What's this? A new chapter? Already? Yes! Yes it is! Unfortunately, this isn't as long as the recent chapters because the episode I based this on (episode 30) didn't really have a lot of dialogue. It had more "thoughts" than conversation. I also took into consideration some readers' reviews and suggestions regarding how fast Meisha and Ryoma's relationship is going. So you may notice that there aren't many scenes of them being lovey-dovey in this chapter. I decided to take things slow but if any of you think it's too slow or has any other suggestions then let me know! For those who gave the suggestions and requests which are not granted in this chapter, I considered them as well and will add them in the story in due time. Thank you and enjoy the chapter! :3
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of their characters as well as their tennis moves. I get my reference from wiki/Prince_of_Tennis_Wikia so if you think there is something wrong with the information here, let me know and I shall review it! Thank you and hope you enjoy!
Dame dame jan! Chapter thirteen
Kaidou returns the ball but it hits the net.
"15-love", the referee calls out.
Yanagisawa and Atsushi look at each other confused.
Kaidou grits his teeth and glares at no one in particular.
The freshmen trio looks confused and surprised.
"It failed?" Kachiro questions.
Ryoma and Meisha stay silent as they observe the players on the court. Meisha glances at Mizuki who seemed to look confused as well.
Meisha smirks and stares at Mizuki intently, "Dame dame jan", she discreetly says in a mocking manner.
"Kaidou, why didn't you hit your Snake shot?" Momo asks in a serious manner while having his back on Kaidou.
"Shut up. Shouldn't you place your right leg in front when you return a drop shot? Haven't you fixed that habit of yours?" Kaidou says in a slightly reprimanding tone as he also has his back on Momo.
"Darn it, it wasn't the snake", Yanagisawa complains as he and Atsushi go back to their positions.
Momo stares at the opponents, "Those guys have detailed data on us", he says.
Kaidou turns to look at the opponents as well, "Hmph, I'll take that as a challenge", he says.
"It seems that the opponents were waiting for Kaidou's Snake shot", Inui states.
"Seems like it", Fuji says with his usual calm smile, "This match might be tough".
Tezuka glances at Meisha, thinking that she might be upset on how the game turned out, but he sees her grinning mischievously and notices a familiar glint in her eyes.
Yanagisawa serves and Kaidou dashes to get the ball. Yanagisawa skillfully returns it then Momo hits it back with some trouble. Atsushi calmly returns the ball while Kaidou dashes for it and once again restrains himself from doing the Snake shot.
Atsushi looks impatient as he returns Kaidou's weak return, "What's wrong? Why aren't you hitting the Snake shot that you're so proud of?" he says in a taunting manner.
"Shut up!" Kaidou yells back as he returns the ball.
"You're scared, aren't you?" Yanagisawa taunts him as he hits the ball.
A rally starts between the two pairs where Momo and Kaidou seem to be in the losing end.
The freshmen trio looks worried.
"This is bad! The Snake shot has been completely sealed!" Horio says worriedly.
"The two of them can only do returns now", Kachiro says worriedly.
"Even with their determination, they must be pretty stressed", Inoue states, "The flow of the match is going at a bad direction".
Shiba, Sakuno, and Tomoka watch with worry.
Ryoma continues to observe the rally intently.
"Do you think so too?" Meisha discreetly asks as she continues watching the rally seriously.
She didn't look at him or anything but Ryoma knew that the question was for him.
"Do you think the match is moving in a bad direction?" she asks him again without taking her eyes off the match.
Ryoma glances at her before concentrating back on the rally, "Who knows?" he responds indifferently.
Meisha smirks at his response.
Yanagisawa returns the ball, "Here you go!"
Momo dashes to the back of the court to get the ball, "Kaidou, back me up!" he yells.
"Don't order me around!" Kaidou yells back as he dashes to the front to take Momo's place.
"Atsushi!" Yanagisawa yells as Atsushi runs to the front to retrieve the ball.
"Leave it to me!" Atsushi responds back.
Tezuka, Fuji, and Inui watch the rally intently.
The freshmen trio looks worried for their seniors on the court.
Mizuki smirks as his eyes glisten.
Meisha frowns and glares at the cocky looking Mizuki.
"You guys are so stubborn!" Yanagisawa says as he returns the ball with a confident smile.
The rally goes on until Kaidou's ball hits the top most part of the net and rolls going to the other court.
"Yes! A cord ball!" The freshmen trio yells out.
Atsushi is able to return the cord ball.
"He's good! His reactions are so fast, he was able to return even a cord ball", Inoue says, clearly impressed.
Tomoka looks confused, "Hey, Sakuno. What's a cord ball?" she asks her friend.
"It's a ball that touches the net but is still in because it gets to the other court", Inoue explains with a smile.
Sakuno, Tomoka, and Shiba listen to him attentively.
"It's an irregular ball so it's actually hard to return", Inoue continues to explain.
"You can rarely predict a cord ball since it's usually hit by chance so it's surprising when someone is able to return it right away", Meisha expands on the explanation without looking away from the ongoing rally.
Inoue, Shiba, Sakuno, and Tomoka look towards Meisha and see her smirking.
"That pair is really putting up a good fight", she says.
Ryoma remains silent as he continues to watch the rally intently.
As more time passes, it seems like the heat from the sun just gets hotter and hotter while the rally continues.
"How long is this rally going to last?" Horio whines as he wipes the sweat off his forehead with his arm.
"It's so hot…" Kachiro says as he shades his face with his arm.
The rally seems like it could go on forever as the sun continues to mercilessly beat down on the players. Yanagisawa and Atsushi look confident while Momo and Kaidou are starting to look impatient.
"It must be Kaidou's fault that we're in this sticky situation!" Momo says out of spite as he runs for the ball.
Kaidou looks at Momo angrily as Atsushi returns Momo's ball.
"That's my line!" Kaidou retorts as he return's Atsushi's ball.
Coach Ryuuzaki watches Momo and Kaidou. She sighs and covers her face, feeling disappointed.
"Is this a game or a fight?" she says with another sigh of disappointment.
More time has passed and the heat is getting a bit unbearable.
Inui looks at his stopwatch, "It has already been 40 minutes", he says.
"Yeah, they look pretty exhausted", Fuji says as he looks up at the sky, "It's because of this heat"
"Change court!" the referee announces.
Kaidou and Momo go to their bench and stand in front of Coach but they are turned away from each other. Momo sips some water from his jug while Kaidou wipes the sweat off his face with his face towel.
Coach lets out a big sigh, "So, how are you doing?" she asks the two players.
Momo turns to Coach with a smile, "Those two are pretty tough. It's very interesting", he says.
"You're out of breath though", Kaidou gives a side comment as he wipes his arm.
"Are you picking a fight with me?" Momo threatens Kaidou with his back turned.
Coach sighs again, "You guys are so hot headed", she fans herself with her hand, "As if it wasn't hot enough already", she complains.
"I'm calm!" Momo says as he turns to face the Coach.
"I wonder about that…" Kaidou provokes without even looking at him.
"What did you say!" Momo retorts back angrily as he turns to face Kaidou.
"Stop it!" Coach scolds with an angry expression, "You two are still pretty energetic", she says as she looks at Momo to Kaidou and vice versa.
Momo turns away from Kaidou again and laughs as he scratches the back of his head, "Well, I guess we aren't really THAT worn out yet", he says optimistically.
"Tsk", Kaidou expresses.
"Anyways, the opponents have better technique and combination. So what will you do?" Coach asks them with a confident smile.
"Using strength—" Momo starts to exclaim confidently.
"Using determination—" Kaidou starts to exclaim confidently as well.
"—TO WIN!" Momo and Kaidou exclaim in unison.
They look all powered up and ready as they walk away from the Coach in opposite directions. Coach looks dumbfounded and surprised as a sweat bead rolls down the side of her face.
Mizuki smirks arrogantly and looks at Yanagisawa and Atsushi, "We'll win as long as we keep this pace. Both of you memorized their data, right?" he asks them, "It's all about statistics and probability", he tells them.
Yanagisawa and Atsushi nod obediently, "Yes", they answer in unison.
"They are not doing well", Horio says in a worried tone, "They are too conscious of each other, making their combination and positioning a mess! At this rate, they'll just keep holding each other down", he says nervously.
"What are we going to do?" Katsuo says nervously with his eyes wide open.
Kachiro and Ryoma have both their eyes and mouth wide open as they watch in anticipation.
"A fly will go in if you don't close your mouths", Meisha says with a teasing smirk.
Kachiro automatically closes his mouth and scratches the back of his head in embarrassment.
Ryoma closes his mouth and smirks back at Meisha, "You should take your own advice and keep your mouth closed as well", he taunts.
An anger vein pops out of Meisha's forehead, "Keep talking and I'll make sure to stuff your mouth with tennis balls", she says with a threatening smile.
Ryoma widens his smirk, "A couple of bowling balls will fit your mouth though", he mocks her.
"Grrr", Meisha bares her teeth at Ryoma and continues to glare at him.
The freshmen trio sighs at the two of them fighting.
"I'm glad we won't have to worry about these two being paired in a doubles match", Horio says feeling relieved.
A few feet away, Inui smirks as his glasses suddenly gleam.
Meisha and Ryoma shake involuntarily as they feel a sudden chill climb up their spines.
Momo and Kaidou stare at each other competitively while waiting for the other pair to get ready.
"Hey!" Yanagisawa calls out to them.
Momo and Kaidou look towards him.
"There's something that our excellent manager told us", Yanagisawa says in a taunting manner, "When he analyzed your data and mentally simulated them, he found out that we'll win with 6-2!" he says arrogantly.
Momo and Kaidou don't say anything as they continue to listen and stare at Yanagisawa.
"With the situation right now, it seems like it's really going to end up that way!" Yanagisawa brags, "You guys won 2 games!" he exclaims as he leans forward on the net, "Mizuki's scenario is scary! No matter what match or game, the flow will be exactly the same as what he predicted! You can already see the results without having to do anything else!" he exclaims confidently.
"You're so noisy and annoying!" Momo and Kaidou exclaim angrily in unison.
Yanagisawa looks shocked at the comeback.
"Wow! They are in sync!" The freshmen trio exclaim in unison.
Meisha nods in approval, "It's never too late to get along! They are both in the same year level", she says with a grin.
Ryoma smirks, "They should have gotten along in the first place, mada mada dane", he says cheekily.
"We don't want to hear that from you guys", Horio says and looks at Ryoma and Meisha with judging eyes.
"That's right", Kachiro and Katsuo say in unison as they look at the two with judging eyes as well.
Meisha just stares at the three clueless while Ryoma ignores them.
"Hey, Rudolph team, listen up", Momo says in a serious manner.
Kaidou keeps silent and listens to Momo.
"I'll teach you that there are no scenarios in tennis!" Momo exclaims enthusiastically.
"Attaboy!" Meisha says with a smirk
Momo and Kaidou get into position: Kaidou in front and Momo at the back.
"Let's go! Let's focus!" Momo exclaims energetically.
"I know! Don't order me around!" Kaidou says a bit angrily.
"I'm not! I'm just pumping myself up", Momo says in a friendly manner.
"Time out!" the referee announces.
Momo and Kaidou look towards the referee. They are confused and see Mizuki talking to the referee.
"Please do it quickly", the referee tells Mizuki.
"I understand", Mizuki says in response.
He walks towards the baseline of Momo and Kaidou's court with a broom. He then starts sweeping the dust off the line with a smile.
Momo and Kaidou watch him as he swept with his back facing them.
"What's with him?" Horio asks with his brows raised.
"I don't know…" Kachiro says and feels confused.
Meisha glares at Mizuki and hopes his head explodes sometime soon.
Mizuki continues to sweep as if he had all the time in the world.
Kaidou stares at him for a while, "Hey you", he starts to say with a threatening tone, "You better not be messing up the match"
"Oh, well excuse me. Your exciting tennis playing style made the line a bit unclear", Mizuki says then turns to look at Kaidou with a smile, "The referee will have trouble, don't you think?"
"Tsk", Kaidou responds and turns away.
Momo stares at Misuki with his hands behind his head in a relaxed position, "Well, thank you…" he says with a frown.
"Calling a time out at a bad time", Tezuka states as he watches Mizuki.
"He subtly dampened Momo's fighting spirit", Fuji says with his usual smile.
"That's right. But it seems like he has another motive", Tezuka says.
Fuji opens his eyes in surprise when Mizuki started to head towards them.
"Hey..." Horio starts to say as he stares at Mizuki, who is currently walking towards them.
"He's coming over here", Kachiro says as he too watches Mizuki walking towards them.
"Why is he coming here?" Katsuo asks as he too watches Mizuki walking towards them.
The freshmen trio looks up at him when Mizuki gets close enough. They look confused.
Ryoma just stares at him indifferently while Meisha glares at him.
"It's too bad, Inui-kun", Mizuki starts to say as he stops in front of Inui.
Inui looks at him with a serious expression.
"Only the bench coach can give advice to the players during a match", Mizuki says looking arrogant.
"A bench coach is a registered player", Inui simply states, "And it's limited to one supervisor per team"
Mizuki sighs but maintains his arrogant tone of voice and facial expression, "If only you didn't get dropped out of being a regular, then you could have given them advice on the court", he chuckles a bit.
"Why, you—!" Meisha stops herself when Inui places his hand in front of her.
She lets out a breath and settles with glaring at Mizuki instead of attacking him and making a scene.
Ryoma just glances at Inui and sees that Mizuki's remark didn't seem to affect him.
Mizuki glances at Meisha but he pays no heed to her as he focuses on Inui again.
"Advice? Regarding what?" Inui asks with a serious expression, "There's nothing to give advice on", he states.
Mizuki's arrogant features disappear as he stares at Inui as if observing him.
"Hey, you! If you're done then get back to your seat", the referee addresses Mizuki.
Mizuki turns and starts to walk back to his bench but he stops and looks at Inui with a smirk, "You can act like a sore loser now before it's too late", he says then walks away.
"Who is that guy, anyway? He's nasty", Tomoka says as she glares at Mizuki's retreating figure.
"Yeah…" Sakuno says with a nod and a frown.
"So this is also a part of his scenario, huh?" Inoue says as he and Shiba watch Mizuki.
Meisha continues glaring at Mizuki, hoping that a wormhole would just appear and swallow him up.
"Oi", Ryoma calls out to her.
Meisha isn't really in a good mood so she turns to him while still looking angry, "What?" she says a bit too sharply.
Ryoma doesn't react and just stares at her, "You're going to get uglier if you keep looking like that", he says.
"What!" Meisha gets even angrier as she glares at Ryoma.
Ryoma smirks at her, "Mada mada dane", he taunts her.
"I'm going to strangle you! You just wai—" Meisha threatens Ryoma but gets interrupted when Inui places his hand on her head.
She looks up at Inui with her big questioning eyes.
Inui smiles at her, "Echizen is right. An angry look doesn't suit you", he lifts his glasses up a bit and it gleams, "You'll get wrinkles and look old like your brother", he says discreetly in order to avoid Tezuka from hearing it.
Tezuka's glasses suddenly gleam as well, hiding his eyes.
Meisha couldn't help but giggle, "He doesn't look that old, Haru-nii!" she says as she continues giggling.
Inui smiles at her and caresses her head.
Then he looks towards Ryoma, "Echizen, being mean might not be the best course of action if your goal is to cheer her up", he says with a smirk and a glint of his glasses.
Ryoma's face turns red so he turns away in order to hide it but Inui obviously noticed as his smirk gets wider. Meisha looks confused and stares at Ryoma's pinkish ears from behind.
"Che", Ryoma pulls down his cap visor to hide his face, "Stupid senpai…" he mumbles, feeling embarrassed.
After a few more matches, the referee announces the score: 5 to 2 with St. Rudolph leading.
"St. Rudolph's Yanagisawa to serve!" the referee announces.
Students from both schools cheer for their players as the rally goes on.
Momo misses the ball so he looks behind him in a sort of panic, "Kaidou!" he calls out.
Kaidou didn't need to be told for he was already about to return the ball, "Don't order me around!" he yells back a bit irritated.
The rally starts again as Momo and Kaidou continue being pushed.
"You guys are really stybborn!" Yanagisawa says with a smile as he returns Momo's hit.
Kaidou returns it back.
"But I love these kinds of matches!" Yanagisawa exclaims as he returns Kaidou's hit.
Momo returns it back.
"Right, Atsushi?" Yanagisawa asks his partner.
"Yeah, it's fun!" Atsushi responds with a smile as he returns Momo's hit.
Momo and Kaidou do not look like they are having fun at all.
"It's another rally. Why can't they just end it already?" Tomoka whines.
"It seems like St. Rudolph has been researching Momoshiro and Kaidou's playing style and techniques very well", Inoue says with an impressed smile.
Meisha nods, "That St. Rudolph pair keep targeting the areas that our pair hates", she says sternly.
"It's got to be that manager's fault!" Tomoka says as she glares at Mizuki.
"That jerk manager is no fool. He made sure to pick the players who can prevent hitting lobs", Meisha says with a serious expression.
"Why is that, Meisha-chan?" Katsuo asks.
"Momo-senpai's Dunk Smash is beyond a Junior High school level. You guys have seen how strong it is, right?" Meisha asks the trio.
"Oh! I get it! They are trying to prevent Momo-chan-senpai from hitting his Dunk Smash!" Horio exclaims excitedly.
Meisha smiles at Horio's enthusiasm, "That's right, Horio-kun" she says.
Horio blushes and scratches the back of his head in a shy manner.
"Che, I knew that", Ryoma mumbles with a frown.
"Hm? You said something?" Meisha turns to look at him with a confused expression.
Ryoma flicks her forehead.
"OW!" Meisha yells out and rubs her forehead for the nth time while glaring at Ryoma.
Ryoma smirks, "It's nothing", he says in a playful manner.
Meisha pouts and continues to glare at him, "As I was saying, since they are trying this hard to avoid hitting lobs, it just clearly means St. Rudolph has no way to counter a smash as strong as Momo-senpai's", she explains as she looks towards the other freshmen who seem to have understood her explanation, "So the problem here is simple. The opponents know our pair's weaknesses and sealed off their trump cards"
"So that means senpaitachi could only return", Horio says a bit sad.
"Oh no, isn't that bad?" Kachiro asks uneasily.
"They'll need to regroup and think of a countermeasure!" Katsuo says in a determined fashion.
"But wow, Meisha-chan, Coach Ryuuzaki was right when she said you were good at analyzing", Shiba suddenly compliments her.
"Eh?" Meisha looks at Shiba with wide and confused eyes.
"No wonder Coach made you the team's official manager. Does this mean you play tennis too?" Shiba asks her cheerfully.
"Well…" Meisha starts to uneasily say as she looks down.
"Hm?" Shiba looks to where Meisha is looking at and sees a big tennis bag, "Oh! So you play!" she suddenly panics a bit then laughs uneasily.
"Uh, yeah… Unless I just like carrying a big tennis bag around", Meisha says with an uneasy laugh as a sweat bead rolls down the side of her face.
Inoue slaps his forehead lightly and sighs in disappointment, "Too obvious…" he mumbles to himself.
Ryoma suddenly turns around and walks away from the group.
"Ryoma-kun, where are you going?" Katsuo asks, getting everyone else's attention.
Ryoma keeps walking, "I'm going to buy juice", he plainly says.
"Echizen, now is not the time for that!" Horio reprimands him like how Professor Oak reprimands Red.
(Author's notes:
For those who got the reference: Sorry, couldn't help it.
For those who didn't: It's a Pokemon game reference. Professor Oak would just pop out of nowhere whenever Red/You as the player will try using a bicycle in places you're not supposed to.)
Ryoma stops and looks at Horio confused.
"Oh! I want juice too!" Meisha says energetically as she walks towards Ryoma.
"Meisha-chan, not you too!" Horio says with a sigh.
"Hm? I'm thirsty", Meisha says innocently and stands beside Ryoma.
Horio sighs again, "How can you guys think of that when our seniors are having trouble!" he exclaims and expresses his disappointment.
"Trouble?" Ryoma repeats looking confused.
"How are they having trouble?" Meisha asks looking confused as well.
"What are you talking about, Meisha-chan? You said it yourself a while ago! The opponents know their weaknesses and even sealed off their trump cards! The opponents have a great deal of data on our seniors and have a perfect strategy!" Horio exclaims in a distressed manner.
"Yeah, I did say it was a problem. But I also said it was a simple one", Meisha grins.
"It just means that St. Rudolph could only do that much", Ryoma says then turns around, "Those people aren't the type to stick to their data", he says and starts walking.
Meisha nods and her grin widens, "Dame dame jan, you should have more faith in your seniors!" she says as she turns around and follows Ryoma.
The freshmen trio looks uneasy while Inoue looks interested. Momo's loud war cry gets back their attention as they turn around to watch what was happening on the court.
Momo returns the ball powerfully.
"What!" Yanagisawa yells out with big surprised eyes.
The ball lands on the center line with a loud thud. Yanagisawa and Atsushi stare at where it landed with surprised expressions.
"Deuce! Again!" the referee announces.
(Author's notes: In case you were wondering, a deuce is a score of 40–40 in a game. A player must win two consecutive points from a deuce to win the game, unless the tournament employs deciding points. A player who has won one point after deuce is said to have the advantage. Credits of the definition go to Wikipedia!)
"The speed of the shot just increased, didn't it?" Shiba asks with widened eyes.
Sakuno and Tomoka look surprised as well while Inoue seemed calm.
"Y-Yeah", Inoue responds with a little stutter in his voice, indicating that he is actually surprised as well.
The freshmen trio had their mouths agape and eyes widened.
One can of grape ponta and one can of strawberry ponta fall off from their original positions in the vending machine.
Meisha takes the two cans and gives the can of grape ponta to Ryoma, who is patiently waiting behind her.
"Thanks", Ryoma says as he opens his can.
Meisha just smiles and nods at him in response. She opens her can as well and happily drinks her strawberry ponta.
"I still can't believe you like that stuff", Ryoma says as he quirks his eyebrow.
"Well I can't believe you like grape ponta", Meisha says and sticks her tongue out to him.
Ryoma just shrugs off the comment and drinks his juice.
"Do you now get why I paired the two up?" she asks him with a grin.
"Somewhat", Ryoma says indifferently.
Meisha walks towards a nearby bench and sits on it, "Like you said, they are not the type to play according to their data but that's not all", she smirks cheekily with a glint in her eyes.
Ryoma stares at her a bit before sitting beside her on the bench. He leans on the bench and sits comfortably as he takes another sip of his juice with his eyes closed.
Meisha looks up in the sky with a smile, "Remember the assessment match between Kaidou-senpai and I? I showed him a reversed Buggy Whip Shot and he actually bowed his head to me, requesting that I show it to him again. I honestly found Kaidou-senpai to be scary at first but then at that moment, I realized that he's not scary at all", she says happily.
Ryoma silently listens to her with his eyes closed.
"Kaidou-senpai is just a really stubborn person. He's also pretty hot-headed as well. So I was honestly both happy and surprised when he actually did that. He bowed to me, a freshman", she says with a giggle.
Ryoma looks at Meisha and continues to silently listen to her.
"Then there's Momo-senpai", she says as she continues to gaze at the sky with a smile on her face, "He got over confident during our assessment match and didn't really play seriously with me. That's why I pretended to look bored to spite him", she giggles as she remembers how angry Momo-senpai looked, "But then after showing him a couple of moves, he started being rational and decided to use the match to his advantage", she looks at Ryoma with a grin.
Ryoma quirks his eyebrow, "Your point is?" he asks a bit impatiently.
Meisha laughs at his impatience, "It's important, I swear! There was this instance during our game with Momo-senpai. He looked at Kaidou-senpai and they were both staring at each other so intensely! It was like they were both challenging each other through their eyes or something!" she exclaims.
Ryoma sighs, "And then?" he asks looking bored.
Meisha smirks, "Momo-senpai looked so pumped up right after their staring contest", she suddenly gets closer to Ryoma's face, "This was when I thought that the two would make a great doubles team!"
Ryoma got a little surprised that Meisha's face suddenly got so near his. He could see her sparkling eyes and her pinkish cheeks.
"Like you said, they are not the type of people that play according to their data. That's because they will surely surpass it during the match!" she exclaims with a grin, "And the most crucial ingredient for that is motivation! Both of them don't want to lose to each other so they will keep trying to outdo each other, causing them to evolve, making the data outdated!" she finishes her explanation with a big grin and a certain glint in her eyes.
Ryoma smirks and gets even closer to Meisha's face, "You talk too much", he discreetly tells her and flicks her forehead.
"OW!" Meisha cries out as she pouts and rubs her forehead, "Why do you keep doing that!" she glares at him.
Ryoma smirks, "It's fun", he says as he stands up and starts walking away.
Meisha continues to pout and glare at him.
Ryoma suddenly stops walking and turns his head to her. He must admit though that Meisha is sharp-witted and perceptive since she was able to get that much information about their seniors in a short period of time. And based on his observations, Kaidou and Momo are actually improving during the match, just like she mentioned. He also remembers what Inui told him earlier.
He smirks, "You're not bad…MANAGER", he says cheekily, emphasizing the "manager".
Meisha's eyes widen and her cheeks turn red, she was obviously caught off guard and now feels embarrassed, "Wha-What did you—" she stutters as she points her finger at Ryoma and fails to complete her sentence.
Ryoma continues to smirk at her and turns away to continue walking.
"Hey! Hold up!" Meisha yells and jogs after him looking a bit flustered.
Ryoma continues walking as he sips his juice. A few seconds later, he notices that Meisha is already walking right beside him. He glances at her a bit and sees her wearing a big smile on her face. Her cheeks look a bit red as she takes a sip from her can of juice. Ryoma smiles to himself, feeling content as the two of them walk back to their court in comfortable silence.
Yanagisawa smirks confidently as he serves the ball.
Momo runs to receive it, "Don't be concerned about them, Kaidou!" he returns the ball, "Crush them!" he yells to his partner as he starts running towards the net.
"Momo-chan-senpai is doing a return dash!" Horio exclaims excitedly.
Momo is running towards the net as the ball heads to Atsushi.
"The left side is empty!" Atsushi exclaims as he hits the ball towards the left side (Atsushi's right) of the court.
The ball goes past Momo and it heads to the back where Kaidou runs towards it.
"Kaidou-senpai!" Katsuo and Kachiro cheer out loud.
"Good work, Momoshiro-kun!" Inoue exclaims, "He left the left side empty on purpose in order to trick them to hitting the ball in that direction!"
"Kaidou-kun!" Shiba cheers on as well.
"He can do it! It's the Snake!" Kachiro exclaims out excitedly.
Mizuki stays calm with a smile on his face as he plays with his bangs, "Go right ahead", he says to himself arrogantly.
Yanagisawa and Atsushi are smirking and they look very well prepared to receive the shot.
Kaidou places his left foot forward and his right leg in the back.
"That pose!" Shiba exclaims with a surprised expression.
"That's not the Snake…" Inoue says in surprise as well.
Kaidou bends his body forward as he swings his racket towards the incoming ball.
The ball flies towards the referee's chair, it passes under his seat, it curves and heads towards the opponent court. The ball speeds past Mizuki and he looks very surprised at what happened. The ball then lands in the opponent court's left doubles alley (area between the doubles sideline and singles sideline).
Yanagisawa and Atsushi look towards the ball that bounced away. They look very surprised with their widened eyes and agape mouths.
Tezuka and Inui don't seem to look surprised but Fuji does with his mouth agape.
Overall, Mizuki looks to be the most surprised. His expression shows a little bit of distress as well.
Kaidou sighs in a sort of half content and half disappointed manner. He walks back to his previous position while tightening his bandana.
"Phew, that startled me", the referee says as he places his hand on his chest, "Oh! Advantage, receiver!" he announces.
"There it is! Boomerang Snake!" The freshmen trio looks at each other and exclaim happily.
The gathered crowd is getting rowdy as they wondered what happened and who the player is. Most of them were pretty amazed and complimented Kaidou.
"Hey, hey, it's different from the data!" Yanagisawa exclaims, "It's not the Snake at all! Are you really going to call that a legal shot?" he exclaims a bit flustered and surprised.
"What does this mean?" Atsushi asks confused and a bit surprised as well.
"We can win with this flow!" Horio exclaims excitedly.
"Yeah! It's time for a counterattack!" Kachiro exclaims happily.
"Go, Kaidou-senpai!" Katsuo and Kachiro cheer in unison.
"Wow! That was amazing!" Sakuno and Tomoka exclaim happily while holding hands and jumping.
"Mada mada dane", Ryoma's voice suddenly interrupts the happy mood.
Sakuno and Tomoka stop jumping and look towards where the source of the voice came from.
Kaidou hears this as well and looks outside the court.
"Ryoma-kun…" Sakuno discreetly says.
All eyes are on Ryoma now. He is standing a few feet away from the others with a can of grape ponta in hand.
Meisha is standing right beside him with a can of strawberry ponta in hand, "Why must you ruin such a good mood?" she sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose.
Ryoma ignores her and sips his juice with his eyes closed, "That's incomplete, right?" he asks Kaidou.
Kaidou grunts a bit as his response.
Ryoma opens his eyes and looks at him with a cocky smile, "It would have been out if it was a singles game", he says cheekily.
Kaidou nods and lifts his bandana a bit. He looks down to stare at the singles sideline. He looks to be thinking about something.
Meisha pinches Ryoma's arm and looks to be displeased.
"Ow!" Ryoma cries out as he instinctively starts rubbing the affected area and glares at Meisha, "Why did you do that?" he asks.
The others look surprised at what Meisha did.
Meisha ignores Ryoma and looks towards Kaidou who still seemed to be brooding, "Kaidou-senpai", she calls out.
Kaidou looks outside the court and has eye contact with Meisha.
Meisha gives Kaidou a big grin and a thumb up, "You're almost there, Kaidou-senpai! Keep at it!"
The freshmen (except Ryoma), Inoue, and Shiba look surprised.
Oishi, Eiji, Taka, Inui, and Fuji look at Meisha with smiles on their faces. Tezuka just nods slightly in approval.
Kaidou's eyes are wide and his cheeks a bit red.
He turns away, "Tsk, just you wait. I'll make it better than yours", he says gruffly but not with an angry tone.
Meisha smirks, "We'll have a rematch and compare them then", she challenges.
Kaidou smiles a bit and gets back into position.
Coach Ryuuzaki nods and smiles at Kaidou, "That girl always knows what to say", she says to herself.
"Oi", Ryoma calls out with a frown.
Meisha looks at him with wide questioning eyes.
"You didn't have to pinch me", he whines.
Meisha giggles, "Sorry, I couldn't help it. I was just happy that Kaidou-senpai actually paid close attention to our assessment match. It felt like you were bullying him", she says as she places both hands on her hips, "So I came to the rescue!" she looks at Ryoma with a determined expression.
Ryoma continues to frown, "I was just stating a fact"
"Oh? You sounded pretty cocky to me", Meisha says with a smirk as she folds her arms across her chest.
Ryoma smirks back at her, "It did, huh?" he says in a mocking manner, "I guess it sounded like that from all the way down there", he mocks her.
Meisha's smirk immediately turns into a frown as an anger vein appears on her forehead, "Just ONE inch taller than me!" she exclaims as she glares at Ryoma.
The freshmen trio sighs tiredly and decides to ignore the arguing pair.
"Ryoma-kun…Meisha-chan…" Sakuno sighs in disappointment.
"I'm really beginning to wonder if those two actually do get along", Tomoka says as a sweat bead rolls down the side of her face.
The seniors, ignoring the arguing freshmen, focus their attention back to the court.
"So this is why Meisha paired the two up?" Fuji asks Inui.
"Yes, that is one factor but another reason is that a certain someone will feel motivated when he sees that shot", Inui says as he lifts his glasses a bit with his index finger.
"I wonder about that", Fuji says with a smile, "Just because Momoshiro sees his rival hitting a super shot, doesn't mean he's simpleminded enough to get all pumped up…" he says and looks towards the court.
Momo glares at nowhere in particular and looks very determined, "I won't lose to that guy!" he says very determined.
"That guy IS simpleminded", Tezuka states.
"Okay, I'm convinced", Fuji says with a wide smile.
"The probability of this happening was actually 50% since Meisha and I were not exactly sure if Kaidou will do his Boomerang Snake", Inui says as he looks towards Meisha who was still arguing with Ryoma.
"But Meisha still went for it", Fuji says with a soft smile.
Inui nods and smiles, "Without even a second thought"
Tezuka seems to have smiled for a few milliseconds but no one saw it to prove it happened.
Momo exercises his right shoulder and seems to be concentrating.
Mizuki, on the other hand, looks a bit distressed as he broods.
"Boomerang Snake, huh?" Atsushi says.
"Who gave it that name?" Yanagisawa sounds a bit frustrated.
"Anyway, that Boomerang Snake's track and movement is like a lengthened version of the Snake", Atsushi states.
"Mizuki has already made us train hard enough to counter the Snake. We can beat it for sure!" Yanagisawa tries to be confident but he still looks a bit unsure.
"Now, why don't we keep heating things up?" Coach says to herself with a confident smirk.
Momo and Kaidou stare at their opponents seriously. They look ready as the sun continues to mercilessly beat down on them.
"They have been playing under this heat for a long amount of time. Both sides should have already exhausted their strengths by now", Coach says to herself with a smile, "You guys better not lose in terms of vitality"
Yanagisawa serves the ball and Kaidou runs to get it.
"It's coming! It's the Boomerang Snake!" Atsushi exclaims to his partner.
"Yeah!" Yanagisawa exclaims back as they get into position in order to counter it.
Kaidou hits the ball but it isn't the Boomerang Snake the opponents were expecting.
Yanagisawa is surprised as the ball bounces past him, "It's the Snake!" he says in a panic and looks behind him to where the ball went.
Atsushi dives for the ball and returns a lob.
"St. Rudolph is too conscious of Kaidou's Boomerang Snake!" Inoue says as he keeps his eye on the flying ball.
"Chance ball!" Shiba exclaims excitedly.
Meisha smirks, "I knew these two will make a great doubles pair. Their timing and coordination are impeccable", she says looking very impressed.
Momo runs forward towards the incoming ball.
"A lob! There's no way! I told them to be careful!" Mizuki exclaims in a frustrated manner as he stands up from his bench.
Momo jumps as high as he can.
"Wow, that's so high", Horio says looking up with his mouth agape.
Kachiro and Katsuo look surprised at how high he jumped.
"As usual, he has great timing", Tezuka says with a faint smile.
"Go, Momo-senpai!" Meisha cheers on with a big grin.
Momo hits the ball powerfully and it lands on the court with a very loud thud. The ball bounces off and flies up really high.
Tomoka, Sakuno, and Meisha watch the ball fly out of the court.
Ryoma is drinking his can of juice a few meters away from the court (outside the fence behind the opponent's court). A tennis ball hits him on the head and he flinches.
"Ow!" he cries out.
Tomoka and Sakuno were not able to see where the ball went since it was too far away already. But Meisha, having great eyesight, was vaguely able to see the ball land on Ryoma's head.
Meisha lets out a laugh, "He deserved that", she says while laughing.
Tomoka and Sakuno don't understand why she's laughing and are actually getting worried about her.
The crowd outside the court gets rowdy again as people mention how strong Seigaku is or how amazing that smash was.
"Game to Seigaku: 5 to 3", the referee announces.
"There it is! Momo-chan-senpai's Dunk Smash!" The freshmen trio exclaim in unison.
"That's no ordinary Dunk Smash", Inoue says.
"Momo-senpai ran towards the ball and used his momentum to jump forward to smash the ball", Meisha starts explaining, "The damage done by that kind of smash is bigger than when smashing it while jumping backwards", she says with a smirk.
Inoue nods at Meisha's explanation, "This is the first time I've seen such an impressive Dunk Smash", he says looking clearly impressed.
Meisha nods, "Just a bit more power and he'll be able to perform a cooler smash", she smirks.
"Wow…" the freshmen trio expresses their awe in response to what Inoue and Meisha said, "As expected from Momo-chan-senpai!" they exclaim and look at Momo with awe.
"I'm so frustrated!" Yanagisawa yells out angrily as he continuously stomps on the court ground, "We were too conscious of Kaidou's Boomerang Snake! It's so frustrating! I can't believe we led them to bring out their sure win shot!" he continues to exclaim in a frustrated manner.
Atsushi stares down at the court, "The power…" he starts to say.
"Huh?" Yanagisawa looks at Atsushi.
"It has increased", Atsushi says in a disbelieving manner as he stares at a hole Momo's smash created on the court ground.
Mizuki looks serious and seems to be analyzing the situation.
Meisha stares at Mizuki and smirks, "Got any strategies for this, jerk?" she discreetly says in a cheeky manner.
Momo lets out a breath and rotates his right shoulder. He turns his head to look towards his partner.
Kaidou is actually looking at Momo as well.
Both of them stare at each other, determined to be better than the other.
Momo turns away with a serious look, "I haven't raged enough" he starts to walk back to his position, "Not enough", he says in a determined manner.
Thank you for reading! I hope to hear from you soon! :D