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"You know, An," Kippei said, studiously
not looking at her. "I've got over what I did to Senri: you don't have to suffer with me at a school without a team
any more. Go to a school with a proper girls' team, not the mess they have at Fudomine. You do all your real training
with me anyway at the moment and you won't be able to next year."
"I kind of like it at Fudomine," she said, sneaking
a look at him out of the corner of her eye. "I think Kamio might actually get up the guts to ask me out once you're
not breathing down his neck and I won't have to go chasing Seigaku's Momoshiro any more."
That earner her a sharp glance,
which he carefully schooled back into nonchalance.
"Promise me you'll think about it, at any rate. I don't like
going off and leaving you alone here but . . ."
"But Fudomine doesn't have an associated high school and you don't
think there's a place for you at any of the schools in Kantou with a decent team. Where do you think I should go then?"
"Seigaku,
maybe."
"Only because you know Fuji would take your place scaring off any potential boyfriends."
"You know,
if you'd tried dating Yuuta like I suggested, you wouldn't be having this problem."
An gave him a hard look.
"You
only approve of him because he's too scared of you to try anything and his brother only approves because I'm a better bet
than that weirdo manager."
There was a long silence as Kippei found that he couldn't deny it.
"Rikkai,
then?"
"Apart from the fact that I'd have to live in dorms? No, actually I think I could handle that. I'm
not sure I could stick being in classes with Kirihara, even if he has reformed himself."
Kippei sighed.
"To
be completely honest, he's no worse than I was a couple of years ago. Give the kid a chance. Besides, Rikkai's
high school is on the same campus and I'm sure that Yukimura and Sanada will be keeping an eye on him."
"I'll think
about it, okay. No promises."
"That's all I wanted."
* * * * * * *
A few months later, An walked
onto RIkkai's main campus as a transfer student the day before classes started and headed straight down to the tennis
courts which both of the junior high teams shared.
"What do you want?" came the abrupt question from the looming figure
of Sanada, who was leaning against the fence post, watching as Kirihara scrambled about the courts, fighting to get things
ready for the beginning of term.
"Tachibana An," she said with a beaming smile. That was something she'd learned
from Kippei's friend Fuji - a smile tended to unnerve people. It seemed to worked on Tezuka-san anyway. An
gestured towards the racket bag hanging from her shoulder. "I'm joining the girls team."
He actually
looked at her that time, recognising the name perhaps. He blushed slightly and pointed towards what had to be the clubroom.
An headed off, politely holding in her smirk until after she'd passed him. And Kippei was trusting that Rikkai's Troika
would be keeping hormones under control? Honestly! Tennis players were all the same and this one even appeared
to be straight! This was going to be fun.
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