Getting rid of shadows: PRINCE OF TENNIS

Ch.3

There was a few minutes until the bell rung, and I turned off my music.

The teacher was an old, balding man, with a clean suit and a grey tie that matched his hair. He was strict, and when he spoke, the class listened.

"As I call your name, you will stand, tell us your full name, a hobby, and...." He paused, his voice trailing off. "A favourite food." He went first. Easy enough.

"My name is Sanabhi-sensei, and that is how you will address me in class. A hobby of mine is reading books and writing my own novels. And as for food, I love spicy things."

He pointed at the first person in my row, closest the the window. The boy had red hair, and was popping light-green bubblegum.

"My name is Marui Bunta, I like playing tennis, and I love all sweet things!"

I was up next. I stood, like Marui had, and recited in a serious tone. "I am Echizen Akira. My hobby is playing chess. I love eating chocolate." I sat down.

Then, a familiar, calm voice started from behind me.

"Well, i'm Yukimura Seiichi, my favorite hobbies are tennis and gardening." My eyebrows lifted slightly.

He was tall, glaring at my back. I wondered if he thought he was scary, or intimidating.

Psh. Come on, Ryoma was scarier than that.

The room was silent, and imaginary lightning sparked in the air in front of each of us as I turned around to face him. The class sat in silence, the lack of sound stretching like syrup between us. The world stopped for a second, and my eyes narrowed.

The class held its breath, and Yukimura smiled his dangerous smile, his teeth glinting slightly. He continued. "I like eating grilled fish."

I scowled in his direction, turning around and staring into the air in front of me as Yukimura stared at the back of my head. I tried to bore a hole in the blackboard, plotting my revenge. Jesus. It was the first goddamn day.

The tension in the room was similar to Pi. It seemed to go on forever, and seemed (to me) completely irrational.

Great. My first day, and I've already made an enemy. AND I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT I DID!!

The teacher, eventually, when he was able to breath again, regained his reign over the class, finishing the rows. Almost everyone was slightly terrified at the tension in the room.

A boy, near the back of the room, stood straight as an iron rod, and practically yelled his answers at the teacher.

Do you know what the word 'relax' means?
Well. He obviously did not.

I looked at him, and he sent a glare to me. He seemed familiar somehow. Did I remember him from somewhere?

Another boy, who was grinning ear-to-ear at how upset the loud tall guy was, and as he sat down, smirking, it clicked.

Come on, I may not care about people at all, but I'm not scatterbrained like my brother. They were the people from the tennis store, who had gotten on my nerves.

And Yukimura was the one I swung my racquet at. Ha. Who knew he would care so much.
Sanada was the one who yelled, and tried to slap me,
While Marui was the pink-haired one who was overexcited 24-7.

And all of them played tennis.
Sigh.

Why were these people so strange?

Perhaps this was going to be fun after all.

The bell rang, as the teacher was talking to us about expectations or something, and everyone scurried off to lunch.

I filed out with the crowd, just another person in the school, but as I entered the hallway, students scattered left and right, avoiding me like the bubonic plague.

I scowled as I moved forward, into the lunch room.

There was a perfect circle around me, with no one within 5 meters of me on any side, some kids went as far as to dive out of the way as I came by, or pressing themselves to the walls.

I wasn't that terrifying.

Come on.

IDIOTS. I brought up their IQ bank at least 50 points.

A first year in a third year class. Rikkaidai wasn't expecting that, were they?

I gave a small smirk, the atmosphere around me darkening deeply, as I left, my cake in my bag, to eat on the roof or something, maybe in a another empty room. 'Let them be scared of me' I thought to myself. That made things easier.

On the second floor, there was a small room, the door locked. That was promising. I put a bobby pin, and an ink bit from a pen in the lock. I drew away two seconds later, pushing the handle open, the door giving way.

I smirked, give me a challenge, at least.

The room turned out to be an old music room. I smiled. How fitting. Behind me, I quickly left the door slightly open behind me. The inside of the dusty classroom was littered with instruments, just collecting dust. Some even had their cases open.

Everyone was downstairs anyways (or so I thought) as I took an old violin into my arms.