Sunny Daffodil, Snowy Rose

Ch. 3

After being settled in her new apartment two weeks later, on a lovely Friday afternoon, Kimiko stood alone in front of the gates of Sainō no Kōkō. She had left her friends at Sainō no Shōgakkō who were waiting for Tora to finish her entrance exams. She still had to turn in her remaining transfer papers and scout the school buildings. More specifically, she was going to check the conditions of the tennis courts and the instruments in the concert orchestra room.

After Kimiko gave the papers to the school secretary, she politely asked her to point her to the tennis courts. Bewildered, the secretary hesitantly gave her the directions. Kimiko thanked her nicely before setting off to the courts. Once she got there, she silently approached the fence that surrounded the entire tennis courts. She observed all the freshman, second-years, and seniors.

Most of the members of the tennis club were average. There were a couple of seniors and second-years that caught her eye. A few freshmen were rookies at the sport. Kimiko nodded her head to herself, but could not help but somewhat feel displeased.

"It's not up to my standards." she thought. "They need a tougher training menu..."

"So that is your opinion." A voice behind her said. "Truly interesting indeed."

Kimiko turned around. She saw a woman in her early forties dressed in a white and blue tennis jacket with a light blue collared shirt and black tennis skirt. Her black hair was tied up in a ponytail while her navy blue eyes shimmered. Kimiko narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?"

The woman laughed. "I'm the mathematics teacher of this school, or otherwise known as Sainōkō's boys' division tennis coach, Akagi Ran. My boys are the best tennis players of all of Tokyo. There's no school that could compete with my boys. Here, I'll introduce you to some of my star players."

"Takyuza, Imai, Iwai, come over here!" the woman yelled to several boys. Pretty soon three fit boys ran over to them. They all wore similar tennis outfits, the only difference was their colors. One wore red, another wore green, and the last one wore gray.

"What do you need, Coach?" the one in red asked.

"I want to introduce you three to this girl," Akagi replied cheerfully. She walked over to the three boys. "These are my star players. This one in red is Iwai Sota, a third-year and the tennis club's treasurer."

"Good afternoon," Iwai greeted.

"The one in green is Imai Hitoshi, a second-year and the vice-captain..."

Imai gave Kimiko a small smile.

"...and the one in gray is a second-year and our captain, Takyuza Akihiko."

Takyuza just stood there silently.

Kimiko gave each of them a nod of acknowledgement.

"Now tell me why they need a tough training menu," the coach bugged Kimiko.

Kimiko sighed after a few minutes as Akagi continued to bug her. She gave in and briefly scanned the three boys in front of her.

"They're good enough for local competitions, but could make it to nationals with more practice, Akagi-san," she told the boys' tennis coach. "Have them and their club members wear weights around their wrists and ankles everyday and do double the regular training menu. They'll get stronger than they are now, and be closer to the national level."

"What do you mean we're not national level?" One of Iwai's eyebrows twitched as he asked arrogantly.

"Half of your regulars' forms are sloppy, their knees are way too bent, and they need more flexibility. The only problem you three have is stamina. Adding an extra lap each day to your individual training menu each day for twenty-five days while wearing five pounds in each of your wrists and ankles will up it. Not to mention that freshman in white, he could be on par with you if he had some more training."