Completely Rewriting the Plot of Tenipuri, Part 2

[volleygenius]

Kiddo seems to think he's free to leave after the vice-captain's dismissal from practice. This is his next lesson. Socializing is the last thing he wants to do if his face is any indication, and that's really too bad for him. Marui lassos an arm loosely around his neck and grins devilishly at his sputtering wet cat reception to the contact.

"What? Don't look so put off. Jackal's treating us to burgers and shakes."

Comments

[koshimae]

"Marui-senpai is a steamroller."

The bluntness doesn't seem to faze the redhead. In fact, he completely ignores the comment. There isn't much more Echizen can do while his senpai has him in a headlock, though, so with his words getting him no attention, he's stuck for the time being.

"It's fine," Marui breezily says to Akaya's concerns. "Let's go! I'm starving."

Because of course Akaya is coming, too.

[bloodshotdye]

That Akaya never questioned! He earned his spot in the regulars and he did it with face so hard up against the grindstone that more than his eyes turned red.

Jackal tries to steer them towards someplace that won't kill his allowance budget for the week -- he hadn't counted on a fourth charge -- but Echizen isn't wrong about Bunta and Bunta leads where he knows he'll be followed. Which is anywhere.

But he limits the damage by getting them all to claim a table while he waits in line. It means he's less of a jackal and more of a pack mule today, but he'll end up having fun, too, once he throws the receipt in the trash and can't marvel at it anymore.

Akaya's first concern is getting the seat by Marui-senpai. But once Jackal sits down across from them, he scowls. What makes the new kid think he can just sit next to Jackal-senpai?

Anyway. Jackal hands him a strawberry milkshake to shake up his mood and for now, Akaya lets it work.

[volleygenius]

Jackal's suggestion is clever because it appeals to Marui's innate laziness. Why stand in line and order food if you can sit down and have it delivered straight to you? Anyway, Jackal's known him a long time. Bunta knows he'll get him something delicious. He happily slides into the booth to wait with the underclassmen, and excitedly dives into what Jackal brings him once his friend sits down with them, blocking Echizen in by the window.

The first year could probably trick passerby into the belief he was wax left to his own devices. He's not bad at tennis, but he isn't one for social skills, it seems. His expression rules out shyness as the culprit. Well, he just needs to acclimate. That'll be Bunta's job.

"You must've been playing a long time. What elementary school did you graduate from? I didn't recognize you from any junior tournaments."

Echizen looked like he was giving serious thought to refusing to answer.

"It doesn't matter, of course. I just wanted to know." Bunta nudged, once the silence got too long.

"...I didn't graduate from elementary school in Japan."

[bloodshotdye]

"Are you a halfu like Jackal-senpai?" Akaya blurts out, while Jackal is still trying to figure out how to phrase that. But it's not like it's something he can hide.

"Your Japanese is better than mine was," Jackal offered, and hoped it came across in the self-deprecating spirit it was intended. He'd had four different teachers patronizingly fawn over how good his Japanese was today, and it did get old.

[koshimae]

Echizen isn't sure how it's anyone's business or concern how Japanese he is. His mother had warned him this might happen, though. Rikkai was supposed to be more accepting than most of Japan in matters of diversity. Still, Echizen sort of hates the attention being on this instead of ... well. Tennis maybe.

He sips contemplatively at his drink as he mulls his senpai's compliment over. He doesn't really want to perpetuate this subject, but he isn't without empathy for how hard it must be to obtain a feeling of inclusion, based on what his mom had shared.

His eyes are on the food in front of him when he answers.

"Both of my parents are from Japan, so it was spoken regularly inside the house. It's probably not a fair comparison," he grants.

"It seems like a weird thing for anyone to be fixated on, though."

do not ask me what Akaya and Jackal did at Rokkaku. I do not know. Marui might tho.

[senselessness]

"Get enough time zones behind you and the ordinary becomes extraordinary, and something to stare at," Jackal said. "I was born in Brasil and lived there until I was eight. It was weird at first. Summer and winter are completely backwards. Not to mention winter actually happens here."

Jackal has years of thoughts on this subject, but none of them are really appropriate for the dinner table, so to speak. Bunta's probably perceived even the ones he won't voice. But he has a duty to rescue his new kouhai from the old one, doesn't he?

He lifts his now-empty cup and knocks it against Akaya's shoulder.

"Refill this, will you?" he says, and a sulky Akaya complies after a short staring contest.

Well, a staring contest and an implied threat to tell Sanada about something that happened at Rokkaku over spring break. It's an empty threat; Jackal hates getting Sanada worked up because he always ends up dead center in the blast radius, but he can count on Akaya's own self-centered terror of Sanada's rebuke to blind him to that fact.

Either way, redirecting Akaya's attitude gives Jackal a chance to maybe refresh the topic of conversation.

"Where did you learn that split step?"

[volleygenius]

Echizen is from America.

This is Marui's immediate assumption after the way he responds to the conversation: blunt to a point many would call confrontational. It could be wrong, of course - there were a lot of Western countries that communicated more directly like that. But it was practically a brand for The States. Kiddo might want to brace for that comparison's unfairness to be a two-way street! Jackal at least knew how to match communication style here.

"It's just something I've been working on. I'd hoped to save it, though."

Marui grinned and allowed himself a self-congratulatory chuckle.

"Well, that's Rikkai for you. Thinking you can get away with a win doing less than your all is naive. There are lots of players here stronger than me-- in singles, that is."

Echizen lifted his eyebrow in interest. "Who?"

[senselessness]

"For instance, Yana--"

"For instance, me!" Akaya interrupts, drink on the table now with just a little spilling in his haste to set it down and emphasize his point.

"The second year ace you heard so much about, is me!"

[koshimae]

Echizen blinks and there is a pause of about three seconds where he's just trying to process what he's been told is his reality. Except it's not.

"I haven't heard anything about that."

[senselessness]

"Sit down and shut up," Jackal said quietly, while Akaya tried to figure that one out. It snapped him out of the thought.

"But I didn't even say anything!"

"Luckily for you."

[volleygenius]

Marui, who'd been in the middle of a bite of his burger, chokes on a laugh at Echizen's oblivious shoot-down.

"Okay?" He asks from across the table. Marui flashes them a thumbs-up as he coughs a couple more times and takes a drink to wash it down.

"Well, it might not be such a joke. It wouldn't surprise me if we have a first year ace everyone's heard about soon."

[senselessness]

"Wait, what?" Akaya exclaimed.

Jackal can see Akaya's brain split between confusion and anger at Marui's comment-- the initial response morphing into "Wait. What the hell?" The second year is more comfortable with the confusion, but Jackal figures anger would be a better motivator.

"He said every spot on the regulars is competitive and just because you're the only second year to make it now doesn't mean you will be forever. I seem to recall a time when three first years carried Rikkai to Nationals."

[volleygenius]

Jackal understood the assignment. Making Yukimura's dream come true for him is the absolute top priority. If the threat of being surpassed works to motivate Akaya to train harder, they should use it. Marui doesn't have any serious expectations for the freshman to get that strong that fast, of course. He was talented, sure, but so were all of them. They were Rikkai. But it was a good carrot for both of them.

Echizen himself has stayed quiet while all of this unfolds, but Marui can see the gears behind those big golden brown eyes are turning. He's paying attention.

"I don't really care who everyone is talking about," he finally says as he munches a fry, and with all of the aloof nonchalance of someone who means that. "If my senpai wants to be more heard-of, he can have it."

That's a little disappointing. Marui had him pegged as more competitive than that.

"But," Echizen lifts a smile as he meets Akaya's eyes with all of the intended rivalry Marui had misplaced in fame. "When the time comes for us to play, the winner will be me."

[bloodshotdye]

Akaya's eyes flashed.

"Big talk from someone who couldn't beat a doubles specialist in singles," he said.

He thought about last year. About how even training his ass off wasn't enough to close the gap between him and the three demons.

"Anyway, I'll play you any time you want," he said. "But only because it's what fukubuchou and Yanagi-senpai would say to me. You can lose to us as many times as you want, if it means you keep getting stronger. But that isn't enough to actually get into a tournament match."

[koshimae]

Echizen dead-eye stares right back into Akaya's eyes, not the least intimidated. And says absolutely nothing back at first.

Silent staring.

Silent staring.

Silent staring.

"Of course it's like that," he finally says, as though explaining something simple to a toddler. And he smiles with a glint of the challenger's spirit in his eyes, clearly none humbled by his loss a bit earlier. "It'd be boring if I didn't have to get stronger to beat the strongest."

Marui doesn't say anything, but the answer resonates with him. Echizen was right: most matches were boring because there was no challenge. If he's honest, the beatdown he'd given their newbie was one of the first interesting ones he'd played in a while. The skill difference was too enormous, but Echizen hadn't just been spitballing attacks in hopes of a point like most players. He really understood the game's strategy, and he analyzed factors about his opponent's play style and body type for a tailored approach. If he got stronger, he really might be able to put a little pressure on him sometime in the future. Wouldn't that be something.