#local tennis girl gets misgendered every time

[alexoreality]

The Princess of Tennis - Ryoma Echizen

Summary:

Ryoma’s a girl! Surprise! Well, technically not a welcomed surprise since she apparently had a horrible experience in America tennis as a girl. 

*** 

“What are yo- HEY, LET GO OF MY HAIR!”  

“You sure like to play tennis with this long thing, what is it? Some sort of tradition in Japan? Hah!” 

“Hey, why do you have scissors-” 

Snip. Snip. 

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO MY HAIR?! LET ME GO!” 

“Pin her down boys.” 

“STOP IT, I SAID STOP-” 

“Whoops! I cut you instead, but this might be a suitable punishment for you! Why not stab you through the head while I’m at it?” 

“Y-You wouldn’t...” 

“Should’ve thought it through when you messed wih us!” 

“With that disgusting tennis play too, what are you?? A dancer?!” 

“Play tennis like its tennis you stupid girl!” 

“Aw, look! She’s crying!” 

“That’s right, cry! All girls cry over puny things, that’s why they’re so weak!” 

“If you play like that, you don’t deserve to play tennis!” 

Ryoma shot up into a sitting position, her eyes frantically searched her surroundings. Right, she was in Japan... In her room, safe and sound with her cat... 

Karupin stood up from her curled-up sleeping position and jumped up to her favorite’s bed, sensing that she has woken up from a horrible dream (or a recall of hellish memories) and urged her hand to pet her furry head. 

“Karupin...” The girl nicknamed ‘Prince’ smiled tiredly yet sweetly at the mischievous creature. 

The cat meowed in delight as her owner rubbed her palm over her head. “It’s just another nightmare, but I haven’t had it in ages ever since I joined the Tennis club and became a Regular. Neh, Karupin... I feel something bad is going to happen.” Ryoma took her family cat and scooped her into her arms, rubbing her head affectionately against her cat’s head to calm her anxiety. 

Karupin purred softly as she rubbed back, small sensations vibrating through her and sending it to Ryoma. “Well, I want to be early this time. So...” It was 6:10 AM, she settled her cat on her bed and swung her legs to the edge of her bed. 

“Morning, Karupin. Sorry I woke you up like that.” The dark green-haired highschooler stretched her limbs to get ready for the day. 

She opens her door from her room. Ryoma decides she’d take a bath first. 

“Oh, they’re going to be so surprised when they see me earl-” Ryoma cut herself off when she saw her reflection through the mirror. Her dark green strands were... Reaching her shoulders... 

“You sure like to play tennis with this long thing, what is it? Some sort of tradition in Japan? Hah!” 

Immediately going for the scissors in the bathroom, Ryoma starts to cut it short at an alarming rate. Her hazel eyes wide from fear at the thought of someone doing that to her again. 

She ignores the stinging from the cut she inflicted around her index finger, that wasn’t important, what was important was too keep her hair short so no one knew she was a girl no one knew she had long hair to forcefully brag from behind no one knew her at all and that was fine- 

“Ryoma-san? The food is ready. You should wake up soon.” The sound of her elder cousin’s voice snapped her out of her panic-like state. She now pays attention to the cut on her right palm and her left hand’s index finger. 

“I’m taking a bath!” Ryoma replied from the bathroom. 

“Really? Well then, I’ll wait for you downstairs!” 

Ryoma takes one glance at the strands of hair on the tiles surrounding her. She closes her eyes while furrowing her brows to will away the flashbacks of that horrible day. 

She went for a quick shower, reminiscing how she never told her family who even violently and practically shredded her hair off from her head. She remembers how worried her mom and dad had been when they got a call from the hospital ear her elementary school. She refused to speak; they would just hog her even more. She wouldn’t be able to have a normal high school life after that. Not like this current one is normal, she had weird senpais and that actually never bothered her the least. 

With her body on autopilot and drying herself up, quickly changing into her male school uniform. (She was thankful that he could also pass for a really short boy with a girlish face...) 

Taking her bag and happy with her new hair-cut, courtesy of herself of course. She walked down to the dining room and saw western food on her plate again, she could only sigh. “Sorry, Ryoma-san...” Nanako rubbed the back of her head. 

“It’s fine.” She drank half of her milk in one go, Ryoma started to eat to at least distract herself from her gut feeling telling her about something bad was about to happen. 

“You woke up, a bit early. What’s wrong?” Ryoma’s hand stopped mid-way from lifting the spoon into her mouth. She placed the utensil back down and breathed in. 

“I... Well, it's over now. Technically nothing to concern yourself about.” Ryoma put up her usual apathetic front, continuing to eat her breakfast. It was soon all consumed and she was ready for school. 

Nanako observed her younger cousin worriedly, her aunt filled her in on what happened to her back in America but... They simply didn’t know who or why caused it. Ryoma simply wouldn’t tell them. 

Her Aunt also said it was probably for the best since maybe Ryoma’s brain was managing heal the trauma on its own, maybe as long as they go on with their daily lives it would heal. However... 

Nanako knew it wasn’t like that. 

“You better get there in time!” 

“Yeah, I will!” 

***

Tezuka, the captain of the Tennis club watched the American tennis match provided by the coach attentively, what was she trying to convey? What is the coach trying to tellh him? 

As captain and currently the strongest regular on the first string. Tezuka has expectations he must meet or break through, what was the coach saying by ‘Watch the girl tennis player closely, she reminded me of someone on the team.’  

It was a girl, yet her tennis style doesn’t look similar to theirs. It was vastly different and felt enchanting to gaze at. Tezuka sometimes wipes his glasses every now and then to stop himself from fully immersing in the match and forgetting to observe her plays. 

It was finally her turn to serve... Tezuka thought of how she would do it but then- 

“A twist serve...?” It spun in another direction too, not like the traditional one... Could she be? 

No, no. There was no way. But... this match was aired before Ryoma even arrived in Japan... No, this was last year. This was live, last year...! A year before Ryoma attended this high school! 

The timelines mixed well. The techniques... The sudden change of movement... 

Was Ryoma hiding his- er...her identity? Was that the tennis only Ryoma Echizen can play? 

Tezuka rubbed the bridge of his nose, why though? Was Seigaku not trustworthy? Come to think of it, they didn’t have a girl's team and there was no rule that a girl can’t join. So, their tennis team was meant to be a mix. 

The captain sighed heavily; he needs to confront Ryoma with this. “Take it easy now. She needs time to talk.” Coach Ryuzaki reminded him. 

“I just need confirmation from her, that’s all. If she is hiding something, I won’t let it get out of hand, I give you, my word.” The captain stood up from the chair in front of the coach’s desk and left. 

*** 

“Hey, look who’s early!” Momoshiro called out to the only freshman regular who was in his uniform already. 

“Mh? That’s a bit of a surprise.” Eiji bluntly said, Ryoma had to resist the urge to throw her empty can at her senpai. 

“Well, you might as well keep doing it every day.” Kaidoh glanced at him, Inui was already instructing him on what they were going to do for morning training. Ryoma simply nodded. 

“Looks like we’ll be seeing you earlier from now on?” Fuji inquired, “I guess, If I keep at it...” Both of them apathetically nodded. 

“You actually came early for the first time in never, Ochibi!!” 

“Quit it!” 

***

Chapter 1 End.

Chapter 2 Soon...