CHAPTER 19

It was the final day of the ranking matches. Ryoma had found out he was going against a data master. He didn't really know what they could do, but all he knew was that it was going to be a challenge. They where now standing on either side of the court and Inui was first to serve. To the people watching the match it seemed like it was an adult playing against a child.

He threw the ball and hit it. Ryoma returned it with his left hand. He looked up to find the data man already at the net. The cat getting the ball again sent it back with a back hand only to once again be caught and Inui scoring the first point of the game. This happened again and let Inui get another point, it was now 30-0.

Ryoma noticed that he was getting there before he had even really hit the ball back. 'That bastard.' He thought and he ran back after the ball. Inui could see the kid getting serious now and thought to himself. 'Echizen will now show us his explosive abilities, but.' Inui stopped at the net and didn't move. The ball hit the net and fell on to Ryoma's side of the court. 'It's not enough.'

While the freshmen trio couldn't believe that the data collector was able to predict all of the cats moves. The freshmen trio carried on talking about how he is probably better than Kaidoh and at that point Fuji made his presence known to them.

"Of course Inui's better. He's won three out of three matches against him." Ryoma hearing this just looked at the tensai as he had just lost another point. Suddenly Inui started talking about random data that he had collected on the boy as he had scored another point making the match 1-0 to him. Ryoma was slowly getting annoyed.

"Hmph, you studying my style disgusts me." The kid let out his frustrations when it was his turn to serve causing him to hit the net and to get a fault.

The two reporters meanwhile where watching the match in block A. Tezuka had just won 6-1 against Oishi. Both Shiba and Inoue where going to watch the match in block B when they saw the crowd gathering in block D. Inoue went to got check block B while Shiba decided that she was going to check out the other block and so they separated and made their way to different courts.

Everyone was watching the match and commenting on how Inui wasn't his normal calm self and that the data mans style is completely flawless. Ryoma then done a lob sending it over Inui's head. Inui retreated 2 steps and since he had a height advantage he returned it with no problem. The score was now 2-0. Everyone watching was amazed that the lob didn't even faze him. Inui decided to point out to the kid that he was a talented player however as long as he could anticipate his shots there won't be a ball he can't reach. Ryoma let himself smirk

"I'm glad I came to this school." He said to no one in particular as he lowered his head slightly. "Because I can defeat a variety of tennis styles here." He looked up just barely so the shadow if his hood covered his face except his eyes which seemed to give off a golden glow in the dark.

Sakuno and Tomoko ran to go find which court their prince was playing at. So running to the reception desk they asked only to find Kaidoh there. They went to the inner most court and met up with the woman from the monthly tennis magazine. Both of the girls where amazed to see that they sent someone to interview the players. The three talked about different things that have happened in the game so far.

Everyone else where talking about the remarks that the 16 year old had just made. They couldn't believe that the child was so sure he could make a come back. Ryoma then closed his eyes and started to breath more heavily. It was making his heart race and he could feel blood moving into different parts of his body. He let his eyes flash open and started to pant. He was forcing his adrenaline to kick in.

Fuji was watching the match and couldn't help but see the change in Ryoma's stance. He slightly lower his back and bent his knees more. His feet began to bounce up and down. Inui not really caring what the child had up his sleeve served the ball. Ryoma acted straight away. He moved to the ball and returned it. In fact he felt the need to tell Inui where he was even aiming it to.

Inoue had just arrived to find his partner watching a game and not taking photo's. Reminding her what her job was she quickly grabbed a camera and started to take pictures.

Horio on the side was panicking thinking that Echizen was really screwing himself over. This was when the data collector realized that the kids returns where faster and stronger. The match ended not long and the score was 7-5. Ryoma had won. He had for his last couple of serves switch hands and done the twist serve nearly hitting Inui in the face.

Inui as soon as the match ended walked off to go collect more data. The only problem Ryoma had now was that he still had his blood pumping and so he was still feeling active and not tired in the least. In fact he was still jumping on the spot to get rid of his extra energy but it wasn't working very well.

Inoue still couldn't believe that the boy was Nanjiro's child, but then he it in the boys eyes, the love for the sport and determination to win. Just like his father had when he use to play.

All those watching couldn't believe that the child had now officially became a regular. Fuji had now come into the courts to see why the boy was acting like that . Ryoma looked at him and carried on his jumping in one spot.

"Ryo-Chan are you alright?" The child nodded and explained.

"I raised my heart beat and force my adrenaline to kick in. I don't know when it will stop but it's kind of like putting myself on high alert. So as soon as I've calmed down I will most likely crash." The tensai just smiled at the boy.

"Want to go for a run then?" With an eager nod, Fuji decided to set a pace for them and told the boy not to run in head. Quiet a few people watch as the two ran round the courts.

It had been about 15 minutes of running and on their 12th lap that Ryoma just stopped and without warning he sat down and leaned against the fence and started to fall asleep. Fuji just watch the boy with a smile on his face. Gently shook the boy he told Ryoma that he'll give him a piggy back. So the boy climbed onto the tensai back and wrapped his arms around his neck. With a goodnight he rested his head in his shoulder and started to quietly snore.

Fuji was now making his way to the changing rooms. He hoped it would be quieter there. That was when he heard the five freshmen. Horio and Tomoko where arguing about something which he had no interest in. He was about to make his escape before they noticed but he realized it was too late when the usually quiet Sakuno spoke up.

"Ah, Fuji Senpai. Why is Ryoma-Kun sleeping?" The tensai quickly put on one of his award winning smiles and turned round.

"Saa... Ryo-Chan started to feel sick and I was about to take him to the nurses office."

This was how Syusuke actually found himself actually walking to the nurses room with the freshmen hot on his tail and talking about how amazing Ryoma's match was. Then Horio was the one to point out what he saw.

"Yeah, But don't you think it's kind of weird. Echizen just sort of started to pant and then a second later he was getting to the ball just as Inui hit it. It was like he knew where it was going to land but he doesn't do data tennis."

Fuji ignored their comments and put his mind to making an excuse for the nurse seeing as she would want to check him and that would involve probably trying to get his hood off. After all in the last few days the genius noticed it wasn't just the students that where curious about the boys appearance but even teachers had tried to take a peak. With a sigh he entered the nurses office and just told her he would look after him. The woman was about to argue but with his smile and a comment about her gambling addiction she soon shut her mouth.

He made her tell the freshmen to leave making it look like it was the orders from her and not him. With a real smile he looked at the boy and wondered just how much blackmailing he was going to have to do in the future to keep him safe. Hell, he had just used his best one against the nurse. The thing was that he didn't even know she had an addiction. It was something he made up on the spot. Giving off a small chuckle he couldn't wait to keep using this against the woman so he could spend more time with Ryo-Chan.