Prince of Tennis, 20 Random Facts About Seigaku’s Freshmen
Title: 20 Random Facts about Seigaku’s Freshmen
Rating/Warnings: PG for the Horio/Tomako
Summary: The title says it all, I think.
A/N: I was trying to do 20 facts for Kachirou and Katsuo, but the others sort of kept creeping in. It’s all for the best, really.
20 Random Facts About Seigaku’s Freshmen
1. Horio teases Kachirou about his mother putting a bowl on his head to cut his hair, and Kachirou never knows whether to laugh or not, because he isn’t sure which one will give away that it’s true.
2. Kachirou and Katsuo are positive that by senior year, Horio will be involved in a deeply abusive relationship with Tomoka.
Horio is positive that he will love every second of it.
3. Katsuo has caught Kachirou reading Go Weekly, but will never ever ever ever tell.
In return, Kachirou doesn’t bring up the soccer magazine that’s sometimes stuffed in Katsuo’s bag.
4. Horio actually hates his shirts, but he has a crazy aunt who buys them for him at every single holiday that could possibly warrant a gift. He wouldn’t even mind so much, except for the fact that Sakano’s magazine has informed him that he is a summer, not an autumn.
5. Kachirou is already starting to take Oishi-sempai’s place as team mother, and Horio will almost certainly be Momo-chan who bellows ‘helpful’ advice at the freshmen. Katsuo sometimes worries that he won’t ever figure out who he should be.
In his darker moments, he suspects he may be Kawamura-sempai.
6. Horio is just waiting for an excuse to bring out those pink pompoms again, and everyone else is fully aware that the best course of action is to keep his hands occupied with errands as much as possible during matches.
7. The hell of it is that Horio really DOES have two years of tennis experience. Katsuo is holding out hope that he is saving his really killer moves for Nationals their senior year.
8. Kachirou thinks the best part about becoming sophomores will be getting to wear the blue warm-up suits. Blue is his favorite color, plus he thinks his knees look kind of funny and will be happier when nobody can see them.
9. After awhile, something about the way Momo-chan-sempai drapes himself over Ryoma-kun makes Katsuo a little uncomfortable. But then, Kikumaru-sempai starts calling out ridiculous nicknames, and then Fuji-sempai opens his eyes to track Echizen across the court when nobody is looking…
…and eventually he realizes that it will be better for his sanity if he stops thinking about all of it.
10. Horio stumbled into the club’s office once when Tezuka and Oishi were supposed to be doing paperwork. He doesn’t talk about that, ever.
11. Kachirou is actually glad that Ryoma gets all the attention; it means nobody pays any attention when he and Katsuo start to copy pieces of Inui’s training regimens.
12. Horio is hoping that Inui dedicates the official Seigaku Juice beaker to him when he graduates. He’s got plans.
13. Katsuo doesn’t trust Arai, apology or not. After overhearing the story of the Captain’s elbow from Kikumaru and Oishi-sempais, he tries never to leave Kachirou alone in the clubhouse, or anywhere else.
14. Kachirou trusts Arai because he said he was sorry.
15. Tomoka is planning, in minute detail, exactly how Sakano will offer herself to be deflowered by Ryoma-kun. Sakano has been slightly resistant to her plans, but you can’t leave these things up to chance, and anyway, it’s completely her job as fan club president.
16. Sakano really likes the cheerleading outfit. Horio does too.
17. Katsuo is terrified of Kaidoh-sempai. Something about his lips is just not natural. And lord only knows what he does with that little pole that has the fuzzy tip that he keeps in his locker.
18. Kachirou and Katsuo are working up the courage to ask Ryoma-kun what he means by ‘Fuji-sempai’s other expression’.
19. Even Horio is fully aware that normal doubles pairs do not clasp hands and stare deeply into each other’s eyes after every single point, practice or match. But then again, it’s as expected from the Golden Pair.
Kachirou is thinking about asking Katsuo to play doubles with him.
20. Ryoma thinks that his senior year at Seigaku will be their best yet. Mostly because after every single victory, he’ll get to watch Tomoka try to kill Horio with chopsticks during the celebratory dinners.
…
…
5 1/2. Okay, it isn’t that Katsuo doesn’t like Kawamura-sempai or anything like that, but he’d like to be remembered for his tennis rather than his Engrish. Plus, he’d sure look like a fool trying to wave that flag around.