Chapter 4: Just One More

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Flashback, thoughts, non-speech

"Hurry up and move, ya scumbags!"

Everyone hurried around, hopping from rock to rock on a stream of river.

"Now get moving to the next station!"

When the group arrived at the so-called "station," they were greeted by… tricycles?

"What the hell are these?"

"Are we supposed to carry it?"

"RIDE IT UP THE HILL, NOW!"

'Haa… I wonder if Sora's safe.' Saitou thought, worrying about a girl who was unfortunately sent to the mountains, surrounded by boys.

"So, what's the plan?" Kurobe came and sat down in front of him.

"Hm?"

"About your niece, I mean."

"Oh. I was just thinking about her… I wonder if she's holding up well."

"Well it's still a miracle that Mifune didn't find out about her secrets."

"That's true. But I bet she's having a terrible time there."

"WEEEE A TRICYCLE!" She was definitely excited, shouting out wees and yayys as she hurriedly pedaled on the tricycle. Then she looked next to her—and there he was, Tokugawa Kazuya, who was pedaling on the tricycle so ridiculously just like everyone else.

"Pfft. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Sora laughed out loud. Although it wasn't too hard for her because she was small compared to others, Tokugawa had a ridiculously tall physique—and it just looked too funny.

"Shut up." He scowled and turned red from embarrassment.

After hard training they went off to eat lunch—rather, something that they had to hunt in the mountains.

"It's actually not that bad." Sora commented and others nodded. They were eating fish, some edible vegetables, and rice that Mifune was so kind enough to provide.

"Hey, when do you think we're going to leave here?" Someone asked;

"I doubt any soon." Sora first replied. "I mean, if you think about how impossible the training is right now."

"I want to go home…" One kid next to Sora sniffled a cry.

"Dude, you're doing fine!" Sora pat him on the back, a little too hard, but nonetheless tried to cheer up the boy.

"We all have to beat those stupid winners when we go back!" She said and everyone nodded.

"Oh, oh, and I saw this incredible thing back at the camp," this one guy began, "and that dude you played, Shiroki, he was rallying with like, 10 balls at a time."

"Huh?" Sora and Tokugawa cocked their eyebrows.

"How… wait… huh?" Sora was not believing what the guy had just told her.

"I know, it's pretty unbelievable but he swung 10 times or so really fast. It almost looked simultaneous."

"That's crazy!"

"In other words, Shiroki and Tokugawa were pretty unlucky to play that guy."

Sora just stared at the fish. Then she started to eat it really fast.

"I'm done! Thanks for the food!" She shot up and left the table.

"Where're you going?"

"I need to see something for a bit!" She said, turning around as she ran after grabbing her racquet.

She reached the end of the cliff after sprinting up the hill. It didn't tire her out anymore; she was getting stronger. She gulped and gripped the racquet on one hand, and about three old, useless balls on the other hand.

She tossed all three up at once, and swung, aiming to hit all three before they reached the ground.

Pong pong pong

Three pongs rang out simultaneously, and all three hit the same spot on the tree trunk she aimed at.

She stared at her hand in disbelief. Then she took out one more from her pocket.

She tossed the balls, four this time—and swung.

Pong pong pong pong

Four pongs rang out, again hitting the same spot.

"You could do it." Kazuya appeared out of nowhere, hands in his pockets, racquet tucked under his arm. He walked over next to her, tossed up 4 balls, and hit them—he hit it simultaneously too.

"You could do it too!"

"Yeah. We're the only two who can. The guys back at the cabin tried to hit three simultaneously, but… they couldn't."

"Hold on." Sora walked over to a pile of balls, grabbed 8—much too many to carry in her arms, and stood in front of the tree.

"Eight?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I want to try."

She tossed them up high—

Pong pong pong pong pong pong pong

After 7 successful pongs, she heard a dead noise by her feet—she had missed one.

"You try too."

Kazuya had the same result; his max was 7.

"Hm…" They both stared down at their racquet.

"And that guy did 10 or more…?"

Kazuya nodded.

"Che." She grunted.

So after that they trained harder and harder; about two weeks into the mountain training, they were getting used to the rigors of the routines.

Meanwhile, Kazuya noticed that Sora was leaving in the middle of the night about every two days or so.

'Where's he going…? Is he really going jogging this regularly?' He wondered one day and decided to follow her.

Sora entered the spring like the usual; it wasn't too cold to her anymore. Then she heard some footsteps.

'Oh no. Damn, that Tokugawa retard.' She cursed, hid everything in a bush, and hid behind a rock. There he passed—he was jogging towards the cliff.

'Wait. AW SHIT.' She cursed. 'If he finds out that I'm not there he'll definitely be suspicious! Come on, Sora, make up some excuses…' She thought hurriedly as she got out of the spring and started drying herself.

After she was fully dressed she carefully left the spring and jogged down the path. Then something tapped on her shoulder.

"WWAAGGHHH!" She almost spat her heart out;

"It's me."

She heard a familiar voice.

"T-T-T-T-Tokugawa you…!"

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"How am I supposed to know if you're coming when I can't hear even a footstep?"

"I was just waiting here."

"H-Huh?"

"…"

"…"

He just stared at her.

"You just came out of there, right?"

"Uh… yeah? AH FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK"

"…Did you see the woman too?" He asked.

"Wait. What? HUH?"

"Is it just me? I saw a woman take a bath here one time. Did you come to look for that too?" He gave her a slightly condescending look that told, 'so-I-see-you're-a-teenage-boy-after-all.'

"Uh… y-yeah!" She stuttered but answered. "Ahaha, ain't she hot!"

"Didn't see her face but at least she had a nice body." He said, making her fluster in red. "Who do you think that woman is…?"

"Maybe… a ghost." Sora made a scary face and Tokugawa flinched a little.

"Don't do that."

"EEHH, don't tell me… YOU'RE SCARED?"

"I'm… not."

"YOU ARE!"

"Shut up."

"Che, boring…" She pouted, but inside she was just glad that Tokugawa was just gullible.

"Hey… why's your hair so wet?" He noticed that her hair was drenched in water.

"O-Oh!" She touched her hair. It was definitely soaked. "I just decided to wash my hair a bit at the spring! He, he, ha, ha!"

Tokugawa gave a slightly approving look.

"Well anyways, let's go back!" She laughed awkwardly and said.

"Alright."

The two walked back and Sora was thinking of ways to torture this asshole next to her.

"What middle school did you graduate?"

"Huh? Oh, Rikkaidai." She replied.

"Ahh, it's known for the best tennis team." He said. "Were you in the team?"

"Yup." She replied. 'Hehe, technically I'm not lying because I was the buchou in girls' team.' She giggled inside.

"Rikkaidai Fuzoku, 3-2! Rikkaidai Fuzoku wins the nationals championship!" The speaker in the arena announced and everyone cheered.

"SORA BUCHOU!" Everyone clung onto Sora and started weeping;

"We did it guys!"

After that, the girls' team was praised for their performance at Nationals. And, as the buchou, Sora was recognized as the key player in a key event that year.

And on top of that, the boys won their second Nationals also—and Sora kept a good relationship with the boys' team.

"So you know about Rikkaidai… How about you?"

"Hirashouji. It's a private school."

"Oh. Which high school are you going to then?"

"I'm attending Minagata."

"Hey, that's our rivaling high school. I heard that they improved so they'll probably meet us at the district preliminaries next year."

"Yeah. Maybe I'll meet you at a match during tennis season."

"Sure. I doubt it cuz I won't be in the boys' team."

"Are there anyone in this camp from Rikkaidai?"

"Nope, not this y—HUUUUOOO" She gasped. 'Oh no… what if…! What if those regulars next year come in! All the tennis players from last year should know me! Do they? Shit I'm busted for sure then! Especially those Big Three second years and Mouri! Damn it, he's good enough to attend this camp next year!"

"You okay?" He asked and gave her a weird look.

"Y-yeah!" She laughed it off nervously.

"Weird kid."

"Hey, I just have a lot in mind, 'kay?"

"Yeah, yeah."

They kept on walking.

"Hey, why did you decide to trust this mountain training anyways?" He asked.

"So that I could get stronger."

"For what?"

"At least to beat that guy from the camp. You feel the same, right?"

"Yeah." He admitted.

"And to think that it was only a preliminary match… that means there're players stronger than him. So I want to improve and see if I could beat those guys too."

The two came back to the cave and went back to sleep.

'Shit I didn't think of the kouhai-tachi… Mouri's going to definitely come! And he's going to notice me since we talked! Please god make him forget about me please please please please please.'

And the night crept away with Sora's silent flails.