Chapter 13: Ginka Meet Ryoma

"Alright everyone one, listen up! I've got the tournament schedule right here!" Ryuuzaki-sensei yelled, holding up a single sheet of paper.

Ryoma's interest was piqued and he turned towards her. Ryuuzaki-sensei smiled as everyone's attention focused on her.

"Every participating team has been sorted into four blocks—blocks A, B, C, and D. Seigaku is in Block C and our first game is this weekend against St. Rudolf. Regulars, be at the usual courts around eight o'clock sharp. Are we clear?"

"Hai!" the tennis club shouted back, before resuming practice.

Inui approached Ryuuzaki-sensei and looked over the tournament schedule once. His glasses gleamed eerily and he slunk off the courts with a familiar green notebook in his possession. This called for scouting.

Meanwhile, the Regulars were grouped together, hitting tennis balls back and forth, some still uneasy about this whole international tournament thing, but they'd mostly accepted it. This was a whole lot better than the Nationals now that they thought about it…

"Echizen!" Momo called, grinning. "Want to play a game?"

Ryoma smirked and walked onto the court.

"Okay, here it comes!"

Practice finished some time later, leaving the Regulars satisfied and tired. But Ryoma was not and neither were Kikumaru nor Momo. They were pumped up and ready. Ryoma wanted to play some more tennis before giving in for the day; it would take more time for him to get used to the lax training schedule.

Maybe he should throw Inui some hints in regards to harsher training…

"Ochibi! We're going to the street tennis courts. Come on!"

Without waiting for a response, a hyper Kikumaru and grinning Momo dragged their freshman teammate down the streets until they hit the courts.

Ryoma acquiesced this time—this time.

They were actually going to a place he would have gone anyway. Perhaps he could find some good opponents here. He smirked and—once the two had released him—pulled down his cap, further masking his face.

He pushed his tennis bag up higher on his shoulder and followed the two older boys to the set of worn tennis courts.

Ryoma frowned. They were everywhere; all eight of them populating the tennis court like unwanted boogers. The color of their matching uniforms rivaled the skin tone of the Wicked Witch of the West but their attitudes was what made the Seigaku Regulars want to hit them—Ryoma especially; he hated bullies.

They were taunting a group of irritated street tennis players. No matter how much they snapped at the bullies, the bullies would just simply snap back. Anger rose in Ryoma. Being the person he was, he needed to bite back at those bullies. But Momo and Kikumaru beat him to it.

"Hey, bastards! Why don't you just shut up and play like the rest of us?"

Kikumaru nodded furiously, glaring at the bullies. In response, the bullies in the green uniforms walked closer to them, completely ignoring the group they were just taunting.

"Because they were taking up our court space. We have a match soon, so we need to practice. Right, guys?"

Nods and smirks met the guy's statement.

The Seigaku guys were smoldering in anger. Did those jerks think they owned the place?

"This is a public place, nyah. You can't just kick people off!"

Kikumaru's friendly demeanor had vanished completely; he wasn't one to let bullies off easily, just like Ryoma. The jerks shared grins.

"Why not? We're obviously better than any street players."

Another guy shouted, "Yeah, so you get off the court!"

Ryoma's eyes narrowed. Their uniforms suggested that they were indeed an official tennis team, but for what league? Or perhaps a school?

Momo smirked, turning to Ryoma and Kikumaru.

"They think they're better than us. Ready to prove them wrong?"

Ryoma returned the smirk, Kikumaru shouting, "You bet!"

And so the match commenced.

Ryoma stepped confidently onto the court, racket clutched in his right hand and a tennis ball in the other. The jerks had recklesslyallowed them the privilege of serving first. A tall boy with orange hair and a cocky, laidback smile was his opponent.

"Come on now, little boy. I don't have all day."

Ryoma smirked at him. He should be the one saying that.

"Yeah, kick his butt, Doumoto!"

"This is gonna be a piece of cake!"

This guy's teammates sure had a lot of confidence in him, but was he really any good? Ryoma smirked. Time to find out. He threw the ball up high in the air, waiting, watching for it to hit the perfect point—his eyes gleamed.

There!

He jumped up to meet the ball, his racket turning at an angle before he smashed it to the other side. The ball turned and spiraled continuously in the air, barely visible—barely traceable.

But for his opponent, it was way too fast. The ball arrived before the guy could even register it, pawing the ground like an angry bull ready to strike. Then it launched up into the air and slammed into the guy's right cheek, pushing him flat on his butt.

He looked dazed as he fell to the ground, his racket falling to the ground with a clatter.

Silence.

The boy's teammates couldn't believe their eyes. Doumoto, their vice captain was beaten so easily? How? And by that little brat, too! Could it have been a fluke? But no…that serve was too fast for them to even follow.

He was no ordinary tennis player, especially since—their eyes widened. The kid had performed a twist serve—and an excellent one at that!

Just who was this kid?

They backed up, suddenly wary. If the kid could do that, there was no telling what his friends could do. The remaining seven looked to the other end of the court where the kid was smirking. His buddies had similar expressions.

Their resolve withered. They didn't want to get a beating like Doumoto did. Even their captain was wavering in confidence. So they did the one thing that had always come natural to them—they picked up their dazed vice captain and ran—fled the street tennis courts as fast as they could.

They sincerely hoped they'd never have to see those three again!

Meanwhile, Ryoma just blinked as the retreating players.

Well…that was quick. Kikumaru and Momo were laughing and whooping in the background.

"Haha, go Ochibi!"

"You got 'em good, Echizen, you got 'em good!"

Throughout all of this, they never noticed someone was intensely observing them.

Inui frowned as he stared at the empty Ginka courts.

This was a waste of time. He'd already scouted Seigaku's next opponent, St. Rudolf, but he'd been discovered and kicked out a little early.

So he'd come to the next team on the list—Ginka. But no one was here; the courts were empty. Hmm…he should have guessed. Not everyone practices late. He'll come tomorrow.

He closed his green notebook and walked out of the courts, intent on finding a bus to take him home.

The Seigaku Regulars were lined up and in uniform on the green, pristine tennis courts. Across from them was the St. Rufolf team looking confident and in a certain black-haired boy's case, calculative—especially with his periodic glances at Ryoma.

"We will now begin the match between St. Rudolf and Seishun Gakuen."