Ohtori watched as Lina waited for Atobe to shower and change, he was leaning on the railing, and beside him was Hiyoshi. Oshitari sat beside Lina, chatting about the latest news in regards to tennis, Akutagawa had fallen asleep on the bench behind where the two were sitting. Mukahi and Shishido were seated near each other behind Akutagawa, looking bored. Kabaji was sitting farther away from the group, silent as usual.

Lina was pretty forthright, and not as shy as Ohtori initially thought. His first impression of her was a lot different from his impression of her younger brother. But seeing her all those other times changed his perception. She wasn't the type of girl that Atobe usually hung out with, that was for sure.

"Ah!" Lina exclaimed as she saw a CD sticking out of one of the school bags. "Is this the new Kings of Leon CD?" She went closer to the bag, looking close, but not touching it.

"Eh?" Shishido said, raising his head from his hand which had propped it up. "Lina-san knows Kings of Leon?"

"Of course I do!" Lina exclaimed, smiling up at Shishido—she had found a kindred soul. "I love their style of music." Her smile widened into a grin, and she looked at Shishido with pleading eyes. "Do you mind if I take a look, Shishido-san?"

Shishido shook his head and watched as Lina took the CD from his bag and inspected it with such excitement and care. She flipped through the song list, and descriptions, reading them thoroughly.

"Ano, Lina-san," Shishido said, and Lina looked up to where he was, smiling. "You can borrow it if you want."

"Eh?" Lina was surprised at the gesture. "I can?"

"Hai," Shishido nodded. "I've listened to all the songs anyway."

"Nice!" Lina mini-cheered as she put it in her bag, excited to listen to the songs later on.

"So, Echizen-san, why did you come here?" Oshitari asked, pushing up his glasses.

I knew I wouldn't be able to get past you. Lina laughed sheepishly. "Uhm… Atobe hates to lose, but he never wallows. He'll just keep going and going until he becomes stronger. It's a good attitude, but it can get too much."

Oshitari smiled. "You're worried about him."

Lina managed not to turn red from embarrassment. Ground, swallow me now. "Just making sure he's not dead. Besides, if that idiot knew, he'd never let me live it down." She grinned, leaning forward slightly.

She was soon unnerved by all the weird smiles that the Hyoutei Gakuen's tennis team sported.

The universe was kind and merciful enough to have Atobe show up after a few silent moments of smiling.

He had his tennis bag and school bag on both shoulders, and was wearing a white shirt, jeans and sneakers. He was holding a black long jacket. Upon seeing his arrival, Lina stood up.

Atobe handed her the jacket, and she looked at him, questioning.

"You're in your school uniform, it might not be good for you to walk around at this time," Adobe explained as he took her bag from the bench.

"Oh, right, Japanese schools are pretty strict about that." Lina nodded and started to wear the jacket. She then began to button it up to hide her uniform inside.

While Lina was buttoning the jacket, Atobe turned to look at his team. "I'll meet you guys at the restaurant. I'll be late, but feel free to begin eating without me."

Lina said her goodbyes to the group, waving. To Shishido, she added, "I'll return the CD soon! Arigatou, Shishido-san!"

"No problem," Shishido said.

"CD?" Atobe asked, confused, as they walked down the stairs, handing Lina her bag.

"Yup! Shishido-san lent me the latest Kings of Leon album," Lina smiled brightly as they walked. "I've been meaning to get a copy, but I couldn't find it. If ever, I was thinking of just getting it back in the US."

"Ah, I see," Atobe said, frowning slightly.

Seeing the frown, Lina asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Atobe said, shrugging. "I forgot you originally lived in America."

"Yeah," she laughed lightly. "I don't know when we'll go back, though. Otou-san seems to really like it here. But I'd give it a few months before he'll change his mind again."

Atobe was silent as they walked. They walked to the bus stop and waited.

"Ah," Lina said, remembering something. "I haven't said it yet."

She turned to Atobe and smiled. In turn, he looked at her, puzzled.

"Congratulations on getting to Nationals," Lina said. "I look forward to seeing your matches."

Atobe smirked. "You'll finally be able to behold my awesome prowess."

Lina rolled her eyes. "You better last longer this time around, then, because the Kantou Tournament was such a let down."

"You were asleep," Atobe threw back.

"I had a legitimate reason!" Lina stuck her tongue out.

Reminded, Atobe looked her over. "And how are you feeling?"

Caught off guard by the sudden change in topic, she took a moment to answer, unconsciously, her hand went to her chest. "Uhm… I'm feeling better. My training's paying off, and I'm sure I'll be able to go through a full set match—with a player that's weaker than me. Against a player on the same or higher level, I'm not too sure I'll be able to last just yet."

The bus arrived at that moment, and they boarded, taking a seat near the front. Lina went into the seat first, followed in by Atobe.

"I didn't think you'd be into rock," Atobe commented after a while of comfortable silence, wherein Lina had taken out the CD Shishido had lent her, and admired it. He leaned back. "But then again, you also don't seem to be the pop type."

Lina side-glared him. "You seem the pretentious music type." She muttered low under her breath.

"Classical music is not pretentious," Atobe replied seriously.

Lina raised her eyebrows in surprise, but she wasn't that surprised. Atobe was refined and high-class, it made sense that he'd like classical music.

"Classical music. Why am I not surprised?" Lina sighed. When she meant pretentious music, there were a whole load of other music in her mind. She waved the CD in front of Atobe. "I really think you should listen to this, maybe Shishido-san can lend it to you."

Atobe shook his head. "No need, I've already heard the whole album."

"Eh?!" Lina exclaimed, so loud that the other people in the bus turned to the two. Her face turned red. "Gomen nasai." Turning back to Atobe, she whispered. "You listen to their music?"

"Tch." Atobe scoffed as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Why does it surprise you? To be refined is to be able to dabble into several topics of conversation. Types of music is just one of the things I excel at."

From there, they talked about different kinds of music that they liked. Atobe liked rock and alternative, and a whole lot of older songs, but most of all, he liked classical music. Lina, on the other hand, actually just liked anything that sounded good, although she did have a few artists that she favoured in several genres.

Atobe looked up, checking the stop. He then stood up, picking up his bag and tennis bag. "Come on, this is our stop."

They both got off the bus. This wasn't the place that Lina had gotten on the bus earlier when she came here, but Atobe had said that where she did go on was a lot farther than it was supposed to be. It would take a few minutes' walk to get to the train station.

On the way there, they passed by several stores, one of which was a pet store.

Lina wanted to go in and grab all the dogs. Yes, they had Karupin, but she was a dog person, and that chow chow by the window was calling out to her. She had the need to go inside and hug the dogs and pet them, she was clenching her fists in front of her, shaking.

Looks like Karupin would get a lot of hugs tonight.

She was snapped out of her partially shaking state by Atobe's chuckle. Her eyes met his amused ones.

"You look like you really want to go hug those dogs."

"Thirty seconds and I'll be back!" She announced as she entered the shop and petted the cute brown chow chow.

Atobe watched, entertained, as she resisted the urge to grab the dog, stopping at petting it. Before she did anything more, she came out of the shop.

"Dogs are so cute," she sighed in contentment.

"Do you want a dog?" Atobe asked, already looking at the prices listed.

Immediately, Lina shook her head. "Not now! I mean, Karupin, our cat, is okay for now. Bringing animals to America is so expensive. I'll wait until I have my own house, and I'm earning my own money and all that." She grabbed his arm and dragged him away before he did something stupid.

After a few minutes, they reached the train station. The train wasn't full, so Lina was thankful for that. The two were able to find seats as soon as they entered.

"Ah, today was unexpectedly fun," Lina said as she tapped her fingers on her bag. "I got to see a cute dog, and I'm going to listen to the Kings later." She sighed, satisfied. "Today is a good day."

Atobe furrowed his eyebrows, one of his questions for the day still not answered. "So, why did you come all the way here?"

Lina smiled at him for a moment, and then immediately frowned, accompanying it with a glare. Then she said in contempt, "You shouldn't make people worry about you, you stupid bocchama." She then turned away, smiling again, as if she hadn't said anything. "All is well, nothing to concern yourself with." She was in a really good mood right now.

The bocchama in question smiled. "So, you were worried about me?"

She frowned, not wanting to admit it, but eventually fessed up. "We're friends, if I wasn't worried you should just cut me off—wipe that smile off your face."

"Ah, so violent," Atobe teased. Not cute at all. She glared at him and he smiled. "You should've just said so from the start."

She didn't even know why she was so worried herself. Truly, she wasn't the type to fret over things.

"You're an idiot," she muttered and looked away.

Atobe simply smiled as he leaned back on the seat.

They enjoyed a few minutes of silence.

"I'm surprised you know how to commute," Lina said as she leaned on the railing at her side, so she could better face Atobe. She smiled slightly.

"Of course I do," Atobe replied. "I can do things for myself."

Atobe liked the resources at his disposal. He used it any way he wanted, and any way that suited his goals. But it didn't mean that he didn't know how to do things for himself. He just liked having convenience.

Lina propped her chin up with her hand, looking at Atobe. He was such an interesting person, arrogant, but with basis, talented but still hard working. Despite having so many, many things at the tips of his fingers, he still valued things beyond what money could buy—relationships with family and friends, as well as hard work. The way he talked about his family and friends was extraordinary to her. The way he gave everything his all—even the most idiotic stunts—was admirable.

She suddenly let out a laugh, confusing Atobe.

"I'm sorry," she said, still grinning widely. "I'm just happy that I've met you, Atobe."

Atobe was stunned by this girl's straightforwardness. There were no hints of insincerity or deception in her words. In his eyes, she seemed so bright.

He swallowed. "Keigo."

"Eh?"

"Call me Keigo," he said, and, for a moment, his seriousness startled Lina.

Lina shrugged. "You said it." She grinned. "Can't take it back now."

Atobe smirked. "Besides, I already call you Lina anyway, it's only fair."

"That's true," Lina nodded. It didn't really seem like a big deal, though, since she did grow up in America, where people weren't as sensitive to first name-use as the Japanese.

Now, for a more important matter—she was hungry. Maybe she should've accepted the Hyoutei team's invitation, but she knew that was the hunger speaking. Thankfully, she had a snack in her bag. It was a strawberry flavoured Pop Tart. She broke it in half and gave the other to Atobe, who was surprised at first before accepting it.

She then happily ate her half, savouring the taste. A few moments later, she noticed Atobe—Keigo—staring at her.

"What?"

"You shared your food."

Based on his observation of her, she never liked sharing her food, particularly this pastry.

"Then you should feel special," she said as she continued to eat. "I'm in a particularly good mood today."

Atobe decided then that he should let her see dogs more often.

All too soon, to Atobe's disappointment, their train stop was there.

It was already dark out by the time they got out of the train station.

They walked to Lina's house at a leisurely pace, making light talk about random topics—favourite color, favourite shoe brand, favourite food, hobbies and just everything under the sun. And Lina didn't hold anything back. They were just taking turns asking one another questions.

"Professional tennis?" Atobe asked.

Lina paused for a moment, thinking. "There's nothing else I'm especially that I'm good at." She laughed. "If I go down that road, I'll have to retire a little after I'm thirty, and after that I'm not sure what'll happen." She shrugged. "But I couldn't imagine doing anything else." She turned to him. "You?"

"Maybe… But just for a little while," he replied. "I'll have to inherit the business, but my father and mother are in good health, and inheriting is still a long way off. I can do what I want for now."

Lina nodded. It was her turn to ask a question. "Hmmm… If there was anywhere in the world you could go to, where would you go?"

Atobe thought it was a stupid question, since he could go anywhere in the world that he wished. Nevertheless, he humored her. "Greece."

Lina crinkled her forehead in surprise, and then slowly nodded her head. "Okay… that's… interesting." It made sense, since he did say that his favourite subjects included Greek.

"And you?"

"Probably Switzerland."

At the surprise on Atobe's face, she then explained.

"I saw a picture once of a mountain in Switzerland. I thought it looked really good." Then she laughed, it was kind of a stupid reason.

"That's so stupid," Atobe said, shaking his head. "But that seems just like you." Impulsive, straightforward, does whatever she wants.

Lina grinned at him. They were now at her street, approaching her home.

"Thank you for walking me home, Keigo," Lina smiled as they slowly came to a stop in front of her house.

"It's no problem at all," Atobe replied, slightly perplexed by the sudden rise in his heartbeat.

"Anyway, I hope you're not too late for your dinner," she said, turning back to open the little gate of her home. She entered then waved before closing the gate. "See you soon, Keigo!"

"See you," Atobe waved back, returning her smile.

He walked down the street, having already arranged for a car to wait for him there. As he was about to enter the car, he received a message.

"Hey, thanks for walking me home! :D Sorry I made you late for your team dinner. I hope you're not too late. Remember to eat lots of good food! Anyway, I'll see you when I see you :)"

Atobe smiled widely as he texted back. "You're welcome. Next time, don't go out so far so late."

The car started moving, bringing him towards the place where he would meet his teammates.

His phone rang again. He let out a chuckle as he read her message.

"I do what I want :P"

After sending Atobe the last message, Lina changed her clothes. They were still on summer break, but they trained in school, which required them to wear the school uniform. Right after she had finished wearing her shirt, her mother called out.

"Lina, you have a call from America! Come down quick!"

Lina left her room and headed to the dining area/kitchen, where the phone was. "Who is it?" She asked as she slid the door open. Ryoma was already there, eating dinner.

"It's Coach Mira."

Perplexed, but already somehow guessing what the call was about, Lina picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Good evening, Lina. I've heard from your father you've recovered quite well."