New comrades, new secrets

I: New boy

" Echizen, Echizen!" Ryoma Echizen turned his head to come face to face with Momo senpai who was running towards him, waving and shouting his name aloud.

" Momo senpai. What's up?" Ryoma inquired. It was one thing for Momo senpai to come running towards him happily after tennis practice, suggesting that they go to grab a bite together, and another for Momo senpai to come running towards him and shouting out his name urgently. Especially since practice wasn't going to end anytime soon.

"Echizen! Have you heard the news?" Momo asked

"What news?"

"Apprarently, there's--" Momo started to say when he noticed a tall, brown haired guy walk into the tennis courts. The guy, with his oval spectacles reflecting the afternoon sunlight, wore a grim expression on his face. That was their captain, Tezuka Kunimitsu.

"Everyone, gather here now" Tezuka ordered. The chit chats during rest time, tennis matches between the regulars and the members and water break all came to a stop. Once everyone has gathered, he turned and beckoned. A boy that was about Ryoma's height walked in.

"Everyone, this is our new member, Kikumaru Eriku. He is a first year and will be joining us for practice from now." Tezuka announced, his face still grim. Ryoma wondered why the captain looked so grim when there was a new addition to the members. He looks as though he disapproves of this new member, Ryoma thought.

"Wait a minute. Kikumaru?" Oishi asked incredulously. He turned to his doubles partner who was standing by his side, and raised an eyebrow.

"This new member isn't related to you in anyway, is he?" Oishi asked.

A weird look flashed across Eiji's face. " N...no. of course not! How can I be related to him? Didn't you know that Kikumaru is a very common surname here in Japan?" He answered quickly.

Oishi cocked his head to one side before deciding that Eiji shouldn't be lying. He shrugged and turned his attention back to this new addition to their club. At the same time, there were whispers all around as all of the other members debated whether Kikumaru was related to this new member in some way or another. Ryoma shifted his cap lower and closed one eye before checking the new member out lazily. This new member had pale brownish hair,easily mistaken as a shade of blond, but his eyes was that of an asian, brownish black. He looked confident while he swung his racket around his wrist. This was a familiar action. It reminded him of...

"Kikumaru! He is definitely related to him!" someone said aloud. Everyone nodded in agreement and turned to glance at Eiji. Eiji was frowning, an expression rarely found on his face, as he stared at the new member.

"Eriku..." he muttered under his breath.

"All right, everyone. Return to practice immediately. And you, Eriku, pick up the tennis balls with the rest of the first years. Dismissed" Tezuka commanded.

"Yes, Captain!" everyone echoed. All but one.

"Captain Tezuka, I want to participate in matches instead of picking up balls." Eriku objected. Everyone stared at him in shock. No one had ever defied the captain's commands. And neither had any first year declined the job of picking up balls and insisted on playing matches. No one but...

They all turned their heads to Ryoma. That cocky attitude of the new boy was similar to his. Ryoma shrugged. He closed his other eye as he muttered, "mada mada dane" (you still have a long way to go). He expected the Captain to refuse the boy's request.

Sure enough, Captain Tezuka refused. Annoyance flashed past Eriku's face but he kept quiet. Tezuka's face was still tense as he regarded the rest before he dismissed them once again. He waited for Eriku to trudge away before calling out to Eiji.

"Eiji, meet me at the clubroom for a moment" he said. Eiji jumped slightly before following Tezuka. Ryoma adjusted his cap once again as he watched the two of them walk away, deep in his thoughts. He was about to turn away and buy himself his favourite drink, Ponta, after seeing the two figures disappear down the path when Momo slung his arm around Ryoma's neck.

"Echizen! Let's have a practice match. Its been a long time since we played." Momo beamed and started dragging Ryoma with him.

"Wait a moment, Momo senpai..." Ryoma struggled and tried to wriggle his way through but failed in his attempt. There goes my drink, he thought wistfully.

"Wait a minute." A loud voice commanded. Momo turned while Ryoma struggled and wriggled till he could slightly turn around to face the source of that command.

"Aren't you a first year too? You are not allowed to play matches you know? You have to pick up tennis balls from the ground." Ryoma turned and found himself face to face with Eriku. He gave a slight smile at Eriku's ignorance, and replied cockily, "mada mada dane."

Anger rose immediately rose inside Eriku. He had been annoyed with Tezuka's decision and now that he found out that this first year was given special privileges, he was furious. Especially since this first year dared to act cocky towards him. Who was this first year? He wasn't much taller than himself and yet he dared to put on airs around him? I'll show him, Eriku thought. I'll show him who is the one that has a long way to go.

Raising his racket, Eriku pointed it straight at Ryoma. His eyes were blazing with fury as he shouted, "How dare you! I challenge you to have a match with me and see if who is the one that has a long way to go!"

Momo's beam disappeared and he raised an eyebrow at the new member. He has the guts, Momo thought, to challenge the top tennis player in junior high to a match. He glanced down at the boy that he still held under his arms. What would be Echizen's response? He wondered.

"Fine by me." Ryoma replied. Eriku's eyes widened when he heard Ryoma's reply to his challenge. This boy had just agreed to his challenge easily, as though it was a piece of cake. Who was this guy?

On the other hand, Momo was taken aback by surprise too. He let go of Ryoma.

"Echizen! You can't. You know its against the rules to play a match with a first year." Momo objected.

"I'm a first year too, Momo senpai." Ryoma said briefly before straightening his back. He adjusted his cap and walked over to his bag and took out his racket. Plucking at the strings, he checked that his racket was in good condition before turning back to Eriku, who was at a loss of words. He did not know if he should be insulted at the fact that Ryoma had seemed to think that he was an easy opponent, or be awed by the fact that he had the guts to accept the challenge easily.

"Block A tennis court." Ryoma said before trudging towards the court that he and Eriku's match will be held at, leaving Momo and Eriku behind, both staring at his back.

Momo stood there for awhile, before turning to the new member and said sympathetically, "Good luck against Echizen. You'll be lucky if you manage to win a round from him." He patted Eriku on his back as a sign of encouragement, before heading off to tell the rest of the regulars about the match. Eriku stood at the same spot. He clenched his fists before turning to grab his racket.

"I made it all the way here. I can't let a boy beat me just like that. I'll show them. I'll show them my style of tennis." He muttered determinedly.

I wrote this story on fanfiction.net 4 years ago and decided to upload this here after correcting a few grammatical and punctuation errors I made then! I'll be continuing this story on both websites so yeap, hope you like it! :)