Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Singing Juices: A Tenipuri Musical ❯ The Longest Day: Part 1 ( Chapter 7 )

This chapter is going to be long so I decided to split it up into two or three smaller chapters. And, sorry, but I can't write Tezuka at all. I tried.

And I wanted to say thank you to speadee, SkySurf, and Darkwolve for reviewing. Thank you!

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Chapter #7: The Longest Day: Part 1

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It was the next day and Inui had decided to put his plan into action. It admittedly wasn't much of a plan—it basically consisted of finding Kaidoh and asking him why, maybe explaining to him logically why it was unreasonable to break-up while he was at it—but it was all he had. In truth it had about a 24.4 percent chance of working but he had a 100 percent chance of being miserable without Kaidoh so he was taking the chance.

Sitting hunched down behind a group of bushes lining the path Kaidoh normally took to school, Inui peered over the top of the foliage and waited patiently. It took Kaidoh approximately 11 minutes to reach this point from his house and he always left home at exactly 6:25 AM. Therefore Kaidoh should be coming along any minute now.

And, true to form, Kaidoh soon appeared in the distance, coming closer. Inui waited until he was walking by Inui's chosen bush before attacking.

“Kaidoh,” Inui greeted, suddenly appearing next to the other boy.

Obviously startled, Kaidoh jumped and whipped around in shock, wide-eyed. “Inui-senpai! What - what are you doing here?”

Inui nodded pleasantly but didn't answer the question. “Good morning.”

Shock dying down, Kaidoh narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “What are you doing?”

Inui put on a confused look. “Whatever makes you think I am doing something?”

“You have that look,” Kaidoh said, still obviously suspicious.

Now Inui was genuinely confused. “What look?” he asked.

“You always have this look on your face whenever you're up to something. Kind of like you have a secret that only you know.”

Inui frowned, unable to avoid getting caught up in the details. “Wouldn't that be the point of a secret?”

Kaidoh was unimpressed by this, giving him a look and asking, “What do you want?”

Inui forgot his nitpicking instantly and tried for innocent, which was a really weird look on his face. “Maybe I simply wished to walk with you to school.”

Kaidoh crossed his arms over his chest and just looked at Inui. “Really,” he said, deadpan.

“Yes,” Inui said calmly, as though this were completely common and acceptable. “I did. Is that against the law?”

“I thought I told you I wanted nothing to do with you. At least not like that.”

Inui blinked. “Actually you told me nothing of the sort.” Which really was true when you thought about it. Inui wasn't lying. It had been heavily implied, but Inui was ignoring that.

“Well that's what I meant,” Kaidoh said, obviously getting more and more irritated, now glaring at him. “So go away.”

“I can't.”

“And why not?” Kaidoh growled, his anger only increasing as he let his arms drop back to his sides.

“We are both heading in the same direction,” Inui said simply, logically, and then looked at his watch. 20 minutes until morning practice started and they still had a ways to go. He looked back up at Kaidoh. “We should go.”

Kaidoh scowled, backing up a step. “I'm not going anywhere with you.”

Inui tilted his head curiously, pretending to not understand. “You have to go to school, do you not?”

“That doesn't mean I have to go with you, senpai,” a strange mix of rude and polite, 100 percent Kaidoh, “I can go some other way.”

“Any other way would be 34 percent less efficient and you don't want to be late,” Inui told him reasonably but then added after a pause, “Would it really be so bad?” Because would it? This was a test. Was what Inui did really that bad? That unforgivable?

Kaidoh hesitated, looking back in the direction of the other route to school then back at Inui, obviously undecided. Inui held his breath, waiting to see if Kaidoh's practical side would win out over his reluctance. Because if it didn't then Inui was in trouble, but if it did then things were still fixable. He prayed things were still fixable.

And approximately 67 painful seconds later, Kaidoh finally hissed and started walking again. He'd obviously decided to keep going along this path. Which was a good sign, a very good sign. Kaidoh obviously wasn't at the point that he would purposely make his life harder just to avoid being in the same space as Inui. That was good.

Inui started breathing again, more than relieved. Allowing himself a small smile, he followed, catching up to the other boy in a few quick steps.

Now was the chance for Inui to ask his question, but he wanted to lull Kaidoh into a false sense of security before he did so he waited approximately five minutes before speaking again.

“I had a question.”

Having been watching his feet intently and scowling for the last five minutes, Kaidoh looked up with narrow eyes. “What?” he asked suspiciously, thankfully giving Inui a chance. There had only been a 31 percent chance that he would.

“I simply wished to discover the reason why you broke up with me,” Inui said, casually observing his surroundings as they walked, carefully not looking at the other boy.

Kaidoh hissed as his expression darkened, looking back down at his feet.

Inui turned to him, acting as casual as he could. “You never did tell me the reason.”

He hadn't and Kaidoh hissed again, hunching his shoulders and shoving his hands in his pockets, obviously uncomfortable.

“Well?” Inui asked.

There was a long pause before Kaidoh finally muttered lowly, “There were reasons.” Not really giving an answer.

“And those were?” Inui prompted.

Kaidoh looked up from the sidewalk and searched the surroundings before turning to Inui. “Do we really have to do this here?”

“If I had thought you would answer me anywhere else I would have chosen elsewhere.” Inui had actually thought long and hard about the best place to corner Kaidoh and had finally decided on this one, deciding Kaidoh would be the most unprepared and thus most likely to give him his answer.

Kaidoh hissed yet again, sounding irritated but showing just how uncomfortable he was with this conversation. He had never been very good at emotional discussions. Of course neither had Inui, but Inui was at least trying. It was necessary to the progress of their relationship.

Because they did still have a relationship. If things were still fixable then Inui wasn't giving up that easily.

Inui waited patiently for Kaidoh to answer, which he finally did approximately 1 minute 49 seconds later. “Alright,” Kaidoh said, stopping in his path to give Inui his full attention, obviously deciding to cooperate and gaining confidence from somewhere within him “You want reasons?” Kaidoh asked, regarding Inui with a scowl, and then began listing in cold detail, “You're never around. You're always busy. You don't listen to me. You break our dates. You're off in your own world whenever we are together. You take me for granted. Everything is always about you. Your projects. Your stress. Your life. You don't care about anything but your stupid data and your fucking juice. I feel alone when I'm with you and I'm starting to feel like I'm just some kind of object to you, one that you can take out and study and use for sex whenever you want. I'm starting to doubt that you actually still love me,” Kaidoh finally ended, demanding, “Is that enough reasons for you?”

Shocked by the multitude of reasons, Inui simply stared. He hadn't expected so many. But then he should have known better than to think Kaidoh would make as big a decision as breaking up with him without good reason.

And seeing that he wasn't going to get a response, Kaidoh hissed irritably and stomped off.

For the nth time in so many days, Inui was left staring after him.

 

 

The bike ride to school had been a quiet one. But it hadn't been an awkward silence, just a silence.

Ryoma had always enjoyed his and Momo's quiet moments. A break from hearing Momo's loud voice going on and on about nothing was always good, plus it was just nice to know that they didn't need to talk to spend time together.

But then they reached the school and Momo had to break it.

“So have you thought about it?” Momo asked, his head down as he parked and chained his bike to the bike rack.

Having been waiting for Momo to finish, watching the scenery, Ryoma turned back to Momo with narrow eyes. Why was he bringing that up again? “I thought I told you I needed more time.”

Momo stood up straight, grabbing his tennis bag from the ground and throwing it over his shoulder. Then turned, looking down at Ryoma seriously as he started to walk into the school. “Yeah. And I gave you more time.”

Ryoma matched his steps, glaring up at him. “You gave me a night.”

“Two nights,” Momo corrected, holding up two fingers, “You should have an answer by now.”

“Well, I don't.”

Momo looked disappointed in him, shoulders dropping. “Echizen! Are you even trying?”

And had he actually just asked that? Ryoma glared and started to walk ahead, not saying anything.

“Hey!” Momo protested, following behind. “Hey, are you?”

Ryoma ignored him and kept on walking. If Momo was going to keep asking that same question over and over again then maybe Ryoma just wouldn't talk to him for awhile.

 

 

Things, if anything, had only gotten tenser at morning practice. Eiji and Oishi were the same, Oishi avoiding all Eiji's attempts to talk to him, but both Kaidoh and Ryoma seemed angry while Momo kept shooting Ryoma these looks. But Inui was the worst, walking around with an almost lost look on his face. Inui was never lost.

These songs were creating so much pain and suffering. Fuji, personally, loved it. It was all so amusing. But the consequences were starting to get serious and things were taking just a little too long to be settled.

He had to do something.

“No.”

Fuji turned to Tezuka with a feigned look of semi-confusion on his face. “No, what?”

“No to whatever you're thinking,” Tezuka said, looking down at him sternly, “Don't meddle.”

“Why would you think I'd do such a thing?” Fuji asked, putting a hand to his chest and trying to look hurt by the comment. “I'm hurt.”

Tezuka was unimpressed by his acting skills. “They will figure things out on their own. I don't want you meddling.”

Fuji gave up pretending he didn't know what Tezuka was talking about and smiled. “But if I just gave them a little nudge.”

“No. No nudge. No nothing.”

“Why not?” Fuji asked a little curiously, still smiling, “A little nudge couldn't hurt them.”

“They don't need your help,” Tezuka said, the poor dense soul. He clearly wasn't seeing the situation for what it was. The others might as well have been crying out for some Fuji-style help. But that was okay. He was a good-looking dense soul. Fuji would keep him, despite his faults.

“If you say so.” Fuji smiled and relented. Or at least he seemed to relent. He was already plotting away inside his mind. Maybe if he told Eiji that . . . Or made Momo do that . . .

Tezuka frowned. He knew Fuji too well to believe he would give up that easily. “Syuusuke,” Tezuka using Fuji's first name in a public place to show just how serious he was, “I don't want you interfering.”

“And I won't,” Fuji said, coming out of his musing and smiling up at Tezuka just a little too innocently.

Which meant he would. Tezuka's frown deepened, not pleased. But he had already made his protests known. He couldn't do anything more than that.

Crossing his arms over his chest, he turned back to the courts, where Oishi and Kaidoh were playing a game. He and Fuji had finished their respective games a while ago and now the club was just waiting on the game before him to end. To the side, Tezuka could see Momo trying to get Ryoma to speak to him again to no avail, while Eiji sat on the bench with his water bottle and Inui watched Oishi and Kaidoh's game a little too intensely.

So far the dramatics with the singing and the resulting consequences had affected the Regulars' games more than Tezuka liked. Momo and Oishi seemed distracted, Kaidoh was using more power than finesse, and, more recently, Inui was noticeably off on his calculations, having to run a few feet to reach balls he should have already expected. It was frustrating, but Tezuka wouldn't have Fuji making it worse. Distracted player weren't good players and they had a tournament coming up.

He made a mental note to ask Inui how the antidote was coming. It had better be coming soon or Inui would be running more laps than he already had for starting the whole problem.

“It would be pointless anyway,” he added, feeling the need to try at least one more time for the good of the team.

“Hmmm?” coming out of thought, Fuji looked up at him curiously, wondering what he meant.

“With those songs the situation can change in a minute, before you can even begin any plan. Plus you are not always privy to the songs that are sung when you're not around.”

Fuji looked at him, considering that, and then turned back to the courts. That was true. He'd have to plan around that.

 

 

Oishi was avoiding him. Eiji knew that because when he'd gotten to the clubhouse that morning Oishi hadn't been there and when he'd gotten out onto the courts Oishi hadn't even looked at him. Then all throughout morning practice Oishi had avoided his eyes, not even talking to him during break when Eiji had tried to get his attention, and now it was lunchtime and Oishi was nowhere to be found.

It was irritating, but Eiji was starting to get used to it. This was the second day in a row after all. He sighed, looking up at the sun.

Why couldn't Oishi just listen to him? Why was he so against at least trying?

Tearing his eyes away from the sky, Eiji looked around his surroundings. He was somewhere at the back of the school. Not many students ever came back here and he'd thought Oishi would come here for that exact reason. Apparently not.

But, spotting a figure lying in the shade of a tree some ways away, Eiji perked up. Was that Oishi?

Closer inspection said no. It was just Ryoma.

Eiji sighed again, disappointed, but walked over to say hello anyway. “Ochibi,” he said with a noticeable lack of his usual enthusiasm, dropping down onto the grass next to the reclining figure. He looked over at the other boy and asked, “What are you doing here?”

Ryoma peeked open his eyes, but then closed them again. “Kikumaru-senpai,” he greeted, not answering his question.

“Don't you and Momo usually eat lunch together?” Eiji asked, somewhat curious about that. Was Ryoma avoiding Momo again? He knew the first-year hadn't been speaking to Momo during practice, but he'd thought they would have made up by now.

Hands behind his head, Ryoma shrugged. “Sometimes.”

But they weren't today and Eiji had an idea on why that was. “You know if you keep ignoring him, he might stop coming around completely.”

“Good,” Ryoma said, his eyes still closed, “Maybe then he'll stop bothering me.”

Eiji frowned. “You don't really mean that.”

Ryoma peeked one eye open. “Don't I?”

“No.” Eiji was sure of it. “You don't.” Eiji might not know if Ryoma loved Momo like Momo loved him, but he did know that Ryoma cared about the older boy in some way. “Momo's your best friend. He deserves for you to actually talk to him.”

At this, Ryoma opened both eyes and regarded Eiji almost indifferently. “And I told him I would.”

“But have you?” Eiji asked. He knew it really wasn't any of his business, but he really wanted Momo and Ryoma to work out and maybe Ryoma just needed a little help. People tended to forget that Ryoma was young and rather dense. He needed someone to point out the obvious, someone to help guide him along the relationship path. And who knows? Maybe all Ryoma needed was a little push and he and Momo would be making out in closets with the rest of the school.

“I told him I would once I've actually made a decision,” Ryoma amended.

A decision? Eiji blinked and tilted his head curiously. “A decision about what?” He wasn't really up to date on Ryoma's actual situation, being a little too busy with his own situation with Oishi. He hadn't known that there was a decision to be made. He'd thought Ryoma was just plain ignoring Momo and any chance of a relationship.

Ryoma shrugged again, closing his eyes and settling back in the grass. “Things.”

Eiji pouted. He wanted to know. “Oh, come on, Ochibi. Tell me! I can help.”

Ryoma said nothing, seemingly ignoring him.

Eiji frowned and got serious. “As your senpai, I order you to tell me.”

That made Ryoma open his eyes, but he looked almost amused, raising a brow. “You order me?”

“Yes,” Eiji said, completely serious. “I order you.”

Ryoma smirked, still amused, but didn't say anything.

That not working, Eiji decided to try begging. “Oh come on, Ochibi. Please?” Eiji leaned forward, holding his clasped hands before him beseechingly. “Tell me. I wanna help.”

Ryoma snorted and looked away.

“Ochibi,” Eiji whined, his face nearly in the grass, clasped hands held above his head.

Ryoma made an irritated sound, but something must have made Ryoma change his mind because at this he sat up and turned back to Eiji. “Alright. Alright. I'll tell you.”

Eiji shot up straight, raising his arms above his head triumphantly with a wide grin on his face. “Yeah!” Letting his arms drop back down to his side, Eiji turned to Ryoma excitably. “Alright. Tell me!” He couldn't believe Ryoma was actually going to tell him.

Ryoma rolled his eyes but got comfortable on the grass, pulling one leg in. “The idiot has the idea that we could actually be together. You know, as a couple,” looking almost disgusted with the word, “I told him I'd tell him my answer when I had it but now he won't stop bothering me about it.”

“And are you actually thinking about it?” Eiji asked, settling down from his excitement.

“Of course,” Ryoma said, looking and sounding annoyed that he would even ask.

“Well, he's probably just worried that you aren't.”

“Fine, but does he have to ask me that every time he sees me?” Ryoma asked irritably.

Eiji wasn't going to say anything to that. He had the idea that yes, Momo did, or else Ryoma wouldn't think about it at all. This way it was kept in his mind whether Ryoma liked it or not. “Do you have any idea what you're going to say?” Eiji asked instead.

Ryoma pulled his leg in tighter and scowled at the grass beneath them. “No.”

“Well, I think you should say yes.”

Ryoma looked up sharply to stare at him, seeming shocked. “What?”

“I think you should do it,” Eiji repeated.

Ryoma looked totally confused. “But . . . why?”

Eiji shrugged. “Well, why not? You obviously have no problem with the gay-thing. And who knows? You may not be in love now, but who says you can't be in love later?”

“So . . .” Ryoma was obviously trying to digest this, eyes narrowing at Eiji as he worked it through his mind. “So you think I should give Momo-senpai a chance?”

Smiling widely, Eiji nodded his head encouragingly. “Yeah!”

“But . . .” Ryoma looked around their surroundings then leaned forward seriously. Obviously whatever he had to say would change the entire situation. “But it's Momo-senpai,” he nearly whispered.

Having leaned in to hear that, Eiji leaned back and blinked, confused by the significance. “So?”

“So?” Ryoma asked as though it should be obvious. “So, it's Momo-senpai,” putting even more emphasis on the name, like it should mean something.

Totally lost, Eiji only blinked again. “Yeah . . .” he said slowly, “I know. That's kind of the point.”

Ryoma huffed irritably. “No. No, you don't get it,” he said, shaking his head. “I mean, it's Momo-senpai. He's not supposed to like me like that.”

Oh. That was the problem. Easily solved. “Except for the fact that he does,” Eiji said, nodding his head knowledgeably. “And he has for a long, long, time.”

Ryoma's eyes narrowed at him. “You knew?”

“Everyone knew,” Eiji stressed, leaning forward to impart that bit of info.

“I didn't know.”

“Well . . .” Eiji hesitated, leaning back. How do you tell a person that that's because they are as dense as a brick? Maybe if he reworded it. “Sometimes when we're in the middle things we can't see what seems obvious to the people on the outside. It's not really your fault.” Which was stretching the idea of 'rewording' a little far, but it seemed safe enough.

“Well, okay,” Ryoma seemed satisfied with it at least, the boy looking down at his lap in apparent consideration. Then he looked up again, eyes narrow. “But you really think I should say yes?”

Eiji nodded, smiling. “Uh-huh.”

“But . . .” Ryoma started then paused, looking down at his lap again. Apparently there was even more things stopping him. And apparently they were embarrassing things, Ryoma's cheeks starting to color as he seemed to try to work up the courage to ask. Eiji leaned forward, eager to hear and help. Whatever embarrassed a person like Ryoma had to be good.

“But . . . ?” Eiji prompted encouragingly.

And finally Ryoma seemed to work up the courage, even if he still couldn't look Eiji in the eye when he said it. His face turned even redder and he almost nervously began to pick at the grass. “But what about when—

The school bell rang.

Ryoma jumped, looking up and over at the school, startled out of whatever thought he'd been in.

“But what about when what?” Eiji asked, wanting him to finish his thought.

“Nothing.” Ryoma shook his head and started to stand up. Brushing off his pants, he nodded at Eiji. “Thank you, senpai.” And started to walk back into the school.

“What?! No!” Eiji jumped up and hurried after him. “Wait! We still have a few more minutes. That's just the warning bell.”

Ryoma shook his head again, continuing on his way to class. “It was nothing.”

“Ochibi!” But Ryoma was done talking. The moment was over.

Dammit. Eiji sulked, disappointed. Now he'd never know what Ryoma was going to say.

 

 

Ryoma wouldn't even look at him. Momo didn't know what had happened between the time he'd seen him that morning and this afternoon, but whatever it was Momo didn't like it. Things, if anything, had only gotten worse.

He'd just finished his practice match against Inui—he'd lost—and Momo threw himself onto the bench in a huff, putting his head in his hands.

“Watch it!” Kaidoh growled, hands grabbing hold of the bench. Apparently Momo had rattled the bench when he'd flung himself down.

Momo looked up to give Kaidoh a dirty look. “I'm really not in the mood for you, Mamushi.”

“You want to say that again?” Kaidoh growled, standing up.

“I'd love to,” Momo spat sarcastically, standing up as well. “I'm not,” he spoke slowly and clearly in Kaidoh's face, “In the mood. For you,” drawing out the last word, pointing at the other boy, “Ma,” emphasizing the syllables of the name, poking Kaidoh in the shoulder. “Mu,” another poke, “Shi,” and finishing with a final shove.

Kaidoh was pushed back a step, but stopped himself. His expression had been darkening as Momo spoke, face hardening and eyes narrowing, but before he could say anything Momo began to sing.

“Well first of all,” Momo sang angrily, coming closer, “I'd like to say fuck off.”

“Fuck off?” Kaidoh repeated, glaring at the other boy.

Momo nodded angrily and affirmed, “Fuck off.”

“Fuck off!” Voices appeared out of thin air. Kind of like that one time with Ryoma. But he ignored them.

“If you don't get it why don't you go shove your head back up your ass?” Momo shoved Kaidoh aggressively, pushing the other boy back a step. Kaidoh glared at him, but otherwise did nothing in return and Momo continued angrily, “Don't waste my time. I don't need your opinion. No-o. `Cause you don't know what it's like. You don't know what it's like. You don't know what it's like to be like me.” Momo pushed Kaidoh back another step, glaring as he finished, “You don't know so keep your mouth shut.”

Momo could hear the music playing in the background, what sounded like trumpets playing, and thought it was over, but then Kaidoh came back at him.

“Well this may come as kind of a surprise,” Kaidoh spat, sounding almost sarcastic. Momo hadn't thought the Mamushi could do that.

“Surprise?” Momo echoed, still glaring at the other boy.

“Surprise,” Kaidoh affirmed with an angry nod.

“Surprise!” the voices shouted, but, again, Momo ignored them. It wasn't healthy to pay too much attention to the voices in your head.

“I don't like you,” Kaidoh sang angrily, “And I don't care what you think about what I do.” Kaidoh shoved him back aggressively and Momo just let him. It was weird. “And most of all,” Kaidoh continued, “I don't need your opinion. No-o. `Cause you don't know what it's like. You don't know what it's like. You don't know what it's like to be like me,” Kaidoh sang, gesturing at himself, “You don't know so keep your mouth shut.” (1)

And the music stopped with one last final trumpet and Momo and Kaidoh were left glaring at each other.

“Mamushi,” Momo taunted and Kaidoh's eyes narrowed even further.

“Idiot,” Kaidoh snarled back, coming closer.

“Mamushi,” Momo repeated, now almost in Kaidoh's face. Why go for originality when the classics worked so well?

Free hand grabbing Momo by the shirt and pulling him closer, Kaidoh held up his fist threateningly and spat, “Bastard.”.

“Stop it!” Oishi ordered, suddenly coming in between the two and pushing them apart, “You two need to stop,” Kaidoh nearly got free and Oishi had to grab for him again, “fighting,” Oishi finished, focusing on holding an angry Kaidoh back. He grunted as one of Kaidoh's limbs hit him in the chest, almost losing hold of the younger boy again. Seeing him struggling, Eiji hurried over to help, grabbing onto Kaidoh's other side and the two successfully got the younger boy contained, though he still struggled against their hold.

Nobody holding onto him, Momo only made things worse by sticking out his tongue and making faces at the angry boy, mocking him and his struggle to get free.

“Momo!” Oishi said angrily, glaring at the younger boy when this only made Kaidoh struggle all the harder. “Stop that!”

Momo immediately stopped, trying and failing to look innocent.

And apparently getting that he wasn't going to be getting free, Kaidoh finally stopped struggling though he was still obviously angry. Cautiously, Oishi and Eiji let him go, stepping back slowly. Hands curled into fists and a dark look on his face, glaring heatedly at Momo, Kaidoh still stayed calm.

“Good,” Oishi said, nodding approvingly, then turned to face both second-years. “Now I know this situation with the juice has got everybody worked up but that doesn't mean that you two can just attack each other like that.”

Momo started to protest. “But I didn't—!”

“No, Momo,” Oishi cut in, giving him a stern look, “You're just as responsible as Kaidoh. You shouldn't have been provoking him.”

“He still started it!” Momo tried, pointing at the other boy accusingly. He could admit, to himself if no one else, that maybe this wasn't exactly true, but who really cared? As long as the Mamushi got in trouble.

“It doesn't matter who started it. What matters is that you were both still involved.”

Giving it up, Momo's shoulders dropped and he sighed heavily. “Fine. How many laps?”

“I don't know.” Obviously none too pleased with him, Oishi turned to Tezuka to ask, “How many?”

“50.”

Oishi nodded and turned back to the two second-years to tell them, “50.”

Momo sighed again, but didn't protest and began running his laps. This day just kept getting better and better.

 

(1) “Fuck Off Song” by Reel Big Fish