Ch: Two
|YUUTA|
I jerked awake as the harsh sound of my alarm clock brought me back from my dreams. Wondering why my bed was softer than usual, it took me a moment to remember that I had come home for the weekend. Although my school didn't require me to go to tennis practice if I went home, I still made it a rule to get up at the crack of dawn for some early morning training.
Hey, how else was I going to become good enough to beat my brother?
Yawning, I brushed up in the bathroom. Heading down to the kitchen, I smelt the heavenly aura of frying pancakes. Pumpkin flavored too, my favorite. My mouth watered.
"Good morning, Yuuta." A quiet voice tore through my momentary daydream of fresh pancakes.
Oh man. "Oh, it's you, aniki," I mumbled. I wished it had been my mother there, or my sister. My brother wasn't the person I liked to see most in the morning, mostly due to the fact that I thought about how to defeat him twenty four hours a day. And that was only a slight exaggeration.
Syusuke gave me a warm smile, one that held emotion, unlike his usual poker face smile. "I made your favorite pumpkin pancakes."
"I'm not hungry," I told him coldly; though it cost me every ounce of willpower I possessed to say it. "Im going out." I marched to the door, took up my bag and walked out before I could change my mind. I didn't really hate my brother, not after that match with Seigaku, and I wanted those pancakes really, really badly, but I still refused anything he offered on principle, and so...too bad, no pancakes.
My stomach obviously disagreed with my choice, as it growled insistently as I made my way down to the nearest tennis court. In the end I had to give in and get myself some bread at a bakery I passed. I quickly ate it as I approached the street tennis court down the road.
The sun was just peeping out from the horizon, and the neighborhood was still fast asleep. Almost.
The sound of tennis balls bouncing against the wall greeted me as I arrived at the court, finishing up my breakfast.
I was very surprised that someone had gotten there earlier than me, and was even more astonished when I saw that it was a girl. One girl, practicing alone. When I looked closer I saw that she was using two balls at once, hitting one after another with perfect rhythm.
Piercing grey eyes looked in my direction for a second, and then refocused on the tennis balls. Short black hair with a shock of white at the front swished from side to side as she swung her racket.
Well, no matter. I could practice just the same. Taking out my own racket, I did a few warm ups by hitting a ball against the wall too, although I felt slightly ashamed that I couldnt manage two.
Then I moved on to my main training by returning the ball using Super Rising, fine tuning my movements. Feeling a pair of eyes on me, I started to feel uncomfortable.
The girl gave two last swings and stopped her tow balls, turning her full attention to me.
What do I do? What do I do? What are you supposed to say to a girl at six in the morning?
"Excuse me."
I jumped and hastily stopped my own ball. "Yeah," I inquired, struggling to meet her cold, intimidating gaze.
"There are two of us," she stated quietly. She has a voice like my brother's. But apparently she thinks Im a total idiot."Does it seem a little silly to be simply doing our own thing?"
"Uh" Her eyes seem to demand my agreement. I shivered despite myself.
Suddenly, she smiled. Small mouth curling upwards, warmth filled her features and coursed through me. I relaxed at once and smiled back easily. First impressions could be deceiving.
"It does. Do you want to practice together?" I asked.
"Sure do. I'm always looking for people who play well," she said, a hint of eagerness in her voice.
Whether she had meant to compliment me or not, the feeling of warmth inside me increased dramatically. I gave her my friendliest grin, and her tiny smile grew a fraction larger.
My mood improved in leaps and bounds as we headed into the court.
She actually makes me feel good.And, even better, she didn't seem to know or care—she would've said something if she did—that I was the little brother of the tensai of Seigaku. It was like a dream come true.