Easy

"Please hurry up! The game might be over already." A frantic Sawamura shouted as he ran in front of his senpais and teammates.

"I highly doubt that, so slow down will you Sawamura."

"But Chris-senpai-" the rushing brunet stopped to turn around and whine at his mentor. Chris looked at Sawamura sternly making the boy unable to retort anything.

"Look outside. It seems that they just started." Ryousuke pointed out and this filled Sawamura with hope. It also caused the first year to dash on ahead.

"That idiot!" Jun growled.

"Let's hurry as well," Tetsu suggested.

_._._._._

"How is it Sawamura? Is Rina winning?" Kuramochi asked his kouhai as he and the others look on while the two tennis players change court.

"…"

"What's wrong Eijun-kun?" Haruichi asked when Sawamura didn't answer instantly.

"She's… losing."

"Wha-" This surprised everyone from the baseball team. Eyes were wide and jaws were open. What they expected was an easy win from the Empress. Just when someone was about to ask for the score to confirm if she was truly losing or not,

"Aaarrrggghhhh!" Sawamura started getting frustrated as well did he start to cheer for the girl. "You can do it Rina! Osu! Osu! Osu!"

"Shut the hell up!" Kuramochi was urged to kick the noisy southpaw.

"Pft!" Rina couldn't help but giggle at their exchange. She always found it amusing whenever they tease Sawamura.

"But dear me, it looks like they're starting to worry. I was just playing around since it was the first game. Though I did try to intimidate Ogasawara-san during the warm-up, he's not half bad. He didn't take the bait and is now playing seriously in order to win the games early for his advantage before I decide to get serious." Rina muttered to herself as she bounced the ball a few times. "If they keep on making those faces, I have no choice but to get serious already."

The brunette threw the ball into midair as she bent her knees, taking the stance to serve the ball.

"Hah!"

Ogasawara tried returning it but the young man realized how much spin the ball had when it didn't go over the net.

[0-15]

"That's some spin her ball has. How does she do it?" Ogasawara thought to himself as he prepared to try and return another serve of the same caliber. Or so he thought. Tension entered his body when he saw Rina switched from left hand to right hand.

"This is bad. She's serious already."

She decides what hand to use depending on the game's situation but Takashima Rina's dominant hand has always been her right. Most of her winners during a game are shot with it.

For her second serve, Rina sends it into the deep corner opposite from where Ogasawara was standing resulting in a service ace.

[0-30]

Not wanting to yield another point, the tennis club's captain stood in closer to the middle so that returning the ball will be easier. He is finally successful for the third time but Rina sends it back straight to him in between his legs therefore making him unable to return it.

[0-40]

Rina's fourth serve was also a service ace letting her win the final point of the second game.

Game Takashima [1-1]

After this, Ogasawara decided to use the 20 second break to remember any of Rina's weaknesses. The Empress is an all-court player that's why she has immense dominance of the court but out of all the playing styles, she favors serve-and-volley the most. Rather than her power, you'd want to watch of for her speed and accuracy in pinpointing where she wants the ball to go. She has trouble with her back hand that is why she learned using her left in the first place. She also hardly has any power shots and makes most points through net play.

"Alright. The first thing to do I guess is just be able to return any of her shots. Second, I need to keep her away from the net. I shouldn't worry about smashes because she hardly uses that shot in a match. And lastly, I'm confident I can return a girl's power shot so no worries there as well. I am a man after all." Ogasawara was satisfied with this simple strategy and was determined to keep Rina from controlling the game. He needed to be the one to dictate the plays. And to start that off, he needed to keep his service game.

"How'd you like this? Hah!" Ogasawara started the third game with a powerful serve hoping that Rina would have difficulty returning it. She did in fact as her return was shallow and weak but she made up for it with pinpointed returns allowing her to win a second game.

Game Takashima [1-2]

This time, Ogasawara tried attacking Rina's backhand which resulted with longer rallies compared to the first three games. Still, the second year was one point short against the baseball team's manager.

Game Takashima [1-3]

From this point on, Ogasawara just focused on going for points. He decided to rely more on his instincts than keep on thinking of a counter measure against the brunette. Unfortunately for him though, Rina proved to be far much stronger than he is and now he is clearly losing.

Game Takashima [1-5]

In a mere few minutes, Rina is already break point in the sixth game meaning that one more point and she wins. In a desperate try to prevent that, Ogasawara sends a high lob to the back forcing Rina to run back to the baseline. Just as when you thought she wouldn't make it, Rina suddenly bends her knees and jumps to reach the ball sending it back as a smash. A surprised Ogasawara was unable to do a thing against the shot thus making him lose overall- the match and the bet included.

"Senpai," Rina reached out her hand for a shake and a slightly disappointed Ogasawara took it.

"Thank you… very much." Rina returned his gratitude with a smile.

"Uhm, Takashima-san… About the last shot"

"Hm? Ah, you mean the smash? I've recently been able to hit it nicely during my matches. These past couple months, I've been training to improve my weaknesses."

"I see." Ogasawara let go of the first year's hand and looked at her straight in the eyes. Rina returned his gaze.

"I'm sorry senpai. But I really can't join the tennis club. This year I'll be training with the grand slam tournaments in mind. This is one stepping stone to my path as a professional. I hope you understand. And as you can see, those baseball idiots need me as much as I actually need them." She pointed out to the young men watching from the sides and calling out to her. "Though, I hope you won't tell them that I told you that." She winked at her upperclassman getting him to break into a smile.

"You can bet on it," he guarantees and the two of them laugh. This scene of Ogasawara and Rina laughing secretly fires a flame of jealousy in a few people.

"Rina!" Sawamura entered the court and ran towards Rina.

"Ei-chan! You're still here? Class is about to resume you know." Rina nonchalantly reminds Sawamura, letting the others remember about it as well in the process. As a result, most of them scatter back to their respective classrooms.

"You go on without me. I need to head back to my room first to change." Before Sawamura could offer to accompany the brunette someone had already beat him to it.

"I'll go with you." It was Kuramochi.

"Eh? But don't you have classes as well You-chan."

"Shut it. Just so you know, I noticed."

"Fine. Then, Ei-chan please explain to the teachers for me."

"I understand." Sawamura ran as fast as he can back to the classroom so that he won't be late.

"Is your knee alright?" Kuramochi asked once Sawamura was out of sight.

"Will you carry me if I told you its aching?" Rina playfully asks the shortstop expecting a casual reply.

"I will." His serious tone surprised Rina. She clearly did not expect his reply.

"Aha… haha. I was just kidding. But if it will make you feel relieved I'll apply cooling spray." The awkward tension was not dissipating. After a moment of silence, Kuramochi started walking off, leaving Rina trailing behind him.

"Ah! Wait a minute You-chan."

_._._._._

"Thanks for accompanying me." Rina gently smiled at the green-haired boy for his gesture.

"Let's go. There's still a few more hours of afternoon classes,' said Kuramochi as he looked away. Rina's smile caused his cheeks to heat up and be painted with a light pink color. Before he knew it, Rina was starting to affect him a lot. Looking out for her was slowly becoming natural.

"Yeah." They both started walking back to the school buildings. "I'll probably be bombarded with even more questions tonight. Ahaha…"

"It's your own fault."

"I know."

Unbeknownst to the two, someone from the shadows was watching them.

"I never knew these two had this kind of relationship. This is gonna be fun."

Minna! How've you been!?

Seriously, I missed writing Rina and the rest. :'))) It's been so long since my last update that I felt like I've slightly lost the essence of this story T_T Hahaha Let's blame school for my long absence. My prelims and midterms only had a three-week interval between them I was going nuts. I got sick two weeks ago too which affected my academics a lot. Of course I plan to get my revenge this pre-finals period. Oh, but don't worry. I'll definitely make time to update this as fast as I can.

I had a hard time with this chapter because I wanted to include technical stuff about tennis (which I probably failed showing in my writing OTL). I'm not really familiar with the rules so I had to rely on Baby Steps for a few stuff. As much as I wanted the match scene to be very detailed since it was the highlight of this chapter but sadly, my skills have a limitation. If I could only transfer my imagination to a word document then I wouldn't be struggling T_T

Anyways, if anyone wants to help me revise anything then I'd gladly welcome it. I'll be waiting for critiques and reviews as usual so until then~

(PS. Have you guys read the first chapter of Act II already? New characters, new precious babies and my Koushuu~! :P)