I don't own Prince of Tennis.
Toshio knotted the bandages together tightly. "Don't forget: Starting and Ending Ceremony. There's retrospection at the end of pratice from one of your three Monsters. Basically you better blend in well if you don't want to stick out."
Minori nodded, rolling her shoulders back with great effort. "This is really constricting." She reached for her uniform, glancing at the clock. "And if we don't hurry up there's no Starting Ceremony for me to watch any longer."
"Oh?" Toshio followed her gaze. "Oh. I ran all the way back and we're still late?!"
She laughed. That they were.
And she couldn't wait.
She pulled off her best guilty-face when she saw the Tennis Club gathered on the courts, listening to a speech from Yukimura. Without so much as a wave of her hand she sprinted off into the empty changing rooms, swiftly changing her school outfit for the tennis uniform. Her fingers brushed briefly over the fine material before she took a deep breath and reached for her racket.
Sanada sent her a disapproving look and she quickly beelined around the courts for a short warm-up, keeping her head low in shame. She couldn't quite make out the words Yukimura said over the sound of her own breathing and before long her feet carried her along the far side and away from the sounds. By the time she managed her first round, things had calmed and Yukimura called out names instead. Sanada beckoned for her to get inside.
The eight regulars stood in line opposite to six non-regular members. "Hanajou Haruma, 3rd-year." The auburn mop of hair made its way through the crowd, stopping to a halt next to a lanky guy. Seven now. The regulars regarded their opponents with smug confidence but the non-regulars managed to hold their own competetive feel around them despite.
"The last one has finally arrived as well," Yukimura spoke up, nodding at her. "Kobayashi Minori, 2nd-year. Please step up."
Minori needed no second invitation, quickly scrambling to the front to stop next to Haruma. Her tongue flicked over her lips with anticipation and her eyes caught that of Niou's across from her.
His usual mischievous glint flashed through his orbs and he purred a quiet 'puri'. She answered with a challenging smile of her own. If he thought he could scare her off easily by not warning her then he was in for a treat. Now that she knew what was in store for her, what lingered in the soon future, she was ready to go all out—and not just in terms of her disguise.
Yukimura snapped them out of their staring battle. "The rest of you is dismissed. Continue training per usual." The rest of the team scattered in wild whispering, glancing back every so often to wish luck to their comrades. Ryo waved and jumped madly in her direction. "We," the blue-haired boy continued, "will start matches immediately." With that they trotted after him onto the courts the regulars usually reserved for themselves.
An arm with a black sweatband sneaked around her shoulders and she heard the familiar popping sound of a bubble gum. "Chibi-bro made it into the Top 8!" Marui hugged her with one hand while the other made a mess out of her hair.
The boy in front of them turned around, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "He is on par with Akaya, after all," Yagyuu stated calmly. She'd never talked to 'The Gentleman' in all the time since she'd entered the club but he was ranked high with the girls from what she'd heard.
"He's not!" Said boy cried out before pointing the racket dangerously close to her face. Anger darkened his green eyes. "I'll crush you today," he growled.
She drawled out a grin through heavy-lidded eyes. "Who was it that almost beat you 6-0 again?" She remembered the ridiculous rumors. "Ah, right. Me." She leaned in close to his face, sticking her tongue out at him to disarm the sharpness of the words. Not that he picked up on that.
Akaya pulled at his hair. "ARGH! Who is still spreading that stupid rumor!" he demanded to know. He lashed out to the side, scaring back the girls that gathered around the fences. Minori barely saw them during practice, the swooning fan girls, for they always glued themselves to these parts. Where she and Ryo practiced together, there was rarely a fan to be found.
Especially not after Minori was catapulted somewhere in the backrows of their favorites. And she had yet to find out the reasons as to why. Chiaki didn't budge; more out of obligation now than stubborness. The girls in their classroom watched her every move closely.
Yukimura's gentle voice interrupted the 2nd-year's tantrum. "You will settle things with Minori-kun another time, Akaya. Today he'll play against Renji." Somehow he was able to lace a fierce darkness into the words that allowed no defiance and Akaya gulped down his next rant to nod like a misbehaving child. No wonder he was the captain.
He closed back in on her despite. "Where were you anyway? I still have your stuff."
She almost glomped him right there. Almost. There's appearances to keep when Yukimura is nearby. "You're the best! I can't believe I left it all lying around." A moment of panic, right. "Didn't Ryo tell you? I had a stomachache and went to the infirmary."
"He was too busy panicking." Akaya groaned at the memory. She could imagine his pains vividly.
While Yukimura paired the rest of the people, a shadow suddenly loomed over herself, growing bigger the closer it got. Minori craned her neck to be able to take a peek at the closed eyes of the tall boy. Was this some kind of joke, pairing up the smallest with the tallest member? Marui cackled up with seizures of laughter at the odd pair.
She turned her attention to one of the famous Three Monsters, mentally bracing herself for the strain in her neck she'd surely get from talking to him. "Any chance I'm going to beat you today?" she asked.
Yanagi Renji crossed his arms, looking over the separated groups of people. Akaya and the lanky boy were paired up together. "These are all the strongest non-regular members." He paused briefly. "The chances of any of you succeeding this shortly before the District Preliminaries lie at 0.2%."
She snorted. "Way to go to motivate me." She watched as Sanada began his onslaught on Haruma, the unlucky one to be paired with him. No wonder the percentage lay this low. The vice-captain was as brutal as he was efficient.
"I believe your motivation not to be this easily deflated," Yanagi said without looking at her. She frowned at the statement but before short, a smile tugged at her lips.
"I take back my words: you do know how to get someone pumped." He didn't comment on that.
The second match started as soon as the first finished, silver rat-tail dancing abound wildly with each of Niou's rapid moves. Sanada had made short work, unable to hold back his own destructive power and the trickster did not disappoint in any way whatsoever. His matches were just as fast as his movement was; a blur difficult to follow with the naked eye.
Even as he played he still grinned smugly. The freckled boy stood no chance against his unpredictable behavior, the way he switched the racket around from left to right hand. He was a dangerous opponent. She glanced to the boy with the brown bob and still closed eyes. They all are.
"Shall we?" Yanagi asked her when Niou shook hands with the other boy after winning and nobody moved to take their place yet. She tightened the grip around her red tennis bag and nodded. This wouldn't be a very fair match but she couldn't—and wouldn't—take the weights off her shoulders now either. Let's see how far she could go with the extra pounds.
"Minori-kun! Ganbatte!" A female voice reached her from her left just as she pulled out one of her rackets. She blinked twice, staring at the blob of uniformed girls. When she was at daggers drawn with the girls, who could it be that was calling out to her? It took her a few seconds to find the owner of the voice, whose tiny hand was curled up into a supportive fist. Chiaki, that little worried friend, defied whatever taboo was placed upon her other classmates.
She gave her a breathy laugh, happy to find a supporter amidst the shaky reality of her disguise. Her brother stood off the side, not cheering, not even moving. He simply watched her with a grin on his face, circling the janitor's cap between his fingers mischievously. To hell with her gender. She'd be a boy as long as she wanted.
"Thanks!" Minori gave her a broad smile, before turning to shake hands with one of the Three Monsters. Her heart pumped wildly in excitement and the racket swirled impatiently in her hand. There goes nothing.
The 3rd-year smiled slightly. "Your service game," he said.
Yukimura's arms may have been crossed over his chest but his eyes were glued to the small boy settling into position. This was the turning point. Would he see it that way as well or keep on fooling around?
The boy swirled the silver racket excitedly in his hand. Yanagi waited patiently for him to pull out the first ball, anticipating a certain serve he'd come to see and observe a great number of times over the course of the week. He knew he'd be paired up with the transfer student today and had researched accordingly.
His so-called Pinball Serves were created from a double-sided spin, introduced first by hand, then fueled some more by racket, to hit his opponent's side of the field with such ferocity and angle, that it couldn't do anything else but take off like a Twist Serve with doubled speed. In turn, the impact on the ground was shorter, almost flighty and easy to miscalculate if the spin wasn't applied properly. It was an interesting, explosive ability.
And the only one he'd gathered so far.
He shouldn't be too surprised to not have found anything on the boy during his initial research. When he researched somebody, he was thorough but the boy hadn't played in any major nor minor tournaments, not in America, France or Japan. He'd been expecting a disappointment considering that Yukimura had told him how the boy hadn't actively pursued the sport in years. Considering his age and the age restrictions at various tournaments, his absence was befitting. But the overall lack of information was almost frightening.
It was as if the boy had never existed until he enrolled at their school. He couldn't gather much from his past in the States yet. Nobody knew him beforehand.
The school had average data on him. His grades were alright, scaling high in English and P.E. Akaya told him that he was very flexible, alike Marui, so he couldn't have completely abandoned any sort of training. His stamina was lacking but the overall physique was top-notch and when their class played football or basketball he was easily among the best players. He glanced over the exposed legs. Not a speck of unnecessary fat. He stared at them a little longer than he would have liked, briefly distracted by the smoothness of the skin, before snapping out of his daze. Focus on data. He could do with more muscles for example.
Maybe he should continue research down the aquaphobic path. The fact was added afterward to the school's resume as if he didn't want it to be known initially. Was it simply out of shame? Or maybe the fear of students playing tricks on him. Yanagi might have to hold their team's trickster back on that, considering it is a true, debilitating fear and not something to trifle with.
Minori held the back of his hand hand up before flicking his wrist upward. The ball flew high, earning its first spin from the way he jerked his wrist up. When it was almost too low to hit, he lunged at it. The ball briefly danced across the web of his racket, adding another vertical spin, before he fully smashed it over. The effect was tremendous.
The ball dashed over the net with fast speed, twitching mid-air with the two-sided spin. The moment it touched the ground it ricocheted as if appalled by the impact, tumbling over itself in the suddenly doubling speeds. Within the blink of an eye it crashed into the fence behind him, clattering loudly.
"15-0," Sanada, who was the referee for this match, called out. Yanagi smiled. Very powerful to experience head-on and definitely potential for more.
Minori repeated the serve, switching the direction of where it would hit but Yanagi caught up immediately, calculating that he would switch up his play quicker with him as opponent. While the speed was already formidable in the beginning he was much too accustomed to Yagyuu's Laser Beams to be outwitted.
Yanagi smashed the ball to the other side of the field and Minori missed it by a hair. He frowned. There was something off with the serves and the boy's thoughtful face supported the theory only further as he blinked at the racket in his hand.
"Your form is different today, Minori-kun," he started but didn't get his desired answer. Instead their newest member flicked the next serve up with renewed vigor.
It brushed the net and he had to repeat it. Yanagi raised a brow.
The next hit the net fully, swirling with the left-over energy before bouncing lazily off the ground.
"Fault. 15-30," Sanada said. What was with the boy today? Those serves would usually land with pinpoint accuracy, fast and strong. They still held the strength but the speed of his arm didn't match up. He didn't look hurt nor exhausted, so what was it?
The next serve ended up being a slow lob that he almost wouldn't have caught, calculating another try at a Pinball Serve again. Minori didn't even bother catching up to his return, almost casually jogging to where the ball hurled towards. Now that was just plain rude. He'd established him to be eager to play a regular—one of the Three Monsters even—or had he been off and the determination was only reserved to the players he could easily beat?
No. He did not miscalculate that badly.
"15-40."
He held his shoulder absentmindedly before rolling both back and blowing brown hair out of his face. He gave him a mischievous smile, that determination flickering in the gray eyes after all, but still lobbed another serve his senior could easily return. He jogged after the returning ball but missed it. Purposely again, in Yanagi's eyes, because he'd returned it with the same laziness. He was toying with him.
Sanada announced the victory of the first game to Yanagi. The vice-captain wasn't fazed by the boy's play at all, not even bothering to correct his obvious lacking behavior.
Then it was his turn to change it and squeeze a good performance out of the transfer student. He would stop him from fooling around any longer. He raised his arm high and bent back for his serve, eager to get something out of the secretive boy to extend his data.
Minori breathed out when the ball dashed towards him, shifting his stance. The racket circled downwards in a half arc before he gripped it with both hands. "Time to step this up."
A bubble popped in surprise, sticking onto nose and cheek and somebody whistled amusedly. Green eyes bulged out before he cried out, pointing a wavering finger at the match playing out before their very eyes. "What the hell is going on!" Akaya screeched. This couldn't be happening. This wasn't actually happening. What the hell!
Both Yanagi-senpai and Minori rallied over the first serve from his senpai as if their lifes depended on it. Nobody was willing to give in. His classmate was completely changed, dashing after the yellow blur like a madman that his shoes screeched across the field.
His mouth was slightly parted and eyes darting around even crazier than his body. He landed in a crouch to lob a low aimed ball high and circled backwards to await the return. Akaya almost snorted, knowing full well that it was a mistake to change directions too fast. The opponent had all the time in the world to adjust to that advantage. Yanagi-senpai would simply cross it to the other side of the field.
Yanagi-senpai mumbled to himself, calculating where the ball would land but it just barely grazed his racket as if he was guesstimating the location wrong. The ball braked in its speed, landing gracefully on Minori's racket before he smashed it with a wicked grin. He was already back on his feet and dashing that his yellow shirt slid upward to reveal part of his stomach. Akaya stared at his buchou with panicked eyes. "Yukimura-buchouuuu!" he whined.
"Oi, shut up, Bakaya. Enjoy the show," Niou snarled, eyes dead-set on the match, never leaving Minori's strange movement. Akaya clutched his curly black hair in desperation. How was this brat keeping up with one of the Three Monsters? More importantly, why wasn't anybody just as worried as him!
A collected gasp snapped his attention back to the field but he'd missed the obvious. Both Rikkaidai players stood like statues with lowered rackets. Until Sanada's voice roared over the field. "15-0," he called with his left hand stretched out wide, indicating towards Minori's side.
Minori won the first point. Minori won over Yanagi-senpai. It repeated itself like a tantra in his mind. Who the heck is that guy?!
Within the blink of his eyes another rally started between them. Yanagi-senpai looked as calm as always but Minori's movement was weird and off, not at all like any tennis he'd seen. He could get used to Marui's crazy acrobatic play but Minori sort of slid and danced around, his back bend down way too close to the ground. Even the way he held his racket, both hands gripping its end, sliding the frame over the ground parallel to him—it's just plain wrong!
But still the brat never missed.
He circled and sprinted across the field and forced Yanagi-senpai to run just as much to catch up to the balls. It's like his opponent was helpless against his onslaught and he had all the time in the world to move from one spot to the other. No way in hell could somebody move that flawlessly, with no chopping or split-second decision in their steps. Not when playing one of the Monsters! He talked from experience!
This time he kept his mouth shut, though, gnawing on the knuckles of his fist, and actually saw what elicited another round of gasps and surprised looks.
Minori turned on his right heel, circling so that his back was turned to his opponent and returned the shot backwards—racket grazing the ground until the last moment—, his hair whipping about wildly. Yanagi-senpai caught up and returned it immediately after but Minori circled back on the same heel, holding the racket with both hands and used the momentum to smash the ball across the net that it sent shiver racing all over his thin arms.
The ball just barely brushed the white outline of the middle field before whirring past and right into the fence.
Yanagi-senpai stood on the far left side.
Sanada-fukubuchou cleared his throat. "30-0."
Akaya let out a silent scream into his fist. Yanagi-senpai had to be ill, to be that far off. Yukimura-buchou chuckled, catching the attention of the other regulars next to him. "What is that?" The perplexed 2nd-year asked and flailed his arms at the two players. With that he meant the whole screwed-up situation.
Yukimura-buchou cocked his head. "Did you notice?" Akaya rose his brows in question. Did he notice what? "He took both points by going for the middle."
Niou placed his hands in the pockets of his white shorts. "It looks like he's playing a different sport altogether, puri." Yukimura nodded.
"If I had to say..." he hummed in thought, fingers tapping over his lips. "It does remind me of ice hockey." Akaya blinked. He glanced at the match again, seeing a concentrated Minori leaping towards the net, back still low, racket even lower, carrying the spinning ball with him all the way. Reaching the middle he released the ball with a sudden drop and twirl of his racket. No longer able to spin on a surface it bounced up briefly into the air, loosing speed—
—and it was just enough to hop over the net. Yanagi-senpai missed it by a hair's breadth. "40-0." He could almost see Minori skating away in a victorious circle on ice. Akaya shook the images. But they weren't on ice! This is tennis, goddamnit!
Marui played with a strand of his red hair. "That doesn't explain why our Data Master is having so much trouble in keeping up. He must've realized what's going on by now."
"Well, Renji is a master at gathering tennis data." Yukimura watched as the match was picked up once more. "But he has never played nor watched an ice hockey match before." He watched the two boys rally for a long moment. "Still, tennis is tennis. It'll only take a moment for him to adjust what he's seeing into the correct terminology, don't worry. Besides," he nodded in Minori's direction. "I don't think Minori-kun's going to be able to keep up his speed for much longer."
True. Sweat poured down Minori's forehead and neck already and he was panting hard. The racket flew from Minori's right, dominant hand to his left and he gave a sloppy return while brushing his sweaty hand off on his shorts. Even his grip was loosening.
Yanagi-senpai's next return sliced through the air in a straight line towards Akaya's classmate. He took the whirling ball straight on, the muscles on his legs constricting before he went dashing forward once more, two steps this time, then the ball went to the far side of his racket, racing over the webbing and bouncing off the edge with a mad spin just as straight back to the Data Master as he'd took it.
Marui's mouth opened in a perfect circle that the bubble gum almost fell out. "Now that was a hell of a lot of spin. Chibi-bro can take the ball for a walk this way. It's never going to drop from his racket." Yukimura-buchou chuckled and crossed his arms.
Yanagi-senpai stepped towards his left first, eyes set on the twitching ball, before dashing to his right, for the middle, stretching his arm out and holding with both hands onto the racket. The ball crashed into the racket and spun furiously, bending the strings.
The racket crashed into the fence, held in place briefly by the continuously spinning ball before it landed on the ground. How do they call it in ice hockey? Goal? No, wait a minute! He's not supposed to wonder about those kind of things right now!
"Game to Kobayashi. 1-1."
Akaya pulled at his hair again.
"6-1. Game, set and match to Yanagi."
Minori lay sprawled on the floor, sweating from every pore of her being. Her hair clung to her face but she didn't even find the strength to lift the wet strands off. Every muscle in her body twitched in pain and she panted heavy and breathless.
She'd poured all of her strength into gaining that one single game, stretched the limits of her body. Stupid weights drove her crazy, making the whole ordeal all the more difficult but the sheer pride she felt now compensated for all the frustration. Adrenaline had pumped madly through her body and the afterhall still throbbed in her ears. Never in her life had she been as crazy and determined to win, to force surprise out of that analyzing face as she caught him astray.
That he mercilessly crushed her afterward didn't matter all that much. He's a monster, true to the name, and anything less than a big-time win would be devastating to his image. But the looks she'd elicited from the regulars, from the swooning girls, from the other seven candidates. And she relished in the fact that her play was so well-received, that she could make the crowd gasp.
It never felt so good to be alive. "Yeehaw," she croaked out weakly when her chest was full to bursting. Damn this paralysis, she was going to have sore muscles to the power of ten tomorrow.
The shadow of her match partner's long frame blocked out the sunlight when he knelt beside her, peeling her heavy hand off the floor to shake it like one would after a match. She grinned. "What a beast," she wheezed. He offered her the ghost of a smile before helping her up and steadying her on her feet.
Yanagi gave her a firm pat on the sticky back. "Says the one playing with weights," he retorted. "You always offer a new surprise." Her eyes widened slightly before she gave him a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of her head. She shouldn't be too surprised that he found out. The way he predicted her shots throughout the match should have more than proven his intelligent mind. There was a sense of horror in knowing that your opponent peeled you apart one shot after the other, picking up on your pacing better than you yourself ever could. Which made things challenging on a different scale altogether.
Akaya stared at her incredulously when he passed her to get ready for his match. He would rage later, that much was a given. Maybe she should pack her things quicker today—it's not like she could do much else than walk home battered and bruised and flop onto her bed to sleep. Then she remembered Toshio's words from earlier: You better blend in well if you don't want to stick out.
Right, there's retrospection. And then...
Somehow she managed to pick up her tennis bag and drag/crawl towards the sinks behind the changing rooms. She turned the water on and drowned her head under the spurt of water all the while slumping to her knees and resting her arms on the edge of the long basin. The cool water washing off the dirt and grime felt like heaven.
How long she hung around like that she didn't know but it didn't feel like a lot of time had passed when a hand grasped her by the collar. It jerked back almost instantly, shaking the water drops off. "Shit, you're freezing," he cursed at the cold block that was her head. "Drowning won't get you out of anything, baby sis."
Minori chuckled and shook her head that the hair whipped wildly, splashing some more water around. Turquoise eyes glared at her, pinching the end of his slightly wetted tennis shirt. "Don't be such a fuss." She rolled her eyes. The water slid down her neck and spine in thin currents, causing relieved goosebumps to prickle all over her body.
"Who is?" Taking the challenge, Niou's fingers snuck around her jaw as he leaned down on her head with his, nuzzling her wet hair.
She was reminded of the water prank in the biology room. "You always getting all touchy with your fellow tennis members?" He was indefinitely bending her comfort zone around more with each day and she was certain it was all to make her uncomfortable. Not going to happen, nuh-huh!
"Only the girly ones." Niou withdrew both his hand and head. Well, Yukimura was in for a treat then. The imagery had her snorting. "You're thinking of something perverted, puri."
She froze mid-laugh. "I'm not!" Then she belatedly realized that she'd fallen for an easy trick. Niou was smirking victoriously. Damn this trickster! "What do you need, my dear brother?"
He pocketed his hands away. "Matches are over. Captain calls you back for retrospection," he answered monotonously as if changing his sentence mid-way, glancing at something behind her. "Oi, Haruma. You should head back, too."
With a start Minori turned to where he was looking at, seeing the auburn-haired boy with a can in his hand standing nearby. He looked over the pair with raised brows, lips parting as if he were about to say something but he decided to nod instead. Hopefully he didn't catch all of their queer behavior. She never quite noticed the dangerous glint in his eyes because Niou pulled her along with a tug.
"Found the strays~," he chimed towards the gathered rest of 13 people involved in the Ranking Matches. Chattering broke out at their appearance as the girls by the fence whispered amongst themselves. Minori swore she heard her name in between it all again and hoped for better rumors than last time with Akaya. She slicked the wet hair back nonchalantly, trying her best to ignore the cooing hens for the remainder of the practice.
Just like Toshio foretold the Three Monsters divided retrospection of the game play between them, taking their time to talk to all the players individually about their strengths and flaws. It didn't take long until it was her turn and Yanagi called her over, rattling down a series of information she wouldn't have gathered about herself in a life time. She stared in awe as he placed paper after paper into her hands, scribbling on and on in the same speed as he talked.
And she was pretty sure he purposedly repeated the words pathetic stamina so generously often simply to smite her. She exchanged a knowing glance with Yukimura to the left of her, his eyes sending her the barest hint of mischief when she sought for help. Oh, she was in for a treat. Yanagi had her diet and training plan all planned out for her.
When Yukimura turned back to scolding Akaya for his rashness, her gaze softened. How long would this kind of peace last, she wondered. The duties he upheld as a captain, the way the juniors looked at him—the invisible thread of a foreboding knowledge curled and tightened between them, looped around her heart.
With some last excruciating laps around the fields and another short speech from Yukimura (mostly informing them about the upcoming preliminaries and that they would put up the list of times when their games were to be played soon) their practice was over for the day. She'd irked her green-eyed classmate by literally clinging onto him while he ran, too tired to move her aching feet any longer. He was yielding enough to half-drag her along when he simply could not shake her off for the first couple rounds.
When it was time to get back to changing, she grinned like her birthday had come earlier this year and Santa was the one dealing out the presents. Oh, she just couldn't wait. It was either do or die and she was hopeful that it would turn out to be the first.
A war is decided on two fronts after all.
I'm a chapter-10-phobic. I deeply believe so. Yet, I have overcome it now and present to you the newest, crazy update to Secrets of Glory!
Thank you for all the hits, favs, follows and reviews so far - and of course, keep on doing and rocking like that! I'm so happy this is so well-received.
EDIT (01/24/15): The statement stays true to this day. I thank everybody that has made it this far with both the old and new version of this story. You're awesome!
And some random tidbits: In this chapter's a bit of a major change. I rehauled Minori's tennis style along with her personality a little. You'll find out more next chapter. ;) She does seem a little fiercer than before, no? Not that most of you will remember since it's been so long... ;_;