One Nil to You (A Prince of Tennis Fanfiction)

Chapter 7

"Come on, everyone, we have to get back inside and get ourselves ready for dinner." Oishi told them while trying to rise to his feet.

"Are you okay, Kaido?" Inui asked worriedly.

"I can barely lift my arm..." Kaido replied, as he held his right arm that felt like cemented hollow blocks.

"Oishi... Please carry me..." Kikumaru begged childishly, as he held out his right arm to his doubles parter.

"Come on, Eiji, I can't lift my arm anymore." Oishi told him before turning to the others and said, "Don't worry, everyone, after a nice bath, we'll all feel good."

"Mada mada dane..." Ryoma muttered, as he finally slowed his heavy breathing.

While the regulars were immersing themselves in the hot bath or jacuzzi that evening to release the tension from their training, Coach Ryuzaki and Juri were at the sitting room in the West Wing where they were talking to Tezuka using online video chat.

"How's everyone doing?" he inquired.

"Everyone's doing well in keeping up with the training." Coach Ryuzaki responded. "I've seen some improvements in each one of them, and I'm actually amazed of the fast progress they've shown these past three days. It looks like we'll have a very promising outcome by Saturday."

"I wouldn't jump so fast to that yet, Coach Ryuzaki." Juri spoke.

"Juri?" Tezuka asked.

"For the past three days I have strengthened their muscles and gave them more stamina to keep up with the long matches Rikkai might throw at them." Juri explained. "Kikumaru-san has been able to play a little longer that he won't need to stand still for two games in order to recover his stamina, Kawamura-san is beginning to control the amount of power he releases in his Power Plays rather than wasting his energy in every shot that will take him out of the game like in the first round of the Kanto Tournament, the speed in Inui-san's serves has increased as well. But I'll be blunt with you right now, it's not enough for the finals this Sunday."

Coach Ryuzaki sighed. "I was so afraid you were going to say that, but have a little faith, Juri, you are their trainer after all."

"Oh, I do have faith." Juri clarified, as she thought of Ryoma and the promise they made last Monday night. "But at the team's current level, it's wavering. What the team needs is new measures."

"New measures?" Coach Ryuzaki asked, puzzled.

"There's no doubt that Rikkai will throw out their best in order to take their third straight win in the Kanto Tournament, and their doubles is one of the primary points."

"That's a sew up alright." Coach Ryuzaki agreed. "The Kuwahara-Marui pair is the number one doubles in the country."

"The Niou-Yagyuu pair, or should I say Rikkai's Platinum Pair, is very deceptive considering that Inui-san doesn't have any data on Niou Masaharu." Juri added.

"Rikkaidai's captain Yukimura Seiichi will have his operation on the day of the finals." Tezuka informed them.

"All the more Rikkai will be four times motivated to take the win." Coach Ryuzaki pointed out.

"That's why with the amount of time we still have for Sunday, I am more than sixteen times determined to take this special training to the next level."

"What do you have in mind, Juri?" Tezuka asked curiously.

"I've done this with father every year since I was eleven before any of my matches begin, so I'm taking everyone for an altitude and endurance training to the Himalayas." Juri answered.