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synergetic2023-12-01 10:01 am
senselessness) wrote in synergetic2023-12-01 10:01 am
Last Dance
There was a crowd of younger students milling about the club room. There were always a few nowadays, trying to work up the courage to ask Yukimura for help or guidance, but because he'd been gone so long and accomplished so much (and a host of other reasons besides), most of them were too intimidated to actually go through with it.
Jackal was approached by a few; the crowds were thicker because they'd begun to realize that Yukimura wouldn't be around much longer, and the chances to act were becoming less with each day. But none of them had the same fears with Jackal or Bunta, and that was gratifying, in a way. Jackal was confident enough in himself to say that most of the questions were well within his level of expertise. About the only thing he couldn't advise on was actually being a Captain.
Tamagawa would have to go direct to the source for that one. He was in the little crowds more often than not-- Yukimura always acknowledged them with a smile, then went back to whatever he was working on. Jackal was focused on the second years, but he could hear Yukimura's pen tapping against a notebook-- not writing. He supposed their line-ups could be more eclectic than, say, Seigaku's, but it shouldn't have been too difficult to place them all against Hyoutei. The main problem was that the regulars were a man down, with Niou away, but the eighth man would have just been the alternate, right? They'd played almost the entire year without one.
Another look around at all the second years, though... Most of them were good. But they'd started out good. Few of them had improved in the leaps and bounds Akaya had, or even Seigaku's second years. The difference between Momoshiro's failed power plays against him and Bunta, versus the Shitenhouji pair...
Of course, Tamagawa hadn't been ready to play in any of those matches, but who's fault was that? He'd watched them all, Jackal believed; they expected the non-regulars to do their part, keep up morale, and pay strict attention.
But the mindset of being in the audience was different than the focus possible when you knew there was even a chance of getting into a game. Confidence became a necessity.
If Yukimura stuck his jacket on somebody's racket and named it next year's captain, Jackal would have supported him wholeheartedly-- Yukimura and the jacket both. But, there would be questions. Yukimura was the captain, yes, but if Jackal's private anguish over his illness was any indication, they were friends, too. He hadn't questioned the decision to pass over Akaya as captain, and he understood the reasoning for Tamagawa... but they'd set him up for failure. And Yukimura seemed to be mired in thought over this silly little exhibition, which was nothing more than an exercise in vanity for them and Atobe both.
He waited until the first year in front of him was satisfied with his answers, then approached Yukimura and glanced down over his shoulder. Written in the notebook (surrounded by increasingly unflattering doodles of Atobe and Echizen) was just SINGLES 1 - AKAYA.
He took a deep breath, which Yukimura heard, and met with one of his sweeter smiles.
"Something on your mind, Jackal?"
"Just what's on yours," he answered. He nodded at the notebook. "You're really playing Akaya against Atobe?"
"It's where he belongs," Yukimura said. A little gleam of mischief in his eyes suggested there was more to it than that, but he didn't elaborate.
"It's where you belong," Jackal said. "Isn't it?"
Yukimura drew an X over a particularly smug looking Echizen (and his "TENNIS IS FUN!" speech bubble). "It was."
So Yukimura's thoughts were also on the future.
Jackal took a second deep breath, watching the way Yukimura's eyebrows rose in amusement at it. He expected the second years to be nervous, not Jackal.
"I was wondering who you were using as an alternate."
Yukimura laid the pen aside, folding his hands together and giving Jackal his undivided, almost rapt, attention. Jackal didn't usually ask about such things before Yukimura was ready to reveal them; he was, more often than not, content to follow his part in the plan. Yukimura knew where he liked to be and, more importantly, where he shined. Jackal trusted Yukimura to use him well, efficiently, all in service of Rikkai's third--
Jackal felt himself smile, improbably, waiting for Yukimura's answer.
"If I put one of us in reserve, we'd be short," Yukimura said, humoring him. Yukimura knew how to use him best, and was setting the stage for him while Jackal gathered his thoughts. "I'm not giving Atobe a free match."
The best player wasn't always the best captain, but Yukimura was. Yukimura saw things as they were, like anyone, but he also had a special knack for seeing things as they might one day be. The future was more real to him than it was to anyone else, and it was exciting, the way he'd started to try and bend it to his will during the World Cup.
"You're also not going to underestimate Atobe," said Jackal, taking a roundabout way to the point he was ultimately going to make. "We aren't invincible. We might need to hold someone in reserve."
There. He'd spoken the blasphemy, and felt a pang of regret as the shadow passed across Yukimura's face. Hurting Yukimura was the thing absolutely no one did, but Yukimura would see clearly.
"No, you're right about that," said Yukimura, slowly. He didn't know where Jackal was going, and he wasn't really smiling anymore, just listening. "I ask again. What's on your mind?"
The future, Jackal thought, but not his own. And yet his own future was the only one he could really control. He couldn't ask Yukimura to bench anyone else; it wouldn't be right, or fair to them.
"I think I should be the reserve player," he said, getting it out of the way. "And we should have the new captain play in this match."
Jackal was approached by a few; the crowds were thicker because they'd begun to realize that Yukimura wouldn't be around much longer, and the chances to act were becoming less with each day. But none of them had the same fears with Jackal or Bunta, and that was gratifying, in a way. Jackal was confident enough in himself to say that most of the questions were well within his level of expertise. About the only thing he couldn't advise on was actually being a Captain.
Tamagawa would have to go direct to the source for that one. He was in the little crowds more often than not-- Yukimura always acknowledged them with a smile, then went back to whatever he was working on. Jackal was focused on the second years, but he could hear Yukimura's pen tapping against a notebook-- not writing. He supposed their line-ups could be more eclectic than, say, Seigaku's, but it shouldn't have been too difficult to place them all against Hyoutei. The main problem was that the regulars were a man down, with Niou away, but the eighth man would have just been the alternate, right? They'd played almost the entire year without one.
Another look around at all the second years, though... Most of them were good. But they'd started out good. Few of them had improved in the leaps and bounds Akaya had, or even Seigaku's second years. The difference between Momoshiro's failed power plays against him and Bunta, versus the Shitenhouji pair...
Of course, Tamagawa hadn't been ready to play in any of those matches, but who's fault was that? He'd watched them all, Jackal believed; they expected the non-regulars to do their part, keep up morale, and pay strict attention.
But the mindset of being in the audience was different than the focus possible when you knew there was even a chance of getting into a game. Confidence became a necessity.
If Yukimura stuck his jacket on somebody's racket and named it next year's captain, Jackal would have supported him wholeheartedly-- Yukimura and the jacket both. But, there would be questions. Yukimura was the captain, yes, but if Jackal's private anguish over his illness was any indication, they were friends, too. He hadn't questioned the decision to pass over Akaya as captain, and he understood the reasoning for Tamagawa... but they'd set him up for failure. And Yukimura seemed to be mired in thought over this silly little exhibition, which was nothing more than an exercise in vanity for them and Atobe both.
He waited until the first year in front of him was satisfied with his answers, then approached Yukimura and glanced down over his shoulder. Written in the notebook (surrounded by increasingly unflattering doodles of Atobe and Echizen) was just SINGLES 1 - AKAYA.
He took a deep breath, which Yukimura heard, and met with one of his sweeter smiles.
"Something on your mind, Jackal?"
"Just what's on yours," he answered. He nodded at the notebook. "You're really playing Akaya against Atobe?"
"It's where he belongs," Yukimura said. A little gleam of mischief in his eyes suggested there was more to it than that, but he didn't elaborate.
"It's where you belong," Jackal said. "Isn't it?"
Yukimura drew an X over a particularly smug looking Echizen (and his "TENNIS IS FUN!" speech bubble). "It was."
So Yukimura's thoughts were also on the future.
Jackal took a second deep breath, watching the way Yukimura's eyebrows rose in amusement at it. He expected the second years to be nervous, not Jackal.
"I was wondering who you were using as an alternate."
Yukimura laid the pen aside, folding his hands together and giving Jackal his undivided, almost rapt, attention. Jackal didn't usually ask about such things before Yukimura was ready to reveal them; he was, more often than not, content to follow his part in the plan. Yukimura knew where he liked to be and, more importantly, where he shined. Jackal trusted Yukimura to use him well, efficiently, all in service of Rikkai's third--
Jackal felt himself smile, improbably, waiting for Yukimura's answer.
"If I put one of us in reserve, we'd be short," Yukimura said, humoring him. Yukimura knew how to use him best, and was setting the stage for him while Jackal gathered his thoughts. "I'm not giving Atobe a free match."
The best player wasn't always the best captain, but Yukimura was. Yukimura saw things as they were, like anyone, but he also had a special knack for seeing things as they might one day be. The future was more real to him than it was to anyone else, and it was exciting, the way he'd started to try and bend it to his will during the World Cup.
"You're also not going to underestimate Atobe," said Jackal, taking a roundabout way to the point he was ultimately going to make. "We aren't invincible. We might need to hold someone in reserve."
There. He'd spoken the blasphemy, and felt a pang of regret as the shadow passed across Yukimura's face. Hurting Yukimura was the thing absolutely no one did, but Yukimura would see clearly.
"No, you're right about that," said Yukimura, slowly. He didn't know where Jackal was going, and he wasn't really smiling anymore, just listening. "I ask again. What's on your mind?"
The future, Jackal thought, but not his own. And yet his own future was the only one he could really control. He couldn't ask Yukimura to bench anyone else; it wouldn't be right, or fair to them.
"I think I should be the reserve player," he said, getting it out of the way. "And we should have the new captain play in this match."
no subject
The world cup was a great experience, and one he's glad he got to be a part of. Thanks to that opportunity, he was able to evolve his tennis to the next level. It's also good to be home. Their tennis courts, their club, their homes. It's good to have Yagyuu and Jackal back in regular circulation with them. It's too bad for Yagyuu that Niou took off so quickly after, though... probably too bad for Yukimura, too. No doubt he'd have wanted to put Niou into the order were he here.
Jackal's approach prompts Marui to lift his eyebrows in curiosity. It was unusual for Jackal to go to Yukimura while he was in the middle of strategizing like this. Was there an issue with one of those first years that couldn't wait? Or...
Marui says nothing as the discussion starts, but his attention has shifted from the goings-on outside to Jackal. This air... is a little heavy. The gum bubble Marui is forming comes to a stop mid-blow.
"We aren't invincible."
He's said it now. There's no missing the shadow that crosses Yukimura's face in response, either. Jackal is Marui's best friend, and he knows he would only ever speak on behalf of the team's best interests... and Yukimura knows that too. That knowledge isn't doing as much for the room's tension as it should, though.
Perhaps that contributes to Jackal's decision to puncture it like a pin on a balloon with a cut straight to the point that makes clear both his idea and the real concern prompting it. Marui's eyes widen as that realization dawns.
This isn't about needing a reserve because Hyoutei may be too strong right now, is it? It's about needing to open a slot for the next captain to fill so Hyoutei isn't too strong next year. For all the underclassmen's sakes, Jackal is going to give up his last chance to--
Neither of them had said anything to each other when Yukimura announced the match, as it hardly needed saying. Their last match together as part of Rikkaidai Jr. High should have already been played, yet here was a chance for one more. With Niou gone, the likelihood of Jackal and himself playing one of the doubles matches was even higher than usual. Especially since-- as Jackal pointed out-- Yukimura would want to ensure victory against Hyoutei. Atobe wouldn't be a pushover opponent.
Now, as quickly as the opportunity had come, it seemed to be crumbling to dust between Jackal's own fingers. Marui's own feelings about that are something he hasn't even begun to process. His first focus is what this means for Jackal. This can't have been a sacrifice he made lightly. He didn't even get to participate in the World Cup with them!
Jackal...
no subject
Jackal understood. Everyone was a good doubles player, but the chemistry of a really, spectacularly good partnership was rarer.
But the captain instantly treated Jackal's daunting request seriously, looking back down at his notebook. Jackal couldn't help noticing all the ink dots around the Atobe caricature's face-- he'd thought Yukimura was tapping his pen in thought, but his frustration might have been more... concentrated.
Putting Akaya in Singles 1 was the only thing he was entirely certain about, but as Jackal instantly pointed out, that made the probability of Yukimura facing Atobe -- the only Hyoutei player he'd consider something similar to an equal -- almost nil. It was the one match he would really want for himself, but he was making a bigger point.
Jackal felt... understood, if nothing else.
"I'm also making the executive decision not to consider Akaya," Yukimura said. "Yanagi and Shiraishi are the only partners who really bring out his best, anyway. Marui would be my third choice to pair him with..."
Thought bowed Yukimura's head, while Jackal waited.
"What do you think about Marui in Singles 3?" Yukimura asked suddenly. "If both doubles pairs won, do you think he would secure the win?"
"You'd need him in one of the doubles pairs to even get to that point," Jackal answered, instant and instinctive.
"I agree," Yukimura said, and wrote SINGLES 3 - YAGYUU, followed by SINGLES 2 - YUKIMURA. "Yagyuu and I will be useless at mentoring Tamagawa-kun, I'm sure," he said, waving aside Jackal's obligatory protest. "And I'm not putting him in such a critical position-- if he messes up in doubles, we can recover. So I can pair him with Sanada, Yanagi, or Marui. All of whom will be good teachers. Which did you have in mind?"
Because of course Jackal had someone in mind, and Yukimura's smile let Jackal know he just wanted to hear him say it.
"Yanagi will have to spend too much of the match collecting his data," Jackal said. Their third-in-line had Tamagawa's raw numbers, but the little variables, like performance under pressure or adaptability to strange techniques, he would be collecting those fresh and factoring them in on the fly. Not impossible for one of Yanagi's caliber, but not ideal; Tamagawa was no Kaidoh, and Jackal wasn't sure if he had the mental strength to carry the match's load while Yanagi ran his calculations. "Put Yanagi with Sanada. He has Sanada memorized."
"Until Sanada pushes the envelope again..." Yukimura said, amused.
"Hyoutei isn't going to force him to evolve again just yet," Jackal said, confident. "It's a fool's errand to try and match up to whatever we think Atobe is doing, but we can be reasonably certain Atobe won't play doubles, and Atobe is the only one who could back him into a corner like that."
"Which brings me, finally, to the place you started from," Yukimura said, ruthlessly cutting away any remaining veneer or varnish on Jackal's decision.
He wrote DOUBLES 1 - MARUI & TAMAGAWA.