I am so sorry for taking so long! I decided to take up one of my reviewer's advice and changed the format of my story. I'm not used to a different format so I took too long and decided to cut short the original plot of this chapter. Let me know if this format is easier for you guys! Enjoy! :3
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of their characters as well as their tennis moves. I get my reference from wiki/Prince_of_Tennis_Wikia so if you think there is something wrong with the information here, let me know and I shall review it! Thank you and hope you enjoy!
Dame dame jan! Chapter Three
"Hoi hoi, ochibi number 2! I won't hold back so you better be ready!" Eiji says excitedly while jumping around his side of the court, warming up (when facing the court vertically, Eiji is in the lower part while Kenji is in the upper).
Kenji doesn't say anything as he observes Eiji's movements.
Tezuka moves a bit farther away from the others and stands beside Kenji's side of the court. Coach smirks at this as she follows him and stands beside him. Inui looks at them but doesn't follow; instead he observes Kenji. Ryoma discreetly glances at Tezuka and coach talking. He wonders what they are talking about that needed them to be away from earshot.
"Oi Echizen, you curious too?" Momo asks Ryoma who was right beside him.
Ryoma looks away, "Not really", he says a bit too defensively.
"Well I am!" Momo says as he looks towards Kenji who was adjusting his cap.
"There's just something about that kid. I mean, why did Captain and Coach have to get him in order to assess what we can do? We have Inui-senpai for that", Momo says scratching his head.
"Good question, Momo", Inui suddenly appears beside Momo, surprising both Momo and Ryoma for a while.
"Don't do that, Inui-senpai!" Momo begs Inui who just looks at him as if he doesn't know what Momo is talking about.
"Actually Inui, I want to know as well. Tezuka didn't tell me anything about this assessment", Oishi says looking at Inui.
Taka didn't say anything but he listened to their conversation, wanting to know as well.
"Ffsshh", Kaidou hisses out softly as he too wanted to know, obviously not understanding why they needed to be assessed.
Fuji listened to the conversation as well but he just continued to smile, secretly knowing something the others did not.
"This is a two-way assessment actually", Inui says as he watches both Kenji and Eiji warming up.
"Two-way?" Momo asks confused.
"It means the kid is being assessed too, you moron" Kaidou says feeling annoyed, making Momo angry but Oishi stops them, wanting to hear more about the matter.
Inui nods at Kaidou's answer, "It was actually Kenji who asked to be assessed in the first place", he tells them.
"So since he is being assessed, might as well assess us too?" Momo asks trying to understand.
Inui shakes his head, "Kenji asked to be assessed so I can assess the team", Inui explains, making Momo and Taka a bit confused.
"I see, so this Kenji is skilled enough to help you improve the training menus you've created for each one of us", Oishi says in a serious tone.
Inui nods while Momo and Taka finally nod in understanding.
Ryoma smirks and stares at Kenji stretching, "He must be pretty good then", he says feeling excited for his turn.
"Ffsshh", Kaidou softly hisses as he too watches Kenji stretching.
Fuji continues to smile and opens his eyes as he glances at Kenji and Eiji, "They look ready to start", he says.
Inui scratches his head as if thinking of something but then shrugs it off and readies his notebook and pen.
"Eiji to serve!" Coach Ryuuzaki announces.
"Hoooi!" Eiji responds back as Oishi approaches Eiji with a tennis ball.
"Here you go, Eiji", Oishi says with a smile as Eiji responds back with a grateful smile but then Oishi becomes serious, making Eiji confused.
"Eiji, watch out for him. He's strong", Oishi says seriously.
Eiji looks towards Kenji who was ready to receive then grins at Oishi and claps his shoulder.
"Don't worry, Oishi! I'll do my best!" Eiji says and gives him a thumb up.
Oishi smiles and nods then jogs back to the sides to watch the game.
"You ready, ochibi number 2?" Eiji asks with a smile.
Kenji just nods in response as he watches Eiji throw the ball in the air then serves it powerfully. Kenji returns it back with ease, giving most of the regulars the idea that Kenji is pretty good. Eiji returns it back powerfully and Kenji does the same. They rally for a while until Kenji sees an opening on Eiji's far left side of the court (Kenji's left) and smirks as he adds in more power to his return in order for the ball to travel faster. Eiji's eyes widen for a bit but then he smirks back at Kenji then performs a cartwheel going to his left and is able to reach the ball right after it bounced.
"Back to you nya!" Eiji exclaims out as he returns the ball to Kenji's far right side of the court (Eiji's right) because Kenji was still standing at the far left.
Kenji's smirk gets bigger as he performs a cartwheel as well and is able to return the ball. Eiji was too surprised to react in time, thus earning a point for Kenji.
"15-love", Coach announces with a sly smirk on her face as she softly says, "It has begun"
Tezuka hears this and just simply glances at Eiji and the others' reactions.
"Oh! You're an acrobatic player too, huh?" Eiji says out loud with a challenging look.
Kenji just simply adjusts his cap in response to make sure his eyes stay hidden while he continues to smirk. Then Eiji served the ball again, making them rally once again.
"An acrobatic player like Eiji-senpai, huh?" Momo says in interest.
"Che… that's it?" Ryoma says feeling disappointed.
"You think so?" Fuji says smiling with his eyes slightly open as Ryoma and Momo look towards him.
"What do you mean, Fuji?" Taka asks.
Fuji closes his eyes again then glances towards Oishi who stood a bit more in front of the rest (his back is facing the others so no one could see his facial expression).
"Maybe you should ask Oishi", Fuji says.
Momo glances at Oishi then moves a bit forward to talk to him face to face.
"Hey Oishi-senpai, what does Fuji-senpai me–" he cuts himself off when he sees Oishi's unexpected reaction.
Oishi had his mouth slightly ajar and his eyes opened wide as he continues to watch the ongoing rally. Sweat rolls down the right side of his face as he continued to watch, not noticing Momo being there.
"Senpai?" Momo calls out again.
"Huh?" Oishi says surprised then looks at Momo, "Oh! Momo, what is it?" he says a bit uneasily.
"What's wrong, Oishi?" Taka says in concern as he stands beside Oishi and places his hand on his shoulder.
Oishi glances at the ongoing rally and sees how both Eiji and Kenji are performing some stunts.
"Don't you guys think it's weird?" Oishi says uneasily as he faces the others behind him.
"What do you mean, senpai?" Momo asks completely clueless.
Oishi glances at the match and says, "It's like seeing two Eijis", he says seriously.
The rest started comparing both Kenji and Eiji and slowly understood what Oishi meant.
"You know something, don't you, Fuji-senpai?" Ryoma asks with a sly smirk.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Echizen", Fuji says innocently with a smile.
"Hmmm, whatever you say, senpai", Ryoma says as he places his hands behind his head and watches the rally.
Fuji smiles at this, probably thinking that Ryoma was too sharp for his own good as he too focuses on the match.
"Wait, so you're saying this Kenji guy is copying Eiji-senpai's moves?" Momo asks still a bit confused.
"I wouldn't exactly say copying…" Oishi says trying to find the right term for what he has noticed.
"I knew you would get it right away, Oishi. You're the one that knows Eiji's movement the best", Inui says with his glasses gleaming, "Kenji IS actually copying Eiji's movement BUT there is just one difference", Inui says holding up his finger to emphasize the 'one difference' part and glances at the rally, "Look closely", he says, making the rest focus on comparing the movements of Kenji and Eiji.
Eiji leaps to his left to return the ball and sees Kenji's own left side wide open so he directs the ball there. But when the ball bounced, Kenji was already there to return it using the same move.
Oishi's eyes widen as he realizes the difference.
"Agility and power", Ryoma says as he focused on watching Kenji alone.
Oishi nods, "Kenji is more agile and places more power into his returns", he says as he watches Eiji barely being able to return Kenji's returns.
"Hmm?" Inui suddenly starts to wonder and places his hand on his chin to think but then a loud voice interrupts his thoughts.
"Woah woah, does this mean that not only can this Kenji guy copy his opponents' movements but he can be better at them?" Momo asks out loud in bewilderment.
Inui shakes his head to get back to the present, "We can't conclude that yet", he says as he adjusts his glasses.
"30-love!" Coach Ryuuzaki announces, getting everyone's attention.
Eiji is panting a bit and sweat continues to roll down his face while Kenji didn't even look tired yet and hasn't sweat at all despite his big jacket and jogging pants.
"You're good nya" Eiji says to him with a determined look.
Kenji raises his right arm and gives Eiji a thumb up as he smiles.
This makes Eiji smile back, "You're saying I'm good too?" he asks happily as Kenji nods cheerfully.
"Ah!" Ryoma suddenly exclaims out loud, surprising the other regulars.
"You surprised me, Echizen! What is it?" Momo asks as he looks down on his junior.
Ryoma continues to stare at Kenji as he and Eiji start their rally again. He doesn't know if it was because Kenji noticed but Kenji held the visor of his cap a little bit lower to completely hide his eyes.
Ryoma shakes his head then looks up at Momo, "It's nothing", he says bluntly then watches the game again.
Momo scratches his head in confusion but lets it go and turns his eyes back on the ongoing rally.
"Kikumaru beam!" Eiji announces as he shoots a powerful return, confident that Kenji wouldn't be able to return it.
Kenji smirks then picks up his pace and is able to return Eiji's return with his own move: the Kikumaru beam.
"40-love", Coach announces with a wide smirk on her face as Tezuka continues to observe Kenji.
"Did-Did that shorty just do Eiji-senpai's move?" Momo asks bewildered.
"I-I can't believe it. It was exactly the same", Oishi says in bewilderment as well and looks towards Eiji who was looking the same.
Ryoma's smirk widens as he stares at Kenji in interest who was lowering his cap with a smirk as well. Inui continued to write on his notebook silently as if not surprised at all. Kaidou just stares at Kenji intensely, as if studying his moves so he could get an idea on how to beat him when he plays him next. Taka for some reason (Fuji) was able to get a hold of his racket and was screaming out random English words at Kenji who seemed to be ignoring it all. Fuji continues to smile as he enjoys watching his team mates' reactions.
Eiji becomes serious as he tosses the tennis ball in the air and serves it. Kenji is quick as he returns it back to Eiji. They start to rally with Kenji getting closer and closer to the net as Eiji gets farther and farther.
"He's pushing Eiji", Fuji says obviously amused as Oishi, Momo, Kaidou, and now the timid Taka (Oishi took away his racket) look on with widened eyes.
Ryoma observes Kenji and sees something familiar about the way his left hand twitches.
He smirks and says, "Mada mada dane"
Inui glances at Ryoma for a while and smirks, then he goes back to writing on his notebook but then stops, "Hmm? I think I'm forgetting something…" he murmurs to himself.
Fuji hears it and smiles a knowing smile but doesn't say anything and continues to watch the game.
Eiji is sweating bullets as Kenji remained fresh and calm.
"How are you able to not sweat in what you're wearing!" he exclaims, making Kenji smirk and adds more power to his hit.
Eiji was not expecting such a heavy ball so he could not return it properly and it lobs instead.
"Oh no!" Eiji says as he watches the ball go high up the net.
Kenji jumps and performs another familiar move: Kikumaru bazooka. Eiji misses it and turns his head towards Kenji who was smirking with his head low and his dark green racket on his shoulder.
"Game won by Kenji! Switch courts!" Coach announces with a grin.
"Unbelievable!" Taka, for some reason (Fuji again), screams out with his racket in hand.
"It really feels like watching two Eijis playing tennis with each other", Fuji says with a smile and glances towards Oishi who has become serious, "Right, Oishi?" he asks getting a nod as a response from Oishi.
"Kaidou", Inui calls out.
"Yes, senpai?" Kaidou replies.
"You should use this opportunity to improve yourself. You will be able to learn a lot from your match with Kenji", he tells Kaidou who didn't seem to understand but nods anyway.
"Hmm? No, that's not it. What was it?" Inui starts to murmur to himself again trying to remember what he forgot.
Kaidou glances at him curiously but then focuses on the tennis court again.
Eiji and Kenji switch courts. Kenji bounces the ball on the court since it is his turn to serve. Eiji readies himself to receive. Kenji throws the ball in the air, smirks, then hits it. It goes right past Eiji and bounces out of the court.
"love-15!" Coach announces.
Eiji stood there dumbfounded as well as the other team members.
"I-I didn't see it", Eiji says with his mouth open.
Kenji readies another tennis ball and serves again.
"love-30!" Coach announces.
Eiji just stares at Kenji with his wide eyes. Kenji takes out a new ball from his pocket and serves a bit slower this time, enabling Eiji to return it. They start rallying again until Eiji has started taking deeper breaths.
"Time's up for Eiji", Inui says as he writes down Eiji's new stamina record.
"Eiji..." Oishi whispers out in concern as he watches his doubles partner trying his best to gain a point.
Kenji smirks as he corners Eiji again by going nearer to the net.
"Oh no you don't!" Eiji says then glances at the back of Kenji where he sees that it's wide open and hits the ball to that direction with a smile on his face which then turns into a frown as his eyes widen and sees two Kenjis; One in the back and one by the net.
The Kenji in the back returns the ball and it passes Eiji.
It was silent in the tennis court for a while until coach snaps out of it and announces, "love-40!"
"Did-Did you guys just see…" Momo asks surprised beyond belief as the others just stared with their eyes open.
"Were there two Kenjis just a while ago?" Oishi asks Inui to confirm, obviously doubting his eyesight. Inui nods and starts to calculate the probabilities.
"Well, this has become very interesting, right, Echizen?" Fuji asks the freshman whose eyes were bright and determined as they locked on to Kenji.
Fuji smiles at this and is excited to play with Kenji as well.
"Ho-How did he do that?" Taka asks in disbelief as Kaidou continues to study Kenji.
"Well I did not expect that at all from the squirt", Coach says with a smirk, clearly impressed.
Tezuka glances towards Eiji, "Eiji!" he calls him.
"Yes, Captain!" Eiji responses, getting out of his stupor and approaches both the captain and coach.
"Watch Kenji very carefully. He isn't here to try and beat you but he's here to help you learn", Coach explains then glances towards the others who looked curious at what they were talking about, "And it's not just you, but all of you regulars" she says this louder and frowns at the confused Eiji, "What? Didn't Inui tell you guys?" she asks, making Eiji even more confused.
"Tell us what, teacher?" Eiji asks, making Coach sigh and Tezuka rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Time out!" Coach announces and glances at Kenji who just nods and starts to bounce the tennis ball by using the side frame of his racket (like the one Ryoma did to get Fudoumine team's attention) while coach, Tezuka, and Eiji head towards the others.
"Inui, is there something you forgot to tell everyone about Kenji's purpose here?" Coach asks Inui who starts to think.
"He told us that it was for him to improve our training menus", Oishi says.
"What! It was?" Eiji says in surprise since he wasn't in the group when they were talking about that.
Oishi nods and explains to Eiji what they talked about earlier.
"Ah!" Inui suddenly exclaims finally remembering what he was supposed to say, surprising most of the regulars, "I forgot to tell you that you have to pay attention to every new move Kenji shows you while you're playing because they are something he assessed that you can do as well, given that you train for it", he says.
This leaves the regulars speechless for a while.
"59, 60, 61, 62, 6—"
"WHAT?!"
Kenji's counting gets interrupted as the tennis ball he was bouncing rolls on the court. He looks towards the gathered group with a sweatdrop on his head as he watches most of the regulars throwing tennis balls at Inui and screaming things like, "Tell us that beforehand!" "I wasn't able to pay much attention nya!" "How could you forget something like that?!" "Hey this is fun!"
Kenji shakes his head in disappointment but smiles fondly and catches Ryoma staring right at him from beside the ruckus. Kenji holds down his cap but doesn't look away as he stares at him as well by peeking a bit below the visor of the cap.
Ryoma smirks and discreetly says, "Mada mada dane", he looks away as Coach ends the ruckus and asks Eiji to go back to the court.
Kenji was not able to hear what he said but he was able to read Ryoma's lips.
"I'll wipe that comment right out of that arrogant mouth of yours", Kenji silently tells himself with a smirk and faces Eiji who seemed more energized now that he was able to rest a bit during the time out.
"Hey, ochibi number 2! That cloning move you did, I can do that too?" Eiji asks with enthusiasm and sparkle in his eyes.
A sweatdrop appears on Kenji's head as the words 'cloning move' echoed through his mind but he shakes off his confusion and smirks at Eiji while nodding at him. Eiji's eyes just lit up even more as he punches his fist up to the sky in a victory pose.
"Alright, ochibi number 2! Show it to me again!" Eiji says as he gets into receiving position and locks his eyes on Kenji's form.
Kenji smiles and serves the ball. Eiji returns it and anticipates the so called 'cloning move' but it doesn't happen. They rally for a while making Eiji exhausted once again since Kenji keeps hitting heavy returns. Kenji smirks at Eiji's pace slowing down and decides to hit a lob. Eiji brightens up and jumps to perform his Kikumaru bazooka but then sees two Kenjis. Eiji takes some time to analyze the two with his eyes as he smashes the ball at the direction of the Kenji in the back. Kenji returns the smash swiftly, making him earn the point that wins the game.
"Game set! Kenji wins!" Coach announces.
Eiji stares at Kenji in a daze for a while but then recovers and grins.
"Thank you ochibi number 2! I'll train hard so I can beat you with that cloning move!" Eiji says and approaches Kenji who does the same.
They shake hands but Kenji continues to look down so his eyes do not get exposed. Eiji is tempted to grab his cap but Tezuka grabs his attention by announcing that Kaidou is next.
"Hey, Inui! Were you able to get enough data for me to clone myself?" Eiji asks excitedly.
"First off, that was not cloning. Kenji was just fast enough to make it seem like there were two of him. And yes, I got enough data. I can be able to modify your training menu soon but we have to focus on your stamina for now before proceeding to agility", Inui explains to him with a satisfied smile.
Kenji goes back to his first side of the court and stretches while Kaidou walks towards the other side.
"Fsshuu", he exhales out as he watches Kenji stretching.
"Kaidou to serve!" Coach announces with a grin.
Well that's it for chapter three! Hope you enjoyed it and stay tuned for the next chapter! :D
