[Prince of Tennis] fic: Welcome to Room 201 (oneshot)
Title: Welcome to Room 201
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Words: 3,204
Summary: Shiraishi, Yukimura, and Fuji share the Room to rule them all. Except, why is it that everyone wants to visit Shiraishi?
Notes: Written for allalabeth_san for tenipuri_xpair. After rereading Shin Tenipuri, all I could think of was crack, haha. Originally posted here.
Welcome to Room 201
Located at the end of the hallway (or the head, depending on your perception), was Room 201, which belonged to three plant enthusiasts -- Shiraishi Kuranosuke, Yukimura Seiichi, and Fuji Shuusuke. From their point of view, they were definitely at the head of the hallway as opposed to the end, regardless of the fact that they were the farthest from the stairs.
The front of their door simply said, "Room 201," but their placard bore not even the slightest resemblance to the boring placards decorating the other rooms in the training camp. At first, their placard had been like any other placard, but Yukimura had taken it upon himself to give their placard a makeover. The result was a flowery placard, exquisitely and deceptively decorated, better suited for hanging outside of a gardening shop than on the door of three middle school boys. The delicate beauty of the placard might trick you into thinking that the inhabitants of the room were of the delicate sort, but that couldn't be further from the truth, though the room itself could easily be mistaken for a gardening shop. (In that, the placard wasn't deceptive).
"I wonder why Momo and Eiji turned down my invitation to visit?" asked Fuji Shuusuke after training one day. He looked down at his cactus, smile ever present on his face despite his less than pleasant ponderings. "Do you think it's because of the plants?"
After all, there were indeed a lot of plants around the room.
Like, a LOT.
There were plants in every nook and cranny. Lining the windowsill, hanging from the ceiling, hugging the bedposts...
At first, each of them had only brought one plant, their favorite one from home that they hadn't been able to bear to part from for the duration of the training camp. That first day, Shiraishi, Yukimura, and Fuji had done a round of introductions -- not of themselves (they already knew each other, after all) but of their plants. This is a poisonous grass... It's called Torikabuto... Ah, this is one of my cacti. Meet my plant. It's a... They all agreed that it was the best ice breaker ever, and they could have asked for no better roommates.
After discovering that they all enjoyed plants very much, they had no qualms adding more plants to the room, specially delivered by their family, who had only been too happy to hand over the responsibility of keeping the plants thriving.
First, it had been another mini cactus, followed by quite a few more. Then, some ferns. Next came some medicinal herbs. Now, the place looked more like a jungle than the room of promising tennis players. Their beds were difficult to locate, but there was nothing wrong with their room, since there was still enough space to walk about.
Still, Fuji wondered if the plants were scaring his teammates away. None of them were visiting, and it was making him feel lonely. He was sure they were having countless pillow fights and spilling deep dark secrets in the other rooms.
Yukimura didn't share Fuji's doubts. As he watered the plants by the windowsill, he thought out loud, "That can't be right. My team had no problems seeking me out even while I was tending to the school gardens."
So, it couldn't be the plants.
Neither Shiraishi nor Fuji commented that their room wasn't a garden, but one glance around the room made them feel that it might as well be one.
Suddenly, a knock sounded. Fuji brightened, and Yukimura chuckled. "See?" Yukimura commented. "They'll come. You just have to wait a bit."
However, when Fuji went to open the door, he did not find a Seigaku player standing outside. Instead, he was greeted by a mop of curly black hair that could easily be mistaken for seaweed. The mop of seaweed belonged to none other than Rikkaidai's Kirihara Akaya, who had once lost a grueling match to Fuji. He was not someone Fuji was particularly looking forward to seeing on the other side of his door.
"Ah, it's Fuji..." Kirihara mumbled, eyes darting around furtively. It was apparent that he hadn't come to visit Fuji. Fuji didn't frown, but he did shoot a disappointed look toward Yukimura. Yukimura thought it also contained some envy.
Yukimura smiled, happy that one of his teammates had come to visit. He returned Fuji's gaze with an apologetic one before he addressed his underclassman. "Akaya, how nice to see-"
Before Yukimura could finish, Kirihara looked past Fuji and, instead of greeting his captain, exclaimed, "Shiraishi-san!" before he stepped inside and scampered over to Shiraishi's side like an eager puppy.
Not expecting that Kirihara had come to visit Shiraishi instead of Yukimura, both Yukimura and Fuji swiveled their heads to stare at Shiraishi, who put down his plant and blinked. "Hello, Kirihara-kun. What's the matter?"
"Teach me English! Yagyuu-sempai is trying to trick me again!" Kirihara huffed, hair quivering in his indignation.
"Are you sure he's tricking you? I would have thought Niou-kun to be more likely to do so," Shiraishi commented.
Yukimura frowned and started mumbling. Fuji was close enough to hear. "Shiraishi doesn't even know the Rikkai regulars well. Why is Akaya going to him instead of me?"
Fuji thought the scene to be quite strange too. Had Kirihara and Shiraishi's doubles partnership brought them that close so easily? Fuji really needed to play doubles with Yuuta then! He had tried to do so, but that had backfired on him when it turned out he had to battle against Yuuta instead. He was thankful that Yuuta didn't have to leave the training camp after all. Fuji had another chance.
Kirihara continued rambling Shiraishi's ear off but not without fidgeting and glancing around, and Shiraishi listened, nodding from time to time. Yukimura thought it was taking an eternity for them to finish. Suddenly, Shiraishi rubbed Kirihara's head. Instead of blowing his top off, Kirihara beamed, his entire person relaxing, and he then left the room with a bounce.
Yukimura stood completely still until Kirihara peeked back inside the room and quickly waved. "Bye, Yukimura-buchou!" Then, he disappeared again.
So he hadn't forgotten his captain. That still didn't console Yukimura! Renji had indeed asked Shiraishi to take care of Akaya, but Yukimura hadn't thought that would mean that Akaya would turn to Shiraishi even outside of tennis. What were his Rikkai sempai for then?
Shiraishi scratched his head, not knowing what had just happened. He returned to taking care of his torikabuto plant.
Knock knock.
Fuji glanced at the door. "Perhaps that's for you?" Fuji asked Yukimura. Fuji didn't want to be disappointed a second time.
Yukimura shrugged, and with one hand holding onto his jacket, opened the door. This time, he was greeted by a haircut reminiscent of Renji's, but the player who stood before him belonged to Hyoutei instead of Rikkaidai. Hiyoshi Wakashi scowled, hand about to knock a third time. He let his hand drop.
With one eyebrow raised, Yukimura questioned him silently about the reason for his visit. Yukimura had anticipated any number of players visiting, but Hyoutei had been at the bottom of the list, only just slightly higher than Higa. He didn't know if his silent questioning worked, but Hiyoshi did speak first.
"Is Shiraishi-san around?" Hiyoshi asked.
Shiraishi, again.
Yukimura opened the door wider and stepped off to the side. Hiyoshi's eyes widened ever so slightly at the sight that greeted him, but he hurriedly schooled his expression and entered.
"Shiraishi-san," he greeted.
Shiraishi looked up from the poisonous plant encyclopedia he had been reading. "You're not here about English too, are you?" he asked.
"English?" Hiyoshi asked flatly, so much that it nearly didn't sound like a question. "No, I just wanted to ask about leadership."
Yukimura and Fuji shared a look. Hiyoshi? Asking Shiraishi for pointers about leadership? Wouldn't his own captain be a better choice? Or why not Yukimura, who was also a captain?
They watched as Shiraishi mused and then got into a lengthy discussion with Hiyoshi, who listened attentively and asked several questions. After some time, Hiyoshi bowed and then left the room.
Shiraishi once again scratched his head, but he didn't give it any further thought. He returned to reading his plant encyclopedia.
When someone knocked on their door once again, Yukimura and Fuji both decided not to open the door. "Shiraishi, your turn," they said.
Shiraishi, who had been rewrapping his bandages, got up without complaint even though his bandages were only half wrapped. He opened the door and was greeted by a green bandana.
"Fssssssssh," hissed the visitor who quickly glanced around the room.
"Ah, Kaidou-kun," greeted Shiraishi, hand propped on the door. Fuji got up, thinking that this time, the visitor had to be for him, but Kaidou stood at the door without making any motion to enter. His eyes were now glued onto Shiraishi's half-wrapped arm.
Fuji halted in mid-motion. It couldn't be...?
Shiraishi glanced in the direction Kaidou was staring. He raised his arm, and Kaidou's eyes followed. Shiraishi grinned. "Are you interested in this?" The gold around his arm glimmered under the hallway's lights.
Kaidou nodded. "How heavy is it? How long have you been wearing it?"
"Hm, if you want to consider something like this, you'll have to ask my coach. He was the one who prepared it..."
Fuji sat down. Why was Shiraishi so popular?
He shared a look with Yukimura. They started making a list while Shiraishi continued conversing with Kaidou at the door. Unbeknownst to the three residents of Room 201, a huddle of people were hunched behind the opened door, blatantly eavesdropping, and a bunch of people had also crowded Room 203, the adjacent room. They had their ears cupped as they flattened themselves against the wall to listen as best as they could.
Yukimura and Fuji came up with such a list about Shiraishi:
1) Perfect Boring Tennis
2) Love of Plants
3) Captain
4) Terrible Fashion Sense
5) Bandages
6) Health Nerd
7) Southpaw
8) Kansai-ben
9) Ecstasy~
10) Good at taking care of people?
"His tennis is boring," Fuji commented. He didn't think he could imitate that. Shiraishi's tennis was somewhat like Tezuka's, and while Fuji thought both players' style to be beautiful, he also found them very boring. He glanced at Yukimura. Yukimura's style was also quite boring, now that he thought about it. It wasn't flashy at all, and it served to end matches instead of bringing about rallies. Hence, boring.
Yukimura shook his head. "That's not a viable path to take. I'm not aiming to emulate boring tennis. I'm aiming for fun tennis."
Fuji didn't comment. They looked at the second one. Love of plants. They glanced around their room. They had that one completely covered, so that couldn't be the factor.
"I'm not a captain, but you are one," Fuji said in regards to the third item on the list.
Yukimura frowned.
Fuji shook his head as he mused. "But I don't think you have to put too much thought into that one. After all, even Hiyoshi came to Shiraishi for advice, and he's not part of either of our teams. It must be something else other than captaincy."
Yukimura looked at the next bullet. "Is it because he has a terrible fashion sense? He wanted to get a haircut like Akaya's."
They glanced at Shiraishi, who was still at the door, and tried imagining him with a mop of curls like wavy seaweed. "Well," said Fuji, "that would surely be a sight I'd need to capture on film."
"Agreed. That would just be comical," said Yukimura, and he definitely didn't want to appear so. They looked at the next item on the list.
"Is it the bandages? Is it because they're mysterious?" pondered Yukimura. "But, he's already taken them off before and has revealed to everyone what's underneath, so that's not even a secret..."
They crossed that off too.
"Maybe because he cares about health a lot?" Fuji asked, looking at the next item they listed.
Yukimura sighed. "Health is important. I care about it a lot too."
Fuji stayed silent and went on to the next point. "He uses his left hand, like Yuuta."
"Well, I suppose I can use both hands if I wished to. Perhaps something to experiment with next time," Yukimura said, "but I'm not sure if that will take me one step closer to fun tennis or not."
"Echizen uses both hands. He's achieved Teni Muhou no Kiwami," Fuji pointed out.
"You're right," Yukimura agreed, determined to add "training with his left hand" to his schedule somehow. Perhaps he could start by tending to his plants with his left hand.
"What about his accent?" Yukimura wondered.
"Accents," Fuji murmured. "Everyone enjoys accents."
"And his catchphrase?" Yukimura asked.
"I have some too," Fuji said, "but they're much too long in comparison to his. Perhaps a shortened version."
Yukimura nodded. They had come down to the last bullet point. They stared at it.
"Surely, I am good at taking care of others," Yukimura said. "I take care of an entire team, and I have a younger sister."
Fuji nodded in agreement. "I am the sempai of several underclassmen, and I have a younger brother."
Both mentioned their younger siblings since they thought that completely qualified them as good caretakers. (Yuuta would disagree).
They thought and thought. Then, they turned to study Shiraishi while still deep in thought.
Shiraishi merely scratched his head and finished wrapping his bandages after Kaidou left.
Knock. Knock knock. Click.
When the door was knocked on once more, followed by a strange clicking sound, both Fuji and Yukimura got up to answer the door while Shiraishi was busy arranging Kaburiel's cage, safely placing his cute beetle near one of the plants. (He had heard that a good environment provided the best sleep.)
Fuji and Yukimura were completely certain that they would be able to get it right this time, and that the person on the other side of the door would be for them.
They opened the door and were immediately and utterly disappointed. Ears pierced, expression nonchalant, their visitor was Zaizen Hikaru from Shitenhouji. It was a no brainer that he had come to visit Shiraishi, and they were right.
"Is my stupid sempai around?" Zaizen asked without much respect. He didn't even look up from his cell phone.
Yukimura raised one eyebrow. He would never have permitted Akaya to talk to one of his sempai in such a way.
Fuji was also surprised. Momo and the others were rough, but they always treated their sempai with respect.
The two of them decided to put their plan into action.
Yukimura said, "Fu~n!"
Fuji said, "Disappear!"
Both had decided to come up with new, short catchphrases since they couldn't very well put most of the other items into practice at the moment. Yukimura had decided on what he wanted to aim for -- fun tennis, and Fuji had decided to shorten one of his original catchphrases. The result was what they had just said, and Zaizen stared at them like they were crazy.
"Ooookay," Zaizen said, eyes darting up from his cell phone. "So is my stupid sempai around or not? Or am I supposed to disappear without finding that out?"
Yukimura's and Fuji's smiles didn't waver, but their expressions did darken. Still, they stepped to the side. Zaizen sauntered in like he owned the place.
"Yo, sempai," he said.
Shiraishi looked up, and his roommates were surprised to find a hint of irritation in his expression. (He had patiently received all of the previous visitors.) "Kaburiel is asleep! Keep the noise down."
"Okay, okay, got it." Zaizen nonchalantly peered around the room and whistled. "Dang, they weren't kidding when they said this place looked like a man-eating jungle..."
"Did you need me for anything, or are you just here to chit chat?" Shiraishi asked, annoyed. He glanced toward Kaburiel's cage in worry.
Zaizen held up his hand. "Chill, I'm taking my leave now."
Yukimura and Fuji both shared a look. What was that? Something was up. Zaizen hadn't come for anything except looking around their room, and it hadn't escaped Fuji's eyes that Zaizen had his cellphone out and had snapped more than one photo of the place. In fact, Fuji thought the "click" he had heard earlier might have been Zaizen taking a photo of their beautiful placard. Something Zaizen said had also felt... off.
Fuji's lips curled up. Yukimura's eyes narrowed.
They shared a smile, if it could be called that.
"So, how was it?" asked Momoshiro, curiosity burning him. "Is entering the room like entering the pits of hell, guarded by two ferocious gatekeepers? When it's just one of them, it's survivable, but two of them together?"
"If you're that curious, you should have gone, fsssssh," hissed Kaidou.
Kirihara nodded. "Man, you really have to see it yourself for the full experience. Soooo much green. So many leaves waving at you, looking like they might snatch you up at any time for a snack...Two pairs of cold eyes boring into your back..." He shivered as he spoke.
Yagyuu pushed his glasses up. "Your ability to describe things has improved, Kirihara-kun. Perhaps your venture next door was not unbeneficial for you. Your short talk with Shiraishi-kun has improved your language ability, hm?"
"I don't know why so many people are crowding around on my bed. It is really suffocating. What's so scary about knocking on Room 201's door? The placard does look very strange, but it's just a room. Who cares about other people's rooms. All of our rooms are the same. Is it the inhabitants of the room next door? But everyone is talking about plants. Why would there be plants in our rooms..." mumbled Ibu.
Hiyoshi scoffed. "The room was nothing. Shiraishi was also boring. Not worthy of gekokujou."
"Hey, I'll have you know! Shiraishi-san is cool!" protested Kirihara. "He even likes my hair!"
"I don't think that makes him cool..." Jackal interjected.
"You're one to talk," Hiyoshi sniffed. "You don't even have hair."
Kirihara raised an eyebrow. "Oh? So you think your hair is cool? You mushroom head!"
Room 203 dissolved into squabbles.
Suddenly, a loud bang came from next door.
Everyone's eyes widened.
"What... do you think happened? Isn't it Zaizen's turn to check things out? How could he mess things up? I mean, we were all able to talk to Shiraishi-san just fine! He's even on Shiraishi-san's team!" Kirihara exclaimed.
From next door, a loud yell could be heard. "DON'T YOU DARE DISRUPT KABURIEL'S SLEEP WITH YOUR PICTURE TAKING!"
They tentatively peeked out from their door, watching in fascination as the calm Shiraishi (who was no longer the epitome of calmness) threw Zaizen out the door. Yukimura and Fuji watched in satisfaction from their door. Smiling, they turned toward the people peering out at them from Room 203, which also included Room 205's occupants.
"Oh, did you all want to visit?" Yukimura asked serenely. "For fu~n?"
"We would so love for you all to visit," Fuji added sweetly. "No need to take turns or sneak around. Or, you know. Disappear."
In unison, they all shook their heads.
They hadn't thought even Shiraishi, the one they considered the easiest to approach, would turn out so scary!
Still, the next day, a blog entry surfaced with anecdotes from K-san, H-san, K-san, and Z-san about the mysterious labyrinth of plants found at the "end" of the hallway of the second floor, guarded by three devious gatekeepers. You might be able to survive one of them, but three of them together? You must have a death wish. The blog entry included several photos and also a photo of a placard that was exquisitely decorated.
They had to hand it to Z-san. He had guts!
Fuji sighed. "I wonder why no one is taking on my offer of visiting?"
Yukimura frowned. "Maybe I should redecorate our placard?"
Shiraishi merely cooed at Kaburiel.
the end
/o\
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Words: 3,204
Summary: Shiraishi, Yukimura, and Fuji share the Room to rule them all. Except, why is it that everyone wants to visit Shiraishi?
Notes: Written for allalabeth_san for tenipuri_xpair. After rereading Shin Tenipuri, all I could think of was crack, haha. Originally posted here.
Welcome to Room 201
Located at the end of the hallway (or the head, depending on your perception), was Room 201, which belonged to three plant enthusiasts -- Shiraishi Kuranosuke, Yukimura Seiichi, and Fuji Shuusuke. From their point of view, they were definitely at the head of the hallway as opposed to the end, regardless of the fact that they were the farthest from the stairs.
The front of their door simply said, "Room 201," but their placard bore not even the slightest resemblance to the boring placards decorating the other rooms in the training camp. At first, their placard had been like any other placard, but Yukimura had taken it upon himself to give their placard a makeover. The result was a flowery placard, exquisitely and deceptively decorated, better suited for hanging outside of a gardening shop than on the door of three middle school boys. The delicate beauty of the placard might trick you into thinking that the inhabitants of the room were of the delicate sort, but that couldn't be further from the truth, though the room itself could easily be mistaken for a gardening shop. (In that, the placard wasn't deceptive).
"I wonder why Momo and Eiji turned down my invitation to visit?" asked Fuji Shuusuke after training one day. He looked down at his cactus, smile ever present on his face despite his less than pleasant ponderings. "Do you think it's because of the plants?"
After all, there were indeed a lot of plants around the room.
Like, a LOT.
There were plants in every nook and cranny. Lining the windowsill, hanging from the ceiling, hugging the bedposts...
At first, each of them had only brought one plant, their favorite one from home that they hadn't been able to bear to part from for the duration of the training camp. That first day, Shiraishi, Yukimura, and Fuji had done a round of introductions -- not of themselves (they already knew each other, after all) but of their plants. This is a poisonous grass... It's called Torikabuto... Ah, this is one of my cacti. Meet my plant. It's a... They all agreed that it was the best ice breaker ever, and they could have asked for no better roommates.
After discovering that they all enjoyed plants very much, they had no qualms adding more plants to the room, specially delivered by their family, who had only been too happy to hand over the responsibility of keeping the plants thriving.
First, it had been another mini cactus, followed by quite a few more. Then, some ferns. Next came some medicinal herbs. Now, the place looked more like a jungle than the room of promising tennis players. Their beds were difficult to locate, but there was nothing wrong with their room, since there was still enough space to walk about.
Still, Fuji wondered if the plants were scaring his teammates away. None of them were visiting, and it was making him feel lonely. He was sure they were having countless pillow fights and spilling deep dark secrets in the other rooms.
Yukimura didn't share Fuji's doubts. As he watered the plants by the windowsill, he thought out loud, "That can't be right. My team had no problems seeking me out even while I was tending to the school gardens."
So, it couldn't be the plants.
Neither Shiraishi nor Fuji commented that their room wasn't a garden, but one glance around the room made them feel that it might as well be one.
Suddenly, a knock sounded. Fuji brightened, and Yukimura chuckled. "See?" Yukimura commented. "They'll come. You just have to wait a bit."
However, when Fuji went to open the door, he did not find a Seigaku player standing outside. Instead, he was greeted by a mop of curly black hair that could easily be mistaken for seaweed. The mop of seaweed belonged to none other than Rikkaidai's Kirihara Akaya, who had once lost a grueling match to Fuji. He was not someone Fuji was particularly looking forward to seeing on the other side of his door.
"Ah, it's Fuji..." Kirihara mumbled, eyes darting around furtively. It was apparent that he hadn't come to visit Fuji. Fuji didn't frown, but he did shoot a disappointed look toward Yukimura. Yukimura thought it also contained some envy.
Yukimura smiled, happy that one of his teammates had come to visit. He returned Fuji's gaze with an apologetic one before he addressed his underclassman. "Akaya, how nice to see-"
Before Yukimura could finish, Kirihara looked past Fuji and, instead of greeting his captain, exclaimed, "Shiraishi-san!" before he stepped inside and scampered over to Shiraishi's side like an eager puppy.
Not expecting that Kirihara had come to visit Shiraishi instead of Yukimura, both Yukimura and Fuji swiveled their heads to stare at Shiraishi, who put down his plant and blinked. "Hello, Kirihara-kun. What's the matter?"
"Teach me English! Yagyuu-sempai is trying to trick me again!" Kirihara huffed, hair quivering in his indignation.
"Are you sure he's tricking you? I would have thought Niou-kun to be more likely to do so," Shiraishi commented.
Yukimura frowned and started mumbling. Fuji was close enough to hear. "Shiraishi doesn't even know the Rikkai regulars well. Why is Akaya going to him instead of me?"
Fuji thought the scene to be quite strange too. Had Kirihara and Shiraishi's doubles partnership brought them that close so easily? Fuji really needed to play doubles with Yuuta then! He had tried to do so, but that had backfired on him when it turned out he had to battle against Yuuta instead. He was thankful that Yuuta didn't have to leave the training camp after all. Fuji had another chance.
Kirihara continued rambling Shiraishi's ear off but not without fidgeting and glancing around, and Shiraishi listened, nodding from time to time. Yukimura thought it was taking an eternity for them to finish. Suddenly, Shiraishi rubbed Kirihara's head. Instead of blowing his top off, Kirihara beamed, his entire person relaxing, and he then left the room with a bounce.
Yukimura stood completely still until Kirihara peeked back inside the room and quickly waved. "Bye, Yukimura-buchou!" Then, he disappeared again.
So he hadn't forgotten his captain. That still didn't console Yukimura! Renji had indeed asked Shiraishi to take care of Akaya, but Yukimura hadn't thought that would mean that Akaya would turn to Shiraishi even outside of tennis. What were his Rikkai sempai for then?
Shiraishi scratched his head, not knowing what had just happened. He returned to taking care of his torikabuto plant.
Knock knock.
Fuji glanced at the door. "Perhaps that's for you?" Fuji asked Yukimura. Fuji didn't want to be disappointed a second time.
Yukimura shrugged, and with one hand holding onto his jacket, opened the door. This time, he was greeted by a haircut reminiscent of Renji's, but the player who stood before him belonged to Hyoutei instead of Rikkaidai. Hiyoshi Wakashi scowled, hand about to knock a third time. He let his hand drop.
With one eyebrow raised, Yukimura questioned him silently about the reason for his visit. Yukimura had anticipated any number of players visiting, but Hyoutei had been at the bottom of the list, only just slightly higher than Higa. He didn't know if his silent questioning worked, but Hiyoshi did speak first.
"Is Shiraishi-san around?" Hiyoshi asked.
Shiraishi, again.
Yukimura opened the door wider and stepped off to the side. Hiyoshi's eyes widened ever so slightly at the sight that greeted him, but he hurriedly schooled his expression and entered.
"Shiraishi-san," he greeted.
Shiraishi looked up from the poisonous plant encyclopedia he had been reading. "You're not here about English too, are you?" he asked.
"English?" Hiyoshi asked flatly, so much that it nearly didn't sound like a question. "No, I just wanted to ask about leadership."
Yukimura and Fuji shared a look. Hiyoshi? Asking Shiraishi for pointers about leadership? Wouldn't his own captain be a better choice? Or why not Yukimura, who was also a captain?
They watched as Shiraishi mused and then got into a lengthy discussion with Hiyoshi, who listened attentively and asked several questions. After some time, Hiyoshi bowed and then left the room.
Shiraishi once again scratched his head, but he didn't give it any further thought. He returned to reading his plant encyclopedia.
When someone knocked on their door once again, Yukimura and Fuji both decided not to open the door. "Shiraishi, your turn," they said.
Shiraishi, who had been rewrapping his bandages, got up without complaint even though his bandages were only half wrapped. He opened the door and was greeted by a green bandana.
"Fssssssssh," hissed the visitor who quickly glanced around the room.
"Ah, Kaidou-kun," greeted Shiraishi, hand propped on the door. Fuji got up, thinking that this time, the visitor had to be for him, but Kaidou stood at the door without making any motion to enter. His eyes were now glued onto Shiraishi's half-wrapped arm.
Fuji halted in mid-motion. It couldn't be...?
Shiraishi glanced in the direction Kaidou was staring. He raised his arm, and Kaidou's eyes followed. Shiraishi grinned. "Are you interested in this?" The gold around his arm glimmered under the hallway's lights.
Kaidou nodded. "How heavy is it? How long have you been wearing it?"
"Hm, if you want to consider something like this, you'll have to ask my coach. He was the one who prepared it..."
Fuji sat down. Why was Shiraishi so popular?
He shared a look with Yukimura. They started making a list while Shiraishi continued conversing with Kaidou at the door. Unbeknownst to the three residents of Room 201, a huddle of people were hunched behind the opened door, blatantly eavesdropping, and a bunch of people had also crowded Room 203, the adjacent room. They had their ears cupped as they flattened themselves against the wall to listen as best as they could.
Yukimura and Fuji came up with such a list about Shiraishi:
1) Perfect Boring Tennis
2) Love of Plants
3) Captain
4) Terrible Fashion Sense
5) Bandages
6) Health Nerd
7) Southpaw
8) Kansai-ben
9) Ecstasy~
10) Good at taking care of people?
"His tennis is boring," Fuji commented. He didn't think he could imitate that. Shiraishi's tennis was somewhat like Tezuka's, and while Fuji thought both players' style to be beautiful, he also found them very boring. He glanced at Yukimura. Yukimura's style was also quite boring, now that he thought about it. It wasn't flashy at all, and it served to end matches instead of bringing about rallies. Hence, boring.
Yukimura shook his head. "That's not a viable path to take. I'm not aiming to emulate boring tennis. I'm aiming for fun tennis."
Fuji didn't comment. They looked at the second one. Love of plants. They glanced around their room. They had that one completely covered, so that couldn't be the factor.
"I'm not a captain, but you are one," Fuji said in regards to the third item on the list.
Yukimura frowned.
Fuji shook his head as he mused. "But I don't think you have to put too much thought into that one. After all, even Hiyoshi came to Shiraishi for advice, and he's not part of either of our teams. It must be something else other than captaincy."
Yukimura looked at the next bullet. "Is it because he has a terrible fashion sense? He wanted to get a haircut like Akaya's."
They glanced at Shiraishi, who was still at the door, and tried imagining him with a mop of curls like wavy seaweed. "Well," said Fuji, "that would surely be a sight I'd need to capture on film."
"Agreed. That would just be comical," said Yukimura, and he definitely didn't want to appear so. They looked at the next item on the list.
"Is it the bandages? Is it because they're mysterious?" pondered Yukimura. "But, he's already taken them off before and has revealed to everyone what's underneath, so that's not even a secret..."
They crossed that off too.
"Maybe because he cares about health a lot?" Fuji asked, looking at the next item they listed.
Yukimura sighed. "Health is important. I care about it a lot too."
Fuji stayed silent and went on to the next point. "He uses his left hand, like Yuuta."
"Well, I suppose I can use both hands if I wished to. Perhaps something to experiment with next time," Yukimura said, "but I'm not sure if that will take me one step closer to fun tennis or not."
"Echizen uses both hands. He's achieved Teni Muhou no Kiwami," Fuji pointed out.
"You're right," Yukimura agreed, determined to add "training with his left hand" to his schedule somehow. Perhaps he could start by tending to his plants with his left hand.
"What about his accent?" Yukimura wondered.
"Accents," Fuji murmured. "Everyone enjoys accents."
"And his catchphrase?" Yukimura asked.
"I have some too," Fuji said, "but they're much too long in comparison to his. Perhaps a shortened version."
Yukimura nodded. They had come down to the last bullet point. They stared at it.
"Surely, I am good at taking care of others," Yukimura said. "I take care of an entire team, and I have a younger sister."
Fuji nodded in agreement. "I am the sempai of several underclassmen, and I have a younger brother."
Both mentioned their younger siblings since they thought that completely qualified them as good caretakers. (Yuuta would disagree).
They thought and thought. Then, they turned to study Shiraishi while still deep in thought.
Shiraishi merely scratched his head and finished wrapping his bandages after Kaidou left.
Knock. Knock knock. Click.
When the door was knocked on once more, followed by a strange clicking sound, both Fuji and Yukimura got up to answer the door while Shiraishi was busy arranging Kaburiel's cage, safely placing his cute beetle near one of the plants. (He had heard that a good environment provided the best sleep.)
Fuji and Yukimura were completely certain that they would be able to get it right this time, and that the person on the other side of the door would be for them.
They opened the door and were immediately and utterly disappointed. Ears pierced, expression nonchalant, their visitor was Zaizen Hikaru from Shitenhouji. It was a no brainer that he had come to visit Shiraishi, and they were right.
"Is my stupid sempai around?" Zaizen asked without much respect. He didn't even look up from his cell phone.
Yukimura raised one eyebrow. He would never have permitted Akaya to talk to one of his sempai in such a way.
Fuji was also surprised. Momo and the others were rough, but they always treated their sempai with respect.
The two of them decided to put their plan into action.
Yukimura said, "Fu~n!"
Fuji said, "Disappear!"
Both had decided to come up with new, short catchphrases since they couldn't very well put most of the other items into practice at the moment. Yukimura had decided on what he wanted to aim for -- fun tennis, and Fuji had decided to shorten one of his original catchphrases. The result was what they had just said, and Zaizen stared at them like they were crazy.
"Ooookay," Zaizen said, eyes darting up from his cell phone. "So is my stupid sempai around or not? Or am I supposed to disappear without finding that out?"
Yukimura's and Fuji's smiles didn't waver, but their expressions did darken. Still, they stepped to the side. Zaizen sauntered in like he owned the place.
"Yo, sempai," he said.
Shiraishi looked up, and his roommates were surprised to find a hint of irritation in his expression. (He had patiently received all of the previous visitors.) "Kaburiel is asleep! Keep the noise down."
"Okay, okay, got it." Zaizen nonchalantly peered around the room and whistled. "Dang, they weren't kidding when they said this place looked like a man-eating jungle..."
"Did you need me for anything, or are you just here to chit chat?" Shiraishi asked, annoyed. He glanced toward Kaburiel's cage in worry.
Zaizen held up his hand. "Chill, I'm taking my leave now."
Yukimura and Fuji both shared a look. What was that? Something was up. Zaizen hadn't come for anything except looking around their room, and it hadn't escaped Fuji's eyes that Zaizen had his cellphone out and had snapped more than one photo of the place. In fact, Fuji thought the "click" he had heard earlier might have been Zaizen taking a photo of their beautiful placard. Something Zaizen said had also felt... off.
Fuji's lips curled up. Yukimura's eyes narrowed.
They shared a smile, if it could be called that.
"So, how was it?" asked Momoshiro, curiosity burning him. "Is entering the room like entering the pits of hell, guarded by two ferocious gatekeepers? When it's just one of them, it's survivable, but two of them together?"
"If you're that curious, you should have gone, fsssssh," hissed Kaidou.
Kirihara nodded. "Man, you really have to see it yourself for the full experience. Soooo much green. So many leaves waving at you, looking like they might snatch you up at any time for a snack...Two pairs of cold eyes boring into your back..." He shivered as he spoke.
Yagyuu pushed his glasses up. "Your ability to describe things has improved, Kirihara-kun. Perhaps your venture next door was not unbeneficial for you. Your short talk with Shiraishi-kun has improved your language ability, hm?"
"I don't know why so many people are crowding around on my bed. It is really suffocating. What's so scary about knocking on Room 201's door? The placard does look very strange, but it's just a room. Who cares about other people's rooms. All of our rooms are the same. Is it the inhabitants of the room next door? But everyone is talking about plants. Why would there be plants in our rooms..." mumbled Ibu.
Hiyoshi scoffed. "The room was nothing. Shiraishi was also boring. Not worthy of gekokujou."
"Hey, I'll have you know! Shiraishi-san is cool!" protested Kirihara. "He even likes my hair!"
"I don't think that makes him cool..." Jackal interjected.
"You're one to talk," Hiyoshi sniffed. "You don't even have hair."
Kirihara raised an eyebrow. "Oh? So you think your hair is cool? You mushroom head!"
Room 203 dissolved into squabbles.
Suddenly, a loud bang came from next door.
Everyone's eyes widened.
"What... do you think happened? Isn't it Zaizen's turn to check things out? How could he mess things up? I mean, we were all able to talk to Shiraishi-san just fine! He's even on Shiraishi-san's team!" Kirihara exclaimed.
From next door, a loud yell could be heard. "DON'T YOU DARE DISRUPT KABURIEL'S SLEEP WITH YOUR PICTURE TAKING!"
They tentatively peeked out from their door, watching in fascination as the calm Shiraishi (who was no longer the epitome of calmness) threw Zaizen out the door. Yukimura and Fuji watched in satisfaction from their door. Smiling, they turned toward the people peering out at them from Room 203, which also included Room 205's occupants.
"Oh, did you all want to visit?" Yukimura asked serenely. "For fu~n?"
"We would so love for you all to visit," Fuji added sweetly. "No need to take turns or sneak around. Or, you know. Disappear."
In unison, they all shook their heads.
They hadn't thought even Shiraishi, the one they considered the easiest to approach, would turn out so scary!
Still, the next day, a blog entry surfaced with anecdotes from K-san, H-san, K-san, and Z-san about the mysterious labyrinth of plants found at the "end" of the hallway of the second floor, guarded by three devious gatekeepers. You might be able to survive one of them, but three of them together? You must have a death wish. The blog entry included several photos and also a photo of a placard that was exquisitely decorated.
They had to hand it to Z-san. He had guts!
Fuji sighed. "I wonder why no one is taking on my offer of visiting?"
Yukimura frowned. "Maybe I should redecorate our placard?"
Shiraishi merely cooed at Kaburiel.
the end
/o\