In his decade-ish of coaching tennis at Gubat Coastal High, Coach Tonton had seen a lot of things.
Students who forgot which side of the court they were on. Doubles pairs who argued like an old married couple mid-match. One player who tried to serve while holding their phone.
But none of those compared to the anomaly that was Jomar, the first-year boy who—on Day One—had nearly killed a volleyball player by launching a tennis ball into the stratosphere.
And yet… here they were, two weeks later.
Tonton watched from the bleachers, arms folded, expression unreadable—except for the occasional twitch of amazement in his left eye.
"Did he just… return a drop shot?" he muttered. "Without tripping over his own feet?"
He looked to the side. Mira was rallying with Jomar during warmups. Her stance was clean. Light on her feet. Confident. And Jomar? He actually looked like a tennis player now.
Coach Tonton rubbed his temples. "What sort of shounen protagonist nonsense is this?"
That night, Coach Tonton sat in his office (aka the janitor's storage room with a folding chair and motivational posters). He drank his fifth cup of 3-in-1 coffee and stared at his ancient flip phone.
"I need proof," he muttered. "Proof that I'm not hallucinating."
So he messaged an old coach friend.
Tonton: Oi. Got time this week for a scrimmage? Mixed doubles. Bring your scary kids.
The reply came in under a minute.
Coach Marco: Always. You found another tennis prodigy or are you sending more moonballs my way?
Tonton: Just come see. I want to see their souls break in real time.
Match day. Tonton paced beside the court, pretending to chew gum but actually just chewing air from nerves.
Across the net stood Marco's pair: disciplined, neat, terrifyingly consistent. Exactly the kind of team that crushed Gubat's chaotic playstyle under a tidy, logical boot.
And then—Team Chaos stepped up.
Jomar and Mira.
Tonton squinted. Mira gave Jomar a bright "Fighting~!" gesture, and he didn't even explode from awkwardness this time.
Was that… improvement?
Was that… chemistry?
He had goosebumps.
As the match unfolded, Coach Tonton stopped pretending to be calm.
He clapped like an overexcited seal after every clean serve.
He gasped so many times the others thought he was dying.
And when Jomar dived for a ridiculous return and Mira followed up with a smash—winning the final point?
Tonton sat down. Slowly. As if gravity had caught up with his mind.
"…We won," he whispered.
Faye from Singles B clapped him on the shoulder. "Coach, you okay?"
"…We won."
"You said that already."
"We. Won. Against Coach Marco's pair. With a first year who used to serve like a trebuchet."
After the match, Coach Marco approached, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
"That kid of yours," Marco said, nodding toward Jomar, who was chugging water like he'd just discovered thirst, "he's unrefined. Footwork's too eager. Swings still rough."
Tonton nodded. "I know."
"But he's got something dangerous."
"I KNOW!" Tonton said with wild eyes.
Marco gave a low whistle. "And that girl—Mira. She's the glue. Makes up for his chaos."
Tonton looked toward the pair. Mira was fixing Jomar's wristband and scolding him for almost hitting the referee during one serve. He laughed like a fool. She pretended not to smile.
"I think I just got a first-year combo," Tonton said proudly, "that might actually survive Regionals."
Marco gave him a look. "You're dreaming again, Ton."
But Coach Tonton only grinned. "Let me have this. I've suffered enough."
That night, back in his office with another cup of 3-in-1, Tonton scribbled on a notepad with wild glee.
Jomar = chaos monster (potential OP)
Mira = composed gremlin (coach in disguise?)
Together = ???
At the bottom, he wrote:
"Love at first serve???"
Then aggressively crossed it out.
Then wrote it again, bigger.
He sat back.
For the first time in years, the tennis team had a pair worth watching.
And maybe—just maybe—a shot at finally shaking up the school's luck.
He raised his cup of lukewarm instant coffee.
"To Team Chaos," he toasted.
And then gagged, because he accidentally drank paint water instead.