The Unforgettable Memory
Sweat, dripping from his face, the sun was beaming into his eye. "Ha, she can't even get a twist serve, why's she even in the tournament?" he thought as he smirked. He glances over to the scoreboard, where they keep score and have the names of the players. "Matsou Michiyo? I guess she is a newbie. Haven't heard her name before." At the serving line, he serves the ball, hoping to have a good rally with Matsou before the match comes to an end. After the serve, the ball flew right over to Matsou's court. As expected, Matsou got to the ball, and hit it right back. Though that one ball was different from the other balls she has hit, it didn't stop him from rallying with Matsou. With that return hit from Matsou, he hits it with all the strength he had left. With that one ball, it took him to the championship. "VICTORYYY!" the announcer screamed. Hikaru Zaizen, the prodigy of Shitenhoji, was playing at a local tennis tournament. He never knew, that single tournament will change his life forever.
At the tournament, Zaizen though it was going to be a waste of time, so he didn't try. During the final round, he went against Matsou Michiyo. She was better than the other players he played against, so he tried during that match. He noticed Matsou was trying really hard, by trying to return all of Zaizen's shots. Everyone knew, once Zaizen try during a game, there is no way you can return his shots. Matsou ran from side to side just to return the balls, wasting all her energy. She wasn't able to serve till Zaizen accidentally shot the ball into the doubles corner, giving Matsou a chance to serve. She tried her best to make a comeback, but she wasn't able to catch up to Zaizen's score. After the match, her father was so disappointed in her; he wouldn't even congratulate her in second place for the tournament. As Matsou was putting her tennis racket into her bag she saw Zaizen. He was tall, slim, dark brown hair, with three ear piercing on the right ear and two on the other. As he left, Matsou noticed this jacket. It said Shitenhoji tennis team. Matsou knew Zaizen was strong, so she was determined to get him to train her.
A couple days later, after the tournament, Matsou transferred from Hyotei high school in Tokyo to Shitenhoji high school in Osaka, just to get Zaizen to teach her. Zaizen is the type of guy who is always quite in class and doesn't talk to anyone. During lunch time, Matsou went around the school to find Zaizen; she asked all his teammates, one of his teammates, Yagyuu told her that he is most likely found in the audiovisual room. She head to the room and notice Zaizen was listening to music, she didn't want to disturb his resting time, but she wants to ask Zaizen to help her. As she walk into the room Zaizen noticed her in the room and took off his headphones. "Is there anything I can help you with?" He said in an arrogant tone. "Ano. Can you please train me for a tournament coming up? I played against you in the Junior Regional Tournament and you were wonderful. I want to get better and please my father…" Zaizen didn't take a minute to think about it, and he rejected her right away. Matsou didn't take that as an answer, so she started bugging Zaizen every day by asking him during lunch break, after school, between class, during his library duty, and during classes. Matsou was determined to get him to help her. After a month, of bugging him and begging him, he finally agreed to help
On the first day of training, he made it clear, that he can stop training her whenever he wanted to. Matsou didn't mind because she knew he will train her for a long time. He made her run laps, practice swinging, making sure when she serves, she hits it at one spot in the court. After practice one day, Matsou wanted to thank Zaizen for helping her. When the practice ended, Zaizen would normally leave for the audiovisual room, but before he could leave, she hit a moon volley toward Zaizen. The ball didn't hit him because he caught it without looking back. "As expected from the prodigy of Shitenhoji" Matsou said as she chuckles. Zaizen was amused on how she was able to do a moon volley from that distance. He took out his racket and serves it back to her. "And your point is..?" He said while smirking. "Want to go out and eat dinner tonight? As a thank you." Matsou said while smiling. Before she could finish her sentence, Zaizen left because he could care less, all he wanted was to head to the audiovisual room. Every day, she tried to get him to be more social, since she is very outgoing, always happy and always tires her best in tennis when she doesn't understand. As a month pass by, Matsou got even better then where she was before, but she still can't manage to beat Zaizen.
There was one thing Zaizen cannot tell Matsou; it was that he was going to study abroad. He gets to be in Japan for only 2 more weeks before leaving for Germany. After training one day, Zaizen told her that he cannot train her anymore because he was going to be busy. A couple days before he told her, he was scouted by some professional coaches and he agrees to join them. Even though, he was a second year into high school, he left his education behind so he can achieve his goal to be a professional tennis player. Before practice, Zaizen stopped Matsou while she was heading to the tennis courts. Matsou was surprised that Zaizen would stop her and waste time before practice. "I need to tell you something" He said, with those words, she was scared of what he was going to say next. "Today is going to be the last day of practice. I've been scouted and I'll being going to Germany in a month." Matsou was shocked, but happy for Zaizen. She couldn't bear being away from Zaizen because, during the time he has been training her, and she had developed feelings for him. After a couple days after the last training, Zaizen stopped going to school. Matsou was super depressed, but she didn't let her love life get in her way for training and her tournament coming up. As she was jogging for training, she got into an accident.
While Zaizen was packing his things for Germany, he got a called from his team mate, Shiraishi that Matsou got in a car accident. Zaizen wondered how his caption knew, but it turns out, during the captain meeting, the girl's tennis team captain told Shiraishi. It turns out; she was jogging along the road, for her tournament coming up, with her headphones in, and she didn't hear the driver honk. The driver's car started to fail on the breaks and he couldn't stop and while he was struggling on the break, his dog started to panic and jumped on the driver, making the driver turn onto the sidewalk, hitting Matsou. After hearing the news, Zaizen rushed to the hospital where she was resting.
As she woke up, from her week of coma, she didn't know where she was. She sat up on her bed, with a major headache, and saw people around her bed. When she saw them, she was very shocked to see so many people. She was just sitting there, staring at them, after a while, she broke down and started crying. She has no idea who they were; she has gotten amnesia, making her forget everyone she knew before. Soon after she awoke, Zaizen came into the room, and he was the only person she knew. "Zaizen!" She screamed as she started to tear up in fear. As Zaizen walked into her room, he was glad to see she was okay, but shocked when he found out she got amnesia.
After the doctor has examined her brain, they found out, she was thinking too hard while she was in a coma, and it made her forget who they are because they scared her before she fell into a coma. She can only remember Zaizen because he was the person that she cared a lot about and she didn't want to bother him, casting him aside in her brain. "Zaizen, can you help Matsou regain her memory? I can only ask you because you are the only person she trust right now." The doctor asked Zaizen. "Me? I have a plane to catch in 3 hours." He said as he glances over to Matsou. When he saw how scared Matsou was, he agreed to help, but only for a week. After a week, he said he was going to head over to Germany for a big tournament he has to attend.
During the week, Zaizen took Matsou around town so she can be familiar with her surroundings. Five days into the week, she started knowing people she once knew, but the one person she is still afraid, was her father. "Matsou is deathly afraid of her father when he is mad. He would always make us run laps, making us do things we can't handle. He would always push us over our limits and not feeding us well. He is training us to become pro tennis players because he couldn't fulfill that goal. Matsou wanted to make her dad proud of her and achieve his goal." Matsou's twin sister, Misaki told Zaizen.
As the week past, Matsou finally got her memory back but is still struggling with her father. Matsou's father forbids Zaizen to talk to Matsou. The only way he communicate with her, was on the tennis court, against each other. Zaizen said that he understand Matsou's father thinking. "I'll be leaving now, Matsou" He said as slipped a note into her hands. He whispered "read this in a couple hours after I leave" He kissed her on the forehead, and left for the airport. She started to cry as he left. As he boarded the plane, Matsou read the note that was given to her. It read "don't forget about me. Very soon, you will become pro, and when you do, I will come and find you."