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~The Splits
Chapter Four
Top 16
Riku observed the people standing in front of the group of students that were trying out. The man standing a step in front of the others was a kind looking old man with a smile on his lips and dimples at the corners of his closed eyes who had just introduced himself as "Banda Mikiya, call me Banji." Behind him were two other adults and nine teenage boys who he assumed were the previous regulars and the team manager.
"Welcome to Yamabuki tennis team tryouts." Riku pinched his sister, snapping her out of whatever she was thinking about.
"Pay attention." He hissed under his breath. "I won't repeat any of this to you if you don't." Giving her brother an annoyed look and rubbing her stinging arm, Alice tuned toward the coach that was giving a speech explaining how the tennis teams worked and how the tryouts would proceed.
"So I assume you all are aiming to represent our school as a member of the regular's team, but that isn't easy to do," the head regular's coach began. "Here at Yamabuki we have a rigorous system for selecting members of the regulars. To start with we have a boy's and girl's tennis team. I'll let the coach for the girl's team, Watanabe-sensei, explain that part."
A young, lean woman in green sweats stepped up next to the coach, thanking him for the introduction and turning toward the crowd of middle school students. "Both the boy's tennis team and the girl's tennis team are represented by the eight strongest players in their respective team at the smaller tournaments around Tokyo. These tournaments aren't as known or as looked forward to as the tournaments played by the regulars who consist of the best boys and girls from the tennis team. However, they are a good way to gain experience so you can possibly challenge for a regular position later." Watanabe cast a stern look at the players, clutching the clipboard she was carrying closer to her stomach.
"As you all know, anyone that wants to join the tennis club can, but to represent the school as either a regular or the top eight of your gender, you'll need to win the majority of your matches over the next few days of tryouts. Try your best and don't leave any regrets on the court. Thank you." The girl's coach stepped back with a nod and the head coach once again stepped up.
"If you manage to secure a place on either the boy's or girl's representative teams then you have a chance to compete for a place on the regular team." Alice shifted on her feet and clutched the strap of her bag close, paying more attention to the head coach then she had previously.
"If you make it to the regulars someone from the normal tennis club can challenge for the spot you leave behind on the representative team.
"At any time members of the boy's and girl's representative teams may challenge the regulars for a spot, and in turn anyone who wishes to challenge for a spot on one of the representative teams can also do so at any time. There are two stipulations; however, the first is that you cannot challenge in the middle of a tournament, and the second is that you must first have your challenge match cleared by me or by Watanabe- sensei or Takahashi-sensei." He nodded to the boy's coach, a man that looked to be in his late thirties with hard blue eyes and steel gray hair. "We will also be the ones picking your opponent if we agree to your challenge."
"Now, unless there are any questions we would like to begin the tryouts." Riku and Alice looked around along with everyone else, but no questions were posed. "Alright then, will all the boys please report to courts A, B, C, and D while the girls report to courts E-H. These will also be the courts that you will practice on after tryouts, so try and remember where you are heading." There was a moment of silence before some of the older students began walking off to the courts. Adjusting his tennis bag on his shoulder, Riku glanced over at Alice.
"Make sure you win." Rolling her eyes, Alice bumped against Riku as she walked past him.
"I should be saying that to you. Our goal is to play doubles on the regular team. Losing before we get there isn't an option."
"It's not really an option when we get there either, is it?" Riku mumbled under his breath as he watched Alice walk off- in the wrong direction. "Hey Alice, it's the other way to the girl's courts." Not even sparing her brother a look, Alice changed direction and began following the other girls. Sighing, Riku shook his head before feeling an arm around his shoulder, startling him.
"Don't look so down. It's only the first day, and you were talking to a cute girl. Lucky." An orange haired boy wearing the regulars' uniform said, leading Riku off towards the boy's courts. "The name's Sengoku Kiyosumi, third year, by the way. Do you think you could hook me up with that cutie later? You seem to be on good terms. Unless she's you're girlfriend, of course. Then I guess I'd just be unlucky 'cause she's already taken."
"Ikuma Riku, also a third year," Riku supplied, ignoring the fact that Sengoku hadn't actually asked for his name. "And I'm not hooking you up with Alice."
"Ah, so she's your girl after all. Man, I'm just unlucky today," Sengoku sighed with a comic shake of his head. Feeling Riku's shoulders shaking under his arm Sengoku turned at the sound of him laughing. "What's so funny? I just lost the chance to go out with a cutie 'cause you're dating her."
"Hardly," Riku snorted, swallowing the rest of his laughter. "Alice isn't my girlfriend, Sengoku-san. I'm not really interested in dating right now."
"Ah, so she's free after all," Sengoku grinned. "If you're not going out with her you have to hook me up man. Come on, as a favor between us men."
"No way Sengoku-san," Riku laughed, lightly shoving the boy off him. "I am not hooking you up with my sister." He laughed as he heard Sengoku stumble, and turned to give him a cheeky grin. "You want Alice to pay attention to you; you're going to have to go up to her yourself." Leaving the gawking regular behind Riku turned and continued after the other boys.
They all eventually came to a stop by the A-D court's entrance, waiting for Takahashi-sempai to make his way through the crowd to the gate.
"All right you all." Takahashi's voice boomed out over the boys. "I want Kimura and Kudo on court A, Arai and Maruyama on court B, Yamamoto and Nakamura on court C, and Suzuki and Kobayashi on court D. Go up to the regulars that are there as judges and introduce yourselves. They will be keeping track of who wins and who loses. The rest of you can pick a match to watch. The regulars judging also have megaphones with them and will call out the next pair playing on their courts so make sure you listen for your name." The man then opened the gate and let the boys through.
Not sure where to go, Riku found himself watching the match on court C. It wasn't very interesting to watch; neither of the boys had much skill to speak of. They'd never make it as more than normal members of the club, Riku thought as he looked on in boredom. As one of the other matches finished up the regular in charge called out the names for the next match. "Ikuma and Abe report to court A please." Hearing his name, Riku picked up his tennis bag which he'd set down earlier and started towards court A. After watching a boring match like the one on court C he really hoped that his opponent would give him a little excitement.
*%%*
"Game, set, match to Ikuma: 6-2." The regular in charge called out as the two shook hands over the net. "Next pair…" Walking over to the bench Alice let a satisfied smile stretch over her lips. The game hadn't been too hard, but it had taken her a couple games, two, in fact, to get used to the fact that there was no one she could rely on during the match but herself. She really wasn't a singles player. Luckily, though, the person she was playing was obviously a fairly inexperienced player and it wasn't much of a problem to get over her slump. She was confident that it would be easier for her during her next game to play singles.
She quickly put her racket away and sipped at her water, looking around at the organized chaos swarming the courts. Just watching she could pick out the more confident, experienced players. They were the ones that kept their rackets away and calmly observed matches, waiting to be called. Normally they wouldn't stick out so much, but Alice observed a lot of the girls picking at their racket strings and bouncing around.
Really she was amused by it all, sure if you didn't make it to the top eight of the girls, you couldn't be a famed regular, but you still automatically made it on the tennis team for trying out and there you would have a chance to up your skills. After that it was all a matter of challenging for a spot. Nothing to be nervous about, in her opinion.
"Ikuma and Yamada on court F." Alice blinked toward the regular holding the megaphone, surprised that she would be called so quickly. Idly she wondered what would happen if a player were still playing and got called again, but she quickly threw that thought away. Now really wasn't the time to be indulgent in her thoughts.
She pulled out her racket and quickly walked toward court F, eyeing her opponent. The girl she would be playing was tall and had long auburn hair and it didn't look like she was going to put it up, which Alice immediately pegged as a weakness. It'd be easy to turn the player around enough that her hair would obstruct her vision, and it was pretty windy, which would only work in her favor. The girl also dragged her heals when she walked, a hard habit to have in tennis. She would be slow.
Alice allowed the confidence in her to grow, but not overly much. Wouldn't do to underestimate her opponent, after all.
*%%*
Leaning back against the tree he was standing under, Riku took another drink from his water bottle as he watched the match's progress. He'd already played twice and had won both times without any trouble taking them 6-1 and 6-0, respectively. Putting away his water, Riku pulled a coin out of his pocket and began to roll it back and forth with his fingers. The match closest to him was actually pretty interesting. The two playing had both been on the boy's representative team the previous year, which Riku had learned from some of the other boys who were watching the match while making comments about it and the players.
The boys playing had a good form, but he could tell why they stayed as team representatives instead of winning a spot on the regular team. The boy on the left side of the court was too slow and lost a lot of balls that way. The boy on the right, on the other hand, had very little ball control and tried to used too much power for how much he had, putting many balls out. Good, but Riku thought he could take both of them at least somewhat easily.
Riku took out his cell phone and glanced at the time. It was already 2:30 and he figured that he would have one more match before the day was out; the coach had explained that tryouts would end at three that day with the remaining games taking place the next day. He put his phone away and turned to look at the match again, only to find it over, the boys shaking hands and the judge declaring the boy on the left, Suzuki, the winner. It was only a moment after the two left the courts when Riku heard his name and another called by the regular. Time to play.
Having lost the racket spin, Riku found himself standing behind the baseline waiting to receive the other boy's serve. Watching as the boy threw the ball up into the air, Riku leaned forward onto his toes. The serve came deep, but not too hard. Meeting it with his racket, Riku sent the ball sailing back over the net, making the boy run for it. Shuffling to the center, Riku took the return with a forehand adding extra topspin to it so that the ball didn't bounce as high after it hit the court. His opponent caught the ball with the top part of his racket, and Riku watched idly as it smacked into the net. Decent, but his opponent's shots lacked confidence.
Returning to the baseline, Riku took the next serve with his backhand, sending it to the forecourt. Running up the boy hit the ball with a crosscourt forehand. Smirking with the belief that Riku wouldn't be able to reach it, the boy was left standing in shock as the ball whizzed past him and slammed into the backcourt before hitting into the fence.
"You'll have to do better than that if you want to get a point off me." Riku said as he straightened up from his off balance position. The other boy just stared before opening his mouth to blurt out a question.
"What the heck is wrong with you? Your form is so messed up. How do you even manage to hit the ball in like that?"
"Just because there's such a thing as a textbook shot doesn't mean it's the only way to do it. The way I hit is what works for me. If you have a problem with it, show me through your tennis, not your mouth." Riku said nonchalantly as he sauntered back to his receiving position. "Are you going to go back and serve, or not?" he asked the boy who still hadn't moved from when the point had ended. Glaring at Riku, he stormed back to the baseline and ended up serving a double fault -he was so frustrated. Taking the next point by rushing the net and hitting a solid volley, Riku claimed the first game.
Straightening up, Riku took the offered balls from the boy as they switched sides. Smirking to himself, Riku placed two of the balls in his pocket before bouncing the last one against the court. Glancing over the net to his opponent, Riku noted his position and tossed the ball high up into the air. "If you thought my stroke form was bad you're just going to love this," he said as he brought his racket down on the ball. Twisting his wrist to the left, Riku swung his racket across his body and down the left side of the ball, ending near his feet. The ball sailed over the net and struck deep into the service box. Catching the ball with a forehand, the boy's eyes widened as it flew off his racket in a weak shot that Riku cleared away with a sharp backhand volley.
"You- Tha- What?" The boy stuttered, looking from the ball to his racket to Riku. Grinning, Riku pulled one of the other balls out of his pocket.
"Stunned? I call it the Reverse Serve. Let's see if you can figure out why before the match is over." Throwing the ball up into the air, Riku repeated the motion from his previous serve, sending the ball near the center line. The second he finished his serve motion Riku was running up to aggressively attack the net. Taking the weak shot the boy put up Riku smashed it at the boy's feet, chuckling as the boy stumbled and barely avoided falling over. This match was already his.
Fifteen minutes later the match was over without Riku losing even a single point. Giving a friendly smile to his opponent as they met at the net to shake hands, Riku could tell by the way he was acting that this boy didn't like him at all. He wouldn't meet Riku's eyes, and the handshake was so fast Riku wasn't sure if the boy's hand really touched his. Not caring, Riku shrugged his shoulders before going to grab his stuff from the bench. If people didn't like him it was their problem, not his. If the boy wasn't so bad at tennis maybe it would be different, but so far Riku was not impressed by Japanese tennis in the slightest.
"The competition in Italy was much better than this," he said to himself, but his opponent overhead him.
"If that's the case then why don't you go back to your precious Italy." He sneered, still feeling sore from not being able to get even a single point of Riku. What he didn't expect was Riku's ice cold answer.
"If I'd had a choice I never would have left in the first place. I've never liked Japan. In fact, I hate it here." Roughly shouldering his bag, Riku turned and left the court, ignoring the stares from the boy and the regular up in the umpire seat, who just so happened to be Sengoku. Walking around, Riku found Takahashi-sensei and asked if he'd be playing in another match or if he was done for the day. Hearing that he was done and to make sure and be there the same time tomorrow, he wandered off towards the girl's courts to find Alice. Riku found her playing on the farthest court. She was up 5-0. Smirking, Riku leaned against the fence to watch the rest of the match.
Serving the ball deep into the corner, Alice moved to the center of the baseline. Seeing the girl use a forehand with a light topspin on it, Alice ran to her left and sent a two-handed backhand down the line. Chasing after it her opponent nicked the ball with the frame of her racket, sending the ball straight up into the air before it dropped back down on her side of the court. "Fifteen-love," Alice called before serving again.
This time she sent the ball near the midline. The girl returned it with a deep backhand, and the two rallied for several balls using deep baseline shots. Deciding to change things up Alice hit a shallow forecourt shot to draw the other girl up off the baseline. Taking the girl's forehand volley Alice hit a crosscourt lob that was just high enough that the girl couldn't reach it. She chased after the ball, but was too slow as it took its second bounce. For the next point Alice used her control to send the poor girl running back and forth to chase down the ball, which didn't last long because the girl was tired and a slow runner to begin with.
"Forty-love." Alice said as she bounced the ball up and down. "I think it's about time to end this, don't you?" Tossing up the ball, Alice went all out on a flat serve that zipped low over the net. The girl went to swing at the ball, but connected wrong, sending the ball high up into the air. Not moving, Alice waited for the ball to bounce out of bounds behind her before walking up to the net to shake hands.
"Nice finish." Riku said as he walked over to the court gates to meet up with Alice who had just finished gathering up her things.
"I was bored. I haven't felt challenged at all today. I hate it." She complained as the two started walking home. "I played three matches today and easily won them all. 6-2, 6-1, and 6-0."
"Same here. It was 6-1, 6-0, 6-0 for me, and singles isn't even our forte."
"You're speaking Italian again Riku."
"I don't care. Italian is better than Japanese, just like Italy is better than Japan." Riku said sorely. Seeing that Riku wasn't in the best of moods, Alice dropped it. She agreed with him anyways. The rest of the walk home was pretty much silent.
*%%*
"Hey kids. How'd it go?" Uncle was waiting for them on the front step of the house, looking expectant.
"Too easy." Was all Riku muttered as he and Alice walked passed, still talking in Italian. At this point the twins were both in a bad mood and homesick.
"Japan sucks tennis wise." Alice offered in the same language. "So far, at least." The twins attempted a smile at their uncle-figure before continuing into the house. Uncle stared after them, worried. He had hoped that these tryouts would get them to like Japan just a bit more, but it seemed to do the opposite. Hopefully over the next few days of tryouts they would meet some better players that would really challenge them, or else he worried that this slump they were in would become the norm.
Uncle headed inside after the kids, closing the door behind him. He started for the backdoor, intent on working in the gardens a bit, when he heard Riku's raised voice demanding Alice leave his room.
A rush of anger raced through Uncle's blood, mixing in with the worry and frustration already there. He immediately turned on his heel and walked up the stairs, hearing more of Riku's frustrated shouts and Alice's smooth taunting. Reaching the top of the stairs Uncle took quick steps to the room, entering it and finding the two twins inches away from the other's nose. Two large steps forward and he was within reach.
"Ouch!" Uncle watched, only somewhat satisfied, as Riku and Alice rubbed their foreheads, twin grimaces of pain on their faces.
"Sit down and shut up," he ordered the two, pointing to the bed. When they hesitated he snapped his fingers in their faces. "Do I need to knock your heads together again? Sit down." There was no hesitation this time. Uncle might not be their parents or related to them by blood, but the twins had long ago learned that that didn't mean Uncle couldn't discipline them and put them in their place.
Uncle took a step back and crossed his arms, examining the two. "Alright you two, it's time we chatted." The twins knew better than trying to talk at this point and nodded. "We'll start with Alice." He turned to the fidgeting girl, intent on getting his point across.
"Why are you in your brother's room?" Alice started, nervously glancing at Riku. "Don't look at him," Uncle demanded, "you're a smart girl, you should know the answer without help." Alice nodded and twisted her fingers together, staring just passed Uncle's shoulder.
"I'm lonely, I don't-"
"The real reason Alice Suzume. The one that doesn't involve self-pity." Alice gulped, closing her eyes and clamping her hands together, ignoring her protesting knuckles and the bite of her nails in her skin. "Nothing? I'll tell you then." Uncle crouched down in front of Alice, forcing her to feel his presence if she wouldn't look at him.
"You are scared. You've been treating Riku like your safety blanket, the one you used to sleep with at night. You follow him around like you'll die without his presence." Alice's hands slowly tightened with each word spoken, drawing some blood from underneath her nails and turning her knuckles white. "You haven't gone on your usual run since you've arrived in Japan, you haven't stalked the tennis courts looking for someone new to play, you haven't forced everyone to play chess with you, and you haven't holed yourself up in your room for long hours doing whatever it is that you do in there. You go to tennis practice with Riku, you go on runs with Riku, you stay tucked up in Riku's room when you're home. You know what I'm getting at yet?" Forcing herself to open her eyes, Alice looked at her Uncle and nodded, ignoring the tears that had escaped.
"You need to stop this, Alice." Uncle's voice had softened and he reached forward to grab her hands, gently untangling them and holding them in his. "I know you're scared, I know you're worried and want something familiar nearby, but this isn't you." He slowly stroked the back of her hand. "You aren't acting like the quirky genius that we all know and love, and we're all worried. So take a deep breath and take that cliché leap of faith. Go on your run and if you get lost, just call one of us, you know we're more than willing to help. Just get away from your brother for a bit and remember to be yourself." Alice managed a shaky smile and leaned forward to hug Uncle, pressing her face into the collar of his shirt.
"Only if you buy a new map," she murmured, "I ripped the other one." Holding back a chuckle, Uncle agreed to get Alice a new map as he gently squeezed her. After a minute Uncle let go of Alice and turned to face Riku who was now sitting in the chair at his desk breathing in and out deeply with his eyes closed. He had an idea what Uncle was going to say to him, though he didn't really want to hear it right now.
"Antonio." Uncle said steadily. He could tell how frustrated Riku was, and wanted to avoid setting him off if possible, but that didn't mean he wouldn't say what was on his mind. "You're just as guilty as Alice when it comes to acting strangely since everyone moved here. Do you understand?" Opening his eyes, Riku met Uncle's gaze and nodded evenly as his left hand began to ball slowly into a fist. He really wasn't in the mood for this. "Stop that." Uncle said sternly as he walked forward and knelt, catching Riku's hand, and forcing him to open his fingers back up.
"Let go." Riku nearly growled as he ripped his hand from Uncle's grip. Frowning, Uncle drew himself up to his full height and glared down at Riku who sulkily avoided his gaze by staring at his desk.
"Antonio Riku. Stop glaring at your desk and look at me like a man." The command in Uncle's voice was unmistakable. Slowly, Riku tore his gaze from the swirling patterns in the wood of his desk to meet Uncle's hard stare. "This is what I was talking about Antonio. You never used to sulk around like this. Since you got here, I haven't heard Alice scream once from a prank you've pulled, and I might have heard you laugh twice. All you ever do is sit up here in your room if you're not off playing tennis-" Riku had had it. Standing up abruptly, he swiftly walked passes Uncle towards the door of his room.
"Antonio!" Uncle said, whirling to face the boy as he stopped in the doorframe.
Grabbing the doorframe tightly in frustration, Riku didn't turn around as he spoke through gritted teeth. "Uncle. I need some time to think things through without Alice hanging off of me."
"Don't blame this on your sister Antonio." Uncle began sternly as he started to stride towards Riku.
"I'm not!" Riku shouted, making Uncle stop in his tracks. "Don't you get it?" Whirling, Riku glared at Uncle. "Even you said it- ever since we got here Alice has been stuck to me like a magnet." Here Riku pointed an accusing finger at his sister without ever taking his eyes off of Uncle. "I haven't had any alone time with my own thoughts to even begin to figure out what to do, say, or feel since I set foot on Japanese soil. All because of her! So yeah, I'm going to be acting weird, and no, I'm not going to stick around for you to lecture me about it. Keep lecturing her or something," he waved toward where Alice was still sitting, "she seems to be receptive enough."
"Antonio-" Uncle started as Riku turned and put a foot out the door. He hadn't realized Riku was frustrated enough to yell at him and even more astonishingly, walk out on him- something that he'd normally never even dare and try to do.
"I'm leaving. You can punish me later." Riku said coolly, cutting Uncle off before swiftly walking down the hall and practically running down the stairs. He only stopped at the front door long enough to slip his shoes back on and grab his tennis bag which he'd dropped just inside the door.
"Antonio?" Came his mother's voice as she came to see why he was leaving after just getting home. She'd heard the shouting upstairs and wondered if there was anything she could do.
"Sorry Mom, I'll be back later." Opening the front door, Riku could hear footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Antonio, wait!" Uncle called, but Riku nearly slammed the front door behind him blocking the rest of Uncle's words from his ears as he took off running, not caring where he went. He just needed to get away.
*%%*
When he finally stopped to catch his breath, Riku found himself at the bottom of a set of stairs. Having nothing better to do, he climbed up them only to find they opened up onto a set of street courts. Tennis again huh? Well, Riku had to admit his matches earlier in the day hadn't been very challenging. Maybe there was someone around here he could play a match against to relieve some stress and help clear his thoughts up a bit more. It wouldn't hurt to look around.
As he wandered the courts, Riku stopped to watch a few of the matches that were being played. Really, the players weren't half bad. While watching a doubles match being played on the nearest court, Riku realized that his throat was feeling a bit dry. How far had he run again? Looking around, he spotted a vending machine in the middle of the courts and started making his way towards it. Another boy who looked familiar reached the vending machine a little before Riku. Could it be?
"Fuji Yuuta?" Riku asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Huh?" The boy said, somewhat irritated as he turned around, a scowl on his face. Seeing Riku, a look of confusion flashed across his face followed by the dawning of recognition. "Hey, aren't you that guy from the other day?"
"Ikuma Riku." Riku replied with a nod. "Did I catch you at a bad time?" Yuuta's bad reaction hadn't escaped him.
"Wha? …ah, no." Yuuta said quickly as he realized what Riku was talking about. "Sorry, I just don't like being called by my last name. That's all."
"Really? My bad, so Yuuta-san then? You are a third year right?" Giving Riku a weird look, Yuuta frowned slightly. Did his last name not affect this kid? Everyone in the area knew the name Fuji.
"Actually Ikuma-san, I'm a second year." Yuuta replied. "It's my brother that's a third year. I think you mixed us up." Distaste colored his voice at this statement. He was always being compared to his brother, even by people he didn't know. It was so irritating.
"Uh, sorry to disappoint you, but I've never met your brother, so I don't see how I could mistake you for him." Drawing out his wallet from his tennis bag, Riku pulled out a couple of coins and got a water from the vending machine. He hadn't forgotten that he was thirsty. "Is your brother really well known or something?" He asked as he twisted he cap off the water.
"You mean you really don't know who my aniki is?" Yuuta asked, the shock evident on his face. How could this guy not know his brother?
"Why would I?" Taking a sip, Riku cast a glance at Yuuta. "After all, I just moved here from Italy about two weeks ago, so I really don't know anybody."
"What, Italy? You serious?"
"Yeah. What about it?" Shrugging his shoulders, Riku took another drink, and watched as the guy serving on the nearest court aced his opponent. Not bad.
"The way you speak doesn't have an accent and you speak really fluently for having just moved here." Yuuta pointed out as he popped open his own drink that he'd gotten before Riku had come up behind him.
"Ah, that. Yeah, I've been speaking Japanese since I was a little kid, so I have no problems with any of that stuff, but enough about that, are you here with anyone?" Riku asked, turning his attention back to Yuuta.
"Y-you mean like on a d-date?" Yuuta's entire face was turning a light shade of red.
"What? No." Riku said giving Yuuta a weird look. "Why the heck would I want to know that? I meant, are you here playing tennis with anyone or are you free to play a match?"
"Oh…" The red on Yuuta's face slowly began disappearing except for on his cheeks which burned with embarrassment. "No, I'm here by myself."
"Great!" Capping his drink, Riku adjusted his tennis bag so it wasn't sitting funny on his shoulder. "Then unless you have to be somewhere to be, let's play a set. I'd love to take your rising shot head on." A gleam flashed in Riku's eyes as he glanced at Yuuta over his shoulder before starting towards one of the open courts.
"Heh, you're gonna regret saying that." Yuuta retorted with a competitive edge in his voice, all feelings of embarrassment washed away at the challenge in Riku's voice. Jogging to catch up to Riku, the two smirked at each other. This was gonna be fun.
*%%*
Alice stared listlessly at her brother's door from his bed. She had known that Riku didn't appreciate her around him all the time, but for him to- she looked down at her hands, noticing that they were once again twisted and clenched together, absently noticing that Uncle was racing out the door and down the stairs, following Riku toward the front door.
Slowly, almost achingly slowly, Alice stood up and absently smoothed out the wrinkles on Riku's bed from where they had been sitting. Once that was done she took her time walking out of his room, making sure to close the door behind her. She took a second to lean against it, feeling the grainy texture of the wood under the gloss of the paint with the tips of her fingers, before she began walking toward her room, running her hand along the wall as she went. She felt every dip and rise of the paint, so similar yet so different from her home in Italy. Her toes and heels dragged across the hard-wood floor beneath her feet, rubbing across the seams between the planks and sliding across the glossy finish on the wood.
Finally reaching her room, the one she had worked hard to win and the one she spent almost no time in when not sleeping, she opened the door and slipped in. Alice looked around, taking in the purple walls, the fluffy white carpet, the bed tucked away in one corner, and the huge widow with the amazing view –the reason she had wanted the room in the first place.
"Hi room," she murmured aloud, walking toward the center of the room and sitting down. She liked sitting there on the carpet; it was her favorite way to view her room. Sitting there and staring up at everything in her room made it all look so big, like she was surrounded by things that wouldn't quite fit her, and oddly, that was comforting. She liked how surreal everything felt, how unreal, like she was special to be allowed in.
Rubbing her fingers in small circles in the carpet beside her, she looked across the room and into her closet. On the floor, directly across from her were her running shoes. Her uncle's concerns reached her ears once more, telling her that she hadn't been running since she had gotten here. Getting onto her hands and knees she crawled across the room and, once she had reached the closet, settled onto her knees, sitting on the back of her feet.
Alice grabbed the shoes and placed them on her lap, caressing the dangling strings.
"You could go, you know." She started and quickly turned toward the door, finding Uncle there, leaning against her doorframe.
"Go?" she asked.
"Running." Uncle gestured to the shoes on her lap. Alice looked down at them again, running her finger along the lip of the shoe.
"I'll get lost," she told him. "I don't want to get lost." She heard her uncle walk towards her and felt him place one of his hands on her shoulder a second later.
"That's why I have this." A neatly folded piece of glossy paper appeared in her vision. Hesitantly grabbing it, Alice found herself holding a new map of the area. Setting her shoes on the floor she turned to the side and unfolded the mag, laying it out in front of her.
Uncle crouched next to her and pointed to a place circled by a highlighter on the map. "This is the house," he told her. "These," he ran his finger along some of the highlighted routes, "are my favorite paths to take running so far." Alice followed his finger. Some of them lead to parks and others to what looked like shopping districts and temples.
"These ones," he pointed at a couple of trails highlighted in a different color than the running trails, "are paths leading to various tennis courts that I've looked up." Nodding her understanding, Alice sat staring at the map. She took in the different colored paths and noted some of the sights that she could see. Closing her eyes she blindly jabbed her finger at the map, trying to stick close to where a bunch of the paths bisected.
Looking down, she moved her finger to the closest path and turned and smiled at Uncle. "I'll go here." Uncle slowly nodded, running his eyes across the trail she had chosen.
"It's going to be a long run," he warned. Alice shrugged and studied the map, trying to memorize the streets she would have to turn at and landmarks she would see along the way.
"I'll be fine with the distance." Uncle nodded his agreement. Alice, while significantly slower than Riku, had a lot more stamina then her brother. She couldn't beat him in a short sprint, but would easily take him in a long distance run.
"Then go ahead and get dressed, and make sure you pick something with pockets so you can bring your phone." Nodding her agreement, Alice rose and began digging through her closet, riffling through her exercise drawer in search of a pair of shorts with pockets in them.
Uncle smiled fondly at the girl muttering to herself and rose from his crouch. At least he had gotten through to one of the twins.
*%%*
Plopping down on the court side bench next to Yuuta, Riku couldn't suppress the large grin covering his face. He hadn't had that much fun in weeks. "Thanks Yuuta-kun. I haven't played a match that great in a long time. I really needed that."
"Same here." An identical grin to Riku's was finding its way onto Yuuta's face. "Although, I have to admit your form really threw me off at first. How does the ball even go back over when you hit it like that?" Leaning back, Yuuta looked over at Riku curiously.
"Ha, I dunno really. All I know is that it's what works for me, and man, your rising shot is better than I thought. It took me a couple games to get the timing down to return it just right." Bending over, Riku pulled his bag out from underneath the bench to put his racket away. After watching him for a moment, Yuuta followed suit. Once their rackets were put away, the two got up. Pulling out his cellphone, Riku checked the time and noticed that he had several texts and a voice mail. Looking, he saw they were all from his family and Uncle-duh, it's not like anyone else had his number, though none were from Alice…wait a minute.
"Hey Yuuta-kun, do you have a cellphone?"
"Yeah, right here." Riku watched a Yuuta pulled one out of his pocket and showed it to him.
"Do ya wanna trade numbers? That way we could get together and play each other again or just hang out and do something."
"Sure, that sounds good to me." Yuuta replied as the two switched phones and entered their data before passing the phones back. Getting his phone back, Riku looked at the newly entered info and smirked. As cheesy as it sounded, it looked like he'd just made his first friend in Japan. While he was thinking this, his phone buzzed yet again as another text message came through. This time it was from his mom. Sighing deeply, Riku closed his phone without opening the text. He could pretty much guess what was in it. "What's wrong? Shouldn't you at least read it before shutting your phone?" Yuuta asked as he slipped his own phone back into his pocket.
"Nah, I can already guess what it's about. I left my house earlier in a pretty bad mood, so all the texts I'm getting are probably to check up on me and are asking me to come home and talk things out or something like that." Riku replied as he put his phone in his pocket. "Honestly, I left the house so I could clear my head and figure things out without everyone breathing down my neck." Running a hand through his hair absently mindedly, Riku glanced over at Yuuta who was giving him a strange look.
"What? Haven't you ever needed time to think things out by yourself before?" Riku didn't think it was that novel of an idea so that it merited him getting a funny look for mentioning it.
"Wow, you really are from Italy. I can't understand a word you're saying." Yuuta said in slight amazement. At his words Riku did a double take. Had he really switched to Italian without noticing again? …yep, probably since Yuuta said so. It really was too bad that he couldn't tell when he switched languages…
"Sorry Yuuta-kun. I slip into Italian without realizing it sometimes." Apologizing, Riku rubbed the back of his head awkwardly and made a conscious effort to speak in Japanese.
"Nah, it's fine. As long as you weren't trying to say something that I needed to know, that is."
"Nope. Nothing vital, at least. Anyways, I should probably get heading back home. I'd say see ya at school, but I don't think we go to the same one, so I'll just see ya around then." Raising a hand, Riku turned and started to walk off.
"Ikuma-san, wait!" Turning halfway back, Riku raised his eyebrow at Yuuta.
"Yeah?"
"Before you go, can I ask you something?" Yuuta seemed to hesitate, unsure of his words. Nodding with a puzzled look on his face, Riku waited for the question. "Um…I was wondering…since your name is…are you …I mean…" Trailing off, an embarrassed blush crossed Yuuta's cheeks. Realizing what he was hinting at, Riku sighed lightly and nodded.
"Yeah, I'm the grandson of the owner of Ikuma Sporting Goods. Just don't go spreading it around." A look of distaste flashed across Riku's face. That was another reason he wasn't exactly fond of Japan-everyone knew the name Ikuma and what it meant, whereas in Italy the name wasn't as well known so he could live his life without the expectations of others pressing down on him. Shaking his head lightly, Riku pulled his attention away from his thoughts and back to Yuuta who was giving him a confused look. Messing with his hair, Riku breathed out deeply before continuing.
"Look, I'm not exactly fond of being recognized for the name Ikuma. In fact, next time we meet, call me by my first name. I know that's not really the custom here in Japan, but since I grew up in Italy it's what I'm used to anyway. I know you probably don't understand, but-"
"No. I understand more than you think." Yuuta said, cutting Riku off. So he wasn't the only one who was haunted by a name; although, the name Ikuma was certainly a much larger name to be in the shadow of than Fuji Shusuke, but still, to Yuuta, his brother's shadow was already too big.
Seeing that Yuuta wasn't going to push the issue, Riku threw him a grateful smile. "We may have more in common than either of us thought, but honestly, I hate all the mushy-feely stuff, so let's call it good here before disaster strikes and we turn into girls." Holding up a fist, Riku grinned at Yuuta. "Catch ya later then?" Staring at Riku's fist for a moment, Yuuta smirked as he knocked his fist against Riku's.
"Count on it."
*%%*
Feeling her tennis bag bumping against her back and hearing the sound of her shoes slapping against the cement brought a rush of memories back to Alice, memories of times when she would run by herself in Italy, randomly taking turns and getting lost on purpose. She used to think of it as a grand adventure, jogging down streets that she had never seen before, meeting people that she wouldn't meet again. And once she was tired she would either try and find her way back home on her own or call Riku and demand that he gave her instructions on how to get back.
Other times she would run miles just to get to a faraway tennis court, always excited about playing new people. She had come across some of the craziest players with different styles; some she could easily beat, others that would give her a challenge, and the few that would trounce her completely.
Recognizing the next street as one she needed to turn at, she dodged the people waiting to cross and continued on, enjoying the feel of the wind whipping her hair back and the faint burn of her legs. Riku didn't know about her jaunts to tennis courts, didn't know about her playing regularly without him, and once the thought had caused her to feel guilty. She didn't like keeping things from her brother, and she honestly didn't know why she never told him, but now…Alice smiled and picked up her speed a bit, recognizing a restaurant to her side that she remembered was close to her destination, a tennis court called Hyotei Garden.
According to her uncle, who had looked it up, Hyotei Garden was a tennis court that some family had built and donated to Hyotei Gakuen, a middle school in the area, a decade or so ago. The school, in turn, made it a public court when the same family, years later, built a new privet court for the school when the family's heir started there.
It was also a court where the tennis players attending Hyotei came during some practices to play against the general public, also according to the website her uncle had found.
Once she had heard that she might be able to play against some tennis players that were the same age as her, Alice was immediately excited. Tryouts at Yamabuki so far had been rather disappointing, and she was hoping that this tennis excursion would end in a challenge, whether she played someone from Hyotei or not.
Running a few more minutes, Alice turned a corner and saw her goal. To her left was Hyotei Gakuen and to her right was a park. Running until she reached a path leading into the park, Alice started slowing down, beginning her cool down. Walking down the path, holding her arms above her head, she heard the courts before she spotted them tucked behind some trees. There were plenty of people meandering about, and most of the courts looked to be taken by players.
Turning onto the grass, Alice dropped her arms and swung them at her side. The tennis courts were in excellent condition for being at least a decade old. There were three fenced off areas, with each one holding three courts. Grinning in excitement, Alice began walking around, trying to find a good challenge to play against.
Starting for the closest courts, Alice observed a group of players that had her interest. There were a few off to the side of the courts, and three playing. And they were all wearing a blue and white tennis uniform. With an excited smile stretching her lips, Alice started for this group, but about half way there her foot caught on something and she tripped.
Catching her fall with her hands, Alice grunted, grimacing in slight pain. Turning to find what tripped her, she stared at what she found. There was a sleeping girl. She had a dull orange hair color and was wearing the uniform she had seen the others wearing, so Alice assumed that she was a part of that team. What was most noticeable, though, was the fact that she was still sleeping and she had tripped over the kid.
Turning Alice knelt at her side, glaring down at her relaxed face. "Wake up," she demanded loudly. Raising an eyebrow when she didn't receive even a twitch, she poked the kid's forehead. "Wake up," She demanded again -nothing.
Huffing, she poked the girl's cheek. "Wake up kid!" Now more amused than angry, Alice began poking her repeatedly. First her other cheek, then the side of her neck. When she got no results from that, Alice started to poke the girl's sides, trying to find a ticklish spot that would wake her up, but the most she got was a tired wave of the girl's hand and a yawn. The kid was still asleep.
"Ore-sama demands to know what you are doing to Ore-sama's player." Jumping slightly, Alice turned and smiled sheepishly at the purple/grey haired boy in front of her. He was wearing the blue and white team uniform, and was surrounded by boys that were wearing the same thing.
"Em," Alice twisted her hands together and glanced at the sleeping girl, "I'm trying to wake her up."
"Ore-sama does not find this answer good enough." He glared down at Alice, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow, though there was faint amusement in his eyes. "Ore-sama demands that you explain why."
"We-ell," she drew the word out, glancing at the sleeping girl again. "I was walking over to the tennis courts and tripped over her. At first I wanted to wake her up to tell her to move, so she was out of the way or something," shrugging, Alice poked the kid's forehead again, "but as you can see, she won't wake up, and after that…"
"After that, what?" A different kid demanded. Alice turned to him, noting his long brown hair and cold expression. Blinking quickly, Alice tried to organize her thoughts enough that she could answer him.
"After that, I was having too much fun to stop. Have you ever tried to poke someone over and over and over again?" Considering the long haired boy Alice slowly allowed a smile to cross her lips, devious thoughts playing games with her plans. "You know what?" she told him," I'll let you try it with me." Hopping up Alice flounced over to the long haired boy grabbed his arm, dragging him over to a tall, dark skinned boy with short black hair.
"Perfect!" she announced, beaming over at the frustrated boy she was clinging to. "Okay, so first you curl all of your fingers into a fist but your pointer finger, like so." Alice demonstrated, holding her finger up.
"Come on Shishido-san, curl your fist like demonstrated." A short girl Alice hadn't noticed earlier exclaimed around her laughter, jumping up and down around the long haired kid, her short red hair flying around her. Shishido growled and shook his head, crossing his arms.
"No way!" Alice winked at the red haired girl behind Shishido's back before turning back to him.
"Fine," she smiled, leering dramatically up at him, "I'll just poke you instead." Just as she was pulling her arm back to poke him, the diva's voice interrupted her.
"Kabaji."
"Usu." The tall, dark skinned boy took a step forward and seized Alice around her shoulders, easily lifting her up and placing her back down beside the sleeping girl.
Staring at Kabaji for a moment, Alice tried to process what just happened. "That was… unexpected," she finally murmured, rubbing her upper arms. She shook her head and glanced back down, giving the sleeping girl a perplexed look and ignoring the choking sounds coming from the mass of boys and the laugh from the purple/grey haired leader. Alice crouched back down and poked the girl again.
"How in the world is she still asleep?" She asked the group of players, finally admitted defeat at waking the girl up. Shaking her head again, Alice made to stood back up; happily taking the helping hand that was offered to her by the purple/grey haired guy. "Thanks Ore-sama-san," she chirped. The players behind the purple/grey haired leader sputtered again.
The dubbed 'Ore-sama-san' stared down at the Alice in what she perceived to be amusement and nodded in acknowledgement of her thanks. "While Ore-sama does not believe that girls should go around poking other people and trying to coerce someone else into joining you, you amuse Ore-sama, and so you are graciously forgiven for your grievous actions."
"Oh." Alice stared at trees beyond the players, trying to think back and remember if she had apologized for her actions before shrugging and giving it up for a lost cause. "Thanks Ore-sama-san… I think." Ignoring the disbelieving players and the chuckling diva, she stepped around the group and started for the courts again.
"Wait, Peasant!" Stopping mid-step, Alice mouthed the word 'peasant' to herself, amused. Turning on her heal, laughing, she gave her attention to Ore-sama-san.
"Yes?"
"You play tennis." What Alice thought should have been a question came out of Ore-sama-san as a demand, as if she absolutely had to play tennis because he said so. Laughing again, Alice nodded. This run was turning out to be very amusing, and was doing a great job on getting her back to her old self.
"Good, you will play against one of Ore-sama's players. Ore-sama wishes to see how good you are."
"One of your players? How can they be your players? Aren't you their age?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow. Ore-sama-san sniffed, flipping his hair out and posing dramatically.
"Ore-sama is the captain of the Hyotei tennis team." Ore-sama-san smirked at her, "Be awed by my prowess!" he tacked on at the end, his voice dipping into a cool, arrogant timbre. Alice thought about it for a moment before she shook her head.
"I'd like to, ya know?" she told him, shrugging helplessly, "But I'm afraid that I don't fall into awe of people that I don't know. Even you, Ore-sama-san, as cool as you seem… although, this girl," she gestured to the still asleep girl, "I'm kinda in awe of her…" Ore-sama-san, smirk still firmly in place, observed Alice. After a minute of examination, wherein Alice hummed to herself and thought rapidly, waiting for his verdict; and the mass of Hyotei players talked quietly, throwing odd looks at the Alice.
"Very well!" Ore-sama-san suddenly exclaimed. "At some point Ore-sama will prove Ore-sama's prowess to you, Peasant, but until then Ore-sama demands that you play one of his players." Turning to look at Ore-sama-san's players, Alice observed them carefully. Most of them looked fairly confident, and it would be fun to crush the arrogance she saw out of any of them…
"You got a deal, Ore-sama-san."
*%%*
Humming to herself, Alice put her racket away and took a gulp from her water bottle, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand when she was done. The game had gone well, with her winning, but Alice had heard the long haired boy from earlier say that the boy she had played against wasn't really a regular, so she expected that some of the other boys would be better competition. Idly she wondered when she would get the chance to play Hyotei in one of the tournaments.
"Well, Ore-sama has decided that you are worth Ore-sama's time." Turning to the diva, Alice blinked at the proffered cellphone.
"Umm…" Ore-sama-san rolled his eyes and shook the phone a bit.
"Ore-sama is offering you a chance to regularly be in Ore-sama's presence, Peasant. You are funny, good at tennis, and aren't a squealing fan girl or a yelling hater girl. You should be awed at Ore-sama's generosity." Snorting, Alice took the phone, digging hers out from her pocket and offering it to him. Quickly typing her number in under the name of 'Peasant', Alice handed the phone back.
Taking her own phone back, Alice noted that he had added his number in under 'Ore-sama', shaking her head in amusement, something she seemed to do a lot around him; she changed it to 'Ore-sama-san' before snapping her phone shut.
"Thanks for the amusing afternoon Ore-sama-san, but I better get home before it's dark out, and it's a pretty long run back." Nodding his agreement Ore-sama-san escorted Alice to the edge of the park.
"We shall meet again, Peasant." He pretty much demanded.
"Sure thing, Ore-sama-san." The two nodded goodbye and Alice set off, heading back the way she came.
*%%*
Staring at his front door, Riku let out a breath that he'd been holding. Yeah, he was ready to go back in. After running around and playing a match with Yuuta his head had cleared considerably. Slowly opening the door, Riku walked in and shut it behind him. After taking off his shoes he walked into the living room where Uncle was sitting on the couch. Walking up to him, Riku cleared his throat. Putting down the book he was reading, Uncle looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. Something was off.
"Uncle, I'm sorry for earlier. I shouldn't have yelled at you when you were just trying to help." Riku said apologetically, lowering his gaze from his Uncle's eyes to the floor after a moment. Lowering his raised eyebrow, Uncle allowed a small smile to creep onto his face. He didn't know what had happened to Riku while he was out, but it had obviously had a positive effect on him. Getting up, he placed his hand on Riku's head and ruffled his hair fondly.
"As long as you understand that you're forgiven, but you need to apologize to everyone, not just me."
"I know Uncle." Looking up as the hand was removed from his head, Riku smiled at his pseudo uncle. "I'll go put my stuff up in my room and start from there. Do you know where Alice is?"
"Yep. She's in her room." Uncle said, watching Riku nod as he turned to leave. Smiling, he settled back down onto the couch and picked his book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, back up. Things were finally beginning to look up.
*%%*
Having put his tennis bag away, Riku walked down the hall and knocked gently on the door to his sister's room which was next to his. Not hearing a response, Riku placed his hand on the doorknob. "Alice? Can I come in?" Slowly opening the door, Riku spotted his sister flopped on top of her bed with wet hair, staring at a piece of paper. "What's that?" Riku asked, walking into the room.
"It's a new map. Uncle brought me it…" Alice trailed off, her voice cool as she put the map away as Riku walked over.
"Ah." Riku nodded slightly. "Can I join you?" Shifting over a bit, Alice made a spot next to her on the bed that Riku sat down on.
"I thought you were sick of being around me all the time." Alice finally ventured, her voice sarcastic and bitter, breaking the silence that had come over the two of them.
"About that; I'm sorry Alice. I said some things I shouldn't have earlier." Riku's face had turned a deep red. Having a mouth that ran faster than his brain could think really did cause trouble at every possible turn.
A long silence permeated the room and out of the corner of his eye, Riku saw Alice's stiff form as she stared out the window. As seconds turned into minutes without an answer, Riku worried that Alice would hold her first grudge against him.
"You know, I'd forgotten how different we are," Riku ventured, testing the waters. At Alice's continued silence Riku slumped slightly, turning to watch the clock. At around the ten minute mark Alice's form finally relaxed and she leaned back onto her elbows, giving Riku a side-ways smile. "It's okay. I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have clung to you for dear life like I have been." Chuckling lightly, relaxed now, Riku laid back on Alice's bed.
"It's a good thing we're siblings and not boyfriend-girlfriend like Lucky-san thought, or I'd probably have to kiss you to finish this entire 'making up' process."
"Yuck!" Alice said, pulling a face as she shoved Riku in the shoulder. "Way to kill the mood Riku."
"What? Isn't this mood better anyways? You know neither of us is a fan of the touchy-feely thing." Turning his head to look at Alice, Riku threw her a cheeky grin. "Or is there another motive to you following me around like a lost puppy lately?"
"Riku!" Sitting up, Alice grabbed one of her pillows and whacked Riku in the face with it, but even though she sounded angry, the grin on her face gave her away. This mood was definitely better, and much more like the relationship they shared back in Italy. Holding up his hands, Riku defended himself until Alice's arms got tired and she put the pillow back and flopped back down, sighing…Italy.
"Ya know, the weather here really sucks." Riku said a moment later, smirking slightly as if he could read his sister's mind. "Much worse than Italy." Alice laughed, nodding her agreement.
"And I keep expecting some of our cousins to just come flouncing in the door, not knocking, as usual." Riku continued with his hands behind his head.
Alice laughed again, closing her eyes, trying to imagine her family back in Italy. "It feels weird here," she told her brother, "not seeing any family. And the phone is usually ringing off the walls by now."
"Yeah, Nonna would always call to ask us how to use the computer." Riku agreed, "And one of our aunts and Mom would always be on the phone, talking about their latest gig, or someone would be calling for Dad…" the Riku trailed off, and the two twins got lost in memories.
"I want to go home." Alice whispered, fighting off tears.
"Me too." Riku murmured back. It would take more than a couple hours of fun to completely change his opinion about this place. Italy was, and still would be what he considered home, and that wouldn't change for quite some time.
*%%*
The group of students was once again clumped together in front of the three coaches and last year's regulars. The second day of tryouts was only marginally harder than the first day with Riku and Alice once again winning all of their games. Now it was the end of the tryouts for the top eight boys and the top eight girls, and the head coach, Banji, was waiting for everyone to quiet down so that he could announce the 16 players that made it and when the regular tryouts would begin.
Riku and Alice looked around, annoyed at the students who didn't seem to notice that everyone was waiting for them. Those students slowly trailed off one by one, blushes covering their cheeks. Banji finally cleared his throat to silence the last few.
"Thank you. Now, Watanabe-sempai and Takahashi-sempai will announce the top eight players for the girl's and boy's teams that have made it. Remember, if you didn't make it don't be discouraged. Once the regular tryouts are done, there may be a spot or two open that you can challenge for." Banji stepped back and Watanabe stepped forward, looking down at the clipboard in her hands.
"The top eight girls are: Aoki Aya, Fujita Chizu, Gotò Ayame, Hasegawa Rinko, Ikuma Alice, Maeda Eiko, Nakajima Akako, and Yamashita Aira. If you do not make, or do not plan on trying out for the regulars, our first practice will be next Thursday with Wednesday open for challenges in case a girl makes the regular team." The girl's coach stepped back and the boy's coach took her place, also looking down at a clip board.
"The top eight boys are: Fugiwara Eiichi, Ikuma Riku, Ino Gen, Inoue Haruka, Kato Hideaki, Kimura Kazo, Suzuki Minoru, and Yamamoto Tadashi. Next Monday will begin challenges for regulars that may be kicked off of the regular team, and boys that feel they deserve another chance to get onto the representative's team. Tuesday will be our first practice."
Excited whispers and moans of disappointment immediately started, many of the students turned to their neighbors and talked excitedly or bonded together with mutual disappointment. Alice and Riku simply shared smug glances before turning their attention to Banji, who was once again waiting in front of the students.
Once the clamor had fallen and everyone was silent, Banji made his announcements. "Yes, yes, congratulations to you all for making it past the first set of tryouts. To those of you who made it to the top eight of your gender, if you would please stay behind for a few minutes. Everyone else is dismissed." Alice and Riku shifted through the leaving students to stand closer to the head coach along with the other fourteen players that were asked to stay.
"Once again, congratulations to you all. Tomorrow and Thursday is the start of the regular tryouts, so if you are planning on trying out, please raise your hand and we will mark down your names." Alice, Riku, and six other students raised their hands and dutifully gave their names when asked.
"Great, for the rest of you, your first assignment as the representatives for the boy's and girl's teams is to help out at the tryouts as judges, so read up on the rules tonight." Banji beamed at the students. "I expect to see you all here tomorrow, bright and early!" With that Banji bowed slightly and he, the rest of the coaches, and the regulars all scattered, going home.
Alice and Riku took their time gathering their stuff and were one of the last few to leave the courts.
"So, did you play any of those boys?" Riku nodded his head.
"Yeah, I played three of them, but only one of the ones I played is trying out for a regular position. What about you, know any of those girls?" Alice thought about it for a minute, eyebrows scrunched.
"Eh, I don't really remember." Riku didn't have to fake the nonchalance that he was feeling. Alice forgot faces and names quicker than she zoned out. The two walked in silence, lost in their own thoughts before Alice broke it.
"We going to practice tonight?"
"Yup." Alice nodded, following Riku as he changed direction to head to the street courts. They weren't impressed so far with the level of skill shown at Yamabuki Chuu Middle School, but they weren't about to slack their own training.
CHALLENGE CHALLENGE CHALLENGE CHALLENGE CHALLENGE. We have decided to start offering a challenge at the end of our chapters that comes with an awesome PRIZE if you win. To enter this CHALLENGE you have to send in a REVIEW that has constructive criticism/what you liked/what you didn't like about this chapter/story in it, along with your ANSWERS. If your review is just your answer to the question, you will be disqualified.
Challenge: Guess which split wrote which line. For this challenge, the first person to guess them all correctly or the first person who gets the most correct will win.
(1) "Y-you mean like on a d-date?" Yuuta's entire face was turning a light shade of red.
(2) "After that, I was having too much fun to stop. Have you ever tried to poke someone over and over and over again?"
(3) "Well, Ore-sama has decided that you are worth Ore-sama's time."
(4) "I am not hooking you up with my sister."
Prize: A one-shot or drabble with a prompt of your choice.
Rules:
-It has to be a Prince of Tennis fanfic.
-The highest rating we will allow is T.
-Absolutely no slash.
If you win:
-We will notify you and tell you what you need to send us for the one-shot/drabble
Japanese to English dictionary:
aniki: older brother
Usu: yeah
Well, here's chapter 4! School just started for us on Monday, so expect our updates a tad bit slower than they were before. That being said, our goal is 7-9 days between updates, at the latest, and we're still on that schedule, so here's for hoping we stay on it.
Thanks so much to Frog-kun, Yanza, and Neon Genisis for their absolutely amazing reviews. You guys are pretty much awesome.
Okay, we hope you enjoyed, we hope you take up our challenge, and we hope you review.
~The Splits