disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis or any of the characters... and that just makes me sad.
Chapter I
Inui-senpai was talking to a girl Kaidoh recognized from his class; she was a member of the Physics Club but he didn't really know her.
The girl wore glasses that were very much like Inui's; she had long straight black hair and was as tall as Inui's shoulder.
Kaidoh couldn't tell anything from her expression but Inui looked mildly interested in whatever she was saying.
The rest of the regulars were looking on in interest. Well, except for Tezuka who looked like he was about to make Inui run laps.
---------------------------------------------
"…it won't bother your practice Inui-senpai, in fact I think it would even help." Kaidoh just caught the tail end of whatever it was the girl was telling Inui.
"Alright Kanehara-san but I'll have to talk to the captain first."
"Thank you Inui-senpai."
----------------------------------------------
Inui walked to Tezuka and they began a hushed conversation until Tezuka nodded and Inui walked back to the girl.
----------------------------------------------
"Alright, Kanehara-san, the captain has agreed to your request but you must explain yourself after practice."
"Of course Inui-senpai and again, thank you."
----------------------------------------------
Kaidoh wasn't sure but he thought he saw the girl smirk. He remembered her now.
Kanehara Maia, the 2nd year who was vice-president of the Seishun Gakuen Physics Club.
He remembered that the club had won the regional Physics Quiz just the week before and Kanehara was the highest scorer of all the players.
She was supposed to be really smart but didn't seem to be very friendly.
Aside from the other Physics club members she only had one friend who was from the other sophomore class.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Kaidoh almost hissed at the delay she was causing but was cut short by Inui who was now standing in one side of the court and waiting for him to take his place.
When he walked onto the court he saw that Kanehara had moved to Inui's usual spot when he was recording data from their practice games.
She even had a clipboard and pencil ready.
---------------------------------------------------------------
The rally was long and hard and as was typical when playing against Inui's tennis, very frustrating.
It was difficult to get shots past someone who had all your data and thus knew your playing style like the back of his hand, not to mention that the said player also managed your training and had a fairly good idea of your limits and how your mind worked.
Kaidoh was proud of his endurance but Inui was still ahead of him in that department since Inui did 2.25 times more training than him.
Kaidoh was hissing by the second half of the game and by the time Inui scored the winning point, he was almost panting.
Nothing was ever just a practice game with Inui-senpai, or with any regular for that matter, as Kaidoh noted when he looked over at the other game where Momo and Kawamura-senpai were practically burning up the court.
Kanehara had also moved on to that game by then. Kaidoh noted that the Captain and Coach Ryuzaki were both keeping a close eye on her.
She was barely looking at her clipboard as she scribbled whatever it was she was looking for in the game.
-----------------------------------------------------
After practice Kanehara walked back to Inui and waited for Tezuka to join them.
Their glasses flashing in the sunlight, Inui and Kanehara were now discussing whatever she had recorded on her clipboard
and Inui had taken out his familiar green notebook and from time to time was glancing at his notes as if to confirm what
Kanehara was telling him.
A line had creased on his forehead between his eyes.
Tezuka was just listening to the discussion with his arms crossed across his chest.
The air was heavy with tension and Oishi was progressively getting more frazzled
as Kikumaru jumped around him and tugged at his jacket sleeve
with demands that he go see what the goings on were about.
-------------------------------------------------------
"You'll see that that's not all the Physics Club can do Inui-senpai. Didn't you after all consider joining us when you were a freshman?
From this data, I can calculate the errors made in each player's game and come up with a solution to correct them.
Throw in a little Statistics and we can predict probabilities of matches going one way or another.
You yourself are doing the same thing aren't you, Senpai?
I know it takes more than just numbers to play tennis but it still is just physics."
"What exactly are you asking the Tennis team Kanehara-san?"
"In behalf of the Physics Club, I am asking that you allow us to record your data and find ways to use that data to improve the team's performance.
In return you allow us to use the results of this study in the National Physics competition as the club's group entry in the Applications category of the contest."
------------------------------------------------------
The tennis club froze. A tic had formed above Tezuka's right eye. Echizen pretended not to choke on his Ponta at what he heard.
Kikumaru succeeded at pulling down Oishi's jacket sleeve but almost fell down at Kanehara's words.
------------------------------------------------------
"Will this include analyses of the members' play styles and moves?"
"Yes."
"Then the answer is no. The tennis team will not allow distribution of the players' game styles and moves
which could possibly endanger the upcoming Nationals tournament.
There is a 100% possibility that other teams can use this data to their advantage when playing against Seigaku.
We cannot let our guard down."
Inui's answer would have made Tezuka proud but Kanehara was not yet finished.
"What if I say that with the Physics Club's help you can be sure that you will all be playing your best at the Nationals?
As one objective of this study will be to possibly eliminate any and all weaknesses that we may find? "
Glasses flashing Inui looked at Tezuka, silently asking the Captain to take over.
But before he could fix Kanehara with the Buchou-glare Coach Ryuzaki cut in.
"There really is no more question about it. Ichihara-sensei already talked to me about this and I have agreed.
This collaboration will benefit not only both clubs but the school as well so we will be working together.
Kanehara-chan is here today to show you what the Physics club is capable of.
I have already made it a condition that she will be the only member to attend the practices.
We don't need too many people crowding the courts.
Alright, break it up! Practice is done for the day.
Kanehara, just give a copy of your data to Inui so he can have a look at it and discuss it later with the team."
The Coach's words almost seemed to diffuse the heavy air over the club and the members all started to go their own ways.
------------------------------------------------------------
As Kaidoh turned around he saw a small smile had formed on Kanehara's lips as she handed the papers to Inui.
"I hope it meets your satisfaction, Senpai." She used the exact same tone that Echizen used to taunt his senpais.
Kaidoh hissed and started to walk away. He didn't like this girl.
In his rush Kaidoh missed the look Kanehara threw at him.
Her glasses glinted, obscuring her eyes but one eyebrow had lifted at the viper's reaction. And as Inui often said…
"Iie data."
If you got this far...
Then you have my utmost gratitude for actually spending time on this story so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give me some more of your time and
review/comment/whatever/even flame this story.
I know the title is really lame but I'll work on that.
And I still have to figure out the line breaks or whatever you call them. I write really long sentences that really aren't healthy for your eyes.