emothy | [Prince of Tennis, Another Story] EP4

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[Prince of Tennis, Another Story] EP4 - The Trials of Rikkai

[ Prince of Tennis, Another Story ]
EP4 - The Trials of Rikkai

Kirihara: Starting today, I'm a Rikkai Middle School freshman, huh?
Kirihara: At this school I'll join the tennis club that's number one in the nation!
Kirihara: Then I'll become number one!
Teacher: Hey! what do you think you're doing up there? Get yourself down this instant!
Kirihara: S-Sorry!

Teacher: Look sharp, Kirihara! ...You realise you slept through the entire lesson.
Kirihara: Oh no! [grabs his bag and turns to leave]
Teacher: Wait now, I'm not through talking to you!
Kirihara: I'm sorry, but I got something real important to do!
Teacher: I have something real important for you to do, too.
Kirihara: Eeeep

---

Marui: Freshman, get in line!
Jackal: Hmm...
Marui: How is it? How's new member registration going?
Jackal: We've got three time the people as last year.
Marui: Yeah but... Doesn't look like any of them are that tough.
Jackal: Most of them came to register because they want to watch. We'll have a lot of drop-outs half a month from now.
Marui: Oh yeah! That kid isn't here.
Jackal: Kid?
Marui: Y'know! The one on top of the main gate. The one howling, "I'll be number one!"
Jackal: ...Right, there was that idiot.

---

Kirihara: Damn it! Now I'm super late!
Kirihara: Okay... Now where was the tennis club room?
Kirihara: Hey, you! Hey, are you maybe from the tennis club? Where's the club room? Can you tell me?
Niou: Heh.

---

Kirihara: Sorry I'm late!
Yagyuu: Do you have business in the Student Council Room?
Kirihara: Student Council Room? This is the Student Council Room?
Yagyuu: It is indeed.
Kirihara: That's weird...
Yagyuu: Someone's played a trick on you then. What a troublesome fellow he must be.

Kirihara: That bastard... He sure got me good!
Kirihara: I'll knock him one for sure!
Kirihara: Dang it, where is that guy? [gets a poke on the cheek] What're you doing?!
Marui: This is what you're lookin' for, isn't it?
Kirihara: Club Entry Registration? That's right! This is it! I'm the freshman, Kirihara Akaya! Rikkai Middle School Tennis Club's Super Rookie! The Kirihara of whom you have heard so much... is me!
Marui: [snorts] ...HEHEHEHE.
Kirihara: Is it possible you haven't heard of me? That's weird. I'm a pretty well known guy in the Junior League.
Jackal: We can go through that after you hand in your registration. Go get changed quick, then you can join the others in swing practice.
Kirihara: Huh, swing practice? You're kidding! Don't you think I can get right to having a match with the strongest guys? See, I want to make it to number one A.S.A.P.
(Third Year): Who are you?
Kirihara: I know you! You're from this, you're these guys, right? [pulls out magazine with Nationals article in it] See! Right?
(Third Year): That's from when we won the National Tournament.
Kirihara: Oh man, what an honor! I have always admired you guys.
Kirihara: 'If I can defeat these guys, I'll be number one in the nation!'

---

Jackal: Is this for real?
Marui: He won every single match.
Kirihara: What's this? Getting to number one was easier'n I thought.
Yukimura: What on earth is all this fuss?
(Third Year): Yukimura! Sanada! Yanagi!
Yukimura: It would seem you've been taken, sempai.
Sanada: You, new boy. What are you trying to pull?
Kirihara: What'm I trying to pull? Can't you tell by lookin'? Just now I made myself number one in this club!
Sanada: What's that?
Kirihara: But I guess the Nation's best ain't so much after all! I kinda thought you'd be a little stronger.
Sanada: You brat!
Yukimura: I think we might need to teach this one a little lesson.
Kirihara: What's all this? Why do I have to play a bunch of second years like you?
Sanada: Silence. Save your bullshit for when you win the match.

Yukimura: You'd best leave for the day. Even if you should continue, you have no chance of winning.
Marui: ...Hey, are you okay?
Kirihara: Shut up!
Marui: Hey!
Marui: ...Oh well, there he went.
Sanada: What a joke.

Yukimura: That boy didn't come today, either.
Sanada: When someone disturbs the observance of order, he is not qualified to join the Rikkai Tennis Club.
Yukimura: I see.
Sanada: However, talent... Isn't something I can let alone.
Yukimura: [chuckles]

---

Kirihara: Damn it! I lost the video game too? Who is this fem-freak anyway?!
Marui: That'd be me!
Kirihara: ...I might be first class, but there's no way I'm joining the tennis club!
Marui: What's that? Still can't deal with the fact that you lost?
Kirihara: Even though those guys are just second-years, what the heck are they?
Jackal: The people you faced...
Marui: -Who wants to stand around talking in a place like this? How 'bout we go eat some ramen? What? It's a treat of course! From Jackal here.
Jackal: From me?!

---

Jackal: You see? The ones who got Rikkai the National Cup last year... Were these three. Yanagi is called, 'The Master', Yukimura is called, 'The Demigod', and Sanada is called, 'The Emperor', as their second names. All together the three of them are called the Rikkai Tennis Club's "Big Three".
Kirihara: Big Three?
Marui: Basically, it's not just within Rikkai. Even out of the whole country, they're extraordinarily strong. You were facing guys that awesome. You should be happy!
Kirihara: I should be happy? I'm not going to be satisfied with that!
Jackal: You can play those guys until you're sick; it's probably just a matter of pure ability.
Marui: But that's fine! They're people you can be proud of.
Kirihara: I don't know anything about some "Big Three", but they're just middle schoolers like me! I'll take all three of 'em together and bring them down!
Jackal: Is he serious?

Yukimura: That boy... He reminds me of how you were back then. At the Junior Tournament two years ago, when you were in elementary school, struggling with that match, and Tezuka had come from nowhere to defeat you completely.
( Sanada: Someday... Someday, I... I'll become number one!)
Yukimura: After that you took up practice upon practice, and finally reached the highest peak.
Yukimura: People become stronger in measure equal to their knowledge of defeat.
Yukimura: Just as you did back then.

---

Kirihara: Today at three in the afternoon, come to the tennis court. An' don't you run off.
Yukimura: He's really quite a handful, isn't he?
Sanada: These kanji are full of errors. He's too careless!
( Missrs, Yukimura Seiichi, Sanada Genichirou, and Yanagi Renji:
Today, 3:00PN* At the school tennis chord*, I'm going to crash* you all fare* and square.
-- Kirihara Akaya.)

Sanada: Leave this one to me.
Yanagi: Well, Genichirou certainly is being personable.
Yukimura: He's unexpectedly fond of that reckless child.
Kirihara: Here I go.
Sanada: Oh? I'd say your power and speed have improved since last time.
Kirihara: If all you do is move your mouth, you'll suffer; just watch!
Sanada: Too weak! Be swift, just as the wind.
Jackal: There it is, Sanada's Fuurin Kazan.
Marui: Oh wow. I couldn't see the swing at all.
Yanagi: A Split-Step?
Kirihara: I'm not fallin' for the same trick!
Jackal: But that was Fuurin Kazan's Wind!
Marui: He returned it?!
Yukimura: Eh? So this opponent can keep Sanada in a rally...
Yanagi: But even still, Kirihara is outmatched. At this rate, he has no hope of winning.

Kirihara: I'm going to defeat the "Big Three", and become number one!
Marui: A rising shot?
Sanada: Pursue silence, just as the forest.
Kirihara: He took away all the ball's power.
Jackal: Fuurin Kazan's Forest.
Kirihara: I'm not gonna lose!
Sanada: I'm finishing this!

---

Sanada: I'd say that does it.
Kirihara: Hold it right there. Don't you run off.
Marui: What's with his eyes?
Kirihara: I'm gonna waste you.
Jackal: Are you serious? Sanada's getting pushed around?
Marui: He should use the impenetrable guard, Fuurin Kazan's Mountain! Why hasn't he invoked it?
Yukimura: He did invoke it... Quite some time ago.
Sanada: That's fine-
Sanada: I'll just stop holding back!

Sanada: Invade and lay waste, just as the fire!
Kirihara: What was that... just now?
Jackal: That's Fire. Sanada invoked Fire at last.
Sanada: What's wrong? Are you finished now?
Kirihara: Nowhere close!
Yukimura: That's enough! This is your loss, Kirihara-kun.
Kirihara: My...
Yukimura: That's right. This is your loss. With the strength you have now, no matter how often you try the result will be the same.
Yanagi: But you can become stronger.
Sanada: Join the tennis club. Set your eye on even greater heights. We will play you at any time.

---

Kirihara: I'm going to join the tennis club! But it's not 'cause I lost, got it? It's so someday I can beat you and become number one!
Sanada: Is that so? Alright. In that case, start with the basics. One hundred laps around the grounds, right now.
Kirihara: One hundred laps? Right now?!
Niou: [removes wig]
Jackal: Guess that kid got tricked by Niou again.
Marui: He really is a neat kid!
Yukimura: I'd say things are starting to get fun.
Sanada: Honestly, he's too careless!

(Images can be used, but I'd appreciate credit because it took ages to put them all together!)

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me: ...screencapping this is such a good idea, I keep thinking things like, "wow the Rikkai tennis club indoor part is actually huge - Seigaku don't even have one", and "I wonder if this court layout is consistent in every episode", and "I think the troika must not be there on the courts initially because it's the beginning of the school year and Yukimura has just been chosen to step up as captain so there's things to deal with".
Cinnamon: You need to jot down those ideas so that way you can mention them in your post
I should maybe go through and do that as well, look at things a little closer and consider the details.
me: We have time for that :D I'm making up some images and then I also want to quote and maybe screencap particular subtitles if they're important to characterization and then in the comments we can discuss!
Cinnamon: Yeah, that will be a good thing to do!
And probably lots of fun, to think about canon and characterizations and everything.
me: there's one thing I totally love in this episode; I am so sick of the freshman defeats regulars thing - Echizen, Atobe, Kirihara, BUT the way Kirihara sees the seniors and gushes at them XD But once he's beaten them and then finds out who the real strength of the team are he's really, REALLY rude to them in comparison.
Cinnamon: Oh I love that bit! xD Kirihara is such a little brat there, disrespectful and everything.
Honestly, it shows that he has the same mentality as the rest of the team - be the best :D
me: lol, that's true. He gets totally smug over himself very quickly XD
Cinnamon: Yeah he does xD
And then he falls and crashes thanks to the troika
me: Oh they are so responsible for Kirihara going crazy, I blame them for that totally XD
Cinnamon: Yeah, they definitely are.

- "Even if you should continue, you have no chance of winning."
<-- you know what gets me about this? I mean, we see it a few times in canon but Yukimura overall not so much, so it's obviously way overblown out of proportion how much he actually says it, but it's interesting. It's kind of like the Insight, but mostly it's just completely psychological. Tell your opponent they won't win, back it up with intimidating skill and they will lose in their own mind way before the scores are settled.

"After that you took up practice upon practice, and finally reached the highest peak."

Yukimura didn't go to elementary school with Sanada, but obviously was at the Junior Tournament. Sanada and Renji were in the same class in first year junior high. [reference], so I think it makes sense that Sanada told Yanagi about this rather than Yukimura directly.

- "People become stronger in measure equal to their knowledge of defeat."

Yukimura's quote about defeat; I still want to explore - just how would he know? It's clearly not a reference to tennis because we know he's undefeated. Which makes it a lesson he's learnt elsewhere in life, which intrigues me insanely.

- Sanada's hat. Somebody who watched this episode wondered why the hat was gone during second year if only to find it on during elementary school in the flashback. I'm really tempted here to make a big symbol out of the hat; Tezuka defeats Sanada and he throws the hat off, a childish, protective thing. Through first (presumably) and second year it is gone, but come third year perhaps he has his confidence back, his belief that he is strong enough to defeat Tezuka (we certainly get evidence of that belief at Senbatsu in the anime), and so he can re-don the cap? Make sense?

Wait, a point about somebody else for a change because I do mean to do that at some point XD

Yagyuu - not in the tennis club at the beginning of second year. Totally fits my canon, I'm sure we'd all found out at some point he wasn't a tennis-head like some of the other series characters. What about anyone else, has it ruined anyone else's canon? XD

So, who do you think stays on the senior high circuit? :D

Who goes into the professional world of tennis?

Intuition, Analysis, Emotion.

-

Later on, once practice is settled back into normalcy again and ended some time later, Yanagi can't help having regrets. He approaches Yukimura only when everyone else is gone to talk about the freshman who upset the day's practice, if only momentarily.

"Was what we did wise?"

"You worry too much," Yukimura says. "About things you don't have data for. Why don't you go and look him up? Kirihara Akaya; he told Marui he's well-known on the junior circuit."

-

"Kirihara Akaya," Yanagi says, placing his book down open on the desk and pushing it in Yukimura's direction. "Is a very talented player. It's good that he has come to Rikkai. We can make him better than talented; we can make him exceptional. As good as any one of us."

"Better?" Yukimura asks pointedly. He always thinks to the future, to making sure Rikkai does not go downhill without them once they are gone, even though it is only the beginning of second year. Leaving a legacy behind is just as important as the accomplishments they achieve now.

"Should we approach him?" Yanagi asks cautiously. He says 'we' because he does not want to volunteer himself for the job, and doesn't know if Yukimura might prefer to do it anyway. Or if it is wise at all.

"Leave him; he'll come back. If he's serious about becoming the best he won't be able to keep away."

-

The only thing Yukimura is concerned about in regards to Kirihara is where Sanada stands. He watches over the freshman as they do their drills but his mind is clearly elsewhere.

"That boy didn't come today, either," Yukimura says as he leans against the gate. Sanada barely turns to meet his eyes, but that's not unusual; knowing he is so easy to read means it's much safer for Sanada to keep his expressions out of Yukimura and Yanagi's direct sight.

"When someone disturbs the observance of order, he is not qualified to join the Rikkai Tennis Club," Sanada says simply. Yukimura may be content for the team to cause chaos around him, but Sanada cannot handle it. The last thing they need is another undisciplined player.

"I see," Yukimura replies. This he had expected.

"However," Sanada continues, and Yukimura had expected this, too. "Talent... Isn't something I can let alone."

Yukimura chuckles to himself. Sanada is prepared to give the boy a chance, so long as he finds the discipline to bring himself back. It's reassuring to know they are all on the same page after all, the three of them.

-

Today I noticed something when rewatching this on the coach; there are nine people in the picture. Nine. Why nine? I mean, you need eight members. Seven to play and one reserve. Seigaku are the only team I can think of in canon who have more than the seven or eight because of the way their Regulars shifted and got injured in canon. So I'm just wondering if there's a justifiable reason for nine members in the photograph (and whether I can work a reason into fic).

Also on a related note, the members; three of those members are the troika, and three of those members are the ones Kirihara accosts, praises, and then beats the hell out of on the court XD So out of the nine team members three were freshman and three were second years at the time, at least. This can all be related back to the questioning of Rikkai's motto and whether it came about before or not I think. The team did not have enough third years to take them to Nationals and so the team was comprised of younger members.

Thirdly, I have been thinking about and making notes on fic for the troika entering freshman year and how they get onto the team (and trying to explore Yukimura's scary way of playing tennis, and the way Sanada seems to know it from experience. So there XD). So if anyone says anything to skew my fic plans I will crush them! XD XD XD

OH and!
For my fic, eventually: Yanagi as a freshman tries to give the seniors his data to help them and they turn their noses up at him. Later on once Yukimura places him on the Regulars Yanagi tries again to give him a notebook.
Yukimura: Isn't all this in your head anyway?
Yanagi: Yes.
Yukimura: Then I trust you. I don't need the notebook.

And that is the story of why Yanagi doesn't write in notebooks like Inui does XD

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(me to Noey)

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last one for now;

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NEW THREAD: WHO STAYS ON THE SENIOR!HIGH TENNIS CIRCUIT?

NEW THREAD: WHO GOES PRO?

[fic snippet!]

RE: Last year's Nationals team of Regulars.

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