Chapter 1

“The Arrival”

“Finally!” I said to myself. “Finally! I’m now in Japan! Wow~ It’s been years since I was he-”

 “Ouch!” I said. Someone just bumped to me.  “Oh! Sorry.” I said to him.

            He was wearing a red jacket with a cap that has a sign “R” and was holding a luggage and a tennis bag.  He must be a tennis player, I thought to myself. His face was covered with his cap.

 “Sorry.” I repeated.

            He just bowed and walk away. “What a strange guy.” I said.

 “Nana!” Someone shouted. I searched for the sound and ohh- I can see my brother, Nobuta.

 “Hey!” I said. He hugged me and said “I miss you sister.”

 “But I dont.”

 “That’s so mean.”

 “I was kidding.”

 “So funny.”

 “I know, right?”

 “Why don’t we just go home? I bet your tired.”

 “Yeah~”

            When we came home, I didn’t saw my parents and my brother Tezuka.

“Nobuta, where is Tezuka?”

“I dont know.”

“Where’s Mom and Dad?”

“I’m so sorry sister. They actually waited for you and planned to get you at the airport but an hour before your arrival, there was an emergency. But they rappidly wrote you a letter. And mom and dad cooked the foods for you.”

“Ohh..” is all I could say. I’m not really close to my parents since their so busy with work. But I can feel the effort their esserting to make us be a better family. We are all 6 in the family, including my parents. We are living in a mansion, with 50 maids. These mansion is actually my grandparents’ but they died in an accident so, this was inherited to my parents and us children. And since my grandparents, which are the president and the vice president of a company, my parents has no choice but to continue their job. Since then, our family connection isn’t that great anymore, eventhough that started when I was just 3, I can already sense everything.  I am the only girl in the family, and the youngest. I was closest to my older brother, the second youngest. He is Tezuka. From the fact that we are the only people from our family except our grandfather who is ver sporty, we did almost everything together. We played sports together and our favorite was Tennis. We just love everything about Tennis. And we kinda have the same attitude so, we can really get along together. We were separated when my parents decided to let me go to the States to finish 6^th grade. I’ve been there for almost 5 years. Plus, my parents hired me to several private lessons, from singing to dancing, and acting. I have to attend them every Saturdays and do my practice in Tennis as well in every Sundays. I can only rest every holidays and winter.

            We ate lunch together with only my 2 brothers and me. It feels nice since I miss them. And by the way, my brother Nobuta is a senior in High School while my other brother Takara is now in college.

“Pop! Pop!” Ther was suddenly a sound of a confetti. And there I see my brother Tezuka. Holding a cake and some ballons and confetti.

“Welcome back, sister.” He said. I hugged him directly and kissed his cheek.

“This is so not you, Brother.” I said, then he chuckled.

“You better enjoy this moment, I’m not like this forever.” He said the hugged me back.

            We ate the cake together, the four of us. I was so happy that time.

                        The next day..

“Brother! Can I ask you some things?”

“What is it?”

“Uhm, where is my new school?”

“Oh- You’re at the same school as me.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I registered you myself.”

“Wow- that’s great, bojo. HAHAHA! And second, where are you going?”

            [A/N: “Bojo” is captain in Japanese.]

“I’m going to watch a tennis match.”

“Can I go?”

“Yes, I’ll wait for you in the car.”

“Okay, I’ll be quick.”

            I quickly go to my room and in my closet, WOW~ I saw a lot of clothes.  And just grab anything.

[A/N: This is what you were wearing. Just imagine that the bag you were holding was a Tennis Bag, hehe. Forgive me :”>]

            I quickly go into the car.

“You didn’t change.” Tezuka said while looking at my outfit.

“Of course, why would I? I’m a girl after all.”

            He just chuckled and didn’t reply.

“Wow~ This is nice.” I said.

“Yeah~ Well, if you want to watch the match now this is the way. And if you got lost just call me.” My brother said, worried.

“You know me too well. I’ll watch it whenever I like, beisdes, you know that I’m too curious about everything. Don’t worry, okay?” I patted his shoulder. He just smiled and I take my leave.

            I was so curious about this place. This is not my first time here but it was like 5 years ago since I came here.

*Bump!* Someone bumped to me. It was a hard hit that the both of us sat on the floor, I remember, he was running so fast. I looked at him and ohh- It was the guy in the airport. I wonder why we always bumped at each other.

“Oh! It’s you!” I said.

He ignored me at looked at his watch “Sh*t! I’m late, now I can’t make it.” He said and then walk away. Now, I really find him sooooo weird. I continued looking around and I saw a court. I was walking and I saw that guy again. He was lying at the grass near the court. I quickly go to him and said I’m sorry. I even bowed at him, just to show my respect. He looked at me.

“Did I disturbed you?”

“Well thanks to you I was late and I defaulted.”

“Oh- I’m really sorry. Uhm, do you want some drinks?”

            He stared at me and had no response but I grabed his hand and he imediately grab his tennis bag. I was carrying one too. We go to the nearest vending machine and I bought some grape-flavored ponka, it was my favorite drink. I handed it to him.

“Just to show how sincere my apology is.”

            We talked for a while in a bench.

“So, you play tennis, huh?” I started the conversation.

“Yes. And so do you?”

“Uhm- yes, kinda.”

“What’s your name by the way?”

“Ryoma.”

“Oh- nice name. I’m Nana by the way.” I said then I shaked his hand.

            Then somebody throwed cans at us. Using his tennis racquet. He was with his two friends. They were wearing school uniforms. Then the guy shouted “Hey! Shorty! We met again.”

“Are you talking to me?” I asked, confused.

“Oh- hey there babe, wanna hang with us?” The guy said. He walked towards me and touched my hair. But Ryoma suddenly hold the guy’s wrist and cooly said “What do you want?”

“I just want to revenge for the last time.”

“Huh?”

“You made me look so dumb in front of my friends.”

“Aren’t you originally dumb?”

“What did you say!?!” The guy looked mad.

“Calling yourself the best player in your school while making a mistake between the Eastern and Western grip.”

            I suddenly laughed. I mean, who would even make a mistake about that? I mean that’s so basic.

“Hey! You! Why are you laughing?”

“Oh- nothing. I just can’t believe a tennis player can make a mistake about such basic-” I didn’t finish my sentence. The guy suddenly pulled my jacket.

“Are you making fun of me?” He shouted. I was shocked. Then Ryoma saved me again, he took the guys hand and asked him what does he want?

“Well- for making fun of the best player in his school, why don’t we play a match? The two of you. Let’s play doubles.”

“Doubles? Aren’t Tennis only for two people in a court?” Ryoma and I both said. We was shocked. How can we have same outlook in Tennis?

“Are you two dumb?” The guy shouted.

“Why don’t we play a game. Two versus two, one game at a time.” The other guy said.

“Deal!” I said.

            We entered an empty court. The first game was Ryoma versus the guy who throw cans at us. They were both using their right hand. But I smell something fishy.

            The started, Ryoma was the first one to serve. I saw he has a good serve. A quick and strong one. The guy didn’thad the chance to return it. Then suddenly an old women who dress like a coach sits by my side.

“Excuse me, Are you his coach?”

“Are you talking about the one with a cap or the one with a uniform?”

“The one with a cap.” I said.

“Kinda.” She answered.

            The game continued and the guy didn’t had the chance to return any of his balls.

“Do you know that guy?” The coah asked me.

“Uhm- yes, kinda. He’s Ryoma. And I just met him today. He saved me from those guys.”

“Oh-” was her only answer.

            Then we both looked at the their game.

“Wow!” I shouted. As I saw Ryoma’s good serve.

“His name is Ryoma Echizen. He won 4 straight games in America. For short, he is a prodigy. And that serve he did was I think one of the coolest moves he did in his game in America.”

            After hearing those words from that old lady, I suddenly realized why I didn’t knew him, well maybe because I don’t watch Sports in TV or read Sprts at a magazine or newspaper.

“Oh- He’s left-handed.“ I said,

            The lady was shocked.

“You know him? How did you know? Eventhough he’s serving with his right hand?” The women asked me, she was so shocked, maybe because she was curious how I managed to know.

“It’s easy to tell if that person is right handed or a lefty. Just the way you look at the way he hold the racquet. I know it looked perfect but the way the hit the ball, I can sense there is no much power. Plus there is a gear on his left hand.” I explained.

“You’re quite a good observer.” She said.

            Then the game ended and Ryoma won. Now it’s my time to play. I walk towards the court but Ryoma said “You don’t have to play. I can play for you.”

“I know how you feel. But I want to play too, don’t be so selfish?”

            He didn’t respond and walk away. The guy who Ryoma just defeated lookd so angry. Then he called his other friend to challenge me and he also suddenly approached a fat guy. He asked him to come to the court and play with me. Ryoma shouted that it’s unfair and since I’m a girl. I stopped him and said “ I want to challenge myself too.”

            I went to the court with the two guys. “I miss this” I thought to myself. The game started and I was using my right hand. I was the first one to serve. I did a weak serve, just to make them realized that I’m just a girl and made them look down on me, and they did. It was 0-15. Then to the second serve, it was faster and stronger, they didn’t return it. I keep that game, it was so boring for me, but the fact that they’re two, it didn’t became an disadvantage to me. Instead, I used “Tezuka zone”. The one that I saw from my brothers video. It is actually just easy for me to copy and familiarize methods. All I did was stand and wait for the ball to come to me. It was so boring and I kept winning. And for the last one, I copied Ryoma’s great serve but what I did wasn’t a serve, I just got a chance since they lobbed the ball. It finished less tan 15 mins. Everybody was stunned. Especially Ryoma and the woman.

“How did you know that?” The woman asked. I was confused.

“What do you mean that?”

“The one that you did when whenever they hit the ball it just go directly to you.” Ryoma said.

“Oh, just calculations..” I said. Then I realized, Tezuka was watching all this time. I said bye to them and made an exit.

            I ran after my brother but he was already in the car, and it was already afternoon.

“You improved, a lot.” He said while we were both in the car.

“I’m sorry.”

“Huh? For?”

“For using your move. I didn’t mean to, I just want to end it directly since it’s boring.”

“Haha, you don’t have to be sorry. You did a great job.”

“Thanks.”