[Prince of Tennis] I Want to Challenge Echizen Ryoma

[This is an alternate-universe story set during the high school years. All the changes are made to serve the plot, so readers, please don’t take them too seriously. Set your brains aside while reading, thank you.]

[Plot-driven, slow-burn romance, two equally strong leads]

A laid-back, sly, slow-to-warm girl vs. a sharp-tongued, secretly sincere, tsundere boy

Before they met.

“Prince of Tennis? Then I’m the Princess of Tennis! Who needs such an embarrassing title?”

Their first meeting.

“Oh, it’s Your Highness the Prince!” The girl’s teasing words lingered by Echizen Ryoma’s ear. A blush crept up the boy’s ears, but he stubbornly retorted, “You still have a long way to go.”

Their second meeting.

“Echizen, we’re probably the same kind of person.”

The wind across the open fields carried the girl’s words to the boy. He pondered what it meant to be the same kind of person. He didn’t understand then, but a secret delight slowly welled up in his heart. Same kind of person. What an intimate, yet elusive phrase.

Their third meeting.

“Echizen, play a match with me.”

The cat-eyed boy looked confused and flustered. Why? Weren’t they the same kind of person? But he forgot that whenever he met someone stronger than himself, he too would issue a challenge, whether he won or lost.

After that.

“Ryoma, let’s become stronger together. And I love tennis most of all, with you coming second.”

The wind stirred softly, rippling the hearts of the sixteen-year-old boy and girl. The sound of their hearts beating was deafening, crying out with love for something beyond tennis.