From last time…

Ryoma didn't move. She lay lifeless on the ground. People shouted around her, but she wasn't moving nor she heard them.

Everything was dead to her.

Somewhere else.

'What is this place? Where am I? Where is everybody?' Ryoma asked. No one answered back to her. Ryoma stood up. She walked around a little bit. There wasn't anything around her. It was only an empty world. She was in a strange world.

'Why am I here? What was I doing…?' Ryoma looked around again. There was nothing.

'…That's right… I was playing against Yukimura-senpai…' Ryoma sadden. 'Yukimura-senpai…' She remembered his face each time he hit a ball.

'Yukimura-senpai… He looked so much in pain… He wasn't enjoying himself…' Ryoma clutched her heart. 'For a reason I don't know, each time he grimaced, I felt a stab in my heart and I can't feel happy… I also remembered that I didn't want my ball to cross the net again… Why does it feel so painful?' Ryoma dropped to her knees. The pain she felt from Yukimura made her forget something. She forgot something important.

'Why-why am I playing tennis again…?' She clutched her head.

'Why do I always play tennis?' She remembered the pain, the fright and the fear she felt each time she returned Yukimura's ball. She trembled at the memory, feeling cold, very cold. She shut her eyes, tightening her arms around her to make herself stop shaking.

'I-… I don't want to play anymore! It feels too painful playing tennis! I don't want to play anymore!'

'Ryoma…' a voice called her. A deep voice sounded very familiar to her. Ryoma snapped her eyes open. In front of her, a light was taking form. Slowly, the light revealed someone.

A monk.

'Oyajii…' Ryoma recognized Nanjirou in the light.

'Ryoma, is tennis fun?' Nanjirou asked her. Ryoma frowned.

'Is tennis… fun?' Ryoma repeated his question, dumbfounded.

'Remember… Remember when you were young…?' Nanjirou said again.

'When… When I was… young…?'

Flashback

"Are you done now?" Nanjirou asked, smirking.

On the other side of the court, a little girl, kneeled on the ground, slowly grabbed her white cap, which had fallen of her head. Determinedly, she put it back on her head, pulling the front to the side.

Ryoga, who was watching them, wondered why she always wore that cap, which was obviously too big for her small head. It was an old cap he possessed before. He intended to throw it away, when he had a new idea to make fun of her. He gave it to her, telling her it was a gift for a growing little girl. He told her the cap was magical that turn the person who wore it to grow taller. Ryoma believed him, beliving that one day she would be as tall as him if she wore the cap. And even taller! From that day, Ryoga never saw her without it on her head, unless she was inside the house.

"Argggggggh!" the little girl grunted. She spun on herself, facing Nanjirou.

Ryoma was surprised how much the little girl looked like her when she was young herself.

"Mada mada! (3)" the little girl said.

Nanjirou smirked again as he watched the little girl in front of him. Behind her, the court was covered with numerous balls she failed to return. The little girl returned his smirk. She ran to the ball which was served to her.

End flashback

The image of the little girl ran across Ryoma. Her obviously big smile was impossible to miss.

'Ryoma, is tennis fun?' Nanjirou asked again.

'Is tennis… fun?' Ryoma repeated again. Ryoma could hear the giggling laugh of the little girl echoing around her.

"Hahahahaha!"

Flashback

"Hahahahaha! Again, again, again, Aniki! Again!" the little girl squealed.

"Here you go, Chibisuke! Twist Serve!"

End flashback

"Hahahahaha!" the little girl's laugh resounded in Ryoma's head again.

.

'She looks to be so enjoying herself…' Ryoma though.

'Remember when you were young…?' Nanjirou said again. His image changed. His hair were long and tight up in a high ponytail. He wore a white headband on his forehead, his hand holding a racket. It was Echizen Nanjirou of many years ago when he was in America. It was Samourai Nanjirou.

'Is tennis fun?' Samurai Nanjirou asked Ryoma again.

Pictures flashbacked in her head. All pictures of a little girl playing tennis against her big brother and her father. They were all pictures picked by the mother of the little. The day the little girl had her first racket. A picture of her running after a ball in the morning. A picture of her chasing after a ball on noon. A shot of her with a serious face, waiting for Nanjirou to serve. A picture of her arguing with Ryoga over who shot a ball first. A picture of the two bickering kids in front of an annoyed Nanjirou, who no longer had no idea of how to stop them. A picture of her hugging her yellow ball-cushion in her nap, her racket in her other hand.

'That little girl… It's me!' Ryoma recognized the little girl. On all the pictures, little Ryoma was grinning ear to ear.

.

'Hahahaha!' Little Ryoma's laughed echoed in Ryoma's head again.

.

'Is tennis fun?' Samourai Nanjirou asked again.

'Tennis is…'

.

"It's over, Echizen-chan," Yukimura said as he watched the immobilized girl in front of him. He close his eyes and turned his back to her.

.

'That's right! Remember, Ryoma!' Nanjirou said.

"Tennis is…" Ryoma slowly trailed. Her hand twitched, her fingers closing around the handle of her racket.

.

'Come on, Chibisuke! You can do it! Return my ball!' Ryoga's voice echoed in her head.

.

"Tennis is…" she said again. Her body moved. Slowly, she tried to stand up. Yukimura, feeling something different with his ESP, spun on himself to see Ryoma trying to stand up.

'What? She still can continue?' Yukimura was shocked. He wasn't the only one. Everybody in the court, including the spectators, were shocked.

"She still can move? No way!" a player from Genhoujii said.

.

'Yaaaaaaay! I did it! I did it! I return a ball! Yay! Yay! Yaaaaaaaaay!' the little girl squealed, dancing on her small legs.

.

"Tennis is…" Ryoma repeated again.

.

'Hahahahahaha!' the little girl laughed.

.

"Tennis is…!" she slowly opened her eyes. Her senses were coming back to her.

.

"Ahhhh!" Momoshiro and Kirihara said.

"Ochibi-chan! She is… She is… She is awakening!" Kikumaru said.

"Fssssssssssssssh!"

"She broke Yukimura's hypnotize on her," Shishido said.

"Hm," Ootori nodded.

"That's… That's… That's…" Niou stuttered.

"That's the first time I've seen someone breaking Yukimura's ESP," Marui completed for them. Sanada was speechless.

.

"Tennis is fun!" Ryoma brightly said, her smile wide ear to ear.

"Tennis is fun!"

Thump!

'Ah!'

Ryoma felt her heart stopped beating. Next, all the activities in her body stopped. Then, there was a strange wave of power departing from her heart and spread throughout her whole body.

.

From the spectators seats:

"Heeeh… So she finally awoke, Oyajii!" Ryoga said, watching his little sister with a smile.

"Ah! About time!" Nanjirou said, a proud smirk on his face.

"Ryoma…" Rinko softly smiled.

"Meow!" Karupin, nested in Rinko's arms, said.

"Ganbatte, Ryoma-chan!" Nanako cheered. "You can do it!"