I APOLOGIZE FOR TAKING FOREVER! I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER! But whatever you thought I want to know, so please leave me a review/comment/critique below!

DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own Prince of Tennis

…

CHAPTER LIII: Challenges

Hyotei decided to go with the plan and stay at the haunted cottage, even when they were not required, just because they were a great team. Atobe offered that his team members just return the next day, albeit he was staying. Of course, being the good team members that they were—decided to stay as well and think of it as an 'adventure' with abundance of frogs.

Horrible, horrible, sticky, green and brown—brown!—frogs.

The rooming remained the same, except the three girls' futons were brought even closer to each other with Reina's in the middle for precaution. Reina's eyes twitched, but quickly let it go.

And with a huge amount of tissue paper beside her, she went into a deep slumber.

Unfortunately, Tomoka was a way more active sleeper than she ever would—waking her up in the middle of the night. A vein popped on her head. How could the girl's feet end up on her face, anyway?

She sighed and silently blew her nose and went to the window right in front of their room for a nice breeze. Looking back, it kind of reminded her of that night in the resort all those years ago. The four of them slept in the trip home since they all (especially her) lacked sleep.

She unconsciously looked at the trees for something…

"Looking for fireflies? Ahn?" a familiar voice from behind her, saying every single word in slow motion. She smirked.

"Maybe. What about you? Got lost?"

He smirked and flipped his hair. "Don't align me with you little girl."

"Ne, monkey ki—"

"When will you stop calling me that?"

"I still have 10 more years to grow, you know."

"So a decade more of waiting, eh?" He shrugged. "Mah."

But then he automatically whipped his head towards her when she started giving off an aura of anticipation. She cleared her throat, and he frowned as he knew what was coming. "Ne, Keigo… what if by some chance we're the ones assigned to play against each other?"

"You'll win by default." He said almost immediately, making her glare at him.

"You dislike playing with me that much?"

"Well, n-yes. Of course."

A moment of silence passed by before she returned to looking at the trees. She let out a deep breath that basically said how much of an idiot he was. "I remember everything you know. I'm guessing you're not playing with me not because of why you say you are."

And she turned around to face him once again, and he flinched. "It's not your fault."

His heart stopped, and he honestly thought it would stay like that. How annoying that, apparently, he had been waiting for her to say that all these years. He wondered how he could feel that much—they were just words. And the next thing he knew he was leaning down; and he definitely knew what his body was doing. She did too, but she was frozen on the spot too shocked to do anything.

Reina could really just stare at him in befuddlement at whatever he was doing. "What are you—"

Slowly, their lips got closer and closer—and every inch lesser in proximity the slower time became. But when he hit something he was certain it wasn't her lips.

"Ara… what could you two be doing here?" An annoying voice said from his side and he backed away immediately. He realized that he was that close to kissing her if only Fuji didn't appear out-of-nowhere and let his palm be her lip's shield. He couldn't speak, though, he was too shocked at what he tried to do—and so was Reina. Her eyes were wide from puzzlement and Fuji moved his palm on her lips to her head and patted her gently.

"He's drunk, Reina. Don't worry." No, he wasn't. "I was with him until a few minutes ago. I came looking for him. Why don't you go back to bed, now?" He smiled, and she nodded. It was obvious she wanted to believe him, so didn't say anything further and did as she was asked.

THUMP!

The door closed, and Fuji opened his eyes revealing the killing air that he hampered when Reina was still there. He looked down the window to a garden and then to Atobe, telling him they should talk there. Atobe let out a deep breath and followed.

"What you tried—It will do nobody any good. Especially Reina. She will only suffer." He said immediately as they arrived.

"I know." He said, and looked away as a certain memory attacked him. Fuji frowned.

"Why do it, then?"

"We both know even we are not safe from impulses. But don't nag me as if you know everything." He snapped, while Fuji winced at his change of speech patterns. "For years before you did, I have lov—"

"You two." A very familiar voice cut their conversation off. They whipped their heads towards her.

"R-Reina?" Atobe stuttered. How long has she been there?

"I was just making sure you guys don't drink. You're under-aged you know."

Atobe frowned at the fact that she made sense—and she was shivering enough to show that she was lying anyway. Fuji was the one who spoke first. "Saa… did you just get here, Reina?"

"Hai." She looked around immediately. "Tell me you didn't hide the bottles anywhere near here."

"We just drank a shot each, Reina, out of curiosity. Who would have thought Atobe could get drunk so easily…?"

"Eh…"

"Ore-sama is not drunk… anymore." He said, hoping whatever his gut was telling him was wrong.

"We should sleep now," Fuji announced and looked at Reina. "We still have a special menu of training tomorrow."

"Uhn." She answered and Atobe held her shoulder to lead her to her room, and Fuji abruptly intervened their travels.

"Why would you be the one taking her to her room?"

Atobe scoffed. "I'm her childhood friend. I'm much more trustworthy than you are. Besides, Reina here knows I won't look at her the same way as you and Tezuka do." He said with finality, and as they were unsure what Reina heard. Fuji had no choice but to play along.

"Fine." He muttered, and with that Fuji went straight to his room and prayed that Atobe wouldn't be doing any more idiotic things.

Tap tap tap

Reina cursed her strong hearing. At the silence of the corridor, their joint footsteps was way too loud. Especially since she couldn't hear herself think—It was hard enough as it was when it was silent. When she finally saw her door, she almost held out a sigh.

Almost.

Keigo suddenly paused his steps.

"It's amazing how you didn't get lost and found us immediately. Did your hippocampus suddenly got healed?" She blushed and looked away. Her eyes were full of confusion, and he was thankful she was trying her best to hide it—for him. But judging by her expression… she heard everything. And there was nothing else that could have been made up about that conversation.

But what pained him the most was the moment she cut them off—when he was about to say it straight, the moment he'd finally be able to let it out. But there was no running away anymore. He looked at her as she showed her anxiety.

"That's right. Ore-sama had developed feelings for you."

She stared at him in incredulity as if she had just realized. Hearing it for yourself really was something else, after all. Reina opened her mouth to speak but stopped herself. Keigo didn't seem like he was lying… but—

"Since when?"

"When…" he repeated. "…is a secret."

She stared at him, and he shrugged in response.

"I have no obligation to tell you when or why. That's your problem."

"A-Ah…" was all she could say before he abruptly turned around.

"Good night, Reina." He said with his back on her, and Keigo walked away with poise—despite his spirit already sprinting away. He could only palm his face to relieve the stress.

He needed to wash all those blushes in his face away.

…

The next morning, Seigaku had converged at an area where their next activity would be explained. They were going to have a tennis biathlon, and the supposedly 'surprise' match with Hyotei was to come right after. Gakuto and Ohtori decided to come along with them for fun, while the other decided to warm up in their own pace.

As they ran to the starting line, Ryoma batted an eyelid. "Shiba-san was here?"

Shiba sweat-dropped both in incredulity and the fatigue she was catching despite being on a bike."I've been here for days, now, Ryoma-chan."

Ryoma shrugged, and Ryuzaki just laughed making Shiba pout. It didn't take too long for them to reach the starting line, and race started immediately afterwards. Shiba only caught up to them when they were already gone. The coach laughed at her face (again), took a small blanket, and relaxed by the mountain fence as she waited. Shiba joined her and drank as much water as she could.

The first obstacle was the cross-tied ropes all around the tall grassed area. Their footwork was put to the test, and only Kawamura actually fell down. Ryoma chuckled and passed him his racket again, and he vehemently yelled destroying the blasted ropes away.

The next were vines. Their grip, arm strength, and timing were tested. They felt like Tarzan for those 2 seconds they swung.

"Yahoo~" Eiji yelled happily after stealing Kaidoh's vine.

Gakuto growled. "You won't beat me, Kikumaru!" and stole Momoshiro's.

"Teme—"

The next was the speed test, where they had to catch the ball several meters away from them with their rackets. Inui had a record at such length of 7 seconds. But judging by Kachiro's height and the ball's weight falling down, then he calculated that he should be there in, at most, 3 seconds. It was almost impossible for him even when it was child's play to Eiji, and not particularly hard for Fuji.

But after sprinting with his best, he actually made it. It was a miracle how they had grown. His face was on the dirt after wards, though, and he heard Gakuto yelling curses at Eiji.

Soon afterwards, a huge area filled with equidistant cans of certain colors was sighted. It was a test for control, and they must hit a specified color after already throwing the ball up, training their reaction time as well.

Everyone except from Momo and Gakuto got it in their first try. They cursed, especially since they had to go all the way back in line.

The final one was a test of power. With their rackets covered, they had to hit a ball thrown in the water to a basket. They not only need enough power to hit the ball to the basket—they had to be powerful enough not to get blown away by the strong current.

Everyone was worried for Ryoma. She was not only small, but she was also a girl.

But, once again, the training camp proved its worth—she had displayed an unbelievable amount of power. Unfortunately her racket's cover flew away, too, hitting poor Mizuno.

It got even crazier after that—an insane sprint by everyone was required, and despite the instantaneous leads of the players during different points—they all arrived at their destination at the same time. Yet again.

"Now it's *huff* time to get beaten *huff* by Hyotei."

"Urusai *huff* You stand no chance. *huff*"

The coach laughed, and Shiba vehemently took pictures of their tired, sweaty states. "Stand up kiddos. As Gakuto, says. Time for your practice match!"

*30 Minutes Later*

They picked up chopsticks with the names of their opponent from Hyotei. The Seigaku regulars reacted immediately, some of whom announced their chopsticks.

"Nya~ How unfortunate!" Eiji exclaimed while Kabaji remained impassive.

"Hmm…" Inui's eyeglasses glimmered, and Hiroshi shrugged.

"Let's have an interesting game." Fuji nodded at Oshitari, and he did the same. Gakuto was in more of a dissatisfied mood, though, and he did not hide it—much to Momo's annoyance.

"Ano…" the tame Kawamura whispered and shook hands with the also shy Ohtori. "Let us have a great gam-"

Pout

Where did that racket come from?

And imaginary fire surrounded the courts. "GREEEAATTTOOOO! I will crush you, boke!" And Ohtori quickly stepped back with his hands up. "A-Ah."

Kaidoh, on the other hand, was glaring as he eyed his still sleeping opponent. "Fsssshhhh."

And those interactions got Keigo flinching. That would leave him only one more opponent.

"No running away, Monkey King."

His eye twitched. Of all the bloody—

…

Two of the three courts were being used. The first batch was Eiji and Inui's games respectively. At first the momentum was on the opponent's side—especially with Kabaji's insane copy-cat abilities. As he did with Kawamura's match, he copied Eiji's moves with ease—and soon their body lengths and power difference showed giving him the advantage.

But with the physical difference noted- Kabaji was extremely flexible for such a huge man, and yet Eiji was even more inhuman. So before Kabaji totally lost his momentum, Eiji showed a new skill: hitting two to three shots in a single jump, and trying to do this proved to be Kabaji's limit.

"Kabaji… cannot jump anymore." He said, with his feet strained from all the jumping. Ryoma sighed in disappointment and the game ended with 6 games to one.

Inui's game, on the other hand, ended with a tie. But it was only because Inui had weights all over his body, but he surprisingly made Hiyoshi feel better by telling him he had surpassed the data that he had in the prefectural tournament.

The next batch was called. Fuji and Oishi's games will start in 5 minutes, and she had just enough time to drink some water. As she walked away (and glared at Momo for 'warning' her to get back before the end of the game—that is, not to get lost for too long) she eyed Keigo and his gaudy appearance that time. He was surrounded by an umbrella, a recliner, a table beside him, four maids, and Micheal.

A little more than usual, really. Usually only two maids would be shielding him—shielding him from her.

'He can't avoid this for so long, right?' she mused before proceeding to the kitchen. A few more steps to the compound and someone casually called her from behind.

"Yow."

"Ousu." She greeted back. It was Akutagawa Jirou, and she was more than surprised even if she didn't show a hint of it.

They walked in silence towards the kitchen for a minute or so until he halted his steps and got her attention. "Ano… I apologize for what happened in Ohtori's limousine all that time ago."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Ie. I'm pretty sure that was you."

"How?" She asked and he pointed at her 'flat' chest. He could tell the minute difference, couldn't he?

"Hentai."

He scratched his head in embarrassment. "Eto…"

"It's fine. It's no big deal."

"But Tezuka-san…"

"He didn't need to know it." She shrugged. Too embarrassing to talk about.

"Where are you going, anyway?"

"I just want to talk with you."

"I see… so tell me where the kitchen is."

"You're going there?"

"Hai."

"It's that way." He was pointing opposite from where she was heading. She pulled down her hat.

"I knew that."

…

The next game was a battle of the tensais: Fuji and Oshitari. They were geniuses in different ways though, with Oshitari the one being meticulously calculating. His shots were planned and during the first parts of the game, even Fuji was in his hands. Soon enough, though, Fuji became slightly more serious and used the Higuma Otoshi- signalling the start of the battle of Higuma Otoshis. Fuji won in the end with the power he had obtained during the training camp- completely destroying Oshitari's racket strap.

The other game that batch was Shishido and Oishi's. Oishi was losing badly, and had dirt all over due to all the dives he had to do against Shishido's shots. Shishido looked visibly annoyed—he thought that he was not worthy to be in the finals. But that perspective was quickly shaken away by Oishi's unwavering perseverance.

The match reached a 4-4 stage, with Oishi doing an irrational jump that was certain to hurt him just to get his shot. By this time, Shishido did a lot of dives, himself, and they made a fool of each other's appearances after announcing their game a 'no game'. They had proven swhat they needed to, anyway.

The following batch was Kawamura and Ootori's match which became a battle of service aces and return aces, which was the scud serve and Hadokyuu respectively. Kawamura hit the serve after three shots, but was unable to get it in. Games passed, and he decided to use the Dash hadokyuu and Oishi forfeited the match for him-saying there was no point risking it in a practice game.

The match on the C court that time was Momoshiro and Gakuto's… and they were very loud. Gakuto was noisy. Momoshiro was Noisy. And Eiji was noisy—demanding Momo to start being acrobatic and/or switch places with him. He slightly calmed down with little Kumi's calm sermons, though.

Momoshiro won with his enhanced smash wherein the bounce was delayed using raw power.

"Super Momoshiro Dunk Smash!" he called proudly… showing off his bad naming sense. The coach clapped her hands and announced a short break before the next, and final, batch.

The next games would be Echizen vs. Atobe and Kaidoh vs. Akutagawa. But a moment after it was announced… a ball of hay passed by the courts, realizing two people were not in sight.

Silence

"WHERE THE HECK ARE THOSE TWO?!"

…

Ryoma sighed for the nth time that hour. "Oi, Oi. You didn't tell me you had a bad sense of direction, too."

"How should I know you have a much worse case than me?" he squeaked. "Maaaaannn. Buchou's going to kill me~"

But then, as they (literally) walked aimlessly around… Ryoma halted her tracks.

"What's wrong?"

"They're calling for us." She said and Jirou blinked making a cylinder with his hand over his ears to hear better. It was a minute later when he too, started hearing them.

"You're right. A mix of calls."

Then as if on cue, a loud rustle was heard. It was Eiji looking quite relieved.

"They're here! Nya~" he scratched his chin. "Why are you two together, though?"

Ryoma pointed at her companion immediately, "He got lost."

"Eh?"

…

The final pair of games started and everyone was especially excited. But they didn't think they would be such one-sided matches. The scores of both games became 4-1 at one point, Seigaku on the losing side. Ryoma got her game because Atobe was observing her, while Kaidoh with his boomerang- but lost the other four since Jirou found its weakness and used rising to prevent him making both the snake and the boomerang.

Kaidoh won by default in the end though- with Kaidoh's new technique: Boomerang Hadokyuu. Jirou tried to hit it, but the ball hit his face instead getting him unconscious.

And that left only one game left undecided. And the two players were having a battle of arrogance.

"Is that all you could do, Ryoma?"

"Can't you get serious already?" She spat back. "This pace is not enough to get me going."

And another rally begun. He was using a lot of his Rondo Towards Destruction smash, and it was very disconcerting not knowing what he was planning. It was also annoying how strong he had become—most of their gap was due to her being a female.

As they played, Reina couldn't help but recall the brief conversation they had before entering the courts.

"Tell me why you like me."

Atobe sneered. "But then you'll find a way to make me forget."

"I won't." he blinked. "It's not that easy, right?" she knew that. She recalled that bet she had with Fuji—and realized it was naïve.

"Unless you don't really like me that way, of course."

"That's for you to figure out Reina."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Then, if I win. You will tell me what you really feel."

"If I win?"

"I'll… stop calling you Monkey King."

"Is that even fair?"

"It's not if you're willing to wait another decade."

"Che. Whatever."

Keigo willed himself to focus on the game and not her. Thankfully, he had become professional enough to do just that. He was prolonging the game now with returnable Rondo Smashes, to push her left hand to the limit. Tezuka asked this favour—to help Reina train. He even mentioned about how depressed she was getting at their paces of improvement.

Reina loved challenges. But at the moment, her feminine body was not being helpful at all.

Keigo formulated this plan—It was either her risk break, or her hidden potential be pulled out. Of course, he's vying for the latter but there would always be uncertainties.

Soon, it reached the score of 6-5… and he thought there was no point in continuing anymore. He couldn't just let it go on and seriously damage her hand, right?

But when he was about to exit the court, they entered yet another battle of arrogance. As he opened the gate, Ryoma started speaking.

"You're running away?"

"Don't push it. You can't have your arm broken by the finals, right?"

She chuckled sardonically, making everyone wince. "Don't you mean your arm?"

He combed his hair back again and stared at her pompously. "Don't blame me if you're forced to be the substitute."

"Whatever."

And so, their game resumed. He did one of his smashes again, and Reina returned it. It had been happening for a while now- something hitting her when she saw those smashes. She had a very rough idea for a new smash. She'd try that tonight after this match. For now, she wanted to at least win this game. Well, 'tie' it to be precise.

As they rallied, she felt herself getting better. It was so weird—as if something got pulled out. She could see Keigo's hand really going past its limit now. What was he talking about her arm, anyway?

Keigo was wondering about the same thing. Along with many others.

'What is with this pressure?' he thought frantically at the new type of aura she was emitting. He could tell that it was her potential- but this much? It was insane… and to have woken up like this so quickly was unbelievable.

Just how much was Reina going to grow?

Not vertically, of course.

In any case, he felt himself about lose badly—as if he was being pushed to a state of submission. And yet, paradoxically, it was an empowering feeling altogether for a different reason.

He helped her improve like that, after all.

"Game and Match. 6 games all!"

They both let out deep breaths and walked to the net. "Remember our deal."

"You didn't win."

"I would have if it continued."

"But it didn't. Besides, we never know."

"Che." She muttered and scratched her cheek in annoyance. She unconsciously looked down in embarrassment, and Atobe honestly thought it was cute. "But it's difficult... not knowing."

"That's your problem, Reina." He smiled, looking at her. "Besides, don't you love challenges?"

She pouted. "How selfish." To remain uncertain at something like this was torturous. But to her surprise—Keigo didn't look guilty at all. If anything, he was convinced he was the victim.

"I'm selfish?" He smirked, and placed his hand on her hips. "This is selfish."

Choo~!

Reina's eyes widened. Selfish?

That was an understatement.

He just kissed her… in front of everyone.

…

The wind continued to blow… and for several moments that felt like years—It was the only thing that was heard. Surprisingly, it was Eiji who first reacted.

"GYAAAAH! Tezuka is so going to assign us a thousand laps, nya~!"

Seigaku paled, and Momoshiro quickly looked around in case— "Holy—destroy that camera!"

Everyone whipped their heads to the direction of Momo's finger.

Inui shivered.

Fuji, on the other hand, remained impassive. Everything was getting out of hand- and he was certain this was one of the things Tezuka asked him to watch out for. She was extremely shocked when he kissed her. Fuji could only imagine what she was feeling if the person involved was a friend of hers since she was a young child.

His eyes widened even more when Atobe smirked and looked at Reina straight to the eyes.

"And… you're not the only one who likes challenges."

.
.

END OF CHAPTER LIII

Coming Soon:
CHAPTER LIV: Kantou Finals

REPLIES TO ANGELS

Zelga Lim Li – Hahah I'msosorry I update so far apart! I should reread too, but then I'd probably be inspired to revamp the whole thing! Ahhahah Thanks for reviewing!

Wowza03 – I am sooooooo glad you love the story and think it's well thought out! Thanks for telling me!

Eunoiapaint – Thanks for commenting? hehe

Alexa Aurellano – Here's the update! Sorry I took so long! Hope you like it and thx for reviewing!

Guest [Oct 31 2018] – Here it is! I hope you enjoy it! Hehehe Thanks for commenting.

MIME-MEMI – I am continuing it! Getting close to another mental block but I'm continuing! Thx for commenting btw~

Guest [Apr 15 2019] – (ch3) Awww thanks for telling me you like my writing style! Much appreciated. (ch4) hahaha I'm an activist like that ahahha (ch52) Nope! I just take forever to update I'msosorrry. And thank you so much for the reviews!

Guest [June 20 2019] – Here it isss! I apologize for the delay. The writer's block was intenseee! Thanks so much for the reviews!

Mapl3nin2cool – Oh my thank you so much for spending so much of your time to review my story. I appreciate it so! Thank you for giving my story a chance! I am so sorry I take so long to update. Writer's block sucks. Thank you so much for the criticisms! I actually wanted to reread to refresh and get over my writer's block, but I'm afraid I will cringe so much that I will rewrite the whole thing LOLS. Thanks again for reviewing!

…

THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING!

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