Chapter 4

Fuji padded over to his side of the court, looking thoughtfully over his racket, playing idly with the strings as he listened to the birds chirping in the sakura trees that surrounded the courts. It was such a nice day… he would have to set some time aside later on that evening and pop over to St. Rudolph's by bus and drag Yuuta out of his dorm rooms to have some fun with him. Maybe ice cream, perhaps? Yuuta had always been partial to strawberry ice cream when he was little.

Shifting his thoughts from his little brother to his current situation, beating Nakamura, he reflected on what Inui had told him in class:

'Matches are still generally going to be the best of one set—'

'Why generally, Inui?'

'I've heard that they're planning on changing it into best of three sets, Fuji. When I say generally, I'm going to be assuming that for the ranking matches and for the Kanto Prefectures it's going to be best of one, but for the semi-finals, finals, and nationals it will be best of three. At least, that is what I have deduced after combining my own existing data with new data that I have obtained from the senpai-tachi.'

'Saa… Inui was very busy these first few days, wasn't he?'

'It is important to gather as much data as possible, that's all.'

'Ah… naruhodo…'

'Also, Fuji, I regret to inform you that I have not been able to gather any data on any of our possible upperclassmen opponents. All I've managed to gather was that last year's regulars made sweeping victories in all of the ranking matches that were held. Don't expect it to easy, and don't rely solely on your talents like you have previously done before. Do some planning beforehand, will you?'

Fuji chuckled dryly. Saa… Inui… you should know by now that planning ahead in a match isn't what I do best, he thought, turning his face to the sky. Two doves flew above his head, and his eyes opened as he watched their path of flight, the clear blue of those luscious orbs enough to put any respectable sapphire to shame. After flying a while together, the two doves separated, one flying back to where they had come from, and the other pushing onwards. Those birds…

Unbidden, his mind brought him back to his match with Tezuka the year before. You are the one who still goes forward, ne, Tezuka? And I? I have decided to go back. Is that right?

He paused, watching the dove fly back and then stop, hovering in midair for a few moments furiously flapping its wings. As he waited, he saw the animal turn and fly back in its original direction until it was out of his sight. Somehow, Fuji knew that it never reached its companion's side again, no matter how hard it flew. You never cease to amaze me, Tezuka. As I stand here on the courts, I really want to play again with you. Will you let me catch up to you? Or are you going to let me keep trying, like you usually do? And who is going to be behind all this time, watching me try, I wonder? It gets lonely when you try to do something by yourself, ne?

His eyes shifted to Asa and Miho standing to the side. Inui had joined them, and the three were talking quite seriously about some topic or another, most likely tennis related. As if reading his thoughts, Asa turned to meet his gaze, offering a smile and a faint wave, and a tiny smile spread across Fuji's face. Aa-chan, watch me. I will catch up to Tezuka.

I will.

***

"Fuji-kun looks very serious," Asa murmured softly. Inui and Miho turned to look at her in puzzlement, before turning to Fuji. The boy stood with his back to them, checking the tension of his strings one last time before he would start playing his match. All they saw was the wispy strands of the brown hair on his head. "Did you see those two doves flying above us just a few minutes ago? I think seeing those two creatures made him decide to give the ranking matches everything he's got."

Miho looked thoroughly puzzled at this moment. "What are you talking about, Asa-chan? How do doves have anything to do with being serious about tennis?" she asked, furrowing her brows.

Asa smiled softly, a soft twitch of the corners of her mouth upwards. "Remember last year, during the tournament that decided who would go on to Nationals as the regulars? Regrettably, I couldn't make it, but I heard that Fuji-kun's match with Tezuka-kun was extraordinary." She didn't look at either Inui or Miho, or any of the other old Seigaku regulars who had walked up to join them. "He lost, didn't he?" she asked softly, more to herself than to the rest of them.

"Asa-chan, that's stating the overly obvious. That was the hot gossip of school for the next two days!"

"I know, I know… but those two doves symbolized Tezuka-kun and Fuji-kun very well. The dove that kept flying forward on a straight path was Tezuka-kun. To Tezuka-kun, tennis was always his top priority, right? Therefore he will take his tennis and perfect it in order for him to move onwards. The one that went back and then tried desperately to catch up with its flight partner was Fuji-kun. Similarly, Fuji-kun never takes tennis seriously and so is more prone to straying away from Tezuka's set path."

Oishi frowned thoughtfully. "But it's good to be unique, isn't it? Fuji could blaze his own trail. He certainly has enough spunk to do it, that's for sure."

"Yes, he could. But instead he chooses to chase after Tezuka. Why? Because Fuji-kun likes challenges. It wouldn't be much of a challenge for him to make his own path." Suddenly, Asa grinned cheerfully. "Or perhaps maybe it's because he wants to be able to say to Tezuka-kun one day: 'I beat you.'"

Eiji nodded, tucking his hands behind his head. "That makes sense. Ever since our first year together in Seigaku, Fuji always looked up to Tezuka. Tezuka was Fuji's best friend and greatest rival. And no doubt with Fuji's personality, to be able to tease Tezuka with the fact that he beat him will be a great victory, nya!"

"Ii data…" muttered Inui, hastily scribbling away in his notebook (he had picked a brand new one just for the occasion of a new school year, so had many, many gloriously blank pages to write on) about this new Fuji information. As a side note, he added:

'Kikumaru Eiji is more capable of being mature now that he has entered high school. Will monitor carefully to see if it is a fluke or not, or if it is simply with certain subjects (ex: Fuji).'

"Nya, Inui! What are you writing? Are you gathering information on Fujiko? Or other people we know? I wanna see, I wanna see!"

Turning away from the bouncing redhead, the data master continued to scribble down notes:

'It is a fluke. No need for further investigation.'

Miho and Oishi hurried to try to stop their bouncing friend from bothering Inui (it had long been discovered that it one annoyed Inui enough, they would be found unconscious the next day with a glass of Inui Juice as their cause of misery. It looked like Eiji forgot about that…) while Asa turned back to face the court and Fuji. Fuji turned to her, and she gave a slight inclination of her head and a cheery little wave.

If you want something, you need to put 100% behind it, don't you agree, Fuji-kun? If you do, I'm sure you'll catch up to Tezuka-kun.

I'm sure you will.

I know you will. And I'll be here watching you.

***

"Game, Fuji! Three games to two!"

A collective sigh of relief came from the onlookers. "Fujiko's catching up, nya!" Eiji said happily, clapping his hands. "This is so exciting, nya! Fujiko actually looks serious! I want to play against him now; it's not fair that that sempai gets to."

Miho and Oishi hurried to shush him, since they were beginning another game and it was important to be quiet for the players to concentrate. "Shush, Eiji!" Miho squeaked, covering his mouth with one hand. He shushed immediately, along with a faint reddening of his cheeks.

Conveniently (or not so, depending on who one asked), Miho missed this.

Asa glanced over to her side to see Inui scribbling madly into his notebook. Was there really that much stuff to write about a tennis match? But since it was Inui, she supposed that it was normal… to some degree. "What do you think, Inui-kun? About this match, that is."

Inui looked up briefly from his book before returning to his furious scribblings. "In terms of physical build, both Nakamura and Fuji are evenly matched, despite Nakamura's earlier remark upon Fuji having any visible muscle. Nakamura has more speed than Fuji, though, and that makes countering his shots easier." His pen's scratching slowed fractionally as he looked up, a frown on his face. "When playing against a player who's faster than you, it'll be important to make them use the entire court and tire them out. Precise control will be needed, and Fuji has an abundance of that. Observe how Fuji is aiming the ball at the extreme corners of the court, and then he sneaks in cord balls and drop shots to make him move abruptly to the front. It's an effective way to wear away the opponent's stamina as well as keep them on an edge."

Asa digested this all slowly, one finger placed on her chin as she adopted a thoughtful expression on her face. "So you're saying that technique is more important?" she finally asked.

"Not necessarily, but it must be employed more than against any other player," was Inui's response as he returned to his notebook.

Asa looked puzzled, and turned around when she heard Oishi chuckle. "Inui's explanations are a bit confusing, aren't they?" he asked, giving her a kind smile. "Let's just leave it at the fact that Fuji is an extraordinary tennis player. Does that make more sense?"

She grinned up at the boy. "Hai!"

***

The first ranking match ended an hour later. Fuji won, but only after a grueling tiebreaker. "Wahhh… such an exciting match!" Miho sighed, plopping down on a bench on the park when they had finally left school. "Aren't you glad you didn't have a shift at the shop today, Asa-chan?" she asked happily, glancing up at her friend.

"Now that you mention it, I suppose it was a good thing that the other people decided they wanted to work extra."

Miho grinned, and then waved to someone behind Asa, and so she turned around to see Fuji and Eiji walk up to her. "Congratulations, Fuji-kun!" the two girls chorused together.

Fuji smiled brightly as he accepted the words of congratulation. "Arigato," he thanked them, looking quite pleased with himself. "That was a lot harder than I thought, but it was fun," he said cheerfully, readjusting the strap of his tennis bag. "Do you guys mind going to the sweet shop? I feel like having something sweet."

Asa perked up, looking excited. "Let's go!" she said, seconding his offer. "There are so many new cakes I want you all to try!"

"Why do I get the feeling that Aa-chan wants to stuff them down our throats, nya?" Eiji whispered to Miho.

"Eiji!" Miho scolded him, although she then sighed. "I really don't think you'd mind that, though, would you?"

"Nope! Cake is good, nya!"

"Eiji-kun is always so energetic… I'm jealous," Asa said happily when they left the park, Eiji still chattering happily to Miho about cakes. The shop wasn't too far from the park, so they were there in a matter of minutes. "Konichiwa!" Asa chirped up as she opened the door and stepped into the cozy little shop's interior.

One of the waitresses looked up in surprise before her face creased into a smile. "Ijuuin-chan! Don't tell me that you like working here so much that you pop up even when you don't have a shift!" she teased.

Asa grinned back in response. "What? Can't I invite friends over to have cake?" she asked, all the while, tugging at her friends' sleeves to show them the cakes she wanted them to try. "This way, this way! You need to try this; it's very good!"

"The way you're talking about it, I'm sure it's delicious, Aa-chan," Fuji chuckled, watching with a bemused expression on his face as she picked out several cakes for them. "They certainly look good, though!" he said as he accepted a plate and padded over to a table, closely followed by Eiji and Miho.

They had scarcely started to eat when the door opened with a tinkling of bells and two familiar figures made themselves known in Fuji's field of vision. "Ah…Nakamura-sempai…" Fuji said, looking up at the boy. "And you are Sato-chan, am I correct?" he asked the girl standing besides him.

"Yep! I'm Katsuo's cousin, Sato Aimi!"

They exchanged their introductions and then Asa tipped her head to one side, looking puzzled. "Nakamura-sempai, what brings you here today?" she asked curiously.

Nakamura smiled cheerfully, causing Asa to blink in surprise. That's so weird… just a little more than an hour ago he was glaring at me as if I was his sworn enemy… "Ijuuin-chan, wasn't it?" he asked. She nodded, looking puzzled. "Did your parents tell you about it yet?"

"It?" she echoed stupidly.

"I take that as a no? It's a pity then, I'm not all that good at giving out big news."

"Big news?" Miho asked.

Aimi grinned, looking cheerful. "Yep! Big news indeed!"

By this time, they were all surrounded by an abundance of question marks. What on earth were they talking about? I feel like this is something I should about, but I'm totally clueless as to what, Asa mused to herself.

"Hmm… how do I put this? My parents have arranged an omiai with yours between us." He said this all very frankly, a serious and contemplative expression on his face. "I'm surprised that you're in the dark on such a big event."

There were a few minutes of stunned silence, and then, "I didn't think they still had arranged marriages nowadays," Miho said in a hushed voice, looking a bit perturbed as she glanced at Fuji. "It's startling, to say the least."

"It's not common but it's there nonetheless," Fuji sighed, looking quite disturbed himself as he rested his elbows on the table, intertwining his fingers together and then resting his chin on them. "So… does that mean you're Aa-chan's fiancé?" He was taking this whole thing with such an air of false calmness that Eiji suddenly wanted to punch his honey-haired friend.

Nakamura gave him a pitying glance. "Nothing's been decided yet," he said, placing emphasis on the word 'yet'. "The details need to be ironed out. If you would, Ijuuin-chan, our families are going to hold a meeting of sorts tonight at my house, dinner included. We should go now; it's not good to fill yourself on sweets before dinner." And then he was dragging her out the door, leaving Eiji, Miho, Fuji, and Aimi to look after him as he went down the street.

"I'm sorry about my cousin's rudeness," Aimi apologized, talking to Miho since Eiji was busy berating Fuji on his reaction. "He's taking this a bit too seriously. I mean, Ijuuin-chan is a really nice person from what I could see the last time I met her and I'd love to have her in the family, but in the end I suppose it'll all be Ijuuin-chan's decision."

"Eh? You mean there's going to be some lee-way in this whole omiai business?" Miho asked, surprised.

Aimi shrugged. "Something like that. I don't know much about it either." She glanced at her wristwatch before giving a small wave. "Well, I have to go now. Later!" And then she was gone.

Miho turned to Fuji and Eiji. "Ne, ne, did you hear that? There might be some loophole in this whole thing! Asa-chan doesn't have to get engaged yet!"

Fuji forced his usual smile onto his face. "Oh, is that so?" He stood, gathering his things together. "It's getting late and I have quite a bit of homework to do. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Opening the door, he stepped outside, shouldering his tennis bag as he headed for the bus stop. He looked painfully lost.

"And I was so excited that this year was going to be super fun, nya…" Eiji sighed. "We should go home, too, Miho. I'll walk you."

"Ah… yeah…"

Sitting on the top of a lamppost was a solitary dove, its feathers mottled with dirt so that it was no long its pure white color. It tipped its head to the sky and let out a mournful keening cry, repeating it over and over, being heard by no one, and yet being seen by all.

A/N: Ah... yeah... slightly weird. Sorry 'bout that. But it didn't turn out to be that bad, and I'm happy.

Omiai is a Japanese custom where unattached individuals meet in order to arrange a possible marriage. Note, possible

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