Tennis Night Moment

Later that night...

Another sigh came out from Kourin as she stared at her laptop's screen for over an hour now but still couldn't find anything to do with it. A while back, she had planned on posting something on her blog site but she couldn't think of anything to write. Realizing that it would take her forever (not literally) to think of what to write about, she decided to shut down her laptop and think of something else to do.

'I guess sleeping is out of the question, considering that it's still quarter to seven in the evening...' she thought boredly before shrugging it off her mind. She was usually a nocturnal person, especially if she has to finish her projects or read a book. Sometimes, she would think of some techniques she could use in tennis. But this time, she has to stay up late because of the code that was killer left beside the dead victim's body at St. Rudolph.

Shouko e-mailed it to her a while ago to her e-mail account. Conan called again right after the e-mail was sent. He only asked her about their meeting place tomorrow. Though it was Saturday tomorrow, Fudomine Tennis Club would still have tennis practice to go through since they would also participate in the Nationals. That information was courtesy of Tachibana An herself. Of course, Momoshiro didn't tell her about the threat and he acted toward her like he used to—like it was obvious for him to have a crush on her. Oh, well. Kourin would see for herself how pretty An was for Momoshiro to have a crush on Fudomine Tennis Club's captain's little sister. She grinned at the thought. By then, she realized something.

'Since when did I become this sneaky? And as far as I know, I am not a sadist to do something to tease Momo-chan... or am I?' She sighed after that thought came to her mind. Soon after, a cat's meow snapped her out of her musings. When she looked around, she saw Karupin wagging its tail as it looked at her. She then went down from her seat and cuddled the cat.

"Thanks for distracting me, Karupin. All this thinking makes my brain go whack. The same goes for worrying," she said while stroking Karupin's fur.

The cat answered with a meow which made her smile.

"You have the knacks for dispelling my worries, you know that? Just like the time you and Ryoma-niichan stayed at Agasa-hakase's house before."

That was the time she decided to look around the room where she was currently in.

It was Ryoma's room since there was no extra room at the time. The freshman didn't mind that she was there, though. He was the one who suggested that she should sleep in his room. Of course, that suggestion came as a surprise but it was evident that he had already decided. So now, she was there.

"I wonder where Ryoma-niichan is," she mumbled as she continued to stroke Karupin's fur. A few seconds later, she heard something.

It was like... a tennis racket hitting a tennis ball simultaneously with almost the same time interval. But if that was the case... "Could there be a tennis court near the house?"

But before any answer came from Karupin, she stood up from her crouching and went out of the room. Along the way, she saw Nanako.

"Nanako-san, is there a tennis court near here?"

The woman nodded. "Yes, there is. Ryoma-san's there right now. He's practicing with Oji-sama."

"Will it be okay if I ask you to take me there?" Kourin asked with hints of pleading in her voice. Not to mention, excitement was there, too.

Who wouldn't be? This was tennis she was talking about. A tennis match that she wanted to see since the legendary Samurai Nanjiroh and the Samurai Junior were the players.

It wasn't a surprise for Nanako to see Kourin this excited. Shouko did mention to her once that the young girl has her eyes on tennis from the start. Kourin was just 4 back then—that was the first time her brother Hitoshi taught her about tennis. In more than 5 years, she learned a lot. One factor for that was Kourin's highly intelligent brain for a nine-year-old child, though the family know it wasn't impossible considering her heritage on both sides of her family—Kudo and Shinomiya.

Nanako obliged the young girl's request and so she took her to the tennis court of that residence.

Kourin's smile was priceless when she saw Nanjiroh and Ryoma—father and son—playing tennis. She couldn't help but think it was amazing. The last time she saw something like this was when her father and her brother were still alive. To be exact, a week before Hitoshi went to New York to participate in the US Open while she and the rest of the family stayed in Florida. Her smile slowly faded as she continued to watch Nanjiroh and Ryoma play tennis. She watched and observed their playstyles seriously and carefully.

When the match ended with Nanjiroh being the winner and Ryoma being pissed off for not winning against his father (again), that was when she realized why her father Shinomiya Ryuuki couldn't contain his excitement whenever he would tell her stories about his professional tennis days with Nanjiroh. Echizen Nanjiroh—once known as the Samurai Nanjiroh—was undeniably an amazing tennis player. Now she wouldn't wonder where Ryoma inherited that talent. She couldn't help but smile at the thought.

That was when the father and son noticed Nanako and Kourin's presence.

"Rin, why are you here? I thought you were sleeping already," Ryoma said as he approached the girl. Surprisingly, on his part, he wasn't feeling pissed off anymore as soon as he saw Kourin.

The girl put her hands on her waist. "Seriously, you're expecting me to sleep knowing I would be worried about how to outwit the culprit at least for once? I don't think that will happen anytime soon, Ryoma-niichan," Kourin said before coming towards him. "Mind if I borrow your racket for a while?"

Ryoma gave it to her without a word. Kourin did forehand swings a few times before analyzing the racket. "It's a little heavier than the tennis racket I used in school."

"You took tennis seriously, huh?" Nanako commented.

Kourin nodded once as she showed a sad smile. "Tennis is something that I could never hate or forget. As soon as I picked up the racket, the feeling I felt when I first played tennis was returning to me. Tennis is something that I could never give up even though it pains me to remember a lot of memories that go with it. Tennis is one thing that makes me happy right now. I could feel Otou-sama and Onii-sama with me whenever I play tennis." Then she faced Ryoma with a happy smile this time. "Besides, if it wasn't for tennis, I wouldn't be able to meet you, Nanjiroh-san, Nanako-san, Rinko-san, and the rest of the Seigaku regulars. Tennis is one reason for me to live my life until now, even without my family."

Ryoma was stunned to hear all that from the girl. Even Nanjiroh and Nanako felt the same way as Ryoma. All they could do at the time was to watch her smile before she went to the court and picked up one of the scattered tennis balls on the ground. Before any of them could say anything, they saw Kourin making a serve that Ryoma knew he saw once. He recognized it since it was the very same serve she used to distract the culprit at St. Rudolph so Yuuta could get away from him.

It was similar to Twist Serve, though there were still a few differences. One of them was the twist of the ball itself. It was like—

"Like the ball has the kind of twist similar to that of drilling hole..." Nanako noted softly that Ryoma still heard.

'Drill?' Now that he thought about it, the ball did drill a hole when Kourin used that serve using the super-powered tennis racket. Not only that, the ball didn't bounce as it continued to spin and rolled a few inches for some seconds on the ground before it suddenly hopped and eventually landed back on the ground. 'What kind of serve is that?'

"It's Ryuuki's incomplete serve," Nanjiroh suddenly said. "He invented it right before both of us retired to professional tennis but he never used it in any of his matches. I found it weird before but then I understood why when said that the serve wasn't meant for him to use. His child, he said, was the one meant to complete. I'm not sure if Hitoshi used that serve before. I can't believe I'll be able to see that serve again with my own eyes."

"Onii-sama used it once in one of his tennis matches," Kourin said as she faced them. "It doesn't have a name before since he, too, didn't even complete it. He taught me that serve when I was five and he said that maybe I'm the one meant to complete it."

"And I guess your brother was right about you completing that serve... finally. By the way, what name did you give to that serve of yours?"

" 'Jupiter's Twisthunder Strike...' Named after the Roman God of Thunder and Lightning," Kourin answered. "Its original purpose was to stun the opponent with a serve that made them think as if the lightning had struck them with a drilling effect along with the roar of thunder. I just made it a part of my own set of techniques using the names from the Roman pantheon of gods as a basis. It took me a month of continuously doing that serve for me to complete it—which had made me tired." Then she laughed before doing another serve. This time, she aimed to hit the spot where the first ball landed a while back. It wasn't a surprise for her that she did hit the same spot.

'She only used the Roman gods' names... Now that I think about it, the codenames used by the Dark Rose Agency came from Greek mythology—particularly the Titans and the Greek pantheon of gods...' Ryoma thought as he continued watching Kourin pick up another tennis ball from the tennis court. "What other techniques can you do, Rin?"

"Hmm... Only a few so far," she replied. "As for now, Twisthunder Strike is the only completed technique I have. For the rest, I guess it'll take me years and a lot of guts before I complete any of it." She faced the tennis court and did another serve. It was just a regular serve but with the same aim.

Ryoma couldn't help but feel amazed at how precise the ball had landed. Yes, he was cocky and arrogant (not that he would admit that out loud) when it comes to tennis but this was the first time that a kid's determination and knowledge about tennis had truly impressed him. He was already impressed with her unlikely intelligent mind and her motherly-like caring attitude for a nine-year-old kid even before he knew she has an interest in tennis—extreme interest, for that matter. And though he knew the girl had lots more to work on, he wouldn't say that to her out loud. Besides, he didn't have any plans of telling that to her.

With that thought in mind, he approached the girl after borrowing (or rather 'taking' might have been the precise word) his father's racket. Though confused, Nanjiroh just let his son do whatever he wanted (since he was always like that). But he was surprised to see that Ryoma was talking to Kourin and giving her some pointers in tennis like he was a pro.

'Oh, well. At least he's not as arrogant as I think he is,' Nanjiroh thought as he smirked before leaving the two people there. Nanako soon followed when she realized what Nanjiroh was up to.

"Oji-sama, do you think it's okay for us to leave them there?" she asked Nanjiroh while walking.

"It might not look like it but Ryoma had his attention fixated on that kid since the beginning. After all, Kourin-chan isn't an ordinary kid. Besides, that girl needs this to relax. Tennis could probably help her in some way to think properly since this new case bothers her and her cousin a great deal."

"She's been through a lot for a kid, huh? I can't believe how she managed to handle all that. No one could read through her right now—now even Shouko-san or Shouda-sensei," Nanako said sadly.

"Maybe Ryoma could pass through the barrier that Kourin had surrounded herself. And he'll probably do it... using tennis."

Nanako frowned. "Using tennis? How so?"

But the man just answered with a mysterious smile—a little different than his cocky ones. "You'll find out soon..."