Tezuka strolled down the hall nodding his head to those that greeted him. He entered a quiet wing of the school and looked around. Then he slipped inside an empty class, shutting the door softly behind him. He walked over to the window and stared out at the Tennis court a moment before going to a desk and sitting down.
Eiji's head popped up at the sound of the door closing. His eyes widened and he ducked behind the counter again. Tezuka? He listened to the footsteps. When he head the scratching of the chair legs on the floor and something being placed on the table, Kikamaru dared to peak up over the counter. His Buchou was sitting facing the front of the class writing something. He moved to put the film reel in his hands on the counter and stood up, "Oye Tezuka!" He said cheerily and bounded up towards him.
Tezuka bolted out of his seat and turned to face Eiji.
"Kikamaru." He forced his heard beat to slow.
Eiji halted a moment, "Hai. Gomen! I was fixing the film projector for sensei."
"Aa."
"So… What are you doing, Buchou?" Eiji asked approaching the desk, "Don't tell me you're studying during lunch ne."
"No. It's nothing." Tezuka reached out to take the form from the table top.
"Hey!" Eiji had slapped his hand down on the form and moved his face in for a closer inspection.
Tezuka wanted to groan.
"Oh you're applying for school! But I thought you were going to go to one of those overseas school for tennis?" Eiji suddenly remembered that he had been given that information in confidence, "Oops… Hehe. Gomen ne." He turned back to the application and a large smile appeared on his face "Buchou, I think you got the wrong application! This school doesn't have a tennis club!" Eiji started to laugh, "So you do make mistakes!" he continued to laugh, "Wait until everyone hears! Buchou applying to a school with no tennis!"
Tezuka reached over and took the form from Eiji's loosened grip. He grabbed his bag and started to put the application away.
Eiji stopped laughing. His head tilted to the side and he studied his buchou curiously, "You're not serious ne Tezuka?"
The young captain finished packing his bag and turned to leave.
"Buchou!" Eiji called after him.
His tone stopped Tezuka in his tracks. He shut his eyes a moment. Then he turned to face Kikamaru, "Eiji."
The acrobatics player waited, concern filled his eyes.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone."
"Tezuka…"
"Eiji." He sighed and shut his eyes briefly.
"Please."
The red head just stared at his captain. He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. He bowed, "Hai."
When he straightened Tezuka bowed his head to him, "Arigato. Eiji." Then he turned and walked out of the classroom leaving Eiji standing there stunned. This would be Tezuka's final year of Tennis?
He stepped out of the class slowly and made his way down the hall.
"Eiji-senpai! There you are!"
"Eh?" He looked up to see Momoshiro running up to him.
"It's time to eat!"
"Oh." He glanced out the window, "I'm not very hungry." He sighed and walked off.
"Oye! Eiji-senpai?" Momo ran after him, "Where are you going?"
"Eh?" Kikamaru seemed surprised that someone was talking to him.
Momo wrapped an arm around him, "You gotta eat something Eiji-senpai. Just because Tezuka Buchou was easy on us the other day doesn't mean he's going to take it easy on us today!" He laughed.
"Oh. Aa." Eiji moved on.
Momo followed hi frowning, "Eiji-senpai, is acting strange today."
"Eh?" The third year looked at him.
"You sick?"
Eiji pretended to laugh, "No no." and he continued to walk off.
Momo stopped and stared after him. What the heck was wrong with his senpai today? He shook the thought aside and walked off towards the cafeteria.
"Momoshiro! Where are you off to in such a hurry?"
"Oishi. Oh. It's lunch time! I have to get to the cafeteria before the food is all gone!"
Oishi smiled, "Of course." He was about to continue on his way when Momo addressed him again.
"Oh! Oishi you should talk to Eiji-senpai. He's acting kind of strange!" He exclaimed and ran around a corner.
The former fuku-buchou stopped and his brows scrunched up in worry. Eiji was acting weird? The pace of his stride increased. He went over to the class his doubles partner said he would be in fixing a movie projector.
"Eiji?" He asked pulling open the door. The class was empty, "Hmm." He cshut the door and walked down the hall. Where could he have gone? They were supposed to meet here and eat lunch together. Where would he have gone? Momo's word echoed in his mind. Was something wrong with Eiji? Becoming more and more worried the more he thought about Momo's words, Oishi began his search for his doubles partner.
He found him sitting on a bench inside the empty tennis court. His elbows on his knees as he stared out at the empty court, watching a game only he could see.
"Eiji?"
No response.
Oishi's worry sky rocketed. He sat down beside his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Eiji."
The red head turned to him, "Oh! Oishi." He smiled then turned to look at the empty court again.
"What are you doing out here? I thought you had to fix the film projector?"
"Finished." He continued to stare at the empty court.
"What are you looking at?" Oishi turned to the empty court.
"Nothing." Eiji answered.
"Eiji?" He turned to his friend frowning.
"Tezuka beat me so badly the last time we played." He said with a sad smile on his face.
Oishi's brows creased in thought.
"But he made me better…"
A sigh escaped Oishi's lips, "He made all of us better. That's why he's the Buchou." He nudged his partner, "Here."
Eiji stared down at the bento box.
"You'll need the energy."
"Hai." He accepted the Bento box and slowly opened it as Oishi opened his and began eating. He poked the food and then instead turned to look out at the court again.
"Hey."
Eiji turned to his partner.
"Tezuka will be fine." He smiled.
The red head turned away. He couldn't tell his best friend and he couldn't pretend to agree either. He closed his bento box and put on a smile, "Lunch is almost over." He declared and got to his feet, "Let's go."
"Eiji?"
"It's nothing Oishi." He met his friend's gaze, "I want to win Nationals. I really want us to win."
He had never seen the intense seriousness and determination he was seeing in Eiji's eyes at that moment. He could only nod in acknowledgement and the two friends walked back into the school.
"See you at practice."
"Aa."
Oishi watched as his partner then took off in a less the Eiji fashion… Subdued…
"Chance of something bothering Eiji… 89 percent."
Oishi turned to see Inui walk into view with his notebook in his hands and a pencil tapping the open pages thoughtfully, "What is it?"
"Hmm. The data is inconclusive but there is a 70 percent chance that it's related to Tennis."
Oishi sighed, "This can't be happening…" He mumbled and walked into the school.
Inui watched as he pushed his glasses back up his nose, "Ii data…" He scribbled something gin his notebook and walked into the school. Taking his time as he walked towards his chemistry class he passed my Momo and Ryoma walking out of the cafeteria.
"Are you going to challenge Buchou, Echizen?"
The freshman seemed to ignore him and continued to walk.
"Do you think he'll let us play a match against him?"
Still no response.
"And what about that strange reaction he had yesterday? Didn't you find that weird Echizen?"
"Oh. Inui-senpai."
Momo stopped his questioning and looked at his senpai.
"There's a ninety nine percent chance Tezuka won't let us play him seriously at today's practice."
Echizen smirked and Inui continued down the hall scribbling in his notebook.
"I don't like those odds." Momo said turning to his young friend, "I'll see at practice."
Ryoma simply stuffed his hands in his pockets and strolled towards his next class. As he walked he kept replaying those service aces performed by Tezuka the day before, and that strange look he had seen in the Buchou's eyes. He didn't look like the Buchou he had played against before he had left to go back to America. He stepped into class.
"Well! Welcome back Echizen Ryoma!" The teacher declared smiling.
"Aa." He walked over to the desk and handed her the current work he had been faxed when he was in America.
"Hai Thank you. Is the tutor working for you?"
"Hai."
"Good. Welcome back." The teacher said still smiling.
"Arigato." Ryoma made his way to his desk and sat down. He placed an elbow on his desk and rested his chin in the palm of his hand as he stared out the window at the tennis courts.
"Nya.. That's buchou?"
"Buchou looks scary ne." Eiji whispered.
"Game Tezuka!"
"80 improvement in service speed…"
"It bounced at a 90 degree angle towards the side of the court."
"S-Seigaku s-s-six games to love set and match…""Buchou… scary ne…"
"That's Buchou…scary ne…"His teammates words echoed in his head as he kept seeing Tezuka's no touch aces and his uncontested returns.
"Buchou…" The word escaped his lips barely above a whisper…
"Anon… Oishi… Is something wrong with Eiji?" Kawamura asked as they walked towards the clubroom together.
"Eh? You too?"
"Well… I… He was very quiet in class today."
"I see. He was strange at lunch too."
"Hmm… I… He looks unhappy."
Oishi's eyes widened then he became reflective, "I'll talk with him after practice."
"Aa." Kawamura seemed satisfied with this solution and they entered the club room to change.
They were both surprised to see Seigaku's acrobatic player sitting quietly on the bench staring at the space between his shoes.
Kawamura glanced at the vice captain sadly then moved to get ready for practice.
"Eiji."
The red head looked up and he tried to smile but failed, "I'll be outside." He said and picked up the racket that was propped against the bench beside him.
Oishi watched as his friend walked out of the locker room.
Several minutes later Kawamura and Oishi were just opening the door to leave when Tezuka entered.
"Tezuka!" Oishi exclaimed surprised. It wasn't often that the Buchou arrived after the rest of them were already there.
"I'll be out in a moment."
"A- Aa." The two Seigaku regulars left the lockers room.
Oishi was in deep thought when they arrived at the courts and Kawamura excused himself. He nodded absentminded and stared out at the tennis club members. So wrapped up in his own thoughts he didn't even realize Tezuka was standing beside him until Ryuzaki-sensei addressed them.
"Let's get the practice started."
"Aa!" Oishi responded. That's when he saw Tezuka wearing his ever present stoic expression standing cross-armed beside him.
"Everyone line up!" Oishi called.
Once the tennis members were lined up their sensei gave them directions and sent everyone off again.
Through out, everyone could see including Ryuzaki, that Kikumaru Eiji was not focused on his tennis. But what surprised them most was that Tezuka had not said a word about it or assigned him any laps.
The shocked Regulars, continued to practice. Each taking their turns to eye Eiji or their buchou who seemed oblivious to the latter's lack of effort.
After some skills practice the Regulars were given the rest of the practice to work on their own.
Tezuka went to stand by the fence.
Eiji excused himself from Momoshiro and walked off the court towards his Buchou and manager.
Oishi's gaze landed on his former doubles partner, "Are you feeling ok Eiji? You're not acting like yourself."
"Hn." The red head looked up at Tezuka.
"Umm… Buchou…"
Tezuka turned to look down at Eiji.
"I… Could I have a game? Or even a rally?"
There was a moment of silence as Tezuka met Eiji's gaze.
Oishi watched stunned. Then he saw the slight nod of Tezuka's head before he moved away to get his racket.
"Hmm." Ryuzaki watched fascinated.
"Hey, what's going on?" Momo asked approaching.
"Let's go." Tezuka said from the side.
Eiji nodded and walked back to the court.
"No way!" Momo exclaimed with widened eyes. He turned to Oishi who simply confirmed the fact by sighing.
The other members of the club all quickly noticed their Buchou entering the court with Eiji. Practice seemed to freeze and all attention was centered on them.
Tezuka glanced at Oishi who nodded.
"Everyone get back to your practice!" he yelled.
Slowly the members all returned to their courts to practice. The regulars on the other hand stayed a while longer. That was until Tezuka made eye contact with them. Then each and every one of them returned to their respective courts. His gaze landed on Fuji's last. The Tensai was smiling, but as soon as their gaze met he revealed his cerulean eyes.
"Fuji. Now."
The eyes closed and he chuckled before casually strolling back to the court he was sharing with Taka-san.
Tezuka turned to Eiji and gave him a nod as he pulled a tennis ball from his pocket.
Eiji got in the read position.
The Seigaku captain cringed internally and tossed the ball in the air. His racket somehow made contact with the ball without him knowingly asking his muscles to perform the task.
After one set in which Tezuka won 6-0, Eiji was leaning over his knees panting. He straightened a moment later and walked over to the net where Tezuka was awaiting him.
Eiji bowed, "Thank you buchou." He said softly.
"Aa. Do your best tomorrow."
Eiji's head lowered and he nodded, "Hai."
Tezuka nodded his approval and made his way off the court.
Eiji slowly followed after him.
Oishi watched with worry. What was this whole thing about? Eiji had been trying his best and Tezuka had not shown that devastating killer instinct he had shown yesterday. He watched the defeated Eiji come to stand before them.
"Let's end practice Oishi." Seigaku's coach said as Tezuka came to stand between herself and Oishi.
He glanced at Eiji once and then watched as the club members gathered in before them at Oishi's call.
Ryuzaki watched them a moment, "Good work everyone! You can go home. Regulars stay a moment." She waited as the non-regulars filed away, "Now the rest of you get some rest. Have a good dinner and an early night. Tomorrow is the second day of Nationals, and I don't' need to tell you how important this is to all of us... to you…"
The coach's words faded from Eiji… he lowered his head and bit down on his lip. He couldn't believe this would be the final ti-. He shook his head and bit harder on his lip. He couldn't stop his body from trembling and he lowered his head even more. How could this be happening? How could their Buchou just quit tennis and leave them?
He felt a sharp poke to his side but didn't' look up.
"Eiji-senpai." Momo whispered and elbowed him again.
Oishi had also noticed his former partner's bowed head. He took a step forward, "Eiji?"
His friend started to shake and he refused to look up.
"Eiji, what's wrong?" Oishi asked breaking away from Tezuka and Ryuzaki and going straight to his friend.
Eiji Bit down harder on his lower lip. He couldn't say. He couldn't! He shook his head and tightened his hands into fists.
"Eiji!" Oishi was close to yelling.
Eiji pushed past him and dropped to the ground bowing in front of Tezuka, "Gomen!" He declared in a choked voice, "Gomen-ne Tezuka buchou!"
The regulars stared stunned.
Ryuzaki stared shocked a moment. She glanced at Tezuka who was looking down at Eiji. The look in his eyes…
"Everyone in my office now!"
Author's note:
Thanks for reading. Hope the limited japanese words were ok :)