Deafening Silence ( prince of tennis) (#wattys2016)

Chapter3

Rikkaidai Fuzoku Tennis Courts

Niou had to talk to this guy.

He, the famous trickster of Rikkaidai, had overseen many schemes and plans in order to prank Sanada and the other club members. He had many shining moments - including the famous prank which resulted in Akaya admitting himself to hospital, when he had only drank a few of Yanagi's 'borrowed' Inui juices that Niou had mixed together and replaced with his water bottle. It was interesting how many different colours Akaya's face turned before he passed out. Niou didn't think it was possible that a drink could make someone pass out, it tasted that bad. For nearly a month afterward, Akaya always checked any liquids he was about to drink for potential Inui juice. It was fun how paranoid he got about it.

Sanada had yelled at him a lot about it, but he was nowhere near as pissed as he was today.

It was then that Niou realised the ultimate way to piss of fukubuchou - insult Yukimura.

At first, Niou was angry because of how blatantly simple it was. All this time, all he had to do was say a few words to Yukimura and Sanada would go beserk! Niou didn't prank people for the fun of it, but rather to relish in the outraged looks on their faces.

So let's just say when he saw Sanada this morning, he was floating on cloud nine.

Niou then realised it wasn't that simple. The only reason that freshman hadn't been murdered by Yukimura is because the kid had no idea who he was, and Yukimura found it kind of funny.

Yukimura wasn't the type of person to stand there and take an insult. He was a fighter, the type who would rip the insult right out of your mouth and make you regret you ever spoke to him.

In other words, if Sanada didn't kill you first, he surely would.

No, he decided, I'd sooner die than disrespect buchou.

Which is why he had to talk to this freshman, he had the biggest guts Niou had ever seen before. To stand before Sanada-fukubuchou and stare at him eye-to-eye would promise death, but this guy still did it!

It was true, he had no clue what he was getting into, but Niou couldn't help it. He needed to talk to this freshman.

So there he was sat, watching, waiting while the freshman did his 100 laps.

He took his time doing his laps, which infuriated Niou more than anything.

But neither was he an idiot. He'd played tennis long enough to know when someone is holding back. This guy was probably conserving his stamina - a smart move, considering he's under fukubuchou's glare right now. While he watched, Yagyuu sat down on the bench next to him.

"You're watching the freshman" he stated more than asked.

"Ah", Niou replied, "I want to talk to him". Yagyuu sighed loudly.

"You know Sanada-fukubuchou would kill you if you did that?" he asked bluntly. Niou shrugged.

"No, he'll just make me play a practice match against him and he'll make me wish I was dead", which was true. That was Sanada's main form of punishment, which also helped the vice-captain stay in top condition.

Yagyuu decided to not further persue the subject.

"Why do you want to talk to this freshman anyway?" he asked.

"Because he pissed off fukubuchou and that makes me happy" he said with a genuine smie. Yagyuu was taken back.

"You're happy that Sanada is torturing the first-years right now?"

"Yes" Niou replied, "Because whenever he's pissed he takes it out on the freshmen, leaving us alone"

"Ah, I see your point" there was a pause, "so you're going to thank him for irritating Sanada?"

"And congratulate him and making fukubuchou angrier than I've ever seen him before" Niou added. Yagyuu looked up.

"Well he has just finished his laps now" he said matter-of-factly, and Niou snapped his neck in the direction Yagyuu was looking to see the short, black-haired freshman drinking from a bottle of water on a bench near the courts.

"Piyo ~" Niou said, before quickly standing up.

Rikkaidai Fuzoku Tennis Courts

Roko tried to ignore the fact that a third year with white hair, a weird hairstyle and a creepy grin was walking towards him, and quickly picked up a racket from the nearby pile, swiftly proceeding to the tennis courts where the freshmen were practicing their swings.

And just before he had reached the gate to the courts, another third year appeared in front of him out of nowhere. Roko immediately realised that he was the boy he saw in the opening ceremony - the one with red-pink hair. He popped a bubble of green gum before smiling at him.

"Marui Bunta" he introduced. Roko nodded once.

"And you are?" he asked lightly.

Any reply he would have made would have been cut off by the white-haired freak suddenly appearing.

"Hey, Marui, what are you doing?" he asked suspiciously. Marui's eye twitched.

"Introducing myself, can't the tensai of Rikkaidai do that?" he replied, irritated. The white-haired freak snorted in response.

"You're not a tensai of anything, Marui" he scoffed. Marui's amethyst eyes narrowed dangerously.

"What did you say" he asked sharply.

"You heard me", was the white-haired freak's response.

While the two third years were busy glaring at each other, Roko quickly slipped away, around Marui and entering the tennis courts. If the third years followed him in the vice-captain would probably punish them and send them back to their own training.

"You!"

Speaking of which...

Roko looked up to find a very angry fukubuchou glaring down at him. He looked even angrier than he was before. He clearly didn't like the idea that Roko was in his presence. Roko sent Sanada another hollow expression.

"Practice your swings. Now" he growled. Roko didn't hesitate to move towards the lines of freshmen who were swinging in unison. He stepped at the back of the line, and began to swing his racket in time with the others.

If he were in any other place in the world, Roko would have refused to do such pointless tasks that were simple even for amateurs. However, he was in Rikkaidai Fuzoku, and he knew that if he refused then his punishment would be painful. He knew it would be judging by the death-promising glare that the vice-captain sent his way.

How had it come to this? How was he already a sworn enemy of the tennis club? Roko understood the amount of respect that the entire club harboured for Yukimura, and he had understood that he had stepped over a boundary by staring him down rather than giving some indication of-

"Swing faster!" Sanada roared. There was an immediate chorus of 'Hai' before the pace picked up.

Roko mentally sighed. You couldn't even think when this guy was around.

This continued on for a while. Repetitive swinging back and forth, Sanada screaming at us to swing faster...

Until tennis practice was finally called to a close by Yukimura announcing that next period would start in 10 minutes.

The freshmen were ordered to gather up and tie the nets and gather any balls on the courts, which went by in a flash. Roko was walking back to the changing rooms, for once happy that tennis practice had ended, when he felt a firm hand grip his shoulder.

Sanada was still glaring at him, and Roko just gazed back passively.

Sanada kicked over a basket of collected tennis balls next to him. The balls scattered in all directions, and Roko guessed there were about 120 balls.

"Collect all of them and put them back" was all he said before he walked off.

Roko sighed and just did what he was told.

He didn't need to be concerned about being late, since first period was English. Growing up in America made the subject child's play. It wasn't even worth going to, but he had to, as much as he didn't want to. So he collected the tennis balls as slowly as possible, dreading the tedious subject that was to come.

He could have not done it, he could have just left the tennis balls where they were and walked off - there was now no one there to stop him. But Roko knew he needed to be in the fukubuchou's good graces if he was to survive here.

Is it this bad for you, Ryoma?

Class 3A - English

Yukimura had had an interesting first period. Tennis, to him, was normally the quietest time he had during school, since he was left to his own devices and he could watch his team progress without interruption, since his normal fan girls were busy in their own clubs. That was different in classes. Everyone around him whispered about the 'Child of God' and stared at him wide-eyed as he spoke, as if he was some genius.

Yukimura was a good student, he had excellent grades, but he was far from a genius. A genius was someone who excelled in everything they did and was someone who was the example for others to follow. A genius was someone who is able to make their own future and do exactly what they choose because they're simply that talented. And a genius was someone who inspired others to follow in their footsteps.

While Yukimura found it hard to disagree that he inspired people, it was beyond irritating when people would literally bow before him in worship like he really was a child of God. He had stomached this for three years, and was now reaching breaking point from how often people would address him like he ruled the world. The cracks in his mask were finally appearing, and Yukimura was worried that one day he would snap.

So to him, it was the most refreshing thing in the world when one nameless freshman looked at him like he was mad, instead of sacred, and refused to speak. This freshman made him feel ... happy, because for once someone looked at him like a regular human being rather than a god. And that was something that no one but himself could ever understand.

He would have stopped Sanada from attacking him, but Yukimura knew that what he did was rude, even if Yukimura didn't find it rude at all. He deserved what he got, but Yukimura couldn't help but feel conflicted over his punishment.

He's the first freshman in this school to see me as a person and I allow him to be punished for it, he thought.

There was a knock on the door that everyone looked up at. The teacher stood up quickly and walked to the door, closing it behind him. Yukimura raised an eyebrow.

A few seconds later the teacher came back in with a smile on his face.

"Class, we have a new student joining us today, having recently transferred from America" Yukimura perked up at that.

There was silence, as everyone looked up rather surprised. This class was the same in second year, and had simply moved up, so everyone in the class was well acquainted with each other. The only time students are moved around is when there's a new transfer student.

From America? Does that mean this person is fluent in English? He thought.

"However, he is also mute" the teacher added. This time there was a flurry of whispers.

'Mute? Does that mean he can't talk?'

'I didn't know mute people could go to public schools'

'Is it a disease or something?'

Yukimura himself was rather surprised at that.

A mute? Interesting.

The teacher turned towards the doorway.

"Please come in" he called

Immediately the door opened and the student walked in.

Every single student in the room was shocked.

The boy was short, with dark black hair that was styled across his left eye, his right eye bright and golden. His features were soft and he radiated an aura of cuteness, but no one was paying attention to that.

He was a first year.

The first year that Sanada punished for not speaking.

Sanada, you punished a mute boy for not speaking, Yukimura realised.

"This is Echizen Roko. His English grades are vastly superior to other first and second years, so the school decided to put him in third-year English. I expect you all to take care of him"

Oh, how he wished he wasn't sat behind Sanada so he could see the look on his face.

Things are about to get interesting.