Green Eyed Dollar (Prince of Tennis)

Chapter XII: Sweet Victory

It didn't happen. It didn't happen. It didn't happen.

- Yukimura

After a few more rounds, Akaya let Hanna gently back to the ground, both slightly dizzy, but in a very good mood.

This was probably as much of a release as Hanna was going to get without resorting to violence and knocking some poor sucker out. There was always that slight feeling of gratification whenever she knocked out some thug twice her size.

"I have to get back to the studio. I'll see you tomorrow," Hanna waved goodbye to Akaya as she left the courts. Most of the regulars were still rooted in place, disbelief clear on their faces. 

"Well, would you look at that," Mori said.

"I can't believe the runt actually scored," Niou said, looking incredulous, but a smirk playing at his lips all the same. 

"Yes, that was certainly a surprise," Yanagi says as he excitedly scribbled this new information into his data book. "I did not expect her to have such a great strength to size ratio."

Their eyes were glued to the ball Hanna had hit, coming to a stop after rolling a little ways on the other side of the fence. Usually the ball would simply recoil or get stuck in the chain link if there was enough force behind the ball.

But Hanna had hit the ball with such force that it went through the chain link fence. "The ball must have been traveling upwards of 70mph after bouncing once inside the court. And the average tennis serve of a professional player usually leaves the ball with 55mph after the initial bounce," Yanagi absently informed his teammates as he completed the necessary equations in his head. 

"What are you guys looking at?" Akaya asked as he walked over to the regulars who were spectating his match. He followed their line of sight to the other side of the fence, his mouth forming a small 'oh.' He had been so focused on the fact that the ball bounced once inside the court then past the reach of his two senpais that he didn't really care where the ball went after that. All that mattered was that Hanna scored, which meant that they had won and he was going to take Yukimura's spot in the upcoming practices matches. 

As impressive as that last hit was, Akaya pushed the thought to the back of his mind. He had to focus on getting game ready and nothing was going to kill his high.

"All of you back to practice, now!" 

As if on cue, Sanada yelled at his team from across the court. The regulars jolted out of their daze and they quickly scurried over to the next available court to avoid the punishment of laps. All except Niou and Mori that is, who took their sweet time.

He looked over at his friend. Yukimura twisted his head around to look for the ball, expecting it to have rolled back by now. Sanada was still in his own version of shock and disbelief that Yukimura had allowed that ball to pass him, a ball he was perfectly capable of returning. He's returned Sanada's Ka countless times after all.

With a small sigh, he returned to his coaching duties while wordlessly, Yukimura went to retrieve the ball, a job he thought more befitting a first year.

"Tarundoru," he muttered softly as he walked away.

The next morning Hanna arrived to homeroom with the basketball, swimming, and volleyball regulars chatting about their plans for the weekend. Pretty much every sports team had a competition to go to this weekend. Even though the girl's volleyball team were in their off season, most if not all of the members were also involved in a club team outside of school.