So Wrong So Right

Chapter One

“YAAWWWWNNNN~~!!” Kirihara’s mouth opened wide as if the whole classroom’s oxygen was insufficient for him.

In a flash Sanada’s fist planted heavily on the boy’s head. This scenario seemed to be quite a common sight for the rest of the regulars in the room as none of them stopped what they were doing and continued on without a stir.

“Owwwchhh!!” cried Kirihara rubbing his head.

“Tarundoru!!” Sanada yelled as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and stood before Kirihara’s desk lecturing him. The poor boy just sat sulking in his seat rubbing his head as he received a lecture from the Vice Captain of the Rikkai Dai Tennis Club for the tenth time that week.

The Vice Captain, Sanada, and the brains of the tennis club, Yanagi, decided that it was a good idea to hold an intensive summer holiday homework class at the start of the holiday so that for the rest of the remaining period the team will be able to focus fully on their training for preparation of the Nationals. However, despite giving them substantial time to complete their homework, the members requiring the class still falls on the notorious few.

“Honestly, I don’t know what his problem is. It’s not as if I’ve fallen asleep already… I only yawned.” Kirihara whined after he was sure Sanada was out of the room. “Senpai, don’t you agree?” Kirihara looked to his fellow companions for support that also failed to complete their summer holiday homework in time.

“I personally think I don’t need to be here,” a boy with bright red hair said as he blew a bubble from the gum he was chewing on. “I’m a genius; I can complete my holiday homework in 3 days.”

“I wish I could say the same Bunta…” A sorrowful voice piped in, “but I always start my homework from day one and for some reason…some unknown reason… I always need till the last day to finish mine.” The bald headed darker boy sighed.

“Puri! You bring bad luck to yourself by being so serious Jackal, lighten up, I highly recommend that you should follow Marui’s example.” The trickster of the group smirked as he sat on his table spinning the pen in his hand.

Suddenly out of nowhere a voice appeared behind them. “I don’t believe you’re in the position to give advice to anyone Nioh, considering that you are also here in the intensive class to complete your holiday homework.” Yanagi calmly replied as he placed one hand on Nioh’s shoulder.

Nioh pushed the hand away and smirked “Don’t compare me with the idiots here,” he said as he got up from his desk and dropped a pile of completed homework into Yanagi’s hands and walked out the door. Just as he disappeared behind the door Nioh popped his head back in and said with an extremely teasing smile. “Enjoy the class losers~ I have commitments elsewhere,” and slid the door shut.

“Craaaapppp!!! How can he do this to us?! NOOooOOoo~ how can he go enjoy himself while I’m stuck here~??!!” Kirihara bangs his head on the textbook in front of him and lays motionless face flat on the book.

“No way!! I can’t believe I’m stuck with the idiots here, I don’t belong here!” Marui held his head in frustration.

“….” Jackal continued to scribble at his notebooks silently with a sorrowful expression.

Just as the room began to grow quiet, Kirihara, whom still laid face down on his textbook felt a little tickle on his hand. Without thinking he flicked his hand to rid of the tickling sensation only to hear Marui say, “Wuah… that is a giant cockroach…don’t you take showers Akaya?”

Looking up, Kirihara found he had flicked a giant cockroach from his hand onto the classroom door. Thinking that a little cockroach can’t hurt anyone, while lying back down on his textbook he heard Yanagi said analytically, “There is a 98.4% chance that the cockroach will hide in the gaps of the doors and reproduce, causing the female students of this classroom to generate cries of abnormal amplitude intolerable to the human ear.”

With that Kirihara jumped up and began battling the cockroach. Just when he had the cockroach cornered he picked up the heaviest textbook he could find and threw it at the door where the cockroach was holding onto for dear life.

“Ha! This is for you, DIE!!! Hahahahaha!!” Kirihara laughed as he threw the textbook at the defenceless cockroach.

At that very moment the door slid open. Bang! Bull’s Eye! The textbook hit the person behind the door face on.

“...Shoot…what did I hit?” Kirihara said with his hand in his mouth worried.

“Umm… I think you should take a closer look at the door, Akaya…” Jackal replied tugging at Kirihara’s sleeve and pointed to the floor right before the door.

At the door lay a girl immobilised by a huge chemistry textbook that flew from the door and hit her in the face leaving her motionless on the floor.

“Uh oh…you’re in trouble now…” Marui said with an unpitying voice still blowing bubbles with his gum.

***

woke up with a throbbing pain on her forehead. “Owww…” she moaned as she got up from the bed she was lying on.

reached up to touch her forehead only to find the wound unbearable to touch. She couldn’t remember where she was or what time it was. All of a sudden her surroundings became clear. She was sitting on a bed in a school hospital wing. Just when she was wondering why she was in a hospital wing something caught her eye. ’s entire body froze. A boy. A boy was sleeping in the chair next to her bed with his head laid on the bed. He had very messy wavy hair that could only liken to as seaweed. The thing that chilled the most was his face. It looked like it had just been badly beaten, swollen and with band-aids stuck all over it.

“Uh…” paused before saying anything more. She thought twice about waking the strange boy. As she was deciding on what to do next ran her hand through her long silky black hair thinking, looking for answers.

had just returned to Japan with her family from Australia after spending her entire life in Australia. Despite ’s strong objections, her parents thought it would be good for to experience and know the country of her ancestry and enrolled her in the high school her parents attended. When dropped into the school to finalise her enrolment, the principal suggested that it might be nice to have a look around the school before the school semester started.

“Hmm…” frowned scratching her head, “I remember I was looking for my classroom…but…did…did a textbook fly out from the door???” questioned herself scratching her head harder.

“Yaawwwnn~~” the boy lying on ’s bed stirred and sat up from his chair, stretching. Then as he wiped his eyes he caught sight of .

“Oh good you’re finally awake.” He said lazily. “Sanada-fukubuchou would not allow me to leave until you’re awake otherwise he said he’ll use me for his sword practise” The boy said as he shuddered at the thought.

“Who…who’s Sanada? And who are you??” asked, holding up her blanket close to her looking at the boy in distrust.

“Oh yea introductions…” The boy scratched his nose. “I’m Kirihara Akaya second year high school and I am the ace of Rikkai Dai Tennis Club! Sanada is the Vice Captain of the tennis club but not for long, I will beat him good and I will be Captain!” He said with a proud and triumphant voice.

“You expect to beat me when you don’t even have the discipline to finish your homework??!!” A voice boomed from behind them as the door slid open and a boy wearing a black cap stood at the door with an extremely stern face.

“Sa…Sanada fukubuchou??!! Man~ I swear he’s a ghost! How can he always manage to come out at the right time? He must’ve planted a bug in me or something!” Kirihara mumbled to himself but had barely finished when Sanada planted his fist in the boy’s head once again.

“ , I apologise sincerely on behalf of my idiotic junior. My inability to control my juniors also show my own incapability, I am sorry for your injury, if there is anyway we can make it up to you, please don’t hesitate to say it.” Sanada said sternly as he pressed Kirihara’s head down with him in an apologetic bow.

sat there watching, slightly amused at the show they just put on. “Um, no it’s alright I think I just got a slight bump on the head but it’s nothing serious, trust me I know I’ve gotten worse! Hahaha!” Seeing their reaction quickly added, “I do gymnastics and we have our little accidents every now and then, heh…” she said poking her tongue out and scratched her head in shyness. “More importantly, how did you know my name?” asked.

“Uh…” Sanada hesitated.

Kirihara continued confidently as a-matter-of-factly. “After I accidentally threw the textbook at you, Sanada fukubuchou punished me severely and all the yelling from Sanada fukubuchou plus my wailing caused quite a commotion so the principal came to see what all the fuss was about and that’s when he mentioned your name.” Kirihara replied grinning happily.

Upon hearing the explanation froze in her smile. She glared at the curly haired boy sitting in front of her and asked again. “So, YOU threw the HUGE chemistry textbook at me?” continued to smile rigidly.

“Actually I was throwing the textbook at a cockroach but I guess your luck was worse than the cockroach that you happened to open the door at that moment!” Kirihara snorted.

felt a vein pop in her head. The boy just compared her to a cockroach and not only that, he did not seem minutely sorry for what he had done.

“Actually, I just remembered something you CAN do for me Kirihara-san.” said in a cute and innocent voice, “I still haven’t had a chance to look at my classroom yet so can you show me around the school and accompany me to the classroom?” she pleaded in the sweetest voice.

“Eh? Why me?” Kirihara started to whine but as soon as he saw Sanada’s clenched fist he agreed.

***

“Che, why do I have to show this girl around the school?” Kirihara thought to himself as he reluctantly made the rounds and showed the school grounds, the cafeteria and the classrooms.

Kirihara couldn’t believe his luck. He had never meant to throw the textbook at her in the first place. He was simply doing his duty exterminating the cockroach and now he was being punished for her own bad luck.

“Arrggh!” Kirihara grunted as he ruffled his already-messy hair in frustration.

Just when Kirihara thought there was nothing more that could happen to make the situation worse, a figure at the end of the corridor came towards them. Nioh was wearing a mischievous grin on his face, walking casually towards them with his hands in his pocket.

“Yo! Akaya, got a new girlfriend? She’s very pretty.” Nioh teased playfully, placing his fingers under his chin, as if imitating an artist examining a precious art.

“GE? Girlfriend? Please~ I’d rather die than be stuck with this bad luck pair of goo-goo eyes!!” Kirihara replied in disgust as he continued to ruffle his ever-increasing-messy hair.

“Oh?” Nioh replied amused and turned to , “Hi, I’m Nioh Masaharu third year, what’s your name pretty lady?”

stared at Nioh blankly, but managed to fumble out “ , second year…”

“Oh, second year as well? Well, considering your fellow second year over there seemed reluctant to take you around, would you consider giving me the honour instead?” Nioh smiled teasingly, curious to know what this new toy would bring him.

“No, thank you. I really prefer Kirihara-kun to take me.” smiled sweetly back at Nioh.

“Oh?” Nioh raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised at her reaction. He then turns and places a hand on Kirihara’s shoulder mimicking a fatherly tone, “Well aren’t you lucky? Your pretty little girlfriend stands by you. Well, I better leave you two love birds and be on my way, puri!” Nioh chuckled and walked off.

“Wait!” Kirihara yelled with his hands stretched out to Nioh as if begging for salvation.

It wasn’t long before Kirihara and were left standing alone in the corridor again.

“Why? Why? Why couldn’t she choose Nioh?” Kirihara thought cursing within himself. Then he turned to look at carefully. was standing in the corridor with her hands behind her back, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, humming happily.

“Taking aside the bump on her forehead, she is actually on the pretty side.” Kirihara thought to himself but immediately began hitting and vigorously shaking his head to rid the thought. He hated girls with large innocent goo-goo eyes that scream at everything and anything. There was no way he will ever lower himself to be attracted to someone like her.

“Kirihara-kun~ I know you’re frustrated and you just wanted to go home, so the sooner we get to the classroom the sooner you can go home right?” fluttered her eyelashes and smiled sweetly at Kirihara.

“Wuah! The eyelashes…I really need to get out of here!” Kirihara thought to himself as he felt goose bumps popped up on his skin.

“Alright,” Kirihara replied coldly, as he regained his composure “it’s just round this corner…”

When and Kirihara reached the classroom, Kirihara slid open the door and showed the classroom. It was exactly how he and the other regulars have left it, books and notes scattered all over the floor, textbooks piled up on the desks.

“Alright here it is, see ya!” Kirihara said as he turned to try to leave the classroom as soon as he possibly can.

“Wait~~ can you come in for a second?” pleaded still fluttering her eyelashes.

“What does she want now?” Kirihara scowled to himself. Kirihara was beginning to get quite annoyed as he reluctantly stepped into the classroom.

BANG! Before Kirihara could react, a huge chemistry textbook came flying to his face and hit him hard on the face. Kirihara stood there stunned with a red nose.

“Hahahahahahahahaha! Sucker!!” laughed holding her stomach with one hand and pointing her finger at Kirihara with the other.

Kirihara continued to stand there in the state of shock when walked pass him and patted him sympathetically on the shoulder. “Oh dear, I’m sorry, the textbook ‘accidentally’ slipped out of my hand Kirihara-kun. Maybe that cockroach you tried to kill had better luck than you.” she said in the most sarcastic tone possible and walked out the door sliding it shut behind her.

Kirihara could not move for several minutes, he just stood there rubbing his nose, trying to figure out what just happened.

“She is cute…” He finally uttered.

Clatter! Clang! Smash!

Immediately Kirihara turned to the direction of the noise and caught briefly a red, silver and a baldhead disappear into the storage room. Kirihara narrowed his eyes, rushed to the storage room and slid the door open.

To his surprise, he found nothing but a collection of old musical instruments.

“Strange…” Kirihara ruffled his hair again in confusion.

He had one last look around before picking up his bag and headed home.

As Kirihara walked home he looked to the chemistry textbook in his hand. An image formed in his mind of a beautiful girl laughing without pretence or reservation, smiling cheekily at him. Kirihara placed a hand over his heart as he felt a small tinge. Unaware of what’s happening, Kirihara shook his head, threw the textbook back in his bag, zipped it up and didn’t give it a second thought.

***

“Oi~ I think he’s gone” Marui whispered as he opened the lid of the piano and slowly crawled out from inside the piano.

“I knew that Akaya was a sadist but his taste seems to suggest that he is also masochist” Nioh sniggered as he got out of the cello case and dusted himself.

“I’m concerned…” Jackal said as he stood up from behind the large drum and took the cymbal off his head.

***

It had been three days since the little ‘textbook’ incident at the school. looked in the mirror and found the bump on her head completely healed. With a sigh of relief plunged herself onto her bed. Moving her focus from the ceiling, she turned her head and looked out the window. It was a beautiful summer day. She had nothing better to do now that she’s finally unpacked and settled into the new house. School was still on holidays and will not start for another month.

“Mum! I’m going out to have a look around!” yelled as she grabbed her bag and headed for the door.

“Just be back for dinner!” Her mum replied, not looking up from the magazine she was reading from behind the sofa.

prowled the busy streets and shops, it was Sunday morning and already people were out and about. As she looked around, one shop caught her attention. Without second thought ran to the shop and entered.

Inside the shop were shelves of sporting gear and equipment broken down into different sporting categories. skimmed the shelves for weights. She wasn’t allowed to bring her weights from Australia and she  had wanted to start training for gymnastics again before the holidays were over.

“… isn’t it?” a voice called from behind her.

turned around and found a silver haired boy with a little plait stood glowing at her. She recognized him from the school as the boy who had offered to show her around but she had kindly rejected.

“Er…you’re Neon wasn’t it?” her mind racing trying to find the correct name.

“Nioh,” he corrected her with a little chuckle.

“Hahahaha! My bad, but seriously Neon sounds nicer, you should consider changing it!” laughed trying to cover up her moment of embarrassment, “So what brought you here Neon, I mean Nioh! Damn it!” smacked her head with her hand as she corrected herself.

Nioh chuckled. He has never really seen a girl like , especially with what he witnessed at the school when she took her revenge out on Kirihara.

“Well, considering that I’m in a sporting goods store, what else can I do but look for sporting goods.” Nioh answered with a smile on his face and an obvious intent to tot her.

’s eyes narrowed. She knew what he was up to. “Yea…well you never know, from the looks of things you might be here to check out hot chicks…” toted back, “BUT unfortunately I’m not one of them, so I guess I’ll leave you to it then…Neo…” she paused before she could say in a triumphant voice “NIOH!!”

Nioh smiled. There was no way that he was just going to let her go when he haven’t even began to have fun with her yet.

“Who says you weren’t a hot chick?” Nioh continued, “Why else would I bother talking to you?” Nioh teased, as the mischievous smile began to grow even wider.

rolled her eyes. She really wasn’t in the mood for this but then she smiled and turned towards him with an even more mischievous grin on her face as she innocently said, “In that case Nioh-san~~~” nagged with a childish voice, “you wouldn’t mind buying this set of weights here for the pwetty lady right~~~??”   toted as she handed Nioh the set of weights she had been eyeing.

Nioh’s eyes widened as he saw the ingenious trap left for him. Chuckling happily to himself he took the weights from her and headed to the cashier. She was a dangerous toy, but he loved it.

“Umm… Neon?’ piped up from behind him as she chased him to the cashier.

“Nioh,” he corrected her again as he placed the weights at the cashier and took out his wallet.

“Damn it!!!” growled as she grabbed a nearby racquet and smacked her head with it.

Before Nioh could pay the cashier grabbed the hand that was holding out the money, pushed it down and looked sternly at him. “I was joking Nioh, you don’t need to buy it for me” firmly said.

Nioh smiled, he was beginning to quite like this girl. “It is my honor, pretty lady, or did you not believe me when I said you were a hot chick?” Nioh took her hand away and paid the cashier.

When they left the store Nioh smiled at and passed her the bag of weights. “Here you go princess, do I get a kiss?” Nioh teased, his eyes grinning as much as his mouth.

Immediately, took out some money and placed it in Nioh’s hand. “I don’t want you to buy it.” insisted crossing her arms in front of her.

Nioh chuckled and pushed the money back to her but before he could had already begun sprinting at full speed. Nioh chortled, he could not believe the challenges this girl was bringing him and began sprinting after her.

Nioh was surprised at ’s speed. It was even difficult for him who was a Rikkai Dai regular to catch up to her. However, considering that he was 175 cm tall and was only 156 cm it did not take long before he caught up to her. Nioh grabbed her from behind, locking both ’s arms in and held her tightly. finding herself in a most awkward position tried to wriggle herself free.

“Wuaaahhh!! Let me go!” cried as she realized both her arms have been locked in by Nioh and could not move.

“Only if you promise to take back the money.” Nioh said tightening his arms around as she tried to struggle some more.

“NOPE!” said as she puffed her cheeks stubbornly.

Nioh chortled again, “Alright, how about this? You still take back the money, but you buy me a drink instead. Do we have a deal?”

, still in Nioh’s death grip thought for a moment. “Yea…alright” finally agreed still puffing her cheeks.

Finally Nioh let her go but without first saying cheekily, “Maybe I shouldn’t have made you that deal, I quite enjoyed holding onto you like that.” He chuckled. narrowed her eyes but chose to ignore him.

Just as and Nioh were about to head to the nearest café for a drink, a girl carrying a tennis bag on her shoulder suddenly stood before them. “Oi You!” The girl pointed at .

stood there pointing at herself blankly, “Me?” looked to Nioh just to make sure.

“Is something wrong Kuroda?” Nioh asked curiously.

“You know her?” asked Nioh still with her finger pointed at herself.

“Well, she’s a regular from our club’s female team and, a classmate of mine” Nioh answered, purposely not revealing details.

“So this is the type of girl you like Nioh?” The girl said with tears in her eyes. “You rejected me because of her?”

“Huh? Waitwaitwaitwait…” waved her hands about in panic finally understanding the situation completely.

Nioh placed his arm around ’s shoulder and smiled, “Sorry Kuroda but the matter of fact is she takes my interest more than you.” Nioh said genuinely, for he was telling the truth.

felt a vein popped in her head again as she glared at Nioh for being counter-productive. Nioh just continued smiling happily at as he guided her past Kuroda towards the café they were heading for.

“Wait! Let me challenge her to tennis! Otherwise I will not give up!” Kuroda yelled at them.

“Huh? Tennis? But I…” started, but before she could finished, Kuroda whispered in her ear, “I will make you cry!”

was immediately fired up at what she said. She didn’t care whether or not she only did tennis in PE when she was in Australia. She wanted to make Kuroda sorry.

Nioh sensed Kuroda had provoked tried to help her out of the situation. “Kuroda, this has got nothing to do with , leave her out of it.” Nioh began, but stopped him.

“What are you talking about Nioh? I was in the school tennis team in Australia! It’s a great opportunity for me to practice my tennis!” fired back.

Nioh knew that was lying for he recalled Kirihara saying that she did gymnastics. However, he knew that with , it was no use to stop her.

***

, Nioh and Kuroda arrived at the street courts near a local park. Kuroda began unzipping her bag, taking out her racquet and tennis balls.

“Nioh...” looked at Nioh with a stern expression.

“I don’t have a racquet. Hahahaha!!” laughed as she poked her tongue out and scratched her head in embarrassment.

Nioh chortled, nearly biting his own tongue. Then he walked over to Kuroda, said something and walked back with Kuroda’s spare racquet.

“Here,” He said as he handed the racquet to , “Are you really sure you want to do this?” He asked as he sat down next to .

“AAABBBBBSolutely!” said with utmost confidence as she took the racquet from him and smiled, “Just remember I’m not doing this because I’m fighting for you!” She said as she poked out a tongue at Nioh.

“That may be~ but still I’m free to imagine whatever I want.” Nioh grinned mischievously.

“Yeps! Dream on buddy!” answered as she stood up and headed to the court.

walked to the net where Kuroda was. Kuroda stood there holding her racquet with the racquet head touching the floor.

“Which?” Kuroda asked as she prepared to spin the racquet.

“What?” asked in confusion. Kuroda nearly fell over at her comment.

“Which side?? Are you really sure you were in the tennis team?” Kuroda asked as she regained her composure and prepared to spin the racquet again.

“Huh? Which side of what? Why are we doing this?” continued to ask getting rather annoyed at Kuroda. She doesn’t recall covering this in PE.

Nioh couldn’t stop laughing at the sight. Instead he walked up to them and said to Kuroda, “Kuroda, why don’t you take the service and choose which side of the court you want. I think in Australia they used a different way to decide who gets to serve first and from which side of the court to serve from.”

looked at Nioh sheepishly as she just realized she had her ass saved by him. Nioh just kept laughing quietly to himself as he headed up to the umpire’s seat and sat down.

“One set game, Kuroda to serve.” Nioh announced as Kuroda prepared to serve.

Whooosh! The ball flew past . did not even have the time to react. Looking up at Kuroda saw her smirking triumphantly. smiled back as she continued to watch Kuroda serve the ball past her again and again.

“Match won by Kuroda, to serve.” Nioh announced. Nioh looked at , she hadn’t even attempted to move when Kuroda was serving but yet there she was, smiling confidently.

moved to the back of the court, picked up the ball and positioned herself to serve. She closed her eyes for a few seconds before serving. When she opened her eyes to serve, Nioh and Kuroda were shocked by what they saw. The ball went wheezing past the net at an incredible speed. It didn’t make the service line, but her form was exactly like Kuroda.

Nioh widened his eyes. Kuroda was one of the best servers in the female team. In order to successfully serve fast and low, her serves have an incredible topspin and to achieve that spin, her body needed to be forced out of its normal posture. Something that was an incredible burden to the body and Kuroda only managed after years of training. However, had managed to imitate her form perfectly and matched her speed, in fact surpassed her speed.

continued to serve, each time the ball getting closer and closer to the service line.

“Match won by Kuroda, Kuroda to serve.” Nioh announced but began to get more and more interested in what was capable of.

Kuroda was beginning to sweat. She had no idea that was capable to imitate her. Not only that, was getting closer and closer to perfecting the serve. Looking down at the ball she gripped it tightly.

“You maybe able to imitate me but you still can’t receive it!” Kuroda yelled as she smashed the ball down into ’s court. moved in a flash. She was already in perfect position to receive the ball. However, when she swung her racquet the ball flew out the court.

“Ari?” tilted her head in deep thought. Then she looked at her racquet, scratching the side of her face.

“Hahahaha! What kind of shot was that? You’re a disgrace to your country and team!” Kuroda laughed uncontrollably.

Nioh couldn’t help but be impressed. had incredible agility. Her astonishing reflexes and speed caused her to position herself perfectly to hit the shot. She just lacked tennis experience, as her swing was still quite immature.

“She would be a terrific asset to the club.” a voice suddenly spoke up from behind Nioh.

“Yo, Yanagi the game caught your interest as well?” Nioh snickered, “So what do you think Yagyuu?” Nioh turned to the person standing beside Yanagi.

“I believe, what did you say her name was again Yanagi?” Yagyuu turned to ask Yanagi.

“ .” he replied, eyes still on the game.

“I believe -san will still lose a few more matches but from there she will turn the game over wouldn’t you agree Yanagi?” Yagyuu commented, pushing his glasses up to his nose.

“There is a 68.7% of her turning the game over after the fourth game, a 43.6% of her turning it after the fifth game but only 9.4% of her not turning it over at all.” Yanagi analyzed.

Kuroda wiped the sweat from her brow. She had already won three matches but in the third match , somehow after doing some beginner shots, towards the end of the match begun to control the ball quite well.

“Match won by Kuroda, to serve.” Nioh continued to announce.

This time after had a feel for the ball and racquet, her serve went in perfectly.

“Don’t underestimate me! I am, after all a Rikkai Dai regular!” Kuroda yelled as she received the ball back.

and Kuroda began an intensive rally. They had gone into their 8^th advantage before Kuroda finally lured to one side of the court leaving the other side empty. Kuroda immediately smashed the ball into the other side of the court where she knew it was too late for to get to. seeing what Kuroda did, leap from where she was into a backward somersault and in mid air scooped up the ball and sent it flying back into Kuroda’s court.

Out. The ball landed in the doubles court.

“Match won by Kuroda, Kuroda to serve”

“It’s time…” Yanagi’s voice trailed off.

“It’s time to what?” A beaming face with messy curly hair suddenly popped up from behind them.

Kirihara was taking a walk when he saw an assembly of the Rikkai Dai regulars and out of curiosity came to see what they were up to. His eyes followed the direction of their focus and saw the two figures on the court.

“Wuah… is playing Kuroda? Isn’t Kuroda like the top 3 players of the female team? What’s the score?”

“4-0 Kuroda’s way,” Nioh replied without looking at him.

“Wuah~!” Kirihara exclaimed. “Well I guess you can’t expect more than that, did gymnastics in school not tennis.” Kirihara said as he squatted down on the ground and sat himself down on the grass.

Yagyuu’s eyes widened. “She’s not a tennis player?” He exclaimed quite surprised at the news.

“Hmmm… there is an 87.4% chance that did rhythmic gymnastics. Mainstream gymnastics can provide you with the agility, strength and speed required in tennis, but the hand-eye coordination that displays, shows that she has been well trained in using tools. Thus, explaining her ability to control the racquet and ball.”

“What are you guys talking about? Isn’t she losing badly?” Kirihara scowled.

“Match won by , to serve.” Nioh announced as if answering Kirihara’s question.

Kirihara immediately turned to the court. Kuroda was sweating very badly and had a very cheeky smile on her face. Kirihara found himself grinning like an idiot when he saw the smile but immediately snapped himself out of it.

As walked to the back of the court to prepare for her serve again, she looked up at Kuroda and smiled, “Kuroda, see if you can receive this!” yelled as her service form changed.

Instead of doing the normal imitation, she threw the ball up high and with an incredible jump she lifted herself high up in the air, then as she came down, using the force of gravity she smashed the ball, sending it spinning into Kuroda’s court.

The ball disappeared in mid air but then Kuroda found the ball rolling back into ’s court, leaving only a very definite ball mark in the service court to determine that the serve was in.

The whole court fell silent. No one could say a thing for several minutes.

“…I lost…” Kuroda finally said as she fell down on her knees, crying.

“Eh~~? What are you talking about Kuroda? You’re winning by 3 matches!”  ran up to Kuroda crouching down next to her patting her gently on the back.

“The result is the same, I know how much more of a stronger player you are than me. No wonder you’re a representative player from your school in Australia.” Kuroda continued to weep.

scratched her nose and wondered whether she should tell her that she had never really played tennis before but decided that it was just plain mean to do so.

“Kuroda, thank you, I had a lot of fun.” grinned shaking Kuroda’s hand, “Most of all, I only became better because you were so good to begin with.”