Author's note: Okay, I realize that this didn't come till WAY later in the anime but who cares? Not. Me. Anyway, just bear with me here as I break the chronological order of events…mwahahaha!

I think I'm going to raise the rating from K+ to T, just because as the people get more…passionate, let's say, they use flowerful language. ;)

FYI: to those who aren't familiar with Japanese- tensai (shown later in this chapter) is Japanese for genius, which is Fuji's nickname. So when you see tensai, you know it's talking about Fuji. Okay, chapter time!

Chapter 6

Open Club Day

Miku was walking to school today, chewing a piece of watermelon gum. It was Monday, and today was the day when the school displayed and opened its clubs for others to try. Miku, however, being the captain of the girls' volleyball club, stayed to help out at her own club. It was a bit of a drag, but she still felt happy to coach others about her favorite sport, and maybe even recruit some people.

"Miku-chan! Miku-chan! Wait up!" Miku heard Eiji calling her. She stopped walking and waited for him to catch up.

"I'm so excited!" Eiji said, his eyes and grin both wide. "Today's open club day! I can't decide what I want to do; they're all so fun!"

Miku laughed. "Gum?" He took a piece and popped it in his mouth. Then Miku continued, "I'd love to do open club, but I'm the captain so I'm staying at my own club to help. Maybe I can slip out and try tennis club." She winked, and smiled.

"Hmmm…" Eiji thought aloud. "I guess you could. I wonder what sport I should do…"

Both people were unaware that Fuji was creeping up behind them. Well, he wasn't actually trying to creep up on them, he just walked quietly. That's just what a watching bystander would think.

"I'm doing curling," said Fuji, putting his arms around Eiji's and Miku's shoulders and scaring the crap out of both of them. Miku almost screamed, she just gasped and covered her mouth, and Eiji fell over. Fuji just laughed at both of them.

"Fujikoooo!" Eiji whined, giving Fuji a pouting expression.

"You really get a kick out of scaring people and/or seeing them suffer don't you…wait, forget the or…but anyway," Miku said. Fuji laughed with evil mirth.

She sighed, smiling, and shaking her head. "So curling, huh?"

"Yep," said Fuji. "I'm guessing there won't be a lot of people there, but oh well. I'd do volleyball, but you'd probably seriously beat me and then somehow take revenge on me for this just now. I…don't want to know. With curling, all you have to worry about is slipping on ice."

"I could push you over," offered Miku.

"And I'd help," suggested Eiji. The two high five.

"Aha…" laughed Fuji weakly. "I'll try to evade you two somehow."

"Oh no!" exclaimed Miku. "I've gotta go, guys! I'm supposed to be setting up the volleyball club stuff in five minutes! Fuji, here's a piece of gum. See you later!" and with that, she took off running.

Eiji and Fuji watched her round a corner and sprint out of sight. Then Eiji said, "Since when is gum a top priority over being late?"

"I have no idea," said Fuji, and put the gum in his mouth. "Mmm. Watermelon." He blew a bubble. Then, looking over at Eiji, he asked, "So what club are you going to do, Eiji?"

"I don't know. I kinda want to do gymnastics, but I think that's only for girls. So…I might do volleyball, I guess."

"Hmm. You want to play Miku?"

"What? Um…I…don't…know….yeah, I kinda do," Eiji resigned to say, looking at quite an interesting bush on the side of the road. It was all…green and pink and stuff.

"Ah, Eiji. You've got your work cut out for you. She's really good. And anyway, I don't even know if she's even playing, or if the girls and boys are split up."

"Way to dampen the mood, there, Fujiko."

"Sorry. Well, I wish you luck in your endeavors," said Fuji, and they rounded a corner.

As soon as Eiji and Fuji walked in the gate of Seigaku, they saw the tables with sign-up sheets for open club day. Fuji found the curling sheet, which didn't have any names on it yet, and Eiji ran over to Oishi, who was still trying to decide what he wanted to do.

"Ah, Eiji," Oishi said, smiling at his approaching friend.

"What club are you going to do, Oishi?" Eiji asked.

"I have no idea what to do," admitted Oishi, scratching his head. "What are you going to do, Eiji?"

"Volleyball," he said simply, grabbing the sign-up sheet and putting his name down. "What time do the clubs start activities again?"

"In about 10 minutes," said Oishi, looking at his watch. "Why?"

"Yes, but what time, nya?" asked Eiji impatiently.

Oishi looked worried. "E-eight o'clock," he said. "Eiji, what's up? Something wrong?"

"No, but I gotta run! Bye!" Eiji waved and took off towards the gym.

"Eiji-" Oishi started, but Eiji was already out of hearing distance. Concerned, Oishi looked back at the sign-up table. 'Why was Eiji so preoccupied?' Oishi thought, becoming more worried by the second. 'Did he get dumped by a girl? Did…oh no…did someone in his family die?' Oishi panicked, and grabbed the volleyball sign-up sheet, signing the last open spot for the volleyball club. He walked quickly towards the gym, worrying further and coming up with worse and worse situations.

"Eiji, here!" Miku called. Eiji gave her a high set. She jumped, and spiked the ball hard, right behind the person attempting to block her spike. Landing softly, Miku looked over to Eiji, giving him a wink and peace sign, which Eiji returned with a grin.

In the back row behind them, Oishi was confused at what was going on. Yes, his team was killing the other in straight points. Yes, the next point was match point. And yes, the front was doing all the work, stealing the show. Aka, Eiji and Miku. But the thing that he didn't understand was…Eiji. Eiji usually took the attention and spotlight by himself; and now he was sharing it with someone else. Gladly sharing, in fact. And with a girl, at that. Not that there was anything wrong with that; Oishi just hadn't known Eiji to ever really be close friend with a girl. Ever. Oishi couldn't blame him though; Eiji's sisters at home were insane.

The whistle blew, signaling that the serve was coming. The ball flew over the net, and Oishi bumped it to a teammate in the front. She, in turn, set it to Miku, who jumped, faked a spike, and then allowed Eiji to jump up and smack the volleyball on the other side of the net. Eiji, Miku, and Oishi's team had won. Their team gave each other a group hug, then high-fived the other team. After this, Eiji and Miku fist-bumped and cheered, as Oishi walked over. Putting his hand on his friend's shoulder, Oishi said, "Eiji, want to go check on what clubs the others are doing?"

"Hoi," Eiji agreed, nodding and grinning.

"Can I come?" asked Miku.

"Sure!" Oishi said. "Okay, who to check on first…"

"How about Echizen?" suggested a voice behind the trio, sending chills up their spines.

Miku turned around first. "Fuji…" she said through gritted teeth. Her voice had an edge on it, but she was smiling. Oishi and Eiji turned as Miku continued, "I swear to God, Fuji, next time you go do that, I WILL strangle you."

Even the usually bouncy Eiji and kind Oishi had evil, demise-plotting smiles on their faces. And they were all looking at Fuji.

He backed up a few steps, smiling and laughing weakly. He put his hands up in front of himself.

"Aha…okay… Shall we go check on Echizen now?"

On the way to the area where Fuji was leading them, the tensai tried to ignore the whispering and malicious laughter behind him from the trio.

When they arrived, Ryoma was playing ping-pong…and losing. He was playing a boy his age with glasses, a mole on his face, and quite a smug expression. As the game progressed, however, Ryoma started playing "tennis style". He incorporated all of his tennis finishing moves in defeating the other seventh grader.

"Mada mada dane," he said, smirking. Then, Ryoma walked over and joined Oishi, Fuji, Eiji, and Miku.

"Ochibiii!" Eiji cried and glomped onto the smaller boy.

"Who next?" Oishi asked Fuji.

Fuji laughed mysteriously. "Baseball."

"Fuji," Miku said, following him. "Baseball isn't a person…"

As the four people (Ryoma and Eiji count as one person at the moment; Eiji is still hanging on him) approached the baseball field, they spotted two familiar people- Taka and Inui.

Taka's team was pretty skillful, but Inui's team had data. Inui's calculations destroyed all of Taka's team's chances to score, and so Inui's team won.

"Great game Taka, Inui," said Fuji, high-fiving the two as they joined the group.

"We're going to check on them next," said Fuji, and started leading the way.

The party of 7 arrived at the gym, opening the doors and sliding inside. On one court, a basketball game, with Momo participating, was going on. On another, several badminton nets were set up. Kaidoh was taking part in that club, using his tennis skills to dominate the games he played.

On the basketball side, Momo was a star. He was scoring dunk after dunk after dunk. His teammates were cheering and the opposing team was, well, experiencing serious terror and trepidation.

Partway through the game, Momo was going up for yet another dunk, when something hit him in the face, making him lose his concentration and grip on the basketball. He looked over at Kaidoh, who was glaring at him.

"Fsssh, guess I hit the birdie a little too hard," he said, tapping his racket on his shoulder. He smirked at his arch rival.

"You bastard, that was on purpose!" yelled Momo, walking angrily toward the bandana-clad badminton player. Oishi tensed, ready to break them up if a fight started. Meanwhile, on the basketball court, Momo's teammates were losing points without him.

"Momoshiro!" someone called from the basketball game. Momo looked back, shot a furious glance at Kaidoh, and went back to the game, easily taking back the lost points within a matter of minutes.

"Well," said Fuji, interrupting his fellow spectators. "Want to see my activity?"

Fuji led the group into a dimly lit, large room. No one was inside. Fuji grabbed a curling "rock" and slid it along the ice to the target on the floor.

"Bullseye," he said softly, as the rock stopped directly in the center.

"Hey Eiji," Miku whispered in Eiji's ear. "When should we trip him?"

Eiji laughed quietly. "When he's throwing the last rock, probably." He whispered back.

"Why are we whispering? He's too far away to hear us…"

"I don't know."

Just as Fuji was going to throw his last rock, Miku and Eiji stuck their legs in Fuji's way, which the latter didn't seem to notice. All the same, he slid both legs out from underneath their owners, sending the rock, unscathed, to its destination on the target and Eiji and Miku sprawling onto the ice, laughing.

"As…expected…of Fuji," Eiji said, still laughing.

Fuji turned, his cerulean eyes open, and smiled at his two friends lying on the floor. "Come on, guys, you have to do better than that." Fuji turned back towards the target. All of his rocks were as close as they could possibly be to the center.

"Other participants…zero. Championship is mine," he said, chuckling evilly. The rest of the group took this chance to escape-quickly.

Outside his house, Eiji bade Miku a farewell, and she continued on her way home. Eiji went in his front door, shutting it behind himself.

"Did you walk home with that girl again?" Eiji's sister Aya asked.

"Yes," Eiji answered.

"Do you li-"

"Shut up." Eiji said and went upstairs. Hearing no reply, he thought, 'hey, it worked for once.'

"I'll take that as a yes!" Eiji heard from downstairs.

'…or maybe not…'

Wow, that was a long chapter. My first over 2,000 words! Hooray! Keep reading!