Hi there. Sorry for leaving the story hanging without update for months. I'm busy with school life and I'm on the verge of give up writing fanfics. However, today is Shiraishi birthday (YAY~ happy birhtdaaay Ku-chan! 8D) so I think I should at least update this story for him and for fellow fans of his who've been sticking with my story.

Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis and its characters belong to Konomi Takeshi-sensei. I only own this fic and the OCs.

Did you realize that we have a cover art now? The beautiful drawing of Kouki-chan was made by Nispedana! Special thanks to her. She is one of most loyal writers in this fandom!

Chapter 2

He loves me not...

It was never easy to change. It required a lot of courage to take the first step. However, if one did nothing, hoping to stay in their comfort zone forever as they were too afraid of losing what they currently had in their hand, they would miss that one chance in lifetime and end up losing everything... Because no matter how hard they wished to stay the same, everything around them would change and if they couldn't keep up with it, they would fall behind.

And in Oshitari Kouki's case...

Love would not come if she didn't do anything to get it. Even though she was happy just by seeing that one person every day and becoming friend with him, it would be a lie if she said she never hoped for more. She loved him; of course she wanted him to love him back.

She had to do something, otherwise she would get friendzoned forever. She had to do something, otherwise someone else would steal him right before her eyes. She had to do something, yet she still did nothing. It wasn't like she didn't want to or was too lazy to do any effort. She wanted to do something; she truly wanted to. It was just she didn't know what that something would be.

The blackhaired girl sighed as she rested her chin against her palms. She had been thinking about this for a while, but she still couldn't find any solution for it. She had considered confessing her love straightforwardly, but it wouldn't work if he didn't even like her as a girl. Ninty-nine percent he would reject her right away and it would end their prized friendship. (Well, there was this one percent possibility that he would accept her feeling, but it would be simply because he felt sorry for her and was too kind to reject her. It wasn't the best way to start a relationship, wasn't it?) There was no point of confessing one's love if the other didn't feel the same. Maybe she should flirt with him first, like compliment him more and showed some hints that she was interested in him... Didn't guys usually like getting showered by attention? (Kenya did.) But then again... on second thought, it might not really work. She had heard a rumor that Shiraishi hadn't really liked flirtatious girls and found them troublesome. If it was true, doing something he detested would backfire. She couldn't use that plan.

She sighed again. Oh well, it wasn't like it would work out well. Flirting would kinda be impossible for a shy person like her anyway.

The more she thought about it, the more she doubted she ever had a chance to become Shiraishi's girlfriend. She didn't really have the charm to make a boy fall in love with her on the first place. She didn't stand out; she wasn't beautiful nor was she an interesting person to talk with. To think again, let alone becoming his love interest, would have it been possible for her to befriend a school idol like him if it hadn't been for Kenya's help? She guessed not.

What a useless girl she was. If she couldn't have made her crush notice her by her own power, how would she ever get him to love her?

Perhaps she should just give up.

Being friends wasn't half-bad, right?

She would just need to prepare her heart for the day when Shiraishi would introduce his girlfriend to her.

And got heartbroken.

And cried her heart out for nights.

...

Okay, that didn't sound very nice.

"What's wrong? You sigh a lot." Someone suddenly asked her. The question broke her trance. Kouki looked up; it was her close friend, Hayakashi Sanae.

"No, nothing," she quickly replied. She didn't notice she had been sighing too much.

"It doesn't seem so for me. You've been out of your mind lately," Sanae said as she took a seat beside Kouki's desk and crossed her legs. "Is there something wrong?"

Kouki shook her head. "Nn, I was just thinking of something."

"I see..." Sanae replied shorty. After that, she just looked at her friend in silence, waiting for the latter to speak up again.

"Say, Sanae-chan," Kouki said after a while. "What do you do to get people to like you?"

"Huh? Like as in what?" Sanae raised her brow.

Realizing that she shouldn't have asked such an odd question, Kouki quickly shook her head again and grinned sheepishly. "Nah, nevermind. Sorry for asking something strange." She then tried to drop the topic by intentionally preoccupying herself preparing some text books for the next period that would resume after the first break.

Sanae sat back and thought. Her dark green eyes stared at the empty blackboard.

"You don't really need to do anything," she suddenly said. The blackhaired girl who was arranging her books on the desk stopped and looked up at her with confused look. "If it was me I'll just be myself. Isn't it better to get accepted the way we are rather than just getting likedfor what we probably aren't?" she explained.

Kouki's brows furrowed as her brain tried to precede Sanae's wise words. "Eh? Oh…" Her lips turned into an 'o' shape when she realized what her friend was talking about. "Um, I get your point but… It wasn't what I mean," she murmured.

Sanae leaned forward and asked, "So what exactly do you mean? What kind of like?" She emphasized on the last word.

Kouki looked around anxiously. This topic was somewhat embarrassing so she didn't want anyone else to hear over their conversation. "Like as in… getting boys to like you as a girl." She answered in low voice.

Sanae blinked then nodded as she grasped what it was about. "Ah… You mean that. Hmmm, to be honest, I don't really know. I've never really done anything to get any boy to like me that way." She shrugged as she ended her statement.

"I see…" Kouki couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed. This friend of her was a lot smarter than her; hearing someone like Sanae couldn't give an answer to a certain problem made her doubt she would ever solve it by herself.

Sanae never seemed to be interested in love; she was always preoccupied with club activity and study. And even if she had, she wouldn't have needed much effort to make someone look at her. Sanae had good style; her body was kept in shape through kendo training. She was quite pretty and had beautiful shoulder blade length brown hair. A lot of people found her calm and composed personality interesting and it made her quite popular among both the boys and girls. (Well, mostly the girls, but if they boys were asked to rank all the female students in school, she would definitely place somewhere among the top ten).

"What's up with that question?" Sanae said as she raised a skeptical brow. "Is it about Shiraishi-kun? Don't tell me, did you finally find the guts to make a move?"

"I- It's not like that…" Kouki flabbergasted and turned pink. "I was just… Well…" She stuttered as she scratched her suddenly-itchy cheek.

Sanae smiled understandingly. "Well, isn't it a good thing? It's good that you finally have the courage."

"Do you think so?"

"Of course… though it really took you long enough." Sanae chuckled. "Well then, if it's about Shiraishi-kun, why don't you just ask for Oshitari-kun's assistance? He'll certainly help you."

"You're right, but… I just don't want to rely on Kenya forever. I mean, he has helped a lot and it's thank to him I'm able to get to know Shiraishi better." Kouki smiled sadly. "This time, I want to try to do something by myself and as myself. I want Shiraishi to look at me, and I don't think using my Kenya's cousin title won't be a good start."

Sanae crossed her arms against her chest. "You're such a strange girl. Isn't there a saying that all's fair in love and war? I think it's just fine to use every resource you have in your hand. It's also considered as trying your best." She paused then smiled. "However, I applaud your strong resolve."

Kouki grinned sheepishly, but that grin then turned into a sour pout as Sanae added, "Though honestly I have no idea if it'll actually work out. It'll be hard to achieve in the near future unless you fix that pessimistic mind of yours. You have this tendency to underestimate yourself and give up early."

"I know, I know," Kouki mumbled. Sanae might not notice it but she had change (even just a bit). It was a giant leap for her to decide to pursue for her love life… though she had nearly given up earlier.

"It's good that you have a strong will to try to make a way by yourself, but it's not wrong either to ask for other's help sometimes. Just so you know, I'll be always cheering for you, and I think Oshitari-kun will too."Sanae momentarily stopped then gestured at Kouki to look at the door. "Speaking of the devil…"

Kouki turned around and saw Kenya had just entered her class. Her eyes glinted when she saw Shiraishi following the blond.

"Yo~" Kenya raised his hand and greeted with big smile.

"Hi?" Kouki replied hesitantly. Kenya visiting her class at this hour meant that he had some urgent business with her such as borrowing text books… and he somehow dragged Shiraishi along with him, which she had to thank him for.

The boys walked to her desk's side. "Let me borrow your English dictionary~ Pretty please?" Kenya grinned.

"Geez." Kouki sighed as she took her bag and proceeded to fish out the said book.

"Sorry for always troubling you, Kouki-chan. I actually reaaally want to lend him my copy but we're in the same class and we need it at the same time so… Once again, I apologize for his somewhat ignorant decision of leaving the book behind just because its weight might slow him down." Shiraishi joked.

"What? It's not true! FYI such thing won't affect my speed," the Speedstar complained. "And what's with the exaggeration on the reaaaally want to help me part? You refused to lend me yours earlier."

"It can't be help. We're on the same class." Shiraishi shrugged.

"But you don't need it!" Kenya scowled.

"Our teacher requires all of us to have one. He don't care whether we'll use it or not." Shiraishi said matter-of-factly.

The image of their stern English teacher suddenly popped in Kenya's head. He shuddered imagining what kind of detention he would get if the teacher found out that he left his dictionary at home. "That geezer was such a torture, ordering us to put on an extra burden in our bag. Doesn't he know that text books and racket are heavy enough?" The blond then turned his cousin and pleaded, "C'mon, Kouki, let me borrow yours. I'll be doomed if he catch me. It'll be troublesome if I get detentions afterschool. The National is near. Osamu-chan will kill me if I miss the practice."

"I know, I know," she said as she handed a thick book with dark blue cover to him. It was pretty heavy that it could actually be a good training for Kenya to run around with it. "Just make sure to return it during the lunch break, otherwise I'll be the doomed one."

"No need to worry. I'll remind him to," said Shiraishi.

"Oi, Shiraishi, stop acting as if you were my mom!" Kenya jabbed the guy beside him.

"It's because you're acting like a brat." Shiraishi grinned. The smile on his face suddenly faded when he remembered of something. "As if that kid wasn't troublesome enough. Geez, you're not helping at all."

"Huh? Is there something wrong?" Kouki blinked.

"Ah, no, it's just our Kin-chan's getting harder to control." Kenya explained.

The captain exhaled deeply. He looked very tired. "It's all thanks to a certain someone for telling a story about this apparently-super-awesome Echizen kid from Tokyo. Now Kin-chan's getting pump up and asks when we will get to meet that person, literally every five minutes."

Kenya felt extremely guilty when he heard Shiraishi mentioning that certain someone. After all, it had been him who had relied Hyoutei's Oshitari Yuushi's story about the legendary first year from Seigaku who had beaten their almighty Atobe to his teammates. He had never imagined that their resident super rookie would actually have gotten that excited to meet the other super rookie.

"That indeed sounds troublesome." Sanae remarked.

"Osamu-chan's currently contemplating to recruit a manager for the team," Kenya said. "We, the regulars, and Osamu-chan are still able to handle Kin-chan, somehow…. But I guess we do need a helping hand to watch over the practices and record the scores for the rest of our members while we're chasing after him."

"We're also going to have a training camp in the mountain later. We do need an extra pair of eyes to make sure Kin-chan won't disappear into the forest." Shiraishi massaged the bridge of his nose. It was just so Kin-chan to suddenly went on an adventure on his own and disappeared for days.

"Not to mention the trip to Tokyo for the National Tournament…" Kenya grinned helplessly.

"It would be Kin-chan's first time going outside Kansai region and it'd be very, very bad if he entered the wrong train… or got off at a wrong station," Shiraishi added.

"I- I see…" The boys' tennis club sounded like one hell of lively club. Kouki had heard about how hyperactive the first year regular was, but she didn't know it would be to that extent.

"Oops, it's almost time for the third period." Shiraishi remarked when he gazed at the clock.

"Later, Kouki. Thanks for this." Kenya waved the dictionary in his hand. "You too, Sanae-chan." He and Shiraishi then exited the class. From inside, the girls could still hear him urging Shiraishi to run till their class but the latter refused, saying that there was no need to rush as they still had enough time.

"I see… Manager, eh?" Sanae nodded and smirked. She gave Kouki the look before she stood up and walked to her own desk in the front row.

"Manager, huh?" Kouki muttered to herself.

With that, the third period began with her thinking about the new open position in the boys' tennis club.

Kouki wondered if it was possible for her to apply for the manager position. She wasn't a good tennis player, but at least she possessed some knowledge on it from watching Kenya and Yuushi played ever since they were young. Since Shiraishi had mentioned that they just needed someone to watch over the members and write down the scores during practices match, the manager's tasks probably wouldn't be too hard for her. She had no idea how to arrange training menu or such, but she should be able to learn about it as time passed by.

She convinced herself that she should take this chance. It was a very good opportunity. If it worked out well, she would be able to enter the tennis club and met Shiraishi more often. Well, somewhere in her heart she knew it wasn't right to have such impure motive to a manager, but didn't something like this happen a lot in manga and drama? Besides, it wasn't like she would neglect the members just because she was after their captain. She would still do her best to get her tasks done.

That was what she thought.

However, it turned out that she wasn't the only one who thought like that. By the time she arrived in front of the tennis club, she saw a lot of girls standing in front of the door, asking the coach if they could apply for the manager position.

Kouki's heart immediately shrunk. There were, like, fifty girls, probably more to come. The tennis club was quite popular among the girls and they most likely had the same objective as her, half of these girls were probably after the same guy as her.

'It won't work…' she thought bitterly. These girls probably had better tennis experience than her, which would make them better managers…. All of them were also very cute. She could even spot some popular girls from the second year in the crowd. Ah… she just had no chance against these girls.

"Yes, yes, everyone can apply for the manager position BUT the one in charge for this is Koishikawa, not me. No, not Shiraishi, I said Koishikawa. No, not Zaizen either! Why would he even bother for something like this. Geeeez." Kouki saw the coach, Watanabe-sensei trying to suppress the horde of girls in front of his club's gate. "Like I said, wait for Koishikawa. He'll be here by a minute or two. Let me go now, I need some air."

Five minutes later, he finally made his way through the crowd. He breathed deeply and straightened his rustled jacket. "This is crazy. Perhaps I should have opened male-only manager selection instead of this." He grumbled while fishing something in his pocket. He then noticed Kouki was standing not far from him.

The girl quickly bowed when their eyes met. "Good afternoon, Sensei," she greeted politely.

"Ah, Kenya's cousin-chan. Is it the usual business or…?" he looked back at the girls. By this time, Koishikawa had appeared so the girls had forgotten about the coach's presence and attacked the vice-captain instead.

"Um, I heard from Kenya that the club was in short of people so I thought of helping out… But I guess it's not needed anymore," she said sheepishly.

"Right." The coach finally found what he had been looking for, a mint cigarette-shaped candy, and put it in his mouth. "I have no idea where these many girls heard about the news. We haven't even made any official announcement."

"That's…" She stopped in hesitation.

"Hn?" Watanabe-sensei raised a brow underneath his dull colored hat.

"No, nothing," she quickly said and shook her head. Her classmates might have overheard the conversation she had with Shiraishi and Kenya earlier and told the others. If that was the case, then it was partially her fault. However, there was also high possibility that other regulars also had leaked the info here and there. That could be why the news had spread like wildfire.

There was an awkward silence following their forcefully dropped conversation. She started thinking that it might be better if she excused herself. The applying-for-manager plan most likely wouldn't work out after all.

"Say, what's your name again?" Watanabe-sensei suddenly asked.

"Eh?" She was taken aback by the sudden question. "O- Oshitari Kouki."

"Kouki, eh… You got a quite boyish name there," he remarked.

"Yeah, a lot of people say that."

He nodded and crossed his arms. "So, Kouki-han… Do you join any club?"

"Yes, I'm in craft club," she answered.

"Hee, not tennis? That's surprising. I thought you would play just like Kenya. If I recall correctly, you also have another cousin in Hyoutei tennis club, don't you?"

"Well, we used to play together when we were little but I'm out of their league now. To be honest, I'm not really good at sport," she admitted shyly.

"I see, that's too bad, eh." Watanabe said as he bit his candy and made some crunch sound. "Craft club, eh? What do you do there? It looks like you have plenty of free time. I see you around a lot."

"Sometimes we do charity bazaars at nearby kindergarten, open a stand at flea markets or help out the drama club with their costume and property. The club activity itself doesn't take too much time like the tennis club unless there's an upcoming event, so it normally ends around five thirty. I don't have rank in the club either so, yeah, I guess you can say I'm pretty free." She grinned.

"Oh, what do you do on summer breaks?" He asked again.

Kouki tilted her head. She wondered why he suddenly took interest in craft club. "Not much, probably just attending flea markets. Summer breaks wasn't a good timing to open up an event because it'll be too hot. We're usually busier around Christmas and Easter holidays."

"I see, I see. Speaking of activity, what committee are you on?"

"The heath care committee."

"Ahh, the same as Shiraishi's…" he nodded in acknowledgement.

"Y- Yes…" she squeaked, suddenly feeling groggy. She hoped he wouldn't find out that she had a thing for the team's captain. Or at least, even if he found out, she hoped he wouldn't find it troublesome and would still let her visit the club once in a while.

"Say…" he began again. "Can you cook?"

"A little... I guess." she answered hesitantly. To be honest, she wasn't really confident with her cooking skill. She could make some simple dish, but they were nothing great.

"Can you make honey lemon?" Honey lemon? Did he mean lemon slices dipped in honey?

"I've never made it but I think it's not hard to make."

"I see."

"…"

"…"

"Ano… Sensei, what is this about?"

The tennis coach had been asking odd questions. She could still understand if he was interested in other club's activity, as he was a club's advisor himself, but… cooking?

Watanabe laughed as he put a hand on his hat. "Nah, I was just asking."

Or perhaps this teacher was just random. As simply as that.

"You don't have to look so worried," he laughed. "It's not like I'm asking whether you have someone you like among the boys."

Her face reddened in an instant. "T- That's…"

"Ah~ so there is one." He tipped his chin and grinned like a Cheshire cat.

The girl looked down in hope she could hide her tomato red face.

"Nah, I won't ask who it is." he said, and then added with lower voice. "I'll probably find it out by myself sooner or later."

"Huh?" she blinked. She couldn't really get what he whispered just now.

"Anyway, it's nice to talk to you, Cousin-cha-, wait, I mean, Kouki-han. I'm hoping to see you again tomorrow, though I'll need to have you to come earlier… Around three-thirty, I guess?"

"W- why?"

"Hm? Didn't you say you wanted to apply for the manager position? Make sure you'll get here in time for the try out." He explained.

She gawked. "W- wait, Watanabe-sensei, I didn't…"

"It's O-sa-mu-chan. Everyone call me that so you should too." The coach then made a quick two-finger salute and clicked his tongue. "Well then, I'll take my leave. Bye-bye~"

Kouki stared unbelievingly at the man's back.

This just couldn't be real.

Just when she thought of giving up applying for the manager position, this man suddenly enlisted her name for it on his own account… and he just did it on a whim!

I just realized how my writing has changed. The second chapter on the old story only has 900 words and this one got almost 4k even though they're basically telling about the tennis club looking for a new manager *laughs*

Next, we'll get to see the ever lively Shitenhouji tennis club! Please look forward for the try out and what Kouki-chan will have to do in order to beat her competitors :D

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. Please drop a review in the review box bellow. I'd love to hear what you thought about this particular story. Was it interesting? Was it boring? Did you find the characters OOC? Do you have any question?

Hona na~