Bribe me
By Jerui
Author's note: I can't believe this. I have more than 15 subscribers now. And someone even added me to his/her author alert. I never thought that I will get that many readers. Thank you for the support.
Here's the next chapter. Hoho, this is a remake of their meeting. Read to know why I said a remake. Haha. Any application as my beta? I need your help editing. :/
Have you guys listened to Fuji's seiyuu's album "Breath"? As they say, it was like a healing CD which makes your mind relaxed. I recommend it! I listen to Peaceful time, Grand Slam, and Amazing Grace, and all of those were Kaida Yuki's (Fuji's seiyuu). I also listen to Ryoma's character songs. Their voices are incredibly pleasing to the ears.
Oops, which reminds me, I'm going to be busy this month because I am a junior in college and am currently having a huge project. I might be able to update later than two weeks (probably). I'm sorry.
I was in a dilemma which point of view to use and decided it to be Sakuno's. And I can't believe that I was able to make it this long! Here goes. *wink
Chapter 2 His Secret
I heard that annoying ticking sound and it was effectively waking me up.
I opened my eyes seeing my white ceiling and pale pink walls. Disconcerted at first, I suddenly sat upright causing my vision to spin. Not even waiting for the whirling to stop, I tapped my alarm on the bedside table and hurried at the bathroom, grabbing the towel from the open closet on my way and hastily took a bath.
Today is the day of the district tennis tournament.
…
Wearing my usual sport attire, the knee length shorts I use whenever there is club and the white polo with pink stripe on the middle, I got down and then I heard my grandmother talking on the phone.
"Oh, so he's also competing today, huh? That child didn't join the tennis club, Nanjirou! Such a waste of talent!...I didn't convince him either when I talked to him, when was it? On the club orientation I think…. Oh yeah sure. You are both alike aside from the social aspect. Ha ha ha, alright, say hello to Rinko for me, pervy brat."
"Who's competing?" I curiously asked as soon as she finished the call.
"The son of my old student," she replied casually. "I see you are prepared but I have to get off and drop by the school. I have left the forms on my desk. I'm really getting old."
She grabbed her keys as I sat down on the dining table, placing my bag on the floor. Today's breakfast is western style: egg, bacon and rice. She proceeded to the door and I heard her say, "I'm going." I responded with a have a safe trip. I ate as I heard the car engine and as it sped off the drive way. I swigged the glass of milk after eating and placed the dishes in the washer.
I fixed my hair in a single braid, stopped on the hallway and said my goodbye to my parents' photo, went out, locked the door and got off. I started walking towards the train station.
…
"Fools, don't you guys even know your own grip? If you want to do top-spins, you use the Western grip," a young man with shoulder length brown hair wearing a brown uniform and red neck tie showed off to his friends. The three high school students are standing in front from where I was sitting. "It's done by holding the racquet like if you're going to shake someone's hand."
I was sitting on the train for 20 minutes and these three got on two stops ago. How idiotic. I may be just a manager but I know the difference between the western and eastern grip and this baka mixed them up! I ignored them and continued reading the Doubles for dummies book I borrowed from Sadaharu Inui-senpai, a regular from the tennis club.
And then suddenly, he started swinging his racquet, like an idiot would do in an enclosed space like this train.
"Here!"
"As expected from the Ace at the Kitagoe tennis club!" exclaimed the other guy.
"Stupid! It's common sense! Ha!"
Wha-! I was almost hit! I closed my eyes, tried to calm myself but failed, prepared myself for an anger outburst but-
"Hey."
The voice came from a young man with lean physique who was sitting across, wearing a white Fila hat, a red jersey, white shorts and sport shoes, his bag, which looked like what a tennis player would use, by his side. It has embroidered initials R. E. Maybe he was tall. I could tell by the the length of his legs and his sitting height even when slouching. I couldn't see his face because he was either looking down or napping, his back stooped. He had earphones on and though he was talking to the three in front of me, he was still looking down or his eyes closed not even bothering to look.
"You guys are too loud."
I stared, forgetting my irritation, so as the three of them and then it was silent for a moment.
The train lurched causing the arrogant high school-er to drop his racket.
"Heh, I can't believe I just got told off by a busybody…" he muttered, taking his racquet while looking at the guy across us.
"Bingo. Taking a racquet from the ground is the correct western grip."
"What did you sa—"
"Oh yeah, the handshake grip you were referring to is the Eastern grip. There are some who mix them up." And then they guy got up, still looking down, and not even sparing a single look on the three high school-ers and approached the automatic doors. The train stopped, the doors opened and he stepped out.
"Oy! Wait up!" exclaimed the humiliated guy. Ha! Serves him right! I thought elatedly.
"Sasabe, you got dissed!" said the classmate of the Sasabe guy.
"Oh! We need to get off!" prompted the other pushing his two classmates through the door.
As I watched in amusement and hearing the operator's voice reminding the passengers to pay attention with their belongings, I suddenly remembered that it was also my stop and swiftly got off before the doors closed.
…
"Game and match, SEIGAKU, 3 games to 1," announced the umpire. "Seishun Gakuen is the District Champion who will represent the team on the regional tournament. The ceremony will be tomorrow in the afternoon, and the 4 best teams will be present. That's all."
"Thank you for the hard work!" both Seigaku and Fudomine bowed and greeted each other after the match.
Tezuka-senpai of our team and Tachibana-san from Fudomine, both captains didn't get the chance to play because of the timely win of Syuusuke-senpai on singles 2. They shook hands and expressed their expectation to face each other soon on the court. Together with Katsuo-kun and Kachiro-kun, I approached the club regulars and handed them their water bottles.
"Thank you, Sakuno-san," the gentle tensai said as I gave him his bottle.
"You have the best game so far," I commented but added in a whisper, "you stole Kunimitsu-senpai's spotlight."
He chuckled and did not comment more.
Eiji Kikumaru, the acrobatic player and Shuichiro Ooishi, the vice-captain of the club, or the golden pair won the Doubles one; Inui-senpai, the calculative data man and Kaoru Kaidoh, the snake shot master, won the doubles 2. Takeshi Momoshiro, a second year and a power player, lost to the high on the rhythm Akira Kamio-san on singles 3 but Syuusuke-senpai sealed the championship. Takashi Kawamura, the hadokyuu user who has a minor wrist injury during the last match with Hyotei Academy, was a reserve player and also didn't get to play.
"Assemble!" Coach Ryuuzaki called. (She's not my grandmother at school or the courts). The regulars formed their usual lines: the regulars at the front, the second years and then the freshmen. Tezuka-senpai was beside coach. "The awarding ceremony will be tomorrow so you guys are free to go now. If you wish to stay and watch the singles tournament, you may do so. Practice will resume on Monday morning. That's all. You have something to say Tezuka?"
"Good work everyone," Tezuka-senpai said. "Take good care and do not get careless when you get home."
"Yes!" Everyone replied.
"Dismissed!"
…
The regulars, I and grandmother stayed back; the senpai-tachi wanted to observe. I wonder if the reason grandmother was staying back was the player participating on the singles tournament she mentioned on the phone earlier. She goes back to the school usually after the match ever since she started coaching but there are times like this when she has a urgent matter to attend to or she knows the participant and stays back and watches matches. I had to stay because she promised to bring me home after the game, and it might be interesting to watch other matches aside from the interschool tournament.
The championship match on the singles tournament will happen after an hour so I looked around to pass time. As I was on my way to the vendo machine to buy a can of Ponta, I overheard two people chatting not too far away from where I was.
"That was awesome, he did a twist serve! And then there was this move he called cool drive! I wonder how he managed the spins on that."
"Yeah, it was totally amazing! He didn't even get the chance his opponents to score! I wonder why he didn't join their tennis club. I heard he was from Seigaku…"
What? There was a participant from Seigaku? How could that possibly be? Maybe he was from the club but can't compete with the regulars? I thought, intrigued.
"Yeah, well, he was really ruthless. At least he played fairly after that Sasabe guy did on him."
"True. I would have hurt him back if it was me. His racket flying towards the junior samurai doesn't look like an accident to me. Ha! But at least he didn't get to avoid the twist serve and got hit on the face!"
"He'll be humiliated his whole life! Even with his foul play, he was totally defeated!"
"You bet!"
I fed my coin to the machine and pushed the Ponta button. Voila! I got two grape Ponta! Plus that arrogant Sasabe from the train got defeated. Maybe that samurai junior guy was the guy grandmother was watching out for. .. Plus, I don't know anyone who goes with the pseudonym samurai junior.
I tuned out the conversation of the two guys and started walking my way to the vacated courts. I opened one Ponta, the other in my bag, but my mind was still running through the conversation I overheard.
And then I saw a white Fila hat slightly visible behind a bush near the courts. That might be the man on the train who saved me earlier! I pulled out the spare Ponta in my bag and headed towards the place where the guy who was possibly the one on the train and planned to hand it to him as thanks.
When I got to the bush, I saw the man had this Monthly Tennis Magazine covering his face from the sun. His hair was a familiar greenish color. He must be sleeping, his head over his tennis bag, his hands over his stomach and I could hear his faint breathing.
I looked at my watch. It was only 10 minutes before the matches. Better get this thing done.
"Hey," I said, bending down to wake him up. He stirred. I tapped the cold Ponta on his arm to wake him up more.
His left hand slowly slid the magazine to show his eyes. And they were the shade of gold! I only know one person who has that shade of eye color.
"Ryuuzaki-san?"
And he knows me!
"Ryoma Echizen?" as if I don't know who he was, but I blurted it out anyway.
He sat up, and turned to me, and was eyeing the Ponta I was holding. I held it high and handed it to him. "I give this to you as thanks for saving me at the train earlier."
Confusion could be read on his face. "You were on the train?"
"I was sitting across from where you were," I pointed out. How dense is he? At least he remembered my name.
He accepted the Ponta anyway and opened it, and drank it. After an audible ah, he replied "They were too loud anyway. I can hear them even with my earphones on."
"Announcement: All finalists for the Singles Tennis tournament are requested to assemble on their designated court. The game will start in five minutes. Thank you."
"Ack! I have to go," and he grabbed his bad as he stood up.
"You're a finalist?" I asked.
All I got was a "hn" and a thanks for the Ponta I gave him. He ran off and I walked to where he was heading to.
All the tennis club regulars of our school were already at the audience are of the courts. Inui-senpai had his notebook out and was disseminating his data to the others.
"….he is a freshman, Class A. He is a student form our school, and he got the top scores on the midterms for the first quarter recently. I have no data on which middle school he came from. He never showed up on the club orientations so I don't think he looked up our tennis club. Personal life: almost 40 percent of the female population has already confessed to him, and 80 percent of that 40 are freshmen; the other 20 percent are from the upper years. I gathered his data from earlier and I found out that he can do twist serves that get more and more polished by 5 percent every time he uses them. The moves he used in this tournament are Cool Drive, Drive A, B and C, Tornado Smash. He can also do a one footed split step that made his movement one and a half step faster. He never let his opponent get a single point after analyzing the adversary's capability after a game…" he droned on.
And then I remembered the conversation I overheard earlier.
"That was awesome, he did a twist serve! And then there was this move he called cool drive! I wonder how he managed the spins on that…Yeah, well, he was really ruthless. At least he played fairly after that Sasabe guy did on him…True. I would have hurt him back if it was me. His racket flying towards the junior samurai doesn't look like an accident to me. Ha! But at least he didn't get to avoid the twist serve and got hit on the face!...He'll be humiliated his whole life! Even with his foul play, he was totally defeated!"
So! He was the one who defeated that arrogant Sasabe!
"Nya~ I never thought there would be an interesting player from our school! He should've joined the club! And he has this many admirer's too!" Kikumaru-senpai whined.
"He must've been a loner, he must have," Momo-senpai interjected.
"Fssshhhh, I'd rather be alone than be friends with you, peach," Kaidoh-senpai mumbled.
"What did you say mamushi!" Momo-senpai argued back.
I sighed internally as Ooishi-senpai stopped them. It happens every day.
I saw Echizen enter the courts, handed the umpire his card and started stretching. He still had the Ponta and it was placed on the bench usually sat on by a coach (it is prohibited to drink soda inside the courts) together with his bottled water. When the umpire announced the match is about to start, both players approached the net, decided who was to serve first and shook hands.
…
It was already the third game in favor of Echizen when grandmother arrived and approached us.
"So this is where you all have been."
"Ryuuzaki-sensei, do you happen to know Ryoma Echizen?" Inui-senpai asked.
"Of course, you do not know him?"
"Hm. The surname Echizen does ring a bell," and then he scanned his notebook, and moved his glasses up his nose. "Is he related to Samurai Nanjirou?"
"Yes, he is. But in America, he was known as the Prince of tennis."
"Prince of Tennis?" We all animatedly asked, except for Fuji, Tezuka and Kaidoh-senpai but all was looking at grandma.
"He was called that because he won 4 consecutive junior tournaments when he was 12. He also participated on the US Open when he was still at America last year and showed impressive skills. The family decided to come back to the country this year. Ryoma said that he wanted to finish school first but he didn't give up tennis while schooling either so he's participating in amateur tournaments," grandma explained. "I did talk to him into joining our club though but I got an immediate no."
The umpire announced the scores. "Game to Echizen: 4 games to love. Change courts!" I stared at Echizen. His breathing was stable. And he wasn't even sweating.
I analyzed the facts that I gathered and tuned out the conversations and the cheers. So Echizen was an American citizen, no wonder he sleeps in English! Maybe he was in an advanced course in America to be able to do well in other subjects. And…maybe it was really to put his profile low, not mentioning it to the class or to anybody at school. God knows how the female population would react! He'll be some sort of a celebrity to them! I wonder why he refused to join the club…but then freshmen aren't allowed to be able to compete in the ranking tournament until third quarter… my thoughts went on.
"Game and match! Echizen: six games to love!" the umpire proclaimed. The spectators and photographers approached him.
As the awarding ceremony started, the organizers motioned him to get up the small platform together with the three others who made it into the final matches, and they handed him a gold trophy and congratulated him.
"Echizen's champion nya~! Ryuuzaki-sensei! Convince him to join the club!" Kikumaru-senpai requested. The others showed their agreement while the others are impassive.
Even with all those praise and publicity, Echizen looked bored, not even smiling. I wonder if there will be something that would make his expression change aside from the determination he shows during the matches.
To be continued.