This is Dedicated to MelodyBunny101
Seishun Gakuen Tennis Courts
"Inui"
Inui turned to the sound of the voice, unsurprised to find Fuji standing there with his usual smile in place.
"Yes?" he asked quizzically, although he could guess the reason for Fuji's appearance.
"What data have you managed to gather on Echizen Roko?" he asked quickly, but Inui could sense the eagerness behind it. Fuji was being even more blunt than usual, which was only a testament to his excitement. He sighed loudly, and Fuji frowned at his response.
"Not much" he admitted, "there are some very interesting details, but not much else. I quickly discovered that being completely silent yields little or no data at all. In fact our Echizen could probably tell you more than I can". Fuji clearly did not like that, his face forming into a frown.
"In that case, what do you know?" he pressed, and Inui smiled at his need to know.
"Well, first thing's first, the other Echizen goes to Rikkaidai Fuzoku" he stated bluntly, and Fuji looked appropriately shocked, and then he frowned in contemplation, still keeping his eyes closed.
"Nya!" came a voice, and suddenly Kikumaru materialized next to Fuji, who did not seem at all surprised by his sudden presence.
"Does Echizen really go to Rikkaidai?" he asked quickly.
"Eh? Why're you guys talking about Rikkaidai?" came another voice, and the three noticed Momoshiro standing a few feet away from them looking very confused.
"Momo!" Kikumaru cried, "Did you know that Ochibi's brother goes to Rikkaidai?" Momoshiro gaped in shock.
"Eh? Really? I thought I recognized his uniform" he said to himself, and Inui noticed how Fuji's expression changed, which was probably him just remembering why the other Echizen's uniform was so familiar.
"What are you guys talking about?" came another voice, and everyone turned to notice their Echizen standing behind them with an inquisitive eyebrow raised.
Is there anyone else conveniently standing nearby? Inui thought irritably.
Kikumaru moved in a blur, suddenly in front of Echizen.
"Ochibi! How come you never told us that your brother goes to Rikkaidai?" he wailed, and Echizen's expression didn't change.
"Because you never asked" he said smoothly, and Momoshiro appeared next to Kikumaru.
"But I asked you why he didn't go to Seigaku!" he protested, and Echizen nodded his head once.
"Because he found a school with better education, just like he said" he replied, and Momoshiro was lost for a decent rebuttal after that. In his amused watch of the scene unfold; Inui hadn't noticed Fuji had moved a few millimetres closer to him.
"So, Inui, what else can you tell us?" he asked eagerly, and everyone's heads turned to them.
"Yeah! Inui, tell us more about Echizen!" Kikumaru pleaded.
"You have data on my brother?" Echizen demanded, but no one listened to him. Inui scrolled through his notebook.
"When I discovered that Echizen Roko was part of Rikkaidai Fuzoku, I called my friend Yanagi Renji, the data master of Rikkaidai. He fed me basic information about the other Echizen, nothing important, but he did mention that he is in fact a regular for their tennis team" he stated, and the three of them displayed appropriate shock, whilst Echizen's expression didn't change.
"I could've told you that" he cut in, but again nobody listened.
"What else?" Fuji pressed further, and Inui pushed his glasses up his face before continuing.
"He is a speed-based player whose style relies heavily on maintaining that speed. He is friends with the new captain of Rikkaidai, Sanada Genichiro, since he is the only one in the school who knows sign language"
"I could've told you that"
"He also bears a particular grudge against Niou Masaharu, the team's trickster. Echizen enjoys eating plenty of cake and listening to music, when he is not practicing tennis or drinking tea. He is also hated by the non-regulars of Rikkaidai, who believe he shouldn't be a regular"
"I could've told you that"
"He despises attention, can be easily aggravated with the proper scenario and runs in his spare time"
"I could've told you that"
"Yes, thank you, Echizen, I am aware. However since you refuse to yield data on your brother, I had to do digging myself" Inui replied irritably. Echizen shrugged in response and walked away like nothing had happened.
"That's all?" Fuji asked, sounding very slightly disappointed. Inui sighed loudly.
"Sadly yes, that is all". Inui could detect the slight frown from Fuji, contrasting greatly with the two pouting loud-mouths of Seigaku.
"You can always ask about him when we see him at our game tomorrow" Inui added. Fuji seemed to perk up, and suddenly there were two arms around his shoulders.
"Nya! Of course, Fuji! We'll all get to know Ochibi's brother better!"
Seishun Gakuen Tennis Courts
Why on Earth did Fuji want to know more about Roko? Ryoma couldn't understand it. He supposed that because he couldn't talk that made him interesting, but it didn't give him the excuse to allow Inui to stalk his brother - which he most likely did. He wondered if Roko had noticed Inui probably hiding in the bushes nearby, like the crazy juice-maker would do.
He sighed loudly, for some reason feeling violated at the realisation that Inui had probably been following his brother. But Ryoma supposed that if Inui gathered useless data like that then it didn't really matter, but the part about 'running in his spare time' really bothered him. Had Inui followed him back to their house? He shuddered at the thought.
"Echizen"
Ryoma looked up to meet the stoic mask of his captain, and he could see that he had his 'I-will-make-you-run-laps' look on his face.
"Why aren't you practicing?" he asked bluntly, and Ryoma sighed.
"Because I was wondering why Inui-senpai and Fuji-senpai were talking about my brother, and apparently Inui-senpai has been stalking him and gave Fuji-senpai some data on him" he replied, and Ryoma mentally cackled as he saw Tezuka's expression change.
"Inui skipped practice to follow your brother?" he asked without a trace of irritation.
"Seems so" Ryoma replied coolly, and in an instant Tezuka was gone. Ryoma chuckled at the thought of Inui getting laps. Suddenly the tone of his phone in his bag interrupted his laughter, and he frowned and reached into it, pulling it out and checking the screen.
It was from Roko.
Ryoma frowned deeper. Roko never sent messages unless there was a problem. He quickly opened the message and read it.
'I'm being followed. Could you tell your senpai that I'm sick of pretending he isn't there? It's really annoying'
Ryoma froze, and then frowned again. But Inui was right here, he couldn't be following Roko now. Could he? Was Inui that much of a stalker? Ryoma quickly decided he was thinking nonsense and put his phone away, picking up his tennis racket quickly.
He tried not to think much of it; it was probably a rival team looking for data on him.
Rikkaidai Fuzoku Tennis Courts
Daigo Kakuba gritted his teeth as he rallied a ball against a wall by the regular clubhouse, imagining the mute kid's face in the centre. It had been nearly three weeks since he was humiliated by the mute boy in the regulars ranking tournament, and the anger and rage he felt had not subsided at all. He was nearly going to become a regular. He would have been one of the most popular kids in the school, and he would have taken the nationals with his team, crushing all his opponents. But instead that idiot freshman had come along and defeated him without losing a single point, shattering his dreams into a thousand pieces and forced him to watch and cheer on the side-lines as the freshman took his place on the court.
He couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand any of it. He couldn't bear to watch that freshman defeating his opponents one after the other, and his team praising him for it, even Sanada. Was that kid such a kiss-up that he was good friends with the captain? Daigo had never seen the captain smile before, and yet this freshman comes along and becomes his friend? Unacceptable! He now had even deeper ties with Rikkaidai, and so it would be deeper to pull him out by the roots.
Yes, ever since he was humiliated, Daigo had not stopped training and practicing, and neither would he stop until he took the regulars jersey that was rightfully his. He refused to acknowledge that that kid was better than him, because he wasn't. Daigo would do everything in his power to beat him, and make sure none of the regulars became infected with his disease.
He knew about that too, that disease that made him unable to talk. It was disgusting. He walked with the regulars, talked with them, ate with them, all the while slowly infecting them with that disgusting disease of his. No, he wasn't just doing this for his own pride, but for the sake of the regular team too. Look at Yukimura, half a day with that kid and he collapses and gets sent to hospital. That only made his belief stronger that Echizen Roko must be destroyed!
He had been following him for a while now, watching him practice every time he did, taking in his style, and his shots, including that super-fast serve with his left hand, and worked on how to counter them perfectly. He was almost there, a few more days at most, and Daigo would be ready to take his place.
"Hey, you" came a voice, and Daigo stopped rallying and turned to a third year who he dimly recognized, not that he really cared who he was. He was tall and had a skinny frame. He had a weird hairstyle similar to Niou's, and his hair was deep brown. He had a pointy noise and thin lips, and pale green eyes. He noticed he wore the tennis uniform of a different school, but he didn't really care which.
"What?" he asked irritably, and the guy didn't back down.
"Where are the Rikkaidai Fuzoku tennis courts? I'm here to challenge Echizen Roko" he replied, and Daigo then noticed the tennis bag he was shouldering. Daigo just snorted and raised an eyebrow.
"No way, you can't challenge him until I've beaten him" he stated, and the guy's eyes widened.
"What did you say?" he demanded.
"It's true" Daigo replied calmly, "I was defeated by Echizen weeks ago, and ever since I've been studying his tennis style and moves, looking for the weaknesses and figuring out how to beat them. I know everything about his tennis style, but can you say the same?" he asked, and he smirked as he noticed the guy hesitating.
"Exactly, there's no way you can defeat Echizen until you know his style and until you've practiced 'till you pass out" he stated, and the tall guy frowned, and then smiled deviously.
"In that case, how about we help each other?" he asked, and Daigo snorted.
"You? Help me? How could you do that?" he retorted, and the guy snorted in a really stupid way.
"We work together to beat Echizen, and then we both get our revenge" he offered, and Daigo smiled widely. Yes, that was a good offer, one that he couldn't refuse.
"In that case we'll take our revenge on the mute kid after Rikkaidai's third game" he said, and the tall guy nodded.
"Daigo Kakuba" he introduced.
"Yakuta Ippei"
DUM DUM DDUUUMMMMMMM... Yeah I'm done now
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