everything comes with a price

Chapter 9: Training Day 1

Oh, just for your info, the rooms are as follows:

Level 1- Higa chuu

Level 2- Fudomine

Level 3- St. Rudolph

Level 4- Yamabuki

Level 5- Shitenhouji

Level 6- Seigaku

Level 7- Rokkaku

Level 8- Jousei Shonan

Level 9- Hyotei

Level 10- Rikkaidai

Level 11- Coaches room

Level 12- ITM champions team.

The next day, Ryoma woke up to the incessant knocking on his door. When he opened it, he found his mentor Pakura standing there, already dressed in training clothes. "Hello, Mr. Sleepy-head. You're going to be late if you don't get a move-on." Ryoma checked the clock, and sure enough, she was right. He quickly refreshed himself, and grabbed his training clothes. He hastily grabbed his tennis bag and a toast, and pressed for the elevator. "Coach Henry called and told me the other 6 champions will be arriving tonight. That means Tyler will be here tonight. I can't wait!" said Pakura. Ryoma nodded. "Alright." Just then, the elevator arrived, and they went in. The elevator stopped at the 10th floor, and the Rikkaidai team went in. "Hello, Echizen, long time no see." said Yukimura, smiling. Pakura and Ryoma looked at each other. "Long time no see as well, Yukimura-san." Ryoma replied acidly. Yukimura's smile widened and Marui spoke up. "You don't trust us, do you? By the tone you talk to Yukimura-buchou, you assumed we Rikkaidai players believe Seigaku."

Ryoma said nothing. They were right, of course. He didn't really trust anyone since Seigaku's betrayal, except for his mentor and the fellow champions he knew so well. "Well, doesn't matter. Anyway, they will get what they deserve eventually." Just then, the elevator stopped at the ground floor. The Rikkaidai team, Ryoma and Pakura went out and walked to the Training Center and took the elevator again to the 17th floor. Although they were on time, they were the last to arrive. The head coach, Coach Levi, explained the training schedule. "No fighting with the other players. I have set up some tennis stations to train on various fields. You all are free to do whatever you want until 12pm. Then, you will have lunch, and after that I'll pick players to screen them individually. At 4pm, I will give you your score, from 1 to 12. At 6 pm, I'll pick players to have matches against each other." He read out the skill stations. Then he blew his whistle. The training has begun. Pakura and Ryoma went to a station, where there were machines to shoot different colored balls and there are different colored targets. The objective is to hit the ball to the correct target. Of course, they did it with ease, but suddenly, the targets started moving. They realized the challenge is getting more and more difficult as the speed of the moving targets became faster. Ryoma missed a ball and it hits Momoshiro, who was at the balance station. Momoshiro stomped over to Ryoma. "Hey! What was that for?" he shouted, grabbing Ryoma's shirt. The players stopped whatever they are doing and watched the fight. "Momoshiro, I'll thank you if you let go of my shirt. And that was an accident." Momoshiro shook Ryoma, and yelled, "Liar! Now apologize!" Just then, Coach Levi approached them. Apparently, Pakura had told on Momoshiro, because he immediately went to Momoshiro and said, "I told you not to pick a fight with other players, Momoshiro."

"I did not! It was him!" Momo protested, pointing to Ryoma.

"Enough. This boy told me everything." He said, pointing to Pakura. "I am disgusted by your behavior. 70 laps around the Training Center now!" Momo gave the boy a glare, before going to do his laps. "Well, what are you guys waiting for? Continue with your training!" All the players continued training until lunch. Ryoma and Pakura tried out all the stations, and learnt a few useful skills in the process. Breakfast and dinner will be served at their floor, but at lunch, they ate at the dining room off the gymnasium. Food is arranged on carts and they serve themselves. The school teams tend to sit together. Atobe invited Ryoma and Pakura to sit with his team and they accepted. Pakura sat next to the blue haired boy while Ryoma sat next to Atobe. "Hey, what did you tell the Coach?" said Atobe. "That got Momoshiro in trouble?"