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On the Line
Chapter 2: The Set-up
“Hmm, no, no, I don’t think so,”
“But dad, why not?”
Tentou had come home with the impression that his parents would be pleased with the fact that he finally found something he was good at. He at least thought they would have been relieved.
Well, at least one of themseemed content with his discovery.
His ‘joyous’ homecoming went like this:
He reached the front door. Panting, he entered his home with overflowing contentment, and found his mother resting on the sofa, watching the news.
“And today, a major oil spill occurred near Yinasha Beach, but not the kind of oil spill you’re probably thinking of. A truck full of what appears to be containers of vegetable oil crashed, causing several cars to veer out of control. The road is currently being doused, and fortunately, no one was seriously injured. Hoshiro Wattasho, the driver of the truck, apologized, and commented that it was ‘a major slip-up.’”
“Mom, you won’t believe what happened in school today!” said Tentou, breaking the serene atmosphere of the room.
“Hmm?” His mother sat up to look at him, and asked “Why, what happened?”
At that exact point, Mr. Kanasha came into the room, carrying a box of weights, completely oblivious to the conversation that was happening in the living room.
“I’ve decided to join the tennis team.”
Evidently, the words ‘tennis team’ numbs the human arms: no sooner had Tentou uttered these words when Mr. Kanasha suddenly lost his grip on the box, smashing his left foot with an outrageous amount of falling pounds. Letting out a short yelp, he hopped on one foot, uttering curse after curse under his breath. Alarmed, Tentou and his mother had to guide him to the sofa.
After settling down (and making a cup of green tea for Mr. Kanasha, who looked awkward drinking with one hand while clutching his foot with the other), Mr. Kanasha finally asked “So, what’s this about tennis?”
To which Tentou replied “I’m going to try out for the school tennis team.”
His mother gasped. “Oh Tentou, that’s wonderful. Isn’t it grand Mitoshi?”
Half nodding, he said “Yeah, yes, just grand,” although his answer seemed a bit unenthusiastic.
Apparently Tentou didn’t notice this, and continued “Hajite-sensei told me he’s never seen a serve like how I served. I tell you, I’ve never felt so alive before!”
His father was still trying to comprehend what his son was saying. “Yes yes, now, Tentou, why don’t you go take a shower? You look all sweaty.”
“Sure; after a day like this, I’m not surprised that I’ve worked up a sweat.”
Not long after Tentou locked himself in the bathroom and turned on the water, Mr. Kanasha craned his head to his wife, and said “I don’t feel very good about Tentou taking up tennis.”
As she set a bucket of hot water for his foot, Mrs. Kanasha tried to reason with him. “Why not? He would get his exercise, he says he’s good at it, and he seems to have a lot of fun doing it.”
“It’s not that I don’t like him having fun, it’s just that, well,” he paused to set his foot into the bucket.
“Yes?”
“Well, what will it do in the long run? I mean, so he joins the team. Oh sure, it will seem great at first. But then, his practices, matches, parties, whatever; they’re going to take up his schedule. It will start interfering with his schoolwork, his training, everything! The only thing he’ll be talking and thinking about is tennis. And what will he gain from it? Nothing. I mean, I’ve never even heard of a tennis player who has earned enough to support himself or his family. And I think my foot’s feeling a little better.”
He tried lifting left leg, but his foot barely scraped the side of the bucket before Mr. Kanasha cried “OH! Ow, no, still hurting, no,” and set his foot in the water again.
Shaking her head, Mrs. Kanasha said to her aching husband “I still don’t understand,”
Perplexed, Mr. Kanasha asked her, “You don’t understand how joining tennis might be bad for him?”
“Well, that and the fact that you carried in more weights than Tentou could ever use in a day. I mean,”
She stopped to lug a particularly large weight out of the box labeled ’55 lbs’. Despite using both arms, she had no choice but to let the weight crash to the floor. “Since when could Tentou curl this up?”
After a glance at the large weight, he replied “Oh, that one? He can’t; I’m just waiting for the day he can so I can buy heavier ones.”
“I think that may be the problem Mitoshi; I don’t think Tentou was meant to be a shinobi.”
However, Mr. Kanasha only scoffed, and said “Not all warriors are shinobis, and of course Tentou was meant to be a warrior. It’s in his blood after all.”
Mrs. Kanasha playfully returned the scoff, and countered with “Tentou doesn’t drink himself to sleep with sake every Saturday night, and that’s in his blood as well.”
“Hey, hey, hey! You know I stopped that over twenty years ago, that’s not fair.” he stammered.
She gave a light chuckle, and replied “Well, that puts you around Tentou’s age.”
Mr. Kanasha lifted the 55 pound weight and said “Hardly: twenty is nowhere near fifteen! Anyway, I still don’t think this is a good thing for him.”
“What was that?” asked Tentou. He just came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist, just about to head over to his room.
“Uh, uh,” he stammered, “we were just talking about how this is a good thing for you.”
Tentou gave a shrug, and said “Oh, well, I’ll be out later for dinner. Man, I’m starving!”
Mrs. Kanasha began to head towards the kitchen. “I’ll fix up some fish stew.”
With an extra kick in his step, Tentou smiled and replied “That sounds great! I’ll be out in a minute.”
As soon as Tentou closed the door, Mr Kanasha hobbled out of the sofa, and stood next to his wife. “So, I don’t know if you’re going to back me up on this-“
“Mitoshi,” she interrupted, “I’m staying out of this one. Two on one seems a bit unfair.”
“Oh, ok.” he nodded, walking away. Thinking about what she had said, he turned back and asked “For who?”
Heaving a sigh, she faced him after putting a pot of water on the stove and replied “Like I said, I’m not taking a side, but just, look at him Mitoshi.”
Perplexed, he answered “But, he’s in his room right now.”
“No, I mean, look at his smile.”
Wondering why he was still carrying the 55 pound weight, he tossed it on the sofa, and said “I saw his smile: it was nice, but I think we need to schedule another dental appointment.”
As she was filling the rice pot, she said “No, I mean, yes his smile is nice, but it’s so rare. He never used to smile like that before, but ever since he started talking about tennis, I feel like he’s finally found his place.”
“Maybe, but I still have my doubts about this.”
Chopping some daikon radishes, Mrs. Kanasha simply replied “Just know that I’m not part of it if he argues.” (1)
Stepping into the kitchen, Mr. Kanasha gingerly hobbled over to the seat at the table. “Don’t worry; Tentou will see the bigger picture. He won’t argue.”
“Hmm, no, no, I don’t think so,”
“But dad, why not?”
Right at the start of dinner, Tentou had asked his father if he thought it was a good idea for Tentou to join the tennis team. He didn’t understand how his father could say no to such a great discovery.
“Tentou; I just don’t know how tennis will help your future. Your mother and I can’t keep taking care of you forever, not with college coming up,”
“Not for two more years dad!” Tentou interjected, annoyed.
In spite of being interrupted, his father continued. “In any case, if you join the military school, I can get you a free tuition, and you can get a good paying job,”
“As a construction worker?” said Tentou bitterly, skeptic about his father’s idea for his son’s future.
“And you will be set for life.” finished Mr. Kanasha, irritated by the fact that he was interrupted twice in a row. “Besides, what future do you have by taking tennis?”
“Dad, I’m fifteen! Let me worry about right now instead of later! Tennis is the only thing that feels right to me right now. Please dad; at least let me try out for the tennis team, just to make sure it’s right for me!”
His father stammered. “Uh, um, well, Samai?”
“I’m still not part of it.” replied Mrs. Kanasha, not looking up from her food.
Defeated, Mr. Kanasha had no choice but to accept it. “Uh, right, okay, fine Tentou. I will let you try out for the tennis team, but I don’t know how good you are at it, nor do I see any good from it.”
“Yes! Thank you dad! Wow! I can’t believe it. I mean, it’s like a dream come true for me. I mean, do you know how many kids try out for this after one day of gym, just after being introd-“
“Finish your food Tentou.” Mrs. Kanasha interrupted with a smile.
Taking out his books, he replied “Well, I’ve got extra history homework, and Hadu-san launched a spitball at the chalkboard,”
“No, not that! I heard several girls at lunch talking about ‘some guy with weird hair playing tennis yesterday’, or however they talk. I figured that was you.”
As he fingered his tendrils, Tentou sulked. “My hair’s not weird,”
“Which is beside the point.” Miki interrupted. “I also heard that this kid was supposedly trying out for the tennis team. Well?”
“Well what?”
Sighing with impatience, Miki shouted “You baka! Is it you? Are you trying out for the tennis team?”
Tentou smiled as he closed his locker. “I guess so. I mean, you should’ve seen Hajite-sensei when I served the ball. He was speechless!”
“Well, I can understand that, but since when have you become good at tennis, out of all sports, tennis?”
He shrugged, and said “I don’t know. I guess it just happened. Either way, tryouts are today, so I guess I’ll see ya later.”
Miki nodded. “Right, right. Hey; if you’re lucky, maybe you’ll make the school newspaper!” They both shared a laugh, but Tentou left wondering if he couldmake the school newspaper?
Mr. Hajite motioned for everyone to stand around the chart that was posted on the court cage. Looking around, Tentou noticed that, although admittedly there were more boys trying out than he expected, there were a lot more girls present.
“Now, we’re going to determine the team members through a round robin tournament. This means is you’re all going to be paired up against five different opponents of the same gender. The top six boys and the top six girls will be admitted into the team.”
Tentou understood all of this. Five opponents, twelve spots, over forty kids trying out for a place on the prestigious tennis team. He would get one of those spots.
“You will play one set of two games.”
And that’s where Tentou’s knowledge point had reached its limit.
“One set? I thought we were playing tennis!” he blurted without thinking.
There was an enormous amount of laughter following this. Mr. Hajite looked at Tentou with complete incredulity and asked “You mean you don’t know how scoring works in tennis?”
“Scoring? I thought all you had to do was hit the ball out of the opponent’s reach!” More laughter rang out among the group of players.
“Well, you have to do it more than once! Tennis can sometimes be as demanding as a long distance marathon. You see, a tennis match is broken down into sets. In this case, it’s only one set, so whoever wins that one set wins the match. Sets are further broken down into games, in this case, first to win two.”
Nodding, Tentou said “Oh, I get it Hajite-sensei: I have to hit the ball out of the opponent’s reach twice to win the match!”
Mr. Hajite had to try to calm down the other players as most of them had completely broken down into tear-driven laughter. “Look, how about I have one of my veteran players supervise your matches. In fact, all players from last year will be judging your matches. Now, let’s pair up!”
Tentou was still perplexed; he didn’t really know anything about this sport, did he? Why then, did it feel so right that he’d try out for this?
Lost in thought, Tentou said to himself “Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe this isn’t for me. Maybe-”
A voice said behind him “Hey, nice going tentacle head!”
“I’ll kick the butt of the guy who made fun of my hair!” he finished. Tentou wheeled around, and had come face to chest with someone who possessed a wide build. Looking up, he beheld a muscular figure with almost no neck, and a beefy head that was flat and wide. Tentou suspected that this guy had tried out for the wrong sport, until he saw the tennis racquet in his fat hand.
The mammoth man smirked, and said “It looks like you’re my opponent. This won’t take long.”
Growling, Tentou retorted “I agree; I’m going to finish this match faster than anyone else can finish theirs!”
With a short laugh, his opponent said tauntingly “Remember shorty; you have to score more than two points to win the game…”
Any doubts that Tentou had earlier had completely vanished. Now all that was on his mind was driving the ball hard in his opponent’s stomach with the intention to leave his lunch all over the court.
The official judge at the sidelines, a slender girl with a clipboard dressed white in the proper tennis attire, announced “First round: Kanasha vs. Sujiko. Sujiko serves.” (2)
With a sinister smile, Sujiko bounced the ball assertively while eyeing Tentou across the court.
Tentou’s brain instantly went into overdrive: “Okay, now what was it that Hajite-sensei said? I have to somehow hit this gorilla’s serve back over, but I can return it any way I want as long as it stays-”
POK!
Sujiko had an air of complete confidence as the ball made a beeline towards the center of Tentou’s right service court. Without thinking, he moved forward to meet the ball after the bounce, jumped in anticipation to the height, and swung his racquet.
POK!
The ball shot to the extreme right side of the court, and caught the corner, leaving Sujiko with no time to run to the opposite side, and a stunned look on his face.
Impressed with the return, the assistant declared “Love – 15”
Tilting his head to the side, Tentou wondered aloud “Why do you love 15?”
A little annoyed that someone who was trying out for a sport didn’t know the rules of the sport he was trying out for, she replied “That’s the score: zero to fifteen.”
His eyes widened. “Wow; 15 points for that? Cool! So, how many to win the game?”
Although she was a veteran player, she couldn’t find an answer to this. “Uh, umm, well, oh, just play the game; you’ll know when.”(3)
Sujiko shook his head to clear his mind of what just happened, and walked to the left side of his court. “You got lucky there kid, but the next one will drill a hole in your chest!”
“You can try, but I’ll just keep sending them right back!” shouted Tentou.
“Umm, Kanasha-san? Aren’t you going to go to the other side of the court?” asked the assistant.
“Huh? Why would I do that?” wondered Tentou, still standing behind the right side of his service line.
“Because Sujiko-san has to hit it from his left court to your left court.” she explained.
“Well, if you say so…”
Bouncing the ball once again, Sujiko yelled “Can we get this over with already? I’ve got bigger fish to fry!”
Standing on the left side of his court, Tentou replied “Then serve the ball already!”
Once again, Sujiko threw the ball in the air, and hit it with all of his strength. With a grunt, he sent the ball towards the center of Tentou’s left service court.
The exchange was like déjà vu; all Tentou had to do was jump towards the ball after it had bounced, and hit it right back, this time to his left. The ball caught the corner, and bounced away.
“Love – 30”
With a smile, Tentou said to himself “Yes; fifteen more points for me.
As he made his way to the other side, Sujiko wondered “How is this kid returning every one of my shots? I better put it to the middle.”
He served again, this time towards the center line. Not missing a beat, Tentou ran towards the center, and hit it back to the right service area on Sujiko’s side. However, Sujiko anticipated this, and was already heading towards the right side. By the time Tentou had hit the ball, he was behind the right service court. He returned it back over the net.
Without even letting the ball bounce, Tentou deflected it deep to the left side; too far for Sujiko to pursue.
“Love – 40, break point.”
Now frustrated, Sujiko growled as he walked to the other side “Alright, here’s where it gets serious.”
But Tentou was confused about something: “Forty? Shouldn’t it be forty five?”
With an exasperated sigh, the assistant replied “No, the scoring is very weird in tennis. All you have to do is get one more point and you win the game.”
“You baka! Do you know anything about this game?” Sujiko taunted from the other side of the court.
“I know that if I return the ball and it hits your stomach, it still counts as a point!” Tentou shouted back.
“Very good; perhaps you’ll know what it feels like firsthand!” And with a battle cry, he swung his racquet with every fiber in his body. The ball came cross court and hit the left side of Tentou’s service court.
Tentou managed to hit it back towards the center, but Sujiko was now rushing the net. When he hit the ball, he was behind the service courts. Running as fast as he could back to the right, Tentou barely caught it with an angled racquet, sending the ball into a deep lob to the right side.
Unfortunately for Sujiko, he was already at the net, ready to crush the ball after Tentou hit it back. This turn of events caused him to rush back to the serving line, and only just caught the ball, hitting it towards the center line. Tentou countered by moving towards the net, and hitting a flat shot to the left, just catching the baseline. There was nothing Sujiko could do except wear a face of disbelief.
“Game: Kanasha!”
“Alright shorty; let’s see your pathetic serve that I’ve been hearing about.” Sujiko snarled, thoroughly frustrated at the persistence of his opponent.
“Well, you asked for it!” replied Tentou silently as he tossed the ball into the air. He swung his racquet and sent the ball screaming towards the baseline, clipping it. The angle was too wide for Sujiko to make any kind of return.
“Ace, 15 – love”
“Yeah, yeah, that was a lucky serve kid. Don’t count on it happening again! I will beat you!” shouted Sujiko, moving to the far left.
All Tentou could do was grin and reply “You’ve been saying that since the beginning of the match.”
Tossing the ball lightly into the air, Tentou didn’t even jump to serve it; he just hit it down the center line for the point.
“Ace, 30 – love.”
Sujiko was furious. “Just serve it to me, will ya?!? How about one I can hit, you coward!”
“I thought the point of the game was to hit it so the opponent couldn’t!” Tentou retorted.
But Tentou obliged. After all, his opponent looked like he was going to leap over the net and strangle him.
He served the ball towards the center of the service court. Immediately rushing forward, Sujiko hit a low flat shot with everything he had.
It grazed the net, killing the momentum and sending the ball high near the net.
With a gasp, Tentou sped towards the net with all of the speed in his legs.
The ball bounced once, rising two feet above the net.
Reaching out, Tentou sent the ball right, almost parallel to the net. It bounced on the bottom corner of the service court.
“40 – love, match point.”
“What’s going on here?” wondered Sujiko, “This kid should’ve been a snap to beat. He doesn’t even know all the rules of the game!”
The thoughts of Tentou couldn’t have been more different: He was relaxed, and all of his focus was on finishing his first tennis match.
Taking a deep breath, he tossed the ball, and served it deep. It caught the left corner of Sujiko’s left service court.
Sujiko was ready. With his racquet low to the ground, he attacked the ball, hitting it just over the net back to Tentou.
But Tentou was also on the offensive: He took a couple of steps forward and hit the ball back equally as low. The ball was almost on its second bounce when it got to Sujiko, who could only angle his racquet to give the ball more lift.
It was too much angle. He lobbed it; a death sentence in tennis.
With a war cry, Tentou ran towards the net, racquet raised.
A look of fear on his face for the first time in the match, Sujiko backed up past the service line.
Without warning, Tentou froze before the net. “I stopped.”
The ball bounced once.
And Tentou lightly tapped it over the net.
“Game, Set, and Match: Kanasha-san!” declared the judge. She recorded the results, and moved on to another court.
“Wow! My first tennis game and I won! I can’t wait to play again!” With a look of pure ecstasy on his face, Tentou was off to the board to look at his next match.
And Sujiko was left to cope with the fact that he had been beaten by an undersized kid with almost no experience in tennis. Growling in disbelief, he went back into the locker rooms.
But the assistant wasn’t the only veteran player to witness Tentou’s first match. From the next court over, a tall, thin senior by the name of Ryuhoji Mikizuka stroked his chin. “That one is very interesting,” he said in deep thought, “Let’s see if he’s really tennis material.”
“Good afternoon Mikizuka-san.” said Mr. Hajite, preparing a clipboard with several names on the page.
“Good afternoon Hajite-sensei. I see you’re preparing the names of the new additions to the team.”
“Yes, and with difficulty. You see, there’s one spot left on the list of male players,”
“And you’re stuck between two players.” Ryuhoji finished for him.
“Tentou Kanasha, and Ken Hakageru, both tied at 3 wins and 2 losses.” Mr. Hajite read as he drank his tea.
Taking a deep breath, Ryuhoji explained his case. “Sensei, I don’t think we should let Kanasha-san into the team. I mean, his two losses were by disqualification. The first one occurred when he jumped over the net to return a ball, and the second one happened when he threw his racquet at the ball to return it. Akata-san now has a broken nose and had to be sent home! I sincerely think that Ken Hakageru would be the better choice for the team.”
Mr. Hajite looked over the results and replied “Tentou did manage to beat Ken two games to none. In fact, all three of his wins show a two game sweep. We could teach him how to play effectively, what to do, and what not to do.”
Ryuhoji protested. “But that’s the point: We have to tell him! That boy doesn’t know the first thing about tennis past hitting the ball. His potential is great, yes, but I don’t think he’ll be able to bring it out before the season starts.”
With a short sigh, Mr. Hajite looked out the window. “Mikizuka-san, when I see these rookie players, I see students ready to be taught. You were just like them once Ryuhoji; timid, little knowledge about the game, and great ambitions. Now look at you; my star player for just a year longer. I’m going to need to teach new ones eventually.”
He got up and walked towards the door. Before he left, he turned to Ryuhoji. “I will consider your opinion, but no matter what I decide, I am still your coach and you will respect my decision. Is that clear?”
Hesitantly, Ryuhoji replied “Yes Hajite-sensei.”
“Good. I’ll announce the new members in five minutes.”
“Alright; I saw a lot of talent out here today, and it makes me wish we could admit all of you into our team. Give yourselves a big hand for showing up and demonstrating what you’re capable of.”
Many of the students cheered, but all of them were still anxious to know who made the cut.
“Let’s start with the men. If your name is called, please stand up and move to the front next to me. If I haven’t called your name by the end of this, better luck next year.” Taking out a clipboard, Mr. Hajite started reading off the names.
“Kyou-san!”
One of the boys in the crowd stood up completely relieved as the crowd applauded. He made his way to Mr. Hajite.
“Miyamatsu-san!”
Tentou was shaking. “What if they didn’t call me?” he wondered.
“Roksabi-san!
As Mr. Hajite reached the last few names, Tentou’s hopes had begun to fade.
“Jinuchi-san! Saiyomaru-san!”
“And the last male member of the team,”
Tentou held his breath, the chances of his name being called out practically nil in his mind.
“Kanasha-san!”
He didn’t even hear the applause. Knees trembling, Tentou jumped with joy and ran towards the front to join the new members of the Okasashi High School tennis team. The only thought running through his mind was he had done it. Tentou had taken the first step to accomplishing his dream.
After all of the names were called, Mr. Hajite took out a short stack of papers, and started handing them out. “These are your permission slips. One of your parents or legal guardians must sign this so I know they’re okay with you playing tennis. Remember to get these signed by tomorrow afternoon or you won’t be able to play. Practice is after school until five. Hopefully I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
Taking one of the permission slips with trembling fingers, Tentou grinned, knowing that nothing would stop him now.
“I’m going to be a tennis player!” (4)
(2) Usually in tennis, the first serve is determined by a racket spin. The assistant just wanted to get on with it however, as two games ensured seeing both player’s serve.
(3) The assistant didn’t know how to answer Tentou’s question because a game is won by winning four points, and being two points ahead of the opponent. The unusual number system is just a way of keeping track of these points. However, the fourth point is not given a number value, and therefore the assistant was stunned when Tentou asked how many points he needed, because he was referring to the unusual number system.
(4) Many people seem to relate this story to a manga called Prince of Tennis, but truthfully, I’ve never heard of the manga until now! I wondered whether the manga would just feature power slams and balls burning from air friction, but in reality the manga looks pretty good. I do recommend it if you have access to it. Believe it or not, I got my inspiration from the movie Shaolin Soccer! You can imagine how much the level of play is going to escalate in later chapters!
I do apologize for getting this chapter out later than usual, but I am extremely busy doing my college work. Updates will be unbelievably slow until summer break.
