♫Wonderful Days♫Prince of tennis♫Hyotei♫

♫44♫ Hyotei vs Seigaku, let the quater-finals commence!

Just as Ranfa predicted, Oshitari was able to take Singles 3 right from the start. She can also see that her senpai enjoyed the game. 

"Oshitari-senpai, thank you for your hard work." Ranfa walked up to the court and gave him a towel, "Senpai, I can tell you have put your all into it." 

"You have, hm? I am glad I entertained you." Oshitari took the towel from her and wiped the sweat coming down from his forehead. "Having you cheer me on was really nice too." 

"You would have won without me cheering on for you. That's how much I believe in you, Oshitari-senpai." 

Oshitari was a little taken back by her words despite his calm and collected face. He smiled a little and pat her on the head, "You really do know how to make a man happy." 

"Yes?" 

"You are so cute, Sakura. Carry on staying this cute. Then, who is the next pair-" 

"Shut up, don't speak ill of teammates!" 

Oshitari looked at the court to see who will play Doubles 2... Why was his partner paired up with Hiyoshi? He doesn't remember them getting along THAT well before! 

"Sakura, did you plan this or did the coach plan this?" 

"I did. Why, are you jealous Mukahi-senpai is taken away from you, Homo-senpai?" She reminded Oshitari of the 'Homo' incident, something he tried ever so desperately to forget. 

"D-don't talk about that! I happen to like a very a beautiful girl-" 

"I don't care about that right now, the match is starting. Let's watch it together." He was a little disappointed that she didn't want to know of his real love interest but when she said 'let's watch it together', it had a very nice ring to it that he really liked. 

The match was about to start and already Gakuto was quick to fire up taunts to irritate Kaidoh and Inui. Inui was too cool-headed to fall for taunts but Kaidoh was the complete opposite, he was so irritated that he lashed out at Gakuto, who had jumped away in time. Luckily Hiyoshi was there to stop Kaidoh from getting violent by using his own racquet to block Kaidoh's, silently telling the other 2nd year that he can take him on if he continued further.

"Heh, we'll teach you that there's always somebody above yo-" Gakuto was met with a flying kick that's usually reserved to hitting the slumbering Jirou. Why? Why did Ranfa kick him?!

"Don't be so damn rude! The game hasn't started yet so don't go all arrogant!" 

"Wha... Did you just kick me?!" 

"You damn right I just kicked you! At least taunt them right after you win with style! Geez!" Ranfa facepalmed and then looked at Inui and Kaidoh, "Sorry about that, this guy here just loves to instigate trouble." After apologizing, she looked at Hiyoshi, "Take care of this stupid senpai of ours, would you?" 

"I don't like to do so but I'll do it." Hiyoshi complied with her wishes. 

Ranfa smiled at her classmate and then dropped it the moment she's looking at Gakuto again, "Also, being above them is no big deal; once you are on top of me, that's when it is a big deal, Mukahi-senpai." 

Gakuto dropped his jaw at her words. Ranfa being Ranfa, she didn't think there were anything weird with her words at all and she told both boys to show her a good game. 

"You two are part of my best tactic against them, don't disappoint me." She walked away from them and watched the game from the side with the rest of her team. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the team thought Gakuto and Hiyoshi were on the roll because they were many points ahead and one more game left to play. 

However, Ranfa and Atobe can both see that something was very wrong; for a very short and quick match, why was Gakuto and Hiyoshi sweating a lot? 

"Atobe-senpai..." 

"Ah, you can see it too, huh?" 

"Yeah. It seems like Kaidoh has been doing a good job of depleting their strength. Looks like he figured out a way to counter the tactic after all." However, she believed that both Hiyoshi and Gakuto will be okay, tactics always change so she can only hope it will change in her favor...

In the end, Hiyoshi and Gakuto were both on the finely trimmed grass, panting and out of breath. They didn't win and they can feel the disappointment. 

"We lost..." Gakuto was so disappointed at the loss and very embarrassed; he lost against Seigaku at a Doubles game again. 

"Senpai, let's go." Ranfa held a hand out for Gakuto to take. 

Gakuto was too embarrassed to do so and he frustratingly swatted her hand away and ran away from the spot, unable to face everyone. 

"Oi, Gakuto!" Oshitari called out to his Doubles partner but the other had no intention to stop. 

"I'll get him, he doesn't have much strength left in him." Ranfa grabbed a towel and ran after Gakuto, "Kabaji! Do your best, okay?!" 

"Usu." Kabaji was up next to play against Tezuka. 

At the fountain, Gakuto allowed the cold water to stream down on his head. He was thinking about many possibilities within the match; what if the one playing on that court was not him but Ranfa in disguise? He knew for sure Ranfa would have destroyed both Inui and Kaidoh like they were nothing. He shouldn't have gone out and play that game...

'Ah crap, I swatted her hand away harder than I wanted to. She's going to hate me...' Gakuto thought to himself.

"Mukahi-senpai, there you are." Ranfa thought she had lost him so she was glad to find him not very far from the tennis court. 

"Eh?" Gakuto turned away from the water and looked at Ranfa with water still running down his face.

"What's this? Are they water or tears?" No matter what they were, she wiped it away for him since he must be very tired. 

Gakuto felt like crying but he held it in as much as he can.

"You did your very best. Thanks for the hard work." 

"I shouldn't have gone out there..." Gakuto wanted to win, he wanted to win and proudly let his opponents know that Ranfa's tactics worked. He wanted to win for her so badly and make her proud of him. "If you had never believed in me and gone out there in my place, the game would have-" 

Ranfa slapped Gakuto on the cheek with full power. 

Gakuto's lips opened slightly as he took in the shock of what happened. He touched the stinging red mark that's now on his face as he stared at Ranfa.

"Ranfa..." 

"Mukahi-senpai, how dare you... You idiot! There hasn't been a moment where I didn't believe in you!" Ranfa was very angry that Gakuto would ever think for a second that she stopped believing in him. He's part of the team that she's helping Atobe to manage, of course she would believe in him! 

Gakuto didn't think her level of trust in him was that high. Wasn't she disappointed in him? Why won't she stop believing in him? Why- 

"Listen up, Bakahi-senpai!" 

"Bakahi...?"

"Even if the team doesn't believe in you, even if the whole world doesn't believe in you, I'll believe in you." She treated everyone the same within the team. Whether they have won or they have lost, she believed in them. 

Gakuto bit his bottom lip once before he stepped forward and hugged Ranfa. He cried, telling her again and again that he wanted to win so bad. 

"Yes, yes..." Ranfa patted his back, comforting him, "Cry it up and then let's return to the others, okay? I want to watch the match with the others."