Niou practiced thinking about how he would approach Megumi that morning. He debated between actually just simply inviting her to lunch, and stealing her lunch again. Of course, stealing would be more fun, and her reactions were priceless like always. The only problem he had with talking to her in school was having to go to the second year level. And he was sure that she wouldn't go to his classroom on her own will. He had the thought of making Bunta convince her, but he would give up the second she said no, he believed.

"Hey, uh, Niou-senpai?" Akaya came from behind him.

"Hm? Do you have a secret for me?" he turned around. He shook his head with fear.

"N-no, not today. But, you know your friend, Okada? I kinda did something messed up, and she might be mad at me." He said. Niou crossed his arms, and put on an angry face.

"What did you do Akaya?" he glared. Akaya gulped, growing scared of what was going to be the cause of his death.

"A-a-all that happened was I was running from detention, you know, to get to practice so Sanada-fukubuchou wouldn't slap me, or make me run, or both, which he actually did because I had detention."

"Get back to the point."

"Y-yeah. And when I was running, I didn't notice her until right after I bumped in to her. And I made her drop everything. I looked behind me, and she was on the floor. I yelled sorry, but… I might've made her cry." He said with sweat dripping from his forehead. He was panting, fear spilling from all of his pores. Niou raised his eyebrows, wondering if that was really the reason she was crying. He remembered Yagyuu telling him that he saw her crying too, which is why he waited at the end of the street to see if she was doing any better at the end of the day. He mentally sighed, but kept an angry expression to freak Akaya out.

"Okay. Well, you're apologizing to her today, you know that, right?" Niou said to him.

"I was already planning on that."

"Good. I'm going to be there to witness it. And I would watch out for me, Akaya." He said. Akaya gave one small, scared nod and walked away.

"Puri." He said to himself, quietly smiling.

"What'd you do to him this time, Niou?" Marui asked.

"Nothing. Want gum?" Niou offered, sticking out a piece.

"Sweet, yeah!" he said, and tried to take it. Failing to recognize the gum, it shocked his hand.

"Ow! Stop doing that!" he yelled.

"Stop falling for it." Niou said and made it disappear. Marui shook his hand, trying to get rid of the feeling.

"Anyway… So, I saw your friend yesterday." He blew a bubble.

"Oh, you too? When?"

"I was getting crepes. And she was really close to the guy that was working there. I think she even got her crepe for free. I'm so jealous."

"Hmm~. What did you think of her?"

"Well, I only talked to her for a few minutes. She's pretty quiet." He said.

"Or you might've been the one talking too much, you know." Niou pointed out. Just before Marui made a comeback, Sanada looked over at them. Niou quickly turned in to Akaya, hoping he wouldn't get the blame for being lazy.

"Marui! Niou! Get back to swinging!" he yelled at them.

"Damn." Niou mumbled and switched back.

"Okay guys, bring it in to the center courts!" Yukimura called over. Marui and Niou grinned to each other, happy they didn't have to work anymore. They jogged over to where their captain was, wondering if there was anything new going on.

"Alright guys, as always, there's a lot for you guys to improve on. You need to run faster, swing stronger, and return sharper. We need to get back to the top." Yukimura started. The freshman looked down, disappointed in what he was saying, but the second and third years didn't have a single feeling hurt. This was expected by Yukimura. Unless everyone attained the strength to take a person's five senses away, everyone sucked at tennis in his eyes.

"There isn't anything after that. I'll see all of you after school. Everyone but the regulars are dismissed."

"Thank you very much!" the team yelled and ran to the club room. The regulars walked over to Yukimura, wondering what he had to say.

"What's going on, Yukimura?" Jackal asked.

"Don't you think he'll tell us without asking?" Marui said. Yukimura chuckled.

"Bunta's right. It's nothing that important. It's just that I want your opinions on whether we should get a club manager or not."

"A manager? Why do we need that? Yanagi-senpai's already got that stuff covered." Akaya said.

"Yes, that's true. But that takes out some time out of his practice, I've realized." Yagyuu said. Sanada kept his arms crossed, seeming upset about the idea.

"Genichirou, why are you against it?" Yanagi asked, even though he most likely knew the answer.

"Oh you are? I thought you had the idea since you didn't want any of us not practicing." Marui blew a bubble.

"First, what have I told you about gum in the courts!? Spit it out or swallow it!" he yelled. Marui frowned and gulped.

"Anyway. I just think that it would be a distraction to us if a person is running around our courts, and being in our way."

"But that's not necessarily the job of a manager. The job we would give them would be… take note of our improvement or regression... What else…?" Yukimura said.

"Going to game registrations." Jackal added.

"Telling us how late Akaya was for the day." Niou rested his arm on his head.

"That's not necessary."Akaya mumbled.

"No, that's very important." Yanagi said.

"But we don't even have applications for a manager. How would we get one?" Sanada argued.

"Well, that was the second part. If we do announce that we need a manager, I feel that it would be a little chaotic with the amount of girls that are in love with Bunta and Niou."

"You too, Mr. Buchou." Niou smirked. Yukimura softly smiled.

"We don't have to talk about me. But just ask around to people personally. Don't make a single hint that we are looking for one, since we might agree that we don't need one." Yukimura warned.

"Did you hear that, Akaya?" Yanagi asked.

"Yes I did." He said, annoyed at how he was being treated.

"Well that's it. Have a good rest of the day everyone."

Niou walked back to the club room, thinking that the team has been running fine without a manager this whole time. He found it unnecessary, but wondered why Yukimura brought it up. Bunta was already giving suggestions to Jackal, but he disagreed with every single person. Sure they seemed capable, but to Niou, they were boring and wouldn't take any pranks well. And he only knew that because he's pranked them before.

"Hey, Niou, are you going to see that girl this morning?" Marui jumped behind him.

"Ehhhhhhh, yeah, why?" he stretched his back before buttoning his shirt.

"Can I go with you?"

"Why? She barely knows you."

"So? She barely knows you."

"Yeah, but we covered the steps of friendship that you created. She's friends with me, not friends with you, and you'll drive her away. So, no." Niou said. Marui slightly turned pink in the face.

"You told her that!? That stupid list of friendship is something I made in third grade, and you found it in the box of old things my mom kept, that was supposed to never be seen by anyone!"

"Yeah, and if you follow me there, I'll play that tape of you playing the recorder over the school radio." Niou raised his eyebrows. Marui shut his mouth, not arguing anything Niou just said.

"Alright. Don't be sad, Bunta, she's eating lunch with us anyway." He patted his shoulder.

"Did you even ask her yet?"

"Don't need to." Niou said and left the room. Right in front of him was Kirihara, who was trying to sneak away from the club room to not be caught by anyone. Niou smirked and swung his arm around his shoulder.

"Hey young man. Let me walk with you to class." He said. Kirihara squirmed out of his grasp.

"Senpai, I don't need you to come. I was planning to apologize anyway."

"Yeah, I just want to see her reaction." He said and pushed him ahead. He sighed and kept walking without talking to Niou at all. Luckily, most girls were scared of Akaya after crazy rumors about his devil mode got out. All of which Niou was responsible for, and he was glad he did, since no one came close to them on their way. They both noticed Megumi on her phone again, completely in her own world. Kirihara stood in place, looking confused.

"Are you walking in?" Niou asked. Kirihara shrugged.

"I-I just don't know how to approach her."

"Hm, I do." Niou said and pulled him by the arm. Out of nowhere, he tugged him stronger, and made him bump in to her. She tensed up but she didn't look up at him. Niou sighed, realizing that startling Megumi was not the way to get her attention. He hopped to the seat in front of her and straddled the chair.

"Megumi~. Hey." He leaned his face over to her. She lifted her eyes to him. They seemed tired and slightly red.

"Oh, hey. I noticed you walking in, but I didn't want to say hi." She said. Niou smirked.

"Well at least you're admitting that you notice me. But hey, this kid has something to say to you." He pointed at Akaya who was still standing next to her, playing with his hands. Megumi was confused and looked over, making legitimate eye contact with the guy who always takes her answers during tests.

"Hey, uh… I'm sorry for bumping in to you. Yesterday, I mean, not now. Wait, but I'm sorry about right now too. But that was mostly because of Niou-senpai."

"Akaya, get back to the point." Niou glared at him. He was still slightly upset that Kirihara could have been the reason Megumi was sad the day before. Megumi tilted her head in confusion.

"What I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry for hurting you and making you cry yesterday. I really didn't mean to." He slightly bowed to her. Megumi looked back and forth at Niou and Kirihara.

"Um… it's fine that you bumped in to me, I knew you didn't do it on purpose. I was just having a bad day." She said quietly.

"Oh. Well, still… I'm sorry." Akaya said and went to his seat.

"It's fine. And Masa, I really suggest you get out of that seat." She warned.

"Why? It doesn't matter." Niou scoffed.

"Senpai, that's our class rep's seat." Kirihara said. Niou just rolled his eyes.

"So, Megumi. Today. Lunch. My classroom." He pointed his finger up.

"Huh? What are you saying?" she said, leaning away from him. He sighed and softly laughed.

"You're eating lunch with me in my classroom today."

"I never agreed to that." She crossed her arms.

"It's going to happen."

"Nope. What are you going to do? Take my lunch again?" she grabbed it out of her bag and held on to it. He rolled his eyes, and mumbled "idiot" to himself.

"Hey, senpai, you should really get up. She's about to come in." Kirihara warned again.

"Oh, she's a girl? It's fine, they're all in love with me anyway." He leaned forward close to Megumi. She leaned back farther, knowing what was going to happen.

"Niou-senpai. You have two seconds to get out of my seat." He heard a familiar voice. He put on the most attractive smile he had prepared and turned to face her. What he got was a foot to his face, making him fall to the floor.

"Don't think that you can trick me with that stupid, smug smile, idiot." The class rep said. He rubbed his head and looked at her.

"Hina…" he glared at Kirihara. "You just couldn't mention that the class rep was Yagyuu's sister, could you?" Kirihara was grinning like there was no tomorrow.

"Why are you here anyway?" she said, annoyed, and slumped in her chair. Niou got up and shook his hair back in place. He sneered and placed his hand on Megumi's head.

"I'm just visiting a friend. I'll see you at lunch." He said to Megumi, who was shying away from the looks Hina was giving. He laughed to himself and headed for the door.

"Hey, Megumi." He softly called out to her. She turned her head to him, looking around as if there was an earthquake in the room. She squinted her eyes to focus on what he was tossing in the air. Her eyes grew large and turned in to a deep glare once she realized that he had managed to steal her lunch again. He threw a peace sign to her and walked away. He swept through the swarm of people rushing to their classrooms and sank in his seat one second before the bell rang.

"Hey, Niou, can I get a preview of what her lunch looks like?" Marui leaned over behind him. Niou thought about it quickly, and spun around.

"Alright, well this is yellow." He said when he unwrapped the handkerchief. Marui raised his shoulders, excited to see what was in it.

"Let's see how well she cooks." Marui said and lifted the lid. What they saw wasn't a single piece of food. The only thing in there was a folded piece of paper. Niou opened it and read the note.

"You can't fool me twice, Masa." He said outloud.

"Did you just get tricked?" Marui said, unable to believe what happened. Niou blinked his eyes, and his mouth stayed slightly opened.

"You just got tricked. NIOU MASAHARU GOT TRICKED!" Marui yelled.

"Shut up." Niou said and punched his head. He slouched over, feeling challenged by Megumi to do mess with her one more time. His grin grew pretty wide, thinking about what he could do to freak her out.

"Niou, don't do anything to get you arrested." Marui laughed, also happy that Niou got tricked for once.

"Bunta, I never get arrested. Or do anything illegal. Except that one time. But no one needs to know about that, right?" he looked over to a shuddering Marui.

"No. That is never to be spoken about."

Niou sat during all his classes, trying to figure out what to do to get Megumi back. All sorts of ideas went through his head, but none seemed to fit her. Nothing seemed okay to push her with just yet. Based on what she'd said before, she might take the slightest practical prank as him being an evil maniac, and she might wind up in the hospital because of him. He sighed deeply and looked over at Marui who stared right back at him.

"Do you have candy?" he whispered. Niou turned right back around, ignoring what he asked for. Marui tapped his shoulder with a pencil.

"No!" he whispered loudly. Then he thought of something perfect. He raised his hand.

"Yes, Niou-kun?" the teacher responded with fear.

"Uh, Marui and I have to meet at the club room about ten minutes before lunch. It's asked by Yukimura."

"That bright Yukimura asked you to leave class early?"

"Yeah, I was incredibly shocked too. But, is it okay if we leave? I don't like making our star tennis captain upset, and I know you don't either." He raised an eyebrow. The teacher gulped and gave them a nod of approval. The two grabbed their belongings and headed out of the class.

"Hey Niou, I'm not complaining that you made us miss that last ten minute lecture, but why did you?"

"Huh? Oh, I need to scare Megumi pretty bad. Let's go." He said and went down the stairs.

"And why am I a part of this?" Marui rushed toward him.

"Because the teacher wouldn't believe that only I needed to leave. Besides, wouldn't you love to see that super quiet Megumi talk back?"

"Umm… I don't want to answer that." He stepped away from him.

"Okay, whatever." Niou stopped in front of her classroom.

"Wait, we're going in right now?" Marui grabbed his arm.

"Yeah, we're saving Akaya and Megumi from the worst seven minutes of their lives. And we might as well save Hina too."

"Ugghhhh, why Hina? She's so sassy and annoying sometimes."

"Yeah, but I don't need to risk being questioned by teachers later." He said and knocked on the door. It was opened by a teacher that hated him the previous year.

'Oh fuck.' He thought.

"Oh, well if it isn't Niou-kun. What do you need?" he said with a smug smile.

"Well, you see, uh, Yukimura needs to hold a team meeting so I need Akaya right now."

"And why should I believe that?" the teacher crossed his arms. Bunta stepped forward.

"It's true! Ask Hina-chan, she knows it's being held right now." He pointed to her. The two waved to Akaya and Megumi. Hina tilted her head in confusion. The teacher looked over at the three and walked over to Hina. Niou put his hands together and begged her to lie for him telepathically. She sighed.

"Is this true, Yagyuu?"

"Yes, my brother told me they were going to have an emergency meeting right before classes began this morning." Her eyes scanned back to Niou, who was aggressively pointing behind her.

"And… Oh, right, her." she flipped around and looked at Megumi who was looking around the classroom, her eyes not anywhere on the planet.

"Yeah, Okada needs to come too, she's our new manager." Akaya stepped in quickly. Marui and Niou deeply sighed and face-palmed.

"Very well. You two can leave." The teacher said. Akaya got up and shook Megumi's shoulder.

"What?" she asked, finally seeing who was in the classroom.

"Let's go." Akaya muffled under his breath and pointed to Niou with his head. There was still a big question mark above his head.

"Megumi, Yukimura's waiting, we have to hurry!" Niou yelled across the room, making all the attention go to her for the very first time since the school year started. She ducked her head and rested her head on her hand and tried to hide the blood rushing through her face. A few whispers went through students' mouths. She slowly stood up and took everything she could carry. The moment the door closed behind her, she turned straight to Niou, who was satisfied with her reaction.

"What the fuck is the matter with you." She punched his shoulder.

"Ow, why'd you punch me!?" he yelled as quietly as possible.

"Because you punched my invisible shield in class. Now, when I go back, I have to face the chances of me being called on, and people actually remembering me. So thanks for that, jerk." She punched his arm again.

"Okay, two is too much, Megumi."

"I'm not sorry. Why did you do that though, seriously?"

"He wanted to get you back for tricking him this morning with your lunch." Marui said, pulling her away from Niou.

"Who are you again?" she asked. Marui clutched his chest.

"You don't remember me?" she shook her head, slightly annoyed.

"We met yesterday!" he grabbed her shoulders. There was a slight pause, and she snapped her fingers.

"I remember! Yagyuu, right?" she said. He hung his head and dragged his feet to Niou.

"Megumi, be mad at me all you want, but little Akaya here may have made things complicated for you." Niou said, pushing Marui off his shoulder.

"What did I do? I got us out of class like you needed me to."

"Yeah, but now, everyone in that class now believes that Megumi is our manager. And if we say that she isn't, then everyone is going to try to be the manager and Yukimura is going to kill all of us." Niou explained in a deadly tone.

"Oh. Ohhhh. Oh." Akaya's sweat started to drip down his face.

"Well, Megumi, that means that for today, you have to come to our practice. Just in case anyone asks."

"No." she shot a glare.

"Yes." Marui and Niou said at the same time.

"Oh, you too?" Niou turned to Marui.

"I think it'd be fun to have her as a manager." He stepped next to Niou and got close to his face.

"Just imagine her reaction after saying she knows nothing about tennis, and Sanada freaking out." He whispered. Niou smirked.

"I'm so glad you're learning from me."

"So, was this meeting thing for real?" Akaya asked, feeling left out.

"Oh, I forgot about why this even happened. We're going upstairs to eat lunch, and Akaya, you can be first in line for the bread bar for once." Niou waved away.

"Sweet!" he yelled and dashed away. Niou and Marui pivoted to look at Megumi whose eyes were in swirls, due to the amount of confusion.

"Anyway, I'm Marui Bunta. Don't make me repeat that! I'm the awesomest person you could ever meet."

"I don't know, I've met a few cool people that's not you so…" Megumi rolled her eyes. Marui was taken back. He'd never heard a girl shut him down so fast, much less a second year.

"Oh yeah? Well, who might that be?" Marui challenged.

"I'm not telling you. Not today at least." She muttered. Niou grabbed her wrist out of nowhere, and started pulling her to the stairs.

"The bell's going to ring, and I am not risking any of our clothes to be torn off." He said. Hearing how serious he was, Megumi didn't try arguing with him.

"Is this your first time being on this level?" Marui asked, trying to show off.

"No, I've snuck here plenty of times before."

"Liar."

"I don't lie, bubblegum." She said. The two looked over to her.

"What did you just call me?" Marui asked.

"Bubblegum. You seem to always be chewing it, and you know, the same 'B' sound." She shrugged.

"Well, at least I'm not the only one with a weird nick name." Niou let a breath out.

"Masa is not a weird nick name." Megumi rolled her eyes and continued to follow him.

"Can't you just call me Bun then? Because bubblegum really annoys me."

"Okay, Bun-chan." She slyly smiled.

"Don't add a chan there!" he yelled. Niou shook his head, but he couldn't help feel a sense of jealously. He should be the only one with a shortened name from her. Megumi and Marui were still arguing while he was trying to shake off the want to tell Megumi to just call him Marui. That's all he deserved, he believed. He didn't stop her from jumping off the roof. He wasn't the one who was friends with her. He doesn't even live on the same street as her.

'I have got to calm down.' He said. He looked over to her and realized he had started patting her head.

"Masa, can you actually stop please? My hair is actually kind of messy now." She complained. He calmly drew his hand back to his pocket.

"It's not even messed up, calm down."

"I am calm, you tell yourself that, Masa." She said while brushing her hands through her hair.

"Working on it." He mumbled as the bell rang, and the hallway became a sea of students rushing to get their food.

Sorry for being four months late… Lots of love is being sent your way, friends!