Whack! Thud. Thud. Whack! Thud. Thud. Whack! Thud-thud. Whack! Thud!-thud! I pressed my lips together with force. It was out of rhythm! How was I supposed to think like this! Whack! Thud!-thud!

Whack! Thud-thud.

Whack! Thud!-thud!

I knew that the anger is rising in me, and the thoughts in my head ran in all directions possible; everywhere else other than the place I most wanted it to be. I raised my hand and waited for the ball to reach me again. Whack! It flew away faster this time. Thud! It hit the ground faster. Thud! It pressed against the wall with more impact. I gritted my teeth together with force. Using that same amount of force, I hit the ball again.

Whack-THUD-THUD-"AHH!"

The arm raised to meet the ball again stopped in its track. I could hear the silent alarm blaring in my ears even as all the muscles in my body froze at the foreign sound. The foreign sound that I knew all so well. It hit someone! The ball hit someone! I turned around quickly to see the victim of my unintentional attack… … and I could feel my heart stop painfully. It is a second year! I, a first-year student, had hit a second-year student! Even if it is unintentional – even if I had no meant to hit it…. I had known the ball would fly out of hand! That was why I raised the racquet five centimetres more than usual! But it flew way out of my calculations! What an idiot I am!

ARGGGHH! Just because I had let my emotions get out of hand…. ARGHHH! The flashing red of the siren in my mind is now moving at a faster speed. How could I have trusted that stupid suggestion of my stupid father to hit some balls? Now the ball had hit my senior! No, it was not a stupid suggestion! It was an idiotic suggestion! Instead of calming me down, it had heated me up! And now…. look at what happened! I could even feel my cheeks turn red even as I stared at the fallen student. When I realised it, my jaws had already separated itself from my upper lips. I closed my mouth in a single mummified move.

"I… I am sorry…." The apology sounded weird in my ears. Why did it sound so weird? I know! The voice of the words sounded weird! No, that just means that I sounded weird. I swallowed hard once, twice.

He was rubbing his forehead. The hand blocked it from me, but I wondered how huge the damages were. Even if his hands blocked half of his face, I could see that he was a pretty boy. He was sure to get furious at it, especially since it was a first-year who hit him. How could he live with that embarrassment? None of seniors I knew could.

"I'm really, really, really, really sorry! Please accept my apology!" I dropped down on my knees right next to him, and bent my head down.

"Huh?" He said. For a while, as I continued to wait for his response, there was no sound from him. The suspense could have killed me, but I waited silently. Now is the time for patience to come. "Ah-hahhah," he laughed suddenly. I looked up at him in shock, only to see him laughing merrily.

"This?" the hand that had blocked the injury pointed to it instead. He smiled gently, "please do not worry about it."

"But – but I hit you…"

"E-hm, it is not your fault entirely. I could have avoided it. But that sure was some ball."

"Don't say that! It is not as if you are some super tennis player who can sense where the ball will land! That ball was very fast and look!- It hit you so hard! Ahh, it even left a mark!" I could already feel the looming doom of my future hanging over my head.

"I am sure it would be fine. Though I think there will be people who would laugh at it – that would be hard to put up with."

Did I hear wrongly? I hit him on the head with a tennis ball, and all he was worried about was people laughing at him. Well, I would be worried about it if it were me, but why didn't he get angry?

"Are you … sure?"

"Huh?"

"That you are ok, that is."

"I am positive I am fine." He smiled at me reassuringly. Yet, because of my stupid actions, instead of feeling reassured, I felt guilty.

"Ah!" I smacked my hands together. There is something I could do to help him!

"Yes?" His eyes followed my actions as I dug into my pockets.

"Here!" I pulled out the green headband I had bought from the sports store. "I didn't wear it yet, so it is still new." I reached out and started to pull it over his head.

"Ah – wait-"

"It's ok! It will cover that mark just fine, so no one will laugh at you! I don't know if you like green, but it sure suits your hair!" I pulled myself back to study it. It does look good on him.

"Er… thank you-"

"No problem! I am the one who hit you anyway! Ah, but I got to go! I have something urgent!" I picked up my racquet and quickly made my escape. While I am sure I did not have something urgent, I am not too sure he would not get angry eventually. It is therefore best to make my escape before I regret. After all, I had done my part.

. . . . . . .

"Yukimura!"

The boy turned at the sound of his friend. "Sanada," he smiled at the stern face of his friend.

"What's up with that green headband?" Sanada asked, frowning at it.

"Ah this?" Yukimura pointed at it with his right hand. "Just something to keep my hair neat. Is it time already?"

"Yes," Sanada replied, "but Yanagi just informed me that Atobe is here to challenge us again. How foolish of him to challenge us, the Kings of Rikkai Dai!"

"It's ok. We will send him away like we always do. There is no trouble there."

"I will settle him now. I will not allow an outsider to interrupt with our practice."

"It's fine. I will settle him," Yukimura pressed his hand gently on Sanada's shoulder as they walked towards the tennis courts.

"Yukimura?"

"I just suddenly feel like playing a game with him. It should end fast, so get the others to get ready for practise."

"I get it."