Hey! Sowwy, I know this is reallyyyyyyy late. But school and mean teachers and dance got to me. I have the Halloween chapter nearly perfect though, so don't worry.
xXx
Yuki walked through the gates of Court C. Her match with Kaidoh was about to begin. Yuki listed all of Kaidoh's strengths in her head.
He has an unbelievable amount of stamina. He's very talented at doubles with Inui or Momo. He has a soft spot for animals. He has a special move called the 'Snake' and an around-the-pole shot called 'Boomerang Snake'. Hmm, maybe I should pull a short match?
Yuki nodded to herself and muttered something. Kaidoh looked at her strangely. She was acting weird. Hn, as long as she plays a good game of tennis.
"Oi, Smooth or Rough?" Kaidoh asked her.
"Hn, Smooth," Yuki said.
Kaidoh spun his racket and it landed on smooth. Yuki slipped a ball out of her hoodie pocket and rolled it around in her hand. She bounced it against the pavement, slowly, methodically.
Kaidoh went 'fshh' irritatedly as he waited for Yuki to serve. Yuki watched his muscles closely. As soon as they relaxed, she shot a lightning-fast serve to the right corner. Kaidoh watched the ball, his muscles bunching up again. He didn't run for it, knowing it would be pointless wasting stamina.
Yuki observed his reaction, He has incredible stamina control.
Yuki hit another serve; it was slow, with no spin. Kaidoh got into position to hit the ball, three seconds before it actually reached him. He looked impatient when he finally hit the ball. The ball flew past Yuki, who didn't even look behind her as the ball flew past the baseline and bounced out-of-bounds. Kaidoh stared at his arm, confused.
Yuki smirked and served again. This time her serve was fast and bounced twice quickly, like a drive volley.
Kaidoh was mad now; he went "Fshh."
Yuki smirked; this match was going to be easy.
xXx
"Game Kaidoh! 3 games to 5!" The referee announced.
Yuki panted, she now understood what people meant by saying Kaidoh had endless stamina. She grabbed her water bottle and took a long drink of lychee slush. The girl had infused the drink with proteins and nutrients for energy regeneration. Yuki licked her lips, savoring the taste of the drink. She got up and walked slowly out to the court.
Yuki stood there, and she felt newfound adrenaline rushing through her veins.
Kaidoh served and Yuki bolted after the ball. They began a rally, Yuki seemed to have doubled her stamina. Come on, one more game!
Yuki shot her Twister smash and earned a point.
"15-Love!"
Kaidoh served again, and Yuki did front handsprings into her receiving position. She hit the ball back, using a pose similar to the Tsubame Gaeshi. Kaidoh still managed to return it, giving it a very high lob. Yuki leapt up, meaning to hit a smash, but saw Kaidoh back up. She then twisted in midair, coming into a double salto and hitting a drop shot.
Kaidoh cursed under his breath and ran up to the net and missed the ball by a hair. Yuki almost missed her landing, she was so relieved.
"30-Love!"
Kaidoh served, straight to the corner. Yuki hit a straight shot. Kaidoh hit a Boomerang Snake out of the blue. Yuki watched the ball curve around the pole and was stunned. I knew that was coming, but it's more impressive than I thought it was.
"15-30!"
Yuki did a quick back walkover into receiving position. She sighed, her back was tensing up. No more serious stunts, I guess.
She waited for Kaidoh's serve, when it came; she ran over and hit a cross shot from the middle of the court. Kaidoh tried to hit a straight shot, but the ball was pulled back to Yuki.
Fuji, who was passing by on break, stopped to watch. His eyes opened to examine her form. Her form is perfected and looks exactly like Tezuka's. She must have taken a long time to achieve this.
"Ne, Cho-chan," Fuji called out, "How long did it take you to perfect the Tezuka Zone?"
Yuki kept her eyes on the ball, not breaking concentration. "A. Whole. Year," She said between shots.
Fuji looked surprised. It took Tezuka five years to perfect that form.
Yuki scored a point, "40-15!"
Yuki was mad, this game was taking way longer than it was supposed to. She anticipated Kaidoh's serve. It was slightly slower than the previous serves and Yuki smiled. She hit back what seemed like a normal cross shot. When it bounced, it zipped to the left and bounced back to the right. It kept zig-zagging over the court until resting to a stop square on the baseline.
"Game! Cho-chan wins! 6 games to 3!"
Yuki collapsed onto the bench. Finally, it's over.
Yuki grabbed her stuff and reported the score to Inui, who nodded and wrote the score down. He handed her a slip of paper and a pencil.
"Write the size you want for your jacket," Inui said.
Yuki wrote down small and handed it back to him. She ran back to the locker rooms to take a shower and relax.
xXx
Yuki walked back to the café after practice. She needed some sugar to regain some energy.
"Ne! Yuki-chan!" Marui waved her over.
"Hey, Marui-kun," Yuki said, setting down her cream puffs. This time, she also had little tarts with cream and fruit on top.
"You look tired! You should eat some cake!" Marui smiled goofily. Yuki grinned and devoured three of her cream puffs. Marui watched, wide-eyed.
"Sugoi! I knew I wasn't the only one that could eat this fast." Marui said.
Yuki smiled shyly, while picking up a tart.
"Ne, you should visit me at Rikkaidai sometime!" Marui said, his face lighting up.
"Maybe," Yuki said, she thought about it, I do need Gen-nii-san to help me develop a technique I've been working on.
"I'll come Friday," Yuki said, smiling.
"Yay! I'll see you, Yuki-chan! Make sure to bring some cake!" Marui said, giving her a hug and running out of the restaurant.
Yuki stared after him, Hm, I haven't seen the Rikkaidai regulars in a while, I wonder how that will go down?
xXx
Next time: Yuki's traveling to Rikkaidai!