"I'm so excited to play against Shishido's team, but at the same time, I'm so nervous too!" said Choutarou as his team made their way to the court.
"Well, try to calm down." Said Gakuto. "Because we're in the first match!"
"I'm just glad I don't have to play against Shishido personally." Choutarou admitted, sighing with relief.
"Good luck to both of you!" said Eiji to Gakuto and Choutarou. "Oishi will not be easy to beat!"
"Oh gosh I KNOW!" said Choutarou. "And after all the hype from dinner where you kept telling me how amazing Oishi was but couldn't give me any specifics, I just don't know if I'll be able to perform at one hundred percent!"
They all stared at Choutarou.
"No, Ootori!" said Momo, grabbing him and leading him away. "You'll be FINE."
"You think so?" Choutarou said thoughtfully.
"I KNOW so!" said Momo. "Just think of Shishido and how proud he'll be!"
"But…" Choutarou started. "Will Shishido really be proud if my team ends up beating his?"
"Look at it this way." Said Marui, popping up in front of him. "If your team beats his team, then he'll always know forever in his heart that you are worthy to be his doubles partner."
"You're right!" said Choutarou, looking determined. "Thanks, guys! You're the best friends I have…except Shishido of course."
"HEY OISHI!" Eiji called, waving his arms around foolishly. "GOOD LUCK!"
Oishi waved back and turned to his team.
"Part of me feels like that team deserves to go to the finals more than us." Oishi reported.
They all gasped. "What makes you say something like that?" said Itsuki.
"Well…" Oishi said. "They work better as a team than we do. We're always at each other's throats and kicking people outside and just look at SHISHIDO!"
They all looked at Shishido.
"Stop thinking like that!" commanded Sengoku. "You have to play well and win the first game so Shishido doesn't have to play, remember?"
"Yeah…I know…" said Oishi but clearly his heart was wavering.
"Just concentrate." Kamio said. "Just get in your rhythm."
"My…rhythm?" Oishi questioned.
"Yeah!" said Kamio. "Just do it! Like Nike!"
Oishi slowly nodded. "…Okay…" he said. "Come on, Itsuki!"
"Will Oishi and Itsuki from The Rhythm please join Ootori and Gakuto from Playing Doubles With Five People on the court?" said Banji as he sat down in the famous referee seat.
"Oh I don't know who to cheer for!" said Eiji, bouncing up and down. "I want our team to win, but I also don't want Oishi to lose! What a dilemma!"
"Oh stop, Eiji!" said Momo as he slapped Eiji across the face. "It's no dilemma! Cheer for Ootori and Gakuto OBVIOUSLY!"
Eiji rubbed his face. "You didn't have to slap me…" he whined.
"Playing Doubles With Five People, it's your serve first." Said Banji.
"Use your Scud Serve to get us an early lead, Ootori!" Gakuto said.
"All right!" said Choutarou.
"LOOK OUT, OISHI!" yelled Eiji. "OOTORI IS GOING TO USE HIS SCUD SERVE TO GET AN EARLY LEAD!" Oishi thanked Eiji gratefully and then Eiji looked at Choutarou and Gakuto who were staring at him questioningly. "Look out for Oishi guys. He knows that you're going to use the Scud Serve to get an early lead."
Momo thwapped Eiji upside the head.
"Well, it won't help them to just know." Said Gakuto confidently. "It was obvious we were going to use it anyway."
"I'll put my heart and soul into it!" said Choutarou excitedly.
He did just that. And because Choutarou's heart and soul was in it, he easily scored the points necessary to quickly end the game. Of course, it could have also been because his Scud Serve is ridiculous, but it also could have been the heart and soul.
They switched courts and the match continued.
"YES!" cheered Sengoku as Oishi got in that stance. "Moon Volley!"
"Oh no!" said Eiji as he covered his eyes.
"MOON VOLLEY!" said Oishi as he did the Moon Volley.
It sailed over everyone's heads, and Oishi was pretty sure it was going to bounce out, but he had never considered the fact that Choutarou was quite the large thirteen-year-old, so he leapt up into the air and smashed the Moon Volley back into the opposing court, scoring another point for his team.
"No…" said Oishi. "The Moon Volley was COUNTERED?"
Eiji peeked through his fingers at Choutarou and Gakuto celebrating.
"YAY!" he cheered.
Then he looked at Oishi's sad face.
"OISHI!" he reached out for his teammate and best friend in the whole world.
"Could this be the end of the game?" said Banji. "One more point and Playing Doubles With Five People wins!"
"Man, Shishido's going to have to play…" Kamio bit his fingernails off as Itsuki served the ball and Gakuto returned it, using his AMAZING acrobatic skillz. They ended up winning the game, therefore winning the match.
"GAME SET AND MATCH!" said Banji.
Playing Doubles With Five People cheered, and Choutarou looked hopefully back at The Rhythm's team bench to see if Shishido had been watching him. Instead, he could distinctly see Shishido lying on the bench… SLEEPING?
Choutarou's face fell.
"What's wrong?" said Marui. "We just won."
"Shishido…slept through my match…" Choutarou said, looking as though someone had just cancelled Christmas. "He… didn't even… watch me…"
Choutarou trudged off to contemplate suicide and his team was just about to chase after him and assure him that it must be a HUGE misunderstanding, but Banji called, "Singles 3! Eiji from Playing Doubles With Five People and versus Kamio from The Rhythm!"
"Don't worry, Eiji." Said Momo. "We'll go after Ootori. You just focus on winning your match!"
"Thanks, Momo!" said Eiji as the two of them put their forearms together in a very supportive manner. Then the entire team ran off to find Choutarou as Eiji made his way to the court.
"All right, listen." Said Sengoku. "We can't lose either of these two games or else we won't even come down to a tiebreaker, considering Shishido's definitely going to lose his game."
"So what are you saying?" Kamio asked.
"DON'T LOSE." Said his whole team.
Kamio went to the court as well.
Eiji looked back and forth between Banji, Kamio, Oishi, his empty team bench and the court in front of him that was just screaming to experience the beauty of his acrobatic tennis.
"The Rhythm to serve!" said Banji.
"I am SO in the rhythm." Said Kamio as he served.
Now THIS was an intense game. With Kamio's super speed and Eiji's acrobatic tennis, it didn't seem like anything was going to get by either of them. The game was very long and very drawn out because both of them were working so hard to accomplish something.
Eiji sought to impress Oishi. That's pretty much it.
Kamio, on the other hand, had a lot more on his plate. Yes, he wanted to impress Tachibana, but there was so much MORE than that! He also had his team's potential victory riding on his shoulders, for if he did not win then they would likely not move onto the next round, considering Shishido would probably end up forfeiting his match. In addition to that, Kamio was also striving to please his teammates since he was on a mission to prove to them that even though he was a second year, he was very good at tennis. He also wanted to prove to the WORLD (AKA everyone who was watching him) that Fudomine was the best team around and that Tachibana was a great coach to take a group of first years and turn them into great tennis players. But above all that, he was in the rhythm.
But, in the end, Eiji's need to impress Oishi triumphed over all of Kamio's dramatic reasons for winning.
"Game set and match!" said Banji, pointing to Eiji. "Playing Doubles With Five People!"
"YAY!" cheered Eiji, jumping up into the air and expecting to land in the loving arms of his entire team, only to land flat on his face. He looked up to see his team had not yet returned from recovering Choutarou. "…Guys?" he sniffed.
Kamio retreated to his bench where his team was less than forgiving.
"Great." Said Sengoku. "Now we pretty much lose. Even if I win my game, Shishido won't win his and we won't even get a chance to go to a tiebreaker."
"Sorry." Said Kamio, looking very depressed.
"NICE JOB EIJI!" Oishi was shouting. Itsuki elbowed Oishi in the stomach. "Ow!" he said, turning around and then realizing that his entire team was mourning. "Oh right." He cleared his throat and then looked sad. "This is bad…"
"The next match is Marui from Playing Doubles With Five People and Sengoku from The Rhythm!" said Banji. "Please take to the court!"
"Well this is pointless…" Sengoku sighed, picking up his racket and going to his baseline.
Everyone waited.
"Where's Marui?" Banji questioned of Eiji.
"Erm…" Eiji said, looking around. "Coming back soon…?"
"If he's not here in five minutes then The Rhythm wins by forfeit!" said Banji.
Kamio distanced himself from his team. All of his goals he was striving to accomplished…for NAUGHT!
"Kamio, it's okay!" said Tachibana as he literally came out of nowhere and put his hand on Kamio's shoulder.
"Tachibana!" said Kamio enthusiastically. "Where did you come from?"
Tachibana looked confused. "I was watching the match." He said. "Didn't you see me? I took the sign you made for me, crossed out 'Tachibana' and wrote in 'Kamio'."
"I DID see that!" said Kamio. "Except you used pencil, so I couldn't really see it, so it looked like you were holding a sign that said 'Tachibana is my hero'."
"Oh." said Tachibana, looking down at the poster. "Now I feel embarrassed."
"Don't be embarrassed, Tachibana!" said Kamio. "I'M the embarrassed one! I needed to win that match for my team! Now we might not go to the finals."
"It's all right, Kamio." Said Tachibana. "My team lost too. We're not going to the finals either."
"No one in Fudomine will be in the finals…" sighed Kamio.
"Don't worry!" said Tachibana, giving Kamio the THUMBS UP. "When it really matters, you WILL see Fudomine in the finals! I can promise you that!"
"Oh Tachibana!" Kamio exclaimed. "You're an inspiration to us ALL!"
"The five minutes is up!" said Banji. "The Rhythm wins!"
"Woo…hoo…" said Sengoku as he trudged back over to his bench.
"Wait, wait." Said Oishi, looking around and noticing that Eiji was STILL alone at his team bench. "Maybe we COULD end up winning!"
"What do you mean?" said Itsuki. "How could we do that?"
"If Momo doesn't come back to play Singles 1, then he forfeits." Oishi explained. "Then we'd go to the tiebreaker and hope for the best!"
"We COULD win!" said Sengoku excitedly.
"AHEM!" said Banji as if he had been clearing his throat for ages, which he might have been. "If Shishido from The Rhythm and Momo from Playing Doubles With Five People don't make their way to the courts then you BOTH will forfeit!"
"Quick!" said Kamio as he shook Shishido, nearly knocking him off the bench.
"He's not waking up…" said Itsuki.
"HEY SHISHIDO!" yelled Sengoku as he slapped Shishido across the face a few times. "WAKE UP!"
Shishido blinked a few times and then hardly opened his eyes, making a noise that really only proved that he was alive, not necessarily that he was ready to play an intense tennis match.
"Don't let us down Shishido!" said Oishi. "All you have to do is stand up straight for five minutes!"
"HEY HEY!" came Eiji's excited voice as he started jumping up and down. The Rhythm spun around to see the rest of Playing Doubles With Five People running up in what might have been slow motion. "I'm so glad you guys made it!"
"I've got to play my match!" said Marui, grabbing his racket, but Eiji put his hand on his. "What?"
"You didn't make it in time for your match." Eiji said solemnly. "You were disqualified. We're at Singles 1 now."
"Aw man…" said Marui sadly.
"That means… it's all up to ME!" said Momo, grabbing his racket and standing up.
"Oh this is all MY fault!" Choutarou fretted. "If only I had told you guys that I had actually just gone off to use the bathroom and was not seeking out a way to kill myself then this would have never happened!"
"We don't blame you, Ootori!" said Gakuto.
"Don't worry, Shishido," said Sengoku as he steadied Shishido on his feet. "You'll do fine. REALLY!"
Slowly, he let go of Shishido's shoulders, and after an elapsed time of about one second, Shishido started tipping and almost did a face plant but luckily Oishi caught him.
"Maybe we should just forfeit…" Oishi suggested.
"Maybe we should…" Itsuki agreed.
"What is going on over here?" came Ryuuzaki's voice as she tapped her foot while crossing her arms and looking disappointed. "Don't tell me that you can't wake Shishido up from his nap that he takes before games."
"Err…" said The Rhythm slowly.
Choutarou looked up after overhearing what Ryuuzaki had just said.
"Shishido never naps before games…" he said quietly.
Then he took it upon himself to go over to The Rhythm's bench and impose his overwhelming presence on the strictly short to average heighted people. He gasped when he saw the state in which Shishido was.
"WHAT is this?" he said.
"It seems as though Shishido has not yet recovered from being sick yesterday." Ryuuzaki reported.
"That's right!" said Choutarou. "Since he missed the challenge yesterday because he was sick."
The Rhythm looked at each other.
"Oh right!" said Kamio. "Yeah! That happened. Yeah, because he was totally sick yesterday BEFORE the challenge and that's why he missed it."
Ryuuzaki eyed them suspiciously. "I'm ashamed of you four!" she said. "Forcing Shishido to play tennis when is CLEARLY not well enough to play!"
The four accused bowed their heads in shame.
"Shishido, I can't believe that they've done this to you!" said Choutarou as he ran over to Shishido and picked him up off the ground as if he weighed absolutely nothing. But then Choutarou realized that Shishido DID weigh something so he backtracked and placed Shishido on the bench.
"Choutarou…is that you?" said Shishido, opening his eyes ever so slightly.
"Yes, I'm here!" said Choutarou. "And what a fool I've been for not noticing you in such a pitiful state! If only I had seen it sooner!"
"It's not your fault…" Shishido said.
"Come on, Shishido, stop acting like you're dying." Said Sengoku.
"Actually…" Oishi said, double-checking the thermometer he had used to take Shishido's temperature when no one was looking.
Sengoku leaned over and stole a glance at it. "Okay fine, you can act like you're dying." He revised.
"SHISHIDO!" Choutarou gasped, slapping his cheeks.
"I am putting my foot down and saying that this team is disqualified from the rest of the tournament!" said Ryuuzaki.
"We would have lost anyway." Said Kamio.
"Take Shishido home this INSTANT and let him rest!" Ryuuzaki said, choosing to ignore Kamio's previous comment.
She went onto the courts and informed Banji of what had just taken place.
"Wait, do I get to play tennis?" Momo asked.
"Nope!" said Banji. "Playing Doubles With Five People wins! They will go to the finals against SHATS!"
"HURRAY!" cheered everyone on the doubles team except for Momo who looked slightly devastated.