Practice was just getting started and it seemed like a girl yelled out "Seigaku!" followed by cheers from the team members saying "Fight! Fight! Fight!" It ended up being a freshmen yelling in, probably in the middle of his voice cracking. I had to refrain from laughing like crazy, but I don't know who felt more foolish, me or the freshmen... Once again I was wearing another tennis outfit that Eiji made me wear.

"Eimi," Oishi was calling me. "Can you help serve to help the underclassmen? Use any serve you like."

"Any serve?" I said with a fox-like face.

That's where he looked worried, but laughed it off. "Just don't injure anybody."

I took a basket full of tennis balls and I was almost struggling to get it to one side of the court. Then someone took it out of my hands. "You shouldn't be carrying this." Tezuka said as he carried the basket for me.

I looked down. "Um… thank you." He just left and observed the rest of the underclassmen as I helped the underclassmen return serves. "Come on; be more aware of your surroundings!" I had continued this until Tezuka called for everyone to line up.

I honestly didn't know what to do until Inui called me over. "Eimi, help me set up the next training." Then he had the most mischievous and evil look on his face. The reflection off of his glasses were blinding me. I could also smell this faint smell of something that died… I tried my best not to breathe through my nose. I didn't want to be rude and cover my nose. I didn't know if that horrid smell was Inui himself.

"What are you planning?" I hesitated to ask.

"A training schedule to get the regulars ready..." then he began laughing a bit. It was scary and very mischievous...

I was definitely scared; I am definitely not going to hang around this guy too much. He gave me a box filled with ankle weights and tennis balls that had different color lining. The box was kind of heavy. I was wondering why he gave me the box instead of him carrying nothing but three different colored cones.

"Feel free to put on the ankle weights. You can train with us too." Inui offered.

I hesitated. "Uh… if I have to I will." I was still annoyed that he made me carry the heavy box while he seemed to do the easy work.

"By the way, um, what is that smell?"

He laughed again. "This." He showed me this big bottle of a green juice… except it surely wasn't juice. It was like a mixture of death and rotten vegetables.

I had to breathe deeper, facing away from the drink, in order to regain complete consciousness. "You aren't going to force anyone to drink that… are you?"

"Well, of course." He said laughing. I headed to the court with Inui where the regulars were waiting for us. Eiji looked surprised, and I looked at him with an expression he would know all too well. I was annoyed. And he knew it. "To get through the long match schedule until the Nationals, we'll start with strengthening the lower body with 250-gram lead bars."

"And you made Eimi carry this instead of the cones you were carrying?" Tezuka gave him a look. I looked at Tezuka and then back at Inui. Tezuka looked angry and Inui looked... well I couldn't tell. His thick and reflective lenses didn't show his face at all.

"Our managers should stay fit too." He said.

Tezuka's expression never changed. I put down the box and then Inui gave me the three cones for me to set up instead.

"Happy?" Inui asked Tezuka. Tezuka could only turn the other way. There was no pleasing him. I just awkwardly walked over to the other side of the court and placed the cones an eual distance apart.

"I have three different colored cones, and three different colored tennis balls." Inui said.

"I get it." Eiji said as he walked to the other side of the net.

I just stepped back to not get in the way, when Tezuka walked up beside me. "Are you alright?" He asked, actually showing concern.

"Yeah, it really wasn't that heavy." I picked up one of the ankle weights and put it around me weak ankle. Then I saw Eiji returning the balls to the different cones like it was no problem. I smiled. "That's my brother!" I cheered, yet I was still worried for Eiji. Fatigue might get to him… and… just thinking about that slime made me sick…

I took one of my rackets and three more cones and headed to the court next to Eiji's. Tezuka chose to be the one on the opposite side to set it up. I was a little surprised he followed me.

"Ready?" I asked him. He just nodded. I was a little worried, I kind of wished I would be helping Eiji instead. I served a few, with him getting every color until I heard Eiji.

"What, why did you do that? It was red!"

"No…" I said under my breath.

Inui pulled out a glass of that rancid drink… Maybe I should have warned Eiji before he started to do anything… Everyone was looking at the glass with a mixture of amazement and pure terror.

Eiji took the glass and just gulped it down, after somehow finishing the drink he acted like he was going to throw up. "What is this?" He yelled and started running.

"Eiji!" I looked at Tezuka. "One minute… I have to make sure he is okay." It was kind of my job after all. He called for water. I ran after him with a bottle of water. "Eiji, here." He gulped down the whole thing. "What was in that anyway?"

"I don't know… it was a little spicy… and…" He looked like he was actually gonna throw up.

I filled up the bottle for him. "Just drink a little more water and take a breather before heading back, but before I could even head back more victims came over to get water from the fountain. They all looked extremely ill. I walked over with Eiji as he laid down on the grass. Tezuka was already doing his share with Ryuzaki. I'm sure he was worried he was going to miss too in his own little way. He was only human, after all.

Just then, Fuji missed a ball which was very surprising for me. I only knew him because he was good friends with Eiji, but I also knew he has great skills as a tennis player.

"You did that on purpose!" Eiji yelled out. I'm surprised Fuji did do it on purpose in the first place… but he did gulp that thing down like it was absolutely nothing. At least one person survived… But Fuji did more than survive, it seemed to refresh him. Eiji continued to groan. "How did he even do that?"

"Eiji, I'll cook you your favorite later. Just hang in there. And next time you drink it, don't move your tongue or anything, just open up your mouth wide and drink it. It won't be as bad next time." I tried to assure him.

Eiji smiled. "You are the best, Eimi, but you didn't even drink it."

"I'm not putting my life on the line just yet…"

As I talked to Eiji, I continued to watch Tezuka. It's hard to believe that the man that stood before me yesterday was the same as the one practicing in front of me today. He looked so serious, yet graceful as he played. I was in a trance. There was an angelic quality to his play…

He didn't miss anything, no matter what Ryuzaki did, so they just stopped. After everyone came back, Inui started giving advice to everyone. I made sure I would remember Eiji's advice because he would forget.

"Your grip loosens as you impact; strengthen your forearms to be more consistent." He continued to give others advice, but everyone complained that they didn't know what he was talking about with the different muscles he was describing. At this point, most people play without a lot of thought in their actions. Unless you were super serious, Inui's advice was a little insane.

"Eiji, your forearms are these…" I said holding on to his arm. "The muscle near your hand, the muscle you use more when you do a forehand return…. Well at least for me."

Inui was still talking. "Tezuka, you didn't miss. I'll grant you that, but you need more flexibility. And you look too serious." Everyone tried to hold in a laugh, and I did too. Although Tezuka and I were on good terms, somewhat, I still tried my best to not get on his bad side. He saw that I was laughing and had a look of embarrassment that he tried to hide from everyone else.