Disclaimers: Refer to the previous page.

A/N: The inner thought belongs to Fuji. Do any of you guess right? You can find a similar sentence in the anime. Another thing; this fanfic won't be twincest. Sorry to disappoint you if you're rooting for that. And I'm not telling you the pairing if you can't guess from the vague (very) hint given. I'm so evil.

"Hoi! Hoi! It's Ochibi, nya!"

Kikumaru's comment attracted a lot of attentions. All the tennis club members turned to confirm it. And sure enough; there Ryoma was, standing just outside the courts.

Sumire, who had seen 'Ryoma' as well, widened her eyes. Why is he still here? Then her eyes narrowed. She took in the different clothes that Roma look-alike wore, the absence of the cap and most importantly, the missing tennis bag. Realization dawned. A smirk appeared on her face. She would definitely enjoy a good drama.

"Ochibi, where had you gone so suddenly, nya?" Kikumaru immediately glomped the poor boy. (One faint squeak followed by choking sounds could be heard.)

"Well, never mind. Let's continue our match, nya." Kikumaru finally released the bluish (from nearly being choked to death) boy and dragged him into the court.

"Ano…"

"Ne, where is your racket, Ochibi? Never mind. I will lend you one." Kikumaru took his spare racket out.

'Ochibi' took it hesitatingly. "Ano…" Before he could finish whatever he wanted to say, he was once again dragged by the strange red-haired boy, and deposited on one side of the court.

"Ochibi, it's your turn to serve, nya."

The clueless boy hesitated a second. Then he shrugged and served the ball.

"Weird." Inui stared at 'Ryoma' unblinkingly.

Fuji, who was standing right beside him asked, "What's weird?" He had a suspicion he knew what Inui was going to say, but he asked anyway.

"Hmm…According to my data, the 'Ryoma' we are looking at right now had shrunk 2.1 centimetres. The shade of his hair was lighter as well."

Fuji was not surprised. He had noticed that this boy might look like Ryoma, there were some differences. Plus, the feelings the boy gave him were different. Wheels in his mind were turning rapidly. He came to one conclusion. His eyes opened to reveal his sharp blue eyes. The smile on his face widened slightly. It would have given anyone a chill. "Saa."

"Ne, Tezuka, what do you think?" Inui asked the captain that had finished his practice match.

"…" Tezuka continued staring intently at the match going on in front of them. He had of course noticed the differences in the way Ryoma look-alike played tennis. That boy only defended, never attacked, not even once. That was not all. The most obvious distinction was that he returned normal balls. If he had to say, the only special thing about his play was that his defences were near impenetrable. However, in a tennis match, if you did not attack, the chance of you losing would be very high. Unless… Tezuka's eyes narrowed. Would someone actually do that?

"Ne, Tezuka. You have noticed as well, right?" A rare serious expression was on his face. "The way he played…"

Tezuka turned to look at both Inui and Fuji that were waiting patiently for his answer. Before he could voice it, Momoshiro's sound distracted him.

"That stupid Echizen! " Momoshiro was very frustrated. Something felt wrong. Yet he couldn't pinpoint it. He had finished his practice match as soon as possible too watch the youngest regular's. Not only the boy himself, his clothes and the missing cap and tennis bag, but also the match; everything felt wrong.

"Shut up! Fusshh.."

"What? Stupid mamushi."

Oishi sweat-dropped. It was starting again. It seemed neither one of the second year regulars could stand not fighting with the other for one day, iie, one hour, unless they were either far away from each other or busy doing something else. Even then, they would sometimes still find the time and energy for their quarrels. "Both of you, no fighting."

"But, Oishi-senpai,…" Whatever Momoshiro wanted to say were cut off when the match that had attracted the attention of so many people came to an end.

"6 games all. A tie."

"Nya, Ochibi, you did not once use your moves." Kikumaru pouted. Sweats were running down his face but he ignored them. He could honestly say that this was the most frustrating match he had ever had. No matter what he did, he just couldn't widen the gaps between their marks. He was not a patient guy from the start. Having to endure such a frustrating game was torture. He would have preferred Inui's juice any time. Uhmmm… Then again, maybe not.

'Ryoma' opened his mouth to speak.

"Burning! What are you doing, Echizen?"

'Ryoma' stared, wide-eyed, at the scary demon that was waving the racket in his hand wildly with fire surrounding him. He nearly had a heart attack when the racket the demon was holding nearly hit someone.

"You should hav… Eh?" Kawamura blinked his eyes several times. Confusion was clouding his face. Then, it cleared. "That is a great game, Echizen."

'Ryoma's' eyes got even bigger, if that was possible. The demon had just turned into a shy boy all of a sudden as soon as the racket was wrestled from his grip by the guy with porcupine hair. Which strange universe have I entered?"

"Ne, Ochibi, why is your hair colour lighter? What you did, nya?" A glint appeared in Kikumaru's eyes. "Maybe you poured Clorox onto them, nya."

"I…" 'Ryoma once again tried to speak. Perhaps all the Gods were against him that day. He was cut off. AGAIN!

"Waah! There are two Ochibis!"

Kikumaru's surprised scream attracted everyone's attention to the direction he was pointing. Indeed, there was another Ryoma strolling (more hastily than normal, if one cared to notice) towards them.

"Onii-sama!"

To be continued