Chapter 2: Lost within Hyoutei! I only own Tezuka Kumiko (in the story, she will only introduce herself as Kumiko. Afraid that she would make trouble if she tells them her family name)

The Adventures of Tezuka Kumiko -2-

Prince of Tennis/Tenipuri story

"Umm… where am I?" Kumiko asked to herself when she stumbled upon a large school. Kumiko saw the signboard and quickly approached it.

"Hyou… tei… academy…?" Kumiko titled her head. She was certain that she had heard of the school's name but couldn't remember anything. Kumiko was on another adventure and her instinct had led her here. Instinct or not, Kumiko was desperate to know where she is since she's definitely lost her direction.

"Onii-chan's going to get mad at me if I didn't come home soon… I better look for someone…" Kumiko said as she quickly ran inside the school grounds. Unknown to her, her bag had opened and her racket had fallen onto the ground.

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"Hey, who would put their racket so carelessly here?" A blue haired spectacle student said as he picked up a racket that was lying on the ground.

"Let's take it back to the club, Yuushi." A red bob haired student said.

"You're right Gakuto. Maybe one of the members dropped it."

"But I never knew a member with the initial 'K' on their racket…"

"Maybe it belongs to Atobe."

"But shouldn't it be 'A' then?"

"But his given name is 'Keigo' so maybe he had one with 'K'."

"Sure, whatever you say, Yuushi. We better hurry or we're going to be late for practice."

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Kumiko just realised that she had dropped her precious tennis racket and was running back towards the school gate only to find the place empty, no racket at sight.

"Aa! I can't go home without my racket! Oh no oh no oh no!!" Kumiko panicked as she searched high and low for her tennis racket. After few hours of searching, she knelt onto the ground and started crying.

"M-My racket…" Kumiko sobbed. She saw a shadow hovering over her and yelped. She looked up and saw a huge boy maybe a year older than her wearing green blazer and red checkered trousers.

"Usu."

"A-Ano, did you happen to see a tennis racket over here?" Kumiko asked politely.

"No."

"…" Then Kumiko started to sob once more. Then she heard footsteps coming towards her and she quickly stood up, and hid behind the boy.

"Oi, Kabaji!" Kumiko peeked from behind Kabaji and saw 5 students coming up to them.

"Usu!" When the leader of the group spotted Kumiko she quickly hid once more behind Kabaji.

"Who are you? You're not a student here." The student said.

"Maa, maybe she's lost, Atobe." A blue spectacled haired boy said.

"Yeah, you don't have to be so rude." The red haired student beside him said. Kumiko then spotted something in the spectacle boy's hand and quickly pointed to it.

"Huh? Is it this yours?" Kumiko quickly nodded.

"My name is Kumiko, nice to meet you." Kumiko said faintly as she bowed.

"This is yours right? I'm Oshitari Yuushi." Oshitari said as he gave the racket to Kumiko.

"… Osaka ben?" Kumiko blinked. Oshitari chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm from Osaka." Kumiko's eyes sparkled.

"I never met anyone from Osaka before!" The red haired boy beside Oshitari somersaulted and landed between Oshitari and Kumiko.

"The name's Mukahi Gakuto!" Kumiko giggled and saluted.

"I'm Akutagawa Jiro!" the cheery brown haired boy said.

"… Shishido Ryo."

"Ore-sama is Atobe Keigo." The leader said. Kumiko titled her head and asked Oshitari.

"Why did he call himself using ore-sama?" the others burst out laughing except for Kabaji and Atobe who was twitching.

"By the way, your racket is pretty clean even though it's old" Gakuto said.

"Yeah, since I always used it I have to take good care of it. And this racket was my brother's so I treasure it."

"A~n, You play tennis too?" Atobe said.

"Yeah, I played in some school matches and I won." Kumiko said as she grinned.

"Interesting, so in which grade are you now?"

"5th, why?"

"Have a match with me." Atobe said.

"… What?!" the Hyoutei students yelled.

"… I need to go home…"

"1 set match, let's see what you got. You won't get away until you play with me."

"Oi oi! Isn't this called threatening? She's a 5th grader!" Gakuto said.

"This bastard…" Shishido sighed.

"Atobe…"

"Kabaji, my racket."

"Usu!"

"… F-Fine! After this you'll let me go straight home!"

"Deal."

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"Kumiko to serve!" Oshitari said.

'… How did I agree to become a referee anyway?'

"Here I go!" Kumiko said as she hit the ball.

"15 love!"

"She's good!" Jiro said excitedly.

"She's pretty good for her age." Whistled Gakuto.

"Not bad." Atobe said.

"Don't underestimate me because I'm a girl, Atobe-san. And if I came home late I'm blaming you!" Kumiko said as she glared at him.

"Continue, Atobe to serve!"

"15 all!"

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"Game Atobe, 3 game to love!"

"Where was that confidence I saw in the first place, little girl?"

"My name is not little girl! And the real game hasn't started yet anyway."

"Real game? What does she mean by that?"

"Hey, if you look closely at the previous games, she's been eyeing Atobe's ball and swing the whole time."

"You mean like Yuushi?"

"But Oshitari only gave a game, but this girl gave 3 games away."

"Hey, Kumiko-chan has been smiling the whole way."

"Oi, Gakuto."

"What, Yuushi?"

"Did you see it? The smirk that she wears?"

"Smirk? Isn't that smile?"

"You can say it that way, but her eyes are getting sharper."

"Now the REAL game begins!" Kumiko said as she ran towards the ball.

"She's fast!"

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"Game and match to Atobe, 6 games to 4!"

"Be awed at the sight of my prowess!"

"… Flashy as always…" Oshitari said as he jumped down from the referee seat. Suddenly, a tennis ball hit Atobe's forehead.

"Hey, what did you do that for?!"

"You're a weird person! Always saying 'ore-sama' this 'ore-sama' that!" The whole group snickered when they saw Kumiko pointing to Atobe.

"Such insolence!" Then Kumiko saw the sky turning orange and panicked.

"Oh no oh no oh no! Onii-chan is going to be so mad at me!" Kumiko quickly grabbed her bag and strapped the tennis racket tightly making sure it doesn't fall again.

"Ano, can I ask you the direction to this place?" Kumiko said as she showed Oshitari a paper.

"… You have to go here and when you arrived here you should go here… from what the map says."

"Thank you very much! Excuse me everyone!" Kumiko said as she bowed and ran out from the tennis court.

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"Interesting girl, don't you think so, Atobe?"

"Humph! How dare she throw a tennis ball to ore-sama!"

"But you know, she's the first girl I've known that had rejected him." Gakuto snickered.

"Kabaji! Let's go!"

"Usu!"

"Maybe, we'll meet her again someday. And when that comes, ore-sama will surely win her."

"… I don't think that's the correct speech…" When Atobe turned his back on the rest of them, they all snickered since the ball that Kumiko had throw to Atobe had placed a mark on his forehead and it was hilarious.

"Kumiko… huh? Kabaji, remember her." Atobe scoffed.

"Usu."

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"Hey, Yuushi." Gakuto said.

"What Gakuto?"

"That girl, Kumiko, she played acrobatics too."

"I know."

"Maybe I should play her someday."

"Maybe."

"And what does Atobe mean by win her over anyway?" Shishido asked.

"Maybe he wants to play with her again." Jiro said.

"I doubt it. More like he wanted to be on good terms with her, it's VERY rare to see someone, especially a girl, rejects Atobe. Maybe she's more than the eyes could see."

"Maybe, yeah."

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"I'm home!"

"Where have you been, Kumiko?"

"… I got lost…"

"Again?"

"Yes, I'm sorry, onii-chan…"

"Did you play tennis with someone again?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"Take a shower."

"O-Okay!"

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Chapter 3: Rokakku Playground! Horror of Josei Shonan!