The Prince Cafe - Chapter 06
Title: The Prince Cafe

Chapter: 06

Fandom: Tenipuri

Pairings: InuxKai and GP. Maybe some Atobe-Tezuka-Fuji thing if you stretch things and look at it upside-down.

Disclaimer: Original series belong to Konami-sensei. I take absolutely zero claim for this.

Idea for this story was inspired by the newest set of clear cards with "The Prince Cafe" theme.

Author's Note: I don't usually write this fast, but tanithryudo has been poking me for more. :p Blame her if your f-list is getting crowded.

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Chapter 06 – Doubles

Just as Saeki announced the start of the doubles 2 match, Yamato suddenly stepped in and stopped Inui’s serve.

“A minute of your time please,” Yamato called with an undecipherable smile. “Because of the unique circumstances, I would like to announce a few adjustments made to the doubles matches.”

The players stared at one another, confused at this announcement. The two Fudomine doubles partners shrugged at each other then looked to their Seigaku rivals for an explanation. Kaidoh instinctively sought out Inui, who only gave a quizzical tilt of his head, signaling that he, too, was confused.

“First, each pair will alternate returning the ball,” Yamato began to explain. “Those who fail to alternate between the partners will lose one point to the opposing team.”

All who were witnessing the game began chattering amongst themselves excitedly, all wondering how this unconventional rule was going to affect the doubles performance. Tezuka looked on coolly from the sidelines as Atobe finally broke his glare off of Sanada long enough to ask him, “Tezuka, what’s the meaning of this?” Tezuka didn’t deign to respond, causing Atobe to huff sulkily. Fuji’s glare increased fractionally.

“Next,” Yamato continued, knowing instinctively that the bystanders and the players were all hanging onto his every word, “because the opposing team is made up of members from multiple schools, I believe that they require a greater motivation to work together to win the game.” Pausing, Yamato pulled out a clear bottle full of a fearfully colored liquid. “The team that does not comply with the rules has to drink this.”

“What on earth is that?” Kamio goggled at the not-so-innocuous bottle.

“Ah, I believe that would be my special Super Deluxe Platinum Remix Aozu Inui Juice, version 4.0,” Inui supplied. Kaidoh paled a few shades, as did the rest of the Seigaku members who were well acquainted with the potency of Inui Juice. Even Fuji tore his eyes away long enough from sending death rays towards Atobe to look slightly uneasy at the bubbling fluorescent blue liquid. Only Tezuka continued to stare on passively.

Noticing his opponent’s look of horror, Kamio suddenly felt an unavoidable sense of doom. “What,” he ventured, voice trembling with the beginnings of real fear, “exactly is in that…concoction?”

“I believe it would be best that you do not know,” Inui replied far too readily and honestly. It only served to make Kamio look more jittery than he already was.

“What kind of response would that be, ne? It’s not as if we were asking for the formula to your super secret juice remix. We just wanted to know what was in the drink so we’ll know what to tell the doctors once that thing sends us to the hospital’s emergency. Not that I think we’ll be the ones to drink it since we won’t be stupid enough to forget to alternate hitting the ball. But then again, during a match we might forget since the rule is so unconventional. But since it’s unconventional, then it’s just as likely that you’ll be the ones to mess up first and we’ll be spared from drinking it…” The other three players on the court stared at the mumbling Ibu with a look of exasperation.

“The day won’t get any earlier. Let’s begin.” Yamato interrupted Ibu’s tortuous tirade. Waving to Saeki, he motioned for him to start the game.

*

Echizen yawned as he watched the ball bounce back and forth between the two doubles, neither pair doing much other than returning each hit. It was quite boring.

“This is almost as captivating as Pong,” he commented.

“Aa, what’s wrong with Inui-sempai and Mamushi?” Momoshiro joined in, “They’re playing like beginning first years. We should have at least saw a Snake by now.”

“It’s the alternation.”

The two younger tennis players turned to Oishi as he continued to explain, “Usually Kaidoh sets up his opponents to hit near the side-lines so he can use his Snake. But with the alternation, he’ll need Inui to help him set up the correct hits. Inui, on the other hand, doesn’t have the same kind of spin control required to force his opponents to hit near the side-lines, since his Data Tennis cannot guarantee high accuracies from his opponents.”

“So, what your saying is – ”

Momoshiro didn’t have a chance to finish his thought as Kikumaru suddenly appeared from nowhere and interrupted, “Ah! That means Kaidoh can’t use his Snake unless Inui gives up his Data Tennis!”

“Hai.” Oishi nodded to his partner who had now latched onto him in a fit of frustration.

Back on the courts, Kaidoh was beginning to feel unsettled by the tiresome returns. Constantly alternating with his sempai left him running after extremely awkward shots and returning them just as awkwardly. The entire rhythm of the game was stilted, a fact that the Fudomine speed demon seems to be commenting on constantly.

“Kuso!” Kamio was exclaiming in frustration for the nth time. “This alteration is making me fall off my rhythm!”

“Hey, will you shut your yap about your rhythm?” Kaidoh half requested, half growled, forgetting to move out of the way to allow Inui to come into position to receive the ball. The result was a tangle of limbs on the Seigaku half of the court and a tennis ball rolling off to the side.

“Love-15,” Saeki called from his seat. Then quickly he inquired, “Seigaku, are you guys okay?”

“Just peachy,” Kaidoh grunted as he extracted himself from his sempai, only to collapse as a wave of pain shot through his leg when he tried to stand up.

“Kaidoh!”

“I’m fine!”

“Referee,” Inui addressed Saeki, his eyes still following Kaidoh’s failed attempts at standing up. “I believe my partner has sprained his ankle. It wouldn’t do for him to keep pushing himself to finish the match with his injury when we are this close to the nationals.”

“Of course, I understand.” Turning back to the courts, Saeki announced, “Seigaku defaults. Win goes to Fudomine Kamio-Ibu pair.”

Kamio blinked dazedly. “You mean it’s over already?”

“Even though we won, it didn’t really feel like much of a victory,” his partner agreed. “It’s really no fun winning something when we didn’t even put effort into it. We can’t really say we won the game since the other side defaulted because of an injury. And it’s not as if we were there to cause the injury in the first place. It was Yamato-san’s idea that we do it this way that made Kaidoh lose his concentration, so we’re really not to blame. Even so, it still feels wrong to accept this as a win…”

As Ibu continued muttering his diatribe, the others cleared the court for the next game, all eyeing the blue juice warily.

*

“Hyotei Shishido-Ohtori pair versus Seigaku Oishi-Kikumaru pair. Hyotei Ohtori to serve,” Saeki announced once Ibu had been dragged forcefully off the courts by his doubles partner.

“Ik-kyu-nyu-kon!”

A thud, a whiz, and a whoosh later, a perfect scud serve pierced between the paralyzed Golden Pair. Shishido smirked, twirling his racquet he taunted the closer Kikumaru, “And that is the glory of Hyotei’s unreturnable serve.”

“Don’t get too cocky,” Kikumaru hissed under his breath, doing a surprisingly decent imitation of Kaidoh. “It’s not as if you were serving the ball anyway.”

“Ne? What did you say?” Shishido’s volatile temper flared almost immediately when his sensitive hear picked up on Kikumaru’s mutterings. “Care to say that in my face you hyper freak?”

“I said,” Kikumaru repeated in a purposely loud voice, “It’s not as if you were serving the ball anyway. So stop being so cocky.”

“Why you little…” The racquet in Shishido’s hand creaked ominously, usually a cause for alarm for anyone who wasn’t quite as oblivious as Kikumaru Eiji. Thankfully, Oishi had more sense than his less sane partner and quickly approached the net to diffuse the situation, apologizing to Shishido for his partner’s audacious behavior and shepherding Kikumaru behind him to keep him out of Shishido’s reach in case the situation wasn’t successfully neutralized.

Shishdo scoffed and returned to his original position. “Whatever. We’ll just wipe the floor with you, won’t we, Choutaro?”

The question earned him an incredulous “Shishido-san!” from Ohtori, even though he thought his partner should really be used to it by now.

As the Golden Pair returned to position, Kikumaru began grumbling about people who had egos too big for their heads. As the second scud serve came flying his way, his unusually heightened optic nerves caught the ball’s trajectory and in a maneuver that would have been painful for a normal tennis player, Kikumaru contorted his body into an impossible position and returned the serve straight into Shishido’s face. However, the Hyotei tennis player easily blocked the ball and sent it flying back at the grounded Kikumaru. Out of sheer reflex, Kikumaru deflected the ball once more towards Shishido, who managed to hit it into an uncovered corner of the court, only to have Oishi return it in a perfectly executed Moon Volley.

“15 all,” announced Saeki from his perch.

Almost immediately after, the familiar voice of Yamato spoke up. “Because both teams have violated the alternation rule, both team members must now take the penalty drink.” He held up four glasses of glowing blue liquid for the players on court.

Kikumaru instantaneously burst into tears and clung wailing to Oishi’s shirt, jumbling something about being too young to die. Oishi just looked nauseous.

The two Hyotei tennis players stared at the odd behavior of the Seigaku team with incomprehension. Finally, Shishido, brave and dumb soul that he was, walked up to Yamato and took the glass, downing the penalty drink in one gulp. Then promptly keeled over in a dead faint.

“Shishido-san!” hollered his flustered kohai partner, who came running as soon as he had seen Shishido fallen unconscious to the ground. Cradling the limp form, Ohtori waved his hand furiously across his sempai’s face, trying to get a reaction, and froze when a similar glass of blue was thrust into his face.

“Now, Ohtori-kun, it wouldn’t be fair for only half of the doubles pair to suffer, ne?” Yamato’s face was still wearing that inexplicable smile.

Giving Yamato a pained smile, Ohtori shakily accepted the offered glass. Mentally prepared for the worst, he gulped the concoction and waited for sweet, sweet oblivion. He did not have to wait long.

Satisfied now that the two Hyotei members were out for the count, Yamato turned to his own kohai-tachi who were cowering in fear in the far corner of the court. “Now, now,” Yamato said as he approached the trembling forms, “fair is fair.” He held the remaining two glasses to the Golden Pair, where Kikumaru was still using Oishi as a human shield, as if it would save him from the terrible fate.

Ever the honorable one, Oishi accepted the drink for himself and his partner. Kikumaru wore a distinctly betrayed expression, but didn’t say anything as Oishi handed him one of the glasses. Then, on the count of three, the Golden Pair downed the drink simultaneously, and crashed into the hard pavement.

Saeki stared at the fallen players then at the serene Yamato. “I’m so glad I don’t have you as my sempai,” he muttered mostly to himself, mentally congratulating Fuji on surviving someone like Yamato.

At the side of the courts, Echizen was staring at the tableau before him with something akin to horror. While he had no doubt that he could win if given a chance at a fair game, the kinks that Yamato brought into the practice matches may serve to trip him up enough that he’ll be forced to drink Inui Juice.

“Uh, buchou…” Echizen appealed to Tezuka, hoping that his usually stoic buchou would give him a reprieve or bail him out of this mess. However, he was not quite so lucky.

“Echizen, you’re up,” was the unfeeling reply.

Echizen gulped and dragged himself onto the court, fearing whatever terrible fate may be awaiting him.