Chapt. 5!! Sorry this took like, FOREVER, cuz I wuz lazy & hit a (kind of) writer’s block so I started writing other stories as well… but yay! fer this story to be typed again lol! Urm… last chapt. had mistakes… so I fixed it . some questions as well so I’ll be answerin’ them again. Might be kinda long so if u don’t wanna read this then just skip to da story.

RogueMarieL: omg thankx so much fer realizing this!! I didn’t even notice it until I read ur comment! Erm yea… I seemed ta forgot Choutarou was still only a 1st year last chapt… I fixed it thou. In this chapt. they graduated & now Chouta’s a 2nd year & Shishi’s a 3rd year. Sorry I’m such an airhead last chapt. & ‘bout da dorm thing, uh… Hyotei’s not actually a dorm school but in this fic it is. Da rule is that as long as u turn in da registration form in time & there r still rooms available, u can pick who u wanna room wit, no matter if ur in da same grade or not, so yea.

IndigoChan: me? I’m a ToriShishi fan, so sorry if ur a ShishiTori fan… . but uh, I still haven’t decided whether to change it to M-rated or not, so what my preference r doesn’t really matter. U know, it’s funny, most SP doujinshi I read r ToriShishi but most fics I read r ShishiTori… does American likes seme!Shishi more or wat…? -.- I got to know SP thru doujinshi 1st so thus I’m a ToriShishi fan. Wat ‘bout u?

As fer da rest of u, thankx so much fer reviewing!! Ur compliments made me really happy & thus why I’m sitting here typing at 5 am in da morning rite now lol! Enjoy!

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Graduation two months later came somewhat anticlimactic, since most of the regulars were 2nd years so they wouldn’t be leaving the club to go to high school anyway. As for Ootori, he’s been nervous as heck at the thought of sharing a room with Shishido-san next year. So what if the dorms are huge and they’d have separate rooms- he’d still see his sempai everyday, even on weekends and such! That thought alone made Ootori very happy, and thus he spends the rest of the short summer break in somewhat of a daze.

“You don’t have a lot of stuff, do you Choutarou?” was the first thing the now 3rd-year said to him as they unpack their things at their new dorm room.

Ootori looks down to the pile scattered at his feet. Two boxes of mainly clothes and some useless junk, and a violin case. He couldn’t bring his piano here, so he settled for his violin instead. No doubt he’d miss playing his piano after he gets home from school and occasionally on weekends, but it’s better than living at home and not with Shishido-san. Just a fair price, really.

“You too, Shishido-san. You didn’t bring that much stuff either.”

“Ah, yeah. Not that much stuff to bring in the first place.” Ootori’s not surprised-his sempai doesn’t seem like the clingy type that brings just about everything from home here. “I’m just so glad I’m not sharing a room with that guy anymore, seriously. You should see him last year, he brought everything-and I mean everything-here!! I barely had any room to walk around the living room and I had to yell at him so much for him to finally move his stuff to his own damn room.” Shishido leans back against the wall. “It was hell, I tell you.”

Ootori chuckles lightly-he can imagine that. Shishido-san really doesn’t mix well with Mukahi-san, everyone in the club knows that. “Anyway, want to go outside and grab something to eat? We should enjoy one last day before school begins tomorrow.” The older boy asked, getting up.

“Hai, sempai!”

-o-o-o-o-

Atobe was pacing around his room, hands behind his back and his brows furrowed. The door was closed, of course, like he’d allow anyone, like his servants, to pass by his room and see him close to having a panic attack. Today’s the day, Atobe thought to himself, the day where Shishido moves in and live with some random boy I can care less about, and not with me, the great Atobe Keigo—his own boyfriend! Shouldn’t there be a dating rule forbidding this? So he accepted Mukahi living with Shishido last year, but that’s just because he knew they hated each other so he wasn’t too worried about that and didn’t demand his boyfriend to live with him.

This random boy is a different story, though. Atobe can see that that Ootori guy has taken an interest on Shishido-heck, crushing hard on him-even Oshitari had pointed that out, and being a genius and all, the Hyotei captain thinks that the tensai is rarely, if ever, wrong.

This is seriously starting to piss me off… Atobe flung back to his chair and close his eyes, I don’t know why I bother anymore, Shishido’s so blinding oblivious that it’s frustrating. Why am I putting up with this…? Oh yeah, it was because Shishido is… and he drifts off to sleep, not knowing that something will happen two weeks from now that will turn his belief upside-down.

-o-o-o-o-

“Since this is just the preliminaries, I see no need to send all of you out.” Kantoku announced as all the regulars assembled to hear about next week’s match.

“It’s some no-name school, really, so ore-sama thinks that you all can just have a break and let the pre-regs have their moments to shine.” The captain lets out a scoff, making everyone but the regulars looks down angrily, because they cannot say anything against the Atobe Keigo, and in shame, because part of what he said is true.

Ootori feels sorry for those people, he really do. After all, just last year he used to be one of them, although not for very long, but he does know what it felt like.

“Che, so what’s the whole point of this gather-up, then? We already knew this, you’re wasting our time.” Shishido rolled his eyes and cross his arms, looking smug. Everyone saves the regulars stared in shock, someone actually dares to contradict their captain, who practically owns the whole entire school. Some wonders if he and Atobe really are going out, what with them acting like this.

“Shishido, please refrain from speaking out of turn, ore-sama hasn’t finished yet. Since you’re feeling so confident, perhaps you’d like to participate in our next match with, what’s-its-name, Fudomine?”

The brunette sneered in return. “Whatever. If you so desperately need my strength, then fine.” With that, he juts his head back and absentmindedly flips his hair before walking away.

Atobe only let out a scoff at Shishido’s back before turning to everyone else. “Well, him, obviously ore-sama, and… Kabaji, you can go too.” He snapped his finger, and a responding “Usu.” can be heard. “Well, that should be more than sufficient. That is all. You pre-regs go check the board to see if you’re lucky enough to got picked. You may go now.”

When the regulars disbanded, Ootori wonders about that brief interaction between Shishido and Atobe earlier. His favorite sempai seemed so… arrogant, of course he knows this, but it’s so different from when it’s only the two of them hanging out. And that haughty comment and walking away in the middle like that, if it was anyone else, no doubt Atobe would suggest to Kantoku to take him out of the regulars for disrespecting him and would find some way to isolate that person from the rest of the school, but since it was Shishido…

Atobe-san must love him a lot, huh, to actually just let it go. Ootori sullenly trudge back to practicing his serve.

-o-o-o-o-

That day starts out like any other. He wakes up to the annoying sound of his alarm, hitting it roughly to make the blaring sounds stop, lags to the bathroom, brushes his teeth, take a quick shower, combs his long, brown strands of hair, then ties it loosely in a ponytail. Grabbing his tennis bag, he briefly says good-bye to Ootori, who’s writing something like music notes on a lined paper, then went outside and catches the bus.

It’s normal, really, to arrive at the courts, hearing the Hyotei cheers that resound throughout the whole place, sneering at the pre-regs who did so bad at their matches, even the normal teasing between him and Atobe, saying he’d finish his match in less than 15 minutes.

Nothing out of the ordinary, when he hit the serve, hears shouting behind him about how good he is, and take that, because it’s a Hyotei regular now, and Fudomine’d so not stand a chance anymore. He knows this all too well, hears it every match, nothing unexpected.

But then his opponent, he didn’t even remember the name at the time, hits the ball back, faster, harder, and he remembers the ball flying right past him, his eyes widening in shock, then everything else was a blur.

“Sorry, but I ended it in fifteen minutes instead.”

-o-o-o-o-

“Frankly, I must say I’m really disappointed in you, Shishido. It might be Tachibana, but that was still a very unsightly loss.” Atobe, sitting on a bench, hands on his forehand, half-mocking him with that ore-sama-is-better-than-you tone.

Shishido, standing a few meters away, only glare at him. He doesn’t know what to say-what can he say? His tennis is over, his boyfriend just announced it ten minutes ago over the phone with Kantoku. He knows Hyotei’s system, once you’re kicked out, you can’t go back. Your chance is over. No more…

“…I wonder lately if perhaps I’m making the wrong choice, Shishido. And what happened today just proves it even more.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” he growled, still glaring.

“Shishido… do you remember what I told you when I first asked you out?” Atobe asked, looking up at him, eyes and voice serious.

Whatever anger and regret the brunette had was temporarily forgotten as he took in those words and recalled what happened that day. Of course he remembers, how could he not?

“I… Atobe, I…” for once, Shishido was at a loss for words, and there’s this feeling in his chest that starts to hurt and he realize with horror of what Atobe’s suggesting at. “But this is just—it’s only once, Atobe!” he pleaded.

“Even if this is the first time, once it happened, it can never undo itself, do you understand?” Shishido could only watch helplessly as Atobe state the inevitable phrase. “You are not what I’m looking for anymore, so I’m afraid we’re over, Shishido.” With a shook of his hand, the Hyotei captain got up and head towards his ride, leaving the brunette standing there, not once moved from his spot.

The tennis bag slide down from his grip and drop down to the concrete with a loud THUMP!, and Shishido found himself on his knee, staring at the ground before him. The things that he treasured the most were lost, no more, and the first droplet of liquid fell, hitting the ground with barely an audible sound.

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Dan-dan-dan THE END!! No just kiddin’, there’s more!! But thank god this chapt.’s over! I had such a hard time squeezing this chapt. out I had to stop every 2 sentences to rack my brain for ideas to continue typing-yes it was that hard! . took me 2 ½ hours to do this… -sigh- it switches views like crazy so I hope I didn’t confuse u too much…

Those of u who kept complainin’ ‘bout da Atobe part must be very happy that they broke up, huh. Urm… that thing that Atobe said, it’d be more clear next chapt., so yea. Guess wat! I actually wrote it out during health class (yes I know I’m not ‘spose to do that but whatever…) some time ago so da next chapt.’ll be out sooner! Review & I’ll type it & upload it wit da speed of a… uh, cheetah!! Yea! Or some really fast animal… lol!

Anyway, ‘til then!