Gekidasa Daze!!! ^[1]

"Ne minna," Ootori Choutarou said as he put his tray onto the table. "Have you guys tried playing street tennis?"

"Street tennis?" Shishido Ryou asked. The rest looked at the tall sophomore, wondering why he asked them such thing.

"Hai. Street tennis. I saw Momoshiro-san and Akira-san playing on the courts one time," he said, referring to the junior tennis players of Seigaku and Fudomine, respectively.

"Street tennis eh? Sounds interesting," Mukahi Gakuto said. "Is there any difference between playing in school grounds and the public courts?"

Oshitari Yuushi joined in on the conversation. "I'm not sure though. But since Ootori already brought it up, why don't we try it?" The guys looked at each other, and smiled. Oshitari turned to Atobe. "Ne Atobe, want to join us?"

The elegant tennis captain smiled, "Street tennis? Ore-sama tries everything, na, Kabaji?"

"Usu."

"Then let's go this Saturday, at four in the afternoon." Shishido said. "Are you coming with us, Jirou?"

"Zzzz..."

**********

Saturday afternoon.

"Game and match, , 6 games to 3!" Kikumaru Eiji beamed.

Momoshiro made a face, and then smiled sheepishly. " -neesan! You never let me win!"

The tall girl smiled at him and fixed her green baseball cap. "Why would I? You need to practice a lot, Takeshi," went towards to Kikumaru and sat beside the redhead. "But that was a good game, ne?" she turned to Kikumaru. Kikumaru gave his usual warm and cheerful smile, "Sugoi -san! Where did you learn to play like that?" Turning to Momoshiro he said, "Uh Momo! You should practice more so that you can be a lot stronger than -san!" Momoshiro just made a face and then laughed. "Na, -neesan is too good. But you're right -- I need to practice more. Anyway, do you guys want to eat?"

As the three people were talking about where they should eat, a small group of guys approached the public courts. "Did you see that?" The bespectacled guy said.

"S-sugoi.” A smaller guy with red hair said. "She beat Momoshiro... Seigaku's powerhouse!"

"Interesting. I wonder what her name is, ne Shishido-san?" Ootori said, looking at the guy wearing a blue cap. The boy did not answer. "Shishido-san?"

Shishido didn't seem to hear what Ootori was saying. He was just staring at the girl who had just beaten Momoshiro Takeshi at street tennis. He could not believe his eyes. It was impossible, for Momoshiro was a very strong player. And the girl looked frail to begin with! Was Momoshiro just giving away the game for the girl? No, it didn't seem like it. The girl was strong, he was sure of that. Suddenly he felt adrenaline rushing through his veins. His face started to feel warm. His train of thoughts was interrupted when he felt that he was floating. Kabaji had picked him up and carried him to the adjacent court.

"C-CHOTTO MATTE! What the hell is this?" Shishido yelled as he struggled to be put down. The other boys laughed (except Kabaji of course). Atobe smirks "It seems that Jirou is not the only one who sleeps anywhere, na Kabaji?"

"Usu."

**********

Monday morning.

Shishido was looking at his notes, trying to review some bits and pieces of information for the recitation later in class. He noticed that Oshitari had come in his classroom and sat beside him. "I heard that there's going to be a new girl in your class, Shishido."

Shishido grunted, ignoring Oshitari. He was not the type of person who would make a fuss just because there was a new student in school. Oshitari smirked. "Oh well, it seems that you're busy today. Just tell me if she looks pretty. I'll try to ask her out sometime," he said, and left his teammate.

A few moments later the teacher entered the class followed by a tall and long-haired girl. Shishido was startled for a while when he saw her, but didn't know why. "I must stop drinking iced coffee," he muttered to himself as he listened to the teacher speak.

"Today there's going to be a new girl in your class. Hai, jikoshokai shimasu," the teacher said. The girl stood up straight and wore a smile on her face. "Momoshiro desu. I just moved in from Chiba. Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu." The class greeted her and Shishido was once again startled when he heard that the girl was going to sit beside him. The girl went toward him, and sat on the seat next to his. She looked at him for a while, and when he turned to look at her, she smiled. "Sorry for intruding your space, but the teacher told me to sit here."

"H-hai." Shishido said. The class started, and while Shishido was listening to the lesson, there was something in him that felt different. The girl seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t tell why. He shrugged and brushed the thoughts away as he concentrated on the lesson.

**********

"Ne, ne -san, are you going to join any clubs?" One girl asked. stopped from walking and thought for a while. She liked a lot of things, and she thought it would be a problem choosing which club she wanted to be involved in. "Sou da ne... Well, I like a lot of things though. But I'll probably join a sport-related club." She answered cheerfully.

"Sou desuka! Which team are you planning to join?"

She remembered her unofficial match last Saturday, and the blue-capped boy, and smiled. "The tennis team," she said. She then turned around and said, "Speaking of the tennis team, I need to go and change now. Ja ne!"

**********

"Hwaaa, sugoi ne!"

"She is so graceful!"

"There's no doubt about it, she's going to make it to the team!"

For the first time, the tennis court where the girls' tennis team played in seemed to have a lot of spectators compared to the boys' team. Usually the boys' court would be surrounded by girls who admired the regulars, and boys who wanted to get into the team. Today was different though.

"I wonder what's going on in the other court," Oshitari said as he and the other regulars were on their way to their locker room. "I've never seen the girls' court surrounded by so many people," he added.

"I heard that there's a new girl joining the team, Oshitari-senpai," Ootori said. "And that she's really good." The boys stopped. "A girl?" Gakuto asked. The silver-haired sophomore nodded.

"Maybe we should check it out. Want to join us Shishido?" Oshitari asked. Shishido grunted and followed them. They heard the referee announce the score, it was 5-0. It was between the new girl and a regular player. Some spectators saw the boy’s team regulars coming over and provided them with some space where they could watch. As soon as Shishido found a good place to watch the game, he turned his gaze to the court and was surprised.

Really surprised.

And before he was able to recover, the game ended, 6-0.

The game was dominated by a tall girl who has a green baseball cap. And she wore it backwards.

There was a loud cheer around the court as the new girl finished the game. The number of people decreased while the tennis team regulars stayed there quite surprised. Suddenly Atobe appeared and saw his teammates standing outside the court. "Oi, what are you doing there?" The boys turned around, and looked back at the green-capped girl talking to the coach, possibly receiving instructions. Atobe smiled. "So it's her again, ah~n? She's the one we saw at the public courts, right?"

"Sou ka," Ootori said. "She's the one who played Momoshiro-san of Seigaku." As soon as Ootori finished his sentence, the girl had found her way near them.

"Ah, so you saw me playing last Saturday!" The girl beamed. "That's a little embarrassing," she said, blushing.

"T-there's nothing to be shy about!" Shishido suddenly blurted, and everyone looked at him. The tough guy looked flustered. Oshitari smirked and nudged his doubles partner, Gakuto.

"Why were you playing with Momoshiro and Kikumaru?" Atobe asked.

The girl smiled. "Ah, Takeshi is my first degree cousin." Everyone was once again, caught surprised. smiled sheepishly. "It doesn't look like it, but we're relatives. We used to live here in Tokyo, but we moved to Chiba because of my father's work. Takeshi and I... we used to play a lot, and then I started to play tennis, so every time we see each other we hit some balls..."

"But he always loses, I assume?" Oshitari said. smiled again. "I didn't mean to do that, I mean, with regards to tennis, or basketball, or baseball..."

"Wow, sugoi Momoshiro-san!" Exclaimed Ootori. Atobe seemed pleased. Shishido didn't know how to react after hearing information about the girl.

While the rest of the tennis team was talking to , one member seemed to be really quiet. Shishido just stood there, looking at the girl. They were about the same height, he thought, and she liked sports a lot. Plus, she's good at tennis too, which was something that he really liked as well. And she looked good with that baseball cap on...

"SHISHIDO! Are you listening?" Atobe snapped. Shishido came back to his senses and looked around. Oshitari was smirking. "H-hai?"

again smiled, and then tapped Shishido's cap. "Shikkari, Shishido-san!" She taunted. She turned to the rest of the guys. "I'll be seeing you guys sometime. I need to get changed and go home. Shitsurei shimasu!" She bowed as she ran towards the girls' locker room.

"It seems that Shishido has finally met his match, na Yuushi?" Gakuto nudged Oshitari.

"S-senpai! Don't make fun of Shishido-san!" Ootori said, but the second year was trying to hide the smile on his lips. He knew that his senpai liked sporty and tomboyish girls.

"O-oi, what's the big idea?" Shishido said. The guys looked at one another and then suppressed their laughter.

"C-Chotto matte! Why are you guys laughing?" Shishido said, blushing. Somehow he had an idea of what was going on, but he was trying to feign his reactions.

Atobe smiled. "Gekidasa daze, na, Kabaji?"

"Usu."

##########

^[1] Shishido Ryou's favorite expression, this roughly means "this is so uncool".