Chapter 4

Überschreiten grenzen

-exceeding limits-


A few days later, Minako once again found herself back in Seigaku after being released from the hospital for good behavior. However, being back in school was anything but normal. Despite hardly any words being exchanged between them, the two were noticeably closer than just the student council president and new girl. People gawked at the two and whispered things. They were saying things she couldn't understand. Japanese slang, no doubt. But soon stillness enshrouded the hallways and classrooms, but even sooner still, they were replaced with girlish squeals and husky murmurs. In the doorway of Year 3, Class 1 stood Keigo Atobe from Hyoutei Middle School. A snap from him, and once again, all was hushed.

Elmina casually glanced over the door where all the commotion was. As soon as she saw who it was, she turned around in her seat and faced towards the window. Is that really Keigo? It's been years since I've seen him, but he's still as cocky as ever. Chancing a glimpse to left side of her, she saw that Tezuka was visible irritated.

Atobe nonchalantly walked over to the podium. The teacher tried to stop him, but one glance from him shut her up. He projected his voice loudly. "The king is looking for someone." There was reticence until…

"Atobe. Leave. You're disrupting class." It was Tezuka.

"Quiet Tezuka. It's not you the king wishes to see. It is my understanding that someone by the name of Elmina Heike here. Where is she?"

No one responded to him directly, but whispers started up again. "Does he mean the violin prodigy? What's she doing here in Japan? Forget that, what's she doing at OUR school?"

Elmina shifted slightly in her seat. He shot a glance in her direction, but her back was still turned to him. "You there. You dare have your back to the king? Let me see your face." At those words, she slowly and reluctantly turned to face the front of the classroom. His lips curled up into a small smile the moment the face came into view. "The cat's out of the bag, Heike. There's just no way I'd never forget that face of yours." He had said the name with a German accent. In return, the girl looked upon him with contempt, but spoke no reply. "Playing coy, eh? Why don't you just tell everyone who you really are Minako Heike. Or is it Mina Klein? Well… how about it, Elmina…?"

"Mina Klein, as in the girl who was one of the top ten in the Europe Junior Tennis Circuit? Wait, 'was'? What happened? Didn't you hear? She suddenly retired in the middle of the last tournament a couple weeks ago. Hey wait… They're all the same person?" The side conversations continued as people snuck glances at the girl.

He laughed out loud at the utterances he elicited from the rest of the students, clearly trying to provoke the girl into saying something. However, his laughing soon became engulfed in silence. Although, this time the quietness was different; the atmosphere felt heavy. The tension was clearly felt between the two. Despite it being a one-sided conversation between them, they obviously had some kind of relationship, but what that type of relationship was a mystery. His smile faded at the girl's lack of response. Only her eyes exhibited any sign that she registered his significance. Behind her blue yet Asiatic eyes, hatred flared. "How about I ask you this, Elmina? Why are you at… this… school? You'd be much more suited to Hyoutei. All the fame, prestige, and luxury you are used to would at your fingertips." In retort, she just impatiently tapped her fingertips on the desk. The sound itself was dull, but soon came to be redundant amongst the stillness. Finally she said something.

"Ist dass alles was Sie zu sagen haben?" ("Is that all you have to say?") She curtly replied with an unamused look apparent on her face.

"Nein." ("No.") He smirk returned. He seemed to be enjoying the pressure he was putting her through. "Three years ago, though I hate to admit it," he gritted his teeth as he said the next words, "I lost to you terribly at the European Junior Open. To be frank, I'm looking for reve— a rematch. Since you're in Japan, I thought this was the perfect opportunity for such a thing."

Soft words were once again aroused from the student body. "THE Atobe, King of Hyoutei lost to little Minako? That's impossible right?" Annoyed, the king snapped his fingers. All was silent.

"How about it… What's your name here again? Oh right. How about it, Minako?" His smirk had now turned into a devious smile.

"Don't even thin—" Tezuka tried to reason with Elmina, but he spoke too late.

"Fine," was her only word of response.


Minutes later, they found themselves on the tennis courts. She hadn't brought a racket with her or any sports clothes to wear, as she had planned to abandon that part of herself. However, Atobe had laid all the preparations prior to their confrontation. Her clothes, racket, visor, even the wristbands, were exact replicas of what she had used to use. He had bought them for her to use. She inspected the racket just by looking, and then gingerly picked it up in her left hand, checking for tension and the weight. It was perfect. A little too perfect.

On the other side of the fence was an anxious looking Tezuka. "Don't do this to yourself." He sounded almost like he was begging her to stop. "What about your shou—" One icy glare from the girl petrified him and prevented from finishing his sentence. She had become a completely different person compared to the nearly mentally instable girl back at the hospital.

"Hypocrites shouldn't talk." Her words were terse, but the inner thoughts of her mind betrayed her distant exterior. She was, in fact, very scared of playing tennis again. She had used tennis as a form physical therapy, but all ended in failure. Not due to the pain, but due to the fact that if she pushed her shoulder hard enough, it wouldn't even be able to perform the simplest of tasks. Though she did find a way around this by learning how to play tennis with her left hand, her power, control, and speed were that of just a normal, casual player. Perhaps even less. Her opponent was Atobe. He would be sure to notice the drastic change in skill, if he didn't already notice she was using a different hand from before. To add onto her unease, the whole entire school had come to watch their match; even the teachers were keenly observing the match that was about to take place. At one point in her life, she would have reveled in this kind of atmosphere, but now the pressure just suffocated her.

"Heike! Hurry up and let's start the match. I'm ready for payback." He said her name in German again. She cringed at the sound of it. The visible twitch was apparent to Tezuka, and he tried to say something, but before he could even get any words out, she had her back towards him and was already walking towards the court.

"Sorry for the wait." She didn't sound apologetic at all. In fact, her voice was extremely flat and monotonous.

"You can serve. Ladies first, after all." He tossed the ball over the net and it rolled to the base of her feet. He observed her shakily pick it up with her right hand; her racket was in her left. If I recall, she's right hand dominant. Is this some new technique?

Walking to the baseline of the right side of the court, she prepared to serve, but instead of tossing the ball up, she simply just let the ball drop and hit an underhanded serve. There was no adverse spin applied or any assisting tactics used. It was just a regular, dead-spun ball, if not already on the weak side. A coward's serve is what they called it. She made a dash for the net.

A serve and volley, eh? Atobe thought as he went to hit her serve. He noted it was extremely light. It was the equivalent of his earlier toss over the net. He scowled and he aimed for the back corner that was out of her reach. Is she feigning her true skill with me? Is she mocking the king? How dare she!

No effort to chase the ball was made. She simply stood her ground at the net. Underneath her visor, her eyes were her downcast, not even bothering to meet her opponent's eyes or follow the ball.

"15-0!"

The next three points followed in the same manner.

"Game to Atobe. 1-0. Change court."

"Tch." This time Atobe was the one who was unamused as he walked to the opposite side; the girl avoided him by walking on the other side. He had expected much more tenacity from her after their standoff in the classroom. It was now his turn to serve. If any competition was going to be found, he realized that he would have to coax it out of her like he did in the classroom. Disappointingly though, despite varying his levels of speed on his serves to try to stimulate a response from the girl, she just stood at the base of the service line, not even trying to hit the easiest of his shots.

"Game to Atobe. 2-0."

"Seriously, 2 love games in a row? Is she even trying? She's just standing there. Was she really a ranked player?" There were remarks coming in from all sides. She gripped her racket tighter. Although she did this, the power and style of her serve didn't change.

"0-40. Atobe leading."

He's looking for vengeance right? If I just lose this, he'll be satisfied, and I can get on with my life without tennis. Those thoughts were her justification to the diffidence she exhibited during the game. She served another half-hearted ball. But this time, instead of being returned to a place she simply couldn't reach, the ball was aimed at her grip. Her racket was knocked out of her hands as the ball bounced back towards Atobe, and this time, he returned it with a powerful smash. A small smile appeared on her lips, but she wasn't amused at his skill or anything. It was the irony. The Rondo Towards Destruction…How appropriate.

"Game to Atobe. 3-0. Change court."

This time she didn't avoid him on the walk to the opposite side. As they crossed paths, she casually posed a question: "Tell me Atobe, do you find this dance with the mangled ersatz of my former self fun? Revenge must be sweet." The words themselves sounded empty and cold. She continued to walk. Atobe however stopped in his tracks and turned around. As she heard his footsteps stop, she stopped as well, but kept her back to him.

"WHY DON'T YOU FIGHT BACK?" The explosive anger became apparent on his face.

"Das ist was du wolltest, kein?" ("That is what you wanted, no?") She resumed her walk to her side of the court.

As Atobe walked to his side, he started to laugh. I'll make you regret that.

"Atobe to serve."

While his exterior seemed to regain composure, underneath his antagonism seethed. The aggression came out in bursts through his serves. It was not in his nature to harm his opponent, but he thought her a special case. The first serve was aimed her grip again. Then it was her right forearm. Left elbow was next. He was clearly toying with her. Trying to get her to retaliate, even if it meant hurting her. Finally, he aimed for her right shoulder. Up until then, she showed no signs of pain, only dropping her racket as the hits knocked it out of her hand. The last hit, however, caused her to clench her teeth and grab her shoulder. He looked down at the girl doubled over in pain with disdain. "Humph. So the rumors were true. You really did get injured."

"Injured? What does he mean injured?" The crowd started to murmur.

"Elmina Heike, otherwise known as Mina Klein and Minako Heike. Age 13. Date of birth: May 28. Blood type AB positive. A prodigious violin player who made her debut with Vivaldi's La Primavera with the Vienna Baroque Ensemble at the age 5. Started playing tennis at the age 7 and quickly rose to prominence with that as well due to her specialty in control and sharpness for aiming at her opponents' feet; a move aptly called The Downfall of Achilles. Other moves include: The Devil's Trill, in which she alternates the pace of her game, throwing the opponent off; Rondo à La Clochette, an illusionary move where the ball is aimed towards the center of face, straining the eyes to the point where they see multiple; and lastly, Der Ring des Nibelungen or The Ring of Nibelung, a suicidal move that utilizes extreme centrifugal force to drive the ball in rings instead of bouncing once on the ground — only known to have been used once during her championship match that secured her a ranking in the top 10 European Juniors. However…" Inui pushed his glassed up, "As of 2 weeks ago, her ranking had been formally withdrawn. Elmina Heike's retirement concert was also around the same time. Her final piece was Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 2. Rumor has it that she was injured in her last tennis tournament seriously enough for her to call it quits. That would make sense, as 1 week ago, she and her family immigrated to Japan, and she registered with the Japanese Ministry of Justice the name she now uses." Inui closed his data book. "Did you know of her injury Tezuka?"

"No." He had not realized nor did he ever ask if she went through such a traumatic thing. All he knew of was her shoulder dislocation during their first day of meeting.

Atobe let the narration of girl's life end behind him and then glared at the chair umpire who forgot to call the score. His moves were perfectly legal after all; his prowess deserved to be recognized.

"F-four games to love."

As Atobe turned his back to her and walked towards his side, he eyes were met with the hardest stare he has ever gotten from Tezuka. "Oh… scary."

"That's enough Atobe. You're pushing it. You've clearly wo—"

"No. He hasn't." Minako picked up her racket with her right hand. This time, she was the one to glare at the chair umpire.

"H-Heike to serve."

Two can play that game, Atobe. After all, it takes two to tango. The pain in her shoulder was indeed bothersome, but it could not compare the hell she was about to make her opponent go through. If I'm going to go down fighting, I'll do it with everything I got without regrets. If my shoulder gets destroyed in the process, at least I'll be able to put a closure on this whole entire affair with tennis. She steeled her resolved as she prepared to serve. This time though, she threw the ball high up into the air and jumped to meet it. Her right arched around, producing an apocalyptic service ace. It wasn't even registered as an ace until further inspection of the court had shown a skid mark where the ball skimmed in the inside corner of the service box, and the ball embedded itself in the higher reaches of the fence.

Atobe's mouthed gaped. Everyone else gasped. Minako just cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders around. She felt surprisingly loose, not tense at all, after that last serve. A sadistic smile emerged on her face. Tennis… was fun.

"Here comes the next one." So did the subsequent one and the one after that. All service aces. Out of sheer shock, it seemed that Atobe couldn't return them. "Hey~ chair umpire. You're forgetting something." She had a grin on her face. It resembled the look she had on her first day of school. She seemed so serene, if it weren't for her drastic change in style.

"…G-game to Heike. 1-4. Change court."

Once again, they crossed paths. This time Atobe was the one to pose the question: "Where did that power of yours come from?"

"This is the Devil's Trill. Be honored Atobe, I might as well have sold my soul to the devil himself…all for a chance to defeat you." She laughed as she continued to walk.

Atobe laughed as well in response. "The devil himself, eh?" This was the girl I remember. "The king accepts your resolve!" Though those words could not save him from the barrage of attacks she unleashed upon him.

Even though it was Atobe's serve, all her returns were expertly aimed at his feet, preventing him from scoring any winners. "You call yourself King? Ha! Just like Achilles, you will fall! Momento mori, Atobe!"

"Game to Heike. 2-4."

During her service game, the service balls bounced in a manner characteristic of the Rondo à La Clochette – straight towards his face. He swung blindly at them to no avail. Another round of service aces. While Atobe was visibly flustered, he also seemed to be enjoying himself.

"Game to Heike. 3-4. Change court."

Atobe decided to step it up and served 4 straight Tannhausers despite the strain it placed on his shoulder. While Minako couldn't do anything against them, she delighted in the fact that he was also willing to make the same type of sacrifice she was making.

"Game to Atobe. 5-3."

The young girl decided to copy Atobe's technique on her service game. She modified her Achilles serve to just roll upon the ground just as the Tannhauser did. However, her serve was aimed directly to roll into her opponent's feet. All Atobe could do was dodge the tennis balls assaulting him. "How's that for a Rondo Towards Destruction, eh Atobe?"

"Game to Heike 4-5. Change court."

Atobe realized that victory was within his grasp if he could only score the next 4 points. He resorted to try and serve another 4 straight Tannhausers, but the strain was too much, and they diminished in efficacy each time. The third and fourth times, Minako was able to return them by using a high-level topspin rising shot. While the strain was also great on her shoulder, it was something she was used to, unlike Atobe. She was quick to use this to her advantage.

"30-30."

Unable to conjure up the strength to perform another couple of Tannhausers, Atobe opted for a fast slice instead. Perfect, though Minako. Utilizing the spin already placed on the ball, she added on a strong sidespin upon her return. Atobe tried to make a run for receiving the ball, but as soon as it hit the ground, all it did was encircle him. It was The Ring of Nibelung's Japan debut.

"Game to Heike. 5-5."

Exploiting Atobe's fatigue, the quick successive use of pinpoint Achilles serves to further weather him out placed the whole entire set in her favor.

"Game to Heike. 6-5. Change court."

Atobe recognized that he could no longer take the easy way out if he wanted to win. Revenge is what he came there to get. However, his weariness had set in, resulting in a less than perfect Tannhauser that had a minute trace of a bounce. Once again using the spin to her advantage, she gave him Achilles-Tannhauser return that went straight for his feet.

"0-15. Heike leading."

"You sure you want to keep doing that Atobe? Your shoulder is not worth sacrificing…"

The only answer she received was an exasperated laugh before the next defective Tannhauser came. This time she used her Rondo à La Clochette, building upon his exhaustion. As the ball came back at him, he swore he could've seen at least 6 of them. He swung recklessly, in frugal hopes of hitting the ball.

"0-30."

Atobe vainly served 2 more Tannhausers. She in turn finished off the last 2 points with 2 consecutive Rings. "I had hoped that you had at least known the conclusion of The Ring of the Nibelung, Atobe. You should've known that the gods were destined to fall from the very start. In turn, you too were meant to lose." The self-proclaimed god slayer declared the game as hers.

"Game, set. Won by Heike. 7-5."

When she walked over to shake hands with Atobe, she had one last remark as she quoted the final words of the operatic play: "'Hear then, you mighty Gods. Your guilt is abolished: the heroine takes it upon herself.'" As she let go of his hand, she crumpled onto the ground, letting go of her racket to reveal a bloodied grip, as well as her hand. As she slipped away into unconsciousness, she remembered hearing cheering and applause. Within her mind's eye, she visualized the darkened audience of the Musikvernin once more.


A/N: Sorry it took so long for this chapter to get out (but hey, it's the longest chapter yet)! With school starting up again, it's hard to find time to write. To be honest, I'm not really sure what to think about this chapter myself. Let me think about that… and I'll write it here once I think of it. Maybe.