Ryoma faced her opponent, one eyebrow raised.
'What's the heck with this guy?' she wondered. He hasn't stop mumbling from the moment they entered the court.
"You're Echizen Ryoma, right? I'm Ibu Shinji, Fudomine, second year, your opponent. Yoroshiku. You're pretty short for a boy. Are you even a boy? Ah. But you're completely flat. So you must be a boy. You have a pretty face, but you're uncute."
Twitch twitch. Ryoma's eyebrows twitched and veins popped around her head.
"That's it. You're a pretty uncute boy. Not to mention skinny. Do you eat enough? Maybe you're short because you don't eat enough. Do you know that it's not good for your health if you don't eat enough? If not, you won't have enough energy to play tennis. But why are you playing tennis when you're so short and skinny? A short skinny boy like you is not a challenge for anybody. Then how come you're playing tennis again? And how come you're Seiyou qualified regular? I'm surprised that they even let a short boy like you in their team. Did you bride them or blackmail them so they let you play? No wait. They have money, so you can't bride them. Then you must have threat them or menace them. That's it. It must be that! You have threaten them! And to think that you're only a first year. You're a first year, right? You're short, so you're a first year. You know, Echizen-kun, it's not right to threat your senpais. You must have more respect for your senpais. What an unconventional short first year. And why am I playing you? Why did Tachibana made me play against a first year? Against a short first year? I was supposed to face the tensai Fuji Syuusuke. You're not Fuji Syuusuke. You're only a short, pretty face uncute boy, who threaten his senpais to let you play. Why am I playing you again? It's so boring. Playing against a short pretty face uncute boy."
By now, Ryoma have a pretty humongous number of red veines popping and twitching in the air.
'What a prick!' she thought. He can say what he wanted about her, EXCEPT calling her "short". But that dimwit didn't just call her "short" one time, but over ten times.
"And here I thought that Ibu was the only one of his kind. There is actually someone as bizarre as him in this world," Kamio Akira, from Fudomine, said. "One is a rambling freak and the other is an living brick wall."
Tachibana Kippei, Fudomine buchou, sighed. Ibu was an incredible talented tennis player, even if he was only a second year. But he had a habit to always mumble and ramble without realizing that other people can hear him.
'I better stop him before this continues until tomorrow,' Tachibana thought.
"Shinji!" Tachibana ordered.
"Sumason (1)." Ibu immediately stopped.
"Echizen!" Tezuka called.
"Hai," Ryoma answered.
In the corner of Seiyou bench, Kikumaru and Momoshiro snirkered. Kaido "Fssssssssh!" Kawamura and Ooishi sweat dropped. Kirihara, Marui, Niou and Ootori were clutching their mouth and stomach, desperately trying to refrain themselves from laughing out loud. It was too funny to watch Ryoma with that Ibu Shinji. But alas, their laugh got the best of them.
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
Yukimura and Fuji chuckled.
After knowing who served first, Ibu and Ryoma went to their respective place on the court.
"Ibu Shinji, Fudomine, against Echizen Ryoma, Seiyou. On set match. Echizen to serve," the referee called.
Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Service. Twist Serve. Mark.
"15-love."
"Ooooooooooooooooooooooooh!" the crowd was surprised.
"What an impressive service!" someone said.
"That boy, he's good!" someone else added. His companions agreed with him.
'What?' Ibu got caught by surprised.
Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Service. Twist Serve. Mark.
"30-love."
Ibu dodged the ball again.
Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Service. Twist Serve. Mark.
"40-love."
Ibu observed Ryoma.
Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Service. Twist Serve. Mark.
"1-love. Echizen."
"Ooooooooooooooooooooooooh!" the crowd cheered and applauded.
Seiyou bench.
Yukimura smiled, a finger on his lips.
"Very good, Echizen-kun."
"By wining the first point in lest than one minute, Echizen turns the crowd into his favor," Yagyuu said. Yanagi, Inui and Oshitari nodded.
"But why did he already use his Twist Serve?" Gakuto asked.
"Normally, he should judge his opponent's play style before starting his own game," Shishido said.
"It's reckless to let your opponent knows of his special technique from the beginning of the game," Oshitari said.
"Hihihihihi!" Marui laughed. "I think that Echizen got pissed off because he got called "short" by Fudomine's Ibu over ten times. Hahahahahahaha!"
"So he makes Ibu paid a little bit!" Niou added.
"It must be that!" Kirihara said.
"P-Pffffff!" Ootori snickered.
"Hahahahahahahahaha!" Marui, Niou, Kirihara and Ootori laughed.
Another huge vein popped on Ryoma's head as she glared menacingly at Marui.
'Who give you the right to call me "short" you too, prick!' her eyes were saying.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
Marui stifled but still laughed.
"Hmnmnmnmnmnmnmn!"
Fudomine bench.
"That first year, he's good!" Kamio said. His team mated nodded.
Tachibana smiled.
"You're right, he is good. But Ibu, you know can do as good as him, right?" Tachibana said, smiling again as he watched Ibu.
.
"Service. Ibu!"
Bounce bounce bounce. Eyes fixed on Ryoma.
Bounce bounce bounce. Ryoma kept her eyes on Ibu.
Bounce bounce bounce. Service. Hit. Mark.
'What?' Ryoma got caught by surprised.
"15-love."
.
Tachibana smirked.
.
Bounce bounce bounce. Service. Hit. Mark.
"30-love."
Ryoma watched Ibu, examining him. Ibu returned her glare, not disturbed.
.
Fudomine bench.
"That's the way, Ibu! Way to go, Kick Serve!" Kamio cheered.
.
Seiyou bench.
"Kick…?" Kikumaru started.
"Serve…?" Gakuto finished.
"But it looks exactly like Echizen's Twist Serve!" Kirihara said. Marui and Niou nodded, agreeing with him.
"It's the same thing, but Kick Serve is the modern name of the Twist Serve," Yanagi said.
"I would even say that Echizen's Twist Serve has more spins that Inu's Kick Serve. But to think that Fudomine also has someone who can perform that Serve too… They are good," Inui said.
"It's normal," Atobe said, appearing between Kirihara and Marui.
"What to you mean, Atobe?" Ootori said.
"Tachibana Kippei. I thought I was mistaken the moment we met Fudomine, but I wasn't. It's really him," Atobe said, eyes fixed on the smirking Tachibana. "He is a national rank player. I didn't recognize him, because before, he wore his hair blond and long, not black and short like now. He was called the Lion of Kyuushuu. Having a national player as buchou and manager, Fudomine must be excellent players too."
"Tachibana Kippei. Kyuushuu's 2nd best player, after Senri Chitose. I heard that he quicked tennis after he caused a severe injury to Senri Chitose, who had been send hospitalized. We haven't hear anything about him since then. Until today. But it seems like he is back into tennis again," Inui said.
.
"40-love."
Ryoma smirked.
'Not bad!' she thought. Like her, Ibu can do the Twist Serve, or the Kick Serve like Fudomine called it.
Kick Serve!
Ryoma made a step back, body half bend to the side and hit from underneath to where the ball bounce. The ball landed in Ibu's court side.
"15-40."
.
"What?" Kamio exclaimed, standing from his seat. "He returns Kamio's Kick Serve!"
"Uso!" his team mates said.
"Ibu and Echizen know to serve a Kick Serve, so they must know how to return it too," Tachibana said.
"Ah. It's logical," Kamio said.
"1-all."
Ryoma and Ibu were equal now. But Ibu can feel something else from Ryoma.
"Ano saa, you're not playing seriously against me, aren't you? I can feel it… You're still hiding something… Definitely…" Ibu mumbled.
Ryoma's eyes widen, surprised that he could tell. She smirked.
"You're good to be able to tell so soon," she said, smiling cockyly. "Then let's get serious." She switched her racket from the right hand to the left.
"What?" someone in the crowd said.
"Hi-… Hidarikiki (3)?"
"He's… That boy… He's a lefty!"
"But until now, he played with he right hand…"
"And he's already very good with his right hand…"
.
Fudomine bench.
Kamio's eyes were wide opened, a little bit scared.
"That freshman… He's a left hand…" he trailed.
"But during Seiyou's first game against Gyokurin, Echizen was using only his right hand…" Kamio's team mate said, gulping.
Cold sweat ran down their face.
.
Seiyou bench.
"Hmn. It's true that when we played against Gyokurin, Echizen only used his right hand," Yukimura said.
"People couldn't guess that Echizen is a left hand," Yagyuu said.
"So it's normal that they are surprised," Oshitari said.
"Well, they shouldn't have underestimate us because we have a freshman in the team," Marui said. Niou and Ootori nodded, agreeing with him.
"But like Echizen stated, that Ibu Shinji is very good," Inui said.
"He could tell that Echizen wasn't a right hand player only in the first set of the game," Yanagi said.
"More than that," Ootori added. "That Ibu Shinji… His tennis sense can rival with Fuji's tensai play style."
Kirihara, Marui, Niou, Shishido and Gakuto nodded.
Fuji only smiled, but kept his eyes on the court, where Ryoma and Ibu were standing.
"Southpaw? Hmm…" Ibu trailed. He examined Ryoma, no expression on his face. Ryoma smiled again.
"From now, the real game starts," Ryoma said.
(1) sumason: from "Sumimasen", means "I'm sorry". "Sumason" is a particular way to say "Sorry" from Ibu Shinji.
(2) ano saa: in this case, equivalent to "About something".
(3) hidarikiki: a left hand person.