Don't Regret

Chapter Six

Bunta and Jackal arrived with Sakuno's stuff. Jackal put down Sakuno's racket and tennis balls and said, "I'm going back to tell Yukimura and Sanada what you guys are doing. Are you going to come back to practice, it's not over yet, but if you want to take ..." He had forgotten this girl's name.

"Sakuno, her name is Sakuno." Niou supplied, not looking up from his ministrations.

Jackal and Bunta looked surprised but Jackal went on, "Right, if you want to take Sakuno home, I can tell them that as well. Which is it?"

Sakuno bit her lip, "Uh... ano... senpai-tachi, I-I can go home by myself. I-It's fine."

Bunta and Niou said simultaneously, "No!"

They looked at one another and Bunta said, "Sakuno-chan, you might have twisted your ankle, there is no way that you can go home by yourself. Besides, what about your school-bag and tennis-bag? Those will be in the changing rooms and you still need to go back to get those and return the tennis balls to the sports' shed."

Niou agreed, "Bunta's right, you are in no condition to walk by yourself or on your own, it will dangerous. I will carry you to get your stuff and Bunta can help. Then we will take you home."

Sakuno did not want to be a bother to anyone and she tried protesting but it did no good. She finally sighed, "Then I will wait for your tennis practice to finish. I don't want to you to get into any trouble with Yukimura-senpai. Miyu said that he's really strict about tennis." All three thought that this was a plausible idea and Jackal left to tell Yukimura and Sanada about this new turn of events, meaning they would have a visitor at the regulars' practice.

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All of them, including Jackal, were quite surprised at the turn of events. What had started as one of Niou's normal nasty tricks had actually backfired in a strange way. Jackal, being more observant of the doubles' pair with Bunta, could guess a little about Niou's change of attitude, unusual though it was.

He thought that it was not too strange considering Sakuno's shy and demure character, which was rare when Rikkai Dai's tennis regulars were usually surrounded or sometimes even stalked by overly enthusiastic fans. Most of these fans would turn up and when they do, the words 'shy', 'demure' or generally 'quiet' did not seem to exist.

Although Sakuno's type of girl did not appeal to him as attractive, he could appropriate the refreshing change very much after being bombarded with screams during practice earlier, until Sanada, as usual, had flipped and actually managed to clear all the members of the opposite sex away. Possibly he was the only one who could do that by sheer force of character. Niou could also clear the area around the courts but it was always with extremely nasty tricks like the release of real cockroaches that he claimed to have bred himself just for that purpose.

He thought back on one actual incident when Niou actually did do that. He released cockroaches and not only the girls ran but also quite a number of the boys in the tennis club. He had to agree that while it was an effective trick, it was very disgusting and the whole school had to conduct a pestilence clearance during the weekend and all practices were cancelled.

Yukimura and Sanada were not pleased but they could not begrudge Niou's actions, probably because even they were fed up with the fangirls' screaming at everything they did.

As for Niou, Akaya and Bunta, they had a great time, laughing until they were rolling on the courts at the panic Niou caused.

Yanagi simply noted down as much as he could of people who were scared by cockroaches, mumbling under his breath that this data might come in useful. Even since their match against Seigaku during their last year in junior high, when Yanagi had reunited with his childhood friend, Inui, his actions had definitely gotten more and more on the weird side. He even started to collaborate with Inui on some supposedly super version of a health drink.

As for Yagyuu, he pushed his glasses up and sat down on a side-bench, saying he would be taking a break since no one was concentrating on practice yet.

During all that, he had sat down with Yagyuu and patiently waited for practice to start again, thinking what all the fuss was about. Cockroaches were disgusting but surely there was no need for all the screaming and yelling and stampeding away from them, not that he was complaining since it meant a noise-free practice.

With his long and quick strides, he had reached their regulars' practice grounds. Sanada Genichirou had noticed him already and looking towards him with a frown on his stern face.

Jackal had known that it would be like this so he was not concerned, besides it was not his fault that they were late. He went up to Sanada, ready to give his explanation, when Yukimura gave the signal for the others to stop and gather round.

It was unusual for three members of the regulars to be late at the same time because the competition was always heavy and no one knew when someone would be good enough to take your place, so they were always diligent about practice, despite their various odd personalities. Therefore Yukimura thought all the regulars had the right to hear what Jackal had to say about them being late and why Niou and Bunta were still missing.

When everyone was gathered round, Jackal did not wait for Sanada or Yukimura to start questioning him. He just started to explain in his steady way, "Well, we were going to the vending machines when..."