Beyond: A Tribute - Part 7 (Prince of Tennis)
© 2008 Gold
Title: Beyond: A Tribute
Part 7: Twenty Hours
Author: Gold
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is created by Konomi Takeshi. This work is a piece of fanfiction and no part of it is attributed to Konomi-san or any other entity holding any legal right associated with and arising out of Prince of Tennis . It was written purely out of fanservice and it is not to be used for profit or any false association with Konomi-san or aforesaid entities.
Notes:
Some of you might find this part a bit heavy-going and difficult to read, because it includes an analysis by Inui and Yanagi of the possible reasons behind Tezuka's surprise drug scandal and Yukimura's sudden collapse on the court. I have tried to make it as comprehensive and as logical as possible.
Of course Tezuka could never have taken drugs knowingly.
Part Seven: Twenty Hours
They had less than twenty hours left.
- Less than twenty hours before the disciplinary committee of the Association of Men’s Tennis Professionals would gather to begin the first of several closed-door, preliminary enquiries, where they would listen as the laboratory evidence was presented and explained to them. They would examine reams of pages detailing every step of the process. They would listen, think and file away notes of evidence. Tezuka Kunimitsu’s fate hung in the balance.
- Less than twenty hours before the searches for Momoshiro Takeshi would be called off completely. Search teams had already combed nearly a hundred and fifty square kilometres of the countryside at least twice over. Some of the Biei residents had even taken their dogs out as part of the voluntary search teams. But they had had no luck so far. Once the searches had officially been called off, Momoshiro would, quite simply, become the newest name on the ever-growing list of missing persons nation-wide.
- Less than twenty hours before the press conference, held by those whom the world knew as the Princes of Tennis - Atobe Keigo, Tezuka Kunimitsu, Yukimura Seiichi, Sanada Genichirou, Kaidoh Kaoru, Ibu Shinji, Echizen Ryoma and Kirihara Akaya. There would be questions from journalists who belonged to some one hundred and seventy different media organisations from around the world.
Tezuka Kunimitsu was embroiled in scandal. Echizen Ryoma had played the most disastrous game of his entire tennis career at once of the most prestigious events on the tour. Yukimura Seiichi lay, to all intents and purposes, immobile on a hospital bed, his condition unknown. Sanada Genichirou had gone berserk on the courts.
And together they had collectively broken from their national tennis association, grouping together under the banner and standard of one of their own, Atobe Keigo.
The Princes of Tennis owed answers to the world at large, who had watched them through the years, supported them and come to love them. What answers did they have for their families, friends, fans and tennis lovers around the world?
Twenty hours…
… to the end.
The sixth conference room in the Atobe summer cottage at Karuizawa was, by the normal standards of the Atobe family, tiny: it seated just ten people. It was decorated in classic Atobe style, that is, steeped in stifling opulence, although it was unusually modern. Every chair in the room was upholstered in the finest cream leather with gold piping, monogrammed on the arms and back in silver and lavender with the Atobe coat of arms (which had been designed nearly two decades ago by a very, very famous French fashion house) and ergonomically-designed to boot. The furniture was solid cherry wood and everything that could be gold-plated or gold-trimmed was duly plated or trimmed as such, from the door knobs to the handles of drawers, right down to the spider ’phone in the middle of the conference table. The marble floor was covered in a carpet so luxuriant and thick that your feet sank into it and even wobbled dangerously as you walked.
All this overweening luxury was a remarkable study in contrast with the handful of grim faces seated around the conference table in the centre of the room.
Inui Sadaharu and Yanagi Renji sat together near the head of the conference table, their heads barely an inch apart as they discussed something furiously in hushed undertones. Opposite them sat Oshitari Yuushi and Tachibana Kippei, on the other side of the conference table. Oshitari, languid as ever, listened with a faintly furrowed brow as Tachibana spoke in low tones. Tachibana’s face was exceedingly serious; he wore the expression most generals preferred to reserve for occasions when they were required to go into decisive battle. The fifth - and last - person in the room was one Fuji Syuusuke. He sat quietly on the other side of Oshitari, apparently preoccupied with the New York Times (which he had filched from the main living room) crossword puzzle of the day. A sharper observer might have noticed, though, that Fuji was keeping a very close eye and ear on the conversations going on around him.
“Inui.” Fuji Syuusuke raised his voice suddenly, startling the other four in the room. “Can you repeat what you just said?”
Inui Sadaharu stiffened very, very slightly. He lifted his eyes with studied nonchalance to Fuji Syuusuke’s pleasant, smiling face. “Ah, Fuji.” Inui blinked once, very guilelessly. “Nothing very important.”
Fuji continued to smile at Inui affably, twirling a pencil between the fingers of his right hand. “Ah. But I think I just heard you say that there is an off-chance that there is a link between Tezuka’s matter and Yukimura-san’s collapse.”
Oshitari and Tachibana’s conversation immediately halted, as if by magic, and they both looked up.
Next to Inui, Yanagi Renji gave a brief shrug of his shoulders. “It is all based on suppositions, Fuji-san. We cannot confirm anything.”
“Don’t worry on my account,” Fuji said, still smiling broadly. “Do tell.”
There was a clear underlying edge of danger in that smooth, mild voice. Oshitari’s mouth tilted briefly upwards at the corners and his eyes lit with amusement; Tachibana felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and goose bumps sweep over his skin.
Inui stiffened even further and shifted uncomfortably in his seat, as if it had suddenly grown too hot for him. “This… doesn’t involve any data. It’s just a guess, Fuji.” Inui actually looked vaguely ashamed of himself.
Yanagi stirred a little. “It’s a theory,” he corrected. “Like all theories, what we lack is empirical data for support.”
“…that’s why it’s just a guess,” muttered Inui. “There’s no proof.”
Fuji arched an eyebrow. “I’m not interested in proof,” he said mildly. “What I am interested in is a link between Tezuka’s matter and Yukimura’s collapse. The Inui I know bases his theories on reasonable assumptions and available facts.” Fuji gave Yanagi a winning smile. “Yanagi-san’s reputation also precedes him in this respect.”
Inui adjusted his glasses. He eyed Fuji somewhat beadily and a little crossly. “Well, it started because Renji and I have been reading up a bit about jetoxil lately. You know,” Inui made a vague gesture, “after what happened with Tezuka.”
“I’m guessing,” said Fuji, eyeing Inui sharply, “that you’re about to say that somehow JTX is the link between Tezuka’s matter and Yukimura-san’s collapse.”
“We’re not saying that,” protested Inui immediately. “We’re guessing that.”
“Theorizing,” corrected Yanagi, with a slight hint of exasperation in his voice. “What you have said is correct, Fuji-san-and that possibility is exactly what you overheard Sadaharu and myself discussing at length.”
Tachibana Kippei glanced from Inui to Yanagi to Fuji and felt his head beginning to throb slightly. Inui, Yanagi and Fuji obviously understood the subject of the conversation (and probably Oshitari did too, since he continued to wear this odd, faintly amused smile), but Tachibana saw neither rhyme nor reason for this odd conversation about an even more bizarre theory. Where was the logic in it? “Excuse me for interrupting. How is JTX involved in Yukimura-san’s case…?”
“There is a possibility that JTX caused Seiichi’s collapse.” Yanagi cleared his throat. “Side effects of JTX, especially when taken regularly over an extended period, include flu-like symptoms, high blood pressure, blood thickening, blood clotting and even epileptic fits. Of course, the chance of this happening is very, very rare.”
“That still does not sound right,” said Tachibana slowly, turning the words over in his mind. “The only way this could have happened is if Yukimura had taken JTX-” Tachibana’s voice broke off abruptly, comprehension dawning on him. His eyes moved swiftly from Inui to Yanagi. “You said that Tezuka’s situation and Yukimura’s collapse are linked by JTX. Are you telling me that they both used -”
“Not knowingly,” muttered Inui Sadaharu.
Tachibana narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean, not knowingly?”
Yanagi leaned back in is chair. “What if they took it unknowingly?” He tapped his pencil against the tabletop. “Quite a coincidence, isn’t it, that Tezuka-san tests positive for JTX in both samples taken from him, and that this happens to be a drug with a side effect that can cause, say, blood clotting. That can lead to a sudden seizure or even cardiac arrest, you know. I think it is not unlikely that Seiichi may have suffered one or the other, albeit in a mild form.”
Tachibana pinched the bridge of his nose. “This… is quite a leap of imagination, to link the two together. There is… no proof. Is there any way…?”
“As I’ve said, it’s only a guess,” answered Inui with a sigh, his shoulders slumped. “So there has never been any proof. Renji and I guessed that there was a link only because it just happens, coincidentally, that we read about the side effects of JTX.”
Yanagi took up the thread of the conversation. “Since this was merely a theory, we had to eliminate other possibilities in order to establish that our theory is valid. We decided to analyse both Tezuka’s and Seiichi’s cases separately. We realised that by studying both Tezuka’s and Seiichi’s situations separately, if we could find identical causes for both situations, then we could reasonably conclude that there is a link between the two cases.
“Let us now analyse Tezuka’s situation. We eliminated the possibilities that his samples were contaminated or inappropriately handled. That left only two possibilities: either he took JTX deliberately or he took it unknowingly. We eliminated the possibility that he deliberately took JTX. Therefore, he must have taken it unknowingly. There are only very specific circumstances under which a sportsperson mistakenly consumes a controlled substance that is banned.”
Inui raised a finger. “Option one: medicine. When sportspersons fall ill, they have to take medicine. Sometimes these medicines may contain banned substances. Cold medicines and cough mixtures are frequently blamed for such mishaps.” He held up a second finger. “Option two: diet. Sometimes the banned substances are slipped into the diet of the sportsperson, either by way of a drink or through supposed vitamin supplements or through injections, all as part of the strict dietary regimen.” Inui paused and then shrugged his shoulders. “Well, those are the two most likely scenarios.”
“But JTX does not seem to be something contained in medication to cure the common cold or the ’flu…” observed Fuji almost cheerfully.
“It isn’t,” agreed Yanagi dryly.
Tachibana added his voice once again to the discussion. “That means the first option has to be ruled out. But that only leaves the second option.”
Inui nodded his head slowly. “Renji and I came to the same conclusion.” Inui took a deep breath. “It would have to be someone on the management team-a manager, a coach, a nutritionist or a doctor. Someone who has enough control and enough opportunity.”
Yanagi let his fingers splay across the table. “But before we speculate as to who or why, let’s examine Seiichi’s case.
“Seiichi had the Guillain-Barre Syndrome six years ago, but has completely recovered from it. He has recently shown some fatigue during his matches, but it is reasonable to conclude that this appears to be due to a recent bout of ’flu. From our data, we are of the opinion that there has been no relapse of the Guillain-Barre Syndrome. There must therefore be another reason for his collapse before his match.” Yanagi breathed deeply. “We have re-watched the playback and examined the press statement released by Atobe’s people. We deduce that it is highly likely that Seiichi’s condition is somewhat serious. He is likely to be lucid and awake, but in questionable physical condition.”
Inui folded his hands. “We now look at the possible reasons that would match the seriousness of Yukimura’s condition both before and after the collapse.
“Option one: Yukimura has been overtired or overworked, or both. However, Yukimura would not allow himself to be overtired or overworked. There is absolutely no reason he would place additional strain on his body just for the Cincinnati Masters title. Yukimura is someone who is very, very careful of his health and very conscious of his responsibility as an athlete to maintain his body in perfect health and top condition. Even if he did overtire himself-over-exertion by itself does not cause athletes to collapse and pass out just like that, especially not someone like Yukimura, who is extremely careful with his health. Thus we eliminated this possibility.
“Option two: the doctors did not give Yukimura a clean bill of health. Perhaps he has had another bout of ’flu but nevertheless decided to play in the tournament. It is well-known that strenuous exercise during a bout of ’flu puts tremendous strain on the heart muscle and can cause fatal heart attacks. In our opinion, the probability of Yukimura risking ’flu and a heart attack is close to nil.” Inui smiled humourlessly. “Yukimura would die without tennis, but he would not die for tennis. Therefore we eliminated this possibility.
“Option three: possibly a combination of over-exertion and a bout of ’flu led to Yukimura’s collapse. This is a very strong possibility, although Yukimura is, as we have said, not the type to go ahead and play in a tournament if it would kill him. We did NOT eliminate this possibility. We calculated a 46.8 percent likelihood that this is the reason behind his collapse.”
Yanagi was staring hard at the table now. “We would have left it at that, if not for the fact that JTX had turned up in Tezuka’s case. The side effects of JTX could have caused Seiichi’s collapse.” He took a deep breath and lifted his eyes to the faces of the others in the room. “I do not believe in coincidences. This is the link between Tezuka’s case and Seiichi’s collapse. JTX.”
There was silence in the room as they digested what had been said.
Tachibana broke the silence first. “If you are right, then going forward…?”
Inui pursed his lips. “If it really is JTX-then it could only be through their diet. It is reasonable to conclude that there has been a pattern of JTX being slipped into their diet before and that both Seiichi and Tezuka are part of that pattern. But all we have now is a theory based on many assumptions.”
Yanagi’s mouth was tight. “Even if it turns out that JTX did not cause Seiichi’s collapse, I suspect we may find that there is still a pattern of JTX having been surreptitiously slipped into their diet. I frankly cannot see any other reason for Tezuka’s positive tests for JTX. We want to know who did it and why.”
There was silence in the room.
“What,” Fuji asked simply, breaking the silence, “do we need to prove that you are correct?”
“Data,” said Inui immediately.
“A lot of data,” supplemented Yanagi. “Sadaharu and I were discussing this just now. We want to know who did it and why. We need test results, diet lists, records-a lot of things. We need people to answer our questions, or to get the information we want. For this, we would need someone who has the resources and the connections. Someone who has enough power to get things done.”
Oshitari, who had remained silent until then, stirred finally. “So that’s why you wanted to talk to Atobe.”
“Time is of the essence.” Inui lifted his chin slightly, looking straight at Oshitari. “We need a fighting chance-”
“I want to get whoever did this to Seiichi,” said Yanagi grimly.
“Well.”
The new voice in the room belonged to none of the five persons already seated within. It boomed from the speakers by the side of the large, blank, 42-inch LCD TV screen mounted into the wall at the end of the sixth conference room. Hitherto it had maintained a monochrome bright blue colour, but now it suddenly flickered into life as Atobe Keigo’s face, greatly magnified, appeared on the huge screen. How Atobe managed to look down his nose at all of them from that ridiculously gigantic screen was beyond them - but being Atobe, he managed it rather well.
“Tachibana.” Atobe inclined his head. “You are here. Fuji. Inui. Yanagi. Yuushi.”
A lesser person might have balked at Atobe’s arrogant manner, or even resented it, but they knew Atobe of old. It was Atobe’s way of greeting them-in fact, one might almost call it affectionate.
There were two others sharing screen time with Atobe. Each had just half their faces showing, but it was enough to tell who they were.
Fuji’s face showed surprise. “… Tezuka…? Kaidoh?”
Both Tezuka and Kaidoh said nothing; the former nodded and the latter ducked his head quickly in a modest bow, his cheeks colouring slightly.
“Atobe.” Oshitari’s chair swivelled around so that he now faced Atobe head-on. “Inui and Yanagi have a rather interesting theory that I think we should consider.”
“Hn.” Atobe fixed a very hard stare on Oshitari. “I see.” He let his eyes run around the present company. Then he allowed himself a small, satisfied smile. “Now that we are all gathered,” he announced, “let us begin. You might not know this, but…” He paused, arching an eyebrow for dramatic effect. “…we have less than twenty hours left.”