With the ringing of the school's bells, classes were officially done for the day.
"Finally, it is time!" Ryoka's shout of excitement startled those around her as she popped up from her seat.
In their last class, English, Ryoka had fallen asleep and could not be awoken by the teachers or her brother's attempts. Ryoka just ignored the teacher and her brother when she was sleeping. She was happy that they let her sleep since she wouldn't budge.
"Ey Ryoma, you going to practice?"
"Of course. I am on the tennis team"
"Hee-hee, let me join you then," she grinned.
There was a long but comfortable silence as they walked towards the tennis courts in tandem.
"Oi, Echizen!"
"Yes?" "Yeah?" Ryoma and Ryoka both answered simultaneously.
The person jogged to catch up to the pair.
"Momo." Ryoma greeted, and if the two didn't know him any better it would have looked like he was annoyed.
"Oh, is your brother joining the tennis team too?" he questioned them both.
"Yeah! I plan to join the regulars too, ya better watch out." Ryoka said tauntingly with a smirk, imitating her brother's ever-present arrogance.
"Woah, your brother's just as arrogant as you Echizen."
She grinned, breaking her façade of Ryoma's arrogance, "I'll take that as a compliment."
"It wasn't a compliment you know," Ryoma said trying to aggravate Ryoka, but Ryoka didn't get angry that easily so it just went over her head.
"Oi, we're here," Momo spoke up to get their attention as the two were having a heated argument.
"Ok, where's the Captain? I need to get an application sheet."
"You don't need to, you have already been signed up." An older voice said from behind them.
"Ryuzaki-obasan!" Ryoka spun on her heel and ran up to the older woman, glomping her in full force. "Awww, thanks~ Now I don't have to go through the trouble."
"You actually filled it out the other day ahead of time—and don't call me Obasan." Ryuzaki chided as she attempted to peel the twin off of her arm.
Ryoka held on to the arm within her grasp with an iron grip, "Dragon-lady's good by comparison then?" She grinned when Ryuzaki sighed but nodded. "So, how will I join the regulars?"
"Hasty there are we?" She chuckled, "I'll ask Tezuka."
Momo and Ryoma had already left to change and Ryoka was still talking to Ryuzaki when, speak of the devil, Tezuka arrived.
"We hold ranking tournaments. If you are one of the top two of then you'll be assigned as a regular." Tezuka said with his usual stoic expression.
"Ooh, so when will this happen?" Ryoka said excitedly.
"At the end of the month." Ryoka pouted at the answer. That was in two weeks, it was too far away. "You're signed up in the club, so I expect you to participate today."
"Well, I guess I'm lucky I brought some spare clothes then. I'll go get changed, be right back!~"
"He's quite the bundle of energy isn't he, hmm Tezuka?" Ryuzaki asked.
"Yes, he will be a great asset to our team."
When Ryoka went to change she waited for everyone to be done before she entered the changeroom. When she got in she was thankful that there were stalls with curtains. She got into some spare sweatpants and a grey shirt and put a black hoodie on. The grey shirt was thin and she didn't want to take a chance, so she wore the hoodie.
When Ryoka got out she went to look for Tezuka, he was at the centre courts watching over the other regulars warm up and noticed Ryoka approach. He ordered everyone to line up.
"We have a new member joining us today."
"Oi, isn't that Ochibi's twin?" Eiji exclaimed.
"Hey Eiji, pipe down," Oishi scolded Eiji, trying to quiet him down.
Ryoka whistled, "Oh man, they look tough! Just what you'd expect from regulars~," she grinned. "Why hello! Uh, well as most of you know, I'm Ryoma's twin brother," she put a hand to her chest, gesturing to herself. "It would be confusing if you called me Echizen too, so you can just call me Ryota. No need for any of those formalities, I'm less stiff than my stick-up-the-ass brother so I'm chill about it."
The regulars stifled laughter while Ryoma's eye twitched angrily.
"Ehhem...Then Ryota, if you would, can you go warm up with the team members?"
"Yup, sure thing!" She glanced around when everyone was dismissed and followed the first years. She poked somebody's shoulder that was ahead of her, they had an undercut which was pretty cool. "Hey, uh, so what are we gonna do?"
The person turned around and she was completely underwhelmed by their appearance. The haircut didn't suit the kid's kind looking face. "Ah, Ryota-san, since you're a first year we're going to do basic drills, laps and pick up balls. Occasionally we play matches. Second years do their own training and help the regulars when they do drills."
"Thanks," she nodded. "So, what are your names?"
"I'm Kato Kachiro, it's nice to meet you Ryota-san."
Another person popped up from behind her, "And I'm Mizuno Katsuo!" Ryoka blinked at the familiar hairstyle. It was almost a complete carbon copy of one of the regular's hairstyles—she wasn't introduced to him yet so she didn't know his name—only without the two bang-things. "So Echizen had a twin, I never thought he had a sibling."
"Yeah, he never talked about it in junior high."
"He isn't much of a talker, I think I stole the social butterfly in him from in the womb." She laughed and was suddenly startled when she was hit on the head by the face of a racquet. She looked up to see another guy in a blue tracksuit towering above her—not much of a difference to her usual outlook on life—a second year she guessed. "Ah, hello Senpai. Am I causing a disturbance?"
"Heck yeah you are," the guy huffed, tucking the racquet under his arm. "Just because you're Echizen's brother it doesn't mean that you have privileges around here."
"Of course not, Senpai," she nodded sagely, but immediately afterwards she grinned, ruining the serious atmosphere. "Now, are we gonna do these boring basic drills or not?"
"Yes. Yes, we are Ryota-san, but only after laps."
To say that it was easy was an understatement. Ryoka was bored by the pace set, and the number of laps were minuscule compared to what she was used to. Currently, they were repeatedly swinging a forehand, and it just would not end. It was going to be a loooong two weeks.
"Ryota-san, your swing isn't right, the racquet's tilted and the ball won't go straight as it's supposed to."
Ryoka blinked, "Uh, I'm doing a slice forehand?"
"That's not what we're doing."
"But—"
"Flat forehand swing. Honing on your basics will strengthen you."
Ryoka narrowed her eyes, frowning. The person was obviously belittling her and it made her angry, but she knew confronting him wasn't the best choice. She was new, they didn't know her skill. She was a first year so she had to do what first years were assigned to do. Her only hope to get out of it was to join the regulars. It didn't mean that she had to like it though.
When they were done practice Ryoka grabbed her bag and bolted over to the regular's side.
"Ryoma," she looked up at him with pleading, watery eyes, "Please, please, please save me."
Ryoma blinked in surprise at his sibling, then with an almost cruelly amused smile, he said, "I'm sorry. I can't do anything for you."
"You're so not sorry," she pouted. "...What about that match we didn't finish?" Her eyes brightened with the question.
"... Later."
"Al-right!" She cheered and bolted, but was caught by the collar of her shirt by the Senpai guy that was drilling them.
"Ah-ah-ah. First years have to clean up the balls."
She sighed and tugged herself away with a pitiful whine, "Fiiiine." She trudged back over to the first years.
"Nya-ha-ha, Ryota's hilarious!" Eiji leaned over and propped his chin on Ryoma' head.
"He makes life... interesting." A small smile adorned Ryoma's face as he watched Ryoka grumble incoherently tossing the balls into the basket.
"He certainly is quite..." Oishi paused when he heard a strained grunt from Ryoka and more incoherent speech in English.
"I mean, I used to be a ball boy during tournaments to help pay off the club fees, but I think I'm a little overqualified to be doing these beginner things, maybe?"
"Vocal..." Oishi finished his thought. He only understood a few words out of her rant.
• • • • • •
"OH CRAP!" Ryoka shouted as she suddenly remembered, not realizing that she was speaking English, "I FORGOT IT!" She bolted off and gathered her things. Halting to a stop by the regular's courts, she yelled, "Ey, bro! I forgot something at home, I'm leaving my bag to you!" She put it on a bench and sprinted off, shouting, "Sorry! I'll do laps or something later!"
"Is he..." "Always like that?" Kaido and Momo both blinked in surprise when they finished each other's thoughts, and they were at each other's throats once again.
"What did he even say?"
"It was said so quickly that I couldn't understand it," Fuji frowned thoughtfully. "Would you mind translating Echizen?"
"Sure. He said that he forgot something at home, entrusted his bag to me and that he would do laps or something later." Ryoma shook his head. "Ryota has been rather disorganized since he got here."
Kaido frowned in displeasure, certainly not impressed with Ryoka. "It's been four days since he got here. I would think to get things in order the first day."
"So what did he forget?" Momo asked.
"No idea."
Just about twenty minutes later—a run of record time—Ryoka got back to the courts.
They were empty.
"Aww man," Ryoka wiped her forehead of sweat, a run didn't usually wear her out, but she did just sprint the whole way home and back. She saw that her bag there on a bench. Grabbing it, she slung her bags across her back and headed off to her class.
Ryoka got odd looks in the hallway, but she guessed it was because she looked weird with her bag set up. When she got closer to the classroom, she saw her brother walking slowly. Ryoka trotted up to him and poked his back, "Rude. You just left my bag at the courts."
Ryoma looked over his shoulder tiredly, "I didn't want to carry two bags." He slid the door open and went immediately to his seat, while she was stopped by someone.
"What are you carrying Ryota?" A classmate asked with amusement. She had way too much on her hands. Her tennis bag was slung over a shoulder with its shoulder strap and she also had a large black fabric case with another strap that crossed over her other shoulder, crisscrossing across her chest and back. It was a bit of a hazard since if she got caught on something it could be a choke her, but eh, it's never happened yet so it was fine.
"Well, for one my tennis bag." She answered with the one that they weren't talking about for comedic effect. Hearing laughter around her, Ryoka mocked surprise "Oh! You mean this!" she gestured to her other case.
"Yeah, what's in it?" Another classmate asked, curious about the rectangular bag.
Ryoma sighed, "Enough with the suspense Ryota, just tell them. It's too noisy."
"Awe, spoilsport. Well... This has my baby in it."
For a second everybody blanched, "Baby?"
Ryoka nodded happily and stroked the case, "Mmmhmmm, my precious child."
"It's a trumpet case," Ryoma said with a raised eyebrow and yawned. He was too tired for this.
Ryoka just beamed and hugged the case. She couldn't wait for music class, it was the highlight of her schedule.
• • • • • •
When Ryoka entered the music room, she was greeted by another student who got there before her. She grabbed her music folder and sat down, rummaging through it. A minute later, she glanced up when she saw two pairs of legs to her side, "Hi?—Oh."
"I would like to know why you ran off in the middle of practice," Tezuka looked down at her with a pair of stern, crossed arms.
"Uhm..." she looked to Fuji who was smiling at her, but upon a closer look, his eyes most certainly were not. Oh no... I got them angry...
"You don't have to look so scared," Fuji opened his eyes to look into hers sincerely, a calm ocean blue. "If it's a legitimate reason we won't be angry."
"But he's already angry," she pointed a thumb at Tezuka who's facial expressions only difference was some slightly furrowed eyebrows. Tezuka quirked a smile and at that Ryoka grinned, "Okay, now that you're in a better mood, I'll explain."
Thinking about how she should explain it, she got her thoughts organized and opened her mouth—
"Hey, sorry I'm late class! A meeting went on longer than we all thought it would. Today we'll be doing the same groups as we did yesterday. I also thought of a fun project to do since our numbers are even now. Each trio plays and learns a piece, and performs it together." She smiled, "This will be a major group project that'll be due before midterms. The groups you are in now will be the assignments. Now run along, I got things to grade, and then I'll type up the rules for the project."
The teacher's sudden project talk took up about ten minutes of class. People started gathering their things to get into their desired groups.
The representative of the music class stood at the board, "Alright, the next groups to use the practice rooms are Satoshi's, Kanou's, and Tezuka's. My groups on the roof today."
"Oh, we have practice rooms?" Ryoka's eyes started to glitter with happiness.
"So?" Fuji brought back the topic of their original conversation.
"I forgot this bad boy!" She held her case and rubbed her face on it, the feel of leather pleasant on her cheek, "My baby!" Others around her chuckled at her quirkiness but also related.
On the way there, she elaborated. "I'll start with the beginning and original cause of this. So yesterday Ryoma and I finished that match we started. We were pretty close, but I ended up winning by throwing him off his game and teasing him about that... Sakura?—no, Sakuno girl. I mean seriously, have you seen how he acts around her?" She heard a cough from Tezuka behind her, "Anyways, I'm getting off topic."
"No, we're here—that too though."
"Oh." She opened the door and gasped, "There's a piano!" She inspected it over and played a couple keys, "It's a bit ugly looking and most of the keys are broken, but it's still good for tuning."
She spun around on the stool, "Anyways, I'm gonna continue. I prank Ryoma occasionally though he never retaliates, but I guess I pushed the wrong button by teasing him and he got me back. I thought it was done after he put wasabi in my toothpaste." She heard Fuji chuckle, and Tezuka had a small smile, obviously thinking that Ryoma wouldn't do something like that. "After that, I thought it was over, but I was oh-so-wrong. I was up a bit late with a headache and asked Ryoma to fetch me an aspirin. Turns out the brat gave me a sleeping pill—I mean, they look the same—and turned off my alarm." She sighed, putting her face in her hands.
"So you were late and forgot your instrument."
"Yes, but I also left my lunch and meds. I gotta take 'em every morning and lunch."
"For what, if you don't mind me asking?" Fuji was curious.
"A.D.H.D. I don't like taking it though, makes me feel different, robotic even. Gotta get the doc to lower the prescription dosage or somethin'," she clapped and brought out her trumpet, "Okay, now let's get practising!"
• • • • • •
Ryoka heaved a bored sigh and swung her racquet.
Currently, her only solace in the tennis club were the three freshmen that she had befriended. They chatted during practice so it wasn't that bad since it wasn't as boring when they talked. Though, rather than doing what was assigned, she wanted to do her usual regimen. She wasn't going to improve if the second year wouldn't let her practice her swing her way. She couldn't bear the wait and it wasn't even the end of her first week!—well technically it is since I started on Tuesday and today's Friday, but I digress.
"Are you alright Ryota-san?" She learned that Horio was rather dense in the emotional compartment so it was surprising for him to pick up on her irritability—though it was past the point of being subtle by the time he noticed.
"No. I'm sick of this already—and it's only a half hour into practice. This practice isn't what I need." She frowned, swinging harder to vent her pent-up energy, "and drop the damn san, it's grating on my nerves."
"O-okay."
"Ryota-san. Your swing is too fast, keep in tempo with the others."
"Alrighty-o, Senpai. Uh, may I speak up?" She grinned when the poor sap nodded. She took a very deep breath in and—
• • • • • •
Ryuzaki nodded in satisfaction at the effort the regulars were putting into their warm up. She had them doing rally sessions and to spice things up, she made it into a bit of a competition to see who could keep their rally going on the longest and whenever they dropped a ball they had to wait until every other person had done so too. She should have accounted that with the skills of the regulars, that they would continue for a long period of time. They had only done one rally so far, the one between Kaido and Tezuka going on the longest.
"Alright, move one court to the right and do one more rally, then we're moving on to laps."
"Yes, Ryuzaki coach!"
Ryoma smirked when he was paired up with Kaido. With them both being rather stamina oriented, it was bound to be a long rally. They had hit the ball an upwards of seventy times, and only one pair has dropped out so far, Inui and Kikumaru.
Suddenly, they all collectively lost focus and dropped their rallies when a very loud shout came from the courts parallel to theirs.
"DROP THE DAMN SAN HONOURIFIC! I THINK IT'S ANNOYING!"
There was silence as they turned to look and listen in on what was happening.
"...Please?" Ryoka added in as an afterthought.
"When you said "speak up" I didn't think you would BLOW OUR EARDRUMS!" The second-year shouted back. It irritated him that Ryoka just continued smiling up at him. "As punishment, you will run thirty laps around the courts."
"Awe-yeah!" She hopped with a victory gesture and ran off.
"... Who likes laps?" Horio and the other freshmen—there were only a batch of them—asked rhetorically in disbelief. They could feel themselves sweat as they watched her go.
"Um... Well, it's on to our laps now," Ryuzaki broke the stunned silence in the regulars courts.
The regulars started to run in their own little group when Ryoka came barrelling around the corner behind them. She was a little out of breath, but she was actively controlling her breathing so she wouldn't burn out as quickly. She slowed down and jogged beside the regulars.
"Nya~ What are you doing Ryota?"
"Sprints!" she looked up to Eiji with a smile, "It's an explosive exercise to—uh, gotta go!" She went from her jogging pace immediately into a sprint, passing them by.
They looked over to Inui who probably knew what she was trying to explain. "It's an exercise to work out your core and legs. From what he's doing, he's jogging for about sixty meters and sprinting for forty in intervals."
A moment later, Eiji sprinted off, shouting, "I wanna do it too!"
The others looked at each other with uncertainty before joining him.
Ryoka laughed as she approached from behind again, "Hahaha! You guys are doing it now too!"
They were exhausted by the time the laps were finished. It ended up turning into a competition halfway through and they were all out of breath and panting. Ryoka took a deep breath in and straightened out, stretching in place.
"That was fun!"
"How... are you... breathing...?!" Eiji heaved as he flopped onto the grass nearby.
Ryoka blinked, pondering on how she should explain it. "Uh... Breathing exercises?" was her wise and thought out response. Being athletic and a musician sure had its perks with lung capacity and breath control.
Kaido glanced at Ryoka, seemingly assessing her. She was quite speedy for someone with such short legs.
"Okie-dokie, well I gotta get back to the first year's thing. See ya!" She lightly jogged back to the courts that the first years were occupying. "O-kay, so! We're rallying now, right?"
"Yes," the second-year guy that she still didn't know the name of responded. "We have an odd number now that you're here, so I'll be the one rallying with you."
She blinked almost owlishly, "Okay?" She grabbed her racquet and walked over to the other side of the net. The guy did an underhand serve and started the rally.
"Alright Kouhai, once you drop the rallies five times you're to clean up the balls." He instructed as they went back and forth.
"Hey, what's your name? I can't keep addressing you as 'That Senpai Guy' in my head for forever you know." She was a bit more entertained now that they were actually hitting a ball. "Well, actually I can, but I doubt that you'd like that—Senpai Guy." Ryoka laughed when he hit the ball harder cross-court and she had to bolt off in a sprint to get it. Two members got distracted by their conversation and laughed, subsequently dropping their rally.
"Eguchi Juuyo," he grumbled with a frown.
"Nice to meet ya," she smiled and had to consciously control her mouth as she almost teased him about his name. He wouldn't like being called the Significant Egg. Eggu... She started laughing again.
"What's so funny?"
"N-n-nothing! Pft-hahaha!" Now she was the one who hit the ball too hard and Eguchi wasn't able to react in time. Ryoka pouted, she wanted to keep these rallies going.
He raised an eyebrow and let her get her giggles out, "Are you done?"
"Y-yeah, I think," she straightened out and got into position, "Alrighty, now only four more rallies to go!"
We only did one this whole time? Eguchi looked over to the other first years, over half of them were finished and cleaning up already. He groaned, he chose the wrong person to target.
• • • • • •
Ryoma looked at his sister from the other side of the fence with a bit of an incredulous expression.
"They're still rallying?" Ryuzaki asked rhetorically as she stepped to stand beside him.
"Hmm," Ryoma eyed the guy suspiciously. At first, he was worried, but from Ryota's smile, he could tell that it was mostly resolved. "I guess I don't have to worry then."
Eiji perked up, his ears opening when he overheard Ryoma. Now he was curious and hopped over to them. Following him were Oishi, Tezuka, Inui, and Momo. "Worry about what, nya?"
"He was a target for bullies when we were kids. I don't know why, but they teased him and made up rumours—and stop leaning on me Kikumaru-senpai."
"Ey, can you talk any louder?" Ryoka shouted as she lunged for a ball. "I was bullied because I look feminine—well, also because I was a little too nice and they took advantage of it—and poor young me was too naive to realize that they were being bullied." She added some spin to the ball and Eguchi just barely missed it. "If you were worried about Eguchi here, you don't have to. He may be mean and domineering, but he wasn't bullying me."
"Hey!" He shouted in protest and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He isn't even out of breath!
"Alrighty, now for the last one Eguchi. Everybody else is done, we should finish up." She bounced the ball a couple times and tossed it over. "Want to do it like a game point?"
He caught it with his racquet and bounced it a few times, "Sure. I don't really want to be here any longer anyway." He served an overhead and their rally continued. A few minutes passed and Eguchi was running on an empty tank, exhausted, he just wanted this to end. He set up for a finishing shot and did a two-handed forehand with all the strength he had left. He didn't want to lose to this freshmen that despite everything, was smiling.
"Aha, there it is!" Ryoka had been trying to get him to add some oomph to his game, and she finally got it. She sprinted and leapt, and with the spin in her jump, the two-handed backhand shot off like a rocket. The spin and the inertia of her swing speed took the power from his shot and amplified it.
Eguchi didn't have the energy to chase after it.
Ryoka approached the net and put out her hand, "Good rally." He also put out his hand, but they both retracted them and wiped off the sweat. Ryoka went into her bag and took out a wet nap to wipe her racquet and hands down with. "That was a good shot! If you used that energy before it would have been a better practice session. Are you gonna be in the ranking tournament?"
"Yeah. I don't think I'll make it though..."
"Why not?" Ryoka popped up in front of him, "I think you'd do well! If you work on it, you could probably be a regular next year. You have a good foundation and decent power," she put her fist on his stomach, "You just need to feel how you did when you hit that last shot."
Eguchi scratched his cheek as he blushed in embarrassment, "T-thanks..."
"You have improved Eguchi-san."
"Thank you Bucho." He was happy that he noticed. He had even practised his swinging at home in the yard. His sister was annoying though, calling it lame.
"Impressive shot."
She looked up from putting her racquet away to see Tezuka. "Thanks! Although…" Ryoka glanced over to Eguchi and stage whispered, "I guess I shouldn't tell him that we technically didn't finish the exercise."
Eiji stopped bugging Ryoma and was curious, "What do you mean, nya?"
"He said that that the Kouhai had to drop the five rallies. I didn't drop one," she pointed a thumb at Eguchi, "he did." Ryoka grinned when it sunk in.
"What!"
"Oh, you heard that?"
"Damn you, you bratty freshman." Despite the dark tone, it was said with humour.
"Well, unless you want to rally until I miss five times, then I'm gonna go," she slung the large bag onto her back and the others started laughing. "What?" Even Tezuka was hiding a smile in his hand.
"That bag's too big for you," Ryoma's smirk was quivering into a smile.
"You look like a kid!" Eiji blurted out.
"Well fuck you too!" Ryoka laughed. She didn't see Ryoma's face alter in shock at her language. "Oh yeah. Tezuka would I be able to do my own training during club hours? I'll still do the first year's duties and clean up 'n stuff."
Tezuka seemed to be thinking it over, "Only until the ranking tournaments. I expect you to be here during practice times."
"Of course!" She pondered for a moment, "I'll have too much to carry home with my trumpet case. Hmm... Oh! Tezuka, do you know if there are any lockers I can use for my trumpet in the music room?"
"We don't have enough instruments to fill them actually. You can ask her on Monday."
Ryoka blinked, "I forgot, it's Friday already."
"Ryota, come on, we have to go, Kaa-san comes home today."
"Oh yeah! I've gotta surprise her somehow. Hmm..." Ryoka pondered as she followed her brother.
When they got home they were witnesses to Nanjiro getting an earful from Nanako. It was amusing since he was still in the same outfit that he's had on for three days, reading dirty mags right in the middle of the living room.
"Rinko-san is going to be home within two hours! We have to get this house—and you—cleaned up!" She finally noticed the two of them standing there when Nanjiro was mouthing 'please save me' to them. "Ryoma, drag your father to the bath please—"
"Hey! I can bathe myself, thank-you-very-much!" Nanjiro frowned and huffed indignantly.
Nanako continued on as if she wasn't even interrupted,"—and Ryoka, help me clean up and make dinner."
"Sure, just let me get changed." She was all sweaty from practice and wanted to be clean before she handled food.
"Why do I have to supervise our father bathe. Who's the child here?" Ryoka laughed at Ryoma's mumbling. Certainly, their father was an oddball and Ryoka was the one who inherited it, Ryoma got the coolness from their mother.
Ryoka dropped her bag off in her room and was happy to see four boxes of her stuff. Two were labelled Clothes #1 and #2, one was Tennis Stuff, and the last box had books, knickknacks and some puzzles in it. Opening the clothes one—it was a rather large box—she grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. She'd organize everything later since one more clothing box was coming anyway.
"Alrighty Nanako, I'm ready to clean," she was promptly handed a cloth and an all-purpose cleaning solution.
"Dust everything and make sure it all looks neat. I've already vacuumed and done the laundry."
Dusting didn't take too long, but she found her fathers mag stash in the piano rooms music cache that her mother collected over time. When she finished, Nanako got her to dice up some vegetables and help her cook.
"I'm home!" Rinko sighed and took off her heels. Her feet were sore from wearing them for the past couple days and her heels were chaffed. She would have to get Nanjiro to give her a good foot rub.
Rinko went into the living room and sat down on the couch overlooking the kitchen.
"Welcome back Rinko-san! We're just making dinner," Nanako smiled and gave her a hug, "Nanjiro's up taking a shower."
"I see that Ryoma's helping you cook. That's rare."
Nanako blinked, confused.
Ryoka grinned, this was an opportunity. Their voices were very similar, but hers was just higher pitched and more cheerful than her brothers, so she just had to lower her voice a bit and make it sound bland. "Nanako roped me into it."
"That's good Ryoma, when you get a girlfriend I'm sure she'd appreciate it."
"Actually..."
Rinko gasped, "You lady killer—don't tell me you have a girlfriend already!"
"No, but I'm interested in someone."
"Oh, do tell."
"No," Ryoma answered from the entryway, an angry blush on his cheeks.
Rinko blinked, confused.
"Aww, you just had to ruin it," Ryoka whined childishly.
"Wait, Ryoka! God damn it girl, enough with the pranks—come here and give your mother a hug!"
"Sorry Kaa-san, but I got meat hands," Ryoka waggled her fingers, "I don't wanna ruin your blouse."
Rinko got up from her seat and hobbled over to Ryoka with her sore feet, "I'll hug you then."
"Oh-ho, so you're... interested in someone Ryoma?" Nanjiro leaned over and brought him into a headlock. "My little boy is growing up! What's her name?"
"Her name's Ryuzaki Sakuno, Dragon-lady's granddaughter." Ryoka supplied with a shit eating grin.
"Shut up Ryoka!"
The rest of the evening was spent catching up with her mother over dinner—and teasing Ryoma about the girl he was crushing on.
"We should have the team over for dinner sometime."
"We could do a BBQ!" Ryoka nodded her head in approval, "Everybody likes meat!"
"Except vegans," Ryoma added.
Ryoka reiterated his thought, nodding sagely, "Yes, except vegans."
• • • • • •
When Monday morning came around, Ryoka went to club activities and received permission to leave early. She needed to go to the teacher's office and ask her music teacher if there were any extra lockers that she could put her trumpet in for convenience.
"Of course! We have locks on them already, so you'll have to look after the key. If you lose it you'll have to pay for a new lock."
"Thank you!"
Ryoka quickly walked to the other side of the school and locked up her baby. She put the key on her lanyard with her house keys and put that in a side pocket of her tennis bag.
When she heard the bell ring she quickly scurried off to her homeroom class.
"And why are you late Ryota-kun?"
"I got permission from the music teacher to lock my instrument in a locker."
The lady shrugged, "Good enough. Now sit down so I can start class... again."
• • • • • •
"First years gather!" Eguchi, the second year in charge of the freshman shouted. "We will be testing your stamina for the duration of this week. By the end of it, you will see a difference in your play. Hopefully."
Ryoka raised her hand, standing straight at attention, "I got permission from Tezuka to do my own training until the ranking tournament."
Eguchi narrowed his eyes, not entirely believing her, "Hmm, I don't trust you."
"I'll even show you!" She hopped over to the fence closer to the regular courts and flailed her arms around to get their attention. Tezuka quirked a smile, the action reminding him of the first (second) time they met. "Hey! Tezuka, Eguchi didn't believe me when I said that I had your permission to do my own training! Can you please tell him?"
"I did approve of Ryota's request Eguchi-san. He may go."
Eguchi frowned and stared at Ryoka, her grin irritating him. "Fine. Go do whatever you're going to do."
"Hurray!" She sprinted off out of the regular courts and over to the regular's side, "Dragon-lady, can I go to the weight room?"
Ryuzaki was surprised by her request, "If you tell me what you're going to do then maybe. If it requires a spotter then no."
"No, no, I'm not going on anything that needs a spotter," Ryoka paused to think of what ones she would be using, "The leg extension, leg curl, leg press, lateral pulldown, pull up bar... and some weights. I'm not doing any bench-presses."
"Alright."
"I might be back here before the club ends, I dunno. I'll probably be doing this for the next week."
"We'll send someone to check on you every so often."
"Alrighty!"
When Ryoka entered the weight room, she was surprised to see it in such good condition, there was a surprising number of machines too, about two of each. She also got heads to turn as she entered.
Some people laughed amongst themselves, "We've got a shorty in our midst." Other than that, they didn't do anything else. They just did their own thing and looked over every once in a while, curious to what the tiny person was doing—and to their surprise, the first thing she did was to chin ups.
Ryoka felt a bit uncomfortable—but, hey, it was a gym, it was to be expected that men would be in it. She could also see a fair number of girls. After warming up with a run on a treadmill, she went to the leg machines and worked away.
When she finished with her legs, she stretched them out and massaged them to prevent stiffness. Then she moved on to her core, taking a decently heavy medicine ball and doing various exercises. Afterwards, she stretched out and took a small break, sipping on her water. When she was done, she went to her arms with a machine and moved on to pushups.
Horio looked around with caution. Everybody there looked like they could snap his neck. He recognized that most of them were in martial arts clubs and gulped. He did not want to get them angry. Finally finding Ryota, he scurried over.
"Ryota! Ryuzaki coach sent me to check up on you."
Ryota paused in her reps to see who it was before continuing, "H-ello Horio. Tha-anks for coming." She counted each one out in a whisper in-between talking, "thirty-seven. I'm almost done this set." She stopped once she hit forty.
She sipped on her water, "So, what's up in the club?"
Horio heaved a breath, "Horrible. Eguchi-senpai's got us running non-stop. We even did those sprint things you got the regulars to do—it was torture!"
Ryoka laughed, "I know. It's hard, right?"
"For sure. I was so happy when I was the one chosen to check up on you."
"Well, sorry to burst that bubble of yours but I'm not injured or anything. You can go back and give Dragon-lady the news and return to your torture."
Horio slouched over and sighed, "Okay. I'll let her know."
And off Horio went with that hilariously scared expression of his—he passed by and accidentally bumped into one of the larger judo guys and paled, running off with a shout of, "Sorry!"
Ryoka returned to her workout and went to work on her calves.
• • • • • •
"First years! Get off the ground and clean up! Second years, help them for Kami's sake, you pushed them too hard." Ryuzaki sighed, she had to knock some sense into those kid's heads. "And where is Ryota? Can someone go check on them?"
"I'll check on him."
When Tezuka left, Fuji followed too. He was curious about what Ryoka was doing. None of the tennis players generally used the weight room—well, maybe Kaido—and Ryota was generally a unique person. She caught his interest.
They found her lying on the floor doing crunches with a medicine ball. The core was very important to add strength and balance, so she focused on it a lot along with her legs. Ryoka was a bit lost in thought, thinking about how Will and Jake were doing. She hadn't had the chance to go on her computer yet, not even knowing the wifi password. I haven't practised those dances in a while. I think they have another one that they wanna do?
"Ryota, the club is finished."
Startled, she ended up dropping the medicine ball right onto her gut, "Oof!" she grunted and started coughing. There was a thump as the ball rolled off of her and onto the ground. "Thank God I had my core engaged still or that would have knocked the wind out 'a me."
Tezuka knelt down beside her, concerned, "Are you alright?"
Fuji looked at the weight on the medicine ball, fourteen pounds. "That was quite a heavyweight to drop on your stomach."
"Yeah, I'll be fine, thank you—I might get a bruise though," she rubbed her stomach. "Yeah, I'll use some cream on it when I get home."
"I'll make sure you do. I have hurt you by accident."
"Why? Is it going to harm your conscience?" She laughed, but stopped when Tezuka continued to look at her with that serious gaze. "Alright. You wanna stay over for dinner? Fuji too, you wanna come?"
Tezuka thought over the offer for a moment, "I'll have to pass on dinner as I have something to do when I get home.
"Same with me. I have company coming over."
"Alrighty, not gonna force ya if you don't want to. Now, I was going to do one more thing, but as I'm possibly injured, I don't wanna aggravate it," she winced a bit when she moved the wrong way. "I need to stretch this out first though so it doesn't get all stiff on me."
Ryoka sat up from the ground and spread her legs in a V and started to stretch out her core and lower back. "Excuse me, Tezuka? You think you'd be able to push down on my back? I need a little bit of a push."
"Alright," he put his palms on her shoulder blades and pushed down lightly, not wanting to go too hard lest he injure her further.
"Okay, I know that I may be a twig compared to you tall guys, but I'm not gonna snap if you push harder. C'mon, put your weight into it. I can take quite the beating."
With her encouragement, Tezuka leaned in and put his weight into it. What he didn't expect was for him to topple forwards when Ryoka's arms slipped and her face went right into the padded flooring. With a loud grunting noise, Ryoka made an effort to turn her head and rest her cheek on the mat. Her breath hitched when she realized that a weight was on her back. "U-uh, I can't r-really breathe here."
Gathering himself, Tezuka got up and helped Ryoka sit up, "Are you alright? I apologize." He inclined his head in a slight bow. When he fell atop of her he ended up getting a feel of her hair and it distracted him. It felt... odd. Almost synthetic.
"I'm fine, it's when I don't make weird noises that you have to worry, "Ryoka rubbed the back of her head and laughed—if a bit forcefully. She had to make sure that her wig didn't move on her. "Well, I guess I deserved that too though, I egged you on after all." She could feel her face tingle with residual pain, "I'm totally gonna have a red mark."
Fuji laughed and Tezuka chuckled, they could see the mark she was speaking of forming on her forehead and cheeks. Ryoka just had that kind of cheerful personality that made others happier.
"I'll be going now. See you guys tomorrow."
"See ya Fuji!" Ryoka waved from her awkward position. "Thanks, Tezuka. I can finish this up myself."
Tezuka sat off to the side as Ryoka stretched and text his mother that he was going to be home later than usual, and by the time he was finished with their conversation, Ryoka was finished.
"Anything you need to grab before we venture off?"
"Yes, actually. I need to drop some papers off at the teacher's lounge."
Ryoka just needed put the medicine ball back from where she got it from along with some other equipment and they were off, Ryoka chatting happily while Tezuka listened and occasionally chipped in.
• • • • • •
AN: Hello again! I've changed a lot, haven't I? I hope for the good because I really like the interactions I have going on. xD
How'd you guys like it? Any feedback is appreciated.