Sorry for the late update! Anyway, for those who were mourning about the close end to this story, rejoice, because my cousin convinced me to continue this story even AFTER the Nationals arc. I'll be continuing Rika's sophomore year in Rikkaidai and how both herself and Kirihara kept the tennis team alive. That means that be prepared for A LOT of OCs to make their appearances. And I have a few ideas for the ending of this story, so I'll put it to the voting:
College and proposal
Marriage
Kids
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of the characters, but the OC characters belongs to me
Chapter Twenty Nine: Shitenhouji versus Rikkaidai
Match day for Rikkaidai Fuzoku against Shitenhouji Chuu shone bright and clear.
And one Echizen Rika could be found at the vending machines of the tennis arena court where the Nationals are to be held. Rikkaidai had been to watch Seigaku's match against Hyotei the previous day, and much to Hyotei's dismay…they had lost against Seigaku…again.
The final match of singles one was Atobe Keigo against Shinderui Shiki, and Rika, Yukimura, Yanagi and Kirihara were the only ones of the Rikkaidai team to turn up at Hyotei's match against Seigaku, much to the Hyotei regulars' surprise.
"Where's Marui?" asked Atobe.
The Rikkaidai players exchanged amused looks, remembering the pale and terrified look that their volley specialist had on when they announced that they'll be watching Hyotei's match since they're done with their match against some no-name school earlier.
Kirihara snickered. "He's hiding from his fan-boy," he said, jerking a thumb towards said sleeping fan-boy. "He even said that he'll rather commit suicide then come near here."
Atobe blinked as the rest of the Hyotei team tried to stifle their laughter behind their captain. It's of no secret that Akutagawa Jiroh had an unhealthy obsession with Marui Bunta of Rikkaidai to the extent when he even based his tennis off the volley specialist's.
"Oh."
Then singles one…
Rika had to bit on her lower lip and turn away so that no one can see her laughing, though the slight shaking of her shoulders gave her away. Yukimura was smiling as always, whilst Yanagi was calmly scribbling in that notebook of his. Kirihara, on the other hand…wasn't as polite as his teammates. He laughed outright at the ridiculous scene of Shinderui Shiki shaving Atobe Keigo's hair.
Though luckily for the Atobe heir, the Seigaku freshman was kind enough to shave only half of Atobe's hair. Rika had half a suspicion that Shiki did it for her since the two were friends in a way, and every school in the Kantou district that had ever played against Rikkaidai knew that Atobe is Rika's cousin.
Still, Rika could not help her lips from twitching when she approached her cousin as the Hyotei team was packing up dejectedly after their match, not being able to advance further in the Nationals. "Hey Kei," greeted Rika in a surprisingly bright voice. "Nice haircut you have. Pfft! Hahahahaha!!"
Atobe scowled as Kirihara roared into laughter behind Rika, and the rest of his team tried to stifle their laughter behind their captain.
"Will you stop laughing already, Rika?!" snapped Atobe.
"What possesses you to propose such a ridiculous bet in the first place when you knew that you have to shave your hair if you lose?" asked Rika with amusement, staring at her cousin with her hands planted on her hips.
Atobe mumbled something before turning away.
Yukimura had on his ever eternal smile, though his eyes were shining with amusement. "I would have thought that you would have learned by now, Atobe. Shinderui Shiki is extremely unpredictable. In fact, I think that the only person whom he had ever lost to in an official match is Rika."
"Hmph!"
Atobe didn't find it in himself to give an answer.
Yanagi smiled before shutting his notebook with a light clap. "Anyway, we're going for some yakiniku," he said. "Would you like to come?"
Atobe didn't answer, thus, Oshitari took it upon himself to answer. "Sure," said the Hyotei tensai, adjusting his glasses. "Atobe?"
"Hmph."
Rika who somehow managed to interpret her cousin's speech when he somehow decided to imitate some animal who communicate via grunts at this moment, turned to her teammates with an amused smile on her face.
"He means yes," she said.
But back to the present…
Earlier that morning, one of the first matches held that day was Fudomine Middle High of Tokyo versus Shitenhouji Middle High of Osaka. Marui and Rika happened to be there at their match since both were on reserve during Rikkaidai's match that morning against some no-name school, and decided to watch the match of their next opponent against the school that had played against them during the Kantou tournament's semi-finals.
It was a total defeat for Fudomine, though the one match of interest is the singles two match. Fudomine Middle High's Tachibana Kippei versus Shitenhouji Middle High's Senri Chitose. In other words, the number one and two tennis players of Kyushu region's best team back then were currently facing each other in a match.
Currently, it's noon, and the Rikkaidai team had just finished taking their lunch at the nearby cafeteria of the arena tennis court, and Rika was currently at the vending machine with Kirihara, the two youngest of the tennis team wanting a drink before they faced off against Shitenhouji later on in the afternoon.
"You two over there!" A voice heavily accented with the Osaka accent caused both Kirihara and Rika to turn only to see a redheaded boy wearing Shitenhouji's regular jersey with a tiger-print shirt beneath and black shorts, a bag slung over his shoulder where a tennis racquet was vaguely visible. "Are you from Rikkaidai?"
Kirihara and Rika exchanged confused looks. "You are?"
"I'm Toyama Kintarou!" chirped the boy, walking towards them with his hands placed behind his head. "Nice to meet you!"
'Toyama Kintarou?' mused Rika. 'Didn't Yanagi-sempai say something about Shitenhouji having a freshman regular as well?'
"You're…" Kintarou looked at Rika who was sipping from a can of grape Ponta. "…Koshimae, right?"
Rika nearly spit out her grape Ponta, staring incredulously at Kintarou. Koshimae?! What the hell?! Her name is Echizen, for kami-sama's sake! Is his Japanese really that bad?
Kintarou either missed Rika's incredulous look and Kirihara's amused look as he continued on. "You're really strong, right? Want a match with me right now?"
"No way," said Rika before turning on her heel and walking off. "Let's go, sempai."
"Hold on, Koshimae! Have a match with me!"
Rika twitched as she stopped in her spot, ready to deck the annoying boy who simply does not know when to give up when another voice heavily accented with the Osaka accent interrupted her thoughts.
"Hold on, Kintarou!"
A boy – a third year, by the looks of things – grabbed Kintarou by the neck of his jacket, stopping him in his tracks. The third year had light brown hair with hazel eyes, and he even had bandages covering his arm…for some reason…
"What the hell?!" whined Kintarou before turning and getting nervous at the sight of the third year whom Rika assumed was the captain of the team. "Oh. Shiraishi."
"What are you doing?" asked Shiraishi with exasperation. "It's almost show time."
"But, look at that!" said Kintarou with excitement, pointing a finger towards Rika. "It's the one that Kenya was talking about! The rumoured female freshman regular of the Kantou region!"
"So it really is," said Shiraishi with amusement at his kouhai's excitement, walking towards Rika and Kirihara. "The one that came back from America…Echizen, right?"
Rika sighed and Kirihara grinned.
"Since I've come all the way to Tokyo, I really want to fight you," said Kintarou, walking towards Rika and standing by his captain's side. "Shiraishi! Can't we do a mock match on an open court somewhere?"
"No."
"I'll do it."
"You can't."
"I will!"
Shiraishi's eyes narrowed dangerously just then, reminding both watching Rikkaidai regulars of Yukimura.
"You leave me with no choice," said the Shitenhouji captain solemnly, pushing back part of his jacket's sleeve on his bandaged arm, causing Kintarou to freeze up in fear.
"What're you gonna do with your hand?" asked Kintarou weakly.
"Do I have a choice? You don't want to listen. Right, Kintarou?"
"Wait, time out!" said Kintarou, waving his arms about frantically. "Not dokushu. I don't want to die yet!" He wailed. "I read in a manga that dokushu is when you alternate between shoving your hand in burnt sand and poison, and that anyone who touches that hand will die after two weeks of painful suffering."
(A/N: The kanji for 'dokushu' is poison hand, but it actually means underhanded or tricky)
The Shitenhouji captain looked on solemnly, but Rika was not fooled as she could see the amusement dancing in Shiraishi's eyes, and that he was barely holding his laughter in.
"Do you want to die, Kin-chan?"
"I don't! I don't!"
"That's right, Kin-chan," said Shiraishi, bounding the bandages back on his hand, much to Kintarou's relief. "Even if you don't play your match now, if you wait, we'll play against Rikkaidai where Koshimae is in."
Rika's eye twitched dangerously. Is her name that difficult to remember?
"Really?!"
"Really."
"Alright! That's what we'll do then!" said Kintarou with excitement before running off, waving to Rika as he did so. "Koshimae, I'll see you later!"
"It seems he created quite a ruckus," said Shiraishi, bounding the bandages on his arm.
"Dokushu?" repeated Kirihara, confused. "What's that?"
Shiraishi smirked. "If I don't make up lies like that one, I can't control the blockhead," he explained. "See you in the match later." He waved to the two, walking away.
Silence.
"They're weird," said Rika, and Kirihara agreed with her.
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Two Hours Later:
"Alright, it's finally time," said Yukimura, the match line-ups form in his hand. "I'll now announce the match line-ups against Shitenhouji." The rest of the team nodded, and Yukimura glanced at the form. "First up is singles three. Sanada, get that win." The vice-captain grunted. "After that is doubles two. Marui and Jackal, I'm counting on you." The doubles pair nodded and Marui grinned, popping a bubblegum. "Then singles two. Niou, you're in singles this time." The Trickster nodded, grinning. "Then doubles one." Yukimura glanced at the match line-ups form before looking up. "If it's alright with you guys, I'll be playing in doubles one with Yanagi."
The rest of the team blinked. "Huh?!"
"Is it because of the coach?" asked Yanagi, flipping through his notebook. "I heard that Senri Chitose dropped out of the tennis team after his match with Tachibana Kippei of Fudomine. But knowing Osamu Watanabe…the coach of Shitenhouji Chuu…he'll most likely put his ace in doubles two, since that's the way he is…especially if he predicted that Shitenhouji will most likely lose the first two matches. In other words, Senri Chitose will most definitely be in doubles ones."
Yukimura nodded. "As always, you read my mind," he said. "You don't mind, do you, Yanagi? Since I doubt that there will be a chance of you actually playing at all."
Yanagi shook his head. "I don't mind," he said. "It gives me the chance to get some good data as well."
The team sighed, and Yukimura chuckled before returning to the announcing of the match line-ups. "Well, back to the business on hand," he said, glancing at the match line-ups form. "Singles one…" He glanced at Rika. "It'll most likely be a super rookie battle, Rika. That freshman is not to be underestimated. He's probably as good as Seigaku's Shinderui."
"I know," said Rika.
Niou frowned. "But we have to play all the matches, right?" he asked, and Yukimura nodded. "Then who will be our most likely opponents?"
Yanagi flipped through his notebook.
"Let's see…"
With Shitenhouji:
"…singles three, Shiraishi. Doubles two, Koharu and Hitouji. Singles two, Gin-san. Doubles one, Kenya and Zaizen-kun. And singles one, Kin—"
"Wait for me, Koshimae!"
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"We will now commence the match. Kanagawa representatives, Rikkaidai Fuzoku versus Osaka representatives, Shitenhouji Chuu. The first match is singles three. Rikkaidai's Sanada Genichirou versus Shitenhouji's Shiraishi Kuranosuke. Both players, please step forth."
The remaining players from both schools headed up to the bleachers where they could get a good view of the match, whilst both third year players from Rikkaidai and Shitenhouji respectively stepped up to the net, grasping each other's hands in a brief handshake.
"Shitenhouji's captain…" said Rika slowly, watching the Shitenhouji captain as Yukimura settled down in his place as bench coach. "What's he like?"
The entire team turned towards Yanagi who was watching both Sanada and Shiraishi solemnly. "You can't underestimate him, that's for sure," said the data specialist. "Last year, Shitenhouji suffered a straight loss to Rikkaidai. Because of that, the sophomore who had just became captain didn't get a chance to play in singles one. His opponent back then is Yukimura, thus, both teams didn't get to see their captains' skill. In other words, Shiraishi Kuranosuke's skills are still shrouded in mystery."
Rika who was watching both her vice-captain and Shitenhouji's captain frowned a little as she studied the frowns on both their faces. "Apparently, neither one of them expected to go up against each other as well," she said. "This is a match of uncertainties for them."
"Koshimae!!"
Blinking, all Rikkaidai players…even Shitenhouji and both players on the courts, along with the referee, turned towards the person who had shouted who turned out to be none other than Toyama Kintarou who was shouting at the top of his lungs and waving both his arms like flags at Rika.
"Let's meet in singles one, Koshimae!!!"
Rika twitched dangerously and crushed the can of grape Ponta in her hand, flattening the poor can. Those from the Shitenhouji side winced at Rika's death glare towards their oblivious freshman who had a super low IQ. If looks could kill, Toyama Kintarou will be dead a hundred times over.
"Who does he think he is calling 'Koshimae'?" growled Rika.
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Shitenhouji lost to Rikkaidai in singles three with 7-6, though like what Sanada told Yukimura and the rest of the team later after his match, it's a very close one as the Shitenhouji captain is nearly as good as Sanada or even Tezuka. Sanada himself only won through sheer luck, and if Lady Luck had been smiling on Shiraishi, he would have won this match.
Then doubles two…Marui Bunta and Jackal Kuwahara versus Koharu Konjiki and Yuuji Hitouji.
"What are the doubles two players like, Yanagi-sempai?" asked Kirihara, turning towards Yanagi who flipped through his notebook.
The data specialist had what seemed like an amused smile on his face before closing his notebook. "Let's just say that they're players with abilities that Marui and Jackal had never faced before. And if they lose concentration, they'll lose."
"Huh?"
Marui and Jackal were currently on the courts, the former blinking in confusion at the empty side of the court opposite them. "The opponents aren't around?" asked Marui in confusion.
"Hi there!"
Marui and Jackal took a few steps backwards by instinct, sweat dropping at the sight of their opponents before them, and if Jackal did not have as much composure as he did, he would have dropped his tennis racquet.
Their opponents both had on what seemed like…wigs on their heads, and both were…dancing?
"We're the Koharu and Hitouji pair!"
"Oi…oi…" Kirihara muttered, his eyes wide in disbelief at this sight.
Yagyuu smirked, pushing his glasses up his nose and Niou snorted in amusement. "Here they are," said the Trickster. "Last year's Comedy Pair."
"'Comedy Pair'?" Rika and Kirihara echoed, looking at Niou.
The Trickster grinned. "Well, Marui and Jackal didn't play in last year's Nationals, so this is their first time facing against those two," said Niou thoughtfully. He then looked at Kirihara and Rika and grinned, motioning towards the court with his chin. "Watch and you'll know."
"What are you two doing?" asked Marui with a frown before a sudden thought struck him, recalling having accidentally picked up Kevin's collection of yaoi manga during team training once, and he blanched, staring at the two before him. "Could it be…g-g-ga…—"
Koharu turned towards Marui, his glasses glinting. "Your observation skills are indeed sharp, kid," he said, and somewhere behind Marui and Jackal, Kirihara was muttering, "Who are you calling a kid when you're not much older than them?"
"Our coach ordered us to never leave each other's side."
"Ever since we became a pair, we had to be together even during our personal time," said Hitouji, and both Marui and Jackal were looking quite sick at all the touching that the doubles pair before them were doing…along with the entire Rikkaidai team behind them in the bleachers.
"We're always together. To the point where we can almost predict each other's next moves. You can say that we have an endless potential for playing doubles."
Rika was looking quite green at this point in time. "I think I'm going to be sick…" she muttered.
From beside her, Kirihara was looking the same. "Me too," he muttered.
Kevin laughed.
"You can say that we're the perfect example of 'one mind, two bodies'! Right, coach?"
"Eh?!" Osamu blinked in confusion from his position as bench coach. "I've said those words before?"
Marui was the first up to serve, and he was twitching as he bounced the ball against the court repeatedly. "What's up with those guys?" he muttered. "Also, it's against the rules to wear a wig, right?"
"The Brazilian bald guy looks like a good guy," cooed Koharu in a way that made Rika paled two shades further, and Jackal to blink in confusion. "Lock on!"
"W-What did you say?!"
"How flirtatious! Do you want me to kill you?!"
"…they're both making me sick."
Yagyuu sighed. "So even Jackal can get affected by them," he said. "I won't be surprised if they lose this. Our sempais nearly did last year."
Sanada grunted. "It'd better not come to that," he said.
Several ticks appeared on Marui's head, and he twitched dangerously. "Can you take that afro off?!"
"Please help me take it off," said Koharu, making kissy motions and waggling towards Jackal's direction who took several steps backwards by instinct, "Brazilian-kun."
Marui twitched. "He pisses me off!" he growled before serving a particularly powerful Twist Serve, courtesy of Rika, and the force of the spin was enough to force the afro off, only to reveal…
"Another wig?!"
"Is that kind of thing even legal?" muttered Kirihara, looking sicker by the minute.
"The joker always wins."
"How can you talk about our main strategy?!"
Marui was twitching uncontrollably before he got ready to serve. As he threw the ball in the air, he twitched as he saw Koharu disappeared behind Hitouji. 'Pile mirage?!' He thought in shock, having only seen this formation with Hyotei's Shishido and Ohtori pair during their match against Seigaku that Yanagi had captured on tape.
"Thousand-armed Kannon."
Marui twitched and the ball fell on his head.
"What are you doing, Marui?!" Jackal shouted to the redhead volley player. "Don't get bamboozled by them!"
"…sorry."
"40-30! Rikkaidai leads!"
"Enough with that!" Marui growled, getting in a stance that Rikkaidai had only seen once.
"Oops. Marui's snapped," said Niou.
"He's going to use Tornado Spin," said Rika before frowning. "But his version is not completed yet."
"Can it be returned?" asked Kirihara.
"Even an uncompleted one is difficult to return. But in Bunta's current state…"
Marui growled as he returned the shot with full force, the ball spinning like a tornado.
"There it is! Tornado Spin!"
"Give me a break. Isn't this the same as a gyro spin?" muttered Koharu. Niou and Rika stiffened as they focused on Koharu. "The spin axis with a 45 degree entry angle, and it's sudden backspin can be attributed to the strength. That means that this shot will have little to no air resistance. This ball is 0.02 percent faster than a straight ball. Distance is 81.3506437492 meters. This is the basis of the Tornado Spin."
Marui's eyes widened in shock.
"When you first hear it, it just sounds like a bunch of random crap," said Shiraishi. "But Koharu's calculations are more accurate than that of a report." He smirked. "Better than that of Yanagi-kun's. His IQ is 200, which means that he's a genius."
"15-30!"
Marui panted, wiping the sweat off his brow on his wristband. "He returned my Tornado Spin?!" he muttered in disbelief. "Even if it is uncompleted…"
"Even if you cannot judge a book by it's cover," muttered Yanagi. "To be able to immediately see the Tornado Spin's gyro spin's scientific data…of date, only Niou and Rika are able to do that, with their observation ability."
"But whether it is scientific or not, it is a rather delicate subject," said Niou, resting his chin on his palm.
"He plays a stronger data tennis than Yanagi?" asked Jackal, eyeing the two doubles players in front of them.
"Then is pretending to be gay also part of their plan?" wondered Marui.
"We did it, Yuu-kun!" Koharu hugged Hitouji.
"Koharu!"
Marui's face turned greener than the bubblegum that he was chewing. "N-No way."
"Marui Bunta-kun."
Both doubles players turned towards Koharu who had a suspicious glint in his eyes. "Rikkaidai Fuzoku, year three, class five. Born on 20th of April, which means that you are a Taurus. Your interests are chewing bubblegum and eating cakes."
Marui was blushing as red as his hair to hear his entire history being recited out in front of everyone else. "Are you a stalker or something?!"
"When you're in sixth grade and living in America before you moved to Japan during seventh grade, you harboured a crush on your childhood friend, Echizen Rika-kun then—"
"H-H-How do you know about that?!"
Kirihara gulped as he felt the dark aura that his buchou was emanating. "Uh oh. Yukimura-buchou doesn't look too happy…" He muttered.
"Your shoes are this year's model. The product ID code is PD0634."
"…a hidden stalker?"
"Game! Rikkaidai Fuzoku! 2-1!"
Yagyuu sighed as he pushed his glasses up his nose as Marui and Jackal took a quick break as it was half-time. "Seriously, what are you two going to do if you continue playing at your opponent's pace?" he asked. "Even if you managed to take two games against them so far, it wasn't easy, was it?"
Marui grunted.
Rika sighed. "What is it with the grunts today?" she snapped. "Kevin greeted me with a grunt this morning. Sanada-fukubuchou greeted us with a grunt when we met up at the arena tennis courts. And Bunta, you're answering me with a grunt as well. Seriously…are you all trying to imitate Sanada-fukubuchou or something?"
"Marui."
Marui stiffed as he turned his head slowly to the side to see Yukimura smiling his angelic smile at Marui, but there's something off about this smile. It looks scarier…more like the devil's smile…
"Y-Yes?"
"Lose against them and you'll see Hell."
"Game and match! Game won by Rikkaidai's Marui-Jackal pair! Six games to two!"
Marui sighed as he collapsed onto the bleachers, gulping down half a bottle of water to quench his thirst whilst Jackal was panting next to him.
"I'm never playing against them again," he stated.
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And so, singles two was Niou against Ishida Gin.
Niou nearly broke his wrist against Gin, and Yukimura was starting to think that it's a bad idea to pit Niou against Gin in a power showdown until he used a type of footwork familiar to all Rikkaidai players and turned Gin's power against him, hereby clinching the match at 6-4.
Doubles one was Yukimura and Yanagi against Oshitari Kenya and…Senri Chitose.
The match barely lasted ten minutes before Rikkaidai won at 6-2, though all of Rikkaidai knew that Yukimura's real tennis wasn't shown at all. Oshitari Kenya nearly passed out in shock when he tried to interfere in the match between Yukimura and Chitose until he decided to take Yanagi's advice.
And finally…
"The final match of Kanagawa's Rikkaidai Fuzoku versus Osaka's Shitenhouji Chuu will start now. The match of singles one. Rikkaidai Fuzoku's Echizen Rika versus Shitenhouji Chuu's Toyama Kintarou. Both players, please step forth."
Kintarou leapt onto the courts with a happy shout, nearly bouncing with glee to his side of the court. Both Rikkaidai and Shitenhouji's sides looked towards Rika to see her getting up from her seat and unzipping her regular jacket calmly, shrugging it off before taking up her racquet and leaping over the railings and walking towards the court.
It's the first time ever since the Nationals had begun that she's playing as a singles player. It's the start of her debut.
A/N: Sorry to leave you hanging at a cliff hanger. I'll appreciate it if someone can describe what Kintarou's tennis style and moves are so that I'll be able to better write the next match. As for some Yukimura/Rika moments…you'll get it next chapter after the end of Rika and Kintarou's match.
I hope that you like this chapter and please read and review!
