"5 games to 4! Bunta leading!" Jackal shouted.

Niou whistled as he bounced the ball a couple of times. "Ohh you got me on that one, glucose-addict. But," smirking, he tossed the ball up in the air, copying the serving position of a certain Seigaku ace regular, and hit it hard. "You're still going to lose, Puri."

"Like I'm going to let you win that easily!" the self-proclaimed genius said determinedly as he countered it.

The trickster raised an eyebrow as he switched his playing style into Eiji Kikumaru's as he noticed the ball was going to the opposite direction. Facing on the right side, he leaned a bit and put his racket behind, hitting the ball back with ease. "Yeah right." The game continued and in the end, much to the redhead's annoyance, Niou won against him, having won 3 games straight. "You think you can actually win against me? Ha. In your dreams." He said boisterously, smirking as always.

"Che. You just got lucky." Marui growled as he took out another piece of gum and stuffed it inside his mouth. As he chewed, he suddenly thought of Kaori and began to smile dreamily, completely forgetting his lost match with Niou.

Some of the regulars noticed his sudden change of behavior and watched him warily as though something else might happen. "What just…happened to him?" Akaya said slowly as he watched the redhead chuckle and even giggle, which made the junior ace grimace.

"I don't even want to know." Niou said hastily, finding his teammate's actions nauseating for some reason but shook his head quickly and shot a knowing look at Jackal. "But if it's something interesting, we should at least investigate about it, right?"

The brazilian sweat dropped slightly. "I…guess so."

"Good, now go and ask him!" he urged. "Come on now!" Giving him a small push, Jackal finally moved towards his doubles partner who was still in his dreamland. "Atta boy Jackal!" the trickster grinned but earned a hard look from Sanada, with his were Renji and Hiroshi, not very far. "What's with the look, Puri? I'm not doing anything bad."

"What are you planning?" he demanded.

"Be honest with us, Niou." Renji said curtly.

Shrugging, he answered nonchalantly, "We're just going to know what made Marui act like some love-struck high school girl."

"Masaharu, choose appropriate words." Hiroshi said sternly.

"Hey I'm not cursing, right? At least that's good enough." He huffed.

They didn't say anything to him and the fukubuchou turned to the other two regulars' direction instead. "Hn."

Meanwhile, Jackal was having trouble asking his partner. Even though they were close, he knew that asking such a question was definitely not a right thing to do. He took a quick glance behind; Niou gave him two thumbs up while Akaya nodded his head furiously, making hand signals that meant that he should ask Marui now. He even noticed Sanada, Hiroshi and Renji were watching as well and because of that, he felt more pressured. "Ah Bunta," he called.

Marui didn't seem to hear him and just continued to wander inside his dreamland.

Jackal didn't want to take this any longer and had no choice but to hit him on the head. "Bunta!" he called yet again.

The redhead yelped at the sudden contact and massaged his crown, frowning slightly. "What was that for, Jackal?" He pouted.

Sighing, he said, "You didn't reply when I called you so I have to hit you."

"Oh."

"So, what were you thinking that made you ignore me?" the brazilian asked inaudibly as he pretended to sound and act curious.

Marui suddenly perked up and began his dreamy state. "I'm just really happy! Thinking about it makes me happy inside so much that's all!" he said abstractedly.

"And what would that be?"

"Kaori-chan said to yes to go out on a date with me!" he said happily.

Even from their position, Niou and the rest of the regulars heard his joyful declaration. "…what did he say?" Akaya stared. "I just think I heard him wrong."

"No, that's what he said alright, Puri." The trickster said. "So Kaori-chan said yes to date with Marui? That's kind of surprising."

"What's surprising?"

"Didn't you hear? That idiot said Kaori-chan agreed to go on a date with him!" Niou repeated as he turned around to face the person who asked.

It was no other than Seiichi. "Kaori-san's going out on a date with Bunta?"

"Uhh yeah, that's what he said just now." the trickster said scratchily.

Seiichi didn't bother to answer him. His mind kept on repeating the same words. She and Bunta are going out together…together on a date…He felt disturbed and merely thinking about it made him feel somewhat upset and jealous without his very knowledge. "I see…good for him." He said absentmindedly.

Sanada and Renji gave each other a look when they heard him. He sounds unsure of himself. Renji said mentally.

He still doesn't see it…, the fukubuchou sighed inwardly. "Yukimura," he called.

The rikkai buchou snapped out of his own thoughts and gave his full attention to his vice-captain. "Let's end today's practice, ne?"

He gave him a short nod. "Okay all of you are dismissed! Practice is over!" he shouted.

Seiichi decided to be the last person to leave the tennis ground for he believed he needed some alone-time. He walked slowly, still thinking about what he heard earlier and the same pained feeling recurred. He sighed and let out a weak laugh to himself. "I'm losing my mind here." He knew that it won't go away that easily so he decided to go to the street tennis courts and find some suitable tennis players to play with, hoping that it would help him get off his mind about Marui's moment of happiness.

After a couple of minutes, he finally arrived at the courts where a couple of tennis players from other schools hung out. He searched for an empty court, walking around the place a bit until he finally found one at the far left end of the place. He put his tennis bag down, unzipping it and taking one of his rackets out. Then, a familiar voice called him. "Oi aren't you Yukimura Seiichi from Rikkai Dai?"

He turned around and saw no other than Tachibana Kippei from Fudomine High School. "You're Tachibana Kippei from Fudomine, right?"

He nodded shortly in confirmation as he settled his bag on a nearby bench at the other side of the court. "Want to play a game against me? A 3-point match if you don't mind." He asked as he took out his racket.

The rikkai buchou smiled in reply. "Sure."

Both took opposite sides of the court, facing each other. "Smooth or Rough?" The Fudomine buchou asked.

"Smooth." He answered.

Kippei twirled his racket and let it fall as it continued to turn around until it finally came in contact with the ground. It was smooth. "You're lucky." He commented as he picked his racket up.

"You think so?" he mused. You know that you're not exactly lucky at everything, especially about that 'certain thing' you just heard recently…

I don't know what you're talking about.

In denial, are we? Hm let's talk about it later, you should serve the ball now.

He snapped back to reality as he realized what he should be doing right now. He threw thew ball in the air and hit it hard as he aimed it at Tachibana's left side.

Kippei knew that he would be aiming at his left so he chased after the ball and used a backhand shot to return the ball. Again, he knew that it would become a rally between them. None of them wouldn't budge and show their true potential since the Kantou Tournament still wasn't over. As each returned their attacks, Kippei noticed something was somewhat wrong: His opponent, Seiichi, wasn't concentrating that much even if he managed to return all of his shots. He was a bit disappointed, feeling as if he would lose to someone whose concentration wasn't at its fullest, even if this game was simply a friendly match.

Deciding to get a bit serious and gaining his attention, he simply used a drop shot, and it did the trick.

"You're quite good." Seiichi commented.

"Not exactly, you're not concentrating on the game, it seems." He pointed out. "Is something bothering you?" he said questioningly.

The rikkai buchou was slightly taken aback. "No. Nothing's troubling me."

"Though we're not friends but merely acquaintances," he said casually as he took out another ball and bounced it on the ground repeatedly. "You can tell me what's bothering you. That's the least I could offer." He said simply as he began to serve the ball with more power in it.

Putting more determination, he returned the ball quickly and decided to concentrate on the game further. Though he didn't show it, he was clearly surprised that someone that he only meet during the tournament would be able to see through him by just mere observance. Within ten minutes, the friendly match was over, having him as the winner.

"As expected from a Rikkai Dai regular." Kippei breathed as he wiped some sweat from his face with a small towel.

"You should say so yourself." Seiichi complimented him. "I know you're holding back and you've improved quite a lot."

The fudomine smirked at him. "You noticed?"

"Ah." He nodded. After a short moment of silence, he spoke, "Ne Tachibana-san."

Kippei looked at him. "What is it?"

"There is something that is troubling me lately." He said to him. "You don't mind if you listen to me?"

He shook his head and replied, "If it helps you." They didn't bother sitting and the rikkai buchou began telling him what bothered him, knowing that Kippei was trustworthy about certain things like these. After a couple of minutes, he was finally done. "Oh you don't get it, do you?" he asked, looking a bit surprised.

"What do you mean?"

He simply stared at him and stifled a laugh. "My younger sister Ann have almost the same problem as you do but in a different perspective, that is." He said simply. "The only difference is that she's been chased after by two tennis players, namely one of my teammates Kamio Akira and another one from Seigaku, Momoshiro Takeshi." He added.

Seiichi raised an eyebrow at the information he just learned.

"It was pretty obvious from us and maybe some of the regulars from the other teams that Kamio had a secret attraction towards my sister since junior high. During the Kantou Tournament, my sister befriended Momoshiro from Seigaku and it made Kamio really jealous. It was quite funny to watch him get all riled up whenever he sees those two together, really." He chuckled. "Ann wasn't really the type of girl who's into dating at that time so she didn't fuss over it, so did Momoshiro."

"So your teammate Kamio-san misunderstood the relationship between your sister and the aggressive baseliner of Seigaku?" Seiichi said inquiringly.

"At first, yes." He nodded. "But as soon as they entered high school, everything changed. Because of Kamio's persistence, he was able to make Ann say yes to him on a date and when Momoshiro heard this, it was clear that he was simply jealous and yet he didn't know he was actually jealous."

"And what happened next?"

"What happened to them?" he repeated. "It doesn't matter what happened. If you listened carefully, I'm trying to tell you that you're in Momoshiro's situation." Kippei said simply. "You're actually jealous when you heard that your teammate was going out with that girl you like." He pointed out.

"You're mistaken. I do not like her that way." He shook his head.

"And let me ask you this, do you feel your insides twinge whenever you think about the two of them going out?" he questioned him.

"…yes."

"And you think it's wrong that the two of them shouldn't be going out?" he questioned him yet again.

"…yes, but only because I believe it would ruin Bunta's concentration and that both of them are childhood friends." He said quickly.

Kippei raised an eyebrow. "That's your reason? Are you sure?"

"…no."

"Last question, what do you think of the girl?"

When he heard those very same words, he suddenly remembered the time when Bunta asked him on that day. "I…she makes me feel at ease whenever I'm with her. It's as if we've known each other for a long time." He said finally.

"Well, that's your answer." He said, looking relieved. "You're really stubborn you know? Both in tennis and in yourself."

"How do you know?" he asked him as he heaved his bag and carried behind his back.

"It's pretty obvious I guess." He shrugged.

"You should be a guidance counselor." Seiichi told him, chuckling.

"You're not the only one telling me that." He said as he carried his own bag. "Anyway, it's okay if you like someone. There's no harm in it, just as long as you are able to separate it from your duties and responsibilities. I mean, I did see your vice-captain with a girl last week." He said nonchalantly.

The rikkai buchou stared at him. "Genichirou is with a girl?" he repeated.

Kippei blinked at him. "You don't know about it? Hm I guess he didn't tell you. I thought you two are friends."

"I thought so as well." He muttered. "It was nice talking to you. I hope we get to meet each other again in the nationals again." Seiichi said while smiling.

The fudomine buchou smirked. "Of course you'll see my team again in the nationals. Ja Yukimura."

"Ah." And as the two separated their ways, he found out a two new things. Firstly, he liked Kaori more than he anticipated and secondly, Sanada had a girlfriend, which he found it quite disappointing since he didn't hear it from the very source. He took out his cell phone from his bag and dialled someone's number. After a short wait, the other person answered the call and said indifferently, "Sanada speaking, who is this?"

Seiichi's smile grew wider. "Genichirou, I would like ask you about that girlfriend of yours…" You're going to get punished for not telling your friend about this, Gen-chan, he smiled sadistically as he began to torment his teammate.

Hmm…I made Seiichi a bit OOC near the end. Sorry. Won't be doing that again.

Well, I was planning on using Atobe or Saeki to have a friendly match against Seiichi and have his inner turmoil to get over with but then again, these two aren't much of a help when it comes to those things so I chose Tachibana Kippei since he seemed pretty much mature and sensible when it comes to those things.

What do you think? Okay, I moved Marui's spotlight in the next chapter so yeah…I hope you like this chapter and please review!