Tennis no Ojou-sama: A Prince of Tennis Fan Fiction

CHAPTER 6: Seishun Gakuen Girls Tennis Club

"I'm wearing cycling shorts... It's part of the uniform." Sakuno answered.

"That settles it then. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. It wasn't as if something will be seen." Ryouko said.

"But still..." Sakuno said tearily.

Ryouko sighed again. Girls were so hard to negotiate with..."Then next time, come to practice wearing jersey shorts. Let's bag the knee issue for now and take a look at your wrist."

"Grip the racket naturally." Ryouko instructed. Sakuno obeyed.

"Not too tight." Ryouko told her. Sakuno loosened her grip a bit.

"That's good. Now show me how you swing it again." Ryouko said.

Sakuno swung the racket twice. "Stop. That's enough." Ryouko told her as she was about to swing it for the third time.

"Have you been in the kitchen handling frying pans?" Ryouko asked.

"Uh, yeah. I've been learning how to cook. Most of it is frying work. Like fried rice and mixed vegetables." Sakuno answered.

"That explains it then. When you lift a frying pan, the direction of your wrist motion is down-upwards. But that won't do with tennis. It should be side to side." Ryouko explained as she demonstrated it for her.

"Side to side." Sakuno breathed and imitated Ryouko's movement.

"And flick your wrist with one quick motion." Ryouko instructed as she demonstrated it. Sakuno followed.

"That looks better. But you're still restricting your movements. You're not in a box. The court is a vast space. Widen your movements more." Ryouko told her.

The next thirty minutes was spent with Ryouko furthering Ryuzaki Sakuno's racket handling. The next was body movements of the torso.

The other freshmen girls became drawn to them. They went closer to watch and listen. Then eventually, they too began following Ryouko's instructions.

There were murmurs from them all as they felt their bodies getting more accustomed to racket swinging.

"I feel lighter. The racket doesn't restrict me anymore." One freshman girl commented.

"Sore wa matchigatteiru. (That's wrong.)" Ryouko told her suddenly.

"The racket isn't restricting you. You're the one restricting yourself. Forget any insecurites and just freely stretch your body." She explained.

Ryouko spread her arms and legs and began to cartwheel thrice.

The girls swooned in admiration.

"Relaxation of the muscles is of utmost importance. Before everything else, you need to be comfortable. I think most of you needs to learn how to cartwheel. All your muscles needs to be relaxed to do it. It will take all of your body restraints down the drain." Ryouko told them.

Some of the girls looked worried.

"Datte, sore kowasou mitai dayo. (Because, that looks quite scary.)" Some of them complained.

"It's not scary at all. It's all in your head. If I can do it, certainly you can too. You just need to learn how to let go of your restraints, may it be physical or mental." Ryouko said.

With that, some of the girls felt motivated.

One of them stepped up and said, "Watashi ni oshietekudasai, Fujioka-san. (Please teach me, Fujioka-san.)"

"Watashi mo! (Me too!)" Another one yelled.

In a matter of minutes, Ryouko was surrounded by all of them, all begging to be taught. Even the juniors and seniors started to join them.

The rest of the practice was spent with lots of cartwheel exercises. Before practice ended, half of the whole team was successful.

"Time to clean up!" Minami announced.

"Aww..." Came the whining voices of the girls. Those that weren't able to do it right wanted to practice more.

"Can't we stay a bit more, Buchou? Just ten more minutes. I almost got it." A freshman girl complained.

"You can practice at home." Minami said.

With that, practice officially ended.

"Fujioka-san wa sugoi! Konna tanoshi renshu, hajimete mita! (Fujioka-san is amazing! This kind of fun practice, it's the first time I've seen it!)" Some girls were commenting as they changed their clothes and went inside the shower room.

"Where's Fujioka?" Minami asked.

"A-re? She was certainly here a moment ago..." A junior girl answered.

"Fujioka-san already went out. She finished showering quickly." Sakuno told Minami. "And also, she said not to call her Fujioka anymore because the name is 'gritting at her skull'." She added, carefully quoting Ryouko's words.

"Ryouko is enough, she said." Sakuno fnished.

"That girl has some cute sides to her other than her face, huh?" A junior commented.

They all laughed.

Meanwhile, innocent Ryouko who was walking outside the school entrance began to sneeze.