The unforgiving sun over Seishun Academy's tennis courts beat down upon the blue and green surface, looking for a target. However, the usually crowded courts were deserted that morning save for a lone 2nd year student practicing his serve. The light breeze of Spring swayed the blades of grass in time with the hair that showed beneath his white hat. This slight wind seemed to cause his ball toss to be a bit off-kilter, moving it ever so slightly to his left side, the opposite hand in which he held his racket. However.. this was exactly what he was looking for.
???: "Oy, Echizen! So this is where you've been!"
Ryoma: "Momo-sempai..?"
Momoshiro: "What are you doing here? If you don't hurry you're going to miss the opening ceremony for this school year!"
Ryoma: "...I've got time."
Momoshiro: "I've got time, he says. How about we play a match. The first one to two games has to buy the other a drink on the way back."
???: "Please wait a moment, desu!"
Ryoma and Momoshiro both turned to towards the direction of the familiar voice coming from outside the tennis courts. On the opposite side of the fence, nearly hidden behind the corner was a figure only slightly taller than Ryoma had been last year. Around his forehead was a green sweatband, barely visible from this far away because of the black hair swaying gently with the breeze.
Dan Taichi: "Ryoma-kun, please play a match with me."
Ryoma: "What are you doing here?"
Dan: "Please forgive me, but I've been watching you practice for a while, desu. I want to test my skills to see how much I've improved since we last played each other. Momoshiro-san, please allow me to take your place and play Ryoma-kun!"
Momoshiro: "Heh, this might be interesting. Definately interesting!"
Before Ryoma could make heads or tails of the situation, he found himself on the court facing opposite of Dan Taichi, a fellow 2nd Year student, from Yamabuki Middle School whom he played during a practice match last year and defeated quite easily. But Dan must have some sort of reason for challenging Ryoma, after seeing him play last year and knowing how far the school went in the Nationals and knowing that he probably wasn't on his level. True, Dan was a fair tennis player, probably above average, but Ryoma had only minor trouble defeating him the last time they met.
"Echizen vs. Taichi! 1 set, 2 game match! Echizen to serve!"
Though Momoshiro himself wanted to face off against Echizen in a friendly practice match, things had taken a sudden and unexpected turn, and now he found himself atop the line judge's chair, calling the match between these two 2nd Years. Had either Ryoma or Dan been looking his way, however, they would not have found any sort of remorseful look coming from him. Instead, they would have seen a slight smirk directed towards Echizen, who was about to serve.
"Oy, Echizen! Our bet's still on. If you lose this match, you owe me a drink!" Echizen had a move that everyone knew quite well, though few had been able to do very much at all about it. It was a move that would clearly give him an advantage in this short match, especially with him serving first. As Echizen's left arm moved to toss the ball to start the match, Momoshiro's smirk widened.
Though he was a lefty, Ryoma was holding his racket in his right hand to serve, which could mean either Ryoma was taking Dan lightly and giving him a handicap, or that he was taking him very seriously and was preparing for his Twist Serve. It was nearly impossible for Dan to tell until a few moments after the ball had left Ryoma's hand. Sure enough, the toss went slightly behind his head, as Dan observed Ryoma's back bending slightly. Just before the racket made contact, Ryoma's feet left the ground a few inches, signifying the serve that had dominated so many others, including Dan himself last year, was on the way.
Ryoma had decided that neither of the three of them had enough time to waste. He decided to end things quickly with the Twist Serve and have enough time to finish his Ponta that Momo-senpai would be buying him before the two of them reached the ceremony area. At the top of the toss, Ryoma snapped his wrist, nailing the Twist Serve about as perfectly as he ever had. What happened next was so unexpected, it left a look of utter bewilderment on his face.
Momoshiro could barely regain his composure enough to stop staring wide-eyed at what had just happened, and even when he did he still could not bring himself to call the score. It had all happened so fast that neither himself nor Echizen, apparently, had any time to prepare for it at all, and the look on Ryoma's face told him he had not yet recovered as well. A mere four seconds after being hit, Echizen's Twist Serve had been returned straight back to him in such a forceful manner that caused Echizen to drop his racket in surprise. No! Upon a second look, Momoshiro noticed that something like that was impossible. Echizen couldn't have dropped his racket that far away from him, as the racket had settled on the ground about five feet behind him. If he had dropped his racket, it would have at least been closer to him than that, and most likely would have landed in front of him. Could it be that..?
"Ryoma-kun! Please pick up your racket! We've only just started, desu!" The look of defiance in Dan's eyes contested with the annoyed expression scrawled onto Ryoma's face. Dan knew that the next time Ryoma picked up his racket, he would immediately go for the Twist Serve again, and Dan was totally ready for it. It was a well-known trait of his that when Ryoma Echizen had discovered an obstacle in his path he would not stop until he either found a way around it or had broken right through it. But in this short match only played to 2 points, Ryoma would not have enough time to readjust to Dan's new style of tennis. Dan lowered his head a little forward, but his headband did not budge this time.
"Hey, Momo-sempai. You ready? We'll be late." Ryoma never took a second glance at Dan or his racket. He picked up his bag and headed straight for the door to the outside, passing by the line judge's chair with the bill of his cap shading the expression on his face.
Momoshiro had finally worked his voice back into play. "What do you mean, Echizen? That was only the first point!" He jumped down off the chair and started to follow. Echizen did not stop walking, nor did he turn around.
"I owe you a drink. You won't have time to finish it if we don't leave now."
"Ryoma-kun! Wait! The score is only--"
"Mada mada dane."
As the two walked side by side, Momoshiro's mind raced to find answers. What had just happened between those two? Did his eyes decieve him back then? Did Dan actually return Echizen's Twist Serve with... a Twist Return?