Rikkaidai's Newest Regular | A Prince of Tennis Fanfiction

To Leant a Helping Hand

Ryoma's POV:

For the next week or so, my mind wasn't even close to thinking about what Seiichi told me. The reason was simple in my tired and exhausted mind. Seiichi said he'll tell me later, and from what I interpreted, later means after Sora became our backup. So I poured literally everything into teaching Sora everything I knew, hoping he'll crush everyone in the interschool match.

Gulping down water, I realized that Seiichi, who was sprawled uncharacteristically on the floor, wasn't looking much better than me on our last training day with Sora.

"Ugh...Now I realized why I never tried to train anyone before..." Groaned Seiichi, turning onto his back.

Coughing and wheezing, he demanded water. I blinked, before realizing that his water bottle was drained and so handed him mine. Not even looking twice, he downed it in one go. Sora limped over, face sticky with sweat and muscles tired.

"Ah......Seiichi, Ryoma...." Sora panted. "Thanks for everything..."

I shook my head.

"You better win," growled Seiichi, pining Sora with one of his death glares.

Familiar footsteps behind us told us that the rest of the regulars were walking over.

"Um...Seiichi," Sanada muttered uncomfortably, "Did you really need to train Amori-kun? I mean....the rest of the tennis team is getting jealous."

By tennis team, I faintly noticed that he meant the non-regulars.

"Hai, Seiichi. Why did you train him in the first place?" Yanagi asked, eyebrows raised. "You and Ryoma-kun both seem very...err.....interested in him."

Seiichi chewed his lip in mocking thoughtfulness.

"Hm. Ryo-kun...Why did we train him again?" Seiichi asked me.

I blinked.

"Um...Because we're friends?" my statement came out as more of a question than a statement.

"Hai!" Seiichi praised happily. "Now, Sora, two against one!"

There was silence. Not even I made a sound.

"That's a terrible idea," I said finally.

Seiichi shrugged. "If you can last 10 minutes without losing 7-0, you'll be fine."

Sora groaned.

"And you called me your friend..." Sora said woefully.

~10 minutes of groaning and death threats and blackmail and jealous looks and glares~

"Ok, FINE! Just don't use that pair of scissors in your hands on me!!" Screeched Sora. Seiichi smiled evilly.

"So you agreed," Seiichi said softly, his eyes glinting with sadism. "Ryo-chan? Hand me the tennis ball...."

I shivered at the '-chan' honorific, and knew better than to refuse him. Handing him the tennis ball, I gaped as Seiichi threw the ball up and smashed it down, almost light speed, though with minimum power behind it.

"Swirl Level 1!" Seiichi's voice shouted giddily.

Sora's eyes flashed, and he returned it with ease. "Try harder, buchou!"

I saw Seiichi snarl at him, and sighed as Seiichi gently pushed me aside to get to the ball. Honestly, I thought, I could sit down and Seiichi would still be able to win with eyes close.

"Dart!" Seiichi whispered with a hint of danger. "Destroy and Demolish...."

Sora scrambled out of the way as the tennis ball nicked him in the arm like a bullet. A small trickle of blood trickled out, but he only bit his lip when the umpire shouted "15-love!".