Secrets, Socials, and Seigaku

Chapter 13

 After awhile eventually Kaidoh had won. Leaving Fudomine’s team disappointed with their second loss. I smiled at myself knowing what match was happening next. I looked over to Echizen who had a bored expression on his face, but I could tell otherwise. He was probably anxious. He got up and made his way to the court. I stopped him before he could step on though. “Echizen remember what I told you." I told him keenly, "I want to see how well you’ve improved, so give it your all.” I said smirking at him all the while.

“Yes, ma’am” He replied walking onto the court. The judge announced the game. “Echizen serve, one set match.”

He walked over to the base line and got into position. He bounced the ball once, twice, three times, and then caught it with his hand. He looked up at his opponent with a smirk. I smiled in anticipation at this. “He’s using his right hand.” Oishi pointed out in surprise.

“Going all out in the beginning I guess.” I added. 

It was silent as he got ready to serve. He threw the ball up high over his head and jumped to smash it. As it came over the net to Shinji’s side it bounced right in front of him. Instead of it bouncing to his racket like he had assumed, it had took off right past his head. Leaving him and everyone else watching utterly shocked. Everyone was to busy talking about his serve, the twist serve, to see Echizen getting ready for another serve. “Hey, Mr. ref, I’m waiting for the call.” He said conceitedly.

“15-0” The referee called unsurely.           

Once again Echizen performed his twist serve and had scored a point. And again it happened leaving him surprised. As Echizen served his twist serve a fourth time Shinji had finally returned it. I sighed. Well, that’s what I would expect from a tennis player who had been compared to Fuji. But as he returned the ball to Echizen, Echizen had run up to the net and smashed the ball to his side of the court winning one game for Seigaku. “Game Echizen” the referee called.

I heard some of the comments from the other team. “Shinji just lost one straight game!” Kamio said shocked. 

“That Seigaku regular must be strong.” 

“Shinji lost that game in a minute.”

I smiled at the comments going around. At least they weren’t underestimating him anymore. “Seeing his eyes takes me back.” Said Coach Ryuzaki.

I looked aver at Echizen and smiled. “They do have the same eyes, don’t they?” I commented. 

Everyone just looked at us confused. I ignored the stares and looked over to Shinji who was just staring at Echizen. That’s when I noticed what he was doing. He was...talking to himself? I tried to listen to what he was saying. “Good environment and good seniors. What’s with that? Freshmen should endure more hardships. I envy you, but I also feel a bit irritated. He’s too arrogant for freshmen. It’s better if he doesn’t get overconfident. Annoying punk. I’ll crush him.” He said to himself. He was rather calm when saying all this too. He reminded me of Echizen with his apathetic attitude.

It was Shinji’s turn to serve. He threw the ball up and followed through. But something about it seemed familiar. Once it bounced on Echizen’s side it rocketed for his face but missed and instead took off his hat. “W-what was that?” I said, honestly surprised by his serve.

Did he learn is twist serve just by copying him or am I overestimating him? I heard one of his teammates shout. “Yes! That’s Shinji’s kick serve for you!”

A kick serve? But I could’ve sworn that was…I looked around at the rest of my friends. They seemed confused too. Inui clarified for us. “It's the same thing. Thuogh 'twist serve' is the old way of saying it" I nodded in understanding. "But, if I had to pick I would say that the twist serve has more speed and power than the kick serve.” The team collectibely let out a breath of relief. At least that was one advantage.