Part 2
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“Last night, in the same vine patch that strangled Tomoka-san, somebody died. Walking through the vines, Kaidoh couldn’t see the girl’s dead body and tripped over her, tumbling headfirst into a pit of deadly adders.”
The bandana-wearing second year scowled and threw down his card, revealing the queen of hearts. There was a brief silence as everybody stared at the card, realizing the extent of what just happened.
“You have lost your doctor, civilians.” Fuji’s voice was quiet, his eyes still closed. “All the mafia is still remaining and the police and three civilians are left. Is there anybody you want to accuse?”
Momoshiro was first to break the silence. “Well, Mamushi’s not the mafia… so I think it’s Kikumaru-senpai!” He turned to face the blinking redhead. “He’s been far too quiet so far, and that’s unusual!”
Eiji retorted, “Being quiet doesn’t mean anything, nya! I think it’s Momo-chan, because he accused Kaidoh before!”
Suddenly Inui spoke up. “No, he’s not.”
Eiji bristled. “What? Why are you defending him, Inui?”
The data man adjusted his glasses and after a pause replied, “I don’t think it’s you either. But I know who is the mafia.” His glasses flashed. “Takashi and Oishi. Why do think those two are on each other’s sides?”
Oishi blinked. “What? But I’m not mafia! Even now I don’t know if Taka is innocent or not.” He turned to face the wide-eyed restaurant worker. “Maybe he is mafia.”
“Wha—! But I’m not!”
“I know that Taka is mafia and that Ryuzaki isn’t,” Inui said in monotone. “And I’m beginning to think Oishi is.”
Momoshiro’s brows drew together. “Wait. How do you know all this? How do we know you aren’t just pointing people out so that you don’t get accused?”
“How do we know you aren’t pointing out people?”
“Hey, if anyone should be accused it should be ochibi, not me! He’s been sleeping this entire time!”
Fuji looked at the white hat-covered head. “No, he woke up.”
Sakuno blinked.
Suddenly Eiji blew out a breath, holding a pose much like Inui’s meditation form. “Don’t you think all this is going nowhere? If we don’t hurry and decide who to kill the mafia will win.”
A thoughtful pause. Then…
“It’s YOU!”
“EH? Wait, I was just saying—!”
“Fine then, we’ll kill you off.”
“WHAT? But I’m innocent! If you kill me off then you’ll seriously regret it!”
“Yeah, we’ve got to have a reason to kill somebody off.”
“What Eiji said was right. If we don’t hurry…”
Ryoma’s head lifted and he opened his eyes to look at the only girl left in the game. “What about you? What do you think?”
At once everyone went silent, partly because they wanted to hear what the quiet girl would say and mostly because the silent prince had just spoken voluntarily to ask a girl’s opinion. Again. Tomoka was silently squealing, excited that Ryoma was actually speaking to her best friend for once.
Sakuno was shocked, to say the least. Here the prince of tennis had asked her something not once but twice in one day… and he was actually focused on her, not anything else (read: tennis). She was happy and a little overwhelmed… but… her eyes narrowed slightly.
Something wasn’t quite Right.
“Um… well…” she cleared her throat, looking off somewhere. Ryoma was definitely up to something, now that she thought about it, because he wouldn’t be asking her what she thought. That just wasn’t… Ryoma. “I… think that Kikumaru-san’s right. We must decide on something fast or else the mafia will win.” Take that, Ryoma-kun! Just because I’m not competitive doesn’t mean I will lose easily!
“YES!” Eiji threw his fist up into the air in jubilation. “See, Sakuno-chan is agreeing with me! Hah! I’m right!” Sakuno blushed slightly as she stared at her lap. Nobody saw the hat-wearing boy’s eyes narrow slightly.
Inui stated, “Let’s kill Taka.” Takashi started in surprise.
“What? Why? I’m not—”
“Yes you are.”
“But—but I’m not!”
“Yes you are.”
“Inui! Why do you keep—”
“Yes you are.”
Fuji cut in. “Let’s hurry this, shall we? Inui accused Taka, and if nobody else volunteers, then Taka will be killed. We’re a little behind the executions.” He was smiling, but everyone could hear the glacier of impatience looming behind his voice.
Eiji whispered to no one in particular. “Nya, Fuji’s really scary today.”
Momoshiro could only nod.
“Well then, is nobody accusing anybody else? Taka? Any last words?”
The accused said, “I don’t know about you guys, but if I die, I just want to say that Oishi and Ryoma are being mighty suspicious and that they could be in the mafia.” He handed his card to Fuji, who flipped it and showed it to everybody.
It was the king of diamonds.
“Ahh! Taka was one of the mafia!” Eiji and Momoshiro stared in surprise as Takashi smiled sheepishly and scratched his head.
Oishi blinked in shock. “You were—hey, wait, I’m not the mafia!” He turned to Ryoma, who was still dozing under his hat. “…And Ryoma’s sleeping again.”
Inui was frowning. Hard.
Eiji was thinking as well. “Hey, but if Taka was mafia, then he knows who the mafia members are! So… Oishi and Ryoma are not the mafia! He only said that to trick us, nya!”
Momoshiro nodded, hand cupping his chin. “Right, right. Well in that case then… Eiji and Inui must be the mafia!”
“What??”
“But wasn’t Inui right about Taka being in the mafia?”
“Yeah. So Momoshiro and Ryuzaki-chan must be the mafia!”
“E-eh?”
“No way! I’m a civilian!”
“Nuh uh—”
Fuji smiled. Everyone felt a cold chill run down their backs and immediately fell silent. “…Thank you. Now, everybody go to sleep.” He chuckled a little. “This might be your last.”
A shiver. “…I told you he was scary.”
“We get it, Eiji.”
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Everybody held their breath, waiting for him to speak.
“Last night, our dear Inui was making his lovely energy drinks—” Almost everybody choked. “—when he accidentally added some poison and drank it. He died instantly.” Fuji motioned toward the tall, data man, who held up his card impassively—a jack of spades. “Your policeman is now gone. Civilians—you have one more chance. If you fail, the mafia wins.”
The remaining people stared at each other, feeling the pressure of the end looming on them. All except Ryoma.
“Well…” Eiji started slowly, looking at everyone carefully. Momoshiro did the same thing.
Oishi was contemplating deeply, eyes fixed on the people around him.
Sakuno bit her lip, glancing at the guys.
“We’ve got to kill somebody off…” Momoshiro began.
“I think it’s ochibi!” Eiji suddenly pointed at the semi-conscious boy next to him. Everybody turned to blink at him. “What? He’s been silent this entire game, except when he flirted with Sakuno-chan—ow!” The ochibi accidentally elbowed the sensei hard in the ribs. “Hey!”
“Well, as Fuji said, we only have one chance to beat the mafia,” the vice-captain said worriedly. Sakuno, just happening to glance up, was startled to see Fuji smirk slightly.
“Hmm. I don’t know, I can’t tell for sure…” Momoshiro scratched his head. “What do you thi—Eiji? What’s the matter?” The redhead was frowning in confusion, his eyes dark.
“Nya, Fuji?”
“Yes?”
“Exactly how does the award with Sakuno-chan work out? What if there’s more than one person who wins? What happens?”
Fuji smiled mysteriously. “Good question. But…” He turned to face the youngest regular, who was half-asleep again. “I don’t think that will be a problem.”
It took a while before comprehension dawned on the acrobat’s face. “Oh—ohhh!”
“Yeah,” Momoshiro grinned, glancing slyly at the ochibi’s face.
“You’d better hurry and decide who to kill off.” The narrator was looking off somewhere, that distant smile on his face. “I think… fifteen seconds.”
“Wait—what?”
“You mean… we have fifteen seconds to decide?!”
“Why’s there a time limit?”
The genius tilted his head, smiling. “Because Tezuka will be here in about ten seconds and from his expression he doesn’t look very happy.”
Instantly everybody scrambled.
“Huh? Tezu—crap! Everybody, the cards!”
“Wai—”
“Here’s mine!”
“But—the game…!”
“Here,” Fuji held up the cards as everybody scrambled to get in order. “Ryuzaki-chan, civilian, Oishi, mafia—” Gasps came from the majority. “Eiji, civilian, Momo, civilian…”
Sakuno’s eyes widened in realization of what was to come next.
“Echizen… mafia.”
His gold eyes suddenly met hers and she stared as he silently smirked back. She was too shocked to even blush.
“Ah, Buchou! We were just waiting for you!”
“…What is everyone doing?” The captain had an expressionless face as he was looking at the crowd of tennis players and the two girls.
“Er, we were waiting for you to come since we don’t have the keys to the storage.”
“...I see. I apologize for being late.” He turned and headed towards the storage room. Nearly everybody heaved a great sigh of relief as the austere senpai walked away. However, he stopped beside Fuji, glasses flashing, and ordered, “Everyone, twenty-five laps.” He walked away as groans resonated behind him.
Tomoka was alarmed. “Does that mean us too?”
Fuji smiled. “I can never hide anything from Tezuka.” He held up the cards that he’d hidden behind his back.
Momoshiro and Eiji were disappointed. “Man, we could’ve won that game.”
“Yeah, now we won’t get a kiss from Ryuzaki-chan.”
Tomoka and Sakuno were standing outside the fence, listening to the regulars’ whining. Tomoka nudged her friend with a wink. “Hey, hear that? They all wanted a kiss from you.” Sakuno blushed as she looked down thoughtfully.
“Ryuzaki-chan?”
She looked up and saw the Fuji standing in front of her, smiling gently. “Thank you for going along with my favor, though it didn’t happen in the end. Maybe next time?” She blushed slightly and laughed as he waved and joined the others.
She didn’t notice the white-hat-wearing boy watching her out of the corner of his eye as he jogged.
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“All right you guys, you’re done for today!”
“Ahh! Thank you!”
“I’m so tired… must’ve been from all that running.”
“Buchou must not be in a good mood today.”
“Heh…”
Fuji stopped to talk to Tezuka before leaving the courts. “Why were you late?” The captain didn’t answer at first, but then closed his eyes.
“I had to take care of something.”
Fuji only smiled and nodded, understanding that that was all the answer he was going to get.
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Ryoma looked up as Momoshiro and Eiji paused before him.
“Eh, Ryuzaki-chan?”
“Why are you still here, nya?”
“Oh, I’m waiting for my grandmother to pick me up. And also…” The shy pig-tail girl held up to cans. “Um, it was the reward for the winners and… well, I wanted to give them to you… um, that is…” Her cheeks were bright red.
Eiji blinked. “Eh? Really?” His eyes shined as he took the can. “Wow, thank you, Sakuno-chan!”
Momshiro was grinning happily as well. “Yeah, thanks! We didn’t even really win.” He looked back and saw Ryoma standing there. “Hey, Echizen.”
The redhead leaned forward and stuck out a tongue. “Nya, look what Sakuno-chan got us! Drinks for our reward!”
“…” Ryoma looked at them with a bland expression, and then looked over at Sakuno, who blinked.
For some reason, she blushed hard. “Ah, oh, Ryoma-kun, I… I g-got you one too…!” She turned and grabbed the grape Ponta can sitting on the bench. She held it out to him. “Here… even though you were the mafia, you were still tied, so…”
He raised an eyebrow, and then stepped forward to accept the can. “Thank you.”
She flushed and looked down. “Y-your welcome…”
He was already turning away, but then stopped. The two spots where his senpai were standing were empty.
Sakuno said, “Ah, they suddenly…!” Blinking, she glanced around. “Maybe they’re still nearby…” She didn’t see the flash in the boy’s eyes nor when he moved right behind her. “Should we—” Her eyes widened as he dipped his head down…
And his lips bumped against her jaw. “Oh!” she gasped.
There was an awkward moment.
Sakuno didn’t know what to think or say. “Um... I should be going now.”
He lowered his hat over his eyes. “Okay.” He turned to go. Bewildered, Sakuno followed suit.
Did he just try to… kiss me? Or was that an accident? Did he miss? No, but Ryoma-kun never misses. Am I drunk…? What, from Ponta... ?
“Ryuzaki.”
She turned. “Y-yes?”
“Two.”
She was confused. “Two? What do you…”
There was a characteristic smirk tugging on his lips. “You owe me two kisses.” He ignored her stuttering and explained. “One is for the prize. You have to kiss the winner, right?”
She was too shocked to ask why he even cared about the prize. “Then what’s the second one for?”
He was embarrassed, so he turned around before she could see his face. “Because the first one didn’t work.”
Sakuno stared. “You… Ryoma-kun, you really missed?”
He lowered his cap.
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“Wow, ochibi’s a fast one!”
“You really shouldn’t spy, Eiji. It’s a bad habit.”
“This is good data.”
“Want to bet that Echizen will get his girl before Kaidoh?”
“Hey, betting is illegal guys...”
“Five dollars on Echizen.”
“Fuji!”
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FIN
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