It started out as a fairly normal afternoon practice. Tezuka and Oishi
were out on A Court early for once, rallying gently as they warmed up. The others quickly joined them.
The first time it happened, Echizen missed his own shot, distracted most
likely by the change in the rhythm of balls hitting the ground. It isn’t normal for Tezuka to miss a shot, particularly
not in the warm up.
The second time it happened, all four players on B Court seemed to glance
over to A Court. Tezuka was clearly having an off day. It happens to everyone, after all, even pros. Still,
Momo started the rally again, determined to keep going, not least because Tezuka would assign them laps if he caught them
slacking.
The third time it happened, play stopped completely on B Court. Inui
and Kaidoh, rallying next to Tezuka on A Court, continue on: with the captain and vice-captain next to them they have little
choice.
“Momo-senpai, do you think buchou’s sick?” Echizen asked,
looking disgruntled at the mere thought of Tezuka having flaws. Momo has always wondered if Echizen to simple respect
to the captain a little further than necessary.
“Tezuka can’t be ill!” Eiji-senpai exclaimed from next
to Echizen. “He’s never ill!”
“Never ill?” Momo asked
“Eiji’s right,” Fuji said, frowning slightly. “I
don’t remember Tezuka missing school at all in the last two and a half years. Inui could probably tell you for
sure.”
They watched with concern as Tezuka missed a fourth shot. He sighed
and walked to meet Oishi at the net. Momo strained to hear what he said.
“Thank you Oishi. I think that’s all I can do for now.”
“It’s no problem,” Oishi said, smiling. “We
could do some more later, if you want.”
“Aa.”
“New prescription?” Inui asked, continuing calmly with his
rally.
“Aa.”
“I thought you were showing the signs. You’ll probably
want to try the blindfold I left by my water bottle. It will be interesting to see how you play with it.”
Tezuka sighed and walked over to the bench, placing his glasses carefully
on his towel and picking up blindfold. Returning to the court, he tied the strip of cloth securely over his eyes, taking
a few experimental swings with his racket.
“Heh, Tezuka-buchou’s got a new training exercise,” Echizen
observed quietly as if that wasn’t obvious. Still, that was no reason for him to look that disgruntled. “I
want to try it.”
Inui couldn’t have heard Echizen’s comment still seemed amused.
“The second blindfold on the bench is for Echizen. I predicted
that he’d want to try, even if it’s not really necessary for him.”
“Not necessary?” Echizen demanded, watching as Tezuka starts
rallying, returning shots with a remarkable degree of accuracy.
“Oh, so that’s it,” Fuji said at last, smiling again. “Tezuka’s
got new glasses.”
“They don’t look that different to me.”
“New lenses, I should have said. While he’s adapting to
them, he’s seeing the ball in a slightly different place from where it actually is: that’s why he keeps missing. The
blindfold is more to rest his eyes than anything else.”
“That’s all?”
“The blindfold is still probably good practice though. It might
be fun, ne?”
“Mada mada dane, Fuji-senpai."
Echizen turned back to his
own practice, scowling at his laughing senpai.
