Hyoutei's First Date
By: NarutoandBleach
When Ryoma gets word that the Hyoutei Captain has become obsessed with him, everyone knows that something is up and Ryoma is keeping secrets from his friends. Are they really dating each other or is this simply a plan to bring two rivals together as one?
Disclaimer: The original manga, Tennis no Oujidama, is the work of Konomi Takeshi. Characters and settings have been adapted without authorization or approval, and I am making no profit from their use.
[Confessions and Glory]
The next day at Seigaku, practice went on as usual with the students working on their swings and gathering balls because so many of them did not know how to serve or return balls to their opponents. Furthermore, the new soon-to-be captain Shuichiro Oishi and Momo had to spend their time training the newbies while Eiji and Fuji were busy helping Kachiro and Katsuo with their homework in the clubroom because they didn't want to hear about Ryoma's bragging of Atobe here in the courts since the coach had excused him from practice. However, when Ryoma showed up for practice, he greeted his sempais before changing to his tennis gear.
"Looks like O'chibi is in a happy mood today, nya?" said Fuji.
"Yeah, I wonder what made him like this?" added Saeki as he continued practicing with Arai since they knew exactly why that brat started seeing Atobe. Furthermore, they have seen the video of those two lovebirds hanging out together from time to time since they just wanted a chance to be together and make a bond that will never be separated. At this rate, it seems that Atobe will not stop until he makes Ryoma confess his true feelings for that diva.
Once Ryoma changed clothes, he walked over to his partner Momo and said, "Please gather the rest of the teammates around, I have an important announcement to make."
Everyone was confused as to why Ryoma had summoned them during practice when the coach was busy helping her granddaughter making a surprise party for the little brat that will start of a new life in a different school since this was his chance to make his family and his friends proud of his goal and his accomplishments he made over the last 3 years at Seigaku.
"So what's up O'chibi? What did you want to tell us?" asked Eiji.
"Well, for starters, you are aware that I got a letter from coach sakaki asking me to join his school right? However, I just feel that it might be too soon and I don't want to say good bye to you guys. Furthermore, I am not sure if going to hyoutei would make you guys happy or so."
Everyone was silent for a moment, especially for kaidou and Inui since they couldn't know what to say. However, Fuji immediately placed his hand on the boy's shoulder and hugged him.
"Ryoma-kun, I know it's hard for you to make a decision about transferring to Hyoutei, but sooner or later, you have to go there if you want to be a pro. We are all happy for you."
"yeah, it's not like we are going to go anywhere when you are gone. You can always come back and visit us anytime here at Seigaku. After all, you are the pillar of this school." Continued Oishi
"I know that, but it seems that Monkey king has found me attractive and he just wants me to make sure I am well accommodated to their place since it's so big. I might get lost with the classrooms and everything." added Ryoma.
"I know that feeling. When tezuka was here on his first day, he was so nervous about tennis that he couldn't even start hitting the ball and he had trouble making friends because he was bullied too much. However, after some coaching from his former mentor and captain, he started to become serious about the game and would play non-stop in order to better himself and he sees that flame in you as well. So, you shouldn't be nervous since you have us to guide you." Said Taka.
"He's right and I do agree because like you, Tezuka has to practice day and night without stopping because he practically treats tennis as if it was some sort of a game to him. And I can see that he passed that legacy onto you because it's your job to show the world what the sport truly means to them." Said Momo.
Ryoma looked at them for a moment and smiled. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys. I was just worried that I might not get treated fairly at hyoutei because I might get kicked out on the first day of my new year. However, I am not going to let that bother me because I will do what is necessary and win my lover's heart."
"You are still hanging around with that pompous jerk? When will you stop pestering him?" asked Kaido.
"It seems that the brat cannot leave his boyfriend alone because he hasn't fully confessed his feelings. But I am betting that he is about to let it all out after school is over and I am 95 percent sure of it." Smiled Inui.
"that lucky brat thinks he can confess his feelings towards a guy that treats him like royalty?" boasted Ikeda.
"Of course! Why do you think he has been spending so much time hanging out with the guys at Hyoutei? I am sure that his teammates are not amused at what their captain is doing, but I think they should really cut him some slack. I mean atobe has his reasons for wanting ryoma to himself and they just need to let them have some time alone together, there is nothing wrong with that right? Honestly, the guys at Shitenhouji just would not stop bragging about Ryoma's love life. I wonder why they have left behind a cake for the people at Hyoutei with the lettering of Ryoma and Atobe forever?" continued Oishi.
"Who knows? It's not like Atobe is going to ask for Ryoma's hand in marriage." Finished Horio.
"I always wanted to see Ryoma and Atobe at their wedding because it is so cute seeing them as a couple." Whined Tomoka.
"Tomoka, whatever lies you have heard from Ryoma is not true, He stated that he and Atobe are just friends." Continued the captain.
"Maybe I have been too friendly towards Atobe and it was making me nervous to confess. That's the reason why I was acting so strangely! Thank you for giving me the courage to open up my heart!" said Ryoma as he shook his captain's hand while hugging him.
"Um… you're welcome?" Oishi was confused as to why Ryoma thanked him when none of them said anything. By the time school was on its lunch break, the short-pants kid rushed over to Hyoutei since he knows that atobe could still be at the cafeteria while his teammates were busy training for the last few ten minutes since they are fully aware of the situation at hand. Even Choutaro and Shishido had no words to describe their mind fucked captain about why he always goes after that seigaku brat. Furthermore, that kid was only a few years younger than Atobe and they still were rivals and friends.
Soon, the kid arrived in the cafeteria, only to see Gakuto and Oshitari at the table talking amongst themselves and decided to sit next to them while drinking ponta.
"Hey, guys. Just wanted to stop by for a little bit. Is this seat taken?"
"Hello yourself, brat! What brings you here today? Don't you have your own school cafeteria to go to?" asked Gakuto.
"Nah, coach excused me from the school cafeteria because she didn't want me to spread my phobia of love throughout the building since it would drive the upperclassmen nuts. Furthermore, Fuji Syusuke teased me saying "You should spend more time with your lover because he is so attractive." I don't know what he meant by that but—"
Before Ryoma could continue, Gakuto cut him off and said, "Did you just say our captain is attractive? Are you making this up?"
"I wouldn't lie to you. And yes, I believe so. However, I was so nervous at making a confession to him because I couldn't think of anything to say last time. So at this point, I am ready to show my true feelings for him." Continued Ryoma.
Yuushi and Gakuto snickered at each other and couldn't believe the words that came out of the brat's mouth since there was no way that the captain would believe him. However, as Atobe walked into the café, he grabbed the foods that he need and sat down next to ryoma.
"What's up monkey king?"
"Brat! Ore-sama reminds you to stop calling me that because it does not fit my royal image! Second, did I hear you say that I am attractive? How nice of you! You really do have feelings for me!"
"Che! That's only the beginning even if we are not actually beginning the stages of love yet. But yes, that's the reason why I came here because we could be getting closer together!" exclaimed Ryoma.
"Really? Well, thank the lucky stars that destiny has smiled upon us." smiled Atobe as he embraced Ryoma in a tight hug, leaving the doubles pair in shock.
Are you seriously kidding me? That kid came all the way over here to confess his true feelings now? Oh shit! Someone is seriously confused here." Oshitari thought to himself. Furthermore, he was certain that his captain would be coming to his senses by now. Furthermore, he should have warned echizen about what Atobe could be capable of doing but the brat couldn't care less since these two have so much in common together now.
"Monkey King, I really do love you and I am so sorry that it took me this long to confess to you because I was too nervous to say anything." Said Ryoma
"You don't need to apologize because ore-sama knows that you are not keeping secrets from me. Furthermore, from the day I met you, I knew that you would be mine forever, my young prince. At this point, the trip to Hokkaido will go as planned with the teams that I have selected so you better prepare yourself for a party since I need those seigaku brats there as well."
"Of course, king Atobe!" and with that, Echizen immediately sent a text to his teammates and reminded them of the Hokkaido trip since there could be a tennis match going on with all the school teams present.
Just then, the silver pair arrived and sees Ryoma sitting next to Atobe and was about to say something when Yuushi approached them and said, "Ryoma finally confessed that he loves Atobe and finds him attractive. Looks like that brat didn't heed my warning."
"Are you serious? Atobe, is this true? Did Ryoma confess that he truly loves you?" asked a shocked Shishido.
"Yes, he did confess, but earlier he told me that he was nervous and couldn't say anything before, but now he was more confident and was more forthcoming this time around so I decided to invite him and his teammates to Hokkaido for the summer break." Continued Atobe.
Everyone jaw dropped, "Dude, come on now! You know that some of us might have other plans after the semester is over right? How come your schedules have been booked with so much free time for the summer?" asked Ryou.
"Ore-sama likes to keep a tight ship because he does not want to be bored with strenuous activities. Besides, my parents are too busy right now since they are fully aware of me dating Echizen. Furthermore, I think they would like to see him more often at my house sometime soon because my father loves him dearly just like his old man nanjiroh. Therefore, our parents are best friends for quite a long time now and they are perfectly fine with us hanging out together." Continued Atobe.
Everyone inside the cafeteria had very little clues as to what was going on, including the doubles partners because many of them either jaw-dropped or just ignored the whole thing and didn't have a care in the world. Suddenly, Yuushi raised his hand and asked, "Atobe, what about that time when Echizen mentioned that he was straight?"
Atobe didn't reply at that response except throwing his head back and laughing like a maniac because the concept of gay and straight didn't mean anything to him. Furthermore, Gakuto had a look of confusion on his face, especially from the crowd of supporters and the fangirls at the cafeteria. Some of them were murmuring about the whole date thing between Ryoma and Atobe since and feared that the brat could end up being the master's second son. At this rate, Shishido wanted to leave them be since there was no way that he or choutaro would get involved in their little romance shindig because the whole thing about Echizen being straight was a joke to him. However, given the fact that Momo almost tried to date Ann tachibana and Sengoku being straight, everyone had fears around them.
"I don't fucking believe this," he could hear Shishido grumbling under his breath while studying the pamphlet of the Hokkaido trip, "Since when did our captain turn Echizen into his love child?"
"Well, the fact that they are both brats tells me that they are fixated on each other's thoughts and feelings. I do believe that my partner has been keeping some secrets from me, isn't that right, partner?" He then glared at his partner who went and hid behind the trash cans. Of course, Yuushi will have to think of a plan to put an end to this love madness because it was spreading like wildfire. However, he was annoyed when Echizen showed up at Hyoutei unannounced, but there was no way that anyone can escort him off school grounds right now. Furthermore, he will take care of any mishaps later, but right now the secrets have been revealed since Atobe had followed Echizen's every move since he had told the kid to mention the dating scheme to every other school so that they can witness the fireworks for themselves.
Once Atobe turned his attention to the crowd, he grabbed the loudspeaker on the desk next to him and said, "All right guys, prepare for the upcoming trip and gather the necessities you will need. We are going to have a party that will rock your hearts out. In the meantime, enjoy your lunches because I have some business to attend to with the newbies in the tennis courts."
As the crowd dispersed from the cafeteria after lunch, Oshiari was the only one that was still here cleaning up the mess that some of the students had left behind since it was pointless for him to question Atobe's motives behimd his dating scheme since he was more than just a lunatic with issues. As he headed to the courts, he finds Atobe sitting on the benches next to Ryoma, who was sipping on ponta since the crowd had been left to train with tennis balls.
"Atobe! I need to talk to you." Called Oshitari.
"What is it?" replied Atobe.
Oshitari paused to shake his head to eliminate the headaches that were brewing through him. "Seriously, man, are you sure that kid is the right type for you? If you really are dating him, make sure that he really has it in for you."
Atobe turned and placed his hand on the blue haired boy's shoulder and smiled, "Oshitari, my honorifically challenged friend, Echizen is but a mere companion to my taste because his soul just brings happiness to my heart. So therefore, to see if the two sexes really match, this is something that only I can accomplish. You need not to worry."
Before Oshitari could get any replies, he didn't understand what was dealt into his hand and this time, he can see that his captain was beginning to act abnormally. "How do you know this will work? you know what, never mind. I will speak with someone who knows." With a sigh, he grabbed his phone and decided to call Fuji from Seigaku since he is able to handle any love issues between a guy and a girl.
Once he got a hold of the third year senior, Fuji immediately picked up, "Hello Yuushi, what can I do for you?"
There was a pause of silence on the courts of Hyoutei as Oshitari contined, "Fuji, thank goodness! I wanted to ask you, is Echizen gay or straight? Because I couldn't get any answers from my captain, I wanted to ask you right off the bat."
"Excuse me?" Fuji held the phone tightly between himself and Oishi
"I asked you is Echizen gay or straight, this is crucial."
"Why?" asked the Seigaku student since he had some suspicions about the date thing.
"Well, Atobe has invited his date to Hokkaido and he is taking you guys along for the ride, including other schools in order to celebrate their shindig. Yes, there will be flowers presented and I needed to reserve some Deejays for the music, but I am not sure what kind of music that they like."
"I see, well…" Atobe's expression was too priceless because he could imagine what Fuji would look like dancing with skinless tops at Hokkaido, but Shishido was trying to clear his captain's perverted mind. "You realize that our Ryoma had showed his true feelings for your captain and plays tennis non-stop, right? So I do believe he will like almost any girl that Hyoutei or Rikkaidai has to offer."
"Humor me, so does Echizen like boys or girls?"
"That doesn't matter as long as he can get a girl to actually enjoy the presents that he can present them with. I don't see any problems here since tennis is his favorite sport. I bet that a lot of girls from your school would want to play him right?" continued Fuji.
"well, I can try asking the girls, but some just would ignore Echizen and want to face Atobe. Although I am certain that our captain is not interested in them, he prefers Echizen instead because only that kid can clear his mind of the girls that annoyed the hell out of our captain during math class." Replied Oshitari.
"Good luck, and I am sure me and my brother will have more information for you when we get to Hokkaido. Oh, and the coach said that Ryoma won't be needing any disturbance from the girls at Seigaku since all they could do is cheer like idiots. Anyway, I need to go and finish up my rounds of training some newbies, talk to you later!" And with that, the line disconnected, leaving Oshitari with a blank stare on his face and watching Atobe's confident look on his face as if he had won this round. "This is considered to be a time well spent between us lovers" said atobe as he holds a finger upon his friend's nose before picking up his racket and returned to practice.
As Oshitari looked back at his captain and Kabaji, he studied the cell phone and smiled. Atobe, you may have won that brat as your true love. But understand this; you are only going to make a jackass out of yourself. I mean, would it bother you to take your mind off Echizen for a little while and focus on school? The thought of him is getting into your head! I wouldn't mind you looking after that kid, but all of us are like brothers to him as well. You got to give us a chance to see if he is really ready for this sort of thing. At this point, Oshitari started blushing and quickly returned to his senses. "What the hell am I doing? I already am aware that brat was going to attend our school as a high school freshman next semester and doing coaching as a part time job. But why did our captain ask us to keep an eye on him? Ah screw it! I don't need to worry as long as we keep him company."
Soon, Yuushi returned to where Gakuto and Shishido were practicing with Choutaro and Taki and said, "Well, it seems that Fuji told me that Echizen will fall for almost any girl that he chooses."
"Seriously, when did that sadistic brat start to become an expert on romance?" asked Shishido.
"well, if what Fuji said is true, then we should hook Echizen up with a couple of the girls to see if they are really interested in dating him or playing tennis with him. Maybe that could get him to interact with them." Said Yuushi.
"An interesting idea, we shall see if any of them are tennis enthusiasts." Added Gakuto.
The three of them left to find a few girls from Atobe's fanclub, but only a few of the girls were tennis players while the others gave up the sport to become cheerleaders. However, the three girls that were picked barely knew how to swing the racket or hit balls so this could be echizen's chance to show them how to play the sport.
As echizen looked around at the tennis courts, he could see a few first year students struggling to hold tennis rackets and some having a hard time hitting the balls and decided to help out.
"Sir, you are holding the tennis racket wrong. You are supposed to gold the tennis racket grip with your hand on the bottom and use your other hand to smooth the nets and make sure that it is ready to hit the ball as it comes at you. Also, you guys, this is tennis, not baseball. Stop using the rims of the tennis racket to hit balls. Finally, you don't swing rackets from side to side, you are supposed to hit the ball with force, like you really mean it."
Soon, everyone started to follow echizen's example and decided to improve their skills which surprised atobe. "Wow, looks like my date really does have what it takes to be a part time assistant coach for our school."
As the doubles partners returned with the girls, they are surprised to see the Seigaku brat teaching them the basics of tennis such as wait and hit and swinging basics. Then then rushed over to their captain and Gakuto said, "Since when did that brat become such an expert at tennis?"
"Well, as soon as he saw those two first year kids struggling with their rackets, he immediately showed them how to take care of their equipment carefully so that they don't scratch up the rims. I am actually impressed that the kid seems to be learning from the best at his old school." Smiled Atobe.
Elsewhere, the gang from seigaku, including Akaya and Sanada watched from the audio-visual room and they were shocked. "How did that guy become such a good teacher?" asked Akaya.
"I think he must have inherited that trait from Tezuka before he left for Germany. Furthermore, he also showed them your moves as well so that they can train harder to improve their skills. So his chances of becoming an assistant coach at Hyoutei is seventy percent." Said Inui as he recorded the data in his notebook.
Sanada could only smile at the brat since he had come a long way after starting out at seigaku. Furthermore, the kid must have been trained towards his limits from his own captain in order to pass it to the next batch of newbies. However, he still couldn't believe that Atobe had made it his mission to keep echizen for as long as needed since he showed his true feelings for that diva.
"So you are telling me that he finally opened up his heart towards that crazy loon?" said Sanada.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, he told Atobe the message inside the cafeteria after entering the school grounds, so in other words, he is ready to meet girls that are his same age." Said Eiji.
"That brat still has a lot to learn about girls because the way I see it, some of them don't seem to be interested in Echizen right now," added Akaya.
Sanada looked at him for a moment and placed a reassuring shoulder on his teammate, "Akaya, Echizen will get there when the time is right since he needs to interact with the girls a little more before they get a chance to warm up to him since he is relatively new to this dating scheme. I think if we just give him the time he needs, perhaps he could let one of those girls dance with him at Hokkaido."
"Really? Well, we will see just how good he is with girls because we saw how badly he treated Sakuno after rejecting her foods during the national tournament." Continued Akaya.
"that's because he didn't like it that much and decided to give it to Kintaro. So he didn't do so well with her." Continued Momo.
"He was such an idiot back then." Agreed Inui.
As the others watched, Ryoma could see the girls approaching towards him and asked, "You much be Echizen Ryoma, nice to meet you! We are just starting out with the basics of tennis and we see that you must have taught them the basics. Can you head over to the machine and give us some practice?"
"I would love to, but I want to make certain that you guys are serious about the sport itself," contined Echizen.
"we will try our best, Master Echizen." The girls bowed at him and shook his hand before leading him to the warm up zone.
"Since when did Ryoma become a master?" asked Shishido
"He isn't a master yet, I think those girls are confused." Continued yuushi.
"I think those girls are going to get along really well with that brat." Smiled Atobe as he and Kabaji walked over to the practice area together to offer their support for the kid before their upcoming trip.
Looks like Echizen really knows his stuff about the sport and about dating. But now, he is going to show a few girls just what the sport is really about. I am starting to get the feeling that he was taught by the best of the best. So we shall see how these new guys will do in the sport itself.
What did you think? please favorite and review.
