ö Prelude ö
Tailgaters

Unlike most times in their tennis lives,
they were just not quite themselves that day...

"Now that is something you don't see everyday!" Momoshiro Takeshi said with an impish leer, the fingers of both his hands encircled around his eyes like a pair of makeshift binoculars. Though he knew that no such improvised contraption can actually zoom in for a closer look, his hands provided enough filtering for his vision from passers-by and let his attention focus intently on one particular Seigaku freshman.

Ryuzaki Sakuno looked agitated despite the breezy and warm Sunday morning, which for him is a miracle since it had been raining for the past three days. She stood alone waiting in front of what seemed like a long line of people leading to wherever. Come to think of it, an immeasurably long line of people already snaked the sidewalk this early in the morning. What an odd time to behold such a sight.

Moments later, Sakuno's face broke with a brilliant smile and she waved one hand in the air in greeting. Momoshiro moved his binoculars down the street and saw Echizen Ryouma approaching her in his usual somber self. He felt Kikumaru Eiji beside him edge closer to the unfolding scene, apparently intrigued.

"Eeeeeh…O-chibi might not look like it, but I bet he's having butterflies in his stomach right now." Kikumaru drawled in concealed excitement, the fingers of both his hands encircled around his big bright eyes as well. Kikumaru widened his field of vision and wowed at the sight of the two meeting in front of the old cinema just across the street where they stood ogling. "Ho! Ho! Does this mean O-chibi finally had the courage to ask Sakuno-chan out?"

Momoshiro sighed the way he would whenever he watches fluff-filled movies. "So young, so young!"

The view from his binoculars shifted up when Kikumaru's hands clasped his head and made him face up. He was now looking at the huge billboard where the movie title was displayed. "They're going to watch something called Love Actually. Do you think that's a nice movie for a date, Momo?"

Momoshiro almost guffawed but quickly choked in his laugh. "A chick flick!" He said. "Count on Echizen to know what girls want!"

"Really?" Kikumaru sounded worried. If he'd look now, he knew that the glassy, agitated feline-look on his senpai's eyes would be there. He knew that all too well, since Kikumaru had been giving that look ever since Inui introduced and finally incorporated his dreaded poison juice as punishment for drill errors. Kikumaru had said it best, after all: If the training can't kill them, Inui's juice surely will.

"Oh, I don't know…." Kikumaru was saying. "Almost half of the girls in class don't like chick flicks. They always say that flicks like that are just plain unreal. Girls don't really get much from them anyway but feed their ideals of the perfect love story. Nee-chan almost says the same thing." Then he smiled playfully. "But nee-chan's quite a tomboy and so are the rest of the girls in class unlike Sakuno-chan, so I guess you could be right, Momo. O-chibi'd better be sure about what he's doing."

"Relax, Kikumaru-senpai. I've been giving Echizen occasional pointers on dating whenever we would go to school together. He didn't bother listening at first but look at him now! He's doing everything I told him to do!" Momoshiro looked up as if remembering something. "Of course, I insisted that he should be picking up the girl from their house and not meet them at their dating spot. A lot of kids are doing that, but I hardly find that a gentleman quality."

Momoshiro suddenly felt light pressure on his left shoulder and turned to the smiling man cooking in a small booth beside them. He knew politeness since a child, and found it rude not to return a smile, so he smiled back—a frighteningly wide one—to show a good set of breeches that told the man that they're not just perfect for display. "Four double-layered cheese burgers, a bag of potato sticks, and two Kool-Aids, please!"

Kikumaru snapped to when he heard him. "Oi, Momo! We just had breakfast!" he said, which to Momoshiro sounded more like a protest than a reminder.

"D-Don't make it sound like it's a sin to eat, senpai!" He said defensively, albeit in embarrassment. "We've been standing here for almost thirty minutes now. You know I can't resist the aroma of patties cooking!"

Kikumaru opened his mouth to argue further but closed it again. He gave Momoshiro a hard look, his hands on his hips now, sighed, and then turned his attention back to their current objects of interest.

Across the street, the two had finally met. Ryouma was saying something to Sakuno, Momoshiro noticed, whilst pointing towards somewhere back to the direction where he came from. Sakuno kept nodding her head as he talked, and when Ryouma turned to go back that way, she followed him.

Kikumaru pointed. "They're leaving!"

"Haaah?" Momoshiro blinked at Ryouma and Sakuno leaving the old cinema grounds. "If they're not going to watch a movie...where the heck are they going?"

When Kikumaru snatch the back collar of his shirt, Momoshiro already knew what that meant. Before his senpai even starts pulling, he had already clamped himself on the food stall's countertop. And just when he thought that Kikumaru decided to be prudent about ripping his shirt, he then felt his senpai's arms lock around his midsection.

"C-C'mon, Momo! Quit…being…stubborn!" Kikumaru's foot was already on one of the seats firmly secured on the concrete sidewalk, pushing as he kept yanking Momoshiro off the small counter. "We have to…follow them q-quickly before we…lose them!"

With eyes shut, Momoshiro cried desperately. "N-Not…without my…burgers!"

"Leave it!"—he yanked him—"LEAVE IT!"

"IYA…DAAAAA-!" Momoshiro was surprised when the man from the booth suddenly plugged a burger in his mouth before handing in front of him the rest of his order in a huge brown paper bag.

"Enjoy your meal, sir, and happy huntin'!" The man said boisterously, whispering the last part to him and then winking. He didn't exactly know if the man was teasing or was just telling him something he ought to understand. He had that funny smile that meant something.

Momoshiro noticed the pressure on his stomach was gone, and so was Kikumaru behind him. Before he knew it, his senpai had paid the man from the booth, bent forward in sincere apology, then looked back at him, his blue eyes forbidding, and those eyes said: Move or be killed. Now.

What came next was automatic. Momoshiro sprung up on his feet, grabbed his paper bag, and then headed north to where Ryouma and Sakuno went, the burger left untouched in his mouth.

Sakuno suddenly found herself seemingly mesmerized at her shuffling feet. She had been staring at them for quite a long while now since they left the cinema almost ten minutes ago. If it'd take longer for her to be like this, she would be suffering from neck strain the next morning. And for sure, Ryouma can't be doing much for her then unlike today now, can he? But—

After letting out a deep sigh, she slowly tilted her head up, meeting her gaze with Ryouma's back a couple of feet before her, a red and pink tennis bag slung over his shoulder.

—h-he didn't have to carry that. She felt her cheeks warming again as she remembered his unexpected offer of carrying her tennis bag for her before heading north to…to… well, she didn't know exactly where Ryouma's taking her yet.

"A-Anou, Ryouma-kun," she started to say, her voice reluctant, "I-I'm sorry."

Without stopping or turning to look, Ryouma answered, "For what?"

Sakuno bowed and stared at her shuffling feet again. "Well, I'm sorry for being such a nuisance." She said feebly. "I know you're busy with school work and tennis practice and all and…and yet you still volunteered to help me out with something as petty as looking for a good grip tape. Really, I-I can do it by myself, or I can ask Tomo-chan for company. It's just that…knowing that you agreed to help, I can't simply…." She trailed off, suddenly feeling embarrassed for having to explain why they have to end up in the situation they're in now. "I-I'm really, really sorry…."

"I didn't volunteer." Ryouma said nonchalantly.

"Eh?"

"Dad had this idea yesterday when Ryuzaki-sensei mentioned that your hands are getting easily callused for practicing too hard. Then he told Ryuzaki-sensei that he suspects you're using a poor tape, adding that I'd be willing to accompany you in buying a better grip tape, and that you can buy it in pink and orange." He methodically adjusted his cap. "I know just the brand to buy and where. Of course, dad was only teasing when he said that you can buy it in pink and orange."

Sakuno felt quite relieved, quite discomfited, and quite down about what he said. "Oh. I see."

She looked wearily at her right hand and saw the palm flaking. Small corns dotted her fingers and the painfully reddish area close to her wrist was about the size of a coin. It was a horrid sight for a girl's hand, she admitted, and no boy would ever want to hold such a dreadful thing. She put her hand back down, tucked it under her left, and bit her inner lip as she looked up at the clear blue sky, mentally convincing herself that having such a hand would only seem trivial to a boy with the likes of Echizen Ryouma, but failing.

Kikumaru and Momoshiro were squatting behind a huge, green tin mailbox beside a NO PARKING sign some ten feet away from the freshmen couple. They saw Ryouma and Sakuno nearing a tennis shop. "Looks like O-chibi and Sakuno-chan are going to that tennis shop."

He heard Momoshiro, who squatted in front of him, sigh. "Echizen is so unromantic! When will that kid ever learn how to treat a woman right?" He sighed again then flippantly dunked the last piece of burger in his mouth.

"Anou…Ryouma-kun?"

This time he stopped and glanced back at Sakuno who now stood two-feet away from the tennis shop pointing at the door. "A-Aren't we going to buy that grip tape here?"

"No." He said coolly and faced her completely. "I was here yesterday and I didn't see the grip tape we're supposed to buy. Actually," He jutted a thumb over his shoulder. "We'll be checking out the new shop at Hanou that opened just the other day. It's only a couple or more blocks ahead and if we get going we—" Then Ryouma stared, feeling realization dawn on him. "You're not telling me you're tired, are you?"

Sakuno looked paler under the shade, but the smile she made brought a little more color to her eyes. "Oh no, I'm okay, Ryouma-kun, don't worry. I just thought…well, I didn't know there's a new tennis shop that opened. Never mind." Before taking a step forward, her gaze quickly went back to the tennis shop as if something caught her attention. She faced the entryway completely and stared through the clear glass of the upper half portion of the door (Dad liked calling it the door-window because it had a funny ring to it.) to peer inside. Her pale face reflected on the glass; she looked half glad and half shocked. A smile graced the face of her reflection.

"Ah! Tezuka-senpai!" She said excitedly. The mere mention of their captain's name made Ryouma jog beside Sakuno by the entryway and look inside the shop to where she was looking.

Ryouma blinked at the unexpected sight of Captain Tezuka Kunimitsu, who was wearing a light purple short-sleeve polo, tan slacks, and brown suede shoes. "Buchou?"

He was at the clothing section in the LADIES aisle—between racks of sports wears, matching colored head and wrist bands, and cotton socks—eying, touching, but more likely studying every short skirt he sees with much scrutiny. Ryouma's brows knit. "What is he doing?"

Moments later, the long red curtain of the dressing room parted and an old woman he had never seen before in the shop (probably the owner's wife) emerged excitedly and made her way to the captain. She's shorter and older than Ryuzaki yet apparently more charming. When the captain turned to see her approaching, her eyes disappeared in complete upward curves from the wide smile she flashed at him. Tezuka didn't return it. Not that he's compelled to, Ryouma thought to himself. It's just like him to seem immune to any warmth.

The owner's wife said something to the captain before they headed back toward the dressing room, and watching them suddenly made Ryouma feel uneasy. She called for someone from behind the red curtain, he noticed, and then a modest-looking girl about Tezuka's age and Fuji's height emerged in a charming white-and-blue tennis dress. The girl looked proud of what she was wearing, and as she made a playful turn in front of Tezuka, her long and dark gray hair streaming behind her, Tezuka began to eye her critically from the hem of the skirt up.

"Ma-Masaka…." Sakuno already blurted out what Ryouma was exactly thinking. His eyes remained bulging at the sight, his drying mouth slightly open. When the feeling that the owner's wife and the captain would be turning their way any second now filled the pit of his gut like rampaging butterflies, he suddenly ducked down, hiding himself behind the lower wooden section of the door.

Sakuno made a swift turn toward him, her eyes wide and worried. "R-R-Ryouma-kun, what-!" she began to say when Ryouma made a shush sound then muttered "Hide" before he grabbed her callused hand, unaware that he had stung her, and pulled her down close to him.

"Oi, oi, oi…senpai, w-what are they doing? What's going on?" Momoshiro eyed Ryouma and Sakuno suspiciously, albeit anxiously, as he leaned forward from behind the mail box upon seeing the slight commotion the boy was creating.

"I don't know." Kikumaru answered in segments, his voice also hinting alarm. True enough, perhaps even Kikumaru felt that there is something about Ryouma's ducking from view that changed the air around their area. What is happening inside? What could have prompted the boy to hide as if he'd seen something terrible inside—or make that, in the worst case scenario, Echizen saw something terrible being done inside.

That is the most absurd thing you've come up with today, a more rational part of Momoshiro's mind said in an accusing, teacherly tone. You howl like a crybaby at Lassie movies and now you think that Echizen had just witnessed...what? A robbery? A murder? A ghoulish close encounter of the third kind?Really, Takeshi, you have to cut your meat intake. All that carb and grease are going up to where they're not supposed to go.

Momoshiro bit his right thumb nail as he watched Ryouma, still awkwardly ducked behind the Hiro Saka Pro Tennis Shop's door, looking from side to side and finally deciding to hide at the nearest alley between the tennis shop and the bakery with Sakuno being pulled with him. Ryouma leaned his back against the wall and his gaze looked out at the sidewalk where the door was as if waiting for it to open. Momoshiro gulped. His heartbeat, already faster than normal, sped up a little more. This is bad, and the thought of it suddenly made him feel the somewhat odd counterclockwise churning of his second breakfast inside him.

"I don't like this, Momo. Not one bit." The feeling of his senpai's breath on his ear jolted him back to his senses. "C'mon, let's get closer." The breath withdrew when, for a second, Ryouma got distracted and looked the other way. In an instant, Momoshiro felt alone again.

Kikumaru was making his move, running swiftly and silently across the street in a way only he could do toward an adjacent car—an old Acura—parked just a couple of feet across the freshman couple.

"Ryouma-kun," The sudden interjection of her shaky voice stiffened him a little, she felt, but he hid his surprise very well. "What are we doing? Why are we hiding from Tezuka-senpai?"

Without looking, Ryouma said, "Ryuzaki, is it okay if we buy your grip tape a little later?"

Sakuno blinked, surprised and not quite sure if she understood why Ryouma had to delay. "Oh. O-Okay." she said anyway, and then surreptitiously peeked at Ryouma's hand still firmly grasping hers. He was making her nervous with all the commotion he was doing, but she blushed despite literally getting cold feet. A few minutes later, she heard the tennis shop door swing open, tinkling the little bell that hung above it. Ryouma and Sakuno—even Momoshiro and Kikumaru who were now together behind the parked Acura—braced themselves for the unexpected at their own hiding places.

They saw Captain Tezuka Kunimitsu step out of the tennis shop and into the warm Sunday sunshine with a paper bag on hand. The tennis shop door slowly closed behind him, as the tinkle of a small bell (or chime, Momoshiro thought distractedly) gradually died down. He stood there for a second or two then flipped his wrist to check the time.

Momoshiro blinked. "T-Tezuka…buchou?"

Kikumaru blinked as well then his shoulders rose as he lowered his head to hide his laughter but not quite succeeding. "So it is Tezuka all along!" he said pointing then laughed again as if he couldn't get enough out of a good joke.

Momoshiro, on the other hand, didn't find the whole thing amusing. "Echizen you...!" he whispered grimly, his shaking fist up at shoulder level. "How could that idiot make us worry by acting as if he had witnessed something horribly bad going on inside when he only saw Tezuka-buchou? That…idiot!"

"Awww, don't mind, Momo, it's not that bad." Kikumaru suddenly glomped him from behind. Since he made the mistake of crouching particularly lower than his senpai, it couldn't be helped. "Who knows why O-chibi had freaked out upon seeing Tezuka in the shop? At least we know that there's really nothing bad happening inside like we both thought. Now we don't have to call the police for help. Or barge inside and get in trouble with robbers to rescue the customers and the owner. That would have been scary, but also waaay cool." Kikumaru hugged him tighter. Momoshiro let out a cloud of air.

They stopped and looked when they heard the familiar bell tinkle again when a young woman in a white sabrina dress and the longest hair they have ever seen stepped out of the tennis shop. Kikumaru froze with Momoshiro the instant she gave the paper bags she was carrying to Tezuka before walking down the street alongside him.

An eerie pause lingered between them, and though the pause could not have lasted for more than two or three seconds, it seemed very long to Momoshiro.

Kikumaru screamed his thoughts first, his hands now tightly clenched on handfuls of red hair from each side of his head now: "T-T-T-T-Tezuka has a…h-h-h-has a…"

Momoshiro screamed his thoughts second, his hands now slapped flat on both his cheeks: "…g-g-g-g-girlfriend?"

"But how? H-H-How could this be possible?" Kikumaru spat querulously to the clear blue sky, his fists clenched tight and pounding air, as if protesting to the god of fate about the abomination that he was now seeing. "Tezuka may be extremely good-looking, smart, charismatic and all that, but I tell you—no girl is crazy enough to be in a relationship with someone as grouchy, domineering, poker-faced, and inhumanly-tranquil-to-the-point-of-dreariness-only-a-mother-could-love as Tezuka Kunimitsu!"

"Well, that is definitely not the buchou's mother!" Momoshiro said, pointing frantically toward the unknowing couple. Kikumaru's eyes were now larger than normal as he continuously stared in horror at their fleeting backs. It looked like he, too, was now witnessing a robbery himself by making that same expression Momoshiro saw in Echizen's face earlier. Oh yes, a robbery was taking place, all right. Kikumaru was now being robbed of something he believed in with a hundred-and-one percent surety, but there they are—Captain Tezuka Kunimitsu, the Strong Man of Seigaku, and the girl no one knew he has—twenty feet away and walking further, chatting amongst themselves like all lovers do.

From the alley between the tennis shop and the bakery, he then saw Ryouma and Sakuno finally move out of hiding and began to tailgate the couple carefully some ten feet away.

Momoshiro's jaw dropped. "AAAH! Echizen and Sakuno are following them!"

"Oh. No." Kikumaru's left hand now hovered over his mouth. "I think…I think O-chibi could not believe what he saw, too, that's why they're following them." He gasped. "Momo, what if...w-what if he wants to find out the real relationship between Tezuka and that girl?"

Another eerie pause lingered. Momoshiro stood up, his head lowered, and turned his back on Kikumaru. He heard Kikumaru gulp. When Momoshiro spoke, his voice was controlled, lacking easiness. "What are we going to do, Kikumaru-senpai? That Echizen…he's risking his own date with Sakuno just for this. I will not forgive him." He raised his fist at shoulder level once more.

Kikumaru stood up beside him. "You're right, Momo. It's not right to sacrifice a budding relationship to mind someone else's love life. O-chibi ought to be given a good spanking for what he's done." He said with conviction.

"On top of that, he risked walking into dangerous territory since Tezuka-buchou is involved. I will not forgive him."

Kikumaru nodded. "Right! It's not right for him to stick his nose into his senpai's business. O-chibi ought to be given three-hundred laps around the court for what he's done."

"Echizen even made us worry so much and run across the street for nothing. I will not forgive him!" Momoshiro's clenched fist quivered now.

Kikumaru thrust his fist in the air. "Right! It's not right for him to let his senpais do something unnecessary. O-chibi ought to be given an extra course on Senpai Respect for what he's done!"

"And the most unforgivable thing he did was," Momoshiro pointed towards Echizen's direction with much vehemence, "he followed Tezuka-buchou with Sakuno and not letting us into the loop!"

"Right! It's not right for him to-" Kikumaru shook his head then looked at Momoshiro with horrified eyes. "What!"

Momoshiro turned to Kikumaru and looked at him squarely. "Senpai, to be honest, I'm more worried about what is going to happen with Tezuka-buchou's date with this mysterious girl than with Echizen and Sakuno's date."

Kikumaru's horrified eyes softened, looking at him now with unmistakable sympathy. "M-Momo…"

"Senpai," Momoshiro said again then clasped both of Kikumaru's shoulders, "I beg you. Please allow me to pursue them. I'll make sure not to let something terrible happen to the buchou's date.

"Tezuka-buchou, like Echizen, may be great in tennis but can be very poor in relating with women. Echizen can wait. He's still young and has yet a lot to learn from us. But Tezuka-buchou...Tezuka-buchou..."Momoshiro turned his face away, his eyes now dramatically glassy. "H-He's graduating soon...and he still thinks of nothing but tennis, the team, and Seigaku becoming number one in the Kantou tournaments. Can't you see? He needs more than tennis in life. Tezuka-buchou also deserves to be happy."

Kikumaru's chin quivered, his lips turning to a slight frown as tears began to well up his eyes, too. He gripped back both of Momoshiro's shoulders and said after sobbing, "You're right, Momo. I understand, and I admire your good intentions. I will go with you in your selfless pursuit."

Momoshiro's head snapped back to face him, his forehead furrowing with gladness and eyes equally getting more tearful. "K-Kikumaru…Eiji…senpai!"

Kikumaru let go of Momoshiro's shoulders and faced the sky once more. "All right-y!" He thrust a finger in the air and pointed north. "Today, we move forth, Momo! Toward the sun!"

Momoshiro pointed north with tears streaming down his eyes now. "Toward the sun!"

"Let us do everything in our power to make Tezuka's date a happy and memorable one!"

"Hai!"

"Life is not all about tennis. Life is not all about the team. And life is not all about becoming number one. Life is about…love! Love! Tezuka deserves to be loved! He deserves to be happy, and he deserves to be happy outside tennis. Yes! We'll help him make it work. We can make it happen!"

After a minute staying in that posture, Kikumaru turned to wink at Momoshiro, all the tears and love magically gone. "Momoshiro Takeshi, you don't have to sound so disgustingly noble if you want to ask me to follow Tezuka and the girl with you."

Momoshiro's hand was already in front of him in apology, "You sounded disgusting yourself, Kikumaru Eiji-senpai." He winked back. With that, they both exchanged wide, mischievous smiles.

This is bad, this is bad, this is bad!

Oishi Shuichiro's thoughts were already reeling with every conceivable mischief his doubles partner Eiji was probably causing them right now. Sweet Mother in Heaven, how did he find out so suddenly?

No, this is no one's fault, Oishi scolded himself while forcing an arm out of a vest sleeve—the vest was the closest thing for a cover-up he could grab on to conceal his bare torso. He had been dressing after showering and was now practically leaping two rungs at a time on his way down the stairs from his bedroom. This is no one's fault but mine.

That may be half-true, given that, on one hand, a part of him still wanted to wring Eiji's neck for not remembering the "mysteriously cute lady with Tezuka" that he'd planned on "checking out" (Those were the exact terms Eiji used in the instant message Oishi received seconds ago), and he'll do just that once he get his hands on him for being such a meddlesome pain. On the other hand, he didn't mean to make everything look like there was some secret affair going on, as Eiji also implied in his messages. It was just that...through the years, he couldn't find the relevance of mentioning her in conversations, even when he's alone with Eiji. She was special to him and Tezuka, yes, but she was no secret. 'So why worry', right?

Oishi was oblivious to his mother's wide, terrified eyes and constricted shriek when he whizzed pass her Chinese jade vase that stood lavishly on a plant stand table near the door, making the delicate thing jiggle on its base when he unconsciously knocked an elbow to it on his way out of the front yard and into the city street. Sweat trickled heavily from his forehead as he seemed to now run for his life. Oishi was oblivious to that, too, or to the speed he never knew he had, or to the second glances of curious onlookers he passed by. What he did notice was—backed by what the regulars and Ryuzaki-sensei had pointed out to him time and again—that when extreme anxiety kicked in, nothing less gets the best of his mothering nature. He was reminded of that now, and he couldn't help himself.

He effortlessly overtook a jogger like a mad bullet train, and though Oishi only heard a line from the song currently booming right out of the man's earphones when he passed by his right side, that was enough to make it persist into Oishi's mind, fanning his anxieties further, and demanding more urgency to his limbs.

...humans are shit. Start moving. I'll fight! the song sang.

...humans are shit. Start moving. I'll fight! his mind sang.

Kaidou Kaoru's quick reflex saved him from sure disaster, which was apparently provoked by that man on a scooter who just passed by his right side, traveling dangerously close to him—elbow-close, in fact—and illegally fast to be on a sidewalk. Hell, the crazy bastard was not supposed to be on the sidewalk in the first place!

Only the man was not riding a scooter (nothing of that kind is within his area, actually), and the man was actually a fourteen-year-old student and Seigaku's ever-gentle Vice Captain, Oishi Shuichiro—only no one would believe him for describing his senpai that way now after seeing the fierce and somewhat desperate look in Oishi's eyes, the clear lines of his furrowed brows, and the stiffness in those crookedly pursed lips. Kaidou noted that he was sweating more profusely than after-tennis practices.

He looked like hell.

S-So fast. Kaidou thought, startled, fascinated, and thrilled at the same time when Oishi was already a good 20 blocks before him in less than half-a-minute. No way can he beat that with his current speed.

Kaidou slowed to a jog then stopped all together. 25 blocks ahead, Oishi stopped, too, to make way for cars driving across the intersection. This stop kept every car and pedestrian on the opposite side of the street in stationary. The red light was up.

He placed his index and middle fingers at the right side of his neck just below the jaw line where the carotid artery was located and measured his heart rate with his watch. 103 bpm. The ideal heart rate for him that Inui pointed out for his body to be fully warmed up and ready to receive extreme physical tension and pain.

Perfect.

Kaidou untied a green cloth from his wrist, opened it to a square, and placed it on top of his head covering most of his hair. He then tied two of its parallel ends together with the remaining ends tucked under the knot. Perhaps if he had just worn his bandanna earlier, he told himself, then Oishi might have recognized him, and maybe his senpai wouldn't have tried running him over as if he had no regard to—

He shook his head to stop the thought train then recalled the look on Oishi's face earlier. For the first time, Kaidou realized that there was no concern in those determined eyes. Only agitation and a glint of anger. Something's freaking him out, he deduced. Whatever it is, it must be something really, really bad.

Kaidou planted 3 fingers of each hand on the pavement and positioned his legs and body the way professional runners would on a track race and eyed the stop light like a prey. The red light had been up for quite some time now. He breathed deep then exhaled with a snake-like hiss.

Oishi was preparing to start running again, too, he noticed—one leg far behind and one leg in front, pointing forward, knees bent, both arms folded 90-degrees to the elbow, body balanced. They waited. When the light went down to yellow, Kaidou lifted his rear a little higher. The song being played in his mp3 player was just fading to finish, then came a 3-second dead air, the interval before the next song. He heard a slow and deliberate intake of breath from the player—

—the light went further down to green, Kaidou and Oishi sprinted off from their places at the same time—

—and then a banshee-like scream, coupled with an angry pounding of drums, bombarded Kaidou's ears.

Kaidou had a better start. Between them, he was the most trained in running. Oishi was now approximately 10 blocks before him, and he stepped-up his pace further. The scream from the vocalist ceased and now lapsed to words, giving meaning to the song. Kaidou found he was gradually matching Oishi's speed as his mind sync with the music and sang with the song. How fascinating, he suddenly thought, that music can strongly enhance one's mind into focusing on accomplishing a task at hand with less thought of the implications and maximizing one's performance at the same time. Perhaps this was what being 'in the zone' was all about.

"Looks like you're late for something, senpai." Kaidou half-shouted to Oishi when he was now running alongside him, the earphones now removed from his ears.

"Oh, it's you, Kaidou." Oishi said with a split-second glance to his team mate. "Sorry I can't talk to you right now. I'm a little busy."

"Something wrong?"

The furrows between Oishi's eyes deepened. "Hopefully not yet, but things'll turn really bad if I don't do something quick."

Kaidou thought for a moment. "Maybe I can help, Oishi-senpai."

"Thanks, but no, there's nothing you can do now, Kaidou. I just need to get to Eiji fast and stop him before he does something unforgivably stupid to Tezuka and Kanae. Excuse me."

Oishi broke out from Kaidou and turned to a corner, the usual route to school coming from this side of the city. They were now headed north toward the street where Kawamura Sushi was erected. He zoomed pass Kawamura Takashi, who was hugging a large wooden container of fresh seafood from his father's van, with nay a regard of his presence (and safety, Kaidou thought dreadfully). Kawamura only had a fleeting look at the face of someone who almost ran him down if he hadn't stepped aside.

Kaidou decided to stop pursuing Oishi and slowed down to a halt beside Kawamura. His upper body drooped down, a hand seizing one knee for balance and another hand gripping his chest. He coughed and wheezed as his lungs implored for more air. He began to blame the negative effect of heavy metal music on his thinking because he began to expect that any moment now, he'd be exhaling his last breath, keel over, and die.

"Isn't that…Oishi?" Kawamura asked then turned to Kaidou, who now appeared to be on the verge of having a heart attack. His pupils were too small, his eyes too wide with frenzy that Kawamura felt afraid they'd fall out from their sockets any moment now.

"O-Oi, Kaidou...are you okay?" he asked with concern. Kaidou didn't reply, but merely lifted a hand and grabbed him by the arm. The man went on wheezing.

"I'll go get you some water." Kawamura said, and as he was about to turn and head toward the restaurant, the hold on his arm tightened, stopping him instantly. "K-Kaidou..."

Kaidou opened his mouth wide as he inhaled soundly, filling his lungs with as much air as he could, then exhaled with a long, dry hiss. The sophomore then jerked his head back to meet eyes with Kawamura, the frenzied look in his eyes lapsing to that familiar fierceness once more. "I'm okay now, senpai." he said, straightened up smoothly, then faced north. "Oishi-senpai's impressive. Other than wit, I didn't know he has that much speed in him."

"He looks agitated. What's his hurry?"

"He didn't say exactly. He just said something about stopping Kikumaru-senpai before he does something to Tezuka-buchou and, and…uhh…" Kaidou trailed off, his face now contemplative, with one hand under his chin. "Well, I think...he...mentioned a girl's name but I didn't quite catch it."

Kawamura blinked. "A girl? With Tezuka?"

They heard something give out a muffled but strident tone: Hmeep! Hmeep! Kaidou fished a phone from his right short pocket and flipped open the mouthpiece. "Moshi-moshi?"

The ringing continued.

"Oh. It must be mine." Kawamura said. He placed the round container back inside the van's wide open rear, and then fished his own phone from the front pocket of the apron he was wearing and pressed the green SEND button.

"Kawamura desu...Oh, Inui! Ohayo!" Pause. "Yes….Okay….I'll just have to carry the fresh fishes back to the pantry then we'll have breakfast. Wait for me." He hung up. Just as Kawamura was about to pocket his phone, they heard another strident ringing. Without actually looking at the small screen of his phone, Kawamura pressed the SEND button again and answered. "Kawamura desu."

The ringing continued.

Kaidou blinked. "I guess it's mine this time." he said then flipped open the phone he was still holding. "Moshi-moshi?" He heard a familiarly knowing voice speak.

"Kaidou-kun."

Kaidou looked at Kawamura as if to say 'Speak of the devil'. "Hai, Inui-senpai."

"Kaidou-kun, since we have tennis practice at four, I'll meet you two hours earlier for your advanced training. I have formulated a wonderful menu for you today-"

The sliding shoji screen door of Kawamura Sushi slid back, making Kawamura and Kaidou turn to look at Sadaharu Inui in his sweatpants, sweatshirt, and running shoes, a cellular phone pressed on one ear.

Oh...my...!

Kawamura ducked his head to suppress a laugh, and looked from Kaidou to Inui then Inui to Kaidou. None of them moved from where they stood for a while; not even a flinch crossed their faces upon seeing each other. Inui seemed not to look affected by the ridiculousness of the set-up. Kawamura deduced that perhaps he was busy mentally calculating the probability of how they ended up in such a ridiculous situation in the first place, given an event and their current sample space. He might even be plotting the Venn diagram in his head right now.

Kaidou tried not to look embarrassed by clearing his throat before flipping his phone close and pocketing it, but those pink tints on the ball of his cheeks were already giving him away. Inui smiled and began to approach them, pocketing the phone in his sweatpants as he did so.

"This is a pleasant surprise, Kaidou. I didn't expect to see you this early." Inui said.

To Kaidou, Kawamura said, "I'm sorry if I haven't told you earlier. I asked Inui to sleep in my place last night to help me with Physics homework. That's why he's here."

"I see." Kaidou's left brow twitched, his arms now crossed over his chest. He seemed not happy with the explanation. Would he expect otherwise if he told the sophomore a lie?

"Anyway, Kaidou," Kawamura continued, "You said something about a girl with Tezuka, right? And that Oishi's after Kikumaru to stop him from doing anything that could probably jeopardize their date, right?"

Kaidou's eyes widened. "Date?" He said the word as if hearing it for the very first time. "I…I didn't say anything about a date, senpai."

"A girl with Tezuka, huh?" Inui's glasses glistened meaningfully from the sun's reflection when he adjusted the frame on his nose a little. "It's a beautiful morning this Sunday is. Even Tezuka won't miss a good day doing nothing." He grimaced at the both of them and raised a green notebook then concluded proudly. "I have that data. Anyway," he turned to Kaidou, "Kikumaru called me and said that he and Momoshiro would be late for our scheduled practice at ten this morning for the reason that they'd be running some errands first. I knew it was an excuse, but I didn't know that this errand was Tezuka. Interesting. I'd like to see that for myself."

"S-Senpai!" Kaidou sounded and looked appalled.

Inui ignored him and adjusted his glasses. "Remember that everywhere is a source of untapped data. Even in this minor and very personal circumstance, there is still a 10.2 probability that Tezuka's weakness can be acquired."

"B-But, Inui-senpai—" Before Kaidou could protest further, he was already being pulled helplessly by Inui to the direction where Oishi went.

"If my calculations were correct, based on Kikumaru's time of call and their location, the time now, and the possible places Tezuka might be having his date, I might know where Kikumaru and Momoshiro are right now. Taka-san, breakfast is canceled. I'm sorry, but we have to set another time."

Kawamura smiled and nodded with sincere understanding, watching as Inui and the hapless Kaidou Kaoru went on their way. "I'll be seeing you at practice then, Inui! Kaidou!" Kawamura hollered after them then made a big wave goodbye. Those two, he thought to himself, seem to be getting along pretty well together.

Inui had told him last night that he'd been eyeing Kaidou for quite some time and that he had indeed planned on training the sophomore personally. Fuji and Oishi were also expressive of their thoughts about Kaidou, and Kawamura agreed with them. He still has much to contribute to Seigaku. With Inui's guidance, who knows? Maybe he'll turn up becoming the formidable player everyone expected him to be.

Apparently, Kaidou started lesson number one quite unprepared, Kawamura thought, smiling as he imagined the two of them trailing behind Kikumaru and Momoshiro and Tezuka with his girlfriend in front.

Kawamura picked up the round wooden container full of various fish and urchin from the van's rear and stood before the entrance of Kawamura Sushi for a moment. Tezuka. Girlfriend. He just realized that he achieved the impossibility of placing these words together in one statement and didn't shake the earth beneath him in the process. The possibility of things seemed to stretch for those who would most probably be unfortunate in the love department, and the thought of that was good indeed. Kawamura began to imagine a meadow at low noon where Tezuka was playfully running after a girl on a wide carpet of dandelion flowers, the girl giggling, and Tezuka laughing with her.

He had to fight the urge to laugh out loud. Even he found it difficult to picture Tezuka laughing.

He remembered the time when Fuji had asked him out of nowhere about how the captain would sound if he giggled. The question was supposed to make Kawamura laugh, since the topic at hand then was about eccentric human behavior. Though Captain Tezuka Kunimitsu, as his normal self, can already serve as a good example, the answer to Fuji's question that he had imagined turned out to be too bizarre a picture to laugh about.

Fuji, Kawamura thought, his pointing finger stopping short at the sliding shoji screen door he was about to slide back open. Fuji might already be there to find out the answer for himself.

He withdrew his hand and stared at the container he was carrying. He looked up and saw the huge kanji characters that made up the name of the sushi restaurant his father was so proud of. He turned to his left and found no one there. He turned to his right and found that Inui and Kaidou had already disappeared from view. Kawamura felt suddenly left out.

"Oooi!" He hollered at that direction but to no one in particular. "Oi, Inui! Wait for me!" Kawamura placed the container at the foot of the restaurant door and then sprinted after the two—

-then came back a few seconds later to put up the CLOSED FOR TODAY sign before going after Inui and Kaidou again.

Ryouma never let his sight off them since they walked out of that tennis shop together. Tezuka and the girl went into another tennis store—the new shop called Koike et Kojima at Hanou—and shopped for tennis shoes.

For some reason, his feet won't let him get inside despite knowing that the grip tape he and Sakuno planned on buying might be in that same store. He had watched the captain and the girl move from one display rack to another, with Tezuka leading, inside the shop as much as he could without being caught or was assumed suspicious. So far, he had gotten away clean. And somehow, he discovered, stalking gave him a different kind of thrill, probably the kind spies would eventually get addicted to while tracking their targets.

Little did Ryouma knew that a broken train of Seigaku tennis players were already tailing them now: Ten feet behind them, and still maintaining that distance, was Kikumaru and Momoshiro, already out in the open and mimicking Ryouma's careful following; behind Kikumaru and Momoshiro was Oishi, who was still waiting for the perfect time to pounce at Kikumaru without alarming his doubles partner or Momoshiro; and behind Oishi was Inui, Kawamura, and Kaidou—Inui and Kawamura walking ahead and being keen about what would happen next (aside from the fact that they, too, should not alarm Oishi) and Kaidou following closely behind them, who was never interested in Tezuka or the girl in the first, or if it really was a date, yet knew perfectly well more than any of them that once the captain found out about their tailing, they would be severely punished. The horrible thought of what might happen made running two-hundred laps around the court under ten minutes seemed like a breezy stroll in the park.

Ryouma heard the mysterious girl laugh quietly and pleasantly. The effect was child-like. He noticed she gave Tezuka a quick touch to the elbow. She had been doing that during the duration of their following, and though he couldn't guess from the captain's reaction—which apparently elicited none—if those gestures implied something, he could be sure that this girl was quite comfortable, albeit tolerating, with Tezuka's impassiveness.

He had seen her touch the side of Tezuka's face twice or thrice, and every time he had given her his usual dead-pan expression. Twice or thrice Ryouma had heard Sakuno whisper his name in an uneasy tone and tug the long sleeve of his red flannel jacket, and every time he turned to look at her, she'd look down at her shoes as if suddenly guilty for what she did. He need not ask her what; he knew Sakuno was afraid.

He noticed that the girl's voice turned a notch lower than the normal tone he came to associate her with. The captain had not been saying much then and he was still not saying much now, but there was something about her voice that made Tezuka eye her more frequently and listen to her more attentively. From a ten foot distance, Ryouma had no problem hearing them until now. What are they talking about?

Ryouma's brows furrowed a little as he strained his eyes to read the girl's lip movement. "'I...impossible to drive...not swing...scratching...grass...the black...whole?' That doesn't make any sense at all."

"Keep it down. They'll hear you." Sakuno whispered and slowly inched closer to him. He didn't say anything. Sakuno then said, "Ryouma-kun, I think we should go. This is not right. Following someone in the middle of their private affair is not right. Please. He's your captain."

When Ryouma answered, his voice was softer, but the rest of what she said had fallen on deaf ears. "Let's move closer. I can't hear them." He grabbed her hand again and pulled as he quickened pace. Sakuno covered her mouth with her free hand to keep herself from yelping and let Ryouma drag her to about five feet closer to the couple.

The girl with Tezuka suddenly leaned closer to the captain and whispered something to him, and when Tezuka abruptly stopped, she stopped with him. The suddenness of the act instantly caught the freshman couple off-guard, open and vulnerable, like sitting ducks waiting to be shot on plain sight. Ryouma thought that moving now would cause noise, and noise, no matter how soft at this crucial moment, is very bad news.

Behind Ryouma and Sakuno, Kikumaru and Momoshiro saw that both couples before them had stopped, thus, expecting the worst quickly hid themselves. The others behind them also hid as quietly as they could as well.

Could they have known that they're being followed? was the first thought that crossed Ryouma's mind. Cold sweat now broke from his temple. The two waited for Tezuka and the girl to turn around but didn't. Instead, the captain's free hand grabbed the girl's left hand, and then the both of them ran as fast as possible away from them.

"R-Ryouma-kun, they're running away!" Sakuno said to him. I can see that! was what Ryouma wanted to reply back but didn't.

"C'mon!" He ordered instead. He ran after them. Sakuno ran after him. Kikumaru, Momoshiro, and the rest of Seigaku ran after them.

Tezuka and the girl disappeared when they curved into a building corner. Ryouma and Sakuno followed. A few feet from the bend, they saw that Tezuka and the girl were now gone.

"W-Where are they?" Kikumaru asked loud enough for Ryouma to hear. The freshman couple turned and found Kikumaru and Momoshiro behind them, eyes searching and bewildered.

"Kikumaru-senpai! M-Momo-chan-senpai!" Sakuno gasped.

"What are you doing here, Momo-senpai? Were you following Tezuka-buchou, too?" Ryouma asked in surprise. From the bend came more Seigaku players. "You, too, Oishi-senpai? Inui-senpai? Kawamura-senpai? K-K-Kaidou-senpai?"

The regulars exchanged bewildered glances at each other then exclaimed in unison: "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Oi, minna!"

They all turned back to look at Captain Tezuka Kunimitsu at the corner where he and the girl had disappeared seconds ago, his glasses reflecting the bright light of morning, his face set, a white tennis racket on his left hand and a tennis ball on his right.

A sweat drop trickled down Ryouma's temple to the side of this face. He found himself taking an involuntary step back. This is bad. And another. This is really, really bad...

Oishi moved a couple of steps forward, his hands up in half-surrender, and said, "Wait, Tezuka, let me explain—" Before Seigaku's vice captain could continue, Tezuka had already thrown the ball upward and hit it. It landed exactly in-front of Oishi's shoes, halting him, making him stare down at the dark gray oval on the pavement just pass his toes.

Oishi realized he had been holding his breath the whole time. He raised his gaze up to the captain and searched for answers to the question that was just forming in his mind behind those glasses. He couldn't find Tezuka's eyes there. "T-Tezuka…"

Tezuka remained quiet. He took another ball from his pocket and set himself for another serve. Oishi's eyes widened with worry and panic. He had never seen him act this…this…careless. Careless and out of line.

"Tezuka, w-what are you doing?"

Tezuka threw the ball upward and hit it, making it land this time right on Momoshiro's extended left foot, if he had not withdrew that foot in time. Cold sweat formed on Momoshiro's forehead.

"Oi, Oi…that was a wee-bit close, don't you think?" he sounded so scared the words almost came out as mumbles. They saw the captain fish two more balls from his pocket.

"T-This is it. This is punishment." Kaidou said, stepping back and feeling cold stone behind him, his eyes wide with fright. "We made Tezuka-buchou angry this much."

"Hoooo! I'm getting out of here!" Kikumaru exclaimed then turned to run.

"Punishment?" Oishi said, and for a second he saw the smiling face of former Captain Yamato Yuudai flash in his mind. What he saw standing there was no longer Tezuka, but their old captain and friend who couldn't stand disorder and physical violence before him, soft-spoken but carried a big racket instead of a stick to always voice out his convictions. He couldn't stand disorder…disorder….

Oishi turned around and saw his doubles partner's retreating back. "Eiji, don't! Don't run or you'll get yourself hit!" The regulars were shocked upon hearing this.

Tezuka had already thrown the two balls upward and hit them together. Each tennis ball hit each of Kikumaru's popliteal fossa—the hollow part of the leg behind the knee—forcing them to buckle and fold, eventually disabling the redhead from running any further. Kikumaru let out a yelp as he slowly descends and land on his hands and knees.

Tezuka kept hitting balls in front of the Seigaku regulars' feet, making everyone jump from where they stood and back up a little to the long expanse of a building wall behind them. After Kikumaru, Tezuka never hit anyone again.

This spy thrill Ryouma felt awhile back has lapsed to instant guilt. He knew everyone in the captain's presence were guilty and should be punished, including poor Sakuno whom he dragged along with him. He looked at her and saw she was quietly shivering all over, looking down at her feet clipped neatly together, saying nothing. He felt terribly sorry now. I can't get her involved, he told himself, and when Tezuka was not looking, he pulled her toward another corner as quickly as he could. Sakuno asked what he was doing, and when Ryouma didn't answer her, she didn't push the question further.

They ran along the alley toward the other end, their only way out of the captain's fury and this long corridor of red bricks. Midway, a silhouette of someone with what looks like a tennis racket slowly drifted in front like a ghost, blocking their one escape. Sakuno saw that someone, too, but she kept running and saying nothing.

What came next seems like watching a filmclip played between one-second pauses: the anthropomorphic figure bending its knees and aching its back with practiced gracefulness and throwing a shadow tennis ball upward with its shadow left hand for a serve, having the ball contact the shadow racket's sweet spot, and letting it fly right in front of them. The ball then hit the exact spot where Ryouma's foot was about to land, startling him, catching him off-balance, and making him fall back and land on his rear with a soft thud. Up close, he clearly saw the ball ascend in a straight line up upon making contact with the pavement. His felt his eyes widening, and an insane realization invaded his mind. He was sure that whoever made that serve produced a really strong spinning ball, and then the spin died upon contact with the pavement, making it an instant dead ball.

In his perspective, the ball moved up too slowly, teasingly, as if trying to suspend on air with invisible wings. The longer Ryouma watched, the more he became enthralled. He found his hand gravitating in front of him, and when the ball was at eye-level in midair, he grabbed it effortlessly. It felt as powerless and dead as a rock in his hand. When Ryouma looked over, the anthropomorphic figure was gone.

"Ryouma-kun," Sakuno's voice shook him from his reverie yet he remained motionless. "Let's go back. Somehow, I feel that whoever that person is just stopped us from making another mistake."

Ryouma turned to look up at Sakuno. She was smiling down at him, the kind of loopy smile that made it impossible for anyone not to smile back. Something in her eyes also told him a lot of things she could not and would dare not say aloud. His eyes remained bulging, and hers kept them fixed on him, the fear no longer there.

"It's okay, Ryouma-kun. I understand what you're trying to do, but I guess it is really best not to run away from responsibilities." she said. Ryouma's eyes softened and he grinned back.

Sakuno offered her hand to help him up, and he let her.

"'Seishun Gakuen Tennis Team regulars are just a bunch of snoopers who didn't know how to mind their own business.'" Tezuka Kunimitsu declared with finality. His voice was dark and foreboding. His arms were crossed over his chest. The sun masked his eyes perfectly, giving the illusion that the lens of his glasses were virtually made of white paper. "Shame on you all."

The regulars and Sakuno were now lined up neatly side-by-side each other, arms at their sides, shoulders stiff, jaws tight, straight backs an inch away from the wall expanse. Tezuka did a great job lining them all this way with less time than he anticipated. They looked like behaved military neophytes receiving morning briefings from a stern Master Sergeant prior to the routine task of getting their hands dirty.

Oishi appeared to have eased down a little when he turned to Tezuka with a concerned face. "It was not really that, Tezuka. Please, let me explain what really hap-"

"And I thought I'd never see you lined up with the rest of them, Vice Captain Oishi." Tezuka boomed dangerously, stressing on Oishi's position in the team. Oishi immediately withdrew his foot, which strayed from the neat line moments ago, and resumed his place with the others exactly the same way as before.

"Oishi?"

Tezuka, and everyone else, turned to the girl he was with peeking from the bend behind him.

"You mean...Shuichiro's here, too?"

The vice captain's face brightened and removed himself completely from the line. "Kanae!"

The girl was all-smiles when she completely emerged from the bend. "Shuichiro, it is you!"

She ran toward him giggling, arms wide open, and practically rammed Oishi off his feet, dislodging him effortlessly from where he stood, making him yelp. Both landed on the pavement soundly—of course, Oishi was making all the sounds—with the vice captain cushioning Kanae from any harm. The regulars broke sweat as the girl began happily rubbing her cheek against Oishi's despite the fact that she already locked him in a bear hug and not seeming to realize the apparent disorientation she gave the young man, judging from his swirling eyes and the back pain he would be nursing for the coming days.

"Oi, oi, oi. You know her, too, Oishi-senpai?" Momoshiro said pointing, blinking.

"O-Of course." Oishi squeaked, straining to breathe from that crushing hug. His voice remained constricted when he addressed them: "Everyone, I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine and Tezuka. She just came back from Cologne yesterday."

"C-Cologne?" Momoshiro asked, his Japanese tongue getting in the way, thus, pronouncing it Koronu.

"Cologne—" Inui began to say "—a region on the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with a population of nearly a million. The city ranked fourth after Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich, as the country's largest city. Cologne has the reputation of being a media center in Germany, if not all of Europe. It is also famous for its medieval architecture, such as the Cologne Cathedral, for its bright-yellow beer called kölsch, and for being the first in the continent to legalize and implement taxes on prostitution."

Momoshiro, Kikumaru, and Echizen gave their senpai a disconcerted look. "Oh." The data was accurate, as expected from Inui, but indiscreet to mention the last fact in front of a lady, nonetheless.

Kanae didn't seem to mind as she stood up, letting go of Oishi, and attempted to smoothen out the invisible creases on her skirt first before clipping her hands together and bowing. "Ryu Kanae to mooshimasu. Nenrei wa 15 juugo sai ni narimasu. Seigaku no regyuraa menbaa no minasan ni o-ai dekite totemo ureshiku omoimasu. Minasan no koto ni tsuite wa kyaputen ya fuku-kyaputen kara mo yoku kiite orimashita."

Kawamura blinked, his face registering a sudden familiarity of her odd language. "She just said everything in pure kenjo-go." The humble form of Japanese speak.

Ryouma turned to his senpai at the opposite end of the line and smiled. "Eh! You know that kind of stuff, Kawamura-senpai?"

"A-Aa." He answered meekly, albeit a little embarrassed. "We hear that kind of talk all the time in the restaurant whenever businessmen begin their meetings there so I'm very familiar with how the words were used."

"'Businessman talk'." Momoshiro unknowingly christened her tongue and whistled. "Coming from a young outsider, I feel a little embarrassed for not knowing that yet."

Kawamura beamed. "Don't worry about it, Momo. Even we insiders need a considerable amount of practice to learn how to talk like that." To Kanae, he said, "I'm Kawamura Takashi, by the way." Then he took it upon himself to introduce the rest of the regulars, beginning from his left. Kaidou gave her a look; Inui put a palm up; Momoshiro gave her a big smile; Kikumaru flashed a peace sign; Echizen tipped his cap and said "Hi."; Sakuno bowed graciously and told her it was nice to meet her.

Kanae walked toward the freshmen and bent forward to face Ryouma eye-to-eye. "Hello, Echizen Ryouma. Finally, we meet." she said in her most amiable tone, smiled, and touched his small face lovingly, much to the boy's discomfort for this sudden display of affection from a stranger.

She straightened up and turned back to Oishi, who has recovered that time, and touched his face, as well. "Oh, Shuichiro, we only met yesterday and I missed you already!"

"O-Oi! Oishi!" Kikumaru pointed accusingly and was now beginning to scold his partner. "What was that she just said? You were together yesterday? Oishi, you snatcher! How could you do that to Tezuka? Kana-chan is his girlfriend!"

"Eh?" Kanae blinked.

Oishi's face drained of color. "S-S-Snatcher? Just what are you saying, Eiji?"

"So everyone here thought the same way." Tezuka interjected, his glasses glistening once again, arms still crossed. "That is what this is all about, isn't it?"

The vice captain sighed. "I assure you, Tezuka, Eiji just misunderstood. That is the reason why I'm here and why I wanted to catch up with them before something bad happens."

"Hey, wait a minute! Don't make it sound like I have an evil motive for Tezuka and his date!" Kikumaru spat. "Momo and I were originally following O-chibi and Sakuno-chan in their date when we saw that they saw Tezuka with Kana-chan, and then followed them. We only did what they did!"

Sakuno's beat-red face was already buried in her hands; Ryouma concealed his behind his cap and high collar.

"Eiji, I'm not saying that you alone have—"

"Then what are you saying! If you said you wanted to stop me in my evil plots, then you should have done that the instant you saw me!"

"No, you're getting it all wrong—!"

"I'm not the bad guy here! Who do you think got hit by tennis balls in the first place?"

"That's enough, Kikumaru." Tezuka commanded.

Oishi threw up his hands and said, "I'm sorry, Tezuka, really, this shouldn't have happened. I know it was difficult for you to free half a day for Kanae because of practices and..." The vice captain now placed both hands on his hips, sighed, and then shook his head wearily. For a second, Tezuka thought he'd catch up with the broken statement but he didn't. "You don't have to explain anything. You should go ahead. I'm sure Kanae still has places to go. With your permission, I'll be putting myself in charge of these...these...trouble-makers for now. I'll have them run laps until this afternoon's practices."

"S-Seriously?" Momoshiro cried. "That's six hours non-stop!"

Oishi crossed his arms, appearing as stern as Tezuka and not quite succeeding. "You're not in the position to complain. I'm already being lenient for sticking your noses to your captain's business."

"EEEH?" The regulars said in unison. Kikumaru huffed angrily and kicked the air behind Oishi, closely missing his double partner's rear.

"I appreciate your sense of responsibility, Oishi, and I understand how you feel." Tezuka said. "But no one is running laps until I tell them to."

"B-But, Tezuka—"

"Echizen, Momoshiro, and the rest had risked accepting punishment to hear what they needed to hear. We should, at least, give them credit for that."

"T-Tezuka?"

He ignored him then to the regulars, Tezuka said, "First of all, we were shopping and not dating. We were visiting the stores where the three of us used to buy our tennis gear."

Kanae beamed and nodded.

"She's staying in Japan for a three-week break before going to America in time for the resuming of tournaments there. I wasn't able to welcome her personally at the airport yesterday because of practices so I sent for Oishi instead. I promised I'll make up the time for her today." He looked at each of the regulars' faces. When no one said anything, he continued: "Second, I had actually planned on refreshing Kanae's memories of Seigaku from two years ago by bringing her to school this afternoon. All of you would be meeting her there eventually. But now that you've been introduced this morning, I no longer see the need for surprises."

In their silence, the regulars appeared embarrassed and guilty, fidgeting here and there their own way.

"Now, I want all of you to march to the tennis courts this instant."

Momoshiro appeared to be taken aback. "E-EEh! Why, Tezuka-buchou? A-Are we going to start practice now?"

Tezuka's glasses glinted from the sun's rays once more. "I don't need to repeat myself, do I?" He said then set himself to serve another ball. Everyone straightened their stand, going back to that soldier formation earlier, and bellowed "HAI!" before facing left with a snap and running toward the other end of that alley, missing the rare instance of seeing their captain grin and could have surmised, and perhaps even admitted, how oddly guilt-tripping Captain Tezuka Kunimitsu was that day.

…to be continued

The song Oishi heard is entitled What's up, People taken from the Death Note Soundtrack.