Chapter 38: Power Training

"Kanna, you're doing your homework even during lunch break?" Horio asked.

"Why not?" Ayame replied, not looking up from the paper. "It's not like I have anything to do while I eat. And I'd like to get my homework done early… Since I go home later because I stay to watch your club activities."

She continued working on her homework, not paying attention to the Freshman Trio or Ryoma, while she chewed on a rice ball.

"Ryoma-kun, what's wrong?" Kachirou asked.

He had noticed that Ryoma had been looking like as though he was spacing out. The Freshman Trio looked at the direction he was staring at, and it was at Ayame's tennis bag. Ayame paid no attention, however, but eventually she sighed.

"Yes, I have it," she said as she reached for her bag with her left hand. "Here."

She pulled out an egg sandwich packed in a sandwich container and handed it to Ryoma, still not looking up from her paper.

"You made two egg sandwiches again, Kanna-san?" Katsuo asked.

"Yeah," Ayame replied. "If I bring only one for myself, this bastard's gonna want it."

She finished the front side of her paper when she heard a strange noise in front of her.

"Horio-kun!" she heard Kachirou shout.

Ayame finally looked away from her paper to see Horio grasping his throat, making gagging noises. The commotion was attracting attention around the cafeteria. Ayame stood up and jumped over the table to get to the other side fast, and she lifted her left foot.

"Doryaaaaa!" she yelled as she swung her foot with all the force she could muster.

Her foot made contact with Horio's chest, which caused him to spit up a piece of food from his throat. She didn't bother to look to see what had been choking him and jumped over the table to get back to her spot.

"You're welcome," she said as she sat back down.

"K-Kanna-san…" Katsuo said nervously.

"I-is that how hard you can kick…?" Kachirou asked.

"Yes. Why?" Ayame asked.

"That looked like it hurt," Katsuo remarked as he looked down at Horio, who was lying on the ground, clutching the spot where Ayame kicked him.

"Well, it's that or keep choking until you grab the attention of the entire school," Ayame said. "Or die if nobody decides to help you."

Kachirou and Katsuo had known that Ayame was violent, but they never imagined how hard she could kick. Now that they had a slight idea, they glanced at Ryoma, wondering if he had to put up with Ayame kicking him; though they didn't know that Ryoma is one of the few people Ayame wouldn't kick.

Ayame heard the low whispers of people throughout the cafeteria. She heard something along the lines of "Did Kanna just do what I thought I saw?" and "Why did she do it?" Ayame ignored the comments and knew why the whole cafeteria were saying things like that. She was notorious through the whole school to the students for her violent acts and people saw her as cold and uncaring. It didn't help that her first victims were girls (she attacked Ryoma's fangirls out of self-defense when they tried to hurt her). The freshmen knew that she loathed Horio and got easily annoyed with him, so saving him was the last thing they expected her to do.

They should know better… Ayame thought, pretending that she didn't hear the whispers. I only did it for him to shut up on the weird noises he's making.

Ayame stared down at her foot. She had monstrous power in her legs, but it wouldn't affect her tennis performance as much as if it were in her arms. She had improved her arm strength over time, but felt that it still need serious working on if she wanted to face stronger opponents. With that, she made a decision.

"Ryoma, do you have some time after club activities?" Ayame asked.

"Maybe," Ryoma answered. "If I'm going to get burgers with Momo-senpai or not."

"I see. Well, if you do, have fun."

"You're not going this time?"

"No."

"Why aren't you going this time, Kanna-san?" Katsuo asked.

Ayame leaned close to the Freshman Trio and lowered her voice to a whisper. "If I'll go, I'll get treated to watching those two lunkheads have their eating competition for man's pride on who can eat more again."

"Why did you ask?" Ryoma asked, not noticing Ayame whispering to the Freshman Trio.

"I just have a favor to ask," Ayame answered. "But it can be done at any time, so if you can't, it's okay."

Ryoma stood up and began walking away.

"Where are you going, Ryoma-kun?" Katsuo called.

"He's probably going to the rooftop to take a nap," Ayame said when Ryoma gave no answer. "Well, I'm going back to my classroom. See you."

Ayame quickly packed away her belongings and walked away, tennis bag on her shoulder.

Ayame watched as the tennis club members were dismissed, and she turned around to leave the courts.

"Ne, Ayame," Ryoma called out to her.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I'll help you out. What did you want to ask me?"

"Oh, okay. Well, let's just go to the temple first."

Ayame and Ryoma left the campus together.

"This has to do with tennis, right?" Ryoma asked.

"Un," Ayame answered.

"Then, what is it?"

"I want you to hit some Cyclone Smashes."

The two were silent as they walked up the steps to the temple and walked around the bell tower to the tennis court. They got into position as Ayame pulled out a tennis ball from her shorts pocket. She lobbed the ball as Ryoma leaped up into the air and smashed the ball down. Ayame performed a rising shot to try to return the ball, only to have her racket blown away.

"Mada mada dane," Ryoma taunted. "You're lacking in power."

"Hey, I'm a girl!" Ayame fumed. "Don't compare my power to you boys! Anyways, again!"

She lobbed another ball and Ryoma smashed it. This time Ayame tried to return it directly with both hands, but that was futile as her racket slid along the ground and stopped when it hit the wall surrounding the temple.

"Mada mada, huh…" Ayame sighed as she stared at her shaking hand.

"That was it? You just wanted to try to return my Cyclone Smash?" Ryoma asked.

"Not just. I also wanted to see where my power was at. I'm able to return "real tennis balls" but I guess I'm not able to go to Cyclone Smashes yet."

"Your power is mada mada dane. You should go to Ryuzaki-sensei and ask to borrow the wrist weights that Inui-senpai uses all the time."

"Would that be okay? Because I'm not in the tennis club and I'm a girl…"

"If you borrow them after club activities, I'm sure it would be fine."

"O-okay. Guess I'll give it a shot tomorrow."

Ayame watched the balls in the courts fly and then she walked through the gate to enter.

"Excuse me, Ryuzaki-sensei!" she called.

"What's wrong, Ayame?" Ryuzaki asked.

"After this is over, is it okay if I borrow some wrist weights for a while?"

"Huh? You want the wrist weights?"

"Please? I'll return them before every morning practice in case they need it!" Ayame got on her knees, which caused Ryuzaki to sweat drop.

Ryuzaki went into a deep thought for a moment. "Alright. Here's the deal. I'll let you borrow the wrist weights after club activities every day, but you have to return them before morning practice. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes!"

Ayame knew that she would have to change her schedule around, since morning practice starts way before her classes. Either way, she got the weights. She went to the tennis court in the temple to practice every day after she finished her homework. She would rally the ball against the wall and take breaks in between.

One evening, Ryoma and Nanjiroh were headed to the temple to hit like they always did. As they approached the court, they noticed a body sprawled on the ground near the court.

"Is that Ayame-chan?" Nanjiroh asked.

"It is," Ryoma said.

The two approached the girl.

"She's passed out from exhaustion," Nanjiroh said after he examined her.

Ryoma looked at her closer and his eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Eh?!"

"What's wrong?" Nanjiroh asked.

"She's wearing five weights on her wrist," Ryoma pointed.

"She probably overexerted herself until she fainted."

Nanjiroh looked over Ayame for a bit before he scooped her up. "I'll be right back, Ryoma."

Ayame opened her eyes and her vision slowly went to focus. She found herself lying on a couch, covered with a blanket. She looked around and her mind registered that she was in the Echizen household.

… What happened…? she wondered. Why am I at Ryoma's…?

"Ah, you finally came to," a woman's voice said.

Ayame looked up. "Rinko-san… What happened? Why am I here?"

"Nanjiroh and Ryoma found you unconscious out in the temple," Rinko explained. "So they brought you back here."

Ayame went into a deep thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah. I remember now. I was practicing until I suddenly fell down and everything went black. But speaking of them, where's Ryoma and the old pervert?"

"They're still hitting out there."

Ayame got up and looked at the clock. "Ahhh, it's getting late! I gotta go home! Where's my bag?!"

"It's right here," Rinko pointed at Ayame's tennis bag leaning against the couch.

"Arigatou gozaimasu!" Ayame said as she hastily picked up her bag, only for her to drop it as she was unable to take the combined weight of the bag and the five weights on her wrist. "Dammit…"

She took off the weights, packed them inside her bag, and picked it back up and ran out the front door. As she was making her way to her doorstep, she realized that she was feeling a lot less strain on her arm when she carries the bag without the weights on.

That's a good sign… she thought as she unlocked the door and went inside.

"Ready?!" Ayame called to Ryoma from the other side of the court.

"Whatever, just hit it already," Ryoma said.

Ayame lobbed the ball, and Ryoma performed his Cyclone Smash. She rushed up to the ball and tried to return it with both hands. She strained her arms against the ball's power, and managed to return it, only for it to hit the net.

"Damn," she swore.

"At least you were able to hit it," Ryoma said. "If you weren't able to hit it by now, then you'd be improving too slowly."

"True..." Ayame had to hold back her anger at his last sentence. "But it's still not good enough."

"... Just don't push yourself like you did last time."

"Oh yeah. You and the old pervert found me dead on the ground here. I ran out of water and I didn't wanna leave to get another water bottle, so... I remember falling and everything turning black, and the next thing I knew, I was in your house."

"Well, yeah."

"Someday I'm gonna return your Cyclone Smashes. Just you wait, bastard!"

"... Okay." Ryoma thought it was somewhat strange to see Ayame that fired up, and wondered if he missed anything when she talked to him.

After I get past Ryoma's Cyclone Smashes, I should go to Momoshiro-senpai for the Jack Knives... Ayame thought. And even though I would never do it, the strange kid for his super-ultra-mega-something-something-storm... But wait, who is stronger anyway?! Momoshiro-senpai or the strange kid?! Oh, never mind. I could also just go to Kawamura-senpai or that gorilla... no, Sanada-san from Rikkaidai.

"But anyway, thanks for taking the time out to hit with me," Ayame said as she packed away her racket.