OK, I went on a longer mental vacation than I thought. I guess winter holidays do make you very lazy to the point where you really have to arse yourself to start writing again. Sorry for the wait. Here's the next chapter.
Chapter 37: Seishundai Tennis Club
Ayame ran up to the building and met the freshmen there.
"Ah, Kanna-san! Ohayo!" Kachirou greeted.
"Ohayo, Horio, Kato, Mizuno..." Ayame greeted back.
"Eh? Ryoma-kun isn't with you?" Katsuo asked.
"No, I just made my way here after I got your message earlier," Ayame replied.
I don't wanna go through the trouble of dragging his lazy ass out of his bed... Ayame thought. I waste five minutes of my life just to get him to move...
"Is Echizen gonna be late again?" Horio asked.
"I'm sure of it," Ayame said with a resigned sigh.
Ayame heard footsteps and looked over to see Sakuno and Tomoka coming up.
"Oh, you invited Ryuzaki and Osakada as well?" Ayame asked, hiding her disdain upon seeing the latter mentioned, as she recalled the treatment Tomoka gave her for her first few days of school.
"Yeah, it'd be more fun!" Kachirou replied.
"Eh? Where's Ryoma-sama?" Tomoka asked.
"He's still not here," Horio answered.
"Kanna-san, do you know where Ryoma-sama would be?" Tomoka asked.
"I'd imagine that he's still snoozing his ass off right now," Ayame answered. "Unless by some strange miracle he's actually awake right now... and that strange miracle is today."
"Eh?! You know that he's awake?!" the Freshman Trio shouted in unison.
"No, I was just messing with you guys," Ayame replied, causing all the freshmen to pratfall. "But considering the hour right now, let's just say that the lazy bastard is still sleeping."
"Ryoma-sama is not a lazy bastard!" Tomoka defended. "Ryoma-sama is just tired from practicing tennis!"
Ayame sighed. "You want to see him that badly? Fine, I'll call him."
Ryoma faintly heard the sounds of his cell phone ringing. He drowsily reached for his cell phone and picked up. "Hello...?"
"Why the hell are you still sleeping, bastard?!" Ayame's voice boomed, startling him. "Get up and get your ass over here already!"
"Over where...?" Ryoma yawned.
"Don't ask me that!" Ayame continued. "You were supposed to come down to the Seishundai Tennis Club today! Now get over here already or you'll owe me a week's worth of Ponta!"
Ayame groaned in frustration as she hung up, oblivious to the stares of confusion at her. She began muttering under her breath. "He better not say it again…"
"D-do you always yell at Ryoma-kun like that, K-Kanna-san?" Sakuno asked.
"Yes, whenever I find out that he hasn't woken up yet," Ayame replied. "Or when he pisses me off on purpose for his entertainment."
"His entertainment...?" Sakuno repeated.
"You think his opponents are the only people he pisses off?" Ayame asked. "Then you're wrong. In fact, that bastard LOVES to make me angry at him, and that's what makes him a bastard!"
"I think... I'm starting to get the reason why she talks like as if Ryoma-kun is the worst person she's ever known..." Katsuo said.
"Doesn't it seem like she actually likes him?" Horio asked.
"But Kanna-san said that she doesn't like Ryoma-kun..." Kachirou pointed out.
"But they both hang out every day," Horio pointed out.
"They do hang out every day, but do you notice that Kanna-san doesn't care if Ryoma-kun is alone with another girl?" Kachirou asked.
"Oi, I can hear you three's conversation!" Ayame called, interrupting them.
How could she hear from all the way over there?! the three boys thought in unison, considering that they had lowered their voices to speak privately.
"For the last time, Ryoma and I are not going out," Ayame said, her voice full of venom. "We're just friends and practice partners and former next-door neighbors who know each other for seven years. But anyways, about Ryoma... He might not be here until way later, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was taking his sweet time while doing so. So what do you guys wanna do while we wait?"
"How about play some tennis?" Katsuo suggested.
"Yeah, well... you guys aren't at my level yet..." Ayame said, trying not to sound blunt.
"Kanna-san, why don't you teach us some tennis?" Kachirou asked.
"I've never taught tennis before..." Ayame admitted. "I might not be that great..."
"You should teach so you can show me how to use the Twist Serve!" Horio said.
"Don't even think about it," Ayame said. "And besides, I never intended to learn the Twist Serve, it was kinda rubbed onto me... since it was like a signature Echizen technique, and I was learning tennis under them back then, and... yeah. I really don't have anything to teach, but I'll hit with you a little if you wanna practice."
Ayame tied her hair back. "Oh, Ryuzaki, you're in the girls' tennis club, right?"
"Eh? Yes," Sakuno answered.
"Do you want to hit a little?" Ayame asked.
Sakuno hesitated. She wasn't sure if Ayame was trying to play around with her, as she remembered the numerous times that Ayame teased her. On the other hand, though, Ayame's level of tennis is advanced. If she could learn from Ayame, then maybe she could play some actual tennis with Ryoma. And this time, Ayame looked pretty serious about her offer.
"Yes! A-arigatou!" Sakuno answered.
The six children got onto an empty court.
"Don't worry," Ayame assured them. "I won't go all-out, so just relax and play normally."
Ayame rallied with Kachirou, Katsuo, Horio, and then Sakuno. She took turns playing them until she eventually went to grab a water bottle from her bag. As she reached down into the bag, she suddenly paused.
"What's wrong, Kanna?" Horio called.
Ayame gave no response, so the freshmen ran over to her.
"Sorry, I was just going down memory lane for a while there," she said as they came close. "It's because of this… this was back when we were "innocent" children."
She pulled out an old photo of three smiling young children sitting in a line under an orange tree from her bag. There were two boys and a girl. One of the boys was older than the other two, and the other two looked as though they were the same age. The older boy was sitting on the left side, the younger boy was on the middle, and the girl was on the right.
The older boy was holding a blue racket in his right and an orange in his left, and he had black, green-tinted hair. He wore an orange shirt with a stripe pattern on it and green shorts. He had black, green-tinted hair and hazel eyes.
The younger boy resembled the older boy, the only exception being the eyes being a more gold color. He wore a familiar white Fila cap, in addition to a white shirt with blue overalls. He held a tennis ball with his right hand and a red tennis racket in his left hand.
The girl had her black hair tied back in a ponytail, and she had startlingly light blue eyes. She wore a pink dress, and she held a purple tennis racket in her right.
"Is that boy in the middle Echizen?" Horio asked.
"That's right," Ayame answered. "That's Ryoma. If I remember correctly, he was six in that picture, and I was five."
"Kyaa! Ryoma-sama is so cute!" Tomoka squealed.
So this is Ryoma-kun when he was six… Sakuno thought as a fuzzy feeling began to fall on her.
"Who's the older one in this picture?" Kachirou asked.
"Ryoga," Ayame replied. "Ryoma's aniki Ryoga. I remember that Rinko-san wanted to take this picture under this tree here because the three of us always ate oranges together. Including the ones that we stole. Almost every day, we would go and steal the neighbors' oranges. Whenever we got caught, Ryoma and Ryoga would create a diversion that would buy me enough time to steal the remainder of the oranges before we ran away… since I ran faster than them and was good at sneaking around. The neighbors complained to Rinko-san, but she didn't stop us from stealing more."
"Rinko-san?" Sakuno asked.
"Ryoma's mom," Ayame explained, then continued her story. "We stopped stealing oranges after Ryoga left us. The neighbors never knew that was the reason, but they were relieved that we stopped invading their property. I didn't know the reason myself until I thought about it years later. It was Ryoma and Ryoga who dragged me into stealing oranges with them, but I didn't want to, because I knew it was wrong. But they managed to trick me into doing it, and it wasn't until after our theft when I realized I did wrong. But it was fun, so I decided to do some more stealing with them. I get the feeling that Ryoga influenced Ryoma into doing it."
"What was Ryoga-san like?" Katsuo asked.
"Ryoga was really cool and he acted as the leader," Ayame answered. "He's also very arrogant, just like Ryoma and his dad. He likes to call Ryoma "Chibisuke," and he likes to call me "Ay-chan." He was good at making people mad, and he liked to tease me or Ryoma… mostly Ryoma, though."
"Ryoga-san is good at tennis too, right?" Kachirou asked.
"You're right," Ayame answered. "He's way better than me or Ryoma."
"What happened to Ryoma-kun when he had to leave?" Sakuno asked.
"Ahhh…" Ayame sighed, not wanting to talk about it. "Ryoma couldn't stop crying for a few days. I wanted to do something for him because I couldn't stand to watch him cry. Since he holed himself up in his bedroom, I tried to get him to play with me to make him feel better. But he wouldn't leave his room, and one day he just went cold on me."
Ayame shut her eyes, recalling that moment when Ryoma had turned around and glared at her, almost causing her to cry. It had hurt her to see him give her that cold stare for the very first time, and she had yelled one word that she would call him for possibly the rest of her life: bastard.
"Kanna-san?" a voice brought Ayame out of her thoughts.
"Oh, sorry," Ayame said as she snapped back to reality. "Well, enough of me, Ryoma, and Ryoga. Let's continue."
Ayame put away the photo, walked back to the court, and continued playing. While playing, she picked up the sound of footsteps and turned her head. "It's about time you showed up, Koshimae!"
Upon hearing that, Ryoma did a pratfall.
"Koshimae?" Tomoka repeated.
"That's what Shitenhouji's strange kid calls Ryoma," Ayame explained. "It's because he misreads the kanji in Ryoma's name."
"Doesn't she mean Shitenhouji's Tooyama Kintaro?" Katsuo asked.
"Kanna is bad with names..." Horio said.
"Now are you gonna get your ass down here or what?!" Ayame called to Ryoma, pretending to not hear what Katsuo and Horio said.
Ryoma climbed down the steps and got into the court to join the freshmen. "Chiisu. Ayame, don't call me by that name."
Ayame clapped her hands against her ears as Tomoka began shouting. "Ryoma-sama! Do your best!"
"Why is Kanna-san looking like as if Osakada-san's shouting is hurting her badly?" Kachirou wondered.
"Ayame's hearing is very sharp, so she can't handle loud noises next to her," Ryoma explained in an undertone to the Freshman Trio.
"Anyway, now that you're finally here, you wanna go?" Ayame asked after Tomoka quieted down.
"Fine by me," Ryoma replied.
All the other freshmen were immediately silenced by the heavy tension created in the air caused by Ayame and Ryoma. Ryoma and Ayame got onto one of the courts and they began rallying normally.
"Is that how they play their matches together...?" Katsuo wondered.
"It just looks like they're just rallying..." Sakuno remarked.
Finally, at some point Ayame caught the ball in her hand rather than returning it. "Is this good enough?"
"It's fine," Ryoma replied. "Which?"
"Rough."
The racket landed on rough. Without exchanging any words, Ryoma picked up his racket and showed Ayame what the result was. Ayame prepared to serve. Before she did, though, she and her best friend both activated Tenimuhou no Kiwami at the same time.
"What is that?" Tomoka asked.
"Tenimuhou no Kiwami," Kachirou answered.
"That was what Ryoma-kun used to win the Nationals, but I didn't know that Kanna-san could use it too," Katsuo said.
"So which one of them will win?" Horio asked.
"It's going to be Ryoma-sama!" Tomoka declared.
"But I heard from the senpai-tachi that Ryoma-kun and Kanna-san sometimes tie when they play seriously like this..." Katsuo said. "They said they've never seen it themselves, but that's from what Inui-senpai heard from Rikkaidai's Yanagi-san."
"Why were they rallying earlier, and then they're playing a match now?" Tomoka asked.
"No idea," Sakuno replied.
"It's starting!" Kachirou announced.
Ayame tossed the ball and swung her racket. The instant she began swinging, Ryoma immediately began moving. Ayame reacted just as quickly when Ryoma began swinging.
"Wh-what?" Horio said, confused.
"Wow... they're so fast..." Katsuo remarked, awed.
"I... can't see the ball at all..." Sakuno said in a hopeless tone.
"Is this how Ryoma-kun and Kanna-san play together...?" Kachirou wondered.
After watching the high speed rally for some time, eventually the ball suddenly appeared on Ayame's side of the court.
"0-15!" Ryoma declared.
Ayame served again, and their rally began again. After sometime had passed, the ball appeared on Ayame's side again, and at almost that instant, an audible "che" was heard from Ryoma.
"Out!" Ayame declared. "15-15!"
"They could tell if the ball was in or out?!" Horio cried.
"I couldn't tell at all..." Kachirou said.
"I could only see the ball when it's behind Ryoma-kun or Kanna-san..." Katsuo said.
The games went by in a blur as the two got into a tiebreak. The score eventually made it to the 200's before suddenly the aura around Ayame dissipated as the ball flew to her side.
No! she thought, realizing that she reached her limit. I just need to score one more and I'll get another win off of him!
Ayame felt her legs giving in as she began to fall. Her right leg failed her first, and with a last, desperate attempt, she pushed off the ground with the last of her strength in her left leg and swung her racket. Her racket made contact with the ball and it began flying over to Ryoma's side, shocking him. The ball hit the ground, landing a little bit outside of the court slightly past the line.
"Damn..." Ayame swore as she hit the ground.
"Out... 204-204..." Ryoma declared in a weak voice.
"Ryoma-sama!" Tomoka screamed.
Ayame looked up to see that the aura around Ryoma had disappeared, and he was wobbling. He then suddenly collapsed onto the ground.
"Ryoma-kun! Kanna-san!" Kachirou cried.
Ayame stared at Ryoma, waiting for any signs of movement from him. Before she could open her mouth, she heard the sound of running footsteps. She looked up to see Tomoka and Sakuno running to Ryoma.
"Ryoma-kun, are you alright?" Sakuno asked.
Ryoma didn't move. Ayame was sure he fainted until she heard him speak. "Don't... get on the court..."
"Eh?" Tomoka was confused.
"Don't... come onto the court if... a game is in progress..." Ryoma managed to say as he began pushing himself up.
Ayame's eyes widened. He didn't fall asleep this time?!
"But..." Sakuno started.
Ayame began pushing herself up when she noticed Ryoma was doing so. She felt her legs give in again as she fell back down. She looked over to see that Ryoma was still standing.
"Get off... the court..." Ryoma panted to Tomoka and Sakuno.
The two girls reluctantly obeyed. Ayame stared back up at Ryoma, and realized that since he was still standing, he will win the match. But before she could say anything, Ryoma suddenly collapsed again.
He tried to stand long enough to make this match his win, but he didn't have enough strength left for it... she thought.
"This match... is over..." Ayame panted. "We tied... again..."
Ayame began crawling over to Ryoma's side of the court. No one made a move to help her. She lifted up Ryoma's head.
"Not again!" she groaned.
"Echizen passed out?!" Horio called.
Ayame wanted to call back, but she lacked the energy to raise her voice. Instead she beckoned to the freshmen, who got up and walked over.
"He didn't... just pass out..." she panted. "He... fell asleep..."
"What should we do?!" Tomoka asked, somewhat panicked that Ryoma had passed out right there on the court.
"Ryoma-kun..." Sakuno muttered.
Ayame attempted to stand up again, but she fell back down.
"Don't push yourself, Kanna-san!" Kachirou said.
"Ahhh..." Ayame sighed. "Now he's gone and done it again..."
"You mean Ryoma-kun falls asleep like that when he ties with you?!" Katsuo asked Ayame in shock.
"Un," Ayame answered.
"How do you deal with him if he does that while you're out of energy?" Horio asked.
"I wait until I can stand again..." Ayame replied. "Then I carry him out."
"You carry Ryoma-sama?!" Tomoka asked, her expression full of horror and envy.
"What else can I do?" Ayame asked. "Most of our matches were when we were in America together with only the two of us looking after each other. If I leave that bastard lying there on the ground, his long lost relative is gonna kill me."
"Long lost relative...?" Kachirou and Katsuo repeated, confused.
"Are you both in Synchro or what?!" Ayame demanded. "Anyway, I was just kidding. You really thought I just take him back home just because I want my life spared and I didn't care? Get this bastard's corpse onto one of the benches."
"Kanna-san…" Kachirou started, sweat dropping.
"Ryoma-kun isn't dead…" Katsuo finished, sweat dropping.
The Freshman Trio took to moving Ryoma onto the bench while Ayame waited until she regained enough strength to stand.
"Damn... what are we supposed to do if we keep tying like this?" she groaned. "This is like our 30th tie already!"
"You and Echizen tied 30 times?!" Horio cried in shock.
"Yeah, well, not all of them ended up like just now..." Ayame replied. "About 11 ties, Ryoma didn't fall asleep. As of now we have 49 wins and 49 losses."
But it almost seems like as if the tennis God doesn't want anyone to see me or Ryoma win... Ayame thought. Every time we played a serious match with an audience watching, we tie. But then again, we've been tying a lot lately... I guess it's because we both want the 50th win badly. Putting that aside, Ryoma was able to stand a little longer... That means I need some more serious work on my stamina!
"Kanna-san, that means you and Ryoma-kun played 128 matches?" Sakuno asked.
"I suppose, if you don't count any of the times we played before we started keeping count," Ayame answered.
"Why were you and Ryoma-sama rallying before you started the match?" Tomoka asked.
"We needed to warm up first," Ayame replied. "We don't need to injure ourselves before our match."
"Ah, that's what Ryoma-kun did here when he was playing against Sasabe!" Kachirou exclaimed.
"Played against who?" Ayame asked.
"There was a guy named Sasabe who had a bad attitude that Echizen played against and defeated," Horio explained. "It happened right here on this same court. Echizen didn't tell you?"
"No, Ryoma doesn't tell me any stories of what he was doing here on this country before I moved here," Ayame said. "Unless I ask him, of course, but other than that, he doesn't say a word."
She then got up and began walking out of the court.
"Where are you going, Kanna-san?" Katsuo asked.
"To buy some Ponta," Ayame answered without looking back or slowing down.
She left the courts and eventually came back, holding two cans of Ponta. One was a cherry flavor, and the other was a grape flavor.
"You're not thinking about drinking both of those yourself, are you?" Horio asked Ayame.
"Of course not!" Ayame answered sternly. "The other one's for Ryoma... when he wakes up, that is. Who knows how long it'll be until then."
She put the grape Ponta on Ryoma's bag, and then she took out a packed egg sandwich from her bag. "I guess it's about time for lunch now."
"I brought lunch for everyone too!" Tomoka showed her backpack. "But Ryoma-sama fainted so he can't eat my lunch yet..."
Disappointment quickly came onto Tomoka's face.
"What do you normally eat for lunch, Kanna?" Horio asked.
"An egg sandwich or some rice balls I make... or some toast," Ayame answered. "My dad's always busy so I have to make my own lunch."
"Why are there two egg sandwiches?" Kachirou asked as Ayame grabbed a second one from her bag.
"That's just in case Ryoma wants one," Ayame replied. "He likes egg sandwiches, so I always make two whenever I'm gonna hang out with him around lunchtime."
I didn't know he liked egg sandwiches until that time. That time, it was the first time I brought an egg sandwich at school for lunch break, and Ryoma really wanted it... Ayame thought, grinning at the memory. He kept giving me that pleading look, so I surrendered it to him. From then on, I took the time out to learn how to make one, so now I make two, one for myself, and one for him in case he wants one.
The freshmen went ahead and had lunch. After they finished, Ayame rallied with Sakuno and the Freshman Trio until Ryoma woke up.
"You're late," Ayame said in an accusing tone to Ryoma.
"Late for what?" a clueless Ryoma asked.
"Lunch, you idiot!" Ayame shouted. "Here, I made another egg sandwich for you and I bought you a Ponta while you were out. Now you owe me a Ponta!"
She threw the egg sandwich at Ryoma, who caught it out of reflex, and he found the Ponta that she bought for him. Sakuno and Tomoka also gave him the lunch that they made for him. Ayame waited until he was done before she spoke to him.
"You wanna go at it?" she asked.
"No way..." Katsuo said.
"Don't tell me..." Horio started.
"They're going to play another match?" Kachirou finished.
Upon hearing the boys, Sakuno worried that Ryoma would collapse again. Ryoma saw Ayame glance at her tennis bag.
"Fine," he said.
The heavy tension from before returned, and the other five freshmen watched nervously as Ayame and Ryoma began digging through their tennis bag. They each took out a Gameboy Advance, sat next to each other on one of the benches, and began pounding on the buttons. This caused nearly all the other freshmen to pratfall.
"When Kanna said they're gonna go at it, she meant video games?!" Horio exclaimed in shock.
"How did Ryoma-kun know that that's what she meant?" Kachirou asked. "I thought she was talking about tennis."
"Go, go, Ryoma-sama!" Tomoka began cheering.
Ryoma and Ayame continued to ignore their surroundings and concentrated on their game, determined to not to lose to the other, while the Freshmen Trio and Sakuno watched them nervously, startled at the intensity they were both giving off.
Seishundai Tennis Club is the name of the tennis club that was shown in episode 10.