The Kunoichi of Tennis (by DaPsionicFox)

Chapter 27- Aozu

Chapter 27: Aozu

Ryoma paid for his drink and walked outside of the store with it. As he opened the can and started drinking from it, he was getting a familiar feeling that he's been having for a long while. The feeling was drinking Ponta, and since America does not have Ponta, he's been dying to drink it again.

He heard the sound of a jet plane above him, and he looked up into the sky at it. When his sights fell on the plane, it made him think about Ayame. She was a very bouncy girl, not to mention unpredictable, violent, and somewhat insane. Even though those sides of her often tired him out, Ryoma had missed the insanity that she gave off. Ever since she had left to Tokyo, the hotel room had been very quiet.

The last Ryoma ever heard of her was when Momo called him and told him that she was at the Ocean Festival at Rikkaidai. She was forced to play as the main role halfway through their Cinderella play, and it did not go well for the Rikkai members. While talking with Momo on the phone (smack in the middle of the night, much to Ryoma's annoyance), Ryoma heard Ayame go violent during a kissing scene, and the entire festival soon erupted into chaos because of her. This wasn't surprising to him, as he knew that Ayame loved to create riots in crowded, festive areas. He had to give her credit for ad-libbing the wedding scene though. Despite the fact that there was supposed to be kissing rather than violence, the play was given an excellent review nonetheless.

Dismissing his thoughts about Ayame, Ryoma walked down the street and passed by an alleyway. It was occupied with three teenage boys hanging around, and they were having a conversation.

"Hey," the first one said. "Rick told me earlier that there's this girl at the arcade who's kickin' ass at Street Fighter."

"A girl?" the second one asked. "You serious, bro? What's she like?"

"She's an Asian kid," the first boy replied. "She dun look old enough to look after herself."

"An Asian gal who dun look old enough to look after herself?" the third boy asked.

"Yeah," the first boy said. "She was carryin' a heavy tennis bag on her back while playin'."

"Carryin' a tennis bag?" the third boy repeated. "Could that be Ayame Kanna?"

"You know that chick?" the second boy asked.

Hearing the boys mentioning Ayame, Ryoma stopped to eavesdrop.

"You guys dunno?" the third boy asked. "Back then, she showed up in tennis tournaments and dominated them. She was the youngest female to participate in those tournaments, and she frickin' wrecked everybody in there."

"Well, if you say that she's good at tennis and that she's the one dominatin' at Street Fighter, then she must be one badass chick," the second boy said.

Ryoma walked to the nearest arcade that he could find. He entered and there was a commotion at the other side of the building. Ryoma followed the noise and found a bunch of older boys crowding around an arcade machine. He pushed his way through the crowd and saw a girl with long, jet-black hair playing at the machine, and the game was Street Fighter. She was carrying a tennis bag as she played.

'Ayame...' , Ryoma recognized her.

Watching Ayame play reminded Ryoma the times when they would play a video game together during lunch break back in Seigaku. Often times they wouldn't notice the other freshmen staring at them until they were done with their game because they would get so heated up about their competition that they become oblivious to their surroundings (which makes it very odd for Ayame, as she is almost always attentive to her surroundings).