Fanfic100 - Sunset
Title: Colors of the Sunset
Fandom: Prince of Tennis: Fudomine Chuugaku
Characters: Tachibana Kippei, Tachibana An, Kamio Akira, Ibu Shinji
Prompt: 032 - Sunset
Word Count: 2934
Date finished: 08/30/2007
Rating: G
Summary: Kippei wonders what happened to one of his best players.
Author's Notes: This was written for the comm fudomine_love, for the second round. It has since been cancelled, so I can post it now! It was written for sharpie, who runs an rp I played in shortly; she asked for "An being a girl and Akira being a boy". I hope I did okay. Thanks also to my friend wiccanlilly for the beta.
Disclaimer: Characters are owned by Konomi Takeshi, and whoever did the anime. At any rate, it's not me.
Tachibana Kippei did not understand the sudden drop in his vice-captain's performance. Kamio Akira was missing easy balls, his rhythm so completely off that he nearly stepped into one of Ishida Tetsu's Hadokyuus - less powerful than usual, but still heavy enough to do some serious damage, had it connected with Akira's head.
"Stop!" he shouted, and they all froze, staring at him as he strode onto the court.
Tetsu actually looked guilty. "Kippei, I…" he started, and Kippei held up a hand to stop his words.
"No, Tetsu. You did fine." He turned to Akira, who wasn't looking at him. The redhead stared down as if he were trying to find to find a flaw in the court. "Akira, your concentration is shot, and your rhythm hasn't been that off in a long time. What's going on?"
"I'm sorry," Akira said - but he offered no explanation.
"Tetsu almost brained you," Kippei continued. "I know you know better than to lose your focus playing him. You have to be careful."
Akira flushed. "I'll be more careful," he muttered.
Someone snickered.
Tachibana wasn't sure who it was; probably not Ibu Shinji, who was closest, but the other four members of his team were at a fair distance. Tetsu and Sakurai Masaya had joined Uchimura Kyosuke and Mori Tatsunori on the sidelines; when Kippei looked around, none of them looked like the were trying to hide a laugh. "Good. You do that. Twenty laps to get your act together."
Akira went without an argument.
Practice finished without a hitch, even when Akira returned. Kippei, in general, was pleased with it. But it still bothered him - because today had merely been the worst so far. Something was up with Akira.
Maybe he'd ask An if she knew anything.
But asking An was nearly as useless as talking to Akira had been. She glanced at him for about a second. "Something's wrong with Akira?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Like what?" An asked, examining her fingernails. Was that... color on them?
He refused to be distracted. "Like he nearly got himself brained today. He almost stepped into Tetsu's Hadokyuu."
An looked at him, eyes wide. "Is he okay?"
Kippei wasn't sure he could answer in the affirmative. "It missed him, but barely...." He started to speak before he realized his "big brother" alarms were going off in his head. His eyes narrowed. "An. What is going on?"
She turned her attention back to her fingernails. Yes, they were painted, a nice pink color. "What makes you think something is going on?"
Her interest in her fingernails (which only lacked her chomping on gum) was feigned, as was the lack of interest in his question about Akira. "An," he said warningly.
"What? Nothing is going on, Kippei." Her hands dropped to her sides, but she didn't look up. She sounded frustrated.
"With you, or with Akira?"
"Ask Akira what's up with him," An said coolly. "He hasn't said anything to me." She sounded... petulant, too.
"Nothing?" He was surprised.
"Not a word." Frosty.
Was that the problem? Something had happened between them? Or... He eyed An. Maybe something hadn't happened, and she wished it would. Asking her wouldn't get him any answers - he'd just have to keep an eye out.
And make sure Akira didn't play against Tetsu until he got straightened out.
"I did something," Akira muttered to his best friend. "I just don't know what."
Shinji, for once, was quiet. In fact, when Akira finally looked up to see why his friend hadn't said anything, he found Shinji was… gone.
Instead, next to him sat An. And she looked furious.
"What were you thinking?" she demanded in an undertone. "Kippei said you nearly got hit in the head with one of Tetsu's Hadokyuus!"
"An!" It came out nearly a squeak - and every other possible response was gone out of his head. He could only stare at her, because wow... she looked good.
"Did you hear me?" she hissed at him. "Are you even...." Frustrated, she tossed her head. "Akira."
"What!" To hear her call his name was a surprise, and he snapped back to the here and now - and the knowledge that if Kippei ever caught him looking at An like that, his life wouldn't be worth a bowl of ramen. "Uh. I gotta go."
Abandoning dignity, he fled.
"Did you talk to An?" Shinji asked as soon as he was in within range of Akira the next morning.
"You abandoned me!" Akira protested. "Did you know she was there?"
Shinji gave him an impassive look. "Of course."
Akira stared. "You're kidding, right? Shinji, would you please give me some warning next time?"
"An-chan said she wanted to talk to you. Did she?"
Akira shrugged one shoulder. "She was mad that I almost got hit yesterday."
"That was rather stupid," Shinji told him. "What happened?"
Akira felt his face heat up. He'd hoped to direct his friend's focus to something else - as usual, he failed. "I can't stop thinking about her," he muttered. "She looked fantastic yesterday."
"Your brain turned off," Shinji said. "Got it."
"Just... don't tell Kippei about it?"
"I won't. But you need to talk to An."
"Since the last few times went so well," Akira muttered.
"Hey, Shinji! Akira!"
Akira groaned softly. "Speak of the devil...."
"Do you want me to tell her that?"
Akira felt his face flame. "NO! I don't... Shinji. You're laughing at me!"
An fell into step with them, and Akira found he couldn't breathe. He'd thought she looked good the day before, but today.... "Wow," he breathed. "You look... nice."
She smiled up at him. "Thank you."
Yeah. He'd make sure he wasn't pitted against Tetsu today, either, because he'd probably be even worse off than he had been yesterday.
And Shinji was still laughing at him.
Kippei looked askance at his tensai. "What?"
Shinji's expression didn't change. "Akira has a crush on An."
Tennis practice was over, and it had been a disaster. Akira had at least requested not to go up against Tetsu, but that hadn't stopped him from stepping into Kyosuke's attack. Kippei, frustrated, had pulled Shinji aside and asked what was going on with the vice-captain.
He hadn't exactly expected this.
Although, he considered as he thanked Shinji and sent him home, it would also explain An's attitude lately. If she had a crush on Akira....
"Oh, great," he muttered, and went to make sure everything was locked up.
It was one thing to have his sister mooning over someone; it was irritating, in a big brother sort of way, but didn't really affect him.
Akira, on the other hand…. He did affect Kippei. And everyone else on the team. The way he'd been playing - or almost not playing - was horrible.
That could really mess up their chances at Nationals.
Kippei groaned, gave the court a last once-over, and headed toward the gates. That could not happen, and he'd force it if he had to.
This was Akira. And An. He'd probably have to.
He saw Akira ahead of him and sped up a little, catching up with his vice-captain. "Akira," he said, and the redhead jumped, ripped out of his thoughts, and stared up at Kippei.
"Uh...."
Kippei couldn't help it. He laughed. Akira blushed bright red and scowled. "What do you want?"
"What is up with you?" Kippei asked, sobering.
"Up with me?"
Kippei glared at him. "You know exactly what I mean. You lost to Kyo today - that's a first. Tetsu nearly hit you yesterday. You sabotaged your game Monday against Shinji and Tatsunori - Masaya is still furious. So. What is up with you?"
Akira was redder than he'd been before, and Kippei wondered if he was going to spontaneously combust from sheer embarrassment.
"Oh, that," he mumbled.
"Yeah. That."
"Well...."
"You have a crush on a girl," Kippei prompted after a long silence, then reached out and grabbed Akira's arm as the younger boy tensed.
The redhead relaxed - reluctantly - and looked down. "Well... yeah. You can let go," he added.
"I don't think so. You're faster than I am, but I'm stronger than you, and you're embarrassed enough to take off on me before I'm done with you." Akira's shoulders hunched. "This girl," Kippei prompted again.
"Yeah."
"Have you talked to her?"
"No...."
Kippei pulled him to a stop. "Look at me," he ordered.
Surprised, Akira's eyes met his, cheeks still bright red. "I don't want to see you at tennis practice until you've talked to her."
Akira's eyes widened. "But Kippei! The Nationals...."
"Exactly," Kippei agreed. "And right now, you're completely useless. Masaya's still angry about Monday - and you'll never hear the end of today's game from Kyo. The next time you show up to practice, this thing with this girl had better be resolved." He released Akira. "Understood?"
"Yes, Kippei."
Akira watched his friend and captain stride off, back the way they'd come, and wanted to sink into the sidewalk. He knew he should have stuck around and made sure Shinji didn't tell him anything!
With a despondent sigh, he headed for home, wondering what he could do tonight - because he wasn't missing practice tomorrow. The match this weekend was far too important.
He didn't get very far on his homework, either, too distracted by everything that had been going on recently, and finally, he gave up. Grabbing his phone from his bag, he called a good-bye to his mother and headed out.
He didn't need the number recorded into his phone; he knew her cell by memory, and he dialed as he walked aimlessly, trying to think of some place to meet her.
"This is An!"
"An, this is Akira. Uh. You busy?"
The other end was silent for a moment. "No...." She sounded wary.
"Will you meet me at the street courts? I can be there in about 20 minutes."
There was another long silence. "Sure," she said, sounding resigned. "I'll wait for you."
Akira moved much faster after he hung up; he didn't want to make her wait too long, and he was pleased to see that she was just reaching the top of the stairs when he reached the bottom. Without yelling at her, he started up, going slowly enough that by the time he reached the top, he was only a little out of breath.
An looked surprised. "You didn't take that long to get here," she said.
Akira shrugged uncomfortably. "I hurried," he said, and then realized he had nothing else to say. "I, uh, thought we could watch the sunset," he finally blurted.
An's smile was confused. "Okay."
The best place he could think of was the path by the river, so they started walking that way.
In silence.
But no matter how Akira wracked his brain, he couldn't come up with anything to say to her. Except about tennis. And he didn't think she cared to talk about that, considering how resigned she'd been when he suggested they meet at the courts.
"You look really good today," he finally managed to get out.
"Thank you." She sounded preoccupied.
That pretty much took care of any attempt at conversation, and they walked the rest of the way without speaking.
Akira's stomach twisted with nerves as they leaned against the railing, and he glanced at An, opening his mouth to confess to her.
"Kippei told me what he said to you."
Completely derailed, Akira stared at her. "Said to me?" he stammered.
"About not going back to practice until you talked to this girl." She still sounded... resigned.
"Oh." He knew his face turned bright red, and he ducked his head to hide it, glad she was on the side of his bangs.
"So, what are you going to say?"
"I don't know," he said automatically. "That's been my problem the whole time." This was easier, more like talking to her had been before he noticed how... cute she was.
"What is it you like?"
"She's funny, she's nice, and she... understands that there are other things in life than her." He flushed. "That came out wrong. She doesn't expect people to just... fawn over her. She has her own life, her own interests - and they happen to coincide with mine. Some of them."
"What would you have to offer her?"
He wondered at the resignation in her voice. "Friendship. I hope I'd be able to... spoil her, a little, even. And she likes some of the music I do, so I could take her to concerts. We're in the same grade, so we could even study together." His cheeks reddened. "I'm not much, not compared to, say, Atobe Keigo, or even Momoshiro, but whatever time I didn't need for tennis or school would be hers."
An looked at him and smiled, and it was such a sad smile that he wanted to somehow make it better. "She'd be an idiot to turn you down." She looked back out over the river, to the brilliant colors of the sunset. "Do I know her? What's her name?"
Akira couldn't speak for a moment, the insecurities and awkwardness flooding back. "Um. An-chan. At least, that's what she lets me call her."
An's eyes widened, and Akira had the satisfaction - for an instant - of having actually surprised her, before she surprised him yet again, and leaned forward and kissed him.
Akira walked onto the courts at practice the next afternoon as if they belonged to him. Kippei watched him warily as he approached Masaya and spoke to him. Masaya's scowl - the only expression he wore around Akira lately - eased, so whatever Akira had said changed his attitude.
It gave Kippei an idea, and he put it into practice immediately after warm-ups. "Doubles practice: Shinji and Tatsunori vs. Akira and Masaya. Tetsu, you'll play Kyosuke. I'll observe."
There were no complaints as the team sorted themselves out, and Kippei stayed by the near court, watching the doubles pairs begin their game.
If Akira hadn't reconciled with An, he'd be able to tell. He couldn't ask her; she'd been avoiding him all day. Probably with good reason.
By the second game, though, he had his answer, and he turned away to observe the singles match, smiling. Oh, yeah. One distraction down. They were going to be ready for the tournament this weekend.
Fudomine
Fandom: Prince of Tennis: Fudomine Chuugaku
Characters: Tachibana Kippei, Tachibana An, Kamio Akira, Ibu Shinji
Prompt: 032 - Sunset
Word Count: 2934
Date finished: 08/30/2007
Rating: G
Summary: Kippei wonders what happened to one of his best players.
Author's Notes: This was written for the comm fudomine_love, for the second round. It has since been cancelled, so I can post it now! It was written for sharpie, who runs an rp I played in shortly; she asked for "An being a girl and Akira being a boy". I hope I did okay. Thanks also to my friend wiccanlilly for the beta.
Disclaimer: Characters are owned by Konomi Takeshi, and whoever did the anime. At any rate, it's not me.
Tachibana Kippei did not understand the sudden drop in his vice-captain's performance. Kamio Akira was missing easy balls, his rhythm so completely off that he nearly stepped into one of Ishida Tetsu's Hadokyuus - less powerful than usual, but still heavy enough to do some serious damage, had it connected with Akira's head.
"Stop!" he shouted, and they all froze, staring at him as he strode onto the court.
Tetsu actually looked guilty. "Kippei, I…" he started, and Kippei held up a hand to stop his words.
"No, Tetsu. You did fine." He turned to Akira, who wasn't looking at him. The redhead stared down as if he were trying to find to find a flaw in the court. "Akira, your concentration is shot, and your rhythm hasn't been that off in a long time. What's going on?"
"I'm sorry," Akira said - but he offered no explanation.
"Tetsu almost brained you," Kippei continued. "I know you know better than to lose your focus playing him. You have to be careful."
Akira flushed. "I'll be more careful," he muttered.
Someone snickered.
Tachibana wasn't sure who it was; probably not Ibu Shinji, who was closest, but the other four members of his team were at a fair distance. Tetsu and Sakurai Masaya had joined Uchimura Kyosuke and Mori Tatsunori on the sidelines; when Kippei looked around, none of them looked like the were trying to hide a laugh. "Good. You do that. Twenty laps to get your act together."
Akira went without an argument.
Practice finished without a hitch, even when Akira returned. Kippei, in general, was pleased with it. But it still bothered him - because today had merely been the worst so far. Something was up with Akira.
Maybe he'd ask An if she knew anything.
But asking An was nearly as useless as talking to Akira had been. She glanced at him for about a second. "Something's wrong with Akira?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Like what?" An asked, examining her fingernails. Was that... color on them?
He refused to be distracted. "Like he nearly got himself brained today. He almost stepped into Tetsu's Hadokyuu."
An looked at him, eyes wide. "Is he okay?"
Kippei wasn't sure he could answer in the affirmative. "It missed him, but barely...." He started to speak before he realized his "big brother" alarms were going off in his head. His eyes narrowed. "An. What is going on?"
She turned her attention back to her fingernails. Yes, they were painted, a nice pink color. "What makes you think something is going on?"
Her interest in her fingernails (which only lacked her chomping on gum) was feigned, as was the lack of interest in his question about Akira. "An," he said warningly.
"What? Nothing is going on, Kippei." Her hands dropped to her sides, but she didn't look up. She sounded frustrated.
"With you, or with Akira?"
"Ask Akira what's up with him," An said coolly. "He hasn't said anything to me." She sounded... petulant, too.
"Nothing?" He was surprised.
"Not a word." Frosty.
Was that the problem? Something had happened between them? Or... He eyed An. Maybe something hadn't happened, and she wished it would. Asking her wouldn't get him any answers - he'd just have to keep an eye out.
And make sure Akira didn't play against Tetsu until he got straightened out.
"I did something," Akira muttered to his best friend. "I just don't know what."
Shinji, for once, was quiet. In fact, when Akira finally looked up to see why his friend hadn't said anything, he found Shinji was… gone.
Instead, next to him sat An. And she looked furious.
"What were you thinking?" she demanded in an undertone. "Kippei said you nearly got hit in the head with one of Tetsu's Hadokyuus!"
"An!" It came out nearly a squeak - and every other possible response was gone out of his head. He could only stare at her, because wow... she looked good.
"Did you hear me?" she hissed at him. "Are you even...." Frustrated, she tossed her head. "Akira."
"What!" To hear her call his name was a surprise, and he snapped back to the here and now - and the knowledge that if Kippei ever caught him looking at An like that, his life wouldn't be worth a bowl of ramen. "Uh. I gotta go."
Abandoning dignity, he fled.
"Did you talk to An?" Shinji asked as soon as he was in within range of Akira the next morning.
"You abandoned me!" Akira protested. "Did you know she was there?"
Shinji gave him an impassive look. "Of course."
Akira stared. "You're kidding, right? Shinji, would you please give me some warning next time?"
"An-chan said she wanted to talk to you. Did she?"
Akira shrugged one shoulder. "She was mad that I almost got hit yesterday."
"That was rather stupid," Shinji told him. "What happened?"
Akira felt his face heat up. He'd hoped to direct his friend's focus to something else - as usual, he failed. "I can't stop thinking about her," he muttered. "She looked fantastic yesterday."
"Your brain turned off," Shinji said. "Got it."
"Just... don't tell Kippei about it?"
"I won't. But you need to talk to An."
"Since the last few times went so well," Akira muttered.
"Hey, Shinji! Akira!"
Akira groaned softly. "Speak of the devil...."
"Do you want me to tell her that?"
Akira felt his face flame. "NO! I don't... Shinji. You're laughing at me!"
An fell into step with them, and Akira found he couldn't breathe. He'd thought she looked good the day before, but today.... "Wow," he breathed. "You look... nice."
She smiled up at him. "Thank you."
Yeah. He'd make sure he wasn't pitted against Tetsu today, either, because he'd probably be even worse off than he had been yesterday.
And Shinji was still laughing at him.
Kippei looked askance at his tensai. "What?"
Shinji's expression didn't change. "Akira has a crush on An."
Tennis practice was over, and it had been a disaster. Akira had at least requested not to go up against Tetsu, but that hadn't stopped him from stepping into Kyosuke's attack. Kippei, frustrated, had pulled Shinji aside and asked what was going on with the vice-captain.
He hadn't exactly expected this.
Although, he considered as he thanked Shinji and sent him home, it would also explain An's attitude lately. If she had a crush on Akira....
"Oh, great," he muttered, and went to make sure everything was locked up.
It was one thing to have his sister mooning over someone; it was irritating, in a big brother sort of way, but didn't really affect him.
Akira, on the other hand…. He did affect Kippei. And everyone else on the team. The way he'd been playing - or almost not playing - was horrible.
That could really mess up their chances at Nationals.
Kippei groaned, gave the court a last once-over, and headed toward the gates. That could not happen, and he'd force it if he had to.
This was Akira. And An. He'd probably have to.
He saw Akira ahead of him and sped up a little, catching up with his vice-captain. "Akira," he said, and the redhead jumped, ripped out of his thoughts, and stared up at Kippei.
"Uh...."
Kippei couldn't help it. He laughed. Akira blushed bright red and scowled. "What do you want?"
"What is up with you?" Kippei asked, sobering.
"Up with me?"
Kippei glared at him. "You know exactly what I mean. You lost to Kyo today - that's a first. Tetsu nearly hit you yesterday. You sabotaged your game Monday against Shinji and Tatsunori - Masaya is still furious. So. What is up with you?"
Akira was redder than he'd been before, and Kippei wondered if he was going to spontaneously combust from sheer embarrassment.
"Oh, that," he mumbled.
"Yeah. That."
"Well...."
"You have a crush on a girl," Kippei prompted after a long silence, then reached out and grabbed Akira's arm as the younger boy tensed.
The redhead relaxed - reluctantly - and looked down. "Well... yeah. You can let go," he added.
"I don't think so. You're faster than I am, but I'm stronger than you, and you're embarrassed enough to take off on me before I'm done with you." Akira's shoulders hunched. "This girl," Kippei prompted again.
"Yeah."
"Have you talked to her?"
"No...."
Kippei pulled him to a stop. "Look at me," he ordered.
Surprised, Akira's eyes met his, cheeks still bright red. "I don't want to see you at tennis practice until you've talked to her."
Akira's eyes widened. "But Kippei! The Nationals...."
"Exactly," Kippei agreed. "And right now, you're completely useless. Masaya's still angry about Monday - and you'll never hear the end of today's game from Kyo. The next time you show up to practice, this thing with this girl had better be resolved." He released Akira. "Understood?"
"Yes, Kippei."
Akira watched his friend and captain stride off, back the way they'd come, and wanted to sink into the sidewalk. He knew he should have stuck around and made sure Shinji didn't tell him anything!
With a despondent sigh, he headed for home, wondering what he could do tonight - because he wasn't missing practice tomorrow. The match this weekend was far too important.
He didn't get very far on his homework, either, too distracted by everything that had been going on recently, and finally, he gave up. Grabbing his phone from his bag, he called a good-bye to his mother and headed out.
He didn't need the number recorded into his phone; he knew her cell by memory, and he dialed as he walked aimlessly, trying to think of some place to meet her.
"This is An!"
"An, this is Akira. Uh. You busy?"
The other end was silent for a moment. "No...." She sounded wary.
"Will you meet me at the street courts? I can be there in about 20 minutes."
There was another long silence. "Sure," she said, sounding resigned. "I'll wait for you."
Akira moved much faster after he hung up; he didn't want to make her wait too long, and he was pleased to see that she was just reaching the top of the stairs when he reached the bottom. Without yelling at her, he started up, going slowly enough that by the time he reached the top, he was only a little out of breath.
An looked surprised. "You didn't take that long to get here," she said.
Akira shrugged uncomfortably. "I hurried," he said, and then realized he had nothing else to say. "I, uh, thought we could watch the sunset," he finally blurted.
An's smile was confused. "Okay."
The best place he could think of was the path by the river, so they started walking that way.
In silence.
But no matter how Akira wracked his brain, he couldn't come up with anything to say to her. Except about tennis. And he didn't think she cared to talk about that, considering how resigned she'd been when he suggested they meet at the courts.
"You look really good today," he finally managed to get out.
"Thank you." She sounded preoccupied.
That pretty much took care of any attempt at conversation, and they walked the rest of the way without speaking.
Akira's stomach twisted with nerves as they leaned against the railing, and he glanced at An, opening his mouth to confess to her.
"Kippei told me what he said to you."
Completely derailed, Akira stared at her. "Said to me?" he stammered.
"About not going back to practice until you talked to this girl." She still sounded... resigned.
"Oh." He knew his face turned bright red, and he ducked his head to hide it, glad she was on the side of his bangs.
"So, what are you going to say?"
"I don't know," he said automatically. "That's been my problem the whole time." This was easier, more like talking to her had been before he noticed how... cute she was.
"What is it you like?"
"She's funny, she's nice, and she... understands that there are other things in life than her." He flushed. "That came out wrong. She doesn't expect people to just... fawn over her. She has her own life, her own interests - and they happen to coincide with mine. Some of them."
"What would you have to offer her?"
He wondered at the resignation in her voice. "Friendship. I hope I'd be able to... spoil her, a little, even. And she likes some of the music I do, so I could take her to concerts. We're in the same grade, so we could even study together." His cheeks reddened. "I'm not much, not compared to, say, Atobe Keigo, or even Momoshiro, but whatever time I didn't need for tennis or school would be hers."
An looked at him and smiled, and it was such a sad smile that he wanted to somehow make it better. "She'd be an idiot to turn you down." She looked back out over the river, to the brilliant colors of the sunset. "Do I know her? What's her name?"
Akira couldn't speak for a moment, the insecurities and awkwardness flooding back. "Um. An-chan. At least, that's what she lets me call her."
An's eyes widened, and Akira had the satisfaction - for an instant - of having actually surprised her, before she surprised him yet again, and leaned forward and kissed him.
Akira walked onto the courts at practice the next afternoon as if they belonged to him. Kippei watched him warily as he approached Masaya and spoke to him. Masaya's scowl - the only expression he wore around Akira lately - eased, so whatever Akira had said changed his attitude.
It gave Kippei an idea, and he put it into practice immediately after warm-ups. "Doubles practice: Shinji and Tatsunori vs. Akira and Masaya. Tetsu, you'll play Kyosuke. I'll observe."
There were no complaints as the team sorted themselves out, and Kippei stayed by the near court, watching the doubles pairs begin their game.
If Akira hadn't reconciled with An, he'd be able to tell. He couldn't ask her; she'd been avoiding him all day. Probably with good reason.
By the second game, though, he had his answer, and he turned away to observe the singles match, smiling. Oh, yeah. One distraction down. They were going to be ready for the tournament this weekend.
Fudomine