Niou Masaharu had always liked their manager from the day their resident seaweed-head had dragged her to a practice session during their first year in Rikkai. She had looked mildly annoyed, he recalled, and not at all like any of the fangirls the tennis team members tended to have.

That was probably the main reason why majority of the regulars took to her so quickly.

"When I agreed to play a match with you, Akaya, I meant during the weekends. Not right after school," the then-unknown girl had said with an exasperated eye-roll.

"You don't have a club anyway," Akaya had told her with a grin. "Beside, buchou gave me the okay! Right, buchou?" The kid looked over to their blue-haired captain, who smiled and nodded. Sanada sighed self-sufferingly, and Yanagi was amused, if his widening smile was any indication.

"Akaya has told me a lot about you, Takeuchi," Yukimura told the girl with a smile. "When he mentioned that you both learned tennis at the same time, I wanted to see it for myself."

Takeuchi quirked an eyebrow. "See what? Our skill difference?" she asked. Yukimura chuckled, saying nothing, and there was another exasperated eye-roll from the girl. "I didn't bring my racquet, though." Here, she leveled a glare at the seaweed-head, who stuck his tongue out at her childishly. "Someonedidn't tell me to."

Niou, always searching for an excuse to slack off, approached them then. "I'll lend you mine," he told her, passing his racquet over. Sanada sent him a glare, but the silver-haired teen paid him no mind. Yukimura looked amused, though something in the captain's eyes told him that he'd be in for it later.

"Hurry up, Rei!" Akaya called, bouncing on the balls of his feet from the other side of the court – when the heck did the kid get there? Takeuchi let out a soft growl as she loosened the bow that came with the female uniform, taking the racquet from him with a short 'thank you'.

"Interesting, isn't she?" Yukimura asked him even as the two on the court met at the net and decided who to serve quickly. Niou smirked in response.

"Aa," he answered, but said nothing else. The rest of the regulars had gathered beside them at this point, and watched as Akaya started the game, serving towards the opposite side of where Takeuchi had been standing.

Jackal let out a low whistle when the girl managed to return the serve. "She has speed, " the half-Brazilian commented, and a general murmur of agreement went through the line of regulars – sans the Three Demons. A glance out of the corner of his eye told him that Yanagi had began collecting data, though the look on Yukimura and Sanada's faces were indecipherable.

Five minutes later, Takeuchi's voice rang clearly through the stunned, silent court. "Game, Takeuchi. One game to love."

"That was fast," Yukimura muttered. "To think Akaya lost his service game so quickly against her…"

"It would be interesting to play a match against her," Yagyuu commented idly. On the court, another rally had begun between the two. It was after Takeuchi had claimed her next two game points that Niou found that he could come to like his junior.

Prior to gaining her point, Akaya had used his Knuckle Serve against her. The ball had curved dangerously towards her throat, but Takeuchi had, very calmly, knelt down and somehow returned the ball. When she straightened up, she grinned.

"That was weak," she had told him. "I told you: your Knuckle Serve isn't done that way. Watch."

Right after she said that, Takeuchi hit the Knuckle Serve. It zoomed over the net and, had Akaya not dodge, it would have hit his head. Hard. As it was, the ball bounced off the court viciously and gotten stuck in the fencing surrounding the court.

"That," she announced, her tone smug, "is how you do it."

Niou whistled, as did Marui and Jackal. On court, Akaya lifted his hands in a "I surrender" manner. Yukimura's smile grew, and Yanagi patted a somewhat displeased Sanada on the shoulder.

"Better luck next time, Genichirou," the data master said, and Niou quirked an eyebrow at him. Yanagi did not respond to him, though, instead smiling in a manner that had Niou wondering what ideas had been brewing in Yukimura's mind.

"That was amazing," Yukimura praised, and Takeuchi, looking surprised, bowed in thanks before returning him his racquet. Niou accepted it and swung it around, and the female looked sheepish.

"Um, senpai, you might want to go restring your racquet," she said. "I might or might not have made the string nearly break with that Knuckle Serve. Your racquet is really overdue for new strings, though."

Niou chuckled. "What, no 'thank you for lending me your racquet'?" he joked, and the girl grinned, having caught onto his tone.

"Not at all," she agreed, "but here is an insincere one. Thank you." She did a bow with flourish, and the trickster laughed. Yukimura, his smile already huge, smiled wider.

"And with that, Takeuchi," he said, catching the female's attention, "I'd like for you to be the tennis team's manager."

Thinking of her reaction to that made him chuckle into his drink, and Rei looked at him curiously. "Niou-senpai?" she asked, blinking. He sniggered, but shook his head. Beside him, Yagyuu spared him an amused smile.

"Niou-kun was likely thinking of the day Yukimura-kun asked you to be our manager." The bespectacled teen read his mind. Niou swore it.

Rei blinked again. "I…see," she muttered, pulling an odd face as she returned to her food. Sanada had already finished and was calmly sipping his green tea, though he did flash Niou a bemused glance. The trickster saluted the cap-wearing vice-captain.

'Who would've thought,' Niou thought to himself, amused, 'the one who was most against having a manager is the one depending on the manager the most.'


Even if one dared to ask, Sanada Genichirou would probably not admit that he was depending on their brown-eyed manager after Yukimura's hospitalization. Well, unless you happened to be Yukimura Seiichi.

But as it is… no, Sanada would not admit to being dependent on Takeuchi Rei's constant presence by the tennis courts in Rikkaidai after the blue-haired teen's collapse. The brunette did not seem to care, taking charge of the both regulars and non-regulars training so easily it surprised him.

"It's unfortunate, but year ones, please be on ball duty," she had announced the day after Yukimura's hospitalization – Sanada still felt like his world's foundations had broken. "All non-regulars, please follow this training scheme that has been drawn up, or face my wrath."

When someone made a sound of protest, all Sanada did was blink and she was already in the poor year two student's face. "So sorry, care to repeat that to my face?" she asked sweetly, and her smile had scared them into starting the laps faster than his yelling had.

"I don't need your help," he told her after the day's practice had ended as they both sat on the bench, and she smiled at him.

"I know," she answered simply, tucking her folder into her bag. "The one I'm helping here is Yukimura-buchou. For Rikkai's third consecutive win." Takeuchi dared a smirk and took hold of his cap, abandoned on his side. "My method gets more training in, though. It saved your throat, too. You haven't touched your stash of lozenges at all today."

Belatedly, Sanada realized she spoke the truth. As he struggled to find words to say, the junior stood and replaced his cap on his head. "Hang in there, fukubuchou," she told him with a grin. "Buchou's depending on you for the third consecutive win, too."

It was after that Sanada found himself slowly accepting the female's near-constant presence on the court – if not overseeing the non-regulars, she'd be dealing with the (rather troublesome) regulars, who often made her play against them. There were times that she came limping or with bandaged limbs, and when Sanada confronted her about it, Takeuchi had grinned.

"Can't let you face them idiots alone, now can I?" she stated more than asked – her reputation in the world of martial arts was well-known in Rikkai by then. Sanada found himself a little peeved at her answer, and managed to extract a promise from her that she would not join the training regime she had set for them whenever she came with an injury.

"Fukubuchou, we're ready to leave!" Akaya's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and he nodded mutely. As one, they stood from the table they occupied and headed in the direction of the hospital Yukimura was in.


It was with surprised happiness that Yukimura greeted his team as they walked through the door of his hospital room. Setting aside a book on art techniques his mother had gotten him before she and his younger sister left not even half an hour ago, Yukimura smiled.

"I didn't expect any of you until later," he said. As was normal by then, Rei took the seat beside his bed, Akaya settled himself comfortably by the foot of his bed, Masaharu stood a little stand-offish by the window, Renji and Hiroshi stood near Akaya, Bunta moved about the room, Jackal stood at the edge of the bed, and Genichirou was across the bed from Rei.

"Our matches ended quickly, so we came," Renji told him. Rei pulled out her video camera then.

"Yanagi-senpaihelped record the matches. I had phone calls to answer," she told him, passing the device to him. Her frown did not go unnoticed, but Yukimura left that matter for later. Akaya was already bouncing on his bed from excitement, urging him to watch the matches.

About an hour later, with all the matches view and relevant praises and criticism given, Yukimura cleared his throat. "Everyone, I have an announcement to make."

All eyes were on him – though Masaharu was looking at him from the corner of his eye. The blue-haired captain took a breath. "The decision has been made. I will be undergoing the surgery."

Rei grinned. "Glad you made that decision, buchou," she said – a sentiment that was echoed by the rest of the team. "When's your surgery?"

"The arrangement was… for the last day of Kantou. The 27th."

There was a moment of silence. At least, until Rei groaned, stood up and proceeded to the nearest wall in what-looked-like an attempt to bash her head in. Unfortunately for her and fortunately for the rest of the team, the wall she chose was right beside Masaharu, and the trickster quickly pulled her back via her ponytail.

"…is something wrong with that arrangement, Takeuchi?" Genichirou voiced everyone's confusion. Rei's answering smile was strained.

"No, not at all," she said, taking in a deep breath. "Good luck guys. You're on your own for finals."

Only Masaharu seemed to have an inkling of what she was talking about. "Ah. That phone call that got you all pissy?"

Rei leveled the silver-haired teen a glare, but sighed and nodded. "My shishou called me while doubles one was on. I'm expected to be around Yamabuki's area on that day for a competition." She laughed dryly. "What a busy day for us, huh."

Yukimura frowned, noticing the signs of stress within the manager. Akaya, too, realized and quickly jumped off the bed, forcing his childhood friend back onto the chair she had vacated – the blue-haired captain gave him a grateful smile, and the seaweed-head grinned back.

"It's okay, Rei," he said into the silence that had took over his hospital room. "Nothing will be able to stop us. You-" he pointed at her "-will win your competition. They-" he gestured at the rest of the team "-will win Kantou. And I-" he placed a hand on his chest "-will go through my surgery safely."

Yukimura smiled, his first confident smile ever since he had gotten hospitalized. "Warera Ouja Rikkai…shikaku wa nai."


No omake this chapter, but there should be one in the next. Rikkai's POVs were oddly fun to write, too.

I know I promised to not use too much Japanese phrases, but that was too good to pass out. XD

Yukimura's phrase translates to "We of King Rikkai have no weaknesses".

Um. I love reviews?