Deafening Silence ( prince of tennis) (#wattys2016)

20

Update - I noticed that Roko says 'I don't care' way too many times. So I changed the dialogue and added a few things here and there.

Give opinions on this chapter please. You've probably noticed that the past few chapters have been based on Roko's psychology. But the next chapters will actually involve the other regulars, and others :)

Streets of Kanagawa

The bus was due to arrive at the Kanagawa Tennis Gardens in ten minutes, and the Rikkaidai regulars were all seated awaiting the arrival. Kirihara and Niou had engaged in some argument that Sanada couldn't care less about, with Jackal trying to stop them. Marui and Yagyuu pointedly ignored them and engaged in their own conversation, and Echizen was sat by himself, staring out the window with his earphones in his ears.

Sanada couldn't understand Echizen for the life of him. It was true, they spent a lot of time together - though it was forced time together - they didn't engage in conversation often, because they both weren't the talkative type. Sanada's grades in English had improved a lot ever since Echizen had started tutoring him, always bringing a slice of cake with him to eat as Sanada worked on a paragraph. He knew that he was getting soft toward Echizen, since he noticed the amount of times he would have punished someone else for being late or wandering off, but instead he shrugged it off because it was Echizen.

It was concerning to him as a captain. He knew he couldn't be weak for Echizen, and that he had to stop and harden his resolve. But it seemed that the freshman constantly being at Sanada's side had brought out a more peaceful side to him, and Sanada did not like that one bit.

"Yanagi" he said, looking to the data master next to him.

"Hm?" Yanagi responded.

"What data do you have on Echizen?" he asked bluntly. Yanagi nodded in understanding and opened his notebook which materialized in his hand, quickly flicking to his pages on Echizen.

"What would you like to know?" Yanagi asked.

"His tennis style" was Sanada's response. Yanagi scanned the page and opened his mouth to speak.

"Echizen is by far the fastest regular on our team. His tennis style relies heavily on that speed, and so he constantly maintains it to make sure it's at the top standard. He prefers to drop balls into the court from the net, and has a habit of hitting lobs with serves rather than smashing them - meaning his weakness is power" Sanada grunted in response for him to continue.

"To counter this power weakness he developed the Lob Trap and Bait Serve. They work in the same way, the ball is sent flying upwards, and if the opponent smashes, Echizen returns it with a Rising Shot. If the opponent waits for the ball to fall, Echizen dashes to the net and drops it into the court" Sanada nodded, remembering watching Echizen's play and being impressed by the serve that sent the ball flying upwards - the one Yanagi had dubbed Bait Serve.

"And what about his other serve?" Sanada asked. There was a pause from Yanagi before he spoke.

"The Lightning Bolt, a serve that uses the player's left arm. Echizen bends backwards until his back is parallel to the ground, and then hits the ball above him, snapping his wrist and spine in unison like a spring. The ball is sent at around 260km/h, which breaks the record for the fastest serve in an official middle school game"

"But?" Sanada asked. Yanagi sighed.

"But, the serve puts much strain on the arm, as I am sure you have seen. Echizen can only do the serve four times, and then the pain in his arm would force him to stop using it" Sanada grunted and said nothing.

"Is that what you wanted to know?" Yanagi asked.

"Yes" was Sanada's simple reply.

Yanagi nodded and made no room for further conversation, and Sanada looked back at the freshman from the corner of his eye.