Here is chapter 2! I don't own Prince of Tennis, my OC's however do belong to me.
The sounds of sneakers echoing in the gym hall is heard throughout the evening. Izumi practices with her junior high team, their volleyball tournament coming up soon so there is no room for slacking. Izumi, however, couldn't focus on this day and keeps missing her shots for scoring.
"Kanagawa, what's wrong with you? You, okay?" Izumi's coach asks, worry in her voice and Izumi wipes sweat from her forehead.
"Yeah, all good," Izumi replies, smiling. Till this day, people think she's a boy and it shocked everyone during the opening ceremony that a boy was wearing a skirt, but Inori corrected them and defended that Izumi is a girl. Being 172cm for a girl is rare, sometimes even Inori worries that she'll grow even taller considering girls don't stop until they are 19. As volleyball practice continues, Izumi couldn't help but think about her mother in hospital.
During the end of elementary school, her mother gets in a car accident that puts her in a coma ever since. Izumi blames her father for the accident as it was the night where she had enough of affair and ended up driving in a rage which usually isn't like Izumi's mother as she was a careful driver.
"Kanagawa, stop spacing out – practice is over, let's go change," her teammate, Kiko waves her hand in front of Izumi, and she sighs, apologising. They all change and as Izumi walks out – Inori was waiting for her.
"How was practice?" Inori asks, smiling. Still keeping her hair up with 2 buns, she's matured more feminine than Izumi has; a petit build, her waist small and her height of 160cm. At Junior High she was a centre of attention, people always assuming the two were going out but then upon seeing Izumi wearing the sailor uniform, people back down and were in shock as they whisper.
"It was alright, spaced out for the first time in a while. Mother still hasn't made much improvement," Izumi replies, shrugging. Inori is the only one who knows about the past and she visits the hospital with Izumi often to keep her best friend company.
"And your dad? What's he doing?" Inori asks, her voice changes into something malicious. Izumi shrugs.
"Probably messing about as per usual," Izumi replies and Inori snorts, appalled by the behaviour of an adult. Izumi is currently staying with her father; he was never at home anyway and the money she receives were the money that her mother had on their little savings account. Whilst her mother is in hospital, the house itself felt empty now, only Izumi living in it whilst her father goes somewhere – the money still coming out from his account for the mortgage. They're still married, until Izumi's mother wakes up to sign the divorce papers, she's stuck with her father.
"You want to come over mine for a bit? My mama made some strawberry cake," Inori pokes the sides of Izumi's cheeks and she couldn't help but smile.
"Sure," Izumi replies, and the two walk on home but instead of parting, they both walk into Inori's house – being greeted by Inori's mother was a comfort for Izumi who misses her mother very much.
The next day was a weekend, which means one more week until the tournament for Izumi. Today, however, as usual she goes and visits her mother in hospital to see how she's doing, when in reality she knows she's still in a coma. As she arrives, she says her name to the nurse and the nurse smiles as she let's her in, sliding the door open she smiles at her mother's calm face. No one comes in to clean her, only Izumi and some nurses which by the looks of it today, the nurse cleaned her up nicely.
"Hello mother, it's me again," Izumi speaks, adjusting the blankets and then proceeds to sort out the flowers she bought for her mother. She throws the old one away, it was wilting much like her will when it comes to her mother - slowly accepting the fact that maybe she'll never wake up but the Doctors said that in most instances - comatosed people do wake up. It's been 4 years since she went into a coma, Izumi wasn't sure if she could keep this up but deep down, she still believed in her mother to wake up. Her phone pings, it was from Inori. No one else messages her other than her best friend.
Inori 03-xxxx-xxxx
Yoo-hoo~! I know you're at the hospital, do you want to meet up in a bit after? I want to show you a really cool place~ hehe
Izumi smiles at the text and she closes her eyes, speaks to her mother some more then proceeds to kiss her forehead. After that she walks out, thanking the nurse for all the hardwork they're doing and Izumi thought to herself that she needs to get them something as a thank you. She meets up with Inori at the nearest station, from there they head into town and the place Inori wanted to show was this new sports shop. Izumi looks at everything in awe, everything was new and it smelt fresh.
"Welcome! If you need any help, I'm happy to assist," the customer service is nice too.
"Do you know where the volleyball section is?" Inori asks and the assistant points towards the tennis area where next to it, was the volleyball section. The two walk over and look at the items that were on show.
"I wanted to get you something for your tournament, choose what you want," Inori says, grinning and Izumi couldn't help but protest, but she knows arguing with Inori wouldn't do anything so she decided to choose a wrist band that had black as the main color and a streak of dark purple. Inori nods in approval as they head over to the counter, but not without Inori tripping over her own feet and as Izumi reaches to catch her, like she always does - someone else beats her to it.
"Woah, are you ok?" A soft feminine voice asks, and as Izumi looks it was a boy with light brown hair, his eyes closed but his expression was that of worry.
"I'm okay...thank you," Inori blushes as she steadies herself. Izumi bonks her gently on the head and scolded her to be more careful. They both headed to the till to pay but not without Inori briefly glancing over at the boy, she was definitly in love at first sight - Izumi can tell when Inori finds something she likes. As always, Izumi was right as Inori would not stop talking about how handsome the boy was - he looked like a junior high student like us, he was shorter than I was and slightly taller than Inori. They continue to walk around the area, looking at the shops and deciding that food is the next step.
They begin to walk inside this small cafe when someone runs by them - grabbing Inori's bag with them and she shouts as the thief runs away. Izumi dashes so quick that her long legs got to the thief in time and she jumps - landing ontop of the thief. People whispered and shouted with triumph that the thief was caught but unknown to Izumi - he had a weapon. Before he hit, however, Izumi was moved to the side quickly and she landed on something warm, like someones lap. The thief ran away, knife in hand.
"Izumi-chan, are you ok?!" Inori runs over, ignoring her bag completely as she checks on her friend. Izumi nods, she gets up quickly upon realising she fell on someone. She turns around, bows and as the person gets up, she was in awe.
"Be more careful, people like that have weapons," the deep baritone voice of the boy in front of them speaks and the two couldn't speak other than bow and he walks away, his long legs taking him away quickly.
"That's two hotties in one day, my god Izumi-chan, aren't we lucky?" Inori whispers, jabbing her friend on the side as she picks up her bag and giggles. Deep down, Izumi hopes that she would encounter that boy again, but reality hits her that he may not recognise Izumi as a girl, but rather, a boy. He was tall, slightly taller than Izumi.
The day of the tournament approaches and Inori tags along to watch the matches. It would be Izumi's last tournament of Junior high being a 3rd year - it was a bit emotional for her. After this tournament it would be the final exams, ready for High School. Sadly for both, Hokkai only went up to Junior High so they'd have to find another high school nearby to attend, which they didn't mind as they both decided they'd attend the same school. As the team approaches the gym, there was a commotion in the distance and everyone looked over, it was 2 guys fighting near the tennis courts about something silly.
Izumi sees 2 girls feeling uncomfortable as they were arguing over one of the girls and she walks over, ignoring the calls of her coach.
"Oi, tone your voices down you're scaring half the people here," Izumi speaks, her height towering the two boys but they didn't flinch as they squared up to her.
"Ah? Are you her boyfriend or something because as far as I was concerned - it's between us 3," the boy with dark blonde hair speaks and Izumi tut's, her eyes changing to something menacing as she grabs the boys collar.
"I could care less if it's between the 3 of you, take it somewhere else or I'll make sure this fist hurts you," her voice changes, a deeper vibration and this causes the 2 boys to scammer away. Izumi sighs, then turns towards the girls, "You both ok?" She asks.
"Y-Yes, thank you!" One girl bows, blushing as she looks at Izumi, it seems they don't realise she's actually a girl but Izumi doesn't say anything.
"Can I have your number please?" The other girl asks - looking madly in love but before Izumi could reply, Inori steps in.
"Sorry ladies SHE'S mine," Inori emphasises the "she" as Izumi get's dragged away. Inori mutters something about Izumi's hair being too short, that's why people assume shes a boy. The tournament begins and in no time, Hokkai Junior High scores the first point, Izumi all the while hitting the shots. She told herself she'd help the team win and let their names be known in the future of Hokkai. As Izumi jumps to hit the ball, she notices at the corner of her eye the 2 boys from a couple days ago, watching. Unknown to Izumi though, their matches finished and they were instructed to support their school and only did Izumi realise she was playing against them, considering the color of the uniform. She eyes the ball once more and with one powerful shot, she shoots it down past the defenders - the wind around them circulating along with the ball as it lands with a loud thud on the shiny floor.
The Hokkai team cheers triumphantly as they run towards the court. Izumi throws her fists up in the air, sweat trickling down the side of her face as she gets hugged by Inori. She was the tallest among the team, one other member almost her height.
There was an after party to celebrate their tournament win, they were going to enter a sushi restaurant, but the owner apologised saying it was pre-booked. Their coach bows, apologising but then as they turn to walk away, a woman's voice stops them.
"Oh, you guys are the winners of the volleyball tournament right? Were you going for some sushi too?" Their coach smiles and speaks on the teams behalf.
"Ah yes, but fear not we'll go for BBQ! I assume you're the tennis team, congratulations on winning your tournament as well," Izumi looks towards the back where the 2 boys from a few days ago were standing. After the small exchange, the team heads on for BBQ not far from the area, some murmuring they wanted sushi and the coach hushes them. At the end they got BBQ, no one spoke as they were enjoying the food - even Inori was there because technically she is part of the team, always giving them water and small fruits to keep them going. After what seemed like ages, the night finishes and the coach tells all of them to get rest and that exams are beginning soon, after this term finishes they'll be focused on exams and eventually try to apply for High Schools. Parent-teacher meetings would be happening soon too, making Izumi think what she'll do.
"Do you think your dad would attend the parent-teacher meeting?" Inori asks as they walk home and Izumi could only shrug. She knows Inori would drag her own mother to attend the parent-teacher meeting for Izumi's sake but she wouldn't allow it. She has to somehow convince her father to come or else she'll just turn up by herself.