BACK AT THE TENNIS FIELD #33
(Teni Muho) Pinnacle of Perfection. It was said that only experienced tennis players could enter through the third 'door'; experienced and believing that tennis is fun. Kise Ryouta didn't think he could have fun in tennis; he certainly knew he wasn't experienced like Tezuka Kunimitsu. But he knew that in order to beat Tezuka, he needed to enter the third 'door' and achieve the Pinnacle of Perfection. During his break, he closed his eyes and thought of a plan. A simple but blown-out plan. Once he figured it out, his eyes were wide open and the referee called the two players from the bench to get in position for the final half of the game. So far, it was a tie and whoever got the final point would be victorious.
Right off the bat, Tezuka went into his zone. Kise also immediately went into his zone and the tennis ball started to rally back and forth. It wasn't as intense as the last time but still the audience was anticipating some excitement. Suddenly, Tezuka entered the first door: (Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami) The Pinnacle of Hard Work. So every hit of the racket was full blown and Tezuka's recovery rate and saving up stamina increased. Kise felt like he might not keep up.
FLASHBACK: Kise was in the boy's basketball changing room at Kaijo High.
"Hey, Captain! Who's that?" Kise asked his basketball captain Kasamatsu as Kise saw a Tennis magazine.
"Oh that? I think that's Nakamura Shinya's. But I don't know why he brought it today." Kise stared at the cover of the magazine. It said: "Echizen Ryoma was won again!" on the front cover and somehow he seemed really happy to playing tennis. In the evening, Kise brought the magazine home unaware that he took Nakamura's stuff, and searched up the pro tennis player. There was a video of Echizen Ryoma in a match against top pro tennis players. He seemed to have fun, and had sparkling surrounding him. Every shot Echizen took felt like he was a child and just glad to be playing simple tennis. FLASHBACK ENDED.
THAT'S RIGHT! Kise realized that the Pinnacle of Perfection is just similar to Kagami's final zone phase. It is the support of my team, but also just the fact that I should be having fun... The rally of the match between Kise and Tezuka went on.
"15, love."
"30, love."
"30, 15."
"40, 15." As the scores were announced, the crowd and Seirin teammates on the sidelines were screaming and shouting. Kise specifically, heard Kuroko Tetsuya, who shouted: "You can do it Kise-kun!" All of a sudden, Kise felt a flutter in his chest, then that flutter became sparkles around his body. In this deep water level, a shadow gestured to Kise to enter the door. When Kise consciously opened the door, he saw that the dark figure was Kuroko again. But as Kise passed the door, Echizen Nanjiro welcomed him. He then whispered: "Kise, do you have fun playing tennis?" Back at the match, Kise glanced at Echizen Ryoma, and then looked up to Tezuka and with a big wide smile, he asked:
"Tezuka, do you have fun playing tennis?" And he returned the yellow tennis ball with a swing that was as fast as lightning. Everything stopped at that moment.
"40, 30." The referee announced. It was Kise's turn to serve. He hits and scores again.
"deuce." Tezuka was stuck in position. He couldn't believe that Kise can be like Echizen, entering the Pinnacle of Perfection. Kise didn't care about the score anymore. He kept hitting the tennis ball and kept scoring.
In the end, the referee had to stop Kise from hitting the tennis ball. Kise suddenly fainted and Riko and the Seirin teammates had to drag him off the tennis court. The referee announced:
"Congratulations Team Seirin! -" But the referee was interrupted by a speaker phone:
"All athletes that participated in the National Sports Tournament: Come to the main stadium gymnasium around 6 o'clock. The host would like to give a message. Thank you."
Right before the gathering at the main stadium gymnasium of Niigata Perfecture, Kuroko Tetsuya was with Momoi Satsuki promenading on the sidelines of the festival.
"Tetsu! Is it really alright to leave Dai-chan and the others behind." Momoi asked.
"What's not right? We're just going to get drinks for them." Kuroko replied.
"Yes. But..." Momoi started blushing. In a way, it is like date with Tetsuu. She started giggling as she held Kuroko's arm. As the two were walking by a festival booth for a game of 'fishing the most', Kuroko spotted Hinata and Kagami. They were competing for the most fish in their bowl and being (a bit) loud. When Kuroko and Momoi went near them, they spotted a black ink on their foreheads. The couple were confused.
"What happened to the two's foreheads?" Kuroko asked. Momoi chuckled.
"According to my analysis on their body stamina, I'm guessing they competed and bet with a girl. Apparently, this girl is Asahina Suzuka, a champion in high jump." As she finished saying, Akitsuki Yamato and Asahina Suzuka passed by, holding hands. Momoi gasped.
"Tetsuu, it's them!" The two watched how Akitsuki stuck with Asahina. Momoi was envious. Why can't Tetsu be a bit like that guy. I wanna hold hands with Tetsu.
A few festival markets away, Riko Aida was left alone with Alexandra Garcia, whom has a kiss bug. Captain Hyuuga and the other Seirin teammates were peeking at them as Riko tried to get away from Alexandra. The juniors of Seirin Team urged Hyuuga Junpei to help Riko.
"Guys, have you been living in a rock. You know how Riko gets. She's scary. And besides, Alex is Kagami's mentor, she can scary too."
Back at the scene with Kagami and Hinata's fishing game, Echizen Ryoma walks by as Ryuzaki Sakuno is called out to him.
"What is it?" Echizen was a bit mad. Ryuzaki knew that Seigaku team lost but she still wants to try and ask:
"Hmm... it's about tonight. I know I'm... uh, asking a bit too much of you... but you can forget about the game by going with me to the Bon-Fire event. It will be the last night. What do you say?" Echizen turned around and walked off. Near a bush, Onoda and Kiyoko spooked Hinata from behind.
"Hey Hinata! Wanna go get dumplings with us?" Onoda asked.
"Sure. But what about him?" Hinata asked as he got ready to leave the fish game. He looked back at Kagami, who was still playing. "Kagami, I'm gonna go now." As the three walked away, it seemed like Kagami didn't hear.
"Gotchu!" He said when finally got the red special kind of fish. But there was nobody around him to celebrate.
At the meeting at the stadium gymnasium at 6 o'clock, it was all in speaker: K.M. explained the situation:
"Because of technical difficulties from the Information Technology department, the ratings of advancement aka. scoreboard for all registered teams have been shut down the rest of the week. On behalf of the IT department and the Entertainment department, I would like to apologize for the inconvenience. To resolve this problem, I announce that games will continue and free coupons of high-class restaurants will be distributed for the winning teams. Please enjoy the rest of the week!"
