sinnatious

The Probability of Dating

Author: Sinnatious

Summary: InuiRyo. Inui calculates that there is only a 0.02% chance that Echizen Ryoma would be willing to date him. Fortunately, data can be changed.

Rating: PGish. Rating for shonen ai and innuendo.

Author’s Note: I totally should have numbered the chapters as percentages. This brings the fic to 58.3%.

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The Probability of Dating

Chapter 7

By Sinnatious
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With his personal revelation, Inui had returned to his previous methods of attempting to extract personal information from Echizen through conversation. He needed to converse with the freshman more anyway, but it did seem that most of these data-gathering expeditions would quickly wind up off-track.

“But Tezuka is prone to following that with a return to the far right,” Inui pointed out. “75 percent probability.”

Echizen scoffed. “Only if he’s playing inside the zone. When the zone’s broken, he nearly always returns a straight from that position.”

“Given how rarely Tezuka is in this position when not in the zone, the sample size is not enough to draw reliable projections from.”

“It’s not due to habit. It’s just the most comfortable way for him to return without being left off-balance,” Echizen argued. “I’d make the same shot in his position.”

“But such a shot is meaningless if your opponent can predict it with accuracy every time.”

“Buchou wouldn’t care about that. Half of his game is about ensuring that he can always return the ball to the opponent’s court, not how un-returnable that ball is.”

Inui conceded the point. “Then how would you follow it up?”

“Do exactly the same thing. Turn it into an endurance match. If you’ve got better concentration, it doesn’t matter, right?”

“But Tezuka is an endurance athlete. It’s a match that most people would lose.”

“What are you two doing?” Tezuka asked, stepping up behind them with his arms crossed.

“Nothing!” They snapped out in unison.

The captain eyed them both suspiciously, but since they hadn’t been assigned anything else to do and weren’t causing any sort of disturbance, he had no cause to assign laps. He cautiously continued past.

Once he was safely out of earshot, Inui added, “I suppose in that respect Kaidoh might actually be the one with the highest chance of defeating Tezuka.”

“I’ve defeated him before.”

“But you didn’t turn those into endurance matches. That’s a completely separate tactic for discussion.”

“Kaidoh senpai would lose to zero-shiki, though. He wouldn’t be able to see it coming.”

“But his snake has more than enough spin to counteract the Tezuka zone. The boomerang snake especially.”

“Hn. Maybe if he could do the boomerang snake with his backhand – Buchou wouldn’t be able to predict that.”

“He’s been training it.”

“Really?” Echizen looked interested.

“Oh yes. Highly unreliable at the moment, but with the way Kaidoh trains, I estimate that it should be at an eighty percent success rate by the Prefecturals.”

“Hmm.” The freshman dwelled on that for a minute, then declared, “It still wouldn’t work against the Tezuka zone. The counteracting spin would drive it into the net instead.”

Inui made an annotation in his notebook. “A valid observation.”

“Oiiiiii! Ochibi, Inui! What are you doing over here?” Kikumaru bounced over to them, a bundle of energy despite having just completed a match.

“And it would all be meaningless if he started using the zero-shiki serve,” Echizen added.

“But Tezuka can’t use that indefinitely. It puts too much strain on his arm. The Coach has already stated that he’ll pull Tezuka out of a match immediately if he dares to threaten his arm again. I’m quite certain that he’ll follow through with it.”

“Eh? Obsessing over Tezuka’s data again?” Kikumaru complained, crossing his arms.

“Hmmm? What about Oishi-senpai versus Kikumaru-senpai then?” Echizen asked, the faintest of smirks gracing his lips as he slanted a glance at the acrobat.

Inui grinned darkly. “Oh, that data is very interesting…”

Before Kikumaru had the chance to react, there were two sharp claps at the centre of the nearest court. “Practice is over for the day!” Tezuka called out. “Regulars, don’t forget your training menus!”

Everyone headed to the clubroom to change. As the club dispersed, Inui asked, “So what are you doing this afternoon?”

“Checking to make sure I’m following my training menu, senpai?” Echizen asked.

“I think your recent results speak for themselves. You’re obviously getting in plenty of training outside of the usual practice.”

“Hm… I normally go the arcade with Momo-senpai on Fridays, but he has to look after his sisters.”

“Sorry Echizen!” Momoshiro waved and ducked his head in apology as he ran out the door. He was obviously already running late.

“Che.” A pair of considering hazel eyes turned to him next. “What about you, Inui-senpai? Want to come instead?”

The offer caught the senior by surprise. “I… haven’t been for a long time,” he confessed. Inui didn’t have much time for games. He played them very casually on his computer every now and again, but at some point studies became more important and the pastime was pushed to the side.

Echizen raised his eyebrows. “Really? Then senpai definitely has to come.”

“…Alright,” he agreed. Despite his hesitation, he was privately elated. It was the first time Echizen had ever – however obliquely – invited him somewhere himself. Until now, it had always been Inui who made the suggestions. He was even more pleased when it didn’t look like anyone else would be accompanying them.

As soon as they arrived, Echizen plonked himself down in front of a fighting game. The senior was not at all surprised that the first-year would choose a competitive game instead of a co-operative one. He just watched to begin with, and then hesitantly added a token in the next machine.

To his surprise, he won. Echizen looked surprised too. “Che, beginner’s luck.”

“Shall we play again?”

They did. He won that round too. They headed over to some driving games next. Inui lost the first race as he adjusted to the controls, but won the second, and then the third. It was quite enjoyable, perfecting the turns and speed and angles in order to achieve the shortest lap time. The physics were not perfect, but realistic enough for him to calculate the effect his speed and momentum would have on his turns.

They moved on to a different fighter after that. Inui might not have been to the arcade for many years – probably not since his freshman year in middle school – but he was quite talented with computers, and rather skilled at pattern recognition. He won that round as well.

Echizen scowled, and pushed another token into the machine. Inui smiled.

They wound up staying at the arcade a good hour longer than intended, as Echizen challenged him again and again. The freshman won several times, but was not satisfied with merely snatching victories from his senpai’s mistakes. Inui did briefly contemplate throwing the occasional game, but given Echizen’s personality doubted that he’d be able to get away with it, and such an action would only hurt his reputation.

In any case, the freshman seemed to be enjoying himself, much in the same way he did whenever he found a worthy opponent in tennis. Inui admitted that he was having fun too. Really, it was quite a shame he didn’t seem to have the time to indulge in this pastime as frequently anymore.

“I’m rather thirsty after that. Want to get a drink?” he offered as they left the arcade.

Echizen nodded mutely, and they stopped by a vending machine to purchase some drinks. Inui chose Calpis, and was slightly perplexed by the freshman’s expression of approval. He didn’t ask, and instead wondered out loud about the performance of the other regulars at the arcade, and whether Kikumaru’s excellent kinetic vision would be an advantage in shooters.

For his part, Echizen just sat quietly, making the odd comment or correcting the senior’s incorrect assumptions. When Inui paused to take several gulps of his drink, however, he finally spoke up.

“You talk a lot, senpai, but you never really talk about yourself.”

Inui nearly choked, hastily recapping his drink. “Pardon?”

“You know everyone’s else’s hobbies and backgrounds and blood types, but you never talk about your own. It’s unfair.”

It wasn’t something he’d ever considered before, but supposed it was true. “It’s not a secret. I guess it’s just that nobody ever really asks.”

The freshman hummed at that, and then prompted, “So?”

Caught off-guard, Inui racked his brain for something his kouhai might find relevant. “Hmm… I attended Midorigawa Dai-ichi Elementary School, and then Seigaku middle school, as you know. I like Korean movies. In addition to tennis, I also do rather well at Chess, Go and Othello.”

Echizen smirked. “Che. Figures.”

“What about you?” Inui asked.

Echizen rolled his eyes and hopped off the park bench, tossing his empty can in the bin as he did so. “You already know, senpai.”

It was true, of course. He knew that Echizen’s favourite type of music was J-pop, that he attended Los Angeles Saint Youth Elementary before moving to Japan, and that he got along well with animals; and that was just the beginning. He had an entire notebook dedicated the freshman after all, and he still didn’t know everything. He was starting to doubt that he ever would.

The sun was setting – it became late without him even noticing. “It’s getting dark. I should probably get going. Thanks for inviting me,” the senior said as they prepared to head their separate ways.

Echizen regarded him briefly, and then tugged on his white cap. “Che, your company’s not so bad, senpai.” He turned and headed home, giving a lazy wave over his shoulder. “See you tomorrow.”

From Ryoma, that was tantamount to saying that they were friends.

Inui managed to contain himself until Echizen was out of sight before whipping out his notebook and scribbling notes down furiously.