He liked his life, and he worked to keep it the way he liked. He liked knowing the direction; he liked things set in their right place. He liked to win and he didn't mind working hard for what was rightfully his.
All in all, his life was spectacular. He was a prize athlete attending an excellent school and he was well aware that he was the envy of many of his peers—especially with all the girls that would hang all over him.
But sometimes there were times when he could feel his life falling apart. There were times when he ran out on the court and wished the opponents were too hard to beat. Sometimes, he wished he could lose without trying. Sometimes, he wished he wasn't the way he was. Sometimes, he wished he was a bit better with his words and he wished he knew when he was hurting somebody. Sometimes, when the girls were around, he wished that they were softer and clumsier and slightly dorkier and less aggravating on his nerves and had ridiculous braids and a poor sense of a direction. Sometimes, he felt like tennis didn't matter at all.
Which made no sense at all.
And he liked it when his life was making sense.
Unlike now.
He wasn't sure why or how or when, but for some reason he was standing outside, in front of her house, throwing rocks at what he suspected was her window.
She opened the window and she looked surprised, her hair disheveled and her dark brown eyes bleary and confused. He stared at her for a long, long moment and she closed the window.
Seconds later, she was running out the back door with a jacket wrapped tightly about her and a dark green scarf strung around her neck. He had no explanation, but somehow he didn't feel it was necessary.
She simply stared at him, her eyes crystal clear and he willed himself not to look away.
She always stared at him like that, with that penetrating, thoughtful gaze that crawled underneath his skin.
Sometimes, he had a feeling she was in love with him.
"I'm tired," Sakuno said finally, her voice heavy with a sigh.
And sometimes, he had a feeling he was in love with her.
"I'm tired, too," Ryoma said.
It all made sense again.