Getting rid of shadows: PRINCE OF TENNIS

Ch. 10

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Yukimura
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Water rushed from the shower, climbing across my skin, I stood, calmly inhaling, and slowly exhaling from my mouth. I ducked my head out of the shower, bending my neck back, giving a slight sigh, and contemplating today's events.

Practice had been called a half-hour early, and we were now sitting on the best bleachers at the left side of the girl's tennis court.

Yanagi and I were watching passively as Niou and Marui practically strangled each other, until Yagyuu pushed up his glasses, and put Niou in a headlock, lecturing him, in fear that Sanada would snap.

If Sanada snapped, Niou and Marui would get much more than a headlock and a lecture.

Suddenly, Fuuko- buchou was up on one side of the court, and Echizen was on the other. Fuuko was laughing, and smirking, as Echizen's eyes shadowed, and the very corners of her mouth turned down.

Oh no. Fuuko was laughing.

Images of what had happened to the last people who laughed at Akira. A blue, sadistic aura crept from Akira, as the corners of her mouth sunk a little lower, but no rampage, or sadistic comments escaped her lips.

Fuuko served. It was a relatively easy serve, and Akira countered it in a split second, hitting it into the corner of Fuuko's court.

She put her racquet down, and looked up, and I nearly gasped.

Her eyes were a bright silver. Not black like a few days ago, they were silver, and shone so bright, with a slight coldness in each one that both repelled my stare and made me unable to look away at the same time. Her pupils were tiny, in the center of each iris.

Akira.

Akira...

In slight shock, my head entered the stream of water, and for a moment I lost my balance. My fingertips brushed the walls of the shower, and I steadied myself in a few seconds.

When had I started calling Echizen her first name, were we on a first name basis?

I shook the thought from my mind, thinking back to the game.

The second the score was announced, Fuuko's already well above average size muscles swelled, her veins popping up from under her skin.

"Oh no. This is going to get ugly." Yanagi muttered.

In teems if her normal play, the three demons, (Me, Sanada, Yanagi) could beat her effortlessly, our games averaging four minutes.

But in her muscle-mode, Fuuko was a monster. No one other than us three on the team could beat her in less than a full, drawn-out game.

If Aki--- Echizen, wasn't strong enough, she would be annihilated.

Fuuko served, again, using 150% power! the ball whizzed across the court, smashing right in front of the court line.

Just before her play, I noticed a small smirk on Akira's face.

I blinked in surprise, before focusing my own eyes on Echizen's next play. I felt Yanagi tense next to me, and Sanada from the row in front of me. Niou stopped arguing, and Marui froze in the middle of blowing a green bubble gum bubble.

Akira was in Fuuko's muscle stance, one foot directly behind the other, her racquet held like a fighting dagger, to the side, away from her face.

A perfect imitation.

Niou, who was on my far left, stood, speechless, his mouth gaping in awe.

2 minutes. She had copied her stance, to perfection in two minutes.