The two entered the empty grass court, meeting at the net. Kasumi, who had changed into her tennis outfit, offered her hand as a "let's have a good game" gesture, but her sempai didn't accept, or even notice it.

Ryoma placed his racket on the ground and said, "Which?" "Rough," she said. He spun his racket. The red racket twirled around for a few seconds, then landed face up. "Smooth," Echizen said indifferently.

Kasumi began walking to the receiving position, but then looked back to see a tennis ball whiz towards her. She caught it then looked at Echizen questioningly. "You serve first." Ryoma said with a bored tone. Not bad, Kasumi thought. Her sempai knew if he let her serve first, he could analyze her play style, and counter it. But to destroy that logic, she said to herself, I just have to use a different style.

Kasumi strode to the corner of the singles court then faced the net from there.

"Shitoyaka versus Echizen. Shitoyaka to serve."

She gripped the felt of the ball, bouncing it thrice. Then, she took a deep breath, threw it up into the air, and smacked it down with her racket. The ball flew to the service area then went up again. Echizen was there, and he hit it back with a forehand from his right. Kasumi scurried to the center line then hit a slice headed towards the left. Her sempai seemed to have magically appear there, and returned it effortlessly with a backhand topspin. Now was her chance.

She swung her left hand hard, but then stopped right before contact. Then, Kasumi swung with an intense speed. But since it seemed that she had hit a drop shot, the ball barely made a sound. Echizen, thinking this, ran to the ball and hit it. His arm swung too early, and the ball swerved off to the gate. "Out," the referee said, "Fifteen, love."

Kasumi took out another tennis ball. She flung it above her head then smashed it. The ball was extremely fast, but Kasumi knew her sempai had extremely sharp eyes. Sure enough, Ryoma had predicted the ball's course of movement, and positioned himself in front of it to deflect. Pock. The ball zoomed across the court as a corner shot. Kasumi ran at an amazing speed and returned it, barely.

"She's fast." Kasumi heard Momo-chan-sempai comment to Fuji. Fuji's eyes were still closed, and he was still smiling. "Yeah," he said back. Then Fuji opened his eyes to reveal sharp blue eyes. Kasumi would have never guessed that he looked like that, but she needed to focus on Ryoma now.

She barely had enough time to see that Echizen had jumped up and smashed the ball. Kasumi jumped back and tried to return it, but the sheer force of it was too much, so she moved her racket up to drop the ball. "Fifteen all!"

"Neh," Kasumi heard Eiji-sempai say to Oishi, "Is O-chibi getting serious?" Oishi shook his head and replied, "I don't know." Kasumi did a soft serve that barely got over the net. Echizen ran forward and lobbed high. Darn, Echizen said to himself, but it was too late. Kasumi had jumped to smash. She flipped in mid-air, spinning her racket around with her then hit the ball. The ball became a blur as it passed Echizen. A small indent was left in the grass. "Thirty, fifteen."

Momoshiro looked at Fuji and asked, "Hey, did you just see that?" Fuji was frowning, making him look completely opposite of what he looked like when Kasumi had introduced herself. "Yeah, I did." Inui was scribbling furiously in his small notebook, muttering, something like, "...and by using the velocity of the flip, increasing the power of the smash..." Kikumaru was clutching the wire of the fence. "Wow!" he said excitedly, "Kawaii-chibi-chan can flip like me!"

Kasumi served. Ryoma returned, but it was a heavy shot. Kasumi was forced to lob, and that was her mistake. Ryoma, like her, went into the air, twisted up his body then uncoiled it sharply to send the ball back down. Kasumi rushed to send it back, but her racket flew out of her hand. The silver racket fell on the grass next to the tennis ball.

"There it is!" Kasumi hear Horio. "Cyclone Smash!" Katsuo and Kachiro said together. "Thirty all." Kawamura said, "They seem to be pretty even."

The next volley was long. Both players made sure to not make openings for smashes. Kasumi felt beads of sweat forming on her forehead. This is what I get for not warming up, she scolded to herself. Echizen didn't seem tired at all. Kasumi didn't like feeling underestimated. She hit the ball with all her might, but the ball sounded like it was tapped lightly. Again, Ryoma had gone to hit it, but again the ball unexpectedly went out. "Forty, thirty."

Kasumi went to pick up the ball. The ball was beginning to lose some felt. She bounced it a couple of times to see if it was still worthy of continuing. It was still good, but it bounced a few inches lower than one would expect. Regardless, she served it. Echizen fore handed it and it flew to her left. She ran and tapped it back with the tip of her silver racket. It feebly went across, and was easily returned. Kasumi took her racket, placed it in front of her with the face towards her then slid the racket parallel to the ball.

The ball spun across to Ryoma's court, but once it hit the ground, it did a small hop then spun like a top. Once the ball stopped, the referee finally had enough sense to say, "Game, Shitoyaka. Echizen to serve."

"What was that?" The regulars were staring in disbelief, except Inui, who was still writing in his book. Ryoma kept his surprise in, maintaining his cool composure, then took the ball and threw it to the ground a few times. Pock, pock, pock. He caught it, threw it above then flicked his wrist as he made contact with the ball.

It spun wildly, and Kasumi saw. She didn't know what to do, or even what it was. She went to where the ball was to land, positioned to hit it. But once the ball hit the ground, it came up towards her face. She moved out of her way, and she heard the ball fly passed her left ear. "Fifteen, love."

Kasumi stared at the ball, which had rolled off to the side. Did it just change directions? "Here I go." Echizen said, throwing the ball again. Kasumi snapped out of her thoughts and went back to the game. The ball was spinning the same way. She went to the opposite side of the ball, and as it shot away from her, she returned it. "Not bad," Ryoma called as he went to return it. Kasumi couldn't appreciate the compliment, because she had jumped to hit a ball that was out of her reach. Again, she hit it on the edge. Echizen returned it without hesitation. Kasumi quickly stood up and ran to the other side of the court.

She managed to scoop the ball up with her racket in a sweeping motion, but uprooting a clump of grass in the process. She gasped. Don't hit sempai, she prayed. Luckily, the dirt ball didn't make it past the net. Kasumi sighed in relief, but was then forced to run to the right side of the court again. She made it there early, and slid her racket under the ball carefully on a specific angle. The ball fell like a drop shot, then went in a circle the size of a large trampoline, then stopped dead at the net.

"What?" Kikumaru's childish voice was heard, "The ball just went in a circle!" Oishi-sempai, who was like the caretaker of Eiji-sempai, couldn't explain what had just happened. "Hey Inui," Fuji said, "That shot just now has a similar concept to Tsubame Gaeshi, right?" Inui nodded. "That's true," he said, "But unlike the Tsubame Gaeshi, it didn't go straight, but actually curved regularly to create a full circle. "How interesting." He stuck his nose back into his notebook, muttering inaudible things.

Echizen looked at the ball then asked Kasumi, "What do you call that?" Kasumi scratched her head. She had never bothered making names for her techniques. "I never name my techniques," she said sadly, "But sempai-tachi can name it if they want." All the regulars looked at each other. "How about 'Full Moon Drop'?" Everyone turned to Inui, who wasn't even looking up. Kasumi thought about it then nodded smiling. "I like that."

Then the match continued. "Fifteen all." The referee said before they started, to remind them of their scores. The two freshmen continued the volley until Kasumi used a drop shot like before. It spun perfectly horizontal, landed upright on its spinning point, hopped slightly, then continued to spin in place. "Game, Shitoyaka. Change court."

"Hey," Momo-chan-sempai said to Kikumaru, "Echizen just lost a service game!" As they passed each other on the side of the court, Ryoma asked, "Do we have to name that drop too?" Kasumi did a short laugh then nodded. "Oh! Me, me!" Kikumaru seemed overly excited about this. "I wanna name that shot!" Oishi looked troubled, but let Eiji continue. "From now on, it should be called 'dizzy drop shot'!" Kasumi almost cracked up at the name, but it did make some sense. "Fine, sempai," Kasumi said, "It'll be the Dizzy Drop Shot."

Echizen and Kasumi passed each other without side glances, but as they were headed towards their respective courts, Kasumi called out, "Hey, sempai."

"What?"

"Can you stop going easy on me?"