The First To Lose (Prince Of Tennis)

9

Chapter 9 --

Ryoka growled before whipping around. She grabbed the tall boy's collar and pulled him down to her height. Her eyes stared into his threateningly.

"Stop. Disturbing. Me," she hissed letting go of his collar and turning around.

"You have to go to practice! Echizen-san! Echizen-san! Listen to me!"

Her eyes darted to the pink coloured door to her right and she smirked, glancing at the tall archer.

"I don't listen to trash~!" She chirped, pushing the door open and going inside.

He followed and grabbed Ryoka's shoulder in an attempt of stopping her from going any further.

"Echizen-san -- "

He paused and furrowed his eyebrows, confused by her smirk. Noticing the deadly silence, he turned his gaze away from Ryoka. His jaw dropped as he saw the pink walls and the girls taking selfies in the mirror.

A loud shriek came from the girls' bathroom before the captain of the archery team was thrown into the hallway.

Ryoka muttered a 'thanks' to the girls and they just glared at her in return. She hasn't been on good terms with them. But instead of scowling she was relieved that she finally got rid of Tsuji.

Once she had stepped foot in school, Tsuji clung onto her like a leech. All the while begging her to go to archery practice. She admit, archery was fun and all but playing tennis with the rest of the boys was more enjoyable. And Ryoka was indeed upset when Ryoma ignored her the whole time at home.

Ryoka walked out of the girls' toilet and headed to the tennis court. Maybe if they aren't there yet I could play for a while, Ryoka thought, her hands in her pocket.

She stepped onto the court realizing that she didn't have anyone to play with nor did she have a racket, she frowned. She went inside the shed but only saw a racket with broken strings and another racket which was already rusting.

She grabbed the latter, not caring if it made her hand feel disgusting. Rather than returning to the court, she proceeded to the back of the shed and faced the wall.

She closed her eyes and the image of a court entered her head. Breath. Breathe. Even though she has participated in a lot of competitions, her hands always shook and she always became fidgety.

But when her eyes opened, her aura changed.

She threw the ball up and bent her knees a little. She slammed the ball hard to the wall, a perfect twist serve. She was nimble on her feet as she stepped to the side, the old racket's loose strings vibrating as it made contact with the ball again.

As she fought off her invisible opponent, a brown haired boy stood from afar watching her with his russet coloured eyes.

She swung her left arm and the ball collided with the wall, flying up. She flinched when the ball hit the ground. God. This is why I need an opponent, she thought, picking the ball up and pursing her lips.

"You're the one who beat Echizen Nanjirou."

She squealed and whipped around to the tall figure who walked towards her holding two rackets.

"Tezuka. What do you mean?" She asked, avoiding his piercing gaze. Shit. He knows. "I'm just an amateur in tennis."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Ryoka, don't think I didn't see you," he said, throwing the black racket at her.

She dropped the old rusty racket and caught the black one with her left hand.

She sighed and twirled the racket around. "I knew I couldn't hide it from you. You were getting suspicious since you first met me."

"Would you like to play a match with me?"

Ryoka licked her lips unconsciously. Her aura changed again and her eyes became slits.

"Sure," she said, a smirk on her lips. "Go easy on me."

↯

"I didn't think it would be you."

For some reason, she relished the sight of Tezuka panting and clutching his left arm as the racket lay on the ground beside him. She knew it was a sight that she shouldn't get used to seeing.

"I don't think anyone did," she replied, wiping the thin sheet of sweat from her forehead. Those hours of challenging her Dad was nothing compared to this match. The winner was decided quickly.

"Why don't you join the girls' tennis team?"

"It's pointless. I have nothing to improve. And I don't think the girls' are much better than the boys," Ryoka said truthfully. She didn't expect much from the girls' team.

"So you came here looking for an opponent?" He asked, picking his racket up.

"Honestly, no," she said truthfully. "I wanna to focus on my studies. I wanna to focus on something other than tennis. I spent twelve years on that already. And if an opponent comes, I'll just take it as a challenge."

Tezuka cracked a small, almost non-existent, smile at her attitude.

Ryoka blew a strand of hair away from her face and smiled.

"So, wanna get a drink?"

↯

"Tezuka, do you think I should join the archery club?" Ryoka asked as they sat opposite each other at a cafe near their school.

"Archery?" Tezuka repeated. "If you like it, then just do it. No one is stopping you."

Ryoka pursed her lips and slurped her blueberry milkshake. "But... I don't think Midget likes me joining archery."

Tezuka raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

She sighed and slouched in her seat, forking her blueberry pancakes. "I don't know."

"Then why don't you ask him?"

"Cause he's ignoring me!" She exclaimed with a frown etched upon her lips.

Tezuka nodded, drinking a cup of coffee. Ryoka narrowed her eyes at him. No wonder he gets mistakened for a teacher, she thought, observing him.

"Tezuka, I noticed you aren't much of a talker," she said, pointing out the obvious while Tezuka nodded again confirming her statement.

"You should talk more."

Tezuka nodded again.

Ryoka face palmed, her lips in a straight line.

Well, he's not gonna be talkin' soon.