In lieu with a reviewer's comment, I'm trying to tone down on my usage of Japanese in the story, though things like senpai, buchou, fukubuchou, nii-san, etc will still be used. Some stuff just sounds better that way (really? Inui-senior? XD)

But... yea. Enjoy the chapter? :3


Inui Sadaharu hid his sigh. Hyotei's second-year regular that partnered with Shishido had a high-speed serve that he had not been able to include in his data yet, giving Hyotei the first game ridiculously fast.

No matter. Seigaku's data man filed that piece of information in a part of his brain to write down later. For the moment, he had to focus (but damn, those Hyotei supporters are loud).

"With that kind of serve, there was nothing we could have done about the last game," he told his snake-like junior. "Kaidou, next time we will—"

"Nothing else we could have done about the last game?" Kaidou quoted back at him before he could finish his sentence. "What're you talking about, senpai?"

Unbidden, the memory of him asking his junior to play doubles with him came to mind.

"Kaidou, do you want to try playing doubles with me?" Inui had asked while watching the bandana-wearing teen practice to master his new technique.

The younger had barely spared him a glance before he answered. "I refuse."

"I don't ever pull back!" Kaidou growled. "First of all…" he said, settling himself into his position near-comfortably while letting out his trademark "fushuuu"-sounding breath of air, "we have to shut those guys up."


Miki pouted. As much as she liked her female team seniors, they were really slow in ending their matches. As it was, they had just finished doubles two, and she was really bored.

"Mweee…" she whined softly, and her seniors laughed. The redhead pouted again.

"Miki bored!" she complained, and the captain of the female team laughed, patting her head.

"Why don't you get us some drinks from the vending machine?"

The hyperactive girl perked up. Finally, an activity! "Okay!" Miki chirped and dashed off before anyone could give her a bag to carry the cans in.

("…will she be okay?" a senior wondered. Everyone else shrugged.)

The hyperactive girl in question had rushed to the vending machine and had begun shoving coins down the machine's proverbial throat when she heard a loud 'bang' of human head on something inanimate and a surprised scream of pain. Picking up one of her many collected cans, she approached the crouching in pain person and placed the cold can on the area the man was clutching.

"Daijoubu?" she asked, her childish way of speaking extremely prominent.

"Ah, yes, thanks… sorry to trouble you," the man answered, accepting the can and standing up. Miki's eyes widened at the man's height.

"Twaaalllllll…" went her awed statement of fact, and the other laughed.

"It can be really troublesome at times," he told her with a slight grumble to his joking tone. "I need to get back to work. Thanks for the…" he paused to look at the can to identify the drink, "sports drink."

Miki nodded and waved at the man (who waved back before walking off) before proceeding to skip back to the vending machine and shoving even more coins down the machine's proverbial throat.

By the time she got to fourteen cans, the redhead had to stop. She squatted beside the cans, wondering how she was going to transport them back to her seniors before she decided to use her jacket.

Lining them neatly on said clothing and grinning happily as she succeeded, Miki wrapped them together (making it look like a bundle from olden times). She then made her way back to her seniors, though halfway through it started to loosen and a can fell out. Acting out of reflex, Miki's leg darted out to cushion the can's fall – much like how a football player balances a ball.

It took her brain a few seconds to process what had occurred, and she whined when she realized she could not move without dropping all her cans. As she was wondering what to do, a Rikkaidai uniform-clad form retrieved the can from her leg, brown eyes looking slightly amused at her predicament.

"What kind of seniors makes their juniors carry this many cans?"


Right before Rei could make it back to the court Rikkai was at, her phone rang again, much to her bemusement and Niou's amusement. She waved the silver-haired senior back to the court first as she answered the phone call (from her mother this time, checking up on her and telling her that she will "receive a package from India soon").

That normally meant she was getting an extra two months worth of food supply – especially ingredients for curry. As much as she liked spicy food, well…

Here's to hoping her stomach lining survives the onslaught.

A kiddish whine snapped the brunette out of her thoughts, and she made her way to the other side of the vending machine she was standing near. A small, petite redhead was balancing a can on her foot while carrying even more cans in her jacket – that had been turned into a makeshift basket.

Momentarily, Rei wondered if it was rude to ask someone she did not know who she thought she was related to, but decided against it. She saw Kitsuke Takeshi on a daily basis, anyway – she could ask him just as easily.

"What kind of seniors makes their juniors carry this many cans?" Rei wondered in amusement.

"Miki forgwot Miki only got two hands," the younger told her, blinking innocently. Rei blinked back at her, slightly at loss for words at the very innocent confession and the redhead tilted her head at her.

"I'll help you," she told her, "I'm free now, anyway." Without another word, she plucked several cans out of the younger's makeshift basket and the two began walking.

"Miki gwateful~~" went the younger sing-songly. Rei laughed – the girl was too cute.

"So… your name's Miki?"

"Miki's name is Miyuki, Kitsuke Miyuki. Nice to meet yoooouuu~~"

"I'm Takeuchi Rei," she introduced herself, and the redhead blinked.

"Takweeucwi Wei?"

Rei tried not to laugh – even her three-year-old nephew on her father's side could pronounce her name better. "Takeuchi Rei," she repeated calmly, and the redhead blinked again.

"Wei?"

"Rei."

"Weeeiiii?"

"…you really can't pronounce 'r' sounds, huh?"

"Weawwy?"

Rikkai's manager snorted softly in amusement. "And my question has been answered."

"…mweeeeee…" whined the younger, and Rei grinned. At that point, Rei spotted the female Seigaku team, and one she recognized to be the cousin of one of her more memorable opponents in the ring nodded at her in thanks for helping their junior. She nodded back as Miki dashed to her seniors to give them the drinks she had bought before running back to her and taking the remaining cans.

"Miki give Wei one can," the cheerful girl told her, then waving with a cheery "bye bye~" as she returned to her seniors.

Rei waved back and turned to head back to the court Rikkai was at. "Free drink," she commented idly, popping the can open and taking a sip. As she neared the court, though, her self-proclaimed younger brother raced up to her like an excitable puppy.

"Rei!" he cried. "I won! As promised, I ended the match in fifteen minutes!" If she stared hard enough, she could see an excited bushy tail wagging behind him, and Rei swore she saw sparkles. "So as promised, I'll get a free meal, right?"

Rei smiled and patted the messy seaweed-head with a free hand – she was still drinking. "We'll see," she answered calmly, mentally cackling when he pouted at her.

"Eeeh?" Akaya whined. "That's not what you promised!"

"I have to confirm with Yanagi-senpai first, you know. To make sure you fulfilled all the conditions I set."

"But I did! I really did…" whined the baby of the group, pouting.

Rei grinned. "Then let me confirm with Yanagi-senpai…"

"I really did! Believe meeeeeeee…!"

Yes, bullying Akaya was fun.

(Later, when they all went to have food before visiting Yukimura, Rei replayed the videos Yanagi took for her. She stared at Niou for a moment before asking, with a very confused face: "Niou-senpai, was the opponent that weak? Why were you yawning in your match…?")


OMAKE:

The Kitsuke household had a bit of an odd ritual every morning. You see, Takeshi would style Miki's hair for her before she goes to school, and vice versa. So one day, as a joke, Takeshi decided to just mess his sister's hair up.

So he did. And what did Miki do?

She just blinked and left the house. Just like that. With an extremely messy head that no one in their right mind would leave the house with.

"Oy, Miki, come back here!" Takeshi yelled, chasing after his sister with a comb and his school bag. Miki pretended to not hear him (or maybe she really didn't hear him..) and continued walking to Seigaku.

Later that night, when the siblings sat down for dinner, Takeshi half-pouted at his sister.

"You know… because of you, I was late for morning practice."

Miki laughed. Laughed.

Takeshi blinked at her before brandishing his chopsticks at her with mock-menace. "You love to see me in trouble, don't you?"

His younger sister grinned unrepentantly.


All righty! So, here's to hoping this chapter's to your liking~

Next chapter goes more into Rikkai, and Seigaku would be playing singles by then. *happy face*