Ryuuzaki Sumire
1. She was not at all musically inclined.
She had tried to play many an instrument during her youth, but none had worked out. As a last resort, her parents had signed her up for piano tutoring, hoping that she wouldn't be a complete embarrassment to the family. The result had been one dastardly recital, a couple thousand yen in piano repairs, and the acceptance of the fact that Ryuuzaki Sumire didn't have a musical bone in her body.
2. She had the potential to go pro in tennis.
And had been offered the opportunity. Despite this, Sumire had refused; from a young age she had known that her passions laid in teaching, and though it sounded great, she recognized the odds of her truly getting somewhere were slim. Instead, she chose to teach; and while it was often said that those who couldn't do, taught, Sumire ignored everyone who made the remark in her direction.
3. They weren't just students – they were people.
This was a concept it seemed all of her colleagues failed to grasp. Sumire understood just how frustrating students could be at times, especially those who held absolutely no interest for the subject one taught, but underneath they were still people who had their own lives to go about and their own problems to worry about. Yes, they were teenagers – they exaggerated, they made mountains out of less-than-mole-hills, and they whined at the slightest thing. But underneath that exterior they were people just like she was and just like all of her colleagues were, and the fact that other teachers could say such horrible, nasty things about students who weren't the brightest but were trying their hardest was something that never failed to enrage her.
4. They weren't just athletes – they were her athletes, her people.
All of the kids she coached in tennis over the years held a special place in her heart, regardless of whether of not they were the best or the worst. She supposed it came with being a teacher – having thirty kids instead of just your own biological ones – but the bond she felt towards all of them every year she taught was the same one they all felt towards each other. It was one of commitment and camaraderie and, in her case, a bit of maternal instinct mixed in that caused every student coached to leave an impression on her that never left.
5. Losing her son and her daughter-in-law had been one of the hardest things she'd ever gone through.
The phone call during school had been brushed off, because Sumire was never one to answer a call during class; but the urgent note from the office had been another thing. The doctor's calm, soothing voice informing her of the accident had torn her to pieces, the decisive statement that both her son and her daughter-in-law had been killed on impact ripping her heart metaphorically in half. A piercing cry of anguish leaked from her lips that day and echoed down the hall. No one ever mentioned it.
6. Getting his daughter had made it easier to bear.
The girl was timid, barely nine when everything had happened, but she was a shining star amidst one of the bleakest times in Sumire's life. She scuttled around doing what normal nine year olds did, though with a bit less glamour than some of the girls Sumire had met over her years in education, and at the end of the day, she managed to turn out perfect – with an optimistic outlook on life – regardless of her situation. It was Sakuno's hope that led her through some of her most troubling times, and being able to see her son and her daughter-in-law in her granddaughter made all the difference in the world.
7. Echizen Nanjiroh was a brat. He was also an inspiration.
He showed up every day, half of the time late, and often lazed around. He talked back, gave her sass, and twirled his racket like a regular hot shot. The only difference was that he was a hotshot, and he did have the talent and ability to get somewhere. Sure, he was annoying at the best of times and downright aggravating at the worst, but when they ever actually got to competitions he took the courts by storm and raised morals so high that even Ryoma's fateful match against Yukimura years later hadn't compared. In the end, though he was annoying and devilish, he was a student she never regretted working with.
8. Teaching Echizen Ryoma had been just the same.
He was just as cocky, at least when he initially joined: being surrounded by high-level players, in particularly Tezuka and Fuji, had toned that down in the younger boy somewhat. But underneath it all, Ryoma held the same cockiness Nanjiroh had, had the same determination, and had the same irritable streak of running ridiculously late – almost to the point of disqualification on several occasions. No matter his snide remarks or rash judgments of other players both at Seishun Gakuen and on other teams, though, working with Ryoma for the three years she had was an honor and she never forgot it.
9. Age never stopped her.
Sumire was well aware of what everyone said about her in her later years. Some worried and fretted; others laughed and scoffed, saying someone as old as she was had to be delusional by then. Just as her comments to her headstrong students often fell on deaf ears, Sumire completely ignored them – in fact, she threw her head back and laughed, before tackling whatever project was next on her list with all of the force in the world. As far as she was concerned, age wasn't a factor: the only thing that did was whether you had the guts to step up to the plate and face the challenge. Sumire did.
10. She went out knowing she had accomplished everything she wanted to.
She didn't die early by any means, though Sumire was well aware there were probably a few extra years she could have tacked on to her life by taking the last ones of it easier. That would have been no fun, though, or that was what she had told her doctors. After all, what was the point of living if you weren't making a difference? That was her take on it, anyway, and though she had always been advised against it, Sumire went out of her way to do what she wanted to do up until the day she died – and had a funeral that over three hundred former students attended.
