Youthful Days (Book 1)

11. Likes Attract

"Starting tomorrow, we will be incorporating drills from the tennis team," Emi announced from the front of the gymnasium.

Early evening had started to settle over the school courtyard. In the hazy glow of dusk, the girls' badminton team stood in a horizontal file while captain Nishimura passed around an updated training plan. It was a day after qualifying for the regional championship and the team was going full throttle.

Momoko's jaw dropped when her eyes moved through the grid in hand. "You're kidding, captain! These drills are insane! Why are we following training from a bunch of tennis players, anyway? Don't we have to train a completely different set of muscles?"

"We do." Emi faced Momoko, "We will only be following their drills that target cardiovascular improvement. I will have a different set of conditioning drills mapped out by the end of this week."

"Another set on top of this?" Momoko groaned.

"Looking back at our past performances, I realized that our team has a number of weaknesses that can lead to defeat in the next round. That's why we need to work harder."

"But still... Why follow what the boys are doing?" Momoko was unrelenting. "They're boys, after all."

Rei coughed. "And I thought you were always for being one of the boys... So much for that."

Momoko opened her mouth, but her rebuttal was immediately cut off by Emi's voice. "We're following the boys' drills because Inui Sadaharu has designed a flawless training plan to enhance speed, agility, dexterity, reflexes and stamina. These are basic skills critical to victory. My hope is for us to advance as far as possible at the regional level. Since the tennis team is going all out, let's also put forth our best efforts, shall we?"

Rendered speechless, all Momoko could manage was to bow to her captain, and the rest of the team followed suit respectfully.

***

"Looks like there's no room for rest yet," muttered Rei as she walked out to the courtyard with Ayuna and Momoko.

"Seems like..." Momoko sighed gloomily. "And I thought I could finally sleep in for a few days—but no. Our training just got a lot more brutal!"

"Like the captain said, we can't lose to the boys." Ayuna went on optimistically, "Besides, if both team captains approved Inui-senpai's method, it has to be beneficial."

Rei and Momoko exchanged a pained look.

"Sure, but..." Rei started hesitantly, "Inui's a little—"

"He's a sadistic weirdo, that's what he is!" blurted Momoko. Turning to Ayuna, she said ominously, "You're still new, so you have no idea how evil he can be!"

"Evil? Inui-senpai?"

"What Momoko means is that Inui tends to use punishment as an incentive to make the team train hard," explained Rei.

"What kind of punishment?"

Rei cringed, her face pinched from the unpleasant reminder. "Inui likes to cook up a series of odd juices and force it down his teammates if they fail to meet certain metrics. This has always been an ongoing horror story within the tennis team. Looks like we might suffer the same fate this time."

"How bad can juice be?" Ayuna wondered aloud.

"Oh-ho! It can be extremely bad!" Momoko said darkly, "Nobody knows what he puts in them, but I've seen people pass out cold after drinking his concoctions. This includes the regulars!"

"All regulars except for Fuji," Rei chimed in. "He's the only one who's immune, which is a serious achievement if you ask me."

"Speaking of Fuji-senpai, there's something I need to point out," announced Momoko.