Sakuno POV
The game started off just fine, however, our returns were still not strong enough to completely penetrate their defenses. I looked over at Ann-Chan and she was sweating profusely. The game was still winnable, Ochi-senpai and Mori-senpai were only ahead by one game. We almost threw out all our moves and attacks at them and we were still struggling.
"Game! Set won by Ochi-Mori!" Mitsuya-Senpai yelled as we failed to receive the return from the opponents.
"Ne Ann-Chan, we still got this! I think we should try a different approach to the game though…" I said taking a large gulp of water.
"Mn! Actually, I was thinking, isn't it better if we don't try to attack at Ochi-Senpai? Since he likes to do counter plays?" Ann-Chan said as she whipped off the sweat from her forehead.
"Ah! You're right! I also noticed Ochi-Senpai tends to serve in between us. But since there is alot of power, I think you should receive it then." I replied as Ann-Chan nodded.
"What about Mori-Senpai?" I replied.
"He's your coach, what do you think?" Ann-Chan said poking fun at me.
"Hmm his side to side steps are fine…" And then it hit us.
"It's his back-step!" We replied in unison.
"I told you you had to work on that!" We heard Ochi-Senpai scold Mori-Senpai.
"Hey, hey, they found your weakness too!" Mori-Senpai accused his doubles' partner.
After another 3 minutes of resting, we headed back onto the court for game 3. I wasn't too tired but I was worried about Ann-Chan. She had to run a bit more since she was playing in the back. I took in some slow and steady breaths and began to focus on the match.
"Ahhh, I'm so tired!" Ann-Chan yelled as she collapsed on the floor after our game. It ended 4-6 which was pretty good in our books but Mitsuya-senpai had to rub in our faults.
"I don't think I can work tonight…" I sighed, rubbing out my calves so that they would not cramp later on.
"You guys did AWESOME!" Tomo-Chan exasperated as she ran towards us.
"You're next now." I said. "Good luck on your game!"
"Thank you Sakuno-Chan! I will beat the data out of him!" She said with fire in her eyes. The three of us laughed and waited for Tomo-Chan's game to start.
"Since Mistuya can take care of the score himself, let's do two single matches." Mori-Senpai suggested as he approached the two of us. Ochi-Senpai trailing behind.
"Only if you two are feeling alright to play though. We don't want any injuries." Ochi-Senpai added.
"Give us 10 minutes! We need to refill our water bottles." Ann-Chan said as she stood up. I followed in suit, bowing a good-bye and headed out with our water bottles. We walked down the grey corridor towards the water fountain.
"Ne, you think we would ever be able to beat them?" Ann-Chan said, looking at me.
"One day we will, but for now, let's get used to losing but learning." I smiled.
"Even though we lost today, I felt so much better playing. We've improved so much in such a short amount of time!" I said cheerily.
"True! After all Mitsuya made us suffer through it would be sad if we didn't improve." We smiled wearily as our bodies remembered the pain from training.
"I wonder how the regulars are doing at their training camp." Ann-Chan said.
"I hope they aren't suffering too much." I laughed as we began our short journey back into the gym.
Upon our arrival we began our games. Both of us lost with some dignity left in us but we could care less.
"Yahoo! Dinner time!" Tomo-Chan cheered. "How in the world did she still have energy left in her?" I thought, amazed by her energy. The three of us thanked our coaches and headed back to our rooms to change and prepare for the upcoming meal.
The kitchen was frantic. Everyone was running around, yelling, and at the same time organized. I was assigned to cut the carrots for the curry dish. I had no idea where the other two girls were and what they were doing since I could barely see anyone around me. My hands were shaking and my arms were sore from returning all of Mori-Senpai's shots. Our rallies were slowly getting longer and longer as I continued to receive his shots.
"Sakuno-Chan! Can you please bring over the carrots?" A voice called by the stove.
"Hai!" I said running with a large bucket of cubed carrots and with that my job was done. I excused myself from the kitchen and headed outside to the field where I laid down. My body shivered at the impact of the ground and my limbs fell into jelly.
"Done all your work?" I heard a deep voice behind me. I jolted up from the grass bed and sat up.
"Ah! Tsugawa-san! You scared me!" I yelped. "I just finished. Plus the kitchen was too busy so they let me off after I finished. What are you doing here? Do I need to tell Sakura Nee-chan that you're skipping practice?" I threatened.
"No, no please don't. I'm just taking… uh…. A break!" He replied. I nodded along as if I believed that.
"I just wanted to ask, did Sakura have a certain place she wanted to travel to? Maybe after this camp." He asked.
"Ano… I think she mentioned wanting to go to the beach but I don't know. It's been ages since we've been there though." I replied.
"Sweet! Arigato Sakuno-Chan! I'll send you some new grip tape." He said running away back to the courts.
"Aha… how typical…" I muttered. I fell back on my back and closed my eyes. I took out my phone and began to play some music.
I felt a gaze fall upon me. Maybe it was just a bird? But my body was too tired to respond. I fell into a hazy day dream as I watched the clouds jog right across the blue sky. My eyes began to close as the sun rays kissed my skiing emitting warm and comforting ripple across my nerves. I smiled, now this was how I imagined summer would feel like.
"Ne. Ryuzaki, you'll get a cold laying there." A familiar voice rang into my ears.