Niou and Yagyuu become a doubles pair, and the game continues.
Masaharu opened his mouth to ask a pointed question about why it was Yukimura making all these decisions and announcing them, and not the captain standing, silent and uncomfortable, behind the Trinity. He closed it again, with a smooth look, at Sanada’s burning glare.
Niou and Yagyuu settle into their partnership.
“You do realize,” Masaharu murmured, “that you can be polite while still smashing them into jelly.”
Disaster strikes for the whole team.
After such a golden autumn, no one expected what happened in the heart of winter.
Takes place during Chapter Seven. Sanada finds an opponent who can help him improve his game, and, perhaps, offer some much needed distraction from his captain’s illness. Yanagi notes, in this, the possible start of a dangerous trend.
Genichirou never could decide whether he preferred Seiichi’s manner, who invariably drew whatever Genichirou was thinking out of him, or Renji’s, who rarely asked since he could usually be assumed to know already.
For Regionals, the team pulls out all the stops.
Masaharu didn’t know about the others, but he’d had to catch Yukimura from falling more than once, while spotting for his “light” practices, and had to carry him back inside twice. He’d watched the frustration his captain could keep out of his voice but couldn’t keep out of his eyes, and shuddered to think what it must be like.
The team brings the results to their captain.
“Is it over, do you think?” Yagyuu asked, at last, barely whispering in the silence. He didn’t protest when Masaharu twined a hand into his hair, drawing his head down to Masaharu’s shoulder.
During Chapter Ten Yanagi deals with Sanada guilting.
It had been a split-second decision, almost an impulse, really, except for the calculation behind it.
Immediately after Chapter Ten, Sanada (and, to a lesser extent, Yanagi) explains himself to Yukimura.
“You take too much on your own shoulders so often,” Renji sighed. “That was exactly what got you into this situation in the first place.”
Yukimura apologizes to the teams his own injured, and picks up a challenge on the way.
Seiichi’s eyes narrowed. He had come here to render an apology, but he’d be damned before he stood still to be a source of entertainment for Fuji Shuusuke.
Yukimura is finally convinced that he is fully recovered, and is beyond pleased over it.
Seiichi stepped away, and then spun to face them. “It’s all here,” he said, and Genichirou’s throat closed at the wonder in his voice, “I’m all here, still. Again.”
A small snafu leads to some practice time between Rikkai and Seigaku, just before the end of Nationals.
Momo cast his erstwhile opponent a thoughtful glance. “You know, Marui-san,” he said, slowly, “all of you are acting really different, today.”
Marui cocked an eyebrow at him. “Of course we are,” he responded, easily, “Yukimura’s back.”
Immediately after “The Continuation of War”, Yanagi and Inui finally get around to talking about how they parted.
He had read descriptions of how it felt to have a dislocated joint realigned, and, from what he recalled, it sounded remarkably like what he had felt this afternoon: a sharp pain accompanied by a hard wrench and a sudden feeling of rightness.
The long awaited last match of Nationals.
Seiichi’s smile changed, undiluted pleasure added to the satisfaction. It was the last round of Nationals, and they were ready.
Sanada’s and Yanagi’s reactions to the whole story about Belial.
Saying that Genichirou and Renji were not happy simply did not address the magnitude of their feelings on the subject.
Lucifer visits Rikkai.
Renji, along with the rest of the team, was starting to get used to Mad Hatter’selusive, mocking presence among them. He supposed he should have knownthat would be the signal for a fresh turn into strangeness.
Yanagi talks with Belial.
It had been a long practice, and only got longer when Hatter decided to tease Genichirou. Renji sighed.
Belial talks to Rikkai about the past.
"One is not kind," she said, very precisely, without looking around. "Nor benign. One has corrupted lives and souls and cities. Most recently, one provoked the Host to attack an ally and caused the destruction of Kurai’s kingdom and people. One led Kurai herself into a marriage that would have sacrificed her life, by lying to her at nearly every turn. You should remember this."
Belial gets a tennis team.
"Absolutely no interfering in the games in any way, shape or form, or the whole deal’s off," Sanada declared, firmly.
Belial leaned hir chin in hir hand. "Doesn’t that conflict with the clause about injury-proofing, though?"
The seal of the contract.
Seiichi remembered when Belial had set the seal of their contract.
Some embarrassment over the seal.
Genichirou, Renji noted, seemed unwilling to look anybody in the face—no, that wasn’t strictly accurate. There were specific people he wasn’t looking in the face, and all of them had just signed the same contract.
Rikkai encounters shinigami at Nationals.
The day was clear and hot, good weather for their first match at Nationals. Renji supposed it was cosmic parity for something else to go wrong. He sighed when he saw Hatter’s eyes brighten, as the team made their way toward their assigned court. What had caught her attention this time? He looked in the direction she was starting to edge in and suppressed the urge to put a hand to his forehead. Of all the people for Hatter to decide to tease, of course it would have to be Fuji Yuuta, and, by extension, Fuji Shuusuke.
If the seal broadcasts sensation…
"Niou," Sanada said, carefully, "are you really suggesting an… orgy?"
Kirihara meets Yanagi while out studying, and they chat about literature, history, psychology and teammates.
Of course, in the past few weeks Akaya had also learned that if he didn’t look up when the door opened he was liable to find himself lassoed by Niou-senpai’s scarf or pounced on by Marui-senpai, who turned out to be a lot more solid than he looked.
Kirihara’s relationship to Sanada and his temper.
The first time wasn’t really a surprise. Even one summer of observation was enough to tell anyone that Sanada-senpai had no sense of humor.
Some friendly bickering within the Rikkai team.
They were all getting off the bus, stretching and exchanging dinner plans, when Masaharu heard Yanagi ask Kirihara, softly, “So which are you going to be, Akaya? A tiger cub, or the boy who swallowed a dragon pearl?”
Possible origin of Rikkai’s “law”, and what it means to different people.
“We can’t lose.” That surety sings through him, like the blood through his muscles; he feels it.
A scene that might come just after issue 339. Kirihara angsts a bit until his team makes him see reason.
Yukimura-buchou didn’t look away from the game. “Did you hear what they were calling you?”
Loosely based on the Five Stages of Love prompt. Yukimura and Sanada, over the years.
Seiichi nodded toward the rest of the club. "What do you think?"
Sanada crossed his arms, gazing across the courts again. "I’m glad you’re here."