"If you change your mind, remember, 3:00 on Monday."

The words echoed in Reiya's mind as she walked to school. So lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice something enveloped in displaced dust barreling towards her at an astonishing speed.

"Watch out!" She heard someone call. Her reflexes honed from years of tennis saved her. Reiya sidestepped and blinked as a rush of wind blew her hair back, effectively messing it up and allowing strands to escape their confinements. The person skidded to a stop and turned.

"Oh, Reiya, sorry," Marui Bunta grinned sheepishly. Reiya stared him down with an unimpressed look. A heavy weight of an arm landed on her head, mussing her hair further. She looked up, disgruntled.

"Don't be like that," came Niou's drawl. "Puri~" Reiya batted away the hands slowing creeping towards her hair ties and stepped away. Noticing the looks from the people around them (especially the glares of many girls), she leveled them with a frown. She was standing out. She hated standing out.

"You're making such a sour face," said Marui, reaching out and ruffling her hair, marveling at the fact that she wasn't blushing or fainting, or even screaming. He'd seen it happen before. His hand stilled, and as Reiya watched, his face showed that he seemed to have had an epiphany.

"I got it! Wait...Reiya, can you cook?" She made a displeased expression.

"Please stop messing with my hair. And being overly friendly. Yes, I can cook. Why?" Ignoring her, Marui turned to his friend.

"What do you think? She's not a fangirl. And she can cook."

"Hmm..." Niou leaned forward into Reiya's face, who gazed back apathetically. "Well, she barely passes my standards of being cute," her eye twitched, "but she'll do."

Marui grinned. "Alright!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Reiya. "Actually, never mind, I don't want to know."

"It's okay, just stay put after school. What class are you in?"

"2-A, but-"

"Great, I'll see you after school!" With that, he walked away with Niou. Reiya stood still.

"...What?"

The bell rang for lunch, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief, glad for the break. Reiya escaped the classroom quickly with Ayako, who accompanied her cheerfully, seeming to have completely recovered from her falling out with her friends.

"Uh I'm dead," Ayako groaned. "I hate chemistry. How about you, Reiya-chan?"

The girl shrugged. "It's not that bad."

"What did you get on the last test?" asked Ayako curiously.

"Sixty-seven."

"Seriously?! You're so smart!"

"I don't think it's that good. Somewhere in the middle I guess. How did you do?" Ayako froze.

"Um, well, that's..." Reiya raised an eyebrow. She hung her head. "An e- eighteen..." she said, forcing a laugh. There was an awkward silence. "How do you study, Reiya-chan?"

"I...don't really study."

"...Seriously?"

"..."

"Let's go eat lunch."

"Yeah."

The peaceful wind never failed to calm Reiya down. After finishing her lunch, she lay down while Ayako chattered and closed her eyes, unknowing of the malicious gaze fixated on her.

"Takami...Reiya," a person hissed. Reiya sat up with a start. In front of her stood a tall girl. She had well toned muscles, tanned skin, and short black hair. She also looked angry. Reiya stared back warily. Then-

"Takami Reiya, I challenge you!" she proclaimed loudly. Reiya frowned.

"Wha-"
"-in a game of tennis!" The girl finished.

"...Excuse me?"

"This might be bad," Ayako whispered. "That's Maki-chan, I mean Kurosawa-san, the captain of the girl's tennis club- and my former friend. She's a huuuge fan of the boys' tennis regulars."

"Oh, Ayako," Maki sneered. "So she's your new friend." She turned back to glare at Reiya. "Being so close to Marui-sama and Niou-sama is unforgivable."

"Uh..." Reiya raised an eyebrow. "What?" Is it just me or is this girl a little crazy? Just a little bit?

"That's not fair," Ayako argued. "Reiya-chan doesn't even play tennis!" Oh, the irony.

"I'll be generous and give you a week," said Maki with a vicious look. "Next Monday after school. With the tennis regulars around you, it should be no problem, after all." With one last glare, the girl whirled around.

"Wait a moment, I-" Maki had already left. Reiya groaned while Aya looked sympathetic.

"This is giving me a headache."

As soon as the last bell sounded, Reiya stuffed her books into her bag quickly as her classmates erupted into conversation. Muttering a hurried apology to Aya, she attempted to walk out of the classroom in a brisk manner.

Attempted.

She did not succeed, the reason for this being the wall that stood in front of her. Marui Bunta smiled down at her cheerily, while Niou Masaharu smirked behind him.

"Hey Reiya!" His loud voice attracted the looks of many, including Aya, whose jaw dropped. "Let's go!"

I was too late, Reiya thought inwardly.

"Ah...I think not," she said, trying to duck around Marui, and this time it would have proved to be successful- if not for the second wall behind him.

"Gotcha," Niou said, while Reiya looked at the hand grasping her arm almost despairingly.

Reiya looked at her only friend, Aya for help but realized that she would be useless in her state when she saw her flushed red cheeks and dreamy eyes. The two tennis players didn't give her a chance to speak before she was dragged away.

I feel like I'm being dragged around a lot lately, thought Reiya, struggled against the unyielding hand on her arm.

"Can you stop moving around so much?" said Niou. Reiya glared at him but complied. Or so he thought. As soon as his grip relaxed slightly, she shook it off and ran for it.

Sadly, though Reiya had been training a little bit, it had only been for around two weeks. The two were physically fit boys who played a sport and had practice everyday. She never stood a chance. Reiya was quickly captured again, and this time she didn't fight it.

Ahh, whatever. She closed her eyes. It's too much trouble anyways. Her body slumped as she allowed them to steer her over in the direction of— where were they going anyway? Reiya opened her mouth to ask; however, they had another disruption.

"Marui, Niou," a stern voice sounded. "What are you two doing?"

Reiya cracked an eye open to see the vice captain of the tennis team with crossed arms and a furrowed brow, along with some other team members. She was relieved to see that one Yukimura Seiichi was absent, though there was another problem...

"Oh, Sanada-fukubuchou," said Marui, hastily dropping Reiya's arm. Niou copied his actions. "We were just- well you know, the manager...um, so yeah."

"But she doesn't really look like she wants to," Jackal pointed out.

"It's disgraceful to drag others around without their consent, Niou," said Yagyuu, pushing his glasses up, to which Niou responded with a shrug.

While this occurred, a staring match was happening between and Sanada and Reiya. The girl shrank under his sharp gaze.

"You," Sanada finally spoke, "want to be our manager?" She winced at his not-so-nice tone .Sanaa had, in fact, been the childhood friend of her brother since before elementary school. Which meant he knew her too. And what had happened.

"Um...manager?" Reiya didn't really remember signing up for anything like that. She whipped her head around to the two who had brought her there, but they seemed to be busy being berated by their teammates. Sanada frowned further, then turned away.

"Let's go," he said abruptly to his teammates. "Marui, Niou, bring her in a more presentable manner."

As they left, what he said registered in Reiya's mind.

"Bring me where exactly?" she asked slowly.

"To the tennis courts, of course," said Marui. Reiya jolted into a standing position.

"I'm not going," she proclaimed.

"Too late, we're already here," Niou said with a smirk. "Puri~"

Reiya turned to look in disbelief. There, in all their glory, was the tennis courts. She did not notice until much later that it was as if the sport itself was trying to drag her back in.

"Reiya," Marui started.

"Y-yeah?" she responded, still in a state in shock at how she had managed to miss the glaringly obvious group of girls gathered around the tennis courts.

"I've noticed this before but... You don't really pay attention to your surroundings do you?" he remarked bluntly. Reiya twitched, and turned to him slowly with her best imitation of her brother's most scariest smile.

"Did you say something?" she asked sweetly. Marui gulped. He couldn't recall where, but he had the feeling that he had seen that smile aimed at him many times before.

"N-no Yuki—I mean, ma'am."