A/N: Here's the rest of the match against Seigaku! After this chapter, the plot will be proceeding much more quickly to the climax. This chapter is again from Yuushi's perspective, and some of the dialogue was taken directly from the fansub of episodes 55-57, so beware of spoilers. Thank you for all the reviews so far. I really, really appreciate them. Please enjoy! I appreciate any and all feedback/critiques/reviews/hugs. Flames will be ignored.
Warning: Future shonen-ai/slash/BL/yaoi/whatever-you-call-it.
Chapter Four: Shaken
"It is always pride that comes before a fall."
…
Something wasn't right.
It had taken Yuushi nearly five games to realize that something wasn't right about this match. When he had been forced to use Higuma Otoshi in the second game, it had merely seemed like an interesting opportunity, one he hadn't expected to encounter until at least the semi-finals. And when he had decided to end the fourth game with a perfect drop shot, just to show Momoshiro that he was already one step ahead of him, he had been more than confident in their chances of crushing their opponents, 6-0.
But now something had changed. And as far as Yuushi was concerned, it didn't make the least bit of sense. Their opponents were a makeshift pair, after all, formed at the last minute in the unfortunate absence of Seigaku's vice captain, who was known for being the only decent doubles player in all of Seigaku…
And now this makeshift doubles pair was using the Australian Formation.
"Sorry, Yuushi," Gakuto was saying, having just dropped a point as a result of the new formation. "I was following Kikumaru's movements…"
Yuushi kept his eyes fixed on the opponents, who were strategizing at the baseline.
"We let them regain some ground," the tensai conceded after a moment.
"It was plain luck just now!" Gakuto interrupted, clearly annoyed. "It's not a formation they can pull off."
Yuushi just smirked. That was true enough. The Australian Formation was a highly advanced doubles formation, the kind of thing that could be suicidal for doubles amateurs to even attempt. And Yuushi knew more than enough about it to send the opponents into self-destruct mode, as well as guarantee Seigaku's eventual defeat…
He decidedly ignored the nagging feeling somewhere inside him, the feeling that it wouldn't be as easy as it seemed to break apart the formation. After all, that feeling was completely illogical, and Yuushi had no time to speculate on the matter.
Time to set their opponents straight.
"Leave it to me, Gakuto. Don't worry," was all he said, before heading back to the baseline.
The next point proceeded exactly as the tensai had intended. Momoshiro served the ball, and Yuushi instantly detected that the power player was making a dash for the net. In that case, the perfect spot to hit it was toward the baseline on Kikumaru's side. Yuushi knew for a fact that the acrobatic player would never guard the back of the court, and even regardless of that, he wouldn't have enough time to react to the shot. It was a perfectly executed reading of the formation…
It failed.
Much to Yuushi's astonishment, Kikumaru made a sudden dash for the baseline, pulling off a shot while he still had his back to the net. What was worse was that Gakuto hadn't expected such a quick return, and he ended up hitting a weak lob that became the perfect setup for one of Momoshiro's infamous Dunk Smashes.
"A perfect combination!" Yuushi heard one of the Seigaku members shout in excitement, as Gakuto started cursing aloud. The tensai, however, remained silent, lost in thought.
This is completely ridiculous… For Kikumaru to take the rear guard position…
Something really wasn't right.
Yuushi's misgivings were only reconfirmed when Kikumaru finished off a service game with the Moon Volley, Oishi's signature move.
"It's like watching the Golden Pair play!" someone in the crowd exclaimed.
… The Golden Pair?
Was that the problem?
If ever there was a phenomenon that Yuushi had not been able to grasp, that would have been it. He could still remember the first and the only time he had seen the famous Golden Pair play. It had been during the first day of Nationals the previous year, and it had remained in the back of his mind as one of those puzzles that he had never gotten around to solving…
…
"That's them, Yuushi," Gakuto said, pointing to a nearby court. "They're the Golden Pair that everyone's been talking about."
"So that's them, huh?" Yuushi replied nonchalantly, taking a good look at the two Seigaku players. They didn't seem particularly remarkable, but then again, the tensai was more than aware that appearances could be deceiving in tennis. He couldn't help wondering what it was about the two second-year players that everyone found so amazing.
It was then that Yuushi decided that he wanted to watch their match.
It was a hot afternoon on that day at the Nationals, on the day when he and Gakuto watched the Golden Pair play. They watched them play, out there in the hot sun, for at least an hour, taking in their every move as a doubles partnership. They watched this so-called Golden Pair play against a team that was more experienced, more powerful, and more skilled than they were…
They watched this Golden Pair win.
In a strange way, Yuushi had to admit he was impressed. But he wasn't impressed because of any special formations that the pair had executed, or because of any elaborate sign play or innovative poaching techniques that he'd seen…
He was impressed because he had absolutely no idea why they'd won.
He simply couldn't figure it out. Whatever it was that enabled the pair to beat a team that was better than they were, it had completely eluded Yuushi's analytical skills. Of course, he could see that the two had an unusual amount of instinctual cooperation. But beyond that, he had no idea why they were such an effective combination, or where that instinctual cooperation even came from.
He knew one thing, though. That wasn't how he and Gakuto played doubles. He and Gakuto had a system, and they never deviated from it. There was no reason to deviate from it. They never tried anything that they hadn't tested out and perfected in practice. They only worked at improving their respective skills, without interfering with the other's techniques in any way.
No, he and Gakuto certainly didn't play like the Golden Pair.
But then again, why should they? There was nothing truly special about them, not that Yuushi could see. In fact, in the tensai's opinion, this "perfect partnership" was decidedly overrated. It relied on something too intangible to be of any real use in a high-level match. Teamwork could only get them so far, after all. Sooner or later, they would realize that they would need actual skill to win a match, and that would be the end of that much-lauded partnership.
So why should they play like the Golden Pair?
Well, they wouldn't, of course.
…
It wasn't long before Yuushi found himself staring at a scoreboard that read, "4-3," a stark contrast to the "4-0" that had previously graced that panel just minutes earlier. Yes, Seigaku's makeshift doubles combination had actually managed to take three games in a row against him and Gakuto, and Hyoutei's side of the bleachers had grown decidedly quiet.
He could hear his partner exclaiming in frustration, "There's no way a makeshift combination can be this good!"
Yuushi couldn't help mentally agreeing with that comment.
"The unexpected happens," he replied, his voice sounding strangely casual in his own ears.
The unexpected…
Maybe that was all there was to it. It was certainly true that their opponents were a makeshift team, and that one of the two players they were facing was completely inexperienced in doubles, whereas he and Gakuto had been practicing for years. This was all too true, and yet…
The unexpected could still happen. Probabilities could be deceiving. There was always a slim chance that the most unlikely thing could occur, that the underdog could get lucky and win a few service games…
Somehow, though, this didn't feel like a stroke of luck to Yuushi. And it felt even less like luck when Momoshiro revealed that he had thirty-six rules for systemizing doubles written on his arm, like some hapless student's last-minute attempt to cheat on an exam…
This is completely insane.
Of course, a person could break down all the techniques of doubles into a few key rules. It wasn't that special; every decent doubles player knew that. And a person could even do something incredibly stupid, like enter a competitive match as a doubles amateur and write those rules on his arm as a basic guide to follow. But there was no way such a pathetic move could win a match, certainly not against an experienced doubles team that had been practicing all those techniques for years.
There was just no way.
… Was there?
The sun was rising higher in the sky at the Kantou Regional Tournament, as the second doubles match between Hyoutei and Seigaku wore on. And as Yuushi's astonishment grew with every passing point, the tensai failed to notice a young man standing at the top of the bleachers, looking as proudly at the makeshift doubles pair as if they were his own children.
Oishi Shuichiroh, the other half of the Golden Pair, was watching over the match.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Fine, I'll play doubles with you. And I'll keep up with you, too. You can bet on that."
…
Gakuto was completely exhausted.
At first, Yuushi hadn't even noticed it, which just proved that this match was taking place in some alternate dimension, where the laws of nature and logic no longer applied. Normally, when there was a problem in one of their matches, Yuushi detected it right away, and fixed it if necessary. But as for Gakuto's fatigue, the tensai didn't even realize it until his partner missed a simple volley, leaving him to pick up the shot from the baseline.
"Gakuto, concentrate!" he couldn't help exclaiming, almost surprised at his own frustration. What was it about this match that was throwing them off, anyway?
"I know," Gakuto snapped in reply, not even looking at him.
Even from where he was standing, Yuushi could see the sweat dripping off of his partner's face, in small drops that fell lightly onto the court. The acrobat's breathing was strained and irregular, and those blue eyes were unfocused, even distant…
Of course, by this point, Yuushi knew they were in trouble.
This had never happened before, certainly not as far as Yuushi could remember. They had lost plenty of matches before, of course… But when they did lose, it was always because they had been outplayed. It was because of the skill of their opponents. It had never been because they had been pushed so far by a lesser team that Gakuto had started falling apart.
It had never been like this…
Except that it had been. One other time.
…
"Our Oshitari-Mukahi pair will be playing against Shishido and Ootori for the top doubles spot."
"Gakuto, I think we should try forcing Shishido to the other side of the court on the return. …Gakuto, are you listening to me?"
"Yuushi, it's almost match point, you know."
"Glad to see that you've noticed, Gakuto."
"Shut up, Yuushi!"
…
"Good game, Oshitari-senpai, Mukahi-senpai."
…
…
It was almost as if Yuushi could still feel that slight pain in his foot.
"Game won by Seigaku, five games to four," the referee called, as Kikumaru took another point with one of his trademark volleys.
No. This is impossible…
Momoshiro was serving now, and with the help of Kikumaru's net play, they were keeping a firm hold on the pace of the match.
"15-0."
To lose twice, in the same week, to teams that are less experienced than we are…
"30-0."
Yuushi glanced over at his partner, but Gakuto was too winded to do anything other than try to catch his breath. He looked back over the net, to where Momoshiro was serving again…
…
"Yuushi…"
"… It's almost match point, you know."
…
"40-0," the referee said.
No!
Yuushi had had enough of this.
"Not this time," the tensai mumbled to himself under his breath, getting ready to return the upcoming serve. He wasn't going to endure another humiliating loss, not for the second time in a week. He didn't care if his partner had been wiped off of the face of the earth. He could still make up the difference. He could cover for Gakuto. Wasn't that what he was always doing?
Wasn't that what he had chosen to do?
Well, no matter what, Oshitari Yuushi wasn't going to stand for this. He wasn't going to simply sit back and watch Seigaku pull off what should have been an impossible victory.
He was taking this point, and he was taking it by himself. And that was all there was to it.
Just like clockwork, Yuushi read Momoshiro's serve and hit a strong return, straight over the net. Of course, Momoshiro then hit it right back, and Yuushi found himself trying shot after shot, in places that should have been hard to cover. But every single time, it was Momoshiro who returned the ball.
That Momoshiro… Does he think he can beat me? He's a complete amateur at doubles. He even said so himself…
As the ball came flying back to his side of the net, the tensai glared at his second-year opponent.
If you think you can do it, Momoshiro…
Just try!
Yuushi executed a perfect drop shot, one that was out of Kikumaru's reach and impossible for Momoshiro to get, unless of course the younger boy had predicted the shot…
"It's too late for you to fight back."
Yuushi heard his earlier words to Momoshiro repeated right back to him, and he was left scrambling to get to the ball. So Momoshiro had read him, then. That fact was completely incomprehensible to Yuushi, but it didn't really matter… He still had the perfect shot planned in response…
"Next is a cross-court pass, huh?"
He heard his plan coming out of his opponent's mouth.
Yuushi was so shocked that he felt his arm tighten up on the return. Much to his dismay, he could already tell that he had lobbed the ball right into Momoshiro's side of the court. Of course, he knew what that meant.
"Oh, no…"
Sure enough, even at a difficult angle, the power player was able to pull off yet another smash. It wasn't the Dunk Smash, though, and Yuushi knew that he could still get to it. But there was a problem…
Momoshiro… That guy delayed the timing of his jump…
The late bounce that had resulted from the off-balance smash had thrown Yuushi's timing off as well. He could already tell that he was about to give Momoshiro another chance to smash the ball and end the point. True to form, it was all that the tensai could do to lob it back into the opponent's court.
He'll take it… Of course, he'll take it…
Even so, Yuushi was ready to return the ball. He had already successfully returned Momoshiro's Dunk Smash with the Higuma Otoshi. And he had the timing of the second-year's jump memorized by now.
Yes, he could return it. He had to return it.
Yuushi was ready to take the point.
…
"So that was the Golden Pair, huh?" Yuushi remarked, watching the two Seigaku players shake hands with their opponents. They had just defeated a third-year doubles team that was known for using advanced formations, and they had defeated them by a score of 6-4 in the National Tournament. It was unthinkable, in a way, but Yuushi and Gakuto still weren't very impressed.
"They're really nothing to brag about," Gakuto observed with a shrug of his shoulders. "Sure, they make a good team, but they're not very good players."
"That's true enough," Yuushi agreed, smirking to himself. "If they came up against a doubles team with some actual talent, they would have a much more difficult time."
There was a slight pause, and then Gakuto looked up at Yuushi, a confident smile on his face.
"Of course, if it were us, we would beat them. Wouldn't we, Yuushi?"
"Of course we would," Yuushi answered back, meeting his partner's eyes with his own confident smile.
…
"Game and match to Seigaku, six games to four."
There was cheering coming from Seigaku's side of the bleachers, but the only thing ringing in Yuushi's ears was silence.
… So that was it. They had lost.
Again.
It would have been easy to accept, if Momoshiro had simply pulled off a Dunk Smash so powerful that Yuushi had been overwhelmed and lost the point. It would have even been acceptable if Yuushi had made a mistake, and failed to pull off an effective Higuma Otoshi, or hit the ball out of bounds, or even set up the opponent for yet another smash…
Any of those things would have been acceptable.
What was unacceptable was that he had been tricked.
Momoshiro had jumped, like Yuushi predicted, but he had not smashed the ball. Instead, he had left the smash to Kikumaru, which had thrown Yuushi too off balance to even attempt to return the shot.
And that was the match. It was over.
In the end, Yuushi chose to ignore the way his opponents were dancing like idiots to celebrate their victory, even if it was a bit too over the top to be considered good sportsmanship. He would have expected Gakuto to be annoyed by it, but the acrobat was too tired to say anything. So instead, the two walked up to the net, getting the prerequisite handshake out of the way so they could return to the bleachers.
But as they started to walk off the court, Yuushi noticed something. Their coach, Sakaki, was no longer sitting on the bench, like he had been for the entire match.
It was then that Yuushi finally realized that he and Gakuto were in serious trouble.
Suddenly, Yuushi felt two very familiar eyes fixed on him, and he looked up to see Atobe staring down from the bleachers. There was a strange light in the arrogant captain's eyes, and it gleamed like cold silver, even there in the sweltering heat.
…
"I wonder how long you can afford to keep playing around like this?"
…
In that moment, Yuushi felt as though something important had fallen to the ground, and smashed into a thousand irreparable pieces.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
"To think that the Oshitari-Mukahi pair lost…"
Yuushi was standing with his partner in front of the bleachers, waiting for their coach to speak. He could already hear the way the underclassmen were whispering about the loss, and the looks that he could see his fellow Regulars giving him weren't exactly reassuring, either…
But the only thing that was truly unsettling to Yuushi was that ominous frown on their coach's face.
He should have thought about it before, but it had never even occurred to the tensai that he and Gakuto could be eliminated from the Regulars. Even so, they had just lost to Seigaku, and at Hyoutei, just one loss meant immediate removal from the starting lineup. That was Sakaki's policy, and he had followed it to the letter upon Shishido's humiliation in the Prefectural Tournament. In the end, it had only been by some strange miracle that Shishido had regained his spot, and Yuushi was almost positive that such mercy would be impossible to obtain again.
Of course, this could only mean one thing…
He and Gakuto were off the team.
Yuushi was still in shock at the mere thought. The idea of not playing on the Regulars, when both he and Gakuto had been practicing as part of the starting lineup for over a year, was almost incomprehensible to him. After all, they had always been Hyoutei's one set doubles team, but after just ten service games on a hot spring day, that team was about to be completely eradicated from the lineup.
That was it. That was it, for the entire season. One match, and it was all over.
They would never play doubles together in junior high again.
He felt cheated, really. Somehow, he felt as though it just wasn't fair. He even felt angry, even though he had no idea who he was angry with.
Really, Yuushi didn't know what he was feeling, thinking about what this meant for both him and Gakuto. But for the first time he could remember, a loss had actually managed to make him feel like he'd been punched in the stomach. He'd always shrugged off the losses before, thinking that it didn't really matter, as long as he didn't make a big deal out of them. After all, at the end of the day, it was just tennis, wasn't it? Now, though, he knew what it felt like to hate to lose…
It was miserable.
"We're sorry."
Yuushi heard Gakuto apologizing to their coach, sounding almost meek. Of course, Hyoutei Regulars always spoke respectfully to Sakaki, but it sounded so unlike Gakuto's usual tone that the tensai was even more disconcerted.
"It's a complete defeat," he heard his voice add somewhat reluctantly, without even feeling himself speak the words.
"Oshitari."
The way the coach interrupted made his voice catch in his throat.
"It's a reasonable decision to try to confuse an opponent's timing on a smash. But when the person is already in motion to hit, you should still be able to block the shot. If you had prepared your defense carefully, you should have seen through his moves."
Suddenly, Yuushi did know what he was feeling. Disbelief. And not just a little anger. The mere idea of expecting him to be able to predict what had just happened…!
"That---" he felt himself begin, but he was interrupted a second time.
"Are you telling me otherwise?" came the stern reply.
Yuushi knew better than to continue. And as was usually the case, his logical side suppressed his emotions.
"No," he managed to choke out, replacing the objection with a more appropriate answer. "Right."
The coach didn't even indicate that he had heard Yuushi's sudden capitulation. Instead, he turned to Gakuto.
"Mukahi."
"Yes!"
Yuushi could tell that Gakuto was nervous, even before the coach began his searing lecture. Of course, that didn't deter Sakaki from verbally dissecting his partner's mistakes.
"Allocation of stamina is the first rule for game-making. Too full of yourself, like some second-tier players, huh?"
Full of himself, like some second-tier player…? Is that what he thinks?
Yuushi could feel a thousand words screaming through his mind in that moment, but his voice was stuck in his throat, and he knew better than to talk back to the coach. Even if it wasn't for himself, he knew better than that, even if it hardly mattered anymore…
The tensai didn't notice the way he was biting down hard on his bottom lip, but the faint pain was taking the edge off of the frustration of keeping silent.
Why was the knowledge of what was about to happen so painful?
Suddenly, though, the coach's words broke through the chaos of Yuushi's thoughts.
"If you play like a second-tier player in the next game, you guys won't be playing in the Nationals. Understand?"
Yuushi was too stunned to even manage a reply, and it seemed that Gakuto felt the same. The silence hovered in the air, like a blade that had never been released from the executioner's grip.
What had Sakaki just said?
The next game? The Nationals…?
Did that mean they were still on the Regulars? Why hadn't Sakaki told them that they had lost their spot on the lineup?
What was going on?
Once Yuushi's initial astonishment had subsided, he realized what this actually meant, both for their doubles partnership, and for the team as well. For the second time that month, this was an act of mercy from their coach, and it was only the second time in club history that he had broken his own rules. The tensai had no idea what Sakaki's motive was in doing so, but it seemed too dangerous to question it…
Even so, this knowledge was finally allowing Yuushi to think clearly again, as the tangle of emotions he had been feeling in his dread of the situation gradually started to subside.
So they hadn't been removed from the Regulars. They would still have another chance to redeem themselves…
This wasn't the end, after all.
Even with his usual habit of acting casual about losing, Yuushi knew that he should feel relieved. After all, no one in his right mind would be laid-back upon discovering that he was out for the season after only playing one official game. And he and Gakuto had just narrowly avoided that disaster…
Really, he should have been happy about it. He should have taken the opportunity to feel relieved that the worst had not occurred. And then he should have resumed his usual devil-may-care attitude, and pretended like the loss hadn't bothered him at all.
The strange thing was, he didn't feel happy about it. He didn't even feel relieved.
If anything, he just felt empty.
… Why?
Why had this loss actually bothered him?
The tensai walked over to the bench, taking a seat next to Gakuto, who was sitting motionless with a towel draped over his head. He picked up his own towel, absently rubbing it against his face, as his eyes stared down at the ground by his feet.
He could still feel the silence all around them, and then it slowly broke apart and gave way to a steadily increasing clamor. The crowd around them was already cheering again, at the urging of none other than their teammate, Shishido…
"Hyoutei! Hyoutei! Hyoutei!"
Yes, Shishido and Ootori were about to begin their match, in the first doubles spot.
It still stung, of course… After all, that was the spot that Yuushi and Gakuto had always been aiming for, ever since they first formed their partnership. But those cheers were so familiar, that the same stubborn Hyoutei pride begin to tug at Yuushi's heart. And suddenly, he was almost glad that it was Shishido and Ootori that were out there. He had the strangest feeling that those two would not lose this match, no matter how inexperienced they might have been as a doubles pair. It was completely illogical, but he was convinced of it.
Of course, it still stung that he and Gakuto had lost to them in the challenge matches. It did, but that was over now.
All that was left was to wait for his teammates to cover their loss and claim the victory for the team.
Because of course Hyoutei would win, no matter what. There was no way that they could lose.
Of course, they just couldn't lose…
Of course not.
Yuushi gripped his towel in his hands, as he lifted his head to watch the first doubles match. And as Ootori tossed the ball into the air, the second-year's long legs bending at the knees until his body was at the perfect angle to the ground, Yuushi was able to ignore the nagging feeling of dread that was still plaguing him.
The terrifying Scud Serve ripped right past Inui Sadaharu, Seigaku's infamous "data tennis" player, as easily as if the opponent wasn't even there.
No, there was just no way that Hyoutei could lose.
-End of Chapter Four-