“That was boring.”

Akaya shot a glance at Hiiyama, sunk, arms crossed, in the next seat. From anyone else that would have been a complaint; from his vice-captain it was just a statement. Albeit not a very happy one.

“You can say that again,” he agreed, easily. “Prefecturals was boring last year, and it was boring this year.”

“You might want to speak to the team about that,” Suzuoki murmured from behind them.

Akaya turned to prop an arm over the back of his seat and raise his brows at their coach.

“Considering that there are real challenges coming up,” Suzuoki expanded with a sigh that said Akaya should have thought of it himself.

Akaya gave him an evil look, but had to admit that he had a point. So when their bus rolled in to Rikkai’s parking lot and his chattering team members piled off, he hauled them together one last time.

“All right, we’ve had a pretty good warm up,” he told them. “We’re about to have some good competition. Regionals are around the corner. This is where the real thing starts for us. Fudoumine will be waiting for us there; also Seigaku and Hyoutei. We’ll face two of them, the way seeding is most likely to fall. Provided no one gets over-confident and screws up.” He gave them a medium stern look and was pleased that they looked back with serious expressions rather than offended ones. “Good. Get out of here, then; I’ll expect everyone to be focused on Monday.”

The team scattered, but Suzuoki snagged him before Akaya could follow. “Apropos of which,” he said, “come say hello to your visitor.”

“What visitor?” Akaya asked, a bit suspiciously.

“The one I arranged for you,” Suzuoki answered, imperturbably. “Come on.” He steered Akaya toward the courts.

Since Akaya’s imagination suggested any possibility, from some pro friend of Suzuoki’s to Yukimura-san, he was relieved that the person waiting for them by the courts looked like a normal sort of student; high school or college probably.

“Sasaki-kun, it was good of you to stop by,” Suzuoki called, sounding so amiable that Akaya’s suspicions instantly doubled.

“Always glad to do a favor for my ex-coach,” Sasaki returned with a wry smile. “Besides, you made it sound interesting.”

Akaya turned a glower on Suzuoki, silently demanding to know what he was up to this time. Suzuoki smirked at him. “You got to play exactly once this weekend and last. You should unwind a little. Besides, you could use an actual challenge.”

Since Akaya couldn’t argue with any of that, he turned back to the visitor and offered him a resigned greeting. “Kirihara Akaya; pleased to meet you.”

“Sasaki Kouji.” A wry smile. “Likewise.”

“Sasaki-kun was captain of the high school team last year,” Suzuoki tossed over his shoulder. “He’s on the university team, now, which may, if he’s patient, finally result in playing on the same team as Sanada-kun.”

“I expect Sanada-kun to go professional straight out of high school,” Sasaki contradicted briskly. “If we ever play on the same team it will be longer than three years from now.”

“You know Sanada-san?” Akaya asked, slowly.

Sasaki’s smile crooked oddly. “I played with him last year. He came to the tennis school I practice at sometimes, looking for someone to sharpen his skills on. He’s a very powerful player; it was exciting.”

Akaya had to agree, though he found his mind wandering down side paths it really shouldn’t be at the moment, and hauled himself back on topic. He hoped he wasn’t blushing, now. The sudden hint of speculation in the angle of Sasaki’s brows didn’t make him hope very hard. Sasaki didn’t ask, though, for which Akaya was very grateful.

“So, Prefecturals were as boring as usual?” he asked instead.

“Deathly,” Akaya agreed, sourly, now that he didn’t have to set an example for any teammates.

Sasaki laughed. “So come play a more interesting game,” he invited with a grin.

And it certainly was far more interesting than the past few weeks had been. Sasaki was a very good player, indeed, and Akaya relaxed against that strength with a shiver of relief. It was good not to have to think about little details every second, good to let go and stretch out against an opponent he absolutely had to throw everything at.

Sasaki was smiling even more brightly when they met at the net. “Impressive.”

Suzuoki grunted from the sidelines. “Perhaps. But it’s still a bad habit.” He snorted when they both cocked their heads at him. “The techniques of not-thinking are strong ones, Kirihara-kun, and you learned them from players who use them well. But if thinking about your game is always a burden to you that will be your weakness.”

“So why did you arrange an opponent I could not think with?” Akaya wanted to know, feeling slightly guilty and exasperated by it.

“Because you’re not ready,” Suzuoki told him, bluntly.

“All right, I take the point; I’ll work on it,” Akaya grumbled, and looked a bit wistfully up at Sasaki. “Can I still play Sasaki-san sometimes, though? I mean,” he added, directly to his not-quite-senpai, “if that’s all right?”

“I’d like that.” Sasaki gave him a sympathetic look before turning questioning eyes on Suzuoki.

“I suppose so,” their coach agreed, grudgingly. “He needs someone stronger to work against; you’ll do for now.”

“I’m so flattered,” Sasaki shot back, dryly.

“Nice to know he’s like this with everyone,” Akaya muttered.

“Oh, no,” Sasaki corrected, quite serene. “He’s only like this with the very best. You know,” he leaned on the net pole, frowning thoughtfully, “I’d rather have liked to see what he would be like with Sanada-kun and your Yukimura-kun.”

“No you don’t,” Akaya stated, with a shudder at the very idea. “Really.” He set the horrifying thought away quite firmly and gave Sasaki a hopeful look. “Can we play one more set?”

It was not, he reflected as they set themselves across from each other again, quite as good as playing Sanada-san. But there were enough similarities to make him happy for now.

End