A/N Remember at the beginning of the year when the Josei Shounan boys came into class but only Seigaku people could see them?

~oOoOo~

"Cool." Momoshiro stood up. "Can I go now?"

"Don't think so, pal." Yuuta tripped Momoshiro or his way to the T.V. set. "Only one story per school allowed. Kaidoh already went."

"What!?" Momo cried. "Echizen got to go after Kaidoh! He's a Seigaku-ian!"

"No, he's the Prince of Tennis." Shinji corrected, moving to take a sip of his drink but missing his mouth and spilling it down his front. "It's completely different. Being The Prince of Tennis is a category in itself."

"Betta' recognize." Garbled Echizen from the ping-pong table.

"But this isn't fair!" Momoshiro whined. "I have a really good one!"

"Then blame Kaidoh for wasting your school's story! Shouted Uchimura. "You really should have thought of that before telling such a retarded story!"

"My story was better than Choutarou's!" Kaidoh attempted to defend himself.

"Screw you, Kaidoh. It was ten times worse." Snapped Momoshiro. "And now there's no one from our school except that phony Echizen to represent us!"

Momoshiro angrily stalked back to his seat, though he tripped over his own feet on the way.

No one from Seigaku would talk to Kaidoh for the rest of the evening.

"Well, is that all the schools?" Yuuta asked.

"No! cried Aoi immediately. "Yamabuki didn't go!"

"Then let's get…" Yuuta trailed off as his eyes fell on Touji and Ichiuma, both of whom were passed out under the coffee table. "I guess Yamabuki's out of the running."

"Question!" asked Aoi in his annoyingly loud voice. "Since Yamabuki didn't tell a story, could we give their time slot to someone else? Say, me?"

"Hmmm" Yuuta thought. "That sounds reasonable I suppose. Very well, you may tell a story, Aoi."

"WHAT!?" Momoshiro exploded, rising to his feet. "You SAID that no school can tell two stories! Aoi and David are both from Rokkaku and David already WENT."

"If the story's in a foreign language it doesn't count." Said Kirihara smoothly.

"Well if we're going to look at it like that, then shouldn't IDIOTIC stories not count!?" Momoshiro shouted, jerking his thumb at Kaidoh. "Seigaku should get to tell another story too!"

"Idiotic stories count because idiocy is a choice." Kamio explained. "David couldn't help it if he could only speak French at the moment."

"Sorry Momoshiro, but those are the rules." Said Ichirou.

"I can't believe this!" Momoshiro snarled. "It's obvious that you're just trying to keep me from telling a story!"

"Well, you see Momoshiro, we don't like you." Said Shinji delicately. "We want to make you upset. We want it very much."

"What?" Momoshiro's voice dropped to normal speaking level, thrown by this statement. "You guys…don't like me? …Why?"

"Your hair." Said Choutarou immediately. "It's too square."

"Too damn square." Kamio agreed.

"Would it kill you to get a normal haircut?" Hiyoshi asked.

"Shut up, Hiyoshi we don't like you either. Said Ishida.

"But I can't help it!" Momoshiro said, close to tears. "My hair just grows like this!"

"Yeah, and weird black things just come out of Oishi's forehead." Said Kirihara.

"I can't believe this!" Momo blubbered. "You guys are so shallow!"

"Who thinks this conversation has gone on long enough?" Kamio inserted in a bored voice.

Everyone but Momoshiro raised his hand.

"You guys don't like anyone from Seigaku!" Momoshiro accused, pointing to all the non-Seigaku boys. "You just take turns insulting each of us!"

No one was listening to Momoshiro anymore, though. They had started talking amongst themselves.

Since no one could really remember what they had been talking about, and anyway they were bored of being drunk, Aoi didn't actually end up telling his story.

"Let's just pick a winner for best story and be done with this evening." Volunteered Yuuta.

"How do you plan on doing that?" asked Kamio.

"I dunno, just everyone close your eyes and then we'll vote for the best story."

"What does the winner get?"

"Who cares? The winner can kick Ryoma in the crotch, I guess….."

"Hey!" Ryoma suddenly seemed a little more sober.

"….or maybe you'll just get some sort of prize in later chapters."

"Fair enough." Said Shinji. "Let's vote."

They all shut their eyes. There was silence in the room for a few minutes. Then Shinji slit his eyes open.

"Shouldn't there be someone with their eyes open to count the votes?" he asked cautiously.

"OH! You're so right; I totally forgot!" said Yuuta. "Not everyone can close his eyes! We need someone impartial to count votes."

"I'll do it." Touji said.

So they all closed their eyes again. This time, Kirihara fell asleep while doing so.

"Okay, this isn't working!" Touji said frustratedly, after dumping his fifth bucket of water over Kirihara to revive him. "Let's just write our votes down on paper and turn them in!"

"Fine." Everyone chorused and did so in less than thirty seconds.

Touji quickly counted. "Okay, Yuuta wins." He said. "By a vote of 100 percent."

"That doesn't even make sense!" cried Ichirou. "I'm not complaining, but I didn't vote for him, and I know for a fact that Kaidoh voted for himself!"

"Screw you." Said Kaidoh.

"Are you sure you didn't mess up?" Shinji asked. "I mean, did you count right?"

"Of course I did." Said Touji acidly. "It says that Yuuta is the winner right here on this little paper."

"Where did you get that paper?" asked Shinji.

Touji thought. He put one hand to his chin. "You know, now that you mention it, I don't really know."

"I think something fishy is going on." Said Shinji. "Like someone not in this room is somehow controlling the ballot, but I don't really care enough to find out."

"Okay." Said Touji. "So Yuuta wins. Or something. Yay."

"Yay." Said everyone tonelessly.

Then they all lay down and didn't talk anymore.

XxX

Half and hour later, the door to the game room opened and in walked Kajimoto and Shinjou.

"What is wrong with that door?" Kirihara wondered aloud. "It doesn't stay shut." He swaggered over and kicked it closed with his foot.

"I heard that you guys had beer." Kajimoto didn't even bother to say hello. "And we want in." Shinjou nodded mutely next to him.

"It's on the table," Echizen muttered wearily, rubbing his eyes.

"What's on the table?" Yuuta asked curiously, looking over at Echizen.

"The beer!" Echizen snapped.

"Geez…relax" Yuuta mumbled.

"Excellent." Shinjou and Kajimoto each got their cans and came back to Echizen, flopping down on either side of him.

"Having a good school year so far?" Kajimoto asked, snapping the tab of his beer open with his teeth.

"Ehh…." Echizen lifted one hand and let it fall heavily again. "You know. Prince of Tennis and all that."

Next to him, Momoshiro stirred and sat up, rubbing his eyes as well.

"Man, that was a good nap, I really should—

He suddenly caught sight of Shinjou and Kajimoto. "Well, well….if it isn't animes only. How nice of you to drop by."

Everyone in the room except for Echizen and the two Josei Shonan boys stared at Momoshiro.

"Funny you should mention that," Shinjou said suddenly. "Kajimoto and I actually have a theory that we'd like your input on."

"We have been thinking," Kajimoto's affirmed.

"I didn't know you could think." Echizen muttered.

"Everyone thinks, Echizen." Choutarou said.

"Quelques gens pensent que les cornichons sont déliciuex."(1) David added unexpectedly.

"And we THINK," Kajimoto snapped, "that the reason only Seigaku people can see us is precisely because we're anime only."

Both Momoshiro and Echizen were quiet for a moment, digesting this interesting idea and trying to decide how best to respond. Echizen finally answered.

"That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life, and my best friend is Horio." He said. He didn't say anything more. He didn't have to.

"Hey…. What's that supposed to mean?" Horio stirred feebly from the freshman-now-second-years-trio pile on the floor.

Momoshiro, however, was looking like he believed every word.

"So…..would seeing you guys, who no one else can see, technically be like seeing ghosts?" he questioned slowly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kamio snapped groggily. "Momoshiro, do you make it a habit to wildly converse with yourself?"

"I guess, in a way, yes." Shinjou agreed.

"Then why are you doing this?" Momoshiro whispered, pallid, before falling into a drunken stupor on Kaidoh's legs.

Echizen sighed angrily. Despite what he had witnessed on the first day of school, he didn't seriously believe that no one could see Josei Shounan boys except Seigaku kids. "Momoshiro's a moron. And everyone can see you, all the time."

"I'll agree with the first statement," said Kamio, "but that second one is just creepy. Who's watching me all the time?"

"They all see you!" Echizen shouted at Kajimoto and Shinjou, waving his hand at the rest of the people in the room.

"Echizen, seriously, you're just being a freak now, like Momoshiro." Kamio said.

"KAMIO!" Echizen shouted. "You see Kajimoto and Shinjou here, right?" He pointed simultaneously to the boys flanking him.

"Uhm…." Kamio stared.

"Yes, yes, of course we see them!" Choutarou cried, getting to his feet and walking over, while muttering quietly to Kamio, "don't worry, he's just had too much to drink…"

"I heard that!" Echizen was getting seriously annoyed. He turned desperately to Yuuta. "You see them, don't you?" he half pleaded.

"Er," Yuuta seemed rather surprised at having his opinion asked. "…Yes, of course I do." He stood up. "I'll just get them drinks, shall I?"

Yuuta wobbled over to the drinks table and got two new beers and headed over towards where he thought Echizen was imagining the two boys to be. Which was a spot about twenty feet to the left of where they really were.

"They're over HERE!" Echizen felt like crying. Why was everyone messing with him?

Yuuta sighed, deciding not to humor Echizen anymore. "Listen," he said, "it's been a long night, we should all just get to—

"BUT THEY'RE RIGHT HERE! YOU SAW THE DOOR OPEN! THEY'RE IN HERE, I'M TELLING YOU!" Echizen lost control.

Yuuta laughed gently. "Echizen, it's alright," he cooed, "we've all had a lot to drink. You should really get some rest. Kabaji." The last word was directed at the hunk of a teenager who had sat there quietly hiccupping all evening.

"Usu." He got up, walked over to Echizen, picked the smaller boy up, slung him over his shoulder and slowly made his way out of the room.

"I'M NOT DRUNK!" Echizen screamed. "THEY'RE HERE, I TELL YOU!"

Shinjou and Kajimoto smiled cheerily at him and waved as Kabaji reached the doorway.

"THEY'RE SMILING AND WAVING! YOU CAN SEE THEIR SMUG FACES IF YOU JUST LOOK! I'M TELLING YOU, THEY EXIST—"

The remaining conscious people in the game room could still hear Echizen's muted screams two corridors away.

oOoOo

P.S. I actually did sort of write a story thing for Aoi, but I didn't feel like putting it in. If you review, I'll send it to you:) Or you can just ask if you want it, I'll hand it over.