Re-cap: "Please, I hate being underestimated because of my size." she gave a innocent smile as her eyes opened revealing the light violet eyes beneath, holding her racquet frame lightly. "Let's go."

Games were 5-3, 30-0 points, Sanzushi lead.

----

Taiya and Kawamura were attracting a lot of attention from onlookers, which further disturbed Taiya's concentration. Once again, her racquet was completely blown away from her hand from the power behind the returns Kawamura performed. Soon....

"30-40, Sanzushi lead."

"Match point already....."

"No way....something must be wrong...."

Taiya started to huff heavily, shoulders slouched as she gripped her racquet tightly in her sweaty palms. She wished for the ball to come at her easy, so she could just smash it and take the game, before going off to take a nap somewhere. It was also acutely uncomfortable having your hair bundled up in the hat while sweat builds up.

'Did those Chinese Nationals people just friggin' let me in on whim?! Why is it so difficult to win?!'

The people who were present at her match chatted amongst themselves. 'Didn't think I could manage too well, eh? Nobody does. Anyway...I'm faster than him; that's all there is to it. I can catch him off guard with my agility and force him to the right side of his court. Then if I aim for the corner of the left box on his court, it'll be harder for him to react, since he is right handed. Okay, let's win this.'

She manipulated him to her desired spot on the court when she had performed a drop shot near the front. Being the ever-burning Kawamura, he had dived for the ball and lobbed it.

'Chance!"

Taiya took her chance as she smashed it right in the far left corner of Kawamura's court - like planned. A heavy silence hung in the air for a split second before an eruption of chatter ran throughout the crowds.

'天啊(Heavens)! I WON!...I'm so lucky he was the only guy who was a Regular in this block. I don't think I'd live for another match today. -.-'

Her aching muscles brought her down to her knees as her perspiration rolled off her face. Panting and gulping in the air happily with a satisfied smile on her face, the girl screamed victory in her head. Oh yes, she does a lot of that..

The series of people around were watching, all whispering and muttering things, some things too complicated and long for Taiya to catch onto. But she definitely could piece things together, and got infuriated after hearing a string of words from one guy, including 'Are you kidding?

Taiya's eye twitched violently once again. 'Are they calling me WEAK?! JUST BECAUSE I'M SMALL, DOESN'T MEAN I CAN'T KICK YOUR A-'

-The author prohibits the end of that sentence-

Lactic acid coursed through her muscles, restraining her movements to a minimum. Fuji smiled and took the racquet from Kawamura's hands, making him turn back to his somewhat-timid self.

Kawamura and Taiya both walked up to the net and shook hands after a good game,

"It was a great game," she said between breaths. "One of the toughest in my whole playing career at school."

"It was a good game, I agree. Nice effort."

"Thank you."

Girls who had been watching had done a series of 'oohs' and 'ahhs'. The hair at the back of Taiya's neck stood up.

'Are they 'ooh-ing' at that guy or...me?! No! Don't tell me I have a strange and highly unnatural pheremone level!'

'DAMMIT! I SHOULD HAVE HUNG OUT WITH GIRLS WHEN I WAS YOUNGER!!'

----

The clock beeped it's familiar, irritating sound and once again a pillow came to help it meet its downfall.

Taiya sat up from her bed, the morning sunshine making its way through her curtains. She yawned. "The last day of the ranking matches, eh? Time to go."

Glancing at the neat, male uniform hanging on the knob of her closet, she grinned before she started to change.

-

"What do you think of the new guy?" Ryuzaki Sumire asked the boy beside her. Tezuka merely closed his eyes, a sigh escaping from his lips.

"We'll wait first. It's best not to rush decisions."

"Heh, you're right."

"Nya, Oishi, that new guy is pretty good, eh?" Eiji said as he stared at Taiya sitting on a bench, trying to lie down to get a good sleep, apparently tired from all the matches. She had successfully secured her spot with little difficulty.

"Ah, he's a new transfer student from China," explained Fuji. "He must have a fair few decent years of experience. He has remarkable speed (though he lacks power for a guy- shameful)."

"I think you found yourself another flexible partner, Eiji," commented Oishi, while Eiji only clung onto him and let out a 'nya' sound.

----

"That was a nice match with Taka-san."

Fuji came and sat down next to a tired Taiya on the bench. She smiled and thanked him.

"He's amazing, that guy," she said, shifting on the bench uncomfortably, her smile turning rather nervous. "It was a really difficult struggle...I was afraid I wouldn't make it. Time is everything, right now."

"..."

Suddenly Taiya gasped and spluttered, "G-gomen! (sorry)!" She inwardly smacked herself across the head with a club. "I'm rambling on to you even when we're not that well acquainted! I apologize!"

Fuji seated himself beside her with a chuckle, waving it away. "So anyway, why do you plan on joining as a Regular here in Seishun Gakuen?" he asked.

Taiya fell silent for a while as she thought. 'What was it again that I came to Japan for....? Is this why brother called me an idiot?'

'Hmm, yes, you're a idiot!! Brother was absolutely right! You're an idiot, idiot, idiot! 笨蛋.'

'Even my own head is ganging up against me by itself...'

"Sheesh, got that right, moron. I'm pretty sure a lot more people would agree with me."

'...Was I really this nasty-mouthed?!'

Fuji waited for her answer patiently. It was some time before she spoke. "Why are you interested?"

"Because it's good to become better acquainted with people, isn't it? Especially when they are in your class, your next door neighbour, and also probably a new team-mate."

She laughed good-naturedly. "I don't know about that...but it's good to think about!" she grinned. "Well, in answer to your question, Fuji-san....I came specifically to this school since my mother had recommended it. She apparently had attended this school herself as a transfer for a year- as well as my older brother, come to think of it. Wait, no, that was a different school; whatever. Anyway, I'm here in Japan playing tennis to...well, prove something. Prove myself."

"For who?"

He saw Taiya- or Taichi as she is known to him- give another fox-like grin.

"Important people...and some un-important people in my life."

"....Ah, how nice- 'un-important' people."

They both chuckled.

-

'My God....'

The Chinese-Japanese tranfer's eye twitched in fear.

'There's a Mother Hen, an acrobatic happy-go-lucky guy, a power-filled eating machine, a shorty, a human Ice Block, a MPS guy, a Viper, and Fuji-san, a scary person who has a smile of a clown!' Taiya thought as she studied the various Regular players from Seigaku as they commented on her win. 'Unnatural..unnatural!'

"Hey, Tai-senpai, you look like a girl," Momoshiro joked heartily after the assembly line up. A racquet was instantly raised in the air in a threatening manner, with a not-too-pleased Taiya unconscious to her own automatic actions.

"Do you have a problem with that?" she said in a dangerous voice in rather sloppy Japanese, cocking her head to the side. Momoshiro sweat-dropped, hands held in a defensive position in front of him as he smiled nervously.

"Iie, Tai-senpai...." 'First Chinese person I encounter is some really freaky bipolar tennis player. I don't wanna see what he's capable of besides tennis...!'

"Everyone, dismissed!"

"Hai!"

-

Taiya found herself walking home again with the company of the oh-so-great (no sarcasm intended) Fuji Syusuke, after remembering it takes her about forever and a day to find her way around any local community. She was blessed that he was a nice guy, albeit rather mysterious and odd.

"What is China like in terms of local tennis clubs?" asked Fuji, politely striking up a conversation.

"They are...." Taiya struggled to find the adjectives suitable to describe her thoughts. "...very good? But there were not much, seeing as they enjoyed martial arts, badminton and ping pong more -.-." (In Japanese, if I'm thinking it up correct, a lot of her sentences are simply set out, and her grammar skips some particles.)

Fuji let out an angelic laugh while she smiled along with him. And soon they reached their street.

'Oh my God, what do guys say when they bid good bye to each other? Hmm....I can only think of those African-American rappers! Okay,星花(Xing Hua, her name), DON'T SPEAK LIKE A RAPPING AMER-'

"Yo, see ya, dude! Catch ya next time, ma brudda (my brother)!" she ended up saying in a rapper-style American voice (in English).

Then what she had just said hit her like a brick, just as Fuji quirked an eyebrow.

"Uh...."

Taiya slowly walked to the front door, and tried not to run in the process, but once she reached the door and opened it, she slammed the door behind herself forcefully, sweating from embarrassment.

"I can't believe I just said that."

--------

The next day, right in the morning, Taiya left home earlier than usual, and thankfully Fuji did not seem to be coming out at the same time; his questions were unusually observant, especially when it came to the made-up Sanzushi siblings.

Taiya arrived at school, slightly sleepy, but when she saw all the other Regulars, Fuji included, already stretching and practicing a question mark appeared over her head.

"Ara?"

"Sanzushi, you're late! 20 laps!" came the irratating voice of the statue Tezuka, making her grumble. But she didn't complain; she had not been in China for nothing. Strict discipline was a requirement, respect was enforced, and the best grades in the class were expected. Yeah, harsh.

"Hai!"

Taiya began running her laps, and the red-headed acrobatic player called out to her. "Mornin', Tai-chan!"

"Mornin', Kikumaru-san," she huffed as she reached her 3rd lap. 'Tai...chan? Still?'

"You're clever not to talk back to buchou because, you know, he'll increase your laps by a couple of fold."

Taiya sweat-drop before nodding. "Thanks for the advice! Um, what's up with this?" she asked, totally oblivious to what was going on. There were tennis players everywhere, including the Regulars.

"We had a scheduled morning practice today," he replied with a grin. "You know, practice~? Training?"

Taiya felt like a bunch of bricks just fell down on her. Inwardly, she had fell on her knees and grabbed her head in agitation. 'Oh my God, of course! Renshuu~! I thought he meant that we had to practice regularly- oh my God, I stuffed up already...'

After laps, stretching, and some practice shots with some non-Regulars, Tezuka soon called out to everyone on the courts.

"Alright, everyone gather up!"

"I shouldn't have to say this, but the Districts are right around the corner," Sumire explained. "The nine chosen Regulars at the ranking matches...they will have to train hard in preparation for the tournament." ("No duh." Taiya muttered). "The level of tennis at all the other schools have increased." Sumire smiled lightly.

"Therefore, don't take it lightly. Adjourned!"

"Well then, practice will continue. Second and Third year members in Court C. Court A and B will be for Regular members," ordered Tezuka.

"Finally," Eiji said in relief, stretching as Tezuka continued his ordering-everyone-around thing.

"Wait a minute."

The Regulars all turned to stare at their ageing coach.

"For the Regular members...I have asked this man to prepare a special training menu."

All of the Regulars watched as a man with spiked navy-ish black hair with rectangle glasses shining in the sunlight appear before them with a smile. He was carrying a cardboard box, filled with who knows what inside.

"Inui," everyone but Taiya chanted. 'I forgot his name...'

"Yo."

He dropped the box onto the ground, and Taiya and Eiji peered inside. What appeared to be weights and tennis balls adourned with different coloured markings were inside.

"To survive until the national tournament, first of all, we must train our footwork," Inui said, as everyone was putting on the blue straps on their ankles. Inui held up one. "'Power ankle,' adding two 250g training weights, including the socks, will weight 1kg."

"Hmmm, that's not a lot of weight," Momo stated, a little confused. Ryoma was lightly jumping on one foot, as was Taiya before she high kicked the air with her arms in front of her, as though she was prepared to spar someone in a martial arts match.

"Hmm, not bad."

"Furthermore, red, yellow and blue cones along with colour-coded red, yellow and blue balls have been prepared." 'This seems interesting. What type of training would this be...?,' Taiya wondered.

Eiji smiled as he walked a few steps, his racquet behind his head. "Oh, I see~!"

"Make an error, and it's over, right?"

Inui nodded.

"Here it goes, Eiji!" Inui softly lobbed a ball towards Eiji, and everyone watched as Eiji swiftly returned the ball to the correct coloured cone.

"Red!"

Taiya's mouth was opened slightly in awe. "Su-sugoi! Kikumaru-san is amazing!" she said in awe, unable to further epress her thoughts with her limited Japanese.

"That guy," smiled Oishi, the vice-captain, rather fondly, "He's always had a good vision; the best in our team," he informed a nodding Taiya.

"Ahh! What is this?! It was red afterall! Inui! That's not fair...you cheater!" They all heard the red-hed remarl as he had been promptly tricked during his training, resulting in him hitting the ball to the wrong coloured cone.

Taiya laughed as Inui explained to a shocked Ryoma and Eiji that after people lose their stamina, their judgement is impaired too. 'That Inui guy is good. Good advice.'

"Kikumaru, swap positions."

"By the way, I forgot to tell you, those who make errors will drink Inui's special Vegetable Juice," Inui said with a smile. An evil smile. While holding up a glass with a dark, moss-green substance swishing inside, it seemed as though all time had stopped as everyone focused their attention on that one pitcher- something they didn't know would probably become their new fear in the very near future.

"Wha-what's in that?"

"Food, don't worry about it."

Eiji smiled nervously at Inui, as though hoping it was a joke, but Inui just gave a evil, twisted smirk. A few words increased the Regulars doubts.

"The taste has been thoroughly adjusted."

It wasn't soon after a cup had been downed before Eiji had sprinted to the taps with a face crossed between disgust and shock- shock at that such foulness could possibly exist.

"Blah! What is this?! Water, water, water, water, water!! AHHH!!" He screamed before running towards the door, shouting in disgust.

Slowly, more people began to disappear...and it didn't seem like they were coming back for a while.

"What are you doing? ("What are YOU doing, letting that guy feed us poison?!" Taiya shot back, outraged.) Next, Oishi and Kawamura!" Sumire commanded. It was easy to tell what they were thinking.

'Can't...make a mistake!'

Both had to run towards the taps after the First Year. Kawamura' hands even shook when Fuji gave him his racquet.

'I haven't even lasted a month yet! Don't let me die...I'm honestly begging you, God (even though I don't believe in you)...'

Even the great Kaidoh hissed before he ran after his team-mates, as did Momo before him. Then...it was Taiya's and Fuji's turn. Taiya was sweating from her state of nerves; she didn't want to taste that stuff EVER in her short life. Sumire hit the ball towards her, which she quickly took into mind. Swiftly, she returned it to the correct coloured cone, making it wobble on the spot. Sumire smiled.

Taiya suddenly stumbled, her ankle rolling but....

Then-

"It happened," Momoshiro croaked out from the ground he had collapsed onto after his return from the taps. She had....hit the wrong cone.

'.....啊！(ah!)' o.0

"Come on; drink up," Inui grinned, his glasses flashing. Those still conscious watched as Taiya slowly lifted the glass to her lips and-

The contents swished in her mouth. Time stopped once again.

First thing to come into Taiya's mind was....

'WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!'

The taste of grass, something salty, and citris fruits which didn't even taste like citris fruits met her mouth.

"死三八!" (A curse which doesn't even make sense in this context)

Sumire and Inui watched Taiya, like all others, run towards the taps, gourging herself on the tap water along with several other Regulars still trying to rid the rancid taste from their mouths. The Regulars all walked back glumly, clutching their stomachs and groaned before Taiya saw Fuji, the tensai, even make a mistake.

"Fuji! You did that on purpose!" Eiji exclaimed accusingly.

"Yes, I wanted to try it at least once."

Taiya's face contorted in disgust. 'My next door neighbor is INSANE! You take one look at that and you know it's inconsumable for humans!! What....what is he?!'

Fuji slowly drank the contents before letting out a satisfied sigh. "Ah! That was pretty good, I recommend it!" he said, earning a sweatdrop from Inui.

"LIAR!" Eiji exclaimed before he slumped to the ground, groaning while Taiya chuckled painfully.

Taiya sat on the ground, feeling her stomach acids react quite different from normal - or maybe Inui's so-called Vegetable Juice was some form of newly improved Hydrochloric acid. A science miracle/disaster - or new cheap way people can commit suicide.

But we all know bullets are kinder.

Inui Juice was slow and painful.

As everyone laid on the ground desperately clinging to life, Inui pointed out the various weaknesses the players had.

"Everyone did better than I thought. Kikumaru, you have a habit of losing your grip during your shot. That'll improve if you develop your forearm muscles," Inui said a matter-of-factly. "Oishi and Kaidoh have to work on their forward/backward movement. Kawamura and Fuji have to work on their left/right dash. You need to develop your quadricept and tricept muscles."

"Where are those muscles?"

"Momoshiro, your accuracy would improve if you hold your shots to 70% of your full strength."

"Hai...."

"Tezuka did well in not missing any, but he needs more flexibility. Your expression is too cold."

With that, everyone sniggered into their hands. Inui turned to Taiya.

"Sanzushi, your concentration is easily broken- try to focus more on your surroundings and your body. Apart from that, your basic skills are very well developed- just an increase on stamina would be good, since it irritates your concentration even more so if you lack it."

"Uh- hai!" .

Inui started to move towards the box again, rummaging through it. "Okay, back to the subject. Let's add one more block (to the weights)."

"Wait a sec, Inui," Sumire cut in. He turned to her. "Five weights are okay."

Everyone all turned to stare at Inui's ankle, and saw him with the same weights. "It's the same as you?"

"We're gonna eventually end up with 5 blocks, right, Inui-senpai?" Momo said with a smile.

"I don't even mind six blocks," Ryoma said airily.

"Ah...6 blocks sounds alright I guess," comented Taiya mainly to herself, seeing as she wasn't really acquainted with everyone else.

"No for Regulars...."

"...Up to ten weights."

Everyone froze for a split second, comprehending these words before balls were all served towards Inui.

"It's not funny, you-!"

Sumire only chuckled. 'By increasing your stamina, your skill improves several fold....'

'Everyone's so interesting!' Taiya chuckled to herself.

----

".....Hai, so I'll leave my son in charge of you these few days. Why, thank you so much for the offer....!"

Taiya heard the sound of her mother talking to another person. Someone...female. When she approached, Taiya's mum gave a bright smile.

"Ah, Taichi, this is Yoshiko-san!! She's Fuji-kun's mother. I'll be leaving for a while for work, so you'll be under their care for these few days. Say thank you to Yoshiko-san!" she said cheerily while Taiya gripped her head in alarm, a dramatic flame background behind her (a blatant anime thing).

'NO WAY! AHH!! 妈妈(mum)!!! WHY DID YOU MAKE ME STAY WITH THEM?!'

"Hmm, is there something the matter, Taichi-kun?" Yoshiko asked, worried. Taiya realised she was showing every sign of shock, and quickly covered it up with a grimace.

"Iie....I just ... remembered I had some work to do! Ah hahaha!" 'Mum.... if this ruins my chances in being in the team, I'll NEVER forgive you!' "So..mum, how long will you be away for?" said Taiya in a sickly sweet voice, her eyebrow twitching. Aiki smiled again.

"Oh, not long. One week."

'ONE WEEK?! YOU'RE LEAVING ME WITH THE STOMACH-OF-STEEL FUJI SYUSUKE'S HOUSE ALL ALONE FOR A WEEK?!'

Taiya twitched violently.

"Oh....i-is t-th-that so? W-well, I'll b-be in my room getting....getting ready."

Aiki placed a hand to her cheek in mock worry.

"Ara, my son twitches so much."

----

"Goodbye, dear mother."

"Ah, Taichi-kun, I'm sure you'll get along just fine with my son, Syusuke, ne?" Fuju's mother winked at her reassuringly, making Taiya just have more doubts.

'I guess it's better than drinking Inu's special Vegetable juice. Unless...no way, he...HE DIDN'T BRING SOME HOME WITH HIM, DID HE?!'

The one week of taking extra precaution has just begun.

----

[Old author note was deleted since I edited this chapter today, 27th December.]