals and you wouldn't have enough energy for practice later!" said Shiraishi.
"Buchou, I haven't been eating lunch since I've started school and I'm just fine at practice."
"Please tell me you at least eat breakfast." said Kenya.
"…"
"It's not good to miss out on the most important meal Hikaru." said Kenya.
"Senpai, why would you care?"
"We care because we're your friends!" said Kenya.
Friends? They considered him their friend?
"Oi where are you going?" said Kenya.
"Buying lunch."
Just because he felt a bit touched and happy at that sentence, doesn't mean he would just open up to them. But slowly, he could feel his ice wall around his heart melting.
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AN: Second chapter ^^ sorry for the late update