Gifted

When the nickname "Child of God" was bestowed upon him, Yukimura couldn't help but think that those people who gave it to him just simply had no idea what they're talking about. It's a feeling that Sanada shared with him, when others began calling him "The Emperor".

He's being unfair of course, because the one person that Yukimura felt to be more fitting to carry such a grand title made it a point to not be well known in the tennis circle despite his heritage.

After all, to say that Ryoma Echizen is "gifted" would feel like an understatement. There isn't any kendoka worth their salt that didn't know his name, nor any kyuudo practitioner who wouldn't sing him endless praises for his skill. It had become somewhat of a habit for Sanada to share with him what tournament Ryoma had won, what new achievement he had added to his ever growing list.

There's a part of him that wished that he could be like Sanada, who outside of tennis has a connection to Ryoma through kendo. It's very clear that despite his skill in it and being surrounded by people who undoubtedly love it, Ryoma doesn't particularly love tennis, and that's a fact that frightened Yukimura to his core.

If Ryoma ever chose to, Yukimura didn't think that the other teen would have much problem leaving tennis behind. Ryoma didn't have a love or passion for it the way that Sanada was convinced Ryoma did for kendo and archery, nor did tennis seem to bring him satisfaction the way that cooking for others seemed to.

In fact, Yukimura isn't quite sure what it is exactly that keeps Ryoma tethered to tennis until he meets Echizen Ryoga. That is a man who loves tennis, a fact that Yukimura became painfully aware of after losing to him twice. Yukimura resents Ryoma a little for not telling him about Ryoga, but then again it was probably his own fault for seeing someone called Echizen Ryoga who looks a lot like Ryoma, and never asked Ryoma about that person.

He's a little jealous of Ryoga, in some ways, not just for his tennis, but also for the way that Ryoma clearly cares for him. It didn't take him long to make the connection that Ryoga is a big part why Ryoma still even bothered with tennis despite his disinterest in it, and Yukimura wishes that he could be that too for Ryoma. Because he's selfish, because he would never be able to forget that day all those years ago, when he saw Ryoma's tennis for the first time. Because he would spend the proceeding years since then doing everything he could to keep seeing it and realizes that he wouldn't mind devoting his life for that cause.

This is something that Sanada wouldn't understand when it comes to Ryoma. Sanada loves tennis as much as Yukimura does, and he too admires Ryoma's tennis, but Yukimura knows his friend enough to be able to tell that it wasn't tennis that made Sanada "fell" for Ryoma. He would be sad if Ryoma chose to lay down his racket and not play tennis anymore, but at the end of the day, Sanada still has kendo tethering Ryoma to him.

Yukimura doesn't have something like that. He didn't doubt that even if Ryoma did leave tennis behind, they would still be friends. He knows that his friendship with Ryoma isn't so flimsy, but Yukimura wanted more. He wanted a way to be able to communicate and bare his soul to Ryoma beyond words, and for him, tennis is the only way he can do it with Ryoma, and so he wished he could at least be part of what keeps Ryoma playing tennis.

A selfish desire, one that ignores the glaring fact that Ryoma himself had no such interest, but that's what Yukimura felt and the one sin, the one selfishness he allowed himself to have.

So, he could only think to himself to apologize to Sanada later for the ugly feelings of jealousy welling within him because Sanada had gone and got Ryoma to play seriously against him before Yukimura got the chance to.

Pride, Part 1

"Singles 1 is about to start, players from both teams please enter the court."

"Seigaku's Single 1 should be Echizen Ryoga, right? No other player in Seigaku's roster would stand a chance against Sanada in Singles." Yagyuu wondered out loud.

Yanagi nodded, "Indeed. According to my data that should be the case, but…"

There's still a huge question mark in not just his but in every other team's data about Seigaku. The ninth man in Seigaku's tournament roster, Ryoga Echizen's younger brother. He had only been fielded exactly three times throughout the entire tournament, none of them against any notable opponent nor did he show any particularly notable feat in those matches. Some even thought that he was Seigaku's manager instead of a player.

But it shouldn't matter for now, as the last match is all that's left and there's zero chance of Seigaku putting anyone else that isn't Ryoga Echizen in the Single 1 spot.

Much to his surprise, however, it wasn't Ryoga Echizen who moved forward to the court.

"Eeehhh, what is Seigaku thinking? Isn't that their first-year rookie who hadn't played much in the tournament?" Marui wondered out loud. "Could it be that they gave up and chose to keep whatever Ryoga Echizen had in his sleeve for Nationals instead?

"What do you think, Sanada?" Yanagi asked, turning toward their vice-captain.

Instead of the firm declaration that he would win no matter what he had expected, what Yanagi and the other members of Rikkai found was a stunned Sanada. He could visibly see the way that Sanada's hands trembled, both out of fear and… excitement?

Did Sanada know something they didn't?

"Yanagi," Sanada suddenly called. "Call Yukimura and tell him that I apologize that we won't be winning the Regionals this year either and start livestreaming this match to him."

"What?!" Kirihara exclaimed in disbelief. "What do you mean we won't be winning this?!"

Sanada didn't give any answer and instead simply began walking toward the court, his mind already set. Over the years they had known each other, not once he had ever managed to defeat Echizen Ryoma or even get the younger teen to play seriously against him, and neither did Yukimura. Ryoma knew this, too.

Seigaku had no reason to unleash Ryoma now. He knew from Ryoma himself that they had intended to use him as a secret weapon of sorts, especially in the Nationals where anything could happen. Ryoma isn't the type to show off either, so he had no reason to want to appear now.

Maybe he's overthinking Ryoma's reason for playing now. Maybe Seigaku just wanted to send a strong message to every one of their future opponents that they have Echizen Ryoma.

"Sorry. I promised that I would be cheering for you guys this year but that's not possible anymore," Ryoma suddenly said as the two met in the center of the court to decide who serves first. "So the least that I can do is to be the one to personally bury Rikkai's dream myself."

Sanada chuckled. "That's a weird way to apologize."

But Sanada understood. It's Ryoma's way of preserving his and Rikkai's pride, even if others won't understand. Because that means that they had lost because Ryoma had played. That means that the only one he lost to is Ryoma, someone that no one else could have beaten. But that doesn't mean that Sanada would simply flop over and let Ryoma walk all over him. No, he will make him fight for it and hopefully, by the end of their match, Ryoma will be able to genuinely say "That was a good game".

Sanada would be serving first, and after they got to their respective positions, the two looked at each other before giving a deep bow to each other like they always do before their kendo matches.

On the sidelines, Yanagi had sent Sanada's message to Yukimura before pulling out his laptop, connected it to the internet, and began a video chat with Yukimura.

"Hmmm, good for Genichirou," Yukimura commented. "He had always wanted to play tennis against Ryoma-kun in an official match."

"Seiichi. You knew about Echizen Ryoma?" Yanagi asked.

"Of course. We've been good friends for about… five, almost six years now?" Yukimura replied. "He's Genichirou's kendo buddy of sorts and his family liked Ryoma a lot because he's very knowledgeable about swords despite his young age."

"How about his tennis?" Yanagi asked as Ryoma returned Sanada's shot with ease. He personally has trouble believing his eyes. Sanada had already begun using Fu Rin Ka Zan and Ryoma was completely unperturbed by it.

"His tennis, huh?" Yukimura wondered out loud. "Do you remember when we told you that there's someone that we had never been able to beat?"

"That can't be…" Yanagi stated disbelievingly.

"Game set! 1-0 for Echizen Ryoma!"

"Indeed. In the whole time that I and Genichirou had known Echizen Ryoma, neither of us had managed to defeat him in tennis even once or even managed to get him to play seriously against us."

"You're joking…" Kirihara said. "Buchou, please tell us you're joking."

"It is what it is," Yukimura shrugged. "Do you know that he wasn't planning to join Seigaku's tennis club and promised to be cheering for us instead this year since his brother already won last year? Fufufu, so much for that."

"You expected it," Yanagi stated.

"Knowing him, there were only two ways for it to go. Either he decided to ask not to play when Seigaku is facing us or he chose to be the one to bury us. He knew that doing the first one would be disrespectful against me and Genichirou though, and he's not the type."

"I wished you had at least told me beforehand."

Yukimura chuckled. "Sorry about that. When I found out that Ryoma had not made any splash at all through the tournament, I knew this would happen. I would rather not stress you and Genichirou with needless worry."

"So that's it? We're gonna lose here?" Yagyuu asked.

"Most likely. But look," Yukimura gestured behind the screen toward Sanada's side of the court.

Even though he's clearly outmatched and losing, they can see that Sanada is not overwhelmed or despairing in the slightest. In fact, if anything, he seemed to be having more fun than they had ever seen him.

"He's having fun, at the very least."

Pride, Part 2

"Game set! 5-0 for Echizen Ryoma!"

The first set had ended in a score of 6-2 for Ryoma, Sanada having managed to take two games from Ryoma by revealing two secret techniques he had been developing, originally to defeat Tezuka, but he knew that against Ryoma he could hold nothing back.

The first one, In, which made him give off multiple behavioral patterns to counter Ryoma's extremely sharp observation allowed him to take a game until Ryoma countered that by simply shifting his observation to the ball instead of Sanada.

The second one, Rai, was supposed to be an unreturnable ball that would break his racket. Ryoma didn't even try to return it after the first one, allowing Sanada to take another game. The game after that, however, Ryoma was finished with his observation and returned Rai easily by nullifying the ball's spin and energy.

Once the two techniques were completely countered, Sanada hadn't been able to find a way to fight back against Ryoma and lost game after game. Not to mention, using Rai puts a significant burden on his legs, causing him to slow down as time goes on.

"You're still as stubborn and determined as ever, Genichirou," Ryoma stated as Sanada got up after catching his breath, a slight smile on his face.

Sanada adjusted his breathing. He had been giving his all, chasing after every ball that Ryoma sent his way. He had used In and Rai, tried combining his techniques, to try to counter the things that made Ryoma such a fearsome opponent like his insanely sharp observation and senses, but Ryoma's adaptational ability and capability to come up with counters on the fly had been simply too much for him.

It's Ryoma's turn to serve.

"You might think that you've failed," Ryoma began as he got to the position to serve. "But rest assured Gen, this had been a fun match for me."

Suddenly, Sanada felt a heavy pressure on him. A hair-raising feeling that got his instincts screaming at him to run.

It's something that he had felt before, to a much lesser degree. He had been there when his grandfather challenged Ryoma to a swordfight, four years ago. Not a kendo match or an iaido match, but a genuine fight between two sword wielders, using actual swords.

He had known for a long time that Ryoma was dangerous. Usually, when one was handed over a real sword, with blades that could truly cut, injure, and even kill, one would hesitate and even become nervous. But he knew that Ryoma didn't lose his composure in the slightest, and didn't hesitate as he tried out the sword given to him by effortlessly cutting a training dummy in half.

Then came his fight against Sanada's grandfather. He knew that his grandfather was a highly skilled sword wielder, one of the very few like him that was still left. Yet Ryoma had not only kept up with him despite the obvious difference in their size, showing a level of skill that shouldn't have been possible for someone his age, but won.

Sanada wondered if this pressure was something that his grandfather felt too, then.

Despite the feeling of an almost primal fear though, a feeling of excitement thrums under his skin. This is it. This is Ryoma giving something close to his all. This is Ryoma playing seriously.

And it's over as soon as it begins.

"Game set! Match end, 6-0 for Echizen Ryoma!"

(If anybody noticed the way that Ryoga balled his fist so tightly that his nails almost drew blood, nobody said anything about it)