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

Part 40

"Those guys from Rokkaku are something else..." Ryumi sighs to herself, watching Taka-san and Momo battle it out against Amane, also called David and Kurobane, also dubbed as Bane-chan by the kids that came to cheer their favorite club on.

Here they are in the semi-finals and each and everyone player from Rokakku play with a wooden racket, all made by that old man that is their coach. And to top it off, their captain is a first year.

She chuckles inwardly at the memory of Kentarou practically fangirling over her little brother the day before when they ran into the team by chance. He is a very excited boy.

She holds up her phone snapping a picture. She will send that one to Tezuka, along with a report of their progress after this match. He send her an e-mail earlier, asking her to keep him up to speed. She supposes, no matter the time in Germany right now, Tezuka is wide-awake.

A little while later she is happy to text him about their victory. It was a narrow escape, but a victory non-the-less. Again the both of them have grown since the last match.

Putting her phone away, she scoots to the edge of her seat now that Eiji and Fuji will go on doubles 1. This is going to be really interesting.

Just two more days and she will be standing in the same spot that Fuji is now, next to Eiji, trying to get into the intersexual championship. She asked Eiji if it would be all right so soon after this match, but he is confident that it will be okay.

She feels excited just thinking about it. No more playing around. Her first serious match after her accident is approaching!

Pulling her attention back to the match, she watches Saeki and Itsuki approach the field. Saeki is the vice-captain of Rokkaku and an old friend of Fuji. He looks kind enough, but he doesn't look like he plans to go easy on Fuji, but then again, Fuji never went easy on anyone before, only perhaps to spite them.

The match starts and to anyone from the outside, it looks pretty horrible. Fuji and Eiji are each doing their own thing, not acting like a pair at all, but... "That's how they play doubles. To make the most of each other's abilities, they focus on their own play instead of the combination. They know each other's capabilities so well, and trust each other completely, that's why they can play like that." Oishi explains.

The match is going great with three games to nothing until Saeki seems to catch onto Eiji's movements and managing to direct the ball in the opposite way Eiji was intending to go. Eiji grows visibly irritated.

He is disappointed when Fuji cuts into his play to save them from losing another point. But when Saeki continues to play around with him a new sort of determination grows in Eiji's eyes.

As he tries to break through Saeki's play, Fuji is there to cover him as long as he needs it. It does mean they can no longer just play their own style. They need to start working together.

Finally Eiji manages to catch up to Saeki's shots, moving faster than he ever has and zigzagging across the court. He decides in advanced which way he will go and so where Saeki will aim. And when a ball does get passed him, Fuji counters.

Ryumi look at him worriedly as they take five. If he's running twice the distance with every shot, he'll tire out pretty quickly. He is already breathing hard as it is.

"Take a break Eiji, I'll take care of the rest." Fuji tells him, putting his game face on.

Rokkaku catches up a little when Eiji botches up his service game and as he's being targeted, they loose even more points. He's just too tired at the moment. Fuji will have to step it up.

He takes over the game, also taking the shots aimed at Eiji. It's basically like a two against one game from there on and he prepares to use his counters to turn it back around.

Itsuki however seems to have prepared himself for this and breaks trough Fuji's Tsubame Gaeshi. He completely halts the ball's topspin.

Fuji however isn't called a tensai for no reason. He slices the ball, giving it the spin it needs. Itsuki manages to return it, but it ends up smashing into the net.

As Itsuki manages to pass the next one over, Fuji creates even more spin, but as long as the ball isn't perfectly rolling on the ground like Fuji's move normally does, Itsuki seems to be able to get it.

Ryumi glances towards Eiji who is standing there, recharging. She hopes he will catch his breath again soon. He has trained especially hard to pump up his stamina.

She smiles when she notices Fuji manipulating Itsuki's shots so it will pass over the net, just skimming on it lightly, creating a tad bit of spin to the ball. It's just what he needs to perfect the Tsubame Gaeshi. From here on, Itsuki won't reach it any longer.

Saeki catches on finally and tells his partner to switch up his game. Itsuki goes for a lob.

Ryumi looks to Eiji once again. A distinct twitch of the muscle tells her he's ready. She smiles. "Eiji!"

His eyes snap open. He dashes to the back of the court, passed Fuji who could never make the lob from when he stands.

"Kikumaru smash!" he calls, jumping and twisting in the air.

"Game and match to Seigaku, 6 to 2!" the umpire calls.

"Just in the nick of time." Ryumi sighs, whipping out her phone again to take a picture of the winning pair. All is good so far.

Like Ryoma asked, he got set up for singles three, against Kentarou. Though it may not seem like it, Ryoma's set on defeating him after the practice match they had yesterday. Kentarou, like Ryoma has a lot of skill and talent.

It shows in the match when they go head to head, playing on equal grounds. Points are slowly made, but each time they manage to catch up to the other. The sun is slowly setting on this match. Will they even finish before darkness falls completely?

Everyone looks bummed out when the umpire calls it a day when the game score reaches 4 to 4. They'll have to finish tomorrow.

..........

"Is Ryoma already gone?" Ryumi asks her dad the next morning, not seeing Ryoma anywhere.

"Mh. The boy was impatient. He's been out for hours already." he reveals.

"Is that right? Kentarou must've gotten into his head huh?" she muses before bending down and petting Karupin who is begging for attention. "Let's make him something nice for breakfast then, for when his nerves calmed down, right Karupin?" The Himalayan cat meows loudly in reply, following her to the kitchen.

"Speaking of nerves..." her dad starts.

"None whatsoever!" his daughter calls from the kitchen, making him raise a curious brow. "I'm just excited. With Eiji... it'll be alright." she mutters.

"Ah? Is that so?" Nanjiro hums. "Don't get distracted because your sweetheart is in the field. I did once, ended up with a headache. Couldn't help myself, your mom had a nice-... Ahh!"

He jumps aside when a zucchini comes hurdling his way. "Shut up old man! I don't want to hear your perverted thoughts!"