After decently catching up to the International Tournament in the U-17 arc, I'm going to change Akina's background story with her and Ryoga. It won't cause that much difference with what I already wrote, so you won't have to go back and reread anything. I'll just be rewording a few things and fixing mistakes.
"I hate Mondays," a redhead groaned.
"Do you think this eyeliner is too intense?" Yoko stared into her compact mirror, moving her face around to find a better angle of her liner. Marui looked up from his homework, face scrunched up in confusion as his eyes scanned the brunette. Niou and Akina looked up from her desk, papers strewn about.
"Yoko-chan! You're supposed to be helping me, not looking at your make-up." Akina gave an exasperated sigh. She grasped random papers on Rikkaidai's clubs and shoved them in the other girl's face. "I need to choose a club by the end of today!"
Yoko mocked her sigh. "Oh my god, you'll be fine. Besides, it's not like you need to be in a club. They just say that to boost their involvement numbers."
"Yeah," Marui piped up, his eyes still focusing on Yoko's. "I only show up to the Movie club, like, once a month. And what eyeliner?"
The other three students gave the redhead questioning looks before Niou rolled his eyes. Yoko squinted at him before wildly gesturing to her face with the obvious but still tasteful black lines bordering her eyes. "What eyeliner?!"
"Yoko-chan, your eyeliner looks great," Niou reassured her before lightly kicking Marui's shin who gave him a dirty look. He then turned to the black-haired girl. "You like flowers, right? Why not the gardening club? They don't actually meet that often and if you end up wanting to participate more, you can cause you like plants."
The three stared at him. Yoko gave him a few blinks before opening her mouth. "Wow, that was really insightful of you, Niou."
Before he could snap back with a snarky comment, Akina quickly scribbled down 'gardening club' into the forms and gave the silverette a pat on the head before standing to turn the paper into the front office. She was really impressed with him— she only mentioned the fact that she likes plants once or twice since being in their friend group. As she headed out of the classroom, she quickly threw her head back. "Thanks, Niou-kun!"
Niou gave her a wave in acknowledgment before turning back to the bickering duo. Marui was currently scribbling some nonsense equation onto his homework, while the brunette mouthed off to him.
"Fuck," Marui breathed under his breath. "She was supposed to help me with this problem."
"Maybe you should have done it earlier, Marui-kun," a voice not belonging to any of the remaining three spoke softly— but still sternly— behind the redhead. The gum-chewing boy started, before turning his head to face the voice. An unamused tennis captain stared him down.
"Ah," Marui gave a sheepish smile while scrambling to put his math homework away. Yoko stifled a giggle. "Captain. Heeeyyy."
Blue eyes pierced through him before turning to the others surrounding Akina's desk. "I'm looking for Echizen Akina. She's in this homeroom, right?"
"Yeah," Niou simply stated before leaning back into his chair, his hands folding behind his back. Yukimura's icy blue eyes narrowed at the trickster. "What'd you need her for?"
"She just left to turn something in down at the front office," Yoko offered, not noticing the way the tennis captain looked at the silver-haired boy with mild annoyance. "You'll probably be able to catch her."
"Thank you." The bluenette ignored the silverette's question. He turned to smile at the brunette, not missing how she responded with a light blush. He gave a light wave to the three before leaving the room. "I'll see you later, Marui-kun. Niou-san."
Niou returned the wave before narrowing his eyes. He didn't actually think that the Big Three would want to pursue the Echizen girl. He had suspicions, but he thought that Akina's energetic personality would have pushed them away. He couldn't imagine the threes' subdued personalities would mix well with hers. He tsked. He might owe Yagyuu some money.
"Fuck," Marui groaned again. "He's totally going to tell Sanada-san and then I'll have to do more laps or some shit."
Yukimura rounded the corner, his foot planting itself just outside the school's front office. He jolted, stopping himself in his tracks as his eyes landed on the girl he was searching for. Icy blue eyes gravitated first to her face, catching the way the morning light framed her profile. His breath stumbled on the way the sunshine rested on her lashes, how the golden rays drizzled down her long black tresses and wrapped her figure in a yellow sheen. In his mind, he could see her in a painting.
"Well thank you, sweetie," the front office lady smiled, breaking Yukimura from his thoughts. "They meet on Friday afternoons, right after classes end for the day."
"Okay, thank you!" Akina smiled back at the lady before turning towards the bluenette. His presence stopped her, her eyebrows raising as she recognized who stood in her way.
"Can I help you, sweetie?" The lady asked before giving a smile to Yukimura.
He broke his gaze from the Echizen girl. "Actually, I was here for Echizen-san."
"Oh," the word slipped through the girl's lips. She stepped forward, the front lady now ignoring them, and gave him a small smile. "What can I help you with?"
Yukimura gave a small nod towards the doorway, his silent question being easily understood by the girl. "I just wanted to ask you something."
Akina tilted her head slightly, her curious but still cautious gaze fixed on him as she followed him through the doorway and into the hallway. "Sure, what is it?"
He casually leaned against some nearby lockers, causing his white button-up shirt to crinkle. With him now in uniform—and thus his headband gone— Akina couldn't help but notice how his hair laid the same. So, what was the point of wearing the headband? Before she could stupidly voice her thoughts, the bluenette helped break her thoughts. "I would like for you to join our team as our manager."
Akina cracked a sly smile despite her surprise. His wording didn't escape her. There were underlying demands in his words. While she wasn't totally experienced in dealing with people like him— those who used gentle persuasion to get what they want— she did recognize it when she saw it. "No. I don't think I'd be the right person for that."
Yukimura's thoughts paused. He didn't actually think that she would refuse him. She went to the girls' tennis team to ask for a manager position after all. What was so different about being on the boys' team? And why would she refuse him? There were so many other girls that would have killed to be in her position— Mina included. "Are you sure? I've seen you with my teammates. You're a good teacher."
"I'm not really looking for something like that—" Her shoulders dropped. Her eyes couldn't focus on the boy in front of her.
"Really? Then why did ask the girls' team?" Yukimura asked, cracking a small smirk that Akina failed to catch as she blanched, being caught in her lie.
How did he know about that?!
"Look, you don't have to give me an answer now," Yukimura sighed. He pushed himself off the lockers, his blue hair gently swaying with his movements. "Just really think about it, would you?"
I just did give you an answer. Akina rolled her eyes, not bothering to hide it from him. "All right. I'll let you know by Friday."
"Good," Yukimura flashed her gentle smile. "You can let me know your answer when we meet for our club meeting."
Akina's face scrunched up in confusion. Is he just being a pompous ass now? He just fucking assumed that she'd join them by the end of the week. "I just told you I'd think about it. You can't just assume that—"
"Our garden club meeting." She didn't notice his smile turn into a sly smirk. "You signed up for that, did you not?"
"Oh!" Akina's cheeks flushed in embarrassment, the irony in her thoughts not escaping her. "Yeah. I did."
"Well, I'll see you then, Echizen-chan." Yukimura politely nodded before heading back to wherever he had come from.
The girl took a deep breath. She'll just have to deal with it this week.
"Yo," Niou spotted Akina walking back to their group of desks. He waved her over as if she was going anywhere else than to their desks. Akina gave a smile. As she reached her desk, Niou leaned back in his chair, watching the girl carefully. "So did Yukimura-san find you?"
"Oh!" Akina's eyebrows shot up. "Yeah, how did you know?"
Marui shrugged, answering for the trickster. "He stopped by asking for you."
Niou leaned forward, curiosity flowing from him. "So what did he want from you?"
Akina gave a careful look, focusing on the silverette. "He wanted me to be your manager."
The trickster merely narrowed his eyes at her admission, yet despite his subtle movements, this had confirmed her suspicions. He had known the bluenette would do this. Yet before she could voice her findings, Marui's body snapped forward, shock flashing across his face. His forearm slammed down on the table and frightened Yoko in the process.
"Really?!" Marui's eyes widened. His smile grew even wider. "That'd be great. Did you say 'yes'?"
Akina's eyes flickered between the two tennis players before looking down. "Actually, no."
"W— what?" His eyes were still filled with shock, but now his grin had vanished. "Why?"
"Because!" Akina snapped back at him, a frown slowly growing on her lips. Catching Niou's gaze, she quickly changed her frown into a playful pout. "Besides, that one guy is always creeping me out. Muttering things and just constantly writing stuff down in that book of his. What is he even doing?"
"Oh," Marui waved her off. "That's just Yanagi-san. He does that."
Yoko scoffed. "That still doesn't explain anything, Bunta."
"It's his data tennis," the prankster provided for the two girls. "He gathers data on others and uses it to his advantage during matches."
How… does that work? A person's ability adapts to most situations so the data wouldn't be reliable unless he is constantly gathering data. That wouldn't work especially considering he needs to also work on himself— okay, that's enough.
Akina shook her thoughts from her mind, silently pleased to have been able to divert the conversation. Her chin resting on her propped fist, Akina pouted as she pondered over the interaction with the odd tennis captain.
Man, Akina sighed to herself. Guys on tennis teams sure are weird.
Black dahlias bloom from betrayal.
And I'm back!