Next chapter is here! They're getting longer and longer.^^
Christmas and school are making me quite busy, but I'll try to update next week too.

Please R&R!

Chapter 6: How to set someone up

Rin turned around. She was in a park, wearing a uniform which looked similar to the ones of the regulars, though she had a skirt instead of trousers and there was a small badge with 'manager' written on it. Ryūzaki-sensei gave it to her so that one would notice that she was with Seigaku's team.
Today were the quarter finals of the Kantou tournament which was held in a park and she was lost. Oishi had givegave her a map with a detailed description of the way, but she once turned the wrong way and immediately got lost. There weren't any tennis courts and every place looked the same: trees, bushes, more trees...oh, and bushes. This park wasn't even that large, rather it was quite long, not wide. The courts were on the east side of it; she probably was on the opposite side, the west one. Just turning wrong once and you would end up on the false side. She looked at her watch. The games would start in half an hour and she still had no clue on which direction to go to. Maybe she could ...
Suddenly her cell phone rang. She picked up. "Hello?" "Rin-san, where are you? I said we'd meet up at the registration desk." "I'm lost." "...Oh..., can you describe your surroundings?" "There are trees, bushes, a bench, a grey dust bin,...and a small building saying restroom." "...I think I know where you are, please wait a little bit. I'll come and get you." "Ok." She hung up. Now to pass the time, she sat down on the bench. She was the only person present and it was awfully quiet except for some bird's singing. She waited and yawned loudly. Yesterday she had been studying for the upcoming math test and stayed up late. Now she felt really, really tired. "The bench's quite comfortable..."

Oishi was running. There wasn't much time until the games would start and she still hadn't found her. He had an idea about her whereabouts, but there wasn't a single sign of her, though some people he asked had seen her before. He sighed. The girl was sometimes really troublesome, was she really fit as a manager? He tried to shake off the thoughts. That wasn't important right now; first he had to find her. He passed a bench where a girl was sleeping on.
He stopped in his tracks. That was Rin! What was she doing in such a place? She could catch a cold or someone could have kidnapped her or... He inhaled slowly and exhaled again. "Nothing has happened, she's alright." He tried to calm himself. "But what should I do know?" She looked so peaceful sleeping and he didn't want to wake her, but he had to get back to the courts and leaving her here alone was out of question. He shuddered at what could possibly happen to her if he'd leave her. Finally he made a decision. He lifted her gently onto his back and blushed a little. She was light for her height. He slowly walked towards the courts, but stopped when he heard her mumbling, thinking he had woken her up. Fortunately or not she was still asleep. Not much longer and the matches would begin. He started hurrying.

Rin felt as if she was being carried by someone. She blinked a few times and cleared her head. She had been waiting for Oishi to pick her up, but then... She thought for awhile. She didn't fall asleep, did she? She opened her eyes and noticed a black egghead. Wait... Oishi was carrying her on his back. The thought slowly sunk in. She blushed and let out a yelp. Oishi noticed she had woken up and put her down. His face was also red. "I'm sorry...I-I just...I thought...erm..." He stuttered. Rin shook her head. "It's alright. I know you would never try something. I'm sorry to have caused you trouble." She apologized.
they walked together to the courts, an awkward silence between them. They got there just in time. The matches hadn't started yet and everyone had been waiting for them impatiently.

"What happened? Why did you take so long, Oishi?" Eiji asked his partner. "Well, it took quite some time to find her." He let out a nervous chuckle. Both of them remembered the embarrassing situation again and blushed.

While Oishi talked to the coach, Rin passed out self-made onigiris. They tried their best to avoid each other, but awhen their eyes met, their faces went red again.
"Don't you think something happened between them? They're acting weird around each other." Fuji told Inui. "According to my data, the probability is 93%." "You think they like each other? I mean Manager-san is pretty cute." Momo added. A grin appeared on Eiji's, Momo's and Inui's faces while Fuji's always present smirk grew bigger. "Let's set them up." They said in unison. Ryoma and Kaido shivered and Kawamura watched them worriedly.

The quarter finals between Midoriyama Middle School and Seishun Gakuen will now start. The players assemble on the court please!" A voice announced through loudspeakers.
"Okay, everybody!" Oishi went into captain mode. "These are the quarter finals. Give it your best!" "Yeah!" Everyone cheered loudly. Rin noticed that there wasn't a single person not wearing a headband. "Ah, Rin-senpai doesn't have a headband yet, Oishi-buchou!" A first year told him. "I don't need one." She shook her head. She didn't really want to wear this, it was kind of embarrassing. Then she noticed a single girl in a cheerleader outfit with pompons. "She's brave." Rin kind of admired her for wearing this daring outfit in front of boys. Another girl stood beside her, blushing heavily. "Tomoko, that's embarrassing." "It's Ryoma-sama's turn! He's so cool!" The girl screamed. Rin giggled. Then she turned her attention back to the matches which just started. Seigaku's regulars were amazing. They won two games 6-1, one game 6-3, despite the fact that the other team had a professional player as coach.

"We're in the semi finals!" Everyone exclaimed. Rin felt happy too. It was nice to see everyone this excited. "Our next opponent will be Rokkaku Jr. High. They'll be a though team." Oishi announced. They had a break and would continue playing later. Everybody chatted happily together. "How about some refreshments?" Rin brought some drinks and her onigiris to the regulars. "Yummy!" "Thank you!" Momo and Kaido started fighting over a rice ball, while Fuji enjoyed some spicy ones that she made especially for him. Inui was taking notes and mumbling something while eating. Ryoma sat there calmly, ignoring his loud senpais and drinking ponta. After half an hour the tournament continued. This time Seigaku barely won, the other team had been a really strong opponent, but they still made it to the finals.

"Oh, yeah. There's something I've wanted to ask." Kentaro Aoi, the first year captain of Rokkaku, said. "Who's that cute girl in the Seigaku tennis team uniform?" The other members of Rokkaku looked at Oishi interested. "She's our manager." He answered. "We also have to get such a cute girl as manager!" Kentaro exclaimed. "Then you'll first have to find one." Saeki chuckled. Suddenly Kentaro ran up to Rin and grabbed her hands. "Do you want to become Rokkaku's manager?" He asked her excitedly. "You're cute! Do you also want to go out with me?" At first Rin stared at him dumbfounded, and then shocked. "Sorry, that's not possible. I-" She was interrupted by Oishi. "I'm sorry, Aoi-kun, but Moriyama-san belongs to us. So please look for someone else." He told Kentaro with an overly sweet voice and a wide smile, a threatening aura hovering over him. He was irritated by him, asking Rin out so casually, just because she was cute. That wasn't a reason to start dating for him, two people should at least know each other, also he didn't want someone to steal their manager away this easily, not when he had to go through that much trouble to find one and he was quite happy with the current one.
Kentaro backed off, scared of Oishi. Saeki, the vice captain, patted him on his shoulder to comfort him. "Well, the next time we won't lose. We'll also have a manager by then." He winked and the Rokkaku team left.

"Let's celebrate the win at Taka-san's place!" Eiji cheered. "Sure, my dad is already awaiting us." They headed for the bus station, everyone chatted happily in the bus, making it really noisy and loud. An old woman complained, but they still continued. The bus stopped and they got off. After walking a few minutes, they reached a small shop- a sushi shop. The door was opened and a tanned man who resembled Kawamura came out, inviting them in. "I've already prepared a lot of sushi, so dig in!" The regulars thanked him and went into the restaurant, pushing each other, every person wanting to be the first one to enter. Rin managed to slip past them and sat down in front of a table. "So, you're the new manager of the tennis club? Thanks for always taking care of the boys; they're quite a rowdy bunch." Kawamura's dad grinned down at her and put a plate full of different kinds of sushi and maki in front of her, a little too many for her to eat alone. Now the boys all got into the store, Momo and Echizen sat down beside her. Before she could even react, they had eaten half of the food and grinned at her. Rin twitched in anger and resisted the urge to slap them. She knew they could eat a lot, she had eaten burgers with them, but she didn't think they would steal her food. Now that was something that made her furious. She smirked. Then she just had to add some extra laps to their training. Both of them didn't notice her change in mood, they were too busy eating and demanding for more.

"Here, Rin-chan, have some!" Eiji handed her a small plate with some maki rolls. She thanked him and took them. Just as she put one into her mouth, Momo yelled. "These are Fuji-senpai's rolls. Don't eat them, they're-" But too late, she had already swallowed it. The room turned silent, everybody watched Rin, waiting for her reaction.
"Oh, wasabi sushi. It's good."
"What! You can eat that!" Eiji sounded disappointed because his prank didn't work. Fuji raised an eyebrow, but continued to smile. Inui had taken his note book out, scribbling down this new information while mumbling. "Have to test Inui juice on her..." The others just stared at her surprised, only Kaidoh ignored this whole incident, concentrating only on the food. Soon everyone continued eating and Rin enjoyed her wasabi sushi.
Eiji was sulking, he wanted to pull a prank on her, but it didn't work. Now he had to think up a new plan. Rin stood up and walked to the restroom. A small evil grin appeared on Eiji's face. He turned to Momo and whispered into his ear, making him grin too. Lastly, they explained Inui their plan, who liked it. His glasses glinted and he smirked, looking forward to the chance of collecting data.
Oishi shivered. It felt as if something bad would happen to him.
"Oishi, could you please stand up and face the door? I have a surprise for you!" Eiji asked him.
"Okay..." He stood up and did as he was told.
"Don't turn around, until I say so, 'kay?" "Sure, but what's this surprise, Eiji?" Oishi had a bad feeling about this.
"Just wait and you'll see."
Meanwhile Momo went to the toilets, waiting for Rin in front of the women's restroom. Just as she came out, he lifted her skirt and screamed. "They're blue with white stripes!" "What are you doing, you pervert!" Rin's face was flushed red with anger and embarrassment. She ran after Momo who was fleeing.
Hearing the screams, Oishi really wanted to turn to see what was happening, but Eiji kept him from doing so. Just as Momo passed them, he winked at Eiji who winked back. He stepped aside and tripped Rin, who still followed Momo, while shouting. "Oishi, you can turn around!" Said person followed his friends order and was greeted by Rin falling into his arms. At this exact moment, Inui took a photo of them with the camera borrowed from their tennis genius Fuji with the promise that he would get a copy of it later. Both Oishi and Rin stood their frozen at first, then blushed. Finally they noticed they were still hugging and immediately turned away from each other. "What a cute couple." Echizen smirked as his senpais blush deepened.

The rest of the time they avoided each other again, even ignoring Eiji, Momo and Inui. Oishi had tried to get the camera, but Fuji had gotten it back from Inui and he didn't seem too eager on borrowing it to someone again, so Oishi had given up, it wasn't like they would make posters of it or publish it on the Internet. "What about sending it to Tezuka-buchou?" He heard someone whisper. "That will most certainly not happen!" Oishi yelled with all the authority he could muster, even scarier than Tezuka himself. The regulars gulped and promised him not to distribute the pictures anywhere, but they were allowed to keep it if they liked it that much, as long as it was kept secret.

It got late and everyone had to return home. Oishi accompanied Rin because it was already dark and he lived near her house. They were quiet the whole way home. When they arrived at Rin's house, Oishi broke the silence. "Sorry about today." "Oh, it's alright. It was fun." She smiled. "You have a comfortable back." They laughed. "Then, good night." "Good night." Rin replied and headed into the house.
When she was gone, three persons showed up. "You forgot to kiss her!" "Yeah, it was a romantic moment!" "According to my data, Oishi still hadn't had his first kiss yet, so he has absolutely no experience." "Wh-, what are you guys doing here?" Oishi exclaimed, but the three of them ignored him. "How do we get them together if they're not cooperating?" They sighed. "See you on Monday, fukubuchou." They left behind a confused Oishi.