DISCLAIMER:
TheSpunky(Short)Alchemist: So, who owns Prince of Tennis?
FlippinWonka: Oh! I do! I do!
GreenMamushi: -slap- Takeshi Konomi does, baka!
2ManyShoez: Please ignore our little "situation" at the moment and turn your attention to Chapter One of Amai Masquerade Love!
Amai Masquerade Love
Chapter One: Emi at Hyotei
Normal POV
The last bell had just rung, signaling that classes were now over for the day at the prestigious Hyotei Gakuen. The first day of the new semester was coming to a close and the regulars of the tennis team were gathered in the clubroom, in the middle of a meeting.
"The regular positions will stay as they are, including Ootori, Hiyoshi, and Kabaji," said Sakaki-sensei. "As usual, Atobe will be buchou. You may now go and proceed with the tennis matches."
Atobe smiled smugly as the regulars stepped out of the clubroom to reveal many fangirls. As soon as they spotted the tennis players, the fangirls started shrieking, "Atobe-sama~!" "Jirou-kun I made you a cake!" "Oshitari-kun, kyaa, look this way, please!"
The walk from the clubroom to the courts would normally take less than a minute, but at this rate, it might take ten minutes… thought Shishido. Che, this is so lame.
The fangirls were clawing at each other to get closer to the regulars. Near the front of the group were Atobe and Oshitari. Obviously, the two were basking in the attention directed at them.
"The girls have gotten even crazier than last year, right buchou?" chuckled Oshitari, as he winked at a group of fangirls, causing them to have nosebleeds and faint.
Ootori stood behind Shishido, trying to hide even though the second-year easily towered over his senpai. He blushed a light pink as the fangirls called his name. When they finally reached the courts after what seemed like half an hour, Atobe started the regulars off with a warm-up of 20 laps, 50 forehand swings, 50 backhand swings, and 20 push-ups.
As the regulars started running the laps, a blond, green-eyed stranger was watching the scene intently, smiling to herself, as she sat on a branch of a tree just outside the tennis courts.
-An Hour Later-
After the regulars had finished their last push-up, Atobe began the practice matches.
"Hiyoshi and Kabaji, Court A. Taki, go ref! Ootori-Oashitari and Shishido-Mukahi, Court B. Jirou, go ref! Ore-sama will observe."
The girls outside the courts started screaming in anticipation as Atobe finished what he was saying. On Court A, Hiyoshi's match with Kabaji had started with Hiyoshi serving. He looked as if he had trouble keeping the basic tennis stances. While Hiyoshi was struggling with the basic tennis movements, Kabaji kept putting power into his shots. Hiyoshi lost his service game just by Kabaji's return aces.
"Kabaji! There is no gekokujou for you here!" yelled Hiyoshi. His eyes had gained a new determination.
"Usu," Kabaji stated as he stared straight at Hiyoshi.
"Game, Kabaji! One game to love."
On Court B, Mukahi was sweating tremendously with Shishido panting heavily on the baseline.
"Dammit. Mukahi, we have to win this, or it will be gekidasa!"
On the other side of the court, Ootori and Oshitari were perfectly fine. They didn't even break a sweat yet. Ooshitari smirked as he watched his doubles partner.
"Come on, Gakuto. You can do better than this, can't you? If you lose now, you will never beat Seigaku's Kikumaru Eiji."
Oshitari grinned as Mukahi tensed up. Gakuto was so was easy to manipulate.
"Shishido-san, I'm going to serve now!" smiled Ootori.
"Ou! I'm ready!" Shishido seemed to have regained his composure after seeing his kouhai smile. (A/N: AND NO, THEY AREN'T GAY!)
"Okay, Ii…Kyou…Kon!"
"Kyaa! There it is! Ootori-kun's Scud Serve!" The fangirls were now screeching at the top of their lungs.
"Che, it got faster, but I can return it!"
As the ball bounced into the serving box, Shishido attempted a slice on the rapidly approaching ball. It bounced off of his racket before he fell back from the impact of Ootari's Scud Serve. As the ball went over to the other side of the net, Oshitari hit a lob.
"Yes, I got this!" Gakuto yelled as he did a Moonsault to smash the ball.
"NO! Gakuto, you idiot! Oshitari has the-…" It was too late. Oshitari had already used his Higuma Otoshi.
"Oi, Jirou! Aren't you going to call that?"
"It's no use, Shishido. Jirou won't wake up," Oshitari sighed while looking at Jirou, who was sleeping soundly on the ref chair. As the two matches progressed, the mysterious stranger climbed down from the branch she was sitting on. When she stepped off the tree, the sunlight hit her, giving her a warm feeling, as it shimmered down her cascading, gold locks of hair.
She stepped further away form the shade of the tree to the bright sunlight that welcomed her, while intently observing the practice matches from her spot. She wore casual clothes, but still seemed stunning in a natural way. A few of the fangirls whispered to each other as they spotted her.
"Is she from Hyotei?" That was the main question that was going around. She ignored the looks the other girls were giving her and continued to watch the practice matches with critique. Her initiative was to scout out the best player. Out of the six that were playing, Oshitari Yuushi looked like the best.
"Hmm…seems like Yuushi is the best, but then again, Jirou isn't even playing…" muttered the girl. Then, out of nowhere, some of the fangirls pushed her roughly to the ground.
"Oops, sorry about that," the girls snickered sarcastically. "You were in our way and we couldn't see." They smiled innocently at the girl on the floor and turned ck bto cheer on the tennis players.
"I didn't even talk to them and I'm already hated. Well, I guess I should get a better spot to watch anyways," the girl sighed while muttering to herself. She then pushed her way to the tree she was at earlier and looked up to see if it was high enough. Perfect, she thought.
She sprang up with a graceful but powerful leap. She jumped from branch to branch and climbed to the very top of the two-story high tree. When she reached the top, she took in a big breath of air and jumped to the fence that separated the tennis courts from the screaming fangirls.
"This is a good spot. I can see everyone very clearly." She nodded in satisfaction. I guess I should ask Yuushi for a match now, she thought.
She stood up on the pole of the fence, keeping her balance as she shouted, "Hey Yuushi! Have a match with me!"
As she said this, the regulars abruptly stopped what they were doing to see where the voice had come from. Why does no one ever look up? She crouched on the pole and jumped. It was like watching a feather, as she gently landed on the ground, not making a sound. Unfortunately for her, the place where she landed was about five feet away in front of Atobe. She caught his attention instantly, including those of the fangirls and regulars.
At that moment, at least half of the fangirls snarled menacingly at her. Then again, the girl didn't really care. After brushing off the dust that had gotten on her clothes, she straightened up and started walking towards the regulars, who were gaping at the girl.
As she moved further away from Atobe, he was about to open his mouth and tell her to get off of his tennis courts. But as he was about to speak, he fell into a trance. She was the first person he had ever seen to do something so reckless, but then walk away so gracefully. She had an aura; he couldn't bring his voice out as she walked straight over to Court B.
"Hey Yuushi!" she yelled as she approached his court. The tensai was the first to recover from his state of shock and looked at the girl. The others were still staring at the spot she jumped to.
"Well if it isn't Emi-hime. If you were in Japan, you could have called me beforehand," the tensai added with a gentle smile on his face.
"Yeah, but I wanted to surprise you and Jirou. Speaking of Jirou…" she walked over to the ref chair where Jirou was still dozing off. "Jirou, if you are going to be ref, then you have to stay awake!" The way she said the last word made everyone shudder and Jirou blinked his eyes lazily.
Atobe fell out of his trance and stood with another shocked expression. How had that girl been able to wake Jirou up when even Ore-sama couldn't? Atobe thought. Jirou opened his eyes, yawned, scratched his head, and looked at the girl with a bored expression. Then, as if something had clicked in Jirou's mind, he realized he recognized the girl standing next to his ref chair.
"EMI?" he jumped out of the ref chair and hugged the girl. "I didn't know you were back in Japan! I missed you so much! When did you come back?" Jirou was now fully awake as he kept jumping up and down, killing her with his death hug.
"Now, now, Jirou. We can't have Emi-hime dying while visiting Hyotei, but Emi-hime, when did you come back? More importantly, why are you at Hyotei?" the tensai asked with a puzzled look as Jirou finally let go. The girl, who we now know as Emi, smiled at the two.
"Well, actually… to tell you the truth… uh… actually guys, can we talk somewhere a little bit more… private?"
The two boys looked around and finally noticed their surrounding. The fangirls had stopped screaming, and were now glowering at Emi with rage. The regulars had shocked faces and their mouths were wide open, staring at Emi, not believing that a girl could jump down from such a height.
"What is this ann? Is she one of your fangirls, Yuushi? Ore-sama doesn't like it when non-members go on Ore-sama's courts." said Atobe as he walked over to the three, finally snapping out of his trance.
Emi turned around to see where this voice was coming from. She saw a boy about her age walking toward her. Wow. This guy is actually hotter than Yuushi, thought Emi as he got closer to the group. As he walked, a chorus of "Atobe-sama~" and "King~!" erupted from the fangirl crowd. He then flipped his hair and flashed a flirtatious smile, which made half of the fangirls faint.
"Ooh… so he's a playboy jerk, huh?" Emi whispered to Jirou and Yuushi. They just chuckled quietly. Then, "Atobe-sama" finally picked up his pace and walked over to them.
"So, Yuushi, is she your fangirl or not?" Atobe asked. He looked at Emi and smirked condescendingly. How dare he think that I was a fangirl? Plus, most of the girls are giving me killer glares! Her eye started to twitch out of anger.
"First of all, I am not Yuushi's or anyone else's fangirl. Second of all, I just came here to have a match with the strongest player, and as far as I could tell, it was Yuushi." She then turned to face Yuushi. "So, basically that's it. Have a match with me?" She asked, her emerald eyes sparkling with hope.
"Of course I would love t-…"
"No, Ore-sama will not allow Yuushi to miss practice just to play with a weak fangirl," stated Atobe with an egocentric tone. Now, Emi was furious. First, this idiot thought that she was a fangirl, and now he thought that she was weak? HE WILL DIE!
"Then, you have a match with me!" Emi declared as she pointed at Atobe. "Considering the fact that you were only standing around watching your teammates practice, instead of practicing yourself." Emi smirked as he started to twitch. First, this girl interrupts practice, and now she dares to hurt Ore-sama's pride?
"Very well. Ore-sama will accept your challenge, but first, Ore-sama's name is not 'you.' It is Atobe Keigo," he said with a smug grin, expecting her to gasp and apologize for being so rude to his Highness. Instead, she just stood there with the same bored expression.
"Nice to meet you, Atobe. Now let's just start this match. Yuushi, I will count on you to be ref and Jirou, don't fall asleep! I need you to tell me how much I have improved since last time."
"Okay, Emi~!" "Anything for you, Hime."
How is this girl able to order these two around? They never listen to Ore-sama! thought Atobe.
"Wait," said Atobe. "Before we begin, tell me your name." Atobe was still in shock with this girl's actions and the respect that she was getting from Yuushi and Jirou. She also doesn't seem to care who Ore-sama is, heck she doesn't even give him an ounce of respect! It might as well be worth it to know your name, he thought.
Emi just smiled smugly as Atobe asked her to tell him her name. Hmm… should I tell him? I bet this egocentric, so called "King" would figure out that I'm related to HIM if I answered truthfully, she thought.
"All right, Atobe, if you beat me in a match, I will give you the honor of knowing my name," she grinned as Atobe was burning with anger and frustration.
- The "Otaku Corner" -
TheSpunky(Short)Alchemist: As promised, Fail4Ninjas will reveal one of our members' nickname origin. Now, time to put the spotlight on FlippinWonka, the author of Amai Masquerade Love!
FlippinWonka: Hey guys! The way I came up with my nickname is from a Prince of Tennis regular you should all be familiar with after reading this chapter. His name is Mukahi Gakuto! 3 Anyways, I hated him before since I support the Kikumaru Eiji fanclub, but one day, I realized that he looks JUST LIKE WILLY WONKA... From then on, I was always crazy about the similarities and decided on the nickname, FlippinWonka, based on his acrobatic tennis skills and "Willy Wonka-ness."
GreenMamushi: And this is why I don't approve of her nickname: too random and way too obsessive...
2ManyShoez: -bows down to audience- Please look forward to our next chapter! Thanks to all of our supporters and contributors!