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When Kippei got home for summer break immediately
after Nationals, he was unsurprised to find that no one was at home. His parents woudl both be working and there was
really no reason for An to hang around alone at home when she could be out with her friends. Now that she was at
Rikkai, boarded in the school dorms in Kanagawa, so she didn't have much opportunity to see her friends from Fudomine
so often.
Leaving his bags in his room, he picked up his tennis bag and headed down to the street courts. Even
if An wasn't there, chances were that some of his old team from Fudomine would be playing, in the hope of an informal game
with one of the Seigaku or Hyotei players who weren't infrequent guests there.
When he reached the courts, he hung
back in the bleachers for a moment, scanning the courts. During the holidays, all of the players were in street clothes,
not having come straight from school practice, and were a bit harder to identify. That said, the court closest to him
was clearly Kamio/Ibu against another pair, probably younger and relatively new regulars on their team. He scanned further
along, eventually spotting An on the end court, playing a game of mixed doubles.
He wandered along, staying well back
to avoid making a fuss. It wasn't so much that he was ridiculously popular so much as that his friends from Tokyo hadn't
seen him for a couple of months and tended to be somewhat loud at the best of times. Even Shinji, who was at least relatively
quiet, never shut up.
It is with some surprise that he recognises the boys that An's playing with, though he should
have guessed, given that she was a regular on Rikkai's girls' team. While he was of the general opinion that Yukimura
Seiichi was capable of more or less anything tennis related, he'd never taken Sanada Genichirou for a keen doubles player,
much less as someone An would recruit as a partner. He sighed. That wasn't really true: An was much like Fuji
in her love for pulling people outside their comfort zone.
Surprisingly, the An/Sanada pair seemed to be holding their
own, though Kippei could see that Yukimura wasn't playing particularly seriously. Listening carefully, he caught the
score as Yukimura called the game (5-3) and decided that he might as well watch until they finished the match.
"Welcome
back, Kippei-kun," came a soft voice from beside him. Kippei turned, startled; he hadn't heard anyone approach.
"Fuji!
You're not playing today?"
"No. Chitose told his sister who told Tezuka who told me that you were getting back
today and I thought I might find you here. An's playing well."
"I hadn't thought to see her on court with those
two."
"I assume you mean the demons rather than the other girl? According to Hyotei's Jirou, who's friends with
Rikkai's Marui Bunta, Sanada and your sister are doubles partners. They're talking about entering one of the open tournaments
sometime next term."
"They're a doubles pair?" Kippei asked, wondering if he was reading too much into this.
It was just that in the guys' tennis team, being doubles partners was synomymous with dating, Seigaku's Golden Pair and Hyotei's
Silver Pair being prime examples. Honestly, he should have known that Fuji would be up to date with the gossip: he seemed
to be friends with everyone.
"Mm."
"That's 6-3, our win," Yukimura announced on the court below them,
his
clear voice carrying easily in the still air, though the slightly sour look on Sanada's face said that he was perfectly capable
of keeping score himself and didn't need to have his loss rubbed in. "Who knows, Genichirou, we might make a doubles
player of you yet."
Kippei couldn't quite catch Sanada's reply but he could clearly see as his younger sister reached
up to kiss his cheek and steal his hat. Sanada seemed to be blushing slightly, though Yukimura was laughing again.
An
left the court with the other girl, no one Kippei recognised, and stopped short as she looked into the bleachers and caught
sight of him.
"Nii-san!" she called and suddenly he had an armful of An-chan and sat down on the bench behind him rather
abruptly.
"You're playing well, An. Looks like Rikkai was the right more for your game."
"Is tennis all
you think about nii-san?" she demanded. Kippei couldn't help but smile - he'd missed his forthright younger sister.
"No, don't answer that. You know Yukimura-senpai, right?"
Kippei nodded politely at the other player. Of
course he knew Yukimura, who didn't on the school tennis circuit. They were both national level players: they knew each
other's reputation even if they'd never played.
"And this is my boyfriend, Genichirou," An finished, still beaming
at him. Kippei couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at Sanada. The other boy was carefully avoiding his eyes.
He knew who Sanada was as well, he'd just always pegged the boy as gay. To be frank, rumour on the circuit had it that
he was dating Yukimura, though that clearly wasn't the case given that Yukimura was there and hadn't even blinked at An's
declaration. At least, not if An wasn't more adventurous than he thought she was. A threesome with two of the
most powerful players even on the senior high circuit was a bit much even for her.
"Your boyfriend, hm? And when
were you planning on telling me about this, ne?"
"I thought it would be safer to tell you in person. You're not
exactly rational when it comes to me dating."
"Really now?"
"Not that it makes much difference. We're
dating and that's final. That is, unless you want me to tell Mum what you and Fuji were doing on that camping holiday."
"What
do you mean, An-chan?" Fuji asked, the picture of innocence. Thankfully, that was the image Kippei's mother had of him
else she'd never have allowed said trip. "I was really lucky to have an assistant like Kippei-kun. Some of the
pictures I took on that trip actually got published you know."
She graced him with a flat look. His smile didn't
even waver as she turned her attention back to her brother.
"I hate to interrupt," Yukimura said, disrupting his attempt
to stare her down. "But Genichirou and I will miss the train if we don't get going. We'll be down again on Wednesday,
if you'd like to meet up. I'd be interested in a match with you sometime, Tachibana-kun. You were looking strong
at Nationals."
Kippei was suddenly the former captain again and not the older brother as he smiled at Yukimura and
nodded politely to them as Yukimura hurried Sanada away.
Once they were safely out of sight, Kippei turned back to
An and Fuji, who he was sure had known exactly what was going on.
"So, any explanation for me?"
Fuji laughed.
"Quite
frankly, she was going to start dating eventually and I thought you'd rather it was Sanada than say Niou, so I didn't interfere.
Sanada's very traditional, a perfect gentleman. He's not about to try anything she's not ready for. Besides, he's
cute when he blushes."
"If I didn't know you were joking about that, I'd get jealous. Fine, there's clearly nothing
I can do. Is your friend up to a match with the three of us, An? I'll lend you a racket, Fuji. We can talk
about this later."
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