Disclaimers: Refer to the first page.

A/N: Sorry for my VERY late update. I want to say that there won't be a next time but I can't. (Crying) I can only say that there were going to be lots of next times. Sorry! Now, about the reviews - I want to thank all those who submitted and to those that don't, please do for this chapter! If you don't, I will not know whether you like it or not.

It was a hectic morning for Ryoma. Woken up by his twin before the sun even rose, going through all the 'tortures' his twin set up, missing his favourite Japanese breakfast as they somehow managed to be late even though they woke up so early and ended up running all the way to school. By the time they arrived, Ryoma was certainly not in a good mood. With a fierce scowl on his face, he deposited his bag in the locker room.

Just as the both of them walked out of the room, Ryoma heard the captain's voice asking for their whereabouts. His scowl got fiercer.

"20 laps!"

Just as he suspected – they were punished! Ryoma tugged at his cap as he heard his senpai-tachi snickering at the both of them.

"Ne, onii-sama, why are you so annoyed today?" Ryoya, the culprit, asked innocently.

Ryoma tugged at his cap again. "Mada mada dane." He could never blame or get angry at his twin, especially since he did not even know what he had indirectly caused.

Twenty laps later, Ryoma slowed to a jog and gathered with his senpai-tachi and Ryoya, who had been stopped by the mother hen of Seigaku after only a lap.

Luckily for Ryoma, before his senpai-tachi could tease him, their coach's loud voice asked them to gather around.

"We have a new manager tod…" Before the coach could finish her sentence, another happy shriek interrupted.

"Lizzie!" Ryoya ran over and hugged the pretty girl standing besides the coach. In her ears, he whispered, "It's about time you come to lend me a hand."

"I got into some troubles with the Immigration," the girl whispered back. As Ryoya let go of her, she stepped back and pasted a big smile on her face. "Ohayou, minna-san (Good morning, every one). Watashi wa Taylor Lizina desu (I am Lizina Taylor). Please call me Lizina. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu (Please take care of me)."

A lot of the tennis club members were smitten with the beautiful American girl. In the background Horio was once again boasting about his non-existent tennis ability. Before long, the glares from the seniors shut him up.

However, there were a few people not taken in by the charming blue-eyed girl. Fuji's eyes were open in recognition of another sadist and of the possible threat to his love life. Tezuka's face was as still as expressionless as always. Inui was scribbling in his notebook. Kaidoh ignored the whole thing and started his practice. Kawamura stood at the side with a shy smile on his face. Momo and Kikumaru were actively trying to tease Ryoya while the fuku-buchou of Seigaku tennis club tried to calm everyone down. Of all the people gathered there, Ryoma was the only one with an extreme reaction. He shivered at the similarities of the 'innocent' and 'cute' act of the girl with his twin's.

"Lizina is also an exchange student from the same school as Ryoya. For the duration of her stay, she will be the manager of our tennis club. Please treat her nicely." The coach's stern voice was more successful in controlling the situation compared to the mother hen's anxious words. Of course, it was also possible that it was the captain's stern look that worked.

Needless to be said, the practice that morning was very successful. Each member wanted to attract their new manager's attention; thus they put in their best effort trying to show off. However, to their disappointment, she seemed to be more focused on the regulars. That was not surprising since the gap between the normal members and the regulars was as far as heaven and earth.

"Onii-sama, Lizzie will be living with us for the duration of her stay. Please take care of her," Ryoya stressed the words 'take care' while pushing his friend lightly towards his brother.

Lizzie stumbled a little before she regained her balance. "Ryoya!" She sent a glare at her friend. Turning back with a sweet smile at the look-alike, she said, "Ryoma, I've heard a lot about you from your brother. If I did not know better, I would have thought that you are a god."

"Hn…" was Ryoma's only reply. He was only paying half of his attention to the girl. His hands were busy balancing two tennis balls with the side of the racket.

"Hoi! Hoi! Ochibi, that's rude, nya!" Kikumaru swung his arms around the youngest regular's neck.

"Kikumaru-senpai, I can't breath..." Ryoma was turning blue from lack of air. When the acrobatic player finally released him, he scowled and pulled his cap as low as possible. However, that did not mean that he escaped the reprimanding.

"Ryoma, you should always be polite to a young beautiful girl," Momo slung an arm over Ryoma's shoulder casually.

Ryoya narrowed his eyes at the gesture. Deliberately, he placed himself in between the second year senior and his precious brother, nearly causing Momo to fall down in the process. Throwing a victorious look at the senpai, Ryoya said, "Onii-sama, why don't you show Lizzie around? I'm sure she did not know her way yet. She would be a disaster as a manager otherwise." He lightly pushed his still-scowling twin towards his friend.

"Hn…" Without looking back, Ryoma led the way not very happily as one could see clearly from the fierce glower on his face.

Lizzie followed the look-alike of Ryoya a few steps behind. Feeling an intense stare, she turned her head back. Sub-consciously, her mind registered the punishment served to the active guy with red hair and a plaster on his face, and the guy Ryoya seemed to dislike by the handsome captain. Her attention was not on them though. Her eyes met with a pair of icy blue eyes. The intense look would have frightened another person. Unfortunately, or was it fortunately, she was not the type to be so easily scared. A suspicion formed in her mind. Her woman's intuition kicked in. Deliberately, she linked her hand through Ryoma's arm when she caught up to him. This time, when she turned around to catch the pair of eyes, she was disappointed for the guy was no longer paying any attention. He was back on the court practising. Was it possible that she was wrong?

Fuji was calmly practising. However, if one actually paid attention, one would probably notice how tense he was. Even his smile was a bit strained. Since everyone was busy, none noticed this. From the corners of his eyes, he saw the disappearing figures with their hands still linked together. His grip on the racket tightened nearly to breaking point. If his sister, who knew him best, was here, she would know that someone was going to suffer under his sadistic nature pretty soon. His ears caught the nearly similar voice of Ryoma chatting happily. His grip on the racket tightened. He knew what that twin of Ryoma was doing. He had noticed the way he tried to push his twin and the girl together. Suddenly, he stopped his movements and relaxed his grip. His eyes opened; the intensity of the jealousy revealed would have burned anyone. "……" his soft words were carried away by the sudden gust of wind.

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was break time. Students could be seen everywhere in the school chatting happily while eating with their own group of friends.

"Thank you, Fuji-kun."

Fuji, with his normal smile, replied, "You're welcome, sensei (teacher)." He closed the door to the teachers' lounge gently. Walking away, he paid no attention to the few students along the corridors. Since the teachers' lounge was near, students dared not make too much noise here.

Suddenly, from the opposite direction, he saw two familiar figures. He would have greeted them politely when Ryoya grabbed the new transfer girl into the chemical lab. His actions were suspicious; Fuji's curiosity and interest had been piqued. However, he was not that keen on eavesdropping on others' private conversation. He would have walked away if he did not hear the 'not-so-hushed' voices discussing the one person he was definitely interested in.

"Why do you keep on suggesting boys? Surely there are girls that could have won your brother's attention," Lizzie asked, half in exasperation, half in confusion. "For example, that shy girl or her active and loud friend," she suggested off-handedly, not that she believed it herself. She could not stand the both of them, especially the loud one when she started in on her 'Ryoma-sama' speech. As for the shy one, she could honestly say that Ryusaki Sakuno did not make much of an impression on her. She was the type that none would notice because of her overly shy attitude.

Ryoya froze for a while. He had never stopped to think about this before. Now that it was brought to his attention, he realized that she was right: his suspects were all males. He frowned. At his best friend's questioning look, he answered with complete certainty, "Onii-sama loves tennis very much. The only group of people that can capture his interest are tennis players. When I say tennis players, I mean REAL good ones. Since Onii-sama is only interested in the good ones, then they must be males. He seldom pays attention to the female players."

Lizzie sweat-dropped at his explanation and earnest expression. It seemed his certainty left her no room to disagree. She could only go along with him since she believed that he knew his twin best. Besides, her instincts told her the same thing as well. She could remember his indifferent attitude this morning even though he had a beautiful girl clinging to him. Luckily, she was never a vain person or his attitude would surely crush her pride. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. "Then why do you want me to seduce him into falling in love with me?" she asked with narrowed eyes. When he first suggested this to her, she couldn't believe her ears but after days of him pleading, she conceded. "According to your logic, your 'precious' twin would not pay any attention to me, a girl, not to mention that I can't play tennis. Lizzie stressed the word 'precious', adding a sarcastic tone to it.

Ryoya did not notice her sarcastic tone, or if he did, he chose to ignore it. "Because I choose you!"

Lizzie nearly fell over anime-style. What sort of an answer was that? "Huh?"

"Onii-sama promised me that he would marry the girl I choose when he grew up," Ryoya explained.

"Why would he do that?" According to her first impression of the older twin, she would never think that he would be one to discuss such topics, let alone agree to such ridiculous promise.

"We were only 7 then. I overheard some of the adults complaining that they have no time for their social lives after they're married. One of them, a girl, said that her childhood friend had been avoiding her ever since he got married because his wife did not like her. She was even crying by the end of her story. It got me thinking about what would happen to Onii-sama and I if he got married. Many tragic scenarios came to mind. I ended crying and in order to stop my tears, Onii-sama agreed to my suggestion that he would marry someone I approve." (If one could take "Hn…" as a "Yes".)

"I wonder if he actually agreed or he was just entertaining you," Lizzie whispered softly.

"Huh?" Ryoya looked at his best friend questioningly. He could have sworn that she said something.

Lizzie waved her hand lazily. "Nothing. So, your main suspect is Momo-senpai, the second year regular?" she tried to divert his attention.

"Yes. Nanako-chan told me that they always come to school together. They even meet up on weekends. It must be him!" Ryoya slammed his hand on the table.

"You keep focusing on him. What about the others? Like that handsome captain…what's his name again?"

"Tezuka-buchou. He's my suspect as well. But I'm more focused on Momo-senpai. I hope it's that porcupine-haired senpai, not Tezuka-buchou." Ryoya scowled.

"Huh? Why?"

"Tezuka-buchou is too perfect. These past days I had been watching him, he had not done anything wrong!" The scowl on his face deepened. "Even Onii-sama seemed to look up to him."

"Then wouldn't he be the likelier candidate?"

"But Onii-sama did not spend time with him like he did with that porcupine," Ryoya protested.

Lizzie rolled her eyes at his obvious 'in-denial-state'. "Fine. What about the others? If I remembered correctly, there's a 3rd year regular who smiles a lot. He's quite the pretty boy."

"Fuji-senpai?" Ryoya laughed. "He's definitely not possible."

"Why?" Lizzie felt a bit disappointed. Did he have a girlfriend already?

"Fuji-senpai is too kind to snatch my Onii-sama away," Ryoya said dismissively.

Lizzie's eyes nearly popped out of her sockets at his answer. As far as she was concerned, that Fuji was the sadistic type. Her instincts were never wrong. "Right," she said in a flat tone. Her suspicion of him rose.

"The others don't matter much. Our focus would be on the porcupine and Tezuka-buchou for now."

"If you say so…" Lizzie looked at her watch. "We should get going."

Ryoya nodded.

On the corridor, Lizzie glanced back at one of the empty rooms beside the chemistry lab. A frown formed on her face. She could have sworn that she felt a furious glare directed towards her. A shadowy figure from behind one of the doors heightened her suspicion. She was going to investigate when a student walked out with his hands full with stuff.

"Lizzie?" Ryoya called to the girl that had suddenly stopped walking.

"Huh? Oh….Let's go." She threw another suspicious glance to the doors. Perhaps she had just imagined it.

Unknown to her, as Ryoya and her disappeared around the corner, a door opened and Fuji stepped out of the dark class with his eyes open and no smile on his face.

A/N: So...How do you like this chapter? Do you like the green monster Fuji? Hahaha... Review!