The Looking Away Challenge by EmInArEvOl! It seemed pretty interesting, so I decided to do it. Enjoy! My first time writing a male Ryoma and I hope I do well. It's gonna be pretty short… The chapters, I mean. Well, maybe. It depends on the number of requests for making it longer and etc.

Ryoma grinned happily, the sun shining upon his face. Today was a day of joy. He felt light as a feather, carefree as the clouds that lazily drifted across the sky.

He even chuckled a few times as his friends fussed over him. "Why don't you take a little break, Echizen?" Oishi suggested. "After all, the fall you took didn't seem very pleasant and the resulting amnesia may have made things worse! We'll go and celebrate at Kawamura Sushi with the other teams once you get better." He scurried around him, checking if there were anymore bruises or cuts.

Despite the huge bubble of happiness that had been growing inside, he managed to keep the smirk on his face while coolly replying, "It's okay, Oishi-senpai. I'll be fine."

"OI! KID!" Momo shouted, jumping on him from behind. "Congratz! What would you like, eh? Eh? A noogie?" The childish senpai grinned, drilling his knuckle into said Ryoma's head.

"Itaisyo!" {It hurts} He frowned, ducking to get out of the way. Unfortunately, Eiji had been right there and lifted him up, throwing him into the air.

"E—iji-sen—pai!" Ryoma tried to protest, but soon gave up and just allowed himself to enjoy the rest of the day, the happiness bubble growing into a solid ball.

He began getting thirsty, though, so he notified Oishi, who reluctantly let him go out by himself. He walked off, hand in his pocket and the other fingering the quarters he was using for the Ponta.

"Yum." He murmured, sipping some more as he started to make his way back.

Suddenly, he froze.

"Inui."

"95% chance he's gone, still walking to the vendor from his average walking speed rate."

'I – I ran there because I couldn't wait to get back…' Ryoma thought in disbelief, a sinking feeling in his stomach and the ball inside of him rapidly 'melting' to nothing.

"4.79% chance he's lingering around the stadium right now, though not close enough to hear us, and 0.21% chance he's actually returned and is listening to us. Wait – it's decreased, because knowing his personality, he won't stay long enough. Make that 0.11%, and the first 4.89%." Inui recalculated his calculations, and nodded in confirmation. "Yep."

"Kuso! {Dang, damn, etc.} That was annoying!" Momo exclaimed, vigorously rubbing his arms in disgust. "It's so hard pretending to be his best friend and arguing with you, Kaoru." He groaned, protectively wrapping an arm around said person.

Kaidoh blushed. "I appreciate the times you come up with excuses so you can spend time with me." He muttered, fidgeting a bit.

Ryoma couldn't believe this. It wasn't true, right? He felt a bit fainted, but wanted to remain conscious until the end, gripping the Ponta can tightly, his knuckles turning white. Maybe they'd all be like, "Gotcha, Chibi! Knew you couldn't do well without us!"

"Ne, Mitsu, when can we get rid of him? Remember when he forced me to play in the rain? I got sick!" Fuji's feminine voice whined.

His hopes started to soar, a fatal mistake though that might be. Tezuka wouldn't go along with this kind of impractical joke, right?

Right?

"Ah. We will be doing it sometime this week."

He felt crushed, as if the whole world was crashing down upon him.

"I admit, I feel a bit guilty doing this to Ochibi, but he just came in and took away our hardly earned names. It's almost always cheers for him now, and he also kept using me and Oishi's moves, so…" Eiji trailed off.

Even him. This has got to be a joke. The Seigaku regulars are incapable of doing such cruel things, and he knew they were not playing with him during all the years they spent together.

But… How did he know? The fact that there was no evidence to support his belief made him tremble with fear. Were they really going to leave him?

"I'm also glad." With those 3 words, he felt his knees buckle and his legs giving way. Taka-san, his dear, kind and gently senpai… Saying that?

No. No. No! NO! Ryoma repeated over and over again in his head. He forced himself to stand up, swallowing. His mouth had gone dry, but he knew he had to stay strong or pay the consequences.

So he spoke up, entering the stadium.

"Senpai-taichi {Plural of senpai}, if you wanted me gone, you could've told me directly instead of hiding it like a coward." He smirked, though it was lifeless with absolutely no emotion behind it.

"And besides… I really was a bother to you, wasn't I?" He threw his head back, giving a sharp laugh. Ryoma opened his eyes, then glared at them with all he could muster.

He looked at his regular's jacket disdainfully, as if it were acid that would melt though.

With trembling lips, he drank a bit more of the Ponta before setting it down on one of the seats, slowly peeling off his jacket.

"Echi – " Taka-san started speaking, his conscience gripping at his edges. This was not how their brat was like. Normally, he'd just brush it off, not caring.

Eiji winced when Ryoma threw the jacket onto the ground with force, cutting him off. He turned the Ponta can upside down, allowing the drink to slowly drip down, dirtying the apparel.

When it was completely empty, he carelessly tossed it in the jacket and turned around.

"One more thing… You guys were fun to be around when you were my true friends. Sorry." Then he slipped out, almost hyperventilating.

The ones with softer hearts, mainly Eiji, Taka-san, and perhaps Kaidoh, looked forlornly at the jacket. It really did pain them when they realized the misery they had caused to someone much more vulnerable. He was about to walk over to pick it up when Tezuka stopped him.

"Don't bother." He said coldly.

"H-hai…" {Yes, okay, etc.}

When Horio came in to congratulate them, since he had gone to Kawamura Sushi to help around a bit, he had expected cheers and merry laughter. Instead, he encountered saddened expressions that had a look of betrayal.

"Eh? Senpai – taichi, what happened?" He questioned, taking note of the jacket on the floor. "Where's Echizen?"

"Echizen… He…" Fuji began whispering, but then stopped and hid his face with his bangs, as if what had happened was too horrible to even think about.

Now Horio was getting worried. "Did something happen to him?" He asked, hoping his best friend was alright.

"H-Horio… He… He left us… Saying we were once his friends but no longer…" Oishi quietly mentioned. His eyes widened. "What? What do you mean by that?"

"I-I'm not so sure… Psshhh…" Kaidoh took a deep breath, gritting his teeth and forcing himself to continue when Momo cut in, speaking for him with brazen confidence that should not be there. Horio didn't notice. "I think maybe Echizen did not really care about us, and found new, better people to hang out with. Perhaps he used us just to kill some time."

Kaidoh sent a fleeting glance at the boy who had spoken up for him, not wanting to go this far, but he just sent a threatening look back at him. 'Kaoru, I know you don't want to do this, but it's for our own good… I'm sorry.' Momo then apologized.

He sighed. He'll just play along for now… But when things go too far, he'll stop.

Horio mumbled some random words, undoubtedly texting everybody he knew about the recent news and most definitely exaggerating all the facts.

"Perfect." Tezuka nodded in approval. "Things had gone well. It will not be our fault, as well, because what we said did not suggest anything about Echizen betraying us. Except for perhaps Momoshiro, but it was worded appropriately so as not to arouse any accusations."

"He's not coming back!" Fuji smiled, delighted at such news.

"And I'll make sure of that," Tezuka muttered under his breath.

*How's it so far? Line break! Ryoma's turn!*

Ryoma's breath hitched as he ran back home, bursting through the front door. He looked everywhere and when Rinko was spotted, jumped into her arms.

"O-okaa-san… Can I…" He tried to say what he was thinking, but found it to be quite a feat. Rinko concernedly hugged him, worried about what had happened. He was trembling, clutching onto her shirt, wetting it with his tears as his lifeless eyes pleadingly begged her to understand his message. She could see the pain in them, and it just about broke her heart.

"Nanjiroh." She called out with a firm tone.

"We're moving back to America."