Thanks to the new reader who left me a bunch of reviews recently and also reminded me that I forgot to post the last chapter of this story haha. Please continue to engage with my writing as I'm probably to type to keep writing if there's one person out there reading :D

Chapter 6 - End

He was warmed up and ready. His muscles were stretched and his blood was pumping. The day was finally here. He'd spent the past few months completely rebuilding his tennis style and pushing the limits of his abilities. He proved that to himself by beating Taki for his spot back just a few days ago, and now it was time to prove it to the world.

This was a big match for the team. Seigaku had been a long-time rival of Hyotei's. Every time the schools saw each other in a tournament meant that every match would be neck and neck.

Legs jittering in nervousness and excitement, he was looking for her in the gathering crowd in hopes that getting just a glimpse of her from far away would calm him. He was jilted out of his fixation when he heard his phone buzz and light up with a message notification.

'I'm here. Just focus on winning your match. I'm watching.'

Shishido shook his head and stood up to stretch his body slightly more. She was right. This was the chance he'd worked for. 5ams to 12ams every day not being able to afford to think about anything other than tennis. The only way he got through the torture of not having a spare moment to spend with Makoto was the carrot she hung just out of his reach. Speaking of that carrot, Shishido was getting frustrated that he hadn't been able to cash in his reward since winning his spot back. Last minute training before the tournament had kept him from seeing her at all.

The referee called for the Doubles 2 match. They were versing Inui and Kaidou - a formidable duo. Shishido felt the adrenaline surge through his veins at the thought of the difficult match ahead. The better the other team was, the more he could show everyone how far he'd come. "Choutaro," he said as he picked up his racket, "let's go."

"Okay!" Choutaro replied as they gave each other a firm high five.

It was a hard game but they pulled through with a score of 6-3 in the end. Both of them ended the match realising they had formed something solid over the past few months with the extra training they had done together. For the past two and a bit years at Hyotei, Shishido had always been a singles player. He was good as a singles player, but would always be playing the Singles 3 or Singles 2 slot at Hyotei. But after today's match, he felt like the two of them would soon be able to take on the strongest doubles teams from other schools. Going head to head with duos like Eiji and Oishi from Seikagu and giving them a run for their money felt just in reach.

Makoto felt her heart skip a beat every time she saw Shishido hit the ball. Lord, if she knew this was the outcome of shaving that hair she would've done it herself years ago. The self-imposed no-kissing ban was taking its toll on her too. It was hard to resist after the taste of one kiss but he needed all the motivation he could to get back onto this court. His determination was one of the things she liked most about him.

Although, Makoto wasn't sure how she felt about the new duo that had formed. Shishido and Choutaro looked like they had gotten a lot closer over the past few months training together late at night. Too close. A couple of weeks ago, Shishido had sent her a video of a new formation the two had been working on together. It was still in very early days but they called it 'Pile Mirage,' where Shishido would squat in front of Choutaro in the middle of the court. It was one of the most comical videos she'd ever seen in her life. It looked like Shishido needed to take a dump in public and Choutaro was making sure no one would see. She was glad they didn't bring it out during this match. It was so weirdly intimate she'd almost be jealous if she wasn't laughing so hard.

After they shook Inui and Kaidou's hands, Shishido walked in the opposite direction of the team and towards the crowd sitting on the bleachers. She knew he spotted her location during the match when they made eye contact. He swiftly jumped over the fence and ran up to where she was sitting.

"I won," he whispered to her as she stood up to embrace him.

"Yes, I saw."

"I got my Regulars spot back."

"Yes, I'm aware of that too," their faces inching closer.

"I'm here to collect my reward," and without waiting for a response, he pulled her towards him and leaned in for a kiss.

They heard the crowd around them cheer. "Hyotei! Hyotei!"

"Oi, get a room!" Mukahi screamed from the other side of the courts.

"You can't lose with a girl as pretty as that cheering you on, you just can't," one of the Seigaku boys yelled as well.

Hyotei ended up losing to Seigaku in the end. Makoto felt terrible, not knowing what to say. She knew how hard they all worked. Everyday she watched them from her practice room, be in rain or scorching heat, doing laps and practicing drills.

"I can't believe we lost to Seigaku again. It's crazy how strong they are," Choutaro sighed, "and just after you got your regulars spot back. Sorry."

"I have no regrets," Shishido said, Makoto noticing a slightly liberated expression on his face. "I rebuilt everything and made it back onto the Regulars. We won our match too. It all paid off."

"So does that mean you're going to keep your hair short?" Makoto asked, struggling to keep the excitement in her tone from leaking out.

"Do you really hate my long hair that much?"

"I don't hate your long hair," Makoto pouted, "my pride is just too fragile to take everyone saying you have more beautiful hair than me."

"So petty," Shishido replied, "I should grow it long again to spite you."

"Aww, well… I can't really stop you from doing that," she accepted defeat and pouted, which made Shishido cackle. "What are you laughing at? Are you joking about growing it long again? Just tell me what you're going to do with your hair."

"I'm going to keep it short. It's a lot easier to maintain and the cap comes in handy." Makoto immediately clapped her hands together in joy as Shishido hooked his arm around her waist, "my girlfriend seems to be infinitely more attracted to me when I look like this." He smirked and turned his head to whisper in her ear, "I saw the way you were ogling me during my game."

"Woah!" Makoto said as she escaped his embrace, "I never agreed to be your girlfriend."

The other members of the team shuffled away immediately. The conversation looked like it was going to turn into a notorious Shishido-Kinomoto fight. Though they were few and far between, only occurring twice in over two years, the consequences were catastrophic. The last time it went down, chicken wings were not served in the school cafeteria for a month. That day the school found out at chicken wings made good weapons if one's aim was sufficient and Shishido also discovered that a food tray was a handy shield against said chicken wings.

"What are you on about? What did those kisses mean?" he asked in deep confusion.

"That we're friends," she crossed her arms.

"Well for your information, I don't just go around kissing my friends."

"That's rich coming from the guy who spent the last 2 months training to slut drop in front of his doubles partner under the guise of a new tennis move!"

Shishido threw his arms in the air, "what does that even mean?!" he shrieked. Both of them heard bustling from the bushes behind him, but were too preoccupied to care that the rest of his team were snooping. "You're crazy," he vented in frustration.

Makoto's eyes went red and she could see the fear in his eyes as she inhaled and exhaled.

"WRONG MOVE, WRONG MOVE, ABORT MISSION." Choutaro whispered as loudly as he could from the bushes.

"Oh my," Oshitari said.

"Rest in peace," Hiyoshi said.

"I'm crazy?!" Makoto fumed, "I haven't spent the last three years letting your sweaty ass into my practice room and waking up at an ungodly hour for your games even though I'm not a morning person to be asked out half-heartedly like that."

"Yeah?! Well, I didn't like you for so long and cut off all my hair and work my ass off to get back onto the Regulars just for us to be friends after that kiss," Shishido retaliated.

"Ask her out properly," the meddling bush whispered.

'You want wholehearted? I'll give you wholehearted," Shishido said as he threw his tennis bag onto the ground with both hands and jumped on the nearby bench.

A wave of dread washed over her, "oh no," she covered her face.

"Kinomoto Makoto," he announced to the people who happened to be passing by, "my best friend since the first day of school; the twenty minute detour I take on the way home from training; the person who always steals my chicken wings because the school banned her from ordering it." Makoto tried with all her might to pull him off the bench as more and more people began staring, but he was easily able to stand his ground. "But most importantly, the person who turns me into a human music stand when she can't be bothered to unpack her actual music stand, will you please be my girlfriend?"

"Okay, okay!" she replied in fluster as she heard the spectators start to laugh, "just come down."

"Sorry," Shishido raised his voice even louder, "I couldn't hear that over my wholehearted confession."

"I said…" she said before proceeding to whack him in the stomach. He crouched down to almost her eye level, preventing her from taking another shot at his torso. She cupped his face in her hands, "Okay. I'll be your girlfriend," she whispered before giving him another kiss.

The small crowd cheered, just as the regulars did as they emerged from the bushes.

Epilogue

Shishido and Ootori had been put in the same room as Seigaku's Golden Pair at the under 17's camp. It was a good room. Eiji was a really laid back and easy going guy and Oishi was as kind-hearted as his reputation. While there was a friendly rivalry between the two pairs the two were easy to get along with.

Suddenly, two second years barged in, clearly having no concern for boundaries.

"Momo, Hiyoshi-san" Oishi greeted, "what brings you here?"

"Not much," he shrugged. To the Hyotei students it really seemed like nothing was on his mind but Oishi and Eiji knew better.

"We bumped into each other and decided to come visit," Hiyoshi explained as he made himself at home.

"Momo-chan, what's wrong?" Eiji asked worriedly.

"Alright, alright. You got me. Watching Kaidoh play against the Captain really got me riled up," he put his arms behind his head.

"Is it because Tezuka has chosen him as the captain?" Hiyoshi asked, having experienced the same situation of being schooled by his own Captain.

"No, no, it's not that." Momoshiro shook his head. "I just feel so restless seeing him improve so much. All I can think about is going out to train."

"Gekujo, right?" Hiyoshi said.

Momoshiro laughed, "yeah, exactly."

"It'll be alright nya," Eiji said as he pat Momoshiro on the back.

"I'm sure that watching Momo play in the shuffle match against Oni made Kaidoh really fired up as well," Oishi comforted.

"That's right. That's what having rivals is for. Watching Eiji-san and Oishi-san play makes us want to improve too," Choutaro said.

"And the same for us as well," Oishi replied.

"Well, not all of us have a cute girl cheering us on at our games." Momoshiro said.

"Haha…" Shishido remembered the incident awkwardly. Even to this day, he couldn't believe he had kissed her in front of all those people, and then proceeded to confess in front of another one. "You remember that?"

"Was that your girlfriend?" Oishi asked. Choutaro and Hiyoshi laughed out loud. Shishido smacked the two of them on the head.

"Uh, well, she wasn't my girlfriend at the time, then I called her my girlfriend and she got mad and then I called her crazy, which wasn't really a smart idea. Then I kind of publicly asked her out and then she became her girlfriend."

"She's the pretty girl on your phone screensaver, right?" Eiji asked. Shishido nodded his head.

"How did she feel about you coming to the camp? You guys have to spent time away from each other, right?" Oishi asked.

The two Hyotei second years broke out in laughter again.

"What?" Momo asked.

"Makoto-senpai got into a German music program and without a second thought went overseas for two months," Choutaro started to explain, "and the time difference and schedule for two of them leaves them no time to call each other."

"Shishido-senpai has spent this whole time being paranoid that she'd run off with some German boy," Hiyoshi finished.

Shishido smacked them on the back of their heads again.