Seigaku Ranking Results
Genre: Friendship/Family
Rating: K+ or PG
Spoilers: Episodes 50-61, Genius 114-160
Pairings: none
Summary: The June Intra-school Ranking Tournament resulted in more than just the selection of regulars for the Kantou Tournament. Some of it was bad news. How did the Seigaku Tennis Club face the results?
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is created by Takeshi Konomi. I do not own it.
Author's note:
This is my first fanfic. I am only writing for enjoyment. NO FLAMING allowed!
I have added a companion fic to this story. It is titled Seigaku Ranking Journals, a story about the thoughts, emotions, and reactions of the characters towards the Seigaku June Intra-school Ranking Tournament.
Beware of SPOILERS for Episodes 50-61 and Genius 114-160! The 1st chapter contains spoilers for Episodes 50-53 and Genius 114-118.
Sorry for the OOC parts. The general story idea came to me, but the details were not easy to figure out. Besides, in Episodes 52-53 and Genius 114-118, a few characters weren't themselves.
Chapter 1
Inui Sadaharu of the Seishun Gakuen (Seigaku) Tennis Club was under great pressure. Just one more point, and he would be leading 5-3, bringing him closer to defeating Captain Tezuka Kunimitsu, a goal that had evaded him for at least two years and two months.
Unfortunately, the Seigaku Tennis Club captain had brought the game to a deuce before alerting him, "Now Inui… the game hasn't ended yet."
It was the final match of the June Intra-school Ranking Tournament, and the data tennis player realized that his shots were disobeying him as Tezuka awed the audience with a skill beyond jr. high level. The brown-haired, bespectacled stoic captain was standing and pivoting on one spot as he controlled the rotation of the tennis balls with his Tezuka Zone.
The rest of the tennis club, along with Coach Ryuzaki Sumire and the Monthly Pro Tennis reporters, continued to enjoy the dual between those two third-year students until the referee called out, "Game and match to Tezuka! 6-4!"
Meanwhile, a new ex-regular with black spiked hair and purple eyes had been standing dejectedly away from everyone else. A few minutes after his captain took control of the match, Momoshiro Takeshi quietly walked away from the tennis courts to place his folded Seigaku regular jersey on the clubroom shelf. His powerful dunk smashes and jack knives had only assisted him in taking one game from Tezuka and two games from Inui, causing the second-year player to lose his regulars position. Right now, watching them play only depressed him further, so he pedaled away on his bike, unaware of his importance to the club.
Upon arriving home, Momoshiro hurried to his room and tried to drown his woes with some CDs, but that did not seem effective. He then pulled out his books and papers to distract his mind with homework.
Soon he heard at the door, "Takeshi, did you hear that dinner's ready?"
"Yeah Okaasan, but I still have homework," he uttered.
"All right, just come down when you're done," his mother replied.
As Momoshiro descended the stairs about half an hour later, he heard, "Nii-chan!" His younger brother and sister had already cleaned their plates, and were giggling as they watched cartoons in the living room. He forced a slight smile at them and walked to the dinner table where his parents were finishing their last bites. Their older son just ate silently and returned to his room.
While the spike-haired boy resumed his homework, he heard his father ordering, "Isamu, get ready for bed!" followed by his brother's complaints. "Remember, you have school tomorrow! Now, get in the shower!" Fortunately, Kokoro was more cooperative when their mother gave her the same order about half an hour later. Takeshi soon pulled out some books on tennis and tossed them on his bed.
'Where did I go wrong?' the dunk smash player questioned himself miserably as he flopped onto the bed and opened a book about tennis moves. After some skimming and reading, he practiced some darts at the wooden target board on his door before getting ready for bed.
The next morning, he slept through tennis practice. While his siblings were noisy and restless at the table, he ate his breakfast without a word. On his way to school, he avoided eye contact with people. All day, he steered away from the tennis courts and did not speak unless requested. Instead of rushing to the cafeteria line at the sound of the lunch bell, he headed for the pond where he sat against a tree, pondering how he could improve his games.
After school, Momoshiro arrived at the street tennis courts to see three players from Yamabuki Chuu, the team Seigaku had conquered to become Tokyo Prefectural champions. His purple eyes recognized Nitobe Inakichi, who along with his partner had crushed Seigaku's Doubles 2, Fuji Syusuke and Kawamura Takashi.
"Hey, aren't you that powerhouse who beat Lucky Sengoku with a cramp?" the black-haired player with blue sunglasses asked. Momoshiro nodded, and he continued, "Well, Sengoku-senpai has been improving his game, so he will cream you next time."
The Seigaku player looked at him and a boy with brown hair. "Sorry, I don't really remember you two."
"Momoshiro, I'm Muromachi Touji, and this is Nishikiori Tsubasa," the bespectacled player introduced. "He has been trying to fill the gap from Akutsu-senpai's departure, and wants to play doubles today. That's why we brought him here." Little did the four boys know that a girl in a Fudomine uniform and pink barrettes was watching them from the bushes.
"Let's play," Nitobe suggested. "Nishikiori and I against you and…"
"No one," the purple-eyed boy answered. "I'll take on two at once."
"One set match! Nitobe-Nishikiori versus Momoshiro! Nitobe to serve!" Muromachi hollered. After hitting the ball back and forth for awhile Nishikiori scored a point. "15-0!"
The game proceeded until the referee announced, "Two games to 1! Change court!" Eventually, the single player won the match 6-3.
"Now, Nishikiori, Muromachi will be your partner," Nitobe proclaimed. "One way to practice doubles is with different partners."
The match began, and the Seigaku powerhouse easily won because both players were not used to doubles. Besides, Nishikiori still wasn't as strong a player as his predecessor, Akutsu Jin.
"I guess I can still play," the spike-haired boy sighed as he pedaled home. Not having much to do besides homework, and attempting to ease his sorrows, he gathered the clothes scattered on his bed and floor. Soon he stored away or hung up the clean clothes and tossed the dirty ones into the laundry. Then he organized his books, papers, CDs, games, and posters. Finally, he threw away the remaining trash and vacuumed the floor, finishing in time for dinner.
At the table, Mrs. Momoshiro praised, "We're glad you finally cleaned you room, but how about homework?"
"I'll do it after dinner," her older son replied.
"Takeshi, your homework is more important. You should have finished that before cleaning your room."
"I didn't want to disturb anyone at night, especially with the vacuum cleaner."
"Then you could have waited till the weekend to clean."
"I don't need too much time to do my homework today, so if I had started right away, I would have a lot of free time."
"That reminds me," Mr. Momoshiro recalled. "Kokoro, Isamu, you should clean your room this weekend." The younger siblings groaned.
"Otousan's right," their mother defended. "Please follow Nii-chan's example."
For the next few minutes, her oldest child spoke very little. Then he stood up, left the table, and placed his dishes in the sink.
"Takeshi, are you sure you've had enough to eat?" she made sure.
"Yeah, and now I'm going to do my homework." Her older son left the kitchen and ascended the stairs.
The next day Momoshiro continued to miss tennis club activities, remain silent, and avoid everyone, unaware that many people were beginning to worry about him. During lunch, he was hiding behind trees at the pond again, trying out different tennis poses and moves. After school, four players from St. Rudolph Gakuen, the school they faced in the prefectural quarterfinals, greeted him at the street tennis courts.
"Look, Yanagisawa!" Vice-captain Nomura Takuya pointed out. "There's the guy that dunk smashed you in the prefecturals!"
"Don't remind me dane!" Yanagisawa Shinya, a duck-faced boy, retorted. "Wasn't his name Momo… something… Momodane?"
"It's Momoshiro, you idiot!" Captain Akazawa Yoshirou corrected. "He was your opponent and you don't even remember his name?"
"Dane." Yanagisawa nodded, then looked at the Seigaku powerhouse who had just set his tennis bag down. "Let's play dane! Fukubuchou and I against you and who dane?"
"I'm playing by myself against you two," Momoshiro responded as he took out a racket.
"Since he's playing singles, I'll play," Akazawa offered.
"We'll play after these two," Kaneda Ichirou suggested, and they all agreed.
"Don't expect to hit me in the face again dane!" Yanagisawa boasted as he and Nomura stepped onto their side of the court.
"No, I want to truly finish our game from the prefecturals without you forfeiting," the powerhouse answered. "You don't have the same partner, but that's all right."
"You won't win dane. My usual partner is not here, but I'm still a doubles expert dane. Besides, it's two against one dane. You'll be easy to beat without Bandanna-kun dane."
"Don't compare me to that stupid mamushi! I don't need him messing up my games dane! Oh no! Now I'm starting to talk like you! Besides, you're still an annoying dane idiot!"
Since their first year in jr. high, Momoshiro and Kaidou Kaoru had been rivals, often fighting and competing over the smallest issues. It was no surprise that when they were playing Doubles 2 against St. Rudolph in the prefecturals, they had spent most of the game exchanging insults and attacks.
Yanagisawa had the first serve of the game. "Da.. In!" The ball bounced near the spike-haired player, who returned it. Due to Nomura's weak play, his partner felt as if he were playing singles, which was not his strength. The Seigaku player won in a short time.
They prepared for the next game, and Yanagisawa announced, "One set match dane! Momoshiro versus Akazawa-Kaneda dane! Momoshiro to serve dane!" A short rally began, soon to be followed by, "15-0 dane!"
"Would you shut up with those 'danes'!" the spike-haired boy snapped as he performed a bullet serve.
A few minutes later, the referee hollered, "Game to Momoshiro dane! 1-0 dane!"
Realizing how irritated all three players were, the St. Rudolph vice-captain approached. "Here, I'll be the referee instead."
"Fine dane," his duck-faced teammate agreed. It was now Kaneda's turn to serve.
Both sides served, rallied, and scored some more until Nomura called out, "Game to Momoshiro! 3-2! Change court!"
Akazawa stomped his foot. "Argh! My blurring balls have no effect on him!"
"What blurring balls?" the purple-eyed player smirked.
"I don't think this guy's eyes can detect moving objects the way Kikumaru does," Kaneda pointed out.
"Just shut up!" his captain retorted, ready to hit him.
During the Doubles 1 match in the prefectural quarterfinals, Akazawa continuously targeted and overwhelmed third year Kikumaru Eiji with vibrating balls. Because of his motion vision, the acrobatic player saw several balls at once. Seigaku's first year player, Echizen Ryoma, who had the same ability, complained about the blurry balls hurting his eyes as he watched the match. St. Rudolph's plan had been to break down the Seigaku Golden Pair by taking Kikumaru out first, and despite difficulties, they had succeeded.
Now, Captain Akazawa stood in the middle, at the net, and bragged, "Thanks to the Golden Pair's useless attempt to win, we now know the Australian formation."
From the middle of the baseline, his partner served the ball, but they both couldn't decide which direction to move. As their opponent returned the serve, they panicked and began to argue. In the chaos, Kaneda accidentally lobbed the ball.
Seeing a big opportunity, Momoshiro leapt into the air and performed a dunk smash as he mocked, "Bakazawa, crumble!" The ball bounced hard on the St. Rudolph captain's head. "That's for Eiji-senpai!" As Kaneda rushed towards his falling partner, the ball slammed into his right shoulder. "That's for Oishi-senpai!"
"He must see stars dane," Yanagisawa said as he and Nomura lifted their captain onto a bench.
"Hey! Come back here, cowards!" the Seigaku powerhouse ordered. "The game isn't over yet!"
"It's your fault dane! You really like dunking people out dane! You monster dane!"
"Shut up! I myself was shocked when I hit you a few weeks ago! Now, I wanted to avenge my senpais, but how was I to know that Bakazawa and his follower would be so weak!"
"Come on, we better get them to the hospital," Nomura spoke up. He helped Yanagisawa carry their captain off the street courts as Kaneda walked alongside, rubbing his shoulder.
Momoshiro arrived home and burst into his room, fuming. He inserted a DDRMax game, turned on the console, increased the volume, and selected a song that required many quick steps and jumps. Besides releasing anger, he wanted to practice his moves for tennis. As the round began, he yelled, stomped, and jumped heavily with wrath.
After a few songs, he suddenly heard pounding at the door, followed by, "Takeshi, turn that music off! You're disturbing everybody!" He had no choice but to obey. "Have you finished your homework?"
"No Otousan," he answered as he opened the door to discover his father glaring at him.
"Then what's with all that music, yelling, and stomping! What are you trying to do! Bring down the house! Stop it and start your homework now! You can have fun quietly, and without shaking the house, when you're done. Now, be a good role model for Kokoro and Isamu."
Things have really not been working out for the spike-haired boy. Fortunately, a few rounds of DDRMax had reduced his rage, so he was able to sit down and start his homework.
As he left the dinner table that evening, his mother inquired, "It's good that you are not overeating, but are you sure that's enough? This isn't like you. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," her son mumbled.
"Your appetite's changed," her husband pointed out. "You're not sick or anything, right?"
"No," the spike-haired boy quickly replied, then rushed off to finish his homework.
His behavior remained the same for the third day, unaware of tension stirring in the Seigaku Tennis Club. As he faced the pond and practiced swings with his arm, he felt someone approaching and watching him from the school roof behind and above him.
A few minutes later, he thought he heard the words, "Mada mada dane," followed by some female voices, then "Ryoma-kun." He walked away as he felt one of the girls drawing near.
After school, he played street tennis with players from Gyokurin Chuu, the first school Seigaku faced in the district tournament. The players left two-by-two as they lost. Finally, only Fukawa Kimiyoshi and Izumi Tomoya remained. Momoshiro and Echizen had defeated this pair in the district tournament after losing a game to them a few days before.
"So you're playing by yourself now so you don't have to split the court in half?" Fukawa teased, recalling the unusual way the dunk-smash player and his partner had won against them in the district match.
"Even so, you're still playing singles," Izumi put in.
"I can play against doubles with singles," Momoshiro responded. "Now, let's just play."
After a few games, the Seigaku powerhouse hit a hard dunk smash full of irritation. "I don't feel heated up! Not heated up at all!" He slammed balls into a basket, startling the Gyokurin pair. Suddenly, a tennis ball hit him in the back of the head.
"Huh?" He turned around with a hand on the back of his head. "You…"
"What are you doing here, Momoshiro-kun?" Tachibana An of Fudomine Chuu, the district runner-up, questioned. She had been secretly observing him at the street tennis courts for the third day in a row.
As she inquired Momoshiro about club activities and updated on him on her older brother's team, the Gyokurin pair wished them luck and left. The two decided to play a few games.
After some shots, An complained to the Seigaku powerhouse about seeing her as a fool and going easy on her, then said "Momoshiro-kun, you haven't been yourself lately."
In the middle of another rally, the purple-eyed boy discovered his bad habit of misjudging opponents by appearance, losing pace, becoming negligent, and forgetting the Challenge Spirit. He suddenly performed a spirited dunk smash, and apologized.
However, Captain Tachibana Kippei's sister didn't mind, and commented, "Somehow, you seem more like yourself."
Just then, both second years turned around to see the Hyotei Gakuen Tennis Club regulars staring down at them. They, especially Captain Atobe Keigo, began taunting Seigaku and Fudomine.
As Momoshiro and An agreed to team up for a doubles match against Hyotei, a familiar voice interrupted, "Hey, are you slacking off today too, Momo-senpai?"
To be continued…
A/N:
I did not write some of the nouns in English, because the characters wouldn't seem as real. Here are the translations based on subtitles:
Okaasan – mother
Otousan - father
Nii-chan - older brother
Senpai – senior
Dane – a term Yanagisawa adds to the end of every sentence
Fukubuchou - vice-captain
Mamushi – Gloydius blomhoffii (mamushi or Japanese mamushi) is a species of vipers commonly found in Japan.
Kun – honorific for boys
Mada mada dane – "no, not yet" or "you still have a ways to go" (Echizen's favorite phrase)
The POV will switch to other characters in the next chapters.
According to the series, Momoshiro was beating everyone at street tennis, so I had to have him win all the games. I also had to make sure no one from Seigaku saw or heard about him during his absence.
Nomura Takuya, Muromachi Touji, and Nishikiori Tsubasa make slight appearances in the series, and Nishikiori does not appear in the anime.
I apologize if I bashed any characters. Their words, descriptions, and actions were based on my interpretations. For example, Captain Akazawa Yoshirou struck me as rude and impatient.
I know that I broke some medical rules in the story. If people lose consciousness in real life, someone should immediately call the ambulance and have them sent to the ER. For example, in Episode 31 and Genius 67, when Momoshiro knocked out Yanagisawa Shinya with his dunk smash, someone should have immediately dialed the emergency number, but his teammates just placed him on a bench, and he soon recovered. In real life, such a hard hit to the face would kill someone. However, the producers and I did not follow medical procedures since this is just anime and manga. I just went along with it, so it wouldn't ruin the mood and flow of the story as well as bring in OOC behavior and unsuitable situations.
Some of the results of the ranking tournament have been revealed in this chapter. The first was Inui regaining his regulars spot and Momoshiro being dropped. That resulted in Momoshiro's bad mood and not showing up for three days, which also led to more problems (results) to be revealed in future chapters.
Both Momoshiro's first (given) and last (surname) names seem related to traditional warriors, so I thought his parents gave those type of names to all their children. Here are the names and ages I assigned. I also included the name meanings, which were from internet sources. I apologize if I got them wrong.
Momoshiro's siblings:
Kokoro (heart or spirit) – younger sister, 8
Isamu (courage, bravery) – younger brother, 6
Information on the Seigaku regulars' rooms can be found at:
TeniPuri DSP:http(colon)(double slash)www(dot)yoshikochan(dot)com(slash)tenipuri(slash)index(dot)htm
TeniPuri Fandom: http(colon)(double slash)www(dot)geocities(dot)com(slash)Gemini(underscore)9734(slash)
Remember to replace the words in parentheses with the proper symbols or punctuation.