[rikkaihigh/tgt] group event;

[thelittleone]

Setting: [x] June 3rd (Sunday), Kanagawa Tournament Semi-Finals (Boys Teams); wherein seniors Karisawa and Maeda are absent from the ranks.

Characters: Rikkai Dai Senior High Boys' Tennis Team. Rikkai Dai Senior High Girls' Tennis Team. Miscellaneous cast.

Notes: The boys are competing, the girls (and other people who may want to drop by) are watching and offering support. This is an all-day affair.


Teams Competing
Rikkai Dai Fuzoku vs. [I feel very sorry for you] Odawara High

Doubles 2 [Game, Rikkai Dai 6-0, 6-0]
Kirihara-Niou pair vs. Uchida-Muramatsu pair

Doubles 1 [Game, Rikkai Dai 6-0, 6-0]
Kuwahara-Sanada pair vs. Matsuzaki-Imai pair

Singles 3 [Game, Rikkai Dai 6-0, 6-0]
Yagyuu Hiroshi vs. Moritani Yutaro

Singles 2 [Game, Rikkai Dai ]
Yanagi Renji vs. Ono Iori

Singles 1 [Game, Rikkai Dai ]
Yukimura Seiichi vs. Furuta Ken

Reserve: Marui Bunta

Comments

Onii-sama? ;p

[thelittleone]

She's up early on the day of the Kanagawa Semi-Finals, eyes opening to stare at the ceiling well before the appointed hour of her alarm clock.

Sitting up in bed, Yukimura Eiri gets a feel of her surroundings. It's sometime before six in the morning and today her brother's team will be going up against three other schools to aim for one of two slots reserved for the finals.

She smiles to herself and rises, bare feet padding over the cool floor.

She almost feels sorry for the whoever is slotted against Rikkai. Almost... but not quite.

Re: Onii-sama? ;p

[fairytales]

The morning before a game was always tense with something. Not nerves, as such, because they were Rikkai and they didn't lose; excitement was perhaps the word Yukimura was looking for. Whatever it was, it had him up nearly at dawn the morning of the semi-finals, out jogging the neighborhood before most people were even up.

The run helped some, but Yukimura knew the tension in him wouldn't fade until they were at the courts and facing their opponents. And even though it was doubtful he was going to play for the day - it was expected to take the round in three matches - just watching would help.

Not expecting anyone to be up, Yukimura entered the house as quietly as he could, heading upstairs to shower and change. Walking past Eiri's room, he thought he heard movement and paused, knocking lightly on the door to not disturb their parents. "Eiri?"

your icon is making me flail what.

[thelittleone]

Eiri opens the door a crack and smiles up at her brother.

"You've been running." She voices her assessment of his appearance: the faint sheen of sweat on his brow, the flush of his skin. She's not surprised. It's akin to ritual during tournament season, the way he seems to start his mornings this way.

"I just got up." She keeps her voice soft. "What do you want for breakfast?" Their parents won't be up for a few hours yet.

It's my only Yukimura icon! xD

[fairytales]

"You don't need to be up this early," he told her. "Still hours to go before you need to be at the courts, you know.

"But since you are up...." Yukimura rocked back on his heels, thinking for a moment. "How about eggs and toast for breakfast?"

(frozen comment)

[thelittleone]

Hirano Sae lingers near the vending machine closest to the court where the boys' tennis team will be going up against their opponent for the semi-finals. She is dressed in her favorite pair of jeans and a thin shirt that may have once been a light green so many washes ago. Her Rikkai Regulars jacket is tied at her waist.

It's not too hot, for a summer day. But that's not likely to last very long.

(frozen comment)

[fairytales]

The crowd cheered briefly for the two players on the court as they shook hands with their opponents and then dispersed; there was a few minutes between the doubles two set and the next one, giving everyone the chance to stretch their legs.

Using the time to grab something to drink, Asari headed for the vending machines, catching Sae.

"Did you catch Niou-Kirhara's game?" she asked.

(frozen comment) YAY CYN!

[thelittleone]

"I got the tail-end of it." Sae grins at the Vice-captain and pops open her soda. "The boys are out for blood. I wish I could feel sorry for Odawara, this being their first year in the semis and all." She steps aside to give Asari access to the vending machine.

"Sorry I'm late, fukubuchou." she adds soberly.

(frozen comment) Re: YAY CYN!

[fairytales]

"It's hard to feel sorry for anyone going against Rikkai. They knew what they were getting into when they started playing." Asari feeds coins into the machine, wavering over what to buy for a second before deciding on iced coffee. She stoops to grab the can, glancing at Sae as she straightens.

"Don't worry about it. We're here to enjoy the games. And you didn't miss much with the first match. Odawara didn't even take a game."

(frozen comment) Let the girls line up ;D

[tensai]

Being on reserve has its ups and downs. Marui itches to play in the semis, but he lucked out during selections, so he's stuck to bench duty. On the plus side, he gets to entertain the girl's team, sitting just behind Rikkai's bench area. He's leaning on the wall that separated the bleachers from the bench, doing a running commentary (mostly a running commentary) of the game. Currently, it is Niou-Kirihara v. Uchida-Muramatsu, and the score was 4-0.

"They threw away a set once, you know?" he tells the girls, speaking in between his gum-chewing. "Quarterfinals. I dunno if all of you were there, but Sanada was totally furious when they did." Marui snorts a short laugh. "They still won in the end, but you totally know they did it just to screw around with their opponent."

(frozen comment) Eiri and Mayu reporting for duty! \o\

[thelittleone]

Eiri is leaning across the ledge. Her arms are tucked beneath her as she slants her gaze from one end of the court to the other. She can already tell that Odarawa's doubles team knows they haven't a snowball's chance in hell, but she has to give them points for still trying.

"Why would they throw away a set?"

She looks to her right to where Suzuki Mayu, the only other freshman who'd made it into the top ten candidates for the girls' Regulars, is looking over with wide eyes. While Mayu has attended every single game that the girls' regulars have played, it is her first time to watch the boys in action.

(frozen comment) o/

[tensai]

"Because they wanted to throw their opponents off," Marui responds as he fishes for another stick of gum in his pocket and offers it to either girl. If they didn't want it, then more for him. "Make them think they suck, then beat the crap out of the opponents in the next two sets. Worked for them, so no one was really complaining." He pauses, the referee calling the score 5-0. Niou and Kirihara exchange high fives on their side of the court. Kirihara's delighted grin might have been just a little too mischievous.

"On our side, at least."

(frozen comment) Re: o/

[thelittleone]

Kirihara and Niou are a dangerous pair. The thought echoes at the back of her head as Eiri turns her eyes back to the game and Bunta's voice washes over her. The redhaired senior is pretty good at reporting all the necessary details without going overboard. It's part of the reason she had been looking forward to getting a spot beside him today.

Odakawa's Muramatsu is up next for the service shot, but Eiri has her eyes trained on Niou. There is something about the way the Trickster is almost too-relaxed that makes her tense and think: something is about to happen.

She changes the way her arms cross against her body and looks over to Bunta. "I didn't think Akaya knew how to play doubles."

She hasn't played alongside the second-year ace since her brother's off-hand experiment, so she's in no position to comment with any real authority. But it interests her that Kirihara and Niou are old hands at this; that they are familiar with each other's quirks on the court: when to take, when to give way.

(frozen comment)

[thelittleone]

Erika wanders back to the fence that flanks the Odawara side of the court sometime after Rikkai's team for Doubles 1 scores it's fourth point. She is dressed in a pair of slim jeans and a short tee that rides up to bare a strip of skin if she raises her shoulders a certain way. Her long hair is tucked under a pageboy hat and in the fingers of one hand, she cradles her favorite lighter.

She can see her teammates scattered on the cement bleachers opposite the ones occupied beneath her and allows a half-sneer to curl on her lip.

Contrary to what Kotani Asari believes, she would never miss out on watching a game. Erika might think the boys team nothing but a line-up of testosteroned idiots wasted on playing mediocre teams like Odawara who manage to score a place in the semis by sheer hope, but she admires their skill -- both in the physical and the psychological.

The match that is going on leans more to the latter than the former, Kuwahara Jackal being the famous Wall of Defense while the tall, overbearing vice-captain at his side has held the nickname 'The Emperor' for as long as he has been playing under Rikkai's banner.

They're a rare pair, because Kuwahara mostly teams up with the obnoxious redhead, Marui who Erika has to put up with in class, and The Emperor is typically slotted for Singles.

Combined, they are the perfect way to showcase Rikkai's prowess of sheer strength.

She smirks to herself. That the boys will win is a foregone conclusion.

(frozen comment) uses new favourite icon ;)

[emothy]

Mayuki's face falls when she sees Erika approach the opposing team's cheering spot. She had honestly believed she could stand here and observe uninterrupted, and yet had forgotten Erika's tendency to, well, divorce herself from the girl's team as much as possible as often as possible just to make a point.

She turns back to the game and tries to keep her eyes trained on it, as though she hasn't noticed Erika at all. It isn't difficult to feign interest in the game, because Jackal and Sanada make an interesting combination. Jackal is known for his skill in defence, and yet Sanada also employs the defensive Mountain technique within FuurinKazan. That he is doing so alongside Jackal means that the opposing team hasn't a chance in hell of getting a point. Every shot they throw at Rikkai's doubles team is returned practically robotically, without the slightest effort. The points aren't being won, so much as the other team are being sapped of any will to return them.

It's so much safer to spectate the boy's team and their matches, Mayuki thinks. No-one will think twice about it because of their reputation - people love to show their support and share in the glory of the assured win. There is no history with the boy's team, no issues. And she still recalls the awkward feeling of stepping back onto the courts only to find the girls all engaged in a Round Robin tournament.

The enthusiasm she'd had to join up again now that she has none of the obligations that held her back before had died on the spot. With a potential pool of regulars already formed and split into blocks, matches already set up, there was no way she was going to open her mouth and cause a fuss. Fuss attracts attention, and attention is something she has trained herself to avoid. It isn't a habit she can cast aside so easily now.

Mayuki pushes away those thoughts as she also tries to mentally push Erika out of her vicinity. None of it really works, but if she attempts to analyse the technical aspects of Jackal and Sanada's game that should distract her for now. She hopes.

(frozen comment) lol of course!

[thelittleone]

When the umpire calls out the final score for the first set, Erika turns around and leans idly against the fence.

6-0. Rikkai has the semis in the bag, and Odawara knows it.

Fishing out the wrinkled pack of smokes tucked in her back pocket, Erika idly muses as she slides one of the three remaining cigarettes out.

The next set will be the same: quick, efficient and overwhelming. Odawara will comfort itself by telling it's players that it's enough that they made it this far. That they'll even train harder over the course of the next year and eventually, their time will come.

She has to bite back a snort.

She lifts the cigarette to her lips, balancing it as she looks over her shoulder to note the way some students are rising from their places in the bleachers to grab a drink from the vending machine or at least stretch their legs for a while.

Lighting her her stick, she inhales deep the comforting feel and scent of her nicotine fix when something interesting catches her eye.

"Well, well." She pushes off from her spot and walks over to the familiar face. She lifts an assessing brow and gives her fellow senior a once-over.

"If it isn't Iida Mayuki."

(frozen comment) took time out from making MORE oiran icons for this XD

[emothy]

At least having noticed Erika first means Mayuki isn't visibly startled by her voice, but she can't help the way her mouth automatically tightens at the sound of it. She should have left as soon as she noticed the girls' team member, but she can console herself with the thought that it's just as likely making a hasty exit would have brought her to Erika's notice anyway. Better it seems that she has nothing to hide.

"Tanaka-san," she replies politely, biting back a smile. Formalities are useless around Erika, but it can be some safety to assume them anyway. She declines to let her eyes settle anywhere near the cigarette - Erika will only take it as silent criticism. "Another overwhelming victory for Rikkai seems to be on the cards, don't you think?"

So she isn't a big fan of the boys' team, but Mayuki hasn't made that public knowledge anyway. It's confusing enough when one moment your brother is driving you insane, and the next you can't help that stabbing in your chest that resents everyone who can do everything he would love to and can't. Being away from him makes that easier to deal with. It makes the entire boys' team easier to deal with.

Erika almost certainly won't take the bait but it's Mayuki's M.O. to be friendly to anyone and everyone. Enough that she can get on with them, yet superficial enough that that's as far as it goes. She suspects Erika is the kind to know exactly what she's been doing all these years and scorn her for it, which is fine. Scorn is another way to keep people from getting close, so long as it's only the odd person.

>.>;;;

[hideous]

Koharu is seated somewhere in the middle row before the Rikkai matches start. She moves to sit beside Mi-chan during the D2 match and stayed there until the end of D1. Singles 3 is just about to begin as she returns from her quick trip to the restroom. Her seat is now occupied by a couple of pre-regulars from the girl's team, so she simply smiles at them and scans the area for a new place to sit. She doesn't want to sit too far up so, sighing, she moves down toward the ledge, close to where Eiri and Mayu had been talking with Marui-sempai earlier. Koharu wonders where he might have gone. Possibly taken a quick trip to the restrooms, too, or harassing Kuwahara-sempai or Mi-chan for sweets. She doesn't see the three of them around.

She pockets her handkerchief and looks toward the courts, hands resting on the railing, silently wishing Yagyuu-sempai good luck. If he wins this match, then it is Rikkai's win in the Semi finals. Of course, Koharu was very confident that Yagyuu-sempai would win his match. This was Rikkai's boy's team, after all. They were practically unbeatable. Still, it doesn't hurt to pray for a little more good luck.

and in the back, the shippers squee~

[thelittleone]

Yanagi is recounting the details of Moritani Yutaro to him. It is more out of ritual rather than need. Yanagi, of all people, understands that he already knows all that he needs to about his opponent.

He rises from his place beside the data-man to stretch his legs. There are a few minutes left before the match officially starts and people are just starting to trickle back in from the break.

Slipping off his glasses, Yagyuu paces himself by indulging in his own little ritual. Using the hem of his shirt, he wipes clean the right lens and then the left. It is something only Niou has openly commented on, though he is sure that the rest of the team are well-versed in his habits.

When he slides his glases back into place, Yagyuu turns around and stops (though for less than half a second) to note the familiar junior seated where the captain's sister had previously been.

wtf is this noey. also. i fail. >.>

[hideous]

She occupies herself with her cellphone, writing text messages to Yuki and telling her about the Kanagawa Semis. Which isn't to say she is oblivious of her surroundings. Her hair up in her signature pigtails, Koharu listens to the buzzing conversation around her. Some pre-regulars are talking about the previous doubles matches, the others engage in conversations other than tennis. But there is a voice that sifts through the crowd, volume almost intentional.

"Yagyuu."

The voice is unmistakable, the drawl almost an identifying mark. Koharu looks through her bangs, head bowed. Niou Masaharu, towel draped over one shoulder, is walking up to Yagyuu Hiroshi. She doesn't like his posture, she never has. His shoulders are hunched down, his neck stretched out; a slouch that makes him look sloppy. But, perhaps, it is what makes people underestimate him. A little. She knew better, of course.

She shifts her gaze back down to her phone, fingers typing out random words in the text editor, just so no one would suspect her of, well, eavesdropping. Through her bangs, she makes a quick look-around of the area. Mayuki-sempai is a ways off somewhere in the second or third row (Koharu isn't quite sure-- and wasn't Tanaka-sempai with her earlier?), the freshmen are huddled together a few seats down. She doesn't spot Asari or Mi-chan and she feels a short sort-of relief followed by a dreadful loneliness.

"Getting a little distracted, are you?" Comes Niou's voice again. His arm is around Yagyuu's shoulder, their backs facing her. She erases the string of embarrassing words and phrases on the text editor of her phone and starts typing a new message, an equally embarrassing S.O.S to her friend in Tokyo, in a desperate attempt to get her attention elsewhere.

(frozen comment) and this is where i switch away from yagyuu because i cannot write a match to save my life;

[thelittleone]

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Yagyuu shrugs off Niou's arm without much preamble and steps away from the Trickster, one hand coming up to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

One day, he thinks quietly. One day, he is going to deck Niou for simply existing.

The urge to let out a long-suffering sigh is strong, but he resists and turns his gaze to the familiar figure of his opponent standing on the far side of the net.

"I'm off." He murmurs to no one in particular and steps out onto the court.

and here we go \o

[thelittleone]

Michiko wanders back just as the umpire announces the names slotted for Singles 3. From the top of the bleachers she has a perfect view of the court and the people around it.

It's in moments like these that nostalgia threatens to overtake her, but as always, she brushes this aside. Tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear, she follows the descending steps and makes her way to where Koharu sits, busily texting on her mobile phone.

"Are you texting Onodera-kun?"

She doesn't know the Yamabuki player very well except in terms of how good she is in tennis and based on what Koharu has shared. To her recollection, Michiko knows that outside of tournaments, she's only met the other girl at the most, twice.

Those two times are enough for her to know that the girl is likable though. And besides, good friends of her friends are people she rarely dislikes.

long tag is long omg

[iidamayuki.livejournal.com]

Mayuki can't help the way her gaze continually drifts from Sanada and Jackal's match after that. Ever since Erika dropped the information so casually into conversation that Junko had quit the girls' team Mayuki hasn't been able to leave it alone. It shouldn't be so interesting to her, but for the fact that if she just hadn't been that little bit late, perhaps she would already have been on the team again now.

This time round she would have had more chance. More time to dedicate to the team, like Aizawa-buchou had wanted for her. She hasn't got huge ambitions, but she does understand that she could have done anything this time around, back at Rikkai with no obligations, and yet she is still gravitating to tennis, something that was once just a stray hobby picked up as part of her brother's rehab.

She looks across the court to where Rikkai's teams both stand, the boys at the lowest level, the girls scattered across the bleachers, but within a general area that shows that they are together, even if there are so few of them.

It niggles at her.

Mayuki understands missed opportunities. Things that are beyond her control. She could have been vice-captain, but for circumstances. That wasn't her fault. Other things are. She could have voiced her interest in rejoining the girls' team, but for fear of causing waves. This issue with Junko is something well within her control to discover, if she can just admit she is interested, and risk others discovering that fact too.

Paying attention to the members of the girls' team, Mayuki sees Hirano Sae, a fellow senior. Someone she has been on the team with before, someone who is like Mayuki in that she is always friendly and sweet, but Mayuki is pretty certain that it is Sae's natural state, while Mayuki works at keeping up the facade.

Mayuki knows the risk she takes in walking away from Erika so abruptly, especially when Erika will easily see where she is going, but she does it anyway. She takes a breath and tells herself their conversation was over anyway, this isn't rude, and walks around the court to Rikkai's side, the place she should have been the entire time, team regular or not.

Sae is stood with Kotani Asari, another former team-member Mayuki has stood alongside in the past, and from the little she could tell, the authority in what she had not noticed was Junko's absence at the time. They are stood in companionable silence, so Mayuki doesn't feel too awkward nodding a hello Asari's way before smiling at Sae.

"Hirano-san, it's been a while," she says. Lucky that in the short time Mayuki has been back at Rikkai she hasn't had a chance to catch up with Sae yet - it's the perfect opener.

long tag is full of information and utterly brilliant like that \o\

[thelittleone]

Sae grins when Mayuki comes over. She hadn't expected the other girl to be at the matches, but then again, she can't say she's wholly surprised.

"Mayuki," she says by way of greeting, allowing a smile to spread on her face. "I see you've come to watch the match."

short tag is ridiculous :P (hi throwaway reference to Yagyuu!)

[iidamayuki.livejournal.com]

"Ah, yes," Mayuki nods back, allowing a small smile to form. "I still enjoy watching tennis. I see the boys' team hasn't changed."

Line-up, she means of course - the players have almost always been the same, except for when Kirihara Akaya was absent all thanks to being born a year later than the rest. But also in the way that they always win so ruthlessly, so efficiently. Singles Three has already begun and Yagyuu looks set to end it as quickly as it has begun. Sharing a class with him, Mayuki sometimes has trouble reconciling the way he behaves there compared to his form on the court.

She can't help the emphasis she puts on the word boys' though. As if to hint that in comparison the girls' team is suspiciously unlike what she remembers.

Perhaps Sae isn't the type to pick up on such a thing, though.

huhuhu~ SAPRIZE CAMEO FROM THE BABIES \o\

[thelittleone]

But Sae does catch the stress in tone. She just isn't sure what Mayuki means at that very instant. So she takes it at face value and rocks back on her heels.

"No, they haven't. I suspect not much about the boys' team will change until after the Regulars go."

On the court, Yagyuu takes his first point with his token 'Laser Beam'. From this distance, Sae notes how he straightens, movements economical, while the umpire declares the score.

"Then again, I suspect it'll only open the avenue for Kirihara to bring his team to the forefront." She nods to where a group of boys are gathered together.

She knows most of them by name. Jackal has told her all about them, one of the perks of being classmates three straight years in a row. And of course, no one can miss the resemblance of the Marui twins - now in their third year of middle school - to their elder brother.

"Join us at club practice this week."

It's an off-hand remark spoken without any real weight. A casual offer.