Deafening Silence ( prince of tennis) (#wattys2016)

18

So I have this amazing idea/plot thing planned for the next few chapters, and I'm so excited to publish them that I kind of threw my writer's block out the window so I can get on with the good stuff.

And gz to onyxnlife, the only person to figure out what this arc (yes, I'm calling it an arc) was inspired by.

Rikkaidai Fuzoku Tennis Courts

"So let me get this straight" Sanada began, "Marui brought you Echizen's iPod, wanting you to translate the songs so he could know more about Echizen. You did that, and then Marui took it back to the clubhouse, and now he, Niou and Echizen are all missing". Yanagi nodded his head.

"The most likely outcome was that Niou stole Echizen's iPod from Marui, and Marui is giving chase after Niou, whilst Echizen discovered his iPod was missing and went to look for it himself"

"Heh?" Kirihara asked, "what was Echizen's music like anyway, Yanagi-senpai?" Sanada gave him a death glare and Kirihara immediately shrank back.

"Yanagi" Sanada said, massaging his temples, "why on Earth did you agree to this?"

Yanagi didn't think that 'I did it to gather data' would be a good response.

"I did it to humour Marui, he seemed to want to know Echizen quite well" he said in his measured tone. Sanada sighed loudly.

"Echizen is not stupid" Yanagi continued, "He knows that the only people who would steal it are Marui, Niou and Akaya"

"Hey!" Kirihara cried, but was ignored.

"Akaya was playing a practice match with Yagyuu on the court opposite to where Echizen was playing, so Echizen would strike Akaya off the list. So he'll be looking for Niou and Marui"

"And where might they be?" Yagyuu asked calmly, and Yanagi turned to him.

"I thought you and Jackal might be able to guess, being their doubles partners" he explained.

"Marui will be all over the place" Jackal said, "He won't stop until he's found it, so until then it'll be impossible to find him"

"Knowing Niou" Yagyuu followed, "He has probably gone to a secluded, quiet place to listen to Echizen's music. But with club activities there are many, many places that fit that description" Everyone gave a large sigh. It seemed they weren't going to get far.

"But" Yagyuu added when there was silence, "He will definitely use this opportunity to humiliate Echizen"

"Except we don't know how or where" Sanada said bluntly.

There was another long silence.

"Everyone" Sanada said flatly, "Regular practice is cancelled. Find the three of them and bring them back"

The regulars all stared in shock at Sanada. He was cancelling regular practice! THE Sanada Genichiro! Was the apocalypse beginning? Yanagi was already reaching for his notebook to record this historical event.

"Did you not hear me?" he boomed, "Go!"

And suddenly every single regular was gone, leaving Sanada to watch the yellow and black jerseys disappear around the corner of the clubhouse.

He massaged his temples, feeling a migraine coming.

This is the last thing we need, he thought irritably.

Class 3B - Economics

Niou smiled widely as he scrolled through the English titles of his kouhai's iPod. While he didn't understand what the artists were saying, it was still amusing to hear what kind of music Echizen listened to all this time.