My apologies for the late chapter. I had some trouble churning this one out, but it's finally here! Yay!
They had continued sitting around the blue-haired teen's hospital room for quite a while, Rei realized. She took a look at the time amidst the chatter that went on between the regulars of Rikkai's tennis club before she commented idly, "Singles 1 between Hyotei and Seigaku should start soon, shouldn't it?"
That caught Akaya's attention - he perked up like a puppy that had a treat in front of him. "Really?" he asked, the epitome of excited. The brunette checked the time with mocking casualness before she nodded, and watched in amusement as one very hyper seaweed-head turned to the cap-wearing vice captain with huge, pleading eyes.
"Fukubuchou, can we go watch the match pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease?"
Yukimura stifled a laugh, as did Yagyuu and Yanagi. Marui had no such reservations, laughing away while Niou allowed an amused smirk to form on his face. Jackal hid his amusement behind a sigh. Sanada, on the other hand, was the epitome of self-suffering, and Rei had laughed at the fukubuchou's expense.
"Takeuchi," he voiced, and Rei snapped a mock-salute. "Did you plan for any extra training for today?"
The brown-eyed teen thought about it for a moment, her mind immediately drawing up the matches she had watched before she shook her head. "There was nothing that couldn't wait until our next training session," she told him, and Yukimura chuckled.
"Then I will butt in here and decree it a rest day," he said, and Rei watched Niou grin from the corner of her eye - he really liked slacking off, didn't he? "This doesn't mean you can be lazy, like I'm sure Niou over there is already planning to be." The silver-haired teen mimed being hurt, and the rest of them laughed at that. Their currently-frail captain smiled. "Relax your muscles today, and when the next set of training and matches comes around, remember to not over-strain yourselves," Yukimura lectured. There was a chorus of amused agreement, and Rei smirked at him.
"Of course, buchou," she said, and he blinked back at her. "You just said it yourself. We have no weaknesses."
As one, she and the team she managed smiled or smirked at their bedridden captain. "We are Rikkai."
The rest of the team had decided to go with Yukimura's words and rest up for the next day, which left Rei heading back to the tournament grounds with the vice, their resident data man, and a very hyper Akaya. When Sanada asked, Rei swore she didn't give him sugar... and crossed her fingers behind her back. Yanagi had given her an amused look, and Rei had grinned back at him unrepentantly.
It was so not her fault the cap-wearing fukubuchou was fun to bully.
Upon their arrival, they were greeted with extremely loud cheers of how Hyotei will win and Seigaku will not. Rei had winced, bringing her hands up to protect her overly-sensitive ears - Marui had always laughed at her whenever they went to the arcade for DDR, 'cause she'd have a set of headphones on while they played.
"That's an impressive gallery and cheering squad even though it's not the Nationals. Right, Sanada-fukubuchou," Akaya voiced, looking rather bemused - Rei figured he was wondering how much bigger the peanut gallery would be during Nationals.
"As expected from Atobe," was all the cap-wearing teen would say on the matter, and they settled in the spectators' seats to watch the ensuing match.
The match had started smoothly - Akaya had began bouncing in his seat slightly in excitement, and Rei had smacked him over the head for distracting her. As the puppy-in-human-form calmed down, the brunette trained her eyes on the ongoing match. She had to admit that while Atobe Keigo was strong…
"Be intoxicated with my beautiful skills!"
"…I really don't want to be," she muttered in response, ignoring Sanada's slightly amused glance in her direction. Akaya chuckled as she blanched – the captain of Hyotei was strong, yes, but his rather egoistic attitude made Rei want to put in him an armbar more than once.
Rikkai had played practice matches against Hyotei, after all.
But as the match continued, Rei couldn't help her growing feeling of dread – and it has absolutely nothing to do with the peanut gallery over at Hyotei's side, either. Being involved in martial arts since young meant she was capable of spotting weakness in a glance or two – the main thing that gotten her the manager's spot in Rikkai's tennis team, Yukimura-buchou had told her, and was similar to Atobe's Insight... to a certain degree.
The fact that she could control the regulars somewhat was a plus in the blue-haired captain's eyes.
Back to the match. Her feeling of dread dug deeper when she heard Atobe announce Tezuka had a prior injury. Watching Tezuka use the Zero Shiki had cause that dread to start stinging, and she quickly excused herself from her two seniors and childhood friend before she couldn't breathe. They had watched her go with confusion, but Rei couldn't bring herself to care.
"His shoulder…" Rei whispered to herself, unconsciously gripping her own shoulder. When she chanced a glance at the ongoing match, her eyes gotten a clear image of the damage going to Seigaku's captain's shoulder and she flinched.
"Rei-chan?"
Looking up, she saw familiar brown eyes looking back into her own. "Taka-senpai…"
Kawamura Takashi chuckled softly. "Rei-chan, you've shot past me in grade, remember?" he said, and he instantly looked worried when he got a proper look at her face. "What's wrong?"
"I should be asking you that," she shot right back, nodding at his bandaged hand. "What happened?"
Takashi chuckled again and gave her an indulgent smile. "I'll tell you about it if you come for sushi later," he said, "tou-san has been wanting to see you again. Says his cute 'daughter' needs to visit once in awhile."
Belatedly, Rei realized she hasn't met the elder Kawamura since the last competition she participated in near Seigaku – and the elder had promised her parents to keep an eye on her as well as he could, hence the joking 'daughter' title. "I guess my dinner for tonight's settled," she said, and Takashi laughed.
"But, really, what's wrong with you?" the Seigaku member asked, his concern apparent, and she sighed.
"My eyes," she told him softly, "They're showing me unfavorable images towards your buchou there."
"Unfa—" he cut himself off when he processed what she had. "No. Tezuka?!"
"You know as well as I do the accuracy of my weakness-catching eyes," she tried to joke, but failed as she clutched at her left shoulder again and shuddered. He tried to comfort her – she had told him before after a karate competition that spotting people's weaknesses so easily bothered her immensely, after all – before the loud cry startled them all.
"T…Tezuka!"
The loud cry caught their attention, and the two watched as the Seigaku members on the bench began rushing forward towards their captain. Takashi, too, was about to move before Tezuka yelled at them to stop; that the match was not over. The normally-gentle teen before her clenched his fists but stopped, as had the rest.
"It's over for Seigaku."
"It's impossible for Tezuka to continue."
"It's the end for Seigaku."
"It's best if Tezuka forfeited."
That was the general murmur that ran amongst the spectators, and Takashi shook his head.
"That's not true. It's not over for Seigaku."
Rei heard his whisper, and turned to her once-senior in confusion. "Sorry?"
"The match will continue," he told her, looking far more confident than she had ever seen him. Down in the court, Tezuka proceeded to serve. "Seigaku will not give up without a fight!"
And Rei watched, with slight amusement, as her once-senpai in karate took hold of Seigaku's flag and began cheering. Feeling slightly better at the show, Rei rejoined the three Rikkai regular members with her and watched the proceedings.
The match continued as if nothing happened, but she knew better. Beneath Tezuka's poker face, he was in far more pain than anyone could ever imagine - though, if she was frank, she could imagine. While she respected his ability continue the match as though the pain meant nothing, Rei thought he was a little suicidal. She had not been lying when she said 'unfavorable images'.
'If he keeps this up, he'll lose his arm for real...'
Then a flash of red shot past them, and Rei thought that Marui-senpai had appeared for a moment before her eyes refocused and she noted who, exactly, flipped over to Seigaku's bench.
Kitsuke Miyuki.
"Is she Seigaku's manager?" The brunette paused. "If she is, how does she manage them…?"
"Buchou, come here!" came the loud, childish slur that was the redhead's, and Rei 'ah'-d in understanding when she saw the pout.
"I see," she muttered. "The imotou approach."
Beside her, Yanagi gave her an extremely amused glance, though Sanada and Akaya did not appear to understand her mumbling.
Miyuki had just started her singles match when the news came - Tezuka Kunimitsu was suffering an injury. The redhead felt her worry for the captain intensify when someone reported he was still playing, and she flew through her match, ending it ridiculously fast and rushing off towards the male team before anyone could say anything.
She thought she saw her kendo instructor and the now-acquainted manager of Rikkai, but forgone that thought in favor of checking on the stubborn captain of Seigaku. Fuji allowed her to get to the coach's bench amongst the mayhem the regulars caused to get to him.
Of course it figured that the poker-faced captain was back in the court by the time she got there. Pouting, the redhead took a breath and...
"Buchou, come here!"
A pregnant pause settled over the court, and the redhead watched as the stoic captain turned to her. His normally impassive expression had hints of shock in it, and Miyuki found that she could not bring herself to care. True, she was a bit of an airhead at times and was generally gentle when no one made her go into one of her moods, but he was injured. Why was he still playing again?
(Over at Hyotei's side of the stand, their resident blue-haired, bespectacled genius allowed a low whistle to escape from his throat. Atobe, on the other hand, looked annoyed at having his match interrupted. At the same time, he could not help but wonder - that redhead female looked familiar. Where had he seen her before?)
The stoic captain looked momentarily stunned at Miyuki's yell. The manager for Seigaku could tell her was debating whether or not he should return, or suffer the consequences of not returning (a.k.a crying). "Referee, time out."
"...it worked." That was Momo-senpai. He sounded amazed.
Miyuki, for her part, merely waited for the captain to sit on the coach's bench. She was grinning - happy that Tezuka-buchou actually listened to her for once. Their mother-henning vice captain fussed over the stoic teen for a moment before he turned to her.
"He's all yours, Miyuki," he said. The concern in his tone was unmistakable, and the redhead saluted with a happy grin.
"Leave it to Miki," she responded. Her experience with first aid outshined Ryuuzaki-sensei, and the coach declared her to be in-charge of anything medical related. Miyuki decided she liked being the team's medic - especially since it meant she could pretend to want to cry and they will obey immediately.
Yes, she was a yan that way.
Much to Miyuki's displeasure, the stubborn (and sometimes idiotic) captain decided to continue playing despite the fact she pouted and whined and generally acted like a kid for him to not play. It was not like Ryoma could not hold his own for the tie-breaker match.
That said, though, she knew perfectly well she cannot stop the stubborn captain. Miyuki did not know why he wanted to continue - was he just plain stubborn, or was he keeping a promise to someone? Maybe it was the sportsman in him that wanted to go through the entire match, or maybe he was trying to show the team something.
Whichever it was, the fact that Seigaku's stern captain was losing did not change. It was still one of the best matches she had ever seen so far, though, and her respect for the poker-faced captain rose to a whole new level.
Even though she did not like the fact that Tezuka-buchou lost in his match... 'Serves him right for not listening to me,' she thought viciously, pouting.
Fuji-senpai chuckled and patted her head. "It's okay," he said, his voice gentle as always. "We get to watch Echizen play thanks to that, right?"
"We'll get to see Ryoma play either way," she shot back, still pouting. The elder teen laughed.
"Hai, hai," he agreed amicably, and Miyuki pouted before the referee calling the score had her attention back on the match. She was certain Ryoma would win, but something told her his opponent had a...different playing style.
She could not wait to see it.
"He's slacking," Sanada said after the results of the Tezuka-Atobe match came about, and Rei had to face-palm. No, fukubuchou, Tezuka-san did not slack off. In fact, from what she could tell, he worked the hardest in Seigaku (second only to Taka-senpai, 'cause Taka-senpai had serious problems with controlling his power before) - and really, the slacker was Niou. No one slacks off more than the silver-haired teen.
"I guess Sanada-fukubuchou really wanted to be the one to beat him, huh..." Akaya muttered, and Yanagi quickly shushed him, though he looked amused - the data master has been pretty amused today. Rei wondered why.
"That's Hyotei's Hiyoshi," Yanagi said instead, changing the topic. "He was the one in the newcomer's battle who did fairly well against you, right?"
"Was that really so?" went Akaya candidly. He was probably content after watching an epic match.
Sanada scoffed. "Pretending like you don't know..." he said. "Next year, the one to lead Hyotei's squad is most definitely him." He glanced over into the court, expression stern. "The coach from Hyotei had an incredible trump card hidden up his sleeve."
Rei took in the commentary without comment. 'Hiyoshi Wakashi,' she thought to herself. She had joined his family's dojo roughly a year ago, but their style of martial arts clashed too much with karate's style that she did not do well in group classes. The instructor - Hiyoshi's father - had been intrigued by her apparent lack of skill with their style (she really had too much of a presence in the martial arts community) that he offered her one-on-one lessons. Those went ridiculously well, and Rei was soon able to switch fighting styles easily.
Of course, the fact that she could now easily switch her fighting style easily was thanks to those one-on-one lessons, and Hiyoshi's father prided himself for that ability of hers. The brunette never denied it when asked; in fact, she confirmed it, and that had made Hiyoshi look at her with that much more respect.
'...I wonder if he's still obsessed with his 'Gekokujou',' Rei found herself wondering as she watched the match between him and the rumored-freshman of Seigaku go at it. Akaya snickered slightly to himself as he watched the match.
"Something funny about this, Aka-chan?"
Her childhood friend tried to glare at her - though it looked more like a pout. "Stop calling me that!" he said before he shrugged and answered her question. "Eh, nope. But that Seigaku chibi's pretty good."
Rei stared at him blankly before she nodded. "If you say so," she allowed, and he grinned at her.
"It's gekokujou."
Ah. There it is. So he was still obsessed with his 'weak overcome the strong' thing. The manager of Rikkai watched the proceedings with mild amusement - even more so when Seigaku's player switched to his left hand. 'Even more interesting.'
It evolved into a really fast-paced match from there, with neither side letting up. Games were called as quickly as they started. "It really feels like this is the battle that will lead into the next generation," Sanada commented after a long silence of simply observing. "Neither are thinking of bringing down the pace, instead using their techniques in a high-paced match."
Yanagi nodded, smiling minutely. "It feels good watching them."
Akaya chose that moment to be comic relief once again. "...can you really see?" Rei hid her grin behind clasped hands, choosing not to comment as the younger teen whined about the bump on his head.
'Still... that freshman,' she thought, observing the match once again. 'Keeping up that pace... it's either he's trying to find a new limit to break, or he's highly strung up, for whatever reason.' When he dropped his cap and declared he could still go another hundred games, Rei shook her head, amused. 'It's the latter reason.'
When the game was decided (6-4 in Seigaku's favor), Yanagi, who offered to keep track of progress throughout the tournament to free her hands a little, marked Seigaku's victory for their own record. "Akaya," the data man said after a while, "that Seigaku freshman had the same single foot split-step as you."
Akaya chuckled darkly. "He... needs to be crushed, doesn't he?"
Rei observed his eyes for a moment before grabbing the clipboard Yanagi held and smacked Akaya with it. "Too early to be excited," she told him, and he whined at her.
"But Reeeeeeiiiii!"
"No," she repeated firmly, and he shrunk like a dejected puppy. Sanada looked like he was trying to hide a smile, what with how his lips were twitching at the corners, and Yanagi chuckled.
"There you are, Rei-chan!"
Rei turned and grinned, though the Rikkai members with her looked confused. "Taka-senpai!" Her once-senior in karate chuckled at her, and Akaya let out a sound of remembrance - the seaweed-head had met the elder teen before (much thanks to her competitions); his memory just sucked.
"You're not eating dinner with me, right?" Akaya asked, and she nodded without turning, content with examining the closed-eyed, smiling teen with Takashi. "Kay then. See you tomorrow."
Rei did not have to turn to see Akaya happily pushing the vice-captain and data master of Rikkai away to head home. "Sushi?" she said instead, and the elder teen laughed.
"Sushi," he agreed, and turned to the other with him. "You don't mind, do you, Fuji?"
The now-identified teen chuckled and shook his head. Taka-senpai laughed. "Let's go then," he said as he led the way. "Oyaji will be glad to see you again, Rei-chan."
The brunette grinned. "Can I call him 'oyaji' too?" she wondered. "He didgive me the mock-title of 'daughter', after all."
"I would love to see that," Fuji said from beside her, and Rei grinned.
