Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't have any ownership rights to Tennis no Ohjisama, for if I did I'm not so sure there'd ever be a New Prince of Tennis…

Summary: Seishun High School: The team is finally complete again, thanks to the return of freshman wonder Echizen Ryoma from America and 3 ex-regulars joining the tennis team again. Besides winning Nationals and being a regular again, manager Inui Sadaharu has a new resolution: obtain an assistant (a.k.a. guinea pig) to aid him. Fortunately (for him) he finds one in the form of the unsuspecting new sophomore entering Kaidoh's and Momo's class this year. Thus begins the tale of...

The Manager's Assistant

Chapter Four (a.k.a. That In Which Even More Meetings Occur, and Annoyance/s Met)


It was four in the morning, and Tori still could not sleep. Could not even catch forty winks, which left him in a rather bad mood, for he knew that the lack of sleep would make its mark known on his features and attitude later in the day, and not in a good way at all.

The source of his sad state-of-affairs was simple and known to him, though, and the tired teen, not for the first and certainly not the last time, swore mentally at it.

'Damn you Inui-senpai!'

(Fortunately for Inui Sadaharu, he was too deeply asleep to suddenly get the urge to sneeze. It was just as well, since he would have been repeatedly doing so throughout the night were he awake.)

Tori tossed and turned in his bed, even as his mind ran through the recent chat he had had with the tennis club's data specialist over and over. Try as he might, he couldn't make sense of certain points in what Inui-senpai had said; in fact, he was sure that some pieces of said exchange had no sound or logical basis whatsoever! Yet the senior had tempted him by offering as part of the deal what Tori wanted, needed even, and in the end he had made a decision, even though he was second-guessing it (still!). The infuriating part was that even when he didn't want to think about the situation, his brain would bring it up, unbidden, and that also at the most unfortunate of times…

Like now, for instance: when all he wanted to just sleep in peace!

'Darn you, my oh-so-off-timing mind!'

Finally the sophomore gave up all attempts to seek the Sandman, and wearily arose, feet taking him to the bathroom as he begin his morning routine: brush teeth, wash up, change into uniform, head to the kitchen to make/cook breakfast before setting out for school…

All in all, it was just another start to a typical school day, albeit grudgingly earlier than usual.

"I don't believe this…" Tori let his voice trail off into a mere whisper; his eyes had gone wide with shock and his jaw was just about to drop open in disbelief.

"95.3% that you would not," Inui stated, his pen pausing momentarily at the gobsmacked expression on the sophomore's face. As Tori didn't look like he would be able to speak coherently any time soon without some prompting, the third-year made a decision to swiftly change the subject.

"Am I right in assuming that you are an accomplished doubles specialist in badminton, Tori-san?" Alright, perhaps a tad too abruptly, but it seemed to work; Tori still looked stunned, but had regained enough wits to weakly nod at that.

"Then there exists a 74.2% chance that you can easily substitute as a doubles back-up, should we require one urgently during the tennis tournaments." Tori frowned, cutting in with his interjection.

"That doesn't make any sense at all, Inui-senpai. Firstly, I'm a badminton player, not a tennis player… And don't you already have more than enough players in the tennis club to choose from? Anyway, what does that have to do with your preposition, senpai?" Despite the general increase in Tori's volume, Inui remained calm, using his forefinger to push up his spectacles as he waited for the other to finish his roll of queries. Once the sophomore had ended, the data player continued talking as if he had never been interrupted. His next words, however, left Tori speechless, mouth agape and mind in a whirl:

"I can say with 100% that I can perhaps ascertain the reason why you entered Seikou, instead of Hyoutei, where your cousin currently studies at."

It took a few days before the conversation with Inui ceased to drive Tori to the point of being insomniac; by the time this state came about, it was the end of a Friday, and the start of a rare homework-free (and thus stress-free) weekend.

Given the circumstances, the black-haired male did what any normal teenager stuck at home would do: he whooped and switched on the TV, surfing channels until he found a show worth watching ('Now, to Glee or not to Glee? Or be entertained by Durarara?'), then went to raid the larder for tidbits to snack on. Munching on a sour-cream-and-onion crisp and in a cheerful mood, he took a passing glance at the huge calendar hanging on the kitchen door on his way out and absent-mindedly noted the date.

It wasn't until hours later, though, that the significance of the date he had glimpsed actually hit his consciousness, hard; Tori sharply sat up, back ramrod-straight and no longer slouching, and let out a few choice words, eyes hastily checking the time as he did so.

'Just after five-thirty… Good, he's free, so I can call him now and still fulfill that promise by arranging something for next week…'

A casual saunter brought him to the house phone; having quickly calmed down, Tori smiled serenely as he picked up the receiver and dialed a number, one nearly forgotten by months of non-usage. After a few minutes of listening to a monotonous dialing tone, someone picked up, and a smooth voice echoed pleasantly into the sophomore's right ear.

"Hai, moshi moshi?"

Atobe Keigo, captain of Hyoutei High School's Tennis Club and filthy-rich diva, was for once thankful that his transport was late.

On retrospect, he supposed that this entire situation was slightly his fault (Keyword here being slightly). The narcissistic captain had an after-club meeting with Sakaki-sensei that he estimated would last a minimum two hours. Much to his consternation, it had finished within 90 minutes; consequentially he was now alone, waiting for his driver. Letting out an irritated sigh ('Ore-sama shouldn't be waiting for anything!'), Atobe flipped open his newly-acquired Nokia N-series equipment…

… And paused momentarily, cellphone going unnoticed in favor of the scene opposite him.

'Hm… 23 minutes already…' Oshitari Yuushi thought as he leant against the wall, eyes closing in an attempt to steal some precious forty winks. The tensai of Hyoutei had been waiting very, very, very patiently since the end of tennis practice; he had an appointment with an old acquaintance, and he was determined to keep it, even if it meant waiting this long… Well, he supposed he could always guilt-ride his associate later.

'Oh, the many ways I can use this to my advantage…'

Oshitari heard the sound of running feet headed his direction a few seconds later, and languidly opened his eyes in time to see his black-haired contact skid to a stop in front of him, drawing in deep breaths of air as he begin explaining.

"S-sorry about… coming late… was helping Inui-senpai… with his latest juice…" Tori gasped out between breaths. Oshitari stoically nodded, hoisted his tennis bag further up his shoulder and waited for the Seigaku sophomore to start breathing normally again before walking away.

"… And that's why I'm la – Hey Yuushi, where're you going?" Tori exclaimed as he ran to catch up with the blunette. Neither high-scholars noticed a certain tennis captain approaching them…

"And who is this, Yuushi? Ore-sama demands you introduce him immediately."

… Well, not for another minute, that is, but that's besides the point here.

Tori turned around at the sound of someone addressing Oshitari. Said teenager nearly gave into the urge to groan, but stifled it speedily; he was, after all, a tensai, and his cool demeanor had to be kept up as much as possible. He managed to maintain his stoical expression as he faced Atobe, who had a smirk present on his features. Before the blue-haired player could say anything, though, Tori spoke up.

"Hyoutei High School's captain Atobe Keigo, I presume?" Said diva blinked once, temporarily caught off-guard before he swiftly assumed his natural air again.

"Ore-sama's reputation must have vastly exceeded even ore-sama's personal expectations if ore-sama's name and position is known by an unknown international visitor which ore-sama has never met before this day!"

An irritated twitch formed on Tori's eyebrow and he promptly snapped back, "Really? Honestly, when I first heard your name I thought it was the weirdest name I'd ever heard in my life, period. Heck, I wasn't even sure that my ears were functioning properly!"

(Of course, Tori being Tori, the remark didn't turn out as sarcastic as intended, but Atobe got riled up anyway. Surprising, ne? Or maybe not…)

The duo started bickering as Hyoutei's prodigy looked on and wondered just how had he gotten into such a volatile scenario. Maybe if he slipped away and met Tori later somewhere far, far, far away from now…

"Hey Yuushi, just where do you think you're going?"

"Ore-sama demands you side with your captain instead of this… this… this impudent and uncivilized child here!"

"Just who are you calling an insolent gaki, you arrogant, pompous, egoistical narcissist!"

"What does that mean? Ore-sama is NOT narcissistic!" Tori just gave the Hyoutei captain a look of utter disbelief as Oshitari hid his face in his palm, sighing softly. He mentally swore as the two picked up from their temporary pause in arguing, then pondered on what course of action to do next.

It took Oshitari Yuushi, tensai of Hyoutei, a mere 4 minutes to come up with an applicable idea. He smiled triumphantly; perhaps he could stop the duo after all…

A fortnight passed before any of the Seikou tennis players met Atobe again. This time, though, it was Momoshiro's and Ryoma's turn to be graced with the gray-haired diva's presence at a place visited infrequently by him: the street tennis courts.

The first sign of the appearance of the Hyoutei team was heard rather than seen as a loud shout of "Oi!" echoed across the courts. Gyokurin's Izumi and Fukawa, Momoshiro, Ryoma and Tachibana Ann turned as one to face/stare at the various players watching from the sidelines. Atobe, Shishido Ryou and Mukahi Gakuto had smirks decorating their faces; Ootori Choutarou gave them a small smile; Oshitari, Kabaji Munehiro and Hiyoshi Wakashi retained their expressionless features; Akutagawa Jirou snored.

"They are so annoying…" Nods of agreement came from Momo and the Gyokurin pair in response to Ann's muttering. Ryoma just pulled his cap lower; he was not in the mood to deal with the Monkey King today, so hopefully if he were ignored, Atobe would leave.

"Ore-sama is not annoying, Ann-chan." Apparently Hyoutei's captain not only possessed an enormous ego, he also had pretty sharp hearing. Atobe stood and moved away from his position, mildly offended as he headed for the exit. He paused a second before descending the stairs.

"Another thing. Momoshiro, send my regards to Tezuka. Tori too, while you are at it," the diva added as an afterthought before leaving, all but one member of his team following in his footsteps. Oshitari briefly hung back to address the power player.

"Send my greetings to Tori as well. Thanks." And with that last request all traces of Hyoutei's tennis team vanished from the street courts, leaving five stunned and/or confused players in their wake.

"So what do you say, Tori-san? The deal is mutually beneficial: I get an assistant manager for the team, and you get access to all the data I have and will obtain, which may help you fulfill your goals for entering this school faster."

Inui looked at Tori as he spoke, trained eyes taking note of the facial motions on the other's face. Clearly the sophomore had some doubts remaining, but his next words summed up his response to the entire idea:

"Well, if that's the case, I might as well give it a go…" A slender finger nervously adjusted a pair of spectacles, a hesitant smile appearing after. "… It's a deal then."

END OF CHAPTER FOUR