Secrets, Socials, and Seigaku

Chapter 11

Inui interupted Taka's sentimental moment. “Now, let me see your wrist so I can assess the damage.” Inui said seriously. He motioned for Taka to follow him. Taka nodded, but before he could go I reached for his uninjured wrist. He turned around slowly. I smiled. “Don’t feel bad ‘kay? You did your best! Besides I thought your hodokyu was really cool!” I complimented.

 I couldn’t tell if it was from him running around or if it was because he was embarrassed but Taka’s cheeks were tinted bright red. He smiled before thanking me and running off to catch up with Inui. Kikumaru and Oishi made their way out to the tennis court next. Of course,  I didn’t think the golden pair would have a problem winning. Although I found watching Kikumaru’s acrobatics were very entertaining. 

Shortly after the game started Echizen got up and made his way out of the bleachers trying to go unnoticed. “Oy, Echizen where are you going? We’re in the middle of the matches.” Momo questioned. Echizen stopped and turned to face Momo with his blank stare.

“I’m thirsty. I’m going to grab a drink.” He said then started to walk off.

“I’m thirsty too, mind if I come?” I asked him.

“Whatever.” He said as if he couldn’t care less.

I caught up to him and we made our way to the vending machine. On the way there I saw a girl staring at us from the corner of my eye but I ignored the lingering stare and walked on following Echizen’s path. As we got closer to the vending machines Echizen stopped. I almost ran into him. “Oy, give me some warning when you’re going to stop!” I scolded, but he wasn’t paying any attention to me. 

I followed his gaze to a crowd up ahead. Wonder what’s going on there. As we walked closer to the crowd I saw what the commotion was about. Two tennis players rallying two balls back and forth at the same time. “Hey, aren’t they from Fudomine?” I said looking at their clothes.

He nodded. He was too busy concentrating on them to answer me in complete sentences, not that he would if there wasn’t a commotion. I noticed Kaidoh walk up behind us wanting to see what was going on too. I nodded my head as if telling him ‘come on over.’

We observed the two Fudomine players.  Everyone around us was talking loudly praising them, but somehow we heard the conversation going on between the two Fudomine players. “We were lucky to defeat Fuji in doubles, but our responsibility as singles players is tough.” The red headed one said. Hitting the ball to his opponent.

The purple haired boy spoke calmly. “Feeling unconfident?” he questioned, while hitting the ball back.

The red headed boy smiled while stepping in to swing at one of the balls again. “Stop talking smack, I’m brimming with confidence. This will be over before the captain get’s to play.” He stated confidently.

I got angry at this statement as did Kaidoh. He looked as if he was about to hit someone, but before that could happen Echizen stepped forward. The two Fudomine players were still rallying two balls back and forth. Echizen walked toward the two boys rally and walked right through it, while hitting the balls back to the two players.  This caught the two by surprise along with everyone else in the crowd. I smirked. Only this kid would do something so reckless. I noticed that the girl staring at us earlier had her mouth open and looked flabbergasted. “He walked right through?” she said as if she didn’t believe it.

Other people in the crowd started talking too. “Hey, what just happened?”

“What was that?”

“Isn’t that a Seigaku regulars jacket?”

“That’s the new freshmen regular everyone been talking about.” I smiled at all the comments. Echizen has become quite famous. If he kept it up he might follow in the footsteps of his father. I looked over at Echizen to see where he was going. He walked over to the water fountain and was currently taking a sip. He was unbelievable, grabbing everyone’s attention like this, what a cocky brat. I looked over to Kaidoh who mirrored my smirk. Chances were he was thinking the same thing I was. The two boys that had been rallying stopped. The red headed boy smiled. “Seriously?” he questioned, surprised that someone could do that.

Echizen finished his drink and stood back up. “You still have a lot to work on.” He said with a smile on his face. 

I laughed earning me a smile from Echizen. I couldn’t believe he still said that to people! He really is one hell of a smartass. He turned around and faced the two other Fudomine players. “Hey, you want to increase the balls by one?” he said teasingly.

Both of the boys got angry. I couldn’t blame them really; Echizen had pretty much just said that they weren’t good enough. Their pride must have been hurt. The red headed one spoke up again. “Who did you say was lacking?” he used a threatening tone, but something as simple as that didn’t affect Echizen.

This is where Kaidoh and I cut in. “Do you have a problem with our freshman?” he challenged.

“You guys wouldn’t pick on someone younger than you would you?” I said with an innocent smile.

They both glared and were about to protest until the girl from before interrupted them. “Okay everyone! I think that’s enough!” she exclaimed breaking up what she thought could turn into a fight.

She turned towards Fudomine. “Don’t you guys have to get back now?” she questioned.

The red head from Fudomine seemed surprised. “It’s you.” He said, as if he were trying to figure out what this girl was doing here.

She ignored him and continued. “You guys should get back or else I might have to inform your captain that you were doing something else.” She said as if in charge of them.  

The red head answered once again. “Alright! Fine, you win.” He said putting his hands in front of him in defense.

He looked over to Kaidoh and smirked. “I’ll be looking forward to our match Mr. Seigaku.” He said before walking away with his teammate.

The girl looked over at us next. She had shoulder length auburn hair and looked to be about Echizen’s age too. She smiled at Echizen. “You know for a guy who acts cool, you’re pretty susceptible to provocation.” She criticized.

I chuckled under my breath. I put a hand on Echizen’s head. “I find it rather entertaining, but really you should be more careful.” I said.

Echizen just swiped my hand off of his head. “’Kay.” He said indifferently. 

A vein appeared on my forehead. I grabbed the top of his head and turned it to look at me. “Oy, answer me clearly when I talk to you!” I said enraged with his apathetic personality.

He just stared at me and said nothing, hoping that I would just let it drop, seeing as he probably wouldn’t listen to my advice. I sighed. “Honestly what am I going to do with you?” I said.

I heard the girl chuckle. Kaidoh looked to Echizen and me. “Who is this?” he said as if the girl wasn’t standing there.

I shrugged. “No idea.” Echizen stated bluntly.

“Rather than worrying about who I am. Shouldn’t you be more concerned with your match instead? Kamio is someone who matches up well against you Kaidoh.“ She said.

Kaidoh looked taken back by this statement. “On top of that,” she continued. “Ibu Shinji is only a second year, but his tennis rivals that of Fuji.” She explained. 

I thought about it. I didn’t think that there was another player that could play like Fuji did. This would get interesting. Kaidoh brought me back out of my thoughts. “How do you know all this?” he questioned.

She chuckled. “How do I know…” she repeated.

 Before she could finish though pellets of rain hit my forehead. The others seemed to notice it too. The girl tried covering her head with her hands as the rain started to pour down. “Oh, no! I got to go!” she called before running away in some unknown direction