Chapter 11: Hospital Visits
Inner Taro: Good luck, Kin-chan! I'm pulling for you!
Inner Kin: (teeth chattering too hard to reply)
Inner Taro: -.-U
"Game to Ginka. Five games all," the referee alleged, "Change courts."
'Come on, Hiroki-senpai and Kiyoshi-senpai! I believe in you guys, unlike the last two. If you don't win here, then I won't even get to play!' She locked her fingers together, praying for at least one win.
Inner Kin: Why did you even put yourself on Singles Two anyway? Why not singles three?
'Did you really think that anyone else would be able to pull off singles two?'
Inner Kin: Well, I see your point.
'It would be incredibly humiliating if we lost here, wouldn't it?'
Inner Kin: WE ARE NOT GOING TO LOSE! I can't believe I'm hearing blasphemy from you. Whose side are you on, anyway?
'Gomen, just being realistic... Well, this'll be more encouragement for training. Even now, I can see that they're more driven.'
Kin's eyes focused on the match before her. Hiroki and Kiyoshi were clearly exhausted, but no more than their opponents.
Pok.
Screech.
Hit.
Inner Kin: How long does this freakin' rally have to go on? I'm getting dizzy just by watching.
'11, 12, 13, 14...' Kin gave no response. Inner Kin was a bit alarmed to find that her eyes were glued to the ball and her pupils were contracted. To Kin, nothing else but the game existed.
Everything slowed down like as if she was seeing this in slow motion movie. Kin could see the beads of sweat sparkle in the air as the rackets hit the tennis ball back and forth, back and forth.
'There! There's a blind spot!' Her chest heaved in anticipation as Hiroki hit the ball, but it landed slightly too much to the left. 'Hiroki, don't flick your wrist like that!' Still, it was enough. They won the point and cheers erupted.
The numbers were meaningless to her. There was only a ball, a net, a court and four players. In her magnified vision, she founds holes in their plays, weaknesses in their techniques and errors in their forms. Suddenly, for a split second, she saw the ball's future path. Hiroki was planning to lure the back into leaving the left side open for Kiyoshi to do a volley.
'No, their plan is not going to work.' Transfixed, she realized that was exactly what the opponent was hoping to do. 'Don't fall into their trap!' As bench coach, she was helpless. She could only watch as the game played out exactly as she predicted to the extent of the exact angle of the bounce or the number of shots in a rally. In her extended foresight, she also realized something else: their defeat was imminent and inevitable.
"Game and match to Daishi. 7-6," the referee declared.
She drew a sharp gasp as she finally inhaled after holding her breath for what seemed like minutes.
Inner Kin: Holy... You're creeping me out. I was screaming my head off the entire last game. You didn't hear me, did you?
'Say what?' She felt light-headed as her concentration dissipated and her vision blurred.
Inner Kin: You tennis freak! Give me back my Kin! If the game had gone on any longer, I would have suffocated to death.
'What are you maundering about?'
"Suminasen. I tried my best, but they were always a step ahead of us," Hiroki gasped, drenching his head in water.
"It's fine," she stuttered, clutching the bench as a wave of nausea passed over her. It was still a shock to recover from that eerie tennis trance she was immersed in moments ago.
"Hiroki, your footwork has gotten better, but you've still got to work on small steps so you don't waste excess energy," she told him almost mechanically.
"Kiyoshi, your backhand got weaker as the game prolonged and you continuously missed the sweet spot, and, as you noticed, a target for your opponent. This was also a big reason why Hiroki-senpai is so fatigued, covering for you. If your arm was getting tired, you could have done it two-handed." They were too tired to reply; they barely recognized the advice by a sharp nod of their heads.
"Tashiro-senpai," she placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm counting on you."
"Daishi! Daishi! Daishi!" the opposing crowd cheered, their spirits raised by two consecutive wins. One more win and the victory was theirs.
"Geez, they're too loud. It's the first game in the Prefecturals, after all," Taro pouted from behind her. He ran up to her, grinning nervously. "Ginka's doing great. I would never be able to pull off anything like this."
"Are you kidding me? One more game and we're done," she scoffed.
"Winning or losing doesn't matter. You proved your skills as a coach, and you brought up Ginka's level tremendously."
"Well, I suppose optimism never killed anybody, right? Onii-chan should follow that rule too," she smiled. Taro always seemed to be able to cheer her up.
"Singles Three will now begin. I repeat: Singles Three will now begin."
Tashiro's knees were knocking in nervousness. He couldn't believe it. He was actually playing a match in substitution for Itsuki. He gulped, but his palms wouldn't stop sweating and his wrist couldn't stop shaking.
"What is that baka doing? He's standing on the service line. Oi, Tashiro-san! Stop daydreaming about your crush already!" Kiyoshi called. Tashiro flushed to the shade of a lobster as he jittered and turned around.
'If I lose, Ginka loses. If Ginka loses, I've failed everybody. No, I-I can't let that happen. Taro-kun chose me over Itsuki. I have to win. I have to...'
A wave of cold sweat washed over him. His opponent served and he ran to meet the ball, but he realized that he couldn't move. His racket dropped from his grip and fell painfully onto the court.
"15-love."
"Oi, Tashiro! What's wrong with you?" Tashiro tried to retrieve it, but he only ended up collapsing to his knees, his body wracked in shivers. 'What's wrong with me? My body won't obey me.'
"TASHIRO!" Kin's voice cut through his consciousness as he sat there, paralyzed. "Calm down, Tashiro-senpai. Just do your best."
"Do my best... hai, Taro-kun," he grasped his racket, his knees wobbly as he rose. 'Just do my best. No one can ask for more.'
He recollected himself, finally getting over his initial stage fright. Brimming with feigned confidence, he pointed a finger at his opponent and started to taunt and swear at him.
"Ha! You're nothing but a pile of crap-"
"Tashiro-senpai! You're going to get a penalty for profane language," Kin called, but Tashiro showed no hint of hearing her.
"-kick your mama's ass!"
Suddenly his opponent got extraordinarily angry. His own teammates visibly flinched in apprehension.
"That stupid kid... he's done it now," their bench coach cringed. His opponent roared like a madman and screamed as he tossed the ball into the air. Before anyone could do anything, he smashed the ball at the speed of light and it flew directly at Tashiro's face. Panicking, the bewildered Tashiro screamed, not knowing what to do.
SMASH!
His scream was cut off in mid-breath as his saliva came flying everywhere. In slow motion, his body fell in into a mangled heap, his racket skidding to a halt.
Inner Kin: Itai.
"Oh my god," Kin rose from her seat and ran to him, cursing softly. She turned Tashiro's body over, disgusted to find a broken nose with a waterfall of blood.
Inner Kin: That's... macabre.
"Medic! Somebody get the medic! He's knocked unconscious," she screamed.
No one moved. Everyone just blinked and frowned at Tashiro's twitching corpse. She screamed again and everyone scampered.
---20 Minutes Later---
Kin collapsed on the bench. Could things have gotten any worse? Tashiro was now hospitalized, and they were likely to be disqualified.
'Good going, Tashiro-senpai. Just great.' She covered her eyes with her hands. Although Tashiro was well on the way to the hospital with the rest of the tennis team tagging behind him, the sirens still echoed in her ears. Fukushi and her were forced to stay due to lack of space in the car, but she knew that the team was just hoping for the best.
'Remind me to give Tashiro a stage fright test before I put him on court again, okay?'
Inner Kin: You got it.
'Who am I joking? With players like Tashiro, how can I even hope to compete with onii-chan? For goodness sakes, he got a panic attack and got knocked out before the second point. Compare that to Fuji-kun, Momo-chan, Kaidoh-kun or Inui-kun. The difference is like between a toddler and an adult.'
"I will now release the sentence. Ginka's member provoked the other player, which ended in an injury that cannot be continued in 15 minutes. This ordinarily would end in a disqualification for both teams, but because I had never officially declared a first offense, this shall be a win for Ginka."
Kin's mouth gaped open and she laughed deliriously. The game counted as a win? Wow, what luck. That meant she was still playing. If she and Fukushi won, that meant that they had a chance of continuing. Hope inundated her as her confidence brimmed.
'Nice going, Tashiro-senpai.'
"Singles Two will now begin. I repeat: singles two will now begin," the referee announced.
Anticipation bubbled inside her. Smiling, she clutched her racket. It was new, and she frowned to see a few scratch marks. 'That Itsuki must have borrowed it for practice. I'll get him.' The new grip tape had been a present from Tezuka. This way, she felt like as if her brother was behind her, supporting her.
"Aoki Taro to serve."
Her body was sweating in zeal, ready and hoping for something. It was a strange feeling, really. She had never felt quite like this before. It wasn't just excitement, it was expectation... for something great from herself. It was kind of like when she knew she was going to ace a test at school (not at math, obviously) and prove herself.
"You're going down," she licked her lips. She had not properly warmed herself up either; she had been far too pre-occupied earlier about Tashiro's injury. It didn't matter. This match was already in her hands.
"Did you say something?" her opponent grunted. He was three heads' taller and twice as wide. She guessed that he weighed twice as much as she did, perhaps even more. Playing him was like playing a person with Doumoto's tripled strength.
Gulp.
Inner Kin: Good luck, kid. What happened to that good feeling you had in you a moment ago?
'I took that back.'
She tossed the ball into the air and smashed it down.
"Taro! Taro! Taro!" her best friend's cheers made her smile as she received a service ace.
"15-love."
'That guy's strong, but he probably specializes in power tennis. However, being big means being slower as well. As long as he can't touch the ball, I'll be fine.'
Pok.
Roaring in intimidation, he brought his racket to meet the ball.
Pok.
SMASH!
Something whizzed past her head at the speed of light. "W-what was that?" She jerked her head back slowly to see the ball spinning and making a considerable hole on the fence behind her. Her eye had spasms, not believing what she had just seen.
'If that ball had hit me, I'd be in the same ward as Itsuki right now. Yosh. I just can't let the guy touch the ball. I have to force him to miss or hit out, but that's a lot easier said than done.'
As she served, she aimed for his backhand, but he returned it all the same.
'Chikusho... it's heavy.' She managed to return it with a weak cross court shot. With two mighty steps, he reached it and a gust whizzed past her ear.
"Out. 15-all."
'It was out? It was such an easy shot.' She smirked. Maybe she had a chance after all.
Serve.
Smash.
Clink.
"Out! 30-15."
'I just have to hit soft balls in easily returnable areas. However, I don't know how long I can fool this guy.'
"Game to Ginka. One game to love."
"Nice going, Taro-chan!" she heard Taro cheer from the fence. "That's it!"
"Chikusho! It's payback time," her opponent pointed at her, roaring.
Inner Kin: Uh-oh.
The ball from the serve collided with her tennis racket. Overwhelmed by the sheer power of the serve, the racket flew from her grip as the ball spun to the fence.
'This is bad. As long as he has a power serve like this, I can't touch his service game at all. When I played Doumoto, he got exhausted after the third game so I managed to win a game, but this guy...'
"Game to Daishi. One game all."
'Since I can't touch his service game, that means I can't lose mine either, or else the match is his.'
Serve.
Smash.
Clink.
POK!
"Love-15. Ginka to serve."
'What? He returned a soft ball? Looks like he's gotten used to it, huh? The guy doesn't look very bright. Maybe I can outwit him?'
Serve.
"Ehh? She's approaching the net?"
Smash.
"Drop volley!"
"15 all."
"Taro-san is getting serious, neh?" Fukushi mused, smiling. 'That little guy's full of surprises.'
She served again, but this one ended in a long rally. She kept on switching from soft and hard hits, keeping him guessing to prevent him from hitting hard shots and making him run around.
"Mind games, Taro? Just how long can you keep this up?"
---15 Minutes Later---
"Game to Daishi. Six games to five."
Kin collapsed onto her knees as beads of sweat fell on the court. She felt like she just ran a marathon- screw it, ten marathons. Honestly, she had never been more fatigued in her life. She couldn't feel a thing in her left arm, except for the occasional stab of pain. Then she realized that her arm had gone numb as thousands of imaginary needles started jabbing her.
"Hang in there, Taro-chan! You can win this."
'Maybe I should just forfeit or give up. I feel like I'm going to drop any moment now.'
Inner Kin: Excuuusssseee me? Who was the one who was insistent on playing tennis now? You go and kick his butt before I kick yours.
'You're welcome to do that.'
Inner Kin: Kin-chan! No, you have to- Kin-chan? Kin-chan! Don't fail on me now!
Taro gasped and gaped in astonishment as Kin collapsed onto the ground, motionless. "Get up, Taro-chan! Don't scare me like this!"
---At the Hospital---
The doctor blinked at the dozing girl before him. She had collapsed from heat stroke and dehydration. She had pushed herself to the absolute limits- and for what? Playing on a boys' tennis team? Obviously her team did not know yet. They flocked around her and the other unconscious teammate, Tashiro, was it? How was the doctor exactly going to break it to them, he didn't know.
"Nani? You scratched Taro-kun's racket, Itsuki?" Suzuki eyed him accusingly.
"It wasn't on purpose. Tashiro dared me to use his racket and I accidentally had a little incident..." Itsuki defended quickly, sweatdropping.
"Ahem," the doctor cleared his throat. "Both of your friends will be all right. They'll be released this evening, but there's something I have to tell you."
"Your coach here, Aoki Taro, is femal-" Hiroki slapped his hands on the doctor's mouth and dragged him out of the room. He whispered in the doctor's ear, "You will tell absolutely no one or else I'll snap this neck of yours, neh?" The doctor nodded fervently, his eyes dilated in fear.
"Good." Without wasting another second, the doctor darted out of the room before any of the other teammates could even realize what happened.
"Mendokusu..." Hiroki sighed. 'I can't keep this a secret forever. But if that doctor told anyone, we would be immediately disqualified, and I can't let that happen.'
"What was that all about? I never knew that you were so violent, Hiroki-kun," Itsuki blinked.
"Guys, there's something I have to tell you. However, you have to promise me that you'll never tell anyone this and you'll keep it down," Hiroki's eyes darted to Kin's unconscious form.
"Come on, Hiroki-chan, you're killing us. It can't be that bad, can it?" Kiyoshi smirked and jugged down a bottle of water.
Hiroki didn't know how to say it nicely. He only hoped Kin would forgive him. He pointed to Kin. "He's a girl."
"NANI?!"
Kiyoshi coughed and choked as the water ran from the bottle. He couldn't believe his ears. Still, the water had gone down the wrong way.
"Kiyoshi-san? Ah, someone get the doctor! He's choking to death. I don't know how to do CPR!" Doumoto frowned, shaking Kiyoshi around like a doll.
"Baka! CPR's not for regurgitating," Hiroki corrected.
"It isn't?"
---The Next Day---
"Senpai, you guys are acting really weird today. Daijoubu?" Kin asked, forcing herself to smile, but her lips only ended up twitching erratically. "I-I know you guys are upset at me for losing the match and letting everybody done. I'm really, really sorry. I don't know-"
"It's fine," Fukushi placed a hand on her shoulder. "We're proud of you. You gave it all you got."
"Yeah, but thanks to me, we didn't make it through the preliminary matches in the Prefectural tournament."
"That's not true," Fukushi said, his eyes glinting dangerously.
"What do you mean?"
"Daishi was disqualified, because it turns out that Takeo, the one Taro was facing, was on steroids. We've automatically advanced," he confessed.
"NANI? Steroids?" Everyone gaped at him. "You didn't tell us this before?"
"I wanted it to be a surprise, but I guess that didn't work," he pouted but wore a proud smile.
'Wow. First Tashiro gets hit in the face, and then I collapse from exhaustion because I was against a guy on steroids? Did anything like this happen to you, onii-chan? I doubt it. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.'
Inner Kin: Don't you feel special.
"You guys know what this means, right?" Kin's lips twisted into a smirk. 'Now this is more like it.'
"You can't be serious! I just got out of the hospital," Tashiro desperately tried to find some excuse.
"Uh-uh," she waved her finger around, "Tripled training."
"TRIPLED? Taro-kun, you're cruel!"
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