Most of the girls were around Haitani, a tall good looking boy who had won.
Akira Azuma sat on a bench alone. He wiped sweat off of his face and struggled against the emotions of bitterness and humiliation. Why did Mitsune have to come and watch him lose again? He used both hands to hold the towel against his face to muffle his grawls of frustration.
He failed to notice the girl that walked up to stand in front of him right away. When he finally became aware and looked up he was greeted by Natsumi. She gave a prize winning grin.
When Akira just looked up at her in confusion and blinked, Natsumi proceeded with a bow. "Mr. Haitani?" She asked.
Akira stared back at her surprised that anyone would address him by his nemesis's name. "Haitani is over there, somewhere in the center of that crowd." He returned to mop up his brow.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I must have had a misunderstanding with-'' Before Natsumi could finish, Akira erupted, losing control over his frustration.
"Of course it was a misunderstanding. A pretty girl like you wouldn't be caught dead talking to a loser like me." That said he stood intent on stomping off despite how childish he knew it was. He felt a twinge of guilt for being rude to a stranger, but was focused on his need to disappear as quickly as possible.
Natsumi followed the disgruntled tennis player. When he looked over at her he could see she was shocked, but her strides to keep up with him were determined.
"I'm sorry we started out on the wrong foot. But I'm the second daughter of king Gieve of Natagiwagi. I'm Princess Aoi Natsumi something something something Godai! I'd like to talk to you about being a deputy!" She gasped for breath and had to stop walking. "You may call me Princess Natsumi."
Akira mercifully paused and turned to face her. "Natagi what? What kind of place is that?"
"Natagiwagi, it's where I'm from and my country needs your help!"
"My help? You really want me and not Haitani?" Akira pointed at his chest incredulously.
Natsumi rappedly nodded her head in confirmation.
The gloom evaporated from Akira's face, replaced by a grin. All humiliation and previous storming emotions just as quickly vanished. Excitement and joy now abounded as he gave Natsumi his heartfelt apology. "I'm sorry for being rude, it's been a rough day. Very sorry!"
"Does this mean you'll help me?"
"It'd be an honor to serve you princess!" In his sweaty sports clothes, towel over one arm, and tennis racket tucked under his other arm, Akira gave a clunky bow.
"You're not gonna laugh and say Natagiwagi sounds like a child made it up?" She looked at him full of hope.
He hesitated in silent debate as he straightened his back and his green eyes gazed down at her. His head tilted to the left. Natagiwagi did sound silly, he was not the best at school but he was pretty sure no such place existed. Akira's head shifted to tilt to the right. On the other hand, Natsumi said she needed him and it would only be fair to hear her out.
"I'll never laugh at you, Princess. I won't even let anyone else laugh at you!" Immersed in new feelings of gratitude and protectiveness, Akira clenched his fist and punched the air. "If someone so much as looks at you funny I'll throw myself in between to protect you from their gaze!"
His racket and towel fell to the ground in his eger show of new found loyalty. He bent down to retrieve them.
Natsumi giggled. "That won't be needed, but I would like to know your name."
"Akira Azuma, at your serves."
"Akira, what a wonderful name. I'll see you soon."
"Huh... But I thought it was urgent that you talk to me?"
"It is, but you're all sweaty. I'll wait till you're done showering."
~*~*~*
In the locker room Haitani called out. "Hey, Akira! That was some match out there, have you been practising on your own?"
Next to Haitani was his right hand man, shadow, and echo box, Kyo. The shorter boy snickered. "Yeah, did ya practice?"
He felt much better after meeting Natsumi, it gave Akira the energy boost to smile and deal with Haitani. "Yeah, I put in a few extra hours after some of you guys left last night." He managed to keep his words humble and calm.
However, inwardly Akira was crying and thought with dismay 'I practiced for hours every night for a week and I still couldn't beat you! WHY!!' He could feel his inward chibi self rolling on the ground and pitching a temper-tantrum.
"Keep practicing, eventually you might be able to beat someone on this team," Haitani encouraged in an overly cheerful voice. He smiled smugly and pat Akira on the shoulder.
"Not likely" Kyo muttered something else about Haitani being too optimistic.
Akira gritted his teeth and returned the pat on Haitani's shoulder. "One of these days I'll blow your expectations out of this world." He stuck by his policy to completely ignore Kyo as much as possible. If the other boy was going to insist at being second best and a shadow to the best player of the team, Akira didn't want to waste energy against him.
They parted ways and Akira was left to his own thoughts as he showered. 'Someday I will win! I'll knock that smug grin off your face forever!' He imagined a chibi version of himself serving the tennis ball and hitting chibi Haitani in the face. Haitani's teeth fell out of his mouth and his face swelled up with a huge ugly bruise. All the girls screamed and ran away from Haitani.
Akira's shoulders shook and his head leaned back as he gave in to laughing at his own wishful thinking. 'One day I'll be the one all the girls flock to! Princess Natsumi is just a start, you wait and see Haitani! When that happens it'll be me giving you words of encouragement!'
At the thought of Natsumi waiting for him, Akira hurried to finish and got dressed. Since starting high school this was the first time anyone had waited for him after tennis practice.
Mitsune was a good friend and had offered, but he had turned her down. He missed hanging out with her after school, but also didn't want her to get in trouble for staying out late. Akira's pride also could not take Mitsune seeing him struggling. He did not want her to know just how much he put into practice by himself because he did not get along with his teammates.
They had been neighbors and friends since the first year of middle school. Akira couldn't believe his luck when he met her and they were in the same homeroom. He didn't have any particular hobbies outside of reading manga and playing video games, so he had joined theater to be in the same club with her. It was great going to school together, being in the same classes, going to club, and coming home together.
Mitsune and Akira couldn't act, they both got stage fright, and both struggled to memorize lines. But Mitsune was gifted at art and sewing. Akira could follow orders and was strong. They formed a team that was the backbone of their theater's backstage crew; handling costumes, props, and sets.
Akira missed those days. He often felt that he had used up all his luck in middle school without properly appreciating how good he had it.. Since starting high school and discovering he was in a different homeroom from Mitsune, they saw each other in the mornings on the way to school. If she had time she would watch him practice to cheer for him. Weekends one or both were usually busy, so they didn't get to meet up as much as Akira would have liked.
But today someone new appeared, she praised him and claimed to need his help. She was even willing to wait for him. It felt nice.
Refreshed with a new sense of purpose, Akira was fired up when he walked back outside to find Natsumi. His mind was turning out new scenes of him playing tennis against not only his teammates, but also famous players. His arm subconsciously striking the air with an invisible racket. His actual tennis racket in its case and strapped to his back.