Ashes and Agony

SIGNS

Atobe asked to play with Tezuka as soon as they entered the courts and Tezuka agreed. The courts were full almost instantly and Marui had to wait for his turn to play with Jirou.

He watched Yukimura and Fuji play beside the courts and noticed Shiraishi wandering away, slowly approaching the pools, approximately fifty feet away from the tennis courts. Marui was a little concerned so he followed, and tapped Shiraishi on the shoulder: "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Whoa! You scared the daylights out of me!" Shiraishi jumped and pressed at his chest, taking a deep breath.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. What are you looking at?" Marui looked where Shiraishi was staring at curiously, not seeing anything unusual.

"It's so weird... I thought I saw a boy swimming in the pool over here when I was standing near the courts. But when I tried to get closer to have a better look he's gone." Shiraishi scratched his head in confusion.

"A boy?" Marui frowned as he detected that same smell of smoke that had disappeared wafting in the air again. "How strange. Maybe we should go ask Atobe." Marui tugged on Shiraishi's sleeve, dreading to stay any minute longer near the pool, far away from everyone else.

"Yeah." Shiraishi agreed as he was starting to have goose bumps too.

As they returned to the courts, Atobe and Tezuka were taking a break from their match and were resting on the benches. Marui seized the opportunity and asked Atobe over the fence: "Hey, is there anyone else here other than us? I mean, like is this place open to visitors already?"

"No. This place would only be open next year. Like I said before, we're just here to test-run. Why are you asking?" Atobe took a sip of water.

"Shiraishi saw a boy swimming in the pool right over there, so we're just asking to make sure." Marui pointed at the pools.

"A boy? It couldn't be. You must have mistaken." Atobe told Shiraishi.

"Yeah. Thought so." Shiraishi nodded.

"What's wrong, Shiraishi?" Tooyama, who was waiting for his turn to play Echizen, asked Shiraishi.

"Nothing." Shiraishi didn't want to freak Tooyama out.

Tezuka, who was listening quietly, started to feel panic yet again. As much as he tried to ignore everything strange that he sensed, there were a ton of indications that told him that there was something seriously wrong with this place. But he held back the urge to tell the others as he didn't want to spoil the fun.

Nothing else happened after that and the day slowly turned into night. The boys took a bath in their rooms and gathered at the dining area to have dinner. The chefs prepared a buffet of delicious cuisines and desserts from all around the world for them to enjoy.

A variety of colourful and delicious cakes and puddings made Marui forget whatever was in his mind about this place's queerness as he indulged himself into the delicacy. Tezuka, on the other hand, just couldn't shake away the ominous presentiment he had and ate absentmindedly, although the food tasted great.

They had a karaoke after dinner and Tezuka, who couldn't settle down, decided to walk around and survey the place a bit to see if there was anything out of the ordinary.

"Where are you going, Tezuka?" Fuji noticed Tezuka leaving the dining area and caught up to him.

"Nothing, I'm just going to check this place out a bit." Tezuka answered, quietly wishing that Fuji wouldn't follow.

"I'll tag along." Fuji said.

Tezuka sighed secretly, his thoughts contradicting. He didn't want Fuji to follow because he didn't want him to worry, but on the other hand he was relieved to have Fuji with him, as he was a little afraid of the idea of exploring this peculiar place all by himself.