Discailmer: I don't own any of the characters. He who wrote the Prince of Tennis series itself owns them.

Ryoma isn't an idiot. He knows what love is, regardless of what anyone else says. He just chooses not to let other people, especially his senpai-taichi, know that he isn't as romantically retarded as he lets on. He knows that love is the warm, fuzzy feeling in your heart when you see someone or something that you really like. He loves tennis, he loves his Himilayan cat Karupin, and he loves his family (yes, including his perverted father). To him, love was something you wholeheartedly like, and is made up of reasons that are entirely original & and over your own, not something or someelse's.

So saying that he couldn't see love if it hit him with a multi-colored racket would be wrong, because if he didn't love any of those things, then Ryoma would be a very lonely person, now wouldn't he?

So when Eiji-senpai or Momo-senpai tell him to 'stop being ignorant to Sakuno-chan's feelings' or to 'acknowledge the things Sakuno-chan does for you', he just pulls down the rim of his Fila cap so that it covered his eyes and tell them, in his usual polite way, to be quiet. Because he does know that Sakuno practically adores him, and that he's known since that time before he had his match with Kaidoh-senpai. Ryoma knows this and much, much more.

But he chooses not to tell Sakuno that he knows about her "undying" love. Why? Mainly because he knows that she only sees him as the "savior", not the "lover". In a way, he's seen and dubbed her love toward him as a "love with high standards", which means that Sakuno infatuation of him was way too high for him to accomplish. And that was saying something, because Ryoma could probably accomplish anything if he puts his mind to it.

But what Sakuno wanted of him: all that "sweeping one off one's feet" and all that fairy tale nonsense was just something that he didn't want or could do, for that matter. Even if he really tried, Ryoma knows that Sakuno could tell if he was being sincere about it. He knows it's a bit harsh of him to just push her away like that, but he knows that it'll benefit for her in the long run. He wants her to understand that falling in love at first sight only happens in fictional romance books, and that real love takes time and patience, something that Sakuno fails to understand. He does have faith in his best galfriend that she'll figure out why he doesn't return any of her feelings, hopefully before it's too late.

Ryoma does love Sakuno, but certainly not in the romantic way. And you'd be wrong if you said that he's ungrateful for being inconsiderate because he really does appreciate the friendship Sakuno and him share.

And when Sakuno finally calls him up to tell him that they need to have a talk sometime soon, Ryoma's going to say yes.

He knows that she finally understands.

The End

And that's the companion to the sequel to Fairytale Ending. Hope you didn't stop reading it after the first sentence