"As a girl, how do you even compete with her?!"
—Osakada Tomoka

The Empress | Chapter 22

Tachibana An was beyond ecstatic when she received an invitation to the infamous U-17 camp; She knew her brother and the rest of Fudomine currently resided there, along with numerous other middle schools' tennis club members. An had looked forward to seeing them again and wondered if they were doing well in such a competitive camp because she heard there would be strong high-schoolers there as well. Although, when she got inside the intimidating camp, An didn't expect this many middle-schooler players to gather. Still, she was happy to see her team with a table that was shared with Hyotei. In fact, most of the tables were shared by two teams.

An felt less intimidated knowing the rest of the invited freshmen were going to their own associated table so she didn't hesitate to approach the table.

"Nii-san!"

"An...!"

"A-An-chan?"

She could tell that both her brother and Kamio were surprised to see her. The freshman smiled at the pair before looking to the rest of the team, who were just as surprised to see her and the other freshmen—who were already seated.

An noticed not everyone in Fudomine was there; Tetsu Ishida, Masaya Sakurai, Tatsunori Mori, Kyosuke Uchimura were all missing but Kamio Akira, Ibu Shinji, and her brother were here. Ibu was mumbling to himself as usual and An was relieved to see nothing has changed.

In Hyotei's team, everyone was present: Atobe Keigo, Jiro Akutagawa, Oshitari Yushi, Shishido Ryo, Mukahi Gakuto, Kabaji Munehiro, Otori Chotaro, and Hiyoshi Wakashi.

When her eyes landed on Atobe, she was mildly surprised to see him—and a few others—show more interest towards Seigaku's freshman Echizen Ryoma than her. An knew the captain was interested in her and pursued her quite aggressively in the past so it was a bit surprising to see his lack of focus.

There were no high-schoolers, which was a bit strange as An heard the high-schoolers in the camp are crazy strong. But then again, there were only five large tables to fit everyone in.

"An, what are you doing here?" It was her brother that asked.

"I was invited, Nii-san."

"Invited?"

With a nod of her head, she pulled out the letter she received a couple of days ago. "As a visitor, I can stay here for a few days." She smiled with clear excitement in her eyes.

An was excited about many things in the camp but above all, she was excited to see if Frei Fuyuki was actually in the camp. She had heard rumors online that the young beauty was last seen here but she wanted to verify it for herself. She could barely contain herself when she received the invitation. Initially, she had no hope of meeting the prodigy as it was practically impossible to get into the camp without being invited in. And even less possible is seeing the beauty. Every fan of Frei Fuyuki knows how rare it was that she appears in public—perhaps it was more often than that but the prodigy was really good at avoiding the media. But then, An was invited here and now she is more hopeful than ever to see the girl.

With contained excitement, she looked to her brother. "Nii-san, is it true that Frei Fuyuki-chan is here?"

"Frei-chan?" Otori asked in surprise. The name finally snapped Atobe out of his thoughts and the self-proclaimed king was shocked to see his previous interest couple seats from him.

"Yes, she's here. Do you know her An?" Teppei was able to see through her excitement; he was her brother and there was no way he wouldn't know.

All the Hyotei members were suddenly interested.

An was stunned. How did these boys not know of the girl? She was so popular amongst the tennis community. Although more so on the female young teen tennis community than the male but still.

"Frei-chan is ranked second in Japan's girl's tennis in the youth category."

The news left most of them flabbergasted.

Not Atobe though; he tried to hide his pursed lips. Initially, he was surprised by the lack of knowledge of the girl around the camp. Atobe was sure that the tennis and figure skating prodigy was more well-known. But then again, Atobe himself finally connected the dots and figured out the beauty was the prodigal figure skater Frei Fuyuki after a few days into the camp. The beauty was familiar because of a figure skating tournament he and his family had attended. Her skating form had been so beautiful that the self-proclaimed king knew there was no way he could completely forget such a beautiful person. Then, he saw her again before the camp started, he had forgotten about her but after a couple of days of trying to recall where he saw her, it connected.

But to Atobe's surprise, when he looked further into her, he found out that she was primarily known for her tennis abilities. Atobe was beyond surprised when he saw her play and win countless matches. It was amazing, but at the same time, he couldn't help but shiver at the look in her eyes when she enters the court. There was one match in particular that took out for him. Frei Fuyuki was really strong. She was also very scary. It was like a different person. Her style in that match was different, it was violent and unpredictable. And after the match was over, her opponent kneeled on their hand and legs with fear and hopelessness. The girl has walked away from that match, without shaking her opponent's hand. Other than that one match—which he later found was deleted, all the matches were calmer and unstoppable. Her normal style was somewhat like Yukimura Seiichi's Yips in the aspect that she aims to bring doubt into the opponent and significantly affects the opponent's motivation and self-confidence.

Atobe could understand why not many of the males know about the beauty; the boys were mainly focused on their own category. The boys' and girls' tennis categories are separated further by age and Frei Fuyuki was a high-schooler. She should be in her first year in high-school but it never mentioned which high-school and Atobe was sure that her butler mentioned she was much further in her studies. Atobe had a difficult time not bragging, no, talking about how much he knew the girl—more than the other ignorant males. Although it seems some of the high-schoolers and the coaches already knew. He had held his tongue in hopes of less competition for the girl's attention.

If the hormonal boys around the camp weren't already attracted to the beauty before then they definitely would be after knowing she plays tennis too. How likely is it that hormonal and tennis-crazed boys deny a charming and stunning older girl that also plays tennis—maybe... no, definitely even better than most of them. But now, all his teammates and three of Fudomin members knew. Atobe hoped they would not search her up; he wanted to at least keep her figure skating performances and brief modeling career to himself. Kami-sama, don't get him started on the modeling pictures. It was too much, even for him.

"That would make a lot of sense." It was Oshitari that spoke.

They had wondered why the girl was in the camp. At first, it was assumed because of a special connection to the coaches of U17 camp but now it made more sense. After all, strong tennis players are the norm in this camp.

Mukahi whistled, "That's impressive. She's pretty and strong?"

"Sign me up," Shishido smirked.

Hiyoshi whispered, "Second in Japan's girl tennis huh."

Ibu perked up, "Second? That must mean someone is better than her. That sucks I guess but that means she has to work harder to win. I can't say I'll be cheering for her but she can do it. That is, if she is as skilled as An-chan said. Well, she can..." the male continued his mumbles.

"What are you saying? Second in the girl's section is amazing!" Kamio protested. He doesn't have to be a fan to know that second in the whole country is incredible for their age category. "Right, Tachibana-san?" While the male said this because he truly felt that way, he also said it because the female Tachibana was clearly a fan of the beauty.

The male Tachibana nodded, "Yes, that is still impressive. To be even third or fourth in Japan."

"That's right!" An smiled at her brother, "but the reason she ranked second is that she had to drop the final match with Rei Mayu."

"Rei Mayu?"

They assumed Rei Mayu is the current number one in Japan.

"Yes, she's also strong but Frei-chan had defeated her before. Though, that was a while back. But you can say they're rivals." An provided.

An wasn't blind; there were many middle-schoolers in the table that looked very interested in her idol and she knew it wasn't for tennis considering they just learned about the beauty's tennis history.

"So where is Frei-chan?" An looked around again just to confirm she didn't miss the beauty first time around. She saw that St. Rudolph sat with Yamabuki Junior High: Mizuki Hajime, Fuji Yuta, Sengoku Kiyosumi, Akutsu Jin, and Dan Taichi.

Nagoya Seitoku with Seishun: Krauser Liliadent, Fuji Shusuke, Oishi Shuichiro, Kikumaru Eiji, Inui Sadaharu, Momoshiro Takeshi, Kaido Kaoru, Kato Kachiro, Mizuno Katsuo, and Urayama Shita.

Rikkai Dai Fuzoku Chuu sat on their own table: Yukimura Seiichi, Sanada Gen'ichiro, Yanagi Renji, Yagyu Hiroshi, Marui Bunta, Kuwahara Jackal, Niou Masaharu, and... Kirihara Akaya. An watched the Devil a bit longer due to her guilt before shifting her gaze away.

Finally, the last table had Shitenhoji Junior High with Higa Junior High: Shiraishi Kuranosuke, Oshitari Kenya, Chitose Senri, Konjiki Koharu, Zaizen Hikaru, Toyama Kintaro, Kite Eishiro, and Hirakoba Rin.

"Ah!" An finally saw the beauty by the entrance of the hall then she heard a loud screeching sound of a chair against the floor. Seigaku's table members were also looking at the prodigy.

An soaked up everything she saw like a sponge. "She's even prettier in person." The girl muttered subconsciously, her eyes still on the beauty. She had hoped to see the high-schooler in-person and she finally can. Fuyuki was more than she expected. But despite being distracted by the prodigy, An didn't miss the four handsome males just behind her.

"In person?" the male Tachibana caught the mutter and questioned with an eyebrow raised. How often did the beauty appear on media and how has he never come across her before? Of course, the male had to agree with his younger sister because the beauty is a vision with her beautiful appearance and stunning figure. Even her sense of fashion emphasizes on it.

"Ah," An watched in disappointment as the beauty walked to sit beside Seigaku's freshman, Ryuzaki Sakuno. She felt envious of the braided girl but answered her brother, "Yep, she appears a lot on TV for special tennis-related events. She's also FREI Corp's main model."

"FREI Corp!" Mukahi repeated in awe.

"The multi-national technology FREI corporation, ahn?" Atobe asked, finally connecting the dots because how did he miss that?

"Wait, she's that Frei?" Shishido's eyes widened.

"Really?!" Jiro—who had already awakened at his point—asked the female Tachibana with stars in his eyes.

They didn't see it till now. Although Frei is far from a common surname in Japan, they still didn't think she was related to the FREI Corp. But everything is making more sense now: her butler, her designer outfits.

An frowned at them. She didn't think they would be this slow. Deciding to provide them with her wisdom, she pulled out her magazine—that she had wanted Frei Fuyuki to sign.

"Here. It's the most recent TeenTennis magazine."

Just the cover alone made their eyes widen.

The beauty was on the front cover. Her hair was let loose with gentle waves surrounding her with a tilt of her head. Her large hazel orbs stared deeply directly at the camera while her glossed lips shined under the slight shadow from her surroundings. The beauty was wearing a pink track crop top with white lining, the zipper pulled down to expose her collar bone and around her pale neck, there was a deep red choker with a gold bar that said 'Fuyuki' dangling down. The red earbuds forced their eyes to travel from her dainty ears to the curves of her breasts to her flat stomach that was exposed and down to her matching pink and white lining short-shorts. Her pose made her long milky legs connect at the knees, where a size-too-big white and redlining jacket reached. Her one deep-red painted hand rested on one knee while the other rested just beside her curvy hip.

On the side of the cover, there were various texts from 'Frei Fuyuki is back to Japan!' to 'Frei Fuyuki's most recent modeling picture just released under FREI Corp label' to 'Fans can't wait for Frei Fuyuki's upcoming figure skating performance!'. There was a title for Rei Mayu but it was overshadowed by all of Fuyuki's titles.

Most of them were blushing from all the exposed skin but admired the beauty nonetheless. An, herself, had a similar reaction so she could understand their shock, awe, and admiration. Though she would solely be responsible if her idol gained more subscribers to TeenTennis.

But before anyone can open the magazine up to see the modeling pictures of the beauty—it was the most eyecatching title for them, they heard a challenge from Seigaku's table.

"The winner gets to go on a date with Frei-chan!"

A voice that was loud enough to overtake the other muttering spoke out.

While everyone got distracted by the challenge, Jiro quickly grabbed the precise gift and hid it before turning his attention to the foreign male who made such a declaration.

An was interested. Frei-chan. The male was talking about Frei Fuyuki wasn't he?

An was surprised to see, with elegance like no other her age, the beauty sat unfazed by what was said. As if the idea of being—potentially—forced to go on the date wasn't her problem.

An saw the animalistic look the Seigaku freshman sent the foreigner and shivered slightly. From what An knew about Echizen Ryoma, he wasn't one that cared much about anything other than tennis. But the male was currently dangerously interested in what the foreigner had to say.

From the corner of her eyes, she noticed Momoshiro and the short freshman from Shitenhoji Junior High almost choked on their food. An was also surprised to see the reactions the declaration received from everyone in the dining hall.

For example, the way Rikkai Dai's captain narrowed his eyes like a predator looking to his next prey. The way Fuji Shusuke from Seishun Academy smiled with his eyes closed—as if in amusement—yet there was no sense of it on his face.

Then, there was the mumbling from other current residents of the camp that wasn't quite as known to her.

"No way, right?"

"Seriously?"

"I wanna play too then!"

"'Frei-chan'?!"

Amongst the muttering, the last one caught An's attention. It was Seishun Academy's Osakada Tomoka. Although An didn't know too much about the girl, one thing was certain: the girl was one of Echizen Ryoma's biggest fangirl.

An watched as Osakada quickly walked over to the beauty.

linebreaklinebreak

Osakada seemed shocked by the beauty. Not in the traditional way that expresses how inhumanly beautiful the girl but in a way that said Osakada didn't realize the girl was there until that moment.

She quickly stood between the foreigner and Fuyuki—and Ryoma—before ensuring the beauty was also standing up by taking her arms and making her stand. An knew the beauty was willing to play along just based on the curious look in her beautiful hazel eyes.

Going circles around the beauty, Osakada stopping in front of Fuyuki. The fangirl seemed to be staring deeply at the beauty's face. And for once, the beauty looked uncomfortable. As if she wasn't used to being stared at so intensely. And An didn't doubt that possibility because the all-too-familiar butler looked ready to intervene. Except it was unnecessary as Osakada seem to come to her senses.

"How is this fair..." She trailed off, "She's too perfect!" Osakada paused with a gleam in her eyes as if she came to a sudden realization. An watched with an eyebrow raised as Osakada poked the beauty's pale cheek.

"Are you sure this isn't a doll?"

Fuyuki didn't look very amused. Especially when the freshman bluntly looked towards Fuyuki's chest and stared at the slight cleavage her outfit provided. Most of the guys in the hall blushed and shifted in their seats while the oblivious fangirl continues to stare at Fuyuki's chest like it was something she has never seen before.

"Do you like Yuki's top or do you like Yuki's chest?" The beauty cut in, crossing her arms just under her bust to emphasize them. "Most people like both."

There were numerous choking sounds while Osakada blushed deeply in embarrassment.

With a knowing look at the shell-shock girl, Fuyuki sat back down and proceeds to ignore her by turning towards the foreigner, "Aren't you asking the wrong person for a challenge?"

"Huh?" The foreigner was startled. An could see the deep blush, trail of blood from his nose and his thoughts just based on his expression. Something along the lines of 'What the heck just happened? Who is that girl to be looking at Frei-chan's chest' and also 'I wanna be that girl!'.

Thankfully, the male knew better than to sexually harass the beauty. After wiping his nose, with a look of realization, the foreigner connected what Fuyuki was trying to say.

"The one you should be challenging is Yuki, right?" The beauty clarified further.

"O-Of course!" His expression quickly changed to excitement. Although An wondered how likely it is that the foreigner could win against the beauty. An watched her play so many times that it both excited and frightened her to the core.

"Then Frei-chan will go out with me if I win?" he pointed a finger at his face with a large grin.

His teammates seem unimpressed by his behavior; Wilson looked annoyed with the scarred male, Hiraoshi uncertain, and Miyazaki looked like he was dazing off while staring at the dishes in front of him.

Ryoma looked even less impressed as he called out to the beauty, "Yuki." The male clearly didn't want her to indulge the foreigner.

With a small but cute smile Ryoma's way, the beauty said, "Sure. And if Yuki wins, you get the honor of being her servant for a day."

The beauty then turned her face towards Ryuzaki, as if she didn't just make a dangerous bet. "Yuki's name is Frei Fuyuki. Nice to meet you." The beauty held out her perfectly done manicured hand. An was immediately envious. How she wished the beauty would introduce herself to An like that; there wasn't much An didn't know about the beauty. That is, if everything on her fan pages was true.

An watched from a distance as Ryuzaki looked startled then nervously took the beauty's hand. She would sympathize; after all, if An was truly in her place she doubts she could cooly stand before the prodigy. Although it was a mystery if Ryuzaki actually knew the beauty beforehand—like herself.

Based on the lack of excitement from Ryuzaki's body language, An decided the younger girl did not know nor have heard of the beauty. Which surprised An because again, how was that possible? Frei Fuyuki was a role model for any girl in the youth category that wants to pursue a tennis career and even figure skating. Although she was less known as a figure skater as her focus was mainly on tennis.

"A-Ah, I'm Ryuzaki Sakuno. Nice to meet you too." Ryuzaki quickly took the slim hand in hers.

Smith seems to be watching the interaction with clear envy in his eyes—he could relate to An in that matter. Again, the male was so painfully easy to read.

'How come Frei-chan is more interested in this girl than me?'

-is what An decided the male was thinking.

Osakada, not wanting to be left out, quickly introduced herself as well. "And I'm Osakada Tomoka!"

Fuyuki glanced at her from the corners of her eyes. The girl still stood behind the beauty like an overbearing shadow. An briefly wondered if Osakada was too awestruck to put the beauty in her place as she did with many of Echizen's fangirls. Although, based on what little was known about Fuyuki and Echizen's relationship—in public that is, Fuyuki wasn't Ryoma's fangirl. The beauty held admiration in her eyes when she sees the Seishun Academy freshman but it wasn't one of a fan looking at her idol—or so An thought.

"And I'm Horio Satoshi!" The freshman with two years of tennis experience and a friend of Echizen's introduced himself. Pushing Osakada to the side, he continued with sparkles in his eyes and blush so obvious that was somewhat embarrassing. "Are you Echizen's girlfriend?"

The freshman suddenly opened a can of worms. But based on the extra level of quietness, everyone—that wasn't there when she confessed to having a boyfriend—seems to be curious about the answer.

"'Girlfriend'?" Frei repeated with a knowing look in her eyes.

An recognized the look in her exquisite features, it was one of a sly cat tricking a mouse. With a curve on her glossed lips, "Ryo-chan and Yuki are closer than that."

The beauty stood up from her seat and sneaked behind Ryoma's seat. She wrapped her pale arms around his slightly tanned neck and connecting her hands under his chest. Her chest clearly pressed against the back of the freshman's head.

An blushed deeply at the sight.

As a straight girl—as far as she knew, An was attracted to Fuyuki's appearance so An wondered how Echizen—a straight boy—can tolerate such an intimate pose. Then, she noticed the deep red on Echizen's ears. His whole ears were red and An wouldn't have noticed under his trademark cap if she wasn't looking closely.

Kirihara from Rikkai Dai spluttered while turning red and An thought she heard him say something along the lines of 'again'. Niou, sitting on the same table as the Devil, seen to be pouting. "Not fair, puri~"

"Lucky, Echizen-kun!" Sengoku sulked from his table.

The rest of the middle-schoolers either looked away with a blush or secretly glared at the Prince with envy, questioning why she was so interested in him. The more perverse males pictured censored images involving the two's relationship.

Ryuzaki was shocked but she also felt nervous and heartbroken to see such a beautiful older girl interested in her crush; she wasn't confident that she could compete with the other girl. She would have been more hopeful if the Prince didn't react with such obvious care of the beauty.

"W-W-What are you doing to Ryoma-sama?!" Osakada exclaimed.

"Cl-Closer than a girlfriend?!" Horio followed.

Hiroshi, Kirihara, Kikumaru, Yukimura, and a few others immediately had a sense of deja-vu.

"Why can't Yuki be close to Ryo-chan?" To emphasize her point, she pressed the back of Ryoma's head even further into her C-cup breasts.

"Ojou-sama!"

"You-"

"Frei-chan!"

There were protests all around, but Fuyuki ignored them all until the Prince unhooked her arms around him-

Osakada sighed in relief.

-and moved over in his seat to prop her down on the same seat as well.

Osakada gasped in horror as her—or rather Sakuno's Ryoma-sama—fed her a strawberry.

"You must be hungry, Yuki." The Prince said nonchalantly while the beauty stared at him. The freshman figured she was being a tease at the moment due to being hungry. It was surprisingly innocent of an idea for a boy his age.

'Only Ryo-chan.'

Only he can do this to her without being stabbed with the fork used to feed her.

"Ahn~" she grabbed the end of the fork, her fingers on top of his before engulfing the red berry in her mouth. "Delicious." She licked her glossed lips and smiled at him. "Thank you, Ryoma."

A glance at Osakada made Fuyuki's day. Content with ensuring the girl learned her place—if a voice in Fuyuki's head called her childish, she ignored it—Fuyuki proceeded to grab her own fork and stabbing at another strawberry.

"S-So, when is Frei-chan available to play our game?" Smith cut in. He wanted the beauty's attention on him again, not Echizen Ryoma.

"Hm," The beauty hummed before facing him, "How about now?"

This chapter is ~4500+ words long (w/o the note below)! :o

I only added the middle-schoolers + the new team in this chapter, I'll add in high-schoolers when the first-strings "dinner" takes place. Also, I totally forgot how many people are interested in An. I mean, she's pretty cute so I'm not surprised (and it helps she's one of the four girls). Momo, Kamio, and Atobe are all interested in her in the anime so I wasn't entirely sure how to go about that. There are so many characters in PoT that I had to make a list of names and a picture for each (b/c I keep forgetting names & faces) and the list turned out to be 29 pages long (even though I compacted the images to take as little space as possible). Then, I remembered I made this book a crossover so there are even more characters from KnB... Why do I do this to myself T^T

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! :) I plan to update every other Saturday (but we'll see how long I last. Though I have written out the next chapter for the most part ;D).

Review [ Your thoughts ^^ ]

Favorite [ If you like it ]

Follow [ if you like my work :) ]

Edited: Sept 1st, 2020