It started off as a normal morning. Reiya woke up, dressed, and prepared for her morning jog. Only today... her brother was waiting for her at the doorway, already dressed in his tennis uniform.

"Good morning," he greeted her casually. "Going for a run?" Reiya could only nod dumbly.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked. She nodded again, finding it hard to think of an excuse to refuse. It was early in the morning. And on mornings, her brain does not function well.

He ran beside her as she set off a moderate pace, easily keeping up. He said nothing, and his silence unnerved her. Her mind briefly flashed to the events of the day before, and this time she could not stop herself as she blurted out her question.

"Why?"

Without pausing, he replied, "Hm? Why what?"

"Why are you being...like this?" She gestured helplessly in the air, unable find words to explain. But it seemed that he understood. He merely smiled. He did that a lot.

"Why not?" Reiya gave him a weird look in return.

"Oh," he said, as if suddenly remembering something. "Make sure to come to the tennis courts for morning and afternoon practice."

"Right," she said absentmindedly, her mind still on her brother's strange interactions with her. He raised an eyebrow.

"That's the first time you haven't protested." Reiya looked up.

"Wait, what?"

"Does that mean you've started to accept tennis?"

Reiya ran a hand through her hair in distress as she slowly moved towards the tennis courts, prolonging her walk.

What did he mean by that?

Lost in her thoughts as she often was, she bumped into something, or someone. Reiya quickly began to apologize before she saw the person's face. It was that fangirl from yesterday.

Uh...what was her name? Um, Kurosaki Moka? Mami? Or was it Miki?

"Takami Reiya," the girl in question said through a deep scowl. "I hope you haven't forgotten about our match. Just so you know, no one has defeated me, Kurosawa Maki since I became captain!"

Kurosawa Maki. That's what it was.

Kurosawa Maki walked passed her stiffly with an upturned nose.

Reiya raised an eyebrow then continued on towards her destination. She caught sight of her brother watching over practice in the tennis courts, his arms crossed and his jacket draped over his shoulders.

"Oh, Reiya," he called out, noticing her walking by. She froze. She still wasn't used to that. Him talking to her.

"Y-yeah?" she answered, hating the stutter in her voice.

"You forgot this," he said, gesturing to call her attention to an object. It was leaning against the fence innocently in all its glory. Reiya's eyes grew wide. The 'object' was her tennis bag. Her old, worn tennis bag she had not taken outside for years.

"Yukimura," Jackal called out curiously. "Why are you carrying two tennis bags?" The regulars turned their heads towards Yukimura, wondering the same thing. One of the bags was obviously his, but the other was unrecognizable.

"It's Reiya's," he said matter-of-factly. It took them a second to process his reply.

"Reiya...you mean Takami-san?" said Yagyuu. The others examined the bag with more interest after learning it was their new mysterious manager's. It was worn, the black fading in some places. The strap was also frayed at the ends. It was clearly a well-used bag of someone who had spent hours on tennis. A tennis ball charm hung from one of the zippers. Yanagi was hurriedly writing everything down in his notebook.

"Yukimura," he started, snapping it shut. "Why do you have her tennis bag?"

"I just found it in the house somewhere," he said vaguely. A few of them looked up.

"So it's yours not hers?" asked Niou. "Puri~"

"No, it's hers," said Yukimura. Niou's eyes glinted, about to press for more information, when Sanada interrupted, a crease in his forehead.

"Is this part of your plan?" The others began to feel even more confused.

Yukimura chuckled in response.

Reiya stared at the tennis bag in shock, her mind not comprehending.

"Why...is this here?"

"I found it in your closet," he replied.

"You found— you went through my closet?"

"It was in the outside part," he assured her.

"Why do I even need my rackets? I've only agreed to be manager right?"

"Didn't you say that someone challenged you in a match? You must be quite rusty from not playing for a long time. When is it by the way?"

"She told me Monday but—"

"I see. Well, joining our practices for a week will have you in good condition by then."

"Joining your practices—" Reiya wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh, cry, or be enraged. "Woah, wait a minute. Who said anything about joining practices? What about your teammates? I'm sure they wouldn't agree."

"It can just be part of your duties as a manager," said her brother with certainty. "Right Yanagi?"

"I suppose," said a voice behind Reiya. Startled, she whirled around to face it.

"How long have you been there?" she asked, quickly masking her surprise.

"Long enough to infer that the two of you live together, and therefore are related in some way."

"Siblings," was Yukimura's easy reply. Reiya whipped her head to look at him, then back at Yanagi. She got the feeling that she was being scrutinized very closely by him, despite his eyes being closed.

"I see," he said, looking slightly surprised by the news. "Interesting."

Marui looked around, his eyes roaming the tennis courts.

"Hey guys," he said. "Have you seen Yanagi?"

"If it's Yanagi he's over there with Yukimura and Reiya-chan," said Niou, joining him by his side. "I wonder what they're talking about."

They watched as their manager's facial expressions changed from uncertainty, anger, exasperation, and finally defeat. It was rather entertaining to watch as she reluctantly picked up the tennis bag leaning on the fence before turning a half glare/half confused look at Yukimura.

"Hm..." Marui mused. "Yukimura and Reiya do seem rather close, don't they?

He walked her home yesterday, he calls her by her first name, and he somehow has her tennis bag lying around in his house?" he listed.

"Childhood friends turned sweethearts perhaps," suggested Niou mischievously.

"You two!" the voice of Sanada floated behind them. "What are you doing? Tarundoru!"

"Nothing," said Marui innocently. "Just wondering what they're talking about." He gestured toward the three people in question.

"Nothing that will warrant you slacking off," Sanada said dryly. "Now get back to your warm-ups!"

"Yes, yes."

Reiya decided that she would never be able to quite decipher her brother's thoughts, and neither did she want to. When told there was a change of clothes in the bag after protesting about her lack of appropriate attire, she wasn't sure if she should be even more angry at him for further going through her things, or hopelessly confused. She decided on the latter. It took much less effort.

She found a nearby restroom where she dropped the bag on the floor (it had been on worse surfaces before) and opened the zipper. Inside, Reiya found her two rackets and, as her brother had informed her, a set of clothes consisting of a plain t-shirt and loose running shorts. A Rikkaidai jacket had also somehow found its way in there. She stared at it and contemplated her thoughts.

Meanwhile, Yanagi was digging for more information.

"It's rare for you to be so pushy," he remarked.

"This will probably be the only time," sighed Yukimura. "Or last least until Reiya is stubborn again."

"Is that what they call brotherly love?" Yanagi wondered out loud, secretly thinking that while Yukimura wasn't exactly outright stubborn, once he set his mind to do something, nothing would be able to change it. "Are you really her brother? Your last names are different." Yukimura's face darkened.

"Yes." He said nothing more to further explain, and Yanagi also fell silent.

Reiya chose that moment to re-enter the courts, dressed in black shorts and a simple white shirt. After internally struggling, she had decided it was too warm to wear the jacket and had tied it around her waist, resisting the habitual urge to set it on her shoulders.

She came to a stop in front of Yukimura, and Yanagi noted the similarities between the two that he had not seen before. There was a large difference between their expressions (one was smiling and the other was, well, not) however, their facial structures were almost eerily similar. Something about the way she stood and her posture was familiar as well. All she needed, he thought, was a jacket draped over her shoulders, and they would be identical.

"So...now what?" asked Reiya uncertainly.

"Have you stretched properly?" said Yukimura. Reiya nodded. She had done a few warm-ups after she had dressed.

"Now we do our laps," he declared. "Everyone," he addressed the entirety of the team. "50 laps around the courts. Those who drop out before doing 50 will pick up balls for the rest of practice, and those who complete their laps will rally on the courts."

Reiya stood still as the members rushed by.

"Better get going," her brother advised her as he set off too.

"You're kidding me right?" Reiya said to empty space. "I'm pretty sure that most managers don't have duties involving joining practice."