Chapter 10

Of Disappointment and a Sense of Fate

Alex had come to realize that almost every time a tournament was finished, Seigaku would have a new ranking tournament to make sure the Regulars were the best players. Perhaps the past year, it wouldn't have mattered much, seeing that the regulars seemed a set 8, but now there were 9 players who could challenge for a spot.

Of four groups, the players were placed based on previous ranking to achieve some sense of fairness; but because of that one group would have three strong challengers for a starting spot on the team; meaning, like Inui, you could very well lose your spot. Which, when the groups were made again, we found out he very well could again. Tezuka, Momo and Inui were all in the same group.

Classes were the least important of things, when these tournaments were held, unless you were Syusuke, and they didn't matter ever.

Syusuke.

Alex was having a difficult time dealing with the fact, that now, Syusuke was a guy. He was a guy she particularly liked. Alex found that her relationship with Syusuke had now been imbued with something other than their relaxed camaraderie, or easy feeling comfort. Whatever feeling that allowed Alex to deal with Syusuke very much the same way she dealt with Kaho was gone, and its place, it was confusion every time, all the time. Words took on different meanings, what he did or said, or even what he didn't notice became subject to Alex's new found scrutiny of what was it that Syusuke now evoked in her. Alex understood attraction, she knew what it was like to have a crush on someone, but usually, she would find something to anchor her crush on, whether it be looks, personality, interests, something that she would particularly find alluring to her. With Syusuke it was all that, and something else; something that couldn't be explained.

What was it about the tensai that kept her focused on him, and him alone?

Alex would have been mortified had anyone else noticed her more focused regard of Syusuke, most of all, if he noticed it himself; thank god he never did, at least at that time, he didn't. For now, it was her secret, and something she wasn't willing to talk about just yet. The only person who noticed something was amiss, weirdly enough it wasn't Kaho, but Tezuka.

Like many a times, Syusuke, Tezuka and Alex were at their table, their erstwhile table partner not there; and Tezuka noted how Alex, would look up to an oblivious Syusuke a lot more often than usual. Tezuka was smart enough not to say anything at that time, but he didn't feel like it was something he could keep to himself. As improbable as it could have been, he was interested.

After class, he walked behind Alex and Syusuke as they headed to the next class, but once they neared an empty hallway, he asked Alex if he could ask her something in private. Syusuke teased, and moved on, not consciously curious of what Tezuka might say to Alex.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, once he knew, they were out of earshot from anyone else.

"Yeah… why do you ask?"

"I-I… I think I asked that wrong… I meant to ask if everything is alright between you and Fuji?"

Alex's eyes widened a little, but not enough for Tezuka to notice. "Everything is fine"

"You kept glancing at him… a lot… enough for me to think something was… amiss"

"I-I… I just…"

"You like him" Tezuka discerned from the now uncomfortable person.

"No!" and when Tezuka raised his eyebrow. "Yes"

"Interesting"

"What?"

"I was expecting one of you to like the other, but I thought it would be the other way"

"Really?"

"You and Syusuke are awfully close for having just met. I don't think I have ever seen him this close to anyone, outside family members that is."

"What does that mean then?"

"I don't know. If I didn't know him better I'd say he likes you too."

"But not the way I like him" Alex said a little dejected. "I'm his friend."

"I didn't say that" Tezuka said with a little frown. "I know him well, but I still don't even scratch the surface with him."

"Yeah… me neither"

"I'd say you know him better than I do" Tezuka said, and at Alex's surprised expression he added. "What you know of him, he told you himself. What I know is from knowing him for a long time, and from at times prying it out of him."

"Tezuka I am shocked! You pry!" Alex said.

"I do not! It was in concern!" Tezuka complained.

They laughed a little about it, but they knew the conversation they just had wasn't really one for laughs. Alex understood something very important about Syusuke. Something that as a friend, she was privy to know, and privy to see. To her it was about school gossip or rumors. Syusuke didn't date. She knew that whether she had a crush on him or not it didn't really matter, since it would never be anything more than that. Ales didn't notice that she'd grown quiet, nor that Tezuka seemed to still be looking at her. When she did, she blushed.

"I'm not trying to intrude, but you know what road you are choosing to walk."

"I know, and I guess it doesn't matter."

"I wish I could change it. For the both of you"

"Change it?"

"You like him, and he likes you. But no matter how much he might like you, he'd never do anything about it."

Alex didn't know what to say to that.

Tezuka continued. "For Syusuke, matters of the heart are something he would probably rather not have to deal with"

"Do you…?"

"I know why." Tezuka said, stopping for as second as if trying to phrase things. "He paid witness to what a broken heart can do to a person"

"Oh"

"I'm sorry"

"It's fine Tezuka. It's just attraction." Alex said with a small, but not real smile. "It'll disappear in time."

Even when she said it, she knew she didn't believe, and she knew neither did him. But it wouldn't do any good to continue talking about a moot point. Soon enough, they went their own ways, and Alex found herself for once not thinking of her elusive tensai.

School passed by in a blur, and soon enough, she was with Kaho, watching the intra ranking matches. It was the last day of games, and today the regular 8 would be determined. Who would have guessed the surprise that would come their way.

First Tezuka beat Momo, which if we are honest was pretty much expected. But the surprise came in the Momo-Inui game, where Momo lost his game, in a way that was incredibly weird. Inui had taken Momo's game and discovered the exact way to beat it. It was quite a game, but the silence after it was something that most people where uncomfortable. Momo had lost his place in the regulars, just when the Kantou tournament was around the corner. It was something particularly difficult to shallow.

The second surprise was about an hour later, when Inui and Tezuka were playing. The fact that Inui was playing up to Tezuka's level and managed to find a way to stop his drop shot, made Inui quite a fearsome opponent.

I was standing next to Kaho and Oishi, while on my other side Syusuke, and Eiji were discussing Inui with Coach Ryusaki, Ms. Shiba, and Mr. Inoue.

"… so in the end, while he was designing our training, he was also collecting data on us." Syusuke finished the comment.

"And also training his body to the most rigorous regimen, to attain peak form" said Kaidoh from behind us, as evidence by his hiss.

"I still wouldn't count Tezuka out." Coach Ryusaki said with a smirk.

The game progressed until Tezuka did something that was… let's just leave it at unbelievable. Tezuka unleashed two things that were simply, beyond words. First was the Tezuka zone. His shops went in every direction he wanted, but Inui only returned balls to where Tezuka was standing… not moving. In fact, the only foot that move, was the one he used to angle his position, the other one was a pivot that stayed in the same place. Then was the "Zero-Shiki Drop Shot." It wasn't just a drop shot, this one, on impact, didn't bounce, and rolled back towards the net. The fact that everyone watching, and Inui playing were to say astounded was the understatement of the day.

Alex looked sideways and was confronted by an assault of feelings. One, Alex was still completely amazed and boggled by Tezuka's tennis. Two, Syusuke seemed to be responding quite the same way (everyone was, but she didn't really note that anymore). Three, Syusuke's eyes were open, and those blue orbs, for a very second connected with hers, and Alex flushed, and had to turn away. He was reducing her to a schoolgirl with a crush, with a single look, which had nothing to do with her.

The game stopped being my focal point by now. There were other thoughts making themselves known, and quite emphatically at that. Syusuke was her friend. He was hot, and smart, and talented, and hot, and kind, and understanding, and hot, and a whole lot more of other adjectives she could think of, but he was still her friend. By the word of someone she trusted she had already confirmed another thing: A friend is the only thing he would ever be, and unless Alex wanted to destroy what made their friendship so great, her crush had to disappear or be altogether unnoticeable.

Tezuka won, maintaining his level of awesomeness in the team, and reminding everyone just why he was the Seigaku buchou. At first it would have seemed that the team would celebrate the regulars, but when Echizen left without a word, the freshmen trio somberly cleaned up one of the courts, Kaidoh disappeared before anyone could say anything, and even Eiji was a little subdued; well, celebrations were not in order; more so, because Momo, for once, was not smiling, making jokes, or even fighting with Kaidoh. He was sad, and it translated to anyone that knew him.

Syusuke and Alex had a tutoring session that day, which he suggested they should work over at the café or Alex's parent's restaurant. Alex chose the restaurant, because she knew they'd at least get free pizza later on. Perks of being the owners' daughter.

Math had begun to make sense to her lately; which basically pointed out how confused Alex was about everything else, that math out of everything actually made sense now. Alex's almost complete silence didn't go unnoticed, and Syusuke being the awesome guy as aforementioned, asked.

"You ok?"

"I'm fine" a soft smile to make a somewhat valid point.

"You are really quiet, and hardly have needed my help" he pointed out.

"I kind of get this chapter; and it hasn't been the happiest day"

"I know what you mean. Remember when Inui lost his spot to Echizen before?"

"Yeah…"

"We did not feel this bad then"

"Well, in my case, I didn't know you guys enough to be completely bummed out about it"

"True… and Echizen proved such an intriguing player then, that Inui's loss went a little unnoticed." Syusuke said and then a little reflectively. "Wonder if he resents us about that?"

"Doubt it. And if he did, his special practice sessions and special juices made quite a payback… at least for some of you"

"The juices are not bad"

"You are probably the one person who would say that"

"You've never tried them"

"They were green and emitting fumes! I sure poison is bad for me, but you don't see me testing it out!" Alex said a little loudly.

Alex smiled and tried to resume working with her math, but she was interrupted again.

"I get the feeling that tennis was not the reason your day was sad." Syusuke said, his voice a little lower.

Alex froze… sort of. Her hand kept working mechanically on the math problem, but her brain was trying to find a way to counter what he had just said, without blushing seven way to scarlet. The fact that her mother walked over, and brought them sodas at that moment is something she will secretly thank her for the rest of my life. She distracted him long enough, for him to drop the question unanswered, and resume working on his homework.

As we returned to their normal way of friendship, Alex was confident that the crush would probably fade on its own… at least, that she hoped.