PoT: motionless and still pushing
I'm obviously crazy. Why? Because I've decided that the one thing this fandom really needs is more fic about Inoue.
Inoue used to play tennis. Not fantastically, but he used to play tennis well, in terms of normalcy, not in terms of prodigies. He played tennis like a religion, daily and routinely, and he didn't stop until he hit college. He gave tennis up because he had to. He gave it up like he was giving up his left hand. It wasn't necessary in his life, but it hurt.
The problem with Inoue is that he has absolutely no talent for tennis.
Oh, granted, he practiced a lot, and through practice he was able to refine the skills he was naturally gifted with. But Inoue can never rival any of the Seigaku regulars. It's not in his body or his mind or his spirit. He just doesn't have what it takes.
That's why he writes for a tennis magazine instead. He puts a lot of care in it too. He practically runs the magazine, actually. He makes sure to know who everyone is, makes sure to know just exactly what each and every technicality of each shot is, makes sure to know by how much each player wins against each other. He files all the information away on his laptop. He keeps track of everything and makes it a point to memorize a lot of it.
What Inoue has is a gift for writing. With words, he's able to twist serve and smash and volley like he's never done in tennis. The problem with sports is that if you're not a player, you can only be a spectator, and spectators will never understand what it's like to be in a game. Those people in the bleachers can ooh and ahh over some of the more creatively innovated shots, but they'll never understand just how much a psychological blow it would be for someone to come up there and throw that shot back at you, like Ryoma does, or to find a way to make it impossible for you to win, like Tezuka and Fuji do. It doesn't occur to the audience to understand, and that's what Inoue is here for. He's the bridge between the game and readers. He's here for the audience.
Inoue loves tennis. He loves it like he loves his work. He loves it like he loves waking up every morning and finding that he's still alive. It's not any less than the love any of the tennis teams have for tennis. It's not any less dedication than any of the tennis players put into tennis. Sports are sort of a selfish game when played. They don't offer the spectators anything, just scores and moves and movements and outcomes. But through Inoue, junior high tennis has become a revolution. He likes to think that with every sentence he writes, another person is converted into a fan.
After all, the French Revolution started on a tennis court. It's by no means implausible that the tennis courts in Seigaku or Fudomine or Yamabuki or Hyotei can't produce a revolution too. Not on the same level, because that would be too much to ask, but a revolution of sorts. And Inoue, though he can't be the reason for it, can be a part of it.
It takes all kinds of people to start a movement. It won't occur to the tennis players to thank Inoue, and the fans may never think of it in so many words, but it'll be because of Inoue and Shiba and the other reporters that all that happens in the Arena Tennis Courts will be famous.
It'll be because of Inoue that all of them will become legends.
Inoue used to play tennis. Not fantastically, but he used to play tennis well, in terms of normalcy, not in terms of prodigies. He played tennis like a religion, daily and routinely, and he didn't stop until he hit college. He gave tennis up because he had to. He gave it up like he was giving up his left hand. It wasn't necessary in his life, but it hurt.
The problem with Inoue is that he has absolutely no talent for tennis.
Oh, granted, he practiced a lot, and through practice he was able to refine the skills he was naturally gifted with. But Inoue can never rival any of the Seigaku regulars. It's not in his body or his mind or his spirit. He just doesn't have what it takes.
That's why he writes for a tennis magazine instead. He puts a lot of care in it too. He practically runs the magazine, actually. He makes sure to know who everyone is, makes sure to know just exactly what each and every technicality of each shot is, makes sure to know by how much each player wins against each other. He files all the information away on his laptop. He keeps track of everything and makes it a point to memorize a lot of it.
What Inoue has is a gift for writing. With words, he's able to twist serve and smash and volley like he's never done in tennis. The problem with sports is that if you're not a player, you can only be a spectator, and spectators will never understand what it's like to be in a game. Those people in the bleachers can ooh and ahh over some of the more creatively innovated shots, but they'll never understand just how much a psychological blow it would be for someone to come up there and throw that shot back at you, like Ryoma does, or to find a way to make it impossible for you to win, like Tezuka and Fuji do. It doesn't occur to the audience to understand, and that's what Inoue is here for. He's the bridge between the game and readers. He's here for the audience.
Inoue loves tennis. He loves it like he loves his work. He loves it like he loves waking up every morning and finding that he's still alive. It's not any less than the love any of the tennis teams have for tennis. It's not any less dedication than any of the tennis players put into tennis. Sports are sort of a selfish game when played. They don't offer the spectators anything, just scores and moves and movements and outcomes. But through Inoue, junior high tennis has become a revolution. He likes to think that with every sentence he writes, another person is converted into a fan.
After all, the French Revolution started on a tennis court. It's by no means implausible that the tennis courts in Seigaku or Fudomine or Yamabuki or Hyotei can't produce a revolution too. Not on the same level, because that would be too much to ask, but a revolution of sorts. And Inoue, though he can't be the reason for it, can be a part of it.
It takes all kinds of people to start a movement. It won't occur to the tennis players to thank Inoue, and the fans may never think of it in so many words, but it'll be because of Inoue and Shiba and the other reporters that all that happens in the Arena Tennis Courts will be famous.
It'll be because of Inoue that all of them will become legends.