N-no reviews for the last chapter? *sadface + okay (dot) jpg* (Too much 9gag orz)

Anyway, there are more than 3 OCs in this story, but only two of them are the main focuses.

As for their back stories... well... look forward to them interludes, aye? :D

(this be line break, mwehehehehe)

"Hmm…"

"Is something the matter, Takeuchi-chan?" Yagyuu asked as he adjusted his glasses. The tennis team was having their regular training at the time, and he had stopped for a quick water break when he saw their manager staring at a piece of paper in her hands from her usual spot on the coach's bench. She looked up at him, ponytail swishing from the movement, and brown eyes blinked at him.

"No, it's nothing, senpai," she answered, standing up from the bench and stretching. The elder teen frowned slightly at the bandage wrapped around her wrist – an injury she had gotten from the competition during the lot drawings (she had won, and the tennis team took her out for dinner to celebrate despite her saying it was not necessary) – but said nothing, knowing she gets irritated when anyone attempts to coddle her. "I think I'll leave early and see buchou. He has been anxious to know who we were competing against."

Yagyuu nodded and helped her gather her papers together – the main reason why she conquered an entire bench on her own. Accidentally reading points on a sheet of paper she labeled 'Akaya-baka' – written entirely in English to stop said baka from reading it – he nearly could not hold back his laughter at a point she had written.

"…is something wrong, senpai?" she asked, frowning as she filed her papers together. She took a quick peek at the paper in his hands and grinned. "Ah. I see."

"Really, Takeuchi-chan? 'I like cuttlefish'?" he asked with a chuckle.

The younger teen giggled. "Double protection, Yagyuu-senpai, in the off-chance Akaya decides to take his English lessons properly. I wrote in code." Here, she huffed slightly. "Yanagi-senpai could decipher them easily, though. As expected of the data master."

Yagyuu handed the paper back to her with another chuckle, and she filed that with the others. "True enough," he agreed as the younger finished up her packing and shouldered her bag – her file remained in her hands. "Let Yukimura-kun know we'll come by after practice."

"You got it," she answered with a small salute. She turned and walked towards their cap-wearing vice captain to inform him of her decision, and the volley master of the team nearly caught her in an overly-enthusiastic hug, declaring that they needed to visit the arcade soon and that "I'll win our next DDR round and bring the score back to a draw, Rei!"… which she answered with a deadpan "oh please, you're buying the next round of parfaits".

She left soon after that, and Yagyuu could not help but smile at the way she had worn the school's tennis jersey over her school uniform – Rei decided she would not participate in their training today due to her injury, much to most of the regulars' relief, but brought the jersey "just because she can", her words exactly (Kirihara Akaya, who had grown up with her, had bluntly told them that she forgot to take it out of her bag and proceeded to get chased around the school by said manager right before practice).

"Hoh…" came the voice of a certain trickster. "When did she start wearing her jersey like Yukimura?" The silver-haired teen smirked. "I saw something interesting."

"Niou, Yagyuu! Get back to practice!" The thundering voice of one Sanada Genichirou stopped the bespectacled teen from answering the trickster, but they shared a smile (or smirk, in Niou's case) before they did as they were told.

(this be line break too :D)

Yukimura Seiichi had been flipping through a book – The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes that he had requested to borrow from Yagyuu – when the now-very-familiar face of Rikkai's manager came through the door. He noted with slight amusement that she wore her jersey the way he did, but did not comment as she sat down on the nearby chair and dropped her bag on the floor beside it.

"How're you feeling today, buchou?" she asked by way of greeting as she removed the jersey to place it on her lap, and he chuckled. Yukimura marked his page with a bookmark and set the book aside.

"The same as I was yesterday, Rei," he answered, and watched in mild interest as the younger teen flipped through the pages of her file and pull out a piece of paper. It was promptly handed to him.

"The match-ups," she said by way of explanation. "You told me you wanted to see it as soon as I got it."

Yukimura laughed softly. "I did not mean for you to skip the team's practice to show it to me," he said even as he accepted the paper and skimmed through it. He smiled at the names he read on the paper – it was nothing the team could not handle, he was sure of it. He handed the paper back to Rei, and it was only then he noticed the bandage wrapped around her wrist.

"You got injured again?" he asked and Rei blinked, pausing momentarily in re-filing the paper before she nodded and kept the paper properly. Her file joined the jersey on her lap. "When did it happen?"

Rei blinked at him again. "Ah, when I had that inter-school competition during the lots drawing," she answered with a careless shrug. "It's no big deal."

The blue-haired teen frowned. "It's not 'no big deal', Rei," he admonished, his tone gentle yet stern at the same time. "That's the second time your wrist has been injured. Please be more careful."

"Hai…" she muttered, looking down momentarily. She resumed smiling soon enough, though. "Yagyuu-senpai said they would come visit after practice. As usual."

Yukimura chuckled. "I look forward to it," he answered honestly, and Rei smiled at him. She gave him a quick progress report on the tennis club and soon launched into a tale of the most annoying day of her life.

"…and then Takeshi-senpai joined them, buchou! He joined them in making my life hell today!" she near-whined. Yukimura could not help but laugh – Rei was far too independent and got annoyed at anyone for doing normal, everyday things for her, and the tennis team (Akaya, especially, worried for his childhood friend the most, considering she lived alone while her parents worked overseas) often rushed to help her when she got injured, Genichirou and Renji the only two exceptions to the rule. Masaharu enjoyed doing it to tease her, and from what he heard, Hiroshi had refrained from it for a while now.

Kitsuke Takeshi, on the other hand, had told the blue-haired teen before that he saw Rei as a 'cute, younger sister character', and seeing as he actually has a younger sister (Yukimura had yet to see her, but from Kitsuke's description, thought that she must be quite cute), had quickly fallen into an 'older brother' role for Rikkai's manager – that role became more…serious… when he found out she was an only child and living alone.

"They were just looking out for you, Rei," he told her with a gentle smile, and she sighed.

"I know. I just… don't know how to deal with it," she confessed, scratching her cheek with a finger awkwardly, and Yukimura smiled. Rei really is far too independent for her age.

"By the way, buchou…" Yukimura tilted his head at her, and Rei stared right back at him. "Are you not going for the surgery?"

Yukimura sighed and leaned back against the pillows the nurses had propped up for him. "Matta kono hanashii ka…" he said with another sigh, and Rei rolled her eyes at him.

"Yes, again," she deadpanned. "I know the doctor said it was a 50-50 thing, but why don't you give it a try?" Brown eyes blinked at him inquisitively. "If I were in your position, buchou, I would rather go for the surgery and potentially survive rather than do nothing and…disappear like that." She tilted her head. "Unless you try, buchou, you'll never know the outcome."

The blue-haired teen sighed, though he was slightly amused that Rei did not say "die" like he thought she would – she was unpredictable and that bit innocent that way. "I…"

"Buchou, we're here to visit you!"

"Akaya, damattore!"

"Kirihara-kun, Takeuchi-chan. We're in a hospital, keep your voices down please."

"The percentage they'll do as you tell them to is 10%, Yagyuu."

"Did you get any cakes today, Yukimura?"

"Marui, you shouldn't take Yukimura's cakes!"

"…puri."

Yukimura chuckled, and there was a sigh from beside him. "Tarundoru…"

"It's fine, Genichirou," Yukimura said with a smile. "I prefer it like this here. It's too quiet normally."

The cap-wearing teen blinked at him before he nodded slowly. "I see."

'And in any case,' the blue-haired teen thought even as he laughed at his teammates' antics. 'I need to think. Rei's words had merit, after all.'

All too soon the nurse came to inform them visiting hours were over, and the team shuffled out of the door with promise to return and visit again, as well as a promise to stay undefeated for his return.

Rei had, after shouldering her bag and putting her jersey on again (he tried not to smile at the way she wore it again), smiled at him near-sadly and left with more words that made him think.

"Think about it, buchou," she commented softly. "It's far too early to give up now."

(more line breaks?)

With this, the prologues are done!

Next chapter will jump back to focus on Seigaku and their manager... and, wait. We're in Kanto already?

Um. Uh. Seigaku, fight!

Oh, right. I nearly forgot.

1. Senpai = senior

2. Akaya-baka literally translates to "Stupid Akaya"

3. Buchou is "Captain". Subsequently, fukubuchou is "Vice-captain"

4. Matta kono hanashii ka is essentially "Not this topic again", but it literally translates to "this talk again"

5. Damattore is essentially "keep quiet". This is Rei's catch-phrase. :D