The New King (2)

"Fifteen-Love! Yamazaki's serve!" The student standing in as the umpire for the match shouted. The crowd seemed to be enjoying seeing Eiji dominate, even if it was only the start of the game.

"The New King of Tennis is really something, isn't he? That serve was moving at least eighty-five miles per hour!" An onlooker said as he commented on the spectacular abilities of Eiji Shimizu, the Next King of Tennis. Even the supervising student seemed surprised by the amount of power that he was able to exert. 

"For real! I knew the Shimizu Family had birthed some tennis prodigies, but I didn't know that they would still be this good." His friend, another observer, added to the praise of the young star.

"Who exactly are we talking about? I've been watching tennis for a while now, and I've never heard of this 'Shimizu Family' you speak of." The student held a confused expression on his face as the topic of this random family was brought up. The only Shimizu that he knew of was Eiji.

"Man, your knowledge of tennis is really lackluster. Probably why you haven't even touched the bench of the junior varsity team even as a third year. Anyway, the reason you haven't heard of the Shimizu family is because they are solely based in the United States. The families spent three different generations in tennis, going back to Etsuya Shimizu. He moved from Japan to the US back in the 1970s, where he completely dominated, ranking No. 1 in the entire country. His dominance spread to the rest of the world after he won two back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the 80s and 90s. When he retired, his son, Eijirō, took his place at the top. But with the rising skill level of tennis players across the world, it was harder for him to easily win every match. Even so, he was still nothing less than a legend, winning the French Open for three years straight. He also won gold for the US in the Olympics in 2000. For the rest of his career, he was faced with the unbeatable obstacle of Great Britain and Spain in their primes. After he retired, he waits for his eldest son Eishō to take up the family mantle at the upcoming U18 Tennis World Cup this summer." He explained in detail the history of the Shimizu family along with the reputation that Eiji Carrie's on his back.

"Woah, the New King has a pretty awesome family, if I must say so myself. Wait… WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY ABOUT ME?!" As the two argued about who was the more garbage player between the two of them, Kiseki readied himself for his second serve.

"The power it serves is too much to handle; with how things are going, I won't even get a single point. But I have to try, because I wish to beat Shimizu!" Thoughts raced through Kiseki's mind as he dribbled the small tennis ball. His confidence and resolve slowly slipped away from him for a minuscule amount of time. But that didn't matter; what mattered was that he would do all he could to win. 

Swinging his non-dominant arm upward, he released the ball into the air. But before he could fully let go of the ball, He propelled it by putting a slight spin on it with his middle and index fingers. It had become sort of a habit; ever since he had first thrown a ball, it was something that he had subconsciously done. His arm swung in the air as it blasted toward the ball with all of the speed that his body was able to handle. Kiseki's feet firmly grasped the ground as his racket slammed against the ball. Instead of swinging his arm diagonally, it had been swayed vertically. This vertical swing, combined with the abnormal way Kiseki had tossed the ball into the air, had caused an immense amount of topspin to be added to the ball. As the ball had been hit, it was sent flying toward Eiji. It wasn't going to hit the net this time.

Eiji had been rather unimpressed by the hit, as it was something that he had seen a thousand times before. A regular serve that was aimed directly at him was an easy retrieve. "What a mediocre performance, expected from a mutt." Eiji criticized the shot in his mind as he observed it. He steadied his body and controlled his breathing so that he consumed enough oxygen to spark the perfect reaction. The boy clinched his racket as the ball neared him, only three feet away from him. The motion of his swing had already begun—a straightforward volley right back at him. As his racket lay a mere few feet away from the ball, a sudden change in the ball's course happened. Eiji's eyes widened in awe, as he could not have expected this type of serve from a novice like Kiseki.

The immense degree of topspin added to the ball by Kiseki had caused it to abruptly stop its forward course and instead curve downward. "How the hell can a rookie like him perform a Topspin Serve?!" The unforeseen change in direction required immediate action. Only advanced players would be able to react to this perfect topspin serve. Kiseki was bound to score, but... BAM!! The sound of a racket slamming against a hollow ball protected the onlookers. In the short amount of time that Eiji had to react, he managed to rotate his wrist in the middle of his swing. This transformed his swing into a vertical sway going upward to perform an underhanded hit. Even as skilled as the boy was, he was nowhere near a perfect tennis player. The sudden change in his swing had caused an uncontrollable volley to be created, meaning he had no control over where the ball was going to land. "Tsk! Go to hell, you mutt."

CRACK! In an attempt to retrieve and hit the ball back over the net, Kiseki had opened up his arm, exposing his entire body. The ballistic ball was sent flying at Kiseki's chest. Upon striking him, the boy fell to the ground in pain. "Damn! I didn't know a tennis ball could hurt that bad!" He said this as he squirmed on the ground like a dying worm.

"What was that?" The two onlookers were stunned by the set of events that they had just seen, until one of them spoke up. "What the hell kind of service was that? It went down and everything. I didn't know Yamazaki had that in him."

"Sigh. I'm going to ignore your incompetence for just one second. What you saw was a topspin serve. When a player brushes the ball upward with their racket, it creates topspin. If a ball has topspin on it, it will eventually curve downward, just like how sidespin causes a ball to go outward. Man, you should really know this stuff."

"Thirty-Love! Yamazaki's Serve!" The student umpire yelled for the game to continue. But it was nothing more than a slaughter.

Forty-Love! Game! Shimizu One-Zero! Shimizu Two-Zero! Shimizu Three-Zero! Forty-Love! Game! Game! Game! Shimizu Five-Zero! Forty-Love!

Pant, Pant, Pant, Pant. Kiseki struggled to catch his breath after the game had dragged on for nearly an hour. His stamina wasn't up to par with that of Eiji, who looked undisturbed by the length of the game. "You tired, mutt? Don't worry, it'll all be over after this one serve. So just hurry it up." Eiji shouted to him from the other side of the court.

"I've got to. Keep pushing; there is still a chance." Kiseki muttered, and he rose back to his feet with the ball in his hand. Though it may have been a number smaller than one, there was still a chance he could win. And take revenge on the guy who made his life hell. He exhaled as he focused on this one play. Forget everything that he has been through for the last sixteen years and focus only on Eiji Shimizu. Harness his hatred for this single person and release it all at once. The look of desperation flipped from his face as he was now more determined than ever to defeat him. There, the ball went whipping through the air as it spun vigorously. Gasp. Kiseki sucked in all of the available oxygen in the area, and his body was prepared to leave everything on this court. A newly found home. 

His hand sliced through the air until, BAM!! With every ounce of energy, sweat, and blood in a single swing, he smashed it with complete and utter will. As the racket made contact with the ball, Kiseki twisted his wrist inward, just as Eiji had done to counter the accidental topspin serve. WOOSH!! The ball cut through the air as if it were a knife slicing hot butter in two. Just like before, the ball dipped before it reached Eiji. But there was a difference. The ball had dropped much earlier than it did on his initial serve. The ball collided with the ground; normally, the ball would bounce back up, but this serve was different. SPIN, SPIN! The ball spun uncontrollably on the court floor in a constant rotation, yet it had not counted a point yet. As a few seconds pass, CRACK!! The ball sprang from the ground toward its target, Eiji. It slammed directly in between his eyes, as all Eiji could do was shout in terror. The ball simply fell to the ground after striking Eiji and...

"FORTY FIFTEEN!! SHIMIZU'S BALL!!"