Take One
Summary: After winning consecutive tournaments, the princess of tennis disappears from the American media only to reappear in Japan to find new opponents.
Chapter IV: Viper
The next day, the first activity was morning practice. Ryoma, as usual barely made it on time with her horrible case of waking up early in the morning. Frankly, the news that awaited her held her interest for the whole day until afternoon practice.
When she presented herself in time, it was just at that point where Ryuzaki-sensei had announced the 'Inter Ranking Tournament' that will be commencing today until tomorrow.
She didn't understand what the tournament stood for until Horio did the honours of explaining to her how the system works. It was one of those moments Ryoma would tell herself that sometimes Horio's mass of useless knowledge actually came in handy at some point— not that she would vocally admit it— it would only worsen his already inflated ego.
Thursday hadn't been very eventful until English class came to. She was directed to the senior's hallways by a faculty member after informing her that they made miscalculations and adamantly decided to pull her out of the first year English course and put her in the third year's due to the fact that she excelled far more to a point the class would do her no good.
Ryoma didn't mind however, that meant more challenges in life and maybe something to occupy her once in awhile if things get tough— like essays per se. She watches blankly as the faculty member knocked on the classroom 3-B.
The both of them definitely heard a muffled permission to enter and so they did. The professor who led her greeted the one inside and motioned to her.
"Here she is, Taika-sensei."
Taika-sensei greeted her with a gentle smile, "why hello there." He spoke in accented English.
Ryoma simply nods at him, "Hey."
The one who led her excused himself quickly and in an instant; she found herself facing a group of curious faces and two familiar faces.
"Ochibi?!"
Her eye twitched at the nickname. Of all things, why call her that? She looked away from the enthusiastic redhead, ignoring him and the smiling boy beside him.
"Hey, Kikumaru— refrain from calling such insulting nicknames!" Taika-sensei scolded.
"It's not insulting, sensei!" Kikumaru pouted.
"—and Ochibi is so mean, she's not even responding, ne Fujiko!"
"Anyway, we are getting off topic here," Taika-sensei sighs, "Class, this is Echizen Ryoma. She's a first year but due to her exceptional skills in English, the faculty board has decided to place her in this class in order to give her more challenge, take good care of her."
"Ehhhhh? Ochibi is in this class?!" Kikumaru exclaimed.
"You know, could you please stop calling me that?" Ryoma gave him a pointed look.
"Echizen, you may take seat fifteen, next to Fuji."
Oh great, now she was going to be seatmates with her tennis seniors? Just great, she didn't really want to be associated with them outside of the club to be honest. They looked like a bunch that would tire her out mentally.
Masking her dread as she approaches both her senpai's, she gives them a small nod but avoided eye-contact at all cost.
As expected, keeping her distance from them especially since they were so close; proved to be difficult. Kikumaru consistently attempted to talk to her whilst she could feel the other one's stare boring through her from the the side.
Honestly, it was disconcerting.
By the time fourth period was done, she hastily whisked away from the classroom before the redhead would catch her on the spot. She was not going to stay around them, that was for sure. She just wanted a peaceful life and tennis— that meant not getting involved personally with people that would disturb her balance.
"Eh, Ochibi is gone." Kikumaru states innocently, looking around the classroom in search for the short girl but found none that fit her description.
"I think I saw her leave already." Fuji pointed to the door.
"Che, I wanted to ask her to eat lunch with us." The redhead almost pouted and his friend only chuckled.
"You're so interested in her." Fuji stated, giving the acrobat a half smile, resting his chin on his hand.
Kikumaru blinked at him innocently, leaning back into his chair and grinned. "Of course, she's interesting don't you think?"
The tensai paused, mulling over the redhead's words briefly. True enough, he did share Eiji's sentiments about her being interesting— after all, she did make a flashy appearance by defeating their club members, then showing off her skills by defeating Arai once again with a worn out racquet as well as being the only girl ever to be exempted to be allowed to play in a boys' team, as far as he knew.
Then there was today, that girl Echizen Ryoma being transferred from a first year course to a third year level due to the fact she excelled in it. 'Well she did come from America.' The honey haired sadist thought at the back of his mind.
"Un...she seems to be just everywhere." Fuji chuckled. Kikumaru gave him a thoughtful look.
"I'm so excited for this afternoon!"
Fuji turns to the redhead, quirking an eyebrow at his change of topic. "Hn?"
"Ochibi is going to battle it out with Kaidoh, remember?"
"Oh right." That bit flew from his mind.
"Ochibi might be skilled, but the true question lies to how far can she go with the regulars, am I right?" Kikumaru gave a cheeky grin and winked.
"That is true." Fuji agreed, even though Echizen has already shown her skills was beyond average, they still can't gauge her true skills unless she has a match with one of them first.
"It might be actually interesting…"
Afternoon came quickly and Ryoma found herself getting surrounded by first years talking to her left and right. As soon as she arrived at the courts, she didn't even register it until her classmate Osakada Tomoka along with 'Braids', Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo have flocked around her and loudly voiced out their support.
Due to this, the others who were apparently looking for her as well found her and thus here she was; surrounded by screaming megaphones.
And to think America was bad? Japanese kids were crazier than she thought.
"Ryoma-chan, do you best!"
"We will be rooting for you!"
"Ryoma-sama, I wish you the best of luck!" A boy from the right exclaimed.
"Ryoma-sama, please accept this lucky item!" Before she knew it, a stuffed frog was shoved into her arms.
"It's the lucky item for Capricorns today!"
'How did he—' the last sentence sent shivers down her spine.
A few feet away Oishi, Kikumaru, Fuji and Kawamura witnessed the scene with gaiety. Kikumaru snickered to himself upon observing Ryoma's expression and elbowed his partner's side.
"Look Oishi," he points at the rookie's direction.
"Ochibi-chan is pretty popular isn't she?"
"Seems like it." Seigaku's mother hen chuckled at the scene, it was a sight to see.
"With her around, I think the courts will get rowdier in the future…" Fuji mumbled as they continued to peer over the scene unfolding.
Kaidoh appeared behind the crowd and disturbed them by intimidating them with his presence. The first years cowered by the sophomore's glare yet Ryoma had the galls to stare him down straight in the eye with her stoic look.
"It seems like Block D is already in battle mode." Inui muttered from behind, frightening his fellow regular members.
"Inui! Don't appear on us like that!" Kikumaru exclaimed, jumping back.
"Inui! You want me to have a heart attack?!" Oishi chided, clutching over his chest meanwhile Fuji gave the Data Master a light wave of acknowledgement while Kawamura muttered a quiet greeting.
"Gomen, gomen," Inui chuckled, glasses glinting.
"Seriously…" Kikumaru gave an exasperated sigh.
"By the way, Oishi,Taka-san, Fuji; your matches are starting soon. I suggest you get warmed up." Inui waved his notebook to behind him and the said three nodded, leaving to their respective blocks.
"Eiji, your match will start in fifteen minutes."
"Alright."
Upon staring at his teammate's retreating back disappearing to another court, Inui looked back at Seigaku's rookie sitting on the bench with three freshmen boys and the crowd of freshmen cheering for her behind the wires. He gripped his notebook a little tighter, bringing his free hand over his glasses and pushed the middle upwards; adjusting the rim on his nose.
"Hm...I'll need more data on you…"
She was completely and utterly bored. Ryoma decided that currently; she definitely was not in the best mood. After all, she had already won all of her opponents in Block D. As of now, she was waiting for her match with a sophomore regular, Kaidoh Kaoru— as Horio informed her.
Getting to that point of course was a piece of cake, she barely even broke a sweat and finished her matches quickly with no-touch aces and return aces; having already played most of the sophomores and third years in that block a few days ago.
The girl leaned further against the tree bark under the Cherry Blossom tree, sighing in relief at the cooling effect that the shade provided for her. It was a hot day and she really didn't appreciate hot days the most.
Crossing her arms in front of her, Ryoma rests her chin on her chest, planning to take a nap; she knew either of those three freshmen that usually hangs around her would look for her when the time comes. Right now, she is just relishing her own space that rarely came by since she attended Seigaku.
Most of the fanboys already went to their respective clubs, as well as the girls, so that was a plus for her at the moment— she could only stand so much chaos.
Ryoma's eyelids slid down, closing her eyes. Her breathing became deep and steady, slumber pulling her away slowly from reality.
Just as she was about to completely succumb to sleep, a small object jumped on her arm; jerking her awake. She instantly opened her eyes, taking a look at the object and saw it was a protein bar.
A rustle beside her and she felt another presence. Looking up, her eyes came in contact with warm purple eyes. The older boy gave her a grin and a small wave.
"Yo."
Ryoma sat up, adjusting her cap after sighing inwardly to herself.
"Hey." Was her response, taking the bar in hand.
"What's this?"
"A gift from me to you. Eat up." He said, sitting on the grass beside her.
She hummed, glancing at him with hidden curiosity behind his actions. The second year caught her gaze and took the liberties of relieving her from her question; to which she couldn't figure out how he even knew.
"Most people are snacking right now to regain energy. You must be hungry right— I mean even slightly." He gave her a friendly grin.
"I see." She didn't say more and took a bite at the bar.
"— still, a protein bar?" She mumbled, holding the bar in front of her face as if tone in her voice made him flush in embarrassment.
"Oi, be thankful that your senpai even thought about you, you should be!" He retorted.
Unfazed by his outburst, Ryoma waved him off after taking another bite. "Just kidding."
He shot her a blank look, "so were you supposed to be joking?"
Feeling that it completely failed, humor was never really her forte after all; Ryoma slowly averted her gaze to the side impassively.
"Not really."
"That's so cold...too cold."
"Shut up."
"Ngh, such a brat." He sighs, shaking his head in dismay.
"By the way…" hearing her speak, the boy looked at her curiously. She glanced at him again and asked in the most blank tone she was capable of.
"Who're you?"
The boy froze and turned white. Ryoma sweatdropped at the reaction and poked him once. She knew that she already came in contact with the boy and probably has even heard his name a few times; however— she wasn't personally introduced, therefore; she wouldn't really remember who they were.
"Oi—" she poked again, this time he recovered and yelled.
"I heard you were bad at remembering people but I didn't know you'd be this bad!" He jabbed his right thumb on his chest, "I'm Momoshiro Takeshi, remember that from now on!"
She simply blinked and nodded, "Aa.."
"But anyway, you can call me Momo-chan." He finally went back to his nonchalant smile.
"Momo-senpai then." She nods to herself, taking a note to remember it from now on. Even if she didn't really care about people getting offended, sometimes not remembering can be pretty troublesome in it's own way as well.
"Guess that would do…" Momoshiro sighs.
"Your next match, it's with the Viper, isn't it?" it was more of a statement rather than a question.
"Viper?" She raised an eyebrow at this.
"Kaidoh Kaoru, aka The Viper." He recited, index finger in the air. "He's your next opponent."
"Yeah, so?" Hearing the unguarded tone in her voice, Momoshiro frowned a bit.
"Be careful of him; he can be quite tenacious." He said in a serious tone but this only made Ryoma hum in interest.
"Basically, he's a challenge." She smirked cockily, sending him a glance.
"Are you even taking my warning seriously?" Momoshiro shook his head at the girl's confidence.
"Of course I am." She curtly replied. "But if he's a challenge, that makes it even more interesting to beat him. Everyone's been too weak I'm getting bored." She stretches her limbs and exhales.
Momoshiro sent her a blank look once again and said, "You really have no sense of danger don't you?"
The elder of the two watched as the girl stands up from her position and brushed off the dirt on her shorts who gave him a smirk.
"Tennis is tennis, there's no danger."
Momoshiro stared at the spot where she left, her voice echoing in his ears. He sighs once again and drew his head back against the tree and rested his sights at the clouds above.
'There's no danger huh…?'
Court Four
Block D
Ryoma narrows her eyes, brows meeting at her temple as she feels the bud of sweat slowly trail down from her forehead to the end of her chin. She had to admit; she actually got what she was asking for— a challenge. The boy before her weren't like the others, he was decent enough to give her a run for her money.
Fifteen minutes into the match, Kaidoh had been controlling the flow despite her attempts to turn the tables around. It was embarrassing to say that she has actually fallen for his trap by depleting her stamina from running around horizontally.
He had a game plan and this was definitely what she wanted. Unlike those idiots that she faced earlier who only focused on scoring blindly; this game became a battle of mentality and endurance.
She was sweating profusely, her body was warm under the heat. Many thought that this was her end; that Kaidoh completely won the game.
However, it was a mental game.
And Ryoma was not one to completely fall into the pit.
Unbeknownst to their knowledge, her stamina was over the grid for anyone to think. Her acting skills are great so to say— well when it comes to game plans at the very least. She admits, Kaidoh was good and he was very subtle with his plans. Your average player would never be able to make a comeback.
'But sadly for him, I'm no average player.' The edge of her lip quirked slightly beneath her cap.
Seventeen minutes in, she slowly set up her trap countering his. Glancing at the slight sign of doubt in his face, Ryoma knew her plan was working, but she had to quickly put things in place and have complete control of the game before he notices.
Keeping her smirk, unfazed by the amount of sweat she was extruding; Ryoma leaped to the side within a second, tossing her racquet to her left hand and returned the ball with a cross.
The rally went on like that for another few minutes with her controlling the game. She was now the one depleting his energy.
'There it is, he is reaching his limit.' Ryoma mused, seeing him struggle to return the ball to each corner.
"Unya! Kaidoh's the one getting tired?!" An overly familiar voice from a certain hyperactive redhead senior exclaimed from the sidelines by the time the said Viper almost fell on his feet.
Upon seeing the anger becoming prominent across his face, Kaidoh let out a war cry, hitting a Buggy Whip Shot which they called 'Snake' once again.
'What a troublesome shot.' She thought, predicting the landing point and got into position.
"Ah! That stance—!" Horio's voice rung out.
PAK!
The ball curves away from Kaidoh's reach, ultimately shocking everyone in the audience. She smirks once again at the silence created by her performance, peering at her opponents gawking expression from the brim.
"That Snake of yours...is a Buggy Whip Shot, right?" Her voice echoed through the quiet court.
Each and everyone present watching her game was albeit too stunned to utter anything other than Katchiro who questioned quietly to his peers,
"5 games to 4, Match Point!"
"T-That was a Snake…right?"
"She shot a Snake…" Kikumaru blinked.
"Oi, oi, that's not even funny…" Momoshiro gave an exasperated look.
She relaxed her stance, staring at her hand with a slight frown and sighed. It was actually luck that she managed to pull that one off; her stance was slightly off and she hadn't put enough spin into that ball to curve perfectly as it should have been able to. That kind of shot that needed a long reach definitely was not suited for her short limbs.
"Still— It's hard without a long reach." She mumbled, bringing her racquet to rest on her shoulder. Keeping the smug gaze, Ryoma exchanged courts with Kaidoh— it was now her service game. Although it might not work the next time, firing it once was enough to mentally agitate her opponent.
"Being too hot-headed are we, senpai?" She mutters quietly, but enough for him to hear once they met by the net.
"Keh! You brat...what did you say?" Kaidoh glared down at her from the corner of his eyes.
"Aah, scary scary." She nonchalantly walks off with her usual arrogance oozing, it was a perfect tactic to piss a person like him the most.
"Bestuni."
"Tch!" Kaidoh stomps towards the baseline.
"Arara...Kaidoh is getting too heated up." Fuji chuckles in amusement, eyeing his kouhais from the sidelines.
"Ochibi has some guts to actually piss of our Kaidoh doesn't she?" Kikumaru snickered, just as amused as his fellow teammate was. It wasn't everyday to see a small girl like her unafraid of Kaidoh's threatening presence.
"But to think she actually countered Kaidoh's game control with her own trap...that girl is something." Fuji commented, sliding his left hand inside his pocket.
"True, even I didn't realize it until it actually started to show. Gee, that Ochibi is cunning."
"Aa, by hitting the ball near the baseline and reducing it's bounce, Kaidoh is forced to bend lower making him exert more energy than needed." Inui explained.
"Un, but now that the cat is out of the bag...what will she do? Kaidoh probably won't let her get away easy especially after that." Fuji's expression straightened as he watches the girl switch her racquet to the right hand.
"We'll have to see." Kawamura says, focusing his attention to the match.
"Ah! If she switched...that would mean…" one of the freshmen said.
"Un! A twist serve!"
"Let's see you try to return this, senpai." The taunting tone in her voice irked Kaidoh even more which Fuji and the rest commended her for having the galls to do so. Not even his own peers would want to be on Kaidoh's bad side.
PAK!
The ball swiftly landed before the Viper and it flew upwards towards his face. He managed to parry the ball just on time and glanced behind him only to see the ball stuck between the wires.
"15-love!" The umpire called.
'Her twists are definitely something to be reckoned with…' Kaidoh thought in irritation.
'I'll definitely return it!'
Another twist and the result was the same. Kaidoh growled to himself, rummaging his brain for methods to return her twist. If she's continuing this in her service game, that would be his loss. He can't afford that.
'I'll just have to return it before it bounces!' Kaidoh yelled mentally, meeting the ball halfway; hitting it as soon as it completed its bounce. But instead of it successfully going into the court, it hit a feet below the cord.
"4-40–love…"
"Fshuu…" Kaido hissed and clicked his tongue.
"Tsk, the timing is not enough!" He muttered to himself.
Ryoma was bemused, so he was attempting to break her service with a Rising shot. She never seen someone do it before but she's was well aware of its uses. Still— she knew that his timing and form was completely off.
One more serve and the set match is hers for the taking.
Hitting another twist, Ryoma could only watch the Viper attempting to return it with another rising. Yet it only reached the same place as it had once been. Sighing to herself, Ryoma hid the urge to smile at her victory.
'Well, it was to be expected.' She adjusted her cap.
"Mada mada dane."
"Game and Match, won by Echizen 6 games to 4!"
The umpire's call of her victory was the sweetest she has probably heard that day.
A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the super late update. Been super busy with life as always. My updates will be slower these days for I am prepping for vacation and basically busting my ass off working. I'm usually such a pessimist when it comes to my work so I try my best for it to be at least decent each chapter, so please bear with me on this! But don't worry, although my focus has been averted to real life situations, I'm still continuing my stories so far, I love you all!