Eiji Kikumaru ran back to the tennis courts, holding his tennis bag in one hand. He had somehow forgotten it. Luckily, Ryuzaki-sensei was friends with the referee and convinced him to move Doubles 1 to the end instead of being the second match
Eiji finally got to the benches where his team was sitting and gulped down some water.
"W-What's the score?" he panted.
"Two to two," Inui answered grimly, gripping his notebook tightly. "It's all up to you and Oishi."
Eiji winked and gave him a thumbs up. "No problem, nyaa! The Golden Pair of Seigaku will never lose!"
XXX
Eiji fell to the ground, his racket hanging limply at his side. His scraped knees were bloody, his fingers sore from gripping too hard, and his entire body ached horribly, but it didn't matter, not at all, because
they didn't win.
Oishi stared blankly at the two tennis players across from them. They weren't out of breath or tired-looking at all! One was calmly straightening his green cap while the other was spinning his racket in the air, without a care in the world.
"W-What are your names?" Oishi gasped as he sat up slowly.
The one spinning the racket looked at them with a look of disgust on his face. "We don't tell our names to failures. Just know that Saiko Gakuen will always triumph." With that, they strode off to the rest of their waiting team.
At that moment, the rest of the regulars ran up to them. Fuji, who was for once not smiling, and Tezuka helped Oishi up and quietly spoke to him. The rest of the team gathered around Eiji.
"Kikumaru-senpai," Momoshiro said worriedly. "Are you okay?"
Eiji couldn't hear them.
"Kikumaru-senpai?"
That was Ochibi... or was it?
"Eiji? You okay?"
The world was fading quickly.
"Kikumaru? !"
They had lost the tournament... because of him...
"Eiji!"
The world faded to black.
Saiko: supreme