Author's Note: [ insert disclaimer here ]
I'm too lazy to type it all out . . .
Chapter Four: Reunion
"You're an effing Spartan," Tenx growled, sounding as winded as ever. Each word she uttered came in between pants as she laid on the ground, glaring over at Eriol. The vice-captain was still looking fresh as a daisy, even with all of the condition they had been doing. Running laps around the court, doing ten sets of lunges across several courts, push-ups and sit-ups... This was getting to be a bit much. And the Filipina looked like she was actually enjoying watching all of them struggle through it all. Beside the Italiana sat Seiki, who was taking a long drink from her water bottle, and the rest of the girls' team was lazing around the shade of the tree beside the courts with them. Everyone, except for Eriol and their captain - who has yet to show. Eriol was leafing through the papers on the clipboard, again, before looking over at the exhausted team and giving them a light smile. Tenx could feel her eye twitch at that smile - the same damn one that encouraged her to run all of those freaking laps and take the burning sensation in her arms as she did push-ups.
"That's enough for today," were the glorious words that came out of the vice captain's mouth as she let the papers fall back into position and turned to face the team, "You've all been working hard this week, so we'll end afternoon practice a little early today. Just remember; the ranking matches are just around the corner so you should practice out of scheduled team practice too."
"Ranking matches?" Tenx repeated, quite confused as to what that was. She lifted her inquiring gaze to where the vice captain was, but was startled a bit to see that her best friend was no longer there. She sat up and looked around, wondering where the Filipina had gone in such a short amount of time. Her blue eyes finally caught some movement; Eriol was already well on her way out of there. Pursing her lips together, Tenx let out a huff. "And where does she think she's going?" she wondered aloud, sounding irritated.
"Probably to find buchou," said one of the ninth graders - Takenaga Hanoo, Tenx believed her name was. Hanoo was Satsuki's doubles partner and only through practice was Tenx even able to meet her and the other member of the team - Yuimoki Meroko, another ninth grader - who Tenx had not seen since the day she had met her.
"Oh...well, that makes sense," Tenx admitted, blinking. Eriol had been leaving right after practice, lately, to report to their buchou...whoever that was. "Well, what are these ranking matches...things?" she asked, getting to her feet and following the other girls to the locker room to change.
"It's exactly as it sounds," Seiki answered, walking in stride with the Italiana, "The ranking matches are held every few weeks to make sure that only the best of the best are on the starter's team. Basically, it's a round-robin style tournament among the members of the tennis club, as it remains open to all members. Only the nine players with the best win-loss record at the end of the tournament are given spots as starters to represent Seishun at the upcoming tournaments."
"Wait...so...," Tenx trailed off, gathering her thoughts, "The ranking matches are designed to keep the Seishun team at the top of its game. So, what happens if one of the members already on the starter team has a record that doesn't quite cut it?"
"Well, that member gets replaced," Seiki answered, in a matter-of-fact tone, "They don't exactly get ousted from the team, but they just don't get to play as often. You can say they become a substitute."
"Now, if that's true, how did I even make the team in the first place? I mean, I just moved here and all and...," Tenx was quite confused now.
Seiki tapped her chin for a moment. "Honestly, I don't know that one. I'd ask either buchou or fukubuchou on that one."
"I can answer that," Hanoo stated, popping up in front of them. To be perfectly honest, that move had scared Tenx to the point where she did a little jump in surprise. Seiki, on the other hand, seemed unfazed. She was already used to their eccentric senpai's behavior. Hanoo lifted a finger and pointed it at the rather confused Italiana, "It's because Meroko can't exactly play right now, and we need another name to put on the roster to submit to Coach before we can begin the ranking matches. Right now, Tenx is listed as a substitute - only because her skills are slightly above those of the regular club members and her status as a new student.
"Oh...," Seiki seemed to be in thought,"Well, what happened to Meroko-senpai? I haven't seen her play with us in a while..."
"It seems she's got a case of Osgood-Schlatters Disease in her right knee," Hanoo replied, easily.
"Osh...splat...what?" Tenx tried to repeat, but failed miserably
"No - Osgood-Schlatters," Hanoo said, before continuing, noting both hers and Seiki's confused looks, "It's basically a pain that comes from the tendon under your knee cap. See, while you're growing and remain active, you put a lot of stress on that tendon and weakens its attachment to the knee cap itself. This causes swelling, inflammation, and a whole world of pain. I would imagine that Meroko will be out for...a while because of that."
While Tenx was staring, blinking at Hanoo for informing them of all of this, Seiki raised a delicate eyebrow, "And Hanoo-senpai knows this...how?"
Hanoo grinned before tapping her head a few times, "Because Hanoo-senpai does her research."
Tenx had her tennis bag, with all of her belonging, slung over her shoulder as she walked to the boy's courts. She was a bit miffed by the fact that Eriol hadn't returned to the locker room. Was she that busy? Or did she forget that she was supposed so spend the afternoon with Tenx, go back to her house, and then have a sleepover (since there was no school tomorrow) like they had arranged the day before? Either way, the sound of rallies going on and encouraging yells from across the courts caught her attention as she got closer. She arrived at the gate leading to the courts a few moments later, looking through the chain links to the boys on the courts. She noticed that a handful of them wore a Starter Jersey - surely they were on the starting team. She was so entranced by their long rallies that she didn't notice when someone came up next to her.
"Ah, Medici Tenx," the unfamiliar voice spoke. Jumping, for the second time that day, Tenx whirled around and set her blue eyes on a rather tall, spiky-haired, bespectacled boy. He was carrying a green notebook. The boy offered her a grin before opening his notebook and flipping to a certain page. "Medici Tenx," the boy said again, looking to be reading off of the page in his notebook, "Second Year - Class A. Transfer student. Substitute player for the girl's team. Stats are as followed: speed is average; strength is average; endurance is slightly above average. An over-all average yet well-rounded playing style. Your footwork could use a little more work. There is a potential to increase the power of your shots with the proper training. And you -"
The boy was stopped by Tenx reached over and snatching the notebook from his hands. The Italiana was, at first, surprised and mystified as the boy read off facts about her. That quickly changed to anger and indignation. Just who did he think he was anyway? And what exactly was in that notebook about her? Her sharp blue eyes scanned over the page, in horror, as she saw her entire play style analyzed in formulas, quick notes, and numbers.
"What the... Who the hell are you? And what the hell is this?" she demanded, struggling to keep her voice from rising to an all-out yell. She held the book so that she could both show and point at the pages with her stats on it.
The boy cleared his throat, "Well, my name is Inui Sadaharu. I am a member of the Boys' Tennis team, and I specialize in data collecting, hence the notebook with all of your data. Now if you don't mind..." He reached over and plucked the notebook from Tenx's hands as she stood there, mulling over the information she had just acquired from this...Inui person.
"Okay...that answers my questions, but why do you have all my stats? And when did you get them? I mean, as far as I know, this is my first time meeting you," she questioned, dropping her angry tone of voice and adopting a more curious one.
Inui chuckled before tucking his notebook under his arm, "I believe Cruz-fukubuchou asked for my assistance when analyzing your playing abilities for the team. My input was rather vital to her and her decision before she submitted it to both Coach and Hinami-buchou."
"Hinami-buchou?" Tenx repeated, "Who is that?"
Inui gave her an incredulous look. "Hinami-buchou, as in Hinami Ayeka. The captain of the girls' team?"
"Oh..." So that was the captain's name.
Inui raised an eyebrow but decided to drop the subject. He knew, after all, that Tenx was still a rather new student. At that moment, one of the gates to the tennis courts opened.
"Inui-senpai," a voice called, causing both Inui and Tenx to look up. The latter was surprised to see none other than the Viper - Kaidoh Kaoru.
"Ah, Kaidoh," Inui greeted, "Is it time for the next drill?" His answer came in a silent nod. "All right then. I'll see you later then, Medici-chan," Inui said, walking passed her, "And I believe you'll find Cruz-fukubuchou by the boys' club room, where Coach Ryuzaki should be." And with that, he left with Kaidoh. But before Kaidoh returned to the courts, he gave Tenx an acknowledging nod - which she returned.
"...this school is just full of weirdos...," Tenx commented to herself after sigh. Gathering her stuff together, she walked off to find her friend.
"So, you met Seishun's Data Collector today did you?" Eriol asked with a bright grin. The two were at Eriol's house, seated comfortably on her bed. Tenx had recounted the events of her quest to find Eriol, and the latter found it all amusing.
"Yeah, and he's kind of weird if you ask me," Tenx replied, rolling over to lie on her back, "And so are a lot of people at Seishun, now that I think about it."
Eriol laughed, "That's what makes Seishun so interesting."
"Hmmm...I guess you have a point..."
A comfortable silence settled in between the two of them. Tenx then rolled over to lie on her stomach, raising her blue eyes to look at her Filipino friend.
"Eriol?"
"Tenx."
The Italiana decided to ask her friend the question that had been bugging her since practice ended, "Eriol, how did I make the team? Err...more like why?"
Although Tenx's question didn't seem to make much sense and it was rather vague, Eriol seemed to understand what it was exactly she was asking. With a soft smile, she explained, "Don't get me wrong or anything; I was ecstatic when I found out you wanted to join the team. However, as the vice-captain, I can't let my emotions or prior affiliations affect my judgments. Hinami-senpai couldn't be there to help oversee your try-out, so it was all up to me. In order for me to make a fair assessment of your skills and potential, I asked Inui-senpai to help me - which he did. It's as he told you; his input and the data he gathered on you were vital to deciding whether or not to let you join. According to him, your skills are average but you have the potential to improve them. And I believe that you can become an even better player. All you have to do is practice and really give it your all."
"...you really mean that?" All through Eriol's explanation, Tenx had remained quiet and listened attentively. It was touching, to her, to hear her friend say all those things about her. Eriol really did believe at her...
"Of course I do," Eriol said, with a huff, "Why would I waste my breath saying things that don't mean a thing?"
Tenx grinned, "Yeah, guess you're right."
Eriol returned that grin, and then said, "All right. It's late. Let's go to bed. We're getting up bright and early tomorrow for practice."
"Wait...what?"
"You heard me."
"Practice? Early? Huh?"
"Good night, Tenx. We're getting up at 6 o'clock so get a good night's rest."
"...you really know how to build me up then break me down..."
"Course I do; can't let all of that praise go to your head."
"...spartan..."