Ding-dong!

Ryoma opened her eye blearily as she tried to adjust to the sun's rays currently shining in her eyes. The loud bell that signalled the end of school, and the start of club activities, startled her awake before she realised that she has slept until the end of school day.

Oh well, Ryoma thought as she stretched and grabbed her tennis bag, might as well go see the tennis courts.

"Oi, Echizen," an annoying cocky voice yelled out at her ears and she can't help but cringe in annoyance, "You said you were going to sign up for tennis, right? Me too! I have two years of experience you know. I can teach you everything!"

"No thanks," Ryoma childishly drawled out before slinging her tennis bag and walking out of the classroom.

"Wait for me!"

The entire time they were looking for the courts, Horio haven't stopped bragging about his skills and how he won't be surprised if he gets scouted as a regular. Ryoma just rolled her eye in annoyance at the non-stop chattering not bothering to correct some of his grip since in the club someone may fix it then.

"Hah," A scoff sounded next to her and Ryoma realised she was already at the tennis courts area. Glancing to her left she saw a senior, maybe, with shaggy brown hair smirking at her. "There's no way you guys can play tennis. Especially the small one, can you even catch a lob little guy?"

Ryoma gave him a deadpanned look before smirking and walked away to the centre court where every first year was. She was not surprised that she was being underestimated already considering how short she is.

"You brat!" The senior yelled out as she got lifted by the front of her shirt, "You dare ignore me. My name is Arai and I am just a level below the regulars. Way better than you will ever be!"

Hmm, he is quite fast on his feat but not much stamina since he is already breathing hard, Ryoma thought as she let him rant before thinking of different ways to play with Karupin today.

"Arai!" A voice barked out and she looked over the gorilla's shoulder to see a spikey haired guy with an orange shirt and holding a tennis racket, "Let go of him. You shouldn't treat first years like this!"

"Mo-Momoshiro," The Arai guy paled before letting go of Ryoma's shirt causing her to drop onto the floor on her butt. Disgruntled at the rough landing, she rubbed her behind with a pout before realising a large hand was placed in front of her face.

"Hey there," Momoshiro grinned out at the smaller boy, "You okay?"

"Thanks," The girl gave a curt nod before grabbing her tennis bag that had fallen off her shoulder.

"You shouldn't let him bully you like that," The taller guy scolded her lightly as he pats her head. She shrugged him off before walking towards the vending machine behind him. Ordering some Ponta, Ryoma sighed in relief when the cold fizzy drink was in her hands and the grape flavours was on her tongue.

"Pft," Momoshiro snorted as he watched a blissful expression crossed the freshman's face, "Shall I take you the courts?"

"Mhmm," Ryoma agreed before walking towards the centre courts again. Once they arrived there, Momo-senpai, he told them to call him that, excused himself to go change to his uniform and I simply brushed off his wave before walking in the court.

Out of her peripheral, Ryoma saw a ball heading straight towards her face and with no time wasted, she pulled Horio's racket from his hand and lobbed it back to the direction where it came from. Whispers immediately started from the court.

"Did you see that?"
"That boy hit Arai's serve like it was nothing!"

"Wasn't he considered a possible regular?"

"How can that shorty hit it back so easily?"

"Maybe, the serve was not that strong after all!"

"You brat!" Arai growled out as he stalked towards Ryoma and picked her up from the front of her shirt, "I'm going to beat some respect into you. Momoshiro isn't here to help you anymore. Take out your racquet, we are going to play a match and I will show you who is the better player out of the two of us!"

Ryoma smirked and adjusted her cap as she looked down at him with sharp hazel eyes. "You sure you won't cry when I beat you?"

Arai just clicked his tongue in annoyance before throwing the smaller freshman onto the ground and got into position on the other side of the net. Ryoma just calmly finished her Ponta, and grabbed her racquet from her bag, before walking to her side of the tennis court. She wondered whether she should go all out and use her left hand but decided against it and stayed using her right hand.

"Arai to serve!" The referee called out and blew his whistle to signal a start of a match.

"Prepare to lose brat!" Arai taunted out as he prepared for his famous serve and smirked as the ball zoomed past the unmoving freshman.

"15-love" Called the referee as he gave a pitying look to the small fresher.

Ryoma glanced uninterestedly to the spot the ball landed in and her eyes sharpened as she finished analysing the spend and technique of that ball. "Hmm," She hummed out as her stance relaxed and smirked at the 2nd year, "That wasn't fast enough. Shall I show you?"

"Shit," The second-year bit out at the cocky freshman and increased the strength he put on the shot.

However, being ready for this serve, she pulled her hand back and hit it right back to other side of the court resulting in Arai missing it. She watched however as Arai erased the ball mark with his shoe and told the referee that it wasn't in.

"30-love"

Ahh, it's a self-call game. What a sore loser! Ryoma pouted out as she crossed her arm. Fine if you want to play dirty, I'll crush you.

"Hey," the little girl called out to Arai as she pointed her racquet at him, "Lying is bad. I am going to crush you."

For the next two shot, she let Arai think he has the upper hand by fumbling and making stupid mistake that would've caused her dad to disown her and for her brother to mock her. She watched as he started being cocky and used less strength in his swing during their rally which irritated her.

Tsk, she clicked her tongue in disappointment, what player not take a game seriously until the end. Disappointing!

"Hah," Arai spat out cockily as he smirked at Ryoma, "You shouldn't be too cocky brat."

"Stop talking and pay attention," Ryoma interrupted him on his rant, "For your poor display of sportsmanship, I am going to let you have a taste on a new serve I just learned. Make sure you keep an eye on the ball. Hiyah!"

The small girl did her special twist serve and managed to make everybody on and off the court speechless. In this serve the ball is spun inside which makes it spin towards the opponent and as it is a high level serve with a violent bounce, it could cause damage to one's face if not careful.

"Not possible!" Arai gritted out.

Ryoma didn't hesitate anymore and received a service ace resulting in Arai not being able to return any of her shots due to the power of her serves. Based on the referee's calls, the game point was currently 1-1.

Thinking that the freshman was only good in her service, Arai tried to get points back during his service game but because Ryoma stopped playing around, not a single ball managed to land on her side of the court. This made Arai nervous and before he knew it, he started making novice mistakes.

"6 games to 1!" The referee called out in awe, "Winner Echizen"

"Hmm," Ryoma pouted out as she walked towards the net, "It wasn't that fun, but it was a good game. Thank you senpai!"

"Don't fuck with me!" Arai snapped out as he held her up by her shirt, "There's no way you are better than me you brat. I am going to- "

"Arai!" A strong voice barked out that caused the second-year to pale rapidly. His knees wobbled and his hands shook.

From her point of view, Ryoma was able to see eight people standing behind the fence of the current court they were in. They were all wearing a blue jersey and was completely different from the other club members.

The person who barked out at Arai caught her eyes the most, A tall teen with glasses and a non-expressive face.

Could they be the regulars? Ryoma thought in cat-like curiosity as she dangle in the scared gorilla arms.