"Ah, Reiko-chan! Your great-grandmother wants you to stay after school with her!" Sakuno quickly called to her daughter. Reiko paused in mid-step and faced her mother. She had a piece of toast hanging form her mouth and a confused look.
"Wah da ovan wah o see meh?" Reiko mumbled through the toast. Sakuno sighed.
"Reiko-chan, please don't talk with you mouth full," Sakuno told her. Why was her daughter so…so un-girly? Was that eve a word? Reiko removed the toast from her mouth.
"Why does Obaachan want to see me?" she asked. She still didn't like calling her oldest grandmother –chan, while she called her actual one –san, but Ryuuzaki had insisted on it.
"Well she hasn't seen you since our last visit so I'm sure it has nothing to do with wanting to see her only great-granddaughter," Sakuno snapped. Reiko was taken by surprise; her mother was really acting strange. She had even been eating more than usual. What was going on? Could have really just been missing her husband? Reiko swore that she would never get married if that's what happened to a woman.
"Alright, I'll go talk to Obaachan," Reiko said carefully. Sakuno just huffed and ripped off a piece of toast like a lion to a gazelle. Reiko left quickly, not wanting to have the same fate as the innocent toast. Sakuno glared at the door and then at her mother-in-law as she entered.
"Did Reiko-chan leave?" Rinko asked. Sakuno glared at her too, she didn't like this at all. She didn't like this plan. Rinko was unfazed by Sakuno's glare; she had raised Ryoma after all.
"I don't like this. I don't like this at all," Sakuno voiced her thoughts. Rinko just smiled.
"Would you rather give up on her passion?" Rinko said, "You heard what she said last night. Sakuno thought back to last night's dinner.
LAST NIGHT
"So Reiko-chan, how's school so far?" Sakuno asked her daughter. Reiko was playing around with her food. Her mind was still heavy from her talk with Kikumaru. She sighed.
"Its fine I suppose," she answered indifferently. She played around with the fish and seaweed on her plate. She had already arranged her vegetables in the shape of a cityscape. What could she say? She had an artistic side.
"Have you made many friends?" Rinko asked. Reiko looked up at all of them. They looked so hopeful, so expectant. She hated to disappoint them. Things were just different now.
"Not really," she answered. Akimi-chan was creepy and Snoop-san was, well a snoop. Sakuno began to worry once more. She reached for thirds of everything she had just eaten.
"No one seems friendly; no one has the same interests as you?" Rinko inquired. Reiko knew were this conversation was going. She hadn't exactly told her mother or grandparents that she had given up on tennis. Maybe they'd take it lightly? She doubted it. She put down her chopsticks.
"Not really," was her response once more. Her grandfather paused in the middle of stuffing his face and swallowed it all in one gulp.
"Seigaku is full of tennis players, surely you can find one friend," he said. Reiko took a deep breath, it was now or never.
"Um, I've actually decided to stop playing tennis," she responded as if it was nothing big.
"WHAT!?" was the response from all three adults and from there on the conversation took a downhill turn. It ended after a few shouts, a lake of tears, a couple death threats and someone telling someone else where they could stick their chopsticks. All in all, it wasn't one of the best days in the Echizen household.
NOW
Sakuno pulled herself out of her memory. After Reiko had stormed from the dining area, the adults had called up her grandmother and asked about what they should do. Ryuzaki had told them to take the girl back to America, but they all disagreed profusely. Ryuzaki then told them her other idea, based off a request by one of the regulars at Seigaku. It was risky and Sakuno might hate them for it but they felt it was for the best.
"I still feel wrong, deceiving her like this," Sakuno said gruffly. Rinko gave her an inquisitive look.
"I'm sure Reiko-chan will be fine. Now Sakuno-chan, are you feeling okay? You seem to be awfully short-tempered lately," Rinko added. Sakuno sighed and flopped down on her back to face the ceiling.
"I'm just tired from the stress, that's all," Sakuno replied. Rinko wanted to disagree and tell her to go see the doctor, just in case, but at that moment Sakuno fell asleep.
Reiko was tired the entire day and didn't really want to see her great-grandmother. Not that she didn't like her; well actually, Obaachan scared her. The old woman was ruthless and always seemed to bounce back after some surgery or horrible disease. Reiko had been spoiled, sorta, by her grandparents but never by her Obaachan. She always made Reiko do something, like clean the dining area, clean the bathroom, or just clean the entire house. Once she actually had to do that, her arms were sore for weeks.
Reiko frowned at the memory as she approached he Obaachan's classroom, a dreading feeling came over her. What if she was made to clean the room? Or even worse the entire school? Her Obaachan wouldn't do something like that, would she? The door suddenly opened.
"EEK!" was the noise that Kikumaru heard as he opened the door to leave his last class of the day. He had stayed after awhile to try and convince coach to not allow girls to play for the boys. He wasn't sexist or anything, he just didn't like the one girl that everyone wanted to join. A few days earlier coach had pitched the idea to the entire team and so far with the exception of him and Kiadoh, no one disagreed. That's what made him feel worse, being on the same side as Kiadoh. He shuttered at the thought. Right after that though, Coach also listed all the girls she thought could more than likely make it. She showed them videos of the girls' previous matches. Of course everyone went crazy when they heard the name Echizen, they also all agreed she was the best out of them all, even Kiadoh!
"Eh? Shounen-chan, what are you doing over there?" he asked. Reiko, in terrible fear of her Obaachan, had backed and plastered herself to the wall opposite of the door. Reiko recomposed herself.
"I'm here, because I have to see my Obaachan," Reiko replied.
"What for?" he asked, surely Coach wasn't going to give her a heads up about the tournament, that was supposed to be confidential until the day before the match. They decided they didn't want the girls who weren't picked to riot.
"That is none of your business, Snoop-san," she stated matter-of-factly, "and don't call me Shounen! I'm a girl!"
"But you look like boy, so what am I to do, besides you call me Snoop-san!" he retorted. Reiko's frown grew. "Look I'll stop calling Shounen, if you call me Etsuo-san."
"No way, I don't want to be on friendly terms with you," she snapped. Kikumaru's eye twitched. This girl was unbearable.
"It's not to be friendly Shounen-chan, I just don't like to be called a snoop or by my last name," he retorted. He gritted his teeth. Reiko snorted.
"That's a load of crap, I've heard about you Snoop-san. Kikumaru Etsuo, the friendliest guy on campus, easy to get along with, immediately gets on first name terms with everyone, especially likes to flirt and lead on the first year girls," she accused.
"Well than you should be fine Shounen-san, obviously I only flirt with girls, not boys in skirts," he replied calmly as took his foot and prodded her skirt. Reiko's face turned tomato red, either from the embarrassment of being called a boy or the anger that came from being called a boy, or possibly a combination of the both. She was about to punch Kikumaru in the face when her Obaachan appeared behind Kikumaru.
"O-Obaachan!" Reiko squealed.
"C-Coach!" Kikumaru stuttered. They both seemed to stand at attention, both extremely nervous. Ryuzaki smiled, the fear she imposed in people…
"Ah, Kikumaru-san, I see you've met my great-granddaughter," Ryuzaki said in a warm and friendly voice. Kikumaru just nodded fervently. Ryuzaki's smile grew wider. "I do believe you have practice right now?" Kikumaru didn't say anything, but instead just ran far away. Reiko gulped; she was now at the mercy of her Obaachan.
"Reiko-chan, follow me will you?" Ryuzaki said as she closed her classroom door, "And here, you can change into these, you might be here for awhile." Ryuzaki handed her a bag. Reiko nodded and followed her.
"Um, Obaachan, where are we going?" Rieko asked as they entered the area of tennis courts. Ryuzaki didn't answer and kept walking.
"You can change in the girl's locker room, I'll be waiting out here for you," Ryuzaki said. Reiko just nodded and walked over to the rooms. Oh, poor naive Reiko.
10 minutes later
"Obaachan, what is this!?" Reiko screeched as she came out of the locker rooms. Ryuzaki turned to see a very agitated Reiko wearing a tennis jersey and shorts.
"Good, your done, it's almost time for your match," Ryuzaki told her as she handed the girl a racket, ignoring the question completely. Reiko took the racket that was practically shoved in her hands.
"Match? What match?" Reiko asked, she completely confused.
"I got a call last night right as I was about to rest my old bones, do you know what that call was about?" Ryuzaki asked rather coldly.
"No?" Reiko said uncertainly, her Obaachan had never spoken to her that way.
"It was from your mother and your grandparents, they seemed to have been under the impression that you were giving up on tennis. Does that ring any bells?" Ryuzaki nearly snarled. Reiko stiffened, and then looked down at her shoes; she noticed that they were hers.
"What does it matter…if I give up?" Reiko said weakly. Why was it such a big deal?
"If you have that mind set then your just proving what he told you," Ryuzaki said, this time more calmly. Reiko's head jerked up to look at her Obaachan; how could she have known…
"He told me everything," she said as if she had read Reiko's mind. Reiko's drooped once more; she began to play with the stings of her racket. Something caught her attention.
"Obaachan, this is my racket," she said surprised, "You planned this with Okasan and Obasan didn't you!" Ryuzaki laughed, she had won. Reiko huffed, she had lost.
"That's my girl, now how about that match," Ryuzaki said. Reiko walked past her towards the courts. She turned after a few steps and placed her racket on her shoulder.
"Fine, but just so know, I'm out of shape," Reiko said, trying to skive out of the match.
"I'm sure you'll do fine," Ryuzaki encouraged her.
"Who am I playing?" Reiko sighed; she wasn't going to get out of this anytime soon.
"You should know her. She's in your class. Ah, there she is now." Reiko's eyes widen.
"A-Akimi-chan?" she stuttered. Akimi smiled the creepy smile.
"Hello Reiko-chan, I hope we both play to the best of our abilities," Akimi smiled.
"Reiko, I'm believe you already know, Fuji Akimi."
"Ah, why are we allowing girls to play in the ranking matches?" Kikumaru whined as he reached the tennis courts the boys were playing on. Oishi groaned, his partner still got on his nerves.
"Because, Etsuo-san, it brings new and fresh moves and players to the team," Oishi explained for the umpteenth time.
"Isn't that what the freshmen are for?" Kikumaru stated.
"Etsuo-san, you saw how good those girls were. They're way loads faster and more agile than most of the guys here. Besides did you not see that Echizen girl? She apparently won an all boy invitational," Oishi remarked. Kikumaru sniffed haughtily. That Shounen-chan really was good.
"She also hasn't played since then, she could be out of shape," he argued.
"Muscles have memory, after a few practices I'm sure she'll be in great shape," Oishi argued back.
"That's if she even gets on the team," Kikumaru retorted. Oishi snorted.
"You don't think she will? She could easily beat Narawari-san," Oishi said. They both looked over at a boy yelling at some freshman and laughing and bragging loudly. They both frowned, no one could stand Narawari.
"What happened to getting Kawamura to play?" Kikumaru asked.
"That's still an uncertain thing; Fuji-bochou isn't sure if the plan will work," Oishi explained.
"Well what if she doesn't want to play?" Kikumaru said, not giving up.
"She's an Echizen, why wouldn't she want to play?" Oishi snorted. Kikumaru didn't say anything, but just remembered how the girl had denied completely about playing tennis and about her father. He also recalled the time on the landing, about how something had happened between her and her father. Maybe she wouldn't play.
"Go easy on me now, senpai," Akimi yelled across the court. Reiko didn't really want to do this, but she really had no choice. Her obaachan had threatened her with cleaning all the tennis courts.
"I'm not your senpai Akimi-chan, we're the same age," Reiko called back. Akimi smiled once more.
"You are certainly my senpai in tennis," Akimi argued. Reiko just sighed and bounced the ball and she threw it in the air. She did a simple, easy serve. Akimi easily returned. Reiko really didn't feel like playing, she was going to go easy and lose. That way maybe her obaachan would get off back. Reiko returned it back to Akimi so that the shorter girl could easily do a tougher return. Her planned worked; Akimi hit it straight to the corner. Reiko feigned not being able to reach it.
"15-love," Ryuzaki called from the ref's seat. She could tell Reiko wasn't truly playing; for starters she was using her right hand.
"Ah, it seems Akimi is really good," Reiko called over Akimi. However, this time the girl didn't smile, instead she frowned. Reiko was confused, shouldn't she be happy about getting a point.
"Reiko-chan isn't playing seriously; does she think that I'm not a worthy enough opponent?" Akimi said bluntly. Reiko sighed, that's not what it was, but she'd allow the girl to think what ever she wanted. The game reached 5-0, in Akimi's favor. Reiko kept feigning all her misses. Eventually a crowd came.
"Who's playing?" Reiko heard a few words from them.
"Fuji Kazuya's little sister and some other girl," came the reply. Reiko bounced the ball, only half listening.
"Hey, isn't that girl Echizen Ryoma's daughter?"
"Really? But isn't she losing?" Reiko threw the ball into the air, let the losers think what they want.
"I guess that's why Echizen-sama made them go to Japan, to get of this embarrassment," laughed one. Reiko's eyes narrowed, the ball was still falling.
"Just goes to show you, girls can't play," the other laughed. The ball flew over the net and landed right on the baseline and bounced toward the boys that were talking. The moved back and everyone looked over at Reiko. Her head was bowed and she was still in her stance. Ryuzaki smiled; at least she was going to play seriously now. Reiko lifted her head and glared at the boys. They faltered and backed up.
"I apologize Akimi-chan," Akimi looked up at Reiko, "I wasn't playing seriously, but now I that that is wrong." Reiko got another ball and bounced it once more. Akimi smiled, this was going to be fun. Reiko threw the ball in the air.
"Reiko-chan that was a great match," Akimi said as they walked towards the changing rooms. Reiko just sighed; she had ended up winning 7-5. She had completely disregarded her own promise. She smiled, at least it was fun.
Enjoy! I own nothing except OCs and plot
~Defiance out
