2nd chapter... pretty long XD I only own Tezuka Kumiko!


The Young Observer's Life -2-

Prince of Tennis/TeniPuri story

"Kumiko! Your hair!"

"Oh, Rika-chan."

"Don't 'oh' me! What happened?!"

"I got a cut."

"But this short?!"

"Well, if I kept my hair long I can't play tennis properly."

"Kumiko… you're hiding something, aren't you?"

"…" Rika saw the guilt pass in Kumiko's eyes and frowned.

"Kumiko… did the senpais did these to you?"

"N-No."

"Don't lie to me."

"…"

"You should've told me… even if you said you don't want me to get involved, at least tell it to me, maybe I could help a little."

"I'm sorry…"

"I guess I can't do anything about it… can I? But next time just tell me, promise?"

"… Yeah, promise." Kumiko said as they clashed their fists together.

"Now lend me your book, please Kumiko?" Kumiko sighed and smiled a teasing smile.

"Hey, don't look at me like that! I slept late last night!"

"Right, right."

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"Akaya, do you have it?"

"Yeah, right in time, bucchou!"

"Are you sure it's alright to do that?"

"Don't be such a wimp, Jackal!"

"Well, since Kumiko doesn't want to tell us, we'll get information in our own."

"Niou-kun's right."

"Tarudoru…"

"Maa, Genichirou, it's for Kumiko's sake. She hasn't been herself lately, all those missing shots and tripping over something invisible."

"…"

"Did you get information of who they are, Yanagi?"

"Seiichi, those girls are the 2nd years, they work together with some of the 2nd years of the tennis club members. Some of the 2nd years told us when we ask them, and the 1st years said that those guys has been bullying Kumiko whenever she's alone."

"Good, shall we pay a visit?"

"Yeah!"

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Kumiko was left alone once again in class, she picked up her bag and stopped moving.

"Senpai, what do you want with me?"

"Haven't we told you not to go near the boys?" One of them said.

"Senpai, can I ask you a question? What purpose do you have for doing this?"

"Of course to keep you away from the boys!"

"And why is that?"

"You're too close to them!"

"… Is that wrong? They're my teammates."

"Of course it's wrong! You're a girl!"

"Is it wrong for a girl to befriend guys?"

"You're such a nuisance!"

"Senpai, do you ever care about tennis?"

"What? Tennis? No! They'll make our skin go greasy and ugly!" Kumiko then slammed her racket on her desk as the three seniors flinched.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!"

"You're the one that we got enough of!"

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" Kumiko yelled from the top of her lungs as she glared at the seniors. The seniors froze on their feet when they saw Kumiko's sharp glare.

"T-Tezuka, what are you…!" The seniors quickly became quiet when Kumiko pointed her racket towards them.

"You don't care about tennis, right? So shut up. Whether you're my senpai or not, I won't forgive anyone who would say such things if they didn't even CARE about tennis! I entered the tennis club because I like tennis! You think of me as a nuisance, but you're blind… YOU'RE THE NUISANCE! NO! YOU THREE ARE AS STUPID AS A COW!"

"T-Tezu…"

"SILENCE! I'VE HAD ENOUGH FROM THE THREE OF YOU AND GET OUT FROM MY SIGHT BEFORE I HURT ALL OF YOU!" The seniors were desperate to run out from the class, but since they were too afraid of Kumiko, they froze.

"You three make me sick." Kumiko spat when she walked out from the classroom and slammed the door making the seniors flinched. When the door opened once more, the seniors' faces blanched when they saw the boys' tennis club captain walk near them.

"Y-Yukimura-kun!" When Yukimura smiled broadly, the girls' face turned white.

"You three had made our manager and dear youngest member snap. Now she's a clearly different character, now what shall we do with the three of you?"

"W-We?!" The girls all fell to the ground when they saw the rest of the regulars came into the class cracking their knuckles.

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"Seigaku…" Kumiko said when she stood in front of the said school's court.

"Oi! What are you doing here?! Students out from Seigaku are not aloud to step into the courts!" Kumiko turned her head when she saw a 2nd year student yelling at her.

"Are you a member of the tennis club?" Kumiko said as she frowned.

"Yeah, what about it?" Then Kumiko pointed her racket at him.

"Have a match with me." Kumiko said. When the Ichinen Trio came and saw Kumiko pointing her racket towards Arai they panicked.

"Is she crazy?! She's going to get hurt if she played Arai-senpai!" Then the three screamed when Kumiko glared at them.

"And the three of you… shut up."

"Y-Yes!"

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"T-Tezuka bucchou! Everyone!" The Ichinen Trio yelled as they approached the Seigaku regulars.

"What is it, don't yell in school." Ooishi said.

"S-Something's happening on the court!"

"Someone challenged Arai-senpai!"

"And defeated him in 5 minutes!"

"Eh? Really?!" Kikumaru said.

"Yeah! She hit the ball so hard it made a hole in the fences!"

"… She? A girl?" Momo said.

"Yeah! She was so strong! And her eyes were so scary! She kept yelling at Arai-senpai to give more of a challenge and then she started challenging the other seniors!" Fuji and Tezuka looked at each other and walked towards the court.

"Fuji-senpai! Bucchou! Wait for us!" Momo said as they followed the genius and their captain.

"… It couldn't be…" the 3rd years thought at the same time.

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"Senpai! You're right on time!" Tomoka said when she saw the regulars walking towards them.

"What happened now?" Horio asked.

"S-She defeated all the 2nd year members! Now she's going against one of the 3rd year seniors!" Tomoka said.

"S-She's very strong…" Sakuno said. Then Tezuka and Fuji enters the court, ignoring the calls of the other regulars.

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"O-Ooishi-senpai, bucchou and Fuji-senpai seemed really different…" Momoshiro said.

"It's because they knew her."

"Eh?! Really?!"

"We knew her too." Kawamura said.

"She was a nice girl, I wonder what happened to make her like this…" Inui said.

"Come on, let's take a look." Ooishi said as they all followed their captain.

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"Next!" Kumiko yelled. Some of the regulars were laying on the ground, gasping for breath while she was still breathing regularly. All the 2nd years were defeated while the 3rd years tried to snap Kumiko out from her anger.

"K-Kumiko! Stop this already!"

"Shut up!" Kumiko said as she covers her ears with her hands.

"S-She's gone berserk!" When they all saw Tezuka, Fuji and the regulars coming they let out a sigh of relief.

"What's going on here?" Fuji said.

"She defeated the 2nd years! She's gone berserk! Whenever we tried to snap her out of it, she doesn't want to hear!" One of the 3rd years said. When Momoshiro and Kaido saw Kumiko, they froze.

"H-hey, viper… isn't that…?"

"Y-Yeah, there's no other way…"

"You know her too, Momo-senpai, Kaido-senpai?"

"Yeah… she's…"

"Kumiko." Tezuka called as the girl lifted up her head and glared at the regulars.

"Kumiko, what's bothering you?" Fuji said.

"B-Buchou! Fuji-senpai!" Momoshiro tried to stop them before Ooishi stopped him.

"Ooishi-senpai?"

"Let them. They're the only one who know how to do this."

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"Kumiko." Tezuka said sternly. Then they saw Kumiko's eyes widening and her arms started to tremble.

"S-She's trembling…"

"Just like I thought…" Inui said.

"What?"

"She's gone into shock… it looks like she's been hiding her anger, it builds up and now she's gone angry…"

"Shock?" The Ichinen Trio said.

"Kumiko-san's not the one who could handle shock very well…" Ooishi said.

"Kumi-chan is sad, nya…" Eiji said.

"Kumiko, tell me what happened?" Tezuka said softly, surprising all the members. Then tears started streaming out from Kumiko's eyes and she ran into Tezuka's arms, crying shamelessly.

"Tezuka, you better get her out from here." Fuji said. Tezuka nodded and led Kumiko out from the courts. The rest of the regulars give way to Tezuka and Kumiko while Ooishi walked towards Fuji.

"Is she…?"

"Yes, she's gone into shock…"

"Did something happen at her school?"

"She'll probably tell Tezuka about it."

"Fuji-senpai, Ooishi-senpai, look at this." Echizen called as he stood in the court. Fuji and Ooishi walked towards Echizen and saw the side he's standing on is full of ball marks.

"Kumiko-san… until this bad…"

"Who is she exactly, senpai?" Echizen asked.

"I want to know too!" Arai said.

"Well… she's…"

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"Onii-chan…" Kumiko cried as Tezuka led her into the clubroom.

"Does this have to do with your bruises and your hair?" Tezuka asked as Kumiko nodded.

"… Stop crying." Tezuka said as Kumiko tried desperately to wipe her tears.

"I-I'm sorry… I didn't know what's wrong…"

"Shh… it's alright…"

"I-It was scary…" Kumiko sobbed once more as Tezuka patted her head.

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"E-Eh?! Tezuka bucchou's little sister?!" Sakuno and Tomoka said.

"Yes, Tezuka Kumiko."

"So it's really her…" Momoshiro said.

"You know her, Momoshiro-senpai?"

"When we were still a freshmen, she likes to come here and watch our practice. Sometimes she'll play with the seniors."

"Tezuka Kumiko… I've heard of her! She's famous when we're still elementary!" Tomoka said.

"Yes, she won the Elementary Division Tournament for 4 years straight."

"That's amazing…" Sakuno said.

"She's strong… right?" Echizen asked.

"Yes, she's strong… maybe stronger than you, Echizen." Echizen's lifted on of his eyebrows.

"Stronger than Echizen?! That's ridiculous!"

"No, she might be. We won't know until they had a match against one another." Inui said.

"But why did she go to another school?"

"She wanted to have a challenge, she said. And her goal was, to one day play against Tezuka in a formal tournament. She's not satisfied enough even if she could play with Tezuka everyday in an informal match."

"R-Really?!"

"Kumiko-san is a happy-go-lucky girl, she's always laughing and smiling. Tezuka cares about her so much. It's rare to see her glaring… most of all got angry. She's always so playful, clumsy at times."

"B-But she played like a monster!" Horio said.

"S-She did!" Kachiro and Katsuo agreed.

"I-I'm sorry…" They heard a voice said and turned around to see Kumiko fidgeting beside Tezuka.

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"K-Kumiko-san! Are you alright?" Ooishi said quickly when he saw Kumiko still sobbing.

"I-I'm alright… I'll be fine soon…"

"Thanks goodness…"

"All three of you, 50 laps around the court."

"Y-Yes!" The Ichinen Trio saluted as they ran away.

"Kumiko-san, what exactly happened…?" Oosihi asked.

"I got angry at some seniors…"

"And who exactly did this to you?" Fuji said as he patted her head.

"Well… some seniors started to bully me whenever it's club hours… at first I didn't pay any attention, but it's getting irritating and I got angry…"

"Why did they bully you anyway, nya?" Eiji said.

"They got jealous because I'm close with everyone, that's just ridiculous…"

"Indeed." Inui said. Then Momoshiro approached Kumiko and stared at her.

"So you're bucchou's little sister, this is the first time I see you up close."

"… Aren't you one of the senpai-tachi that likes to fight with the other senpai?" Kumiko said as she tapped her chin.

"Fshuu…"

"… Oh, that's right, Momoshiro-senpai and Kaido-senpai!" Kumiko said.

"You knew us?"

"Well… Momo-senpai and Kaido-senpai likes to argue, every time I came here last year I always see you arguing so Eiji-kun and Ooishi-senpai have to stop both of you." Then Kumiko spotted Echizen staring at her and she stared back.

"Why are you staring at me…?" Kumiko said.

"Are you strong?" Echizen said.

"I don't know, I could never beat onii-chan."

"Then have a match with me."

"… Is that even allowed? I'm not a student here."

"So are you when you're still elementary." Kawamura said as Kumiko laughed nervously.

"Can I?" Kumiko said as she looked at Tezuka. Tezuka thought for a moment and nodded, handing Kumiko back her racket.

"Alright, let's do this… um…"

"Echizen Ryoma."

"Right. Echizen-kun." Kumiko nodded.

"She's not exactly relaxed now… is she?" Fuji said as Tezuka sighed.

"No, something's still on her mind. Apparently, those guys she talks about are in the tennis club and no one didn't know anything."

"Well, this match might be a good rehab for her."

"I hope so."

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"Game, Echizen! One game to all!"

"Hmm? Why is she not moving?" Momoshiro said.

"This is how Kumiko always does her match." Inui said.

"Eh?! Really?"

"But let's see how Kumiko will stay. She's still not in her top condition."

"Tezuka, look at her, Kumiko's eyes started to shine. I guess she's ready to strike back now." Fuji said as Tezuka nodded.

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"You're amazing, Echizen-kun!" Kumiko said.

"Eh? You're not doing very well, Kumiko-san."

"Well, winning one game doesn't mean anything to me, so let's get started!" Kumiko said as she started jumping up and down.

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"There it is! Kumiko's acrobatic style tennis!"

"Eh?! Acrobatic?!" Horio said.

"Kumi-chan's style is the same as me! But she also has a bit of data tennis like Inui's in it!"

"T-That's amazing!" Sakuno said.

"Ryoma-sama! Do your best!"

"There it is! Ryoma-kun's Drive B!"

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"Mada mada!" Kumiko said as she hit the ball back.

"Eh, you're not bad at all, Kumiko-san."

"You're not bad as well, Echizen-kun!"

"But you're still mada mada dane!" Echizen said as he hit another ball back.

"15 Love!"

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"Kumi-chan is enjoying this!" Eiji said.

"Good data…" Inui said as he scribbled in his notebook.

"Mermaid's Jump!" Kikumaru said.

"… Mermaid's Jump?" Ooishi said.

"You know, the jump when Kumiko somersaulted and hit the ball in the air! It's like watching a mermaid's jump!"

"Now that you think about it…"

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"This is the last one!" Kumiko said as she hit the ball so hard it bounced pass the fence.

"Game and Match, Kumiko! Six games to five!"

"Yay! I won I won I won!" Kumiko said as she jumped. Then Echizen and Kumiko shook hands.

"Let's play again sometime, it was fun. I've never played this long before!" Kumiko said.

"Yeah."

"Kumi-chan, you won!" Suddenly, Eiji tackled Kumiko and Kumiko fell on the ground.

"… Ow…" Kumiko groaned as she rubbed her head.

"Kumi-chan is still so squishy!" Eiji said as he squashed Kumiko in his arms.

"… Oxygen… need…" Ooishi saw Tezuka twitching and quickly grabbed Eiji away from Kumiko. Then Kumiko took a deep breath and stood up.

"That was a nice game!" Kumiko said.

"Oi, Kumiko, what's that around your wrists? Wristbands?" Momoshiro said as he pointed to the black wristbands around Kumiko's wrists.

"Oh, this? Fukubucchou told me to always wear them, but it gets tiring." Kumiko said as she took off the wristbands and let it fall on the ground with a loud 'thud'.

"T-That sounds heavy…"

"And on my legs too." Kumiko said as she took off her shoes so everyone could see the same bands on her ankle.

"Aren't those powerwrists and powerankles?" Inui said.

"Yeah, they weights around 8 kilos in total, I only took them off at home." Kumiko said as she put the wristbands back on.

"S-She played Ryoma-kun with t-those weights on!" Kachiro said.

"Pretty scary, Kumiko." Fuji said.

"Sorry about that, Echizen-kun. It's not like I wanted to or anything, but I forgot I got these things on."

"It's okay." Echizen said as he tipped his hat down.

"H-hey, does that means she defeated all those senpais with those on?!"

"A-And she defeated Ryoma-sama too!"

"It's pretty late, I should go home."

"Kumi-chan, I found a new café at town, they got good parfaits!" Eiji said.

"Eh really?!"

"Yeah, wanna go next time?"

"Yeah, let's go, Eiji-kun. Parfaits!"

"You still loves parfaits don't you, Kumiko?"

"But Syuu nii, they're so sweet!"

"Yes, yes, now go along, it's late." Fuji said.

"Tell kaa-san I'll be a little late." Tezuka said as Kumiko nodded. Then she picked up her back and walked out from the court.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Kumiko turned back and bowed.

"Thank you for before, it lifted some weights off my mind. Sorry if I bothered you."

"No, not at all. Echizen got a good game." Kawamura said.

"Bye everyone!" Kumiko said as she ran while waving back towards everyone.

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"Hey, Kikumaru-senpai just ask her to go with him for parfaits!"

"Doesn't that mean a date?"

"Oh, you didn't know? It's been a habit for Eiji and Kumiko-san to eat parfaits together now." Ooishi said.

"R-Really?"

"Yeah, it's not that surprising, both of them has lots of similarity. Kumiko-san likes parfaits, she likes baking cookies too."

"E-Eh…"

"Kumiko-san is a nice girl, but if you mess with her for too long, the same thing will happen again."

"E-Eh?!?!"

"Well then, let's get back to practice."

"Y-Yes! Ooishi-senpai!"


Read and Review!

This chapter is pretty crappy... my head suddenly went out of ideas XD

Next: Start of another peaceful day... wait, why am I paired with Kirihara-kun again?