Broken Strings (Prince of Tennis/ slow burn love story)

Part 31

"He's using Taka-san's racket?" Ryumi questions after returning to her friends.

Yuuta nods. "He's really taking this seriously." he muses, watching his brother closely.

They then look over to Ryuzaki who wants to take Kawamura to a doctor's to check him out, offering to take Kabaji with her as well. His coach lets him, having coach Ryuzaki then turn to the others.

"Who will take my place as bench coach?" she asks, eying everyone including Ryumi, who narrows her eyes instead of looking shocked, hoping to remind the woman of her vow.

However, before she can appoint anyone, Ryoma's already inside the court, sitting there like he does it all the time.

Ryumi scoffs. "Taking each chance he gets to observe Fujiko up close huh?"

His senpais eye him with either jealousy or annoyance. They all wanted a chance to sit there for once. He really is rubbing his senpais the wrong way. "Egoistical brat." Ryumi sighs.

"Oi, you call your brother names often?" Yuuta asks, raising a brow.

Ryumi shrugs. "All the time. It's my special privilege. You're lucky Fujiko is so kind to you all the time." she tells him, making his eye twitch.

"Yeah sure."

Ryumi laughs as Momo and Eiji try to pull him off the bench, but he's gripping the thing like his life depends on it.

"Get off!" Momo urges, tugging on Ryoma's shoulder.

"No way!"

"Get off!" Eiji tries tugging on his other side.

"No way! No way! No way!" Ryoma shouts stubbornly.

Suddenly they pause, seeing Fuji standing in front of them. "I don't mind." he tells them calmly, breaking them up.

Momo and Eiji pout, releasing the first year. "Echizen, this is a bad trait to have." Momo reminds him before he and Eiji leave him be.

Ryuzaki heads out with Kawamura and Kabaji leaving them to it.

Jirou has finally made it onto the court, still yawning and thus coming across like he's not taking it very seriously, but this guy beat Yuuta during the consolation matches, in just under fifteen minutes.

Fuji is to start serving and he has an unusual serve for his opponent. He twists the ball, serving an underhanded serve. It appears none of his teammates have seen him do this often.

Jirou stands ready to swing, but when he does, the ball disappears from his sight. All he is left with is the bounce it makes when it's behind him, rolling to a stop.

"That's a pretty cool Cut serve." Ryumi hums in interest as he does it again. It seems to have gotten Jirou's attention too as he's starting to look more alert.

He looks to his teammates in excitement. "This is really amazing! Did you see that just now?! Just now! Just now! Just now!" he repeats running up to his captain who is looking exasperated. "Hey, hey, Atobe! That guy is awesome! I'm getting really excited now!"

"Hey you. Get back quickly." the umpire warns him, making the boy rush back to the baseline, his eyes sparkling. There is nothing left of the sleepy character from before.

The match continues and they find out that Jirou has an unconventional way of playing, but it somehow works for him. When it comes to Jirou, it's all in the wrist it seems.

Fuji is quick to learn in not letting Jirou approach the net and keeps him back whenever he can, not letting Jirou use his specialty, though he has little choice when it's Jirou's service game.

That is when Fuji's counters come in. He even tells Ryoma that he's willing to show his last counter, which the boy has never seen before. Hakugei...

And it's something else. It appears a weak return at first before rising into a lob and with its spin, bounces back towards Fuji who catches it.

"Let's go again, before the wind subsides." he muses towards the amazed Jirou.

As the match continues, with Fuji playing his best play, Jirou is simply outclassed. Victory comes easy to Fuji, once again. There is no doubt why he's second to Tezuka.

Ryumi glances towards Yuuta whose eyes hold a spark of admiration. She smiles at that look in his eyes. It was one Ryoma once beheld her with as she did with Ryoga. One sibling looking up to the other...

She sighs ruefully, missing that feeling. Ryoma will not look at her that way again, that's for sure. He's grown too much for that. Before her accident he was already well on his way to reach her level. And now... Fuji is a lucky guy.

She closes her eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath. It doesn't matter does it? She wants Ryoma to become the best he can be and if that reaches a level beyond hers one day... well, so be it.

"You okay?" Yuuta asks beside her. She nods in reply, putting her smile back on.

"It's a trying day, isn't it?" she asks, making him nod hesitantly before glancing towards Ryoma in thought.

"My aim hasn't changed." he mutters to himself before setting his eyes on his brother in determination. Ryoma may want to reach for the sky, but Yuuta is happy if he can somehow surpass his brother, because in his world, there is no one better to try and beat.

.........

"Echizen. Get your racket." Tezuka tells him, surprising Ryoma before he follows. He wishes to warm up for his match with Ryoma it seems.

When he returns, he passes his sister, pausing as she tears her eyes away from the onlookers from other teams that have gathered to assess them.

"Nee-san..." he starts, boring his eyes into hers. "I need you to start working harder." he states, making her eyes widen a little. "So I can beat Tezuka-buchou." he explains.

Ryumi's silent for a moment before nodding. "Understood." she answers, watching him retake his seat on the bench in the court.

Perhaps she's still a hurdle on his track to greatness, and she has Tezuka to thank for that. She can't help but smile slightly. It's good to feel needed.