Chapter 4.
Unexpected

Urayama runs until his mind is empty. The feeling is calming, numbing almost, and he keeps running until his legs tense, and his muscles ache, and his lungs protest every breath that keeps him going past his limits. He comes to a gradual stop at the park near his house, panting as he reaches around his back into his gym bag for his water bottle. He drinks like a dying man and his mouth is still as dry as sand. He checks his time and distance, smiling at the decrease in the first and increase in the later.

Gotta get back for breakfast, he thinks.

He puts his water bottle back inside his bag, pushes himself the entire way home, and takes the elevator as a reward for going an extra half-mile. He lives on the thirteenth floor of a large, upscale apartment complex on the edge of the city, and going up the stairs can be a challenge some days and a form of torture on others. Today, it would have been a torture.

Urayama brings his shirt up to wipe the sweat off his face, fishing his keys out of his bag and opening the door to his apartment. He calls out, "I'm back! Anyone home?"

"In the kitchen."

Urayama moves through the living room and into the kitchen where his older sister is cooking. She has on their mother's apron with her auburn hair pinned up. If Urayama were slightly taller and had longer hair, he would be the spitting image of his sister.

"Morning, Nee-san," Urayama says. "Where's Mom?"

"She left for work right after you left for your run. She made us lunches, though."

"And Dad?"

"I don't think he came home last night." Urayama frowns, but he can't focus on the familiar feeling of sadness for too long. His sister adds, "I can smell you from here. Go shower. By the time you're done, I'll be done with breakfast."

She's right—he stinks.

"'kay, 'kay."

By the time Urayama comes back, twirling the top of his hair with his finger, his sister has already plated the food and put it on the table. Oyama is sitting at one chair—Urayama isn't surprised; he smiles and says, "Morning, Kenta!"—and Urayama's sister is cleaning up at the sink instead of eating. The kitchen, like the rest of the apartment with the exception of the children's bedrooms, hardly looks lived in. The sharp angels are unwelcoming and the stainless steel appliances are free of fingerprints. There are no pictures on the coffee table, the key dish is almost always empty, and the dining table is never filled.

"Do you have to leave early?" Urayama asks, noticing that she's in her high school uniform already. His sister is rarely ready to leave so early in the morning. She usually leaves after Urayama since her school is close by comparatively.

"Yeah, sorry, Shiita. Big science test today and some girls and I are going to study. Mom said she'll text me if she won't be home for dinner. I'll make you something if she isn't, okay? Just let me know if Kenta-kun is coming."

"I probably will be," Oyama says. "My parents are both away."

Urayama's sister laughs, covering her discomfort at the idea of a thirteen year old boy being left alone. "You should just move in."

"Or I should move in with him," Urayama says.

His sister comes over, kisses his temple, and says, "Have a good day. Stay out of trouble. Don't do drugs."

Urayama laughs as she leaves. Urayama finally sits at the table, his legs crossed and tucked beneath him, and eats. He's starving.

"I need to get duct tape on the way to school," Urayama says, mouth full, but he knows Oyama will understand him.

"Why?" Oyama asks.

"Because Kirihara-buchou said I could work on the accuracy of my serve if I put tape down and aimed at that. I kinda forgot until this morning when I was running. I want to try his idea 'cause Buchou's serve is the best I've seen. I'm going to stay late with Nishimura-kun and Yamauchi-senpai after practice today, and I want to practice my serve with them. So I need duct tape."

"Alright," Oyama says. "I think there's a hardware store near the train station. If we leave a few minutes early, we can stop by."

Urayama smiles.

By the time they two get to school, Kirihara has unlocked the locker room and morning practice has started. The doubles pair changes quickly and comes out to join the other regulars and Nishimura, who has come to more morning practices than Hirai and Azuma. When Urayama and Otama get to the courts, Hirai and Azuma are practicing their volley, and Nishimura is serving while Yamauchi is receiving. Kirihara and Matsui are arguing at the gate.

"You can't eat on the courts!" Kirihara says.

"It's your fault for holding morning practice!" Matsui shouts. "If I didn't have to wake up at the ass crack of dawn for this pointless practice, I would have time to eat at home!"

"What did you say about practice?"

"I said—"

Oyama looks at Urayama. "Shiita, should you stop them? Kirihara is making a fool of himself… again."

Urayama knows he should, but Kirihara will only yell at him, and how will that help anything? That will only add fuel to Matsui's flame and with Urayama's luck, the two will continue to fight at afternoon practice when the rest of the team is present and they don't have time for that. The tournament is only a few weeks away.

"I think I'll pass," Urayama says, smiling, unsure if that's the right choice. But it's too late, he already said it. Oh, well. "Why don't you practice with Hirai- and Azuma-senpai, Kenta? I want to see how Yamauchi-senapi and Nishimura-kun are."

Urayama leaves his partner to join Yamauchi and Nishimura, who has improved rapidly during the small number of practices this year. With Kirihara's help, Nishimura has finally been able to serve properly. It isn't the best, and it lacks power, but he's hitting it, and every time his racket makes contact with the ball, Nishimura's dead eyes light up a little bit. It makes helping him worthwhile, at least to Urayama.

"Good morning, Urayama-kun," Yamauchi greets pleasantly. "How's your day been so far?"

"Great," Urayama replies. "I ran an extra half mile this morning."

"Do you run every morning?" Urayama nods. "That's impressive. I try to run to keep in shape and all that, but it's hard. I don't have the commitment," Yamauchi laughs.

"I think you have commitment, Senpai. You're always one of the first ones to morning and afternoon practice, and sometimes I see you training after practice."

"You see that?" Yamauchi rubs the back of his head and looks embarrassed. Urayama doesn't know why he would be embarrassed. Hard work is something to be proud of, not ashamed of.

Urayama smiles and nods. "Yup! I admire your hard work."

"I'm not like Kirihara-buchou, or the old senpai from last year," Yamauchi says. His smile is a little more sullen than usual, but it's no less sincere. Urayama sees Nishimura watching them like a hawk with those unsettling eyes. Yamauchi goes on, "I have to work hard. I'm not a genius."

"Neither am I," Urayama says.

Yamauchi's smile seems more genuine. He asks, "Do you want to rally with me and Nishimura-kun? He's gotten a lot better! It's really impressive, actually."

"Thanks," Nishimura says quietly.

"Well?" Yamauchi prompts.

"'kay!"

Urayama sits behind Oyama in the line of desks that runs along the windows of their classroom. Since Oyama is so tall, Urayama is able to sleep, or doodle, or do basically anything except pay attention, which Urayama is prone to do. Time drags on slowly until lunch comes and even slower after that. At the end of the day, Urayama jumps out of his seat with vigor and heads out to the hall with Oyama where they meet up with Kobayakawa from the class next door.

"Hey-o!" Kobayakawa greets with a friendly smile. "Do you know what we're doing for practice, Fukubuchou? It's still so weird calling you that. You're nothing like Sanada."

"Is that a good thing?" Urayama asks.

"It's a good thing," Oyama says.

"I wasn't asking you, Kenta." Urayama taps Oyama with a gentle fist and Kobayakawa laughs. The conversation changes topics when Kobayakawa begins to talk about this substitute teacher they had, and how she was really attractive, and young, and "totally into me!"

"I bet she was," Urayama laughs.

"She was!" Kobayakawa insists.

When they get near the locker rooms, they can hear Kirihara and Matsui shouting. Urayama makes a sour expression (according to a laughing Kobayakawa), wishing he could shrink into Oyama's shadow. He was so excited when Yukimura named him vice-captain. He still is excited to be vice-captain. But he doesn't know how to deal with Kirihara.

"Maybe he'll wear himself out?" Kobayakawa suggests.

"Maybe," Urayama says hopefully.

By the time he's changed and out on the courts for warm-ups, Kirihara has stopped yelling. That's good, right? Urayama counts the posts in the fence on his first lap, then switches to the number of trees around the courts, and switches back to the posts in the fence on his fifth lap. He's about to keep running when Oyama puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Shiita, you've already done an extra lap," Oyama says calmly. Urayama grins and rubs the back of his head, his cheeks a little more pink than usual. "You got distracted again, didn't you?" Oyama asks.

"Guess so." Urayama shrugs. "Hold my legs when I do my crunches?"

"Alright."

"You guys are done running already?" Kobayakawa moans as he slowly jogs past them. He sounds like he's dying.

Practice has yet to become smooth. Kirihara either stumbles over his words or shouts angrily when handing out practice assignments. Today is a combination of the two.

"So today we're doing, um," Kirihara pauses.

"Practice matches," Urayama reminds him quietly from his side. Oyama watches Kirihara from the misshapen mob of boys, like he's waiting for Kirihara to cross the line and actually hurt Urayama. Last year, everyone lined up without being told to. This year, no one listens when Kirihara tells them to.

"I know!" Kirihara snaps, a little too loud. He looks back at the club, arms crossed, face red with embarrassment and anger. "We're doing three-game practice matches. Regulars are referring. Start with third years and go down."

Kirihara walks away and the club takes that as their cue to move. Kirihara smacks his face, his cheeks stinging red, probably thinking no one saw.

Urayama sees. He doesn't say anything.

Oyama says something to Urayama, who gets up on his tiptoes and grabs Oyama's elbow for leverage so he can look to the side of the courts with wide eyes.

"Kirihara-buchou," Urayama says. "I-I think someone's here to see you."

Kirihara follows Urayama's eyes and he thinks he's seeing things.

Marui waves, blows a large green bubble, and Jackal shouts, "Akaya!"

It's the first time he's seen them in weeks. When was the last time he talked to them? A month before the start of the school year? Why now? They didn't say anything about showing up.

Marui and Jackal come in through the open gate and walk over to Kirihara, who stands frozen in place in shock. Marui claps him on the back while Jackal ruffles his hair. The shock passes and Kirihara smiles and laughs, curling forward to get away from their familiar hands. Marui laughs along with him and takes Kirihara into a headlock.

"Let go, Marui-senpai."

"Nu-huh," Marui says. "You didn't answer my texts. You don't get to tell me what to do, Bakaya."

Marui doesn't sound hurt, though. He keeps his grip loose enough that Kirihara could break free if he really wanted to, which he doesn't.

"Bunta, maybe you should stop," Jackal says.

"Why?"

"The team is staring."

Everyone on the courts has stopped what they're doing to rubberneck and stare at the three. The older members recognize Marui and Jackal, and maybe some of the younger members do too from magazines or the pictures in the trophy case in the lobby. Marui and Jackal are from the old regime, when Rikkaidai was headed by a divine ruler, not some demon who doesn't know how to give orders without shouting. The two high schoolers seem to shine a little brighter than everyone else on the courts—every one of the old regulars did, except for Kirihara, who burned red and made everyone around him equally colored.

Azuma says something that has Matsui laughing obnoxiously loud into the silence; Hirai looks suddenly panicked.

Kirihara breaks away from Marui, embarrassed, and at the same time Marui releases his hold. Kirihara ruffles his hair back into place, tries to will the blush away, and clears his throat. Marui blows a bubble, unaffected by the situation.

"Get back to wo-rk!" Kirihara says, voice cracking on the last syllable. Marui snickers. Jackal grins. Kirihara looks at them, ignoring his team again. "Don't make fun of me! Your voices cracked last year, too!"

Marui slings an arm around Kirihara's shoulder and leans on him. Marui got taller again. Jackal did, too. Marui looks at the boys on the courts, who haven't gone back to work like Kirihara told them to.

"Hey, second and third years, remember me?" Marui calls out loudly. There's a bit of shuffling. Marui smiles, smug. "Yeah, I thought so. Listen to Akaya, alright? Or I'll get Sanada to come back and whoop your asses into shape."

Marui speaks with unwavering confidence and the reaction is immediate. Everyone gets back to practice and works harder than they have all day. The first years seem confused, but they follow their upperclassmen and Marui's orders.

Marui grins at Kirihara. "That's how you do it."

Jackal ruffles Kirihara's hair again to ease the tension.

"Hi, Marui-senpai, Kuwahara-senpai," Urayama says awkwardly, addressing them for the first time. Oyama stands back a few feet.

"Hey," Marui says. He tilts his head, almost knocking his skull against Kirihara's in the process. "Urayama, right?"

"Y-yes!"

"Keep an eye out for Akaya, will ya?" Marui turns his head to smile at Kirihara teasingly. "Give him a talking to if you need to, like you did to Sanada. This kid can't keep out of trouble."

"Hey!" Kirihara protests. "I haven't gotten detention once this year."

"I'm proud of you," Marui deadpans.

"Get back to practice, Akaya," Jackal says, sighing slightly. "We'll hang out afterwards."

Marui finally lets go of Kirihara, waves at Urayama and Oyama, says, "Keep working on that cool volley of yours," and then leaves with Jackal to sit on a hill with short cut grass just outside of the fence. Kirihara can hear them laughing from the courts.

"Buchou," Urayama says, smiling and bouncing towards him. "You seem happy."

You do too, Kirihara nearly says, but not isn't the time for that.

"Help me get these guys in order," Kirihara says. He looks at Oyama. "You too, I guess. Do you ever practice, or do you just follow Urayama around?"

"Yes," Oyama says. Kirihara doesn't know which question that applies to.

Kirihara goes back to practice, hyper aware that Marui and Jackal are watching him, that they'll probably go and tell Yukimura and others how he's doing. He takes in a deep breath, goes to check everyone's form, and makes sure that his voice carries across the courts to Marui and Jackal. He's always tried to impress them with his tennis. Now, it's time to show them he can handle what they trusted him with: their team.

Urayama and Oyama go around together helping Kirihara; Urayama offers encouragement and Oyama points things out to Urayama when the vice-captain becomes scattered-brained. Urayama is scattered-brained a lot, Kirihara notices.

Matsui, Hirai, and Azuma are compliant for the first time, and Kirihara is too happy that they listen to him to be mad that they'll only following his orders because Marui told them to. That's an issue for another day. The three troublemakers do their punishments when necessary, and without lacking off, and they go straight back to place without much trouble. Kirihara has to call Matsui an idiot once or twice (maybe four times, at most), but it's the easiest practice he's had yet.

Kirihara skips his shower, tells Urayama to lock up, and jogs out of the locker room to find his teammates on a bench. Marui jumps to his feet and says, "Jackal's gonna treat us to burgers."

"I never said that."

"La-la-la, I can't hear you," Marui says with a shit-eating grin. "Can you hear him, Akaya? Wow. How amazing. What was that? You'll pay for burgers and new grip tape? You're the best, Jackal."

"One day, you're going to be found dead in a ditch and I'm going to be the one who put you there, Bunta."

"Don't be mean, Jackal," Marui says.

"Oh, now you can hear me?"

Kirihara smiles and laughs. He walks between the two towards a diner down the street that they've frequented after practice for the last two years. He remembers going there after long practices with the entire team, his old team, the only team that matters. It's cheap, has the best milkshakes within walking distance, and there's a booth large enough to fit all of the regulars without having to pull up spare chairs. Kirihara's been squished up against Sanada's thigh and Niou's boney ass one too many times, but it's always worth it. After Yukimura's first practice after his release, they sat in the booth in the corner for at least two hours. The place smells like burned food, grease that could clog an artery with one drop, and the upsetting fumes of hospital-grade disinfectant.

Marui orders a milkshake with extra, extra whipped cream, Kirihara buys his favorite heart attack on a bun, and Jackal pays with a sigh and a, "I swear, one day I'll start a running tab for you two."

Marui and Kirihara chime in with a unified, "Thank you," though Marui's comes with an eye roll.

They sit in a booth against the front of the shop in the warm sun coming through the window, Marui and Jackal on one side and Kirihara on the other. The leather is uncomfortably hot against Kirihara's bottom, and his burger is dripping with grease, and his fries are salty enough to kill a slug the size of Hokkaido, but the familiarity of it all puts him at ease. He finally feels as if he can breathe again, for the first time since they graduated.

"How's high school?" Kirihara asks. "Did everyone make the team?"

"Yup. Even Jackal managed."

"Hey," Jackal exclaims.

Marui goes on, ignoring Jackal, "We probably won't be playing until Nationals, though. Wild cards and secret plays and all that. Of course, everyone already knows who we are—especially me—but we've gotten a lot stronger since last year and Yukimura suggested keeping our new styles a secret. Yukimura isn't captain or anything, but the captain has him by his side all the time. He can't be captain until his third year, apparently. It's all politics. He's obviously being groomed for the position."

"You make it sound like he's a dog," Jackal says. "Can you imagine Yukimura with a collar?"

"And Sanada with a leash?" Marui adds.

Kirihara laughs because for some reason, it's the funniest thing he's heard in a long time. He's missed this. He's messed them.

Marui eats the whipped cream on top of his milkshake with a spoon then lets Kirihara dip his fries into the half-melted chocolate shake beneath.

"How's your team?" Marui asks. "It's weird calling it your team since you're such a brat."

"Be nice," Jackal says.

It sounds like a conversation Marui and Jackal would have in his head.

I'm insane, Kirihara thinks.

Marui dips his fries like Kirihara, who has stopped eating and is avoiding their eyes by staring at the cheap tabletop. Suddenly, that spot of dried ketchup is the most fascinating thing in the world.

"Akaya?" Jackal says at his silence, sounding concerned all of the sudden. Marui frowns, brow furrowed, and continues to eat without saying anything.

"The team is fine," Kirihara says, still unable to look at doubles pair. The lie tastes like ash and his pride prickles under his feet like spikes to prevent him from telling the truth. "Everything is fine," he says.

"That's good," Marui says. "Yukimura and the others were worried."

"Huh? Why would you be worried?"

"You wouldn't answer our texts," Marui says this as he steals one of Jackal's chicken tenders. He rips it in two, gives half to Kirihara, and dips the other half in his milkshake. A bitter part of Kirihara thinks that only Marui has texted him since school started. It wasn't "our" texts at all. "Yukimura wanted us to come and see you. He told us to skip practice and come here to check out the team."

Yukimura was worried? Then why didn't he come? Why isn't Yukimura sitting across from him, treating him to fast food and cracking jokes with him? Yukimura is not the captain of the high school team, yet Marui and Jackal treat him like he is. Kirihara's team doesn't even accept that he currently is the captain.

"Oh," is all Kirihara can say.

"So who made the regulars?" Marui asks. "Anyone we'd know?"

Kirihara shrugs, unsure. "Matsui and Yamauchi are the other singles players. Urayama and Oyama are doubles, and so are Hirai and Azuma. Everyone's a third year but Urayama and Oyama."

"Was Oyama the guy next to Urayama earlier?"

"Yeah." Kirihara frowns for the first time since he saw them. He asks, "How'd you know Urayama, anyways? I didn't think you talked to anyone on the team who wasn't a regular or in your year. And what was that thing about Sanada-fukubuchou?"

"Don't you remember Nationals?" Marui asks. "During Yukimura's match?"

Kirihara shakes his head.

"Well, the kid's got balls," Marui says dismissively.

"But what about his volley? You said something about that too."

"I saw him practicing late sometimes," Marui answers. "And he asked me for advice in the locker room a few times, or on the bus to tournaments."

"A few times? It was all the time," Jackal says. "Niou said that Urayama-kun used to come to their classroom during lunch and ask for his opinion on grip tape and stuff."

"The kid's a fan of mine. I can't blame him; I am a genius after all."

"I doubt that," Jackal says with a bored expression. "And besides that, we were there when Yukimura made him your vice-captain."

"You asked who the fuck he was," Marui laughs.

And just like that, like a wall breaking down in the back of his mind, Kirihara remembers the rest of a memory that felt like it was on the tip of his tongue for the last few weeks.

Yukimura has yet to mention the captaincy to Kirihara, who doesn't want to bring it up because he figures Yukimura will do it eventually.

"Maybe you're not captain and he doesn't know how to tell you," Niou says one day.

"I doubt that, Niou-kun," Yagyuu says. "Though it is possible. Yukimura-kun is hard to predict."

Kirihara ignores them because Niou is full of shit and Yagyuu can be just as bad as his partner sometimes. Except that was two weeks ago, and it really is coming down to the wire, and Kirihara is driving himself mad with worry. What if Yukimura doesn't make him captain? What if everyone just assumed he would be captain without consulting Yukimura? Or worse: what if Sanada was so mad that Kirihara called him a tennis-obsessed gorilla and convinced Yukimura to forgo giving the captaincy to him?

Marui tricked me into it! Kirihara thinks. I didn't even mean it. Okay, maybe I meant it a little… But Sanada-fukubuchou isn't that mean, is he?

Yukimura does do it, eventually, on the last practice of the year, two weeks before the seniors graduate and the school year ends. Kirihara challenges the three of them to individual matches in front of the entire club, and Marui says his loss is spectacular, and Jackal says that he'll get them next time. Kirihara doesn't know when next time will be. He doesn't cry until he's alone in the bathroom, after he makes up some bull excuse about needing to fill up his water bottle. The tears burn like his lungs did after Yukimura robbed him of his senses.

Yukimura has all of the regulars stay behind on the courts after practice. Two first years linger by the gate, talking. One is shorter than Marui and the other is taller than Sanada.

"I'd like to thank you all for a wonderful year," Yukimura says. "And I think you all know what I'm going to say, and many of you probably think it is long overdue, but I assure you that I have my reasons."

Yukimura looks at Kirihara. The rest of the regulars turn to stare at him, too.

"Rikkaidai must have a ruler," Yukimura says. His smile seems genuine. "You've grown so much, Akaya, and I'm sure you'll continue to grow next year as captain."

Kirihara's smile could out shine the sun—he's sure of it. Marui puts him in a headlock, and Jackal ruffles his hair, and even Niou grins at him. Kirihara laughs under their combined attention.

Yukimura waits until everyone has settled down to continue, "We'll celebrate properly after we're done here. But before that, I need to make another announcement." Yukimura turns to look at the two boys by the gate. "Urayama-kun, would you come here?"

The short boy comes over, fumbling over his feet, and Marui blows a bubble to conceal his snort of laughter. Niou quirks an eyebrow at the kid, who stands next to Yukimura and cowers in Sanada's shadow. Sanada stares a hole into the side of the poor kid's head.

"Akaya, this is your vice-captain," Yukimura says.

"Who the fuck is that?" Kirihara blurts.

"Akaya!" Sanada shouts.

"Sorry!" Kirihara says quickly, holding his hands up to shield himself from Sanada's wrath, not that they'll do much good in the end. He looks at Yukimura and tries again, "Who is that?"

Yukimura doesn't look amused by Kirihara's outburst, either. Firmly, with complete seriousness, Yukimura says, "Urayama Shiita. He's a very talented doubles player with potential. He's your vice-captain from today forward. We will make the announcement public at the end of the year sports banquet."

"Do I really need to work with him, Yukimura-buchou?"

"Takeda-sensei has already agreed to this arrangement. This is not up for debate."

Urayama smiles nervously at Kirihara, who is torn between fainting in relief that yes, he is captain, and screaming that his vice-captain looks like a girly wimp. How can he rule the all-powerful Rikkaidai kingdom without someone like Sanada by his side?

"Buchou…" Kirihara feel uneasy.

"You're the captain now," Sanada says. "That's your title."

"You'll be a fine captain, Akaya," Yukimura says. "I have no doubt that you'll do a good job."

The memory fades as quickly as it comes. And that phrase, Yukimura had used it. Kirihara had remembered it shortly after becoming captain but he couldn't remember where he had heard it. Now he has any answer, but he still has no idea what that phrase means.

Rikkaidai must have a ruler.

Marui steals more of Jackal's food. Kirihara begins to eat again, though with less vigor than before, and the conversation fades out.

"Wanna go to the arcade after this?" Jackal asks eventually. "Or do you need help on homework? You're taking academic level English, right? You finally placed out of the remedial classes?"

Kirihara wants to smile because it's as close to praise as he's gotten since Yukimura told him he'd be a fine captain, that he'd do a good job. Looking back, Kirihara isn't sure if that was praise or an order.

"I did," Kirihara says. "I was above the average, too."

"Good job," Jackal says.

"But help would be nice…"

Marui grins. "My genius is at your service."

For now, the fact that only Marui has texted him doesn't matter, nor does it matter that they left him behind and made him take on a role they did not prepare him for. It's always been easy to forgive them.