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Thank you all so so so much! You have no idea how elated I am!
My last update before school starts tomorrow :'(
"Speech"- Japanese
"Speech" English+ location references
'thoughts'
All the Rikkaidai tennis players have a day off. They can all leisurely enjoy a day-off once in a while.
Ryomi was in her happy place, snoozing happily on her bed.
Dreaming of tennis, Ponta and Karupin.
It was a day off for relaxation and a chance for sleeping in late.
But-
A door slams open loudly.
"How long do you plan on sleeping?"
"Where are we even going?" grumbled Ryomi.
"My sensei's granddaughter... has started learning tennis recently." said Nanjiroh.
"So? Whats that got to do with me." Ryomi wanted to be in her warm bed, not stuck in this stupid car!
"Sensei has called several times asking for me to be her coach."
"Want some?" Nanjiro offered ryomi some manjyuu he was eating.
Ryomi obligingly grabbed a a manjyuu.
"So, you do it! I'm busy, so you can be my substitute!" Nanjiroh smiled.
"Hmmm, nope." Ryomi responded flatly.
"Ah, too bad! We're here!" The car stopped with a screech. Ryomi was rudely kicked out of the car.
"Hey, wait! Old man!"
"You can't refuse. The majyu you ate is the reward fro beingthe coach." Nanjiroh winked and the car pulled out of the parking lot with a squeal.
"I'm counting on you!" Nanjiroh laughed and waved as the car sped away.
"Look! She really came!" A high and shrill voice grated on Ryomi's ears.
'Shit.'
Pong Pong Pong
"You two are using too much strength." Ryomi sat cross-legged and watched the two practice.
The granddaughter of Nanjiroh's sensei turned out to be the girl that she had saved at the bus back then.
'What a small world' Ryomi thought.
"I'm sorry for making you do this." Studdered Sakuno.
"Bend your knees a bit." Ryomi chose to ignore the girl.
Sakuno took a swing... and missed.
"Play better."
Sakuno blushed furiously.
"Y-yes."
"Don't be so rude to Sakuno!" objected Tomoka.
'Not her again.'
"T-Tomoka! It's ok!"Sakuno tried to clam her down.
The rambunctious girl had been making loud comments for quite a while now while observing, since she "couldn't trust such a weird girl."
"No, it's not! I came because it was supposed to be a former pro, but she's just like us! She has on right to be so rude!" Tomoka screeched.
"Rikkaidai regular my foot! I don't care! You're just like me, so there is no way that Sakuno and I will just bow down that easy!"
Ryomi sighed. She wordlessly held out a hand out for Sakuno's racket.
Sakuno nervously handed it over. Ryomi walked over to the wall where she had been practicing and started hitting the ball.
Ryomi literally took their breath away.
Even to the untrained eyes of Sakuno and Tomoka, they could both tell that this girl's tennis was a step above everyone else's.
Her form was perfect and returned the ball to the exact same spot on the wall each time. Her tennis almost seemed to enrapture the two girls.
Then she spoke.
"Your form is off-balance. Your knees need to be bent more. Your elbow higher. Follow through more. Pivot on your right foot." Ryomi caught the ball as it rebouded.
"Does this satisfy you?" She raised an eyebrow at Tomoka.
"I-I m sorry."
"Good. Now get to work."
'Ummm relax a bit, bend at the knees,, elbow height higher, gaze on the ball...I can do it! Sakuno swung... and hit a home run ball that went over the wall.
She blushed. "Uh. Sorry. I'll go get it!"
Sakuno hurried through the forest. 'Oh, there it is.' the ball had rolled under the fence of a tennis court.
Sakuno stuck out her racket and tried to push the ball out.
Suddenly a foot appeared and stepped on the ball. Sakuno looked up. Three boys stood jeering at her.
"What's this girl doing?" The three boys sneered.
"Ah, I er, dropped a ball inside accidentally." Sakuno whispered. The boys looked amongst themselves and discussed.
The kanji on their uniform read Ginka middle school.
"Sure, come one in." the tallest boy with black hair said.
Sakuno looked around frantically. Whne the boys had moved, the ball had rolled somewhere!
"It should be here somewhere..."
The boy who had previously welcomed Sakuno suddenly tipped over a basket of balls.
Sakuno jumped in shock.
She and Tomoka had pooled together their allowance to buy two tennis balls when they heard that Echizen Nanjiroh was coming to coach them personally. They had decided to put the initials S.R and T.O on both balls in case they ever got lost.
But even with so many balls...
'Sheesh, What's taking Sakuno so long?'
"What's taking her so long with the ball anyways?" Tomoka heard laughter and looked toward it.
There was Sakuno!
She was on her knees frantically trying to find her ball inside some tennis courts. There were many many balls around her,evidently from the tipped ball basket.
There were at least 10 boys standing around watching, laughing and jeering.
'I better go get back-up!'
"E-Echizen!" Tomoka hurried back to her where the short girl was standing,bored as she waited for the two to return.
"Sakuno is...!"
"Hey..How long are you planning to take?" The tallest boy, also the leader of the group asked.
"S-Sorry, N-Nope." Sakuno was scared out of her mind. She had gotten to all the balls at least twice and hadn't found their ball!
'Oh, Where could it be?'
However, unknown to Sakuno, the leader actually had their ball clasped in his hand behind his back!
"Hmph, We,Ginka are one of the best 4 at next week's prefecture tournament... ya know?"
BANG!
Suddenly a tennis ball flew out of nowhere and hit the leader's face. He fell down from the impact of the ball.
The Ginka tennis members stared in shock at the broken link in the wire fence.
Sakuno was relieved and in awe.
"Hey..it can't be that guy... can it?" a tennis member suddenly pointed out.
"No way! Not from that distance! and it broke through the fence...and hit me! "
Everyone watched as the gu- no girl! strode closer.
The girl with the strange golden eyes smirked.
"Sorry, my ball got inside. "
"Have you found your ball Sakuno?" Ryomi asked.
"U-Ummm, I don't know which of these balls are mine."
Ryomi sighed. 'With so many balls, this will see no end.'
"OI!" the leader shouted.
"Eh?" Ryomi turned to face him, uninterested.
"DON'T FUCK WITH ME CHIBI! YOU HIT ME! SO YOU BETTER COME APOLOGIZE UNLESS YOU WISH FOR DEATH!" The leader jerked a thumb to himself at the already forming bruise on his face.
"Eh? Did that hurt? anyways, you guys better help look too." Ryomi replied.
"YOU GO LOOK FOR IT ASSHOLE!" The leader roared.
"Hey, let's not pick fights with kids." Another boy said. He secretly passed the leader the second ball with the initials S.R and T.O on them.
"Yeah." The leader snickered.
"Look kid. There are about 300 balls here. You're disturbing our practice. It's because this braided girl knocked over the basket." The leader shifted and pointed at the mess on the court.
'Eh? That wasn't what ha-" Sakuno objected.
"RYOMI! HE'S HIDING THE BALLS BEHIND HIS BACK! I CAN SEE THE INTIALS!" Shouted Tomoka who had also arrived at the court and was watching at the fence.
Tomoka, by the way has 2.0 eye vision.
"SHUT UP BITCH! DON'T BE SO OBNOXIOUS!" The leader screamed.
Tomoka stuck her tongue out at him.
"Ten balls to a person." Ryomi said quietly.
"What's that?" the leader growled.
"We'll play matches. I'll give up the balls if I lose. However, if you guys lose, you have to search through ten balls each." Ryomi tapped her red racket against her shoulder.
"It's a game, How about it?"
"One person per ten balls? t's 30 vs 10, this moron!" a tennis member pipped up.
"A girl can't beat us!" The leader laughed.
"You know what? Forget about looking. If you win, you can have all of our balls."
Renji's house
The three demons were also having a busy weekend. They were preparing for the prefectures next week and had decided to over look the data with Renji.
"We haven't played against our quarter-final opponent Ginka Chuugaku before. However, apparently this year they got stronger all of a sudden." said Renji.
"Their regulars are strong. They've got Fukushi, Tashiro and Suzuki."
Ginka middle school
SMASH
"Next!" Ryomi yelled.
"What's with this girl! She's beat 5 already in such a short time! She even got Fukushi, Tashiro and Suzuki too!" A tennis member shrieked.
Sakuno and Tomoka cheered.
Renji's house
"And then, there's Doumon. HE's known for his power serve. He's got quite a reputation." Renji said.
"Hmm.. Nothing Rikkaidai can't handle." Yukimura said.
"I guess I'll go take a look later just in case." Renji said.
Ginka middle school
"Alright! I'm up next!" A burly boy with dreadlocks shouted.
"OOOhhhhh Doumon!" The tennis members cheered.
SMASH
"Next."
SMASH
"Next."
SMASH
"Hurry up!Next."
"This is impossible!Ginka is one of the best four thi year! We can't all be beat by one chibi girl!" A tennis member shouted.
Ryomi sighed. 'Sexist Pigs.'
"Hey, can you hurry up? I still have another 22 guys." Ryomi smirked as she took off her hat.
The tennis members gaped. She wasn't even breathing hard!
"So this is Ginka Chuu..." Renji looked around.
"Shouldn't be any trouble..." Renji took out his black notebook.
"Better get some good data."Renji was startled.
All the members were in various stages of unconsciousness. They looked like they had jumped in a swimming pool. They all lay panting and gasping.
'They have such tiring practices?' mused Renji, True, it wasn't nearly as tiring as the regulars practices, but considering that even the non-regulars and substitutes lay just as tired as the regulars, was a startling sign.
'I guess I also make adjustments to the training menu..'
Nanjiroh's Truck
"U-Umm..Ryomi?" Sakuno asked.
"Yeah?" Ryomi looked up. She sat in the bed of the truck. Around her were all 300 balls.
"I-I wanted to thank you. You were really amazing." Sakuno said.
"Hn."
"Yeah! You were totally awesome!" Tomoka cheered.
A soothing silence settled over the three girls.
"We're not going down without a fight." Sakuno said.
"Pardon?" Ryomi asked.
"I said, we're not going to go down wihtout a fight. Seigaku will win this year." Sakuno gulped at such a brazen statement but didn't take it back.
"We're strong this year. Takumi will defeat you." Sakuno blushed at the name.
"Takumi?" Ryomi raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah! He's a freshman regular just like you! Takumi Hitori!" Tomoka added.
Ryomi grinned.
"I wouldn't have it any other way."