"Listen up, all of you! Momoshiro, shut up and pay attention!"
Ryuzaki sensei turned to the eight of us, hands on her hips in an I-mean-business fashion. She cleared her throat and whipped out a piece of paper.
"This is the registration form for the district preliminaries! These will be our first matches of the season—and, of course, the first step to reaching Nationals." She paused a second to examine our faces. The room was silent, everyone waiting.
"We'll be playing against Gyokurin, and don't underestimate them. They're good tennis players. But we're not the number one seed for nothing." Something in her eyes glowed. "It's our job to be better."
Next to me, Momo senpai chuckled, clenching and unclenching his fist. From the front of the room, Inui senpai spoke, his nose buried in his notebook.
"We have a 98.52% of winning overall, based on the players' statistics and the data of our previous matches. Of course, the player order is very important, but within reasonable margin of error for my calculations, we should still have no problem winning. Because this is our first match, we are required to play all five games, so I have accounted for all the scenarios. Five to zero in our favor has the highest percentage, meaning our advantage over Gyokurin is significant—"
"Unless you bore us all to death right now, Inui," Kikumaru senpai yawned, arms stretched out over his head. The room chuckled, and Oishi fukubuchou murmured something reprimanding. Inui senpai looked up from his notebook, glasses flashing.
"Interesting hypothetical, Kikumaru…if to judge by the approximation of limiting fac—"
"Yes, yes, that's wonderful, Inui," Ryuzaki sensei interrupted dryly, prompting a snicker from Momo senpai. She went on, "Now, as you all know, you are to arrive tomorrow morning at promptly the scheduled time or else we will be disqualified..."
"Hey, Echizen." Momo senpai elbowed me. "When are we gonna tell the hag…you know—" He grinned. "Bet Inui senpai didn't think of that in his calculations."
"Hm." I allowed a brief smirk. "Are you sure she's going to agree to it?" Momo senpai shrugged.
"I'd say fifty-fifty, did you read your horoscopes th—"
"Momoshiro, Echizen! Stop talking immediately or go take ten laps!" Tezuka buchou barked.
"Y-yes buchou…" Momo senpai grimaced and faced forward again, but kept murmuring under his breath. "I swear to Buddha, buchou needs like a cheeseburger or a girlfriend or something…
I smirked and faced forward again.
"You. Two. Are. Playing. Doubles. Doubles."
Kikumaru senpai's eyes were the size of tennis balls as they flickered between me and Momo senpai; he seemed to be hanging on the hope that we'd say it was all a joke. When we didn't, he threw up his hands.
"This is crazy. You guys are absolutely crazy."
"Thank you for thinking so highly of us, Eiji senpai," Momo senpai sighed dramatically. "But we're pretty confident in this, right Echizen?"
"Hm." Kikumaru senpai shot me a wide-eyed look of distain. A distance off behind him on one of the benches, Oishi fukubuchou was bent over his tennis bag, looking like he was about to dive into it. After a while of fumbling he straightened up, scratched his head, and looked towards us.
"Eiji!" he called. "Have you seen—?"
"You put it in the side pocket of my bag!" Kikumaru senpai replied instantly, not taking his eyes away from us. Oishi fukubuchou promptly began diving into another bag, and moments later, pulled out a roll of grip tape.
"There it is—thanks!"
Momo senpai let out a low whistle.
"So 'Golden Pair' isn't a joke, hun? It's like you guys can read each other's minds!"
It occurred to me then to point out to him that saying that wasn't helping our case very much—but thankfully Ryuzaki sensei chose at this time to call everyone over for a pre-match pep talk. Momo senpai and I turned to start walking over towards the courts, when Kikumaru senpai suddenly said,
"Remember 'we'." I looked back at him questioningly. His face was set in a serious expression. "During the match, no 'I', 'me', 'you'. If there's a problem, 'WE' fix it. Got it?"
He fixed a stern gaze at the both of us, uncharacteristically grim. Something in that glint in Kikumaru senpai's eyes stopped the brash comment I was going to make, as I realized that this was his way of teaching us how to win.
"Thanks," I finally said, turning back around. "We'll remember that." I heard him chuckle after a moment, and felt a light punch on my shoulder.
"Go and win out there, ochibi, Momo!" he cheered, back to his normal self.
"Oh we will…" Momo senpai grinned and stepped towards the courts, murmuring something barely audible over the cracking of his knuckles:
"Wouldn't be good to break promises…wouldn't be good at all…"