Deafening Silence ( prince of tennis) (#wattys2016)

11

I'm starting to think that these chapters are getting progressively worse. Maybe I should take a break...

Rikkaidai Fuzoku Tennis Courts

Chaos.

That would be the word Sanada would use to describe what was happening around him. Some people were babbling incessantly, saying it was impossible, others broke down in tears at the news, and everyone was so busy crying themselves to help each other.

Sanada's anger slowly built up in him as he watched his useless tennis club fall apart. His regulars seemed to be the only ones with composure - excluding Kirihara.

It had happened on the way home after the ranking tournament when Echizen was made a regular. Sanada argued with Yukimura endlessly about it, saying it was unacceptable that he should be a regular after he missed his match with Kirihara. But Yukimura just calmly took his comments and then nodded his head once and asked if Sanada was disobeying his rules, with that cold, misguiding smile of his. Sanada could see in Yukimura's eyes that he was tired and angry and really wanted to go home, so Sanada took a step back, apologized and allowed Echizen on the team.

Yukimura then turned, took two steps, and collapsed.

He was immediately rushed to hospital, and he was currently being examined for what exactly he had. Normally if someone had collapsed they'd simply be kept in hospital for a day before they're allowed to return, but then Yukimura's parents revealed that he had had pain in his limbs for the past month, to the point where it was unbearable.

Sanada had then stormed into Yukimura's hospital room and demanded to know why he was not told of this, to which Yukimura calmly replied that Sanada would freak out and be overprotective, like he was being right now. He didn't need Sanada's help, and didn't expect the pain to get worse and simply hoped that it would pass.

So on top of Sanada's own fury toward Yukimura for not telling him, he now had to babysit his entire tennis club. His tennis club. It wasn't Yukimura's anymore until he returned, and Sanada was appointed captain by Yukimura himself. Sanada gritted his teeth in anger as he watched the entire club wail in agony like they were children, until he couldn't stand it anymore.

"TARUNDAROU!" Sanada screamed at the top of his lungs, swearing he could hear his own voice echo. Immediately every single member silenced and looked at Sanada terrified.

"Yukimura may be gone" Sanada began, "But that does not mean we are weak, we are Rikkaidai Fuzoku, the national champions of middle school tennis, and none of you will sit around and cry like pathetic children! 100 laps! Everyone! NOW!" he roared, and every single member shot off like a bullet, terrified of their new captain.

Sanada felt a huge migraine coming, and he massaged his temples rhythmically, hoping to ease the pain, and his throat suddenly felt very sore from his shouting. His scowl became deeper and he felt so frustrated and angry he felt like he was going to explode.

He somehow felt someone next to him, and Sanada turned to find Echizen in his new yellow jersey, holding a water bottle in one hand and an aspirin packet in the other hand. Sanada raised an eyebrow but took the items without a word, quickly putting the aspirin in the water and guzzling it down, slowly feeling the pain settle.

"Why did you bring me these?" Sanada asked bluntly when he felt the pain recede. Echizen raised an eyebrow at him and made gestures.

"You could at least say thank you". Sanada scowled.

"Why did you bring these?" he asked stubbornly. Echizen rolled his eyes at him, and Sanada would have killed him for that if he wasn't a regular now.

"I keep aspirin in my bag and I thought you might need it for today" his hands said. If Sanada had cared at the moment he'd have probably wondered why a freshman had aspirin in his bag, but he thought nothing of it and instead turned back to the club members who were all running laps.

"Why were they crying?" Echizen asked bluntly, and Sanada looked at him for a moment with light surprise - contrasting greatly to everyone else, Echizen's face remained passive and without tears.

"Because they just respect Yukimura that much" Sanada replied, "you wouldn't understand, considering you've only been here a week".

"So have all the other freshmen" Echizen's hands said. Sanada paused, it was true, Echizen wasn't newer than any other first year, and still every other freshman had broken down.

"You probably don't see Yukimura as the Child of God then" Sanada reasoned. He noticed that Echizen rolled his eyes.

"You mean that stupid nickname that the school gave him?" Sanada felt his anger rising, and stared into Echizen's eyes with unbridled ferocity, and Echizen matched that with his own blank gaze.

"I'm in no mood to debate with you!" he snapped, "you shouldn't even be wearing that yellow jersey!", and then Sanada stormed off, leaving a passive Echizen to stare after his captain.

And then Yanagi appeared out of nowhere in front of Sanada like he always did.

"Ah, Sanada, Echizen, I've been looking for you both. I need to speak with you" he said in his light, measured tone.

Rikkaidai Fuzoku Regular Clubhouse

Roko watched with unrestrained amusement as Sanada relentlessly attacked the locked door before him screaming obscenities as he did.

It had started when Yanagi had wanted to speak with them both, and had led them to the clubroom. They had all sat down and Yanagi explained that he had received a call from Yukimura, saying that Roko and Sanada needed to get along better, and that the club could not function with the two glaring at each other constantly. Sanada, being Sanada, burst into outrage and exclaimed that he did not need to become friends with the freshman in order to win. To which Yanagi just sighed loudly, walked out, and said:

"I will not let you out until you two work out your differences"

And then slammed the door and locked it.

And that was how Sanada started murdering the innocent clubroom door in his hysterics.

Roko wasn't exactly happy about the fact he was locked in the clubroom with Sanada, but he too agreed that the club could not function with this rivalry going on, and Roko really wanted to be on his new captain's good side - if he had one. But right now Roko decided that intervening would be a bad idea, and instead watched as Sanada continued to beat down the door.

Roko couldn't help but pity the poor door that was literally hanging onto its hinges for dear life, and he was rather surprised at how strong Sanada was. He had successfully managed to put one hole in the door, and reached his arm around, hoping the key would be in the lock on the other side, but Roko could tell by Sanada's change of expression from hope to despair that Yanagi was smarter than that.

Roko just waited, and after more screaming and attempts to break down the door, Sanada finally relented and threw himself onto one of the benches in frustration. Roko looked at Sanada for a while, suddenly looking far older than he was, and Roko could see how the years of leadership weighed on him.

The two shared a long silence for almost a minute, which Roko didn't mind, since most of his life had been silence anyway.

He then lifted his hands, which got Sanada's attention, and he made quick gestures.

"Why do you hate me?" Roko could see the slow anger that crept into Sanada's eyes.

"Because you don't deserve that jersey you wear" Sanada replied bluntly. Roko mentally sighed.

"I defeated your teammate, it's the rules"

"Yes, but you abandoned Kirihara!" Sanada snapped, "That kind of laziness is intolerable!" Roko tried not to roll his eyes.

"It's already done. I'm your teammate now". Sanada's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"And what if I kick you out of the regulars?" he asked sharply, but Roko's gaze didn't waver.

"If you did then you wouldn't be able to play in the tournament, the rules say a team of 8 is needed" Roko could see Sanada's eyes widen in fury and he gritted his teeth at him.

"Yukimura will return to fill your spot before the tournament" he replied with confidence.

"And what if he doesn't?" Roko's hands asked. He could immediately see that he went too far, Sanada stood up and charged at him, grabbing his jersey collar with both hands and lifting him up off the ground to eye-level with Sanada.

"You" he spat, "will not speak to your captain in such a way". Roko could see the unbridled fury in Sanada's eyes, the anger, the hate, and Roko finally understood.

Yukimura, The Child of God, was beloved by his teammates and friends, and Roko knew that Sanada was his best friend, so to see Sanada snap like that at just the thought of Yukimura not returning made Roko understand how much his teammates respected him, and it wasn't the kind of respect for someone who was simply above you, it was the kind of earned respect that very few people in power actually had. Yukimura in that sense was a rare captain, because he didn't treat his team like slaves, he knew about each of them, their lives and dreams, and in turn he was treated like a friend and a captain at once.

Roko had never seen it that way. His vision of respect is that those who deserve it are those who work hard and inspire others to work their hardest too, and people above others abused their power and lost any respect they had because they were too selfish to see it.

Yukimura in that sense was a combination of both, a rare person who uses his power to his heart's content but doesn't drive his teammates like cattle either. Roko didn't quite understand the methods behind it, but he knew how much he was respected in that instant.

But it was different for the freshman of Rikkaidai. Roko had never understood why they practically worshipped Yukimura like they did, and came to the conclusion that it was because of his looks. But the more he thought about it, the more he realised that in fact that wasn't the case at all. The freshmen gave their respect freely to Yukimura because they wanted to learn, Yukimura inspired them to learn by his own skills, and the freshmen followed suit, giving their freedom to Yukimura so he could shape them into talented tennis players.

Roko then finally understood why Sanada was so angry at him. Yukimura didn't deserve to spoken ill of, or to be left in the hospital alone for long, and Roko could tell that the thought terrified him.

So he just looked into Sanada's eyes passively, waiting for Sanada to let go of him, dropping the subject of Yukimura entirely.

After a long while that seemed to stretch on forever, Sanada seemed to finally calm down, putting Roko down before storming towards the door. He lifted his leg and with one ferocious kick he tore the door off its hinges, sending it reeling sideways and hit the ground with a loud thud. Sanada then stormed away without a word.

Roko just looked at the space where the door once was, thinking deeply about Sanada's words.

Do I really not deserve to be a regular? He wondered.

Yanagi then peered around the corner, inspecting the new empty space as if he was examining the door that was once there.

"Ah, I see" he mumbled, turning to Roko.

"I'm sorry about that, but I thought it would help" he explained, and Roko just nodded.

"In that case" he continued, "Can you give Sanada this?" he asked, giving Roko a folded piece of paper. Roko looked up at Yanagi with a raised eyebrow.

"It's the bill for our new door" he said.