Hahahahas I nearly couldn't face the previous chapter after I posted it. It's not the first time I wrote some cheesy scene like that but LOL idk it just seems a whole lot more embarrassing in HTTW. Thanks to those who reviewed, followed and favourite'd ;)
To Nekochan: I'm really, really flattered that someone actually waited that long for me to update! Glad you're enjoying this as much as I am writing it (: thanks for the review!
To Winter: I find it more interesting when I do that. xD thanks for the review!
Higher than the Wind
Regionals and Shitenhouji
Rikkai Dai Fuzoku took the Prefectural Tournaments by the storm.
Then again, they had always been the champions – gold hoarders, some people called them, though, this term was more frequently used to shame the Rikkai Dai girls tennis club in recent years.
Be that as it may, there was no stopping their schoolmates from grinning proudly when both the boys team and girls team emerged victorious with straight sets – no player lost even a single game. It was only right for them who stood at the top of their game to achieve such a feat. Despite the fact that the Rikkai Dai girls team had been defeated not once but twice in the last two years, their schoolmates' confidence in them hadn't diminished at all.
But even this steel-like faith shook and doubts began to sprout when the girls' winning streak was broken during the quarter-finals of the Kantou Tournament, when Rei and Himeko lost to Ginka's Doubles 1 with a score of 7-5 after a fierce rally.
Ginka, a school renowned for its less than competent tennis club.
Himeko and Rei came out of the court looking severely dejected. Their heads were hung low, perhaps in shame of destroying the club's perfect record thus far in this tournament. Neither player spoke.
Hana looked solemn, her lips were tightly pressed together but she didn't lecture the pair and instead, she gave her Doubles 1 players a silent pat on their backs and she shook her head. She then turned her head to Tsugi – her Singles 3 player – with a stern look on her face.
"Everyone's there to make a joke of us now. Tsugi, I want you to crush your opponent. Show them what Rikkai Dai is made of. Don't let them take even a single game! Can you do that for Rikkai Dai?" Hana's voice was raised just loud enough for her point to be emphasized yet not to be heard by anyone other than her team.
Yes, captain," Tsugi nodded with equal seriousness to her tone. She then picked up her racquet and briskly walked into the court, heart beating at a palpable rhythm. The fact that her first match was right after Rikkai Dai's first loss since the inception of the tournament added weight to her shoulders, making her movement a little sluggish but still, her pace was controlled and head levelled. When Tsugi left audible range, Himeko could no longer stomach the query choking up her mind.
"Ne, buchou… Why did you ask us to lose the match on purpose?" Himeko couldn't hold back the question. Hana's treatment of Tsugi was really… special. Throughout this year's tournament, she had been benching Tsugi up and until today – when they faced off Ginka. If Hana wanted to groom Tsugi, wouldn't it be more prudent to pitch her against as many opponents as possible? But Himeko didn't believe that Hana wanted to oppress Tsugi either. No, granted Tsugi is talented, but she wasn't the best – Heibi was much better and if Hana was jealous of her juniors, she wouldn't have selected Tsugi onto the team in the first place.
Rei didn't speak, but she looked up with a straight face, silently demanding an answer from her captain as well. They were all highly talented players who were extremely proud of their skills, feigning a loss was a blow to their pride – one that they dealt on themselves and couldn't avenge.
"You'll understand why I'm doing this soon enough," Hana shook her head, "trust me, Himeko."
Hana's answer was really less than satisfactory, but the Rikkai Dai team had unconditional faith and belief in their captain. Himeko nodded, the darkness looming over her head already subsided.
As Hana watched Tsugi in her match, she'd occasionally nod, but nobody could decipher the meaning behind her strange acts.
Tsugi's opponent was a third year who wasn't any match for her. It was Ginka after all and she easily dominated the game without as much as having her breath accelerated, and Cho, who played as Singles 2 secured the win for Rikkai Dai.
Their perfect record was broken, but Rikkai Dai's winning streak in the Kantou Tournament will be maintained for the 15th time in the row. Ever since the inaugural Middle School Tennis Tournament, the Kantou Tournament for both genders had been dominated by Rikkai Dai Fuzoku.
And this year… was not going to be an exception.
~x~
Rikkai Dai's Singles 3 at the semi-finals of the Kantou Tournament for boys was a player nobody had expected.
"Yukimura is playing as Singles 3?" Whispers arose amongst the Rikkai Dai students present at the match when they saw Yukimura picking up his racket and ambling towards the court.
"So it's true after all? To be frank I didn't quite believe it…"
"From the look of things, I guess so…"
"You know, the opponent does kinda' resemble that dude from the photos…"
"Oi oi, watch what you're saying the girls team is here too!"
The light murmurings were overridden by the deafening cheers of the cheerleading squad which was seemingly unaffected by the whispers amongst their schoolmates.
Tsugi was amongst the crowd too, along with the rest of her team. The boys team had invited the girls team to watch their semi-finals and with the intention of fostering good rapport amongst the club, Hana requested everyone on her team to be present. If it hadn't been an invitation which she couldn't refuse, Tsugi would have preferred not to come. Not that she felt awkward watching a match between her old school and current school – yes, Rikkai Dai's semi-final match was against St. Rudolph – but after her… trip to the Ueno Art Museum with Yukimura, she constantly had strange feelings around Yukimura. That aside at the moment, wasn't he strictly singles 1? Or was the opponent's singles 3 such a powerful opponent that Yukimura had to put himself in the lineup? Tsugi dismissed this thought as she looked over at the other side of the court.
No, that was impossible, she decided after selectively filtering her bizarre thoughts off, St. Rudolph's singles 3 was Mizuki and his facial expression was rigid at best. Tsugi watched with light contempt as Mizuki's face blanched when he saw Yukimura picking up his racquet. To think he called himself a pro, Tsugi shook her head, she had seen Mizuki's skills for herself back in St. Rudolph. Not too shabby but still, Mizuki was hardly powerful enough to be considered a threat to Rikkai Dai's boys team at all.
Yukimura's expression was calm, he looked like the outcome was already decided – and there was a general consensus amongst the crowd that it was, too.
Mizuki's face went completely ashen when Yukimura entered the court. Yukimura had that effect on people, sucking out their confidence no matter how competent his opponent really was. In fact, that was the secret behind his tennis, wasn't it? To brutally shatter his opponent's pride, confidence, faith and remove all positive vibes from them. That was Yukimura Seiichi's tennis.
"Buchou has been sitting on the bench the entire tournament," Marui, who was there as a supporter suddenly turned around and spoke to Tsugi, "none of the teams in the tournament made it beyond singles 3. I guess he can't wait anymore to play." After all, Marui thought, just sitting there watching others play wasn't nearly satisfying enough. Marui blew a bubble. He didn't mention that he suspected that another reason could also be because a certain someone was here to watch the match, and that the opponent was... Marui tilted his head, unable to recall the name of the opponent – ah well whatever, he was just the final edge of the triangular relationship involving his captain and this girl over here. Fraught with curiosity, Marui's amethyst-colored eyes glided over Tsugi and he boldly allowed his gaze to linger on her for much longer than what was necessary of customary eye contact during a conversation. He hadn't really interacted with this alleged girlfriend of their captain after the Ocean Festival, merely heard about her from Renji and Akaya. She was somewhat akin to a legend amongst the regulars now – a she who was associated with the demigod and tamed the kid devil.
"That's amazing," replied Tsugi, head tilted slightly and genuine admiration in her voice. She remembered this red-haired stranger as the one who supposedly caused the breakdown of the skit during the Ocean Festival – Marui Bunta. Though, she reserved her doubts about it for she later heard some rumors about Nio and Yagyuu being forced to practice basic racquet swings for a full month after the Ocean Festival, and their basic training only kept increasing from then on.
"Of course. Rikkai Dai Fuzoku is number one in Japan!" said Marui proudly as he threw a wide grin at her. No doubt that he felt honored to be a part of Rikkai Dai Fuzoku tennis club.
Tsugi held back a smile. Ever since the winter training camp, she had always found the devotion of Rikkai Dai players to the school enheartening. Regular or not, all students were fiercely dedicated to Rikkai Dai and they took the school's pride as their own. She would have replied, but Yukimura had entered the court and his entrance immediately commanded total attention from the crowd. When he stepped through the gates, it seemed as though all the cherry blossoms around the arena suddenly bloomed. Imaginary sakura petals twirled around him, rejoicing in his presence, painting an idyllic scene for his grand entrance. His perfect composure was almost taunting his opponent's demolished stance. Everybody knew that the outcome of the match was already decided. Nobody could make Yukimura drop a game.
It had been a while since Tsugi watched Yukimura play. His moves were as sophisticated and powerful as ever, if anything, they looked even more refined than ever before. The way he moved with such grace as he charted the entire court as his domain was natural, like this area had been his to begin with. This was his reign; we were all in his regime. He earned the respect of people like that.
"Yukimura-buchou is amazing eh~" Marui whistled when Yukimura claimed the first game with no-touch aces. No doubt Yukimura was going to maintain an untarnished record yup. Marui felt a tiny ounce of pity for the opponent – what was his name again? Mitsuki, Miyuki – ah! Mizuki! Mizuki only had himself to blame for placing himself in Yukimura's black book by harassing Tsugi. Marui grinned and continued watching the match, fervent passion burning in his amethyst-colored eyes.
Bit by bit, Yukimura was perfecting his tennis style.
Yukimura was playing in a slow, yet not teasing manner. Everybody could tell that he respected his opponent despite their difference in aptitude – perhaps another reason why people respected him in spite of his young age. In handling interpersonal relationships, he did it even better than most of the adults. When they reached match point, the Rikkai Dai cheerleading squad was screaming his name in alternate verses along with their school name at the top of their voice.
"Let's go! Let's go! Rikkai Dai! Let's go! Let's go! Seiichi!"
The whole arena was filled with the thunderous cheers of the Rikkai Dai cheerleading squad which drowned out all other voices.
And Yukimura didn't disappoint his schoolmates.
6-0, as always. That was the way Yukimura's match always ended.
While the umpire was announcing the results, Yukimura turned his head and his eyes accidentally met with Tsugi's. The former nodded lightly, while the latter returned a mildly unnatural smile.
"Congratulations, Yukimura," said Hana to the blue-haired captain of the boys tennis team when they exited the court.
"Thank you, Izumi-buchou," Yukimura smiled politely at Hana and casually greeted Tsugi, "Yanagi."
There it was again, his natural attitude which never failed to stir up unrest within her and make her feel all queasy and weird. Either she was really reading too deeply into his actions or he was concealing his emotions too deftly.
… How odd, she thought, she couldn't decide whether she'd rather it be the former or the latter.
"Congratulations," Tsugi smiled at him, eyes briefly meeting with his before averting away. Yukimura's eyes lingered on her for a moment, and then he turned away naturally like nothing was out of the norm.
Hana appeared thoughtful.
"If there's nothing else we'd be taking our leave then," said Hana, eyes carefully regarding Yukimura and Tsugi.
"We have already taken up much of your time, thank you for you and your team's presence, Izumi-buchou. If you'd like us to go down to your match, please, feel free to let us know," Yukimura faced Hana and smiled, extending his gratitude to Hana.
"I might take you up on that," replied Hana with a friendly laugh, "I'll be leaving first along with my team then."
"All the best for your future games, Izumi-buchou," Yukimura nodded.
"The same to you, Yukimura."
~x~
The atmosphere was tense in Rikkai Dai girls' tennis courts today.
"Umiheiro, whatever brought you here today?" Hana's tone was polite, but her smile didn't deceive anyone at all. Thank god Heibi was unable to make it for practice today – for if she was here, Hana had little doubt that all hell would break loose.
Tsugi and Kichi didn't recognize the two girls who suddenly barged into their courts, but judging from the defensive stances their seniors were taking on, it wasn't hard to tell that these two girls were from a rival school. They weren't dumb. There was only one school across the whole of Japan that could get Rikkai Dai regulars riled up like this.
Shitenhouji. The name surfaced in Tsugi and Kichi's minds simultaneously and they exchanged a brief look. These two girls must be from Shitenhouji.
"I'd love to say that I'm here to scout but unfortunately… I fail to see the value in sniffing around the underdogs," the girl with the choppy bangs smirked and drawled in a provocative tone, but Hana didn't submit to her shallow mind games.
Not that the intruder minded, anyway, she merely combed her hair and faked a yawn.
"Natsuki, it's terribly rude of you to put things that way," her companion scolded lightly but she didn't sound sorry at all – they were 'sorry' for being rude, but Natsuki was conveying facts, "I apologize on our captain's behalf. I do hope we are not imposing, our purpose here today is not to provoke you."
Your presence is already interrupting our practice and putting my players' blood to boil, Hana thought wryly. In comparison to Umiheiro's blunt, direct insults, she personally detested Subaru Miharu's honeyed word play more. Well, to look on the bright side, Umiheiro and Subaru's unexpected arrival will do her team good – at least, they will be a thousand times more motivated during practice after this.
"If you're not here to scout, Subaru, pray tell what brought you to Kanagawa from Osaka? Our prefectures aren't exactly next stops to each other," Hana raised a brow skeptically.
"We had errands to run in Kanagawa so we figured we'd drop by and visit our old friend. Is Senjirou Heibi here today? Or did she catch wind of our arrival and fled in fear of facing me?" Natsuki replied instead of Miharu, the stark mockery in her tone stung the Rikkai Dai regulars. Himeko was glaring hard at Natsuki, and Rei looked ready to throw out an insult or two – if Hana allowed her to – but of course, she didn't.
"Heibi has family affairs today so she will not be joining us for practice. If you're here to look for Heibi, you can leave already."
"If that's the case… we'll take our leave. We will be looking forward to facing your team and you in the finals of the Nationals, Izumi. Till then," Miharu nodded politely at Hana.
Hana certainly wasn't expecting them to adhere to her request. For a moment, she was stunned and didn't reply, but being the captain, Hana recovered quickly.
"We will be looking forward to playing against you as well," Hana didn't stop them from leaving, it would be better if they just disappeared from their sight. Neither side made any attempts to conceal their animosity towards each other.
"Let's get out of here, Miharu, this place gives me all kind of bad vibes," Natsuki sighed and turned around to leave, strutting out of the courts like she was in her territory back in Shitenhouji. Miharu followed behind her.
Hana stared at their retreating figures until they disappeared round the corner. She then turned to Tsugi and Kichi and asked in a relatively (relative to Himeko and Rei who were simmering with anger, and Senko and Cho who were gripping their fists) neutral tone, "Do you know who they are?"
Tsugi and Kichi looked at each other again, and together they said, "Shitenhouji."
Shitenhouji, the boulder currently in the path of Rikkai Dai girls tennis club.
Hana nodded, she expected them to at least figure out that much, "That girl with the choppy bangs is Umiheiro Natsuki, nicknamed the 'Queen'. It will do you good to remember her, she's the captain of Shitenhouji's girls tennis team. That girl next to her is Subaru Miharu, nicknamed the Queen's 'Advisor'. She's the treasurer and strategist of their team."
Shitenhouji's girls tennis club, unlike the school's policy of fun-filled school life believed in doing anything to win. They didn't used to be like that, but the arrival of those two, the 'Queen' and her advisor propagated a revolution within the club.
"These two will be some of our strongest opponents in this tournament, keep them in mind," Hana rubbed her temples and ordered the two second years who looked rather lost. She couldn't blame them for not understanding the severity of the situation, they hadn't seen the way Shitenhouji played after all.
With that being said… She should start preparing them to face off Shitenhouji. If they were thinking about taking down Shitenhouji, there was no ground for even the least bit of incompetence. Hana sighed inwardly, already feeling a migraine coming her way, planning, planning and more planning… Had she ever mentioned that she loathed paperwork before?
But this was her responsibility as the captain, and she wouldn't evade them no matter how much paperwork made her cringe.
"Yes, captain!"
~x~
"Did you see that girl, Natsuki? The one with a black wristband," Miharu asked as they walked out of Rikkai Dai, "that's Yanagi Asaitsugi, cousin of the 'Master' Yanagi Renji. So far in this tournament, we've only seen her play once and that was against that garbage school Ginka. I don't think we've caught a glimpse of her true ability yet, there's really not much data on her. Izumi kept her really well hidden from the watchful eyes of the rest of the schools. If everything falls in place like I've predicted… Natsuki, the chance of you facing her off in the finals is absolute."
Natsuki closed her eyes as she recalled the onyx-haired second year she saw earlier. Her first impression of her wasn't great nor bad, she seemed like the type who balanced both brains and power and that was rare in a tennis player, but still, she was no threat to Shitenhouji's third straight win. She wasn't worth all the hassle they went through in making a special trip to Kanagawa with the sole intention of checking her out. Natsuki's eyes flicked open abruptly, and she stared ahead through emotionless greyish-blue orbs, the haughty attitude she displayed at the courts of Rikkai Dai Fuzoku had completely vanished into nothingness. She parted her lips, and murmured a sentence so soft that it fell on nobody's ears.
"It doesn't matter who my opponent is. I'll crush her, just like how I crushed Senjirou Heibi in the Nationals last year."
Admittedly, the chapters are getting shorter, but that's because a major event is coming up and there's going to be a rather huge time skip. The next chapter can be called one of the climaxes of HTTW :) till then~