Disclaimer: NOT MINE.

HOLY SHIT I UPDATED.

My life in a nutshell: So, remember that boy? That boy that ripped my heart apart and threw the pieces in my face? The one I wrote a NiouOC about?

He comes to visit. We hang out. Just before he leaves, he mentions he has another girl.

THE. FUCK.

(Thank you everyone who read and reviewed that NiouOC btw. I love the comments that are like, "he should rot in hell!" They cheered me up.)

Dedicated to: torishia-chan, paraparadance, CharismaCrew, AznMistress, znk99fg7 and Destiny921 for writing the best reviews ever.

Also dedicated to thesadisttensaifuji for walking me through this. This chapter could not be written without her.

To recap: Last time, Sakuno put up a fight but lost her match. Akane too, lost her match. It's down to Singles One, and Seigaku is sending Chiharu out to battle with Shigohara. Basically, this chapter is just tennis.

To Catch A Falling Star, Chapter 27: Miracle, Broken!

~x~

Where there is hope, there can be faith.

Where there is faith, miracles can occur.

~x~

There are two types of people in the world, prodigies and ordinary people.

Inui furtively glanced at the people beside him as he pondered this.

On the boy's side, prodigies would include Tezuka Kunimitsu, Fuji Syusuke and Echizen Ryoma. (Inui was not foolish enough to believe that he himself qualified in this category.)

The girls' side was a bit harder and less clear-cut, he noted with interest. Kimiko had extraordinary talent, whether she was aware of it or not. Reina drew her strength from tactical reasoning. Suzume was probably the closest thing to a prodigy they had.

As for Hyotei… Shigohara was, without a doubt, a prodigy. Inui knew this. He had half a green notebook of data to prove it. Her tennis sense and her potential rocketed through his charts.

So, where did that leave Chiharu?

Sure, she was called a 'Miracle', but was she a prodigy? No, she wasn't, Inui concluded after a moment. She was just an average player who had a special gift. She didn't have Shigohara's sheer talent, talent that glowed like a ball of energy that begged to be harnessed.

But the thing about prodigies and ordinary people is that hard work and perseverance often leveled out the playing field.

Inui nodded to himself and opened a notebook, pen poised and ready on the white empty paper. This match was going to be interesting.

~X~

"One set match!"

Shigohara was at the service line, ready to begin.

There was a sudden commotion among the crowds. Chiharu pulled out a white blindfold and wrapped it securely around her eyes. The white streamers of cloth blew out behind her, like a samurai's head ribbon.

The onlookers dissolved into stunned whispers.

"Oi, oi… look at that…"
"Is she crazy? She's underestimating Shigohara…"

"Cocky bitch… Shigohara-senpai needs to knock her down a peg."

The Hyotei team, however, remained silent. Because of Fuuma's extensive data collection, they knew that being blindfolded only made Chiharu stronger.

Kikumaru grinned. "Hmm… Oshiro-chan is all pumped up, isn't she?"

"Going full out from the start," Akane concluded. Then she added in an undertone, "Not that she has a choice."

"SEIGAKU BURNING!" Kawamura burst out randomly, waving Kimiko's (bright pink) racket around. "OSHIRO STROOOOONG!"

"What?" Kimiko complained at all the glares sent her way from people that had to dive to avoid Kawamura's crazy swings. "I just felt like she needed some support!"

"Oh, look at you guys," Inoue approached the team with a friendly smile. "You guys are all fired up for this next match."

"Yep!" Sayaka declared. "Chiharu-senpai is going to kick-butt."

"BURNING!" Kawamura said for emphasis. (Fired up, indeed.)

"She's up against a tough one, that's for sure…" Inoue said, his face serious. "Shigohara is no small fry."

"Eh?" The freshmen trio turned to face the brown-haired reporter. "What does that mean, Inoue-san?" Horio asked.

Instead of responding, Inoue flipped through a magazine in his hand. Locating the right page, he held it out towards them. Several of them crowded around. Kimiko had push through two layers of bodies in order to see. On the glossy page of the magazine was a girl holding up a trophy.

"Hey… that's the girl Oshiro is playing against!" Arai exclaimed, always good at stating the obvious.

"Shigohara… takes French junior tennis by storm…" Momoshiro read aloud. He glanced rapidly back and forth between the player on the court and the picture. "Th-that means…"

"Aa," Inui confirmed. "The girl that Oshiro-chan is playing against has won many junior tournaments in France. On top of that, she's already received professional training."

"EH?!" The freshmen trio exclaimed. "You mean to say… Oshiro-senpai is playing against a future pro?"

"Most likely," Inui said, flipping to a page on his notebook. "Shigohara Minako. Hyotei Gakuen third year. Her father is the CEO of Shigohara Enterprises, mother is international supermodel Shigohara Hana."

"M-model?" Momoshiro stammered.

"That's right. Shigohara herself has also appeared in several print advertisements. Let me see…" Inoue flipped back a few pages, searching. "Ah, here." He held up a page in the magazine that was an advertisement for a moderately well known perfume brand. The regulars stared as Shigohara's picture smiled seductively back at them.

"Wow…" Kikumaru said, eyes bulging out of his head. A faint blush tinted his cheeks.

Suzume flicked her eyes towards the magazine disinterestedly. "Che, what a Mary-Sue."

The redheaded boy stared at her blankly. "Mary-what nya?"

"Never mind."

Shigohara threw the ball and jumped up, her back arching gracefully.

CRACK!

Bullet-fast, the ball shot towards Chiharu, startling all of them.

She barely managed to evade it, instinctively stepping to the side as it rushed by her body.

"That's fast!" Katsuo cried, blinking his big eyes.

"And powerful…" Momoshiro said, noting the black mark that the ball left on the court.

Aiko frowned. That serve could compete with her own. Where was Shigohara hiding her muscles? She muttered something under her breath.

Kimiko's ears perked up at her mumbling. "What, Aiko-senpai?"

"She's twiggy. Where's all that strength coming from?"

The pink-headed second year looked back to Shigohara. The Hyotei player was actually closer in size and build to Akane, so 'twiggy' wasn't quite the correct adjective… but then again, Aiko's muscles eclipsed them all. "She's not that skinny."

"Twiggy," Aiko grunted stubbornly.

Kimiko couldn't help but giggle. "But she has muscles!" she said.

"Like tree branches."

The Momoshiro twins burst out laughing.

"It's true!" Aiko insisted, though now she was smiling.

"Aiko has a point," Reina affirmed, as Shigohara served another fast ball that Chiharu was unable to respond to. "With her bodily stalwartness, her gastrocnemius, deltoid and bicep brachii should be more preponderant."

"Considering her power, her muscles aren't as big as they should be," Kimiko told the others, nodding intelligently.

They stared and blinked for a moment. Even Suzume looked bemused.

"Wait…" Horio said. "Since when could you understand Watanabe-senpai?"

"I don't!" Kimiko responded sunnily. "But I guessed!"

"HOW?!"

She pointed, her lavender eyes jumping from Shigohara's quads to her biceps. "The Hyotei girl kind of has arms and legs like Akane-buchou, and Akane-buchou can't serve like that."

"Hey," Akane said in an annoyed tone.

"Yet," Kimiko hastily added, winking.

Akane forced a smile, but inside her mood was much more solemn. Her game against Fuuma had not gone ideally, which meant it the championship was up for grabs at this point. Hyotei was strong; even though her match had gone into a tiebreak, she suspected that Fuuma had not gone full out. And Shigohara was at the top of the pyramid. In a hierarchy system like Hyotei, there was no way that the Singles One slot was just handed to you.

She had to have earned it.

Akane couldn't stop a tremor that ran down her spine. 'Be strong,' she told herself, clutching her sleeve. 'You've already let your team down as their captain. You need to stay positive for this last match.'

Easier said than done, now that Chiharu was down thirty-love and had yet to get a point.

The Hyotei girl leapt up again to serve.

CRACK!

Another ace.

Reina's dark eyes narrowed. "Her back."

"Eh?" the others said.

"I see!" Inui said in realization. "She's using the flexibility in her back to add power to the shot!"

Shigohara jumped again, her back forming a beautiful curve. It reminded Sayaka of when she used to use a plastic spoon to fling peas at her brother. The spoon would snap forward, and the peas would shoot around and ricochet off random things.

And then her parents would ground her for a week.

Chiharu caught this ball this time, however she missed the sweet spot on her racket. Her return failed to go over the net.

"Game, Hyotei! One game to love! Change court!"

"Not so cocky now, are you?" some of the Hyotei students jeered as Chiharu took off her blindfold to move to the other side of the court.

Coach Ryuzaki handed her a towel. "You got that last ball, so clearly you can return her serve."

"It's hard," Chiharu admitted, panting. That serve was quite a piece of work. It was beyond the fastest setting that she'd ever used on the ball machines.

"It's Hyotei," the coach responded promptly, eliciting a small smile from the blue-haired girl.

"Take a few steps back from the line," Inui suggested. "It'll buy you some more time to interpret the ball's path." He didn't mention that the most it would do was give her a fraction of a second.

Chiharu nodded and stepped back onto the court, securing her blindfold over her eyes.

There was no more advice to give, Inui concluded, because Chiharu was doing everything right. It wasn't her fault that Shigohara's skill level was superior. Seigaku didn't have anyone that could compete with her. Chiharu was their only chance.

~x~

Chiharu decided pretty quickly that she didn't like Shigohara.

(This can be said as somewhat of a rare occurrence, as there were few people that Chiharu genuinely didn't like.)

Shigohara wasn't flamboyant in arrogance like Atobe, nor patronizingly conceited like Oshitari. But she had the same icy pride; the same cold freeze in her eyes and frosty smile on her lips that were unspoken trademarks of Hyotei. Kings and queens of ice, each of them were, moving as if the rest of the world was beneath their notice.

Haughty. That was the right word to describe Shigohara.

Shigohara didn't even seem to acknowledge her as a player. She played as if this game was just a formality – it was just something to pass the time before she went to collect the trophy. She wasn't even trying.

With the blindfold over her eyes, Chiharu couldn't see Shigohara's expression, but she could feel her attitude through her shots. The passing shots that taunted her by being just beyond her reach. The speedy flat shots that laughed at her inability to react to them. That beast of a serve, imperiously shooting by. Every ball had a personality.

The worst part was that even with next to no effort, Shigohara was still winning easily. Chiharu's sharp returns hit the net, and her lobs went out of bounds.

Chiharu gritted her teeth, feeling frustrated and hurt and oddly irritated.

'You may not like me either, but I'll make sure that you respect me by the end of this match.'

She was going to force Shigohara to play her best.

~x~

"Good shot!" Sayaka shouted, seeing Chiharu put a speedy one cross-court. "She's not going to be able to get that…"

Suddenly-

-"What was that?!"

It happened so fast it looked like an illusion. The ball was to the corner; Shigohara wasn't going to make it, and then out of the blue, she was already in front of the ball.

"What's with that movement?!" someone in the crowd shouted.

Shigohara could slide.

Oh, that smooth movement was lovely, almost reminiscent of ice skating. She sprinted, gathered up speed, and let the momentum carry her.

"That's a pro-level move!" Oishi said in astonishment.

Inoue agreed, wide-eyed. "I never thought we would see this move in the high school circuit. Sliding is a type of movement that someone should strive for only when they've mastered all the basic footwork possible."

"Doesn't Ochibi do something like that for Drive B?" Kikumaru grabbed his kohai and pulled him over. "Nya, Ochibi! Show us how it's done!"

"Yadda."

"O-CH-BIIIII!"

"Why is a slide special, Inui-senpai?" Sakuno asked.

"You conserve energy because you're not actively moving," Inui explained. "Plus, it allows you to hit the ball while still in motion. You won't get as much power in it as you would with your feet firmly planted, but you can reach it faster."

"Faster than side-steps?" Kikumaru asked, dropping Ryoma. "I should learn it!"

"It's crucial for clay-court specialists," Inoue explained. "The soft, mobile soil creates opportunities for this kind of gliding motion. Players like Williams, Clijsters, Djokovic, and Nadal all know how to slide on clay."

Clay court like the Roland Garros. 'Shigohara Minako… from France, huh,' Inoue thought to himself. 'No doubt she has been trained for the French Open.'

But to be able to skid and slide like that on a hard court was a feat in itself.

"It's a good defense strategy," Kawamura said. "Extremely smart of her to use that movement to save stamina, especially if she's planning on an endurance battle."

Chiharu, meanwhile, couldn't exactly tell what Shigohara was doing, but she knew that every ball she hit kept coming back to her. She knew she would have to play better, run faster, and hit the ball harder if she wanted any chance to win.

'You can't hold back.'

~x~

"Game, Hyotei! Two games to love!"

"Mou!" Horio made a move as if to tear his hair out. "Hyotei broke her service game! This is bad!"

"Quiet, first year!" Kaidoh growled, causing him to cower.

"Why is Chiharu-senpai holding back?" Sayaka asked confusedly.

"She's not." Akane's mouth was a tight line.

"She's not on top of her game," Inui agreed gravely. "But she's not holding back either."

"The reason she's been able to keep up so far is because of her extra training," Akane told them seriously. "Just being able to interpret the shot isn't enough. She knows that her style means she has to be able to get to the ball. She's done a lot of work on endurance and strength."

Aiko thought about all the training she did, and how she still failed to defeat Chiharu. She quietly said, "Sometimes it just isn't enough, though."

"That slide is something else," Suzume said, partly for Chiharu's benefit. "We didn't even know it could appear…"

The freshmen trio clutched the fence, staring at the game worriedly. "I didn't think… We'd see Oshiro-senpai struggle here…"

"This is Shigohara's style," Inui was perusing his notes, making annotations and corrections. "She plays an absolute defense. Oshiro will have to break it."

"She'll break through," Oishi tried to convince them. "She's biding her time."

As if hearing him, Chiharu suddenly quickened her steps into a burst of speed, stretching out her racket and slamming the ball down the line in a screaming winner.

"Thirty – fifteen!"

"Beautiful!" Inoue exclaimed. He glanced hurriedly at his partner. "Shiba, did you get that?"

"Got it!" she replied cheerfully, checking the digital screen on the back of her camera.

Chiharu clenched her fist slightly in a celebration of the point.

The crowd was dumbstruck. Murmurs circulated through the onlookers as they speculated on how Chiharu could detect where the ball was with a blindfold, let alone hit it back into the open court.

"It must be fake blindfold… Like a mask! Like the one Nightwing wears in comic books."

"Maybe she's blind to begin with so she's used to just relying on hearing…"

"Maybe…" Aiko grumbled, though she was smiling, "She's just a damn miracle."

~x~

"That was pretty impressive," Oshitari commented lightly, while Shishido made a non-committal noise. You had to be careful about complimenting the other team – there was a fine line between stating the facts and being disrespectful to your own team.

Mukahi mused, "Shigohara's serve is even better than Omae's, hmm."

Omae laughed. "Of course it is. She's the one who taught me how to serve like that."

"Please, she's better than all of you in everything," Atobe said, causing some of them to bristle. "Isn't that right, Kabaji?"

"Usu."

"She's not as fast as Matoko-senpai," Gamaro argued.

"Maybe not," Rie agreed, watching Shigohara sprint down the court for a volley. "But she has better footwork than me."

Shigohara's steps were languid and light, barely touching the court. Shishido muttered, "She has better footwork than all of you combined."

"Oshiro's starting to get the hang of it, though," Fuuma pointed out as the two players began a fast rally. "Shigohara's tennis style, that is."

"She's gifted," Rie said, running a hand through her white-blond hair. Anyone who could sense the ball with his or her eyes closed had something special.

"But a gift can only get you so far…"

~x~

"Deuce!"

Chiharu tried to control her breathing, suddenly all too aware of the stamina that she was being robbed of. She signaled to Shigohara to wait for a second, while she untied and adjusted her sweat-soaked blindfold, trying to buy herself just a few more seconds.

Why was she tiring out so quickly?

She shook her head slightly and pulled the blindfold over her eyes once again. 'I need to take this game.' If she lost the next game, she would be down three-zero. And Chiharu knew she wasn't like Sayaka; she couldn't recover in a heartbeat like the tall second year could. She would have to just grit her teeth and fight through.

"Focus," she whispered to herself, the word almost lost in her breaths. "Focus."

This point was too important.

CRACK!

Shigohara's serve exploded in her vision like a balloon filled with bright green paint. 'Left corner,' she thought, her feet already sprinting in that direction. She planted her feet firmly, pulled her racket back, and swung – really swung.

BAM.

Her shot rocketed to the edge of the court and hit the wire fence with a rattle. 'Please, let it be in!' she prayed, fingers going to pull down her blindfold. It was too close for her to tell.

"Advantage, Seigaku's Oshiro!"

She allowed herself to relax for a brief moment, then remembered that she had to take one more to secure the game. Her legs were aching. 'One more point. Come on. Hang on. Then you can rest.'

That was a lie. There was no time to rest. But she needed this game, she needed it so badly. Push a little more, push a little more, she could do this, come on, she could win…

CRACK!

The serve came, hard and fast. She summoned enough strength to lunge for the ball, tipping it over the net just so.

"Game, Seigaku! Two games to one!" The announcer's call was music to her ears.

"Yes!" Sayaka cheered, pumping her fist high in the air. "WHOO! Go Chiharu-senpai!"

Shigohara, however, just raised her eyebrows fractionally in a very Tezuka-like manner. Inui frowned. "Hyotei doesn't look worried."

"Chiharu-san isn't happy either…" Izumi mentioned, noticing the strained expression on the blue-haired girl's face.

The freshmen trio and Tomoka paused in their cheering. "What? But she just won a game!"

"Her style isn't working," Akane said. "Chiharu's playing her hardest, but it's not having the same affect on Shigohara as it did on Aiko or Matsuyama from Fudomine. And she's tiring out." 'You can't rely on short bursts of sudden energy like that.'

Aiko nodded quietly. 'Chiharu's style… She knew exactly where the ball was going to be. In contrast, you had no frickin' idea where she was going to hit it.'

"The strong part about Chiharu's style is that not only can she predict the path of the ball," Inui said, watching Chiharu react immediately to a crosscourt shot. "But she relies on pure impulse to return it. So her opponent has no cues of where the ball is going to land."

"And the problem with that is, if your opponent is faster than you, stronger than you, and just better…" Akane's eyes hardened. "It doesn't matter where you hit it. They'll get there anyway."

Shigohara hit deep into the court, to the left and then left again, effectively cornering Chiharu. In a flash, she whipped a stunning backhand to the right – Chiharu could've grown wheels on the bottom of her feet and she still wouldn't have made it.

"The brown-haired nee-chan isn't bad," Ryoma murmured, pulling the lid of his cap up.

"Tch. She's more than 'not bad'," Suzume scoffed, almost a little defensively.

"She's completely overpowering Chiharu," Reina agreed, aptly sensing that Akane would not appreciate extra vocabulary in this situation.

"B-but Oshiro-senpai got a game!" Horio protested. "Why is it…"

This was the difference between an amateur player with two years of experience, and the seasoned players. Their eyes catch on different things. They notice the details.

"Look how… how… easy it is for Shigohara," Izumi said unexpectedly, in a voice that soft but reverent. "It's just so easy for her."

Fuji blinked at her odd word choice. Yet, Izumi may have grasped something here. The way Shigohara covered the court was smooth and seamless. The way she set up plays and executed them was done without any visible effort. She looked so at ease, so…

"Comfortable," he and Izumi both said at the same time. They exchanged a glance; Fuji smiled and she tried not to.

"Ah! She's going up to the net!" Kikumaru shouted, regaining their attention.

Shigohara rushed the net, pushing Chiharu farther and farther back. Aiko made a noise of appreciation. This girl knew definitely knew what she was doing. Going closer to the net meant Chiharu had less time to react to the sound of the shot. It's what Aiko did when she played against Chiharu that one time.

(Aiko was also in the midst of thinking of a nickname for this cocky, pretentious Hyotei girl. 'Fugly Bitch' had a nice ring to it.)

Hearing the footsteps, Chiharu instinctively hit a shot towards the sound.

"Good shot," Tezuka said with approval. "Right at the opponents feet, to get them off balance."

"This is her chance!" Shiba said, lifting her camera.

But Shigohara didn't even falter, much less get off balance. She simply did neat little sidestep, giving herself plenty of time, and hit a short forehand with a large amount of sidespin.

Chiharu ran and dove for it, but all of a sudden the ball changed course on the bounce. Her knees and arms scraped against the ground painfully as she fell. She hit the ground with her fist in frustration.

'This isn't how it's supposed to be.'

Her style was supposed to work everywhere. People shouldn't be able to just.., overcome it.

It started when she was in elementary school. P.E had several different units, and one of them was tennis. Back then, Chiharu didn't show any particular talent for anything.

Her P.E teacher put her on the other side of the net and served lightly to her, just as she did for all her other students. Chiharu swung half-heartedly, and her footwork was sloppy.

But the instant the racket touched the ball, she moved.

Her teacher called her father. "Your daughter has talent. She deserves to be coached separately in tennis."

'Tennis sense,' is what her teacher called it. 'She has amazing tennis sense.'

Her father found her a coach that had already seen many a child prodigy come and go. He was no fool; he knew that Chiharu's tennis sense was nothing extraordinary. For some reason or the other, he agreed to continue coaching her.

What he discovered was Chiharu had a bizarre fascination for sounds.

Sometimes, when they were practicing certain shots, she would just cock her head slightly to the side, clearly listening for something. "What?" he had said. "You expecting it to sing or something?"

"The sounds… they're different."

Drop shot. Lob. Volley. Smash. "Of course they're different."

She just shrugged her little shoulders and continued listening.

Flat shot. Topspin. Side-spin. When she could tell those sounds apart, he was mildly impressed.

Left. Right. Baseline. Corner. When she could tell those sounds apart, he was shocked speechless.

He was so shocked that he wanted her to play with her eyes closed. "Just try it," he said, still skeptical that her hearing was so acute. He needed to see proof.

And he did get proof. Chiharu played just was well with her eyes closed as she did with them open. With one extra catch.

He was running up to hit a volley. The moment she heard it, she moved in the right position. He was sure she was going to hit a passing shot; it's what he coached her to do.

Instead, she whipped it right towards his face.

At that moment, he realized. 'She's not thinking when her eyes are closed. It's just how she feels. She'll hit it wherever she wants.' This defied all logic, but with her reaction time, it worked. Add that to the unpredictability of her shots, and you had a gold mine.

"This is your greatest weapon," he had told her. "Use it."

Now, with someone so much better than she was, Chiharu was regretting taking her coach's advice.

~x~

Shigohara was beautiful.

There was simply no other way to describe it. It was in the way she moved. The way her legs slid against each other as she crossed the court for a return, the way her arms swung wide to hit a spectacular forehand, the way her shiny brown hair flowed out behind her. Usually, Shiba would have to take hundreds of pictures to get one good enough to make it into the magazine. But now, every picture that she took was so stunning, it looked like Shigohara was subconsciously posing for it.

Snap. Perfect picture. Snap. Perfect picture.

The faint smile on her lips, the sparkle in her eyes, even the beads of sweat that glistened on her skin… Something about her was incredibly graceful and formidable at the same time. Like a smooth river with a raging undercurrent, there was an unspoken force writhing powerfully beneath the surface.

With her, tennis was more than a sport. It was an art.

She moved like the water.

"She dances," Izumi suddenly said, eyes narrowed.

Everyone glanced at her, surprised. "Eh?"

"She dances," Izumi repeated. "That kind of movement isn't something just anyone can do."

"Morioka-san may have a point there…" Inui considered thoughtfully. Shigohara didn't use actual dance movements on the court like Izumi did. Rather, her background emerged in her elongated steps and her sense of balance.

And that slide. That was nothing short of magnificent.

Inui continued, "She certainly has a large amount of stamina, not to mention that flexibility in her back. Seventy-seven percent chance… ballet."

"Ballet?" Kaidoh said disbelievingly.

"Really?" Horio asked, obviously disappointed.

"Yeah," Momoshiro joined in, laughing uncomfortably. "Dancing isn't really a sport…" This earned him a whack on the head from his twin. "What was that for?! I never said gymnastics wasn't a sport!"

"If you said that I would've aimed for your face."

Izumi shifted slightly, which was her only sign of irritation. "Ballet dancers are athletes."

"Compared to tennis players?" Momoshiro scoffed, not seeing the warning glances that Sayaka shot him.

Izumi stared ahead. "Aspiring ballerinas train more hours a day than Olympic runners."

That got his attention. "What? Are you serious?"

She tilted her head in a nod.

"Dancers typically have a lot of stamina," Inui added. "Especially ballet dancers."

Kaidoh looked at him questioningly. "Why is that, senpai?" He was particularly proud of his own endurance. He ran marathons and did hundreds of sit-ups for that; his training was as harsh and brutal as it could get. So how was it that prancing around on a stage could also give someone a lot of stamina?

Inui tapped his pencil against his notebook, constructing his response. "In running, your legs switch off, so you get breaks and pauses in the middle. Your energy is used more efficiently. In dancing, often times you have to stretch every muscle to its limit in order to hold a certain position. It's especially straining for ballet dancers who dance en pointe, which is on their toes."

"Morioka-senpai, do you dance en pointe?" Katsuo inquired politely.

She shifted slightly again. "I tried it, but it wasn't my favorite. Everything is too controlled, too rigid, and…" Her voice trailed off, dark eyes following Shigohara's movements, so sharp and precise.

"Perfect," she finally breathed, her voice becoming whisper-soft. "It's too perfect."

Looking at Shigohara, they knew she was right.

~x~

"Game, Hyotei! Four games to one! Change court!"

Shigohara exhaled lightly and went to the bench.

"You're playing wonderfully today, Shigohara," Oshitari said, leaning over the railing. His eyes were twinkling. "It makes me wonder why we ever broke up."

She flicked her hair behind her with a swoosh. "Oshitari, we broke up because I dumped you."

He examined his fingernails. "Yes, well, I choose not to remember that particular detail."

~x~

Seated on the bench, Chiharu took a breath. Then another in quick succession. Then another. And another.

These breaths weren't ones of exhaustion. They were sharp. Urgent.

Coach Ryuzaki gave her an alarmed look. "Are you okay?"

Oishi took a step towards her, his features etched with worry. "Is she hyperventilating? We need to get her a paper bag or something!"

A hand on his shoulder stopped him. "It's fine," Akane reassured him. "Give her a moment."

"But—"

"Just a moment," Akane said. "Trust me."

It was clear that Akane knew her better than he did. A minute later, he was stunned at the change in Chiharu. Her eyes were cold and calm, her jaw was locked. She was completely composed.

"Wh-… how?" was all he said.

"Remember how Chiharu's dad works for the military?" Kimiko chimed in with a grin. "He taught her how to calm herself in ten seconds! Y'know, 'cause in the army, ten seconds is like life or death."

Tezuka watched her carefully.

This was the Chiharu that stood a chance.

~x~

"Three games down…" Reina said to no one in particular. Chiharu's percentage of winning, which wasn't too high to begin with, was dwindling fast. Though, Reina had yet to calculate Chiharu's new mentality. "Three games down. That's not good."

"She's doing better than I did." A voice came from behind them. Several of them turned around.

"Saki-senpai!" Suzume exclaimed.

The Fudomine girl waved a hand to greet some of them, then held her fist out to Suzume. When the latter just stared at it blankly, Sakiko said, "What? Forgot how to fist-bump? Work with me here."

"Heh." She punched at her fist. "Sorry. It's weird having the old you back." She frowned. "Well, the new-old you, I guess. The better, improved Saki-senpai."

Sakiko gave her a weird look. "…right. Okay."

"So you got any advice for how to beat this girl?" Sayaka asked.

She smiled thinly. "Did you not hear about my match? She thrashed me."

Sayaka blanched; she'd forgotten. "Sorry. Meant no disrespect, senpai."

"Apology accepted," Sakiko said simply.

"Are you here to watch us avenge Fudomine?" Momoshiro asked.

"Hardly. We might be out of the tournament for now, but we're taking the consolation match." Her tone was firm and confident. "I'm actually here to see how well you guys do against them."

Suzume laughed scornfully. "You are the worst spy in the world."

"Why is that?"

She made a vague gesture at the Fudomine girl. "First of all, your hair." Sakiko's hair, as usual, was bright white and tumbled to below her knees in two pigtails. "And I don't think spies typically announce themselves to the people they're spying on."

Sakiko shrugged a little. "It's not as if I'm the only one checking out the competition." She turned her gaze back, towards the stands. The rest of her team followed her eyes. Sure enough, there were two girls at the top, watching the game intently.

The girls didn't recognize the uniforms, but Inui supplied the name, "Rikkaidai Fuzoku Chuu."

Inoue looked up, his curiosity tickled. "Girls from Rikkaidai?" He turned to his partner. "Shiba, we should pay them a visit soon."

"They have the best tennis team in the nation," Inui said. "For the boys, at least. I'm sure the girls won't be an exception either."

"They're probably here to spy on Shigohara too. Her reputation has spread." Here Sakiko let out a cross between a sigh and a bitter laugh, clearly remembering how poorly her game went. "Do you know what they call her? Hades."

"HADES?!"

"King of the Underworld?"

Fuji ran his eyes over the Hyotei girl – her glossy hair, her sculpted features. He chuckled. "Not the most flattering nickname."

"Che," Ryoma pulled down his cap, mumbling. "What is with these Greek mythology allusions? First Hermes, and now Hades. Tennis is tennis."

Suzume snorted. "They sure act like they're gods."

"Mythology is one of the classes taught at Hyotei," Sakiko told them, remembering the information from the pamphlet she got when they accepted her transfer application. "They all have nicknames. That girl, Fuuma? She's Athena."

"Makes sense," Akane said begrudgingly. "She's sure smart enough."

"And Rie is Hermes…" Inui jotted it down. "So Ayumi would be…"

"Aphrodite?" Kimiko guessed, thinking of her womanly curves. 'Big boobs!'

"No," Izumi said quietly, remembering her precision and her aim. "Artemis."

"Goddess of the hunt. Nice," Inui said. "So, why Hades for Shigohara?"

At this, Sakiko frowned. "I'm not sure. Her style is so defensive. You can't get a ball past her. Maybe it's like she's guarding something. After all, Hades is the gatekeeper for the dead."

Inui pondered this. Something was missing. "Hades," he repeated to himself. "Hades."

"To be honest," Aiko muttered under her breath in English. "I prefer 'Fugly bitch.'"

Ryoma hid his laughter behind his hand.

~x~

Chiharu managed to put up a fight in the next rally. It was as if something clicked within her. She stayed at the baseline, and she didn't try to rush the game. She was too tired to attempt a big break-through anyways. She was playing at Shigohara's rhythm, and playing well.

She'd even anticipated Shigohara's slide. When it came, she backed away, found the ball, and returned it with caution. 'Just assume she can get any ball.'

Shigohara played a little like Izumi (when the latter wasn't using dance moves), Chiharu found. She didn't try to score points. She just refused to let a ball pass her. It was full on defense.

Whereas Chiharu's own style was just to get the ball to the other side of the court one more time. They were so different, and yet similar at the same time.

Maybe that's why playing at Shigohara's pace felt like playing at her own pace. Either way, she was starting to get the hang of it. She could do it. She could win.

That's when the grunting started.

~x~

'Grunt' might be too vulgar of a word to describe the noises that Shigohara was spewing. In actuality, it wasn't so much of a grunt as a half-yell, half-cry.

It definitely wasn't as rough or low as the noises that Aiko made when she was playing. Or Suzume, who occasionally spat out a curse word when she was cranking out a winner. In fact, these sounds of exertion might be the most lady-like ones that Chiharu has ever heard.

But what it did do was throw in another sound that muddled the rest.

"Hyaa!"

The ball landed behind her, instead of in front where she predicted.

"Fifteen-all!"

She blinked from behind her blindfold, unable to hear sound of impact on the racket clearly. Shigohara's grunts were covering up the sounds of the ball hitting the racket.

"Hyaa!"

"Thirty-fifteen!"

This time, it had been a lob. She thought it was a drop shot.

"Cheap trick," Kaidoh growled.

"Yeah! What's with those noises!" Kikumaru complained.

"She's messing up Oshiro's interpretation of the ball," Fuji said, eyes open. "That's her plan."

"I-is that allowed?" Sakuno asked timidly.

"It's controversial," Inui explained. "In professional circuit, players like Maria Sharapova and Michelle Larcher de Brito have signature 'grunts.' There was even an incident where Sharapova was asked by the umpire to tone down the sound of her grunt. It drowns out the sound of the ball leaving the grunter's racket."

"That's dirty!" Sayaka said.

Akane said nothing. There was nothing wrong with taking an opponent's weakness and exploiting it. There was certainly nothing wrong with using their strength to your advantage.

The Hyotei students taunted her. "Guess you can't use your special ability now!" "What's wrong, miracle? Why don't you synesthete your way out of this?"

It's not like being a synesthete was easy, she thought. When she was younger, she was immediately labeled as 'different.' People didn't understand what she meant when the sounds had colors, or the "cold sweetness" she tasted in the letter "B" or the "inkiness" in "J". She'd been diagnosed with everything from childhood schizophrenia to autism.

Her father and her mother, thank god, never accepted the diagnosis. "There is nothing wrong with my daughter!" herfather would yell and storm out. Then her mom would have to apologize to the offended nurse or doctor, but gently explain that she also disagreed with their views, that there was no way her daughter was disturbed.

As a last attempt, they went to see a children's neurobiologist in the Tsuchiya hospital. A series of tests and exams later, the doctor emerged with a big smile on his face. "There is nothing wrong with your daughter," he told the worried parents. "In fact, she's very special. She has a rare gift."

A rare gift that was the cause of her downfall, Chiharu thought with a grimace.

She would have to try to separate the sounds. That was the only way it would work.

"Hyaa!" "pok."

'Lob?' She sprinted for the baseline, hearing the shot bounce. At least she could still hear the shot bounce. She hit it back to the center.

"Hyaa!" "pok."

'Drop shot.' She raced forward, knowing that she could make it, she would make it, she had to make it.

"WATCH OUT!"

Too late, she heard the shot whizzing towards her at an alarming speed. 'Oh god! It wasn't a drop shot?!'

She stopped short, the ball cutting across her face. The pain exploded in red sparks across her vision. She fell backwards, suddenly blinded by the light as her blindfold drifted to the ground beside her, the cloth ripped into two.

She winced, in part from the pain on the side of her face and in part from the sudden brightness. Her hand immediately went to her temple, where the ball had struck her. Her fingers came back stained with red.

A dark, blurry figure approached the net. "Sorry about that," Shigohara said, not sounding sorry at all. "With your synesthesia, I thought you could tell the difference between a drop shot and a swinging volley."

Chiharu glared at her, frustrated and annoyed and… angry.

The brunette smirked and coughed lightly, presumably to clear her throat for more grunts.

"Yo, Hyotei-san!" Suzume called from the sidelines.

Shigohara didn't respond, but turned towards the second year with a raised eyebrow.

"Stop making sex noises."

While there were sounds of indignation from the Hyotei crowds (and Oishi gasping at Suzume's brazenness) Atobe stunned all of them by randomly bursting out into raucous laughter. "HAHAHAHA!"

'Clever,' Inui thought to himself. 'It was more than just a taunt; it was to make Shigohara self-conscious about her grunting.' Suzume knew how to play a mental game too, he noted carefully.

Shigohara, however, had more than just flawless footwork and incredible strength. She also had a tough, unbreakable mentality. Without even a change in her smug expression, she just turned to Atobe (who was still laughing), quirked a brow, and said, "Does the idea excite you, Atobe?"

"HA. Don't get ahead of yourself, Shigohara."

~x~

"Maybe you should say something to her, Tezuka," Fuji's voice floated into his ear, deceptively lighthearted and casual. "To encourage her."

"No." His reply was short.

"Aww, don't be such a spoilsport. I'm sure she'd appreciate it."

"I won't be a distraction."

'You're always a distraction,' he thought. "Suit yourself," he said instead.

~x~

"Come to think of it…" Oshitari murmured as the game continued. "I have yet to see Minako-chan go for a smash."

Gamaro let out a short bark of laughter. "Shigohara doesn't smash."

Several of the boys turned to them in shock. "Not smash?" Choutarou echoed. "How can you decide not to smash in a tennis game?"

Omae rolled her eyes. "She probably thinks no one around here is worthy of her smashes."

Ayumi shrugged. "I think she just prefers groundstrokes and swinging volleys."

"Bu-but a smash!" Choutarou said in disbelief. "It's an essential part of tennis… I don't see how…"

"Oh, trust me, she knows how to smash," Fuuma interjected. "She doesn't like to. It's part of her play style. She doesn't go for big winners. She doesn't use special techniques.

"So maybe you haven't seen Shigohara smash," Her tone was different, more edged now. "But have you ever seen her make a single error?"

~x~

With a well-aimed backhand, Shigohara slammed the ball into the far end of the court.

"Game, Hyotei! Five games to one!"

The Seigaku team fell silent. There wasn't much to be done anymore.

Most of them were thinking the same thing.

It was time to pray for a miracle.

~x~

'Ten seconds,' Chiharu told herself. Just like her father used to tell her. She would only allow herself ten seconds of weakness, ten seconds of fear. 'Because any more than that is a waste of time and mental energy.

'But you're broken already, aren't you, broken broken broken—'

'Ten seconds. Ten seconds. Count them, Chiharu.' She clenched her teeth together to stop her lips from trembling as Coach Ryuzaki patched up the cut on her face. 'Count them.'

Ten.

'She's so strong.'

Nine.

'I'm going to lose.'

'I can't lose.'

Eight.

'Akane will be so disappointed.'

'Tezuka-san will be disappointed too.'

Seven.

'I don't have any strength left.'

Hot tears of frustration formed in her eyes. She tried to blink them back desperately.

Six.

Oh god, she couldn't do this. She couldn't, she just couldn't, she couldn'tcouldn'tcouldn't, stopstopstop, just make it stop, please don't let her fall to pieces out there.

Five.

The tears were rolling down her cheeks now, despite how tightly she was squeezing her eyes shut. Coach Ryuzaki put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her silently.

'Ohgodohgod I can't do this.'

"Is she…?" Oishi voiced concernedly.

Four.

'What happens when being a miracle isn't enough?'

Three.

'Stop being pathetic.'

Breathe, breathe, breathe.

'You need to get yourself together.'

She swiped the sleeve of her jersey across her eyes.

Two.

'They're counting on you.'

One.

Her time was up.

She straightened her shoulders and took one more drink of water. Coach Ryuzaki gave her shoulder one last squeeze. She tried to smile back reassuringly, but her lips would not curve up.

"Ne."

Chiharu suddenly jerked up at the voice coming from right by her ear, whipping her head around. "Echizen-kun!"

Ryoma had draped himself over the back of the bench, resting his arms on it thoughtfully.

"Ne, Oshiro-senpai," he murmured, staring at some nondescript point in the distance. "You're really good at reading people, right?"

"E-eh?"

"Oi! Echizen!" Momoshiro was yelling from behind the banister. "You aren't supposed to be there!"

"Che, fine." He climbed back over the banister, earning him a bonk on the head from his senpai and a not-really-strict reprimand from Oishi.

Chiharu stared his back strangely. 'Did he come over here just to say that?'

It was such a random comment. She tried to brush it off.

' "You're really good at reading people, right?" '

'Not really,' she thought. Reading people was more of Akane's thing. She could time her shots according to an opponent's emotions. Chiharu doubted she'd ever be able to read someone so accurately.

But at the same time, she knew she was unusually perceptive. Her hypersensitivity wasn't just limited to sounds. Akane used to tell her that she had a 'sad people' radar, instantly picking up on which people were unhappy and going to cheer them up.

What was it, however? It wasn't like she was actively searching people's faces for emotional cues. It was just… instinctive. She did it without thinking.

'Like my tennis.'

As she stepped up to the service line and retied her broken blindfold, his words echoed in her head.

' "You're really good at reading people, right?" '

"Right…" she whispered, frowning. "Right… maybe."

At that moment, she heard it – Ryoma's unspoken words and her own question.

'Then why are you limiting yourself?'

Her hands rested on her blindfold, wondering, hesitating…

'Listen…'

Shigohara breathing, in and out.

'Feel…'

The balls vibrations rippling outwards as she bounced it, getting ready to serve.

With one hand, she undid her blindfold, letting it unravel in the wind. Her eyes were still closed. She let go, the blindfold flying off like fragments of ribbon, twisting and dancing through the air.

'Sharpen every single sense.

'Open all your pores.

'Read her entirety.

'Feel everything, Chiharu. Do what you do best.'

She opened her eyes. Grabbed the ball. Tossed it up. Hit it.

The return ace crackled by her.

"Love – fifteen!"

She breathed, in and out. Tossed the ball up. Hit it.

The ball went whistling to the far corner.

"Love – thirty!"

"Oi, why isn't she moving?" Momoshiro asked. "She's not even—"

Akane held up a hand to shush him. "Stop. She's thinking."

Thinking. The tip of Inui's pencil broke. 'Chiharu's style is all about 'not thinking.' What is she up to?'

Breathe. In. Out. Toss the ball up. Hit it.

The return shot blazed a path down the line, not even two strides from her left.

"Love – forty!"

Break point.

She was backed into a corner, into a wall, a place where she'd never been before. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Her father's voice was the only thing she could hear.

"When the struggle seems hopeless, that's when it actually begins."

"Right…" she whispered. "I get it. I get it now."

And that's when she started to glow.

~x~

Shigohara had no idea how it happened. One second, it was her match point and she would win, and the next, her opponent's body was enveloped in something wispy and sparkling, as soft as an angel's breath and as clear-blue as glass.

"What on earth—"

Her intake of breath. Her hesitation. Chiharu sensed it. Saw it. Felt it in tips of her fingers and the edges of her brain. Before Shigohara could react, she put an ace beyond her, the shot racing to the edge.

"Fifteen-forty!"

Shigohara had seen Muga no Kyochi once, but this wasn't it. The aura was thinner, almost like a mirage or a heat wave, shimmering and bending the air around.

There was a BANG from next to her. Chiharu had served another ace.

"Thirty-forty!"

'What… is this?'

It was like Chiharu was a magnetic force, drawing in energy from around her. She was utterly and completely connected to the environment. Her eyes burned from within, seeing everything. Nothing escaped her gaze. Nothing escaped her senses.

(Like Argus, like Hera's guard, with eyes all over his body, he sees everything, she sees everything, you can't hide and you can't run—)

"Z-zanshin…" Hiyoshi said in awe, his eyes recognizing the stance and the unmistakable aura.

"Zanshin…" Kawamura said. "It's Zanshin."

Suzume's eyes were wide. She knew what it was; she'd seen it before. "Chiharu-senpai… how did you…"

"What's going on?!" Horio cried. "Someone, explain it to me!"

"Yeah, I would like to know too!" Kikumaru jumped in.

"Zanshin…" Inui explained. "It can be called 'remaining spirit'. It's a state in martial arts, a state of total awareness."

Tezuka knew of it too. Achieving this was no easy feat. You had to be utterly calm and in control of yourself. Chiharu had practiced underneath a blindfold for so long that all her senses have become amazingly acute — every shot, every bounce, every breath was within the realm of her notice. 'Well done. Well done, Chiharu.'

Shigohara slid to the left, chasing a volley. The momentum carried her a little far. Immediately Chiharu put a shot to the right, straight to the corner, bypassing her.

"The best soldiers are supposed to have Zanshin…" Suzume said. Her brother Ren could seldom go into this state in the dojo. "Maybe with her father being in the military…"

Fuji smiled. "There's an old samurai saying, 'When the battle is over, tighten your chin-strap.' It's about being ready for another attack, huh."

As Shigohara ran the front, Chiharu lobbed the ball up, way over her head. It landed flawlessly at the baseline.

"In kyuudo," Inui said, remembering their archery lesson. "It's the moment of peace after the release of the arrow. Isn't that right, Morioka?"

"It's more than that," Izumi said softly in response. "It's not just martial arts state. It is now. In taking a step, it is the weight rolling smoothly and the next step arising.

"In breathing in completely, it is this breath. In breathing out completely, it is this breath. In life, it is this life.

"It's a mirror," Izumi finally said. "Always ready to reflect whatever you show it."

And ready, Chiharu was. No matter where Shigohara hit the ball, she knew where it was going to land. The feeling. It was in the air. It was in the ground. She could feel the vibration tingling on her skin.

On the Hyotei side, Hiyoshi continued, "It means going beyond technique, because you can't force the situation to conform to the technique," his eyes on Shigohara, who had just missed a shot. "The angle of the strike and the force of the strike must be adjusted immediately to your opponent."

Hiyoshi remembered sitting and having tea with his kobujustsu sensei. His sensei stopped mid-sentence, without turning his head, reached for something beside him. "Ah, a young cockroach," he said, holding it out to Hiyoshi before letting it free.

After he got over his disgust (cockroaches were gross) Hiyoshi was stunned that his sensei could be completely aware of the presence of something as miniscule as an insect.

Zanshin was the pinnacle of martial arts training.

His eyes narrowed. 'Shigohara-senpai, what are you going to do?'

~x~

'This isn't happening!'

Again, and again, Chiharu saw through her. Through her plays, through her game.

Shigohara chased the ball down. The court seemed to expand underneath her feet as she ran.

'I won't let her beat me!'

She hit the ball to the end, so close to the edge that half the crowd caught its breath. Chiharu reached it and returned it to her end.

'I have to win!'

She jumped forward, swinging with all her might. The ball stretched the gut in her racket and flew towards the other court like a missile.

Abruptly, her shot hit the net, causing it to shift up and down slightly.

Shigohara stared at it like it was a foreign object, unable to comprehend what just happened.

The Hyotei students started murmuring.

"N-no way…"

"Shigohara-senpai… missed?"

"I've never seen her do that before…"

Something wasn't right. She couldn't explain how she suddenly felt hollow, like a vital piece of her was missing.

Then she realized.

It was her first error of the season.

Her impeccable, perfect record was destroyed.

The ball came to her side again, and she sent it back in a volley. When it neared the net, she couldn't help but flinch, even though it went over with no contact.

But Chiharu saw the momentary weakness in the Hyotei player, she saw her chance and drove the volley home.

"Game, Seigaku! Five games all!"

The old Chiharu played a peaceful, forgiving game. She hit the ball wherever she felt like hitting it, staying true to the basic foundation of tennis: you can win if you just hit the ball to the other side one more time. She never watched the other side of the net. If her opponents couldn't keep up, that was entirely their fault.

Her style might have not been born from synesthesia, Akane considered. It may have arisen from her sweet-tempered personality instead. To play her own game, with no ill-intent directed towards her opponent, with no attempt to break them or to take advantage of their shortcomings.

This new style was something else entirely. Taking in every element of the game, absorbing every movement and motion from your opponent, finding that opening and attacking it. There was nothing merciful about that.

Ironically, this style was probably the one Chiharu was best at.

Suzume smirked. "And how do you destroy a queen of ice?" She pressed the button on her lighter, the flame dancing in her eyes. "With fire."

~x~

This isn't like you…' Shigohara thought, panting. 'Attempting winners, using up your stamina, making risky moves… that's not who you are.'

'You were supposed to have a perfect record. No errors.'

She eyed Chiharu furiously. 'She took that away from you.' Her hand tightened around her racket. 'You should make her pay.'

That second the shot hit the net, something had ended.

But…

At the same time there was a huge relief, as if something heavy and giant was taken off her back.

"I don't have a perfect record anymore," she murmured to herself, finally coming to terms with it. She was free. A tiny smile grew until it blossomed into a full-on smirk. 'Screw it. I can play however the hell I want now.'

~x~

She started hitting even harder and sliding even faster, sacrificing aim and balance for power and speed.

Chiharu pinpointed a shot to the left corner. Shigohara skidded so quickly that sparks seemed to shoot from the bottoms of her shoes.

The blue-haired girl hit a short volley. Shigohara charged like a bull and grounded it into the baseline.

"Oi… is it just me, or is that girl getting a lot more reckless now?" Momoshiro asked, blinking perplexedly at the Hyotei girl's sudden ferocity.

As if to prove his point, Shigohara rushed to the front, chasing a well-placed drop shot. 'I have to get this!' Chiharu's shots much more precise now, and her timing was much better than before. The brown-haired girl ran as fast as she could, her legs lunging into a slide to catch the ball. The momentum was too great. Her legs slid apart into a clean split.

The crowd gasped in pain. Some of them cringed.

"Thirty-all!"

Shigohara got up from her lithe position without even batting an eyelash. In fact, she smiled at the Hyotei spectators and did a little curtsy.

"Oh? Now this is a new side of Shigohara," Atobe said, amused. "Who knew she had this in her?"

When she dashed for the net again, Chiharu lobbed it behind her.

The lob went high.

Shigohara locked her eyes onto it, hesitating for the briefest moment.

And then she jumped.

"Shigohara's smashing?!" Omae rose to her feet. "No way!"

And in that moment they knew why she had sealed her smash and locked it up tight, as it was an explosion of power with a vicious topspin that sliced and skidded and twisted around the court like a serpent. There was nothing safe or defensive about that smash – it defied her style completely.

And Fuuma smiled.

For the loyal gatekeeper of the underworld had a set of fangs, and she knew how to use them.

~x~

"6 games all! Tiebreak!"

"They're both not giving in!" Kawamura said.

"I can't believe it's gone this far…" Shishido said.

Suzume grinned knowingly. "You see?" she said to no one in particular. "This is why I have never been able to beat Chiharu-senpai. When you think you've got her, she pulls out something new."

Aiko gaped at the game. The fact that Chiharu managed to continue playing to this point stunned and impressed her. 'She had more endurance than any of us knew, than any of us gave her credit for.'

But even she had a limit. When Shigohara hit another forehand to her, her legs almost gave out. She stumbled forward, barely managing to lob the ball up.

Shigohara jumped up again, her body outstretched and her arm high above her head.

And for a second, Chiharu caught a glimpse of a girl, a girl that was under too much pressure and scrutiny, a girl that lived in a world with unattainable standards, where nothing was good enough and everything had to be perfect.

"—was an abysmal performance, your pirouettes have to be perfect—"

"—French Open wouldn't take you likes this, your defense has to be perfect—"

"—ninety-seven is unacceptable, your grades have to be perfect—"

Because this smash was as ugly as it was beautiful, writhing and gnawing at the concrete, like it had claws of its own, like it was borne from the fires of the Underworld itself. It was a stark contrast to everything else in her play style, to everything else in her ordered and rigid life.

This wild monster of a shot that ripped and tore through the air just might be her escape, her shred of defiance.

Chiharu sprinted for it, intending to return it to Shigohara's open side. Not even a slide would save her this point. She readied her racket, prepar—

The aura broke.

Her eyes were suddenly wide and disoriented as she dropped to the ground, panting, her racket clattering and the ball falling next to her.

"What?"

"Chiharu!" Akane cried.

"Chiharu-senpai!" Sakuno yelped.

"The aura…" Fuji said, his eyes open. "She lost it."

"It's impossible keep that kind of intense focus for too long," Tezuka said. "It'll drain all of your stamina."

Kimiko clung onto Aiko. "This is scary! Chiharu-senpai has no energy left for the game!"

But Shigohara was panting too, torrents of sweat running down her toned body. Chiharu wasn't alone. They were both at the end of the rope.

Their eyes met.

In that instant they both knew that at this point, this battle was beyond strength, endurance, and technique. It would come down to who wanted it more.

Let the real struggle begin.

Chiharu smiled, a smile that was almost a smirk. "Let's do this." Through sheer willpower, she grabbed her racket and forced herself to her feet.

Their game went on.

Chiharu could no longer hear the sounds the ball was making. She couldn't hear the scores the referee was shouting. She couldn't hear her team cheering, even though she knew they were. All she could hear was the pounding in her ears, like a war drum. She couldn't feel her arms, her legs. The rush in her limbs that was pure adrenaline.

She would win.

That moment that you knew you would win, because you had a team on your shoulders and they were cheering your name, of course you would win, you had to win, for them, for yourself…

Win, Chiharu. Win.

In that moment, you were unbeatable.

You were omnipotent, untouchable, miracle, deity, god.

Nothing could stop you.

This was tennis. Tasting the saltiness of the sweat dripping down your face, running when you couldn't feel your legs, breathing when your lungs felt like they were going to collapse. You played like everything was on the line and like you had nothing to lose. So painful, but so wonderful at the same time. And you couldn't stop, because this was what you lived for, this was what you loved more than anything and what you were meant to do.

It was over in a second. They couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't do anything. All they could do was watch. Both players on the court saw the last ball, sailing in a perfect arc, falling, falling, falling…

When the referee announced the game and match to Hyotei, Chiharu fell to her knees and cried.

~x~

End Chapter Twenty-Seven.

I. AM. NEVER. WRITING. TENNIS. AGAIN.

EVER.

(that is a lie.)

Yes, Seigaku lost. It happens. Well, not in actual PoT, but IN MY WORLD IT DOES.

There's been so much tennis lately that I'm SO HAPPY the next chapter will be Valentine's Day! One couple will get together. If you can accurately guess WHICH couple, you get a dedication. Better yet, tell me what you want to see! Maybe I'll actually update on the actual holiday for once.

The chapter after that might be more lifestyle stuff, and then WHITE DAY WHOOOO!

So, I know that a lot of people have left the PoT fandom. NPoT is pretty bad, and honestly the quality of PoT fanfiction has gone way downhill. I hope that those of you who are still here will leave me a review to let me know that you're still around. I just might cry if all my readers have left the fandom.

I am also well aware that my first few chapters are horrible. I am considering rewriting them, but I think I owe it to you guys to try to finish it first. Don't you HATE it when authors take down a story to do a rewrite?

Also, Rikkai will be introduced soon, mostly because my Rikkai OCs going to be pretty damn awesome and I love the Rikkai boys. On that note, I wrote a MaruiOC siblingship featuring Kimiko! Please R&R, it's called Imprint. There's also one about Rikkai called For Rikkai, for Yukimura, where my Rikkai OC captain makes her debut. She's an oddball.

thesadisttensaifuji I wrote a birthday fic for me a while ago called In Retrospect. It features Tezuka and Izumi's relationship, and it is BEAUTIFUL. For you hardcore FujiIzumi fans, it's not romance so don't worry. Please go read it.

I forgot to do the fun facts thing last time! Fun facts about Marui Kimiko:

Her favorite subject is Home Economics but her best subject (surprisingly) is Math.

She loves horror movies.

Her favorite music genre is old school gangster rap. Aiko finds it amusing when she tries to sing along.

She sleeps in a tshirt with a Mario mushroom printed on front

She has seven cavities. Bunta has nine. He still beats her at everything.

ONE MORE THING.

Sneak peak for the next chapter!

"So, someone confessed to you and you did what?!"

"I did the first thing I thought of!" She buried her head into her hands. "I laughed."