My name is Echizen Karumi and I'm about to tell you my story.
I have always been the (little) ugly duckling, since it's a fact that I'm not pretty. Further more I have only one thing to be proud of: my family. It's the only thing I can be proud of. My dads a pro-tennis player. My moms a great cook and she owns her own restaurant. My grandpa is an ex-pro-tennis player and went to America where he met my grandma, who was also a tennis player. My grandpa was famous because he was the first Japanese person ever to be nr. 1 in America, he was known as Samurai Nanjirou. My dad is Echizen Ryouma, a pro-tennis player, who was the youngest person to win the national tournaments and the youngest person to be chosen as an U-17 player for Japan. I'm also 12 years old at the moment, and my life is about to change, cause until now nobody would recognize me.
The school I'm going to is the same school my mom and dad went to. I decided to change my last name to that of my Grandma's, since both the names Echizen and Ryuzaki are famous in this school. So my name is now Takeuchi Karumi. The day started normal, but I heard from my father that the children of his Senpai's and friends also go to this school now. I know their last names all: Kikumaru, Fuji, Tezuka, Inui, Kawamura, Momoshiro, Kaidoh, and Oishi. As far as I know now, only the first four are in my class, and they're all boys. In fact there are only 4 girls in my class. And despite the fact that I can't play tennis, I still joined the tennis club. It used to be apart, the boys and girls club, but now it's a mixed club. Since I went to junior high my life has been full of surprises. And this might have been the biggest of them all.
Lets start with the fact that Kikumaru-kun, Fuji-san, Tezuka-san and Inui-san also know about my father from theirs. But I wasn't surprised with the fact that they didn't recognize me. After all, I looked nothing like my dad.
"Karumi!" "Nana-chan!" Let me introduce my best friend and rival: Fukaguwa Nana. She is the best at tennis, but that's about it. She really sucks at pretty much everything but P.E. and I'm the complete opposite, I suck at P.E.. But let's not dwell too long on that shall we?
"Have you heard it yet?" "Heard what yet, Nana?" "Well there is a competition coming and practically everyone from the tennis club signed in, expect you," Nana stated. Well here's something new. "You know I can barely play tennis, why would I embarrass myself? In front of the regulars, none the less!" "True, but you will come and cheer me on right?" "Of course I will!" After Nana went to practice, I decided to go home, as English homework was quite a lot. Not that I would have any trouble with it. No in fact, my dad thought it would be better to raise their child bilingual. So I'm able to speak fluently in Japanese, English and French. French I taught myself and I'm currently studying Italian and Chinese too.
When I got home my grandfather was sweeping the garden. "Okaeiri, Karumi-chan. How was school today?" "Boring, long. The usual," I answered. "Kukuku, as expected of my granddaughter, you're just like your father. That idiot son of mine never said anything good about it. Not that there is anything good about that place, but still…" I laughed at that. "Speaking of dad, do you know where my parents are today?" "I think they went grocery-shopping." "I see. Well then, I'm in my room doing my homework. Call me when they're back!" I said as I took off my shoes and sprinted upstairs.
I had just finished my English and math homework, when I heard my mom call me, telling me we were ready to dine. I sighed as I closed my math book and went downstairs.
Waiting for me was a rather unusual scene; I didn't expect to see Sumire-obaachan there. "How come you're here with us, baachan?" "Well, Karumi darling, my plane should have come three days later, but because I wanted to come here sooner, I changed my plane ticket. So now I'm here, three days sooner than planned. How surprised your parents and grandparents were!" "Well you can't blame us, I mean, just the other day, you sprained your back again. You're not young anymore, so don't try to coach anymore!" mama said. "But I don't feel comfortable if I'm not coaching," baachan whined. Well, I call her baachan, but she's actually my mother's grandmother, which would make her my great-grandmother, but she doesn't like to be called like that. Of course she's proud to have become one, but she doesn't like the idea of getting old and I'm sure you can guess why. "Well enough of it, let's just start eating, otherwise the food we prepared will go to waste. And we wouldn't want that now would we?" my grandma said. Rinko-san's food is amazing, but mom's is even better. When combined, they make the best food. And it's not just the food; there is a reason that they are married to their husbands, after all.
During diner my dad suddenly asked about the tennis competition. I'm not surprised he asked; in fact I thought he would ask sooner. "Well, I'm not entering, so I'll just be cheering. Sorry dad, seems like I didn't inherit any of those amazing genes of yours." It got really quiet, when my granddad decided to change the subject; he's the only one who knows about my fears. I talk to him about it all the time, as I don't want to disappoint my parents. I'm really grateful for that.
After diner, I went back to my room and locked it. I changed my clothes and went to bed. I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. I hate it when dining takes more than two hours! When I really couldn't keep my eyes open anymore, I closed them and thought about what happened today and what will happen in a few days time. My thoughts kept on wandering to the competition. Oh well, it hasn't got anything to do with me! And after that my mind went blank and I fell into a dreamless sleep.