"Emi-chan, Emi-chan!"
"Ow! Let go of me already! This hurts like hell!"
All of Rikkai's players turned to the intrusion. One, because no one went to the courts to disturb anyone- even Koba; and two, because was that Kirihara's voice they just heard?
Soon enough a grinning Echizen Kamiko came into view, holding onto a wavy lock from Kirihara's head. The baby of Rikkaidai desperately tried his best to pull his hair away from the girl.
"Let go, let go, let go-whoaah!"
Kamiko released Kirihara once she spotted her friend, causing the seaweed haired boy to tumble down the steps and onto the court, "Emi-chan!"
"Echizen-chan?" Emi was curious, and heard Marui and Niou snicker at Kirihara's place on the ground.
"Ow..."
"Jiko-chan demanded buchou-chan for a match and buchou-chan said no so Jiko-chan showed off while he was leaving and it hit Mamu-nii by accident and everyone tripped on the other balls that Jiko-chan made fall when he mistakenly swung too early and Jiko-chan tried to slip away but I caught him and now Seigaku-minna-chan is doing laps while buchou-chan composes himself and the first years clean up because Jiko-chan needs to control his elbow and his swing as he swings backwards."
Wow. Koba tried very hard not to laugh when the news had shocked the regulars. Especially Sanada.
"...who the hell do you hang out with, Kobayashi?" Marui was the first to speak, his bubblegum had popped out of pure confusion.
"Ohayou!" Kamiko waved at Marui. She turned back to Koba and grinned, "So can I? Can I can I can I?"
"Jiko... You mean Kirihara-kun? And... Buchou to you would be Tezuka-kun!" Koba figured out Kamiko's long sentence soon enough, and Koba took Kirihara by the collar of his shirt when she saw the boy trying to leave, "What were you doing?!"
"Ack! Kobayashi-senpai I just asked for a match, that's all!"
"And caused trouble." Koba and Kirihara froze in their spots, as did everyone else. No one wanted to make any sudden movements, not when Sanada sounded so angry.
Due to Yanagi's prediction Niou moved Koba out of Sanada's line of sight- "Puri." -while Yagyuu guided Kamiko the same direction, "Over there would be safest."
"You've placed shame on our courts, Akaya! To our school as well!" The vice captain raised his arm to smack the younger player upside the head, but was stopped when Koba had a better idea to make both the troublemaker and Kamiko shut up.
"Sanada-kun!" Koba interrupted.
Sanada's hand stopped inches before he made contact, and Kirihara felt relieved.
"Thank God." Kirihara let out a deep breath.
"We owe Echizen-chan because her school was put into mild chaos due to Kirihara-kun. She wants to play a set with him."
"Kobayashi, we don't let anyone play unofficial matches without buchou's consent!" Jackal reasoned, "And besides, if we let them play then Akaya might use... Well it could end up bad!"
"I want to see how Jiko-chan plays and compare it to buchou-chan. Jiko-chan was the one so interested in playing against buchou-chan, I might as well tell Jiko-chan how he'd fare."
"How can you compare them if you haven't even played?" Marui asked, "That'd be pointless unless you're Yanagi over here." The redhead jabbed his thumb towards Yanagi, who was going through variables in his head.
After all, who was this girl?
"Buchou-chan and I were able to play a set. That's why buchou-chan agreed to let me help Seigaku!" Kamiko explained.
Niou's brow rose, "Isn't that just taking our information so your team can win?"
"Niou!" Koba was quick to scold.
"I promise I can keep Jiko-chan's information to your school and your school only," Kamiko insisted, "Emi-chan can vouch for me!"
"Vouch? Echizen-chan I don't think-"
"If Jiko-chan is good, maybe he'll last long enough for me to actually help."
"You think you can beat me?" Kirihara snorted, "Yeah right! I'm not gonna lose to a girl!"
"Sanada-kun, what do you think?" Koba finally turned to the one who's opinion mattered most.
Sanada crossed his arms, and nodded once, "I'll allow this. Only because Akaya has managed to dishonor Rikkai's name in another school. After this set I expect more than 100 laps and 200 sets of swings from you, Akaya!"
"H-hai, Fuku-buchou!" Kirihara felt like he should salute before he ran over to his spot on the court.
"Arigato, Fuku-buchou-chan!" Kamiko giggled while she went to the opposite side of the court. Rikkai was shell shocked at how she'd just addressed the Emperor of Rikkaidai, "You serve first, Jiko-chan, you started it after all."
"My name is Kirihara Akaya!" The boy frustratingly replied. She kept calling him trouble, but that wasn't his name!
Once Kirihara served Kamiko pouted, and caught the power ball with her hand, tossing it back to the stunned second year immediately.
"Jiko-chan," She scolded, "That's not enough to go against Buchou-chan! Try harder!"
"Oh she's askin' for it." Kirihara grit his teeth and served with more power, rallying furiously with the girl that now smiled.
"Good! Now we can start getting somewhere!"
"Kirihara-kun," Koba yelled from the spectator's spot, "Echizen-chan is known around Tokyo to be on par with the captains of Hyotei and Seigaku, don't think you're going easy on her!"
"Even that arrogant prick played this chick?" Marui asked.
Koba refrained from nodding, "Atobe-san is arrogant, but he acknowledges good tennis players. Echizen-chan has played in front of him, and even gauged Atobe-san's own playing style."
Kamiko made her way to the net, and volleyed her drop shot with a backhand, aiming at the corner nearest her. Kirihara wasn't able to get the ball and Kamiko pouted.
"Jiko-chan, you're not serious about this, are you?" Kamiko asked, "Buchou-chan was able to get that, and even King-chan."
"King-chan?" Yagyuu asked, he wasn't sure who that was.
Niou scoffed, "Che. Don't tell me that's her nickname for that guy."
"Atobe-kun doesn't mind the nickname at all. Though he was irked that Echizen-chan was able to maneuver her way out of his strategies for a while. Ito-chan mentioned that Echizen-chan's specialty was to improve her opponents during the match."
"-And if you wore less weights under those sweatbands and more on your ankles you could probably get more speed!"
"Echizen-chan, it's getting late, and they still have a practice. Can we finish up, please?" Koba asked.
Kamiko frowned, "Heh?! But, but Jiko-chan and I just started!"
"For the last time my name is Kirihara! Would you quit calling me trouble?!"
"If we had a longer match maybe you'd actually be trouble on the court instead of causing trouble around the court, Jiko-chan!"
"Argh!" Kirihara was frustrated at the girl, "Are you calling me weak?!"
"I'm saying buchou-chan was right not to waste his time on you. You're hot tempered and that gets you to be weak which affects your mental abilities on the court that affects the technique of your style which causes an effect of lack of speed and accuracy! You're downgrading your own techniques and I can't help because Emi-chan wants to cut it short!"
"...help?!" Kirihara thought they were having a match! She was an opponent on the court, wasn't she?!
"Echizen-chan, you train Seigaku, not Rikkaidai. Keep within your own boundaries."
"Hai, hai, wakatteru. Sada-chan already said that I couldn't be biased when I played other schools, and it's not right if I give out information from Rikkai-chan or Hyotei-chan. Don't worry! Stay focused, Jiko-chan. Not on your opponent, but on the game! Maybe that'll help!"
Kamiko advised happily as she handed over her racquet to Koba, she had borrowed it after all.
"So, Rikkai-chan is powerful. I think that's fun!" Kamiko grinned, Koba sighed.
"You think anything troublesome is fun."
"But if it weren't troublesome wouldn't that mean nothing interesting happens...?"
Niou chuckled, "I'm beginning to like the little Seishun chick."
"Kamiko-chan, not Seishun chick-chan." Kamiko pointed to herself as she shook her head at Niou's name for her.
Kobayashi quickly introduced the team before Kamiko began asking questions or spewing out random information, but Koba soon found herself frowning at the statement Kamiko made.
"Emi-chan didn't tell me you taught her tennis! I thought she learned by herself!" Kamiko said, looking up at Sanada, "Are you her doubles partner, Fuku-buchou-chan?"
"Eh?!"
"Kamiko!" Koba pulled the girl to stand behind her, and Koba began backing away from the curious stares of her friend's, "She's mistaken. I don't play tennis... Look! The other members of the club are slowing down! I'll go check on them!"
Kamiko's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, and she pouted, "Yuki-chan thinks you play good tennis too, Emi-chan. Don't be ashamed!" She called after the girl who had run away. Kamiko shrugged, "Ah well! Anyway, Rikkai-chan, it was fun! Seishun-chan will see you in the tournament. I can promise you that!"
Kamiko grinned happily as she skipped towards the bus stop, and when she was out of earshot Kirihara grumbled.
"Man, what is with that chick?!" He asked his senpai.
"We don't know. You're the one who was screwing around in Seishun and got your butt handed back to you." Marui retorted.
"Hey!"
Jackal shook his head, "It's not like it's not true, Akaya. Why weren't you being more responsible?"
"But-"
"And respect obviously went out the window when you ruined their practice." Yagyuu added, not too gentlemanly at all.
"Seishun could be a force to reckon with, if she is who's helping them." Yanagi said to Sanada. They overlooked the group not too far away.
Sanada's face was stern, "Rikkaidai is strong enough to defeat them."
Yanagi knew that if he continued the conversation Sanada would just repeat himself. The vice captain was firm in his beliefs, and although he was so open about how powerful Rikkaidai is, he was very narrow minded when an obstacle came to view. To Sanada, he would crash into them head on till he got his way. It was the Emperor's Empirical Stance, as Yanagi had playfully named it. Unfortunately, that's not all the ways of tennis, and Yanagi was surprisingly uncomfortable with Kamiko.
A trainer of Seishun that immediately saw Kirihara's biggest problems on the courts within one rally, and not even a whole game had been played? And, though her first explanation was long winded, it did reveal that she knew exactly what Kirihara was trying to do when he tried showing off, and that in turn revealed that her eyes caught movements and certain forms that could be detrimental to an opponent. She could manipulate the games if she were playing, and make sure that the weaknesses of her opponents never became strengths- she could make sure that her opponent's strengths wouldn't even be revealed.
Moreover, she could train Seishun to counter anything that came their way. Adversity was often the most troublesome thing to an enemy, and Yanagi did not want it to be what undermined Rikkaidai's championship.
"Wait forget about me, Kami-chan made it clear that Kobayashi-senpai played tennis with her! She even called buchou Yuki-chan!" Kirihara was trying to free himself from his senpai-tachi's scoldings, and even Niou's teasing.
"Don't try to change the subject, kid!" Marui jumped and slammed his hand down ontop of Kirihara's head, "You're senpai-tachi aren't dumb; I'm a genius!"
Kirihara groaned, "Not that again, Marui-senpai, that's annoying!"
"Akaya!"
And Kirihara sighed in exasperation; he didn't need Yanagi-senpai to tell him about the length of the oncoming lecture. It was just going to be a bore.
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/plot/etc., of the PoT manga/anime.