"That's true," Fuji concedes amiably. "Rikkai's vice-captain certainly leaves no ambiguity of the consequences."
Ever so slightly, Marui's brows furrow behind his bubble of gum while he runs.
Meanwhile, tantalizingly close to Tezuka's and Yukimura's positions, Tamagawa can feel his legs starting to burn from the sprint uphill. It was a completely different exercise from the standard laps across level ground, a sure sign of it being a good training idea. That's right, already the training had started.
The finish line looms in the distance. Even from this far, the rectangular glasses of a spiky-haired young man at the top gleam menacingly under the sunlight. He mustn't show weakness here. Not just for the sake of Rikkai's reputation (and its future's) but to earn the chance to be taken seriously by the Seigaku captains, and to save face for his own captains in their choice of him.
That's right: Marui's words from their doubles match echo through his mind, words made all the more poignant from the actions that embodied them. How hard he'd fought even playing two-on-one, relentless in his determination to do everything in his power to win. This, too, was a competition.
Can he truly spare nothing more from these legs?
With a yell tearing from his throat, he pushes against and through the pain in his legs.
"Oh?" Yukimura looks pleased as punch to see Tamagawa trying to overtake him. Pleased, and not the least intent on ceding the ground. "Do you think it's going to be that easy?" And pushes his own momentum further.
Focusing only on his thirst to beat Yukimura and Tezuka, Tamagawa closes the distance, and crosses the finish just shy of them. He could almost cry it's so frustrating, but he's too out of breath to even consider tears.
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Ever so slightly, Marui's brows furrow behind his bubble of gum while he runs.
Meanwhile, tantalizingly close to Tezuka's and Yukimura's positions, Tamagawa can feel his legs starting to burn from the sprint uphill. It was a completely different exercise from the standard laps across level ground, a sure sign of it being a good training idea. That's right, already the training had started.
The finish line looms in the distance. Even from this far, the rectangular glasses of a spiky-haired young man at the top gleam menacingly under the sunlight. He mustn't show weakness here. Not just for the sake of Rikkai's reputation (and its future's) but to earn the chance to be taken seriously by the Seigaku captains, and to save face for his own captains in their choice of him.
That's right: Marui's words from their doubles match echo through his mind, words made all the more poignant from the actions that embodied them. How hard he'd fought even playing two-on-one, relentless in his determination to do everything in his power to win. This, too, was a competition.
Can he truly spare nothing more from these legs?
With a yell tearing from his throat, he pushes against and through the pain in his legs.
"Oh?" Yukimura looks pleased as punch to see Tamagawa trying to overtake him. Pleased, and not the least intent on ceding the ground. "Do you think it's going to be that easy?" And pushes his own momentum further.
Focusing only on his thirst to beat Yukimura and Tezuka, Tamagawa closes the distance, and crosses the finish just shy of them. He could almost cry it's so frustrating, but he's too out of breath to even consider tears.