The day started out like any other day: Inui woke up and reviewed the overnight surveillance sessions, then went off to morning practice and school. School was typical: He corrected a typographical error on the problem his chemistry teacher handed out, ate lunch in the laboratory he'd reserved for experiments, and had a pop quiz in history. Even after school seemed normal at first: Inui hit balls with Oishi and Kawamura, ran laps assigned by Tezuka, then showered and changed in the locker room.

But then things got weird.

Inui was sifting through his bag for his glasses when the door opened and shut.

Inui looked up, but everything was still blurry. He slid his glasses on and the world snapped into focus. "Ah, Fuji."

"Hello, Inui." Fuji leaned against the row of lockers and looked up, smiling. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Inui said. He suddenly thought of a nature program he'd once watched where a tiny, sharp-eyed bird swooped down and carried a deer off in its mouth. "Did you need me for something?"

Fuji tilted his head. "Not exactly. Did you know Momoshiro and Kaidoh were planning on having a match today?"

"Yes," Inui said. He pushed up his glasses. "Kaidoh told me about his plans earlier, so I'd know we weren't training together after practice. He's good about letting me know his schedule."

"Isn't that dangerous, the two of them going off together? They fight an awful lot."

"Kaidoh and Momoshiro have had forty-two fights since practices began this season." Inui paused and frowned. "That I know of. They've been fine so far; I fail to see why today would be any different."

"Maybe you should follow them." Fuji wasn't smiling anymore, but his eyes were wide open. "Just in case."

Inui wrinkled his forehead.

When Inui took off after Momoshiro and Kaidoh, he was wearing the baseball cap he wore when he spied on rival schools. It wasn't as though Inui thought Momo and Kaidoh wouldn't recognize him in it, but it was comforting somehow -- like he was on official business, even if he didn't know what that business was. If he was caught, he just planned on saying he was training nearby.

"Idiot!"

"Asshole!"

"Moron!"

"...Jerk!"

Ah. So they'd already arrived at the street courts. Inui peered down from the top of the stairs. Kaidoh and Momoshiro were standing very close together; the only time Inui ever stood that close to Kaidoh was when he was adjusting Kaidoh's form, and even that Inui didn't allow himself to do very often.

Momo yelled again, pulling Inui away from his thoughts. Kaidoh yelled back, then Momoshiro grabbed Kaidoh's shirt, then Kaidoh hauled off and punched him. Inui's eyes widened. He should probably intercede if they were going to punch one another. It was his duty as a senpai.

But Momoshiro didn't punch Kaidoh back, didn't even try. He just laughed and wiped a trickle of blood from his nose.

"C'mon, Mamushi," Momoshiro said. "If you buy me burgers, I won't punch you back."

Kaidoh growled, and Inui wondered if Momoshiro was going to get punched again. For all the data Inui had on Kaidoh, sometimes he was nearly impossible to figure out.

"Fine," Kaidoh said and hissed, then slung his bag over his shoulder and started toward the stairs. Inui had to duck behind a tree so he wouldn't be seen.

As they passed, Kaidoh pulled his bandana off his head and handed it over to Momoshiro so he could wipe the blood from his nose. So hard to figure out.

When Inui followed them to the burger place and to the store where he sometimes bought sweatpants, nothing happened. Yes, Momoshiro would occasionally nudge Kaidoh with his shoulder, or Kaidoh would elbow Momoshiro's side, but nothing out of the ordinary. Inui was starting to think Fuji was insane.

Inui stood across the street while Kaidoh and Momoshiro were in the apparel store. He jotted down notes and thought about his trigonometry homework. Inui hadn't written down the exact pages, so he'd have to call Tezuka for the assignment.

Kaidoh came out of the store first, a sour expression on his face. He was clutching a bag. Momoshiro tugged at it as soon as he caught up and pulled a red bandana out.

"What are you going to do with five bandanas, anyway?" Momoshiro asked. "Tie them together for a rope? If you did that with all the ones you have at home, I bet you'd have enough to stretch across the country."

"Shut up, dumbass," Kaidoh said, and shoved the red bandana back into the bag.

"No," Momoshiro said. He grabbed Kaidoh's wrist. Inui thought Kaidoh would pull it away, but he didn't. Instead, he hissed and Momoshiro looked a little surprised to be standing so close to Kaidoh.

But that was nothing compared to the surprise Inui felt when Momoshiro kissed Kaidoh, right there, out in public and in front of twelve, no, thirteen witnesses. Inui dropped his pen.

They stood like that for what felt to Inui like an hour, but was actually only nine and a half seconds. When Kaidoh finally pulled away, Inui felt sure that Momoshiro was about to get punched again now, but Kaidoh only ran away, still clutching the bag of bandanas.

Momoshiro didn't follow after Kaidoh. He just looked even more surprised than before and touched his mouth.

It was funny. Inui usually got along pretty well with Momoshiro. They were teammates and played doubles together sometimes, and Momo was good with the first years and really cared about making Seigaku the best team they could be. But for just a minute, Inui really wanted to punch Momoshiro, too.

Inui bent down and fumbled for his lost pen, then walked away before he could do something stupid. Momoshiro was still touching his mouth.

Inui's feet carried him back to Seigaku, which wasn't a surprise. He often found himself on the fringes of the courts whenever he felt off-balance.

He sat down on a bench and dug through his duffel bag until he found the notebook labeled "Kaidoh Kaoru: Volume 4". He opened up to a blank page and poised his pen.

Ten minutes later the page was still blank.

"Inui."

"Hello, Fuji," Inui replied without looking up.

Fuji sat down next to him, but didn't say anything. Instead, they both watched the sunset streak the sky with bands of pink and gold. A bird flew overhead, an inkblot on an otherwise perfect landscape.

"Did you want me to see that? Them?" Inui finally said after a long while. He looked sideways at Fuji, figuring that even if most people couldn't tell Inui was looking at them when he did that, Fuji could.

Sure enough, Fuji looked back and shrugged. "I didn't know what you'd see. I just figured you'd want the whole picture available to you. Isn't that what Inui's all about?"

What Inui was about. "Hmm," Inui said, and snapped the notebook shut.

END.