Deafening Silence ( prince of tennis) (#wattys2016)

9

Am I updating too often? I'm still off school so my target is one chapter a day, but I don't know if that's too fast, it kinda kills the suspense of the next chapter. Meh.

Rikkaidai Fuzoku Tennis Courts

Court A

"Game and match, Jackal Kuwahara! 7-6!"

Jackal tried to maintain his dignity by standing up straight after such an intense match, but it seemed impossible, and he supported himself on his knees, breathing heavily and looking over to Marui, who was worse for wear. He was on the ground, gasping for air, his red-pink hair matted with sweat and he was looking up at the clouds.

The match had dragged on for just over half an hour, and Jackal was glad that it had finally ended. He was surprised at how much of a fight Marui put up, he expected the pink-haired tensai to collapse after the sixth game, but he kept on going and attacking until Jackal was on the defensive. If he hadn't tripped and fell on the last shot he probably would have won.

Jackal sighed to himself, entirely unsatisfied by his victory, but at least it was over now. Jackal went to the bench on the side of the court and picked up his water bottle, emptying the whole thing in one drink, and wiping his face of sweat with a towel.

Marui seemed to pick himself up after a while, and practically dragged himself to the bench where Jackal was sat down. He too gulped all of his water down and then threw himself on the bench and groaned loudly.

Jackal was honestly guilty about the match. His doubles partner was his best friend, and he felt kind of sad seeing Marui practically dying next to him, smothering himself with a towel. He knew that it was irrational to feel bad for Marui, considering he was his opponent, but Jackal couldn't help but wonder if maybe he should have held back.

"Jackal" he heard a weak voice from under the towel. Jackal turned his head towards the headless teenage boy.

"Yeah?" he asked tightly, unable to see his partner like this.

"Food" Marui groaned. Jackal stopped for a moment, expecting something else, and then started chuckling to himself. Even when Marui was on the edge of death he wanted food. Jackal supposed that that was why he liked Marui, he always had that comical side to him whatever is going on. Jackal reached into his bag and pulled out a small paper box, which contained several honey-glazed muffins he kept for emergencies - mainly to pacify Marui. Marui removed the towel from his head and looked up, his amethyst eyes getting larger at the sight of the cake.

Jackal passed one of the muffins to Marui, who snatched it and quickly devoured it without a word spoken. Jackal smiled to himself and took a muffin of his own, taking small bites out of it while watching Marui's expression turn from dead to overjoyed as he ate his muffin. Marui was honestly hilarious when he was like this.

"That was a good match" Marui said when he finished the last of his muffin.

"It was" Jackal agreed without hesitation. It had been one of the best matches he'd ever played, even if it wasn't an official match. Marui sat up, his childlike smirk back in place.

"Can we have a rematch sometime? I need to get my revenge on you now" he asked casually, and Jackal looked up from his own muffin in shock.

"Sure" he replied hesitantly. Marui then gave a million-watt smile and his eyes burned with a fiery intensity, and suddenly Jackal felt unsure about accepting his challenge.

"Are you going to eat that?" Marui asked coyly, leaning forward and gesturing to Jackal's half-eaten muffin. Jackal looked at it for a while and then sighed, handing it over to Marui, who smiled like a child in response and ate the muffin quickly.

"Thank you" he said somewhere in between bites.

Jackal could only smile in response.

Rikkaidai Fuzoku Tennis Courts

Court C

Roko watched Yagyuu intensely as he stepped onto the court with a tennis racket in hand. Yagyuu looked up at Roko and stared for a while, a strange glint appearing in his glasses, which he pushed up the bridge of his nose before taking position on the court. They then both stepped forward and shook hands.

"I wish you good luck, Echizen-kun" Yagyuu said in his gentlemanly ways. Roko nodded in response. He then held up his racket and raised an inquiring eyebrow at Yagyuu, which he immediately understood.

"Smooth" he replied coolly. Roko nodded and spun the racket on the ground, landing on the rough side.

"Your serve" Yagyuu stated with a nod, Roko moved back to the baseline and Yagyuu took position.

"One set match, Echizen to serve!" the umpire called.

Don't use your tricks yet, Roko told himself. He threw the ball up into the air, waited, and hit it with about half his strength. Yagyuu took a casual step to the left and backhanded the ball, sending it towards the corner of the court. Roko moved slower than usual, just barely reaching it with his racket and sending it to the opposite corner on Yagyuu's side. Yagyuu moved quickly and caught the ball, sending it to the right corner. Roko would have reached it, but he didn't want to reveal everything yet, so he didn't move and allowed the ball to pass.

"0-15!" the umpire called. Roko looked back to Yagyuu, who pushed up his glasses again.

"It seems your weakness is speed, Echizen-kun" he stated. Roko tried not to smirk.

You have no idea how wrong you are.

Roko took position and hit a weak serve again, Yagyuu sending it towards the opposite corner again, expecting him to volley it back to his corner, but Roko instead lobbed the ball. Yagyuu watched as the ball climbed higher and higher, and smiled, jumping in the air to smash the ball. He sent it hurtling towards the ground, but then Roko was there, swinging his racket underhanded, and hitting the ball just before it hit the ground, sending it hurtling back across the court before Yagyuu could recover from his smash. Yagyuu paused when he hit the ground, studying Roko for a while.

"15-all!"

"That was the Rising Shot" he claimed. Roko's face remained passive, and Yagyuu gave him a quizzical look.

"Interesting, countering a smash with the Rising Shot, a brilliant idea, since the Rising Shot takes the speed of a shot and sends it right back at them" he mumbled to himself, before smiling and moving back into position.

Roko served to him again, and Yagyuu repeated the action, volleying to the corner, and Roko lobbed again. Yagyuu jumped to smash, and sent it towards the ground. Roko intercepted the shot just before it hit the ground and sent it right back at Yagyuu.

"30-15!"

He's studying the Rising Shot, Roko thought. He knew that Yagyuu was not the Data Master, but that didn't mean he didn't analyse his opponent's play anymore than Yanagi. But he figured that Yagyuu was doing this more out of curiosity than actual studying.

Which means he won't smash anymore, he realised. He then allowed himself to smirk.

Perfect.

Roko returned to the baseline and served again. This time Yagyuu sent the ball to the centre of the court rather than the corner, and Roko backhanded the shot towards Yagyuu's own corner. Yagyuu made it there in perfect time, sending it towards the left of Roko's court, but Roko sped up, and reached the ball before it even crossed the net, and tapped it with his racket, dropping it into Yagyuu's court with a dull thud.

"40-15!"

Roko looked up at Yagyuu, who was studying him again.

"You increased your speed" he stated, "It seems that speed isn't your weakness after all. You're holding back". Roko ignored him and returned to the baseline to serve again. He served, and it quickly became a long-winded rally than Roko didn't mind, quickly intercepting any ball that came him way with half his speed. He then decided to end it with a lob.

But Yagyuu didn't jump to smash, and instead waited for the ball to land. Roko dashed to the net in an instant, and he could see Yagyuu had noticed. Yagyuu hit the falling ball towards the corner of the court, but Roko intercepted and dropped the ball into his opponent's court again.

"Game, Echizen Roko! 1-0!"

"How clever" Yagyuu said, "if I smash the ball, you intercept it with a Rising Shot, and if I wait for it to fall, you move to the net and drop it into my court". He looked at Roko for the longest while, and Roko could see nothing behind the third-year's opaque glasses.

Does this guy do nothing but talk? Roko wondered.

"Well then, Echizen-kun, I look forward to playing seriously against you" he said with sincerity, but Roko was unfazed.

This is going to be fun, Roko thought.

Rikkaidai Fuzoku Tennis Courts

Court B

Sanada Genichiro watched calmly as Renji destroyed his nameless opponent with his Data Tennis. Yanagi had already collected enough data on his opponent, so when he moved to the left, Renji had already predicted it and sent the ball to the right. Sanada knew very well that the Data Tennis was a very useful weapon to have if used properly, and wondered if the third-year had figured out its weakness yet.

Probably not.

Sanada sighed. He was getting impatient. He would play Yanagi next, and he was aching to get the match started. Yukimura was currently playing Niou on Court D, and as much as Sanada wanted to see that, he knew that he had to focus on his own match. While Sanada often thought in ways other couldn't, it didn't mean he didn't have his passions and drives, and when it came to defeating Yanagi, he pursued that with a single-minded determination, winning being the only option.

He distantly wondered how the freshman was doing. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he saw potential in that first-year, and he knew one way or the other that he would win against his opponents. The goal of the tournament was to defeat at least one regular, and Sanada guessed that he would lose against Yagyuu but win against Akaya. There wasn't any sort of evidence behind it, it was simply a gut instinct he had.

He didn't even need to know how the freshman faired against the non-regular third-year. It wasn't that he was sure that the freshman would win, but rather he didn't really care about the matches of non-regulars, all he truly cared about is how his own team that he had slaved over faired.

Sanada was actually rather proud of his team at times. The match of Marui and Jackal was just one example. Yes, he had gone to watch that from the back where no one saw him, and was honestly impressed with Marui's determination to win even when he was exhausted. Though that pride vanished when Marui tripped and fell when desperately reaching for the ball, handing Jackal the match on a silver platter. He had sighed loudly, mumbling that Marui needs to work on his stamina even more before returning to his own court.

Then he returned to his court to find a third-year looking for him, saying that Kirihara had put Daigo Kakuba in the nurse's office. Sanada fumed silently for the next ten minutes over that. Kirihara was unstable and volatile at best, and Sanada was honestly considering why he had ever allowed Akaya to join the regulars. It was all Yukimura's judgement, saying that Kirihara was special and that he would make an excellent captain one day.

Sanada paled at the very thought of Kirihara taking over when they graduate. It was the only option they had, and Sanada could not stand the thought of Rikkaidai going downhill because of an incompetent captain. If that ever happened Sanada would come down on Akaya like a pile of bricks and exact his wrath. He would not allow his Rikkaidai to be sullied by this unstable boy.

But as much as he wanted to argue, he knew it was meaningless, so he bottled up everything he wanted to say and watched passively as Yanagi destroyed his opponent.