Chapter Word Count: 1,111

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“Aiba?” The coach called Masaki by his surname.

 

“Hai?”

 

“The bus to the tournament is here.”

 

After a quick glance to his coach, Masaki took his duffle bag and hang one strap onto his shoulders.

 

Yosh! I can do this, Masaki encouraged himself.

 

The day that he had been waiting has arrived. It was the moment that he wanted to happen. The moment that he his dreams would come true. The emotions that filled him were mixed that he felt that he might throw up if he talked too much. Butterflies in his stomach were moving in circles that it was impossible for him to avoid being scared.

 

Nino was outside, waiting for Masaki.

 

As he saw his friend come out, he hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should mention something, and then decided to go ahead. “You know, Ohno-san might stop playing after this tournament ends.”

 

Masaki looked at Nino. His feelings didn’t show in his face. He wasn’t poker-faced but the remark that Nino had told just didn’t register in him. “What did you say?” Masaki asked.

 

Nino looked down on his feet, “You know what I said.  You heard me the first time. I don’t have to say it again.”

 

“How did you know?” Masaki asked silently.

 

“Have you seen his manager?” Nino replied with a question.

 

The wind blew, making the atmosphere clearer.

 

“Yes, I have.”

 

“Well,” Nino said, “I know him personally and his family is a friend of ours.” Nino, no need to tell Masaki about your true relationship with Jun. That’ll be even harder to understand, Nino told himself.

 

Masaki looked at him questioningly. “What did he say about Ohno-san?”

 

“Actually, it was what Ohno-san had said.”

 

“And it was?”

 

“I’ll quote it from Jun, ‘He had said that he was getting tired and that he’s getting old’. That’s what Jun said to me,” Nino answered, “Jun even laughed it off. He knew that Ohno-san was going to do what he wants.”

~***~

Masaki’s stronghold was beginning to waver as he heard the news from Nino. It wasn’t as if he held Satoshi’s decisions. I can’t let that happen, Masaki told himself. Not now. I can’t lose this chance to meet him, too.

 

As Aiba boarded the bus, he knew that everything will be something good. He loved the sport and the person he admired plays it, too. I’ll make Ohno-san keep on playing! Aiba thought, determined to change the mind of the star player.

 

After thirty minutes of riding the bus, he and his team mates arrived at the stadium--packed with audience, loud cheering voices echoing. Everyone was scared. They haven’t been to this part of Chiba yet and the number of people cheering in the crowd didn’t help them at all. All of their confidence was faltering.

 

“Listen, guys and girls!” Their coach shouted, “We can do this!”

 

“Hai!” They all shouted in response.

 

Aiba jogged in place as he tried to get fired up before his match.

 

“Aiba-san, are you alright?” asked one of the girls.

 

“Yeah,” he replied, “Just getting ready. I saw that I was up first.”

 

“Ganbatte!” the girl cheered.

 

“Arigatou.”

 

As Masaki’s name was called, he inhaled and exhaled. This is it. I’ve got to win or else, he won’t find me interesting, he encouraged himself.

~***~

Satoshi was sitting on one of the benches near the referee. Jun was nowhere to be found. I thought he was just going to buy me a drink?

 

He just finished a match for the doubles and he was waiting for the next match that he was going to have. It was the match that he was waiting for. It was the match that gave him all the frustrations that past month. Sho had asked for it, he thought menacingly, and he shall have his real loss.

 

As he mused, the referee just announced the arrival of the juniors that will be having the next match for the singles tournament. He looked up and saw a bubbly, tall and handsome rookie. He stared at him for a moment and noticing that he was staring already, he looked away onto the other rookie.

 

The young man’s appearance captured his interest and when he gets interested in something, whether big or small, he wants to get a hold of it and never let go. Let’s see how he will play his game.

~***~

Oh, my gosh! He looked my way! Did I look alright? Is my posture right? A lot of questions went into Masaki’s mind as he saw that Satoshi glanced at him.

 

He tried to stay calm and focused as he set up, first to be the server.

 

The rally stayed only for a couple of minutes before Masaki fleeted a look at Satoshi and everything that he had went down the drain. His services turned bad and his attacks were at the wrong side of the table.

 

“What’s happening to you?” Masaki’s coach asked.

 

Masaki sat down on one of the benches for the player and took and long drink from his Gatorade. He wiped his forehead with his hand before answering, “I don’t know coach. I think it’s the heat.”

 

“Get a grip! You still have a long way to go and this is just the start of this tournament. Do you want to go home empty handed?”

 

“No, sir,” he replied, looking down on his feet.

 

Just then, Satoshi passed by and he went up to Masaki.

 

The coach left Masaki as he saw Satoshi, knowing that it’s not good to be heard shouting at one of the players especially when the person that might be hearing is a famous player.

 

“You had good passes there. I know you can keep it up!” Satoshi encouraged.

He clasped the younger man’s left shoulder with his right hand then walked away. Satoshi smiled at himself as he left.

 

Masaki was dumbfounded with what just happened to him but he found his way back to the match and earned himself a second place.

~***~

“Jun,” Satoshi called his manager.

 

“Yes?” Jun asked but didn’t look up from the papers that he was looking at. The papers were about the matches that will take place that afternoon.

 

“I think I want to meet one of the juniors that played earlier.”

 

“Who?” Jun remained hooked at what he was reading.

 

“Aiba,” Satoshi recalled.

 

Jun looked up at Satoshi when he said the name. It sounded familiar to him, like he already heard the name once. “When do you want to meet him?”

 

Satoshi pondered for a moment then replied, “Before my match with Sakurai Sho, I want to meet him.”

TBC

~~~

A/N: 

Yatta! Here we go... Chapter 2 posted already. No romantic feelings yet, sorry about that. But hey, if I posted everything in one go, that'll be a real bummer. So, I want you to think about what will happen next. Why does Ohno want to meet Aiba? He already approached him right? :D

Don't forget to leave comments. v(^^)