By the end of the week, Ryoma was beginning to understand what it felt like to be a cornered animal. Despite the captain's words, the tennis team still hounded after him relentlessly. They all wanted him to play against another starter, but the reason why differed. Half wanted to see if he really deserved the attention he was getting, and the other half wanted to see Ryoma get defeated so completely he wouldn't even look at the tennis courts again. Amongst the starters were similar feelings; some, like Eiji, Momoshiro, and Kaidoh wanted to test him to see if his win against Momoshiro was a fluke or if he was that good, and others like Tezuka, Fuji, and Inui wanted to understand more about the freshmen.

And Oishi, whom Ryoma was quickly learning was the mother hen of the team, simply sought him out everyday to make sure he was okay.

Never had Ryoma received so much attention at school, even when in America and playing tennis on a regular basis. It was making him skittish and even more antisocial; all the "hard work" he had done to make people not talk to him was thrown away because of one stupid tennis match. If only he had ignored his upperclassman, none of this would have happened.

His fellow members on the track team were fairly apathetic to Ryoma's suffering. While he was one of the better runners, he wasn't the best. Add to his loner tendencies, and Ryoma would have to say the track team was almost glad to have an excuse to get rid of him.

And if the track team, where "team" was a questionable term, was glad to be rid of him...

...why on earth did the tennis team, where "team" was the key word, want him?

That seemed to be the hundred dollar question that had plagued him all week. Slumping against the fence atop the roof, Ryoma became lost in his thoughts as he pondered over it yet again. He had done this every day, and never had he come even close to an answer.

"Yo," a voice spoke up, causing Ryoma to jolt and nearly tip his lunch off of his lap. Scrambling to straighten himself, Ryoma looked up... and then up some more. A tall figure stood rather closely to him, the light reflecting off his glasses as he stared down at Ryoma. Looking down at his rice, Ryoma mumbled a quiet greeting in return. It was obvious this person wasn't a first year, and since Ryoma had never spoken to him before he deduced that this older boy had to be from the tennis team.

So even his sanctuary, the roof, had to be ruined too, huh?

Footsteps thudded on the cement, shuffling followed soon after as the other boy sat down next to Ryoma. He didn't lean against the wall like Ryoma was, but rather sat facing Seishun's newest student.

Ryoma said nothing, continuing to stare at his lunch glumly. The other boy didn't seem to mind the silence, for he took out a notebook and watched Ryoma back. Warily, Ryoma gazed at him, muscles tensing. Was he about to be interviewed or something? And what was with that stare? Those glasses were so freak-

"Echizen," the boy said, breaking the silence. "My name is Inui Sadaharu. As you already know, I'm a member of the tennis team." He stopped, waiting for Ryoma to nod slowly before continuing on. "I'd like to offer my services to you."

"Services?" Ryoma echoed, lifting his head slightly to look at Inui better.

"I collect data," Inui stated, raising his notebook slightly. "There's a 99.87% chance that my fellow members have only bothered you to play another game without giving you information about the team, and a 99.99% chance that not one has asked what you wanted."

Growing more wary, Ryoma nodded. Inui continued.

"As not only a member of the tennis team, but as your upperclassman, I want you to know that I am here to answer any questions you may have."

"What do you get out of it?" Ryoma asked, feeling extremely cynical as soon as he spoke. Instead of being offended, Inui simply smiled - something that terrified for Ryoma, for some reason.

"Data on you," Inui simply said. "Now, Echizen, is there anything you would like to know?"

And because Inui had offered - had been the only one to - Ryoma asked Inui all of the questions he had wanted to ask but didn't know who to go to. Having answered all of them, Ryoma had agreed to answer Inui's questions as well. He really didn't want to know why Inui asked him what his least favorite beverage was.

Another week passed.

The hounding by the tennis team did not desist, as Inui had predicted ("98.63%"), and Ryoma continued to frequent the rooftop for lunch. Inui continued to visit him, occasionally bringing (dragging) Kaidoh Kaoru - the 'stupid viper', as Momoshiro had called him - along. Of the starters, most of whom Inui had described since none had formally introduced himself to Ryoma, Ryoma grudgingly had to admit that Inui and Kaidoh were his favorites, with Kaidoh slightly in the lead. Unlike Inui, Kaidoh never asked him random and often weird questions, and for that Ryoma was grateful.

It was at the end of the month that Ryoma finally asked them for a tennis match on Saturday.

A moment of silence as Inui and Kaidoh took in the words, before Inui began to scribble in his notebook and Kaidoh hissed quietly. Fidgetting, Ryoma attempted to stay cool but was failing miserably. All he had asked was if they wanted to play tennis, and they were making it seem like such a big deal!

"Kaidoh can play," Inui said finally, a demonic glint in his eyes; no doubt he was eager to get information on Ryoma's tennis.

"Fshuu," Kaidoh hissed, apparently in agreement.

Hesitating for a second, Ryoma asked for a piece of Inui's notebook paper and his pen. He scribbled an address on it two times before ripping the paper in half and handing the slips to both of the upperclassmen.

"My dad's friend owns a private court that he lets us play on," Ryoma explained. "I don't want there to be an audience. Just you two," He blushed, staring down at his feet, "This doesn't mean I'm going to join the team, okay? I just want to play against someone that's decent."

For a moment, Ryoma felt like his old, arrogant self. Cover embarrassment with arrogance, that was how he did things.

"Sure," Inui said, a nod from Kaidoh.

The day of the match came sooner than Ryoma would have liked, and the doorbell ringing came even faster. Having already changed into his tennis clothes, he grabbed his racquet before opening the door to both Kaidoh and Inui. Opening it wider, he motioned for them to come inside.

"This is your house?" Inui asked, notebook already out and pen poised to take notes.

"Yeah," Ryoma said, uncomfortable. "C'mon, the court is this way."

He lead them to the back of his house, opening the sliding door and continuing down to the tennis court. He took his usual side of the court, silently stating that Kaidoh served. Catching the ball Ryoma threw to him, Kaidoh gripped his racquet firmly and tossed the ball in the air.

The game had begun.

Some time later, the game ended with Ryoma winning 6-5. It had been a good match - one of the best he had in a while, and he said as much.

"You could improve," Inui stated, light glinting off his glasses. "The tennis team-"

"I told you I don't want to join!" Ryoma yelled. He blushed, and then added more quietly, "I would rather people look at me because I'm a good player, and not because I'm the arrogant freshmen who didn't want to join the team."

"The others don't like Kaidoh either-" a quiet hiss from Kaidoh. "-but he still plays."

"The starters are the only ones you need to worry about," Kaidoh said gruffly.

Silence, and then Ryoma quietly said, "I'll try it. But if the others aren't good enough, I'm quitting. Okay?"

Kaidoh snorted, and Inui started writing in his notebook again, already estimating the percentages of who would win against who.

If Kaidoh and Inui are out of character, I'm sorry. I had my brother (whose read the series about five million more times than I have) read over this chapter to make sure they're in character and all he said was to "make Kaidoh scarier." So.

pleasedon'thateme. I know this chapter is crap and that I'm also crap for making people wait this long and then giving them this. Feel free to call me names and send me hate mail. I deserve it.