One day, Ryouma Echizen walked down the street to his school� it was a fine summer day. Ryouma yawned in the heat. He had almost overslept again this morning. At that time he wasn�t thinking of anything in particular. He was vaguely studying for the English test he knew he�d pass; he was also busy bracing himself for the day ahead.
Ryouma had joined the school tennis club. He was already good enough to be on the main team as a regular. He was known as the prince of the club, the first-year ace.
The next tournament was right around the corner, and so everyone was busy training so as they could put on their best show and bow before the curtain�.
But they don�t intend on losing.
�Haah�� Ryouma sighed, shielding his eyes from the sun. �I hope there�s no weird juice today��
Unfortunately, today there was MORE juice than ever! Inui, a third-year regular, insisted they had some� he made it specially.
�It�s good for you.� He smirked. �This one is especially good on hot days like today!� Inui�s thick, black-rimmed glasses flashed menacingly, as if imploring everyone to drink with him. The other regulars gulped and got to training in double-time.
It was as if you could hear them all chanting a single thought:
�I�ll die before I drink that!�
However, little did they know, that day was not an ordinary day. From somewhere behind a tree a pair of eyes was watching with evil-intent.
��unfu��
Mizuki, an evil tennis player from a rival school, watched them. He smirked as he began to hatch his evil plan� it would start with the prodigy-ranked regular, Fuji Syuusuke. You see, Mizuki knew about Fuji�s secret power� he knew about the spells and enchantments that made Fuji�s tennis so unbelievable� he knew that Fuji was really a wizard! �Or did he?
At that moment, Fuji turned towards the tree that obscured Mizuki, and he shot an evil glare at it� a glare that made Mizuki�s heart stop with fear, caused his hands to shake and made time slow down around him. Mizuki stood in a statue-like paralysis, waiting for the seconds to pass, but the seconds seemed like minutes, and minutes seemed like hours. Mizuki felt like he would never escape the tense atmosphere� when suddenly from nowhere, someone with bright red hair jumped out of the air and landed in front of Fuji, obscuring his vision of the tree.
Eiji looked up and winked at Fuji, and said something nonsensical in a loud and upbeat voice. Fuji�s glare turned into a smile at the arrival of his best friend, whom he applauded in praise of his acrobatics.
�What�re you doing?� questioned Eiji, who had gotten to his feet, and was now looking at the suspicious tree.
�I thought I saw someone there,� explained Fuji calmly. At this, Mizuki took a sharp intake of breath, and unintentionally, his back tensed up against the tree, causing Eiji to stare closer at the sudden movement.
After squinting at the sunlight, Eiji frowned.
�Uhh� There IS someone there� isn�t there?� he said, his voice full of a pouty kind of concentration.
�Yeah�� whispered Fuji, so Mizuki couldn�t hear him. �Mizuki Hajime.�
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