Deafening Silence ( prince of tennis) (#wattys2016)

15

I don't know what to write here, other than this chapter's kind of boring.

Tokyo Tennis Gardens Courts

Roko watched amusedly with his music booming in his ears as his brother and a second-year who often cycled Ryoma to school argued with each other in a game of doubles. It was clear they had no synchronisation whatsoever, and it actually felt painful to watch them both slamming into each other while trying to reach the ball. Roko mentally sighed, and wondered how on Earth his brother had got into doubles, when he has never even played doubles before, and Roko smiled at the memory of him walking into their room to find Ryoma reading 'Doubles for Beginners'. Of course he immediately denied reading the thing and pretended that it wasn't right behind him, even when Roko swiped it and held it in front of Ryoma's face like evidence at a crime scene.

Crash.

The two ran into each other again, and engaged in another shouting match. Roko wanted to go down there and beat some sense into his brother, but he knew that he couldn't.

He was dressed back into his Rikkaidai uniform, with the black trousers, shoes, white shirt and blue and white tie. Thankfully, no one here recognized the uniform, since the team would always show up in their tennis jerseys and shorts rather than their uniforms, it also helped that Rikkaidai wasn't even in this district, so everyone would never expect a Rikkaidai student to appear before the Regionals.

The game stopped for a few minutes, allowing the players to get a drink, and Roko smiled at how the old Seigaku coach scolded them for their awful doubles play, the two of them bowing their heads in shame. This was a rare moment where Roko was able to see his brother subdued, and he smiled shamelessly at this opportunity.

Roko turned, deciding to get a drink, and made his way to the vending machine. They had a whole selection of ponta available, but Roko just bought a bottle of iced tea instead; he'd never liked ponta, despite his craving for sweet things.

"Excuse me" came a light voice. Roko turned to stand face-to-face with a small girl, who he assumed was a first year. She had shoulder-length coffee brown hair, large brown eyes, small, soft features and a camera around her neck. She wore a cream cardigan on top of a white blouse and a short brown skirt. The girl noticed she'd got his attention, and Roko took out his earphones.

"Do you know where the Seigaku game is?" she asked politely. Roko just nodded and gestured for her to follow, which she frowned at, but nodded and followed him back to the courts. She was probably frowning because she thought it was rude that he hadn't spoke, but Roko didn't really care; it just became tedious trying to explain to everyone who ever talked to him that he was mute.

When they had reached the court the girl immediately moved to the iron mesh around the courts and watched with an analytical expression, and then her face dropped when she noticed how badly Seigaku were playing.

"Their doubles play is awful. Are they really regulars?" she wondered out loud, and Roko, who had moved next to her, mentally chuckled and smiled widely, putting his earphones back in and welcoming the loud music. He opened his iced tea and sipped it, not taking his eyes off the game.

The girl then lifted her camera and pressed a button, and held it up to the courts and kept it there, probably recording video.

Is this girl a spy? Roko wondered. His first thought was to swipe the camera, after all, if she was a spy then he didn't want his brother to have a disadvantage in a game, but he soon realised that it didn't really matter, since Ryoma was barely showing any of his skills here.

Ryoma and the second-year then started to have a conversation, and even from here Roko could tell that the second-year had a plan. Ryoma smiled deviously and nodded once, and they moved back to their positions, and then when the opposing team sent the ball down the middle, the two of them shouted something Roko couldn't hear over his music, and suddenly the second-year hit the ball while Ryoma stopped, and it went right past the opposing team, who probably weren't expecting them to return it.

Ah, so they have some sort of signal for when the ball goes down the middle, Roko thought.

Tokyo Tennis Gardens Courts

Fuji Syuusuke watched with a growing smile as Echizen and Momoshiro started to pull back, taking game after game with their 'Ah-Un' formation. At the start their doubles play made him cringe inwardly, but suddenly they were on the offensive and Fuji smiled, knowing the game was now theirs.

His eyes started to wander, and they stopped when he noticed someone in the crowd. From here he couldn't make out any features except his black hair, but the uniform seemed familiar to him. It was a simple white short-sleeved shirt with a blue and white tie, with black trousers and shoes.

Where have I seen that before? He wondered. The boy was sipping a bottle of something while watching the game, standing next to a girl who was holding a camera and holding it to the courts.

Are they spies?

Fuji dismissed the thought when he noticed their uniforms were not similar at all, suggesting the two went to different schools. It was possible they were both spies who were working separately, but it seemed like the black-haired boy wasn't taking notes or recording, he was just watching, so Fuji decided he was just a spectator, but he still felt a gnawing doubt in the back of his mind.

"Tezuka" he said, and his captain turned his head to him.

"Hm?" Tezuka asked. Fuji pointed to the boy in the crowd, and Tezuka looked at him from the corner of his eye.

"Does his uniform seem familiar to you?" he asked, and Tezuka narrowed his eyes, as if trying to recall a memory.

"Yes, but I do not know why" he replied indifferently, turning his head back to the game. Fuji sighed, realising that Tezuka had no interest in the mystery man at all, and decided to turn his attention back to the game too.

The game quickly ended afterward with Echizen and Momo winning 6-4. Fuji smiled widely as his teammates stepped off the courts, but Ryuuzaki-sensei apparently did not share his happiness.

"What were you two doing?" she boomed, "Your doubles play was awful! You could have cost us the match!"

"Hai" the two mumbled, and Ryuuzaki ordered them to kneel by the bench in humiliation. Fuji smiled in amusement as he watched the winners of the match be punished.

"Hah!" Fuji heard a voice, "Seigaku won and they're being punished for it!" and there was an immediate chorus of laughter, making Echizen and Momo bow their heads further in shame.

But then Fuji noticed that Echizen had looked up, and his eyes widened for a moment, and Fuji turned in his direction of view to see the mystery man standing there. The mystery man made signs with his hands.

Sign language? Fuji wondered as he watched the mystery man continue to make signs, and then Echizen smiled, before turning his attention back to the game.

Who was that? And does Echizen know sign language?

So many questions, and yet in Echizen's current predicament Fuji knew he couldn't approach him. He'd have to ask later, and hopefully Echizen would give an answer.

Tokyo Tennis Gardens Courts

Roko smiled widely as he watched Ryoma and his teammate kneel on the ground in punishment for winning. It seemed that the coach of Seigaku was an even bigger taskmaster than Sanada, since he would never punish someone for winning.

He looked at Ryoma for a while, and Ryoma seemed to notice someone was watching and looked up to make eye-contact with Roko from across the courts. Immediately he smiled, and Roko made signs.

"At least you won. I hope you aren't this bad in singles". Roko could see Ryoma smile in amusement, and he took that as his queue to leave, since he was only here for Ryoma's match.

"Eh? You're going?" came the voice of the girl. Roko stopped, forgetting about her completely, and turned back to her inquiring eyes. She'd put the camera down, and would probably start filming when the next match started. Roko just nodded once, and the girl frowned.

"You should at least watch the whole game, I mean, isn't that why you're here?" she inquired, and Roko just pointed to Ryoma as an answer. The girl looked at the spot where he had pointed, and made a connection in her head.

"Ah, you're here to watch the freshman?" she asked, and Roko nodded once, before walking away and leaving the girl behind before she could say more.

Tokyo Tennis Gardens Courts

Tachibana Ann watched as the quiet kid walked away without a word spoken to her, and she huffed in anger. He was so rude; could he have at least said something to her?

She supposed it didn't really matter. The kid - whoever he was - came here to watch the freshman from Seigaku. Ann couldn't understand why, his play in that game was awful, she'd seen grade schoolers with better synch in doubles.

The second doubles game was about to start, and Ann picked up her camera and pressed 'record', holding up the camera to the courts. She was doing this to help her brother's team win, since they were just starting with a fresh team, and every piece of data they could gather on their opponents would be precious. Ann knew that Fudomine had won their first game, even though she wasn't there to witness it, which meant their next opponents would be Seigaku, and she took it upon herself to make sure that Fudomine knew everything about their opponents.

As she held up the camera with her steady hands to record the match, she couldn't help but think of that mystery kid. He didn't say a word to her, he was only here to watch the freshman and was wearing a uniform Ann didn't recognize. At first she assumed he was a spy like her, trying to collect data on their opponents, but he seemed to not bare any real interest in the game, other than smirking when the Seigaku players crashed into each other.

Ann couldn't help but feel frustrated at the kid. Was he so rude, he didn't think that he should speak to her? Was it because she was a girl? Did he think he shouldn't waste his breath on a girl? Ann suddenly felt so angry she didn't even notice she was squeezing the life out of the camera, and that he hands were shaking to give a blurred video. She quickly stopped herself and calmed down, not bothering to waste a second thought on the mystery kid.

Eventually the matches ended, with Seigaku taking the first three games, and they continued on to the second round. Ann sighed in relief as she finally put down the camera, resting her aching hands, and turned the camera off and quickly returned to the court where her brother's team was waiting.

Kippei was stood there stoically with the rest of the team in their black and purple jerseys, and they all brightened at Ann's return. Before she could say a word Kamio shot forward.

"Ann! What'd you get on Seigaku? Is that freshman really that good?" he asked quickly.

"Kamio!" Kippei said icily, and Kamio immediately stopped.

"Seigaku won the first three games, but the freshman was awful, he played doubles with Momoshiro" she said. The entire team raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" Kamio asked disappointedly, "I thought he'd be really good"

"If he got into Seigaku then he must be" Shinji cut in, "he beat Kaidoh and Inui in singles, so his weakness is probably in doubles. Though I don't see why Seigaku would make him play doubles, I mean, if he was really that awful then surely they'd at least know about it. Do they even know the weaknesses of their teammates, or did they just do this to test the freshman? A risky move, considering they could have cost them a match. That old coach must really-"

"Shinji" Kippei said once, and he immediately silenced. Kippei sighed loudly.

"The freshman must be far better at singles, none of you are allowed to underestimate him" he said, with no room for debate.

The entire team nodded once, and Ann smiled at her brother's leadership.