You do end up watching practice a couple times a week through the end of second year, which means you get the chance to meet most of the members of next year's regulars. The new year, however, brings new talent, which you stumble upon one day at practice.
More accurately, the freshman stumbles into Arai, there is a whole tennis challenge debacle, and you and Tezuka watch the entire thing from the sidelines.
You grin at Tezuka. "I like this one."
Tezuka sighs. "He cannot participate in the intraschool rankings. He's a freshman."
You shrug. "That's stupid. I played on the regulars as a freshman. It's a dumb rule."
You can see Tezuka twitch in annoyance and it makes you grin. "Michi," he warns.
"No," you shake your head. "I played U-17 as a freshman. It's stupid. And trust me, you're going to want this one on your line-up next tournament."
You swing open the cages and head over to the center of the fight. You find the freshman and bop his cap down over his eyes. He jerks back, annoyed, and you grin.
"What's your name, shrimp?" you ask him.
He looks at you with his large, cat-like eyes. "Echizen."
"Okay, Echizen," you smile. "You can thank me later."
He gives you a weird look just as Tezuka comes into the cage and orders everyone laps. You see him head over to the edge of the courts before giving you a second glance back.
You grin. Tezuka sighs.
Echizen does make it into the intraschool ranking tournament and even manages to oust Inui. It actually works out for the better because now Inui is able to gather more data on the team full-time, which also means you scale back your role a little as third-year responsibilities pick up. It also means you can run a lower profile with the men's tennis team.
You spend a bit of your extra free time at the local tennis courts, where you meet Tachibana An. You don't become friends much later after Seigaku plays Fudomine and you are officially introduced, but the friendship quickly solidifies after the two of you watch a few more of the street court matches together and discuss the tennis. Since she and her brother just moved to Tokyo, she had played in the Kyushu tournament prior and, while she was good, the two of you hadn't met in the tennis circuit before this year.
"Do you play?" she asks you one day.
"No," you respond, eyes still on the game.
"Oh," she pauses, and you know she is probably surprised given your recent discussions on tennis. You brace yourself, anticipating her to ask, but she just shrugs. "Okay, that's cool. I'll ask Kamio to join."
She hops off the bench and you turn to her, a little surprised. She just grins at you and heads down to the courts to join.
On the couple days a week you are helping with the boy's tennis team, you start to make a few friends.
Kikumaru is by far and away the most enthusiastic to meet you. "Hoi hoi," he grabs both your hands. "I love making new friends, Michi-chan!"
You lean back a little to put some space between you two. "Um, it's nice to meet you too," you respond. You glance around and make eye contact with Oishi, who gives you a sympathetic look from across the courts and starts to head over.
"I saw you play last year for the women's tennis club," Kikumaru continues loudly and leans forward back into your personal bubble. "You were so good! Are you not playing again this year?"
You wince. "No," you tell him plainly. "I'm taking a short break."
He nods and bounces to your other side. You feel dizzy just looking at him. "Is it your ankle?" he whispers, except it's not quiet at all. "I heard -"
Oishi is within a few steps of you both now. "Eiji-" he starts.
"Kikumaru, twenty laps."
You both whirl around and see Tezuka standing behind you with his arms crossed. Kikumaru freezes and immediately drops his racket off and heads off the courts. Oishi gives you one look and follows him out, likely to chastise him. You let out a small breath of relief.
Tezuka takes two steps forward until he is right next to you. You feel yourself relax a little next to him. "Are you alright?" he asks quietly.
"Yeah," you smile. "He didn't mean anything mean."
Tezuka nods and the two of you focus on the rest of practice.
Fuji, strangely, you do end up being very good friends with. You do like hanging out with both Oishi and Tezuka in your class, but you'll often find yourself caught up in discussions about tennis – whether it was about a recent Prefectural team or an upcoming Regionals line-up. In contrast, hanging with Kikumaru and Fuji is decided not about tennis.
Your classroom door swings open loudly. Luckily, class has ended many minutes ago, so there aren't that many people left. Nonetheless, almost everyone turns to look.
Fuji actually sticks his head in and glances around. He spots you on the side with Tezuka and Oishi, likely looking over some paperwork related to the tennis team. He smiles. "Are you ready?" he asks.
"Yeah," you grab your bag. "Give me one second."
"Where are you going?" Oishi asks as you stand up.
"On a date," Fuji smiles sweetly.
You balk. "Shut up, Fuji." At Tezuka's raised eyebrow and Oishi's shocked expression, you sigh. "It's not a date."
"I'm hurt to hear that," Fuji's grin widens.
"Zip it," you tell him again. You turn back to Tezuka and Oishi. "We're getting yakiniku. It's not a date. Kikumaru is coming."
Oishi laughs at your expression at the mention of the redhead. You do love Kikumaru, but it was probably a good couple weeks of a rocky friendship between the two of you before you got there.
At the sound of his name, the redhead also pokes his head into the room. "Hoi hoi – yes I am!"
You give Oishi a deadpan look and he laughs again. You do finish gathering your stuff and head to the back of the room.
"You're right," Fuji muses. "I wouldn't steal her from you, Tezuka."
You make sure to bump his shoulder extra hard on your way out and he chuckles.