Badass (Prince of Tennis FF)

Chapter 12: Yukimura's Illness

Hey guys, I ain't mentally prepared for the holidays. It is going be so bored staying home and doing nothing, my friends are either going away (Grace) or aren't interesting to hang out with ( sorry Sarina). I want to travel to China to visit my Grandparents since there is no point staying here, my parents are working from day to night which means that I barely see them. This is the only thing that I can do to make my life more interesting. :)

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Tanaka Yuki POV

I went to school as usual until I got off the train, I noticed Yukimura senpai lying on the ground near the platform. Marui, Jackal, Nio, Yagyu, Yanagi, and Sanada were crowding around him, I immediately knew that something was wrong and rushed toward our captain. Yukimura was paralyzed and couldn't move an inch from his original spot, I was troubled that if this was a fatal injury for him what might cause Rikkaidai to lose our third national championship. We called the ambulance to take him to the hospital to see if its anything serious will happen or it might just be a minor injury that will heal in days. I hoped that the doctor will say that Yukimura had a temporary paralysis due to the fall or something related to that.

When we arrived at the hospital, the doctors already finished examining Yukimura and questioned if any one of us is his relative or family. Since none of his family members is here, I decided to be responsible and told the doctors that I am one of his friends and could replace his relatives since none of them is here. I accompanied the doctor to his office and we proceeded inside and sat in the seats, he told me that Yukimura had an illness similar to Guillain-Barre Syndrome which is a neurological disease that causes paralysis in the limbs. "Can our captain be able to play tennis again?" was the first thing I asked since it was related to future of Rikkaidai's tennis club and he solemnly replied, " If Mr Seiichi wants to cure and recover from his illness, he will need to undergo a surgery with only a fifty per cent survival rate." That means that Yukimura has equal chance to either cure his disease or stay paralysed for the rest of his life. If the surgery wasn't successful, Yukimura won't be able to come to Kanagawa, Kanto Regional Tournament ad possibly the Nationals. What will we do without our captain and will we win our third national championships without him?

I was debating if I should tell the others about the bad news, in the end, I let the cat out of the bag and told the sad truth. Everyone was astounded by the news, knowing that the captain might not be able to participate in Kanagawa, Kanto Regional tournament and possibly the Nationals, made us all gloomy. We all promised Yukimura that we will still win our third national championships even if he isn't with us or in the surgical room. The first tournament which is coming up next week is the Kanagawa Tournament, Rikkaidai was the champions of the Kanagawa Tournament for the last fifteen years.Only losing one game last year due to Seigaku's captain, Tezuka Kunimitsu. This year, I am confident that Rikkaidai will power our way through the tournament although Yukimura will not be with us.

*one week passed*

Today is when the Kanagawa Tournament is held and we won all our match with a straight-set (3-0), our next big tournament is the Kanto Regional tournament which is held next week. We also set a new record for the tournament. If we win all our matches in the Kanto Regional Tournament, we will be going to national as the 1st place getters of the Kanto Regional Tournament.

*one week passed*

I walked to school with my tennis bag and earphones plugged in my ear, the school was very lively and noisy morning for an early. It was probably due to the Kanto Regional Tournament are held today and he was ordered by the vice-captain, Sanada, to win all our games even without our captain, Yukimura. Some of our noteworthy opponents in the Kanto Regional tournament are Seigaku, Hyotei, Shitenhoji and Fudomine, but Rikkaidai will power our way to this year's National Tournament. We made it to the finals where we will be playing be Seigaku, although Tezuka isn't playing, Seigaku will still be a hassle to deal with. I suggested Sanada for me to play Singles 1 since I wanted to beat Ryoma and I was one of the strongest in the team. Sanada made a deal with me. If I win him in a match, I will be playing Singles 1 for the team but if I lost, I won't be playing for the Kanto Regional Tournament.

I agreed to the deal and steadied myself on the school court, we had an hour until the Kanto Regional Tournament. I want this to be a fast game so we won't be late for the tournament, and I said, "Smooth," while Sanada said, "Rough." He spun the racquet and it landed on the rough side. "Service and end," he said, I was mentally preparing myself for the amount of tension that I was going to receive during the match. Sanada served an ace and the score became 15-love, throughout the first set he used one of his special techniques, Fu (wind). It is an extremely fast swing that is based on a sword-drawing technique. The fast swing means that people usually can neither see the racket or ball after it is hit, making the ball see invisible to the eye but I can barely see it since I have very keen eyes.

Sanada was on the offensive while I was on the defensive, he was attacking full on. The score of the game was 2-3, I was losing by one set which wasn't bad compared to Ayaka's first attempt on trying to beat the Three Devils. It was 20 minutes into the game, both I and Sanada was sweating hard. There was a crowd of spectators watching us from the sidelines, most of them were students but there were also some teachers. I could see the regulars staring at us, Akaya's face was the most memorable and remarkable since he was very surprised that I was able to hold the game for so long against Sanada. I was worried at the pace that I am playing right now, losing to Sanada is just a matter of time. I decided to stop playing around and get serious, I started to use my acrobatic plays. Bouncing and flipping around the court was indeed exhausting but I had more stamina than most people so it was fine. Using acrobatic plays means that the path that my ball goes will be very hard to predict, this will prove a challenge for Sanada since my fast, unpredictable and powerful balls will be very hard to return.

I got a few more sets to form Sanada, now the score was 5-4. I had an advantage, but that doesn't mean that it will be impossible for Sanada to take a set from me and turn the match to deuce. I need to be careful and not be careless so Sanada can't take another set from me, I just need another set to win this match. If I win the match, that means that I will be able to play Singles 1 and play a match with Ryoma.