Chapter 26: Doubles with Fudomine
Ayame walked down the street to the street tennis courts. It had been awhile since she was last there, and she was feeling the need to dominate the place.
She arrived at the front steps and made her way there. As she made it to the top, a girl standing nearby started talking to her.
"Aren't you Echizen-kun's friend?" she asked.
"If you mean Echizen Ryoma, then yeah," Ayame answered. "Who are you?"
"Tachibana An," the girl answered.
"I see, you're the younger sister of that Fudomine captain. I'm Kanna Ayame."
Ayame looked over to the court to see two boys playing at the court.
"Oh, that guy is the guy who raced me sometime after I moved here way back then," Ayame said.
"You mean Kamio-kun?" An asked.
"Yeah," Ayame answered. "That rhythm freak. Who's the other guy playing with him?"
"Ibu Shinji-kun," An answered.
"He another Fudomine student?"
"Yes."
"Isn't he the guy that Ryoma played when he injured his eye?"
"Yes."
"Well, I came here to play some tennis, but it doesn't seem like there's a crowd here this time around. Guess I'll go to the back courts and practice."
"Some of the St. Rudolph people are back there. Maybe you can play a match with them."
"What's St. Rudolph?"
"You don't know?"
"Nope, never heard of it. Actually, on second thought... I think I DID hear about it from somewhere... I can't remember. Oh, whatever. I'm going back there anyway."
Ayame went to the courts in the back and saw three St. Rudolph students.
"Oi, that's Echizen's friend over there!" one of them said.
"Wah, she's really cute dane!" another exclaimed.
"Oh, I remember you now!" Ayame exclaimed, pointing at the first boy who talked. "You're Fuji-senpai's little brother who lost to Ryoma!"
"What?!" Yuuta was angry about the fact that Ayame reminded him of his loss and that it was how she remembered him.
"Oh yeah, I think I heard from Ryoma!" Ayame went on. "You're the guy who got crushed by Fuji-senpai!"
Mizuki and Yuuta became miserable as they were reminded of their losses to Seigaku.
"You guys got hurt dane," Yanagizawa said, laughing.
"And you're the guy who got blown away by Momoshiro-senpai!" Ayame finished.
The three St. Rudolph students became angry. "Use our names!"
"Sorry, sorry, I don't know you guys' names. I thought there'd be a bigger crowd here, but it's just you guys and the Fudomine people."
Ayame turned around and went back to the court at the front where Fudomine was. She had changed her mind about practicing in the back courts and decided to play fun matches with the two schools.
"So, wanna play some tennis?" she asked aloud, wanting to get responses from both Fudomine and St. Rudolph.
"Let's draw straws," An suggested.
"I'll make them!" Mizuki announced.
Mizuki made the straws and everyone drew one. Ayame didn't feel so great as she realized that they were playing doubles.
"One set match!" Mizuki announced. "Kanna-Ibu pair versus Kamio-Tachibana pair! Kanna to serve!"
Ayame hit a forward Twist Serve, as Kamio couldn't return it.
"15-0!"
"She hits it almost like Echizen's Twist," Yuuta remarked.
'I won't go rough on you since you're a girl',Ayame thought as she stared at An, who was receiving.
Ayame hit a backwards Twist Serve that time, stunning everyone else on the court.
"3...30-0..." Mizuki announced with some slight hesitation.
"Did that Twist Serve just go the other way?" Yuuta asked.
"This is what you call the reverse Twist Serve," Ayame said aloud. "If you think I can't play as good as my idiot best friend, then you've got another thing coming!"
"Game, Kanna-Ibu pair. 1-0! Change court!"
Ayame had easily held serve by alternating between her Twist Serves.
"Damn!" Yanagizawa exclaimed.
"Kanna's really good," Yuuta remarked. "I wonder if she's ever won against Echizen..."
"Oh, I have," Ayame said as she passed by the bench that Yuuta and Yanagizawa were sitting on. "But he beat me too. We each have 10 wins and 10 losses as of now."
It was then Kamio's serve. Shinji returned the serve. Ayame began playing like as though the match was a 2v1, not allowing Shinji to return. She also easily returned Kamio's Sonic Bullets.
"0-15!"
"What the... Kanna is returning all the balls and she's not letting Ibu play dane," Yanagizawa pointed out.
"She's probably not good at doubles," a voice said.
"Aniki!" Yuuta said in surprise.
"Kanna has always been playing singles," Fuji said. "She said that she's only played an actual doubles match once and admitted that it was hard. There was one other time where she played a strange kind of doubles. She played against the Golden Pair alone and won."
"So she's that good dane?!" Yanagizawa exclaimed.
"Kanna is able to use the Tenimuhou no Kiwami," Fuji said. "She used that in addition to Eiji's Seal Step to simulate doubles. The Golden Pair also used Synchro, and they played evenly. But in the end, Kanna's Tenimuhou no Kiwami won."
"0-30!"
Ayame had been stealing the returns from Shinji whenever a rally started, taking on An and Kamio alone. She managed to get points on her own despite being at a disadvantage from the outside perspective.
"I'm raising the rhythm!" Kamio shouted, clearly frustrated that Ayame had been easily reaching the balls.
"Why is Kanna-chan playing like as if I'm not here?" Shinji began muttering to himself. "She's playing like as if this was a singles match, but against two opponents... Maybe she's doing this to get attention to herself because she wants to show that she can play evenly against two opponents... Ah... I guess it's okay since we're winning, but..."
"Take this!" Ayame yelled as she smashed the ball.
"Kanna's been running all over the court for all this time dane," Yanagizawa remarked. "If she doesn't stop running that fast soon, she won't last for the whole set dane."
"I wonder about that," Fuji said.
"What do you mean?" Yuuta asked.
"I've seen Kanna play more than one sets running all over the court, and she wasn't really out of breath," Fuji answered. "She's also played a match with Echizen before the Nationals and they went into a tiebreak that ended at a score of 200-200 because they both fainted. Her stamina is really good, and I'll bet that she's been working hard in America as well."
"Game, Kanna-Ibu pair! 2-0!"
It was Shinji's serve, and again Ayame returned all the shots from the net, not allowing a ball past her.
"I see," Fuji said aloud.
"What do you mean by that dane?" Yanagizawa asked.
"Have you noticed that Kanna has been concentrating her shots on Kamio?" Fuji began to explain. "She probably knows that Kamio is a speed player and is trying to make him lose stamina so he won't last. She doubts that Ibu will follow up with that, so she's taking all the shots."
"Game, Kanna-Ibu pair! 3-0!"
It was An's serve, and Ayame stared at Kamio as he panted.
'There! It's done!' Ayame thought.
An served, and Ayame finally allowed Shinji to return balls. Kamio had run out of stamina trying to hit Ayame's shots from earlier, so it was technically a 2v1 between An and the Kanna-Ibu pair.
"Game and match, Kanna-Ibu pair! 6-0!"
"Damn..." Kamio muttered under his breath, disappointed that he gave out in the middle of a match again.
'Fuji-san said that Kanna-san won against the Golden Pair alone...' An thought as she stared at the first year girl. 'I guess it's no surprise she could play evenly against me and Kamio-kun without needing Shinji-kun's help...'
"If you're a speed player, then you need to work on your stamina," Ayame lectured. "Mada mada dane."
"She really isn't out of breath at all..." Yuuta remarked.
"Ah, Fuji-senpai!" Ayame said as she noticed Fuji. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to play some tennis," Fuji answered.
"Oh yeah, I think it's St. Rudolph's turn to play now," Ayame said. "So, what'll it be now?"
A little while later, the next match started.
"One set match! Fuji-Fuji pair versus Mizuki-Yanagizawa pair! Yanagizawa to serve!" Ayame announced.
'So the Fuji brothers are together this match...'Ayame thought. 'This'll be really interesting...'
Authors note
I'm gonna end this right here because I don't know how to write a match with pairs like them. But I think you could already tell which pair would win.