Cdgal: while waiting for my other editor to finalise "A Strength Called Friends: Chapter 2", I've decided to update my chapters in one go. There will be a total of 8 of my past edited chapters. I have yet to decide there will be one or 2 more chapters before the epilogue, but I can reassure you that I have finished working on my last chapter long time ago.
I'm sorry for not updating "ASCF" and "Love Takes Time" sooner, you might have noticed it by now that "Cinderella Style" is my priority now. Speaking of which, the next unedited chapter for "Cinderella Style" will be taking extra time as there's a season error for most of the scene. Stupid me for only realised it recently.
P/S: there will be a small note indicating whether the chapter is unedited version or is of edited one.
--Chapter 2--
"Echizen, come on!" Horio urged Ryoma to hurry up but the young man was confused. Why the rush? The date for registering club activities wasn't due today, neither did the teacher demand to meet them after school. So what was the rush?
"I can't wait to meet the Regulars." so the Regulars were coming back today. That would explain why there were a lot more first years compared to yesterday at the tennis court. The Regulars had a game to play on the previous day that was why they weren't seen until today. This afternoon, however, who would have expected they had failed to show up again.
"Che! This is boring..." it was meant to be a talk to himself, but a highly sensitive hearing senior named Arai had heard the comment and gotten angry by it.
"What are you saying?"
Instead of repeating what he had just said earlier, Ryoma gave a cold shoulder and that was only to increase Arai's anger. As a result, the Arai guy picked up the nearest tennis ball and smacked it right on the back of the head of the first year's head. Ignoring the childish game the senior was playing, Ryoma continued his way to the exit. His thoughts of the senior quitting the game was absolutely mistaken because for the next minute passed he'd gotten several bull eyes on his first wound.
"Seems like you don't have a partner to play with ne, senpai?" it was obvious that the nerve of Ryoma had begun to lessen. "Mind if I borrow your racket?" not even bothering to wait for permission, he grabbed it from the person he asked and the duel began almost immediately.
And that was then the Regulars had decided to make their appearance.
"Is Arai at it again?" a well-built muscle third year, Kawamura Takashi, groaned.
"Man, it's the mmpteenth time already, that Arai. Come on, minna. We'd better separate them before Tezuka arrives," a motherly third year, Oishi Shuuichiroh, tried to stop the mess before it got them into trouble.
"But why, nya-? I wanna see Ochibi play..." pouted the same year student, Kikumaru Eiji.
"Didn't we see enough of it yesterday?" a snake-like sophomore, Kaidoh Kaoru, hissed uninterestedly.
"Are you scared, Mamushi? Of that first year? I never thought you were THAT much of a coward. Ha!" second year, Momoshiro Takeshi, was Kaidoh's destined rivalry to almost everything.
"What'd you just say?"
"Mamushi's a coward, who'll lose under a freshman's hand."
"Yarou!"
"Ii data..." commented the tallest of the group, Inui Sadaharu, a third year student who loved to drag everyone he knew down to hell with his deadly experiments.
"That first year, he's good. " complimented another third year student with brown hair, Fuji Shuusuke, who would be mistaken for a girl if he wasn't wearing a boy's uniform. "Ne, don't you think he's got potential, Tezuka?"
"For everyone's slackness, minna run 20 laps," the latecomer, Tezuka Kunimitsu was the buchou of STC (Seigaku's Tennis Club), whose nickname was from expressionless guy to a demon for his infamous hell-like punishment.
"What?"
"Buchou!" everyone at the court protested at the given punishment. It seemed like they, particularly the Regulars, had forgotten who the latecomer was. As soon as another punishment '30 laps' spoke out, it was then they realized that the more they protested, the more the laps would be given to them.
'How typical of him.' they thought before starting warming up.
The captain took a final glance at the still going game before joining the laps with the others.
The laps were finished in record time, even threatening them with the 'edible drinks' of one of the Regulars had produced wouldn't as effective as this. It seemed that everyone was eager to know who would be the first to win, the senior or the first year. After half an hour or so, the game ended with the first year winning by 6-0.
Ryoma panted heavily. He never knew he would play tennis again, neither knew it had gotten smoother after that play with... who was that guy again? Watashi? Or was it Hotaru? Whoever it was, he would like to thank the guy for making the long lost feeling come back to him. He hadn't had such a tiring yet marvelous feeling ever since his dad forbade him playing tennis nearly a year ago. His life had been turned a 180 degrees upside down ever since that faithful day. He couldn't believe he would miss the old times that much...
"Nice game you played there, kiddo!"
It was the same group from the day before. Of course to Ryoma, he hadn't had the interest to meet them, nor had the interest to greet them. The boy would rather head directly towards the exit.
"Hey, wait up!"
"He's cold."
"That's why I don't like Ochibi."
"Maybe he has his own reasons to be like that..."
"This is boring. I'll go practicing. Sshhh-"
"I need more of his data..."
"He's as cold as you, ne? Are you sure you two aren't related? "
The last person said nothing as there was nothing to be said.
"No? Hmm... I wonder if he's already booked. Maa, we'll be at a loss if we don't take him with us ne, Tezuka?"
" Come in." it was a bad timing for Ryoma because the person he was seeking for was on the line.
"Yeah, I know... But... Alright. We'll talk again. Bye." after hanging up the phone, the person looked up only to see a very familiar looking boy, who was by now walking up to her.
"Ryoma? Is that you?"
"No, it's not." Ryoma said sarcastically.
"Of course it's me. Who else do you think I am?"
"I mean why in the world did you dress like that?" there wasn't any wrong with Ryoma's appearance. He had the same school uniform just like everybody else, only his small figure seemed to have engulfed by the oversized uniform.
"Geez, Ryuzaki-sensei. I thought you're more smarter than me. Haven't you heard of 'In disguise' before?" Ryuzaki-sensei did something wiser than to retort back. She sighed, dropping the subject.
"I just hope you're not as much of a troublemaker as your dad is, Ryoma. I had enough trouble back then, so I'm not going to have more of that now." she rubbed her temple tiredly. Her past together with someone as carefree as Echizen Nanjiroh didn't amuse her for he was already a trouble maker. Compared to a high school student, she was so much older to play pranks with. Sure they shared a happy moment but having her cleaning up his mess after that wasn't as close as classifying 'having fun'.
"But you're proud of him, aren't you?" Ryoma could see that although the sensei was complaining about nothing but the trouble his dad had caused, she had that proud look on her face when she mentioned him.
"Yeah, I was, and still am. The legendary tennis professional player, Echizen Nanjiroh, made not just only the school, but the whole nation of Japan proud by winning 37 consecutively in the States..." Ryuzaki-sensei was glad... No, she was very proud to see one of her students working his butt hard to archieve his dream of becoming the best in tennis. His hard work had been paid off was the result to his success earning himself the title of "Samurai Nanjiroh" over decades. He could have the fame for all he wanted even if he had retired because there was no other tennis players had ever won as much as he had in the States before. If that was to register into Guinness World Records, Echizen Nanjiroh would be the first Japanese to put into 'The Person Having the Most Consecutive Wins' section.
"Who is now a pervert old monk..."
"You forgot to add 'lazy' there." both sensei and Ryoma shared a laugh at the description they commented on the former pro. There was no doubt people would most definitely hypnotised themselves that 'this is NOT the Nanjiroh I'm seeing' after witnessing their idol, dressed in an old priest attire, reading porn magazines while stretching his itchiness with 00.01 decency.
"Now since you're joining my club, don't think that I'll treat you differently than others just because you were my once favourite student's son..." Ryuzaki-sensei, who failed to notice the fading smile on Ryoma's face, said while continued jotting some note down on the paper she worked on before the interruption.
"Who said I'm in tennis club?"
That earned an abrupt stop and disbelief from the elder woman. She blinked a couple times, not realising she had spoken her thought out.
"You're not?"
"I wish I could, but I can't." the only child in the Echizen household plastered a faint smile before deciding it was about time to leave.
"You can't or you won't play, Ryoma?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked a question that was left unanswered by the boy who had just left.
--End of Chapter 2--
Glossary:
Senpai: a senior
Minna: everyone
Mamushi: viper
Yarou: you bastard
Ii data: good data
Buchou: captain
Sensei: coach
