"And then I went up and up -- did you see it, Echizen?"

"No."

"Smash. Arai had no idea how to counter that, no idea at all. We're going to be unbeatable next year with Momo-chan-buchou in charge. National champions at least two years in a row."

"You still haven't beaten me, Momo-buchou."

"Cold, Echizen."

Kaidoh rolled his eyes and jammed his hands deep into his pockets. He didn't know why he'd agreed to go along with these idiots anyway. It wasn't enough that they had to practice together every day; now they had to go on special fact finding missions and make Kaidoh miss training.

"Oi, Kaidoh." Momoshiro jostled him, so Kaidoh shoved back. Momoshiro stumbled a few steps. "You're too quiet."

"You're too noisy," Kaidoh shot back. "And in case you hadn't noticed, Arai is on the same team as you. Winning nationals takes more than beating your own teammates."

"Which is why we're going to spy on Hyoutei," said Momoshiro cheerfully, slinging an arm around Kaidoh's shoulders. Kaidoh shrugged him off.

"But only one of them will even be playing next year, Momo-buchou. There's no point in watching half a doubles team we've played twice," Echizen said. He scowled and tugged down his cap.

"That doesn't matter. They'll help us get into their doubles players' minds." Momoshiro tapped the side of his head. "Psychological warfare."

"Don't you need a brain for that?" asked Kaidoh.

Echizen snorted, but Momoshiro seemed determined to keep up his ridiculously positive mood. "Shishido-san is still helping Ohtori. They're using our street courts to do it, and the least we can do is find out what they're up to. Just because you abandoned your doubles partner--"

"I did not," Kaidoh hissed. "Inui-senpai has to concentrate on his studies now and I don't want to bother him. Shut up about things you don't know." Kaidoh walked faster, putting some distance between himself and the other two. He could almost feel them exchanging looks behind his head.

"Oi, Mamu--" shouted Momoshiro.

"You are too noisy, Momo-buchou," Echizen interrupted.

"No respect. No respect at all."

Kaidoh inhaled and exhaled, rolling his shoulders and trying to release some of his body's tension the way Inui-senpai had taught him. He really did want to see Hyoutei play -- and if they sucked too much then there was tennis. There was always tennis.

"You two are too slow," Kaidoh growled over his shoulder. A moment later footsteps and indignant yells caught up with him.

Shishido had improved again; Kaidoh could tell right away. He crossed the court in the time it took Kaidoh to blink, and Ohtori was having trouble picking up Shishido's return shots. Even Ohtori's serve, the one that gave so many good players problems, wasn't any difficulty for Shishido at all.

Though it had to be, Kaidoh reasoned. This was the result of his training -- of their training together, and Kaidoh could see why Ohtori respected his doubles partner so much. Kaidoh's fingers flexed around the strap of his tennis bag, wanting to know exactly how he'd fare against Ohtori now. After all, hadn't he trained a lot -- more than practically anyone, right? Didn't he have someone helping him, too?

"I'd kick his ass," Echizen mumbled next to him as though reading Kaidoh's mind. Kaidoh nodded -- maybe they did have a chance at repeating their nationals performance next year.

"That's my match, Choutarou," said Shishido. Ohtori ducked his head as he shook his senpai's hand across the net. "Don't worry about it; no one will beat you in doubles."

"What about when you're not there?" Momoshiro shouted suddenly, strolling right to center court. Kaidoh wanted to smack him.

"Seigaku's Momoshiro-kun!" Ohtori said. He sounded surprised, so Kaidoh guessed he hadn't noticed them arriving.

"Choutarou is a doubles player," Shishido replied, ignoring Momoshiro's stupid show-off entrance. "He'll be a doubles player no matter who he's playing with."

"I don't play doubles," Echizen announced. He'd produced a can of grape Ponta from somewhere and looked thoroughly bored with his surroundings.

Shishido shrugged. "If Seigaku has no doubles teams next year, better for us. You'll be lucky to make it out of the city prefecturals no matter how good your singles players are. All the other team will need from you is one singles win."

Kaidoh frowned at that. As much as he wanted to play singles next year, Shishido was right; there were two doubles matches leading off every round until nationals. Did they expect to win in straight singles sets every time? And if they couldn't win any doubles matches, Kaidoh wasn't sure what that would do for the team's morale; whatever it was, though, it had to be bad.

"What about you, Kaidoh-kun?" Ohtori asked suddenly. "I thought you were a doubles player."

"Me?"

"Nah," Momoshiro said. "He played doubles with me and Inui-senpai so he could play at all, not 'cause he likes doubles better. And Mamushi's Boomerang Snake is perfect now so we can all play singles. Don't you worry about Seigaku -- we have people who can beat Hyoutei, no problem."

"All two hundred members?" Shishido said casually. "If you say so."

Momoshiro's jaw dropped. "I do say so, and I'll prove it right now. Kaidoh, get your racquet."

"No." Where did that moron get off thinking he could order Kaidoh around? "Go away."

"Echizen?"

"Che." Echizen handed his Ponta to Kaidoh. "Fine. I hate doubles."

Kaidoh rolled his eyes and sat down on a bench to watch as the other four got ready. He kind of wanted to leave and do his afternoon run now even if it was getting late, but he wanted to see Shishido and Ohtori play again even more. Maybe he'd challenge Shishido or Ohtori to a singles match after. Or both of them. He could take them both; he wouldn't lose to anyone.

Ohtori stretched back to serve and easily took the first point, then the second-third-fourth. Momoshiro and Echizen looked stunned, reminding Kaidoh that they'd never been on the receiving end of Ohtori's serve before. Kaidoh smirked.

"He still needs to work on his stamina," said a low voice in Kaidoh's head. "That serve becomes less and less effective the more tired he gets. You'd beat him in 92% of singles matches, 78% of doubles." Percentages? And since when had the voices in Kaidoh's head sounded like --

"Inui-senpai!" Kaidoh jumped as he noticed Inui leaning over the back of the bench, his head near Kaidoh's shoulder.

"Ow." Inui rubbed his chin where Kaidoh's shoulder had connected with it. "I suppose I deserved that."

"I'm sorry. Are you all right? What are you doing here?"

"No apologies needed, Kaidoh. I was doing my afternoon training and observed something interesting."

"Yeah, Momoshiro wanted to check out Hyoutei's Ohtori. He and Echizen are getting creamed now."

"Ah!"

"Uhn!"

"That's 4-0, Seigaku!" shouted Shishido. "Get a new strategy."

"Yes, Momoshiro and Echizen, very interesting." Inui sat down next to Kaidoh, and now Kaidoh could see where sweat caused Inui's long-sleeved shirt to cling to him. Kaidoh unthinkingly swallowed a gulp of Echizen's Ponta and made a face. Too sweet. "And how are you, Kaidoh? I haven't had a chance to see you as often since I began studying for entrance exams."

"I'm all right." Kaidoh shrugged. "Practices are fine, only that eyebrow kid is louder than ever and Arai keeps getting hit in the face by Echizen's Twist Serve. Plus, I'd rather be training than watching these idiots embarrass our team."

"5-0!" called Ohtori.

"Ah, but it's good to take breaks every once in awhile. It improves the body's condition." Inui rolled his neck in a slow circle and stood up again. "See? 100% recharged."

Kaidoh smiled in spite of himself. Something in his chest felt warm.

Inui smiled back. "If you want to train with me some day, let me know."

"Okay."

"You have my number."

"Y-- yes."

Inui began jogging away again, but not before saying, "And I'm in the library every day during lunch. Most likely it will be rather boring, but you're welcome to join me anytime you wish."

"Inui-senpai--"

But Inui had already taken off, and Shishido was yelling, "6-0! You suck at doubles, Momoshiro," and Momoshiro was pointing his racquet across the net and claiming that that had been just a warm-up.

"Mamushi! Kaidoh, come on and show these idiots what a real doubles pair can do. Sit down, Echizen!"

"Che," said Echizen, rolling his eyes and tapping his racquet against his shoulder as he strolled toward the sideline. He took his Ponta back from Kaidoh.

"Whatever," Kaidoh told Momoshiro. He got his racquet. 78% of the time? Not good enough. It didn't matter that the third years were graduating, that they weren't in the tennis club anymore; he'd beat that Ohtori and make Inui rewrite his data over and over again.

Two days after Kaidoh and Momoshiro beat those Hyoutei guys at the street courts, Kaidoh found himself staring at his phone.

The thing was, Kaidoh did want to train with Inui. He'd thought about it a lot. And he did have Inui's phone number. Even not counting all the times Inui had called him, Kaidoh had talked to Inui on the phone twice. Once, Kaidoh had been instructed by Oishi to relay an important team message, and the other time Kaidoh needed clarification because one of Inui's calls had been really confusing, but when he'd called back his phone's battery died. Kaidoh took that as a bad sign, so he didn't call Inui about training. Instead, he just looked at his phone a lot and willed it to ring. After all, Inui always called him sooner or later, didn't he?

He did -- and this time was no different. While Kaidoh was thinking really hard about just dialing already, Inui's number flashed on his cell phone's display. Kaidoh immediately jabbed at the keypad and when he held the phone to his ear, Inui had already launched into a long string of one-sided conversation about the weather, school, a funny rock he'd seen while jogging that morning, impending exams, and his mother's failed batch of Super Secret Remix Recipe Brownies. Kaidoh had somehow felt like he was interrupting something, but that was dumb because Inui had called him, and anyhow Inui eventually got around to asking Kaidoh to meet him after practice the next day.

Kaidoh was surprised to feel anticipatory butterflies when Inui met him in front of his house that afternoon, but once they warmed up and started to run, the butterflies lost their wings and dissolved in a familiar rush of adrenaline. Running alongside Inui always drove Kaidoh more than when he ran on his own, even though he was always tough on himself. While they had been training for nationals, Inui sometimes rode his bike while Kaidoh ran and Kaidoh had to struggle to keep up.

But he always kept up.

Faster, harder, stronger, better -- both of them always wanted to reach just a little further than last time.

Kaidoh stopped by a tree at the 10.5 kilometer mark, pressing the heel of his hand against its trunk as he stretched out his hamstrings with his other hand. Inui bent forward to touch his toes in a nearby patch of grass, his breathing slowing from the heavy hah-hah-hah of their run to something steadier. Inui pulled a pair of earbuds from his ears and switched off his mp3 player before looking over his shoulder and shooting Kaidoh a tired smile.

"Pacing you is always the most challenging, Kaidoh," Inui said, echoing Kaidoh's thoughts. Spooky.

Kaidoh plopped down on the grass a little ways away from Inui. "What were you listening to?" He gestured at the player; that was a new addition to Inui's training.

"Ah." Inui raised his hand in a little half-wave. "I recorded myself reciting some study notes. Two types of training at once -- I've found that it helps me absorb the knowledge more thoroughly, but perhaps the distraction has caused my training levels to drop. I'll have to give myself a full physical and reevaluate my general health. In an unofficial capacity, of course."

Inui went on for awhile about the importance of regular doctor visits, but all Kaidoh could think about was how he'd also like to listen to those notes. After all, Inui had been helpful to him in his training, so thinking he could help Kaidoh in other areas probably wasn't too weird. Kaidoh was so busy thinking about Inui revising his notes and reading them out loud so Kaidoh could listen to them every day while he ran that he jumped about half a meter when Inui's hand suddenly touched his calf.

"...For instance, your muscle gain here is at least 1% more than mine in the same amount of time, but your body is growing at a rate of acceleration greater than mine overall and...hmm. Kaidoh, are you cold?"

Cold? Kaidoh stared at Inui's fingers on his leg. "No, senpai."

"You have goosebumps. Perhaps you should dress more warmly for training during the winter months. Improper attire could cause undue stress on your autonomic system."

"I'm fine," Kaidoh said firmly, glad that the December air made blushing almost impossible. "What about you?"

"My outfit is perfectly weather appropriate."

Kaidoh suppressed the urge to tell Inui exactly why teal and orange weren't good choices for workout gear, no matter how weather appropriate, instead rolling his eyes and bending over to grab his ankles. "I meant the undue stress thing. You're working very hard."

"It's necessary to pass my exams with top marks if I hope to one day become a success in the world. Though math and science won't be a problem, I require more practice with the humanities and social sciences. See?" Inui produced a notebook from somewhere, making Kaidoh wonder how he always did that. Didn't it hurt to run with a notebook in his pants?

Inui flipped to two pages with the week's dates written across the top in Inui's neat handwriting, color coded and divvied out in blocks of time.

"Inui Version XVII Foolproof Schedule for Academic Success -- study, training, food intake, sleep, even free time are all outlined here. Red for my hardest subjects, blue for those I know well." Inui pointed to random spots on the pages.

Kaidoh leaned over for a closer look and spotted things like ANCIENT HISTORY with Tezuka in red and Library Study - PHYSICS TUTORING: Fuji & Kikumaru in blue. Every day eating lunch was scheduled in the ten minutes before a library session, like Inui had said, and Gameboy BREAK was in purple. Kaidoh spotted the characters of his own name with TRAINING written underneath. The words were in bold green with two circles drawn around them.

"What's green, senpai?"

Inui smiled and snapped his notebook shut. "My green pen writes the nicest -- I reserve it for the things I'm looking forward to the most."

"Oh." Now Kaidoh doubted even sub-zero temperatures could disguise his red face.

"You should really consider coming to the library during your lunch," Inui said. "Not every day, of course, just when you feel like it. It's a shame we can't-- don't see each other as often now that the season is over. We made a good team...don't you think so?"

"Yeah. Okay," Kaidoh replied a little too quickly. "I'll come."

Inui smiled again, a wide grin, but not the scary one he used when he had a new juice to test out. Kaidoh liked this one much better.

"Good," Inui said, standing to brush off his legs. "Did you want me to walk you home?"

"All right, senpai."

It seemed like a lot of the third years spent their lunch in the library. Kaidoh guessed that made sense, since they all had exams, and school was probably the easiest place to get a big group of people together, but he hadn't expected it to be so noisy. It was the library, after all. It was...improper. Maybe. But no one else seemed to mind.

Inui was already sitting at a table against the far wall with some of the other tennis club members plus two girls Kaidoh didn't know. He was waving and pointing at the empty chair across from him. Like Kaidoh wouldn't have known that was where he could sit, but Inui looked so happy that he couldn't muster anything more than mild annoyance. Kaidoh made his way across the room, stumbling over a boy who was tying his shoe that he hadn't seen because of all the activity; he mumbled an apology and was extra-careful the rest of the way, but his face was already burning by the time he sat down.

"Kaidoh! I'm glad you made it."

"I said I would, Inui-senpai."

"I know." Inui smiled again. "I can still be glad about it."

Kaidoh shrugged.

"Do you mind if I help Keiko-san and Rei-san organize their Physics notes? I promised them that I would." The two girls sitting on either side of Inui smiled at Kaidoh and giggled. They didn't look like girls that studied Physics seriously, but then again Kaidoh didn't really understand most girls.

"I don't want to burden you, senpai."

Inui raised his eyebrows. "Good, because you couldn't."

For some reason, that made Kaidoh's stomach feel warm, like it had when Inui stopped to talk to him while Momoshiro and Echizen played, or when he saw his name spelled out in green ink. He quickly bent down and dug through his bag to find the math homework he'd been assigned that morning. That would keep him out of Inui's way and if he got stuck he might be able to ask for help as long as Inui wasn't too busy tutoring.

When Kaidoh straightened up again, he immediately jumped in his chair.

"It's nice of you to join us, Kaidoh."

"Uh. Thanks, Fuji-senpai."

Fuji was smiling even more widely that Inui had been, but that was about normal for Fuji, so Kaidoh tried not to worry.

"I know Inui misses the tennis club," said Fuji, propping his chin up with his hand. "He likes helping people."

Kaidoh glanced across the table. One of the girls -- Keiko, he thought -- had her hand on Inui's arm. "He's helping people now," Kaidoh grunted.

"Mmm, true. But it's not the same."

Not the same? Kaidoh didn't know what Fuji meant, but he almost never understood what Fuji meant. He opened his textbook to the page he'd marked with the grey cat bookmark his mother crocheted for him.

"Everyone asks for Inui's help in science," Fuji continued, though Kaidoh tried really hard to only concentrate on the numbers and formulas in his textbook. "Math, too. But he helps them because he's nice, not because he really wants to."

Kaidoh pursed his lips. Did that mean Inui didn't really want to help him? Had he done all of those things for Kaidoh because he was nice? That didn't make any sense; Inui had approached him first.

"Not like you, Kaidoh. You're different."

Kaidoh looked up again. "Fuji-senpai?"

"Oh, don't mind me," Fuji said, smiling still as he turned back to the open book in front of him.

That was frustrating, but what could Kaidoh do? Fuji was his senpai, just like everyone else here was.

Inui was still helping those stupid, giggly girls, and now other people were trying to get his attention, too -- another girl, some guy from the baseball team, Tezuka-buchou. It was too noisy for Kaidoh to concentrate.

He closed his book. Inui was so busy he probably wouldn't even notice if Kaidoh left. Kaidoh stood up.

"Kaidoh." Fuji grabbed the sleeve of Kaidoh's uniform, stopping him . "When someone's important to you, you'll always make time for them, okay? Remember that."

Kaidoh's eyes widened and he suddenly felt a little out of breath. Why was he acting like this? "Thank you, senpai," he said finally, grabbing his bag and book and walking quickly out of the library, not tripping over anyone this time.

The hallway was silent, ironically enough. Kaidoh sighed and stopped just outside the library's double doors. Inui had asked him specifically to see him here, and he'd messed it up because of a couple of people talking and laughing. He was so selfish. Kaidoh hit the hallway wall with the side of his fist.

"Kaidoh, what are you doing?"

Kaidoh froze. "Nothing, Inui-senpai." He turned around.

Inui looked...worried. About him. Kaidoh felt awful. "Did I do something?" Inui asked.

"No! It was just really loud in there. I can't-- it's usually quiet when I do my homework."

That seemed to satisfy Inui; his shoulders dropped and the beginnings of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Kaidoh suddenly wanted to be able to see Inui's eyes and felt silly for thinking it. "It's not always so loud, I promise."

"Oh." If Inui asked him to come another day, Kaidoh decided right then he would say yes again. "You were very busy."

"Yes," said Inui. "I don't always have so many people asking me questions, though. Speaking of..."

Kaidoh nodded. "You should go back in. Those girls will be waiting for you."

Inui wrinkled his forehead and looked like he wanted to say something to that, but he just gripped Kaidoh's shoulder like he did sometimes when they played matches together then turned around. Kaidoh's feet felt glued to the floor, which he was glad for when Inui paused by the open door.

"Thank you for coming today," Inui said so quietly that Kaidoh had to strain to hear him over the library's noise. "It means a lot to me."

He went back inside, but the glue took a long time to unstick from Kaidoh's feet.

"God, Arai, you suck." Momoshiro was waving around his racquet and generally acting like the idiot he was, but at least this time he had a valid reason: Arai did suck.

Apparently Kaidoh wasn't the only one that had taken Shishido's words to heart. Momoshiro had declared that the rest of the winter would be dedicated to doubles, and Echizen had declared he'd be spending the rest of winter skipping practice. Then Momoshiro gave him ten laps and he shut up after that. Kaidoh kind of hated himself for agreeing with Momoshiro, but he wanted to win more so he just helped test out potential doubles combinations.

"Kaidoh-senpai, was that any better?" Kachirou, the kid with the pudding bowl haircut, was looking at Kaidoh with wide, expectant eyes.

"I had to cover your whole left side," Kaidoh said. "Do you really want to play doubles?"

Kachirou nodded eagerly. He did everything eagerly, which was almost as annoying as Arai sucking. "I want to bring honor to Seigaku, Kaidoh-senpai!" He bowed low, basically folding in half as he grabbed his ankles. Kaidoh rolled his eyes and wished he'd stop doing that.

"You're not going to have someone covering you all the time, do you understand that? If you and Arai are going to become a doubles team, at least one of you is going to have to be good. So...uh, get better."

"Real helpful, Mamushi!" Momoshiro called across the net.

Kaidoh hissed. "Shut up, idiot! I'll kick your ass!"

Ryuzaki-sensei blew a whistle hanging around her neck. "Knock it off both of you, and respect your positions. Do you want Seigaku to have an even worse doubles record than before?"

"No," everyone on the court chorused.

"Then get back to work," she said.

"I don't suck," Arai muttered and adjusted his headband.

Momoshiro slapped him upside the head. "Shut up and try actually hitting the ball this time."

Kaidoh moved back to the baseline, watching Kachirou's approach to the net. The kid looked a little intimidated with Momoshiro glaring at him at such close range, but he wasn't that bad. At least he'd had a growth spurt recently so his reach had improved, even if he was tripping over his feet a lot. Arai served and the shot was halfway decent, but Kaidoh still returned it easily. He could see now that with practice Arai and Kachirou might not be terrible combination. They needed training menus, Kaidoh realized.

"You don't mind, do you, Ryuzaki-sensei?" Inui's voice interrupted Kaidoh's thoughts.

Kaidoh's head swiveled around. Momoshiro took the opportunity to jump up for a smash that blew right past Kaidoh and lodged in the fence behind him.

"Ha! Take that."

"Idiot," Kaidoh muttered, still looking where Inui and Ryuzaki-sensei were standing together. Inui wasn't in his uniform -- he wasn't even in his warm-ups. He was wearing a blue sweater that Kaidoh didn't recognize, not that he was intimately familiar with Inui's wardrobe or anything unless sweatpants counted. But it was a nice sweater. Maybe his mother bought it for him, and God, why did Kaidoh even care? Inui handed Ryuzaki a stack of about ten matching green notebooks and Kaidoh's eyes went wide.

He wouldn't-- he couldn't give away all of that-- wasn't Inui planning on playing in high school? Kaidoh was only a year behind, a year wasn't all that much.

Inui caught Kaidoh looking and waved. He looked tired, Kaidoh thought. Then he smiled at Ryuzaki-sensei and turned to leave.

Kaidoh ran off the court and ignored Momoshiro yelling after him.

"Inui-senpai! Inui-senpai!"

Inui stopped. This was getting familiar, Kaidoh thought, one of them leaving, the other following after. He wondered what that meant.

"Kaidoh?"

"You can't give away your data."

Inui looked genuinely puzzled. "Give away...?"

"The notebooks," Kaidoh explained. "I saw you give them to Ryuzaki-sensei."

"Oh!" said Inui. He laughed a little. "Those were notebooks I'd already compiled into my master database. Since I won't be around next year, I thought you and Momoshiro could get some use out of your data. Echizen's, too -- not that that's all of it, of course, but it's a start and I'll bring some more by soon. Anyway, that should give you both some good reading to do in your spare time. There should be some on Arai and Kachirou if you're interested. Whoever thought they might work well together has a good eye. Their playing styles aren't exactly the same, but complimentary, and there's a 86% chance their skills will level up if they're paired together..."

Kaidoh was looking at his shoes, clenching his fists at his sides. He didn't want Inui to forget him, didn't want to be the one to make up training menus or reading data that had been compiled into some huge database somewhere. It's not as though he didn't know the time would come when everyone moved on to high school, but the reality of it was...he didn't want to be forgotten.

This was way harder than he'd expected and he didn't know why. He reached out and grabbed the sleeve of Inui's sweater, waiting as Inui's voice trailed off to nothing.

"Inui-senpai."

"Kaidoh?" Inui sounded a little out of breath, maybe because of all that talking he'd been doing.

Kaidoh was blushing, he knew, but he still managed to raise his head and look at Inui. Inui's face looked a little red, too, but Kaidoh had to be imagining that. "Inui-senpai," he said again, "thank you for the data."

"Oh. You're welcome, Kaidoh." There was definitely disappointment in Inui's voice. Kaidoh knew that wasn't what he meant to say. He didn't let go of Inui's sleeve and Inui didn't seem inclined to move. They stood like that for what felt like a long time.

Inui cleared his throat. "What--"

"Senpai, are you very busy Sunday?"

"Kaidoh."

"If you are, I understand. I don't want to interfere with your studying, but I was thinking about something Fuji-senpai said, and you've been working so hard. I mean, even if it's just an hour or something, that would be all right..."

Inui pulled away and Kaidoh's stomach dropped to his knees. He'd offended Inui, he knew it, stepped over whatever line that existed between them, and the apology was already forming on his lips, so he could spit it out and run back to practice. But Inui just pulled a notebook and green felt pen out of his bag and flipped to the pages of his schedule.

"What time?"

"Whenever you want, senpai." Kaidoh smiled because he couldn't help himself.

On Sunday afternoon Kaidoh met Inui near the row of shops near the school, chosen because they'd be near enough to their homes that any study Inui wanted to do wouldn't be eaten by travel, and also because Inui had told Kaidoh he had some Christmas shopping to do.

Inui was sitting on a low wall when Kaidoh arrived. Kaidoh glanced at his watch, which flipped to 1:00 the second he did. Not late then.

"Senpai."

Inui pulled his earbuds out and, just before Inui switched the player off, Kaidoh could hear the low tones of Inui's muffled voice reverberating back at him. "Ah, Kaidoh! Right on time, as expected of you."

"I didn't keep you waiting, did I?"

Inui shook his head. "This is the precise meeting time, isn't it? I scheduled ten minutes of people watching in the block before meeting you."

Now Kaidoh was all for structure, but Inui's schedule even seemed extreme to him. He hoped Inui was all right -- it was all right to worry about a senpai, wasn't it? Kaidoh shook it off.

"If you don't have any objections, I wanted to go to the card and gift store first," Inui said and stood up. "My mother has been talking nonstop about some limited edition ornament they only have in stock there. It's a special Christmas time promotion."

Kaidoh shrugged. "That's fine. Is Christmas an important holiday to your family?"

"Not to me or my father, but my mother is a bit obsessed. She has a large collection of decorations and ornaments. One year my extended family all chipped in for a three-foot-tall robotic Santa Claus that sings traditional Christmas carols and also tells time. It wanders around the apartment starting late November and continues into January."

Kaidoh shivered. That sounded creepy.

"It's pretty creepy," said Inui, doing the weird thing where he read Kaidoh's mind. "I tripped over it on my way to the bathroom this morning, and it got caught chanting 'ho, ho, ho' in a loop. My father had Santa open on the kitchen table when I left."

"Oh," Kaidoh said. And then he started to laugh. The whole thing was so ridiculous and far-fetched, but that was Inui all over.

"I see how it is. Go on, Kaidoh, laugh at my pain."

Kaidoh stopped. "Inui-senpai..."

Now Inui was laughing, too. He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk with people going all around them and grabbed Kaidoh by both shoulders. "Kaidoh, it's fine to laugh at me. I like it."

Then he pushed up his glasses and started walking again. Kaidoh followed as Inui commented on the sunny, brisk day, the tilt of the earth's axis, how nice breaks were after working hard, and oh, look, we're here already, is that a new bandana, Kaidoh?

Kaidoh made agreeable sounds when appropriate and nodded to answer Inui's question, mostly feeling warm and happy as he followed Inui into the gift shop. The feeling was like the time he realized he could get the Boomerang Snake into the singles court every time.

"When did they start letting snakes into stores, Echizen?"

Kaidoh hissed. He'd know that stupid loud voice anywhere.

"That's stupid, Momo-buchou."

Kaidoh went right up to Momoshiro and got in his face. "What did you say?" Kaidoh growled. He grabbed the front of Momoshiro's jacket.

Momoshiro grabbed right back. "I said," he spat, getting right in Kaidoh's face, "that animals should stay outside."

What right did that idiot have ruining Kaidoh's day, showing up where he was going to be? It was bad enough seeing his face all the time at school. Kaidoh dimly heard Inui calling his name, but he wanted to fight Momoshiro too much.

"Fighting is boring," Echizen declared. "Hey, Inui-senpai."

"Hello, Echizen," Inui said, sounding put out.

Momoshiro shoved Kaidoh making him stumble back two steps, so Kaidoh shoved back.

"Idiot." Shove.

"Jerkwad." Shove.

"Asshole!" Shove. Kaidoh hissed. "Why do you have to ruin everything?"

"Nothing would be ruined if you weren't such a weakass, Mamushi." Shove.

"Watch out!" Inui said as Kaidoh shoved Momoshiro even harder than before. Momo fell into a display of ornaments in cardboard boxes. He managed to roll out of the way before he crushed anything, but the whole thing still crumbled like a house of cards. The store manager came over then, and Momoshiro and Kaidoh apologized a million times, but they still got thrown out of the store. The manager only didn't call the police because Inui promised to buy one of the fallen ornaments.

A security guard escorted them outside and Kaidoh stood around red-faced and feeling lame as he and the idiot waited for Inui and Echizen.

"You are such an ass," Momoshiro muttered, rubbing his upper arm. Good. Maybe Kaidoh had hurt the jerk when he fell. Why couldn't Momoshiro just ignore Kaidoh in public if he couldn't act normal? "Echizen is gonna make me buy him a million burgers to keep this quiet."

"You wasted senpai's time," Kaidoh said, feeling murderous again.

But Inui and Echizen interrupted them.

"Why did you buy that, Inui-senpai?" Echizen asked.

"Surely you don't need me to explain why a son might want to buy his mother a Christmas gift."

Echizen pulled down his hat. "No. Che. But why did you have to buy that?"

Kaidoh knew the answer to that: Because Inui thought Kaidoh and Momoshiro were too young to have arrest records. Inui didn't say that, though.

"You don't like it?" Inui reached into the little paper bag and pulled out the cardboard box that was only a little crumpled in one corner. The ornament...well, Kaidoh could see what Echizen meant. It was a tiny carousel painted in about a hundred different colors, none matching, with tiny carved reindeer riding tiny carved elves wearing tiny carved saddles. Kaidoh had a hard time keeping the horror off his face.

Then Inui pushed a button on the back of the box. Immediately, the carousel started to spin, the elves and reindeers rising up and down as they spun round and round, and the whole thing lit up in multicolor strobe lights flashing fast enough to fall just under the tolerance for a light-induced seizure. The elves and reindeer not only rose up and down, but bucked back and forth in a nearly obscene display, all to the tune of a loud, tinny, slightly off-key rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

"Um. Is that the ornament your mother wanted?" Kaidoh asked.

"No," said Inui and Kaidoh could tell he was disappointed and covering it up. Kaidoh wished he wouldn't hide it like that. "But an ornament is an ornament. The song is rather nice, isn't it?"

Kaidoh nodded. "It's-- it's a very thoughtful gift. Anyone would be happy to get it."

Momoshiro finally stopped pouting and gave Inui a thumbs-up. "Awesome gift, Inui-senpai! Your mom is one lucky lady!" Echizen covered his ears.

Inui's smile turned real at that. He finally turned off the atrocity of Christmas and put it back into the bag. Kaidoh breathed a sigh of relief and hoped that women who liked three-foot-tall Santa robots were the target audience for reindeer-on-elf carousels, too.

"Momoshiro, Echizen," Inui said, "we're going to have to excuse ourselves, or we'll be late to the movies."

"Yeah," said Echizen, "and that store guy is going to call the police if he sees us all standing out here."

Kaidoh stared at his feet, embarrassed all over again. Stupid idiot jerk Momoshiro.

Inui waved goodbye for both of them and led Kaidoh away by putting his hand at the bottom of Kaidoh's back. Kaidoh was so busy being mortified and feeling guilty that he didn't even mind when Inui kept it there.

"What's with them?" Momoshiro asked just before Kaidoh and Inui were out of earshot.

"How should I know, Momo-buchou? Buy me burgers."

"Aw, Echizen!"

"And a milkshake."

Kaidoh hoped Echizen spent all of Momoshiro's allowance.

"We didn't pick a movie," Kaidoh told Inui as they turned the corner.

Inui pulled his hand off Kaidoh's back. "I know. I thought it would be easier to excuse ourselves -- unless you wanted to spend the afternoon with Momoshiro..."

"No," Kaidoh said quickly, adding, "That jerk."

"How are practices going? With you two, I mean."

Kaidoh shrugged. "Fine, I guess. He can be serious about tennis and stuff, and he likes giving laps as much as Tezuka-buchou."

"That's good," Inui said with a laugh. "It probably wouldn't have been much fun playing bad-cop-fukubuchou all the time."

"Inui-senpai."

"Sorry," said Inui, but when Kaidoh glanced over he was still smiling. That didn't annoy Kaidoh as much as he thought it should.

There were three movies playing that Kaidoh's parents had given him permission to see. He didn't know what movie Inui would want to watch, but it would probably be one of the action movies with car chases through the streets of Tokyo. Kaidoh guessed those would be okay since he liked car chases and explosions and stuff well enough, but he really wanted to see the one with the penguins that formed a basketball league. But maybe Hazue would want to go with him to that next weekend.

Inui stopped suddenly when they reached the movie theater, standing in front of the row of posters displayed on the wall outside. Kaidoh nearly ran into him, but he managed to cover it up by dropping down to mess with his shoelaces. When he straightened up again, Inui had one of his notebooks out and was examining each poster, then his notes. Both pages were covered in tiny writing. Kaidoh wondered if Inui's wrist ever hurt because he wrote so much.

"There are three films appropriate for viewers under sixteen playing here," Inui said.

"I know, Inui-senpai. I told you that on the phone."

Inui went on as though he hadn't heard Kaidoh, but maybe he had. It was always so hard to tell with him. "Two of our choices fall within the action genre. My data indicates that the target demographic for both is males between the ages of thirteen and twenty-one, based on the ratio of dialogue to action sequences, especially when compared to the ratio of clothing to skin featured on the actresses in the trailers."

Clothing to skin? Kaidoh's eyes narrowed. Was looking at half-naked girls Inui's idea of fun?

"On the other hand, the reviews are at best mediocre." Inui licked his finger and flipped the page, revealing even more tiny writing. "The other film is geared toward a younger audience, but critical acclaim is much higher and children's entertainment in the last 10 years has become more and more accessible to an older audience in the interest of entertaining entire families as opposed to just their youngest members. This also means people not in the company of younger children can find these films enjoyable. In addition, though I enjoy action movies approximately as much as any other male in my cohort, one of my main interests is sports, and a sport is central to the theme of Black and White on the Blacktop. Hmm." Inui closed his notebook, and Kaidoh caught Inui looking at him out of the corner of his eye. Maybe he could stand on Inui's side more often. "Kaidoh," Inui said after a moment, "if you have no objections, could we watch the penguins playing basketball?"

"It doesn't matter to me," Kaidoh said, his voice even, though secretly he was pleased. There was something inside his chest fluttering. "Whatever you want."

They both paid for their tickets and went inside, sitting fifteen rows from the screen. Inui said that was the optimal viewing distance, and Kaidoh couldn't see any reason not to believe that. Inui bought an enormous bag of popcorn, claiming desperate hunger, and they had to raise the armrest between them to give the bag room. Kaidoh couldn't remember ever seeing Inui eat popcorn. Honestly, he couldn't remember seeing Inui eat much of anything, just drinking his gross juices, but that was stupid. Inui had to eat because he wasn't a robot -- he was just tripping over them in the morning.

Inui was pretty quiet as they watched, which surprised Kaidoh in the good way. Kaidoh didn't like people talking during movies since he didn't want to miss anything important, and Inui seemed to talk over everything. Once, Kaidoh overheard Fuji asking Inui if he talked sometimes just to hear his own voice. Inui got real quiet then, too, but that was a different quiet than this.

"Are you enjoying yourself, Kaidoh?" Inui asked in a low whisper, leaning over to Kaidoh's seat about 40 minutes into the movie. The warm-weather penguin with the bright red crown slam dunked. Kaidoh nodded, eyes glued to the screen, and stuck his hand into the bag of popcorn.

A second later something brushed the back of Kaidoh's hand -- a fingernail, he realized. Inui's fingernail. A funny shiver zipped down Kaidoh's back.

It probably had been an accident; Kaidoh could see Inui's hand was already out of the bag and he was focused on the screen, not even looking at Kaidoh out of the corner of his eye like he had been earlier. He probably didn't even know what he'd done. He probably didn't even know Kaidoh's hand was in the bag because he was so wrapped up in seeing the penguins challenge the polar bear squad to a scrimmage game. Satisfied, Kaidoh pulled his hand out of the bag, grimacing because he'd kept his hand in so long that it had gotten all buttery. Kaidoh crammed the popcorn into his mouth and scrubbed his hands with a couple of napkins.

Five minutes later, Kaidoh reached into the bag for another handful. Five minutes and one second later, something touched Kaidoh's hand again. Only this time it wasn't just one fingernail; three of Inui's fingers ran from Kaidoh's knuckles to his wrist. Kaidoh didn't even bother sneaking a glance this time, his head swiveled in Inui's direction, only to find Inui calmly eating popcorn again.

Kaidoh shook his head and ate his popcorn and wiped his hands and tried not to freak out. He'd missed the penguins beating the bears with two seconds left in the fourth quarter, and it wasn't even because Inui was talking or anything. Kaidoh's face felt all hot and he wished for once he could let things go without making a big deal.

Ten more minutes passed before Kaidoh determined it was safe to eat popcorn again, but apparently he was wrong. Inui was there almost as soon as Kaidoh got his hand into the bag and Kaidoh swore, he swore, that Inui squeezed his hand. Kaidoh didn't dare look over this time.

What was Inui up to? Was he testing Kaidoh's reflexes or being weird or had he started an experiment to drive Kaidoh completely out of his mind? If it was the last one, it was working. Kaidoh stared at the bag and not at the penguins and he had to wipe his butter hand on the new jeans his mother bought him because he was out of napkins.

Then Inui grabbed a handful of popcorn by himself without Kaidoh getting any first. Then he did it again, and again. Maybe it had all been a coincidence. Maybe Inui really had been as hungry as he'd said. Maybe Inui had really nice hands that were even nicer than basketball playing penguins.

Inui went for another handful. Kaidoh went in after him.

Oh God, Kaidoh thought to himself, feeling oddly disconnected from his body. Why had he done that? Why was he not getting any popcorn, and why was his hand now pressed to the back of Inui's? He felt Inui's entire hand freeze and time slowed down and Kaidoh felt like they were underwater and he couldn't get enough air, and oh God, it had all been a coincidence.

"Kaidoh?" Inui's voice shook and it was quiet, really quiet, even for a movie theater.

Stupid, Kaidoh thought, stupid, stupid --

Then Inui turned his hand over and laced their fingers together, crushing a dozen kernels between their palms.

Kaidoh finally looked over at Inui, only to find Inui looking back, and the fluttering behind his ribcage turned into a whole flock of birds that were trying to burst out of his chest, which wasn't actually as disgusting as it sounded.

"Kaidoh," Inui said again, only this time it was more of a statement than a question.

Senpai, Kaidoh tried replying because that was what he wanted to say, but what came out was, "Nnk!" and then he found himself staring blankly at the screen with his greasy hand in his lap. Inui didn't reach over or say anything when Kaidoh pulled away, but Kaidoh could see Inui slump down in his seat as he faced forward again.

Stupid, Kaidoh thought, stupid, stupid, stupid.

The rest of the popcorn went uneaten.

When the credits started to roll and the lights in the theater came back on, Kaidoh stood before Inui and tried to get out of the aisle without Inui seeing his face. Not that he knew what his face looked like right then, but it probably wasn't good.

But once they were standing on the sidewalk outside the theater again, Inui acted like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. He commented on the film's plot until Kaidoh answered back and he didn't say anything about the popcorn or holding hands or anything that Kaidoh really expected Inui to say because Inui always said things Kaidoh wanted to but couldn't.

"Senpai," Kaidoh finally said, interrupting Inui's stream-of-consciousness about the metaphorical symbolism of using flightless birds as underdogs in a sport all about getting air.

Inui stopped talking and smiled at Kaidoh and the flapping birds started trying to fly out of his chest again. "Yes, Kaidoh?"

"Do you need to leave right away?"

"I probably shouldn't stay out too much later if I want to stay on schedule," Inui said, consulting his watch. "But I think I could have a little while more."

"Would you walk home with me?" Kaidoh asked, looking at his shoes. There was a scuffmark on the right one.

"Of course." When Kaidoh chanced a look up, Inui was still smiling. "Whatever you want."

Kaidoh couldn't help smiling too.

They talked about the movie most of the way back, but that wasn't all: Kaidoh told Inui about Hazue's volleyball team aspirations, and Inui told Kaidoh that Tezuka had once hung up on him 23 times in one night and that after the tenth time he kept going just to see how Tezuka would react.

"What happened after the twenty-third time?" Kaidoh asked.

Inui's glasses caught the light from the setting sun. "He didn't answer. I don't know why he didn't do that earlier. Interesting data though."

"Tezuka-buchou is interesting."

"Not as interesting as you," Inui said off-handedly. "Oh, we're here." He ran up Kaidoh's front steps and waited at the door until Kaidoh got his brain and feet to work well enough to follow.

Inui looked really happy. "Thank you for asking me to do this, Kaidoh. I had fun today."

"It's good to take breaks. It improves the body's condition," Kaidoh said, repeating something Inui had once told him.

"100% recharged," Inui replied in a quiet voice. The funny shivers from before were back, racing up and down Kaidoh's spine like they'd been assigned laps. The two of them stood kind of close together on Kaidoh's porch, close enough that Kaidoh could actually make out Inui's eyes. He decided this was a good place to stand.

"Kaidoh, may I ask you something?"

"Yeah," Kaidoh said, shrugging and trying to act casual, but he noticed that his voice sounded different than usual. Deeper, maybe, or softer, he wasn't sure.

"Before..." Inui took a deep breath. "Before while we were, ah, sharing popcorn, you pulled away very quickly." Kaidoh was blushing now, he was sure of it. He opened his mouth to say he was sorry, but Inui kept on talking. "Did I-- did I offend you? Because that certainly wasn't my intention and I'd like to take the opportunity to apologize and make assurances that it won't ever happen again."

Something in Kaidoh's gut dropped, a stone skip-skip-skip-sinking into the middle of the river. What Inui was saying wasn't right -- he had it all wrong. Kaidoh's fists clenched at his sides.

"I think-- I think my data was incorrect," Inui continued, "or maybe when it comes to you I presume too much."

Kaidoh hissed and grabbed Inui's jacket, tugging him in.

"Kaidoh?" Inui's eyes were wide and startled behind his glasses.

"Senpai," Kaidoh said, because that's what he wanted to say, and mashed their mouths together.

Inui didn't move at first, but he didn't move away from Kaidoh either, maybe because Kaidoh still had a fistful of his jacket. His lips were warm and dry against Kaidoh's, but Kaidoh didn't know what he was supposed to do or what was supposed to happen next. So, this was kissing. It felt pretty uneventful.

Then it was like a light bulb switched on in Inui's head, or maybe he'd needed an extra second to process some complex equation because then he was everywhere. Inui wrapped one hand around Kaidoh's bicep, squeezing like he sometimes did to check the results of Kaidoh's training. The other hand ran through Kaidoh's hair, fingers against Kaidoh's scalp, pushing the bandana right off his head. Kaidoh's head would have been cold if he could feel anything but the warmth that was running all around his body, under his skin and through his veins like that warmth had always been part of him. And Inui's tongue -- his tongue? -- was running back and forth against Kaidoh's bottom lip. Kaidoh opened his mouth because it seemed like the right thing to do, and he could taste the butter from the popcorn and wondered if he tasted like that, too. Then he kind of forgot who started all this in the first place or really anything at all and let himself be pushed until his back was up against his front door.

Inui's leg wound up between Kaidoh's legs in some big tangle of legs and Kaidoh's hand was still trapped between them. Kaidoh closed his eyes and kissed Inui as hard as Inui was kissing him, his tongue in Inui's mouth, then back in his own mouth, back and forth, over and over, both of them, and then Inui moved his leg, just a little, such a little difference, and suddenly it wasn't a little difference at all. Kaidoh made a noise at that, a growl really, and Inui pulled back. Inui was shocked again; it was written all over his face.

"Kaidoh," Inui said, the way he always did, only this time it sounded like he was saying it for the first time.

And Kaidoh finally remembered where he was and what he was and that a guy wasn't supposed to go around kissing his senpai, especially not if his senpai was a guy, too, not even if his senpai had been kissing back, really really kissing back.

What was it called when people did crazy things for no reason? Temporary insanity. Both of them had that, that was all.

Kaidoh reached back and fumbled around with the doorknob. "Sorry, senpai, sorry. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. I didn't mean to." The door clicked opened and Kaidoh stepped backwards into his house, getting a look at the surprise and hurt on Inui's face.

"Kaidoh, wait! Don't--"

The door slammed shut and Kaidoh barely responded to his mother call of, "Is that you, Kaoru?" before running into his room and locking himself in. Kaidoh stood at his window, out of the way so no one would notice him, but so he could see when Inui left. It would be safe to come out again then, and Inui would leave as soon as he realized how stupid Kaidoh had been, how big a mistake he'd made.

But no one came off the porch, not when Kaidoh counted to 100, not when he counted to 100 again while doing curls with a handheld weight, not when he counted again when he switched hands. Maybe he'd missed Inui; maybe Inui had run away as fast as Kaidoh had.

Kaidoh considered that. Well, good, he thought, ignoring the ice ball in the middle of his chest. Inui wouldn't even be at the middle school soon anyway. They hardly ever saw each other now. It was the best thing, really.

Then the doorbell rang. Kaidoh's head whipped toward his own door, which he realized was dumb even as he did it. When he strained, Kaidoh could hear soft murmurs, one high-pitched, one low, then silence.

There was a rap on Kaidoh's bedroom door. Kaidoh froze. "Kaoru," said his mother, "Inui-kun is still out on the porch. He says he'd like to talk to you."

"I don't feel well," Kaidoh said. "Tell him to go away."

Kaidoh's mother paused for one beat, two; Kaidoh held his breath. "All right," she said finally. She pushed something under the door. It was his bandana, the one Kaidoh had been wearing before Inui had pushed it off his head. Kaidoh looked at it, but didn't pick it up off the floor.

A moment later he heard more murmuring and a door shutting. Then Kaidoh looked out the window and there was Inui, his shoulders slumped, hands shoved deep into his pockets.

Kaidoh ducked out of sight when Inui stopped and stared back at the house -- no, at Kaidoh's room, searching for a long, long time before looking away again.

"Inui-senpai," Kaidoh said, two fingers against the glass. But he didn't run downstairs and Inui walked away without even seeing him.

The next few days were torture. Kaidoh had expected maybe a day to pass before Inui would call him, then they could run together or if Inui was too busy, at least he'd want to make sure everything was still okay between him and Kaidoh, maybe make suggestions about the tennis team's lineup for next season or Kaidoh's practice menu or just be Inui so they could put their temporary insanity behind them. Kaidoh had his apology all ready because he felt really terrible about the way he'd run off and slammed the door in Inui's face.

But.

But he also really hadn't meant to kiss Inui the way he had in the first place. He hadn't expected to kiss Inui at all, or any boys at all, or anyone really. Kaidoh had always been so focused on tennis and training that he hadn't considered anything else. Plus, it wasn't normal. Boys weren't supposed to like other boys. Boys were supposed to date girls and expect crappy Valentine's Day chocolate and talk about how far they got in the locker room before tennis practice.

But.

But Kaidoh also thought boys who acted like that were idiots, like Arai and Ikeda, and liars even, since he didn't think he knew any girls who would do the things Arai told Momoshiro he'd done with girls next to the dumpster behind the gym.

But.

But he couldn't help remembering how he'd felt when Inui's mouth was all hot and wet and pressed to his mouth, or when Inui's thigh slid between his. In fact, Kaidoh had been thinking too much about it: his teachers kept asking after him in class, his parents told him he was being even quieter at dinner, and he was sleeping terribly because if he was alone and in bed and thinking about kissing Inui, the result worried him no matter what direction his thoughts took. If Inui hated him forever for taking such liberties, Kaidoh couldn't blame him at all, not one bit.

But.

But Inui hadn't called or caught up with him at lunch or after tennis practice or while he trained, so Kaidoh couldn't apologize, he didn't know if Inui hated him forever, didn't know if he could kiss Inui again.

Kaidoh clenched his fist and his pencil broke against the corner of his science worksheet.

"Are you all right, Kaidoh-kun?" asked Tsuji-sensei. Kaidoh nodded and tried not to blush because he'd been thinking about improper things at school again.

When his morning classes were over, Kaidoh's stomach was growling, but instead of going back to his homeroom to eat the bento his mother had packed for him, his feet carried him until he was around the corner from the library, watching as third years ran in and out. Then the traffic slowed to a trickle and he turned the corner to look through the library door's round portal window.

He spotted Inui almost immediately, surrounded by people, just like when he'd invited Kaidoh to study. There was no smile on his face this time, though, and he wasn't talking animatedly. Instead, Inui pointed at his notes from time to time as everyone chattered around him, and it was almost as though they were talking through Inui instead of to him. His glasses were opaque, his mouth in a straight line, but even with that lack of expression, Kaidoh could tell one thing: Inui wasn't happy. Kaidoh swallowed hard. He leaned in further.

Then, suddenly the door opened, and Kaidoh almost fell inside. Someone caught him.

"Oh, so you finally saw it," said Fuji, smiling as he helped Kaidoh stand upright again, brushing imaginary dust from the front of Kaidoh's uniform. Kaidoh didn't know how Fuji never seemed surprised by anything, how he always talked like he was in the middle of a conversation. Fuji shut the door behind him, pushing Kaidoh back into the hall. "Walk with me, Kaidoh?"

Kaidoh nodded.

Fuji didn't say anything for a long time. Neither did Kaidoh, though he felt like he should. Maybe Fuji was waiting for Kaidoh to say something brilliant. Fuji would be waiting a long time if that was what he was after. They walked down the school steps in silence, side-by-side, past kids going to their lockers, kids on their way to buy bread or candy, kids hurrying to eat their lunches. Being normal. Fuji smiled at all of them.

They went outside, around the school to the tennis courts, and Kaidoh probably should have guessed that was where they were headed all along. Fuji grabbed the fence and stared out at the empty courts as Kaidoh stood awkwardly by.

"It was great, wasn't it?" Fuji asked finally. "Winning nationals."

"Yeah," Kaidoh said, finding his voice. He stepped closer to the fence and looked at Fuji, who wasn't smiling anymore, his eyes wide and open as he stared out at the court's green surface.

"I was so proud of everyone, of everything we'd accomplished as a team. I think it's the single best thing to happen to me so far."

Kaidoh nodded. "Me too."

"But," Fuji went on, his fingers flexing in the chain links, "it was only one moment."

"Fuji-senpai?"

"Just think about it: we're young. If that's the best thing to ever happen in our lives, that's really sad. There's so much more left to happen."

Kaidoh thought about that, about the way everyone cheered and looked so happy because all of their hard work had paid off. But he was only fourteen. Finally, he shrugged. "I guess so."

"Of course, we also can't stand around and hope everything works out for us. It's hard sometimes, figuring out what you want, what's best for you. Even if everyone else thinks it might be weird or bad."

There it was again, Fuji knowing things without Kaidoh knowing how. Kaidoh sighed and thought about stuff. It would be easier to go after what he wanted if he knew what he wanted.

They stood quietly, staring out at the courts together, but Kaidoh didn't feel weird or awkward about it. He thought it was a good moment.

"It's nice," Fuji said, echoing Kaidoh's thoughts. He tilted his head up, and Kaidoh remembered Fuji scoring the last point of his middle school tennis career, remembered him falling to his knees and closing his eyes and smiling, wide and genuine.

"It is," Kaidoh said.

Fuji looked at Kaidoh. "He's waiting for you, you know."

"How do you know?" Kaidoh said, not even pretending not to know who Fuji meant.

"I just do." Fuji's phone rang then and he let go of the fence to answer it. "Oh, hi...yes, I know my books are still there, just give them to Eiji to take to our next class." Fuji chuckled. "Yes, it is probable that he'll whine a lot...who, me? I'm just talking to a friend, helping him figure out some things...Yes, you know him...Aren't you going to be late for class, too? Heh. Bye."

Fuji hung up and raised his fist to Kaidoh. "Good luck figuring out what you want. It was nice talking to you." Kaidoh touched his fist to Fuji's and nodded, not watching as Fuji walked away. Instead, he stared out at the court, and thought about Inui scoring his last point, the way they'd pulled out a win at the very last moment.

Both of them, together.

"That was awesome!"

"Hmm. Not bad, Arai-senpai."

"Arai-Kachirou, four games to one," Kaidoh announced, sitting up in the ref's chair. He'd been distracted at the start of afternoon practice, but things were getting interesting.

"When did you stop sucking, Arai?" Momoshiro called happily.

Arai made a rude gesture. "Bite me, Momo."

Momoshiro grinned. "Nah. You might like it and want to transfer into Shitenhouji." Arai squawked indignantly, and Kaidoh went red for no apparent reason. "Can't lose half of our first decent doubles pair, right? Besides, Echizen and Mamushi would be jealous, so jealous."

"Momo-senpai!"

"Asshole."

"That was really good, Arai-senpai!" Kachirou said, walking over to his new doubles partner. "Increasing your wrist weights by a bar made a big difference in your return."

Arai ruffled his hair. "You covered well. They were totally fooled by that change in direction."

Horio, half of the 'they' in question, bellowed, "If Kachirou is so good at doubles, why are we wasting him on Arai-senpai?"

"Horio!" Katsuo admonished. "That's disrespectful. Kachirou and Arai-senpai are working hard."

Horio laughed nervously and tapped his racquet against his shoulder. "No offense, Arai-senpai." Arai glared, but Horio couldn't keep his big mouth shut. "It's just that you're older and Kachirou has two more years at Seigaku. What's the point of making a super-awesome combination when half of it won't even be here in a year?"

"It's good to think about the future of the team, Horio," Kachirou said, "but don't our senpai-taichi deserve the best year we can give them?"

"Kachirou," Arai said, surprised.

Kachirou smiled. "Besides, Arai-senpai helps me. My game is already improving and it's only been a few days. Imagine what we can do in a few months. It's the same way Inui-senpai helped Kaidoh-senpai."

"And look at Kaidoh-senpai now!" Horio blurted.

"What?" growled Kaidoh and Arai in unison.

"Ah-- ah, nothing!" Horio's eyes were darting back and forth.

"We couldn't have won nationals without them!" Kachirou shouted. His racquet clattered to the ground and his hands were balled up into fists. "What have your two and a half years experience done? Kaidoh-senpai is an awesome singles player, and he perfected the Boomerang Snake because Inui-senpai helped him. I'll never be half as good, but I'm going to try!" He looked like he was about to launch across the net, but Arai grabbed him around the chest.

"Ten laps, Horio!" Kaidoh called, gripping the chair's arms and trying not to leap down to punch the kid himself.

"WHAT?" Horio yelled. "Ten laps! That's not fair!"

Echizen walked off the court. "Idiot."

"Hold on, hold on." Momoshiro jumped up on the bottom of the ref's chair and muttered, "Ten's not enough." Louder, he said, "Be fair, Kaidoh!"

Kaidoh tried not to let too much shock show on his face. "I am fair," he said. "Twenty laps."

"Kaidoh!" Momoshiro flashed him a surreptitious thumbs up.

"Thirty."

Horio was moaning louder than ever and complete panic had erupted among the tennis club. Kaidoh guessed they thought the club captain and vice-captain were about to start punching each other like they always did.

Momo jumped up another rung, so he and Kaidoh were face to face. "Horio's a good kid, but he doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut," he said in a low voice. "I'm sorry about last weekend."

"Whatever," Kaidoh grunted. "Me too."

"Yeah, I know. Apologize to Inui-senpai for me. He's a good guy, too, a really good guy."

"Okay." Kaidoh felt dazed. Momoshiro grinned and jumped down.

"I talked him down to twenty-five!" Momo announced as Horio dropped to his knees and thanked him over and over before getting up and starting to run. Kaidoh rolled his eyes as Momoshiro walked over to Echizen and slung an arm around his shoulder, maneuvering him back to A-Court. Sometimes the jerk wasn't such a jerk after all.

Ryuzaki-sensei walked over to Kaidoh's chair and peered up at him, squinting in the sun. "Kaidoh, you should come down here." In her hands she clutched a worn green notebook. Kaidoh climbed down.

Ikeda was standing right there watching Arai's match, so Kaidoh told him to take over as referee. He looked a little too thrilled at the prospect of making calls against Arai, but Kaidoh had more important things to worry about.

"Inui gave this to me after his math class today," Ryuzaki-sensei said, "with the specific instructions that it was for your eyes only. Why he didn't just give it to you himself is really none of my business..." She trailed off, giving him a knowing look.

Kaidoh took the notes from her, resisting the urge to ask if she'd looked at them anyway and trying not to look too greedy or ungrateful especially since he'd have to wait hours to read them. They had a while until practice ended and then Kaidoh had extra training to do.

"Ikeda seems to be doing pretty well as referee, don't you think?" asked Ryuzaki-sensei. Arai was violently shaking the referee's chair while Kachirou, Katsuo, and the freshman who was filling in while Horio ran his laps looked on in horror. "Since you're not scheduled to play any matches, studying your data would be a good use of your time."

Kaidoh nodded right away, grateful for the opportunity. He adjusted his bandana and stalked menacingly to a sideline bench, daring anyone to question his actions.

The notebook had Inui's name on the front, along with smaller text reading Kaidoh Kaoru Top Secret Data: Edited Compilation of Volumes 1-4. It was weird that Inui had top secret data on him, but not that weird. It was Inui. Kaidoh liked him anyway, and Inui wanted him to see...whatever it was. He really doubted Inui would do that for most people, possibly not anyone else, and that thought made his toes curl inside his sneakers.

The text inside was carefully recreated -- all of the handwriting was consistent, written in dark green ink. Even if Inui had top secret data on everyone he knew, not just Kaidoh, and it was totally possible he did, Kaidoh didn't think he'd do this for just anyone. That idea made his spine tingle, his stomach warm, his hands clammy, his heart thump; if Kaidoh hadn't practiced so hard at looking like he didn't care about anything, someone would have thought he was ill. It was something like that, he guessed, but not really. Not at all.

And there was so much of it, just pages and pages of Inui's handwriting.

...Our two most promising freshmen got into a fight today. I pulled the one that hisses all the time away from the one that repeats things and got an elbow to the gut for my troubles. The bruise on my stomach shows that he's strong -- very strong -- but he doesn't like peroxide much, considering his hissing increased by 14.3% when Oishi cleaned the scrape on his knee. His name is Kaidoh, Kaidoh Kaoru, and I'm not to underestimate him.

Very interesting. I think I'll keep an eye on him.

...Kaidoh won 7-5. It's the first time he's beaten me, therefore confirming the strength I already knew he possessed. His swing is approximately five kilometers faster than just a month earlier, his reaction times 0.3 seconds quicker. He has potential as a doubles player -- mention to Tezuka?

I am no longer a regular. It hasn't quite sunk in. I, Inui Sadaharu, am not a regular on the Seigaku tennis team. I, Inui Sadaharu, will be sitting on the sidelines for at least a month of my last season. I, Inui Sadaharu, lost twice and lost badly and lost fair and square.

Perhaps if I hadn't lost to the freshman, too, I wouldn't be as bothered by this. Perhaps not.

Ryuzaki-sensei asked me to act as manager so I could make up practice menus for the entire team using all of the data I've collected. I made one for Kaidoh.

...Tezuka and Ryuzaki-sensei slotted Kaidoh and Momoshiro in Doubles 2 against St. Rudolph's today. They weren't too happy about the arrangement -- the inevitable conclusion, considering they both think of themselves as singles players and have a rather antagonistic relationship at best, but I believe the combination worked well, even if they did win on a technicality.

Also, Kaidoh's Boomerang Snake could definitely work in singles, but not yet. Reevaluate after ranking matches?

...Kaidoh is so interesting. He refused to be my doubles partner today, and yet somehow I ended the day with him as a doubles partner.

This is not fit for public consumption, but given the choice between my teammates or my mother finding this notebook accidentally, I pick the tennis club. If they know what's good for them, they'll never see this.

I had a dream about Kaidoh last night. Now, this is fairly uneventful, considering we see each other every day, but it was the kind of dream I wouldn't normally discuss with my friends despite being 100% sure they all have dreams of this nature.

I hadn't expected it, but I liked it. I wouldn't mind having another one, though this time I'd prefer that it wasn't a snake skin he shed if he has to remove any layers. That was strange.

...In preparing for the national championship, the probability of Kaidoh accepting when I ask him to train with me has increased 50%. This is unsurprising considering he knows that I want to win at least as badly as he does, and I believe he and I have gained a modicum of trust that wasn't there prior to the Kantou Tournament. More interesting is the fact that he is also now 25% more likely to agree to activities that are not directly related to training or practicing tennis.

Does that mean we're friends? I suppose. It's nice. Unexpectedly so.

...My father told me to at least take the medal off before bed; I am still debating it. I think this could easily be classified as the best day of my life so far even if Renji did feel that punching my arm very hard was an appropriate form of congratulations. Tezuka's pride in his team almost caused him to show an expression; if the corners of his mouth had quirked one or two more degrees, I would have classified it a smile.

When I finally left Kawamura Sushi, I noticed Kaidoh was still wearing his medal, too. We were one of the very few undefeated doubles teams at nationals; at the start of the spring, the probability of that had been approximately 0%.

We're playing tennis tomorrow. Drawing up my study schedule can wait until afterward.

...92% probability that was Kaidoh's first kiss. It was definitely mine.

I wish he hadn't run away, but I'm tired of chasing after him. If he doesn't know by now that I...

Well. I don't like being anyone's mistake; I refuse to be his.

Kaidoh rubbed his forehead. Maybe he shouldn't have skipped to the end.

"Hey."

Kaidoh looked up and found Momoshiro hovering over him.

"Practice is over," Momoshiro said. "Don't you have to run your daily marathon or something now?"

"Shut up," Kaidoh said, closing Inui's notebook. He stood and punched Momoshiro in the arm very hard. Then he went running.

Kaidoh ran all of Inui's favorite routes, but didn't see him anywhere. He'd been hoping...hoping what? That if Inui wouldn't run after him, he could run into Inui and that would count, too? Was that really running after, or just hoping for another accident?

He was done with accidents. Kaidoh refused to just wait for things to happen to him again.

After dinner, Kaidoh did his homework in record time. That didn't mean he did it well, only that he did it fast. Inui's notebook was burning a hole in his brain and he couldn't really concentrate on things like history or math.

He read a little more data; it was overwhelming how much Inui observed about him, how much Inui knew. It wasn't a surprise, just weird seeing it all laid out like that.

Kaidoh picked up his cell phone. No calls, no messages. But he hadn't really expected there to be any.

With a deep breath but no hesitation, Kaidoh dialed.

Inui picked up after half a ring. "Hello?"

"Inui-senpai."

"Kaidoh."

"I got your notebook. Ryuzaki-sensei gave it to me at practice."

Kaidoh could hear Inui breathing into the phone; he closed his eyes and listened.

"Good," Inui said after a long silence, "because it was meant for you. Did you read all of it?"

"Enough of it."

"Oh."

There was too much quiet. Somewhere a car alarm went off, and Kaidoh could hear it echoing through the phone.

"Kaidoh, I--"

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused," Kaidoh said all at once, the words all stumbling over each other as they tried to escape his mouth.

"You don't need to--"

Kaidoh looked at his clock and made a decision. "Could I come over? I want to see you."

Inui sighed. "That probably wouldn't be a good idea."

"What, why?" An edge of panic crept into Kaidoh's voice. "I thought that you-- we-- all those things you wrote--" Kaidoh hissed.

"Well, Kaidoh," Inui began, and Kaidoh could already hear the you're too late, the you missed your chance, "it would be inconvenient because I'm not at home."

Kaidoh blinked.

"In fact, I am standing right outside your house."

The doorbell rang. Kaidoh snapped his phone shut and threw it on his bag. He tore down the stairs before anyone else could answer and pulled open the door.

Inui was there. Inui looked tired and more nervous than Kaidoh could ever remember seeing him, but he was there. He also looked happy.

"Hello, Kaidoh," Inui said.

Kaidoh raised his eyebrows. "Were you planning on standing out there all night, senpai?"

"Possibly."

Kaidoh opened the door wider and Inui stepped inside, hanging up his coat and leaving his sneakers near Kaidoh's shoes. Kaidoh called to his parents that Inui was there to help him with something and might be over a little late.

"I hope you're not burdening your senpai," said Kaidoh's mother.

"He never could," Inui said as Kaidoh led him to his room. The birds in Kaidoh's chest started nesting again, flapping so hard that Kaidoh felt completely stupid for not getting it earlier. He closed the door to his room.

Inui was looking all around and Kaidoh could almost see the data being written in his head. Kaidoh locked the door for good measure.

"It was," Kaidoh said.

Inui turned around, tilted his head to the side. "What was?"

"I'd never kissed anyone before." Kaidoh looked at his feet than back at Inui. "Ii data?"

"It's nice to have it confirmed."

"I liked it. A lot," Kaidoh blurted.

Then Inui was standing right in front of him, and Kaidoh put his arms around Inui's waist and buried his face in Inui's shirt before he could really think about it. Inui smelled like soap and aftershave and...and formaldehyde or something chemical. It was weird and good and Inui. Kaidoh looked up and realized their faces were close enough to see through Inui's glasses again.

"Senpai," Kaidoh said and pulled Inui's glasses off his face. Inui's eyelashes were inky black, dark smudges against his pale skin.

"Kaidoh," Inui replied and kissed him.

They stood that way for a moment or two, mouths pressed clumsily together, arms around each other -- well, Kaidoh with one arm around Inui, the other holding Inui's glasses. Inui plucked his glasses from Kaidoh's hand and put them in his pocket, fingertips just pressed to Kaidoh's like in the movies, too little, not enough, not nearly enough, and a light switch flipped on in Kaidoh's head.

A butterfly flapped its wings. The complex equation solved itself.

And Kaidoh was everywhere.

He grabbed the middle of Inui's shirt and walked backward until his back was against the door. Inui's mouth opened a little, maybe in surprise, but open enough for Kaidoh to push his tongue inside. Inui didn't taste like fake popcorn butter this time, but some medicinal mouthwash, not gross like juice but not exactly pleasant either.

Inui made this sort of strangled moan and gripped Kaidoh's shoulder, slipping his leg between Kaidoh's like he'd done when Kaidoh ran away last time, and that felt good, just as good, better, how could Kaidoh be so stupid?

He broke their kiss and hissed. Inui wouldn't let him pull away, pressing them closer together, his mouth wet against the side of Kaidoh's throat, but Kaidoh wasn't going anywhere, and when Inui started to suck that hiss turned into a moan.

Inui pushed the bottom of Kaidoh's shirt up, palm pressed flat against the planes of Kaidoh's stomach, and tilted his hips just as Kaidoh arched up. Inui sort of mumbled, "Oh, God," into Kaidoh's neck.

Kaidoh tugged Inui's hair so they could kiss again, and it was even better this time, rubbing against each other the way they were, like all of Kaidoh's feelings were vinegar and Inui had just poured baking soda on top of them and caused a chain reaction.

And that was before Inui pushed his hand inside Kaidoh's shorts -- then it was like the chain reaction ended with Kaidoh passing out, and that wasn't fair at all, it wasn't even, so Kaidoh had to do it, too.

It was Inui's turn to break away. "Kaidoh," he choked out . Maybe he hadn't expected Kaidoh to react the way he had, but things were different now.

"I'm not letting you chase me anymore," Kaidoh panted back, only what Inui was doing felt good, and it took him a really long time to get it out. "I can keep up."

Inui kissed him again, hard, and they kept touching and kissing and rubbing, over and over, until everything bubbled up and out.

Kaidoh gasped and slid to the floor. He was sticky. Inui thumped down next to him. His hand was sticky. Kaidoh leaned against Inui's shoulder, and Inui reached down to lace their fingers together. His hand was sticky, too.

"That's disgusting," Kaidoh complained.

"Not really," Inui said.

Kaidoh smiled. No, not really.

Kaidoh's phone rang.

"What is it, senpai?"

"Merry Christmas!"

He could almost hear Inui smiling on the other end. That rarely led to good results; of course, it also sometimes led to very, very good results. Kaidoh decided to let it slide.

"Same to you. Is your family doing anything special today?"

"Not unless breaking your big toe on a Santa robot counts," Inui replied, "but that might be a father-exclusive activity. My mother is binding it for him right now. How about you?"

"Not really. I'll probably get a gift later, but you know we're not Christian."

"Mmm, good."

"Good?" Maybe Inui wasn't listening.

"Yes, good."

"Why?" Kaidoh asked warily.

Inui was grinning through the phone again. "Because I have something for you and I'm about a block from your house."

"Senpai, though it's polite to call before coming over--"

"Kaidoh," Inui said in the voice that was guaranteed to turn Kaidoh's knees to water, "just meet me outside."

"Yeah, all right." He hung up and smiled as he grabbed a bag off his desk. Inui wasn't the only one with surprises.

The day was sunny but cold, cold enough to justify his mother's insistence he wear a scarf and gloves out. Kaidoh squinted up and adjusted his bandana; a moment later Inui was there.

"Yo," Inui said. He raised his fist.

Kaidoh rolled his eyes. "Hello," he replied like a normal person. But he still touched Inui's fist with his own.

Inui grinned and rooted around in his bag, pulling out a small wrapped package.

"It's not much," Inui said.

Kaidoh tilted his head and unwrapped his gift. "A computer disk?" He hoped it didn't have the whole world's nuclear codes contained on it or something. Not that he'd put that past Inui, but he wouldn't know what to do with something like that.

"Close." Inui took Kaidoh's hand and flipped the disk over; the label was covered in Inui's writing. "It's an audio mini-disk. They're my notes from last year and this year. I only included the classes we shared last year, and the ones you planned on taking next year."

Kaidoh made a choked noise. "This is all you talking?"

"I thought you might find them useful."

Of course he would, though possibly not in the way Inui meant. The sunlight glinted off Inui's glasses as he grinned at Kaidoh again. Well, then maybe exactly the way Inui meant.

Kaidoh shook his head, clearing it a little, and remembered the bag he'd brought along. "Here," he blurted, shoving it in Inui's direction.

Inui blinked. Kaidoh liked surprising him.

"Look at it," Kaidoh urged.

Inui peered inside the bag. "Kaidoh..."

"That's the right one, isn't it?"

"Yes," said Inui, sounding a little dazed himself.

Kaidoh shrugged. "I wanted to make sure you didn't have to give your mother that ugly thing. It was my fault you had to buy it, after all."

Inui held the snowflake up to the sky. The ice skaters in the center spun and spun. "Thank you," he said happily. "If only I hadn't given my mother her gift this morning."

Kaidoh groaned. "You didn't."

"She loved it." Inui laughed. "She hung it in the middle of the tree and played 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' four times. When my father saw it, he tripped backwards over the robot -- that's how he broke his toe."

"Give it to her next year then," Kaidoh said.

Inui tucked the bag away. "Or I could keep it for myself."

Kaidoh carefully dropped his disk into his pocket. "Or that." He smiled at his feet and when he looked up again, Inui put his arms around him and kissed the top of his head. There was no one looking at them, so Kaidoh guessed that was all right. He wrapped his arms around Inui's middle.

"Inui-senpai, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"Yes, Kaidoh?"

"If you decide to go to Seigaku again next year, could you-- will we-- can we play doubles again when I get there?"

Inui slid his hand under Kaidoh's chin and tilted it up. "Yes. I know you'll keep up."

Kaidoh shivered. "Your hand is cold, senpai."

"I forgot my gloves."

"Dressing improperly could cause stress to your body." Kaidoh clucked his tongue.

"That doesn't matter," Inui said, and just when Kaidoh was about to ask what that meant, he found himself being kissed and then he was really, really warm. Oh.

Maybe he really was a doubles player, Kaidoh thought, rising up on his toes. And maybe this was his best moment ever.

So far.

END.