DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of the Prince of Tennis series, all of which belongs to Takeshi Konomi. I also have no connection to the real life places, things, or people mentioned in this story. The original characters (OCs) are my intellectual property and any real life resemblance is merely coincidence. Without further ado…
La Campanella
-the resonance of a little bell-
Prologue
Applause erupted from the audience at the Musikverin and again in several standing ovations. On center stage, the soloist amidst the prestigious Vienna Philharmonic is a 13-year-old girl, and she has just finished playing Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 2. She enthusiastically waves into the darkened audience, who still continue to clap. Both she and the audience have tears in their eyes. The news that violin prodigy Elmina Heike was retiring at such a young age sent shock waves throughout the music world. As if trying to coax her to stay within the limelight of classical music, her final performance tonight was sold out. Unfortunately, money could not stop the irreversible repercussions of the young girl's recklessness.
Unbeknownst to the public, Elmina had another passion besides her violin. The love affair she dared to have had been with tennis. She had entered in several junior tournaments throughout Europe whenever she was not playing at concerts or recording a new CD. Never wanting an opponent to go easy on her due to her popularity, she partook in tennis under an assumed name: Mina Klein. It was a risk indeed. Injuring one's fingers or hand during a game would spell death to a musician. Being a young child, dire consequences were to be had with naivety to the world's cruelty. While she treated her opponents in a respectful manner in hopes that they would do the same, it was not below some people to resort to jeopardizing their opponent to acquire a win. She was faced with one such opponent 2 weeks ago.
The game had been going in her favor, with the current score at 4-1 and the last 2 games under her belt. If she won this set, she could proceed to the quarterfinals. Yet, it was not to be so. It was her opponent's turn to serve. Whether it was out of frustration or to serve as an intimidation, her opponent's serve had reached up to 99 miles per hour and squarely hit Elmina's right shoulder. The serve was out, and so was Elmina. Taken aback, her racket had dropped due to the sheer pain she was in. Clutching her shoulder, she felt something moving underneath the skin. The edge of her collarbone had broken and her shoulder was partially dislocated. Immediately, the chair umpire declared Elmina unable to participate in the match. As a result, she forfeited and Elmina's opponent was able to proceed to the quarterfinals in her place. If it was any consolation to the young girl, her opponent had lost in her next match.
At the hospital, Elmina was regretfully told to give up tennis, as well as playing the violin. She had lost both her loves in one day and no amount of revenge would be able to solace her. As a last resort, she had tried to do physical therapy. All attempts to do so were fruitless and left her in excruciating pain, as they soon figured out that Elmina could barely raise her arm above her head. Perhaps this was all for the best, as she would avoid the psychological downfall like many other musical prodigies like she had been prior, or so the adults in her life thought. Not long after the tennis incident & her final performance, the young girl was caught trying to slit her wrists. The once admired wrists that gracefully moved with a violin's bow and fiercely with handle of a racket were now marred with the fresh scars of a razor. Elmina was at a loss and had apparently lost all motivation to live without being able to participate in what her life had always revolved around. The doctor's final advice was to now try to live a normal life in another area altogether, as to let the young girl both psychologically and physically heal.
In order to do so, Elmina and her parents moved to Japan, her mother's homeland. Elmina would now be known as Minako Heike, discarding the German pronunciation of her last name (hai-keuh) and adopting its Japanese counterpart (heh-ee-kay). Once there, she enrolled a fairly normal school called Seishun Gakuen, or "Seigaku," she was told it was affectionately called. While she had heard that the tennis team had gained recognition in recent years, she placed the thought of it behind her, not wanting to once again fall into despair. With that, she prepared to start her new life.
A/N: I'm honestly quite surprised on how easily the words flowed out of me when I wrote this, despite it being years since I've penned any sort of short fiction. Creative writing is definitely different than the expository and argumentative writing that I do in school. I hope that you can see my improvement in writing during my years of absence, as well as the maturation of style. I'll admit though that probably my only fault in re-learning this creative writing process is length. Something tells me that I'll have a hard time writing long chapters/stories, so please bear with me in the time gaps between entries that I'm almost certain will occur. Critiques, comments, etc. are all appreciated!