Author: Iwa
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Title: The Perfect Illusion
Pairing: None (slight Platinum pair, if you squint)
Summary: What Yagyuu really thinks behind his reflecting glasses when Niou plays Fuji.

Yagyuu shifts his eyes to glance at his stoic fukubuchou. His glasses glint mysterically when he does. That cold and grumpy expression is still on Sanada's face. His arms are folded infront of his chest. He still isn't accepting it. Yagyuu sighs inwardly, so no sound would escape his lips. He really wonders how much it will take to finally convince the fukubuchou.
His eyes shift again, this time to Yukimura who wears his usual smile, sitting on the coach bench. His arms are also folded, but his smile makes it seem like he is proud, like he has just produced this trick himself.

"Stop staring, concentrate on the game", the soft voice of his captain calls out to him. Yagyuu adjusts his glasses. Usually he is unreadable for other people, but Yukimura can even see behind is reflecting glasses, even when he is sitting right infront of him following the flow of the game curiously. The blue haired boy has eyes in the back of his head... literally.
He shifts his eyes again, now finally to the person on the court. He knows he should actually see Tezuka, but he knows his partner well enough to not be tricked by him, too. He just sees Niou running around the court using techniques he could normally never do. He hears the crowd cheering for Niou and he begins to wonder if it feels good for Niou to be recognized.

For a brief second his gaze wanders to Sanada again. Will he still deny the potential of the trickster? He knows all too well how difficult it is for Niou to achieve recognition, especially from the black haired fukubuchou, but he practically asks for being disliked by everyone with his behaviour. So, is it a relief to finally have the crowd on his side?
The intense match between Niou and Fuji goes on. The show of Niou playing as Tezuka is awesome. He knows how impressed Kirihara is with his Senpai, he himself is it no less, but he chooses to not show it so clearly. He admits, though, that Niou is a genius in this matter.

He knows all the rumors and whispers behind his back that he was way better than Niou with only two years of training when Niou has trained all his life. Most people believe it is true, but Yagyuu knows better. He has once thought that he had overcome Niou, but how wrong he was! True, he has once won against Niou, but the trickster has just asked calmly for a rematch and has UTTERLY crushed him. Only then did Yagyuu understand. Niou has never been behind his standard, he just put himself on the level of his opponent.
Sanada insists that Niou was only good in doubles for he could say it was all thanks to Yagyuu the two are this good, but Yagyuu again disagrees in his mind. Granted, Niou is a excellent doubles player, but he is a master when it comes to singles.

The Gentleman knows from Yanagi that Inui has never gotten any adequate data on Fuji and his skills and thus calls him genius, but the same is true for Yanagi and himself in regards of Niou. Yagyuu has come to understand that after fighting for a long time alongside Niou. The trickster was a prodgidy for his bad behaviour, for his liking for tricks, for his messy playstyle, for everything that Sanada dispises him for.

Yagyuu's thoughts snap back to the game when he hears the crowd cheering for Fuji again. He doesn't have to look, he already knows what's going on. Niou's illusion has been broken. The prodgidy was beaten by the genius. His illusion hasn't been perfect after all, and he knows exactly why.
Niou is a superb singles player, a mastermind, a genius in his every own way and probably the best player Rikkai has ever produced, but he lost because it was singles. Niou's illusion is so real it's scary, but there has been an error all along. Niou needs a partner to do his perfect illusion, Niou needs him. Their switch trick is the perfect illusion after all.