This is the rewritten version of Battle of the Tensais!
Author's Note:
This chapter continues from the previous one. There is a key point hidden in this chapter so please pay close attention!
Enjoy :)
Chapter 4
Meet the Seigaku Regulars!
--Friday: Court D--
As soon as Fuji left, Reiko felt a wave of fear sweep her body. She's going to get creamed. She shook her head of all negative thoughts and decided instead, to compose herself. Reiko closed her eyes and tried hard to remember all the tennis-related stuff her grandfather taught her as a kid.
Flashback
"Once you take the pebble from my hand, then you are ready young tadpole."
She shook her head when she remembered a memory of her grandfather copying the famous "take-the-pebble-from-my-hand" scene from a movie, whose title she can't remember. She got ready to switch channels—view another memory.
"Wax on, wax off." Reiko shook her head violently as she replayed the memory of her grandfather copying Mr. Miyagi from the 'Karate Kid' this time.
/ Why can't I get any decent tennis memories? / She thought, feeling frustrated. She concentrated harder.
Reiko then felt pleased as she finally remembered an image of a little boy her age being coached by her grandfather. After coaching another kid, her grandfather would always insist on giving her tennis lessons whenever she'd stayed over at his house. She remembered the clay court he had built in his backyard for convenience. He knew he was getting older and it would become difficult for him to travel to public courts in the future.
8 year old Reiko watched in awe as the boy hit all the balls her grandfather served to him with perfect form and great power. She remembered his eyes, so full of determination. She couldn't quite remember what colour they were, or how the boy looked like. She only remembered the passion she saw in his eyes. Something she realized she only felt for badminton. She heard her grandfather give the boy a few tips while he kept serving the yellow balls at him.
"Looking good! Put more arm and more follow through! And don't forget to step forward with your racquet foot before hitting so you can get more power in your shots!" Ishikawa Kenji smiled contentedly as he saw his protégé nod and do exactly what he was told easily.
The coach beamed proudly as he signalled the boy to take a break and start cooling down. It was Reiko's turn.
End of Flashback
"Okay... So it's all in the arm. Follow through and step forward. Got it." Reiko told herself quietly as she got ready to start the game.
"Rough or smooth?" Asked the giant as.
"Nani?" Reiko asked dumbfounded, with no idea of what he opponent meant.
Keiko fell on the floor, chibi-style. Everyone on the tennis grounds felt a tremor. The crowd spotted the focal point of the little earthquake and started walking towards it.
--Court A--
"What was that?" asked Oishi in a worried tone, afraid that the tremor could get worse.
"Nya! Rei-chan is playing a game with Kaita-san!" The other half of the 'Golden Pair' squealed.
"Who?" A clueless Oishi asked.
"The new transfer student from Osaka, Hasegawa Reiko of 3-6, a junior national badminton player who is ranked 3rd for All Japan Girls' Singles, her family relocated to Tokyo 3 weeks ago, an only child, and owns a 6 year old Samoyed."
"Height: 160 cm, weight: 46 kg hair colour: black, like that of a raven's, eye colour: unkown, due to the fact that they are hidden behind glasses." Everyone sweat-dropped at Inui's physical description. Was he talking about himself?
"Hasegawa-san is about to have a game with the gentle giant, Kaita Keiko from 3-4. There is a 95 percent probability that Fuji had arranged the try out, the remaining 5 percent being Ryuzaki-sensei's idea." Inui spoke knowingly as he walked toward the direction of the try-out while writing something on the cover of a green notebook. 'Hasegawa Reiko Volume 1'. Everyone had blank expressions on their faces, wondering how Inui got all his data.
"Ii data..." Inui mumbled as while walking.
The rest of the regulars looked at Ryuzaki-sensei expectantly and found her pointing to Fuji. Fuji merely gave everyone an innocent look.
"Oi Echizen, let's go follow Inui-senpai. Maybe something interesting will happen during the game." Momoshiro said excitedly, surreptitiously tiptoeing to where Inui was headed.
"Mada mada dane. Momo-senpai..." replied the impassive freshman who then followed his senior towards Court D, the end court where the game was being held.
"NYA! OCHIBI! MOMO! I WANNA WATCH TOO! WAIT FOR ME!!" Kikumaru squealed as he bounced off with his two kouhais. Before he left, he handed Kawamura a racquet.
"BURNING! OI! WAIT FOR ME! COME ON BABY!" Kawamura declared in his burning mode. Oishi followed his team mates to make sure they stayed out of trouble, especially with Kawamura in burning mode.
"FSHHH..." Kaidoh merely hissed as he resumed doing 100 "Boomerang Snake" swings. / Slackers. / He thought.
"Ne Tezuka, I may have cooked up an interesting game. Would you like to see what happens?" Fuji asked, faking an enthusiastic smile. Tezuka didn't reply and stared sternly at the mastermind.
"Saa... So you don't mind if I go and watch?" asked Fuji. Tezuka looked down at Fuji once more before walking to the clubhouse. He had to organise the next ranking tournament, and he was starting to get a migraine.
"Then, I'll see you later Tezuka." Fuji bid casually before heading off to the end court.
/ Slackers, even Fuji-senpai. Fshhh... / Kaidoh hissed mentally as he resumed his personal training program, but was abruptly interrupted when—
"Kaidoh. 20 Laps around the courts. Now." Tezuka commanded as he gave into the urge of giving laps to alleviate his stress from having a team that lacked 'seriousness'. Having barked out the order, he went inside the clubroom.
Kaidoh froze. When he saw Tezuka go inside the clubhouse, he started running. Running to where the rest of his teammates were.
--Back to Court D--
The Regulars gathered at Court D just in time to see a dumbfounded Reiko and the giant Keiko on the floor. That explains the tremor. Then the giant stood up.
"Pick an end to call for the service. Rough or smooth?" The towering opponent explained as she forced a smile on her face.
"Nya! Oishi! Kaita-san looks like she's about to eat Rei-chan!" Kikumaru whimpered as he hid behind his doubles partner.
"Maa maa... Eiji, you should know Kaita-san better than that. She wouldn't even harm a fly." Oishi reassured his doubles partner in a maternal tone.
"Saa... Maybe she prefers harming humans rather than flies." Fuji interjected, popping out of nowhere.
"Jeez Fuji-senpai! Do you enjoy giving us a heart-attack?" uttered Momoshiro, shocked at how his senpai could just pop out of nowhere like a mushroom. "Demo... you really think she likes hurting humans?" Momoshiro asked worriedly.
"BAKEMONO! Of course Fuji-senpai was kidding! Do you think there's someone out there who enjoys tormenting people other than himself?! You really are stupid!" snapped Kaidoh at the now fuming Momoshiro.
"What did you say Mamushi?!" Momoshiro barked angrily.
"Who are you calling a snake? Bozaru!" Kaidoh hissed again. Everyone sweatdropped as another Momo-Kaidoh fistfight was developed.
"Momo-Kaidoh Fight Scene, take 11235813, ACTION!" Kikumaru played director, urging his two juniors.
"Eiji!" Oishi reprimanded while trying to break the two juniors apart. They stopped their brawl when they heard Inui speak up.
"There is only 2 percent chance that Kaita Keiko would ever hurt a human." Everyone's ears perked when Inui started to explain the possibility.
"That chance being brought about by famine across Japan, where food is scarce and she'll have no choice but to eat her own kind in desperate hopes of survival. Even with the 2 percent, her preference would likely be infants with soft meat. She would not like the muscular and hard meat from teenagers."
Everyone shuddered as they wondered how Inui had come up with such a morbid conclusion. They assumed it must be the fumes from making his infamous Inui Juice that were starting to kill his brain cells. Was he still accurate? Everyone was wondering, when they're thoughts were interrupted.
"Rough! Hasegawa to serve, One-set Match! Love all. Play."
Everyone watched in anticipation as Reiko dribbled the ball and tried to familiarize herself with tennis again.
/ Gosh! When was the last time I played tennis? 5-6 years ago? /She thought as she prepared to serve.
"Here goes." she told herself as she served an overhead serve.
WOOSH!
"Fault serve! Love all!" The umpire announced. Her serve flew well over the fence.
"As expected, there is a 90 percent chance that Hasegawa Reiko's overhead shots would go out." Everyone looked away from the game to look at Inui incredulously.
"In badminton, the shuttlecock is prevented from landing in a player's side of the court. Allowing so will give a point to the opponent." Everyone nodded in comprehension as Inui played 'Dr. T'."Unless offensive, players will rarely hit down for a smash or a drive." Dr. T—Inui finished.
"There's no hope for her to win then." said Echizen point-blankly. Everyone stared at Echizen as though he'd just swallowed a dead rat.
"Oi Echizen! Stop being so pessimistic!" said Momoshiro as he turned back to the game.
"Okay, calm down Reiko. More arm, and follow through." She coached herself before preparing for another serve. She served using her whole arm rather than relying on her wrist, and followed through the shot downwards. The ball went slowly over the net in a downward direction.
"Yatta! It went in!" Reiko celebrated when she saw her serve go over. Her little celebration came to an abrupt end when she saw the ball return to her side of the court. She was caught off-guard.
"15-0! Kaita lead!" announced the umpire. / Right, the ball is allowed to bounce once. /
/ Concentrate. How do you rally? / Reiko thought to herself as she tried to remember the Inui-Kawamura match she'd seen earlier.
/ Right. So I predict the returns with my awesome power of insight? / Reiko thought to herself as she served.
"There is a 86.5 percent chance that you will return it with a lob." Reiko sounded like a fortune-teller as she premediated her opponent's return. The shot turned out to be a drive down her backhand side. Reiko sweatdropped.
"30-0! Kaita Lead!"
"What is she doing, nya?!" Kikumaru exclaimed, mouth agape as he saw Reiko's 'waaaaay-off' prediction.
"Bwahehehehehe! She's trying to copy Inui-senpai!" Momoshiro answered with hysterical laughs. "And she's doing a great job!" he added sardonically.
/ Okay, so that didn't work. Burn like that sideburns kid to intimidate the opponent? /
"BURNING! OORYA! COME ON!" Reiko shouted, trying to sound as pumped as ever before she served another one.
She started flailing her racquet violently in the air. Her tactic didn't work for the giant's side of the court was trembling too much that it overwhelmed Reiko's voice. Kaita's return could've easily been hit back, if her racquet wasn't being whirled around in the air like a viking.
Kikumaru and Momoshiro both fell on the floor laughing.
"Nya! Rei-chan is copying Taka-san this time! Nyahahaha!" Reiko was barely copying Kawamura Takashi. Her voiced sounded like a squeal and her small frame only made it look ridiculous.
"HAH! NO ONE ELSE CAN PULL OFF "BURNING" EXCEPT ME! GREATO!!" Declared the fired-up Kawamura.
"40-Love?" The umpire declared the score with unsurely. She was taken aback by the "trying-to-be-Burning" Reiko.
/ What are you doing Reiko? What else did they do other than make you look like an idiot? /
Reiko thought hard as she tried to remember snippets of the Inui-Kawamura game. She remembered she stayed long enough to witness a rally from the two. She closed her eyes to try and recall Inui's movements.
"I don't have photographic memory, but maybe it's like this." Reiko mimicked a normal forehand swing she thought she saw Inui perform. She was stoked to find the ball go in.
Her towering opponent didn't expect a return and was caught off guard. Apparently, no one listens to Tezuka when he says, 'Yudan sezu ni ikou.'
"40-15!" There was a slight sound of disbelief as the umpire announced the score.
"Yatta!" Reiko couldn't stop herself from exclaiming in joy. This time she didn't put her guard down as she anticipated the return.
She kept the 2 minute mental video in mind and surprised herself when she pulled off a 12 ball rally that earned her another point.
"Nya! GAMBATTE REI-CHAN!" Kikumaru exclaimed excitedly as he observed his friend finally make a rally after 10 minutes into the game.
Although the giant won the first game, Reiko was ecstatic that she was able to provide a rally.
Reiko looked up when she heard her name being called out and found Kikumaru bouncing up and down while waving his hands at her. She felt her pale face turn blue when she found the Seigaku Regulars watching her game. Then her eye started twitching at the sight of the smiling sadist, his hand under his chin. He seemed to be observing her. She scolded herself mentally before turning back to her game with full concentration.
"She catches on pretty quick." Ryoma said emotionlessly. He had to admit, this girl speedily learned the basic principles of tennis. / But still, she has a long way to go. /
/ So she's a fast learner. Interesting. / Fuji thought as he observed the bespectacled girl's game improve by leaps and bounds after, now, 2 games. Everyone watched in awe.
"Kenji, you old bag, seems like you were right. Demo... I wonder if this school is big enough for two tensais." Ryuzaki-sensei thought silently to herself as she observed Reiko's game from the clubhouse. She then wondered what her old friend was up to at that very moment.
"What do you think Tezuka? She shows potential." The old coach asked with a smirk.
"Aa..." Tezuka dully replied . Even Tezuka had to agree, the girl learned quickly.
"Game won by Kaita, 2 games to love!" announced the umpire at the end of the second game. The gentle giant had won the second game but Hasegawa Reiko did not make it easy. The game lasted longer than 30 minutes. No one thought she'd last that long, especially when she was being shaken by tremors the giant sent around the court.
"Ne Yumi-chan, Reiko-chan is good!" Chiharu said excitedly as she looked over to her friend who was watching the game intently.
"Yes, Chiharu-chan, she's definitely improved." Ayumi agreed, her eyes never leaving her friend's court.
"Game won by Hasegawa, 2-1!" The umpire had declared, sounding a little excited herself.
The crowd had gotten bigger around Court D. Cries of disbelief could be heard from the audience as Reiko was finally able to take a game from her intimidating opponent.
/ Yosh! I'm actually getting a good rhythm here. Alright, maybe I can mix it up a little. / Reiko thought, eager to see if she could apply some of her badminton skills to tennis.
"The serve is just like a smash. So then I should be able to-" She stopped as she prepared to serve. "I-ku-zo!" She chanted as she served the bright yellow tennis ball like how she smashed a shuttlecock.
Everyone's jaw dropped. They next thing they saw was a whizzing yellow tennis ball bounce right on the line with lightning speed. It was not a powerful serve, but it sure as hell was a fast one. The crowd erupted in cheers.
"N-Nani? What the hell was that?!" Momoshiro exclaimed after witnessing what seemed to be the fastest serve he'd seen from a girl.
"Hmmm..." Echizen smirked under his white cap.
"Hayai..." muttered Kawamura quietly, he dropped his racquet on the ground from shock.
"So she has learned to apply her skills from badminton to tennis." Inui stated sounding thrilled. He too wanted to see what the advantages of playing badminton were.
"This will be good. Ii data..." Inui scribbled madly on his 'handy-dandy' notebook. He mentally gave himself a pat on the back for his good decision of watching the game.
"NYA! SUGOI REI-CHAN! That serve was on fire! Do it again!" Kikumaru cheered while clapping excitedly.
"Eiji! Keep your voice down! You might distract her!" Oishi scolded.
"Yes! That's it Eiji!" said Inui in a freaky excited voice. He was thinking about what to call the serve when Kikumaru cheered and unintentionally gave him an idea.
"Hot Serve." Inui stated, the excitement still evident in his voice as he scribbled intensely on his notebook, his pencil seemed to be smoking from the speed that he wrote.
/ Hot serve. Not bad Hasegawa-san, would you show us more? / Fuji inwardly spoke as he watched the raven-haired girl evolve during the game.
Like what Inui had said, the game had become lopsided. Reiko realized she was agile enough to get her opponent's returns without waiting for the ball to bounce. Before you know it, Reiko had won 5 games and was now only a point away to win the match.
"M-m-monster..." Momoshiro stuttered as he watched the bloodbath before his eyes. Reiko was winning by a large margin, and was mercilessly returning the bright yellow ball with drives and smashes.
"She can even rival Eiji's agility." Oishi said amazed, never taking his eyes off the court.
"NYA!" Kikumaru squeaked , obviously in disapproval.
It was match point, Kaita served a moderately fast serve and Reiko volleyed to hit it to the giant's rear backhand side. A winning Passing Shot. The giant managed to tap the ball, what with her long arms. She barely got it over the other side. She saw Reiko get ready for a backhand drive and started to move backwards. Her eyes widened when she saw Reiko slide her racquet past the ball as she manoeuvred her racquet lower. Reiko did a between-the-legs crosscourt drop-shot.
The giant fell. Another tremor was felt and everyone was silent for a few seconds before the Regulars erupted into cheers.
"She really is a force to be reckoned!" said Momoshiro, his jaw ajar as he saw the end of the game.
"Usu. And Fuji-sempai just messed with her." Echizen deadpanned as he pointed an accusing finger at the tennis prodigy, reminding everyone of the danger Fuji had put the entire school in. Fuji flashed a smile that sent chills down everyone's spines.
"It can't be helped, there is a 96 percent probability for Fuji to piss off a short-tempered person without hesitation." Inui stated in a 'matter-of-factly' tone before walking towards the raven-haired girl. Everyone nodded, agreeing with what Inui said.
"Minna, I guess we should congratulate Hasegawa-san for winning." Oishi prompted, everyone then followed Inui to Reiko's direction.
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Author's Note:
Like I said, key point in this chapter! There will be a lot of those in the story! Please be mindful!
Thank you to all those who have reviewed so far!
Don't forget to review on your way out! Thank You! Come Again!