Summary: What if Sakuno isn't the Sakuno we all know? What if the girl who's crazy about Ryoma becomes someone who doesn't even care about the tennis prince? We'll know it here…
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own POT..
Anou, I made Ryoma and Sakuno in different classes for the sake of my plot.. I hope you won't mind.. Arigatou!
Chapter 1: First Sight
"Sakuno!"
"Oh, Tomoka. What are we doing here? Why'd you ask me to come in the tennis courts?" The girl with twin braids asked her friend as she walked towards her.
"Don't you know? Ryoma-sama is going to play!"
"Ryoma who?"
"Aw, Sakuno! Are you really the grand daughter of the tennis coach? You seem to know nothing about it!"
"Well, I don't know, let's leave it to that. Besides, I'm not interested."
"Then why do you come to their matches?"
"It's because Oba-san said so. If I am to choose, I'd rather stay home and study."
"Well, I bet that will change now that Ryoma-sama is here! He's soooo cooool!"
"Even if he's the greatest tennis player alive, I won't care because tennis isn't my thing."
"Whatever! Just come and see! Hurry, it has started minutes ago." She can't escape the stronghold of her loud friend. She was forced into the tennis court where this certain Ryoma-sama will be playing against Momoshiro Takeshi, a regular.
It was hard to get through the swarm of people gathered there. Most of them are girls crying "Kyaaa, Ryomaaaa!", "He's so cool!", "Ryoma is so good looking!", among others.
'Seriously, these girls should get a life.' Sakuno thought as she is still being towed by Tomoka.
"Yosh! I'm really good at this. We have a better view here. But it was so fast! Ryoma-sama already scored 4 games while Momo-sempai has none!" She announced proudly. They are in a good place where they can see the players, but Tomoka is only focused on the boy with a white Fila cap on who is bound to serve.
"There! Look at him Sakuno! So, have your opinion changed now that you saw him?"
Sakuno then looked where her friend is pointing at. 'Indeed he is good looking but he's not the only good looking boy around—Fuji-sempai for example, and Tezuka-buchou.' She thought before answering her friend. "Not at all. There's nothing special about his looks, he looks striking but he's not the only one who's handsome, you know." 'But he's eyes are something.' She liked the cat-like eyes of the boy though she did not say it to Tomoka.
"Sakuno, you're such a kill joy! Hmp! I'll go look for a better spot, you stay here, or if you want, you can leave!"
"Geez, Tomoka, don't be like that. But, I'll be glad to go. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Goodbye!" Tomoka said as she turned away.
'I guess I need to do some apologizing tomorrow. Oh, well.' Sakuno took a last glance at the boy whom everyone is excited about. She can't really understand why everyone was hyped up because of him. She then started to walk out of the tennis court and out of the school. She suddenly remembered that she forgot something in her classroom.
"Crap! If only Tomoka didn't hurry me." She started to climb the stairs towards her classroom which is on the third floor. She immediately went to her seat only to find that the notebook that she left isn't there. "Oh, great. Now I have to find it, but where?"
She tried to talk to the janitor who is in-charge of the third floor rooms but he said he did not see any notebook when he came there but he did say that there was someone in one of the rooms but he doesn't recall how he looked.
'Okay, he is a boy. Of the hundreds of boys here in school, how can I find my notebook? And why would somebody be interested with someone's notebook?' she though as she descended the stairs.
"Maybe I should just buy a new one", she suggested to herself only to realize that in that notebook is where she wrote the interview with a sempai which is a requirement for her English class which is due three days from now. She almost fell from the stairs because of this. She's been doing badly in English and this requirement is very important if she wants to pass it.
"Baka, Sakuno!" she told herself as she sat on the fourth step of the stairs which leads to the third floor. She tried to think of a way out of this; she even wished that the ground would break and send her deep within the earth, but of course that won't happen. She can feel tears forming at the corner of her eyes, she tried to fight them but it is no use. The next thing she knew, tears are streaming down her cheeks, and then there was someone who's ascending the stairs—she heard footsteps, she attempted to stand up to leave but it's too late, the boy can already see her. She looked down trying to hide her tears that stubbornly won't stop from flowing.
"Are you okay?" asked the boy. She didn't recognize the voice so she tried to look at him by looking through her lashes. She was surprised to see who the boy is. It was that boy on the tennis court earlier—Ryoma Echizen.
"Y-yes, I'm fine." She replied trying so hard not to let her voice break, it will give her off.
The boy took a step, at first she thought that he's going to continue to climb the stairs to go to the third floor but he stopped just one step in front of her. "You're Ryuzaki-san's grand daughter, right?"
"Yes," she just said yes, only she and her grandmother are the Ryuzakis there anyway.
"Then you're a freshman like me, do you happen to belong to class 1-2?
"Hai."
"Then you might know who owns this", he said as he pulled out a blue notebook which looks very familiar to Sakuno.
"My notebook!" she gasped as she extended her hands to get it.
"Hn, so it's yours. What a coincidence."
Sakuno can't stop herself from crying. She burst into tears as soon as her hand touched the notebook.
"Hey! What did I do?" Ryoma asked panicking at the thought that a girl is crying just before his eyes.
"I'm sorry. It's just that this notebook is where I recorded the interview for my English class. It's a matter of life and death, you know", she managed to say in between sobs.
"Hn." He just managed to say. English was never a matter-of-life-and-death for him. It was like second nature for him, since he was living in America before he came to Japan.
"Anou, Thank you." She said as she wiped her tears from her eyes.
"It's nothing. Ja." The boy turned away and started to descend the same stairs that the he was ascending a while ago.
"Hai." Sakuno replied to the boy. She decided to go to the roof top to get some air. All those crying and the thought of her failing English exhausted her. When she reached the roof top, she walked herself to the rails. She saw Ryoma walking towards the exit. She was very thankful of him; she took out the notebook from her bag. When she opened it she saw what she has written there when she first bought it: her name, address, and school, class, subject. She then remembered what Ryoma Echizen asked her…
"Then you're a freshman like me, do you happen to belong to class 1-2?
"Hai."
"Then you might know who owns this"
'What is he doing at our room? And moreover, why would he still whether I'm from class 1-2 when it's already written here?' she thought. She decided to dismiss the thought. "Weird boy."
When Sakuno got home, she started to work on her interview. She needs to type it so she can pass it already. She was working on it for an hour now when the phone rang. She intended not to answer it then she heard that it stopped ringing. Sakuno thought that whoever is calling gave up already, but she was wrong when her grandmother showed up at her door.
"Sakuno, it's Tomoka."
"Hai", she silently wished that her grandmother shouldn't have answered the phone, but she got up anyway and made her way to the hallway where their phone was.
"Moshi-moshi, Tomoka?"
"Sakuno, did I disturb you or something?" her friend sounded not her usual self.
"No", she lied. She remembered that they had a little misunderstanding earlier and thought that this is a good time to apologize.
"Oh, I called to say sorry, about earlier."
She was taken off guard. She was the one who should apologize. "No. I'm sorry; I really should've understood you instead of being a kill joy."
"No, no. I know that you're not interested but I forced you into this, so I ask for forgiveness."
"Of course I forgive you. It's just a small thing"
"I knew you would." Tomoka is now like how she used to be: loud and cheerful. "So what'd you say for a trip to the mall this Saturday?"
"You mean tomorrow?" Sakuno asked to make sure.
"Ah! Hai hai. I know it was so sudden but…"
"No, I would definitely come."
"Yosh! See you tomorrow then, at 10:00 at the station."
"Hai." Then the line went dead.
Sakuno went back to her work. She needs to finish it so she can come tomorrow.