Demon Tennis

Disclaimer:

This fantasy story is part fanfiction, which means that the writing is inspired by another story, in the characters, plot, and other ideas. I did not create any other characters other than my OC, Yin. Otherwise, the characters are from another story, but their character may be slightly altered to fit the storyline plot.

Yin

The hardest thing in life is for the things you love to be driven away from you. Tennis was my life. When I was younger, my older brother took me to the US Open, and I was amazed by the sport.

It was breathtaking watching the game as the ball moved a steady rally back and forth before it was smashed by the opponents, winning a point. I was intrigued to see that there were so many people of all different ages, though most of the players were 18 or older. I was getting a little bored as the matches dragged on, and as I was about to leave, another match started, and I was shocked to see that the player was a younger girl, around my age, playing in the US Open! Since my curiosity was back again, I stayed for the rest of her matches. I expected the girl to lose in her first round, yet to my disbelief, she won all of her games, coming out as the champion of the competition. After that day, I learned how to play tennis, and my goal was to play in the US Open, just like the girl I watched when I was little.

When I graduated from 6th grade, my parents purposely chose for me to attend Rikkaidai middle school, one of the top tennis schools in the country. It was located in the next city, so I would ride the train every morning. The only thing was, that my parents didn't know that I could never play a match, no matter how much I wanted to.

Today was my first day of school and I had to get up early in the morning to arrive on time. The uniform was a classic style, consisting of a plaid skirt, button-down white blouse, tie, and a blazer. The outfit was dark navy blue, with white accents and I hurriedly put on the uniform, brushed my hair, prepared my supplies, and stuffed it into my backpack, as I ran out the door. I wasn't expecting to run late, and on top of that, the train schedule that I had was incorrect, and I was becoming late by the second. I raced to the train station and when I got there, it was already loaded with passengers and the doors were closing rapidly.

Reacting quickly, I grabbed my racquet and flung it at the closing panels, successfully blocking the doors. My hard training had paid off, and while everybody stared, I smoothly walked into the train, dislodged my racquet from the door, and the train continued as if nothing had just happened.

After a while, all of the passengers looked away, except for one person who was sitting next to me on the bench. He was dressed in the uniform for Rikkaidai middle school and he had shaggy, cherry-red hair that fell to his eyes. Alongside him, I noticed that he had a racquet bag, and he was deep in thought, and I didn't want to bother him, but just then, started talking to me.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Mauri. You also go to Rikkaidai right?" he asked curiously. Nodding my head slightly, I told him that my name is Yin, and I just transferred to the school this year. He smiled at this and offered to help me find my classes, as he mentioned, the school was quite large.

We talked for a bit about ordinary things, and I noticed that he was looking at my racquet that was next to me. He asked if I played tennis, and automatically, I froze at the question, my heart pounding.

Since last year, I had stopped playing any matches and only practiced on my own in secret. In 6th grade, I had unlocked the darker side of my tennis, and it was like a curse. Whenever I played tennis with somebody else, a mysterious power would overwhelm me, and I would transform into a demon, ending up hurting somebody, including me.

Ever since then, I stopped playing and only trained alone, somewhere where nobody would find me. I secluded myself from everybody, trying to keep my secret hidden. My parents didn't know of this, as they never have really been at home and only check up on me occasionally throughout the year. Because of this, they forced me into the school, still thinking that I have been playing tennis.