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

CHAPTER 12: The Tale of the Female Manager/Assistant Coach and the Inui Juice

"She's tad useful, and she's more than you think she is." Ryuzaki-sensei answered.

"Hmmm." Shiba said thoughtfully and looked at the girl with the lens of her camera. She zoomed it to her face.

She went pass by a senior and said something. The senior smiled appreciatively, timidly corrected his position and said something back.

"Not because she's good-looking and she can control the players with her looks?" Shiba said bitterly.

"Ryouko is pretty good-looking but the reason I brought her here isn't that." Ryuzaki-sensei told her.

"Hey! She's that girl who crushed the captain of the girls tennis club. You remember her, Inoue-senpai?" Shiba said.

Inoue squinted and nodded. "She is that girl."

"What's so special about her that she gets taken in by the boys tennis club? I do admit that she showed promise on the day of her evaluation kedo sonnani sugoi janai wa... (but it wasn't that amazing...)" Shiba said.

"Perhaps those opinions will change once you get to know her better." Ryuzaki-sensei smiled.

~~~

Smash practice began. The spectators watched in awe as the practice proceeded.

In the middle of the court were nine clay doughs, one for each of the members of the regulars.

"They're clay doughs, air dried for three days." Ryouko told them.

Momoshiro picked one up. They were the size of big rocks, about ¾ of the size of his head. He held it with both hands. "Whoa. They're pretty hard. Children won't play with these anymore... What do you want us to do with them?" He asked.

"Direct your smash at it. We can calculate the power of your smash by looking at the depth of the dent the ball will make on the clay dough." She explained.

"That's really interesting..." Kikumaru said.

"It is. It looks fun." Fuji commented.

"And there's another catch. After the first smash, I'll measure the depth. I'll measure up to your third smash. Then you have to keep on smashing on the dough until it's flattened. You're not allowed to stop, not until you have your clay dough totally plastered on the ground." She told them and smirked.

The regulars eyes widened. Certainly, smashing on the clay dough until it's flattened will be a hard ordeal. Smashes take quite a bit of endurance. Power isn't the main point on how well you will be a ble to flatten the dough. Your ability to throw as many smashes as you can, your stamina to stand those number of smashes and the pinpoint precision needed to hit on the parts not flattened yet. You have to combine them all.

Ryoma picked up his clay dough. "Hmmm." He said thoughtfully as he felt its hardness.

Ryouko turned around and was starting to go to the side of the court when she took a double-take and said, "I forgot to say... The time limit is 5 minutes. It will start at the fourth smash after the measurement of the first three smashes."

"5 minutes???" Kikumaru and Momoshiro chorused in shock.

"That's a bit short, don't you think?" Oishi told her.

"Nope. Not at all." She said.

Fueling their determination, the regulars went to their places.

"Kawamura-senpai..." Ryouko suddenly said.

"What is it, Ryouko?" Kawamura asked. He was just about to get his racket.

"You're excluded from this exercise." She said.