“All right, everyone shut up already! Second years, break up in pairs and volley, six to a court, don’t hit each other! First years, twenty laps to warm up!” Yuuta heaved in a breath as the chaos of the club divided itself in half.<\/p>\n
“You really think they need more warming up today?” Kaneda murmured.<\/p>\n
“Of course not,” Yuuta muttered back. “But this gets them out of our hair while we figure out what to do next.”<\/p>\n
Kaneda laughed and Yuuta scowled at him. This captain thing wasn’t nearly as easy as Akazawa-senpai had made it look.<\/p>\n
Of course, Akazawa-senpai had had Mizuki-san to help. Yuuta stifled a sigh. He hadn’t seen Mizuki-san at all today. Akazawa-senpai had come to say his good-byes and wish Yuuta and his team luck, but Mizuki-san had spent most of his time since they got off the bus from Prefecturals in his room or the library.<\/p>\n
Yuuta had kind of hoped he wouldn’t stay angry for this long.<\/p>\n
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, turning back to Kaneda. “Okay, I guess we’d better start with skills tests for everyone, and then we can get going with playoffs to choose the new Regulars.”<\/p>\n
Kaneda smiled and handed him a sheet of paper. “You’ll probably want to revise this, if we’re testing them first, but I thought this might make a good order for the matches.”<\/p>\n
Yuuta blinked at it and then burst out in a relieved grin. “Kaneda, have I told you you’re a lifesaver? ‘Cause you are.”<\/p>\n
“Hey, I’ll do whatever I have to to make sure you’re the team captain and not me.” Kaneda’s smile tilted. “I’m not good at shouting at people.”<\/p>\n
“Unless they’re Akazawa-senpai?” Yuuta laughed as Kaneda turned red and sputtered. “Seriously, though, thanks.” He ducked his head for a moment. “I think some of the others would have been happier with an original member as captain.”<\/p>\n
Kaneda snorted. “Those would be the ones who haven’t seen you play.” He looked considering for a moment. “Or train. I don’t think there’s anyone in this whole club who’s put in more work than you, Yuuta. If that isn’t good values for this club, I don’t know what is.”<\/p>\n
Yuuta was quiet for a couple minutes, watching the club work. “I agree with Mizuki-san, though,” he said, at last, voice low. “He knows what he’s doing. He knows what we need to do. Maybe I don’t always like the tactics he chooses. But I like how hard he was on us.” He liked that Mizuki-san would never dream of protecting him, from life or tennis or anything else.<\/p>\n
“Kind of figured that, yeah.” Kaneda cocked his head at Yuuta. “You went your own way, in the match against Echizen, though, didn’t you?”<\/p>\n
“Well of course.” Yuuta crossed his arms. “If I was going to win, I was going to win my way.”<\/p>\n
Why was Kaneda grinning?<\/p>\n
His vice-captain clapped him on the shoulder. “You’ll do fine. Quit worrying.”<\/p>\n
As they went to start the second years on precision tests, Yuuta figured he’d just have to do his best.<\/p>\n
And maybe see if he could catch Mizuki-san in his room one of these evenings.<\/p>\n
End <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yuuta takes over the tennis club; he and Kaneda talk about club politics and their senpai.