It's summer time.
It's the fun summer vacation season...

From Ribbons to Rackets—A Prince of Tennis Fanfiction

Chapter 1:The End, and a Beginning

Summer is for some reason the time when everybody's hearts are beating a little faster. It might be because of the heat, or it might just be that the days are growing longer, but summer time is when every young person feels excited about something. Since there's no school, one can have all the fun they want and sleep as long as they want. And not to mention all of the fun-filled activities like festivals and firework shows and the yummy food food foods that are only present during this time of year! And of course, summer is also the season when young girls and boys want to make great memories with one another. Nobody really understands why during these hot days young love is often times born. Oh, just imagine...the boy who you've had your heart set on for the longest time asks you, "are you doing anything tonight? If you aren't, did you wanna head down to the festival together?" You're so excited and want to look your best for him and cannot figure out which yukata (summer kimono) you will be wearing tonight. You're being so indecisive, you don't even notice it's already time to go to the festival! Even while you wait for him to arrive at the meeting place, your heart is pounding so hard! You hear him running towards you, breathing a little heavy, "I'm so sorry! Did you wait long?" His cheeks are a little red, is that from running or is it because you looked so cute in your yukata? You two walk around the different booths that are at the festival and finally watch the fireworks burst up into the beautiful night sky together. While you two watch those fireworks, he looks over to you and whispers, "you know, I've always...had..a crush on you..." and your heads get closer and closer...until you two kis...

AND...yea, that's enough of that！ Some people don't even have time to imagine about those kinds of things! Yes,here at Seishun Academy, there exists a number of sad sad people who don't even have time to daydream about the above scenario. Even if it's summer time! Even if it's during summer vacation time, the students who are members of school clubs, especially the sports clubs are here on campus for some hard-core summer training. Of course most of the students at Seishun Academy are not members of any sports clubs so many of them, actually most of them are probably out celebrating this wonderful break with trips to the mountains and beaches, so the school grounds are pretty empty compared to regular school days, but once in a while you can hear the voices of the sports club members cheering each other on. It definitely is not an annoying sound, the echoing cries of the cicadas bounce off of the walls of campus and the voices of the students intertwined with the summer breeze...it's actually somewhat peaceful here at the academy right now.

But that peaceful time is soon destroyed by one female student's booming voice.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat??????!!!!"


And her voice continued to echo throughout the campus.

"...you are...getting rid of our club?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I just said."

We are now in the Seishun Academy principal's office. The girl that just let out a huge cry is this student who is now standing in front of the principal's desk. Kayano Metoki --She is a third year student of the middle school and she also happens to be the current captain of the Seishun Academy Girls' Tennis Team.

"Principal, y-...you do not mean..."

Kayano did feel it was strange for the principal to suddenly call her into her office today, but she definitely did not expect this news from her. Unable to let mind totally take in this bad news, Kayano couldn't help but fumble around with the words that were trying to come out of her mouth. Showing no sign of surprise with Kayno's reaction, the Principal once again told Kayano what she had said to her a few seconds ago.

"The Seigaku Girls' Tennis Team will be discontinued after this coming semester."

"B-...But! I haven't heard anything about this Principal! This is just so sudden!"

"Actually, it's not sudden at all, the teachers and the student officers have already had a meeting about it, and after thorough discussions, this is what we have all decided."

"B-..B-...But! We the members of the actual team was not notified about any of this! Don't we as members have any sort of say in this whole situation ma'am?"

"Well, obviously if we had asked you girls about it, you all would have opposed our decision, right?"

"W-w-...well yes, of course!"

"That is why this was a decision made secretly from you girls."

"Th-...that...isn't that a little...actually, isn't that very unfair?"

It was very unfair, just as Kayano said. But once again, the principal showed no sign of surprise towards Kayano's reaction and looked her straight in the eyes and asked,

"Ms. Metoki, you have to understand...I do not want to rid of your club this easily."

"But ma'am!"

"But! You must understand that our school is not that well off either. The only reason why this school has been able to keep going was because of the wonderful and gifted student body, the excellent teaching staff, the endless support from the PTA, and most importantly the well-ordered budget planning process."

"I see..."

"Each club on our campus is known within our community very well for what they specialize in. They are all succeeding in bringing this school some sort of substantial...reputation, should I say? And those are the kind of clubs that we want to continue to support."

"So, what you are trying to tell me, Principal, is that our Girls' Tennis Team is not one of those clubs that are bringing this school a good reputation? That our club is not trying its best? And there is no money that will support a club such as that anymore?"

"..."

Kayano's body trembled with rage. She was able to feel her insides boiling with anger. She gripped her fists tightly, and dropped her gaze down to her own feet. This was unbelievable! How can this be happening, she thought. It it true, that here at Seishun Academy, the levels of skill and fame between the Boys' Tennis Team and the Girls' Tennis Team were obviously very great. While the Boys' team had no trouble getting to the Nationals every year with many team members playing at pro-level, the Girls' team struggled to get through the prelims. And, Kayano knew of the rumor that was going around campus-- that "the Girls' Tennis Team was just a bunch of girls who started tennis just so that they can get close to the guys on the Boys' Team." That sentence along with the harsh laughter of the other students echoed in Kayno's mind. She struggled to keep the tears running down her cheeks. She just felt angry...at herself...at the situation...and she didn't know what to do.

The Principal watched Kayano and let out a deep sigh. She knew. She knew that most of the members of the Girls's Tennis Team were as the rumors said, and only joined the team so they can become closer to the boys in the other team. But, she also knew that there were members like Kayano on the team who truly loved tennis. The principal watched Kayano's body shake as she tried her best to hold back the tears. She let out another long and deep sigh and said,

"Well, then let's do this. Next Saturday, I am meeting my old friend who is the principal of St. Gabirel's Girls' School, your team shall play a match against their tennis team"

"Hw-..wha??"

Kayano couldn't react fast enough to the principal's once again sudden suggestion, and gave a half-hearted reply. When Kayano looked up at the Principal, she was giving Kayano a very warm and thoughtful smile.

"If your team is able to defeat the St. Gabriel's team, I will talk to the teachers and student body officers about thinking over your team's future at our next meeting.But, if your team loses..."

"Our club will be...gone, right?"

"Well, of course your team will be immediately disbanded, but I want you to remember also that if your team loses against my friend's team, that it brings shame to Seigaku and to myself...so just remember that there will be dire consequences if that were to happen...hehehehehe..."

"I...see..."

"So, are you satisfied with that deal?"

"Well...do I...even get any choice here? What if I said that I was not going to go through with something like this?"

"Oh, really? Now do you think that would be a smart thing for you to do?"

"No ma'am it was just me joking around, sorry."

The soft and caring smile which ruled her expression only moments ago can now only be described as
"the devil's grin." Yes, it was that horrifying. For the first time, Kayano realized how scary her principal was.

"Well, then if we're agreed on that, why don't you go on and run along so you can start practicing hard? Hahahaha..."

"I...see..."

While those two were in the principal's office, the voices of the tennis team members echoed throughout the tennis courts. But the members of the Girls' team took advantage of their captain's absence, and forgot all about training and with no surprise, rushed over to where the Boys' team was practicing.

"Hey, who is that first year student?"
"I don't know...but man, he seems to be a great player!"
"Oh yea, and...he's kinda cute!!"
"Yea! You mean that one with the glasses right??"
"Uh-huh, but he doesn't seem like a first year student."
"Hahaha, yea he looks kinda old for his age!"
"Hahahahahaha..."

As the other team members chattered on about the boys, one female student paid no attention to what the other girls were screaming about and kept practicing her swings all by herself. Her youthful features and small body frame made it clear that she was still a first year student. But, her form was not anything familiar to her naive physical features. Her movements were so smooth, and it almost looked as if the racket was actually a part of her arm, her swings were so natural, and beautiful.

"Working hard there, Kiryuu-san? You have such beautiful form."

"Oh, thank you very much, Captain."

"Oh sheesh, there they are again, totally absorbed in what the boys are doing huh? They should all look up to you, Kiryuu-san."

"Oh, no not me. Everybody seems to be having fun though."

"Just having fun won't really keep the club going though."

Kayano let out a sigh, but the little girl standing next to her, Tsubaki Kiryuu just smiled.

"Look at them...alright you guys! We need to get back to practice! C'mon!!!"

As Kayano scolded the other girls, Tsubaki watched her Captain's back and smiled once more before she got back to practicing her swings again.

They had no idea...
Nobody knew of the secret deal their team captain had made with the principal which dealt with their won team's future...

Nobody knew yet...

That the Seigaku Girls' Tennis Team was about to go through some great change...

Afterword-----
So...here it is. The first installment to what I believe will end up becoming a long series of short stories. Hahaha. I'm really sorry if my grammar is horrible. I know I need some work on my writing still. All I can say for now is...please just bear with me. I totally did not remember that the principal for Seigaku was an old man. Apparently he's bald and ugly and old or something. I had no idea. Maybe I missed him when I was reading the manga, or maybe I didn't even read the part where he came out. But anyway, that makes my Principal a total fake. Sorry.

I started this fanfiction right after I drew a piece of fanart that I posted on this group on Livejournal, and it brought in some interesting comments. I've always been interested in the Girls' Tennis team at Seigaku. They've been mentioned a couple of times in the manga, but they've never really concentrated on exactly what kind of girls are on the team…so I made up some characters and drew them out. A lot of people enjoyed my idea so I started this fanfiction.

What will become of the Seigaku Girls' Tennis Team??? what other characters will come up? Oh, and did you notice the cute first year boy with the glasses near the end? Hmmmm, I wonder who that might be?