The Kunoichi of Tennis (by DaPsionicFox)

Chapter 24- Ayame vs Tezuka

Chapter 24: Ayame vs Tezuka

An uneasy silence hung over the court as the tension began to grow heavy. It was like as though everyone was holding their breaths, expecting something out of the ordinary to happen. No one took their eyes off the sight of the twelve-year-old girl and Seigaku's captain staring at each other from opposite sides of the court.

Ayame narrowed her eyes as she gave off a glare that looked very much like Ryoma's San Paku Gan. She kept her gaze fixed on Tezuka as he bounced the ball. Finally, Tezuka stopped bouncing the ball as he tossed it into the air and served. Ayame returned the serve and the rally began. She immediately started applying air into her racket.

"There it is! Gemini!" she heard the Freshman Trio exclaimed.

Ten fluke balls came out of the ball that Ayame returned. They flew towards Tezuka and he narrowly avoided the fluke balls as he returned the ball and Ayame didn't react on time.

"15-0!"

Tezuka served again, and Ayame returned the serve. He then used a drop shot, and Ayame remembered Ryoma warning her about Tezuka's Zero-Shiki Drop Shot. She then used Ninja Dash and smashed the ball before it fully passed the net.

"15-15!"

"She's pretty good," Inui remarked as he started jotting down in a brand new notebook. "Kanna used her dash to catch up to the Zero-Shiki Drop shot before it landed."

Tezuka and Ayame rallied again, and Ayame noticed that he wasn't moving from the baseline.

' He's using his Zone this time, huh...'  she thought. 'Sorry, Tezuka-senpai, but that old pervert showed me how to counter a Zone when I used mine to try to beat him.'

After Ayame returned the ball, she ran up to the net. When the ball was coming to her, she hit a cord ball, messing with the ball's spin.

"She broke it!" she heard somebody exclaim.

Tezuka caught up to the ball before it was able to bounce a second time. Ayame used her offensive Gemini, and Tezuka narrowly avoided the fluke balls as he returned the ball.

"30-15!"

'Damn...'  Ayame's mind swore. 'I'm too used to having my Gemini formations instantly score... I gotta pretend that Tezuka-senpai will return every shot...'

Ayame continually attempted to use different kinds of Gemini, with the exception of her shuriken Gemini. Tezuka managed to counter her Gemini styles easily.

"Game, Tezuka! 1-0!"

'Damn, seems like Gemini won't work on him...' she thought grimly. 'It worked great against Ryoma but maybe not Tezuka-senpai...'

Ayame switched to her left hand.

"Kanna switched to her left hand! That means..."

"Twist Serve!" the Freshmen Trio hollered.

Ayame served, and Tezuka expected a Twist Serve. However, rather than bouncing towards his face, it bounced in the reverse direction.

"15-0!"

'It must be out of habit to see a regular Twist Serve...'  Ayame thought. 'I've seen that since Ryoma mostly played right-handed players, he usually uses the Twist with his right. But since my dominant is right, and Tezuka-senpai's is left, I guess the first thing to assume is that I'll use a forward Twist.'

"Remember that you're playing me, not Ryoma!" Ayame called.

Ayame served with her left hand again.