S.F Chapter 2
"Ryoma-Chan, hurry up or you'll be late for practice!" Nanako called out. Nanako is Ryoma's cousin who's in college. "I'm coming." Ryoma ran down the stairs. "You're not going to let your hair go today?" Nanako asked, setting down a plate. "It gets in the way." Ryoma said. Nobody Knows about Ryoma's role or her headquarters, the only one who does know doesn't say anything or more like can't say anything since he's Ryoma's Himalayan cat.
"Ryoma, stay here a minute." the coach ordered. "Why coach Ryuzaki?" Ryoma asked halfway out the door. "I need to introduce you to the team; most of them don't know that you're a girl." she explained. "Fine." she sighed. Sumire Ryuzaki was Ryoma's dad's tennis team advisor and teaches 9th grade literature. She mostly makes sure that Ryoma doesn't overdo it during her matches or practice. "Everyone gather around, this is Ryoma Echizen and she will be your newest team member," coach Ryuzaki announced, "and yes she is a girl, she will be the only one joining the team." "But, coach, why does the team need a girl?" the boy from yesterday asked. "Because, Arai, we need to strengthen the team and Ryoma here has just the skills to do it." the coach looked at her, "Just so you know, it'd be wise not to take Ryoma lightly, cause if you do you'll regret it the instant the match starts." the coach smiled evilly.
A lot of the team members stayed away from Ryoma thinking if they played her they might hurt her. "Hey Echizen," Horio called out, along with the other two 7th graders, Kachiro and Katsou. "What do you want?" she asked in an annoyed tone. "We wanted to know if you had any special training." Kachiro asked. "Yeah like how many years have you been practicing?" Katsou finished. "Not much, I think about ten years." Ryoma answered remembering every time her dad made fun of her for her short reach. "Ten years!" Horio exclaimed loud enough that everyone on the court heard him. "Horio keep it down!" Kachiro and Katsou covered his mouth. "Yo, 7th grader, don't start getting ideas just because you're able to hold your own against a regular, Momo had a sprained ankle so he couldn't show off his real talent." Arai scoffed. Ryoma gave him an intimidating glare.
"Hey the regulars are coming in." one of the guys called out. Ryoma recognized three of them and the other two were one of the few remaining from the computer. "We want all of you to get used to the courts so go ahead and play a few rallies." one of the two told them, he had a brotherly like atmosphere about him. "That's vice-captain Oishi for you." Horio blabbed. Oishi stopped to pick up something. "Hey does this belong to anyone?" he asked holding up the scale. "Yeah that's mine." Ryoma walked up to him. "You might want to be careful with that thing it could've broke." Oishi advised, giving back the scale. "If this scale survived the wars during the Edo period then I'm sure it can survive falls." Ryoma explained holding the scale tightly, another color disappeared.
Even though he told them it was okay to play on the courts, the team members were preoccupied by the regulars practice, it didn't matter where they lobbed, they always managed to smash it in the basket. "That's the power of the regulars; just because you can do some twist serve doesn't mean you're good as them." Arai threatened. Oishi lobbed the ball in the wrong direction and was heading towards Ryoma; she lifted up her racket and smashed the ball right in the basket. "It wasn't that hard." she smirked. "Why you," Arai grabbed her by the shirt and lifted her up, "There isn't any room for girls on the team." "Fighting on the court?" a voice said sternly, "That's not allowed." He had short honey brown hair, brown eyes and wore glasses. "Both of you, ten laps." he ordered. "B-but captain Tezuka, there's never been a girl on the team." Arai argued. "Make it twenty." he added. Arai grunted; Ryoma went to start her laps until, "Echizen, keep this thing secure." Tezuka tossed the scale that slipped out her pocket when Arai threatened Ryoma. "Thanks captain." Ryoma caught it. Only one color was left on the scale.
"Man, I don't think I'll be able to stay awake during class." Kachiro commented. Practice was over for the morning, and everyone was getting changed into their uniforms, well except Ryoma, she has to change in the coach's office. "Who would've thought Ryoma was playing tennis for ten years." Katsou said putting down Ryoma's bag, she asked them to put it in there. They ran out of the room when Arai came in with a really mad look. He was up to no good.
When lunch came, Ryoma was heading towards the library. "I wish the guys would take me seriously. Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean that I'm frail." she sighed. "Hey, 7th grader." a voice hissed. Ryoma turned around and saw a boy who looked kinda like a snake. "You dropped this," he threw something then walked away. Ryoma caught it and noticed it was her scale; it had gone completely white. "Guess I'm going to have to start some preparations." Ryoma scratched her head.
Time for practice, "Ryoma!" the F3 called out. Ryoma was already changed into her practice clothes; she wore a white t-shirt with red sleeves, black cargo shorts, and wore her signature white cap. "What is it?" she asked. "It's your bag, we can't find it anywhere!" Katsou explained. Ryoma's heart stopped for a minute two of the three rackets had a special meaning to her. "Think you can show up without a racket 7th grader?" Arai scoffed. "Maybe she doesn't need one, I mean she is the only female on the team." his friend on the right added sarcastically. "If you're that tough then why don't you play me? Oh, but you don't have a racket." Arai snickered. His friend on the left handed him an old dusty racket, "Here use this." Arai tossed the racket to Ryoma, "If you play well then maybe your three rackets will turn up." Ryoma immediately glared at him after he said that, "Alright I accept your challenge."
Ryoma kept missing a few balls until she added her own body-spin on the impact and completely humiliated him. "I want my rackets back if you don't mind." Ryoma enhanced her glare. "What makes you think I too them?" Arai argued. "Your vocal pattern, the fact that you had that racket on hand and that you knew that I had three rackets no one else here knew I had three rackets." she explained. "According to my data everything is right on the mark; you have very good deduction skills, Echizen." Inui said, walking up to them. "My mom's a lawyer, so I picked up some things from her." Ryoma explained. Inui nodded at her, "I suggest you give back her rackets or you can taste my newest drink." he advised. Arai ran off to get the rackets. 'Are his drinks really that bad?' Ryoma wondered.
She took off her cap after Arai gave back her rackets, "Whoa!" the F3 exclaimed simultaneously. "What?" she looked at them curiously. "R-Ryoma, your hair." Kachiro pointed. Ryoma touched it and noticed it was released, "Hm, I guess the pins must've fallen out." she said brushing it out with her fingers. At that moment a lot of the boys, including Arai, blushed. They all thought she was extremely cute. Inui started writing in his notebook.
"Miss, can you explain what you are doing?" the computer asked. Ryoma took a special route to get to the headquarters. "What does it look like? I'm working on the ." she answered, welding two metal covers together. "Computer, I need the files on the last three." she said getting up from the conference table. "Yes Miss," the computer pulled up the first picture, "Shuichiro Oishi, a 9th grader, he is the vice-captain of the tennis team his hobby is studying medicine. He is his class rep." Ryoma sat down before the second picture showed, "The next is Kunimitsu Tezuka, 9th grade, he is the captain of the tennis team, no hobbies are known, a straight A student and will correct the teacher if a mistake is made. That reminds me of someone I know of." the computer added. "Just tell me about the last one." Ryoma pouted. "The last one is Kaouro Kaidoh, the last of the two 8th graders, hobbies are unknown, average in all classes. He is called viper by the majority of the team."
"Computer, record all info during the matches, I want to see if they can pass my test." Ryoma ordered. "Yes Miss." the computer replied then turned off. Ryoma put the scale back in the box and stored it in a hidden door. She went through her pocket and pulled out an ocarina and played a sweet lullaby, 'Grandma, I promise you that I'll be the best leader that I can be.' Ryoma thought when a tear left her eye. Around the area all the regulars looked up and stopped what they were doing, as if they were listening to Ryoma's song.