At the entrance of the station, there was a scattered group of tall, well-built and very good-looking young men. Together with them was a tall girl who was also very good-looking.
They were waiting for their dear little friend; 'little' meaning that she was very small compared with this lot of half giants.
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Yukimura and Miyu had arrived at the station to see Niou, Sanada and Yagyuu already waiting. Soon, Bunta, Jackal, Akaya and Yanagi had arrived and they nodded to each other, then went off to wait on their own.
Yukimura was not surprised to see the whole team there and he started talking to Sanada about some problems with the practice timetables.
Miyu got bored of listening to them and went over to tease Bunta, who was standing with Jackal, who was pounding his back because Bunta had eaten too much takoyaki in one mouthful and was now choking.
Yagyuu was leaning against a nearby post and was reading a new mystery novel that he had found at the bookstore; he had been so busy lately with all the school work and tennis practices that he had not had much time to read and was glad to take the opportunity to relax a bit while waiting for his favorite chatting companion.
Actually she was his only chatting companion because he did not chat with the guys and his family was not the chatty type. He did not care to chat with the girls at school because they would be too busy cooing at him to listen or make intelligent replies.
Well, to be fair, the replies that Sakuno made were not academically intelligent but she did not coo at him and she actually listened and answered seriously which was all he had wanted.
Recently he had felt that was not enough but was not yet sure what more did he want. He had been too busy to think about it so for the time being, he just let that rest at the back of his mind.
He did not even think of talking to Miyu because she not only disliked reading but to him, she was always more 'gentleman' than 'lady', so most of the time, he treated her as he would his team-mates and that is with little words.
Yanagi was standing next to Yagyuu, scribbling down anything and everything that caught his attention.
It was more to keep up his note-taking skills rather than to serve any purpose. Besides, he never knew what interesting little piece of information he might find.
Akaya was standing some distance away, listening to music and glancing at the watch.
He had missed Sakuno because recent practices had been so tense that he longed for her relaxing presence. Besides, he reasoned to himself, she was his bunny, how come she was not by his side.
Akaya childishly did not want to bother going too far down that train of thought because he instinctively felt that it would not be a good idea just yet.
At least, not for Sakuno, because if he had really wanted her, he would be relentless and part of him understood that now was not the time for that.
Therefore he settled for her being his bunny and as long as nothing else happened, he would be contented in this situation for the time being.
Niou was wandering around seemingly bored and radiating an aura that said clearly, "Don't come near me."
He looked cool but inside, he was grinning madly at the potential fun he could have before Sakuno arrived.
He had brought along some of his older 'toys'.
They were little tricks he had used when he was about six or seven years old and he had thought they would be tame enough not to get him into trouble if he was caught, not by the authorities, but by Sanada or Yukimura.
The good old 'toys' will not hurt anyone and he just wanted to have a bit of fun.
He saw a group of scantily-dressed girls amidst the crowd and walked in that general direction. He had his hands in the pockets of his baggy jeans, chosen for their large pockets.
Summer was really too hot to wear jackets and he could only keep his toys in his pockets if he wanted to have access to them easily in a crowd like this.
His quick fingers found the bunch of rubber worms he had dug out from his room.
He had used a bit of sun tan lotion to make them slippery before he came out and he took one in his hand.
When he got near the group of girls, he pretended to yawn, using this as an excuse to take his hand out and drop the rubber worm he was hiding in his hand down the back of the loose tank top that one of the girls were wearing.
The worm was very slippery against the skin and out of the corner of his eye, he saw it stick to the girl's nape and slowly slide down her back.
He stepped away, knowing what will happen next and prepared for the scream.
He was not disappointed. The girl had stiffened and then, let loose such a shrill scream that everyone around her stopped what they were doing and stared.
She had started to hop around shrieking that there was something down her back.
Niou did not wait around for them to dig out the rubber worm and he slowly moved with the crowd.
He thought that it would be too odd to have so many people screaming in the same afternoon and decided to stop on the worms.
He thought about his other toys and decided on the fake fart.
It was a small rubber trick that would release a very loud and very rude sound when pressed hard enough.
Usually, one would put on another person's seat and let the other person sit on it but to produce a loud enough sound, one would have to apply enough pressure.
However, Niou was strong enough that he could just use his fingers and press the rubber to sound it.
He glanced around saw another group of girls.
They were the most obvious targets, he thought, because they always reacted one way or the other. That was the whole point of playing tricks on others: to make them react.
He moved with the crowd and when he got near enough the group of girls, he stopped and while keeping one hand in his pocket, he used the other one to take his phone out and pretended to call someone.
Then he 'talked' on the phone and pressed the fake fart hard with the hand hidden in the pocket.
There was a loud noise and the group of girls fell silent.
They looked embarrassed and after glancing around them, and then at each other, they started to chat hesitantly again.
Niou pressed the rubber again, softer this time and pressed it a few more times. It sounded like a series of rude noises.
The group of girls was completely quiet now. They all thought that it was one of them because it seemed that only they had heard it. No one else around them seemed to be reacting to the noise.
They were mortified and looked at each other helplessly, trying to figure out which girl it was.
Niou had already walked away, still 'talking' on the phone. He was having a hard time to keep from laughing. The looks on the girls were priceless.
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Usually when someone played a trick, that person would stay until the very end to find out if the trick worked.
That was the easiest and quickest way to get caught and Niou never fell prey to that weakness.
He would be around as long as most other people and would walk away with the first few groups of people who got bored with the scene.
If he left too early, he would be suspected and if he left too late, he would also be suspected. The trick was never to stand out too much but move with the crowd.
However, he also had to take into account his personality or the way person saw him.
A lot of people who did not know him thought that he was one of those punks with his pale colored hair and if he acted too excited, he would be 'out of character' and if he acted too cool, it would seem as if he knew what was going to happen. Either way, he would be suspected.
He was always very careful to maintain a balance when he played one of his more nasty tricks because he had no wish to be caught and his name become a piece of gossip in school.
Anyway, one way or another, people always found out that it was him playing the tricks.
That was why he was called the Trickster because although everyone knew after incidents that he was the culprit, no one had caught him yet, even though sometimes he was at the scene when they happened.
Although he was an eye-catching, good-looking tall young man, he knew exactly what to do when he wanted to blend in a crowd.
He knew that one of the tricks was not to look innocent because he knew that it was something that so many people would expect that it would be all too suspicious if he pulled the innocent look when something was happening.
Besides, his face did not do innocent well. It did insolence much better, the image of a bad boy rather than the image of an angel.
Now, that angel-image suited people like Yukimura or that Fuji from Seigaku. Oh, and that Jiro from Hyotei or Saeki from Rokkaku or maybe that little boy called Dan Taiichi from Yamabuki.
These people were born for the innocent look. Dan was probably innocent by nature and Jiro would be sleeping too much to do anything that would make him not innocent.
However, Fuji and Yukimura definitely perfected that look for their own purposes.
Niou thought that look would be useful sometimes but he was not so stupid as to use something that was so unsuitable for himself.
Still, he knew that his innocent look did work sometimes with some certain people, like little Sakuno.
She seemed to trust him no matter what look he wore, which was a novelty for him because not even his own mother would do that. But then, his mother probably knew him too well anyway.
She could only trust him to be unpredictable and naughty. It did not mean he was on bad terms with his family; it only meant that they knew him well and loved him anyway.
However, Sakuno seemed to be different from his family.
He knew that she definitely liked him as a friend and he felt that soon, that might not be enough for him because he liked her and not always as a friend.
He liked to be near her and he liked to touch her.
He liked that she was not wary of him and he liked that she trusted him to take care of her because not anyone would, not that he wanted them to but she was different.
He did want to take care of her and make sure that no one would ever hurt her again.
There were many people in the world that he did not care about and that he did not have a qualm about hurting but she would never be one of them.
In fact, he was more afraid of her hurting him because he knew that he was not the only one who wanted to know her more, on a deeper, maybe more intimate level.
He was almost certain that Yukimura felt the same as he did and probably Akaya.
Bunta might become a threat but for now, Niou thought that he knew Bunta well enough to guess he had not thought of anything other than Sakuno's cooking.
He did not know about Sanada because although he treated Sakuno with respect and care, there did not seem to be romantic feelings involved but one could never be too sure.
Feelings change and grow or die after all; they were too unpredictable.
He was also not certain of Yagyuu's intentions although they were partners. Yagyuu was respectful to Sakuno and obviously enjoyed her company but he did not seem to want any more than a friend to talk to.
Jackal was also another wild card because he was naturally friendly to people. Jackal being friendly to Sakuno could just be him being himself.
Yanagi appeared to be the only safe one because he would probably be more interested in collecting data about their behavior around Sakuno than anything else.
Niou was well aware of when he was being surveyed and he knew that Yanagi noticed everything. He also had to be careful of Yukimura Miyu because she was much sharper than she let on.
Niou could tell most of the time when someone was planning something because there were always little things that gave the game away if one knew what to look for and how to look for it. He smirked at the pun.
He had made it a habit to be careful because he played so many tricks to people, he was bound to make some enemies along the way.
Therefore he was used to be cautious of people around him, even when he was with his team-mates though they were easy to guess because they all knew each other so well, having spent a considerable amount of time together.
Even though he enjoyed playing tricks on others, he did not like people playing tricks on him.
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He checked his watch again, not wanting to miss Sakuno's train.
It was almost time and he made his way back to his friends.
They were still where they were when he had left them.
He went to Yagyuu's side and his partner looked up at his approach. Niou said, "It's almost time." Yagyuu nodded and put away his novel.
Yanagi also closed his notebook and said to Niou, "Glad you were as good as ever when you play your tricks, Trickster." Niou snorted, "Who do you think I am, Master?"
He should have known that Yanagi rarely missed what went on around him. The three of went to the others.
Miyu was making a face at Bunta from behind Yukimura's back. She was not above using her brother for protection when it would taunt Bunta all the more.
Just as she thought, Bunta was so annoyed at her that he was almost in tears, shaking his fists and daring her to come out and face him like a 'man' to which Miyu answered that she preferred to being a girl much more.
Bunta was now stamping his feet childishly and Akaya was not helping by clutching his stomach and laughing his head off.
Bunta then turned his attention to Akaya and started chasing him around.
Jackal looked stood off to one side and pretended that he did not know any of them. He could never understand why they were so childish even at this age.
Yukimura was indulgingly ruffling Miyu's hair to which she was protesting saying that she was not a child anymore.
Sanada merely ignored the lot of them, deeming their childish behavior to be beneath his notice. He started to walk into the station to go to the platform where Sakuno's train was supposed to arrive.
Yukimura followed him with Miyu tagging along, holding his arm and still taunting Bunta.
Akaya had skipped ahead and Bunta was crying and complaining to Jackal that they do not have any respect at all for their elders.
Jackal was listening and nodding and wondering why he always ended up with jobs like these.
Niou, Yagyuu and Yanagi walked on after them, Niou talking about Sakuno's surprise when she saw the whole lot of them.
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Yagyuu had a rare smile on his face at the thought of seeing Sakuno.
Yanagi also had a smile on his face; he was also happy that Sakuno was coming back.
In his opinion, the regulars had all been training very hard lately and had built up a lot of tension.
Sakuno would be good for them because they all brightened up considerably at the thought of being with her again.
He knew that all work and no play made a Jack a dull boy and in this case, there were eight Jacks.
He also was more relaxed when Sakuno was around because she provided much interesting fodder for him to record.
Much as he liked collecting data about tennis when they practiced, he was also human and he too, needed the break.
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The group of them had reached the platform and was just in time to see the train arrive.
They waited patiently for most of the other passengers to get off the train before they started looking for Sakuno.
Although this lot may be very different, they were now sufficiently familiar with Sakuno to know that she would rarely be the first to come out in a crowd.
Part of that was because she was just too polite to push in front of others and the other part was because she was too slow and clumsy to be first.
As they had thought, Sakuno stepped off the train and then stumbled backwards.
Her bag had gotten caught across the door and she did not notice until it stopped her from going forward.
Niou was quick to go over to her and help her with her bag.
Miyu, Bunta and Akaya were hurrying towards the girl who was blushing and smiling happily up at Niou who was holding her bag already.
The others were just behind them. Miyu gave Sakuno a big hug and released her only to have Bunta take her place.
He was already taking this chance to cry out his woes at being 'bullied' by Miyu and Akaya.
Sakuno was patting his head and being the sympathetic listener. She was so happy to be with everyone again.
She saw Sanada and went to him with a happy smile. He smiled briefly at her and inquired after her journey and her health. She did not know why but she always felt especially safe when she was with this senpai.
She exchanged greetings with Yanagi who was just standing next to Sanada and then Yukimura came up to her and gave her the usual kiss on the cheek.
Yagyuu also came up to her and greeted her quietly in his steady polite way.
Jackal slapped her on the back, not too hard because she was a girl and he grinned at her, half glad because she was someone who would share in his job as the pacifist between Bunta, Miyu and Akaya.
Akaya went and gave her a surprise hug from behind, then turned her around, picked her up and swung her around so swiftly that she cried for mercy with a laugh.
Akaya took pity on her and put her down. She laughed when he put her down.
Sakuno looked around at these people who were so happy to see her back and she was suddenly filled with the urge to cry. It had just hit her that she might have missed them more than she had thought.
"Truly," she told herself, "I have come home."