CHAPTER 1: RYOMA

Sixteen year old Ryoma Echizen is having a bad day. Everything is not going his way. If he had known it would be like this today he would have accepted the good luck charm Ryuzaki offered yesterday. The girl has a habit of drawing his luck for him at any temple she chanced by, and also liked giving him good luck charms she bought from her travels all over the world with her mother. The last one was from a gypsy village in Hungary; yesterday she was offering him incense from a temple in Thailand. Sakuno had told him to light it up before he sleeps, to keep bad elements away. Ryoma told her she was just being superstitious.

He had dismissed her offer saying that she has already given him a lifetime's worth of good luck charms. He also lived near a temple, and he never trusted the incense his Baka Oyaji burns for kami-sama. It should be the god of beer, sleep and impure thoughts, Ryoma thought.

Ryoma looked at Sakuno. Speaking of impure thoughts.

Smirking, Ryoma had implied he needed some other thing than luck, but the girl only gave her a confused look.

"But what would I give you, Ryoma-kun?" He smirked again. The girl knew nothing.

"Do you want me become the Buddha?" Ryoma had teased. "Girl with hair too long."

"Mou, Ryoma-kun!"

Sakuno's face scrunched up.

" My hair and Buddha and has got nothing to do with anything."

Initially, he felt really good about the memory, but upon arrival at Seigaku High School, he could only taste the regret in his tongue. He should have asked for ten good luck charms from her yesterday.

Ryoma had been running late, and arrived just in time before the gates closed. Usually Momo-senpai would pick him up and hitch him a ride at the back of his bicycle, but today, Momoshiro Takeshi was a no-show. Ryoma waited for him for ten minutes before deciding to head out to school, but when Momo did not turn up after the wait, Ryoma decided to head out and walk, he still has one hour left. He'll make it.

He almost didn't.

When he was about to get out of the door, her mother screamed to him. 'What the hell?'

"Ryoma, why are you still here!?"

"It's still too early" he had replied.

"I thought you have early morning practice?"

"I do. It's early"

"No, young man, it's half past seven! What are you still doing there standing? Go now!"

Rinko Echizen's words barely registered in his mind when he was pushed out of the door to the streets. He started running, still in his tennis gear, his school uniform in his bag, he had fished his phone from his pocket and checked out the time. He was too late.

He missed early morning practice, goddamnit. He's vice-captain now, he can't just miss a practice!

What would ex-captain Tezuka say to the Seigaku's pillar of strength?

'This is all that current Captain's fault!'

"That Captain."

Apparently, that captain, Momoshiro Takeshi, had been sick. The stupid tall git thought it was alright to consume a gallon of ice cream after a rigorous training regimen. However, it was not the amount of ice cream which sent Momo-senpai to the hospital. The stupid monkey apparently didn't know he was allergic to vanilla, which he gobbled almost a gallon's worth of.

It will soon be Nationals Tournament again, and the Seigaku High School has to defend their title. With Tezuka and the other Seigaku middle school regulars gone in the picture, Momo was unexpectedly handed the title of team captain. Given their middle school legacy, one would think Seigaku High would pick a more responsible captain, but Kaidoh was too unsociable, too deep in his own world to actually be helpful. What's he going to do, hiss at them?

Ryoma was barely eligible since he comes and goes from America to Japan and to anywhere, so he was given the Vice Captain position, a title which meant he was given a name, but no actual power. His job was to basically bully the regulars, oversee new recruits, and sometimes sit in for Momo-senpai, which he never had to do anyway.

Momoshiro may not be the most ideal captain, but he had the dedication of a thousand, and an attendance record unrivalled by no one. Momoshiro never had that one day…until now. Talk about bad timing.

'Wait…if Momo-senpai was sick and he was not there to substitute for him.'

"Who handled practice?"

Ryoma asked the Ichinen Trio. They were eating lunch at their classroom. First period was hell. Ryoma forgot about two pop quizzes and had forgotten to bring his Science Textbook. He left his bento at home and had to buy some sub-standard bento at the school cafeteria.

"Coach did." Horio replied. "…but more like didn't"

"Why?" Ryoma asked.

He was met with silence, the three looked at each other, finally Katsuo answered.

"She was not into it this morning. She didn't even torture us, can you imagine?"

"She was talking about Sakuno-chan being weird or something." Horio interjected.

"Ano.. also, it seems like Sakuno-chan will be leaving for California soon." Kachiro piped in.

'California? He'll ask her later.'

Katsuo noticed Ryoma's slightly raised eyebrows, but before he could say anything, Ryoma left with his lunch.

"Wait Ryoma! Sakuno's just vacation-"

But the rest of the sentence died on his throat. Kachiro looked at Katsuo and smiled

"Oh, just let him." Despite this, Katsuo and Kachiro both look worried.

"That talk with Sakuno-chan is long overdue, you know." Emphasized Horio, the two other freshmen nodded their head.

When Ryoma arrived at the rooftop, she was already there, bento in her lap, chopsticks in hand, hair too long blowing in the wind. For the first time, that day, Ryoma felt at ease.

Their friendship was weird, they don't talk that much to each other as normal friends would, but they have a rhythm. Most of the time, they would eat lunch together, sometimes, when the situation allows it, he would walk her home. She'd always support him on his matches. He'd give him tips on how to be better at tennis. She'd do her best and will always show him her awards no matter how big or small. In turn, he would always drink Ponta with her after he'd won a match.

Ryoma walked towards her and finally sat, letting out a grunt as if to announce his presence. He looked at Sakuno, who stared at him, for far too long. She doesn't usually do this without turning away blushing. Feeling a stinging sensation at the back of his neck, Ryoma broke eye contact and immediately used his chopsticks to pick at Sakuno's bentou. He stole some of her egg rolls. Sakuno just decided to give her all of them.

"Ne Ryoma-kun. You weren't in the morning practice, you okay?"

Ryoma sighed. He had been doing that a lot lately.

"Long story."

He did not feel like telling her all the bad luck he has gotten today. He doesn't want to recall anything bad, when he's finally feeling at peace. No, he'd tell her later.

But his sweet, sweet peace did not last for long.

"…you never tell me anything anymore."

Ryoma almost choked on his eggs. What is the girl saying?

"Why should I?" He asked. 'Has he ever?' He and Ryuzaki both knew they are not the talkative types. They look out for each other in their own ways. She doesn't need to know everything about him. Ryoma shrugged, for instance, Ryuzaki need not know how Ryoma felt about the fact that she will soon be leaving for California.

He was meaning to ask her email address, so he could still talk to her sometimes, because international phone calls are expensive. Ryoma had not once thought of stopping her going to California, if she likes to stay in California for good, he found no problem in that. After all it was no secret to him that Sakuno plans to study architecture there and live with her mother who worked there as a renowned hotel architect.

The fact that the Echizen family owned a house in California is just a lucky coincidence.

Ryoma thought they had an understanding to not complicate matters between the two of them, to let it, whatever it is they have, to just happen. He was wrong, it has been bothering Ryuzaki, and now it's bothering him too. The girl stopped dabbing her eyes.

"But..but I am your-" Sakuno blushed.

Ryoma looked at her, waiting, anticipating.

She fought hard to keep the blush down but she's failing.

"What I'm saying is, when we were in middle school…

Ano.. I can usually tell what you were thinking."

"…and, when you have problems, we used to do things to—"

Sakuno now looked like a tomato.

What is happening to her?

The girl then closed her eyes, and muttered something under her breath. It as if she's concentrating hard on something, when she finally opened her eyes again, Ryoma sensed there was something wrong with her.

"Why me Ryoma-kun?" She asked, demanded.

"Why am I the only girl in our year you ever talk to?" He gave him a confused look.

'Is that a problem?' He can't believe what she's talking about.

But the girl kept at it. "It's confusing, for others… for me!"

"Why do you do the things you do?"

"Why do you encourage me play tennis and then tease me about my hair?"

Ryoma just sat there. "Your hair is too long-" he started, but the girl ignored him.

"Why did you take me to the dance last week? You should have gone with the girl you like."

Ryoma tried kept his cool. With her foolishly acting like this, he had to be careful.

But his mind was muddled, and words were hard to come by, because Ryuzaki, and his whole day has been weird altogether. Perhaps this is the unavoidable consequence of being so focused with tennis all the time. If this was tennis he'd have an answer.

Instead, Ryoma could only say the first three words which came to his mind.

"You were there."

Sakuno looked shocked, but she smiled, a smile which didn't quite reach her eyes.

Ryoma was not known to be good with words, and with his luck today maybe he should never have spoken a thing.

If only life followed a set of rules like his favorite game.

Sakuno eyes then started looking watery. Ryoma had always hated—always avoided, seeing her cry.

"I was there!? You mean…I was just convenient?" Sakuno bursted.

"Mada-" but the girl cut him off.

Sakuno is dabbing on her eyes now, trying hard to keep the tears at bay.

"Mada mada dane, Always mada mada dane!"

She stood and walked away from him.

"I'm done with this. Good luck with your match."

Did Ryuzaki just broke ties with him? Did she just-

Ryoma should have brought the 355 lucky charms Ryuzaki has given him in the past three years, or he should have accepted the incense yesterday, maybe he has to start bringing a charm each day to make sure a day as bad as this should never happen again.

Or maybe he should never have let his one real lucky charm to walk away from him.