Youthful Days (Book 1)

45. Hidden Agenda

Coach Ryuzaki waited thirty, forty-five minutes, then an hour before she allowed herself to panic: the two girls were lost.

Knowing a roundtrip to the cottage shouldn't have taken more than half an hour, she guessed something bad had happened. At the one hour mark, she called Inui over and demanded him to call Sakuno.

"Caller not available." Inui snapped his phone shut, a sorry look on his face.

The coach tried not to show distress. "We need to call the police."

"Call the police!?" Eiji exclaimed. He had eavesdropped on their brief exchange and was now drawing the attention of the entire team. "What happened? What's wrong? Why do we need to call the police?"

Now with eight pairs of eyes on her, the coach had no choice but to broadcast her concern. "I think the two girls are lost. We can't afford to have them wandering around this area alone."

"Then shouldn't we get out there and search for them?" suggested Fuji, seeming equally distraught.

"Nonsense!" The coach snapped. "None of us are familiar with this area, so I can't have any of you running about! The last thing I want is to have missing team members, too."

Glancing down at her watch, she said, "I'll wait for another fifteen minutes. If Ayuna and Sakuno still don't turn up after our last drill set, I'm going to contact the local police—"

All of a sudden, Inui's ringing cellphone interrupted the coach's voice. He let it ring through twice, gaping at the screen. "Odd. The caller ID shows 'Atobe Villa'."

Coach Ryuzaki impatiently snatched the phone from him and answered the call. "Hello?"

The regulars all kept their eyes and ears on their coach as the conversation went on—everyone except for Fuji, who cast his eyes out to the garbling river behind them, wondering where Ayuna could be.

It was only when Eiji nudged him that he realized the coach had already hung up.

As the rest of the team peppered her with a series of questions, Fuji held his breath for the announcement, hoping it would only be good news.

"I have two pieces of wonderful news," the coach clapped her hands together. "First, the girls are safe! Thankfully, they stumbled upon Atobe Keigo's golf course before going too far off the trail. They're with him right now, at the Atobe family's private vacation house."

Pausing briefly, she continued with a huge grin. "Second, Atobe's offered to assist Seigaku with our preparations against Rikkai: he's invited all of us to stay at his guest house! Seems like all of us are in luck!"

***

Atobe made the first phone call to coach Ryuzaki, who was more than ecstatic to accept his offer. He then made a second phone call to the mastermind of Hyotei's tennis team, Oshitari Yuushi, who was more than aghast with his decision.

"You're going to help Seigaku become better, stronger, and more fit for their finals game," Oshitari bit down on each syllable. "Am I hearing this right, Atobe? You're going to groom our future enemies?!"

Atobe was momentarily speechless. Hearing his decision aloud, he realized the absurdity of it all. He of anyone knew Hyotei would cross Seigaku in competition again if both teams were to qualify for the national championship. He'd made the offer to coach Ryuzaki out of impulse—one that was sparked by the appearance of Hanamachi Ayuna. In the heat of the moment, he completely overlooked the fact that helping Seigaku was nothing short of detrimental to his team.

Of course, nobody could ever know about this error in judgment.

Gripping the receiver tight, Atobe bared his teeth. "I did this because I owe Tezuka a favor. After making him a handicap, the least I can do is to support his team at this critical stage."