FIC: Backhand Birthday, Jackal + Team Gen, PGish
Title: Backhand Birthday
Author: Ociwen
Wordcount: 7300
Rating: PGish
Disclaimer: Konomi owns all,
Warning: Mancrushes, Maria Sharapova, shifty Swiss, and lots of garlic. And no, get your minds out of the gutter! This is gen!
Summary: It's Jackal's birthday, and the ATP tournament is coming to Tokyo.
Author's Notes: Written for Jackal's birthday, 2010. A little late, but hopefully forgiven.
If you like/love/loathe, please leave a comment to let me know.
The first thing Bunta says at practice is, "Dude, you know the ATP Masters is coming to Tokyo on your birthday?"
"Cool," Jackal says. Then he thinks about it for a moment. "But I'd have to see if my parents let me go."
Bunta slides his arm across Jackal's shoulder. He peaks into the paper Starbucks bag and helps himself to Jackal's extra sour-cream glazed doughnut. "Don't worry about the price," he says, "Hiroshi and I have that covered for you."
"You sure?"
Bunta nods. Jackal nods.
"Sweet. Thanks."
Bunta polishes off the last of the doughnut. He wipes his hands on his sides. "No probs, biff."
Across the tennis court, Sanada lets out a blood curdling scream. He drops to his knees. Everyone comes running to see him, clutching Yukimura's hand, as Yukimura convulses on the ground.
"Marui!" Sanada shouts. "CALL AN AMBULANCE!"
Bunta looks at Jackal. Jackal toes Yukimura in the side with his sneaker to turn him over. Sanada yanks open Yukimura's jacket and places his hands over Yukimura's chest. Yukimura continues to froth at the mouth. His lips move over a name.
"…Roddick…Andy…Roddick…"
"Sanada, he's fine," Jackal says.
Sanada whips his head around. Jackal squats down next to Yukimura. He pries the iPhone from Yukimura's hand. The screen is open to a twitter account.
Jackal clears his throat. "'im comin to the tourney in tokyo sunday morning!'"
Yukimura twitches, epileptic-style. His moans get louder.
Jackal places a hand on Sanada's shoulder. "He's just excited to see his hero, that's all."
Sanada takes a deep breath. He sniffles a little, and wipes his nose with the handkerchief Yagyuu offers. "It's…not a relapse?"
"Andy…" Yukimura whispers. "I'm coming…"
***
Jackal dumps his bags by the door. He pads across the floor in his sock feet-a little stained from tennis practice, but that's okay. The whole apartment smells like Bobó de Camarão. Jackal inhales it over his mom's shoulder. She offers him a spoon for testing.
Jackal swipes a piece of shrimp from the cream sauce. It's like curry at Bunta's house, but a thousand times better.
"Is dad home for supper?" he asks. In Portuguese, of course.
"No, he's working later again," she says. "Set the table for supper, Jackal, I'm starving at this time of the month, you know?" She pats her middle. Jackal winces.
"TMI," he says.
"Set the table!" she shouts, louder, over the bubbling pot. "Before the beans burn!"
The buzzer rings. Jackal races for the speaker. "Yo!"
"'Sup? Mind if I come up?"
Jackal laughs under his breath. He glances back at his mom, who rolls her eyes. Jackal hesitates for a moment. His mom scoffs. "Well, invite him up, Jackal! None of us are getting any younger!"
"Yeah, my mom says it's fine."
Bunta grins in the doorway. He says, in a loud, clipped voice, "Thanks Kuwahara-san!"
"It's a good thing I made extra," Jackal's mom says, in Portuguese. "Your friend eats as much as a gaúcho." Then, she switches to really, really bad Japanese. "You welcome come eat, Bun-bun."
Bunta tucks the napkin into his shirt collar. "Thanks K-san. You're the best!"
Jackal's mom smiles at Bunta. Behind his back, she rolls her eyes. "Jackal, help with the food!" she shouts.
Jackal carries the pot of stew to the table. Bunta licks his lips. So does Jackal. Bunta reaches for the spoon, but Jackal's mom swats his hand away.
"We thank the Almighty Father and Maria for the food your useless father scrapes by an earning to pay for first," she says. Then, she crosses herself. "O Senhor, now we eat. Amen."
Bunta stares at Jackal blankly. Jackal dives into the rice and beans before he finishes an Amen in response.
"It was fish Friday at home," Bunta says. "Except I couldn't stop thinking about the sushi at Hiroshi's birthday." He shudders. Jackal joins him.
"We told the kid to stop."
"Yeah."
"My mom was really pissed about the barf all over my blazer. Dry clean."
"Akaya so owes us."
"Totally."
They hang out in Jackal's room with the magazines Bunta brought: Sports Illustrated, Tennis Pro Monthly, and the latest Jump Square that Bunta swiped off a packed train, the usual. Bunta lets out a big belch. Jackal cranks open the window, even though it's kinda cold and he took off his socks at dinner.
Bunta pats his stomach. "Your mom's food is awesome." He lets one rip. Jackal sticks his head outside the window and pretends to choke.
"So it says here that-OH MY GOD!"
Jackal asks what. His mom bangs the kitchen wall and yells at them to shut up (in Portuguese).
Bunta clutches his chest. He swoons across Jackal's bed, and lands on a heap in the floor. Jackal catches the magazine.
"So Maria Sharapova's getting married. She is, like, old, you know."
"She was supposed to wait for me!"
Jackal shrugs. "You can still, like, think she's hot and stuff."
Bunta huffs. He snatches the magazine back. Then he rummages in Jackal's school bag for a pen. He scribbles a moustache and angry Xs all over Sasha Vujacic's face.
"And if I see him next week," Bunta says, "I'll kick his ass."
"It said that he's 201cm."
Bunta glares at Jackal. He cracks his knuckles anyway. Jackal shakes his head and laughs. He peers over Bunta's shoulder at the article.
"And he's 93 kilos. All he'd have to do is sit on you."
"Ruined," Bunta mutters. "He's so ugly. She could do so much better!"
Jackal grins.
Then he remembers about his homework. Japanese class. Essay on Japanese uniqueness due tomorrow.
"Shit," Jackal says. He smacks his hand to his forehead. His mom bangs on the wall again.
"I'm doomed," he says.
"Yanagi'll write it for 1000."
"Really?" Jackal's shoulders sink. "I don't-"
Bunta slaps Jackal on the back. "We can call it even for dinner."
***
Yanagi hands Jackal a print-out before class. Bunta hands Yanagi a thousand yen note. Jackal hands Bunta an empanidha at lunch.
Pastry flakes get all over Niou, who glares and calls Bunta a fat pig. Bunta sniffs, stuffs the rest of the empanidha into his mouth, and says, "You're just jealous because that-" He nods to Niou's school lunch-mystery sea creature rice bowl-"is nowhere near as good as this."
He opens his mouth, to reveal half-chewed food all over his tongue. Sanada calls Bunta uncouth. Yagyuu turns away. Jackal bites down on his lip until Akaya starts to laugh too, and then he joins in. Because it is pretty funny to see Niou sputter like that.
Jackal finishes his pastry. Chicken today, with the cheap, marked-down chicken at the supermarket and leftovers from Jackal's dad's restaurant. The chicken special must have been on the menu last night.
Yukimura isn't paying any attention to any of them. He scrolls through his iPhone touch screen, which his eyes don't leave, not even when Yanagi asks if he actually understands what the website says.
"I am planning our attack," he says.
"Attack?" Jackal asks.
Bunta leans over. "He's helping with the ticket get-o. For the semis, on Sunday. Best chance of the good players, we figure."
"I figured," Yanagi says. "Based on the win-lose ratios of the most recent ATP tournament at Shanghai."
"We're not just going for, I dunno, watching some good tennis?" Jackal asks.
Slowly, Yukimura lifts his head. The air stills, and the crows stop cackling on the rooftop. He blinks once. Jackal sucks in a breath.
"Don't be silly," Yukimura says. His smile sends a cold shiver down Jackal's spine.
***
"So?" Jackal asks.
Across the net, Yukimura is stomping around, with his iPhone plastered to his ear. Sanada opens his mouth, and Yukimura tells him to shut up, he's on the phone!
"It's not going well," Bunta says.
"Clearly," Yagyuu adds.
"As long as we get seats, it doesn't matter where," Jackal says. "It's the company that matters."
Yanagi raises his eyebrows, and says nothing.
***
Jackal and Bunta follow Yukimura downtown after school.
"You probably shouldn't come," Yukimura says.
Jackal shrugs. "I don't mind. Besides," he says, as they step off the train and into the station. "There's a Starbucks nearby."
"True that," Bunta says. He high-fives Jackal. "Autumn specials came out Monday."
Yukimura frowns a little. Jackal thinks he looks a little lonely without Sanada's shadow behind him, but Sanada and Yagyuu had Morals Committee. Yukimura walks ahead of them. Jackal can keep up, but Bunta breaks into a jog.
"Where are we going so fast?" Bunta gasps.
There's a Tokyu Hands around the corner. And a big, flashing sign held by a freeter that says there is a 50% off stationary sale.
"Oh," Jackal says.
Bunta collapses on the electronics floor. "I'll just…wait here…" he moans. "Right by this display of new, shiny videogame consoles…"
The stationary floor is filled with chicks. Jackal grins to himself-definitely the right decision to come here. He smiles at the girls in the Yokohama Central blazers. He waves at the girls in the plaid skirts from Higashi Junior High. In the sticker aisle, a girl in a sailor suit with a silver crest-Motomachi Technical-ducks her head and flushes as Jackal walks past. Butterflies flit around his stomach, in a totally good way.
Then Yukimura hands him a basket. And a pile of large, glitter decal letters.
Jackal blinks. "Oh, if this is for a birthday card, maybe I shouldn't-"
Yukimura blinks too. "Birthday card?"
"For me?"
Yukimura gives him a funny look. He picks out five sheets of foil heart. "Who said anything about a birthday card?"
In Starbucks, Bunta flips open his phone. "And see her?" He shows Jackal a picture of the back of a girl. Yukimura slurps his frappuccino and spreads decal letters across the table spelling out NUMBRE ONE ANDY RO
Bunta scrolls through a series of photos on his phone. All backs and bums of girls, all wearing short school uniform skirts, and all suspiciously with electronics equipment in the background.
"It was, like, a plethora of otaku chicks," Bunta says. He points to his screen. "This one, well you can't see it here, but she had this fox tail clipped to her skirt. You know chicks like that are into kinky stuff."
"I thought otaku chicks like boys' love and stuff," Jackal says.
Bunta closes his phone. He looks at Jackal, dead pan and silent, and they share a horrified grimace.
"Do you think I should put a heart here, or here?" Yukimura asks.
***
On Saturday, Akaya phones.
"Do you wanna go to the arcade, Jackal-sempai?" he asks.
Jackal rolls out of bed. He rubs the back of his head, where the bristles are starting to poke through. "Okay," he says.
"Cool, except can you, um, lend me some money?"
Jackal sighs. He says okay, and hangs up. His mom is up, in the kitchen, and whipping up a bowl of melons for breakfast. Jackal picks up a slice. He nibbles around the bruise spot. He mom swats him across the ear and says, "There's nothing wrong with that spot!"
His dad is sprawled across the couch, which is two-feet too small. He's still got his grease-splattered uniform from the restaurant on. Jackal glances back to his mom. She's scowling in the vague direction of his dad.
Jackal winces.
"Mom?"
The knife gleams in the light from the window. The toaster dings. She slides a piece of toast in front of Jackal, and a little tea cup full of espresso, too.
"Can I, uh, borrow some money again?"
She rolls her eyes, and hands him two thousand notes. Jackal cringes. He holds his hand out, still.
"You said a thousand was enough for a person."
Jackal sorta laughs. On the couch, his dad grunts and shifts in his sleep.
"Yeah…"
***
Bunta is waiting with Akaya at the bus stop.
"We'll buy you ramen tomorrow at the stadium," Bunta tells Jackal. "Thanks man, you're a real pal."
The arcade with the best games-Blood Splatter, Nascar Ultimate, Pokemon Whack-em-and the best UFO catchers ("The ones with the zombie toys!" Akaya says) is out in the sticks, not too far from Sanada's place. They take turns between Bunta's two ear buds, listening to the new Alice Nine album. Jackal bops his head. Bunta taps his fingers on the bus seat. Akaya stamps his foot-onto a girl's.
"Sorry sorry!!!" he shrieks.
She gives him the death glare.
Jackal presses the button for the next stop, even though it's too early. They slink off the bus. "Jeez, Akaya," Bunta says.
Akaya ducks his head lower. He mumbles a half-apology with a nervous laugh.
They walk along the pavement, past a cheap yakiniku family-style joint, and the Jusco too. Then past the supermarket, where there's some tall kid in a black cap helping load groceries and mega packages of toilet paper into a Honda.
"SANADA!" Bunta shouts. He flaps his hands around. Akaya starts to wave, too.
Jackal cups his hands around his mouth. "HEY!"
Sanada looks up from the Honda's hatch back. The woman next to him wears a matching Mickey Mouse jumper. She leans to say something to Sanada. Bunta shouts Sanada's name again, but Sanada only reluctantly lifts his hand in a pathetic wave before throwing himself into the Honda.
"Man," Bunta says, "did you see his mom's rack?" He wolf-whistles. The Honda pulls out of the parking lot, and drives past them. Sanada keeps his head down.
A sideways smile pulls at Jackal's mouth. "I was more paying attention to his Mickey jumper."
Akaya snickers.
The arcade is busy-it's Saturday, after all, and there's a new Ultimate Fighter Ninja Death Battle game with a line-up to play it. Akaya makes a beeline for the game. Bunta makes a beeline for the snack counter. Jackal says hi to Niou, who's playing a game of darts with a dirty old freeter.
"Isn't that a bit sketchy?" Jackal asks Niou.
Niou shifts his eyes. The freeter is lurking behind the blinking whack-a-Charmander game. Niou shrugs. He holds out his hand. There's a wad of bills.
"I bet him that he can't win and he takes the bait," Niou says.
"And if you lose?"
Niou smirks. "I don't."
Jackal doesn't want to think about that.
They've only got enough money for a few rounds of the Ultimate Fighter Ninja, not even when Bunta asks Niou for some spare change, and Niou rolls his eyes and says, "Yeah fucking right." Akaya hangs out around the UFO catcher until the girls come by. He splits.
Bunta sidles over to one side. Jackal sidles over to the other.
"Hey," Bunta says to the taller one. He flips his hair and blows a big bubble with his chewing gum.
Jackal runs his hand across his scalp. He grins down at the megane girl with the pigtails. "Hey."
"You girls headin' somewhere?" Bunta asks.
The taller girl loops her arm through megane's. Megane narrows her eyes at Bunta. "You gonna put your phone away from my skirt?
Bunta blinks. He holds his phone up. "I swear it wasn't on camera."
Jackal nods. "I can vouch."
Megane huffs. She pokes Jackal in the chest with her plushie seal cellphone charm. "You may be cute," she says, before she whips around to Bunta, "but you are a perv."
Tall girl sniffs. "Yeah!"
Jackal pats Bunta on the shoulder. Akaya slinks out from his hidey-hole as soon as the girls are out of earshot. "It's all right," Jackal says. "They probably didn't mean it."
"PERV!" Megane shouts from across the whirring, flashing games.
"Ramen?" Bunta whispers.
Jackal reaches into his pocket. Two five hundred coins and a handful of ones. He sighs and says okay.
***
Yukimura brings a large plastic garbage bag to school. He dumps it in the middle of the clubhouse.
"What's that for?" Jackal asks.
Sanada says nothing. Yanagi has a creepy smile and writes something down on the expenses sheet for the coach.
"Echizen's corpse?" Akaya offers. He and Niou snigger. Jackal joins in, until Yukimura goes deathly still. There is a single, sick crunch under his sneaker as he crushes a wayward cicada shell.
"Bunta?" Yukimura asks.
Bunta swallows. "Sei-Seiichi?"
"Have you received the tickets?"
"They're supposed to come in the mail today."
Yukimura's lips move. "Good, good," he whispers. He reaches deep into the bag, and pulls something out with a flourish. Jackal squeezes his eyes shut, just in case.
Yagyuu is the first to speak. He looks down, and then slowly picks up a Lacoste polo, in blue and white check.
"Do we have…new uniforms, Yukimura-kun?"
Yukimura giggles under his breath. He smacks Yagyuu on the shoulder. "No, Yagyuu. These are our ATP outfits."
Yagyuu rubs his arm, wincing. Jackal looks around. Everyone else looks at him, except those three, who always seem to know what's going on.
Yanagi hands a polo to each of them. "We ordered the same sizes as your tennis club t-shirts. To the coach's expense."
"But…why?" Jackal asks. "I don't care what you guys wear to my birthd-"
Yukimura folds his arms across his chest. "So we can support Andy, of course."
***
In Japanese language tutoring, Sanada scoots his desk a little closer to Jackal.
"Is this the right radical?" Jackal asks.
Sanada frowns. He makes a couple quick marks with his pen.
"Uh, okay," Jackal says. It looks practically the same as what he just drew out on the big practice grid.
"Jackal," Sanada whispers. He closes his cellphone, but it keeps vibrating with a message.
"Sanada?"
Sanada shifts his eyes. He leans dangerously close. Jackal remembers all the jokes Niou made about Sanada and Yukimura and the hospital room with the closed door. Jackal swallows.
"Don't tell Yukimura but…I don't like Andy Roddick," Sanada whispers.
Jackal says, "Okay?"
***
It doesn't hit until breakfast. Jackal is eating a slice of melon. His dad is in the shower, and there's leftover BBQ flank steak from the restaurant on the table. Jackal douses his beef in chimichurri sauce and rolls the garlicy, herby, delicious meat across his tongue. The sun is almost shining outside, except there's a typhoon in the forecast for tonight and wind whips around the leaves outside.
He's going to watch professional tennis live.
Not staying up until 3am to watch a match broadcast in California, or watching the clips on Bunta's iPad the morning after. Not clipping tiny articles from Tennis Pro Weekly issues that Sanada leaves in the clubhouse toilet, or hoping the news on tv might say a sentence about the US Open.
Nope, he is going to watch real, live tennis.
"Happy Birthday, my baby boy!" his mom says. She wraps her arms around Jackal's head, and squeezes his face to her boobs. Which are squishy and so not right!
Jackal cringes. When she pulls away, she wipes the corners of her eyes. "What kind of cake do you want, mi precioso? Coconut? Banana?"
Jackal slathers another piece of beef in chimichurri. He says whatever's fine. "Oh, and Mom?"
She sniffles. "Hm?"
"Thanks."
***
They meet at Starbucks, of course.
"What can I get you, biff?" Bunta asks.
Jackal grins. "The usual."
Bunta nods sagely. "A venti double-espresso latte with soy foam it is!"
Yukimura immediately gives Jackal a one-up-down with his eyes. "Good," he says.
Jackal looks down at the polo. He glances to Sanada, who clenches his jaw a little tighter-and wears the same, matching polo as the rest of them.
"Do you have the tickets?" Yukimura asks.
Bunta hands one to Yukimura. Yukimura grabs the lot, and stuffs them into his fanny pack. He pats his pack with a satisfied nod. "We have to make sure they are in a secure spot," he says.
They take the train to the Shimbashi, where Bunta heads for the station conbini. Jackal picks out a bag of curry popcorn. Akaya throws in five bottles of Pepsi. Sanada removes the Pepsi and replaces it with water.
Akaya sticks his bottom lip out.
Sanada narrows his eyes. Akaya's lip retreats. As soon as Sanada turns his back, a Pepsi slides back into the basket.
"Hurry up!" Yukimura shouts. "We only have two hours until the match!"
Jackal leans on the counter as Bunta pays for the snacks. "Isn't that, like, a ton of time?"
"You'd think so," Bunta says. "Yukimura's just antsy."
"Even though it's my birthday."
Bunta snickers. "You know where you fall in his scheme of things." Jackal just rolls his eyes, and takes one of the plastic bags.
There's a line to the monorail entrance. Yukimura flaps his arms to flag them down. He huffs and puffs and pulls them in line, right ahead of a group of elementary-aged kids. Jackal frowns, and feels kinda bad when one kid sniffles. He mutters, "Sorry".
The kid stamps on his foot.
Akaya cracks his knuckles. "Want a sandwich?" he asks the brat.
The brat says, "What?"
Akaya swings his arm back. "A knuckle sand-"
Jackal grabs Akaya's fist. "He's just a kid." The kid sticks his tongue out at both of them. Jackal shakes his head. To Akaya he mutters, "An obnoxious kid."
An obnoxious kid who cuts the line into the monorail on the platform and slides into the only vacant seat in the carriage. That Sanada was standing beside to hold for Yukimura.
Sanada inhales so deep, his nostrils nearly explode. Jackal shuffles over to the window, where Bunta presses into his right side. Niou shoves up against Jackal's left side, a little harder than he needs to.
"Sorry," Niou says.
"It's okay," Jackal says.
The monorail jerks into motion. Niou pushes Jackal into the window.
"Sorry," he says, again.
"It's…okay," Jackal says.
Bunta sniffs the air. It's thick with too many people, and too tight a space. Jackal watches the platform packed en masse disappear. He sighs.
"Who stinks?" Bunta says. He makes a face at Niou. "You have nastay BO, stinkbomb."
Niou says, "Puri!" He pushes Bunta into Jackal's back. Jackal smushes into the window. He closes his eyes as his back and arms are pushed and prodded and pulled. Sanada isn't close enough to break them up. The bratty kid's father and mother are wedged in between.
And the stadium is on the far side of Odaiba.
Jackal frowns.
***
Yukimura takes one look at the seats, and stomps his foot. "These are shit!"
"They're the best I could get," Bunta says. "You know how hard it is to get eight tickets?" He looks at Jackal. Jackal shrugs his shoulders, and says, "Hard, I guess?"
Yukimura just scoffs. He sends a dark look to Niou and Yagyuu at the end of the row. Niou climbs over the lap of a gal. Yagyuu squeezes by, apologizing profusely for inconveniencing her.
"Nobody said you needed eight tickets," Yukimura says.
"But it's my birthday," Jackal says. "It's nice to spend it with everyone."
Yanagi raises his eyebrows. Jackal says nothing when Yukimura takes the best seat, at the end of the eight spots and least nosebleed-y-if that was possible. Sanada sits next to him. Then Yanagi, Akaya-who sets a contraband bottle of pepsi in his cup holder-Yagyuu and Niou.
Jackal squeezes past Bunta. "You and Niou really shouldn't sit next to each other," he says.
Bunta blinks and asks why ever not. Niou picks his nose and pretends to try to stuff a booger into Jackal's ear. Jackal squirms and twists, but Niou shoves his index into Jackal's ear.
And it's slimy.
Jackal frowns.
Niou smirks. "Happy birthday," he says.
Jackal grimaces. He wipes out his ear with the collar of his polo. "Thanks…"
There's nothing on the courts yet, just the sweepers with their brooms and a recap of the previous matches on the gigantotron screen. Jackal crunches on his popcorn. Bunta reaches into the bag and helps himself to a handful, too. Then Akaya crawls over Yagyuu and Niou and says, "I want some too, senpais."
Yagyuu lets out a high-pitched shriek. Niou bristles. Akaya climbs back into his seat, takes one look down, and says, "Shit."
His Pepsi spilled all over Yagyuu's lap, and his checkered polo.
Akaya says, "Oops?"
Instead of turning purple, Yukimura doesn't seem to notice. He paws through his program pamphlet, pointing out the relevant pages to Sanada and Yanagi. He claps his hands and squeals when Andy Roddick's name appears on the gigantotron, with his win over some nobody from Canada.
"An easy win," Bunta whispers. "Let's face it, Andy Roddick? On the way out this year. Just like Federer."
Jackal claps his hand over Bunta's mouth. "Shh!" he whispers. "They'll hear."
Sanada starts to turn his head toward them, and Jackal's heart pounds. But Yukimura keeps chatting, and Sanada turns back to him.
Jackal exhales. He flips through his pamphlet, with the glossy pictures and current stats, and sits back in the hard plastic seat with a happy sigh. He breathes in the smell of stadium ramen and beer and even Akaya's spilled Pepsi. He takes in the atmosphere of the real ATP tournament, with the crisp green court a hundred or two feet below, and it makes his toes tingle.
"This is exciting," he says.
"Yeah," Bunta says. "Your favourite player is up against Andy Roddick."
"Favourite?"
Bunta smiles, and shakes his head ruefully. "Obviously. Juan Martin del Potro."
Jackal scratches his scalp. "Uh, he is?"
"Duh. You're both Brazilian."
"He's not," Jackal says.
"He is," Bunta insists.
"He's from Argentina!"
Bunta snorts. "Whatever, dude. That's practically the same thing."
Jackal snorts, too. "Not really. Like, at all."
Niou dives across Jackal's lap. Jackal jerks back. Bunta jumps up. Niou stands, slowly, and brushes his polo off at the end of the row. Then, he slinks down the stairs toward the gate.
"Where the hell is he going?" Bunta asks.
Yagyuu says he doesn't know.
Sanada says he doesn't care.
Bunta sniffs. "Well, if he was going for snacks, he could have at least asked, because I really wanted a package of wasabi peanuts. And a fanta."
Jackal scraps the bottom of the popcorn bag. Nothing but crumbs and kernels left. His stomach gurgles at the peanuts. It sounds good. "Me too," he says. He turns to Bunta. "Want me to go?"
Bunta grabs Jackal's arm. "No! LOOK!"
Sure enough, down far far below on the edge of the court, one of the tennis players has stepped out. Jackal squints, but he still can't make out who it is. Yukimura has curled into a whimpering ball, so Jackal makes an assumption.
Yanagi whips out a pair of binoculars. Akaya quickly absconds them for himself. Yagyuu passes them politely to Jackal. Jackal licks his lips as he adjusts the focus on the lenses.
"Wow…" he whispers.
Sure enough, dressed in the same matching polo as the entire tennis club, is a tall, tanned American with a blue ball cap and a tennis racket. He's not playing or doing anything, just standing, looking deep and serious, as he talks with someone who must be his coach.
Jackal hands the binoculars to Bunta. The mewling at the other end of the row continues. Bunta sets the binculars down, and snickers.
"I think we need the smelling salts, Jackal."
***
With ten minutes to first serve, Niou returns. He shoves into Bunta, and crawls over Jackal's lap. Sans snack bags and fanta cans.
Then he climbs over Yagyuu and Yanagi, Akaya and lands on Sanada's lap.
Niou looks up at Sanada, and smiles. Sanada scowls.
Niou tells Yukimura, "Come with me. I found seats."
Jackal looks at his ticket. He doublechecks the seat number. A perfect match. Niou and Yukimura, however, march straight out of the row-squeezing and shoving past the rest of them-and down the stand stairs.
"But these are our seats here," Jackal says, as Akaya and Yanagi stand up.
Bunta shrugs. "If there's better spots, why not, man?" He nods to the screen, where the time ticks down. "If they're not already here, it's not like they're gonna be."
Yagyuu, dead pan, says, "We won't be stealing. Some of us have vision impairments." He touches his glasses.
Jackal frowns. He looks at Sanada, who sits at the other end, surrounded by now-empty seats as the rest of the team leaves.
"This isn't right," Sanada mutters. "These are our seats here."
Jackal glances from Sanada, to the team. Then back to Sanada, still sitting. With a sigh, Jackal picks up his manbag and stands up, too.
***
The seats are second row.
Jackal's eyes nearly pop out of his skull. He can see del Potro's calf muscles bulge during the warm-up. He can smell the salty sweat of the players, and taste the dust from the courts. Jackal slithers down in the seat.
"These are…" he says.
"Amazing?" Bunta offers.
Niou smirks. Bunta immediately closes his mouth. But his eyes are still the size of saucers just like Jackal's.
Yukimura is too Japanese to scream, but he's too devoted to sit still. He glues himself to the stand barrier, holding his large sign, and flaking glitter everywhere. He shakes when Andy Roddick approaches the net. He quivers and quakes when Andy Roddick wipes sweat from his forehead on a sweat towel, and hands it to his coach.
A woman sits down in front of Jackal. Jackal sits up a little higher to see around her head. Andy Roddick serves a low ball, but del Potro backhands it to the back court. Roddick dives and misses and Yukimura winces.
"Unusual," Yanagi says. "Del Potro has a history of aggressive offensive baseline plays."
Sanada stands up. He mutters something about having to go to the toilet. Jackal glances around-as the players change courts, he can see across the packed stands, outside, to where another player, outside the main stadium, is practicing.
"Isn't Federer playing tonight?" Yagyuu asks Yanagi.
Jackal thinks, Hm…
Del Potro has the serve. He whips the ball across the net before Jackal has time to blink. And Roddick, too, because he is a fraction of a second too slow. The ball catches the edge of his racket, and veers out of bounds.
Jackal glances to Yukimura. Yukimura is half-way across the barrier, and perhaps ten feet from Andy Roddick-who doesn't notice him at all.
But someone else does.
A man in a security vest walks down to Yukimura, who waves his hand to swat the man away. Then the security officers grabs Yukimura by the arm. He hauls Yukimura, squirming and saying, "No! NO!" back up to the second row.
Yukimura sits back down with a huff. The security officer bows his head, and says, "Sorry for the trouble."
Then he asks to check tickets.
"Shit," Akaya says.
Niou makes a break for it. He dives across Jackal to the end of the row, but a swarm of neon vests descend. Jackal looks at Bunta, who jumps so high in his seat that his bag of candy explodes over Yagyuu. The security guy next to Jackal shakes his head, and mutters something about "Kids these days."
Jackal hangs his head. He stands up, and sighs.
They're frogmarched through the stadium, and into a back office. The door closes with a sick little click. Yukimura runs for the door. He bangs on the frosted window and shrieks, "No! NO! I'M MISSING THE MATCH!!!"
A man behind a desk says, "You boys are in a lot of trouble."
Yagyuu slithers to the floor. Yanagi leans down, and prods Yagyuu with his index. "He's out."
"It was his idea!" Akaya points his finger at Niou. Niou blinks, innocently, and holds his hands up. He nods to Yukimura, struggling in the arms of another security officer.
"He looks guilty, doesn't he, Officer…" Niou leans forward to read the name on the man's ID tag. "Officer Koda-sama."
Niou smiles.
The man puffs his chest out a little more. "Well, boys will be boys, but we can't let you off the hook that easily."
Jackal leans against the wall. He sighs again. "It's my birthday," he mutters under his breath.
Officer Koda turns. He waves his hand. "If it's your birthday, well…go back to your real seat and watch."
Jackal blinks. "Eh?"
So does Bunta. "What?"
Another officer opens the door. Jackal hesitates, but Koda nods him on. Yukimura flails and screams that he NEEDS to leave now and SUPPORT ANY RODDICK!!
The door closes, just as Jackal hears Koda ask one of the other officials if he's still got that taser.
In the hallway, Jackal exhales. "I knew it," he says. He balls his fist. "I knew it was a bad idea." He pulls out the real ticket. He's down the middle of a cinder-block corridor leading to nowhere. He looks around. He can hear the muffled din of the match going on. He sighs.
And starts to wander.
He goes left, first. The sounds of the stadium get louder, and a little crisper. He holds his breath for a moment, and a point is announced for Roddick. A smile creeps over Jackal's face. If Yukimura could hear, he'd be pleased. But instead he's dealing with security-probably calling their moms-and Jackal is out here, kinda sorta lost. He types a fast email to Bunta and presses send. He waits a second, but there's no response.
The security guys probably swiped all their phones, too.
Jackal keeps walking. There's light at the end of the corridor, so bright that Jackal shields his eyes to see.
As someone walks straight into him with an "Oomph!"
Jackal steps back, squinting.
"Sanada?"
Sanada pulls on his cap. "I…"
"What are you doing here?"
Sanada flushes. "I…got lost on the way back from the toilets," he mumbles.
"Oh," Jackal says.
Sanada's lips disappear into a frown.
"I won't tell anyone," Jackal says. He nods. "Is it that way?"
Sanada shakes his head. "Restricted area."
Jackal snorts. "Don't tell Yukimura!"
Sanada's mouth twitches. They head back, the other direction. They pass the security office, with the frosted glass window in the door. Sanada doesn't give it a glance. Jackal bites his lip, and tells himself to keep going. It's his birthday, after all. And it was Niou's idea.
The corridor ends with a wall, splitting into two directions.
"Left or right?" Jackal asks.
Sanada pauses a moment, then he says, "Right."
There are voices beyond the corridor, getting louder the further they walk. Jackal picks up the pace. If they hurry, they can still make the last sets-provided del Potro's wrist doesn't give out and Andy Roddick doesn't totally choke.
"Ne, Sanada?"
Sanada grunts.
"Who do you think'll win?"
Sanada snorts. "Andy Roddick will win, then he'll play Federer in the quarterfinals and lose." It might be the awful greenish fluorescent lighting bouncing off the cinderblock walls, but Jackal swears Sanada smirks at that.
"And Federer will win the tournament?"
"He was number one for 285 weeks for a reason."
"Right."
Sanada says nothing. The voices are getting louder, and they're getting closer. Jackal can see the end of the corridor clearly. He skips a step, and keeps going. A door to his left opens, and a man in white steps into the corridor, five feet from them.
Jackal stops.
Sanada stops.
Jackal's eyes go wide.
Sanada sucks in a breath.
The man nods to them. A strange mewling sound emerges next to Jackal. And there's something clutching his hand tightly.
"Uh…" Jackal says, in his best English. "Are you…?"
Roger Federer smiles.
Nails dig into Jackal's palm. And Sanada is bouncing beside him.
"Uh…" Jackal says. "It my birthday today."
As soon as the words come out, he winces. He sounds like a moron.
Like Roger Federer cares!
Except Roger Federer just says, "Cool. You want a picture?"
There's another mewl. Jackal fumbles with his cellphone in his pocket. He pulls it out. His hand shakes so badly that his knees start to shake, too, with fear of droppage. "Uh…my friend, also?"
Roger Federer says sure. And he puts his Grand Slam-Winning arm around Jackal. Then the other around Sanada, who sucks in a breath.
From deep, deep within, Jackal manages to say, "Cheesu!" And his finger manages to press down on the camera button.
Then Roger Federer slides his warm arm away from Jackal's shoulder. Jackal says thank you about five times in a row. Sanada bows his head low and forgets to come up.
"Nice shirts," Roger Federer says. He smirks to himself-kinda creepy, a bit like Niou. Maybe it's a Swiss thing.
Jackal stares blankly.
Roger Federer reaches into his pocket. "Happy Birthday," he says, with a wink. He chucks something at Jackal. Jackal looks down, blinking, as Roger Federer walks down the corridor, the other direction.
It's a red-wrapped chocolate.
"Lin…dor…?" Jackal reads. He shrugs. His entire body vibrates all over. He met a Grand Slam player. On his birthday. Jackal squeezes his eyes shut, and does a happy dance on the spot.
"Oh my god," he says. He looks at Sanada.
Sanada says, "Oh my god." Jackal has never seen Sanada with a grin like that before. Sanada touches his shoulder, and brings his hand to his nose, inhaling deeply.
Jackal stares at the picture on his phone. Roger Federer has a sideways smile. Jackal is in too much awe to care about the fact he looks red in the face, or that his eyes have a creepy look to them. Sanada has a massive, toolish grin-they both do.
With good reason.
Jackal does another happy dance.
He starts to type an email to Bunta. A shadow creeps over Jackal, cold and dark. Sanada purses his lips and lifts his chin high.
"Jackal," he says.
"S-Sanada?"
"Do not tell them."
Jackal gulps. He deletes the email. Sanada nods slowly. And shifts his eyes.
"Email me the photo!" he says.
Jackal sends it over. Sanada stares at his LCD screen, mewling and shivering for a moment before he composes himself.
"You know," Jackal says. He ducks under the 'IDs beyond this point' rope, following Sanada. They turn a corner, and the main corridor of the stadium, lined with concessions, glows ahead of them.
"This is possibly the best day ever."
***
Even given the fact they miss the rest of the match, where Roddick pulverizes del Potro 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, and advances to the quarterfinals.
They catch up with everyone at the station.
Yukimura doesn't ask where Sanada was. Sanada doesn't ask where Yukimura was. He walks with a daze, tripping over his toes on the escalator, and humming the Ryoma-den OP to himself. Jackal bites his lip on the platform. The chocolate is safe in the hidden pocket in his bag. He squirms on the monorail. His insides feel so light and fluttery that he'll explode.
Except he doesn't.
He leans over to Bunta. "You guys, uh…?"
Bunta lifts his head. "They let us off the hook. Gave us a lecture. Rah rah, that section is for players' families, rah rah, seats are assigned for a reason."
"Yukimura looks…"
Bunta's mouth twitches. "He was pretty pissed about missing the match."
"But I'm lining up tonight," Yukimura says.
"Where?" Jackal asks.
Yukimura sniffs. "The stadium. For lottery tickets for tomorrow's quarterfinal."
"Speaking of tonight," Bunta says. He rubs his stomach. He scoots a little closer to Jackal, and offers a big smile.
Jackal shakes his head, loling under his breath. "Yeah, you can come over." Then, louder, he says, "All you guys can come over!"
Yagyuu frowns. "Won't it impose on your mother?"
Jackal shrugs. "I'll tell her we’re coming."
On the phone, his mom shrieks at him so loud that Niou doesn't have to lean over to listen. "If you told me hours ago, I could have made something better! Your friends will think we're poor!"
"It's okay," Jackal says. He sighs. He sniffs into the speaker on his cellphone. There's a pause.
"Well," his mom says, "when are they coming? Ay caramba…"
"An hour?"
She lets out a stream of half-hearted curses in Portuguese as Jackal hangs up. Bunta edges up on the edge of his seat.
Jackal nods. "It's cool."
Akaya gives him a high-five. "Thanks, senpai!" he says, grinning. "Now I'll still have enough money to take the bus home tonight!"
Jackal rubs his scalp, smiling anyway.
***
"You lied K-san," Bunta says. "This stuff looks amazing!" He waves his hands six feet apart. Jackal's mom waves him off with a flush on her face.
There's palm heart salad, and black beans and rice, bolinhos de bacalhau still hot and steaming from the deep fryer, and crab meat with coconut milk served up in the nabe pot, coconut cookies and leftover empanidhas and Styrofoam containers packed with segments of Brazilian beef cubes from the restaurant.
Jackal licks his lips. His mom stands in the doorway of the kitchen, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. "My baby boy…" She sniffles.
They don't have enough chairs, so the desk chair is appropriated from Jackal's room for Yanagi, and the bean bag chairs are dragged over for Yukimura and Akaya. Niou doubles up on Yagyuu's chair, and Jackal sits wedged between Bunta and Sanada and the shrimp and Catupiry cheese casserole.
"This is really good," Akaya says, between bites. Coconut milk sauce dribbles down his chin. He licks it off the back of his hand.
"Mm," Niou agrees. He hasn't come up from the BBQ beef. Neither has Sanada, not even when Yukimura asked for him to pass to the cod balls.
The wind may be howling outside with the coming typhoon, but inside, the windows are fogging up with condensation. Jackal's mom clears the empty dishes and brings out more empanidhas and more beans-once the rice runs out.
"So how does it feel," Bunta asks, "to be older than him now?" He nods to Niou. Niou has a mouthful, and can only manage to narrow his eyes.
Jackal leans back in his chair. A belch emerges, pungent with garlic. He pats his stomach-groaning, his waistband straining-and starts to laugh with everyone else.
Yukimura stands up, and heads for the door. Jackal looks to Sanada, who just scowls and shrugs and mouths, "I don't know." Niou waggles his eyebrows when Yukimura returns, holding an envelope.
Yukimura hands it to Jackal. Jackal pulls out a card. He opens it, and says "Thanks" as a glittery decal letter falls onto his lap.
"I made it with the extras from my sign," Yukimura says. He holds up a finger and points. "You'll notice how I left off the hearts?"
"Thanks," Jackal says.
"Bet he's saving the hearts for Sanada's card," Niou whispers, a fraction too loud. Yagyuu coughs, but Bunta starts to snicker. Jackal bites down on his own snicker.
"Today was…" Jackal glances around the table. Yukimura dives for the last garlic shrimp. Niou finishes off the cod ball sitting on Yagyuu's plate. Akaya moans and groans and says he can't go on. Sanada and Yanagi lock eyes for the last piece of beef, which Yagyuu snipers from underneath.
And Bunta's eyes light up.
"Memorable," Jackal says. He glances to Sanada. Sanada shifts his eyes, then there's a flash of a wink.
The lights go dark. Except for the kitchen-the direction Bunta was looking-where Jackal's mom brings out a flan, dripping with little candles and caramel sauce.
"Happy birthday, filho," she says. As she sets the flan down in front of Jackal, she pecks him on the forehead. Jackal recoils, horrified and stunned that his mother just kissed him in front of his friends!!
His face burns.
And so do the candles.
Bunta is the first one to break into song. "Happy Birthday to you…" The candlelight seems to dance across the table, illuminating the empty dishes, but also the faces of everyone here.
Jackal leans back, sucking in a deep breath.
He doesn't need to make any wish at all.
Author: Ociwen
Wordcount: 7300
Rating: PGish
Disclaimer: Konomi owns all,
Warning: Mancrushes, Maria Sharapova, shifty Swiss, and lots of garlic. And no, get your minds out of the gutter! This is gen!
Summary: It's Jackal's birthday, and the ATP tournament is coming to Tokyo.
Author's Notes: Written for Jackal's birthday, 2010. A little late, but hopefully forgiven.
If you like/love/loathe, please leave a comment to let me know.
The first thing Bunta says at practice is, "Dude, you know the ATP Masters is coming to Tokyo on your birthday?"
"Cool," Jackal says. Then he thinks about it for a moment. "But I'd have to see if my parents let me go."
Bunta slides his arm across Jackal's shoulder. He peaks into the paper Starbucks bag and helps himself to Jackal's extra sour-cream glazed doughnut. "Don't worry about the price," he says, "Hiroshi and I have that covered for you."
"You sure?"
Bunta nods. Jackal nods.
"Sweet. Thanks."
Bunta polishes off the last of the doughnut. He wipes his hands on his sides. "No probs, biff."
Across the tennis court, Sanada lets out a blood curdling scream. He drops to his knees. Everyone comes running to see him, clutching Yukimura's hand, as Yukimura convulses on the ground.
"Marui!" Sanada shouts. "CALL AN AMBULANCE!"
Bunta looks at Jackal. Jackal toes Yukimura in the side with his sneaker to turn him over. Sanada yanks open Yukimura's jacket and places his hands over Yukimura's chest. Yukimura continues to froth at the mouth. His lips move over a name.
"…Roddick…Andy…Roddick…"
"Sanada, he's fine," Jackal says.
Sanada whips his head around. Jackal squats down next to Yukimura. He pries the iPhone from Yukimura's hand. The screen is open to a twitter account.
Jackal clears his throat. "'im comin to the tourney in tokyo sunday morning!'"
Yukimura twitches, epileptic-style. His moans get louder.
Jackal places a hand on Sanada's shoulder. "He's just excited to see his hero, that's all."
Sanada takes a deep breath. He sniffles a little, and wipes his nose with the handkerchief Yagyuu offers. "It's…not a relapse?"
"Andy…" Yukimura whispers. "I'm coming…"
***
Jackal dumps his bags by the door. He pads across the floor in his sock feet-a little stained from tennis practice, but that's okay. The whole apartment smells like Bobó de Camarão. Jackal inhales it over his mom's shoulder. She offers him a spoon for testing.
Jackal swipes a piece of shrimp from the cream sauce. It's like curry at Bunta's house, but a thousand times better.
"Is dad home for supper?" he asks. In Portuguese, of course.
"No, he's working later again," she says. "Set the table for supper, Jackal, I'm starving at this time of the month, you know?" She pats her middle. Jackal winces.
"TMI," he says.
"Set the table!" she shouts, louder, over the bubbling pot. "Before the beans burn!"
The buzzer rings. Jackal races for the speaker. "Yo!"
"'Sup? Mind if I come up?"
Jackal laughs under his breath. He glances back at his mom, who rolls her eyes. Jackal hesitates for a moment. His mom scoffs. "Well, invite him up, Jackal! None of us are getting any younger!"
"Yeah, my mom says it's fine."
Bunta grins in the doorway. He says, in a loud, clipped voice, "Thanks Kuwahara-san!"
"It's a good thing I made extra," Jackal's mom says, in Portuguese. "Your friend eats as much as a gaúcho." Then, she switches to really, really bad Japanese. "You welcome come eat, Bun-bun."
Bunta tucks the napkin into his shirt collar. "Thanks K-san. You're the best!"
Jackal's mom smiles at Bunta. Behind his back, she rolls her eyes. "Jackal, help with the food!" she shouts.
Jackal carries the pot of stew to the table. Bunta licks his lips. So does Jackal. Bunta reaches for the spoon, but Jackal's mom swats his hand away.
"We thank the Almighty Father and Maria for the food your useless father scrapes by an earning to pay for first," she says. Then, she crosses herself. "O Senhor, now we eat. Amen."
Bunta stares at Jackal blankly. Jackal dives into the rice and beans before he finishes an Amen in response.
"It was fish Friday at home," Bunta says. "Except I couldn't stop thinking about the sushi at Hiroshi's birthday." He shudders. Jackal joins him.
"We told the kid to stop."
"Yeah."
"My mom was really pissed about the barf all over my blazer. Dry clean."
"Akaya so owes us."
"Totally."
They hang out in Jackal's room with the magazines Bunta brought: Sports Illustrated, Tennis Pro Monthly, and the latest Jump Square that Bunta swiped off a packed train, the usual. Bunta lets out a big belch. Jackal cranks open the window, even though it's kinda cold and he took off his socks at dinner.
Bunta pats his stomach. "Your mom's food is awesome." He lets one rip. Jackal sticks his head outside the window and pretends to choke.
"So it says here that-OH MY GOD!"
Jackal asks what. His mom bangs the kitchen wall and yells at them to shut up (in Portuguese).
Bunta clutches his chest. He swoons across Jackal's bed, and lands on a heap in the floor. Jackal catches the magazine.
"So Maria Sharapova's getting married. She is, like, old, you know."
"She was supposed to wait for me!"
Jackal shrugs. "You can still, like, think she's hot and stuff."
Bunta huffs. He snatches the magazine back. Then he rummages in Jackal's school bag for a pen. He scribbles a moustache and angry Xs all over Sasha Vujacic's face.
"And if I see him next week," Bunta says, "I'll kick his ass."
"It said that he's 201cm."
Bunta glares at Jackal. He cracks his knuckles anyway. Jackal shakes his head and laughs. He peers over Bunta's shoulder at the article.
"And he's 93 kilos. All he'd have to do is sit on you."
"Ruined," Bunta mutters. "He's so ugly. She could do so much better!"
Jackal grins.
Then he remembers about his homework. Japanese class. Essay on Japanese uniqueness due tomorrow.
"Shit," Jackal says. He smacks his hand to his forehead. His mom bangs on the wall again.
"I'm doomed," he says.
"Yanagi'll write it for 1000."
"Really?" Jackal's shoulders sink. "I don't-"
Bunta slaps Jackal on the back. "We can call it even for dinner."
***
Yanagi hands Jackal a print-out before class. Bunta hands Yanagi a thousand yen note. Jackal hands Bunta an empanidha at lunch.
Pastry flakes get all over Niou, who glares and calls Bunta a fat pig. Bunta sniffs, stuffs the rest of the empanidha into his mouth, and says, "You're just jealous because that-" He nods to Niou's school lunch-mystery sea creature rice bowl-"is nowhere near as good as this."
He opens his mouth, to reveal half-chewed food all over his tongue. Sanada calls Bunta uncouth. Yagyuu turns away. Jackal bites down on his lip until Akaya starts to laugh too, and then he joins in. Because it is pretty funny to see Niou sputter like that.
Jackal finishes his pastry. Chicken today, with the cheap, marked-down chicken at the supermarket and leftovers from Jackal's dad's restaurant. The chicken special must have been on the menu last night.
Yukimura isn't paying any attention to any of them. He scrolls through his iPhone touch screen, which his eyes don't leave, not even when Yanagi asks if he actually understands what the website says.
"I am planning our attack," he says.
"Attack?" Jackal asks.
Bunta leans over. "He's helping with the ticket get-o. For the semis, on Sunday. Best chance of the good players, we figure."
"I figured," Yanagi says. "Based on the win-lose ratios of the most recent ATP tournament at Shanghai."
"We're not just going for, I dunno, watching some good tennis?" Jackal asks.
Slowly, Yukimura lifts his head. The air stills, and the crows stop cackling on the rooftop. He blinks once. Jackal sucks in a breath.
"Don't be silly," Yukimura says. His smile sends a cold shiver down Jackal's spine.
***
"So?" Jackal asks.
Across the net, Yukimura is stomping around, with his iPhone plastered to his ear. Sanada opens his mouth, and Yukimura tells him to shut up, he's on the phone!
"It's not going well," Bunta says.
"Clearly," Yagyuu adds.
"As long as we get seats, it doesn't matter where," Jackal says. "It's the company that matters."
Yanagi raises his eyebrows, and says nothing.
***
Jackal and Bunta follow Yukimura downtown after school.
"You probably shouldn't come," Yukimura says.
Jackal shrugs. "I don't mind. Besides," he says, as they step off the train and into the station. "There's a Starbucks nearby."
"True that," Bunta says. He high-fives Jackal. "Autumn specials came out Monday."
Yukimura frowns a little. Jackal thinks he looks a little lonely without Sanada's shadow behind him, but Sanada and Yagyuu had Morals Committee. Yukimura walks ahead of them. Jackal can keep up, but Bunta breaks into a jog.
"Where are we going so fast?" Bunta gasps.
There's a Tokyu Hands around the corner. And a big, flashing sign held by a freeter that says there is a 50% off stationary sale.
"Oh," Jackal says.
Bunta collapses on the electronics floor. "I'll just…wait here…" he moans. "Right by this display of new, shiny videogame consoles…"
The stationary floor is filled with chicks. Jackal grins to himself-definitely the right decision to come here. He smiles at the girls in the Yokohama Central blazers. He waves at the girls in the plaid skirts from Higashi Junior High. In the sticker aisle, a girl in a sailor suit with a silver crest-Motomachi Technical-ducks her head and flushes as Jackal walks past. Butterflies flit around his stomach, in a totally good way.
Then Yukimura hands him a basket. And a pile of large, glitter decal letters.
Jackal blinks. "Oh, if this is for a birthday card, maybe I shouldn't-"
Yukimura blinks too. "Birthday card?"
"For me?"
Yukimura gives him a funny look. He picks out five sheets of foil heart. "Who said anything about a birthday card?"
In Starbucks, Bunta flips open his phone. "And see her?" He shows Jackal a picture of the back of a girl. Yukimura slurps his frappuccino and spreads decal letters across the table spelling out NUMBRE ONE ANDY RO
Bunta scrolls through a series of photos on his phone. All backs and bums of girls, all wearing short school uniform skirts, and all suspiciously with electronics equipment in the background.
"It was, like, a plethora of otaku chicks," Bunta says. He points to his screen. "This one, well you can't see it here, but she had this fox tail clipped to her skirt. You know chicks like that are into kinky stuff."
"I thought otaku chicks like boys' love and stuff," Jackal says.
Bunta closes his phone. He looks at Jackal, dead pan and silent, and they share a horrified grimace.
"Do you think I should put a heart here, or here?" Yukimura asks.
***
On Saturday, Akaya phones.
"Do you wanna go to the arcade, Jackal-sempai?" he asks.
Jackal rolls out of bed. He rubs the back of his head, where the bristles are starting to poke through. "Okay," he says.
"Cool, except can you, um, lend me some money?"
Jackal sighs. He says okay, and hangs up. His mom is up, in the kitchen, and whipping up a bowl of melons for breakfast. Jackal picks up a slice. He nibbles around the bruise spot. He mom swats him across the ear and says, "There's nothing wrong with that spot!"
His dad is sprawled across the couch, which is two-feet too small. He's still got his grease-splattered uniform from the restaurant on. Jackal glances back to his mom. She's scowling in the vague direction of his dad.
Jackal winces.
"Mom?"
The knife gleams in the light from the window. The toaster dings. She slides a piece of toast in front of Jackal, and a little tea cup full of espresso, too.
"Can I, uh, borrow some money again?"
She rolls her eyes, and hands him two thousand notes. Jackal cringes. He holds his hand out, still.
"You said a thousand was enough for a person."
Jackal sorta laughs. On the couch, his dad grunts and shifts in his sleep.
"Yeah…"
***
Bunta is waiting with Akaya at the bus stop.
"We'll buy you ramen tomorrow at the stadium," Bunta tells Jackal. "Thanks man, you're a real pal."
The arcade with the best games-Blood Splatter, Nascar Ultimate, Pokemon Whack-em-and the best UFO catchers ("The ones with the zombie toys!" Akaya says) is out in the sticks, not too far from Sanada's place. They take turns between Bunta's two ear buds, listening to the new Alice Nine album. Jackal bops his head. Bunta taps his fingers on the bus seat. Akaya stamps his foot-onto a girl's.
"Sorry sorry!!!" he shrieks.
She gives him the death glare.
Jackal presses the button for the next stop, even though it's too early. They slink off the bus. "Jeez, Akaya," Bunta says.
Akaya ducks his head lower. He mumbles a half-apology with a nervous laugh.
They walk along the pavement, past a cheap yakiniku family-style joint, and the Jusco too. Then past the supermarket, where there's some tall kid in a black cap helping load groceries and mega packages of toilet paper into a Honda.
"SANADA!" Bunta shouts. He flaps his hands around. Akaya starts to wave, too.
Jackal cups his hands around his mouth. "HEY!"
Sanada looks up from the Honda's hatch back. The woman next to him wears a matching Mickey Mouse jumper. She leans to say something to Sanada. Bunta shouts Sanada's name again, but Sanada only reluctantly lifts his hand in a pathetic wave before throwing himself into the Honda.
"Man," Bunta says, "did you see his mom's rack?" He wolf-whistles. The Honda pulls out of the parking lot, and drives past them. Sanada keeps his head down.
A sideways smile pulls at Jackal's mouth. "I was more paying attention to his Mickey jumper."
Akaya snickers.
The arcade is busy-it's Saturday, after all, and there's a new Ultimate Fighter Ninja Death Battle game with a line-up to play it. Akaya makes a beeline for the game. Bunta makes a beeline for the snack counter. Jackal says hi to Niou, who's playing a game of darts with a dirty old freeter.
"Isn't that a bit sketchy?" Jackal asks Niou.
Niou shifts his eyes. The freeter is lurking behind the blinking whack-a-Charmander game. Niou shrugs. He holds out his hand. There's a wad of bills.
"I bet him that he can't win and he takes the bait," Niou says.
"And if you lose?"
Niou smirks. "I don't."
Jackal doesn't want to think about that.
They've only got enough money for a few rounds of the Ultimate Fighter Ninja, not even when Bunta asks Niou for some spare change, and Niou rolls his eyes and says, "Yeah fucking right." Akaya hangs out around the UFO catcher until the girls come by. He splits.
Bunta sidles over to one side. Jackal sidles over to the other.
"Hey," Bunta says to the taller one. He flips his hair and blows a big bubble with his chewing gum.
Jackal runs his hand across his scalp. He grins down at the megane girl with the pigtails. "Hey."
"You girls headin' somewhere?" Bunta asks.
The taller girl loops her arm through megane's. Megane narrows her eyes at Bunta. "You gonna put your phone away from my skirt?
Bunta blinks. He holds his phone up. "I swear it wasn't on camera."
Jackal nods. "I can vouch."
Megane huffs. She pokes Jackal in the chest with her plushie seal cellphone charm. "You may be cute," she says, before she whips around to Bunta, "but you are a perv."
Tall girl sniffs. "Yeah!"
Jackal pats Bunta on the shoulder. Akaya slinks out from his hidey-hole as soon as the girls are out of earshot. "It's all right," Jackal says. "They probably didn't mean it."
"PERV!" Megane shouts from across the whirring, flashing games.
"Ramen?" Bunta whispers.
Jackal reaches into his pocket. Two five hundred coins and a handful of ones. He sighs and says okay.
***
Yukimura brings a large plastic garbage bag to school. He dumps it in the middle of the clubhouse.
"What's that for?" Jackal asks.
Sanada says nothing. Yanagi has a creepy smile and writes something down on the expenses sheet for the coach.
"Echizen's corpse?" Akaya offers. He and Niou snigger. Jackal joins in, until Yukimura goes deathly still. There is a single, sick crunch under his sneaker as he crushes a wayward cicada shell.
"Bunta?" Yukimura asks.
Bunta swallows. "Sei-Seiichi?"
"Have you received the tickets?"
"They're supposed to come in the mail today."
Yukimura's lips move. "Good, good," he whispers. He reaches deep into the bag, and pulls something out with a flourish. Jackal squeezes his eyes shut, just in case.
Yagyuu is the first to speak. He looks down, and then slowly picks up a Lacoste polo, in blue and white check.
"Do we have…new uniforms, Yukimura-kun?"
Yukimura giggles under his breath. He smacks Yagyuu on the shoulder. "No, Yagyuu. These are our ATP outfits."
Yagyuu rubs his arm, wincing. Jackal looks around. Everyone else looks at him, except those three, who always seem to know what's going on.
Yanagi hands a polo to each of them. "We ordered the same sizes as your tennis club t-shirts. To the coach's expense."
"But…why?" Jackal asks. "I don't care what you guys wear to my birthd-"
Yukimura folds his arms across his chest. "So we can support Andy, of course."
***
In Japanese language tutoring, Sanada scoots his desk a little closer to Jackal.
"Is this the right radical?" Jackal asks.
Sanada frowns. He makes a couple quick marks with his pen.
"Uh, okay," Jackal says. It looks practically the same as what he just drew out on the big practice grid.
"Jackal," Sanada whispers. He closes his cellphone, but it keeps vibrating with a message.
"Sanada?"
Sanada shifts his eyes. He leans dangerously close. Jackal remembers all the jokes Niou made about Sanada and Yukimura and the hospital room with the closed door. Jackal swallows.
"Don't tell Yukimura but…I don't like Andy Roddick," Sanada whispers.
Jackal says, "Okay?"
***
It doesn't hit until breakfast. Jackal is eating a slice of melon. His dad is in the shower, and there's leftover BBQ flank steak from the restaurant on the table. Jackal douses his beef in chimichurri sauce and rolls the garlicy, herby, delicious meat across his tongue. The sun is almost shining outside, except there's a typhoon in the forecast for tonight and wind whips around the leaves outside.
He's going to watch professional tennis live.
Not staying up until 3am to watch a match broadcast in California, or watching the clips on Bunta's iPad the morning after. Not clipping tiny articles from Tennis Pro Weekly issues that Sanada leaves in the clubhouse toilet, or hoping the news on tv might say a sentence about the US Open.
Nope, he is going to watch real, live tennis.
"Happy Birthday, my baby boy!" his mom says. She wraps her arms around Jackal's head, and squeezes his face to her boobs. Which are squishy and so not right!
Jackal cringes. When she pulls away, she wipes the corners of her eyes. "What kind of cake do you want, mi precioso? Coconut? Banana?"
Jackal slathers another piece of beef in chimichurri. He says whatever's fine. "Oh, and Mom?"
She sniffles. "Hm?"
"Thanks."
***
They meet at Starbucks, of course.
"What can I get you, biff?" Bunta asks.
Jackal grins. "The usual."
Bunta nods sagely. "A venti double-espresso latte with soy foam it is!"
Yukimura immediately gives Jackal a one-up-down with his eyes. "Good," he says.
Jackal looks down at the polo. He glances to Sanada, who clenches his jaw a little tighter-and wears the same, matching polo as the rest of them.
"Do you have the tickets?" Yukimura asks.
Bunta hands one to Yukimura. Yukimura grabs the lot, and stuffs them into his fanny pack. He pats his pack with a satisfied nod. "We have to make sure they are in a secure spot," he says.
They take the train to the Shimbashi, where Bunta heads for the station conbini. Jackal picks out a bag of curry popcorn. Akaya throws in five bottles of Pepsi. Sanada removes the Pepsi and replaces it with water.
Akaya sticks his bottom lip out.
Sanada narrows his eyes. Akaya's lip retreats. As soon as Sanada turns his back, a Pepsi slides back into the basket.
"Hurry up!" Yukimura shouts. "We only have two hours until the match!"
Jackal leans on the counter as Bunta pays for the snacks. "Isn't that, like, a ton of time?"
"You'd think so," Bunta says. "Yukimura's just antsy."
"Even though it's my birthday."
Bunta snickers. "You know where you fall in his scheme of things." Jackal just rolls his eyes, and takes one of the plastic bags.
There's a line to the monorail entrance. Yukimura flaps his arms to flag them down. He huffs and puffs and pulls them in line, right ahead of a group of elementary-aged kids. Jackal frowns, and feels kinda bad when one kid sniffles. He mutters, "Sorry".
The kid stamps on his foot.
Akaya cracks his knuckles. "Want a sandwich?" he asks the brat.
The brat says, "What?"
Akaya swings his arm back. "A knuckle sand-"
Jackal grabs Akaya's fist. "He's just a kid." The kid sticks his tongue out at both of them. Jackal shakes his head. To Akaya he mutters, "An obnoxious kid."
An obnoxious kid who cuts the line into the monorail on the platform and slides into the only vacant seat in the carriage. That Sanada was standing beside to hold for Yukimura.
Sanada inhales so deep, his nostrils nearly explode. Jackal shuffles over to the window, where Bunta presses into his right side. Niou shoves up against Jackal's left side, a little harder than he needs to.
"Sorry," Niou says.
"It's okay," Jackal says.
The monorail jerks into motion. Niou pushes Jackal into the window.
"Sorry," he says, again.
"It's…okay," Jackal says.
Bunta sniffs the air. It's thick with too many people, and too tight a space. Jackal watches the platform packed en masse disappear. He sighs.
"Who stinks?" Bunta says. He makes a face at Niou. "You have nastay BO, stinkbomb."
Niou says, "Puri!" He pushes Bunta into Jackal's back. Jackal smushes into the window. He closes his eyes as his back and arms are pushed and prodded and pulled. Sanada isn't close enough to break them up. The bratty kid's father and mother are wedged in between.
And the stadium is on the far side of Odaiba.
Jackal frowns.
***
Yukimura takes one look at the seats, and stomps his foot. "These are shit!"
"They're the best I could get," Bunta says. "You know how hard it is to get eight tickets?" He looks at Jackal. Jackal shrugs his shoulders, and says, "Hard, I guess?"
Yukimura just scoffs. He sends a dark look to Niou and Yagyuu at the end of the row. Niou climbs over the lap of a gal. Yagyuu squeezes by, apologizing profusely for inconveniencing her.
"Nobody said you needed eight tickets," Yukimura says.
"But it's my birthday," Jackal says. "It's nice to spend it with everyone."
Yanagi raises his eyebrows. Jackal says nothing when Yukimura takes the best seat, at the end of the eight spots and least nosebleed-y-if that was possible. Sanada sits next to him. Then Yanagi, Akaya-who sets a contraband bottle of pepsi in his cup holder-Yagyuu and Niou.
Jackal squeezes past Bunta. "You and Niou really shouldn't sit next to each other," he says.
Bunta blinks and asks why ever not. Niou picks his nose and pretends to try to stuff a booger into Jackal's ear. Jackal squirms and twists, but Niou shoves his index into Jackal's ear.
And it's slimy.
Jackal frowns.
Niou smirks. "Happy birthday," he says.
Jackal grimaces. He wipes out his ear with the collar of his polo. "Thanks…"
There's nothing on the courts yet, just the sweepers with their brooms and a recap of the previous matches on the gigantotron screen. Jackal crunches on his popcorn. Bunta reaches into the bag and helps himself to a handful, too. Then Akaya crawls over Yagyuu and Niou and says, "I want some too, senpais."
Yagyuu lets out a high-pitched shriek. Niou bristles. Akaya climbs back into his seat, takes one look down, and says, "Shit."
His Pepsi spilled all over Yagyuu's lap, and his checkered polo.
Akaya says, "Oops?"
Instead of turning purple, Yukimura doesn't seem to notice. He paws through his program pamphlet, pointing out the relevant pages to Sanada and Yanagi. He claps his hands and squeals when Andy Roddick's name appears on the gigantotron, with his win over some nobody from Canada.
"An easy win," Bunta whispers. "Let's face it, Andy Roddick? On the way out this year. Just like Federer."
Jackal claps his hand over Bunta's mouth. "Shh!" he whispers. "They'll hear."
Sanada starts to turn his head toward them, and Jackal's heart pounds. But Yukimura keeps chatting, and Sanada turns back to him.
Jackal exhales. He flips through his pamphlet, with the glossy pictures and current stats, and sits back in the hard plastic seat with a happy sigh. He breathes in the smell of stadium ramen and beer and even Akaya's spilled Pepsi. He takes in the atmosphere of the real ATP tournament, with the crisp green court a hundred or two feet below, and it makes his toes tingle.
"This is exciting," he says.
"Yeah," Bunta says. "Your favourite player is up against Andy Roddick."
"Favourite?"
Bunta smiles, and shakes his head ruefully. "Obviously. Juan Martin del Potro."
Jackal scratches his scalp. "Uh, he is?"
"Duh. You're both Brazilian."
"He's not," Jackal says.
"He is," Bunta insists.
"He's from Argentina!"
Bunta snorts. "Whatever, dude. That's practically the same thing."
Jackal snorts, too. "Not really. Like, at all."
Niou dives across Jackal's lap. Jackal jerks back. Bunta jumps up. Niou stands, slowly, and brushes his polo off at the end of the row. Then, he slinks down the stairs toward the gate.
"Where the hell is he going?" Bunta asks.
Yagyuu says he doesn't know.
Sanada says he doesn't care.
Bunta sniffs. "Well, if he was going for snacks, he could have at least asked, because I really wanted a package of wasabi peanuts. And a fanta."
Jackal scraps the bottom of the popcorn bag. Nothing but crumbs and kernels left. His stomach gurgles at the peanuts. It sounds good. "Me too," he says. He turns to Bunta. "Want me to go?"
Bunta grabs Jackal's arm. "No! LOOK!"
Sure enough, down far far below on the edge of the court, one of the tennis players has stepped out. Jackal squints, but he still can't make out who it is. Yukimura has curled into a whimpering ball, so Jackal makes an assumption.
Yanagi whips out a pair of binoculars. Akaya quickly absconds them for himself. Yagyuu passes them politely to Jackal. Jackal licks his lips as he adjusts the focus on the lenses.
"Wow…" he whispers.
Sure enough, dressed in the same matching polo as the entire tennis club, is a tall, tanned American with a blue ball cap and a tennis racket. He's not playing or doing anything, just standing, looking deep and serious, as he talks with someone who must be his coach.
Jackal hands the binoculars to Bunta. The mewling at the other end of the row continues. Bunta sets the binculars down, and snickers.
"I think we need the smelling salts, Jackal."
***
With ten minutes to first serve, Niou returns. He shoves into Bunta, and crawls over Jackal's lap. Sans snack bags and fanta cans.
Then he climbs over Yagyuu and Yanagi, Akaya and lands on Sanada's lap.
Niou looks up at Sanada, and smiles. Sanada scowls.
Niou tells Yukimura, "Come with me. I found seats."
Jackal looks at his ticket. He doublechecks the seat number. A perfect match. Niou and Yukimura, however, march straight out of the row-squeezing and shoving past the rest of them-and down the stand stairs.
"But these are our seats here," Jackal says, as Akaya and Yanagi stand up.
Bunta shrugs. "If there's better spots, why not, man?" He nods to the screen, where the time ticks down. "If they're not already here, it's not like they're gonna be."
Yagyuu, dead pan, says, "We won't be stealing. Some of us have vision impairments." He touches his glasses.
Jackal frowns. He looks at Sanada, who sits at the other end, surrounded by now-empty seats as the rest of the team leaves.
"This isn't right," Sanada mutters. "These are our seats here."
Jackal glances from Sanada, to the team. Then back to Sanada, still sitting. With a sigh, Jackal picks up his manbag and stands up, too.
***
The seats are second row.
Jackal's eyes nearly pop out of his skull. He can see del Potro's calf muscles bulge during the warm-up. He can smell the salty sweat of the players, and taste the dust from the courts. Jackal slithers down in the seat.
"These are…" he says.
"Amazing?" Bunta offers.
Niou smirks. Bunta immediately closes his mouth. But his eyes are still the size of saucers just like Jackal's.
Yukimura is too Japanese to scream, but he's too devoted to sit still. He glues himself to the stand barrier, holding his large sign, and flaking glitter everywhere. He shakes when Andy Roddick approaches the net. He quivers and quakes when Andy Roddick wipes sweat from his forehead on a sweat towel, and hands it to his coach.
A woman sits down in front of Jackal. Jackal sits up a little higher to see around her head. Andy Roddick serves a low ball, but del Potro backhands it to the back court. Roddick dives and misses and Yukimura winces.
"Unusual," Yanagi says. "Del Potro has a history of aggressive offensive baseline plays."
Sanada stands up. He mutters something about having to go to the toilet. Jackal glances around-as the players change courts, he can see across the packed stands, outside, to where another player, outside the main stadium, is practicing.
"Isn't Federer playing tonight?" Yagyuu asks Yanagi.
Jackal thinks, Hm…
Del Potro has the serve. He whips the ball across the net before Jackal has time to blink. And Roddick, too, because he is a fraction of a second too slow. The ball catches the edge of his racket, and veers out of bounds.
Jackal glances to Yukimura. Yukimura is half-way across the barrier, and perhaps ten feet from Andy Roddick-who doesn't notice him at all.
But someone else does.
A man in a security vest walks down to Yukimura, who waves his hand to swat the man away. Then the security officers grabs Yukimura by the arm. He hauls Yukimura, squirming and saying, "No! NO!" back up to the second row.
Yukimura sits back down with a huff. The security officer bows his head, and says, "Sorry for the trouble."
Then he asks to check tickets.
"Shit," Akaya says.
Niou makes a break for it. He dives across Jackal to the end of the row, but a swarm of neon vests descend. Jackal looks at Bunta, who jumps so high in his seat that his bag of candy explodes over Yagyuu. The security guy next to Jackal shakes his head, and mutters something about "Kids these days."
Jackal hangs his head. He stands up, and sighs.
They're frogmarched through the stadium, and into a back office. The door closes with a sick little click. Yukimura runs for the door. He bangs on the frosted window and shrieks, "No! NO! I'M MISSING THE MATCH!!!"
A man behind a desk says, "You boys are in a lot of trouble."
Yagyuu slithers to the floor. Yanagi leans down, and prods Yagyuu with his index. "He's out."
"It was his idea!" Akaya points his finger at Niou. Niou blinks, innocently, and holds his hands up. He nods to Yukimura, struggling in the arms of another security officer.
"He looks guilty, doesn't he, Officer…" Niou leans forward to read the name on the man's ID tag. "Officer Koda-sama."
Niou smiles.
The man puffs his chest out a little more. "Well, boys will be boys, but we can't let you off the hook that easily."
Jackal leans against the wall. He sighs again. "It's my birthday," he mutters under his breath.
Officer Koda turns. He waves his hand. "If it's your birthday, well…go back to your real seat and watch."
Jackal blinks. "Eh?"
So does Bunta. "What?"
Another officer opens the door. Jackal hesitates, but Koda nods him on. Yukimura flails and screams that he NEEDS to leave now and SUPPORT ANY RODDICK!!
The door closes, just as Jackal hears Koda ask one of the other officials if he's still got that taser.
In the hallway, Jackal exhales. "I knew it," he says. He balls his fist. "I knew it was a bad idea." He pulls out the real ticket. He's down the middle of a cinder-block corridor leading to nowhere. He looks around. He can hear the muffled din of the match going on. He sighs.
And starts to wander.
He goes left, first. The sounds of the stadium get louder, and a little crisper. He holds his breath for a moment, and a point is announced for Roddick. A smile creeps over Jackal's face. If Yukimura could hear, he'd be pleased. But instead he's dealing with security-probably calling their moms-and Jackal is out here, kinda sorta lost. He types a fast email to Bunta and presses send. He waits a second, but there's no response.
The security guys probably swiped all their phones, too.
Jackal keeps walking. There's light at the end of the corridor, so bright that Jackal shields his eyes to see.
As someone walks straight into him with an "Oomph!"
Jackal steps back, squinting.
"Sanada?"
Sanada pulls on his cap. "I…"
"What are you doing here?"
Sanada flushes. "I…got lost on the way back from the toilets," he mumbles.
"Oh," Jackal says.
Sanada's lips disappear into a frown.
"I won't tell anyone," Jackal says. He nods. "Is it that way?"
Sanada shakes his head. "Restricted area."
Jackal snorts. "Don't tell Yukimura!"
Sanada's mouth twitches. They head back, the other direction. They pass the security office, with the frosted glass window in the door. Sanada doesn't give it a glance. Jackal bites his lip, and tells himself to keep going. It's his birthday, after all. And it was Niou's idea.
The corridor ends with a wall, splitting into two directions.
"Left or right?" Jackal asks.
Sanada pauses a moment, then he says, "Right."
There are voices beyond the corridor, getting louder the further they walk. Jackal picks up the pace. If they hurry, they can still make the last sets-provided del Potro's wrist doesn't give out and Andy Roddick doesn't totally choke.
"Ne, Sanada?"
Sanada grunts.
"Who do you think'll win?"
Sanada snorts. "Andy Roddick will win, then he'll play Federer in the quarterfinals and lose." It might be the awful greenish fluorescent lighting bouncing off the cinderblock walls, but Jackal swears Sanada smirks at that.
"And Federer will win the tournament?"
"He was number one for 285 weeks for a reason."
"Right."
Sanada says nothing. The voices are getting louder, and they're getting closer. Jackal can see the end of the corridor clearly. He skips a step, and keeps going. A door to his left opens, and a man in white steps into the corridor, five feet from them.
Jackal stops.
Sanada stops.
Jackal's eyes go wide.
Sanada sucks in a breath.
The man nods to them. A strange mewling sound emerges next to Jackal. And there's something clutching his hand tightly.
"Uh…" Jackal says, in his best English. "Are you…?"
Roger Federer smiles.
Nails dig into Jackal's palm. And Sanada is bouncing beside him.
"Uh…" Jackal says. "It my birthday today."
As soon as the words come out, he winces. He sounds like a moron.
Like Roger Federer cares!
Except Roger Federer just says, "Cool. You want a picture?"
There's another mewl. Jackal fumbles with his cellphone in his pocket. He pulls it out. His hand shakes so badly that his knees start to shake, too, with fear of droppage. "Uh…my friend, also?"
Roger Federer says sure. And he puts his Grand Slam-Winning arm around Jackal. Then the other around Sanada, who sucks in a breath.
From deep, deep within, Jackal manages to say, "Cheesu!" And his finger manages to press down on the camera button.
Then Roger Federer slides his warm arm away from Jackal's shoulder. Jackal says thank you about five times in a row. Sanada bows his head low and forgets to come up.
"Nice shirts," Roger Federer says. He smirks to himself-kinda creepy, a bit like Niou. Maybe it's a Swiss thing.
Jackal stares blankly.
Roger Federer reaches into his pocket. "Happy Birthday," he says, with a wink. He chucks something at Jackal. Jackal looks down, blinking, as Roger Federer walks down the corridor, the other direction.
It's a red-wrapped chocolate.
"Lin…dor…?" Jackal reads. He shrugs. His entire body vibrates all over. He met a Grand Slam player. On his birthday. Jackal squeezes his eyes shut, and does a happy dance on the spot.
"Oh my god," he says. He looks at Sanada.
Sanada says, "Oh my god." Jackal has never seen Sanada with a grin like that before. Sanada touches his shoulder, and brings his hand to his nose, inhaling deeply.
Jackal stares at the picture on his phone. Roger Federer has a sideways smile. Jackal is in too much awe to care about the fact he looks red in the face, or that his eyes have a creepy look to them. Sanada has a massive, toolish grin-they both do.
With good reason.
Jackal does another happy dance.
He starts to type an email to Bunta. A shadow creeps over Jackal, cold and dark. Sanada purses his lips and lifts his chin high.
"Jackal," he says.
"S-Sanada?"
"Do not tell them."
Jackal gulps. He deletes the email. Sanada nods slowly. And shifts his eyes.
"Email me the photo!" he says.
Jackal sends it over. Sanada stares at his LCD screen, mewling and shivering for a moment before he composes himself.
"You know," Jackal says. He ducks under the 'IDs beyond this point' rope, following Sanada. They turn a corner, and the main corridor of the stadium, lined with concessions, glows ahead of them.
"This is possibly the best day ever."
***
Even given the fact they miss the rest of the match, where Roddick pulverizes del Potro 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, and advances to the quarterfinals.
They catch up with everyone at the station.
Yukimura doesn't ask where Sanada was. Sanada doesn't ask where Yukimura was. He walks with a daze, tripping over his toes on the escalator, and humming the Ryoma-den OP to himself. Jackal bites his lip on the platform. The chocolate is safe in the hidden pocket in his bag. He squirms on the monorail. His insides feel so light and fluttery that he'll explode.
Except he doesn't.
He leans over to Bunta. "You guys, uh…?"
Bunta lifts his head. "They let us off the hook. Gave us a lecture. Rah rah, that section is for players' families, rah rah, seats are assigned for a reason."
"Yukimura looks…"
Bunta's mouth twitches. "He was pretty pissed about missing the match."
"But I'm lining up tonight," Yukimura says.
"Where?" Jackal asks.
Yukimura sniffs. "The stadium. For lottery tickets for tomorrow's quarterfinal."
"Speaking of tonight," Bunta says. He rubs his stomach. He scoots a little closer to Jackal, and offers a big smile.
Jackal shakes his head, loling under his breath. "Yeah, you can come over." Then, louder, he says, "All you guys can come over!"
Yagyuu frowns. "Won't it impose on your mother?"
Jackal shrugs. "I'll tell her we’re coming."
On the phone, his mom shrieks at him so loud that Niou doesn't have to lean over to listen. "If you told me hours ago, I could have made something better! Your friends will think we're poor!"
"It's okay," Jackal says. He sighs. He sniffs into the speaker on his cellphone. There's a pause.
"Well," his mom says, "when are they coming? Ay caramba…"
"An hour?"
She lets out a stream of half-hearted curses in Portuguese as Jackal hangs up. Bunta edges up on the edge of his seat.
Jackal nods. "It's cool."
Akaya gives him a high-five. "Thanks, senpai!" he says, grinning. "Now I'll still have enough money to take the bus home tonight!"
Jackal rubs his scalp, smiling anyway.
***
"You lied K-san," Bunta says. "This stuff looks amazing!" He waves his hands six feet apart. Jackal's mom waves him off with a flush on her face.
There's palm heart salad, and black beans and rice, bolinhos de bacalhau still hot and steaming from the deep fryer, and crab meat with coconut milk served up in the nabe pot, coconut cookies and leftover empanidhas and Styrofoam containers packed with segments of Brazilian beef cubes from the restaurant.
Jackal licks his lips. His mom stands in the doorway of the kitchen, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. "My baby boy…" She sniffles.
They don't have enough chairs, so the desk chair is appropriated from Jackal's room for Yanagi, and the bean bag chairs are dragged over for Yukimura and Akaya. Niou doubles up on Yagyuu's chair, and Jackal sits wedged between Bunta and Sanada and the shrimp and Catupiry cheese casserole.
"This is really good," Akaya says, between bites. Coconut milk sauce dribbles down his chin. He licks it off the back of his hand.
"Mm," Niou agrees. He hasn't come up from the BBQ beef. Neither has Sanada, not even when Yukimura asked for him to pass to the cod balls.
The wind may be howling outside with the coming typhoon, but inside, the windows are fogging up with condensation. Jackal's mom clears the empty dishes and brings out more empanidhas and more beans-once the rice runs out.
"So how does it feel," Bunta asks, "to be older than him now?" He nods to Niou. Niou has a mouthful, and can only manage to narrow his eyes.
Jackal leans back in his chair. A belch emerges, pungent with garlic. He pats his stomach-groaning, his waistband straining-and starts to laugh with everyone else.
Yukimura stands up, and heads for the door. Jackal looks to Sanada, who just scowls and shrugs and mouths, "I don't know." Niou waggles his eyebrows when Yukimura returns, holding an envelope.
Yukimura hands it to Jackal. Jackal pulls out a card. He opens it, and says "Thanks" as a glittery decal letter falls onto his lap.
"I made it with the extras from my sign," Yukimura says. He holds up a finger and points. "You'll notice how I left off the hearts?"
"Thanks," Jackal says.
"Bet he's saving the hearts for Sanada's card," Niou whispers, a fraction too loud. Yagyuu coughs, but Bunta starts to snicker. Jackal bites down on his own snicker.
"Today was…" Jackal glances around the table. Yukimura dives for the last garlic shrimp. Niou finishes off the cod ball sitting on Yagyuu's plate. Akaya moans and groans and says he can't go on. Sanada and Yanagi lock eyes for the last piece of beef, which Yagyuu snipers from underneath.
And Bunta's eyes light up.
"Memorable," Jackal says. He glances to Sanada. Sanada shifts his eyes, then there's a flash of a wink.
The lights go dark. Except for the kitchen-the direction Bunta was looking-where Jackal's mom brings out a flan, dripping with little candles and caramel sauce.
"Happy birthday, filho," she says. As she sets the flan down in front of Jackal, she pecks him on the forehead. Jackal recoils, horrified and stunned that his mother just kissed him in front of his friends!!
His face burns.
And so do the candles.
Bunta is the first one to break into song. "Happy Birthday to you…" The candlelight seems to dance across the table, illuminating the empty dishes, but also the faces of everyone here.
Jackal leans back, sucking in a deep breath.
He doesn't need to make any wish at all.